"B.B.D." = Big Buck Down

In the last moments of daylight, of the last day of the season (& on the last day of 2008) - Kevin accomplished what he set out to do in Sept. - get a big buck! He saw this buck on Dec. 19th, but didn't have a shot. He got his second chance tonight! I think the kids might have been just as excited as he was. Kevin loves hunting. He loves being out in nature & hanging out with God in the quiet of a tree stand. As much as he enjoys the quiet & just "being out there", there is nothing like waiting patiently ALL season to reap the rewards! Next season, I hope to join him by getting my own buck! Stay tuned. . .

Merry Christmas (Part 5) - Grandparents

The Christmas season ended with a visit to each set of grandparents. We had such a great week of celebrating Jesus, opening presents, & eating. Many pictures to choose from, here are the highlights!

The kids enjoying their new chairs & stopping all law breakers at Nana & Papa's!

The 5 Redford Cousins put on the "Christmas Story". John Michael was Joseph & Isabelle was the angel. Jaden was the shepherd, Tyler was the narrator & Samantha was Mary. The kids were so cute when they opened their presents - they all sat in a line facing the tree while Grandma passed out the presents - then they quickly turned around for their parents to see them open.

So much fun was had by all - and now we saw HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Merry Christmas (Part 4) - @ home

We celebrated Christmas with the kids on Saturday. We had so much fun - the presents were open by 7:30am! Everyone was up early! :) After presents, we went up to a new donut shop close to our house - the first "food" place close to our house EVER! The kids enjoyed donuts & milk - it was so great. The rest of the day was full of games, laughter, & fun! Here are a few photos of our day. The kids exchanged their gifts. JM gave Isabelle a jump rope that counts for her & Isabelle gave JM a robot grabbing arm.

We sent the kids on a scavenger hunt to find this foosball table - it was a blast. This is one of their favorite gifts - ours too! Kevin came up with the great clues:
1. "To find this gift, you must find the clue that is in something blue." (Our bedroom)
2. "Wow, you are doing good so far. Now you need to hike to the kitchen to find the next clue in something that we pitch-in." (Trash Can)
3. "Awesome, now you need to proceed to the place in this house that receives the most play almost everyday." (Play room)

Merry Christmas (Part 3) - TREATS

Today Isabelle has a Christmas Party at school. We are bringing treats - I got this cute idea out of my family fun magazine . . . The kids had a blast making them. It was so easy for them to do on their own!

Merry Christmas (Part 2)

Isabelle had a Christmas Program at school . . . we were too far away to get good pics of her singing, though it was really cute! Here are a few "after concert" pics!

Isabelle & Avery
Myah, Isabelle & Olivia

Today we decided to make Christmas cookies & deliver them with some caroling. Our cutters were on the small side - so we ended up with over 75 cookies! Good thing we were prepared to give some away. . .

Isabelle used the cross & heart shaped cookie cutters.

John Michael used the star & manger cutters.

Merry Christmas Hoedown

Click on the Link below to see Isabelle & John Michael in a Merry Christmas Hoedown. Thanks to Aunt Paulette for always making laugh!
http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/e3MLa6qjcgyYG8AMC1sh

Have a VERY Merry Christmas!

The Old has Gone, the New has Come!

(If you're visiting our blog for the Thanksgiving update . . . you'll have to scroll down to the next post! Much has happened since I wrote it - see below)

Today was a VERY special day for me & Isabelle. We were both baptized! It was an amazing day of surrender & commitment to the Lord for us both. We were so thankful to have my parents & Kevin's parents along with some close friends join us to bear witness to the commitment we were making before God! After our pastor led us through our statements of faith & a prayer, Kevin baptized me & then together we baptized Isabelle. It was truly a day that we will never forget. Thank you God for you son Jesus & for the gift of Baptism!

We are THANKFUL!

Thanksgiving greetings to you! 2008 has been a rocky road - personally, spiritually, economically, physically - but just like the ice cream with the same name, it has been sweet. It has been sweet because of 1 very valuable lesson that God has taught us: No matter what, God desires that we offer our thanks & genuine worship to Him. We can honestly say that this lesson has changed our lives because it has changed our very hearts. As a family, through the highs & lows we have made it a priority to give God all our thanks & heartfelt worship. In the process, something has happened - our hearts have grown more in love with God, we have been given greater perspective in our hard circumstances, and we have found that our eyes are fixed on the ONE who is hope in all things!

When we have had hard times, we have found that we get stuck & it's hard to be happy or find anything to be thankful for. Can you relate? But what we've learned this year is that life is hard BUT God doesn't want or expect us to stay in a place of sadness, depression, or defeat. He wants to give us victory & joy - that comes when we thank Him & worship Him.

We thought we'd share a little of what we're thankful for. We have a "give thanks" calendar countdown that the kids are filling in each day. Here's a sampling: my chickens, my mom & dad, my teacher at school, my sissy, bubby, heaven, God & Jesus, my bus driver, Holly, Brad & Olivia, Nana & Papa, God's love, seasons, friends at school, all my family, my school, Grandma & Grandpa, playtime, safe trip to Grandma & Grandpa's, food to eat, turkey, the world God made, my cousins . . . . and many more. I, Kelly, am thankful for God's abundant grace & provision. Kevin is thankful for his "lovely wife who supports him in all he does" (I promise he wanted me to write that!)

