Our Nine Year Old Gabriel

Today we say "Happy Ninth Birthday" to our sweet and precious Gabriel! 

It's incredible to think it's been nine years since he came into this world with a bit of a bang. His birth was a bit early and unexpected and he continues to marvel us with his love of God, love of people and love of life. He wanted to get here with flair and he continues to live with flair! 

Gabriel is ready for just about anything. He loves to explore, to sit and learn, to work puzzles, build with anything, climb trees and just soak in the life that God has given him. His most favorite thing to do is build with Legos. He comes up with all kinds of creations or builds sets that have not been mixed into the whole yet. He enjoys building with his brothers and also by himself. He's very flexible and that is such a blessing.

If Gabriel's not building he's either studying puzzles of all kinds, especially word puzzles, or he's outside climbing trees or "sword fighting" with his brothers. He's full of a desire to learn and grow in every way possible and enjoys a good challenge on the way. He really enjoys his spelling workbooks because of all the puzzles he gets to work through to learn the words and what they mean. It's such a blessing to watch Gabriel's love of learning as he figures things out. He enjoys his math as well and loves figuring out the problems. It's amazing to watch him figure something out and then get so excited that he figured it out and got it right. This boy knows how to celebrate the amazing mind that God has given to him. 

In the past couple of years, Gabriel has also gotten into baking with Lillian. He loves to mix and try things and often helps with her baking creations. We're to the point we need two kitchens so that there is space for everyone to work on their skills as well as taking care of regular meals. It's a joy to watch these two work together and grow together in a shared love and skill.

Gabriel is such a kind and sweet spirit. God has truly blessed our family with his life. He is eager to help, ready to step in when needed and is very in tune with how others are feeling and what they need. He has become a wonderful help with the little ones, playing with them, reading to them, helping them with games and puzzles as well as cleaning up after them and changing diapers when needed. He rarely complains about what he needs to do and often asks how can I help or lets us know he's doing the next thing. 

He loves the Word of God and has been diligently studying it for most of the year. Gabriel has really enjoyed his Hebrew/Greek/English Bible and is slowly learning the original language as he uses other supplemental sources to learn. He also loves to pray and prays for whatever is said that needs prayer. He loves to pray for our missionaries everyday! He's working on memorizing James with the rest of the family. During Bible and Breakfast, he's always asking questions and is eager to learn and make connections. It's incredible to see what God is already doing in his young life.

We are so blessed and so thankful for our sweet Gabriel! He adds so much joy and laughter to our family and home. 

Father, we thank You so much for Gabriel and that You have given this precious son to our family. He is such a joy and adds life as he continues to learn how to live from Your Word. Please continue to grow him in wisdom, in stature and in favor with God and man as he goes throughout his life. You are already working so much on his heart and it blows us away. Thank You for his desire to learn and help and do what needs to be done. Thank You for the love and care for others You have instilled in him. Grow him ever more in these things and make him more like Jesus everyday. We pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus! Amen!

A Full Season

 We've been a little lax on updates over the past few months. God has been working in mighty ways in our home, and the blog posts have not gotten done. Right now our family is learning and growing and so much of that is done hands on or in other parts of the internet. 

Our biggest news right now is that we're expecting our 11th special blessing in February! 

While not completely expected, we are so thrilled that God has given us another arrow in our quiver to teach and train in the fear of the LORD! Our other children are so excited to have a new sibling and they talk about the new baby all of the time. While the pregnancy has been normal, it's also been taxing. We're all having to work together in ways we hadn't before and all of us are growing in what it means to work hard as unto the LORD and work together for the glory of God and the good of the family. It's about 12 weeks before this little one is born and we are excited for the time to come to meet this new addition. 

With our precious gift on the way, we are in the market for a bigger van. Right now it is proving difficult to find what we need used. If you are aware of any 15 passenger vans for sale, please let us know! The way the market is with everything going on in the world we may end up needing to buy new, which is unnerving, but we know God will provide exactly what we need. 

This year God has also been working on us in building a family ministry business under our name here: The Manor Manor. While still in the beginning growing stages of this endeavor, we are reaching out and growing our email list. We will be encompassing many areas under this umbrella, including Childbirth Conversations, Psalm 127 Ministry and Emmie Beth Manor (my author site). We will continue to consult for Norwex and for essential oils as well. 

The Manor Manor will encourage and help families with discipleship all the way through life, healthy, natural living, childbirth education and beyond. Right now we're really focusing on discipleship with our Bible and Breakfast Template. We would love to have you join us on this journey by getting your Bible and Breakfast Template and joining our mailing list. If you know anyone that would benefit from what we're offering please pass the word along. We want to serve families well and prepare them for the climate change that is coming. We have Bible studies in the works for families that will be available in the next few months. We're so excited about what God is doing! 

Other ways you can support us in this would be following us:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheManorManor
https://www.facebook.com/EmmieManorNorwexConsultant
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/themanor.manor/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCp5zGCSuqmvvWo5-kHusWlw

We're still building these, but we would love you along for the journey!

This Saturday at 1 PM ET we are also part of a Christmas Bazaar and we would love to have you come and see the amazing Black Friday Offers that our friends will be sharing. There are some amazing products available! You can register for the Bazaar Here: https://handprintlegacy.com/christmasbazaar

Lillian is also working toward fulling launching her bakery in the new year. She has had a consistent customer this year, which has been a huge blessing for her getting practice as well as a few other customers throughout the year. We will be building her website and page in the months to come. 

Yes, life is full right now! We continue to teach and train our children at home, Jim is still working full time at Piedmont in the PACU and we're rearranging and purging our home to make our home function better for our growing family. But it is good. God is good and He is teaching us how to live in what He has called us to even though it doesn't look at all like we expected! 

Thank you for being a part of our journey! We couldn't do it without you!