O to be a child again

O to be a child again without a trouble or care.
The happy grins, the whispered word, laughter in the air.

The sparkling eyes, the skipping feet, giggles that are shared.
These are blessings that are given from the One above who cares.

The One who is our Maker said, "come as a little child."
This lesson we must learn even when the days are wild.

Enjoy the day, enjoy each moment, trusting each day to God.
Knowing that each day from Him was sent, we trust..as we walk this sod.

Will You Teach Me about God?

Last night as I was tucking the girls into their beds for the night, a question was asked from the heart. "Mommy, after school tomorrow will you teach us about God?" "Of course I will," I answered. As a kissed them good-night and walked down the stairs I prayed that they might always want to learn more and more about God, our Father. What a privilege to be thought worthy of knowing something about God that I could teach my girls.

So after school with the girls, laundry waited, dishes sat piled, house sat untidied as the girls and I went on a spiritual journey to learn about God. As I came into their room to talk, Moriah with a beaming face says, "Mommy, after we learn about God we're going to have a party." What an insight to realize that God can bring the joy to have a party.

As we talked about God our Creator and how He made each one special and unique, I saw the joy of a child's belief in a God that cares. With a sweet smile, Melody says, "Mommy, I love God so bad."

Though Bible stories are read in school each day and our family meets for devotions each evening I plan to continue to put aside extra time each day to teach my girls about the God who loves them. What else could be more important?

Watermelon

My son, Caleb has grown many things in his garden. One of them being watermelon. He had to throw out many watermelon that began to rot. He finally declared that when he got a watermelon he would eat the first one by himself. His first and biggest watermelon finally ripened with no fear of rotting. So here he is eating his watermelon. He did share a few bites with his sisters and brothers, but for the most part he finished it off by himself. It was actually a very good tasting watermelon. I, too, had the privilege of a bite.
We've also had lots of cantalope from Caleb's garden, as well. It has been delicious.

Our German Shepherds

Melody and Axel

Caleb and Bella

Home grown meal

Yesterday we had a home grown meal. We raised the rabbit and the rest was from the garden or the meadow where we picked the blackberries. On the menu was:

Roasted Rabbit

Golden Buttered Potatoes

Corn

Butternut Squash

Coleslaw

Pumpkin Pie

Blackberry Pie

Dayton Air Force Museum

On Saturday, August 1, we went up to the Dayton Air Force Museum with my sister and her family. Here are the 10 kids with my husband. He probably looked like the Pied Piper with all these kids trailing after him all day. We had a great time, even though it was rather tiring.

More Pics from the Dayton Air Force Museum

Making Salsa

We've had loads of tomatoes. Also grew peppers, onions and jalapenos. Perfect ingredients for making salsa. It turned out great with just the right "hotness." Dixie, just so you know, I wrote down the recipe for this one just in case it turned out. Is that a first or what?!? Now I am hoping to make another batch. I got 10 pints. I had another batch started the first part of last week. I had got all that time consuming part done. That of removing the skins and the seeds from the tomatoes. I had all 16 cups of tomatoes diced and in the kettle, ready for the remainder of the ingredients when our electric went out. It was out from Tuesday till Thursday around noon. Needless, to say I had to throw out all those tomatoes. So I was quite excited when I got this batch done and sealed in jars.

Harvest Day for Corn

Last week we harvested our crop of corn. It was a family affair. My husband and the girls picked dozens and dozens ears of Silver Queen and Peaches and Cream corn.
The boys husked the majority of the corn with some help from the girls. I showed the boys how my grandpa taught me to husk corn to get the majority of the cornsilk off so that you are not everlastingly picking silk off the corn.
I got the job of cooking the corn and cutting it off the cob. It was an all day job. I got 64 quarts of corn. Of course, we had to have corn on the cob for dinner and supper just like we did when I was a girl and Mom put up corn. M-m-m good.