Happy Birthday, Daddy!

We love you, Daddy!  Happy Birthday!  ~Haley, Lydia, Grant, Vince, Lance, Noela, and Mirae'

"Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men."

Prov. 22:29

Guess what!?  We have a new house!  Everything went fine for the closing yesterday--the needed documentation came via fax, the papers were signed, and now Dad has a pretty amazing birthday to remember!  Praise the Lord!  Even today's weather is delightful--we are so thankful it isn't pouring on us as we begin to move things from one house to the other.  We are doing the bulk of the moving Friday and Saturday, so pray for good weather then also!


Pictures will come soon!

Packing Party!

Packing Party!  Our whole family had the opportunity to participate in an Operation Shoe Box Packing Party last Saturday.  It was amazing; how well it was organized, the people, snacks, everything !

If you have not heard about OCC, I would encourage you to check it out.  It is a wonderful ministry that does a lot of good--and you get to help!  Visit them at SamaritansPurse.org!

The tables, all ready for action!  Pick up a box at one end, go through the line following the directions, and deliver your box at the inspection table.

The inspection table was overwhelmed very quickly--there were many people packing, and only Olivia, Maria, and Elizabeth inspecting.  Lydia and I joined them after a little while, as well as Mrs. T.  We had a lot of fun--and were snapped by countless rubber bands in the process!

Everyone helped!

Yeah Daddy!  Noela was so into it her hair got quite disheveled!

 A great day's work.  One thousand, sixty five boxes packed.  All of them were prayed over, and it is our hope that they will help change people's lives!

Clean-up time!  Mirae' likes helping with everything.

Samaritan's Purse!

It was a great day, with lots of great work accomplished.

Blue skies

Today, it is pouring, cold, and dark.  But all weather is beautiful in its way, and we can look forward to the clouds clearing, and lovely, blue skies!

Genesis 32:12

Macro

Macro is so much fun!  About a month ago, Dad and Haley went on a Father/Daughter retreat together.  Most of the weekend consisted of long walks in the beautiful weather, and here are some of the macro shots from those walks.  Can you tell what each thing is?

Psalm 24:1, "The earth is the LORD'S, and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein."

Luke 12:27, "Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these."

Harvesting grapes

Each year, we watch the deer eat our neighbors grapes.  They never use them, but the deer sure enjoy them!  This year, I thought we should harvest the grapes and use them ourselves.  So, one evening when Mom and Dad were out and it was warm and sunny, I gathered everyone together and we set out on our job.  We had no idea what we were doing, but in the end, we were covered in sticky, sweet, grape, and have 4 five pound bags of grapes.  We froze them and will enjoy them in smoothies!

Thank you Lydia for all your help and for taking the pictures!

And thank you Grant for killing all the spiders! :-)