This week at our house...

Natalee turned 11!  :)

Jane went to Girl's camp, and Nathan and I also got to go for a day.  The theme was from the scripture in Ephesians chapter 6, about putting on the whole armor of God.  It was very spiritual.  Jane also earned her Personal Progress Award.  It involves many hours of service, lots of scripture study,  and is similar to a young man earning his Eagle Scout.  We are very proud of her.

Jesse built a BIG teeter totter.

 Nathan is starting the foundation for a shed.

Happy Father's Day to my Man!

 Sure do love my husband!  I am so grateful he is the father of our children, and so grateful for the great job he does teaching them and that he loves children...lots of children:)

 Brent and Johnny making fajitas and hiding from the camera.

June Flowers

 Jed opening the snapdragon's "mouth"

That man is amazing!

My sweet husband, with the help of some of the boys, went to a lot of work for Mother's Day this year.  He built me a PERGOLA!   We didn't know that was what its called till we found it online, but I knew I wanted something that I could grow wisteria up.  He did a fabulous job, and I am loving it!  I got wisteria planted on 3 corners, in white, pink, and blue/purple.  The 4th corner has Halls Honeysuckle, and I have a potted jasmine plant.  I love the sweet scents that come from these plants!  That was a ton of work; now the question is, what am I going to do for him for Father's Day?  Mend his pants?  haha  I'll never catch up with his kindnesses.

I am looking forward to spending more time as a family in the yard.

This is what the one at the local nursery looks like.  It took 6 years to get that big.  I will try to be patient:)

Finally got my signs done:)

I made these signs years ago and painted the words on with white paint on a green background.  I tried hard and did my best, but the words  just didn't show up and I finally took the signs down because they weren't that inspirational if you couldn't see the words.  But, my sweet sister-in-law saved the day.  She knew someone that cuts vinyl and got the words cut out for me.  I repainted the signs, and she showed me how to put the vinyl on.  I love the way they turned out, and got them up on the walls right away.  Thanks Pam! :)

Book Reveiw- "Is That Really You, God?"

My dear friend who is also a Christian, really liked this book and suggested I read it.  It is the very interesting journey of a man -Loren Cunningham- who loves Christ and follows Him.  He had a vision of waves of youth going out to do missionary work and bringing the gospel to people in all parts of the world.  He learns through trial and error how to listen to the Lord and follow the Lord, bringing the praise and glory to Him and not being focused on the tools He gives to accomplish our missions.

He started the group YWAM, which stands for Youth With A Mission.  It was interesting to see the way Loren was led to start schools and ministries in different parts of the world, and even to buy a mercy ship to take relief items to those in need.
In the back of the book, he outlines the Twelve Points to remember:  Hearing the Voice of God.
I like the way he talks about being careful not to be deceived by the enemy, waiting on God to answer in His own time and way, using the Wise Man Principle , where God confirms things with 2 or more witnesses, being aware of counterfeits and at times expect opposition.

We all have a unique calling, or ministry from God, and we need to be humble and prayerful in asking and listening to the Lord to learn what His will is for us.

I really like that he wanted his ministries to be non-denominational.  I believe that as Christians, we ARE all the same team, and we need to band together to fight back the evils of the day.   We are here to share the good news of Jesus Christ with everyone in the world.  We don't have time or energy to be nit-picking each other, we need to look at what we have in common, the teachings of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and go forward with faith to help and teach others the gospel.  I liked the way Loren insisted on his ministries being non-denominational, so that all who wanted to serve could participate.
There was one word in there that I didn't really understand what it meant in the given context:  release.  And then I heard it again on the Duggar show last night.  Can anyone tell me what it means in a religious aspect?

Sariah's 1st Area

Sariah (Sister Wadsworth) is serving in Belle Harbor, New York.  She loves it there and is very busy teaching the gospel.  Please keep her in your prayers, as there are some pretty rough areas in her mission.  We are very happy for her and really enjoyed her detailed letter and the pictures she sent. (You can read her letter on her blog (http://sistersariahmarie.blogspot.com/)