The Wedding, The Maze, The Baby!

Our family was so happy to share in Hosanna's special day!

The wedding was so beautiful! It was the hottest day of the summer, but I'm not sure that bothered anyone except maybe me! Hosanna thought through each part of the wedding, making sure that each thing would bring glory to God so that made it extra special.

Hosanna and Nate cutting the cake that the two of them decorated together!

Amos leading the reception program like a good big brother!

Nate and Hosanna thanking people for coming.

Our girls! All seven of them are very special to us and we love them all!!!!!

The happy couple! Hosanna did most of the planning and work for the wedding and she did a fabulous job. The Dunton family ran the kitchen which was a huge blessing! So many other people helped with food prep or setting up or taking down. Thank you to those that helped!!!!

Awww! One of my favorites!

The wedding party! The little girls were so adorable as they threw their petals.  The bridesmaids looked so lovely in their dresses and Hosanna was stunning in her dress! The smile never left her face from the moment Nate arrived a few days before the wedding till we waved them goodbye!

Apparently they had a good honeymoon and should be at their home in Ohio soon.  One restaurant even gave them a bag of doughnuts that said on the bag "Cutest couple award"!

I must say that weddings are a little bittersweet. You can't help but be happy for a young couple that loves the Lord, who find each other and get to the marriage altar still pure. But at the same time, a family loses a daughter, a sister, a friend. One that's been around for 25 years! So there's been some sad days around here but we all know that eventually we will quit expecting Hosanna to come skipping down the stairs and life will take on a new "normal", whatever that is in this house!!!

To finish off the wedding celebration after the church was cleaned up, and the newlyweds were gone, we spent an evening with Nate's family over at the maze. Nate's brother John brought his guitar and we sang hymns and camp songs, and shared around the campfire.  All six of Nate's brothers made it to the wedding as did his sister so that was special for their family as they are scattered all over the country.  We are so happy Hosanna is married into a family that we can appreciate and know they love the Lord.  We actually knew his parents from back in our college days so there was a lot of reminiscing going on those few days as well.

There hasn't been a lot of time to sit around and think about the wedding though. Maze work went into full swing this week. Mathias and Eli posed for a photo to show how the corn is Paul Bunyan tall this year!

Also, a big blessing this week was Silas and Karen's new baby, Bethany!  What an adorable little girl!!! The delivery was long but went good. Bethany has the distinction  of being #20 of the grandchildren. If you would have told me I'd have that many grandchildren when we got married I would never have believed it!!

So, life continues here on the farm! The hay is being baled, and Arthur says the wheat harvest is just around the corner. The calves are growing and with all the rain so are the pastures. The cows still get out and fences still need fixing. Our "microdairy" cows still need milking and the garden needs harvesting.

If you think of it, pray for our family. We are tired and our "busy" season hasn't even started. Well, we're on lunch tomorrow at church so I gotta go get some things ready.

Have a great Lord's Day tomorrow and don't forget to count your blessings, naming them one by one!

It's a Girl!

Karen and Silas had an adorable little girl born this week! Christy Elizabeth who was 7# 15 oz.  What a blessing from God!

Aunty Hosanna and Christy.

Aunty Miriam. We tried so hard to wake her up so we could see her eyes open but the little sweetheart just slept and slept.

Aunty Priscilla.

The happy grandpa!

Earlier this month, the girls and I sat glued to the computer watching Arthur's calves sell at the auction. 

We headed up our church's Valentine's Banquet and Hosanna and Miriam made the balloon bouquets.

It was a family Valentine's party so knowing we would have a lot of children, we ordered pizzas and had a salad bar.

It was a fun evening and the older kids and young adults did the serving and cleaning up as well as the program.

Sarah and Priscilla did doorprizes and had some fun games to figure out who got them.

The young people sang. It was especially fun to see how they were singing from their hearts with so much enthusiasm! I love all these young people and so appreciate all they do for our church!!

Don't you just love their happy faces while they sing!

And more happy faces!

Marie took family pictures of everyone that came!

I feel so blessed.
God is so good!
I know there are hard times in life which makes it even more important to cherish the good times He sends our way!

Silas, Karen, and Samuel

With Silas and Karen's permission, I am posting some adorable pictures of their family that Jessica and Krystal took.  Enjoy!

Isn't he a cutie?!!

Y'all have a great weekend and don't forget your church needs you tomorrow!

This and That

Last night the crew all went out to weed petunias.  Aimee is up here for a visit so she got to join in as did Joshua H. and Matthew M.

The petunias started off so good this year but they never got as big as normal.  Not sure why.  Anyway, fall is in the air and they are starting to wind down.  Hosanna is the one hoeing above.

