Little Helpers

  You know that once in a while the ones that are wanting to help others get rewarded by the very ones they are trying to help, and it is such a joy to see that it actually changes your outlook about things even that much more. We wanted to share one of the those little moments and let you know it was a real privilege to be a part of this team. I know when you read on that it will seem like no big deal, but if you pay close attention to these moments then you will begin to see the impact of what we are all about. If you go back into the archives on this blog you will see that we had a pine tree struck by lightning back in June of 2010. This tree stood dying until I believe November of 2010 when I had it cut down. The guy I hired only helped to drop the tree and cut the large parts into manageable pieces that I could try to get rid of. Well to say the least a tree looks easier to get rid of until it is on the ground and you have to move the pieces, then the enormity of it begins to unfold. I eventually got the branches moved with the help of my son Tanner and my son in law Joey; however, I had quite a pile left to move and just haven’t had the time. Well one afternoon just playing in the yard with the kids and all of the sudden:

they are helping move this pile of braches with me:

and the next thing you know it is all moved! Even the littlest ones got in on the moving.

 

Personally I love these little moments! We are a blessed family having these children here and they change our lives and make us to know how important we are to them and also how important they are to us. I didn’t get to take the pictures but after this pile sat for a week we burned it all to the ground so now all we have left are the really big logs to finish cutting up and moving. Now I know we will have the best help out there too!

A day in the Park

There sure has been a lot going on since we posted last; therefore as I put these together they will not necessarily be in order. This was one of the latest things that we all did together so I decided to share this one first. We started out the day working in the yard and having fun around the house and since the day was so nice we all loaded up and went to the park to have a picnic supper and some fun. Here all the kids are together getting ready to take on the playground equipment.

Here they are again minus Jonathan because he wouldn't stay still for another picture.

Here is our oldest (that lives in the house) Tristan kicking back on the slide.

Here Kayleigh our second oldest.

Here is Jaden our 3 year old having fun going down the slide.

Here is Emily our two year old experiencing the static electricity while coming down the slide. look at her hair...how funny.

Here is our one year old Jonathan who was the biggest fan of the slide. He just kept going back for more.

Here he is going again.

Here Jonathan is getting a taste of the static electricity and because his hair is so fine it really stuck out.

Here all three came down at the same time.

We had a such a great time that day. We went to feed the ducks too but it must have been time for them to go because they weren't coming for the food anymore. We will just have to go back a little earlier next time. The kids were so good at the park and with a little help from Caila one of their favorite people (ours too!) we had an awesome time.
Thank you Caila!

Back to Blogging

Sorry we seem to have been out of the loop lately, but it is only because we have been so busy. We have been blessed with 5 children now ranging in age from 17 months to 7 years old and it has taken a little getting used to. Laundry day now really is a day instead of only a few hours; however, the benefit is well worth the extra labor. We just wanted to write a quick hello and we will be posting more very very soon.

Christmas Day 2010

Well we sure had a beautiful Christmas day since this is the first time in 20 years that we have had a white Christmas in Alabama. We were not able to go to Wisconsin this year and we thought we would not see any snow, well obviously we were wrong. Unfortunately the snow did cause Joey, Chasity, and Jody not to be able to come because of the roads being so bad; however, it was very beautiful. The good thing is they were able to come the next day and we still had a lot of fun playing games and opening gifts. Not only were we so very blessed to have all of our children able to come over the weekend to our house, but we also had two new additions to the Koehoorn family. The two new additions were Jaden (2 1/2) and Jonathan (14 months) and we were so glad that God blessed us with them especially at this time of year when we are reflecting on the things God has done for us and what we have done for God. We had a blast watching them open their presents. Of course before all that we had started the morning with a big breakfast made up of good old fashioned biscuits with chocolate gravy and regular gravy, bacon, sausage, and scrambled eggs with orange juice or milk. I hope I didn't leave anything out.

Here we all are gathered around the kitchen table awaiting the feast! Heidi looks like she is happy.

Here is Jaden sitting with Heidi

Here is Jud playing with his phone.

Here is Jaden sitting with his buddy Tanner.

Here is Jaden opening up one of his gifts.

One of Jaden's gifts was a truck and he sure likes trucks.

Here Jaden is getting a little help from Tanner.

Here is Jeff and Jaden Playing with some of Jaden's toys he got for Christmas.

Here is Jonathan opening up his gifts.

Well he needed a little help to open them, but he did do most of the ripping.

He looks like he is pretty happy with his presents.

Here is my ornament from Mallory.

Here is Mallory with her hooded pullover we bought her.


Here is Jud and Heidi getting ready to leave and go to Sulligent to be with Heidi's parents.

Here is Jaden and Tanner playing in the snow.

Here is Jaden and Jeff playing in the the snow too!

Here is our house all lit up for Christmas. We had a little snowman off to the left, but we got to build a real one for this year.

The snow just keeps coming.

Here is Jaden and Jeff rolling the snowman body.

Here is the finished Snowman complete with a scarf and a hat. We used a carrot for his nose and black beans for his mouth. Jeff laughed but I colored one end of the marshmallows and used those for eyes. At first they just stuck the eyes on and they were poking out, but once they dug holes for them they looked much better.

Here is Tanner and Jeff so proud of their snowman.

Family Christmas 2010

Merry Christmas from the Koehoorn Family!
Here is a picture of our tree.

Here is me and my Hubby!

Here is my Hubby with my Mom.

Jud and my Dad are passing time talking about guns.

Here is Chas opening here gifts.

Here I am with my hand in my new Cookie Jar! Thank you Chas and Joey I love it!

Here is my favorite Daughter-in-law and Tanner hiding his face.

Here is my Dad and Mom. They are awesome!

Here I am waiting to open the big gift.

Here is a picture of Tanner from my new camera my hubby bought me for Christmas. Now I will have better pictures and more probably.

We are so blessed to have us all here together. Except for Jeff's family who we miss very much and we were so looking forward to playing in the snow, but unfortunately we don't know if we will make it up this year; however, we are so thankful that God has blessed us with the time to all get together and have fun and eat an abundance of food. He has been so good to us this year as he is every year and as we look back in reflection over the past year we just pray we can continue to serve him every day this next year.