Daniel's 7th Birthday

Daniel turned seven last Thursday, Thanksgiving Day. With everyone here for Thanksgiving, he got enough gifts to spoil him, though some of them are being used by Nate and Dad as much as by Daniel... the remote-control helicopter particularly, which Paul got for Daniel. =D

opening his presents...

And let's not forget the birthday spankings!!! =D

 One of Daniel's gifts took a bit of before-hand planning. (To keep it a secret from him, we called it the Manhattan Project. =D) Since it wasn't something we could wrap up, Dad wrote a little jingle to tell him what it was...

I think he looks like our cousin, Lincoln, in this picture. Scary! lol =D (Don't tell Lincoln I said that, Gram! =D)

In case you can't read it:
Today is your special day, We think you will shout hurray!
For you we have a big surprise which will really put you on a rise.
We know you like to climb the trees, and swing and sway in the breeze.
So how about a house off the ground, that you can play in all year round?
You'll need a ladder to climb up in, and a door somewhere to let you in.
And side to protect you from the mouse, that may want to camp in your TREE HOUSE. 

The hilarious thing was that he didn't get it at first!! =D But he was very excited once we explained that he was getting a tree house!

Dad and Nate (though mostly Nate) built the tree house in a large oak tree at the corner of our yard on Thursday and Friday.

It turned out to be quite large... and higher off the ground than Mom anticipated. =D

Nathan cut round pieces of wood into the right length and used them for pickets, which look really cool. He even made a trap door above where the ladder is. He's going to make a wooden ladder of some sort later, I think.

Daniel really enjoys his new tree house!

O taste and see that the LORD is good

I hope all of you had as enjoyable of a Thanksgiving as we did. All the married kids and my grandparents were able to come for a couple days. Daniel's birthday was also on Thursday (and he got so many presents he's going to be spoiled!! =D), but I'll post those pics later so as not to bore you all with a lengthy post.

Melinda and Andrew came Wednesday afternoon, and we girls made the pies for Thanksgiving dinner. It was fun to cook together...

Lindy rolling out pie dough

Mom washing dishes

Me checking on the pies

Nathan and Andrew wanted to help... lol... but we threw them out of the kitchen! =D

Gram and Pap arrived Wednesday evening and Paul, Priscilla, and Victor got in late that night. The next day, little Victor had many hands ready to hold him...but of course, we didn't spoil him! lol =D

Lunch was delicious!!

In the evening we played games and, later, volleyball. (Don't have any pics though..was actually dark outside. Yes, it was an interesting game playing in the dark! =))

playing Bananagrams... soooooo fun!

Lindy and Beth playing Life on the Farm.. and being silly =D

With some struggling, we managed to harness the guys long enough to take the usual family pictures...

Group pic

Gram and Pap with all the grandkids, and great-grandkid... and Bear, Paul's dog

Mom and Dad with all the kids and grandkid.... and Bear, of course =)

Been a long time since we had a family pic of just the original eight of us

Priscilla, Paul, Victor, and Bear

Andrew and Melinda

Four Generations: Pap, Dad, Paul, and Victor

Gram, Mom, Priscilla, and Victor

I'm very thankful for my wonderful, though-not-perfect, family, and thankful that we were all able to get together this week!

A Time to Remember

Here is a slideshow of some old pictures of us. Hope you enjoy seeing them as much as I did (though it is a little scary to see ourselves so little =D).

These are mostly from 4-6 years ago. The ones with all the snow are from our visit back to Maine in 2008 (NC doesn't get that much snow!! =)). Some are from Paul's graduation from boot camp, and some are just normal everyday pictures. Sorry they aren't exactly in order or grouped together right. The program switched them all up and I was too lazy to go back through and fix it. =) But enjoy...

Veterans Day

A special thank-you today to all our armed forces who have served or still are serving our country!

"In Honor of our Heroes" by Ronald Reagan

"For men shall be lovers of their own selves. . . lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God"

"Those who will not be governed by God will be ruled by tyrants."  ~William Penn

I greatly fear for my country when Americans are willing to give up their liberty for welfare and government handouts... for their "Obama phones" (if you haven't seen that, it's here).

We were all quite discouraged when we looked up the results this morning. It makes me sick (and angry) to think how far our country has come away from principles on which it was founded. Most people today have no principle. They live only for what they can get for as little work as possible. They snub God's Word, God's people, and God Himself.

"Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power? ... Lo, their good is not in their hand: the counsel of the wicked is far from me. How oft is the candle of the wicked put out! and how oft cometh their destruction upon them! God distributeth sorrows in his anger." (Job 21:7)

"Yea, the light of the wicked shall be put out, and the spark of his fire shall not shine." (Job 18:5)

The wicked will have their hay day, but it will be short-lived.


"God grants liberty only to those who love it and are always ready to guard and protect it." ~Daniel Webster

We must always defend our rights and liberties. We must always stand for our beliefs.

Our light shines brightest in the dark.

Presidential Election 2012

Today, our country votes between a Muslim and a Mormon.

Today, our country votes between abortion and life.

Today, our country votes between gun control and the right to keep and bear arms.

Today, our country votes between big government and federalism.

Today, our country votes between Communism and freedom.

You fill in the blank. The list could go on.  The choice seems to be obvious, yet they say the race is still close.

Why? These guys can answer much better than I can attempt to:

"America is great because America is good. When America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great."  ~Alexis de Tocqueville

"Liberty is impossible without morality, and morality is impossible without faith."  ~Alexis de Tocqueville

"Our ancestors established their system of government on morality and religious sentiment. Moral habits, they believed, cannot be safely trusted on any other foundation than religious principle, nor any government be secure which is not supported by moral habits. . . Whatever makes men good Christians, makes them good citizens."  ~Daniel Webster

"Religion and virtue are the only foundations . . . of republicanism and of all free government."  ~John Adams

"It is impossible to rightly govern . . . without God and the Bible." ~George Washington

"Though the people support the government, government should not support the people."  ~ Cleveland 

"Americanism means the virtues of courage, honor, justice, truth, sincerity and hardihood—the virtues that made America. The things that will destroy America are prosperity-at-any-price, peace-at-any-price, safety-first instead of duty-first, and love-of-soft-living, and the get-rich-quick theory of life."

~ Theodore Roosevelt

"The meaning of America is not to be found in a life without toil. Freedom is not only bought with a great price; it is maintained by unremitting effort."    ~ Calvin Coolidge

There's your answer.