FOR TODAY, Monday, December 22, 2008...

Outside my window... the Sun is shining brightly and the wind is blowing mightily – I bet there’ll be lots of sticks to pick up later.

I am thinking... how blessed I am to be able to be at home to make things warm and welcoming for my family.

I am thankful for... so many things! For this time of year that makes us stop and reflect on the best & most beautiful gift of all, our Lord Christ.

From the learning rooms... just every day things, good music (really listening to Handel’s Messiah), discussing what we are reading, reflecting on our Advent Devotions and praying for those God has given us to pray for. Oh, and 20 minutes a day spent on handwriting practice! ;^)

From the kitchen... some gifts- Apricot-Pineapple Jam & cheesecakes, and a headstart on Christmas Eve dinner – Onion- Mustard rolls & King’s Hawaiian Bread.

I am wearing... Blue jeans, a favorite t-shirt (with burgundy flowers) and my old khaki sweater…my ancient black slides on my feet.

I am creating... a few sewing projects for Christmas gifts, can’t tell though!
I am going... to have to venture out eventually for just a couple of more things and a few groceries.

I am reading... the delightful “Anne & Frederick What-If” entitled “The Little Particulars of the Circumstance” by Susan Kaye over at her blog, what fun!

I am hoping... that Conrad will be home soon, he went in to work last night.

I am hearing... Shayna practicing her piano “Give me that old-time religion” and several carols.

Around the house... People doing chores upstairs, the smell of apricots, laundry waiting to be started and little snippets of felt all over the couch from late night ornament projects.

One of my favorite things... early morning with a hot cup of coffee and blessed quiet so that I can think!

A few plans for the rest of the week: Early this week, a mad scramble to get things finished. (I had the flu and some other things that took my attention and made it impossible to stay on schedule last week!) Our son, Gaelan and his Emily Dearest will come for Christmas Eve dinner, Advent devotions and gift giving, then we will head on over to sister Kathryn’s after begniets in the morning to hang out all day, playing games and just enjoying each other’s company.

Here is picture thought I am sharing...
I would like to put up a Christmas tree picture, but am not the camera person in our house…so I will just put up the family picture from the wedding.

Read other Daybook's at SimpleWoman's Daybook site.

Still getting ready.

Brrr! It's chilly outside. Gaelan has just left to go to try-outs for Tactics Team. He doesn't think he'll make it this time. He's had far more important things to do than work out lately. He says he just wants to do a respectable job at it. So, ya'll can pray however the Lord leads there.

We have less than 10 days to go before the wedding. Yesterday I spent about 4 hours shopping with my kind and patient youngest son looking for the shoes and jewelry to go with what I'm wearing for the wedding. So, now THAT'S done!

I have decided (after discussing it with a fellow baker) to not freeze the cakes ahead, but to work on them just a couple of days before the wedding. So, this is how my schedule looks.

This week:
Thursday-Saturday - a thorough cleaning of the much neglected house and yard.

Sunday is our day of rest (thank you Lord!) We are planning to picnic at the York River after church.

Monday I'm taking down Shayna's hair and grocery shopping for fresh ingredients.

Tuesday Shayna's hair gets deep conditioned and I prepare to bake.

Wednesday I will begin to bake, crumb coat, wrap & chill cakes. I will also thaw the chicken breasts for one of the main dishes at the party.

Thursday I will begin to thaw the food for the rehearsal dinner, brine the chicken breasts, finish baking any cakes not baked and make the filling for the cake. I will also make the buttercream for the cakes.

Friday is the day before the wedding and the rehearsal dinner. I will ice & stack the cakes and transport them to the walk-in cooler at the reception hall. Then will get started heating up and cooking for the rehearsal dinner.

Rehearsal is at 4:30, so I'll get ushered down the aisle and then leave for where the dinner is at in order to be ready for dinner at 6:15.

Then, I should be free on Saturday to get my nails done before the wedding? Maybe, maybe not!

I'm not sure when Shayna's hair is going to get done at that time. A friend has offered to do it for me, I am going to take her up on it. Perhaps Thurs or Fri.

No matter how I figure it, Thursday and Friday will be very busy days. Pray for us all as the wedding approaches.

Thanks!

Here it is Wednesday

… and not unexpectedly I am not very far in my To Do List.

