Living For Jesus

Shadows in the Night Chapter 3: The Characters

2011-02-15T08:52:00.000-08:00

Chapter 3: The Characters

Now, this is the writer speaking, before we go any further I think you should get to know the characters. We'll start with Father and Mother.

Father's eyes are grey, his birthday is August 2, 1967. He is 45. He started farming at the age of six. He was raised Amish, sirname: Richardson. His hair is black wavy and has silver streaks.

Mother. Her eyes are blue, her hair is blonde with brown streaks. Her birthday is March 18, 1969. She is 43. She started first grade at the age of four, she was extremely smart. She got a Master's degree in college. She was raised modern.

Jeff. His eyes are green, his hair is a sorta dark chocolate brown. His birthday is February 13, 1997. He was average in school, he is working on Algebra. It's a small burden on his young but strong shoulders. He is fourteen.

Tim. His eyes are grey. His birthday is October 11, 1999. He is pretty much average in school but he has an extraordinary talent for putting things together without instructions. His hair is blonde with brown streaks. He is 11.

Tara. Her eyes are clear blue, her hair is midnight black and very curly. Her birthday is June 19, 2003. She is in third grade. She is a very lady-like little girl, she is eight years old.

Sarah. Her eyes are clear blue, her hair is midnight black and very curly. Her birthday is June 19, 2003. She is in third grade. She's more of a kinda sorta tomboy. She is eight years old and loves horses. She and Tara and pretty much identical except Sarah has a freckle at the very tip of her nose.

Sally. Sally's eyes are brown with yellow flecks in them. She has blonde, mid-back, wavy hair. She is in preschool and advancing fast. Sally's birthday is April 23, 2007. She loves to tell everyone her ABCs.

New baby. Well, I can't tell you much about it, let me think. It looks like the baby is going to have some kind of disability. It is premature. It's due date is June 13, 2011. I just can't stand calling the baby "it" all the time.

Belief: They homeschool. And they are Mennonite.

"Shadows in the Night" Chapter 2: On the Road

2011-02-15T08:44:00.000-08:00

Chapter 2: On the Road

"Anybody want a snack?" Jeff asked. "I do," said Sarah. "What do you want?" Jeff asked. "Two oreos," said Sarah. "Do you want your water too?" Jeff asked.
"Yes, Jeff," Sarah replied. "Is Sally okay?" Mother asked. "She's sound asleep," Tim replied.

"Here's your oreos, Sarah" Jeff said. "You forgot my water Jeff." "Oh, sorry," Jeff said. "It's okay," Sarah replied. "Wow, look at that huge American flag!" Tim said. "That flag is as big as a bus," Tara said. "Yes it is," Mother agreed. "Betsy Ross designed the first American flag," Mother told them. "That was back in the 1700s." They were silent for a few moments.

Sarah sighed as she opened her notebook to draw. "What are you drawing?" Tim asked. "I am drawing a picture of a horse with me on it." "That's pretty good so far," Mother commented. "Thanks Mother," Sarah replied as she continued to draw. Sarah's dream was to have a horse. They had a place for a horse and everything but they hadn't found the right one yet. Sarah sighed again as she longed for a horse.

"Sarah," Mother said as she shook her shoulder gently. "Wake up, it's time to go the therpists building." "Yes ma'am," Sarah answered groggily. Sarah got out of the van and then stared in awe at the huge building before them. "Which one are we going in, Mother?" Sally asked with her eyes fixed on the buildings. "The one on the far left," answered Mother. "Which one?" Sally asked. "The one over there," Mother pointed. "Let's get going," Father said as they headed toward the building.

"Shadows in the Night", Chapter 1: Surprise

2011-02-15T08:31:00.001-08:00

(This is the edited version.)

CHAPTER 1: Surprise

"Sarah," mother called.
"Yes Mother," Sarah replied.
"Would you please go get Tim and Tara for me and tell them to get Jeff and Sally while they are up there?"
"Okay Mother," Sarah answered.

There were five siblings: Jeff 14, Tim 11, Sarah and Tara 8, and Sally 3. Mother was pregnant. They all went downstairs. "Now," Mother said, "Now that everyone is here I want everyone to know that we are going to have an ultrasound tomorrow."

"Woohoo!" yelled Tim. "Hooray!" said Sally, as she clapped her hands. "That's terrific!" Jeff said. "Yippee!" yelled the twins.

"Now, now, quiet down," Mother said. "Now be sure to pack your water bottles and a few little snacks because it's a long drive to Little Rock. Okay, now," Mother said, "I just washed your red polo shirts so you can wear that. We will leave right after breakfast."

"Me too?" Sally asked. "Yes, Sally, you too," Mother answered. "Can we bring our notebooks?" Sarah asked. "Yes, you may" Mother answered. "Oh and we need to go to bed early so we can get up early tomorrow, "Mother declared.

"What should I do about my rabbit while we are gone?" Tim asked. "He will be alright," Mother said.

"Jeff," Mother said, "Would you please pack the water bottles in the little cooler?" "Yes ma'am," Jeff said. "Tim, go look in the storage building and find the small cooler for Jeff," said Mother. "Yes ma'am," said Tim as he went out the door.

"Sarah, please pack Sally some toys." "Yes ma'am," Sarah said. She went upstairs. "Tara," Mother said. "Go to the pantry and see if we need to buy more snacks." "Yes ma'am," Tara said. She went to the pantry.

"What can I do Mother?" Sally asked. "You may find my flip flops for me." "Okay Mother," Sally said as she went upstairs. Mother went to the sewing room to make a denim skirt for Sally.

They had baked potatoes and broccoli for supper that night. After supper they had family devotions and songs. At nine o'clock the family went to bed.

Father woke up first and woke everyone else up and they got dressed and headed to Little Rock.

My new blog...

2010-07-02T10:29:00.000-07:00

We set me up with my own user account with blogger, so I have a new blog... kinda... we exported (I think that's the word...) this blog to a different user account. So I could have it set up the way I wanted... like right now certain settings are the same for all of our blogs.

So, I have the same blog, just a different address.... which is http://molly-livingforjesus.blogspot.com/

We probably won't delete this blog, but keep it for my siblings to post on. I just won't be posting on it anymore... ;-)

Miscellaneous photos of us...

2010-06-28T11:35:00.000-07:00

Caleb

Molly

Sam

Luke

MaryVance

Elijah

Isaac

Joseph

Nehemiah

Spring Portraits, 2010

2010-05-25T18:32:00.000-07:00

Caleb (17)

Molly (15)

Samuel (14)

Luke (11)

MaryVance (10)

Elijah (8)

Isaac (6)

Joseph (3)

Nehemiah (19mo)

**Photographed in Neosho MO**

MaryVance

2010-05-22T13:40:00.000-07:00

There ya go, Ruth Ann!! ;-)

New family photo...

2010-05-22T10:40:00.000-07:00

Spring 2010 in Neosho MO.

P.S I haven't forgotten about posting vacation pictures... its just that we updated our blogger, and I really don't like the 'new' way to upload pictures... its harder for me... so I've just been putting it off... -rolling eyes-. :-D

Here's the update... ;-)

2010-04-28T12:45:00.000-07:00

We left Sunday before last and drove to MO to visit our friends there (we made a overnight stop in Lonoke AR). We had a wonderful visit with them! The time just passes too quickly. Jaynie is the kind of friend that you can not see for a year and then when you do get to visit it's like it was only yesterday. Their family is very dear to us.
They live in very south west MO so Tony decided since we had never been to KS or OK that we would take a detour on our way home. ;) We saw buffalo in OK, that was fun! We stopped in Alma AR for lunch and met an previously unmet but much admired friend Jennifer and her children. It so nice to finally meet friends that you've known for so many years!

We just had a leisurely day of travel and planned to stop at Lonoke again for the night. About seven miles out (it was raining) the driver's side wiper stopped working. We made it to Lonoke and spent the night. I have a friend who lives in that general area so I emailed her and she said for us to drive over to her husband's shop the next morning and he would help Tony figure out what was wrong and fix it :)
Stacy and I have been friends for several years but had not met until Saturday. She has the most precious family! I am so glad to have finally met her! Kent was able to fix the wiper, it was a very simple fix but not something Tony has ever done before. Kent knew immediately what the problem was because they had to make the same repair on their van once! :)

We hit the road and drove on to my hometown (Brownsville) and went to Daddy's. We stayed in his living room because our original plan to camp was thwarted by the high winds and scattered rain. :( We do enjoy camping there a lot so hopefully next time the weather will cooperate :)

We went to Mama's to visit for a while, Rebecca (my sister) was there. We met the birds. My mother is now the Bird Lady! She's such an animal lover!

Sunday evening we visited with the Sheltons and Turners. Miss Peggy and Mr. Floyd have been in my life since I was about four. We were neighbors. I have so many happy memories of their home and family! I've often said Miss Peggy is my "sewing mother" but she is really much more than that. She and Mr. Floyd have always loved me and always been there for me :) Their daughter Lora and her husband and son were there too. Lora and I are a year apart and had many fun adventures as young children (involving potty training, eating a whole bottle of baby aspirin, one of us shoving the other of us off a porch on to concrete... you get the idea! LOL) Their whole family is dear to me!

We spent Monday at the Botanic Gardens in Memphis and then went to the Memphis Zoo after lunch. It was a perfect day for the zoo, the weather was light jacket weather and we were practically the only ones there!

When we got back to Brownsville we dropped by Rebecca's to meet Ronald :) and then back to Daddy's for the night.
We are on our way home right now. :) Yes, I have lots and LOTS of pictures to share!

Yeah, so I copied it from Mama's blog, much quicker than writing it myself! :-D

And I am down-loading pictures right now, so it shouldn't too much longer till I have them ready to post! :-)

An update...

2010-04-23T08:08:00.000-07:00

will be coming soon!!

I would update now, but we are driving through an old town in Oklahoma, and I don't want to miss anything!! I will say we are having a very fun time so far!!

Funny stories about food, parts 4 & 5

2010-03-27T12:40:00.000-07:00

"According to a recent article on nutrition, eating right doesn't have to be complicated. Nutritionists say to use colors as a guide. Simply fill your plates bright colors... greens, reds, and yellows. Well, that's exactly what I did this morning. For breakfast, I had an entire bowl of M&M's. I never knew eating right could be so easy!"

"A young man saw an elderly couple sitting down to lunch at Burger King. He noticed that they ordered one meal and an extra cup. As he watched, the gentleman carefully divided the hamburger in half and then counted out the fries -- one for him, one for her, until they each had half on them. Then he poured half of the soft drink into the extra cup and set it in front of his wife. As the old man began to eat, his wife just sat watching with her hands folded in her lap. The young man asked if they would allow him to purchase another meal for them so they didn't have to split theirs. The old gentleman said, "Oh, no. We've been married 50 years, and everything has always been - and always will be - shared, fifty-fifty" The young man then asked the wife if she was going to eat, and she replied "Not yet, It's his turn to use the teeth.""

Funny stories about food, part 2 & 3

2010-03-19T20:00:00.000-07:00

"Did you know that chocolate, in its purest form, contains cocoa and sugar? Cocoa comes from cocoa beans. Beans are vegetables. Sugar is derived from either sugar cane or sugar beets, both of which are plants. This also places them in the vegetable category. Therefore, CHOCOLATE MUST BE A VEGETABLE!"

(This was submitted by a vegetarian!)

"Ham & Eggs -- It's a day's work for a chicken, but a lifetime commitment for a pig."

Funny stories about food part 1

2010-03-11T14:34:00.000-08:00

I was reading a 'Gaither Homecoming Magazine' the other night, and it had a page of "Now that's funny" food stories some of their readers had shared, and I thought it would be fun to share with you one of those stories a day... or whenever I get to it... :-)
So, here's the first one...

"Every week at our house, we have what we call "Family-Night-Pizza-Night-Movie-Night." My daughters, Carolina (11) and Olivia (8), and I make homemade pizza, create a huge mess for Momma to clean up in the kitchen, and then we all watch a movie together while feasting on our pizza. One night, our daughters were arguing over who would get the first piece. I saw this as an opportunity for a lesson, so I said "If Jesus were here, He would say 'I can wait. Let my sister have the first piece'" Carolina quickly turned to Olivia and said "Ok, you be Jesus!"

Psalms 127:3-5

2010-02-19T19:30:00.000-08:00

Snow pictures from Florida and Alabama!!

2010-02-13T13:40:00.000-08:00

Yes, you read the title correctly, it snowed here yesterday!! :-)

Well, I don't know if it snowed at our house, cause we were in Dothan AL (Mama had a Eye Doctor Appointment), where the snow was 2-4 inches deep!! We all had so much fun!! As I was getting Joseph dressed that morning, I told him we were going to Dothan and we would probably see some snow he said "Snow? Like in the movies?" :-) Our five youngest ones have never seen, or have seen but don't remember seeing snow before... ;-)

Here are the pictures we captured of the beautiful snow!

On our way to the Eye Doctor,

The flowers in front of the Mall (the eye doc is in the mall)

A close-up... it's so weird to see colorful flowers, and snow together!

While Mama was in the Mall, we dressed up in our warmer clothes and played in the little bit of snow on the grassy area by the parking lot.

Nehemiah dressed and ready to go!

MaryVance enjoying the snow!

Joseph,

Nehemiah discovering what this cold stuff feels like!

"Smile!"

I love the way he's looking at the snow in this one!

They built a baby snowman!

Isn't he cute?!

After this we got back in the van, took off all the coats, hats, and mittens and watch Roy Rogers till Mama got back. Then we drove to Burger King for lunch, we ate in the van on the way to Ozark AL where it was snowing a lot more!

This was taken in Dothan at Burger King,

At the Rest Area in Ozark...

I stood under a pavilian taking pictures, cause I didn't want the camera to get all 'snowy'!

A Snowman... no we didn't build it, and I don't know if you can tell, but he has a pinecone Mohawk!

Looked like that truck had been sitting there for quite a while!

Snowball fights!

I didn't join in till it was almost time to go... Caleb didn't know I was playing, so I snuck up behind him and 'gently' threw a very hard snowball at him.... and he got me back... I actually came home with a bruise from it! Not very surprising though, I bruise v.e.r.y easily!

Trees...

And this last picture really cracks me up!!! "Florida, the Sunshine State" covered with SNOW!! :-D

Well, that's all, I hope you enjoyed viewing our day through pictures! And Joseph is still thanking God for "diving us the snow"!

Sweet quotes from my lil' brothers...

2010-02-09T18:49:00.000-08:00

This one is from Isaac... "Mama, are you married to Daddy, or is Daddy married to you?"

This one is me talking to Joseph...
Me: "Do you want your shirt un-tucked?"
Joseph: "No! I want it in-tucked!"

The other night Isaac had a really bad stomach ache, he was sitting in my lap, and I was praying for him.... just as I finished praying Isaac said "It's GONE!!" I said "What's 'gone?" He said "My tummy ache is gone!" I said "Isn't that neat? I just finished praying for you" Isaac said "Yep, It was just one of God's miracles!" :-)

New Random pictures... (I guess you could call it a 'picture update'... :-D)

2010-02-04T06:55:00.000-08:00

Sweet brothers...

Off to Conquer the World!

I think Elijah was having too much fun with his hair, what do you think?!

Mr. Muscle Man!

Sam and Nehemiah... ;-D

He put the hat on like that and said "Look! I'm Gomer Pyle"

"Say Cheese" LOL

Finally got a 'good' picture of Caleb! :-D

Nehemiah showing off his newest trick.... winking... :-)

'"Where's your belly?!"... He found it!!

Matt and Isaac snuggled up on the couch and fell asleep together... :-)

The 'Cool Dudes'... LOL

Buddies... Nehemiah and Landon!

Donkeys, Geese, and Goats...

2010-01-07T16:07:00.001-08:00

First off, I suppose I should explain... Our neighbors asked us to 'be-friend' their donkeys so maybe we could de-worm them... well we have been going over there quite a bit lately... anyway, we decided we would name them so we wouldn't always be calling them "The Male, Granny, Mother, and Baby", kinda boring, right?! So, we named them after some characters from the 'The Apple Dumpling Gang' movie: (The Male) - Donavan, (Granny) - Clarice, (Mama) - Magnolia, (Baby) - Apple Dumpling... and probably just call it 'Dumplin'! :-)

Donavan Magnolia
Dumplin' Clarice Donavan and Clarice Canadian Geese Caleb feeding Dumplin'
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Isaac holding 'Fawn'
Joseph holding 'Bucky
Fawn and Bucky meeting a cat... ;-D
Lady, Fawn, and Bucky
Nehemiah LOVES the kids!... So does Joey... :-)

Isaac Jonathan

2009-12-23T13:42:00.000-08:00

I don't have his birthday pictures downloaded and edited yet, but here are a few of him from the last few years... well from the last 6 years to be exact! :-D
Hope y'all enjoy!!
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Newborn... well, 5 days old... ;-)
One Year Old... see his curls?!

