A visit ~

Thursday afternoon, some of the Wahlquist family came to pick-up Caleb's riding lawn mower to fix it. Mrs., Elizabeth (20), Nathaniel (18), Benjamin (15), Andrew (13), and Micah (11), all came. Of course, we visited while there were here. Jaden had a blast playing with Micah. Ben is the normally quiet one, but Caleb surprised me by saying that Ben had read the whole “ The School Room Responsibility act of 2009”, to the other boys! I had been expecting Caleb to say, “Yeah, Ben was quiet the whole time...” Yes, Caleb did show the older boys the fake bill he made for a Blessed is the Man school project. Abby, Phoebe and I really enjoyed visiting with Beth. It's always fun when they come over! :-) Mom and Mrs. Wahlquist talked the whole time, while the older boys were outside (most of the time). Later (a few hours after the Wahlquists had left) , all of we Kautt kids and one of our neighbors' grandsons (Syler, age nine), played “baseball”. We weren't using a bat or real base balls, instead we were using a tennis rackets and tennis balls, and hitting the balls like you would in real baseball. Part of the game, we played in the RAIN! :-) Boy, did that feel nice! Some of us got soaked, too. But, it was really fun!!! Here are some photos:



Phoebe, Abby and Elizabeth, having a discussion.


Talking about our 2004 Colorado trip.

The Moms, talking.

Beth and Abby. Phoebe was also in the room, but was too far to the right to be in the photo.

Chatting

The boys, enjoying the visit

I thought I'd post this photo, because Jaden and Andrew are standing almost the same exact way, and their hats are very similar, and NO this was not posed! :-)

Jaden plays legos with Micah

Brothers: Ben and Nathaniel

And the pitch.....

And that ones a pop-fly...... ;-)

as

Last Goodbyes

Wednesday night we went over to Chik-fil-A close to our house, and met Uncle Jimmy & Aunt Naomi, and Grandma & Grandpa to say our last goodbyes to UJ and AN. We visited for about 30 minutes, while they ate their supper. Then we took a family picture, said our goodbyes and they were off!

Joel chatting with Uncle Jimmy about his college program.

Visiting around the table

Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Naomi. "How sweet it is."

The Johny Kautt 2009 family picture (without the Knowles family)

Daily Life~

Well, it has been a while since I have posted anything "personal" but I guess you probably know that I have my own blog which keeps me busy, besides micro-blogging at twitter as well. :) No excuse, I should let you all know what I've been up to lately.

Even though Mom is doing better each day she has still not resumed her full duties - actually, she mostly does not perform any tasks, which is fine. I still do the majority of the housework, cooking and cleaning, which I enjoy very much (especially the cooking). Entertaining guests has become something I enjoy as well, and I have had multiple opportunities here lately to try my hand at becoming a better hostess.

I continue (along with my fam) to do things on the political front, which is almost a full time job! :P Since we get school credit for each minute we spend doing activism, we try to take a few minutes each week to contact our leaders in D.C. to let them know our opinion on certain issues, pieces of legislation, concerns, etc. I was so nervous the first time I called my Representative, but that has worn off to some extent. :)

The last week and a few days we have been vastly enjoying the visit of my father's brother and his wife who serve as missionaries in Tuebingen, Germany. Since they live so very far away, and since it is very expensive to travel, we only get to see them about once a year. Those visits are treasured times for us all, and we look forward with bated breath to each sabbatical. They spent the night Sunday, and were with us until the early afternoon yesterday. Hopefully, we will get to see them at least a couple of times more before they leave for their homeland.

This weekend will find me in Tyler (East) Texas, Lord willing, helping my Aunt Jen celebrate her pregnancy. Her friend is throwing a baby-shower and us girls and Mom have been invited. I am looking forward to seeing family on my Mom's side, we don't see them very often and besides all that, its in the country. :)

I was reading a book the other day about this girl with cancer whose illness affected the rest of her family, causing stress, bitterness, grief and worry to weigh them down - and I was thinking how very similar the young lady's (who's perspective the book was written from) perception of her sister's sickness and my perception of my mother's sickness were. The story is very sad, and yet abounding with hope, because the family had The Hope - Jesus Christ to see them through the valley of the shadow of death as it were. Even when we cannot see the purpose of what we are experiencing at the moment, I was reminded that I should always trust in the sovereignty of God's plan, He always knows best! [the name of the book is: Dana's Valley by Janette Oke and Laurel Oke Logan]

On the first of this month, I read Psalm one and Proverbs one and it struck me how both of those passages speak about wisdom (and her worth) and folly (and its destruction) and I was comparing how many times both speak of wisdom and folly (or imply it at least) and I counted 8 munitioning's in Psalm 1 and in Proverbs almost every verse has something to say, in a comparative way about wisdom versus folly. Obviously, this is such an important concept and I realize that almost every day when my beloved littlest brother does something silly!

Well, lunch awaits so I must be off. God bless your week!

A day with U.J. and A.N. ~

The mysterious A.N.

On Wednesday we had spent a great day with U.J. and A.N., along with Grandpa, Grandma and Jason. We went down to our Grandparents' house around 9:30am. Joel got to visit about an hour before he had to leave for his work. After he left we played a game of basketball, then ate lunch. After lunch we drove the rented van and drove to the Department of Public Safety building for some business U.J. needed to do. After about an hour wait at the DPS, we drove to a huge Goodwill outlet store, and shopped around for over an hour. We found many bargains! After being out for 3 or 4 hours, we drove to get some refreshing Bubble Tea. Then we finally drove back to Grandpa and Grandma's house. Once we rested for a few minutes, we drove over to the Dallas Christian College gymnasium. We played a tiring 45 minute game of basketball. Finally, we drove from the college to Denton to have dinner with the Knowles, our cousins. While at the Knowles we had a yummy supper of spaghetti and meatballs, had a great time visiting, and played several games of fooseball. It was all quite fun, and tiring. We finally got home around 10:45pm, and immediately fell into bed, exhausted.

