A Sampling of Our Reading Yesterday

William Bradford, in Of Plymouth Plantation,

"Those reformers who saw the evil of these things, and whose hearts the Lord had touched with heavenly zeal for his truth, shook off this yoke of anti-Christian bondage and as the Lord's free people joined themselves together by covenant as a church, in the fellowship of the gospel to walk in all His ways, made known, or to be made known to them, according to their best endeavours, whatever it should cost them, the Lord assisting them.  And that it cost them something, the ensuing history will declare."

This was the determination to right worship that led to flight to Holland (from persecution) and ultimately across the sea to the America.  Very inspiring history lesson yesterday.  William Bradford was so articulate and well-versed in church history and theology. 



The Garden Behind the Moon, by Howard Pyle

"David loved the sea as a little lamb loves its mother, and oftentimes when the day was pleasant he would carry the baby down to the shore and sit there on the rocks in the sun and look out across the water.  There he would sit hour after hour, and sing to himself and the baby, and think his own thoughts all to himself."

Excellent fiction writing is so good for the soul...

Cecily's Birthday and JoAnn Visits

The birthday breakfast, all dressed for church. 

One of the children took this picture after church.  It kind of cracks me up so I thought I'd throw it on here.

 

The birthday girl is getting some beauty sleep.

 

She is taking in a little snack to help her wake up again.  Always helps.

Now down to business:  getting her toenails painted by Aunt JoAnn for the birthday party. 

It was such a huge help to have JoAnn here on this day.  While I was busy getting the presents out for wrapping, making frosting and cooking dinner, JoAnn spent some quality time with the girls that I wasn't able to. 

AND she decorated the cake!

She did a seriously amazing job.  I thought it was so cute.

This is, admittedly, my favorite picture of the night.  Happy family birthday dinner!  Thank you to JoAnn for making the whole thing more special and memorable.  It means a lot to me.





A yarn flower from her sister.  JoAnn helped Amelia to make it.

Her first Pre-school books.

Stuffed horse from William.

Pizza playset from Grammy and Papa.

A whole pack of play horses.

The pink horse she's been asking for.

Giddy-up!

Random picture of Eli checking out the gifts.

Making pizza and you can see her new sleeping bag in the background.

Blowing...



Happy 3 birthday, little girl.  :)

And goodnight!

Prayers Answered

 Elijah is so much better today!  I certainly felt the effects of prayer for him last night. 

 We borrowed a humidifier and it made all the difference in the world.  He slept peacefully without a single coughing fit last night.  What a relief to me.  The effect of the good night's rest is a happier, healthier baby today. 

I feel so thankful that his misery was shortlived.  When baby is acting more like himself, his mother is at ease as well.  :)

Elijah-boy is Sick

It's Sunday night.  If anyone happens to be checking my blog, I thought I'd share that Elijah has Croup.  He's sad and miserable and it's hard, of course, to watch him be sad and miserable.  Poor baby.  Hopefully he'll be improved by tomorrow.  If you feel the desire to say a prayer on his behalf, then bless you!  :)

Sneak Peek

My sister, JoAnn has been visiting.  I'll be catching up with photos from Cecily's birthday and her visit here soon...

Dresses, Little Girls, and Picture Taking

 I love these dresses and I love these girls.  I sure have a hard time getting a good picture of them though.  :)

 This one is pretty cute.

 Nice lighting and a good shot of the dresses at least...

 Just for fun, I'm including a series of the others that were pretty much a comedy of errors.

 Too much light in their eyes, clearly.

 More shade made little difference...

 Sad about something now.

I did finally evoke some truly happy smiles.  Too bad Millie tipped her head back too.  It's all part of the kidness.  Love these gals.  :)

Miscellaneous Kids Photos

 These are a couple of pictures that one of the kids took.

 She has style.  :) The gun completes the special accessories.

 Front porch web.

 Two cute brothers.

 Cuddling on Ben's shoulder, just about to put his two fingers in his mouth.

 A sleepy princess.  The dress is on loan from a friend.  She took her nap in it and woke up looking lovely.  :)

 Still trying to wake up, it takes awhile.

 There she is!  Smiles again.

 Fun with a mirror.

 I thought those pictures were sweet.  Elijah is trying to figure out what's going on with the reflections.

 Peter took the kids out to a state park a couple of weeks ago to give me a few hours at home to get some things done. 

 They took some pictures so I could see what they did and what fun they had while I was gone.

 The park is called Valley Falls.  There are some beautiful waterfalls along the river there.

 :)

 A lovely park.

 What's the bundle?

 Peek...

A happy, watch-chewing baby brother.  He thought that blanket sling was great fun.