Pics

I couldn't resist this one!!!!!!!!
Annie recently re - did a collage of pics for Roy and these are the individual photos that she used. His frame says; there's a special place in heaven for the father of 10 children. I just don't have Annie and Jenny's.:)

Life happenings

Some hairy monster craft making.:) notice the little helper (want to be) behind the gate.

And, the finished product.
Yummy melons from the garden.
Patty recently came back from a missions trip in Brazil. This is Patty with one of the staffs children that she fell in love with.


Drinking from the mall huge water fountain. They did not tour much. They had one afternoon off and they went to a nearby mall.

Patty took this for her daddy.

They found a chocolate factory and Patty got Jenny and Justin 1/2 dozen roses. Patty didn't take many pictures. I'll post some more this afternoon, they are mostly scenery and not much ministry. They were too busy praying to be taking pictures. However, I will say she had a wonderful, life changing experience. They saw signs and wonders. One story I remember was the team praying for a man with metal plates and screws in his leg or ankle. He had been having a lot of pain. As they prayed he felt the pain leaving. He went to the doctor the following day and the doctor said, "please tell me someone else took the plates and screws out." The x-rays showed perfect bones and no metal. Wow, praise the Lord!!!!


Amy's pulling up!!! We prepared finger foods for a friends wedding last weekend, thus the 6 watermelons.

Patty's in Brazil

Patty has been in Curitiba, Brazil for the last 12 days. She is with a House of Faith Youth Missions team. They are traveling with Global Awakening Missions. About 200 - 300 youth from America went and about 200 - 300 Brazilian youth met up with them in Brazil. They spent the first few days in training sessions. Then they broke up into teams to preach, teach, evangelize, and pray for the blind to see, the lame to walk, the deaf to hear and the sick to be healed. We hear from the team that that is exactly what has been happening. Wow!!! Patty, we are so very proud of you and excited for what God has planned for you. You are on an adventure of a lifetime. Keep the team in your prayers, they return home Wed.

Jenny's Engaged!!!

Our sweet Jenny is engaged to be married to Justin Mark McClure, a wonderful man of God. We are very happy for the journey they are about to begin. I know God has great plans for them. I look forward to watching His plan unfold.

We've heard much concern about Jenny and Justin's age. So, what is the appropriate age to marry? The Bible really doesn't give us much guidance on that, other than culturally. We can guess at the ages they married in Biblical times and I suggest to you that it was younger than we think. I know many who have married young and have wonderful marriages. Think about our grandparents. They were all much younger than the average age today. Why the age change. My thinking is a generation or so ago education and finances became a priority before marriage. Planning ahead is not a bad idea; however, should it be such a priority that you pass someone up as a mate that God has placed in your path just to have your education and finances in order? Or worse yet, should you battle staying pure to wait for the worlds appropriate age. I think we need to really look to God and Godly counsel for our decisions and not just the worlds standards and way of thinking. Maturity is another characteristic to consider. A very young couple following the ways of the Lord can be much more mature than the average 20 - 25 yr. old of the world. It seems like we see some grown adults these days living out adolescent lifestyles causing difficulties with relationships, finances, etc.

So, having said all that; we are excited for Jenny and Justin and we are ready to see and hear the testimony of the greatness of Jesus Christ with their words and actions as a couple.

I know that Jenny and Justin both love this verse. This is my prayer for the two of them.

1 Tim 4:12-13

12 Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity.
NKJV

Now let me tell you about his sweet proposal. Justin called me and asked if I could make t-shirts for Joshua and down to wear that said ,"Jenny, will you marry me?" He and Annie had apparently come up with this idea. Anyway, I made shirts and Justin invited some of their House of Faith friends out to our house for the fourth of July. I told everyone that our children had special fourth of July shirts and a presentation for them. Everyone assembled on the front porch with eyes closed and Roy and I led the children around to the front of the house, lined them up and had everyone open their eyes. Jenny said she was trying to read the shirts when Justin got down on his knee and asked her if she would marry him. She was stunned, speechless. He said, "you better say yes, because I don't think I can do this again." She said "YES" shaking with excitement and joy. Jenny has a beautiful ring paid in full. Way to go Justin!!!

I'll post pictures as soon as we have them.

Joshua's 11

Joshua turned 11 last Fri. Joshua, you are growing up to be such a wonderful young man. We had our traditional cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Its a challenge to fit 11 candles on a cinnamon roll. He did pick the biggest one. heehee

Such concentration. Stella and M&M sure wanted to blow out candles too. Had to explain it will be a while longer until their birthdays.
More concentration.
For those of you who may be interested the horned toad caught this summer is 13. They are really out this summer. So glad we're seeing more of them.

Round Pen

Patty got a round pen last week with the help of her wonderful grandparents. She and a friend started working horses last Thursday. It was a joy to watch Patty. She loves it, really loves it.

Then, the middles and the little's got Chip up and spent the day playing, loving, and riding him. They had a big time.

Piano Ensemble in Arlington

Joshua and Joy performed in an ensemble this last weekend. There were 15 students on 15 grand pianos and wow, what a site. They played a medley to the Sound of Music and it was fabulous!! Here they are practicing in the digital lab. Performing on stage. The picture really doesn't give the big grand effect. Joshua and Joy, you did awesome!! Your hard work paid off.:)

Horned toads and stickers

This is Michael's forth horned toad to catch in the last week. This one shot blood at Michael when he grabbed it. We've read that they will shoot blood, however, this is the first experience of one actually doing so. Notice on his right eye there is still a little blood. Interesting creatures.
Patty's Brazil team had a garage sale/bake sale/car wash this last weekend and we had some pricing stickers left over. The for children at home today asked if they could play with them. :)
Matthew, when you get that skinny your pants fall off.

Amy's crawling too!!

Happy 7 month birthday to Amy!!
Amy is army crawling really good and starting to get up on her hands and knees. She crawls all over the house. She's getting So Big!!

Amy's sitting up

Amy is 7 months old today!!! Yea!! Its hard to believe.
She started sitting up a few days ago. She looks so big when she is sitting up.

Tiny household

I was going to post this last week when I had a tiny household. Michael, Matthew, Stella, and Amy is all I had as Roy, Patty, Joshua, Joy, and Jimmie were at a church camp in Mason. Annie and Jenny were in town working. My threesome were such big helpers milking and playing with March to gentle her. What do you think, is she looking gentle?
Matthew leading March around.
Bessie's new bell so we can hear her when she is out in the pasture.

Stella keeping Mable from giving Amy a bath. Although, when I went to pour up our milk I asked M,M, and S if they wanted me to take Amy in or if they would stay close to her. I came back to Amy all by herself and Mable giving her Big kisses!!
Stella got hold of the camera and took pictures of her babies.

Graduation and Prom

Jenny's Graduation.

Jenny graduated on May 15th. The ceremony was wonderful. They each decorated a table with some of their personal memorabilia. Some of the graduates led praise and worship, each graduate prepared a slide show and the parents presented them with their diploma. There were 16 graduates this year which is the biggest group the homeschool association has had. The graduation is very personal for each graduate and considering the number of graduates they did a wonderful job.
Jenny, we are so very proud of you. You have become a beautiful proverbs 31 young lady. Congrats!!!!!
After graduation we came home and had a yummy graduation supper with friends and family.

And, then Jenny and Justin got all dolled up to attend Justin's Jr./Sr. prom. Don't they look great?