Thanksgiving Weekend

It's already Wednesday and Thanksgiving seems almost like a distant by-gone blur. But it was a wonderful, refreshing 4 day weekend for me and I need to write about it before I forget the details.

We went to the Thanksgiving Day parade with Dawn and Kira on Thursday morning, then stopped in to see the Comcast Christmas show at the Comcast Building in center city Philadelphia. The lights and animation and technical aspects made it an amazing show, but there was no mention of Christ and "the reason for the season."

The rest of the day, we spent at home by ourselves. I did some cleaning and laundry since I hadn't been home the last 2 Tuesdays (because of being with Christy and the new baby).

Friday was our family get together with Christy, Dawn & Amy and all their husbands and kids. Everyone got here at 1:00 pm. We did our family pictures first while everyone was still fresh. One of our family traditions on holidays is to take a hike. So when the pictures were finished, everyone left to go over to Longbridge Park in Hainesport. Christy stayed at the house because Claire is still so new and I stayed to keep her company. We were sorry to miss the hike because it looked like everyone had a good time.

Our Thanksgiving Dinner consisted of panzarottis. I know it took a lot of work to call Sal's Pizza and put in the order, but it's what everyone wanted. So I sacrificed! We also had a salad, cheese ball and crackers, a fruit plate and 2 pies.

Amy's masterpiece

Since all our girls are married and out of the house, I do not enjoy decorating the Christmas tree by myself. So I was hoping this year I could get everyone to help me. Andy got the tree out, the kids helped organize the branches for him, then they all helped put the decorations on the tree. It was such a treat to have the help and now it's done!We played a game together before everyone headed on home. It was a lovely day.

On Saturday, I had to be at the church at 10:00 am for worship team rehearsal. The person who had been scheduled to do slides on Sunday had told me he couldn't because of the holiday weekend. I had asked about 6 others if they could take his spot, but no one could. But after the rehearsal, Andy said what would I think about going to the shore and walking the boardwalk. It was such a nice day: the sun was shining, there was just a whisper of a breeze and the temperature was in the 60's. It was a pretty spontaneous thing for us to do, but it was fun and nice to get away and enjoy the day. We walked the boardwalk twice, doing 5 miles. Andy went down to the ocean, took his shoes and socks off and waded in the water for a little ways. He said the water wasn't that cold, but I didn't believe him. He has a reputation for swimming in water that no one else will because it's too cold. I took my camera along but unfortunately, left it in the car so I have no pictures of the ocean or the beach.

It's been nice having warmer days right now but I doubt it will last much longer. This weekend we'll be busy with the Nativity. And the office has been hectic this week getting ready for it. So it was a blessing to have the 4 days to enjoy family, the outdoors, a couple days off before heading into craziness!

Thanksgiving

We celebrated Andy's Dad's 80th birthday last Saturday. I hope to blog and add pictures of this event in a later post. I'm thankful for family.

It's been almost a year now that Andy and I have been meeting with the older singles in our church. As a group, they are clicking and developing relationships. We hosted a dinner for them at our house on Sunday afternoon. I made baked ziti with everyone bringing something to add to the menu. There were 11 people besides us. The food and fellowship was special. I'm thankful for friends.

On Monday I left work an hour early to go back to Christy's, staying overnight and all day Tuesday. We were able to get some housework done while I was there as well as playing with and reading to the kids. And of course, holding Claire. She is so precious. I'm thankful for a new little life added to our family.Doesn't it look like she's talking to me?!I only worked 2 days this week, and amazingly was able to get everything done. I'm thankful for my job and our church.

And today is Thanksgiving. Andy and I did something we had never done before, stepping out into new territory! We went to the Thanksgiving Day parade in Philadelphia. We drove to the high speed line in Haddonfield with Dawn and Kira and met Dawn's in-laws there. Fortunately, it was nice weather today (after 2 days of rain, rain, rain). It was pretty cold this morning but I stayed warm with layers of fleece jackets on. It was fun being there with Kira.

Here come the Pilgrims, Indians & Mr. Turkey.

Mayor Nutter

a number of high school bands from all over the country

This horse was really cool!

Everyone's favorite mice

clowns

and did you ever see so many people on one bike?

