Enjoy!! 

Just thought I would share some fall pics along with this post. 

These were taken during the fall of 2004.
 N. around 20 months old.

S. (5 yrs old) showing me her large leaf that she had found. 
She enjoyed walking with her "walking stick".

My precious family. 

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This week's topic is:
Tell us about your first house - after you were married.OR If you're not married, tell us a special memory about another house you lived in.

When my husband and I were first married, we wanted to save up a bit before we bought a house. So we lived with my parents and ended up staying there for two years.   All went well living there and we experienced the joy of finding out our first baby was on the way, then her birth and watching her grow.  It was an exciting day, when good friends told us about a house for sale in the same small village they lived in, just 10 minutes away from us.  We went and had a look and liked what we saw.  We soon made an offer and it was accepted.  We were so happy and thankful to the Lord for providing this house for us.  This was in February and the owners wanted the closing date to be in June, so we had a few months to wait.  Those few months went by fast and yet slow, if that makes sense.  Finally the big day came and we moved over our things and I finally was able to unpack all of our wedding gifts and put them to use.  Our baby girl celebrated her first birthday in our new home as well. 

We enjoyed 10 years in this house and just moved out this past July.  We grew from a family of three to a family of 7 during this time. (Baby #6 will be the first baby in this new house.)  We have many happy and precious memories.  The Lord was so good to provide us with such a house, it was perfect for us and our home business.   It was time to move into a bigger home with more land.

I tried looking for a picture of our first home to share here, but my time is limited and I couldn't find the one I was looking for.  In this picture you can at least see part of it through the tree. 

(This pic was taken May 2009)

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Today's walk....

I thought I would share a picture of me from long ago...  Here I am with my goat Patches and her two babies.  My parents had goats when my brothers and I were young.  I learned how to milk and look after them.  I have great memories of our times with the goats.  Their babies were just the sweetest little things too.  One of my brother's goats had triplets twice and quadruplets once,  they were so tiny and cute.   Spring time was always an exciting time when the babies were born.  We were so excited when we would come to the shed and find new babies, or once in a while we even got to witness the birth itself.  Seemed to mostly happen at night, so it was rare.   It was sad when we had to sell the babies after they were bigger, but we couldn't keep them all!
 
This pictures was taken April 25, 1989
The kid on the left belong to my brother and his goat's name was Janet. 
The other kid on the right belong to another brother and his goat was Blackie,
she was the one that had the triplets and quadruplets. 

I'm very blessed for the childhood I enjoyed and I have such fond memories of our goats and other pets.  Living with a dry well, so no running water and so much more.  I have shared other childhood memories on Wednesday Walks  Down Memory Lane here and here.

May the Lord abundantly bless you today,
we have so much to thank and praise Him for.

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Today's walk

Sorry the scanned pictures are not the best, we had a very cheap camera at the time!

One week old

Our princess came to work with me.  Both hubby and I were working here at the time.   I sewed anything from violin case covers to the large bass bags.  Anything that had to do with the stringed instruments.  She was such a happy baby and was easy to have there with me at work.  I had a carriage that she would nap in and then I had a playpen set up for her.  Once she started to crawl, we then moved the sewing to my parents place, since that is where we were living at the time. It was just days before her first birthday that we moved into our very first home!  The sewing came along with us.  Just before our second daughter was born, my Aunt started to work for us and do all the sewing.

Her love for books started very young and she still can be found with a book in hand,
or at least one not very far away.

She loves to read and her favourite animal is horses.  She is looking forward to the day we can buy  a  horse!   She is also very interested in learning about bugs and that sort of thing.  She is a treasure and we are so thankful that she is apart of our family. 

We love you, our dear princess, and we pray that the Lord will guide and keep you in His way!

 I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go:

I will guide thee with mine eye.

Ps. 32:8

 

 

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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.

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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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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. 

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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.

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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. 

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Today's walk will again be about a walk we once took as a family with friends.  I had just given birth to our fourth child two days before on a Thursday morning and we had been invited out for Sabbath lunch.  After lunch, everyone decided it was a lovely afternoon to go for a walk.  I was feeling so good and energetic, I decided I would go along with the baby.   What a hike that was, it was longer than I thought and it was up and down steep hills etc...  I did take a short rest on a log,  but was I ever glad to see the parking lot where our van was parked.  

Here the view was beautiful and I told my husband I needed to have a picture here with baby
 since I was amazed I had gone on such a walk with a two day old baby.   We hadn't even decided completely on his name!
 October 1, 2005

Hubby and I with our newest baby boy.  I wish I had a family picture taken that day, but the older children were off with their friends. 

This was taken the following April (2006) at the same spot, so I just had to have a picture with the same sweet, but bigger baby boy.    This time I really enjoyed the walk. 

I'm still amazed, but I don't think I would do that again.  I know after the birth of our fifth baby I was not up to such a walk two days later.  Not sure I'll be up to such a walk after this next blessing either.  But you never know....

God is good!

Today's walk will be about a walk we took last summer.  It was a quiet weekend, a Sabbath afternoon and the children were getting restless.  It sort of looked like it could rain, but we decided we would try and go for a walk.  It was lovely when we first arrived at the park and the children were happy to have some space to run!

