Thou Great I AM

by Mama H.

... from "The Valley of Vision" .... Choices:

.... Thou hast done for me all things well,
hast remembered, distinguished, indulged me.
All my desires have not been gratified,
but thy love denied them to me
when fulfillment of my wishes would have proved my ruin
or injury.
My trials have been fewer than my sins,
and when I have kissed the rod it has fallen from thy hands.
Thou has often wiped away my tears,
restored peace to my mourning heart,
chastened me for my profit.
All thy work for me is perfect, and I praise thee.

Natural Plant Sprays

Posted by Gabrielle

I was researching inexpensive, natural plant sprays for this summer, especially for my tomatoes that seem to get attacked by tomato horn-worms and came across the following advice which I think some of our readers may find amusing as well:

1) Combine one teaspoon of hot pepper or Tabasco sauce, 4 cloves of garlic and a quart of water. Blend well in a blender and strain, with cheesecloth or nylon mesh before placing in your sprayer. This will repel many insects including whiteflies, aphids, spidermites and caterpillars.

2) Mix 1/8-1/4 cup of hydrated lime with one quart of water. This creates an effective spray against many insects, especially spidermites. Add a drop of non-detergent soap to act as a sticking agent and insecticide. Lime can cause serious harm to plants if you use too much, so always spray a test plant first and watch it for a few days, to check for any adverse effects on plants.

3) Take one ounce of tomato leaves and add to one quart of water and blend thoroughly. Strain the resulting liquid and use to repel insects. This works well on white cabbage butterflies too.

4) Take a copious amount (as many as you can collect) of the insect you wish to repel and grind their corpses up into a powder. Mix the resulting powder with one quart of water and, spray as a repellent for the insect that you ground up for the powder.

Painting day

by Mama H.
It was a picture perfect day in NC today, and to take a break from chores and lessons, Christianna, Elliot, Jedidiah, Tobais and Benaiah decided to do some painting. While Gabrielle, Timothy and Arianne participated in our local Walk for Life event this morning, we brought out the water colors and "hair pencils" (as Benaiah likes to call them.... he's been reading about Benjamin West!) and set to it.

Benaiah and Tobias comparing notes (strokes?)
(Mama Grinch likes painting outside. )
The whole group
Mixing colors....

Benaiah contemplating his work....

Christianna concentrating.....

Elliot and Jedidiah both bent over their creations...

" Oooops! I have green fingers!"

And the results :

Jedidiah and his "For Rent Sign House, at night, with Chimney Smoke"; and "The Tornado."

Tobias : "Angus and Toasty" and "Tornado in the Cactus" (hmmm, I detect a theme, here!)

Christianna : "The Treed Cat"

Elliot : " Walk for Life"

Benaiah : "A Three-year-old paint Sampler" (I've seen "modern art" that hardly rivals this one for action and color!)
It's so much fun to paint. Perhaps we'll have another paint day soon.

Birthday Adventures

Posted by Gabrielle

A couple weekends ago, we celebrated Timothy's 18th birthday! Most birthdays in our family have been fairly uneventful, but this was one birthday which will be long remembered.

On the afternoon of April 16th, a tornado passed through our area with high winds and pouring buckets of rain. Shortly before we were to put the birthday dinner in the oven around 4:00, the power went out and did not come back on until shortly after 8.

Seeing that birthday dinner was already out on the counter, and parts of it were in the oven, we decided to go ahead and have a "midnight feast".

Christianna read to the little boys while Mommy and we older ones prepared dinner

The sumptuous birthday fare spread and ready to be eaten

And guess what? Dinner was done in less than an hour and the microwave clock read 8:52 pm as we sat down to dinner.

18 candles and a wonderful smile!

Little Brother's Lofty Ambitions

Posted by Gabrielle

My little brothers have very lofty ambitions in life as was evidenced in a conversation Mommy overheard between Benaiah and Christianna this morning.

C: How old will you be this year, Benaiah?

B: Hmm...I'll be 4!

C: Yes, then how old will you be next year?

B: 5!

C: That's right. And then how old?

< long pause... >

Six...teen!

What I've Been Busy With Lately...

Posted by Gabrielle

I do have a number of posts in the works and I shall be trying to blog more consistently, but in the meantime, do check out the latest post on my blog to see what I've been busy with lately!

See you there!

Cowboy turned Colonial Gentleman

Posted by Gabrielle

For his 3rd birthday last year, Benaiah was given a handsome cowboy hat. He loves hats, especially this one and his 'workerman hat.'

It seems that after our recent trip to Colonial Williamsburg, Benaiah was smitten with the tri-cornered hats as he wasted no time in asking a sibling to bend his cowboy hat into a tri-cornered hat!

~pictures by Arianne~ 

The Newest Addition to our Family Assets!

Posted by Gabrielle

You may remember that a little while back we made a loving farewell to our Dodge van and have been a one-car family since. Our several-year-old Ford 15-passenger van has been a trusty vehicle, but we decided it was time for a second car and the Lord faithfully provided the funds to welcome our...

2010 Mercury Grand Marquis! It's been a long time since we've had anything other than two 15-passenger vans!

It is definitely a change having a four-door sedan again!

A Plague in the Land

Posted by Gabrielle

Friends and Family,

• Over the years, abortion has continued to rise in our nation.
• Millions of innocent unborn babies have been murdered since Margaret Sanger created planned parenthood.
• In the year 2009, over 7,000 babies in Wake County alone were murdered under "pro choice".

We have been convicted of our apathy when, throughout the nation, women are being brainwashed into murdering their unborn babies under the guise of "choice." Records have shown a steady rise in abortions, with over 7,000 unborn babies murdered in Wake County, NC only. Rising as a beacon of light in this dark world is the Pregnancy Support Services of Wake Forest, an organization which truly understands the sanctity of life and seeks to encourage women who find themselves pregnant to keep their babies, and they provide moral, spiritual, and physical support for them. In order to do this, they need help. We are seeking, during this fundraiser, to provide them adequate funds to help them continue this ministry.   And our question to you is this: Would you consider joining with us in prayer and possibly financial support as the Lord leads?
Timothy, Arianne, and I have put together a team fundraiser page which you can visit HERE.

Flowers from the Garden Market at...

Posted by Gabrielle

Colonial Williamsburg!

We recently returned from a wonderful three-day trip to Colonial Williamsburg with friends. Here are a sampling of the gorgeous flowers at the garden market.

irises...

pansies...

I'm not sure exactly what this one was, but I think it's a columbine...any corrections?

daffodils...