Reading through God's word

I have read through many bible readings plans the last couple years. Three months, a Proverb a day for a month, one year (which turned into seven months... I don't think I did that one right, haha ;).), reading through the same passage fifty days in a row, and a friend and I were working on reading through the bible in six months when we decided to jump into Romans. We plan on finishing that after Romans :). I have done them alone, with a group of friends, with Tori, with just one friend, and, as far as Romans goes, with a group I don't even know who all it includes ;), thanks to Grace Mally's invitation to those who wanted to join her. But I had never done one with Bethi!
Bethi was going to start a one year bible reading plan on the first of May. About the (tenth?... I think...), she asked me where I was at in Genesis. I gave her a blank look, haha :). I told her I was in Romans, and she gave me a blank look. Come to find out, she thought that I was joining her in her reading plan (although we never talked about it before she started, I didn't know until she started that she was planning on it!). She was truly disappointed that I wasn't, it made me kind of sad :P. I decided to do the best I could to catch up, and have finally caught up with her... It is really precious to see her face light up when she hears that I am going to go read my day's chapters in Genesis :). She runs and grabs her bible, and we will sit together and read :). I have enjoyed it immensely, and I can tell it means a lot to her :). I am so proud of her (and Tori, who is doing a six months reading plan with Mommy!) though, because I know at her age I rarely read more than a chapter a day... I am so glad that they are already into studying God's word and growing in him! I have been struck several times with the fact that if I had started really studying the word when I was younger, instead of squishing one chapter in because reading the bible was the right thing to do, and I couldn't justify reading less than a chapter... How much more I would have gained! I don't think that I read the bible cover-to-cover once before I was twelve, I kind of skipped around, with no real purpose (not that I see skipping as bad, if you are doing it to study, it is just that I couldn't stay in the same book for more than a month... and since Genesis is fifty chapters long, and I only read a chapter a day, I rather failed at making it cover to cover... badly!). It is sad to think of all the time I wasted, but I am so glad to see my younger siblings already actively searching God's word and I am so thankful for the chance to study it now :)!!!

As for some news, Daddy arrives home tomorrow night, after we spend a day with some friends, and keep ourselves out of the house so that we aren't in the way while someone else comes to look at it :)! We are praying that this will be it, and yet we know that it may not be... it is hard to wait for God's timing sometimes, but I know the wait will have been worth it when we look back at it five years from now. Also, my math was "absolutely" fun today.. "absolutely" shocking, right? Heehee :). But, really... it was "absolute values" :)...
I need to go now... I have to weed eat the yard, and we still have to finish up a couple other things, yet, today, so that we are ready to leave early tomorrow...

Just tidbits...

Last week was a week full of chores, school, a few tears, lots of smiles, and a whole lot of fun! Just home life ;). Tori and I played more card games and games of Life then I can count, and that was just during the little one's quiet times ;)...

 This picture wasn't taken last week, but this is Tori's car

from a game of Life we played last month. With seven 

children and an overflowing car, she was very blessed ;)... 

Love the pyramid!

We received news the other day that we'll be having a family come look at our house sometime this week. We are definitely praying about that!
I am still enjoying studying Romans extremely! I have the first eight chapters all copied out once, but I am making another copy to "scribble" on, as well as the one that I wanted to put up :). I need to hurry and finish the second copy, because I can't wait to start "scribbling", haha :). It has been wonderful to stay in one passage for so long. I feel that I had gained so much more insight than from reading almost half of the bible in this time like I have in the past. Not that I think the past readings were wasted! I also think it is wonderful to read large potions in a row to get the big picture of the book you are reading, and I may very well do it again :). I just like this, as well :).
We had a wonderful time of fellowship with Miss Brenda (a lady from church :)) yesterday in between services. She treated us to lunch, so sweet :). And the sermon yesterday I thought was wonderful. It was convicting, but also very encouraging :)!
We're now into a new week, and looking forward to how the Lord will use it :). I promise to do all in my power to post a Thankful Thursday catch-up this week :P.
I also wondered what those of you who read my blog would think of doing a recipe "contest" next week :)?...
(And, no, I'm not entirely sure why my blog background is missing... I'm working on it. I think it may be because the site I got it from is being up dated :).)

