Saturday, November 15, 2008

A Wonderful Gift

A few weeks ago, Pastor Ken Herfst (the former pastor of this church who now works in another area of G.) came to visit and brought with him five boxes of kids books! Pastor Ken and his wife have only one daughter still living with them so they generously passed on this wonderful gift for the missionaries here to enjoy. Since we have older kids and lots of empty bookshelves, we have the books in our home.
Nathan had just finished reading all the books we had brought along from home (we didn't bring many) and I was wondering what we would do for more reading material. Isn't God good to provide for us? Nathan has been reading up a storm ever since. He had difficulty choosing a book for his picture, so I let him have two :)
In the first picture, he is holding a book from a series published by Focus on the Family. There are also alot of educational books-great for homeschooling and fun for the kids to read and learn.
I loved the "Grandma's Attic" books as a girl and now Kris is enjoying them as well.

Brad had just about finished the ABeka readers I had brought for him. Now we have all the ABeka readers-plenty for the whole year!

There are also a lot of books for little kids-Magic School Bus, Franklin, Winnie the Pooh and many others. Ryan didn't always like to be read to, but he is enjoying it now!
Our special thanks to the Herfst's for this wonderful gift.
And this precious "Gift" isn't interested in books yet-except to maybe chew on them! Lauren is almost eight months old and has six teeth already :) She isn't crawling yet, but she does get up on her hands and knees, pull herself to standing in her crib and wave bye-bye.
"Praise the Lord! Give thanks to the Lord for He is good. His love endures forever."
Psalm 106

10 comments:

Matt and Julianna said...

Aww she's so yummy! I love Ryan's face too with the books. I can't believe Lauren is standing already...Trina has been crawling for a month and a half but not standing yet.

anonymouse :) said...

What a blessing...it looks like Nathan likes to read as much as Jesse does. Its funny, because it seemed like he would never learn and once he did, he never stopped! Thats wonderful! One of the girls from our church is going to Guatemala this Saturday to an orphanage to do some work for a week or two? Did you ever meet Jennifer Sabourin? Anyway, I am sorry Sharon that I haven't been one to call but lately I am in bed early...except for tonight when I went to church. Love you guys..Thanks for being so regular with your posts! We love seeing whats going on there! Goodnight!
Sarah Barnes

Carole said...

Hi Sharon & Wilf!! i am impressed that Brad is already done all of his first grade readers, that is very smart :). i miss the diligence little student in co-op this year (actually i don't even teach that class but he was always really smart & sweet :) )
Lauren is adorable!! 6 teeth, wow. Josh has none. i'm so excited for you all to have your opa & oma there!! have a wonderful time!! Love to you all, Carole & fam :)

Maria said...

So adorable! All your children are! But I particularly thought Ryan looked so cute, and we miss him! And Lauren is so pretty, Shar! I wish I could see her and hold her! It will really will really be shocking to see her when you come home, how much she has grown. Have a wonderful and encouraging time with mom and dad!

Holly said...

I want to kiss those chubby baby cheeks! What a little doll. I feel rather sad that we're not getting to see her in real life, and she's changing so much! Justin's teeth finally decided to make their appearance (at 10 1/2 months...all at once!) Poor baby, it seemed to me he's been teething since he was about 1 month old!
Have a great time with mom and dad! I wish I could stow away in one of the many big suitcases their bringing along...

Jennifer said...

I'm so glad that you were able to get all those books. I remember the Grandma's attic series (I think I had all of them). Didn't we get them for christmas from girls club? (Maybe you weren't in the OCRC then...). I hope that there were things for you to read too :)

Unknown said...

Hi Wilf and Sharon!! Thanks for the picture update, they look so excited to get new books! Wow, Lauren has 6 teeth! Alisa doesn't have any yet, even though Jesse never got his first ones till he was 8 1/2 months old!

Steve and Jo said...

Thanks for posting those cute pictures. Lauren is getting so old looking...how sad to be missing this time in your kids lives...hopefully you will come back here when you are done there;) Good for Brad to be doing so well at reading! What a smart little one:)
We miss you all and continually keep you in our prayers...have a great time with your mom and dad:)

Marguerite said...

Hello Bouts! It sure looks nice there! Its beautiful here too - everything looks so clean and fresh and sparkly and white with its blanket of snow (at least here - in the city its already brownish...). Tho the warmth you're enjoying sounds great too. I'm finding it harder to get out already!
Congrats boys on your birthdays and your horseback-riding! :)
What a cutey, Lauren is with such kissable chubby cheeks - just like Heidi used to have:).
I trust your parents got there without too much difficulty and you're having a wonderful time together. Looking forward to hearing more about your life there when they come back. Praying for the church too - the Enemy is active and uses many of the same tactics to try to destroy the Church - doesn't matter that you're half-way across the world, eh? Still its very sad and difficult when you have to experience it again. Thankfully His Church will stand and His Word and Truth will prevail! A Mighty Fortress is our God! Love,
Marguerite

Marcia said...

Hi Wilf, Sharon and family. I have been keeping up with you on your blog. Your pictures are wonderful, and your frequent updates give us a glimpse as to your lives there. We think of you often, and pray for you.

Wilf, you are missed at BCS. The kids all speak so highly of your teaching. Joanna is doing very well, and is excited about the upcoming missions trip to Mexico. I don't think it will be the same without you there.

What a blessing to have received all those books! I'm sure your kids will be kept busy with all that reading material.

Love you....Auntie Marcia