Tales From the Land of On

HUNBABA Mei Tai Baby Carrier Guest Giveawayy

2010-06-10T17:41:00.000-07:00

HUNBABA Mei Tai Baby Carrier Guest Giveawayy

I love baby carriers... and i love mei tais in particular. Lucy and I are actually constructing 2 fpr friends now... So, wouldn't I love to win this one?

Eagle Marsh

2009-11-10T11:27:00.001-08:00

Here are some pictures of our recent outing to Eagle Marsh; it is an area put aside in Fort Wayne to be... well, marshy! Actually, the farmers got sick of fighting nature (flooding) and have given it to be used as a natural wildlife preserve of sorts. We really enjoyed visiting!

Here are David and Christiana walking along one of the dryer paths between prairie grasses.

Joseph
Christiana and a cat tail =)
David... looking a bit grown up!
Samuel with a cat tail that is beginning to shed...

Noah =)

So how many tries to get a good shot????? Weeeeeell...

It took a few...
But I thought this one turned out pretty good ;)

Looks a bit sneaky, doesn't he? The cat that swallowed the canary...
Lucy, trying to uproot what she was sure was a wild carrot...And of course, the boy! I'm not sure he enjoyed the outing as much as the others...

fall =)

2009-10-26T14:43:00.000-07:00

We have been inundated with rain and cold this fall... well, actually this year. It was a COLD wet winter, a cold wet spring, a cold wet summer... the tradition continues, apparently. One brief break in the gray sky let some of us get out and enjoy some leaf raking!

Here is a view of the back yard... the sun was on its way down... hence the shadows and poor lighting...
Christiana enthusiastically embraced the concept of throwing leaves and jumping in =)
Joshua is still anti- camera. He rakes well, though!
Noah =)
Everyone's favorite duck, Lookie. By the way, 6 eggs yesterday! woo hoo! How did 5 girls produce 6 eggs? hmmmm....
Erin still enjoys the leaves (and posing...)
More leaf throwing...

Is that a great smile, or what?
William had to come out and enjoy some fresh air, too! Isn't he just kissable?
Back inside for a tea party!

catching up!

2009-10-17T03:32:00.000-07:00

Well, haven't I neglected the blog?

Here are some new pictures to enjoy!

First up... apparently faeries inhabit our yard... Samuel found this evidence; appears to be normal mushrooms, right? hmmmmm maybe not....
A wider shot reveals the truth! A faerie ring!
And if that isn't exciting enough for ya... check out our first duck egg! =)

Now, these ducks apparently don't know what is good for them, because they are only producing one or two eggs a day. Perhaps they know that I can't figure out who to cook for Thanksgiving dinner if they take turns slowly producing eggs... They had better pick up production! They are giving Khaki Campbells a BAD name!

In other news, here is a picture of a movie star who dropped by one day for lunch. Charming lady...

Because we know everybody really just wants to see the boy:

No babies were harmed in the taking of this picture, honestly!

David loves holding William =)

These pictures are so sweet =) Noah just loves his baby!

Grandma and Grandpa have arrived! Luckily Grandma can hold William; he has been trying to keep his weight down so she can hold him even though she just had neck surgery. ;)

Below is David on his 8th birthday!
Alright, now that the camera memory stick is empty, perhaps we can get some good pictures in with Grandma and Grandpa... maybe apple picking? Stay tuned!

new pictures

2009-09-06T02:49:00.000-07:00

Not the best of update, but a few pictures anyways =)

2009-08-24T17:29:00.000-07:00

Oops! I guess I should rotate pictures first, huh?

Here is some of the requested information on William's birth:

Yes, 31 hours to be exact. Water broke at 11:30 at night Tuesday, and he was not born until 9:25 AM Thursday.

Yes, you would think by number 9 that they would emerge faster! However, William seemed to have his head askew, thus not putting enough pressure to increase the intensity of contractions. We labored with contractions anywhere from 5- 10 minutes apart for most of that time. He has slightly swollen right side of his face and eye. We assume that his position is responsible for the late pregnancy back pain I experienced.

Midwives are FABULOUS. Mine was with me form 4 am Wednesday until noon Thursday. We had 2 follow up visits at our home over the next few days, one of which included her bringing us dinner (oh, and she brought dinner for our neighbors who lovingly took our kids over the whole of labor as well). How is THAT for healthcare reform????? Not to mention that our birth cost approximately 1/5th the cost of a typical hospital birth...

