What a blessing it is to enjoy being together with family. There are many families that won't get together and if they do, don't enjoy it. It's been a fun couple of days. On Friday, our 3 daughters and their families and Andy's 2 brothers and their families joined us for turkey dinner. Believe it or not, we all fit in our dining room. It ended up being about 30 people, including the 2 babies. There was so much food and we stuffed ourselves! Grace stayed with us after everyone left. She stayed Friday and Saturday nights, then I took her back home this morning. The last time we were together, she wanted to play games with me; but with all the people, including little ones who like to mess up games or walk in the middle of the game, it's practically impossible to finish one and stay sane! So this was a good opportunity to have a whole day to ourselves. She wanted to sleep in the tent, so Andy set it up in the front room.On Saturday, we played games, walked to our pond to feed the ducks, drove to the park to play and walk around, then stopped in at my office to prepare for Sunday. Andy was gone all day. He drove up to C & C's to help Christian with his addition project. They got a lot done...hopefully, Christy will soon update her blog with pictures. Andy got home in time for supper (left over turkey, stuffing, potato filling and pie), then built a fire in our chimnea. It was a beautiful night to be outside, clear and still. Unfortunately, we didn't have any marshmallows or chocolate bars, so we couldn't have s'mores. (I know...what kind of Grammy am I!)As soon as Grace had her breakfast this morning, we took off to deliver her back home. I was able to make it back in time for 11:00 service at church. Thankfully, traffic was light and I made good time.
One last picture: the front porch. Andy wrapped the posts on Thursday. It's looking good. What does he need to do to finish? 1. finish the siding that he had to take off. 2. put in the lights on either side of the door. 3. put the shutters back up. 4. put on the railing around the sides and down the steps. 5. bring in topsoil. 6. plant the bushes and finish landscaping around the porch.
Shout for joy to the Lord all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.Know that the Lord is God. It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His people, the sheep of His pasture.Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name.For the Lord is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations. Psalm 100
Andy and I were by ourselves today while our daughters spent the day with their families and in-laws. We are all getting together tomorrow, so in anticipation, I spent all day in the kitchen. There will be 31 people here: our own kids and grandkids, as well as Andy's 2 brothers and their families, plus Sarah (cousin) and Bekki (cousin of a cousin).
I made 2 batches of rolls, pineapple au gratin, potato filling, a cherry pie, an apple custard pie, a cheese ball, and sausage stuffing. I plan to cook the turkey in the morning. Dinner will be at 2:00 pm so I'll have plenty of time. I had an adventure while baking the apple custard pie. I had it in for 30 minutes, then had to add the crumbs to the top and bake another 40 minutes. It was in for the second time, when all of a sudden after 10 minutes, the smoke alarms started blaring. I checked out the oven and the pie was blackening (as you can see in the picture above). I checked the temperature and it registered at 500 degrees! Oh, no. This happened before and we had to have the oven repaired to the tune of $350. Yikes! The stove is not even 4 years old and it wasn't cheap. Then it was repaired in February. What is going on? I found the receipt for the repair and fortunately, the parts are warranteed for 1 year. So we'll have to have someone come look at it again. Thankfully, there's another oven in this house (Mom's). I still need to cook the turkey, then heat up all the other stuff we're having.
My sisters-in-law, daughters and Mom are bringing sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, applesauce, corn, mashed potatoes, pecan pie, pumpkin pie, apple pie, green bean casserole. It makes my mouth water just thinking about all that food.
Andy spent the day working on the front porch. He got the posts wrapped and started replacing the siding. I didn't take any pictures of what he did today because by the time he finished, it was dark. I'll be out there in the morning with my camera so next time I post, I'll include them.
Needless to say, we're both pretty tired out, but looking forward to a fun day tomorrow.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
On Saturday morning I went to a bridal shower for Rachel. This is a young lady who lived with us for a year and 9 months, from August 2005 to May 2007. She's getting married Dec. 31. At the shower we were asked to form small groups of 4-5 people and make a wedding dress out of toilet paper to dress one of the people in the group. I was chosen to be the model which suited me just fine. I don't have a lot of creative ideas when it comes to something like that, but as you'll see by the pictures, we had a couple of people who were very creative.