Now, it might mysterious why I'm not giving the full name, but just giving the initials: U.J. and A.N. Can anyone guess who these two mysterious people are? If you want to give it a try, leave us a comment with your guess.

The other mysterious visitor, U.J.

Fat Straws, bubble tea

In the heat of the game

Playing fooseball at the Knowles'

The Wahlquist visit on Tuesday

On Tuesday morning, we had all of the Wahlquist family over, except for Mr. Wahlquist. We really enjoyed the vist (as always!!). :-) They were here for about three hrs.
Here are some pictures:


Abby snapped this photo of Miss Elisha and Miss Elizabeth



L-R: Stephen, Jaden, and Deborah



Playin' legos and chattin'


L-R: Bejamin W., Elisha W., Elizabeth W., Nathaniel W., Andrew W., Stephen W. (in the background), Mrs. W., and Mom.

Visit from the Wahlquists

A few days ago, some of the Wahlquists came over. We all really enjoyed their visit.

Mom, Mrs. Wahlquist & Abby chatting before they left

Miss Deborah

Visit from the Mosbecks

On Friday we had some guests at our house, Mrs. Gini and Sarah Mosbeck. They wanted to drop by our house for a little visit on their way to Richardson, TX., from Fayetteville, AR.! We hadn't seen them in about 3 yrs., so it was nice to see/visit with them again!!! :-) Although they only stayed for about 20 minutes (which wasn't lo---n-g enough ;D), we still enjoyed the visit.


And, of course your's truley (the Kautt photographer) just had to take pictures of the visit. ;-)


Mrs. and Sarah (almost 20)

Answering Darwin Conference - Part 2

Saturday: I let Abby go Saturday night, and stayed home with mom. So...I don't really know what happened that night, seeing that I wasn't there. A video presentation entitled: "A God of Suffering?", by Dr. Tommy Mitchell, was shown. This video presentation is great. Dr. Mitchell explains how there can be a God of Love in this world of death and suffering. Here are some more pictures from Friday & Saturday night:

Mischievous? Hannah & Phoebe (no not me! a different Phoebe!) :)

Isn't Ezra so cute?! :)

People...talking! :)

More talking!

Our mysterious visitor from Oklahoma was... Mr. Larry Amos (our former neighbor). More later.

Answering Darwin Conference

Well...I think that the Answering Darwin Conference was a success. On Friday night & Saturday night we had over 30 in attendance (which doesn't sound much, but it is for a small church, and a first time "experiment" conference). On Sunday morning, with Dr. Jobe Martin as our guess, we had over 50 in attendance. Sunday evening we had just under 30. I had hoped we would have had more, but again, I think it was a success.

Anyway, we I get a chance, I hope to post pictures, and a little bit more about the conference. Maybe sometime in the next...month! No, just kidding. Hopefully in the next couple of days. :)

Also, we had a special visitor (from Oklahoma). Can anyone guess who it was?

Vistors...again! :-)

Friday afternoon, a little before lunch, the phone rang. Abby answered it. It was Nathaniel Wahlquist. He wanted to talk to Caleb. They talked for about two or three minutes and then Caleb got off. He said that Nathaniel said that they were going to come to our house. They had already fixed the mower!!! Boy, they're quick! I thought. We had thirty minutes to eat and clean-up. Didn't take long, though.

A few minutes, and I knew they were here, because of the sound of the truck. Caleb and Jaden went out and I followed. Mom followed me and I hurried to their truck to see if Mrs. was there. She was. She greeted me then walked over to Mom and they talked. Deborah (6), was in the back seat of the truck, so I talked to her. I asked her if they had any pets. She said she has a pet rabbit. They also have two goats. Deborah and I talked about homeschooling, animals, dresses, and where they and we are from (They're Swedish, German. We are German). I really enjoyed talking to Deborah!!! ;-)

Mom and Mrs. Wahlquist, talking. (Both of our families love to talk!)

Deborah...isn't she a cute, darling child?

Sorry we don't have more pictures! I guess I was caught-up in talking!!! :-)

Visitors

Yesterday, Mrs., Nathaniel, and Andrew Wahlquist came over. They came to pick-up some lawn mowers we have; one of them we needed to be fixed and two that we needed to get rid of.


Their old white truck
Caleb and and Jaden enjoyed their time with Nathaniel and Andrew, while us girls and Mom enjoyed talking to Mrs. Wahlquist.


L-R: Andrew (standing), Nathaniel (kneeling), and Caleb (standing).


L-R: Mom (sitting), Mrs. Wahlquist (sitting), and Phoebe (standing).

Mrs. handed me a bag. She said that it was for me and that the note inside would explain what it was all about. She also said that it was from her oldest daughter and child, Elisha (She is one of my pen pals). I opened the bag and inside were two packages, wrapped in beautiful wrapping paper. :-) I read the note from Elisha then, I opened the package that had my name on it, and took the one that had Phoebe's name on it to her. She opened hers and we both looked at what we got..................................(scroll down)..............






























































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.........okay, here it is: two beautiful paintings!!!!! ;-)



My painting- isn't it beautiful?! ;-)


Phoebe's painting- simply beautiful, too!!!
Thank you, Elisha, for the paintings! ~ Phoebe and Johanna