esther likes her some blackberries!

this kid loves blackberries as much as everyone in the family does....except abigail grace (abigail just likes honey buns, swiss rolls & peanut butter & jelly sandwiches with chips!).

 esther enjoying freshly picked blackberries after she had eaten as much watermelon as her belly would hold (notice the watermelon juice down her clothes):

swollen feet & gardens

i worked all day in the garden on saturday. but it was awesome. my body is so sore but quite honestly it makes me feel SO GOOD because i am helping to keep the garden producing. i weeded cucumbers & cantaloupe & tomatoes.....we picked squash & cucumbers & tomatoes & blackberries. i prayed over my corn, my peas, my cantaloupe, my grapes....we so want it to produce. this little rotten boy is anxiously waiting the cantaloupe & grapes that he "knows" we planted just for him!

now not to say that i worked all by myself. i did some but what i thought was funny is that clay couldnt stand it that i was outside working & he wanted to go in and rest from 2-4...which totally isnt a bad idea when there is a heat advisory out & the heat index is like 108. but i was on a roll.

clay, david asher & picked blackberries. we got about 1/2 a bucket full....which in reality is about 4 quarts. i thought that was plenty of blackberries for a first good picking. but david asher would have none of it when i said "ok enough" as i was being stuck like crazy from the thorns as this is the 4th year of blackberries & they are overgrown bad. he said "hey guys, there some ovuh he-uh". so we picked those few & disbursed. now david asher's big sisters love blackberries & thought they could willie-nillie eat at will the blackberries. we told them...uh no way since they didnt help not one bit outside on saturday. we made them ask asher for some. he readily agreed to share. baby esther likes them too but they tear up her tummy but she doesnt seem to mind.

david asher stayed outside with me all day. he is a trooper. abigail grace came out & helped me sweep the shed. she seems to find joy in certain things & sweeping is one of them. plus it helped that i was doing it also. i love when little kids take delight in helping. it's not perfect but they are trying & learning. why do we lose that desire to help & serve one another?

i will say this though, both my big girls did their bathroom cleaning chores, vacuumed, put away dishes, helped care for their little siblings. they also take care of all the animal chores. i seriously never have to do the animal chores unless they are sick or i want to do them. elizabeth takes care of the domestic animals {i.e....liberty & our new kitties, phinneas & ferb-y (as i call him)}. rachel takes care of all of the live stock/barnyard animals. (i.e....11 hens, 1 rooster, 13 ducks, 1 pot-bellied, cutier than ever, pig, & one spoiled rotten pgymy goat). they just dont like outside garden chores. & quite frankly that really doesnt bother me. elizabeth will come out & help. she gets me water & will tote veggies to the house. she is a good helper. but they are girls...still young & they have their limits. rachel is not outdoorsie at all. and that's ok too as she is such a big helper with the babies. she & esther have a definite bond that i love to watch.

rachel worked every day but one at clay's office last week. on thursday esther got a good shot at rachel finally for the first time that week (due to getting home & rushing off to karate) and man, esther just went nuts. they had a love fest like i havent seen in a while! it was way darling.

anyway back to swollen feet.....well because of my work in the garden...and then going to church yesterday...& sitting for 4 hours @ Freedom Fest 2010 last night....my legs & feet are way swollen - between the heat & the pregnancy. as clay said way back when i was pregnant with abigail grace....i have "fiona feet" (from the movie shrek).

i plan on taking a picture of my beloved garden & my feet that i will post this week. you will be amazed!

oh to tell you why my garden is so beloved....not only is my garden feeding my family with things we enjoy...but it fed 10 other families yesterday - between church & our neighbors. that doesnt include the people at clay's work who get the produce during the week.

so i will leave you with these scriptures as they resonating today:

(and i may be biased, but this reminds me of clay as i read it today).

"How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,

Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!
But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night.
He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season
And its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers." Psalms 1:1-3

and this one...clay & i try to live by....
"....from everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more." Luke 12:48 (i like that whole chapter too).

