Winter Birthday & Weddings?

This past weekend, we celebrated Isabelle's birthday with my family, but it sure felt like we were celebrating Christmas. . . the weather was frigid! We were all dressed in warm clothes & our winter coats - WOW!! Who knew? My mom made Isabelle an "outdoor" cake, per her request - it was complete with deer, a creek, rocks & trees. . . She loved it. The "trick" candles were also a HIGHLIGHT . . . they kept relighting after she blew them out. She'd never seen that before. John Michael hadn't either & he was belly laughing so HARD - it was hysterical.
We have been studying Ancient History & Isabelle is really intrigued with all of it, but really enjoyed the Egyptian Playmobil she got from my parents.

After our birthday celebrations, we attended the wedding of our sweet friends Kevin & Joy Colvin - it was OUTSIDE!!! All the guests were in their warmest winter clothes, except the bride & her bridesmaids. They shivered through the whole wedding. We were blessed to be apart of their special day! Congrats!

After our wonderful weekend, it was capped off today with an amazing award. Isabelle was given a compassion award that included a $10,000 award for the Global Orphan Project. She'll be able to build 2 more houses. Check out http://artsfororphans.blogspot.com for more info.

Happy Birthday Isabelle!

What could be better than celebrating your 8th birthday for 4 months? That is exactly what Isabelle has been doing. . . if you keep up with our posts, you'll remember that we gave Isabelle a bow for her 8th birthday back in June. So she's been practicing & enjoying that, but definitely waiting for the day when she could say she is "officially" 8. That was yesterday! We celebratedlast week with Kevin's parents with a dinner & presents. Yesterday, on her actual b-day we took her to ride the Branson Belle - per her request. It was great fun, but rain showers shut out our afternoon plans to hit Silver Dollar City. That was a bummer, but we still had fun! You'd think the fun would end there, but she'll get to celebrate some more next weekend with my family. Here are some photos from our festivities. . . .

Isabelle requested Spaghetti for her birthday dinner, which was a surprise to me as tacos are her favorite meal. I found out she really wanted hot butter bread!

Aren't these 2 cute? I could just squeeze them! John Michael got Isabelle a new Wii game called "Cooking Mama" Cook-Off. She played this at a friends house & really wanted it! She was excited!

This is a book that her art teacher illustrated! She was so excited to have her very owned signed copy . . . the author is also a local gal.

A new butterfly box from Grandma & Grandpa.

. . . THE BRANSON BELLE . . .

Stocking the Pond

We were invited to fish the neighbors pond last Saturday. They heard about our land & our fishless pond, so they told us we could fish & keep whatever we caught to stock our pond. The morning started slow . . . but ended very well. We caught blue gills, 2 bass, & 1 crappie. The kids were very excited. We put the fish in an old cooler for the trip to their new home!

God's Art

This week I read a quote that said, "Nature is God's Art". We got to experience that today sitting, fishing, walking, & relaxing on our land. We were all reminded that God is in control of everything. He created everything for His purpose. We are simply here for Him - it isn't complicated. Our day at the land was completely uncomplicated - it emphasized God's supreme authority over ALL things!

After a late breakfast (good sleep, too), we headed to the land to hang out.

We started out fishing - well we tried anyway. We discovered that there aren't any fish in the pond, so Kevin went down to the creek where we saw some blue gill. He caught about 10 fish & brought them back to "stock" our pond. We'll see if they grow & mate.

Our makeshift bucket & blue gill . . .

Since the fishing wasn't too thrilling - they were able to get some good casting practice in - then they became very involved with the wild grasses & playing together.

Okay, I know you can't see these turkeys very well, but I had to put the picture on here. We were sitting on our "hunting" ground that was just mowed. Kevin said "All we need is some turkeys." He has seen deer on the land & TONS of tracks, trails, & evidence of deer. About 2 minutes later, Isabelle said "dad, there's a bunch of turkey" Sure enough, about 10-15 turkey showed up at the end of the lot. There were 2 hens & their babies. . . .it was unbelievable. As you can imagine, this made Kevin's day!

Then we decided to hike through this field & trees. . . . we were hoping to see the turkey, but they were gone.
Can you see the leopard frog . . . we found 2 on our hike.

Too cute for words!

The Land

If you read our last post, you'll remember that we were almost flooded out of our nursery last week. As a result of the weeks events, we had to cancel a business trip that we were really looking forward to. On Friday last week, when I had to cancel the plane tickets we were surprised to find that the airlines were going to give us a FULL refund. The refund + the peace that Kevin & I had about not going on the trip led us to believe that God had other plans for us. He didn't want us to go on the trip for SOME reason.

This is the reason why . . . 40 acres for our future home!

