This week our family celebrated two birthdays. Jay turned 50 and our youngest son, Jason aka Digger, turned 26. I started a post on Wednesday for Jay and then saw what a great job Betz did so I caved -- my week was full of tax forms and such and it was way too easy then to let Betz 'do her thing'.
She's done a wonderful job so I'll piggy back on her posts for this week of birthdays. Thanks, Betz!
http://www.meandhimandthetumbleweeds.blogspot.com/
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Friday, January 22, 2010
From generation to generation
My grandchildren are experiencing something I was unable to experience - great grandparents. There is just something that tugs in the correct places of my heart to witness the interactions between these two generations.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Papa Smurf
One of Papa Smurf's Christmas presents from Betz was a little smurf.
His favorite gift though was one he bought for himself - Toby.
His favorite gift though was one he bought for himself - Toby.
aka Toblerone
aka Tobe-meister
aka Tobe-ster.
I think I'll let Jay get his own gifts from now on - he doesn't do too bad for himself.
Monday, January 18, 2010
You are not a failure! Get up and go!
Another keeper from my files. This one is from Sumner Wemp. Our son Mike had him as a proffesor at Word of Life and I read many of his writings for a time.
A well-known speaker started off his seminar by holding up a $20 bill. In the room of 200, he asked, "Who would like this $20 bill?" Hands started going up.
He said, "I am going to give this to one of you, but first, let me do this/" He proceeded to crumple the bill up.
He then asked, "Who still wants it?" Still the hands were up in the air.
"Well," he replied, "What if I do this?" He dropped it on the ground, and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe. He picked it up, crumpled and dirty. "Now, who still wants it?: Still hands went into the air.
My friends, you all have learned a very valuable lesson. No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it, because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth 20 dollars.
Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and circumstances that come our way. We feel that we are worthless, but, no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value, dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased, you are still priceless to God and those who love you.
The worth of our lives comes not in what we do, or whom we know, but by who we are. You are special, don't ever forget it.
Remember, Moses lost his temper, killed a man, was chosen by God to lead Israel out fo bondage. King David, played the fool with another man's wife, killed him, yet was "a man after God's own heart" and wrote so many Psalms. Peter, James and John failed the Lord, fell asleep while He went through the agony of prayer in Gethsemane, yet they all were used of God to write part of the Bible. Peter denied the Lord, yet was used of God to preach on the day of Pentecost when 3000 were saved.
You will never know all the lives you will touch, the hurting hearts you speak to, or the hope you can bring.
Father, bless this one in a special way today and let them know they are special. In Jesus name. He really loves you and so do I, all because of Calvary, Sumner.
--Sumner Wemp http://www.sumnerwemp.com/
He said, "I am going to give this to one of you, but first, let me do this/" He proceeded to crumple the bill up.
He then asked, "Who still wants it?" Still the hands were up in the air.
"Well," he replied, "What if I do this?" He dropped it on the ground, and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe. He picked it up, crumpled and dirty. "Now, who still wants it?: Still hands went into the air.
My friends, you all have learned a very valuable lesson. No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it, because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth 20 dollars.
Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and circumstances that come our way. We feel that we are worthless, but, no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value, dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased, you are still priceless to God and those who love you.
The worth of our lives comes not in what we do, or whom we know, but by who we are. You are special, don't ever forget it.
Remember, Moses lost his temper, killed a man, was chosen by God to lead Israel out fo bondage. King David, played the fool with another man's wife, killed him, yet was "a man after God's own heart" and wrote so many Psalms. Peter, James and John failed the Lord, fell asleep while He went through the agony of prayer in Gethsemane, yet they all were used of God to write part of the Bible. Peter denied the Lord, yet was used of God to preach on the day of Pentecost when 3000 were saved.
You will never know all the lives you will touch, the hurting hearts you speak to, or the hope you can bring.
Father, bless this one in a special way today and let them know they are special. In Jesus name. He really loves you and so do I, all because of Calvary, Sumner.
--Sumner Wemp http://www.sumnerwemp.com/
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Haiti
I've started sentences to begin this blog, erased them, wrote more, erased again......... Bottom line is I feel quite helpless to know what to do or how to do it so I pray - pray for those I know through familytree lines who are missionaries there, pray for those I hear about through various avenues, pray for those I know are planning to leave and DO something -- pray, pray, pray. And then I pray for those who are lost and need to be found -both physically and spiritually.
I'm an information junky of sorts and these are some of the places online I've visited in the past few days.
www.jarodandjennifer.com/blog I don't know these folks personally. Connection through a connection through a connection,etc.... Jarod Ebenhack is a missionary working with Kids Alive International in Cap Haitien, Haiti.
http://www.highwaytohaiti.com/ connection through above blog. Matt & Pam McCormick are involved in discipleship and sustainable development in northern Haiti.
www.mcc.org/stories/podcasts/world-shaken I listened to this heart wrenching first hand account this morning by Ben & Alexis Depp.
www.worldteam.org/updates
Pictures speak volumes. http://www.foxnews.com/ daily updates their pictures. Some are extremely difficult to look at. They put reality in more perspective then I can handle sometimes but they always drive me to prayer.
