Anastasia~

Anastasia was born on May 16 to Caleb and Rose. We where able to be there the
first time big brother Asher got to meet his baby sister, it was so much
 fun to see him so delighted over her.
~
 I am sorry for the delay in my posting any pictures.

 

Every time she would cry he would want to give her a kiss or one of his toy's.

 It was so sweet!

 



 

She is so precious.

           Han

at the beach!

                            We were blessed to have both our Grandma's here over Mothers day.

 Part of our gift to them was a trip to ST. George Island.

These are just a few pictures of our time at the beach with our grandma's

 that we wanted to share with ya'll.

We all had a lot of fun.

 Joel and I enjoyed racing down the beach.

 Our sand castle. It was pretty good for not having much experience. 

Me & Lydia

 

 writing in the sand

 Our beach visitor.

 
                                                               Rachel and Grandma L. loved the waves

Walking the beach with Grandma S.

 ST. George Island light house

 We made it to the top of the light house.

Mom & Dad in the light house  





   Hannah
       
           Psalm 150:6  
 Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord.

Words on wednesday

 In Him was life; and the life was the light of men. {John 1:4}

"Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."
{Matthew 5:14-16}

Blessings!
Lyds

*winter warm up*

 {for all y'all northern Yankees reading this blog hopefully it will add a bit of southern sunshine to your day! haha!}
I have missed blogging terribly! You might not think it by alllll the activity of this blog but I have. and honestly, the last couple weeks our computer has been slowly crashing so that accounts for some of it. :) This post, in fact, would be much longer if our computer was up to par. I have had to resort to using our school laptop and only using the pictures immediately on my camera. but that works for now. When I am able I look forward to doing another 'photo-a-day' challenge. it seems to keep me pretty accountable! haha! :)
                 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

baking 'jello' cookies with this little guy. [I might add that while they turned out according to the recipe, they were not all that good. In fact I think we found the one and only cookie that no one would eat. they sat in our cookie jar for weeks! I didn't think that was possible. *Smile* But they were fun to try and children love them because they are fun colors.]  

 and of course gotta throw in a couple pics of Asher darling! :)
just look at his adorably, dirty angel face.  
Fun Fact: over Christmas we came across the list  'what your elf name is' according to your initial and birth month. Asher's is Perky Angel-Pants.  it fits him perfectly! haha!

 And just look at what my dad brought home for me one evening?! Are not they gor.ge.ous?!
my dad is the bestest! :)

      ^ This past month Hannah tried her hand at homemade pop tarts. They were so scrumptious!^ completely worth all the time and effort put into them! :)

 Sitting around the table one lovely Sunday afternoon with my family... Asher was in my lap simply resting against the table. He has no idea how cute he is!

 *-------------------------------------------------------------*

As for our winter... here are pictures of the worst day of southern south. you might be thinking 'wow! nice frost!'      Nope, this is ice. :) it actually wasn't that bad but then again I have northern roots. {and I didn't have to drive in it! hehe!} 

 stepping outside was amazing! the crispness in the air, the crunch under your feet. you could see your breath. Every breath you took was so delightful! I know. I know. most of you are questioning my sanity or rolling your eyes. And if you are, I can safely say, 'you are not from the south.' :) I would have loved nothing better to have a handful of snow to throw at some one. And for the record I do deeply feel sorry for all you with your bitterly cold weather. you should have vacationed at our house! :)

 Only in the South - a story from the south.
{This past December while working at the Bread Wagon amidst the Christmas rush my employer shared a story with me that a customer had shared with her. It is a true story.}
Apparently back in the 60's it snowed down here. not much but enough to play in and make a little snowman. Well there was a family who did just that, went out and played in the snow and built a little snowman. Later that day they all piled up in their car and left (perhaps to a friends house or the grocery store. I don't really know for sure but they went somewhere.) On their return they looked out at their front lawn and beheld that their snowman was MISSING! They went out to investigate and found little boot prints leading up to where the snowman had sat and wagon wheels following those boot prints. :) He had been STOLEN! only in the south would there be a snowman priceless enough for a little child to come take it for themselves! :) lol!

 only in the south!

 it was so fun to walk in our pecan orchard and here all the branches and bushes cringe every time the wind breezed through them. the ice making them stiff and heavy. it was an amazing sound! :)

Rachel with her kitty cat. She adores them and visits them every day. :) 

now you have had a taste of January. I hope it was delightful! I loved putting this post together! :)

 

<<<>>>>

"All God's revelations are sealed until they are opened to us by obedience... Obey God in the things He shows you, and instantly the next thing is opened up... God will never reveal more truth about Himself until you have obeyed what you know already." -Oswald Chambers.

