Hearts in Service

My baby is 9 years old today. ACK!!!! I can't believe how she's grown. She is becoming so grown-up and is quite the young lady. She is so extremely joyful and fun to be around. Life and energy just ooze from every pore. Grandma sent her a dress for her birthday. Here she is modeling. We are off to spend the day at the zoo per her request. I'll post some pictures tomorrow.

After spending the entire afternoon and evening with our church planting director, Dan & I need to cling to God's promises today. I do not like change. I do not always handle it well. As of the beginning of July, our church will be meeting in the local Veteran's Hall. It's not the ideal situation but the only one that is available to us at the moment and the only one that our church plant can afford. There is more visibility but it will require us setting up and tearing down each Sunday. Something we have not had to do for the past 2 years. It will also mean the end of some of our programs, like 3D Girls. The church is not a building, it's a body. But you know what? A building sure helps at times! However, I know that the Lord is preparing us for something.

We had a very nice Memorial Day weekend and started and ended the weekend with a barbecue. On Friday night, we had our small group over for a time of food and fellowship. There ended up being 16 of us, including the children. The littlest member. There was lots of talking and laughing. Even wild flowers can make a pretty centerpiece. We ended up moving it indoors because it got cold! Then yesterday we had a family from church over. Waiting for the guests. The weather cooperated and it was close to 80 degrees though very windy. This luna moth was not invited! Overall, it was a very relaxing weekend.

It's Sew Crafty Friday again. Shereen at Waiting for Him is so gracious to host this on her blog each week. Go check out some of the neat crafts. I had a very productive week. I started a quilt for Emily. She told me the other day that she HATES pink so I wanted to pick something girly but without the traditional pink and purples for little girls. So far I got 4 rows done: Here is a close up of the material: I also finished hemming the purple shorts I made her and made 3 other pair as well. Here they are! It's a great feeling when you can look back and see the fruits of your labor. :-)

I have quite a few bags of sliced apples in my freezer from last fall. I decided to make apple crisp yesterday. Slice 6-7 apples. Add 1/2 cups of sugar, 2 Tbsp. flour, 2 tsp. cinnamon, a dash of nutmeg and a 1/4 tsp. of salt. Transfer to 9" x 13" pan. In a bowl, cut together with a pastry cutter 1 cup rolled oats, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1/2 cup of margarine, and 1 cup of brown sugar. Sprinkle on top of the apples. Bake at 375 degrees for 40 minutes. Enjoy!

This is one of my husband's favorite meals. It is very easy to make and is great for a busy day. Kielbasa & Cabbage First, get the following ingredients ready: 6-8 peeled potatoes, cut into bite size chunks 1 bag of baby carrots or about 6 large carrots, peeled 1 medium onion, peeled and cut into chunks Slice 1 head of cabbage into thin wedges. Take 2 lbs. of kielbasa and cut into small pieces. Mix everything together in a crockpot and then fill the crock about 1/2 full with water. Turn the crockpot on high and cook for 5-6 hours. After about 2 hours, once the cabbage has cooked down a bit, add salt and pepper to taste. It turns out perfect every time. Enjoy!

Okay, are you ready for a celebration? As of today at 9:56 a.m we are officially........................DEBT FREE!!!!!! Whoo Hoo!!!!!!! After 6 years of living on one income in one of the most expensive areas of the country, and being about $26,000 in debt, we have done it. I paid the last outstanding balance today. I feel FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Care to celebrate with me?!

"One generation will commend your works to another; they will tell of your mighty acts." Psalm 145:4 What an awesome time of worship in church yesterday. It is a blessed thing to look out at the congregation praising God and seeing both old and young lifting up praises to our Lord. We had a large crowd yesterday, from a newborn all the way up to an eighty year old man. Generations of people, all praising and worshiping. God was surely blessed by the praises of His people!

