Family Fun

Mollie and her girls came over last weekend, and the visit was just grande, so I am here to document it. Hopefully it will more pleasant than the previous chicken documentation.

We were going to TRY to have a little photo session........

(even if the kids were a little on the cheesy side)

.....but we quit after a couple uncooperative pictures and headed for the trampoline.

This was so funny. Malachi just layed on top of Claire like this for a long time, while she just stroked his head and let him lay there.

Care of Baby Kittens: by Aunt Madalyne

Yeah, cute little neices are one of my favorite parts about life.

Looks like Camden took to the kitten training like a natural!

Our family, Mollie's family, and Melody's family all headed to McDonalds for a smash-bangin ice cream party! There's nothing like chocolate-dipped cones, french fries, and kids on blue slides!

I'll give you three guesses......

Well guys.....how do you suppose our family spent a sunny afternoon last week? We butchered 35 chickens!! And since this activity is something not very many people get to participate in, this Hubbard Country gal has decided to give you all a step-by-step of the fascinating process!

Step 1: Cart the chickens into the backyard.



Step 2: (for lack of a more humane word) Kill the fowl and hang it upside down.



After we're sure they are dead, Dad soaks them in scalding water to loosen up the feathers. Doesn't he look like an impressive chicken soaker?



Here's my job: I use this high-tech chicken plucker and rid the birds of all their dignity.



Poor little guy...



Here's Madalyne, our industrious sister who cuts the feet off the chickens and cools them in cold water.



Mom's got the worst, but most important job of anyone here. She....well....ahem... "viscerates" them.



And Maggie.............*sigh* I don't know WHAT she is doing.




The end. Now, if you ever visit us for dinner, you'll know where your food came from, and will be able to rest a little easier in your beds.

Felicidades is how they say Congratualtions in Mexico

Well, after 12 years of education furtheration, these great friends of mine graduated, and I was there to see it!
This is actually the only picture I have of anybody with their gown/cap on.



I guess Betsy was happy to have graduated!



Nyaah nyaaah! I'm taller than Katherine!

Proud to be in a picture with Mr Shrock.....don't be fooled by his glum expression--he enjoyed it more than we did!

My gal Staci

Do I Really Want it THAT Bad?

Great Scott! It's been a long time since I've posted word or picture. I apologize to anyone who has been checking my blog with a sad tear in their eye for lack of anything from Miriam. To prove my remorse, I have here a little lesson that I'm learning, that I would like to show you.

Isn’t it funny how when God wants to teach a person a lesson, He starts peppering every area of your life with some new way to learn that lesson? Well, here’s some of that ‘pepper’ He’s been seasoning me with. It’s called “Being Content.”

First of all....... through my daily Bible reading. There’s a lot of things in the books of the law that if you’re not paying attention, you can easily miss. But thankfully, I was paying attention and her they are:

• When the Israelites harvested their crops in the fall, if by chance they forgot a couple “sheaves of grain” as Deuteronomy puts it, God instructs them not to go back and gather the rest, but to leave them there for strangers/widows who would come by later looking for food.
• At the end of every seven years, everybody was required to: Release anybody from any and all debt they owed to that person, and to free any Hebrew slaves they had acquired.
  
• Every day, more than once a day, each person had to pick out a quality animal from their flock (it had to be flawless, which would make it very expensive) and give it to God.
  
• For the year of Jubilee, which came very 50 years, they couldn’t plant or harvest any crops, or do any trade with each other for products.
  
  

Do ya catch a pattern here? In each of these instances, the people had to give something up—whether it was animals, land, or people, they had to give it away and be rid of it. Why? Well maybe God wanted to teach the people not to be so attached to their possessions. After all, if they knew that they would be giving their most quality animals to God for sacrifice, they probably wouldn’t let themselves get too fond of those animals, and their focus would be taken OFF of their stuff, and ON to the fact they were just there to please God.

Secondly.........I heard a sermon. The guy who preached it pointed out Hebrews 13:5, which instructs us not to have covetousness in our conversations, but to be content because God will never leave us or forsake us. Gee willakers, how could we want more than that?????? He gave another verse that is a little more shocking in its nature: Eph. 5:5- “…No covetous man , who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.” Why is covetousness idolatry? Ok, let’s take that back a question farther. Why would anyone want to worship idols? Because they’re not content with God! They think He’s not good enough and they want something else. When we covet things we don’t have, we say “God, you’re not good enough. I’m not happy that you will never leave me. I want more,” and that's the same as idolatry. Sobering, isn’t it?

So there you have it! That’s what God has been teaching me, and there are actually several different things in my life that He is using to teach it to me, but I don’t want to be really long and boring, because I would like people to actually READ this! I hope it helps other people out.