2010.....a pure blessing

The year 2010 has been filled with new things for yours truly, new shows, new fairs, new livestock, new school, new experiences, new look.  It's been an amazing year and it is with meloncholy thoughts that I say goodbye to it.  On top of all that, it is the end of a decade.  A decade in which I've changed so much, yes from 7 years old to 17, it's been filled with many changes.  10 years ago I had just gained two little sisters.  I was to gain 2 more siblings plus many "siblings" through foster care in the next 10 years.  I got into 4H, FFA, found a love for agriculture, politics, God, my family.  I can only hope that the next 10 years will be just as amazing!  Here at the end of the year, I am reminded of these words,

"Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your blessings, see what God hath done!
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your many blessings, see what God hath done!"


What a beautiful song!  Perhaps it wasn't a perfect year.  There were times I just  wanted it to be done.  But God is powerful and always saw me through everything.  He is a merciful and loving God and I would be nothing without Him.


Now as we look forward towards a new year I pray that I will keep my heart open to God's direction and listen to His call.  And I just can't wait to see what He has for me!  How exciting! :) 


I think this verse will be my theme verse for the year 2011. 

Psalm 37:4,7
Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass ... Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him.


May you all enjoy a wonderful New Years Eve and have a wonderful beginning of the year 2011!


In Christ,
~Bethany~

A Way In A Manger

Last night my family went to church for the Christmas eve candlelight service and I was caught by a song that a young lady sung.  I'd never heard it before, "He Made A Way In A Manger".

He Made A Way In A Manger
Longing for a Savior
A hopeless world would wait
Sin demanded justice
At a price we could not pay;
But God displayed his mercy
The greatest gift of love
When we could not reach heaven
Heaven came to us.

Chorus:
He made a way in a manger
A way to the cross
Messiah the promised
Before time had begun;
For God so loved this world
Though he knew what love would cost
He made a way in a manger
To make a way to the cross.

In Bethlehem a stable
Became a throne of grace
As God himself our Savior
Drew near to take our place;
His mother smiled in wonder
As shepherds stood in awe
The sacrifice of heaven
Lay sleeping in the straw.

He is the life that died our death
The precious Lord Jesus
Laid down his sweet head.

Chorus:
He made a way in a manger
A way to the cross
Messiah, the promised
Before time had begun;
For God so loved this world
Though He knew what love would cost
He made a way in a manger
To make a way to the cross.

Away in a manger, no crib for his bed
The little Lord Jesus laid down his sweet head
The stars in the sky looked down where He lay
The little Lord Jesus, asleep on the hay.

In a time where Christmas is a celebrated event spent with family and friends opening gifts and eating too much food, we must go back to when God sent His only Son to earth.  Imagine what it must have been like up there in heaven, with the angels wondering where their Creator was going.  Going to earth?  To be a child?  A human being?  That lowly?  Jesus was the King of Kings!  He had no right down there.  But He went anyway.  Why?  Because He loved us.  God loved us so much, that He sent his Son here, He made that way through a manger, to the cross, and to our hearts.  This Christmas season, let us be thankful to Him for all that He has done for us.


In Christ,
~Bethany~

Puppy pics

Here's just a few pics of Abigail and I with a few of our puppies that we have right now.  The puppies are 3 1/2 weeks old, so cute!  The one that I'm holding is a girl and we're going to keep her....I'm rooting for the name Liberty, what do you all think?  Registered name...."Give Me Liberty"....yeah anyway :D  Just thought I'd share these!

Liberty and I!

Abigail and both yellow females

So, today was the last day of school for the year!  We go back on the 3rd of January....so a nice wonderful over 2 weeks break!  Yay!!!  Trying to plan activities now for the next two weeks when we have everyone home.....hmmmmmm :)  any ideas anyone?  lol

~Bethany~

Since it's been forever......

Yeah I know, it's  been next to forever since I've posted anything on here.  I've finally fallen into back into my regular routine of school, meetings, chores, and life.  Today is a little out of the norm however....we got a snow day!  So instead of the usual quiet in the house on school days there are 4 additional people that are trying to find something to do.  On top of that, it's freezing cold (like 16*, realfeel of 1*).  So I'm catching up on web stuff and sitting upstairs by the fire.  It's 61* downstairs, so the 76* feels amazing. :)  Anyway.....

