Wonderful 25th Anniversary Celebration!

What a great time we had at the ocean!

We were so blessed with gorgeous, sunny weather!

 

 We did lots of walking and hiking,

and I kept finding heart shaped things. : -)

(wood heart on the left, and rock heart on the right)

Our very first stop was at the Astoria Column.

We hiked up the steep spiral staircase for a beautiful view of the Columbia River.

 

Then, on to Cannon Beach!

We went for a long walk all the way down the beach,

and asked a few folks to help us celebrate our 25th anniversary by taking our picture. : -)

We enjoyed several quiet mealtimes!

We found many new great places to hike!

As you can see, it was such a beautiful, sunny day!!!

Thank you, Lord for this sweet blessing!

 And to top it all off,

was a dinner at Mo's for Ted's favorite seafood dish! 

We thought this was a funny sign. 

After following the "Tsunami Evacuation Route" signs to find our way to the highway this morning,

we ended up at this sign.  : -)

 

Oh, Taste and See That the Lord is Good!

Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!

Psalm 34:8

 

A few random pictures from this week!



We had a couple very nice sunny and warm days! 
The boys always love going fishing!

Benjamin is always bringing a smile to our faces with his many hats . . . .

 

and need for style! : -)

We sure enjoyed being out in the sun!!!

Caroline participated in adjudications on Tuesday.

She did fabulous, as always! : -)

She was chosen to perform in the honors recital on Sunday afternoon!  Woo hoo!

Victoria and Caroline took on a road trip over the mountains to help a fellow goat breeder by doing some work for her for a couple days. 

(This picture in an old one . . . taken back in the summer! 
But with two of their special goats that came from their friend that they are working for.  ;-)

Kyle has been working very diligently on getting his landscaping business off the ground,
and this week he was actually able to mow a bit!   Good job, Kyle!  

Valerie, Timothy, Joseph, Benjamin, Brielle and I enjoyed another visit to Richie and Lydia's farm on sunny Wednesday.

The boys like to bottle feed the lambs.  : -)


We had Brielle's monthly case-worker visit on Monday, and also a visit by a developmental assessor,
as she is being referred for physical therapy for a few minor needs.

 

And lastly,

so thankful for the older blessings,

"holding the fort down" while Ted and I get-away for a couple days for our anniversary celebration!

Valerie is the main sibling-watcher extraordinaire today,

while Kyle, Victoria and Caroline are away with their various projects.

But it's a win-win for her and the little ones,

as they are all enjoying themselves immensely!

I don't think they are missing us one little bit! : -)

 

 Race car that Valerie made today with the boys!!!

Thank you Lord, for all these many blessings!!!!

 

Our God is Faithful!

"I will sing of the LORD's great love forever;

with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known

through all generations."

Psalm 89:1

 

 

"I will proclaim the name of the Lord,

Oh, praise the greatness of our God!

He is the Rock, his works are perfect,

and all his ways are just.

A faithful God who does no wrong,

upright and just is he."

Deuteronomy 32:3-4

Springtime Here in the Pacific NW . . .

    . . . means you don't mind being indoors doing school

and lots of other indoor activities,

because it's usually raining . . . a lot.

 

There's plenty of time to  . . .

build forts with Lincoln logs, then, knock them down with a catapult,

so you can rebuild them again!

 

 

 And when there is a cloud break,

but just before it downpours again,

you can go on an epic salamander round-up down by the lake,

then, re-home them to your little pond.  

 And when big sister, Lydia, stops by,

it's always a good time to play a game.

 And it's always a good time for 3 bro's to play Geo Track trains!

But one of the best parts of all about the springtime,

is when the sun does come out,

it is GLORIOUS, and soooooo much appreciated!!!

And we get to go on a field trip over to Richie and Lydia's farm . . .

 

 and happen to show up right when Elsie is delivering her lambs!

 And then, we got to see this adorable little guy in person!

What a beautiful spring day!!! 

 

Celebrating Today . . .

25 years of marriage! 

Woo hoo!

Still can't believe he's mine! : -) 

 

We've been through so much together,

and we love each other more and more each year.

 

(I'm especially lovin' his grey hair!!

He's more handsome than ever, too!  : -)



Busy Weekend ~ Update!

Whew!  This was a crazy weekend for most of us! 

We are grateful that with as many directions as we were all going in,

the Lord brought us all safely back together again by late Saturday night!

 

Friday:

5:15am - Daddy leaves for his weekly men's Bible study and prayer group.

6:30 am - Valerie, Mommy and Brielle leave for conference in Seattle

8 am - Kyle meets a man that buys his car!

11am ~ "Babe" the goat delivers quadruplets.

4:00pm - Daddy and Kyle leave for their drive to Kalama to look at/buy a truck. (or not!)

8:30 pm - Daddy and Kyle return home from their "scenic drive." : -(

9 pm - Valerie, Mommy and Brielle return home from Seattle.

 

Saturday:

6 am - Daddy, Victoria, Timmy, Joe and Ben leave for Yakima and Touchet

to deliver two goats and pick-up one!

7 am - Valerie, Mommy and Brielle head back for Seattle.

(On a side note, we passed this accident that had just happened moments before

in the south-bound I-5 lanes.)

 

12:30pm Kyle heads out town in his very cool back-up vehicle (15 passenger van)

to play ultimate frisbee with friends. 

(That is, once he gets it jump-started!  Thanks so much for Aunt Kelley's help!) 

4 pm -  Daddy and his crew arrive back home from the goat deliveries/pick-up.

4:30 pm - Daddy and Kyle leave to drive to Portland to look at another truck.

6:30pm - Valerie, Mommy and Brielle leave the conference early to arrive back home in order to prepare for an early start on Sunday!

9:30pm - Daddy and Kyle return back home with Kyle's new truck!

 

 

 

At the conference, they had this huge black-board wall titled . . . "Caring for the least of these has made me . . ."
Valerie and I thought about it and talked about it for a while.
We came up with . . .
" . . . think more about eternal things rather than the temporal."
 1 Co. 4: 17-18



One of our favorite parts at the conference was an awesome time of worship in the mornings.
This was very REFRESHING!
We also learned some good information and met a really special family.
We went to their workshop at the end of our day on Saturday,
and it was just what we longed to hear and a perfect way to end the conference!
They mostly spoke words of Truth and Hope from God's word that really encouraged our hearts!
 

Victoria and Caroline have some good news and bad news to share.
Their special doe ended up having quadruplets,
with three of them being stillborn.
However, the one that survived is a very healthy and colorful buck. (The one Victoria is holding.)
They are very happy with him!

And then, they are excited about their other new addition they purchased.
A baby doe that they are currently trying to encourage Babe to adopt.  : -)

 

And last but not least,
Kyle has had some highs and lows with his vehicle sale and purchase.

But as you all know, all of it is GOOD when God is in it!

You can follow along with all the good things the Lord has done on Kyle's blog at:

 

Extraordinary Existence