Happenings

Many things have happened since this time last week!! Trevor's house has gone from a foundation to something resembling.....

THIS!!!
Actually, this picture was taken last Friday so the framing is almost done! The rafters are on, the sheeting in, house wrap applied, and I hear that there is a porch in the works!

Sayre has been faithfully helping Trevor frame the house and is really enjoying the time spent with his older brother. It's so neat to go over there and see them both up in the rafters or working together to get sheets of plywood up. It is a perfect example of siblings working as friends.

This is looking out from where the front porch will be. Someday soon there will be cattle grazing in that field!

"Thelma's Art"
Picked and arranged by her own hands.

"Trevor Art"
This seems to be normal for him!

On Friday I headed out to watch these children for an entire three days! Oh what fun we had! We spent Friday afternoon getting "reacquainted" with each other and finally decided that it had been about two years since we had last been together.

After Caleb's' ball game on Saturday, I brought the kids over for "The Grand Tour". We walked around the property, peeked into graveyard, and showed them the things that you would want to see if you keep up with my family!

"Touring Trevor's House"
"Left to Right~Christian, Sayre, Caleb, and Lauren. Oh, that's part of Trevor's' arm hanging off the ladder.

"At the Rabbit Cages"
Caleb has the and imagination that rivals Sawyers so he was able to get right down on Sawyer's level to help shoot the bad guys or the deer!

"Christian and Sawyer"
Sunday found all of us attending my family's church in Abbeville as well as a delicious dinner at our house! I was so glad that I had brought the kids over the day before as I felt that they were more at ease with us on Sunday.
I can remember Christian holding Sawyer when he was several months old, and not letting the girls hold him! Thank goodness there was another baby in the church for the girls to hold!

"While We Wait for Sunday Dinner"
Lauren and Sawyer became fast friends on Sunday. While they waited for us to finish lunch preparations the read books and played with his toys; it was sweet to watch.
I hope the kids had as much fun as I did last weekend! It won't soon be forgotten!

So what have I been up to since Sunday? Well...

...combatting fleas has been my top priority lately and I put all my energy into ridding us of them yesterday. ALL four dogs received baths and a powdering of Diatomaceous Earth (DE) when they were dry. I sprayed my room, washed all their bedding, put down DE where Buck sleeps, and dusted the clean bedding with DE. You would think that all that would be enough to cause the fleas to pack up and leave but I'm still going to be dusting the dogs with DE everyday as well as giving baths more than once a week inf necessary! I HATE fleas.
Today is a beautiful breezy day and I will be spending the afternoon outside with the dogs, in the garden, and maybe over at Bull Run! Have a wonderful afternoon!

A Hope Chest Party

This past Saturday my Momma and I had the opportunity to attend Bethany's thirteenth birthday party which was held at their beautiful Victorian home in Belton!

Sadly, they don't live here permanently but it was wonderful to have them "close" to us for two weeks!! What a blessing!

Bethany's parents are raising her to be a future keeper at home and with this in mind, they planned a Hope Chest Party for her thirteenth birthday! The guests were encouraged to bring a gift that Bethany could tuck away in her Hope Chest along with a recipe to help start her own cookbook!

The party started with a wonderful luncheon which was prepared by Bethany's mother and her helpers.

Next came the games!!!
Here the girls are trying to crack an egg into a bowl or cup blind folded!

It was so neat to see the girls cheerfully donning their aprons for each game! They all looked so pretty and femine!

There was not a lack of little ones either!

These little girls were kept occupied for an hour and a half or more with this car! I got the biggest kick out of watching them!

Babies were everywhere!! Infants down to toddlers were welcomed and loved over!

The girl on the left is Haviland, Bethany's younger sister! She calls me "Ashley Casserole" and I in turn call her "Haviland Francostein"! It's an ongoing joke between our two families!

"Momma and Friend"
Momma and I had been asked months earlier about speaking at the party which we readily agreed to. Momma was asked to bring a challenge and I was asked to share my testimony with the group. I shall post the testimony down below.
All in All it was a beautiful party that brought honor and glory to God.

This is what I shared with the young ladies at Bethany's birthday party. If you haven't read the post on the party (posted above, then do so before reading this).

