Flowers Blooming For Jesus

Happy Birthday to Caleb James!

2010-07-09T18:12:00.001-07:00

Caleb is two years old today! Hard to believe that our baby is 2! We love him so much and he adds so much to our family! We praise God for His touch on Caleb as he has had shown no problems with the possibility of having neurofibromitosis or NF1 as it is more commonly called. He has several birthmark-like spots all over his body but that is all! He has no signs of learning disabilities or any other symptoms that children typically show with this rare nerve disease. To God be ALL the Glory! We celebrated Caleb's birthday last Sunday with family as it is my brother Matthew's b-day tomorrow. So, we celebrated their b-days together and the 4th of July as well :o)

Our other BIG NEWS is that after 2 yrs. of planning, praying and waiting that God has helped us to finally sell our place! :o) We are headed to South Florida next week as long as all goes as planned. We are very excited to be moving and very sad to be leaving family and friends that we have known for a LONG time. Through all the emotions, stress and busyness, God has shown us and confirmed over and over that this is His will and timing for our family. Our plans are to live in Florida at Hobe Sound while Danny finishes his degree in Missions/Ministerial and as soon as God opens the doors to go to the mission field. Please pray for us as God brings us to your mind as Satan is not happy with our plans and is fighting us in un-believable ways! But greater is He that is in me then he that is in the world! Next post will probably be from Florida!

Uncle Matt & Caleb with their icecream birthday cake :o)

Caleb enjoying his cake!

Happy Father's day!

2010-06-21T07:55:00.000-07:00

Wishing a very happy Father's day to two wonderful men in my life! My dad and my hubby! Dad has always been there when I or any of us kids needed him and he is very supportive. You can not ask for a better Godly dad! Thanks for all you do, we really appreciate it and love you lots! My husband is a fantastic daddy to our 4 blessings! He is very good to sit and talk with them, play with them and he works very hard to support all of us. I love you very much, babe! You are my perfect match and God knew that when he had us meet! Thank-you for being a great daddy!

As you can see, Caleb was not wanting to have his picture taken and was NOT a happy camper!
LOL!!

Caleb will be 2 in just a few weeks and he is already acting like it! He has a deep fascination for the potty, gets into everything and keeps himself and me very busy!! He is so sweet, he makes sure that he gives everyone in the family a good night kiss almost every night and he still loves Veggie tales, Elmo, Spot and CARS movie. It is so fun to watch him learn new things. We are so thank-ful for our healthy baby boy!

We are still ALIVE!! LOL!

2010-05-24T08:37:00.000-07:00

My apologies to our faithful 5 readers who have been checking this blog and have found 0 up-dates since Easter! What can I say? We have discovered and joined FACEBOOK and we are loving it!! It is sooo much easier to post pics and up-dates and takes a much shorter period of time! For all u non-facebookers out there, I will try to bring you up on our recent news and happenings. One huge problem is that our camera is broken :o( very sad! We are attempting to use Becca's but it is NOT the quality of our old camera. So, I will try to post pics later.
Today is Abigail's 6th birthday! She has been sooo excited about it and thought it would never get here! LOL! Yesterday afternoon, we had her family party here at our house. The menu was pulled pork sandwiches,green bean casserole, mac -n-cheese, veggies and chips with DQ cake for dessert! Yum! Abby enjoyed having her family here and of course her presents too :o) Tonight she is having over a few friends for a princess party. She helped frost her cupcakes and was sure to put plenty of sprinkles on them :o) Abby and Ben made homemade bubble solution with mommy's help and had fun blowing bubbles with Caleb joining right in. She is looking forward to her Princess party tonight :o)
Danny is taking another on-line class toward his degree and with his day job that keeps him busy. I am no longer selling Pampered Chef. My days consist of homeschooling, referreeing,chasing an almost 2 yr. old and attempting to clean the house which is a hopeless job at times! Anyone with children will understand me on that! Becca continues to take piano lessons and is getting very good. Ben is playing T-ball this summer and is excited for his first game this thurs. :o) Abby has just learned how to ride her bike with-out training wheels and is hoping for a new bigger one soon. And Caleb is getting bigger everyday and learning many new things. We took him to an Endricrinologist to check and see if he has a growth hormone deficiency because he is a small little guy. Caleb weighs a little over 20 lbs and is 31 1/2 in. tall. The Dr. found NO problems and thinks that he is just slow to grow:o) She recommended to give him LOTS of fatty nutrition drinks and let him eat a lot of fats. So, we will see how it works...
We still plan on moving to South Florida as soon as God allows it and our hearts are pulled more and more everyday toward the Foreign Mission Field. Pray for us as God leads that we would have the wisdom and strength to FOLLOW HIM NO MATTER THE COST! Thank-you! Pics will be coming soon :o)

Happy Easter!

2010-04-04T11:33:00.000-07:00

We are the reason for this season! (John 3:16)

We wish everyone a very happy Easter as we remember the GREATEST sacrifice ever given!

IT IS FINISHED! JESUS HAS RISEN! HALLELUJAH!

Hurray for the park and Spring!

2010-03-19T09:08:00.001-07:00

This was our first trip to the park to enjoy the beautiful Spring weather we've been having here. We have heard of the possibility of SNOW for Sunday :o( Blech! That is Indiana for you!

Rebecca Grace-10

Benjamin Daniel-8

Abigail Joy-5 1/2

Caleb James-20 months

Loving the swingset!

Caleb especially enjoyed swinging..

Big sis trying to get him fastened in the swing.

He was so excited and had to make sure that "Buh"

got to swing with him.

Abby was queen of the hill...... LOL!

Here they come.....Wheeeee!

Back at home enjoying popsicles on the patio.

*********************************************

A BIG welcome to Greg & Tasha Quakenbush's newest addition!

Little Miss Emma Jane arrived yesterday at 3:29 pm

weighing in at 9# 2 1/2 oz and 22 1/2 in. long!

What an absolute sweetheart! I thoroughly enjoyed

meeting and holding her ;o)

Sweet moment between momma and baby...Aww!

Haircut and other pics

2010-03-11T05:15:00.000-08:00

We are really enjoying this BEAUTIFUL Spring weather! It is so nice to not worry about coats, hats,gloves and etc. I am getting ready to put away the winter clothes and bring out the Spring..Yeah!! The boys got much needed haircuts and I just LOVE the results! Caleb looks so much older and ornery looking!

Handsome little man!

Abby just had to join in the picture taking too!

Coloring time. We have to watch because he

LOVES to eat the crayons! Blech!

......he is done......off to more baby adventures.......

Lovin' on Buddy. Buddy is about to

fall apart....one eye hanging loose...

stitches beginning to pop on his head...

...one arm gone! Much loved! LOL!!

Something NEW....

2010-03-07T12:32:00.000-08:00

We tried something NEW for our family Friday night. We took them bowling after finding out that our local bowing alley offered discounted prices for shoes and games every friday from 3-6 pm. Can't beat that! Danny and I have not been bowling in forever and neither one of us did good enough to mention but the kids enjoyed themselves and we all enjoyed being together as a family and made some fun memories ;o) We plan on doing it more often and working on our bowling skills because they certainly NEED it! LOL!! Abby was our photographer and enjoyed herself as well as did a decent job of getting some good shots. Enjoy.....

Our bright, lite-weight balls ready to roll....

Caleb observed the action from his stroller and loved

watching the 'baww-lls' . (As he cals them)

Danny helps Ben pick his ball.

Becca waiting her turn, smiles for the camera.

Getting bowling advice from Daddy.

....and there she goes!

Showing Ben the finer points of how to knock

down the pins.

I have NO idea what this face is supposed to mean?!

Abby trying her hand at it. She rolled hers so

slow that we could have ran down and knocked

them down before the ball hit! LOL!!

FUN TIMES!!!

More Recent pics:

Abby enjoying Mommies Monster Cookies with her milk.

The little guy enjoyed his share too!

Caleb will be 20 months old in 2 days! No longer

our baby!

If your 4 wheeler breaks down just send it to

mechanic Ben!

Cheesin' for Mommy.

Happy Birthday to our Valentines Surprise!

2010-02-14T12:01:00.000-08:00

Goodbye age seven.........................................

Eight years ago today, about a month before his due date, Benjamin Daniel Flowers entered the world. When I began hard labor, the Dr. discovered that he was breech and after a few unsuccessful attempts to turn him in the womb, an emergency c-section was performed. Ben made Valentines day by a half hour since he was born at 11:30 p.m. I had a difficult pregnancy with him as I began to have pre-labor symptoms at only 28 weeks along. I was put on strict bedrest that lasted for 9 weeks! Believe me, when I say that I was more than ready to get him here after laying around for so long! We were so happy to welcome a sweet baby boy into our home and hearts!

Since his birthday fell on a Sunday, we had a family party for him Fri. and he had a friend party yesterday. We let our kids have a friend party every other year and this is the year.......three more to go! Abby has already told me she wants her party theme to be princess/Barbie ;o) May will not get here quick enough for her!LOL!!

Benjamin~

On your 8th birthday, Daddy and Mommy want you to know how much we love you and how proud we are of the sweet, polite little boy that you are becoming! It was very thoughtful of you to choose foods that everyone liked for your birthday dinner today instead of just the ones you wanted. And you are doing very well with letting your sisters, "the ladies" go first!

God has given you an amazing talent for drawing and cartooning and a good sense of humor to go along with it! (Even though, it gets you into trouble at times!) We look forward to see how God is going to direct and work in your life as you obey and be the little boy that he wants you to be! We love you!

Love,

Daddy & Mommy

Hello age 8!

Some of his presents from G-pa and G-ma Hirschy

His Transformers DQ icecream cake....Yum!

Uncle Mark & Aunt Rachel were not able to make it

Friday night so they stopped by Sat. and gave Ben his

presents. Carpet skates and a parachute man. He has

been enjoying both!

Ben chose a Transformers theme for his party.

Becca printed out and designed the name tags ;o)

Guests grinning from the party table!

Here he is with another Transformers cake, this time from Walmart ;o)

I used to make them, but, well......who has time?!!

Birthday boy with all his party guests :o)

Ben recieved 3 new Transformers to

add to his collection....he was a happy boy!

Back in snowy,FREEZING Indiana!

2010-02-09T05:49:00.000-08:00

Okay, Florida was not the warmest we have ever felt; however, it was MUCH warmer than Indiana! BRRRR! And now we are in the middle of a MAJOR winter storm that could dump 8-12 inches on us before it is all over with! The snow is fun to watch as it falls and very pretty but afterwards it is such a pain to deal with from very slippery walks to nasty slushy roads! They are actually calling for BLIZZARD-LIKE conditions by Wed. So, I plan on staying right here in my warm and cozy house until it is over! ( I typed this last week and we DID get a LOT of snow!)

Thank-you for everyone's prayers for our traveling last week. We were in nasty weather in Kentucky, Tenn. and part of Alabama. They had just had a snowstorm and we drove thru after and the roads were terrible! We passed SEVERAL cars in the ditch and a LOT of wrecks! We were very close to being in a wreck ourselves but God protected and my husband did an awesome job of driving and got us safely to Pensacola. We praise God for His protection! The funeral was not easy and it was hard to say Goodbye to Grandpa George and even harder to say goodbye to family members when we left on Wed. morning. :o( We took lots of pics and here they are......

On January 28th, Danny turned 36 and here he is with

his Pineapple Upside-Down cake that I made him. He also

requested homemade cream puffs too.....he got them ;o)

Here is my love with our 4 blessings. I am very

BLESSED! ;o)

************************************
Traveling to Florida:

Ben and Caleb all excited and ready to ride.....

