Homeschool Night and Orange Juice

"Remember the former things of old, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me,"

Isaiah 46:9

On Monday night we had our "homeschool night." Our 'homeschool night' consists of everyone showing what they have been doing for the past couple of months of school either by writings, speech or art. Everyone did a great job! Paw-paw and Na-naw came over (Na-naw came over earlier in the day to help with Eden and Josiah's schooling) for dinner and the reporting on what we had been doing. Tender, roasted chicken, seasoned, mashed potatoes, flavorful carrots, fresh greenbeans and Hannah's 1st place Buttermilk Rolls was our dinner with Apple Crisp being the dessert!

It was such a beautiful evening that we just had to do everything outside!

Our wonderful and gifted teacher....mommy!

Alexis.

Eden and some papers she did that day.

Seth.

Eden showing Na-naw one of her crafts she did with Alexis.

Lydia chewing on a rope while daddy breathes that nice, crisp country air!

Lydia's 3rd tooth made its appearance sometime today. She had been a little fussy the past couple days from the tooth as it was trying to reveal it's pearly white self, giving some pain in the process.

Daddy and Lydia on the Hammock.

Eden and Josiah have their "happy faces" on!

For a little background the happy faces were made so that when they were frumpin' or grumpin' we would say "Find your happy face" and they would have to start smiling or there would be painful consequences. It has worked for the most part!

Alexis and Caleb's guitar and recorder instrumental.

They played "Amazing Grace," "Jingle Bells" and a few others as the sun slowly disappeared, telling us to head inside for the rest of our presentation. They are doing so well on their music together!

Alexis getting ready to read her WriteShop paper.

(See Lydia scooting on the floor?)

Alexis' clay "stony path." The 'stony path' was the subject of her WriteShop paper.

Hannah sharing her WriteShop Paragraph.

Josiah found a pair of sunglasses and wore them most of the night!

Eden with the glasses.

Lydia with the "cool" sunglasses.

Poor thing, she couldn't stand having something over her eyes so it was hard to get a picture!

I think she looks similar to a dragonfly 8-)

You have to know the story behind this one! :-)

(And, no, daddy normally isn't on the kitchen floor)

--

"Daddy, I want some more orange juice," Josiah chirped from his high chair (we're working on his manners).

"Okay, 'Siah, wait five minutes and then ask again politely," daddy responded.

Frumping a little bit, he waited and then asked again. Daddy got up and reached for the refrigerator.............watch out! Here comes mommy!

Zooming past daddy in her zeal to become more of a submissive and helpful wife she reached for the refrigerator door and 'bumped' daddy. (Now, most of you know daddy and his sense of humor so you can guess what happened next)

"Oh, ah, ee, ou," daddy said as he heroically tried to balance on one foot to grab the refrigerator door before mommy, but he under-estimated how far he had to reach and, being on one foot, reached too far to one side and became.....unbalanced and.....fell defeated to the floor!

"Oh, hon are you okay," mommy asked concerned.

"Uh, yeah I'm fine," daddy managed in the midst of laughing. Mommy started laughing too.

"What happened?" she questioned and daddy told us what he was trying to do (we all were at the breakfast table). Ah, the joys of being a Wassenberg!!!! (And that's not sarcastic - it really is a joy!)

It was a wonderful family moment! :-)

--

Tomorrow (Friday), after breakfast, we are going to drive to around Bedford County, VA and look for hiking trails - and hopefully find one! Then, if we find one, we'll hike all day Friday and then check into a hotel room (we don't have a room yet - we're bidding for a nice deal....$50.00 to be exact!). Then early Saturday morning we're leaving for a festival called "Celebrate the Glory" (www.simplydevoted.com/celebrate/index.html). This is our first time going and everything's free! (Including a light breakfast and snack lunch!) They have a photographer coming (Ken Jenkins - kenjenkins.com) which is great for me (an aspiring photographer), a "large" family (durocherfamilyministries.com) who will be singing music and teaching and last but not least Unfolding Drama (unfoldingdrama.org).

We're all really excited about going. The weather is supposed to be beautiful, in the lower 60's. Plus, we get to be surrounded by God's glorious creation in the mountains!

Willingly Jesus',
Kimber :-)

Countryside Pictures

“Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country."

Deuteronomy 28:3

Daddy's been clearing wood from our future church site. Yesterday (Monday) he brought home a full 16 ft. trailer and the bed of his truck was also filled to the brim! So, after school, everyone headed out to stack the wood for daddy. Daddy would throw the wood off the trailer or truck bed and we would run and grab the log/stick and stack it and then repeat the process.

Here are the Countryside Pictures:

(We went on a walk last night and I took pictures along the way. These pictures are all within walking distance of our house)

A few trees

Lydia enjoyed her stroller ride as we walked

Some neighborhood canines, Maggie and Freckles.

Daddy in a Wheelbarrow.

