First Night Of Awana!!

This has been the longest week ever.  

But finally!  Finally it came!  Wednesday.  And that meant Awana.  

Oh how I missed it. 

This is the only picture I got.  But you can see how fun they look.  

It was a crazy night with about 75 folks in all.  Wow the growth.  Chaotic, loud, and wonderful. 

I've had these guys since 2nd grade and now they are 4th graders.  I also have a few 3rd graders thrown in for good measure.  10 in all.  All boys.  

Burgers for supper and only 1 spill that I saw.  Can't beat that!  

It took a little time to get settled with it being the first night so I kinda felt behind and didn't get to talk as much or pray with them or get to know the newbies like I would've liked.  But everybody got through at least 2 check points in their start zones.  Next week we'll probably finish.  

This year I only have 1 class and I like that better.  That meant I got to go to games with them and listen to my son's class.  He's teaching games and last year I missed it all.  No biggie, but glad to be there if I can. 

As we were loading up Mally's nose exploded in the van.  I have no idea why this happens to her all of a sudden.  But out of nowhere her nose will bleed like a faucet with blood in her mouth and everything.  BIG mess and blood on the neighbor girl who sits next to her in the van.  We ran back into the church making the church bus late and took (it seemed like) forever getting it stopped.  We finally got it to a point of being able to get back into the car without it getting on everything and everybody else.  Poor kiddo.  

My Grandmother

Remember this beautiful lady?  

Please pray for my grandmother.  She's not feeling so good these days. 

Makes me cry.  :-( 

Just For Fun

Then...

And now...

LOVE them! 

Old Friends

Jes' piano lesson give me a good opportunity to visit some of our friends in our old neighborhood.  Today I stopped in to see Mr. Coffman and Mr. Walker.  Both have been great friends to our family.

Mrs. Coffman passed away about 5 years ago.  Oh, how we loved her!  And she loved us.
I knocked on Mr. Coffman's door and Buggs, the housekeeper answered.  We'd never met in person and I felt like I was going through security to get to see my friend.  When I told her my name she immediately warmed up.

"Oh!  It's YOU!  LaDonna used to talk about you all the time!  Come in, he's right back here."

Mr. Coffman greeted me with a big hug and kiss on the cheek.  He was disappointed I didn't have a kid in tow.  My kids have sweet memories of getting paid way too much money for odd jobs and eating boxes of Girl Scout cookies on the walk home.

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

Now Mr. Walker is a ton of fun.  He loves to sit and visit over ice cream sandwiches and tells me who I need to vote for.  If there's news in the neighborhood, Mr. Walker is not shy to share it.  He is a lover of good books, weather forecasting, all things political, and my kids.

I remember the tears streaming down his face when we moved to CO and the surprise and joy when we moved back.  I love talking with him on piano day!

Jes used to take piano somewhere else.  I had to wait for him in a house that was so dark I could barely read while I waited.  When Debbie offered lessons, Honey suggested we switch so I could walk the old neighborhood and visit our friends.

I'm so glad we did!

I Found You!

 When the apostles returned, they reported to Jesus what they had done. Then he took them with him and they withdrew by themselves to a town called Bethsaida, but the crowds learned about it and followed him. He welcomed them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed healing.  Luke 9:10-11

The disciples had just gotten home from a mission trip and Jesus wanted to have some alone time with them.  But the crowds found him out and followed. 

Now all you mommas of little bitties does this remind you of anything?  Like...

~when you want to have an adult conversation with your husband?

~eat dinner before the nursing baby wakes up?

~make just one bathroom trip all by yourself?

And just when you think you've slipped away unnoticed you turn around and find that your little crowd has you figured out.  

My usual reaction would be that of a deflated balloon or the classic wet noodle but look at how Jesus reacts....!

"He welcomed them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed healing." Luke 9:11

Wha??  No lecture about going about your own business and I'll catch up with you later.  Nope.  Jesus was always available. 

I love the verbs here.  He...welcomed, spoke, and healed. 

So perfect our Savior is.  As Christians our goal is to become more Christ like, and this little passage gives us some good insight into Jesus' loving nature.  In the midst of interruption it is time to be welcoming, speak graciously, and meet the need.  

I want to remember this next time my blender draws a crowd when I thought I was making a secret chocolate smoothie. 

