Merry Christmas!

Praying God's blessings on you and your family this Christmas!

~The Silveys~

"For unto us a Child is born,

Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder.

And His name will be called 

Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father,

Prince of Peace."

Isaiah 9:6

Giving Thanks

“May not and ought not the children of these fathers rightly say: "Our fathers were Englishmen which came over this great ocean, and were ready to perish in this wilderness but they cried unto the Lord, and He heard their voice, and looked on their adversity, 

Let them therefore praise the Lord, because He is good, and His mercies endure forever. Yea, let them which have been redeemed of the Lord, shew how He hath delivered them from the hand of the oppressor. When they wandered in the desert wilderness out of the way, and found no city to dwell in, both hungry, and thirsty, their soul was overwhelmed in them. 

Let them confess before the Lord His loving kindness, and His wonderful works before the sons of men.” 
― William Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation, 1620-1647

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good!  For His mercy endures forever.”

Psalm 136:1

Happy Thanksgiving!

Summer in Pictures

posted by Amanda Silvey

This past summer we stayed busy with our garden. We were blessed with a good harvest and twice a week we were able to take some of our produce to the farmers market.  We went to two different markets each week, which made our schedule kind of hectic, but we really enjoyed it and are looking forward to next year.

 

Tuesday at the Hope Farmers Market

Greens!

The boys had their own gardens this summer.  

Jared grew some mini romaine and also some orange and yellow carrots.

Yellow Carrots!

Jacob's turnips

Kale chips! We loved making this tasty snack (and eating it too J). There are so many ways you can fix kale; you can eat it raw in a salad, cook it like other greens, put it in a stir fry with some squash, or even make a smoothie out of it. 

Potatoes

Heirloom Tomatoes

Our olives came off about mid to late August.  We figured out that they are not a true olive, but a variety of a sweet olive.  They are great to snack on and taste just like a little green apple.

Zucchini Bread

Handmade items from the Silvey Farm: John Deere aprons, clothes pin bags, and laundry bags.

Grace liked to handle the money for Dad and Mom =)

Bluegrass pickin'.  Lots of fun!

Old Washington State Park is a neat historic town dated back to the Civil War.

Every Saturday they had a farmers market, and we really enjoyed coming out here.   

Fourth of July

Vine Peach Melon  

These little melons grow and look just like cantaloupe.  They don't taste very good by themselves, but they are great in cobblers!

Purple Hull and Crowder Hull Pea Jelly

This is made by boiling the hulls and then using the juice to make the jelly.  The purple hull has a light grape flavor and the crowder kind of has a peach or apricot flavor.

    

Hangin' out

   

Touring the town

It's always fun to take a walk and see the park's biggest Magnolia tree.

Streeeetch...... =)

Come out and see us next year!

Jared #19

Happy Birthday Jared!

August Birthdays

 Posted by Amanda Silvey

      The month of August was filled with birthdays for us: John’s was on the 1^st, Grace’s was the 22^nd, Will’s was the 24^th, and Jacob’s was the 26^th.  

Needles to say, by the end of that last week we were pretty much tired of cake. (Well, at least some of us were.) J  

Happy Birthday Will, John, Jacob, and Grace!                                                                                                          

Will #22  ~  John #17  ~  Jacob #15  ~  Grace #8

"Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD,

 the fruit of the womb is a reward.  Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth.  

Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them; they shall not be ashamed, but shall speak with their enemies in the gate."

Psalm 127: 3-5

When God Changes Your Plans . . .

Have you ever had a time when you felt like everything was under control and then it all was pulled out from under you like a carpet?  That happened to me this past week . . . .

Saturday afternoon I prepared for our Sunday meal so my Sunday morning would not be so hectic.  I slept in a little Sunday morning because many of my meal preparations were complete.  That morning I pulled out a large glass bowl from the refrigerator that held the potatoes, carrots, green beans, corn, and turkey I had prepared on Saturday for our Turkey Pot Pie.  I picked up the bowl to move it over to the next counter and it slipped out of my hands.  The bowl hit the counter and broke in pieces cutting up my hands as I tried to save it from hitting the floor.  I stood there looking at our Sunday lunch on the floor and my bleeding hands.

My first thought was, “I worked so hard Saturday preparing all this food and now it is all gone.  I have nothing else to fix for today.”  The only other meal I could have pulled out of the freezer was ham and beans; not a meal I could put together in the 40 minutes I had left before going to church.

At other times, I would have been anxious, thinking, “What am I going to feed my family now?”  I actually felt calm and had a sense of peace about the whole situation.  Just prior to this event happening I had been in the living room praying and reading God’s Word.  I believe this made the difference in my not falling apart.  God’s word is so powerful and so much needed during the difficulties of life. 

As you see in the picture above we ended up having a table full of food, mostly vegetables we grew in our garden and Amanda came to the rescue with her homemade rolls.  When I thought there was nothing else to fix, we ended up with a great meal full of good family fellowship.  The meal we ate was not what I had planned for that day, but what God planned.  Yes, it was a lot more work to get everything ready when we got home from church, but one of the verses I read that morning was Philippians 2:14,”Do all things without complaining and disputing.”

So . . . remember the importance of being in God’s Word on a daily basis because you never know when the carpet is going to be pulled out from underneath you and you will need God’s strength to carry on.

~Dana

The Blessing of a Praying Mother

Posted by Dana Silvey
It was a blessing to celebrate Mother's Day this past Sunday.  Mark taught on Hannah's prayer from I Samuel during our teaching time at church.  Hannah prayed a prayer and it was fulfilled in a very specific way in the life of her son.  This prayer renewed in me my privilege as a mother to pray for my children.  

A verse that I have used in praying for my children is from Colossians 1:9-11.  I pray that they would:   
be filled with the knowledge of His (God’s) will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, that they would walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.

I pray this also for my husband as he leads our family.  Praying God’s word back to Him is very powerful.  I want to encourage all mothers to be praying daily for their children.  You can also pray for the future spouses of your children.  Let’s be praying mothers and grandmothers!