Hearts in Service

Dan & I have been married for 22 years and one of the things I've grown in through the years is viewing myself as his helpmeet. I'm afraid that the beginning of our marriage wasn't always the best Biblical example of a husband and wife relationship. In other words, I ran the show! I am a take charge type person and Dan has a very laid back personality. That didn't always make for the best marital relationship. Twenty-two years later, I'm still a take charge person and he is still laid back. The difference is that I've learned to reign it in and get his opinion and try to actually take it! He has learned to step up and lead. I still have a tendency to run the show, but I've gotten a whole lot better! Last week we ran into a mini-crisis. We found out that as of the end of December our financial situation will change substantially and Dan is going to need to find a part-time job because the church will not be able to pay him as a full-time pastor.

Our church sponsored a Summerfest today at the local park. It was so much fun and we had a wonderful turnout. We had a traveling musician/evangelist come and our worship band joined him. We had free food - hot dogs, salads, desserts, popcorn. There was face painting, crafts & games for the children. We also had a Chinese auction where people could bid on various prizes. The event was free, but we did accept donations and of course people who wanted to purchased tickets for the auction. The event was dual purposed. The first purpose is that all the proceeds are going towards our missions trip in October to help build a girl's orphanage in Chile. This is for teen girls who have aged out of the regular orphanage. The second purpose was just to reach out to our community. It gave people a chance to hear the Gospel in song. We ended up raising $700 for the orphanage and had a wonderful time. Here are some pictures of the day. I'm tired, but it's a good tired!

Angels, in the Early Morning by Emily Dickinson Angels, in the early morning May be seen the Dews among, Stooping -- plucking -- smiling -- flying -- Do the Buds to them belong? Angels, when the sun is hottest May be seen the sands among, Stooping -- plucking -- sighing -- flying -- Parched the flowers they bear along.

Psalm 134 ~ 1 Praise the LORD, all you servants of the LORD who minister by night in the house of the LORD. 2 Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and praise the LORD. 3 May the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth, bless you from Zion. I've had a stressful, down day today and thought it would be better if I focus on the blessings that the Lord has given to me this week. So here goes. ♫ A bountiful harvest. ♫ Having my children work alongside us on projects. ♫ A fun time of fellowship with our church family. ♫ A wonderful service on Sunday that the girls from 3D Girls led.

Our summer has been spent working on a major project. We moved to this home two years ago and it has been such a blessing not only to us as a family, but to our church. We have a generous landlord and he allowed us to use the building next door to our house as well for 3D Girls. He also paid for the supplies and labor for us to fix it up. Remember this room? Two years ago, it started out looking like this. This was the finished result. Well, there is more to the building that I never showed you. There is a kitchen, as well as an entry way and office that had old, stained wallpaper. This summer we decided to tackle the entryway and office. Here are some pictures of the work in progress. It is a huge job. First, we tore off the old wallpaper, then had to roll on vinegar water to loosen the glue and paper that wouldn't come off. Next, it was time to scrape everything off. Then we painted the walls with primer, then painted the ceiling. We then put two coats o

Our denomination is broken up into different districts and our district superintendent has the most AWESOME wife ever! Elaine Miller has been an encouragement to me as a pastor's wife in this district and has prayed for our family on many occasions. She is definitely a woman after God's heart. She has written two books: S.O.S. (Splashes of Serenity): Bathtime Reflections for Drained Wives , written by Elaine W. Miller, was released in October 2006, by Green Key Books. This book offers refreshment to wives with 30 five-minute vignettes and S.O.S. prayers to encourage them to give their vows, for better or for worse, another look when they feel like throwing in the towel. and…. S.O.S. (Splashes of Serenity): Bathtime Reflections for Drained Moms , written by Elaine W. Miller, was released in April 2005, by Green Key Books. In these 30 five-minute meditations, Miller restores sanity with Scripture and shares poignant, often amusing vignettes to encourage mothers along their

We had a church barbecue here yesterday and it was so much fun. Good friends, good food, great fellowship. What more can you ask for? We ate, had music, played football, croquet, and badminton. I had a wonderful time, but I'm tired today! :-)

Laughter .. tears .. memories .. fun These are the words that describe the past four days. We spent the weekend celebrating my mother and father-in-law's 50th wedding anniversary. They have a wonderful legacy - four children and ten grandchildren. All four children have been married for years. All three sons are wonderful husbands and fathers and their daughter a wonderful wife and mother. We started out the day on Friday at Lake Erie taking family photos. Part of our gift to them was hiring a photographer to do this. This was the first time that all four children and their families have been together in years. Once the photos were done we spent the day at a local amusement and water park. They rented a pavillion and we brought lunch and dinner and enjoyed the day together. The children took off in different directions and we hardly saw them, except for meals. It was wonderful how they haven't seen each other in months and yet, pick right up where they left off and