This N That

I love this weather!  And even though it's just a little change, it still feels like the beginnings of fall.  School starting back up helps too.  The little girls across the street look so cute in the mornings with their backpacks ready to go.  

~Has everybody started school?  We don't do the big summer break but I always revise everything for the fall.  I'm still needing a few things to be finished.  

~We have had things in storage for 6 months now.  I have hardly missed anything except our books and games.  And right now I'm really missing my books when I would like to look through them for school.   But since that makes up only a tiny portion of all the junk in storage I'm wondering what I can't live without if I haven't missed it in 6 months.

~All summer long I only made popsicles once.  Whyyy?  And I didn't even notice until now when we're on the tail end of popsicle season.  I need to make a trip to the store for some fun juices. 

~I'm out of chickpeas.  I know what you're thinking.....why is she on the computer when there's not even a single chickpea in the house?!  I'm asking myself the same thing.  Yes, a trip to the store is in order folks.  

~3 out of 4 cars have issues right now.  All at once!  

~8 days until AWANA!!  I've been waiting all summer long and it's finally HERE!  I smile every time I think about it.  It's getting closer every day and it's made me realize how much I missed them.  

~Last week at church we had a big back to school party for the community.  Some of my Awana peeps were there as well as some new faces.  I got to work in the clothes closet and help families pick out a couple of outfits for school.  Love!  

~I'm fixing to start a new Bible study called Power In The Blood by Jennifer Kennedy Dean.  Leola let me borrow it months ago and I'm just now getting to it.  (Sorry Leola!)  

~Our new house is getting inspected on Thursday.  That means I get to see it again!  If all goes well we will close the week before the wedding.  That'll give us about 3 weeks to move out of our rent house.  It'll also give us an extra house for out-of-town wedding guests.  We already have 1 confirmed family from CO.  We are so excited!  

~My attitude has not been so great this week.  Neither has my mouth.  My family is memorizing this verse. 

"The good man from the good treasure in his heart produces good.  The evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart produces evil.  For from the wellspring of the heart the mouth speaks."  Luke 6:45 

I'm especially running that through my mind and trying to keep my mouth shut.  I appreciate my family and friends who listen to me even when I'm unreasonable and point me to the Truth.  

~I've had a sick guy this week.  Nate has been coughing and coughing.  We are finally sleeping through the night again so I know he's feeling better.  Now my man has it.  

I'm off to make tea snacks and clean up my kitchen for supper.  

For tea we're having ice cream outside and reading Snow Treasure...pretty good book.  

Tux Fitting

We took all the boys to be fitted for their wedding tuxes.  I didn't know that they didn't get to try them on.  Apparently they don't have them in the store...only samples.  So they take all your measurements and have the clothes ready when you pick them up.  I'm learning lots of things with this wedding! 

My boys had the best time!  My oldest son got a suit this summer for a funeral and all his little brothers were  jealous.  They love to dress up. 

LittleMan with one dress shoe and one croc.  Plus the jacket to get a good fit.  He didn't want to take it off until everyone else had been fitted and it was time to leave. 

Looking good! 

Ohhhh....he's going to be so handsome in his fancy clothes!  Be still my momma heart.  

Sharp!

And the shoe.  Ha!!  

Other Big News!

Our building plans were looking grim.  Turns out even a super simple build (like metal building, formica, and unfinished floors) was way out of our price range.   Who would've guessed?

But you know we do have bigger things going on with a wedding and all so I figured we'd just hang tight for awhile and figure it out later.

Honey found a house just a few miles from his parents on 2 acres.  It was big enough.  Priced right.  But didn't look too impressive in pix.  And we've done this enough to know that it always looks better in the pix than in person.  We decided to get a showing anyway.

And WOW!  It was way better than the pix!  I didn't think it was the right house when we drove up.  Super clean, pretty, great area, perfect garden.  Wonderfully unexpected.

We took all the parents the next night.  They liked it too.
We decided what we could afford and made the offer.

But the seller didn't like it.  I don't blame him.  So he came back with a verbal understanding that he didn't want to play the back and forth game and told us his bottom dollar.

Still more than we could do.  So we said No Thank You and told the realtor what we were willing to spend but we didn't want to disrespect his wishes by making a counter offer.

Back to square one.  And Honey had another house in mind that I didn't like at all.  But he kept asking so I figured I'd go look next week.

