Thinking about starting a quilt. Seems like a big undertaking. Also waiting for Aaron and Shannon to have baby. The waiting game is hard. I know Shannon is ready to go. Just praying everything goes well and its not a difficuly delivery. Can't wait to meet the new little one and see if it is a girl or a boy. One of my favorite things to do is to hold newborn babies, what a miracle each little life is. What joy they each bring. Waiting for all the kids to come for supper.

Happy Birthday Sarah

we celebrated our youngest grand daughter's first birthday on Sunday, her birthday was March 13. She is such a delight, Halee, Gabriela, Rachel, and Jada dressed her up like a princess. She has a septer and a purse if you look closely,Oh yes and of course a crown, You can't be a princess if you don't have a crown, We love them all so much. Happy birthday Sarah.

Ready for Spring

I have to admit that I am ready for spring, I'm ready to see some green and new life on this earth. I enjoy winter because of its beauty with the sparkling frost and white snow but enough already. It is snowing out again and I've already cleaned off the garage approach twice today and it's still snowing out there, Jack had to go to Ft, Wayne today for a test and every time he has a meeting or schooling It has snowed so the roads are slippery,. I just have to give him over to God and trust that He will keep him safe. Shannon and Aaron are in Ohio today they were supposed to get 9 inches of snow, again trust is the issue Sometimes it is hard to let go and let God be in control. Even though I realize that He has total control of each life Its not always easy to not worry, So today I need to let go and let God have total control and trust that He has my best interest at heart. So for a few more days or weeks I will enjoy the snow, at least the beauty of it., Trust in the Lord with my whole heart, lean not on my own understanding in all my ways acknowledge Him and he will keep my path straight. Here is that verse again.

January

Proverbs 3:4&5 Trust in the Lord with your whole heart, lean not on your own understanding in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your path straight. This seems like a great verse to start the year with. When I look at the world today it makes me glad that I can trust in God and know He is in control of all things and that He will guide me in all things if I but trust Him, The sun is shining and reflecting off the white snow It reminds me of just how brilliant God's ways are and how He will see me through all things.

Christmas memories of 2009 in 2010

Its always great that Mom can join us on Christmas.

Our littlest angel isn't she sweet...............Sarah

Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus.... played by Caleb, Gabriela, and Reuben

Great fun playing in a box, which also served as a manger backdrop didn't know a box could be so much fun..............................................................................................................

I sewed all the nightgowns and matching Jammie's for the dollies they received these the night before so they could all slumber together.

fun with laser guns they all received the night before the boys had a great time playing laser tag together........................

We always have our Christmas on New years so the Kids can attend the in laws side on Christmas, They told me when they got married that if I had it on New Years they would always be here and it has worked out very well for us. They all come and spend the night and we play games and then we open presents the next morning after breakfast,.This year they surprised us with a plasma TV. We have the most special children in the world, we are extremely blessed with all six of them. Not because of the gift but because of who they are and that they each have a personal relationship with Jesus and their walk with Him. The Grand kids dress up and act out the Christmas story each year we have done this since they were very small. This year we had a Happy Birthday Jesus cake where we sang happy birthday and then enjoyed the Ice cream cake.It is such a blessing to have them all together.

Ready to Go, Covered Bridge Festival...

This is the Bridgeton Bridge, and mill where we will be.

just another bridge in park county, there are many...........................

We will be going to help Shawn and Megan at the Covered Bridge Festival in Parke County, Its always lots of work and lots of fun. Hopefully we will not have any major mishaps on our travels down and back and we are praying for nice weather,. When it gets to cold its really hard to keep the campers toasty warm. One year our water lines even froze, we hope this year that doesn't happen. We will miss everything going on back here, Keep us in your prayers and we will keep you in our prayers. Have a wonderful day. Going to start packing camper. Hoping we have enough clothes, that's the hard part. Coats, shorts, you just never know? We will be in Bridgeton here is a picture of where we will be its really pretty, but you have no cell service its like in the middle of no where,

Where is Grandpa!.....

Pa hugs are the very best!!!!!!!

Does anyone tell stories as well as Pa?

Oh where did Grandpa Go?

Shad says Where is grandpa, are you in there?

We had Shawn and Megans kids spend the night one day last week and they always have fun with Grandpa, they were getting ready to watch a movie and they had all the pillows out so they could lay on the floor and get comfortable. Well you guessed it all of a sudden Grandpa disappeared, under the pile of pillows. We had a good time with them. They thought this was great fun! A picture of Ezekiel and Titus with Pa! When we have Shannon and Aarons kids the boys always like to have squeeze hugs from Pa! . They are all blessings and we love them each very much. What would Pa do without that big recliner that can fit many kids at one time.

