Impacting the Culture

Hello Everyone,

I just found a great giveaway over on www.heartsforthefamily.blogspot.com thanks to Marty Hadding!
It is a great set of DVD's that they're giving away for free entitled, Reclaiming the Culture. As Christians it is so important that we impact our culture with the biblical view of the family and this family is doing a really great job over at www.visionarydaughters.com! The Botkins have blessed and challenged our family with their views and they are interviewed on some of these DVD's in this set. Raising a daughter in this culture who wants to follow God and be a keeper of the home and not go to college is quite a radical view in this day and time. Their documentary, The Return of the Daughter, helped put our convictions into words so that we could share it with those around us.
We can't wait until their next documentary this time for men comes out, The Battle For Civilization.
Note: The contest is over tonight at midnight so you only have a short amount of time!

-Marseilles

Seeing Family Again!

After leaving Pensacola we travelled on down to Santa Rosa Beach Florida. My Aunt April and Uncle Danny lives right off a private beach and so we spent most of the time on the beach. We got to stay there for a week and a half and Daddy got to stay a few days at the beach before having to head back home. Also my Grandparents came up for a few days and spent some time with us too!Bottom Row: Spencer, Andrew, Aunt April and Ethan. The Top Row: me, MeeMaw and Grandpa.
The only family members that we didn't get to see on my Mom's side was my Aunt Star, Uncle Armando and my cousins Armani and Olivia.
Here's some pictures I have of them from the last time we saw them which was back in two and a half years ago.













I know from pictures that I've seen that Armani and Olivia have gotten a lot bigger. We miss you guys so much!
It was so great to be able to see almost everyone again! We had lots of fun.

Santa Rosa Beach Slide Show

The Blue Angels Part 2 In the Museum

Whenever the show was over we went inside the museum where the air condition was up really high! It felt great!
First, the pilots came in and to sign the slips of information we had. The lines where so long though that we only got the Captain's signature.
(the one closest to us in the picture.)


There where of coarse a lot of planes. Spencer found one that especially interested him though. Coincidentally he found the plane that he had just written a post about a few weeks earlier on our blog...the SBD Dauntless.

The museum was very interactive. You could walk through a space that felt like you where on an aircraft carrier or an area that felt like you where on an army base in the Pacific during World War II.
My favorite area was the World War II home front. It felt like I was walking through a 1940's small town.

The pictures above are a World War II washing machine. We also got to walk through a section of what a traditional 1940's house would look like.


Here's a picture of Andrew listening to a speech on the radio. Don't you think there should be The Walton's theme song playing in the background?

Mommy is in front of the candy and popcorn center.

Spencer where he always is: In front of the news stand.

Andrew is in front of the movie theater.

My favorite must have been the little general store. The prices where
hilarious. But I loved the phone and the post office the best.

The museum was such a great learning experience and it didn't seem like we got to spend way enough time looking around, but there was so much to see!

-Victoria

The Blue Angels Part 1 Seeing them Fly

While in Florida Daddy and Mommy took us to see a practice play of the Blue Angels flying. We got up really early in the morning and drove to the Naval Base where able to see them fly at 8:30.
The morning was really hot but it was so amazing to see them flying! Whenever they would come flying into view the crowd would always get excited and say something like, "Ohh! Wow! Ahhh!"
The show lasted for 45 minutes. Here's some pictures I was able to get as they would zoom by!
Note: You can click on any of the pictures to enlarge them.

While the show was going on we where allowed to go inside the Fat Albert and walk through it. While walking through I realized how much cooler it was inside! :D

"The guys" inside the Fat Albert.

It was a lot brighter outside, that's why Andrew's covering his eyes.

I think it was a really great experience for our family to be able to see The Blue Angels fly. The last time I had seen them was whenever we actually lived in Florida almost eight years ago. I still remember seeing them flying overhead but now I can remember it so much better. It was lots of fun and the 45 minutes just flew by! (Okay that was a bad pun!)

-Victoria

Visiting with Family and Friends

Whenever we went down to Florida we where able to first go and visit Daddy's side of the family who live in Pensacola and Southern Alabama.














