Last Week...

...We had our new family picture taken Sunday afternoon.

Christianna and I were the first ones out by the tree, so we practiced and played around a little before everyone showed up.

The boys were first to set up and after probably 20 shots they finally stood still long enough for the below image! =)

Mom and Dad, who by the way celebrated their 26th anniversary on Wednesday.

Faith and Baby. Notice Babe is now a one-eared Corgi? Well actually her other ear is still there but due to a Hematomas (rupture of blood vessel, extreme and prolonged swelling) her right ear will not stand up anymore and has taken on a crumpled appearance. The tip of it is actually trying to stand up but unfortunately the rest of the ear may never fill out again. That's ok though cause she is still a very special dog and we love her no matter what she looks like!

This is before we tried to get a siblings shot. Don't ask.

Lastly, we capture a sisterly picture.

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Beautiful Anniversary flowers

Tuesday morning the Bryson family and ours headed into town for the grand re-opening of our public Library! Though we missed being photographed by the newspaper we still got this photo taken and of course all of us Sauves made sure we signed up for new library cards and even checked out several books!

On Wednesday while Dad and Mom were enjoying a tour of a miniature railroad and lunch in downtown Oxford, Christianna and I helped our friend Theresa collect and clean concord grapes and make juice and jelly. Praise God for yet another bountiful harvest!

Saturday was blessed with a visit by our Aunt Kathy(dad's sister) and cousin Megan from Utah. Though our time was short it sure was enjoyably filled, with lunch, Charity and Aunt Kathy comparing research on our family's genealogy and Megan and I sharing photography adventures and hunting up some "country" shots for her to take home.

While Megan and I were taking pictures Christianna and Josiah headed out through our back acre and found this little guy along the path! A tiny baby Snapping Turtle!

Brother and Sister

Cousin Photographers

What a blessed time it was to be able to see Aunt Kathy and Megan again. As we were thinking about it we haven't see Megan for nearly 12 years! We thank the Lord for His blessings in allowing them to come over and pray that His grace would be upon them all the rest of Dad's family out West.

Harvest Blessings

This year the Lord has blessed us with many amazing things. He has shown his power over the economic situation, moved us and gave us a wonderful new house. He has placed us among good, encouraging Christian friends, old and new, and has given us room to have a beautifully large garden.
One of the things we planted in our large garden, was pumpkins. Josiah decided he wanted to grow them if we promised to make pumpkin pies for him. So Faith helped him make four dirt hills and they planted his pie pumpkins. At first we were slightly worried that they would never come up but finally miniscule bits of green were seen to emerge and Josiah’s pumpkin plants began to flourish. Then we had another problem, the pumpkins were not setting on!! We would see baby pumpkins and watch them carefully only to see them rot and fall off. Finally after about 4-5 “false” pumpkins we had some set and they begin to grow. Problems over right? Well not quite, if you remember these are supposed to be pie Pumpkins. The pumpkins in our garden will not stop growing!!!! They are now larger than a very large Cantaloupe. Josh’s think that is wonderful and surmises that now we can get three pies out of one pumpkin. =)
It has been immensely satisfying to have salad and know that all the ingredients come from our backyard! Cans of pickles sit in our cellar and are mostly made from our cucumbers. One slightly disappointing thing was, because of all that intense heat this summer, our lettuce was quite bitter. Yet we are trying again though, hoping that the fall weather and lots of watering will make a difference.

We are very thankful for friends that helped us with our garden. The cucumber plants were from our dear friend Mrs. Klaty, the dill (for pickles) from our new (and wonderful) neighbors the Brysons. Mrs. Klaty also gave us some leftover pea seeds she had, and last week we had enough peas to have a dish for all of us for dinner!

It has been wonderfully fun watching the itty bitty plants we placed in our garden grow and mature. From little tiny seeds to 6 foot tall pole bean plants which have given us so many beans we are blanching and freezing kits and caboodles of them. The spindly little green stalks we bought have grown into great big full plants loaded with tomatoes which are the juiciest sweetest things (nothing like store bought tomatoes). Surely, the wonders of God’s creation never cease.

