GRANT & LUCY'S SPOT

Christie's Top 11 Reasons why I haven't blogged in a very, very long time........

2009-08-22T15:12:00.000-07:00

Here we go with the countdown...(please keep in mind most of these have all "come about" in the last few weeks).

1. (No picture available) 28 new baby chicks.

2. (No picture available) 3 turkeys.

3. Our female rabbit (Ugly) had babies that she decided to try and kill shortly after their birth. I tried to save as many as I could and was able to "nurse" 4 of them with kitten formula for about 4 days until they all died. :( Very sad

4. We were dog sitting Greg's parents' dog (Sam) and she is a handful!

5. We went to the fair and started talking to a young girl that is going away to college. She had entered a couple of rabbits into the fair and needed homes for them when she moved. I fell in love with this mini lop eared rabbit and so we adopted him. His name is Oliver and he is the sweetest, tamest, cutest rabbit in the whole world. Not to mention that he ended up winning "Best in Show" at the fair!

6. Yes, two kittens that we have acquired to "guard" our land / house against rodents. They live on the front porch for now until they are bigger and can take care of themselves. They are "Mo" and "Charlie" (girls) that Grant named.

7. In the same night that we picked up Oliver and the kittens, this dog showed up on our porch and stayed for a few days until I was ready to strangle him for howling all day long. I finally tracked down his owner. He has since left our animal sanctuary.

8. Grant Grant started school last Wednesday. I literally had to drag him into class, but when I picked him up he was extatic and LOVED school! His teacher is so sweet and loving and he has two of his buddies from church in his class. There are 10 kindergarteners in his class (5 boys and 5 girls).

9. Why not? We couldn't resist this pup. His name is "Ben" and we adopted him from the Mt. Shasta Humane Society. He is a Retriever / Lab / Chinese Shar-pei mix. The stinkin cutest dog!

10. Lucy decided that she wanted to start going poop in the toilet. Now she has decided that she doesn't want to do that anymore. Whatever! I'm in no hurry.

11. The best one! Lucy finally has just enough hair in back to put into two little piggy tails. Can you see them? She is so beside herself with joy. So is Mommy! So, you know that it takes just a bit longer each day to "do Lucy's hair".

Our Orange County trip

2009-08-22T15:01:00.000-07:00

The kids and I went down to Orange County to visit family and friends last month. Here are a few pics from that time...

We had a great time! It was exhausting, but we got to do a lot of fun things. We all agree that we loved the beach the most. I got to see a lot of my good friends this time and it was a blessed time!

What we've done in the last month or so....

2009-06-25T13:35:00.000-07:00

The Jr. Rodeo. It was so fun and cool! These were kids and teenagers doing this rodeo and I was just stunned most of the time!

Look how big the ducks are! They just waddle around the backyard now and swim in their blow up pool. They are so funny to watch!

Lucy LOVES to sing, but usually she makes up the words as she sings along. Finally she sang a song that were actually the real lyrics! Incase you can't understand her (clearly there is something wrong with YOU...) she is singing "Jesus loves me".

Grant has been taking swimming lessons this week and he is doing so good! I think his fear of the water / pool is finally over. We had a rough first day, but now he is doing a great job!!! We did a lot of praying and remembering that "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." (Phil 4.13) He is so excited to proclaim that "Jesus helped me to not be afraid!"

A long update.....sorry!

