15 years tall.

15 Years ago last Saturday, Our family welcomed into the world, a little bundle of blue faced, ummm, excitement. Our house has never been the same since=). Josiah was everyone's adorable, round faced, smiling, one and only Chocolate brown eyed LITTLE brother. That is up until a year and a half ago. Now us girls officially have no "little" brother. He hasn't disappeared he simply has grown up. I measured him a few days after his Birthday and he is 6'1" and 7/8th=)

Josiah's interests, though varying slightly throughout the years, have always leaned in one direction. Gods creation. So this year for his birthday, he wanted to go for a nature hike, (it was most definitely a hike not a walk=) at beaver lake trails. Seeing as his Birthday only comes once a year, we all obliged, bundled up and dragged ourselves out of the house for over an hour long walk.

Both Grace and I brought along our cameras so we were able to document the "exciting" events of the day.

Our good friend Mr. Reiche was kind enough to join us on our escapade, and brought along his trusty map, in case we got lost=).

We saw many unique animal marks, along the path, one of which was the tree full of woodpecker holes.

Another object which Josiah showed us were the many Beaver marked trees around the marshes and ponds. In this case it looks like Mr. Beaver bit off more than he could chew!

When we reached Pinnacle Peak, our ultimate destination, Josiah, Faith and I had a snowball fight in and around the walls of the old lookout. (Okay, so Josiah and Faith did most of the snowball throwing. I did have the camera after all.) Happy, worn out and slightly chilled we trudged back to the van and drove home to enjoy some cake and Ice Cream.

Don't tell any of the other chickens, but Josiah does have a favorite, and I endeavored to duplicate her likeness in cake form.

Little Girl, is a little skeptical. She thinks that she is much more pretty than the cake. Josiah had to agree.

Josiah has become quite the young bookworm recently, especially when it comes to books about our American heritage by his new favorite author Eric Sloane. Therefore he was quite thrilled to find some of Sloane's books decked in wrapping paper, with his name on them.

He also received his very own hatchet which we knew he would put to good use.

A gift which we gave him that morning, was a brand new florescent orange sled. All our old ones were cracked and had come to an untimely demise. Of course he had to break in his new possession, and ran outside to give it a few test runs. Who needs gloves and a coat anyways?

We all had a wonderful day and hope he did too. Josiah may you grow tall and strong in the Lord just as much as your physical body has grown.

~Chs

Continuation and Conclusion of our Time in Florida.

Let me assure you that Birds were only one of the many delightful and interesting things I saw while down in Florida. If I tried to tell you everything I DID while there, you would be reading this post for hours upon hours. So let me highlight the best parts of my south state adventure. The rose in the above pictures was one of the things that dazzled our January snow-accustomed eyes. It was beautiful and fragrant despite the hard frost the week before.

Maybe I am silly but I was absolutely amazed and flabbergasted, when I saw this cotton bush in front of the nursing home.

I was even more shocked to find that it felt like cotton right out of a bag=)

There was a beautiful little picnic area and walk way behind the nursing home and mother and I had some delightful suppers there.

These birds of paradise flowers were next to the picnic area. Interesting huh!

We also had some wonderful meals down by lake Jackson near the nursing home.

Grandpa and Grandmas neighbor had some delightful flowers in front of her house.


The orchids were simply scrumptious. Darling, dainty, bold, bright and adorable!

One animal that I had "fond" memories of from our last family trip to Florida were the little Lizards that ran around in front of our Grandparents house.

So I was thrilled when I spotted these little brown rascals skittering around in some bushes.

When we were cleaning up in Grandmas room we found these extremely amusing glasses in one of the drawers! Yes I did try these on. Yes I did get Mother to take a picture of me. NO I am not going to post the pictures=)

Another wonderful thing in the village were these succulent oranges.


The village has their very own orchard, and allows the residents to have as many citrus fruits as they want!!! =)


Mother and I were also able to have a nice walk around the village and visit some people that mother new when she was little. One dear 94 yr. old lady we visited with was "Aunt" Helen. We had a delightful time talking and reminiscing.


I had great fun driving the cart around! (Yes I did managed to leave all the village mail boxes in tact;)


On another drive around the village, we stopped by the pond so I could sketch and eventually draw, the chapel. It was a very gusty day however, and both of us were hard put to keep our papers. :0


There was one thing that I really wanted to do in January while down in Florida. Go swimming! The village has their own private heated pool, so one afternoon Mumsie and I made our way over for a good swim. Doesn't it look so clear cool and inviting?


Yipes!! That is freezing cold!!!


We managed (after a very LONNNGG time) to get ourselves numbed enough and into the pool. Just as we were almost in, one of the village managers, walked by laughing, and informed us that he had just found out that the heater was broken. Ha!


Despite the cold we did have fun, and are now able to say that we went swimming in January!


We were also able to get a nice game of shuffle board in. If you have not ever played shuffle board, you really should, it is great fun!


