The PHOTO Booth

We were at camp with some of our favorite people!  AND the camp added a photo booth!  It was a blast!  There were so many great props.  The first one to dive in was Becca.  She had walked down to our rooms and stopped.  When I was driving down, she was on the bench dressed in a costume waiting for us.  We cracked up--that girl has so much spunk.  We all jumped out ran for the other things and ended up having a total blast.  We were then joined by our friends the Winslow's which are all pictured above.  Such special memories of a super fun day!

                                     This is us...in all of our glory!  Such silly and fun times!

                      It was fun to see the littles and the bigs just hamming it up with one another!

                                                            Have to say...this is us! 
 

Family Camp

 Oh WOW!  Want to get our kids excited about going somewhere?  Just mention family camp at Camp Maranatha in New Durham, NH!

So many great things to include swimming in the pond, hanging out with great friends, playing games, listening to speakers...did I mention the great food?  

                                                       Jacob building Jenga--giant Jenga!

                                                           Kiara at the shooting range

 

 

                                                          Michael at the shooting range

                                                          Archery...so many fun things!

                                                            Darrell is an amazing shot!

                                                                More archery shooting

                                                            And then there are Nerf Wars

We also haul all of our nerf guns to camp and have a great battle at the summit!  It is so much fun...well, except for getting to pick all of the bullets up.  But, just about the time we are all finished picking up, the battle ensues again!  It is GREAT fun!

Joe shooting and below he is making great use of the empty seltzer boxes for shoes!  We shot at the seltzer cans and they exploded when we hit them-such a great effect!

                                                           Lots of game playing

 

Go Ben!

                                              Sara and Nicole teaming up to play Ping Pong

                                                                   Jacob shooting

                                                                 Sara shooting

Valentine's Day

In honor of Valentine's Day, I thought I would kick off a new season here and catch up on the happenings of our family....

Just this past weekend, we joined some friends for some cookie decorating...it was fun and my sweet friend even made it THM friendly for me!  So, even I got to slather on some special frosting on my cookie and eat it before lunch!  Yum!

It has been an especially busy season and we were happy to take a fun break....

 

 

The kids had a wonderful time connecting and reconnecting with friends amongst sugar cookies, sprinkles and lots of frosting....I can't think of anything better!

                       Look at her sprinkles are individually placed on her cookie!  I am so impressed!

                                                                  Cookie expert here!

                                                    Do you want a cookie?  I sure do!

                                                 Loving all of this!  Happy Valentine's Day!

Got Hope?

This 'past week has had me reflecting a lot and feeling the need to write and capture the things going through my head....except, I am apprehensive for personal reasons.  I have had many discussions in my head, more than you will ever realize.  I've actually taken these discussions to my husband...and he agrees.  I am SO relieved!

 

But here I am, attempting to write down my thoughts while guarding myself.  Is that even possible?  I will try because here is the thing....I DO have HOPE!  And I want to share...this past year has had a lot of people questioning who they are, what is really going on in the world around us, and what do they actually believe as they interact with it all.  We all have to admit, there is a lot going on  'out there'...

So where do we find ourselves grounded?  What direction do we focus on?  Do we listen to some of what is going on?  If so, who?  There are so many things to worry about and consider? We have family, children and friends to consider.  The bigger questions...who do we trust in all of it?  

Well, this is where my HOPE comes from!  The firm Word of God!  When I focus on my faith and being a Christ follower...everything else fades away.  I gain so much more from focusing on the right thing... So what does the Word tell us?  

God is in control!  

  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD.  “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” Isaiah 55: 8-9

We are NOT to fear!  Lots of people have lived in fear, locked in their homes, afraid to live life this past year.  What has that gained them?  We as fellow believers have not been given an attitudes of fear but one of boldness to serve and follow the commands of Christ.

 "It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.” Deuteronomy 31: 8  In fact, it says over 360 time to not be fearful in scripture.  When we let fear take over, it brings so many other negative things enter our lives.  Taking the worry out of living is so freeing...and less to think about.  Who wouldn't want that in their lives?

In Phillipians 4:6 it says, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

 John 14:21  "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid."  PEACE, how amazing is that...and perfect peace at that.  

God's hope is a promise we can count on.  What do we need to grasp hold of it?  Stay in his word, pray and ask for wisdom, peace and strength.  Most importantly, trust Him.  He's got it and loves you more that you could ever imagine.  

                     Got HOPE?  Yes!  Anything is possible with HOPE?  Yes, ANYTHING!

                               

 

 

Sasquatch Sighting On Our Road

With everything shut down, folks on our road became creative to add some smiles in the neighborhood.  Welcome Big Foot!

The story goes that one of the kids down the road from us is a big Big Foot fan.  One night, he heard a noise in the woods by his house and his folks told him it was his beloved Big Foot.  They thought they would take it a bit further and order a cut out pattern of the creature and place him around the trees...the neighbor across the street beat him to it and cut out several. 

A few weeks later, Darrell's sister, Suzy, was visiting and took the kids down to have their photos taken with their Big Foot.  The spoke to the owners, got the back story and one of the kids made an off hand comment to say they would love one too.

When we arrived home the following afternoon, we found one in our front yard with a note on it!

We did our big kickoff with a celebration for our 2 graduates!  We've had lots of honking horns from this!

And now the kickoff for summer!

We look forward to our new friend some fun!

Forced Down Time

These past few months have rambled by....first there was fear, then a settling in to a new routine and figuring out a new normal.  Finding time to even come here and write some thoughts out....

God has used this as a time to unplug from our normal and while there are people and activities that we miss terribly, it has been a time of connection, reexamining and blessings in our family.  We have 3 boys working in grocery stores and 1 daughter in a hospital.  We had finished a huge bulk of our school work in preparation for the many activitiess we had schedueled....meaning we had some extra time to focus on things we don't normally attend too.  In the midst of things, we also have kept our Neurological Reorganization Program going!  We had another kiddo graduate from that program and are working diligently with the 2 remaining...we look forward to celebrating their completion!

Here Joe is finding out he is graduating from our program with Sarge at Active Healing!

Art projects....painting, origami, perler beading, quilting  and some of the kids stained glass projects.

Gardening and yard work....we reconfigured our barn area and added another stone wall which has been planted!  We have some new chicks in the barn. We've chopped wood and almost have our wood shed filled for next year!

House projects, spring cleaning have been getting accomplished.

Family walks, hikes and bike riding...sweet time together!

And we welcomed a new sweet treasure to our family....Alexis Anne...isn't she just beautiful?

We have 2 graduates this year too and they are missing some special activities but have taken everything in stride.  Our church celebrated them this past Friday with a drive by and the youth pastor rode in on his cycle and prayed with each of them for their future.  This mama had tears in her eyes for the gratitude of the jesture and her sweet boys.

Over the past 2 years, we have worked on the book the Circle Maker as a family.  We have pulled so man gems from this book, made prayer lists and goals and have watched the Lord answer those prayers, dreams and look forward to those goals being met as we focus on serving, family and our faith!

Learning to look for the blessings among the sacrifices and hardships is what makes us thank the Lord every day for his amazing blessings!