Oh, wow, folks!

My Mom just sent me the best recipe in the world! I'm sure everybody will want to take a look. After we follow this recipe, I bet we'll get a degree in cooking, don't you?!

http://www.food.com/recipe/ice-cubes-420398

Isn't this awesome?!!!
Hahaha... I'm not sure which was funnier, the recipe, or the reviews :)! Laughter is about as good for you as frozen water ;). 
(Joy, I'm sure this would be the crowning glory of your cooking blog!)

Surprise, surprise!

Thankful *Thursday*!
This week, I'm thankful for...
~Abbi, who turned four yesterday!
~And, of course, the rest of my family :)!
~Balloons.
~Cake.
~Streamers.
~Wrapping paper.
~And all the other little things that make up a birthday :).
~Books to read to little people.
~On the same lines, Winnie-the-Pooh :)... Abbi enjoyed "The House at Pooh Corner" so much, that I bought her the "Complete Tales of Winnie-the-Pooh" for her birthday, and now we will be reading through it for her quiet time story.
~Cocoons (We've got one sitting in our screened-in porch, waiting for the butterfly/ moth/ whatever it is to hatch).
~Two vans.
~That Tommy has a family!
~The music of birds.
~The beauty of stars.
~Coffee, haha... I'm not an addict, but I do like a cup of coffee while I draw or write :).
~The books that one of Daddy's former employees gave us...
~All about crocheting...
~And knitting...
~And painting, and the like (I would really like to try my hand at painting after I finished going through the drawing "course" I'm taking. I think it looks really fun and neat,and might I add, it would be even more fun for me than for some others who may have bought the book and followed the instructions and "transferred the pattern". I plan to draw mine free-hand, and then paint ;).)
~Plus a few more crochet hooks!
~The fact that blogger no longer confuses me...now time to figure out Facebook's upgrade, haha!
~The love Christ and my family show me :)!

"Praise the Lord!

Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,

for his steadfast love endures forever!"

~Psalm 106:1

You are Holy...

God of Wonders...
I wrote this post less than two months ago.
I asked you to pray for the children in Pleven.
But especially for Tommy, who's time was running out to be adopted.
Today, I read the news that this tiny boy had a family. And not just any family. But the family who loved him so much that they were asking others to bring him home because they thought it would be impossible to adopt the child that they loved so much.
But nothing can stop God.
Go the "The Blessing of Verity" to read the story!
Praise God from whom all blessings flow!!!

Happy, happy birthday Abbi-girl!

Abigail is four!
She has looked forward to this day for the past few months, ever since we started talking about Bethi's birthday :). Over the past week, she has been telling everybody "My birthday is after Mommy and Daddy's, and I will be this big,"- four fingers- "then this big!" (all five fingers- she's already thinking ahead to next year!) :).
I'm not sure what all she has planned (I think she is at the age where they plan as they go, haha :)...), but I know she plans to go to the zoo with "Just Daddy!". Up until now, she has taken everybody, but this year she gets some one-on-one time with Daddy, just like all the other big ones :). She is really excited, although she can't decide if she'll be okay without taking Tori; "I need my buddy!", haha :). She woke up yesterday and said "One more day and one more sleep-day, and tomorrow will be my birthday!!!"
She is such a sweet little girl, and she has calmed down quite a bit over the past month, which was a little bit of a surprise :)... she is the one who has literally swung from the kitchen chandelier, after all.
Hopefully we will be back with pictures, and we might even get Abbi to tell us about her day on the Family Bulletin, but you know how that has work in the past ;). We'll see!
Happy Birthday, Abbi!!!

Thankful Monday, again...

