Journey to Shiloh

Five Generations

2012-01-28T21:18:00.000-08:00

Yea, thou shalt see thy children's children...Psalm 128a

What a beautiful promise from the Lord! And on January 18th, this verse took on an expanded meaning...

G.G. met for the first time her great-great granddaughter...the granddaughter of her granddaughter!

The 94 year old great-great grandmother holding her 9 month old great-great granddaughter.

The 'more' of this wonderful moment is five generations were gathered together for the first time: Dorothy (Elizabeth) Shewbridge Smith, Patricia (Louise) Smith Martin, Katherine (Elizabeth) Martin Sanford, Joshua Robert Sanford, Jael Mercy Sanford.

And because it takes two...Dot (and Alton), Fred and Pat, Bob and Katherine, Josh and Jen with Jael.

Two very proud parents and one teething baby chewing on her toy carrot.

Jael Mercy once again captivating her doting family's attention with her 'idea of fun'...in this case, shoe in month, crawl across room, make everyone laugh!

A tradition begun when Joshua was born...the parting photo with G. G. (now 3 G.)...

Times to remember and yet to look forward to, for prayerfully this will be our joy one day...to see our great-great grandchildren....Jael's children's children!

To God be the glory!
Katherine (for the family)

2011 at Shiloh…

2012-01-28T15:00:00.000-08:00

What a wonderful time of year this is! Not only did we get to celebrate the gift of the incarnation of Christ and what that means as a blessing for ‘us poor sinners’ last month, but we also tend to reflect upon the past year as we steadily move forward in the New Year!

Before sitting down to write this, I pulled out the family calendar to recollect many of the ‘goings on’ of the past year. What a wonderful walk down memory lane! The Lord had been very gracious and generous to the Sanfords in 2011 and He kept us very busy! There is much to be thankful for and to share but we will hit only the highlights:

Josh and Jennifer celebrated the birth of their daughter Jael Mercy at 3:00 AM on Easter Sunday, April 24^th! She was the perfect baby, 7 lbs 14 oz and 20 ½ in. with a head of light brown hair, coming into the world after causing her mommy only five hours of labor; her daddy had the joy of catching her! Just one month before, this little girl put her mommy and daddy through quite a scare when they were up here visiting from Oklahoma. Jennifer went into pre-term labor causing immediate hospitalization and an airlift by helicopter to the nearest pre-term labor hospital an hour away. We were blessed to learn that this hospital just happened to be ranked one of the best in the Nation! The most disappointing part at the onset was Josh and Jen wanted to have a home birth! By God’s grace, the doctors were able to stop the labor and after a week in the hospital, Jen was sent home on complete bed-rest for one more week. To make sure Jen could ‘obey’ doctor’s orders, I rode down with them to take care of Jen and then flew back at week’s end. From then on Jennifer was free to deliver at home if the baby decided she still wanted to come a few weeks before her due date. Needless to say, the Lord had Jael wait until the perfect day to be born, the day we celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus! Our family traveled the next day to meet this new granddaughter and niece. It was a surreal moment to hold for the first time the "first-born child of our first-born child"!!

Three months later, Josh, Jen, and Jael traveled to Illinois for Jael Mercy Sanford to be baptized at Providence Church surrounded by most of her family including Uncle Garrison, home on leave from Japan, and Great-Gramma and Great-Papa from Virginia.

Garrison returned home safely in April to his base in Okinawa, Japan after a seven month tour in Afghanistan. It was such a relief to know he was ‘out of harm’s way’! He was ‘in the desert’ for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s. In June, Garr received orders to move to a new base after having spent two years in Japan. With his combat leave and transfer leave, Garrison was able to spend six weeks with us this past summer. That was the most time we had spent with him in the last three years combined!! This year he spent Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s at Camp Pendleton, California. But now that we have regular phone conversations it does not seem that he is really even that far away! On December 3^rd, Garrison celebrated his third anniversary in the Marine Corp. He has been promoted to Corporal and is counting down to when he will separate from the Corp in December 2012, if not sooner, due to the early release program.

Melinda married her true love becoming Mrs. Justin Ryan Ryken! It was a whirlwind year for them: courting began in June, engagement in August on her 21st birthday, then married on October 15^th. Yes, only six weeks to plan a wedding! But what a beautiful covenant ceremony it was, complete with beautiful weather for an outdoor reception. It was also a special day for Daddy on two accounts. First, he had the very special honor of walking his first daughter down the isle. The second was with Melinda on his arm, he told Justin in front of about 200 guests, "when Melinda was 13 her mother and I gave her this ring as a symbol of her pledge and commitment to purity. It is also a remembrance and a sign that she entrusted her heart to us until her wedding day. Well, Justin that day as arrived, so I give you this ring and her hand in marriage!" (You can read more about Justin and Melinda on this blog and at www.justins-helpmeet.blogspot.com)

Peter received his official American Citizenship in September! It was a wonderful experience for us all, going to the big Immigration building in Chicago, seeing almost a hundred people from many different nationalities, creeds, and color stand to take the oath of citizenship. It was very sobering and exhilarating! We did have a bit of a scare with security when we arrived. The lines were very long and time was running out for us to get to the room for the swearing in. As we got closer to the scanners we watched as the security personal treated folks with ‘contraband’ in a rather ‘official shake-down’ manner! Melinda remembered that she had a little pair of scissors in her purse, triggering Mom’s memory that she too had mini-scissors in her purse. We tried to find a trash can nearby but there was none to be had without fighting past a crowd to the outside of the building. So we were stuck with the scissors. Mom put both pairs in her purse and then prayed that the Lord would give us favor with the security personnel. Sure enough, they saw the scissors in the scanner, verified by personal search, kept them in the purse, and told us to have a wonderful day with many smiles. Shocked and praising the Lord for answered prayers, we made it through security without a hitch!

We now ‘only’ have 7 children at home: Peter, Zachary, Adrianna, Nathan, Victoria, Rebecca, and Elaina. In September, the youngest six joined Peter in doing high school which is mostly self-study. For the first time in 20 years Mom is not actively teaching, though she is still facilitating learning. It has been a fun time of challenging, exhorting, and encouraging the children as they embark on the next level of learn; especially since five of these children have only been speaking the English language for 8 and 6 years! It is amazing to see how far they have come in such a short period of time, and this also in light of the fact that they had ‘little to no’ school before becoming a Sanford!!

Dad celebrated his 50^th birthday in April and 24 years of working for State Farm this January. For the past few months, his schedule has become a bit grueling as he is a key designer to a company-wide implementation. Job security at its best! However, his favorite view of working at SF is looking forward to only 12 more years until retirement!

On December 13th, we celebrated 25 years of being husband and wife! Looking back over our married life, we are amazed at how the minister's words prayed over us during our wedding ceremony were actually a 'prophecy' of the Lord's calling and blessing for our marriage: “Oh Eternal God, Creator and Preserver of all mankind the Giver of all spiritual grace and the Author of everlasting life. Send Thy blessing upon Robert and Katherine whom we bless in Thy name, that they may surely perform and keep the vow and covenant between them made. And may ever remain in perfect love and peace together and live according to Thy laws. Look graciously upon them that they may love, honor, and cherish each other and so live together in faithfulness and patience, in wisdom and true godliness, that their home may be a haven, a blessing, and a place of peace through Jesus Christ our Lord.” To God be the glory!

The last bit of news for 2011 and 2012 is the Lord has called us to pursue the adoption of a sibling group in the Philippines. The J's, as we fondly call them, will hopefully and prayerfully join our family sometime this year.

May the Lord richly bless your 2012 as we pray He blesses ours!
Katherine (for the family)

A Ring and a Rose - The Engagement Story

2011-09-05T19:09:00.000-07:00

My 21st birthday dawned like any other birthday in my history of being. But little did I know that this birthday would change my life forever and be the start of something new and exciting.

Justin Ryken asked me to marry him while on one knee on the back porch of my house. I (of course) answered with my whole heart, "yes!" Here is the story I wrote out for everyone to read. Enjoy! :)

August 30th 2011- Melinda’s 21st birthday

The day started out with Melinda waking up at 5:00am because her iPhone kept going off with birthday wishes from her friends on Facebook. She rolled over in bed and grabbed her phone looking to see who on earth would comment at that hour besides the guy she is courting; Justin Ryken. Turns out it wasn’t him... instead it was a couple of girl friends that must have been up that early for one reason or another. Melinda spent the next hour trying to fall back asleep because she knew today would be a long, but fabulous, day and she would need rest. But sleep eluded her all morning long. She finally got up around 6:45 getting ready to head out to do some quick errands with her Mom. After getting her license and her new glasses she and her mom headed back home to get things ready before the Ryken family came. Now the Ryken family was coming over to help Melinda celebrate her birthday and also so Melinda, Mrs. Ryken, Melinda’s Mother, and Gramma could all head out to La-Tea-Da for lunch together. So they left the kids to play and went off to Clinton. The ladies all had a lovely time together talking and also going shopping after eating. It made Melinda’s birthday extra special to have her Mother, soon-to-be-Mother-in-law, and Gramma all with her to celebrate. Once they had their fill of shopping they headed back to Melinda’s house to wait for Justin to get off of work so he could could come over and eat dinner with everyone.

In Melinda’s mind it took forever for Justin to arrive that evening. But once he did, he surprised everyone with a huge gorgeous bouquet of pink roses for Melinda’s birthday! Everyone said “aww” as Melinda took them from him and lifted them to her face to inhale the lovely scent. After talking for a few minutes and getting the roses situated in a vase, Justin showered and then it was time to eat. Now Justin had asked special permission to sit alone with Melinda on the back porch which meant they would be separated from the family by a sliding glass door. And Melinda’s parents decided to put up a sort of white and black screen on the door for some privacy. Melinda started to wonder what on earth was going on, meaning, “We’re just courting, we are not allowed to be by ourselves...?” She told her parents this but they said to just enjoy it cause it’s a special night. So Melinda did enjoy herself immensely! Sitting there, talking, and eating across from Justin was plenty for her. Then Justin started to shift in his seat and talk more serious. From then on the conversation went something like this:

Justin started by saying, “You remember back during Family Camp when Kevin Swanson was telling all the single guys that they shouldn’t be having adventures by themselves? Like to Alaska and places like that? And that they should be doing it with someone?” Melinda nods with a sort of confused smile and Justin continues, “Well I was thinking about that and I want you to be the one to go with me where ever I go and I don’t want to go on any adventures without you, Melinda.” While talking Justin was looking to his right, but when he said those last few words he stared straight at Melinda which made her heart start pounding faster and her mind start racing as to what this all meant. Justin continued, “I want you with me when I go places because I love having you around, I love talking to you, and...” He pauses and then continues, “...I love you, Meli. And I guess what I’m trying to say is...” As Justin said this last sentence he got up out of his chair and came around the table to bend on one knee in front of Melinda. At the same time he lifted up a little black box and opened it while saying, “...will you marry me, Meli?” Melinda gasped and ran her finger over the ring and nodded breathlessly saying, “Yes! Yes! It's beautiful, will you put it on me?” all the while grinning from ear to ear. Justin said, “Absolutely!” And pulled the beautiful silver ring out of it’s case and placed it over Melinda’s finger. Melinda grinned at him and stood up wanting to hug him! As their arms encircled one another Justin whispered, “I love you Meli!” To which Melinda replied, “And I love you, Justin!” After that they let go and took a few steps back. Melinda smiled at Justin then looked down at the ring again when Justin said, “You wanna go tell everyone?” With a huge grins on both their faces, Melinda nodded and moved the screen to open the door. Once inside she loudly squealed with delight and announced, “I’M ENGAGED!” and held up her hand with to reveal the ring to both their families who were sitting at the kitchen table eating their dinner. There was clapping, smiles, hugs, and laughter all around the table. Congratulations rang out for the next five minutes and everyone wanted to see the engagement ring. Pictures were taken and then it was time to call all the relatives and let them know the joyous news! Justin called his grandparents first and then Melinda called hers. They could not stop smiling as they told the story over and over again.

