In the Garden

Entrance to my mom's Rose garden where I always imagine walking when we sing this hymn. My Dad is a welder and he built this awesome arbor and gate.

I love this hymn we sing at church, I looked up the lyrics at Hymnlyrics.org

In The Garden

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I come to the garden alone
While the dew is still on the roses
And the voice I hear falling on my ear
The Son of God discloses.
Refrain

And He walks with me, and He talks with me,
And He tells me I am His own;
And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known.

He speaks, and the sound of His voice,
Is so sweet the birds hush their singing,
And the melody that He gave to me
Within my heart is ringing.

Refrain

I’d stay in the garden with Him
Though the night around me be falling,
But He bids me go; through the voice of woe
His voice to me is calling.

Refrain


Words: Charles Austin Miles (1912)


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Story: I read…the story of the greatest morn in history: “The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, while it was yet very dark, unto the sepulcher.” Instantly, completely, there unfolded in my mind the scenes of the garden of Joseph….Out of the mists of the garden comes a form, halting, hesitating, tearful, seeking, turning from side to side in bewildering amazement. Falteringly, bearing grief in every accent, with tear-dimmed eyes, she whispers, “If thou hast borne him hence”… “He speaks, and the sound of His voice is so sweet the birds hush their singing.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” Just one word from his lips, and forgotten the heartaches, the long dreary hours….all the past blotted out in the presence of the Living Present and the Eternal Future. (Thanks to cyberhymnal.org)

Rose in my mom's garden

Growing bigger

I haven't gotten any pictures off my camera in a while so I have old ones out.
This is one of an old Chrysler my dad has:

My little girls are pretty busy lately. Lizzie is talking a lot and is very busy. She wakes up in the morning and is very adamant that it is time to eat immediately. She says "EAT, EAT" or occasionally "uhhh cook", or maybe even "ungee" (hungry). She is quite passionate about food sometimes. Actually she is passionate about everything, she is not a mellow person.
Ruthie is working on her letters. Sometimes she is focused and really gets it and is sounding out simple words other times she has a harder time and needs lots of coaching. It is rewarding to see her learning and picking it up though. She enjoys writing cards to people. Ruthie really likes numbers though and does addition with her fingers.
They are getting better at playing together for longer times but when they fight or argue they race to get to me and tattle on the other one as if the first one to make their case will win. I often hear screaming and pounding feet running to get here first. Usually Lizzie is screaming cause she gets passed up. Eventually they will learn that is not how it works.
We have two dogs Buddy is still a puppy and so when inside he has to stay in the kennel since they don't get the run of the house, Tucker though is being taught to stay on the rug at the back door. This is a new thing and today Ruthie discovered that he had got her acorns and chewed them up. She was very sad and insists we will need to get more. Last time we collected acorns at the church, Ruthie, Lizzie and I had pockets filled up. They often collect rocks and things too, like mommy. So I am hoping to win one of these skirt outfits with a big pocket for bird seed, I am sure it would work for acorns and rocks too though. Here is the link they are very cute:
GrosgrainStore.com Grand Opening & Giftcard Giveaway!!!!!!!!: "GROSGRAINSTORE.COM"
She sells them too at her new store GROSGRAINSTORE.COM
Today I heard Ruthie banging around in the dishes in the kitchen, I was hoping it was in her little kitchen set, but let her carry on without checking. After a few minutes I came in and she was cooking! She had my big mixing bowl out with some water and was adding sugar in it. She said she was going to put some butter and milk in it and cook it in the oven. I figured I would let her since she was so enthusiastic about what she was doing. After the milk and butter she wanted salt and pepper and then she broke some pieces of leftover toast into it. She wanted to cook it and I said, "in the microwave?" so she decided that sounded fun so she microwaved it for 55 seconds then she still wanted to put it in the oven so we put it in a different pan and baked it at 350 for a few minutes we took it out and she didn't even want to try it. I had to reinforce what I had taught her a long time ago that only I can put things in and take things out of the oven because she was already getting the oven mitts out to try and do it herself!!! Her concoction kinda looked like soup so we doctored up some top ramen for lunch.
For Girls only:
Lizzie got into a little mischief herself today. I asked her to go and throw away a plastic bag that was lying around while we were picking up. She went into the bathroom to throw it away and eventually she came out and I noticed what she had in her hands. Read on only if you are not too squeamish, (this is a little embarrassing) she had a used tampon applicator and wrapper putting it in and taking it out of the wrapper! So we had to reinforce that lesson too, don't touch things in the trash, yucky, no touch!

