Safely Lost

" A girl should be so lost in Christ, that a guy has to seek Him to find her"
-Unknown

Read more...

100!

According to the little statistics thing on my blog dashboard this is my 100th post! In honor of the great occasion I thought I would post 3 pictures; a small glimpse (and I do mean small) in to the life and regular occurrences that come with the last name of Hipps:-)




This gathering was due to the arrival of new silverware! Nice, Michael, and Timo, Nice!



The joys of homeschooling. Hey, I wanted a change of scenery!




Don't you just love those OLD telephones with cords!? This is what we typically look like when you are talking to us, Grandpa.

Read more...

Blessed

"Reflect on your present blessings, of which every man has many; not on your past misfortunes of which all men have some"
-Charles Dickens




"There are no mistakes, no coincidences. All events are blessings given to us to learn from." -Elizabeth Kubler-Ross












“I have been blessed, With so much more than I deserve To be here with the ones who love me To love them so much it hurts” -Martina McBride









Children, you must remember something. A man without ambition is dead. A man with ambition but no love is dead. A man with ambition and love for his blessings here on earth is ever so alive. - Pearl Bailey

Read more...

Dying to Self

DYING TO SELF

When you are forgotten, or neglected, or purposely set at naught, and you don't sting and hurt with the insult or the oversight, but your heart is happy, being counted worthy to suffer for Christ.

THAT IS DYING TO SELF

When your good is evil spoken of, when your wishes are crossed, your advice disregarded, your opinions ridiculed, and you refuse to let anger rise in your heart, or even defend yourself, but take in all in patient, loving silence.

THAT IS DYING TO SELF

When you lovingly and patiently bear any disorder, any irregularity, any impunctuality, or any annoyance; when you stand face-to- face with waste, folly, extravagance, spiritual insensibility-and endure it as Jesus endured.

THAT IS DYING TO SELF

When you are content with any food, any offering, any climate, any society, any raiment, any interruption by the will of God.

THAT IS DYING TO SELF

When you never care to refer to yourself in conversation, or to record your own good works, or itch after commendations, when you can truly love to be unknown.

THAT IS DYING TO SELF

When you can see your brother prosper and have his needs met and can honestly rejoice with him in spirit and feel no envy, nor question God, while your own needs are far greater and in desperate circumstances.

THAT IS DYING TO SELF

When you can receive correction and reproof from one of less stature than yourself and can humbly submit inwardly as well as outwardly, finding no rebellion or resentment rising up within your heart.

THAT IS DYING TO SELF

-Unknown

Read more...

Thinking Of You!

A favorite sport around here is "fridge art" , in which we write on the pictures on the refrigerator with letter magnets. When I came down to make breakfast this morning I found this on the refrigerator and it was too sweet to pass up!

Read more...

Leah

Happy 13th birthday, Leah!

We have a calendar that has a bible verse for each day on it, so I thought that this year I would post the verse for each persons birthday, aka their "Birthday Verse"

Leah's Birthday verse is:

"I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward."
Genesis 15:1

May God be your shield and reward this year Leah.


Happy birthday Leah, We love you!

Poor Leah is sick today. So, send her extra nice Happy Birthdays!

Read more...

Watching You

"I’ve been watching you, dad ain’t that cool?



I’m your buckaroo, I wanna be like you.



And eat all my food and grow as tall as you are.



By then I’ll be strong as superman,



Yeah, we’re just alike, hey, ain’t we dad



I want to do everything you do.



So I’ve been watching you!"


("Watching You", by Rodney Atkins)

Read more...

USAF

Daniel left for Norfolk, NE today on His way to boot camp, and will pledge the next 6 years of his life to the United States Air Force tomorrow.


Helping the kids with their school.

"Goodbye"


Driving away into the wild blue yonder where adventures, and lessons await!

I love you, Daniel. God be with you.

Read more...

He gave Himself for me!

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Galatians 2:20-21

Read more...

He had no inkling he was an Unkling

We just had a visit from one of our very favorite Uncles; Ben. Here are a few highlights from the 2 and 1/2 days he was here, and a special bonus feature on just how he became related to us!

Washing dishes.


Reading stories, such a good Uncle! Wait, he wasn't our uncle yet!


Comparing glove sizes:-)




Saturday's cleaning. (No this is not, Ben)


The Babybiter..., Oh! I Mean Baby SITTER!


" Hey, Ben is not so bad!"


"Oh look its Emily,' Eeeeemmmmiiillllyyyy, Ben BIT my finger!"


The older Wattermann kids came over to play cards, music, and talk about guns.