Becca was not qute as excited to be up so early!

This was a unusual and often seen sight as we

traveled through the South. Icicles on the mountain.

The ice looked very pretty on the trees.

A really nice park that we stopped at in Alabama.

Becca helping Caleb enjoy the slide....he LOVED the park!

Ben doing his monkey imitation! LOL!

They all had fun and we all enjoyed the much-needed

rest from riding and driving!

One exhausted sweet baby boy! Love his crossed piggies!

Abby and Caleb enjoying the swing in G-pa and G-ma's big backyard

in Florida.

Caleb looked sweet in this chair at

the funeral home.

The 3 Flowers brothers. L-R Danny,Robert and

Charles.

Becca and Abby with their cousin, Samantha.

All 5 Flowers cousins.

This pic shows you how much Caleb

is getting into things! He has ATE more

markers and crayons and even chalk than

I care to think about! Thank goodness for NON-Toxic!

He was 'decorating' himself with Abby's markers in G-pa

and G-ma's living room!

Prayers Needed Please!

2010-01-30T02:02:00.000-08:00

This is just a quick, short post to ask for prayer for our family. We have just lost Danny's g-pa and are heading to Florida for the funeral. Please pray for protection on the roads as we have seen that we will be driving thru some rain storms and etc. Please pray for our extended family as we go thru the funeral and burial that God will be close. Thank-you.

1st Post of 2010-Memories of Haiti

2010-01-21T05:45:00.000-08:00

I am so behind on this blog!!! I have been busy and it takes so long to post that I just seem to always have something better to do! LOL! Sorry to our 2-3 faithful readers! I will TRY to do better! LOL!

Seriously, I have to say that since we were just in Haiti only 7 months ago that our hearts have been broken by the recent earthquake! It has been so tragic to see the destruction and suffering! We found out that the area we were in had little damage and the mission is still standing. We do have some missionary friends that were a lot closer to the quake's epicenter. We are so thankful that they are all safe and un-harmed. We have been praying for all the Christian Organizations and Missions there in Haiti that God would give them strength and grace as they are reaching out to the ones who have lost sooo much! It is so hard to fathom them losing what little they had to having nothing! Please pray for Haiti!

I am posting a few pics from our trip to Haiti last June.

This little girl is wearing a dress that used to be

Becca's. She noticed that this little girl seemed to wear

the same raggedy shirt and asked if she could give

her this dress. We gave it to her very discreetly so it

wouldn't cause a riot and snapped this pic of her wearing it.

She wore it that night to our VBS. :o)

Beautiful Haiti scenery

FACES OF HAITI:

This is Phillip. He rode with us wherever we went.

A sweet Haitian man who is a Christian.

The children were adorable and everywhere!

Most wore school uniforms. Some would smile

and others were very leery of us 'blanc' (white)

people!

Some dressed in just a long shirt, others in pretty dresses

that had been worn over and over.

We were told that the children LOVE to play

soccer or what they call futbol. So we took 2 new

soccer balls down with us and by the end of the

1st week the balls were about to pop from being

played with so much! Our team had FUN playing

with them.

This sweet lady was our main cook. Her husband used

to pastor the church where we stayed. The girls were her

helpers and they did a wonderful job helping her

cook and doing our laundry the whole time we were there.

I will never forget the SAD look that she gave us the day that

we left! They all acted very sad to see us leaving.

Where are all these dear people now? Are they hungry,thirsty,hurt....alive?

God, please help Haiti!

Our Christmas Day

2009-12-30T19:19:00.000-08:00

Presents and filled stockings just waiting

to be torn into.........

Caleb enjoying his new scooter!

Checking out the stockings.....

Caleb playing with his stocking stuffers.

Becca LOVES Pixos and was thrilled to

open another set.

Ben was very excited to see his new Hot Wheels

stunt track!

Abby shows off new Polly Pockets........

All the kids 'helped' Caleb open his Playschool

Creativity Table.

Ben was ecstatic to open Bumblebee, his fav Transformer!

You can see pure happiness in his expression!

Becca has wanted and needed a good keyboard and we

were able to find a good deal on one off of Craigslist!

Now she can practice better everyday and develop

her God-given talent for playing the piano.

Caleb looks just thrilled to pose with his gifts! LOL!

I think he was sad that his baba was empty! ;o)

Abby got lots of little girly things and was very happy!

Ben had a Hotwheels Christmas!

Becca with her piano , Tetris game, porcelain doll

and fun books.

More pics of our Christmas day to come...........

Christmas Eve Celebration

2009-12-27T11:42:00.000-08:00

This year for our annual Hirschy Christmas we celebrated on Christmas Eve. Mom had to work so we decided to keep our meal simple and picked up Papa Murphy's pizza. Yummy! We had some breadsticks, salad and various desserts and had a delicious supper! Afterwards, we listened to my dad read the Christmas Story and then tore into presents ;o) Then we played White Elephant Bingo for more fun gifts. A special and fun time was enjoyed by our entire family as we celebrated the birth of our Savior.

To grandmother's house we go......................

Clowning around during picture time.

Grand-pa and Caleb have a special bond and Caleb was

thrilled to see 'Ganpa' again!

Our family pic for Christmas 2009

Becca getting friendly with the Snowman!

Caleb loves to pull on noses! He loved the doggie.

Caleb was sooo hungry and kept making smacking

noises while the table was getting set with our yummy

pizza!

He was the first one in his chair ready to eat! ;o)

Aunt Rachel was Santa's helper in passing

out the presents.

Mark recieves a hug from Santa's helper ;o)

Abby laid her head on my knee while listening to Grandpa

read the Christmas Story. It was sooo hard to be patient! LOL!

Becca,Ben and Abby performing their Christmas

songs and pieces from their Church Children's Program.

Ben was THRILLED to open a Transformers set from Uncle Mark & Aunt Rachel!

Abby loved her huge Art set! She exclaimed " What!? I am going to be BUSY!" LOL!

Uncle Matthew tries to shake and guess.......

He was happy to recieve 100% Colombian coffee beans with

a pretty cover that Becca made for it!

Caleb checks out his gift and approves!

Danny models our new crockpot and Family Organizer calendar! Yeah! We needed both! LOL!

Becca cheeses with the new Adventures in Odyssey cd's .

Ben shows off his new rag rug that G-ma made for the boys room. The girls got one too.

They are VERY nice! I am hoping to get one soon for my kitchen! (HINT,HINT to Mom!);o)

Abby poses with her new baby that she has named 'Kimberly'.

A fantastic Christmas Eve 2009!

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-24T21:55:00.000-08:00

A very MERRY CHRISTMAS to our family and friends!!

May you all have a wonderful and relaxing time as we celebrate the TRUE reason for CHRIST mas!

The children are all tucked in their beds with visions of Polly Pockets,Pixos and Transformers in their heads! The presents are all wrapped and under the tree and now sleep can come for hubby and me!

'Tis the season!

2009-12-19T05:09:00.000-08:00

'Tis the beautiful Christmas Season for..............

...meeting and petting a REAl LIVE reindeer!

His name was "Misfit". Caleb was awed!

...making cookies with daddy........

...and mommy.

Working together to get the cookies in the oven!

Major flour mess!

Ben snapped the 'clean-up crew' in action! LOL!!

Abby decorating a cookie tree....

Becca's creative cookie shapes! One 'F' for each Flowers

family member!

The little guy enjoyed the results! We gave him a non-sharp plastic

knife and a little frosting and he 'decorated' too! ;o)

busy frosting and drooling! lol!!

Decorating the tree:

Caleb hanging his beloved Veggietales

ornament.......

Sorting out the Christmas lights.......

FINISHED PRODUCT!

Camping out in the living room on the pull-out couch!

Becca and her Rice Krispies wreath...

Dipping pretzels and cookies in chocolate......

Church Christmas Party:

Playing a silly really game. Racing to put on

gloves,hat and scarf.

The cheering section! There were a LOT of kids

and we had a fun time!

Rebecca's Christmas Piano Recital:

Nervous girls waiting to perform.......

Rebecca plays 'Silent Night' and "Carol of the Bells" very nicely.

Becca and Rene B. her sweet piano teacher and our good friend!

Thanksgiving Memories

2009-12-02T21:08:00.001-08:00

Well-filled Thanksgiving table with some of the crew....

Ready to dig in.........

Matt & Presley looking sweet.....

Mark & Rachel caught in the middle of passing

the yummy food! That cat looks as if it is going to

pounce on their heads! LOL!

Presley with the girls.....

Let the games begin!

Mark & Rachel chose to spend their evening

putting together a 1000 piece puzzle!

Clowning around.........

Christmas decorating:

No clue where my other child was?!

Four excited kids ready for Christmas!

He was not too sure about the lights!

....or the Elf hat............

....and definitely NOT the Santa hat! lol!

This is Caleb after a delicous breakfast of Rainbow pancakes with coolwhip and sprinkles! Becca made them and took this grumpy face photo.

Messy baby who LOVED his breakfast!

Happy Happy Thanksgiving to One and All!

2009-11-26T08:34:00.001-08:00

We want to take a minute to say how very thankful our family is on this Thanksgiving 2009. God has richly blessed our family with each other and His love. We are thankful to be ALIVE today and being blessed to sit at a table with juicy turkey, succulent ham, sweet potatoes, and all the other delicious trimmings! Enjoy this day with those who are close and dear to you and make some memories! HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Homeschool Spirit Week

2009-11-25T09:45:00.000-08:00

Our kids heard from of their friends who attend public school about how they were going to be having Spirit Week and get to wear crazy clothes, hats and ect. So, they begged me to have a Spirit Week for them and I agreed. What resulted was a wild and very crazy week! Here are the pics to prove it!

1st day: Pajama day

2nd Day: Hat day

3rd Day: Favorite Pal Day

Ben has had the black stuffed dog since he was

2 and named him "Strawberry Eating". No clue why?!

For some silly reason Abby felt the need

to crawl under her desk for her pic. She chose

a Polly Pocket and a pink dog that she hardly ever plays with!?

I have no idea where the babydoll she drags EVERYWHERE was at?

Becca chose a squishy pink cat. She loves squishy things!

Group pic of Pal Day. Caleb has his beloved' Buddy'

that you can't see on his lap.

4th Day: CRAZY Day

I have no clue who these children are!?? LOL!!

What can I say about this one...?!!

Silly Abby!

Believe it or not, but she worked hard to put this

wild outfit? together!

A second entry for Ben wearing daddy's

clothes.....

5th day: Costume Day

Ben the bat!

Abby was a 'Princess Shopper'. She came up with

this one by herself!

Becca was 'Supergirl Flowers'!

Caleb as a football fan! He was giving the football a hug! Aww!

100th post!

2009-11-21T11:29:00.000-08:00

Hard to believe that this is the 100th time I have posted on this blog! So HAPPY 100th Posting to all our faithful readers! :o)

We have been BUSY as usual and here are ALL the pics to show what we have been up to the last few weeks.

Farm Fieldtrip:

The first part of this month we visited a good friend of ours farm. They raise lots of different breeds of chickens: Americanas,Rhode Island Reds and Buff Orpingtons. We enjoyed visiting the chicken pen and getting to see how to collect fresh brown eggs. The chickens are free-range and produce cholesterol- free eggs as a result :o) Each one of the kids gave an oral or written report on their trip as well as did research on different types of chickens. We now buy fresh brown eggs from them every week and enjoy delicious omelets and scrambled eggs without worrying about cholesterol..yeah!

Abby was happy to carry the egg-collecting basket....

