Guess Who!

We keep wondering who Maddie will favor. If she will have her own look or look more like one of her brothers. So I have a little challenge for you. The above picture is Maddie at 6 months (now). Below are pictures of all 3 brothers at about 6 months. Can you tell which one is which? And who do you think she favors?

There's no prize for guessing correctly, it's just the honor of knowing you know my kids! I'm anxious to see if you can figure it out. I'll fill you in next week!

Thank You

Thank you Veterans! Today is the day we honor you! The boys school had a Veterans Program today to honor all our Veterans.

Nathaniel's class did the pledges to the American Flag, Christian Flag and the Bible. They were so cute. There are only 4 of them and Nathaniel held the Christian Flag. The 4 of them, did all 3 pledges by themselves. They were great!

Ronnie's class did a Poem entitled, "The Soldier".

T is for the tremendous courage you demonstrate

H is for the hope you give to all mankind

E is for your endless endurance

S is for your self-sacrifice

O is for the obstacle you overcame

L is for your loyalty to our country

D is for your desire that all men have the right to be free

I is for your immeasurable bravery

E is for your everlasting faithfulness to complete the task before you

R is for your resolve and willingness to take responsibility

Thank you Soldiers for all you have given to us and to this Great Country! We salute you!

"NOT" My Calling

I am convinced without a doubt that my calling is not to be a single parent or to be single at all. Ron left yesterday for a trip to Chicago and I am missing him. Don't get me wrong, I love my kids so much, but I just love them more when daddy is around too. We've done pretty good here the last 24 hours, but I'm counting down the hours till he gets home (6 hours 10 minutes, approximately).

It seems like everything we do, we miss him. It's obvious that Ron is gone when...

* I am watching the Hallmark channel movie on Sunday afternoon, instead of NFL Football

*The boys want to invite a friend to play football, instead of just asking me (daddy would have been out there with them, thankfully Maddie was my excuse on that one).

*His place is empty at the table

*His side of the bed is not warm

*I can't fall asleep until midnight and every sound in the house is magnified

*I don't make a pot of coffee in the morning (and I actually miss making it)

*After a trip to the store, I have to keep Eli entertained and Maddie calm while bringing in groceries (all the way from the garage up 3 steps to the kitchen - it didn't seem like that long of a walk yesterday)

* We get done with lunch a little early and Eli has no one to wrestle


There are lots of other signs that things just aren't the same around here.


We miss you and love you Ronald Lee (a.k.a. Daddy)

Fun Times

Our Farmer church does Operation Christmas Child. What we do is have people sign up to take the kids of the church and fill a shoebox for a child that age. It is fun and is a good way for our congregation to get together with the kids.

Our boys went last year with the Ruffers and then out for Pizza. So they were excited to hear the Ruffers were taking them again. This time they had their grandson, Brayden too.

So 4 boys from 2 to 6 yrs. Wow, you would think they were gluttons for punishment. As you can tell from the picture below they had a great time. They went to Dollar General and filled their boxes in no time and then went off to Pizza Hut too. Fun times - that I'm sure the boys will NOT soon forget.

Big Plans

Our Family is perhaps, once again, going through a change. That dreaded word, CHANGE! I'll try to explain and in doing so, would ask for your prayers!

Ron is finished writing his thesis. Therefore he has nearly completed his Masters of Sacred Theology from Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus. He will have to take comprehensive exams in the spring with a May Graduation.

He has begun applying for PhD work. He has visited a couple of schools and has another one planned for this coming week.

We really don't know what the future holds. Ron would love to complete his Doctorate and then teach.

The not knowing scares me, but Praise the Lord we know the one who controls the universe! My Grandma Hornish says, "when God is in your plans, PLAN BIG!

So we are prepared for Big Things and trusting Jesus for our future!

Professional

If you've read this blog before, you know I love to take pictures of my kids. Well today it was way past time to get some professional pictures of Maddie. With the boys I had gotten 3, 6 and 9 month pictures done. So today we headed off to get Maddie's 6 months pictures. But of course, I didn't get them today, so I had to take some of my own.

Except for the lighting and backgrounds, I think I might have gotten better pictures! Although it's hard to get bad ones of this little cutie!

Applesauce

I did it, I made applesauce today. If you've made it before you are probably thinking, big deal. But this was my first attempt and I did it! I canned 5 quarts and 6 pints (I ran out of quart jars). Then there was just enough left to give everybody a spoonful at supper. They loved it, even Maddie. So not only did I make applesauce, I made applesauce that everyone likes!!

Below are some pictures of the final stages. I started during nap time this afternoon. Maddie of course decided she would take and extra short nap today, but she was content to play in the kitchen. Eli was excited to help and I wasn't quite done when the boys got off the bus, so they helped out a little too!

Have You Read It?

I recently read the book, The Shack, by Wm Paul Young. Have you read it? I guess there is quite a bit of controversy about the book. I actually enjoyed it.

If you haven't read it, it is a novel that gets into deep issues of the Trinity, and discusses the 3 in 1. I think the author does a great job of answering some tough theological questions.

By my analysis of it, you might think it is a very "heady" book, but in fact it is a very easy read and it captures your attention.

I think in reading this book, it is important to remember it is a novel, but I don't think that it should be taken as impossibility either.

I guess you will just have to read it. I'd love to hear what you think.

My First Buy

Recently I was in Wal-Mart and found this adorable dress that was Maddie's size. It also happened to be on clearance, gotta love that. The clearance price was so good ($4) that I bought one for Maddie and one for Lucy (my niece in Arua, who I will see very soon). So they have matching dresses.

Yesterday I just couldn't wait for Lucy any longer. Maddie wore her great buy. She was so cute. Mostly because she's just cute, but partly because I found a great buy.

I'm trying to remember for sure, but I think this is the first dress I have bought for our little gal. She has been supplied by many friends and family with clothes and Ron says she has more clothes than any girl should be allowed.

I just think she's cute.

She's teething a little, can you tell?

We do it Different

We don't celebrate Halloween the way it is traditionally celebrated in our society. We don't do costumes and trick or treat, we don't even hand out candy. For the last few years we have begun a tradition where we read the story of Martin Luther. We talk about the Reformation and the beginning of the Protestant Movement. It is important to both Ron and I that the boys understand their Church History.

To put it simply we don't participate in the evil of this "holiday". Society has made this a very perverse and horrible thing. I made the mistake of going to Wal-mart on Saturday and I'm just very thankful that I only had Maddie with me. Some of the costumes I saw were just plain evil.

Why would we allow our children to participate in that type of behavior? We do not condemn those of you who participate, we just choose to celebrate differently!