No, they don't keep getting bigger. Our largest babies are still Joseph and David at 9- 2 and 9- 4. William was only 8-15 =)

He looks like our other dark haired babies.. Cute. Fuzzy head. Puffy cheeks. Little old man look. I assume he will get cuter with age ;)

Lastly, but perhaps most significant, the name...

William was named quite early if he had just been a girl! We were blessed with a new van earlier this year, and Bob promptly suggested the name Grace if the baby was a girl. God is so lavish and undeservedly good to us. It fit. One of my favorite and most influential ladies I've known was my grandmother... Grace Margaret. So, it was decided...

A boy's name that came close... hmmm... that was harder!

The name John means God is gracious. John Newton wrote perhaps one of the best known hymns around... Amazing Grace. He was a slave trader before coming to faith in God... by his own admission, not a nice guy. He struggled with his sinful nature even after coming to Christ. Perhaps it is those who truly know from what they have been saved who are most grateful for their salvation?

William means defender, and for us directly refers to William Wilberforce... who not coincidentally was greatly influenced by John Newton. He fought a losing battle in Parliament for 20 years to outlaw slavery in England. His perseverance changed history.

It is our prayer that our son would know the grace of God, and that he would be ready to stand for what is right, no matter how long or hard the battle gets.

Thus, William John.

Ok, we are still working on the picture thing. His first few days were kind of blotchy and purpley ;) His color has improved greatly, as has his puffy eye... maybe tomorrow we'll get better pictures up! Here are a few from day 1... one of these days I'll remember to rotate first...

Welcome William!

2009-08-20T16:13:00.000-07:00

Here area few pictures... more info to follow...

Duck pictures

2009-08-14T11:00:00.000-07:00

Still in the works, but feel free to look =)

So now our ducks are grown up, and some of them are looking quite different. Quacky, the only male out of the Khaki Cambells now has a green head. The rest of the ducks, except for the Mallards, are all a chocolate brown.

They greatly enjoy the pool that we sometimes fill with water for them to play in. They can splash water an unbelievable distance.
This is the Mallard that we believe is a girl sitting in the grass. Including the head, a Mallard is a little bigger than a football.
(starting here pics are left formatted)

They use bricks as stairs to get in the pool.

They also try to go diving, but the pool isn't deep enough.

Waiting in line...

They like to be clean.

We built the ducks a pen with a door into a shed.

We also built a duck tractor, a wooden structure that can be lifted and moved, almost like a portable pen.

The inside of the shed has straw on the floor and a door into the outside pen.

The ducks love hiding in our bushes as well.

Here's a duck who wants to stir things up a bit.

Some of the ducks like being held.

Its surprisingly hard to get them into their duck tractor!

They love any kind of bug you feed them.
Well, that seems to be enough for now. Gotta go.

more poultry pictures =)

2009-05-19T07:56:00.000-07:00

Since we did not bore you too terribly, here are a few new pictures!... and I hope some video... we'll see how that goes!

The ducks nowadays.. this morning actually... getting SO big!

OOPS! I didn't rotate it first again =( Anyways, here is the bird tamer working with the littlest peeps...

Here is Christiana running around the ducks... note the chicken wire AROUND the pool; they got out one morning last week and boy, was it a messy room. ICK! We promptly made sure they wouldn't get out again...

Here are a few (7) chickens asleep in the dog bowl; we tried it out as a feeding dish cause tehy are heavy enough to knock over the egg carton we were using. They don't flip this over... but they sleep in it!

Here's the baby mallards. Aren't they CUTE?

Irrisitable...

Christiana and Erin... my darling 2 year old had to pick the first peony that opened up... good thing there are more!

A close up of our chicken looking chicks... They are still pretty small size wise, but they are definitely looking like chickens...

A close up of them falling asleep on their perch.

Yes, they are all perched up on a stick except for that one! Looks like they are outgrowing our bin...

David says "Hi!"

Christiana, the ever charming... or at least sometimes charming...

Here is a video we took the morning after the chicks hatched, as they were stumbling about the incubator.

These are the Mallard (or Rouen) ducklings we got this weekend. Samuel has SO wanted a mallard... but the hatcheries will only ship ducks out in groups of 12 or so... eek! We don't need 12! So, he was in luck this weekend... his devoted, loving and indulgent mother brought him 2 (I couldn't see taking only one, as they snuggle and will be lonely alone in a brooder.. they are way too small to put in with the enormous Khakis or the weird chickens...) Anyways, this little fellow objected to being taken from the farm store and the 30 other ducklings he was snuggled with.. he peeped and peeped and peeped for hours...