I had just made the observation that I posted Thankful Thursday on Thursday every other week, and then of course I had two weeks in a row where it was on a Monday ;). We went to Granny's last Thursday, and it really wasn't until today that I realized that I hadn't done this post last week!
So, without farther ado, this week I am thankful for...
~Getting to visit family.
~Getting to take Peter to visit Granny for the first time :).
~Outside pleasures.
~Cooking with siblings.
~An oat roller.
~No-bake cookies.
~A game of chess, even one that I loose very badly at... and one that I loose at the last minute.
~Being able to memorize scripture, although Tori is much better at it :)... she has a photographic memory, she can read something through twice and have a fairly good idea what it says if she was trying to memorize it!
~Being able to (loosely) play the piano.
~And hearing Tori do the same (I think she may end up being better at it then me!)
~The fact that we can tell Peter loves music :). It is really cute, if he is fussy, someone can play the piano and he will be calm for a little bit longer :).
~All the activity our butterfly bush has been getting; American Ladies, Eastern Black Swallowtails, bees and sphinx moths have been quite plentiful lately :)!
~Watching our fence out front going up (I'll post pictures when it's done!)
~New flowers to plant :)!
~Letters to write.
~"How-to" books.
~Any book for that matter...
~Daddy and Mommy, who celebrated their birthday yesterday (Yes, they share the day!). Happy birthday Daddy and Mommy!
~Making cards.
~Having Miss Brenda over to babysit for the day,
~And pizza, Miss Brenda's trademark babysitting meal, thanks to Abbi (Miss Brenda loves to make us all happy, and she knows that pizza is Abbi's favorite!)
~Might I add chocolate?  Haha :).
~Singing with friends and family (now with Tori playing the piano!)
~Watching little ones enjoying singing praise to the Master :).
~And a Lord to praise :)!!!

"Shout for joy in the Lord, O you righteous!

Praise befits the upright."

~Psalm 33:1

Peter, almost four months.

Look what Peter has been doing over the past few days....

He isn't even four months old... I have never seen a three month old (three months until tomorrow, anyway ;)!) trying to crawl like that (and Abbi was walking at eight months!)! He got farther up than this, but this was the best picture I got (fuzzy though it may be...).
Peter is such a sweet little boy :)! He giggles (if you are EXTREMELY... um... way funnier than you would be in public, hahaha ;)...), smiles, coos, rolls, and absolutely melts your heart!!!
Here are a few more pictures of Peter (all taken two nights ago, I got the camera out to take a picture of Emmi reading, and just couldn't put it away again without doing a little Peter-photo-shoot :)..) The lighting on these next three are really bad (he isn't that pale in person!), haha, but he is so adorably sweet, even a bad picture can be cute...

These next few were taken after I fixed photographer's camera problems ;). I love all of them, but the second wins as favorite :)... I think :)...

A few mushroom pics from our visit to our Grandparents

This mushroom was not laying here like this until 

after we accidentally kicked it, haha ;)... 

Tori took this one, I love the colors :)!

Thankful Thursday... on Monday.

I'm noticing a pattern here... I post "Thankful Thursday" on time (on the weeks that I get to it) about... every other week.
Anyway, Tori and I went up to our Grandparents to spend the night last Thursday, so "Thankful Thursday" is now "Thankful Monday" :).
So, this week I am thankful for...
~Time with family.
~Mushrooms (Aunt Amber's love for them is rubbing off on me... I had fun getting pictures of the different kinds we saw while we walked the trails at Musgrove with her. Anyone interested in seeing them?).
~Strange tree shapes- I got a lot of pictures of these over the last few days, too. Everybody watch out for a whole lot of posts on nature pictures I've taken over the last few days ;)...
~Flowers and small waterfalls.
~Camera cards that hold a lot of pictures... we need them! On our visit to our Grandparents, Tori and I together took over a 150 pictures, although only about 103 were good ones, haha...
~Historical sights,
~Especially Revolutionary war sights this week :)... Tori and I  went to one with our Grandparents on Thursday, and then to one on Saturday with the rest of the family.
~Learning with family.
~Walking beautiful nature trails.
~Four-player chess... That was one of the funnest games I have ever played at my Grandparents, just because it was such a strange experience,haha. But I can assure you that two of the four of us that played it will NOT be playing it again, heehee. Maybe I just liked it because I won (I had to sneak that in here, heeheehee. I wonder who will be the first to say that since two of the other players quit it wasn't as big an accomplishment as it sounds?)? No, really, it is hilarious for the four of us to try to figure a game out at nine o'clock at night, haha...
~Crafting with my sister and Aunt Tessa.
~Learning new crafting tricks.
~A friend who has offered to give me violin lessons. (I'll tell you if I ever acquire any music skills ;)...).
~Bookmarks...
~Mondays :)...
~Which bring muffins,
~Chores,
~Schoolwork,
~Laughter,
~Love,
~Bible reading,
~Smiles,
~And all the other little things that make up a day :)...