We've been very busy lately...

I've wanted to blog about many things that have happened during this busy time, but... it has been a busy time :). (Tori just walked into the room and told me that I had posted only two days ago, so I think I should clarify. It isn't that I haven't had time to post, just that I haven't had the time to post recent happenings between trip posts and Thankful Thursdays :). Look for a mega Thankful Thursday post in honor of Thanksgiving tomorrow!... And just remember, I said look, not read. I'll do my best :)!)
Before I go any farther, I want to share a tidbit about the "daily" bible passage on my side bar. Has anybody noticed that feature? It isn't quite daily, but I do update it every time I visit my blog page.
There are different ways I decide what chapter to post/book to work through next. I may read a chapter during my bible reading and want to share it's truths, Daddy may have picked that book to read during family bible time, or I may just make an impromptu decision to use a certain book or Psalm. I may also use the "Proverb of the day". Isn't it wonderful that God isn't one to say "all rights reserved" when it comes to his book :)? Anyway, the book we're working on now in church is Philippians. I'm also memorizing that book at the moment. And, that book has four chapters in it, the same number of days until Saturday, when Daddy will get home for Thanksgiving weekend!!! I thought a bible passage count-down of the days would be fun :)...
We will be celebrating Thanksgiving next Monday since Daddy will be home then- we're very thankful that he will make it home for that, since something he said a few days ago lead us to believe he wasn't going to be home for weeks!
As far as good news in the progress we've made on getting the house ready, we have only two more rooms to paint, after we complete the de-cluttering we're working on at the moment. Then we have the garage to clean ;)... And, all the the rooms that are painted are put back to rights. Of course we hung the curtains back up and put the electric covers back on, why would you ask? What? Why would you think that we had a grand old time laughing at all the things that happened during that process? No, nothing of the sort... all right, all right, I admit it.... I might tell you a little bit about our backwards switch plates and mutiny-desiring curtain rods sometime...
All this about packing leads me to the fact that I need to start Christmas presents, so that I can put the supplies I need for that up, along with the rest that we hope to have packed up before then. Anybody ready for that to start? I know I talked about Christmas a lot last year once I had started Christmas prep in ...October, I think it was ;). And cut it closely, if I remember correctly. But not as closely as the time I finished Christmas morning...
Some odd random bits...
We had to pick up some more paint last Friday, and we ended up getting the wrong kind, so had to go back the next day. As we were driving we hit a construction site... and Mommy called out "The road is lost!!!" Haha, seriously, it appears they bought a road and tore it up!!! Thankfully she found an alternative way to Lowes :).
Emmi was laying in bed with me the other day, and she told me that her "Veggietales" Larry stuffed toy was "dyed". I knew she meant "dried", but it sounded like "died". I decided to tease her a bit, and said "Larry died?! How sad!" She answered me, "No!!! You're silly!... I said dyed, not died!!!"
And, as my last bit of news to share with you all right now... would you consider praying for little Peter? He is very sick at the moment. Nobody else has caught it so far, so we're not sure if it is teething related of what, but little baby is feverish and miserable :(.

We're back!

We got back home at exactly midnight last night, causing Daddy to win our "will we or will we not get back before midnight if we start now" bet, haha :). We were in bed at about 2:20, who else was up that late ;)?
Now Daddy is back to painting, and we have a lot of laundry, but I'm glad to say that we got everything unpacked last night, so it shouldn't be too hard to get back to normal :).
I'll try to work on trip posts one post at a time, but I give no time constraints ;). I started a big project on our trip, and it's not done yet... a post about that will come in time, also :).

September's month goals update.

