Well Rehearsed

Last Saturday was a day of great celebration in our family. Josh's Wedding!! But before I put up a post about that great event I thought you all would enjoy some pictures from the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner the night before.

I believe in these pictures the guys were discussing what they would do if they all started fainting;)



The musicians.





Back at the house Faith and our friends the Ostranders and Fultz's had done a marvelous job decorating and preparing the food.




It was a wonderful time of fellowship before the next day, and we were very well rehearsed! :)
~Chs
(I have so many more posts coming, including the wedding, so please be patient:)

Sadie Goes Sailing

Once upon a time there was a little puppy named Sadie Rose, who dreamed of going sailing.

So one day, she found a nice cardboard box and set out on the high seas of the open deck.


With unending vigilance she scanned the flowing boards as her cardboard boat sat on the deck.

She barked ferociously at all other pirate boats and suspicious looking humans as she passed,

And directed her boat skillfully to her destination, (right where she started:). Thus ended Sadie's first sailing adventure.
~Chs

A Promise

I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud; and I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.
Genesis 9:13-15

(Though I witnessed the Rainbow last Wednesday at it brightest point I did not have my camera with me, so these pictures were taken by Josiah. He did a wonderful job!)

The Arrival of Winn

As most of you already know, ever since moving up here 4 years ago our family has had a summer tradition. A tradition that we neither picked out, nor made happen. Almost every year we have what we call our "Summer Birds", baby birds that have fallen out of their natural habitation and need foster care till they grow and can take care of themselves. The first year we were thrilled to raise Stormy the Blue Jay that fell out of our willow tree, and the next year we were dismayed to find four starlings babies in our attic and as we had to remove them and couldn't destroy them, we fed them:) 2009 we had a reprieve, from birds, and as we had a lot of other things going on then it wasn't such a bad thing, but thankfully we weren't done for good as last year we rescued another fallen Blue Jay from our friends house, who I am sure you remember was named "Kevin." So as this spring rolled along in the back of our minds was the question, "will we have a summer bird this year?" Two weeks ago, our Sunday afternoon naps were interrupted by our dear friends and neighbors. They had found a little baby bird whom they believed to be a Baltimore Oriole. Like a streak of lightning Josiah, Faith and I jumped in the car and headed down to the Bryson's house to check out this candidate for our foster care program;) It was indeed a Baltimore Oriole, and after peering up into the tree above, and ascertaining that we could not return the baby to it's 20 foot high nest without endangering life and limb, we took the little creature home.

Over the next few day the new bird, dubbed Winthrop after John Winthrop, ate and slept and ate some more, and to anyone but his multiple mothers looked slightly ugly. :)


As the bird's feathers grew out, we debated back and forth whether it was a boy or a girl (Winthrop or Winnifred) finally Charity found out online that they wouldn't grow in their adult male/female plumage until they are a year old!!! So for now we are just calling her/him Winn.

Winn loves fingers and as she got more talented (Orioles mature fast) I was able to take her outside where she said hi to the chickens, and Sadie, and watched Faith water the garden.

Miss Sarah Bryson who found and named him/her came down a week later to visit Winn. She had grow up so much in just one week.

Winn thought that she had fledged and tried to fly as high as possible, but she was still a little bit wobbly and ended up on the floor quite a few times, so we confined her to a cage so she couldn't fall so far.


Now she has quite recovered from her falls and is about ready to fledge for good. She is so cute and looks more like a Warbler then an Oriole, but I am sure she will grow up to be bright and beautiful. We all are very grateful for our 2011 "Summer Bird."
~Chs

A Monday Verse

"The glory of the LORD shall be revealed, And all flesh shall see it together; For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”
Isaiah 40:5

Wherein Sadie takes a Bath

The other day our puppy managed to get herself rather dirty and stinky, so I took it upon myself to give Sadie her very first bath. The next picture speaks completely for itself.

Poor little puppy!!:(

She did extremely enjoy the drying off process!!
~Chs

Softball Season

It's that time of year again!

We now find ourselves on random Monday, Tuesday, or Thursday nights sitting on bleachers and watching Dad and Josh play Softball. It has to be most definitely one of my favorite parts of summer. Following are some random pictures from one of the recent Softball games.


Josh during one of his times at first base!

The intrigued fans;)

Sadie loves coming to the games, but is much too interested in sticks and stuff to pay attention.
Though the team has not been doing as well as last year, it still has been very fun and we hope to do better in the rest of the season.
~Chs

God's Word Endures Forever

The grass withers, the flower fades, Because the breath of the LORD blows upon it; Surely the people are grass.
Isaiah 40:7

In the Garden!!

Finally, after months of waiting, our garden was dry enough to enter and work in. Faith could not have been more delighted, and so for the last week or so, everything has been scheduled around gardening.

First of all there was miles of weeding to be done, and though tiresome, we knew that in the garden (as well as in our lives) the weeds must be pulled out or they will choke out all the good plants.

Once the beds were cleared we began to plant seeds.

Bush beans, and pole beans, corn, and cucumbers, lettuce, and radishes, peas, and pumpkins, squash and sunflowers, all were pushed into the ground some way or another.

Then came the diligent watering (that is, when it did not rain:) almost every evening the hose came out and the water came down onto germinating seed and plant alike.

Soon there came fruition to our diligent work, as the little plants poked their way through the soil to the light above.

They will be carefully tended as they grow and grow till they bring forth harvest!

"So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase."
1Corinthians 3:7

~Chs

Yellow Warbler Nest

Josiah found this beautiful Yellow Warbler nest out back by the stream. The mother was a little shy, and would not let me take a picture of her, but the eggs were wondrous to look at as well.
~Chs

The Carp Hunter

Once upon a time there was a young man (Josiah) who delighted in being outdoors in Gods nature. He enjoyed studying about different animals, and more than all else he enjoys spending time by his family's (our) pond.

Recently he noticed, due to the extra wet spring and flooding, that there were three new unwelcome residents of the pond. Carp. These fish, Josiah had studied, are a detriment to society, therefore he took it upon himself to rid the pond of these evil creatures. He was helped in his endeavor by his Uncle Warren who lent him a harpoon. One day Josiah was on the pond perusing it's contents by the vantage point of his canoe, when he spotted one of the vulgar creatures. He cornered it along the side of the pond and speared and killed it.

Sadie found the 20 inch long fish extremely entertaining and proceeded to sniff it out while Josiah returned to the pond for the next trophy, which he was not too long in securing.

Josiah was trying to herd the Carp as before when it darted into the stream which merrily flows into the pond. In an act of desperation, Josiah hurled the harpoon hoping to at least get it close enough to one of the spectators that he or she might use it. But to everyone's surprise when Josiah's harpoon landed there was a thrashing and squirming... Josiah had hit the other Carp!!

Even more for Sadie to check out. We as a family are very proud of our mighty hunter and his God given skill. ~Chs