Here is the Iris bed. Very stunning when they are all in bloom! 

The Strawberry beds! Lots and lots of berries set on this year, yummy!  

My Aunt's beautiful blue Irises! 

Memorial Day with the Shepherd Family

On Monday we had our friends the Shepherd's down to our house for the day, for some delicious food (from the grill) and wonderful fellowship and fun!! After lunch while the grown-ups talked, several of the young people had a fun time in the basement playing dress-up and of course I (Grace) was taking pictures!

Miss Nicholette Shepherd.  

Josiah and his hamburger. =) 

John greatly enjoying himself (or rather the food)!! 

The Lady of the Manor and the Gypsy Isabella!

Miss Danielle and our chinchilla Sage! 

Dan Ford Seminar

Okay quick quiz question here: What is the National Hymn of America? No, not the national anthem, this is a common known hymn, though few know that it was once known as our national hymn. It was originally called simply America but is better known today as My Country 'Tis of Thee. This info that I must admit I didn't know was given by Daniel Ford a History genius and holder of many rare original documents who spoke last Friday, May 27th, at a Seminar hosted by Five Lakes Fellowship and Hunters Creek Church. Now being a history buff and loving to hear of the Godly heritage of our country, this was an extreme treat for me. But everyone else I talked to, history lovers or not, were equally enthusiastic about how much they enjoyed the seminar. Mr. Ford's wealth of knowledge on historical writings and his easy use of the many documents he had (that were written by Puritans and founding Fathers) was awesome. Also, it was most refreshing how he showed the multi-generational faithfulness of our fore fathers and how he emphasized the need to spread the word of our Christian Heritage.
After his 2 hour lesson (which still didn't seem like long enough) wherein he went down his tables of documents covering writings from Puritans in the late 1500's to the Farewell speech of George Washington, Mr. Ford opened things up for Q. &A. Out of the whole evening, including the desserts, I enjoyed nothing more than the Q&A time. One short one sentence question by a member of the audience, brought a ten + minute answer by Mr. Ford, that answered the question in full and also gave fresh information. The only fault with the Q&A time was that there was not enough time and I only got to ask one of my four questions! After the Q&A session, there was a most deserved round of applause for Mr. Ford that lasted over a minute and showed the appreciation of those there for such Godly wisdom. The oohs and ahs were heard to erupt as people began to flock around the tables holding the documents of Mr. Ford. From single pages to whole Bibles, these writings were unique and precious and many were the expressions of admiration. A favorite of many was a Geneva Bible, a copy of the one brought across by William Bradford, and a full three inches thick or more. The Bible had the marginal notes that were the main reason King James I outlawed it and it came complete with little book worm holes.
So in all, the evening was most enjoyable especially as it was topped off with snacks provided by the ladies of the Five Lakes Fellowship and a good time for some to have a one on one conversation with Mr. Ford. I hope and am sure that all who attended came away with as much or more of an increase of knowledge as I did and possibly we could look into doing another seminar on this same subject on a larger scale in the near future.

Quilts Galore!

Friday morning, Faith and Grace met with a group of ladies, and young ladies to make patchwork baby quilts to donate to charities. Everyone brought their sewing machines, irons, a sack lunch, and a lot of creativity! Piles of pre-cut squares, in various shades of blues, reds, yellows, and greens, overflowed from a center table. Everyone was told to fall too, and the quilt making began! Once everyone had layed out their quilt design, they then started to sew it together with a partner along side to iron down the seams. After the top of the quilt was stitched together, we then moved on to finishing with the batting, back piece, and yarn ties. Even though we were not able to stay long enough to finish both our quilts, we did come home with some wonderful tips on quilting, and can't wait to be able to do another quilting bee!

Where all the quilts began . . . . .  

Katie's pretty purple quilt.  

Putting the finishing touches on Faith's quilt.  

Ta da! Here is Grace with her finished quilt top. Ain't it pwitty! :-) 

A Sinners Prayer

If I had sinned but once a day
That would be more then You,
should pay for me.

But everyday, and every hour
Encompasses a thousand wrongs
Transgressions of Thy holy law,
and you gave all for me!

Oh Cross of Christ!
How horrible and bloody there you stand.
How loving also, with that perfect, spotless Lamb,
Who hung and died,
That I, the "chief of sinners"
Then might live!

Perfect I will never be,
While on this earthly soil I stand.
But I shall strive, by Thy great grace
to conquer every sin.

Lord, bring me back, when I forget
And wander from Thy holy way.
Forgive my sins, increase my faith!
That I may live for Thee.

