I wanted to post something today, but am feeling as dull as this weather, so bear with me.
Ummmm..... Oooh! I know! You remember reading about my jewelweed adventures? Well, the oil was finally done curing, so I was ready to make salve! Aunt Christy donated some beeswax in exchange for some of the oil, so I was all set! To make a jewelweed salve, you take your oil, and heat it slowly in a pot. When it is hot enough, you remove it from the heat and add a handful of beeswax. Stir it until melted, and then drip some of the mixture onto the counter. When it is cool, test the firmness of the product. If it is too runny, add more wax. So anyhow, I did that much of it and poured my salve off into a bouillon jar in the fridge. But I didn't have the oil soluble vitamin E capsule that they suggested as a preservative. Aunt Christy came to the rescue again with a list of other natural preservatives. Turns out that rosemary is a great one, so when we hosted church, she brought me a bunch of it fresh. This afternoon I remelted the salve and added rosemary. It makes the salve smell so good! Now I am waiting for someone to offer to catch poison ivy for me so that I can try this out :) Presently, I have two full jars of salve sitting in the fridge all by their lonesome! :) Thanks Jessica for joining our blog! We are now pleased to have the honor of a dozen followers!
I wish I could think of something dazzlingly clever that would earn us alot of comments. The only thing I can think of is a question and answer post but I will NOT copy that idea from poor Abigail who has seen it pirated at least twice already! ;) I'll wait a few months.
Ummmm.... this post must go down in blogging history as the most boring anyone has ever read!
So very sorry old chap!
Ooohh! I hear Sarah coming! Maybe she'll have a good idea? Nevermind! I thought of something that is sort of peculiar to only us large-family people: Can any of you lie in bed in the morning and listen to people walk down the hall and know who it is? I can! I love doing that! Dear Gracie is as lead-footed as they come! She sounds like a grown-up half the time! Sometimes I am wrong when I guess though. Another weird thing I can do is tell who it is when someone is breathing behind me, or coughing. (Sorry to gross someone out, but I can also tell who it is when someone is being sick in the trashcan :/
Now to finish this off, and I hope this awful post hasn't ruined anybody's good opinion, what do you think of this blog? That's one way to net some comments! Somebody please tell us that you have read this! We are desperate over here! ;)
In the Dullest State of Mind,
Rachel

What we did today

Greetings all our faithful followers! I shall endeavor to regale you with a tale of derring-do, a story of mud and slop and friendship, in fact, an epic day in the life of... well, us! Now!
Our dear friends, the Wilsons are preparing for the beautiful and charming maiden, Morgan's graduation. I actually have been enslaved as a hairdresser to make more beautiful her Rapunzel-like tresses. You might say I am her graduation-maid instead of a bride's maid. (There, if that doesn't make humble Miss Morgan blush I don't know what will!) But anyway, they are in the middle of a large kitchen remodeling project, and all that sort of thing. Dad offered our services for today, and it turns out tomorrow. But anyway, our tale begins in the dust of a deep, dim, cluttered cavern. In fact, our garage. Dad had an elders' meeting this morning, so he left us a very long list of tools and supplies to gather. Most of them had rather mysterious names such as "flux", "teflon tape", "bernz torch", and others of that sort. With Daniel's help in decoding the words, Sarah, Benjamin and I gathered the tools while Daniel loaded lawn equipment, and then we left. We met Dad and Mr. Scott at Lowe's, and proceeded to spend the next hour and a half there. (It's no wonder that some have nicknamed it "Slow's"!)
After we escaped from that place, we continued on to the Wilson's farm. Sarah and I showed off our weed-whacker prowess, (just kidding) as we whacked their yard into shape. Then I used the walk-behind mower to mow the back area. We helped the Wilson girls sort out a load of pork they had just gotten back from the butcher, and did various other sorts of farm chores until near lunchtime. I was glad that I had packed my mud boots! I had forgotten how indispensable those are on a mucky day! Morgan and I went inside and set out lunch, and now Sarah wants to write about the remainder of the day....
(It's me Sarah, and just as a post-script I didn't bring my mud boots, and suffered having to stomp through muddy fields all day!:(
Anyhow, while we were weed-whacking Daniel had pruned all the front bushes in the flower beds and limbed up the crape-myrtles down the drive way and that was quite an improvement. So after lunch, I helped Maddie collect and wash/dry/put away 24 dozen eggs and then we went inside to make "fudge". I learned today the Wilson's quick and easy way to make a nice fudge and the secret is; Hershey's Chocolate Frosting layed out pretty thin and frozen til you can cut it!
(One more thing leftover from the morning: The Wilson's Jersey cow, Moon, delivered a bull calf earlier this morning, so we got to witness a calf's first day ;)
After the fudge making we cleaned up our mess; we'd been making it on the counter Dad and Mr. Scott had temporarily set-up!
The same two, had been setting out and arranging all the cabinet bases for their kitchen and had to make yet another run to Lowe's for a few things.
Maddie and I watched the younger ones inside while Morgan, Katie, Hannah, Daniel, Rachel, and the younger boys were picking up debris from the yard work and unloading feed Daniel had picked up earlier this afternoon.
Eventually I helped Maddie milk her goats and then the others did the cow milking.
Then we came home, out of the mist and mud.
And that pretty much sums up our Epic Day!:)
The End