I have a lot of shopping and even price comparing to do, today.
I have two pans of Cornbread & Andouille Dressing (Stuffing) made and need to make four more. (Then freeze them.) Plan to do that today as well.
Then I have the Shrimp Etouffee to make. Thursday & Friday, I’m thinking.
Then I need to start making the cakes. (Next week)

The way my day goes is morning Quiet Times, breakfast, a little blogging for my sanity then housework until Lunch.

Then I get to work on Wedding stuff. Yesterday I started before lunch and today, the housework is going to be all up to the kiddos.

Gaelan’s To Do list is getting shorter, though and that’s a good thing.
Rings bought, vows written, apartment secured, insurance taken care of, tux measured, honeymoon arranged…. He just a few more very important things to do, such as get the license!

We were all happy to hear that he got his own squad car last night, very exciting!

I have heard from Conrad only a little, while at Presbytery/General Assembly. He says that they are very busy with Presbytery until lunch, then General Assembly after until dinner and then worship in the evening and starting all over again the next day. He sounds tired.

Tonight my sister and Heather have invited us over to their house (the Dornan’s are living with Kath, right now, as well as another family!) for dinner, tonight. I volunteered a vegetable and Cake! What else? I’m making a batch of the recipe I’m planning to use for the groom’s cake along with the same filling and icing. Nothing like getting as much practice as possible!

I guess that is all for now. Keep us in your prayers.

Margaret

27 days and counting!

Today, I hope to get most of my To Do list done in the morning so that I can go to the Fall Folk Arts festival in Newport News Park this afternoon when Conrad gets home from work.

The weather here is beautiful! Cool and sunshiny. When it is chilly enough in the house that I need to put on a sweater, it makes me want to bake! I am looking forward to having a couple of young ladies over to my house in November to make streudels. I usually make them for Reformation Day, but won't this year!

I have a couple of items off of yesterday's to do list that still need doing:
Bake that cake!
Make Slaw for tomorrow's lunch
And the house can still use some more straightening.

Here is today's list.
Have Steven & Isaac bleach the front of the house
Yardwork (lots of sticks to pick up and more cutting back of the shrubbery)
Bedrooms cleaned
Make BBQ pork for Sunday's lunch
Clean my library
Catalog a couple of items for the church library
Make a grocery list for the remaining items for the wedding weekend.
Normal Sunday prep things such as find your clothes and makesure there's food ready.
GO TO THE FESTIVAL! Do you think I'll make it?

We are all looking forward to the church campout, it is one of my most favorite events of the year. I'm reserving all of next week for that, sort of taking a week off of wedding preperation.

Well, Gaelan should be home soon from work (8:30ish). It is hard (and exciting) to think that it won't be me keeping that vigil much longer. I'm going to go get some chicory coffee and make sure that my late risers are out of bed...no one wants to get up when the windows have been open all night and it's chilly! I'm going to listen to the messages that my pastor has already preached in this current sermon series while I'm baking and cleaning today. Here's a link!

God bless your Sunday preperations and worship!

Wedding Happenings

Greetings everyone!
I thought that I would use my blog during this busy month to help myself gather my thoughts and keep track of my growing “To Do” list.

Here is what the month looks like:

Next weekend (9-12) is the church camp-out. Our family is in charge of that, but many people have volunteered and all that we really have to do is coordinate the weekend and plan our own family’s camping meals & packing.

The following week is Presbytery, Conrad and our pastor will be in Texas for the entire week. I’m sorry that I will miss it this year, but even without the wedding coming, a whole week away is crazy!

Emily’s shower is on the 21st and the Crisis Pregnancy Center’s annual benefit banquet is on the 23rd. Conrad is the chairman of the board, and so has to be there, but I haven’t decided if I will. Our friend RC is going to be speaking, and going right back home again, so I would like to go, if I’m not too crazy by then.

The 31st is the rehearsal and post rehearsal dinner. This will be the first Reformation day that we haven’t celebrated in many years, it will feel weird. I think perhaps we should at least sing “A Mighty Fortress” at the end of the dinner. What do you think?

I’m cooking the meal. It looks like we are going to have close to a hundred guests. I’m only a little nervous about how the food will turn out and having the right quantities. I’m mostly excited. I’ll be doing what I love for people I love.

