WV Fun Part 3

I love kitchen windows - and I have to tell you Anne and Max's one of my favorites to look out -

Rachel and that bubble blower; she loved it and it drove me crazy all summer long - kept getting spilled everywhere we went.. but she loved it.

Comparing muscles.... (so funny and cute - considering they have no muscles.)

Cousins - Patrick loved meeting all the 'new' cousins for him - it's so hard to live so far away.

Early game of baseball before breakfast.

Rachel caught a frog - and loved it - had trouble getting her to let it go.

More baseball....

Most of us that day...

Grace didn't know what to think about that 'other' baby on her momma's hip!

Before breakfast - Rachel sitting on the porch swing. :) She loved the porch swing- might have to get one at our new house. :)

Early morning looking towards the barn.

Morning dew on the blueberry fencing with a cool spider web - :)

I think this little blue flower is chicory - not sure will need to read up but it was everywhere and so pretty.

Rachel and Courage kept eating red raspberries from the bushes - it's a wonder they had any left to sell! :)

Looking from over the garden towards the barn... I might have to make a calendar!

Faith and Grace on porch - love this picture.

Mark playing piano - Grace checking out PawPaw's belongings - Max and PawPaw were singing

Ben flying down slide with 'towel cape' - they had so much fun playing down by the Greenbriar River - lovely park.

Mercy - swinging high!

Back at the farm after swimming.....

Cousins riding in the back of the truck to the river... PawPaw and I didn't fit so we followed in the van - and took pictures..

Swimming in the Greenbriar River - we had had so much rain - the river was up 4-5 feet.

PawPaw waving - I brought a chair so he could sit up off the ground.

That cute Katie Dee Robinson - they grow them pretty in West Virginia.

Patience, Ben and Patrick - trying to dunk each other...

Rachel asked me the other day "Mom can we go back to Uncle Max's Farm?" So it's been almost two months and she is still talking about the farm. :) I realized I had not posted pictures of the farm yet. I keep trying to explain to her that he is our cousin but she keeps calling him Uncle Max. :)

I have triple the amount of pictures that are posted - and you probably think we were there for days and days... no ~ just 24 hours! It was just so much fun and so many things to take pictures of - we loved it. There will be one more blog posting of West Virginia pictures and I'll try to get those done before we move.

Gotta run and eat - and then friends are popping in this evening to help pack dishes! yea! I'll update you later.

Jesus What a Friend for Sinners

At our new church plant service Sunday night they had several hymns printed in the bulletin and this hymn has always been a favorite and I thought I'd share it with you. It was such a wonderful surprise to see it in the bulletin. It's always comforting to be reminded of it's simple but unfailing truths.

Jesus! What a friend for sinners!

Jesus! Lover of my soul;

Friends may fail me, foes assail me,

He, my Savior, makes me whole.

(chorus) Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Hallelujah! What a friend

Saving, helping, keeping, loving

He is with me to the end.

Jesus What a strength in weakness

Let me hide myself in Him

Tempted, tried, and sometimes failing

He, my strength, my victory wins.

(chorus)

Jesus What a help in sorrow

While the billows o'er me roll

Even when my heart is breaking

He my comfort, helps my soul

(chorus)

Jesus I do now receive Him

More than all in Him I find

He hath granted me forgiveness

I am His and He is mine

Hallelujah What a Savior

Hallelujah What a friend

Saving, helping, keeping, loving

He is with me to the end.

I hope you know and or reminded that He is with us when everything else seems to be falling away, your heart is breaking and the issues of your daily life is roll over you like waves knocking you down, taking your breath away. He is there, our Friend, loves us, never fails us.

WV Fun Part 2

I wanted to put more pictures of our fantastic time we had in West Virginia.

I can see our time getting busier and busier as the days go by and as soon as our home sells I will be swamped with packing and trying to find a new home! :) So.... more West Virginia Fun!

Tygart Lake - Jenny rented a pontoon boat for us all to have fun on the lake with family!

I can't remember which son this is - Justice or Honor? He was so funny to watch up on the rock we started a running commentary of his time on top of the rock - to jump? or not to jump? He did jump but it took him a minute or two! :)

Cousin Mark and PawPaw - trying to look like Santa I think. :)

Baby Grace - such a cutie!

Courage driving the boat! AND what a ham - he loved having his picture taken!

Cousin Mark & his lovely wife; Faith :)

Cousins Calvin & Asher encouraging Patrick to jump... (what's wrong with this picture!?)

My son leaps........ (this is actually his second jump - and I was in the water for his first - very close by..... :)

On the way down..............

Splash! (his cousin Calvin was near by too - at his Aunt Tammy's request)

This is the crew - Aunt Jenny rented the pontoon boat on their free day from working at the camp - so it was the only day we had.... and it was 68 degrees and raining! But we were all going swimming any way right? so what's a bit of rain... - it was fun and my children are still talking about it!

Aunt Jenny rented the pontoon boat and let each child take a turn driving the boat - here's Rachel driving - she loved it and I think drove more than anyone - (she didn't swim in the lake) She learned that there are fish in the lake and decided that she would NOT be swimming with the fishes! :)

It really is a beautiful lake - and if you get the chance you ought to give it a try!

Rachel and her PawPaw - it was a chilly 68 degrees with rain and some wind! :)

This is the lake at the Kern Cabin north of Buchannon, WV - we had a blast and were there for three days! What a place to go and visit and be quiet and just enjoy each other -no TV, no computers - no cell phones. I loved it. Love the porch and rocking chairs - can't believe I didn't get pictures of the 'cabin' itself - I just put my camera down while 'in' the cabin. :) I guess I was just '''soooo''' relaxed. :) haha

Did you know that Abraham Lincoln 'spoke & wrote' West Virginia into statehood by proclamation & signature - June 20, 1863..... Saaaalute!

Rachel - visiting our Baire relatives - this creek - I used to play in as a child, my mother played in as a child and I have to tell you - Rachel was NOT getting in the water but her cousins AJ and Asher loved it and had a blast playing in the creek. My Grandma Baire's house sat just above this creek and we visited her every week when I was little - but every now and then when the rains came - the creek would rise... and sometimes rise right up to her front porch... so the old saying, "Lord willing the creek don't rise" is a very true statement.

A hike in the Kanawha Forest State Park - these trees are so beautiful - children had a wonderful time - I'm the only one that ended up with a tick - thankfully Aunt Jenny was in town so she could help me remove it from - well - that's another story. :)

Rachel met her cousin Chrissy - they had a blast - and want to be sisters. It was so much fun to see them playing badminton, barbies, watching movies, air hockey - they had a blast.

OK - there are a ton more pictures but this is it for today!