It was a fun day. I'm thankful for my health, strength and time off to enjoy these blessings. God is the one who makes it all possible. He is the Giver of all good things (James 1:17).

What I am most thankful for, though, is that I am accepted in Christ. He never finds fault with me or is unhappy with me. When He looks at me, He sees Jesus. I am covered with the blood of Christ. I am holy in His sight, without blemish and free from accusation (Colossians 1:22). The price has been paid. I am His and He is mine! To Him be the praise and glory. Amen! I'm thankful for so great salvation.

The Agony and the Ecstasy

The waiting was nearly over. After working only a few hours on Monday morning, I said good bye to Andy and headed down the road toward Christy's. When I got there, she was outside walking around trying to encourage the contractions to start and become significant. The mid-wife had been there in the morning to break her water but was unable to because the baby's head was too far down into the birth canal.

But the baby was two whole weeks overdue, so it was inevitable that something was going to happen SOON. And it did. By supper time, Christy as getting some contractions, and although they were irregular and not too severe, she called her mid-wife and went upstairs.

Christian and the kids and I were just about to sit down for our supper when I got a call on my cell phone. I looked to see who was calling and noticed it was someone from church. I hesitated about answering but in the end, did so. The person asked me if I knew Andy was in the hospital. I was confused and asked: "Andy, my husband???" It wasn't making sense to me because I had left him only a few hours earlier and he had looked and seemed fine. But it was true, he was in the hospital with an extremely high fever. Apparently, it had come on him quite suddenly around 2:30. He called the doctor at 3:00 and was able to see him at 3:30. His parents took him to the appointment because he was shaking with chills and was somewhat disoriented. From the doctor's appointment, he went to the hospital where he was admitted. His temperature spiked at 104 degrees.

So now I'm dealing with the highs and lows of emotions: the excitement of a new baby about to be born and the worry of my husband in the hospital.

Meanwhile, Christy's labor became more intense. I sat down in the living room with the kids to watch a movie with them. And believe it or not, by the time the movie was over, the baby was born. I know it didn't seem like it was that quick for Christy who was going through it, but to me - that was a fast delivery.

After she and the baby were cleaned up, the kids and I were able to go see them. Everyone had a turn holding little Claire Ruth. What a joy!I stayed the night but decided to go back home on Tuesday. Christian took the day off work and Wednesday had a forecast of rain so he wouldn't be working that day either. He is such a good help around the house, I knew Christy would be in good hands!

So I went home and visited Andy in the hospital. Dawn was there when I got there and they were laughing and having a good time together. Andy was feeling a lot better. I guess being on an IV drip really perked him up. He had a bladder infection, but it must have been a doozy to hit him so hard so fast. But his recovery was also pretty fast. He stayed in the hospital until Wednesday when I brought him home around noon. Believe it or not, he went in to work that afternoon, worked all day Thursday and Friday and is again working this morning. Well, there's a lot to do and it won't get done unless he does it. He says he feels good, so I hope he's not overdoing it.

It was a pretty intense week, especially on Monday and Tuesday, but God was there with us every minute. I'm praising Him for the birth of our 9th grandchild and for restoring Andy to health.

The Waiting Game

In some ways, waiting for a baby to come is like waiting for Jesus to return. Unless a C-section is scheduled, we don't know the day or the hour of the baby's arrival. There are signs that the time is near and each day draws us closer to the blessed event, but it's still difficult to predict the exact moment or arrival.

So what do we do while we wait? Jesus told his disciples, "As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming when no one can work." There is work to be done and it won't be accomplished by sitting around wishing for Jesus' return.