Here's a picture of us with Aunt Beverly, Uncle Steven and Reese on a tour of their beautiful farm! (We had to take turns taking the pictures. :D)



It was really a challenge getting everyone into this picture! I remember all of us girls where laughing about something... though I'm not sure what. We finally did get a picture with the cousins. The front row from left to right is Reese, Andrew and Lindsey's baby Braydon. From left to right on the couch it's Megan, me and Lindsey and then everyone knows the person on the top of the pyramid!
Here is a picture of us with Baw Baw my Grandmother. It was so great to be able to spend time with her and get to see her again. This time I saw her she taught me the basics of crocheting. I'm still trying to catch on! :D








We also got to visit with so many other family members that I didn't get picture's with.

(Ahh! I thought the pyramid up above was hard...this was ten times harder to get.) While in Pensacola we also got to visit with some of our friends, the Hadding's and the Bryant's. These are the kids that where willing to sit in the picture. From left to right on the very bottom there's Emily Hadding and Lynnlee Bryant. Squished on the bottom part of the couch is Andrew, Spencer, me, Sarah Hadding and Aaron Bryant. On the top of the couch is Alice Bryant, Abigail Hadding, Sydney Bryant and Sam Hadding. (Missing from this picture is little Claire Hadding who really did not want to take a part in the pictures!) Altogether there where twelve kids! We all had such a great time playing games and visiting.
It was so much fun visiting everyone that we haven't seen in forever! We made lot's of great memories.

-Victoria

Father's Day Post

No we haven't disappeared from the blogosphere altogether! We've been gone on a trip down to Florida so be looking forward to a series of posts about that and tons of pictures. Also I for Father's day I confiscated my Dad's password to his blog and wrote a post on there. To read it you can click here.

SBD Dauntless

I was so surprised when, for my birthday, one of my presents included a model airplane, The SBD Dauntless dive bomber. I had

wanted a model airplane since a week before when I discovered the model section in our local Ben Franklin and Michaels craft stores. The SBD Dauntless was an amazing airplane, used during WWII as the US Navy's primary carrier-based dive bomber. It was a especially recognized after the Battle of Midway where it sunk 4 Japanese aircraft-carriers the Akagi, Kaga, Soryu and Hiryu. It was known to be able to absorb a lot of damage before it went down, for example after the battle of Coral Sea one SBD Dauntless returned from the battle with 200 holes in it's airframe! All and all it was a neat airplane. I am currently waiting to get the cement and paint I need to build it. I am so exited and my friends couldn't have picked a better model for my first try!

~Spencer

P.S. To learn more about the SBD Dauntless click here

Happy Birthday Spencer

Today is Spencer's 12th birthday. He has been such a blessing to our family...and to me especially!
As brother and sister Spencer and I have always shared special opportunities together. I have so many fond memories of the games we used to play and make up together to entertain ourselves. As we grew older Spencer and I had so many things we always did together such as bible drill and just last year Spencer and I were able to be baptized together by Daddy. I am so glad that Spencer and I are not just brother and sister but we're brother and sister in Christ! A lot of the time we'll share the same thoughts, disappointment and excitements. (Although I have to say that I usually show my excitement more then he does.)
A great example of this is just last Sunday I was talking to a friend and she shared with me how she is reading through her bible in 90 days. She motivated me to do it and immediately I knew who would do it with me-yes, Spencer. He is always up to meeting a challenge with me!

Proverbs 27:17 says:
As iron sharpens iron, So a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.

As Spencer and I have gotten older our friendship has grown in Christ! I am looking so forward to seeing it grow even more in the future.
Thank you Spencer for being such a great brother to me! Keep being a shining light for Christ in the world of darkness. We love you so much! Happy birthday, I hope you have a great day!

Love,
Victoria

If anyone would like to say something special to Spencer on his birthday

Abort73

I have very recently realized what great opportunities t-shirts are to endorse something you like or support. I've always loved my Do Hard Things t-shirt but just a few weeks ago I found a website that is against abortion. Abort73 is a great website because it is a wonderful place where people can go to get informed about abortion. The slogans on the t shirts are usually "mysterious" and so is the name of the website. I mean, how many people know what Abort73 stands for? (click here to find out.)
They have a huge selection of t-shirts to choose from and so I ended up ordering one from the clearance section. Click here to see a close-up of my t-shirt and while your over there check out their other shirts. There are so many different ways to support Abort73 and spread a great message!
(Caution: There are some graphic images.)

-Victoria