For other news, stay tuned! Over the next week I will try to post pictures from our "hikes" of flowers, mushrooms, trees, water, and a few of the Star Fort in Ninety-Six...
Post one that I have been working on for a while (about our trip to the Titanic exhibit at our state museum a couple *months* ago :P...).
And I think it is far time I posted pictures of all these sweet little people who are growing sooo fast, along with just a few bits of news that hasn't fit into the last couple "Thankful Thursdays".
And I really think there was something else, too... but I don't remember what now... If I remember, you'll see it... if I don't... at last you don't know what it was to look for it, haha...

"I will be glad and exult in you;

I will sing praise to your name, O Most High."

 Psalm 9:2

Go to the ant

You know that verse in the bible? In Proverbs? The one about the ant?

"Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways and be wise: Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest."

~Proverbs 6:6-8 

Everybody knows at least the first of these three verses. And I bet everybody has spoken them at least once in their life ;). But do we really know how hard and well the ants work together? 

Tori was mowing yesterday, and I was walking beside her (the weed-eater had stopped working on me, and Daddy was helping Andrew get ant-free after an unfortunate instance with another ant hill, so he had me check on Tori until he could get the weed-eater into action again.). Tori accidentally ran over another ant hill , right after she turned around in the back. The ants, of course, poured out, ready to defend their home and repair it. Tori went across the yard, back to front, and back to the back again. When she was turning to make it back to the front again, I stopped to make sure that I remembered where the ant colony was, so I could show Daddy later, and you couldn't tell that the ants had been disturbed at all! The ants had calmed down, repaired most of the damage, and went back to their regular tasks in such a short amount of time! It shows just what hard workers those little ants are, and, even better, how well they work as a team! Tori couldn't have taken more then two minutes, and she did ran over them fairly good! I thought it was really neat :).

Blueberry picking post

Our blueberry picking earlier this year that I keep talking about, but never in detail :), was, as always, great fun :). It was really hot, but we're kind of used to that down here, so :)... It was Peter's first time getting to go with the family blueberry picking, that was fun :).

 Peter :)...

The family who owns the blueberry farm is really sweet! We have fun every other year showing off the newest baby they haven't seen yet, haha! We didn't pick quite as many berries as usual, but I think everybody still ate as much as usual (don't worry, Miss Judy says that you "HAVE"to eat some or you haven't really experienced berry picking, heehee ;). She also makes some delicious blueberry popsicles! And we know, because she gives us some for free every year after we are done picking :)...).

Emmi was so cute, she wanted sooo bad to let Peter try some fresh blueberries :). And Abbi did a good job this year, she actually  got a few blue ones off of the bushes (last year she picked them up of the ground ;)). 

 Just chillin!

 

Emmi Joy :).

Abbi, so happy!

Andrew

I love this picture of Bethi!

 I really like this picture of Tori, too :)...

 

 

We had a lot of fun, climbing in between the bushes, looking for berries, pushing babies on the swing set, eating popsicles, and talking to the owners :).

You know, these are about the only real swings I know of

(that are not in a neighborhood) close to us...