And thus ends the romantic story of Melinda Sanford and Justin Ryken’s engagement.

I feel more than blessed to be engaged to such a godly and strong man. I just cannot stop praising the Lord that such a man would actually, willingly choose, and not to mention want to spend the rest of his life with little ol' me. *smiles* It's a very humbling and joyous thought.

Thanks for reading and God bless!

~Melinda-the-bride-to-be <3

Graduation and the beginnings of a Courtship

2011-06-29T09:44:00.000-07:00

On Saturday the 25th of June, Justin had his graduation party. It was perfect timing for all his grandparents, Aunt, Uncle, and cousins to come and celebrate with him and also for me to meet all of them. :) I was so excited that morning, I could hardly eat! I couldn't wait to meet these people who are very important to Justin. In this first picture I am meeting Mr. Ryken's parents for technically the second time...

Meeting Justin's cousin Waylon who's being held by Mrs. Fennema.

Playing ping-pong while waiting for all of the guests to arrive.

Once everyone had arrived Mr. Ryken and my Daddy gave the announcement that Justin and I were courting.

Going through the food line.

My sweet and wonderful friend, Jesi. <3

This picture makes me laugh! :) Daddy really was happy with this courtship but that doesn't mean it's easy to figure everything out. Dad is blessed though cause he has at least 3 more times to practice doing the courtship process right. *grins*

I had to sneak this picture in again cause I love it so much. :)

My amazing family. *happy sigh* I love them so much and couldn't live without them in my life.

The rest of our week is going to be spent getting ready for the 4th of July party we are having at our house. *excited* We don't have much left to do but it's the little things we put off that start to pile up. It's such a joyous time to get ready for though so I don't think any of us are complaining. ;)

Until next time have a great week!

God bless,

~Meli

Announcement!

2011-06-25T19:53:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday the 19th of June 2011 dawned like any other Sunday in my little world. I had no idea why it would be any more special than all the other Lord's Days I had gone through. Little did I know there was someone in this world who wasn't as relaxed or clueless about what this Sunday would mean. Unbeknownst to me, Justin had asked my Dad if he could "talk" with him after the service. Dad of course told him 'yes'. So after church and the fellowship meal were done I suggested Jesi, Mama, Mrs. Ryken, and I all go on a walk around the church neighborhood. All the while, Justin and my Dad were in the Deacon's office at church talking. If you haven't figure out yet what they were talking about I'll fill you in now; Justin asked my Dad to court me for marriage. *happy grin* To which my Dad replied with a tentative 'yes'. Once I got back from my walk my Dad told me he needed to see me and my mother in the deacon's office ASAP. I seriously thought I was in trouble! *laughs* Once the door was closed my Daddy then tells me that someone has asked to court me. I don't think Dad even had to say the name of this person because I figured it out by the happy expression Dad had on his face. :D When he told me that he had given Justin a tentative 'yes' I said, "Well why didn't you tell him, 'heck yeah'?!" *laughs* I had a few questions for Justin so when we got home from church Dad wrote him an email with those questions. My parents and I were completely satisfied with his answers and impressed. So that night we made it official. :) The next day was a rainy stormy day so Justin didn't have to work. I asked Dad if we could have his family over just so we could talk all of this relationship stuff through. So Monday afternoon the Ryken family came over and had dinner with us where we discussed everything we expect to see happen with this courtship.

We all decided to wait until Justin's graduation party on the 25th (today) before we would tell anyone (except family members) about this new relationship.

The happy courting people...

Well there ya have it, our "courtship story". For those of you not able to make it to Justin's graduation party I'll be posting pictures of that soon. ;)

Until next time!!

~A-very-blessed-girl

Strawberries and golfing

2011-06-16T12:12:00.000-07:00

Summer is here, people! And we have all been blessed with an absolutely beautiful one. *happy sigh*

Fruit is always in abundance at our house, which is something I absolutely love. And the other day while we were out grocery shopping Mama found these delicious HUGE strawberries! So here's an artsy picture of one right before I cut it to go in a fruit salad.

Since the weather is gorgeous outside, all of us have been going out to soak up some Vitamin D as much as possible. One of my siblings new favorite thing to do is tee-off on the back of our property and see how far they can hit the golf balls. They are somewhat lacking in the correct form for hitting a golf ball. But who cares? They're having tons of fun. :)

An artsy picture of the golf ball taken by-yours truly.

Adrianna likes to be the caddy.

Elaina with he golf ball and golf club...

"And she goes for the swing!" Watch out when Rebecca's swinging cause no one knows where that ball is gonna go. *laughs* ;)

And thus ends your little peek into our totally none busy life. Hope you enjoyed it! Have an absolutely lovely rest of your day.

Adios!

~Melinda

Poor little worms...

2011-06-08T13:23:00.000-07:00

Today I discovered I have a new appreciation for worms. *nods* The poor little things get stuck on a hook and then drowned in the water, all for the fun of the fisherman/woman. But don't get me wrong even though I feel sorry for the little guys it doesn't stop me from having a great time with my siblings fishing till our hearts content. :)

Our neighbors are so sweet to allow my siblings and I the use of their pond anytime we want to.

It really is such a pretty little thing...

Nathan the expert fisherman coming to the pond.

The guys lined up... not really on purpose but I figured it was a cool shot anyway. ;)

Okay I know for some of you this is a nasty shot but bear with me. I noticed before getting my worm that two of the worms were making a heart. It's just too funny to pass up.

Flip-flops and sunshine. Ahh the joys of warm weather! This is me enjoying the sunshine after fishing for awhile. The breeze was just enough to make it almost pleasant outside today.

My sister... *shakes head* Most people catch fish but Rebecca catches pond-scum. *laughs* You gotta love her for having such a happy expression after being so disappointed that it wasn't a fish!

Another piece of news in the Sanford family: we found a hurt bird in our yard and have been slowly nursing it back to health. The cute little thing will only let you hand feed it by dropping the food in it's wide open mouth.

Here Peter and Rebecca feed it worms and some berries. It opens it's mouth right up for them both and makes a ruckus until they drop the food straight down it's throat.

Annnd that's all for now! I hope each and every one of y'all are having an amazing and absolutely splendid Summer! God bless.

~Melinda

Lazy Spring Day...

2011-06-03T13:21:00.000-07:00

So today has been super boring and we've had nothing to do all day long. So my sisters and I decided to go get a photo shoot together cause ya know, we just don't have enough pictures of us girls. And it's sad... so today we did something about it. *cheesy grin*

Yours truly...

Adrianna looking as gorgeous as ever...

Rebecca being beautiful...

Elaina being very pretty...

All of us girls squish into the picture so we can get one together. <3

~L.O.V.E.~

The end.

Happy Memorial Day!!

2011-05-30T11:34:00.000-07:00

We want to say a HUGE "thank you" to all those who have served or are serving our Country right now. Thank you for everything you have done to keep this a free Nation!

May God bless you richly and abundantly now and forever.

With much appreciation and respect,

~The Sanfords

Dandelions on a beautiful day...

2011-05-18T12:25:00.000-07:00

My siblings are so goofy sometimes and come up with the most random ideas to do. The other day when it was beautiful outside Adrianna, Zach, and Elaina went out and picked a bunch of dandelions and made them into a heart as you see bellow in this artsy picture they took...

After making it into a heart they decided to put a smiley face in it as well. I thought it was really cute and that's why I'm sharing it. :)

There ya have it. A peek into the beautiful life we live over here. And now if you don't mind I'll get back to it. *smiles*

Hasta la próxima vez!

~Melinda

Fellowship with friends and horses! :D

2011-05-10T14:21:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday the Niesen family invited my family over after church to fellowship together and just to have fun. They are one of the families from church that we have known the longest and been friends with. Through the years our two families have just gotten closer and we all love to just spend time with together. :) One of the many things we love about them is that they have some beautiful horses that they let us ride whenever we come over. *grins happily* So once we got there Sarah tacked up some of them and we started riding together.

Elaina and Jane posing for a picture together.

Sarah, the girl who is amazing with horses and knows so much about them.

Cara is an amazing horseback rider! I'm jealous of this girls abilities. *nods*

My goofy-adorable sisters.

The mothers watching as we girls have a good time riding. And Stephanie is just being cute. ;)

The dad's and Garrett talking about whatever guys talk about.

The girls riding...

Me being a goofball... lol

The girls love to ride double on Shanta and they do a really good job staying on and having fun.

The guys practiced shooting a little.

Zach petting the ever so gorgeous Remi.

Us girls eating some ice cream and cookies while freezing outside. lol :D We had such a wonderful time with the Niesen's and cannot wait to hang out again! We made soo many inside jokes that night that it made it all the more fun! *knowing grin*

I love my friends. Every single one of them. They are what makes my life amazing, awesome, and just plan old fun. *grins* I'm so glad God blessed me with all of them and having too many to count is such an amazing feeling too. *smiles*

Hope y'all enjoy the rest of your weeks and have fun with this super-hot-gorgeous weather we are having!

Hasta la próxima vez!

~Melinda

Starbucks and going out on the town

2011-05-07T11:06:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday Jesi and I were talking about her family coming over for a visit so that we girls could all hit Meijer and check out the skirts over there. We Sanford girls have always enjoyed clothes shopping there because of the long skirts they sell. So anyway, we convinced our parents that this was a great idea and then set up a shopping day on Wednesday. I had almost 3 full Starbucks gift-cards that I hadn't used yet so I decided that if we were going to go out we should blow my gift-cards on ourselves to make the day even more enjoyable! :)

Here we are before Starbucks...

...at Starbucks...

...And after Starbucks.

Once we were done drinking the deliciousness of our different coffees we headed over to Meijer to shop all afternoon. Here Jesi and Adrianna cannot make up there minds on which hair clips to buy.

I apologize for this picture being fuzzy but Adrianna and Cara are just too sweet looking to pass up. I asked Cara if she was having fun with us older girls shopping and she said, "Yes I am! And this is the first time I have been shopping without my mom." Then I asked her what she thought of shopping without her mom and she said, "Oh, it's fun!" *laughs*

Since Bloomington is almost an hours drive from where the Ryken's live we asked them to stay for dinner at our house since we didn't want them to have to drive all the way home on an empty stomach. While we waited for the guys to get back from work we played volleyball and "knock out".

Rebecca and Ashly looking great while watching from the sidelines.

Jesi and their adorable dog Henty got a picture together. (Jesi, I thought I'd post this one instead of the other picture I got *grin*)

Cara and I getting a picture together. That girl is pretty much the sweetest you'll ever meet. :)

Rebecca was going to get yet another self portrait but Jesi jumped in to save her from looking vain. Then Adrianna thought she'd tag along and get in the picture as well. :) Annnd it turned out very nice looking too.

We all had an absolutely amazing time and didn't want the fun day to end! But alas all good things must come to an end so that more good things can come along, right? :) Thank you for coming over Ryken's!!! We will have to do that again soon! :)

Hasta la próxima vez!
~Meli

Flowers and the Bible

2011-05-06T09:55:00.000-07:00

"Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good." ~ Genesis 1:11-12

"Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name."

~ Psalm 103:1

"The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing [of birds] is come.."

~ Songs of Solomon 2:12

"Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens: let thy glory be above all the earth."

~ Psalm 57:11

"...The grass withers and the flowers fall,

but the word of the Lord stands forever.”

~ 1 Peter 1:24-25

"Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen."

~ Ephesians 6:23

Blessings to you all on this beautiful Friday.

~Melinda

Softball game!

