Brothers

Well, I had a request for a post about brothers and I had been thinking about doing it since I did my "sisters" one so here it is!

I have 6 brothers ranging from 24 to almost 7 and I really enjoy having them around. My older brothers hang out with me at movies or whatever is new, just enjoying time together and I get to work with my younger brothers teaching them how to be gentlemen and I love to do find things that they love to do and do it with them (Dayton loves to try to play Ping Pong and thinks he is great at it!).

Jeremy is my oldest brother and is 24 years old and is 5 ft 11 in, he just got out of the Marines after a 5 year commitment. He is currently living at home with us and is looking for a job but he might go back to school in the spring. He loves to play volleyball, computer games, card games (especially Canasta), go to movies and do just about anything having to do with computers.

This was some time near 2006:

about a year ago, he took this for his Facebook photo:Jason is 22 years old and 6 ft 1 in, he is still living at home but works full time (and a lot over time) where my dad works (Gray Mold in Bellingham). He loves to play games (computer, Xbox, and card/board games) and is very social. He plays Volleyball at least once a week, is on two bowling leagues, coaches a Bible Quizzing team and always seems to be going to this or that Xbox game party :). On Wednesday at bowling he got a 275 (or something close to that) and his all time record is 285 I believe. He is a great big brother and goes to movies with me all the time, inviting me even when he is going with some of his friends. Esther likes him a lot, she almost always waves at him when he comes home.

Jonathan is 17 years old and 6 ft 0 in tall. He is now working full time at Perry Pallets in Custer and is very responsible about getting a decent amount of sleep (a certain other brother who does a million things doesn't care what time he goes to bed!) which I am proud of him for. He loves to play Volleyball (actually everyone in our family does, the first words out of my dad's mouth after Rachel's birth (we then had 3 boys and 2 girls) were "A co-ed volleyball team!"), ride bike, play Ping Pong, and now that he has a job he loves to come to movies too. He wants to one day drive Semis for a job and maybe get a motorcycle someday.
Reuben is 11 years old and started doing Bible Quizzing for the first time this year! He has an amazing mind and is doing really well in that. He is really good at math (the opposite of me!) and is our sweet, deep thinker. He will hopefully be getting braces within a year.

Rachel had bought a ball that got popped and this is what happened to it:
(Reuben left, Daniel right)

I planted potatoes this year and everyone helped dig them up:
(Daniel left, Reuben right)

Daniel is 9 years old and is our avid reader, reading and spelling words that even Rebekah sometimes has trouble with! He, Reuben, and Dayton are almost always together (mom started calling them "the Three Little Pigs when they were really little and we still do every now and then!) playing with something, making something or just goofing off.In the pictures below, Daniel is on the left and Dayton is on the right, their hair had gotten a little long so while they were getting their hair cut (we do it at home) we stopped when they had mohawks to take a picture then finished the hair cut. Dayton thought it was fun and that it was awsome!

Dayton is soon to be 7 (in December) and is finally getting is two front teeth! He had had those pulled a couple of years ago (I think) and had to have the gums cut and burned to let the teeth come through because the gums had gotten too hard for the teeth to come through. He is a gentleman (like in the picture below with Elizabeth) most of the time but is now really having to learn to control is temper (like the rest of us). To all the rest of us it still seems like he is 5 but we are now having to get used to the idea of the number 7!Here are some partial family pictures:

this was taken a few months ago at a Homeschool Heritage Picnic:
(Daniel had a compression fracture in his wrist)
I saw the next one and had to put it here, it is sooooo cute!
It was probably taken in 2006 or 2007:

Back row left to right: Rebekah, Jonathan, Reuben, Rachel

Middle row left to right: Jason, me, Jeremy
bottom row left to right: Dayton, Daniel


We are by far, not a perfect family and I do not wish for it to seem that way. We are like everyone else, learning to live as God would have us live and working through our struggles and sins same as you, but I want to use this blog to bring glory to God. He is shaping us and molding us everyday, using each other and the things around us to make us who He wants us to be, and by His grace we are learning, little tiny step by little tiny step. For those of you reading this blog who are fellow Christians, please keep us in mind when praying. Pray for us to grow in Christ and in love for one another, everyone needs prayer and we are no different!

Thank you for reading my blog!

My Animals

This is Rebekah's Cat (okay, so not all my animals, some hers), Sweet Tea, she is most likely pregnant and was being playful on the grape trellis:

That is the sky in the background, I was looking up at her

Yes, I realize that this isn't an animal, but I thought that it was a cool shot of our skeleton trees :)

This is my 3 year old Miniature Schnauzer, Sebastian

The rest are pictures of me working with Celene today (except the last one):

My dad loved the picture above , notice how we are barely touching the ground?

She would buck almost every time I had her go into a trot, she was excited to be running :)

This is my beautiful and old (11 years old) cat, Abby. We got her the year Reuben was born and that is how we remember how old she is :) She used to be a wanderer but for the last couple years has stayed near home, always out there waiting for attention when we come out.

We have 4 more cats than shown here, an 11 year old Siamese (maybe Abby's sister), Snowball, a 4 year old Siamese, Miss T, her son a 2 year old gray striped cat, Tiger and our latest kitten a black and brown 3 month old, Kimi.

