extended family pictures

 

Our friends from Yellow Box Photography took these special family pictures. My mother-in-law has a great eye for colour and bought us all of our shirts to match our family unit. Talking about making it easy for us moms!

 

 

 

 

 

My brother-in-laws are great - even this one!  If Michael lived close by I would be on the look-out for his practical jokes and I would make sure that he got them right back!

BOOK - " John and Betty Stam" Missionary Martyrs by Vance Christie

         John and Betty Stam had a passion for souls and gave up the comforts of North American life to minister in China. They were only in China for a short while with their very new infant daughter when the Communists stormed into their home and commanded them to march. The next day John and Betty were executed to the horror of on-lookers. Their baby girl was in a house not far away when this took place and was rescued 24 hours later.
Author Vance Christie has put together a stirring biography that is worth reading. At times the details are a little tedious but you see how vibrant John and Betty's love for the Lord was and how much they were willing to sacrifice; even their lives.

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A friend wrote this about John, " On our first itineration together we had to walk all day in the rain and mud, but John's ardor was in no way dampened. That trip, and all our trips together, were a blessing to me, for John's mind was a mine of wealth in the knowledge of God. He truly was mighty in the Scriptures, full of zeal to make Christ known, and full of love to the lost souls around him.
John was very quick to see the hand of God in everything. He often said, 'My heavenly Father knows.'  And once when speaking of difficulties to face, he quoted the Lord's words, 'For this cause came I unto this hour.'"

the laundry room

 We have a two story house and I spent a lot of time going up and down the stairs with laundry in my arms, and somehow the clothes never made it to the dressers. One day I got smart and dragged the boy's dressers downstairs and put them in the laundry room which is on the main floor. I moved all of their clothes into the laundry room so that after breakfast they would just go to their drawer and pull out the day's clothes. This turned out to be a wonderful brain wave that saved much time. Eventually we put built-in cupboards and drawers in the laundry room and this has helped keep things neat and organized.



Each boy has two drawers for their clothes and in the laundry baskets are all of dirty clothes that are sorted. I also have a laundry basket full of boy's underwear and boy's socks (mostly mismatched).

All of the boy's clothes are in the laundry room except for the out of season clothes and clothes that need to be hung up.

This is what it looks like at the end of the day!

You cannot see it too clearly but I have a saying on top of the door that says,
"The laundry room  Loads of fun"

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But here is the thing: even with everything being organized I cannot keep up with the all of the laundry. Just when I think that I have gotten to the bottom of the pile, in the middle of the night a big truck comes and dumps an even bigger load!