Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to our eldest son, Grant!
I think Grant is having a great birthday week!
Today on his official day we gave him his first big-boy Bible.
It is amazing how many changes happen in a year!
He can read, help with many more chores, and loves time with Daddy!
Lord, I pray you make Grant into a godly young man!
Happy Birthday, my dear son!

Friends ... the Penners

We enjoyed our sweet visit with our missionary friends!
It was fun to play and go to the museum with them!
Jack was just asking yesterday if he could go to the Penner's house!
Not sure I can send him to Africa! :)

The Penner & Ramares Children



The Penner Family!
Lief, Mr. Franz, Luke, Mrs. Emily, Lael, & Lian
and unborn baby "L"

Chocolate Quote of the Day - Just in time for Valentine's Day!

I don’t understand why so many “so called” chocolate lovers complain about the calories in chocolate, when all true chocoholics know that it is a vegetable. It comes from the cocoa bean, beans are veggies, “nuff said. ~ Author unknown

Friends ...

Two weeks ago we had new friends come for dinner. This is a newly married couple from our Sunday School class and our Community Group (small group). I had breakfast with Tanya one morning the following week! I am looking forward to getting to know her better. John has been able to visit with her husband, Paul, several times. In December we finally figured out that our pastor in Louisiana is now the pastor at their church back home in OK. Bro. Bill actually married them! What fun! More about Tanya and Paul when you get to the post on our Sunday School social.

One week ago we went to friends for breakfast on Saturday morning. John and Betsy work together. We first met at John's office picnic, then Betsy and Erik came for dinner. All through the holidays we tried to find a time to get together, but it didn't work until now! Erik and Betsy prepared a wonderful breakfast for us! The children had a super time playing in their back yard! Mr. Erik even played and sang some of his praise music for us! What a treat! Thanks to our sweet friends!


Mrs. Betsy, Mr. Erik & Michael ~ Michael "Mike" the dog


Michael is having fun! ~ Shelby found a dead squirrel, so it had to be buried etc.





That evening we had friends over to play! We were actually trading childcare, but the children love to play together so much that they don't have to know that! :) HA! Jackson, Max, Lindsey Grace, and Hannah came to play and eat pizza! We had a great time! The children were excellent! Our friends are schooled at home, and even use many of the books we use. They are the same ages of our children! What fun!


Eating pizza! ~ Shelby and Jackson


The girls! ~ Jack & Lindsey Grace


The Gang is all here!
Hannah, Jackson, Jack, Grant
Lindsey Grace, Max, Shelby & Michael

Another Snow Day - Sunday

Another Snow Day - Click to see album!

More about our snow day!

Snow Day Pictures!

Snow Day!

We have been waiting and waiting and we have finally got it ... SNOW!


After midnight is started snowing for a couple of hours or so, and now we are getting a little more! The children are still in bed, and John tried to leave (see pictures) to head to Bible study, BUT he didn't make it far! Maybe we can play as a family in the snow! YEAH!

More pictures to come - this doesn't show it well enough! I will also have more blog post of visits with friends and activities over the last couple of weeks!
More blogging soon!

Love Has A Price Tag

Taken from:
Author: Elisabeth Elliot
Source: Love Has A Price Tag
Read the whole article here.

Many women have told me that my husband's advice, which I once quoted in a book, has been an eye-opener to them. He said that a wife, if she is very generous, may allow that her husband lives up to perhaps eighty percent of her expectations. There is always the other twenty percent that she would like to change, and she may chip away at it for the whole of their married life without reducing it by very much. She may, on the other hand, simply decide to enjoy the eighty percent, and both of them will be happy. It's a down-to-earth illustration of a principle: Accept, positively and actively, what is given. Let thanksgiving be the habit of your life.

Such acceptance is not possible without a deep and abiding belief in the sovereign love of God. Either he is in charge, or he is not. Either he loves us, or he does not. If he is in charge and loves us, then whatever is given is subject to his control and is meant ultimately for our joy.

Happy 8th Birthday, Shelby!

My oldest child is 8 years old! Time flies!
I thank the Lord, for these precious years!

Happy Birthday, Shelbs!



Shelby at the "Fire Station" for her girly birthday!



Shelby is painting her piece. She had 3 friends join her for her birthday.
Her cousin, Sarah Jane, wasn't able to make it in town, and a friend got sick yesterday!



Happy Birthday to you!



Boots, guitars, horseshoes!



Shelby is working hard!

Christmas Day!

