Part 2 Gabriel's 11th Birthday!

 Celebrating the 11th birthday of our first born was quite something. Time flies . . . the birth and aftermath of Gabriel's birth were very tough but all worth every minute of it. Gabriel is a gem and he lights up our home. Gabriel is a kind heart and a sweet soul. Don't let that fool you though. He is

a determined and brave young man.

I meant to blog this earlier but never did. Weeks back he had a wrestling tournament and honestly got

his butt kicked. He was thrown around like a rag dog the first match and came off and told me "That was almost humerous." He almost blacked out in one match and had the wind knocked out of him in another with the coach rushing out to check on him. Hard on a Mommy, actually even his Daddy to watch him go through all that. He ended up wrestling kids that had been in wrestling for YEARS and not months! 

I say all this to say Babe and I were so proud of him. He was very nervous but never gave up, never complained and fought as hard as he could and did get better as the matches went on. 

I dare say there are MANY kids that would NOT have completed some of those matches but not Gabriel. I saw that day that he had turned into a young man. I was proud of his attitude and his actions. It wasn't just us though but also his coach was really pleased with how Gabriel handled it. He noticed the battle marks Gabriel had received during the day. 

Babe and I were drained by the end of that day.
Babe was there to help coach him and I was there for support. I knew I could not give the typical Mommy support. I knew I had to stay positive and encouraging. At the end of the day he said "Thank you for encouraging me today Mommy." Worth it all.

My little boy isn't little anymore he's quickly becoming a man and part of becoming a man (as we read in a book weeks back) is understanding who you are and being comfortable with it and that is

what I see in Gabriel. He may not be the best wrestler but you still fight the fight and do your best.

 Ross really was on me to take him to Family Dollar so

he could buy Gabriel a birthday present! He got him a good present too!

Travel Battleship!!

 Carson drew Gabriel and picture of Gabriel 

climbing on our jungle gym! Pretty cute!

 Auntie Theo and Uncle Q got him a crystal growing kit. I am sure

he'll have a grand time with that this summer.

His Uncle B got his a hiking backpack. I don't have a picture of it yet!

 Gabriel opening and seeing that Grandma and Grandpa J got

him an ipad for his birthday!!

 Gabriel wearing his new hat he got from his Uncle Q for his birthday!

He loves it!

 Jedidiah enjoyed all the exploring.

Gabriel wanted to go Putt-Putt golfing on his birthday so we did!

We had such a fun time. We all want to go back!

Gabriel even ran into a friend of his there which he

thought was really fun!

 Annalina really improved as she played!

 The Kiddos had a GREAT golfing adventure!!

 Jedidiah showing no fear! :-)

 Jedidiah getting a break on Daddy's back.

 The Wild West Miniature Golf course was so fun!

 It was very cute watching Carson play miniature golf!

 Oh Dear! Ross hit his ball into the water!

Part 1 of Gabriel's 11th Birthday!

 Gabriel wanted to do the cake part of his birthday celebration

while his Uncle B and Cousin C were here. So on Saturday 

night we sang Happy Birthday to Gabriel and they got to eat cake!

We just got it celebrated before it was time to go to bed! At least we got it accomplished!

Fun with Cousins, Uncles, and an Auntie

 Over Memorial Weekend we were able to get together with family and have fun.

My brother Quentin and sister in law Theo and my 3 nieces came during the day on Friday and then my older brother Ben and my nephew C flew in on Friday and left Sunday morning. Unfortunately, I had to leave out a lot of pictures since (as I mentioned before) 2 of my nieces we are waiting on adoptions to go through. I look forward to showing their beautiful faces on here when I can!

We had a great time

seeing everyone and being all in the same place at the same time!

Theo and I took the kids to the park while Babe and my brothers
went target shooting. Target shooting is high on the enjoyment list
for all of them so it was nice they all got to go together.

 Gabriel and Cousin C.

 Annalina with Cousin Alyzza.

 Ross, C, and Gabriel.

 Alyzza is doing a great job of pushing!

 Ross Monkeying Around.

 Fun with Sissy.

 Cousin C decided to let Jedidiah have a ride with

me waiting for him down below!

 Carson Boy.

 Annalina on the playground down the street from our house.

 The 2 BIG boys and one little boy.

Fun to bike ride to the park!

So nice that the playground is by our house!

Gifts and a New Skill

 In January Annalina started being instructed in sewing. Her teacher

wanted to start her off with hand sewing and I am so glad she did!! Annalina

does BEAUTIFUL work! She has been learning different

stitches in embroidery for some time now like the chain stitch, french knot, 

daisy stitch, outline stitch, etc. 

She embroidered these pillow cases for Grandma and Grandpa J for Mother and Father's Day.

I am so excited for them to receive them in the mail!

She wrote them a note saying this was a "Thank you for all you do for me."

