Bible reading program

Jere and I have been doing a certain Bible reading program for the last several months. We've enjoyed it so much I thought I should share it! At first it does sound a bit daunting, but it really isn't once you get used to it. It's ten chapters a day, each chapter from a different section of the Bible. There are ten bookmarks, one for each chapter, and on them they say which books of the Bible that one marker is supposed to be for. For example, marker one says "Matthew, Mark, Luke, John." So first thing, you read one chapter from the gospels. The second one starts in Genesis and goes through Deuteronomy. Each section is a different length so you're not reading through the Bible at the same rate. Marker 7 is the book of Proverbs, so you read the entire book of Proverbs each month. Marker 10 is Acts, so again, you read Acts about once a month. I have found it very, very well set up. The books of the Bible that seem to have the most "meat" are the ones you read the most often. The others are being read too, and not being entirely neglected. Mixing them up so you're reading such a variety every day makes it very interesting, and you can see parallels throughout the Scripture much easier. One of the nicest things about it is that you can take it at your own pace. It IS set up to read 10 a day. But as a busy Mommy, I can't always find the time to read 10 chapters (which, depending on the day, can take me up to 45 minutes, though usually more like half an hour), and if I choose to read 5 chapters instead, the next five won't go anywhere and there's no checklist so I don't feel like I'm getting "behind". Jere actually usually splits it and does 5 a day. For a slow reader like him, I'm impressed! (Nothing against him being a slow reader, by the way. He often thinks through it better than me who sometimes gets into the bad habit of skimming and not really seeing what I'm reading!) Or, on a hard day or one where I'm not feeling well/rocking a child a lot who isn't feeling well, I can easily do 15-20 chapters without screwing up the system. God has been using this greater immersion in His Word to bless us and draw us closer to Him. And it's fun and exciting to do! So, here is the link to the site where you can download the bookmarks.

The ZOO! And a bike trip!

Here is the most recent family photo! ENJOY!

We had a blast at the Milwaukee Zoo. It was huge and we spent pretty much the whole day walking and looking and teaching our little fellahs. Jere and Jaron got a close up of the giraffe feeding time, we went to the Seal/Sea Lion show, and saw everything you expect to see at a zoo and then some. Leanna pretty much stayed in the carrier, and Eliott took over the stroller. It was a LONG day for all of us, but very enjoyable! Jaron's favorite thing was hands-down the monkeys, but he really seemed excited about the elephants and alligators too. It was actually raining in the morning when we got up, but by the time we did a little shopping and got to the zoo it was clearing off. Upon leaving the zoo in the evening it was starting to cloud over again, and rained on our way home. But while we were there the day was picture perfect!

Then today, Memorial Day, we decided to go for a family bike ride on the state bike trail. Our goal is to eventually complete the entire 101 miles of the four connected trails! According to my calculations after our ride today we've done 62 miles so far, and today completed the second section of trail. We do enjoy the time to get out and get some family time doing something together that is just plain fun--well, besides the aching sore shoulders I get after a 14-15 mile ride! (7-71/2 miles one way)! Jaron even joined us on his bike for about a mile. We then hid his bike in the brush and went to our goal point, then picked it up again and let him finish the ride with us. He was quite the trooper going that far, and doggedly kept on and rode all the way to the truck on the way back despite being tired. Well, I was too! :-P My first bike ride of the year, and going that far was, well, challenging! But I loved every minute of the time with my dear and precious family!

The little troop, minus photographer Daddy.

Leanna--video!!!!!

We're at a hotel with high speed internet, so I took the opportunity to upload a recent video of Leanna's progress in learning how to crawl. She's really moving around these days! Enjoy!!

PS The next post will probably contain pictures of our trip to the zoo today!!

Bridal Shower!

On Friday evening we had a bridal shower for Micah's bride, Amy! What fun it was! And yes, less than a month till their wedding now. Wowie, it's coming up fast!

Mother of the groom with the favorite neice. ;-)

The BRIDE!

(And a friend in the background.)

The food line.

During the evening they had a game for the married/engaged/courting ladies. It was a relay race of sorts, with numerous activities to complete--crocheting, planting corn, running a course, singing a song, eating a biggish carrot, playing volleyball, roasting the perfect marshmallow, starting a fire, throwing a frisbee at a target. ..  don't remember what all it was. But there were only two hats per team, and only the ladies wearing the hat could complete the assignments. Made for a lot of laughter and a lot of fun!