Mentally and emotionally, I'm ready for Baby to be born. I long to hold that new little one and be with the rest of the family for a couple of days. But it might not happen yet for a day or two or... So earlier this past week Andy and I wrote up a list of projects we wanted to get done around the house. It's a nice feeling to get it down on paper for giving a sense of purpose and direction. Then Tuesday morning, I was delighted to suddenly hear sounds of hammering and construction. However, those sounds weren't coming from the direction I had been expecting. When I investigated, I found Andy was ripping up the carpet that went to the upstairs apartment. What??? That wasn't on the list. But when I called him on the carpet for it (pun intended!), he said it needed to be done. He was right because the carpet was extremely dirty, actually disgustingly dirty. He got it all ripped out, but now we have to decide what to do instead. We have some ideas that we're talking about, so stay tuned.All summer we had a young lady staying in our apartment. She moved in in mid-June with the intention of moving out the end of August. Her parents live in Brazil, but for now she has chosen to live in the States. She worked as a summer intern with the church, so it was convenient for her to live in our apartment. As it turned out, she was not able to move out until just a week ago. What a sweet girl she is. We enjoyed having her for dinner several times and we'll miss her. However, we will still see her nearly every day because she is working for the church. As a matter of fact, I will be teaching her some of my work, so she can take over for me when I go on vacation.
On Friday night, Dawn made dinner for us. She made a taco casserole which was delicious. I think this was quite ambitious considering she was concentrating on potty training Kira. After dinner we all sat in Kira's room for the adults to talk and visit between Kira's squeals of delight at being the center of attention! She has really latched on to Andy, her Pop-pop. He's a lot of fun and isn't too adult to chase her around and around and play hide and seek with her.
I thought the fall folliage was nearly at an end but yesterday was a spectacularly sunny day so I couldn't resist taking some pictures around the property.

These 2 pictures were actually a little earlier in the week.

Yesterday

Uh-oh, I see more work in my future.

So come on, Baby, come on. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus (Revelation 22:20).

Time Well Spent

With Christy and Amy living in Pa., any time we want to see them, it's a trip to get there, then spending several hours with them. Those times are always fun and special. On the other hand, it's a treat to have Dawn living close by and it seems like we see her often. But those times are usually not quality times, since we see each other at church or when I'm babysitting. So I got the bright idea to invite Dawn, Tommy and Kira to dinner so we could sit and visit. Then hopefully, we can do it somewhat regularly. Our first attempt was Friday evening. I made baked ziti for the main course, and also had Dawn's favorite cookies. After we ate, we sat in the front room and played with Kira while the adults chatted. Kira was having fun with the "turn-around" doll I made. She was funny trying to put on a sad face. And she loved being silly with Pop-pop.

Saturday was a real conversation piece. Snow on October 29! Whoever heard of such a thing? Well, it made for some pretty pictures with the white snow against all the fall leaves. The next day on Sunday was even more beautiful with a brilliantly blue sky.

Andy had planned to have Saturday as his first day for setting up Nativity scenes. He had told his helpers that they would do it rain or shine and was at the church by 7:00 am. He actually had 20 guys show up. It was raining hard before turning to snow about mid morning. I kept thinking of him and mentally telling him he should just stop and come home. He did come home around 11:00 am which was good since it kept snowing/raining all day. I think we got less than an inch of snow while Pennsylvania got 6 inches in some areas. But we had 2 1/2 inches of water in the rain gauge.

Amy gave us a call on Saturday afternoon to ask a question. So on the spur of the moment, we decided to take a trip up on Sunday afternoon to see her and her family. We went to the 9:30 service on Sunday, came home and had lunch, then left. We got to her place by 2:00 so we had a nice long visit. Andy was able to build a snow man for the kids. Joanna kept calling the snow man, "Daddy." It was somewhat unusual that our Sunday was free because usually Andy has choir practice at 4:00 and we have a Bible study for older singles at our house at 5:30.

Then yesterday Kira came over to spend some time with me because Dawn wanted to be with Tommy while he had his dr. appointment. She is talking a lot and is such fun. She took a 1 hour nap, but the rest of the time was together time. Isn't she just the cutest little police officer you ever saw!

I'm expecting to get a call from Christy soon with news of their new baby. Then I'll be able to go see them, too. Oh happy day!

My Journey with Food

Many years ago when I was just a child, food did not hold the same interest to me that it does now. In fact, try as I might, I can think of more foods that I didn't like than what I liked. I didn't like much of anything. I was usually a compliant child, easy going and obedient - until it came to meal time. Then I would dig in my heels and refuse to eat. Looking back, I feel sorry for my parents that they had to deal with such a problem child. Meal time was not fun for them because of me! I didn't mind sitting at the table for hours after every one else was finished. I could hear happy sounds of play from my brothers and sisters, but I didn't care. I was determined I was not going to eat the food on my plate. Threats, punishment - nothing worked. I could out wait Mother and Daddy and even go to bed hungry if I had to. Sometimes I could clean off my plate by dumping the food behind the stove or down the toilet if the parents got tired of waiting around for me. (Thankfully, Jesus' blood covers that childhood rebellion!)

