Please Pray

I am asking for prayer for the woman who assisted me in the birth of our daughter Alyssa. Some of you know that she was taken to court because she attends home births without being a licensed nurse. She is licensed in midwifery and has attended over 5000 births in the 25 years that she has practiced.
A few days ago, she was ordered to cease and desist all practice and was fined $11,000.00. Her lawyer has appealed the decision, but until further notice she can no longer practice.
Diane is a wonderful godly woman whom God has blessed with a special gift. She has quite a ministry to those whom she serves and I believe that she should be allowed to continue her practice.
You can check out more info on Diane at this sight:
http://www.savehomebirth.com/news_and_views

Thanks for praying with me!

A Mom's Life in Less Than 3 Minutes

If you are a Mom, you gotta check out this clip!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=w_oc1j5NakY

Another Field Trip!

Our family took advantage of some free time this weekend and headed down to Williamsburg, VA for a field trip/mini vacation!

We started out on Saturday morning by meeting my parents at the Jamestown Settlement where the kids were able to see life sized replicas of the Powhatan Indian village, Jamestown Fort, and the Susan Constant and the Discovery. (The Godspeed was docked somewhere else for the weekend so they had a similar sized ship named the Elizabeth.)

Jim & Mark in a Powhatan Hut.

Julia & Alyssa grinding corn.

Mark & Matt with Gramps on the Susan Constant.

The boys trying on the armor at James Fort.

My Dad in the Jamestown Church.

Learing how to do laundry in 1607.

On Sunday we had a wonderful time visting Busch Gardens in Williamsburg. The kids had a blast riding all the rides, and Matt and Nathan got to ride their first roller coaster. They both loved The Big Bad Wolf!

Alyssa riding the bugs!

All the kids in The Land of the Dragons.

On Monday, we visited Historic Jamestown. This is the original sight where the settlers built Jamestown. We got to watch archeologists dig in the actual ruins and see some of the artifacts they have uncovered. We also got to watch some men working in the glass houses. It is amazing to see these men take a hunk of glowing goo and tranform it into a lovely piece of art! They actually blow into a long pipe with the hot glass at the end and as they shape it, it grows into a pitcher, vase or some other useful container.

Posing with Pocahontas.

Making a glass pitcher.

Blowing the glass.

We had such a wonderful time together! The Lord gave us beautiful weather and it was great to be able to see the kids enjoying learning about the start of our nation.

Couldn't resist this pose!

A Slew of Birthdays!

Since I didn't post over the summer, I missed a whole bunch of birthdays. Four of them - in less than 5 weeks!

Matthew turned 5 in July. He is so full of life. Passionate about everything and anything, there is never a dull moment with Matt (or Spike as we call him) around. He loves to read, talk, play Nintendo and swim. He told me that he wants to be a life guard when he grows up!

Alyssa turned 2 in August. We put all of the kids in camp except her this summer, and having that time with Mommy all to herself did wonders! She began talking in complete sentences and over came her shyness around other kids. Now we can't get her to stop talking! She loves Tinkerbell, Dora and Polly's and loves to sing with her brothers and sisters.

Julia turned 13 in August. Dave and I decided a long time ago that we would give our kids purity rings when they reached the appropriate age. We gave Julia her ring on the day that she turned 13. It was a wonderful (and yes- emotional) time. What a precious thing to see her making this commitment not only to keep herself pure but to pursue Godliness in all areas of her life! Julia loves to read - in fact I can't keep enough books around to satisfy her! She also loves to play soccer and has her first game tomorrow!

Jim turned 12 in August. He loves to build with Legos and likes to read Redwall and Star Wars books. His favorite gift that we got him was his hamsters. (This was a personal sacrifice for myself because I have a "thing" about rodents!) He named them Jack and Barbosa. He is excited because he gets to start attending the teen Bible study at camp this fall.

Well, now that July and August are over, we get a break from the birthdays until November and December!

More pictures

Thought I would post a few more pictures of our 1st day of school ~ enjoy!
Swimming in the surf.

Collecting Sea Nettles

Alyssa can be brave if she holds Julia's hand!

Spike is always a ham!

Sisters...is it my imagination or does Amanda's grin look evil??!


One last look at the ocean.

First Day of School!

If you have followed my blog in the past, you know that our family always starts school with a trip to Ocean City. We learn things in the car along the way to make it educational, and then we feast on Thrasher's french fries for lunch and enjoy the afternoon at the beach.

This year on the way down, my mom gave a talk on sea life and we learned many new things about sharks. (Did you know that the Sand Tiger Shark has 2 uterus, and that there are many babies inside each one? The strongest baby in each uterus eats all the others before they are born. Puts a new twist to sibling rivalry, huh?)

We also learned about the life of Beethoven and got to listen to many of his works, including the Moonlight Sonata and the 9th Symphony. What a gifted man!

Anyway...we had a blast yesterday! The fries were great and the water was warm. The kids had fun swimming with their Gramps and playing in the sand with Grammy.

On the way home, we got to visit with my Aunt and Uncle who live in a little town called Trappe. This is the town that my Mom grew up in. The older kids got to go to Uncle Jimmy's farm and watch the combines work while I stayed with the little girls and watched them play in the very playhouse that my mom played in when she was young.

What a great way to kick off our school year!

Look Mom, No Teeth!

I love it when my kids lose both of their front teeth at the same time! Nathan lost his just a few weeks ago, so we are still getting a good laugh every time he tries to say something with an "S" in it.

I couldn't resist posting a few shots of our cute little "snaggletooth"! Enjoy!