I'm not smart enough to know it can't be done!

When my dad and his brothers were growing up my grandpa used to tell them this all the time, "I am like a bumble bee, I'm not smart enough to know it can't be done!" Grandpa even had it framed with a drawing of a bumble bee and it used to hang in his office. Why a bee? Because bee's, according to scientists, are not smart enough to know they can't fly! According to all that is known about flight, the lift created by their wings is totally incapable of supporting their weight off the ground. Our Creator really does use the simple things, like bees, to confound the wise. Even the scientists.

Greetings all! I know, I know, the title of this post really should be "I'm not smart enough to know I can't blog"! I'm sorry I have been absent from 'bloggerland' for so long. It has been a busy past few months.

My dear grandfather, R. Ronald Hagen, passed away on November 4th, completely unexpected to us. We really appreciate all of y'all's prayers. Our church fellowship was such a blessing to us during this time. We love y'all! We had a celebration of life a few days later and Dad was able to share a few words with everyone. My grandparents live in a fly-in community, so some of their neighbors did a 'missing man formation' fly-over. It was such an incredible sight! Our dear friends, the Davis', came down to be with us that day, which meant so much to our family. I am so thankful to the Lord for the time I got to spend with Grandpa, and I am especially thankful for the wonderful son that he raised: my Dad.

The next weekend we had a wonderful weekend retreat at Calathora. It was a refreshing time of fellowship and a chance to worship the Lord together with friends far and near. It also gave us a chance to have a little impromptu shower for baby Esther.

Before we knew it Thanksgiving was upon us. What a blessing to be with family, and to remember those that came before us. The pilgrims suffered so much the first years after they came to America. But when God blessed them they remembered to give thanks. In this day and age sometimes we forget the hard times our forefathers had, in comparison to the relatively easy times we now live in. Listening to Dad pray over our Thanksgiving feast reminded me of how much I have to be thankful for, and how easy it is to forget to thank God for all things, big and little. "Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." 1Thesselonians 5:18

Christmas decorating at our house and our 'neighbors' (grandparents) house is always a party. It is so much fun to be with family and celebrate the birth of Christ! Though we know Christ truly was not born on December 25, this celebration gives us a chance to be with family and to share with them God's greatest gift to the world, Jesus Christ.

Well that pretty much sums it up for now! Christmas with Dad's family is next to come, as soon as I have pictures.LOL. But meanwhile I will leave you with a collage of pictures to enjoy!

Thanksgiving

Unfortunatly the only picture I got at Granny's on Thanksgiving! Guess we were to busy eating to take pictures. LOL.

My beautiful Mother, as close to Proverbs 31 as is humanly possible.

Table #1


Table #2


Table #3
(I guess these people actually like photographers, I got some REAL smiles!)


Yours truly
Alternative caption: 'What happens when Dad gets the camera.'

Dad' cousin, G.I. Joe, hiding behind a chair...
Oh, and other family members too, but you probably didn't notice them. LOL.

Grandma, Aunt Dot, and Uncle Joe

Uncle Rob's art


Dad and Mum

Uncle Rod, Dad's brother.

I don't suppose you could tell.

Dad's cousin Matt and his wife, Cindy.

Chattin'

Day after Thanksgiving

John shot a buck!! Hooray for John!

We decorated our house for Christmas, I couldn't resist posting this picture of the fire.

Christmas decorating at Papa and Granny's house

We took lots of family pictures that night too.

Papa and Granny

Family Picture #1

Family picture #2

(actually it was probably number 5.)

Uncle Johnny and Family

Father and daughter

Grandfather and granddaughter

Sister and brother

Three Generations

Three generations

John Jr., John III, and John IV

With the grandyoung'ns

Papa and Granny with children and in-laws

Kayla-bug

Trying to straighten out the whole tree decorating situation

Sista's

Thomas and Mattew.

9 years makes a big difference in height!

Za tree...Oh, and me.

Kay' and her deer

Each of us grandkids has a speacial ornament with our name on it.

Left to right, oldest to youngest, and used to be tallest to shortest (John is now taller than I am,whoohoo!) :

Thomas, 19, Angela, 16, John, 16, Kayla, 15, Matthew, 10, and LeAnn, 7.

Our Masterpiece...

from floor-point view

Weirdness runs in our family.

I shall leave you with one of my favorites titled "a sunset with no sun"!

The sun had not shined that day at all! It was one of those all-too-common wet winter days, but God blessed us with a beautiful sunset to remind us that he is faithful, even on the dreary days.

God bless you all.

Haawii ke aloha,

Angela

Amazing Grace

In case you missed this video last Christmas season, click here to see it. You will have to pause the background music in the player at the bottom, and then turn your speakers up real loud!

Thought for Thanksgiving

We should spend as much time in thanking God for his benefits as we do in asking him for them. —Vincent De Paul (French clergyman)

"What were they thinking..."

"what were they drinking?"
-The Widows Might

Found:

New Ice cream flavor

Hot Cocoa

???

LOL.

-Angela

Awareness Test

How aware are you of the things going on right in front of you? Watch this video:

This is a reminder to look out for cyclists and other things we may not see when we drive, but it also is a good reminder to look out for the things we cannot always see spiritually. While we are focused on some of the things going on in our lives, there are often other things going on right in front of us that we frequently miss.

The Barn!!

Greetings all,
Sorry it's been so long since I posted anything. I know I say that every time but we really have been busy! Between my grandparents and Mum going back and forth to the hospital, Daddy traveling in Florida, a new milk cow and 150 new chickens, I haven't had much time to take pictures, much less blog! Thanks so much everyone for all your prayers for my grandfather, he is feeling somewhat better and is able to get out more.


But any way, as the title states very plainly we are in the process of building a barn!..That is, the Mortons are in the process of building us a barn. LOL. I had lots of grand intentions in regards to blogging this momentous event, holding Abby S. in the light of blog-heroine, but alas, it was not to be *sigh*. But considering it only took them about three days to build up the frame work, I guess there would not have been much to post about everyday.


Sorry I don't have more pictures of the actual building process, I just never made it out there to take some.





They started on Monday morning, this picture was taken Tuesday morning before they got here. It was really foggy outside and I thought it looked pretty neat. The big white thing in front is the chicken pen.

The workman's roller coaster

Progress as of Tuesday night.

It rained all morning on Wednesday, so they had to wait until Thursday to finish up.

Art

Daddy and Mum admiring the barn

She really didn't seem all that impressed with the idea of getting a new milking stall. But I am.

Necessity

As my Dad said, "This is one of those pictures that most blogers would lable 'art'".
So just to be different I'm going to lable it 'nails'.

I don't know what to lable this one, unless I call it 'more art'.

Wesley cutting some boards

My favorite picture of the day.

Almost done!

Our lovely pond.

The day after they finished Daddy let me climb up and write some scriptures on the rafters.

Hi!

Once the tin comes in it will be complete! No more milking in the rain! LOL.
(It wasn't that bad though, kinda kept the flies away;)

Haawi ke aloha,
Angela