Busy House

I know I haven't been blogging much lately, but I am doing crafts for the coming church bazaar. I pale in comparison to the stuff found on Grosgrain's blog though. I want so many of the things she makes so here is another give away that I would like to win for Ruthie.
GROSGRAIN MINI STORE OPENING NOVEMBER 6!!!!! AND BIG PREVIEW GIVEAWAY!!!!
I love the bird prints and the pocket to keep seed in. We are all into birds, in one way or another (it is duck and goose hunting season right now, we ate Matt's goose last night!)

So there is crafting to do, hunting for Elk, and Water Foul, and Matt has begun wrestling season. He is the local junior high coach and will be high school assistant coach to his brother. This is all on top of him working at the church, doing a couple bible college classes there and teaching jr high bible study. With all these things we actually will get to see more of Daddy, since he leaves work early to get to practice and then gets home about an hour before usual. Some day I will start putting up more pictures again. I still need to figure out what the girls will be for Harvest!

Wink School

Here is a fun little video we did a while ago. It was inspired by Ruthie coming up to me unprompted saying "look mommy." I assumed it was for the funny face she was making and I responded, "oooh scary." So she then told me she was closing one eye, it was this strenuous act that made a "scary face"! The reenactment below is not quite as funny as the original, but still may make you giggle, enjoy.

Red Riding Hood Jacket GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!

Here is a really cute jacket that would look wonderful on Ruthie, I am a sucker for red, I think it looks so good with my brown little girls. The gal that makes these things is so talented, she inspires me to try making things I think up in my head even though they often don't work out I have fun. Check out the jacket and her blog here: Red Riding Hood Jacket GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!

I still haven't gotten pictures up from Ruthie's party but I will get to it soon, so check back!

Goodbye Summer

It has been a while since I updated and I finally put pictures on my computer after about two months! We have been busy. We had youth camp with our church and Ruthie's birthday. Now we are getting ready for Ruthie's birthday party this weekend. Here are some pictures from the last month or so to catch up on:

We made this fun canopy from adding grommits on a thrift store sheet.
I saw it on Sew Mama Sew.

This was a genuine hug I was able to capture, they were hangin' out on the couch together reading while I vacuumed.

Here is a very beautiful bad fishing hole we tried and all we caught were a bunch of mosquito bites all over us.

We made a makeshift fort in the back yard under our maple tree.
So fun!!!

I love it when they make each other laugh

Feeling very proud of her new hideout

I found this table and chairs at my local thrift store and I decided to refinish it top secret for Ruthie's birthday:

Before

After
The girls' first time seeing it here
Happy Birthday Ruthie!
We love you so much big four year old

I also got this dollhouse kit at the thrift store! Score!And I just love this fabric on the sheet we got.

So, I love thrift store shopping and my daughter got thrift store gifts for her birthday but she was happy with them.
There is a very cold chill in the air already and we barely even had summer yet. I usually love having four seasons but even I will admit we didn't get much of a summer this year. So this means it is time to hunker down and start more crafting or sewing projects right?

Garden Party Frock GIVEAWAY!!!!

Here is a really cute dress I like and can have a chance to win it for blogging about it! It would look so cute on Ruthie. I wish I could make one like it. Wouldn't it be a nice birthday present. Maybe someday I will learn to sew well enough to make this type of thing.

Check out the dress here:
Garden Party Frock GIVEAWAY!!!!

Oh please God...

GUESS WHO???

Here are some silly Ruthie antics:

• She found a stick out in the back yard and has been using it lately as a shepherds cane. She pretends that Tucker and Buddy are her lambs, and she shoos them where she wants them to go. Then she takes a hand full of sand and sprinkles it about saying she is feeding her hens. I was going to mow the lawn as she yells out "watch out for my hens!"

• Then today she was in her swimsuit cause she had been playing in our kiddie pool and was cold. She came in and told me she prayed and asked God to make the sunshine on her so she could get warm, and then it did, and she prayed that the "dogs would stop just drinking the pool water", and they did. A while later I was out there and she was standing just inside the shadow of our big maple tree when I heard her praying, "Oh please God, make the sunshine on me now, so I can be warm, oh please, God" then she stepped out into the sun. I didn't know how to respond so I went in the house and snickered quietly.

