Ozark Family Camp

We had a fun time at Ozark Family Camp last week, and I have lots of pictures to show you! I decided to do the Picasa album link this time, so here's the slideshow. You can click on it to go see larger versions of the pictures. If there's any you'd like a full size copy of, just let me know.



It was so fun to see folks whom I hadn't seen in years, many of whom Jonathan and the Blessings hadn't met (if you go to the album, there will be captions). We were blessed by the terrific speakers - John Heller was the main speaker, teaching about the Holy Spirit, and J and I attended Steve Price's sessions on the Believer Priest. The children all enjoyed their classes as well. Davey was in the teens class... that felt strange!

A few of the highlights -

Monday afternoon we went on the trail rides. Eight years was the minimum, so I took Ellie and Kate on the first ride. Jonathan, the boys, and Grace met us at the Hitching Post and J and the three older boys went on the second ride. Later that afternoon, Grace and Stephen got to ride around the playground as well. No pictures of the big boys and Jonathan on their ride!



Tuesday, we had a picnic lunch down by the camp lake with the group of families to which we'd been assigned. After lunch, our family all went out on the lake in paddle boats, with varying degrees of enjoyment.



Wednesday night was actually our last night at camp, as we needed to come back and get a few work jobs done. It was also banquet night, which made a nice opportunity to roam the dining room getting pictures of friends. I missed plenty, but here are some of the shots I did get:





We were late registering for camp and the waiting list was not moving, so we were planning to tent camp. But several days before departure, Aunt Karen (who is my aunt by love, not by blood) emailed and invited us to use their downstairs bedrooms. We were thrilled to accept! Next year, I think we'll mail our registration right away, because it would have been lovely to be in the thick of things instead of a short drive away. I'm also praying that we get to stay the whole week next time!

Our time at Ozark was delightful. There was lots of personal learning that I haven't even touched on here. Perhaps later this week...

A Walking Tour

If you've been wanting a closer look at the beautiful property we're blessed to live on right now, here's a walking tour for you. It's really best seen by clicking on the slideshow below and viewing the pictures in their picassa album.

A bit of catch up

I haven't posted very many pictures this month, so I'm going to try to play catch up today. The fastest way to do that is to upload them to Picasa albums and embed slideshows that you can click on if you'd like to see bigger versions.

Here are some shots of a visit to Shaw Nature Reserve with Papa & Mama Byrd and Mom Smith. It was a lovely day!


Mother's Day fun:


Also during Papa and Mama Byrd's visit from NC, we spent an afternoon at Grant's Farm in St. Louis. Papa was busy working, but Mama was able to come, as well as Dad & Mom Smith, Aunt Joyce, and Sarah with her sweet Blessings. We had a great time!


Last week, we dog sat Maggie, Dad & Mom Smith's chihuahua. I caught this cute picture of her sleeping in her little bed.


Last Thursday, my friend Sue and her Blessings came over to visit for a few hours. While they were here, Jonathan finished a movable pen for the ducks and moved them outside, so the pictures have a lot of variety!


We had planned to go to a nearby creek to play and picnic on Memorial Day, but the weather changed our plans. Instead, we had biscuits and gravy for lunch, played our new game of "Life" in the afternoon with sweet Georgia, and enjoyed a wonderful supper with Georgia and Dad & Mom Smith. I seemed to neglect the camera in the evening, though...

Identification project

A couple weeks ago, I posted a slideshow of digital "specimens" from our afternoon at Shaw Nature Reserve. Today, the older children and I spent quite a while going through and identifying those specimens. We used books and the internet, and got almost everything identified. I was surprised at how much fun it was, and I think the kids enjoyed it as well. Some of our findings were quite surprising... learning about the Kentucky Coffee tree, for one!

Here's the slideshow again, with updated captions:

Missouri Botanical Gardens Trip

On Wednesday, we went to the Botanical Gardens with Dad and Mom Smith. It was our first visit, and we were very impressed.

A few highlight pictures:
The Blessings -


J&L -


Dad and Mom Smith -


I uploaded a larger number of "highlights" to an album - in my opinion, it would be worthwhile to click on the slideshow below so that you can see them up close!

A Fun Afternoon

This afternoon, we met up with Dad and Mom Smith and several families from our home school support group at nearby Shaw Nature Reserve. We'd been there once before, and thoroughly enjoyed our first taste of it this year, taking a close to 3 mile hike.

Also, Dad and Mom Smith bought us a family membership for our birthdays! The membership covers up to 10 adults (children 12 and under are free) and includes admission to Shaw, the Missouri Botanical Gardens (including the Children's Gardens), and the Butterfly House. The part of it we will use the most is the admission to Shaw Nature Reserve. It's about 15 minutes away from us now, and has so much to offer! But we're looking forward to checking out some of the other spots, as we've lived in the St. Louis area for almost 9 years now and have never been to any of them. We're also hoping to take some friends and family to enjoy some of these displays of God's creation.

