Caleb is ten now and is moving quickly toward young manhood. He is a hard, diligent worker. Although he is not into house cleaning so much, he maintains a steady motivating to take care of the chickens and garden. He loves to draw and build and wrestle with Josiah. Overall, he blesses our home with a pleasant, calm disposition and does much to balance out the stronger personalities in the family.
A couple of weeks ago our family enjoyed a walk at Bass Lake (Blowing Rock, NC), which has become somewhat of a Fall tradition.One favorite attraction is leaf sliding. Here's Nathaniel (4 yrs)
Hannah (6 yrs)
Samantha (4 months)
We enjoyed a visit with my mom and dad recently. They came and camped at the local KOA. You can view the rest of the album HERE.
Here is a picture of Samantha, three weeks old, chatting with Caleb and Nathaniel.
Here are some pictures of Samantha's first day.
OK, now I saved the most hilarious picture for last. This was an unbelievable fluke shot--she's not really smiling yet, of course. We have got a lot of laughs out of it. Maybe Samantha forgot, just for a millimoment, that she was supposed to act like a baby and blew her cover. Apparently, she knows something we don't.
Happy Mother's Day to Dana! I am so grateful to have a wife who loves to have and care for children. She is doing a great job! Here is a picture of her with her seven children (one born in three weeks!).
We had an exciting new addition to our home over the weekend: twenty-four new chicks. As I wrote before, we are going to raise chickens primarily for eggs. We ordered twenty-five Rhode Island Reds (one didn't survive the trip) from Welp Hatchery. We received a call on Friday morning from the post office informing us they had arrived. I could hear the chicks peeping in the background as I told him I would be there in a couple of hours to pick them up. I was surprised how small the box was that they came in:
Here I am opening the box to put them in their new, cozy home.
It didn't take them long to adjust.
The children immediately wanted to hold them. This one Caleb is holding was good enough to look at the camera and smile.
We enjoyed a picnic and hike yesterday at Jeffress Park on the Parkway, just a few minutes from our house. Here are some pictures.
Caleb's (age 9) recent drawing:
