The Chad Vest Family

Christmas Card 2010

2010-11-02T20:49:00.001-04:00

Traditional Damask Red Christmas

Shop Shutterfly for elegant custom Christmas photo cards.

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Family Gathering

2010-03-27T11:51:00.002-04:00

All of the Vest Clan got together last week because Papa was here for Pastors' School as well as to see the family. With 20 grandchildren plus adults, there was never a dull moment! Many games were played, children went swimming, balls thrown, fun had. Here are a few collages that I put together so far....

All 20 Grandchildren!!!

So there you have it! A great family trip, though I'm not sure how ready I am to do it again any time soon--especially with a newborn! ;)

Our Newest Addition

2010-03-08T08:28:00.002-05:00

On Monday, February 8th, at 12:45 a.m. our newest little addition made her appearance into the world! She weighed 8 pounds even and was 20 inches long. She is a joy to her mother (I don't think I have ever bonded with a baby quite like this one. She's a month old and still sleeping in my room--something I have NEVER done!) as well as the rest of the family. She'll be spoiled for sure!

When I downloaded the pictures, I forgot that you have to do them backwards, so the last picture should be the first.

Our Sweet Little Katherine Lea a.k.a. "Lady Kate"

Big Brother Tyler kissing Katherine :)

Daddy was weighing Katherine with my midwife Cathy in the front left, my mom looking next to Chad, and Cathy's daughter Lisa looking on in the background. I couldn't ask for a better midwife than Cathy. She delivered 6 of my 8 children, and I love her to pieces!

Katherine at less than 2 hours old

2009-10-25T21:01:00.000-04:00

We had some family pictures taken at the church last Saturday, and were very pleased with the way they turned out! If you're a family member that would like a copy of your own, please comment or email us and let us know what size you would like! (Merry Christmas!!)

We have had a busy last couple of months with school starting and all that entails. I was helping out quite a bit at the school but have just begun to back way down in an effort to be at home with the two boys more. Derek is quite a challenging three-year-old and really needs his Momma! Pray that I can figure out how to channel his energy!

Lauren woke up with a headache this morning, and when I questioned her as to where her head hurt, she pointed to both the front and back of her head. So, though she didn't have a fever at the time, I knew that she was legitimately ill. I'm so glad that I kept her home because she started running a fever shortly thereafter. I finally caved in around 7:00 and gave her some Motrin to help her be more comfortable because her head was hurting so badly.

Derek also has pink eye, I think. At least his one eye is making us all wince every time we look at him!

We have had four birthdays in the last month and a half and have celebrated at least half of them!

The baby is doing fine as of my last check-up (actually my first check-up) and I am scheduled to have another appointment on Thursday, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to go because the car died on me on my way home from church after children's choir. I was supposed to get home in time for Chad to be able to get to church on time, but that didn't happen. The car died at a light, and I had absolutely no power for hazards or anything, so I nearly got hit by a car from behind. Thankfully, a church member and friend stopped with his dad and took me to get a chain and pulled the car home for us! They were definitely an answer to my prayers!

I hope you all are doing well, and I will try to post a little more faithfully, but I can't make any promises at this point! :)

Please Join Me in Prayer

2009-08-21T06:53:00.002-04:00

Please pray for three families on our church. A young married man, Dan Firman, and three teen boys were on their way home from work when they were involved in a serious accident. Three of them were killed instantly and the other one is still hanging in the balances, but it is not looking good at all. Dan's wife is expecting their first child in January; his brother was two cars behind them and saw the whole thing. I'm sure he's still in shock. Two of the boys were brothers, the oldest two of 6 children. Their mother said she lost the one who took care of her (the oldest who just graduated from high school this year) and the one who made her laugh (he was going to be a junior this year).

We are having a prayer meeting at 11:00 this morning at our church. Would you join us in prayer for these families? Right now they are in the bubble of God's grace, which will hold them up and carry them through the next few days of decisions and family and funeral. The next weeks and months will be harder as day to day life tries to "settle in" unsuccessfully.

Our teenagers at our church are really having a difficult time, and I covet prayers for them. They have had quite a difficult year and seem to really be questioning how God could allow this to happen. All of these young men had superb testimonies and loved God.

Thank you for praying.

Thoughts on our Country Today

2009-07-28T09:11:00.003-04:00

Well, you really can't click to look inside--at least not on my blog, but I thought this the easiest way to share the picture of the book I am nearly finished reading. I began it on Sunday night and have been reading it every chance I can get. Attorney David Gibbs, III recently preached at our church, and my husband purchased this book. Since I've been feeling so poorly, I really haven't been doing much reading, but this book has been calling to me ever since he let us in on a few of the details of her case during our church service.

I remember hearing about the case when it was in progress. I remember thinking that she should be allowed to live. I remember hastily offering up a token prayer or to that folks would change their minds. I remember now that I was too self-absorbed to really know or, dare I even say it, care what was truly happening in that poor woman's life.

Now I have read the entire story, and now I care. I care now, but now is a little too late. Or is it? The Terri Schaivo case was a terrible injustice, but more importantly than that, the day that Terri Schaivo died because the court ordered her feeding tube to be removed, thereby dehydrating and starving her to death, America sunk to a depth that I never thought I would see in my lifetime. We live in a scary country, right now. Our rights are being stripped away from us, one by one, while the politicians are trying to convince us that they only have our best interests in mind.

I am not now, nor will I ever be, on the political warpath. I am just a wife and a mother who has always loved her country and is now appalled at what she is becoming. What kind of America will my grandchildren live in twenty years from now if, in my lifetime, the killing of unborn children became legalized and a judge in one of the lowest courts in America ordered a perfectly healthy, disabled woman to be killed through means of dehydration/starvation because her husband, who had gone on with his life, no longer wished to care for her, even though her parents would have done anything to be able to care for her themselves?

What is our beloved country doing to itself? Where is our moral compass? Out the window with the mothers at work, I think. There is no one left at home to teach the children of America what is right and wrong, and those children are influencing our laws and policies. What can we do about it? I can stay home with my children and teach them the ways of God. And I can pray and teach my children to pray. Lining up on the streets of Washington, D.C. or outside an abortion clinic does little to change the hearts of those in power. But, we see in the book of Proverbs 21:1...

The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.

Any conservative Christian these days should be concerned about the state of our country. Concerned about our children's futures. Concerned, but not worried. God is still in control, and we mothers have the ability to do that thing that gets God's attention the most--PRAY! So, dear mothers and friends, PRAY! Pray like you have never prayed before. Pray for our country.

2009-07-18T15:04:00.002-04:00

FOR TODAY July 18...

Outside my window...
is another fall-like day--overcast, windy and chilly.

I am thinking...
that I am ready to be done feeling sick but realize that I have ten more weeks before I'm feeling "normal" again. Maybe in 5 or 6 I'll begin to feel better...

I am thankful for...
my dear, sweet husband who is bringing me a Turkey Bacon Ranch sandwich from Arby's!

From the kitchen...
not much is going on in the kitchen on my end these days, but the three older children are making themselves bacon, egg and cheese sandwiches for lunch (after feeding the younger ones pb&J :) )
I am wearing...
a jean skirt, a short-sleeved orange sweater, and a green cardigan while being wrapped up in a down-filled blanket!

I am creating...
a new little life.

I am going...
nowhere and doing nothing. I'm such a homebody these days.

I am reading...
nothing but my Bible lately. Reading has a tendency to make my head swim.

I am hoping...
that my hubby is able to spend some time with us today.

I am hearing...
children laughing and giggling and being silly while they do their chores and eat cherries that a friend from church just dropped off.

Around the house...
things are looking pretty good. Clothing is slowly being sorted through and organized. Chad is plodding along at getting things fixed up to sell.

One of my favorite things...
a Jamocha Shake from Arby's!

A few plans for the rest of the week:
Not too much, really. Too sick to do much, so we just spend time together as a family here at the old homestead!

Potty Training Help!!!

2009-07-14T15:25:00.002-04:00

No picture this time, but I sure do need some advice! Derek turns 3 in September, just two short months away, and he has yet to use the toilet. Every once in awhile he "accidentally" goes, such as before a bath, but not consistently. So, yesterday, we decided it was time to begin (after weeks of discussing it with him). I bought several new pairs of training pants and plastic pants and came home armed with two cushy toilet seats for the big toilets and M&Ms and AirHeads for rewards. After toilet training 5 children, you'd think I'd have a little idea of how to do this, but NOTHING seems to be working. He has not successfully gone even one time on the toilet. We finally took the training pants off, put one of the boys' shirts on him so he's "covered" and have let him run around "in the buff" so to speak. Still nothing. I'm beginning to get very frustrated at this little guy. :)

I read somewhere that children who begin talking late will also potty train late. Has anyone actually found that to be a true statement? Derek has only been talking for about 3 1/2 months or so. (if that)

Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

2009-07-07T09:26:00.000-04:00

Tiny, little life
Growing deep within my womb
Making me so ill.

Someday soon you’ll be
Snuggled by your family
Oh, how we’ll love you!

9 weeks, 2 days

Two FUN Days at the Lake

2009-06-27T10:49:00.006-04:00

Well, we had two truly fun days at a small little (pretty private) lake that we like to go to. The first day we (the children and mommy) went alone; the second day Daddy decided he wanted to tag along. What a special treat!

Tyler here playing in the water. He stayed in all day and ended up with a little bit of a burn on his little back despite the enormous amounts of sun block I slathered all over him! The next day he wore a shirt! :)

Brian exploring along the lake's edge.

Budge holding up his great find. Elisabeth, Budge, Brian and Daddy headed across the lake to look for wildlife. They came back with three turtles and a frog. A few minutes later, Budge found another frog.

The total wildlife catch for the day! (Within minutes of being home, the two frogs escaped!)

Budge looking for....???

Tyler "scootched" about ten feet away from me and the blanket to make his way down a slope to the water's edge. On the way back up, he lost his balance and toppled backwards. :)

Drinking from a "big boy" cup!

Meagan's and Lauren's Sand Castle

*Notice the seashell flag!

Derek holding the "big turtle."

An up close view

Brian, Big Turtle, Little Turtle

(Please disregard the legs in the background!!! lol)
Tyler wants to get in on the action!

Yes, that's a frog on his head.

We took about 100 snapshots to get just this one of the frog actually jumping!!!

Derek squishing (oops! I mean holding) the frog.

And my favorite picture of the entire two days....

Brian and Tyler

Tyler had gotten a little sand in his shorts, and Brian took him in to rinse him off.

"Don't you dare bring that thing into the house!!"

2009-06-20T16:49:00.003-04:00

That's what I heard coming out of Elisabeth's mouth from my perch on the couch after she had come running in and slammed the screen door behind her (of course waking up the baby!). "What's going on?" I demanded. Her reply? "Budge has a chipmunk in his hands!" That was the last thing I expected her to say, but that is what she said, and he was on his way into the house with it. At least he had one glove on his hand, though the thing still could have bit him. Of course, five minutes after he put the chipmunk into the box, he escaped, and we haven't seen him again. (I am so very sad about that!)

Hope you're enjoying your summer. I'll try to post more regularly.

The Moment I Saw You....

2009-06-04T23:35:00.004-04:00

I wanted to hold you

And keep you warm on a cold, grey morn'.

The moment I held you I wanted to kiss you,

And welcome you here on the day you were born.

Today our oldest turned 12. I can remember the day she was born as if it were yesterday, it seems. I remember finding out about her and going through all of the "firsts." There are so many things I remember when thinking of Elisabeth Joy...

~ I remember that she was screaming before she had completely entered the world.

~ She cried for the first 12 weeks of her life!

~ One day all of the crying ceased, and she was the happiest baby I have ever had!!

~ She has always been very content.

~ She talked very early, and one of our favorite words was "flowsh" for "flowers."

~ She has always been a caring person, looking for ways to give to others.

~ Elisabeth is happy alone or in a crowd. She's very flexible.

~ Elisabeth loves to sing.

~ Elisabeth loves babies, and she's very good with them.

The list could go on and on. The fact is, our home would never be what it is today without her. She is always giving and doing for others. If she's not taking care of one of the babies, then she is probably cleaning somewhere or playing house with her little sisters, and enjoying it. She is kind to others. She has one of the prettiest smiles I have ever seen!

Elisabeth enters 7th grade this year, and, yes, her parents are a little bit (okay, a lot) frightened. Daddy is rearranging much of his schedule to be wherever she is. I love that. I love that my man has a strong desire to protect the innocence of our daughters and sons. I love that she loves him and wants him to protect her and willingly and cheerfully goes along with everything Daddy says. She loves him with all her heart.

Her birthday was today. I can't believe she is getting so big. We went back and forth for several years about whether or not to allow the girls to get their ears pierced. Daddy said it was okay once they turned twelve, so that was one of her birthday presents--along with about 20 new (used) books!!

Practicing the Piano this Morning

Getting ready to leave on a "date" with Daddy. Daddy took her to a nice restaurant tonight to show her how special she is. Then they went for a drive. When they came home, we had ice cream cake and opened presents.

A sailor dress we bought at Easter time, but she thankfully had forgotten about it!

Nothing birthday related, but these are some of my bleeding hearts in my garden today. I love them. They might be my favorite flower, but then again, I have so many favorite flowers! :)

Tyler sharing his snack with Budge.

I am so thankful that God allowed Elisabeth to be a part of our lives. She is truly a "Joy" to have around. She is one of the hardest-working, most willing servants I have ever known. God has truly blessed our home with her presence.

2009-06-04T02:05:00.002-04:00

Very quickly, as it is very late....

The new header of the tulips was taken in Petoskey, Michigan at a little park where the elementary school children ate lunch on the Bike-a-thon a couple of weeks ago. I am so behind on blogging. Chad asked me to make it my new header, and I really like it now that I've done it. Doesn't Meagan look so sweet? Too bad tulips don't smell as pretty as they look! :)

New Wheels!

2009-05-31T22:42:00.002-04:00

Chad's van has been dying a slow death these last couple of weeks, so he has been hunting for a new vehicle. He waffled back and forth about what to buy--another van, another Yukon, a truck of some kind. We needed a way for him to transport the children to school as well as having a way to transport tools for work. He finally settled on this Chevy Avalanche. He's never really had a nice car since we've been married--just "junky" work vans.

Now that we have this new truck, I am trying to tell Chad that the most logical thing for him to do once school starts is to leave the truck at home with me and the two little boys and take the Yukon with the five other school-aged children. :) Seriously, there's only three of us and 6 of them!!

Chad getting ready to leave to buy the new truck. He came to me right before he was ready and said, "I was just thinking about my mom. She would have taken a picture of me leaving to get my new truck." So, I thought he probably wanted me to do just that!!

The old beast!

All the stuff that was in Chad's van, haphazardly piled in the garage awaiting a new home!

Checking out the new wheels!

Chad with his new Chevy Avalanche!!! (oops, I mean my new Avalanche!) :)

Midnight Ramblings...

2009-05-21T00:08:00.000-04:00

Oh, my, am I tired! I have lots of pictures to share, but that will have to come another day. I have many thoughts floating around in my head, but I haven't had the time to bring them to complete fruition, so I cannot share them today. I am falling asleep as I type this, but I miss sharing, so here I am. :)

We went straight from our week of Camp Meeting, which starts early in the morning and lasts until late at night, right into the final week of school, which is full of activities and extra duties. We have had picnics, long bike-a-thons, friends staying over while parents are away, trips to Cedar Point, and many other things going on. I can't wait until summer is here...just a couple of days and we will be able to breathe so much easier!!

We heard some fantastic sermons during camp meeting, but my favorite was the first one that I heard on Monday evening by Pastor Larry Brown from Iowa. He preached about submission in a way that I had never heard before, and it brought me under such deep conviction. Wow! I will never forget it. Someday I'll share it, but for now I just keep mulling it over and over in my mind trying to put it into practice and most often failing miserably.

Please pray for the family of a little four-year-old boy by the name of Josiah Herring who passed away this morning after a brief battle with an incurable brain tumor. Such a sad little story. I know those parents and family members must be hurting so deeply right now. I cannot imagine losing a child. The pain and emptiness and aching... But God's grace is always there when we need to help us deal with the hurt and loss. If you have children, take some extra time today to hug them and love on them. We never know what tomorrow may hold, so we need to seize the opportunities today! Opportunities to love.

2009-05-14T00:22:00.000-04:00

So sorry, folks. This is Camp Meeting week here at Grace Baptist, and we are so very, very busy! We've had 6 extra people in the houses, gift baskets to shop for, make, and deliver, morning and evening services to attend, activities to run, desserts to make, meals to eat, friends to fellowship with, etc. It's been fun, but exhausting. I'll fill you in on the entire experience in a few days. I hope you are all having a super week.

Some thoughts on being a wife...

2009-05-07T23:05:00.002-04:00

I've been doing a lot of contemplating lately about marriage and being a wife. When I as a little girl (and even a big girl for that matter!), I used to dream about being married. I would dream about long walks through crunchy leaves sharing our most intimate thoughts. I would dream about beautifully clean, well-behaved, genius children who slept through the night from the day they were born and never disobeyed. I would dream about serving the Lord together with the most wonderful people in the world. I would imagine that my husband would want to spend every waking minute with me. That's what I always imagined marriage to be: two people who spent all of their time together and never tired of one another for even a second.

The truth is that we do desire to spend a great deal of time together. We occasionally are able to take long, leisurely walks together through crunchy leaves. We love one another dearly. Life, however, takes a lot of work. Much of that works take place separately from one another, which makes the times together so much sweeter. Of course, these times together occur on a daily basis, some for longer periods of time than others, but daily we have sweet fellowship.

So often, wives tend to be weak and needy. I am married to a man who serves in the ministry, meaning that he is very busy. In addition to the ministry, he spends a lot of time painting to provide for his family. There are times when he works many hours in a day, and then there are times when he can be home for several hours in the evening. I have responsibilities at home, at school, and at church. We often work together. I love my life. More importantly, I love his life and the fact that God is using him. I don't ever want that to change. And I certainly don't want to limit Chad's ministry because I am not strong enough to allow him to be gone and to be used. He takes care of me. God takes care of me. I am a happy, happy woman!

One of the perks of being married to the principal is getting to spend a week with him on the Senior Trip! We ate at a Japanese Steak House one evening, and Tyler was fussing quite a bit. The chef kept saying, "I have egg fo' you! See yo' egg?" So here's Tyler eating his very first egg ever--in a Japanese restaurant!

Getting to spend some quality time with my man and my baby at Laurel Falls in Gatlinburg, TN!

The Great Smoky Mountains

Tyler on the World's Biggest Chair at Ripley's Can You Believe It or Not!
(make sure you click on both pictures to make them larger and look at the expressions on his face!)

I hope that everything I said made some kind of sense. I'm just trying to say that as women we need to be strong, strong enough to enable our men to do what God intended them to do. After all, we were put on this earth to complete our men. That's our sole purpose in life. We are the last piece of their puzzle. My prayer for the next few weeks is to be whatever my man needs, to be his strength.

2009-05-06T07:23:00.004-04:00

Well, I *try* not to steal too many ideas from others, but I just couldn't resist this one. Amy just had a little chat with us last night, and I loved it! Sometimes I just want to sit and chat over a hot cup of tea, or, like yesterday, a tall glass of sweet tea! Sometimes I'll sit down at the computer to "just check a few things," and half an hour later I'm still there because I get so caught up in checking to see how all of my "friends" are doing. Amy has such beautiful pictures of their spring all abloom. We here in Up North Michigan are still waiting, though we do have a few daffodils and tulips blooming. Don't you just love to see the apple trees and the weeping cherries in bloom? They are so beautiful!

The two boys and I have spent the last two evenings raking and working in the backyard. You see, somehow, we never get around to raking in the fall when you're supposed to rake and generally clean up the yard. Winter tends to take us off guard every year and before we know it, the snow has blanketed the yard in white and we can no longer see the mess that we left, so we just leave it for the spring! Terrible, isn't it? Slowly but surely the yard work is getting done, and my arms and shoulders are sooo sore, but it feels fantastic!

A couple of weeks ago we went on the Senior Trip to Gatlinburg, Tennessee. I didn't really take very many pictures because we were so busy with the baby and the "children" :), but I did take a select few.

I often allow myself to dream of simpler times--I know there was a lot more work involved in day-to-day living as far as laundry and cooking, etc. but I just mean the fact that there so few things that pulled at folks from the outside. Not such a push to do more outside of the home. We were in Cade's Cove, and there was a little house with a view.....

I can just picture my children running through that yard with the cows lowing in the background and the creek babbling (yes, there is a creek running through the left-hand side) and the mill grinding corn, which it was doing the day we visited. And my garden growing in the corner. We don't have a very big yard here, and it has been increasingly harder to be able to grow anything. I'm trying to think of who I can beg, borrow, or steal a plot of ground from, but so far I've come up empty. Maybe at church tonight I'll look around and see who might like to share their earth. ;) I have a friend that I know would do it, but she lives about an hour away, so...I think that's a little too far to keep up with weeding and so forth.

Do you drool over your flower and seed catalogs like I do? They start pouring in around January, and I safely hoard them in a drawer and pull them out and dream about what I would order if I could order anything and everything I wanted. And then I take the $25 gift certificate that they give me and order exactly $25 for free, which has really added up over the years. Last year a woman knocked on my door simply to tell me that she loves walking by my front garden every day because it's so beautiful! What deep contentment I feel when I'm pulling weeds in my flowers. This year, though, we are starting from scratch on a certain tree. We had some kind of ornamental crab that a dear friend pruned to death because she hated it, so we decided to just pull it out altogether and replace it. I'm just not sure that the replacement survived our very long, very cold winter, so I may have to replace it again. We'll see.

Tyler is 12 1/2 months old now, and I am thoroughly enjoying his babyhood. He still does not crawl, but he is getting around quite well by scootching around on his bottom. It's the funniest thing--I wish you all could see it.

Life is just so very good. God has truly blessed all of us, hasn't He? Whatever our situation in life at this very moment, we can see the evidence of His hand in all of it. Even when things don't seem to be going our way, there is a purpose. Press on. Don't give up. Persevere. Joy does come in the morning. And so do new flowers. And dew. And sunlight. And fresh starts.

I am in the planning stages of summer vacation already. I love the planning and preparation of things. Chad and I are planning a few days of vacation--just the two of us--and we have been planning. Yesterday we purchased the airfare and reserved a rental car. I'm so excited; I'm as giddy as a school girl! Then I am planning how to keep my children from forgetting everything they have learned this school year. Last year I purchased summer workbooks from Sam's Club that really seemed to help. Elisabeth told me this morning that she enjoyed doing her book and that she felt like she was several steps ahead of the other students when she went back to school in the fall.

Speaking of Elisabeth, she is turning 12 next month and officially entering the youth group, something that I'm not sure I'm terribly excited about. Chad and I have already decided that one of us will be chaperoning any activity that she attends!

Well, I guess this one-sided chat has lasted long enough. I would love to hear from you--find out what you are doing and thinking. I can tell that many people regularly check my blog, but I don't know who most of you are because you don't comment. Maybe you don't know how, or maybe you're just too busy--you just check the blog and go. Whatever your case may be, I would relish and cherish a comment from you. You are all important to me and keep me blogging!

Enjoy your day today--it's the only day you have!

Two Birthdays and a Visit

2009-05-02T16:26:00.007-04:00

Sunday, April 19th, was Meagan's birthday and Wednesday, April 22nd, was Tyler's birthday. Because we were leaving for the Senior Trip on Sunday morning immediately after church, we decided to celebrate both birthdays on Saturday evening when my mom and her husband David were going to be visiting. We had an intense week prior to Saturday because we needed to have everyone packed for a week away from home before the company arrived, in addition to birthday preparations, paper route, Sunday morning prep, and all that good stuff. When they arrived in town, the boys and I were still doing the paper route.

After visiting for a few minutes, we walked over to the middle school behind our house to play four square. A couple of months ago I substituted at the school and taught the kids how to play. Now they love it and sometimes you'll even catch some high school students playing in the parking lot!

Here's Derek playing tether ball with David.

Grandma Smith, Lauren, and Tyler at the park

Grandma and Ty

The Birthday Girl, Meagan

The Birthday Celebration

A new princess umbrella

The end of his first cake eating experience!

Me and my mom

The gang all ready for church on Sunday morning

Chad, Amanda, Mom, David

Tyler eating his 1st birthday cake

I am so thankful for my family. I am also so incredibly thankful that God charted the course of my life. My mom and dad had me very young, and I have spent several years not even having any contact at all with my mom. At times I wished that I had a mother, but I would never trade the way that my life turned out. God had His hand on my life, and all things did indeed work out for good. I am also thankful that God has allowed me to have a relationship with my mom again, though.

Enjoying Spring

2009-05-02T00:04:00.002-04:00

My goodness, life has been so busy lately; and I don't think that it is going to slow down at all until sometime mid-June. It's crazy the last couple of months of school with end of year programs, senior trip, our church's annual camp meeting, graduations, field trips, etc.

The week before we left for the senior trip was so busy. We had school programs the two Fridays before the Senior Trip, my mom and her husband were coming for a visit the Saturday before we left, and I had to have all 9 of us packed and ready to go Sunday morning when we left for church. Needless to say, it was a crazy week. However, on the Thursday before we left, the weather was so beautiful that the three children who were home with me decided that we would just leave everything until later and go enjoy the afternoon at the park.

Everyone at home, even the dog, went to the park. Derek started out riding his new little scooter.

The sky was just so beautiful that I had to capture it forever in my memory.

Notice Derek's scooter all folded up in the bottom of the stroller--his legs gave out after about 5 minutes! :) He insisted on pushing the stroller all by himself.

Tyler's first ride in a swing. Last summer he was just tiny.

Lauren enjoyed swinging so much.

After Daddy and the children arived home from school, we all went for a bike ride and ate at Dairy Queen. Here's Tyler and Derek in the little trailer.

Isn't he sooooo handsome?!

I have so many pictures to share and stories to tell. We have been living life to the fullest these last few weeks. Please be patient as I try to get back on track!!!

2009-04-16T12:53:00.002-04:00

And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

Matthew 25:40

Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.

Matthew 25:45

My first thought this morning, before I had even opened my eyes, was "If ye have done it unto the least of these, ye have done it unto me." This thought came as a part of a dream, when I was beginning to wake up, about changing a dirty diaper. So often we only think about helping the weak, the poor, the needy, etc. What we mothers do every day -- changing diapers, kissing boo boo's, listening to the same questions 20 times in a row, reading little books, folding laundry, scrubbing floors, washing dishing, cooking meals -- we are doing it all for the least of these, and so we are doing it for Christ. I don't know about you, but that simple thought has made my entire day feel so worthwhile!

What's Been Happening At Our House?

2009-04-14T08:39:00.007-04:00

We have been so busy lately, and I have had no internet connection; but everything is all fixed now. :) So, here is a very long awaited (I'm sure you have all been holding your breath in anticipation!) Vest family update!

Two weeks ago we had a family night and watched some old videos of Chad and I when we were teenagers. We watched our wedding video and a short video of Chad's mom with Mrs. Teller. It was so fun! The children really enjoyed seeing us, and we have never showed them that video of Grandma before. This picture is Budge and Tyler playing together during that movie night. Budge can get him to be happy and playful when no one else works!

That same night, Meagan lost her two front teeth. Actually, lost is too strong of a word. They were lose forever, it seems, but she wouldn't let Daddy try to pull them out. I'm afraid she gets that fear from me. I used to hang on to mine until they fell out of their own accord! Anyway, she was wrestling on the floor with Daddy, and they started to bleed because they were so loose. So, she sent us all downstairs and let Daddy finally pull those teeth after he promised her double money for both. So, the little stinker got $4 instead of just $2!

On Friday, April 3rd, the school had its Evening of Excellence. The third through sixth graders did a choric speaking piece. For as young as they are, they did a fantastic job! Everyone remembered their lines, and most remembered to say them with expression. A job well done! Elisabeth, Brian and Budge are all in this pic.

Elisabeth with one of her little friends from school. She was wearing a new little dress, and we curled her hair and put a little blush on. She felt like the bell of the ball.

Here's adorable little Meagan. She was so hilarious when she gave her part alone. I am trying to figure out how to cut out a portion of a DVD and upload it here. I could never convey just how hilarious she was without showing the DVD.

One morning I went in to check on Tyler, and this is what I found. Chad sleeps just like that quite often!;)

Our Easter Centerpiece

Our community has an Easter Egg Hunt for the kids through ten years old each year. We have never gone, but this year I promised the children we would, so we waited out in the cold for 30 minutes for the hunt to begin. It's not much of a hunt, as you can see all the eggs merely lying on the ground, but they get candy and some coupons for local businesses. There are three ages groups, and there is one Free Bike Coupon per age group.

Can you guess who won a bike?

?

Brian!!!

Budge won so many coupons for free things; I think his total was 7 or 8!

Our chiropractor's wife with Brian and his new bike. She and her husband provided the bikes.

Budge holding Derek is the only way we could get Derek even remotely close to the Bunny.

Coloring Easter Eggs

Is she hiding an egg in her jumper?

Derek kept stirring his eggs and then checking on them. :)

We had a very busy day on Saturday, and Elisabeth fell asleep rocking Tyler to sleep.

We are getting ready to go on the Senior Trip next week. Only Tyler is going with us, so the rest of the children are going to three different homes. It's hard to find anyone willing to care for 6 extra children!

I hope you are enjoying your spring. It's been pretty chilly here, but is supposed to be in the mid-fifties for much of the week. We have been playing a lot of four-square as a family. I introduced the children to it at school a few weeks ago, and they've been going strong at it. We even downloaded the official rules so that we would know how to play correctly!

Enjoy your day today!

Spring Break

2009-04-02T00:43:00.004-04:00

We were able to go to Houghton Lake over our Spring Break to a little waterpark there. We were the only ones there, and the kids thoroughly enjoyed themselves--except Lauren. She went under the water at the bottom of the water slide and was pretty traumatized after that. She pretty much stayed in the hot tub the whole time, but the hot tub was very large. We had such a nice time.

Derek was hiding in the shower curtain!

This was the morning view from our hotel room.

Birthday Celebration

2009-03-31T00:59:00.002-04:00

Last year our school started going to State Line's Fine Arts Competition, which, incidentally, has been on my birthday two years in a row. Last year the children and I stayed home but this year we went along to spend some time with Grandpa and Mikayla. I think Chad and I communicated less this year than we did last year, though we were technically together--at least in the same general location. Anyway, due to that event, we did not celebrate my birthday on my birthday. Saturday the 14th (my birthday is the 13th), the kids made me a special little lunch and decorated. Meagan colored me a little book; Elisabeth made a crown; Brian warmed up pork chops, and Budge made me a chocolate malt. Lauren, Derek and Tyler just hugged me extra :D. It was very special because they thought of it all on their own.

Friday, the 20th, Chad and the kids had a little party for me. Chad bought me three dresses from Dress Barn. He and Elisabeth made my favorite meal, Beef Stroganoff (and I have to say they did a better job than I normally do!). They decorated and even got me a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup ice cream cake from Dairy Queen. I felt like a queen, too. So sweet...

The children were fighting over who was going to hold my hand while walking downstairs (They made me hide in my room while they cooked and decorated); Budge and Meagan finally won out while the others pouted. In fact, Lauren didn't even come downstairs for about 10 minutes because she felt so badly about the whole thing.

The chocolate deliciousness!

