The Carpenter and his Dog

 Josiah has always been interested in woodwork of all sorts, and was absolutely thrilled when he received some chisels for his birthday from Josh and Theresa.

 He put the chisels to work right away by carving his name into one of our stumps out back by the pond, but he was not just satisfied with such simple uses and on Tuesday (that gorgeously warm day) he spent most of the time outside hard at work on a project.

 One of his other birthday gifts, given to him by Mr. Reiche, was a draw knife.   He was thrilled to get it, for he has been wanting a draw knife forever, and decided to use it to make a mallet to use on another long waited for and just arrived possession; a froe (a type of axe, not a hairstyle;).

 The sunshine was warm, and it made Sadie Rose drowsy, and comfy, as she sat next to Josiah waiting for scraps of wood to chew on.

 After forming the basic shape, Josiah began to file away the wood.

 When he was finished the wood was soft and smooth, so much so that you could not have gotten a splinter if you tried.

 "Tadie Wose!!"

 (transalation: Sadie Rose ;P )

The maul was soon finished and was quickly put to use breaking in Josiah's froe.  Josiah is now concentrating on sharpening all his different chisels and as soon as he is done, who knows what various pieces of wood working we will find all about the yard! :)

~Chs

It is Still Winter

While you are savoring this marvelously, wonderfully, out-of-place, too-warm weather, I thought you might enjoy this video... Just to keep it all in perspective.  This video was taken only 3 days ago.  Uh-huh.  So don't let yourself get tricked into thinking that spring is here, despite what all the crocuses and daffodil shoots are trying to say.  Don't listen to them.  This is only the last day of January!!!  There are still February and March to go, so hold on, and prepare yourself for more winter.

"The Spinning Sledders!!!"

Daniel, Josiah and Faith respectively were trying to see how many spins they could execute between the second downhill and the "tunnel" during a Saturday evening sled with the Brysons at Mr. Reiche's house.  If you listen closely you can hear that Faith completed four 360ºs before reaching the bottom.  Quite the accomplishment :)

 Meanwhile I satisfied myself with going down the normal way with the girls (minus one very interesting spill) and taking photos and videos of both the crazy sledders and the beautiful lights! 

I have to keep admonishing myself to thank God for each and every fluctuation of temperature, knowing that He is in control does help, and I must continue to remind myself that.....

IT IS STILL WINTER!!

~Chs

17 years later...

 On January 23rd, 1995, the third (and last) boy was born into the Sauvé family.  17 years and 6 feet 6 inches later Josiah continues to delight us with quick humor and intensely creative ways.

 For his birthday Josiah asked to go for a walk at Beaver Lake trails as he has done for the past few years.  The rain held up long enough for us to go for a nice long hike with Mr. Reiche and Grace along too.

 The trails were a bit sloppy but navigable, and the rain had left behind some beautiful sights.

 We took both the dogs with us and Sadie was a bulldozer.  She loved running down hill at top speed.

 Rain drops lodged themselves on Rose Hips along the way creating a beautiful sight.

 On one of the paths we took, we went by a couple old foundations.  It would have been amazing to have seen what the buildings looked like in their prime.

"The Birthday Boy and his Dogs"

 We stopped at Pinacle Peek where Mr. Reiche was kind enough to take a picture of us, before heading down and homeward.

 Josiah had requested a covered bridge cake, and though it was a bit difficult to complete, we finally managed.  Who knew covered bridges tasted so good? :)

 Then we began to open gifts:)

 Anyone guess what this present is?

 Josiah still is very interested in Eric Sloane and his books, and was thrilled with Faith's gift of a box set of "Eric Sloane's DO: a little book of early American know-how" and "Eric Sloane's DON'T: a little book of early American Gentility"

For dinner Josiah requested a German meat platter with all the sides.

We are very thankful for our tallest youngest boy.  He is our brave, persistent, creative, amusing, slightly stubborn, intelligent, and affectionate boy, and we love him very much!
~Chs

Dedicated to Sledding!

 Saturday morning dawned bright, clear, and snowy.  We knew, looking at the forecast, that the snow wouldn't last long, and therefore determined to make the best of it and go to Mr. Reiche's once again, this time with some friends.

 Despite the sun, the sled run still looked to be in good shape, and we were eager to try it out.

 The Fultz had not yet arrived but Josiah and Faith did a few test runs to help "smooth" out the run.

 The Fultz soon arrived, and sleds started speeding down the run one after another.

 Sister was a professional sledder and soon was going down all by herself!

 The favorite way for the children to go down though, was on a "big" persons back;)

 Tiny was rather afraid of the height of the ramp at first but slowly and surely he found out how fun it was and went down multiple times, always with a companion of course.

Go Sister!!!!

 A happy sledder :)

 Mr. Reiche still had his Christmas lights strung up along the path and though they were not on, the sun created some beautiful images shining on the bulbs.

 Once everyone was "sledded out" we returned to our house where Tiny helped me whip up a batch of Hot Chocolate while the rest of the children played outside.

It was a lovely afternoon and we all cannot wait until it snows again so we can return to Mr. Reiche's sled hill, as well as other hills we have not been to this year.  But even if we don't get the much prayed for snow we are grateful for what God has given us and for the fellowship that we have had in His great outdoors.

~Chs

A Week of Parties!

 Alright, well not quite "parties." I guess a week of fellowship would be a better title but you get the idea.

Our first activity was scheduled on Wednesday evening (though we had quite a lot of smaller business early in the week).  On Wednesday we all packed in the van and headed over to Flint to have dinner with Grace and the Mixon family.

We all laughed and talked in the kitchen while last minute touches were put on the dinner.

Little Selah, the Mixon's baby charmed us all with smiles, funny expressions, and noises which she alone new the translation to.

Dinner was at last announced and we all sat down for a sumptuous repast.

Chicken Pot pie, a Salad Platter, and Rolls were all passed around and enjoyed by all.

At least almost all; the only food Manoah would touch was the applesauce, and he nearly emptied a whole jar!! :)

After the dishes were cleared away some settled down to talk, others played an ancient phonograph, and the rest "played pool"....Translation: crawled on top of the pool table pushing the balls into the holes and then fetching them out, to start the whole process over again. (at least the littlest did the crawling the rest just watched.)

We had a wonderful evening of fellowship, and hope to be able to see the Mixon's again soon.

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Thursday night we went to the Ostranders for a Bible study.  We are currently watching through a video series by R.C Sproul on Martin Luther.  It is very insightful and interesting.

Friday evening found us at the home of our dear friends the Roehrers.

We enjoyed a delicious meal, and then watched an informative video by Joel Salatin about his farm in Virginia, interrupted only to partake of a decadent Chocolate Turtle cake.

We are very thankful for all of our friends and fellow believers and for their generosity and fellowship!!

~Chs