Fall Cookout

We enjoyed getting to have our annual cookout at the church this month! 

It was fun hanging out with friends and eating lots of good food, roasting s'mores over a fire, drinking apple cider, and sitting around the fire to keep warm and visit. 

The leaves had turned all sorts of colors and everything was so beautiful!

Mom and Mrs. Barbara grilling the hamburgers and hot dogs.

The guys patiently waiting for the food to get ready. ☺

Jacob, doing what he loves best!

These three had a blast the whole night playing together. 

Ramsie brought her adorable chihuahua, Charlie.  Little Charlie was the star of the night!!

Isn't he so tiny?!

Me (Sarah), Ramsie, and Grace.

The boys collecting sticks for the fire. 

October

 We harvested our fall garden this month and we were blessed with the produce from that.
Our sweet potatoes did really well!

 We grew purple sweet potatoes this year and Mom made a sweet potato pie out of them for the first time. It tasted practically the same as the orange, but some of us just couldn't get past the color!  

      One day we decided to decrease our rooster population and we had a butchering day.  Mom and Jared were the chief butchers and John and Jacob aided them by doing the killing part. The rest of us just looked on. 😊

Freshly picked green beans. 

Filing up our shelves with canned green beans for this winter!

John and Jared hauling wood up to the house in Jared's truck to stack it in the carport. 

Had a fun shopping day in Texarkana with Jared and Amanda!!

We got to sing at a Pastor Appreciation Cookout last month and we really enjoyed doing that!
Here we are doing a sound check before the concert.

Happy Fall!!
-Sarah

Dad #51

Happy belated birthday Dad!!! 

September 8 

We love you!!!!

August Birthdays!

Grace's birthday was August 22nd, and we had fun celebrating that. 

 I can't believe she is already 11!  

Presents!

She got a beanie boo: Icy the Seal.

 Surprise!

She had no clue what this present was so you can tell she is pretty excited about opening it. 😊

A doll!!

Happy Birthday Grace!

➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖

On August 26th we had Jacob's 18th birthday party.  Pap, Nana, & Aunt Lynn and Will and Brittany came to celebrate that with us!   

Candy from Pap and Nana.

Fish lures from Will and Brittany.

A knife...

...and some more knives!  

Jacob says he could NEVER have too many knives. 

A picture of a camo fish hook hat clip that will be coming in the mail soon.

Will's birthday was two days before so he got a present, too!

John's Graduation

The first week of August we celebrated John's 20th birthday and him graduating into manhood.

 Friday night we had dinner at William's Tavern in Historic Washington State Park with family.  We had wonderful fried chicken, new potatoes, green beans, and apple cobbler!

 Singing "Happy Birthday"

 After dinner we had a time of the parents and grandparents sharing Scriptures with John and any memories that they had of him.  There were some very funny stories told about when he was growing up!  

Grandma telling the funny story of when she gave John a spanking.

  Dad praying over John.

 Opening presents!  The quilt that Mom made him was the Tennessee Star pattern, as John was born in Tennessee.  

 The scrapbook Mom put together of John's life.

 John's first G-shock watch.

 Laughing over some pictures in the scrapbook of John's crazy side.

 The next day we had John's Manhood Ceremony at our church, Mount Olive Baptist.

 Will, Amanda, John, and Jared sang "Rock of Ages, Keep My Soul"

Our family sang "God's Word Will Stand"

John shared thoughts from Psalm 119:1-8

 Signing the Manhood Pledge

The grandfathers prayed a special prayer of blessing over John.

 Afterwards we had a reception at the Willisville Community Center where we enjoyed lots of good food, cake, and ice cream. 

Grace and Brittany did a good job serving the drinks.

As always, Amanda made a wonderful cake!

 We had John's quilt and scrapbook laid out for people to look at. 

 Pap, Nana, and Aunt Lynn.

 Grandpa and Grandma Hellwig. 

 It was nice to get to see Uncle David, Aunt Kerri, and all their kids.