Just wanted to let you know that I changed the name of our blog from Hubbard Happenings to "Hubbard's Haven" which is actually our newly establish herd name for our goats. I know we are not a family of goats, but much of our lives and our children's lives lately has involved taking care of our goats and preparing them to be shown at Cleveland County Fair. Hopefully, once we are able to breed our females, they will help to provide some extra income for us and our children. As soon as I become a little more "fluent" about how to post on here, I will be able to upload pictures of our family, including our goats and other animals. Hopefully I will become more adept in posting and have more time to post more often so that our story can be told.
To God Be the Glory
Monday, September 5, 2011
Life goes on
Wow!!! Much has happened, a couple months have passed. When I started this, I initially had intended to keep up with this a lot better and a lot more often. But as life goes on and time marches on, our bush schedule has taken over and my time is somewhat taken up with day to day life. Trey was on the way to the DMV to get his license, and YES he passed his driving test. We had a summer marathon of church activities which included choir camp, performining the VBS muical to kick off VBS, a week of VBS, and then 2 weeks of camp in the mountains of NC @ Ridgecrest Baptist Assembly. It was very well worth all the hard work and preparation PLUS we saw God moving in the lives of our children and youth.
Since Trey passed his driving test, we now have 3 licensed drivers in the house, which has been a GREAT help to us when we needed him to run an errand, pick up or take one of his siblings to an activity, take himself places, etc. He has spent several afternoons of his time driving back and forth to Shelby to help a lady with her goats, (trimming hooves, shearing, etc.) She has "paid" him for his time in goat milk, cheese, pizza (made with goat cheese), etc. Artie even made his first attempt at making our own goat cheese, and even though he didn't have ALL the right ingredients, it wasn't too bad for a first run.
Trey and Casey are in the process of preparing 3 of our goats to show at the Cleveland County Fair at the end of this month. Trey spent his day off school today, shearing and trimming our goats. Casey has joined her brother as a part of FFA at Crest High School, too. She did pass her driver's ed class at the beginning of August and will be getting her permit in December after she finishes her 2 weeks of driving this sometime this semester. She is enjoying her first year of high school so far. We will see if/when that changes later on, since she has only been in high school for 7 school days. I am sure she will LOVE it and do just fine.
Trey began his junior year and is still involved in the band. We have 3 football games under our belts so far and several more to go. As a matter of fact, this Friday's game was rained out and postponed due to severe thunderstorms that delayed the game and then CLEARED the stadium before the game actually started. We all looked like a bunch of drowned rats as we scurried out of the stadium for cover!
So I got to spend my 40th birthday with my family at the high school football stadium on Saturday night. Luckily it was full of excitement since it was the LOCAL rivalry with NO score on the board until halfway through the 4th quarter (then we lost in overtime). All in all I had a REALLY nice birthday Artie and I were able to get away for a couple of hours to have lunch together at Applebee's, where we had the 2 for $20 lunch special and I got a FREE hot fudge Sunde "shooter" for my birthday. It was really fun. Artie also surprised me at school on Friday with a chocolate chip cookie cake at lunch AND my lovely Leeann made me homemade waffles for breakfast on Saturday morning. All in all in was a WONDERFUL birthday. Nothing big, just a relaxing day spent with my family. Then last night we had a family movie night at the drive in to see the Smurfs. VERY CUTE movie. Great birthday weekend it turned out to be and I even got a day off work for Labor Day. Can't beat that.
Artie has had some exciting news lately, too. He met with the local Young Life leader here in Cleveland County and was asked to be a leader here at the local high school. Just amazing how God is opening doors for him to be used to reach more kids for Christ. I am soooooo excited for him, being a Young Lifer myself in high school, I now what wonderful opportunity this is for him and for our own children. We also had 40 children ages 3- 5th grade in children's church yesterday morning. New families are coming in and visiting, bringing more young children, therefore opening more doors of opportunity for us to serve and minister to children and their families. We also have a friend who is adamant and hard at work to reach the college students here in our area. Several of our college students are off at school , but we have a GREAT opportunity to minister to the students who attend GWU here in our little town of Boiling Springs. Please pray for us and our church as we adjust to our "growing pains" and are presented with more opportunities to serve children, youth, college and students in our community.
As for the rest of the gang, they are all doing well. Faith has begun second grade and has an excellent class and teacher. Jonathan also had the same 2nd grade teacher, so we know she will have a GREAT year. I am just thankful that Faith's teacher is back at Springmore, this year. She had to take leave of absence last year when her son was diagnosed with bone cancer, but he is back in the saddle, has returned to school, therefore allowing opportunity for her to return to the classroom!!!
