Well, I Wouldn't...

I would never be caught up this high but Arthur would!

Arthur is adding an addition on to a man's house with Eli, Mathias and Daniel's help and they wanted the branches cut from off of their antenna. It was an all day job but he came home safely so I was happy!

I've been working on Granary projects and made a few macrame hangers this week. I loved the feathers on this one.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Don't forget to go to church on Sunday and enjoy worshiping God and fellowshipping with other believers!

New Babies!

New little Lydia being enjoyed by her sweet sisters!

Lydia is Aaron and Naomi's little girl. 

Last night we had a baby shower at church for Rebekah and little Ilana. Great Auntie Linda got the honors of holding Ilana.

And Ilana will be one well dressed girl with all the fun clothes she got! Happy Mama, happy baby!

Tomorrow our family is on lunch at church. Hosanna is making birds nests for dessert. At least we can pretend it's spring!

With three fairly new little babies in the family, we've been doing a lot of babysitting. 

Arthur got me a new sewing machine for Christmas and I finally had time to get it out and test it out. It has an embroidery feature that I can't wait to learn how to use. Meanwhile, I just made an apron to test it out.

Okay, I know this was a short post but I really felt like I needed to do a post, even without a lot of words!  Have a wonderful day enjoying God's blessings everyone! And if you don't have a place to go to church tomorrow, visit ours!!

Our Love Story!

Now this is an old picture! Taken our junior year of high school.

Arthur and I have always known each other. No doubt we were in the church nursery together and we were in a lot of the same classes from kindergarten on into high school since we are the same age.  We actually went on our first date when we were 13! Arthur's sister dropped us at the Patch Restaurant for rhubarb shakes or something like that.  We weren't always a "couple", but stayed good friends from then on.

3rd grade.  I'm not sure what Arthur was looking at or why I had pants under my dress!  

It was quite convenient being good friends. He would ask what I thought about this girl and I would tell him how she wasn't what she looks like and not to waste his time. I would ask him about a guy and he would tell me what a jerk he was. Saved us lots of heartaches!!  But we were "just friends" and the girls he liked didn't appreciate it and the guys I liked didn't care for it either.

The summer before our junior year we were both working for a Bible camp. The girls were starting to really irk him with their flirting because he really wasn't interested in any of them. The camp director gave him some advice, "Give your class ring to a girl that you really trust to get them off your back. Make sure she knows it's just to help out."  He thought I would be the perfect girl for it and I gladly took it. It worked. They left him alone!

Something changed though with that ring, and eventually we started to talk about even getting married. I mean, we were best friends and together all the time anyway! We got engaged at Christmas 1984 and got married January 1st, 1986. During that engagement time, I think we saw each other about two weeks because we were both so busy with trips and college.  It was a simple wedding and we took a six week honeymoon and helped out some different ministries as we traveled around the country. We still have friends today that we made on that honeymoon trip.

While looking for this picture I found some old Valentine's he gave me back when we were 13. I think some group was selling them in school and I have quite a few of them from him that year.  In one he asked me to go roller skating that Valentine's Day evening. If he could get us a ride. And if our parents let us.  We were so young!  I also found a necklace he gave me that Christmas that I still have.  I also have lots of notes and letters we wrote each other as we got older. Not a lot of pictures though :(   I remember sitting in Mr. Hendrickson's science class discussing how when we got old we could live in a cabin in the wilderness where there were no people, maybe in Alaska. Can't remember learning much but I remember that!  I don't think I would've passed any of Mr. Schmitz's math classes from 8th grade on if he hadn't helped me understand what I was suppose to do!

And so here we are today. Very much still in love and still best friends! There's so much more I could say but I don't want to write a book. Hope you enjoyed hearing our story!

Easter /Maze

Before Easter, we did the old familiar "egg carton tulips" with some of the grandsons. Remember making those?

Spring just isn't coming very fast and Priscilla just couldn't wait for a roasted marshmallow! Actually, Arthur was burning some brush and it just looked like a good thing to do!

The girls and I made some small Easter baskets for the grandkids and we thought they turned out pretty cute. 

