Reuben is Home!!!!!

I know that this post is long overdue... but we have been crazy busy:)

 Mom, Dad, Matthew, and Marie went to pick Reuben up on the 11th of July. While they waited they went to the Mall of America. Here Daddy, Marie, and Matthew are in front of the sign.

Waiting in the Minneapolis airport...Anticipation is mounting:)

Reuben's plane is taking a long time!!

He's here!!! Marie, running to greet her brother. They were all a little excited.

First hugs with Dad.

Marie did not want to leave or let go of her brother's hand.

Even though Reuben had stayed up for 48 hours he still wanted to drive home the next day. In Taiwan Reuben did not have any opportunity to drive, so he has been driving a lot since he has been home:)

And here is what we have done since Reuben has been home:)..just kidding. Though we have done a lot of talking, we have served together(Back Home Days, and a Funeral), weeded together, frozen beans together, gone to a wedding together... you get the idea. One thing that I have learned since Reuben has been gone, is to appreciate your family that God has given you. Accept them as they are, love them, forgive them, and learn from them. You never know what God has in store for your siblings, or your parents. Be thankful for your family!!!!

4th of July!

Victoria in her 4th of July dress that Mom made for her.

Victoria, enjoying the warm sunshine and scratchy grass.

Mom and Rachel made all the girls matching skirts...

And hair bows:) Proverbs 31:19 She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff.

Matthew and Caleb are proud of Ben,(their older brother, who is in the National Guard)!! Their shirts say The Army National Guard, the Shield of Freedom.

Our Aunt and Uncle had a corn maze float in the parade. Matthew was the  Corncob and I, (Elizabeth), was the Cow. It was really really fun!

A highlight of the 4th of July was the pool at our relatives house. What's the matter Joanna?? Going to slip off your inner tube:)?

Before we saw the fireworks the little ones had fun playing at the park. Here Esther is playing peek-a-boo with Mom. Another thing that we did before the fireworks began was to pass out 180's. It's about Abortion, World War II, The Holocaust, Salvation,and more. This Dvd really makes you think! Priscilla, Rachel, Abby, Matthew and I were able to give out around 121 of the Dvds!! We would like prayer that the Dvd's would be used in each of the people's hearts for good, and that people would become more interested in spiritual things through them.

"O thus be it ever, when free men shall stand between their loved homes and the war's desolation!

Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n-rescued land praise the pow'r that hath made and perserved us a nation!

Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just, and this be our motto:

In God is our trust!

And the Star Spangled Banner in triumph shall wave o'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave!

I hope that everyone had as wonderful time during 4th of July as we had. don't forget what is truly the most ultimate reason to celebrate: Jesus!! Whether it is Christmas, Easter, Memorial Day, 4th of July, Thanksgiving, or TODAY celebrate Jesus. Thank him for breath, a new life in Him, a home in heaven, freedom to worship, the sun, rain, and the twittering of birds....the list is endless! The happiest of Christians, are those who are thankful and do not forget what Jesus has saved us from. Hope you have a great day today!
Special thanks to the city of Warroad for the amazing display of fireworks on the 4th of July!!

Father's Day!!

We always give Dad breakfast in bed...but when we went up to give it to him, he was gone!! It took us a couple of minutes to figure out that he had slipped down stairs, and was waiting for his breakfast:)

Thanks Dad for loving Victoria; a girl who the world would look at and say she will never amount to anything...but our little treasure!

Everybody get Daddy!!( Thanks for putting up with us over all these years:)

A normal picture...except Victoria and mom(doesn't our family look smaller?)

This is a Father's day picture from last year.(we sure do miss our two older brothers.)

Thanks Daddy for they way that you love Mom.

It's not easy to be a godly dad in this ungodly world that we live in. Thank you Dad for giving up your own life, so that you could pour it into ours. We love you SOOO much!! The word father is mentioned 997 times in the Bible. Obviously fathers are pretty important. Here are some verses that I really like that have the word father in them.
1John 3:1 "Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God.." I John 3:1 Ephesians 6:2" Honour thy father and mother;(which is the first commandment with promise;) Ephesians 6:2 and Romans 8:15" For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father." Romans 8:15
Thanks to all Dads out there who take their job as being a father seriously, and who try and copy the perfect example of  a Father...God!!
Philippians 4:13" I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me." Philippians 4:13

JoAnna's 7th Birthday

I cannot believe that our little JoAnna is7!! Blowing out the candles of our pretty flower cake( Some of the decorations were tootsie rolls from VBS:)

Opening gifts..her favorite gift that she got were three chickens from Grandma and Grandpa Krahn. JoAnna loves to run and check to see if there are any eggs from the chickens!!

JoAnna likes to talk to Victoria, climb trees with her sisters, make cookies with her older sisters, play games with her older brothers, and snuggle with mom and dad.

Our prayer for you, JoAnna, is that you would honor God in all that you do...

That you would grow to be more like Jesus, and that your goal in life would be to "Know Christ and  make him Known"

We love you JoAnna!! May God grant that you would live many more birthdays for Him.

Matthew's Birthday & the great outdoors

               Matthew has turned 14!! How did that happen?!

The Tradition goes on.( We always take a picture of Matthew by the tulips..Some years there is snow and no tulips:)

Daddy with his not so little boy.

Matthew:"Did you know that I was as tall as you Mom?"Mom: "Yes..But you will always be my little boy":)

Matthew wanted a tank cake this year. So Mom made him one. This is the first time that Mom has worked with fondant..didn't she do a good job:)

Matthew, whether you are fixing the clothes line..

Or hunting geese..

We sure do love you!! May God bless you in all you do. "Only be thou strong and very courageous..."

We have started to plant the garden!!