(Daddy was letting Josiah ride in the wheelbarrow as we walked but when we stopped he turned it around and laid back. He says he loved sleeping in a wheelbarrow when he was younger!)

Hannah in a Wheelbarrow

Josiah wanted to get out, so Hannah got a ride!

"Big Sky Country" would be a great name for these 2 pictures!

Those yellowish-green plants are soybeans.

Seth by the Soybean Field across from our Many-Animal Farm!

Walking along the road

(our many-animal farm is on the right)

This is our cleared and seeded many-animal farm from the road. Isn't it so beautiful??!!

Family News:

Lydia sat up for the first time, by herself, today!!!

Willingly Jesus',
Kimber :)

Saturday Clean-up and "Awesome God"

“Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may count the money which has been brought into the house of the LORD, which the doorkeepers have gathered from the people. And let them deliver it into the hand of those doing the work, who are the overseers in the house of the LORD; let them give it to those who are in the house of the LORD doing the work, to repair the damages of the house— to carpenters and builders and masons—and to buy timber and hewn stone to repair the house."

2 Kings 22:4-6

We had Mrs. Collins, Mrs. Blue and her two children, Kendall and Micah over Saturday morning for fellowship and questionnare time! After a big lunch and a little more talk time everyone left and the whole family went outside to help clean-up around the house. We were "cleaning up" because Sunday we were having the Nash Luncheon at our house. The "Nash Luncheon" is held at a relative's house, every month, in honor of our late great-grandma, Great, who served all of us lunch every Sunday afternoon after church.

Daddy and Caleb Planting Pansies in One of the Front Mulch Beds in the Design of a Cross.

(Isn't daddy such a great designer???)

I'm (Kimber) drying some of my lavender stalks (is that what you call them??) to put in a scrapbook and for smelling uses like potpourri, sachets etc.

(If there are any lavender-drying professionals out there who have any great tips, please share! For now the electric dehydrator is it!)

I know you are all wondering what that stuff in the bucket is! That "stuff" is....GRUBS!!!! Yuck! As we were mulching the back mulch bed (one of them) we kept finding all these grubs. We picked most of them out, so they wouldn't be wasted, and fed them to the chickens who love this delectable treat! (Don't get me wrong they are delectable to chickens!) Caleb, Seth, Eden and Josiah had the jobs of picking the grubs out as we shouted "grub!" while we spread the mulch. Eden and Josiah enjoyed it as far as I know. Seth, not very much, because he was holding a few grubs in one of his hands and he dropped them all of a sudden and tears came to his eyes and close to the over-flowing part! We think the fat, white grubs pinched him.

At the verge of dinner-time, daddy started a fire to try and desenegrate our medium-large pile of miscellaneous trash and old cans. Well, the cans are metal so they never eventually melted, so we still have a pile of cans in our fire-pit. :-( If you're wondering why we have a fire-pit.....when we attended Hanover Friends we would have a bonfire and cook-out every Fall. We would provide the main meal - hot dogs, hamburgers and smores - and everyone else would bring a side dish. We have lots of trails so we would creep along the trails with flashlights and hope no one would scare us (sometimes people did and that was freaky!) A few times we bought glow sticks and all the children would throw them up in the air and try to catch them, play football (the boys did) etc. It was a wonderful time of fellowship and fun! I miss having not having a Fall Fellowship at our house every year. Those memories of piping-hot apple cider, warm, gooey smores, breath-taking ATV rides and good times with friends will never be forgotten!!!

***

I've been teaching Eden and Josiah the song "Awesome God" during our music time together - signs and everything. Since tomorrow night is "homeschool night" (when we share what we've been doing the past few months) I had them perform for me today. Here are some of the pictures of Eden performing - Josiah got a little distracted at times!

This is the sign for "God."

This is my sign for "heaven."

I forgot some of the signs and so I made up the "heaven" sign. You know, Heaven is way up there so they have to reach as high as they can. Close enough to what I remember learning!

The sign for "love."

Eden and Josiah.

Lydia, State Fair & "Girls"

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing!"

Luke 13:34

Lydia sat in the high chair for the first time Tuesday! She liked it much better than the seat, as you can see...

Maybe not...

Playing with her toys

Want it?

Eden & Lydia

***

Daddy went and picked up our things from the State Fair on Tuesday. Since I can't get the slideshow to upload I'm going to tell you what each person won.

Hannah's Buttermilk Rolls placed 1st!

My 2 pictures (Seth with Daddy Flexing; Lexi in Sun Rays) received 2nd (Seth) and 3rd (rays).

Since I didn't have to time to upload the rest here's the list:

Alexis: 3rd on her Clay Ballerina Bear

&

Seth: 3rd on his Clay Bridge

***

Daddy calls his 40-some chickens his "girls." He goes "Hi girls, hi girls," in this high-pitch, only-daddy-can-do-it greeting and all the hens come clustering over to the fence (or wherever he is) to say hello to him!

