Labor of Love

The song, Labor of Love, keeps running through my head. The chorus sings, "It was a labor of pain. It was a cold sky above. But for the girl on the ground in the dark, every beat of her beautiful heart. It was a labor of love." Mary was just a young girl. But God still gave her the amazing opportunity to have His Son. That amazing Gift. And she hid all those things in her heart. We need to not only keep the love of God hidden in our hearts, but spread the Gospel to every corner of the world.

Here's a little piece of excitement from my last week:

December 21st was the last day of school in 2018 for me. After spending the day playing in the gym and exchanging gifts, Danny drove the two of us home (he got his license!!!!) and I packed to head up to Michigan. Dad, Mom, Kimberly, David, Danny and I headed up to Michigan and got there at about nine. Seth, Adrienne, and Lizah arrived a couple minutes later. That was the starting to an exhausting week.

Saturday: Nobody had seen Calvin and Addie since they had been in bed, so that morning hugs were tight and kisses were sweet. The excitement just kept on growing and growing until Calvin and Addie were getting chased around and the food, oh the food! Something you have to know about my family: we LOVE food. Food is a big part of our celebrating. I almost got sick every night because I had eaten too much. Anyway, Acquire, a popular game in the family that I don't enjoy, was played over and over. Mom, Kimberly, Adrienne, and Lizah went grocery shopping. Dad was building some shelves for Jim and Maria and Jim was helping. Danny was holding Silas and Seth, David, and Maria were playing Acquire. Addie went to get on a chair, sat near the edge, and lost her balance. I watched her bang her head as she went down and fell to the floor. Nobody could have stopped her, it was just an accident. The place where she hit the back of her head concerned Jim and Maria. They considered going to the ER, but decided to just be careful with her and watch the way she acted. Addie was fine, but man did that scare us! We celebrated Mom's birthday, which was on the 19th, and then Seth, David, and Danny went skiing and snowboarding. Here are some pictures from the day:

Addie wearing some pretend safety goggles right before she hit her head.

The amazing cupcakes Maria made for Mom's birthday.

Addie adores Lizah

Sunday:

We went to Alto for church. We got home, played games, and ate supper. After cleaning up supper, Dad read the Christmas story. Then it was time for presents. We went from youngest to oldest, and then the siblings and Dad and Mom did a game. Everyone bought a useful or fun gift for $15.99. It was fun to pass the gifts around as one person wanted something a different person wanted. I bought a puzzle, which Mom took, and I got a Bluetooth speaker, which Danny bought. It was a very fun night, and Calvin was sad after all the presents were unwrapped. 

Sweet little Silas, born December 8th

Monday:

The whole family headed to a ice skating rink near Jim and Maria's house. Mom watched Addie, Lizah, and Silas while the rest of us skated. I don't think there was every a time when all of us were all on the ice so Mom didn't have to take care of all the kids. Calvin wasn't a fan of ice skating, but it was still fun to do something together. That night we played a lot of games and enjoyed time just being all together again. 

Baby smiles!

Christmas day:

The guys played games while the girls cleaned, and then it was time to leave at four. Calvin and Addie were given bear hugs, Silas was snuggled and kissed, and Jim and Maria were hugged goodbye and thanked as we headed to the car. We stopped at Wendy's on the way home for supper and made it home around 7:30. A tired bunch unpacked the van, but still played games until about ten. 

Love these kiddos so much.

A box of See's candies was waiting for us at home. Thanks, Aunt Heidi!

Wednesday:

The house was cleaned as we got ready for Thursday. There was no church since there were services on Monday.

Thursday:

Adrienne and Lizah were the first to arrive before lunch. After them Uncle Dave, Aunt Nellie, and all there boys came, and we ate lunch. The boys started playing games, and some people worked on a puzzle we had set out. After a while, Uncle Joe and Aunt Sue arrived with Grammy. And then, since they missed us so much, Jim, Maria, Calvin, Addie, and Silas came down and got here at about four. We all had a grand ole time. Everybody ate so much food and played a ton of games. Bailey was going to have puppies the next day, but the way she was breathing made everyone suspicious. She was checked on almost every ten minutes. Everybody left before or at 10, except for Jim and Maria. 

Friday:

Bailey had two puppies in the morning! The day was filled with activity and Dad took the day off to build some shelves in the attic and to be Grampy. Bailey wasn't doing very well, and we called some vet friends. Jim ended up pulling a dead puppy out of Bailey. It was very sad, but it was already dead, and that allowed her to have a live puppy a while later! 

Today, Saturday:

Jim and Maria left around 10:15. A while earlier, Dad and Mom had taken Bailey to the vet to get an X-ray. They returned with good and bad news. We knew that Bailey was going to have more puppies since she was still really fat. So far, we are just praying she will be alright, but she was given a shot that will hopefully speed things up, and we will not give up fighting for her until the end. 

Thank for reading! 

Love, 

Edie

Once Upon October 11th

Once upon October 11th, and new little person entered the world. Lizah Beth Waibel was welcomed to the world by Seth and Adrienne. She was seven pound and five ounces and twenty and a half inches long. Mom went to Mahomet at twelve in the morning along with Maria who drove down also. Seven and a half hours later Lizah entered the world. I went to school wishing that the day could go quickly. Thankfully it did, and at four thirty Dad, Kimberly, David, and I were in a car headed to the hospital.

Meeting Lizah for the first time.

At Seth and Jo's on Sunday.

She is such a good, little baby. 

