A Day with Long-time Friends

We've known the Heffington family for years. We've really missed spending time with them since both our families changed churches nearly seven years ago. Last summer we were reunited and spoke of spending a day together at their new home. God has blessed them in miraculous ways with a lovely new, large house. On last Friday it finally worked out! (the dads and Daniel were aaway at work) Everyone had a great time getting to know one another again, or for the first time. We have added a couple of children to our families since we were together regularly. The children wasted no time getting reacquainted. We share many similar hopes and experiences and we enjoy encouraging each other in new seasons. We are very thankful for all of the Heffingtons! Isaac, Benjamin, Daniel and Noah were out-numbered by the girls, but they had a great time doing boy-stuff!

It's just about time to say "goodbye" and everyone is getting comfortable...hopefully it won't be so long between visits from now on.

Fall Vacation

It seems so long ago, but a couple of weeks ago our family travelled to Floyd, Virginia, to stay with family and friends for a long weekend in the woods. The weather predictions had been so grim that we were tempted to cancel. Ultimately, we decided that we were willing to risk being stuck indoors if it did rain or snow all weekend.

We had a wonderful time of being with Granddad Bill and Grandma Brenda and their friends, Buck and Darlene. Buck had brought a couple of four-wheelers for us to ride. Despite the cold weather, we were all able to enjoy some beautiful trips through the colorful woods and fields. Last summer we had fished and swam, this fall, we spent our time indoors or hiking. It was warmer in the woods than near the lake and everyone was well-dressed for adventure.

On the way home we finally stopped on the Parkway at Lover's Leap. We had driven by many times, but had intentionally pulled over this time. The view was breath-taking! If only we could have made a family photo there.

In Danville, we spent a couple of hours looking at tanks in the museum there. The boys and Bob loved it!

We're already hoping for another trip to the mountains in April!

Mabry Mill (a favorite on the Blue Ridge parkway) was lovely as we passed by on our way to the cabin. It made this snapshot from the road look like a postcard!
Noah and I went with all the girls on a hike to the pasture. It was the first of many for the older ones.
This is called Buffalo Mountain, named for it's appearance.
Bob and I snuggled with our littlest ones on a couple of chilly rides. When we started to ride we moved Noah between me and Bob where it was most warm. Poor Bob took all the 40 degree wind!
We found these edibles: snowberries. They taste like wintergreen, or the old Clark's Teaberry Gum.
This is the whole crew. Mom and Bill, Buck and Darlene, their daughter, granddaughter and son in law, and our family.
Dan, Kendal, Kelsey and Anna at Lover's Leap.
At the Tank Museum.

A great source of protein...

Once Daniel ate an earthworm. He told our optometrist who is also a Boy Scout troop leader. Right then he began to search the internet for a real earthworm recipe. We found several and discussed this new menu item for days.
Recently Isaac decided that he must rise to meet the challenge and he ate a worm too! The girls captured it all on camera video and we think it's hilarious. So we're posting it for your entertainment and to preserve our family "memory".
By the way, we asked the boys to stop eating worms, unless we are starving. We checked out some books and even bought one that tells us about edible plants. Now they're all eating sorrel from our yard. That's ok though. It tastes like sweetarts and is loaded with vitamins. There's also no internal organs-that's the best part! Here is a photo of sorrel:

Isaac eating the worm: ( If you were wondering, it was still alive:) )

Trying to Celebrate the Feasts of the Lord!

This fall our family was anticipating the celebration of the Fall feasts that are described by God to Moses, in the Old Testament. The feasts have been considered to be part of the "Law" therefore not "required" for those of us who are Christians by Christ's death and resurrection. However, we have enjoyed reading and learning from other Christians and Messianic Jews about how and why they celebrate the Feasts of the Lord. The Fall feasts are defined as dress rehearsals for the Lord's return. So why wouldn't we, who are excited about His return, celebrate?

This year we invited dear friends over for Rosh Hashana. We were going to have a meal, read some scriptures and worship together. That means lots of guitar playing and singing! Sadly, both families fell ill and we had to cancel. We'd hoped that by Yom Kippur we'd be able to try again. Not so.

Our last chance was Feast of Tabernacles or Sukkoth (Gen 33:7), a family fort festival. The celebration of this feast was recorded in II Chron. 8:13, 31:3, Ezra 3:4, and Neh. 8:15-17 and John ch 7.