We were hoping to go a few more times this year, but the hail that hit us on July first this year (would you believe it?!) knocked all the berries off the trees, so they had to close really early :(, but we still have enough frozen blueberries to last us a while! They are wonderful in muffins, and frozen blueberries straight out of the freezer are almost as good as fresh! (We enjoyed some muffins this morning... which may have a bit to do with the fact that this post is finally finished, haha...)

Would you believe it?!!! Thankful *Thursday*!

This week I'm thankful for...

~Nature!...
~Clouds.
~Sunrises and sunsets (I mean, the earth's revolving ;)...).
~Butterflies...

~...and dragonflies.
~Our butterfly bush :),
~Which attracted a Spinx moth! (Tori came in the other day "I saw a REALLY small hummingbird, about an inch long!" Daddy went out a couple days later and came back with a picture, it turned out to be the moth!)
~Hearing Abbi and Emmi cooing over Peter.
~Hearing Andrew proudly telling Peter that they are going to have some "brother time" :).
(And did I ever mention that Emmi (2) finally has enough hair to put up in the hair-do Bethi wore at five months, heehee :)?)

Interesting side note- when Bethi first wore her hair like this, 

Tori (4 then) was TERRIFIED!!! Bethi looked far to much 

like an Indian for Tori, which is really funny, because Tori 

didn't have a problem with Indians,  haha. But she was 

sure that looking like that was awful for Bethi!

~Sewing parties.
~Old samplers...
~...and new samplers.

 Mommy's sampler that she made when eight is on top. 

Tori and I are working on some like it now :).

~Read-aloud books.
~A piano instruction DVD that I am finally starting to use, haha :)...
~Learning new things with my siblings.
~Family devotions :)!!!
~Hearing Emmi *sing the catechism* out of a hymn book at church :).
~And the ability to bake... time to make some muffins for lunch!

"I will give to the Lord the thanks due to his righteousness,

and I will sing praise to the name of the Lord, the Most High."

~Psalm 7:17

Homemade stationary

This is the old promised "stationary" post. I was going to tell about how I love drawing on computer paper to make a one-of-a-kind piece of stationary when I write letters. And that, thanks to some inspiration from a letter that my Aunt Tessa sent my little sister, I had started creating envelopes to match. But, after I sat down to write this post, I kind of couldn't think of what to say. I have a few favorite designs to use, but I'm always changing then in some way or another, haha :). But, I think I'll still share a few things, as there may be some of you who could take these ideas and build onto them.
For my paper, I like doing designs like these;

Flowers and wooden frame.

(This is one of my favorites for smaller cards/paper.)

 Flower vines.

Envelopes are fun to decorate, also. I will usually do something on the front, and something on the back flap.

 Envelopes to go with the papers above.

 The front of the envelopes. (I did try to flip this, but it isn't 

that the picture needs flipped. No matter how I flip it,

 it loads like this on blogger... grrr... oh well.)

I read about this in a really neat book, "Training Our Daughters to be Keepers at Home" by Mrs. Craig (Ann) Ward: You take scalloped scissors to cut out a card, and then you take a needle and a piece of Styrofoam (place the card front on the Styrofoam), and pierce the card front for a neat design. I thought that was so neat!!! I haven't tried it yet, but I will!

I love making cards, too, but I don't have as much to say about them (I make way less of them, even though I would love to make more than I do.). But if you are just sending a little card, about 4x3 inches, a dogwood centered on it is both gorgeous and easy. And two or three coordinating papers can make cute designs. I like to save lace, tatting thread, ribbons, and lace from my crafting to use on cards (and little tatted items are great on them, too!). I use buttons at times, also. Scrapbook paper is great to use for cards so that they have an attractive background.
Dried flowers are another thing that I use all the time. I LOVE drying flowers :)! There are many ways to dry the flowers and then use them, but the pressed version pictured above is my favorite! Anyway, I just thought I would share a bit about that, as it is something I enjoy. But for something that would be more helpful... well, this post by Miss Tammy was good :).

