GRACE, AB, and Today

On Wednesday evening I experienced God's GRACE through the service and sacrifice of His daughters!! Let me tell you how (she doesn't mind my sharing her story)... several months ago a mother of one of our church children became pregnant under some very sinful circumstances. I will spare you the details... Anyways, she was a desperate wreck when she found out she was pregnant. I did the best I could to counsel her but this particular woman weighed heavily on my heart. A few weeks later I had been talking with our Youth Pastor who was also aware of what was going on, and she felt the same way. We both were moved to do something practical for her. So to make a long story short we explained to the Women's Ministries the circumstances the best we could and the Women's Ministries got their game on and gave her a wonderful baby shower. This is her 5th baby and first baby shower. Out of 20 women, only 2 of us knew her, but they came and brought tons of gifts (out of very tight budgets), words of blessings, games, food, decorations, and we poured prayer over this baby (God knows he'll need it!). As I left on Wednesday night, frankly exhausted after a very long day that wasn't about to be over, I felt so incredibily blessed to be in the middle of God's grace that evening. This woman has made some terrible choices, she's not saved, and I honestly don't see it happening in the immediate future. BUT we sincerely gave to her our love, time, energy and $. AND her other children know that we are a church that seeks out the lost and loves the unlovable. That The Salvation Army daily puts our feet and hands into practicing what we preach. There's an acronym that I always remember about grace - God's Riches At Christ's Expense. I slaved for two hours making Thai Rolls (thank you Stacie and Catherine) because she is diabetic and I knew she could eat these. Every time I felt grumpy about it I remembered what Christ did for me so that I could feast at God's banquet table. It was a wonderful evening of witnessing God working through all of "my" ladies lives!!

Every year, as a thank you to our Advisory Board members for another year of service, we host a Barbeque at our house. We plan for about 15, if everyone shows up. Paul grilled up some excellent Steaks and Chicken. He is a great griller. I'm afraid of it, really I am... I even worry when Paul's out there that it's going to blow up. I made a Greek Salad and Red Potato Dish. (I'll write these simple recipes below) It was a good time, but I am glad it's over. It was a lot of work! Hosting at the Corps is easier because it's a great big kitchen to work in and I don't have to worry if my bed's made, house is picked up, bathrooms spic-n-span, etc.

Last night was another playoff game for David's baseball team. Just when I thought it was over his team kept making it to the next round. They were really good... but not good enough, as last night they lost by 2 points. They didn't make it to the Championship on Saturday, which was personally fine with me because we have plans with the Browns. David's okay with it too, and is looking forward to Saturday's Lifeflight.

This morning, I'm going to run the kids up to Dufur Pioneer Cemetary. I saw it on my friend Stacie's blog and we just love that kind of stuff. We're going to do headstone rubbings. Hopefully it won't be windy. Then I'll spend the day- laundry, packing, laundry, packing, laundry, packing, etc. Which I happen to consider Salvation Army work because we are required to go to the General's Meeting. See how encompassing Officership is (ha!ha!).

I am also losing my voice! It is so hard to parent without a voice!! I swear I've been poisoned by the cherry crop dusters.

Greek Salad: (I love keeping this in my fridge for a quick snack)
Equal Parts of-
Broccoli, Cauliflower, Green Pepper, Red Pepper, Yellow Pepper, Cucumber, Sliced Olives, Cherry Tomatos, Feta Cheese. Toss together and mix in some Greek Salad Dressing

Red Potato Dish:
Boiled Red Potatos cut into chunks
Mix in Reduced Fat Chive and Onion Cream Cheese
Mix in a bunch of fresh Dill, chopped up (I add a lot, I love dill)
Bake in oven till nice and hot

Farming

Elijah finished up his last 2 months of 1st grade doing a farm unit. It was great!! And he learned so much!!! I hope I can explain it well enough for you to understand....Each child was given the same lot of land and same amount of money. They used a grid on their farm to help calculate what animals they could have and how many. For example, a cow would need 4 squares, a pig maybe just 2, a goat 1, etc. They had to multiply if they wanted more than one of any animal. Also, what would they grow and how much? He had to a lot land for that too. They also had to a lot land for their home and a barn. He had to keep a budget to feed his animals that he bought and to buy the seed he needed for what he would grow. They kept a book that journaled what they bought, how their land was doing, how their animals were doing, what was growing, basically everything that goes into operating a farm. As they acquired things, they had to cut it out and put it on thier farm. They had to be careful of the spacing to be sure that everything had the land that it needed. He learned about each animal and how to care for it. In the picture above, Elijah is holding his completed farm. He is very proud of it and managed to fill up every bit of his land and keep a detailed journal. It was really fun reading it and studying his farm. It is now hanging on the refridgerator and Elijah is teaching his sisters all about it. In a couple weeks, after the fun of that is over, he'll go have fun destroying it with the magnifying glass. I've got a picture, I'm not planning on keeping it forever!

