Snake Handling

I caught this "little" fellow while I was going to dump food scraps in the woods behind our house. He was in the back yard. True to form, Micah touches the beast right away. Josiah hesitated greatly: "I wish that was a toy snake." But he finally touched it.



I tried to let the snake go, but he turned and headed right for the house. So, I had to catch him again and throw him further into the yard. When my foot came down on his head (to pin him down), I felt my heart soar a little: "The God of peace will soon crush Satan underneath your feet" (Romans 16:19) because the Seed of the Woman has already crushed him for us. You lose, Serpent!

Pumpkin Patch

This week was a fun one. We got to take the kids to Boyd's Orchard. They have a pumpkin patch, apple orchard, animals, and some really fun playgrounds for the kids. It was the perfect fall weather and the kids had a wonderful time. Some of our friends from church went and I thought you might enjoy seeing some of the pictures from the trip.

It's hard to get 6 little ones to pose for a picture:)

The kids showing off their apples.

Micah didn't quite get what Kyle was telling them "Hold your apple and raise your hand"

Jo and Ash by the apple orchard

Jo talking to Graeme in his baby voice.

Sweet Isaac, Andrea and Kris' little boy

Kids running in the apple orchard.

Micah's perfect form... see the apple at the bottom? That's the one he threw.

I told the kids to hug for a picture, and hug they did.


Victoria (left) is doing her own thing.

We didn't forget sweet Sammy, he liked taking a picture with the pumpkin.

Tennessee fun

We had a fun weekend visiting Ashley's parents in Tennessee. We sometimes meet and see each other for one night so we can have some time together, since we live 12 hours a part. It was a beautiful weekend and we had fun celebrating Josiah's birthday. We also went to a state park that is beautiful, Henry Horton State Park. The boys, including Papa had fun skipping rocks in the pretty river. Here are some pictures...

Papa, Nonni, and the boys

Papa and the boys at the river. There's just too many interesting things for the boys to look at the camera.

Micah has a killer arm...a baseball player perhaps?

Mom enjoying Sammy while the boys play at the park

Okay, this is my parents Yorkiepoo. He's so cute! His name is Harley (Harlan-my dad's name and Ashley) He's my only sibling and we never fight!:)

The birthday boy! Can't believe he'll be four on Oct 17th!

Can I open them now, please!

Papa enjoying him some Sammy.

Nonni, Sammy, and Ash

Kids say the funniest things!

Micah sang to Kyle the other day:
"Row, row, row your boat gently down the drain..."
...Is that what you say when you're having a bad day?:)

Kyle and Josiah were reviewing Bible verses Jo has learned, particularly, "love the Lord you God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength..."
Jo said, "I love Him with my whole heart, do I have to love him with my legs too?"

Sometimes we find ourselves saying the funniest things because of our funny kids.
I heard Kyle declaring from the bathroom the other day:
"Micah, we do NOT put our head in the toilet!"

... these are fun(ny) years indeed.

The Young Preacher

Below is Josiah's first sermon. His rhetorical skills are superb. He deals well with the distraction of the young child who keeps invading the pulpit. He needs to work on staying on subject. But all in all, great sermon!




Here's the Transcript: "Turn your Bibles on... to the book of Ephesians. I am the pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, and I want you to sit down and listen to me. I want to talk to you about little kids walking on the ceiling and nobody holding you on there... I am the pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, and I would like for you to come sit down. I would like for you to just sit down... and um... sit back. Can you do that for me please? ... They put nails on him, and they nailed him on the cross, and they threw him into the water... Really did they throw him in the water, daddy? They put him in the tomb, and one day he raised from the dead, and Mary was bringing something to him, and angels said, "Jesus isn't there anymore. He came back." ... Well, I'm pretty tired, so one day we're gonna go home. And one day we're gonna play a game of raising from the dead."

Here's his second attempt at preaching a few minutes later. He's definitely more focused this time.