So today as I go through my day of cleaning my home -- that is still standing with a fridge full of more food then I need, where water runs clear and free when I turn the faucet, where the heat is comfortably controlled, where my petty grumblings about difficulties are silenced as -- I pray for those who are in such great need.
I'm an information junky of sorts and these are some of the places online I've visited in the past few days.
www.jarodandjennifer.com/blog I don't know these folks personally. Connection through a connection through a connection,etc.... Jarod Ebenhack is a missionary working with Kids Alive International in Cap Haitien, Haiti.
http://www.highwaytohaiti.com/ connection through above blog. Matt & Pam McCormick are involved in discipleship and sustainable development in northern Haiti.
www.mcc.org/stories/podcasts/world-shaken I listened to this heart wrenching first hand account this morning by Ben & Alexis Depp.
www.worldteam.org/updates
Pictures speak volumes. http://www.foxnews.com/ daily updates their pictures. Some are extremely difficult to look at. They put reality in more perspective then I can handle sometimes but they always drive me to prayer.
So today as I go through my day of cleaning my home -- that is still standing with a fridge full of more food then I need, where water runs clear and free when I turn the faucet, where the heat is comfortably controlled, where my petty grumblings about difficulties are silenced as -- I pray for those who are in such great need.
Friday, January 15, 2010
Christmas cooking
For our employee Christmas party this year we made an Amish wedding meal - at least some portions of it. Betz and I spent much time in my tiny little townhouse kitchen and dining room preparing everything.
We started with roasht - turkey and filling together. We cooked 4 turkeys in roaster pans,
cubed up 15 loaves of bread
that filled two lugs of fresh bread cubes.
We only used 2 heads of the giant cabbages that produced 20 lbs. of finished cole slaw.
I tried something new for this meal - crock pot mashed potatoes.. We wanted to have home made, real, mashed potatoes. We filled my large kettle (the one I use to make 4 gallon of meadow tea through the summer), mashed them,
and stirred in sour cream, lots of cheese, butter and milk.
We filled 4 crock pots with finished mashed potatoes and simply plugged in the crock pots the next morning. We didn't need to do anything further to prepare them and we had soft, fluffy, creamy mashed potatoes the next day for our meal. I'll be doing this from now on for our family dinners that require mashed potatoes - no more last minute mixing.
We added sweet potatoes, mixed vegetables and of course, lots of gravy plus large trays of Christmas cookies to the meal. Betz took all the pictures in this post - I'm just notcoordinated enough to pull off a Pioneer Woman stunt and get pictures of each and every step.
Betz and Mr. Studly were extremely helpful with this meal. I never could have pulled it off without their wonderful help - before, during and after with all the clean up.
We set a very simple table - much like I remember my extended family Christmas dinners that my amish grandmother set..
Jay wanted to have a sit-down meal this year. He wanted everyone to be served, everyone to be at one table. One table - one family. We have a great crew of 'family members'.
The business, family and 'family' started wih Jay's father (red hat).
Oh, we also had the amish 'center pieces'...... homegrown celery placed in glass containers down the center of the table. (glass and concrete floors make me nervous so we improvised with plastic.)
It was a fun filled day. Lots of people, lots of food,
and lots of fun.
And a few little people to round out the day..... and post.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
The team
Betz & Mr. Studly have the truck packed and will soon be on the road for their return trip to MT. It's been a wonderful month filled with lots of completed projects, holiday traditions, lots of family time. I'm not looking forward to the quiet, silent house again...... Betz has done a great job summurizing the month with a blog post at http://www.meandhimandthetumbleweeds.blogspot.com/.
There were plenty of pictures taken during the last month but finding time to blog was difficult. One of my most favorite days was the afternoon of New Years Eve. The business hours for that day were completed by 11:00 am. Then everyone pitched in to get the butcher shop all cleaned up and ready for a party. We weren't expecting some of the crew to hang around as long as they did in the afternoon but we played games, threw some snowballs and laughed and laughed. It was delightfully wonderful to enjoy being friends enjoying each others company instead of employer/employees.
There were plenty of pictures taken during the last month but finding time to blog was difficult. One of my most favorite days was the afternoon of New Years Eve. The business hours for that day were completed by 11:00 am. Then everyone pitched in to get the butcher shop all cleaned up and ready for a party. We weren't expecting some of the crew to hang around as long as they did in the afternoon but we played games, threw some snowballs and laughed and laughed. It was delightfully wonderful to enjoy being friends enjoying each others company instead of employer/employees.
This past year loomed long and dark for many. God's great mercy allowed us to remain busy through the whole year and even continue hiring new people to get the work done. We tried to find ways to express our thanks and gratitude to these folks for their hard work. It truly is a team effort and this past year could not have been acheived without them. We have a great crew - Go team!
Sunday, January 3, 2010
a snowy white critter
Looking out our back door today this was a new sight for us. The albino squirrel was first seen perched on the neighbors fence post. It spent the next hour running through the bushes and trees with it's 'normal' gray squirrel buddy before moving on down the neighborhood.
I'm sorry.... but minus that bushy tail it's a rat. I'm not so fond of these critters - especially when they decide to destroy and empty the birdfeeders. But this one was certainly interesting.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)