The Howell Blessings

Laurie, my sister sent me these. In case you can't tell, it is the 80's. Jenny was born in 1984 and Mike in 1985. This was Christmas at my parents house. Dad made Jenn a rocking chair and Mike a rocking horse. Jenn also has a home made dolly from her Aunt Donna. I think she still has it somewhere today. I have to brag, I had cute babies. Now I have wonderful adult children that make me proud.

We're missing Rick's 3, no 4, oldest kids and Tim's family. Mom is in all of our hearts. This is my family after we've all stuffed ourselves silly eating a Thanksgiving feast at Rick and Donna's house. This is also the official kick-off of the holiday season. I wish all of you some of the best times and fondest memories. In the midst of the bustle, don't forget the One who we are celebrating.

Ryan "dancing" in his wheelchair Striding and Riding Jenn giving the ole rabbit ears behind Ryan Rick, Ryan and Donna walking in front of us Some of the walkers Before the event started All ages came to support loved ones and MDA Jenn in her t-shirt and button Little ones came for the adventure too Face painting to show support (it's suppoed to be a web and Ryan's name)

A single hummingbird amazingly sits still while feeding. The perched hummingbird defended his spot, which was the entire feeder, all day. He chased off several other birds as they would attempt to come in to feed. I captured this split second shot right before the defending bird chased off his intruder. The other birds took advantage of the freqent chases to come and take a few sips before they got caught. Wow, it's been fun watching the little tiny, and territorial, hummingbirds this summer. I have a feeder just outside our sunroom window. One rainy Sunday afternoon I sat for a couple of hours with my camera poised and captured some pretty neat shots of the chases and steals this day of the numerous hummingbirds that came to feed, or tried to feed. I must have taken 50 or so pictures this Sunday afternoon, many of which turned out blurry because these tiny and fascinating creatures fly so fast! I thought I'd share just a few of my favorite pictures.. Enjoy.

We've had quite the flurry of activity this spring and summer. To our knowledge we've had at least 4 new deer families. One mama deer would "drop her baby off" every morning and then pick it back up in the afternoon. The beautiful fawn would eat for a little bit (yes in my gardens) then lay quietly all day waiting for mom's return. Later on we had a mama and her twin fawns. We got to watch those fawns grow up and begin to loose their spots. Now the twins show up without mama. Just recently we've been host to a mama and her triplets. We've only seen them a few times. The most recent is a mama and her twins. We are wondering if this may be the mama with triplets but may have lost one. This mama has some serious injuries to her leg and chest, yet we caught her playing "get 'cha" with her fawns a few weekends ago, even though it was obvious that she was in pain by the limping when she walked and the big gash on her leg and chest. Thought I'd ...

I just finished reading Angie Smith's blog ( http://audreycaroline.blogspot.com/ ). I laughed while relating to some of the things she shared about raising her daughters, and I cried. If you're reading this and have not followed Angie's blog, you are missing out. Angie is the wife of lead Selah singer Todd Smith. Angie and Todd recently gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, their fourth daughter, and 2 hours later, quietly handed her back to God. I came across Angie's blog when I was searching for new CD's that might be out from Selah as they are by far one of my favorite praise and worship groups, not to mention some of the most talented singers ever! I jumped into Angie's blog in the middle of her story, of her struggles of learning that the baby she was carrying may not take a breath of air. I cried then too. This time I cried as Angie shared her and Todd's pain as they struggled with making hard decisions that many of us have never had to even think about...

Jenn accepting her diploma At the arch