Stutzman Fall Party on the Farm

We recently attended a Fall Party in honor of Indiana Senator Marlin Stutzman where he announced his intention of running for U.S. Senate. In the past couple of years Kevin and I have taken more interest in the political venue. There are so many moral and financial issues our country is facing right now and we feel it is important to support those running for office that want to carry our values and morals on to Washington. This was a great party and so kid-friendly. Loved the environment and feel of this beautiful farm...what a beautiful evening.

Caedmon on the obstacle course.

One of Caedmon's first words as a baby was "tractor". I love this picture.Here is Marlin and his wife Christy making the official announcement to run for U.S. Senate against Evan Bayh. What fun we're having with our third child...a joy to take her on family outings. She's a bundle of sweetness right now.

Watch for Kevin twice in this video. =)

Go Marlin!!!!

Mondays

Here we are on a Monday morning...not my most favorite day of the week. It was hard to pull myself out of bed this morning after having four days of sleeping in a little longer. Caedmon had a Fall Break last week on Thursday and Friday and it was pure delight to see his face on Thursday morning when he realized he could stay in his pajamas a little longer and play with his toys the whole day. We didn't plan anything extraordinary on those days other than running a few errands on Thursday. Caedmon just wanted to make sure that he would get to have room time...a simple request. It felt good to have him home. A picture of the kids after errands on Thursday. I noticed the fly on Kaiya's cheek after taking the picture.

Now this morning I miss him and daddy being home with us. I'm left with remnants of the weekend...dishes in the sink, popcorn on the floor in the living room, laundry to do and rice krispies to sweep up from breakfast. It helps to think about the events of the weekend this morning and I'm thankful to God for all His blessings on our lives. The weather was amazing this weekend...even a little hot. The Fall colors are really popping out everywhere and what a joy to soak them all in as we drove around this weekend. Our worship leader on Sunday talked about how leaves have to go through many cold nights to reveal their beautiful colors. He made the comparison to people who after going through difficult times in their lives also have beautiful colors revealed.

On Saturday we spent the day at Kevin's parents house making applesauce. We had our work cut out for us with five bushel of apples to tackle. It went well and it was nice to have the guys there to help out, even though they had their own opinions on how everything should be done. The kids were in charge of washing the apples. They washed themselves along with the apples, but the apples did get washed which was the goal. They had a ball playing outside the whole day. The men were in charge of the cutting and when Grandpa pulled out his machete, I thought Grandma was going to have a heart attack. They kept Ruby and I hopping inside to keep up with the cooking and straining.

Here's a picture of Kaiya being comforted by Grandpa with ice cream after receiving her very first bee sting.

A lot of love went into making this sauce for you, Jason & Joyce!

Thanks, Ruby for all your hard work in pulling it all together! It was a fun day!

On Sunday after church, we attended a baptism of two little boys in our church. It was held at the pool of a couple that attends our church. Caedmon had a lot of questions about being "appetized" and the "bathatizing" that took place that day. We explained it to him a bit and went on with our day. During lunch out of the blue, he said "I want Jesus to be in my heart". We asked him why (thinking his reason might be just to be able to get baptized like the other boys) and he answered "because I love Jesus". We explained to him what it meant to have Jesus in his heart and Kevin prayed with him. It was a special time and I'm thankful we were all together as a family to see our son ask Jesus into his heart. This is what is making this Monday not seem so bad after all...it makes my heart cry out with joy to know that my child loves Jesus and wants Him to live in his heart!!

Jesus loves me! this I know, For the Bible tells me so. Little ones to Him belong; they are weak but He is strong. Yes, Jesus loves me! Yes, Jesus loves me! Yes, Jesus loves me! The Bible tells me so.

Again, it was a beautiful day on Sunday and we had to do something outside so we took the kids on a train ride to a pumpkin patch. It was busy and we had to wait 45 minutes to ride the train, but the kids did great and we kept telling them how exciting it was going to be. It was finally our turn and we loaded the train with great anticipation. It was a beautiful ride through the woods, but when we reached the "pumpkin patch" there were no pumpkins left. It wasn't a real pumpkin patch...they hauled in pumpkins from somewhere else and basically threw them out in the middle of a field. The idea was a good one, but not planned out so well. The train ride made it worth going though. We let the kids each pick out a gourd to take home and stopped by this old truck on our way out to take some Fall family pictures.

Thanksgiving Morning 2007

We thank you God for all these blessings,

for family, friends & turkey dressing.