2011-05-05T13:16:00.000-07:00

"Take me out to the ball game,
Take me out with the crowd.
Buy me some peanuts and cracker jack,
I don't care if I never get back,
Let me root, root, root for the home team,
If they don't win it's a shame.
For it's one, two, three strikes, you're out,
At the old ball game."

My Daddy use to play softball for State Farm every week.

But he stopped once he kept hurting himself and he didn't have the time but he

still missed playing. So when he got a call from a friend he jumped on the

opportunity to get back in the game. Only this time it was for one

night and Peter got to play as well. :D

Here they are stretching out before the game...

It was pretty chilly that day but we had fun watching the game anyway.

Some of the team.

Daddy got to pitch cause he is amazing at it!

Peter up for the bat.

Daddy batting.

An action shot of Dad throwing the ball.

A sorta artsy shot Zach got of Dad hitting the ball.

And I end with this cute picture of Nathan and Rebecca. <3

Dad and Peter's team ended up losing but Dad still took us out to Ice Cream at Culvers anyway. :D It was a great night and fun to get back into the swing of things. *cheesy grin*

Hasta la próxima vez!
~Melinda

Jael Mercy Sanford

2011-04-28T17:35:00.000-07:00

On Saturday night we got a call around 11:00 pm saying that Jennifer (my sis-in-law) had gone into labor. I knew Mom and Dad would want to go down right away to be there for Josh and Jen, and to meet their adorable little granddaughter. But I also knew that Sunday was Easter; we all didn't really want to miss that time with our church family. I also knew we were going to have friends over Sunday evening; we all seriously did not want to cancel. So Mom and Dad decided that we would go down to Oklahoma bright and early on Monday morning which pleased everybody. So we packed up and headed out for the 10 hour and 40 minute drive down to Josh and Jen's apartment. Once there we were greeted by this adorable face...

Granny getting to hold her beautiful Granddaughter.

"Air Force Princess" A cute little outfit we bought her before she was born.

Gramps holding his granddaughter for the very first time.

The new and beautiful Sanford family.

What I want to know is when did my brother got old enough to get married, let alone have a kid of his own?!? Life sure does fly by! I'm reminded every day that I am not getting any younger and neither is my family. I remember as a little girl wishing/dreaming/waiting for the day when my older brothers would have families of their own so we could all go and visit them. I remember thinking about how neat it would be to become an Aunt and know that the kid I was holding was my very own niece/nephew. And now as I look around and see all the rest of my younger siblings getting big enough to fit in my clothes, wear my shoes, or become old enough to drive, it just makes me stop and think about all the ways I am blessed of God. But it also makes me wonder where the time went? I need to remind myself that how I spend every moment of today will affect not only my future, but the futures of those I am surrounded by. I love my family and cannot wait to see what God has in store for us in this new chapter of our lives. It fills my heart with joy to know that I have tons of siblings; soon we will all have our own families and so many kids that Mom and Dad will be messing their names up and who they belong to all the time. *laughs* I cannot wait. :D And yet change is sorta scary... but then again nothing is scary or frightening when we have the Lord Jesus with us. *smiles at the thought*

So there ya go... that's a peek into my mind and world at the moment. Hope I didn't bore y'all too bad. ;)

Hasta Luego!
~Meli

Good Friday

2011-04-22T10:03:00.000-07:00

Today it is dark and gloomy outside with rain falling by the bucket loads. It sort of reminds me of the verse in the Bible right before Jesus dies on the cross it says:

"Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, 'My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?'" ~ Matthew 27:45-46

That part of the bible always sends chills up my spine thinking how God had to literally turn His back on His Son. I don't think we will ever be able to understand how that feels fully and completely... But today I am thanking Jesus all the more for dying on the cross and going through the pain of having His Father turn His back on Him, all for the sake of saving us, the Elect, from God's wrath.

"Remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ." ~Ephesians 2:12-13

Now we can rejoice because Christ not only died on the cross to save us but He rose again from the dead so that we might have life in Him!! Praise be to the Lord and giver of Eternal Life.

"Low in the grave He lay, Jesus my Savior,

Waiting the coming day, Jesus my Lord!

Up from the grave He arose,

With a mighty triumph o’er His foes,

He arose a Victor from the dark domain,

And He lives forever, with His saints to reign.

He arose! He arose!

Hallelujah! Christ arose!"

A very thankful,

~Melinda

Ice cream and movies with friends

2011-04-14T12:08:00.000-07:00

Monday was the last day that my sweet grandparents were going to be here with us so we decided to do something fun. :) Some friends of ours had already been talking about going to see the movie "Source Code" and so we planned to go and see it together. It was kinda a last minute spontaneous thing to do but we had a blast! It was my brilliant idea to go to Culvers beforehand cause I knew my grandparents loved that place and I knew I wouldn't get any fuss from our family. *cheesy grin* So anyway, we met up at Culvers with the Ryken family and then headed to see the movie together. :)

My amazing Papa and I before we left home. I love this man. <3

This is the "girl" table at the restaurant....

Here is the "guy" table...

And here's the "adult" table.

Me and Rebecca stopped for a picture together at the movie theater and Elaina decided to jump in at the last minute. I seriously have the most amazing sisters. <3

Jesi, Rebecca, and I had a blast sitting together and laughing/whispering about what we thought was gonna happen. lol We were pretty off on judging how the movie was gonna end but we still had fun while guessing. :)

The row in front of us with Adrianna, Ashly, and Elaina. I just happened to sneak in too... O:-)

The guy row trying to look nonchalant.

And the adult row laughing cause I cracked a joke at them cause they weren't smiling in the first picture. ;)

The movie wasn't really scary at all...

Jesi's face cracks me up in this picture! *laughs* I love that girl. <3 I also love how Jesi's says, "Act like you're really scared!" and this is the face Rebecca and I make... *shakes head and laughs* :D

"Source Code" turned out to be a really good movie and I think we all sincerely enjoyed it!! Not to mention it had a happy ending which is always a winner in my book. *grin* I think what made it more fun though was getting to see it with our friends. Hurray for amazing parents who let us be spontaneous with wonderful friends. ;D

Hasta la próxima vez!
~Meli

American Vision World View Conference 2011

2011-04-13T10:49:00.000-07:00

Sometimes being a Deacon's kid can mean lots of work and no goofing off with friends. But on this day I'd say being a Deacon's kid was the best experience ever! Our church held the second annual American Vision conference last weekend and that meant lots of work to be done. We spent the whole week preparing food and cleaning the church so it would look it's best for the conference. When it was time for the conference to start some of us were bummed it was smaller than last year but I think in the end it turned out quite nicely and blessed all those who attended. I know I speak for more than myself when I say lots of fun memories were made during that weekend. :D Here are some pictures of what went on...

Friday afternoon there wasn't much going on behind the scenes which means that the cameras got brought out and goofy pictures were taken. These girls are amazing! <3 And the orange is so random...

We all took turns manning the snack station and here Adrianna and Zach are doing a grand job of it.

Pastor opening everyone up in some prayer and Hymn singing.

Mr. Gary DeMar's sessions were amazing and very thought provoking. I was only able to listen in on bits and pieces but those who heard all of it were blessed by him.

During most of the talks we girls were in the kitchen working away on meals for the speakers and the workers. In this picture Grace and I were having a blast talking about what we want our futures to look like. *cough/grin* I love that girl. <3

Mrs. McDonald is always an encouraging speaker and yet what she has to say always makes me stop and think about what kind of woman I want to be.

Mr. Bojidar Marinov was new to most of us but he did a great job speaking as well and had a great personality to go along with it.

This is my favorite picture from the whole weekend. I just love to look on her face!

Here are two of the four men who made things run smoothly behind the scenes for everyone. This year was easier on them because of having done it the year before and knowing what to expect but they still pulled it off great and the weekend wouldn't have worked as well without them. :)

And that's your peek into last weekend. This weekend we have a wedding we are attending and I am singing a duet with Jess for it. *nervous smile* It's gonna be sorta nerve racking but also great and I cannot wait to attend! :)

Hasta la próxima vez!
To God be the glory!
~Melinda

Amazing friends and a party

2011-04-11T10:40:00.000-07:00

The amazing McDonald family invited my family over for a lovely evening of fellowship and gift giving. Since Daddy's birthday was only last week they wanted to give him a present from their family. You can see a picture of what he was given a little later in the post. Anyway the evening was spent walking, talking, laughing, and eating delicious food! I think we all had a great time together. :D

On our walk I got a picture of their lake.

And a picture of Melissa taking a picture of William. These two have such an amazing relationship and it's sweet to watch older sister and little brother.

Art. <3

Here's the group who went on a walk together. This shot is really cool and we look like some sort of super band.

I love doing this, now Jess has a picture of me and I have one of her. :)

Friendship isn't a big thing - it's a million little things. ~Author Unknown

The McDonald's were beyond sweet to my daddy to throw a mini party for him and give him a gift as well as great food that wouldn't affect his sugar levels.

Dad's face says it all. *grin*

Remember those black bean brownies I was telling y'all about. Well Jess makes them waaaay better than I do and here's Adrianna showing it off. These were delicious! :)

My amazing grandparents came in town from VA to stay with us while mom was in OK. We had a blast with them and will be very sorry to see them go.

And the last picture of Jess, Gramma, and I. I love both of these people so much! <3

We had a brilliant time together and cannot wait to do it all over again! But next time we need to have them over to our house. *cheesy grin*

Hasta la próxima vez!

~Melinda

Next up, pictures from the American Vision conference. :)

Sunday passed then he was 50...

2011-04-05T12:06:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday it was so absolutely beautiful outside that some of the girls and I just had to go on a walk around the church a couple of times to soak up the sunshine. Besides it being a bit windy I think it was the prettiest day we have had this year. :) And what walk is complete without a few pictures?

Friends. <3

Crazy girls...

Notice Rebecca in the background. *laughs* And I'm sorry I really was very happy it's just this picture was taken right before I smiled. lol :)

Rebecca says, "You have to post this picture cause my eyes are so pretty in it." So here ya go, brother and sister being beautifully handsome together.

So on Monday the man of the house turned the big five'o and for his birthday we decorated the kitchen with black and "over the hill" little signs. It was a complete surprise to him when he walked in after work to the house looking like this:

Before he came home though, I made him some "black bean brownies" that turned out deliciously good. You'd think by putting black beans into brownies that it would taste terrible, right? But it was actually very good and he was able to eat all he wanted cause there was no sugar except for the icing.

This was my first attempt at "writing" on a cake like this. In my humble opinion it's not *too* bad for a first timer... But next time I will try to make it look better. :)

And here comes the birthday boy!

As soon as he walked in the door I stuck that adorable party hat on his head and good for Daddy he left it on the whole time without complaining! *grin*

Blowing out his 5x10 candles...

Here Dad is talking about how he was suspicious of something going on cause I kept asking him when he was gonna get home. Oops. *cheesy grin*

Reading all his sweet cards/letters from great friends and loving family members.

My Daddy isn't perfect, but I will say with all my heart that he is the most perfect father for our crazy family. I love him so much and I couldn't imagine life without him! He is the glue that holds our family together and keeps us from going down the wrong paths. He is an amazing leader but also very good at serving others. He's an amazing listener but also great at giving us all advice on how to better ourselves before the Lord. I am thankful that God saw fit to bless every single one of my siblings and I with such an amazing man of God as our father!

I love you, Daddy!!! <3
~Melinda

"Bless the LORD oh my soul"

2011-03-30T09:36:00.000-07:00

"Praise ye the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise Him in the firmament of his power." ~Psalm 150:1

“Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His Holy Name! Bless the Lord, O my

soul, and forget not all His benefits: who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases,

who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with loving kindness and tender

mercies, who satisfies your mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the

eagle’s.” ~Psalm 103:1-5

“The word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even

to the division of soul and spirit” ~ Hebrews 4:12

I felt like sharing these few verses with y'all today. *smiles* Hopefully they will bless you as much as they have blessed me.

