Getting Better

Population of Sicksville is in decline, but the move up the mountain to health is seemingly a long and slow one. Most of us are back at work or school or whatever and generally on the mend. Thanks for the meals, prayers and all you have done, locally and from afar.

Crying

HI all, welcome to sicksville. Population: us. 1 ear infection, 3 sinus infections and a lot of nights of coughing. So, since I am a visual person and usually tell most stories with pictures, I find myself at a loss since you don't want to see anything of us at the moment. lol. So here's another vid out of the archive. It's kinda how we are all feeling at the moment.

A day at the farm

Emily and the Pratt girls took Molly and Andrew to a farm near where we live. The morning saw goats (including three day old babies), sheep, chickens, donkeys, cows, rabbits, horses and ponies all on parade for the kids. Pictured here is Andrew with his horse. This magnificent beast followed Andrew around for the whole morning. This picture was taken during one of Andrew's many monologues with his new friend. They shared stories, song and a whole lot of time just being together. Here are move pics for you.

Beah's Getting Big

Growing Fast!

The right hand photo was taken on November 15th. The one on the left was taken about 8 minutes ago. No, Elaina is not shrinking!

Hot Winters

Things are just plain warm. So, I dug into the archives and posted this little movie from years ago. Just click PLAY and enjoy...

24 lbs!

Today Molly is just over 20 months and Beah is 14 weeks and they both weigh 24 lbs. It's a tight race, and we still believe that Molly will pull ahead in the end. But, in the mean time, she might have to spend some time being smaller than the dog. (click and scroll for more)

Rescuing the Princess

Superman, newly caped, spent the day rescuing the same maiden again and again. She seemed to need it. He was up to the challenge though: rescuing her from the work of opening her presents, getting stuck in the tree, a rabid puppy and even managed to save her from eating anything until mid afternoon due to all of the excitement.

Christmas Dog

Merry Christmas

(Click for Christmas Morning videos)

Christmas

Engaged!

Congratulations! Jonathan Sadd and Rachel Snyder are engaged! WOO HOO!

The family (on both sides plus Mateo) lay in wait while Jonathan proposed during the sunset on the banks of the ohio river. Within a day of Rachel's birthday it seemed a great plan. We surprised them, toasted their future together and spent most of the rest of the evening in hugs and praise.

We love you both and are so excited for you!

(sorry I am almost a month late in my blogging)

Taking Pictures

It's been a while since I just went out and took pictures. Thanks, Al, for the inspiration. These are just a few around Savannah.

Caged Beasts

Photoshop and the Group Picture

There is a great temptation to take the best expression/head/pose from each person in a group shot in order to create the "perfect" composite of what might have been if everyone had cooperated at the same time. But, as my dad always says, "Just because you can, doesn't mean you should." In this case, a bunch of pics tells a much more interesting story than a single mugging perfection. (shown here are the kids with the Sadd cousins, Joshua and Abby, in Pittsburgh)

Cousins

More Beah

I know, I know, enough is enough! Well, it's not actually because since you aren't paying customers, I post whatever I feel like! What's that? The sponsors are mad? They say we don't vary the content enough? HA!

Anyway, there are more shots of our Beah the wonder dog. Here's a shot of Noah picking her up to move onto the couch. (Yes, she is allowed on the furniture so that she can be where Noah is going to be.)

Growing 10 lbs this month means that she seems to be getting bigger by the day. But, she is completely trained to go outside to relieve herself and even to use a small, fenced in area to the side of the yard. She is almost always approaching and sitting to get attention instead of making contact...

She rode to Noah's school on his lap this morning. Noah rode with one hand on her head and the other straight up in the air to keep the sticks he was holding away from her (even though she hadn't expressed any interest.) Crated while Molly and I walked him into the school was easy and quiet. Then Molly and Beah and I went to my staff meeting at church for a good fondling.

I made an interesting discovery the other day too... Dogs aren't like cats in that they don't stay on your lap very well. They kind of leave the "not falling onto the floor" part of the deal to you instead of being perfectly ballanced at all times. That's a bit weird to me since I have never had a dog before. It's pretty darn cool, though.

Beah, Day 2

Sleep, play, stretch. Repeat with some food. Now a trip outside. It's a wonderful day.
Here's some pics of Molly playing the first tug of war (no, her sleeves are not wet fom this game).
Noah and Beah got to spend some time togeter after he came home from school. It's clear that he wants her to pay attention to him withouth his having to do much in return just yet. The cool thing is that is how it works.
Sleep went pretty well last night. One trip outside in the middle of the night. Beah hasn't figured out that she fits quite easily between the slats of the fence. Hopefully it will be just the right amount of time before she tries to get through. ;-)

Welcome Home Beah

Beah came home tonight. After a ride with Emily in the car, she started in the back yard and was introduced to us slowly from there. Once inside, all the pillows came off the couch and the children took turns gently welcoming Noah's new puppy. Throughout the evening, Noah fed her, petted her, carried her, snuggled with her and gave her his sticks to hold. More story and pics later, but it's late and dead batteries spoil the shots. Time to put Noah to bed. He's in the hallway clearly saying "Beah" over and over and over...

The Weather in Bluffton

From our local weatherman (or youth intern) Chris...


On the left side of the page you will find permanent links to both our photo and video albums. Check them out...