Monday, May 31, 2010

Our Graduate 2010


JAMBO!!

Garden!!



Even QQ is enjoying our garden!

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Conclusions - Henry

"We are all wrapped up in a feverish endeavor to solve the problems of livelihood, and have only come up with a solution far more complicated than the problem itself. We labor on desperately to liberate ourselves and only succeed in enslaving ourselves by our new-found liberty.

"Yesterday has been swallowed by the gulping mouth of time, and tomorrow is only an illusion. We must not continue to live this hectic life without some thought about the awful harvest we are reaping."

Henry and the Great Society

Friday, May 14, 2010

More from Henry and the Great Society

"Esther would often read aloud from "Snowbound," if the snow was drifting against the house, or "Kidnapped," "Treasure Island," or the favorite of the boys, "Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn."

"There were tea parties by Hilda with her dolls in the sideyard shade in summer with clover and honeysuckle trumpets to suck the sweetness from, or perhaps a few green apples with salt and some wild berries for dessert."

"Then there was her (Esther's) kitchen-her domain-marked in every corner by the special touch of her own tastes, with its own indescribable fragrance that was a mixture of apples and spices, coffee and tea.....There was baking; fresh fruit pies, or pumpkin or spring rhubarb. During supper at the round table there were excited cries as eager noses sniffed her fresh hot rolls...their faces scrubbed with melted butter, shimmering in their lightness like dancing girls on opening night"

"Henry liked to tell Esther that they had everything they needed, and with food and raiment and shelter they had found the true secret of contentment, as the Bible says. Henry, on their long walks through the fields on a Sunday afternoon, would remind Esther how God's word says that godliness with contentment was great gain and that by this standard they had gained a lot."

Saturday, May 8, 2010

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Another Milestone


Graduating, missions bound, dreaming of Africa

Monday, May 3, 2010

"And there was talk, or as they say nowadays, communication. Winter was filled with it, for everything had slowed to a walk; and the evenings were long before the fireplace and rich in special talk...open and intimate discussions on the questions of life and death, right and wrong, moral and immoral. There were the frivolous interruptions of the children, when the talk was serious, that betrayed a searching mind and a longing heart. There was light fun-filled talk that invented new riddles, or composed new poems, or solved hard puzzles. Henry would give now-famous stories. Sometimes they were the modified stories of his own life that always had a moral; but as often as not they were the product of a fertile imagination that could invent pirates and Indians, wild animals and heroes with equal ease. The children would sit spellbound and open-mouthed......."
~Henry and the Great Society

Saturday, May 1, 2010


"Winter evenings were special treats. With an apple log sizzling happily in the fire place, there were domino and checker games, chess and games on paper. There were tongue twisters, puzzles and brain teasers, as well as Indian wrestling on the floor with Henry ending up taking on all the kids at once in a free-for-all that left Esther wondering if the china cabinet would survive the crash, as Henry at last toppled to the floor like a giant with little people swarming over him like flies."

"When bedtime came, there was often the gathering at the kitchen table for a cold cup of milk; and then around the lighted lamp, a few verses from the Book of Books, more questions and a bedtime prayer. After lingering kisses that reflected a pleasant evening ended too soon, the children followed Esther with her lamp up the open stairs to their beds to settle deep in the straw and feather ticks."