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A Few Things We are Attempting to Learn this Summer...

We have been trying to learn more about God's design for everything. It is like going back in time and trying to get to the basics or foundations in every area of life. I have found that I am often asking my Heavenly Father what is His design; whether it be food, marriage, family, animals etc. It has definitely been very eye opening and even though God is so complex He has such "simple" principles to follow. The day in which we live, the "improvements" in personal care products, cleaning products, food etc. they not only hurt our bodies but trap us into having to work so hard to make more money to spend waaaaaaaaay too much money! When we as individuals, churches, or nations get away from His design we really smart for it and get so entangled in complicated messes. So, all that to say we are SIMPLIFYING our lives. Using things more natural like making our own laundry soap, liquid hand soap, (not too happy with the dishwashing liquid so far), dish washer soap (really cheap) learning about heirloom seeds and saving seeds to replant, making deodorant (btw--it really works!) by using simple natural ingredients in my pantry :) I am finding that God placed us here on earth with all the things that we need to take care of our needs. Though there are many natural items for sale, they are very pricey and so we have been learning what we can do to make what we can... so, that has been keeping us busy...learning, learning, learning :)

A lovely English/Scottish tea time

What a lovely afternoon Kristalyn, Kaylianna and I had going to Mary-Ellen's home for a special tea time. During our special time together, Mary Ellen shared many memories of her growing up in England and the traditions of tea times. We had a delightful and relaxing afternoon with delicious traditional foods. We were very spoiled! Since Kaylianna was sick earlier in the year when we all went out together, Mary Ellen had promised a special tea for her. Boy, did she make it special! The girls received beautiful flowers, little personal animal creamers, and cute little Engllish Lustre Carlton Ware pieces from a collection she has and little miniature tea pots of her very own that were adorable. These memories will always be special in the lives of my girls! There is no way that I can even express the value that the Long's have given to all my children. It is sad that we live so many miles from the children's grandparents and certainly no one can replace them but God has truly blessed us with adopted grandparents in the Longs and we are truly grateful!

A whole week of birthday celebrations :)

We started off the birthday celebrations  with "the girls"  having a luncheon together at the Guenther House.  Since both sets of Grandparents are in IL, John and Mary-Ellen have "adopted" the kids as their grandchildren.  So Mary-Ellen planned a special outing to celebrate Katherine's birthday.  We had a delightful day!  Thank you Mary-Ellen!



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It was such a treat to have Megan visit from Illinois during the week of Katherine's birthday! The day before her birthday they were able to go bowling and play volleyball with some dear "old" and new friends. She was surprised by her brothers with a birthday cake and celebration. (Thank you Carole for picking up the cake for us). Of course the rest of us wanted to celebrate her 21st birthday with her so we planned a birthday dinner and had the Roberts' family over to celebrate with us :) It was also Tonya's birthday the next day so we just did a double celebration.


~ It took 2-3 people to keep the b'day hat on Katherine for more than 5 seconds



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Next came Dad's birthday. We started the day off with delicious pancakes with berries and whipped cream topping for breakfast (thank you Kristalyn). Then we all headed for church and met Vince and Nikkae there. Because of it being the 5th Sunday, the church does a meal afterwards so we just told Rick that everyone in the church was celebrating his birthday with him with all kinds of desserts :) :) And what a grand celebration it was! It was also a special day for us as we joined our hearts with the church family of 1st Baptist Church in Floresville and became members. How blessed we have been by the God's people there. Later in the evening Nikkae and Vince came over to continue to celebrate Dad's birhtday so we ate chili and made homemade ice cream with fresh milk from our dairy cow (mmmmmmm) and then opened presents and played games.




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And last, or at least for a few days, Jonathan's birthday. We tried to think of something different and also trying to make it possible for Nikkae and Vince to be a part of the celebration we decided to surprise Jonathan by having a party at Nikkae's house. We had pizza, salad and cheesecake and played some games together. It was a truly fun and enjoyable evening (especially since I won the game I played :)












A special thank you to Adam and Amy who ALWAYS send a card and have not missed one of our birthdays...yet :) That is pretty amazing when there is so many of us!!! And to all who have celebrated with us, sent cards, gifts and many birthday wishes during these special celebrations! Your friendship is treasured !

quilting, company, used library book extravaganza

Some recent highlights have been Kristalyn finishing her quilted table runner this week and making some material decorated cards. Also having Uncle Mark and Aunt Linda over for a visit before they move back to Nashville :( Linda was able to join us (girls) for our Monday quilting. What fun we had together!










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Earlier this week we were informed of a used library book sale so we (Kristalyn, Brenton, Benjamin and me (Mom) headed over for a special "treasure" hunt. We prayed that God would bless us and allow us to find great books for a great price...and He did! ! !

Birthday ...

God has blessed our family through the years with very special brothers and sisters in Christ. This last 6 months have been no different. We have grown to love and appreciate the friends and fellow-laborers in Christ that we have worshiped with the last few months. God has been so good to minister to our needs and help heal some wounds through the last year as we have served with these families. It was a privilege for our family to show a little of our love and appreciation by surprising John and Amos for their birthday. We truly appreciate their love for the Lord and His people. What an example of sacrifice they are. We love and appreciate you guys and your families! May God continue to bless you both.

Catching you up to date...sort-of

A couple of weeks ago a friend so graciously gave us four turkeys. Anthony and I (Jonathan) were given the chore of butchering them and what an experience it was! Thankfully we only had to skin them instead of trying to pluck them. :) They ended up tasting good which was a great blessing.




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One highlight, of my year thus far, is attending Leah Macias' birthday party. There were many words of encouragement directed towards Leah, but I (Anthony) think somehow Leah was a huge encouragement to all of us. I was awed by her testimony and deep passion for the Lord. I left there extremely encouraged. Thank you Macias family for the invite. Leah, keep following after Jesus, and may your love for Him grow everyday. I know He has special plans for you.








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Last Tuesday Anthony, Jonathan, Kristalyn and I (Katherine) went with a few friends to the "Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang" play that was here in SA. We had a few errands to run beforehand and we still made it downtown 1 -1/2 hours early. Just a little early :) We used our time wisely and took some pictures of each other. :) Thanks Tim, Cara, Peter, Zack, and Jacqueline for coming with us. We all had a wonderful time. When we returned home I was very disappointed we didn't get a group picture. :(





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Just a little excursion to the Pecan Park. When the older ones are gone we find our own entertainment :)




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This year Anthony and I (Jonathan) had the privilege to run track. We are not only running but Anthony is doing high jump and I am doing pole vault. It has been quite the experience for both of us! We had our first track meet last Thursday which was scheduled from 4:00 - 10:00 p.m. but ended up going three hours over with an hour and fifteen minute drive home. We are very grateful for the opportunity to participate this year.