Rain...rain....and more rain!

According to West Tennessee Weather we have received 13.36 inches of rain during the past 2 weeks!

The little pond in front of our house is not so little anymore!

A few flooded places on our farm road

This rushing water is in the middle of the road.

The soybeans are flooded...

...and the creek is filling up.

This is where we sat for a picnic a few weeks ago. (click here to see pictures)

Bamboo on the banks of the creek.

This is a short clip of the rushing water in the creek. (There is no audio on the first two clips.)

When we were walking through the woods (which are quite flooded) we noticed this hole in the ground. Water was rushing into it just like a drain! It must have been coming out somewhere else in one of the creeks, but we didn't see where. We thought it was really neat!

David "mud surfing"

Today's Sermon

Click on the sound icon below to listen.

Deer

A few days ago Jonathan walked out on the front porch and saw this!

A closer look.

We don't usually have deer this close to the house because of Stuart. This time he was asleep on the back porch. :)

Pumpkins

We have never had much success growing "real" pumpkins, but several years ago we were given some neck pumpkin seeds and we have grown them ever since. Neck pumpkins are similar to butternut squash, except they're much larger and taste just like other pumpkins.

Daddy and the boys picked about 50 pumpkins this week and there are still more out there to be picked. We have been busy putting them up.

Boiling the pumpkin

After the pumpkin is boiled, we mash it and bag it for the freezer.

Some of us like to eat the mashed pumpkin with butter and cinnamon.

Next year's seeds

Here is one of our favorite pumpkin recipes. This is the best cornbread you will ever eat!

Pumpkin Cornbread

1 c. cooked pumpkin puree

3/4 c. cornmeal

1 egg

2 t. baking powder

1 t. salt

1/2 c. frozen or fresh kernel corn

1/4 c. oil

Beat egg slightly, then beat into pureed pumpkin. Add the other ingredients and mix well. Pour the batter into hot, oiled skillet and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.

Today's Sermon

We have decided that we are going to try to post a good sermon video/audio on our blog each Sunday.

This week's sermon was preached by Paul Washer at a Youth Conference in 2002.

Some of us were able to attend an evening session of the True Church Conference earlier this year, and were given a DVD containing this message and two others by Paul Washer. The "Shocking Youth Message" was an eye-opener for our family, clarifying a lot of things and deepening our understanding of true salvation.

If you do watch this sermon, please listen to the whole message and check it with the scriptures.

Out On A Limb

Stuart treed this baby raccoon last night. Isn't he cute?

It was so high up that even our tallest ladder couldn't come close to reaching it.

Selmer Tea Party

Our family enjoyed attending another TEA Party in Selmer last Saturday. Click here to see pictures from the event.

Fun With Tryston and Ariana

Tryston and Ariana have been staying at our house this week. We enjoy having them here!

A frog that we found

Sarah and Ariana making cookies for our picnic in the creek

Yum!

Heading down to the creek

It was a very nice day for a picnic.

Ariana and me in the creek

David and Tryston

"Help! I'm falling!" -Actually that was done on purpose! :)

Swimming

We found this hornet nest on the bank of the creek. The hornets were buzzing around.

Ariana

Stuart and the Copperhead

This is a copperhead that Stuart found about a week ago.

He was very angry with it and kept throwing it up in the air, even after it was dead.

A few hours later we discovered that he had been bitten by it! His snout was very swollen.

It's hard to tell in these pictures, but he looked like he had a couple golf balls stuffed in his cheeks.

He had a quick recovery....if you had seen him the next morning, you would never have thought that he had been bitten!