Random pictures

Here are some random pictures from the past several months:

Ja & Jo

Mother

Joel's delicious Birthday desert! (Soy Ice cream, homemade tarts, & berries for topping!)

Truly awesome "sky-works"! Psalm 19:1 "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth His handywork."

Joel's birthday cont'd

Clowning around - Mom & Caleb with his French hat made of paper gift wrap!

Hmm.... Constitutional Law book - Joel is considering pursuing a law degree!

Joel & his gifts

Happy birthday man!

The best picture of all, of the dessert, didn't load up. Oh well, it was delicious! Neapolitan ice cream & short cake with berries & other toppings. :)

Learning to Work Together

Here is an article that I was assigned to write in my English class a few years ago:

Written: 11/3/05

Learning to Work Together
By
Phoebe Kautt (age 10)

Once upon a time, there lived a bat in a beautifully colored tree beside a river, which was called, by all that lived in the city, Li. The bat was a wise little bat. There also, in that same tree, lived a nightingale. The nightingale was prideful, because she had a beautiful voice. The nightingale had such a beautiful voice that the Emperor and all his royal court would come every night to listen to the beautiful voice. While she would be singing, the bat, without being seen by the Emperor and his court, would gulp up the mosquitoes. One night the nightingale asked, "Are not you ashamed of yourself, swooping about, consuming mosquitoes, not even singing just one note? What kind of life do you live?" The bat did not answer, for he caught sight of a mosquito flying about. He swiftly swooped and caught the mosquito and gobbled it down. Then he replied, "It is a very, very important life I live." Once he answered he was off again catching another mosquito, and into the thickening dusk. "You call that an important life!" Screeched the nightingale. "Just look at my life. I sing for the Emperor and all his royal court." She preened her feathers proudly and then exclaimed again, "What is catching mosquitoes to that?" The bat flew by once again chasing another mosquito, but as he flew past intoned, "If it were not for me the Emperor and all his court would never come to the river bank." "What nonsense!" Cried the nightingale, "He does not come here because of you, but he comes to give heed to my singing."

The bat did not reply, but smiled to himself. Then the very next night, a very warm and sticky night filled with mosquitoes, the bat did not go out chasing mosquitoes, but instead sat in the beautifully colored tree listening to the nightingale sing. It was so beautiful, so magnificent, gorgeous, it made the bat sad. But right at the most gorgeous part the swarms of mosquitoes were biting the Emperor and his royal court, so they started getting restless and shifting from one foot to another. The Emperor finally fled for the palace because of those biting insects. They were tripping over their royal robes as they slapped mosquitoes and jogged away. Only the bat stayed to hear the nightingale’s magnificent performance.

The nightingale sprawled quietly in the beautiful tree; just then she recognized the importance of the bat’s job. From then on they both worked together in harmony. The Emperor and his royal court came back, because the bat and the nightingale both worked together in harmony. The bat and the nightingale both have important jobs that they need to stick with. So the moral of the story is simply that the two cannot work without each other.

27 years~

Dad & Mom celebrate their 27th Wedding Anniversary today!!!!

Here they are in wedding attire cutting the lovely bride's cake. They were wed on Saturday, August 1, 1981 in Richardson, Texas. They have since served at 3 different churches. Two in Texas and one in Oklahoma.

This picture was taken by Mom's Dad, Ron shortly after they were married. Don't they look smashing!?

Dad & Mom (expecting Phoebe) after Dad received his Master's degree in Dallas.

Through the years of married life, they have added to their family. Joel is the eldest of their offspring, he just celebrated his 22nd birthday. Abby followed a couple of years later, I'm now 18. Caleb was born two years later and he's now 16.


Dad & Mom with Joel, Abby, Caleb & Phoebe. This was before the time of Johanna & Jaden.

Here we all are in our front yard getting a family picture taken. Jaden is about 2 years old in this one. You can tell that the 4 younger ones have done allot of growing. Caleb is as tall as Dad, Phoebe & Jo are both taller than me now. And, Jaden is not a baby anymore.

This is from a series of pictures we had taken on Thanksgiving day 2006 in downtown McKinney.

The years have been long, and sometimes hard. But, I am so thankful that God has proved faithful through them all. Dad & Mom, you are a testimony to your 6 children of what a God honoring marriage is! Thank you for standing together through thick and thin, through illness and health, for better or worse, for rich or for poor! You are such a great example of faithfulness to each other that is rare now days in a world of divorce.

I love you both dearly!

Love,

Abby

Another drawing

Here is another one of Caleb's excellent drawings.

He borrowed a book about welding from one of his cousins. On the back of the book, there was the picture Caleb used to draw this picture:




The way he did the sparks, the vivid colors, it's just all very real. The light colors stand out because of the black background. He did a fantastic job!

Great job Caleb!

Phoebe

Art ~