• Earlier I got to see her throw a little temper tantrum just like Mommy did the day before. I heard her yelling and banging something outside, so I went to see. She was throwing her swing around. I told her to cool it and to come here and have a seat. When I asked what was going on she said, (exactly the words I said) "I hate these dogs!" Woops, I knew then I had to explain how wrong I was and those were not good words to use. She continued telling me how mad they were making her for drinking the pool water, and how they were wasting it!

Oh my Ruthie, she is so sweet. She keeps me on my toes. I pray God would help me to teach her to be better than myself. These are some silly things that I just wanted to record so I can remember them for a long time and tell her later on.

I'm Back!

Lizzie loves the puppies, but she is NOT gentle. She was pulling flesh and hair the other day and to scold her I showed her how it feels and I pulled her hair a bit. This would have sent Ruthie bawling and upset that she hurt the puppy, but Lizzie is different, she had a funny little smirk the whole time and never felt any remorse, she has done it several times and each time I scold her I pull a little harder hoping for some reaction, but just a smirk, then I have to hide my face because I am laughing!

Matt was able to splice our cord and now I can use the computer again. I put a bunch of pictures on Flick r, some of the 4th of July Kiddie Parade in Coeur d' Alene. We went with Jean, Kathy, Asia, Maya, Josh and Jessica. We got to walk with our good friends Stephanie, Isaac and Havilah too. It was a fun day!
The girls got a little cold last week and it is still tagging on a tiny bit. Hopefully this will be all we get for the summer. Lizzie is getting better with her words. I can tell many of her words even if others have no idea. The funniest is "uh uh" like how we would say for "no" but hers means "yes." I think she is either trying to say "uh huh" or "yes please" like the same inflections and stuff. It is fine with me cause I understand it without even thinking about it, but when we visit other people it throws them for a loop that she is saying one thing and meaning something totally different. She also says "baby," "buh" for bottle, "puppy," "Buddy," "Tucker," "Te tee" for Ruthie, "Go!," "nyo nyo" is no no, "ni ni" -nigh night, "boom" when a car goes by, and I particularly like when she says "have some" which means hungry, or wants a particular food we have. She says "mmbuh" which I am not sure what this says but it is very randomly said but lately I am thinking it is Grandpa, because she says it on the toy phone and after talking about Daddy often. She say what sounds like "why" for slide, and "wee" for swing. She is a dare devil too, she climbs the ladder to the slide and sits there until I come to catch her coming down, sometimes yelling at the top of her lungs "Maaamaaaa."
Ruthie likes to tell stories, she has a very active imagination and is always talking to me, it wears me out sometimes. She likes to say scenarios, "if I ..." and they are so far fetched I don't even know what to say back but "hmmm."

Here is Ruthie at our friend Charis' birthday tea party, she made them each a tutu and it was very cute. All the little girls drinking tea and wearing tutu's, except Lizzie she squealed once when another girl's tutu touched her. Doesn't Ruthie look beautiful here, she is getting so big.

Farewell

I got a flickr account and so now I don't have as many pictures to share but here are a few that are not on flickr.

My Tree Peony

Some pretty cute girls reading an excellent book

tight squeeze

Ready for church in skirts and pigtails. Ruthie has a baby in a blanket and Lizzie's belly is showing, perfect.

a little splashing in the mud

a pike caught stuck and set in our sink to filet along with many of its friends!
Check out those teeth!

And here is the stinker that makes me say farewell. He is Buddy, the newest member of our family. Today he chewed the power cord to our laptop and it doesn't take a charge anymore so I probably won't be using this much more for a while until we can get a new cord.

Jesus is in Ruthie's Heart!

A few days ago Ruthie woke up with a bad attitude as she often does. I told her to go back upstairs and not to come down until she has a better one. I suggested that she pray and ask God to help her change her attitude and be happy. She went up and I didn't hear from her for awhile. She finally came down the stairs and smiled at me real big and said, "I asked Jesus into my heart!" I figured that was enough, and she was ready to come downstairs:)
I know she is young and may not even really understand what that means but she knows that she wants Jesus and that is awesome. I congratulated her and talked about it a little with her.
We love you Ruthie!

Lots of stuff!