Pioneer Days

For the last 3 months at school, David and all the other 4th graders have been doing an intensive study of the Pioneers and the Oregon Trail. I have been entirely impressed every step of the way. It was so encompassing that I probably won't be able to explain it all well, but I'm going to try at least to explain David's experience:

Each child was given a scenario for their family. David is a married man with a wife, a 16 yob, 13yog, an 11 yob and a mother -n- law. It is his reponsibility to make it to the end of the Oregon Trail for his lot of land and homestead. They have simulated the entire thing. Supplies, the trail, obstacles, disease, Indians, basically ANYTHING that happened to the real pioneers.

David was voted the wagon leader for his group, which added more responsibility.

Halfway through, David's wife died from an Indian attack.

They built their wagon from shoeboxes and other supplies. David created shock absorbers for his. They loaded it up with their 50 miniature supplies which they had to build from scratch over the last 3 months from things like clay, foil, toothpicks, etc.

On the day of the actual simulation, they traveled around the whole school with different scenarios being presented to them. (I followed along with my pioneer baby, Mary. Paul was able to drop by too.) There were rivers, hills, cliffs, hunting, you name it. They could break down 3 times and after that they had to abandon their wagon. If someone broke down, David, being the wagon leader had to repair and inspect all the wagons in order for his train to move on. He had a lot of decisions to make too. By the end of the trail there were abandoned wagons all over the school grounds. (All three 4th grade classes did this) A sad sight, but real life. David broke down twice and barely made it to the end where his final challenge was to build his homestead using lincoln logs.

Friday afternoon, the 4th graders got to line the hallways with their trade blankets and trinkets from home to trade and barter, as many of the real life Pioneers were out of money at the end of the trail and were only able to trade hard goods.

Every Friday, for the last 2 months, the 4th graders have been dressing up in their pioneer clothing. The girls were in calico and bonnets the boys in long pants, boots, handkerchiefs and hat. To see them all in class made me think of the acutal Pioneer days! They also had a campfire every Friday afternoon and sang songs and told stories. David brought his guitar and played "Old Dan Tucker". Mrs. Ashley said he was the first 4th grader to ever bring and play his guitar for the campfire. That made him feel good for making such an effort to learn that song and lead it. Way to go David!

It was an amazing lesson and learning experience not just for David, but for all of us around the dinner table at night hearing about his adventures of the day. I am thankful for such a wonderful and dedicated 4th grade teacher, Mrs. Ashley! Pioneer days was on the heals of a 3 month unit on Indians complete with trade items, dances, and a real life potlatch. That was also the unit in which David had to construct a real life model of an Indian village. I wasn't blogging then, but I would've wrote all about that too!

Our Weekend

Our 2nd Annual Father and Son Feast on Saturday was wonderful!! We had double the attendance from last year! Including 3 new fathers. I am really excited about that because it is an upward trend. Who knows what next year will bring. I did a Nascar Racing theme and Paul taught on the Scriptures about finishing the race. He used movie clips from Days of Thunder, what guy doesn't like a good race scene?!? I also got 2 different race car crafts: a wooden one to paint and a metal one to design your own with markers. For food I did tons of junk (a feast!) chips, pizzas, chicken, candy, cookies, pop, etc. After some last minute preparations and putting all the food out, the girls and I disappeared upstairs during the Feast. I always love when the boys at the Corps say "Capt. Rachel, what are you doing here? This is for boys!" I just ignore them and say "pretend I'm not here!" giggle! Um, duh! Who else would do all the food, decorating, planning, praying and hosting? Those guys need us girls (and yes, we need them too!) We had to hang around to clean-up and re set-up for Sunday School. Last year I did Building and Tools for the theme. I'm thinking of a Hunting theme for next year...

The kids and I played Bingo on the back porch for over an hour last night while Paul worked on his sermon. I had even got little prizes this time from the 1$ store. I like getting stuff in a pack so I can open it and have more prizes, like gum, race car pack, etc. Ann chewed some gum right away and when she was dancing later the gum "disappeared". We looked all over for it on the carpet and the couches. I just gave up and figured she swallowed it. Later on she's yelling "I found my gum Mommy!" Well, it was in her hair! I tried to get as much out as I could, but ended up having to cut about a 2 inch long and 1 inch wide section. I was bothered by it. She told me- "don't be sad mommy, it'll grow back."

Family First Sunday School was this morning. We are still studying the 10 Commandments and today was #5 Honor your father and your mother. A good lesson and some great discussion with even the children piping in. I had to re-arrange the program a little though (do snacks first) so that I could nurse my fussy-this-morning Mary.