Have a blessed day!

abigail turned 5! among other things!

well abigail turned 5 this year - on april 20th. she is the child of promise that God assured me i would birth years ago. what a blessing she is.

she is such a bright delight. she is already starting to read & has accomplished 

1st grade math. she will be starting 1st/2nd grade this coming fall. she is taking piano lessons & she is a green belt in the little dragons program at Savior Martial Arts. She got a bike for her birthday so it was a good birthday for her.

one thing that i'm amazed at with abigail is she decided on april 5th that she wanted to ask Jesus into her heart. she made the request at bedtime that night just out of the blue. and she knew why. she knows that God loves her and that he gave Jesus to save her from her sin. she said she wanted Jesus in her heart & to live with him in heaven forever. she really got it. so clay & i said the sinners prayer with her & she has been trying ever since to be more mindful of her actions. it's really wild that i have this 5 year old that "gets it" but i have other - older children or know older children - who choose not to care about their attitudes.

so shortly after giving her heart to Jesus she decided she wanted to be baptized. she knew that by being baptized she was making a public proclamation that she was living for Jesus..."so people will know Jesus lives in my heart". so we let her talk to the pastor at our church and well...the rest is history. below is a picture of her right before in the "tank". that's clay holding her & pastor craig speaking on the microphone.

since this post is about abigail i will also add a few more nice things about her. one thing is she knows her own mind. she decided about 2 weeks ago that she didnt like nicknames. she realized that she was the only child we have that we dont call by their given name. she saw on her back pack the embroidered "abigail" and asked why it didnt say    "a-b-b-y". i explained to her about nicknames and she started to cry this heartfelt cry & and said "i dont like nicknames because that's not my name". so after 5 years of being called abby grace...she is now abigail or abigail grace & that suits her just fine! i love that she knows her mind and doesnt suffer foolishness at all. she is also very much so an encourager. she finds opportunities to encourage her siblings. before clay or i can tell them "good job" or "hey we are proud of you" abigail is doing it without being prompted. she definitely has the gifting of exhoration. she also recognizes when she has wronged someone or has done something wrong and she makes it right almost immediately. it's fascinating to me to have a child that is only 5 in age but is more of a mature soul. anyway, she is a delight & i feel blessed that she is mine.

1 Samuel 25: 3 "...and the name of his wife Abigail: and she was a woman of good understanding, and of a beautiful countenance: ...."

hello there!

it's been a while. we have been busy. and i'm tired all the time. just an update, which i'm sure is obvious from the new widget to the right of the screen....we are expecting #6. by now i'm sure you know. anway i'm hoping for a little nathan levi. but a healthy lydia hope is fine. all is well. the garden is growing. we have new ducks. we have new kittens. we have really good kids. life is good. just busy.
here is a picture of phineas & ferb. ferb has a blue eye & a green eye. pretty cool if you ask me. the kids say he "freaks" them out. oh well. i will be back soon to post pictures of abigail's baptism & asher's potty traiing escapades! and just a post of every day dealings around here.

until then i will leave you with this scripture i have been mulling over:
"create in me a clean heart, o God; and renew a right spirit within me. cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit." Psalm 51: 10-12

esther turns 1

yep.....1 whole year since she was born. how did that happen so fast? can you tell she likes chocolate cake? what a precious girl! she was the only baby of mine that came out ready to go. the nurse that took care of her in the hospital nursery when she was born called her "precocious". it means "exhibiting mature qualities at an unusually early age". she has always been aware seemingly of her surroundings and i think that adjective describes her pretty accurately.
I have c-sections with all of my births & usually i have to wait between 4 - 6 hours after surgery to even hold my baby or to try & even feed my baby. with Esther, they were wheeling me to a room after only 1 1/2 hours (if that) in recovery & the nurse in the nursery was wheeling a screaming Esther out of the nursery & she followed us to my room & let me have Esther. She was hungry! she latched right on & i havent had a problem with her since. she is a blessing & a delight. we all love her so much. anyone who sees that sweet face falls in love! thank you God for such a sweet happy child.
here is a picture of her at roughly 24 hours old.

