A Nice Reminder

I was looking for some recipes in my files and came across this letter I wrote for my children. It mainly has to do with work, and the complaining thereof. Thought I would share it.

We are so busy over here that I'm afraid this might be one of just a few posts coming before the new year. The Lord is good.

To Live I Must...

If I want to be wise I must seek the Lord. Therefore I need to spend time in God’s Word, no one will do it for me.

If I want clean clothes they have to be washed, therefore when laundry is piling up I must wash it and put it away.

If I want to eat I must be able to prepare food, therefore when needed, I will prepare it.

If I don’t want to be sick from not cleaning, I must clean. Let’s face it, things become unsanitary and dirty with my help.

If I want to further my head knowledge I must study and do my school; if I decide not to study, no one will do it for me and my head will stay empty.

If I want to live in harmony with my family I must be part of their team, I must like it because that is where I was put. Complaining about the size of the family is really a terrible waste of time, and no one wants to hear about how I have rights to anything. I will not let my circumstances rule my joy.

If I want to be heard, I must listen.

As for all other work…there are 394 verses in the bible about work. Most of them are about working the ground. I think that covers anything required of you outside when needed.

We all know what is required of us. We may need to occasionally remind you, but you are expected to already know all of the above.

If you have any questions about your appointed place feel free to contact us. We are always happy to listen, however, your schedule for living will always stay the same.

Love, Dad and Mom

Ephesians 6:1

Changes Once Again...

Hello to all!

I am once again posting an update on our family as God has suddenly opened a door for us. Not before I announce the winners for the November magazine giveaway though! The entries this month were a little slim, but winning ladies are~

Michelle, Danielle and Anne

Congratulations ladies! As I said, this is also a post about what's going on with our family. We are moving again, but we are moving back home to Colorado. This is not a sad turn of events at all, but joyful for us. This has been such a blessed season of learning for our whole family and we are truly thankful for all that God has shown us during this time. We knew that our stay in Michigan was going to be short, but little did we realize how short that was! The changes God has brought within in our family and the doors only HE could have opened so quickly is nothing short of amazing.

This decision came about in less than two days this past week. As I write, the moving truck is sitting in the driveway and we have just about broken a record packing the house! Our life has been so very busy, hectic on a daily basis rather, but we are praying for peace while once again moving on. The internet has not been a priority of late, but we will be back on the blog on the other end as soon as we can =)

Prayers are greatly coveted for our family! Many blessings, ~*~Jessica~*~

*I am putting the magazine giveaways on a hold until we are moved and settled back in to our home =) So if you wish to enter, be patient, they will be back again!

Family Times..

It took me a little longer than I thought to post pictures, we are just not computer people these days. But here are a few pictures from what we've been up to..

I found a couple pictures taken right before we left Colorado.. the boys getting ready to go to their Civil Air Patrol meeting. Such handsome young gents they are.

A project that didn't make it into the summer issue, I just thought he was cute

One of the huge zuchinni we picked from our garden before we left, and this was a small one!

A few from our drive here..

I drove the utility vehicle... =D This is what we refer to as a 'sweet ride'.

Sanni's drivin'...

Evie seconded that motion...

Thinking about a run in the sprinklers..

Grand Traverse Bay. Taken while driving, just a smooch blurry.. Pretty water though :)

The cake I made for Zoe's birthday

One of our classic family pictures with us staring into the sun with the 30 mph wind behind us.

We drove up to Northport a couple weeks ago to see Lake Michigan, so beautiful! We have honestly not seen water like this in years.

The only picture of dear Mother I could find after she deleted them all. She was quite slick about deleting them too ;) I look like I'm having trouble standing up.. must be that wind.

It's usually the babies who close their eyes for pictures..

Our trip to the apple farm last weekend. We bought some fresh doughnuts and cider from the bakery there, yummy! It was so cold and windy we didn't hang out too long, it was worth it for the treats though :)

School days...

Aww...

The pretty trees in front of the house..

CSSSHHHEEEESSSEE!! What a darlin' baby she is..

We are enjoying our fall here, and are currently looking out at something we're not quite used to. A very rainy day, and a very rainy week for that matter! Everyone is rather antzy, we would honestly rather be outside! Inside projects are keeping us busy as well though. The house we are staying in is proving to be very leaky, and with colder weather coming, we are busy with finding flannel to make rag quilts for beds. So between sewing and school everyday, we are well occupied!

I'm trying to get on the computer more often to blog and what not, and have some changes I hope to be able to make on here before the end of the month. Have to organize my ideas first! In the meantime, the rest of my afternoon is calling.. hope everyone is having a blessed week in their homes!

~*~Jessica~*~

October Giveaway Post

All entry comments for the October giveaway (for newcomers, the rule page is here =) ) go to this post everyone! Happy Fall!

Many blessings, ~*~Jessica~*~

September Giveaway Winners!

Hello all!

My my.. the giveaways seem to come around so fast. And yes, I know it's the 9th, call me dopey for missing the giveaway on the 1st. There is something I don't look at very often and it's called a calender. I shall strive to hit the nail on the head for October's giveaway. =)

I hate that we haven't been blogging, but God has brought many changes over the last few months, and some of them have been very difficult. The limited time we have spent on the computer has rather been a blessing though. We've only had the tank of a desktop in the back room to check email and do simple tasks. I'm not sorry to say that Mother and I have enjoyed the break immensely!

We are just now at the point of getting comfortable in our new abode and trying to get back into the swing of 'life'. There have been struggles and hoops to go through, but God is faithful and He has given us peace and strength to press on. Our family has also had some happy changes, but that is a tale to be told later... :)

The weather is getting colder and the leaves are changing, which we are all enjoying! I will put pictures in a separate post, but the blog winners for this month need to be announced first!

So, the three winners for September are...

Vivianna, Earwen (Mirriam), Rose

Congratulations ladies! Sorry *again* for the delay in the announcement, but on a good note, it gave everyone a little more time to enter :)

Many blessings to you! Today is grocery day, so I shall have to make this the end of posting for now. Now that I have my laptop back (and my photoshop) you can be sure that pictures will be on the blog by this weekend!

~*~Jessica~*~

September Giveaway Post!

The September Giveaway is now open! Post your entering comments here on this post! Rules and giveaway instructions are found here.

Have a very blessed Fall season everyone!

August Giveaway Winners

I must apologize about the very long delay in announcing the giveaway winners! We have been extremely busy with our family and settling in, so busy that I completely forgot about the giveaway until 5:00 this morning when I actually stopped to look at the date. There has been so much to deal with and change that we are a little behind with our usual routine.

But, I did select three winners for the Summer '09 issue! The winners are~

Annette, Laura @ Goose Hill Farm, and JenT

Congratulations ladies!

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In the meantime, a little update on our family : ) Sadly, I have no pictures as of yet. It seems that every time we go somewhere we forget the camera! So pictures shall have to wait. We are enjoying the town immensely, there's so much to do and so far we have only been site seeing (without the camera). Life is settled in enough that we can return to school and business this week. We are a little behind, so again, posting on the blog shall be limited for a time. We have had some changes in the season our family is in and it seems we shall be entering a new one. But that will be announced later this year. For now, we have the magazine to finish up for the Holiday's!

Today there are orders to get out, so I must return to work. I can say that the upcoming changes in business and family are going to open up a lot more time to blog again. Lots of things are going to be changing in fact, and we are very excited about it! So as soon as things are more in place, you shall see us on here again.

Many blessings, ~*~Jessica~*~