Each week Shereen at Waiting for Him hosts Sew Crafty Friday. I haven't been able to participate for a few weeks because I couldn't show the Mother's Day gifts I was making. Here they are! This is the same table runner I made for myself about a month ago. I had lots of leftover fabric so I made two more just like it. Close-up of front: Back view: I've also been making some shorts for Emily too. They still be need to be hemmed but here is the first pair. I've also been plugging away at my afghan and it's coming along nicely too. For more crafts, check out Shereen's blog.

31 Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let them say among the nations, "The LORD reigns!" 32 Let the sea resound, and all that is in it; let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them! 33 Then the trees of the forest will sing, they will sing for joy before the LORD, for he comes to judge the earth. 34 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.

Emily is being punished this week by having to do a ton of extra chores around the house. She has been the happiest I've seen her in a long time!!! This girl loves to work. She did the lunch dishes for me. She mopped the entire downstairs. She carried things up and down the stairs for me. She helped make dinner. She set the table. She straightened the silverware drawer. What a nut! It's supposed to be punishment but she is actually enjoying work. LOL! I'm going to have to come up with a better plan ;-).

I thought I'd share with you a bit about my middle child, Stephen. I was looking at this picture of him from Sunday and noticing how much he is maturing. I see Dan in him more and more every day. Stephen has always been my child that oozes mercy. There is not a malicious bone in his body. I remember being upset one time because he was constantly being picked on by this boy. I told Stephen that he needed to grab ahold of this other child and let him know that he needed to stop. (I know, I know...not very Christ-like of me). Stephen came back into the room about 10 minutes later with tears in his eyes and said, "Mom, I just can't do that because my heart tells me it's not the right thing to do." :-) He has always shared a room with Nathan and is extremely patient with Nathan's tics. Because Nathan struggles with dyslexia, Stephen patiently spells things over and over again for him. On the other hand, Stephen is a perfectionist and will get very angry at h...

Have a blessed Mother's Day! I hope all you ladies out there have a wonderful day and enjoy yourselves. :-)

We haven't had this in a while and it's always a favorite with the children. It's very easy to make. First, I took 1/2 of a green pepper, 1/2 of a red pepper and 1/2 of a yellow pepper and cut them into chunks. I also took a medium onion and sliced it. Then take sweet Italian sausage and slit the casings and slide the sausage out and into a pan. Brown the sausage over medium heat and cut into pieces with the spatula. When the sausage is about half-way cooked, add the vegetables and mix well. Saute until the vegetables are soft and the meat is cooked. I added (2) 8-oz. cans of tomato sauce and 1 tsp. of oregano. Mix well and simmer for about 5-10 minutes. I served this over rice and with a salad. Enjoy!

Last night was our final night of 3D Girls until the fall. This has been the first weekly program that our church plant has ever run and it was a smashing success. We had 12-15 girls come every week, most of them who don't go to church. They have really grown and learned some new things this year. I had the girls share things they have learned this last year and here are some of their replies. "We learned to not be selfish." "That we only need to believe in Jesus to go to heaven." "To include others." "We learned how to pray." "To welcome people to our church." Some of them started the year very shy and were able to step out of their comfort zone and perform in front of people. Some came in wanting to just hang with their friends and they learned to include other girls who were of all ages. Some became much more self-confident. One of the neatest experiences that Jenna (my co-leader) and I had was to see a tangible expression of t...

Hark, I hear a robin calling! List, the wind is from the south! And the orchard-bloom is falling Sweet as kisses on the mouth. In the dreamy vale of beeches Fair and faint is woven mist, And the river's orient reaches Are the palest amethyst. Every limpid brook is singing Of the lure of April days; Every piney glen is ringing With the maddest roundelays. Come and let us seek together Springtime lore of daffodils, Giving to the golden weather Greeting on the sun-warm hills. Ours shall be the moonrise stealing Through the birches ivory-white; Ours shall be the mystic healing Of the velvet-footed night. Ours shall be the gypsy winding Of the path with violets blue, Ours at last the wizard finding Of the land where dreams come true.