We thank God for our garden, and praise Him for the Harvest.

~CHS

The Glory of God Illuminated

The Glory of the New Jerusalem

But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.

The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light. And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it.

Revelation 21:22-24

The glory of a flower amazes me so much. No matter how small or large it is, the beauty of God's creation shouts out His praise throughout it's rays of color and most of the time delightful aroma. Among all the beautiful flora that our Creator has made to bloom there are only a few that surpass the glory of the Sunflower! Radiant in color and brilliantly designed, it reaches up to the sky, following the Sun and in a way reflecting it's light.

It is an example of our life in Christ. If we are His child we should be constantly seeking and looking up to Him. Following the Way, the Truth and the Life and shining to the world His glory!

Though I'm sure someone else could more eloquently describe this flower, I hope you can still appreciate the beauty of it and the Biblical comparison and enjoy these images! -GES

Our first Sunflower to bloom! Check out those huge leaves!

High and Dry

Did you ever wonder what all the little creepy crawlies do when it rains? Well, I never did, but I sure found out the other day!

A lovely rain storm came blasting through our neck of the woods, sending down buckets and buckets of much needed H2O. Things had been pretty dry around here lately, and that rain was an answer to prayer.

Our yard was soon host to numerous small ponds and lakes, and the garden, with its raised beds and sunken pathways looked as if there should have been a Gondola floating here and there among the lettuce and tomatoes.

We children have always been drawn to rain, and most especially the puddles that it creates. As soon as all danger of Lightening had past, off came the shoes and socks, (if they weren’t off already :-) and away we scamper to dabble about like so many foolish duckies. I had taken up residence in a lovely little rivulet that had sprung up on the front yard, and was merrily wading up and down, enjoying the refreshing water and getting the hem of my dress thoroughly drenched.

But what was this!? Happening to glance down at my feet I noticed a most peculiar thing. An extra tall blade of grass was sticking up above the water, and clinging desperately to it was a very wet, very scared little Roly-poly! “Poor little thing,” I murmured, as I scooped him up and tossed him onto higher/drier ground. “It is a good thing Josh didn’t mow the front yard today.”

Just as I was about to continue with my aquatic adventure, I was stopped short, and quickly leaped from the water in surprise and horror! Hundreds of blades of grass were visible above the surface of the water, and upon further inspection, one could see that almost every blade was occupied by a wet little bug of some kind or another. And to think! Here I had been unconsciously splashing about, knocking the poor little things off of their towers of refuge!

I was thoroughly disgusted with myself!



Ants, roly-polys, spiders, snails, lady-bugs, and even a funny looking long-nosed fellow, all were perched on top of the grass, trying their hardest to stay dry. Grace was quickly called over, and she succeeded in procuring a few photos for your enjoyment.

So next time it rains, go check out the nearest grassy puddle, and perhaps you will find a few insects trying to stay high and dry!

A Monarch Medley

Ever since we found a stray Monarch caterpillar on a wildflower bouquet several years ago, the collection and raising of Monarch caterpillars has become a late summer and fall tradition for our family. This year we had a new setting in which to find these special creepers, our new home and 2 ½ acres of wildflowers, grasses, and lots of milkweed! Perhaps due to the fact that we are 2 hours north of our old home, we found the brightly striped caterpillars much earlier than usual this summer.

A box was cut out to provide a temporary home for the monster munchers, and to contain their droppings. Over the past few months, that box saw nearly 20 monarchs grow, all the way from a tiny egg smaller than a pinhead, to a big fat 2 inch long eating machine, to a beautiful emerald chrysalis, and finally a Majestic Monarch! We were privileged to watch many of the caterpillars “split” into their chrysalis, and even observe several of the butterflies being “born”, always an amazing an awesome spectacle! At times, our collection of caterpillars and chrysalises was so abundant that we were able to share a few chrysalises with friends, and allow them to enjoy the miracle as well.

