Monday's Musings...

Happy Monday!
I hope y'all had a blessed Lord's Day.
We had "Second Coming Sunday" at our church
and it was such a blessing to sing songs,
listen to God's Word being preached,
and focusing on His return!
Oh, what a day that will be!!


This morning, the children and I
continued our Bible time and began Genesis 3.
We read aloud, worked on our key Scripture for the week,
had discussion, had vocab study, did prayer letters,
and illustrated what happened between Cain and Abel.



Later in the morning, we had friends visit.
We enjoyed fellowshipping and even enjoyed a visit
to one of our local dollar stores! ooooh
We were able to find quite a few things,
as we were putting together a lab kit
for our upcoming science. ;o)
It was half the price to get the items ourselves
and we found almost all that we needed there!
We were rejoicing in God's goodness in providing!

Later in the afternoon, after returning home,
the younger ones were eager to use
their new bug containers and headed outside
to see what they could find...



They were able to find an ant to put in the jar
and spent time observing it
(though it didn't do much but lay on its back and wiggle its legs!).
The, also, found a 'love bug' and a few sticks. ;o)
They enjoyed themselves, though.

Tomorrow will be a little busy for us,
as I have a scary dentist appointment
and Ally is teaching piano in the afternoon.
I hope that y'all have a wonderful day,
counting your many blessings! ;o)


"I will sing unto the LORD,
because he hath dealt bountifully with me."
~ Psalm 13:6

Blogiversary Thank You...

Thank you all, so much,
for your kind, sweet, and encouraging comments
on our blogiversary giveaway post.
What a blessing it was to hear from so many!
I have very much enjoyed "meeting"
and getting to know people via blogging
(and so many kindred spirits, too!).
What a blessing it has been to get to know others,
encourage one another and pray for one another!
Fellowship is so sweet (even if it's online!).


This morning, Will drew a name for our giveaway. ;o)
...Something about putting your hand in a jar
that is filled with folded papers...
I'm not sure what the allure is
but he is always a willing servant
when it comes to drawing out a name. ;o)

The selected name was...


Ashleigh of Heart and Home ;o)
Congratulations! I pray the items are a blessing to you.

She just recently parted with her beloved,
as he headed to "the sandbox".
She is a fellow Marine wife
and is keeping the home fires burning
as her beloved is away.
What a blessing your prayers
and an encouraging word would be. ;o)


Thank you, again, to all that participated/commented.
Your comments were such a blessing!


"Pleasant words are as an honeycomb,
sweet to the soul, and health to the bones."
~ Proverbs 16:24

Friday's Fillings...

Yesterday was another beautiful day here.
We spent the morning with Daddy
and after he headed to work,
we decided to go to the beach with friends.
Our visit was short lived
but we did enjoy our brief time there.
Here are a few photos of the children while we were there...














Will humored us (as well as himself) as he
put his toy knights through the ocean gauntlet...

With each crashing wave,
the poor knights were washed into a foamy abyss.
He and Beth were tickled at this
and it delighted me to see them so delighted! ;o)

After leaving the beach, we headed home for fellowship
and Friday night pizza.
The older girls made the pizza, which was a sweet blessing!
The younger ones found pleasure in playing dress up...


We're not quite sure what Carolynne was dressing up as,
perhaps one of her pretty grandmas. ;o)
Either way, we thought she was cute.



Beth was a beautiful, spring butterfly!



Will was a musketeer, ready to defend his sisters. ;o)

It was a beautiful day!

This morning we went to church for a baptism service.
Two young people were following the Lord in baptism
and it was such a blessing to see.
I always get teary-eyed when watching a baptism.
What a JOY it is to see people make decisions for Christ
and seeing them follow Him!

Today Dad and Will went to Pastor's
to help with some work he and his son was doing.
The girls and I worked at beautifying our home. ;o)
Now I'm off to spend the evening with my beloved.

I hope y'all have a blessed Lord's Day!



(photo of two pelicans from the beach yesterday)

Thursday's Things...

Today was a beautiful day,
much of which the children spent outdoors.
We continued our study in Genesis 3.
During our Bible study, we were comparing
spiritual warfare vs physical warfare.
We sure enjoyed digging into God's Word,
learning the Truths about our spiritual warfare!
Later, the children did miscellaneous things,
mostly played outside on the trampoline
(amazing how they can do that for so long!).

Will spent some time working on the R*ubick's Cube.
Daddy has been teaching him a few "tricks"
and he has spent a lot of time practicing...


Ally spent most of the day working in her
Advanced Chemistry and was excited about an experiment.
She got to make slime...

It's funny how homemade slime can entertain so many!

Daddy came home for lunch today
and he had the afternoon off
(since he has a "mandatory function" this evening).
We enjoyed spending the afternoon with him.
It was precious to see him playing on the floor
with the younger ones...


Later in the afternoon, he had to return to work
but it was worth seeing him in his "pickle suit"
(Marine Corps terminology)...

This uniform comes out on rare occasions
and I'm always glad to see it. ;o)


Ah, one of the perks of being a Marine wife...


I love it!!


Hope y'all have enjoyed your day! ;o)


"I will mention the lovingkindnesses of the LORD,
and the praises of the LORD,
according to all that the LORD hath bestowed on us,
and the great goodness toward the house of Israel,
which he hath bestowed on them according to his mercies,
and according to the multitude of his lovingkindnesses."
~ Isaiah 63:7

It's Been a Year!