When I asked my family what they were thankful for, this is how they replied this morning:

Kevin: For the privilege of raising our children and for my hot wife. (I won't tell you what else he said) :)

Caedmon (3 1/2): football players, hot dogs & family

Kaiya (2): hot dogs & ball

To stop and think of all the things that I am thankful for overwhelms my mind, but my family sticks out the most to me. I am so blessed to have been chosen to be a mom to my two sweet kids and am so thankful for the choice their birth mothers made when they were born. Who could ask for a better gift? And of course I'm thankful for my amazing husband who is my best friend and who takes great care of his family. And most of all, I'm thankful for my Heavenly Father who keeps giving me second chances and loves me unconditionally.

Happy Thanksgiving

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. Psalm 100:4

Oh Deer

My brother-in-law, Clint, shot a buck on our property a couple of weeks ago. Caedmon got to go along to track the deer and watch the gutting process. It was after dark, and I wasn't sure how he would do, but he came back all wide-eyed and super excited and said "mom, we shot the deer!"

This past Saturday we had four hunters on our property for the opening day of gun season. They saw a few, but no one took a shot. I had pumpkin pancakes waiting for them when they came in. Here's the recipe:

Pecans, Grits & Satsumas - Alabama

We left bright and early (5:30am) on Friday morning and headed South with Grandpa & Grandma Bontrager to visit the Weber family (my husband's sister) in Alabama. The trip down could not have gone smoother. I packed an activity bag for each of the kids and plenty of snacks. They were pretty content most of the 13 hours except for the last one when their little bodies could not sit still for one more minute. We arrived at the Weber's with warm sunny skies, the smiling faces of our sweet nephew & niece and a fresh baked pecan pie...what a great beginning to great weekend spent with family. Most of our time was spent hanging out at Jason & Joyce's home relaxing, watching the cousins play together and catching up with each other. Kevin went with Jason on Saturday morning to deliver a load of soybeans in Mobile while the rest of us enjoyed pancakes & sausage made by Joyce. Later that day we picked up tons of pecans from their pecan trees and Joyce and I took a walk. The skies were clear and temperatures were in the mid 70s the entire time we were there.


What fun it was to spend the day with my sweet little niece Helen on her first birthday. She's such a happy baby and loves to get her picture taken, smiling from ear to ear every time.

On Sunday morning, the kids woke up bright and early since the time changed. I brought them in bed with us and Caedmon sang a sweet Happy Birthday song to his daddy. We went to Grace Fellowship Church in Atmore on Sunday and enjoyed a message by Jason's brother Conrad. We decided to take a family picture outside since it was so beautiful, but Mr. Caedmon decided to throw a fit and refused to cooperate so he had a talk with daddy out back by the satsuma tree.


That evening was the big birthday party for Owen and Helen. Jason's family attended as well. Lots of kids and lots of noise, but lots of FUN! Once again, Mr. Caedmon needed another reminder to get some control and that he was not the entertainment for the evening. Joyce made a Wheel of Fortune cake for Owen because he loves to watch all the letters on that show, and Helen had a cute little cupcake. On Monday the guys took the kids to a park while the ladies went shopping downtown Atmore at the Economy Shop. It's always a fun place to look for treasures when we are down there. I bought a pair of pants for Caedmon, a shirt for me and a pair of jeans for Kevin. We stayed up late again that night talking then got up at 4am the next morning to head back to Indiana. Caedmon wasn't so happy to come home, he said "maybe we can come back to Alabama next weekend". When we reached the Indiana border and said we were in Indiana, he said "I don't want to go to Indiana, I want to go back to Owen's house" and even as we turned on the road that we live on, he pointed behind him and said "I want to go back that way to Owen's house". Kaiya started wailing the last four miles of the trip.


Thanks, Jason & Joyce, for a great time!

Trick or Treating

Thing 2 - Rylie, Highway - Caedmon, Cute Cow - Kaiya, That 70s Girl - Maci, Thing 1 - Lexi

What a fun evening we had last night in Auburn, trick or treating with my sister's family. This has been our third year parading downtown Auburn to all the different businesses. Some of the businesses really go all out, decorating their whole store and creating mazes for everyone to go through. After going through the downtown, we headed to Walmart where they handed us a map to several different locations in the store that also handed out treats. The weather was perfect for the event.

Kaiya's cow costume was a hand-me-down from her big brother. As soon as I put it on her, she let out a cute little "mooooo". For Caedmon's highway costume, I got the idea from a magazine. It was so easy and perfect for him because he loves playing with his car track at home. He loved it!