The Water Fountain

OK, it seems like this topic is coming up frequently, but I am sure it is the stage of my children.

As I was schooling Tirzah and Azariah this morning, I here the sounds of a fountain. Now I don't have a fountain in my house so this puzzled me. I decided I had better check the bathroom, since Zebadiah was no where under foot. I walk into the bathroom and Zeb is sitting on the toilet (yah) going potty (#2). However he wasn't aiming the other part into the toilet so he was shooting five feet out into the laundry room. Good thing we have tile floors in the laundry room as well. The bummer is that when he does aim himself he hits the little space between the toilet seat and the base which then causes his pants and underwear to get all wet. Somehow, no matter what he does he gets his shirt, his shorts or his underwear wet. He is getting good and going in the toilet though for which I am very greatful.

A Sorry Note

My daughter and I had a disagreement today over her attitude. She decided that she could complain and whine when I asked her to do something. I left her in my room for a while to think through her actions. This is what she wrote to me:

Mom I wo to tily yo I Em SRE

Translation is: Mom I want to tell you I am sorry.

I was very grateful for the change of heart that she showed. Tirzah is a wonderful little girl, she is quick to help with Talitha and her brothers. She is a wonderful picker upper. I so desire for her to grow up to be a young lady who services the Lord. My daughter has a very strong personallity at times. Strong willed you might ask? Possibably, but her change of heart makes it evident that the Lord is working in her heart. My prayer is that the Lord would to take hold of her heart and mind so that when she is a teenager she will be ready to serve Him with a whole hearted desire.

Our 8th Anniversary

Yesterday was our 8th anniversary. We decided to buy a laptop for our anniversary so we just went out to dinner. We went to a nice French restaurant. I decided to get the half duck and Gil ordered the leg of lamb. We also ordered an appetizer of meats and cheeses from France.

Gil said "Do I just tell the waiter I want #14?
I said "Actually honey, that is the price."
Gil's eyes then popped out of his head and I helped him put them back in.

I found it rather comical since the cheapest appetizer was $9 and all of the main courses were over $20. Gil has come a long way since we married and it didn't phase him like it would have a few years ago. The food was good and Gil said he wouldn't have added anything to his dish which means he really liked it.

We then went to Cold Stone Creamery and bought some ice cream. The evening was very enjoyable. And I thank the Lord for the privilege of marriage to my wonderful husband.

Talitha is 6 months old

Talitha at six months. Her sister was playing with her in the play house and put her in the cradle. Talitha enjoys being with her siblings. This month Talitha has started to crawl. She gets around very well, though her crawl is actually an army crawl. I will not be surprised if she gets up on her hands and knees to crawl pretty soon. We have also given her some goat milk and she likes it.

Butchering Time

Then this last Saturday (August 16th) we butchered 45 chickens with some of our friends. I raised them for 9 weeks and then we made a party of butchering them. I had never butchered a chicken before and so it was an new experience. Azariah wanted to watch one flop on the ground after its head was chopped off and he was not disappointed.

The butchering block that was actually only used a few times. The guys started hanging them up and cutting off their heads. Rebekah would put their heads on the ground, put a stick over their neck and step on the stick. Then she would pull their feet to pull their heads off. It actually worked very well. I must admit, I did not actually kill one of the chickens.

We decided to skin the chickens. So here, is a picture of Gil skinning the first chicken. We did pluck a few, but actually found it just as time consuming and I wasn't patient enough to get all the little feathers out. So Gil would skin, gut and hand the chickens over to me.


I would then take the chicken inside, cut off its feet and then either cut it up into parts or freeze it whole. I only cut myself 4 times with the knife. Isn't this a great picture of the chicken :-)


Our friends, Bough and Rebekah, who butchered half of the chickens. This is at the end of the day after all the butchering was done.

Gil and I after the day was over. Notice, I wore red so any blood would not be noticeable.

Would we do it again you might ask. Yes, we will probably raise chickens to butcher again, but probably a little differently.

Lots of Happenings

It has been a while since I lasted blogged. The summer has really kept me busy. I have made Jam for the first time in my life. Let's see, I have made Apricot, Peach and Raspberry/Cranberry freezer jams as well as Peach, Plum and Jalapeño cooked jams with a batch of Zucchini Marmalade worked in there also. The difference between the jams is that freezer jams you don't have to cook or process, you just put the jam in jars and into the freezer. Tirzah has been helping me with the jams.

Talitha turned 5 months on July 19th

Talitha at 5 months, chewing on the Table. Her two bottom teeth came in. She is a little doll.

I was also in charge of VBS at our church. The Lord was so gracious as He brought everything together in 4 weeks. We used one of the "Children Desiring God" curriculum's. It was based on the Kingdom Parables and was wonderful. The children loved the week and I was amazed at how the Lord worked through it. The children raised just under $1,000 for Africa and with the adults we raised $1,432 all together to help Orphans and Widows in a church that our church planted last year in Africa. What a great blessing to see the Lord provide through the kids. We encouraged them to work for the money and they did just that.

Then Mindy and George came to visit after they returned from Thailand. It was good to see them and the children enjoyed them. This was the first time they were able to see Talitha .

Azariah, Tirzah, Talitha, Mindy and Zebadiah

They were actually here the week that VBS was going on. It was good to hear about their trip and spend time with them again.