Visiting the Lady and NYC

As promised, here is a post from August of Uncle Steve & Aunt Shelle's visit.  After leaving our 2-year-old in the capable care of her Grandma, we squeezed together in one vehicle to drive to Hoboken to catch the ferry.  Here we are viewing downtown Manhattan across the river...

Shelle & I, friends from youth, sisters by marriage...

Isaiah and his look-alike on the ferry...

Two 7-year-olds, Charlie & Selah, born just weeks apart, listening to their ear-phone tour guide...

Inside the Lady's base, sitting on a replica of her toes, listening to their 'phones'...

Nice family!  Steve, Shelle, Connor, Charlie & Cassie.  Taken from the top of the Lady's base...

Our family shot (minus Hannah)...

Enough to churn any mother's stomach...

NYC in the background, Lady Liberty copycats in the foreground...

A shot taken of the Lady's insides, looking up...

'Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free;
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless,
Tempest-tossed to me
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!
 

Four boys on a boat...

Now in the city, Duane needed a doughnut and coffee...

Four boys in a park in NYC...

911 Memorial... very sobering...

Cascading pools of water surrounded by names and names and names of those who died...

Appropriately called 'survivor tree', grown back from the charred and splintered stump that survived the smoking ruins of 911...

Six kids and a freedom tower...

And to end the day, we had to deal with our scraped vehicle from a parking garage.  Here Aunt Shelle is very capably entertaining some tired younguns while we wait for police reports and insurance claims...

Thanks for a wonderful time, Uncle Steve & Aunt Shelle!  When are you coming back for another visit?

August Was...

...lots of swimming in our local parks.  The only pictures I took are below, simply because lugging towels and beach toys and lunches across sand is enough work in itself, and toting a camera to worry about was just one too many responsibilities for the day!  While Selah and Judah were in swim classes, Hannah & Isaiah would hang out in the water and sand...
 

August was also attending a couple Vacation Bible Schools (since we missed our own).  The first several days Hannah cried her eyes out after we dropped off the oldest three.  It was the first time in her memory for her siblings to leave her for the whole morning!  She spent countless hours bonding with 'Kee-Kee' (as she calls our kitty).  Here they are below with Hannah fast asleep, and soon after I captured the shot the kitten was also sleeping soundly.  And what did I do with all those free mornings?  Set up school!

I always think I'm going to take some cute shots of our first day of school.  And it has yet to happen.  Ah, well, we had a first day and many more that followed.  We began mid-August to provide extra time off for after the baby is born.  So far this year has run even smoother than last year.  Hannah is older and can concentrate longer on play and coloring and not pestering teacher and students.  Selah is older and more capable of completing independent work on her own.  The boys' programs work well for teaching simultaneously, and many of their subjects are shared.  Not saying we don't have difficult or discouraging days, but thankful God provides the needed grace, stength and enjoyment to keep us going.

August was a special visit from my brother and his family.  A future post to follow.

August was filling student backpacks at a local mission...

Judah came down with strept throat, so we couldn't all go as a family, but we found some other willing volunteers to add to the mix...

Every pencil case needs some erasers...

Daniel counting the filled packs...

Posing in the room with Aunt Rebecca and PILES of backpacks ready to be passed to needy students...

Picture outside with Aunty Ada...

August was putting 'Kee-kee' to sleep with Hannah's pillow & blankets?

August was also our 4th and final wedding of the summer- more pics in another post...

August also had plenty of enjoyable days to spend at the park with friends (more pics in a coming post)...

August was our annual BBQ at the Bethel Ranch ministry, but the rest of the photos will need to wait for still another post...

And August was the beginning of our celebrations of the Biblical Old Testament feast days.  This year in Bible and history Selah is studying the Old Testament and Creation through the Greeks.  Below we are preparing for the feast of Shabbat (the Israelite Sabbath).  Judah is 'helping' me knead the dough to prepare the Challah (Sabbath bread).  Sticky stuff...

Here's the table set with our finest...

The Challah, a braided loaf for the Sabbath feast...

Traditional chicken soup...

The kids giggled their way through all the rituals and blessings, but overall, celebrating the feast in a similar way Jesus would have celebrated the Shabbat dinner was memorable.  In September we also celebrated Rosh Hashanah (Feast of Trumpets), Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) and Sukkot (Feast of Booths).  Now we have a break for awhile until Passover next Spring.

One last picture from August... Grandma giggling with our girls...

 

Another Girl of July... Turning Seven!

A pony party.  Game supplies... ready.

Party hats... waiting.

A birthday girl... and holding a baby!?

Our first game was eating a pony's favorite food in the way a pony would eat it.  Without hands! 
 Easy enough for 4-year-old Isabella...

But for 7-year-olds missing front teeth?  Not so easy...
 

 Then we held a pony themed chalk drawing contest.  Two boys beginning their pony war scene...

Isaiah competing against Isabella for the best looking blue sky for their teams' scenery...

Selah & Helena's masterpiece of a pony carousel...

Isabella & Kacey's pony eating hay with a sunset in the background...

Isaiah & Julia's pony beside its fancy barn, complete with a weather vane...

Then it was time to paint some ponies...

 

Love, love, love that little tongue of concentration!

Let's hold an egg relay game...

Don't let that egg crack open!

And our last game was pony polo, with one team member being the horse and the second being the rider to hit the ball through the hoops...

Coordination needed.

After supper it's pony cake time!

Kids ready for cake.

Present time!

Happy Birthday, Sweet Selah Sue!
We do love you!