Saturday, May 29, 2010

Answers to our Guessing Game!

Well, we gave all of you a few days to guess on our guessing game, over at our 500th post. None of the ones who guessed got all of them correct, although Allison was very close.

Here are the answers (yes, we're giving away our middle names!!)

  • Julia Anna
  • David Paul
  • Joel Gregory
  • Abigail (Abby) Charisse
  • Caleb Nathaniel
  • Phoebe Ann
  • Johanna Ruth
  • Jaden Jacob
Thanks for guessing, and if you enjoy our blog, let us know by way of comment! We always LOVE hearing from our readers. =)

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Psalm for the Sabbath

Psalm 135:1-3
 
"Praise ye the Lord.  Praise ye the name of the Lord; praise Him, O ye servants of the Lord.  Ye that stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God, praise the Lord; for the Lord is good: sing praises unto His name; for it is pleasant."

Friday, May 21, 2010

Middle Name Guessing Game

The answers to the middle name guessing game in our 500th post will be posted in a few days. We will let all of you out there have a chance to give us your best guesses. Thanks to those who have guessed already! To guess, just click here.

Thanks!

Stucco

Phoebe posted some photos of our stuccoing experience. I want to add some photos of it that the Wahlquists sent us from May 15. Sorry that this is in reverse order.


The second game of volleyball (photo courtesy of Deborah Wahlquist)


Phoebe, Beth, Benjamin, Andrew and Nathaniel (photo courtesy of Elisha Wahlquist)



L-R: Debs, yours-truly, Stephen, and Phoebe in the "field" of wild flowers (photo courtesy of Elisha Wahlquist)


Andrew, Caleb and Nathaniel rolling in the wheelbarrow (photo courtesy of Elisha Wahlquist)


Yours-truly, doing stucco below the scaffolding (photo courtesy of Elisha Wahlquist)


I was sitting under the scaffolding (that Nathaniel, Andrew and Benjamin were on). Well, after about 45 minutes of the "guys above" dropping stucco on "those below" (in other words: ME!), I ended up with "gray-stucco hair". So I said (jokingly of course), "Those Wahlquist boys are so stressful-- I got gray hair because of them!" *Grins* Many jokes were pulled because of my "gray hair"--- but I didn't mind--- I'm used to being teased by my own brothers! *Wink*

Anyway, it was very fun to do team work with Phoebe, Elisha, Beth, Benjamin, Deborah and Stephen! :-)

~Johanna

Our 500th Post!



We here at Texas Skies are very happy to post our 500th post! We have been blogging since August 27, 2007.

The very first post was published at 10:46pm on the 27th of August '07. Yes, we were very excited and just had to post, even at that late hour! Since then we have posted 499 posts, numerous photos and thousands of words. We hope that this blog has been an encouragement, and has, most of all, glorified our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Here are some of our favorite selections from the 500 posts:

David ~ Germany Pictures
Julia ~ Julia's First Watercolor Painting
Joel ~ Excerpts from Ephesians
Abby ~ Patience: Lessons from a 6-year-old
Caleb ~ When Does Tyranny become Tyranny?
Phoebe ~ Goofiness
Johanna ~ Flowers (part one)
Jaden ~ "Frito-Bandito!"

We'd love for you to leave your comments, and let us know what your favorite post(s) has been.

Now for the fun part... you get to guess which middle name fits each person in our family! For some of you it will be very easy, for others it might be a little harder. Have fun!

1. Charisse
2. Jacob
3. Anna
4. Gregory
5. Paul
6. Ann
7. Nathaniel
8. Ruth

All of our first names are (in age order): Julia, David, Joel, Abby, Caleb, Phoebe, Johanna and Jaden. Just match the number with the name in your comment.

Thursday, May 20, 2010

I Am Not Ashamed




Check out the new campaign by Answers in Genesis, called I Am Not Ashamed. They also have a free online video Bible, to which you can contribute! I'm very thankful for AiG standing up, unashamedly for the Gospel and especially for the message of the Creator and His creation.

Visit their websites, and let others know about it. They also have a blog.

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes..." Romans 1:16

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Stuccoing with Friends

This past Saturday we helped some friends stucco their guest house. We had a lot of fun, got really dirty and were very tired after getting home. Thanks, W.'s, for letting us help you stucco! It was so much fun and enjoyable.


Yours-truly, Deborah and Stephen on the way to their house.


Inspecting


Elisha, Beth, Johanna and I worked on cutting wire to make "pins" to push the chicken wire back against the hay bales.


Mixing up a load of stucco


Shooting the shooter :)


Johanna's hair turned gray as a result of working under the scaffolding from which the guys were dropping stucco (don't worry, it wasn't on purpose!). :)


Mr. W. working on stuccoing by the back door.


Micah, Yours-Truly, Beth and Elisha, all hard at work.


I was putting the finishing touches on the bottom of this wall.


The guys had the fun section up high.


Yes, their guest house is made out of hay bales!


They had a creek flowing in between the two houses as a result of the mixing of the stucco.


Stephen had a fun time playing the red sand. He was so dirty at the end of the day!


Nathaniel created a stucco cake (want some?!)


The window up high in the bathroom. The different textures are interesting.


And of course they had to take a picture of Johanna and me! :)


Wendy, Ben's goat


Stephen and Deborah took Johanna and me over to take a look at Wendy, the goat.


Beth playing a piece before lunch


Thank you, Mrs. W. for the delicious supper (and lunch!)


Micah is riding his unicycle in this picture. He's very good at it!


So, after all that hard work, we decided to use up our last ounces of energy to play a couple rounds of volleyball. It was well worth it!


Mr. W. serving


In action


They have a nice place to play volleyball. They just got it set-up and are already enjoying it. :)


"Who's gonna get it?"


On our way out on their dirt road. Actually, it's not even worthy of being called a road, it mostly consists of deep ruts filled with water (especially after rain!). The ride will definitely give you a chiropractic adjustment, but maybe not quite the kind you'd like to have! :)

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Arkansas Whirlwind Trip - part 2

Sorry I took so long to post these pictures. I sort of forgot about it! :)


The train tracks running through 'downtown'


"Penny's Place" where we ate lunch on Monday


The huge grain silos


(L to R): Joel, Great-grandma, Grandma looking at the lunch menu


Yours truly waiting for her lunch to arrive


Hey! There's my lunch! Yeah!


Visiting over our lunch meal


Miss Abs :)


"Now who are they shady characters??"


Joel's favorite site while there: a train.

Our Garden

Our garden is growing quite well this year. We have many plants in it, including squash, potatoes, beans, tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, pumpkin, swiss chard, asparagus, baby lettuce and cabbage. Enjoy the photos.


The tomato plants


The squash plants


A small zucchini


Beautiful cucumber blossoms (I think)


The pumpkin plant is growing out onto the RV pad and into the walk way

Monday, May 17, 2010

Darby the Squirrel

Last Wednesday night Caleb and I found a cute little baby squirrel lying on the ground. She looked like she was hurt, she could move, but not very well. We figured that she had probably fallen out of the tree above, from her nest. The lowest branch was at least 30 feet up. So we decided to pick her up and take care of her until we could call someone to come pick her up and try to help her get better. The next day, we gave her some water a few times. Then the city animal helps came by and picked her up. They said she might go into the Heard Craig Museum.


This is what she looked like when we first found her.



Darby managed to scoot herself out onto the side-walk



The processional down back to our house


Dillon and Jaden helping Abby carry the bin with Darby in it.


Giving Darby some water


Jo and Darby


Isn't she so cute?!


Yours-Truly holding Darby


She liked to curl up into a ball


Darby peering over my fingers