The boys got to have their 2 friends over this afternoon. They are brothers and in their same classes at school. It's not often we can manage having friends over so they are very excited to when we do. It's funny though... Paul and I both know their dad very well, we've both been pulled over by him.. he's a cop. Paul got pulled over when we first moved here because there was something wrong with the license plate. He just got a warning. After that we got to know him through him bringing us (The Salvation Army) some of his criminals for "counseling". He's not aloud to talk about Christ on the job... we are. Then I got pulled over about a year ago for speeding on the freeway. When he saw it was us, he was a sweetie and gave me a warning. The boys have been to their home and it went good. The boys only go over to 2 people's houses. We are very strict about that because who knows what they'll run across visiting at someone else's home. Just the other day, a 9 year old girl in our Corps got exposed to porn visiting at her friend's house. I don't know what might be playing on the TV? what kind of other people are in the home? do the parents cuss? have drugs around? affiliated with the Mafia? members of a polygamist sect? terrorists? who knows?!?! (well, maybe some of that is extreme) I guess I've witnessed enough bad stuff that it makes me cautious. I would rather have their friends over at our house. I don't mind being party central if it keeps my children under my nose!

Well, I better make likes eggs and scramble. Make like a leaf and leave. Make like a toe and jam. There are other things to do, like...RELAX... aaaaahh blessed Sunday with no afternoon programs! Yay!

My Babies...

I was up a whopping 6 times last night with Mary. She was just a hungry girl. Growth spurt maybe. I don't like being tired and the after-effects of endless nights... but I love getting up with my babies. I have liked it from the beginning with David, but appreciate it more as each child comes along. I get to be all alone with Mary, without distractions, giving her what she wants most: love and milk!

I look at David and Elijah and Ann now 10 thru 4 1/2 years old and remember how they too used to be so tiny. When I've held all our babies I always wonder what they'll be like when they're 2, 5, 10, 15 and into adults. They are just so precious! I wonder if when I'm older, I'll be like some of the ladies at the Corps who are willing to do anything to be close to a baby again. They insist on changing Mary's diaper, burping her and holding her even if she's crying her head off. They want to do the "dirty work" just so they can hold her more without me taking her away from them.

I can't believe Mary is already almost 7 weeks old. Why does pregnancy and labor take sooo looong and babies growing older go sooo fast! I think about how our family will only be all together for about 8 -9 more years and then, starting with David, they'll start leaving to create their own lives.

Sweet Mary is awake more and more throughout the day. Her hair is still quite reddish. She is looking at more and more things. I got out her 3-6 month clothing and she fits it quite well. She is seeming longer, or at least less curled up. She is very strong, holding her head up on her tummy and sitting well with support for as long as we'll hold her. She's rolled over twice from tummy to back, but that was because she was screaming mad. When her brothers and sisters hold her she has learned to hang on for dear life. Especially Ann's hair. Mary also likes to take a binky once in awhile, which is a great "cork" when we're out in public. I still think her ears don't match each other, but Paul doesn't want me to talk about it or he says she'll get a complex. She smiled at Daddy last night at dinner. Figures! I get all the work and he gets all the play (ha!ha!).

Life is good, full, but good.


Thank you, Lord!

Yummy, Cheap and Easy

Today's another busy Wendesday... In the Crockpot for tonight is a bean soup that Paul and I really love. The kids like it too, though it's not their most favorite, they do ask for seconds often. Ann is also able to really help dump and stir with this recipe. She can practically make it herself.

In your crockpot combine:

2 cans Pork 'N Beans1 can Kidney Beans

1 can Large Butter Beans (giant beans make it fun for the kids)

1 can Baby Butter Beans

1 can Navy Beans

1 Pound Browned and Crumbled Ground Beef

1 Cup Water

1 Cup finely chopped Onion

1/2 Brown Sugar

1/4 Worchestire Sauce

Our Rooftime Fun

If I had my digi cam... I would've totally been snapping some shots of our late morning...

We're getting some roof work done at the Corps and had a crane there this morning to lift the supplies up top. Paul went and took the boys out of school for the adventure. Then we all climbed to the roof through the passage way in our storage room. Paul handed the baby off to me (it was quite a reach!). We stood up top for a while watching. It was way hot. Those poor guys were sweating buckets and it was only about 10:30am. It was a lot of fun and great learning! I don't know if we'll ever get to be that close to a working crane again. We actually had to jump out of the way at one point. Now for the next week I get to smell tar through my office walls. Yuck! I hope it doesn't give the kids brain damage. There's still hope for them, not me.

P.S. Dinner tonight... chicken enchiladas, rice and corn.