"And I say, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove!
I would fly away and be at rest;"
I would fly away and be at rest;"
Psalms 55:6
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Birds of the air...
We saw these birds earlier this year, and we saw them Wednesday and Thursday, also... we're guessing they were migrating back and forth... we thought this was amazing :)! We had so much fun watching them! (I'm sorry it is so shaky, haha. And yes, the birds were that loud!)
Monday, November 26, 2012
Homemade bread!
One of my friends asked me on Facebook, after I shared this post;
if I would share our bread recipe.
This recipe was adapted from Miss Tammy's Whole Wheat Bread recipe. Over the past four years we have slowly changed this or that measurement or technique, as we read more and more tips for making bread, and it has since turned to this :).
Here, without further ado... (This makes four loaves.)
9 cups of flour. We grinder our own wheat, and we use 6 cups of Hard Red Winter Wheat berries to make our 9 cups of flour. If you are not grinding your own wheat, just go with the 9 cups of flour, but it won't be quite the same. And try not to use Soft White Spring Wheat berries, whatever you do, haha :).
6 T. of ground flax seed.
3 T. yeast
1 T. salt
1/2 cup of wheat gluten
1/8 + 1/4 t. of ginger
1/4 t. vitamin C. We buy tablets and then just crush one for each batch of bread, but do as you see fit :). We've left it out a few times,and it hasn't been too much of an issue, but it is better with :).
Mix all this in a large bowl. Let sit while you mix together
3 cups of water
3/4 cup of honey
6 T. olive oil
3 T. of milk (water works, but, it is better following the recipe, if possible...)
Combine both of the mixtures in a mixing bowl and beat on a low speed, adding flour until it is a soft dough, pulling from the sides of the bowl.
Knead it in your mixer on a higher setting, unless you want to knead it by hand. But I doubt that will be an option unless you are doing this out of boredom :). We use our large Bosch mixer set on the second speed (medium-high), and leave it for about 15 minutes. You'll have to play around with this if you have another mixer, or use a bread machine, as I've never made it in anything else. If you are using a Bosch, this dough beats the sides a good bit. We suggest putting a metal bowl in front of the mixer so that the bowl falls off and makes a racket before the mixer if it decides to move to the edge of the counter. We have had the whole thing wiggle to the edge of the counter, and yank the plug out of the wall as it sailed through the air across the kitchen!!! Thankfully, nobody was in the kitchen, and it didn't break!
Leave it to sit in the mixer for about 5 minutes after it is done kneading. This allows it to "relax from it's beating" ;). While it sits, butter four bread pans. (Ours are about 4 1/2" by 8 1/2".) If you live in a cold climate, or it is winter, you may want to warm your pans just enough that they are no longer chilly to the touch. Those cold metal pans can greatly stunt the rising of your bread.
Now dump the dough out onto a counter, and cut into four equal parts. Place each loaf in a bread pan. You can mold it so that it fits the pan perfectly, like Tori does, or leave it as is, as I do. The end result is the same :).
Now comes the part that most people find very, very odd :)...
Get a fork, and stab your bread right in the middle. Long or short ways, is doesn't matter. That wasn't so bad, was it? Okay. Are you ready? (Stabbing it was to give it a "mouth".) You are going to burp your bread.
For those of you who care for babies regularly, this is second nature. For those of you who don't, this isn't too hard.
No, really. We call it burping the bread, but please don't burp your babies these way!
Give the bread one, hard, resounding slap! If you left a small indention of your hand print, you probably did it right ;). Now your bread will be bread through and through, with no air pockets causing big holes in your slices!
I set the oven to 200 degrees and leave it for three minutes, then turn off and slide the bread in to raise. Your oven may be different, though, so be careful. You want to warm the bread, not start cooking it :). Let rise for 20 minutes.
Leave your bread in the oven, and turn your oven on to 350 degrees. Bake the bread for 35 minutes, starting the timing from the time you turned on the oven, not from when it was done heating, until it is a good brown shade on the bottom. Get the rest of the bread out carefully after five minutes of sitting in the pan (It will be cooler, so harder to squish, and will have sweated just enough to make it come out easier without sogging the bread. still be careful, because you can ruin the look of your loaf if it is squished, which is easy ;). Use a turner to loosen the sides, and hold it so the back is what is touching the bread.
Done! Enjoy!!!
This sounds hard and time consuming, but after you're used to it, you can spend just about ten minutes of hands-on time to make four loaves of bread!
"It's Homemade Bread Day :)... (November 16)"
if I would share our bread recipe.
This recipe was adapted from Miss Tammy's Whole Wheat Bread recipe. Over the past four years we have slowly changed this or that measurement or technique, as we read more and more tips for making bread, and it has since turned to this :).
Here, without further ado... (This makes four loaves.)
9 cups of flour. We grinder our own wheat, and we use 6 cups of Hard Red Winter Wheat berries to make our 9 cups of flour. If you are not grinding your own wheat, just go with the 9 cups of flour, but it won't be quite the same. And try not to use Soft White Spring Wheat berries, whatever you do, haha :).
6 T. of ground flax seed.
3 T. yeast
1 T. salt
1/2 cup of wheat gluten
1/8 + 1/4 t. of ginger
1/4 t. vitamin C. We buy tablets and then just crush one for each batch of bread, but do as you see fit :). We've left it out a few times,and it hasn't been too much of an issue, but it is better with :).
Mix all this in a large bowl. Let sit while you mix together
3 cups of water
3/4 cup of honey
6 T. olive oil
3 T. of milk (water works, but, it is better following the recipe, if possible...)
Combine both of the mixtures in a mixing bowl and beat on a low speed, adding flour until it is a soft dough, pulling from the sides of the bowl.
