Kids Worship Service

This morning at both our Farmer and Ney Churches we had a Kids Service.  The kids did everything from Greeting to the Sermon, the Piano playing, to acolytes, ushers and so much more!

My 4 did an amazing job!  I am so proud of these 4 and their ability to lead for Jesus!

I didn't get a picture of everything and got very few pictures at Farmer, but I did get this one of our little gal standing in front of 107 people saying her Bible Verse!  She was clear, loud and understandable and did a Great Job quoting Psalm 118:1!

She also was one of the acolytes at Ney and this was a first for her.  She's excited about doing that again - she loved it.  Then at Ney she said another verse, Proverbs 20:11, with another little girl.

She did great!  So proud of her and her willingness to recite her Bible Verses and share the Word with others!

Nathaniel played the Prelude at both Farmer and Ney today.  He played, "Wonderful Words of Life".  He did it as a duet at Ney and a solo at Farmer and both sounded great!  He and Ronnie have just begun playing the piano last June and this was their first to play at church. Nathaniel did a fantastic job!

Ronnie had the Postlude at both Farmer and Ney, "Holy, Holy, Holy".  He also played a duet at Ney and a solo at Farmer.  He also just began in June and this was his first time playing at church.  He did fantastic!  

In addition, he also lead the prayer time at Farmer.  He was very nervous about this, but did a great job!  So proud of his willingness to lead the prayer, despite being very nervous!

I have this picture of the Children's Choir at Ney - They sang, "Celebrate" and did GREAT!  All 4 of mine were a part of the choir.

Then at Farmer they were a part of the Children's Choir again singing, "This Little Light of Mine" and "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands".  They did great!  

But this little guy...

He had his debut sermon, at 6 years old!  

He preached a sermon at both Farmer and Ney from Genesis chapter 3, titled, "The Big Sin".  

He got nervous, yes, even Eli gets nervous, but he did great!

By the time we got to Farmer and his second time, he was more relaxed!  He did great both times and "preached" to over 200 people this morning! (there was also a second "sermon" at Farmer by a little 2nd grader).

To say Ron and I are proud, would be an understatement!  We are Blessed beyond measure with 4 amazing kids!  We are Blessed beyond measure with 45 kids in 2 churches who were willing to serve the Lord with their abilities (piano playing, singing, reciting, reading, preaching, greeting, acolyting, ushering, song leading, and praying).  It is exciting to see the future of our churches!  Exciting and yet such a responsibility!  These are our leaders - these are the future of our church!  

So Thankful for a Great Sunday Worship!  

Game #2

Tonight was the 4th grade Apaches 2nd game!  Last week they won big -by 2 touchdowns and Nathaniel did great throwing for a touchdown.  Well tonight, it was a nail-biter but they pulled it off 21-19!  And Nathaniel ran for 2 touchdown's!  He did great!  This football stuff is crazy, but it was exciting to watch.  He got a tackle too!  I'm not too wild about him playing defense, but he did great all around!

So #14 had another great week with the 4th Grade Apaches!

Great Game Boys!

Nathaniel's 9th Birthday

Today our little man turned 9 years old.

It seems hard to believe!

His brothers  and sister all love him so much!

Maddie gave him a picture she colored!

 He liked his cake!

FV is Fairview!  He didn't know what he wanted for a cake, "surprise me" he said!  He seemed pleased and excited!  Although he said I'd have to do it again in two years with #11.  That's the number he likes! ;)

Nathaniel had his friend, Kolton, over to spend the night on Friday night. 

They had a fun time playing football, baseball and just having fun!

Nathaniel Blake, named after his Uncle (Ryan Nathan) and his Pap (Blake).  He is an amazing kid. The most sensitive little man I know.  He is kind to everyone, loves life and is just a great kid.  I'm amazed by his strength, by his sweetness, by his innocence.  He's kind, loving, gentle and just so much fun!

Nathaniel, we love you so much and are so proud of the man you are becoming! 

Happy Birthday Big 9 year old!

Nathaniel Blake

Happy 9th Birthday, Nathaniel!

We love you!

Footbal

Nathaniel had his first Football Game tonight!  

He's a pretty cute football player!  

I'm not sure I like this football stuff, but he did good!

He's the quarterback and thew for a touchdown tonight!

I couldn't get many good pictures, I was too busy trying to keep my eye on #14!  He really did a good job and had fun too!

The Fairview 4th Graders won their first game!

Quiet

For the last few months we have had a lot of noise at night!  Our upstairs doesn't cool very easily with the air conditioner and so we have 2 window units and 2 fans going upstairs.  It is kind of "loud" with all of that running, but we have become accustomed to it!

