Here's what the children are up to!

 Cherise H. is helping me out this winter in the house. I've been so glad for her help already! Here the children are enjoying a story with her. (Amy S., do you notice the wall? Thanks for the ideas!! :) )

 Jared giving Cherlise a ride in the wheelbarrow.

 Somehow Weston snagged someone's hat! :)

Looks like a nest of little birds don't they? Cherise was sharing out some after supper treat. :)

More on the fence...

 ...and the next morning the fence was cut in 3 places! (more on that in the next post)

 installing a passage gate...

 ... locking it for the first time...

 John Robert R. and Jonas L. working on the fence.

 John and Enos stringing out the wire...

And these little guys are just enjoying the entertainment...

The fence...

Hello from TR! The fence is done! Sorry, I've taken so long to get these pictures posted, but I'll try to get 'em all posted over the next week or so. :) Many thanks to the team from Indiana for their hard work!

 The children loved being able to go out and watch the progress - or even try their own hands at helping.

Thanksgiving Project...

I know this is way late, but I just didn't have time to post these pictures before, and now I'm just making the time... :)

Lor's sister sent down the ingredients to make these turkeys, and the school children just LOVED creating them...

 Weston had fun taste-testing! :)

 We used the turkeys in a treasure on Thanksgiving day, but I'm afraid you'll have to wait for another day to see those pictures!

Still here... :)

No, the internet is not down... the computer didn't quit (even though the keyboard is on the blink due to a water spill), and no, the camera didn't go on the blink either...

It's just... well... B.U.S.Y. around here...

See what we're doing????

 This is our new 31,000 gallon cistern! I wish it was done already - it's dry season now, and we're buying all of our water again...

Jared, Kenneth and Jonathan trailed me out to the building site, and I snapped this picture of them watching...

 It was totally intriguing watching the "boss" throwing the plaster on the walls. Even though he complained about getting a bath in mud, it kind of looked like fun! Sling, scoop, sling... :)

 And yes, this is what my front yard looks like now... The children don't like having to stay inside so much, so they're not in the way of the workers...

 This shot is from the roof of the house (yes, it is flat :)

This addition will give us the cistern, a schoolroom, laundry room, storage room, and another bathroom!

 And these were some pictures that I took a few weeks ago, and never got them posted...

Random

 One day after rocking Weston to sleep, I laid him on the bed. When I checked on him a little while later, I discovered this kitten had found a nice cozy nest on top of him! :)

 Dad's were here several weeks ago, and we got a kick out of how Weston would sit on Dad's lap and just look and look at him!

 Rose put a blanket out on the lawn and she was soon joined by 2 toddlers who thought that she put it there for them! :)

Weston is starting to talk more and more... Sometimes it can almost be frustrating because he tries again and again to tell you something and just expects you to understand what he's saying, but all you can do is guess, and hope you hit on what he's trying to say... he'll answer "yes" or "no" to your questions, but you still never know if that's really what he was getting at. I love how he usually will say "thank you" with no prompting when you give him something, (or when he gives you something) :)

"What did you say, Mom???"

It's so cute to hear him say, "Wub ou..." (love you)

2012 Calendar

The 2012 calendar is now available. Check the calendar page for details!

Michael is 8!

Michael's birthday was on Saturday, and it was a busy day, but the look on his face when he saw his cake for the first time made all the time and effort it took to make his cake totally worth it! :)

 Happy Birthday Michael! May the Lord bless you, 

and help you to grow up to be the godly man He wants you to be! We love you!

Bits o' humor

This afternoon Rose made some iced coffee for a refreshing afternoon snack... Pretty soon I hear this little voice begging, and Weston wasn't content till he was enjoying sips of Mommy's iced coffee! It seems he thinks whatever Mommy drinks is good for him, because he always begs for sips of straight black coffee too!!!

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Last night we were already in bed when Jared called out, "I want to open the light porch!" (he wanted the porch light turned on) :)

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And yesterday after I changed the strings on my viola, the children were begging for some music. As I rosined the bow, I dropped the rosin and it shattered to bits. The children helped me pick it all up, and Jonathan (4) gave a gentle reminder, "Mommy, you should be more careful!"

One reason why I haven't posted much lately

My sister & her husband, and their 3 children came and spent 3 weeks with us. They brought Lor's cousin along with them. The time flew by so fast! Now Dad's are here. We've been so b.u.s.y, but it's so nice to see some projects get finished and other's started around here!