2009-05-20T13:02:00.000-07:00

So, I thought that I would give everyone (whoever actually reads this blog) a better glimpse at what is going on with the Horne's.
We have pretty much "settled" into this tiny and temporary home (aside from the temporalness of the earthly aspect) and have been enjoying it. I'm sure that everyone that knows me and including myself didn't think that this was going to be a very smooth transition. I grew up and am a city / beach loving girl, but the quiet, undistracting, "apart" from the world feeling has crept into my heart. We are living in this home that is quite a bit smaller than our home in R.V., but we haven't seemed to notice as much anymore. We are surrounded by God's creation and it is such an awesome reminder of how great and good God is. We can see Mt. Shasta from our front window. The many animals that we now have, that I don't particularly like the smell of, truly bless my children and have become a part of our family. Grant has learned a lot of responsibility since he is the one getting up each morning and feeding them all. It has been a blessing to me to see him become more mature in doing his daily "chores". We have also been so priveleged and blessed by a wonderful church and church family. It is quite a bit larger than UBC, but the people make it feel like a close knit family. Our pastor, Pastor Jon, is so encouraging, loving, caring, humble, and godly and we are so blessed by him and his teaching through the Word. His wife has truly blessed me in so many ways! She is such an example of a Proverbs 31 woman. Each Sunday I have new members come and greet me and the kids (Greg has to work on Sundays) and I am blessed by it each and every time. Greg has been going to a men's prayer and bible study group on Thursday mornings and has been enjoying that a lot. It's mostly "older" men of the church, but Greg enjoys learning from their wisdom. I have been going to a women's bible study on Wednesday mornings and have really enjoyed it and been encouraged by the ladies that attend. Grant just finished with Awana and will be a Sparkie next year. Last week he went to Sunday School without a fight! Praise God! Lucy goes to nursery and has made many friends there (children and adults alike). Grant will start Kindergarten in August and we go to meet his teacher and visit the classroom on Friday. We have also begun a "family garden" with Greg's parents and Lord willing will produce a lot of good food! We prayed over it last week and have slowly started doing things in it. It's about 100' x 50', so we are hoping that we'll have enough stuff to share to those in need also. So, despite my hate for dust and dirt, bugs, and smelly animals, we are happy and blessed to be here. I also make my (about) weekly trips to Medford, OR to soak up some of that "city" life that I sometimes miss. Most of all, the only things that we really miss are the family and good friends that we have moved away from. Oh, and Trader Joes!!!! It's funny to think that just a few months ago, I outwardly said "There is NO WAY I would live up there" until I decided to seek God's will and not my own. He gave me a peace about it, though I was sad to leave our "home", and has been so completely faithful to me. What I thought would be "over my dead body" has been good and blessed. God is faithful and always keeps His promises!

"But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 'The Lord is my portion,' says my soul, 'therefore I will hope in Him.' " Lam. 3.21-24

What's new with the Horne's.....

2009-05-09T16:38:00.000-07:00

We have had the chicks and ducklings for about 2 weeks now. The ducks have tripled in size already!!! They are so cute, when we let them out, they just follow us around. I am looking forward to them going outside permanently since they are stinking up the laundry room.

Grant and I messing around with the camera.

Lucy's impersonation of Ace Ventura Pet Detective...

Lucy girl attended her first "official" Tea Party today. She has been playing "tea party" at church in the nursery and so it was so exciting for her to get to go to a real tea party. Greg's Mom took her and I to Miss Lynn's Tea House for Mother's Day. We had great food and a lot of girly fun!

Farmer Horne

2009-04-27T11:15:00.000-07:00

Well, we thought that we would take advantage of the beautiful land that God has surrounded us with and the barn. So, we have now added 3 ducks and 6 chickens to our family. The ducks are "Boaz" the brown boy duck, "Ruth" his wife, and "Tinkerbell" his concubine (named by Lucy girl herself). They are actually really sweet! They chirp for us and when we come to see them, they run to see us. Aparently, they can live up to 30 years and are good "companions". We got them just for fun because they are so stinkin cute. Maybe one day we'll have little families running all over the place.

We didn't name the chicks because they are all girls and we can't tell them apart. They are "laying hens", so they each will lay an egg a day. Cool, huh! Guess we'll be having a lot of eggs in our diet.

We also got 2 new (scary) rabbits that look evil to me. Hence why there is no picture of them.

Blessed promises fulfilled through Christ's birth, life, and resurrection!

2009-04-13T12:34:00.000-07:00

We had a very blessed Easter, celebrating the resurrection of our Lord! The morning started @ 6:45 am with Sunrise Service at Greg's parents' house out on their front lawn, it was cold, but beautiful to listen to the resurrection message and watch the sunrise over the mountains. After the message, we had the hugest breakfast with pancakes, biscuits and gravy, sausage, muffins, quiches, potatoes, fruit, etc.... with about 50+ other believers. Later on in the day, we had another feast at Greg's parents' and enjoyed the beautiful, sunny day that the Lord made!!!

This picture was taken on the side of "our" house. Lucy loved her dress. When she looked in the mirror that morning she said "oh....Lucy princiness" as she twirled back and forth.

Throughout the week preceeding Easter Sunday, we read about Jesus' death and resurrection. Grant found this branch and put it on his head saying "Mom, this is like Jesus' crown of thorns". Lucy of course tried to do the same.