~Melinda

A sort of Japanese experience

2011-03-28T14:37:00.000-07:00

Life continues as busy as ever in the Sanford home. Lots has happened these past few days and I will try to fill you in as best I can. :) Sometime last week the girls decided to make a new dessert that the family had never tried. They searched the recipe books and came up with these cookies:

These are mint-chocolate cookies and they were absolutely delicious!! I think they are going to be a family favorite from now on cause they were that yummy. Good job, girls!
As some of you know Josh and Jen are up from Oklahoma for a visit. Initially we were planning on taking them to Liberty Day but our weekend was totally changed due to my soon-to-be-niece, Jael's insistence that we all were not giving her enough attention. *grin* I'll fill you in on that^^ in a second though... In the mean time here is what the guys have enjoyed doing while the weather was good.

My amazing daddy's 50th birthday is coming up soon (April 4th) and for his celebration he didn't want anything too special. Instead he wanted to do something completely random. So this past Wednesday he took us all out to a Japanese restaurant where they make and serve the food right in front of you. It was a neat experience and we all had a really good time together. Here are all of us girls right before we left...

The guy who fixed our food was a hilarious goofball. He had us all laughing pretty much the whole time with his cute accent and funny show. He started out with making lots of fire just to get our attention. ;)

What'd ya know it was dinner and a show!

At one point he tried to throw a piece of broccoli into each of our mouths. Elaina is the only one who caught it on the first try.

Here he is getting our meats onto the stove so he can start fixing them.

We all watched with awe as he cooked... lol

Later on that evening a friend of mine who loves mushrooms dared me to eat one for a dollar... here is my reaction to it... *small smile*

*laughs* I cannot believe that I am posting this picture... *hides* But it just shows how nasty mushrooms are. *nods with an angelic smile*

We all had a lovely time that night and we will always remember Daddy's 50th birthday party. <3

Now back to what's going on with Josh and Jen's baby, on Thursday morning Mom and Josh had to take Jen to the hospital because her contractions were becoming a little harder and more regular. She is 35 weeks along and so the doctors tried to stop the contractions. So far so good but now the Doctors are saying she has to stay in the hospital until she has the baby because she is still dilated and they want to keep an eye on her. It's very frustrating for Josh and Jen because they wanted a home-birth with their baby anyway. And now all this added stress of hospital life is wearing on them a little. Please keep them in your prayers!! I know they will appreciate it very much. But with all that said, Josh and Jen are doing great with trusting in the Lord and they are totally leaning on Him and in his power. They are willing to do whatever God needs them to do so in the end everything is okay. Sorry if that went in a total circle. ;)

Hasta la próxima vez!

~Melinda

Hanging out with friends

2011-03-21T09:09:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday some good friends of ours had us over for dinner with some of the McDonald family as well. We had such a great time hanging out while playing ping-pong and "4 on a Couch" and eating some delicious sloppy Joe's that we didn't even take any pictures. Oops. But I think that's a good thing. ;) Anyway, at the end of the night right before our family left we remembered we hadn't taken any pictures yet so we hurriedly grabbed the camera and snapped a few of us kids. Unfortunately the McDonald family had already left so we were not able to get any pictures with them. *sad face* Here are the ones we managed to get though...

You've got to love the bright redness of Rebecca's shirt in this shot.

Jesi and I are so similar sometimes it's scary but we manage to have a blast talking about *cough* a certain actor. *cough/grin* I love this girl! <3

Adrianna really didn't want to leave without at least getting a few pictures! This is her whiny face saying, "We can't leave yet!!" Love ya, Adi. ;)

Aren't we all such sweet and happy people?

Insides jokes run rampant at our church... We have soo many between friends that it is hard to remember them all. But the ones we made that night will definitely last awhile. ;)

These next few pictures show just how much fun we really are. *grins*

~~"Hold a true friend with both your hands."~~

Ashly, my fellow third-born friend whom I love! <3 We share a secret bond of having two annoying older siblings that we love very much but find completely crazy. ;)

And that ends a wonderful night with friends. *happy sigh* We will have to do that again SOON! :D

Next up Josh and Jen are coming for a visit and our whole family is headed to Liberty Day on Friday. We cannot wait to dress in costume while listening to all the speakers share about our American history. This will be our fourth year attending and we still cannot wait to go! :)

Hasta la próxima vez!
~Meli

JUMP!

2011-03-19T08:18:00.000-07:00

Our family is so happy about Spring coming that we decided to get a few "happy" pictures on the Trampoline. If you have captions for these pictures please feel free to share cause I can think of none. :)

The boys are so totally not posed in this shot. Peter actually does sing into rakes all the time, Zach and Nathan also yell into their hands on a regular bases. *cough* Just thought I'd let y'all know that. :D

Well today is Saturday so I wish y'all the most wonderful of weekends!! Enjoy this beautiful sunshine that the Lord has blessed us with! And remember to thank Him for everything good or not so good that comes your way today. He is in control of it all and has your best interests in mind. May God bless all y'all!!

Amigos adios!
~Meli

Psalm 117
"O praise the LORD, all ye nations: praise him, all ye people. For his merciful kindness is great toward us: and the truth of the LORD endureth for ever. Praise ye the LORD."

Spring pictures of the family

2011-03-17T08:14:00.000-07:00

Yesterday while the sun was shining Mom wanted me to get some pictures of the kids so we can change the ones on Mom and Dad's bedroom wall-of-shame. ;) So I grabbed our trusty camera and went out to obey her command. These first three pictures were from times past since Josh and Jen aren't coming up till next week I couldn't wait to get a picture of them and this one is just too cute!

Garrison is in Afghanistan so that wasn't going to work either... but this picture (besides being a bit fuzzy) is a great picture of our brother.

I didn't feel like getting yet another picture of myself so I also used an older one. :)

Derick smiling.

Peter looking ever so nice.

Zach's growing up so fast! *sniffs*

Adrianna being as gorgeous as ever.

Nathan is also growing up too fast! *sniffs and wipes a tear*

Victoria looking cute with her new hair cut.

Rebecca smiling with her gorgeous fluff-ay hair.

And last but not least we have the baby of the family who isn't such a baby anymore. Elaina loves her new bangs and looks beautiful with them.

And those are our families Spring photos. Next time you are at our house you will see them hanging up on our wall-of-shame. ;)

Until next time! Amigos Adios!

~Melinda

2011-03-16T13:14:00.000-07:00

*shy smile* Okay yeah it's been forever... Buut instead of trying to give reasons for not posting for 7 months I'm just going to pretend it never happened and move on. *smiles*

So my whole entire family is super duper excited that Spring is on it's way!! We cannot wait for the long hours spent outside playing volleyball, jumping on the trampoline, and goofing together. Being cooped up in the house all Winter long has gotten to us so as you can imagine. So when a sunny beautiful day like today came along we all rushed outside to enjoy the sunshine! And while we were out there we just happened to take a few pictures. :) Enjoy!

The first fruits of Spring. *happy sigh*

God's creation is so beautiful even in the early stages.

Me and my gang. *love*

Dude... I am totally related to a bunch of hunks. :)

Thanks for reading and hopefully I will get around to posting more often. But until then, amigos adios!

~Melinda

Happy Birthday to Melinda!

2010-08-30T10:47:00.001-07:00

It was 20 years ago today we were blessed by God. Melinda Elizabeth Sanford was born into our family at 12:30pm on August 30, 1990.

Months before she was born the Lord gave her mom the name 'Melinda'. Dad however wanted the name 'Rebecca'. They did agree that if it was a boy it would be Phillip Connor. It was just an hour before the baby was born that Dad blessed Mom with agreeing to the name she believed was given by God.

"Melinda" means 'honey' and "Elizabeth" (also her mom's middle name) means 'consecrated to God'. Today all can see that she was appropriately named by God as her hair is the color of honey and her heart belongs to the Lord!

Melinda wore home the same dress her mother had worn home from the hospital 27 years before and her Gramma had worn when she was an infant...a beautiful handmade white cotton dress.

Melinda has always been a 'daddy's girl'!!

When Melinda was seven years old the Lord moved us from Virginia to Illinois. We discovered 'Starved Rock' which looks much like the Blue Ridge of VA. Melinda poses for the camera even back then.

'Sugar and Spice!!' Amazing how you can take Mom's coat, Dad's handkerchief, Granddad's hat and Uncle Richard's glasses and transform a 13 year old!

These two horses at Aunt Lee's are the reason Melinda loves horses! She first rode them when she was one and a half years old with her mom. Here she is years later still loving those beautiful creatures.

At fifteen years old and straight hair is in!!

Today! Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all. Prov 31:29

May the Lord richly bless you Melinda as you are such a blessing to many...your warm smile and ready laugh brings joy to many...your steady confidence and firm faith brings comfort to many...your sentimental heart and deep love brings encouragement to many.

Happy Birthday, Melinda 'Blessed' Elizabeth Sanford!

You are blessed of God!

Ending with a bang!

2010-08-02T10:56:00.000-07:00

Well everyone July has now ended... Personally I cannot believe that it is over and never to come again. Our family sure did make sure it left with a huge bang though! From singing the National Anthem at a Baseball game, to helping out with a friends wedding reception, to Threshing day. We made sure to live it up to the fullest. Here are a few pictures of the events:

First up we have a Peoria Chiefs baseball game organized by a family in our church. When we got to the field we were pretty sure it was going to be "rained out" since it was pouring down. But after awhile the skies cleared and then sun sort of showed itself. As we waited for them to re-sand the diamond some of the people from church got our voices warmed up for singing. We were all a little nervous but after getting down in the field and starting to sing, I think we all were so happy and blessed to be there that our 'butterflies' left us and we sang to the Glory of God. Unfortunately we didn't get any pictures of this so you will have to trust my words instead. :)

The girls and their sweet friends. :)

My ever lovely and gorgeous parents whom we all love very much. I think they enjoyed the game.

After the game was over Dad had gotten passes so the kids could run the bases. Here is a picture of the girls running...

The boys turned it more into a race and here they are running as well...

~~~~~

Our dear friends asked us if we would help out with their daughter's wedding reception. We were ever ready to help and so we dress in black and white and went over to help serve. Here Jess, Rebecca, and I stop for a picture together.

The guys sitting at the "helpers" table.

All of us lined up to help serve people their food.

And what reception is complete without dancing?? All of us 'helper's were blessed to be able to join in the celebration while our parents did the clean-up! Here we are all dancing our hearts out.

And another picture of us dancing...

~~~~~~

Saturday our parents decided to have a fun morning/afternoon of just family time. So they took us to what is called "Threshing Day" out in Tremont. They had tractor exhibits, tractor rides, horses, and fun things like that to entertain you.

Here Zach and Elaina are watching as a machine turns hay into bales.

As you can see they had tons of tractors there.

Here Daddy is showing us what everything is called. Having been raised on a farm he knew a whole lot of information and was glad to be able to share it with his children.

We even got to ride on the tractor-thingy.

A beautiful Clydesdale filly and her mother were on show. We all got to pet these huge horses.

At the end of the time they had a tractor parade. It was neat to see all the hard work these men put into fixing up the old tractors.

And I think that catches you up on our life!

God bless y'all!
~Meli

Oh what a beautiful life...

2010-07-26T09:25:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone, I am sorry for not keeping y'all more up to date on what has been happening in the Sanford family. God has blessed us more than our wildest dreams and now I want to share with you a little bit of what we have been up these past few weeks in July.

First off we have our annual 4th of July party. This year was a little different for us since it was the first year our brother Garrison was not able to join us. Being a bitter sweet time made it difficult for some of us. But that didn't stop us from having a great time with the friends God has blessed us with.