Transcript: "God made the earth... He made some people... One day when there was a flood, all the dinosaurs died, and they got killed by the flood. and the flood got turned into the ocean, and God turned the flood into the ocean so people can enjoy the ocean. and people can see crabs and find some sea shells and have tons of fun and wade into the deep water... And I would like for you all to sit down." (perhaps he received a standing ovation).

I put Josiah up to this, but the only scripted line was "turn in your bibles to the book of Ephesians," which being interpreted meant: "Turn on your Bibles." Everything else was his own original words, completely unprompted.

Enjoy!

Claunch boys in the morning

The boys were eating breakfast on Sunday morning at the kitchen table and they were so cute and sleepy. The last 20 seconds is the best footage of Sammy. It's kind of funny because during the whole video, Micah's complaining about Jo taking his bacon and I was oblivious because I was so focused on getting a good video. Jo's destroying Micah's bacon and getting away with it.

Ice Storm 2009

January 2009 saw the largest ice storm in the history of the state of Kentucky. On that note, it was the largest natural disaster in state history as well. The weight of the ice on the trees was more than most of them could endure. The collapsing branches and trees resulted in massive power outages throughout the state. In the immediate wake of the storm, more than 700,000 homes were without power in Kentucky alone.

It all started on Tuesday morning, January 27th. I woke up and started making my coffee. As I looked out the window, I thought I could see the glimmer of ice in the grass and trees as the street light as the street light shined in our yard. As the sun gradually came up, I was amazed at the sight. The tree limbs were entirely imprisoned in ice. The sunrise was quite beautiful. If ice could be on fire, it would look something like the sight I saw that morning. The freezing rain was still falling, and I noticed that many of the trees in our yard were starting to droop. I wondered then if we might start having a problem with breaking trees. And by 9:00am, power was out at the Claunch's. As the day wore on, the freezing rain continued. By midday, the sound of breaking trees became commonplace. It sounded like cannons firing about every 15 seconds. About midday, the power came back on at my house. Our friends, Kris and Andrea (and their newborn baby, Isaac) came over to stay with us because their power was out, and they had no source of heat other than electric. Thankfully, our house has gas logs which go a long way to heat the house. We got a weather report early Tuesday evening, only to learn that another heavy band of freezing rain was going to be on us all through the night and into Wednesday morning. Sometime during the night on Tuesday, the power went out again, and it stayed off this time for over six days. By Wednesday morning, the freezing rain had turned to snow, and we got about 3 1/2 inches of snow in two hours. With this, the perfect winter wonderland was complete.

Ashley, Josiah, and Micah went south to stay with Nonni and Papa during the power outage (Andrea and baby Isaac left too). But Kris and I remained to work and help out. In the end, I was very thankful for the heat in our home and for the safety of my family, Kris's family, and the congregation at Bethlehem.

I hope you enjoy the pictures. As you look at them, stand in awe of the ONE whose womb brings forth the ice, who hardens the water like stone, who imprisons the deep (Job 38:29-30)!

**Click on any picture to see it in full size**

Round 1: The Ice...

The ice actually got thicker than this picture shows!

This is a blade of grass I broke out of the yard early in the storm. The whole yard was like this!

Like a Yard Chandelier!

The playground in the back yard had the best icicles!

Round 2: The Snow...

View from the back window of my house.

Micah's Poor Swing!

Can I swing on that?

Who's that peeking through the trees?

Round 3: The Fun!

The boys loved sledding, especially Micah!

Josiah is going to push Daddy down the hill.

Micah wanted the fun to never end!

The sledding hill was fun and fast, but the walk back up was tough!

Round 4: The Carnage...

This shows the trees hanging ominously close to the power lines in my yard.

The branch on my house broke right outside the boys window. They were scared to death that night!

Looks so sad, doesn't it?

The beloved old chestnut tree in the back yard

The bowl swing... we believe it can be repaired before Spring!

We're having a boy!