LOL! I just had to blog this one too! He was One and a half... SO cute!!

Two years old...

Three years old... sticking his hand in the chocolate chip jar... he has loved chocolate ever since he was little!!

Four years old... I love all his many facial expressions!!

Five years old... :-)

And almost 6!! This was taken the night before his birthday... I don't really have any 'good', official 'Six Year Old' pictures yet... but I will soon!!

Nehemiah LOVES Daisy!!

2009-12-16T09:13:00.000-08:00

Daisy is the BEST dog! She lets the little ones climb all over her, and she just lies there, sometimes sleeping!
LOL! Elijah dressed her up the other day cause it was cold. :-D
See what I mean?!

Nehemiah also LOVES books! And music... so in this picture he's sitting on Daisy (who he loves), reading a book (which he loves to do), and listening to music (which he also loves)!!

Snugglin' with Dee See (that's how he says "Daisy")

I love the look on his face! :-)

NOO! Don't lick the dog!!

"You talkin' to me?"

See his new top teeth?! He now (at 14 months) has 4 teeth!

I guess that's better than Elijah and Isaac... they didn't have ANY teeth on their first birthdays!!

Daisy is laying flat on her back and Nehemiah was sitting on her stomach, bouncing... and she just laid there! :-D

Caleb's Telescope

2009-12-11T14:31:00.000-08:00

Opening the boxes...

The Optical Tube,

Everyone gathered around to see,

:-D

Elijah seeing how tall he is next to the Tube,

Putting it all together...

Looking through the EZ Finder,

Caleb and his 'New Toy' LOL!

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How I got my Telescope:

It all started when I became interested in astronomy in July of this past year.

As I studied more about astronomy, I realized that I would enjoy having a telescope. I remembered an article I read in the "Answers Magazine" about how to choose a telescope. The author of the article recommended a Orion SkyQuest XT6 Classic Dobsonian, so that was the first one I looked at online. My parents told me that they would give me the money they were going to spend on my birthday presents, which was most of the money I needed, and I would have to earn the rest.

So in September I decided the way I would earn the money for my telescope was to make wooden spatulas to sell.

At first, I was considering the Orion SkyQuest XT4.5, because it was cheaper than the XT6, but when a family we are friends with was staying at our house in early September, I changed my mind.

The reason behind my decision was:

I talked with the father of the family about the two telescopes, and he thought I should get the XT6 because it has a bigger aperture, and so he helped me make up my mind to get the XT6.

Then in October my Grandmother bought the first two spatulas I had for sale, and later she requested 35 more! I made six spatulas, then she decided she only wanted as many as I needed to buy the telescope. So then I made six more on Thanksgiving day, and she bought all 12 two days later!

I bought my telescope the same day she bought the spatulas, and it came nine days later!

I tried it out last night for the first time, and I saw:

Jupiter and four of it's moons,

The Orion Nebula,

The Pleiades,

The Double Cluster in Perseus,

Mars,

And the Andromeda Galaxy.

I am really excited to have a telescope, and I am really enjoying it!!

The boys with their 'pet' chickens...

2009-12-07T11:39:00.000-08:00

Sam holding 'Rocky the Rooster', and Joseph holding 'Calloway the hen'
Elijah holding 'Buffy the hen' (she's a Buff Orpington)

Isaac holding 'Hen-hen the hen', and Joseph holding 'Calloway'

Ike and his baby... :-D

Calloway doesn't look too happy in this picture... :-)

My first official Photo Shoot...

2009-11-28T16:45:00.000-08:00

Of the Hunter Family.
I love black and white photos!
Just the children,

5 Sisters,

And 3 Brothers,

Uncle Danny and Aunt Brandy,

Ashley,

Evan,

Zebidiah,

Shauna,

Kyla,

AnnaRuth,

Ruby McKenna,

And Sweet Little Titus!

Our Sweet Little Joseph Timothy...

2009-11-28T06:52:00.000-08:00

Puppy Chow

2009-11-22T17:24:00.001-08:00

Puppy Chow
1 cup chocolate chips
¼ cup butter
¼ cup peanut butter
8 cups bite-size crispy cereal squares
Powdered sugar

Melt chocolate chips, butter, and peanut butter together in the microwave.
Pour over cereal squares and stir until well coated.

Sprinkle powdered sugar over mixture and toss lightly to coat.

Enjoy!!

Matthew 5:16

2009-11-15T18:56:00.001-08:00

Nehemiah loves Oranges!!

2009-11-14T11:40:00.000-08:00

See?!
Mmm....

Here! Ya want some?!

Delicious!

LOL!!! He is so funny!!

I updated!!

2009-11-11T15:11:00.000-08:00

Our photography blog if anyone is interested is lookin' at it!!

Here's the link:

Caleb's 17th Birthday Pictures

2009-11-08T16:51:00.001-08:00

Caleb's 'Wacky Spice Cake' with Cream Cheese icing... mmm....

Matt, Jennifer, and Landon came over for Caleb's birthday. Matt's birthday was just two days before so I made him a cake too! His was a yellow cake with chocolate icing.
Both the cakes
Caleb blowing out his candles,

Matt blowing out his candles,

The Birthday Boy!

Opening his presents from MaryVance...

The first one was a bunch of pictures she drew for him,

....

A Magic Tricks kit,

She forgot to wrap all of them, so Caleb just had to pretend they were wrapped... Oh, and these were funny ones from Mama and Daddy...

A JR Slinky... I don't have pictures of all of them, but he also got Silly Putty, Tops, and a little Soccer game... :-D

Now for his last present from Mama and Daddy...

Hhmm... I wonder what it is...

Whoa! I love the look in his face in this picture! A look of genuine surprise! :-D

Hhmm... Money, Money, Money!

Caleb wanted a telescope for his birthday, so he is gonna save up half of the money, and Mama and Daddy gave him the other half... :-)

Fall Portraits

2009-11-04T19:15:00.001-08:00

Caleb Rains - 16

(He'll be 17 on Nov. 7th)

Molly Elizabeth - 15

Samuel Locke - 13

Luke Anthony - 11

MaryVance - 9

Elijah Jack - 7

(Notice he's missing his first tooth! You can hardly see it, on the bottom, see that little black hole? :-D)

Isaac Jonathan - 5

Joseph Timothy - 3

Nehemiah Nissley - 1

Sweet Brothers...

2009-11-03T13:42:00.000-08:00

This photo is in need of a caption! Do you have any ideas??

Little Egg 'n' Small Snake...

2009-10-30T14:45:00.000-07:00

One of our chickens laid this tiny egg the other day...

1 inch long... wow... now that is one tiny egg!! :-D
Sam found, well, actually the cats found this Baby Eastern Hog Nose Snake...
I must say I really *like* Hog Nose Snakes... and I'm sure you can see why... They play dead! It's so funny to watch them! When you roll them over, they immediately roll back over to their backs!
They also are a very pretty snake... :-D

Hhmm... somewhere we have some pictures of Caleb, Sam, and MaryVance holding Hog Nose snakes... hhmm... maybe I can find them....

Yeah! I found them! -- They were taken on: November 12, 2004

MaryVance - age 4

Sam - age 8 (?)

Caleb - age 11 (?)

Aww... they were so little! :-D But, you see what I mean about the snakes, right?

A funny poem from my reading book...

2009-10-25T13:15:00.000-07:00

It's called "The Owl Critic" (I know it's kinda long, but you really have to read the whole think to 'get' it! Enjoy!!)

The Owl Critic
“Who stuffed that white owl?” No one spoke in the shop,
The barber was busy, he couldn’t stop;
The customers, waiting their turns, were all reading
The Daily, the Herald, the Post, little heeding
The young man who blurted out such a blunt question:
No one raised a head, or even made a suggestion;
And the barber kept on shaving.

“Don’t you see, Mr. Brown”
Cried the youth, with a frown,
“How wrong the whole thing is,
How preposterous each wing is,
How flattened his head is, how jammed down the neck is—
In short, the whole what a ignorant wreck ‘tis!
I make no apology;
I’ve learned owl-eology.
I’ve passed days and nights in a hundred collections,
And cannot be blinded to any defections
Arising from unskillful fingers that fail
To stuff a bird right from it’s beak to his tail.
Mister Brown! Mister Brown!
Do take that bird down,
Or you’ll soon be the laughing-stock all over town!”
And the barber kept on shaving.