Caleb LOVED all the kitties and chickens! He kept saying

"Awww!"

'Farmer Ben' dressed appropriately for the trip to

the farm. He is gathering his first egg.

The girls spy more eggs to gather.

Michelle shows them how to carefully pick up the eggs.

This is either a Buff Orpington or an Americana.

Whichever one he is handsome for a rooster! LOL!

I couldn't resist snapping this sweet pic. They

were trying to find Susie the cow....

Becca takes a turn toting the eggs and one

of the MANY cats running around their farm.

Michelle showed us how they sterilize the eggs in bleach water.

Becca dips the eggs........

Odds-n-Ends pictures:

Becca and Ben built this cool LEGO MAN!

Yes, he is walking! Like a drunken sailor! LOL!

...and climbing on everything!

Heaven help me! ;o)

There are LOTS more pics but I will save them for the next post...check back soon!

Our Cartoonist/Comedian Son

2009-11-11T05:02:00.000-08:00

Benjamin, our oldest son, has quite a gift for drawing and a CRAZY sense of humor. He see's something funny in the wierdest things and it often gets him in trouble especially when he is goofing during schooltime! He is a hard kid to discipline because the whole time I am trying to be serious, he is cracking joke after joke trying his best to get me to smile. I hate to admit it, but he succeeds many times! What to do with a kid like him?! LOL! Here is a post dedicated to him, his drawings and his humor. Enjoy!

Ben Incident #1: Danny took the kids to go see the animals at the 4-H displays. And the whole time, Ben was disgusted by the smell and was holding his nose. Danny asked him what would he do if we ever moved onto a farm and had animals that smelled? Ben replied that he would just take duct tape and tape their behinds shut!

Ever since Ben was 3 yrs old, he has been FASCINATED with monster trucks. He began to try his best to draw them and begged anybody who would to draw a monster truck for him. He soon learned how to draw his own monster trucks and has moved on to hot-rod cars, super heroes ans most recently Transformers.

Here is a Veggie Tale picture in honor of Caleb's infactuation with the silly veggies.

It hangs over Caleb's crib and he loves it!

Here is Bumblebee, his fav Transformer. He is hoping

that Santa will bring him for Christmas!

Here are all of his Transformer pics.

Please excuse that nasty black spot!

We have tried everything to get rid of it!

We are going to have to break down and

buy a new camera.

He has invented many comic strip stories. Here

is the Title page of one of them.

Here is a Treasure map that he created. He used real sand and seashells from Florida ;o)

Here he is showing more of his art work. The

pic on the right is a cartoon of a guy getting blown up

and one of his famous monster trucks on the other side.

Here is our comedian/cartoonist playing daredevil

at the TOP of the monkeybars.

Ben Incident#2: Ben had a bad bloody nose one day and I found him standing over the trashcan

letting his nose drip. I asked him what he was doing and why was he not at the sink? He looked at me and said in the most pitiful voice, " I don't know, I am just falling apart!"

Busy baby boy!

2009-11-10T18:49:00.000-08:00

Cruising along the couch...........

"Come on,Daddy, open up!"

"Yes, I am as ORNERY as I look!"

Discovering books...........

Traveling with his bottle and cart......

He is literally eating in his sleep!

Hanging out with landon S.

Precious baby all worn out!

Our Girls

2009-11-02T13:59:00.000-08:00

Our Boys

2009-11-01T13:15:00.000-08:00

2009-11-01T13:02:00.000-08:00

Fall pictures 2009

2009-11-01T12:44:00.000-08:00

Physical Changes and a Nature Walk

2009-10-17T20:17:00.000-07:00

We have had some physical changes in 3 of our kids these past few weeks. They are all growing and changing so fast!

Rebecca has a new pair of specs. Her prescription changed

enough for her to get new glasses. She was needing a new pair!

Ben now has his own pair of glasses as well!

He really only needs them for reading but he

wears them more often. We think he looks real

sharp in them!

Miss Abby has lost her first baby tooth at five years old!

Our girls have always been early in their teeth coming in and

falling out! They both cut their 1st tooth at 4 months of age!

It is her bottom middle tooth..kinda hard to tell from the picture.

Last Saturday our family went to our local park area and went on a nature walk. We had a great, relaxing time enjoying the beauty of this Fall season.

Here is our 4 munch-kins ready for a hike.

Some of the leaves were HUGE!

Caleb peeks thru as 'Beppa' zips his jacket....

Taking time to pose for another pic.......

Daddy joins in............

The kids had a Walmart sack to collect leaves and

other 'treasures' in. Caleb enjoyed practicing his walking.

And he especially liked riding on Daddy's

shoulders!

I was able to get a good shot of the Wabash River.

We loved this old barn and the beautiful trees!

The trail was quite whimsical and pretty.

The kids had a fun time!

At the entrance to the park we came

across a statue that looked like Ben! LOL!

The 3 older ones just had to climb on this

high rock!

All in all, it was a very fun day spending time together and enjoying nature! We plan to do it again before the snow flies if at all possible!

Catching up......

2009-09-30T11:30:00.000-07:00

I know that I am WAY behind on my blogging! Sorry! School has been keeping us busy! And due to major back pain I have been unable to blog. I have a bad back and every once in awhile it flares up and makes it very hard to get thru the day. Still not feeling the best but I am going to try and put a few pics on here.

Caleb has discovered VEGGIE TALES! ;o) He LOVES them and begs to watch a Veggie tale movie. He says 'Bob' now and tries to say 'Veggie tales' as well! He is so CLOSE to walking! Should be anyday now.... He does his share of climbing and testing to see if Mommy has changed her mind! "Buddy" and "Ba-ba" are still his heroes! He also loves going outside and feels left out when the older kids go out and leave him behind! He is at such a fun stage right now!

Abby is doing well in Kindergarten and learning her letters. She loves to do 'Art' and wants a new project everyday ;o) She is a 'Big Helper' with her little brother and loves on him so much that it drives him crazy! LOL!

Ben is doing very well and already made lots of A+ on his tests for school! He is really getting reading and how fun it can be and his Math skills are improving everyday. You can usually find him out playing baseball or sitting at his desk drawing trucks and cartoons.

Becca is plowing through the 5th grade and getting good grades as well. She has been bitten by the cooking bug and has made several pretty and yummy dishes lately. I LOVE being able to ask her to make dessert for our supper and she does a great job!

Danny is enjoying his full-time job and is in the middle of doing some landscaping for their company . He hopes to be busy with Fall Clean-up just around the corner for his business. He will also be taking on-line classes again soon toward his degree.

I am so busy somedays that it makes my head spin! LOL! I am getting back into my Pampered Chef business as well as helping with various church activities.

The FOR SALE sign remains in our yard, yet we do not have any immediate plans to move at this time. We have began to un-pack banana boxes and we are settling in for the Winter ahead of us.....it is suppossed to be a bitterly cold one! :o( Despite not being able to move, God has given us a peace and a contentment as we wait on Him.

We are enjoying this beautiful Fall season as God's paintbrush paints the leaves glorious colors!

He was very proud of himself for learning how to

stack blocks!

Checking out G-pa Hirschy's motorcycle.

I LOVE this shot of my 2 handsome boys!

This is Caleb's newest trick! ;o)

Rockin' away for your viewing pleasure!

Check-out the newest Veggie Tales fan!

Cheesin' for mama!

The girls in the middle of Art Class.

Is this an ORNERY look or what!!???

Becca tried out a new hair-do on Abby.........

It appears that he is leading his horsey to the corral!

Buried in the toybox.........

My beautiful flowers that Danny surprised

me with after his trip out running errands!

Here she is with her pretty Fall cake

that she baked, designed and decorated!

It was delicious!

Caleb's Sunday School classroom

has his new heroes painted on the

walls and Becca had to get a pic.

He was thrilled!

Showing off her festive Fall Turkey Pot-pie!

Here the girls are very carefully decorating their

Apple Pie with colored dough shapes...

....the finished product! Abby thought it was beautiful!

That is all until next time!

More Birthday girl pics and etc..

2009-09-17T18:01:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Becca's 10th birthday with our family last Sun. afternoon at Grand-pa and Grand-ma Hirschy's house. Becca had a yummy cake and vanilla birthday- party icecream with colored sprinkles in it. She got some cool gifts and has been having fun playing with them this week ;o)

Becca wearing her new dress and

standing under her Birthday Banner.

Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you..

A sand art kit from G-pa and G-ma Hirschy

A Fashion Girl kit from Uncle Matt and Presley

An ice cream making kit from Uncle Mark and

Aunt Rachel.

A crazy game of air hockey with Uncle Mark.

I'm pretty sure that you are only supposed

to use ONE puck, not FOUR! LOL!!

Sweet baby boy looking so cute....

Etc. Pictures:

Abby was tickling Caleb today and he was loving it!

Caleb loves ANYTHING to do with a steering wheel!

He is often heard going VROOM VROOM!

A sweet picture of our 2 youngest.

Moving up-date:

We have interested buyers BUT they are NOT in a hurry! So, we are planning on sticking around here for the immediate future. At this time, God is seeming to want us to stay put and we plan to do just that until He tells us otherwise.

It is better to WAIT on God's perfect timing and not have any regrets than to forge on ahead with our OWN plans and then have to pick up the broken pieces of our mistakes!

School time

2009-09-14T06:38:00.000-07:00

We have chosen to homeschool our children again this year and we started last Mon. God helped us to get a nice learning center area set up and our 2009-2010 school year began.

Ben and Abby's desk area.

We have our "Dreamer" (Becca) in the corner

where there is less distractions!

Here are the 3 scholars on their 1st day. Becca

is our school decorator and has done a great job

of making our classroom look cheery and fall-like.

Rebecca is our 5th grader.

Benjamin is our 2nd grader.

Abigail is our Kindergartner and excited to learn her ABC's !

Our baby/almost-toddler gets to observe and

see how fun it is to learn ;o)

Sometimes he brings his horsey to school........

All of that observing and playing can get exhausting.......

And he loves to 'drive' Ben's stuffed truck pillow!

Up-date on our house sale and move: We currently have very interested buyers and are waiting to see if the details can be worked out. If they do then we will be heading South in a few weeks if not sooner. If it falls thru then we plan on staying and continuing to work on debt until God sells our place in His timing. We are praying for HIS will to be done, not ours.

Happy Birthday to our First-born!

2009-09-10T06:27:00.000-07:00

Today~9-10-09 ~ is Rebecca Grace's 10th birthday! We are enjoying watching Rebecca as she blossoms into a sweet young lady! God has given her many talents and it has been fun to see her discover them with cooking, arts and crafts, sewing, piano and I am sure many more to come. ;o)

We gave her birthday presents to her last night and she was thrilled. She has chose New York Strip steaks (Thank goodness they were on sale this week!) mac-n-cheese,spinach and corn-on-the-cob and a cup-cake cake for her birthday supper.

Her Presents:

She LOVES Pixos. This is a new kit to make book-marks and etc. for school.

She has been eyeing this fluffy, purple blanket at Wal-mart for days!

The blanket has been named "Big Grapey". Ben has a brown one like it named "Big Brownie".

Abby wants a pink one and has already named it "Big strawberry"! LOL!!

Christmas is coming....................................!

The birthday girl in front of her desk and wearing the Birthday shirt she painted yesterday for this grand occassion!

Happy Birthday Rebecca Grace! We love you!

Your Opinion Needed Please!

2009-09-07T12:42:00.000-07:00

Yesterday morning before church I took some shots of the kids and I can not decide which one to use for our header. Let me know which one you like...?