There has been a little flooding up here in the Silver Valley! We took a drive a couple days before it had peaked , we went up the Little North Fork, and here are a couple of decent pictures I got. I saw pictures on the internet and could tell it had come up quite a bit from when I took these.
We finally got a little pool for the girls, if it ever gets warm enough they could go in it again. Ruthie was so freezing after she did this.
We went to Aunie Em's wedding to Paul, they had it at a Bible Camp. It was really fun. Matt could only get Ruthie to dance with him.
Lizzie loved dancing too.
Here's Lizzie in the wagon when we went for a walk to see some of the flooding. I don't know why but I love natural disasters. They are so cool to see.
Ruthie's turn while Lizzie pushes from behind, I think Daddy needed some help!
DON'T DO IT LIZZIE. You have your whole life ahead of you.
I captured a silly picture while Lizzie was sitting on the swing at TJ's house and playing with a toy gun that was laying around.
And with the warm weather Ruthie learned a new trick. To swing herself, thank goodness. We are so proud of Ruthie, she came in one day and told me she was swinging herself and to come watch and sure enough she had it down really well. Everyday for a few weeks she would go out first thing in the morning and start swining. They play outside whenever they can, and have great tans already.
We have been fishing several times and Ruthie caught this one at Bull Run!

I was trying to get some pictures of the girls together and I got about two pictures before Lizzie started crying and reaching for me.
At the Camp where the wedding was at they have a great big blue slide, it is awesome. We took the girls down, and Ruthie was a little nervous but liked it. Lizzie loved it because she has no comprehension of what could happen I think. Everyone started racing down it. Here is my nephews Preston and Nathan, I love the concentrated looks.
Nathan is a character, he is always getting people to laugh.
After a little while the big Jolley boys started playing; TJ, Matt, Joseph, Jordan, and Tyler. Oh my goodness, look out and stand back. They would wax the gunnysacks and get going so fast that at the bottom they couldn't hardly stop. Tyler would actually jump up and slow himself running, then he even hit the fence that swung open. He nearly took out Grandma Jolley one time. I got a few more pictures and have a flickr page now that I will try to put pictures on.

A Little Glimpse into a Kids Mind:
This morning Ruthie and Lizzie and I were laying in bed talking. Lizzie was saying "eye," so we asked where Ruthie's eye was, and she pointed to it. Then we asked her nose, mouth and ears, and she pointed to all of those too. Then Ruthie lifts her shirt and tells her "nipple," then "bellybutton." Then Ruthie asks me "Does God have a belly button?" I said I didn't know, but probably not. Anybody have a better answer, cause now I'm kinda curious.

And here is a video of Ruthie swinging while she sings.

Disciplining Children

http://64.13.218.251/shows/2006/05/raising_children_biblically.php

This is an interview on Crosstalk that a friend emailed me. It is excellent advise and I am going to order the seminar this lady does. I am at a point right now that I need to update my methods with Ruthie as she is growing and Lizzie is so different from Ruthie she needs something different altogether. Lizzie is taking to hitting every time she does not get what she wants. For some time now Lizzie would hit Ruthie for telling her no. My method with Ruthie that worked great was to give a spank on the hand and say not to do whatever it was she did wrong. Lizzie just hits more, which makes sense. Just this past week she is hitting the air when I don't go the direction she is pointing me, or hitting me when I tell her no milk. I started to hold her hand down after doing it and restrict her. Then she absolutely freaks out, screaming and crying. Then when she gets disciplined she always wants milk to comfort her, and I don't want to do that all the time, since I want to be weaning her soon. Any advice? I am excited to hear the seminar so I can learn some new tactics, and get a better perspective on raising the girls in a Godly way.

One Day of Spring

Once upon a time there was some sunshine, so we made a run to the park. As I am writing this it is just a faded memory and I see snow covering everything outside...in late April!I love our park. It has all the old fashioned metal toys. I despise plastic. I'm sure it is safer, and these probably have leaded paint or something, but I just like them.

We must always try to defy the gravity and climb up the slides.
Even Lizzie tries, she does everything big sister is doing. The other day in the car I gave them each an invitation to look at and play with. Ruthie put hers in her mouth and said it was her beak. I look back a few minutes later and see that Lizzie's has a big soggy U shape out of hers. She had seen Ruthie put hers in her mouth and followed suit, assuming that Ruthie was eating hers too.

This little flicker made quite a ruckus when he pecked on the metal dome on this toy.





Weeee! Oh, I am getting dizzy.