First fruits

One of the many reasons that we were excited to get home from our vacation was to see how our garden was growing!  We didn’t plant tons of things since this is our first year trying, but we were anxious to see if they were dead or if our neighbor had remembered to water them! 

Before we even went inside the house, the six of us went to the garden plot and bent down too look at the growth of the peppers (will be picking a few later this week), the beans, the zucchini and summer squash.  To our delight, we had a zucchini that was HUGE and a summer squash which was the perfect size to pick!  can anyone say “stir fry for dinner”?

But as we got ready to cut into our veggies for dinner, I told the kids about first fruits… you know, in Bible times when the Israelites would give of the first things from the harvest to the Lord.  As Grace thought about that concept, she got big tears in her eyes.  She didn’t want to give away our veggies… she was too excited about them!  In fact, she didn’t like the idea of cutting them up either…. until she tasted them!  YUMMY!!  First fruits got me thinking about all of life:  are we really living like it all belongs to the Lord to begin with. Are we too tightly holding on to our stuff or our children that we are unwilling to give them to the Lord?  Hmmm… first fruits… they are all HIS, aren’t they? What better hands to be in than in the hands of the Creator, the Sustainer, the Giver of Life!!

I can’t wait until more things are ready to be picked… maybe I will go get those peppers right now!  YUMMY!

(We actually picked these on Sunday even though we got back on Friday.)

Wild Kingdom around here!

Sitting on the couch yesterday, I took a quick look out our front window and was amazed by what I saw:  2 does and 2 fawns!  I had to do a double take!!!! It was great… the kids loved watching them and, of course, I had to run for my camera to get a few pictures!  These deer were just right across the street from us in our neighbor’s yard hanging out!  HOW COOL!  We have such a WILD KINGDOM around here, even though we supposedly live in the city!!

This is actually the only picture that has all four… can you see all of them? 

Wanna kiss?

Just a fun chocolatey face as Caleb attempted to feed himself his chocolate pudding… did he actually get any IN his mouth?

Not counting any chickens….

I told our two year old that as soon as we got back from our vacation (pictures coming soon) we would begin having him go potty ON THE BIG BOY POTTY!  We were going to get rid of the diapers during the day and get out the underwear.

And that is exactly what we did. 

Bright and early on Monday morning, I put on his big boy underwear (he fought me on that one!) and we hung out on our main floor – the one with laminate floors and not carpeting.  I gave him A HUGE special cup filled with lemonade and kept on filling it as he emptied not only the cup but his bladder.  I am not counting any chickens…. but he had a GREAT day yesterday with 4 poopies on the potty and 8 times going pee on the potty!!! A SUCCESSFUL day for sure! He was wet a few times, but he also had some successes as we was playing and yelled: I HAVE TO GO PEE PEE!!!  We rushed him to the potty and he went – with dry underwear!!!!

He cheats a little….

This little stinker doesn’t want to leave the potty much… if he had his way he would sit there all day in order to get all of the pee in the potty!  Either he just likes the M&Ms too much or he hates to be wet or he is a perfectionist or he doesn’t trust himself… or who really knows the mind of this 2 year old?!?!

He is totally cute, though, and is LOVING this potty thing!  Let’s hope that he doesn’t cling to this potty until he graduates high school!  HA!

Notice the chocolate on his lip!! He loves the M&Ms but his sisters are WAY jealous about all of the chocolate this boy is getting!

I know this one is a little blurry… but I still love it!

When a one year old helps…

When a one year old helps water the plants, you will need a change of clothes and lots of towels to clean him up… but, boy, is it fun!!

I can’t believe my momma is actually letting me do this!

Some water DID get on the plants…eventually!

What a hilarious shot…directly in his tummy!

Peddling like a Champion

One of the first finds of the Garage Sale season was a two-wheeler bike for Siah.  I wasn’t really looking for one, but when I saw this cool red one with training wheels and tires in GREAT condition, I knew I had to get it… for around $5!  That is a great deal for a bike!  Josiah wasn’t really ready for the bike – so we thought.  He really wasn’t too interested in the tricycle that we have – it must have been because it was pink and purple.  But once we told him that once he could peddle well we would let him be on this new bike, he began to practice and practice.  During our yard sale, Josiah was peddling in the garage on Hannah’s bike and the tricycle.  He perfected his skills and now peddles like a CHAMPION!  He even does hills around our neighborhood!!!  I am not too confident in his braking capabilities, but he steers well and peddles hard.  Here he is last Saturday on the Gray’s Lake trail.  His sisters took right off… we eventually caught up with them!  Before long, he will be passing them for sure!

We take it pretty seriously around here

We love the Word of God around here... like read-it-everyday, hide-it-in-your-heart, and teach-it-to-others kind of love!  We are passionate about passing on this love to our children.  We take it pretty seriously around here.  At 9am (even in the summer) you will find the three older kids and I singing Bible songs, rehearsing the books of the Bible, memorizing a verse, and reading the next verses/chapter in the book of the Bible that we are working through.  Currently we are studying I Samuel... I can't wait until we get to David, but right now Hannah is enjoying reading about herself and her son Samuel!  :) Since January we have studied Daniel, Exodus, and Joshua. 

Since Grace will need to know the books of the Old Testament in order this fall for Sparks, one of the goals I have had for her is to have her memorize them this summer.  Little did I know in my quest for GRACE to know them, Hannah and Josiah were learning them right along with us.  We are well over half way there and Josiah says them right along with us.  Listen to him say them and be blessed that he is learning to love this book and the Lord with all his heart, soul, mind and strength.  

Our prayer for our children is to love God and His Word... What about you?  Is this a passion of yours?  I would challenge you... if it NOT a passion in your home, what is more important than this?