Pretending

My kids love to pretend. I don't know many who don't. I took these photos of them pretending to have church. Robert preached, Josiah led the singing, and Abby sang a special song she made up for the occasion.

Gardening

I have enjoyed our garden. I do every year. It gives me an excuse to get out of the house, enjoy playing in the dirt, and get some vitamin D from the sun. It also is great to feed my family with the home grown, organic, fresh produce from my own garden. I miss it over the winter. If I could find a way to have a green house without spending a lot of money, I would do it. I expanded my gardening area and had even more this year.
The kids got involved as usual. They love playing in the dirt, and the youngest usually eats some of the dirt, too. They each had their favorite vegetables they wanted to plant. Abby's favorite is peas, while Robert likes carrots. Josiah is still learning about what grows and what doesn't, so he asked to plant spam this year. Now I did plant the potatoes which combined with spam makes a favorite dish for Navajos.
We tried some new things this year. Broccoli worked great, but cauliflower did nothing. I also tried the wall-o-water this year and really liked the results. The night temperatures really drop here and makes it hard to start plants. The wall-o-water helped even out the temperature fluctuations and we enjoyed some beautiful tomatoes and jalapeno much earlier than usual. Here are some of our gardening photos.Josiah is very proud of his tomato plant, which is bigger than him!We planted broccoli, cauliflower, peas, onions, beets, potatoes, corn, tomatoes, green chillies, jalapenos, bell peppers, cantaloupe, watermelon, and cucumbers.

Let me dress myself, please!

Beth loves to dress herself. After I dress her, she uses her own clothes or other family members clothes to add to what we have already done. Her own clothes are still a challenge for her so she usually raids her brothers' and sister's things

Dad's shorts on upside down.

Brother's t-shirts on. I think she has two on.

Next she added sister's skirt and brother's underwear (upside down under the skirt).

The skirt is inside out, but she is enjoying her outfit.

Witnessing

Today we had a deaf mother of a bus girl come to church with her daughter. My friend, Delight, interpreted morning church. Then they both came back for evening church. I interpreted the service for them and then afterwards got to witness to both of them. They trusted Jesus!!! This is the first time I ever witnessed to a deaf person. I have been doing a lot of witnessing at church and I am shocked by how many people come to our church, but do not know they are going to heaven. Some even think that coming to our church will get them to heaven. If you are reading this and do not know for sure you are going to heaven, please watch this. I am very excited, but I need to try to get some sleep. There is a baby growing inside me and he or she takes a lot of my energy.

Summer Fun

We have had some wonderful opportunities to spend some great family time. Here are a few.
This past weekend we went camping near Prescott, AZ. We got there Thursday and set up our tent in the rain. It rained and drizzled most of the time we were there, but we still had fun, especially the kids. They played at a lake.Then we played in the puddles.Climbed the trees.And had a good time with friends.We have a source for raw milk. My s enjoy helping make butter out of the cream.We went to a waterfall in Colorado and let the kids play in the water. They had a great time. Abby really loves to get wet.
Another weekend we went to the Bisti and helped Grandma round up cows and did some branding. Grandma gave us a two cows for helping. The kids watched the round up from a safe location.
The cows waiting their turn.
The kids loved climbing the fence.
All the kids love animals. Beth managed to catch this hen as it was wondering around the yard. The hens I have right now are very gentle and friendly. Some days are too much fun to wait for nap time.
Another hike we took in Colorado, just north of Dolores. It is very beautiful and green. I love all the green. Abby took our picture.
Robert keeps rocks with him to throw in the water any chance he gets.
Girls playing in a little stream.
Beth did some walking in between riding on our shoulders.
This summer we celebrated six years of marriage. We found out this past week that I am expecting again. I am tired a lot, and soon expect morning sickness to set in. We are excited and look forward to another home birth.

Delight

When I first started teaching, I taught at a church school in Florida. This past week one of those students from my very first class has moved out here. It has been over 11 years since I was in Florida. My former student, Delight, has moved here to teach in our church's school. I am enjoying having her here. I spent time with her family when I lived in Florida.
Today Delight helped visit bus route and soul win today. I had two saved. She wants to learn how I soul win because she doesn't like the "1, 2, 3 repeat after me" kind of soul winning. I am so happy to be able to help train someone, and to have a partner to go with other than my husband. I do love going with my husband, but I feel I should be training others as well. Not just going with my family.
That is all I have time to write for now. Just really excited and wanted to share it with everyone who will listen or read it! :-)

New Door

My parents were here for a visit during the month of May. I love to have my dad come visit because he loves to fix and build things. This year we had him remove the kitchen window, put in a door and build a porch. He and my husband started Monday morning and by that evening the door was hung. Tuesday they finished the outside. Wednesday they trimmed the inside and started the porch, by Thursday most all of it was done. Friday Dad helped me with my gardening. I would like to share some about my garden on another post.

Beth looking out window that we took out.The outside Monday evening.The kids enjoy the new porch. One thing I like is they can play with the water table and not make mud!

We all enjoy the new door. I think it gets used more than any other door right now.

Grandpa also brought a bunk bed that he had built a few years ago for my nieces.