We're still here (somewhere!!!!)

We have been busy, busy, busy these past 3 weeks. Every day has been a new adventure, some more exciting than others. We have had numerous visitors (surprise!!) and quite a few families interested in beginning homeschooling (surprise!!) and many unexpected drop-ins (surprise!!).
ChubChub celebrated his 4th birthday and received quite a bit of loot at the rate of $1.00 per sibling. He was a happy little guy for a few hours.

Mean Ol' Mama cooked up a greasy, sugary, delicious batch of funnel cakes to celebrate...ummm, well, to celebrate all of our recent surprises. Yeah, that's why...

The boys have been planting some in their gardens. The weather has been mild so far, and the afternoons are very comfortable for sitting outside, being lazy. Not that we ever do that, of course...[ahem...].Well, this isn't quite the same as gardening, but it's productive in its own fashion...

Stennes made Mean Ol' Mama a throne, and this beautiful chair won First Place at the Georgia National Fair. We will post pictures of Josiah's shelf at a later date.

Mean Ol' Mama finished teaching her class at the College last week. They were a nice bunch of students. We had a special performance and treats for them on the last night, before their final big test.

A special friend from our days in the Philippines/Mexico/Texas/and other places came for a weekend visit from Oklahoma. He is such a dear friend. We had a cook-out and singing time during the cool afternoon.

Is this how aunts are supposed to treat their nephews? Itchy, itchy straw for a handsome scarecrow...

The three older boys recently participated in the Cotton Boll/Consumer Judging competition. They each gave 30-second cotton promotion "commercials". Aren't they cuties?

Busy Days Again

Poppins and ChubChub at the Beach...We really love those two fellows. Look what Josiah caught! He's quite a fisherman.

Anders loaned his pole to a friend who met us at the beach. He's a really nice man from Colombia, with a lot of not-so-common-these-days sense.

His wife is from Peru. Mean Ol' Mama had a really nice time with her, discussing politics, sofrito, and many interesting topics.

The view from the back door...

What's up with ChubChub's lip? He fell asleep just a little on the pouty side...

We wrote contact information on his arm this past weekend at the GA National Fair. Thankfully, he stuck close to us...

Josiah did an excellent job on speech #1. He memorized 7 minutes' worth of information on 4H and marketing the club. He placed 2nd, which was great for his first time in this competition.

Now he's ready for speech #3, which was a 30-second "commercial" advertising cotton. He did a great job and also placed 2nd. He changed into nice clothes between these two presentations for speech #2, a flawless, 4-minute, heavy-applause, motivational discourse on thinking positively in a negative world. He placed 3rd in that one, probably because he mentioned the dreaded word "God". Keep on mentioning His beautiful name, buddy! Shout it out!!!

Is that tasty, ChubChub?

Clowning with the clown...

Now, which one is the real clown?

Josiah bought a 12-gauge with some of the money he won at the Fair. He's quite proud of his new gun. He'll be taking the Hunter Safety Course soon.

Anders placed 4th in his speech competition and 2nd for his mini-booth, Stennes placed 1st with the chair he made and 5th in his mini-booth project, Josiah placed 2nd, 2nd, 3rd, Honorable for his shelf, and 4th for his mini-booth. Decatur County did very well this year.

And a final shot from the beach...swimming into the sunset...

Quick Update

We have been busy busy busy this past week. After helping friends move into their new home in Thomasville last Saturday, we came back and had a good time with visitors next door. The kids helped pick peanuts off the plants for boiling. Yummy! Our visiting friends treated the kids to Zaxby Wings before we went preaching. What a treat! We visited two camps, one Haitian and the other Hispanic. We had very good meetings at both, and one of the Mexican men came up afterward, crying and asking for prayer and a new life in Christ. Makes it all worth while...

The Girl and ChubChub spent time on the picnic table "cooking" salt dough goodies. They really enjoyed using a mini-baking set for imaginary baked goods.

We attended the local homeschool group meeting for the first time in a few months. The children made bird feeders from pine cones, peanut butter, and bird seed. ChubChub enjoyed having his big brother helping him.

Branch had help from the 4H leader in tying on a ribbon for hanging. She's such a great lady.

All of the children enjoyed a presentation of History through Art presented so well by one of the mothers. They were learning more about Native Americans through 4 large pieces of art on display.

What are these two silly guys doing? Listening to the lunchtime story on CD as they form pictures in their minds...

What a mess! We were busy finishing up mini-booth projects for the GA Fair. They were due this past Thursday, and it was down to the wire (of course!) when they were finally finished. We had many unexpected happenings during the glue-down time (of course!).

The Girl and Paul Bunyan were kind enough to entertain ChubChub during this time. He didn't cause too much damage with all the glue, markers, paper cutter, pencils, stencils, etc...

Stennes quickly welded this nice bench as a surprise for Mean Ol' Mama. It's quite comfortable and will soon be painted and added to a collection of seats back by the picnic table. We hope to build a nice fire ring for cozy times once the weather cools down a bit.

And look! He can make cookies, too, to help out Mean Ol' Mama's running-in-circles supper.

The guys have been busy shucking dried corn to put through the hand grinder for animal feed. It's quite a job, but we're blessed enough to have the corn and grinder, so we can't complain.

Poppins Has a Birthday

We shared a delicious meal and a fun time of Pin the Tail on the Donkey.

The Girl enjoyed taking her turn after three spins around.

Anders gave Branch last-minute advice on how to play the game well.

Pretty close, Branch!

Don't tell Anders, but Josiah turned the donkey on his side while Anders was taking his three spins around. Kind of throws off the game, ya know?

Now Josiah is suspicious about what the boys have done on his turn.

Even Poppins gave it a whirl. The boys turned the chair backwards, though, and he wasn't quite sure what was going on.

Now he had it figured out!

They really enojoyed this special time with their Daddy, and he was such a good sport through it all. Happy Birthday, Poppins! You're the best husband and father ever!

This is the donkey that Stennes quickly sketched, that everyone poked and prodded, that stood patiently and without complaint, that grinned happily through it all, that gave the kids such fun in the house that Poppins built.

Running in Circles

ChubChub colored pictures this week to decorate Mean Ol' Mama's bedroom. She was very excited...[...ahem...]. Branch and The Girl weeded the back garden and dumped the weeds down in the pig pen. We were given 2 more piglets, for a grand total of 3 pigs. Bacon!

Watch out for this little guy! He's a serious warrior.

A friend gave Mean Ol' Mama a bowlful of Himalayan salt, and she was blessed to purchase this grinder new for $1.00. The salt is very "salty" and said to contain high amounts of beneficial trace minerals.

Josiah had been asking for a cello for a while, so we tracked one down for him. He has many instruments to practice now.

Two of Mean Ol' Mama's favorite chicks holding their favorite chicks...

Teresa cooked 6 rabbits for supper the other night. The boys really enjoyed that meal.

We've had friends/company this past week and enjoyed every minute of it. These folks are very special to us.

We're trying to get back in a groove now that the Fair projects have been delivered as of Saturday afternoon. This week's plan:

1. major schoolwork

2. 4H projects due October 1st

3. multiple speeches to memorize

4. a few performances coming up

5. new chore list

6. we'll try, anyway...
7. Third World menu with a bit more meat