OK, I think we got all of the video and pictures working... lemme know!

Our ducks and chicks!

2009-05-18T05:44:00.000-07:00

Alright, instead of a well composed blog, I am going to just throw up pictures with captions... we will add details later =)
This is a picture of our "brooder" the day we got the ducklings. They were 1.4 ounces, and 2-3 days old. Aren't they cute? See how nice and clean everything was? hee hee... that won't last!

We now have a full understanding of the phrase, "like a duck to water"! They love to swim! The light colored one on the right is "Lookie".. the girls named her because she is always looking at everything... we think she will be the leader of the flock... very sweet and friendly duckie =)

Just for scale, here is the group in front of the thermometer.. you will see a chick on it and it in the background of several shots.
Aren't they sweet? =)

Alright, so we got the ducks Friday morning... Our eggs arrived home with Daddy at 6 pm Monday.. they were scheduled to hatch, 6 on Tuesday and 6 on Thursday. WELL... the early chick gets the worm, I guess, cause they were hatching Monday by 8:30 pm! Here is the first to get out. He was quite energetic and wandered around, pushing the other eggs all over the place =) It is hard work being born, and he took many breaks to just lie there and rest!
This was the 3rd one to hatch... we saw the first 2, and were enjoying watching them, when "Hey! what's that?!" Yep, he hatched in the back and peeped out over at us. My favorite picture!
Here they are the next morning... As you can see, they are drying out nicely and getting fluffy.

We moved them out pretty early Wednesday morning when the first of the second batch broke out.. he actually got out before we had time to get them all out of the incubator... we were afraid of the new ones getting trampled by the careless things. We would have liked to keep them in the warm incubator for another day or so, but felt this was safest for everyone! The next 5 hatched at various points Wednesday... There was only one egg that did not hatch of the 12.

Ok, here are the same 6 Khaki's in the same bin. Would you believe this is like a week and a half later? Holy cow! By 2-3 weeks of age they had almost reached 1 pound, which is roughly 1/3 of their full grown weight. Khaki's aren't very big ducks... usually only 3-4 lbs. We got them for eggs, not meat ;)Here are the chicks in Bob's hands... when we change their bedding, they get a tad bit agitated. Bob can pick them all up, or squish them all into the corner of a dishpan behind his arm. Then they quiet down and go to sleep. It is very cute!

Alright... a few days old... 4-5... and the chicks are getting feathers! I am not sure if this is normal for chicks, or if it a result of them being a hybrid, "fast maturing" egg laying machine. Just an FYI, they are Hyline W35... in the future, we would probably get an "heirloom" breed. But these were free... can't beat free!

The chicks are growing, but at about half of the rate of the ducks... Erin can still hold one in her hand (where yes, it fell asleep). They are getting more chicken like daily... we have 3 suspected roosters, one of whom lunges at the other birds from up high... Nasty creatures!
Ok, those ducks got TOO big for their bin; they had no room to turn around. So, they graduated to a large plastic kiddie pool we scavenged from the side of the road. They enjoy having a bit more space to turn around. They are starting to "honk" a bit and get their feathers... WAY later than the chicks. They weighed about 20 ounces at this time.

Alright, so I should have rotated this BEFORE I downloaded it.. I will get savvy about these things with practice! Just to show you some scale, Lucy needs to use both hands to keep the duck still in her arms... they started out the size of a small apple. WOW. They are much larger now... I believe 26 ounces this morning with breast feathers and some wing feathers coming in. I'll post again after I get new pictures downloaded! Coming soon... the 2 itty bitty mallards and BIG ducks and chicken looking chicks!

Tell me what you want to see, and I will try to post it! =)

new year

2009-01-12T05:09:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I haven't posted in a while. IS anyone surprised? Blogs take TIME. I haven't any! hee hee

My friend took this wonderful picture of my daughter... she obviously has a super camera! Enjoy =)

It doesn't look done...

2008-12-15T08:40:00.000-08:00

This is a old story, but enjoyable just the same.

About a week ago, Mom asked Dad to see if the bread was done rising. It was, so Dad put it into the oven. Half an hour later, Dad checked it and told Mom, "It doesn't look like it baked." Mom looked, and sure enough the bread was huge, but it hadn't baked at all. They couldn't figure out what was wrong- until they looked at the settings of the oven and discovered that Dad had never turned it on. It had been rising for an entire hour! That must have been the fluffiest bread I have ever had.