A Brief Post on a Brother O' Mine

Who of you people reading this do strange things with your brother? I personally love having an older brother. And mine, the prestigious, Gentleman From Virginia likes to do slightly odd things with me. For instance, we sit around late at night cracking weird jokes. We love to be funny, or try to anyway! If there is a thunderstorm, he and I are out on the porch watching it and wondering whether it is quite safe to be under a tin roof in the lightening. We both love horrid, cold, rainy weather for a short season,(A day or two; rather English and Scottish you know) and we love watching dramatic weather of any kind. Also, we love taking walks in the dark. I don't know why, but everything is very quiet, and mysterious, and chill, and then he entertains me, and Sarah if she comes along with descriptions of how this is just the kind of night and place that a black rider would like, and then we get a wonderful shiver out of it, and debate whether walking down the road in the dark with only a ditch and woods on either side is quite safe. (Run on sentance...) Then we decide to try it and hear a car, and Sarah says we'll be squished, and so we all dash back to our driveway. (Living in the country is such fun sometimes!)
Let's see what else that gentleman and I do... Oh! We watch commentaries on movies, I read books out loud to him in the car when we go to work together with Dad, I make cookies and he eats the dough, we revel in the fall temperatures and colors, he takes us places and entertains us the whole ride with various bits of nonsense. (Usually he assumes some accent and just speaks in that voice the whole ride, commenting on anything that he fancies. It is quite funny!)
He puts his eye on my arm and squeezes his eye shut when he has a headache, he pulls my hair gently when he hasn't anything better to do, we plan rather naughty comments to put on other people's blogs, but we never do. We are well behaved in that respect! :)
I watch him eat hot sauce and jalepenos on leftover for breakfast. We have a chummy battle over my pickles nearly every time he wants to open a jar. (I canned 120 quarts this summer, and now goodness nows how few are left. I guess I should take it as a compliment)
We listen to the soundtrack to L.O.T.R. and Little Women, and discuss how great it is.
We do lots of fun things! I don't know why I wrote a post about this, but it is great fun being around my gentleman, and I thought I'd write about it for everyone else to read! (Now I shall begin the business of coaxing him to promise to dance with me at the Alexanders's barn dance!)
-Rachel

Of Rewards and Old Brown

"Odd's Life wot a title!" you may be thinking, (If you were Cockney perhaps) But there is a reason for such a name to a post. I thought I'd share with you an ingenious system Dad and Mama have used for us children in years past and which has just been resurrected for the youngest five of us. (Everyone but Daniel, Me, and Sarah) Basically the idea is that Mama buys a bunch of little trinkets and things that look rather enticing to juvenile eyes. (and, I must admit, this afternoon I almost wished I was young enough for this sort of thing) Then, each child gets a little chart, or, they are using little paper apples, and the idea is to collect star stickers. We do not give them a sticker for doing their chores well, rather they get one if they do them with a willing attitude. The idea is to reward them for having the right heart. So they know that at the end of the week they shall be able to exchange their stars with something from the "store" which is the tub full of trinkets. But we do have a rule: they cannot ask if they will be rewarded a star for playing without quarreling, or something else. If they do ask, they will lose a star. So anyway, by this afternoon the kids each had around 10 stars apiece. All except for Little Gracie. Sarah and I interceded for her because she hasn't been rewarded as many stars simply because we don't remember to give them to her. But Mama had bought this little plastic teaset with Winnie-the-Pooh on it, and we wanted her to be able to buy it. (She only had like 6 stars) So the way Dad handled that was to not set out the little teaset as something they could choose this week. The items all have different prices: a mystery matchbox car cost 10 stars, a packet of bracelets cost 6 stars, and various little pieces of candy cost anything from 4 stars to 1. The kids all loved "buying" something! It is not bribery you understand, just an extra boon when they do practice having a willing and submissive heart.