A year ago today...
I made our move to Blogger official.
I had opened our account here long before that
but spent a year blogging elsewhere,
then traveled a bit,
and finally landed here to plant roots.
That root planting was one year ago.

To celebrate our year here, we're having a little fun...



Since this day kinda snuck up on me
(I just discovered it today!),
I'm not quite sure, at this time,
what the item(s) will be that will be given away,
so I'll add that info in later. ;o)

To participate in our giveaway...

*Just leave a comment on this post. ;o)

**If you have a blog,
please feel free to share our event
(you can use the above graphic, if you'd like)
and we'll add your entry in twice. ;o)

Either way, I would be delighted to hear from those that visit!

The giveaway will end
Saturday, March 29 at midnight.
We'll announce the winner
(randomly selected by one of our children)
on Monday, March 31st.

I hope to hear from you!


Edited to add:

Below are the giveaway items:



Hardbound Thomas Kindkade "Sunrise" journal;
Psalm 9:10 bookmark;
Support Our Troops car magnet (we had to throw that in there!);
house cookie cutter (going along with our haven at home theme);
and a potholder of spring-like colors,
crocheted by our daughter, Ally. ;o)



"A merry heart doeth good like a medicine..."
~ Proverbs 17:22

Monday Musings...

Happy Monday!
I hope y'all enjoyed your weekend
as you celebrated the Lord's resurrection!

Daddy has the day off but travelled to SC
to visit our old house, see the condition of it, etc...
as we plan to put it on the market, again, soon.

So today we began week 3 of our "new thing"
that we've been doing in our homeschool.
(I hope to share more about it soon)
This week, we are in Genesis 3.
We read aloud this morning, had discussion,
and the younger ones illustrated our key verse (v.1).
The older ones, also, continued with their prayer letters.
Here they were at work today...


Carolynne working on her illustration



Beth working on her illustration



Will working on his vocabulary study



Ally working on her prayer letter

It was a "homeschool in your jammies" morning,
except for Will, who got dressed all the way to shoes. ;o)

Here were the illustrations the younger ones did...
(you can click on it to see it enlarged)


(Their illustrations refer to how the serpent tempted Eve)

This afternoon includes fellowship and supper
with friends, which is always a blessing!

I hope y'all have a happy Monday!


"Thou hast put gladness in my heart..."
~ Psalm 4:7

Friday's Fillings...

We've had a busy week but have enjoyed it!
Below are some photos from our day yesterday.

Actually, here's one from Thursday evening...
The younger ones were being sled dogs,
using names and situations from the book
"The Call of the Wild" that Will read recently...

It was a delight to see their creativity!


Friday morning we met together for Bible time
before we headed to our homeschool park day...


We were thankful for this park day
because it had been quite a while since our last one
(due to inclement weather and going north for a couple of weeks).
We were thrilled the Lord blessed us
with a beautiful day to enjoy the outdoors!
(so thrilled that I took an abundance of photos! ;o)


Beth and Carolynne excitedly running off to enjoy themselves.


Playing on the 'big' slide




Many of the girls from our group were gathered
around these blossoms, picking and enjoying them. ;o)



Will swingin' (and, obviously, happy about it, too!) ;o)


He, also, got to play a some football.


Ally and her friend filled the park with music and singing...

There were a few people at the park that were not
part of our homeschool group and it was a blessing to see
how the girls were still bold in singing aloud, enjoying it,
and giving praise to the Lord!

After our park day, we went to lunch with some friends.
We sat outside at the picnic tables, enjoying the day
and enjoying feathered company...

This little fellow was at the table next to us.
There were many sparrows there
and they were not shy about getting near us.
It tickled the children to have them be so close!

While we were there, the manager (also our assistant pastor)
came out to talk with the children and gave them
some cow masks to take home.
The children found multiple uses for them, including this one...

LOL

We, also, visited with his wife and two brothers
which work there, as well.
The children were thrilled when they were given
a free ice cream cone, which they gladly accepted...














Before leaving, the children posed for a pic...


Then they all mooooved to the van,
as we herded the cattle home. ;o)

Our day didn't end there...
When we arrived home, the children got an in-home field trip!
Courtesy of Uncle Sam, we got a new refrigerator
that has an ice maker (way to go, Honey!).
The maintenance man came to add the water line
(from the bathroom sink, which is on
the other side of the wall from our fridge)
and he invited the children to watch and learn...
and they were very eager to...


Watching him drill a hole through the wall, under the sink,
while listening to him explain what he was doing.


Will helping to pull the line through the wall.


Learning how the hose is hooked to the fridge
and how it will work once it is finished.


Looking under the sink at the clamp (thingy)
that he connected to the waterline.

It was quite an educational lesson!
They thanked him for letting them watch and learn
and they were quickly off to play!

Our friends stayed for sourdough pizza and fellowship.
As the mamas were making the pizzas,
Daddy was given an invitation by Beth
and the children were pleasantly surprised by his answer...







And he even threw in a "bonus"...

LOL

Here were the children in the evening,
after playing outdoors all day...






It was a great, fun-filled day!
It was a blessing to be outdoors,
enjoying God's marvellous creation
and fellowshipping with friends!
I hope y'all enjoyed your day, too!


"This is the day which the LORD hath made;
we will rejoice and be glad in it."
~ Psalm 118:24