Day 23- Something I crave a lot

On the serious side, I 'crave' that this would be my craving:

As the hart panteth after the water brooks,

so panteth my soul after thee, O God.

My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I

come and appear before God?

~Pslam 42:1-2

On the more flippant side, these taste pretty awesome! :)

Mint-filled-Oreos....best washed down with some nice, cold, fresh milk!!! :)

Baptism Sunday!!!

Our church only does Baptism about once a year, and the Fathers baptize those in their family! A very sweet tradition!!! :)

Onlookers

Mrs. Schatte, Lizzy and Bekah

I took this one over my shoulder...and turned out pretty neat! :)

Daniel, Andrew S. and Samuel S.

Mr. Oglesby gave us a short message on baptism...

and then baptized his daughter, Elizabeth! :)

Mr. Hunter baptizing Charity

Older sisters looking on joyfully!

Mr. Rodriquez...it was soooo sweet...

He baptized his wife, Jessica.....

(This is my fav pic!!! ♥)

...Dane...

...Molly...

...and Ethan! :D

A day to rejoice!!!!! ♥

♥Mother and Daughter♥

Later that afternoon, Jessica called me from the volleyball court to come in and get this picture! :)

Mr. R and Elijah ♥

Day 22- What makes me different from everyone else...

.....I'm me........duh!!!!! ;)

O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me.

Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.

Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.

For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether.

Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.

Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?

If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.

If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;

Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.

If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me.

Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.

For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb.

I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.

My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.

Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.

How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!

If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.

Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: depart from me therefore, ye bloody men.

For they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain.

Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee?

I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies.

Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:

And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

~Psalm 139~

Day 21- Something that makes me Smile! :D

there are allot of things that make me smile!

Babies! any babies!!!

Kitties being playful

Playing volleyball with family and 'extended family' :)

Brothers taking care of their sisters(and giving them random hugs :)

Young men stepping up and taking leadership in our church.

Seeing boys at church carry around their baby sisters! :)

Watching squirrels run up and down trees

But above all, this makes me the happiest:

The fact that I have a family and friends that love me no matter what! And, more importantly, a loving God that loved me SO much that He sent his only son to die for ME!!!!!!

My sin - oh the bliss of this glorious thought

My sin, not in part, but the whole

Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, oh my soul!!!!

<3

Day 20 - Qualities in someone I might marry

Haha, ok, well first a disclaimer! :) I do have things that I would like in a husband, but I also know that, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD." (Isaiah 55:8) So, here goes.....

First off, I know that if I get married, I am going to marry an imperfect man! But, I would like it if he was walking along the road towards perfection. (Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. Matthew 5:48)

He must love the Lord(as hard as this sounds) more than me!!!
Daddy and my brothers have to approve of him(and Sean! ;)

Not a showoff

a sense of humor ;P

Love children!!!! :)

Day 19- Nicknames I have and why I have them

Several years ago I tried to get people to call me 'Essi', but it quickly got shortened to 'Es' :) Daddy sometimes calls me 'Essi G.' Grandpa called me 'Esther Bester' when he was alive, and Andrew once called me 'Messy Essi'....somehow he didn't think it was a good idea to do it again! ;) Faith calls me 'Grace' to differentiate between the two Esther's in our families, and has managed to get me to answer to it! Oh, and then there's 'Back there'... ;)

That is all the nicknames I know I have...are there any I should know about???

The return of the mysterious Esther....

Actually this post is mostly about what we did yesterday while we were waiting for Esther Schatte to get dropped off at our house. :) Rachel, Bekah, Faith, and Lizzy had come that morning to help with processing, and we finished around 1, and Es wasn't coming till 7:30.....So, we went on a walk all around our property!!! It was fun! We literally walked the boundaries all around our 55 acres!!! There are places on the back part of the new land that are very much like a jungle!!!

Starting off on our adventure! The west side of the new land.

Our house from across the road and a field

Crossing the first of four creeks....

well, actually it's all the same creek, just it winds around quite a bit! :)

Liz and Faith

all these 'jungle' pics are along the south side of the new land :)

This part of the creek had water in it,

The ones with Boots on were able just to wade across....but Sarah, Rach and I had worn our tennis shoes.....so.......

Andrew carried Sarah and I, and Bek carried Rach across!!!

Many thanks, you two!!! :)

Sarah and Rachel looking at each other through the culvert.... :)

Ok, this sounds strange, but getting in a culvert and singing is one of the funnest things, EVER!!!! :)

Trying to re-create this picture! :)

missing some people, though! actually, Bek and I are the only ones in both of them! :)

♥♥♥ Friends forever!!!! ♥♥♥

Kyle and Peter being typical boys!

Andrew's cows. The road is the east boundary.

Lizzy had a friend!

walking along the east boundary of the original land

Andrew's turn for a little hitchhiker! :)

Bekah and Buster :)

♥Sisters♥

Along the North boundary, we decided to stop at the pond and stick our feet in the water! :)

No, she really didn't! just a pose!!! ;)

it felt soooo good!!!

♥

I think our neighbor's horses would have liked to join us....

tried to get pics of the minnows....

Bekah in the look out tree

At long last, the Browns showed up with Esther and Amanda Smith, who is down here for a few weeks! the girls were pretty much attacked with hugs as soon as they got out of the car! :)

catching up.....

All of us girls!

Hope, Amanda, me, Esther, Rachel, Liz, Bethany, Sarah, Bekah, Hannah and Faith

Glad to have you back, Es!!!

♥♥♥♥♥