The lineup!
Believe it or not, I was voted the winner! A blushing bride at my age!
Andy went up to help Christian today with his building project. I had gone grocery shopping at Trader Joe's last night and picked up some things for Christy. Andy was supposed to take them with him when he went this morning, but he forgot. And I forgot to remind him. So after I cleaned my bathrooms and started a load of laundry, I drove up to Christy's, too. As it turned out, it was helpful that I did, because Christy needed to take Naomi in for some blood work. She was able to go with just her, instead of dragging all 5 kids along. I stayed long enough to eat lunch with them, braid Grace's hair, read some stories to the kids, watch the progress of the project, and visit a little with Christy. My finger is doing better. It still looks angry, but doesn't hurt a bit. The plaintain stuff Christy gave me not only acts as an antibiotic, it also is a pain killer. Good stuff to have around. And I finally had success in finding a couple pair of jeans that I like. Several of my blogging friends gave me some suggestions, I checked them out and voila! Actually, they are not quite as high in the waist as I would like, but I think I can get used to them sitting a little lower. They just don't make jeans the way they used to! How many moms are there out there, and they don't make mom jeans anymore! Sigh! How comfortable is it to have your jeans sitting in the middle of the baby tummy that will never be flat again no matter how many situps you do! Oh well, I'm sure if I wait long enough, mom jeans will come back in style again some day. One can hope.
The Headline News... This was the big weekend at church for our kids. Dawn directed a children's musical/drama: Malice in the Palace (The story of Esther). There were about 48 kids involved. They performed it 3 times this weekend: once on Saturday night and twice on Sunday morning. They really did a bang-up job. I watched it all 3 times and each showing was as enjoyable as the others. Here are some pictures:
Queen Vashti (in braces) Preparing the cast for the show
2 cute little "Israelite" girls The King of Persia with his guards Haman leading Mordecai through the streets on the king's royal horse Haman groveling at Queen Esther's feet
In other news... Christian and Christy and family and Ricky and Amy and family came down to see the production at the 11:00 showing. Then everyone came to our house for lunch afterwards. We ordered panzarottis and pizzas.
We had a grand old time together.
In other, other news... It has been pretty cold recently. This morning at 8:00 am, the temperature was 26. Brrrr. But my mums are still blooming away and I was able to have fresh flowers to brighten up my kitchen today.And it's finally cold enough for Andy and me to wear the sweaters we bought in Norway in May. They are 100% wool and cozy warm, as well as excellent quality and beautiful.
And finally... I have a bad reputation with knives - a propensity to cut myself. My fingers have all kinds of scars and pieces missing! Consequently, I have always thought it best to keep dull knives in my drawers - less chance of getting seriously hurt. But about a year ago, a friend's son was selling Cutco Knives and we felt compelled to help him out and bought a set. I really should let other people use them because as I said, I am dangerous with a knife in my hand. So I was cutting up the lettuce today for our salad, and you guessed it! I took a slice off the end of my left pointer finger. I didn't realize at first how profusely I was bleeding. I had put a bandaid on the wound and thought that would take care of it, but it didn't stop bleeding and began oozing (no, make that gushing) off the end of my finger.
Dr. Christy fixed me up with her plantain concoction, which I happened to have some in the bathroom cupboard, and bandaged me up. After I cut myself, Amy told me she had brought me a finger protector she had bought from Pampered Chef. Why, oh why did she wait to give it to me until after I cut myself!!
Anyway, typing this up with an injured finger has been interesting!
Andy has had some time recently to work on the front porch and progress is being made. He worked on it Saturday afternoon and took some time off work on Monday afternoon. On Sunday a young man (15 years old) approached Andy and said he really liked the front porch and could he help work on it. So Andy told him to come over Tuesday morning and help. They got a lot done this morning.
This picture is before the weekend. Years ago someone gave the church this scaffolding. It comes in handy.
Siding is done!
Working on the ceiling.
Wrapping the beams
In other news... My most used pot is kaput! The handle fell off.
I tried using it anyway, but that wasn't a good idea and I had a hard time stirring.
