Spring Forth Farm

We have some friends at our church who left a very comfortable lifestyle in Colorado to live on a farm with their 4 boys. One day last week we went over and spent the day with them. We toured their farm and then as the boys played in the mud I tried to squeeze as much wisdom out of the mom as I could. I inquired about discipline, homeschooling, fertility, gardening, raising godly boys and everything in between. She is a wealth of wisdom and is doing a fantastic job with her husband raising their children.

It was such an encouragement to see a family a few steps ahead of us, who shares our not-so-popular values who has children who are thriving like they are. Such confirmation to know that all this hard work will pay off if we are diligent in seeking the Lord's guidance. Parenting is hard work, but He is faithful!

If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. James 1:5



...being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. ~Philippians 1:6

This family is so inspiring and such an answer to prayer. God, you are so good!

Baby Sweet

Our little girl has dozens of nicknames. The boys have given Annabelle many nicknames of their own. The most often used by them lately is "Baby Sweet". It sounds more like "bibi sweeeeeet" in a very small mouse voice.

It's adorable how much they love her.

Joseph Accepts Christ!

This past week the boys were both able to go to a Vacation Bible School through a church nearby. They were thrilled beyond belief that they could go together. Here they are with all their loot one night.

Samuel looks shorter than Joe, so, I just had to figure it out once and for all their height difference. Looks like they are exactly the same size.

Joseph was talking all about his first ever VBS experience. He was so excited. He loves new things and meeting new people. I was so thankful that he was able to have this experience, but never really considered what an impact it would have on him.

Ever since Samuel accepted Christ, Joseph has been saying "God is working in my heart, and I'm almost a Christian, but not yet."

We always thought that was pretty profound for a 3 year old.

So, this particular night (Tuesday, Aug 9) Joseph was in his bed waiting for me to come in and do our nightly routine. He came running into the bathroom where I was with Samuel and yelled "tonight's the night! I want to become a Christian tonight!"

Andy was out to dinner with people from work so I called him and he was on his way home. I told Joseph that we would wait for Daddy to come home so he could help him pray. When he heard Andy opening the front door, he yelled "He's home!!! I can be a Christian now!" After Andy talked with him, he prayed and asked Jesus to come into his heart and forgive him of all of sins and asked him for the strength to live for him all of his days.

We were totally shocked. It was more than overwhelming to have Samuel come to know Christ at age 4, but then 5 months later to have Joseph accept Christ as well. We have been speechless since then. They obviously have a long road ahead of them to fully understand the depth of this decision (don't we all), but to the extend of their understanding of the gospel, they want to claim it as their own and make their relationship with Christ personal.

I gave Joseph a 'christian necklace' as they call it, just like Sam. And they bounced all around the room together for quite some time. Excited by Joseph's recent decision, but I'm sure the cupcake with icing they had at VBS didn't help. Ugg!


The next morning Joseph had this huge wave of sadness rush over him. I asked him what was wrong. He asked "Mommy, are there two Gods?" And I reminded him that God was in 3 parts, but that there was only 1 God." He said "Oh NOOOOO! That means that Sam isn't a Christian anymore!" He thought that since he was now a Christian and Christ was living in his heart, that he must have had to leave Samuel's heart to live in Joe's heart. Then he asked if maybe God was in Sam's heart and Jesus was in his heart. Makes sense to a 3 year old, but bad theology :) Once I was able to walk through how God can be in every one's hearts who trust in Him, he was so relieved and hasn't worried since.

It's very cool that however different the gospel was preached to Joseph, it was just what he needed to make everything fit together. We are so thankful that we live in a country that has freedom of religion to allow our child the opportunity to hear the good news of Christ preached outside of our home.

As we celebrate 11 years since our first date today, we are overwhelmed at God's goodness in our lives. He has blessed us with an amazing marriage, 3 fantastic children, with 2 of them who have accepted Christ. That's a whole lot to be thankful for.

I Heart NY

My Dad's side of the family was having a family reunion in New York where most of them live. I would have moved a mountain if necessary to make sure I was there. It's been entirely too long since I've seen some of that side of the family and I wasn't going to miss this opportunity.

So, the 3 kiddos and I took a road trip! It was so much fun to be on the road with them. They were such troopers riding over 1,200 miles in only 1 week, missing naps, staying up late, eating meals on the run and being confined in house after house each with their own set of rules.

Needless to say, it wasn't the most stress-free trip, and no one witnessed the most impressive days of my mothering to date, but God is faithful and he certainly blessed us with an amazing time with our family and friends.













It was so much fun, we're considering making it a yearly trip!

My Summer Sewing Class

For 6 weeks over the summer I have been able to take a sewing class with one of my friends, Kim. It has been awesome. We were the only two in the class and really were able to cover some good ground with our sewing skills. There were a lot of firsts for me in this class:

I tried sewing with my serger for the first time.
I sewed with a knit fabric for the first time.
I used elastic thread for the first time.
I finished my first (and second) dress for Annabelle.
I made sleeves for the first time.
I made something with a button for the first time.

I can hardly keep this girl still now that she's walking. So here's the best picture of this dress I could get.

The other dress is for when she's bigger so I'll post a picture of that when she's in it.

This class was a huge motivation for me to get over this sewing bump-in-the-road I was finding myself in. I learned a lot of skills that will keep me busy for some time.

Kim and I are going to try and keep up with our Friday night sewing together and inviting girls from the church who want to learn to sew. About 12 of them (it seems) are pregnant so I think I'll be walking them through some baby quilts. I'm very excited to be using this hobby of mine to help others.