And I have to post these sweet shots of our boys.....

A sad note: If you notice there is a nasty black spot on most of the pics. I am afraid that our camera is about to bite the dust! :o(

Let me know your votes! I cannot decide between C,D or F.

Recent Pictures

2009-09-05T19:18:00.000-07:00

Just posting some recent pictures for your viewing enjoyment;o)

The little guy happy as can be

in daddy's lap!

Big sis helping Caleb learn how to walk...

Caleb LOVES riding "Horsey"!

He also enjoys sitting in his rocking chair...

Abby LOVES to dress up as a Princess. Becca

helped her make a cape for herself and her baby.

Our girls are soo creative!

Ben spends LOTS of time drawing cartoon pictures...

A budding cartoonist?! Time will telll......

Daddy was not sharing his icecream quick

enough for this hungry little guy!

Danny found a tow rope and it made

an awesome swing for the kids!

Our oldest monkey in the tree helping tie up the

swing.....

Abby eagerly tries it out.......

Lovin' it!

Becca takes a turn....WHEEEEE!

Ben poses during his turn....

Caleb was in swing heaven!

Meet Betty Crocker Becca!

2009-08-28T15:36:00.000-07:00

Becca has discovered baking and she is quite good at it! We have been enjoying her treats!

Showing off her Mini Peach Pies!

They were very tasty and cute!

Baking project #2:

Reading the recipe.........

Don't forget the non-stick spray!

Pouring the yummy batter.........

Little cakes ready to be baked..........

(Please ignore my dirty oven!) LOL!

Baked to perfection!

Covering them with funfetti frosting........

Another baking masterpiece by Becca!

Cake anyone?

Introducing Mr. fix-it Baby!

2009-08-24T17:59:00.000-07:00

Need something repaired or built?

Call Mr. Fix-it Caleb!

No job is too big or too small! I can fix-it-all!

I think I will start with the loose wheel on the

schoolbus......

Time for a PEEK-A-BOO break!

Now, where did my wrench go?

Don't tell me that wheel is still loose!

I spent hours fixing it!

Remember who to call for all your fix-it needs!

Misc. pictures of our recent days

2009-08-19T12:14:00.000-07:00

Well, there has not been too awfully much going on around here other than having half of our house packed in banana boxes and TRYING to keep it clean enough to show! We have been showing it a LOT lately and it is just a matter of time! ;o)

We have been enjoying these last few days before school starts packing them with playing in the water with the slip-n-slide, trips to the park and recently visiting a local amusement park for the day. We are planning on starting school after Labor Day and we will be homeschooling.

Caleb is continuing to put on weight and is REALLY close to walking. He gets into mischief quite a lot now! He loves Elmo, playing Peek-A-Boo, baths, books, ba-ba and his buddy! He says 'B' words alot!

Abby is getting very excited to start school and often asks me the names of letters and she is learning quite a lot by herself. She LOVES to do crafts and art.

Ben has all of the sudden decided that he likes to read! He has been checking out "Dick and Jane" books from the library and reading them clear thru with hardly any help! It has been neat to see reading 'click' with him! Second grade here he comes!

Becca is as creative as ever! She hand-made a cute little pillow with a boy and girl holding hearts for our anniversary! She ironed on the stencils and painted them and then sewed the pillow. I tried to take a picture of it but she used white paint on some parts and it does not show up on the camera. It has a place of honor on our bed. She has her nose in a book most of the time and will be starting 5th grade.

Danny enjoys his job at Edge Manafacturing and has gotten compliments from the boss of how good he is doing! I am so proud of him! We are very thankful for his job! He is also doing some extra landscaping jobs as well.

Iam a busy homemaker, nurse,taxi-driver,dietician,book reader, referee and problem solver as are all mommies! I am also still selling Pampered Chef if anyone needs anything or wants to have a party! LOL! God is good and has given us many blessings! Enjoy the pictures.......

All 4 watching a movie. Notice how the 3 youngest

have something in their mouth?!

Abby grinning for all she is worth!

Story time!

Me and my girls

Cutie-pie!

Playing horsey!

So many things can be made with a box! Boat?

Car? Plane? All of the above!

They had a lot of fun!

Park pictures:

Becca toting Caleb and heading for the swings..

He loves swinging!

We visited the park with Lana Summers

and her 3 children. Here is her girl, Julia

with Abby.

Ben likes this swing.

Lana and her youngest boy, Landon.

Hanging out on the baby monkeybars!

Becca took this pic of me and Caleb.

Eleven years together!

2009-08-08T17:30:00.000-07:00

Eleven years ago today I became Mrs. Danny Flowers. Our wedding day was fun and sweet and we both really enjoyed it! I do not remember being all that nervous or feeling any regrets about marrying Danny. We knew that we had both found our soul-mates and that God had put us together! We have been thru a LOT together and are stronger for it and I look forward to what God has planned for our family as he makes the path and we step in it. ;o) Happy Anniversary Honey! I love you very much!

Other news: We recieved the results from Caleb's MRI. The MRI went well and he did fine for the test. They ended up knocking him out with an anesthesia that only lasted thru-out the test. As soon as the MRI was over he woke right up and was happy as could be. I was able to sit in the room with him while they ran the test and that helped ease my mind some. Thank-you for everyone's prayers. His pediatrician called me and said that as far as she can tell that the test looks consistent with how a brain would look that has NF1. However, she did say that she is not a specialist and it could just be that his brain is still too immature yet to really tell anything. the results are being sent to Dr. Walsh at Riley and if he sees anything then he will call me. I told her how Caleb is gaining weight and seems to be fine and that I am not worried. He is a happy, ornery GROWING baby boy! Thank the Lord!

Summer is flying by!

2009-08-04T19:43:00.000-07:00

We have really been enjoying these beautiful days of Summer! We went to the park twice the last few days and had a wonderful time enjoying nature. I decided to forget the dishes and laundry last Friday and told the kids that we would have a fun day doing whatever they wanted to do! (With-in reason!) They gave me suggestions and we wrote them on a piece of paper and stuck them in Ben's hat and drew out 6 ideas. We ended up starting out with a Coloring book marathon with lots of crayons, markers and colored pencils. ;o)

Caleb even got in his share of coloring!

Then we played Candyland!

Candyland and popsicles....can it get any better?!

Next on our list was to pack a picnic lunch and head for the park!

Monkeying in the trees.....

Enjoying a snooze.........

After Caleb woke up, he took a ride with big brother!

Checking out the swings..........

and the all-time favorite monkeybars!

Abby can climb to the top this year!

We ended our day by visiting the waterpad!

Great way to cool off!

What a fun day spent with my children. The dishes and laundry were still there when we got home but I did not mind at all. My children will not always be here and I want to make sure that I spend as much quality time with them as possible! I thank God for my 4 blessings!

In other news.....

Caleb had a weight check today and he is gaining! He has put on almost a lb. in 2 weeks. The vit. D milk is doing its job! We have an MRI scheduled for him tomorrow to look at his brain and etc. He cannot have anything to eat after 9 am and the MRI is not until 11 am. So, I am trying to keep him up late tonight so he will sleep good tomorrow! It is midnight and he is fading fast! I will post the results once we know something......thanks for your prayers!

No call back from the potential buyer so we go back to square one! We have not changed our plans and continue to WAIT on God's timing. Thats all folks!

Ahh, the lazy, fun days of Summer!

2009-07-29T06:38:00.000-07:00

I thought I would take a break from the boot camp pics and catch ya'll up on what we have been doing. We have had a lot of fun times spent with friends and family going to a local 4-H parade, roasting S'mores and just hanging out and being together. Of course, I have a lot of pictures to share!

A quick up-date on Caleb: his lab results came back NORMAL!! Praise the Lord! He is a little anemic and I am giving him iron drops for that. We do have an MRI scheduled for next Wed. and we will see if it turns up any reason why he is smaller than normal. I am working on switching him to whole milk and he seems to be doing okay with it. I am also giving him Carnation Instant Breakfast hoping to fatten him up. ;o) He is learning new things everyday and surprises us when he says a new word or learns a new trick. He gets around fast and is a busy baby boy!

Also, we showed our place last night to a very interested potential buyer. Now, we play the waiting game and see if she calls back and if this is God's timing for us to move. If so, she wants to be living in this area by Aug 13th, when the schools start. If she buys then things will go fast as far as us moving. Will keep you all up-dated.

Roasting S'mores with the Quakenbushes.

A sweet pic of Elli and Abby. They had just had

baths and put their jammies on.

Cory, Skyler,Tanner, Ben and Tasha holding Wes.

and enjoying the fire.

Daddy and Caleb, who was not a happy camper!

This-n-That:

Caleb gets a ride in Abby's baby doll

stroller!

The girls enjoying a beautiful day outside

with their paper dolls...........

While the boys played with their Thomas the

Train set. Caleb was fascinated with the little

trains.

Our four blessings! Caleb did not care for

being held down! lol!

We discovered that Caleb LOVES fresh cherries!

4-H Parade:

Getting ready to watch the 4-H parade.

The girls grin from their spot.

Ben cheese with the little guys. We kept them

happy with LOTS of snacks until the parade started!

Greg& Tasha with very cheesy smiles while

Wes watches the parade from daddy's shoulders.

Caleb:

A very tuckered out baby boy sleeping in his

favorite spot...daddy and mommies bed!

Modeling one of his many ornery grins!

Hanging out with Uncle Mark and Aunt Rachel.

Taking a siesta in the exersaucer!

More Boot Camp Pictures

2009-07-25T06:57:00.000-07:00

Team Haiti-North

Here we are sitting together as a team at one

of the many sessions and services. All teams sat

together.

Every morning at 6:30 each team was expected to complete a grueling obstacle course that included stacking blocks with the books of the Bible in order, skis,monkeybars, jumping rope, swinging over a mud puddle, scaling a large wall, running a short distance and carrying heavy suitcases over the finish line. Our team did our best but it was not our strong point! LOL!

Danny giving a pep talk before our team's turn

on the obstacle course.

Danny scaling the highest part of the wall while Kristin
tackles the lower side.

Kristen swings across the muddy puddle.

Rebecca was a HUGE help in knowing the order

of the books of the Bible. The blocks had to be

stacked and then carried across a line on a long

board.

Danny, Casey and I mastering the skis.

Casey, Kristin and Danny getting ready to jump rope.

Caleb was a casual observer from his stroller.

TLC Boot Camp Pics...

2009-07-22T12:48:00.000-07:00

For those of you who do not know, our family led a Touching Lives for Christ short-term missions trip to Northern Haiti in June for 2 weeks. Before we went we all attended a boot camp that is designed to help you get to know your team and bond with them before you leave the country. We had a fun, growing time as we met and got to know our 3 team members, Matt Nation,Kristin Fox and Casey Jones. God sent us a good group and and it was a joy to have them on our team! I know that we all made memories that will stay with us for years to come. I am going to start by posting pics of Boot Camp and continue to put pics of our trip as well as I have the time. So enjoy! Feel free to comment!

Abby is standing under our team area at our campsite.

Here is how we decorated our signpost. Our

team recieved 5th place out of 9 teams. Not bad

for our first year! We chose Haiti's colors of red,

white and blue. Christopher Colombus founded

Haiti and that is why we had the handkerchief.

We found out later that it was a different Christopher

Colombus then the one who discovered America....OOPS!

Our home,sweet,home for the week! Or

a more accurate description would be: our hot,

smelly,wet, crowded home! LOL!

This is the team leaders from Haiti-South's

youngest son, Kyle. Him and Ben had a blast together!

