Family bike trip

We enjoyed the beautiful weather with another bike trip. Steve says it was about 10 miles and the kids did great, especially Joel with his tiny bike. The kids were elated when we stopped for a break at a creek. Next time we'll come prepared and bring bathing suits... we had to take off Holly's diaper and clothes so she could wear them on the way home :) Most of the time we biked a trail that used to be a railroad, with beautiful views of the Cascade foothills (can't really see them in the photos). Too bad we're moving away from the trail; I would have liked to take more of our guests biking up there when they come too.

Our little trooper was very weary towards the end

Princess Holly got a free ride on her "throne".

Kaitlyn, Joel, Marie, Emily, Holly, Steve

Emily caught doing the "goofy" :) ...and I just couldn't resist one baby butt picture.
Again Steve is appalled but I think it's cute.

YAY! We're finally finished the exterior painting. Drywalling is also complete and mudding and taping should be finished in about a week. We're preparing for interior painting, installing laminate & tile flooring and cabinets.

On a technical note, for any fellow bloggers who have had trouble uploading pictures or not having their posts show up, I found some help on both problems. As for the pictures, don't upload more than 3MB at a time (total) because blogger will not handle it... best to reduce the size of each picture before uploading, and save the smaller files in a separate folder. And as for posts not showing up, turns out you can't blame that one on blogger. It's probably your own computer's cache, which means other people can probably see it. Try refreshing your browser (F5 or Control + F5 ), adding a question mark to the end of your blog's URL, or empyting your temporary internet files.

And on another completely different note (this post is about as focussed as my mind is, of which Steve will readily attest), we are so excited about AIG's Creation Museum opening this past week! We are so thankful for this powerful and well-presented testimony to the truth of God's marvellous creation work!

I found this comment online... interesting: "About the actual museum he said it had one of the top security (whatever guarding it) and that includes being on the list for homeland security. This is because so many people want to destroy it. He said he was able to go into the security 'office' and was shown awesome things. Like they know where every single person is at all times. The security video and cameras work at about 400,000 frames/sec! So every person (especially if they are on their watch list) who is seen by cameras (which is everyone) pops up on the security monitor and gives the security people a complete makeup of the person, including name, etc. (he knew someone on the inside so he got to go in!). He said people at the top of their professions help create this museum. The guy who did the dinosaurs for Jurassic Park worked on that. A major construction company CEO sold his company and came to construct the museum. A former security guard for the White House left his job to run the security team. This museum is top of the line everything! Scientists from universities left (who were at the top of their game) to come and invest their time and life into this museum. Evolutionists who have gone through said it was scary --> Because their children in schools would be given such an incredible presentation of Biblical Truth that they could not leave the museum without questioning their beliefs in evolution (what they are taught in schools). My assistant pastor said it was exceptional and done in a presuppositional format!"

Marie is 7

Our second baby is growing up, fast!

We've gotten into a habit of going to McDonalds after Ladies' Bible Study. It works out great because the kids play happily with their friends while we have coffee and visit :)

We enjoyed these uh, cheerful and clean (!) faces on our way home from long days at the property...

Steve thought this one was too gross to post. Oh well, hopefully noone is eating :)

Family & friends

We had an excellent and timely sermon for Mother's Day about Hannah's devout faith and her request specifically for a son to serve as a leader in the temple, not just a child to satisfy her own desire for motherhood. It is an important reminder of our often forgotten parental calling.

We celebrated Mother's Day and I have no pictures of our moms :(

Here are two old ones in their honor. Happy Mother's Day to both of you and thank you for your godliness and sacrifice!

A good part of our kids' lives involve cousins...

Joel, John & Tyrel: The Three Musketeers
(Don't let those smiles deceive you... they're sweet, but Joel & Tyrel are little rascals when they are together on the farm :)

Holly's fascinated with little Robert

Joel loves these little toads too much, poor things (little children's rambunctious and playful "love" for animals is a scary thing). At least a dozen live in a little tunnel right in front of our garage. We're going to have to find them a new home.

Painting the top of the chimney on a fully-extended extension ladder mounted on scaffolding was not Steve's favorite moment.

Our unglamorous lives

Looking at other people's blogs, sometimes I wonder why I bother publishing about our family at all... but we're pretty happy doing the simple things we do... Big events for us are Holly learning her first word (finally!), Joel's ground-breaking discovery that moms are married to dads, getting a side of the house painted (I've even been painting in my sleep lately), Steve trying to resist joining the union at work and being the only one, Emily and Marie catching on to playing Scrabble and getting a little absorbed with it. I've always been sort of fascinated by Ecclesiastes, and some of the mystery about that book.

"For what does a man get in all his labor and in his striving with which he labors under the sun? Because all his days his task is painful and grievous; even at night his mind does not rest. This too is vanity. There is nothing better for a man than to eat and drink and tell himself that his labor is good. This also I have seen, that it is from the hand of God. For who can eat and who can have enjoyment without Him? For to a person who is good in His sight He has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, while to the sinner He has given the task of gathering and collecting so that he may give to one who is good in God's sight. This too is vanity and striving after wind." (Ecc. 2:22-26)

So we are happy and of all most blessed, enjoying God's blessings of salvation in Jesus Christ, covenant children, our church and a free and peaceful country.

Holly's first bike ride and the camera messed up the picture

Emily's "nature art" designs :)

She's a very affectionate baby!