The first of November, All Saint’s Day is Gaelan & Emily’s wedding. It is going to be huge, we have more than 500 people invited and only a few “regrets” have been received. Emily’s folks have engaged an amazing band and we plan to contra-dance the afternoon away! I’m baking two large cakes, the wedding cake and the groom’s cake as well as other single tier cakes to serve all of those guests.

Things accomplished:
Wedding cake flavors and décor decided on.
Guest list for the rehearsal dinner finished.
Menu for the rehearsal dinner and contract for room rental taken care of.
Dress purchased (still have to find shoes and jewelry).
Desserts for rehearsal dinner made (I chose many dishes that make ahead and freeze beautifully since I will be concentrating on decorating a wedding cake.)
Out-of-town relatives notified of hotel arrangements and invited to rehearsal dinner.

Today’s To Do List:
·Make the Red Beans for the rehearsal dinner in the roaster and freeze.
·Decide on exact amounts for the main dishes and check for ingredients still needed.
·Work on seating assignments and continue to brain storm about a low-key activity for during the dinner to help family members get acquainted. Any ideas?
·Make slaw for Sunday’s dinner (this is so that I can spend some of Saturday at the folk arts festival in our town.)
·Downstairs straightened. This gets delegated for the most part to the kids.
·Some errands, Michael’s and Ulta and a friend’s house to pick up some vegetables that she is chopping for me.
·Bake what I hope is the last cake to decide on what recipe I’m using for the groom’s cake.
·Work on the gift I’m making for Emily for her shower.
·Supper Bubble & Squeak

Today, I’m thankful for: Our Heavenly Father’s care. I don’t know how anyone can marry off a kid, or send them off to start their life without being able to trust to God for their life. And for His care in my very breathing out & breathing in not to mention all of the unimportant details such as getting ready for a wedding.

In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.
Proverbs 16:9

'For in him we live and move and have our being.' Acts 17:28a

Busy, Busy, Busy!

What is it about summer months that make everyday life so busy? We planned to continue school as we always do right on through the summer but the last couple of weeks have been crazy and we are doing well if we get the basic seat work in!

The big news is that our oldest son has gotten engaged to the most lovely young lady. We are all very excited and are working on making a wedding happen the last weekend in October.
I have been putting off posting because I wanted to write something brilliant about courtship and about young ladies who are dedicating their lives to serving others...what a blessing they are. But I'm so busy that words fail me.

Meanwhile, let me just say that it is an amazing blessing to have the two of them continue to seek counsel from their parents and to ask us to do a study on marriage with them! I'm amazed at God's goodness to us, when we have so often been so unfaithful!
The Garden from Doug Wilson's book Her Hand in Marriage

It's been an unusual Tuesday. Pastor Smith is still in town and gave the young people a talk on the Great Commission. It was very good and they all did a wonderful job sitting still and paying attention for the hour and a half talk. There were a few good questions and I think that Pastor Smith was pleased, I know we Moms were.

Tuesday is my paperwork day, but not much of that got done with a trip out in the middle of the day. We did finish school, including the things we skipped yesterday to get ready for company.

To get ready for Sunday: I plan my menu and dessert and check for ingredients. I also make sure that clothes are chosen and get cared for (washed, pressed, buttons sewed on, whatever).

Tonight's dinner is leftover sauerkraut...I'm feeling a little overdone and am glad that we have plenty leftovers in the fridge.

Saturday Dinners

It’s been a wonderful, though busy weekend!
I usually try to get all of my cooking for the weekend done on Saturday, but this week we decided to reinstate the tradition of a Lord’s Day Eve dinner.
This was a tradition that we really enjoyed while the kids were younger, but as we got busier with a church that eats together, well, I just wasn’t organized enough to do it all. Now that my sister and mother are living so close by, we really wanted to have that tradition together with them. There is also a really big benefit for us, besides the family memories and together time. This benefit is the main reason we wanted to try again:

Having a special Lord’s Day eve dinner makes us STOP! It forces me to look forward all week and prepare for the Lord’s Day, rather than doing everything on Saturday. Normally, at least lately, I work, work, work all day Saturday and go to bed exhausted, often waking up on Sunday to a house in which the normal housework has been neglected in order to accomplish all of the big tasks I tackled. By Sunday evening, the house is a huge wreck and not a haven at all!

