Birds, Sledding and A Snowman

"He says to the snow, 'Fall on the earth,' and to the rain shower, 'Be a mighty downpour.'"

Job 37:6

Daddy made us a snowman before the snow really started to melt (like it is today).

Josiah giving you an idea of how tall Mr. Snowman was.

And, of course, Daddy gave him a smile! :)

One solitary snowman.

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Yesterday morning, as I was finishing up my chore, one of my siblings called and said Daddy wanted me. There were some fluffy birds eating the chicken feed and there was one bright red cardinal, too! So, Daddy called me to come take some pictures.

Bird

The cardinal.

I got pictures of almost every other bird but the cardinal. He kept flying away at every tiny noise!

There he is again.

A bird on the fence post.

This is one of my favorite pictures.

If you click on the picture, it'll blow up and you can see how cute and fluffy this little fellow was!

The same bird (the one on the fence) in the tree in the chicken yard.

Little bird.

I love watching animals in nature. The birds would hop to the left, then to the right, then to the left...I think you get the point! They were so skiddish, but they would tilt their head to one side, looking at you and then continue hopping and pecking the ground for food. The Lord's hand is so present everywhere in nature (and elsewhere), how can anyone say we evolved from gel?

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Here are the sledding pictures from Tuesday morning. We sledded at our neighbors, the Slaughters, house.

Caleb

He got a little off course (he was supposed to stay in the driveway! :)

Seth with Alexis on the back.

Loading up into the truck.

Daddy would wait for everyone to sled down the hill and then go down to pick everyone up in his truck and tow them back up the hill. What a kind Daddy!

Going up the hill.

Caleb coming down again.

The driveway was icy (Hannah can testify! :) so you could sled down the hill at an alarming rate of speed.

Caleb again.

Seth

As you can tell from the above pictures, Seth was very close to me and actually suceeded in hitting me! :) Thankfully it didn't hurt too much and I didn't drop the camera! :)

Seth in a very interesting position! :)

(Sledding does that to you!)

Alexis

That was fun!

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As you might have noticed, there are no pictures of Hannah or I sledding. After about 1 hour of sledding, we were starting to get tired and cold. From one of my experiences, I had a coat on a little too big for me, but nonetheless less comfy, and I had Daddy pull the hat so tight that when I would lay on the sled and take off down the hill, the hat would come down over my eyes, so that I couldn't see where I was going and the drawstrings (to tighten my hat) were underneath the sled and I kept trying to pull it up and...to make things worse, I had Eden or Josiah with me (poor Josiah did fall off once), so I had to keep them from falling of while battling all my other problems. Like Daddy said, I could've just taken the hat off, but then I would get wind burn... So, we still had a great time sledding and we all laughed at the different positions, speeds and wrecks we had, making a great Winter memory! :)

Overjoyed to belong to Jesus,

Kimber :)

Power Outage and SNOW!!!!

"Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow."

Psalm 51:7

Most every Sunday morning we have "praise and prayer request" time before going to church. One of the prayers that has been recorded month after month has been...SNOW, and lots of it. Some enthusiastic prayers' said a "foot or more." Others said "to our roof." But the point is, we wanted snow - enough to cover the ground! :) And Jesus has blessed our prayers exceedingly! In some places around our house, our tall mud boots were completely covered. We've went out and played in the snow this morning and the day before, taking school off! This is like a once-in-a-lifetime event! :) It started snowing on Sunday. After Daddy and I (Kimber) had popped, buttered, and salted our homemade popcorn we all went upstairs (the VCR is in our parents room) to watch Nemo, a request from earlier the week before. Just as the movie was about to end, it suddenly turned off. We thought Daddy had done it, but our power had gone out and we hadn't filled any bathtubs, cups, or anything! Mommy had thought about it but decided she would wait until the movie was over. So, we all sat there in the terrifying darkness (it was around 9:00) with Eden and Josiah going "I'm scared," while Daddy went downstairs (in the pitch black) to find some matches and candles. Caleb and Seth (maybe even Lexi) then went downstairs and returned with lots of lit candles, illuminating the room. Since our heat was off too, Daddy transferred 3 beds (1 twin, two single) to the floor in his room and we piled tons of blankets on top, to keep everyone warm. So, we all had a family sleepover in Dad and Moms' room! :) I was comfy, and I think everyone else was too!

Seth with a flashlight, blinking from the blinding flash of my camera! :)

Eden sleeping.

These pictures were from before the power outage. I was amazed at how much snow was everywhere (only 2 or 3 inches) and was even more amazed at the 8-10 inches that blanketed the ground the next morning!


This picture was taken around 6-8:00 P.M. Sunday night...



..and this was taken yesterday (Monday) morning. See how thick and beautiful! :)

Through a bathroom window

Our wood-burning furnace (look at those trashcans!)

Our tiny apple tree.

It was so dark and grey outside that I switched the camera setting to black-and-white and there was no difference whatsoever in color or black-and-white! :)

Our picnic table which worked great for what we call a "licking log!" :)

Our hammock.

The little birdhouse.

More snow! :)

Everyone but Mamma and Lydia went outside and played in the snow. The little ones (Eden and 'Siah) went inside early most of the time however. We had snowball fights, sledded down our various hills, walked across snow-covered trees, made snow angels, licked the snow off logs("licking logs") etc. It was a lot of fun! :)

I didn't take my camera with me because I didn't want to worry about water affecting the camera and also because I wanted to relax and take the pictures another time. I did, however, go take some pictures after we were done playing.

A bird.

Snow covered trees lining one of our wilderness trails.

The snow-covered creek.

A bird flying away from the intruder (me).

More snow and trees.

Our garden and mulch hill.

(Hannah was this pictures photographer)

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After Balancing the Sword this morning we all put our snowsuits on and went outside to enjoy the snow again! While we tramped through the woods, Daddy had gone to one of our neighbors house and had asked if we could sled down their huge hill. They said yes, so he came back, picked us up and we stayed outside for around 2-3 hours sledding down their steep, icy driveway. They (our neighbors) came out and joined us.

I did take some pictures of everyone sledding, so I'll see if I can get those pictures posted soon.

Overjoyed to belong to Jesus,

Kimber