We were to built a "temporary dwelling" or sukkah in our yard and spend some time in it as a family for seven days during the Feast, last Sunday through tonight. Unfortunately, last Saturday night after we enjoyed a meal, a reading and short worship time in our sukkah, Bob fell ill with the flu. Thankfully, we had started one day early.

This week, the children have been adding onto and playing inside the sukkah. It became their camp. This was a far cry from the scripture which says to "live in booths" or huts for seven days. That would be challenging but definitely a memory maker! Bob is feeling alot better and we hope to be able to gather there once more tonight.

We hope each time we attempt to put more of God's word into action that our children will have His love and priceless heritage written upon their hearts. We want to diligently teach them all of God's ways. His words of rich blessings of tradition are a large part of how we can know our God and Savior. The more we know Him, the more we trust Him and want to serve Him.

'So beginning with the fifteenth day of the seventh month, after you have gathered the crops of the land, celebrate the festival to the LORD for seven days; the first day is a day of rest, and the eighth day also is a day of rest. On the first day you are to take choice fruit from the trees, and palm fronds, leafy branches and poplars, and rejoice before the LORD your God for seven days. Celebrate this as a festival to the LORD for seven days each year. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come; celebrate it in the seventh month. Live in booths for seven days: All native-born Israelites are to live in booths so your descendants will know that I had the Israelites live in booths when I brought them out of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.' Lev. 23:39-43

The dates of the Feasts are determined by the Jewish calendar and their New Year is in September, their seventh month. It's all based upon the cycles of the moons, Sabbaths, and seasons. What a wonderful time to celebrate the fall harvest time! There are atleast three names for each feast and we are still getting the spelling, meanings and such mixed up. But we do understand much more this year than last! Glory to His name. It's all about remembering His faithfulness to His people!

Our neighbor climbed in the sukkah, at the boys' request, and asked if it was a duck blind. : ) We gave a short explanation of what we are really doing. The already knew that we are different. That confirmed it!

Hopefully by next year we will figure out a better building plan for our temporary dwelling, but as you can see, this time we used stepladders for the main supports!!! It did look nearly attractive when the leaves of the branches were green...not so much a week later. The children had a blast working on it. Not a single complaint! />

It was lovely inside!

added later:

We were able to have a meal and worship on the last night of the Feast of Tabernacles.

Shalom!

Our loss, our baby's gain

Deciding whether to post such a sacred family event has been difficult. However, since our family uses this blog to document many of the things that really matter to us throughout the year, missing a baby that we'd hoped for in April 2010, cannot be left out.

We had been slowly sharing the good news of expecting our ninth precious child, when at week seven, on September 13, he/she suddenly left us. This was a first for our family. I am especially thankful for the ease of the process. In a week I was "back to normal", although I hadn't really wanted to be. Friends who knew were especially kind and prayerful. I spent what could have been a terrible week feeling truly cared for by God and by people. Even my mother, who lives eight hours away, was close to my heart (by phone) on one of the more difficult days.

We will not forget that this one little person awaits our family in Heaven. We are so very glad that he is in the best possible place and that his life has been nothing but pure perfection and love. We do not grieve for him. I have grieved for dashed hopes, and a miscarriage-free history, but not for long, because I know I am truly blessed. If God never gave me another child, I am satisfied in Him and with our family. Of course, I truly hope not to miscarry again. But regardless, God is sovereign and He is the same One, worthy of all my trust in any circumstance. Since we trust Him completely with our womb, we look forward to another baby, in another season-if God should be so generous. And I am beginning to understand a fraction of the pain that other ladies who've miscarried are experiencing. This is good.

"And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. "Romans 8:28

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God." II Cor. 1:3-4

City Gardening

Over the last year, Bob and I have had the pleasure of becoming friends with a man and his wife who are master gardeners. Bob met the husband while swimming at the YMCA. Our family visited their home and farm this summer. They generously shared blueberries, raspberries and figs they'd grown. They own several acres and have gardened for decades.


Recently this nice couple began to teach us how to make raised beds for ourselves. This fall, following their instructions, we've built two raised beds and planted seeds for lettuce, spinach, chinese cabbage, and some herbs. It's been a slower process that what we'd intended due to heavy rains, and borrowing a truck for transporting dirt, and family illness. But we're finally seeing some of the "fruit" of our labor.