Earthquake flashback

 The other evening we had a Cd playing as we went about our work. The song "In the Rifted Rock I'm Resting" came on and immediately Cherlise (5) said, "Oh! That's a song from the earthquake!" I didn't understand, and asked her what she meant. "Yes," she said, "You sang that in the earthquake!" I could hardly believe my ears. I just so remember singing to calm the children (and myself!) while we endured the many hard aftershocks, and while I can see that I would've sang that song, I didn't remember any of it! It's incredible to think that she remembered the song and the scenario from when she was only 3!

In the rifted Rock I'm resting,

Safely sheltered, I abide;

There no foes nor storms molest me,

While within the cleft I hide.

Chorus: Now I'm resting, sweetly resting,

In the cleft once made for me:

Jesus, blessed Rock of Ages,

I will hide myself in Thee.

Long pursued by sin and Satan,

Weary, sad I longed for rest;

Then I found this heav'nly shelter,

Opened in my Saviour's  breast.

Peace which passeth understanding,

Joy, the world can never give,

Now in Jesus I am finding;

In His smiles of love I live.

In the Rifted Rock I'll hide me,

Till the storms of life are past,

All secure in this blest refuge,

Heeding not the fiercest blast.

It's raining!

And some of you are wondering why I'm excited about rain?! Well, if you dealt with the stress I did last week running out of water every day, and hardly being able to make a dent in the mounds and mounds of laundry, because of the lack of water, I think you would understand why I'm so excited about rain! :) We've actually had 2 inches in the last 2 days, and it's still raining. Believe me, we're putting the laundry through now! :) Thank you, to all of you that were praying for rain! I told my water ladies that I was praying for rain, and they all said that they're praying that it doesn't rain! They were loving the money they were making!

We're getting the effects of a tropical wave, and as an added benefit, we're getting lots of wind! - We've had to run the dryer today to get our clothes dry, but if it wasn't for the dryer, the generator would've been able to go at least 2 days without running at all! It's such a delightful feeling to know that you're running a household just on wind!!! :)

Priceless...

Last evening as I held Weston, I became aware of a  3 year old's head in his lap.

 Then I caught Janelle's words: "Thank you, Jesus. Thank you for Weston!" 

Some things in life aren't free, they're PRICELESS!

Happy Birthday, Rachel!

Rachel is 6! One of these days I'm planning to post pictures of my children when we got them alongside of a current picture, but for right now you'll have to content yourselves with pictures from the present! :) She had the privilege of going to market in the morning where we bought a pair of sandals for her :) That was pretty special for her!

     Rachel asked for a umbrella birthday cake, so this was our creation! :) 

 And she was pretty excited about it!

 I think one of the favorite parts of their birthday is being able to cut the cake and serve everyone!

 Don't you just love her attempts at cake cutting?! :)

Around here...

   Stomach bugs...Isn't that something that every mom just loves to deal with? Not this mom... I will go to great length to avoid  exposing my children to a stomach bug... But sometimes it's unavoidable... My sister's family is with us for 3 weeks and her three children must have picked it up somewhere along the way in traveling down... Gina tried to comfort me that it's only a 24 hour bug, and that is a comfort. BUT when there's vomiting involved multiplied by 11 children most of whom won't hit a bucket... well... let's just say that cleaning up vomit is not something I find enjoyable (!), and even just 24 hour bugs can seem to last forever when there's 11 children! Weston already had his turn and was the worst so far. Even water or juice would make him throw up, but he was a brave little thing and was soon his happy little self again...  Last night it was my birthday girl... poor thing... She threw up twice in her sleep and kept right on sleeping... we had to wake her up to get her cleaned up! She seems to be feeling better this morning, though, and I hope that she's on the mend again. Four of the children had the bug already, and I'm waiting to see if the remaining 7 get it! :(

Can you all pray that we would get rain? We collect our rain water, but when it doesn't rain, we have to buy our water... Oh for a well!!! We plan to build a cistern when we build the addition this winter, Lord willing, but in the meantime we have 2 - 600 gallon water tanks... With the houseful we have right now, and running the washers almost constantly, we're using a lot of water, and it's not been raining... Every night it thunders and I'm sure it's going to rain, but it doesn't! It would be such a blessing to have a good rain to fill our barrels... I'm having a hard time getting ladies to haul water for us, because they're all busy with other work... and we've been running out of water every day. Could you pray that it would rain today? And please do keep praying that we would be able to get a well dug up here!

I hope to post pictures from Rachel's birthday soon...