When we are having our special Saturday dinner, there is a cut off time for me. There is a time that I want to have things looking nice by and dinner on the table by… There is a time that I SIT and ENJOY and REFLECT. Lately the reflecting has been as I hit the bed and it is usually full of regret and self-chastisement. I wake up feeling stressed and then when I’m sitting in the pew I have the same prayer of confession, “forgive me for being so hurried this morning, forgive me for not even thinking of my Lord, but of all of the tasks to be done.”

So here is how my Saturday went:
I already had the dinner I was bringing to church made and in the freezer (well not completely, but I’ll get to that!). We had Sauerkraut for dinner on Friday and I froze a portion for our congregational dinner on Sunday. I made a huge push to be caught up on laundry on Thursday and made sure that everyone knew what they were wearing to church.
On Saturday I arose about 7:00 and went to the commissary (I usually do this) in order to beat the crowds. I was home about 9:00 and we hurried to put the groceries away. We worked hard before lunch to get the house clean because Isaac had soccer practice at 12:30 and Steven was driving him to it.
We had lunch about 11:30 and Shayna and I worked on making our dinner, finishing up a couple of loads of laundry, and making the dining room especially nice while setting a nice table.
Dinner was at about 5:00. (I was ready by about 4:00) We had stuffed shells, salad, homemade applesauce, garlic bread and for dessert, brownies and ice cream.
We all worked on the dishes together and went to bed with just a few rinsed and stacked dishes that didn’t fit in the dishwasher to do in the morning.

If you have read, “Making Sunday Special” by Karen Mains you know that she has a whole Shabbat Erev liturgy. We did use to do something similar, and hope to again, but this past Saturday we kept it simple. The only “ceremonial” thing that we did is that while I lit the candles, Conrad prayed this prayer: “O God, the source of eternal light: Shed forth your unending day upon us who watch for you, that our lips may praise you, our lives may bless you, and our worship on the morrow give you glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Then we all closed our eyes and gave thanks for the meal.

After dinner, we prepared for worship by singing the songs from the bulletin and reading the passages. It was hard to guess what the guest preacher was going to preach on, we couldn’t imagine from the sermon title.

Here’s what I did wrong:
I was supposed to have the shells already made and in the freezer, so instead of my lesson planning, I made dinner.
I hadn’t really thought through what we were brining on Sunday, my main dish was done, but I ended up making my side dish on Sunday morning (leaving the pots and pans in the sink). I also had an extra meal to bring (leftovers from the campout that we froze) and hadn’t thawed them in time.
The other thing that I really hoped to do is have time for my own Bible study and reflection on Saturday afternoon. I had left too much of the meal to prepare right before, so robbed myself of that time.

On top of that, we have special company coming tonight for dinner. I don’t think that I’m able to think ahead to Monday very well, when my head is full of Saturday and Sunday. I think that next time we will wait to have weekday guests on Tuesday or Wednesday.

I’m hoping that our Saturday dinner will also help my sister get organized for the Lord’s Day better, too. I promised her that I would put reminders to do different things on here throughout the week to get ready. Perhaps it will help you too.

Today, for us, Monday, is just a recovery day. We are going to clean up the house from the weekend and plan our week. We usually plan our week on Sunday evening but we had a church officers’ families meeting with our special guest last night. It was great fun, but meant that we were home a whole 1 ½ hours yesterday.
We are going to be visiting a friend in the morning and finishing up our housework and schoolwork in the afternoon.

Dinner is going to be in the croc pot: Beef in Port with Mushrooms. We will make carrots and poppy seed noodles to go with as well as a salad.
Pastor Smith will be arriving about 5:30ish and we hope to eat around 6:00 followed by some family worship and good conversation and beer, I think.

I’m thankful for: Pastor Smith’s teaching on the Trinity and Prayer this past Lord’s Day, and the fellowship with the saints here that we enjoy.
I’m thankful for my home and that we are so rich that we can afford to take the time to enjoy our company and feed him well this evening, think about it!
I’m thankful for my late brother-in-law, my sister remembered him especially yesterday, on their 12th anniversary.

I’m praying: That I get everything done today! Lesson plans are done and I’m off to make a breakfast to bring for our visit with Mel this morning. And I’m trying to pray with the wonderful things in mind we were taught yesterday. That prayer is more of a blessing than we could ever imagine – that it brings us into communion with God.

