Summer so far....

Urgent care visit ...healing with antibiotics

Levi and Grace home for 6 months and doing very well

strawberry picking ( eating )

family parties

Outside play and lots of swimming

new pets

Building strong bonds

Celebrating birthdays

And more swimming.....

It is hard to believe that summer is flying by so fast until I remember all that has been going on...Mary Kate and Keith bought and moved into their first single family home only 9 house down from ours. We bought their townhouse and stepped into the realm of the rental world. We still have a very busy August and September...We start our home school after Labor Day. Paul , Joseph and I will be traveling to Ghana in 2 weeks...and that seems an amazing thing. I have been out of the country 6 times in this past year. Ben was in Haiti for 10 days. Cate was in Haiti for 2 weeks. My older children are moving into adulthood and my littles are not so little with the twins turning 4 next week. I have lots of things to share but still can't....one of them is the joy of welcoming our 2 new grand babies home soon from Ghana. No we won't be bringing them home on our trip but we will be visiting them : ) Life is moving at a fast pace as always...but the Lord has continued to provide . Thanks for praying for my granddaughter, Zoe in Haiti . She is recovering from the Chikungunya virus. They will be traveling home this Saturday and we can't wait.   They will be transitioning back to the US and we ask for prayers for them as they do. God you are so faithful ....We are grateful for your presence in the lives of our family. 

All dressed up to go to church this am

Ava, Judah, Milo, Jesse and Kloe

Posing in our Peace Garden

Our Home Outside

Our front door

The Peace Garden

We have 2 full size soccer nets in our front yard, 2 basketball courts - We spend lots of time outside all year at our own home.

We have 2 pools surrounded by a very large deck. We swim every day and many times from 10 am to 4 pm.. 

We also have 2 trampolines, and 2 play swing set areas. Paul and the kids built one and made extra equipment for the kids like the chin up bar, climbing wall, balance beam and a separate area of low decks for the kids under trees that have become forts, play houses or whatever their imagination desires. 

Our "fire camp " pit 

We have a fenced vegetable garden that we enjoy but don't rely on ... We try many diff. veggies but also plant our favorites of tomatoes and cucumbers. 

You may notice lots of rocking chairs in my blog post before this and we also have lots of swings for all the little ones ( grand babies included ) and Andrew who enjoys movement.

Our Home - Our Keep

Someone asked me about our home and I promised a post about just that for her. We have over 5,000 sq feet of finished living space. We also have a basement, and 3 car garage. Our home sits in the middle of 2 level , flat acres that has the riches soil ( previously an orchard ) ever which is great for gardening. We have 9 bedrooms with 2 of them being dorm size rooms ( one for girls and one for boys ) . There are 4 full baths and one half bath. Two of the bathrooms have a double bath and a separate shower. We have a large sunroom with a large fireplace ( our main gathering area ). This is open to the previous family room, eat in kitchen and open kitchen area that stretches around to the previous living room and dining room. then a very large dorm room with a walk in closet and separate room off it. There is a door that goes out to our back deck and the 2 pools. We have another family room off the kitchen that previously was our 2 car garage . We have a separate laundry room and lots of storage closets or areas ( that are full with food or supplies ). We have another laundry area with a second set of washing machines and dryer. We do at least 6 loads a day of laundry . I have 3 food pantries one of them is a walk in off the kitchen.  We have one very large refrigerator, freezer in the kitchen and 3 others in the garage with 2 full freezers in the garage as well.

Our original home was 2,400 sq ft and we have more than doubled that thru the years. God has provided every time we have expanded our home to include more children. We have a unique home that suits our families needs well. We are more than grateful for all the Lord has given to us.

A place called the Keep. It was always the strongest and best protected place in a castle. In it were hidden all who were weak and helpless and unable to defend themselves . We feel like the Lord gave our home the blessing of being a Keep for children. For now we have 32 children with 25 of them still living with us at home. I am not able to share all the details of our life at the moment but there are many God things going on . Living our life under the the knowledge of the keeping power of our devine keeper, who neither slumbers nor sleeps , and who has promised to preserve our going out and our coming in....We are disciples of Christ, who have every reason to live our life courageously under the Will of Him whom we serve. And we are usually having the time of our lives .