Yep, we are going to have 3 crazy, energetic, dirty, precious little boys. We found out two weeks ago that it may be a boy, and it was confirmed Tuesday that it is definately a boy. We are thinking about the name Samuel, but we don't have middle name picked out yet. Possibly Samuel James. We will have a prophet, priest, and king name. Micah, Samuel, and Josiah. He he! We used to joke about doing this with our kids names, but we never imagined having 3 boys, especially so close together! It was really funny how we found out. I had a doctor appointment with my regular OB doctor and he does a routine ultrasound everytime I go. I asked him not to tell me if he could tell the sex of the baby because Kyle was not with me this time because he was watching the boys. I then asked him if he could tell me if he could tell if it was a boy or girl, but not tell me. He laughed so hard and said with his Arab accent, "Oh, you cheating." He told me right away that he could tell. Well, if you know anything about me, I'm awful at surprises. Kyle has to work really hard at surprising me. So I call Kyle and ask him if he wants me to find out. We decided we wanted to wait until the next appointment when he's with me. Twenty minutes later, I called him and ask him if he wants to know because it's driving me crazy. He said he did want to know so I called and they told me , "BOY!" I smiled the whole way home and when I told Kyle and the kids at home, they were very happy. Kyle did say, "Wow". Our home is already very loud and crazy sometimes, so we're picturing that multiplied. It will be lots of fun. Kyle will have to do a lot of wrestling with the 3 boys. I am still getting good reports about the blood issue and the antibody levels are staying at 1:4, which is really good. Praise the Lord! The ultrasounds are from the 17th week of pregnancy. Our specialist OB does 3D ultrasounds (at the top) and Samuel looks like he's going to be a thinker, like his daddy, with his hand on his chin. We laughed so hard!

Good Dr. Report!

14 weeks

We had a good Dr. report on the Big E pregnancy issue. My antibody level dropped from 1:8 to 1:4. This is great for now because 1:16 is a danger and we got further from that number. We are praising the Lord! The boys are so excited about having a baby brother or sister. Micah thinks everyone in the family is having a baby. He points to each of our tummies and says, "mommy's baby, daddy's baby, bubby's baby" He points to his tummy and says "baby". Josiah is very excited about having a new baby in the house. He just wants to hold him/her. He changes his mind daily between rather he wants a boy or girl. So cute!

Big E Pregnancy

12 Weeks

Hi friends and family. I know it's been a while. I have just gotten over the 1st trimester nausea. I've had it for about 6 weeks and feeling much better. I want to let you know that everything is going well with the pregnancy. But, we would like to ask for your prayers for one aspect of it. I found out at around 7 weeks pregnant that I have something called the Big E antibody in my blood which makes my pregnancy considered "at-risk". I'll try to explain what this is, and why we are dealing with it. It did not effect the pregnancy with Josiah or Micah, but that's typical with the antibody. Basically, Kyle and I have different blood types. You have antigens on your blood, like Rh, e, c, etc. I have little e and Kyle has big E. Micah got Kyle's blood, Big E, and during my pregnancy or delivery with Micah our blood mixed. My body saw the Big E antigen as foreign and produced the Big E antibody on my blood to fight it. So... If this baby has my blood, the baby is not at risk, that's what we're praying for. But, if this baby has Kyle's blood, my body will fight the baby's blood and give the baby water instead of blood. I know it sounds awful, but my specialist can give the baby great prenatal care if this is the case. I'm getting blood tests every month that tests how much of the antibody is in my blood. They measure it in a ratio and they call it a titer level. My titer levels are at 1:8 right now. If the levels get to 1:16- 1:32 he starts monitoring me even closer and can do a blood transfusion on the baby in the womb. We are really trusting the Lord with all of this and know that His plan is what's best for us and the baby. We are praying also that He'd delight to protect the baby's health and he/she would be healthy. We appreciate your prayers and thoughts.

We got a great ultrasound yesterday. I thought I was 11 weeks, but the baby measured 11 weeks 6 days, yea!