Here's the fire starting section--with the larger group in the background.

I somehow missed out on the game--Leanna was eating when it started. But that meant I was free to grab some pictures too! In the end I had to leave a bit early. Jere had an ambulance and I needed to go home and get the little fellahs off Grandpa's hands and into bed. But we had a good evening and I beleive Amy was blessed!

Every day life these days in pictures

Here are some pictures I just got today. Seems like life flies by so fast, and I thought it would be fun to just get some snapshots of everyday things! Hope you don't mind LOTS of pictures this time. :-)

The front flower garden all planted and mulched and ready to grow! Those white flowers are wave petunias and will eventually COVER the entire flowerbed. Remind me to get some more pictures come late summer so you can see how it does!

Our 47 chicks. We lost 4 total so far, much better than last time! And yes, that's Kodi leaping up in the background. He was all excited and hoping I'd come let him out of his kennel.

The garden almost planted! All I have left to put in is the corn, cucumbers, and watermelon. The garlic (far left) was planted last fall, and the peas (the 2 rows with chicken wire trellising) was put in during the warm spell we had in March. I'm expecting it won't be too long till they're blooming and we'll have fresh peas!

Jaron enjoying spring!

And Eliott doing the same!

Flower in the hanging basket I just got. They're stunning!

A hummingbird that showed up while I was snapping flower photos. Nice to have the camera handy! I know the color isn't the best of the bird, but it was fun to get that picture none the less. :-)

And we're THIS close to fresh strawberries!!!!! YUMMY!

Jere's dad and brother harvest the hay on our land. I love the smell of fresh cut hay.

And last but not least, Leanna!!!! She was seriously acting like she was going to crawl today. She'd get up on all fours, and kind of work her way forward. Not the classic see-saw crawl yet, but oh so close! However, she can still cover ground. Watch out for this li'l go-getter!

Leanna--6 months already!!

Jaron's Birthday!

Jaron and the cake! He absolutely loved it! ;-)

We had a blast with his party. The children enjoyed playing together, and the men enjoyed talking farming and farming and more farming. . . At least with all the tactor men we had together, not one asked me what model that tractor cake wassupposed to be! But it must have got them started on the subject because that's about all I heard all evening! For those who know them and are wondering, we had Mark and Cheryl Oberholtzer and their 4 children over. Our children do love playing together!

Jaron this morning with his gifts.

A REAL tool box (with hammer, two screwdrivers, and a tape measure inside) and the longed-for "flute". Now if he could just learn to play it instead of only making noise! :-) Anyone have any hints to help that department?

Sneak preview

Here's a sneaky little look at Jaron's cake! ;-) He hasn't even seen it yet--he spent the day at the shop with Jere. I'm SO excited for him to see it! He's been terribly excited about his birthday and has talked about it for weeks now. Anita, that first picture is 'specially to ease your curiosity how it was put together! And yes, there's a lot of frosting between the two upright pieces--it didn't bake up as thick as I expected so I was trying to get it fatter so it would look more proportionate. Oh well. We'll enjoy it!



FAT!

Never was fat so CUTE!!!



Picnic!

We decided to have a picnic for supper tonight! After being gone most of the day doing various things, and after a couple rough nights in a row due to colds, I was wiped and resorted to hot dogs and canned baked beans! I took the boys' special little table to the front yard where we have some shade in the evenings, Jaron rounded up their "new" little chairs, and so we had a picnic. At 84 idegrees in the house, well, I wasn't too interested in doing much inside till the sun went down!

Some of the items bought while running errands today were parsley and a maple tree. I planted the parsley right away, as well as a few things I had in the cold frame waiting for warmer weather. I still can't be sure that it won't frost, but the mint, cabbage, and wave petunias should handle that OK I think. I'm hoping it stays dry long enough to get the tree planted tomorrow, and so we can work up the garden some more next week so I can finish getting most of our things in. We've already had one spattering of rain this evening, though, so it doesn't look too hopeful. . .

Did I mention last week we got 50 broiler chicks? Call me crazy, but I can't stand eating store bought chicken after eating the home-grown ones most of my life! We've lost 3 or 4 now I think, not good but still not near as bad as last year. At least with doing 50 at a time we only have to do it every other year! :-)