Remembering History

Today, November 10th, is Martin Luther's 525th birthday! Luther was an Augustinian monk who helped a great deal to reform the Catholic Church in Germany. He nailed the 95 theses to the door of the Wittenburg Church (these declared his disagreements with the heresies proclaimed in the Roman Catholic Church,) burned a Papal Bull, and translated the Bible into German so that all people should be able to read it. This man should be remembered now, and in generations to come.

We did have a Reformation Festival on October 31st, the date when Martin Luther nailed the 95 theses to the door of the Wittenburg church, and the post will be coming soon!

In A Big Family....

You sleep just about anytime and anywhere you can!

Young at Heart...

Little Girls and Teddy Bears

Formosa Cumulonimbus

"The heavens declare the glory of God, the skies proclaim the work of his hands." -Psalm 19:1

This verse immediately comes into mind when you see clouds like this.

Birthdays and Such....

On Wednesday and Thursday, we celebrated two very special birthdays. Luther turned six, and daddy turned... Well, let's just say he turned a year older than he did last year. :)


This little chap is growing up so fast!

Oh dear... Our little Luther!

And...Daddy! :) (The deer skull has a story behind it... Please look here and here.)

Before this picture was taken, I had been taken ones where daddy was doing his "smile". But mommy said that daddy didn't look good in pictures when he was smiling, hence the face.

Olivia Rose

Aww, She's so cute. :)

Sorry that I have been deficient in posting these last few... months. The Hopkins family has been very busy. But, and I am aware that I say this every time, I hope that we will get better in the future. :)

The Clarke's Part I: A Walk in the Wilderness ( :P )

These are some pictures we took when we went on a walk after dinner one night.





















We loved taking walks out on the road that runs back into the property after dinner.





















Olivia Rose.




















Oh Asher. Daddy, "What a great dog." Chloe, "Ew, he's all wet and stinky now!"





















The beautiful country!

This Poor Boy....

I am very sorry that we have not kept up with our posting... Yesterday we returned from a short vacation at the Clarke's house. They were on vacation, so we inhabited their property for five days. I would have done some posting, but we didn't have access to the internet, which was rather nice. :) We had a week full of swimming in the pond, romping, and whatever else you do in the country!

I must confess that Chloe and I read a good deal of the time we were there, but we weren't wasting our time. The book was The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte, and it is strongly recommended by both of us.




















Anyway, this post wasn't supposed to be about that book. The country and bug bites go hand in hand. On the way home, we counted a record 41 mosquito bites on one of Luther's legs, with 16 on the other. He bore all the itching and scratching surprisingly well for a five year old. Hopefully we will get some pictures up shortly (not of his legs, of our trip)—that is, as soon as we find the camera and import the pictures.

Another Birthday!

Today Tirzah Luree Hopkins turned nine years old! Happy Birthday! :-)

Happy Father's Day!

Daddy reading his Father's Day card.... :)



















A Father surrounded by his loving children. Also, daddy opening his Father's Day gift: the John Adams movie! (Based off the book 'John Adams' by David McCullough.)

We Love you, Daddy!

Just Out Of The Shower....

...The Queen of Sheba in her sheep pajamas!

Happy Birthday, Gabriel!!

On June 2nd, 2008, Gabriel Martin Hopkins turned 13 years old! Happy Birthday, young man!



















Brother and Sister.



















Cheers?



















The constantly repeated phrase: "It's my birthday....."



















Blowing out the candles.

The Coming or Much More Appropiately Put The Arrival of Spring

School in the Spring

When it comes to finding a quiet, pleasant place to do school at this time of year, things at the Hopkins home get....interesting. Today Chloe and I decided that we would do all our subjects (which basically consisted of Shakespeare, Dickens, Poetry Selections, and History) on the roof. With a little difficulty, we passed books, blankets, pens, binders, papers, and eventually ourselves out of the little sewing room window. (Formally Peter's room.) Laying down the blankets to make it comfortable, we sat down and got to work. It was so pleasant, and we spent the majority of the day out there, it being extremely nice to be able to be outside, in the sun, but not being idle. :) Gabriel took some pictures of us.

