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

Today is Going to Be an Exciting Day!

"Praise the LORD, for the LORD is good; sing praise to his name . . ."

Psalm 135:3

 

Victoria and Caroline are awaiting the arrival of some more goat kids any moment now! 

These babies are from one of their newest, most special does,

 and so will be very exciting to see what they get!

 

Kyle may be selling his car today, and buying a truck for his landscaping business!

And on Wednesday, he was really blessed by a brother in our church that gave him a riding lawn mower and push mower, a very good quality weed wacker, a brush wacker, and a blower! 

 

Valerie and I are heading out soon to attend a conference for foster and adoptive families in Seattle.

We are really looking forward to all that we will learn and to this time of refreshment!

  

"Praise the LORD, O my soul;
 and forget not all his benefits~"

Psalm 103:2

Sing to the Lord with Thanksgiving . . .

Beautiful little flowers sprouting from bulbs beneath the ground,
enjoying the sunshine in our garden by our front window yesterday! : -)  

 

Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving;

make music to our God on the harp.

He covers the sky with clouds;

he supplies the earth with rain

and makes grass grow on the hills.

He provides food for the cattle

and for the young ravens when they call.

His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse,

nor his delight in the legs of a man;

the Lord delights in those who fear him,

who put their hope in his unfailing love. 

Psalm 147:7-11

Annual Home Educators' Day at the Capitol

Today we spent the day at the Washington State Capitol in Olympia,

as part of the annual "Home Educators' Day at the Capitol" event.

It was our first time to participate in this,

and it was such a great experience!

 

The day started with delivering homemade pies to the legislators with a thank-you note for their service and a brochure for the upcoming Christian Heritage Homeschool conference. 

I think there were 182 pies that were made and delivered this year!

 

Just one table filled with part of the 182 pies!

 

This picture below is of several of the leaders of the "Apple Pie Tradition"

and the kids that made up 6 delivery teams.

It was so well organized!!  It was truly amazing how smoothly it all seemed to go!  

There was a pie delivery orientation and then prayer time before going out.

 

 

Here are a few pictures of the kids with their teams, as they went to various offices delivering pies.

 

 

 

After lunch we had a very special time gathered together under the capitol dome with many other families to hear from several legislators that strongly support homeschooling.  I think all of them spoke about their faith in Jesus Christ, and one even opened his Bible and read lots of Scripture!!  That was awesome!!  He also led us in singing "God Bless America" together! 

Then, the homeschool leaders would gather around each legislator, and pray for them!!

This was such an awesome sight, right there in the center of the capitol building!

 Oh, and we were also treated to some really cool live music from some of our very own talented homeschoolers!  : -)

Future Apple Pie Deliverer  : -)