For Noah!!!

:::Sisters are wonderful:::

This past month has also brought several butchering days. We now have only 165 birds left and the plan is to butcher them this coming week! Then no more chicken (or more importantly, chicken chores!!) until later this fall!!

Tabitha our packaging expert!!

Roscer-- I think he misses you Noah!

Playing Elephants.

Tabitha's Trunk. :)

Trying to determine how best to get his sisters wet!!

Silas well equiped with his favorite "frog arm-ies". :)

Throwing water balloons at unsuspecting victims. (They snuck out on the roof and threw them at the little ones in the pool!! Everything went great until they started aiming at their photographer!! No good!!)

Esther has been trying her hand at making bagels. They are absolutely fabulous! Especially the blueberry ones!! Mmmmm!!

Our whole family looks forward to summer when we get to harvest the beets. MMMM.... we've been enjoying eating a lot of beets from the garden!

Charity picking beets!

During the month of June Dad had classes in Kansas City every week from Monday thru Friday. The last two weeks he had to spend in Kansas City except for the weekends. We were excited to have him home!!

Sad faces because we miss Noah!!

Silas playing football!

The work on the 'shed project' continues!!

Pulling out old supports from the old building.

The pipes are being laid for the drain which will be in the butchering room in the new shed.

"Clear the area folks, unexperienced driver at the controls!!"

(She actually did a pretty good job!!)

Micah is our fishing-lover and is always searching for some one to take him fishing. One evening recently Esther took him out the the pond for a couple of hours of fishing. He ended up catching a big one!!

Micah's prize catch of the day!!

We were thrilled to have Andrew, Rebecca and Justice come up for a three day weekend over the fourth!! We had a wonderful time with them!!!

On the morning of the 4th, we spent a couple hours a a local blueberry patch!! It was a wonderful morning together, and we got some delicious berries!

Aunt Elizabeth and Justice.

Andrew picked quite diligently, but it didn't stop him from cracking jokes the whole time!!

Rebecca picking berries.

Uncle Sethy playing with Justice.

Justice and Silas loved playing together and tasting the blueberries. At one point I turned around to find both of them snitching giant handfulls from my bucket!! :)

Playing with Uncle Moses.

Papa and Justice!

Justice is never short Uncles or Aunts to tickle him!!

Silas and Justice--- we miss Pauly!!

Aunt Charity and Justice.

Silas playing peek-a-boo.

Dad and the boys cutting watermelon for us to eat during the fireworks display.

The very small town near us has a incredible firework show every year. It was no different this year!!

Awww.......what a darling couple!!

They got engaged July 4th, 2003, so they were reminicsing. :)

:::Sisters:::

The incredible ground display-- some years it's obscured by smoke!

Watching the Fireworks.

The following pictures are random snap shots from around the farm and garden for Noah!!

July clouds.

Some of the beautiful flowers Noah grew in the garden!!

Noah, the flowers you planted before you left are blooming!!

Haying.

The corn is tasseling!

Garden Bounty.

A goregous flower blooming in the garden right now!

Honey.

Making Hay.

Haybales.

Happy Birthday, Lydia!!

Happy 25th Birthday, Lydia!!

What a blessing it is to have Lydia as our big sister!! We have been privileged to have older sisters who are godly examples to us!!

We can't wait to see you, Scott and the boys next week!!

We love you, Lydia!!

Wonderful Water Week-end.

Our last family activity before Noah left for China involved spending a wonderful day on the lake with Uncle Tom and Aunt Barb!! We had a wonderful day in the boat out on the lake; tubing, skiing (or trying to ski!!), and once it got dark, playing ping-pong.

Harley didn't like the water in the slightest bit. We had to push him in, and he promptly paddled out!!

Moses goes for a dive.

Canonball!!

Phoebe was all smiles, as long as she was mostly out of the water.

Noah tubing.

Moses took some big waves, but never ever fell off!

Me tubing.

Charity was our brave girl and used her strong muscles to hold on the whole time!!

Waving good-bye as the boat leaves again!

Micah tubing.

Tabitha holds the record for the fastest tubing rides ever. Last year she went through quite the wild ride, but never fell off. This year Uncle Tom was determined to knock her off the tube. And he did!! She held on through some enormous waves but after Uncle Tom kicked the speed up a few notches, she went skipping right off the tube!!

Sunny Smiles (no sunburn this year-- hooray!!)!!

Noah and Phoebe on the jet-ski.

After a couple rounds with the tube, we pulled out the skiis.

Flag girl.

Esther tried and tried and tried, but never made it up. It definitely wasn't from a lack of determination!

So Aunt Barb got out there and showed us how to do it right!!

Esther and Noah on the jet-ski.

Daddy and Phoebe.

Smiling Sisters.

Micah.

Noah and Tabitha on the jet-ski.

Moses made some valiant efforts to get up on the skiis.. He made some fantastic tries and even made it up once, but couldn't quite stay up.

Boat-ride are terrific!!

Here comes Dad-- he got right up on the first try.

Dad skiing.

Pat-hetic smiles. :)

---Sequence---

Noah playing ping-pong.

Uncle Tom and I played ping-pong as a team; we were quite a challenge to our opponents, to say the least!!

During the late afternoon, a storm swept through the area, but after it abated, the sunset, casting glorious rays of color on the clouds and lake! What a beautiful end to a fantastic day!

Thanks for having us, Uncle Tom and Aunt Barb!!

We love You Both!

Off to China!!

A week ago today, Noah flew out to China!! After a flight from Kansas City to Chicago, he met up with the other three members of the team- Rachel, Bethany and Kori, and they boarded a second plane for the 13 hour flight to Beijing. From there they took a train to Taiyuan.

The four of them are now settled into their new surroundings, adjusting to a different culture and a whole different time zone (they are 12 hours ahead of us)!!

Noah and the team will be in China for the next 6 weeks teaching English to students in the University where they are staying.

This is the team of 4 young people who are in China now. Please remember them in your prayers!!

You're never short of laughs around Noah!

Noah and Silas.

Noah and Elizabeth.

Noah, Esther, Seth and Elizabeth.
Noah does have some internet access, and hopefully we'll have some updates and pictures to share with you all throughout the summer. You can also visit Bethany's Blog, and the Wissmann Family Blog for updates.

(Click here to see their first update.)


WE LOVE YOU, NOAH!!!

See you in 6 weeks!

Happy Birthday, Scott!

Happy Birthday, Scott!!

We wish we could be with you to throw you a party!! Have a extra-special day!

We Love You!!