Edisto Beach

This was kind of an unexpected trip for us. Both of my parents retired in June and they asked us at the beginning of June if we would like to go to the beach at the end of June and of course we said we would love to. We go to the beach with Matt's family every winter but we have never been to the beach as a family in the warm summer weather so we were all so excited! My extended family came and got another house down the road, so it turned out to be a big family gathering. Edisto is the beach that my family always went to when I was growing up, but I hadn't been back in about 12 years. Not much has changed. In fact, it is almost exactly the same. It is a very non commercialized Island and we really enjoyed it because there aren't so many other distractions. We spent most of our time at the beach just swimming and playing in the sand. It was very relaxing and the kids didn't want to come home. They said they wished we lived at the beach! I posted some of my favorite pictures and even though I should have done a slideshow, I figured just making a post on my blog was good enough since it has been so long. I have to thank Matt for the intervention...I guess it's starting to work!

My kids are totally goggle obsessed. They think they can't go swimming without them.
This is Elijah's silly grin. Little does he know that a giant wave is about to plaster him!
The younger boys just had a blast playing in the very shallow waves.
Matt took the boys fishing at the point...Caleb had the most endurance and the others mostly ended up swimming. The water at the point was very calm and was almost like swimming in a lake. The fishing wasn't a great success, but it's always worth a try.
This is Ezra being so brave in the water. This kid would just run full speed into the water if we would let him. Definitely a water baby!

Who needs Mr. Potato Head...(Post 2 of 2)

...when you can have a Mr. Tomato Head. See what you can do while cooking dinner.

The crown jewel of this little produce creation is a giant German Johnson tomato we grew at our community garden plot on the campus of Guilford College. We live less than a mile from the campus so it's very convenient. We have also been expanding our backyard garden plot and trying to trim branches here and there to get enough sunlight without taking down anymore of the nice mature oaks that shade our house in the summer.



We have Romas, jalapenos, bell peppers, German Johnson's, and watermelons at the community garden. We had cucumbers but they got bacterial wilt pretty early on so we pulled them out at the first signs to save the melons which can be susceptible to the same disease. At home we had our first ever crop of potatoes (Yukon Gold), yellow cherry tomatoes (which Ezra calls "tatoes", yellow pear tomatoes (which make up the nose of our Tomato Head, other tomato varieties that we got from my Dad's volunteers this year, bush beans, cantaloupe, and several others. We also have an herb garden with parsley, mint, stevia, lavender, sage, basil and cilantro.

My Dad grew the squash, zucchini and cucumbers in the picture above. It's nice to be able to share produce with other gardeners. Our friends, the Grims, gave us some of their garlic tonight after a meal at their house. Check out what's been occupying their time here.

For more garden inspiration or for those of you non-gardeners interested in a good read on the value of compost look here. The Kruidenier's are a constant source of garden and other inspiration (whether they know it or not).

That's all for this intervention but I'll leave you with a little taste (pun intended) of what we have been up to inside the house this summer. Hopefully we will be able to post the long awaited before and after pictures of all of our home remodeling adventures by the end of August so stay tuned for that. Until then enjoy pondering how these pictures fit...




Hint for one of these pictures: we had to turn a boy's room into bit more of a girl's room. For those that don't know Vaughn baby #5 is a girl or so we're told. I don't normally like to find out but because we have all boys Kallie really wanted to know (okay so did I but I won't admit it).

An Intervention (Post 1 of 2)

So Kallie has not posted a blog since March 23. I (Matt here) have attempted not to invade this space with any of my random thoughts but now seems like a good time. So what's the intervention? The next post is just to help get the ball rolling and to keep some of you readers (Jenny Brown) from getting anxious for a new blog from Kallie. I'll spare you all from my thoughts and mostly just give you a brief glimpse of a couple things that have been going on around here.