With the Lord's help, to grow more like him!!! (Although, this is a on-going one, not finished this month by any means!)- of course, ongoing!
Make Tori and Andrew's birthday gifts. - Done.
Map out Christmas gifts (call me nuts, but I will, most likely, be starting making those Christmas gifts in early October. With the fact that I can only get one ball of yarn 40% off a week, and that I make at least 80%, usually 100%, of them by hand, it takes a while ;). I do have one gift that I know will be going on that list... I can't wait to make this for Peter :).) - mostly done. I still have to find something for Bethi.
Help come up with creative meals to get some of the many bulk items that we haven't been using lately out of our pantry. - ongoing :).
Pick sign language back up. I'm not sure how, but Tori and I kind of just quit moving forward with it, though we do still use what we've learned. You are supposed to be able to learn in a week if wanted?... - we did more than last month... but that is kind of pitiful...
Finish reading the driver's manual that Daddy bought me :P... I don't really want to drive, but I know that, even if  Daddy let's me decide when I learn, I'll have to learn some time, and I'd rather I got as much learning as possible out of the car ;). It doesn't help that all my friends are talking about learning to drive and how *wonderful* it is... eighteen wheelers coming inches from them... forgetting they have breaks on the car... running into a/c units the first lesson... _Oh, my, didn't finish this one, either...
And finish memorizing Philippians 1:27- 2:11. - Although I will continue to work on this, I do have it memorized, I just want to make sure it sticks :).
(And get a certain post out of draft mode, haha!)- this is done, also! This post was my Titanic post :).
There you have it. I got about half of it done!... haha...

It is the beginning of a new month!

I always love the start of a new month, it makes me feel like starting new things, and what-not :). Although I do like a new year and week, I just like a new month better, as it isn't as long as a year (easier to see the end ;)), but you still have a longer time to get stuff done, haha :).
This month I hope to:
With the Lord's help, to grow more like him!!! (Although, this is a on-going one, not finished this month by any means!)
Make Tori and Andrew's birthday gifts.
Map out Christmas gifts (call me nuts, but I will, most likely, be starting making those Christmas gifts in early October. With the fact that I can only get one ball of yarn 40% off a week, and that I make at least 80%, usually 100%, of them by hand, it takes a while ;). I do have one gift that I know will be going on that list... I can't wait to make this for Peter :).)
Help come up with creative meals to get some of the many bulk items that we haven't been using lately out of our pantry.
Pick sign language back up. I'm not sure how, but Tori and I kind of just quit moving forward with it, though we do still use what we've learned. You are supposed to be able to learn in a week if wanted?...
Finish reading the driver's manual that Daddy bought me :P... I don't really want to drive, but I know that, even if  Daddy let's me decide when I learn, I'll have to learn some time, and I'd rather I got as much learning as possible out of the car ;). It doesn't help that all my friends are talking about learning to drive and how *wonderful* it is... eighteen wheelers coming inches from them... forgetting they have breaks on the car... running into a/c units the first lesson...
And finish memorizing Philippians 1:27- 2:11.
(And get a certain post out of draft mode, haha!)
I may keep you updated on any progress on the list :).

Unplanned post: Cats

I wasn't planning this post when I told you all what posts to look for, but last Thursday we had this Mother cat with her three kittens show up on our deck. They are adorable :). They are not exactly living on our deck, but they do keep visiting. There is no way we could keep them (Daddy and Andrew are allergic to cats, and Bethi is also more mildly allergic), but it is fun to watch them when they are around.
Tori has since named the Mother "Clarabelle' (shortened to "Belle", as I seriously could not say "Clarabelle" without think of a cow, lol...) and the gray one she called "Bamboo". Yes, I know, once you name it you start getting attached to it. Which is why I waited for Tori to do it ;). The black ones are not named yet... well, nothing more than "first black kitten"and "second black kitten". (When Mother showed up with these six week old kittens, she only had two, but she ended up being, I guess, reunited with the other black one by the end of the day?). It was cute watching Belle and Bamboo playing leap frog Sunday morning :). Although, I personally love how she sends them outside to play while she sits on our deck steps and watches them... right after bath time :)!
*All the items on the picnic table are things that Daddy was using to make a plague for the living room. I'll have to get a picture, it is beautiful :)!

P.S.... On a sadder note, my Aunt's cat, Rugby, mentioned in my "Artisphere" post, although announced healthy, past away a couple weeks ago. She was a sweet, shy cat (even when we kept her awake until three o'clock in the morning last August (Aunt Amber said "It's bad when your CAT has bags under her eyes!")) and we will miss playing with her.

