Explanations of the photo's

#1) This first picture is looking out our front door. You can see the chicken tractor in the yard. It is the second one that Ephraim has built. Their is no floor so that the chickens can have a fresh salad, bugs and pebbles everyday. This practice has made our lawn lush and green. It's the healthiest looking lawn that I've ever seen. The food and water and nesting boxes are mounted inside so that he can move everything in one movement. It is moved everyday. In the winter we park it next to the house and throw down a bale of hay. They stay in one spot until the snow has melted and the grass is visible again.

#2) This is Ephraim's 2 year old jalapeno plant. It finally grew peppers this year. 3 of them.

#3) The wood is split every year by Ephraim. He loves splitting wood. The neighbors offered to let us borrow a splitter and Ephraim begged us to let him split it by hand which he did. It gave him big muscles and plenty of time alone outdoors in the cold.
Back in those woods we spend time almost every day bike riding and walking. In the summer we camp back there. We have had the Baxter's and the Croteau's camping back there with us at different times. Zion and Sim LOVE camping there.
One of my favorite daily jobs is hanging laundry out by the wood pile.
When our children arrived from Africa they started building structures out back. They got wood from the neighbors burn pile to use. After the wars in Liberia people had no money to rebuild so they just used rubble and parts from destroyed buildings and grab anything useful whenever they find something. This is how they shelter their families for the most part.

#4) Nehemiah (3 )
#5) Zuriel (9), Havilah (13)
#6) Zion (10) We added Zion to his name legally and he wants to be called by this new name.
#7) Sim (9) He smiles and giggles a lot. They fought nap time at first and now they rush to it and enjoy the time to be alone, look at books and sometimes sleep. I lengthened it to 1.5 hours when our family grew.
#8) Ephraim's NXT (He is a genius)
#9 and #10) Elsie's first birthday. The children love to work together to make and decorate the cakes. We made birthday cakes for Elsie and Zuriel in one week.

Thanks for looking.