Annalina has an amazing teacher. She knows she is blessed with the quality 

of instruction she receives.

My New Favorite Quote . . .

"Duty is ours, results are God's."

John Quincy Adams
US diplomat & politician (1767 - 1848)

Faith and Freedom Trilogy by Douglas Bond

I have procrastinated on writing about these books but wanted to get them down. The kids enjoyed us reading the Faith and Freedom Trilogy which consists of the books Guns of Thunder, Guns of the Lion, and Guns of Providence. All these were written by Douglas Bond. These books are really written for boys and I thought I remember reading somewhere they are geared to boys 9-12. Who knows maybe I remember wrong!

My mind is lazy these days and Babe told me today I am officially crazy. Of course, he said this in the sweetest possible way. :-) I know what he means and he's right my mind these days is mush and I have hard time remembering ANYTHING. "The girls" as I call them these days (another words the twins) seem to suck the brain power right out of me. If I don't have something written in my day timer that is not a good thing!!

Ok, I wrote previously about Bond's trilogy that took place in Scotland. The name of the trilogy is not coming to me. Anyway, we loved every single one of of those books!! They could be a bit grotesque but filled with excellent thought and values. We really enjoyed that series. 

This trilogy was toned down in the gorry type details and takes place in America.

Guns of Thunder we really enjoyed.
Guns of the Lion honestly we were a little bored with. It was written in a different way and I would say we anticipated being done.
Guns of Providence we LOVED!!! Bond seemed to be back to his normal interesting and inspirational writing. I wanted to put an excerpt from this book here. A friend of mine was interested so I sent this excerpt to her. Most of the book is not this high brow in the writing but what EXCELLENT talking points with the kids!!

Pages 106-109  in the book Guns of Providence by Douglas Bond

One frigid day late in January 1776, huddled against  the cold, I turned to an essay penned by George Washington's favorite  author, Joseph Addison. What I read therein was as though written directly to my tentative mind, as though Mr. Addison had been handed to me by my father.

    "Having endeavored on my last paper to show the great excellency of faith," wrote Addison, "I shall here consider what are the proper means of strengthening and confirming it in the mind of man . . . . The first rule, therefore, which I shall lay down is this, that when by reading or discourse we find ourselves thoroughly convinced of the truth of a basic doctrine, and of the reasonableness of our belief in ti , we should never after suffer ourselves to call it into question."

    My first impression of these his words was that of a critic. I was now all of sixteen years and fully able to think for myself, so I imagined. I thought this first method of his a veritable call to halting all speculation, all intellectual investigation of ideas, and I was tempted to fling this essay aside without completing it.

    But as Providence would have it, I did no such thing. "It is in this manner that the mathematician proceeds upon propositions which he has once demonstrated," continued Addison, "and though the demonstration may have slipped out of his memory, he builds upon the truth because he know it was demonstrated." This gave me immediate pause. It as humorous to picture a mathematician returning to the proof of rudimentary axioms with each computation. To the disarming reasonableness of his logic, I had no answer.
   
    Addison then proceeded to his second method of confirming and strengthening faith. He urged on doubting minds, such as I had allowed mine to become, "that they should lay up in their memories and always keep by them in a readiness those arguments which appear to them of the greatest strength and which cannot be got over by all the doubts and cavils of infidelity."

    "Will you not read your Joe Addison aloud, Sandy?" asked Salem, between blowing on a spark he had made with his flint, trying to coax the tiny red glow into lighting a small mound of twigs he'd scavenged for a fire.  I briefly explained what I'd read so far and continued.

    "In the third place, there is nothing which strengthens faith more than morality. Faith and morality naturally produce each other. A man is more quickly convinced of the truth of religion who finds it is not against his interest that is should be true . . . . Faith is kept alive in us and gathers strength from practice more than from speculation."

    Salem grinned at this. "Reminds me of another proverbial observation I once heard. 'Many have quarreled about religion that never practiced it,' so it goes. Maybe that's a wee bit of what Joe Addison is driving at. Mere speculating about what the Good Book teaches, Sandy, is of little use to your soul. Read on, then."

    I proceeded to Addison's fourth method fro strengthening and confirming faith: "more persuasive than any of the former, and that is an habitual adoration of the Supreme Being, as well in constant acts of mental worship as in outward forms."

    Salem looked up from his blowing at the little fire.  "Have you been cultivating such holy habits, Sandy?" he asked. Salem could be uncommonly blunt at times. "By 'mental worship,' I'm a-thinking Joe Addison is working at saying what the psalmist said so much better, 'a-gazing on the beauty of the Lord.' Have you been dazzling yourself, Sandy, with gazing thus on the loveliness of Christ? Think on it, man," he said, returning to his puffing. "Read on, then."

