The weekend

I made a cake for our Sunday afternoon fellowship. It was the anniversary of our Pastor and his wife. We had such an enjoyable afternoon despite how hot it was!!

Here are some pics of the girls before church in the morning. Oh how fast they are growing up!

Giveaway

Big givaway going on over at Raising Homemakers right now. I'd love to win this collection of books from Sally Clarkson! Enter for your chance to win all 6 books!

Updates

An update of the past several days....

Our boy is now riding his bike like a pro....almost. Today was the first time he got to ride his bike around the block as we went for our walk. I thought it was about to end in disaster as he rode down the hill toward our house....gaining speed, heading for the brick wall...but the brakes were applied at the LAST minute and I breathed a sigh of relief. He was soooo excited and proud of himself. He talked about it all day long :)

We are FINALLY starting to see some flowering on the hanging peas. Hopefully the rest of the produce will show some signs of flowering soon.

I FINALLY have my bathroom back! The chickens are outside for good. Today they still managed to squeeze through the wire but for the most part they stay in their temporary pen. Hubby also built a little housing area for them to sleep in at night.

I'm also getting eye-strain. From what you ask?? I've been introduced to Angry Birds!!! Who ever thought up that addictive game anyway?

Happy Anniversary!

Happy 39th Anniversary to my Mom and Dad!! We love you both so very much! Hope your day is wonderful :)

Giveaway!

Did you hop on over to A Wise Woman today? Accountable2You is giving away 2 free lifetime memberships and June did such a good job with her blog posting about the software. Hubby was really pleased. Now we pray that there will be subscribers from it!!

No more training wheels

Don't you just love the 'happy' dance!
I think he's one happy boy :)

Lilla Rose

Another Lilla Rose giveaway!!!! I can never pass up an opportunity to win one. I just love them :) Hop on over to Wise Woman Builds Her Home to enter!

Sunday

The kiddos on Sunday ready for church and some of our not-so-little baby :)

Sibling trio

I stumbled across these kids and what great voice blends!! This brother/sister trio brings back memories of my siblings and I singing at church.....(although we didn't harmonize like this!!!)

Fasting

I felt led to fast for a day a while back and after the day was over, I looked to hubby and said "I don't even know if I did that right." He encouraged me that God knows my motives, but it made us both realize we knew very little about biblical fasting which got us studying!
Fasting is something I haven't really heard preached about much. It peaked hubby's interest so he started to search for himself and we discovered some very important things.
Fasting is actually a discipline the Christian should be practicing.

Matt 9:15 And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast.

The disciples were not fasting while the Lord walked with them on earth. They were in close fellowship with Him. But Jesus says that when I leave, then the dynamics of our relationship is going to change, and that is when they will need to fast.
Biblical fasting is for the purpose of bringing us closer to God. It is a humbling of yourself before God, it is a time to allow the Holy Spirit to bring us to the place of repentance and reveal our spiritual condition and allow us to restore a more intimate relationship with God. It is a time to rely less on food and more on God himself. To have a deeper prayer time and study time with our Lord.

Matt 6:16 Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

Did you notice the first part of the verse? When you fast.....not 'if' you fast. It should be a part of the Christian walk. Jesus fasted (Matt 4:2), Paul tells us in I Cor 7:5 that a husband and wife are to only be apart physically for a time of fasting and prayer, II Cor 6:4-5 says ministers should prove themselves with fasting... Paul fasted (II Cor 11:27), Daniel fasted (Dan 10:2-3), Elijah fasted (I Kings 19:8), David fasted (2 Sam 1:12), Ninevites fasted after Jonah preached to them (Jonah 3:5), Moses fasted (Duet 9:9) ......the list goes on!
To read more about fasting, a good resource is here and there are several more good articles if you search them out.

Have we been neglecting an important discipline as followers of Christ? I encourage all of us to be in prayer about fasting and listen to God's leading about fasting.

Who do you serve?

