The Reformation Festival!

Every October we do something that flouts the world and hopefully glorifies God.  We defy Halloween by celebrating Reformation Day.  On October 31st 1513, Martin Luther nailed his 95 thesis to the door of the Wittenburg Church in Germany.  His thesis stated the disagreements he had with the Catholic faith.  There had been few reformers before this, and nearly all of them were martyred.  Martin Luther was constantly assailed by his Catholic enemies, but he also had powerful friends, and by the grace of God he continued preaching until he died a natural death.  But the important thing is that these reformers made a violent and passionate stand against what they knew to be wrong, struggling for and sacrificing everything the knew and loved to be able to do what they knew was right.  We choose to celebrate this event instead, because Halloween has turned into the scariest holiday of the year (and I'm not talking about witches or vampires here...) and it promotes and encourages everything we as Christians are fighting against.  So, on the 31st of October, we gather together and fellowship with Christians.  We have a chili pot-lock, hymn-singing/prayer/a little speech about the Reformation, dancing, and just spending time together celebrating the freedom of our faith, and our freedom in Christ.

Olivia Rose playing with the remote to Rachel's new camera. :)

The early arrivals. :D

The little princess. :)

 The dancing. :D Progressive Gordon (I think).

More dancing!

Girls... and a boy. :P

The girls! L to R Debbie, Tirzah, Braelyn, Polly, Lydia. :)

 

Little girls. Olivia, Olivia, and Aliza. :)

Rachel and Ruby. :D

There's my mother in the green dress. :D

And.... that's all the pictures that I've chosen post. :)

Welcome!

Hullo Everybody,

I guess introductions are a good place to start... I am Ruby Hopkins, and I'll probably do most of the posting here. (Unless otherwise noted.) Our family consists of eight children - Peter, (22) who's engaged to be married, Chloe (19), Ruby (16), Gabriel (14), Duncan (12), Tirzah (10), Luther (7), Olivia, (5).  We live in smack dab in the middle of the city... Needless to say, we enjoy those trips to the country, where the boys can be boys and not use the neighbor's backyards as extra space. *wink*.

I guess I should list everybody's creative points just so you know.....

Peter is very good at carpentry, and actually has his own furniture business.  He's a wonderful classical pianist (plays Chopin very well) and a painter - currently working on a huge painting of a ship-chase during the Napoleonic Era (and it's his own "design".)  And he just moved out :( to a place about ten minutes from our house.

Chloe's an amazing seamstress and makes clothes - never following a pattern, but changing it to her own taste.  She has a sense of fashion, and what goes with what.  She plays piano well, and knows a lot.

Ruby is a writer, works one day a week at a farm in exchange for free riding lessons, loves to cook and be in the kitchen, and also loves to read, and loves history, and plays piano.

Gabriel's gift would be... uh... comedy. :D He amuses us all, all the time! He knows a lot about technology and is usually the kind of person who can tell you where anything is.

Duncan is good at... being a boy. :)  He loves to climb trees, and run around, and get dirty. He recently made a knife for daddy out of steel (I think?) and the horn from an antler of a deer.

Tirzah is developing a skill for sewing. She enjoys baking and all that stuff two, and has an amazing soprano voice.  Since she's between two boys, she plays a little rough sometimes too... But she also enjoys playing with her little sister.

Luther, a little young to be discovering his talents, is showing great potential for a great thinker.  He has those deep penetrating blue eyes that are full of all sorts of thoughts and questions.  He loves to play rough-house with Duncan, but he also likes to sit and talk with his older sisters.

Olivia loves playing with her "babies", and singing, and dancing, and dress up, and anything else that little girls love to do.  She is just crazy about animals... She never gets nervous or anything around them. :)

And there you have us! :)

My dad is a professional pianist, and he paints houses... and has many different artistic abilities like that. :)

My mom is a wonderful cook, and is a dedicated homeschooling mom and teacher to her children.

We are thankful for godly parents...

And now for some REAL blogging! :)