VBS Day 5

Well, VBS is over here in our neck of the woods – and we had a great time!!

The last day for crafts we made cross keychains or necklaces – with beads!  It may have required the most time and attention from the leaders, but the kids loved it!

 

 

 

The kindergarteners painted sun catchers – and they enjoyed that too!

And finally, the tye-dyed bandanas were handed out and everyone seem pleased with the results!!

Here is my princess with hers – a bit of an ‘80s look!

 

And fun in the kitchen too!

It was a great week!!  Lots of fun, many smiles, and hopefully we will see these kids more on Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights!!

VBS Day 2 & 3

We are over the hump – Wednesday, that is.  We finished out 3rd day today with a couple fun crafts!  Our numbers have increased each day, which we love to see!

Yesterday, we made our “Beach in a Bottle” craft. 

 

We used water bottles, poured in about 1/2 cup of sand, a couple shakes of glitter, a handful of shells before moving to the liquid station.  At the liquid station the kids added some blue colored water and finished the project with some baby oil.  We then, hot glued the lids on (for many reasons that you can imagine) and voila! 

Kids, Kids and more kids!!

What a perfect couple of days we have had! We thoroughly enjoyed our visit with the Lewis Family! It is so fun to watch your best friend’s kids grow up – even if it is with visits a year apart!  Watching all our children grow up and deepen their friendships is such a gift too!


We did not take the whole gang : 8 kids ages 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 10 – out except to church on Wednesday night. Staying close to home was a great choice as the kids woke up and fished, played some afternoon baseball and walked the dogs every day. We even managed quiet time each afternoon for the dads and the youngest of the kids. It was great!  Not to mention many meals eaten outside made for 4 very happy adults at meal time! 

Sometimes it is easy to feel like 4 kids can be overwhelming – and that you do not really get to see the individual personality of each child with all of them together. This week proved that to be a lie. As our 8 children played together, in small groups, and sometimes solo we were able to see each of our children’s personalities shine.

Being filled up

Amazing how life can take over – YOUR LIFE!!! 

I love to make time to update my blog – kind of my running journal.  One I do not have to find to update.  But every so often, it seems life just takes over so much of my real time I have very little cyber-space time to do much of anything!  I have not been looking at blogs, not been updating mine, and who the heck knows what is going on in Facebook-World?  I sure do not these days!

I am happy if I can reply to those few urgent emails that come in, and otherwise, we are living.  Planting, building, tiling, cleaning, teaching, cooking (lots of this), reading, praying, and lots more living. 

But here I am  - a few moments.  I still need to run and sand my bathroom walls – I am DREADING this – but it needs to be done to move further on my bathroom.  Instead, here I am.

Yesterday was fun – I made another, much more successful, batch of tamales – really 2 batches.  I made almost 3 dozen pork and then almost 4 dozen Green Corn (our favorite).  I am looking forward to sharing them with some homeschool friends on Thursday night!

feeling so blessed

We had a great weekend – fun Christmas Celebration with Brian & Lisa,  then a great Sunday at FBC Malakoff.  We started teaching our 1st grade Sunday school class yesterday and then helped out with Sunday night kids service too.  So much fun!  Getting to know these little people our church brings in on the bus each week – three times each week!

View Full Album

Above are a few of our Sunday night kids with their “sugar” snack of Christmas Trees.

God is just so good – he is good when times are tough, and he is good when things are going well.  I feel so  blessed to praise him these days when things are good!!

 

I am not sure of my count of my gratitude list, but here are the things I am pondering and praising today..

~ fresh warm bread out of the oven on a cold morning

 

~ sweet sibling love

 

  

 

~ homemade ornaments hand-stitched by little boy hands

 

~ waking to a fire in the living room, started by a thoughtful husband

 

~ a sweet girl reading/listening to a wonderful gift book!

~ kids who can let the chickens out and check on the kittens so mom does not have to every day

~ the early planning stages for a 3 generation/2 family Girls (only)  trip to NY

~ upcoming night out with my husband – it has been since maybe, May for the last one

~ the sign of a chicken recovering from being chewed on by a puppy

~ new chicken coop for the boys (with many upgrades and modifications!!)

~ teaching children and seeing that they are getting it – hoping they keep it and share it

~ time for crocheting on the couch watching football with Robert

~ homemade chicken/turkey soup from the Thanksgiving bones from the freezer – yummy

~ for children (loud, messy, dirty, and all the other bad stuff – but loving them no matter what – because they are mine!)

~ for children (who love, hug, encourage, love God, help out, and all the other good stuff – and loving them no matter what – because they are mine)

~ for waiting – on Him – on him – waiting.  Trusting while waiting and praying – the most important part!