A Little Bit of Everything

So Easter was this past weekend.  Our services at church were amazing! But the Easter celebrations as far as eggs go, was a bust! Our church had planned and "Easter Egg Drop." 30,000 eggs!!! And about 15,000 of those were going to be dropped out of a helicopter! But, we have had record rainfall this past week and it rained out the event.  And the rain didn't stop and we had an indoor Easter egg hunt at Lance's parents. (which the kids loved and had a blast!)

We didn't even get an Easter picture as a family.  :(  I'm just going to do it later when it quits raining.  It'll be a staged Easter pic! :)

Now, for the rain...It has been an event!  It's actually been very tragic.  Several people have died in the flooding and different parts of the state have had horrible tornadoes and more people have died because of them. 

We lost a fence on our property.  Here are some pics Lance took on his phone last night.

We've been blessed that that is all the damage we've had.  So many people have had it so much worse.

Hope, Emma, and I went to Tractor Supply Co. today to get a roll of barbed wire for Lance so he could fix the fence.  I left with more than barbed wire...

Yes, those are chicks.  And yes, we bought some.  :)  We have lost our minds!  By the time I got home with the chicks and barbed wire, Lance had found 5 different people on Craigslist that make chicken coops and an hour after I got home, we had ordered a custom built one!  Ha!  The kids are so excited.  (and I have to admit that Momma and Daddy are too!)

This is going to be the kids endeavor.  They are going to be responsible for taking care of the chickens.  Cleaning out the coop, feeding and watering them, gathering eggs (all with a little help of course).  We think it will be a great learning experience for them and teach them some responsibility and entrepreneurship.  We already have 5 customers for eggs!  Ha! The kids are going to donate 10% of their eggs to a ministry we know of then they get to split the profits from the rest.  They are sooooo excited!

Here's the newest additions to the family in our garage! (for now)


Aren't they adorable?!?!



Dinner Time!


So in few months, we will have farm fresh eggs! (that is if something doesn't eat the chicks first! ha!)

Weekend Wrap Up

Once again, a busy weekend in the Faddis House.  :) Friday night we were up late making Luke and Lance's pine wood derby cars.  My daddy help Lance cut out the cars, and then Lance weighted them and Luke painted his and put the decorations on it.  It was long night, but well worth it! Luke's car looked AWESOME! Lance competed in the "outlaw" category. Ha! That was created to give all the dad's a chance to make their own cars so that the boys would be able to make their cars by themselves as much as possible.

Then Saturday arrived.  Whew!  I'm tired just thinking about it again! Ha! The pine wood derby was at 9 and Sara's soccer game was at 9:30.  Thank goodness my parents live here! Mom took Sara to her game.  And bless her heart for it!  It was 39 degrees and windy!  I took Hope and Emma to the pine wood derby. 


Lance's car is the Superman one! :)



Luke's car is the Batmobile! 3rd from the right on the front row. Awesome isn't it?!?!

After all was said and done, Luke place 1st in his age division & 6th overall.  And Lance came in 2nd in the outlaw division. Haha!  I was proud of my boys. 

Lance manning the start

The Batmobile

Luke and the 2nd place winner

Lance and the 1st place winner in Outlaw!

 

The proud Scout

After the pine wood derby was over, I grabbed Luke and rushed to his soccer game.  Mom had called me during Sara's game to tell me that she scored a goal! (sad Momma because I missed it!) And during Luke's game, he scored 2 goals! I was so proud of my kids!

Then we spent the afternoon working at the farm (Lance and the big kids), picking up the house and napping (Emma and me), and cleaning up the back yard (the whole family).

That evening, Mom and Dad came over for dinner and then Lance's parents came up for dessert and to bring the kids their Easter gifts.

And today was just as busy! Skype call this morning before church with our close friends in Kenya, church, lunch, naps, children's choir and church tonight.

And tonight was a BLESSING! Our church hosted the Mwangaza African Children's choir.  So awesome! The kids (and I) LOVED it!  Lance wasn't able to come because he had a lot of work to catch up on.  After it was over, we were able to meet some of the children. 


