Finally...Pictures of our finished Regency dresses!!!

Posted by Gabrielle

Back in October I finished our girls' first regency dresses in three weeks, just in time for our family Christmas portrait!

I used Mrs. Chancey's Regency dress pattern, and loved it!!! It was a great learning experience, and a lot of fun to make! The biggest modification I made was drafting the overskirt pattern from some other similar dresses I've seen.

Yours truly!

Arianne!

Christianna!

All three of us! This one's going to be printed and framed for our room! ;)

~Thank you for taking the gorgeous pictures, Erica!~

Some Random Pictures

Posted by Gabrielle

Last week, I took a wonderful photography class with a bunch of other friends from our church. These following random pictures are during our practice session in downtown Wakeforest. Enjoy!





Aah...learning about the delightful rule of thirds and sweet spots, lines of focus and such!!! It was a great time!!!

Ho-hum... Another day - Another birthday...

Posted by Gabrielle

Many apologies for the delayed posting!!! :)

But...we're so pleased to announce that on October 31st Christianna turned 13!!!

Blowing out her bonfire!!!

The apple pie...

and the pumpkin pie; both were a hit!

Welcome to the Hellwig "teenager" clan, Christie! ;) I'm so thankful that you're my "little" sister and I pray God will use you in his service for many, many long fruitful years to come.

Reformation Day Preview Post

Posted by Gabrielle

I apologize for the delay in posting about the wonderful evening of celebration for the Reformation day that our church put on. It is because I have several videos of the talks that Timothy and some other young men gave on the five 'solas' of the reformation that need to be edited and uploaded, so that is taking me some time.

So in the meantime, I share a couple other pictures!

Mr. Brown reading a psalm to open our evening

Benaiah loved the time!!!

More to come soon!!!

This Is My Father's World

Posted by Gabrielle

"This Is My Father's World"

This is my Father's world, And to my list'ning ears, All nature sings, and round me rings The music of the spheres.

This is my Father's world, I rest me in the thought Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas; His hand the wonders wrought.
This is my Father's world, The birds their carols raise; The morning light, the lily white Declare their Maker's praise.
This is my Father's world, He shines in all that's fair; In the rustling grass I hear Him pass, He speaks to me ev'rywhere.
This is my Father's world, O let me ne'er forget That though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the Ruler yet.
This is my Father's world, The battle is not done; Jesus who died shall be satisfied, And earth and heav'n be one.

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!