Matthews Family Herald

"As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord" from Joshua 24:15


Heather, Hannah, and Eden worked on some pressed flower projects together.



Here's the book they used to press their flowers.  Yikes!  I said when I first heard they were using my prized Noah Webster 1828 dictionary which was a gift to me from Rachel and Thomas.  But all was well that ended well; no stains, tears, etc. 


These bookmarks look awesome!


Wonderful!


One of our family friends has inspired my wife to make some beautiful bows for the girls' hair.




The other side of the book marks.





One Nation, Under God
 (only then can our Republic stand, we then can be indivisible and have liberty and justice for all)


The Three Things We Need - Godly Men, Prayerful, who are Patriotic and Who Both Stand and Cling to God and His Word

Mama's famous 4th of July cake


Nathan helps me get the grill ready


He was a big help out on the grill as well.  We have a tree whose leaves pop like fire crackers when they burn.  Nathan loves to throw those into my grill fires, and he loves to help gather twigs and throw them in as well.


I love to grill . . .


We enjoyed the food in our backyard


Micah demonstrating the goodness of all we had together;gotta enjoy that Cholula too!
http://www.cholula.com/products/original_hot_sauce.php


We laid a blanket out in a grassy area near where the fireworks were going to let off.  Several other families we know were also in the area, most of which we also fellowship with as part of the local Body.


We played some baseball


Nathan up to bat


Hannah did so great.  She really loves baseball


Eden out there in her Cowgirl outfit.  That's a bucket -o- popcorn behind her.


Eden and Nathan with some friends


Our kids decided to paint their faces like we see the Germans doing sometimes for soccar.  "fussball" as they call it.


Hannah's face painted all up.  The American flag you see on her shirt, she sewed that on herself.


And our warrior Jacob poses here before riding out to liberate Scotland.


And Hannah's friends.  I thought Hannah was in this shot but I guess not.  Anyway, it represents whose company she enjoyed while there.



(Image taken from referenced news article below)

What does it mean to be a man?  To be "the man of the house" and "the one who wears the pants in the family?" 

God tells us in the Holy Bible here:

Ephesians 5:25 "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it"

So wanna be a man!  Well, here you go.  We've heard of all the tragedy about this Batman shooting.  But have you heard about three young men that gave their lives to protect their girlfriends?  I'm teary writing this.  I can feel the hairs on the back of my neck standing up.  I'm so strengthened with hope to know there are still men in our young population who have this sort of character.  This IS what being a MAN is all about:

U.S

'Dark Knight Rises' shooting: Three heroes died in Aurora taking bullets for their girlfriends

In final acts of valor, Jon Blunk, Matt McQuinn and Alex Teves used their bodies to shield their girlfriends as accused madman James Holmes turned the Aurora cineplex into a shooting gallery.



Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/aurora-shooting-died-bullets-sweeties-article-1.1119395#ixzz21Qk9vyYg


My wife took the kids to a nearby thrift store yesterday and they found a great deal on some light sabers there.  Micah used his talent and a handy program called LSMaker (free download) to make all of these childen engage in a mighty light saber battle.


Micah was under some heavy attack fire here, but came out fine in the end.   Watch his Jedi skills in action below . . . it's 9 seconds well spent.



Here is the "before" picture
dfd

Daniel son, Micah son competed in a great martial arts competition; yeah.  Ah, he did so very good, yes. 

Seriously, Micah's dedication and hard work in martial arts training has only intensified.  He most recently has graduated from being a Green belt to being a Blue belt.  His ambition as of now is to make Black belt before the end of the year.  Here are some pictures from his first competition.  He brought home third place medals in both the Forms category and in the Point Fighting category.  Great work, old Micah son!





He was focused, eager and ready as he waited there in those last four photos.  It was an interesting competition in that both Germans and Americans were competing against one another, and as part of the same teams in some cases.  There was even a German/American team from a Christian church there.  How cool is that?


All of the boys came with us.  Nathan found a friend and enjoyed playing with actions figures together with him.


Leon came too and competed.  He also won a medal in the course of his competing.


The event was held in a gym and all of the younger kids found these ropes normally used for climbing to the top and back.  All the kids there constantly swung on them and had such a great time. 


This man was wearing a shirt that said "Fighting Solves Everything" and so I attempted to get a good picture of his shirt. For someone wanting to stand and fight, it sure seemed hard for him to hold still long enough.  I don't agree with the message, but it was unique anyway!


In Germany, many things have a strange sound or spelling.  This sign was wishing us Good Travels, basically, as we left the gas station where we had stopped for a moment.  However, it seems to commend the viewer for doing something ELSE done really well.  Serways was the brand name or store name.  Speaking of interesting differences in Germany, the word "Mist" means crud.  So, if you are drinking "Sierra Mist" you are drinking "Sierra Crud."


Micah's Birthday party was a great success!


Some good family friends of his and ours came by to join us in the celebration.


We enjoyed fresh and tasty watermelon, and a large variety of pizzas; some modified with all sorts of choice toppings prepared at home.

One of Micah's friends gave him this funny card that I wanted to share with you.

Jacob made this birthday card for Micah. 


Jacob's birthday card for Micah opened so you can see the inside of it.  Click on the image to see it close up.


Hannah made this card for Micah.  Micah is big into freediving, something that he grew into from first being involved in scuba diving. 


Hannah also decided to decorate sticky notes with various birthday messages and then adorn Micah's bedroom door with them.  Pretty soon the whole family joined in that morning and so all of us, even Mom and Dad, had made sticky note art for his door.  Since Hannah came up with the idea, she's seen here after placing them on his door.  If you click below on the photographs you can see close ups of them.





About this blog