So that takes care of the "rewards" part of the title. Now for Old Brown.

As some of you Beatrix Potter fans will realize, that is the name of the owl in Squirrel Nutkin. Well, on the way to the T. family's house today, we drove past something in the middle of the road that we thought was a baby fox. On the way back, we stopped and realized that it was an owl! Of course, Mama stopped the car, we all jumped out, only to be told that we were on a big curve of the road and for pity's sake to be careful. So we chose Sarah as the ambassador, and she retrieved the dead owl. For some reason it was not squished. It looks like it broke it's neck, but anyhow, it was in tip-top shape for roadkill. It sat in the car while we went to Food Lion, and then we brought it home and showed everyone else. It is so beautiful and soft! I love it's feet! As Gracie remarked as she pet it, "He has a pinchy nose!" :) Isn't God's creation marvelous? I would have put a picture of it up here, but number one, I already dumped the camera once today, number two, we haven't quite figured out how to position numerous pictures on one post.

Okay, so that was our day, and please pray for me tomorrow, because I was asked to share about what God taught me this week at Daughters of Destiny in the middle of church. I am nervous, because it turns out that several people from there will be here. Just pray that Jesus will speak His words through me! Thanks! -Rachel

Lunch With The Butlers

Hi Guys! Today we had the Butler Family over for lunch. We have been trying to get together since Elliott's graduation in April, but we just have been so busy! Yesterday afternoon and this morning, we were preparing and cleaning, (we are also hosting homechurch this weekend) and generally making ourselves useful. They arrived about 10:30, after getting lost briefly (like everyone else does) at the corner that doesn't have a road sign. (Why Mapquest and g.p.s. things take everyone the Tar Road way is beyond me. It would be much easier and prettier to go the scenic way down Garrison!) When they arrived, we did some farm chores that the little kids could help with, and then we stood around talking for an hour. (I can never think of anything at first to do with people I haven't seen for months!) But after a bit the sun got us thinking that it might be nice to come inside and play a game or something. Now Sarah's starting. We decided to play Balderdash which is a game that anyone in our family that has a bit of Walker humor loves. (Go ahead, Oldest of Many, plume yourself on your wittiness) Anyway, we did that for about an hour and the whole time was spent laughing at the ridiculous bluffs, definitions, etc. It turned out that Rachel won, Kendal was second, Leah and I tied for 3rd, and Kelsey was 4th. Just as we finished, we were called down for lunch: grilled chicken Mexican salad, focaccia bread, and jelly granola bars. These are something that would be Popeye approved, as they contain pureed "spinage". No, really you can't taste it, and it adds more vitamins. So after lunch the older girls went out on our front lawn to do a couple of Civil War dances. We actually mastered the Harper's Ferry , which is a intricate and graceful dance, if done properly. Any of you girls, who had been at our "winter May Day" party would be glad to know that we did not tear up the grass this time. :) After dancing the Virginia Reel, Gay Gordon, Spanish Waltz and the Harper's Ferry (all to the soundtrack of "Little Women") it was time for the Butlers to leave. I know you bloggy people who have the beautiful blogs full of pictures will shake your heads, we didn't take a single picture with our camera. But Mrs. Butler took several with hers of all of us on the front steps. They left about an hour ago, after which Leah went down and haunted the mailbox, only to find two little uninteresting pieces of mail. (Now it is Rachel speaking. Sarah says that last sentence had nothing to do with anything. I say Hmph!) Well, that's all for today!

Processing Our Broilers

Hey everyone! This is Sarah.

Yesterday afternoon, we got a call from some friends of ours saying that they, and one other family, were going to go ahead and process their 4-H broilers, and we were invited to do ours as well. So this morning, Dad, Daniel, Abby, Benjamin, and I went over to the T.'s house to process our broilers. Our birds weren't the biggest ones there, by far, but it was high time they were "done away with". ( They'd sort of been on a budget diet, but hey! We're new to all this and are learning all about it:) Dad, Nigel T., and Benjamin, sort of ran the killing, Mrs. T. and I did the head and feet removing(I felt like a real surgeon with rubber gloves ;) and Daniel, Daniel T., and Stephen T., were eviscerating. We got our 28 all ready and bagged in a pretty short time. Dad had asked if we could save all the innards , etc. to give to our pigs when we got home. Boy did they enjoy 'em! Here are a couple pictures of them feasting on their treats :)

Well, There they are, and I'd better be going!

