Happy Birthday, Josiah!

Happy 15th Birthday, Josiah!!

Welcome Jack!

We are SO excited to announce the arrival of:

Jack Michael Alan Erber
August 18, 2011
3:02am, 8lb. 4oz.


Little Jack was born on his daddy's birthday! Happy Birthday, Jeremy!


The sibling gang!

L'Orage

Just a few pictures from last week's storm. This is why our power was out for several days...








Above: Our Greatest Loss - the tree the grandkids' favorite swing was in!

Below: Our Driveway. Had those trees fallen on a slightly different angle we would have lost vehicles, or our living room. God is good!

Colorado

We just got back from a week away in Colorado! It was a very refreshing - and much needed - time away for our family. We also had incredible hosts while we were there. Thanks SO much, Roach family - You were wonderful!

Life has been non-stop since we got back, especially the last couple of days with various medical issues with Grandpa & Grandma. So, this is a very short, quick post that can't come close to describing our trip! :-)

Memorial Day

Our family had a fun Memorial Day together. It was a very hot and windy day. But, that didn't keep us from smiling - thanks to Justin Hill's antics! Thanks also go to Wendy Hill for capturing the moment for us!

Joseph's Graduation

Yesterday Joseph graduated from his paramedic training class! He's put a lot of work into his training and we're very proud of all he's done. Congratulations, Joseph!!

Moving Towards Spring!

This is the home my grandparents lived in all their married lives, until they moved in with us last fall. It is also the home that my parents lived in when they were first married, the home that we lived in while we built the house we live in now! Life with Grandpa & Grandma in our home is quite different than life was before! But God is always good and gives the extra grace needed when we need it!


Grandma has Alzheimer's, but even though she doesn't know who they are, she enjoys seeing her great-grandchildren when they visit!


Grandpa also is dealing with considerable dementia, but after some instruction was able to relearn how to play some basic card games, which Caroline enjoyed playing with him. The morning after his 85th birthday in March, Grandpa fell and broke his leg pretty badly and has been in a local hospital/rehab center since then.


Long winter evenings are great for reading...


Oh, yes! Liberty Day is a big part of our lives each spring! :-) It was a bit crazy to pull off this year, but God sent "friends to fight our battles with us" and we are SO grateful for our church family jumping in and picking things up, bringing meals over, and providing other support along the way! Other dear friends joined the forces for the week of the event and we could never have done it without them! Many, many thanks to all those who participated in hosting/supporting/attending this event - the hand of God was quite evident in you all!

Dr. Joe Morecraft and Dr. Phil Kayser were our guest speakers this year and they brought an incredible set of messages to those who attended. (Contact Josh about ordering a set of the recordings. He's in the midst of changing/updating/restructuring his whole website, so he doesn't have the order form online right now, but you can still email or call him about an order! They are excellent - you need to hear them!)

Despite an engagement elsewhere in the country that weekend, Patrick Henry did make his flight back to Chicago to be present for the evening!


Ah, one last photo! :-) On Friday, April 15, we hosted our monthly dinner and games night with the families in our church. Since it was April 15, we of course had a tax and money theme! Quite a fun evening, even if illness shrunk us to a rather small group that night!

Merry Christmas!

Hoping your Christmas was as incredibly fabulous as ours was!
May the Lord bless your family as 2010 comes to a close and 2011 draws near!

Whose Birthday Is It?

...........It's Trenor's!

Happy first birthday, buddy!!

Happy 6th Birthday, Caroline!

Our sweet Caroline Joy celebrated her birthday with us yesterday. Her mother, Sara, baked a pretty special crown cake for the little princess!

We love you, Caroline! Happy Birthday!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Carving the turkey


Filling plates


Cuddling the new sweetie


Bundling up to go home

We have much to give thanks for this year and pray that you are rejoicing in God's goodness today as well. A very happy Thanksgiving to you all from the Erber family!

It's a Girl!!

Welcome little darling!!

Charlotte Anne DeLadurantey was welcomed this afternoon by her parents, and a few VERY excited siblings - whose primary comment was on how little she was, and how many kisses they were going to be giving her... Mama and baby are both doing well, and we're so excited to have another niece/granddaughter in the family - and a special extra someone to give thanks for this Thanksgiving!!

Visiting the Northwest

Mom and I (Jessica) just got back home after spending about 11 days in the northwest - Washington and Idaho. We spoke at a couple of Mother/Daughter teas in Washington, and spent the "in-between days" visiting with our dear friends, the Bradricks. But then we tagged on a few days to visit with Jonathan in Idaho! It was great to be able to see him, get to know some of his friends, and see what his days are like. On Sunday afternoon, he took us up to the top of Moscow Mountain, which was absolutely beautiful! We are so grateful to have had the opportunity to spend time out there! Oh, if it only were closer!!

September

Ahhhh, September! A full month, in its own way. Some travel, lots of projects, and saying "goodbye-for-now" to Summer! The one trip that we took was to the Providential History Festival in Omaha, Nebraska. The Festival was held at the Strategic Air and Space Museum. So in addition to the festival itself, we also got to browse a thorough assortment of military airplanes. Very interesting place if you are ever looking for somewhere to spend a day! :-)


The Festival itself was well organized, and very enjoyable! There was a lot of variety in the presentations, plenty to look at, and - of course - always people to talk to! We look forward to going back again next year, and hopefully entering a presentation or two, as well!


I mentioned that we said "goodbye" to Summer this past month, and we are very definitely into autumn around here! But, the boys did get in one last epic water fight before the pool got all closed up for the season!



The End of Summer also brings the final days for garage saling!! Jeanine, Sara, Abbey and I (Jessica) went out for a day of such shopping, and packed the vehicle as full as we could with fun finds! We were literally balancing things on our laps by the time we left the last garage sale. It was very fun, and the best thing is that we really didn't spend that much money! Yay!


Projects. That's another thing September was full of! Fall cleaning, furniture refinishing, painting, remodeling...






September is also a birthday month around here! Camille requested a "Castle Cake" for her birthday, so when all the cousins got together to celebrate she got a "Castle Cake" and everyone loved it!!



Technically, the next picture was taken on October 1, so it doesn't really belong in a "September" post, but I'm playing catch-up so here it is! :)

A number of us got to attend a concert featuring Alasdair Fraser (fiddle) and Natalie Haas (cello) perfoming Scottish-style fiddling! The two of them work/blend together SO well! We really enjoyed the concert!


That's all for now!