Knead it in your mixer on a higher setting, unless you want to knead it by hand. But I doubt that will be an option unless you are doing this out of boredom :). We use our large Bosch mixer set on the second speed (medium-high), and leave it for about 15 minutes. You'll have to play around with this if you have another mixer, or use a bread machine, as I've never made it in anything else. If you are using a Bosch, this dough beats the sides a good bit. We suggest putting a metal bowl in front of the mixer so that the bowl falls off and makes a racket before the mixer if it decides to move to the edge of the counter. We have had the whole thing wiggle to the edge of the counter, and yank the plug out of the wall as it sailed through the air across the kitchen!!! Thankfully, nobody was in the kitchen, and it didn't break!
Leave it to sit in the mixer for about 5 minutes after it is done kneading. This allows it to "relax from it's beating" ;). While it sits, butter four bread pans. (Ours are about 4 1/2" by 8 1/2".) If you live in a cold climate, or it is winter, you may want to warm your pans just enough that they are no longer chilly to the touch. Those cold metal pans can greatly stunt the rising of your bread.
Now dump the dough out onto a counter, and cut into four equal parts. Place each loaf in a bread pan. You can mold it so that it fits the pan perfectly, like Tori does, or leave it as is, as I do. The end result is the same :).
Now comes the part that most people find very, very odd :)...
Get a fork, and stab your bread right in the middle. Long or short ways, is doesn't matter. That wasn't so bad, was it? Okay. Are you ready? (Stabbing it was to give it a "mouth".) You are going to burp your bread.
For those of you who care for babies regularly, this is second nature. For those of you who don't, this isn't too hard.
No, really. We call it burping the bread, but please don't burp your babies these way!
Give the bread one, hard, resounding slap! If you left a small indention of your hand print, you probably did it right ;). Now your bread will be bread through and through, with no air pockets causing big holes in your slices!
I set the oven to 200 degrees and leave it for three minutes, then turn off and slide the bread in to raise. Your oven may be different, though, so be careful. You want to warm the bread, not start cooking it :). Let rise for 20 minutes.
Leave your bread in the oven, and turn your oven on to 350 degrees. Bake the bread for 35 minutes, starting the timing from the time you turned on the oven, not from when it was done heating, until it is a good brown shade on the bottom. Get the rest of the bread out carefully after five minutes of sitting in the pan (It will be cooler, so harder to squish, and will have sweated just enough to make it come out easier without sogging the bread. still be careful, because you can ruin the look of your loaf if it is squished, which is easy ;). Use a turner to loosen the sides, and hold it so the back is what is touching the bread.
Done! Enjoy!!!
This sounds hard and time consuming, but after you're used to it, you can spend just about ten minutes of hands-on time to make four loaves of bread!
So...
A couple years ago, Mommy started asking me what I thought of this project...
http://withatangledskein.blogspot.com/2009/10/li-aries-soaker.html
At first I thought it was odd. Yarn to catch what cloth can't? A few weeks ago she found this pattern, and asked me again about it. She informed me that you lanolize them after you are done, which she says she has told me before, but I don't remember at all, and which makes me feel they may work a bit better than I have been thinking ;).
I just may try them after my Christmas projects, and that one thing I started on our trip, and maybe some hats for Peter (he is the first one to keep hats on, sooo fun!!!) are done...
Although I am still highly on the other side of the fence as to making a knit uterus and intestines set...
http://withatangledskein.blogspot.com/2009/10/li-aries-soaker.html
At first I thought it was odd. Yarn to catch what cloth can't? A few weeks ago she found this pattern, and asked me again about it. She informed me that you lanolize them after you are done, which she says she has told me before, but I don't remember at all, and which makes me feel they may work a bit better than I have been thinking ;).
I just may try them after my Christmas projects, and that one thing I started on our trip, and maybe some hats for Peter (he is the first one to keep hats on, sooo fun!!!) are done...
Although I am still highly on the other side of the fence as to making a knit uterus and intestines set...
Thankful Thanksgiving post
...Late. Of course :)... Sorry! But we are actually celebrating Thanksgiving today, so I guess it isn't too bad :).
Just some of my favorite Thankful Thoughts over the past 34 weeks have been (going from oldest to newest)...
~God's love :)!
~God's goodness,
~A twenty-two month old who asks me to read her the Bible :)!
~A loving Savior who dead for me!!!
~Handwritten letters.
~History.
~God's mercy!
~Hearing a 22 month old's voice singing the chorus to "To God be the Glory"... in her sleep!!!
~Being invited to read the Bible through with a friend. This is the second time that we have done this, we're just taking it a bit slower this time. It has been a blessing!!!
~Getting to see Andrew's drawings (he has become a great artist!!!).
~Walks at the park.
~Jesus' forgiveness.
~Books written by strong, godly men and women to help us on our journey
~Staying up late talking with Tori. We don't do this quite as much as we used to since we have four more people in the room, but it is still fun when we do.
~Watching two brothers bonding (it is truly precious!!! It is hard to explain, but it really seems to me that even Peter knows that they are going to become best buddies.)
~Watching little ones with babies,
~And hearing them cooing to that baby-
~Cooing such things as "I just can't wait to hold that chubby hand every day while we pray!" (said by Andrew, age 5, while stroking Peter's little hand.)
~A good, Godly (!!!) sign language curriculum DVD.
~The book to go with this DVD- we got this DVD free, but didn't have the book. Mommy and ~Daddy bought us the book for our "first day of spring" celebration.
~Sisters to learn sign language with :).
~The sound of rain on the roof.
~Quiet, rainy days...
~And not-so-quiet, rainy days ;)
~The sound of a brook.
~Beautiful gems and rocks.
~The gift of Mothers :)!
~Cameras.
~Learning how to use these cameras.
~And a Daddy willing to teach me all he knows.
~Photos.
~Celebrating another year with a precious family member.
~Reasons to crochet...
...Which include babies...
... little ones...
... loved ones...
...birthdays...