We had to visit the new little man today and when Karen started talking he lifted his head and looked right at her.  It was so sweet.  I'm sure he was thinking, "That's my Mama talking.  I love her so much. She loves me and takes such good care of me.". Karen is feeling much better today and has her color back.  Thank you for all of you that prayed for her!

And other cute picture of little Samuel Paul.

Okay, this isn't a nice people of the people, but I wanted to show you the canning that the girls have been busy working on today among other things. There's a shower for Aimee Thursday night at 7:00 at our church if anyone wants to come!  Well, that's it for today.  Have a great evening enjoying God's blessings.  Don't forget to give thanks in everything!

It's a Boy!

Samuel Paul
Born last night!
8 pounds 3 oz.
Adorable!!!

Little Samuel is so cute!!  He has quite a bit of dark hair, which makes him look a more like the J. side of the family.

This little guy has eighteen aunts and uncles!! 

So sweet! Karen had a difficult time with him, was induced, and it took a long time. However, things went okay although she's still not feeling great yet which is why I don't have a picture of the baby with her.

Happy Grandpa!

Congratulations, Silas and Karen!!!! We love you all!

Home School Tournament

Things have been pretty crazy around here and for me, on busy thing was the homeschool tournament yesterday.  I haven't done a total count but there were right around 100 students participating.  It was busy, and really fun too.  The whole family helped out.  Miriam helped me with registration and getting the awards ready as well as judged the speech category.  Hosanna did speed stacking judging in the morning and the airplane toss in the afternoon.  

Isaac and Silas and Karen ran the chess and checkers competition.  Arthur ran the lego challenge in the morning and softball throw in the afternoon.  Miriam and I were getting the lego sets ready and thought we'd have a race to see who was faster.  It was not as easy as children make it look because neither of us had any idea how to put the legos together correctly. We gave up timing it.

My sister Kim helped this year after lots of years of begging her to help!  She also homeschooled all her children's school years and she enjoy seeing all the new families and helped out with judging and with the awards. Thank you so much to anyone else who is reading this that helped judge!

Hosanna

Its been a couple of really rollercoaster weeks! 

Less than two weeks ago the maze finished. Its a relief because we finally can get some sleep, and yet there is so much clean up, bills to pay, things to put away, etc.  I think we've almost wrapped it up! Arthur's chopping the corn and I feel sorry for those that call about bringing a group to the maze.  Too late. Then we lost a son and gained a daughter.  Silas was my "baby boy" and it wasn't easy to see him get married, but what a joy to know he has a godly wife to stand by him!  I can't wait to see what God has in store for them! Naomi and Aaron moved to their church house.  We'll miss having them so close but how fun to see them make a church their home! Then Hosanna came home after almost seven months of being gone.  We finally had time this week to sit down and visit and then she left again yesterday.  Sigh.  I guess we can finish the garden now. She left some pictures for me to post.

This isn't the greatest photo but it shows Hosanna working in the warehouse packing up Bible Bee boxes. Maybe one of these boxes went to your house!

Hosanna's church in Ohio did the same VBS we did this year so we enjoyed comparing things.

Hosanna stays with a wonderful older couple and they enjoy taking her places.  I'm not even sure where this is but it sure is pretty. I think they had a family get-together at this park.

Hosanna also was in a cornfest parade. (Just can't get away from that corn no matter how far you travel!)  She was dressed up as an Operation Christmas Child gift box and walked in the parade.

Some of Hosanna's friends going on a hayride at a cornmaze!  

GraceAnn and Hosanna playing the maze game.  It was actually a large dairy operation that had a cornmaze with it.

Arthur and his dad took Hosanna to the Fargo airport yesterday.  She made it back to Ohio before they got home!  What a blessing planes can be! Today she left for Florida for the National Bible Bee to help get things set up. Being down there, I don't think she'll be missing us like we miss her!  A few more weeks and she'll be home again.

And back at home, Isaac took some of Rebekah's relatives out fishing this last week. They were up for the wedding.  Anyway, Daniel loves fishing and enjoyed catching some big ones! In fact, they got a lot of nice fish! 
Isaac also got his deer, a nice large doe, with a bow. (That was a few weeks ago but I think I forgot to mention it.) He also bought two pickup trucks to use or fix and sell. One might be made into his trapping truck.
 Arthur is getting the cattle closer to home to vaccinate next week.
 Silas and Karen are on their honeymoon and we've been cleaning up and working on their home-sweet-home along with J. family members. Yes, we've heard from them. Even got a text picture of Silas at none other than, a corn maze!
I must be getting rested up because I'm starting to plan my next project - the kitchen!  It needs help so bad!  Well, you all have a wonderful day enjoying the beautiful fall weather God is sending us!