fun mother/daughter sleepover

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Gabriella, Danielle, Anna Avery, Ericka, Anna and Megan


Anna and Anna Avery spent the night along with Mrs. Kim and I.
We finally went to sleep sometime after 3 am!?!?!





Danielle cutting the delicious banana bread we had for breakfast!
I must mention Mrs. Cireese's homemade rolls we had the night before. They were the best I have ever tasted. When I get the recipe, I will post it.




Mrs. Kim gave a wonderful devotion on outer beauty and how chasing the things of the world will never satisfy and about the inner beauty that comes from Christ and Mrs. Jenny gave the girls a goodie bag with some makeup and the girls had fun giving each other makeovers and even made over their moms??!!




Mrs. Cireese gave several of us a french manicure.

Playing the Wii......

The birthday girl and her Mom

Anna and I had a great time of fun and fellowship.

I think the moms enjoyed this evening as much as the girls.

I am thankful to the Lord,who gives us such good gifts, for the gift of godly friends who are truly seeking to glorify Him with their lives( although surely imperfectly until we reach glory).

He has brought so many wonderful ladies into my life and they encourage and challenge me in my daily walk. Thank you Father for the gift of friendship!

Happy Birthday Scott

One of my gifts to Scott today was NOT to spend much time on the computer, so this post will be short and sweet. Happy Birthday to a man who I have enjoyed spending the last 23 years with and who I look forward to spending 50 more! I am so thankful to our wonderful Lord for allowing us to be husband and wife and for our family. I agree wholeheartedly with the card I found for him that said, "Thank you for being the husband of the happiest wife in the world." He is a one-in-a -million kind of husband and father and he is a testament to the changing power of God.
Happy Birthday my sweetheart!

Father/Daughter Banquet

The girls are waiting for Daddy to get home.

Daddy arrives with the flowers.

Daddy and his girls!

The homeschool choir sang a couple of songs and Devin, Sarah, Hannah and Mackenzie played the violin.

Here is Anna and some of her friends.
Holly, Margaret, Shanda, Anna, Martha, Sarah and Danielle

Ashley, Kara, Kaitlyn, Martha and Anna

Ben is part of the choir, so he got all dressed up too!

Last night was our homeschool group's annual Father/Daughter banquet. The girls look forward to this all year and it truly is a blessed evening when they can spend special time with Daddy. Scott likes to come to the front door and ring the doorbell and when the girls come to the door, he usually has flowers (sometimes chocolate ones:) and then he whisks them off in his carriage(a chevy) and they arrive at the great church hall where they have a lovely picture made and sit down to dinner and listen to the fine entertainment. The past couple of years they have played a game later in the banquet and this year there were even a few door prizes.

I am thankful to God for allowing us to have 2 precious daughters and be part of a group that values children. I had a good time last night as well working with the moms who were there to help make the night special. Many hours of planning, buying, decorating and cleaning go into making this such a great time. For many years., I would just send the girl or girls off with their Dad and did not really realize how much work it took to pull off a banquet like this. With Mom's help, I have been able to help plan and organize this event and it has been fun AND exhausting at the same time. I realize how much my girls enjoy and will remember these type events for the rest of their lives, so it is definitely worth any effort. Tammy's words about the banquet were so much more eloquent than mine, but I do want to give God all the praise and glory for the way the banquet turned out because without Him, I would certainly not be interested in something like this or in spending time with my children or even staying married. I would continue in a self absorbed, self indulgent lifestyle that would eventually lead to heartache for all concerned. Only by His working in my life, are posts like this possible and I am so thankful to His mercy and undeserved love that are reflected in His ordering of my life. Thank you Heavenly Father for the opportunities to live for you each day and forgive me for always straying away from the path. Thank you for your restraining love and I acknowledge my constant dependence on You and constant need to meditate on Your renewing Words of life.

goat update

The goats are still having to be "helped" to nurse. We hold up one of the 5 gallon teats :) and they go to town filling their little bellies! We are still hoping that they will be able to nurse without human intervention in the next few days. They are quite cute and I am actually enjoying taking care of them. Yes, I guess I have crossed over to the cun-tree side of life!?!? :0
The kids have also spent literally HOURS and HOURS playing in the dirt pile. Who knew such joy could come from terra firma? We have sand and dirt everywhere and I just heard Scott say to John "you have still got dirt in your ears boy even after a scrubbing in the shower." I hope Rachelle does not read this - she will disown me for sure. Newest update - Scott just came in and reported that the babies are nursing unassisted!!! Yea - finally a good night sleep.
Tomorrow is a very busy day getting ready for our Father/Daughter banquet. Scott and the girls enjoy this so much every year.

New life on the farm, part II

Just born!




Baby #1



Baby #2

This is snowflake, our baby that was born a few weeks ago.

First thing this morning, Scott came in saying that our other goat, Pepper, was definitely in labor.

So, we bundled up and headed out to watch the excitement.

Sure enough, there was part of a baby starting to be born!! We watched it happen and it was beautiful - yes, even the birth of a goat was quite a sight to behold.

Simultaneously, there drove up a huge backhoe to dig a gigantic hole next to the house for our in ground storm shelter. Another big piece of excitement for the kids! Before long, there was a huge pile of dirt to play on. So back and forth we went - answering questions from the guy digging the hole and birthing goats. Goats with an s! She had twins! They are so cute. I am a little worried about them though. Her teats are the size of Route44 big drinks from Sonic and the poor little things cannot nurse. Scott has been having to go out there every few hours and squirt milk into their mouths. They went all day today without any milk, because I could not catch the momma goat even though they were in a small pen.

Anyway, the next feeding is at midnight!?!?! Nothin' like farm livin'

So much for school today. A lesson in animal husbandry and ditch digging.

The kids had a lot of fun watching this big hole being dug and playing in the dirt upheaval!

random pics

These are some pics from our last coop. Thanks Angela for teaching us the hula!!

The kids are having a blast.

Aloha Oi!

Mrs. Tammy is cracking open a coconut. Obviously we are studying Hawaii.

Claire was so excited about her volcano!

John's class looks cute in their leis !

Ben's group is doing a memory game about the states.

Anna's group just finished their Lewis and Clark DVD.



This is Tammy teaching about backpacking before our hike.

Today we went to B'ville to see some of Scott's family.

Britt, Eddy, Gage and Scott's Mom, Jean
Jackie cooked up some fine homemade fries!


Erin Shea and Amber

Brooklyn, Anna and Ali

Erin Shea

Jackie (Scott's sis) came down for a visit. Here are

Erin, Anna, Jackie, Claire and Brooklyn

A couple of weeks ago -

This is the creek swimmers coming up the driveway after a 2 mile hike and a long wade/swim in the creek a couple of Sundays ago. Note John in his Bob the Builders :)

Here come the troops!
Sarah D., Anna, Claire, John and Ben

And Finally some pics of our one snowy day of the year!!

This is the little ones eating the wonderful chocolate snowcream!

Scott found a piece of grass or two :) Just added some nutrients....

Scott and I in the barn trying to warm up after playing in the snow.

Ben high in the tree house on the snowy day.

Anna's cute pillow she made at Keepers. Thanks Mrs. Christy and girls!

Claire getting snow for the snowcream!

John collecting snow as well. I see now where the grass could have come from......

John and Daddy having fun making pancakes!!

Pretty snowy scene. Before long it will be hot weather here in MS!