... and Christmas...
~Or just crocheting for fun :).
~The gift of Fathers :)!
~Blueberries.
~Leaves.
~Shade.
~Sun.
~Blueberry Popsicles after blueberry picking.
~Swings.
~Reading others thankful thoughts!
~Trying new recipes, whether I make, or just eat them :).
~Lots of recipes to choose from!
~Cooking.
~Old hymns.
~Singing praises to God along with our church family.
~Singing with my family as we work together.
~Enjoying time with family and friends, working, playing, talking, laughing, and living together.
~The Bible.
~Little hands.
~Jesus' grace to sinners!
~A bed full of family telling/ reminding others of family stories that were the cause of much laughter ;)... (at about eleven o'clock at night, which may have also been part of the cause of the hysterical laughter. That, and the relief that that piece of toilet paper wasn't permanently stuck in Abbi's nose...)
~So much to be grateful for!
~Watching little ones enjoying singing praise to the Master :).
~And a Lord to praise :)!!!
~Getting to visit family.
~Getting to take Peter to visit Granny for the first time :).
~The example of people before us that loved their Lord, and that God lead others to document their lives.
~The smell of bread in the oven (Thank you, Tori, for making the bread the last few times! You have done a wonderful job!!!)
~Antique tatting shuttles :)! I saw a tatting shuttle last year while Mommy and I were out antiquing. But, I decided not to pay 25 dollars for something that didn't tell how old it was. Now I'm glad I didn't, because this year Daddy and I found one that was under 13 dollars, and it has the date it was made engraved on it, so there can be no mistaking it- it is 89 years old! How neat is that :)?!
~My wonderful family!
~The crocheting book that one of my closest friends gave me just over a year ago. (Thanks K.!!! I just finished using it yet again. With all the gifts I've been able to make out of it, it has most likely more than given me it's money worth. It was so sweet of you!)
~Watching Andrew read to Peter (LOVE IT!!!).
~Sewing fun. Guess what? I have fallen in love with sewing!!! I didn't think it would happen, but I have! Thanks to the fixed machine and the fact that I kind of know what I'm doing now, I have enjoyed myself so much! Mommy and I altered two skirts, finish a nightgown for Abbi, and made matching nightgowns for the little girls the other day (although they were cut out the day before). It was fun, even though I did forget a few steps that had to be done after I thought I was done, haha...
~"Finding treasure" (Andrew's description of GEO-caching) with our Grandpa.
~Staying up late with Tori, my Mom, and my Aunts.
~Lots of crafting to look forward to! After a project I really should get working on, I have Christmas presents, and I really should finish the basket/jars covers I started forever ago to make all my crafting containers match ;).
~God's provisions for our family.
~Creativity in the kitchen :).
~And that we found a certain button I need for a project I'll try to do for that auction. I was going to do it for the Musser's fundraiser, but God seems to have had another plan, and I can't wait to see what it is :)!
-Which brings me to another thing. God was obviously planning on me joining in these auctions years ago! Those buttons I mentioned just happened to have been sitting in my button jar for years. I bought them for absolutely no other reason except they were so adorable I couldn't leave them on the shelf ;). I couldn't see them going with any fabric, at least not for a piece of clothing, I figured if I ever used it it would be for scrapbook pages. We couldn't find buttons to match the fabric I choose (pine cone fabric to make a little tea towel dress). I remembered those buttons after we got home, and they were a perfect match! That was so neat!
~A godly church, where the word of God is proclaimed and the members have become just like family to us. We will miss everybody when we move, but it is exciting to know that God has lead us this far, and he will surely lead us to another church in VA that will be just as much of a blessing. And then, of course, we'll just have even more "family". Between letters, phones and the internet, we'll be able to stay in touch with everyone, and Mommy pointed out that never before have we had Facebook or blogs to stay in touch with people we're leaving behind :).
Bible study, and the way that God teaches you something new no matter how often you have read a passage :).
~That Daddy was able to finish his training here! That was such a blessing, we were able to have him home every night :)!
~Phone calls from Daddy, while he is up in Virginia starting to work up at his store there.
~The great time we had on our trip to Virginia.
And this week I am especially Thankful for...
~A loving Lord and Savior, who has brought me thus far and has promised to lead me on. Lord, thank you. May I never turn from you, and may many join in serving you!
~My dear family on this earth. Daddy, Mommy, Tori, Bethi, Andrew, Abbi, Emmi, and Peter, I love you guys soooo much!
~Jesus promise of a reunion in heaven with loved ones if we will believe on him. We can't wait to meet you, tiny Micah and Michel!
~The Pilgrims who gave all they had to come to a new land for spiritual freedom, not only for them, but for future generations. We can never be too grateful for this, especially as it is a virtue our country is trying to throw away.
~Our Founding Fathers, who fought hard under God to allow us to keep our liberty, and founded our independent nation under God. May God cause a revival in America, if so be his will...
~God's provision for our family this year, both while Daddy was out of work, and in bringing him a job. God has truly shown his hand in this situation, for which we thank him. Not only did he give this job in an amazing way, but he also gave us several months of family time to prepare for these months of frequent separation.
~That Daddy was able to make it home Saturday!
~Traditions...
We're trying to celebrate Thanksgiving, our first night of Advent, and do our Saint Nicholas day celebration while he is home. *He leaves tomorrow, at five o'clock in the morning*. So far everything has gone the way Mommy planned. We'll see if it works. Hahaha...
~Fun breakfasts.
~Meals together.
~Joy and laughter.
~Peter's delight at seeing Daddy again. Although we were all excited to see him, Peter's joy after being sooo cranky since his little teething issues started, if that is what it was, was especially precious :).
~Green bean casserole. I tried making this at Mommy's request Saturday night, and everybody loved it!
~The great time we had at the Lights Before Christmas at the zoo last night.
~Advent.
~Thanksgiving.
