Answer

The answer to what my wonderful mamma, our cute cow, and our lovely aunt all have in common is............

THEY'RE ALL PREGNANT!

That's right; baby number 10 is in the making!  We can't wait for the new little one to join our family in early April of next year!  Mamma is around 8 weeks now and is bravely overcoming her morning sickness (which is really all day sickness) with a smile on her face.  She is one tough woman!  What a challenge to all of us to see her accept each new blessing (despite what happens to her) as a gift!  Hopefully that part of the pregnancy will be over in about 6 weeks so she can enjoy the fun part. :)

Oh and just for the record our cow is due in October and my aunt is due on Thanksgiving day! :)
 
For one excited family,
Hannah

"For You formed my inward parts; 

You covered me in my mother’s womb. 

I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well.
My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth."

Psalm 139:13-15 

Question:

 

What do these two ladies have in common (be nice now :)?

Hint: My Aunt Megan also has this in common.

Please leave a comment with your possible answer and we will reveal the true answer tomorrow!

Hannah

Our Family Christmas - Christmas Eve

And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city."

Luke 2:1-3

Here's some pictures and a quick synopsis of our family Christmas! :)

We read the Gospel account of the birth of Jesus in Luke 2 before we did presents.

Mama and Daddy put our presents in "wisemen sacks."  It's always so exciting waking up and seeing the burlap bags in the nativity scene (or nearby!)

After reading we opened up one of the three wisemen bags and found the Settlers of Catan inside (along with other things).  It's a very fun game and we would highly suggest getting it! :)

Then we ran throughout the entire house (and outside once) finding notes that led us to where presents had been hid throughout the night. 

Lydia got a baby carrier that attatches to a bike!

Seth got one of the beginning stages of a bagpipe!

Hannah, Alexis, and I (Kimber) got three big bikes.

(Now we can all go on a family bike ride - it's so much fun!)

Caleb got a new guitar!!

Eden and Josiah's gift was out on the trampoline so Lexi got it for them.

Opening it up.

A wagon!

After each person had got their individual gift on the treasure hunt we sat down and opened our bags that were in the 3rd wiseman sack.  (The treasure hunt note was in the 2nd)

Hannah and Lydia

Food does weird things to us...

...as I was saying...

Daddy's goodies.

Lydia snacking on someone's candy! :)

I'll make a slideshow of our Christmas with Mama's side of the family to finish off the belated posts on Christmas! 

Kimber

P.S.  I really wish I could expound upon our wonderful Christmas but I can't make the time...so sorry!

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!!!