What a great time we had in December when we went Christmas Caroling. The Keepers & Contenders Group had been learning about something very important...how blessed we are to have relationships with those who were born in a different era than we were. Here we are with a wonderful saint of God: Sis Elsie Aday (top photo, in the center). She has been a pillar to us all and we were priviledged to sing with her in her home just before Christmas.
The Keepers/Contenders are simply a group of parents and children that meet, once per month, and together we learn with our children, the importance of various and diverse artisan hand skills. We enjoy many of the 'olden-day' activities such as soap & candle making, woodworking & wood burning as well as knot tying, tree and bird studies, working with electricity, sewing & embroidery, crafting, computer skills, home-keeping (girls) and home-care (boys) in addition to the importance of serving God and his people to become all we can be. This group fosters a godly, masculine boyhood and a godly, feminine girlhood in an environment where individuality can shine and be awarded openly and each child can whole-heartedly work toward a predetermined goal and attain it! It is open to all families in our area and if you'd like more information regarding this group, send an email to us. (see link above) We'd like to hear from
you and look forward to a super time this year!!
LEARNING ABOUT GARDENS:
Recently we took some egg cartons and put soil and seeds into them to start some things for our garden.
After a few days, we had little sprouts coming up in the rich soil. 
In a few more days the seedlings turned into plants. Now, our garden was not tilled yet, so we were getting so excited to put these into the ground.
Shortly after, a friend came and tilled our plot with a big front end loader that had one of those new tillers on the back. It took him about 40 minutes to till the whole thing. WOW! I was amazed at how fine the soil was. It was easy to work with and all the bits of grass were completely chopped too. I mixed some of my compost into it and we started planting the next day.Here are the kids and their dad beginning the work. Let's get dirty!!
We hoed rows. I think about 16-17 rows. Then we made little valleys in each hill and planted some of our veggies. The kids are learning that we don't have to get everything we eat from the grocery store. 
Here are some of my tomatoes growing. We put stakes next to each one and gave them enough space in between to grow. I can't wait to sink my teeth into a big, fat juicy one!!
We are planting tomatoes, green beans, english peas, carrots, lettuce, radishes, bell peppers, sweet peppers, onions, and some other things. Gotta go for now...more coming! Happy Spring!
