Samuel's fourth birthday

 

 

Grandpa Sherwood put it together, so he had some fun with them afterwards. 

John looking out the
window with the kids -
something they love to
do with him. What a mess!
He no longer has that
curly hair. John gave
him a haircut. :)
The kids enjoying their
new "play ground." My
brother was getting rid of
it and gave it to us. It
takes up over half their
play area in the basement, but they love it!
 

Pictures!

Abigail getting
ready to go on a
walk - has to take
her baby of course.

John was trying
to sleep.
Abigail learning to ride her first bike. 

I can't figure out how to get more than two pictures at a time on this. Oh, well! I finally got pictures on the computer, so here are some. Seth loves to vacuum. He always has to do it first. :) 

Watching over our children

I was listening to the radio last week, and they were talking about how teens today know and do so much more than their parents are aware of. It was quite alarming to hear what teens are doing today. I wasn't aware of all these things, so I thought that I would pass them along to all who read my blog occasionally. By the way, thanks to all who post!

1. Teens pretend that they're different people when they're on the internet chatting with others. A 12 or 13 year old girl can be 16 or 18, whatever suits her fancy, and she can end up talking with other men who are much older or even sexual predetors.
2. They use live video cams (hooked to their computers) to record their sexual acts and have a new form of "safe sex." A couple of boys they interviewed said that they new some people who did this.
3. They use their cell phones to call phone sex companies, without their parents knowing. They just say they're over 18 and their in. They even do this during school, so all their friends can "enjoy" it too.
4. By the age of 11 or 12, kids have already been well exposed to pornography on the internet. It's "old" to them and they're ready to move on to "new" things.
5. They said that 8 out of 10 shows on TV have sexual content in them. I wonder what the ratio for movies would be? Not to mention all the worldly philosophy and godless thinking that TV and movies impart to the viewers.


I might have forgotten some more of the things that were said, but those were the ones that stood out to me. After I heard this report, I was thinking to myself how hard it is to raise a godly seed in this world. As Christians, we need to beware of what's out there and have good relationships with our children to make it all the harder for the world, the flesh, and the Devil to turn them from Christ. John and I don't let the kids watch movies, unless it's educational (like teaching them about sharks, bears, tornadoes, etc.) They don't watch TV shows; they watch the news with us. We will always have the computer in an area where we can readily see what they're doing. Right now, our computer sits in the family room, right where a lot of traffic is and my eyes can easily see from the kitchen. I don't think they'll need cell phones as teenagers. I had one when I went to college, but it was only for emergencies. We worship God with our children. We homeschool them, so they're not in these anti-God environments. We train them up in the fear and admonition of the Lord. We do and will, Lord willing, raise our children a lot differently than the average person. May God be merciful to us and all those faithful families out there and protect our children and bless our efforts to raise godly seed for His glory.

So life has been busy

I don't know why I bother writing on this. I haven't written since February. No one probably checks this anymore, but in the event someone happens to pop in, they'll be a little more updated on how life has been for the Putz's these past few months.

John finished his first year of graduate school, and did quite well. He has been slaving away recently to accomplish more reading and possibly a paper before the fall semester begins. I just started our school schedule up again this week. Abigail is in first grade and Samuel is still in preschool. I'm not sure yet if I'll move him up to kindergarten when he turns four or not. He knows so much. It's just his attention span and memorization ability that's not quite there yet. Since we got started on our schedule again the kids have been happier, I have been happier, and even Hunter (their 3 yr. old cousin that I teach 2 days a week) has been happier. It's sort of funny how much having a schedule makes a difference. Seth is doing wonderful. We have really been working with him to say more words, and it has helped. He's such a joy to be around, always smilely and happy. He and Samuel have been playing more with eachother, which is cute to see. It's a wonder Seth likes to - Samuel's always trying to do something to him or tackle him, etc. Tonight, Samuel had Abigail's pink, feathered hand fan that he was shoving in Seth's face, but Seth thought it was hillarious! They ran around the house laughing, as Samuel chased Seth with it...that is, until Seth fell and Samuel sat on him. :) Brothers!
On another note, I have gotten a lot of painting done on the house since a year ago. We moved in last July and I painted the family room, which had brown paneling on every wall. Yuck! Then I took down the wall paper and painted the bathrooms. Then I took down the wall paper and painted the kitchen, and finally a couple of weeks ago I painted Abigail's room and repainted the based boards in the living room, dining room and hallway. I had to do that because we took up the carpet and refinished the hardwood floors that were underneath. John did it all, with some help from our fathers. They look beautiful. Hopefully, our allergies won't be as bad and it will up the value of the house when we sell. Next spring/summer I hope to take down the wall paper in the boys room and paint their room and possibly our bedroom. We'll have to see. I am four months pregnant now, with the baby due in late January, so life will get even more busy! :) Abigail had prayed for a baby sister, so we'll have to see if God answered her prayers positively. This has really been quite an easy pregnancy compared to my others. This week I have felt pretty blah, but as a whole it hasn't been that bad. I haven't had to run to the hospital yet to get catheterized for my prolapsed uterus and bladder, so that has sort of surprised us. I have felt some flutterings recently, so that's encouraging. At any rate, I have written a lot and need to get to bed. I've been so tired lately.

Ta ta!

Then and...

 

Then

 

Now

You just don't know exactly what they'll look like. But it's interesting to look at

pictures and compare.

 

Abigail and Gregory (around two years old?)

 

Wonderful pics - thanks to Amanda (summer 2005)

 

 

Moving day

 

 

My Love

 

 

 

Talk about rolls!