Abby

Happy Birthday, Abby!!

What a blessing God gave me when He gave me YOU as a sister:) I just love that about having brothers...I get some amazing sister-in-laws out of the deal!!

I appreciate your cheerful countenance, it has brightened my day many a time!

It is so much fun to watch you be a mommy to your cute little girls--and soon to be little guy! Their cheerful, obedient attitudes are just a reflection of their diligent mother:)

May God bless you with His joy these upcoming months! And may you draw ever closer to Him each day! I love you!!!

"For who is God besides the LORD? And who is the Rock except our God?

It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect."

Psalm 18:31-32

John!

Happy 13th Birthday, John!

I love the randomness you bring to my life:)

May your creativity always be honoring to God!

Your silliness, sparkle and joy for life bring a smile to my face.

May you rise up, and become a great man of honor, for the sake of Jesus Christ!

"My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on the power of God." 1 Cor. 2:1-5

What a blast!

For his birthday Phillip decided to have a party at Play Dazium in Mahoney State Park. We have gone there several times for various birthdays, but we haven't gone recently. It was fun when we were small and could just fly through the tubes, so I wasn't quite sure about how fun it was going to be now that some of us aren't as small as we used to be...and crawling through tubes...

But I needn't have worried. Crawling was a lot harder...but not impossible:) And being older you could throw the balls a lot harder at the intended victim..which came in very handy *smile*

The slides were long and very fun!

The Matychuks, creative as always blew up 15 balloons, wrote Happy Birthday on them and put $1 bill in each one:)

The whole group:)

P.S. Crawling through tunnels is not good for the knees....trust me!!

Happy Birthday!!!

Happy 15th Birthday Phillip!!

Your hardworking spirit is a blessing around the house

...and I am sure to other as well

May the Lord bless you, and show you His love as you seek Him daily!

May you grow to be a man, like your dad,

who "Fears the Lord and shuns evil."

And just to let you know, it is a pleasure watching you shoot...I wish I had a picture of your "Robin Hood" shot to put up...Love you LP!!

Happy Birthday!!!

Happy Birthday Mom!!

Thank you so much for the example that you have given me of;

putting God first, above everything else!

...staying faithful to Dad...and loving him with all your heart!

...cherishing the special moments of life!

Love SO much Mommy!!

"Within your temple, O God,

we meditate on your unfailing love."

~Psalms 48:9

A little late...

We actually managed to have our traditional "birthday breakfast" for Joe this year!

~Joe and Rachel~

Opening presents... (we scored big this year *smile*)

I love our tradition of Dairy Queen cakes!! We had finally filled our little 'punch card' so this one was practically free!

The cake this year proved to be an interesting affair...(just ask Esther and Abby)

Normally you set the cake out 15 min. before you intend to serve it that way it is soft enough to cut/eat. But we were in such a hurry to eat it...and with it being game day, totally forgot to take it out to thaw. So...the long and short of it...some ended up microwaving their piece so as not to damage their teeth:)

"Live not as a man whose reward is in this life.

Live as a man whose greatest reward is the pleasure of God."

-Mom

Joe

Happy 20th Birthday Joe!!

Love you bunches!

Happy Birthday!!!

Happy Birthday Daddy!!

Thank you for being an amazing example of a man who has "acted justly, loved mercy and has walked in humility before God."

I could not have asked for a better father!!

~I love you Daddy~

"And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others."

2 Tim. 2:2

Happy Birthday!!!

Happy 12th Birthday John!!!

John, your cheerful and helpful spirit is such an encouragement to me!!

Keep it up:)

Stephen

HAPPY 9th Birthday Stepthen!!

Can you believe that our baby is already 9 years old? He has added such life and sparkle to our home! He is one of our hardest workers and keeps us all laughing: )

We love you!!!

Alicia's Birthday!

One of the main reasons we went to VA, was to help celabrate Alicia's birthday!!

She got to pick the meal and two cheesecakes, and then sit back and watch us make it! It was so much fun: ) The family came over for dinner and presents!

The next day we celebrated her birthday again with a girls party with chinese food and a fun "chick flick".

Hope you had a very happy birthday!! I so enjoyed being there with you for it! Also, thank you Alicia for all the special memories that we shared that week! You are such a blessing in my life!

Happy Birthday!!!

HAPPY 21st BIRTHDAY!!!!

I know this is late but...better late then never right?

How can I put into words what a blessing you have been to me? Thank you so much for all the fun talks, wonderful instruction, a listening ear, sweet prayer...and everything else that I have forgotten!! I love you SO much and am SO excited for you and you're girlfriend!!!

Bethany, you got a good one!!!! Love you both!!!!

Uncle Mark

HAPPY   BIRTHDAY  

UNCLE MARK!!!

We love you so much!!

Hope you have a WONDERFUL day : )

Phillip

Happy 14th Birthday Phillip!

A couple bits of info...

- The warmness of our house is largely due to Phillip's diligence in chopping and hauling wood!
-He has fully taken over the dog boarding business when Dan moved away
-Faithful diligence and dependibility in his jobs has earned him the title "Faithful Phillip" from mom

To celebrate his birthday he had quite a few buddy's over to play snow football...brrr..

Happy Birthday Phillip, it's a joy having you in our lives!

Daddy

It's been tradition that on Daddy's birthday he goes and kicks a field goal according to his age. I can't quite remember, but I think that he has pretty much made it ever year (give or take a few) but you can't be a pro forever: )
Needless to say, as the years roll by the harder it gets...
Sunday afternoon, Oct 12th, he started at the 20 yd line and worked his way back.

Phillip was the official ball holder: )

Just look at that flexibility, Daddy used to have very tight hamstrings, but with diligent stretching...it's not that way any more!

Dad wasn't the only one that kicked, with our whole family there all the boys took their turn at the tee. But nobody could match their father! It was Joe that kicked the farthest of the boys with a 35 yard field goal, Caleb with little bit of luck managed an extra point, Josh on the other hand...let just say he should stick to biking. We can't pronounce Joe the victor quite yet however, as Dan wanted to, but couldn't make it this time: ) He would give Joe a run for his money, after all "a brother is born for adversity".

Elise was there to cheer her Grandpapa on: )

Dad's 40 yard field goal sailed through the posts, but he couldn't stop there, he had to take a few more steps back to kick his age...

After a couple tries we decided that he should start subtracting one instead of adding!

Good job Daddy!
Thank you for living the example of one who "fears God and shuns evil" and still has a lot of fun!
I love you Daddy!

John's Birthday Party

John's 11th birthday was on September 29th! The Grady's and Matychuk's came over in the evening to help us celebrate!
The evening started out to a vigorous start...relay races!
Even the dad's joined in the fun!
Mom's list of birthday games to play included;
Running relay, egg -on-a-spoon relay, prison ball and the all time favorite, the Three legged races

The dad's opted to sit out on this one and let the kids battle it out!
After one BIG race they sifted us out into big and little kids. It was pretty tight competition!

Steve and B made for interesting pair

Betsy and I, naturally were together: )

Abby going barefoot, took a great step of trust with Caleb who wore shoes.
(She must really like him*smile*)

Ready. Set. Go!

As the night was getting chilly and feet were tired (of getting stepped on in 3 legged races, Abby wasn't the only one *smile*) we retired to the bonfire to open presents.

It didn't take long though to get warmed and rested up for one of the funnest games of capture the flag ever: )

Thank you Grady's and Matychuk's for making John's birthday so special!