Taking a walk

Yesterday we went on a walk looking for good pictures...

Starting out....

This was on the way back home.

Isn't this a cool picture? Andi took it. :D

Elaina smelling the flowers.

We have a lot of pretty wildflowers on our road! :D

Thanks for coming, Erin! We had fun with you! :D

Rollerblading

Seth is actually getting pretty good at using these rollerblades. :D

Puzzle People

Andrea loves to do puzzles. And Ian loves to do pretty much anything his siblings are doing. :D So it works out very well! :D

A Little Helper

Seth sweeping. :D
He is such a good helper. He's so good at doing jobs quickly and cheerfully when asked...... usually. :D

Mr. Turtle

A friend of ours found this really small painted turtle in her yard the other day. She gave it to Ian and Seth for a pet! :D

They thought it was so cool!

You might not be able to see this picture very well..
It is the turtle on a rock in water.

Getting the cage set up....

They haven't named it yet, so I'm just calling it Mr. Turtle. :D I'm not sure how long it will survive here, but I have to admit it is pretty neat. :D Our cat seemed to think so as well... he thought it looked tasty.

Memorial Day

I hope everyone had a wonderful Memorial Day. We went to our grandparents house to spend time with family.
Andrea and my cousin Lydia played soccer against 4 other people and..... it was pretty bad for the team of 4. ☺ They got beat by a lot....

Ian and Seth fell asleep in the van on the way there. ☺

Best Friends

Andi and me

Elaina, Seth, Ian and I making cupcakes.... :D

Seth and Ian frosting the cupcakes

Seth and Elaina playing in the water

Andrea and Ian gardening in the rain

Elaina, Seth, Andrea, Ian and I decorating Easter eggs.

Wow, I am so blessed to have the siblings I do. They are so amazing! We always have tons of fun together and would much rather be together than apart.

We haven't always gotten along as well as we do now, though. God has taught us many lessons and helped us to love each other in a way that we never could have without Him. We've learned that God has placed us together for a reason. He wants each of us to be there for the others. I can truly say now that my brothers and sisters are my very, very best friends.

A great book that we have read is called Making Brothers and Sisters Best Friends by Sarah, Stephen and Grace Mally. I would really encourage all families to read this book.
Have a great day!
~Marissa

Cinnamon Swirl Bread

So, I was flipping through the cookbook the other day, looking for something to make, and I came across this bread. My family loves making bread and I heard a big 'YES! Make that!!' when I suggested it, so I made it. I fudged a little bit on the recipe but it turned out to be some of the best bread I have ever made or tasted! So here's the recipe:

4-1/2 tsp. of yeast
1/3 cup warm water (110-115 degrees)
1 cup warm milk (110-115 degrees)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup sugar, divided
6 Tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
1-1/2 tsp. salt
5-1/2 - 6 cups all-purpose flour
2 Tablespoons ground cinnamon

In a mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in water. Add milk, eggs, 1/2 cup sugar, butter, salt and 2-1/2 cups flour; beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough. Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour. Punch dough down; divide in half. Roll up each rectangle from a short side; pinch seam to seal. Place seam side down in two greased 9 in. by 5 in. by 3 in. loaf pans. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 1-1/2 hours. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pans and cool on wire racks. Yields 2 loaves.

Now we didn't have very much time yesterday so I only let it rise for 15 minutes all together. I didn't let it rise when it says to right before you bake it. It turned out beautiful! I let it rise for longer the next day (when I made it again ☺) and it wasn't as good or beautiful!
DON'T LET IT RISE THE WHOLE TIME! :D
I would suggest 15-20 minutes. :D

You WON'T be dissapointed! It is amazing!

-Andrea

Servants of the King

Marissa and I have started a new blog called Servants of the King.
Be sure to check it out at:
2servantsoftheking.blogspot.com
God Bless,
Andrea

O Church, Arise

"Oh Church arise, and put your armor on; Hear the call of Christ our captain.

For now the weak can say that they are strong, in the strength that God has given.
With shield of faith and belt of truth we'll stand against the devil's lies;
and army bold, whose battle cry is love.
Reaching out to those in darkness.

Our call to war- to love the captive soul, but to rage against the captor.
And with the sword that makes the wounded whole, we will fight with faith and valor.
When faced with trials on every side, we know the outcome is secure;
And Christ will have the prize for which He died- and inheritance of nations.

Come see the cross, where love and mercy meet, as the Son of God is stricken;
Then see His foes lie crushed beneath His feet, for the Conqueror has risen!
And as the stone is rolled away and Christ emerges from the grave,
this vict'ry march continues till the day ev'ry eye and heart shall see Him.

So Spirit come, put strength in every stride, give grace for ev'ry hurdle,
that we may run with faith to win the prize of a servant good and faithful.
As saints of old still line the way, retelling triumphs of His grace,
we hear their calls and hunger for the day when with Christ we stand in glory."

We recently found this song in the Keith & Kristyn Getty piano book,
and now I cannot stop singing it!

God is so good!

-Andrea

The Trees

Well, the trees have become and embarrassment!
Okay...Maybe I'm being a little dramatic, but I have to say;
putting sheets on the trees was pretty awkward.
I'll explain! ☺

Well, my dad found out that it was supposed to be a cold night, and maybe even a frost, so of course, he had to protect his new little trees. He and mom were up very late putting sheets over all of his trees! It was pretty bad!