~Saint Nicholas Day.
~Laughter at one o'clock in the morning while fulfilling a yearly tradition...
~A kitchen full of people you love baking with you.
~Finding some odd finds while cleaning out drawers... look for a post about Tori's La-ma-fa-saw...
~And, though most of you will find this odd... the song "Feliz Navidad". Oh Gramma... ♫ ♪♫ Feliz Navidad ♫ ♪ ♫
Just some of my favorite Thankful Thoughts over the past 34 weeks have been (going from oldest to newest)...
~God's love :)!
~God's goodness,
~A twenty-two month old who asks me to read her the Bible :)!
~A loving Savior who dead for me!!!
~Handwritten letters.
~History.
~God's mercy!
~Hearing a 22 month old's voice singing the chorus to "To God be the Glory"... in her sleep!!!
~Being invited to read the Bible through with a friend. This is the second time that we have done this, we're just taking it a bit slower this time. It has been a blessing!!!
~Getting to see Andrew's drawings (he has become a great artist!!!).
~Walks at the park.
~Jesus' forgiveness.
~Books written by strong, godly men and women to help us on our journey
~Staying up late talking with Tori. We don't do this quite as much as we used to since we have four more people in the room, but it is still fun when we do.
~Watching two brothers bonding (it is truly precious!!! It is hard to explain, but it really seems to me that even Peter knows that they are going to become best buddies.)
~Watching little ones with babies,
~And hearing them cooing to that baby-
~Cooing such things as "I just can't wait to hold that chubby hand every day while we pray!" (said by Andrew, age 5, while stroking Peter's little hand.)
~A good, Godly (!!!) sign language curriculum DVD.
~The book to go with this DVD- we got this DVD free, but didn't have the book. Mommy and ~Daddy bought us the book for our "first day of spring" celebration.
~Sisters to learn sign language with :).
~The sound of rain on the roof.
~Quiet, rainy days...
~And not-so-quiet, rainy days ;)
~The sound of a brook.
~Beautiful gems and rocks.
~The gift of Mothers :)!
~Cameras.
~Learning how to use these cameras.
~And a Daddy willing to teach me all he knows.
~Photos.
~Celebrating another year with a precious family member.
~Reasons to crochet...
...Which include babies...
... little ones...
... loved ones...
...birthdays...
... and Christmas...
~Or just crocheting for fun :).
~The gift of Fathers :)!
~Blueberries.
~Leaves.
~Shade.
~Sun.
~Blueberry Popsicles after blueberry picking.
~Swings.
~Reading others thankful thoughts!
~Trying new recipes, whether I make, or just eat them :).
~Lots of recipes to choose from!
~Cooking.
~Old hymns.
~Singing praises to God along with our church family.
~Singing with my family as we work together.
~Enjoying time with family and friends, working, playing, talking, laughing, and living together.
~The Bible.
~Little hands.
~Jesus' grace to sinners!
~A bed full of family telling/ reminding others of family stories that were the cause of much laughter ;)... (at about eleven o'clock at night, which may have also been part of the cause of the hysterical laughter. That, and the relief that that piece of toilet paper wasn't permanently stuck in Abbi's nose...)
~So much to be grateful for!
~Watching little ones enjoying singing praise to the Master :).
~And a Lord to praise :)!!!
~Getting to visit family.
~Getting to take Peter to visit Granny for the first time :).
~The example of people before us that loved their Lord, and that God lead others to document their lives.
~The smell of bread in the oven (Thank you, Tori, for making the bread the last few times! You have done a wonderful job!!!)
~Antique tatting shuttles :)! I saw a tatting shuttle last year while Mommy and I were out antiquing. But, I decided not to pay 25 dollars for something that didn't tell how old it was. Now I'm glad I didn't, because this year Daddy and I found one that was under 13 dollars, and it has the date it was made engraved on it, so there can be no mistaking it- it is 89 years old! How neat is that :)?!
~My wonderful family!
~The crocheting book that one of my closest friends gave me just over a year ago. (Thanks K.!!! I just finished using it yet again. With all the gifts I've been able to make out of it, it has most likely more than given me it's money worth. It was so sweet of you!)
~Watching Andrew read to Peter (LOVE IT!!!).
~Sewing fun. Guess what? I have fallen in love with sewing!!! I didn't think it would happen, but I have! Thanks to the fixed machine and the fact that I kind of know what I'm doing now, I have enjoyed myself so much! Mommy and I altered two skirts, finish a nightgown for Abbi, and made matching nightgowns for the little girls the other day (although they were cut out the day before). It was fun, even though I did forget a few steps that had to be done after I thought I was done, haha...
~"Finding treasure" (Andrew's description of GEO-caching) with our Grandpa.
~Staying up late with Tori, my Mom, and my Aunts.
~Lots of crafting to look forward to! After a project I really should get working on, I have Christmas presents, and I really should finish the basket/jars covers I started forever ago to make all my crafting containers match ;).
~God's provisions for our family.
~Creativity in the kitchen :).
~And that we found a certain button I need for a project I'll try to do for that auction. I was going to do it for the Musser's fundraiser, but God seems to have had another plan, and I can't wait to see what it is :)!
-Which brings me to another thing. God was obviously planning on me joining in these auctions years ago! Those buttons I mentioned just happened to have been sitting in my button jar for years. I bought them for absolutely no other reason except they were so adorable I couldn't leave them on the shelf ;). I couldn't see them going with any fabric, at least not for a piece of clothing, I figured if I ever used it it would be for scrapbook pages. We couldn't find buttons to match the fabric I choose (pine cone fabric to make a little tea towel dress). I remembered those buttons after we got home, and they were a perfect match! That was so neat!