-Sarah

A Few Thoughts on Femininity

Okay! Here is a post that has not been particularly studied out, but it is something I have been thinking about recently, so bear with me if I go off on rabbit trails--
When we read back on the great women of the Bible, such as Esther, Sarah, Naomi, Mary, all these, don't you ever marvel at the beauty of their stories? When you read Ruth, doesn't it seem the most beautiful love story ever penned down? What exactly made these women so admirable? Well, several things- but to start off, I want to go to 1 Peter 3:3-5: "Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, and the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight. For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful. They were submissive to their own husbands..."
So here you have a pretty great picture of the secret to these women- their beauty came from within, and not only is this beauty unfading, but it is of great worth in God's sight. But I also think it is interesting that these women purposely practiced this attitude. It says that they used to make themselves beautiful in this way. So, that is one facet of this subject: the gentle and quiet spirit. But one thing that I think these ladies did, was to rejoice in their femininity. Esther had a whole year of beauty treatments. These women like Hannah, and Sarah, Leah and Rachel respected and revered the position of motherhood. In their culture, there was a very visible line between a man and a woman. And these women seemed to glory in the fact that they are the weaker vessel. Mary willingly rode on the donkey. There was no trying to prove herself as strong as any man. Ruth allowed herself to be humble enough to ask Boaz to be her protector. Now really. How many young ladies nowadays would ever entertain the thought of asking for a protector in their times of trial? Much less going in to a man personally and laying theirself down at his feet? No. Young women today think that they have to "be strong", "be independent". and "make their own way". But we see a very clear picture in the great women of old of prized femininity. I personally like wearing skirts most of the time. There are days when I work with Dad that I would be physically endangering myself to wear a skirt, (lawn mower blades and the like- yeah) but you know, I like keeping that line. When I am doing really physical activity, I wear the appropriate clothes. When I am being a homemaker, I wear the appropriate clothes for that too. There is nothing quite so feminine feeling as a pretty skirt, my hair neatly arranged, and an apron tied around my waist. Clothed in such, I feel quite ready to take on the pile of dishes in the sink, or the dirty children that need baths. It gets me in the spirit of my position as a homemaker-in-training. I also have learned to enjoy being the weaker vessel. I do not feel the need to carry the heavy bag of grass seed just to prove myself when Dad or Daniel is right there offering to help me. I love it when there is a rare man, a perfect stranger, who will open the door for me when I walk into a gas station, and wait to close it till I am all the way through :) I love knowing that the Lord has given me Dad to be my protector, and until I find my Boaz, I want to stay under his guidance. Jesus has given me new eyes to again see what a blessing my femininity is to me. I am so excited about that possibility of becoming a mother some day! To bring children into the world who you and your husband can train to be faithful men and women... what a privilege! This truly is something no man could ever do, and therefore is uniquely ours as women!
So anyway, I hope I gave that more than a lick and a promise, and I'll end here with a challenge to embrace the fact that we are women, and to seek to clothe ourselves with the old-fashioned charm of a meek and quiet spirit! (by the way, the date on the photo is wrong)

Back From Camp

Hi Everybody! Wow! Seems like forever since we have written on this blog! Thanks Oliver and Katie for joining up as followers! Now if we can only entice someone else to join, we shall be even with Daniel yet again! No, really, it's great to be home! I had forgotten how sweet baby kisses are, how nice it is to take a shower in our huge bathroom, and what great food we cook every night! The week was so blessed. It surpassed everything I had hoped for. I was challenged and supported in my walk with Christ, and calling to be a stay-at-home daughter, and it was so wonderful to have a week of fellowship with other girls who are striving for the same thing. I met lots of new people that I hope to keep in touch with, and the Lord gave me an answer to something I had been praying about by bringing along a young woman who hopes to start a magazine for girls soon and wants me to write for it. I took creative gift making, smocking, and the art of letter writing. The latter was my favorite, for letter-writing is a passion of mine, and we got to sit around a huge fireplace and talk of "...ships and sealing wax, and cabbages and kings."
Mrs. Foster, our teacher, dressed as a Victorian lady every day. But our class was rather disrupted Wednesday, when the aforementioned lady who is co-director of the camp got a call that her married daughter Stephanie was in labor 6-weeks premature! She was gone all the rest of the day and half the night after that, and the baby was fine! 5 pounds, 9 ounces which, from what I've heard is a whopper for a baby that premature! His name is Gideon Davis.
That day in letter-class we wrote letters of congratulations.
We had a talent night. Sarah, Alaina W. and I sang "Hallelujah, I'm Ready to Go", and then the T. girls, Alaina, and Sarah and I sang "Edelweiss"and "So Long, Farewell". The last two sounded really good, (If I do say so myself :) There was so many really talented girls there! Three sisters played "The Orange Blossom Special" on their fiddles. Friday night was a banquet, and after that we had a sacred music concert. When all that was over, we went downstairs and two of the sisters played for us while we did the Virginia Reel, and the Gay Gordon. That was the last night of camp, so after, several cabins traveled around till midnight Christmas caroling to the other cabins and staff. Then our cabin proceeded to stay up till two. Not a good idea if you don't want to be zoned out all the next day!
We got home in safety, and spent yesterday partially recovering after going to church. I shall spend some of today writing letters hopefully, and I also want to get more into "His Chosen Bride". Which is a book I bought at the camp that is excellent so far. Well, I'm sorry this is just a cursory sketch of our week, but hopefully we shall have some deeper thoughts coming based on some of the things we heard! -Rachel