Orange and red....how stylish! haha

You have to admit....it looks pretty funny! ☺
-Andrea

Soccer

Well it is Tuesday evening and.... guess what? Andi and Dad aren't going to soccer! Yay!! I am very glad they had a good season and had so much fun, but it will be very nice to have them home Tuesday and Thursday evenings and not have to go to two games each weekend. I do love to watch her play though, she's getting really good and her games are so exciting! :D

Anyway, while I was thinking about soccer (Oh yes, I do spend hours thinking about soccer each day. Just kidding.), I realized that being on a soccer team is kind of like being a Christian on God's team.......
Andrea has two soccer practices each week. These are like our time at church. We have someone instructing and teaching us about the ultimate, long-established rules of the game of soccer, or the Bible.
The coaches try hard to get everyone on the team to run each day to become a better athlete. They are continually strengthening themselves and trying to be a better player and please their coach. The girls never want to be at a plateau, they are always striving to be a better player and member of the team.
This is similar to being a Christian. Each and every day we have spiritual disciplines such as reading the Bible, memorizing, praying... etc. Like athletes, we should strive to continually be a better Christian and know God more fully.
On the days my sister's team doesn't have practice and is not running, they have games against other teams. Instead of 'games', we as Christians are in a battle. We are fighting the enemy team. The thing is, we have two major advantages. #1 We have God, the Ultimate Coach, on our side. #2 We already know who is going to win. We are! Jesus will come out victorious!!!!
We need to be encouraged and keep fighting the battle for God's glory! We are the victors!!!

Press On

This Friday and Saturday we went to a homeschool conference called INCH (Information Network for Christian Homes). We went to a few workshops and also did some shopping for school curriculum, books.... etc.
I thought I would share a few things from a workshop by Sarah and Stephen Mally called Preparing Young People for Mighty Works. Most of these things do not only apply to young people but to all Christians!
~God is anxiously waiting to give us an assignment.
Whether this assignment is at home, church, in the neighborhood, or in Africa, God has has included each of us in His master plan.
~Seek God's kingdom first in your education.
This was originally for homeschoolers, but I think it kind of applies to everyone. The main reason we homeschool is because we want to learn more about the Lord and grow closer to Him.
Deuteronomy 6:7 ...And thou shall teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou risest up. We need to make sure that we are still centered around our main goal. I'm not saying that we shouldn't do academics, I'm just saying that we need to make God our priority in our schooling. Whatever anyone does, they should never let time with God or learning about the Lord get pushed aside to be done 'later'.
~Always be showing the love of Christ and ministering to others.
Some good ways to do this are: Going to nursing homes, prisons and hospitals, hospitality, home Bible studies, handing out tracts..... and of course there are tons more ways!
~ Be steady on the battlefield!
The victory will be ours! We are in a raging battle against Satan. The awesome thing is, we already know that we will come out the victors!!! But we need to press on while we are here on earth and win as many to Christ as possible.

That was kind of long.... sorry. There were so many more things that we learned and even more that were just great reminders. Thanks for reading!
PRESS ON TOWARD THE GOAL!!!!

Beneath the cross of Jesus I find a place to stand,
and wonder at such mercy that calls me as I am.
For hands that should discard me hold wounds which tell me come.
Beneath the cross of Jesus my unworthy soul is won.

Beneath the cross of Jesus, His family is my own.
Once strangers chasing selfish dreams;
Now one through grace alone.
How could I now dishonor the ones that You have loved?
Beneath the cross of Jesus, see the children called by God.

Beneath the cross of Jesus, the path before the crown,
We follow in His footsteps where promised hope is found.
How great the joy before us to be His perfect bride.
Beneath the cross of Jesus, we will gladly live our lives.

Canning

This week we started canning! We have done it a little bit before but not very much and it didn't turn out very well.... So I suppose you could say this is really our first time doing it. We are very excited!

It is SO easy and Mom especially is very happy to have all of this food canned and ready to eat whenever we need a meal and don't have time to cook. (The red stuff is chili by the way.... it kind of looks like tomato sauce or something else in the picture.)

In the 'Forest'

Ian had a lot of fun!

I can safely say that this is one of my favorite pictures of Elaina!

Me standing next to the GIANT Oak.

Seth looking up at the HUGE trees! They were amazing!

haha this is all a joke! It is in our yard.....but it was a lot of fun pretending we were in a forest! ☺

Philippians 2:14-15
Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe.

This is one of my favorite verses. Well, guess I have A LOT of favorite verses but let's just say I really like this one. :D

It's very hard to do EVERYTHING without complaining or arguing. I think I complain more than I think I do. Even if I'm not complaining to someone, I think I complain to myself probably too much.

The next part is the best, though. The promise for not complaining or arguing is that we will become blameless and pure. Wow, that is a wonderful promise. Becoming blameless and pure is a very hard goal, but I know that God will help me!

This world really is crooked and depraved. Let's face it--it's falling apart. I am so glad that I have hope and that I know where I am going when my mission is done on this earth. I don't think I would make it from day to day here without being and knowing that I am a child of God. It's also so awesome to have other Christians in my life that encourage me and that are working for the same goal--winning others for Christ and glorifying God.

Gardening....

The master gardener and his little helpers.... :D

Taking a break.
Already?

We have a huge pile of wood chips that need to go somewhere. The pile is slowly getting smaller.

Ian caught a frog! Yay! He caught one the other day but then it died..... so he was happy to have another one. :D

I found this perfect rock in some dirt and thought it would look better as a decoration. Mom threw it into the trees...... :( But I found it again! :D

Let's see how this goes.........