Happy New Years

“The LORD bless you and keep you; The LORD make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you;  The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.”’

Deuteronomy 6:24-26

This is just a quick post saying that I hope you all have a blessed and wonderful New Years! 

And to those who have, or are currently, serving in the military in any shape or form...THANK YOU SO MUCH for the freedoms and such we enjoy every day!

Love,

The Wassenbergs :)

"Freedom isn't free"

Snow Pictures from the Weekend before Christmas

This is really late but I thought that I would share pictures of the "big snow" that we got here in Virginia! 

Friday night we left for Grandma and Grandpa's house around 10:00pm stuffed like sardines in Daddy's 4x4 truck.  We weren't supposed to leave for Grandma's until Sunday (after church) but with the incoming weather we decided to make the leap and go that night thinking that church might get canceled.  It was snowing  when we left our house and was already at least 6 inches (it had started snowing about 6 PM and when I went out to feed the animals around 10 that night it was near my knees).  Daddy put all of our stuff for the weekend in plastic bags and then into empty trashcans that he put in the bed of his truck.  We ended up getting at Grandma and Grandpa's at about 2:30 in the morning.  Few of us got any sleep with the uncomfortable, squished positions we were in so we were really grateful for a bed!  Saturday morning, after breakfast and everything, Caleb, Seth, Eden, and Josiah went out and played in the 2 feet of snow at Grandma's. 

Snow on one of Grandma's lighted Christmas trees.

This was what it looked like out the front door - white!

(This was one of the very few years that we've had a "white Christmas.")

It was still snowing when I took this picture and see how tall it is already!

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• A blue jay.  Grandma and Grandpa put bird seed out along the fence and it was fun watching the little birds flit here and there.
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• A cardinal in a tree

A little sparrow.

See the little birdy steps behind him/her?

Grandpa out feeding the birds.

Caleb out in the winter wonderland!

Josiah enjoying himself in the snow.

They would fall - face first - into the snow.  They thought it was a lot of fun! :)

Eden and Josiah.

Mama watching from the comfort of the house.

I took most of the pictures on this post out of windows or doors - I didn't go outside except for a few!  (It was COLD!)

Saturday night, after all that beautiful snow, we found out that church was not cancelled.  So, the next morning we older chittlins' (the youngest 3 stayed with Grandma) had to load up around 6 AM to drive back to Richmond, change clothes, get Sunday shoes, eat a breakfast (in the freezing cold house - we turned the heat off while we were gone), and get to church by 10 AM.  (Mama and Daddy were leading the children's singing in the sanctuary and Hannah was serving in the nursery.)

The icicles on Daddy's truck.

We did make it on time Sunday morning, thank you Lord.  We had about 10-15 children show up for the singing, which was impressive with all the ice and snow everywhere!  (The snow wasn't terribly deep at all in Mechanicsville, being around 6-12 inches, but it was still a little dangerous if you had to travel)

A tree's shadow.

Well, I still have lots more pictures and such to post so I'll get them done a little later!

Merry (late) Christmas!

Kimber and all the Wassenbergs

This Year's Very Best Christmas Present

"to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child."

Luke 2:5

I'm be taking a small break from "Solid Rock Ranch" blogging due to the CHRISTmas season but I wanted to share with you what this years best present was.

Thursday morning we opened presents together as a family.  Daddy was the last to open his presents.  After all of his presents, he opened a small one at the bottom of the bag. 

Can you guess what it was?

Yep - a pregnancy test!  Mama is pregnant!  

From all of our reactions, you must've thought that something absolutely devastating had happened...tears were coursing down all of our cheeks (except for Caleb and younger who were clueless as to what was going on).  The only way you would've been able to tell the difference between something sad and then something happy was that we were all smiling widely through our tears.  Dad, Hannah, Lexi, and I had been praying for Mama to get pregnant again. 

There's Hannah crying for you!  I almost forgot to take pictures of them crying because I could hardly see through my tears but I got one! :)

So, number 9 is on the way and due August 28th approximately!  We cried when we found out that Mama was pregnant with Lydia too.  We just love every one of our siblings and can't wait for the next.  (I really hope we have at least 3 more, in case you were wondering.)  Allowing the Lord to control your family size is looked down upon in this World but we're not supposed to be of this World!  Mommy and Daddy are excited to be fulfilling the dominion mandate to "be fruitful and multiply!" (Genesis 1:28) and to be found worthy of the stewardship of another immortal soul.  How exciting!

Thank you Jesus for another precious blessing-on-the-way,

Kimber :)

P.S. - I'm going to have 8 siblings!!!

Wrestle Time with Daddy!

"Then Jacob was left alone; and a Man wrestled with him until the breaking of day."

Genesis 32:34

After we got home from Mama's birthday party, we relaxed upstairs while Daddy wrestled with the boys.  About every week Daddy and the boys have "wrestle time."  Our boys love a good wrestle and Daddy thoroughly enjoys himself too, so together they have fun!   Caleb and Seth love wrestling.  Seriously.  Something about getting tackled, trying to get Daddy on the ground, conquering, failing, etc. is so much fun to them!  I don't blame them...we all used to have wrestle time together until some of us got too big! :)

Anyways, here are some pictures of them wrestling!

After approximately 15 years of wrestling with his kids, Daddy is really good!  It's so much fun watching them wrestle together.  Daddy is so much stronger (not for long!) than them but it's still fun watching them get tossed everywhere, smile, get up and go for another round.  Such a manly activity! :-D  I believe that God made men to be active, conquering, building, working...taking dominion in other words (Genesis 1:28)!  By wrestling and "conquering"  Daddy they feel invigorated and ready for another swing, even if they were just thrown off his back...... again!