What's Up On Our "Farm"

Hey Everybody! Thanks to everyone who has joined! (We're even with Daniel now!5 followers! Hee-hee-hee) (Just kidding) Anyhow, we thought that for any country people who want a good laugh at our expense, we'd tell you about our misadventures with our "farm". Okay. Right now we have 22 hens, one handsome rooster, and a bunch of broiler chickens. These broiler chicks have had their weekend of fame at the county fair which you can read about in September's posts. Now we are just waiting for them to get fat enough to process! They are very ugly and noisy compared to our pretty, glossy-feathered hens, but hey! Who cares when your chicken soup is on the line?

One broiler chicken has a broken leg, so Sarah, who is Queen of the Coop, has consulted the professionals at Full Quiver Farm as to what she should do with it, and is waiting for a dose of their coveted wisdom :) (They have been a huge help with finding out all about these chickens)

We have one Black Giant hen, two black/red hens, two Barred Plymouth hens, (my personal favorite) and seventeen Rhode Island Red hens. Sarah's favorite due to their shiny feathers. The Wright family gave us four day-old guinea keets a few months ago, and they are doing really well. All except "Snow White". She was a cute one with a white belly, and fell prey to a fox or something. Anyway, I wanted the Barred Plymouth hens to adopt them, but one of the red/black ones adopted them. Now they consider her their mother. They sleep under her wings at night! Awwww!!! Now, Sarah is going to tell you about our man-eating pigs! (Not really)

Alright! We got these cute little piglets at the beginning of the summer from Full Quiver Farm, and christened them"Paula and Patty" (after Paula Dean and Patty Sausage) We decided that Daniel would be in charge of their feeding in the mornings, before work, and Anna in the evenings. Well, that all worked just fine and dandy until they started getting pretty big- We couldn't get enough scraps to feed them so that their feed bill wouldn't be so expensive; Dad bought a whole dump-trailer full of old bread for $10! Some of it wasn't even past the date, so we distributed it among the church family(I don't think anyone got mold poisoning!:) Anyway, now we're on our second trailer full and the system is working well. The pigs are mean though. Daniel has the most problems with them - they're always trying to eat his shoes or pants and are pretty aggressive in general towards him. Anna doesn't seem to have alot of trouble, so maybe they're just against males or something.(Daniel and Dad were the ones who dragged them out of the trailer upon their arrival) They probably will be butchered sometime in November so we're looking forward to our first home-grown ham and bacon this winter. Rachel wants to make a ham and pea soup from Paula and Patty and our home-grown peas.

Well, here's a poem that seems fitting for our discussion written by Rachel.

"The Frightful Fate of P&P"

by Rachel

Paula and Patty were two little hogs-
They lived and the forest and slept in the logs,

Through all kinds of weather: Thru' rain and thru' fogs,

And good little piggies were they!

They slept nose-to-tail and the other way round,

They happily rooted the whole forest ground,

And they made lots of comforting piggy-wig sounds,

Ah! Dear, helpful piggies were they!

They grew very fat, very round, very stout,

They looked like balloons that were turned right side out,

And many a farmer they made give a shout,

For fine little piggies were they!

One cool day in autumn, to Market they went,

And really, a frightfully bad time they spent,

For back in a cartload of bacon they're sent!

Oh! Such Yummy piggies are they!