Our oldest all ready to find some interesting bugs.

Two of our children and I, our oldest son was all ready to catch bugs too!

Then the gentle shower started, we could stand under a tree and avoid getting wet.  Fortunately it was just a rain shower and not a thunderstorm!

As you can see from the pictures the children didn't mind the gentle rain and neither did my husband.  Here there is a little stream and the children love throwing stones in or it is also fun to throw in leaves or sticks on one side of the bridge and then watch for then to come floating by on the other side.

Here Baby and I were standing under a large tree, I didn't really want to get wet...

A happy little girl

Another place to stay out of the rain!

Then the rain stopped, the clouds broke up and we even saw blue sky!  So we enjoyed the rest of the walk  without the rain.  Baby wearing daddy's hat.  She is so cute!

It was a lovely walk, rain and all, and we made great memories.

Thinking back to this walk reminded me of a hymn we sing, so I thought I would share the words here today as well.

There Shall Be Showers Of Blessings

Written By: Daniel W. Whittle, 1883

There shall be showers of blessing:
This is the promise of love;
There shall be seasons refreshing,
Sent from the Savior above.

Refrain:

Showers of blessing,
Showers of blessing we need:
Mercy drops round us are falling,
But for the showers we plead.

There shall be showers of blessing,
Precious reviving again;
Over the hills and the valleys,
Sound of abundance of rain.

There shall be showers of blessing;
Send them upon us, O Lord;
Grant to us now a refreshing,
Come, and now honor Thy Word.

There shall be showers of blessing:
Oh, that today they might fall,
Now as to God we’re confessing,
Now as on Jesus we call!

There shall be showers of blessing,
If we but trust and obey;
There shall be seasons refreshing,
If we let God have His way.

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Today's walk down memory will be about a rock.  This rock was found one lovely afternoon while taking a walk along the shore of lake Erie.  My parents would take us children for a drive to the lake and then we would walk along the shore.  I use to love those walks and still love to walk along the beach!  On this particular walk, we found this huge rock full of neat fossils.  We thought it was so neat, that we decided we wanted to take it home.  So my dad picked up this "stone" and carried it all the long way back to the car.  Looking back, I'm surprised and amazed my dad did this.  This was a not a light stone, it was a large heavy rock!  I remember his feet sank deep into the sand and I'm sure he was very happy and relieved when the parking lot came into view.  

So this stone blessed our flower garden up by our house and then moved with us to the farm when I was 17.  A few years ago, my parent brought it over here to our home and said I could have it and enjoy it, so it has been sitting in our little flower bed by the driveway.   This rock will move again with us when we move to the new house.  

It is hard to see the fossils prints here, but when the rock is wet they really show up.

Right now the beauty of the daffodils are surrounding it.

These two pictures were taken in the spring of 2006 and yes, our oldest is sitting on the rock. 


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I was looking through some older photos and saw these pictures and decided I wanted to post about them today.  These two precious children are my second born daughter and my first born son (second and third born children).  Here they look so sweet together.  These were taken in November 2007.


I should print this one out so they can be reminded that they do really love each other.  LOL


Being a mother is such a high calling and sometimes it seems like such hard work.  But seeing precious pictures like these remind me that it is indeed worth it all.  There are squabbles and quarrels to deal with, but there are also times of love, peace and harmony.

And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. Ephesians 4:32

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 1 John 4:7

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May 2005

Schonbergstitch in Germany - I just like this picture.

After our time in Czech Republic, we had to say good bye to our good friends and head back to Germany.   We spent the weekend in the area of Bavaria at a lovely Pension.   Then we headed to visit  more relatives in Stuttgart.  They took us to see the place where my Oma was born and raised.  Then we walked through a quaint little village and spent the rest of the time visiting back at their garden cottage.  It was lovely and very relaxing. 
 Our sweet little boy, he looks so small here.  I do have pictures of us all taking a turn to stand with this statue.

The mill where my Great Opa worked

The house where my Oma was born and raised in.

An old monastery which had been destroyed during the time of Martin Luther.



The quaint village we strolled though.  I just love the way the houses and stores look here.  So beautiful and quaint!



Our oldest "walking" with another shopper. 

We had such a great trip and we were gone for a total of three weeks.  It was wonderful and the children traveled really well.  Our second oldest daughter did complain once about all the walking and no English.  She was getting tired of not being able to understand those around her.  It was cute.  I wished so many time I knew how to speak German, especially when visiting with my Great Aunts, Uncles and cousins.  My cousins could speak English so that really helped.   We spent our last night in a hotel near the airport and had an uneventful flight home.  God blessed us on this trip and directed our path all along the way.  I will treasure the memories always.   I have also enjoyed reliving the memories during these past few weeks.    I hope you all enjoyed a glimpse of it!