The boys talking about guns.
_______________________________________
Bonus Feature

We took Ben to our church in Omaha on Sunday where we were all asked how he was related to us.:-P After setting a few people straight that he was not a relative, Dad was asked if Ben was his brother; he said yes, his older brother! (Sorry ,Ben!) Thus Ben was admitted into our family as our Uncle. He even got certification papers! As for the Unkling part; Michael called Ben a "Tiozinho" a Portuguese word that literally translates out to little Uncle, or Unkling.


Our new Unkling Ben displaying his Uncle certificate !

Bem-vindo a nossa família !

Read more...

Sisters...

...are so much fun!

Read more...

Surrender

We often sing this song; how often do we mean it?

"All to Jesus I surrender; all to him I freely give; I will ever love and trust him, in his presence daily live.

I surrender all, I surrender all, all to thee, my blessed Savior, I surrender all.

All to Jesus I surrender; humbly at his feet I bow, worldly pleasures all forsaken; take me, Jesus, take me now.

All to Jesus I surrender; make me, Savior, wholly thine; fill me with thy love and power; truly know that thou art mine.

All to Jesus I surrender; Lord, I give myself to thee; fill me with thy love and power; let thy blessing fall on me."
-Judson Van DeVenter, 1896.

Read more...

You know you are from Nebraska if...

-You take pride in knowing that on Saturdays, Memorial Stadium is the third largest city in the state.

-You know how to pronounce Beatrice, Norfolk, and Kearney.

-”Back East” means Chicago.

-You think pheasants are the most beautiful bird in the world.

-You know that the statue on the dome of the state capital is actually sowing seed–not bowling.

-You can drive through towns like Wahoo with a straight face.

-You know what “knee high by the Fourth of July” refers too.

-You list your religious preferences as “Cornhusker.” (Well, not quite, but still…)

-You can tell the difference between a horse and cow from a difference. (You’re kidding, right?)

-You consider using your life savings to go to the Colorad0-Nebraska football game.

-There’s a tornado warning and you go outside to watch for it.

-”Little Smokies” are something you serve on special occasions.

-You have the number of Co-op on speed dial.

-You think that the “Red Sea” refers to the football stadium on Saturdays.

-Using the elevator involves a corn truck.

-You know cow pies aren’t made of beef.

-You actually buy manure.

-You know the “N” on the football helmets stand for “knowledge.”

-You leave your snow tires on year-round.

-You know the difference between sweet corn and field corn when they are still on the stalk.

-You consider mud boots casual footwear.

-You can tell the smell of a skunk and the smell of a feedlot apart. (ok do they really smell the same to some people?)

-You consider any building a mall, if it’s bigger than the local Wal-Mart.

-Your idea of a traffic jam is ten cars waiting to to pass a tractor on the highway. Whenever two cars pass our house within five minutes of each other, someone always says, “Wow, we’ve got a lot of traffic!”)

-Everyone you know has hit a deer with their car at some point.

-Your school classes were canceled because of the cold.

-Your school classes were canceled because of the heat.

-You switch from “heat” to “A/C” in the same day.

-You end your sentences with an unnecessary preposition…Example: “Where’s my coat at?”

-You can actually locate Nebraska on the United States map.

-You install security lights on your house and garage and leave both unlocked.

-You know what “AI” means.

-You can’t understand why Johnny Carson ever left.

Read more...

Life for a sick baby...

Proverbs 19:24a
"The sluggard buries his hand in the dish...":-) Or the sick!







"Emily speaks with small words that I can understand, like...

"Pudding", and "You may lick the bowl"...


and, "Have some more"!

My excuse for the lack of posting? The plague has hit; we have 6 down with high fevers, throwing up, coughs, sore throats, runny noses, etc...

Read more...

Holiness

IN the beauty of holiness,
We see you son of Righteousness
So we bring all that we possess
To lay at your feet"
-Robin Mark

Read more...

Random Pictures...

Here are some pictures I have taken recently that I have had requests to see:-). They are not in any particular order, thus the randomness!

My new favorite picture!



Trina




Nebraska hoar frost.
_________________________________
Some pictures from my most recent photo shoot...yesterday!



John



Leah



Becca

I will try to post again in the near future:-)

Read more...

Ever wonder...

...what it looks like on this side of the blog?!

Read more...

Thank You!

Thank you all so much for your prayers, and kind get well notes! I am doing much better! Unfortunately Rosie got the illness about a day after I did so we were "sick buddies"! She is still not feeling all that good but, she is doing better.

Thanks again!

Read more...

Under ahack!!

Hillary's blog is being hacked, to let all her loyal readers know the reason for her decline in recent posting. For the past 4 days she has been rather sick with an unknown 'flu' of the high fever variety. Hence, all you loyal readers, I encourage you to send her well wishes and encouragements to rest, drink lots of liquids and take Tylenol to bring down her fever.
~Emily

Read more...

Foundations

"We turn to God for help when our foundations are shaking only to learn that it is God shaking them." -Charles West

Read more...