Easter morning we all came downstairs dressed in pink so we had a picture taken. We had a great breakfast at church followed by a great message about the Resurrection of our Savior! I love Easter! I love the hymns we sing and I enjoy messages about the cross and empty tomb. I love the reminder about why and how much we have to be thankful for!

I also love Easter dresses! I remember as a girl my mom would always sew us girls new Easter dresses which made the day even more special. Then we went over to our grandparents for Easter dinner either here or up in Winnipeg. Grandma Giesbrecht would hide Easter eggs all over the house and made even the adults looks for them! Then we would sing some Easter hymns and eat, and eat! 

We had our children, my parents and an aunt and uncle over for dinner. That's a lot of people so we used both the kitchen table, dinning room table, and set up two in the living room.

Miriam holding little Grace.

The kids loved the little baskets. Heidi would "crack" the eggs before opening them!

And then there was naptime!

Meanwhile, work on maze things progresses. These are some sticky note books to sell in the Granary. So fun and quick to make!

And these are the mini sticky note books. These were so fast to make and just adorable!
Yesterday I also, finally, sat down and started making the maze design. I had been putting it off because I just wasn't sure what to make since its our tenth year and I thought it should be special. Well, I'm not sure its that special, but it turned out nice even though it looks like the hardest one we will have ever cut. Not necessarily the hardest to go through, but hardest to cut because of all the curves. Straight lines are so much nicer! 

Well, I need to get going! Have a wonderful day in the Lord and remember that we can celebrate Easter every day!!
  
Up from the grave He arose!

Maze Craft

I am so enjoying this winter! My project this week has been to make some of these notecases for the maze and for Priscilla to bring to camp. I love the look of all the pretty papers and the finished product! I don't love the mess I'm making!!

If you haven't seen these before, I've been selling them at the maze for a few years now. Inside they have sticky notes and a notebook along with a pretty pen. They're all just a little different. I still have a ways to go before I'm done.

Other than that, Arthur has been busy working on "sprucing up" the milkhouse and on a "top secret" maze project!  Miriam finished her painting project and someday when we get the finishing touches done we will show you by picture what she did.  Priscilla is busy with her book writing, and Hosanna keeps us all going!

I hope and pray that each of you reading this will have a good day knowing that God loves you and cares about you!

Early February

Last week we had the privilege of watching Aaron and Naomi's three oldest for a few days. As a girl, Priscilla had these Indian dresses she lived in, and is really excited now when her nieces love to wear them! They also dressed up in some clothes from the "dress up trunk" so we could have a tea party all fancy dressed like.

I had no idea when I made homemade play dough that Aaron would play with this stuff for hours! He just couldn't leave it alone. It made for some easier days watching this little guy!

The kids loved getting sled rides too! Both Arthur and Eli read lots of books to them as well.  So, it was a busy week, but fun.

Other than that, we've had some colds in the house ;(

We've been working on the Valentine Banquet at our church this coming Sunday. You're all invited! It's on the 12th at 6:00 pm and is for the whole family. We'll have a banquet meal followed by a program. Please RSVP though if you come!

Arthur has been diligently getting cattle separated and making plans for shipping the calves on Thursday. A yearly highlight! We won't have as many to sell this year because he is saving most of the heifer calves.

I really wanted to do more Bible memory this year. The last few years I've been doing various verses in the Bible but really wanted to tackle a passage. I decided to go through Scripture Memory Fellowship and learn the Ten Commandment passage, Exodus 20:1-18. I'm sure I've learned it before, but still have so much trouble remembering from day to day what I learned the day before. Teach your children a lot of Bible memory when their young! I'm convinced that those who learn their Bible when young remember so much more than when you wait till you're my age to learn it!

Well, you all have a wonderful week enjoying God's blessings!
Count them, and name them one by one!

Early November

With the gorgeous fall weather this year, Arthur's been having fun taking different guys / grandsons out goose and duck hunting. In fact, he's not even deer hunting this year. He's just too busy and if he does have free time, he'd rather duck hunt.  Arthur is also busy, with Isaac, moving cattle to where they'll spend the winter, getting the barn ready for winter, and butchered some cows. He works long, about fifteen hour, days. It will be nice when winter actually comes and so he will have a few more hours to get some rest.

