Blueberries!!

*delighted little gasp of surprise*
•

YES! Those are blueberries! And -yes!- they're ours!

*Squeal!!*
•

We're so happy to see them. And even happier to taste them, of course. So now that we've got 500 bushes of ripening blueberries, ya'll are invited for a big blueberry picking party... and plenty of blueberry pie! =) The day is finally here!

Roberta & Hannah | Class of 2010

Faith Academy High School announces the graduation of
•

ROBERTA JEAN

&

HANNAH RUTH
•

June 13, 2010

Roberta
"Excellent Worth"
Jean
"God's Gracious Gift"

Hannah
"Full of Grace"
Ruth
"A Friend"

First day of school, 1997!!

This is where it all began...

Now, it hardly seems possible, that we're graduating. High school's behind us, we're ready for bigger things in life. Plans and dreams are beginning to become reality.

Roberta and I (Hannah) have lived in eight states, plus Guam. We moved nearly every two years, which created quite the challenge for Mom's teaching schedule! Still, she and Dad managed our education in a way that only God could have ordained. Seeing many historical landmarks, national parks, and foreign countries was an adventure few get to experience! We're so grateful to the Lord for giving us the gift of parents who took the time and effort to train us for the furthering of God’s kingdom, and how he revealed to them His will for our education.

Our formal education may be over at home, but we'll continue learning for the rest of our lives. Our parents taught us to learn and teach ourselves. So the learning isn't over for us!

"For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. O LORD of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee."
Psalm 84:11

California, 1999.

The family Christmas picture, 2000.

Hannah, 7, Sarah, 5, Joe, 11, and Roberta, 8. And Jake, the dog!


Two little beach lovers! Roberta and Hannah in Hawaii, 2002.

In Australia in 2003!
World travelers at ages 14, (Joe) 11, (Roberta) 10, (Hannah) 8, (Sarah) and 1 (Abby)!!

In Utah during our move to Tampa, Florida, from Guam, 2004.

Summer 2007

Just days before leaving Newport, Rhode Island, to move to Washington State. Sarah, 11, Roberta, 15, Abby, 5, Hannah, 14. (oh, and Gavan, the little boy Hannah and Roberta loved to babysit!!)
•

In Ohio, during our move, summer 2007.

Spring 2009.
Hannah, almost 16 and Roberta, just barely 17! (On Roberta's birthday... just three days before Hannah's)

Spring 2010.
Roberta, 18, and Hannah, 17, with Grammie in Wisconsin.

None of this would have been remotely possible if it weren't for the precious blessing God gave us in our parents!! They've been the most phenomenal Mom and Dad ever, and we're so grateful that they're in our lives!!!!
-- Roberta and Hannah
♥

14 Days of Thankfulness

In celebration of Thanksgiving this year, the author of "Untraveled Path" is hosting a blogging challenge on Thankfulness. This year I'm too busy to do all fourteen days... but I may join in the challenge in about a week. You can read all about it here. It's simply this - one post every 14 days (or so) on what you are grateful for! (read the official guidelines on her blog). Even though this started two days ago, she says you are welcome to join in. I hope you have a great time!

"Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men!"
Pslam 31:19, kjv

Little Miss

Are you ready for a surprise? Good. Though to some of you, this is no surprise, since you got in on this earlier...

We had a calf!!!
Actually, that's not true. Clover had a calf. Anyway... it was a little heifer (which adds to the blessing - since heifers are worth a deal more than bulls... sorry boys, that's the way cows are.)

She has yet to be named, but we're narrowing in on a few. We'll let you know of any developments! ;) Okay, I think you're ready for me to quit babbling and let you see some pictures of our little princess, so here they are!
•

Proud Mama! Sorry about the "green eyes.." I guess that's the equivalent of people "red eye..." it's the product of flash.
•

Wonderment in the eyes of a cat.

Little farmer!

I... am... soooooo.... t.i.r.e.d... good night, people... *snore* *snore*

Watchful eyes.

She already LOVES people!

Like, whoa - where am I and, totally, what I am doing here? ;) Just kidding. She's got an excellent and highly refined vocabulary.

All right, now for those of you who wish to hear the story in full, here it is.

Around 8:00, Friday morning, us kids left for our music lessons (an hour and a half drive from our house, two hours of lessons, and then an hour and a half back...). We were at lessons when Mom called around nine thirty (I believe) and told us Clover had had a little heifer just five minutes ago!! She had also called Dad, who was not in town at the time.

The little cutie was a tiny spitfire, and was running and eating and kicking even at a few hours old. She and Clover get along famously, and Clover lets her nurse like a good cow should (she didn't take too well to Daisy, her last calf, in March two years ago.)

Both mom and baby are doing well and loving a total life of leisure. =) We thank God for his blessings!

Abby's Baptism!