Danny helps our two team members, Kristin and

Casey put up their tent.

More to come......

Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

2009-07-15T09:55:00.000-07:00

God has answered our prayers! Danny started a new job today! He is employed by Edge Manafacturing, a local company. A friend of ours referred him for his welding skills and 9 yrs of experience. Danny went and saw the owner and he hired him on the spot without an application, welding test or references! Is that how our God works or what?! Thank-you to those of you who have been helping us pray! God truly hears the prayers of His people! We still have our place for sale and if God chooses to sell it then we will move. If not, then we will stay here and pay off debt! God's plans are always best and He continues to show us that everyday.

We celebrated Caleb's birthday last Fri. evening at my parents house. We had the signature DQ icecream cake and Caleb had his own personal cake to make a mess as well :o) He recieved a very nice rocking horse from G-pa and G-ma Hirschy and he loves to play "horsey'. Here come the pictures.....

Tasting one of the many balloons.........

Trying out his new horse.....

Posing with the big cake. We had a blue teddy put on it

in honor of his blue lovey named 'Buddy'.

Getting ready to dig into his little cake with big

sissy looking on......

Mmmm good!

Poor demolished cake!

Big brother helps finish off the cake!

Big sister gets a BIG taste..............

And big sister #2 has eyes way bigger than her stomach!

Slightly overwhelmed by siblings! Needless to say

they all had to have baths!

Enjoying his See-N-Say from Uncle Mark and Aunt Rachel...

We enjoyed spending time with Mark and Rachel!

A fun evening spent with family!

Happy First birthday Caleb

2009-07-09T10:34:00.000-07:00

It is hard to believe that our youngest is a year old already! We keep singing 'Happy Birthday' to him and he just looks at us like we are crazy! He will walk as long as someone is holding his hands. He loves to stand up and throw videos and dvd's out of totes. Caleb is a little loving baby and gives kisses and hugs everynight to all of us. He can make really ornery faces and is a little stinker! We love him so much and are so thankful that God gave him to our family.

Some of you know how we had some concerns about him possibly having a rare nerve disease called neurofibromitosis. We took him to Riley Children's Hospital and saw a specialist in the neurology field. We were very impressed with Dr. Walsh and he did a great job with Caleb. The Dr. said that in order to make a diagnosis of NF1 that he needed to see 2 signs. Caleb only has the Cafe-au-laut spots that he was born with and has gotten a few since birth. NF1 is a waiting game to see just how bad the disease may go. He may only have the spots the rest of his life and nothing else. Or he may have other problems, time will tell. Right now the main concern is that he has lost weight since going to Haiti. He weighed 16 lbs when we left and now weighs 15 lbs 9 oz. He is very small compared to our other children. Dr. Walsh is concerned that he may have one of two things going on: 1. He may have low thyriod function causing the slow growth. 2. He may have a benign tumor growing on the pituitary gland affecting his hormones. These are both just possibilities at this point and we will be under-going further testing in the next few weeks to narrow down the problem, if there is indeed a problem at all. He has been sick off and on and he is cutting 4 molars at the same time plus fighting a cold since we have returned. So, needless to say, his appettite has not been very good. He has always been small and I teasingly say that he is the 'runt' of our litter! Other than being small, he is as smart as a whip and developing right on schedule. When we first found out about his possible diagnosis of NF1, we had him anointed at our church and I believe that God touched him then and continues to touch him. We dedicated all of our children to the Lord and He knows what is best. In the meantime, we are going to just ENJOY him as we celebrate his first birthday. Happy Birthday Caleb James! We love you!

Enjoying his birthday breakfast of eggs and toast

with plenty of jelly!

Sitting out by the pool while the other kids play.

Trying to climb out of the chair while mommy

trys to get a good picture!

He will have his own little cake tonight at supper and a family party tomorrow night. More pics wil be coming.....;o) Don't say that I did'nt warn you!

Happy 4th of July!

2009-07-05T10:25:00.000-07:00

A very happy 4th of July from our family to yours! The kids are posing with a patriotic cheesecake that I made for our families holiday get-together. We feel a new appreciation

for America since being in another country! God bless America!

1st day of travel

2009-07-03T06:26:00.000-07:00

Getting ready to leave on our adventure! Miss Jaelyn and the Quakenbushes stopped by to send us off......

Changing Caleb at a rest area and goofing off!

Daddy giving Caleb his first taste of fresh Florida OJ!

Posing with the Welcome sign...

Home

2009-07-01T19:39:00.000-07:00

We are BACK! We praise and thank God for His protection for our family and our team as we traveled to Haiti and back. We have many, many stories and pictures to share and I would be here all night if I posted everything! I will be posting bits and pieces as I can find the time. I will give you a brief summary of our trip: We took down a badly needed water pump that was donated to the mission. The men put it in the first day we were there and we were blessed with running water and electricity as well as an indoor commode! You may laugh but we did not expect to have any of those wonderful priviledges that we take for granted here in the States! We also had a refrigerator and a deep freeze to keep our drinks and sometimes ourselves cool! No kidding, it got so hot somedays that we would literally open the freezer and try to shut as much of ourselves in it to cool off! We have pictures...it was a funny sight!
God helped us to hold a VBS and several children made decisions for Christ each night....what a beautiful sight! We built their church an outdoor platform and painted it in bright Haitian colors! The men fixed different things around the house and we went out and visited the people in the villages quite a few times and had prayer and sang for them. They were very appreciative! The poverty was un-real and very sad! The children are very needy and followed us everywhere! "Blanc" means 'White" in Creole and we heard it several times a day. Our team made lots of friends with the Haitians and the day we left was like a funeral! It was a learning experience the whole 2 weeks that we will not soon forget! THANK-You for everyone's prayers! We felt them as God protected us!

We Fly out tomorrow!

2009-06-08T15:41:00.000-07:00

Yes, we are finally going to Haiti! It is almost surreal that the time is here for us to take our 2 week TLC trip as short-term missionaries! We have planned, raised money, prayed, planned, raised money, PRAYED and.....well, you get the idea! We leave Hobe Sound at 4:45 in the morning and we fly out at 6 am! We plan to go to bed a little earlier than normal tonight! We should land in Cap Haitian around 10:30 Haiti time which will be 9:30 Indiana time. Please pray for a safe, quick flight...thank-you!
I have over 200 pics to share but I am not able to download them before we go...sorry!
We are all very tired because we have been running like crazy trying to get everything done that needs to be done! We are hanging out at the Collins with our wonderful team tonight just playing games, eating and trying to relax before the journey begins!
Bootcamp was an adventure in itself! Hungry mosquitos, wet tents,and hot nights were balanced out by DELICIOUS food, Spirit-filled services and team-bonding! God used boot camp to teach me FLEXIBILITY! Missionary training at its finest!
Anyone interested in watching our Commissioning Service which included an awesome power point with lots of pics from boot camp can go to www.hobesoundbiblechurch.com . Click on Multimedia and it will take you to a page with archived services. Click on TLC commissioning service and enjoy!
Signing off for 2 weeks! As they say in Creole...Bonjour!

Safe arrival

2009-05-29T17:00:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Hobe Sound, Florida tonight at 6:35 safe and sound. Very tired, hot and sick of riding in the van! LOL!
Here are some trip highlights:

~We left our house around 3:15 Thursday. We got ready to leave and I could not find my keys and had several anxious moments digging for them! I un-buried them from my packed diaper back-pack and we were off...

~Two hours into our trip and we were forced to take a detour in a small town that completely turned us around! We lost about an hour trying to figure out how to get back on track!

~Ben accidentally dropped his Transformers coloring book out the window into the middle of the street! Guess who retrieved it?! I was able to get it before it got ran over!

~We drove until 5am this morning before stopping to rest. Completely exhausted, we slept for a few hours and then got back on the loong road....

~Sad discovery: When we stopped to rest, Becca and Ben had changed places and somehow or another the van seat was flung a little too hard and smashed into the dvd player strapped on the back of my seat! You guessed it....when we went to put in a dvd later on, we discovered that the screen was cracked and totally un-usable! After many tears, we moved on and survived without movies the rest of the trip! LOL!

~ We crossed Florida state line at noon!
We are staying at the Collins families very nice and cozy house! More updates later......
Keep us in your prayers!

Bakesale results and Abby's 5th Birthday

2009-05-27T05:21:00.000-07:00

Our God is truly amazing! I am happy and thankful to report that He has provided more money we needed to make our TLC trip! The bakesale was a success! We leave this week for Florida. Please pray for protection for our family as we travel. We will be at Boot Camp for a week and then flying to Haiti on the 9th of June. Please pray for our family and our team as God brings us to your mind for strength, endurance, grace, protection and culture shock! THANK-YOU!

Here are some pictures:

Here are some of the baked goodies I made.

I baked around 20 different recipes. I was in the

kitchen all day Mon. from early in the morning

until midnight that night! God gave me a nice,

cool day to bake!

Here was our set-up at Walmart. We sold quite

a lot! Well worth it! A BIG thank-you to Aunt

Becky for making noodles for us to sell! They

went fast!

Ben was our sign-holder for the first part of the

day! The girls and the Quakenbushes came and

helped later on in the day. Thanks to everyone!

It got pretty warm and the kids found a great

shady spot!

Abigail's 5th Birthday-May 24th:

Abigail Joy is now 5 years old!

Her birthday was this past Sunday.

She looked so pretty in her dress that

I just had to take pictures!

Celebrating with Elli:

Sorry that this is a little blurry! Elli and Abby

usually celebrate their birthdays together and here

they are with their cake I made them.

Cute personalities shining! Elli will turn 5 on

June 2nd.

Abby with her BIG DQ icecream cake

at G-pa and G-ma Hirschys! She loves

ballet stuff!

Opening her presents. Lots of coloring books

and a BIG purple ball!

With all her fun presents! Including a

gift card for Walmart!

I leave you with the little man all set to travel!

Bakesale Fundraiser

2009-05-20T17:59:00.000-07:00

We have decided to hold one last fundraiser before we go on our TLC trip, this coming Tues.(26th) at our local Walmart here in Bluffton. We will be there most of the day starting at 9 am. So those of you who live around here locally are welcome to come and buy some delicious home-made baked cookies,cakes,breads, muffins and more! And those of you who live too far away can keep us in your prayers that God will bless our efforts and it will go well! Thank-you! I will post later of how it went! We leave next Thurs. for Florida and we are getting excited and I am trying not to get too overwhelmed with the packing and planning! Pray for us! ;o)

2009-05-18T17:35:00.000-07:00

Caleb James is 10 months old and everywhere and into everything! LOL! He is one of the orneriest babies I have ever seen! He even has an ornery little grin to go with his adventures! He is also very clingy and is attached to me like paper to glue! It is sweet at times and highly annoying at others! He has learned to crawl quite fast and amazes me how quickly he gets to "no-no's"! We are all having fun watching and playing with him as he learns new things everyday! He is so much fun! He says "momma", "mom", "ba"(bath), "bu"(buddy-his lovey) and "Beppa"(Becca) and "bye-bye". He loves to take a bath! he crawls into the bathroom and pulls himself up to the tub and yells "ba"! It is funny because Ben did the same exact thing when he was his age! He is just like his big brother!