This sweet 10 y/o is Sara! Pronounced just like my Sara.  We're finding little Saras all over the world!

 And for the first time, our family is sponsoring a child.  It's something Lance and I have thought about at different times in our marriage.  But we just haven't done it.  But tonight was the night. Our kids are old enough to understand what we are doing, they were able to see and meet some kids from the organization that we are sponsoring through, and we are expanding our childrens' worldview to now include Uganda.  (adding to Haiti, Kenya, Dubai, and China)

It's been a busy, but wonderful weekend!

It's Your Move, Child

Way back when, when I was single and had no prospect of a husband or children, I bought something.  I got it at a flea market.  It is an unframed poem.  I loved what it said and thought that it is exactly what i would feel like when I had children.  I found it the other day and I was right so many years ago!  It is exactly what I feel about raising my children.  Here it is...

It's Your Move, Child

I gave you life, but cannot live it for you.
I can teach you things, but I cannot make you learn.
I can give you directions, but I can't always be there to lead you.
I can allow you freedom, but cannot account for it.
I can take you to church, but I cannot make you believe.
I can teach you right from wrong, but I can't always decide for you.
I can buy you nice clothes, but I cannot make you lovely inside.
I can offer you advice, but I cannot accept it for you.
I can give you love, but I cannot force it upon you.
I can teach you to be a friend, but I cannot make you one.
I can teach you respect, but I can't force you to show honor,
I can grieve about your report card, but I cannot doubt your teachers.
I can advise you about friends, but I cannot choose them for you.
I can teach you about sex, but I cannot keep you pure.
I can tell you the facts of life, but I can't build your reputation.
I can warn you about drinking and drugs, but I can't say NO for you.
I can tell you about lofty goals, but I can't achieve them for you.
I can let you baby-sit, but I can't be responsible for your actions.
I can teach you kindness, but I can't force you to be gracious.
I can warn you about sins, but I cannot make your morals.
I can love you as a child, but I cannot place you in God's Family.
I can pray for you, but I cannot make you walk with God.
I can teach you about Jesus, but I cannot make Him you Savior.
I can teach you to OBEY, but I cannot make Jesus your Lord.
I can tell you about how to live, but I cannot give you Eternal Life.

                                                               -Author Unknown

Lord, I pray my children take what you and I are teaching them.  I pray they learn from their mistakes and always strive to make decisions that are pleasing to you.  I pray that you overcome the many, many mistakes I make daily in raising them.  I pray that you draw them to you at an early age and they know your love for them.

Goal!!! (and a tractor ride)

Today was the start of Upward Soccer.  I forgot to take my camera (bummer, but there are 7 more games) so I didn't get any pics.  Frustrating, but I can get some more later.  But we were soooo proud of Luke and Sara.  Sara hustled after the ball and tried hard to kick it.  Lance summed her playing up well.  She misses opportunities to kick the ball, because every kick has to be perfect.  She wants time to line herself up and kick it.  But by the time she tries to do that, other girls have already kicked it. :)  She did get some good kicks and got the "effort" star after the game.  The hand out different star stickers to the players after the game to honor them in a special way. Things like Christlikeness, offense, defense, hustle.

And Luke did great!  He has really grown since last year.  He was playing goalie when the ball was kicked right to him.  He ran to it, kicked it hard and made it to our goal!!  From the other end of the field!  He was so excited!  The bummer part was that it didn't count. :( He was a defensive player and only offensive players can score.  But everyone high fived him, and yelled for him. 

And later in the game he kicked was goalie again and set up one of his teammates for a goal.  It was a lot of fun watching their games.  The only negative was the horrible sunburn I got! All the kids have pink cheeks and my chest is fried!  We've had such cold weather and all of a sudden it's hot, we totally forgot to apply sunscreen until it was too late. Ouch!

And finally. :)

Lance got a new toy this week!  He's been wanting a tractor for years.  It's just not something that we've been able to do until now.  He's been looking for a few months, and this past week a friend who sells used farm equipment called him with one and it was a great deal!