These pots have a story. When Andy and I were in our first year of marriage, living in Portland, he going to seminary, I working full time to pay the bills, we got this invitation in the mail for a demonstration of pots and pans. If we went and listened to the demonstration, we would receive a free gift. As C & C say: "if it's free, it's for me!" So we went and listened to the spiel. The problem was that they made these pots sound like they were the best things that were ever made. We were told that they were so well made that they would last a life time and we would even be able to pass them along to our children! Wow! And of course, they would cook all our food to perfection with a minimum of effort on my part. Etc. etc. etc. We were sold! But they cost $350.00 and we had to buy TODAY. As soon as we walked out the door, the deal would no longer be in effect.
Well, I still can't believe we did it because Andy doesn't fall for these lines, but we did buy them. I really have enjoyed using them. I think they were well worth the money we spent for them (even though we couldn't afford them at the time). They really didn't last a lifetime - since I'm still very much alive. And I don't think I'll be passing them along to my children. But what can I say? It makes a good story.
Sleep is a wonderful gift from God. It's even more wonderful when it eludes me. We usually don't even think about it until we lose it or don't get what we feel we need.
Last night I woke up at 2:22 am. Boing! My eyes were tired and I kept them shut, but my body and mind were wide awake! This happens every so often. I'll have a few nights of a good 8 hours, then one of waking up in the middle of the night and lying there for several hours.
Isn't it ironic that when we're kids, it's such a novelty and treat if we get to stay up late for a special occasion. And when we're teens, we make it a habit to stay up as late as we can as often as we can. I remember one time my family and some friends spent a couple of days at Pine Knot, a cabin my grandparents owned in the mountains of western Pa. The cabin had 2 large rooms: 1 was furnished with multiple beds, the other with kitchen and dining furniture. I was an older teen at the time, and my brother and sister, along with other teen friends decided to stay up all night. We played games and chatted at the dining room tables until daylight. Not one wink of sleep all night. This was pretty significant! And I bragged about it to my Grandpa. He told me then that once you lose sleep, you never make it up. Really? I had never thought about that and what kid does?
The college age young person stays up late to study for exams, write papers, or party into the wee hours.
Just about the time you get some common sense and decide you feel so much better with a good night's sleep, you get married and start a family. Most babies do not sleep through the night. None of mine did for a very long time.
As the children get older, there are many nights where they do sleep long hours. But there are those nights when they get sick or have nightmares or just can't sleep for whatever reason. One of our daughters (she knows who she is!) used to come into our room in the middle of the night and announce: "Mommy, Daddy, I can't sleep." Thanks for letting us know!
Then the cycle begins again as your own children hit their teen years and think you're so "old" and "out of it" for going to bed soooo early. I remember another daughter insisting to us one time: "Mom, no one - NO ONE - goes to bed as early as you guys." Well, what she didn't realize was that she didn't get up as early as we did. At the time, Andy needed to be at his job by 6:00 am.
So we get the kids all married and out of the house. Life is wonderful. We'll finally get a good night's sleep. Surprise! Now we're in our fifties and I've hit menopause. Aghghghghgh!
So long ago when I was up in the night with a nursing baby, I determined I would use the time constructively instead of complaining and wishing I could be back in my bed. What do I do with those precious night time hours when I happen to be awake:
1. I listen to the quiet and enjoy it. There's nothing as peaceful and restful as a house in the middle of the night.
2. I review Scriptures I've memorized. One verse I particularly like and it is very appropriate: "On my bed I remember You. I think of You through the watches of the night." (Psalm 63:6)
3. I take advantage of the time to pray: for my family, friends, enemies (!), my church, country, missionaries, the world, and anything else the Lord might bring to my mind.
Here are 2 quotes our pastor uses at times:
The first requirement for a Spirit filled life is 8 hours of sleep.~Lewis Sperry Chafer
If people were meant to pop out of bed, we'd all sleep in toasters. ~Author unknown, attributed to Jim Davis
One of my favorite children's books ends with a lullaby:
Sleep, sleep, my little fur child,
Out of the windiness, out of the wild,
Sleep, sleep, warm in your fur
All night long,
In your little fur family.
This is a song.