I read this in my copy of 'Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World.' It was such a great challenge to me. January was a wonderful month for me. It was relaxing and blessed. There was many hard days and often when your in the middle of it you don't see all the blessings but looking back it was wonderful! The last year or so have been really tough for me. I have gone through some really hard patches.  But through it all God has been faithful.  I have seen and felt Him working in my heart, calling me back to Him. Pleading with me to look towards Him and hold His hand. finding contentment and joy isn't always easy and there are lots of struggles with surrender. But He doesn't give up on us! :)

 

Kneeling on this battle ground

Seeing just how much You've done
Knowing every victory
Is Your power in us. Scars and struggles on the way
But with joy our hearts can say
Yes, our hearts can say. Never once did we ever walk alone
Never once did You leave us on our own
You are faithful, God, You are faithful

 

blessings! :)

Thanksgiving~

The last few days have been so fun! I'm sorry that I wasn't able to keep up with my commitment! I'll fill you in starting with Wednesday. Wednesday was a lot of fun for me because not only did we all spend the day preparing and anticipating company for the next day but i had the pleasure of working. Sounds funny I know. and I do work every week. but you see, i work at a bakery and they become, OH, so busy around holidays! the Bread Wagon was no exception! I was on my feet for about ten hours. running around answering questions, restocking, answering the phone, working at the register, helping customers... It was a blast! and the best part was that I worked with a dear friend of mine! =) who doesn't like working with friends?! needless to say I was very content being able to crawl into bed that night but i can't wait to do it again!

Thursday, Thanksgiving, brought company. Some dear friends of ours came down from the "north" :) Our time was filled with blessed fellowship, food, games, candlemaking, and black friday shopping! :) Our entire time was so blessed! There was MANY memories made and lots of laughs! :)  Black friday shopping was so fun! we acutally went Thursday night and we were out until after 2 a.m.! talk about fun! it was a first for me! usually we go Friday morining early! My list was a winter coat and some boots! found them both plus some! :) haha!

 we have been so blessed! :)

 

I'll end my post with a cup of tea and coffee! I was so delighted to find that on my tea bag tag it said, smile! how special is that! :) 

 

Well, y'all this is the last day of November. and the last day for my November challenge. I failed a couple times. and I am truly sorry about that! {I probably regret that more than all of you though!}"it's been the best of times. it has been the worst of times." :)  Truly it's been so fun for me. and good! I have loved it! Perhaps I'll do it again sometime... it has been so inspiring!

many blessings upon you all this coming December and Christmas season!

looking forward to the  next time! :)

lydia

day 25 and 26, & a turkey

 

I'm so thankful for my dad. He is so special and wonderful! I love him dearly. and we are, oh, so blessed by God with him as protector, provider, and leader of our family!
I'm thankful for rainy days and candles. for a bestest little brother who makes cookies for us! making the house smell amazing! =) {and they taste fantabulous!}

 i am thankful for smiles and the sense of smell! :)

 

while I was at work this morning my family spotted a bunch of turkeys out in our yard! just in time for thanksgiving too! LOL! It was really fun and special to randomly see turkeys in our yard the  week of Thanksgiving! ;)

" thanksgiving, after all, is a word of action." ~W.J. Cameron

would I still be happy, content, THANKFUL, if all were stripped away?

Blessings!
Lyd

 {thanksgiving is almost here! my week has been kind of crazy. and i am really sorry I missed posting yesterday!}

day twenty-four~ little ramblings

"Gather my saints together unto me: those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice."

~Psalm 50:5

"...Nay: but I will surely buy it of thee at a price: neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the Lord my God of that which doth cost me nothing." ~ 2 Samuel 24:24

"The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise."
 ~ Psalm 51:17

Sacrifice: destruction or surrender of something for the sake of something else: an act of offering
something precious.  

"it is impossible to love deeply without sacrifice." ~ elisabeth elliot

"For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, wh dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?"

~ 1 Corinthians 4:7

thankful!

lydia