Grant got a bunny the day before Easter. Another Warden's son "sold" it to Grant. Believe it or not, it's a baby. Grant loves him and he named him "Jack".

Lucy and Mommy and her giagantic new bunny rabbit from her aunt. It is bigger than her :)

Some very good friends of Greg's parents made this uniform for Grant. When they showed me, I had to hold back the tears. It blessed me so much to know that they went through so much trouble to bless my son. They put a lot of time and effort into doing this and Grant was so, so excited!!! If you know Grant, he is so serious most of the time, but when he saw it, he had the hugest smile on his face. He wore it for the rest of the day and to bed that night and is still wearing today.

Daddy ready to go "enforce the law" and Grant wishing he could go with him.

Blessed with friends!

2009-03-21T14:35:00.000-07:00

Friends are truly a blessing from the Lord. It's even a bigger blessing to have friends that, even though they live hundreds of miles away, still feel as though they are not far. Friends that you know will be forever friends!

We had some good friends of ours come and visit for a couple of days. They live in Washington and stopped here to visit on their way down to Rio Vista. It was such a blessing to have them here and we miss them so much already!

This is Grant and his "best buddy", Titus. They have been friends since they were about 3 months old. Grant told me that when he grows up he is going to move by Titus. It breaks my heart that he is apart from such a good friend. Our prayer is that God would bring a new friend into his life like Titus.

Lucy and her "big sisters". She loved having them here to play in her "house" with her and her "babies". They were so sweet to put up with her and her attitudes!

Grant's 5!!!

2009-03-10T11:36:00.000-07:00

Well, our little boy is now a big boy. Grant turned 5 last month. We had some good friends from Rio Vista come up and visit, so we did a little pizza party for his birthday. It was a fun weekend!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LUCY GIRL

2009-01-30T14:03:00.000-08:00

Our Lucy girl turned 2 last week. I can't call her "baby" anymore...she is officially a toddler! She entered this world early and has kept us on our toes ever since then! She loves taking care of her babies, she loves clothes and shiny shoes, from the moment she wakes up to right before bed she is asking for food, she can be the happiest girl to the biggest drama queen all in a matter of seconds, her favorite "person" right now is Elmo (with Abbey Cadabby coming in close), she loves to be around people and makes so many friends wherever we go, she has blessed our lives so much and we are so thankful to God for her!

2008-12-14T08:24:00.000-08:00

"For to us a child is born, to us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder, and His name shall be called...

WONDERFUL COUNSELOR,

MIGHTY GOD,

EVERLASTING FATHER,

PRINCE OF PEACE.

Of the increase of His government and of peace there will be no end,

on the throne of David and over His kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore.

The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this."

Isaiah 9:6,7

Through packing, organizing, changing addresses, moving, etc....

I have to constantly keep reminding myself that my stress and frustration is not what I should be focused on, it's Christ...God's own Son and the sacrifice He has made for us all!

On behalf of the Horne's,

we wish you a Merry CHRISTmas

and a Blessed New Year!

October fun!

2008-11-14T17:41:00.000-08:00

Trailer Camping at the R Ranch

2008-10-13T14:43:00.000-07:00

We had a great 4 week vacation with family and friends! It was a blast, but we were very glad to be home. Now, we are preparing to pack up and move even further up north, right along the California / Oregon border.

vacation pic's

2008-10-13T14:36:00.000-07:00

Back to school!

2008-09-02T15:56:00.000-07:00

Well, Grant is back at preschool. Now he goes 4 days a week. His teacher is Mrs. Bonnie who goes to our church. Grant was so happy to be in her class, she is so nice!

Lucy wishes she could go to school too. She was quite bored while Grant was gone....

Big Girl Bed....

2008-08-16T16:24:00.000-07:00

We have transformed Lucy's crib into a "Toddler Bed", so I guess she is officially a toddler now and no longer our baby girl. :( Time goes by so fast!

A day at the park

2008-08-04T21:43:00.000-07:00

2008-08-04T21:40:00.000-07:00

Six Flags Discovery Kingdom

2008-07-24T19:02:00.000-07:00

Greg's Mom and niece came for a visit. We went to Six Flag's Discovery Kingdom and had a lot of fun! Grant especially loved all the super heroes! He got 2 new cool capes...Batman and Superman. Lucy loved the rides. The giant characters...not so much!