On Sunday, August 16, Dad baptized his last daughter, Abby Joy, in Kelso Lake, Idaho!! Our church held an outside service on the shore of the lake, and afterwards, Abby, two other young ladies, and two other young men were baptized by their fathers. It was great!

One of the families from our church has a cabin on the lake, and they wre gracious enough to share it with the church that day! Before the service, we'd had a barbeque, and afterwards, we went kayaking and swimming in the lake. It was a day of wonderful memories that we'll think about for years to come!

Abby and Dad.

Hooray!

Dad, Abby, and Mom.

I remembered when I was baptized by Dad with my sisters, Roberta and Sarah, in the ocean off the coast of Guam in 2003. =) That was a great experience - I don't know how many people can say that they were baptized in the Indian Ocean! So far, all of us, except Joe, have been baptized in a natural body of water. =) We were teasing Joe and saying that he'll have to be re-baptized in our creek! :D But I don't think the type of water really matters as long as your heart is right. :)

1000th Visitor!!!

I was looking at some of our site stats, and I just saw that someone was our 1000th visitor since January, 09!!! (Of course, we had visitors in 2007 and 2008 - but I just installed the counter in January 09. ) Woohoo!!! ;)

The Blueberries Are Here!!

THE BLUEBERRIES ARE HERE!!!

•

At this news, probably our biggest news of the year, I am sure that you will be able to imagine our excitement at the arrival of our blueberries!!! They're here - after years of dreaming, preparing, and trusting God! We're SO glad to finally have our berry farm dream start coming true. God has faithfully worked everything out so perfectly, from the big details, like providing us with this (almost) perfect farm, all the way down to the little details of the day.

•

We're so grateful for our wonderful friends who were here yesterday to help us plant. Originally, they were only supposed to have to dig holes for the blueberries, as the scheduled arrival date was today. Well... a few minutes before they arrived, Dad got a call from the truck driver who was delivering our blueberries, saying that he was 45 minutes away! You can imagine our surprise!

•

When the truck arrived 45 minutes later, we attempted to unload it by using Dad's tractor to lift the pallets of blueberries off the truck. Problem was, Dad's old tractor couldn't lift all that weight!! So, he and the very nice truck driver, Joe, handed down about 175 blueberry plants from each box as we loaded them into all the wheelbarrows and carts we could find. When the box was about half empty, Dad's tractor could lift it and we got the first box out of the way and repeated the process for the second.

•

After the blueberries were unloaded, it was time to start planting. Around this time, a light drizzle of rain began. Ironically, rain is the best kind of weather in which to plant blueberries, as it helps the plant take to the new soil without being dried out. And blueberries LOVE water. The light drizzle kept up the whole time - a muddy mess, yet a surprising blessing!

•

Thankfully, the men had gotten enough holes dug that us ladies could start on the planting while they finished. So we did. Sarah would cut the bags open, while the moms popped the plants in the holes and got them ready and at the right height for burying. Roberta and I would shove all the dirt back into the hole, making sure to pack the bush in gently. The little kids raced around and collected the bags the blueberries came out of (In the process accidentally throwing away my camera, which, in it's black case and in a plastic bag looked a lot like a plant sack! No damage, though.) I think that, on average, we each planted 71 bushes!! Almost two whole rows.

•

We finished planting the blueberries in about two and a half hours - probably a blueberry bush planting record!! :-) Now all 500 plants are up in the blueberry field, each one happy and healthy! Thank God! Now you'll have to come visit us to see how they look! We'll have berries in three seasons, so maybe you should wait to come until then... :-)

•

Enjoy the pictures, and God bless your day!

Change of Address

Hello, all!

I've changed the address of my photography blog, and I thought I should let you all know. If you put my blog on your favorites menu, you'll have to go and re-save it with the new address. If you are following it, you'll have to change the address by adding the new address to your list of followed blogs on your dashboard. The new address is... http://www.farmgirlinflipflops.blogspot.com/.

Have a nice day!

A New Chevy

Just for all of you that didn't know... Joe bought a truck!! It's a beautiful 1992 Chevrolet diesel pickup and it's great!! We all love it (don't worry, he loves it, too). You can get the details and stuff from him. Here are a few pictures. I'll have to get him to be in some soon!

There it is!

Art.

Annoucing...

Post has been removed. See this post for updated information.

Rookie of the Year

Hello, blog readers!!

•

On Friday night (January 16, I think!) Dad, Mom, and Joe all attended the annual Steven's County Fire District 5 Firemen's Dinner in town. They didn't take along a camera (you all know I would have... Ü) so I don't have any pictures of that... but I do have some pictures of an award that Daddy won for 2008!! So, (without further ado...) here's the first picture of that...

How about that?! Dad was the official "Rookie of the Year!" 2008 was his and Joe's first year as being volunteer firefighters here in Washington.