Christmas Day we had a special visit from Uncle Kevin and are future Aunt Hailey! What a treat! This is a picture that Hailey took of all of us with Kevin!

Hailey & Kevin are engaged!

My brother-in-law, Kevin, proposed to his sweet girlfriend, Hailey Prince, a few weeks ago! Next December we will be having a wedding! YEAH! The kids love "Aunt Hailey" - we have known Hailey and her precious family for a while, because we went to church with them in Shreveport before we moved to TX. If you want more info on them in the future - about who they are, their engagement, and their wedding plans ... check out The Prince/Broussard Wedding Blog from time to time!

Merry Christmas

Belated Merry Christmas! This picture was taken on the Tuesday before Christmas when we went to see the lights at the Opryland Hotel here in Nashville. We went there with John's dad, Grandpa, and step-mom, Granny Susan. This was all in the middle of our family passing around a yucky stomach bug. Jack, Grant, and I had already gotten it. John and Shelby got sick after this. We are so thankful to be over that!
John is home 1/2 day of vacation today and won't be back at work until the January 2, 2007! Wow ... 2007! Happy New Year!

ESa Holiday Party 2006

Getting ready to leave for John's office Christmas party. Can you tell we will be missed?!?!?!?



At the Loew's Vanderbilt in Nashville, TN.
A great hotel that also contains John's office!
More pics to come - just of flowers!

Elisabeth Elliot's Word of Wisdom

This devotion was such a blessing to me this morning! It is a must read at this busy season of life! The encouragement at the end is when Elisabeth Elliot's daughter is reminding her Mom of what she taught her; "When Val phoned I asked, 'How do you do it?' 'Mama, I just do what you taught me: don't think about all you have to do, just do the next thing!' I needed to be told what I have often told others, and it worked."

So often I need to look at the big picture of where we are headed with our children, but some days I just need to look to the next task and get it done!

I thank the Lord that Shelby is being such a contributor to our family life! From cleaning out the dishwasher to sweeping the kitchen, she is helping to make our home run more smoothly! Thank you, Lord!

Author: Elisabeth Elliot

Source: Keep A Quiet Heart

Homeschooling
When my daughter Valerie Shepard was homeschooling three of her five children (the other two were preschool age), I asked her what she had discovered about the advantages of homeschooling. Here is her answer:
The children have more time: to read (aloud and silently); to learn responsibility by doing chores at home; to play (without adult direction) and use the imagination; to listen to and enjoy each other; to learn obedience.
Parents need not deprogram or reteach values the child hears for seven hours a day. They have the child's full attention at any time of the day and can give him full attention; he is not absorbing two different value systems daily.
Children learn to love each other more. They do not look down on one another in favor of their peers, or in wrong adulation of older children. This society teaches that among children "older is better." That's not right. Having them at home all day allows them to be children without having to "grow up" in the wrong ways.
They learn to be servants of one another. The family is a microcosm of the Body of Christ.
After I asked Val to write this I had the fun of trying it out myself. Val and Walt went to South Carolina (taking their nursing baby Colleen) and I had the other four for five (very busy!) days. There was a schedule of chores posted in the kitchen. Daily I reminded them (seldom more than once). The nine-, seven-, and five-year-olds took turns setting and clearing the table, emptying the dishwasher, folding laundry, sweeping the kitchen. Walter (the oldest) and Jim (not quite three} took out trash, the girls cleaned the bathroom. All but Jim made their beds.
School began at nine with Bible reading, singing, prayer, all four joining in. Jim sat on the floor and played while the others studied. Christiana finished her kindergarten work by ten or so, Walter and Elisabeth worked till nearly lunchtime.
Every afternoon there was Quiet Hour. This was a lifesaver for Granny. The three older children were expected to be in their rooms for an hour. They did not need to sleep, but they were to read or find something quiet to do alone. (Not once did we have any altercation about Quiet Hour. It had always been a part of their lives, and they liked it.) Jim and I lay down together, I read him a Beatrix Potter story, and he fell asleep.
Since we had no car, four of us walked to the grocery store every day, while Walter rode his bike. It was an interesting string of people, Elisabeth hugging (for example) five pounds of flour, Christiana batting things with a box of Saran Wrap, Jim lugging a bag of apples, Granny with a loaded brown bag.
We had poetry readings (Jim memorized with no effort at all) and singing. Everybody learned "Chattanooga Choo-Choo," by mistake, as it were--I meant for them to learn "Praise the Savior" but somehow that one didn't stick so easily, alas! Walter and Elisabeth practiced the piano and played vigorous duets for the rest of us. We made bread and organized drawers and closets and sorted clothes and toys for give-away and picked violets and had a marvelous time.
I should confess this--on the evening of the first day I wasn't sure I'd survive the week. When Val phoned I asked, "How do you do it?" "Mama, I just do what you taught me: don't think about all you have to do, just do the next thing!" I needed to be told what I have often told others, and it worked.
Homeschooling is demanding to say the least--but worthwhile. If you are considering trying it, you might want to get Mary Pride's The Big Book of Home Learning: The Complete Guide to Everything Educational for You and Your Child (Crossways).