Food is always a must at parties. This year there was a wonderful buffet line with lots of yummy food. Although I will say there was a lot of watermelon too. :)

After playing sports and talking away the afternoon. We all settled down to listen to why America is a free nation. Dad had some questions he asked and then Ashton read the Declaration of Independence.

No Summer party is complete without S'mores!

This year we got a little more extravagant and bought lights for the Volleyball court. We played well into the night and had a blast.

This year Pastor went all out and bought us some good fireworks! Here is just one picture of the amazing sight we beheld in our very own back yard. These actually went up into the air and didn't just blow smoke! Which is a new concept from our past 4th parties. ;)

Thus ends our 4th of July party. It was a smashing success and we were thankful that the weather was bearable. :) Now we cannot wait for next year!!!

~~~~~~~

Next up we have our amazing trip to California!!!! Tiff and Ben have been married for a little over two months now. But since they could not bring out all of their Californian friends to the wedding in IL they decided to throw a CA Reception on the 17th of July. We were invited to come but only a few of us could make it... meaning Mom and I. But since we were going we were able to take two of the McD girls with us as well as Ashton. Thanks to certain people who made that possible. (You know who you are) ;) So off we went, waking up at 2:45am to get to our flight in St. Louis. Here we are looking ever so happy to be alive at this hour.

Our flight into Oakland was canceled and so we were told we would have to stay the night in a hotel and catch the next flight in the morning. But God had different plans and we were able to make a detour to Phoenix, Arizona and make it to Oakland around 10:00pm instead of our original time of 1:00.

We were all very happy to finally make it to CA after having been up for 24 hours straight. This picture was taken in route to CA from AZ. Don't we look happy to be awake in this picture?

Praise God, we finally made it to Tiff and Ben's house!! Ben took us out to Cold Stone Creamery to get some delicious ice cream and then we headed to their new adorable house to sleep. The next morning we didn't have too much to do so we went shopping with Tiff and we even got to eat at In-N-Out which I must say is very good.

That night the whole Hector family came down to Tiff and Ben's house and we had a lovely meal together in her dinning room. Here we are cooking and waiting for Ben to get home from work.

On Thursday all thanks to the Schroeder family, we were able to got Kayaking down the river. It was great fun getting absolutely soaked and, for Mom and Mel, tipping over and falling in. ;) While paddling down the river we had a great time just hanging out, talking, and *cough* fighting *cough*. All in all it was a great experience! But sadly there are no pictures of this event because of the danger of the water and cameras.

On Friday we woke up and headed up to Mountain Ranch to see the "other Hector's". And to help set up for the big day on Saturday. Once getting there we were put to work setting up tables, folding and wrapping napkins, and decorating the whole beautiful house.

All work and no play, made Jack a dull boy. So we made sure to get lots of play into our day. :) I love these people... :D

Right before dinner we headed out to take a quick look around the property. Here we are.. not staged for this photo at all. :)

The big day finally came and with 233 people all over the house and yard we had a blast! Towards the end of the day the Schroeder girls and I started a wonderful game of Volleyball. It was boys against girls and we crushed the guys! *yeehaw!* But after that we split the teams evenly and played a bunch more games. Here I am serving for our team...

This is us three girls with two amazingly wonderful people who God blessed us all to be friends/family with.

Two more amazing Hector's get their picture with us. :)

And the two most amazing of all... Tiff and Ben! Mr. Hector gave a beautiful toast to the Bride and Groom and here they are drinking together.

After the party was all over we finished out the night with DANCING!!! Josh C. did a great job calling the dances for everyone. It was a wonderful way to end the day. *happy sigh*

Next day was Sunday and worshiping at the CVP church. It was a beautiful service and Pastor Walker did a wonderful job bringing us the Word. After church we headed over to Ben and Tiff's house to quickly change, eat lunch, and then head out to the beach! :D :D Here we are enjoying the waves and lovely view.

Jess, Mrs. Hector and I had a great time soaking up the sun and just enjoying each other's company. I love those two people. <3

After the beach the Hector's took everyone to a seafood restaurant close by. Not being much on seafood I didn't know what to expect. But now after having a delicious bowl of clam chowder, trying octopus, and some sort of other thing that Ben made me try, I think it is safe to say it was all GREAT! As long as you don't think about what you are eating. *huge grin* ;)

Alas all good things must come to an end... :( Our trip to California was waaayyy too short. But it was amazing!! God has blessed us with friends that feel a lot more like family and I am so unbelievable happy and thankful for that. Before dropping us off at the airport. Thomas (our driver for the day) took us up to a look-out sort of area and we stopped to enjoy the beautiful view. After that he also sweetly paid for Starbucks! Which keep us happy and awake for the flight home. :)

Here is our group, minus Mommy, getting a picture together at the look-out.

Four smiling faces. Happy for the time we had together again and yet sad for the separation that was about to come...

None of this trip would have been possible if my Mother had not agreed to come with us and be our "adult supervisor" for the week. A HUGE thanks goes to her for allowing us to make these sweet memories that will last us a life time. Thank you Mommy!!! Love you!!! :)

And that is the end of our trip.... Although we are sad that it is over we are still so unbelievably happy that God saw fit to bless us to have such an amazing time with everyone in CA especially the New... Young... Hector's!!! Woohoo! :) Now we all cannot wait to see everyone out there again and we are trying to be patient for next May when Presbytery rolls around. Until then life must go on...

Thanks for reading!

God bless y'all!

~Melinda

2010-07-01T08:47:00.000-07:00

This week we have been crazy busy getting our home and yard ready for our annual 4th of July party. We are all very excited! But in preparation of this event we have been non-stop busy doing...

This:

This:

Working on this:

And practicing this as much as possible:

But all of it is for this:

So I think it may just be worth it. God bless the U.S.A!

Happy 4th of July everyone!!!! :)

God bless all y'all!

Our VA trip!

2010-06-23T10:12:00.000-07:00

"...For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and cleave unto his wife and they which were two shall be one flesh." Matthew 19:5

This past week was the 50th anniversary of our Meme and Granddad. (Daddy's parents) For this special occassion our whole family packed up and headed out to Virginia for a week to help them celebrate. My Grandparents have had a hard life but through it all they have sticked it out together being faithful to one another. It is truly a beautiful site to behold.

As we were planning out this time in our lives my parents were sweet enough to allow Jessica to come with us! Having her on the trip made it all the more exciting and made the time fly by even faster! Which can be a great help when you are stuck sitting in a van for 13 hours. ;) When we finally made it to VA we first stopped at my Gramma and Papa's. (Mommy's parents) They had plenty of things for us to do while we visited with them. The first thing we did the morning after getting there was head out to Colonal Williamsburg. It is such a fun place to visit even though it was pretty hot outside.

Here we are walking through the town:

We stopped in a few stores just to have the A/C :) and to snap a few goofy pictures while waiting for mom to pick out a present for one of our dear friends. Here Daddy is trying his best to be a royal goofball. Ain't he cute?

After having a great time goofing off our Grandparents treated everyong to a Windy's Frosty! YUM!

The guys loved it... really! They did. :)

After enjoying our treat we headed to Yankee Candle. Which is one of my favorite stores even if it has the 'bad' word in it. *grin*

Jess, Mom, and I stop for a cute picture together. <3>
Next up was a store that I cannot remember the name of to save my life. Anyway, it was a cool store! This picture is adorable and fits their personlities so well.

That next day we woke up bright and early and made our way to Quantico, VA to tour the USMC Museum. We estimate that we have been here at least two or three times before. But we never get sick of it! It gets better each and every time we go! And now they are even adding on stuff to make it bigger so we had even more fun checking that out.

An artsy picture I got of Zach and Elaina looking at a picture.

We stopped for a quick lunch outside the museum.

Then we finished our tour and stepped outside for this picture of all the kids together. Pretty good looking group if I do say so myself. :)

Who knew that you could have so much fun getting goofy pictures inside a Bass Pro Shop? We had a really good time in that store.

After visiting my Great-Grandma on Thursday morning we headed back to Gramma and Papa's to play some fun games on the Wii. First up was car racing and then boxing which is pictured here. Everyone got a chance to play and it was loads of fun! By the way if you were wondering... Dad ended up beating mom!

After saying farwell to my mom's side of the family we all headed out to see my dad's side. Here the girls are getting a cute shot with mom.

We didn't have much to do while we were there so we had plenty of time to get some cute pictures. This one was my idea and I made everyone do it even though they all whined. Here we are being silly! They will thank me one day for this picture. :)

"A friend loveth at all times..." Proverbs 17:17

Jess and I have a lovely time together on this trip.

That Sunday was the official party for my Grandparents. Lots of their friends showed up to help celebrate. It was great to see people we hadn't seen in ages! Here Meme is introducing everyone in her family and telling what's going to happen with the program for that evening.

We Sanford's gave a nive performance of 119X. I kept telling daddy that we didn't have enough voices to do it but in the end everyone agreed that it turned out lovely and blessed all who heard it.

A picture of my dad's family. Left to right is: Aunt Peggy, Granddad, Meme, Uncle Richard, and Dad. (of course) :)

A beautiful picture that Rebecca took of the sun setting on my Granddad's farm. It is utterly stunning to see God's handy work all around us. And it's at moments like this that we can see how much He has truly blessed us with a beautiful world to live in.

For all those of you who wanted to see what the Sanford's and one McDonald look like at 5:30 in the morning, here you go! This was the last picture we took before we said our final "goodbyes" and piled into the van to head home.

God has truly blessed us with an amazing extended family. And going back to VA always reminds us of how He had a plan for moving us out here to IL. Sometimes we miss VA but we are always reminded that God's ways are higher than ours. We are so thankful to Him for being in charge and we cannot wait to see what He has in store for our family.

God bless y'all!

~Meli

Presbytery 2010

2010-05-26T14:06:00.000-07:00

I cannot believe that Presbytery of 2010 has come and gone! What a splendid and well done weekend it was! I think most of the pictures speak for themselves and they say a picture is worth a thousand words, so here it goes. :)

First up on Thursday afternoon we had some relay races. I guess you never thought you would see Peter doing the Hula did you?

Next up we have Victoria, Rebecca, and Jessica having to sing "Baa baa black sheep", "Twinkle little star", and the whole "ABC's". If you haven't noticed all three of those songs have the same tune. ;)

Another one of the relays was to jump rope. That is... if you can get it untangled first.

Some of the guys on our team had to carry Jess across the floor in a blanket. Now that one was funny to watch!!

After the relays people wanted to go over the dances we would be doing on Friday night. We Sanford's never give up a time to dance! Here Nathan and Adrianna are waiting for the music to start.

Mom seems to want whomever was behind the camera at this point...

Friends and sisters. In more ways than one!

Here the girls pause their playing for a picture.

Peter had no idea what he was getting into when he offered to go up and be a subject in this game. This picture is from the whole show of "CPC's Got Talent".

Jessica, Melissa, and I got the privilege to sing with the Winton's! We sang "There is a time" from the Andy Griffith show. It was pretty well done for only practicing once and that was right before the talent show started.

Another picture of us with our amazing (And that's putting it lightly) musicians.

Some people from the California church did a skit based off of youtube's "Phobias". They did a great job!

Oh boy... Some of the dad's got called up and they had no clue what they were about to do! They had about 15 minutes to come up with a skit using only the props Josh Erber gave them.

Here they come dragging their "water" with them.

Getting ready to start their skit... Take a look at what they are all wearing on their heads! :)