Jonathan is at the middle school this year, loving his classes and is following in the footsteps of his older brother as a member of the band. They are just now beginning to "play" their instruments, since the first few days of school have been about learning how to take care of them, read music, etc. He is playing the French horn, and we found out that his instrument is considered a "scholarship" instrument. So hopefully we will enjoy it enough to keep it up through high school and possibly get a scholarship to attend college!!! WOW!!!
Leeann is a "senior" at the middle school this year (8th grade). AND she has a little boyfriend. Luckily it is a boy she has known for as long as she has been in school here, AND we know his parents/family. Good Christian folks who have the same kind of values/expectations for their children that we have for ours. Leeann and this same boy were somewhat of an "item" last year, but never saw each other so they never really developed a "relationship". HOWEVER, they have the same exact schedule/classes this year (with the exception of one class), and we found out just last week that they have been "chatting" ALL summer on Facebook. Well Artie told Leeann that before she could have a boyfriend, that the boy had to come to him for a little "chat" and ask if he could "date" (if you can even call it that in middle school) his daughter, which the boy did at the ball game Friday night. So I guess it is official.
Artie has told ALL of our girls that he wants ALL their boyfriends (or potential boyfriends) to do the same thing, just so he knows where they stand and they know where he stands when it concerns our daughters. We will encourage our boys to do the same with their girlfriends/potential girlfriends. Respecting themselves, others and other people's families and wishes is something we have tried to instill in all of our children. I only hope that what we have taught them will stick with them and follow them throughout their lives, especially since we are only 2 years away from potentially sending our oldest out into the world to find his own way.
Wow that is a hard one to swallow. Can't believe that in less that 2 short years, we will have a high school graduate, and THEN we will have to start the whole process from scratch with our BABY, Timothy. He will be four years old in just 3 1/2 short months. Where did the time REALLY go on that one. He is SO grown up some days and then other days, he is just a mama's boy and wants to do nothing else but sit on my lap and get some lovin'. Trying to enjoy it as much as I can and keep him little as long as possible. Every day seems like he is learning something new. Time will pass so quickly that before long he will be graduating, too.
Well at least even though I have just turned 40 this week, I still FEEL young, and can credit that to my children keeping me young. God is soooo good to have blessed me with all the many "riches" in life that I cannot even fathom HIS great love for me. All I can say is to God Be the Glory, GREAT THINGS HE HAS DONE!!!
Since Trey passed his driving test, we now have 3 licensed drivers in the house, which has been a GREAT help to us when we needed him to run an errand, pick up or take one of his siblings to an activity, take himself places, etc. He has spent several afternoons of his time driving back and forth to Shelby to help a lady with her goats, (trimming hooves, shearing, etc.) She has "paid" him for his time in goat milk, cheese, pizza (made with goat cheese), etc. Artie even made his first attempt at making our own goat cheese, and even though he didn't have ALL the right ingredients, it wasn't too bad for a first run.
Trey and Casey are in the process of preparing 3 of our goats to show at the Cleveland County Fair at the end of this month. Trey spent his day off school today, shearing and trimming our goats. Casey has joined her brother as a part of FFA at Crest High School, too. She did pass her driver's ed class at the beginning of August and will be getting her permit in December after she finishes her 2 weeks of driving this sometime this semester. She is enjoying her first year of high school so far. We will see if/when that changes later on, since she has only been in high school for 7 school days. I am sure she will LOVE it and do just fine.
Trey began his junior year and is still involved in the band. We have 3 football games under our belts so far and several more to go. As a matter of fact, this Friday's game was rained out and postponed due to severe thunderstorms that delayed the game and then CLEARED the stadium before the game actually started. We all looked like a bunch of drowned rats as we scurried out of the stadium for cover!
So I got to spend my 40th birthday with my family at the high school football stadium on Saturday night. Luckily it was full of excitement since it was the LOCAL rivalry with NO score on the board until halfway through the 4th quarter (then we lost in overtime). All in all I had a REALLY nice birthday Artie and I were able to get away for a couple of hours to have lunch together at Applebee's, where we had the 2 for $20 lunch special and I got a FREE hot fudge Sunde "shooter" for my birthday. It was really fun. Artie also surprised me at school on Friday with a chocolate chip cookie cake at lunch AND my lovely Leeann made me homemade waffles for breakfast on Saturday morning. All in all in was a WONDERFUL birthday. Nothing big, just a relaxing day spent with my family. Then last night we had a family movie night at the drive in to see the Smurfs. VERY CUTE movie. Great birthday weekend it turned out to be and I even got a day off work for Labor Day. Can't beat that.
