These People

 Man, these little people in my life.  I love them.  They are SUCH blessings.  The never ending stream of work to care for, love, train and clean up after them can be overwhelming.  But, oh boy, they bring so much blessing and happiness!  God was so good to give them to us!

There's this Ittai fellow for instance.  He tickles us pink with his MAJOR artistic bent.  He draws and draws and draws and draws and.... "Mom, can I have another paper?".  He draws pictures of Bible stories.  There've been times when we've shared a Bible story and he says "I'm gonna draw that!"  And he does.  His favorite story by far is David and Goliath and I don't know HOW may pictures he has drawn of that WONDERFUL account. May he trust the Lord with all his heart, much like David!

And he comes up with tons of other things to draw too.  It's never ending.  And we LOVE it. 

He also loves music.  Right now he requests Big Daddy Weave a lot.  And the song "Come Sit Down" is a song of theirs that is a new favorite of his.  You would think a little guy would gravitate to the most rambunctious songs... and he does like some of those.  It makes the fact that he likes "Come Here it is on You Tube: Click Here

And the confessions of a four year old are great!  The other day while arriving home from being out and about he randomly says to me "I TRY to like good animals, but I like bad ones."  What kinds?  "Lions and sharks..." So, we talked a little about the fact that God compares Himself to a Lion.  He is the Lion of Judah.  So if lions were bad, God wouldn't compare Himself to them.  So it's ok to like lions!!!  The first photo above shows him with his beloved lions.

 And here's the little man with his dog, which is very special to him, made by his great-grandma for him! 

And here's my other two precious boys.  They'll need their own posts on a different day.  Here Ranan was getting a ride in the baby doll stroller.  :-)

And here's a cowboy and Indian.  The faces are priceless.

This was heart warming scene one day a while back.  On their own, the four big kids ended up on one of the beds together.  Hil was reading loudly from a Dick and Jane and the others weren't paying too much attention as they looked at their own Dick and Jane, and Clara read some of it to them. 

And our fun Daddy suggested I take the kids to a petting zoo the other day, so we did!  Here's three of 'em at the play area. 

Another Wedding! Yay!

So, weddings are like the measles.  Contagious.  About 5-6 years ago, three of my bros got married within a year of each other.  Then, the years rolled by.  Well, last July, Josh and Monique got things going again...And March 25 we had the latest case.  :-)  My lovely sister, Anna, married our super new brother-in-law Austin.

We were greatly blessed to have the WHOLE family there!  All, nine siblings, five spouses, ten grand-kids and Mom and Dad!!!  Here's a few pictures from our time... just shots from my phone, nothing fancy, but snippets of a very special time!!!



Tirzah and Uncle Josh

Cousins Jude and Ranan 

 Uncle Stephen and Wyatt

 Hil and Ittai having fun with Uncle Caleb

 Me and the lovely bride-to-be

 Melissa and I

 The Couple! A and A!

 Talking with Uncle Randy at the rehearsal dinner.

Grandpa, Ranan and Uncle Caleb!

 

 Watching a show with Nolan!

 Holding Aunt Anna's bouquet

 Me with my lovely sisters, Melissa and Amy

Donuts with a bunch of the crew

 

Drawing time!

Snipets

 Hilkiah and Ranan
 

 The little lady conked out on Daddy's lap

 Our newest little love... the 18th of this month sees him turning 4 months already.

 Cuteness: Brother styling sister's hair...

And here's more brother and sister sweetness... at the window on a snowy morning...

And here's Clara's start at large family group photography :-)

And here's my very "cool" looking household "help" (Miss Tirzah:

And here's my very helpful Miss Clara taking care of little bro:

Visits!

 In October - November we had the great treat of my brother Josh and his wife Monique visiting on their cross country move!  Thanks so much for taking the time, guys!!!  Their stop was followed by a nice long visit from my baby sister Melissa, who helped us out a ton with the busyness of life, home and kiddo duties!

 She was even brave enough to take a trip with us!  The first few picture in this post are from a zoo stop during that trip.

Mad Skills Right There Folks!!! 

And here are some snaps from Uncle Josh and Aunt Monique's visit:

Can't tell, but J and M are all the way at the top with our four "big" kids.  :-)

SUCH a blessing to have family come for visits!!!!

Looking Back

 Looking back on a year that saw a woefully small number of posts, here are a few snapshot highlights from 2016.

May was a big month for the two people above.  They turned 6 and 8.  Hil's birthday was while we were in Mexico.  We celebrated in Mexico and then also had a joint party with his sister back in the states.  The fun cake was a DQ icecream.   


In July, I got to travel to CA for my brother's wedding to the lovely Monique.  Tirzah got to come with me.  For the first time in five years, all nine of us siblings were together in one place!!!

The Four Sister! I was quite pregnant with Ranan by then.

 The newly weds!

Mr. Ty celebrates a birthday!

One of the biggest events was welcoming our newest blessing to the family, Ranan!  Precious little man.  He brings us so many smiles.

 My Mom was here for his birth and helped out a TON, as usual!  Dad blessed us with a visit too!!!

This precious lady turned 2!

And in December, we traveled to MO to spend Christmas with family!  What a big treat!!!!