VACATION 2009

HIDING OUT IN A CAVE

CAN YOU BELIEVE WE ACTUALLY HIKED THIS.

YEP EVEN THE LITTLE GUYS ENJOYED HIKING! WHAT FUN! THEY ARE ALREADY
ASKING IF THEY CAN DO IT AGAIN NEXT YEAR,

SORRY THIS IS BLURRY BUT OFF WE GO!

THIS IS LATE IN PUBLISHING, BUT WE HAD A GREAT TIME ON VACATION REALLY NICE WEATHER AND LOTS OF HIKING AND FUN WITH KIDS AND GRAND KIDS. THE GRAND KIDS HAD A GREAT TIME HIKING WE HAD TROUBLE KEEPING UP WITH THEM BUT ON DAY ONE SHAWN TOOK US ON A REALLY RUGGED TRAIL THAT WAS HOW IT WAS LABELED ANYWAYS AND WE AGREED THAT IT WAS A RUGGED TRAIL, JACK AND JADA STAYED IN THE PICNIC AREA AND OFF WE WENT THE KIDS KEPT RUNNING AHEAD BUT AT THE END EVEN THEY WERE JUST WALKING AND NOT RUNNING AHEAD AND CLIMBING UP EVERY CLIFF AND BELIEVE IT OR NOT THERE WERE QUITE A FEW CLIFFS AND STREAMS WE HIKED OVER THROUGH UP AND DOWN WE LOVE SPENDING VACATIONS TOGETHER AND SHARING AND FELLOWSHIPPING WITH EACH OTHER AND THE RACOONS!

Vacation

Keep us in your prayers as we are going on vacation as a family, We have a wonderful time together . We all really need a vacation between Aarons mom, Jerry, two new babies and the loss of Jacks dad plus mom breaking her shoulder this year we are all feeling like we need a break. Hope to have some pictures to share and some family memories to share with everyone so see you in a week. This is the first time mom hasn't gone with us in about 5 or 6 years, We will miss her. Also keep Aarons mom in your prayers as she isn't getting better like we would like. Thanks to everyone for all the prayers,

Beautiful Grand children

Reuban and Sarah our youngest babies

Malachi, Halee, Micah and Shadrach

Caleb, Josiah, Rachel, Jada, and Sarah belongs here!

Gabriela, Ezekiel, Titus, and Reuben belongs here!

God has indeed blessed us with thirteen beautiful grandchildren. He has been so very gracious to us. In Psalms 127:3 It says; Children are a heritage from the Lord,children a reward from Him. This is so true, each one a blessing and each one so very different. I love the hugs and greetings we get from each one and watching the excitement as they do new and different things. What a delight they are. My prayer for each of them is to know the Savior personally and to serve Him in all they say and do, A few pictures of the darlings.

Some funny prizes, right Josiah and Halee

Having fun playing one of the games! Looks like fun don't you think...........

This is where it all begins Mom and us six kids Wow did we do this!

The wonderful baby-sitter,

Mom and a lot of her great grand kids not every one is pictured because it was nap time for some, plus a few are missing.

Thought I'd try to catch up a little its been very busy here! This is the first week that I haven't had Shannon and Aarons kids for three weeks, So I caught up on mowing lawn and went shopping with my mom on Tuesday, in Shipshewana it was a very nice day, We haven't been together since Jerry became ill because she was at the hospital every day, It was nice we just enjoyed the day without too much stress. We had a great time at our Christmas in July week-end. Mom counted and said there were 79 of us there all together, I love having it in the summer since we aren't able to fit in one house anymore, The kids have a great time playing and getting to know their extended cousins. It was a little laid back this year since Jerry had been so ill and all and we were greatly surprised to have him join us since he got out of the hospital on the Friday of the week-end. He looks great and just needs to regain his strength back. My brother George has a train that he made that he gives the kids rides in they love it and it keeps them out of lots of trouble, thanks George. Vickie and Trudy worked hard to have games for all the little kids. They love this and look forward to it every year, Thanks Girls you did a great job. Here are a few pictures, Keep praying for Lenore, Aarons mom She is doing a little bit better they put a trachea in yesterday and she is holding her own. Looks like a good time had by all,