~A godly church, where the word of God is proclaimed and the members have become just like family to us. We will miss everybody when we move, but it is exciting to know that God has lead us this far, and he will surely lead us to another church in VA that will be just as much of a blessing. And then, of course, we'll just have even more "family". Between letters, phones and the internet, we'll be able to stay in touch with everyone, and Mommy pointed out that never before have we had Facebook or blogs to stay in touch with people we're leaving behind :).
Bible study, and the way that God teaches you something new no matter how often you have read a passage :).
~That Daddy was able to finish his training here! That was such a blessing, we were able to have him home every night :)!
~Phone calls from Daddy, while he is up in Virginia starting to work up at his store there.
~The great time we had on our trip to Virginia.
And this week I am especially Thankful for...
~A loving Lord and Savior, who has brought me thus far and has promised to lead me on. Lord, thank you. May I never turn from you, and may many join in serving you!
~My dear family on this earth. Daddy, Mommy, Tori, Bethi, Andrew, Abbi, Emmi, and Peter, I love you guys soooo much!
~Jesus promise of a reunion in heaven with loved ones if we will believe on him. We can't wait to meet you, tiny Micah and Michel!
~The Pilgrims who gave all they had to come to a new land for spiritual freedom, not only for them, but for future generations. We can never be too grateful for this, especially as it is a virtue our country is trying to throw away.
~Our Founding Fathers, who fought hard under God to allow us to keep our liberty, and founded our independent nation under God. May God cause a revival in America, if so be his will...
~God's provision for our family this year, both while Daddy was out of work, and in bringing him a job. God has truly shown his hand in this situation, for which we thank him. Not only did he give this job in an amazing way, but he also gave us several months of family time to prepare for these months of frequent separation.
~That Daddy was able to make it home Saturday!
~Traditions...
We're trying to celebrate Thanksgiving, our first night of Advent, and do our Saint Nicholas day celebration while he is home. *He leaves tomorrow, at five o'clock in the morning*. So far everything has gone the way Mommy planned. We'll see if it works. Hahaha...
~Fun breakfasts.
~Meals together.
~Joy and laughter.
~Peter's delight at seeing Daddy again. Although we were all excited to see him, Peter's joy after being sooo cranky since his little teething issues started, if that is what it was, was especially precious :).
~Green bean casserole. I tried making this at Mommy's request Saturday night, and everybody loved it!
~The great time we had at the Lights Before Christmas at the zoo last night.
~Advent.
~Thanksgiving.
~Saint Nicholas Day.
~Laughter at one o'clock in the morning while fulfilling a yearly tradition...
~A kitchen full of people you love baking with you.
~Finding some odd finds while cleaning out drawers... look for a post about Tori's La-ma-fa-saw...
~And, though most of you will find this odd... the song "Feliz Navidad". Oh Gramma... ♫ ♪♫ Feliz Navidad ♫ ♪ ♫
"As your name, O God,
so your praise reaches to the ends of the earth.
Your right hand is filled with righteousness."
~Psalm 48:10
Friday, November 23, 2012
Philippians 2
As I didn't get to posting the second chapter of Philippians yesterday, I'll do it here for those who may want to read it here still :)...
1So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 2complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,a 6who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant,b being born in the likeness of men. 8And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
1So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 2complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,a 6who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant,b being born in the likeness of men. 8And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
12Therefore,
my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my
presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with
fear and trembling,
13for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
14Do all things without grumbling or questioning,
15that
you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in
the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as
lights in the world,
16holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.
17Even
if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial
offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all.
18Likewise you also should be glad and rejoice with me.
19I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, so that I too may be cheered by news of you.
20For I have no one like him, who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare.
21For they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.
22But you know Timothy’sc proven worth, how as a sond with a father he has served with me in the gospel.
23I hope therefore to send him just as soon as I see how it will go with me,
24and I trust in the Lord that shortly I myself will come also.
25I
have thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus my brother and
fellow worker and fellow soldier, and your messenger and minister to my
need,
26for he has been longing for you all and has been distressed because you heard that he was ill.
27Indeed
he was ill, near to death. But God had mercy on him, and not only on
him but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow.
28I am the more eager to send him, therefore, that you may rejoice at seeing him again, and that I may be less anxious.
29So receive him in the Lord with all joy, and honor such men,
30for he nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was lacking in your service to me.
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
We've been very busy lately...
I've wanted to blog about many things that have happened during this busy time, but... it has been a busy time :). (Tori just walked into the room and told me that I had posted only two days ago, so I think I should clarify. It isn't that I haven't had time to post, just that I haven't had the time to post recent happenings between trip posts and Thankful Thursdays :). Look for a mega Thankful Thursday post in honor of Thanksgiving tomorrow!... And just remember, I said look, not read. I'll do my best :)!)
Before I go any farther, I want to share a tidbit about the "daily" bible passage on my side bar. Has anybody noticed that feature? It isn't quite daily, but I do update it every time I visit my blog page.
There are different ways I decide what chapter to post/book to work through next. I may read a chapter during my bible reading and want to share it's truths, Daddy may have picked that book to read during family bible time, or I may just make an impromptu decision to use a certain book or Psalm. I may also use the "Proverb of the day". Isn't it wonderful that God isn't one to say "all rights reserved" when it comes to his book :)? Anyway, the book we're working on now in church is Philippians. I'm also memorizing that book at the moment. And, that book has four chapters in it, the same number of days until Saturday, when Daddy will get home for Thanksgiving weekend!!! I thought a bible passage count-down of the days would be fun :)...
We will be celebrating Thanksgiving next Monday since Daddy will be home then- we're very thankful that he will make it home for that, since something he said a few days ago lead us to believe he wasn't going to be home for weeks!
As far as good news in the progress we've made on getting the house ready, we have only two more rooms to paint, after we complete the de-cluttering we're working on at the moment. Then we have the garage to clean ;)... And, all the the rooms that are painted are put back to rights. Of course we hung the curtains back up and put the electric covers back on, why would you ask? What? Why would you think that we had a grand old time laughing at all the things that happened during that process? No, nothing of the sort... all right, all right, I admit it.... I might tell you a little bit about our backwards switch plates and mutiny-desiring curtain rods sometime...