Artie has had some exciting news lately, too. He met with the local Young Life leader here in Cleveland County and was asked to be a leader here at the local high school. Just amazing how God is opening doors for him to be used to reach more kids for Christ. I am soooooo excited for him, being a Young Lifer myself in high school, I now what wonderful opportunity this is for him and for our own children. We also had 40 children ages 3- 5th grade in children's church yesterday morning. New families are coming in and visiting, bringing more young children, therefore opening more doors of opportunity for us to serve and minister to children and their families. We also have a friend who is adamant and hard at work to reach the college students here in our area. Several of our college students are off at school , but we have a GREAT opportunity to minister to the students who attend GWU here in our little town of Boiling Springs. Please pray for us and our church as we adjust to our "growing pains" and are presented with more opportunities to serve children, youth, college and students in our community.
As for the rest of the gang, they are all doing well. Faith has begun second grade and has an excellent class and teacher. Jonathan also had the same 2nd grade teacher, so we know she will have a GREAT year. I am just thankful that Faith's teacher is back at Springmore, this year. She had to take leave of absence last year when her son was diagnosed with bone cancer, but he is back in the saddle, has returned to school, therefore allowing opportunity for her to return to the classroom!!!
Jonathan is at the middle school this year, loving his classes and is following in the footsteps of his older brother as a member of the band. They are just now beginning to "play" their instruments, since the first few days of school have been about learning how to take care of them, read music, etc. He is playing the French horn, and we found out that his instrument is considered a "scholarship" instrument. So hopefully we will enjoy it enough to keep it up through high school and possibly get a scholarship to attend college!!! WOW!!!
Leeann is a "senior" at the middle school this year (8th grade). AND she has a little boyfriend. Luckily it is a boy she has known for as long as she has been in school here, AND we know his parents/family. Good Christian folks who have the same kind of values/expectations for their children that we have for ours. Leeann and this same boy were somewhat of an "item" last year, but never saw each other so they never really developed a "relationship". HOWEVER, they have the same exact schedule/classes this year (with the exception of one class), and we found out just last week that they have been "chatting" ALL summer on Facebook. Well Artie told Leeann that before she could have a boyfriend, that the boy had to come to him for a little "chat" and ask if he could "date" (if you can even call it that in middle school) his daughter, which the boy did at the ball game Friday night. So I guess it is official.
Artie has told ALL of our girls that he wants ALL their boyfriends (or potential boyfriends) to do the same thing, just so he knows where they stand and they know where he stands when it concerns our daughters. We will encourage our boys to do the same with their girlfriends/potential girlfriends. Respecting themselves, others and other people's families and wishes is something we have tried to instill in all of our children. I only hope that what we have taught them will stick with them and follow them throughout their lives, especially since we are only 2 years away from potentially sending our oldest out into the world to find his own way.
Wow that is a hard one to swallow. Can't believe that in less that 2 short years, we will have a high school graduate, and THEN we will have to start the whole process from scratch with our BABY, Timothy. He will be four years old in just 3 1/2 short months. Where did the time REALLY go on that one. He is SO grown up some days and then other days, he is just a mama's boy and wants to do nothing else but sit on my lap and get some lovin'. Trying to enjoy it as much as I can and keep him little as long as possible. Every day seems like he is learning something new. Time will pass so quickly that before long he will be graduating, too.
Well at least even though I have just turned 40 this week, I still FEEL young, and can credit that to my children keeping me young. God is soooo good to have blessed me with all the many "riches" in life that I cannot even fathom HIS great love for me. All I can say is to God Be the Glory, GREAT THINGS HE HAS DONE!!!
Monday, June 27, 2011
Here we go!!
Well, I have decided to join the blog world to keep all our friends and family updated with the Hubbard Happenings here in NC. Our life is moving way to fast and getting faster every day. Even though school is out for the summer, we are definitely not on "vacation" from our busy busy lives. In fact, we are just getting started with our whirlwind summer schedule. Yesterday, we began choir camp at church in preparation for VBS in a couple of weeks, then we have a week of VBS, 2 weeks of camp, Casey begins driver's ed, Trey's has band camp and them BOOM we are back to school. IN fact, Trey is on his way out the door as we speak to get his Driver's License!!! UGH!!! Where did the time go?!?!?!? I can't believe that it has been 16 years since God has blessed us with our first child, who is just 2 years from graduating HS and most likely heading to FL to attend UF in preparation for vet school. AND now we have one right behind him getting ready to start the whole driving process in just one month and start her high school career just a couple of weeks later. As for the rest of the gang, they too are growing fast and furiously. Leeann will be a "senior" at the middle school and Jonathan will be joining her this year. He will be following his big brother's "band" footsteps and playing the French horn in the 6th grade band. We will only have one left in elementary school for the moment. Emma Faith is an upcoming second grader, and in just 2 years (when Trey graduates and prepares to leave home) Timothy will just be getting started in kindergarten.