John's Lawn Service

Lawn-mowing anyone? John, Dad and I have had more than our fair share of it since John and I canvassed the neighborhood five weeks ago with flyers advertising "John's Lawn Service." For an average sized lawn the rates are $12 dollars for one lawn job and $45 for a month contract. Great prices huh? Well, other people in our subdivision seem to think so and with the help of Dad and I, John is now mowing 12 lawns per week. Right now we are sticking to the classic mow and trim using the good old push mower which is great exercise. We don't use those riding lawn mowers that are made specifically for lazy people. :) (just joking) I will admit however, that there have been a couple jobs where I was wishing we did have a riding mower.

One of these jobs is a double lot that takes us 2 hours to complete and the other is smaller but has a fair-sized ridge on it. It would be hard enough if that was all, but no, the city decided to make it as interesting as possible for us mowers. They just had to plant about 8 pine trees in a row along the top of the ridge, and these particular pine trees happen to have branches that are only about 3 to 4 feet above the ground, so obvously for a 5 foot 11 inch guy like me or a 6 foot 3 guy like John it can get to be slightly annoying and uncomfortable. As you can imagine, since one of us is trying to push a 45 pound lawn mower in a straight line at a 40 degree angle, dodge under low pine tree branches and miss piles of pine cones at the same time, our rows begin to take on very interesting designs by the time we reach the end of the ridge. At another job we have to dodge doggy land mines instead of pine cones, and let me tell you, I would much rather have the pine cones anyday. Life for us Sauvé boys has gotten interesting over the last five weeks and we now know what it's like to be a business man and work all afternoon, but hey, it pays and besides, if nothing else it's good exercise.
~Josh :)

Attention to detail is important when you are in business! 

John, hard at work on a job!

We had a slightly belated Mother's day celebration this year. Mom and Dad enjoyed a lovely evening of shopping and dinner at a restaurant on Tuesday.(courtesy of their children) When they returned home, we ate this yummy cake that Faith and Grace made and decorated. (with real Lilac flowers:-)

 

Last night Charity performed in her first flute recital! She and her teacher Mrs. Hall, played a duet of In My Heart. Considering that she has only been playing the flute for about 7 months, Charity did an outstanding job!!!  

Charity and her flute teacher Mrs. Hall. 

Cleaning up the mess! Towels, towels everywhere!!! 

All hands above! Trying to fix the light. 

The first sign of the problem before the line broke! 

Where it all started. On Monday, disaster struck when the hot water pipe under the sink in the master bedroom broke and sent water pouring down the walls and into the kitchen ceiling!! As most of us were in the kitchen at the time preparing some cups of tea, we were rather startled when water started showering out of the light above us! To make a long story short, in the end, after dad had to run all the way downstairs to shut off the hot water heater, we were able to clean it all up and even though at first the light would not work, just last night when we found out that a wire had been missed in the reconnection many chears were heard when the switch was flicked and there was light!!! Needless to say, right after it all started, we got a call for showing the house! Of course we had to say no, but God is still on the Throne and we trust that in His timing our house will sell! In the mean time, we are thanking Him that not too much damage was done and we were able to fix what was needed with out much expense.

The End and the Beginning

Finally! After a little more than a year of drivers training John Baptiste Sauvé has finally done it. Yesterday afternoon by successfully completing the driving skills test, I ended a 13 month saga of driving classes and hours, that has had its ups and downs. A year ago March, I started segment 1 of drivers training. Unlike some of my sisters I was quite eager to start driving and so it was both with excitement and apprehension that I entered my classes. I was a whiz in the class room and scored top in most all written tests. Yet in the words of my instructor, I had "some rough edges to work out in the actual driving." Unlike most kids in the class I had never been behind the wheel of anything, ever, and the first time out I mistook the sidewalk for the road. =) Thankfully I can say that I have progressed since then and have become quite comfortable behind the wheel by driving 2 hours up to the Lapeer area on Sundays. You don't get practice in parking while driving freeway though, so dad and I had to get creative to practice that for the test. Using my exercise weights with metal poles stuck in them and a cone on top, we made an interesting sight, simulating the parking section of the road test.

So the day finally came and at 1:15 yesterday, dad and I drove over to the testing sight. I was praying the whole time but with my eyes open since I was driving. The instructor was kind, though she continuously used the terms dear and honey with my name and as any of you who know me can tell, that didn't exactly ingratiate me to her. But any ways we got going and started off on the parking. God helped me and I came through without a single point off which was great because as I said this was supposed to be my weak spot. The on roads test went well also, despite my tendency to the disease "heavyfootitis" (DeL's can sympathize) and as I pulled into the parking lot I breathed and smiled for what felt like the first time as I heard the instructors "you passed". So that is the end, and yet also the beginning; the end of all the training and the beginning of new responsibilities that with God's help I will use properly. So, a little encouragement to you who start off your driving careers with a bang (literally); there is still hope. If I did it, then I am sure you can too.