All this about packing leads me to the fact that I need to start Christmas presents, so that I can put the supplies I need for that up, along with the rest that we hope to have packed up before then. Anybody ready for that to start? I know I talked about Christmas a lot last year once I had started Christmas prep in ...October, I think it was ;). And cut it closely, if I remember correctly. But not as closely as the time I finished Christmas morning...
Some odd random bits...
We had to pick up some more paint last Friday, and we ended up getting the wrong kind, so had to go back the next day. As we were driving we hit a construction site... and Mommy called out "The road is lost!!!" Haha, seriously, it appears they bought a road and tore it up!!! Thankfully she found an alternative way to Lowes :).
Emmi was laying in bed with me the other day, and she told me that her "Veggietales" Larry stuffed toy was "dyed". I knew she meant "dried", but it sounded like "died". I decided to tease her a bit, and said "Larry died?! How sad!" She answered me, "No!!! You're silly!... I said dyed, not died!!!"
And, as my last bit of news to share with you all right now... would you consider praying for little Peter? He is very sick at the moment. Nobody else has caught it so far, so we're not sure if it is teething related of what, but little baby is feverish and miserable :(.
Before I go any farther, I want to share a tidbit about the "daily" bible passage on my side bar. Has anybody noticed that feature? It isn't quite daily, but I do update it every time I visit my blog page.
There are different ways I decide what chapter to post/book to work through next. I may read a chapter during my bible reading and want to share it's truths, Daddy may have picked that book to read during family bible time, or I may just make an impromptu decision to use a certain book or Psalm. I may also use the "Proverb of the day". Isn't it wonderful that God isn't one to say "all rights reserved" when it comes to his book :)? Anyway, the book we're working on now in church is Philippians. I'm also memorizing that book at the moment. And, that book has four chapters in it, the same number of days until Saturday, when Daddy will get home for Thanksgiving weekend!!! I thought a bible passage count-down of the days would be fun :)...
We will be celebrating Thanksgiving next Monday since Daddy will be home then- we're very thankful that he will make it home for that, since something he said a few days ago lead us to believe he wasn't going to be home for weeks!
As far as good news in the progress we've made on getting the house ready, we have only two more rooms to paint, after we complete the de-cluttering we're working on at the moment. Then we have the garage to clean ;)... And, all the the rooms that are painted are put back to rights. Of course we hung the curtains back up and put the electric covers back on, why would you ask? What? Why would you think that we had a grand old time laughing at all the things that happened during that process? No, nothing of the sort... all right, all right, I admit it.... I might tell you a little bit about our backwards switch plates and mutiny-desiring curtain rods sometime...
All this about packing leads me to the fact that I need to start Christmas presents, so that I can put the supplies I need for that up, along with the rest that we hope to have packed up before then. Anybody ready for that to start? I know I talked about Christmas a lot last year once I had started Christmas prep in ...October, I think it was ;). And cut it closely, if I remember correctly. But not as closely as the time I finished Christmas morning...
Some odd random bits...
We had to pick up some more paint last Friday, and we ended up getting the wrong kind, so had to go back the next day. As we were driving we hit a construction site... and Mommy called out "The road is lost!!!" Haha, seriously, it appears they bought a road and tore it up!!! Thankfully she found an alternative way to Lowes :).
Emmi was laying in bed with me the other day, and she told me that her "Veggietales" Larry stuffed toy was "dyed". I knew she meant "dried", but it sounded like "died". I decided to tease her a bit, and said "Larry died?! How sad!" She answered me, "No!!! You're silly!... I said dyed, not died!!!"
And, as my last bit of news to share with you all right now... would you consider praying for little Peter? He is very sick at the moment. Nobody else has caught it so far, so we're not sure if it is teething related of what, but little baby is feverish and miserable :(.
Monday, November 19, 2012
The end of our trip ~Virginia trip Part seven, and that's a wrap!
Part one
Part two
Part three
Part four
Part five
Part six
Part seven...
We did a little more sight seeing, found a Chick-fil-a, grabbed some lunch, and took it to a park for a picnic. After that we were on our way home, which we reached at exactly twelve o'clock, causing Daddy to win the "if we leave now, will we, or will we not get home before midnight" debate :)... We passed the Joanns in Richmond one last time (Joannes up there is always going to hold memories for us. We passed it for the first time, and I said "They have a Joanns!". Mommy didn't hear me, looked up, and said "Look! A Joanns!". Daddy laughed at us and told us "crafting people" to "look for some supper instead". Then Bethi piped up from the back "Hey! A Joanns!!!"... and so on. After that we couldn't pass up the opportunity to mention it every time we passed it, which happened many times while looking for pizza ;)...)
We had a wonderful trip, and we are looking forward to the time when we can all be living up there together :)...
Part two
Part three
Part four
Part five
Part six
Part seven...
We did a little more sight seeing, found a Chick-fil-a, grabbed some lunch, and took it to a park for a picnic. After that we were on our way home, which we reached at exactly twelve o'clock, causing Daddy to win the "if we leave now, will we, or will we not get home before midnight" debate :)... We passed the Joanns in Richmond one last time (Joannes up there is always going to hold memories for us. We passed it for the first time, and I said "They have a Joanns!". Mommy didn't hear me, looked up, and said "Look! A Joanns!". Daddy laughed at us and told us "crafting people" to "look for some supper instead". Then Bethi piped up from the back "Hey! A Joanns!!!"... and so on. After that we couldn't pass up the opportunity to mention it every time we passed it, which happened many times while looking for pizza ;)...)
We had a wonderful trip, and we are looking forward to the time when we can all be living up there together :)...
