Brothers!!!

I have been challenged by my wonderful daughter to post about brothers.  Until my husband came along (and even a few years into our marriage) I was convinced without a doubt that my brother was the greatest man in all the world.

Today, (he does fall in line properly after my husband), I know that he is one of the great men of the world.  When I was a child, we spoke and did as children, now we speak as adults.  So for the years of memories of reading to me, taking me to Rick Springfield concerts, and telling mom and dad they had given away my favorite dog, I love him.  Today, though, I love him more.  For the discussions of grace over legalism, loving people more than loving the law, for caring for my family I love him greatly.  

I love him most because he is my brother in Christ and for eternity we will worship the same Lord.

My Brothers!!!

Why do I love my brothers? Because they are what make me laugh when I am sad, they cheer me up when I am sick, they laugh with me, and they mean so much to me. Ryan was number 5 after 4 girls. Then 2 more girls came along. He was so sweet with us. We carried him around like a big baby doll and he never complained! Michael is our blessing, after Mommy had miscarried three times we didn't think there would be any little Pritchetts! But God was - oh-so-good and along came Michael!! It is fitting that his name means "Who is like God?" . 

Where would be with out our brothers? Not very far! There are a lot of times I turn to Ryan and ask him, "do you have your knife?". And he does and he comes and cuts it for me! 

This is what God gave brothers to us for. Companionship and friends!

A Tribute To Our Brothers!!!

I was thinking about my brothers yesterday! About Ryan who is wearing that hot cast and his only complaint is that he can't work anymore!!! And about Michael who is our little blessing! So I challenge our readers to post a "Tribute to our Brothers!" post and leave a comment to let us know you did! What do your brothers do for you? It doesn't matter if you are a girl or boy comment on your brother!!! 

I am posting mine tomorrow!!!

Are we really slaving away??

With summer approaching and the temperature rising we tend to complain a lot. Maybe not out loud, but still our sinful human nature causes us to think complaining thoughts.

 But if you think about it we really don't have that anything to complain about! We have lawnmowers, weed-eaters, hoses, tools made for us, seeds delivered to our door, and a glass of water always in the house! 

Compared to the 18th century when they hauled water, made tools by hand, and cut their grass with a sickle!

So when we think of our hard time planting our "large" gardens think about it and go read Farmer Boy or Little House on the Prairie! They were out planting whole acres of crops! And they didn't complain. Why? Because if they didn't - NO FOOD!! You starved!

posted by jessica

TM!

Today while we were finishing up lunch and our chores, Ryan was singing a song he made up...

"8 little hedgehogs sitting in a tree. One fell out and broke his knee. Mamma called the doctor, and the doctor said, "no more hedgehogs sitting in the tree!" Etc, Etc. 

The Rachel started singing it, except, she made the doctor say "Why are your hedgehogs  in the tree?" Ryan turned to her and said," You can't sing that! It's my song!" Rachel told him she had changed some words. To this he replyed, "You can't change words! It's T M! It's Ryan's Hedgehog song T M" "What's T M?" "Text - Mark." "No! Trade Mark! TM is for trade mark!"

Anniston Museum!

Saturday we went to Anniston to visit the Natural History Museum! it was so much fun, and we strongly recommend this as a great trip! These pictures (outside) are on the "birding" trail. We really like the whole experience. 

Erin and Michael

"Is this real?"

These owls were the neatest thing I have ever seen! 

They kept moving and bobbing all around. 

Jam Info!

We had a reader ask how we canned our berries. So as soon as possible I will post our instructions. If you have any more questions post it and I will get to your question!!!

Ryan's Arm

Well last night at 7:00 we were in the kitchen making dinner when we heard Ryan start repeating over and over, "it's broken! Get Mommy!" We thought he was pretending and just laughed and went back to work. When he didn't stop I went out to check on him, I picked him up to tickle him for scaring us and saw his wrist. Half of it was a lump and the other half was sunken. I looked at Mommy and said, "It's really bad." 

We ran and got Daddy, put Ryan on the sofa, and called the hospital. 10 minutes later Ryan, Daddy, and Emily were on their way down town to Childrens. We at home ate a cold quiet dinner and prayed for our little man. 

Daddy kept emailing us from his phone with updates and calling us. Our Dr. said from Mommy's phone description it sounded as if two bones were broken and the growth plate. If this were the case it could mean surgery to put in pins. But - Praise the Lord! He is Good! - around 11:00 Daddy called to say they were about to put him to sleep to set the bone. He didn't need surgery. He had only broken one bone. And a cast made everything right. So.... they were home at 12:30 trying to find food as they had missed dinner. This morning Ryan is up and laughing!

Jam!