Tyler enjoying the party

Lauren helped me blow out the multitude of candles (actually they were very kind and did not put all of them on the cake) :)

This is what happens when a baby boy has three older sisters

Quick little tidbits ;D

2009-03-29T16:29:00.003-04:00

Okay, I am committing to doing better at keeping up with my blog. I really do love it; we have just been so busy lately. But, things are never going to slow down, and I definitely want to make this a priority--for the grandparents' sake, especially! Besides the fact that I just love to talk no matter who may or may not be listening! :D

I am on my way to children's choir in just a few minutes.

Caramel Pecan Cinnamon Rolls are in the oven.

Brian and Budge have their friends the Griffins over for the last time before they head back to the Philippines tomorrow. They won't see them for several years. Budge and Matt will be teenagers the next time they meet. No more little boys. It makes me sad to think that far ahead. So, the boys got out of chores for the afternoon. Elisabeth griped a little bit, but I told her that the next time she has a friend over that she won't see for several years she won't have to do chores either!

We are just returning from spring break. We were actually home most of the time--spring cleaning. But we sure do feel good about the majority of the house now. Just a few more things to get done.

Please pray for my first midwife, Lynda Hitchcock. She brought my first two babies into this world and recently found out she has cancer in her breasts and bones. She is in the hospital with only 15% kidney function. We are unsure of her salvation. Please, please, please pray for her to be saved.

Now a few recent pics of interest. Tyler is so cute right now that most of my pictures tend to be of him. I'll do better here in the future with trying to get all of the children in.

Budge and Tyler

I always wanted a baby who played with their feet!!!

Derek helped me make Peanut Butter Blossoms. (Yes, I have taken the pacifier away completely now!)

The focus isn't good, but isn't his pudgy little hand so cute rolling the dough in the sugar?!
This is how he arranged them on the cookie sheet. (After he left the kitchen, I rearranged them. I just couldn't help myself.)

I have so many things to share, so many thoughts swirling around in my head. I'll be back tomorrow!!!

Ramblings...

2009-03-21T02:17:00.002-04:00

Pictures will come tomorrow - at least that's what I am planning. We had my birthday party tonight, and Chad went out of his way to make it extra special. Having grown up with only my dad, I did not get much in the way of birthday parties. I remember one birthday in particular that my dad tried so hard to make special; he even went to the grocery store and bought a Strawberry Shortcake birthday cake. To our dismay, when we tried to cut into the cake, it turned out to be an upside down decorated baking pan. What a shock! We still laugh about that birthday today!!

What a week! Two entire days spent at the school helping a new teacher, who has really not graduated from college yet, get her feet underneath her a little better in the area of teaching. We want everyone to succeed and feel good about what they're doing!

Derek is still not feeling himself, and I'm not sure what the problem is. Since he had the flu, he has been extremely clingy to me and cries the minute he cannot see me. He does not play but sits by me all day and follows me from place to place. He will only sleep in his own bed for short periods of time and then wakes up crying and comes into our bed. I'm not sure if this behavior is somehow related to his having the flu or if there is something else wrong with him. We're not big on taking the children to the doctor, but I'm seriously considering it. I wish we had a naturopath near here. I don't know of one at all. My dad found a medical doctor with a bent toward natural things. Wouldn't that be wonderful?! Please pray for Derek.

Next week is Spring Break at the school, and we are going to sneak away Monday to a little hotel with a waterpark about an hour away from us. The lady Chad spoke with said that there were no other reservations that night (at least not yet), so we will have the whole place to ourselves! Yeah!

2009-03-14T22:44:00.000-04:00

I haven't posted in such a long time....the children have been taking turns having the flu (not the stomach flu, but the actual flu with the fever, headache, congestion, cough, the whole nine yards). During the midst of it all, our church had its annual Teen Spectacular, which I am not involved in but did watch three children during, while having sick little ones. Then Thursday and Friday we made a quick trip down to Toledo so that some of the students from the school could be involved in the Fine Arts Competition. I should never have taken the sick children on that trip, but I had already made a commitment to play the piano for some of the kids to sing, so I had to go. The children were able to spend some extra time with Grandpa Murray. The boys even got to shoot a little pistol with him.

I will still not be able to go to church tomorrow because the two little boys are still running fevers. Tyler is the most sick. He is still running quite a fever (for the 5th day in a row now) and both of them are coughing quite a bit. If he's not better by Monday, I am going to take him to the doctor. Tyler had to sleep in his car seat so that he could breathe okay. Derek has thrown up three times now from coughing too hard. Poor little men.

Life at the Vest house is certainly never dull. There is always something exciting going on. Always something to do. Always someone to spend time with. Always someone to eat with! ;)

If you get an extra minute, please pray for my little ones who are still sick. Budge once again has a dry, hacking cough, which always concerns me because he has had pneumonia so many times that his lungs are weak, and he is always susceptible.

Oh, one more thing. We left our little dog in the garage with food and water and a place to do her business while we were gone overnight. When we returned, she was nowhere in sight. She is not at the dog pound and has not returned, so we're not sure what to think about what happened to her. Of course, none of us are too terribly broken up about it, just mildly bothered at the most. Chad is ecstatic that she is gone because she has been quite a pain lately, never having mastered the art of letting us know when she needed to go outside!

I'm thinking about starting my spring cleaning in the next week or so. I like to get it done before it actually warms up so that when it's warm (which takes quite a while to happen around here) we can immediately enjoy the outdoors and have a good time. But for now, I think I'll just think about it and try to put together a plan. ;)

Have a wonderful day!

If You're Happy and You Know It...

2009-03-04T08:37:00.001-05:00

...Clap Your Hands!

Sunday night after church I had just finished feeding Tyler and was kissing one of the girls goodnight. As I looked back down at him, he was just lying there clapping his little hands! This is his first time, and we were so elated with him. He is so cute!

Sledding Fun with the Bachman Family

2009-02-24T11:31:00.005-05:00

We had such a good time with the Bachman family while they were here. It has been such a long time since we were able to fellowship with visitors like that. We did not know that they were coming to the church until they were there on Sunday night. During one of the congregational songs Chad came down from the platform and told me that he was thinking of inviting them to stay with us. He told me to think about it. During the invitation he looked and me and said, "What do you think?" My reply? "Whatever you want." I am not normally so easy to get along with, but I have been trying to work on my submission and reverence. ;) So...they all came and spent two nights with us. It was very busy but very fun!

One of the funniest moments was when I overheard Brian talking to Bro. Bachman.
Brian - "You remember all their names?!"
Bro. Bachman - "Well, I try to!"
Brian just couldn't believe that even their own dad would be able to keep them all straight. (If you are not familiar with the Bachman family, they have 13 children.)

Derek

Brian with one of them (right now I can't remember) :)
Joseph

Derek and Tyler being pulled by Daddy

Notice the tear in the corner of Tyler's eye

Sweet Elisabeth

Budge

Bro. Bachman, Sandra, and Lauren

Elisabeth, Amanda, and either Carrie or Christina

Lauren

Ben

German Pancakes

2009-02-19T17:54:00.002-05:00

A couple of weeks ago we had a day off of school, and I made a big breakfast for everyone. One of our favorites is German Pancakes with homemade caramel syrup. This is absolutely delicious! But I must warn that they don't taste anything like pancakes. However, it is very nice. After we finished breakfast, the children informed me that from now on I need to bake 3 or 4 pans instead of just two.

The beginning of the syrup

See the nice caramel color? It's almost done.

The pancakes in the oven

The pancakes get wonderful mountains in them that the children love to watch. They deflate after a few minutes out of the oven, though.

The syrup looks and tastes just like caramel

Here's the recipe for German Pancakes:

6 eggs

1 cup milk

1 cup flour

1/2 t. salt

1 - 2 T. butter, melted (I always use two)

Put all of these ingredients into a blender and process until smooth.

Pour into a greased 13x9 casserole dish. (It seems to work best if you stay with this size.) Bake uncovered at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

While it is baking, this is the syrup we like.

Buttermilk Syrup

3/4 c. buttermilk (or 3/4 c. milk and 1 T. vinegar and wait for 5 minutes)

1 1/2 c. sugar

1 stick butter

2 T. corn syrup

1 t. baking soda

2 t. vanilla

Bring the first 5 ingredients to a boil and boil for 7 minutes, or until the color resembles a nice caramel color. Remove from heat and add the vanilla. Serve.

Notes:

1. The syrup gets very frothy as it cooks, so be sure to use a much larger pan than you think you need.

2. I always make a double batch of syrup and use the leftovers as an apple dip. Yummy!

The Evening Times

2009-02-18T08:06:00.004-05:00

We've been having so much fun together in the evenings--just being a family together. Since the little ones set the table for dinner, there is usually some surprise or another waiting for us on our plates. They came a little late to the table last night, but they had Valentine surprises for us, complete with very wet glue!! :)

Tyler is just starting to get interested in food - at nearly 10 months. To be funny, Chad took the serving spoon and acted like he was feeding Tyler. Ty thought he was serious!

After Chad put the spoon back in the pot, Tyler decided to do a little feeding on his own. He could never quite get the spoon to his mouth, though.

I think he's full now!

Time for Root Beer Floats!

I considered not blogging anymore because it doesn't seem like there's much interest in it, but I decided to keep it going for the sake of the grandparents. Enjoy!

Be Mine Craft

2009-02-13T12:15:00.000-05:00

This past Monday the ladies at our church had our Abundant Blessings meeting. We have about 4 or 5 a year--not so many that husbands get upset at how often we're out but enough that we have time to fellowship with one another occasionally.

Anyway, for the past couple of years at these meetings I have been in charge of presenting some kind of craft for the season. I usually do a couple crafts and a recipe or two. Since this meeting was in February, we did a few things for Valentine's Day. A young mother helped me out also with some really cute ideas.

The above picture is a little Valentine holder that I put together for Elisabeth. It's made out of felts, and I just printed different sized hearts from the computer to use as a pattern. It was fun and easy--just a few seams.

My little friend had the cutest ideas. She baked chocolate cake in clear glass mugs. They took 15-20 minutes to bake. Then she topped them with marshmallow cream when they came out of the oven. They looked like mugs of hot chocolate. So cute. Then she took a long, thin photo frame (one that had 4 openings on it) and put cute Valentine wrapping paper in place of pictures and used it as a serving tray. So adorable. It could also hold candles and candy dishes or whatever. It was a super cute, easy idea. And so affordable as we all have stray picture frames lying around that we don't know what to do with but don't want to get rid of either.

I would appreciate a few prayers, if you find the time. I am having a few minor health problems that we are trying to get to the bottom of.

A Small Boy's Hand

2009-02-10T11:17:00.002-05:00

I know that it's out of focus, but the picture was so cute to me. Lauren was dipping pretzel sticks in warm cream cheese, and Tyler stuck his hand right down in the bowl. He didn't taste any of it, but he had so much fun squishing it together before I realized what had happened. I am so in love with that little guy!

I think of all the joy and love that he has brought to our home, and I realize that had I not surrendered myself to God's will, then Tyler wouldn't be here today. Growing up, my life's verse(s) were Romans 12:1-2, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." I had no idea as a teenager that presenting my body a living sacrifice would be through carrying and birthing many children.

Folks will sometimes make different comments to me and Chad, some nice, some not so nice. A few weeks ago, he looked at me out of the blue on the way home from a date and said, "There's one difference between us and people who don't have many children. We know what we're "missing out" on, but they have no idea what they're missing! He's right. Sure, having a "large" family is much work, but I never have to be lonely again. I spent so much time as a child lonely. There was no one to play a game with or go bike riding with or just act silly with. Now, at any given time, I have 3 or 4 people ready to do something with me. It's great!

I'm thankful that God has allowed us to have these children. We are truly blessed!

No More Monkeys

2009-02-07T10:40:00.003-05:00

Our local grocery store has candy machines out front. You know, the kind that you put your quarter in and get out a gumball or 10 little chiclets or something like that. Well, our kids are fascinated with the one that sells little monkeys. They can't wait to go with us to Glen's so that they can get their little monkey. They, at times, have had up to 10 of these things at once. One day, Derek was playing with them, and I thought, "What a perfect way to play 'No More Monkeys Jumpin' on the Bed!'"

This is one of our little monkeys. He only stands about an inch and a half high. They come in all different poses.

Derek has just in the last month begun to talk. When we first started "No More Monkeys" he could not even get even get the words out of his mouth. Now listen to what he says. It is so cute.

My Leader

2009-02-04T12:25:00.002-05:00

This was the sight that met my eyes when I came downstairs this morning. Isn't it precious to see your family, led by your husband, reading their Bibles? My heart just skipped a beat when I saw them and I had to have a permanent record of it. It is certainly not a one-time occurence, but I'm usually already up and in the kitchen when they begin reading, so it was a pleasant surprise to come down and see them already reading. I love my leader!

*Please pray for my dad. He hurt his back some time ago. He missed two weeks of work, is on painkillers, and is going to physical therapy.

2009-02-03T10:12:00.002-05:00

We bought Tyler his first sippy cup this morning, and, my, but he loves it! I think I put the pictures in backwards this time, but I don't want to start over, so...oh, well. You have upload the pictures opposite of how you want them to be seen. In other words, the first picture I put in will be the last picture seen, but I get so confused every time. This time, I lost it! ;)

Our church is having our Mid-Winter Revival this week, and Bro. Darrell Cox from North Carolina is here preaching. We had the privilege of taking him out to eat last night before the service. He is just about my dad's age, and I really enjoyed just listening to him and Chad talk. All of his children are grown and married now, all serving the Lord, and I just soaked in everything he was saying. He never had one bit of trouble with his children.

He preaches a sermon entitled "Why Proverbs 22:6 Doesn't Work." In case you are unsure, Proverbs 22:6 says, "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." We focus so much on the training, training, training the we forget about Proverbs 23:26, "My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways." If we first get the hearts of our children, then we can train them, and they will want to please us. Furthermore, that first says, Let me have your heart and then watch me and do what I do.

Back in the 60's the Beatles stole the hearts of America and created the hippie movement in the process. If we can get the hearts of our children, they will want to be just like us. Chad and I have watched several young people completely turn their backs on their parents, church, and God. We always discuss it and ask ourselves why. Of course, each person has their own free will to choose, but I can't help but think that the kids wouldn't desire to turn away if their parents and God and the church had their hearts.

Over the past couple of years, I have lost my own "heart" for being a wife and mother. I haven't been putting much heart into what I'm doing, and I certainly have not been focusing on tying heart strings with my children, something that Michael and Debi Pearl teach. If my husband and children have not had my heart, then something else has. What is it? I'm not really sure at this point, though I do plan on investigating it some more. For now, I am going to be content to give my heart back to my first loves -- God, my hubby, and my children.

2009-01-30T20:34:00.002-05:00

Outside my window...it has been snowing all day, beautiful, fluffy snow.

I am thinking...about balance, keeping everything in its rightful place in my mind and in my actions.

I am thankful for...a husband who works so hard and plays just as hard as he works.

I am wearing...Chad's sweatshirt. For two reasons: it is very soft and warm, and it reminds me of him. Just like when we were dating. ;)

I am drinking...water, nice, cold, refreshing water.

I am creating...decorations for our Valentine banquet at church. We have a much smaller budget this year, but my creative juices are flowing. Our theme is, "Cherish Your Treasure."

I am going...to the church's Bus Banquet tomorrow evening. There is going to be a Mexican buffet with authentic Mexican cooks. Yummy!!

I am reading..."And The Bride Wore White," a book on purity, to help the young girls in our school.

I am hoping...that I get some time to cuddle with my husband in the morning.

I am hearing...children practicing their piano lessons.

Around the house...everything is relatively calm and clean (something that doesn't seem to happen much with 9 people and a dog around). :)

One of my favorite things...is having my family all together in the same room.

Here is picture thought I am sharing...

