Rescuing the Christmas Tree

It's one of our favorite Christmas traditions...

I can't remember which year we started this tradition...  maybe when Shepard was a new baby.

The whole thing is a word picture...  it was John's idea.  (He's great at word pictures!)

We're trying to teach the kids that the best gift of Christmas is that Jesus came to rescue us!!

So, to help them understand we go rescue a tree...

we go to the store with cut trees and have a blast trying to find the ugliest tree... the one that surely no one will want to buy.  (Honestly, this has turned out to be a whole lot more fun than searching for the perfect tree!  Even the workers at Lowe's got in on it with us this time and had fun helping us.)

 

The tree represents us (sinners) who are in need of a rescue! 

Here is our tree...  ready for a makeover!

 

(This year we tried spraying snow on it - fun!)

 

We always end up loving our tree and it seems precious to us after we have invested so much in it.

(And part of what is making us smile this year is that we have really tall ceilings now and ended up with about the shortest tree available.  But we love it and wouldn't trade it for a big beautiful one.)

 

And, we are reminded that we are thankful for God's gift of rescue to us!

The baby Jesus grew into a man and paid our eternal debt price.

Rejoice!

Little bunny... with fur

They are definitely looking much cuter now with lots of fur!

And they are soooooo soft!

 

I "almost" held one of the sweet little bundles today, but my mom's experience a few days ago has made me a little hesitant...  ah, I just don't like getting messy.  (There's a certain picture from my childhood that says it all...  my siblings are covered head to toe in mud.  My parents made me get in the picture after much protesting on my part.  I think I tiptoed in just for the photo op.  Sigh.  Some things just never change.) Lol.

 

I did hold Charky today, though!  I think that was my first time to ever hold a chicken! :)  The kids were proud of me...  saying, "Well, Mom, you're ONLY 42!"  As if everybody holds chickens... haha.

Marking the first fruit tree...

 

Last year Josiah was baptized in the north pond... and then we let him pick out a fruit tree that we planted there in honor of his salvation.  He chose a peach tree!  (The tree is looking a little bare right now without any leaves... kinda like a big stick in the ground.)

We wanted a "marker" for the tree, so Josiah found a big rock on our property and then my parents' very sweet neighbor helped us get it engraved to mark Josiah's tree.  We got it back last night!

We were so excited...  I loved seeing the smile on Josiah's face when he saw it!

 

We hope to have a fruit orchard someday... 

wouldn't it be wonderful to eventually have a fruit tree for all our children and grandchildren around the pond?  We are praying so!

More additions at the farm...

This morning we discovered that Josiah's rabbit, Nighter, had bunnies last night.

10 of them!!!

 

We have a total of 17 little bunnies right now. :)

 

Here's Shep holding his favorite bunny...  they grow fur so fast and they are SOOO soft!

 

 

I really enjoyed seeing GG riding around on the golf cart with Shepard today.  He offered to give her a ride to the barn...  and then took the long route to get there. :)

 

We also have two new roosters now...

 

The boys are having a lot of fun keeping count of how many animals we have out here now...  it's well over 40 now. :)

Roman Feast

It was a weekend of feasts!

The day after Thanksgiving we made our own Roman Feast to celebrate that we had just finished studying Ancient Rome on our chronological study of history.  We made "couches" on the floor... tried to eat reclining as was the custom in those days...  and ate without utensils...  and ate lots of whole foods...  and we each wore somewhat of a toga! 

The boys personalities were quite a mix on this adventure...  some were ecstatic about the whole thing... another dreaded the wearing of a toga. :)

At the end though everyone was laughing and we had a really fun time. 

Learning like this is a LOT of FUN!!

 

Our after dinner entertainment... 

 

 

I guess we are on to the Dark Ages and Medieval Times now...

Our Thanksgiving Tree

We were a little short on time Thanksgiving morning...  maybe because we read too long about the first Thanksgiving with Pilgrims and Indians and then how the Thanksgiving holiday actually got started...  maybe not exactly related to the Pilgrims and Indians after all. (But didn't we learn in school that it started with the Pilgrims and Indians...  hmmmm... it actually started when President Lincoln was in office, during the Civil War.) 

My favorite anecdote of the morning was learning that the Pilgrims thought that potatoes were poisonous and so they wouldn't eat them.  Oh, if only they knew what they were missing!  Mashed potatoes is my FAVORITE thing on the Thanksgiving Feast table!  (Thanks for the yummy food, Mom!)

But we really wanted to make our Thanksgiving Tree...  so we had time for everyone to add one leaf to the tree.  Everybody got to write something they are thankful for on the back of their leaf - and each leaf has a scripture about being thankful on the front side.  (Found these at A Holy Experience.)

 

I still have plenty of leaves left to add to our tree.  I'm thinking about saving them for next year and making it an annual tradition!

New additions on the farm

Baby bunnies!!  Seven of them!

Shepard's rabbit, Domino, is the mama.

John got a nesting box in her cage just in time... Shepard got up early each day to check for bunnies and Monday morning came running back to the house with the exciting news!

He's absolutely giddy about baby bunnies... he loves just about any baby animal.  He goes out to check them several times a day and if you happen by Green Gabled Acres anytime soon he will grab you by the hand and introduce you the little bundles. :)

 

 

 



Fall has come to Green Gabled Acres

Loving this beautiful color...

I took these pictures on my evening walk tonight.

 



 

 

Our azaleas are beautiful...  but I think they are confused.  They must think it's spring. :)

 

 

Happy Fall Y'all

 





Charky, again

The beloved chicken...

 

Well, I really can't believe that a chicken gets an entire blog post all to herself.  But, we wanted more pictures... this time of Charky by herself.  So, here she is folks...

 



Charky, Sunday at the farm and Joey

Charky is the most beloved hen on our farm.  She belongs to Josiah.  Which is good for her because apparently she is at the very bottom of the pecking order in the chicken barn.  And that just prompts Josiah to spoil her more.  Little Charky is hand fed all the special treats - that way the boys are sure she gets some, too.  She is held and petted the most.  Even the other two boys love Charky the most...  just because Josiah does. 

See how spunky little Charky is? :)

 

Here are some pictures from our Sunday afternoon on the farm... (working and playing)...

John is building some new rabbit cages and Shep and Will are digging tunnels in the dirt mound.

 

 

Speaking of animals at the farm, Joey (our cat) had a big adventure this week.  When we got home from a fall festival on Friday evening, Shepard found Joey all snuggled up on the pillows on his bed.  (Joey is never allowed inside so we were REALLY surprised to find him there!!  He must have snuck in while we were loading the car and nobody saw him.)  If Joey wasn't a boy, I think I'd rename him "Goldilocks" because of all the beds in our house, he knew exactly which one was "just right"!  Shepard is the one who loves Joey most.

 

"Goldilocks" as a baby with Shepard.   (They've both changed quite a bit in the last year!)

My Boys

We joke a lot about me being the only girl in this family of BOYS...

as the only object of their delight in grossing-out girls, I am constantly in the clutches of "boyness".

But, really, who wouldn't enjoy being the "queen" of this bunch of loving, fun, handsome boys?!?

 

My two favorite new pictures of the three boys...

 

 

Josiah

 

 

Shepard

 

 

Will

 

 

 

And I got this picture of John and Will...  love it!

 

blessed... blessed... blessed!!