i love haley

my second born.. so full of life, and love

(with neighbor ava-7, and sister olivia-12)

she is so good with kids. they are drawn to her. she is learning to be a good big sister. sometimes it is harder than other times. but she is looked up to by every younger girl she meets.

she knows how to have fun. she can beat anyone at knockout. just this past weekend she impressed a boy at church with her arm. he'd never seen a girl throw like that.

i took her to the doctor today. she has the highest pain tolerance of all our kids (and the scars to prove it--dental surgery, stitches in her head). but her ear has been bothering her for more than a week. we don't have insurance yet, but we visited the doctor that robin's parents see. he was so kind and gentle. no big infection. give her medicine for a week and she'll be fine. you have your grandmother's eyes, he said. and so, you're in luck. just today i'm running a special for 16 yo girls with hurting ears. there will be no charge today. (i literally couldn't speak at that point. anyone who's seen a bill for a new patient with an extended visit knows that bill would've been over $150) thank you, Lord for showing your goodness to my haley whom i love so much.

thank you, haley, for bringing so much joy to our lives. and for keeping me on my knees in prayer.
you are loved!

we love....christmas

not sure why blogger wouldn't let me finish posting pictures last night, but i'll at least put on what i can for our memories. it was a subdued christmas for us in tally this year, being that we were also packing up the house and getting ready to move 1000 miles away.

rock band and wii were the big gift this year and a big hit. which was more fun, playing the game or listening to dad sing the vocals?

we love.... our family saturday night games

remember the little boy a year older than karis-17 who gave her her first bruise by biting her finger when she was 4 months old in the nursery at church? yup--it's zach. here they are engaged in settler warfare. (click on settler to find out more info) she forgave him.

and here's cody--the younger (but taller) brother. he rivals cousin nate at the game. except he's known for saying, "i need half a boat!" which makes us laugh and annoyed with him at the same time.

after only being invited over 4 times in the past 5 years to others' homes, we are thankful that our long time (20+ years!) friends, the snyders, have warmly accepted all 9 of us into theirs for the past 4 weeks straight. and the fact that they like to play games (darrell and robin typically are in the basement playing ping pong or nodding off in matching recliners while watching sports), eat, laugh and watch sports just makes the memories that much more fun.

and the youngest, 4 months different in age than olivia-12, keri are SO alike it's downright scary seeing as this is the first time they've lived in the same state their whole lives. it was extremely difficult to get these two to be still long enough to get a picture, let alone a
good one.

let the good times roll, girls, let the good times roll....

my dear mr. ruhl

w i l l y o u b e m y v a l e n t i n e?

a month of love....

you are loved with an everlasting love.....

and underneath are the everlasting arms....

jeremiah 31:3

saturday review of books

i first met the amish when i was a senior in high school. i thought they were quaint and fun to observe and try to snap the occasional picture. i didn't give much thought to the "why" behind how they live, and i certainly looked at them more as a cult rather than followers of the One True God. this book amish grace stems from the school shooting at nickel mines, pa (about 20 miles from where we now live). but it covers much more than just the school shooting. it quickly covers the amish background from their time of martyrdom around the time of the protestant reformation to the way they currently adapt technology to fit within their principles (rent freezer space from non-amish neighbors, phone shanties in their barns, computers for their business that have no games, internet access or extras that run on batteries). their example of forgiveness is unsurpassed and humbling to those of us who have had reason to forgive someone for a wrong committed. it includes other stories of amish forgiveness including one we personally witnessed of a member in our church involved in a car accident with a buggy (the joel kime story-you can google it if you don't want to read the whole book).

this was a great read, affecting the way i think of the amish, think of forgiveness and look at the world through the filter of the Bible. for you homeschoolers, you would be interested to know that the amish really do use the pathway readers many of us used in homeschooling. the 8th grade book speaks specifically of the amish martyrs and why they need to be in the habit of forgiving. we still have our whole set, as it's one the kids asked to keep when we were weeding through our homeschool material for our massive yard sale last year.

for more saturday review of books, join semicolon here.

jack henry

it was so much fun trying to get him *not* to smile for a photo

shoes

out the door (notice his choice of a coat when it's 20* outside)

on the road again.