I’ve studied owls,
And other night fowls,
And I tell you
What I know to be true;
An owl cannot roost
With his limbs so unloosed;
No owl in this world
Ever had his claws curled,
Ever had his legs slanted,
Ever had his bill canted,
Ever had his neck screwed
Into that attitude.
He can’t do it, because
‘Tis against all bird laws.
Anatomy teaches,
Ornithology preaches,
An owl has a toe
That can’t turn out so!
I’ve made the white owl my study for years,
And to see such a job almost moves me to tears!
Mr. Brown, I’m amazed
You should be so gone crazed
As to put up a bird
In that posture absurd!
To look at that really brings me on a dizziness;
The man who stuffed him don’t half know his business!”
And the barber kept on shaving.

Examine those eyes
I’m filled with surprise
Taxidermists should pass
Off on you such poor glass;
So unnatural they seem
They’d make Audubon scream,
And John Burroughs laugh
To encounter such chaff
Do take that bird down;
Have it stuffed again, Brown!”
And the barber kept on shaving.

“With some sawdust and bark
I could stuff in the dark
An owl better than that.
I could make an old hat
Look more like an owl
Than that horrid fowl,
Stuck up there so stiff like a side of coarse leather.
In fact, about him there’s not one natural feather.”

Just then, with a wink and a sly normal lurch,
The owl, very gravely, got down from his perch,
Walked around, and regarded his fault-finding critic
(Who thought he was stuffed) with a glance analytic,
And then fairly hooted, as if he should say:
“Your learning’s at fault this time, anyway;
Don’t waste it again on a live bird, I pray.
I’m an owl; you’re another. Sir Critic, good day!”
And the barber kept on shaving.

By James T. Fields (1817-1881)
Arrived in Boston at sixteen to make his fortune.
Only five years later, he was a partner in the most prominent publisher, he worked with such authors as Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Nathaniel Hawthorn.

New cute pictures of Nehemiah...

2009-10-20T21:30:00.000-07:00

I just thought this one was so cute!
Our ADORABLE little cowboy!!
Pretty blue eyes...

Aww... I just love sleeping baby pictures...

P.S. If you'd like to see his birthday pictures, go to Mama's blog :-D

Nehemiah's 1st Birthday pictures...

2009-10-10T18:53:00.000-07:00

coming soon!!

But! Here are his 'Pre' birthday pictures! :-D

I guess these are his eleventh month pictures, even though they were taken the day before he turned one! ;-) I'll re-size and blog his 'One Year Old' pictures just as soon as I can!! ;-D

Colossians 1:16, and Jeremiah 29:11

2009-10-05T10:06:00.000-07:00

More misc. photography - with watermarks!

2009-09-24T18:58:00.000-07:00

These first four photos are Sam's:

**********
And the last ones are mine :-)

Misc pictures from our trip! (LOTS of pics!! :-D)

2009-09-15T12:58:00.000-07:00

The ferry we used to cross over into Ohio,
This was taken on the way back, as you can see we were in the front!
It was kinda freaky! :-)

****Lincoln's Childhood home****
This was the inside of a cabin which was a lot like the one Abraham Lincoln lived in as a boy. And the cabin was near the original location where Abe Lincoln actually lived.
The fireplace,
Outside the cabin,

The garden,

Sunflowers! Look at how tall they are!

A group shot outside the cabin.

Ok, believe it or not, I was standing in a hole in this picture, that's the only reason I look so short! I'm really not that short in real life! Really!! :-D

This statue was in a small town we went though on the

way to Lincoln's birthplace

I know you can't see this very well, but it's the Gettysburg Address

***Museum about Lincoln***

The little boys playing with 'Lincoln' Logs, get it?!

Statues of the Lincoln Family

Isn't this neat looking?

A close-up of it, the whole thing was made out of pennies!

Isn't that cool?!

A replica of Lincoln's birthplace,

or at least I think that's what this is...

See Elijah standing at the bottom of that flag pole?

Pretty tall, isn't it?!

We thought this was neat to see... a horse and buggy parked in front of a tractor supplies place! lol!!

This was at the Wal-Mart parking lot

A creek we had to drive though to get to a friends house... it's really not as deep as it looks.

Snakes Alive! Misc. snake pics

2009-08-31T06:07:00.000-07:00

On the second day that we went to the Creation Museum, we went to a program called "Snakes Alive!" Rick Teepen was the 'snake' guy, he had 12 different kinds of snakes (Corn Snakes, African Rock Python, Milk Snakes, King Snake, several different kinds of Albino Corn Snakes, and an Albino Burmese Python...)
He also had a pet snake (the Albino Burmese Python) named Chiquita, he weighed 80 pounds, and was 13 feet long, the guy said when he is full grown he's supposed to be 18 feet long and weigh 160 pounds! Now that's a big snake!

Here are a few pictures from "Snakes Alive"
Mr. Rick Teepen with five different Albino Corn Snakes, Mr. Rick's assistant with the boxes of snakes,
Baby Albino Corn Snakes,
Aww, isn't Chiquita the cutest little snake you ever did see?! LOL!
Mama, Isaac, Sam, Elijah, MaryVance, Caleb
and Luke holding Mr. Rick's little baby! :-)

And here's a picture from Wikipedia's article about Burmese Pythons, and here's a better picture of an Albino Burmese Python...

Now don't you all wish you were there to see all those pretty snakes??!! :-D

Pictures from the Creation Museum (day 3 and 4)

2009-08-29T09:21:00.000-07:00

LOL!! Isn't that hilarious!!

Elijah, Isaac, and Joseph looking at something :-),

Watching a movie about the 6 days of Creation,

The CM had a really nice petting zoo with 14 or 15 different kinds of animals.

The Pig,

The Miniature Donkey (it was really small, so I'm just guessing it was a mini :-D),

A cow of some kind :-),

A Zonkey (mix between a Zebra and a donkey),

A Zorse (mix between a Zebra and a Horse),

Zorse (female) and Zonkey (male)

they have the same father, can you tell? :-D,

A goat,

Chickens,

The Camel named Gomer :-),

He could lean over the fence and eat off the ground on the other side!

Caleb trying to convince Joseph that it was ok to feed the camel... :-)

One of the Llamas,

The Sheep,

MaryVance and a chicken,

Doves,

A new family picture! :-)

And a new children picture :-)

I'll be back later with the snake pictures!

Misc. pictures from the first 2 days of our TN/KY trip

2009-08-29T08:17:00.000-07:00

Our first 'potty' stop,
Isaac and Elijah sitting with Daddy's Dad,
Nana (Daddy's Mom) and Elijah (Oh, and Woody too!),

Nana and MaryVance,

Nana and Joseph,

Nana and Isaac.

The first day we drove to TN to spend the night at GG's house (our Great Grand Mother).

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The next day we drove to Bowling Green KY to go to the Corvette Museum.

Isn't that a cool picture?

Take a closer look -- the whole thing is made of a bunch of little pictures of cars! Darker pictures for the darker parts, and lighter pictures for the lighter parts, now isn't THAT cool!! :-)

This was one of my favorite ones, not so much the body of it, but the color!

I really, really like that color!

I really like the one in the middle too!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

That's all for the first three days on our trip, more comin' up! :-)

We're BACK!!!!!!

2009-08-25T17:55:00.000-07:00

Whew! It's so good to be back home again!! We got back today around 6:30ish (I forgot to look at the time right when we got home)

I'm down-loading the pictures from the last seven days right now (all 817 of 'em! :-0 :-D). And I'll try to get them ALL (well... most all of them... :-)) blogged in the next few days... now Ashley, I said "I'll try", that doesn't mean I will for sure... just that I'll try... :-D LOL!!

Well... so long for now!! :-D

Our Cat and Dog Genealogy's

2009-08-16T13:34:00.000-07:00

Our Cat Genealogy

Yeller and Ashy begat:
(First litter) Bear, Beulah, Smoky, Silver, and Runt
(Second litter) Peter, Susan, Edmond, and Lucy
(Third litter) Dakota, Nevada, Montana, Georgia, and Virginia
(Forth litter) Balto, Bullet, Liberty, and Lassie
(Fifth litter) Courage, Justice, and Freedom

All died except Liberty
Ashy begat no more for she gave up the ghost

The Great Big Black Cat and Liberty begat:
(First litter) Victor
(Second litter) Salt, Pepper, and Sugar
(Third litter) Tiger, Saber, Puma, and Lynxie
(Forth litter) Ranger

None died except Ranger

The Great Big Black Cat and Sugar begat:
(First litter) Duke, Cordy, and Biddie

None died.

Our Dog Genealogy

Loper and Daisy begat:
Amos,
Bear,
Cinnamon,
Danny,
Ebony,
Flash,
Greedy,
Honey

Daisy begat no more

Loper and Cinnamon/Tipper begat:
(First litter)
Bear,
Otis,
Rusty,
Belle,
Sally
(Second litter)
Jasper,
Bear,
Shadow,
Suzie,
Brutus,
Rufus,
Fudge,
The pup with the cleft lip who died when he was one day old
And name-less pup who died at her birth

Tipper begat no more.

