Birthday Bash and Visitors

I know August is already over half way done, but back at the beginning we celebrated a birthday!

Mom made this awesome cake for him, with one of his favorite verses (it was hard to select just one of course...)

We had a wonderful small family party the evening of his birthday.  But the next day we kind of extended the celebration, because Dad's sister Aunt Kathy from Utah, who we haven't seen in 6 or more years, and Dad's Aunt Bee (who Aunt Kathy was staying with) came for a visit!

Both "Aunts" loved visiting with little Robert Gabriel who was over as well!

Aunt Kathy enjoys researching our family history and ancestry, and had found some interesting information in the Bay City area which she shared with us all.  

Great Aunt Kathy

We enjoyed a lovely lunch under the willow tree; the weather was just perfect for it.

Dad and the Ladies! 

We managed to get a photo of all of us more or less smiling at the camera, even Momma Sadie Rose!! :)  It was a wonderful visit, and hopefully it won't be another 6-7 years before we get to see them again!

~Chs

Newest Addition

So, I realize it had been a little quiet around here recently.  Hopefully that will change, but meanwhile I think this story might explain some of the reason why. :)

It was Saturday evening, July 19th, it had been a crazy busy weekend, and I finally got to crash on a sleeping bag next to the new puppies to keep an ear on them during the night.

~~~~~~~~~~

Suddenly my eyes flew open, my nerves jarred awake by the ring of my phone laying next to me, before my eyes could focus on the bright screen, I knew..  I knew that this was the call I had been waiting for the past week.  I answered trying to sound awake, ready, in control.  "Hello, this is Christianna" (it didn't come out as clear as I hoped)  On the other end came my brothers voice. "It's time! The baby is coming today!"
As succinctly as possible at 5:30 in the morning I told him I would be there as soon as I could, then staggered to my feet to collect my camera and a back pack.
Soon I was driving east to their apartment trying desperately to stay awake, and see through the thick fog.
I arrived at the apartment, thanked the LORD for safety, and tiptoed up the stairs.

The next few hours, were full of whispered encouragement, filling the pool with water, getting people drinks, taking pictures....

Baby Robert Gabriel Sauve, arrived at 9:47 AM on July 20th 2014.  Only seconds after his entrance into the world, he opened up his little eyes and looked around at his new home!

Brand new Daddy, with his little boy.
"I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the need for a father's protection."

"A baby will make love stronger, days shorter, nights longer, bankroll smaller, home happier, clothes shabbier, the past forgotten, and the future worth living for."

Holding on to Daddy.

"Aside from new babies, new mothers must be the most beautiful creatures on earth."

"Babies are never common, each one is a miracle."

Grandparents for the first time. 

"We never know the love of our parents for us till we have become parents."

"Until you have a son of your own... you will never know the joy, the love beyond feeling that resonates in the heart of a father as he looks upon his son. You will never know the sense of honor that makes a man want to be more than he is and to pass something good and hopeful into the hands of his son."

Joshua, who  is in the National Guard, is heading over seas for a month.  We are so grateful that he got to spend time with his "little man" before he left.  Please pray for him and for Theresa and the baby here.

~Chs

Cheaper by the Dozen... Almost

The day we had been holding our breath and waiting for arrived.  On Thursday afternoon Sadie Rose had her puppies.  

The first little girl arrived at 4:30pm, and after that boy after boy after boy popped out.  By 7:00 we had 6 puppies, 4 boys and 2 girls.  

 {Tux, the second puppy and biggest boy!}

She took a bit of a break after that, but an hour and a half later she started again.  At 9:30pm the 9th puppy entered the world, the 3rd beautiful girl.  

We all kind of hoped that, that was that!  Sadie had been 1 of 9 and she only had 9 nipples so 9 was a good number we thought.  Sadie had other ideas and an hour later made it an even 10.  For sure that would be it! I mean that's quite a large litter!!  Nope.  11:30pm found us welcoming Mo (short for "the last of the Mohicans") who as his name implies was indeed the last puppy.  She almost made it to a dozen... just not quite. :)   

They all have temporary identification names.  Just to be able to tell them apart. :)

This is Major.  Handsome little guy!

:P

Sleepy Stubby.

Little Dash didn't want to show his adorable peanut butter eyebrows. :)

Some of the puppies got "re-named".  This one is now called Skunk.

Sleepy girls, Fan and Solo.

Of course they are growing up SO fast, changing each day (these pictures are a few days old...) Their eyes should open any day now!!  

Puppy visits are open by appointment only.  Comment for reserving your time slot. :)

~Chs

Farm-sitting and a Sunday Walk

This past weekend we have been farm sitting for a family, and one of the animals we have to take care of is this darling little calf!

Hungry little fellow!

The "big-bad bull" Maverick.  He is a short legged Dexter bull. Emphasis on the "short legged".

Goofy little Kittens.

A week or so ago Josiah, Faith and I took our Sunday evening walk at Algoe lake.

There were pretty dragonflies everywhere....

And lots of snakes too.  Can you spot him?

I have some big blog posts coming up; we have lots of new arrivals around here!!!

~Chs

A Party Down by the River

Tuesday afternoon found our family joining Aunt Carmen and Uncle Tim, and Aunt Myrt down by the river for a party....

Celebrating the birthday's of these two beautiful Ladies who we are SO blessed to have in our lives.

Mom and Aunt Carmen, though they are twins, are so very different from each other, uniquely wonderful, irreplaceable, with their own extremely special places in our hearts!

The cake was made in the shape of the Fort Gratiot Lighthouse, partly in memory of Grandma who loved lighthouses.

The other reason is that we had plans for going to the Fort Gratiot lighthouse that afternoon and climb all 100 and some steps!  But unfortunately a storm blew up and we had postpone our visit for a later date.

"Happy Birthday to YOU!!" {Something only a twin can do}

Aunt Carmen's gift to Mumsie was a beautiful, super soft, blanket with Africa on it!  Stunning!

Of course a birthday wouldn't be complete without having a ship go by.  We actually had two go by!

It was an absolutely lovely day by the water, (even if we didn't make it to the lighthouse).   We thank God so much for a Godly family, especially our Mumsie and Aunt Carmen!

~Chs

The Last Hurrah

So this actually happened a little while ago, but it was simply scrumptious and rather pretty too.

The very last of the Strawberries were picked, and we just couldn't do something boring, like freezing them, so in celebration we made a strawberry cream trifle. 

It was delicious, a good choice for the last hurrah of the strawberries.  The official count was 185 quarts of strawberries.  We of course are very very grateful for so many berries, but our aching backs are just as thankful that they are finished! 

We were going to just eat half of the bowl (it was rather large) but.... cream and strawberries never hurt anybody right?, and it would have been a shame to take up room in the fridge, so it was all finished in one night! 

So there's the story of the last of the strawberries!

~Chs