I love the Urban Homestead blog and if you've never looked at their blog, you really should check it out. It's amazing to me how much produce is grown in the middle of a city on less than 1/2 acre lot. They are having a challenge to keep track of how much produce you have harvested and stored away. I thought I would participate in this one since it would be interesting to figure out what I actually am getting out of my garden. I know that I need to find a way to be more efficient with my use of space because it seems to me that I have a lot of garden space and not much to show for it! I improve a bit each year and I'm hoping that eventually I will get much better. Here is what I've put up so far this year: 8 1/2 pints of spiced plum jam 12 pints of bread and butter pickles 9 quarts of dill pickles 10 lbs. of dehydrated summer squash 1 lb. of dehydrated green beans (we've eaten the rest as they ripen) 7 pints of sauerkraut 8 quarts of tomato sauce 16 cups of f

Saturday dawned sunny, warm and very low humidity. In fact, it was a great day for a parade! This was the longest parade that Nathan marched in and it was up a hill so he was tired at the end of the day. However, for those of us on the side lines it was very enjoyable. Emily entertained herself while waiting for the parade to start by playing Sudoku. There were 35 fire departments marching, as well as various bands and dignitaries. Nathan's department was near the end of the parade. Here comes our town's drum and bugle corp. Finally, Nathan's department came by. He's the skinny one in the second row. ;-) This was a competition and our fire department came in second overall. I think that's pretty good out of 35 departments.

I've spent quite a few hours canning this summer and of course, have had hours to think. I realized that there are quite a few life lessons that can be taken from canning. ♥ Anything worth doing well takes time. How often do we want to rush through things in our lives? We want instant results. We want it now and have a hard time waiting. Canning takes tons of patience and time. Yet, in the cold winter we always appreciate the fruit of our labor. God's word tells us, "Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD." It's not easy to wait, yet when we wait on God and listen to what He wants for our lives, it's always good! ♥ Canning is messy. I have never been able to can without causing some mess. I had to laugh the other day because I was pressing tomatoes through my tomato press and at the very first squeeze of the tomatoes, juice went flying into my face and all over the table and floor. There are always drips and spills. I o

Here are my two handsome men. One is off to officiate at a funeral and the other is off to march in a parade.

Emily has a birthday party she is going to this week and we decided to make her friend a tote bag and then fill it with some craft supplies. It took her maybe 45 minutes to complete. If I was doing it by myself, I could whip it up in 30 minutes or less so it's a fun little project. Here is the finished project. Opened. Closed. She was really proud of herself and she did a wonderful job!

I have an abundance of cabbage this year, so decided to try my hand at making sauerkraut. I've seen recipes online that say after it ferments you can pack it in jars as is without sealing. However, I'm not a big fan of botulism! ;-) I have recently come across a recipe that does have you process and can the kraut once it's fermented so I decided to give it a try. The recipe I have calls for a head of cabbage for each quart. You shred each head of cabbage into dime thin pieces. Sprinkle 4 tsp. of salt over each head and mix well. Then put it into a large crock or glass jar. ... I used a big cookie jar and press down with a wooden spoon until juice forms and covers the cabbage. This takes awhile (probably 20-30 minutes). Screw the lid on loosely and let sit 7-10 days. I checked it every day and pressed the cabbage down once a day to make sure the juice stayed above the cabbage. After 7-10 days the brine level drops suddenly, indicating that the kraut is done. Pack tightly i

It is my mother's birthday tomorrow and I made her a table runner. I had to wait to post it until I knew she got it. She let me know it arrived in the mail yesterday. I love the colors in this. Here is a close-up. I love making the table runners because they are relatively quick to make. I've been trying to use up my stash so sometimes it's a challenge to find colors that go together well, but I think these complimented each other. What have you been crafting lately?

Dan & I have been here for the past 7 1/2 years and we have always felt that our church should make an impact on our community. We truly believe that if a church is not making a difference in the community in which it resides than it is ineffective. So over the years our church has done various projects. We provided community wide events for children and families. We have put together food baskets at Thanksgiving and Christmas. We helped renovate a single mom's trailer that was falling down around her ears. We have provided clothing to those in need. If we can be the hands and feet of Jesus to people in need than we believe that will turn them towards Him. Personally, my latest attempt at reaching out includes making cookies each Monday night for the local fire department. Nathan has a meeting every Monday night so I have been sending him off with cookies and our appreciation for what these men do for our community. We are also planning a dinner for the fire department

I must make fresh tomato & basil pasta sauce at least twice a month during the summer when I have tomatoes & basil in abundance. I sprinkle lots of fresh romano cheese on top. A friend recently shared a variation of this with brie cheese added in and it got me thinking about ways to change it up a bit. So this morning I made the sauce, but this time added chunks of feta cheese. Let's just say, "YUMMY!"