Today, after only five days, I observed sprouts from our newly planted seeds! God brought sunshine followed by alot of rain during the last twenty-four hours. This was exactly what was needed since we have been inside with the flu for two days and haven't thought much about watering. I love to see God's hand in all the little details of our life. We are praying that our money and efforts towards raising some of our own food will be very fruitful again in this season. Thankfully, we were able to save enough money over the summer by raising our own salad tomatoes and sweet peppers, to buy all the supplies for the garden, summer and fall!

Bob built two different size beds. We'll decide over time if the deeper one is worth the extra expense.
Daniel, Anna and I moved most of the dirt to the beds on this past Monday.
Both children were so diligent and faithful. I really appreciated their help.
The hoops will support butterfly screens initially, then plastic when it begins to frost at night.
I purchased two packs of plants so that our harvest would be staggered. They were so very reasonable compared to buying the produce at the store! We're praying the butterflies do not find them before we get them covered. Bob's face was priceless when he thought these plants came from the seeds I'd planted a couple of days earlier. : )
One of our first spinach sprouts.
Today our friends brought plenty of spun bond (looks like interfacing to me) for covering the plants. So the beds are safe from butterflies for now!

Kelsey's Fourteenth Birthday!

Today Kelsey is fourteen! Last night Bob took her out for a very nice dinner. They both dressed up and when they were ready to go, Bob gave her a necklace of pearls to wear. She looked lovely. They had a delicious dinner and brought home beautiful chocolates to share with Kendal and me.

We made a great Sunday dinner for her birthday this afternoon. We also put a candle in her dinner roll and sang to her. We weren't able to go to church due to alot coughing in our family. But we've had a nice day together.

This evening Kelsey asked if she and I could drive to Edenton, NC and visit Ms. Ennis ( a dear friend of our family). Since it is her birthday, Bob agreed and let us go. We had a short and lovely visit. It would be so nice if Ms. Ennis were closer. We're glad to see her every chance we're given.

Family Reformation Conference

Today we had the privilege of listening to James and Stacy MacDonald speak about raising children for the glory of our God. Mr. and Mrs. MacDonald came from Illinois with eight of their children to minister to our little group today. It is an honor to have people visit our church who have shaped our lives through their ministries and books. Tomorrow Mr. MacDonald will give the sermon during our household worship service. And we will gather with their family in the evening for a small social over dessert at our pastor's home. What a blessing!

Mrs. MacDonald wrote a spectacular book called Raising Maidens of Virtue. Mr. MacDonald is a pastor of a family integrated church, founder of their family ministry and radio speaker. His email newsletters are biblical and encouraging.

Kendal and Kelsey read a couple of the MacDonald family blogs regularly. I think they especially enjoy meeting other, somewhat famous, virtuous young ladies.

The MacDonalds talked about many things. Their message was bible-based and practical. We especially enjoyed their talk about courtship. They have one married daughter and one in a courtship relationship. With seven daughters and three sons, they'll be pros in due time.

New photos

Joy and Anna.

Noah at fifteen months.
I was experimenting with natural light and captured this lovely photo of Kendal with our old camera.

Thankfully, Bob bought us a new camera shortly after the old one died. We're still learning how to use it.

Below is the current "stair-step" photo. You can see how everyone is measuring up. Joy is catching up to Anna, and Kelsey passed Kendal long ago! Noah is not happy here. He doesn't want to stand in line, of course!

But, now he's happy riding in his car.
Kelsey and Anna. (it looks like I was experimenting with the "black around the edges" feature)
Joy and Noah.
more to come...

Growing gardens, growing people

I love to go outside and work in the garden. I have such a sense of accomplishment when I am finished. I am dirty, hot, and thirsty. I can look back and see all the places where my work has made an effect.

If it's quiet while I'm working, then I have many deep thoughts. Sometimes it seems as if God is teaching me by speaking to my heart. The analogies between caring for a garden and caring for my children have been so direct that they've seemed surreal. I've been wanting to write down every wise teaching from the garden. I'm committed to save these summer treasures. I'm trying to do it here. The messages seemed profound when they were spoken to me in the garden. I was inspired. Now the lessons sound (or read) simplistic, but my experiences with God were truly holy...

Young plants (young adults) need protection: When the tomatoes and squash were growing quite large, I planted a couple of seedlings among them. I knew the little plants would be broken by balls or feet if they weren't protected. I used hardware wire that I shaped into a circle around them. The sun and water could still get to them and we could still easily see each part of the plants, but they were buffered from danger. Likewise, young children need protection. But it's more than that. Even young adults need protection. They need safe places to grow and mature. Like the young squash, they are close to maturity, but so tender and susceptible to danger. Extra measures must be taken to protect them. And the timing of removing the protection is crucial, lest the plant's growth be hindered. God is the ultimate authority on proper sheltering.