Arthur also finished chopping the corn maze last week. He's been chopping each day since the maze finished to feed the cows fresh silage.

Meanwhile, I've been working on a few projects for the Roseau Holiday Craft and Vendor Show.  November 25th and 26th if anyone wants to come!  These are large Hershey bar snowmen. 

These are the adorable mini candy bar snowmen. These are fun to make! Plus they are just so cute! I have a few more things to hurry and get done before the show. Hosanna and Priscilla embroidered a bunch of dishtowels for me to sell as well as maze Granary things we'll have to sell.

 Priscilla also just headed south with her cousins to work at the National Bible Bee.  There aren't many places she loves as much as the Bible Bee!  Miriam has been spending the last few days cleaning our garage and trying to at least make a path through it! Maybe we can even park a vehicle in it this winter! There is so much hunting and fishing stuff, plus bikes, camping gear, wood pile, tools, farm supplies, etc. You get the point. I wonder how many American's actually are able to park in their garages? We are definitely a nation of "stuff".

Well, I gotta keep going. Have a wonderful day enjoying God's blessings!

Endorsing Convention

There was a MN District 1 endorsing convention last night that Arthur and Hosanna were involved in. There were six different people running for MN senate district 1 Republican place as well as our state representative Dan Fabian needed endorsing.

Mark Johnson got the endorsement by, well, most all of the votes! He is a good man and we are excited to have him running for this office. Our current DFL state senator has been there for years and years but is retiring this year so we are excited to have a good conservative candidate to support. 

Arthur and our state representative Dan Fabian get along good and Arthur feels free to share any concerns he has with him. Sorry it's blurry, I sent my old camera along.

Arthur and Hosanna had a good evening with Arthur being a delegate and Hosanna alternate. Normally alternates don't vote unless they get seated and she got seated so was able to vote. A big thank you to Amos for milking so Arthur could go!!

Meanwhile, back on the farm, the beef calves are starting to be born. This means constantly checking the beef cows for calving problems and then tagging them when they are born. Isaac's beef cows are almost done calving so he's helping Arthur out as needed. The snow is pretty much gone with a dusting each night that melts in the morning. It's still pretty cold out!

Priscilla is wrapping up book four in her Amy's Adventures series and will post on her blog when that's ready. Miriam and Hosanna are keeping busy with the house they clean, care center work, and delivering meals for the elderly in town through Meals-on-Wheels. Miriam is also helping with VBS preparation. Hosanna is also enjoying opportunities to do chalk drawing different places.  I'm working on VBS and maze stuff. I know, it seems early, but it takes a long time to get some stuff done and its easier to do it now when its not as nice outside than do things in the summer when I'd rather be outside.

Have a great weekend serving God and don't forget to go to church this Sunday! 

NAFDMA - North American Farm Direct Marketing Association - Conference

This post actually starts back at Christmas when our children went together and gave us a vacation package to British Columbia! They knew we wanted to go there, but they didn't all know why, the NAFDMA conference! I've always wanted to go to the conference because its where the corn maze people go, also greenhouses, bee farms, farm market people, etc. People who work with people on the farm. Anyway, we were excited this week to head out to beautiful British Columbia. We flew out of Winnipeg, since it's the nearest big airport, and flew to Vancouver. The conference itself was in Abbotsford, close to Vancouver. There were lots of great workshops and then one day we took tour buses to different field locations. I went on the bus that visited the BC Department of Agriculture Ag in the Classroom program, a honeybee farm, a corn maze, and a greenhouse. Arthur's bus visited a dairy farm, chicken farm, and farmer's market. This is the Ag in the Classroom staff member showing us how they do their school tours. 

We went around in our BC tour buses.


The Honeybee Centre and their "Beestro".

The owner showed us their education center and bee harvesting room. They also had a really nice honey gift shop with everything you can imagine having to do with honey. The honey I bought was in too big of a jar and was confiscated at the airport :(  So was the tiny knife I always keep in my purse that has been there so long I forgot about. Very embarrassing getting "special" treatment! For some reason I kept the machine buzzing as I went through it :( Anyway, this man provides bee supplies for movies that need bee related things in Canada. 