At the park.
Love this picture :)
The park was where we found that fun tree :)...
While Mommy was getting everybody settled in the back, Daddy took
Peter. Peter had fun playing with the steering wheel :)...
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Monument Av. ~Virginia trip Part six
Next we drove through Monument Avenue, a road with monuments for the following men...
...And some tennis player, but we didn't get pictures of that one... it seemed very wrong to place him with statues of Civil war heroes...
"Stonewall" Thomas Jackson.
Jeb Stuart.
Robert E. Lee
Jefferson Davis.
...And some tennis player, but we didn't get pictures of that one... it seemed very wrong to place him with statues of Civil war heroes...
Thankful Thursday, week 33
This week I'm thankful for...
~Scissors.
~Tutorials.
~Mommy's hairstyling skill... (It took her about five minutes to do the below styling to Bethi's hair.)
~Bethi's adorable new hair cut...
(We absolutely love it though!!! It's exactly what I've wanted for a few months now, in length and look, so I promptly got Mommy to do the same thing on me, despite Bethi's shock, haha :). The ponytails we cut off we'll send to Locks of Love, something Tori has wanted to do for years, come to find out!).
Tori's hair looks wonderful, too! :)...
Anyway...
~That the Martin Luther movie, that I mentioned on the 31st of last month, was accurate :). ~Remember how I mentioned that deceitful movies are a major disappointment to me :)?
~The great time we had on our trip to Virginia (two more parts to come, folks :). I'm trying!).
~That I found many pictures that I had been looking for for a while the other day :).
~Phone calls from Daddy, while he is up in Virginia starting to work up at his store there.
~Peter's little cooing voice.
~Oh, and Peter now crawls mainly on his knees, big boy!
~He has also started pulling up to standing on anything he can reach from his knees.
~Catching up with friends I haven't heard from for a while.
~Christmas music.
~Christian movies ("The Widow's Might" is really good!), but, more so...
~...people to watch them with. It has to be so boring to watch movies without somebody to laugh with!
~Fun outside with all the little ones.
~Watching Peter explore the grass he wouldn't touch a month ago :).
~Biscuit sandwiches.
~Monster cookies! We're about to get in the kitchen and make some of these, mmm...
~Family quick-cleans...
~...and the results from them :)!
~Scissors.
~Tutorials.
~Mommy's hairstyling skill... (It took her about five minutes to do the below styling to Bethi's hair.)
~Bethi's adorable new hair cut...
Poor Bethi was so shocked when she saw it though,
she promptly started
crying :(. I think she's feeling
better about it now, though, and it is SOOO CUTE!!!
We
found out later that she didn't think she could
use most of her
favorite hairdos with hair "that short",
that may have had a lot to do
with it ;)...
Added per the request of a friend...
Tori's hair looks wonderful, too! :)...
Anyway...
~That the Martin Luther movie, that I mentioned on the 31st of last month, was accurate :). ~Remember how I mentioned that deceitful movies are a major disappointment to me :)?
~The great time we had on our trip to Virginia (two more parts to come, folks :). I'm trying!).
~That I found many pictures that I had been looking for for a while the other day :).
~Phone calls from Daddy, while he is up in Virginia starting to work up at his store there.
~Peter's little cooing voice.
~Oh, and Peter now crawls mainly on his knees, big boy!
~He has also started pulling up to standing on anything he can reach from his knees.
~Catching up with friends I haven't heard from for a while.
~Christmas music.
~Christian movies ("The Widow's Might" is really good!), but, more so...
~...people to watch them with. It has to be so boring to watch movies without somebody to laugh with!
~Fun outside with all the little ones.
~Watching Peter explore the grass he wouldn't touch a month ago :).
~Biscuit sandwiches.
~Monster cookies! We're about to get in the kitchen and make some of these, mmm...
~Family quick-cleans...
~...and the results from them :)!
"Because your steadfast love is better than life,
my lips will praise you."
~Psalm 63:3
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
One more little one...
...with a committed family :)! Thank you Lord for bringing a family to little Penny!
There are still seven other little ones listed for adoption from Pleven. They need a family. And God will bring them one, in his timing. Let us pray for God to glorify himself in giving these little ones loving families who will raise these children for him!
Would you mind sharing the link to this blog post? You never know how the Lord can use you to bless these tiny human beings, no matter how "small" a bit of help you give! No help is too small, especially for the souls that the world considers "the least of these".
Lord, may you bring families who will show these children their true worth.
There are still seven other little ones listed for adoption from Pleven. They need a family. And God will bring them one, in his timing. Let us pray for God to glorify himself in giving these little ones loving families who will raise these children for him!
Would you mind sharing the link to this blog post? You never know how the Lord can use you to bless these tiny human beings, no matter how "small" a bit of help you give! No help is too small, especially for the souls that the world considers "the least of these".
Lord, may you bring families who will show these children their true worth.
About Virginia maps ~Virginia trip Part five
So...
Friday we decided to do some sightseeing before heading home :). We wanted to find the White House of the Confederacy and monument lane (more later), and also the church that Patrick Henry gave his famous "Give me liberty, or give me death" speech at, and Robert E. Lee attended. (By the way, Robert E. Lee's daughter has a journal that has been published that I greatly enjoyed reading a few years ago. I'll have to ask Grandma for the exact name, as I borrowed it from her. Updated: It is "Growing Up in the 1850s: The Journal of Agnes Lee Edited and with a forward by Mary Custis Lee deButts). So after packing up the hotel, and getting everybody in the car, we tried to find all that we were looking for ;)...
Let it be known that we had had trouble with the map the whole trip, and we had ended up on strange roads that we would find again in strange places later. But this was, by far, the best ;)...