(Top Pic: the view of the land looking North - this is the south end)
(Bottom Pic: the pond)

THE STORY . . . . Sunday morning we went to church - we were so excited because this is a church we've been visiting for about a month & they were having their fall kick-off Sunday. We were excited to be apart of that & to hear their vision for this year. After a GREAT church service, a gentleman approached & asked us if we'd found any place to live. Of course, we said "No", to which he replied that he knew about 40 acres for sale. By 5:30 Sunday night we had seen the property, meet with the owner, & felt very confirmed that this was the place God had for us! The owner was even putting the water meter in this week & said if we were really interested, that we could tell him where we wanted it placed for our house!

As we reflected on the land, the cancellation of our trip, and the church connections . . . . there is only one conclusion. We serve an amazing God who has ALL things in HIS control! It is NO coincidence that God brought us to this church 1 month ago. It is NO coincidence that the flood happened & kept us from going on our trip. It is NO coincidence that this land is in the exact location that we wanted to live. It is NO coincidence that it is the exact amount of land, with the exact specifics (pond, creek, timber, & open fields) that we so desired.

This is where the house will sit (north side of property) with trees behind us.

The pond is on the other side of the thick timber.

Below: This is our sanctuary . . . this is the area inside our timber . . . it is so peaceful, so pretty & a perfect place to see deer. We LOVE this part of the land.

Our closing on the land is scheduled at 1:30 on Friday afternoon . . . we'll keep you posted!

The Floods

This week has been "flooded" in many ways . . . . typing that makes me smile - you'll see why as the post unfolds.

The beginning of the week began with the "flooding of the Nile". We studied Egypt & the Nile River this week. It was interesting to learn about how Egyptians settled along the Nile & how it flooded the same time every year which provided rich, fertile soil. So, we created our own Nile River & flooded it (which were in the instructions) but I think we created a lake rather than a flood. (Oh well, it was fun!)

Then came the REAL rains on Tuesday - so much rain & it just kept raining - HARD!!! It was neat to hear & look at until we realized that the water was coming down from the sky & causing all the creeks, etc. to rise FAST!!! At 8:30 on Wednesday morning, Kevin had called me because the kids & I were driving to his work to pick up a friend to go to Bible Study with us. He told me I couldn't make it to the store because the water had blocked off the roads - he would have to come get me. YIKES!!! By 9:30 - we had about 15 guys, trucks, & trailers hauling everything out of our store. It was chaos. The water kept rising as it kept raining . . . it crept closer & closer to our front door. We were scrambling to get it all out & fast.

About the 15 guys that showed up . . . a nice lady named Lynn came by the store around 8:15 after dropping her kids off at school. She said she'd been through the last big flood in '07 (a 500 year flood year) & that she'd be happy to help us. When she saw the extent of what we had & how fast the water was rising, she called friends in a neighboring town that have a trenching business. They were all just waiting for it to stop raining, so the piled in their trucks & were over immediately to help us. Not only did they help, but they brought enclosed trailers for us to store our stuff in for as long as we needed them. We couldn't believe how kind & generous they were. They didn't know us at all, but were so willing to help!

(This is the creek behind Kevin's parents house - it's hard to tell from the picture, but it is only about 10 feet from where I am standing. It was up in the property behind their house & over the road as well. I'm hoping to get pictures posted off Kevin's iPhone from the flood at the store, but not sure how complicated that is - so check back. There are some amazing pics!)

Thankfully by noon it stopped raining . . . the water did reach our front door but didn't go inside, so we were very thankful! So Thursday morning, we all showed up early at the store & rearranged, unloaded, & set up shop again. We had everything out . . . phones, merchandise, computers, printers, the cat . . . . We had already scheduled a "Girl's Night Out" event for Thursday evening - so we weren't sure we could pull it off. With alot of work, we were able to do it. We had 8 vendors who also participated in our event. We had a great time, despite being completely exhausted! We were so thankful for a great turnout & as we joked, I guess it was one way to get the store emptied, clean it up & rearrange it the way we wanted to! HAHAHA!

Flooding . . . . the flooding Nile, the flooding creeks & lakes, the flooding eyes full of tears, the floods of people who helped us evacuate, the floods of people who came to our girls night out, the floods of smiles we had as we realized we had actually pulled it off in less than 36 hours. We have so much to be thankful for. . . . I am just trying to let God's love & peace fully flood every part of me.

The Nomads

Our history lesson this past week was about the Nomads & how they eventually became farmers. We learned about how they farmed, where they farmed (the Fertile Crescent) & how they built their homes.

The kids got the playdoh out & created a "scene" that depicted the nomads life.

We also went outside to create a "hut" like the nomads may have made. The kids couldn't find sticks big enough to make one for themselves to go in, so we had to make something for a squirrel! Isabelle really had fun creating this.

This week we will be studying the Egyptians & creating a replica of the Nile River - fun stuff!