And as for me and Artie, we are just trying to keep up with the pace most days. When we are not tending to our children, tending to our farm animals (5 goats, numerous chickens, and a dog), running here and there to keep up with everyone's busy schedules, driving the school bus or the church van, or spending time at our wonderful church (where Artie the children serves as the youth and children's pastor) we try to just take time out to spend with each other and our family. AND we take any opportunity we have to visit family in TN and FL or take a mini vacation to go camping.
Life is never dull and never slows down for us and it has been a really hard year at times, not only in our own lives but in the lives of our families (health issues, job uncertainties, deaths in the family, injuries, etc.) But the one thing that has kept us going is our STRONG faith and the support we give each other and get from our friends and "family" we have here in NC. Although we have no immediate family close by, our close knit church community and co-workers have become our family and the ones that we can lean on and depend on in time of need or crisis. I thank God that he has placed us where we are and I THANK HIM for allowing us to live away from our family for the majority of our married life so that HE can show us that HE is ALL we need and we can lean on HIM ALONE to get us through the tough times. Now don't get me wrong, WE LOVE being with our family and love to visit and if we ever got the opportunity to live closer so we could spend more time with them, we would go in a HEART BEAT, but as that hasn't been the case so far, we praise God for allowing us to make a home where we can build our own family and teach them to rely on HIM for EVERYTHING and not rely on man.
We know that God has a reason and a purpose for EVERYTHING, and a SEASON for everything (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8) and we also know that God works out EVERYTHING for our good (Romans 8:28). God has brought us through A LOT in the past 17 1/2 years and I look forward to the next 17 1/2 years and beyond to see what he does in our lives and the lives of our own children. We have not yet realized all that he has in store for us or our children, but we just have to keep on keeping on toward the goal and the ULTIMATE prize HE has in store for us (Phil 3:12-14).
We have NO choice but to give HIM all the praise, honor and glory for EVERYTHING He has brought us through and will continue to bring us through in the years to come.
TO GOD BE THE GLORY!!!
And as for me and Artie, we are just trying to keep up with the pace most days. When we are not tending to our children, tending to our farm animals (5 goats, numerous chickens, and a dog), running here and there to keep up with everyone's busy schedules, driving the school bus or the church van, or spending time at our wonderful church (where Artie the children serves as the youth and children's pastor) we try to just take time out to spend with each other and our family. AND we take any opportunity we have to visit family in TN and FL or take a mini vacation to go camping.
Life is never dull and never slows down for us and it has been a really hard year at times, not only in our own lives but in the lives of our families (health issues, job uncertainties, deaths in the family, injuries, etc.) But the one thing that has kept us going is our STRONG faith and the support we give each other and get from our friends and "family" we have here in NC. Although we have no immediate family close by, our close knit church community and co-workers have become our family and the ones that we can lean on and depend on in time of need or crisis. I thank God that he has placed us where we are and I THANK HIM for allowing us to live away from our family for the majority of our married life so that HE can show us that HE is ALL we need and we can lean on HIM ALONE to get us through the tough times. Now don't get me wrong, WE LOVE being with our family and love to visit and if we ever got the opportunity to live closer so we could spend more time with them, we would go in a HEART BEAT, but as that hasn't been the case so far, we praise God for allowing us to make a home where we can build our own family and teach them to rely on HIM for EVERYTHING and not rely on man.
We know that God has a reason and a purpose for EVERYTHING, and a SEASON for everything (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8) and we also know that God works out EVERYTHING for our good (Romans 8:28). God has brought us through A LOT in the past 17 1/2 years and I look forward to the next 17 1/2 years and beyond to see what he does in our lives and the lives of our own children. We have not yet realized all that he has in store for us or our children, but we just have to keep on keeping on toward the goal and the ULTIMATE prize HE has in store for us (Phil 3:12-14).
We have NO choice but to give HIM all the praise, honor and glory for EVERYTHING He has brought us through and will continue to bring us through in the years to come.
TO GOD BE THE GLORY!!!
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