A Blessing in Disguise

Well, blogging has not been too successful this month. Mostly because the never ending morning sickness that I have been experiencing has left me unmotivated to do most of my normal activities. Thankfully I feel like I am the tail end of the whole morning sickness thing and I am starting to see light at the end of the tunnel. It feels really good to be getting my life back on track.
In addition to my morning sickness I have been extremely exhausted and have been going to bed before 10 every night. This has been the blessing in disguise. I have always been a night owl and for YEARS I have been saying that I want to go to bed early so I can get up early, but I have never been disciplined enough to actually make the transition from a being a night person to becoming a morning person. However, this pregnancy there is nothing that can keep my eyes open past 10 and a lot of times I go to sleep when the kids go to sleep around 8. I leave the dirty dishes in the sink and the dirty clothes piled up in their baskets and the glorious part of this new routine is that I am now waking up at 6 in the morning and doing the dishes, laundry and other chores, getting dressed and reading my bible before the kids get up. When I do these activities in the morning I have a much better attitude and energy level. I also just love the quietness of the house, listening to the birds begin to sing and watching the daylight slowly make its way into the new day. I am renewed each morning by the Word and the peace that it gives me before the busy day begins. It really has been life-giving for me to have adopted this new routine and now I am so thankful for the extreme exhaustion from this pregnancy that has forced me to make this change that I have been talking about for so many years.

The russian mullet

Ezra totally has a russian mullet. We think it is super cute so I just thought I would share it with everyone:)
Just a funny note. I googled "russian mullet" and came across this fabulous blog post. Check it out if you want a good laugh.

Until we meet again...

Saying goodbye is never easy. Especially when you are saying goodbye to very dear friends.
I am sad for myself to see the Lopez family leaving, but I am very excited for them and all that God has in store for their lives. Sometimes following God's call on your life leads you out of your comfort zone and into the unknown... but ultimately being in His will is where you want to be.
Our last visit was great. The weather was beautiful and the kids had a blast playing outside all day, the cake was delicious, we got to enjoy a live concert:), and I got to hug Madelyn's neck one last time.







May the road rise to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
The rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of his hand.

May God be with you and bless you:
May you see your children's children.
May you be poor in misfortune,
Rich in blessings.
May you know nothing but happiness
From this day forward.

May the road rise up to meet you
May the wind be always at your back
May the warm rays of sun fall upon your home
And may the hand of a friend always be near.

May green be the grass you walk on,
May blue be the skies above you,
May pure be the joys that surround you,
May true be the hearts that love you.

Another Blessing...

Yes, we are expecting baby # 5!
We have known for a while (I'm about 11 weeks along), but I have had some reservations about announcing the news. Of course we feel thrilled and excited about another sweet little baby, and we are so thankful that we have the love and support from our family and friends. However, I must say that the general public is not a great source of encouragement. Unfortunately we live in a society that, for the most part, is not very big family friendly. For that reason I think I have felt the need to protect myself more than ever from the negative comments, because in just a simple trip to the grocery store I get bombarded with things like, "boy, you really have your hands full!", "are they all yours?", "better you than me", "don't you know how that happens?", and so on and so forth. Why do strangers feel the need to make these unnecessary, unwanted comments? I try to respond as politely as possible without letting my annoyance show. I just REALLY don't want any comments about the Duggars or a church van because either one might be the straw that broke the camels back!
Moving on. I just noticed that it's been about a month since my last post and I'm sure most people have given up on my blog by now. I was so motivated in January, but this month I have just been trying to make it to the end of each day with the extreme morning sickness and fatigue that I have been feeling. I am open to any suggestions that anyone might have on improving my energy level:) We have been reading a biography on Daniel Boone this week and his wife, Rebecca, had 10 children. This is a quote from the book " In Rebecca's day, a woman made all of her family's clothing. She prepared every meal. When she wasn't cooking or sewing, spinning or weaving, she fetched water from the well or stream, chopped wood for the fire, churned butter, molded candles, cleaned the house, tended the garden, fed and cared for the livestock, planted and reaped the fields, cared for the children, and tended to the sick. Plus she had to be an excellent shot. Who else would hunt if her husband was gone?" Good grief. I am not a pioneer woman. How did she do it all? They certainly were tough. Rebecca was especially tough because Daniel would be gone some times for months at a time. At one point he was gone for 5 years! I guess she just did what she had to do. I am just trying to make sure the dishwasher gets loaded and the laundry gets washed! We are almost finished with our second reading of the Little House series and the whole way through I am so amazed at the determination of the pioneers and their unwillingness to be defeated. I need to capture some of that pioneer spirit!
The daydreaming has already begun. Will it be a boy or girl? Who will the baby look like? What will the birth be like? etc. So far we only have a girl name:) But a friend told me that every time she had a definite name for a boy or girl, she would always end up having the opposite! So who knows, but it is all very exciting, like waiting to open a present!
So, the secret is out! Now we just wait, pray and prepare to meet our next little blessing!