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Today's walk

Last week N. wanted his training wheels taken off his bike, so big sister helped him with that and then he was off.  I was surprised, because he didn't need me to hold his bike and help steady it until he got the hang of it.  He just hopped on his bike and away he went.  He was so thrilled and I was just as thrilled for him!



The happy rider!

These I just had to add, I took these pictures the same day.
Little brother B. is quite happy to ride his trike or play with some of daddy's (safe) tools.  
He had this wrench and he thought it was the neatest thing. 

Little sister, she just loves to be outside.

It is a little hard to see, but there are nine blocks and they each have a flower which were made by folding and then sewing.  It was fun, just took me a few minutes to figure it out first.  Not sure I would want to sew a whole quilt like this, but it would be pretty.  I was thinking today, that I'm not sure I want to sew a large quilt.  Everything has to be so exact...  If I ever do, I will choose a simple pattern.  Doing these quilt blocks have been fun and I have learned a lot.

Here are the other blocks I have done so far.   It will be a very unique quilt when all put together.  Each block represents a month.  So there will be 12 in all. 

January block

Left to right
Aug, Sept,
Nov, Oct
and Dec.


I'll have to add March's block when I find the picture!

We hope to enjoy many more days like this too, after our work is done of course! 
This week it is suppose to rain everyday....

We have had some busy days here. 

Last week we went strawberry picking twice, I turned most of them into jam, I froze some and then the rest of the berries we feasted on.  I hope to go picking at least a couple of more times this week, hopefully we can go in between the rain showers.  My goal is to make 52 jars of jam and have a few bags of yummy berries in the freezer.  Strawberry jam is the all time favourite around here!  This was the first summer that B. (3) helped pick the berries and he so enjoyed it and filled a basket almost all by himself, he let me and only me help him top the basket off.  K. (1) enjoyed eating the berries and walking down the rows near us.   The older girls were a great help, I wish now I had taken my camera out into the fields to take a few pictures, hopefully next time!  I see now I don't have pictures of my girls helping here.  On a different note, I was thinking while picking the strawberries, that this is my third summer to be pregnant during the whole summer,  this being our third baby to be due in the early fall.    I don't mind at all, just thought it was interesting.  


My mom, the girls and boys hulled all the berries and then they took turns mashing them for jam.  N. and B. were such a great helpers and stayed with the job until it was all done.


Here I am stiring the jam to keep it from burning.  I used my lovely new apron that I received from a dear MOMYS friend in our last apron swap.  Guess what fruit is on the apron......  strawberries!

Cooling jars of jam....

I have laundry hanging out on the line almost every sunny day!

One day last week, we had a thunderstorm pass over and this is what the sky looked like just before the rain came down.  We found out later that a tornado touched down about 15 minutes from us and destroyed a home. Thankfully the person inside the home was unhurt.   It is rare to have tornados around here. 

Anyway, a quick peek into last week.  I will do another post on our first trip to the lake this summer and fun in the sprinkler. 

 Summer is a pleasant season!

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June 24, 2008 was a big day for us.  It was the beginning of our dreams come true, the ground was broken for our new house!  It was an exciting day!  A lot has happened since eventful day and we have learned a lot and the Lord has been good to us through this whole experience.  We have had stressful times, but the Lord was with us through it all.  He is faithful!  We are not in the new house yet, something we thought for sure that by this time we would be.  We have had a few "dates" in mind when we thought we would be, but those have all come and gone.  We are now hoping to move in sometime during the month of July 2009.  Through this whole experience, the Lord has shown me that He does indeed have a perfect plan for our family, but we just need to trust Him that it will happen all in His time.  For He does make all things beautiful.

So I thought I would share some pictures from that happy day one year ago and  then a few pictures of what the house looks like now.  To read more of our story and to see pictures, you can read them here.

My mom and I standing at the place where our front door was going to be.

June 2009

Back of house

East side of house

West side of house

Still lots of work to do, but we are getting so close to moving in!  Inside the house is all painted and most of the floors are done as well.  Kitchen is in too.   Just a couple of bathrooms, laundry room and school room need the floors finished. Trim and doors also need to be put on, but they are all sitting in the house just waiting to be installed.  This week or next, the soffits and fascia will be installed, then the house will look finished on the outside, except the missing deck in the back of the house.  There is some inside clean up that needs to be done like windows need washing and some vacuuming. For the outside around the house there is a lot that needs doing too.   This has been quite the adventure and I'm not sure I would want to do it again, but the Lord has taught me so much and for that I am thankful.

In His time, in His time,
He makes all thing beautiful in His time.
Lord, my life to You I bring,
May each song I have to sing,
Be to You a lovely thing, in Your time.

In Your time, in Your time,
You make all thing beautiful in Your time.
Lord, my life to You I bring,
May each song I have to sing,
Be to You a lovely thing, in Your time.

~Diana Ball

"Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain." Ps. 127:1

"He hath made every thing beautiful in his time:"
Ecclesiastes 3:11

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For today's walk, I thought I would look through some older pictures and see what I could find to share today.  I came across this one and thought it was precious.  Our oldest daughter is sitting here with our bunny Buttercup.  This was taken August 2004.   Our children have had a lot of enjoyment with our pet bunny and I just realized that we have now had Buttercup for five years.  How the time flies. 
Buttercup was one of our very first pets. 


Short, but a sweet memory to share today.  

I did share another memory about Buttercup here.

     

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Today's challenge was to clean out or organize a drawer or closet.  So for this challenge I choose my desk!  Not exactly a drawer or closet, but it did indeed need my attention. 

Before picture...

After picture....

Does it ever feel great to sit at a tidy desk again!  Now to just keep it this way would be lovely. 