I don't want to keep talking but Daddy is really good at wrestling.  I can't go into detail about all of the twists, turns, loops, tackles, etc. that he can accomplish within a matter of minutes but I hope these pictures will give you an idea.

One of his tackles(the pancake).  Caleb and Seth can't move til Daddy gets off of them...but it's really funny watching them try to squiggle away! :)

Seth.

(He's the wrestle man in the family...and he loves every chance to tackle Daddy)

Another of Daddy's moves(spaghetti legs).  Both of the boys can't get away now!

Chewin' on some toes.(a great breaker of the manly will)

Now, I hope I haven't scared you to death...Daddy really doesn't chew on their toes.  He just "nibbles"...enough to make it tickle but not hurt at all.

Caleb enjoying himself.

Hardly a dull moment in our family! :) 

All for Jesus,

Kimber

Lydia's Christmas Pictures

"So they went out of the prison and entered the house of Lydia; and when they had seen the brethren, they encouraged them and departed."

Acts 16:40

 

When Mama and Daddy went on a date Monday night (for Mama's birthday) I decided to take pictures of Lydia.  Last year I took Christmas pictures of her in the schoolroom.  This year I decided to do it in front of our nativity scene with all the lights as the backdrop.

 

Once she was dressed and all prettied up, I tried to get her to stay on the logs surrounding the nativity, but she wouldn't, started crying, etc. so I just ended up following her around the house.  At the end, closer to bedtime, we gave her an apple before bed and she sat just and ate it while I took pictures.

 

(I also must add that my siblings are very helpful in trying to get her to sit and smile!)

 

Little baby fingers!

(I took this picture before she got all dressed up!)

Baby feet!

This is probably one of my favorites of her.  I just love her eyes!

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Anyways, we're supposed to be getting a winter storm sometime tonight and throughout the weekend.  I hope we don't lose electricity (it'll be a cold night!) and that it doesn't snow too bad so we can do this children's singing at church, take pictures for my Uncle Kevin and his family, and get to Grandma and Grandpa's for Christmas.

Today, we've been cooking cookies to prepare to give out for our neighbors.  (We're hoping electricity won't go out!)  Hopefully the weather won't be too bad tonight so we can do our annual Christmas pass-out to our neighbors! :)

All for Jesus,
Kimber

Silly Pictures From Last Night

"Ephraim also is like a silly dove..."

Hosea 7:11

There was a myriad of funny pictures from last night that I thought I'd share with you!  Most of them were taken at Friendly's during Mama's birthday party but the last two were taken when we got home.  Enjoy!

Paw-paw

Our cousin, Collin.

Collin's brother, Mason (another cousin).

Josiah lookin' like a turtle

Seth and Caleb

Caleb and Seth

All three boys!

(I hope you got a smile out of those!)

All for Jesus,
Kimber

Mama's 39th Birthday

"Her children rise up and call her blessed; Her husband also, and he praises her:"

Proverbs 31:28

Our wonderful Mama turned 39 on December 16th.  We celebrated by letting her sleep in, take a shower, do 30 minutes of Bible time (she was excited about that), and just relax.  She came downstairs, when breakfast was ready, as we sang "Happy Birthday."  We then sat down to breakfast...eggs, biscuits, and fruit!  Mama opened her few presents from us (we gave her some later but we were not prepared!) while we ate.

The breakfast table.

We were really enjoying Daddy's eggs since our chickens have stopped producing abundantly (plus we've lost a couple) and we hardly get 5 eggs, I think, a day.  We eat 2-3 dozen in one breakfast, so 5 a day doesn't work!

Reading her card.

Lexi made her initial "M" from a book she has on rainbow painting.  She did a really beautiful job!

After breakfast and everything, Mama took Alexis, Eden, Josiah, and I to the store.  So, her birthday was sort of "over" until Thursday.  Thursday night we went and celebrated her birthday with her family at Friendly's!  Mama loves Friendly's ice cream so that was the restuarant she picked.

Uncle Kevin and his family, Aunt T.C. and her children, and Na-naw and Paw-paw came! 

My adorable cousin, Justus, playing with some glasses.

Cadence - another of my adorable cousins!

(Lexi took the 2 above pictures!)

Cadence was sitting by Alexis and I during dinner...she would laugh and smile at practically everything!

Now back to Mommy!

After we finished eating dinner, Mama opened her presents while we waited for ice cream.

From Uncle Kevin, Aunt Mae-Mae, Cadence, and Justus she got the book The Vision by Debi Pearl.  She was excited to get it because Aunt Mae-Mae and other people had been talking about it and said it was a wonderful book. 

From Na-naw and Paw-paw she got a Pampered Chef stone muffin pan!

She was also excited about that because we don't like using Teflon because of the harmful phfalates that leak out into your food.  (So we've been wanting to switch more and more to glass and stone instead of plastic and Teflon.)

Aunt T.C., Uncle Chris, Collin, and Mason got Mama a wonderfully smelling candle.

Mama loves smelly candles!

Sometime during the night, Uncle Kevin put his hat on Justus.  As I took pictures of him, Justus just sat there in a daze.  It was so cute!

After the presents were opened we ate Friendly's wonderful ice cream.  Everybody got something different (to some degree) and all of it was yummy!

Josiah laughing at something.

Daddy

Na-naw eating a make-your-own sundae.

Lexi immersing herself in all of that hot fudge!  I think she enjoyed it! :)

Today Daddy gave Mama a bread cutter!  Ever since we went to the Whitsons and used theirs we've wanted one.  We can't wait to use the one Daddy got for us!

Thus, ended our wonderful Mama's birthday!  I'm so thankful for all that Mommy is, and continues to be, to us - she really is a gift from God!

All for Jesus,
Kimber :)