A City Life For Me

I have learned a lot this month! I can crawl on my knees, pull up to standing, walk along furniture, eat more food with my new tooth, and sleep through the night. I love the piano and can’t wait to learn to play it myself. I melt mommy’s heart all the time with my hugs and smiles. What can you do??? Peter's best friend...Simon Mama loves cuddles I can do my sippy cup!

We spent the last week in Russell, Kansas I got this great picture of all five kids smiling!  (Right before Nolan fell off the recliner!) Have you played that game “Four on a Couch?”  We’ve got five on our couch!  Henry really enjoys watching a few minutes of movies with the kids. We walked to the grocery store on Saturday…for some chicken broth, and some exercise.  This is a normal NYC thing to do.  Apparently not so much in Russell, KS.  Someone pulled over and turned around to ask if we needed help or money!  (It was a little farther than Ben said it was…).  At the store we found “Sandy” – a dime horse ride.  She looked quite antique and the kids were thrilled that they could each ride alone (usually we double up to save a buck!).  While we were letting each kiddo have his turn, an older gentleman stopped us and said he used to ride the same horse in the 50s! We enjoyed a beautiful day and played outside…with no coats, but with c...

We are in the process of making an updated video presentation…since we will likely be on deputation for most of 2016.  One of the sections talks about how people are always telling us, “Oh, you’ve sure got your hands full!”  We get this comment multiple times a week as we travel.  There’s a lot of variations, too.  Like, “Are you married?”  Um, no.  We just take five kids grocery shopping together for the fun of it.  “That’s a nice day care you are running.”  Yeah, lady.  They are actually all my kids.  You get the idea. We needed a new picture to illustrate our “full quiver” since Henry wasn’t in any of the old ones.  My mom snapped a few pictures last Sunday before church! Someone is always making a face.  Or fish lips. Elaine was in hysterics about something! Focus, everyone!  Henry was obeying! Yup.  Full hands.  And full hearts.  And tired bodies!

The kids loved the house we stayed in while in Wanatah, Indiana with Crossroads Baptist Church.  There was a Jacuzzi tub big enough for all four kids to bathe at the same time!     Daddy found "Hungry, Hungry Hippos" game in the closet - the kids had fun with that - even the twins!         Nehemiah was fascinated with the washing machine all week.  Thankfully, once the door is locked, any buttons he pushed didn't do anything!           Silly twins while we were packing up   Bloomington, Indiana with the Gaschke family and Stoneridge Baptist Church   Nehemiah and Andrew, Elaine, Liberty and Kiersten, Heidi, Will, and Nolan   Pastor Andy Gaschke was the assistant pastor at Highlands Baptist Church shortly after we began attending there.  He and his wife Jenny helped in the youth group and with teen visitation on Wednesdays, so I had a good deal of interaction ...

On Friday we drove three and a half hours towards our next destination.   We stopped for the night in Moline, IL.   I had booked a decently priced hotel on hotels.com.   As I researched the area for activities to do on Saturday morning, I discovered that we were right across the street from John Deere Pavilion.   It’s a big showroom full of tractors and heavy equipment that you can climb on to your heart’s content.   Best part about it?   Completely free.   For a family of six, that’s amazing.   Elaine in one of the "big ones" Liberty loved this little mower.  Nehemiah liked the automatic "Tango" mower.  I liked that one too...if I had a yard to mow!   The kids enjoyed the showroom and scattered in four different directions.   Luckily it wasn’t that big that we couldn’t keep track of all of them.   However, we did have quite a lot of attitude come out – especially from Liberty.   Nehemiah was rather co...

January was an amazing month at home.  Busy, full, as we prepared for and anticipated beginning full time deputation.   Now that the time to leave is here, my heart is full with all God has done and all we expect Him to do over the next year.    Ben didn't work in January, yet God has provided for all we needed and even prepared our February rent payment already.  It was a big step - and it grew our faith - but where God led us, He has provided.  It makes me anticipate great things from this trip as well, because we know God is leading us this direction, and He has proven Himself to us time and again.   It was hard to say goodbye to people that we love.  And though our time in Brooklyn is not done quite yet, we know that our days of regular attendance at Bethel have come to a close for the most part.  When deputation is done, we will be moving to the Bronx to start the next chapter of our ministry.  My church family h...

Last week we traveled to Maine round trip in one weekend.  The kids were pretty tired of being in the car, so we made a fun stop at a farm in Massachusetts.   They had a playground, and ice cream stand, and a barn of animals - llamas, sheep, goats, a miniature horse, and a cow.  There was also a little creek where Ben helped the kids catch some frogs.   We arrived right at feeding time, and the kids loved it!  They have always enjoyed feeding the goats the NYC zoos, so this was right up their alley.  Liberty was old enough to get in on the action, too.  She was completely fearless as she offered bits of grain and feed to the goats!    Liberty discovered that she is a "big girl" now - we had a hard time pulling her off this swing!  We had "purple cow" ice cream covered in sprinkles - to Elaine and Nolan's delight!   Our kids enjoyed this so much that we stopped at the David...