Maria, Calvin, and Addie came to visit a couple weeks ago. Calvin and Addie hadn't met Lizah yet so Adrienne came over with Lizah. It was a wonderful day filled with family.

I love my nieces and my nephew!!

Hanging out on the couch.

Calvin loves Lizah so much! He would go play for a while then come back to hold her or kiss her.

Addie was the same way with Lizah. She would hold her and look at her and point at her eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.

One of my favorite pictures of Addie with Lizah. She was trying to touch Lizah's tongue and she would stick hers out at the same time.

Whenever when Calvin or Addie were holding Lizah, the other one would want to hold her. 

Sorry it took me so long to post this! Next month Maria is going to have a baby so I will post something on that little guy too!

All God's Creatures Great and Small

Right now I would be in Grammar class and learning something I may have already known. But instead I'm on our laptop sitting in my dad's lazyboy chair. Yes, we have a little bit of snow on the ground but no, not enough for a snow day. I am home because I have a sore throat and I'm not feeling well. I thought that while I look at the snow, I would share about to the trip to the zoo with Mom, Maria, Danny, Calvin, and Addie. Boulder Ridge is near Jim and Maria's house, and it is filled with fun and animals.

Walking around the zoo.

Going on a free bus ride to see more animals.

I love my mom!

She's such a good Grammy.

This cool little niece of mine hanging out on the bus.

Animals we saw on the bus ride. Sorry the pictures aren't great.

Waiting for the bud to arrive. Addie loved the ducks!

What an awesome God we serve! He designed each animal with special quirks. 

Calvin feeding this animal carrots we bought at a little stand.

Danny feeding the same kind of animal.

Addie is so brave! This camel didn't scare her one bit.

Calvin is so brave too! 

Feeding the giraffes.

Danny messing with a giraffe.

Reach for it! Reach for it!

Giraffes are so beautiful! 

Thanks for reading! Hope you have a great day!

Dear Old Golden Rule Days

Have you ever heard the song that goes School days, school days. Dear old golden rule days. Reading and writing and arithmetic. Some kids are about to start school. Tri-County, the public school that I would have gone to and where I went to preschool, start on the 9th. That means they only got two full months of summer vacation. Not the kids that go to Cornerstone Private School! We start on September 5th, the day after Labor Day. But thinking about starting school makes me think about last year. It was the first year Mr. Drayer came to teach and I was in his 6-8th grade class. Miss Young was my math teacher. What a year that was! I went to McDonald's two times for lunch while school was going on. The first time was because Mr. Drayer wanted to take all of us out to lunch with only our grade. Then we all went with Hannah, Naomi, and Stacy Drayer and did a flash-mob... we started singing Mary Rock without workers or other people knowing. Only our class and the Drayer family went to Parkview Haven to sing on Valentine's Day. After we sang, we got to eat lunch their. Then, after getting helium balloons, just us school kids went out and threw snowballs and jumped through the deep snow to the playground. There, we went on the merry-go-round. Sometimes, someone would through a snowball and one of us would get hit unexpectedly. We also built a snowman during the last period of school one day. We also picked up litter on Earth Day and ate pie, cake, fudge, and other sweets on special days of the month. Oh yeah, and we got a piece of candy every single day. Some other highlights were field trips. The first one, we sixth graders went with the elementary and pre-k, then the whole school went to see windmills and got to tour Freedom Foods. I was able to take pictures with my phone, but hadn't got them downloaded onto the computer until now. So, I decided to share pictures and memories from that trip.

Our first stop was the windmill farm. We went to a field and stayed on the path to see how big a windmill really is. When you are standing underneath it, it feels as if the blades are about to drop on you! It was a really neat experience and it's amazing how much a windmill weighs!

This might have a filter... but it is still a very pretty sight!

How you get into the windmill.

A very funny sign on the door entering the windmill.

My BFFs and I.

We then did a work project at the Harvest Call building in Wolcott. We were partnered with another student and did work together. When we later went to Freedom Foods, we stayed with our partner and explored together. I was partnered with Mandy Cook, who was in 2nd grade. Freedom Foods was my favorite stop, partly because I know the owners, Ryan and Kim Schleman, but partly they let us do so much and we got to interact and help plant food. I got a lot of pictures there. We split into two groups and one group went into one greenhouse and the others went into another. Then we all went together, jumped off their playset and then planted some things in the field with a cool planter thing of theirs. 

My partner, Mandy Cook. 

The other group waiting for us and jumping off of the playset. 

Entering the greenhouse with our group.

I took this picture right inside the door. So much green!

Ryan telling us how to make a tomato plant with an electric toothbrush.

Camille and Tabitha Drayer making baby tomatoes. 

It was so neat how a pretty yellow flower turns into a beautiful red tomato.

I have no idea what this plant is, but I think it's a cool picture.

Darling Amy Drayer loved to turn the toothbrush on and off over and over again.

Mr. Drayer helping his daughter pollinate.

Oh, the joys of bare feet! (Isaiah Drayer) 

MMMMM! Cucumbers! 

Oh, God, you are amazing!

Kim answering questions.

 Then we all headed out to the field. Some people got to "drive" the tractor. Two others got to sit on lower seats and plant something. Two younger kids sat on their laps and helped them. Everyone was sad to leave. It was very fun!

Ryan and Mike standing up by the wheel. 

Danny and Josie Leman planting together. Elijah Waibel and Vivienne Getz sat on the other seat.

Eli Getz and Tate Leman on the tractor.

I got the pleasure of eating a fresh cucumber! It was delish! 

 Now that I'm done with my post about the field trip, I thought I'd share a picture of my darling niece from January.