It's a Boy!!

Gideon Raymond
8' 6oz. 20" long
Gideon means "Great Warrior".
May he always fight for God and what's right!  Gideon will have to be tough with three big brothers who love him!  Can you tell how happy Amos is with four sons! Raymond is one of Gideon's Great Grandpa's name. (These pictures aren't in any special order and I was unable to download them all, but, I know you'll enjoy them Grandpa and Grandma M. and N's. and aunty and uncle!!)



What a cute little guy!  Rebekah said it was her shortest labor, and easiest even though he was her largest baby.

 

Such cute little cheeks Gideon has!

Aunty Miriam taking her turn holding Gideon.

 



The boys were so excited that they kept wanting to hold him.  For some reason they thought his name should be "Shooter" and called him that.

The boys had to check out this brother by peeking at his eyes, poking him in the nose, patting him on the head and rubbing his cheeks.  He passed inspection and will be very, very well loved!

Congratulations, Amos and Rebekah!  We love you and your boys!


 

It's A ...

I'll post with pictures a little later!

Here You Are, Naomi...

a post so you don't feel like you're missing out!

Naomi said she missed the maze this year but I know one thing she doesn't miss is seeing our kitchen overtaken by water, candy, pop, etc!  This is just the kitchen, you should see the pantry!!  We go through thousands of cans of pop and water so you can imagine!

And this is the ferocious tire dragon, at least the front of it.  I don't know whose idea it was to put balls in the eyes but it kinda cool.  The kids can crawl through most of the dragon and love to run on it. Sometime I'll get a photo of the whole thing.

This is the human foosball game.  It wasn't fixed all the way yet but  we thought we'd let the explorers play a game to test it out.  We saw a lot of groups spend a lot of time playing this last weekend so apparently it works good.

We did have a good weekend, the largest first weekend we've ever had.  We "celebrated" by opening a three cans of pop and splitting them!  I'm afraid I detest the thought of all that sugar going in us and limit it when I can.  We did have lots of ice cream as well! (Probably full of sugar too but at least it's a dairy product and not a sugar product!)

Today Miriam and Hosanna picked tomatoes.  Seven large boxes of them.  You know what we'll be doing this week. So far Miriam has got one 18 quart pot full of salsa to can and one 14 quart pot of pizza sauce ready to can which used up almost two boxes.  I used a few of the "extra" tomatoes to make a big pot of vegetable soup for supper.  It smells so good with fresh garden potatoes, corn, onions, beans, and a good dose of fresh dill.  I love how you can wash fresh potatoes and the skin just washes right off.  Store potatoes never taste this good!

Isaac is busy putting up some CRP hay which should add to our supply for the winter.  Arthur is busy wrapping up some school things.  He decided not to teach this year because he is so busy and so they closed the school.  I find that sad but maybe it will open again someday.

So that's how it goes here.  As for my favorite quote at the corn maze this last weekend, a little boy said to his mommy, "I saw a real farmer!!" :)  Have a great day!!

 

Busy Describes It

I'm afraid we've been too busy to do a good job blogging.  Yesterday was our opening day and although it was a slow day, it was still way better than any other opening day we've had.  It was just too hot to wander around in corn but some people were brave!  We had a nice rain last night with a real "Heavens declaring the glory of God" type thunderstorm.  Priscilla and Silas would want you to pray for them and others around the nation taking the regional Bible Bee quizzes today.  They've worked so hard and even Silas found time to memorize the verses.  (Silas is a "work 14 hour days" guy this summer, nothing new on the farm!)  Pray for us at the maze today as well.

Explorers

The Explorers group came out this morning to help on the maze.  Thank you!!!! We've never had this much done so early!!  (Still a ways to go)  The guys put up flags which always makes it look so nice.

They also put in a "lifeboat".  Yes, I know it's not an authentic Titanic lifeboat but it will have to do and it will be a great photo op site, if you can find it in the maze!  They also did a lot of things with bales, signs, etc. That's my handsome cowboy in the hat!

The girls did a bunch of things on my list. Bagging maze photos to sell, making the rope maze, mini maze, etc.  Again, THANK YOU for your help!!!!!  My sister-in-law, Ellen, helped me start filling those store shelves.  Makes me just a little scared, like every year!  If you look in the back of this photo you can kinda see the tire dragon with his playball eyes.  Not sure whose idea that was but it looks kinda cool!

Have a great day tomorrow!!  Enjoy worshipping God in freedom!!

Busy

"Busy" describes it all! 

* Going back a couple of weeks, the guys had a great time at DIBC.  No one got hurt too bad and they said the food was good!

*Miriam is keeping the garden proccessed with  her sisters help.

*The kitchen and pantry are piled high with maze candy, pop and water. (Almost embarrassing buying that much candy at Sam's Club!)

*The maze prep seems to go so slow even though we put in long hours.

*We've spent a small fortune on the maze.  Pray that people come!

*The wheat and oats are all harvested.  The guys are working on barley and some more hay. Oh the smell of the fresh hay!

*We had a new library book table last Sunday.  My favorite?  The biography, To Russia With Love.  This book is about former communist Russia (and other eastern Europe countries) and how the christians there have such faith.  Makes American chrisitianity seem like a game.

*Silas got to vote for the first time in the Minnesota primary.  He also got his "signed up for the draft" card.

* Priscilla says she's the "Lone Student" this school year. 

* Rebekah is due in just a couple of weeks!  Pray for her too!

*The petunias are looking so nice!  Must be the great weeding crew that God uses!

*The Explorer guys are coming out Saturday to help get maze stuff ready.  Yeah!

*The maze is probably all you'll hear about for the next two months so feel free to not read this blog for awhile!

*Time to get going.  Have a great day praising God for all his wonderful gifts to us!