Of friends and truth...

One of the many blessings God has given me are edifying friends. These friends can range in age drastically, newborns to Great-Grandmothers :), and some are considered family, as well, but it is still a huge blessing :)!
One of these friends blogs at "Katie's Thoughts", and her latest blog post, "Stop, Look, and Love" was especially filled with truth! Katie and I have read the bible together in three months before, and are hoping to do something like that again soon, although maybe a bit slower. She has been a great encouragement to me, and I just wanted to share this great post with you... enjoy!
I thought the post was really good, especially since her family is so like mine that it was like she was talking straight to me! We both have four sisters, and two brothers. Elise sounds just like Emmi,  and I have never seen two little sisters from different families as much alike as Tori and Danielle, haha ;). These things, among the many others, are probably a big part of why all her posts seem so true for me, but I feel it would be helpful to many!

Bible time

is not about the time, but the heart.
Of course, I've always known that bible time was useless if you didn't care about what you read*. But for a long time I thought that I wasn't doing all I should if I didn't do my devotions the VERY first thing in the morning, usually before I even got out of bed. Now, I know there is nothing wrong with doing bible time the first thing in the morning- it is actually a very good thing to fill your mind with scriptures to carry with you through the day, to dwell in them and soak them up. But the Lord has been showing me that, just like with other minor details in our walk with God, we can carry this one too far. (Of course, we should know what we believe and stand firm to that, but it is one of those things that differs from one true christian to the next true christian, like what bible version we read. It is not a salvation issue, like was Christ really the Son of God or was he just a really good prophet. It is simple where your convictions lead you, as it was with eating the meat offered to idols in the New Testament.)
Imagine if you woke up at the normal time in the morning, and a family member was having a serious health problem that involved rushing them to the hospital, and due to that emergency trip, you didn't get your bible time until that afternoon. Have you sinned by not getting your bible read before you took your family member to the hospital? Certainly not! God put that circumstance in your life, and you are to go through it trusting God to both take care of the situation, and give you the needed time with him.
Of course, this case is extreme, but it still applies to things like making breakfast for the family, especially if you will be out of the house early and making breakfast before bible is the only way all will be fed.
Now, we do need to know that just because it is not a sin to not read your bible first thing in the morning (or at whatever time you have set personally), doesn't mean that we just don't do our bible time during the day at all. We should do it at the first possible time!!! If  I haven't done my bible time for the day, I personally feel that I should not be reading fiction or be on the internet. I also feel that I really shouldn't be doing any personal "fun hobbies", either. (Some "hobbies" are needed, as in baking or such, but this shouldn't be done JUST for fun. If it is needed, it is alright, but we shouldn't say "I have nothing to do, I'll go do --- before bible time") This way, I know that I get my bible time sometime in the day, and also it is just a bit of a safe guard while reading through man's opinions to have Christ's law fresh in your mind.
Anyway, I just thought I would share what I feel the Lord has shown me recently. And I don't mind if you hold a different view :).
*I just thought I should clarify... I should have said that it was useless for growth in Christ as a christian. Reading the Bible is still good for you even when not saved- there are countless stories of people who picked up a bible from boredom, curiosity, or from a dare, and have been saved through reading those words breathed by God!

Fireworks!

 

Someone asked for the firework pictures I took when our Aunts took Mommy and us children out to see the display they always go to. I know it is really late to share them, but here they are :).
We had a really good time with our Grandparents and Aunts :). We also enjoyed some family time the following Saturday- Daddy put off his own little display (I think it was the best yet!) and followed it up with his delicious homemade vanilla ice cream :).
(I just realized that this post is number 200 on my blog, I thought that was kind of neat :)! Also, I will be posting that promised blueberry picking post soon, and the stationary/card post is being written. After that, I think I am fully caught up, and will hope to start actively blogging about CURRENT happenings again!)