As I moved into my teenage years, I still wasn't very interested in food. Because my mother was a farmer's wife, she was very busy with my dad in the barn or out in the fields. Consequently, it was up to my sister and me to keep the house clean and get the evening meal ready for the family. We quickly discovered that she liked to cook and work with food, while I liked cleaning up and organizing. So we stuck to what we liked and were good at - which meant Judy's room was always a mess and I never learned to cook/bake. (She is now a neat-nik like me and I have moved closer to her expertise with food.)

This was a good arrangement and worked well until I got engaged and started thinking about getting married and keeping house. I was intelligent enough to know that men like to eat and feeding a husband is important. But I was at a loss to know where to begin. I really was clueless.

Fortunately, the first 8 months of married life were spent living with Andy's family. We had an "apartment" on the third floor of their house with 2 rooms and a bathroom. The only thing lacking in that apartment was a kitchen, so we ate dinners with the family. I learned a lot by observing Andy's mom in the kitchen. Suddenly, I was interested in food and learning all I could about how to prepare tasty meals for the one I loved.

After we moved to Portland, Oregon where Andy attended seminary, God provided some good friends who were mentors and examples for me in food preparation. One of those friends already had 2 children and had been married several years longer than us. She also was gifted in hospitality and did a lot of entertaining. Another couple who became very good friends with Andy and me were an older couple who were more like our grandparents' age, Jake & Nadine. Jake had been a baker all his life so I learned a lot from him, too.

Little by little, I was taking some baby steps and gaining experience. I learned to make a good pie. Home made pie crusts can be intimating, but I tackled that and the more I practiced, the better those pies became. Over the next number of years, I picked up tips and practical advice from friends who were gifted in the kitchen.

About 15 years ago, I was feeling pretty good about my cooking skills and the way I took care of my family. But one day Andy told me he thought we needed to change the way we ate. At first I was upset and took it personally that I wasn't doing a good job of making nutritious meals. But as I took some time to think it through, I realized making some changes might be what we needed to do. Andy and I both had some health issues at that point in our lives, so we decided to go vegetarian for a while. We cut out all meat (except occasional fish), dairy and sugar. Whew! That really challenged me to try to find new recipes that were tasty. It took some time and lots of research, but I managed to come up with food that we liked. The up side of this change of diet was that we started feeling better. We gradually added meat back into our diet, mostly fish, chicken and turkey. We also eat dairy again, although I buy lactose free milk. And when I use sugar, I use organic. I try to include more greens in our diet and be more intentional at a balanced diet.

Currently, I spend most of my time in my kitchen and I'm enjoying it. I love to love people by feeding them. I wouldn't say I'm big on artistic flair or presentation, but I do work hard at TASTE. I am a good imitator and learn by observation, so most of the food I make comes from ideas I've seen at a restaurant or someone else's house. I like to look through magazines or on the internet for ideas.

I'll never be as good as my sister or some of my friends, but last night I had the ultimate compliment. Dawn and Tommy came over to have dinner with us. When Dawn was dishing out the baked ziti for Kira, she told her: "Kira, you'll like this. Grammy makes delicious food!" I got all choked up and teary eyed. Sniff, sniff! Who would have ever thought that the little girl from long ago back on the farm would one day be a good cook!

Here are some pictures I took of food from my kitchen:

Taco Pie

with Caesar salad and taco chips

chicken on the grill with potato casserole and broccoli (so colorful)

One of our favorites: sweet potatoes, rice pilaf & zucchini souffle

Broccoli cheddar soup and grilled cheese sandwich (my homemade bread)
the soup recipe is a Panera Bread copy cat recipe - yummy!

pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.
My attempt at presentation: orange icing and sprinkles on top.
I know, pretty pathetic, but they were very tasty!

Hmmm...I'm getting hungry. I think I'll go make something!