Ringing in the New Year!

Much love from us to you!

Bucket

Pops

Butter

Peanut

Boy

Guys

We hope your New Year is blessed and memorable!  

Become an Entrepreneur!

I'd love to recommend this fantastic combo set to the family-small business owner!

Help your children understand why we do what we do, and inspire yourself in the process.

Entrepreneurial Bootcamp For Christian Families

DVD Highlights Include:

• Getting the Big Picture — Doug Phillips, Esq.
• Building a Business from Start to Finish — Wade Myers
• How to Cultivate an Entrepreneurial Spirit in Your Children — Arnold Pent
• An Entrepreneurial, Family-Based Multi-Generational Business — Joel Salatin
• Dominion, Reformation, and the Family Business — Geoffrey Botkin
• Fathers & Sons Working Together — Scott Brown
• Creative Models for Raising Capital without Debt Bondage — Wade Myers
• Building Your Team — Doug Phillips, Esq.
• The Blessings of Failure — Dr. Jim Leininger
• Panel Discussion — Wade Myers, Doug Phillips, Esq., Arnold Pent, Geoffrey Botkin, Jim Zes, Nick Logan, & Scott Brown

Gotta love it.

~Mr. Pilot

Vision Forum

It's Mustache time!

A new ride = a new mustache.

That's right, my Mr. Pilot "gets" to rock the mustache again for the Lip Jacket ritual...

Bouncing in the Growler starts right after Christmas (that is jet pilot talk for practicing to land on the ship) so all the guys start letting their mustaches grow now, just in time for Christmas pictures.

 They don't get to shave again until they successfully land on the ship, at the end of January.  The kids sure get a kick out of this, and some of the guys look really funny.

Mr. Pilot says pictures of awesomeness soon to follow.

Sorrow and a Savior

Our family has been homesteading across the country these last few years, and we've been largely removed from many of the normal ups and downs a family experiences in it's development. One of these many progressions has finally caught up with us. Earlier this week my beloved wife's grandmother passed away. This is the great matriarch of her family that has born the central role of stability for the family for quite a few decades after severe tragedy in the family many long years ago. She had already buried before her, husband, mother, and several children. My wife's father is now the lone head of the family since her passing. My children had met her several times and we do have many pictures of them together despite the infrequency of visits to the area.

There are many things that one can think about on the passing of a family member. We have already looked at various pictures to refresh our memories of our time together, and my wife has spoken with various members of the family receiving support and offering condolences for our inability to come for a funeral. We want to remember all of the good things that we enjoyed, a proper and a natural function of grief, but we also have the opportunity to review the things that brought us into this horrible mess too.

My family and I had a discussion, over dinner last night, about the cause of our ultimate journey to death. We remembered that death is the result of sin, and that sin has permeated every fabric of the world since our father Adam.

“Sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned” Romans 5:12

We are all going to die one day, because we all have sin, and sin is a result of our incipient rebellion against our heavenly Creator. Adam brought this upon us, but we are all like him, and will continue to abound in our own way of living because we each have an independent rebellious heart.

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” Jeremiah 17:9

This is a terrible condition and our degenerating bodies, minds, and souls are the fruit of this condition. The situation is magnified since this rebellion is against our Creator!

“I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give to every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.” Jeremiah 17:10

Death is the judgement of a holy God against a wicked creation.

Our lone answer comes in the form of a baby, born in a manger, in the town of Bethlehem. A baby whose birth we celebrate in the very near future.

“She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” Matthew 1:21

So as we remember the memory of our deceased and the season we rapidly approach, let us remember together our only hope, for:

“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” John 1:29

I can't believe it!

I won!  I won the $100 Gift Certificate to Vision Forum from In A Shoe!
I am so excited!  One of the things I ordered with my gift certificate was The Promise Kept because when I saw the video clip for it, I cried like a pregnant lady...

One of Our Favorite Resources

Vision Forum is by far one of our favorite resources for Christian Books, toys, and homeschool material and right now they are having an incredible giveaway!

By visiting some of my favorite blogs, you can enter to win too~  Go to:

Generation Cedar, Smockity Frocks, Raising Olives or In A Shoe 

for your chance to win up to a $300 gift certificate to Vision Forum.

There are plenty of wonderful gifts, and I know my entire family would enjoy every penny of it!

The Chickens are doing their job, finally!

One morning we heard this ridiculous chicken sound coming from the back yard.  We all ran to see what was causing all the commotion, apparently there was an "I laid an egg!" celebration going on.  We quickly joined in, FINALLY, an egg!!!

It was like that first chicken clued the others in, because the eggs started coming very quickly after that.  They are soooo loud when the are laying, it is our bell to run out and collect. 

Two of the chickens lay every day, three lay every other day, and one still hasn't figured it out...

Aren't they pretty?  Like already dyed easter eggs.  

Look at Butter holding her apron like a princess or something, lol, with a chicken inspecting her work.

We had no idea how much fun having chickens would be. Every one of us is really enjoying them and we can't wait to move out in the country with more land, so we can have a whole bunch more chickens!

"The ladies" all gather around the patio step every time we are at the table, almost like they are on stage or something.  It is so funny, and brings us so much entertainment.

We had a couple birthdays...

Sis turned 7 and Pops turned 3 while I was on my blogging hiatus.   Here are some pictures for you.

 I was quite pleased that Sis requested Thai food for her birthday meal.  I certainly can't make that, so we had a lovely visit at one of the many local Thai restaurants in town. She has good taste, YUM!

I requested an ice cream cake from a sweet friend, I have got to learn how to make these!

And for her gift, I sewed matching dresses for Sis and her doll.   I loved making them, and plan to make more.

Sissy, you are turning into such a lovely young lady.  Your compassion and affection for others is such a blessing!  May your light shine for Christ always and may all who are in your presence be blessed!

Happy Birthday, Sis!

Pops got an impromptu party with a few friends, what a nice surprise!

We have a Cowboy-Jedi on our hands, watch out!

Pops was a bit overwhelmed by all of the excitement and attention that was on him, although extremely witty, he is actually quite shy.  He is becoming an incredibly sweet and cheerful young man, and is forever making us laugh.  Pops, may the virtue of cheerfulness be with you always, and may you seek the Lord with your whole heart!

Happy Birthday, Pops!