We are so grateful for this opportunity to witness such an amazing part of God’s creation, and delight in the picture it can show of how one day we too will be miraculously transformed to be like Christ (if we are His), and soar to meet Him in Paradise!

~CJS

Why Did The Frog Cross The Road?

As we drove home one Sunday we saw an extra large leaf, (or so Grace thought) in the middle of the road ahead. Getting closer we were surprised to find out that the leaf was a GIANT BULL FROG!!!





Dad did a screeching U-turn and we passed by again! We let a car by so we could finish our circle, and still the frog didn’t completely cross the road; it waited for a car on the other side to go by. We swung over and tried to catch him which was easy because he jumped right into Josh’s lap. John held the frog on the way to the Bryson’s, where we let him go in their murky pond.




So why did the frog cross the road?
Because he felt like it; stop asking questions!



~Josiah

The 2007 Harrison Family Reunion

On the 11th of August this year, about 60 people from various families gathered together at “Birch Run Park” for the annual Harrison Family Reunion. Members of the Harrison, Learned, Gross, Lee and Rustem families were present to enjoy a time of fun games, fellowship and great food. We, the Sauvé family, are connected to the Harrisons by my Grandmother, Mildred Learned, who is one of the 5 children of Russell and Inez Harrison. She and Grandpa George Learned served on the mission field in Niger, Africa for 40 years and have been a great witness to and influence in the lives of us, the next generation.

As usual, arrival time was around noon and the food tables were quickly loaded with tasty dishes ranging from sides such as baked bean casserole, to sweet desserts including a sunflower shaped chocolate cake. Once thanks had been offered to the Lord by Grandpa Learned, we commenced doing our best to devour the occupants of the containers resting on the table. Our family’s main meal of “sloppy joes,” complimented by said “occupants of dishes on tables,” made for a scrumptiously full meal. In other words, we were stuffed!

Fortunately, the first activity planned did not require any physical labor since it was only a history quiz about the original Harrison couple, Russell and Inez, with questions such as “When were Russ and Inez married?, how many grandchildren and great-grandchildren do they have?” etc. The next game was an ingeniously fun way to test our spelling abilities. To begin, 4 or 5 teams of 5 each were established and each individual received two cards. Each card had one letter of the alphabet on it. When the organizer of the game called out a word or phrase each teams goal was to spell it correctly as fast as possible without anyone switching cards. This could result in some interesting combinations of reaching around each other to spell the word correctly.

After this came the ever present and ever popular balloon toss, was carried on to quite a distance by a few determined and skillful parties. Our next activity was much more difficult than it sounds. The winner would be whichever team could make the tallest structure out of mini marshmallows and toothpicks that would stand unaided, in 5 minutes. The winner’s tower wasn’t more than a foot and a half tall which demonstrates the difficulty of getting the things to stand up on their own.

(Josiah decided to make a marshmallow man instead of a tower)

In summary, the food and fellowship was wonderful and the games were a lot of fun. A great big thank you to the Rustem family for organizing everything this year. So long till next time!

Josh Sauvé

Dad's Birthday - Aug. 1st

Dad celebrated his 57th birthday on August 1st. It was a blessing to have the Brysons and Eddys here to share in this momentous occasion with us.

Here is the Carrot Cake (Dad's favorite:-) with "57" candles.

The Birthday Boy! :-)

The Famous "Chubby Hubby" Ice cream! Which has become some what of a tradition to buy for Dad on his birthday. (It really is only safe to eat it once a year:-)

Our friends blessed him with some very practical presents! The Eddys gave him two campfire roasting sticks and the Brysons gave him some supplies for the garage/work area and a lovely new suite!

The Minister and the Tailor. (Mr. Bryson making alteration notations.)

It was a most enjoyable evening filled with fellowship, laughter and blessings from our Lord!

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Addendum: Later in the week, our family took a trip to Whole Foods to pick up one

of Dad's birthday gifts . . .

The Ultimate, one of a kind, simply scrumptious, to-die-for delectable, mouth watering Peppermint Brownie! (You've got to eat it to believe it!)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DADDY!!