New Blog

2009-01-29T13:14:00.002-05:00

I have created a new blog today. You are welcome to look if you would like, but I have to "warn" you that it won't be very exciting. At least not to the average person. I have added it to my sidebar at the top, and it is entitled, "My Daily Cornucopia of Blessings." In the last few days I have heard of several tragedies and difficult situations that people are going through: a mother with placenta previa that could become quite dangerous to her health, a friend who cannot feel his feet due to a broken back, a mother who lost her young child, a young couple who found their son blue in his crib, an expecting mother who found out her son will be born with little to no skull and brain. These are all such difficult situations.

When I was a teenager, whenever I would feel sorry for myself about something, God would always allow someone less fortunate than myself to cross my path. Perhaps I would see a teenager at the mall in a wheelchair. Whatever it was, it would be something very obvious to me.

It is so easy sometimes to be self-absorbed in the day-to-day duties of being a wife and mother that I forget to look beyond the here and now. I forget to look at the trials that others are experiencing. I even forget to look at the blessings in my day-to-day life.

This new blog is dedicated solely to my daily blessings. I want to focus on the little everyday occurences that should not be taken for granted. A sweet little head leaning on my shoulder. The patting of a soft, warm baby hand on my back while he's nursing. The half smile of a nursing child. My husbands hands on my hips as I walk up the steps. Three boys curled up in the same bed in the morning. Toothpaste on the sink. Big snowflakes falling outside my window. An Oreck canister vac at Goodwill for $7.99 that I have waited 12 years to find.

The little things make up the majority of our lives. They are the threads of yarn that crochet the blanket of tomorrow. I don't want to miss them. I want to capture and savor every one of them.

Racing Fun

2009-01-27T22:15:00.001-05:00

Derek used to play with balls. For hours at a time he would throw balls back and forth across the living room -- with someone else, all alone, whatever. It didn't matter. He just wanted to throw balls. Now, however, he's into trucks. Trucks of all sizes. He is constantly pushing them around the house. Our house is like a big circle on the main floor: the front "foyer" (it's not really that big, but I don't know what else to call it) leads into the living room, which leads into the dining room, which leads into the kitchen, which leads to the hallway, which takes you straight to the front door, which leads to the....you get the idea. Since this is his new hobby, I thought I would get a few shots of him and his cohorts. ;)

Lauren getting in on it.

Daddy stopped home to grab something and took a few quick trips around the circle with Derek. Da-d-ee, Race. 'Ruck. :)

Derek's look says, "Isn't my dad just the best? He raced trucks with me!"

I've had so many random thoughts going through my head lately as I try to think and meditate on my word for the year, Patience. I must admit that I'm still struggling so much with it. I think there are a couple of reasons for this struggle. First, there is a physical reason. I have a systemic yeast problem, and I love sugar and have been eating quite a bit of it lately. I have to cut it completely out, and this is really hard when you're married to a man who loves sugar as well. But...I must do this for the sake of my family. It's amazing how much more patience I have when I haven't had any sugar for a few days. And how much more energy I have. And how easy life seems....

Second, there is a spiritual reason. I'm not sure if my thought process is completely finished or logical, but try to stay with me. When I was growing up, I was an only child. Not much stood in the way of me getting what I wanted. Pretty much all the time. I also experienced what I felt to be a good deal of success. I got straight A's in school, did well at piano playing, sang in choirs and groups (our girl's group won the state competition our senior year), did well at playing the flute, did oodles of baby sitting, saw many souls saved, etc. When I went away to college, I slipped a little, and then got right back up. I went for years without eating sugar of any kind, kept myself from getting angry for several years.... I could go on, but my point is this, if you're still with me:

I did all of those things. Even though they were good things, I myself did them. I never prayed about any of it. I never asked God to help me with those things. I never leaned on Him. I was fully capable all by myself of doing anything and everything that I needed to do. And all the while, unbeknownst to me, my flesh was growing stronger every day. There is something to "pulling yourself up by your boot straps" so to speak, but then there is an entirely different concept of leaning on God and allowing Him to do a great work within you.

For years my focus has been on me doing what I need to do. Me changing what needs to be changed. Now it's time for me to stop trying to do things by myself and allow God to do His work within me. Having children and being married has shown me one thing: My flesh is strong. Paul said, "I die daily." So easy to say, yet so hard to do. I think this year will be one of great revelations, insights, and, hopefully, growth, not just in the area of patience but in every other area as well.

Finding Joy...In the Simple Things

2009-01-25T17:43:00.003-05:00

I have been home all day again with a sick little one. Derek woke up with a very high fever this morning. To be honest, when I woke up this morning, before anyone else was awake, I thought, "It sure would be nice if someone were too sick to go to church this morning so that I could stay home." It's not that I don't love to go to church; I just have not been home at all this week. Even yesterday, we went out to eat with two of the teachers from the school, so it was still busy.

After getting both boys down for an early nap, I played around with our Wii (my parents bought us one for Christmas, and we are really enjoying it!). I really got quite a workout playing around with that. Then everyone came home from church, and we played together for a little while, and then I made dinner, and what a delicious dinner it was! Simple and delicious. Just my style.

Potatoes boiling for two-cheese mashed potatoes. I added some parmesan cheese and some cream cheese, along with the standard butter and milk. My goodness, they were good. Thick and creamy. Yum!

Of course, we had to have some greens! Meagan and Lauren have recently decided that they only like the bottoms of the broccoli -- the stems -- the part that the rest of the family really can't stand! ;) So, Lauren and I have a little arrangement where she eats the stem and puts the "tree" on my plate for me to eat! Works for me! ;0)

The best part of the meal was barbecue pork tenderloin. This is soooo easy if you can find pork tenderloin - not loin - on sale. Trim the white off the pork. Place on a cookie sheet. Drizzle with a little olive oil. Rub (I really like to cake it on!) with McCormick Barbecue spices. Bake at 425 degrees for about 25 minutes or until a meat thermometer reads between 150 and 160 degrees. So yummy!

Last night, I did a little experimenting with Lauren's hair. I divided her hair into little sections, twisted the hair around my finger loosely, and secured against her head with two bobby pins per section, crossing the bobby pins so they would stay in place.

Here is a close-up of what each section looked like.

I wasn't sure what to expect this morning when I took out the bobby pins, but this is how it looked after separating the curls a bit! Lauren wasn't sure she liked it, but the rest of us thought she looked just like Shirley Temple did when she was small. After Lauren went to church and heard from "outsiders" that she looked adorable, she decided she would let me do it again sometime.

Life is so busy for us that it's nice to just be able to take a step back and enjoy life. Elisabeth and Lauren built this "park" Friday afternoon. Aren't they so creative?!

A couple of weeks ago in my Bible reading, I came across a little phrase that I haven't been able to get out of my head: "Thou God seest me." I love all the implications of that little phrase. No matter where I am in my life, God sees me. When I do wrong, yes, He sees me. But He also sees me when I'm doing right. And He's encouraging me to do it again. Just like I do for my own children. What comfort in those four little words: Thou God seest me.

Practicing Patience...

2009-01-22T14:59:00.003-05:00

I haven't posted in so many days...ah, life has at last overtaken me! ;) Things have been so very busy around here. Let's start at the very beginning...

First, Dominic. There is talk of moving Dominic this week sometime down to Ann Arbor to a rehabilitation hospital. Dominic is very determined to walk again. He is in a tremendous amount of pain in his feet, which, I hear, could be a good thing or a bad thing. We are praying for the best! Carrie, Chad's secretary, has spent the last ten days with Dominic. She just came home last night.....engaged! Yes, Dominic "popped the question" from his hospital bed! Isn't that a hoot!? I love it! She'll never forget it, and her ring is absolutely gorgeous! Please continue to pray for Dominic as he has a long road of recovery ahead of him.

Second, me, the fill-in school secretary. Since Carrie was away for over a week of school, I filled in for her Monday through Wednesday. I never went until 11:00 a.m., but, since the children and I are not accustomed to that schedule, it has taken quite a toll on us. Even now I am supposed to be on my way to a staff meeting, and I just cannot bring myself to awaken my little ones yet again to cart them off to a nursery. I will in a few minutes, I guess...

Third, Chad and Elisabeth. They are right now in Washington, D.C. at the Right to Life rally/parade "thing." I'm really not sure what it is they are doing, but I do know that they boarded a bus yesterday afternoon around 4:30 and arrived in Washington this morning around 7:00. I think Elisabeth slept the entire way, but daddy had a bit of a sore back from trying to sleep on a bus. They will board the bus this afternoon around 5:00 or 5:30 to head back, once again sleeping through the night on the bus. Whew! What a trip! What a memory for father and daughter to share together, though. One they will both treasure for years to come, I am sure.

While they have been gone, I went in to the school to show Carrie what I did while she was gone (I hope I didn't mess things up too much!) and to meet with some of the high school kids who wrote "Right to Life" speeches. There is a contest coming up soon, and Chad and I are helping the kids to do their best. I love helping out like that where I can. A dear friend whisked the children down the hall for me for a couple of hours so that I could meet with the kids.

When I got home, the furnace kicked on, or should I say "sputtered" on? It sure is making a weird sound, so...I called Chad to see what he wanted me to do. I have a call in to a local heating company, who should be coming out sometime tonight. We are praying that it is as simple as needing a new belt or bearings on the blower.

So, my year of Patience has started off with a grand ta-da. Patience. Cheerfully accepting whatever God chooses to send my way in a calm, unruffled way, without murmuring or complaint. God sure has sent much my way this week. I am learning and growing. Only once this week did I call my husband a nincompoop. Yep. You read it right. As soon as the word had escaped my mouth, I though, "You idiot. What did you do that for?" But I wasn't sure how to go about apologizing. A few minutes later, Chad said, "Did you really need to call me a nincompoop?" "No," I replied, "I have been sitting over here feeling so guilty. I am SO sorry." My man is so forgiving that he readily accepted my apology and even chuckled over the whole incident.

Patience with others is love.

Patience with self is hope.

Patience with God is faith.

Childhood Memories...

2009-01-17T13:20:00.005-05:00

of chocolate-covered raisins. Every time my dad and I went to the mall, he would stop and buy some chocolate-covered raisins at the bulk candy store. That is the only time that we would ever eat them, but now I love them and just the thought of chocolate-covered raisins reminds me of my dad.

I could not have asked for a better childhood. I grew up with just my dad - no mom - but I loved my life. I never one time was upset about the fact that I didn't have a mom, though there were a few times I wished I had one (like at the outset of becoming a young lady). I attribute the fact that I didn't feel like I was missing out on anything to my fantastic daddy! He's awesome!

Tyler with Ice

2009-01-13T12:31:00.004-05:00

What happens when someone leaves a large cup of ice water on the floor? Well, the baby finds it, of course! He finds it and also dumps it out and plays with it and never once complains because he's cold! He probably played with that ice for 30 minutes. He loved it!

I love that little pointer finger!

Gettin' those pinchers goin'!

I know the quality of this picture is sorely lacking, but the look on his face is just too precious to pass up.

~*~* ~*~* ~*~* ~*~* ~*~*

Dominic is in a tremendous amount of pain right now due to a burning feeling in his toes, which, apparently, is a good thing! Praise the Lord!

Please pray for Dominic's mother especially today. Her name is Bonnie, and she is struggling a little bit.

Life Is Precious...

2009-01-12T07:43:00.002-05:00

cherish each moment. At my parents' house, the children were all blowing in Tyler's face to get him to stop fussing. He still can't catch his breath in wind, so it was very amusing to them. ;)

Don't take life for granted. Don't waste even one minute being selfish. Don't say one unkind word. Speak every word as if it were your last with that person. Always hug and say "I love you" when someone leaves your presence. Life is too short, too precious, and too precarious to treat it carelessly.

Treasure the moments.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Dominic had surgery late last night to remove the bone fragment that was lodged in his spinal column. It was causing him much pain, and they had hoped that it had not already cut through the nerves. Carrie texted around 5:00 to tell us that he was out of surgery and doing as well as could be expected. Keep praying.

Update on Dominic

2009-01-11T21:29:00.002-05:00

Well, the news is not as good as we had hoped. Dominic fractured the L1 and L2 vertebrae and completely crushed the L3. He also has a small piece of vertebrae in his spinal column that they might have to do surgery on. There is quite a bit of pressure on his sciatic nerve. He will be in the hospital for awhile, it looks like. Please continue to pray.

URGENT PRAYER REQUEST

2009-01-11T15:33:00.002-05:00

Please pray for Dominic Garissi, a bus captain at our church in his mid twenties. He was sledding with his bus kids after church today and was in a sledding accident. He cannot feel his legs and is being transported from Grayling to Saginaw. Please pray, as his back is possibly broken. He is a faithful man with a huge heart for others and my husband's secretary, Carrie Henschen. ;o)

2009-01-09T07:45:00.007-05:00

Please pray for the family of Amanda Vignere, a teen girl who passed away last night in a skiing accident. The youth group from First Baptist in Hammond came up yesterday to go skiing and one of their girls ran into a tree while skiing and passed away. She was one of the best girls in the youth group. I can't imagine how their youth group is feeling right now. The youth group was supposed to go to a youth meeting tonight, but instead have gone home. Please pray for her family, the adult chaperones, and the teens. There has been a care page set up for updates about Amanda's funeral arrangements and any other details here.

1. It's January; I'm thankful for a new beginning and a new focus in my life.
2. Patience is what I crave most right now (and maybe a little Vanilla Rich Chip Cake, too ;)
3. Meditating on Scripture is so nourishing to my soul and spirit. (Why is it such a struggle to stay faithful in my walk with God?)
4. Let us dare to be truthful with ourselves.
5. I love my home.
6. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to skiing with friends and family, tomorrow my plans include seeing an opera live via satellite (I think) with some dear friends (I've never been to an opera before!) and Sunday, I want to be a blessing and an encouragement to the folks in our Sunday school class!

This is my crazy family sitting down to Christmas dinner the Saturday after Christmas. We usually try to get a silly picture also, as you will see in the second photo. There are three family members not in the picture - Brian (you just can't see him), Tyler (he was taking a nap), and, of course, me (I was taking the picture!). My parents bought our family a Nintendo Wii for Christmas. If you haven't played one of those yet, you should. It's a riot! Where else could I box my husband and beat him?!

Sibling Love

2009-01-07T07:50:00.002-05:00

Our entire family has been sick this week. I think that I'm the only one that hasn't had this fever/flu bug. Of course, Tyler was one of the first to get sick, and he is also teething, so he hasn't been himself lately. Lauren has discovered that he likes to have his little shoulders rubbed. He LOVES it! He'll just sit really still while she massages him. He even leans into her a little bit. So cute! I just love catching them loving on each other.

Take a close look at Lauren's hair in the top picture. See all the little squiggly hairs? I have been having the time of my life checking out some different hair blogs. Who knew there were things like hair blogs?!? I am so challenged when it comes to hair-do's for the littles, and now I have a solution--steal ideas from others! ;o) Anyway, a few of my favorite hair blogs are:

Bowznstuff
Girly Do's by Jenn

Hairstyles for s

Pigs and Ponies

Those of you with little s, enjoy!

On a slightly different note, I just have to share this funny story that happened the other day. Brian was sitting on the couch, and Lauren came up and tried to sit on the arm of the couch next to him. Here's the little dialogue that followed:

Brian - "Move, Lauren. You're invading my space."
Mom - "You've been invading my space since before you were born."
Brian - "Well, that's what moms were made for!"

Thoughts on God's Blessings

2009-01-05T20:17:00.003-05:00

The Great Smoky Mountains

These three pictures were taken in Cade's Cove in Tennessee. We drove through this little community on Christmas Day and saw over 50 deer. The boys tried to see how close they could get.

This past week has been different. I have not gotten much done around the house, but I can’t say that it is because I have been busy. Indeed, I have merely been holding sick babies and children and a husband. I have been caring for my family’s most basic needs – love and comfort. And I have truly enjoyed every minute of it. Each day, it seems, someone different has gotten up in the morning and not felt well. Even daddy was sick last night. And now I have mastitis, due to Tyler’s extreme fatigue during his illness, I think.