Elvis the Bassett Hound

We recently had the opportunity of watching a Bassett Hound while his owners took a trip to England. His name was Elvis, and oh did we have fun with him! (Even though he didn't do much of anything, as you'll see by the pictures below.) Elvis is nine years old, and he waddled around the house on short legs, and often we carried him to the top of the stairs, just to watch his comical way of sort of hopping down again. It was hilarious. But he was also a cure for certain little girls who have a hard time going to sleep. When Olivia would be lying awake, or didn't want to go to bed, we just put Elvis in with her, and in ten minutes she was fast asleep.

Let It Snow!!

Over the past couple days, we've received twenty inches (at the level parts) of snow....

Weather conditions are perfect for a good romp outdoors: sunshine, not a cloud in the sky, very little wind, and tons of good packing snow...


































Our backyard this morning :)



















A path through our driveway, after being shoveled once the day before :)



















Neighborhood kids....who live with us


















Resident shovelers.


















The first of many snow drift forts.

























The second of many...with an adorable little one in it :)


(Posted by Chloe)

Sayings from the Little Folk in the Household

Last night after reading the bible, Mommy said, "Alright, does anyone have any prayer requests?"
Tirzah said very seriously,"Pray that God would make the inside of me clean, and... and... uh..."
As she tried to think of something else to say, Luther interrupted and said as fast as he possibly could: "That we would obey our parents in the Lord, for this is right!"

It was the sweetest thing possible! And then he asked mommy to pray that we would all do our work in the morning cheerfully. The next day, Mommy told the little people not to get involved in any games, as lunch was just about ready, and she didn't want them disappearing. Shortly after this, Olivia asked Luther if he was going to go upstairs and get something. (It had to do with this game that they had been playing.) Luther replied immediately, "No, Olivia, I need to obey. So I'm not going to get it." Olivia said, "Okay... I need to obey too. So I won't go get mine either."

It was amazing how Olivia followed Luther's example right away.

A few days ago, Olivia walked into the kitchen and exclaimed dramatically, "Oh! Mother, mother! I am so thirsty!"
As mommy was making breakfast one day, Olivia came in and said, "Mother, you are so kind and gracious."

She has unbelievable vocabulary for a three year old. We thank God for these little children... They are such a blessing. :-)

Posted by Ruby

Cowboys and Indians

I apologize that the above picture is a bit blurry... :-)


Posted by... Well, you know who.

Hunting Trip Part 2

In our last post about hunting, I said that I would post more pictures. However, instead of posting more from that trip, I'll do some from the latest trip that we took, which was a few days after Christmas.

Unfortunately, we did not get anything this time. Daddy and Peter shot at one deer each, wounding them, but couldn't find them, and had to stop searching so we could come home. :-(



















Playing games in the evening.



















This sweet little kitten is Buttercup... The Clarke's were in Michigan when we went hunting, so we took care of this kitten until we left. We all wanted to take her home with us, but mommy is convinced that three cats are enough. :-)



















Duncan relaxing on the couch with the kitten.

























Okay... So this picture has a story. One afternoon, while daddy and Peter were taking a break at the house, I decided to take a walk... I had intended to just stay near the house, so I didn't tell anybody... Which was not wise. So, I wandered around and found myself with the big pond between me and the house. I was in a rather adventurous mood, so I decided not to turn around, but to keep going! Eventually I came to a narrow strip of land that ran across the pond like a bridge, so I crossed it, and found myself unable to go on because of the electric goat fence... I followed the fence, and after awhile came to a part that wasn't electric. So, I attempted several times to climb the fence without succeeding, and when I finally did climb it, I got over only to discover that somewhere along the way I had lost my orange vest.... So, back over the fence I went and back-tracked until I found it, which thankfully was not very far. I then re-climbed the fence, now being in the goat-pen. I traveled up to where the shed was, and where all the goats stood staring at me. By the shed is the gate, and beyond the gate is the house, so I easily let myself out of the pen, and was finally walking away from the goats (who were still staring at me) to the house. Mommy and Chloe had been wondering where I was, but thankfully I was safe and sound. I had been wearing a skirt, and it was raining and the ground was slippery, so my legs were all scratched up from the thorns and brush. So, Chloe was bandaging me up when the above picture was taken. Now I know to be more careful next time... Although I must say, it was quite an interesting experience.

Posted by Ruby

Snooooow!

In mid-December we had our very first snowstorm. Although, I think we only got about six inches or less.... Anyways, it all melted before Christmas, so we had a green and brown Christmas instead of a white one. This is a picture Gabriel took of me "dancing in the snow" so to speak. :-)