a recap of the birthday!

she's officially 15...she seemed a bit overwhelmed at just 15 candles. not that i would ever want to go back & be 15 again...but i wouldnt mind a few less candles this year (40 this year.....sheesh!).
this was just 1 of the 2 cakes we made this year. she requested a pound cake with a sugary glaze on it also. the chocolate cake was for the picture & for the little kids...& Daddy of course. but actually i have been told that the pound cake was one of the best i have ever made. i have learned with pound cakes when the recipe says to put the eggs in 1 at a time and mix slowly....well do so or you will ruin the cake.

anyway....here is a close up picture. she was very pleased with her birthday...of course she got a pig, buble' and some new earbud earphones for her ipod. she got a silver pig charm & a new book to read from us. she got money, way too much money for a 15 year old!. my mother also gave her some nice smelling perfume & lotion. she thought that was awesome. She also got a new silver necklace from my mom & dad. she got a nice hoodie and matching bracelet from her friend Candace. So all in all...she got what she wanted and then some & had a nice birthday. She's a good girl. I'm proud of her & glad she had a good day.
Here is her friend Candace.

Here is the pig! 

 now on to other subjects. We are painting in the house. lovely blues, greens & taupes. I'm so excited. here is the dining room!

that would also be the actual painter there in the picture also!

now some random shots of the other kids.....well 2 of the other kids.

Esther got busted in the homeschool cabinet pulling out markers. but man she is so cute!

a cute shot of elizabeth at rachel's birthday lunch at olive garden!

oh and here i am. annoyed at having my picture taken. i think i look like chaka chan with the hair!

rachel turns 15!!!

my big baby girl turns 15 tomorrow. i cant believe it. where did 15 years go? i was telling her tonight about the night before her birth. man she introduced me to real pain....seriously "i think i'm going to die" pain. i was only 24 and had no clue that child birth/labor was that painful. 2 of my sisters had done it so seemingly painless...especially my oldest sister - she had done labor 2 times before me and she barely seemed to wince. plus i didnt bother to read up.....back then i was a different kind of person. being a mom changes a person. i just didnt bother to prepare...i thought that having seen my sisters & listening to their tales of labor & delivery that i knew enough....that what i saw on tv back then (as there was no discovery health channel with real live births on tv at the time) was the real deal. i seriously thought i could handle delivery pain free. i laugh now as i have a low threshhold for pain & when i went into labor i thought i was going to die. plus i will confess, i took 2 teaspoons of castor oil also to put myself into labor. obviously i was already on the cusp of labor because within 2 hours of taking those 2 tsps i was in hard labor.....strong contractions every 2 minutes & my water broke.
enough about me though. rachel came out wide eyed without a sound. what a doll she was & still is. she was always a happy baby. easy to make happy. always went along to get along. i honestly only remember 2 times when she has ever really made a fuss. one time we were at a restaurant (long since closed down) called Ryan's and she started to fuss like we had never heard her fuss. she fussed so badly i had to take her out of the building & i stripped her down in the car because i didnt know if she had been bitten by a spider or what. i could not figure out what was wrong with her. needless to say, she stopped and we still have no clue what was wrong with her. then the other time i was walking with my friend, jenny, in jenny's neighborhood - we were walking our kids, and an actually spider or bee or something of that nature got a bit too close for rachel's comfort and she freaked out - the likes i have not seen before or since from her. i do remember jenny and i standing there laughing as it was unbelievable the display. she was fine also.
rachel has always been a delight. she is giving. she is fun. she has a great laugh. i'm proud she is my daughter. here she is with her gift this year - her pig Buble'. she is in love with a pig! (literally!)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RACHEL! I LOVE YOU.