We have a good-sized family right now, not what I would deem to be extremely large compared to some, though. I love the size of my family. I love babies. Nine months after we were married Elisabeth Joy showed up, and we have had a baby almost constantly since then. We have often struggled with what God would have us to do regarding the size of our family. Well, I guess I should say that I have struggled with it. I have come to a point in my life where I can completely trust my husband to make the decision that God wants him to make. When someone asks him about it, he says, “I just don’t see anywhere in the Bible where children are anything but a blessing.” I agree. They truly are a blessing. Much work, but a blessing.

As I was reading my Bible the other day, Genesis 1:22 “And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply” really stood out to me. Again in verse 28, “And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.” The way that God blessed His creation was to give them the ability to be fruitful, multiply, and replenish the earth. All three of those words carry a connotation of reproducing. Some folks assume that if you give your fertility to God you will end up with 20 children. Some folks do, but some folks do not. I know of a woman who only had one child. She never did anything to prevent children, but God only gave her one. Another lady had four children each five years apart, without ever trying to space her children.

Four years ago, I was feeling overwhelmed and was counseling with Bro. Marvin Smith. At the time, I had five children. Some of my thoughts were, “I am such a terrible mother. I grew up without a mother, yet God has given me five children. What was He thinking? Is He punishing me?” Bro. Smith looked at me and said, “God trusted you with five children. He only trusted me with two.” Wow! God trusts me.

Some people look at me each time I get pregnant and say things like “Don’t you know what causes that?” Or, “God expects you to exercise some common sense.” I agree. And yes, I do know what causes “that”, but it’s just so much fun! ;o) But over and over again in Scripture I see that God is the One that opens and closes the womb. Prior to 1960, the birth control pill was not approved for public use. And, prior to 1960, you saw many “large” families. It was just the way it was. Mom stayed home to care for her “babies” and daddy went to work to provide for the family. Families these days are so small because no one is home to care for them. Children are deemed by most as a huge inconvenience.

I, too, have often fallen prey to thinking that my children are keeping me from my true purpose in life. That if I didn’t have my children I would be able to do so much more for God. I have been guilty of believing the devil’s lie. The truth is that there is nothing greater I could do with my life than to pour myself into my children. To train them to train their children and to reach others for Christ. If we all eagerly took the job assigned to us by God of training our families for Him we could do so much more for Him than if we limit what He is trying to do in our lives.

I am so thankful that God has indeed blessed me beyond measure with my seven beautiful children. He may or may not continue to bless me in this way, but I am trusting Him.

Our Mini-Honeymoon

2009-01-03T23:13:00.002-05:00

Yesterday began with two more children waking up with fevers. We decided to wait until noon before deciding if we would still go away overnight. Neither one threw up, so we decided that it would still be safe to go, although I must admit that I felt like a terrible mother for leaving my sick children. But, I did ask them if it would be okay, and they both agreed that they would be fine. We had a wonderful sitter to stay overnight with them -- one who takes good care of them and also likes to have fun.

We ate at a restaurant there at the resort with three other couples who were also taking advantage of the free overnight stay. Our food took quite awhile (about an hour and a half) to cook, and there was a couple sitting behind us who took quite a liking to Tyler. They held and played with him for awhile, so we took their picture to email to them!

We had a couple of snacks, and Chad introduced Tyler (who has never had a bite of real food) to Twizzlers. He loved chewing on it, but threw quite a fit when Daddy finally took it away. :(

Sharing with Daddy

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For as long as I can remember, I have struggled with my temper. Over the years, I have tried different things to get it under control. I have done studies on anger, I have read anger management books, I have gone to spiritual warfare counseling, I have typed out verses about anger and posted them around the house. I have generally devoted much time and energy to "fighting my anger".

These last few days, since I have been concentrating on patience, my anger has been the last thing on my mind. But, I have felt much more calm inside. There are, of course, other factors contributing to my calmness. However, I attribute much of the lack of tension inside to the fact that I have been concentrating on putting something positive into my life instead of removing something negative.

Several years ago in a sermon a preacher stated that sometimes, if we have had a parent with obvious flaws, we tell ourselves that we don't want to be like our parents. We sometimes put a lot of energy into thinking about the fact that we don't want to be like our parents. So much energy, in fact, that we become like the part of our parents that we disliked so much because we have concentrated so much on that part of them. Instead of focusing on our parents, we should be focusing on Jesus. The basic idea was that we become like whatever we focus on.

For the past several years I have been focusing on the wrong thing. I have been focusing on the undesired trait in my life instead of focusing on the desired trait.

Things have been so crazy around here that I haven't been able to post any verses or phrases around the house yet, but that is coming soon, hopefully this week.

Quick Update on the Boys

2009-01-02T00:12:00.003-05:00

Both boys were still ill today, though neither one is still vomiting. Derek just laid around all day, and Tyler did pretty much the same. They both slept quite a bit, though not very soundly. Derek has had a fever all day; Tyler a small one this evening. Lauren was running a low-grade fever when she went to bed and said that she had a stomach ache, so she may wake up sick. Chad and I have planned an overnight getaway Friday night, so hopefully Lauren is okay in the a.m. A friend of mine called a couple of weeks ago to tell me about a free night at a nearby resort. What a fantastic blessing!

Chad and I at Smoky Mountains National Park

Derek hiding inside of a hollowed out tree

Happy New Year, Patience!

2009-01-01T10:16:00.003-05:00

It's hard to believe that 2009 is here, isn't it? It seems like just yesterday I was making my New Year's Resolutions. Somehow, every year, I allow things to get in the way of completing my goals, but that is not going to stop me from trying yet again. In fact, I have a new tactic. Instead of just yearly goals, my goals are weekly, even daily. Each Sunday is a fresh start to renew my resolutions. Each morning is a new day to try again. If I can train my mind to think differently, then I think I can get much further in accomplishing my goals. In other words, instead of saying, "Well, it's January 4th, and I failed to read my Bible, so I might as well wait until next year to try again," I should say, "Well, I failed today, but tomorrow is a new day." Or, even better, "The day's not over yet, I'm going to read my Bible right NOW!"

Amy, over at Daily Pleasures, challenged us through her own practices to find a word for the year. After reading her post, I set about diligently to think and pray about what that word should be. I was leaning toward simplicity or growth. Then I began praying about it! ;) Through my praying, the Lord led me to ask my husband what he thought my word should be. If I were going to have one word guide me for the year, what should it be? Before I had even finished, he knew what my word should be. So that's what it is! My word is patience.

PATIENCE, n. pa'shens. [L. patientia, from patior, to suffer.]

1. The suffering of afflictions, pain, toil, calamity, provocation or other evil, with a calm, unruffled temper; endurance without murmuring or fretfulness. Patience may spring from constitutional fortitude, from a kind of heroic pride, or from Christian submission to the divine will.
2. A calm temper which bears evils without murmuring or discontent.
3. The quality of bearing offenses and injuries without anger or revenge.
His rage was kindled and his patience gone.

These definitions came from the Webster's 1828 dictionary, a dictionary based on the Word of God. Probably the biggest obstacle to patience in my life is my lack of "Christian submission to the divine will." As problems daily arise in my life, I "buck my authority," so to speak. I think that I have rights. A right for my children to behave properly, a right to be able to find my potato peeler when I need it, a right to clean a room and have it stay that way, a right to go to the store to buy an article of clothing when I ne(want)ed it. As an only child who lived only with her dad, I have had struggles growing into a large family. In many ways, I am still a child emotionally. I never learned to deal with constant frustrations because there just weren't any to deal with. This year, I am going to study patience. I have chosen several verses to begin the year:

Romans 12:12 Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;

1Thessalonians 5:14 Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men.

Luke 21:19 In your patience possess ye your souls. Our pastor recently did a short series of sermons about Possessing Your Vessel. It was a great sermon series - one I plan to implement this year.

James 1:3-4 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

Patience (ˈpā-shənz) is the state of endurance under difficult circumstances, which can mean persevering in the face of delay or provocation without becoming annoyed or upset; or exhibiting forbearance when under strain, especially when faced with longer-term difficulties. It is also used to refer to the character trait of being steadfast. Antonyms include hasty and impetuous. How often am I hasty with my words and actions? How often do I "fly off the handle" in the face of adversity, opposition and frustration? More often than I care to admit, I'm afraid. This year, I am praying that God will change me. That He will remind me to walk circumspectly.

Watch yourself, be the first to ask pardon if you both err, and guard against the little piques, misunderstandings, and hasty words that often pave the way for bitter sorrow and regret. ~1868, Louisa May Alcott

Patience is the companion of wisdom. ~St. Augustine

We could never learn to be brave and patient, if there were only joy in the world.
~Helen Keller (1880 - 1968)

Our patience will achieve more than our force.
~Edmund Burke (1729 - 1797)

Traveling Takes Its Toll...

2008-12-31T15:04:00.002-05:00

It started last night around 9:00. Tyler was just laying around. He even fell asleep leaning on my arm -- something an active 8 month old never does. I was a little worried, but thought that perhaps he was just extra sleepy from all the traveling. Lauren had thought that Tyler's head was hot earlier in the evening, but the girls are always thinking that somebody feels feverish, and Lauren is our resident hypochondriac, so....I dismissed it. Until he woke up at 1:00 very hot indeed. I gave him some Tylenol to comfort him and held him until he fell asleep. He didn't even want to nurse for an hour or so.

This morning, he nursed, threw it up, nursed some more, threw it up. And on and on it has gone all day. Derek is also throwing up. He can't even keep water down, and he's pretty upset about it. He threw his water bottle on the floor when I told him it would make him throw up again. I have a dilemma, though. I know how easily babies and little ones get dehydrated, but I don't know what to do about it. What are you supposed to give them to keep them hydrated when everything that goes down comes right back up within a matter of minutes? Any "seasoned" mothers out there with any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Two different renditions of the same photo. He just looks so pitiful.

The Christmas Program

2008-12-30T14:28:00.005-05:00

Well, we planned and practiced and prepared and practiced some more. We were ready for the program. In fact, I had never felt so good about a program prior to the actual program itself. On the Friday prior to the program, things seemed to be falling into place nicely. The children seem to improve each year. The first year that I did a children's Christmas program, the children memorized their lines, but did not interpret them. There were a minimum number of songs, but they did fairly well on them. This year, the children interpreted their lines beautifully -- without much prompting from me at all. We learned, I think, 10 songs, complete with harmony on several of them, and the children did a superb job!

Here they are waiting to go in. Don't they look excited?

Each year, several of the small children dress as animals. Usually, one of my own children ends up being the black sheep. Derek had his turn this year!

Meagan, Lauren, and Derek were in this little group of children. Meagan is the top right angel. Lauren and Derek are the first children on the top and bottom row to Meagan's left (your right).

One of the songs of the older children was entitled "The Perfect Ten," referring to the 10 commandments. The idea of the program Angels Aware was that the angels were having a meeting with Michael (our star). In that meeting he told how God had decided to go to earth to save his people from dying in their sins. He chose to go as a baby so that we could all have the ability to feel close to him. They laid the stage for man's need of a Saviour through showing how Moses and the prophets all unsuccessfuly tried to show man how to live close to God, but he didn't listen to them. I had to change some of the words of "The Perfect Ten" to be more biblical, but it went off quite well!

This is Elisabeth's last year in the program as she goes into 7th grade next year. There were not very many girl's speaking parts, so I created a solo part for Elisabeth and her friend. They did such a beautiful job. I have included a video of part of Elisabeth's solo, but it really doesn't do justice to how well she really did sound. Every time I heard her singing into the microphone, I got all choked up. God has been so good to this momma!

We were so busy leading up to the programs -- after all, we had 45 angel costumes to make! :) But, it is always worth it in the end. If you are family or friends and would like me to get a copy of the program to you, just let me know. They videotaped the entire thing!

Good Friends Are Treasures

2008-12-29T01:20:00.002-05:00

We had the privilege of visiting my home church this weekend. What a special treat. There is just something so "magical" about returning to your roots. To people who know you and all of your faults. To people who watched you grow up. To people who know that your daughter looks like you because they remember when you were her age. To people who love you unconditionally. It is always so refreshing. A time of renewal.

This visit was even more special because my best friend Angie's husband, Steve Hobbins, is now the pastor of my homechurch. We were going to leave on Sunday afternoon but decided to stay through Sunday night because we enjoyed the preaching so much.

This morning, I was able to see a friend I haven't seen in several years. He has been out of church for quite a while and just came back in the last six months. I was also able to see a good friend from high school, Karen. She and her husband have two children. In the picture below is me with my two friends Angie and Karen. We were all in one another's weddings. I get teary just thinking about all the great memories we have together and how we never get to see one another anymore. But as soon as we are back together, it like no time has elapsed at all. We just pick up where we left off.

For someone like me, who finds it very hard to get close to people, I treasure my "old" friends. As the children's song says, "Old friends...are gold!" I truly believe that. We had our ups and downs as teenagers, but came through it all in the end as friends. I will cherish this photo just as I cherish our friendship.

"If a man does not make new acquaintances as he advances through life, he will soon find himself left alone; one should keep his friendships in constant repair." ~ Samuel Johnson

"A friend is someone who sings your heart's song back to you when you have forgotten the words." ~ David Coppola, Ph. D.

Friends
A friend is someone we turn to when our spirits need a lift,

A friends is someone we treasure for our friendship is a gift.

A friend is someone who fills our lives with beauty, joy, and grace

And makes the whole world we live in a better and happier place.

-Jean Kyler McManus

Enjoy your friends today.

Ripley's Aquarium and Thoughts of the Future

2008-12-27T19:16:00.002-05:00

Well, the funny looking picture in my last post was the under side of a sawfish. He was lying right on top of the glass. We went to the Ripley's Aquarium on Christmas Eve. They were open until 9:00 p.m. We were able to touch stingrays and see shark eggs incubating, among many other things.

The shark right above our heads. Look at those teeth!

An octopus. It took us about five minutes to find him.

Our little "fish" in a bubble

This is some kind of giant crab. There were several of them in the tank, and one of them looked like he was trying to adjust his glasses with his front pinchers.

Elisabeth picked up a horseshoe crab. Apparently, they are perfectly harmless.

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We have had such a blessed year in 2008. None of our children were seriously ill--not even pneumonia or bronchitis. We were able to pay all of our bills. None of our family went to heaven this year. We were joined by a new little life in April. We purchased a new dog in January.

So many blessings. God certainly has been good to us. But, even during the years when there has been sickness and even , God has still been good to us. God is always good.

Yet even in spite of His infinite goodness, I still fail Him. The God of the Universe wrote a love letter to me, yet I find it difficult to spend time reading it every day. I have been saved for 30 years and still struggle with the most basic elements of Christianity and loving God. The new year is still five days away, but I have been mulling over and praying about what I think God wants me to do this next year.

1. Read my Bible and pray every day (if even for 5 minutes each). Sometimes this is so hard to accomplish with little ones running under foot. :)

2. Call someone in the church in need each week to be an encouragement. (This is especially hard for me, as I have a real aversion to talking on the phone. My dad used to make me call businesses and people as a teenager, but it didn't work. I still don't like to do it. ;)

3. Do something for someone else once a month. (Make a meal, bread, cookies, or some other such thing for someone with my children.)

4. Speak in kind, sweet tones as often as possible to my family.

5. Enjoy the life God has given me.

These may not seem very deep, but they are the things the Lord has laid upon my heart to work on this year.

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-25T00:08:00.002-05:00

Not much time to post, but we did make it Tennessee okay. We didn't end up leaving our house until 10:00 a.m. on Monday morning. We stopped at Carrie Henschen's house to milk some cows on the way, and Elisabeth ended up having to take a shower due to some unfortunate events in the milkhouse! ;-) So, we didn't get to our hotel until 3:00 a.m. It was quite a ride, and Chad drove nearly the whole way (something he doesn't like to do) because I was so worn out from getting ready for the Christmas program (which was a huge success).

