Do You Think We've Been Watching A Little Too Much Pendragon?!

The Ballerina

When my Ellen was a young girl she would often ask her 'beautiful white haired grandmother' to play her special ballerina music box for her. When she grew up and her grandmother had passed into glory she was given the little ballerina. It now sits perched high atop our hutch until one of our children ask to see it. Then it will carefully be lifted down and Ellen will share wonderful stories of her 'beautiful white haired grandmother' as our children watch the ballerina twirl and dip to the music.






Wonderful grandmother. Wonderful stories. Wonderful mother.

Posted by the Patriarch

Two Weeks Old Today!!!

Pictures and News

We are all doing good.

We are sure having fun with Shenandoah! She is so precious and is already changing so much!

It snowed some more and has been VERY cold! The temperature has been in the teens with the wind chill below zero!!! Today, it is a little warmer. Only 21 degrees with a wind chill of 12! Nice!!!

Here are some pictures of the past couple of days.


Sabrina and Stasia, our faithful animal chore girls, all bundled up to milk the goat and check on the chickens - in the extreme cold!


Daddy and the 5 younger ones.


Shenandoah and I


Stasia and Shenandoah


Shenandoah

Pendragon!!!

Yesterday, we got our "Pendragon" DVD in. We had been looking forward to it for a long time and were SO excited. We had a great time watching it as a family last night. We really enjoyed "Pendragon". It was outstanding!!!


Everyone getting their places ready.


Sabrina and I trying to quickly clean up dinner (it's difficult when you are excited! :)

Our Precious Blessing...

Shenandoah's First Snow!!!

It snowed yesterday!!! We got quite a bit!!! This was Shenandoah's first snow, which also happened to be the first snow of the season!!!

More Pictures With Shenandoah...

Three Days Old...

Mommy and Shenandoah

Four Days Old...

Isn't she precious?!


Daddy and Shenandoah


Shenandoah and I


Ms. Ruth (Mommy's midwife, came back today for a follow up appointment), Mommy and Shenandoah

Five Days Old...

Our Little Angel



Sienna and Shenandoah


Shenandoah


Kisses

Pictures Of Shenandoah's First Day...

The big day had finally arrived. I woke up at about 4:45 in the morning and saw some lights on in the living room. I went out to see what was going on and saw that Mommy was walking around. She said she had been having some regular contractions and thought she might be in labor. I was the first to know that mommy was in labor, because she had not gotten Daddy up yet! I went back to bed and about an hour later Daddy came in to tell us that Mommy was truly in labor. Mommy labored in hers and daddy's bedroom. The six of us children tried to wait patiently. We could barely contain our excitement!!! Finally (after a total of 9 hours) everything got quiet and we listened intently. Then... we heard the baby cry!!! We couldn't wait to find out wether we had a new little brother or sister and to see our newest little blessing from the Lord. It was about a half and hour before they were ready for us to come back and meet... our new little sister!!! We were all so excited!!!


Our first look at our new baby sister.


Joy


Talking to Mommy (she said I'd be in big trouble if I posted the picture of her!!!)


Ms. Ruth (our midwife) weighing Shenandoah.


Measuring Shenandoah's head and chest. Her head was 14 1/2 inches and her chest was 15 1/2 inches!!!


23 inches long!!!


The picture speaks for itself. :)


Sayer and Shenandoah


Sabrina and Shenandoah


Stasia and Shenandoah

Use Of Time

We had a wonderful time together as a family this morning discussing our use of time. Ellen has been reading "Golden Thoughts Of Mother, Home & Heaven". I shared these thoughts from Philip Doddridge regarding "the orderly distribution of our time". Doddridge relates that to make the most of our day we must:

1.) Rise early and begin it with God.
2.) We must have a plan, general and subordinate.
3.) We must undertake no more than we can reasonably expect to perform.
4.) While we should avoid voluntary hindrances; if interruptions occur, instead of wasting our time in fruitless regret, we should endeavor to improve passing circumstances.
5.) We must carefully gather up fragments. There are several intervals which, though in one day they may be inconsiserable, yet in the whole time of man's life they amount to a great deal of it.
6.) We should aim at strict punctuality in engagements.
7.) We must guard against a spirit of procrastination.
8.) To recall at night the transactions of the day and endeavor to ask what the day has done for me? Has it set me nearer heaven? Has it brought an increase of knowledge and virtue? Has it been devoted to the service of God and man or has it been spent in sloth, sensuality, or self-pleasing?