I did have a tragedy happen, my laptop was infected by a horrible virus.  I was told it was one of the worst viruses around and it's amazing I am able to still use it.  However, I did lose a lot of my pictures, including a bunch from my D.C. trip.  I was disappointed, but what can be done?  Oh, and the hinges broke on this thing, so I think it may be time for a new laptop soon.  I think I'll wait 'till right before college though. 

Anyway, here's some recent pics .......

Last week, the homeschool group had a field trip, going to a an old one room schoolhouse and learning like children did back in the 1800s.  I wasn't able to join because of school, but I thought I'd share the pictures!

The classroom full of children from grades 1-8!

 Two boys intent on studying.

 Jordan working hard.

 Mom was "teacher" for the day.

We also did our annual cookie baking day and caroling!  I don't have too many pictures of the day, but I do have a picture of some of the goodies!!!

Our family also picked out our Christmas tree at a small tree farm near our place.  

It's now sitting in our living room not decorated :)  We just bought the lights today, so I guess it will get decorated later this afternoon.

Hope everyone is enjoying their day!
~Bethany~

Judging results and teeth news

So maybe you're all wondering how the Livestock Judging went.  Well.....here are the results of our team.

Overall in Sheep/(Meat) Goats - 5th place

Overall in Hogs -  6th place

Overall in Cattle - 10th place

Overall in Oral Reasons - 4th place

Overall Team - 6th place

There were around 40 teams at the National Competition.  Besides the winning team, we were the only team to place in all of the top 10 categories.  We were also the only team to have 2 top 10 individuals.  Both of the boys on our team did amazingly well and placed 5th and 6th individually.  To say the least, we were amazing, astonished, excited, and overwhelmed. 

I would like to thank the Lord for His amazing peace and calm that I felt during the whole contest.  I often thought of the movie "Facing the Giants" as I knew that we were competing against teams that were judging in college.  I told the Lord that I would praise Him if we won or praise Him if we lost.  I thank Him so much for helping us do as well as we did.  He receives the glory!

On Friday afternoon Abigail and I made the trek to Detroit so as to get our wisdom teeth pulled.   The whole process of getting the teeth pulled wasn't so bad ( we were so all numbed up ) but the 2 hour ride home without meds and coming out of the numbing was awful.  Let's just say I'm very glad to be on HIGH doses of vicodin. :D

Anyway, that's been my last week.  I'd love to hear how life has been going for all of you!
~Bethany~

Honoring America's Veterans

Thank you to all of the men and women who have served and given their lives for our country, the United States of America.  Freedom would not be possible without any of you. 

Thank you.

~Bethany~

Stuff

Wow, so much has happened since I last updated and I just totally lost track of this blog.  Sorry peeps!  I am heading off to Lousivile for judging and then that is the end of the chapter in my life and my life will get much less complicated...soo...bare with me these next few weeks and then you can tell me I'm not a good blogger.  :D 

Quick update:

Nationals was amazing.  Great times, great people, great sessions, great workshops, just amazing. 

Elections are over!  As some of you may know, I have been volunteering with several other teens for the "Fix Michigan Center" in our county.  It's been an amazing opportunity to work for our country, learn more about government, and learn to talk on the phone!!!!  haha.  I'm sure I made well over 3000 calls during those few times I was in there.  I will say that I was very pleased to see so many Republicans with this election.  May they bring God glory!

I've got my senior pictures!!!  But I'm not sharing those quite yet until I get them all printed off and start sharing with people........:D

So.....pretty much I've been busy with school, FFA, elections, judging and life.  Thankfully here in a few weeks I will slowing down majorly.  I'll be down to school and FFA.  Yep, got plenty to do there too. :D

I do have a few pictures to share from yesterday however.  The whole family was out cleaning up gardens and all that.  Amazing what a little bit of time will do when you've got lots of willing hands! :)

Abigail weeding. :)

Fall is the best time to split plants to create more flowers!

Dad digging up and planting bulbs.

Jon and Ben cleaning up the garden.

We should have lots of pretty flowers come spring!

So that's a quick update from Asher Acres!  Hope your autumn season is going wonderfully!