I'll write more about our adventures later, but....can you guess what this is?

We're Getting Ready for the Christmas Program!

2008-12-20T09:12:00.002-05:00

Well, true to my word, we have been absolutely swamped this week: at the church every day for program practice, making 45 angel costumes which involve about 4 main steps each, making beards, "thinking" about packing for leaving on Sunday, etc. Whew! This picture was taken last night around midnight! The three older kids were helping me make beards for the Christmas program for the major prophets and Moses to wear. Doesn't this one look so nice? I just hope they actually stay on the children's faces.

Chad was going to wake the boys up at 7:30 to go to the church to work with him. They share a bed, and this is how they were when he went in to wake them up! So hilarious.

From Monday's post, most people voted for numbers 1 and 6. My personal favorites were numbers 4 and 6. #1 - Mine (probably shouldn't have included it, though) #2 - Budge #3 - Chad #4 - Brian #5 - Elisabeth #6 - Meagan. Wasn't Meagan's just adorable?

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The last two weeks have been crazy around here - Christmas program decorations, school parties, Christmas parties, program practices, issues at the church and school. Life has been anything but calm, and I'm a big fan of peace and calm. In fact, I was analyzing myself the other day and made a discovery. I am a perfectionist (that's not the discovery); you can't really tell in my house right now, but I like for things to be "just right." (They haven't been "just right" for the last 5 years! Ha, ha!) Being a perfectionist isn't really the bad part because that part of me compels me to do my best at everything that I do, i.e. Christmas program. The bad part is that if things are not exactly right, I get very upset. Any job done by anyone less than perfectly upsets me. Something happens beyond my control to throw a wrench in my day, and I am cranky. This is not good.

I am not a calm person, to say the least. However, in my very soul, I am pursuing peace (sometimes more actively than others). Today, I am claiming several verses that speak to my heart about peace:

Psalm 72:7 In his days shall the righteous flourish; and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth.

Psalm 119:165 ¶ Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.

This one hurts. "Nothing" shall offend them. Not even the hurtful things that some people might say. Not even the fact that hubby was too busy to kiss me goodbye (that didn't happen today!).

Psalm 122:7 Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces. This is my prayer for all of you who read this today.

Proverbs 3:17 Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. Referring to wisdom, of course, but I would love for my paths to be peaceful and pleasant.

Isaiah 26:3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.

I Peter 3:11 Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it.

I am going to seek peace today. How about you?

Okay, It's Time To Vote!

2008-12-16T08:23:00.002-05:00

Remember about the game that we played at our school staff & faculty Christmas party with the playdough? Well, we brought that playdough home and played with it on Sunday afternoon. Chad always comes up with great ideas, so our first competition was to make a drummerboy! I know, that is SO hard! :) Well, here are some of the results (Mom's and Dad's are omitted because they were so awful!)

Lauren's Drummer Boy

Derek's Drummer Boy

Elisabeth's Drummer Boy

Brian's Drummer Boy - He was the only one who put straps on his drum.

Okay, our second competition was sleds or sleighs. Most of us opted to do sleds (Lauren and Derek did not compete this time). One person did a sleigh. I won't tell you whose sled (sleigh) is whose. There are 6 different sleds. Please state in the comments which sled is your favorite. There is one picture that contains three sleds; they are numbers 2, 3, and 4 respectively from left to right. We will let you know as soon as all the results are in whose sled won! Thank you in advance for participating and having a little Christmas spirit.

2008-12-14T22:51:00.002-05:00

Aren't those icicles just beautiful? We have talked about the fact that they are probably dangerous, but we just cannot bear to knock them down because they are so pretty. Of course, today has been quite warm (it's 37 degrees right now) and rainy, so I think most of the icicles are melting anyway. But we sure have enjoyed looking at them while they were here.

This week is one of the busiest weeks of my entire year. Our church's annual children's Christmas program is next Sunday evening, and I have the privilege of leading the children's choir. This year's program is entitled "Angels Aware." We are so excited about it, but still have so much to do. Please pray for us this week! We also leave immediately after the program next Sunday night for our little family vacation in Tennessee. So much to do. I tend to get easily overwhelmed when I have a lot to do and am praying earnestly that the Lord would help me to allow the Holy Spirit to lead me through this week as He sees fit.

We had our school staff and faculty Christmas party last night. What a riot! We had about 35 people come this year, as we invited those involved in any capacity, not just the teachers. We provided the appetizer food and then everyone brought a dish to pass. We had such a fun time. Of course, if you know Chad, you know he made us do some crazy things! My two favorite games of the evening were the Communication Game and Pictionary with Playdough. What a sight to see grown men playing with playdough and loving every minute of it! It took them right back to their childhood. In fact, they thought they had really irritated Chad and apologized this morning, but he really enjoyed their antics.

In the Communication Game, one person draws while the other person tells them what to draw. For example, we drew antlers. The "teller" cannot say, "Draw some antlers." He must say, "Okay, draw a line about 1/4 inch long. Now curve out to the left about 1/4 inch and then curve back around to the line you started on, etc." That is how my partner was telling me to draw the antlers. Our first attempt at antlers turned out pitifully. We weren't allowed to use any geometric words like triangle, square, rectangle, etc. It was a lot of fun. The team whose drawing looked closest to the real object won.

We have another party to attend on Tuesday. I have 40 angel costumes to make plus beards for prophets and clouds and even the ten commandments! Whew! I'm tired just thinking about it! I covet your prayers. Tomorrow, we will need your help voting on something. So plan now to help out! There are many of you out there that read but never comment. We'd like your help tomorrow, okay? Have a great day.

Love, Amanda

Friday Fill-Ins and More

2008-12-12T08:00:00.004-05:00

1. Friends are the family you choose. (A friend gave me a plaque for Christmas years ago that had that quote on it. I love it!)

2. Protect your health; it's the least you can do for your family.

3. I'm ready for a reprieve from the little stresses of daily life over Christmas break. (We are taking a little family vacation to Gatlinburg over Christmas break, and we are so excited to just relax and spend time together.)

4. Sensuous by Estee Lauder is one of my favorite perfumes. The "old" Claiborne for Men is my very favorite cologne!

5. The oldest ornament I have is a white glitter-covered dove that a friend gave me in college as a symbol of friendship.

6. Take some smiles, messes, giggles, messes, sweet words, hugs, books, cereal, messes, balls, and lots of love; mix it all together and you have Derek, our little two-year-old bundle of FUN!

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to shopping in Traverse City with my hubby and children, tomorrow my plans include my second Christmas party of the season, and Sunday, I want to serve the Lord with all my heart (and make a nice roast with homemade bread for lunch)!

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Psalm 61:2 "From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I."

Maybe I'm all alone on this one, but sometimes I get overwhelmed with the daily tasks that confront me. Sometimes climbing out of bed in the morning is a daunting task. Sometimes, I have more of those "overwhelming" days than I would like to admit. Sometimes.

ALWAYS, God is all that I need. He is right beside me assuring me that no task is too great for me today, reminding me, "If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small" (Proverbs 24:10). My strength is small because I have not tapped into God's almighty strength. He is omnipotent, or all-powerful. He can move mountains. He can calm storms. He can probably handle a dishwasher full of dishsoap suds! ;o)

Christ is all I need,

All, all I need,

Christ is all I need,Christ is all I need,

All, all I need.

He was crucified,

For me He died, on Calvary.

That He loved me so,

This is why I know,

Christ is all I need.

Brian's Birthday

2008-12-11T11:26:00.003-05:00

Well, to show what a bad mother I am, Brian's 8th birthday was actually September 27th, but we didn't celebrate it at that time. We had bought the boys new bikes in August as a birthday present and gave them to them early so they could enjoy them before the snow flew! I don't even know why we didn't have a party for Brian, but we ended up having a sledding party for him. It really was nice because our friends the Griffin's are here from the Philippines, so their three younger were able to come, and they even stayed to help, which was so nice--and fun!

Chad made up some game for them to play with balloons

(Don't tell their mothers they were running with suckers in their mouths ;)

Derek helped Brian blow out his candles--because they kept re-lighting

All of the wet snow clothes by the front door!

Luke was really enjoying his cake!

This is Hilarious!

2008-12-09T09:30:00.003-05:00

I know there are many of you that don't want to take the time to let a video load, but this one is worth it. I should send it in to America's Funniest Home Videos or something. We already decided that if we sent it in and won the $10,000 the Griffin's and we would split the money 50/50! The s are each on a different pedal of the exercise bike holding on to one of the movable handles just going to town. It's truly hilarious!

I've Been Tagged!

2008-12-09T08:16:00.002-05:00

Amy tagged me to post my fourth photo from four months ago. Of course, I haven't been blogging for four months, so....I chose my fourth photo from four months ago. Four months ago my sister-in-law Tracy and her family came to visit for an afternoon. We all went to a little lake nearby to swim. The picture is of my Derek and Lauren, and Tracy's Courtney. They were all sharing a snack, I believe. ;)

I am going to tag the Kitson Family and the Reed Family and Jael. So, if the two of you wouldn't mind, we'd like to see your fourth post from four months ago! You're IT!

Random Acts of Kindness

2008-12-08T00:51:00.002-05:00

Back in October a member of our Sunday school class gave Chad several of the Trick or Treat coupon books from Big Boy for free kids' meals. We have gone to eat there a couple of times with those coupons. Today was the last day to use the coupons, so Chad wanted to go one last time. We all ordered and were waiting for our food. A couple (probably in their late 40's) was seated across the aisle from us. When they left, they commented about how nice our family was. A few minutes later, our waitress came and told us that someone had paid for our complete meal (with no free kids' meal coupons ;). What a blessing! I felt that God had just reached out and given me a big hug.

On Midnite Scrapper I was reading about RAKs, as she puts it, and PIFs, or Pay-It-Forwards. I really think that the whole concept is a Biblical truth: God gives to us to give to others. So, this week I am going to certainly be looking for someone else to show a kindness to. Pass it along.

Seven and a Half Months Already

2008-12-06T22:02:00.002-05:00

Where does the time go? It seems like just a few hours ago I was wondering when the squirmy little one who didn't fit inside me anymore was going to decide to make his entrance into the world. Now, seven and a half months later, he is finally sitting up on his own for 30 minutes or more at a time, smiling and flirting with all of us, grabbing my face and laughing when he's happy to see me...I love him so and just cannot imagine life without a baby.

We washed him up and took some pictures

(I don't even bother to try to lay his hair down anymore!)

We always sing "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" while we bathe him.

"Now where did that little puppy go?"

I just adore my daddy. He's playing ball with me.

Lots and Lots and Lots of.....

2008-12-06T13:14:00.002-05:00

Yep, you guessed it, SNOW! Cold, fluffy, wet snow. We had two snow days this past week, Monday and Friday, due to all of the snow; and it snowed every day this week. In fact, I don't think there has been a day in the last two weeks that it hasn't snowed. I love the snow. If it's going to be cold, there might as well be snow. Lots of it. Enough to ski, sled, build snowmen, have snowball fights, all that good stuff! :)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The other day as I was reading my Bible, I prayed that God would show me a special verse for motherhood. I love being a mother, but motherhood does have its own set of special challenges, adventures, if you will. As you dwell on motherhood this week, think on these things,

Isaiah 60:22

"A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a great nation:

I the LORD will hasten it in his time."

So Many Miracles

2008-12-04T11:24:00.003-05:00

Last Tuesday we had our play about George Mueller at the school. The high school students performed the play itself, while the elementary students had a small part as a group. It was much easier this way, especially because the elementary-aged children do a Christmas program each year, in which they have to learn several parts. This year, the children were orphans in the George Mueller play.

Elisabeth trying to be serious

Doesn't she make a sweet orphan ?

We unanimously agreed that Budge had the best orphan costume.

Where'd my arms go?

Just for fun

My sweet hubby in the midst of "his children"

George Mueller had over 50,000 documented answers to prayer. He built 5 large orphan houses, housed over 10,000 orphans, a third of whom came to love the LORD, and received almost 7 ½ million dollars. He personally supported hundreds of missionaries, and when most men slow down in their “twilight” years, Mr. Mueller—between the ages of 70 to 87—began 17 years of missionary tours traveling over 200,000 miles, in 42 countries, spreading the Gospel to 3 million people. In his life he preached well over 10,000 sermons and read the Bible over 200 times—on his knees. And this very humble man accomplished this all by placing his TRUST IN GOD ALONE.

So Many Miracles. He had 50,000 documented answers to prayer because he prayed for them and then looked for the answers. I pray for many things, but I am not always tuned in to whether or not my prayers are getting answered. And, sometimes, our prayers do not get answered in the way in which we would choose. With the new year just around the corner, I am going to focus on praying and documenting the answers to those prayers. What a legacy to leave to your children! 50,000 documented answers to prayer.

Lauren's 5th Birthday

2008-12-03T09:10:00.008-05:00

I can't believe that Lauren is 5 already! My how time flies. It seems like just yesterday I was scurrying everybody out of the house in preparation for her birth. She is the one that nearly arrived before the midwife came because I failed to effectively communicate just how far along in labor I was. Her birth is also the only one attended by either family or friends--Michelle Griffin and her mom, Shirley Cikalo, were here to help and were able to watch her birth. Lauren was my longest nurser at 14 months. She stopped nursing the day I miscarried--two losses at once. I still remember that she would curl her body in the shape of the nursing position to let me know she wanted to nurse. She was just a little sweetie--and still is!

Elisabeth dressed Lauren up like a princess for her party

"Close your eyes, Lauren. It's a surprise!"

I'm 5 now!

When I asked Lauren what she wanted to eat for her birthday dinner, she said, "Mashed Potatoes." So I asked her what she wanted with the mashed potatoes. Her reply? "Carrots." The truth is that she loves the vegetables that go along with a roast, but she never eats the roast. She doesn't prefer that meat. So, while she was napping, I decided on tacos, another one of her favorites.

Brian and Tyler at the party

Happy Birthday, Lauren!

Isn't this just the best?

I had asked Chad to move so I could take pictures, but he just couldn't bear to part with this little man snuggled up against his face. ;0}

My heart just melts when I look into the eyes of two of my men!

Derek really enjoyed the cupcakes.

Sock Wars!

2008-12-02T14:24:00.002-05:00

I revived an old game today. When Elisabeth and Budge were small, I would occasionally ball up the "lonely" socks (the ones with no mate) and we would play dodge ball of sorts. Lauren, Derek, and I played today and just had a ball. It was so much fun! Just look at the expression on Lauren's face to see how much fun she was having. You should try it!

A Time for Reflection

2008-12-01T23:32:00.002-05:00

Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned,
in whatsoever state I am,therewith to be content
(Philippians 4:11).

That is my theme for the month of December. Have you noticed that the retail business begins to put out Christmas items just about the time Thanksgiving seems to begin lurking in our minds? It is as if "someone" out there is trying to get us to forget to be thankful. To stop focusing on what we have at the present to enjoy and begin to look forward only to what we can "get."

I must admit, that often I am discontented. Sometimes discontentment is a good thing, such as when we are discontent with our walk with God. However, usually discontentment is not desirable. At this time of the year, it is so easy to get caught up in the "Christmas spirit." I love decorating the Christmas tree and setting up my little Christmas village, complete with two churches and a hot chocolate salesman! :) More than that, I love setting up the nativity set. We have had several over the years. Last year we found a very beautiful, large nativity set at Sam's Club for a very reasonable price. Our favorite nativity, though, is the one my husband bought me the first year we were married. It has had so much wear and tear over the years from the children playing with it that it doesn't really work anymore. On this particular nativity, the shepherds and wise men together with their camels "walk" around a circle and turn in to look at the baby Jesus while playing Christmas carols. We just love this one. We also have a manger that Chad built several years ago that we set up with a baby Jesus inside.

