Buttons popping!!

We had a Oral Presentations/Thanksgiving meal with our homeschool group tonight.  Ben, Aaron and a friend decided to sing a trio last minute.  They practiced today and sang tonight.  First time for Aaron singing in public.  Ben has played his guitar with the youth group praise band but he also has not sung before.  Yes, Tim and I were popping buttons.  We were very proud of our young men.  Thanking the Lord for them and their abilities.  We are also very grateful for this group of fellow homeschoolers.  HEARTH has been in existence for 20 years.  Now, I can't remember what HEARTH stands for.  I will get back to you'll  on that.  :)  ENJOY!!!

BUGS BUGS BUGS and Creatures too.

Here is one of our dear bugs.  I do not know what he was but he was probably one of the scariest bugs I have seen.  Good thing I am not afraid of bugs.  He was about 3 inches long. 


 Another picture of him.  Lovely eh??

                                          You can barely see this one but notice his colors he was beautiful!!

                                    This was a good sized Katydid.  They make sooo much noise
                                         down here at night. 

                                      He is kinda cool looking don't you think.  :)

                                     I was excited to see this fellow  in my garden.  He was eating my tomatoes.  Thank goodness, They were ones I had already processed and was composting.  I am always excited to see nature like this in my backyard. 
                                                           

                                               I didn't like this guy.  He was in my house.  You can not see him well,

                                but he looked like he could sting a person.

All these bugs in a beautiful place like this.   Ahhh  West Virginia can be as beautiful as West Michigan.  But they still do not have enough water.  :)  

Thanksgiving all the time not just in November

I have so much to be thankful for, and yet, I forget to be thankful.  The Lord has provided for our family so many times and in so many ways.  October was a lean month financially, but God provided for us.  We have been looking for a AWD or a 4WD.  The Lord has provided for that need. These are big things, but what about the small things??  The daily driving for Tim as he heads to HSM,  Ben driving to school, and myself driving too. Praise the Lord for safety in all these.  Also the daily food the Lord provides. For the safety of Aaron and Ben as they rough-house, climb trees to dangerous heights, and play football.  There are so many things that we have to be thankful for.
This was brought to my attention last week with our hot water heater. I found myself praising the Lord and realizing how infrequently I thank Him for little things.  How very thankful I am for water in my home and  for the heat in my home.... Even when I feel I am overly busy, I need to remember to be thankful that I have friends that wish to see me, and places that I need to be to minister to people.  Oh Lord, help me to remember to be thankful for the little things and not just the big things.

Thursday=Math class x 2, geography, cleaning, Phy Ed Class, etc.

Yes,  all those things listed are on the schedule for today along with normal home stuff.   It is one of our busiest days.  We will leave around 1pm and get back around 8:30 to 9:00 tonight.  We set it up this way so we would not be running to town all the time. This works for the most part for us, unless life happens in ways we don't expect it to. Then it can throw a monkey wrench but that is life is it not?  You just keep going until you are done.  Praise God for his giving of strength to keep going. I just look forward to weeks where I can have more time at home. 
 I am weary today; my body woke me up at 5am.  I was not happy to look at the clock and see those numbers.  I was hoping for 7am, as I was wide awake.  It does not help that it is a dark and cool day.  Winter is on its way....burrr.
Whatever the weather is doing or whatever time you awoke this morning, keep your eyes on the giver of your strength.  Ps. 121
Have a good one all,

Let's try this again shall we???

Last time I posted on here was in 2010.  I struggle with sharing when I feel that our stuff is boring.  On top of that I am not a great writer.  Grammer is not my forte.  :)  BUT so many things have been happening in our lives that I wish to share God's goodness, some of our struggles.  How we deal with those struggles sometimes in a positve way and sometimes negative. 
This might be a longer blog as I try to do a catch up.  I am also going to start with the newer stuff and go to the older so if you wish to see new you can read a bit and sign off when you don't want to see the old.  :)


What is new as of today for us?? A new hot water heater.  This was a definite expense we could have done without right now.  But God is so very gracious.  Ben found that it had started leaking, before it was all over the basement.  I had a pile of clothes, notice 2nd picture, in the doorway.  This sopped up much of the water before it leaked into our fully carpeted basement.We are thankful  we were home while it leaked, limiting the damage.  Tim was able to put the hot water heater in, didn't get alot of sleep last night, but he was able to do it.  As you look at the first picture see the crazy pipes??  Even with that, we did not have much leaking we have so much to be thankful for. 




The new hot water heater...notice the tight quarters.  Thankful Tim is not a big man.  :)

 This is our pile of sopping wet clothes.  :)

 Our old water heater....now to get rid of it. 

We are also praising the Lord for his protection for coworkers of ours.  They were in a car accident last Thurs.  As we look at the car, the whole situation, the lack of critical injuries or even death.  We are so very very thankful.  Matilda and Carolyn were in the front they had bruises.  Matilda's older parents (Mr. and Mrs. Martin) were bruised and had a couple fractures.  Mr. Martin did go back to the hospital for blood that was pooling in his leg.  Also, the lady of the other car was having a seizure the road she was on had a drop off as she went straight across a 4 lane road.  Because Matilda hit her she did not go over that drop off.  She and her daugher are alive.  Praise God. 

On Oct. 7 and 8, I had the privledge of going to The Extraordinary Women's Conf. in Lynchburg VA.

A friend had invited me to go with her, we were sad that things in her life prevented her from going but I was still able to go.  It was a stressful week getting that figured out, but praise God I was able to go.  I had just come off a discouraging time; I was so blessed to be able to go and be refreshed.  This  allowed the Lord to bring me new focus and vision.  Tim also went through a discouraging time in Oct.  Please continue to pray for us as we serve the Lord in West Virginia.  If you would also pray with us about this: Tim has been looking for a part time job as our finances are very low.  He has not had a call back for an interview. 

When I got back from the conference, the Lord provided several serving opportunities for me.  I was able to share with a MOPS group in our area.  I shared how we are to be thankful for our big butts.  Are you curious??  Call me I would love to share.  :)  I was also able to use my voice for the Lord.  We have had company several times in Oct. We are so thankful that we can serve the Lord as we host people in our home.  I have also had the opportunity to call people and just encourage them as they walk with the Lord.  

Ben and Aaron are doing well.  School sometimes can be very overwhelming!  Aaron is behind right now and it can be a struggle when it seems that all he does is school and he is still behind.    Aha!  The pics worked out after all.  Yeah!

I think I will write another blog of some of our fun we have down here.  This next picture is a tease for that.  Beware old world.  I am being made into a West Virginia Woman.  :)

And finally in case you have forgotten what we look like.  Tim and I. 

I thought I had lost all this work.  Hopefully this will post and I will be successful in this new endeavor.

The Cascades

On May 30th, we went on a hike to some waterfalls in Virginia. The waterfalls are called the Cascades. They are two miles into the woods, a beautiful hike. We had a great time and got to know a couple from Worship @ Wade who went with us.

We are looking forward to coming up to Michigan later this month.

Victor Wooten

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/45171/victor_wooten_amazing_grace_bass_solo/

Someone knows how to play a bass guitar ??? Just Maybe :)