Hello, Again!

It's nice to have a little time to update our family blog - it's been very busy around here!



Well, we got moved in to our new house, sort of - we are remodeling...still. Every time Daddy and Mommy start a new project, they find some "must do" projects that have to come ahead of the "want to do" one. We'll get there eventually! We love the house! It's so nice to be out on land again. We are all very excited to be "farm girls" again, although Daddy says it will be awhile before we get any chickens or goats. I don't think the idea of adding "one more thing" is very appealing to Daddy or Mommy right now! That's okay, we're just enjoying the fun stuff that the country brings! We also have these great lizards all over our property...

All of us are very excitedly waiting for Reformation Day - it will be such a joy to have the party at our house again!

The remodeling reduced significantly when we found out about Daddy's hernia. He had surgery just over two weeks ago and he is doing great! He hasn't experienced much of the pain or swelling that everyone told him he would have, but he does have to be careful how much lifting he does. Savannah got to come stay with us while Mommy and Calvin went to the surgery with Daddy. Fortunately it was an outpatient surgery and everything went very well for him. We were all SO excited that Savannah could stay with us! It's hard to believe that she is already 18!




Internet out at our house is quite the tricky thing. Daddy has had to go in to the office a couple of times to check his email, but Mommy didn't feel good about him driving alone, so we all got to go! It's a lot of fun to go to Daddy's office! William and Wallace always love to put on Daddy's hats! I think it is such a blessing to see little boys with their fathers. Isn't it neat how God made them to naturally desire to follow in their father's footsteps?


We had a great 4th of July! Last year really scared William, so this year we waited until William and Wallace were in bed. We were so glad we did! One of the fireworks malfunctioned and hit one of our vehicles. Then it malfunctioned again and hit the neighbor across the way's truck! It never even turned over! It shot right out the side, right past us girls and Mommy! Mommy never really likes fireworks anyway, so it didn't do much to endear them to her heart! I was amazed that it could so nearly hurt us when we were standing at, what I thought was, such a safe distance! We praise God for His protection!




Little Calvin is hardly "little" anymore! He turned 7 months old 2 days ago and he is definately a bouncing baby boy! He has his first tooth, loves to play in his jumper, and he has been pulling himself up to a standing position for about 3 weeks now! He's taking steps if we hold his hand, but he's still pretty unstable. He's so adorable!


Well, I guess it's down to me...

I GOT BRACES!

It's been funny to hear everyone's reaction to me getting braces, because no one would have thought I needed them. My teeth are straight, however, my bite is way off (by more than a tooth)! It was causing some wearing on a couple of teeth and the orthodontist said it would eventually wear a hole or a cavity (I've never had a cavity). Also, I've been getting headaches recently and it could be from the pull on my bite. Anyway, I'm only supposed to have them for 12-15 months, then my bite should be fully corrected! They were painful for the first few days, but now they don't bother me really.





William is doing great! We don't have the long leg braces in yet (long story) and we're having trouble with the insurance company regarding his vest, but Mommy said she'll try to update his blog as soon as she can. We are thankful for everyone's continued prayers on his behalf!

By the way, I did not get his movie finished in time for the film festival - is it any wonder? I am still working on it, though. It just seemed like one disaster after another, what with the program eating it a total of 4 times (another long story)! I had it nearly complete when the program blanked out on me and we had to start all over twice! Then, 2 days before the deadline, Mommy tried really hard to revamp everything. She stayed up for 3 full days! She watched what I had already saved to a DVD, re-imported everything, repositioned everything, trying to get it to the point I had it so I could complete the ending, but it just didn't work out. In the end, we decided to give it a rest and go back to it in a month or so to finish it up. Hopefully we will be able to add a little segment on the end to update the movie for next year's festival (maybe William will be walking)!


Bryce is oversees again - please pray for him while he is gone for the next 6-8 months.


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

Movie Update

This will be my last post for awhile. We are moving this weekend and not planning on having internet service for at least a month. I will try to post again in July. You can start checking back after Independence Day.

I am pretty discouraged about the movie. It doesn't look like we are going to get it done. However, we are still working on it, just in case. I have to have it mailed out by June 1st if I am going to enter it in the festival. I appreciate your prayers for me. I really wanted to have it in this year, but had no idea what other things would be happening...
Proverbs 16:9 - A man's heart devises his way: but the LORD directs his steps.

Here are some pictures of us while we were working on editing:



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

Waiting Though the Storms

We recently had some severe storms in our area. Here is how we spent our time watching for tornadoes:

Daddy, Mommy, Abby, and I tracked tornadoes and thunderstorms on the computer (this is probably the only drawback to not having television - we can't watch the weather).

Abby enjoying her strawberry shortcake while tracking storms

Sydnee, Selah, Sherrod, and Elly reading

Whoa! Is that thunder?

Rain and hail - lots of flooding in our area

Do you think this frog is crying out for help?

A couple of days after the storms were over, Daddy took us girls to a creek nearby to release our tadpoles. We don't know what happened, but within a couple of days about 8 of them had died, so we decided to set them free instead of trying to watch them grow.

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

The New House

Well, we closed on our house at the beginning of May. The men from church came over that first weekend and put a fence around our property and did some work inside. I didn't get to take any pictures, but I'll post some if I can get some copies from a lady in our church that did get some.

In the meantime, we've been working hard. It seems that each project we start leads to several more. Mommy wanted to remove the carpet in the bathrooms and on the first floor and it ended up that Daddy had to replace a large amount of sub-flooring all over. That's just one example. So it doesn't appear that we will have the house completed by the end of the month, but at least it will be ready to move in to. All the pretty stuff will have to wait until we are moved in.

Here are some pictures of us working with some of our friends. We've worked hard, especially Daddy and Mommy, but we've also had a lot of fun. Thank you to everyone who has helped us!

Removing wallpaper in the children's bathroom: Sydnee, Justin, Payton, Brittney, and me


Painting shelves from the upstairs closets: Payton, Selah, Sarah S., and Elly


Removing popcorn from the ceiling throughout the downstairs: Mr. S, me and Michael (hard work!) Daddy and Mommy did a lot of this, too.


Removing the fake fireplace: Mommy
Cleaning closets: Mrs. S


Replacing floors: Daddy and Papa


Cleaning cupboards and stones: Grammy

Removing wallpaper in the master bath and painting the boy's room: Brianna, Abby, Sherrod, and Elly


A little relaxation while watching the little ones:


Selah, Sarah S., and Elly

Sydnee and Sherrod did a great job playing with all the little children before nap time while we got a lot done in the house!

Hanging out on the trailer, having a snack, after moving some things into the shop:

I will say, we are a very tired family. One night after returning home from working, Mommy and Sydnee sat down in the recliner together and both fell asleep with their paint clothes and glasses on! I'm glad we children have been getting to sleep in!

posted by the blessed sister of 10 and aunt to 1o - Sarah

Wallace

Wallace just got his first hair cut! He looks like a little boy now, no longer a baby. His new hair cut is so cute!

In the process


Looking at the finished product


Before and after


He loves to put on Mommy's and my shoes and walk around! Isn't he so cute?


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