I like the point he is trying to make.
We are not God. Our thoughts are not his thoughts. Our ways are not like His ways. Our reasoning does not even come close to God's way of doing things, so for someone to say "It's not fair for God to do this".....or "I could never believe in a God that does that".....makes us bring God down to our reasoning, our faulty sinful reasoning!! We have to accept bible truths as written, not change them to agree with our way of thinking, or what seems right to us.

"The creator's sense of justice is more developed than yours. His love and his mercy are perfect....you are the one that is flawed"

To say that God can't or shouldn't do 'this' because that is not fair, or not right, or doesn't make sense.....is human thinking. He does not owe us anything. His grace and mercy are gifts to us, not obligation. Grace is unmerited favor. It is not grace if He is obligated to give it. His Word is perfect. We need to be very careful how we talk about Almighty God. We serve a just God....not a fair God. Human reasoning wants fairness....but God is Holy. He is just. He is like no other. We need to be humble before the Almighty.

Happy Birthday

A big happy birthday to my dad! Hope you enjoyed your day....we were thinking of you!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDPA!

Memorizing God's Word

After the kids finish their lunch, we move onto our verses. I've mentioned Sonbeams before and how much we are enjoying their Bible verses, lesson and songs. I made up a binder with a list of our verses from A to Z, then list the kids name beside it. It also contains the lesson and print work to go along with it. They each have to memorize groups of verses at a time (whatever their age is, so our 3 yr old has to memorize 3 verses before getting his stickers....etc). I've also made up an index card box with the verses so they are not memorizing 'in order' of the alphabet, but they can say the verse by looking at its reference. They also get a small 'reward' after each group of verses they learn. Some letters of the alphabet have more than one verse (C - for Children is Ephesians 6:1-3). They are absolutely loving it and it is music to my ears :) We have the CD in the car, so they are constantly listening and learning everyday.
Our oldest is on verse O, our boy is on verse K, and the 3yr old is on H. They are doing a great job!!

If you could also remember my grandpa in prayer right now. He has been suffering with the shingles for a week now and it has been taking a toll on him. I know he would appreciate all the prayer he can get!!

Temporary home

The chickies are starting to get too big for the bathtub! Hubby made a temporary outside pen for them during the day. They have managed to squeeze through the wire a few times, so they aren't ready to stay outside during the night yet. In a few weeks.....

Garden

We've put together our second hanging garden structure. We're seeing some growth but no produce yet :) Not sure how long it is suppose to take. We anxiously wait.....




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Updates

What's going on over here lately?

Our chickens, although not yet big enough to stay outdoors at night yet, are getting some sun during the day :) They are getting so big!

We are doing some major spring cleaning over here. I was going through the closet and found fabric for another blanket, so I made one for baby girl since she didn't have one yet. The monkeys are so cute! I think she is enjoying it!



We've added more to our hanging garden. There are cucumbers and cherry tomatoes hanging now. Some are ready to be hung (but we need to build another stand).


Found this guy sun bathing on our deck. Almost didn't see him!

Blessings!

Look how much we've been blessed. Brings a smile to my face :)

What a mess!

I think this may be the longest I have waited before letting our child feed themself. Our almost 17 month old got to dive into her oatmeal this morning all by herself.....not so great since it ended with a broken bowl on the floor!
She switched back and forth between her left and right hand, so I'm not 100% sure that she is a righty yet. Time will tell.
It made for some cute photos though :)

Spring

Hanging garden

We have tried in the past to plant a garden and it has never turned out. One year a rabbit ate all our growth, and the next year nothing produced except miniture mouthful melons. So this year hubby has decided to try the hanging garden (topsy turvy). We have planted green beans, peas, and roma tomatoes thus far. We will see how it goes!!! Hopefully better than our previous attempts :)

Here are some updated pictures of our babies...haha. Their full names are:
Martha Washington, Betsy Ross, Laura Ingalls, Amelia Earhart, Louisa May Alcott, and Pocahontas. They are starting to grow feathers on their wings and budding some tail feathers as well!