About Where Your Treasure Is

Let me share a little of my "treasure" with you as I tell you about my life. This is Steve, my hubby. We are High school Sweet Hearts and Life Long Friends. He is my "knight in shining armor". We celebrated 33 years of marriage when this picture was taken in November 2012.

We have 7 children. These are our first 4 when they were little munchkins.

And this is all of us a few years later.

Our first four children are 2 years apart, starting with Nathan, then Luke, then the girls; who are twins. Elizabeth is on the left and Marie is on the right.

In 2006 we grew a little larger. We adopted 3 children from Russia. They are siblings. Their names are Russell, Olga and Eddie. They were 15, 14, and 10 years old (respectively) when we adopted them. This is all of us at the train station in Russia after our first visit to see them. The little girl that Steve has his arm around is a friend of Olga's, and the lady next to Steve was one of our precious aides in the adoption process.

These 3 pictures are taken 3 years later.

Laughter... its my favorite sound.

Our first four kids grew up and some of them got married.... and started having their own little munchkins. Our oldest son Nathan and his wife Himilce and their little boys Elon and Asher are with us here. 

Elizabeth and Benjamin got married a few years after Nathan and Himilce got married. From left to right, back to front. Our second son Luke (24 years old), our daughter Marie, (22 years old), my husband Steve, myself, our daughter Elizabeth, (22 years old), her husband Benjamin (26 years old), Kathy, Dad, our son Nathan (26 years old), bottom left, our daughter Olga (15 years old), Mom (Steve's Mom), our son Eddie, (11 years old), our grandson Elon (6 months old), our daughter in law Himilce (26 years old), and our son, Russell (16 years old).


At Elizabeth's wedding, Marie got to know Jon better. Jon is Benjamin's brother. Benjamin is Elizabeth's husband. Less than a year later, Marie and Jon got married. Life is interesting and beautiful isn't it?


Marie and Jon were the next to have a baby. Here he is little Zane and I. He was born a month after little Asher (Nathan and Himilce's second),



Elizabeth and Benjamin had our fourth grandson 7 months after little Zane was born, and almost a year after that, came little Ezra, Marie and Jon's second(are you loosing track of them all yet?). Here we all are together (almost all of us. Jon could not be in this picture, nor could Russell, but it was the closest thing to having all of us together since Jon and Marie's wedding). Nathan and Himilce and their family live in North Carolina now, Luke lives in Oregon, Elizabeth and Benjamin and Marie and Jon and their families all live in Florida... right next door to each other. Russell is in the Navy but lives most of the time in California, Olga lives in Phoenix, and Eddie is still home with us right here in Colorado.

Five Precious Grandsons....

and now a little Granddaughter.

Faith, family, and home have been the center of who we are. We taught our children at home and worked from home as often as we were able to.   We have lived a country life most of our married life, having livestock, chickens, and gardens much of that time. We love wholesome "real" food, and have become interested in the permaculture aspect of raising food in the last few years. Most of our children have pursued a lifestyle like they had growing up and we have had the delight of sharing ideas and knowledge with each other. To be able to say that our children are our best friends is to us, the greatest success of a lifestyle that is centered around Faith, family and home. I hope you feel  at home yourself, as you read the bits and pieces of our story, and share some of the recipes we have found for life and living.


"Treasure" has become one of the themes on this blog (evident by the blog title and address right?), so here is what I have learned about treasure as I have gone along. The dictionary defines treasure as wealth, rich materials or valuable things; anything or person greatly valued or highly prized. The Bible has many references to the word "treasure", and refers to it as silver, gold, spices, fine oil, armor, holy vessels, wisdom, knowledge and the Holy Spirit. It speaks of ill-gotten treasure, treasure on earth and treasure in heaven, treasure in our hearts, treasure in the ground, hidden treasure and found treasure. Throughout the Old Testament, God refers to His people as His treasure or His treasured possession. I love to think of God treasuring us. In the New Testament, God gave us His most precious treasure, His Son Jesus so we could become a part of His eternal treasure . Then He placed His Holy Spirit in us so that we could be transformed,  (II Corinthians 4:7),  by Him.  We are reminded that we are the earthen vessels.and that we are containers for Holy Spirit.   We are ordinary; He is  extraordinary; He is the treasure.  That is a treasure I am still learning about, and discovering a greater revelation of all the time.


Jesus said in Matthew 6:19; “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.  But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. I think of treasure as something I delight in. When I sat down and consciously thought about the things I delight in, most of my list was a list of eternal things and had to do with relationships and friendships. A few things were material things, such as teacups, antiques, books and art, little things, beautiful things. I hope to make this blog a scrapbook of treasure.  The treasure of  living the life He has given me and allowing His light to shine through, by sharing friendship, encouragement, ideas, joy and love.  I hope you will be blessed as you read.