Playing Catch Up

I know...I have been bad lately on updating this blog. I apologize...will you all forgive me? :o) About a week and a half ago my parents came up and went with us to Malabar Farm for the Fall Festival. Malabar was the home of the author, Louis Bromfield. I only ended up taking a few pictures. So I apologize to you all that there are not more...will have to ask my Mom for some. She is always snapping pictures. :) So here are pictures of Big T riding "Beauty" (yeah..I didn't get a good shot of the horse) and Sweet E riding on "Chief". Grandpa Walked with Sweet E to make sure she didn't pull a "Tumbleina" and fall off. :o)

They loved it. When Big T got on he immediately had a HUGE smile on his face...so much so that he couldn't say anything. :) He really loves horses. (Reminds me that I need to get back to the blanket I started a year ago and haven't touched since Little E was born.) There is so much to do there. They have a civil war encampment and they fire the cannons off every hour or half hour. I don't remember. They even do a live round one time during the day. We weren't there for that one though. It's loud enough just with the demonstration. Don't know about the guy wearing shorts in the pic...must have been a visitor that they pulled in for the demonstration.

To go from the upper level of the farm to the lower part you can either walk or take a wagon ride pulled by a team of horse. I don't know how many wagons and teams were there that day, but there was a variety of horses and types of wagons. Before we every got off of the wagon the first time Big T was already talking about riding again!

So..this past weekend our church had our "annual" Family camp. Well....this is the second year for it. I sadly do not have any pictures from it. I forgot my camera at home, but another family in the church brought theirs and are going to make sure I get some pictures from it. I missed a lot of the messages because I was tending to my children, but what I did get...was wonderful. I am so glad that I was able to "time" Little E's nap so that I could take part in communion and the foot washing service on Sunday. As I said..it really was wonderful.
There is so much that I could not write it all down. But the thing that has been sticking in my mind is what someone said about the cross. He talked about how we do wonderful things with the cross. That we have them on our mantels, make jewelry out of it, statues, etc. We do all of these beautiful things to something that is horrible. The cross is to rugged beams that are meant to have someone nailed to it and then left there until they die. He was talking about this with us being told that we are to "take up our cross". I don't think people understand the gravity of the situation sometimes. They were their crosses or have one in their home (which I have both...just so you know) but they don't understand that we are to die to ourselves (on our own cross). The cross is not some heirloom but something that we are to lay upon and give our lives to God. I don't know if I am making sense here, but I just wanted to share.

And to totally change gears I wanted to share one last picture. I have been calling Little E, Curious George lately because he gets into EVERYTHING! Well...this is a picture of one of the many predicaments he has gotten himself into lately. Just as I saved him from his predicament...how many times does God save us from situations we have put ourselves into? Blessings to all. I pray that you are having a wonderful and God challenged week. :o)