God bless, y’all!

Our Second Annual Church Campout

We had a wonderful time at the Williamsburg Christian Retreat Center this past weekend. The weather was just beautiful and almost everything went off as planned, except that we had a late start and well...THE ACCIDENT!

We arrived on Friday afternoon to set up our tent. I looove camping because I like to play house. I love setting up my kitchen area, hanging my little laundry line and getting my stove set up. I like sweeping out my tent and making the beds. I like setting up the table and getting coffee right on incase anyone stops by...I love camping!

The first thing on the agenda was a campfire, with devotions, hotdogs and s'mores and ending with hayrides. The campfire didn't get started early enough, and neither did the hotdogs - note to self: when you put the cold hotdogs in the hot water, the water gets cold and has to heat up all over again! So we sang some songs while we waited for the hotdogs.
After hotdogs, we went down to the fire area and had s'mores. The hayrides were scheduled for a set time so they had already begun, so the devotion leader decided to put them off until the next night. Conrad brought glow-bracelets for all of the children which was very smart. We were able to see if any kids wandered off in the dark. We walked back to the campsites about 11:00.

On Saturday we awoke and had breakfast. We planned to share breakfast with the family at the neighboring campsite, so she brought sausage patties and I made begniets - yum!

At 10:00 there were events for the kids, the older ones had signed up to try a zip line in the woods as well as a tree climb...up 80 feet and ring the bell! The kids who were too little for those events had relay races organized by Steven and the wonderful K family. It was great fun watching the little ones and I think it went very well. Lunch was back at each campsite, we had sloppy joes, carrot sticks and chips.

The afternoon was reserved for free time, though there was a big flag football tournament planned. That's when IT happened.

One of the men playing crashed into another player and got a concussion. When he came to, he didn't remember any of us (only his wife and children) or where he was. AND scariest of all to us, he couldn't remember anything we told him. We spent a nerve-wracking several hours hearing him ask, "what happened?" every minute or so. He wasn't exhibiting any other signs, his eyes were doing what they are supposed to and he wasn't experiencing any pain so on the advice on the medical person present we watched and supported his wife. She was amazingly calm, though his teenage daughter was really shaken by listening to her dad ask the same questions over and over. The guys gathered around him a couple of times to lay hands and pray for him and each time he said, "What are they praying for me for?" Finally after a couple of hours he was taken to emergency room where they confirmed what our medical guy said. Nothing more than a concussion, it will mostly all come back to him in 24-48 hours.

Dinner was BBQ catered by Red, Hot & Blue. It was very good, but next time I will not order as much pulled chicken and will order more sausage. Volunteers brought delicious desserts.

After dinner and clean up we had our Psalm sing, and requests as well. For the hymns/psalms we were going to sing on the Lord's Day, we broke up into parts and learned to sing them "excellently".

Then the dance, and though I sat out ( I felt amazingly well all weekend, but I wasn't going to push it), it was so fun to watch. There was the Virginia Reel of course, and several mixer dances that were so much fun to watch. I especially liked the Scottish Polka. The young men practiced asking the young ladies' fathers if they could dance with their daughters, which was fun. We got the call that Mr. S was coming back from the hospital and that he would be fine. It was cool to see our young people gather in a circle and pray with his daughters. We also heard at the same time that Ryan was home with his family, there was much thankful praying going on and some tears I saw (and shed) too!

Sunday dawned early...You know, when I heard the rooster crow early Saturday morning, I thought, "A rooster, how quaint!" On Sunday, when I was awakened two hours earlier than I planned it was more like, "KILL THE CHICKEN!" Breakfast was hashbrowns with onions and peppers fried with sausage and covered with scrambled eggs...kind of a macho omelet. We also made little apple pies in the pie iron, well, because we could.

We walked down to the pavilion for church and it was very nice to have church outside. The breeze was very nice, though the sun shone hot on one side of the pavilion. After worship we had lunch together. Half of the church had made chili, frozen it, and heated it in their crocpots at the campsites, the other half brought bread and dessert. We also had leftovers from the night before and salad. It was neat to see the variety of chilis there, I brought white chili, it was good, I think.

After cleanup we stayed as late as we could and headed home about 4:30.

