Family Dinner at Grandma Barb's House

We were able to celebrate Thanksgiving with my step mom and her family on the Saturday after Turkey Day. It was special and fancy! So delicious and a blessing to spend time with family. We were even able to Skype with my brother Brad, who lives in Boston, along with his wife and new baby Felicity Jo! What a doll-baby <3 class="separator" p="" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> 

Ashley, my step mom Barb and I

A lovely set table

Time to dish up!

Daddy gets the little girls set up

 

my sister is sooooo cute!

Nonnie and Mandy have a chat

Kate and Luke have a nice time deciphering between the silver and the stainless flatware before loading the dishwasher.. quite a tedious job! I think my brother Andrei might have helped a bit also..

My brother-in-law Luke and Grady catch up

Katie and I clean up and have a sweet time together.. she has always been my special sissy

Laura says goodnight to Nonnie

The big girls grab one more hug!

The little girls have fun on the staircase

 

The cousins read a book together

The boys play a game of chess with their little sister looking on

Daddy says time to go..

The boys say goodbye to Grandma..It was a sweet time, although tinged with some sadness due to a family tragedy which happened this past year. We love you Grandma and family! It was such a blessing to spend the day with you all!

 

Giving Thanks for Friends!

We had a lovely Thanksgiving with our friends who invited us over to share their wonderful dinner.. they spoiled us with so many yummy dishes.. Justin even barbequed a turkey! It was such a lovely time with special friends.. Autumn had fun activities planned out for the children which made it all that much more of a holiday for all!

 

It is always a blessing to gather with friends

 

Autumn and Justin made so many dishes, most were specially made to be gluten free! What sweet friends.. and it was all SOOO delicious!

 

 

 

The little girls have fun coloring

 

The boys have a great time playing chess and other games with Isaac who was laid up with a badly sprained ankle (which he had gotten at our house earlier in the week!)

 

Isaac and his Graceful Lassie

 

Justin and their tiny dog Emily :-)

 

Time to dish up!.. Such a feast

 

 

 

After dinner the children read books together and did crafts. We are so THANKFUL for your family!

 

 In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

 1 Thessalonians 5:18

 

 

 

Grant turns 12!!

Ash made his favorite! Yummy Lemon Cake

Our Precious Birthday Boy!

Here comes daddy with the cake!

Blow out the candles Grant! We could only find 10 in the junk drawer..which were all pink. But Grant is such a trooper.. he didn't care a bit! :-)

Being Silly!

Bestest Friends

Goofy Ryan

Happy Birthday to most special 12 year old son and brother that a family could ever pray to have.

Sobering Words from Jesus

 

Grant's 12 birthday started on a sober note, when Grant requested to go with his daddy and Ryan to the mall to hold up signs and pass out tracts for Black Friday, urging people to consider the poor and during this time of shopping and huge financial purchases.. some of the stats from the tract are these:

 

*every day 30,000 children die from preventable poverty related causes around the world

*It would take $13 billion to provide basic nutrition to every person around the world

(-Americans spend $18 billion per year on specialty coffee beverages)

 

*9 billion a year could provide safe drinking water for the millions who die without it..

(-Americans spend $57 billion yearly on soft drinks)

 

*There are 143 million orphans & an estimated 246 million children suffer in the bonds of child labor

 

 What will our response to this be? Our family prays that we as Christians have a revival of the heart and take seriously what Jesus says "Sell your possessions and give it to the needy" Luke 12:3

 

³¹ And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise. Luke 6:31 NKJV

 

³⁴ Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
³⁵ For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
³⁶ Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
³⁷ Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
³⁸ When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?
³⁹ Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
⁴⁰ And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. Matthew 25:34-40 KJV

Here is an excellent and encouraging sermon for those who are feeling called to obey in Jesus' teaching in this area: http://www.walklikechrist.com/index.asp?sermonid=35

 

 

 

Projects and Fun

Lately our home has been a flurry of fun projects and activities.. here are a few of the favorites..

 

The girls made some cookies for some visiting puppy friends..

 

mmmmm!

 

Aren't these cute? These pups were the wheat-ful cookies

 

Ok~ attempt at gluten free ones..

 

What a flop! :-) The boys enjoyed eating these experiment gf cookies!

 

Gluten free VS Wheat cookies... Our every day dilema

The girls are starting their own Etsy account where they will be selling items in order to help support us in Belize.. these are some of the first of many dresses they have made for the store. They will also be making various dog beds and toys as well as other handcrafted and sewn items.

I will post more later :-)

 

Ashley cuts out a pocket for a dog bed

one of the finished bed.. So cute! Good job girls!

 

A Little Goes a Long Way..

 

Our friend from India who is of the untouchable caste.. asked this week if we could help with anything to feed his boys.. He runs a boy's home in India and is so desparately poor that recently had to make the hard decision to pare the boys' meals down to ONE PER DAY. We had no extra money when the request came in but one of our children had just received $100 and had been asking the Lord how it should be used.. hours later Bobby's sister was able to receive the gift from our child, all the way in India and purchase all this food! Now, I don't know about you, but that seems like a some-what small amount...$100.00.. Sisters and brothers, as you are making your budget out for the upcoming Thanksgiving meal and Christmas festivities.. PLEASE view these precious photos we received from Bobby yesterday. A LITTLE GOES A LONG WAY! There are children all over the world who do not have anything to eat today.. ask our heavenly father how he would like you to spend your money this season... you may just be as blessed and humbled as we have been this week..

 

A delicious meal prepared for the boys

 

Dishing UP!

Thanking God for His Provision

 

Their sign quotes Mark 9:37

³⁷ “Whoever receives one of these little children in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me, receives not Me but Him who sent Me.”

 

May the Lord give us all a  heart for those 'the least of these'..