Something to Celebrate!

Last weekend we had the pleasure of celebrating, not only one, but two 50th wedding anniversaries! 50 years of faithfulness in marriage - now that is something to celebrate! On Friday night we celebrated with my parents and on Saturday night we celebrated with Joe’s parents.

My parents:
Mr. and Mrs. Walt Schneider



~

A family picture with Uncle David and Aunt Darla,
of course, this is the main event they traveled here to celebrate.

~~~~~

Joe's parents:
Mr. and Mrs. Manuel Ortega


Joe, Jeannie and Jaime
with their parents.


50 years!
Now that's something to smile about.

The Best Home School Fieldtrip Yet!

When Uncle David and Aunt Darla came to visit - it was not all work and no play - as might be the impression from our last post. Of course, we had to visit our favorite ranch! The Lord had a wonderful surprise planned for all of us. About 5 minutes into our visit at the ranch, Mrs. Morgan realized that one of the alpacas had gone into labor. With a quick call to the neighbor for some "mid-wife" type assistance, the action began. Aunt Darla was enlisted for her nursing skill to assist the "mid-wife" and we had the joy and wonder of witnessing birth. Aunt Darla did a great job! The alpaca "mid-wife" talked non-stop, teaching us an incredible amount in a fairly short time. In 15 minutes the baby was born and within an hour the little one was up and about! I am pretty sure that Aunt Darla had the best time of any of us, being so involved. Not only that, but Mrs. Morgan was thinking of possible names and settled on the name Aunt Darla suggested, a fitting close to a great experience.

The Birth

(Aunt Darla - holding the towel - ready to catch)







The "mid-wife" gently shakes the baby nose-down
to assure that the nose and mouth passages are clear
as the mama nuzzles her little one.



It's a boy!
Safe and sound.



Taking a rest.
Being born is hard work.



Gaining strength.



A wobbly start.



Up on his own -
Introducing - Thunder



Looks like Thunder thinks he's ready
to get out and meet the rest of the herd.

A Big Thank You to Aunt Darla and Uncle David!

We are so grateful that the Lord sent that tornado
WHEN He did - because my sister and her husband,
who came into town the very next day for a visit, graciously
and cheerfully worked with us to clean up the mess.


Uncle David worked with a handsaw for three hours straight.
Josiah sawed and hauled logs.




The guys





A job for everyone.



Sweet Aunt Darla

The Tornado

Last night we experienced our first tornado since moving to this area. The sky turned the most amazing color! However, due to high winds we did not go outside to take pictures. The winds roared and the younger of the children went from nervous to plain out scared. While I was confidently telling them that it was just a bad rain storm (I was unaware that it was a tornado until it was over), my husband was busy trying to decide if we should seek shelter in the basement or if we were still okay on the main floor. He decided that we did not need to move to the basement and he never said a word in the interest of panic control since a number of our little ones were already fighting back the tears. The wind was whipping the leaves against the windows so hard that it sounded like it was hailing! Needless to say, our home survived. When I went out to view the damage to the property the next morning, I knew in an instant that this had been a tornado. When I asked my dear husband when he had planned to tell me there had been a tornado, he smiled and said that he figured I would know when I saw the property and that I had not needed to know any earlier. What a wonderful provision God has given us in our husbands!

The tree by our front door.
Notice the peculiar angle of a main part of the tree.



Gabriel surveying some of the damage.


Hadassah standing by our greatest loss of the storm -
a full half of our beautiful flowering pear tree!
Looks like we will need a chain saw to get
our property back in order.

Rain? No, the Umbrella is Just for Fun.

A sweet pose.



Believe it or not -
the cat is NOT in a choke hold,
Hadassah is just "helping"
the "kitty" pose.



Hadassah - tickled with the
fact that the "kitty" did
not want to pose.


Photos by Moriah

Labor Day Enjoying Edward's Orchard

Apples and more


The "back" room where
the apples are sorted



A varitey of produce available



Beautiful displays



That is one rather expectant
mama goat. Josiah got to feel
the baby move as he was petting her!



We are not sure where this
little one thought he was going.



A relaxing afternoon



Anyone up for a goat kiss?
Close and personal



A small antique museum at
the orchard.



Reminders of yesteryear abound.



A pretty little carriage
with the fringe on top



The late afternoon sun.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAPA!

With love ~
Josiah, Moriah, Gabriel, Isaiah
Hadassah and Mama.

Restoration

Quite a while ago, we had a computer crash that wiped out over 300 photos. We had not known enough about computers to have firewalls and security. We also did not know about "backing up" our files. So, we were out the photos. We lost everything else stored on the computer. We were only able to restore what had been printed out - thankfully, some of our most important papers had been printed out and those were saved.

This morning as I was searching for a certain CD I found two CDs marked as "Ortega Photos". That got me to wondering since the label was in an unfamiliar handwriting. So, I popped them into the computer and, much to my surprise and delight, I was treated to a few of the photos we had lost! I had forgotten that we had changed computers before the one that crashed. When we were acquiring a new/used computer to replace our old one we had a friend transfer the pictures we had taken up to that point. Those are the CDs I found. While this is only a portion of the pictures lost, it was still great to see a few of our favorites restored to us. Especially since we thought they were lost forever.

While we are grateful for the photos God has restored to us, more important to me was the reminder that God is the God of restoration. With the condition of our country at this time, it is important to keep that truth in plain view. It would seem that this generation is going to be witness to the climax of the fall that America has been taking for quite some time. It is good to see the Biblical pattern that, for God's people, restoration is sure to come.

Here are a few of our favorites from the photos restored.


Gabriel and Isaiah with Willow
(notice the boxes, we were packing to move)



The girls - then ages 2 and 8



Josiah and Moriah
(and more packing)



Papa with Hadassah in those sweet toddler years



Isaiah, Josiah, Gabriel




Storytime with "big" sister



Hadassah enjoying the sunshine