What's up....

2008-07-24T18:57:00.000-07:00

Lucy got a new / antique hutch for her play food.

Grant has been learning to swim.

2008-06-30T14:16:00.000-07:00

"Every good and every perfect gift is from above..."

James 1:17

We are so thankful for these little one's that God has so blessed our lives with!

Zoo Day

2008-06-28T11:59:00.000-07:00

Grant and I spent a " Mommy and Grant Day" with some friends and their kids at the Lodi Zoo and Amusement Park. We had fun and it's nice spending time together, just the two of us, like we used to.

(Not that we don't love Daddy and Lucy.)

Incredi-boy and Incredi-girl...

2008-06-10T08:53:00.000-07:00

Grant thought it would be so much fun to dress up Lucy in his Incredibles costume so they could be Incredibles together...not sure if she liked it so much.

Grant's Best Buddy....

2008-06-10T08:47:00.000-07:00

Grant's Best Buddy, Titus, moved last week to Washington. He misses him so much! They had so much fun together.

A new stroller for Lucy

2008-05-26T15:25:00.000-07:00

Grant has been saving up money that he earns for helping around the house and he wanted to use some of his money to buy his sister something. So, he bought her a stroller for her babies. She loves it!

More Fun in the Sun!

2008-05-18T09:56:00.000-07:00

"swimming" fun

2008-04-30T15:47:00.000-07:00

We set up this baby pool for Lucy and Grant ended up liking it more than the big pool. Go figure. Lucy loves the water! She has no fear.

THE LA ZOO

2008-04-18T16:46:00.000-07:00

Well, we visited the LA Zoo while down in the OC. We went with the cousins. It was fun, but it was HOT! Lucy pretty much cried and ate the entire time and Grant enjoyed his spray bottle more than seeing the animals, but overall it was a good time.

Finally!

2008-03-17T13:29:00.000-07:00

Our Lucy Girl is finally walking! She decided that today was the day that she'd start walking around the house. Yeah!

Will work for Food

2008-03-11T14:11:00.000-07:00

With the rising cost of living, we decided to put Grant to work. So, if you need some work done around the house, give him a call. He and his assistant will be ready and willing to work.

ON THE MOVE...

2008-02-15T10:12:00.000-08:00

Lucy is starting to get around pretty good! She got this push toy for her birthday and she is walking around really good with it. She is very proud of herself!

A BIG BOY!

2008-02-11T20:28:00.000-08:00

Grant is turning 4 years old this Valentine's (Thurs.)

He is such a sweet and loving boy! He loves his baby sister and he blesses us everyday with his "mature" prayers. He is serious and silly at the same time. He loves to dress up in his costumes, especially "Dash" from The Incredibles. The first picture is of him next to the Sacramento River which we live next to. In the background you can see the Rio Vista Bridge that brings you into our town.

More Pic's of Lucy Girl's 1st Birthday

2008-02-11T20:20:00.000-08:00

The Birthday outfit with sparkly shoes... Family pic...
Yummy cupcake...
Opening presents...

FORT GRANT...

2008-02-08T11:30:00.000-08:00

This morning while Lucy girl took her morning nap, Grant and I built a super cool "fort" in his room. It's hard to believe that my baby boy is going to be 4 years old next week! By the way, he took the picture of me! Pretty good, huh!

YUM....Cake!

2008-01-29T19:02:00.000-08:00

Lucy's Birthday.
As much as this girl LOVES food, she wasn't as excited about her first taste of cake as we thought she would be. We think that she liked smooshing it in her hands more than eating it!

BIRTHDAY GIRL!

2008-01-14T15:39:00.000-08:00

It's hard to believe that this tiny little baby girl is going to be
1 this Saturday!
She is such a "social butterfly" and that is probably why she couldn't wait to come out and meet the world 3 1/2 weeks earlier than expected!
She is truly a joy and a blessing.
Lucy ("bright") Naomi ("pleasant one") very much fits who she is. Her smile brightens a room and she is so pleasant in nature.
We are so blessed that God has given us the privelege of raising this sweet girl.

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-15T09:57:00.000-08:00

Throughout the craziness and busyness of this season...

don't forget to truly remember the reason that we celebrate this time of year!