Hope you enjoy this story!
Lucy

of trees and such

2008-12-15T08:34:00.000-08:00

It is said that it takes two to tango. I suspect that is correct, but since i have never tried to tango, I can't say for sure.

I mention that saying because it reminds me of marriage. Marriage certainly takes two people working together with the same goals. If one person wants to go one way and the other doesn't... well, the results are obvious.

We went to pick out a Christmas tree last night. I was reminded once again of a way that my husband and I differ. He likes homely trees. I like pretty trees.

Now add in the opinions of 8 children.

wow.

If it takes two to tango, what do 10 people do? Line dance?

Blessedly, the 8 children think the tree is simply grand. Guess I need to reform my opinion of homely trees. Pictures to follow...

a good discipline...thankfulness!

2008-12-03T13:41:00.000-08:00

1) I am grateful that I have many unfinished projects!

Ok, that makes little sense, coming from me ;)

However, there are a few I can finish and have to give away. God's provision for a tight month. I did the labor, I purchased teh materials... now I just need to finish them up. How great is that? Plus I'm cleaning and got another unpacked box of fabric stuff put away.

2) My baby girl slept, in a playpen without me holding her and hardly whined at all! WOO HOOO!!!

I know, I'm pathetic- and grateful!

funny for the day

2008-12-01T11:27:00.000-08:00

"Noah, I said to take off those snow pants. It si not time to go outside and play."

"Mom. It's not a problem. I WON'T hurt the snow. I promise."

thankful list

2008-11-26T08:28:00.000-08:00

Sunshine. It's cold out, but sunny!

The radio and Focus' radio theater. Squanto!

Sleeping babies... so cute!

Obedient children. A tremendous blessing.

Timers... however did anyone avoid burning the bread before timers????

from the mouths of boys...

2008-11-25T16:16:00.000-08:00

Just to share... and perhaps to record for posterity?

"Hey, Mom, even I change my sheets sometimes."

"Oh really? When?"

"Well, when there is sand or dirt or crumbs or whatever..."

-practical 15 year old

2008-11-24T07:42:00.000-08:00

Big sister sewed little sister pajamas. Aren't they cute?

the thankfulness continues

2008-11-24T04:43:00.000-08:00

Friends... need I say more? It was sooo nice to hang out in Chicago.

An honest orthodontist!!!!!!!!

Lower gas prices!!!! woo hoo!!!!

A warm house... winter is here...

Paper towels, running water and a shop vac... going to clean up an... ummm... accident. In carpet. Again.

teeth

2008-11-19T13:46:00.000-08:00

I wish that God had chosen to make us like sharks... new teeth continually.

OK, I am bordering on the ungrateful.

Today I am grateful for Novocain, dental insurance, and dentists.

Really, I am. Grateful, that is. Really.

2008-11-18T18:19:00.000-08:00

There are so many things to be grateful for. I really don't know how I'm supposed to list all of them. But I am going to try to list a few.

I am grateful for:

My mom and dad
Our pets, the dog, our four birds,and the fish
My baby sister (even though she does mess with things she's not supposed to)
My 11 year old sister who won't let me kiss her
All those boys who are going crazy over the over due library book
Peppermints, spearmints, anything that tastes like mint
BOOKS!!!!!!
A two acre backyard
Friends back in Illinois
A van who's engine should last at least a few more years

And thousands of other things!

I hope to continue the list soon. For now, this is all I have time for.

Lucy

another day of gratefulness

2008-11-18T15:26:00.000-08:00

Hebrews 13 makes it clear that gratefulness is an obedient expression of faith. In preparation for Thanksgiving, we are going to list blessings for the next few days...

Today I am grateful for the faithful examples of those who have gone before me:

Hebrews 11

11:1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2 For by it the people of old received their commendation. 3 By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.

4 By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks. 5 By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God. 6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. 7 By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.

8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. 11 By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised. 12 Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.

13 These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. 14 For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. 15 If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.

17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, 18 of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” 19 He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back. 20 By faith Isaac invoked future blessings on Jacob and Esau. 21 By faith Jacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, bowing in worship over the head of his staff. 22 By faith Joseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus of the Israelites and gave directions concerning his bones.