With his "Girls!" :)

Willingly Jesus',
Kimber

The Princess

"The LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed."

Genesis 2:8

Eden's birthday was on Monday, September 29 but since we were at the Fair that day we celebrated it Saturday night. We were going to have our cousins come over but they couldn't come. To try and help Eden forget she wasn't having her cousins over we dressed her up as a princess for her birthday (make-up, outfit and everything! Her outfit was from a friend who had given it to her for her 3rd or 4th birthday) and treated her as such. She turned 5 years old!

The princess and her royal dining table!

Her dinner consisted of tacos, Mexican rice, chips & salsa and more!

The princess and her funfetti cake!

Opening her royal gifts!

Singing "Happy Birthday."

After we sang "Happy Birthday" and ate her cake we watched Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. We were a little hesitant to let her watch it (even though she picked it) because mommy thinks she gets nightmares from it.....so whenever we got to a scary part I would start talking to her and put a blanket around us two so she wouldn't be focused on the movie.

***

We had our Great Grandma (we call her G.G) over last night for dinner. After dinner we played music for her (she loves hearing her great-grandchildren and granchildren sing or play instruments) and then, as she was about to leave, Alexis and Eden did a dance for her which is below.

Aren't those dresses pretty? They belong to some friends of ours and we have yet to remember to give them back....hopefully we can soon (even though we enjoy them!). The CD Player wasn't skipping on purpose; there must have been a scratch on the CD.

Willingly Jesus',

Kimber

P.S - On the State Fair Slideshow: The computer gave me problems on uploading it so I can't get it on here for you to see. Sorry!

The Creation

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new."

2 Corinthians 5:17

This afternoon, instead of doing school, Alexis, Caleb, Seth and I (Kimber) went out to help daddy who was burning some brush and branches. Daddy and I (I operated a tractor and daddy cut the trees down) cut most of our pine trees down in our front yard area - especially near the road, last year. One of daddy's many, wonderful visions is to have the whole front of our 11 acres of property cleared, with some oak trees about 10-15 feet apart, while daffodils and other perennials would cover the cleared, forest floor in-between. Isn't that such a beautiful picture??!!! Anyways, we started clearing out the front of our house last year and then it kinda' stopped and we started it again this year. It's a lot of hard work but the beautiful Fall weather and the end result makes it worth it (especially when you're seeing what it would look like years down the road). While we were macheting volunteer trees scattered here and there I was thinking back to the early days of America. I have a hard enough time clearing less than 1/8 of an acre of property in 4 hours (with 4 other people) and yet men and women, in the pioneer days, sacrificed sweat and blood and cleared hundreds upon hundreds of acres just for their crops and homes. And many times, after all that excruciating work, there would be a fire or infestation of plant-eating insects and their crops that would provide them much-needed food and money for 1 year would be gone in a matter of minutes and once again they'd have to go out in the fields and plant and hoe - and hopefully harvest...but you never know. Here I am feeling tired for really doing no work at all. What I consider "hard work" would be a breeze for them back in those pioneering days. Mankind was created to work but our flesh says no because work is hard and sometimes there's no reward at all (most of the time there is at the end). As we walked through our many trails today (once we decided to stop working) and I saw the sun peering through the lofty trees, scarcely reaching the forest my heart burst with thanksgiving to Jesus. It was so beautiful...breathtaking!!! His creation is so majestic! It took daddy lots of time and sacrifice to clear those trails but once you get to the reward of walking those leaf-scattered trails and look at the many different shapes and designs of the things around you, you just have to know there's a God (Romans 1:20) and that he made these things for His glory and for our enjoyment! That's why I love my Creator and the country. When you're surrounded by leafy trees and blooming flowers in the country it shows you the touch of the Master's Hand. How can man say it was an explosion that caused these things? (Genesis 1:1)

Willingly Jesus',
Kimber

Baby Food and Flowers

"The flowers appear on the earth; The time of singing has come, And the voice of the turtledove Is heard in our land."

Song of Solomon 2:12

It was such a beautiful day Wednesday afternoon and I was just finishing reading about Macro photography in a book Na-naw bought for me; so, I decided to take some pictures of flowers and berries that were around our house.

The berries off of one of our holly trees. The rest of the flower/berry pictures are after these 3 pictures.

***

Lydia experienced her first bites of homemade baby food Wednesday afternoon!


"It looks yummy..."




"I can't wait..."

"Yeah, I get to eat it now!"

(I took a video of Lydia eating baby food and it is at the very bottom of this post)

***

Now here are some of the flower pictures!






The yellow flowers were Echnicea flowers and the pink, white and orange flowers are Zinnias!

***

This is the video of Lydia eating her first bites of pureed rice baby food!

***

I'm about done with the slide show of the State Fair and hope to post it soon!

Willingly Jesus',
Kimber