Thankful *Friday*

After thinking that yesterday was Friday all day, you would think that I would have posted Thankful Thursday- after all, I thought it was a day late. And that would have actually put it on time!... but no, I didn't think about it until this morning while reading a friend's blog!
Anyway... Thankful thoughts this week...
~Literature terms flashcards.

 ~God's beauty in creation.
 ~The moon.
 ~The stars.
 ~And what they can teach us about the Lord.

"The firmament  showeth his handiwork"

~Psalms 19~

Did you know that there is a star with a black hole in it... in the exact shape of a cross? And have you ever noticed that at times the ring of light around the moon looks like a cross?

~The word of God.

~Laughing over nothing with Tori :). 

~Laughing over school work.

~Having babies to read to, tickle, love, and chase :). 

~The fact that my parents chose to home school us!!!

~And that our Grandma and Aunts have started doing a few extra classes with us :).

~Hearing Andrew reading a few words by himself :).

~Chocolate pie with homemade whipped cream!

This pie (oh, by the way, you can read the history behind that pie here, haha!) was part of the meal that Tori made by herself last Monday. It was soooo good: Tori's specialty (chicken pie), with homemade yeast rolls and the pie- yum!

~Reading old journals (I'm meaning mine, but I love reading the journals or letters of someone in history that have been published, too :)! Every once in a while I break out my journals and Tori and I have a great time reading through it, laughing at funny things that happened that we'd forgotten. I wish I was better at it! Come to think of it, I should pull them out and blog about some of them that started before I blogged much. Stuff like juicing our own carrots and such, that could be fun ;)!).

~Pretty paper.

~Having fun making some cards to have on hand.

~Dried flowers.

~Rubber stamps.

~Stamp pens- not sure if that is what they are called, but these are so cool (I just found them the other day, but there is no telling how long we've had them :P)! You draw on the area of the stamp you want, and you can have so many colors on the same stamp, or even just stamp on half of the stamp design!

~Paper cutters... not sure if this is the right name for this, either, but it is sooo much easier than scissors!

 "Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name;

make known his deeds among the peoples!"

~ 1 Chronicle 16:8

A school time story

So, today, when I reached my literature study, I called for the assistance of Tori. Tori, who was sewing at that moment, asked if I could wait while she tied off her current project. I agreed, and sat down on the couch next to her. Emmi, who has been in a book-mood all day, came to me with the sixth book of the day (I'd read the first five, but at this point I had already told Tori that I could use her help, so Emmi just had to wait this time!). I don't think she quite got the concept of waiting for her book to be read, as all I was doing was sitting on the couch with pieces of paper in my hand :), but she finally agreed. Abbi, who also wanted attention (although I've already forgotten what she wanted it for, haha) was told that she had to wait, Tori was going to help Bri with her cards. To which Abbi said "I'll help!" I kind of giggled, and told her that if she could read the front of the first card, she could help me. She promptly took the card, which was "Alliteration" (the repetition of initial consonant sounds) and said "A! I read it!". I wasn't sure how to answer this, so thankfully I didn't have to, because immediately Emmi grabbed the card Abbi had, and announced, "I can read, too! Ox, I read it!!!" Abbi is sitting there, "No, it says "A", you can't read", as if she was patiently repeating this  lesson for the fourth time. Emmi stares at Abbi, and reminds her, "I can too read- look (points to her lips) I have lips!!!"
Finally Tori and I stopped laughing, and got to work. As we came to the last word in the stack of cards (onomatopoeia), Tori asked me how to pronounce it. I told her, she repeated, and I gave the definition (words that sound like what they mean), and then we heard Abbi chanting "Emmiapockasia! Emmiapockasia! Emmiapockasia!" Emmi joined in the chant; "Emmiapockasia! Emmiapockasia! Emmia- Abbi!!! I am not a emmiapockasia!!!"
It was sooo funny!