10-6-10 Happy Birthday Jesse

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Jovial

Enthusiastic

Smart

Special

Excellent big brother

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Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him… (Ephesians 1:15-17)

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Jesse, your humor, wit, and laughter are such a blessing to us. You’re such a fine fun young adult to be around, and we’re so thankful God put you in our family. We pray that you’ll continue to look to Him to lead you in life choices as you grow in your Christian walk. We love you very  much. God bless you always!

Another beautiful day – sunny, mild, cool. Routine school, with Jesse finishing around noon and then hauling manure for Uncle Randy. Levi did school early before going to Precision for the day. The rest of us did school and baking jobs; Tori made bread as well as caramel rolls to go with Jesse’s birthday chili for supper. Yummmm.  After lunch and meetings, I played with Joshua and Jewel outside – I do that far too seldom and enjoyed it oh so much. When Joshua napped, I took a walk, did emails and ordered photo prints online, and then read to kids for awhile after chores. Jacob, Kate, and Ben were on bikes a lot, and I think I saw them working on a bike jump in the shop; evidently they didn’t get it done before chores because it hasn’t made its debut yet. Which is fine with me. Seems like every time one of these things appears, somebody crashes… “Oh, but it’s fun, Mom.” Whatever. It was good to have everyone here for Jesse’s birthday supper of chili, caramel rolls, and apple salad; after all that, he (and we) was too full for his birthday apple pie. Dad and I walked afterwards. Home for Bibletime (Proverbs 20) and some free time; Jesse was still too full for his pie. So we sang Happy Birthday to him anyway, he opened his card/gift, and that’s about it for his birthday celebration. Beds soon because the boys milk in the morning, and I was wiped out tired too. A good day, but busy.

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Remember these pictures?

Well…

What can I say but “blessed be the Lord who hath daily loadeth us with benefits”?  (Psalm 68:19) We serve an awesome God! A note on the grape juice – it’s from Aunt Marcia. Our grapes didn’t do anything; birds found the 2 bunches that were out there. Maybe next year they’ll do better.

This is the very last of the honey straining and the final harvest for the year.

We think this is a 6 gallon bucket because it’s some taller than a 5 gallon, but we’re not entirely sure.

Total yield: 17 or 18 gallons, depending on the size of the bucket. We’re very pleased and thankful for that; it’ll last us for 2 years. Ideally we like to have 2 years on hand in case next year’s hives die, which is a very real possibility; with all the chemicals sprayed on fields bees have a rough go of it. Every year since we’ve started this project (4?), we’ve lost at least one hive due to one thing or other.

These cappings will be taken to the hives so the bees can clean them up good before I melt the wax.

 

More watermelon! And there are about 4 more this size out there still growing – not huge like earlier in the season, but seeing that it’s October and they’re still really sweet, that’s ok. There are still LOTS of tomatoes and peppers coming too for which I’m very thankful.

I’ve wanted to get this picture for several weeks now – it’s so neat with the kids silhouetted against the sunset while Dad and I walk. My camera just couldn’t get any better than this, and I didn’t want to take the time to adjust settings and improve it. I think it’s neat nonetheless. l-r is Tori, Jacob, Ben, Kate. I think my shutter speed was too slow, hence the fuzzy, but it had to be slow to allow more light in. So I maybe should have set the speed manually a bit faster and the aperture would have adjusted better (?). Not sure. I haven’t had time lately to practice much; hopefully when garden is done I’ll pick it up again.

That’s all.