ATTENTION to ALL blog readers!!

2009-08-09T17:32:00.000-07:00

If you are reading this post would you please reply to it with a comment.
I changed the commenting options to try and make it easier for everyone.

Thanks!!

ETA: (Edit To Add) If you don't have a 'blogger account' you can still comment using the 'Name/URL' option, or the 'Anonymous' option... I would LOVE to here from all my blog readers who don't comment... so if you could drop me a line (or three! LOL!) I would love it! But if you don't wanna, you sure don't have to! :-)

I updated...

2009-08-08T19:37:00.000-07:00

SAMOLLY Photography

I know I have it on my blog list... but for some reason it won't show up as being updated.... -sigh-

ETA: (the next morning) It's showing up as being 'updated; now... I don't know what the problem was last night... but it's working now, so I guess that's all that matters, right?

My sweet little brother...

2009-08-06T09:56:00.000-07:00

is TEN months old today!

Here are a couple pictures of him... before he turned ten months old...

Snuggin' with Sam...

LOL!

I love this one!!

Look at that mischievous look in his face!

He's so cute!!

My 15th birthday...

2009-08-01T14:00:00.003-07:00

On my birthday Daddy and I went to Hardy's for breakfast, then we went to Lowes. And then to Walmart for a cake (I really wanted a cheesecake... so we went to WM to get me one! We also got a chocolate cake for my siblings who didn't like cheesecake) and we bought two DVDs (a John Wayne DVD called "Chisum", and "The Love Bug"). When we got home I opened my presents.... I got three books about photography, and this:

Well, this isn't the exact same thing, but very similar! ;-)
After I opened my presents, we got dressed, went outside to take a group picture... after that we loaded up and went to Dothan.
First we went to Cato's to look for a skirt for me, we found two skirts (one almost exactly like my old one, and a khaki one that is too big, Mama said she could take it in though) and I found a brown striped jacket! Then we went to CiCi's Pizza for lunch :-)
When we got back home we ate supper while we watch some the John Wayne movie, when we were done eating we stopped the movie and had our cake... then Matt, Jennifer, and Landon came over... they bought me a Lava Lamp, and three picture frames! :-) They stayed for a little while... after they left we finished our movie, and went to bed.

My birthday cake!

Me :-D

And a couple of our group pictures....

This one is my favorite!
Yes... I'm the short one... in our last picture like this I'm still taller than Sam... -sigh- before to long Luke will be taller than me too... -sigh- :-)

I am so very blessed to have such a great family!!!!

You are My All in All

2009-07-30T06:45:00.000-07:00

"You are my strength when I am weak,
You are the treasure that I seek,
You are my all in all.
Seeking you as a precious jewel,
Lord to give up I’d be a fool.
You are my all in all.

Jesus, Lamb of God, Worthy is Your name!
Jesus, Lamb of God, Worthy is Your name!

Taking my sin, my cross, my shame,
Rising again, I bless your name,
You are my all in all.
When I fall down You pick me up;
When I am dry you fill my cup,
You are my all in all.

Jesus, Lamb of God, Worthy is Your name!
Jesus, Lamb of God, Worthy is Your name!"

This is one of my favorite songs, so I thought I would share it with y'all!

Welcome Little Titus Anthony!!

2009-07-25T06:42:00.000-07:00

Titus Anthony Hunter

Born July 24, 8:20 am

8lbs 5oz, 21 inches long

And is absolutely ADORABLE!!

Titus and his name-sake... Uncle Tony

('Tony' is short for 'Anthony')
Such a sweet little face!

Ashley and Titus,

Look at all that hair!

MaryVance and Shauna snuggling little Titus!

Proud Big Brother!

Big brother hands next to little brother hands... so sweet!

Snugglin' with Evan,

Elijah and Titus,

Isaac and Titus.

Ah... I love the smell of a newborn baby!

............................

2009-07-23T22:09:00.000-07:00

No, I haven't forgotten my promise about blogging my birthday... I just haven't had time yet...

But I will, don't worry!! :-)

Tomorrow... maybe.... or the next day... we'll see! :-D

Off to bed now.... I'm so tired... :-)

Today is my birthday!!!

2009-07-21T05:50:00.000-07:00

Last night we (Mama, Daddy, Caleb, Sam, Luke, MarVance, and I) stayed up till 2:05 am. playing ROOK!! Daddy, Sam, and Luke were on a team. Mama, Caleb, and I were on a team.... and we lost :-( Not by very far though... MaryVance didn't play, but she would shuffle and deal the cards for Mama (cause she was holding Nehemiah the whole time, and Joseph some of the time). We had a lot of fun!!

This morning Daddy and I are going out for breakfast, after we get back I'll probably open my presents, then I think we are gonna go to Dothan for lunch and go to Cato's to look for me a new skirt. The one I have (well, I have more than one skirt, but this one is my most favorite skirt) is thread-bare... not good! So were gonna see if they have anymore like the one I already have... that is not very likely... but I really hope they do! ;-)

So... what is everyone else 'up to' today??

P.S. I'll probably be back later (today or tomorrow) to post My birthday pictures!! :-)

Nehemiah's 9 month pictures...

2009-07-20T12:29:00.000-07:00

Eating a 'Biter Biscuit'

As you can tell... He LOVED them!! :-)

He's our little 'Court Jester!' LOL
I just LOVE this one!!

And this one!

Oh! And this one too!!

Isn't he precious?!

Sweet Smiles!

new pics of Molly and Sam

2009-07-20T11:26:00.000-07:00

"Shadows in the Night" by MaryVance

2009-07-19T08:36:00.001-07:00

(note from Mama: MaryVance is writing a story and I will be typing it for her here so you can all read along as she writes.)

Chapter 1: Surprise!!!

"Sara. Tara" mother called.
"Yes Mother?" the twins called.
"Tell Tim to come and you two come too"
"Yes ma'am" Sara said.
"Tim" Tara called.
"Yeah Tara" yelled Tim.
"Mother wants us downstairs."
"Okay" yelled Tim.

There were five siblings, Jeff 14, Tim 11, Tara and Sara 8 and Sally 3. And Mother was pregnant! They all went downstairs. "Oh" Mother said, "Tim, go get Sally and Jeff".

"Yes ma'am" Tim said.

"Jeff, Mother wants you" Tim said.
"Okay" Jeff said.
Sally was playing with her blocks in the playroom. "Sally" Tim said gently, "Mother wants you downstairs".
"Okay" Sally said in her babyish voice.
Tim held her hand and helped her down the stairs. "Now" Mother said "Now that everyone is here I want you all to know that we're going to have an ultrasound tomorrow."
"Woohoo" yelled Tim.
"Hooray" yelled Sally as she clapped her hands.
"That's terriffic" Jeff said.
"Yippee" yelled the twins.
"Now, now, quiet down" Mother said. "Now be sure to pack your water bottles and a few little snacks because it's a long drive to Little Rock." Little Rock was the capitol of Arkansas. "Okay now" Mother said, "I just washed your red polo shirts so you can wear that. We will leave right after breakfast."
"Me too?" Sally asked.
"Yes, Sally. You too" Mother answered.
"Can we bring our notebooks?" Sara asked.
"Yes you may Sara" Mother said. "Oh and we need to go to bed early tonight so we can get up early tomorrow."
"What should I do about my rabbit while we are gone?" Tim had a miniature black rabbit named Coal.
"He will be alright" Mother said.
-----more soon----

Joseph's Third Birthday pictures...

2009-07-18T11:50:00.000-07:00

Aww... this is Joseph... he's only 4 hours old!
Joseph and Daddy went our to Waffle House for breakfast.
Joseph wore a Tomas tee shirt, Levi jeans, old raggedy cowboy boots, and a cowboy hat! :-D

Opening his presents...

Wow! Toy Story pajamas!!

Look at that sweet look on his face :-)

He looks so excited!

'Sam the Fireman' DVD,

Hhmmm...

And last but not least... His Big one Fire Engine!!!
Blowin' out the candles,
Lickin' 'em off,
And enjoyin' his chocolate cake!! :-)

List of 'Post to come'...

2009-07-16T18:37:00.000-07:00

- Joseph's third birthday
- Visit at the H's family's house
- Nehemiah's Nine Month pictures

That's all I can think of right now... I'll come back and add to the list if I think of anymore! :-D

Woohoo! We're gonna have a cold snap!!