My point is that sleep is a gift, a wonderful gift from God - the Giver of every good and perfect gift (James 1:17). And Psalm 127:2 says: "In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat - for He grants sleep to those He loves."
O bed! O bed! delicious bed! That heaven upon earth to the weary head. ~Thomas Hood, Miss Kilmansegg - Her Dream
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Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Andy was able to work all day on the front porch. He did some siding around the doors and got up some soffits and facia. There is still a lot to do and it will be a while before he finishes this project.
This morning
This afternoon
The trees in the front and side yards are completely bare now. Andy and I did some raking and leaf blowing, cleaning up the driveway and gardens to the right of the house. What to do with all those leaves? We raked them onto old sheets and dragged them back to Dad's garden. They can decompose all winter and hopefully, give good nutrients into the soil. We're thinking of expanding Dad's garden and planting quite a bit of stuff ourselves. Don't hold us to it...but we're thinking of it.
The elms and Bradford pear trees still have leaves so our work is not yet finished. But I think we'll use the mower on those when they finally come down. We'll probably have to mow one more time before winter.
I spent the day cleaning house. I also organized our closet and got rid of clothes I hadn't worn in a while, especially shoes and dresses. I hardly ever wear a dress anymore. And I've had to go to wearing shoes with lower heels, to keep my feet from hurting by the end of the day.
This afternoon I went shopping for new jeans. It was a fruitless effort. I know the style is low rise jeans, but I just can't bear to buy them. Don't they make jeans for "old" people anymore?
The new issue of World Magazine arrived in the mail today. There was an excellent article by John Piper on page 51, which included good reminders regarding last week's election result. The gist of it is to do politics as though you were not doing politics!
He explains that even though we live in this world, we anticipate a better one. I love everything he writes, his emphasis is always God-centered, not man-centered.
With the rain and wind today, the leaves are falling quickly. Not many are left on the trees, in fact, they're all in our driveway and gardens. They also seem to make their way into the house on the bottoms of shoes. So I have to vacuum nearly every day. And when the rain finally stops, there will be hours and hours of raking and hauling those leaves off. Something to look forward to!
But I did get one last picture of our Bradford pear trees yesterday when I got home from work. They are the first trees to flower in the spring and the last to color, then lose their leaves in the fall. The picture doesn't do justice to the scene as I saw it last night. The sky was dreary and gloomy, but the trees were vividly orange/yellow/red with those bright red burning bushes in front.One day last weekend when I turned on the kitchen light, it went poof! Then it wouldn't work. I changed a bulb, it still didn't work. So we thought something was wrong with the light, and we needed a new one. We bought one, Andy installed it, it still didn't work. Hmmm. Next idea was to replace the switch. Voila! So we spent money on a new light, when a few dollars would have solved the problem. And I liked the old light, too! Well, now we have 2 kitchen lights.
It's been a fun couple of days. On Friday, our 3 daughters and their families and Andy's 2 brothers and their families joined us for turkey dinner. Believe it or not, we all fit in our dining room. It ended up being about 30 people, including the 2 babies. There was so much food and we stuffed ourselves!
Grace stayed with us after everyone left. She stayed Friday and Saturday nights, then I took her back home this morning. The last time we were together, she wanted to play games with me; but with all the people, including little ones who like to mess up games or walk in the middle of the game, it's practically impossible to finish one and stay sane! So this was a good opportunity to have a whole day to ourselves. She wanted to sleep in the tent, so Andy set it up in the front room.
On Saturday, we played games, walked to our pond to feed the ducks, drove to the park to play and walk around,
then stopped in at my office to prepare for Sunday.
Andy was gone all day. He drove up to C & C's to help Christian with his addition project. They got a lot done...hopefully, Christy will soon update her blog with pictures. Andy got home in time for supper (left over turkey, stuffing, potato filling and pie), then built a fire in our chimnea. It was a beautiful night to be outside, clear and still. Unfortunately, we didn't have any marshmallows or chocolate bars, so we couldn't have s'mores. (I know...what kind of Grammy am I!)
As soon as Grace had her breakfast this morning, we took off to deliver her back home. I was able to make it back in time for 11:00 service at church. Thankfully, traffic was light and I made good time.
What does he need to do to finish?