And here we go! They decided to sing the song "Row row row your boat" And what an amazing job they did! They even had a little harmony and hand motions to go with it!

That night some of us who were staying in the same hotel, stayed up talking and playing a bunch of mind games. Some of them made you really mad until you figured out what they were doing.

This one had to be the best! Here Mr. Schroeder is playing the game "Snaps" with us.

Mom and Dad had a lovely talk with Mr. Winton.

The next day was the ordination service. Here Mr. Erber is talking to us all.

All of the Elders welcoming the new Elders by praying for them.

Mom and dad enjoying some delicious pizza with the Bandy family.

The Winton's gave us a show after dinner. They played some really fun songs!

And finally the time most of us had been waiting for! Now we get to dance! I don't know what I am saying in this picture but no one seems to be believing me...

My adorable and wonderful parents!!! *love*

That night after dancing our hearts out and having some yummy ice cream we all headed back to the hotel and had another party!

Elaina, Melissa, and Adrianna posing for a picture. :D

Nathan, Casey, and Zach become fast friends over the weekend.

Some people had never played Mafia before... so the rest of us had to teach them how it's done.

Friends and sisters.

Next morning no one really had to get up as early except some of the Elders and fathers. The rest of us just hung out and goofed off together.

And I mean goofed off! lol This picture is definitely a keeper! :)

Nic decided that he wanted to dance while the rest of us sang "Hey Soul Sister". So he grabbed my mom and just swung her around a little. They look like they are having a good time. :)

That afternoon we all headed over to a park to finished out the weekends activities. First up was a game of Ultimate.

Mama and Mrs. Winton talking together.

Mr. Hector, Daddy, and Mommy had a great time together.

Then all the church's had a a volleyball tournament! It was loads of fun!! I didn't actually play though... cause every team needs a cheerleader. I was going for California all the while hoping Illinois wouldn't kill me. ;)

Saturday night ended with some of the older kids from a few families hanging out and talking together. Presbytery only comes once a year, so who needs sleep?

The next morning was Sunday. We went to Christ Church to worship our King with them. The service was lovely. Mr. Erber is an excellent preacher. I always enjoy going to other like minded churches because you get to see how they worship each Sunday. Here dad is going through the delicious food line after service...

All of the guys eating the yummy food.

Rebecca and Adrianna posing for a picture together.

Jess and I. Sisters at heart. <3

Zach got all of his and Nathan's friends from the weekend to get a picture together. And this is the last picture I will leave you with.

So if you ask me I would tell you that Presbytery 2010 was an absolute, smashing, success! All of Christ Church poured themselves out to make sure that it went according to plan and to make sure that everyone had something to do that was fun and memorable. I thank God for seeing old friends and for meeting new friends this time around. I pray that next year will go just as smooth and that people will see that CPC's Presbytery is just one big happy family reunion. :D

God bless!

~Melinda

Tiff and Ben's wedding.

2010-05-26T13:18:00.000-07:00

The time had finally come. After all the planning, after all the work behind the scenes, after having two rehearsals, Tiffany and Ben's big day had finally come. Looking back on it now that it has been a few weeks, I could not imagine a more beautiful or well done wedding if I tried. Everyone put so much into it because we all love Ben and Tiff and we wanted this day to be very special for them.

The happy day started out with me heading over to the McDonald's house so all of us girls could get our hair done together. We had a blast! Even though the rain threatened to ruin all of the hair salon's hard work. No worries though cause we had paper bags to put over our hair. Don't ask... ;) After picking up a few last minute things we made our way over to the church to get ready. My dad was waiting for us and snuck us all inside. After getting ready the time came for us to start the procession down the isle. Lily was first and then me...

The wedding went absolutely beautiful! I don't think there was a dry eye in the room... Some of my siblings had the pleasure of singing for Ben and Tiff. They sang a song called, "Claire Benediction". It was very well done I think the choir should be proud of their work.

My Mama, Dad, and I also got the privilege to sing for the wedding! We sang a song called, "As the Bride Groom". It went very well if I do say so myself. :)

Then the final words came, "Now presenting to you Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Hector".

A beautiful reception followed the service. I think everyone had fun and teared up again at some of the stories that were told. From hearing Pastor tell how Tiffany had saved her heart, to a well done slide show, to doing the chicken dance... I think everyone enjoyed themselves. I know I did!

And that brings to a close this post about my beloved friends wedding. I love them both very much and I wish them the best that this temporary world has to offer. I pray that they grow closer to the Lord and that He will be their light and their shield in all the years that God blesses them with marriage.

Happy 10th Adoption Day!

2010-04-23T18:17:00.000-07:00

ADOPTION CREED

Not flesh of my flesh

Nor bone of my bone,

But still miraculously my own.

Never forget for a single minute

You didn't grow under my heart,

But in it.

It was 10 years ago today that our family gathered in the court-house and church-house to adopt Rebecca, Victoria, Susanna, and Cassandra.

The evening before the big day our family including grandparents, great-aunts and an uncle set up for the covenant ceremony and reception to followed.

Here are the two cuties of that special time in our lives: Rebecca had just turned 3 and Victoria was 3 1/2. As you can see they were having a discussion about which hymn to play on the piano.

Things got a little out of hand and the two new sisters had to sit in time-out while big brother Garrison sat guard.

The next morning we arose early to dress in our like-colors! After a few photos we headed to Mclean County Law and Justice Center in downtown Bloomington.

Waiting for the court proceedings to begin.

A friend wrote in the girls scrapbook:

At 10:00 Judge Dozier called his courtroom to order. It was filled with family and friends, excited to witness this blessed event - the adoption of Cassandra, Susanna, Victoria, and Rebecca in to the Sanford Family.

Bob was called to the witness stand first and questioned about their home situation, their support network, homeschooling, and just about anything else you could think of! Despite being under tremendous pressure, he was able to correctly quote each child's full name and birthdate, and even had the courtroom laughing. When asked how all the children got along he said "They treat each other like siblings!"

Katherine was also called to testify, but fortunately escaped relatively unscathed.

Just before Judge Dozier granted the adoption he confided that he, too, was on of 7 children, and that Josh probably didn't stand much of a chance of getting in the bathroom!

When the adoption was complete, the courtroom burst into applause. Everyone was in awe of the way god had worked in the lives of everyone involved to bring this family together.

After 7 (Rebecca) and 6 (Cass, Sus, and Victoria) months of waiting, we were now legally a family of 9! Judge Dozier gave us permission to take a photo with him.

After hugs and pats on the back from family and friends as well as our social workers, we drove to the church. As Bob put it, "We have rendered unto Caesar what is Caesar's now it is time to render unto God what is God's!"

We knew as a family that our four daughters were given to us by God; therefore we wanted to have a ceremony which would bind us together in a covenantal manner. We did this by re-working our wedding liturgy into adoption liturgy.

While the Carmen song Meant For This Moment played, we walked in each carrying a candle to represent how we were individuals before God. The center candle was unlit.

We also re-worded our wedding vows into adoption vows. Pastor Rick Wagner of E-Free is reading them to us asking for our response.

Reading of Vows

Dear Family and Friends, We are gathered together in the presence of God and these witnesses to join these four beautiful girls with this family and commit this union to Him. Adoption is not to be entered into lightly, but reverently, soberly, and in the fear of god. It is a union whereby parents commit themselves to the nurturing, well-being, and love of children not born to them. This union illustrates the holy relationship between Christ and man. therefore, Bob and Katherine desire to vow and covenant before God, a forever adoption in the same manner that our Lord and Savior has adopted us, as expressly stated in Ephesians 1:5, confirming before God that Cassandra, Susanna, Victoria, and Rebecca were predestined to be adopted by them in accordance with our Lord's pleasure and will.

The Vows

Bob and Katherine, will you promise and covenant before God and these witnesses to be loving, and nurturing parents to Cassandra, Susanna, Victoria, and Rebecca, sharing all the Lord has planned for your family, to speak and to listen, to inspire and to respond, using scripture as your guide to educate and train them, and in all circumstances of your life together, to be faithful parents, just as the Lord has adopted you, and been faithful to you?

We answered: We do!

Will you Josh, Taylor (Garrison), and Melinda covenant before God to accept Cassandra, Susanna, Victoria, and Rebecca to be your sisters, sharing without reservation your parents, your home, and your life, loving and accepting them in your family as Christ has accepted you into His?

They answered: We do.

Will you Cassandra (11 years old), Susanna (8 years old), Victoria, and Rebecca covenant before God to accept Bob and Katherine as your parents, and Josh, Taylor, and Melinda as your siblings, sharing your heart, your love, and your future, fully believing that this is ordained and blessed by God as His plan for your life?

They answered: We do.

We then gave the girls heart-lockets to wear as a reminder of this special day and convenant.

Daddy steps down, lights the center candle and blows out all of the individual candles signifying we are now one family in the Lord.

Then Daddy prayed a prayer committing the children to the Lord followed by the Pastor's prayer of committing this family to the keeping of the Lord.

More hugs and pats on the backs then time for food and fellowship.

The cake says...Happy Adoption Day! Cassandra, Susanna, Victoria, and Rebecca.

The day drew to a close with us back home enjoying the grandparents and extended family. Here is Papa (K. Dad) with the "twins".

From left to right Aunt Lee, Gramma (K. Mom), Aunt Liz, Cass., Meme (B. Mom) and Daddy! Lots of present opening was enjoyed that evening.

A couple weeks later we received in the mail a gift from Lisa English, a scrapbook of the adoption. It is a wonderful keepsake!

The Lord truly blessed us that day with giving us forever our four daughters. Though the journey has not been easy these past 10 years, we can honestly say we are very thankful for our daughters and the many things we have learned from the Lord by having them in our family.

Happy 10th Adoption Day, girls! Love, Dad and Mom

Painting and gardening... how FUN!

2010-04-22T13:54:00.000-07:00

This is just going to be a fun post highlighting the past few days in my life.

First off, bright and early on Tuesday morning my mom walks into the room and says, "Meli, how about we paint your room today?" I was like, "Sure!" We had been talking about it for awhile now and had been planning to do it this Spring/Summer but the day had come where mom just felt like we needed to get it done. So we started by moving all the the furniture that was in my room, out.

Here is a 'before' shot. Don't you just love the color schemes?

Beginning our work. It's already starting to look better!

Mom had the job of going around the edge of the whole ceiling. She did fantastic!

The last little bit of green is almost GONE! For good! Yippy! :)

And now the last little bit of pink is almost gone for good as well!

Okay, so sometimes music just gets to me. It's either that or the smelling of paint all day long... you decide. :)

Almost done with the whole room.

My happy little painters were amazing! And I could not have done this without them.

The next morning all the paint had dried so we started to clean my room before redecorating it.

My bed frame, Hope Chest, night stand, and vanity shown here.

Moving box springs is not always very easy. But my brothers did an amazing job and didn't break anything!

It helps to have brothers who can lift all the heavy stuff.

This piece of furniture, that my mom and sister are lifting, and the rocking chair are the only two things that don't belong to me. Everything else is mine as an heirloom from my great-grandmother.

The finished product!!! I am SOOOOoooo very happy with how it all turned out!

*sigh* Isn't it just lovely? :) A HUGE 'thank you' to my family for helping me!!

Now these shots are from today. Daddy decided he wanted to start planting the garden before it gets too hot out here. Here are a few pictures to see what they were doing today...

The man who can do it all: My daddy! :D

It's starting to look really nice. Now all they have to do is put down the seeds.

I love jumping shots. So here I will leave you with a quick peek into what the girls were doing all day while the boys worked in the garden.

Answer: PLAYING!!!!! :)

God bless each and everyone one of y'all! Have a wonderful rest of your week!