Slightly cruel, but I've lost my love for those pigs after they began to smell! (And they have such mean little eyes! :) -Rachel

Daughters of Destiny and The Girls' Gazette

Hi Everyone! (Why must I always start this way?)

We have been really hopping-busy this week, and are going to have a crazy next week. Sarah and I are going away to a week-long camp in Pinnacle, North Carolina starting on Sunday. It is called Daughters of Destiny, and is a camp/conference for conservative Christian young ladies. Their vision is to provide a week of instruction in homemaking skills, Bible studies, and edifying fellowship. We are really excited! This week has never seemed so long, and I'd almost welcome lawns to help it go faster! But, we have the yearly blessing of having a week off because we just put down grass seed. Matthew is probably helping Dad and Daniel with the few that don't get seeded. (Oh by the way. Matthew is my cousin. There are also 8 kids in his family!) So anyway! I have been thinking about several things. First off, waiting for this camp has been sort of hard because I want to get there so badly! But it has made me think of two things: one, this is sort of a parallel (in a really random way) of waiting for the things the Lord has for me. I'm excited for Daughters of Destiny, but I can't simply drop everything and watch the clock! There are things for me to do while I wait. Usual routine things, and preparing for the camp. In the same way, I must be productive while I wait for my next challenge from Christ, and there are some preparations I can make now for that. Secondly, I shouldn't speed the coming of what I wait for. Once it is here, it is gone, and I'll be done with blessing and fun of anticipation. The Lord has taught me that most of the "beating into shape" and growth comes before the real experience. Like when we moved out here to our land. There was alot of attitude preparation and skill-building before we even built the house!What a blessing it was when we had such long days out here to already have a great measure of endurance!

So anyhow, that was a random little sermon. :) But what I really was on here to write about is our Girls' Gazette. Most of ya'll that know us know about this special time, but for those of you who are new to our family, here is a brief history: I love Little Women (the book is better than the movie though I love both) so when I read about the March girls' Pickwick Society, I was inspired to start a newspaper and society in our own family. After discussing it with my younger sisters, we decided to call our paper, The Girls' Gazette- G.G. for short. We each contribute to the paper, and we each have a pen-name; I am Josephine Ava Ink-pen, Sarah is Louisa Joy Popplewell, Leah is Anna Mae Hartwell, Anna is Zillah Rose Potter, and Abby is Amelia Rosabelle Lovelace. For the first couple of years Sarah and I provided most of the inspiration, ( the other illustrious members being merely 6 and 4 respectively) but now we have quite a suitable little weekly publication. We recently added Abby to the club, since she turned 5, and she is thrilled to be able to come to the teaparty each week. We've had many misadventures during these teas. (By the way, is it medically possible to become sugar-drunk? Because if it is, several of our members become so each time ;)

But these times are precious because they won't last forever. They build our relationships as sisters, and are quite entertaining and instructive- in one session of G.G. we can cover language arts, English, art, reading comprehension, theater (poetry recitation), vocabulary, history, and computer skills. So anyhow, thought I'd share with something that works really well in a family with 6 girls!

-Josephine Ava Ink-pen a.k.a. Rachel (editor, president, member)

A Quick "Hello"

Hello. Bye! :) Just kidding. It's me, Sarah, and I just wanted to post something tonight because I haven't been spending alot of time on this recently. Today Dad and Daniel kept on working on finishing up doing the aerating and seedings(I think) and the rest of went an hour into town for two reasons: one, Mom had a nutritionist appointment there, and two, we were having lunch at our Grandaddy and Grandmamma's house(which is quite rare). We kids played at the park that happens to be located right across the street from the doctor office while Mom and Anna were in her appointment. We started off by playing in the park, and then took a walk 1/4 of the way around the lake, collecting seed pods as we went. Abby, Benjamin, and I ended up with 8 or 9 different types :) Then we walked up the big hill until Mom came and picked us up. We ate lunch with our grandparents and that was fun-we also got to watch a little T.V. there. We got home at around 5:30, and then us older 3 turned around and went to our GenJ meeting(which we'll write about later)
So there's our day in a nutshell. Got to go to bed:)
-Sarah

