Welcome to Autumn in North Carolina!

Posted by Gabrielle

The days are crisp and cool now, with an occasional 80 degree day, and the trees are starting to turn their bright, brilliant colors!
Yesterday, the sky was a vibrant blue with not a single cloud in sight. It was beautiful and I had to get some pictures!

As an aside, if you get a chance, check out our new blog background for Reformation day!

A Great Evening at the Sides'!!!

Posted by Gabrielle

Friday evening we spent at our dear friends the Sides' house for dinner! Thank you for the delightful evening, Sides family!
The highlight of the evening, perhaps, was Mrs. Sides teaching us to use the spinning wheel, and spin yarn with llama wool! It was great!!!

Arianne

Christianna

And yours truly!!! ;)

Sadly, I did not get any pictures of Benaiah playing with his little friend, but a few days after, he suddenly exclaimed at the lunch table, "I love Caleb." How sweet!!!

Cute Pictures from Church

Posted by Gabrielle

I know these are back from August, but these pictures of Elliot reading to a group of little children at church was just too cute to pass up!

Noah, Matthew, Elliot, Benaiah and Susannah ~ very, irresistibly cute!!!

Some Pictures of our Garden this Summer

Posted by Gabrielle

Well, I just remembered a few pictures I had of us starting our garden this past April, so I thought I'd post them. It was a good experimental garden, enough for us to realize the soil wasn't quite as good as we thought...but that can be fixed! :)

A view of our garden area

And another view of the gardeners!

The classic farmer pose

Timothy hoeing the strawberries

This is the story of the farmer guy who didn't build a proper gate in his fence!

Good job on the fence building, but...

one thing!

When you must get in, you'll need to do a little dance over the gate. First one leg...

and then the other,

and assuming you haven't spilled all your dirt in the process, you're ready to go!

Great job, farmer "dude"!

~Garden pictures by Arianne!~

These were the first fruits of the garden: Christie's radishes in June!!!

The Great Battle or The Knight and his Lady

Posted by Gabrielle

In a fair kingdom far, far away, a lady and her retinue was waylaid by a vicious and cruel band of soldiers.

As she lay by the roadside, her fair knight passes by, and, seeing the evil deed, is greatly wroth.

Vowing revenge upon those who harmed her, and greatly troubled in spirit, he sets out to do battle with those who attacked his lady.

Lo! Knight and attacker battle bravely, but the fair defender has not a chance.

Happening upon the scene of the gory strife, the fair lady sees her knight lying cold and still by the road. Her scalding tears fall upon his battered form.

Her bitter tears fall not in vain. The brave and doughty knight is brought back to consciousness by his fair lady's sobs and tears.

And he lives a long life hereafter, promoting peace and justice, and protecting the weak and defenseless of the land!

Toby and Benaiah love Mommy!!!

Posted by Gabrielle

I happened upon this scene the other morning and it was too sweet to pass up!!!

Little boys just can't seem to get close enough to their mommy!

The Little Boys and their Tent

Posted by Gabrielle

This was too cute to pass up! Yesterday morning, after coming home from farmer's market, Mommy had built the little boys a tent with our picnic cloth. By the time I saw it, they had set up house.

Their tent even included the chairs of a civilized people! ;)

Then, it started to rain and they 'took down camp' to move it to a more sheltered spot. Unfortunately, it looks like only one man did the work! ;)

Toby and Jeddie showing me the woolly caterpillar they found!

Elliot's Baptism

Posted by Gabrielle

This past Sunday was a joyful day, as Elliot was baptized in the afternoon after the church service!!!

Elliot giving his testimony.

Daddy preparing to 'dunk' him.

Coming up out of the water to a new life with Christ! Welcome and Congratulations, Elliot!

Mommy and Elliot

Elliot and Mr. Brown

We were so blessed that the Claytons were able to join us for the baptism. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for coming, Claytons!

'Buddy-boy' at the baptism

I found a cute picture!!!

Posted by Gabrielle

I just uploaded a bunch of pictures from my brother's camera, and I found a cute picture of Benaiah in his crib from sometime this past summer - I couldn't find a date - so enjoy!!!

Benaiah and lamb Zadok

Happy 15th Birthday, Arianne!!!

Posted by Gabrielle

On Friday we celebrated Arianne's 15th birthday! 15! We can't believe it!

Her 15-candle bonfire!

And blowing out the bonfire!

Benaiah waiting eagerly and 'patiently' for his peach tart

Arianne's present from Christianna: she sewed her a large, pink stuffed hippo, Arianne's favorite animal, to add to her stuffed hippo collection. I think this was one of Arianne's favorite presents...

but after seeing this picture, I know it was one of Arianne's favorite presents! ;)
~Hippo Pictures by Christianna!~

Happy birthday Arianne! You're such a wonderful sister and I pray God will bless you with many more years of service for His Kingdom!!!