Look what I found today!

I (Lydia:) was up at 5:30 this morning, and as I was sitting at the computer, something kept flying by my head. I swatted at it a few times thinking it looked like a moth or something. I got up a few minutes later, and to my surprise, I realized there was a BAT flying around in our house. So... I quickly went into the garage and grabbed a big fishing net and some gloves. I caught the thing eventually and took a couple pictures.

Here he is! Very interesting little creature!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Lydia

Busy Times!

Selling Puppies!

(all ten are enjoying their new homes!)

Making snowmen!

(We had just enough snow Sunday night:)

Tea parties

(Both here and near)

Practicing two songs for the Christmas program on the 20th

Enjoying an informal visit from our Antioch caseworker and her husband

Shopping

Eight dental check-ups in Longview

Practicing at the church for the Christmas program

Wrapping

Working together with our home fellowship group
to shop, wrap and deliver goodies to a family in need

Trip back to the dentist . . . cause we love the long drive so much:(

Shopping

Practicing at the church with Mr. Stuart . . . our singer and drummer:)

Last music lessons before Christmas break

Making meal and shopping lists for soon-to-arrive guests:)

Wrapping

Practicing some more at home before last practice at the church this weekend

Pastoral Search Committee dinner and meeting at our house

Picking up Papa Bob and Meemom at the airport!!!!! Woo hoo!

God's Beautiful Creations Today

So glad we had the camera along for the ride today

on our way to and from church!

Here are a few pictures of God's beautiful creations all around us!

(I think perhaps you can get a better view of the pictures

by clicking on them?)

Frozen waterfall

Two bald eagles

Swofford Pond/Riffe Lake spillway

Frozen Swofford Pond

Frozen rocks in the Tilton River

Science Discoveries

1. This is what happens to an egg in the hen house in the wintertime when the temperature drops significantly below freezing. We learned why.

2. Potential medical breakthrough - An experiment was tried last night and we're hopeful as we continue to gather data this morning. Sleeping overnight in a recliner seems to be profitable in relieving Mommy's night-time shoulder pain! Woo hoo!

Brrrrrrrrrr. . . .

It's been a little cold here lately! This is the farm animal's water in the mornings. . . .

The low temps are dipping down into the low teens, and the "high" temps are in the low 30's!

It's December 1st!

You know what that means!

The official countdown to Christmas begins!

Goodies and a Bible verse await in each "car" on the train!
Oh, and gotta have the chocolate advent calendars!

The angel goes first:)

And this is the pretty full-moon view we had this evening:)

Today at Church . . .

the girls were asked to play their intruments for the worship time.

They played five songs and did great!

Songs played:

In Christ Alone

How Deep the Father's Love for Us

Be Thou My Vision

Great is Thy Faithfulness

Knowing You

Christmas Portrait

Merry Christmas!!!!!!!!!!! :-)

Yes.....we are decorating for Christmas BEFORE Thanksgiving!

Joe is "helping " us un-pack Christmas tree ornaments

Us kids having fun! :-)



New lighted snowman in our front yard

Can't get much cuter than this!

In the process of putting up our tree, Daddy was suddenly attacked and forced to wear this hat

:-) :-) :-) :-)

Love you everyone!

Lydia

"Puppy Love" at Antioch Adoption Auction

On Saturday, our family went to Seattle for Antioch Adoption's annual auction fundraiser event. It was a good opportunity for us to help out, however we could, in raising the funds necessary to continue their ministry of helping foster children find forever homes. The children at "Crossroads Country Ranch":) donated a puppy to be auctioned off! Below are the pictures of that part of the auction.

On the right, standing with her husband, is our Antioch Adoptions caseworker. She and her husband have a yellow lab puppy, and would like to add a second labrador sometime soon (preferably in a year from now). The bidding got off to a slow start, so they jumped in to help it get going! It got to a point where they almost won the bid!
But in the end, a very nice dad and mom, of three kids who are very anxious for a puppy, got the winning bid. You can barely see the mom holding up her number right under the puppy picture. It was very exciting!

A Few of Our Favorite Things . . This Week

Our First Snow

Mommy put this snowman lawn ornament out on our front lawn as a surprise for Kyle while he was away helping friends move. He had been keeping a very close watch on the weather forecast all week, and was really hoping for enough snow to play in:(

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Valerie's Oat Pan Rolls and Meatloaf

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A Couple Slumber Parties

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Ten. . .

Getting-More-Cute-and-Fun-Everyday . . .

Puppies

They Heard us say "Christmas" . . .

So, it must be time for the "Christmas" train!!!

Fall Colors

Here are two reasons why I love fall so much!

These are two of the new trees we planted in our yard a year ago!

Aren't they beautiful?

Birthday by Candlelight . . .and Lantern

Last night we enjoyed a fun finale

to all the birthday celebrations we've had the past several weeks.

And we did so with a bang . . .

of sorts . . .

Around 6pm our first power outage of the season began!

It lasted for about five hours or so!

So, here in this photo, you can see Lydia

holding up a lantern to provide more light for the photo:)

Thirteen years ago today . . . .

It was election day!

Remember . . . . how we couldn't believe Clinton got re-elected?

Then . . . God chose to lighten our hearts,

brighten our day,

and change our lives and the world forever for the better . . .

so He caused something wonderful to happen!!!

And now, today, we are the proud parents of four more

awesome teenagers:)! Woo hoo!

Fun Chemistry

Lydia's dream of making soaps from her sheep's milk

is becoming a reality!

She has done so much research and gathering of supplies . . .

now the fun can finally begin!!!

What scent of soap would you like?

Happy 13th Birthday, Valerie!

It was Valerie's special day yesterday, and to kick off the festivities,

she chose "Dutch Babies",

with all sorts of fruit toppings! Yum!

For her favorite activity, she decided to play games

and watch "Little House on the Prairie" videos:)

Here, we're playing "Mad Gab"... White chili for dinner!

A round of "Guesstures" in the evening . . .

And then a yummy carrot cake!