2009-07-16T09:53:00.000-07:00

Well... kinda... The high for Sunday is only 88! And the low is 64!! Monday's high is 88, and the low is 66! Tuesday is my birthday (!!!!) the high is 89, and the low is 69... so the 'Cold Snap' won't last very long... but at least we will be out of the 90s for a couple days!! :-)

--sigh-- I just checked the weather again... and the high for Wednesday is 91...:-( well 91 isn't too bad... right?

I'm sure you can't tell from this post... but I really like the weather! Especially very cool (or you might say fairly 'cold'!) weather!! ;-)

Nehemiah's haircut... before and after...

2009-07-16T09:47:00.000-07:00

Before,
Almost done,
And done! :-)

Luke's 11th birthday photo shoot...

2009-07-14T19:57:00.000-07:00

Being himself... a monkey!

Making a 'Classical' Luke face :-)

I love this one!! And I also really like it in black and white! :-)

Bare feet pictures... I love 'em!! :-)

A baby quilt I made...

2009-07-14T12:54:00.000-07:00

Well, Mama helped me ALOT! Anyway, here are the pictures! :-)

The front.

The back.
Close-ups,

Nehemiah and Landon...

2009-07-11T05:57:00.000-07:00

:-)

Aww... he's standing up! All by himself!
Playin' together,

Wow! Look at his eyes! They are SO blue!

And he already has FIVE teeth! :-)

Silly boy! But he's SO cute!

Look at this!

2009-07-11T05:36:00.000-07:00

Do you know what it is??

An apple peel! Sam measured it.... 12 feet, 5 inches!! :-)

Our Lil' 'Doofer' is THREE!!

2009-07-09T09:15:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was Joseph's Third Birthday! Here's a couple pictures of him... before he was Three! :-)

Yep, he's our Lil doofer!
Watching a movie... can you tell?
Gross! See the slobber dripping out if his mouth?!

I'll be back later with 'official' birthday pictures of him!! :-)

Guess what I had today...

2009-07-08T19:31:00.000-07:00

and yesterday!?

COFFEE!!! It was chocolate coffee.... but it was STILL coffee!! Yesterday I had chocolate coffee with cream and sugar, today I had chocolate coffee with vanilla ice cream, sugar (of course!), and ice! It tasted kinda like a Mocha Joe from Burger King! (Note to Ashley: It didn't taste anything like that chocolate mocha we had at McDonalds! That one was DISGUSTING!!)

:-) ;-)

My sweet little brother...

2009-07-07T06:44:00.000-07:00

is NINE months old!!!! :-)

Here are some pictures of Nehemiah -- From when he was born to now!

Newborn,

Two weeks,
One month,
Two months,
Three months,

Four months,

Five months,

Six months,

Seven months,

Eight months,

I don't have a 'Nine month' picture yet... but I plan to take some later... so stay tuned!! :-)

ETA: Nehemiah's Nine month picture!!

Isn't he handsome?! Cute?! And absolutely PRECIOUS?!?!?!? :-)

Sleeping children in weird positions...

2009-07-04T14:21:00.000-07:00

Caleb, Nehemiah, and Landon,

(Note: Caleb isn't really asleep in this picture, just pretending like he is ;-))
Nehemiah... he's covering his ears cause the Hunter's were over and he just couldn't sleep with all that noise!! :-)
Nehemiah and Landon... snoozin' together :-)

Isaac just couldn't wait for his ice cream... he was too tired! :-)

Joseph didn't want to eat his lunch...

:-)

Sleepin' in style!

Ouch! That looks like it would hurt! ...

But, Joseph is a whole lot more limber than I am... :-)

Isaac... enjoying the movie?.... :-)

'It's the Big, Comfy Counter' !! :-)

Best Friends....

2009-07-03T16:49:00.000-07:00

We are going somewhere is August....

2009-07-01T19:30:00.000-07:00

can you guess where???!?!?!??!?!???!??!!

I'll give you some clues.... we are ALL SO EXITED!!!!! :-) I know, I know... you need a better clue than that... let me think...

It is somewhere far away.
It is somewhere that Hannah has been to before.

................................................

I can't stand it ANY longer!!!!! I just HAVE to tell you!!! :-)

We....

Are....

Going.....

To......

The.......

CREATION MUSEUM IN KENTUCKY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :-) :-) :-) :-)

I'll explain later..... off to watch a movie!!!!! I just HAD to tell y'all!!!!!

Nehemiah's 8 month pictures...(very belated!!)

2009-06-30T14:02:00.000-07:00

I really can't believe he is EIGHT months old already....

they grow up SO fast!
Ahh... relaxin' in style!
Sweet smiles....

I love this one! It looks like he is talking to his puppy...
so cute!
His eyes are... Big, Pretty, and VERY Blue!!

Sam was making growling nosies to make he laugh...

I love the look on his face in this one!

Nehemiah is such a delightful baby!! :-)

He's eating the puppy... again!

Nehemiah is such a delight to all of us, and we are

all so thankful for him!!!! :-)

One year ago today...

2009-06-30T12:41:00.000-07:00

Our Father saved our son. It was nothing short of miraculous. I am still in awe of His goodness.

Sometimes
across the room
I just watch Luke.
He doesn't realize. He has no idea what a miracle he is.
He is a true, in the flesh, answer to many, many prayers.

I don't know why, I will never know why, the Lord chose to spare our son and return him to us. But I will forever be thankful, grateful and overwhelmed by His goodness. (written by Mama)

I updated.......

2009-06-24T20:12:00.000-07:00

Samolly (with some really nice pictures!).......
Please go look...... Pretty Please?!
(http://samollyphotography.blogspot.com/)

Enjoy!! :-)

Meet my bunny...

2009-06-24T09:02:00.000-07:00

Twix,
He's a Dwarf Rex-mix,

Isn't he sweet?!

I'll be back later with a picture of MaryVance's rabbit, Buster.

MaryVance's 9th b'day and trip to the beach...

2009-06-23T17:01:00.000-07:00

Daddy and Nehemiah at Mexico beach,
The little boys having fun in the water,
A Hermit crab,

Nehemiah enjoying his first real trip to the beach!

'Doofer' havin' a blast! (Doofer is Joseph's new nickname... Sam calls him a little goofer and Joseph can't say 'goofer' so he says 'Doofer!)

Luke building a little fort,

Nehemiah kept trying (and succeeding) to eat the sand! He thought it was great fun!! :-)

And the troops have returned!

(returned with the food that is!)

Fried chicken from KFC and Long John Silvers, chips, and coke!

They look really cold, don't they?!

The beautiful parting sunset!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

MaryVance's 9th birthday!

Opening presents......

hhmmm... what could it be...

-gasp!- A sewing machine!! And with her name on it too!!

The Birthday Girl!

Another update and weather report.... :-)

2009-06-18T04:52:00.000-07:00

I guess 'I'll start at the very beginning, a very good place to start'... :-)

Monday: Daddy stayed home from work, and we went to Dothan (looking for khaki pants for Sam and Ike, and we looked for a high chair at several different places, and we ate supper at, well... I don't remember...)

Tuesday: Daddy stayed home again, and we didn't go anywhere. Luke got a haircut (well, I guess it was more than a haircut... it was a Shave!) and we tried to figure out some way to rearrange the house (which wasn't a complete success), and we had a late supper (of taco salad) and watch a movie.

Wednesday: Daddy stayed home again :-) The little ones swam in the pool, while Mama, Daddy, Sam, and Luke clean out and rearranged the storage building a little (it looks really nice) and Caleb and I were inside, he was doing school, while I sat and rocked Nehemiah to sleep. After everyone came inside and cooled off, Daddy and Mama went done to the computer and said they were working on a surprise and it might not work out, well it did work out but at this time most of us didn't know what it was (I say 'Most of us' because I have a curtain big brother who likes to know what surprises are, so while Mama and Daddy were upstairs Caleb, er I mean "My certain big brother" looked at the computer and figure out the surprise) Daddy announced that we were going to Tallahassee, and that we were gonna eat chicken strips in the van. So while Daddy cooked the chicken we all got dressed and loaded up.

