Thanksgiving Weekend

I thought last weekend was busy. This one was, too. Because all our daughters are married with their own families and in-laws, we had our Thanksgiving dinner with them at our house on Friday. That worked well, not only so we could all be together, but also because it gave me the whole day on Thursday to prepare. I cooked the turkey and carved it, as well as a fully cooked smoked turkey I had bought. I also made 2 batches of rolls, au gratin pineapple, cornbread stuffing, and a cherry pie.While I was baking and cooking, Andy needed something to do. I had been thinking we needed to have his paint supplies a little more organized, so encouraged him to build shelves to store his paints in a more pleasing way. So we went from this:to this:
Nice!!! I love organization.

On Friday morning, Andy and his dad set up the large tent in our upstairs attic room. There are 2 twin beds in that room for guests when all our other spaces are being used. But it is a large room and kids like it in there because it's cozy and feels like a den. We had told the 4 oldest grandkids they could stay overnight with us on Friday after their parents left for home.
Early in the afternoon, a young girl from church came over to take our family pictures. That was an interesting adventure trying to get 8 adults and 8 children all looking the same direction with a reasonable expression on each face! She did manage to get 91 pictures. Don't worry, I won't post them all!

For our dinner on Friday, we had 17 adults and 10 children at our tables in the dining room. (Andy's mom and dad, his brother, Dan, and 3 of his married sons and their wives also were with us.) The kids had fun playing. I have a toy chest in the front room and they go right to it when they arrive. Chase always looks for the trucks and cars, and this time, Joanna found the high heels.After everyone left, Grace, Aiden, Naomi and Chase stayed with us to spend the night and most of Saturday with us. The kids slept in the tent and Andy and I slept in the twin beds. I thought I would read to them to put them to sleep, but they kept sitting up to look at me and ask questions of the stories I was reading. I finally had to tell them to lie down, close their eyes, and try to get to sleep. I was too tired to keep reading. And believe it or not, I slept till 7:30. I don't know that I've EVER slept that late. Wow!So Saturday was more fun...we ate breakfast, read some stories, watched a movie (The Fox and the Hound), wrestled and beat up PopPop, went over to the church to help Andy clean up a little, and the kids played in the church gym, had lunch and got ready to go home.

I left our house at 3:00 pm and got back around 6:00, in time to get my bass and music together and get to the church for 6:30 worship team rehearsal. This morning, Andy and I played in all three worship services. At 11:00, Dawn hosted a choir breakfast and rehearsal at our house.

I am very grateful for the many blessings I enjoy:
1. Knowing God and enjoying his grace, mercy and love.
2. The family He has given me.
3. The home He has entrusted to us.
4. The abilities and gifts He has given
5. etc. etc. etc.

Here are 3 favorites from the 91 pictures of the family:

Could life get any busier?

I'm not sure we could have crammed one more thing into this past weekend. It was packed full of people and activities.

On Thursday night, I made a batch of oatmeal scotchie cookies. I managed to resist the temptation to taste test them, although Andy let me know they passed the test!

On Friday night, I made a loaf of chocolate chip pumpkin bread and a dozen cinnamon chip muffins.

Also, on Friday night, our house guest for the weekend arrived - Ross McAfee. He is a missionary with Operation Mobilization (OM) who was involved in our Sunday services yesterday. He stayed in our upstairs apartment 3 nights, leaving this morning. He ate meals with us several times and although he (as well as we) were in and out, we did get to visit with him and catch up with each other.

Saturday morning there was a Ladies' Coffee Connection at the church. I went and took the chocolate chip bread and cinnamon chip muffins as my contribution. There is really some great food that arrives at those functions. I try not to eat too much, but I admit I taste nearly everything.

Christy and her 5 kiddos and puppy arrived around noon. We walked the dog, then had lunch of English muffin pizzas. Christy had come down to help a neighbor get started with Discovery Toys, so I watched the kids while she was gone. Andy came home early in the afternoon and was able to help with the children so I could start dinner.

At one point Asher was in the kitchen with me and my glasses were within his reach on my desk.
Christian did a tree job for someone in our church but was able to join us for dinner. I made minestrone soup, my homemade rolls and a Caesar's salad. I was going to serve the cookies I had made, but not too long after we finished our dinner, Naomi came walking out into the dining room carrying 2 cartons of ice cream. I was told the kids had been excited about coming to Grammy's house because they would get ice cream. So we had cookies AND ice cream. We were amused that Naomi had pushed a chair over to the freezer, opened it up and taken out the ice cream. I'm glad the cartons were almost full. How disappointed I would have been to disappoint the kids.

On Sunday, I was prepared to take care of Kira while Dawn was busy with choir. But her other Grammy was also at church, so I had to share. I did get to hold her in the 3rd service, so I guess that was better than nothing!

I spent the afternoon in the kitchen preparing for dinner with our small group. I fixed a new recipe that a friend had given me. I'm not sure of the name of the recipe, but it's a chicken dish. It was so delicious and everyone raved about it. I also made a rice pilaf and cornbread with blueberries. Others brought the vegetable dishes, salads and desserts. It was quite a feast.

