"All the birds of the heavens make their nests..."

We have a Mama bird sitting on a nest above our garage door! We found her yesterday :). I told Tori I am so excited... it seems every year since I've been online, one blogger has a bird nesting on their house/porch, and I've always wanted it to happen to us, heehee :). (We did have a nest in some flowerpots by our house once, but we never saw the babies. We're not sure what happened. It looked like the eggs had hatched, and there was no sign that it had happened in a disastrous way... but we *never* saw the babies, the eggs were there one day, and they were open and the birds were gone the next day when I went out to try to get pics.). 

My Mommy and her baby bird :). 

 

So Mommy and I  went out this morning to get pictures of the nest and figure out what was in it, while the little ones played. While we were working on getting the pics, there were four little squirrels chasing each other on the edge of the next lawn, and they were wild! It was hilarious! The tree they were in was shaking so hard! One of them ended up falling out -or getting pushed, I'm not sure- but he was okay, haha :). A couple of them actually came within ten feet of me a couple of times. They were cute :).

But anyway, back to the birds... I did get one picture of the mama bird on her nest before I got the ladder out, but I scared her away when I was setting it up. That did make it "easier" to take pictures of the "inside"(ish) of the nest... which was no easy task anyway. Two ladders (but not at the same time) and ten pictures (also not taken at the same moment) into it, I was SURE that there were two eggs in the picture (I couldn't see in the nest myself, I'm too short even with the second taller ladder!), but once I got inside where I could *actually* see the photo without the sun glaring on it... what I thought were eggs are just part of the house peaking through the nest. Lol! So, we'll keep checking on it :). Hopefully soon we'll have little baby birds above the garage :)! Isn't the nest itself gorgeous, though :)? Isn't it amazing that God has given these little creatures the ability to take leaves and grass and make a secure shelter for their little ones?!

Happy Father's Day to My Amazing Daddy!!!

I love you, Daddy :)!
Thank you for providing for us, for leading us and guiding us. My love for coffee, gardening, and taking pictures came from you... and the reason I can even pretend I know what I'm doing when it comes to math is because of you ;). But those are just a few of the "earthly" things that you have given me. That's not counting all the invaluable lessons that you have given me in my walk with the Lord, or the encouragement you give our family when we are going through a rough time. I am so thankful for you, Daddy, and I want you to know it. I love you!
Happy Father's Day :)!!!

Thankful Thursday...

This is to be a Thankful Thursday at it's best hodge podge glory. Are you ready? Here we go... (after a quick Josiah pic... he's so cuuuuute!!!!!)

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I am so thankful for my family (all of them!) :). I remember Tori wearing the dress little Emmi is wearing... it was at about the same time that I wore the one Bethi is wearing ;)! Now Tori is just barely not as tall as me... just barely... haha!

 

This pic was taken on Mother's day. We tried out a new church that morning, with quite the encounter.  A lady walked up to me, gave me a big hug, and said "Happy mother's day! Are all these yours?", waving to the four or five siblings standing next to me, one of them Tori. I politely told her that they were "all my mom's..." and the look of horror on her face was kind of funny as she said, "I am sooooo sorry!". Then, presumably to change the subject, she said, "You know, we have a REALLY nice children's church. What grade would you be in?". After talking for a couple more minutes, she went off to talk to Mommy, and Tori and I just looked at each other. I asked her, "Tori, do I look really young or really old? Either I have children to go to children's church, or I should be there myself." Tori answered, "I don't know, but I'd love to know who people think Mommy and I are if you're the mom...."

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We had a visit from Granny, Gramma and Aunt Donna last month. It was great to get to see them, and they finally got to meet the newest little guy :)...

 

 

We went out to Texas Roadhouse for supper that first night, and Aunt Donna made a new friend by showing off her crazy side... but anyway... the weekend was full of clothes shopping, making delicious strawberry jam out of the strawberries they brought, fellowship, and fun. 

Emmi playing piano with my Mother goose.  

Aunt Donna insists that I am the crazy one!?...

We also took a walk down to the park, showed them Luigi the Geo-cache, because Aunt Donna wanted to know how caching works, Andrew and Daddy sailed some remote controlled boats Gramma gave the boys, and the little ones enjoyed burning off some energy :). It was a great week full of laughter, heehee :). 

 

 AND, Gramma got the first family pic we've had in four years!!!!

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Abbi-girl lost her first tooth on the 30th of last month! She mentioned to Daddy on the twenty-ninth, "My tooth hurts." Daddy informed her that it was loose, but would still be a while before she lost it. Haha! The very next morning...

She wiggled it every minute she was awake, so I'm not surprised it was quicker than expected. The first thing Mommy and I said was that "it looks just like her!". Haha :). She so cute, and such a big girl!

And Peter makes quite the little farmer boy, doesn't he :)?... Love his little bare toes :)...

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Emmi's fourth birthday was on the first :). She has been looking forward to it for weeks, and was so happy that it finally got here!

 

Isn't she just precious :)?...

We went with a "Frozen" theme... because it was much easier to throw off then a frog/monkey/flower/koala bear/whatever else she wanted theme ;). She isn't very decisive. Supper went from pizza to tuna sandwiches to mexican to pizza to hot dogs to corn dogs before we (finally did ;)!) eat... haha... and breakfast was almost as hard a choice!

She brought home gifts for everyone, sweet girl. Mine happened to be a little tea set... she knows that I love them, awww :)...

Tori and I had fun cutting out and hanging paper snowflakes 

from the chandelier. Then Tori demonstrated her Elsa powers ;).

This one is especially for you, Kaitlyn! 