we'll miss you, bud. but we'll be right here when you return.

junk lunch

for the first time

got hope?

this post is primarily for my children because there are so many things i want them to know and remember and since they're in school now i have so little time with them

i've been studying the psalms of ascent (120-134)--you know how i don't think there's ever a coincidence with what you're studying in the Bible and what you're personally experiencing. i know it's difficult to share a small house like we're doing now-no bed, one bathroom to 9 people, no personal space... but there is Someone who hears you...

psalm 130
out of the depths i cry unto Thee, YAHWEH
o hearken to my voice, ADONAY, let Thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.
if iniquities Thou shouldest mark, Yah, who could stand?
for with Thee, ADONAY, is pardon; that (Thy law) may be revered.
i wait on YAHWEH; my soul doth wait; for His word i hope;
my soul for ADONAY, from morning watch to morning watch.
for with YAHWEH is kindness, and plenteous with Him is ransom;
inasmuch as He ransometh israel out of all his iniquities.

just like the heat of summer makes us hope for winter and cooler temps and winter with cooler temps makes us hope for summer and warm weather fun.... whatever circumstance you find yourself in (and this will not be the last difficult one you will face) hope in the Lord. cry out to Him. we've made it 4 weeks, and you've done very well.

catching up

we've had numerous requests for more snow pictures (and since today is a SNOW DAY, why not oblige)? snow is not all fun and games as olivia-12 shows her war injury here incurred by getting run into by a flying saucer (with little brother mike-5 riding on it).

she recovered just fine....

the pete-ster

peter-3 drew this picture of me, his mother-- who apparently loves footballs so much she wants to be smothered with them. but look at the smile on her face! how could he be wrong?

he also takes a while to wake up.... my beautiful baby boy.

it's a zoo around here

and it's martha to the rescue. as in, martha stewart craft puppet kits sold at walmart. fitting all of our clothes and the dog stuff into our van/honda was enough of a challenge, we didn't get to bring extras like craft stuff or toys. olivia has had fun teaching pete how to make these puppets and he and mike have enjoyed playing with them (mike even took one for his "leader day" at school, which most of us know as "show-and-tell.")

jack is less than thrilled with his homework. cheer up, jack.

but when all is said and done, everyone is pretty tired by the end of the day.

haley and one of her favorite sweatshirts (thanks uncle billy and aunt barb)

choose wisely

good things over at the shepherd press blog concerning choosing friends and social networking sites like facebook. facebook and friends is a great, biblical treatise on what is a real friend. i refuse to do facebook (introvert that i am) for the very same reasons that my brother/others *do* facebook (we can look up kids from 3rd grade! every person we ever dated can catch up with our lives as middle aged people! all 400 of our closest friends can know our status at any given moment!). but i let my kids do it to alleviate the guilt i occasionally feel for making them move 5 times in 13 years. it's a great way for them to keep in touch with cousins as well as friends, and it sure is fun to log in on their accounts and see those pictures of my brother that his 3rd grade friends still have around and have scanned in.

however, i have many concerns. i can't possibly police every comment written on their walls, or that they write on their friends' walls. i don't know many of their contacts. and is it a good use of time? after all, it's "just facebook." i can hear my teenagers now. i want them to read these articles and sit and have an intelligent discussion with me about them but i'm not sure yet whether it would produce the result i desire. they already have enough attitudes to fight against right now.

one thing is for sure. post only what is helpful is what i strive to document here on the legacy i'm leaving for our kids. if i ever waver from these four basic principles:

1) Be faithful to God and you will be faithful to others.
2) Be brief.
3) Be truthful and factual.
4) Be pleasant and encouraging.

you have my permission to call (comment or email) me on the carpet about it.

(if you're new to blogging, click on the red words to go to the link that i've referred to and on every picture you can click to enlarge. if the picture is too big, right click and click on "view image" and it will calm down to a reasonable size).

house for sale

email for details!

dining room-realtorized (not at all how we had it decorated)

big boys' room

our "master" bedroom (rivals yours, heidi-mt hope for smallest, no?)

email for details if interested

little boys' room

girls' room (master to most people)

master bath (used by girls)

front living room (books already packed!)

laundry room (washer and dryer included in sale)