Bethany- Happy Thirteenth Birthday! You have so much ahead of you during these next few years and I cannot wait to see how the Lord will work in your life! Your parents have asked me to share my testimony with you today, something that I feel that I should do especially as it is so evident that God has really done a work in my heart since I turned thirteen.
As you know, the Franco and Castlebury families have known each other for quite some time! I think that I can remember when you were born and how ecstatic your Momma was to have a girl!! So, you know what I am today but how much do know about what I was?
I was born into a Christian family, one that attended church every Sunday and sent their children to Christian school like everyone else in the local church. When I entered seventh grade my parents felt the Lord leading them to home school my younger brothers and I, something that I am eternally grateful for! If they had not done this I don’t know that I would be standing here today. Soon after this change in schooling the Lord began to convict and show my parents of certain areas that needed to change in our family. As these changes began to take effect I became bitter, hateful, and rebellious. I didn’t want to change because I didn’t want to be different and I thought that my parents were just trying to fit me into a mold. I didn’t trust their leadership and I most certainly wasn’t going to trust God. I was miserable and thought that my parents just needed to leave me alone so that I could “be my own person”. I wanted independence from my family and God; I wanted to be my own person. I wanted to have my own job, do my own thing, and not be accountable to anyone; but God wouldn’t allow me to have my own way.
I went on in this rebellious state for several years causing not only myself to be miserable and unhappy, but also my whole family. There were arguments, hateful words said by me, and a rebellious attitude that seemed to grow with each passing day. Finally, the Lord brought something into my life that caused me to deal with my heart which also meant dealing with my doubts about Salvation. My Mom took me to John 3:18 which says “He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” and also to John 10:27-29 which says ”My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow Me: And I give unto them eternal life: and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave them me is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.” It was then that I realized that Salvation happens when you trust Him as your Savior and that once you are saved nothing can take it away! You are God’s forever! As my Mom said “It was as if the light finally came on!” in my heart and from that moment things began to change! I can’t tell you what changed first as I didn’t even know change was taking place, but I know that I began reading my Bible and cultivating a relationship with the Lord! I found that I wanted to know more about God and began to wonder what He was going to do with my life.
There have been many ups and downs in the past eight years since the Lord got a hold of my heart and the recurring theme that I see and hear from my parents is that God has worked a miracle in me! There is no other explanation! See, during my rebellious years I thought that marriage and children were optional and that women had a right to do whatever the men were doing. But now, eight years after the Lord got a hold of my heart, my way of thinking has completely changed! I now believe that a woman’s greatest calling is to be a keeper at home and raising up a future generation that brings honor and glory to God’s name! There is such fulfillment in this!
As I got closer to graduating from High School I began to wonder “what would the Lord have me to do? Where should I go to college? Does He want me to go to college? What should I major in?” These were all questions that I faced every day. I finally told the Lord that “if You want me to go to college I will: If You want me to stay home, I will” and I had such peace after telling Him that. As I talked with my parents and listened to their concerns, it became apparent to me that the Lord wanted me to be at home, learning from my Mother how to be a keeper at home. See, I didn’t want a career; I felt that my place was going to be as a keeper in my own home and that wasn’t going to be something that I would learn or be encouraged to do at a college. Where else can you learn and have hands on experience about taking care of a home and children than amongst your own family? During what would have been my freshman year of college my Grandfather had a stroke and my Mom spent allot of time in Michigan helping her Mother as they made the trek back and forth to the nursing home. While she was gone I ran the house. I cooked, cleaned, did laundry, ironed, had to keep the boys on track with school, and took on the responsibilities that my Mom had every day. During the next several years this was repeated several weeks out of each year and it was a real learning experience for me! I would not have traded it for anything!
Bethany, as you begin your thirteenth year I would encourage you in several areas. I would encourage you to keep a submissive heart before the Lord and your parents. You have some of the godliest parents that I know and the Lord may guide and direct them down paths that may seems lonely but remember that the Lord is leading them. I have been, and am going down, the path less trodden and it is lonely but I take comfort in knowing that this is where God would have me to go.
I would also encourage you to make the most of these next few years to learn more about home keeping. I personally believe that God created women to be keepers at home and I believe that this is what your parents believe as well. Learn from your Mother- learn how to make your house cozy and welcoming to your future husband, learn how to take care of a home, learn how to cook those really good but really “hard sounding” meals! Of course I’m sure you already know all this but I must encourage you on!!
Bethany, do not waste the next few years as I did. Use them to read good wholesome books that make you think and learn all that you can from your mother and father. These years will be gone in a flash- use them wisely and for God’s glory!

Boys

Sayre doesn't have very many friends to play with but, there are two boys who happen to live ten minutes away from us, and it just so happens that we've known them most of our lives! (how's that for moving out to the country??!) These are the only boys that come over and goof off with him.

Left to Right: Luke, Sayre, and Samuel after making cookies. When these boys get together, you just stay out of the way and let them have fun! They go creek stompin', swimmin', fishin', roll in the mud, play with the rabbits, barter, and the latest and "greatest" craze is cooking Mac and Cheese over a campfire!

Yes that's right, these boys COOK!!! Sayre has made a small fire pit up on the "dam" and that's where they cook. I have no idea what the food actually tastes like (Does it count that I like the smell of the smoke?) and I have no desire to taste it!