I donned the bee hat. I think it was on backwards or something. I could see out just fine but the picture doesn't show it. Anyway, it was one of the only pictures I got to prove I was there!

We visited the Chilliwack Corn Maze. Of course the corn isn't actually there but they had a bunch of things to show us, including their indoor square bale maze.

Their sign showing what they have during maze season. We also visited another maze where we were served a barbeque meal. They had a neat fort, mini train, and haunted maze.

One of the speakers was one of Canada's most popular gardening experts. He was really good, and we got a chance to visit his greenhouse. I should say green houses as there were a number of them. I especially enjoyed seeing GREEN!!  How nice after months of white!

I found this groomed tree in the shape of a cactus to be pretty neat.  It had a nice price tag on it too so I didn't bring it home :) This really would've sent a flag up at customs!!

So we had a wonderful trip! The food at the convention was fantastic as were the meals Arthur and I ate out. Our hotel was nice and we even had the pool to ourselves during the week. We met a lot of fellow maze people and farmers from all over North America so there was much we all had in common. There were vendors with their displays of things to use at mazes and we came home with way more ideas than we can ever use.  As much fun as we had, home is wonderful! I can't thank our children enough for giving us the chance to do something we have talked about for years!

Meanwhile at home... You'll have to wait for another day to hear about that!

Bible Bee Nationals

Priscilla here, sorry we've taken so long to post about the Bible Bee, but we had some computer trouble:( Well, here we are finally. The drive to San Antonio, TX was over 24 hours, so we were  really glad when we finally got there and could rest a little. This is the view from our hotel room deck. The hotel was REALLY nice, and we enjoyed the service there. It almost made us feel like royalty the way they waited on us.

We didn't actually get many good pictures at the Bible Bee due to the lighting in the building, and our camera that's not so good, so that's why I don't have more pictures of us there. This is us seniors waiting for the opening ceremony. I'm sitting between Gloria K. and Rebekah L. I had a great time meeting so many awesome new friends!!

 

I think this is almost all of us Senior Bible Bee contestants. 

We did take one morning and headed over to the Alamo. I had never been there, and I really enjoyed seeing it. The wall around it was much longer than I had imagined it to be. After being there and seeing the wall, it makes you understand how amazing and miraculous it was that they protected it for as long as they did. 

We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, but if you're ever down that way, it's totally worth seeing. If you grew up watching Davy Crockett, you'll especially appreciate seeing the things in the museum. Things like Davy Crockett's rifle, Fess Parker's rifle from the movie, Jim Bowie's knife, Col. Travis's diary, old family Bibles, and other things.

One afternoon, Dad and Mom managed to find time to take off and go down to the ocean. Mom hadn't been back to that spot since their honeymoon, so it was really neat for them to be able to go to Padre Island.

This is me right before the closing ceremony. I don't know exactly how I placed, except that I wasn't in the top fifteen. I had a wonderful time, and I think everyone should do the Bible Bee! It was neat seeing how everyone there was so focused on encouraging one another. The awesome thing about this competition is that we all walk away with the prize of God's Word in our hearts. I was really blessed by seeing everyone so focused on knowing God better, and not on their test scores. Because knowing God is what's important.

Dr. James Dobson spoke at the closing ceremony, and he did a great job. They had a few amazing speakers including David Barton, (we really enjoyed that:) Ray Comfort, E.Z. and Mr. Upton.

 Well, after TX and temperatures in the 70's, coming home to three inches of snow was interesting. We had a good Thanksgiving, and are so thankful for all that God's been doing in our lives.

 The day after Thanksgiving, Mom and I did a Corn Maze Booth at the Craft Show. (pictured below)

And now, we're working on getting things ready for Christmas.

Hosanna, Isaac, and Aimee, did a Birthday Party for Jesus at Awanas, Dad's busy milking cows and keeping the farm running. Mom is working on Christmas gifts, and Miriam is keeping us all alive and in line.

Have a blessed day, and stay Thankful:)!!!!!!!!!!:)