~Bethany~

FFA National Convention!!!

 

I'm heading to Indianapolis for the FFA National Convention this morning!  I won't be back until Friday afternoon....so it will be a week full of fun and hopefully learning! :)  Have a great week everyone!


~Bethany~

Fall Fun

 It's the time of the year when the leaves are changing colors, the air is crisp with a morning frost, and school is well underway.  However, it is also the time for the last warm days of the year and wonderful times of fun for all children.  A few days ago, Abigail and I went out for a photo shoot of the children playing on the tire swing.  Here's just a few of them!





Ben :)

What a beautiful picture of perfect childish innocence and freedom.

Josh!

Cute Johnny. :)

Enjoy the beautiful days that we have been given!

~Bethany~

Prayer Requests

Everyone seems to be posting prayer requests for sick people....so I'm gonna chime in here and request prayer for Abigail.  If you remember back a few months, I had mono (which by the way, she gave to me).  However, she still has not fully recovered from her bout with it.  She has been having fevers almost every evening, lays around a ton, and just doesn't have her regular energy.  Mom took her to the doctor the other day to see what was up and they said she also now has anemia.  So besides having mono and trying to beat that, she is struggling with getting iron and is exhausted from anemia too.  Soooo.....if you could PLEASE pray for her, that would be such a blessing!

Another prayer request that is going to remain unspoken.  Our family has a potential big change facing us and we really would like to request prayer for wisdom.

Thank you all so much! 

A few pics of my AmAzInG siblings:

 What a boy!

My sweet and beautiful sister. :)

 What a cutie!

Rachel!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

~Bethany~

 

"For there is no friend like a sister

In calm or story weather

To cheer one on the tedious way

To fetch one if one goes astray

To lift one if one totters down

To strengthen whilst one stands."

~Chrstina Rossetti~

Psalm 100

Psalm 100

"Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the Earth

Worship the Lord with gladness; come into his presence with singing.

Know that the Lord is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his;

We are his people and the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise.

Give thanks to him, bless his name.

For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endureth forever,
and his faithfulness to all generations."

....Beginning of Autumn

Autumn is at last upon us.  As a family we went to a local orchard and picked over 230 pounds of apples.  Hopefully enough for applesauce or the winter!  Picking apples every year is a family tradition that I hope never ends.
Yesterday was a beautiful evening for our excursion.  Note:  these pictures are all courtesy of my sister.  My camera batteries died. :(

Beautiful mother picking apples!

Ben's havin' fun!

Field view from the orchard.

This would be me. :)

Ok, these are my pics with her camera. I thought they just turned out so cool!

All of us kiddos!

Abigail <3 I!

Dad <3 Mom!

Youngest to oldest.  Another family tradition...this picture.  We have a few of the framed on our walls.

Sisters <3

May you all enjoy the blessings of fall!

~Bethany~

End of summer.....

Who doesn't love a good country rodeo?

Monday evening I took several of my siblings to a rodeo about an hour away from here at a county fair.  It's interesting to sit back and watch guys get thrown from crazy bulls who had only one thought in their heads.....rid themselves of the monster on their back and keep them from riding again.  Thankfully there were no serious injurious and just lots of good fun.  

Summer is officially over (ok...@ 11:09 pm tonight) and things are winding down into normality here.  Whatever that is.  My days are pretty much the same...wake up at 5:30 to do chores, leave for school at 7:45, leave school at 11:10 for Careers Center (which gets out at 2:35, but I stick around to do homework), go pick up Rebekah at 3:35 and head home (getting there at 4:00).  Then chores around 4:30 or 5 and evening activity (whether is church, making phone calls for the local Republican Center, school something, or whatever else comes up.  Bed around 9:30 if possible. :)  Weekends....Sat. livestock judging and Sundays...church and chilin'!!!! :)

Anyway....hope everything is well!  Does anyone have any ideas on posts?  As you may have noticed.....I've kinda died off lately. :P

~Bethany~

In Remembrance.....

....of the many men and women who were killed by attacks on our county 9 years ago......

....of those who risked their lives to save others in the attacks...

...and of those who have given their lives since then, so that we may live in a safe and free land.

You will never be forgotten in our hearts and minds.