So we are looking forward to getting a lot of work done on the farm and I am so happy that Lance will be able to get a lot of things done by himself that he's not been able to do.

Plus, it's just plain ole fun! :)

My Heart is Melting

I found this tonight when I was cleaning up the kitchen...



 I am a blessed woman!



The Simple Things

It happens everytime we camp.  I long for a more simple life.  :)  I have the fleeting dreams of selling our house, pulling the kids out of school, Lance quiting his job, and us just living in our camper.  And traveling, and spending time with each other with no pressure or stress from the world. 

And I've really thought it out.  It's actually doable.  Lance could pull about 4 night shifts a month in the ER and we could live comfortably.  And we could homeschool the kids and take them to all the places in the US that they study about.  And what better teacher than Lance???  He's so knowledgeable in so many areas.  And I could do the english and reading. 

I'm telling you, I've really thought about it!  Ha! And times like tonight at our farm reinforce my thoughts.  Life is just so much more simple there.  Lance had Luke, Hope, and Emma most of the day while Sara and I went to a birthday party.  Then we got supplies for burgers and went out the the farm with them.  The kids played for hours outside with NO TOYS!  And we sat around a campfire grilling burgers and then eating ice cream sandwiches.  :)  It makes me long for a life without so much stress.

But then I get to thinking about what it would mean for us to do that.  The kids wouldn't have consistent interaction with the same friends.  We wouldn't either, and when we did, we couldn't entertain people at our house (which I love to do) and we would run the risk of becoming isolationists! Ha!

Don't think sometimes, I don't secretly long for it anyway.  :)  But it does make me stop and think about what is important in life.  And think about what I need to cut out of our lives to slow down a little. 

Spring Break 2011

Spring Break overall was fun this year.  We only had 3 really good days of weather, but we made the most of those 3 days! Lance and the kids and I took a hike on Tues when it was 70!  It was the nicest day (weather wise) that we had.  We hiked down to the creek and Lance let the kids take off their shoes and socks and wade around in the water.  They thought it was awesome!

Hope slipped in once and was wet all up one side.  She looked up at me scared she was going to get in trouble and I said it was ok, that it was an accident.  You would have though I told her she was getting ice cream every day the rest of her life!  :) She smiled and said, "This is the best day ever!"



My Crew

 

A Daddy and his girls



Lance and Luke (aka: Lewis and Clark!)

 That afternoon, my parents came down to spend the night with us.  The kids were so excited.  We played games, tried to fly a kite, cooked Hobo's, and rode bikes.  Then on Wednesday, we all went for a hike.  5 MILES!  Wow!  And the kids did great!  (not to mention the grandparents! :) ) Emma made it almost the whole way on her own.  My Dad and Lance carried her the last mile, but she was a trooper!

When we got back to camp, my parents stayed a little while longer, then headed back.  That evening, Lance's parents came to have dinner with us.  We waited for them to come before we broke out the campfire popcorn maker!  They got it for us for Christmas and it is AWESOME! You fill the popper with butter or oil and popcorn.  It has a long handle on it, so you just hold it over the fire and shake it back and forth.  3 minutes later you have popcorn!  We all loved it!

On Friday, we made a trip to A to Z.  We did it last year, too.  Great way to fill a rainy or cold day.  It's an adventure in itself.  It was pretty cold and overcast and threatening rain, so we stayed for about 3 hours then headed back to the campsite.  On the way, my sis-in-law texted and said that she and my brother were coming down to stay with us!  In a tent!  Troopers! :)

So we fixed stew and cornbread and popped popcorn again and roasted marshmallows.  I bought campfire marshmallows at WalMart.  I'd been wanting to try them, but just hadn't.  They are about 3 times the size of a normal marshmallow.  Very cool!

Saturday, it was yucky rainy and cold.  Leah and Jeremy wanted to go to A to Z, so we went back with them!  Ha!  I think I've had my fill of A to Z for a few months.  :)

Our last morning at Devil's Den, Lance got up early to go take some pictures.  This is one of my favorites.  He is really good at landscape pics.  :)

The spill way at Devil's Den