Though come to think of it, I have only seen shuffle boards in Florida=)

God blessed us incredibly and allowed Grandma to come home from the nursing home on Wednesday, the day before Mother and I flew back home. Grandma seemed to be comfortable and nicely situated in her house. Please pray that her leg would continue to heal and that she would not fall again.

God allowed us to not only help Grandma and Grandpa, but also to have a wonderful time as mother and daughter, and He sent us wonderful weather as well=)

Aves of Florida.

One of the many things God blessed me with while I was down in Florida was letting me observe many of the different variety's of Aves (birds=) that live down there. Most of them I had never seen in person before. The very first bird I spotted was a mocking bird.

It was a very kind little bird, and posed quite well.


The next bird I met, I had no clue what he was. So I sent the picture to my resident bird expert: Faith.


Her answer was, that "he" was a female American Anhinga.


As we were slowly approaching the Anhinga to get a better picture of her, a little slate colored reddish egret flew in right in front of us. I guess She wanted her picture taken too=)


The next day I was tooling around with mother, in the golf cart (one of my favorite activities;) and we spied a couple of Great White Egrets. Very austere birds. ;)


A couple of mornings later I went out front of Grandpa's house, and was startled to find the ground covered with little birdies hopping all over. Some of them I knew were Chipping Sparrows,but the other ones I had no clue. So of course, I sent off the pictures to, you know who, and received back a prompt answer. Pine Warblers!


This handsome little male Pine Warbler, was very brave. He wasn't scared of me at all!


Of course I did see many Mallard ducks in all the ponds and lakes that pocket Florida's landscape, but I was used to them and not very impressed=} I was though when I saw this....

Every day when mother and I drove Grandpa to the nursing home, we passed a large field, with two young resident steers (they were very cute little fellows, and I will show you pictures of them later). Electric poles crossed the field, and on top of one of the poles, I spotted a huge nest! The first few times I did not see anyone around the nest, and assumed it was abandoned. One hot afternoon though, when we were driving back to the village, Mother spotted a bird sitting on top of the nest.

We returned later to find two birds perched up high on their mounds of sticks. They were a pair of gorgeous Ospreys. I was so happy to have the opportunity to observe them each day.

Our last day in Florida, Mother and I went on our final walk around the village. This little fellow was wandering around someones front yard, frantically poking his beak in and out of the ground searching for bugs. Meet the American white Ibis. I did see other birds when I did not have my camera hanging around my neck (a very rare occurrence I assure you) and therefore was not able to document them for your benefit. But I am so grateful for the birds I was able to observe as well as the many other items (mammals, reptiles, plants etc.) which I will be sure to share with you soon. Don't hold your breath!

~Chs

It's That Time of Year Again!

Just thought I'd remind you all to make sure you order your garden seeds before too long! You might like to re-read THIS post for some links to seed catalogs.

And this year I will try to make good my promise of a series of Gardening articles. I had really good intentions last year, but things just got soooo busy!

Take care,

Faith

Where am I?

Well let us see if you can guess;) At the moment I am sitting in a room at a nursing home, looking out at waving palm trees and a few flowers. It is currently 75 and partly cloudy. It is supposed to get up to 80 to day.


Well if you guessed California you were absolutely and 100% positively wrong! Texas? Nope no palm trees, and definitely not 75 down there right now. Hawaii, well that would be nice I guess but can you imagine the expense! Did you guess Florida? Well you just happen to be right!

My Grandparents live in Florida, and in December Grandma fell and broke her hip. Our Aunt went down there twice to help Grandpa and drive him to the nursing home. Now it was our turn and Mom decided it would be good if I came along too. Seeing that the last time I flew I was 8 or 9 I was quite excited. We were able to get through security alright, and when we sat down at the gate, we saw our plane drive up, and could even see the pilot through the window!


The sight from the plane was absolutely breathtaking! We flew over the Detroit river and lake Erie, then over a cloud bank. It looks as if the horizon was endless.




We flew over the coast, and God blessed us with clear skies, so I could take pictures of the beauty.


When we landed in Orlando the sky was sunny and the day gorgeous.


A very kind friend of Grandpa's drove to Orlando to take us back to Grandpa and Grandma's house. We all wondered if the tank we passed was full of Orange juice!=)


I know this picture is fuzzy but I had to show you. That truck is full to the top with Oranges!!!! I have seen at least 10 of these trucks just like this one since I have been here!!


Grandma is doing very well in the nursing home and is able to walk all the way down the long hall with a walker. Please pray that she would be able to go home before we leave.


Mom and I were able to take a walk around the mission village where Grandpa and Grandma live. There is a beautiful pond/lake in the village and a peninsula with their chapel on it.


My pretty Mumsie agreed to pose for me on the bridge.


The not so little chapel on the lake.


We were able to get a picture taken with Grandma in therapy. We are so glad to be down here helping Grandma and Grandpa, and are having fun along the way=)! God has blessed us with beautiful weather and we are having a lovely time. Please pray that Mom and I might be able to be a blessing to Grandpa, and that Grandma will continue to improve, and like I said that she will be able come home very very soon! I promise to post pictures of the animals and other curious things I have seen while here, so keep checking.

~Chs