The birth of our Savior, CHRIST, the Lord of all!!!!

FIRST SCHOOL PICTURE

2007-12-02T14:39:00.001-08:00

This is Grant's 1st School picture.

He smiled pretty good in the individual pic,

but a good try in the class pic.

He is the happiest guy, but has

"photo-phobia" for some reason.

(He get's that from his Dad, so serious!)

Miss Amy (the teacher on the right) lives

across the street from us, so Grant just

thinks that it's the greatest!

(Not that it's that unusual,

seeing how small our town is.)

Camp Out

2007-11-12T21:25:00.000-08:00

Daddy and Grant are having a camp out in the backyard.

Lucy is just visiting.

PUMPKIN PATCH

2007-10-27T19:57:00.001-07:00

We went to the pumpkin patch and took Grant's best friend, Titus.

It was beautiful and we had a lot of fun!
Lucy was overjoyed with the hay!

Grant and I cracked up at this picture because it looks like Lucy is pointing at him and laughing.

MISS PERSONALITY!

2007-10-27T19:47:00.000-07:00

Daddy gave Lucy a taste of Chocolate Ice Cream. I think she liked it!

Lucy and Grant in the trailer watching Veggie Tales. She just watched with the "perma-grin" smile the whole time!

Getting ready to eat. She LOVES to eat!!!!

GOD IS IN CONTROL

2007-10-21T08:37:00.000-07:00

Well, if you haven't heard yet...
The Lord has decided to take our sweet baby home before we got to meet him/her.
We are sad, but we rejoice in knowing that this baby is resting peacefully in the arms of our Savior.
Things like this are difficult to understand, but we can rest in the promises of our Lord...

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:8,9

More R Ranch Pics

2007-10-15T12:57:00.000-07:00

R Ranch Vacation

2007-10-14T13:45:00.000-07:00

We had a lot of fun on our 3 week vacation to the Klamath River!

Grant and Daddy fished, we hung out with family and friends, ate and ate and ate, and just "relaxed"! Lucy was happy as ever and Grant played and played.

BIG NEWS!

2007-09-13T19:44:00.000-07:00

God has blessed us with the anticipation of a new brother or sister!

Grant's 1st Day of School

2007-09-04T14:38:00.000-07:00

Breakfast before school...

Well, today was Grant's 1st Day of preschool. He did really good...I was the sad one! For so long I had looked forward to a "break"when he'd go to school, but I missed him! He had fun! When we picked him up I asked him what he did at school and all he could tell us was..."I ate two gummy bears!". That was all he remembered! Go figure.

More fun in O.C.

2007-08-10T21:13:00.000-07:00

Grant and Lucy's twin cousins...Remy and Skyler.

Fun in the water!

Grant and his "Spiderman" Turtle at Build A Bear.

Mommy and Lucy on a train ride in Irvine Park.

Grandpa thought it would be funny to buy Lucy these glasses from Build A Bear.

visiting orange county

2007-07-26T15:02:00.000-07:00

Bayshore, Long Beach

Where Grandpa and Daddy lifeguarded.

2007-07-09T12:42:00.000-07:00

4th of July fun at our friends' house.

2007-07-09T12:37:00.000-07:00

Here are some pic's of our vacation to Mammoth Lakes.

2007-07-06T21:39:00.000-07:00

We went up to my parents' condo

in Mammoth Lakes for a few days

and Grant went fishing with Dad and

Grandpa.

June 29, 2007

2007-06-29T14:42:00.000-07:00

Lucy loves to jump!
Lucy and her teddy bear...
Two goofy kids!

big brother

2007-06-25T20:36:00.000-07:00

grant is ALL boy

2007-06-25T20:35:00.000-07:00

"buddah" baby

2007-06-25T20:28:00.000-07:00

lucy's going to be

a sumo

wrestler...

wild boy and happy girl

2007-06-25T20:25:00.000-07:00

grant is always crazy

and

lucy is always smiling!

lucy's getting bigger

2007-06-25T20:22:00.000-07:00

Our "little" Lucy got big very fast!

Here she is at 3 months old.

grant loves lucy

2007-06-25T20:19:00.000-07:00

grant loves his baby sister!

he's a good big brother.

lucy girl

2007-06-25T20:15:00.000-07:00

Our sweet little Lucy...

6 pounds, 4 ounces