A regular post...

Need I mention that this is "another scatter-brained post"? That's all I post, right :)? Haha!
We had a great time at the "Teach Them Diligently" conference in Spartanburg a couple weeks ago! We got to hear Mr. Voddie Baucham, Mr. Ken Ham, Mr. Doug Phillips, and the Mally children. I got to talk to Miss Sarah Mally while Daddy paid for a couple of their books, and to Miss Grace Mally when my friend Kaitlyn introduced me to her- Kaitlyn had helped them pass out tracts the day before :). And Daddy was able to talk to Mr. Voddie Baucham :). We visited our Grandparents while we were down there, and then headed home. It seems that we picked some cold up while we were gone, but we are doing much better now... just coughs left.
Since then, we have been getting ready for the baby (due next Saturday!). I still have to finish the second baby blanket... It is taking longer than I thought it would at first, and I'm running out of time!!! And I still want to make some little froggie booties to go with it :)...
Speaking of frogs, our winter was so warm this year (although we did get hail the other day!!!?), that the frogs have already started coming to sit on our window at night (they do this every spring/summer- we live right beside a retention pond that is full of them!). They don't usually start until May or June!!! Abbi is so excited, and she has got Emmi pretty excited, too :)...
Anyway... that is a bit of what we have been doing since I last posted (and we do have a couple of posts up on our new blog since we started it... only a couple... but, hey, at least a couple!!!). Hopefully I'll get to posting more regularly again soon :)!

I'm back :)...

I think it is about time for a real post, right? I know, it's been a while... I've just found other things to occupy me :)!
The past few weeks we have been getting settled back into our school schedule after taking a two week break, since Daddy got some vacation time during the first two weeks of January! We were so glad that he was able to spend that time at home!
Now, we are back into our normal schedule. Added to all the school, cleaning, meals, and family time that are a part of our day, we all are working on some special goals, also. Mommy is working on reading the Bible through in 40 days (which means about three hours worth of Bible reading a day), while Tori and I just finished month two in our goal of reading the Bible through in three months (about an hour of reading a day), and Bethi is getting ready to start trying to read the Bible through in a year (about three chapters a day, I believe).
Emmi is working on memorizing the chorus to "To God be the Glory", while Andrew and Abbi are trying to "learn how to play" the recorder, violin, and ukulele (read; like making the noise that those instruments give :)!). (Although I have a (very) small knowledge of the recorder and violin, I am not good at any of these instruments, and only slightly better at the piano. Someday, sometime, maybe I'll get brave and set out to learn how to play something well, haha!)
And now, I have taken on a new project. I am recreating a baby doll blanket that Mommy had as a little girl, in hopes that it will be useable for our baby, due in eleven weeks. 46 inches long, 39 inches wide, and 13 color changes, without counting the boarder, done in fanfare stitch. My hope is to be done before March. It may happen... it may not... but I'm going to try!
So, that is what we have been up to! (And, in case anybody has been wondering, yes, we had a wonderful Christmas... and I fully planned on posting about it... but time got away with me, and I had no pictures to share (I found out my camera card was full at 12 o'clock on Christmas Eve...) so, let it suffice to say that we had a wonderful day, and it was very enjoyable to have a day spent together while rejoicing in our Savior's birth!)

Some more news...

I know, most of my posts are meaningless right now, without a really "theme". Once life slows down a bit, I have several posts in mind. Like a post of all the cute pictures of Abbi and Emmi reading together the past two days... like a post of all the crafting I've been doing lately... like the story of Abbi and her flowers... but that will have to wait. We have been so busy lately, and will be so busy the rest of the week, but I'm hoping next week to catch up on all the posts I have wanted to do the past few days :).
(For a good idea of how busy we are today, look at our plans: We're hoping to make twelve loaves of bread (today I reached a goal I have aimed for for about a year: I can now mix up bread to the point where the mixer does the rest of the work, without leaving a mess behind me, in five minutes!!!), four batches of granola (that is over thirty-five cups of granola!), clean up the car, and catch up on laundry!)
Last Saturday we went to the fair (I didn't get pictures, because it was a surprise). While there, I met a GROUP of tatters!!! The Palmetto Tatters were there giving demonstrations (I learned how to do split rings while we were there!) It was so neat, because I have never met ANYBODY who knew how to tat, although most of my friends want to. I never met my Great-Great- Grandmother, who did tat, so this was a first time event :). It was so fun :)!!!
I'll try to come back with a real post soon :)...

