A Bastion Of Birthdays

December and January pour out a boatload of birthdays for time of celebration in our family! Each child is an arrow that fills our quiver and is a part of the strong fortress that we are building in this culture we live in. We count ourselves blessed to continue to be encircled with so many spirited young lives in our household!

A few days before Christmas, Halayah celebrated her seventeenth birthday!  It is phenomenal to think that she can already be that age.  She is growing into an exemplary young lady with masses of potential and excitement and a zest for life.  She is a talented girl with an intense love for the Lord.  Her kind heart is such an element of her strength!

Next came Christmas with our celebration of the gift of the Christ-child with family gatherings and gift giving. We had a blessed time crowding together in our modest home and renewing our family bonds.  We always enjoy our time together in the loud merriment of the moment.

January first brought in the New Year, quickly followed by Unique’s eleventh birthday!  She is growing up so quickly!  It is hard to imagine that she was only months old when she came into the family!  

She is full of spunk and enthusiasm for each new occasion that comes her way.  She is maturing into a little lady, yet she still finds it appealing to dash into sundry diversions with her older brothers.

Less than a week later, Isaac celebrated his twelfth birthday!  For a whole week, he and Unique are the same age, and she doesn’t let him forget it!  You can see that he is becoming a young man. 

His lively zealous antics are slightly beginning to become tempered as he ponders bigger life enterprises. He has a heart full of love and his compassionate side is endearing.  He continues to live up to his name Isaac as he frequently provides some amusing diversion.

Later in January, you can find Jonah counting down the days until his birthday.  He turned fifteen this year.  Again, it’s hard to believe that he can have arrived at this milestone.  He continues to be curious about any sort of fauna in God’s wide creation.  

He always has in his possession some sort of critter in a container for observation.  When he flashes his engaging smile, you can’t help but return in kind.  Quiet and reserved, he is a man of few words, but his love for the Lord is evident.

Bastion. . . the word usually brings to mind a projecting part of a fortification built at an angle to the line of a wall, so as to allow defensive fire in several directions.  

Its second definition is more fitting in speaking of our family birthdays- an institution, place, or person strongly defending or upholding particular principles, attitudes, or activities.  That is how I see our family.  The maturation that birthdays bring, just weaves a little tighter the defense, the principles, the attitudes and the activities that Mark and I through the grace of God, are attempting to continue molding into our family.  May God continue to give the increase! Happy Birthday everyone!

Designed To Dart

Last fall, we boys all went down to the creek to catch some fish for our fish tank. When we arrived at the creek, we saw a small school swimming in a deep pool of water. We took our nets and tried to catch the fish, but they were too fast. After several failed attempts, we decided to move upstream.

We had not gone far when we saw a colorful creature sitting in the bottom of a small cove! We had never seen this kind of fish before in the creek and thought it would be perfect for our fish tank. We took our nets and attempted to catch the pretty fish, but when the net got close, it darted away. We tried and tried, but it was no use. We could not get the net close enough to seize it. We tried all morning but had no luck.

Not many days later, Jonah came up from the creek with a container filled with water, and in the water was the colorful fish! We were so excited that he had caught the fish, because we could now show it to Mom. After she saw it, we looked it up and saw that it was an Iowa Darter!

Etheostoma exile, the Iowa Darter, can grow up to three inches long and spends most of its time hopping along the creek bottoms looking for food. They eat Mayfly larva and other small water bugs. Iowa Darters rarely swim, but when they do, they move super-fast, giving them the name Darter. To get around, the Iowa Darter hops around on their front fins! This is because they don’t have an air bladder like other fish. It is strange to see a fish hop around. You can tell male and female Iowa Darters apart because the males are colorful, and the females are grey.

It is amazing to think how many kinds of fish there are. Genesis 1:20 says, “Then God said, let the waters teem with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the heavens. God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, with which the water swarmed after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind; and God saw that it was good.”

I am so glad God saw that it was good. If He did not think it was good, it would not be here. But since God saw that it was good, we can look at his creation and see for ourselves that it is incredibly good.

~Samuel

A Tank Full Of Fun

In October before it got cold, I asked Mom and Dad if we could bring one of the aquariums from Critter Corner inside to put lizards in over winter, and they said yes! I filled the tank up with dirt and planted some grass in it. When I got that done, I brought the tank inside and put it on top of the pie safe cabinet.