Ben and Becca are in their last week of school! Do I hear the Hallelujah chorus?! LOL!! We are all more than ready to be done! Abby has been enjoying playing outside with her neighbor friend Hannah, who is just a little younger than her. They play with their babies, with bubbles and play-doh. I also made cornstarch Goop for all the kids this week. It is so easy and fun as well as non-toxic and washable! You can not get any better than that! We simply mix cornstarch and water together and play with it! You can make it thin or thick, use it as a play-doh or as paint. Ours was thick at first and then got too thin when I added too much cornstarch. The kids did'nt mind and proceeded to 'paint' our deck! I even let Caleb play in it and of course, he tasted it! He made the awfulest face, I do not think he will be eating it again! They all made a major mess flinging it around and they had a BLAST! They washed off with no problem and so did their clothes. Here is random pictures from our days..............................

Grinning from his 'nest' that the kids made!

Waving and blowing bubbles from their 'train'.

Caleb sporting his ornery grin!

The KING OF THE HILL!

Discovering nature......

(Becca took this and did a good job!)

Ben loves to play with Caleb.

Eating his first corn-on-the-cob! He loved it!

Best buddies in their CARS t-shirts.

Our ornery little stinker!

Discovering the 'other' baby in the mirror!

The Cornstarch Goop Wars:

The fun begins!

Abby dives in but Caleb isn't too sure!

Ben lets it drip onto the deck..........

Having a blast with cornstarch and water?!

Who knew?

Trying to crawl off the couch to mommy.

After his bath chewing on ducky.....

Majorly cheesin' with ducky!

Posing pretty for the camera.....Caleb was

more interested in the football!

Rebecca Grace-4th grade-9 years old

Benjamin Daniel-1st grade-7 yrs old

Abigail Joy-almost 5 yrs. old

Caleb James-10 months old

Catching up....!

2009-05-12T14:57:00.000-07:00

Okay, I have seriously got way behind on this blog! It seems like it takes so long to blog and I have not had the time or the energy! Anyway, I will try to "catch up" on what has been going on around here! We are in our second to last week of school and it is crunch-time as the kids are trying to get all their work done by next friday our last day! I am excited and very ready for Summer vacation! Although, I doubt that a TLC trip will be much of a vacation! LOL!

Support money has continued to come in and we are sooo close to our goal! Thank-you to everyone who has contributed to our TLC trip! May God RICHLY bless you! God has also supplied some jobs for Danny to do to help bring in more needed money and we are so thankful!

A few Sundays ago, the lesson in our Ladies Bible Class was about learning how to wait on God. The verse was Psalms 27:14 "Wait on the Lord; Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the Lord!' I copied this verse down on index cards and put one on my bathroom mirror and on our refrigerator. I have a Wesley Bible and it often has notes about certain verses and I looked up about waiting on God. Here is what it said: Although waiting contains an element of time, there is more to it than time alone. Waiting expresses that COMPLETE DEPENDENCE on the Lord which does not run ahead of Him making its own plans and relying on its own strength. To wait on the Lord is an expression of COMPLETE TRUST. It is better not to rush into something today if the doing is an expression of dependence on our own strength and our own sense of timing. Very often God asks people to wait precisely as an excercise in trust. Wow! Does that speak to you like it has to me?! There have been some disappointing things that have taken place this last week and I have found myself saying "Why?'

and wondering why God does not do such and such and just work everything out. Then I see the verse that I wrote and it speaks to me fresh and new again! Yes, God has been teaching me to truly WAIT on Him! No, it is NOT easy, but with His grace, I am learning!

I had a wonderful Mother's Day with my family. Beautiful flowers from my sweet husband and a homemade card and bookmarks from my kids! We went to my parents for sunday dinner and Danny made a unique dessert that I have pictures of below. We attended our churches Mother-Daughter Banquet and had a fun time. The theme was 'Aprons of Love' and we all wore our favorite aprons and shared how they were special to us. The food was delicious and I have pictures below as well.

Caleb also has turned 10 months since my last post and he is so ornery! He crawls everywhere and is learning to pull himself up on things as well. We all have so much fun playing with him and making him laugh! I am a blessed mother!

Becca, Presley and Abby at the banquet

My Mom, my sister and I wearing our aprons.

Mom made hers and Rachel's. I already had my

Pampered Chef one to wear.

Here are the little girls getting ready to play

Becky Linkletter like the old TV show Art Linkletter.

My Aunt Becky held a microphone

and went down the line asking them questions about

their mommies. I held my breath when she came to my girls

wondering what they would say! She asked Abby" what is the

one thing in the world that your mommy does better than any

other mommy?" Abby answered " the dishes!" LOL!

The girls with Mary Jones, their cousin and Jaelyn

Biberstein their friend.

My beautiful Mother's Day Bouquet!

Danny assembling our yummy dessert!

The finished product! He did a nice job!

Mom and I in front of our special dessert! Mom was

laughing because my dad kept tickling her!

Dad, Danny and Matt fixed Sunday dinner to

give us ladies a break! Barbecued ribs and grilled

chcken were on the menu! Mmmm! Thanks guys!

Abby enjoyed every bite!

Caleb and grandma sharing a tender moment

with Jenny their dog....awww!

Praise report!

2009-04-26T12:51:00.000-07:00

God gave us a GREAT yard sale! We made around $400 for the two days that we ran it! We still have lots left over and we plan to have it once more in May. God has also been providing Danny with some lawn work and other odd jobs that we are very thankful for! He continues to provide for our needs and we say "Thank-you Jesus!"

Our family spoke at our church about our up-coming TLC trip and God really helped us! We recieved a very generous love offering and we are praising God that almost all the money needed has come in! We only need a little bit more and we KNOW that He will provide! God has made it very clear that we are following His will in going on this trip to Haiti and we are awed watching Him work in our lives! I have a few pics to post of our service and of the garage sale as well as odds-n-ends ones of the kids.

We had 8 tables of goodies that went quickly!

A lot of work to set up and take down....we were

exhausted! Well worth it!

A donation jar was my Aunt Becky's brilliant idea!

It worked well! People were very generous!

Caleb enjoyed observing from his exer-saucer...

Our tulips have continued to bloom beautifully this year.

I have really enjoyed taking pics of them.

A close-up of our pretty tulips...........

Missions Service:

Danny and I sharing about our TLC trip at

our church. We showed pics while we talked.

This is a video of the kids singing 'Be a Missionary."

They did a good job!

This is our family singing "I'll Give Myself" to

the tune of Amazing Grace.

Odd-n-Ends pictures:

Becca arranged her porcelain dolls very nicely

on her dresser and took a picture......

...of herself as well!

A little cutie-pie hanging out in the doorway!

Abby joins him and asks for a picture.

One of my little helpers busy sweeping the kitchen.

Ben introduces Caleb to Legos!

The Legos were a BIG hit! He enjoyed scattering

them around and tasting each one!

A very tired baby boy!

I have had this sailor suit for Caleb for a

while now just waiting for him to grow into

it! Now it just fits and he will probably not get

much wear out of it..go figure! It looked sweet on him!

All the kids looked nice so I TRIED to get a

good pic of ALL of them looking at the camera..

easier said than done! The youngest was NOT happy!

.....much better!

Enjoying the Spring weather!

2009-04-18T19:48:00.000-07:00

It has taken the warm weather a while to get here but it finally has arrived and we are loving it! Our tulips are blooming and look beautiful! We also have a bush outside our bedroom window that we think it is tulips too and they are also very pretty!

We had a nice Easter and our kids enjoyed an egg hunt out at their grandparents. Caleb found his first egg and it immediately went into his mouth!

Here he is diving for it.......

.....and into his mouth it goes!

More happy egg hunters.....

Abby had some help with her hunting........

After all the goodies were dumped out of the eggs
they were given to the baby who promptly began
'tasting' each one!

A happy grin from a satisfied egg hunter and taster!

Easter Morning:

Our family Easter picture

My handsome man and our 2 little
men-in-training!

Our sweet girls all pretty in pink!

All 4 together....
Caleb would NOT smile for anything!

I am happy to report that God has helped us to get our passports all applied for and sent out! We also visited the Health Dept. and everyone but Caleb had immunizations done. Tetanus and Hep A were the main ones we needed for visiting Haiti. Caleb will get his shots next week at his 9 month check-up. Needless to say, we all have very sore arms! For some odd reason, as soon as the nurse stuck me I bled and bruised right away! My upper arm is all black and blue just from a tiny stick that I did not even feel! Poor Abby had to get 4 shots since it was time for her regular kindergarten immunizations. She was NOT happy and if anyone got near her sore arms, she angrily informed them to 'not touch her shot!" We all walked around holding our sore arms for the next day! So we roll along with preparations to go to Haiti....There is still MUCH to do! We are having a yard sale this coming Sat. to help raise money for our trip. So I have many boxes to go thru and items to price....;o) Please pray that the sale will go well! We are asking people to donate items to help us out and to give us a BIG yard sale. I hope to have pictures later...
Have a beautiful Lord's day tomorrow!

Praise time!

2009-04-11T07:36:00.000-07:00

Praise God from whom ALL blessings flow!! He truly has been meeting our NEEDS this week and we want to give Him all the praise that He is worthy of! We have needed a washer and dryer for quite a while after our old stack washer and dryer conked out several months ago. We have been renting a couple units and paying weekly on them and it was getting expensive. God supplied our own washer and dryer this week and we returned the rentals and I am so thankful! When you have a family of 6, a washer and dryer is something you do NOT want to be without! ;o) Danny has also needed a second vehicle and preferably a truck so he can find some work and God also supplied a truck for him this week too! We are still looking and praying for a job for Danny and trusting God to supply! Danny has put in several applications/resumes and we continue to wait....

And another way that God is supplying is by bringing in the needed funds for our TLC trip! If you are reading this and you have contributed, we want to say a BIG thank-you! And we pray that God will doubly bless you for investing in His work! We still have some more to come in but we KNOW that God will supply! What an AWESOME God we serve!!

We went out to my parents to celebrate our family Easter together Friday evening. We enjoyed ham, sweet potatoe casserole, noodles, greenbean casserole and desserts. All delicious!

I have some pictures to share of our activities from climbing the hall wall....yes, again! That seems to be a favorite thing to do with the kids! ;o) More chicken tracks and just having fun being together! We wish you and your family a very happy Easter and let us not forget that this special time is NOT about easter bunnies and candy, but it is the time that our LORD is RISEN! Hallelujah! Up from the grave He arose!

Uncle Matt joined in the wall climbing!

Abby made a 'bridge'!

Caleb and Presley hung out..........

...and played one of Caleb's favorite games......

...PEEK-A-BOO!

Aunt Rachel posed with Ben....

and then with all the kids.

Becca with her Easter gift from Uncle Mark and

Aunt Rachel. An Easter paint set...she loved it!

Ben got a sticky-ball catch set and chocolate!

G-pa and Ben enjoyed a game of catch in the kitchen

while Becca painted.

Abby enjoyed her coloring book with stickers!

Caleb got a 3 pc ducky set..aww!

All very thoughtful presents..thank-you Mark and Rachel!

Me and my 4 Easter blessings!

Mom and her 3 Big kiddos..especially the youngest!

Just some pictures..

2009-04-03T18:41:00.001-07:00

Caleb James will be 9 months on the 9th!

Skyler cheesin' with Wes and Caleb....

Landon Summers came over to play! He was

born 3 weeks before Caleb.

Caleb LOVES to take off his socks and chew on them!

Art class with sea shells, paper and glue and string...

Becca's finished project

Ben's finished project......

Grinning for mommy! His shirt says 'Mommy'

Little Man'. Awww!

Trip to the park:

King of the monkeybars!

Caleb's first time in a swing! Ben was happy

to push him!

Abby had to take a turn... Caleb enjoyed it!

Thats all folks!