Weed often (weeds are sins, ungodly passions): When the garden is first planted the dirt is clean and clear between each newly planted vegetable. It reminds me of caring for an infant. Everything is sweet. After a couple of weeks the weeds start to visibly invade the dirt. The weeds are easier to spot and remove when there are just a few of them. This is also true in our children's lives. Ungodly heart attitudes are much easier to discover and "root out" when they have just begun. That's one reason that I enjoy a baby so much. Each birth presents a fresh start and bed of opportunity-just like a new, weedless garden. A diligent "gardener" will return over and over to root out the new weeds. I try not to overreact to bad attitudes/sin/ungodliness in our children, afterall I can sport an ungodly attitude just as well. Often that reality causes me to repent, in front of them, of my own poor example and then come alongside them to discuss how we can be more like Christ. "Weeding" is much more time and energy consuming than any other part of gardening-and parenting.

Weeds left unrestrained will take over a garden. Ultimately the desired plants can barely be seen. The weeds require deep digging to be removed, often damaging the nearby vegetable roots. The vegetables will wilt and threaten to die. But water, sun and weedless soil will give them another chance. That is very much like removing the undesirable things from a young person's life. They sulk. They want us to believe that they'll die without "such and such". But, they won't. Then again, there are those deadly attachments to certain sins (weeds) that do threaten a young person if we forcefully remove them. So, we must be vigilant and never tolerate a small dose of a deadly habit or appetite.

Hope: there is always hope. Never give up-on a plant or a child. I had a plant that threatened to die after I had vigorously weeded around it. I had even severed part of it. Secondly, we had another small plant that was trampled by little feet. It was broken at the main stem. I replanted it in a safer place. Both of the above plants survived. Both had appeared dead, hopeless. When I discovered them thriving and green, I sensed that God wanted to gently discipline me for being impatient and thinking certain situations were long-term problems in our family. In fact, in a short time, both plants looked new again. I think He wants me to develop a more patient, "marathon" mentality and not always look for instant maturity or fruit.

Beautiful, fruitless plants: I built an 8 foot trellis for our cucumbers. I planted seven plants. They grew like weeds. In a couple weeks the trellis was covered with vines and blooms, like the one in the photo above. Those vines promised to produce a summer full of cucumbers. It's now August and we have picked less than a dozen cucumbers from there. However, the tomatoes, slow to bear fruit, and quite over-grown and ugly, have filled our freezer with bags of soup-starting tomatoes! We've had many meals stocked with tomatoes! The two modest bush tomatoes have provided grape tomatoes for nearly every dinner salad. That cucumber trellis looks like a monument of infertility. Similarly, we do not desire to raise beautiful fruitless children. "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control." Looking "good" on the outside is good if that attractiveness can draw one person to another initially. But the Spirit of the Lord, through us, ministers to the sick, gives to the poor, cares for widows and orphans, and brings men to repentance. This is a fruitful life!

"Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them."Eph. 5:11

"Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." Matt. 7:19-21

"...I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last." John 15:16

Four dollars and one hour alone

Many years ago, a very good friend of mine said that she and her husband have weekly dates and she recommended that all married couples do the same. I scoffed at the idea, at at the time, since all of our children were very young and I didn't like to ask for sitters. Now that we have enjoyed nearly two years of dating on a regular basis, I have to agree that it is the lifeblood of our friendship.

Dating means leaving the house and going somewhere else. It's funny how we can forget how to do such a basic thing. It amazes me how much younger we both act and feel when we are in our vehicle alone!!! At that point it doesn't matter where we go as long as we can both focus on being together.

Tonight we enjoyed a Thin Mint Blizzard at Dairy Queen. We ate it in the van. Two spoons. One cup. We watched the teens come in and out and talked about them. We listened to pop music from the 60's, 70's and 80's and remembered our own highschool days. If only we'd known back then how it would all turn out...God is so good!

Dating helps us to remember a time when we could think of nothing but one another. It's like looking at a wedding album. It conjurs up loving memories. Those memories seem like strangers during the difficult days of marriage. It's so good to go back.

We are the same two people who thought they were in love 22 years ago. It helps us to remind ourselves of how things were back then. We spend alot of time and energy on the serious parts of maintaining our marriage and family life. Now it makes sense to me that we also should balance those efforts with nostalgia, reminiscing and fun! And we can do it with only four dollars and one hour away from home!

