The Flute...

The Dancing Couple with the "Flute" player in the back playing away.

Yesterday morning, the children were playing with a harmonica that Grandma gave us. Finally Tirzah hands it to Azariah and says: "Azariah, you play the flute so I can dance." The notes of the harmonica drifted through the house as Gil and Tirzah danced with each other. Gil holding Talitha.

It's funny what the children say and think. Later that night Azariah out of the blue said. "Bugs Rabbit is a really big bunny." It was pretty funny.

Talitha's first ride

Talitha, Zebadiah, Azariah and Tirzah

Azariah and Tirzah wanted to go for a bike ride after dinner, so we loaded up and went for a ride. Gil pulled Talitha and Zebadiah behind his bike in the bike trailer. Talitha cried at first and then fell asleep. It was pretty fun. Today they went for another one without Talitha and I. Azariah went down a hill that was a little steep. Gil didn't see it, but goes to check on them and sees Azariah with a bloody face and pushing his bike up the little hill that was pretty steep. He didn't cry and was ready to keep biking. It was funny to have him tell me about it. He said "The hill was about this long" as he held his hands apart about two feet. He is getting to be a good biker.

The Baby Chicks

We have 6 baby chicks that are about one week old. We had eight but two have died. I am hoping to have all six of these make it to their egg laying days which will be in about six months. We will see. They sure are cute and it is fun to watch them go from fluff to feathers. In the picture they are starting to grow feathers on their wings.

My first time...

Today, I went to the grocery store. Gil took Tirzah, Azariah and Zebadiah for a bike ride and I left with Talitha to go to the grocery store. I got out of the car walked to the front door where some kids were selling Dominoes Pizza cards as a fun raiser. I informed them that I couldn't eat Dominoes Pizza and wasn't going to buy one. I then went the store and grabbed a little cart with space for two of the carring baskets. I walk down the produce isle to were the cheeses are and start looking for cheese. Then I think "I wonder how Gil and the kids are doing on their bike ride." Then I think "I wonder how Talitha is doing..." It then hits me that I took Talitha with me in the car and since she isn't with me right now, that means she is still in the car...

I run through the store pushing my partly full shopping cart, I leave it at the front door as I run to the car. Their she is sleeping away not even knowing that Mommy left her in the car for about 5 minutes. I take her in her car seat into the store and grab my groceries to finish shopping. The kids selling the pizza cards ask me again if I want one. I didn't want them to think "She just walked in without a baby and now she is walking back in with a baby." So I just said no and didn't mention I couldn't eat Dominoes Pizza.

I do want you to know that this is the first time I have ever forgotten one of my children somewhere. She was so quite.

In Memory of Pepper

My children were able to experience death for the first time this week. We had eleven baby goats (kids). The children liked to play with them and we were bottle feeding them. One of the little boys was not eating real well. I was thinking he wasn't going to make it. Then on Monday when I went to feed them in the morning, Pepper was dead.

Though I wasn't happy, this gave my children the chance to experience a death. Tirzah was pretty sad and cried on and off that morning. Azariah cried when I initially told him.

In our society were death is something that occurs in a hospital away from people, I believe it is good for children to see death. I put Pepper in an Amazon box so we could bury him. The children came and said good bye to Pepper and touched him. Then later that afternoon we buried him. I believe it was a good experience. Death isn't natural, since God created Adam and Eve perfect, yet because of sin it is an inevitable part of life. May we rejoice when we get to enjoy the resurrection of the dead.

Our Natural Heater

According to our four year old, Azariah, we have a natural heater in our house.

Azariah was sitting next to me and I was nursing Talitha, so her head was next to him.

Azariah: Mommy, Talitha is making the room hot.
Mom: She is?
Azariah: Yes, because she has a hot head.

Twinkie Night

Last night at AWANA was Twinkie night. I guess they want the kids to eat Twinkies so that their bodies will be preserved for the resurrection. Anyway, I picked up Tirzah and she wanted to know if she could eat it. It already looked nasty, she had sqeezed the package and so the twinkie was all mashed. I said no she couldn't because it had wheat in it. Her little eyes welled with tears and I told her she could eat the white cream. She then proceeded to take her fingers and put them into the cream, remove them, and put them in her mouth. I was talking to someone and finally told Tirzah to throw it away. She complied. (I wanted to save our cars interior from the Twinkie and it was getting disgusting).

On my way out, I grabbed two Twinkies thinking I would cut them open and scoop out the cream, so Azariah could have some. When we arrived home I told Tirzah and Azariah to go inside and get ready for bed while I went to get Talitha from Gramgees house. When I came inside the house, Azariah had not done any of his chores and he had mashed (just like Tirzah had done) both packages of Twinkies trying to get the cream out. So much for my well thought out plan of how to remove the preservative laced cream from the center of a yellow dyed sugar loaf. Needless to say, Azariah had white preservatives all over his face and hands. The Twinkies ended up in the trash and I did not have a taste of the white cream.