Now this last week in Northwest Ohio things have cooled off.  It is very fall-like weather outside!  We love it - our favorite season.  We've opened the window and allowed the cool weather to come on in.  We have turned off the air conditioner and the fans.

This morning when I woke up, I noticed the quiet.  No hum of a fan or of the air conditioner.  Just silence.   It's almost eerie,  the silence.  In our society it is rarely ever quiet.

Rarely do people sit in silence.  Even if they are not talking there is the clicking of keys or buttons.   When was the last time you sat in silence, just listening?  Not doing anything!  Seriously, can you do it for any length of time?

As I quietly got around this morning, trying to be careful not to wake anyone my mind drifted to these questions.  Silence - am I silent before the Lord?  Do I sit at His feet in silence, just listening to what He wants to say to me?

We don't have to fear silence.  In fact we should embrace it!  If we can't stop and be quiet how can we know what the Lord has for us!

Psalm 46:10 says, "Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth."

If we cannot Be Still, can we truly know God and know that He is God?  Or are we putting the noise and the things around us before God?

Something to consider!

O-H

O-H-I-O

This morning we went and got our annual Brutus pictures!

Maddie was pretty excited this time because she stayed with Ms Claudia (the owner of Brutus) yesterday when I volunteered at the school.  She got to help set Brutus up!  She felt privileged.

So we are gearing up for Game #3!  

Go Buckeyes!

Update

Ron made it home - and it great time!  His meeting with his adviser at the beginning of the week went well and he had a good week of research!  He is glad to be home and we're glad to have him home.  He left a little after 5 in order to get here!  We are thankful for safety and a good week!

Additionally Ryan is doing well the last day or so too!  He is taking baby steps to improvement!  We are thankful.  I cannot begin to imagine how people handle situations like this without the Lord.  It has been an emotional, difficult and trying 5+weeks (and that is just for Ron and I).  Holly and the girls and Ryan's parents are living a huge roller coaster.  

We are thankful to know the One who not only knows Ryan, but has known him before he was born!  We continue to trust that He will guide and strengthen and heal!

Star Student

This morning I had the opportunity to volunteer at the boys school.  I can only do this once a month, when Ron is gone and I'm not babysitting, but I really enjoyed it!  Wish I could do it more often!

So I was in Nathaniel's classroom first thing this morning when the announcements were going on and I hear that Eli Adkins is the Student of the Week for Mrs. Meyer's class!  Yeah Eli!  I was pretty proud to get to here the announcement.

He was super, excited even after school when he showed me all his stuff!

His certificate says, "Eli is an Awesome listener!  He participates in class and cares about learning every day.  Eli is a great role model for his classmates."

Super proud of our Student of the Week!

School Spirit

I posted just 3 weeks ago that these handsome (I can say that because they look like their Daddy) men were beginning at Fairview!  Well they are 3 weeks in and here they are!

"Everybody" wears Fairview clothes on Friday, "everybody".  Well maybe not everybody, but these 3 managed to find some baseball shirts that would work!

Nathaniel proudly displayed his 4th Grade Football Jersey!  

(Not all that excited about the whole football thing :), but I'll post more for his first game next week.)

So they are Fairview Apaches now.  Maddie wasn't sure why she didn't have any Fairview clothes to wear, guess we'll have to work on her and I getting into the school spirit!

Seriously though, all 3 boys seem to be doing well!  Eli had a setback for a couple of weeks, but I finally got clued in and addressed the issue.  He's been great all week and loves recess again!  Ronnie is doing his best to beat everyone in his class with AR points.  Not sure he is winning, but he's reading :)  We just have to get him to slow down and understand what he's reading!  Nathaniel is doing well too.  I was able to volunteer in his classroom today and it was fun to see him in "his classroom environment".  He didn't even seem embarrassed to have me there.  So thankful for that!

So we are underway with the year and praising the Lord for a good start.  There are minor adjustments still being made and we are covering them in prayer every day, but we are so thankful that they don't go alone, The Lord is with them!

Out of the Mouth of Babes

A child will lead them!  

This little gal is such a blessing!  

Maddie's been playing "Momma" a lot lately.  She loves to play in her kitchen, on her computer, with her baby!  She just loves pretending and being so grown up.  She rarely misses an opportunity to tell me how big she is and how she'll be going to school very soon (a year, if we let her) :)

Tonight she grabbed a picture of Jesus with kids all around him and sitting on His lap. 