About Mr. S...boy do we have stories to tell on him! Apparently on the way to the hospital he was very loopy as well as the rest of that first night. Once when he asked for the millionth time what happened his wife said, "You jumped out of an airplane and the chute didn't open." He said, "Really!?" and she said, "No, not really." Of course, a minute later, he said, "What happened?" She had a lot of patience with him, especially when on the way to the hospital he kept repeating, "I don't recognize anything around here, you're lost, pull over so I can drive." She would just say, "You've had a head injury, you don't remember anything, be quiet." And then he would say it all again. Wouldn't that drive you crazy?



We are glad that by Sunday he recognized us and though he didn't remember the actual accident, remembered that he had indeed had one and what had happened. Today his wife reports that he is beginning to remember everything, including what he was told in answer to his many questions. We sure love the S family and are glad for their contribution to the entertainment at the annual campout.

Last year when it was so cold, we were going to name it the Annual Insanity Campout. I think that the name still fits, don't you?

I hope to get some pictures up, perhaps dear Jon K will shoot some our way...I never remember to take pictures. Doh!
*Edit* There are pictures over at my Xanga...I'm too lazy to load them on here, too.

Ryan has returned home, Praise God!

Please continue to lift his family up in prayer.

We are just now returned from our church's annual campout. God has been kind and merciful to us, his people, this weekend. I can't wait to tell ya'll about our adventures, one of them I hope never to experience again!

All of the Windows are Open!

I love, love this time of year! It gives me so much energy!

I have had two good days in a row, and today looks pretty good as well. I try and try to not let my circumstances rule my attitude, but when I get an encouragement like this, I realize how much I failed when discouraged.
Heavenly Father, please help me to be more faithful to you when discouraged and to show that I trust in you. Give me a sweetness of disposition in trial that your own son demonstrated at the cross. Help me to continue to strive to be more like Jesus. Amen!

Yesterday the kids got right down to chores and schoolwork because I had promised to take Shayna out to shop for dress shoes and for Isaac to be able to hang out with Steven in the afternoon if they were done. On Mondays, they have tons of reading assignments and they did really well with not daydreaming and getting side tracked.

Shayna and I found some cute Mary Janes at Kohl's...I'm so glad that they are in style right now for women- her feet are growing so much! Then we spent about an hour and a half in the thrift store and as is often the case, God went before me there. As I often do, I waited to go until we were desperate for clothes for Shayna, I hate breaking up the routine at home to go out! So, we finally went to the thrift store, praying for atleast a black skirt and a couple more pairs of shoes as all of hers are too small. We found 5 skirts, 7 tops and two pairs of name brand, new, shoes. For holiday presents, I found 5 sets of Little Bear Wheeler's Historical Devotional tapes and a G.A.Henty book on tape! I kept thinking about the homeschooler who must have dejunked and gotten rid of things her boys have outgrown... (well, that's my scenario!). So, the trip was a success and we left just as I was feeling I really had to go home.

Conrad took us all out to dinner at Chili's to celebrate his and Gaelan's birthday, as well as Isaac's placement day. They all fall within nine days of each other. It was nice, it has been a very long time since we went to a restaurant, since my birthday in February. We all said that we were glad that it occurs so seldom because it was such a treat!

Today is another school and chores day, as well as LAUNDRY!! Yes, we attack Mt. Never-Rest today! Tomorrow I go to see the Dr. for my final exam. Please pray that I get the all clear to get back to normal life and that my iron levels are back to normal.

What's for dinner?: chilly day soup, buttermilk (keifer) cheesebread and salad. (Conrad won't be home for supper as he is working late and then going right on to the Crisis Pregnancy Center board meeting.) Isaac also has soccer practice soon after dinner.

Things I'm thankful for: All of the new families at church. We have outgrown the building we are renting, but it is such a joy to meet so many new families! For this wonderful weather. For God's faithful provision in meeting our every need.

Things we are looking forward to: The church campout! Woohoo! Our Reformation Celebration. My favorite holiday, Thanksgiving.

Praying for my family: Getting back to the routine of this...Just going to pray Psalm 15 for everyone!
Concentrating in prayer today for: Micah and his family as well as the Murnion family.

We are using Tapestry of Grace this year and we are in week two. We are studying Exodus.
Have a blessed day, everyone!