Busy week-end

2009-03-29T12:26:00.000-07:00

It is hard to believe that March is almost gone! It truly has flown! We have been keeping busy and are all enjoying Caleb as he seems to learn new things everyday ;o) I turned 31 on the 28th and my sweetie bought me some pretty flowers and a very sweet card. We went out to a local restaurant called El Camino Real and I enjoyed Steak Cancun! My juicy,flavorful steak was smothered in bell peppers,pineapple, onions and monterrey jack cheese....MMmmm! It was delicious! Then we went to our church's Y/A party and watched 'Fireproof'. Excellent movie! Some of us had seen it before but enjoyed watching it again. We had a church pizza party Friday night and enjoyed yummy homemade pizzas and a good game of volleyball. I regretted playing the next day when it was a little difficult to get out of bed from being so sore ;o) I have not played volleyball in a looong time and am slightly out of shape and practice! LOL! It was still fun!

Today, my great uncle Dan turned 75 and our huge extended family had a surprise party for him at his church. He was really surprised to see all of us (50-75) at his church! He is a sweet man who loves people and God and we were honored to share in his special day! Happy 75th uncle Dan! We love and appreciate you!

We have been told that 2 sweet girls have joined our Haiti team! Welcome Kristen and Gwen! We look forward to meeting you both! We are continuing to work on getting passports and more team members. June will be here before we know it! ;o)

Enjoy the pics:

Our growing baby boy in his 'Farmer boy' look!

Becca is a great big sister to Caleb!

This face says" I know that I am cute and loved!"

Thursday we had many willing helpers in the kitchen!

They washed dishes,cleaned the kitchen, swept and

put in a load of laundry! AND cooked lunch for us!

Pizza rolls and raw veggies!

Pizza Party pictures:

Emily Hirschy grins from her hiding place...

Jaelyn Biberstein cheeses for the camera..

We played a crazy game where you have two rows of people facing each other. Everyone must hold hands and a coin is dropped into a pie plate. If the coin is 'heads' then the first person squeezes the next persons hand and they in turn squeeze the next one and so on until it reaches the end of the line. The last person's hand squeezed must grab a dish towel that has been placed at the end of the line. The first row to grab the towel wins! It got really crazy as you can imagine and we were all laughing and having a good time. Everytime the towel was grabbed then we had to rotate people to the next chair and the game was done when the same people who started were facing each other. However, if the towel was grabbed and it was 'tails' then we had to go backwards!

Abby and Mary Jones sharing secrets. They are 2nd cousins and were born just 3 days apart.

They love to play together;o)

My birthday flowers and card.

This is what happens when the big sister feeds the baby!

Bathtime!

Time has flown!

2009-03-21T14:40:00.000-07:00

I absolutely cannot believe that it has already been a month since my last post!?! Our family caught some kind of a nasty virus that started out as a bad headache and then went into fever, chills and aches. It lasted for 3-5 days for some of us and then some of us just felt weak and tired for a day or so. It came in different degrees and seemed to hang around much longer than we cared for! At least, it was NOT puking or diarrhea! Anyway, we are all on the mend and I am finally getting around to putting on a new post! ;o)

Caleb is getting around quite well, in fact a little too well! He is beginning to get into everything and he loves to eat paper! I guess he is low on fiber?! Seriously, I am digging paper out of his mouth several times a day! We try to keep the floor clean but he manages to find it in the places we haven't seen! He also has a lovely new trick of grinding his teeth! Ugh! Becca, Ben and Abby did the same thing and it was just as annoying then! He gets this ornery little grin and he grinds away all the while scooting all over the floor toward something he should not have! Even though it is exasperating to keep up with him, we are enjoying how he learns new things everyday and thank God daily for the way He is helping him to develop and grow.

Becca is ahead in her schoolwork and doing quite well with her grades. She loves to read and play the piano and is becoming a good helper around the house.

Ben is reading very well and making good grades too. He loves to play nintendo and does a good job unloading the dishwasher for his momma.

Abby loves to play with her Pollypockets and her paperdolls. She is learning to color quite well and fills up pages and pages of pictures for our refrigerator! She also loves to help momma around the house.

Danny finished 2 of his classes and recieved an A and a B for his hard work! We are proud of him for doing so well! He is taking his 3rd class now and seems to be enjoying it and getting the hang of writing papers! He has started doing lawnwork and landscaping again and is working on another side business.

I am back to selling Pampered Chef and enjoying it! I just turned in a $500 party and had a blast doing it! I plan on continuing to sell it so if anyone needs anything or wants to have a party to get FREE products, you know who to call! ;o) I stay BUSY homeschooling and doing everyday 'mommy' things!

We have had more people interested in buying our place but it fell thru again! We just keep telling ourselves that it will sell in God's timing, not ours! We are getting more excited as we prepare to go on our TLC trip to Haiti! We are working on putting together our team and asking God to direct us to the right ones. Getting our passports is our next step. Please pray that it will go smoothly...thanks! Enjoy the pics!

Caleb found a new friend when we went to the Bus

convention. Her name is Kalena and her mommy
went to college with Danny. Kalena is 8 months old.

Caleb was quite taken with the little beauty!

Are'nt they sweet and adorable?!

Caleb LOVES to play with Becca's keyboard!

He will sit for a long time and just push the keys

and listen to their sounds.....a budding musician?!

Hamming it up in his highchair!

Snugglin' with Ben and Becca.

Abby giving Caleb a 'music lesson'! LOL!

Caleb's first taste of a popsicle...he was not impressed!

Abby grins while doing a Barbie puzzle...

Our 2 handsome sons! I love this picture!

Sitting sweet!

Still alive...!

2009-02-21T13:22:00.002-08:00

It has been quite a while since my last post so I thought I had better say a few words to let everyone know that we are still alive!;o)

We enjoyed 3 days at the Bus Convention. It was refreshing to get into some good sessions with very interesting speakers and spirit-filled services. And it is always fun to chat with old and new friends! We have been busy getting our required amount of schoolwork done since our 9 weeks for this semester ends this Friday. Becca is recovering from a sinus infection and Ben and Abby have been running fevers and feeling really miserable too. My parents basement flooded last Sunday and we were there helping them bail out water and carry out furniture and etc. We think the kids may have caught something from being in the flood water? My mom was sick as well, so we think it messed up their allergies or something. I feel so bad for them as they are all feeling miserable and look awful. Hopefully they will feel better soon.

In other news, we have shown our place twice this week and are waiting to hear back from one couple who are very interested in buying. We will see.....

Danny is working on a new business venture and we are praying for success with it so it can help support us. God is so good! He has met everyone of our needs and we are so blessed! We are also very excited that God has lead us to sign up to lead a team for TLC (Touching Lives for Christ) to Haiti in June! We just recieved our packets and are getting ready to apply for passports and etc. We are needing to raise around $3000 for our family to go and we are trusting God to supply. Here are a few odds and ends pics.

Our boys chatting at play....

Storytime with sis......

Our 4 blessings. Uncle Charlie bought them

these cute t-shirts while we were in Pensacola!

Thanks, Uncle Charlie! They LOVE them!

Playing with mommy's diaperbag......

Cuties in our church nursery! L-R is Adilynn,

Emily, Caleb,Micheal and Nina.

As you can see, Caleb does not get enough to eat,

so he tried to eat his plate! LOL!

I love this pic of Caleb. He is 8 months now and

weighs around 16 lbs.

Just chillin' in daddy's chair!

A quick update...

2009-02-21T13:22:00.001-08:00

This is going to be a very short post just to let everyone know that we are still very much alive and BUSY!! Between homeschooling, Danny's college classes online and normal everyday cleaning I hardly have time to post. We are headed off to the Bus Convention near Indy for a few days and I have to finish packing. It seems that I just un-packed from Florida! That is okay, we love trips and we are looking forward to the training and services in the next few days.

We had the Quakenbushes over for a visit this weekend and had a lot of fun catching up and just being together. The kids played really well together. We have a bag full of felt, string, beads and googly eyes and they had a blast 'creating' stuff out of the odds-n-ends. They were hilarious and we had to take PICTURES (Greg!) of them!

Grinning while they are creating!

The finished result! TA-DA! ;o)

Sweet picture of the girls! They had so much fun playing

together!

The little boys are learning to play together too!

More pics from Pensacola, Florida

2009-02-21T13:22:00.000-08:00

Friday evening we were all treated out to Flounders restaurant on Pensacola Beach by Charlie and Jennifer! It was decorated with a nautical theme through-out and the food was delicious! I had Hawaiian stuffed flounder....Mmmm! My first time trying flounder and hopefully not my last!

The cool outside playground !

The kids LOVED it!

The kid's table...fish,pizza and popcorn shrimp

were there choices.

Charlie, Jeniffer and Lee are the only ones you

can see at the adult's table..the rest were hiding.

..maybe on purpose?! (G-ma Dunn!) ;o)

The yummy, HUGE kiwi-lime pie! We ordered

two and split them between us all!

Caleb enjoyed breadcrusts and sweet potatoes!

Becca, Ben, Abby and Sammy with the big shark!

Thank-you for treating us out, Charlie and Jennifer! We all enjoyed ourselves!

Ben's Birthday Party at G-pa and G-ma Dunn's house:

Time to party! Getting on their party gear..

Birthday treats!

The party animals are ready! LOL!

Ben's totally cool CARS cake!

The party animals with the cake...Ben was not too

thrilled to have the GIRLS in HIS picture! LOL!

Time for presents...

the little girls enjoying their cake!

the BIG girl also enjoyed her cake! Hmm, did

she get any in her belly!? LOL!

More pics later....;o)

We are back...

2009-02-17T07:04:00.000-08:00

....in FREEZING, cold Indiana! And we are all more than ready to go back to Florida! LOL! Seriously, I am sitting here in layered clothing and wondering when the heat will kick back on! Brrr! We left south Florida Wed. morning and drove around 9 hours to the panhandle of Florida called Pensacola. We were able to stay with our family there and see more family that came down from South Carolina as well! We all enjoyed visiting with everyone! I have lots of pics but do not have them downloaded yet! While we were gone, Benjamin turned 7 on the 14th! He is our Valentine's surprise baby! He was a month early when I went into labor after being on bedrest for 9 weeks! Ben was also breech and my dr. had to do an emergency c-section at 11:30 Valentine's night! So we call him our Valentine's surprise! Since we were at G-pa and G-ma Dunn's, he got a family birthday party with them, us and his cousin, Sammy. He recieved a Cars cake and chose barbecued chicken, corn casserole, mac-n-cheese, and spinach for his birthday dinner! G-ma Dunn was so sweet to fix it all for us and it was delicious! Thanks G-ma! Ben and the other kids had fun eating cake and playing together. And he also enjoyed his presents of $$ from Uncle Charlie and Aunt Jennifer and Cars toys from G-pa and G-ma Dunn. He recieved more $$ from Great G-pa George and Great-G-ma Irene and spent that earlier on Hot Wheels! We really enjoyed seeing everyone and want to say a BIG Thank-you for everything! We love you all!

Last night we went to G-pa and G-ma Hirschy's house for another birthday party! The menu was Chicken Cacciatore, noodles, cheesy potatoe casserole, fresh veggie plate with salad and DQ icecream birthday cake! Another yummy meal! G-ma had the table decorated and streamers put up and Ben was so anxious to open his presents! Uncle Mark and Aunt Rachel were there and we enjoyed visiting with them too! They bought Ben a cool remote-controlled truck that he loves! He is playing with it right now on his break! Ben got more $$, a CARS t-shirt that lights up, a fun toyset for the bathtub and some bead toys from the girls. Another fun party with family!

