New Faces

Goats can be addicting. That's what I tell people when they are thinking about getting their first goat! 😉

We've been able to add 2 great goats to our little herd this past month and we love them! 

First up is Moby. I just couldn't pass this guy up. He's so friendly and cute, a high generation mini Nubian and comes with great milking genetics. I love him!

We also got his herd mate, Ophelia. When we bought Calliope a while back, we saw Ophelia. We told the owner that if they ever sell her, we are interested. We were excited when we got the message she was available. She's also a high generation mini Nubian. But I love her gold color with moon spots! That's my favorite part 🙂 She's super sweet and really rounds out our growing herd. 

Did I mention goats can be addicting?? 

 

We are safe!

 Thank you to those that prayed for our family as Hurricane Helene approached our area.

As the storm approached, it looked like it was going to be quite close to our area. It's always hard to know exactly what to do. We live in an older mobile home that isn't really rated for high winds. After watching the forecast, we all decided to head to my mother-in-law's since she has a sturdy brick home.

It made it even more comforting for this momma's heart to have all of her adult children evacuate there as well. It was nice to be all together.

We got there right after dinner time. At first it was a breezy evening and we all laughed and played and just spent some time together. It was really quite nice!

Then the wind picked up and the power went out. We put everyone to bed and tried to rest.

It got quite loud as we heard lots of wind and debris flying around. We were praying pretty hard!

But Helene was very fast moving. Whereas other storms seem to move very slow and stall and wreak a lot of havoc, Helene moved through very quickly. After a few hours it was done. And my husband grew very antsy. About 1:30 in the morning he said he had to go check on our home. So I jumped in the van with him and Josh to drive and look at our place. Looking back we realized it was way too windy for us to be out and about. As we drove to our house there were several trees down. They brought the chainsaw so they could cut our way home. Once we got closer to the house we had to pull the car over the side because they were trees blocking that we could not cut with our little chainsaw. We were thankful to take a quick look at our house and Joshua's house and see all standing and well. Praise the Lord!

After we saw that all was well, We jumped back in the car and went back to Denise's house. There we slept for a couple hours and as soon as the sun came up we went back home.

We have lots of debris and branches on the ground and a couple trees that fell but no damage to our home, our property, or animals, Praise the Lord! It's amazing!

Since we were without power for several days, and our church building as well, we had church in our yard.

 It was a very sweet service as we all came together to praise the Lord for protecting our families. 

Patrick preached a message about being thankful for protection and safety. But also remember to trust God even through the storm. Sometimes storms cause damage and loss of life. We don't pretend to understand at all. But we do choose to trust in God through the storms.

Clean up has begun and we've been trying our best to help our community as well. Our church has started a gas and gospel ministry and delivering trucks of free gas to areas still without power and with more destruction than we have. Our goal is to present the gospel. Praying for lots of fruit!

Helene is coming

 We've spent the day prepping and getting our home ready for Hurricane Helene coming our way. I'm making extra pancakes to put some in the fridge so we'll be able to have something yummy to eat. Prayers appreciated!

Vacation Part Two

After a great time in DC, we drove south.  We were able to stay in a Prophet's Chamber for a couple of nights in Statesville, NC.  While there we went to Zootastic.  We had fun at their drive thru Zoo.  

Then we toured Fort Dobbs which was really cool too!

For dinner we went to Longhorn Steakhouse.  Someone had given us a bunch of giftcards. We divided them up and each person had $30 to spend on their meal.  Wow!!! We feasted and feasted, it was unbelievable!!

Then, it was time to head to the Mountains!!! Blue Ridge Mountains are some of our favorites.  This is our 3rd time to vacation in this area.

As we looked for a cabin to rent, we knew we wanted one with a creek to fish and play in.  We also wanted a nice game room.  We played lots of pool and air hockey together.  We tubed and waded in the creek.  We fished.  It was so relaxing!!

There is just something about having devotions by the water.  It was so peaceful and refreshing.

Our cabin was amazing!!!

We went to McCaysville and had to stand on the Georgia/Tennessee line.

It was an amazing time away.  We really were able to do it all:  City life with the Metro and busyness, traffic and tons of sights to see.  Then time in the mountains to relax and recharge.

Send your Pastor on vacation.  He needs it.  His family needs it.  They come back ready to tackle life again and be the best they can be.  It was so good for all of us!!
 

Vacation Part One

Our church family is so good to us.  They recognized that their Pastor and his family needs chances to get away and refresh.  Last year in our raise, they gave us a budget to be spent on a vacation.  We were so excited!! We planned and saved extra and finally the time came for our family vacation!! We had so much fun!

Our first stop was Washington DC.  My younger 3 had never been and Beth was little when we took her while on deputation. 

We stayed in Virginia and walked to the Metro Station to get into the city.  We are definitely country folk and had to get some help to figure out how the Metro worked.  It was an adventure!  But so fun!!

We saw so many sights and walked for miles!!

Callie and Beth were super excited to visit the Library of Congress.

Micah was excited for the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum.

We all wanted to see the FBI building for sure!  One of our favorite Episode type shows is Sue Thomas FBI.  A lot of the sights we saw are on that show so that was pretty neat.

Museum of US History was so neat!!

Washington Monument

World War II Memorial

Lincoln Memorial

Vietnam Memorial

 

The next day we saw Arlington National Cemetary.  This was probably a favorite of all of ours.  It was so moving. 

We had a wonderful time in the city.  Amazing.  And so memorable.

After that we decided to head south.  Part Two coming soon!
 

A Step up to Teens

 I'm definitely in a new season of life.  My little ones aren't so little anymore!  Not too long ago my Micah moved up to the teen class. 

For our church, we do promotion time in the summer right before school starts.  Even though he is 12, he is in 7th grade.  So he gets to move to the teen department.  He was so excited!!  Silas and Callie were too!!

His first activity was actually at Josh and Tabitha's house.  So it was just a short walk next door to get there.  Of course I watched the whole way.

Cherishing the moment.  That's what I'm trying to do.  Life really is a vapor and time is going fast.

Lollipops

If I'm not careful, my blog could quickly become full of pictures of my grandchildren. ☺️ I do try to even it out though and keep things a little balanced. But they are just so cute I can't help it!
 

We've been having so much fun lately...at the park, baking together, playing toys..m

All of them are growing and changing so much!

They love to be together and are growing into best buds!

We are loving life as Lollipops. So blessed!!