Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Capable daughters are very valuable!

Our in-house seamstress has been whipping out the dresses this month and doing an excellent job. Here, she is trying on a finished product that turned out wonderfully!
She can even alter the patterns to make them fit better.
(I sure can't do that very well!)
She can also cook some great meals. Her biscuits are as good as mine!

Amber loves holding this sweet baby sister. She looks forward to being a mom someday herself. She has also been practicing sewing and cooking up some mighty fine meals, too.

Just a note: Bruce and I lived on frozen bean burritos for our first year of marriage, because I couldn't yet hit a lick in the kitchen. I'm thankful our girls will feed their families well!


Rebecca loves her live doll

It just doesn't get much better than having your own living doll to hold and love on whenever you want.
One day I was looking for my girls and found them upstairs napping together.



Excellent helper = Bethany

Bethany is a wonderful big sister and helps me every day!
I can't imagine trying to get along without her.




Isaac plays.....

at the park,



and at home.

He likes building homes for his trucks.





Hannah at 2 months

Our sweet pea is now 2 months old!
She weighs about 13.5 pounds and is about 23" long.










Saturday, September 26, 2009

Drop the Hanky at the Girls' Party

Kind of a more feminine version of Duck Duck Goose. The girls loved it!
They chased each other around and around the circle. Everyone had a turn and had a good time.










Girls' Party balloon popping game

Balloons were tied to ankles, and off they all went to pop every balloon in sight.
It was noisy and everyone was smiling!
They chased and team attacked!

Check out the high-stepper below.
Oh, the exhuberance of youth!





Bethany and Rebecca had a Girls' Party

Here we were playing a rousing game of Bobbin, Bobbin, Who's Got the Bobbin?
We tried it with a button before everyone arrived, but it couldn't fit over the knot in the string.

Here, the girls are ballroom dancing. Bethany has dreamed of having a ball for a long time.

No dance lessons were necessary. All the girls instinctively knew how to get around our floor, twisting and twirling with lots of giggling for background music.

For actual music, we used our large piano keyboard's classical music demo songs.
They were perfect for the occasion!



The "Tea Party" table (actually Koolaide and lemonade) was decked out with flowers from our fields that were picked by the girls. They all got to take home at least one vase full of beautiful wildflowers.







Sunday, September 20, 2009

Samuel's fine swine

Samuel bought some pigs at the Countrywood sale this weekend.
Above is Georgie, his lifesize stuffed swine.
Below is his piggy bank which he hopes to fill with money to buy more hogs, I suppose.
He is one happy pig farmer!

(For more pictures of Sam and Georgie, see the post below about Amber.)

Our hungry hens


More Miss Sweetness

This is her on our ride home from church today.
Rebecca wrapped her in lace Saturday night.

During school last week. She likes homeschool.

Ready for bed in her butterfly nightie.

Miss Chubette gets a bath just before church this morning.

Amber is now....

armed and dangerous!
She and Jacob just bought hunting rifles.
You'll have to ask them what kind,
because I only know that Amber's has
three barrels to choose from and one is a 22?
Protect that pig, Samuel!



Hannah's many expressions











Country boy fun
















Copied email from a friend: You be the judge...

Satan called a worldwide convention of demons.
In his opening address he said,
"We can't keep Christians from going to church."
"We can't keep them from reading their Bibles and knowing the truth...."
"We can't even keep them from forming an intimate relationship with their SAVIOR."
"Once they gain that connection with JESUS, our power over them is broken."
"So let them go to their churches; let them have their covered dish dinners,BUT steal their time, so they don't have time to develop a relationship with JESUS CHRIST.."


"This is what I want you to do," said the devil:
"Distract them from gaining hold of their SAVIOR and maintaining that vital connection throughout their day!"
"How shall we do this?" his demons shouted.
"Keep them busy in the non-essentials of life and invent innumerable schemes to occupy their minds," he answered....
"Tempt them to spend, spend, spend, and borrow, borrow, borrow."
"Persuade the wives to go to work for long hours and the husbands to work 6-7 days each week, 10-12 hours a day, so they can afford their empty lifestyles."


"Keep them from spending time with their children."
"As their families fragment, soon, their homes will offer no escape from the pressures of work!"
"Over-stimulate their minds so that they cannot hear that still, small voice."
"Entice them to play the radio or I-Pod whenever they drive." To keep the TV, DVDs, CDs and their PCs going constantly in their home and see to it that every store and restaurant in the world plays non-biblical music constantly."


"This will jam their minds and break that union with CHRIST."
"Fill the coffee tables with magazines and newspapers."
"Pound their minds with the news 24 hours a day."
"Invade their driving moments with billboards."
"Flood their mailboxes with junk mail, mail order catalogs, sweepstakes, and every kind of newsletter and promotional offering free products, services and false hopes."
"Keep skinny, beautiful models on the magazines and TV so their husbands will believe that outward beauty is what's important, and they'll become dissatisfied with their wives. "


"Keep the wives too tired to love their husbands at night."
"Give them headaches too! "
"If they don't give their husbands the love they need, they will begin to look elsewhere.."
"That will fragment their families quickly!"
"Give them Santa Claus to distract them from teaching their children the real meaning of Christmas."
"Give them an Easter bunny so they won't talk about HIS resurrection and power over sin and death..."


"Even in their recreation, let them be excessive."
"Have them return from their recreation exhausted.."
"Keep them too busy to go out in nature and reflect on GOD'S creation. Send them to amusement parks, sporting events, plays, concerts, and movies instead."


"Keep them busy, busy, busy!"
"And when they meet for spiritual fellowship, involve them in gossip and small talk so that they leave with troubled consciences."
"Crowd their lives with so many good causes they have no time to seek power from JESUS."
"Soon they will be working in their own strength, sacrificing their health and family for the good of the cause."

"It will work!"
"It will work!"
It was quite a plan!

The demons went eagerly to their assignments causing Christians everywhere to get busier & more rushed, going here & there..
Having little time for their GOD or their families.
Having no time to tell others about the power of JESUS to change lives.
I guess the question is, has the devil been successful in his schemes?

You be the judge!

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Boys




Our boys have a lot of fun together.
There is never a dull nor quiet moment with three little boys in a row.
They enjoy life to the fullest!

Isaac's slippers





Isaac recently acquired these camo slippers at a yard sale. He has quite an affinity for shoes of all kinds. We often find a LOT of shoes removed from their places in the locker hall, and then we know Isaac has been there trying on everyone's shoes.