Oops...Caleb's Emerald Isle Collage

"But My servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit in him and has followed Me fully, I will bring into the land where he went, and his descendants shall inherit it."

Numbers 14:24

Well, I think I figured out that I missed Caleb's collage. Sorry!

Here it is:

All for Jesus,
Kimber

Trip to Westmoreland Berry Farm and Colonial Beach

"Mountains and all hills;Fruitful trees and all cedars;"

Psalm 148:9

Monday morning we left for Westmoreland Berry Farm and on the way we stopped by George Washington's birthplace, which is 17 minutes away from the farm.

Looking at a diaphragm at George Washington's birthplace.

We didn't do much at his birthplace because we thought it was free but it wasn't...so we didn't go into his re-constructed house (it burnt down) but just wandered around and then left.

A flower at the farm.



An orchid.

Eden

Some more flowers.

We ate lunch at the picnic tables Westmoreland Berry Farm provided and then we picked up our berries and left.

Seth eating a carrot--well sort of.....

We picked up some peaches and blueberries. Sadly the pie cherries didn't come in well this year but the fruit was still the best. I think the blueberries are simply 100% better than any blueberries I've had from different places. I like the big fat ones because they're sweet and juicy.

This is a picture Lexi took of some of the peaches and blueberries.

After we got our $100+ worth of fruit we went to Colonial Beach to swim around for a little bit.

The beach.

A seagull.

'Siah showing Daddy a rock.

(Daddy took almost all of the pictures of people at Colonial Beach because I was in the water)

Mama and Lydia.

Lydia stayed in the sand most of the time.

Lydia and Mama.

5 of us in the water.

Hannah and I (Kimber) took Eden and Josiah out to the deeper part of the water. I called Eden the "clingy egg-beater" because that is what it felt like carrying her. She constantly kicked her feet and clung to you like she was about to drown. Not very relaxing but we eventually got her to trust us and just relax.

Josiah on the other hand liked being held at arms length with us just holding his hands.

Josiah in the water.

The water was the perfect temperature - not too hot, not too cold.

Alexis and Caleb splashing each other.

Eden

The boys swamping Hannah.

Josiah bringing a rock ashore.

Alexis and Caleb got cold and so Seth started making them into sand sculptures.

(this is the hot new suntan lotion)

They were warm to say the least.

Alexis after she emerged from the sand! :)

Seth on his way back to the van.

'Siah all wrapped up!

We left after about 1 1/2 hours of fun!

---

I haven't given an update on what we've been doing lately so, here goes a quick overview!

In short, the gardens are producing like crazy.

(Hopefully I'll update you more in detail - with pictures - soon!)

We've canned around 35 quart jars of green beans and still have lots coming in.

Today we just canned half of our peach stock into jam and preserved slices. And then we canned 14 quarts of corn off the cob (our neighbor gave us free reign to his corn - ours isn't in yet) today too!

So, we've been pretty busy!

Daddy has taken Caleb to work with him every now and then to help mow. Seth and Caleb are gone today with Daddy.

Tomorrow, Daddy and Mama are going to a garden-seminar at the University of VA. We (the kids) have a little bit to do while they're gone.

So, the Wassenberg family is pretty healthy and enjoying the abundant life the Lord has given us!

All for Jesus,

Kimber

Independence Day at Grandpa & Grandma's

" The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God."

Psalm 9:17

For the past couple years we've went to our Paw-paw and Na-naw's house for Independence Day but this year we decided to go the other grandparents' house.

Daddy took Hannah on down in age to Seth up Friday morning with him and Mama came up later (just in time for dinner) with Josiah, Eden, and Lydia. After Daddy cut a few of his Long & Foster homes he dropped us off at Grandma's house. We were alone for a little bit (Grandma & Aunt Amy were showing a house) but then Grandma arrived and our cousins and their mom soon later.

Aunt Amy and Amanda made dinner for us - some really good lasagna - and Grandma made the bread.

Our cousins, Amanda and Diana spent the night. The 5 oldest girls slept downstairs in the living room (lots of fun!) and everyone else was upstairs. Hannah and I slept on the futon, Alexis on the floor and my cousins on the couch and Grandpa's chair. I (Kimber) slept great!! Grandma made another superb breakfast (she never dissapoints us!) and after breakfast we went to the pool. Then we went home, ate lunch, played, and got ready for the picnic for the 4th of July.

The menu was: cookout! Hamburgers, hot dogs, chips, cold salads/casseroles, etc. Grandpa cooked all the meat for us.

In the line for dinner.

Alexis, my beautiful sister.

Eden eating her dinner.

Zoe, Amanda's pug, eating dinner too! :)

After dinner people relaxed and some rode bikes and played football.

Uncle Greg throwing the football.

Daddy throwing the ball to Diana.

Diana preparing to catch another ball.

The ice cream cake Grandma and I made.

It is the same exact one I made for Hannah's birthday party except we died one cake red and another blue (in the process Grandma got dye all over her fingers!) and decorated the top differently using 2 tubs of icing with blueberries and twizzlers consisting of our flag.

Here you see the layers better.

The fireworks!

OHHHH----AHHHH

Diana and Josiah

Seth watching the fireworks.

Seth, Caleb, Steven, and another boy that came lit the fireworks for us - they did great!

Not to be undone, Daddy and Uncle Greg pronounced the names of the fireworks and prepared them for us.

Thankfully, Daddy was far enough away to avoid any sparks hitting all the fireworks and exploding right beside him.

(If anyone has any tips to share on how to take good firework pictures, please leave a comment or email because I want to get better!)

Anyways, after the fireworks and clean-up of everything we all left for home.

We had a wonderful 4th of July and I hope that we all do not forget the meaning of the day and the sacrifices paid not so long ago on July 4, 1776.

All for Jesus,

Kimber

Lydia's First Ear of Corn

"And God said, “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food."

Genesis 1:29

Lydia was old enough for her first ear of corn last Thursday. She made some of the cutest (and weirdest) faces:

A corn beard! :)

Laughing

"Here, you can have it Josiah."

The end result is that she loves it and always points and grunts when she sees corn on the table for dinner! :)

All for Jesus,

Kimber