There were 13 people who attended the dinner and we ate in the dining room.I'm hoping to get to bed early tonight to rest up before our next round of activities this holiday weekend.

I'm very thankful for our dear family. The children and grandchildren are such a blessing to us. I can't imagine life without them.New family pictures coming soon...

Great Riches

Gold was discovered in Australia in 1851, a year after the gold rush of California. One month after it was discovered, "a thousand diggers were tunnelling, cursing and exulting on the banks of Summerhill Creek, and the road over the Blue Mountains was choked with a footsore, sluggishly winding column of men...stumbling toward unheard of wealth in mud-balled boots under the driving rains of the Australian autumn. It was as though a plug had been pulled and the male population of New South Wales had emptied like a cistern, in a rush toward the diggings. Business...was utterly paralysed...a complete mental madness appear[ed] to have seized almost every member of the community." (from The Fatal Shore, The Epic of Australia's Founding by Robert Hughes)I've always been of the opinion that it's not that great of an advantage to be rich. Oh, it would be nice to have a little more...but who needs to have it all???

That's why I was intrigued when I came to Psalm 119:14: "I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in great riches."

So chewing on this idea...if I had great riches, there is a certain amount of joy I would have because I would be free from worrying about how I would pay the bills. And realistically, if suddenly somehow I would become filthy rich, I probably wouldn't be UNhappy.

Anyway, I thought it was a good analogy: to be as happy in following the Lord as I would be happy about receiving wealth. And not only being happy, but pursuing that wealth as the gold diggers did - with total abandon. Only one thing was important - to get to the gold and become rich.

Do I follow the Lord that wholeheartedly? Because being God's child leads to infinite spiritual wealth?!
2 Peter 1:3 ~ "His divine power has given us EVERYTHING we need for life and godliness."

The Calm Before the Storm?

It was a quiet week for me...not much going on. But that's good because in another week or so, the holidays will be upon us, and then it will be quite busy. So I'm enjoying the quietude!

I did go over to see Dawn on Tuesday. We went shopping at a nearby mall. Dawn tried on some blouses and I held Kira. She was in a happy mood, smiling up at me like she was really enjoying being with her Grammy.

I've kept my impatiens in the gardens longer than usual. I mean, here is it November and they were still doing well on Friday...But Friday night/Saturday morning we had a frost and they were all withered up and dead in the morning. So time to put in the winter pansies. This time, along with buying the pansies, I also bought a liquid "shot gun" to spray on the flowers to keep critters away from them. I hope it works.
I put the pansies along the driveway and in front of the front porch. I had dahlias in the front of the porch all summer and they were so pretty. I didn't think of taking a picture of them until I had dug them out. But I was impressed that from 6 dahlia plants I got all these tubers. Anybody want some?
Even though Saturday was a little on the chilly side, it was a pleasant day for strolling around the property. There is still some color to be found, although a lot of our trees have lost their leaves.
I thought the pond was beautiful with the leaves floating on top of the water and the reflection of the surrounding woods.
Then yesterday, we got to see Dawn and Kira most of the day. The choir sang in all 3 services, and I helped with Kira as much as I could. I was involved with the worship team, playing my bass, so I wasn't as available as I would have liked. But between Tommy, me and Kira's other Grammy, she was taken care of. She wasn't very happy in the morning, but by afternoon, when Dawn was here for lunch, she was much more cheerful.
Dawn & I took Kira on a walk in the afternoon. It was so sunny and warm, we didn't even need jackets on. Then Dawn left Kira with me for the hour she went to the church for choir practice. She did well then, too. But that little girl is getting heavy. Whew.

I'm gearing up for Thanksgiving, thinking through the menu and making plans. That's only a couple of weeks away. It looks like we'll be celebrating on Friday so our daughters can be with their in-laws on Thursday.

Good advice that I read somewhere once upon a time: "Enjoy each moment. Too often we live in the future, just waiting for the next thing to happen." So that's what I'm doing - enjoying these moments of quiet and stillness. Soon enough they'll be gone.

Just call me "Tech Support" :)

Ok, I'm branching out. Maybe you can teach an old dog new tricks!

With me being in charge of our Ladies Night Out events at church, I've had to learn to work the sound board, play CD's on the sound system, and run slide shows. This is the sound board. Just look at all those buttons and wires!Mr. Bob gave me some lessons, then gave me permission to call him if I needed help during the evening. The first couple of times, I did need to call him. I take that back - I've called him every time! This last time I thought I had it all figured out, but when I got into the sound booth, someone had changed things around so it didn't look familiar. But in the end, I got the mikes working, the slide show went well, and the CD's played at the appropriate times. Whew!