Otherwise, the day was spent doing some laundry, running a few errands and then planting a bit more in the garden.  It was a good day, we have much to be thankful for. 

But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
To him be glory both now and for ever.
2 Peter 3:18

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Today Tammy challenged us to show those around us how thankful we are for them.   We had a usual day here, but I made sure those around know I was thankful for what they had done.   I was also blessed today with a thank you card plus note from friends.  It really brightened up my day and how neat for it to  have come today!

We should always be thankful and let others know we are thankful.  It is not always easy, but this challenge gave me something to think about.  We, or at least I know I do, often get caught up with what needs doing, but do we really let others know we are thankful.  How often to we thank our heavenly Father for all the many blessings He gives us??

Praise ye the LORD. O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.
Ps. 106:1

It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and sing praises unto thy name, O Most High."
Ps. 92:1

We can never be too thankful.  Have you thank the Lord today?

Where we have built our new house, we are on 46 acres of land.  We have a small hay field which my dad cut last week.  On Friday most of it was baled.  There was a chance of rain for today, but praise God it didn't rain and we got the rest baled and picked up.  The pictures are all from today. On Friday, I was working in our new garden, which I will share about in a new post.  Anyway, I didn't take to many pictures then. 

Our precious little daughter, she thought it was neat to stand on the hay wagon.

B. just loves riding in the tractor!!

He can't wait until he is big enough to drive it.  

Here was something this pregnant mama could do....
drive the tractor while the others loaded up the hay. 
Just in case you are wondering the door was closed while I was driving. 

When I was driving the tractor, B. was telling me that he is a big boy, but that is because I said that only big boys could drive tractors.  bringing the hay has always been a fun thing to do.  When my parents first bought the farm when I was 17, we had a bigger hay field and it was fun, but yes, lots of hot, hard work.   Now over the years, I haven't always been able to help, but I still love the smell of freshly cut hay and enjoy the times I am able to help.   I'm a country girl!! 

Here is a picture of our cat when she was a bit younger and our son who was 2 at the time.  This was taken in June of 2005.  I just had to add a picture to today's walk. 

My happy helpers

Delighted to plant!

N. wanted to take a picture of me, so here I am standing by one of the planters we filled.

After supper was bath time for the younger children, K. was so cute after her bath and today was her first day in braids.   So precious!

 

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks;
for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
1 Thess. 5:16-18

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Didn't do this one....

3. Clean up or organize a pile. A pile of dishes, a pile of laundry, a pile of papers... whatever needs your attention most urgently! :)

I do have some piles, but I didn't have a chance to get to this one today.  My morning was taken up with school, cleaning out the drawers and preparing lunch.  Then husband and I were out all afternoon.

4. Spend some quality time with your family. Look into their eyes and laugh with them! Do something out of the ordinary for or with at least one of your family members. :)

If I had have been home this afternoon, I would have done more, but when cleaning out the drawers my boys saw our popsicle forms. Sorry don't know what else to call them!  So when I said yes we would make popsicles, their eyes just lite up!

Here B. is finding enough sitcks

Now he was just waiting for the orange juice to  thraw a bit.   Now they are sitting in the freezer ready to eat tomorrow!

Three of our children were allowed to go with my dad and mom to visit great Oma, they had a lovely time out.  My husband and I were left with just the oldest and youngest.  We made a visit to the library and brought some seeds for the garden and flowers for the planters on our deck.

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For today's walk down memory lane I thought I would share some pictures that have been taken on or around Mother's day since 2006.  We have this lovely tree in the front yard that blooms these tiny pink flowers before the leaves come out.  So I have gotten a picture with the children by it.  I'll have to plant a lovely spring flowering tree at our new house, so that I can keep up the tradition.  

2006

2007

2008

2009


It is neat to see how the children have grown and changed over the years. 
Our family has grown too.   Next year if I have a picture taken on Mother's day we will have another little one with us, Lord willing. 

We are so blessed and God is so good.

Here is Tews Falls, not much water goes over this one,
but it sure goes a long way down.

Our happy little girl, she was quite fascinated with the view.

Websters Falls

Again, our little girl watching the rushing water pass by.

My sweet husband waving to us from the bridge.

Daddy and his baby girl

Just before we left for home, the children all waded in the stream. 
Baby really would have a liked to get in too,
but she was happy to a least get her hands in the water.

The children found this "gorilla face" on a root by a large willow tree.
It is a bit crooked.... 
We had a lovely afternoon hiking and visiting with friends we have not seen for a number of years
 and it is always a blessing to be out in God's creation.

The main house

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Today's walk is short and brief, I am having a very busy week!  I almost skipped out, but then thought of this to share. 

Story time with Daddy is a very special part of our day and it is usually during evening worship.  Right now we are reading through Little Pilgrim's Progress.   Sometimes if the evening has gotten late Daddy will take the younger ones up to the boys room and read them a story there. 

This picture was taken in 2008

Here is a song we have sung since before my husband and I were married or even thinking of marriage.  The family my husband lived with sang this song just about everyday and we as a family sang it often too.  A perfect song to sing just before you tuck your sweet little ones into bed. 


Bright stars are watching the world as it sleeps
Shepherds watch over the little white sheep
The lighthouse is shining for ships far at sea
As God keeps the night watch for you and for me.

So sleep, sleep in peace and rest
Don't be afraid of the darkness
All's well for over the land and the sea
God's keeping the night watch for you and for me.

Dreams you have cherished are broken and gone
Heart's dearest treasures have all been withdrawn
But when its the darkest, He nearest to thee
For God keeps the night watch for you and for me.

So sleep, sleep in peace and rest
Don't be afraid of the darkness
All's well for over the land and the sea
God's keeping the night watch for you and for me.

~author unknown

Verse two we often leave out, but it is very meaningful as well so I have included it here.