And the winner is...

...well, to be quite honest we had a difficult time "randomly" choosing a winner. Each persons story made us laugh and we enjoyed reading your favorite quotes!

Our special favorite story was from Becca,

"For my comical memory: One day our neighbor gave us a great big stuffed monster. It was about six-feet long and orange with big purple polka-dots. It was stuffed tightly with little Styrofoam balls. Mama said we must throw it away because it might pop and make a mess. So we put it in our garbage dumpster, but it didn’t fit! Its head stuck out and made it look like Oscar the Grouch. Later, our other neighbors’ cleaning ladies saw it. They squealed and took it away!"

And our favorite quote was from our friend Joseph,

"There is no disgrace in a failure, only in a failure to try."

-Theodore Roosevelt

In the end we decided for Mom to pick names out of a hat, and she pulled out...

Laura Pedersen from We the Pedersens!

Thank you for reading and commenting Laura! We loved reading your entry!

You will be hearing from us about getting your special, mysterious prize :)

New Email

Due to some technical difficulties, our old email wasn't quite doing its job. So if you have emailed us at anytime during the past year and we didn't respond, it's probably because we didn't get it. We're so sorry about this but are happy to report that The Pickwick Portfolio has a new email! You can now contact us at devotedlittlewomen@yahoo.com.

Thanks again for reading our blog!

In Christ,

Micaela

Brazos Bend Camping Pictures...

Some would call it crazy, others would call it cool or scary , and some say interesting, but yes, we did go camping to Brazos Bend State Park. Being in charge of the camping pictures, I, after much thinking and hard decisions, present the camping pictures.

Day one:

Our campsite.

Elena and Lisa on the trail.

We saw this snake on the side of the trail and it was eating a dead frog.

Up on the Observation tower, looking at the view.

Alligator!

Ms. Lisa and Isaac.

These spiders were everywhere along the trail.

These are called Golden silk orb-weaver spiders, or I have heard that they are also called banana spiders.

There were several of these nests in the ceiling of a covered little balcony that is on the side of the trail which overlooks one of the lakes.

As we were drove into our campsite coming from a long walk, we had our first encounter with our charming neighbors: the raccoons.

Day two.
Laura helping to swing John.

A blue heron.

Can you find the alligator? Its tail and head?
Well, you can see that Ray Wade was very close to it.

Family picture with Ms. Lisa. :)

The Pedersen family all in a row.

Going home, wet and cold.

But I have to say it was pretty fun. :)

The Big 200 and a special giveaway!: celebrated mostly in pictures.

Well, we have done it; after starting this blog in August of last year, we have come quite a bit from our first few posts. It has been so fun to be able to share each of our different trials, lessons, and joys. It's wonderful to be able to look back and see the maturity and growth in each post.

Here are some pictures taken this weekend.

Thank you so much for reading and contributing to our blogging experience! Each of us enjoy posting and

We hope that the Lord will continue to be glorified in future posts and that you would continue to read and comment!

In celebration of this goal reached and an expression of our own excitement at writing 200 posts, we would like to send someone a special surprise! To enter this giveaway please write us one (or more) of the following:

~Your favorite quote

~Most comical memory

~Unique way you are being industrious in your home

You have until midnight of the 17th of October (or this Saturday) to send us one of the above! Then we will announce the winner that next Monday. So hurry and get your contributions sent in before midnight on Saturday!

Isn't this exciting? :)

*Correction: please leave a comment to enter the giveaway; our email address is temporarily unavailable.

Insightful Help For A Grieving Friend

"I would go to the deep a hundred times to cheer a downcast spirit.
It is good for me to have been afflicted, that I might know how to speak a word in season to one that is weary."
~Charles H. Spurgeon

There are some things that I cannot yet understand about people and events. In the past year, I have had a few dear friends and sisters in the Lord experience a miscarriage, a word that I have come to define as, "A pregnancy that the Lord chose not to bring to fruition."

As I am still unmarried, I don't yet understand that loss or grief. But watching these families go through this has made me hope and pray that if God should see fit to bring me through something like, I would still rejoice through the pain and say with the author of Lamentations,

"But this I call to mind,and therefore I have hope:
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness..."

Lamentations 3

Have you ever thought about that before?
In light of this, here is a wonderful and helpful post by Molly Piper on the subject.
It helped me have an alternative to the "helpless" feeling I had when thinking of comforting my grieving friends. And to quote:

But what if we said, “Wow, I have no idea what they’re going through. Here’s a book about it. That’ll help me understand them better, hopefully.” You can equip yourselves to love hurting people! This will give you mileage in communicating and relating with the brokenhearted if you can join them in their brokenheartedness. It’ll help you cry a few more tears for the one who hasn’t stopped crying.

Verse of the Week

O LORD, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.
Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, "Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night," even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.
For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you,when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.
How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you.
Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God! O men of blood, depart from me! They speak against you with malicious intent; your enemies take your name in vain! Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you? I hate them with complete hatred; I count them my enemies.
Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!

~Psalm 139

The Munchkins

Play'in the Rain