Life Chain Event

Hi! Yesterday we hosted church at our house, and after, alot of us left early to go do a Life Chain demonstration at Town Center, about an hour away. Life Chain is a national group that organizes special demonstrations where families can stand holding signs and praying for abortion to stop in our nation. It is not a rally, or a protest, but just a peaceful time of prayer and reflection. We stood holding signs and praying as the cars passed for an hour. Most of the motorists were respectful and would give us a thumb's up or beep. At first I was holding a sign that said, "Abortion Kills Children", and then I switched with Stephen T. and held one that said, "Lord, forgive us and our nation." On the backs of the signs they have prayer topics, and I also spent some of the time memorizing 2 Chronicles 7:14 "If My people, who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from Heaven and forgive their sins, and heal their land." This event goes on every year, and we we've gone for two. I really like it, because it is truly just an hour of prayer, and it gets you thinking about more aspects than one of "abortion is bad". It gets you praying for the mothers that are getting abortions, and for the doctors that are doing them. For the motorists passing by, and for the leaders in our country. I was especially reminded of Gracie's story:
When Mama was pregnant with Gracie, among a couple of other things, she got an ultrasound, and we were told that they had found somethings called "nucleafolds" (sp?) in her neck. Basically, the doctors told us that Gracie would have Down's syndrome. It was a bit of a shock to us, but we were peaceful, and went ahead and found out whether she was a boy or a girl. (A girl obviously.) Dad and Mama wanted us to start thinking about this baby as a real person, and they wanted to name her and everything. Then when she was born, she was perfectly healthy with no kind of mental problem at all! We named her Grace, because it was by God's grace that she was healed! But we did learn something very sobering- 90% of all babies that are diagnosed with Down's syndrome are aborted! Now, we wouldn't love Grace any less if she had been born with a mental condition, but think of all those babies! Think of all the sweet people with mental conditions that you've met, and realize that hundreds of babies like them are killed! And think of all the babies like Gracie who are healed, or had a misdiagnosis, and they are just killed and thrown away like trash! I can't comprehend how anyone could kill a poor baby just because it would need extra help when it was growing up. I think Down's syndrome people are probably the ones that make Jesus smile most continually. They are like little children all the time, and only if we believe with simple faith like a child will we be saved. It is heartwrenching to think of the poor babies, and we need to pray desperately for abortion to be banned in our country. God's light will shine despite the darkness of this world, but we need to be tools for Him to use to help shine that light, and I feel that this Life Chain is a wonderful way to do that! Anyway, just thought I'd ramble for a minute! -Rachel

p.s. this is a newborn picture of Gracie. Isn't she sweet?

Pictures of Gracie

This is Gracie in a straw hat (oops, it's sideways)

Here are a couple when she's dressed up in her "cowgirl" dress. The dates on our camera are all messed up so don't mind them.

-Sarah

What I'll Do While I Wait

"Once Upon a time a lovely princess lived in a castle in a far off land. Her father, who was the King, had only one daughter, and he loved the princess more than life itself. As she grew older, the King became more and more feeble until one day, he summoned the princess to his bedside. "My Daughter," he began in a voice so quiet she could barely understand him. "Too long have I waited for this moment! But now I shall not waste any more time. Here is a most precious book." the King said, waving his wasted hand at a thick volume upon the table. "In it you will find all the instructions you will need for your entire life. But most importantly, read this book before your prince comes. It will teach you to recognize the words and instructions of the Guide that will take you and your prince on a long, long, journey upon your marriage. You could even say that your life now is part of the plan. Your job is to read the words and treasure them. Act upon them, and never let them escape you while you wait." with those last words, the King lost his strength, and fell into a deep sleep that he would never wake from.
The next few weeks were a great trial for the princess. She was lonely, and wished more than ever that her prince would come. At first, she obeyed her father's counsel, and read the instructions in the book. But soon, the book gathered dust upon her shelf, and the princess grew accustomed to not reading it. "After all." she reasoned. "I consider myself an educated young woman. I can play the harp, speak French and German, read Italian, sing, and do needlework. I don't need any other instructions!"
And so the princess went about her days waiting for her prince. She certainly was faithful in waiting- she pledged not her heart to any other knight that came along. All day, from the earliest pinking of the Eastern sky to the last orange glow above the mountains in the West, she watched and waited for her lover. At last the day came! The princess watched with tears of joy in her eyes as the handsome prince rode up the tree-lined lane and through the castle gate.
The moment she had waited for all this time! I shall not intrude upon the further acquaintance of the two lovers, but after the glorious wedding, it became apparent that something was terribly wrong- The prince had long prepared for this journey that has been mentioned, but he found that his wife, even though he loved her, was not in the least bit prepared. She lacked any useful skill that could be of help, and she was not accustomed to hard work. But the worst part of the whole thing, was that the princess was not familiar with the voice and instructions of the Guide, and could not help the prince discern which was the right way to choose when it became a matter of great importance to chose the correct path."