"See this Momma?"  "I wanna be this little boy."  (Pointing to the little boy sitting on Jesus' lap). 

It's makes perfect sense!  Right where we should be, sitting in Jesus capable hands.  Allowing Him to control and take care of everything for us!  No worries, no fears, just sitting and soaking in Jesus!

The last few days this beautiful little gal has been very aware of the Lord and talking a lot about what He wants from us and for us.  She's been praying more and more and keeps repeating the first commandment - Keep God First!  Her heart is bending toward the things of the Lord and I sense her desire to know more and more each day!  It's exciting!  

I'm blessed beyond measure to be Momma to this beauty and her big brothers!  I'll never understand  why I was chosen to be "Momma" to 4 amazing kids!  Blessed just doesn't seem like enough.  They challenge me, they inspire me, they stretch me in amazing ways!

I'm so thankful!

Grandparents

It's nice to have a change of pace sometimes!  

Thanks Pap and Grandma for dinner and a quick couple of games!

Pap was showing his multi-talents by playing both scrabble and chess at the same time.  I'm pretty sure he beat both boys at chess and I think he did pretty good at Scrabble too!

Wilmore Week #17

We are officially underway on Year 3 of Wilmore Weeks!  We  are use to the schedule now, but still not liking being without Daddy for a week!

We would appreciate your prayers this week as we are apart as a family.  I don't like the thought of not having Ron around for a week, yet I think about my sister-in-law, Holly, who has been at the hospital for over 4 weeks now at Ryan's bedside.  Sometimes able to talk, sometimes just praying and waiting for a small step of improvement!  I don't have much to complain about.  Ron will be back on Saturday and while we miss him and are anxious to hug him and have him back - we'll be OK!

We would appreciate your prayers for his safety as he travels and just being away by himself.  We would also appreciate prayers for the kids and I as I hold down the fort here with school, football practice, piano lessons, youth and whatever else comes up.

Pray for Ron as he has a meeting tomorrow afternoon with his adviser.  This is a big meeting and he needs the Lord's guidance in all of this!  Additionally, it's difficult eating TV dinners and researching for 12 + hours a day.  He loves the research part, it's just hard to go at it one week out of a month.

So here we go, another Wilmore Week!

Monkeys

The final week of summer Eli began to figure out how to climb the tree outside our house!  

Maddie kept watch from below...

and slowly his big brothers realized they could do it too!

The true climber though is the one sitting high up watching it all take place below him.

 Feeling a little sorry for the tree :)

Fun, Memory Making Days!

Saying Good-bye

Two weeks ago now, we said good-bye to a great friend.  Kasen is a great guy who our kids have really gotten to know and look up to in a short amount of time.

About a year ago Kasen began playing piano and leading music for our Farmer church.  He is multi-talented.  He's a fantastic musician and really that is just the beginning.   This young man is on fire for the Lord and he is very mature for his young age!  

He has been a great role model for our kids to look up to!  There were tears when the kids realized that the college he chose, Northwestern, was far enough away that we wouldn't be seeing Kasen every week.

Kasen has shared so much with the kids, including some silly glasses!  It's not often that great role models come along - Kasen will be greatly missed by all of us!

He also made the drum line for Northwestern and his first game is tomorrow!  Have fun Kasen and we might even cheer you on, when you're not playing the Buckeyes! :)

New Sherriff...and side kick

There is a New Sheriff in town!  And he's stinkin' cute!

He has a side kick too!

Didn't post

These warm days of summer seem so far off on these cool (almost autumn) days!

Gardening and Canning

We've been busy around the Adkins home!  Our Garden is producing and we are storing up for winter!  This year the kids and Ron planted lots of things and we had a pretty good crop!  On Monday, since it was a holiday to get some work done :), they were all out in the garden cleaning it up a bit.

Ronnie just loved that he got to wear Daddy's workin' cowboy hat!  He felt big!

They worked hard!

Believe it or not, this little girl, worked pretty hard!  

She's not afraid of hard work!

Then they sat around and talked and cleaned and cleaned and talked...it took awhile!

You might be wondering where I was during this whole process.  Between Saturday, Monday and last night I have canned 6 qt. peaches, 7 qt Pasta Sauce, 14 pints Green Beans (with more to do tonight), and 40 pints of potatoes (with many more to do).  We would love to keep some of the potatoes, but apparently our basement is too warm to keep them through the winter - so we'll have them canned!  All of this doesn't include the 20+ pints of Salsa I have already put up this year.  The tomatoes are still coming on, so there will be more there too!

So we've been keeping busy with Gardening and Canning this year and we'll be enjoying it for months to come!