May God bless, and I thank all you who were praying yesterday
John B. Sauvé

P.S. Now you need to start really watching your rear view mirrors for that big blue bus with that big foot boy (I mean young man) behind the wheel.

Healthy Living on a New Level

From the early days of the Sauve family, even B.C. (Before Children), caring for the bodies that God has given us and thus healthy eating has been a concern. White refined, bleached flour and white refined sugar were eliminated from the diet, although there was the occasional exceptions, such as ice cream, which was hard to give up. Through the years, pop and coffee were replaced with water, chocolate with carob, cows milk with soy milk, and food coloring with natural colors. Fruit smoothies were a healthy start to two mornings a week and an occasional vegetarian meal made it to the table. In all, healthy eating was the goal as the family grew from two to nine members.

For the last two weeks we have experienced healthy eating on a new level. Charity has worked very hard to serve more "living foods" and meals with the best combinations to aid digestion; this meant not mixing our starches and proteins. We have had fresh fruit each morning, which included large bowls of mixed fruit, apple-strawberry juice, pineapple-orange-strawberry juice (done in the juicer), mango-peach smoothie or orange-grapefruit juice. A mid-morning snack of apple slices, grapes or banana was available to those who wanted them. The goal at lunch was to be careful not to mix our starches and proteins, so our regular affair of peanut butter and jam, or lunch meat and cheese on bread were out for the time being. Instead, we have had different but tasty helpings of harvest soup, vegetable toasties, tomato sandwiches, etc., all with a large salad. Suppers, having the same goal in mind, included Mediterranean rice, carrot hash browns, fish in lemon dill sauce, pasta in a wok, shepherd's pie (bread stuffing topped with mashed potatoes), or a chef's salad with chicken. Other than the chef's salad, all meals were served with a large salad and cooked vegetables.

The meals have been very good and we are getting use to the idea that you don't have to have pasta or potatoes with your meat; vegetables can taste good with either meat or starches. The challenge has been keeping enough fresh fruits, lettuce and vegetables on hand. Juicing or making a fruit or lettuce salad for nine people has been a lot of work, but Charity has done a fabulous job and presents a pretty hard act to follow for Faith who is the cook for the next two weeks. In any case, we are thankful for the variety of foods God has given us to enjoy and we acknowledge His blessings in giving us such an abundance.

Warm Weather Modesty – or the Lack of it . . . .

from:
Mountains of Mourne
"I believe that when writin', a wish you expressed
As to how the fine ladies in London were dressed.
Well, if you'll believe me, when asked to a ball,
Faith! they don't wear no tops to their dresses at all!

Oh, I've seen them myself and you could not, in truth,
Say if they were bound for a ball or a bath!
Don't be startin' them fashions now, Mary Macree,
Where the Mountains of Mourne sweep down to the sea."

I really had to chuckle the first time I heard those verses sung by one of the Irish Tenors. The author's blatant descriptions of the clothing fashions in London, are quite humorous, to say the least, but they are also (unfortunately) descriptive of some of the dresses that are worn these days. The words to the above song, came rollicking through my mind last Sunday as we were driving home from church. The reason for such un-pious thoughts on the Lord's Day? . . . . Well, the weather happened to be gorgeous, warm, sunny, and 70's. As we drove through one of the more densely populated cities, we couldn't help but notice the great number of people that were out taking advantage of the nice weather. The only problem was that it looked as if most of them had left half their clothes at home!

I recently read this amusing yet frightful quote, "It use to take a whole sheep to clothe a woman, now a silk worm can do it on his lunch break!" (1)

My dear sisters in Christ, as the weather gets warmer, and with it our wardrobes become lighter, can we all try to keep in mind Whose child we are? We are daughters of the King ~ princesses! And therefore should be dressing so as not to bring shame to our Father, but to honor Him and give Him glory. He has told us to dress in "modest apparel." Now don't start getting worried that Faith is going to tell everyone that they have to wear long dresses and skirts all the time. I know many of you do, and that is the boundary line that God has drawn out for me also, but I am not going to impose it on anyone. All I ask is that each of us look carefully at our wardrobes, with God's leading, and each time we get dressed, ask the question: "Does my appearance bring glory to my Heavenly Father, or will this, shirt, skirt, pair of pants etc, perhaps cause a dear brother in Christ to stumble?"

Enjoy the lovely Spring weather, my friends! Take pleasure in all the beautiful flowers, and tiny new leaves, the birds' trilling songs and the sweet, fresh air. Revel also in the seasons of change in your own life, as you grow more into the image of your dear Savior, and strive to glorify Him in everything you do.

Yours Truly,
Faith

(1) His Chosen Bride By: Jennifer Lamp