Flower tales

"Roses"
Roses are pretty things;
Some white, Some pink,
Maybe some blue.
They smell so good
And look so good too!
I love roses. Don't you?
~ Bri


"My Little Flower"
I picked a little yellow flower
Just yesterday,
so it is very new.
it is very pretty too!
And I like, it wouldn't you?
~Tori

Doll house news....

Many of you have not seen the people to the doll house so I took a picture:


Have I mentioned that the doll house people have gotten new additions to their family? They're from Grandma & Grandpa.........

One little barn,

one little groom,

seven little horses.



Isn't it pretty? At the fence is the horse's groom, and the doll house family's cousin who's parents are deceased (because Tori thinks it doesn't fit to have their "real" daughter is over a head taller than her Dad ;)...) so she lives with her cousins. It just so happens that she comes from a very tall family ;).

The horses names are Bullseye, Black Beauty, Sarah, Johnny, Rosy, Gray & Gray Black.
And that completes the line up of the Doll House family (except Edward who is at "camp". Actually... he's lost. Whatever works.)

Penguins, and bears, racoons AND owls OH MY!

You may be thinking that this post is about the zoo but it isn't. This is about what I've learned through reading and thought might interest you. Lately I just finished a penguin (Tori's), bear (Tori's), raccoon (mine) and we're on the owl book but, since it's mine, I've read it so I can tell you about owls too, so here it goes!

PENGUINS!

The first weird thing was you can tell if a Empire penguin is a girl or boy. You want to know how? The boy is the one who keeps the egg warm so he has a feathered flap to keep it warmer. Secondly they only lay one egg each year. And thirdly some Empire penguin eggs are as big as a grapefruit! And last of all "When a group of penguins reaches the ' shoreline' the birds don't always rush into the water right away, even if they are very hungry. Often, one brave bird jumps in first to make sure the water is safe and no predator is nearby that might attack. Then the rest of the penguins jump in, sometimes all at once"*!!! Just thought you might be interested.

BEARS!

1: Black and brown bears are not always black and brown.

2: Brown bears have smaller ears, and whiter nails (don't even try to tell by the nails though!).

3: Some bears SLEEP on crooked branches!

(And have you ever seen a baby bear and thought "Oh, aren't they cute!"?)

RACCOONS!

1: They can open doors by them selves!

2: (This is my all time favorite) If mother racoons think their playing is too rough she tells them to calm down by growling. If that doesn't work she cuffs them on the ear or spanks them.

OWLS!

1: They can turn their heads TOTALLY BACKWARDS!

2: They also send messages with feathers that look like ears!

Well that's all I have for you.


*Quoted from All About Animals: Penguins, published by Reader's Digest Young Families

A little more about what I like

I'm a real big lover of horses! I read all I can on them, and I want to share a few things on them and so, here it is... Did you know that baby Falabellas are only about 22" tall? That's how big Andrew was when HE was born! And I've also found out that in some lights black horses look purple! Weird right? (Oh and Falabellas are the smallest HORSE in the world!)

 Wow! I think that's all I have for you now, so  I will say... Bye!

Old adventures...........some were painful!

One was me getting stuck in my room when I was 4. ;) The house we lived in at that time was interesting. The house had hard floors for soft floors, soft floors for hard floors and many other things. Anyway, one day I got mad, slammed the door and got stuck. Mom had to pry the door (you know, take two planks out of the door) while Tori looked on. :P That wasn't too comfy! And then there was the time I cut my eyebrow by tripping into a chair because I was running in Grandpa's slippers, now I can laugh at how silly I had been. And the day I had to shout "No worries it was just a lid!", that was a day I was making muffins. Every thing was going wrong that day! I was making messes right and left! It was really funny. When I told Dad about it he said, "So, I think it's a pizza night", that made up for all the un-fun stuff that morning!