Ok, and now to reveal the surprise... (which was a very good one) the surprise was...... a trip to the THEATER!!!!!!!!! And what movie was it? A movie called 'Earth'. Made by Disney. And surprisingly it never even mentioned evaluation, the narrator said things like: "Decades ago", and "Centuries ago", never millions of years. It did mention global warming, but only a couple times. If you'd like to read about it you can click on this link, and if you don't want to read about it, then don't click on my link :-) Anyway, here's the link: http://www.pluggedinonline.com/movies/movies/a0004603.cfm

After the movie we went to Dairy Queen for a treat (and cause it was SO hot) I got a Strawberry Cheesequake blizzard :-)
Then we went to the new Walmart, and Joann's (or was the other way around?
After we left Tallahassee, we went to Quincy to go to Walmart and look for a black jacket thing for me... but all they had was a XL, and can't wear an XL (well, I guess I can wear an XL, but it would be really big on me... ;-))
After Walmart we went to McDonald's for supper, and then we went home. :-)

And that completes my update. And now for a quick weather report...

Tomorrow: Sunny and hot, with a high near 104. Heat index values as high as 112. Calm wind becoming north northwest between 5 and 10 mph.
Is that HOT or what???!???!?!

A joke for the day...

2009-06-16T10:12:00.000-07:00

The Good Grandpa

A woman in a grocery store happens upon a grandfather and his poorly
behaved 3 year-old grandson. It's obvious to her that Gramps has his hands
full with the child screaming for candy in the candy aisle, cookies in the
cookie aisle; same for fruit, cereal and soda in their respective aisles.
Meanwhile, Gramps is working his way around, saying in a controlled
voice, "Easy, Albert, we won't be long -- easy, boy."
Another outburst, and she hears Gramps calmly say,
"It's okay, Albert, just a couple more minutes and we'll
be out of here. Hang in there, boy."
At the checkout, the little terror is throwing items out of the cart, and
Gramps again in a controlled voice is says, "Albert, Albert, relax buddy,
don't get upset. We'll be home in five minutes; stay cool, Albert."
Very impressed, the woman goes outside where Gramps is loading his groceries
and the boy into the car. "You know, sir, it's none of my business, but you
were amazing in there. I don't know how you did it. That whole time, you
kept your composure, and no matter how loud and disruptive he got,
you just calmly kept saying things would be okay.
Albert is very lucky to have you as his grandpa."
"Thanks, lady," said Gramps, "I'm Albert -- the little boy's name is Steve."

testing, testing, 1 2 3....

2009-06-15T05:55:00.001-07:00

and the test fell through.... I think I figured it out though, at the top of my page here it says: 'Scheduled outage at 12:00AM PDT on Monday (6/15).'... that's why it won't work today, but I don't know about all the other days.... -sigh- I'm stumped! :-)

Off to go make breakfast... again! :-)

....................................................

2009-06-13T05:08:00.000-07:00

Ok, Maybe I issued a false alarm.... it seems as though the picture uploader thing isn't gonna work after all.......

I am gonna try to upload one picture at a time, maybe that will work....
well I just tried it, and it still doesn't work! :-( I'm so sad!

I guess I'll try again later!

Well for now I guess I'll just have a little fun.....

How 'bout I talk about the weather.... that is one of my favorite things to talk about :-) (not! Well I like to talk about weather in the winter, cause I like the cold weather, but I don't really like to talk about it in the summer... so depressing!! :-))

Today in:
Eagle Pass, TX, high 106, low 82!
Bismarck ND, high 78, low 51!
Caribou ME, high 69, low 50!
Gambell, AK, high 40, low 30!
Honolulu, HI, high 85, low 75!

That's all for now! I'm off to go make breakfast!!
I'll be back later to try pictures again! :-)

I'm trying pictures again.....

2009-06-13T05:03:00.000-07:00

and the end result is....... It Works!!!!!! :-) Finally!!

Alright, I'm gonna go upload some pictures before it decides not to work anymore!

-----------------
P.S. How do you like my new background?! Is it too bright? Is it hard to read? Tell me what you think! Pretty Please?!!

MaryVance's 9th b'day and trip to the beach!

2009-06-12T07:51:00.000-07:00

This post is coming soon!!!

Just as soon as I can get the picture up-loader to work.... I'll post these pictures, I promise!!!

And I am sorry for the inconvenience!! :-)

What we did today.... sorry, still no pictures!

2009-06-09T14:49:00.000-07:00

- We did school today... I did 5 pages of math (they were all pretty easy though) a lesson in Reading, Bible, and Home EC, I also did a little bit of spelling (us highschoolers and almost highschoolers have a special spelling word from a book called "100 words every highschooler should know", our two words for today were: Accentuate and Alliteration... we had to spell them three times though out the day to get our names marked off! :-))

- Nehemiah pulled himself up from sitting to standing for the first time today!! He growing up WAY to fast!

- I folded some laundry today.... a very rare thing, I know!!! :-)

- I got Nehemiah down for a nap today while I watched two of my all time favorite movies..... Letter Factory and Math Circus!!!! :-)

- Right now I am on the computer while holding my sweet little brother... who is sleeping again! :-)

Well, thats all the update I have for you right now.... Now I really am gonna find find, resize, and blog some pictures!!!! :-)

Ok... I give up!

2009-06-04T07:52:00.000-07:00

I give up on the vacation pictures for now at least. Because the pictures I need to finish our vacation are on the other computer and I can't get them on this computer, Daddy can but I can't. And I figured if I didn't get busy with other posts like birthdays and trips to the beach, I'll be SO far behind I will never get caught up! :-)

So without further ado... I'll go find and re-size some pictures to blog! (well, just as soon as I fold some laundry.... then I promise I Will update!)

P.S. I am thinking about changing my background (again) Do y'all like this one, or would a different one look better? What do you think?????

TN vacation - Day 5 - May 4th

2009-05-21T12:30:00.000-07:00

Monday found us on the road to an impromptu visit to the town we lived in from 1997-1999.
This is our sweet little home on Grove Blvd - the first home we owned.
We also went to the park where us children loved to play at.
We always called it 'the Eiffel Tower park', I don't remember its proper name.
-----

After we got back from Paris, we went to a friend's house to visit. Mama and Miss Lisa grew up together, and have been good friends for a long time!

Miss Lisa has three children, Andrew (he is Caleb's age), Shelby (Sam's age), and Bradleigh Grace (who is between Isaac and Joseph).
When we lived in Mississippi Miss Lisa would drop her children off at our house while she went on mission trips.... we would all have so much fun playing together! :-) I do remember Caleb, Andrew, and Sam were always trying to figure out new ways to scare Shelby and me.... boys.... ;-)

And here we all are!
It was so nice to get to see them again after three years!

TN vacation - Day 4 - May 3rd

2009-05-18T10:51:00.000-07:00

Ya like his hair?! Well, at least he has some...

even if it is rainbow colored! :-)

Joseph and the collie puppies,
We went out to see Grannie's horses while we were there, it started raining soon after we got to where the horses were, so I didn't get many pictures.
Isn't she pretty?! Her name is Buttercup (I think)
Sweet little Nehemiah....

Grannie and Nehemiah,Aunt Rebecca,

Aunt Rebecca's son Jacob,

Sisters...

Grannie and her girls :-)

Grannie and Mr. Steve with all of us,

The Redheads :-)Three generations, Grannie, Mama, and Me :-)

TN vacation - Day 3 - May 2nd

2009-05-14T10:19:00.000-07:00

(Here's a link to Mama's blog so you can read a more
detailed post about 'Day 3':
http://tonyanddanalewis.blogspot.com/2009/05/our-afternoon.html)

At our friend's house in TN,

Talking, and visiting....

The Hearth Keeper Ladies,

The Daddys and children playing Frisbee,

Daddy playing Frisbee,

Playing with friends,

We all had a fun visit with our friends! And we didn't get back to Pa's house until 2 am the next morning! (we had to drive like 2 or 3 hours to get back though)

TN vacation - Day 2 - May 1st

2009-05-14T08:09:00.000-07:00

Friday we went to Daddy's mother's house (we call her 'Nana') for lunch, (burgers and hotdogs) we were gonna go to a park for lunch... but we got rained out :-( We stayed and visited for a while, then we went to our Great Grandmother's house for supper and to spend the night.
Here are the little boy's playing at Nana's house,

Joseph and our cousin Avery,Nehemiah sportin' some sunglasses MaryVance found at Nana's house.

The TN river (I think??)

TN vacation - Day 1 - April 30

2009-05-12T09:27:00.000-07:00

We left our house at 4:20 Thursday morning, and we drove for about 5 hours
(I think) then we stopped at a park (well, it wasn't the kinda park you'd think of when you say 'park', it was a big grassy area with a creek, it was really nice, and very peaceful!) to meet a family for breakfast (they made 'Breakfast Sandwiches' for us...yum!) After we ate we walked down to the creek, then played ball and talked for a little while... we all had a very good time!! :-)

Down by the creek,

The boys playing soccer :-)

We stayed at the park for a couple hours then we said our good byes, hopped in the van, and we were on our way again! :-)

A picture I took on our way to TN! :-)

-- Day 2 will follow soon! (I have to go clean the kitchen and fold laundry first, then I'll do Day 2!!) --

ETA: if you want to read more about our first day you can go to:

http://tonyanddanalewis.blogspot.com/2009/05/on-road-again-again-day-2.html :-)

Our little Nehemiah.....