I wrote the above to show a case of a young woman waiting faithfully for her prince whoever it may be, but who lacked something very important.

Oftentimes we as young ladies think that waiting is the only thing to do during these unmarried years. But we are not called to wait idly. We must develope a close relationship with our Guide, growing in His ways and learning to look to Him for advice in everything. Next, we must gather and learn character traits and skills that will be useful to us someday. How disappointed my prince would be to find that all I had done literally was wait for him! I will be of little use as a help-meet to my husband if all I do is sit here twiddling my thumbs! These years are precious to us girls! This a very unique season that will never happen in our lives again. We are under our father's protection and roof, we have abundant time and energy, and as 1 Corinthians 7:34 says, "An unmarried woman or a virgin is concerned about the Lord's affairs: Her aim is to be devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit. But a married woman is concerned about the affairs of the world-- how she can please her husband."
I feel the need to be a good steward of these years, and I don't want to look back, if the Lord doesn't have marriage for me, and realize that I wasted time just idly waiting! Waiting is good, but productive waiting is best! I want to encourage other girls and myself to store up God's word, and other skills during this time. I am waiting joyfully for my prince, and I hope he is pleased with the helpmeet I'll be for him whenever he comes!
I've just been thinking about this recently, and I hope the little illustration in the corner will appear. (It has a little red "x" on it right now. -Rachel - feel free to leave comments! :)

EXPELLED-the Movie

As you might have noticed from the title of this post, today we watched Expelled for the first time. We aren't usually the type that watch movies when they first come out , so we borrowed our friends' copy and watched it in-between lawns. (of course Daniel, the driver, was only listening;) It was interesting how the movie was put together- with old news and movie clips, interviews, and graphics. But the best thing about the movie was the ideas it exposed. Ones that have been tabooed in classrooms and even some "religious" groups. It really made me (Rachel) realize how indoctrinated our culture is into hearing the Darwinist theory everywhere. Even Abby and Benjamin (5 and 7) have a little saying that goes, "If it says millions or billions it's not true" Okay, so it gets them a bit confused about legitimate numbers (like when Benji heard a Sunmaid Raisins commercial that said "Sunlight travels __millions of miles to ripen the fruit we need to make strong and healthy bodies:) but the point is, even itty-bitty kids that have been in a conservative, Christian home all their existence have to defend themselves against such a twisted theory. I feel for all the poor little kids in kindergarten and first grade who are being taught that such things are true!
This movie was a huge blessing to me because it went to legitimate sources and showed just how tabooed "intelligent design" really is. I was shocked at the stories of people that were fired just for mentioning "i.d." in their classrooms. Also, I hadn't really realized that Hitler was a strong Darwinist. There were so many people from all over the world that were interviewed from intelligent design scientists to evolutionists. I was blessed also because the film showed the real scientific improbability that Evolution could be a viable theory.
But you know, the last half of the film was really sobering to me. I was "shocked, grieved" (as Mr. Darcy would say) to hear the words of some of the evolutionists interviewed. They were downright blasphemous! I really feel a burden now to pray for these men who laugh in the face of God and dumb him down to the size of "a fun thing to do on the weekends". (one guy really did say that)
I always remember a quote that I read (but I don't remember who from) that said, "I don't have enough faith to be an atheist". These people try to explain how life began by saying that little cells piggy-backed on flawed crystals, or that aliens came and planted a living-sort of thing on the earth! I laughed aloud at those two!
But I did agree with one guy who said that a ridiculous theory of creation that Christians believe is that God placed all the animals on the ark and that's how we all started! He actually thought that's what we say happened at creation! Of course that's not what happened!
I find infinite comfort in the verse in Genesis: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." and in John "In the beginning was the Word , and the Word was with God and the Word was God." We, as Christians, don't have to question the existence of a God and how we were created. At the very end of the film when Ben Stein is interviewing evolutionist, Richard Dawkins, the look on the latters face was priceless when he became befuddled and actually stumbled into a confession that there really could be intelligent design of some sort. But as the host said, we really need to stand up for the Expelled theory or else who'll be left to defend it?
I think we all need to pray that God's truth will someday soon reign in the hearts of these poor men and women who believe anything but the truth.
P.s. We're really looking forward to watching Doug Phillips' new documentary filmed in the "Darwin headquarters".
-Rachel and Sarah