So as we head into this time of being "Thankfull" and approach the birth of Jesus, will you join us in thanking God for who He is & for what He has done for you. Leave us a comment - we'd love to know what you are thankful for this year!

We pray you are blessed this Thanksgiving as you spend time with family & friends & remember God's faithfulness to us all!

Happy Thanksgiving & Merry Christmas
Kevin, Kelly, Isabelle, & John Michael

Happy "Surprise" Birthday Hal!

We just returned from a weekend visit with the Redford family in Parsons, KS. Kevin's dad celebrated his 60th b-day on Friday. We tried to keep it a "surprise", but that's hard to do when you have lots of children who know & a smart man who knows there must be something going on when his wife is busy preparing things. . . we had a great time all together.
All the cousins! John Michael, Tyler, Jaden, Isabelle & Samantha

The 3 brothers - Kevin, Richard, Brent
Memory Game - look in the box & try to remember everything you can see in the box.

"What am I?" All the kids & the dads had animals taped to their heads. They had to ask yes/no questions to each other to figure out what animal they were. John Michael was a deer. Isabelle was a chicken. Kevin was a seal.

Birthday lunch at pizza hut - the kids favorite! and then home for cake!

Happy 10th Anniversary to Us!

Wow . . . where does the time go? There are many sentimental things to say at this point, but I'll spare you too much. Kevin & I have walked through many things, and the Lord has been so faithful all along the way. We are truly best friends & more in love than ever! Okay, I'll stop! :) We enjoyed a weekend to ourselves here at home to celebrate. Kevin has 2 passions: me & hunting so we combined the 2 & he took me hunting all weekend. It was really fun. We saw 11 deer - no bucks, bummer! I was SURE it was my weekend to get a deer, oh well. As he & my dad say, "can't catch a fish if your line isn't in the water." So we at least made our attempts to be out in the wilderness to see them. They just didn't want to see us!

We ate dinner out, left the house a mess, didn't answer the phone, & made a trip to Cabela's. I needed long underwear - it got COLD here this weekend. While there, they announced they were having a deer processing seminar - so guess where we ended up? It was very interesting & very helpful as we eat venison most of the year. Now we just have to get a deer!

Kevin brought me these flowers Friday afternoon as a fun surprise. Aren't they beautiful?

Here we are headed to LaCygne, KS (20 minutes south of our house) to hunt. We were hoping to not put these pics on the blog, but instead the pics of our deer. No luck - so you get to see us!

My Gym

John Michael goes to My Gym every Tuesday for an hour. They have structured playtime with about 8 kids in his class. He LOVES it! It helps me run off some of his endless energy! Peek a boo! I see you! JM loves to hide in these balls.

Mommy Daughter Date

Yesterday, Isabelle asked if she could use her birthday money from her Great Grandma Clare to go on a date with me. She wanted to go to the local Cider Mill to go through the corn maze & eat cider doughnuts. We arrived & spent 2 1/2 hours running through the corn, digging in the corn bins, bouncing on hay bails & eating cider doughnuts. It truly was a blast! Thanks Isabelle for a fun afternoon . . .

Here's Isabelle buried in the corn - she loved this!

Isabelle was our fearless leader through the 10 acre corn maze!

So much to be thankful for . . .

Last night as I put the kids to bed, our usual bedtime prayers turned into "thankful" prayers. The kids went on & on & on about all the things they were thankful for: each other, family, house, cozy beds, friends at school, safe bus rides, food (wonder who that was?), Jesus, God, heaven, my teacher, BSF, our chickens, the seasons, and many more - I can't remember them all. We had so much fun, it was so refreshing to focus on all the things we have to be thankful for! Today God gave us even more to be thankful for. Kevin had an incident at work today that left us at the ER wondering his lower legs were fractured. As we waited for x-rays results, we pondered the amazing goodness of God in protecting Kevin today. The results were negative, Kevin is bruised & very sore, but he will be fine. Sure there is a story about "what" happened, but the REAL story is that God guarded & protected Kevin today from severe injuries & we are SO thankful. From last night through today, God has reminded us that there is such JOY in our thankfulness. Join us in thanking God for His protection in our lives, but will you also lift "THANKFUL" prayers of your own. You will find your heart filled with JOY!

Happy 7th Birthday Isabelle!

Isabelle's 7th birthday celebration . . . complete with a cute horse cake - made special for her by her Nana. She wanted the piece with the eye - a peanut butter cup . . . who wouldn't want that! Our friends, the Labeth's hosted Isabelle's b-day, complete with a pony ride on Smokey.

. . . . Myah, August, Natalie, Olivia, & Bella . . . .
Everyone got a special ride on the mechanical bull. . .the kids thought this was awesome, something most of them had never seen or done before.
We laughed & laughed during the sack races - this was so funny, lots of smiles everywhere.
Isabelle taught her friends how to rope.
Here's the gang . . . Isabelle asked that instead of presents for herself, that the girls bring gifts to help her fill her suitcase for our trip to Haiti. The girls brought her great things that the orphans in Haiti need desperately. We were so humbled & grateful for the generous outpouring of support. Her suitcase is FULL!! Thank you to all her friends. The orphans will be blessed because of YOU!

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Isabelle was allowed to bring 2 chickens to school on Friday for her birthday. She wanted us to bring "Butterfly" & "Night". She held "Butterfly" & let her friends have a chance to pet her. This was truly a special day for her to share with her class one of her favorite things in her life.