There have been years when I have felt "pressured" to provide many gifts for my children. I cannot say why I felt that way, but I did. We wasted so much money. As we have had more children, of course we have had to scale back on the number of gifts the children receive. This year, we decided to give a gift to the entire family. We are going on a trip to Tennessee, a family vacation of sorts. We are all so excited about it. After all, next to the birth of Jesus--which is the only true meaning of Christmas, holidays, to me, are about spending time together as a family. We play more games during the month of December. We bake more cookies. We make more crafts. We play outside in the snow more. We just love on one another.

Unfortunately, I often become selfish and want my own way and forget about the true meaning of Christmas--giving. After all, wasn't Jesus born to give us something? Eternal life. Aren't we supposed to be giving to others? Meeting their needs, telling them of the eternal life Jesus came to give. Giving. It's not about me. It's not even about my family. Giving. Being content enough to give what I do have away. Even in a recession. Giving. Contentment. Christ. Christmas.

Our First Snow Day!!!

2008-12-01T09:07:00.002-05:00

Today is our first official snow day, and I think that Chad and I are more excited than the children! Since we had family here, we were not able to put up our Christmas tree on Friday and were trying to figure out just when we were going to be able to do it. Now, we can put it up today! Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy!

We had such a nice Thanksgiving Day with my family. My parents got here around 2:00 for dinner. Really the only mishap we had was that I broke my one and only platter when I put the mashed potatoes on the counter. But...thank goodness for Kmart! They were open, and Chad ran over there and found the prettiest little platter with pink flowers on it.

I am working on updating my blog, so please be patient while we have fall leaves with Christmas trees! Hopefully it will be up and running today sometime.

Chocolate Candy Balls

1 can sweetened, condensed milk
2 T. cocoa
2 T. butter or margarine

*Cook all until it forms a soft ball. Let cool. Cover hands with margarine and form 1" balls. Roll in sprinkles or nuts. Refrigerate.

This is a delicious, simply candy the whole family can make. I'm not sure if they can be frozen, but it doesn't seem like anything would be ruined from freezing. I'm going to try to freeze a few and see what happens.

A Happy, Happy Thanksgiving....to you, to you!

2008-11-26T22:33:00.002-05:00

We had such a nice day as a family today...Slept in, Cuddled, Colored, Cooked. Life is good. My family is coming in to town tomorrow, so we're aflurry with activity trying to get Thanksgiving Dinner ready.

Elisabeth buttering the rolls before the second rising.

A nice little ball of dough in the hands of Lauren

Don't the rolls look just lovely in the pan?

Meagan decided to make a little snack and was sooo excited when they were ready to eat!

Well, we are going to have quite a spread tomorrow. I have been really wanting to "present" my food nicely lately. Isn't this turkey cheese ball so cute? The s and I had such a fun time making it. We were going to dig in tonight but decided that it was just too cute to eat just yet.

Last night was our school's annual Thanksgiving play. Instead of the traditional turkey, pilgrims, and Indians Thanksgiving program, Chad decided to do a play about George Mueller. It was so good. I plan on posting some of those pictures in the next couple of days.

Over on Daily Pleasures Amy challenged us to see if we did 100 things in a day that we loved. I don't know if I did 100 or not, but I did more than one. Let's see...

1. Nursed the most precious baby in the world

2. Nursed the most precious baby in the world

3. Nursed the most precious baby in the world

4. Nursed the most precious baby in the world

5. Nursed the most precious baby in the world

6. Spent time with Elisabeth in the kitchen

7. Kneaded bread dough (this is one of my favorites!)

8. Peeled 15 pounds of potatoes - I just love seeing the white of the potato

9. Baked a cake

10. Talked to my sil Tracy

11. Listened to my family playing together

12. Looked at pictures of fond memories

13. Laughed with a two-year-old

14. Ate pizza

15. Washed dishes in the sink instead of the dishwasher (There's just something about washing dishes by hand that makes me feel like I just love my life. Why is that?)

Well, there are many more things I did today that I loved doing, but, alas, I must go to bed now! Have to get up early to cook my two eighteen pound birds. ;0)

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

A Welcome Winter Weekend

2008-11-24T10:12:00.005-05:00

So many things to do in the snow, and SO MUCH SNOW! We really only have about 5 inches or so on the ground, but the children just couldn't wait to get outside and play in it! Derek played in the snow for the very first time on Saturday. I had forgotten that I had bought Derek some very nice snowpants last year. It's always pleasant to discover that you prepared ahead of time. Derek was very warm...for awhile! ;) I'm thankful that we live somewhere that is beautiful when it's cold!

Derek feeding Budge hot chocolate. At one point, he grabbed his head and tipped it back. In the background we are watching some fantastic videos about evolution. We borrowed them a friend, and they are fascinating. Another great series of videos is Planet Earth, though they DO contain evolution. However, the footage in this series is wonderful, so we have chosen to go ahead and watch them while interjecting our "two cents" every time evolution is mentioned.

Derek getting ready to play for the first time in the snow.

Meagan went around the house finding as many icicles as she could. She then enlisted Elisabeth's help to get them down so she could eat them. (Gross, I know, but who didn't eat icicles as a kid?!?) If you didn't, you really missed out! :0)

Derek got so "cofe" (cold) that he had to come in and drink some hot chocolate.

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On a different note, our Pastor has been preaching a small series of messages from I Thessalonians 4:3-12, entitled "How To Possess Your Vessel." My own personal meditations from the message over the last 15 hours has been from his fourth and fifth points of the sermon: 4. Stay away from bitterness with the help of the Holy Spirit. According to I Thess. 4:8, nearly all human anger is directed at God. 5. Stay in brotherly love with heavenly help. C. H. Spurgeon said, "The mother of all sins is selfishness."

My own personal reflections have led me to this place. I do not love my husband or children nearly enough. If I loved them enough, I would refrain from speaking harshly, from becoming frustrated with them. If I loved them enough, I would bring my body under subjection and not give in to my besetting sin. Sin is really all about love. When we sin, we don't care who gets hurt. We care afterwards, but at the moment of the sin, we don't care. Then we have to spend extra time trying to prove that we really love the ones we just hurt.

My focus today is to really, truly love my family. Doing the right thing.

I'm Growing, I'm Growing Ev'ryday

2008-11-21T19:16:00.002-05:00

It's so fun when the little ones start learning new things. Our babies are typically slow to do everything--slow to roll over, slow to sit up, slow to crawl, slow to walk, etc. In fact, Elisabeth was not even crawling at one year old. The nursery director at First Baptist Church even approached me with the number for the Shriners, thinking that something was wrong with her bone structure that was preventing her from crawling. We had her checked out, but nothing was wrong. She was just a very content baby. She started crawling at 13 1/2 months and began walking at 18 months. I remember a difficult time having two babies (Elisabeth and Budge are 15 months apart) that didn't walk. :)

Well, here is our little Tyler. He is 7 months old tomorrow and is finally beginning to try to sit by himself. He seems to be doing a little better. Taking baby steps. Pun intended. ;o)

Yesterday when I posted the pictures of my fall creations, I forgot to post a picture of my other creation--a pumpkin centerpiece of sorts. A family had given us scads of what was mostly junk. I took a fall centerpiece, disassembled it, and reworked all of its contents, painting and adding in some new stuff as well. I was pretty happy with the way it turned out. It is sitting on a shelf by my front door.

Happy Fall, Y'all!

2008-11-20T20:57:00.002-05:00

Well, our computer has been in the repair shop for a couple of days to finally get rid of Naomi, that wonderful computer filter. ;o) In the interim, I have been having the urge to create something for fall. Back in October, I went up in the garage attic to pull down my fall decorations, and when I opened the bin, they were all moldy. ;( I don't know what happened, but I was very frustrated. So, I decided to create something. I went and found some clearance-priced fall items at Walmart and Pier One. I made two cornucopias, here.

My fall table completed

We let the children pick any dessert they wanted, and they wanted this cake. It's called Vanilla Rich Chip Cake. We love it! It's very moist. You can find the recipe here.

Tracy, I will post about children's games in a day or two. ;)

Great Family Game

2008-11-18T10:13:00.002-05:00

There are a couple of games that we heard about from our friend Steve Hobbins, pastor of Lewis Avenue Baptist Church in Temperance, Michigan, the church I grew up in. I'm not going to list each one of our favorites today--there will be more to come in later posts. :)

Ticket to Ride is a fantastic family game. The box says it is for ages 8+, but Brian began playing at age 7. I am ready to buy an expansion pack for it soon. We play this game so often when we have a free night. I wanted you to be able to see what the game looks like when you're all done playing! Every color of train cars represents a different person playing. I won't get into the technicalities of the game, you can read them for yourself elsewhere online. We give this one 5 *****! It even teaches a little bit of geography while you're playing because the destination tickets have you travel from one place to another. Very fun! A little pricey, but well worth the investment.

God is GOOD...ALL the Time!

2008-11-17T02:13:00.002-05:00

I have the pictures of my two youngest boys and my husband on here for a reason. On Sunday nights I have children's choir at 5:00 p.m. Usually, we all drive in together. Yesterday the two little boys were sleeping, and Daddy had a woodworking project that he was working on and would appreciate a few extra minutes, so the three of them were going to drive in separately. At 5:50, a lady came to children's choir to tell me that my husband had called me twenty minutes before and needed a ride to church because his van wouldn't start. I quickly hopped in the Yukon to pick them up.

As I was driving, the road suddenly became very slick, and I started sliding around -- even in four wheel drive! I had one nt thought the rest of the way home to pick up my precious "men": God did not want Chad to drive those two little boys to church in his van, so He did not allow it to start. Chad's van does not have any traction even in snow, let alone on ice. It slides all over the place. There are only two seats in Chad's van, and Derek would not have been strapped in. The roads were slick, God knew about Chad's van, and He caused it to not start.

That van starts all the time. God protected my family. Thank you, Lord! Yet another reason for thankfulness during this Thanksgiving Month.

A Time for Learning

2008-11-15T13:26:00.002-05:00

Several years ago I had the privilege of being able to teach my children at home, and I loved every minute of it. Through a series of circumstances beyond my control, my children are attending a Christian school where their daddy is the principal. He teaches them Bible every day and often plays with them at recess. He also teaches the entire elementary gym. To me, I would rather have them home, but if they have to be in school, I'm glad Daddy is there with them.

Anyway, we put Meagan in kindergarten last year, and I really wish that we hadn't. She is doing fine, but my children that have been home until they were in second grade have done better overall (academically, socially, spiritually) than those who went to school earlier. So, we have decided that we are going to keep Lauren home at least through kindergarten and probably through first grade as well.

I just bought some books from Rod & Staff for preschool age. They are really just readiness books, but in just two days of schoolwork Lauren has already learned her right and left. She recognizes all of her numbers and some of her letters. Yesterday she was busily working at the table learning how to write the number two.

To me, there is nothing more rewarding than teaching your child...anything, anything at all. I love teaching them to read, to count, to cook, to set the table, to sort laundry.

We hit the jackpot!

2008-11-14T01:17:00.002-05:00

If you have never shopped at Christopher & Banks, you need to start! I just love it. They have such nice clothes there, and if you try, you can find excellent deals there. When they have sales, they REALLY have sales.

Well, since Tuesday was Veterans' Day, C&B was having a sweater sale. All of their sweaters were 50% off. The closest C&B is in Petoskey. Budge also needed a winter coat (Brian ripped his the other day while they were rough-housing), and there is also a Penney's in Petoskey, and their boys coats were half off. So...after school, we headed over there.

Chad said I could get two sweaters, so I was looking around. When I reached the sale racks, I noticed a sign that said "Additional 70% off". I couldn't believe my eyes! I got some really great bargains. Needless to say, I did not get the two sweaters, but I am so pleased with what we found. One of my favorites is a washable suede jacket that retailed for $99.50 that I was able to get for $22! As I understand it, the sale is still going on, so if you live near a Christopher & Banks, head over there!

Styrofoam Cup, Everyday Mug, or Fine China

2008-11-13T14:07:00.004-05:00

I have the opportunity to teach a Christian Womanhood class to the 7th through 11th grade s at our school once a week for 30 minutes. I leave after I lay the children down for a nap and get home around the time they wake up, so they don't even usually know I'm gone! Anyway, we have been discussing purity--not just purity in body, but purity in every relationship we have.

Yesterday, we had a small tea party to teach a lesson. I brought my Christmas china, folded napkins, bought sparkling juice (not many teen s like tea!), and had turtle pie. I even played Christmas music. Of course, we were in the school cafeteria, but the s still enjoyed it.

Once they were happily eating and drinking, I taught a small lesson. In the way you deal with others, in the movies you watch, the things you talk about, in every area of life, are you a styrofoam cup, an everyday mug, or a piece of fine china. In Psalm 45, you will see that God views you as a beautiful princess; He values you. He esteems you very highly. You need to value yourself, see yourself through God's eyes.

We had the tea party because I wanted them to feel pampered. I wanted them to see that the presentation is very important. The same food items given in styrofoam cups, on paper plates with plastic forks would have been fine, but it would not have been the same. They would not have felt as special. It was just a fun way to learn a little lesson. :)

All the s

Chandler and Laura being silly.

Elizabeth and Cynthia

A Place Setting

The Sparkling Juice "Tea"

All because two people fell in love...

2008-11-10T23:53:00.003-05:00

~~I am my beloved's, and his desire is toward me.~~

~Song of Solomon 7:10~

I have a plaque hanging on my living room wall above my fireplace that says "All because two people fell in love..." Everything in my house exists because two people fell in love, but especially my children. I heard something tonight that I thought very profound. There is no exact quote, but the basic thought was this: Pro-choice people need Roe v. Wade to validate their "belief" that abortion is okay because, deep down, they are uncomfortable with their stand on abortion. Deep down they know that abortion is wrong and immoral.

As a mother of seven who has lost one child due to miscarriage (my eighth child is waiting for me in heaven), my very being is rocked every time I hear someone say that abortion is an acceptable choice in any situation. Life is precious. God opens and closes the womb. Any time we see childbirth in the Bible, God is blessing someone. He is giving us a precious gift each time He allows us to have another child.

I remember the day that I lost my precious little baby. It was February 2nd, 2004. It was the last day I nursed Lauren, who was then 14 months old. I remember that I had been waiting to see if I was going to keep the baby or lose the baby. We had been communicating with my midwife via phone calls. She had me order some herbs to take. She said that the herbs would help things go the direction that they were supposed to go. If I were going to keep the baby, they would help. If I were going to lose the baby, they would also help that along. I had taken my first dose of those herbs. Within hours, we knew our precious little one had already gone to heaven.

I remember that I did not realize that having a miscarriage was exactly like having a baby. The pains were all the same; they just didn't last nearly as long. I remember that my husband stayed home from work to help me. I remember that he caught that little one in his hands. I remember looking at my little baby that didn't even really look like a baby yet. There were little arms and legs, though. I remember that Chad asked me, after an hour or so, if he could flush the baby down the toilet. I said yes.

I remember that I had to go to the hospital because, after 8 hours, I was still bleeding very heavily. I could not even walk to the bathroom by myself because I was so faint. I remember that the doctor was very kind and tried not to do a D and C. I remember that he found a second sac in my uterus. I remember waking up after the procedure with a warm blanket covering me.

I remember being upset with my husband for not feeling as hurt as I did about the entire experience. I remember feeling a little numb inside.

Almost two weeks after the miscarriage, I flew with my husband to Fort Dodge, Iowa to attned a spiritual warfare conference at Harvest Baptist Church where Marvin Smith is the pastor. Chad and I had spent some time with Pastor Smith before, so he called us into his office to chitchat. At that time, I expressed to him what a hard time I was having with the miscarriage. He and his wife talked to me for some time and helped me a great deal, but the thing that helped me the most was a prayer that Brother Smith led me in. It went something like this:

Dear God,

I am grieving the loss of my baby. I know that you have a divine plan for my life, and I am trusting You, but it hurts. Right now, I take my baby in my arms and hand it to You. Please take good care of my baby until I can come and see him.