•

The Rookie and his plaque!

•
The firemen's symbol on the top of the plaque (see the other picture to see what I mean.)
•
That's all for now!! Hope you come back to visit us again soon!!!

Graduation Ceremony & Following Proceedings

Greetings to all!

*

I have here, as you will soon see, the pictures of Joe's ALERT promotion ceremony!! As well as before and after random shots. :-) I was not there, so I will have to attribute the excellent photography to my dear Mother. (thanks, Mom!)

*

During the nine weeks of basic training, (I am pleased to announce) Joe gained three awards from the ALERT Academy. First of all, a Scripture Memory Award, for memorizing the whole book of I Peter. Secondly, an Endurance Hike Award (that was for the 24-hour hike!). And, finally, Personal Excellence award!! (this means that he exhibited outstanding character qualities, wrote in his journal every day, wrote all the required letters [and more!] and memorized all his verses on time.) May I note that, out of the 60-some recruits that graduated, Joe was among only 14 who were awarded Personal Excellence!!!! We're all SO proud of him!!

*

Thanks for stopping by our blog!! We hope to see you again soon.

*

For the rest of the family,

Hannah

_

For all the parents who had been waiting for nine weeks to see their sons, this sign (on the road to the barracks) stopped them rather abruptly. :-)

Heartbreak Hill. Doesn't look that steep, huh? You just try hiking it with a ton of stuff on your back at midnight! Ask Joe. :-)

Beautiful scenery out there, isn't it? But I don't think the recruits bothered with scenery much! :-)

He's HOME!!!

Hi, all blog readers and such!

*

I just wanted to really quickly post our GREAT news -

*

Joe's home!!!!

*

The plane bearing Mom, Dad, and Joe arrived safely in Spokane last night. Of course, all of us girls were waiting up so we could greet them. :-) It's so wonderful to have our brother back again!! Mom took many, many pictures of the promotion and I hope to have those up for ya'all very soon. :-) I might even have to get Joe to post here on some of his most exciting adventures!

*

The whole family says "Hi!"

985

985!!!

*

That's how many eggs we got in the whole month of October!! Almost a thousand. :-) We've got even more chickens laying now - I think almost 54 out of the 72. Some are still chicks and will be laying in a few months.

*

Tomorrow I'll be posting the answer to Farm Question #3 - so today is your last chance to "vote!"

*

Hannah

*

Chicks!

Hello, one and all!

*

It is with great pleasure that I announce the birth of our very first chick!! At this moment, it is unnamed because we have no clue whether it is a rooster of hen... :-). It was born a few days ago (and actually, there are several now and I haven't got pictures of the rest...)! So, enjoy the pictures!!

*

Hannah

Sarah and the chick... #1

Sarah and the chick...#2

*

I know this was a short post - I will post more later! :-) Have a great week!

What's All This About a Calf?

On Sunday, June 21, (it will have been two weeks this Sunday) a very exciting thing happened here at the P Farm shortly after we arrived home from church.

Want to know what it was?

Miss Nellie Lee!

Long story to how she got here - let me do my best in explaining. First of all, on June 14th, another cow came home. Her name is Maggie. The cow was pregnant, until she had a calf on June 21 - a calf; whom we named Miss Nellie Lee. Maggie had previously been a heifer (cow who never had a calf) so she'd never been milked before. Let me tell you - it's a very interesting experience, milking a heifer who's never been milked. Very interesting...

Hiding?

Miss Nellie explores the wonders of Creation. Grass!

Playing "Bull"

Our Graduate

Just to let you know, our one and only (and favorite!) brother and son, (a.k.a. Joe) will officially be graduating from high school this Sunday at a small ceremony after Church. Please pray for Joe as he goes on this new adventure in life! He will be starting some college courses from the farm. Home school college, of sorts. I will be taking pictures of the ceremony (of course he wouldn't mind if we didn't say anything, but... let's just say - we've got... big plans.) We know that God also has big plans for his life. We really have appreciated and our very thankful that God put him in our family 19 years ago! Hooray for Joe!!

~

Suprise!

Well - a very interesting event took place at our farm yesterday (March 12) And it happened this way;

On the way home from the orthodontist in town, Joe and Sarah decide to stop by the barn and take a look at Clover - check up on her. As they drive past - Joe sees Clover licking something on the floor of the barn.

They stop and Joe says, "What's that? It looks like a dog!" It did, too.

Immediately after, Sarah realizes what "it" is and screams - "It's a calf!" Sure enough - it was.

Dad, Joe and Sarah did most of the working while I took pictures, ran to and from the house. Mom was away in town (and was mad that Clover had her calf the one day out of the entire week that she was gone). But, thankfully - so far, at least - all is turning out for the better. Here's some pics - hope you all enjoy!!!

~

Daisy Mae and Clover

Hello!