My next post should be about my brothers, so keep an eye out!

Sisters

Don't you love them? (not sarcastic) I mean, sometimes it isn't so fun, like if they take your stuff or something but isn't it fun most of the time? Esther (2yo) is just the sweetest thing (she is learning what a temper is for though, yelling MOMMM! when she is mad) and gives the absolute best hugs. I think that everyone would have a better day if the got a few of her hugs each day. This is Esther and Elizabeth (4yo) in matching outfits, these outfits were bought at different times at Wee Ones and it wasn't planned that way :)look at that hair on Esther! No one else has had that much hair at that age!Isn't she precious?

She loves to read!She is getting more and more confident in her walking everyday and is even trying to carry things while walking!

I wasn't sure what to think when she was born and I found out that she had Down Syndrome, but I didn't think that she would be so fun and precious to have around :)

Elizabeth is an artist, pianist, animal person, baker, singer and many other things and is mostly sweet with a little sour added here and there. :)

Rebekah (15) is a leader and an artist, she is really talented and just loves to do anything with art; painting, drawing; charcoal, pencil, pen, anything. Here are some samples:A sketch done at the court when I was contesting my ticket

This verse was found while playing Swords (one person calls out a random verse and you see who can find it first)

This is the latest picture that I found of her

Rachel (13) is a baker, pianist and a follower. She has always tended to follow Rebekah (even when she shouldn't have :) but is more independent now. She has a sweet and willing spirit and is a big help.This was taken at the Amy Vest Pure of Heart Conference.She had won the longest toss on her team at the church campout.

I love having sisters! I will admit that that hasn't always been the case but now that Rebekah and Rachel are a little older it is more fun. God has blessed me greatly with this family! I have the best mom and dad and I have siblings that test me, try me and love me everyday and a God that loves me no matter what! Give praise to God for what you have, even if it doesn't seem like you have much, He is always there for you and there is always something to praise Him for no matter how small.

The last few days

We have had an exciting few days! On Tuesday night, E#1 (4 yo sister) made her first batch of baked cookies (oatmeal) with a little help from me! She has made No Bake Cookies but that is a little different. She did really well, she got to measure everything and do everything except some stirring (that is hard for a 4 yo girl!) and putting trays in and taking them out of the oven. She even did placing the cookies on one of the trays (though everyone wanted to help at that point) :) I think that when I get married someday she will be the next one to do all of the extra baking and cooking!

Yesterday I went to court to contest a ticket I had received from an accident I had been in on Sept 6 (I was given a ticket for following to closely at an accident where I hit a stopped car?). I was getting really nervous sitting there because if it is more likely than not that you did what the ticket says than you still get it, but I was praying for God to keep me calm and was able to do what I was supposed to without a shaky voice :). I got up to the bench and the judge read what the police had reported and in that report it said that I had hit a stopped car (she had been waiting to turn left) so when it was my turn to speak I said something to the effect of that it is impossible for me to have been following to close even in the police officer's own words ("she hit a stopped car"). I had Rachel there as a witness and as she said whatever she said the judge looked up the meaning behind "following too closely" and was in agreement that that was impossible so he let me off without the ticket. I was greatly relieved!

Talking with mom afterwards and we realized that it was probably God having the police man have sympathy (or something) for me by giving me a ticket that obviously could not hold in court and that I could contest. The "following too closely" is a standard ticket for a rear ender but didn't apply in my case. We were expecting something more like "inattentive driving" or "driving too fast for conditions" which I couldn't have contested either one (though I was being an attentive driver, it was just foggy enough that I couldn't see the car until it was too late). But I believe that God was going easy on me on that one :).

Last night mom was the activity person for Keepers at Home at our church (Silver Beach Community Church) and was talking about and teaching how to use your G0d-given talents to bless your home, others and bringing an income in if God leads you there by making things with your hands (Proverbs 31 is the theme). It was a good night and many little girls enjoyed learning to crochet, sew and use a serger.

Why do things disappear?

Yesterday our internet was down (mom called Wild Blue, our internet provider and they said "there may be an internet outage in your area) and today our memory card for the camera disappeared! It seemed to vanish in between mom walking from my desk to hers and back! I wanted to post some pictures but alas, it is impossible. I guess that I can post anyways :).

E#2 (my 2 year old sister) is the funniest little girl! She gets the biggest kick out of books, internet videos and the most random things, and she has the funniest little fake laugh ever :) She does really big belly laugh Ha Ha Ha. I think that she started doing that because we thought it was hilarious and she knows that it makes us laugh!

It looks like our cat Sweet Tea (the black and white one) is pregnant! I'm thinking that she will be due somewhere near the end of this month. I discovered a few days ago that she really wanted her belly rubbed and when I did that she seemed to be in heaven. What cat likes to have their belly rubbed but a pregnant cat?

Today I tried experimenting with Celene by laying the lead rope across her back and letting her graze that way. She did really well, just stuck to the grass, didn't try to eat any plants (apparently almost all garden flowers are poison to horses) and didn't try to go any where so I am going to do that a little more to help save money (she doesn't eat so much hay then).

On a side note, is there anyone looking to buy a 1996 Silver Camaro? It is a 5 speed manual and is a lot of fun to drive but I need the money :) I am looking for about $2700.