Then later that night our realtor called to say that she couldn't believe it but the seller will take our price!   Really?  Plus a $500 repair limit and a home warranty.  He will leave the bar stools we liked but not his brand new fridge (understandable).  AND they will even push back closing until October 19th so we didn't have to move in the middle of our wedding.

Wow.

This pretty and spacious house saves us $17/sf which saves us almost $50k over building!  Sweet!
Not to mention the huge stress of building and picking colors and waiting and worrying about going over budget.

Happy Day!

Want a peek?

This is one living room.  There's a fireplace on the left.  I think it'll turn out to be our music room. The dining room is beyond that with double doors that lead to the back yard.  

Kitchen and breakfast area.  Across from that table is a small bar.  Mostly tile floors throughout with carpet in some bedrooms. 

Living room number 2 which will be the real living room.  

Love this covered patio!  Huge and smooth for skating.  

Some of the back yard.  It's on 2.11 acres. 

Kitchen Plan For The Week

I'm determined to pull myself out of the kitchen rut.  And not that I have anything mouth watering on the menu but it feels good to just have it done.  Why do I hate this menuing job all of a sudden?  

Lunches....

beef stew (remember that meat I bought from the salesman?)

salad bar

tuna sandwiches and carrot sticks

turkey sandwiches and cole slaw

baked potatoes w/ sauted veggies

nachos 

Snacks....

popcorn

carrot zucchini bars

pumpkin chia cookies

flourless peanut butter cookies

granola bars

Dinners....

tacos

bean burgers and oven fries

youth dinner Wednesday

breakfast burritos

cheesy chicken noodle skillet

pizza

snacky dinner for Sunday 

Here's something I made last week that everyone loves.  I wanted to post this for my friend Gaylene who hates flipping pancakes as much as I do.  It's basically pancakes and sausage all in a muffin.  Sooo much easier for big families. 

Pancake Sausage Muffins 

Turkey Sausage (I promise this is better than the real stuff!) 

1 lb turkey sausage

1 small onion finely chopped

1/4 tsp each: cumin, marjoram, pepper, nutmeg, oregano, cayenne pepper, ginger

1/2 tsp each: basil, thyme, sage

2 tsp salt

2 T bread crumbs

1 egg

I know it's a lot of spices to get out, but since you're in the spice cabinet anyway it really doesn't take that long.  And I promise it's worth it!!  Just mix it all together and brown in a skillet breaking it up with your spatula 

Oatmeal Pancakes

4 C each flour and oats

2 T baking powder

2 tsp each: baking soda and salt

Mix all together and make a well in the middle to add wet ingredients

6 1/2 C milk (you can use water and powdered milk or whatever kind of milk you drink)
1 C oil

4 eggs

1/4 C honey 

Mix it all together with a hand mixer.  Then stir in sausage.  Pour into muffin pan and bake at 350 until done.  

These are great with scrambled eggs! 

Peter's Mother-In-Law

Simon Peter's mother-in-law was sick with a high  fever.  When Jesus entered  the house, her family appealed to Him on her behalf. The Bible says He bent over her and took her hand and lifted her up and the fever left her.

Then guess what she did?  She immediately started serving them! What?!  She didn't call up all her friends and tell them how sick she had been and what a hard time it was. She didn't need to rest and recover.  She didn't wallow in self-pity.  Like an ant, she just got back to work.  Her eyes were not on herself,  but on Jesus.

And through the night, people came bringing their sick loved ones to Jesus.  I can just imagine her offering cold water, bringing bread, and keeping the lights burning.

It's a simple story of a sweet lady written in few words.  We don't even know her name.
That's the kind of mother-in-law I want to be!

Luke 4:38-39

John

I know I've written about John the Baptist before.  But I'm reading in Luke again and again he caught my attention.   

A man created by God to fulfill prophesy from years ago.  A remarkable birth and an interesting man.
Not much for fashion and stuck to a raw food diet.  I imagine him the hippie sort in the most respectful way.

John preached hard things and didn't worry about winning friends.  I mean really, you don't gain friends by calling people a brood of vipers.  It's easy to tell that he didn't water down the word or sugar coat it.
He preached it hard and told it like it is.  Before John there were the the prophets and the law.  But John came as the first preacher and the Word says it was "good news".

I thought that was kinda funny b/c the brood of vipers probably didn't consider it good news.  But by the Word people separated themselves as the wheat and the chaff. 

