Channukah

On the last day of Channukah we had everyone up for dinner. After dinner we lit the Martin's menorah and had a great time of praise and worship while the candles melted away.

David is playing the guitar in the background while Regina, David & Lavonne are worshiping at the table.

The kids wanted to give each other gifts for Channukah. I teased them that they were trying to materialize YHWH's Biblical holidays. They love giving and receiving and they did it all themselves so I didn't complain. They picked out clothes for each other from our thrift store, and Deborah, Quentin and Anna made swords and shields for the younger kids. They've been reading a series of books about the medieval times, so they're into swords and shields at the moment.

My Granddad turns 99

My Granddad celebrated his 99th birthday! Below is our family with him during the summer of 2009 when we got to visit him on our trip across America.God has blessed my Granddad and he is in great health after 99 years. He still enjoys keeping an eye on my Dad's sheep and horses from his back porch. I can remember him keeping on eye on me as I fed the cows with the pickup before I was old enough to have a driver's license...

He is a faithful man and a great example to us all...
I'm already trying figure out a way for us to be there for his 100th birthday party!

Cheda Mary turns 94 & Thanksgiving

Lavonne's Cheda (Grandmother) Mary turn 94. We had a big party to celebrate.

Lavonne's Mom, Claudine, standing behind Cheda Mary, organized the party. Cheda Mary's daughter Dorthy and Daughter-in-law Pauline, are helping Cheda with her presents.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration. Thanking Yahuwah for His provisions to us.

Below Anna is making one of many pies.

Deborah and Sarah are relaxing on the couch as the pies bake. You can tell how much Sarah enjoyed helping by the remains on her face.
Quentin, Joshua and the little boys set up an extra table and put pretty Thanksgiving tablecloths on. Then Quentin showed the boys how his latest electronics purchase (he's building a robot) works.

Lavonne & Josh joined us in Thanksgiving.

Myron & Teri, David, Gilana, and Kinsey also celebrated with us.

John is a caretaker at a lodge nearby for the winter. He drove in on his ATV and brought a delicious macaroni salad to share with us.

Everyone had a great time and we Praise Yahuwah because He cares so much for us.

Sde Boker, Haircuts and School

Kelly took some good pictures of Abigail and the tent Paul helped put up while they were in Sde Boker. I borrowed a couple from her blog "the Glik Family Journal" you can find it on my right sidebar. Below is Abigail with the Glik's oldest daughter Kai and the Travis' two girls Carmen and Mikki. All of the families Abigail and Paul stayed with while they were in Israel had girls right around Abigail's age. She made many new friends and it made the trip even more special.

Paul and Abigail were able to attend a Father's Heart Conference while they were in Sde Boker. Paul helped Mike set up the tent they held the meetings in.

Paul is the official haircutter in our house. He loves precision work. The boys were in great need of haircuts by the time he got home. Anna wanted to learn to cut hair so Paul is teaching her how. Homeschool Haircutting 101... Joshua was the brave recipient of Anna's first haircut.
It's minus 3 degrees outside as I write this . The ice got thick enough that they marked it. Once they mark it the kids are free to play on it. A pair of ice skates just my size came into the thrift store and the kids talked me into going out with them. It's been a long time since I've been on skates. We didn't do to much of it growing up in North Carolina... I didn't fall down though, Yea!!!
Abigail has been getting back into the routine of our regular schooling, which is not very regular at all, after her wonderful field trip to Israel. She is very much like her Dad in so many ways... The picture below gives a good example of that. Paul loves a nice sharp pencil whenever he has to use one. I had to chuckle and take a picture of Abigail as she was working at the table with seven pencils (count them) all sharpened to a fine point. I asked her why she needed so many and she told me she wouldn't be able to finish her math and science without that many because they got dull so fast.
It's hard to keep good pencils with eight brothers and sisters. The next day I found Abigail working with only four pencils because someone had helped themselves to her stash.