Three Stitches on the outside two on the inside. Five stitches in all

Just a little blood on his shirt, He really did a great job , all bandaged up

Its been to say the least a crazy month. My brother Jerry has been in the hospital for 3 weeks now, He finally turned the corner last Wednesday and it out of ICU He just need to regain his strength. After 2 weeks on a ventilator and not knowing from day to day if he was going to make it, It all started from a gall bladder infection that went into his blood stream. The second week that Jerry was in the hospital Aarons mom came down with a bladder infection that went into her blood stream She is still very critical and on a ventilator its day by day. So please keep praying. I've been watching the kids while they are in Dayton, Ohio. They called yesterday and needed to get back to the hospital. So we rushed down to pick up the kids., Caleb is going to camp this week along with Malachi and Halee. We were supposed to have Sunday evening service at our house, But due to circumstances it was cancelled. So since I had all the food prepared We called Shawn and Megan and Genesa and Mark and asked them over to help eat the food and keep the kids occupied. Well every thing was going OK until Caleb swung some plastic toy around and it came apart and hit Josiah above the eye, and split it open. So off to the emergency room we went and had 5 stitches put in his eyebrow, He was a real trooper never even cried when the numbed or stitched the Dr. and nurses were all really impressed with him, Here are a few pictures Hope Shannon and Aaron check out the blog, We only pray that we can simmer down and not have quite so much excitement around here, Nanny and Paw are really getting tired and its not much fun seeing a grandchild go through all of that. Let alone seeing your kids going through everything with Lenore. We know everything is in Gods hands and He will take care of everything We can trust and re lie on Him, Have a great day and keep Praying,

Ready to eat! yea the burgers and hot dogs are being grilled,. It was a beautiful day for the
fire works. Believe it or not we didn't even have a lot of mosquitoes.

Here are the troops at least 11 of the 13 grand kids Josiah had just gotten his leg scraped and wasn't too happy. That didn't last to long the grand kids had a great time and enjoyed the food and the evening together they even had time to make a club house in the fence row. Hope they don't all get poison ivy, it seems we have a bumper crop this year.,

This is what it looked like before everyone arrived. We did have a good time and no one was hurt setting off the fire works,. God has been very gracious to us and blessed us with so much. We continue to keep Jerry in our prayers he is still very critical. All we can do is pray and place him in Gods hands., Hope everyone had a wonderful 4Th of July and remembered to pray for our country because we really need it. We are planing to go to the hospital to see Jerry in a little while, So I will try to keep every one posted,. Until later have a wonderful and blessed day,.

Busy time

Bench that turns into a picnic table

Pretty princess in newly painted chair

Sunshine yellow and Pretty Blue

I've not had time to blog lately. First of all we went camping with all the kids and grand kids a week ago and I took some really cool pictures of the grand kids. Then my camera went belly up and I couldn't get the pictures off the memory stick and had to buy a new one, Then we always have the 4Th of July Gaff family picnic with fireworks at dark. So that means spring cleaning I got my upstairs walls washed and windows cleaned and cupboards cleaned. I still need to do the down stairs which I will hopefully get done next week. I've painted some of the outdoor furniture to spruce things up a little bit., Here are a few pictures. Then of course there's the gardening and weeding that needs done almost daily with all the rain, Oh well at least the house looks a little bit cleaner. Today Jack and I trimmed our Maple Trees that almost knock us off the mower when we mow and I did some weed eating that needed done, It seems alot harder to get everything done than it use to,. I just need to praise the Lord that we are able to do all of these things, Also knotted a comfort for Jack's sister, I still need to finish the outside of that before the 4Th, It is a Beautiful day today with the bright Sunshine and no rain, The grand kids played outside last evening when everyone was here for supper, Several times we made them come in because it looked so black out but it didn't actually rain until everyone was leaving. It has been a very busy couple of weeks with the next two being equally busy, I'll try to do better,

Colors, God is so good!

Lovely pinks and reds

Love the rain drops on the leaves.

It has been a rainy rainy week, I did get the lawn mowed this is a big undertaking because we mow about 6 acres. I did get soaked and had to finish the next day because of lightening but it is finished,. I love the colors in the spring beautiful flowers, trees and grass all different shades of colors. When I look out my dining room window I see vivid reds and pinks and greens I love the different shades against the', OK gray sky sometimes blue. It makes me appreciate that God had such an eye for color and how I praise Him for that. Here are a couple of pictures off our back deck.,enjoy and have a wonderful day.

Colors, God is so good!

The Alians have landed

The Aliens have landed

Gabriela and Halee are ready

United we stand, we are ready to do battle for the Lord.,

May the force of Jesus be with you:

We can do all things through Christ who gives us strength,

While we were camping this last weekend I took some pictures of the grand kids. They are all really into Star Wars the boys all have laser's which they always play with. The girls are getting into it to although they would rather play poly pockets or barbies. It is such a blessing to see them all playing together. I praise the Lord for the healthy beautiful grand kids we have been blessed with. Each and every one of them are unique and special. When I wanted to take their pictures they had to pose with the laser's. Then Shadrach received the helmet that drives like a car and Shawn was trying to get it put together and all so I think he's the alien's.

The Alians have landed

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