The Alpacas wool, just like sheep, can be used to make different useful pieces of clothing by spinning yarn for knitting or crocheting socks or sweaters, and it also can has been used to make stuffed animals and as you can see in this pictures, this particular farm made teddy bears!  

 

TurtleBee HoneyTree Farms! Ever since we took a class from the Bennet family on bee keeping several years ago (and found out that mom and Mrs. Bennet knew each other many years ago), we have alway enjoyed stopping by their booth and enjoying their products, at the different conferences that we have attend. Therefore, this time was no different, as we walked through one of the large barns and spotted the golden/yellow hew of the honey filled jars and piles of beautifully molded bees wax candles that covered the tables and shelves of the family's booth.

Which one should I get? Along with the purchase of a pound of bees wax, Charity also received a small bees wax candle that Mrs. Bennet gave her as a birthday gift!  

A colorful table overflowing with a variety of organically grown vegitables. 

Before we left, we stopped by the small tent designated as 'the petting farm' which housed a variety of animals consisting of rabbits, ducks, chickens, a two day old calf, two sheep and two ponies! 

The two adorable ponies enjoyed being petted and scratched and would give us 'kisses' for carrots!

...and of course Grace had to get a picture with the friendly little pony! 

"Faith is to believe what we do not see,
and the reward of this faith is to see what we believe."

~Augustine

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1

An Amazing Creation...The Chinchilla!

A few weeks ago I had the exciting opportunity to teach a class about one of God's amazing creations! A friend of ours asked me if I would be willing to bring my two Chinchillas to her class and show and tell the kids about these special animals, so of course I said yes! Ever since we got our first chinchilla, Sage, about 6 years ago, I have learned so much about these adorable little creatures and love to tell others the history and amazing characteristic of this animal.

Of course the very first thing that I told the children in the class was that these
little guys are classified as the softest animal in the world! Where as we only have 1 strand of hair per follicle, the Chinchilla has 80 to 100!

Even though the class was made up of about 12 1st graders, they paid attention very well and were surprisingly able to tell back almost word for word what I had told them!

"This is Sage. He is about 10 years old, is most likely totally blind, but is very friendly and loves to be scratched under his chin."





After I told a little about the history of the Chinchilla and how they came to be in America ( in 1924 a man by the name of Mathias Chapman captured 11 Chins over in the Peruvian mountain range of the Andes and brought them over to California to start a breeding farm.) I took out Sage and let the kids pet him and feel his soft coat. I then brought out my second Chinchilla, Basil, who is only 2 years old and who lives up to the true characteristics of this animal in the way of high energy and being able to jump up to 6 feet, and had him demonstrate another unique quality the Chinchilla displays. Because their fur is so dense, if they get it wet in anyway it will mat all up and look lumpy. So to stay clean and fluffy they take their baths in volcanic ash or dust.

Basil really gets into his bath time activity! He loves to roll and flip and therefore put on quite the show to the excitement of the whole class!

The little dust master!


Sooner than I expected, my time was up and the class quickly answered a few simple questions about the Chinchilla and then moved on. My enjoyment of the whole time was not however diminished and if, Lord willing, I am ever able to give another class about these unique little animals I would be delighted to, for the whole purpose of bringing glory to our Lord for His all powerful hand displayed through creation in this amazing creature, the Chinchilla!

Grace <><
(Photographs by Faith)

Relative Visitors

Last Wednesday we had a small family reunion when Dad's brother, our Uncle Dave and their Aunt Bev came over for dinner. Uncle Dave was in from California for a reunion with his former co-workers at the Dearborn Post Office and was able to spend that evening with us. It was an enjoyable time spent eating a delicious dinner of homemade pizza, catching up on the latest happening in the western and northern parts of our family, hearing the many interesting stories our uncle had to tell and talking about by-gone days.

Historic remembrance. Uncle Dave reads throught Dad's childhood book he made in grade school, remembering teachers, classmates and different things they did as a family. 

 

Dad, Aunt Bev and Uncle Dave. 

Parading in Hadley!

Even though the reason for going to the parade was to support and promote Mr. Shepherd and his campaign, I am sad to say that this is the only picture I got of our float, and worst of all, it doesn't even have Mr. Shepherd in it!! If you haven't already, please check out his website and if you live up in the Lapeer or St. Claire county area, please stand up for truth and the foundations this nation was built on and vote this fall for Howard Shepherd for Michigan State Senate! www.shepherdforsenate.com

We had heard that the theme of the Hadley festival days had something to do with quilts, so we each brought the few blankets that we had and as it turned out, were the only float (or vehicle) in the parade sporting the symbol of the that small town! 

The only other float in the parade was also promoting the election of another political officer. A good friend of many of the families in our church, Brian Ervin is running for State Representative with the U.S. Tax Payers Party. 

Jennie Ervin and her honoring sign supporting her father. 

The little patriot!