2009-05-07T18:12:00.000-07:00

is SEVEN months old!!! :-0 I just can't believe he's already Seven Months Old! It seems like just yesterday he was a little baby.... now he's Seven Months Old...... My how time flies!.....

I am gonna take Seven month pictures of him sometime..... tomorrow probably! And I'm still trying to decide what kinda 'set-up' to use.... ya know, like what to dress him in and what kinda background to use, that kinda stuff..... do You have any ideas?!?! :-)

Well Caleb just informed me that I need to go do my part in the kitchen..... so I guess I'll go now..... I'll 'talk' to y'all later!!! Have a good night!! :-)

We're back!!!!!!

2009-05-07T10:02:00.000-07:00

We got home at 10:30 last night..... and today we are all pretty tired! (I don't know about everyone, but I do know that some of us are pretty tired!)

Anyway, here's an quick recap of our trip! (Ok, so I cheated... I stole um uh 'borrowed' this from Mama's blog so I wouldn't have to write it up myself! ;-))

Left here Thursday at 4:20 am
Drove to Birmingham AL
for a picnic breakfast at the park with Faith (a lady Mama knows from Hearth Keepers)
Got to Brownsville around 6
Rebecca and Jacob (our Aunt and her son) were there, we visited
Set up our campsite and drove to town for supper
Rain
Decided to sleep in Daddy's (we call him 'Pa', he's Mama's Daddy) shop
Left Friday morning for Hendersonville
Our picnic was rained out
Went to Tony's mom's and spent the day
Spent the night at his grandmothers
Had a great visit with everyone
Grandmother treated us to breakfast at Cracker Barrel Saturday morning
Left there and drove to Smyrna for a get together with friends there
Met Kim, Kim and Nina at Toya's house (these are ladies Mama knows on HK too!)
We had a great, great time
Ate supper with Toya and Randy and family
Got back to Daddy's at 2am
Thud
Sunday spent time visiting with Daddy (Pa)
Spent Sunday afternoon with Mama (Mama's mother, we call her Grannie) and Rebecca and Jacob
Had a really nice visit
Mama (Grannie) said Nehemiah looks like me :)
Left there and drove to the Sheltons
Lora and her children came over
We had a great visit with them too
Monday we drove to Paris
It was an inpromptu visit
We drove by our old house and church
And we played at the park where we used to play when we lived there
It was a nice nostalgic trip
Visited with Lisa (She is a friend of Mama's) and her children Monday night
It was a really good visit
Haven't seen them in years and years
Tuesday it finally wasn't raining
We drove to Memphis to the zoo
Very nice
Lots of fun
Wednesday woke up at 2am to a child (Sam) being sick
Uh Oh
Prayed and prayed and he wasn't sick any more
Went by Mama's (Grannie's) office before we left Brownsville
Had a tour of the police station and got to see the fire trucks
Great fun
Had a safe, uneventful trip home! :-)

(As You can tell I added some notes in there to help explain things better!)

-whew!-

We are glad to be back home!

I will post pictures later! I Promise!!! :-)

We're in TN!!!

2009-05-02T05:59:00.000-07:00

And we are having a good time!!

I will be back later to post a 'real' update!! I just wanted to 'pop' in and say we made it here safely, and we are having a good time!! :-) Right now we are at our Great Grandmother's house (we spent the night at her place last night) and we are getting things pack up so we can go eat breakfast at Cracker Barrel with our family!!

Anyway, I'll be back later with a longer update!!! :-)

Tomorrow is the day!!

2009-04-29T07:17:00.000-07:00

That we leave on our vacation!!! We still have a good bit to get done before tomorrow, but not a whole lot! :-) I need to finish the laundry, I only have four loads left!!
We already have most of the animals taken care of, but I still need to make a list for Matt and Jennifer so they know exactly what to do for the animals while we are gone! Anyway, I need to go do laundry now!!

Note to Ashley: Thanks a lot for sharing your cold with us! That was so very kind of you! We aren't all sick, I guess you must like some of us better than others, right?! You must like Luke, Elijah, Nehemiah, and me better than the rest of my family. Is that correct?! I just wanted to thank you for sharing!! ;-)

A funny from Joseph.... to Hannah :-)

2009-04-27T08:15:00.000-07:00

This morning Joseph and I were sitting on the couch, and Joseph was playing with a green rubber snake, and he was talking to it,
I wasn't really listening until he said "Here's Hannah"
I said "Hannah?" and he said "Yes, this is my snake Hannah" :-)

I don't know why he named it 'Hannah',
maybe because his long skinny green snake reminded him of our good friend Hannah!!! :-)

....an update... sorta.... :-)

2009-04-26T18:26:00.000-07:00

I really need to update my blog with more pictures.... but I can't right now 'cause I'm holding Nehemiah, and it's kinda hard to select, re-size, and post pictures while I'm holding him! :-).... But, I can type alright while I'm holding Nehemiah.... so I guess I can update about what's been happening around here now, So without further ado... here is an update!! :-)

Thursday April 30th we will be leaving on a vacation to Tennessee!!! We will be leaving really early in the morning.... I mean REALLY early, like 4:00 in the morning early! :-0 And we will be back sometime in Tuesday..... So, we only have (including today) three days to get ready for the trip.... we have to pack clothes (of course!) camping stuff (we are planning to camp out while we're there!) food, ect.... ect.... ect....!
And we still have a lot to do before we leave like:
-Do ALL the laundry! (my job ;-))
-Take care of all the animals, set out feeders, water, ect...
-Clean-up the house
-Clean-out the van
ect.... ect.... ect.... :-)

So all that to say.... I won't be updating my blog until we get back.... so you can be looking forward to seeing pictures of our vacation!!!! :-)

6 days to go!....

2009-04-24T12:11:00.000-07:00

....to go where???? Can you guess where we are going in 6 days?!

So... do you like...

2009-04-21T12:59:00.000-07:00

my new background? I don't 'Love' it like I did the other one. I guess it will just take some getting used to...... Do you like it??

Well... I guess it's 'bout time....

2009-04-21T12:30:00.000-07:00

for me to change my blog background..... but I don't wanna!!! :-)
I really like the one I have now...... I guess I'll go look though....
you never know I might find something I like even more than this one.... I don't think that's very likely though....... :-)

Spring has sprung...

2009-04-21T05:44:00.000-07:00

Aren't they cute?!
They are baby Cardinals :-)

So.... The Mariana Arts Festival Winners are...

2009-04-17T21:45:00.000-07:00

Caleb Lewis -- 2nd place for woodworking (he made his first wooden spatula, it turned out Really nice ;-)), and 2nd place for misc! (he wrote a Bible verse (from Jude) in cursive and framed it!)

Prize for second place winners: $25

Molly Lewis -- First place for Photography! It was my 'Three Roses' photo!!

Prize for first place winners: $35

Samuel Lewis -- First place for Photography! The Rooster picture!!

Prize for first place winners: $35

Luke -- Won a Merit Award for a Cardinal picture!

MaryVance -- 3rd place for Photography! And won a Merit Award for a picture she drew!

Prize for third place winners: $20

Elijah Lewis -- 3rd place for a picture he drew!!

Prize for third place winners: $20

pictures of our entries and ribbons to follow later! :-)

Ok... so I finally decided...

2009-04-16T15:44:00.000-07:00

which photos to enter in the contest!

So... do you like?! :-)

...another one...

2009-04-15T11:44:00.000-07:00

Here's another edited photo! :-) As you can see, I am having SO much fun editing my pictures!! :-)

What's up?!

2009-04-13T15:54:00.000-07:00

So... what's been happening in your life?

Well, I guess I should share what's been happening in My life first :-) Hmmmm..... What Has been happening?!?

Today it stormed pretty hard, there was a Tornado warning, a Flash Flood warning, and a Severe Thunder Storm warning for our
area! :-o . Most of what we got was a LOT of rain and wind though... thankfully!
Our kittens are getting SO big! They can get out of there box now, and walk around. It is so funny to see Saber (for example) walk up to Pepper and for Pepper to look at him, turn around and RUN!!!! Our adult cats (all except for Liberty, of course!) run whenever they see these little kitten walking toward them!! :-)

I need to go fold laundry now!! I post some more later!! :-)