Busch Gardens with friends

We've taken full advantage of our Fun Passes at Busch Gardens this summer! Bob and I have gone alone for date nights, double date night, "older girls with Mom and Dad" night, and many family evenings with only our family, or with our friends. As of tomorrow we have one month left...

Last week when we joined two other families at the park there were twenty-two children between the six of us adults!!! It was fun and challenging to keep everyone entertained and safe!
We all ate dinner together and coordinated many roller coaster rides, kiddie rides, and time in the Land of the Dragons. It was great fun being with such gracious folks. We enjoyed the challenges as much as the thrills on the rides! It often attracts the attention of the workers at the park to see so many children together. Thursday was no exception. A lady who sold drinks to us in New France had many questions and sweet comments for me and the other two moms. We always pray that our words and actions will bless other people, but most often we leave encouraged!

We've included photos of our friends, but since our blog is now open to all readers, I won't identify each of them since I don't have their permission to do so. That said, these are some of our dearest friends and we adore their families and often treat their children like our own. It's such a blessing to be in community with other believers.

The log flume was one ride that most everybody could ride. So the moms waited with the babies/littlest ones on a bridge that the flume went under. It was fun trying to capture their pictures as they floated under us.


These four boys were thrilled to ride together. One of them had never been on any rides before. It didn't slow him down!

Moms and dads were glad to cool off in the water where the little ones were allowed to play!

The smokehouse/barbeque place has become our favorite dinner spot. The portions are generous and yummy. It's also right near the Griffon, one of our favorite roller coasters!

This is our family below, but Kendal is taking the picture, and Noah is in the stroller by the table.
Our digital camera died shortly after this trip. So unless our backup camera takes some decent shots, our blogging with pictures could be limited! We were given tickets to a local baseball game on Monday and took another family along. A neighbor came to our door asking how many tickets we could use. God pours His blessings upon us everyday!!! We invited our friends, who live nearby. There were nineteen of us! We took alot of pictures and had a good time, but the photos are ruined...

Am I learning anything?

One would think that since I started this blog I must have had many lessons to document for posterity. Either my memory is failing, or I'm not learning much. Maybe I've been neglectful because the moments that I intended to record are small, quick and generally in the middle of some chaos.

If there is a reoccurring theme for me, as a wife, it is to be patient. I'm learning to wait for my husband's thoughts by not filling every quiet moment with my voice and my ideas. If I don't say everything that is on my mind, he often shares his ideas and they are impressive. I would've liked to have known that years ago!

Fourth of July Fun!

It was such a busy and wonderful weekend! On Friday night, we attended a concert of the US Fleet Band in the city park with Grandma Butler and many of our friends. We visited during the concert and ate alot of popcorn. The fireworks were beautiful and the music was very patriotic!

Over breakfast on Saturday, in place of morning bible study, we discussed what Independence Day is really about. It was a lively conversation about the brave folks who put their lives on the line when they signed the Declaration. Bob and I even serenaded our family with our version of the "Star Spangled Banner".

In the afternoon we celebrated with our church family at a pool party picnic in our neighborhood. It was a gorgeous day and loads of fun! There were over fifty children swimming, playing and eating. Our hosts graciously reminded us of the meaning of the Fourth and lead us is a prayer of praise and gratitude for our many freedoms, physical and spiritual.

When everything was cleaned up, our family, and the host family of the party, headed to Busch Gardens for rides, more fireworks and dinner! More fun! We are blessed!



Below is our family with Grandma Butler before the concert. Kendal, Kelsey and I designed matching clothes for the girls in our family. Kendal made herself a shirt and sash, and Kelsey made a coordinating sash for herself, while I sewed t-shirt dresses for the three little girls. We were able to get their t-shirts on sale at Kohl's. Noah's outfit was free with a coupon! (girls, including me, think this is as fun as attending the event) They all wore their new outfits all weekend. I washed them at night, of course.

Grandma Butler and Mary at the concert
Kendal and Kelsey with three of their girlfriends. They played Uno on the blanket during the concert.
We were so glad to see Ms. Ennis at the concert too! She's hugging Kendal, Joy and Noah here.
Watching fireworks.

Noah at the pool party on Saturday. Our friend, Jennifer, took this great shot!
And this one of the young ladies in the pool. Kendal and Kelsey are on the far end.
These are the Butler and Ward children (minus 2) at the entrance of Busch Gardens. Both our families have summer passes, so we go together often.