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Today's "walk down memory lane" will be about our time in Czech Republic during our trip to Europe in May 2005.  After our time in Salzburg, Austria, we made our way to good friends of ours in Czech Republic.  On route we drove for a bit in Slovakia.  We arrived at the Czech Republic border around 10:00pm at night and that was the only border who gave us a hard time.  They had us wait there for about 1/2 hour and they were even on the phone at one point, thankfully they let us continue on.  Our friends had given us basic directions to their place, but we couldn’t find the village in which they lived.  We saw some people waiting at a bus stop, so my husband stop and went and asked them for directions to the town where our friends lived.  The two of the people lived in the very town and knew right where our friends lived.  What blessed words to hear.  We gave them both a ride to the town and they showed us right where to go.  That was just another time the Lord was so good to us on our trip!  We had a wonderful time visiting with our friends and seeing the sites around the area. 

Some neat birds! 

We took a train ride just to see a different view of the country and plus our children had not been on a train before.  In Czech Republic our children had a train, bus and subway ride all for the first time.

Just a quaint little street.

In Prague, a statue of John Huss

Prague

The neat clock in Prague, we were even there at 3:00pm and saw it do all the neat things.  The 12 disciples come out on the top of the hour and I can't remember all what else this clock does.

My family and I on a busy street in Prague.

Here we just turned around and this was what we had been facing before.


All the red roofs!

I really enjoyed seeing the old architecture in Europe.  Just so beautiful!!  Our friend took us to his home town as well and we had a tour through this really old palace type place.  When our friend was young, he and his friends would go in the place using a"secret" door.  It was really interesting to hear about his adventures!  We had a great time with friends and saw many lovely sights.  We stayed a week with them.  Next week will conclude our trip to Europe.

First of all I would like to thank you all for your comments you left me in my last week's post.  I was really touch.  The Lord has been faithful to us during this past week.  Yesterday was the viewing/visitation. The funeral is this afternoon @3pmEST.

My Opa
Born in Windesken, Germany on June 9,1933
Died in Zephyrhills, Florida on March 17, 2009

In the picture, right to left, Opa, Oma with N. on her lap. Me with B. on my lap,
S. ( my oldest daughter), and then my dad with R. on his lap.

This is about the last picture I have of all of us (minus my husband unfortunately)  with my grandparents.  This was before our youngest was born.  I feel bad I don't have a more recent picture of all of us together, but I do have lots of memories of our times together, plus pictures.

Opa was such a kind and caring person.  He was always thinking of others and was ready to give a helping hand whenever possible. He always had such a positive outlook on life and how good God was. He looked great for his age and kept very active.  He is going to be really missed by not just us his family, but also the many others who knew him.  He was well loved by all, I kept hearing that over and over again yesterday.   We are comforted to know that we have Heaven to look forward too, while this is still hard, the Blessed Hope is comfort. 

I will close with these verses once again, they were quoted in the "In Memory" card for my Opa at the funeral home.

But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.  For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.  Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
1 Thess. 4:13-18


*I may update this later with some more thoughts of Opa this evening. I know I will be reminded of happy times with Opa during the funeral today.*

Last night I received news I was not expecting or ready to hear.  But then are we ever ready to receive such news....  My mom called to let me know that she had just found out that her dad (my dear Opa) had passed away from a heart attack yesterday.    It just seems so hard to believe and fathom.  My grandparents were in Florida, so it is going to be a few days before the body returns to Canada and my Oma returns home.  Please pray for all of us.  I can't type much for all the tears...

Here are some pictures I found of Opa, which I want to share.

2003 Opa holding N.

This was taken June 2004 and we were having a picnic celebrating Opa's birthday.  Here Opa was reading cards which my girls had made for him.  In the picture is R. and Opa.

My brother's wedding in 2004, Opa in on the far right.   My brother is in the middle.  :)
My husband on far left with N.

Opa talking with our fourth baby, second son.
 This was taken during the fall of 2005. 

Here are both my grandparents.
 Opa's first wife, my Oma, passed away from cancer when I was 16.
He later remarried, and they were so happy together! Anyway, this was taken in 2007. 
Their first visit after our youngest was born!

This was taken last summer. 

He is going to be really missed!  I have great memories of him from when I was growing up and I will treasure these always.  If I could I would type more, but it is hard to see here for the tears.  Praise God for the blessed hope of seeing him again when Jesus comes in the clouds of glory. 

Praying the Lord will be our comfort during this time of sorrow.

For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.  Wherefore comfort one another with these words
1 Thess. 4:16-18

For more "Wednesday Walks down memory lane", please visit Lynnette's blog
Dancing Barefoot on Weather Ground.

May 2005
Last week I shared about our time in Salzburg during our trip to Europe.  This week will be more pictures from Salzburg.  If you have seen the Sound of Music, you may recognize things in the pictures.

Salzburg Horse Fountian

The children and I in front of Horse Fountian

The Gazebo

The covered walkway, although not very covered when we were there.

Pegasus Fountain

The Steps...

Our children jumping on the steps

The Abby

Mozart's Bridge


This concludes our time in Salzburg, the next week or two I will complete our trip to Europe. Then I can sahre memories form other times and palces!

 Next week you will see pictures and hear about our time in Czech Republic.

For more "Wednesday Walks down memory lane", please visit Lynnette's blog
Dancing Barefoot on Weather Ground.