23 By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they were not afraid of the king's edict. 24 By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, 25 choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. 26 He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. 27 By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. 28 By faith he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, so that the Destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them.

29 By faith the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned. 30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days. 31 By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.

32 And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets— 33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. 35 Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. 36 Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, [1] they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated— 38 of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.

39 And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, 40 since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.

Read any good missionary stories lately? They tend to inspire awe and gratefulness.

5 1/2 years

2008-11-17T12:24:00.000-08:00

While cruising through craft blogdom this weekend, I happened upon a military wife's blog. It provided some good 5 am thinking for me. (Do moms of little people think at any other hour?)

She mentioned (and yes I was already aware of it...) that John McCain was a POW for 5 1/2 years. Yep. We know.

But then I started thinking of my own life, in terms of 5 year blocks. Which ones would I be willing to give up?

The first 5 "adult years" of my life? Graduated from school. College. Fell in love. Married. Had baby. Nope, not those 5.

Next 5? Had another baby. Moved to Illinois. Purchased our dream home. Had another baby. And another (busy years!) Wait... squeeze one more babe into that 5. Definitely can't give those up.

Ok, next 5 maybe? Survive y2K. Job layoff. (We could pass that one up!) Move to Wheaton for dream job. Fantastic neighbors. 6th baby. Make wonderful friends. Blow van engine (momentous for me, anyways, as it was the first of three...) Get laid off again, move to Berkeley... no, good and bad, we just can't give those up.

Perhaps instead I should work backwards from the present? 5 years ago was a tough year. Blew another van engine, moved, my grandmother passed away, we miscarried. But then we had baby 7. And some of the greatest people in the world grew into our lives... and baby 8... nope.

Truth is, 5 years has a whole lot of living in it.

The prospect of myself or my husband being gone for that time period, with no communication... well, it is inconceivable. To consider that time given up to imprisonment, torture, and isolation... Well. It must be life changing, to say the very least.

I don't see eye to eye with John McCain. But I do appreciate him, and his service to his country. I don't think that those of us who are "outside" of the military can truly appreciate the sacrifice military families make. I do think we should try to, though. We live in a great country, which is slowly losing its greatness. We've lost perspective as to what made us great.

America was founded for many reasons, and I am not silly enough to think that in a simple blog I can possibly begin to sum it all up. However, I do contend that PART of the greatness of our nation is our reflection of Christ. Men like John McCain suffer and die to grant freedom to others, as a type, if you will, of Christ, who died to give the ultimate freedom to us. Freedom from the bondage of sin. This is very poetically stated in the Battle Hymn of the Republic:

In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me:
As He died to make men holy, let us live to make men free;
[originally …let us die to make men free]
While God is marching on.
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! While God is marching on.

May we all pause and appreciate the sacrifices of our soldiers. . The freedom I have to sit snuggling a sleepy baby at 5 am while I read blogs published freely on the internet is not without price. Yes, it is cliche to say so, but freedom isn't free.

Thank you, Jesus, for others who were willing to sacrifice.

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...

2008-11-13T10:52:00.000-08:00

Ok, 3 posts is enough for one day, right? This is dedicated to my brother who blessed me tremendously by introducing his namesake nephew to Star Wars... Thanks, David!

Can We Add Video?

2008-11-13T10:41:00.000-08:00

This video is for Grandma! Joshua and Erin have been working hard to master this.....they plan on a rousing performance on Christmas morning at the crack of dawn... the video is dark, but will do for my experiment.

2008-11-13T10:05:00.000-08:00

OK, just an experiment here... we are trying to add pictures,,, Will it work? Let's see! Oh, It did! This is a picture of our house... bad angle with tree in the middle of the shot... but you can see our house anyways!

Alright, let's show you the yard...

hmmmm it added the pictures to the top? huh? lemme see if I can move them around? Ah, success!!!!So, that's neat, isn't it? We are learning. However, I still have not mastered this program, as is evidenced by the underlining of these words... hmmmmm... Nothing will get rid of it . Any ideas? I guess I will post this and see of the same thing happens to my next post?

A poem to share:

2008-11-12T08:54:00.000-08:00

The earth is a circle,
A circle's a sphere,
This sphere is a planet,
And the planet is here.

Beginnings...

2008-11-12T08:19:00.000-08:00

In the Beginning God...

well, you know .

We are beginning something less significant, but hopefully fun! Our family needs a place to display our thoughts, our creations, and our opinions! So, here we are. Hopefully the start of something good.