Finally,

9.) Should our active powers be suspended, and a season of langour and sickness intervene, there are still duties to be performed.

Posted by the Patriarch





-- Post From My iPhone

Grandpa's Jar

The girl's grandfather had a jar filled with his 'special things' when he was a boy. It contained a boy's treasures. He filled it with marbles, old dice, rocks, seashells, and the like. Now our family has this jar and our children love to play with it's contents (when they aren't holding Shenandoah.)

Posted by the Patriarch

Everlasting Remembrance

Psalm 112:6

...the righteous shall be an everlasting remembrance.

Introducing...

Shenandoah Remembrance Cochran

December 4, 2008, 1:35 p.m. 10 lbs., 10 oz., 23 inches long

Her name means: Beautiful creation of God. Remembering His works of providence throughout the ages."

"Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them; They shall not be ashamed, but shall speak with their enemies in the gate."~Psalm 127:3-5

We are so thankful to have her here safe and sound! Mommy worked so hard to get Shenandoah out. She labored for nine hours total (her longest labor so far) and pushed for three of those hours. Shenandoah got stuck at the end and things were pretty intense. But, the Lord is so good!!! He hears and answers prayers and He gave mommy the strength she needed. We are so thankful for all of your prayers!!!

Mommy and Shenandoah are doing great.

It's A Girl!!!

Praise the Lord!!! He has been so good to us!!! We are SO excited!!! Mommy and baby are doing well (mommy's tired and sore, but doing good). Thank you all for your prayers. We will be announcing the name shortly with more news and pictures to come!!!

It's Coming!!!

Mommy is in labor!!! The midwife got here a little while ago. Things seem to be going good. Please pray that all will go well. We should have a baby before the day is out!!! We never would have guessed that it would come on mommy's due date. It's the first time!!! More news to come...

A Beautiful Winter Sunset

"The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth the work of His hands."~ Psalm 19:1

Our Biggest Egg Ever!

A couple weeks ago, we got an egg that weighed 3.4 oz. Our biggest egg so far!!! It had two normal sized yokes as well!!!

Thanksgiving Preparations

We had such a wonderful Thanksgiving and hope that you all did too!!! We enjoyed a wonderful day together as a family. Here are some pictures of preparations that we were blessed to be able to get done in advance. Everyone participated in the cooking/baking this year. It was a lot of fun!

"Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, For His mercy endureth forever."~Psalm 106:1


Stasia and I (with a little help form the boys:) made the Chocolate Chip scones. Daddy and Mommy always surprise us with a special breakfast table, beautifully decorated on Thanksgiving morning. We enjoy remembering the pilgrims and our heritage as we discuss around the breakfast table.


Sabrina and Sienna did the Cranberry Casserole together.


My Apple Pies and I!


Sabrina's Pumpkin Pies were fantastic!!!


Seth made the Green Bean and Mushroom casserole. (One of my personal favorites!:)


Sabrina made the dressing this year. She did a great job!!! It is a special tradition we always do using my great-grandmother's recipe. Actually, she didn't cook with a recipe and it probably dates back farther than that!


I made the Mashed Potatoes. A Cochran family favorite!


Icing roll-out cookies...


The younger ones enjoy doing it too!


Sabrina knitting


The kids coloring Thanksgiving pictures.

Mommy's Birthday

November 8th was mommy's birthday. We love you mommy!!!

Welcome Baby Wallace!!!

On October 4th, 2008 the Ocker family was blessed with the birth of their son Wallace Jude.
He is such a cutie!!! Last Sunday, our church had a baby shower for them. Here are a few pictures.


The Ocker Family


Mrs. Ocker and Wallace


The Baby Shower Table