~Meli

Happy birthday to the Man of the house

2010-04-03T11:49:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday was the birthday of our amazing father! He isn't perfect but he is the perfect daddy to all of us kids and he is the perfect husband for our mother. Our Dad has had to put up with a lot because of having 14 children. But through it all he has stayed faithful to his Father in heaven and he has loved us all even though at times we didn't deserve it. He is an amazing man of God and we are all so very thankful to have him in our lives.

Happy 49th birthday, Daddy!!!

May God continue to shine His face upon you, my amazing daddy! And my you always seek His will in your life.

Love you so very much!!!
~Meli

Liberty Day 2010

2010-04-02T10:20:00.000-07:00

Liberty Day has come and gone again. I cannot believe that this past time on March 20th was my families third time celebrating Liberty Day up in near Chicago. We had a wonderful time listening to the speakers and visiting with friends. All thanks goes to the Lord who saw fit to allow us to get all the costumes ready in plenty of time for the celebration. :) Without His help (and some help from my mom) I would have never been able to finish all these costumes in three weeks.

Here are some pictures from the amazing time we had... Enjoy!

Dr. Paul Jehle speaking on Perversion of Equality. He is an amazing speaker and I really enjoy the way he explains things. He makes history come alive with the stories he tells.

After listening to two different sessions by Mr. Herbert Titus and Dr. Paul Jehle, we went down to the gym to eat the yummy food we had brought for lunch.

This is me feeding Jess while Elaina just smiles. :)

Mr. Herbert Titus teaching us.

Before the last session was over Tiffany needed us all to come to the gym to practice all three of the songs we will be performing for her wedding. Since most of the instrumental quartet lives up there close to Chicago we decided it would be a perfect opportunity for all of us to get some practicing in.

Here Adrianna and Elaina are waiting their turn to sing.

Dad's going over the words again just to make sure he has got it down. While Mom looks so beautiful, staring at her hands. :)

The sweetest little girl that is always full of smiles.

The AMAZING quartet, and let me say that again just so you realize how truly AMAZING they really are!!! Here the amazing quartet is getting ready to play for the first group of singers.

Ahhhh.... **happy sigh** Beautiful music accompanied by beautiful voices.

Now it's our turn! :) Again, the quartet did wonderful while we needed a little practice actually singing with them.

After practicing we were all really happy with how it turned out.

Here Jess, Becca, I are getting a picture together and since Natalie cannot be separated from me for more than a moment, she hopped in the picture too. :D

Here Mom and Dad might look like they are ready for a fight but let me assure you they are just having a good time talking with Mrs. Price and Mrs. Vest.

After practice was dinner and let me tell you all these boxes were a wonderful sight to see! Pizza for everyone! :)

Something I can't decide: are the pizza's out of place with the Colonel dressed people. Or are the people out of place because they are eating pizza? And did they even have pizza back in the Colonel days?

After dinner I took Peace for awhile so that Whitney could eat her dinner. Peace didn't like all the noise in the room so here I am singing softly into her ear. She loved it and calmed down after awhile.

I am not sure what to say on this picture. Except that Peter looks pretty normal and Ashton... Um... well, not so much. :)

Mommy listening to Elaina tell some amazing story from what happened that day.

And the day sadly had to come to a close. But first was the night festivities! There was music and laughter simultaneously filling the room.

A rather strange shot of Nathan, Peter, and Mom. They look happy!

The Erberantey's accompanied by Heirs of Baird. It was great fun to listen to!!

And oh my! What is this? Is that Mr. Sanford standing up there for the 2nd Virginia Convention? Indeed yes it is! Joshua Erber/Patrick Henry was losing his voice and he wanted to make sure he had enough left for the famous speech. So the behind the scenes crew came up with a lovely idea! They had my daddy read the two opposing propositions to the audience. And might I say he did a WONDERFUL job as did all the people in the play!!!!

They even made my dad wear a real white wig. Ain't he cute?

The 2nd Virginia Convention taking place...

"Give me Liberty!!!!"

"...Or give me death!!!"

Here we all are in our costumes for the day. I must say they turned out even better then I had expected.

My amazing parents that I love so much!!

And thus ends our post about Liberty Day. It was a wonderful day had by all and we cannot wait for next year to come!!! If you missed out on this years you should definitely try to make it to next years. It is well worth it. Oh and just in case you were wondering... next year? Everyone in my family is wearing the same costumes! *grin*

God bless y'all! Have a wonderful rest of the week!

~Meli

Happy Birthday to the baby of the family!

2010-03-30T13:15:00.000-07:00

Today we celebrate the birthday of the youngest member of our family! Elaina is turning 13 today which just blows my mind cause if she is turning 13 that makes all the rest of us... well... lets just say we are not so young anymore. :)

The Lord blessed us greatly when this beautiful, charming, loving little girl came into our lives. She has grown more and more into the likeness of God as she has placed her whole heart into our family.

Through all the trials God has put into this young ladies life, she has never once wished her life was different. She sees what God has done and she is happy with it and for that we are all thankful.

Elaina is such a joy to all who know her. Her smile lightens up even the drabbest of days.

Elaina,

may God bless you so much that your cup is always full of Him. May He be your one true desire

and may you live your life seeking His face in all you do.

We all love you so much Elaina! And we thank God continually for the blessing He gave us when He put you into our lives. Happy birthday my darling sister!

Love you!

SPRING!!!!

2010-03-17T15:13:00.000-07:00

Yes folks, after waiting for what seemed like forever we finally have our first real flower of the year! And isn't she a beauty? I love Spring time and how we are reminded of all the handiwork God put into this world. And how He is in control of all the seasons and and the way time passes. We never have to fear that He will change like the seasons do! He is always the same!

The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever. -
Isaiah 40:8

I hope you enjoy looking at these beautiful little reminders of God's love for us.

May God bless you richly this Spring time! And may you always look to His face!

~Meli

Oops... :)

2010-03-16T09:31:00.000-07:00

Talk about a major blog update needed! I apologize to all of our faithful blog readers (whomever you may be) for not keeping this blog alive and running. It seems that life has not slowed down enough for me to actually have the time to blog. So, without anymore excuses, here is what we have been up to this past week. I hope you all enjoy!

Last Friday Daddy, some of us children, and some families from church had the opportunity to attend one of the English Country Dances that is near our house. We had a lovely time and even got to learn some new and interesting dances.

Rebecca smiles sweetly for the camera as she waits for the dance to start.

Daddy having a delightful time dancing with Grace.

This is just too cute! Here Becca is trying to teach Zachary the Waltz. She looks pretty confident for not really knowing what she is doing.

Elaina and Nathan are trying to watch Adrianna and Rebecca to see what they are doing wrong.

Now on to the next day which was our monthly Hymn Sing. Here the boys are playing stimulating games of Chess.

Waiting for everyone to arrive so we can start eating.

The Fathers talking, the young men waiting patiently for their food, and the ladies going through the food line.

My lovely parents. <3>

The girl table.

The younger girl table. With the guy table in the background.

Me - captivating every ones attention as I tell some sort of story.

Now on to Sunday... Rebecca and Elaina love to get self portraits together. :) Two such sweet little girls.

Rebecca, Elaina, and Adrianna with some of their friends from church.

On to Monday now... Here Mom is working hard to get my dad's vest pinned and ready for me to sew. This Saturday is the Liberty Day Celebration so mom and I have been working really hard to get all of our costumes made beforehand. Talk about a lot of costumes to do in such a short time frame!

When one doesn't have any other place to put pins. One always has their mouth. :)

Me sewing up a storm with my amazing sewing machine!

Making sure the ends are fitting together.

The little girls enjoy making clothing for their dolls. Recently they have been making Colonel dresses to go along with the dresses I made for them.

And this ends our little catch up. Next up I will be posting a bunch of pictures from Liberty Day.

May God bless you all this week!
~Meli

Lance Corporal Promotion

2010-02-05T13:09:00.000-08:00

We are very proud to announce the promotion of ...

PFC T. Garrison Sanford

Lance Corporal

Here are some pictures from his promotion ceremony on Tuesday, February 2, 2010.

PFC Sanford is standing to the rear of his platoon.

1st Lt. Dombrey walking up to conduct the ceremony.

Corporal Addison (with red folder) calls Garr to the front.

Here comes Garrison! Classic Marine walk!

The white building behind the platoon is the Landing Support Shop (Garr's work place).

Cpl. Addison reads the certificate of promotion.

Garrison picked two buddies to pin his Lance Corporal Chevrons onto the collar of his jacket.

Saluting the 1st Lt.

Here Lcpl. Hernandez and Cpl. Espinoza perform the honors.

Notice the 'red patches' on the LS Marines' legs. This signifies they get to 'hold the beach' and unload ships, trains, helicopters, or airplanes while everyone else without the patch 'moves up'. They are the entry point: responsible for everything that is needed for the battlefield.

"Congrats Marine!"

We are proud of you Lance Corporal Sanford!

Garrison, may God bless you in this new chapter of your life!

Happy Birthday to a wonderful little girl.

2010-02-02T10:43:00.000-08:00

This past week Rebecca celebrated her 13th birthday! She is growing up so fast! It's amazing to think that this little bundle of joy and freckles:

Came into our life about 11 years ago! It's just too much! The Lord has blessed us richly with this little girl. Even though she can be a spit-fire at times we still love her very much.

So happy 13th birthday my dear Rebecca. May you grow more and more into the likeness of Christ. And may He always be your hearts desire!

God bless you m'dear!

~Meli <3>

Major catch up needed!!

2010-02-02T09:30:00.000-08:00

Wow, where has this year gone? It is already February. There is so much that we need to catch all y'all up on. Let's see where to start...

Well, the first thing we did was go ice skating on January 1st! The Evan's family was amazing. They set-up a time for our church family to go together. Here are some pictures from the event:

Even when you are having loads of fun danger is always lurking. Here Zachary shows the puncture wound from falling on his skates...

Next up we had another ice Skating day on the 23rd of January! Colton Evan's so kindly set up the morning where we could rent the whole building! So this time we were able to skate with only Providentions. :)

Thanks to our Uncle Scott who was visiting that week for all the great pictures!! Thanks also to our Meme who paid for all of us to buy new skates! So this time around no one came home with any blisters.

Here Adrianna looks like she is trying with all her might to turn this corner without falling down.

The little girls are getting really good at skating and are hardly falling down at all now! Next thing we need to work on is stopping without having to run straight into the wall.

All of us skating our hearts out.

My wonderful Uncle who took all of the pictures for us!

Nathan looks like he has an evil plan in this picture where Rebecca looks like she has no clue what is going on.

Even while ice skating us girls always seem to be in the way while we talk. Who says you actually have to skate while on the ice? Why can't we just stand around talking? lol :)

Mom and Dad making it around the turn without any problem.

And thus ends out trip to the ice rink. We had a lovely time and cannot wait until we can go again! The new skates definitely helped a bunch with balance and control. We all want to try them out again soon. :)

God bless!

~Melinda

12th Night Party

2010-02-02T09:29:00.001-08:00

Our church throws the best parties! Whether they be birthday parties, graduation parties, or even a cleaning party! We all put our backs into it to make it special.

On January 8th we had a special party that is different than any other party we have ever thrown... The 12th Night Party!!

First off we have a group shot of us kids.

~ I was Lucy Ricardo

~Peter, Zach, and Nate were the Newsie boys

~ Derick was a kid from the 50's

~ All the little girls were the Bennet sisters

~ Mom and Dad were Mr. and Mrs. Bennet.

The young ladies all standing around talking things over.

Peter and I. <3

Mr. and Mrs. Bennet dancing together. :) Check out that white hair Mr. Bennet has!!

What is a party without dancing? Here are a few shots of everyone having a lovely time with their partners.

Me and my amazing father! I love him so much.

Me and my little brother Zach. <3

The parents had a great time dancing! But they also enjoyed sitting out and talking to each other.

