Georgia National Fair 2015

Here are just a few pictures from our days at the fair!

 

Serious about the soap carving contest!  Matthew and Mariah have actually won first place before, but we didn't have a winner this year. :o)

McKenzie, Madeline and Mariah all entered canned goods and dried herbs.  All three got some first place ribbons!

They also entered some sewing, knitting and other craft projects.  My girls got their craftiness from their grandma!

The cow barn is always one of our favorites!

Lunch break!

Grandpa likes to see the animals too!

                                                                 Fair Bear!

Watching the air show. I was amazed that my dad hung with us all day!  I kept asking him if he was tired and he just kept going.

Watching a horse show.

 

 The boys love to sit on the tractors!

And the girls too!

They love their grandpa!

The "Tree of Life" is kind of creepy.  There is a man in there that walks around the fair. :o)

Because they don't get enough of milking goats at home! Haha.....

 

The girls spent one day showing miniature ponies.

 

Weren't they the cutest "zebras"!?! :o)

 

The rides at night are so beautiful!

 

I always took a picture of my parents with the kids at the end of the day.  Grandma was definitely missed!

Watching the fireworks before we headed home.

 

This was another day when I took the kids to hang out a while.

 

 

My dad hung with us form lunch time until they closed that night at 10:00!  I was a little worried he was going to be sore the next day!  I made him take a Tylenol and soak his feet when we got home!  Matthew said, "If grandpa lived with you, he'd probably live to be 100!" :o)

 

 

Good-by fair until next year!

Fair and other happenings

 

The Georgia National Fair took place for eleven days in our neck of the woods!  It was a busy time for our town and our family!  Our whole family went one day and took my dad with us, I took the kids one day, McKenzie, Madeline and Mariah went and helped show miniature ponies one day, Matthew and Madeline went one evening together,  and then shock of all shocks.... Marc and I went one night by ourselves! :o)

 

I have lots of pictures but haven't uploaded them to the computer yet.  I will do that soon and post them together.  The fair is fun, but I am always glad to see it go.  When you can't even get to town to go to the grocery store without taking a huge detour it gets a little old!

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In other news...... Madeline finished up her first quarter of college last month.  She made the Dean's List!  She worked hard and we are very proud of her!  Matthew is on the semester system at his college.  He made the Dean's List too all of last year.  They are both good students!

College has been a challenge for us!  We knew that Matthew would have to go to college because of the career path he has chosen.  I wish Christian schools were an option, but for right now they are not.  Matthew has done well and stood strong as a Christian out in the work place and at school.  We are very proud of him!  When Madeline finished up her sophomore year, Marc felt like high school level was a waste of time for her.  We found out about a program that if she tested well would pay for her schooling her last two years of high school.  She is doing it all at home online, so for us it seemed like a good option.  She has done well and at sixteen has already knocked out 15 credits and is in the middle of 15 more!  She will be one quarter shy of her Associates when she graduates from high school.  We knew we would encounter "worldliness" in the college setting.  However, it has been shocking to see the garbage that is being pumped into our young people!  Matthew has had some issues, but Madeline's Literature course has been the worst!  As a home school family, we have covered some really good Literature!  The stuff they are having her read is not only filth, but as she said, "It isn't even well written filth!"  We contacted her school and got nowhere.  Marc is planning to have a face to face meeting with either the president or the Dean of Students. 

What has been the biggest shock to me is the response I got when I posed a question on the home school loop here in our area.  I was simply asking if any of the other home school families had taken this route and how they handled these situations.   There were some moms that defended the garbage she is reading and said you can't censor the literature for one student, but I was shocked at the Christian moms that said it was just part of being in the world.  Really!?!  How lame is that!?!  I realize our children will grow up and hear things and be exposed to garbage out in the world.  However, to be given something to read in a college class that is deemed "good literature" is entirely different!  We are having to get creative as to how we are going to get through this!  Refreshingly, her American History book is written from a Christian perspective and she is loving that!  She is also taking statistics this quarter and they can't do a whole lot with that! :o)  We are really praying about how we will handle each child when the time comes for "what to do next".  Thankfully, Matthew and Madeline are both very mature and grounded in their faith.  Matthew has even told us that he is glad he wasn't exposed to much of what he has encountered when he was younger.  Two things I would highly recommend to Christian home school families whether their kids will go on to college or not, is a strong foundation in apologetics.  They need to know what they believe and why they believe it.  They have to be able to defend their faith!  Of course, it has to be their faith to begin with.  We have gotten a lot of books and other sources from the A.I. G. ministry.  I might try to do a post sometime and list some of our favorites that I think made an impact on them.