One of the reasons I most admire John was his lack of fear of man.  I wish I had more of that.  Not caring what others think.  Just living my single-minded mission of obeying the work God has called me to. 

John was thrown in prison and later beheaded.  At first glance it would seem a wasted death.  But remembering that Jesus has victory for us over death, John's life was well spent.  Am I spending my life well?  So often I go to bed disappointed over the many ways I messed up that day.  The ways that I was selfish or distracted. 

I want to live my life with the single purpose of loving God and others and not worry about anything else. 

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

Funny, I thought I remembered posting about him before.  Sure enough I did about 4 years ago.  Apparently my thoughts haven't changed much in 4 years! 

Back To School Party

LOVE back to school shopping.  

LOVE the big party we have at home.  Lane and I did all the shopping and it was all a surprise.  

Does it look like a mess?  That's because it is.  The blue plastic table cloth has been our make shift table in this house.   After breakfast I sent everyone to their room while I set it all out at their spots.  Then I rang the bell and they all ran out like it was Christmas to see what new stuff they got.

Only while I was setting it all out the electricity went out.  Not sure why this happens so much over here.
So I had to take pix in the dark. 

A sample of the goodies.  This is Nate's, my 3rd grader.  Everyone is color coded and his color is green.
He didn't need many school books or even supplies so when that happens I just buy them some fun stuff.
Most of my kids got extra art supplies.  Sometimes I throw in socks and underwear.  Believe it or not, they even love those.

Lane didn't get to do all the shopping like she thought.  She was surprised too!  And so was Meg.

By this point, the house was getting hot.  I think.  Or maybe it was my imagination b/c I knew the power was out.  In any case, the water thing didn't work on the fridge so we had to leave lest we die of heat exhaustion and dehydration.

Thankful for our libraries!  We packed up all the new stuff and finished getting dressed in the dark.
At the library they gave us the big conference room.  Sweet!  Just look at this space People...and the lights!  Thinking we need to do this more often.....

First assignment (and only assignment of the day) was working on these neat posters from the summer reading program.  I've been saving them for this day.  It's cute and decorated and has lots of fill-in questions like "If I could go anywhere, I'd go..."
"If I had a million dollars I'd spend it on..."

I thought these would be cute to keep and look back on later.

Happy New School Year to my favorite students!  I am blessed and thankful to get to be your teacher again. 

Here We Gooooo!!!

BIG BIG NEWS!!  

My Baby Girl is getting married!  

Ethan proposed on Friday after a 2+year long courtship.  She could not be happier.  

The tentative day is October 20.  That's this year ya'll.  Like in just a few weeks!  

We have lots of tidbit conversations going on like who's going to take pictures, how many crayons to buy for the kids' table, and where you put the forks on the cake table.  

The forks.  Just where do ppl put the forks?  I've never noticed.  You can't just stand them up in a plastic cup.  If you lay them out fancy that would take forever.  And Meg said you can't just open up the Sams box and let the ppl have at it.  .....we didn't know.  

Time to get super busy.  Yesterday we did our first wedding shopping day.  Just the two of us.  

And since I'm the only one in the family not required to wear wedding garb we had to find something for me to wear.  How hard could it be?  

6 stores later I had decided that I probably would have to stay home b/c there was nothing we liked.  And for whatever reason Eldest put her foot down on my jeans and t-shirt idea.  Picky.  

Throughout the shopping I had politely waved off the offers of "Can I help you find something in particular?" 

Because really how do you just say....

Something longish

Not too fancy

But not frumpy

It needs to sorta match the colors 

No ruffles of any sort

Modest...hello! 

And preferably not polyester.  

Just when I thought we might actually have to go to the mall, I remembered that I thought there was a Dress Barn somewhere in town.  We found it and guess what??  

My friend Detra worked there and I didn't even know!!  

I love Detra.  She is the perfect motherly type to set things right.  She says it like it is and would have no problem telling me the outfit I picked looked stupid.   So I told her everything.  

And in a matter of 20 minutes I was completely outfitted with something that Meg gushed over.  I laid out more money than I have ever spent on clothes for myself but my girl was happy that her Momma wouldn't show up in the favorite Request Denied t-shirt.  

Check!  

And since Detra has done a couple of weddings herself I asked her what details we might be leaving out.  She mentioned getting nails done and such but I asked about forks.  And she knew!  Talk about saving the day.