 Speaking of you, Kaitlyn... here would be a bowl of brownies
 that you DIDN'T hear about. Heeheeheehee!
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I am greatly enjoying a study on Ruth that I am able to be working on with my Mommy, Tori, and some friends :)!!! One of the girls suggested a new way of going about this study, and I am thrilled with how it is working out :). I have noticed so many things this time that I haven't thought of before, like the fact that Boaz was Rahab's son. How have I never caught that?! After I mentioned that to Mommy, she found this article mentioning Rahab, and it is definitely worth a read :)...

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God is continuing to do big things for the Pleven orphanage. To him be the glory :)!!!
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'Siah so totally tried to laugh last week when I was playing peek-a-boo with him. It was precious, I can't wait until he is actually laughing :)!!!

And his smile is pretty special, too... and he loves Daddy just like the rest of us :)....

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The weather has been beautiful lately!!! We've had lots of nice days to spend outside lately, which has been fun :). One afternoon we spent blowing bubbles with the bubble gun Gramma sent us (thank you so much Gramma! The hundreds of bubbles it makes at a time are gorgeous!!!!). Since Emmi's birthday the little ones have also enjoyed playing in the sandbox a couple times, since Daddy filled it for the special occasion :).

 BUBBLES!!! They were beautiful, so many of them floating around at once!!!

 Bubbles, pink, cute little girly sandals... I like this picture, haha!

Gorgeous girl...

Enjoying the sandbox...

Emmi got a few minutes in it before she ran out for lunch, heehee :).

 Then the others enjoyed it ;)!

 So excited :)!

 Love him!

 A... shovel garden?... I guess?...

 I *love* this picture :)! Mommy and baby delighting together :)...

 Peter loves to swing. Unfortunately, he can't do it for too long before 
I pull him off... I kind of don't want him falling off after he falls asleep,
and it kind of tends to do that to him, haha!

*Yummy* baby!!!

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Peter, he is so sweet. He brought Mommy this magnadoodle the other day and told her "Look! Olaf!!!!". Aw :)....

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 Daddy had a business trip this week, but he got back this morning :)! We always miss him when he is gone. Every night he tries to call to talk to each of us for a few minutes, and Peter was *so cute* whenever it got to be his turn!!! The first night the look on his face was priceless when he realized that *Daddy* was talking to him through it! While he was out of town, he was given many ministry opportunities, including handling a medical emergency at a restaurant so well that he was asked if he used to be a EMT, haha! There were many reasons he wasn't going to be there that day, but God made sure that he was at the right place at the right time!!!

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One of my dearest friends had her appendix removed last week after finding out she had appendicitis. She is doing great now, thank the Lord :). 

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Just a question: What do you think happens when I braid my hair for the first time in months? A braid epidemic, haha! Tori decided she wanted one, Emmi wanted to match me, Abbi wanted whatever Emmi got, and Bethi didn't want left out... there was a lot of braiding!

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Mommy randomly started working on looking through online sites to put together our genealogy a few days ago. The stuff she has found has been so interesting!!! One man in Daddy's line survived the S.S. Sultana disaster. Another family had eight children, five boys and three girls, just the opposite of our family :). And I very well may share a birthday with a several times great Grandpa from France! It's been really neat :).

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And now, as much as I could go on, I really need to just post this. Before another week goes by and it gets even longer. Congrats if you read even half of this ;)!

Prayers and Praises

We were so thankful for all of the ways that our friends encouraged and prayed for us during the week of Josiah's arrival! And I do thank you again! I was wondering if some of you would also consider praying for the needs of these families who are in need of encouragement and pray?

"In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one;  and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints."

~For one of the families that we helped with a Hidden Treasures auction for, who brought their little boy, Adam, home last year. Last Saturday five year old Adam, who had a brain disease and did not respond well to surgery, went to be with the Lord.

~For Mommy's friend, who's little boy, Andrew, has a rare health problem, and has been in and out if the hospital for most of his life, and has recently been hospitalized again. And if you would like to help with the expense as his family tries to figure out how to help this little guy, his donation page can be found at the link above.

~For Meriam Ibrahim, who is in prison right now for her Christian faith with her two children, a newborn daughter and a twenty month old son, and separated from her husband, who is dependent on her for his care. There is a chance that she may be set free, praise the Lord! But if she is not, than she is to be executed as soon as her little girl is weaned.

And I have some praises to bring to you, as well :)! The Lord is so gracious to us. Praise him who gives us "Blessings untold, with ten thousand, besides..."!

~Our old SC house is finally out of Mommy' and Daddy's hands! This is a huge answer to prayer, and we thank you for those of us who have continued to pray with us for these many months on that account!

~The P.L.E.V.E.N. Project is up and running full time! There is a giveaway going on here, or you can just simply donate to the Leyla fund here. They are also trying to raise money to get some therapists into the orphanage, and there are five children with files waiting to be found by their families!

Thank you for taking the time to read this :). Blessings to you all!

Happy Fourth birthday, Emmi!

It's been a fun-filled day celebrating the birthday of Emmi, the fifth girl and also the youngest girl :). She is four years old today... when did that happen?! Emmi is my little buddy, and I love her verbal take on live :). She can seem like quite the girlie little girl, loving frills, baking, babies, and having things "just so", but don't let her fool you... this little girl took a flying leap over the deck railing last year, and loves to play with Andrew and Peter's toys as much as they do ;)! She also has her own opinions and voices it quite often. We made homemade strawberry muffins for the first time the other day, just because "she wanted to see how it would taste"... though I drew the line at pretzel muffins. Haha! She is, at this moment, putting all her new toys and clothes and cards away, heehee :). She's such a sweetheart, and I am so thankful for the blessing of her in our family :)!!!

♥ Happy Birthday, Emmi :)!!!! ♥