"But sanctify the Lord God  in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; " 1 Peter 3:15

Well, I better get off of here.  My third grader is finished with his math test and it is on to the next thing!

~Until next time!

Busy week

Last week I took Madeline up to my dad's to spend a few days.  She told me last summer that she would like some time to visit with him by herself. I think my older children realize that they better soak it up.  When he is gone there will be no link to the past. He has outlived all of his family and my mom's immediate family.

  McKenzie and Daniel went up there over the weekend and they all went to the mountains for the day.  When they headed home we decided for her to bring my dad back down here to spend some time with us.  When my mom was alive they would always go to the Georgia National Fair with us and he hasn't gone since she died.  He has spent the week with us so that we can take him.  He has had a "lively week" as he described it. :)

One of the boys has walked with him on his daily walk each day.

When it comes to eating out, he thinks there is nowhere but Cracker Barrel.  Mariah is always his checkers buddy!

 

 And... just because he is so stinkin' cute!

Today just us girls went to a friend's wedding.   The weather was perfect and the venue was a beautiful southern home.

I love my girls!

Isn't it gorgeous!

 

~Until next time...

Feeling thankful

This time last year we had just gotten through McKenzie and Daniel's wedding and were attempting to get our lives back to "normal" when Marc was taken by ambulance to the hospital.  It was one of the scariest moments of my life, and I am so thankful that he is not only here with me today but that he is whole!

 

Symptoms seemed to be a stroke, but after a stay in the neurological intensive care unit and every test under then sun done on  him they really couldn't determine what had caused it.  A follow up with another neurologist to get a second opinion ended with him saying that stress can do a number on a person, and when the body has had enough it will shut down.  Very weird..... and very scary!

 

After going through tough times like babies in the NICU, a bad car accident, Mariah hospitalized after a horse accident and then this, I always amaze myself that I made it through! :o)  No, really though, it was very hard.  When your baby is whisked off to the NICU with breathing problems you always wonder if they will discover something serious.  When you find out your husband and sons have been in a really bad car accident, you beg God to let them all be alright.  When your little girl is taken to the hospital by ambulance after being kicked by a 1200 lb horse you pray that she doesn't die from internal bleeding before they can get her there.  Most recently, when you get a call that your husband's coworkers have called an ambulance for your husband and you realize when you get to the hospital he can barely speak, you beg God not to let anything happen to him. All of these stories had happy endings.  My three babies that had to spend a few days in the NICU all ended up being fine.  Mariah healed from her injury and is still horse crazy to this day!  Matthew survived a car accident that humanly speaking he should not have. And, Marc's health is perfectly fine to this day!  I am amazed by God's grace in our lives!  He is so good and merciful to us even when we do not deserve anything.

Praise the LORD! Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; For His loving kindness is everlasting.  Psalm 106:1

Monday evening ramblings

I love watching the boys play at the park.  They always bypass the playground and go straight for the water.  We either go to the lake and feed the ducks, hike around the lake or if I tell them we are going to the playground they head to the little stream that runs through it.

 

Malachi got out of the van with his Bible in his hand and told me he wanted to read his Bible for a little while.  So sweet.  That was his ultimate goal with learning how to read, was to be able to read his own Bible.

They all ended up taking their shoes off.  Macheus threw his shoes, socks and cup in the water.  Malachi (my responsible leader) worried himself to death until he got it all out. :o)

Yep, he ended up getting in!

Trying to decide if they should jump across. Of course, they ended up doing it over and over until they both were wet.

Life is so crazy busy this fall!  We are trying to stay on top of school, finishing up with canning for the season and trying to do some projects around the house.

I have hauled several huge bags of stuff to Goodwill!  Where does this "stuff" come from!  I am not a packrat, but it seems to multiply!  We have decide to try to do a yard sale this month.  I am hanging onto some of my nicer things to try to sell.  I don't know how well we will do because we live so far out.

The Georgia National Fair starts this week.  The girls have entered a bunch of canning, sewing, knitting and  crocheting projects.  It is always fun to see how they place.  The girls (including McKenzie) are going to be working with the miniature ponies this year. They will be dressing some of them in costumes and showing them.  Should be cute!

Another household project that we are getting ready for is new flooring.  The boys have been really hard on the carpet in their bedroom.  We have hardwood floors throughout the house, except bedrooms.  I like having carpet in my bedroom so we will replace it.  I think we are going to put hardwood in the hallway upstairs but not sure about the boys room yet!   I like getting things done but dread the mess!

Well, it is late and I need to head to bed!

~Goodnight