Fires

One day as we were coming home from the doctor we saw huge black smoke clouds that seemed to be right over our house. What we found was a huge fire that started 400 yards from our house and ended up extending over several square miles and many days. Many roads were closed, homes evacuated, and over 70 homes destroyed. Since we live outside of city limits where the homes are spaced out, this might give you some idea of how large these fires were.

From our back porch, we were able to watch this helicopter fill water from the river and dump it on the fires. It was quite interesting to watch. Then we went down to the river and watched close up. We timed the pilot and it only took him between 1-2 minutes to fill, dump, and return.

Lots of damage: hundreds of acres, many homes...

God sent storms, the first rain in months, just as it seemed almost hopeless that the firefighters were ever going to be able to get on top of the fires.

posted by Sarah

Zoo

A few months ago, before it got so hot, Daddy and Mommy surprised us by taking us to the "good" zoo. What I mean by that is, there is a zoo close to us, but we prefer visiting the one that we have to drive a couple of hours to get to.

We had a great time, especially since we hadn’t been to this zoo in awhile and it has changed A LOT. They've added so many new things! And William was having a good eyesight day and was able to see so many animals, which doesn't always happen. He had a wonderful time playing with this gorilla.

Explorikeet Adventure is always a huge hit!

The little children really enjoyed the petting zoo. Calvin was totally into the goats (a cowboy that herds goats?).

We also had fun just playing around.

We all had a great time watching the boys enjoy their day! They were so excited about everything!

It's always so much fun to visit the zoo and see God's creation!

posted by Sarah

2 Weeks Old!

Sweet Knox was 2 weeks old yesterday! That was also the day he had to go under the bili-lights. Apparently, he is having a hard time adjusting to life outside the womb. We are hoping to be able to pull the lights this weekend, but it will just depend on how quickly his biliruben level drops. He is also having issues with nursing. Mommy is hopeful that once one problem resolves, so will the other. We appreciate everyone praying for both of them!

Visitors

Knox has had many visitors and we have had many good friends lavish love upon us! As Selah put it, "Isn't it so nice to have so many good friends to love us?" Thank you so much to all of you who have brought meals and fellowship and gifts. We have enjoyed your company and been blessed by all of you!

Unfortunately I missed some pictures. I apologize. We love all of you!

posted by the blessed sister of 11 and aunt to 2 - Sarah

Midnite

William’s therapist for HippoTherapy (horse) let us keep one of her horses for the summer while they were on break. We were so excited to be able to have a horse, even if only for a few months! Now we just had to get ready for Midnite (I know that's not how you spell "midnight," but it IS how they spell his name).

Over the course of a few weeks we had lots of people from church come out and help us build a lean to, put up the fence around the back pasture, and move the chicken coup. Thank you so much to everyone who came and gave of their time to help! What a blessing!

Midnite arrived on June 13th. He is such a gentle and sweet horse. We are having a great time riding him! It's too bad we only get to keep him for the summer. William’s therapist has been giving us riding lessons and teaching us how to take care of a horse.

At the beginning of July, William was in a demonstration for the riding facility at a local rodeo. He had great time riding his favorite horse, Cookie, and Sydnee, Sherrod, and Elly were able to carry in the banner. We stayed for a few hours into the rodeo, which Wallace and Calvin really enjoyed (they are totally into cowboys right now). Selah was not felling well so we had to leave before the barrel racing, which was too bad. We really wanted to see the barrels because Mommy used to barrel race when she was younger. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of the cowboys. I wish I would've because there were some very good bronco riders. Wallace would yell, "He stayed on! He stayed on!" It was so cute!

posted by the blessed sister of 11 and aunt to 2 - Sarah

So Sweet

Knox is so sweet and cuddly! We are really enjoying him!

Calvin loves to hold him, but as you can tell from this picture, he doesn't like for Knox to cry! So sweet!

THE BOYS

It's too bad Bryce is missing from the picture. He is away at training, getting ready to leave for another tour overseas. Please keep him in prayer...this is his first mission "in the line of fire."

posted by the blessed sister of 11 and aunt to 2 - Sarah

Anniversary

Daddy and Mommy celebrated another anniversary in July. We went to the "Colonel's" house and had a great time. Daddy and Mommy went to dinner with Mr. and Mrs. "Colonel" and we had a great time with all the children!

Such good friends...we love all of you!

posted by the blessed sister of 11 and aunt to 2 - Sarah

Knox Nehemiah

Our little Knox made an early appearance because he had so much trouble staying in the right direction! He arrived on August 3, 2011, after the completion of a moderately successful version. By that, I mean he partially turned, enough to get things going, though there was some concern at the end.

Knox weighed 8lbs, 15oz and was 20 1/2" long - exactly the same as Calvin, only with a 3-week difference!

He was named after John Knox, one of the great reformers - it's only fitting after John Calvin, right? The name "Knox Nehemiah" means "influential, righteous man who is unyielding and brings comfort from God."

He is such a cute little guy. We are having trouble deciding who he looks like the most, but he definitely has the look of the rest of us! Who do you think he looks like the most?

BRYCE...KNOX

SARAH...KNOX

ABBY...KNOX

SYDNEE...KNOX

SHERROD...KNOX

ELLY...KNOX

SELAH...KNOX

WILLIAM...KNOX

WALLACE...KNOX

CALVIN...KNOX

I think he'll be spoiled soon, as there are always 11 of us wanting to hold him!

It is hard to believe he is already a week old, today! Today is also the day we were originally expecting him!

posted by the blessed sister of 11 and aunt to 2 - Sarah

Summer Fun

So much has been going on this summer! We've been so busy, it's been hard to find the time to blog! I am trying to finish up William's movie. The deadline this year is at the end of August. Time is short so please pray for me to be able to get it done, Lord willing.

We finally completed Abby's book by signing the covenant at church:

We had fun setting up the first pool. We only swam in it twice before a big storm came through and destroyed it! Grandpa Allen and Mrs. Snow brought us a new, even bigger one! Thank you so much!

Our family at Grammy and Papa's:

Playing around:

Abby asked for this bike seat for her birthday last year. She has a lot of fun carting the little ones around on it!

Sibling affection:

Wallace has entertained us all with his cowboy and "Lone Ranger" antics this summer!

I have so much more to post! I'll try to get them all done quickly and post much in the coming days.

posted by the blessed sister of 10 and aunt to 2 - Sarah