    "The devout man," I read, "does not only believe but feels there is a Deity. He has actual sensations of him; his experience concurs with his reason; he sees him more and more in all his dealings with him, and even in this life almost loses his faith in conviction."

    I halted. "'Loses his faith?'" I said. "I thought this essay was about strengthening and confirming faith."

    "Aye, but it is, Sandy," said Salem. "Don't you see it? Faith is believing without seeing the evidence. And conviction, as Joe here uses the term, I'm a-thinking means believing something with evidence."

    I had o muse on this one. But at last Addison's meaning, or was it Salem's, started to take form in my mind. "So is he saying that faith so strengthened by habitual adoration of God grows so certain, sees and experiences the presence of God so veritably that it is no longer a believing without seeing? Is that what he's driving at?"

        "Aye, it is, indeed, Sandy," he replied. " And how I long to be consumed in such adoration of Christ. Don't you have the same longings, Sandy?"

    I agreed that there were times when I did.

    "And times when you don't," said Salem, nodding knowingly.

    "Aye," I said.

    "But there's some heat, lad," said Salem. "Like this wee fire here, there's a spark, and if there is, it is the Spirit graciously laying hold of you. Let's us hear how Joe finishes out," he said. "Read on."

    "The last method which I shall mention for the giving of life to a man's faith," I read, "is frequent retirement from the world, accompanied by religious meditation. Faith an devotion naturally grow in the mind of every reasonable man, who sees the impressions of divine power and wisdom in every object on which he casts his eye."

    Salem had a way about him of getting low and earnest, his eyes flashing with feeling, his voice calm and penetratiing. "You must hope in God, " he said, gripping my shoulders with his strong hands. "You must see the world, the war, the fighting, the killing, the good times and the bad, you must see all as from the hand of his loving providence."


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I took each of these points and discussed and explained them to the kids. Great thoughts!

Getting Ready to Work at Rock Ledge Ranch

Right next to Garden of the Gods is a living history museum open during the summer months and it is called Rock Ledge Ranch. You can go and see how people in Colorado lived in the late 1800's. There are different areas to visit . . . Native American, Homesteading, etc.

This spring Gabriel was interviewed for one of their children volunteer docent positions. They only choose the children to work half the summer for just shy of 6 hours a week. I was told a lot of kids apply and only a certain number are chosen. I told Gabriel if he didn't get chosen we'd know it wasn't what God had planned for him. I thought it would be a good experience for him to go through an interview and see what it is like no matter what the outcome.

He went into his first interview with the man that seems to be if not at the top of running the museum than near it. It was a full fledged interview asking him question after question. "If you could go back to any time in history what time would it be?" or "If a child was visiting the museum and did .  . .  what would you do?" I was in a room somewhat close but couldn't really hear the words just the tone. It sounded like they were having fun! Sure enough Gabriel came out and told me that he actually really enjoyed it and that the man was really nice!

Warning Parental Bragging Paragraph for my own memories and Gabriel's future encouragement

Feel free to skip over!!!!:

Time went by and one day a voice mail was left for me saying Gabriel had been selected and how impressed they had been with him. I later I talked to the lady she told me more about how they really were impressed by him and told me that usually kids don't score very high on the interview points and she said Gabriel got a perfect score!!! Gabriel doesn't know that he just knows he had a lot of fun talking to this man!

Gabriel started his training this week. He came home even MORE excited. I was excited about what he was learning too. Learning, of course, how to talk to the people who come through and about interpreting history to the people who come. They also had a safety chat, etc.  He was so excited.

Saturday after the tournament I took the kids to the ranch to pick up Gabriel's period costume. It was one of those beautiful only in Colorado type days. Ok, maybe not only in Colorado but it doesn't get much better than Colorado!! Not to cold not to hot just beautiful! Gabriel picked up his costume which again made him even more excited. Then the kids wanted to stay and just explore around for awhile. Gabriel said to me "I can't believe I'm going to work here!" He is excited about doing homestead WORK. He was selected to work at the homestead sight. He seems excited about whatever that entails even if it is shoveling manure.

Jedidiah exploring a trail on Rock Ledge Ranch.

This is Galloway Homestead where Gabriel will be volunteering this summer.

An outside oven at Galloway Homestead.

Homestead house.

Coming into Rock Ledge Ranch with Pikes Peak in the Background.

Homestead boy from the late 1800's. Gabriel wanted to

keep his outfit on! He likes it.

Part of the ranch.

Goose and gosling at the ranch. The kids LOVED seeing this.

They insisted a picture must be taken.

ranch

ranch

Dirt, trees, birds= FUN!

Ross at the ranch pond.

Gabriel and Jedidiah at the ranch.

Gabriel kept trying to get Jedidiah not to eat and suck on rocks!

Such a beautiful ranch. No wonder Gabriel said

"I can't believe I am going to work here!"

Jedidiah really enjoyed time in the dirt.