I just couldn't pick a few pictures to post, so I'm embedding another slideshow. Just click on it to go to the album (where you can see large ones and/or download full size pics). Enjoy!

Need some plant identification practice?

Here's some digital "specimens" from our trip to Shaw Nature Reserve today. Click on the slideshow to get to the Picasa album.

Chickens

Here's some recent shots of our chickens. Some of the hens have started laying - woohoo!

More Snow!

Thought I'd just link to a slideshow of the picasa album I made for snow pictures. We had more snow last night (it was glorious!!) and I got some next shots this morning. I'd click on the slideshow to go see the picasa album if I were you. But I'm a bit biased.


And I'm gonna tell a little story on myself...
Last night, while it was snowing fast and furious, I realized that the chickens needed to be watered. On my way out to the coop, I spotted one of the sleds. And I glanced up at the sledding hill. And after I fed the chickens, I just couldn't help myself. I grabbed the sled, trekked up the hill, and sledded down in the dark... in the falling snow... face first on my tummy. I whooped and hollered all the way down.
It was So. Much. Fun!!

I think snow is one of God's most beautiful and marvelous creations. And I love the way that I feel like a little kid again when it snows.

Pictures!

I have at last uploaded some pictures from December to my Picasa albums. Click on the slideshows to see them individually, etc.

The Byrd Visit:


The Bloom Visit - did I even mention this?!? It was such a treat to have John and Ruth in town for a couple days! We ate together and played Rage at the chapel on Saturday night Dec. 20th, then on Sunday John shared about Immanuel Mission as well as sharing a very challenging and encouraging message about being a Refresher. They joined us for lunch on Sunday and visited some more before heading in to St. Louis. We were so blessed to have them with us - they have been such an important part of our lives over the years, and they are refreshing people!


Christmas Day:


And New Year's Eve at Believers Bible Chapel:

The Byrd Visit

When we abruptly went off line in mid-December, some of our favorite Byrds had just gotten into town. Actually, Beka and The Cousins were on their way to Kansas City for a visit with family there. We enjoyed having Papa and Mama with us on Thursday and Friday, and Beka and the kids got back to our area on Saturday evening. We treasured every moment until they left on Tuesday morning!

Saturday night, we had seafood chowder for dinner, at the special request of Beka and Ethan. Seafood chowder became something of a hobby (obsession?) for Jonathan and I this last year, and Beka and Ethan were eager to taste the fruits of our experimentation. I think they liked it! I'm working on cutting down the recipe to a reasonable size so that I can post it on Love You Can Eat. For now, here's a teaser...



Sunday morning at chapel we got to show off Beka and The Cousins; then Sunday evening we also got to show off Papa and Mama (they went to meeting in St. Louis in the morning). We don't usually have a Sunday evening meeting, but Dec. 14th was our Christmas Supper and Program. It was neat to have some of the Byrds with us for this special evening. One of the highlights from the Christmas program (at what would generally be considered a pretty conservative church) was the Henkel twins playing their electric guitars. They played their own arrangement of a couple of Christmas classics. I couldn't get the video upload to work, or I would share it with you.

As always, it was such a joy to see our kiddos enjoying their time with their cousins. The deep down, soul-satisfying kind of joy. My brother and I didn't have cousins our ages with whom we could really fellowship, and it is a delight to my heart to see my children play with Ethan, Isaiah, Abigail, and Chloe.

I haven't done a good job of capturing the "little moments" in this post, but I'm so thankful that Papa and Mama came to visit, and that Beka decided to come as well with The Cousins. I wish Eric could have pulled away from work and come, but we are all so thankful for the time we had together. And I'm thankful that they didn't let the possibility (which turned into the reality) of them getting sick from our leftover germs keep them from coming!

Here are some more pictures (you can click on the slideshow to get to the pictures individually/download the full sized files, etc):

More pictures of the new house

We had a wonderful time yesterday evening with our friends from whom we will be renting our new house.  I forgot to get a picture of all of them together, so I'll have to do that this next weekend (they're in town for a little while).

Here are some more pictures, mostly of the house.  They have captions, but I don't know if they show up in the slideshow (they do show up on the Picasa page).

Slideshows of Family Camp

For those who might just want a quick peek at our weekend family camp at Dayspring, here are a couple of slideshows:

What a Hike!

We had a wonderful afternoon with some of our Believer's Bible Chapel family at Shaw Nature Reserve. I'd like to post a few favorites individually later, but for now, here's a slideshow!