Separated at birth?

Early this morning Matthew and I took off before sunrise for a remote wildlife preserve in North Central Texas.  Here one can find some of the last remaining sections of Blackland Prairie.

This place is not regularly visited.  There was no trail to speak of, and the prairie grass was about waist to chest high for most of the hike. 

By the time we finished I had walked through at least 50 large spider webs and was soaking wet from the tall, dewy grass.

What a beautiful place.

Psalm 96:12  Let the field be joyful, and all that is therein: then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice.

Sunrise.

The beautiful prairie.

Prairie flower.

The fields were full of critters and bugs.  Here is a dragonfly.

A zipper spider, also known as a garden spider.

A fatter garden spider.

An even fatter spider.

A walking stick. 

On a ridge overlooking a valley.

The bold hikers.

Panoramic view of the valley. 

Click here for a high resolution version of the above picture (it will take a while to load).

Here are two articles to read.  The first is by Kevin Swanson concerning a biblical look at family economics (click here).  The second is a look at the role of a woman in the home from a Mom’s Point of View (click here).  Enjoy.

The next time you are looking to buy a truck, consider these… 

There are cool trucks…

bigger and better trucks…

 and the fuel efficient trucks.

Rachel is the newest addition to our church family, recently adopted from China by our friends, the Van Surksum family.  She is already a favorite with my daughters.

Annie and Rachel. 

Emily and Rachel.

Kathy and Rachel.

We have a Quaker Parrot named Sir Percival Blakeney (from the Scarlet Pimpernel), nicknamed Percy.

Percy is a funny bird.  He can speak simple words like hello, and he barks like a dog.  The funniest thing he does is laugh.  Many times when the family has been gathered in the living room, Hope or one of the children will laugh, then Percy will laugh, then everyone else laughs, Percy laughs again, and round and round it goes.

One day Karen and Kathy decided to introduce Percy to a pie pan filled with water, with the intent to induce him to take a bath.  Click here to view the result.

About 50 years ago a compound intended to be wallpaper cleaner was repackaged as the toy known as Play-doh.

Play-doh is a big deal around this home.  With it budding sculptors can let their imaginations and fingers soar.

Karen instructs Kimberly on the fine points of Play-doh.

Abigail working on her creation.

Matthew at work.

Psalm 33:12  Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.

Today we celebrated our nation’s Independence Day.  We have been blessed as a nation because God was our Lord when it started.  Oh, that we would recognize Him as Lord today.

Watching an air show with vintage airplanes.

Ready for fireworks.

The fireworks begin.  Here are a few pictures.

Click here for a short fireworks video.

This past weekend we celebrated the birthday of Karen Elizabeth. She is our oldest child at twenty one.

Karen and I share many things in common: we have a firstborn tendency toward family responsibility; we love the many aspects of God’s creation, we have a deep appreciation for the fine arts, we love history, and we have a curiosity about everything. Many of the photographs on this blog were taken by Karen, who is also our budding family historian.

Before we had children, doctors had labeled Hope to be infertile. So it was with a deep gratitude toward the Lord that He gave us Karen (and then six more children; so much for infertile).

I am personally thankful that Karen has weathered the storm of her mother and me moving from a cultural Christianity to a biblical one. Major changes in direction can be difficult, and Karen has seen many, and yet has adopted these changes in her own life as her own and not just her parents.

Here are some of my favorite pictures of Karen…

One year old - in Longview, TX.

Learning to make pies.

Age two and a half - Dallas, TX.

Age three, just after we moved to Carrollton, TX.

The love of horses started early. Then…

…and now (one corner of her room).

About age 12 with little sister Kathy.

Horseback riding.

With little sister Abigail in Fredericksburg, TX.

From early childhood Karen loved to draw. She drew on everything: paper, napkins, boxes, even walls. We had a hard time keeping supplies of paper. Today her room and our house is full of paintings, drawings, sketches, and the like. It’s wonderful to have the work of your child’s hands displayed; it is a reminder of how God uses us to accomplish His purposes.

The latest artwork - in progress.

In my opinion, one of the highest forms of literature is the writing of great, theological truths in a poetic form. Karen shares this opinion, and so a treasured gift I received from her last year was a handwritten hymnbook consisting of old hymn tunes set to new lyrics, with artwork (she being the author of the lyrics and artwork).

Fishing in the Hill Country of Texas.

Karen’s graduation was held in Thorncrown Chapel in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. The owner of the chapel attended our family graduation ceremony and we had the opportunity to explain to her who we are and what we were doing. She was delighted we used her chapel for this purpose.

Karen with me at Callaway Gardens in Georgia. She is wearing a Regency dress that she made.

Karen’s birthday celebration was a low key affair. The highlight was a trip to two libraries, where books abound.

At this time of the year in Texas it is usually hot and dry. Not so this year. Karen’s birthday this year will be remembered for the abundance of water. Click here for more rain.

The birthday cake, in this case the birthday cheesecake. For this birthday I attempted to make an authentic New York style cheesecake. Upon close inspection, you will see that my culinary effort was somewhat deficient, however it was appreciated by the birthday girl.

I like to think that we are a musical family. Many of us play instruments, we listen to music all the time, and we love to sing. It is with much embarrassment, however, that we heralded Karen’s twenty-first birthday with this pitiful effort of singing. Click here to listen.

A gift of music.

The love of a sister, a precious gift indeed.

This last picture is of Karen’s ruby ring. In our family, a daughter wears this ring to signify that she has given her heart to Mom and Dad, and she is under their authority as she waits and prepares for marriage, working to become a virtuous woman whose price is far above rubies. This is the window of opportunity, which I’ll discuss more in an upcoming post.