And the last while.....

Russian Teacakes and Dutch Oven Bread

Dutch oven bread in process .....

A crowd of children,rocks and paint equals lots of rock masterpieces!

It might be small but on Christmas night a lot of folks enjoyed this bird! Lee was given this as a gift by someone he's remodeling for.It was our first time roasting a turkey but it went quite well. I even got a huge soup out of the carcass.

Here is our "Wren Bird".

This shot is dark-sorry.

Here the light is shining on the lit up piece.Lights are lining the walls of the cavern.It's illegal to touch the cavern growths so one has to be very careful with small children while inside.

Jess and Alex in front of a display. It was nicely done and even had "touch tables" so we could be hands on.

This is Alex in the room adjacent to the entrance of caverns near our home.Lee's brother was in town and gifted us some passes to go on this tour.We had left our camera at home so we had to make do with the dinky cell phone camera.We still had a wonderful time with a lovely guide.

The baby is doing well though she is a stern child.She's definitely very stingy with smiles,preferring to stare in a penetrating fashion.But it doesn't seem to diminish our love for her!

The children are all growing and learning.Jess loves to carry the baby-I can tell it makes him feel very important.They vacuum,clean the bathroom sink,keep toys picked up and set the table and even sweep up after a meal so my load is definitely lighter than the last time we had a baby in the house.Plus they are my "legs" for countless little errands.For this I am very grateful.

We are working on learning the sounds of the consanants right now besides all the little projects we do.Wait till I tell you about boiling turkey bones in laundry detergent on the stove for my dinosaur bone liking lads!

Well,I have a load of baby laundry to fold yet and it's already late...... Goodnight! Marcella

We practice reading

Our reading practice charts.We are practicing the soundsof the consanants right now.

Lee had a birthday the other night. Here he is with the youngest member of our tribe.I would write more but I have the beginnings of Costa Rican "gallo pinto" on the stove and it might be starting to burn! Marcella

Homeschooling Day

Art,reading and our wall of facts about the state of Virginia.Reading history with Daddy and handsewing on paper rounded out the day.Our visitors have left and hopefully we will have a few quiet days! We never know around here! Marcella

Snowflakes and Gingerbread Houses

Jeremiah and Timothy with their "gingerbread houses" we constructed yesterday.Minutes later they started to devour them.
Above, are the snowflakes we made the other day hanging from the light fixture.

I'm posting way more pictures than notes these days. I seem to be short on time-is that a surprise? Marcella

Dinosaurs in Ohio

We traveled to Ohio over the weekend to attend church meetings. On Sunday we gathered in a welcome center that had a dinosaur room,complete with tunnels and all kinds of accessories.Here's a shot of Alex peekeing out of one of the tunnel entrances or exits-I'm not sure which was which! I managed to escape being forced into the maze-barely!
Well,there's lots on my heart to share from the weekend but I have children in the tub to supervise,family getting in from the airport soon and evening cleaning to finish,namely two bedrooms so I will sign off for the moment. Wishing all a good night.
Marcella

Babies,Homemade books and casseroles

Bountiful Blessings

Sarenna is doing beautifully.The table has plenty of food on it. We are bountifully blessed! And now I'm off to catch a few winks! Marcella

From hubby, with love

Today was really sweet. It all happened at home, at 3:20 AM, with a nearly full moon illuminating the room where Sarenna Faith made her first audible presense known to everyone. At 8 pounds 11 ounces, she's well filled out and most importantly, she is a contented, healthy baby so far. Momma came through like a queen, as you can see. She's already back on the blogging saddle this evening! There are many things I could say but simply stated, WE LOVE MIRACLES....like these. Praise God!

Thanksgiving Day Field Trip

We went out for an afternoon trip to the park near our house today. It was dark by the time we left and Lee got a picture of the dam at the edge of the park.They illuminate the dam at night.
Marcella

Still no baby...

Still no baby...let's change the subject! I plan to continue using the psuedonyms from my former blog on Pilgrims Passing Through.I'll reintroduce them for those of you who weren't readers.Lee-husband,Jess,our oldest son, Alex,middle son and Chelsea,so far the only girl of the family.These are all forms of thier names but it bugs me to have all their real names out there for anyone to easily identify them with so thanks for bearing with me!
It looks like it will be a quiet Thanksgiving Day for our family.We had invitations in two different states this year but with a baby that may arrive any day it certainly cut that out of the picture!I think we will have some special out of state visitors in the following days though,so that will be nice.I found a beautiful Thanksgiving prayer that I plan on making a motto wall hanging with and other than that I'm guessing we really won't do much traditional.
Yesterday,Jess and Alex helped their daddy at his work site.He's preparing to lay tile and they helped prepare the worksite.
I got some last errands done,at least I hope they are last errands before the baby comes. Today,I hope to do last minute jobs:)! Here's hoping! Marcella

Greetings Friends!

I'm back! You're here! Welcome to my new blog and may we all profit by this web home. My,so much has happened since I last had a blog!I can hardly attempt to summarize it all so maybe I'll start with the here and now and backtrack as desired.That said,I greet you from beautiful Virginia,where our family now resides.Yes,it's a long way from Costa Rica for those of you who knew where we lived last,but that's what Pilgrims do a lot of!Our Heavenly Father always knows best,even when the paths He chooses for us are mysterious at times!
Our family is eagerly awaiting little blessing number four any day now and we hope to keep you posted via this blog.We can hardly hope to keep everyone updated properly otherwise!To those who keep asking,no the baby has not arrived yet. All I can say is that they say watched pots don't boil,so maybe too many of you are watching!
The children are growing and well,all of them. I'll try to update in another post.Ditto for the husband and father of Pilgrim family as I will refer to us in this blog. For now,the night is short enough without doing too much wrestling with a new blog. Ciao!
Marci