We really enjoyed our last 2 weeks in sunny, warm Florida! We are still planning on moving to South Florida as soon as God sells our place! We have had some more people interested and are hoping to be able to show it soon! Going to Florida confirmed to Danny and I that we are going the way that God is leading and we must wait on His perfect timing! God showed and revealed exciting things to us concerning our future and we want to be His willing servants to help build His kingdom!

Becca made some good frends at camp. Tenae,

Grace and Kaitlynn.

Ben made friends with Esteben Lopez, but his family left

before I could get pics of the two of the them!( Cindy, if you are reading this, we really enjoyed meeting your family! Wish I would have thought to get pics! Hope to see you again! We will be praying for you as you pray about pastoring in Mexico...)

Our kids in the Hobe Sound cafeteria. This

table and chair set made to look like pencils

was so cute!

Becca and Tanae saying goodbye! They had a lot of fun together!

Pensacola Pictures:

Visiting with great g-parents, George and Irene

Doing schoolwork in G-pa and G-ma Dunn's

dining room.

Abby and G-pa snuggled and watched movies.

Cousin's playdough party.....

Sammy is a cutiepie!

More pics later......

Loving South Florida!

2009-02-08T13:19:00.000-08:00

The sunshine has came out of hiding and the temperature is warming up even to the point of being HOT! It is beautiful here and we are all enjoying everything from meeting new people, delicious food in the cafeteria and Spirit-filled services! We went down to the beach yesterday and took some great pics. The kids enjoyed playing in the sand and Caleb got his first taste of the beach-literally! No sooner had we sat him down and his sand-filled fist was in his mouth! Caleb has also chosen to say his first word and I am PROUD to say that it is "Ma-Ma"!! It is so sweet and now daddy is working on teaching him "Da-Da"! LOL!! He turned 7 months today and we took some really cute pics that I will post.

Becca, Ben and Abby have all made new friends and are enjoying the Children's services taught by Sis. Black. We are all enjoying this relaxing, fun time! Now for the pics.....

Ben and Becca grin from the backseat of

our stuffed-to-the-gills van!

Caleb let us know his distress after a long stretch of

driving! (We found out later that he had filled

his diaper!) Poor guy!

We stopped at a restaurant called Davy Crocket's

in Tennessee. They had kids meals for FREE!

Caleb got his first taste of a french fry! He loved it!

Even on the road school work must be done-

much to our kids disgust!

Ben made this poster come to life at the Florida

Welcome Center! He is our family comedian!

We FINALLY make it to FLORIDA after hours

of driving ! Abby did not think we would ever make it!

We enjoyed an all-you-can-eat special at Big Apple

pizza here at Hobe Sound. You can see the pizza

was huge slices and very good!

The kids getting ready to go down and see the

Blowing Rocks.

Danny and the kids in front of the beautiful ocean.

It was very choppy when we there there!

Me and the kids........

Caleb modeling his new cute hat that I found at

the great Thrift Shop here for .25 !

Becca found a soft, squishy pillow for .25 also

and Caleb LOVES it!

Sweet pic of our 4 stinkers!

Abby in the courtyard beside the water fountain.

It is very pretty! She had a flower in her hair

that she picked growing by the building we are

staying in.

Caleb being introduced to his first beach experience!

Our kids with Kaelynn and Rebecca Himelick.

They have enjoyed playing with them this week!

And we have enjoyed visiting with their parents

Eric and Rachelle. We are all Hoosiers!

Our sweet 7 month old!

Sampling a new biter biscuit that our Walmart

does not carry in IN. He approved.....MMMmm!

Please pray for us as we are checking out job and housing opportunities while we here that God will lead us to what He has in mind for our family! We are definitely ready to become Floridians!

Just a matter of time!

We made it...

2009-02-05T19:08:00.000-08:00

...and it is COLD here!! Go figure!! The sun feels great but the wind is chilly! We came to Florida for various reasons and one of my personal ones was to get WARM! Ha! The locals are saying that it is supposed to warm up next week so hopefully we will get to enjoy a little warmth and sunshine before we leave! Even though it is cold, we are enjoying our stay here. We are staying in the old HIM office building and our room is nice-sized for our family and has 2 desks so the kids can do their schoolwork. Yes, I am being a mean mom and making them do schoolwork on vacation! I have cut down their goals a little bit so they are not working as hard as usual! LOL!
We took a little bit of a fieldtrip and drove over to Jupiter Beach and went to Blowing Rocks today. It was very windy so we did not stay too long but we enjoyed seeing the water blow up out of the rocks when the waves came in and took lots of pictures. I will try to post them once we get an adapter for the camera.
Until later......Liz :o)

Greetings from Georgia!

2009-02-03T20:24:00.000-08:00

Yes, you read the title correctly, we are in Georgia! God worked it out for our family to travel to Hobe Sound, Fl. for the Sea Breeze Camp! We have been traveling all day since 7 this morning and what a day it has been! When we went thru Indianappolis,IN we drove thru a MAJOR snow storm! I am talking icy roads, heavy snow and wrecked vehicles on all sides of us! God has had His protecting hand upon us today as we later found out that the very interstate that we were traveling on had a 35 CAR PILE-UP right after we got off an exit to use the bathroom! My poor hubby has drove thru NASTY weather today and with his driving expertise and God's help, we have made it to Georgia! We have another day's drive ahead of us tomorrow and would appreciate your prayers if God brings us to your mind! Thanks! We are borrowing a laptop so I plan to blog thru out our stay in sunny, WARM Florida! After all the cold, freezing snow and ice we are ready to enjoy sunshine and 60-80 degree weather and visit the beach and the ocean! Yay!
I may have pics later this week......
For all of you that live in IN, see what you can do to get rid of all the snow and ice so when we come back we won't have to get used to COLD weather again! LOL!!! More later....

Danny turns 35 and we have a snowday!

2009-01-30T18:56:00.000-08:00

Jan. 28th was Danny's 35th birthday! We also recieved around 8 inches of snow the night before so we had a short school day. The kids enjoyed hanging with daddy and playing video games and just spending time together. I have a Pampered Chef recipe for cream puffs that Danny loves and requests for every birthday and so I made him a plate full and we all enjoyed them! Danny also took the kids to the local park for some sledding and then they came home and had mugs of hot chocolate with peppermint sticks and marshmallows! Ahhh, the fun times of winter and snow! I stayed at home and napped with Caleb while they had fun sledding. Personally I think I had a better time! LOL!! I really enjoyed the QUIET!! ;o)

The van wreck ended up being a blessing in disguise! Our insurance pronounced the van totaled and paid us for the damage, we were able to turn around and 'buy' it back for a LOW price! Danny ordered the parts needed to fix it on E-bay and we will have a good as new van as soon as he can get it fixed. So in an odd sort of way, God provided for our needs once again! SMILE!!

Caleb has learned to inch-crawl on his belly and it is so cute to watch him go all over the floor! He loves teething biscuits and does quite well with them. He is learning to cheese for the camera as well....;o)

"All for me!"

My sweetheart with his birthday treats.

Happy 35th!

Ben made a birthday hat for daddy!

He may have gotten the size wrong!? lol!

Our van was covered with snow!

Our porch had several inches right up to the door!

Becca was thrilled! Crazy girl!

Coming down the big hill at the park. Wheee!

Here comes Ben......

Abby takes on the hill....backwards!

Caleb was enjoying his teething biscuit and when

he saw me get out the camera he posed so cute!

Caleb was standing by himself with

Becca barely supporting him! Love this pic!

My baby is getting so BIG!

More Museum Pics

2009-01-25T12:34:00.001-08:00

Here we are entering the Garden of Eden...

Becca remarked that even though it was very pretty

that the REAL Garden of Eden must have been beautiful!

Adam naming the animals...

My favorite display! Adam and Eve had their own

hottub! How romantic!

The replica of Noah's Ark was amazing!

Becca climbing the walls of Noah's Ark trying to get in..!

This model showed how big the levels were

on the ark. Very cool!

In front of the big dinosaur in the front of the museum.

Inside the Entertrainment Museum...

Ben really enjoyed the many trains!

Abby was in her own little world with the

Thomas the Train play area!

Caleb liked the bright-colored Thomas table!

Choo-choo!

Caleb chillin' back at our motel. He will be crawling

soon!

Watch out for that ....deer!??!

2009-01-24T12:22:00.000-08:00

No doubt that my title got your attention! Life has been very busy around here and we seem to have one thing after another going on! Last week our dryer kicked the bucket and when you have 6 people that you are doing laundry for that is NOT a good thing! God helped us to get a really good deal on a rental unit. Whirlpool frontloader washer and dryer..my DREAM washing machine and dryer! We actually are getting a few weeks free rental due to a deal the store has running right now! Besides the fact that Danny is out of work and not having success in finding a job, I wrecked and possibly totaled our van last night! I was driving along and all of the sudden right in front of my headlight was a deer! I slammed on the brakes and the deer went flying! Amazingly, my airbag did not deploy and Caleb nor I were injured..thank God! Our van did not fare so well! The whole front end is damaged and the headlight is gone. When I hit the deer, it was on a lone road with not much traffic and it was dark outside and I did not have our cell phone with me. Since I had no way to call and report it and the van was still running, I drove back to where I came from and got Danny. Our church hosted a Missions Benefit Dinner and Concert to raise money for hurricane relief for the Turks & Caicos Islands where Danny went in Sept. We are thankful that God helped us raise a decent amount. Danny was helping clean up when I drove back with the news and my headlight literally hanging from the side of the van! We called the Ins. company and they are in the process of reporting it and getting us a rental while the damage is looked at. Sadly, because of it being the week-end, the rental company is not open, so we have to wait until Monday. We will let you know how this story plays out...

One good, fun thing that happened is that my parents treated us to a fun fieldtrip to the Creation Museum in Kentucky! We left Sunday afternoon and checked into our motel suite and then we visited the Frankfort Bible Methodist Church for their Sunday evening service. We enjoyed our time there and appreciated how welcoming and friendly the people were to us. And it was fun to chat with fellow bloggers ;o) Then we hit the museum at 9 the next morning. It was awesome to see and hear the Gospel message so clearly presented! We really enjoyed the replica of Noah's ark and the Garden of Eden. Very well done! We expected to be there all day and were surprised to finish touring at 1 in the afternoon. We did miss a lot of the outdoor stuff because of it being too cold so that cut our time down considerably. We then visited a Train Museum that had the World's largest indoor train track! Very cool! They had small replicas of towns and countryside as well as bridges over water and almost anything else you can think of! The kids loved it and they had an observation deck so you could go above it and see the whole thing which was HUGE! They also had an entire indoor play area that featured Thomas the Train playsets and big toy trains to climb on as well as a jungle gymn area! This was a BIG hit with the kids as well! The next day we visited Jungle Jim's grocery store. A HUGE market that sells almost anything you can think of food-wise. They had it decorated really cute but did not allow any pics to be taken, so you will just have to visit it for yourself! We found raw peanuts and fresh collard greens to buy. We made boiled peanuts and had cooked collards for our supper one night this week! Mmmm! Two southern dishes that we all LOVE! It is hard to find raw peanuts and fresh collards around here.

Caleb also finally had his 6 month check-up and he is doing well. He weighs around 14 lbs and is 26 inches tall. He had to get his shots and was quite cranky the day after but doing good now. Well, I think that is all our news for now...;o) Here come the pics!

Our wrecked and possibly totaled van.

Patiently waiting while the tickets were being bought.

They were soo excited!

Checking out the display in the main room.

Becca with one of the many cool dinosaurs!

I will post more pics later..Danny needs the computer for his schoolwork.;o)