Daddy would call out what street he was on, asking Mommy to find it, but the map didn't even say the name of some of the streets! Mommy would finally find a street he named and tell him where it looked like he needed to go, but VA seems to have a LOT of no left-turn roads. So Daddy wouldn't be able to turn, and we would have to start the process over again!
This went on for a while! We finally found the church (I didn't get pictures), and then we headed on to try to find the White House of the Confederacy.
Again, the process of finding a road, not being able to use it, and then trying to find a nameless road, was continued. Have you ever watched "Courageous"? Do you remember that scene where Nathan is calling David to come help him on Oakview, and David answers "Oakview ? I haven't even found Hartford yet!"? Yes, Daddy brought that up ;). He also at one time started calling out random words as street names- "...Charity- Mercy!" No, there was no street called Mercy there ;).
Finally, in faked desperation (although it was getting a bit ridiculous!), Mommy answered Daddy's "Where do I go?" with "I don't know... first we drive on these yellow curvy lines, and then we drive on this long, gray line."
Mommy said she thought the map was made by someone who knew that there was a street somewhere around that area, but that they didn't really know where, so they just drew ;).
We were laughing sooo hard by this point!!! And Tori only made it better by exclaiming...
And then...
Haha :)! We did, eventually, find our destination; the White House of the Confederacy. Which was up against the ER and surrounded by ambulances, which is why we had such a hard time finding it ;).
Friday we decided to do some sightseeing before heading home :). We wanted to find the White House of the Confederacy and monument lane (more later), and also the church that Patrick Henry gave his famous "Give me liberty, or give me death" speech at, and Robert E. Lee attended. (By the way, Robert E. Lee's daughter has a journal that has been published that I greatly enjoyed reading a few years ago. I'll have to ask Grandma for the exact name, as I borrowed it from her. Updated: It is "Growing Up in the 1850s: The Journal of Agnes Lee Edited and with a forward by Mary Custis Lee deButts). So after packing up the hotel, and getting everybody in the car, we tried to find all that we were looking for ;)...
Let it be known that we had had trouble with the map the whole trip, and we had ended up on strange roads that we would find again in strange places later. But this was, by far, the best ;)...
Daddy would call out what street he was on, asking Mommy to find it, but the map didn't even say the name of some of the streets! Mommy would finally find a street he named and tell him where it looked like he needed to go, but VA seems to have a LOT of no left-turn roads. So Daddy wouldn't be able to turn, and we would have to start the process over again!
Peter-bug
kept me entertained :). I think he'll be another photographer-
he LOVES
the camera! Here you see him trying to take it from me ;).
Our van's reflection in a building with mirrors on the sides, haha :).
Yes, we have a fifteen passenger van :).
Again, the process of finding a road, not being able to use it, and then trying to find a nameless road, was continued. Have you ever watched "Courageous"? Do you remember that scene where Nathan is calling David to come help him on Oakview, and David answers "Oakview ? I haven't even found Hartford yet!"? Yes, Daddy brought that up ;). He also at one time started calling out random words as street names- "...Charity- Mercy!" No, there was no street called Mercy there ;).
Finally, in faked desperation (although it was getting a bit ridiculous!), Mommy answered Daddy's "Where do I go?" with "I don't know... first we drive on these yellow curvy lines, and then we drive on this long, gray line."
Mommy said she thought the map was made by someone who knew that there was a street somewhere around that area, but that they didn't really know where, so they just drew ;).
We were laughing sooo hard by this point!!! And Tori only made it better by exclaiming...
"Mommy! look! A yellow curved line!!!"
And then...
"And a straight gray one!!!!"
Haha :)! We did, eventually, find our destination; the White House of the Confederacy. Which was up against the ER and surrounded by ambulances, which is why we had such a hard time finding it ;).
Here
is the door, taken through the window, with Tori's reflection in it,
which I didn't realize was there until after I pulled the picture up on
the computer... oh well :). We found it, and we have proof :).
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Fun with friends... Zoo pics
A few weeks ago we went to the zoo with our friends. We had a great time looking at God's creations, and enjoying fellowship :).
Bethi and her special friend... Bethi used to think they were cousins,
they are so close in age and in friendship :).
Sweet cats...
Precious sister :)!
The Galapagos tortoise... hatched at the Riverbanks zoo,
and the child of the tortoise they believe is 130!
Abbi, playing with the lizard...
Am I the only one who finds this highly funny?! I mentioned a couple
posts ago
that Abbi plays with her tongue... and, of course, lizards
test the air
with their tongue. They were SO funny sticking their
tongues out at each other in turn!!!
This one is better ;)...
Jellyfish!
Beautiful!
"Dori,
it's a Tori!!!", all of the littlest ones call when they see this fish.
None of them until they are about age four can keep those two names
straight when we're at the zoo ;)!
Sea horse!
This was a pretty starfish :).
"Nemos!"
Love this one!
Awww :)...
(This was, by the way, our friends stroller, stinker ;)...)
Their sweet one year old :).
Yes, it doesn't just run in the family... dueling photographers ;)...
Look at the sleeping Koalas, haha. Do they ever wake up?!
I think we've
caught them up a handful of times over the
past eight+ years, haha!
Our friends had to leave earlier than they expected, but we stopped to feed the giraffes and fish before heading home. This was the first time any of us had fed the giraffes :)!
Emmi looks like she is feeding it in this one!
In reality, though, she stood in front of it and threw the lettuce at it's tongue, which didn't quite work :)...
It sure does look like she did in pictures, though. Funny!
Abbi loved it :)!!!
Look. Their tongues look like Abbi's ;), heehee...
After that came the fish (the flamingos are right across the path), and then we headed out for some shopping.
Flamingos (...and one goose...)!
Do you see the "teenage" flamingo to the side? My Daddy got a better
picture of it, plus some of it as a baby, a "toddler", and an older
child. I'll have to post them sometime, it was neat :).
Here is the picture of the flamingo as a baby...
LOTS of fish :)!...
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