Idelette

Well, unfortunately, our 2nd big dog, Ron, ran away. He's been gone for well over a month now and, though we've looked for him, I don't think he'll be coming back. That being said, Daddy decided that Oxy is now lonely and needed an outdoor companion. Around that same time, a very funny thing happened. Mommy decided one day that she wanted to reward all of us children with ice cream because we had all been working so hard, so she took us to the only restaurant in town that has ice cream. Well, when we got there and sat down for them to take our order we found out that THEY WERE OUT OF ICE CREAM! We couldn't believe it! Even though they are a restaurant that serves food, they have a wide selection of ice cream, almost like a Baskin Robbins or something, with an ice cream case that has about 12 selections. We were pretty disappointed, but Mommy said we could go to the grocery store in town and pick out a gallon to take home. Well, right outside the store there was a poster for Great Pyrenees puppies! We tried hard to convince Mommy that it was Providence! The next day, Daddy took us to look at the puppies and we got to bring one home! She's a beautiful Pyrenees and we named her Idelette (for all you Church history buffs, yes, Idelette Calvin)! We call her Ida, but Mommy calls her the little potato!

Isn't she adorable?

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

Quilt and visit

We recently had a great visit with some dear friends! They just had baby #7, their first boy! What an exciting time! He is named after his father and he is a beautiful little boy! While looking back over my pictures for my post, I realized I made a huge mistake...no pictures of him! I couldn't believe it! Maybe this will explain why...

We were all excited to play with their new pony! She is very sweet, maybe a little headstrong, but still very young. She is beautiful and it was a lot of fun to be out in the pasture with her!

Here is our latest quilt project for the "D" baby:

We have a couple of other quilts that we are working on right now. What a blessing it is to have babies!

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

Happy Birthday, Abby!

This month we celebrated Abby's 14th birthday! We had a good time with Grammy and Papa, just relaxing together and enjoying remembering back on funny "Abby" things.


Abby only wanted one thing for her birthday so, of course, Daddy and Mommy got it for her:

a child carrier for her bike! She'll have a great time carting around all 5 little ones!

Abby is a great artist and she loves to draw! That made it easy for a lot of us to know what to get her! She got several drawing books and she's already been pouring over them and practicing lots of new drawings. By the way, she recently had one of her drawings published in a popular nature magazine called "Nature Friend."

Abby decided against the traditional cake and ice cream for her birthday and opted instead for fried pies...yummy! Mommy had never made them before, but she found a recipe online and "voila."


The birthday prayer:

Happy birthday, Abby! You are a great sister and sweet friend! I love you!

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

Catching Up...

Well, once again I have much catching up to do! We have been happily busy this month with many joyful celebrations, remembrances, and daily life. Let me start with a few of my favorite photos:

Aren't these 3 of the most handsome, ornery-looking, fun boys you've ever seen?


Our dear Father and Mother:


Dear, dear friends:



We've had lots of fun visits with Pappaw:


Wallace has found a new way to get into trouble:

And he is now "pretending" to be asleep and he thinks it's so funny! He's pretty good at it, too!

I will post our last month over a few posts, starting with Abby's birthday. Thanks for keeping updated! I hope everyone's Thanksgiving was a joyful, happy celebration remembering all of God's faithfulness!

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

Reformation Celebration

We had a really great time celebrating the Reformation last Saturday! Here is a portion of our group:

Unfortunately we took the picture first thing in the day and some of the families who arrived later didn't get to be in the photo. We were having such a good time, we didn't think of gathering for another group shot later!

This year instead of speaking on all of the Reformers himself, Daddy asked a few of the men from our church to each take one of the more famous reformers and give a brief overview of what he did. Daddy spoke on the Waldenses; the others were Luther, Calvin, Tyndale, Wycliff, Hus, and Knox.



We tried to sing a hymn or play a game that would fit each reformer. After Daddy spoke about the Waldenses, we played "My Sheep Hear My Voice." It is a great game! All the children stand in the middle of a circle together, blindfolded. The fathers go out about 100 feet or so and all start calling, "My sheep hear my voice," from John 10:27, where Jesus said, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me." The fathers are all calling at the same time and you have to listen closely for the sound of your own father's voice to find him. It can get confusing and it teaches you that there are many voices in the world calling to us for our hearts and minds, but we have to focus to keep our hearts stayed on Christ.





We also played the "Law and Gospel Relay." We divided into teams and had to carry the burdensome "Law" (a concrete block) on to the next teammate, then the light "Gospel" (a paper towel scroll) on to the next teammate, over about one and 1/2 acres. Of course our fathers, who are responsible for discipling us and training us up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, were there to help us carry the heavy load! The little ones that didn't want to do any running also had fun just watching and laughing at us!







Ariel, Christian, Elijah, and Taylor made up an incredible "Reformation Trivia" game! They made this board, which is hard to see in the picture, but they are very artistic:


Huddled around the board, playing the trivia game:

The "C" family won, but we're still not quite sure it was a fair win...after all, they got to have Billy on their team and he answered HALF their questions!!!

Savannah also got very creative! She brought Luther's 95 Theses and our very own copy of the Wittenburg door! We played "Pin the 95 Theses on the Door" and had a lot of fun! Congratulations Alison, who was the only one to pin it spot on!




We fellowshipped into the night and enjoyed every minute!


Thanks to everyone who came and shared in the fun! We are already looking forward to next year! With this year's theme being "Well-Known Reformers," Daddy is already kicking around some ideas for next year's theme: maybe "Little-Known Reformers," "Cities of the Reformation," or maybe "Battles of the Reformation." Whatever he decides, we know we will have another great time celebrating the changes God brings about in the hearts of men!

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