Belated haircuts, pears, and Cecropia caterpillar

The only fruit we got this year was from our pear tree. The ice storm in Jan. damaged our trees and we had to do some major pruning. But I do think they will recover and produce again next year.


These pics date back about 3 weeks, but I thought you might like to see them all the same. Rose donated 12 inches of her beautiful golden hair to Locks of Love. She enjoys the shorter hair. She looks so different that her Sunday School teacher didn't recognize her! Kate also had her hair cut short before she left for college.



We found this huge cecropia moth caterpillar in our yard. This was the largest caterpillar we have ever seen.

Summer stuff

I was organizing pictures today and realized that I neglected to post these three videos for your enjoyment, so here they are in no particular order:
finding a copperhead in the field;
the little girls swinging on a double-decker swing that they designed themselves;
and our pet squirrel, Twinkie, making a nest on the bookshelf. We have since released Twinkie at Grandpa's house. He still hangs around to get easy snacks that Grandpa leaves out for him. (too many cats at our house)

May 2009

No way! I can't believe it's been so long since I last blogged! Well, we had a lot going on last month, so here are some highlights:
--We graduated our first child from our Homeschool! She is planning to attend Covenant College in the fall-- right after she fulfills her duties as bridesmaid to her best friend who is getting married at the end of August!
--I had my 40th birthday. When asked what I wanted for my birthday, I only had two answers-- a milk goat, and squirrel babies.
--I got new squirrel babies! No lie! I had given my name to the local vet clinic in case anyone found some orphans, and voila! I now have a pair of cute baby boys about 7-8 weeks old. They were just barely opening their eyes when they came to me, so they are not as tame as Chippy was. I will probably release them back to the wild at 12 weeks old.
--Our huge old barn was damaged recently in some wind storms, so with the insurance money we received, we are putting on a new roof and patching holes and loft boards. We have about 100 square bales of hay in the loft, so I hope it doesn't rain much. Speaking of rain, we have had record rainfall this spring. The farmers are way behind.
--Our oldest is having all her wisdom teeth taken out by an oral surgeon on Monday. Our son, 14, is scheduled to have braces put on this summer, and I'm wondering how all this and college is going to be paid for. But God is the most excellent provider, and I'm not worrying.
--We put up the pop-up pool today. Now it finally feels like summer :)

Pigs, Goats, and Angels

This lady just drove up to our house to tell us that a large black pig, and a huge red goat are tearin' up her place, and did we know who they belonged to? She heard we had goats. Well, years ago we had some goats, but none now, and I draw the line at pigs. I'm looking to buy a milk goat, and as she was leaving I thought to ask her if it was the milking type, maybe we could catch it. I told Ricky to run out to her and ask her if it was a milk goat. He said, how would she know that? I said to ask her if it has an udder. He started laughing so hard at the thought of asking that, that she got away before he could catch her. Oh well, if you know of one for sale....

Here's the Christmas angel

An Evening of Family Fun

Ahh...nothing puts me in the Christmas spirit like clean windows... You don't need to comment that I'm a neat freak-- I know. Anyway, after cleaning windows yesterday we decided to all go bowling and eat pizza out. Ricky was the high scorer with a 171. He had five strikes in a row! I mentioned that proffessional bowlers can make a lot of money, but he didn't seem interested in that career. Then we stopped and bought a Christmas tree-- a REAL one of course, and this evening we are decorating. Here's a new video of Chippy eating a piece of popcorn.

The Disappearing Dog

Just a cute video...

Kids are Wonderful

When I'm having a hard day, they never fail to lift my spirits. Take yesterday, for example. I was quite drained emotionally when we sat down for dinner (without Dad, again), then a montage of entertaining fragments ensued, refreshing my sense of humor and boosting my morale. Such as:
"Mom, when I'm eight, can I join an Indian tribe?"...
"I think I'm allergic to my bra."...
"The next person that says the word 'hate' has to do the dishes."... "Yeah, so don't say hate--oops!"

Undeserved Grace

C said the cutest thing at dinner today. Daddy had cooked some steaks and put one on each of our plates. C picked up the entire piece of steak on her fork and put it in her mouth. Daddy said, "Wait honey, and let Daddy cut that up for you. You shouldn't eat it that way, it's bad manners." To which C replied, "It's OK, I'm only sucking on it."

On a more serious note, little R said something profound. We were practicing our catechism and came to question 56: "How does God justify you?" The answer is: "God forgives all my sins and accepts me as righteous through Christ." I tried to explain that because Jesus took the punishment for our sin, God completely forgives us. And furthermore, when he looks at us he doesn't see us as sinners, all he sees is Jesus. So in effect, we are as clean and sinless as He is. Little R looked up at me with her sweet brown eyes and said so sincerely, "I don't deserve that." Exactly. None of us do. It's called Grace.