Catching up ... Michael's 1st b'day!

Michael is 1!


A little sleepy too!


After church we went to McDonald's for lunch and cake!


What fun hands!
Michael had his check up this week because we were a little late on his 9 month check up etc.!
We have found a pediatrician that came highly recommended by a friend, and he attends our church! YEAH! The children have really taken to him, so we are blessed! It has been hard to find a comfortable place after being in Dr. Cindy's office!
More to come ... hopefully sooner than later!

Operation Christmas Child

John and I have participated in Operation Christmas Child in the past.
Our church, Grace Community Church, here in Nashville sets aside November as "Mission's Month." That is a time that they look ahead at mission opportunities for next year as they educate us new people in all the ways we can be a part of missions at church. One way is by the children making their Operation Christmas Child boxes! Grant and Shelby enjoyed shopping for their child and filling their boxes!



Shelby is writing about herself on an information sheet to put in her box for a child.


Wrapping the boxes so they will be ready to fill!


Learning about other mission opportunities as Grace.


Presenting their boxes at church!

I hope to be able to work with the local crisis pregnancy in the future as well as VBS and maybe a couple of others!

Interruptions, Delays, Inconveniences

Author: Elisabeth Elliot
Source: Keep A Quiet Heart (a portion from a devotion I read a week or so ago)

One more quotation--this from an out-of-print book, The Life and Letters of Janet Erskine Stuart. Says one who was her assistant for some years, "She delighted in seeing her plan upset by unexpected events, saying that it gave her great comfort, and that she looked on such things as an assurance that God was watching over her stewardship, was securing the accomplishment of His will, and working out His own designs. Whether she traced the secondary causes to the prayer of a child, to the imperfection of an individual, to obstacles arising from misunderstandings, or to interference of outside agencies, she was joyfully and graciously ready to recognize the indication of God's ruling hand, and to allow herself to be guided by it."

November 13 - from Streams in the Desert

God knows that you can stand that trial; He would not give it to you if you could not. It is His trust in you that explains the trials of life, however bitter they may be. God knows our strength, and He measures it to the last inch; and a trial was never given to any man that was greater than that man's strength, through God, to bear it.

Happy 1st Birthday, Michael!

Happy Birthday, baby boy!

Our Home

My dear friend, Tamra, asked me months ago to post pics of our new home. Mostly so she can show her children that we live in a new place etc. So, finally ... the boxes are unpacked and things are mostly in it's place. (I started this blog post in October!)




Our dining / school room!


Grant and Jack's room!

Our living room!

Another view of the living room!

Shelby and Michael's room!

MY room! HA! OUR room!

The kitchen - above and below!

Now I should add pictures with Christmas decorations! Hope this gives you a good idea of where we live!

Dentist and Field Trip

We have been trying to finish up our study of ancient history, so we made a stop in Ancient Greece. We have been reading about Homer, the people of ancient Athens and Sparta, Greek gods, and the first Olympics! When our reading took us to the architecture of the "Par-fa- non" - as Jack calls it - I new it was time to head downtown for a visit! We have driven through the park where it is located several times, but we have never stopped! So, after our dentist appointments (Shelby, Grant, & Jack) we headed to lunch with Daddy and off on a field trip.



How cool is this! An exact replica!




This place is HUGE!



Well, I thought I was getting a picture of the whole crew in front of the statue of Athena, but someone was a little hesitant of the situation and wasn't visible once I looked at the picture!



This statue was MASSIVE! I am always amazed how they were able to construct things so long ago!




Run Jack!



A smile at last! :)

Cool train!

Wow, even a picture of all of us! Daddy ate lunch with us, but had to head back to the office just a few blocks down!

Can you tell we were loving this outing?

Grant was ready to head home! Can you tell?

Plenty of ducks to feed here! They followed us all around! All we had to give them were cheerios!

See some of what we saw here at the official Parthenon website!