Caleb making the rows. We have planted peas, onions, carrots and lettuce.

O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!

who hast set thy glory above the heavens.

When I consider thy heavens, the work of the fingers, the moon and the stars,

which thou hast ordained; What is man that thou art mindful of him?

and the son of man, that thou visitest him? Psalm 8:1,3,4

Private Benjamin Mitton's Graduation!!

On the Tuesday before Ben's graduation Mom and Dad met the Drill Sergent's. These are Ben's Drill Sergent's..Moore and Valencia. They gave extra hours to help their platoon get excellent training. 

Wednesday, was Family Day.. The day the parents met their  loved ones:) This in Ben's Platoon. Notice their guidon..See all of its yellow ribbons?!! Ben's Platoon won  all the awards that there was to win. The platoon called the guidon, the Gold-on because of it's color. All of the other platoon's guidons were very bare. The ribbons represented many extra hours of work.  3rd platoon scored overall far above the other platoons in their PT scores...I don't know...MAYBE they would say 'Thanks' to their SDS! : ) 3rd Platoon was also had the distinction of being the "Honor Platoon"  (many thanks due to the honor squad : ) )

What a happy time!

A precious reunion!!!

 Ben really wanted to see The National Infantry Museum...so they went to it. My Dad said that it was very,very interesting. They had rooms for all different times that America was at war...complete with real-life wax statures, pictures, and videos. They really wanted to stay longer, but could not because they were pressed for time.(Ben had to be back by 8:45..if Ben had been late it could have set him back to the beginning of Basic).

This in the front  of the museum. Even though it had been a few hours since they had seen each other they were still ready to stay close and hug:)

Playing at a bowling alley in Columbus. They had a nice relaxing two rounds of bowling.

Golfing was part of a day of relaxing together.  So how did the soldier do at the games???  Well, I'm not sure if he won all the ribbons that day...but everyone had a a lot of fun.  There was a pretty river walkway that was very close to the Fort where they enjoyed the last minutes of the evening.   Overall they had a very fun time on Family Day :)  Being together was soooooo good!

Ben's graduation ceremony was really neat. First of all, there was a band that played a few specials. Next, guys came out that represented the different uniforms that the army has worn as time has gone by. Then Ben, with a squad of soldiers, demonstrated what  the army wears now and the weapons that it uses. They ran out under cover of smoke, and to the noise of bombs bursting and guns firing.  They came sneaking in, in formation looking carefully all around, then at a signal started running ahead to where they each stood at attention while the modern day army squad was described.  When the announcer came to each guys weapon, they would step ahead and point to various parts of interest in the weapon they carried.  They also had on body armor, which weighs 16 lbs, along with a combat helmet weighing about 5 lbs and night vision gear which weighed 3 lbs.  Various noises, grunts and pounding on body armor, made it very interesting.  Benjamin was carrying a machine gun...maybe a  M 240... (you may have to correct us, Benjamin)

After Ben's demonstration, the company came out and stayed in the field for a long time. There were several awards that were given out. The soldiers were inspected, a speech was given, and the soldiers sang a song and said the soldiers creed. Then they came up and left the field. This is Ben's Platoon.

Aaron and Naomi woke up at 1:00 in the morning to make it to Ben's Graduation. This is their sweet and darling daughter...can't wait till I see this girl!!

Ben after the graduation was over. He is holding his favorite gun of all the weapons that he used.

Ben and his first-cousin-once-removed got along really well...she loved wearing Ben's hat.  (If you're wondering about the bandaid, she managed to hit the corner of a coffee table)

My Brother in his full uniform.

Mom and Dad were so glad that they were able to drive Ben to his new base in Fort Gordon. They were also able to drive down another soldier that really needed a ride.  Ben really wanted to find a piano to play on before he arrived at Fort Gordon, so mom and Dad found him this one :) (it was in a music shop not just off the main road we were on.) The other soldier was a little skeptical of Ben wanting to play a piano. After Ben played his first song,"How Great Thou Art" (the one that gives mom happy 'shivers' every time she hears it) he was not skeptical any more..in fact he asked Ben if he could come with him if he went to play again :)  The folks at the music store invited him to come back and play anytime.  He managed to get in about 1/2 hour of playing...but could've continued on much longer....

Ben's new base, Fort Gordon, Georgia

This is his headquarters building where mom and dad dropped him off.

Benjamin's official MOS is 25 Uniform or Signal Support Systems Specialist (the army loves acronymns)!  MOS stands for Military Occupational Specialty)  There are many other jobs there in the 25 field.  Somehow they all relate to Signals (Communications) ...and this is the base where they train.

This is every soldiers job, one that we need to be aware of and be  grateful for.

      Ben is on the right,this is during his demonstration that he did with some other soldiers.                                 Ben thought of this before he left for Basic Training.                                                      The Christian Soldier's Creed

I am a Christian Soldier

I am a Spiritual Warrior and a member of the body of Christ.

I serve God's people and live according to Biblical values.

I will always place Christ's mission first.

I will never accept defeat.

I will never quit.

I will never leave a fallen brother.

I am disciplined, prepared for the intensity of Satan's attacks

and a workman that does not need to be ashamed.

I always maintain a clear conscience

and forgive those who have offended me.

I am an expert witness and a professional ambassador for Christ.

In God's power, I stand ready to deploy, engage and destroy Satan's strongholds.

I will cast down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself above the knowledge of God.

I am a guardian of true freedom, Christ's name and Christ's way of life.

I am a Christan Soldier.

Ben's side note was  that no earthly or spiritual soldier lives up to what they want to be 100% of the time. The creed states what the goal is! May you all strive to be Soldiers for Christ today and every day.

Just as a side note..many thanks to my mom that supplied me with some of the information about the soldiers.