Then on Saturday, I took a trip up to Berks County to visit with my mother and help her with some computer issues she was having. I was a little apprehensive as to whether I really would be able to help her and actually prayed on the way up that the Lord would give me wisdom and success. James 1:4 is a promise I often claim when I am ignorant, and He graciously answered this time. She was having trouble organizing pictures that she had scanned, but fortunately, I knew how to do that. So I was happy that I was able to help, and she was happy to have the help.
The lessons didn't take too long and we were able to reward ourselves for our success by having lunch at Panera's.

So if you need computer help, just call me. I know just enough to be dangerous!

What have I been up to?

If I don't blog soon, I'll forget what I've been up to. So here goes...

Last Sunday, I helped Dawn with Kira while she directed the choir which sang in all 3 worship services at church. That was hard - NOT! Actually, Kira is very good and was a perfect little angel while she was with me. Right after the third service, I had a meeting with our Ladies Night Out planning team to put the finishing touches to Wednesday night's activities. I ordered a pizza for us and whipped together a Caesar's salad. I had made a batch of cookies on Saturday so we enjoyed those for our dessert while we did our planning.

After the meeting, I was able to relax at home for about an hour before getting ready for company for dinner. I made a quickie - Chicken Barbeque Pizza (yes - my second pizza of the day) and another Caesar's salad. We enjoyed the company of Rich & Bev for an hour before the rest of our small group joined us for Bible study. Busy day!

Monday was a normal day at work, but that evening, I did the laundry and cleaning I normally do on Tuesday. So Tuesday this week was a true day off. We had planned to go to Morris Arboretum with all 3 girls and all the grandkids. But on Tuesday morning, it was raining so we decided to just all go to Christy's. All the kids were there except Patrick who was at school. It was so fun just being together. The kids love playing and wrestling with their PopPop and they also love to listen to me read stories to them. I read so long that I actually started to lose my voice!

We are so blessed to have a family who enjoy being together.

Our newest little one.

I had prepared turkey and cheese wraps and brought some baby carrots and the rest of the cookies for our lunch. We stayed till 2:30 then came on home to beat rush hour traffic.

Wednesday night we had another Ladies' Night Out with the theme: Sharing the Harvest. We have some extremely talented and gifted people who go all out in decorating the church to go with the theme.

The central focus of the room:

The dessert table

Over 100 women attended

including me

Our speaker was Brenda Antinore who works with her husband in a Camden ministry to ex-offenders and prostitutes. She is very passionate about her work, and we were so blessed and encouraged to hear how God is at work in that wicked and dangerous city. We worked on a couple of crafts together. One was decorating paper bags (lunch bag size) that we placed a pair of socks into to donate to Brenda's ministry to the women. We also made cute little pumpkins out of strips of cloth wrapped around a roll of TP. This is what mine looks like!

These events are a lot of work, but I co-labor with a great team of dedicated and talented women. There is enormous value in getting together as women to be encouraged and spiritually strengthened and challenged in our walk with the Lord.

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Hebrews 10:24

Happenings

The day finally arrived - Saturday, October 17, 2009. Months ago we decided we would attend Andy's 40th high school class reunion. I really didn't want to go, but grudgingly agreed to accompany him. When we got the invitation, it seemed so far into the future, I must have thought the day would never get here. But it did, so off we went. I knew no one. Andy knew about 3 - 4 people, I think. But everyone looked so OLD! (everyone except us, of course - ha, ha) Well, it was an experience to remember and now we can say we did it.

On Sunday before going into the church service, I remembered to silence my cell phone (I usually forget and one time it did ring during the service - thanks a lot, Tommy!). After the third service, I checked my phone to see if I had any messages and noticed I had received a text from Amy. It said: "Are you still at church?" I texted back: "yes." Then I went on hanging out and talking to people. When I finally left and got in the car to go home, I called Amy to see why she had texted me. She answered and asked where I was. I told her I was on my way home from church. She continued talking and I was getting a weird feeling about our conversation, when finally I asked: "where are you? Are you at our house?" And guess what - surprise, surprise - she was! Then I felt bad, but as I told her, there's no reason for me to rush home from church because there's no one there. Usually! Poor girl, she'd been waiting in our driveway for over an hour - with 2 dogs and 2 children.

So there she was, Amy with dear Chase and Joanna. Dawn and Kira also came home after church and we all had a good time eating brunch together, then playing and reading to the kids.
Andy gave Amy's 2 dogs their booster shots, which is the reason Amy came down.
Amy didn't stay very long because I had a baby shower to go to. Our neighbor and friend, Nancy, just adopted a baby girl and the church gave her a shower. I made a Pumpkin Dessert to take along.It was a busy day, but good and fun.

Yesterday was busy, too, but in a different way. It was our day off from work, but we filled it with work at home. I cleaned the house, all 3 bathrooms, dusted the furniture, and vacuumed the floors. I had a number of errands to do, then spent the rest of the day in the kitchen. I made a batch of cookies, dinner for Nancy and her family, as well as our own dinner.

Because the day was fairly warm, Andy was able to finish painting the shed doors. I like the way they look.
And the cherry on top of that beautiful day was that I also got to talk to each of our 3 daughters, as well as my Mother. Wow! It can't get better than that!