They conduct a raid on the kitchen soon after Luke and Samuel arrive and manage to get out of the house with elbow macaroni, block cheese, milk, water, and whatever else they say goes in the concoction! Sayre has a stock of "Sayre sized wood" at the pond plus matches so they're set for action!

It's so neat to hear the shouts of laughter, the constant chattering, and to see the remnants of what they've been up to! Think of all the memories they will have! I think it's really neat!! Have you noted the "Sayre sized wood" up in the right hand corner? It's only six inches long, and for whatever reason, I think it's pretty cool!

Editors note: Sayre and Samuel, Thank You for letting me take pictures of your cooking!

Something From the Past

My Mom loves things from the past. She enjoys looking through the old ladies magazines to see how they lived, dressed, and acted back then! She has passed on a love for the old things to me, although I don't collect as avidly as she does! Several weekends ago Momma managed to talk Daddy, Trevor, and I into visiting the "Collectors Antique Mall" in Donald's. This place is huge with plenty of old books, clothes, and furniture to put her in "hog heaven"!!! This visit, Mom really did hit the jackpot!!!

She found this German made Child's Tea Set from the early 1900's !!! It was priced at $125, marked down to $49.95, and finally marked down to $14.95!!! We weren't really sure if this was for real, so she trooped back up to the front desk to find out!! Yes, it was really $14.95!

I hope you can see the designs... They have what I consider a "nursery rhyme" theme to them as I think of nursery rhymes when I see them. Here the Tea Pot, Cream, and Sugar are pictured. The sugar pot appears to have been dropped which made us wonder if that why the price was marked down. All the Designs are very clear and bright, and seem to be very well taken care of!

There are six cups and three saucers. Two cups have this design. The girl is carrying the kitten in her arms here.

There are six dessert plates of which three are in this design. Here, the children are trying to keep the dog away while they get the kitten down.

There are four cups with this design; a girl feeding the ducks.

Three more dessert plates with this design. I'm not really sure what's going on in this design; it's almost as if something has happened, but I'm not sure.

Mom was so excited to find this!! See, she started giving the Franco children Tea parties each time the came over; they actually became quite the highlight for her and the kids. She would make them tea and put some frosting on graham crackers for their crumpets. Tea parties have been non-existent since we moved, but I feel that they will begin again as soon as the Franco's drop in!!

Gift Giving

This past June my family and I were up in the Jamestown, Williamsburg, Yorktown (Virginia) triangle to take part in a week long celebration of the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown that was coordinated by Vision Forum. It was an eye opening time as we learned about God's providence in many of the "firsts" of our country. While we were there, some friends of ours (who were also attending the celebration) took us to the HUGE Yankee Candle store somewhere in the vicinity. Actually, let me rephrase that~ the LADIES went to the Yankee Candle store!! Of Course I had to buy some samplers for my "consumption" and a few extras for friends! Pictured above and below is how I packaged them up for my friends. I was quite pleased with the results!!

I didn't just want to hand them to my friends with a "here you go"~ I wanted to get creative for a change!!! I finally decided on mailing the gifts, even though they live 20 minutes away from us. I know how much I enjoy getting gifts or even letters in the mail, so I thought this would be special for them too!!! I "wadded up" a half sheet of tissue paper and put it as the background in a cello bag. Then I arranged the candles to my satisfaction, and secured the top with raffia. I also wrapped up 2 half bars of soap that I make (our family business is handcrafted soap and sundries) in red gingham tissue paper. I included a note letting my friend know that I had been thinking of her, affixed the address, and sealed the box. It was so much fun thinking about her as I packaged her gift!

Sawyer was "spending time with sissy" as Momma was out grocery shopping today (believe me, it's an all day affair!) and he had fun puttering around as I made two batches of soap and did various and sundry other things out in "The Shoppe". Here he looks as if he is ready to make a run to the Post Office for me!

I sent out a box to one friend last week and I was so tickled at her gift in turn (which I wasn't expecting at all!). Right after she received my "box of goodies" she went and baked some special treats and made this card for me! THEN, she called my brother to stop by her house on the way home and pick up MY gift. I was so touched when I saw what she had fixed for me....... She spent TIME (which she doesn't necessarily have a lot of anymore) fixing those goodies for me! Adah, Thank You!!!

This picture and the one before it are of the card that Adah made for me! I need to get some of that paper!
I really do enjoy giving gifts! I give them because I know it's going to make somebody's day and make them feel loved. You never know how much your gift, even if it is small and simple, will mean to somebody! Mmmmmmm...... now I'm Inspired..... :o)
Supper calls. Oh boy, it's taco's tonight with (hopefully) homemade salsa!!!! Must go cook! Have a terrific evening!