Children Are a Blessing and a Gift

 Psalm 127

Unless the Lord builds the house,

They labor in vain who build it;

Unless the Lord guards the city,

The watchman stays awake in vain.

It is vain for you to rise up early,

To sit up late,

To eat the bread of sorrows;

For so He gives His beloved sleep.

Behold, children are a heritage from

the Lord,

The fruit of the womb is a reward.

Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,

So are the children of one's youth.

Happy is the man who has his quiver

full of them;*

They shall not be ashamed,

But shall speak with their enemies in

the gate.

  

*(As my dad says, "Who wants to go to war with only even 6 arrows unless you have to)

 Psalm 128

Blessed is every one who fears

the Lord,

Who walks in His ways.

When you eat the labor of your hands,

You shall be happy and it shall be well with you.

Your wife like a fruitful vine

In the very heart of your house,

Your children like olive plants

All around your table.

Behold, thus shall the man be blessed

Who fears the Lord.

The Lord bless you out of Zion,

And may you see the good of Jerusalem

All the days of your life.

Yes, may you see your children's children.

Peace be upon Israel!

We memorized these chapters at Pilgrims Rest family camp a few years ago. Brochures for camp are now available!

Our New Years Trip to Canada To Visit My Dads Side Of The Family

 We went to a restaurant for one of my Uncle Lew's b-day.

Check out Lance's burger!

 Volleyball in the nicest gym I've ever been in.

 All us kids went up a few days before Dad and Mom came up. They asked us to sing a song for Sunday morning service, oh boy, that was hard to pick a song that we could do without dad. That's what we're doing here, we ended up doing How Great Thou Art.

We went to Grammy's for my other uncle's b-day his name is Greg, but we just call him Herby. He's so good with babies, he loved holding Gabriell.

This is hulk. Just kidding. You always know to watch out if Seth has that mischievous look.

My,"Little in stature, but big in heart" Grammy Helen.

 Cousins.

 Beautiful country.

Mamma and some of her  boys.

Christmas Eve Service

 The Wardwells sang a song.

 The Chicks did an Instrumental while they read prophecies and their fulfillment.

 Seriously into photography:)

 Us and the Barton kids played the song Silent Night, Taylor Swift version.

 Dad got all the little kids to sing a song. It was pretty cute.

Beautiful Shay.

Last two photos by Samuel Barton

Now us kids are off to go skiing and snowboarding!

Winter Activities

 Shay and I took Marshall out to go skating for the first time, he loved it!

 

 

 I made cinnamon buns, I didn't get any pictures with the glazing on them though. Actually it was the first time I've ever made them by myself because Seth usually makes them. Someone called him Rachel Ray because he heard that he made eclairs. He makes really good brownies from scratch too, so if you need a cook or baker Seth's your man! Lol.

The Conference Begun and Ended

The conference was on Gosple Centered Marriages for a Glorious Church.

Sorry It took me so long to blog, I've been so busy I just didn't have time.

We played a lot of sports there. There was one trip to the emergency room by a friend of ours, but other than that we had a great time.

After the sessions were over one evening we went over to a fellowship room where people we playing and singing music, while they were doing that we just talked to another family for about 2 hours, it was great to get to know them better.

 This panel discussion was really helpful. Honestly this was my favorite conference so far regarding everything, session topics, the fellowship, and it was an added blessing to have Lance, Hannah, and Abigail there as well.

 About 2,200 people attended. We are already signed up for the next conference, so if the Lord wills it, we will be there.

Shay and Seth got a little too close cause when the wind changed dirrections they got wet!

 I'm sorry, everything is out of order. Before the conference started we went to see what is supposed to be a natural geyser; we have our doubts about how natuaral it is, but it was neat anyway.

 The Lapore's went as well.

 Somewhere out under a rainbow...

 My bro's trying to figure out what was wrong with somebodys suburban. At the last conference we didn't know them but we helped them unload their things into their room, this year we loaded their stuff in a mutual friends van and moved them over to another building because their suburban wasn't working. It was kind of funny becuase we were in their room just talking and Shay saw a friend walk by. We didn't even know they were staying in that building, but come to find out they were only a few doors down from where we were talking.

part of our room.

And so ends our usefull, encouraging, fun trip that the Lord saw fit to grant us the ability to go.