Those were not the exact words, but the idea is right. The thing that I had to do was to stop seeing the miscarriage as something that had happened in my past. I had to take my baby from my past and put it into my future. When I did that, my heart began to heal.

It still hurts today, several years later. As I am typing this, I am crying. However, when I think of my precious little one now, I always think that he or she is waiting for me in heaven! I knew that in my head before, but I couldn't get my heart to feel it until I actually took mybaby in my arms and handed him or her to God.

I am so thankful for a husband who was willing to get me the help I needed at that time in my life. All because two people fell in love...there is a little one waiting for me in heaven. A little one I will be able to look in the eye and say, "I wanted you so badly, but God saw differently."

Thank you for reading my story. Feel free to pass it along if you think it could help someone in your life.

Precious Memories

2008-11-10T00:26:00.003-05:00

What a whirlwind of a day! With responsibilities at church and sick children at home, life quickly became chaotic today. Chad taught Sunday school and then came home so that I could go to church and be in the nursery with my friend and bring the three children home who were able to attend this morning. He started my chicken for me so that when I got home I could make pot pie. Then I had to get the music ready to begin practicing for the Christmas program in our children's choir. I left at 4:00. Choir is at 5:00. I left the church at 5:45 to come back home so Chad could go to church and be on the platform to make his announcements. Whew! Some day.

In all of the busyness, though, I was so thankful for some extra time to be with my children. Extra time for Lauren to come and help me make dinner in the kitchen. As the 5th child, she sometimes struggles to find her place in the family. She needed that special time to be with mom and play memory match and cook. (Cooking always brings us together!)

I've included some pictures from this summer. Just some miscellaneous photos that I thought grandparents would enjoy!

Tricia and Tyler

Derek mowing the lawn :) and Elisabeth holding Tyler on the swing

Elisabeth in her favorite position. This was her birthday, and Grandpa Vest was here and bought her several books. (She read them in about a month.)

Lauren and Brianna

Freshly Bathed Derek

Meagan's Kindergarten Graduation

July 4th

Grandpa and Budge

Isn't she beautiful?

I love this one. Grandpa and Derek

I Love My Life!

2008-11-08T21:23:00.004-05:00

I just love being at home! Some people may look at my life and the things that I do each day and feel sorry for me, but I feel sorry for the women who have to work every day at a job and then come home and try to have enough energy to do all of their housework on top of it. I look at it like this: I GET to stay home! I GET to change diapers and see smiles and watch first steps and have time to inspect knitting and listen to piano practices and play blocks and Candy Land and do all of my own laundry and cook homemade dinners every night. I GET to bathe babies and give kisses and hear giggles and train and hold and cuddle--all day every day. I GET to cuddle a baby in the middle of the night and fall asleep with him in my arms and wake up to him squirming. I GET to see his smiles when he realizes he's still in mommy's arms after several hours! ;-}

I love... the smell of fresh laundry waiting to be folded!

I love... the feel of kneading dough and the smell of fresh bread baking!

I love...making special treats for my family!

Caramel-Pecan Cinnamon Rolls

We use this bread recipe and decided to try to make cinnamon rolls with it. Well, I remembered that several years ago I had made some delicious caramel cinnamon rolls and decided to try to find the recipe again. Now I remember why I haven't made them very much...I eat too much when I make them! They are soooo good right out of the oven. I just kept picking at them, and so did Derek. Here's the recipe.

Caramel-Pecan Cinnamon Rolls

CARAMEL SAUCE:

1 cup butter or margarine, cubed

2 cups packed brown sugar

1/4 cup corn syrup

1/2 to 3/4 cup chopped pecans

FILLING:

2 Tablespoons butter or margarine, melted

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Make one batch of Amy's bread dough, cover and let rise until double in bulk. In the meantime, for sauce, melt butter in a large saucepan. Stir in the brown sugar and corn syrup. Bring to a boil over medium heat for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Pour into a greased 9x13 dish. Sprinkle with pecans; set aside.

Punch the dough down. Turn onto a floured surface. Roll into a 17-in. x 15-in. rectangle. Spread butter to within 1/2 in. of edges. Combine sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle over dough. Roll up jelly-roll style, starting with a long side; pinch seams to seal.

Cut into 15 slices. Place cut side down over caramel sauce. Cover; let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown. Let stand 5 minutes; invert onto a serving platter.

Note:

You can probably get more like 22-25 rolls out of the dough, so you may want to either divide the sauce into two separate pans or make a little extra sauce.

I am sitting...on my love seat with my daughter by my side. She is knitting a hat for her little sister Lauren for her birthday in a month.

I am drinking...ice-cold water. So refreshing after a long day's work.

I am listening...to my husband cutting the boys' hair in the kitchen.

I am loved...by the most patient man in the entire world.

I am thinking...about how much God loves me. He provides for my every need and then some.

I am thankful...that I was able to have a date with my husband today. We had such a nice time together.

Have a wonderful Sunday!

Homemade Playdough

2008-11-07T15:23:00.003-05:00

We gave Katie a bath yesterday, and Brian took a picture of her because she looked so pretty and fluffy.

Elisabeth had her friend Elizabeth over yesterday, and they wanted to make playdough. Here's Derek playing with his "share of the dough." ;-)

Elisabeth added some glitter to hers. (Notice the nailpolish peeling off!)

Kneading the dough!

We have had such beautiful weather here for the past week or so. When I woke up this morning, the skies were overcast, but as I was washing the morning dishes, the sun broke through and started shining through my kitchen window. It made me smile, and I love to smile!

Please pray for our little family here. We have had several children with colds and fevers these last few days. It started with Derek on Sunday, moved on to Tyler and Budge, and now to Meagan. Chad's nose is driving him crazy as well. I guess it's that time of the year, but I don't know if I'm ready for it. Pray especially for Budge, as he has a history of pneumonia and bronchitis. His cough is already quite "hacky."

Thank you and we love you all.

Consider This Class

2008-11-06T10:24:00.002-05:00

I have never done something like this before, but I have signed up for this class at this web site. It would be fun if some of my "friends" would also sign up, and then we can share stories! : )

The Way I See It...

2008-11-05T16:35:00.002-05:00

Well, Elisabeth got new glasses today. She had wie-rimmed glasses before but wanted to try out a different look. At first I wasn't sure what Daddy would say, but he loved them. We both agree that she looks quite cute!

After we got home from picking up the glasses, Elisabeth commented that when you are used to wearing glasses all the time, and then you don't have them for awhile, you get more tired. I got to thinking about those words. They spoke to me of my own life in a way. When I am walking with the Lord, I am looking at life through my "glasses." When I get sidetracked and "lose my glasses" for awhile, I get tired because my "eyes" have to work harder to put things in focus. Once I get back to spending my quiet time with Jesus again, things suddenly become very clear again!

Long Time, No See

2008-11-05T08:33:00.002-05:00

Well, I haven't been able to update in several days because our computer has been acting up. We have had a program called Naomi on our computer, and it has really been wreaking havoc in our little world. We are still working on getting it off, so updates may be spotty.

Daddy bought Meagan, Lauren, and Derek new coats the other day. Derek was hugging his coat yesterday and when I told him I needed to put it away, he grabbed it more tightly saying, "Ga Ga" with a big smile. He sure does love his DaDa a.k.a. GaGa. :)

Derek has been quite ill the last few days. I ended up keeping him home from church on Sunday night and probably should have kept him home on Sunday morning as well. He had a temperature of 104 degrees. He is much like Budge in that he stays quite active until his temperature gets quite high.

Sometimes life can get so overwhelming with school duties, church duties, play dates, meals, shopping, exercise, sickness, etc. It's so easy to concentrate on the seemingly negative aspects of everyday life. But there are so many positives. Even in the midst of Derek's sickness, I couldn't help but capture the sweetness of Derek laying on his little brother Tyler. And Tyler didn't mind a bit. He loves Derek, and I am so glad. I prayed that we would have another boy for Derek to be friends with. We had Elisabeth first, and she is the only child who does not have a same gender sibling right next to her. It goes like this: Girl, Boy, Boy, Girl, Girl, Boy, Boy. I am so thankful that God did that for the children. I grew up as an only child, and there were times that I was so lonely. I didn't want that for my children. Not only are they not lonely, but they all have a little friend right at their age. I love that!

Have a super day!!!

Sweet Spirits

2008-10-31T18:30:00.002-04:00

This picture is so typical at our house. Several times a day Derek throws a fit about something that he wants but cannot have. We deal with him accordingly, but his will certainly is proving to be quite stubborn. The least little thing that goes wrong affects his spirit adversely.

I find that often the many "little" things that go wrong at my house threaten to upset my spirit, and sometimes even succeed. Little things like the little guy in the picture throwing his 5th fit in 5 minutes! Or, not being able to find even one spatula in the entire kitchen when I have pancakes ready to flip. Or, spending 10 minutes in the morning before school finding a lost article of clothing. "Little" things seem to add up quickly and test my spirit more than the "big" things that go wrong.

My husband made a statement in a churchwide staff meeting the other day that really spoke to my heart: The moment you engage in trying to control the circumstances that surround you, you disengage from trying to control your own spirit. I cannot control whether or not the baby is crying or how many times Derek throws a fit. The only thing I can do is to control my spirit in the midst of it all.

Psalm 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.

Proverbs 16:32 He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.

Proverbs 25:28 He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls.

There are so many good things that happen in my daily life that are worth focusing on!

Apples and Army Men

2008-10-30T22:06:00.004-04:00

Last Saturday at the Farmers Market I bought one and a half bushels of apples to make applesauce. We had Missions Conference this week at church, so the apples have been sitting around waiting to be turned into something. We bought an old-fashioned apple peeler, slicer, corer from Ace Hardware and started in to peel the apples. Meagan wanted to help, so she started it out. After a couple of apples, things began to go awry. The apples were falling off of the peeler instead of staying in one long spiral after peeling. So I decided to try to figure it out and, in the process, sliced my finger pretty good. I bandaged my finger, and we kept going with the apples.

The apple peels and cores when we were done...And we still have over a bushel of apples left!

Meagan diligently peeling. She thought it was great fun.

Brian and Lauren figured out what to do with those leftover peels--Have a peel eating contest! ;)

Not only did we make some applesauce tonight, but we also made apple dumplings. Chad's mom used to make them on Sunday afternoons, and they are still his favorite dessert of all time. So, two or three times a year, I try to make them. While I was busy making my dumplings, Meagan found some leftover scraps of dough and decided to make some "baby" turnovers of her own! (Yes, we did eat them when they were done.)

Dumplings in the making

Ready to go in the oven...

Elisabeth mashing the applesauce

Meagan's completed dumplings. They took about 5 minutes to bake, and they were quite yummy!

While we were waiting for the Apple Dumplings to bake, we played one of our favorite family games--Army Guys. Basically, we each have a book that we place an agreed upon number of army guys on top of. We then each take turns throwing the extra guys to try to knock down everyone else's guys. We have been playing this game for years and years and love it because everyone can be involved.

Apple Dumplings Ready to Eat!

Judi's Apple Dumplings

Sauce:

1 1/2 c. sugar

1 1/2 c. water

1/4 t. cinnamon and nutmeg

6-10 drops red food coloring, optional

3 T. butter

*Combine sugar, water, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Bring to boil. Remove from heat and add butter. Set aside.

Dumplings:

2 c. flour

2 t. baking powder

1 t. salt

2/3 c. shortening

1/2 (or so) c. milk

*Combine first three ingredients. Cut in shortening. Add milk. Mix just until moistened.

Roll out dough into a 12"x18" rectangle. Cut into 6 squares. Place cut apples in the middle of each square. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Dot with butter. Moisten edges, fold dough to center and pinch to seal. Place dumplings in a 9"x13" pan. Pour sauce over dumplings. Bake at 375 degrees for 35 minutes. Serve with ice cream!

Notes:

1. We always double the sauce or there just isn't enough.

2. The dough is a little difficult to work with. I usually add a teaspoon or two extra milk.

3. Instead of 6 large dumplings, we make 10 smaller ones, and even those end up being too big. A little goes a long way with these.

4. The dumplings will look like they are swimming. :-}

Our First Snowman!

2008-10-29T10:45:00.003-04:00

We had our first snowfall the other day (Monday, I think). Last night after Missions Conference, the snow was falling pretty heavily. We were up late because we had friends over, and at 12:30 at night the kids (there were 10 of them) were outside throwing snowballs at one another. Our friends are Lowell and Michelle Griffin, missionaries to the Philippines. Their kids were thrilled to be playing in the snow again!

Here's Brian coming in from the snowball fight!

Here is our first little snowman of the year. He is in my dying flower pot, which makes him about 6 inches tall, I think. So cute!

Please pray for my sister-in-law Tracy Nymeyer, and her daughter Kara. They were involved in a bus on the way to church on Sunday morning. Tracy broke her collarbone and a couple of ribs. She is also pregnant, though the doctor says the baby looks fine. Kara suffered a concussion. You can find the complete story, complete with pictures and a newspaper article here. Tracy told me she has two specific prayer requests: 1. That her bones would heal properly so that the doctors would not need to do surgery after the birth of the baby and that the pain would not interfere with nursing and so forth later on. 2. That she would take the proper amount of medication so that she would be able to sleep but that would not be harmful to the baby. She is in a great deal of pain and cannot even get in and out of bed alone. A sister-in-law was watching 5 of her children yesterday so that she could rest. Also, Kara absolutely cannot hit her head again for a month or so. You know how children are, so please pray that she stays safe.

The Chad Vest Family

Christmas Card 2010

Family Gathering

Our Newest Addition

Please Join Me in Prayer

Thoughts on our Country Today

Potty Training Help!!!

Two *FUN* Days at the Lake

"Don't you dare bring that thing into the house!!"

The Moment I Saw You....

New Wheels!

Midnight Ramblings...

Some thoughts on being a wife...

Two Birthdays and a Visit

Enjoying Spring

What's Been Happening At Our House?

Spring Break

Birthday Celebration

Quick little tidbits ;D

Ramblings...

If You're Happy and You Know It...

Sledding Fun with the Bachman Family

German Pancakes

The Evening Times

Be Mine Craft

A Small Boy's Hand

No More Monkeys

My Leader

New Blog

Racing Fun

Finding Joy...In the Simple Things

Practicing Patience...

Childhood Memories...

Tyler with Ice

Life Is Precious...

Update on Dominic

URGENT PRAYER REQUEST

Sibling Love

Thoughts on God's Blessings

Our Mini-Honeymoon

Quick Update on the Boys

Happy New Year, Patience!

Traveling Takes Its Toll...

The Christmas Program

Good Friends Are Treasures

Ripley's Aquarium and Thoughts of the Future

Merry Christmas!

We're Getting Ready for the Christmas Program!

Okay, It's Time To Vote!

Friday Fill-Ins and More

Brian's Birthday

This is Hilarious!

I've Been Tagged!

Random Acts of Kindness

Seven and a Half Months Already

Lots and Lots and Lots of.....

So Many Miracles

Lauren's 5th Birthday

Sock Wars!

A Time for Reflection

Our First Snow Day!!!

A Happy, Happy Thanksgiving....to you, to you!

A Welcome Winter Weekend

I'm Growing, I'm Growing Ev'ryday

Happy Fall, Y'all!

Great Family Game

God is GOOD...ALL the Time!

A Time for Learning

We hit the jackpot!

Styrofoam Cup, Everyday Mug, or Fine China

All because two people fell in love...

Precious Memories

I Love My Life!

Homemade Playdough

Consider This Class

The Way I See It...

Long Time, No See

Sweet Spirits

Apples and Army Men

Our First Snowman!

Two FUN Days at the Lake