Zachary ended up being the King of the night because he found the 'bean' in his piece of cake! Congrats to Zach!

And as all good things must come to an end... the night closed with a few quick pictures of the kids.

Two darling sisters who are from opposite sides of the world yet that only makes them closer to each other.

And that ends our amazing 12th Night Party! We all cannot wait until next years!

God bless!
~Melinda

~2009 Remembered~ Part 3

2010-01-14T16:09:00.000-08:00

Our journey through 2009 is coming to an end.

It was at this point, in October, that the Lord chose to bless us by answering a deep prayer of our parent hearts...for finally...after two years...our oldest son and child...

...Joshua was coming home for a visit and bringing his lovely bride, Jennifer!!!

We had already enjoyed a wonderful visit with Jen in October and November of 2008 while Josh was deployed to the Middle East.

Now we were to have them both for the first time together in our home as husband and wife; son and daughter to us!

This was just the beginning of a busy twenty days. We arrived home from Chicago with our 'precious cargo' to get the van pack for a trip to VA. The extended family had not yet met Jennifer. We were delighted to be able to be there to share in this exciting time!

Our first stop on the way east was the Creation Museum. This is a favorite place to visit for Josh and he wanted to share it with his bride. If you have not been it is well worth the trip!

Back at ya, Pete!

Lunch (pizza and wraps) was very reasonable and yummy.

Back to more touring of the museum...

"Ah, aren't you so adorable!"

Mom thinks you are adorable!

Dinosaurs are everywhere!

Josh with his head being bitten...and smiling, hmmm! These look like 'prehistoric' coffee ads. Even Jen got in on it!!

Just like big sister. "Ah, you are so cute too!"

The Creation Museum now has a petting zoo. It was a bit chilly but we had to check it out.

So instead of kissing the cute dinosaurs, Nathan is being kissed by a zekey or a donbra. We will let you figure that one out.

Melinda tried the 'kissing thing' with the cow and got a kiss back! Here are the before and after!!

Family....

One of the surprise highlights of our visit to the Creation Museum was getting to visit with the founder and president, Ken Ham.

From there we headed to Gramma and Papa's house in Mechanicsville, VA (outside of Richmond).

After a quick dinner we headed to cousin Travis' homeschool football game. It was raining but fun. Unfortunately, Travis broke his ankle in the second half of the game. He still joined us the next day...

...when we all arose early and headed to Williamsburg for the best breakfast in town at the Old Chickahominy House. Being re-joined with Uncle Mark, Aunt Pam (K. sister), Jordan, and Travis as well as Uncle Scott (K. brother) and Aunt Michelle.

Gramma had learned a month before that the Von Trapp Singers were going to be at the Yankee Candle Factory. So, with Jennifer in the know, we surprised Joshua with this performance. These are the great-grandchildren of the Captain and Maria Von Trapp. And do they sing good. Check them out on the web vontrappchildren.com The dresses that the girls are wearing were actually Maria's. Pretty cool!

From there we headed to Colonial Williamsburg for a late lunch at Kings Arms Tavern on Duke of Gloucester Street. While we waited we were entertained by Fifes and Drums.

Kings Arms placed us all into a little room that had just enough seats. The tables circled the walls so we were all very close quartered.

Two love birds... well, maybe not......

Yea, definitely so!!

Special 'bonding time' with big brother!

What is Williamsburg without gingerbread cookies! Mom loves these cookies!

Here Melinda is getting the 'look' from her Papa...probably for a snarly comment about the cookies, she doesn't like them much. Wonder if the little sister are getting the same talk, hmmm.

Uncle John, Aunt Peggy (B. sister), and Cary joined us for a brief visit to meet Jennifer on their way home from Meme and Granddad's house.

Three generations on Mom's side.

Josh and Jen receiving an heirloom wedding present from Papa and Gramma.

Off to church we go... the children had been asked a month before to sing during the morning worship. They sang Rock of Ages with Melinda playing.

The choir director was so moved by them she asked us all to come back to participate in a special music program that evening which had been planned for months. We were humbled and honored to do so.

Gramma made a special request that we sing It is Well.

We made her cry.

Between the two services we went to visit G.G.

(Katherine's 91 year old grandmother)

Once the evening program was done we headed to spend a few days with Meme and Granddad at Oldhams in what is called the Northern Neck of VA.

Here Jen and Josh receive another wedding present; a beautiful handmade quilt.

The next day the fun begins...go-cart rides

Dominoes- Sanford style. Uncle Richard (B. bro) even got in a game.

Visiting with the great-aunts (Meme's sisters; Liz and Lee)

Singing for everyone who comes to visit!

THE PHOTO SHOOT

Sue Taylor of the family line for whom T. Garrison was named.

How high can you go!

Domination...who is stronger...big bro or little bros!

Jen has an old friend that lives outside of Baltimore. We too had the privilege of getting to know Kelly as she was one of Jen's bridesmaids. So Josh, Jen, Dad, Mom, and Melinda went up for a quick visit.

For fun Kelly took us horseback riding on Fresians. These are huge horses!!! Dad did not ride but took pictures and helped the staff to videotape our ride for a commercial. Kinda cool!!

The guys had fun at dinner.

Three generations of Sanford sons.

Three generations of Sanford wives.

Proud grandparents!

We returned home to the...

~REFORMATION DAY FAIRE~

We had a full house over the weekend. The Duffs and friends from Nebraska stayed with us.

That next week was hard for Josh as he came down with the flu. Jen was a fantastic nurse! It was a bummer as they had lots of plans but God...

However, he was well enough by Saturday to go to a paintball game. Here the gang gathers for dinner and fellowship after the big game. As well as Peter's new look thanks to a well placed shot!

This was also a time for visiting with our missionary to the Philippines, Carl Henderson.

All good things must come to an end. Time to send Josh and Jen back to Italy...

At the airport, our last meal together eating some "good smelling, yummy tasting, bad for you food!"

The finally good-byes. (We will know in February whether in September the US Air Force will be sending them to a base in the States or another one overseas.)

~~It is at this point in the year that we began our blog!! For November and most of December you can peruse those blog posts...then return here for the Candlelight Service and Christmas celebrating our Saviors birth.~~

On December 23rd, our church was beautifully lite with candles adding to the reverence of the Lessons and Carols Service.

Dad and Mom singing Lo, How a Rose with David and Anna Price (bro and sis).

Melinda with Aaron, Jessica, Josiah, Seirra, and Ashton singing O Come, O Come Emmanuel.

With beautiful clear and lovely tone, Melinda sang verse one of Silent Night.

After the beautiful Candlelight service, fellowship and food...this is something Providence does very well!

...the bride to be and her bridesmaids.

Christmas Eve. It is our tradition to open one present that evening...can you guess what it is?

Garrison joins us for family worship and we join him in opening his gifts.

Happy Birthday, Jesus!!

After traveling through beautiful driving falling snow, we ended the day by celebrating Jesus' Birthday with our friends the McDonalds.

Games and food...lots of food!!

Let it snow! Our first really deep snowfall. Adrianna had fun decorating our trees.

The year comes to a close with you guessed it Providence fellowship and food...

Even Garrison showed up for the party!

Happy New Year!!

And may the Lord richly bless your 2010!

~2009 Remembered~ Part 2

2010-01-07T13:14:00.000-08:00

We are now moving forward into the later part of 2009. These six months had even more activity and fun! But it also had its heartaches and challenges. It is said that 'a picture is worth a 1000 words'. I hope that you will find that to be true as there are many pictures to follow and not so many words! :-) Let us begin...

After the 4th of July celebration, we put Garrison on a plane back to NC.

Then the girls and I got busy preparing for the 'Ladies Tea'...

During the early session of the 'Tea', speaker Mrs. Erber called on the Sanford girls to help her illustrate older sisters setting a good example for younger sisters.

Mom lead the hymn singing. Melinda sang with some of her favorite friends.

We decorated three tables for the lunch then hosted them.

The boys helped with serving. Aren't they so cute...er...um...handsome!!

Melinda with her dearly loved Pastor!!

After a lovely lunch, Melinda and I were the next speakers. It was a lot of fun even though it was terrifying!!

Melinda showed her 'true self' in a skit with Mrs. Ware. Not only was it a bit true to life but it also showed Melinda's talent for acting!! The story goes that 'mom' was teaching her daughter how to cook making sure she does not spread any germs first...needless to say the 'daughter' is not to crazy about all the extra gear.

So once it is all removed except for the apron, they proceed to make brownies. Daughter place them in to cook but alas she locked the oven having turned it to self-cleaning!!

But no fear, a call to a help line saves the day. So they unplug the oven wait for it to cool...

Then 'pop' goes the oven lock and out come perfect brownies!! Good show, ladies!!

The day closes with cookies being served to music from a quartet, and a good-bye song.

And good-bye it was as we rushed home to finish packing for our early morning departure to Virginia. Our main destination being North Carolina to see Garrison graduate from his MOS school and to bring him home on leave!

While in VA we visited Bob's parents then went to Katherine's parents. That visit included a picnic at Maymont Park in downtown Richmond which has been a favorite zoo to visit for our family since Joshua was an infant. (There would be more photos of the two grandparent visits but Peter deleted all those pictures! Oops, Petey, that is what you get for playing with the buttons on the camera!)

Now the time as come. We have made it to NC with both sets of grandparents coming along to watch Garrison graduate. The night before we were able to meet up with Garr in the parking lot of his barracks.

Some MP's were suspicious of that large van full of kids and came over to investigate. Dad assured them we were harmless and just waiting for our Marine.

Yeah, Garrison finally arrives after his last class. Gramma and Papa (Martin) are watching father and son. Garr is almost the same height as his Dad!!

Meme with Granddad (Sanford) behind her is giving the hungry Marine some of her homemade cookies. Yum!

Garrison had just received his 'red patch' the week before. It signifies that he is in 'Landing Support' and the only one who is allowed to stay at the 'entry point' from plane, train, or ship. Curiously enough it also gives him the right at those 'entry points' to command non-LS officiers to keep cargo and mode of transportation safe. After a brief visit with the 'red patch' Marine we say good-bye till tomorrow....

Friday begins with a visit to the Beirut, Lebanon Memorial...'They came in peace.'

There was also a piece of the World Trade Centers at this memorial. It was a bit surreal to see.

Then we load back into the van and drive the .3 to enter the Marine Base.

Up front are the Sergeants who were Garr's "momma and papa" for 6 weeks.

One of the Sergeants a week before had asked his men 'who goes to church regularly'. Garrison said he did so the Sgt. asked him to give the prayer during the graduation ceremony. Here a sibling caught the Unit preparing for the prayer.

Garrison receives his Landing Support Specialist Certificate.

Meet some LS buddies, one of these guys is with Garr in Japan.

Gift from Gramma and Papa.

A yummy barbecue dinner at Smithfield's after a fun swim in the hotel pool. The next morning we began the 16 hour drive home!!

One other exciting thing that happened in July...we were invited by our friends the McDonalds to join them in being interviewed by the BBC religious correspondent regarding having a 'full quiver' of children.

Two drama queens!!

Special interview with the oldest (at home sort of) yet moving on into the adult world.

Two days later we put Pvt. T. Garrison Sanford on an airplane to Okinawa, Japan for a two years tour of duty. See you next May Garrison!

August came and went with out to much fanfare other then a blur of birthdays starting with Mom's... the children drew pretty cards and Peter gave me some Marine earrings.

Not too old to beat two girls at arm wrestling!!

Next comes Peter's 16th birthday. He received his long awaited knife and knight!!

On her 18th birthday, Susanna chose to go live with her birth-family after twelve years of separation.

Melinda was the last of our August birthdays having turned 19 years old on the 30th.

The middle of September had us celebrating Zachary and Adrianna's 15th birthday.

Meme and Granddad surprised us by providing the means to go to Branson, MO for a three day vacation. We arrived on Nathan's 14th birthday...

Fun, fun, fun! At Silver Dollar City!

Before we hardly got into the park Peter joins the Confederate Cavalry!

Then like a good 'Rebel' soldier he went to the raising of the colors (the guys saluting are all Veterans!)

Now the rides!!

Day 2...even more fun!!

After shopping at a few antique stores on the third day, we headed home. But the best was yet to come....in just ten more days Joshua and Jennifer were going to be home for a visit!!

~to be continued in part 3~