Then I went out to look for some lizards and crickets. I found lots of crickets, but no lizards. I kept looking and looking for lizards, but I found none. I looked under a big log and found a salamander, but still no lizards. I caught the salamander and put it in the tank, and I put the crickets in it too.

That same week, Samuel and I found two more salamanders and put them in the tank. We still had no lizards, and it was getting colder outside. We now have in the tank, lots of crickets, snails, a wolf spider and three salamanders.

Every week, we feed the salamanders meal worms. It is fun to watch the salamanders eat. We also feed the snails and crickets little pieces of carrot and lettuce. Sometimes we give them a little piece of fruit. Every day, we pour a little water in the aquarium to keep the plants watered and so the salamanders can stay moist.

We never found any lizards, but I am still glad we brought the tank inside. The salamanders are happy, the crickets have laid eggs, the spider is fun to watch, and there are little baby snails everywhere. It has been fun watching the creatures throughout the cold months of winter.

~Jonah

Pieces Of Seed

When it gets toward wintertime, we start putting birdseed in the feeders. There’s not much food in the cold weather. The birds are happy to get something to eat.

When it is my turn to do the porch chores, I get to fill the bird feeders. We have two large bird feeders. One is in between the house and the driveway, and the other is near the back porch.

Every day that I walk outside to do the feeding, I look at the bird feeder and I see a lot of birds there. I see cardinal birds, blue jays, chickadees, downy woodpeckers, and various other birds. Juncos like to eat the seed that falls on the ground.

Usually, Karina our cat is sitting beside the bird feeder waiting to catch a bird, but I scare her away from it. We don’t want her to get them.

I love watching the birds come and go as they get pieces of seed. I am glad that God created birds.

~Isaac

Fun With Snow!

A few days ago, I woke up to a big surprise! It had snowed a lot during the night.  The flakes were still falling as I did my chores. It looked wonderful falling down to the earth.  The ground was covered with a white blanket.

When I was finished with my chores, I put on several layers of clothes, and I was finally ready to play in the white snow! I grabbed my sled as fast as I could and took it to Minikin Rill where there was a perfect trail.  My sled and I went rapidly down the long hill.  It was great, but I finally got cold.

 After I was finished, I went inside to warm up by the wood stove.  It was toasty and felt swell. After I was all warmed up, Mom told us, “If you go fill a cup up with snow, I’ll make you snow cones.’’  We all ran out the door to fill our cups. Everyone heaped their cups high with snow. The ice crystals were very cold. When we went back inside, Mama put flavoring on the snow cones.  The flavor she had made was watermelon. It was fantastic! We enjoyed every bit.  They were so delicious!

Later, I peeked out the window and saw that the snow was melting a little bit, so I went out and took a sled and went down the hill repeatedly.  I had a lot of fun.  Once, I fell in the white blanket and got snow down my back. I got cold again. When I came back inside, I warmed up and sipped some delightful hot chocolate.  Mmm, it was good!

The next day, the snow had disappeared, and was pretty much gone.  But, there was just enough to have a snowball fight. We all had fun in the snow.

For he saith to the snow, Be thou on the earth; Job 37:6  

                                          ~Unique

Christmas 2021

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care and the rest of our home was decorated with lights and other traditional decorations in anticipation of Christmas day! A beautiful cedar tree was spotted on our farm and was brought in to add to the beauty. Our home was transformed into a wonderful Christmas wonderland.

As Christ was a great gift given to us, we continue in that spirit of giving, sharing with one another presents, food, and words of encouragement. Gifts were shared amongst the family still living at home on Christmas Eve along with excellent food and fun. “Santa” then came, as we prepared to open more gifts on Christmas morning. Everyone was excited as they inched downstairs for the traditional stairs picture.

Stockings, gifts, and holiday food were shared throughout the morning as joy and excitement abounded. The day being unusually warm allowed us to take a walk over to Trey and Clair’s house, surprising them with carols and adding to the celebratory day.

“I’ll be home for Christmas,” would have been a better name for New Year’s Eve this year, as the rest of the family began their trek home for the holidays. By New Year’s Day, everyone had made it home. 

At one point, there were twenty-eight here in all. Family fun filled the air with everyone playing games, opening gifts, enjoying tasty food, and simply having an enjoyable time together.

We look forward to what 2022 will bring for our family, and we wish everyone a happy new year!

~Mark