Hearts in Service

Well my parents arrived and the children have been enjoying them. I've not really been online at all but thought I'd post a few pictures. Grandma helping with the dishes. Grandpa. Having a deep theological discussion. Grandpa helping Emily draw. Playing Skip-Bo. Nathan waiting for the movie to start. Today we went to a museum and I'll try to post pictures of that tomorrow.

Well, this was week 4 of Weight Watchers and I think I did pretty good. Not only have I lost weight on the scales but I'm already losing inches everywhere. My clothes fit better which is wonderful! This week my weight loss was 3 lbs. for a total of...... 13 lbs. I'll continue to keep you posted each Sunday.

My mother and stepdad (Dianne at Majestic Mountains,Rolling Hills ) are coming this morning for a visit for a few days. The last time we saw them was last June. The house is clean.... The meals are planned.... The children are excited.... They stayed overnight at my sister's because my niece graduated high school last night. We are just hanging around and waiting. :-)

It's Sew Crafty Friday over at Waiting for Him . Go on over and check out some of the crafts there. I thought I'd update you on the afghan I'm making. To refresh your memory here is what the finished product will look like. I'm doing it in ecru and lavender and the more I look at it I really wish I chose different colors or at least a white instead of the ecru. However, there is no going back at this point. :-) I got the two side panels done which consisted of 14 squares for each panel. The middle panel has 9 large squares and I only have two more squares to go. I'll have to stitch the squares together and then crochet the other panels. So at the rate I'm going you probably won't see any more progress for a few more months. However, it's slowly but surely getting done.

Dan is a pretty casual guy. Our church is laid back and while he wears dress pants and a nice shirt we just don't have a dress-up church. In fact, the only time he wears a suit and tie is when he performs a wedding or a funeral. He was on his way out the door to a funeral tonight so I thought I'd better get this while I could! Doesn't he look great?!

Today is our 20th wedding anniversary. It's hard to believe that we have been married that long. It really has been a fun and adventerous 20 years. We have done things that most people probably would never consider enjoyable (such as inner city work) yet we found it to be so rewarding. I was looking through our wedding pictures and we certainly look much younger (and ahem....thinner). I'm so glad that I waited to marry because the Lord led me to the perfect man. Our personalities definitely mesh well and I'd marry Dan all over again! Of course, we are older and wiser now. There are times we look back and talk about how we really had no clue what marriage or parenthood was all about and wished we were smarter about some things. Yet we have grown throughout our marriage and the Lord has blessed us in many ways. Happy Anniversary, Dan! I love you.

I have a ton of peaches in my freezer from last summer. I peeled and sliced them, added sugar and cinnamon and then froze them. All I had to do today is pull them out of the freezer, thaw and add flour. However, I will give you the filling recipe first. Filling 5 cups sliced fresh peaches 3/4 cup sugar 3 Tbsp. flour 1/4 tsp. nutmeg or cinnamon dash of salt Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Mine look a bit soupy because they were frozen. The flour takes care of this problem. Pie Crust 2 1/3 cups flour 1 tsp. salt 1 Tbsp. butter 2/3 cup of shortening (I used Canoleo margarine) 5-7 Tbsp. ice water The first thing I do is put 5-6 ice cubes in a bowl of water so that it's very cold when I'm ready for it. Put the flour, salt and sugar in a bowl. Cut in the shortening, butter or margarine. Add the water, 2 Tbsp. at a time and mix with a fork until the dough begins to stick together and form a ball. It always takes me about 6 Tbsp. of water. At this point, I form two equal size ...

Mondays are just such blah days around here. I think a lot of it is just from the extreme busyness of the weekend. Because Dan is a pastor, our weekends are nuts. The entire day on Saturday is taken up with worship practice, bulletins, men's breakfasts, ladies luncheons, and things like that. Then of course there is Sunday. Sunday is NOT a day of rest for the pastor and his family. We are normally going from early in the morning to late at night. Last night, we had our small group meeting here and one couple stayed until 9:45. I'm not complaining because we loved having them but I wanted to give you an example of what I mean. Then there is Monday. It's like we've had major activity and then everything comes to a screeching halt. In order to keep our sanity, everyone tends to move slower here. On Mondays..... I let the children sleep in a bit. School is on the lighter side. I tend to do easier meals like leftovers. I may read or sew or crochet in the afternoons ...

Today is my weigh in day for Weight Watchers. I had a pretty good week though I didn't get in as much exercise as I should. It was such a busy, rainy week. I'll have to be more diligent. I got on the scale this morning and lost 2 lbs. for a grand total of....... 10 lbs.! That's not too bad for only 3 weeks. I feel like I still have so far to go but I'm happy with what I've done to date. I'll keep you posted next Sunday.

Warning: Snake pictures ahead. We have so many different kinds of snakes around here. Most of them are non-poisonous though they look pretty scary. My children spend most of their days hunting around the property trying to find them. Today they were rewarded with this beauty. It is a black, rat snake. I'm actually glad we have these around because we also have mice and at times, rats. All three of them know exactly what to do to get a snake calm. It's amazing to watch them take a snake that is afraid and defensive and within minutes get it to calm down so they can hold it and carry it around. I know.....shudder! Aren't you glad you came over here to see my lovely pictures today? LOL!

The children noticed a nest up near the eves of our house one day. It was sitting atop the box where the telephone wires come into the house. Everytime they would go anywhere near, the mama and papa birds would swoop at them. This was about a month ago. We could never see the babies because the nest was so high up. Well, yesterday Nathan told me that he could see them. Obviously, they have grown because they were packed in there like sardines. They are looking quite pudgy. Mama bird looking on to make sure we don't mess with her chicks. They must of been getting ready to leave the nest. I was sitting at the kitchen table that evening when all of the sudden this little bird appeared at the window sill. He hopped around a bit and seemed a bit confused and then fluttered off. I'm thinking it was one of the babies flying about. Yesterday, when we looked, the nest was empty. So we caught them just before they left home to start lives of their own. :-)

Every Friday, Shereen at Waiting for Him hosts Sew Crafty Friday. You can check out the other crafts over there. I was away all last week and this week has been very busy. The only thing I've really had time for was making some notecards. This time I experimented with using a stencil brush and ink to color some of the cards. I wasn't really thrilled with them but they turned out okay. Close-ups

This is one of my favorite soups. I usually make it on the stovetop but decided to make it in the crockpot today. First, boil 1 whole chicken, cut up. Then prep. the following vegetables. 1 onion, sliced 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 green pepper, diced. Saute in a skillet with 4 Tbsp. olive oil. Blend in 2 Tbsp. flour. Cook and stir over low heat until the vegetables are tender. Meanwhile, I cut up 2 cups of okra. You can used frozen okra to save a step. I placed the following in the crockpot. Cooked vegetables Okra 2 (14 oz.) cans of diced tomatoes 1 (6 oz.) can tomato paste 3 cups of broth (I used the broth from the cooked chicken) Next get your spices out and add it to the soup mix. 1 1/2 T. salt 1/4 t. pepper 1 1/2 T. Worcestershire Sauce 1/8 t. ground cloves 1/2 t. chili powder pinch dried basil 1 bay leaf 1/3 cup fresh parsley, chopped Shred or dice the cooked chicken and add to the gumbo. Cook on low for 6 hours. Serve over rice if desired. This thickens as it cooks. Enjoy!

I lift up my eyes to the hills - where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip - he who watches over you will not slumber; Indeed, He who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord watches over you - the Lord is your shade at your right hand; The sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all harm - He will watch over your life; The Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.