Yesterday at 5:00 p.m. Mommy, Rachel, and I all started making jam with all our strawberries from the farm. It was a long process, but very fun and a great way to work together! We worked to 8:30. All our other siblings played outside and we worked! For dinner Mommy made PB&J and we ate standing while they ate on the picnic table! Daddy was at a meeting so he missed the excitement. And to top it off Rachel sang the Star Spangled Banner at the top of her lungs.

Before when we made jam there was a ton of foam at the top. We didn't know what it was so Mommy asked Mrs. Brodock (from Teaching Good Things- she's a follower) what to do about it. Her daughter looked at us and said, "try it again". She was right. If you make a mistake pick yourself up, dust off, and try again. Think it through and do over. We read up on it, added some butter, and we have... NO foam! 

Thank You Olivia!!!

You may wonder what she is doing? She is crushing strawberries the old fashioned way! We have no potato masher!

posted by jessica

Best Friends.

Blooming Where I Am Planted

Build house and dwell in them; plant gardens and eat their fruit...  bears sons and daughters that you may be increased there, and not diminished.  Jeremiah 29:5

Recently someone commented on all our land, and I felt a prickling in my soul to not present ourselves as something we are not.  My family and I would love to live on 20 acres "have a farm" as our little girl says.  We do have our house for sale, but for now we live on 1 acre.  

It really is quite amazing what all you can do with one acre - within the restrictions of our community covenants that is:)  No cows please!  But I think we could have chickens!!!

What I want to do is to encourage you to garden, to farm or to begin whatever project you dream of right where God has you.  In my last home, I did little more than plant annuals each year in the exact same spot.  So many years wasted that I could have been learning about propagating and planting other plants. 

So here we are in our lovely home and 1 acre.  I know me, but God knows me better.  I have much to learn before I try to take care of more land.  So I am planting as much in my garden as I possibly can this year.  I am calling the Extension Agency and finding out, "What is eating my peppers?"  I am trying to can something new each month.  This month is strawberries obviously.  I am gleaning what I can from the internet and joining my friend's contest at Teaching Good Things.

Where I live is far from captivity.  It is a blessing to have soil to call my own, a family full of kids that love to help and a husband that is very patient with my garden creativity.  

Strawberry Ice Cream!

So What do you do with ten gallons of strawberries? Well you make jam, smoothies, and ice cream! Today for lunch I made a batch of strawberry ice cream. And it was wonderful!

Erin liked it!

Rylie and Rachel liked it.

Ryan liked it!

Mommy and Sarah liked it!

Rylie REALLY liked it!!!

And Rachel liked so much she fell asleep!

Our Strawberry Day!!!

Michael literally stuffed himself!

A fun day at the fruit farm and ten gallons to can! We had so much fun picking this beautiful fruit and then we had a picnic with lots of fresh strawberries! Then a hike and a tour of Palisades Park and we are headed home!

Psalm 100:1

Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands! Serve the Lord with gladness; come before his presence with singing."

Psalm 100:1

Rain!

We have really been enjoying the rain! Isn't it nice?

It is water for the garden and hard on the mosquitoes!

So today on the Lord's Day praise the Lord for his gift.

Our Quiver Full!

Children are a heritage from the Lord. The fruit of the womb is a reward, like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth. Blessed is the man who has his quiver full of them. They shall not be ashamed but shall speak with their enemies in the gates.

William Tell

This is our life! In our curriculum we read a book about William Tell so... they did a play!

P.S. This is our first attempt at video so it is not perfect!

Gardening Souls!

We are truly blessed to grow up in the surroundings we do. We love our siblings, parents, and the one true God. Our parents are raising us to be Plants Grown Up, Polished Cornerstones,& A quiver full of arrows! So heres to our parents who (by God's grace) are weeding and watering their little garden!

Of cats and snakes

The other day two of our cats were on the drive way playing with a snake. 

Of course there was lots of excitement and Daddy picked it up and said it was a Ring Snake.

Our cats were like "Hey! Give our toy back!"

But we set him free over in the woods.

Earlier this year we found a baby snake in our garage. He was to little for us to know what he was, and the other day we saw 2 Rat Snakes they were very big and we got to watch them for a while. Then I brought home a teeny-tiny one we don't know what he was either.       

  

posted by Erin

A Pictures Worth A Thousand Words...... And Maybe A Few More!

Who can guess who this is?

Compost Dinners!

This is our fertilizer. This is the nutrients for our garden.

This is also our key into if we had a healthy meal or not!

My Mom says that if you eat a meal where nothing went into the compost pile you shouldn't have eaten it. This is so true if you think about it. 

Even if your eating whole wheat bread if you didn't cut up fruit or veggies to go with it, it wasn't a full meal.

So next time you sit down to a meal think to yourself..." was that a 'compost dinner' "?

posted by Jessica