A Blessing.......

Several weeks ago, my wonderful mother called and asked if they could keep the kids for us for a weekend, if Keith and I would get away and have a weekend to ourselves.

We have never had the opportunity to do something like this and it was indeed a blessing!   So after our week at Misty's, my mom took our five with her and Keith and I went to a beautiful little place that we had found online.

This is owned by a couple and they have 120 acres with five one-bedroom cabins on the land.  Every cabin is very private and you have full run of the place!  I think it's a little piece of Heaven, right in the middle of Missouri. :)

Here is our cabin....

Fully furnished kitchen.

This is the drive going to our cabin.

There is one bigger creek and then several smaller creeks on their land.

Poor Keith, he was actually trying very hard to get a picture of both of us, but he thought the timer wasn't working and was on his way back to the camera when it decided to take the picture. :D

There are woods everywhere and some very cool flowers.

And neat rock formations.  Keith tried and tried to run around the rock to get out on the ledge where I was for a picture, but he just couldn't get there fast enough.  Look how high the rock is.....it was a very neat place.

I love ferns!

I made meals and froze them to take with us.  Made for some yummy suppers. :)

We grilled one night - yes, we had left overs. :)

The creek was such a fun place to be.

The "town" that was close there was very small and red-neck-ish, we saw this in someone's yard. I wonder how it worked out for them? :D

We visited this church on Sunday.  They had some very friendly people that made us feel welcome, but it made us very thankful for our church. :)

We went to the Maramec Spring one day.

This is a beautiful place.

 It was a very special time for us!

A HUGE thank you, Mom and Dad, for taking such good care of our little ankle-biters cherubs. We never worried about them once and I know they enjoyed being at your house. They're still talking about it. :)  THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!

Fun with the Cousins....

Keith needed to be at a convention, so I loaded the kids up and we took a trip to Misty's to stay for the week. 

We had such a WONDERFUL week!  The kids thought they were in Heavenly places, because  not only did they get to spend the week with their cousins, but GRANDMA was also there and that made it even more special!

The days were filled with picnics.....

making new flower beds......

(Took us HOURS  to do this, but the end result was beautiful)

lots of sandwich making......

digging in dirt piles.......

making club houses behind the bushes......

(check out their clever shelf)

water fights.......

parks........

 and visits from friends!

We have been friends forever - Thanks for taking time to come see us. :)

So this is the short version of our week.  It was SO much fun to be with you all, Misty!!  Thanks for letting us come and invade your house for the week!

Leap for Joy!

 This is the day that that LORD has made,

I will rejoice and be glad in it!

What My Mother Never Taught Me.....

My mother never told me 

that you need to grease the outside

 of the pan when making bread.........

but no worries,

it still tasted wonderful......

and after a nice long soak and a good scrubbing,

one could never tell what difficulties the pans 

went through to produce such delicious bread!

***

Now I need to teach my little kitchen-side-kick

not to fill the pans so full...or she could just 

grease the outside of the pans.

:)~

A little update.......

We still have no computer.  We got word that it is completely dead, but a huge answer to prayer is that everything is able to be saved off of it, so all our thousands (and I do mean thousands) of pictures are able to be saved.  I'm SO thankful for that!!!!!

Keith was able to borrow a computer to bring home today so I could do a little blog update for those that like to follow our blog. :)

We have been quite busy the last couple of months.  I could write an entire post on each picture I'm putting on here. :)  This time of year is especially busy for our family as we travel to different churches for the school.  But it's been good this year I can't complain and the great deal is that March is just around the corner!!!!!!

So here are a few pictures of our last couple of months.

 Owen was very happy that he and daddy got to help someone clear out a field - he felt very important.

 I never know where I'll find this little lady!

 Enjoying some of the warmer days of winter. :)

Owen had his sixth birthday on the 13th of February.  He is growing up so fast.  For our deputation services, he is saying the ABC's, but quoting Bible verses for them ("A" A faithful man shall abound with blessings...."B" Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved....etc)   He goes through the entire alphabet with verses that he has learned at school.

He does great with them, hardly ever missing one and we are so proud of him!!

I had told him that I had a surprise for him after we got home from church the day before his birthday.  He thought for sure it was going to be a present, or something.   After we got home, I told him to go to the living room that I had his surprise on the couch.......







 He was so surprised to see Grandma and Grandpa sitting there singing "Happy Birthday" to him!

 My dad wanted to come up and help Keith build our pantry - it's all done and they did a fabulous job! 

THANK YOU, DAD, FOR ALL YOUR HARD WORK!!!!!!

 Owen wanted a race track cake with Monster trucks on it. :)

The day after his birthday on Valentines Day, they had a Valentine box contest for the smaller kids at school.

 Owen got first place and Kristyn got third place. (Thanks, Mom, for helping us make the boxes.)

The pantry turned out to be a great play area for a little while - until it got painted and filled. :)

 Ashlyn loves to play "peek-a-boo" with our curtains! She just giggles and giggles at herself. :D

 I don't think I have ever seen a child that loves to read as much as Kristyn does.  She LOVES to read.....looks like little sister is following right behind her. :)

 We've enjoyed the beautiful kite-flying weather we've had lately.

Of course, the farm is always a favorite.....

 Owen with his buddy on the farm.

 Since we don't have our computer, I can't edit any of these pictures - I would love to crop this one.  We've gotten to enjoy the eagles again - they are beautiful. (I have so many more pictures, but there's only so many hours in the day to share pictures.) :)

 One day, I told the boys that it was their turn for bathroom clean up - I checked on them later and this is how Jeren was scrubbing bath tub.  Wow, I did't realize how dirty it was, I guess. :D

This week, we got a surprise visit from Grandma and Papa....

 Thanks for coming and I hope you can stay longer next time. ;)

 Currently, we have a little man fighing off pneumonia. :(  He's a trooper though and does his breathing treatments by himself!

This morning, Megans decided to have a hair shop and combed her and Ashlyn's hair. :)

Thanks for stopping by to check on us.  I've missed posting on here and there is so much more I could say and more pictures I could put on here, but I'll just leave with my heart feeling this morning, GOD IS SO GOOD!!!!!!!! :)

Have a lovely week!