Three Girls - Eighteen

It has been a quiet weekend because the girls have gone camping.  On Monday, Leah and Hannah will turn 19 so we went out to do our annual pictures while they were all three still 18.  I knew this would be the last time we do this that they will all have the same last name.  I have to admit, they didn't always love going out and doing the pictures.  When we were out doing these, they started talking about getting back together every year, no matter where they lived.

Things are changing at our house.

When Michael and I married we had three kids and that was enough for us.  For a little bit.  We were ecstatic when we found out we were going to have twins.  Kayla sure was. Then before we ever really slept, we found out we had another one coming.  Might as well have one little one for every big one, right?

Two years old.

Three years old.

Hannah and Leah got chicken pox one week and Rachel the next.  I missed church for four weeks in a row.

Three years old.  I love this picture.

Four years old.

They spent many hours at the games of Kyle, Adam and Kayla - wearing 

Snyder Tiger colors!

First year in Stillwater - all five years old.

I need to go through thousands of pictures to find years 6-12.

Thirteen.

Fourteen.

  Fifteen.

 Sixteen.

Seventeen.

And now, here we are at 18.

 Yes, sometimes they shoot things.
In their defense, it is only shot if it is edible (deer), if it kills our chickens (coyote),
if it kills cows (wild hogs),
or if it scares them in the pond (giant frogs).

 They laugh a lot.

They humor me and re-enact a pose from when they were two.

  For the first time in 28 years, I don't have a child in school.  When we decided to homeschool, I didn't really realize how much being together all the time would help them love each other so much.  They became best friends.

There are those that don't necessarily think I did a great job because I didn't push college.  I didn't discourage them.  If they want to go, I will be their biggest encourager and their oldest cheerleader. 

I have taught each of them how to be a godly wife and mom.  They know more about the scriptural guidelines of life and marriage at 18 than I did at 35. 

We schooled at home, and to some that is not marriage material.  That is okay with me. It is okay with them.

This weekend has been quiet.  Really quiet.  When it is quiet you think more - remember more.  Going through pictures, and especially videos they made on their lunch breaks, just about got me.

They haven't always loved sharing everything and spending so much time together.  I am pretty sure they would tell you now that they would not have changed a thing.

Pass the tissues, please.

Looking Back

Maria & Serafin

The Lord dropped this pretty girl into our lives back in March.  She was expecting twins.  After a month in the hospital and a premature birth, she delivered two precious identical girls!  Identical, except for the fact that one was quite small.  She has some catching up to do.

Maria and Serafin are great parents.  They love these girls so much and are doing an amazing job keeping up with school (making great grades), working, and parenting. They are far away from their home in Equatorial Guinea, so we try to be a home away from home.

I am so late on this post that is time to do their three month pictures, but I wanted to share are all of this precious!!

He Makes All Things Beautiful

 He makes all things beautiful in it's time.

Ecc.3:11

Blessed be the Name of the Lord.

Hope Tacked to the Wall

For a little over two years these dish towels were tacked up on the wall of the guest room at Kevin and Kayla's house.  The mustard and gray were going to be the colors for their  nursery.  Month after month when no baby came, the hope never came down.  

I felt relief when I would take my suitcase into the room and see them still hanging there.  No matter how discouraged they became, there was still a little bit of hope.

There were days when the hope seemed almost gone.  

The towels never came down.

Let Your steadfast love, O LORD, be upon us, even as we 

HOPE  in You.

Psalms 33:22

Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, on those who 

HOPE in His steadfast love.

Psalm 33:18

Oh that I might have my request, and that God would 

fulfill my HOPE.

Job 6:8

And you will feel secure, because there is HOPE; you will look around and take your rest in security.

Job 11:18

Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?  HOPE in God; for I shall again praise Him, my salvation.

Psalms 42:5

For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my 

HOPE is from Him.

Psalms 62:5

For You, O Lord, are my HOPE, my trust, O Lord, from my youth.

Psalms 71:5

But I will HOPE continually and will praise You yet more and more.

Psalms 71:14

You are my hiding place and my shield; I HOPE in Your Word.

Psalms 119:114

Blessed is she whose help is the God of Jacob, whose HOPE is in the 

Lord her God.

Psalms 146:5