Best Friends

Ian and Seth pretending to saw a piece of wood.

These guys have so much fun together. I'm pretty sure their lives would be not nearly as exciting without each other (none of their sisters are too excited to saw a piece of wood or do many of the other things they do together!). They are so blessed to have each other and we are so blessed to have them! We love our brothers!
In Christ,
Marissa

We got our pictures back! (Petoskey part 2)

We are very happy that we got all our pictures back, so I thought I'd share some of them!!

Our family by lake Charlevoix

Chester and Pendleton kids on the cannon.

Dad and Ian on the tractor ride.

Going to fireworks!

Swimming at lake Michigan.

Mom and Dad.

Ian on the rocks....He's so cute! :)

Ian and Talitha caught some chickens.

Sunflower!

We had a great trip! Thanks for the prayers!

-Andrea

At the cottage

We got home from our friends' cottage last night. We had so much fun! Thanks for your prayers.

Well, most of our pictures got deleted unfortunately.... here are a few though.

Playing in the sandbox.
I believe this was the first day...
The pictures really aren't in any order, sorry.

On Friday we went to a farm up north. They had a squash launcher which was the biggest hit I think. :D

My Godsister Talitha and me

Campfire

Talitha turned two last week! Ian wanted to make her something. We didn't have any eggs, which made it rather difficult to find any recipes, but we did find this chocolate upside-down cake which didn't require any eggs. Yay! :D

When Ian found out last week that Talitha was turning two, he decided that he REALLY wanted to buy her a dress. He is so sweet! He and Mom picked her out one at the store before we left. It was really cute on her, but I don't think we have any pictures.

Elaina playing outside

Chester and Pendleton kids
Me, Seth, Andrea, Josh, Ian, Elaina, Talitha, Luke and Caleb

Vacation

We are going up north tomorrow, so we won't be able to post for a few days.
Hope everyone has a good rest of the week!

Blessings,
Andrea

Siblings

Most people that know me know that I LOVE my siblings! They are an amazing part of my life. I am so blessed to have such wonderful siblings. I have to say that it really frustrates me when I hear people talking about the way the world says things: "Siblings hate each other, and teenagers are brats." That doesn't have to be the way it is!
The Bible says that siblings are to love each other and it also says that people go from being children, to young adults, to adults. Their is never a 'teenage' part in it. We who live by the Bible and trust God's word should not be fooled by this foolish assumption that the world gives us!

God puts each one of our siblings into our lives for a reason. If you don't have siblings, then the friends and parents God has in your life are for a reason too. I hope everyone already knows what I wrote today, but if not, then I'm glad I wrote it.
God Bless!!!
-Andrea

Seth

Ian

Elaina

Marissa

"...But overcome evil with good."

I know everyone has a problem with temptation and Satan definitely has a way with tempting us to do evil. I get tempted often-many times a day. It's hard for me-just like everyone else- to resist this. I decided to pick a verse and meditate on it. I memorized it and made sure I would not forget it. It has helped me so much! Every time I get tempted, I can remember this verse and it is so much easier to overcome this temptation. Saying the verse that you pick out loud is a good idea too because Satan cannot stay in the presence of someone who is reciting scripture.

There are many verses that are wonderful but the one I chose is a very familiar verse:
Romans 12:21
"Do not be overcome be evil, but overcome evil with good."

I know this concept is very familiar, but I just think it's a good reminder.

Blessings,
Andrea

Someone was having fun with black and white.....

Andrea did an almost all black and white photo shoot yesterday. Although God's colors are amazing and breathtaking, it is fun to do some black and white sometimes also. :D Here are a couple pictures of Seth playing on the swing set.

Going down the slide....

"Hello down there...." :D

By day the Lord directs His love, at night His
song is with me-- a prayer to the God of my life.
Psalm 42:8