Moving and such

Finally decided on a title for my personal journal blog. I can come here and pour out my heart and share what's really going on in my heart and life with no worries of what people may think or say.

I am really getting excited about moving, and as I see our belongings being packed away and the wall of brown growing it is really starting to hit home how in just a few short days HOME will be in Henderson. Another wild adventure and experience with my sweet heart Jonathan. We are going to be pastoring again, what a privelege! This week I am choosing to focus on what we will be gaining and trying not to feel overwhelmed with the changes and busyness of everything. I believe we have been able to anyalize and determine what we need in order to thrive and succeed in our new home. By God's grace I pray it will be so. There is only so much you can know and plan, but we really did try to look at the area, and what we knew to make sure our family could flourish there.

Friday we will be going to Vaughn's doctors appointment with the developemental specialist, hopefully they will be able to tell us what exactly is going on with him. I really think it is Attention Deficit, he has a lot of troble focusing and paying attention. Although I do not like the idea of medication, I really think if there is a medicine that could help him in those areas we will at least look into it.

We are still a little undecided about whether or not to home school. I really want to, but I see benefits of public school as well. I do not want to shelter the children too much, nor do I want to not shelter them enough. you know what I mean? There is such a fine line, and our children are treasures from the Lord, and my number one goal is that they grow up to love God and serve Him with their whole hearts. To serve Him whole-heartedly, not half heartedly!

I have really been praying that God would increase my love for Jonathan and help me to not shut my emotions down. I have really FELT in love the past few days and have been really trying to connect and share with him. Physical contact and kissing really helps in this.

I am also trying to connect with each of the children daily, as I have seen in their behavior that they really need time and attention. Their world is being dismantled and torn apart. And while it may not be tumultuous, it can give them a sense of turmoil. God give us wisdom and grace and patience.

Packing... A Family Affair

Even with all the packing we are still having fun! One thing I have wanted to make sure is that we still spend time with the children even though we are super busy. I have been letting them help, and they have really helped! Karagen has written on the boxes, which helps her practice her writing skills, they have folded, wrapped, cut, taped and worked to fit things into boxes which helps them with problem solving and hand eye cordination. We have enjoyed our packing experience.

So farewell dear friends, we will be turning off the computer for the next few days and packing it away. I am not sure when we will be getting internet service in our new home, but you can be sure I will be back to blogging as soon as I can!

We are packing the truck Monday August 2, and then driving it to our new home on Tuesday August 3. We would appreciate your thoughts and prayers while we move and get settled!

Funny Friday

First of all there is a great give away over at Finding Joy, you can go HERE to check it out.

And second of all here is my Funny Friday Post. I am keeping it simple because I am so busy packing! We have set our move date for August 2. Only 1 full week left. Yikes! I hope you get this joke : )

My sister and I went for a ride, we saw this posted on a phone pole. We had a good chuckle from it!

Tiny Talk Tuesday

I absolutely love doing Tiny Talk Tuesday, and I know when my kids are grown I am going to read what they have said and chuckle. Tiny Talk Tuesday just warms my heart!

Here's some quotes from my Tiny Talkers (SMILE)

Karagen (she's 6) "Jachin is the best baby."
And since she knows I am writing down what she says: "Today is going to be a bootiful day, you have to say something nice to go in the notebook", Then when she thinks I am done writing the bossy sister returns: "Silas, drop the book!"

Vaughn (he's 5)
"The princess worked and worked, then she turned into a frog!"

Emmaus (she's 4)
She got stung by a bee last week, here is what she was telling me:
"Bees should only sting flowers!" "I stepped on a bee and the bee stinked me."

Silas (he's almost 3)
He was talking to Emmaus: "You're a bad dirl, I not a bad boy!"

Miscellany Monday

I need to be random today, umm, make that maybe for the next 3 weeks!
1. We are Moving!
We are going to the Henderson Maryland church to pastor. I am nervous, scared and still in a state of shock!

2. We have moved 8 times in 8 years.
Yes I am complaining, just a little ; )

3. I have a very messy house right now.
We currently live in a small double-wide trailer and it is now full of empty boxes waiting to be packed and some already packed. I have really streamlined our "stuff" while we have lived here, but when there is 7 of us in this small space...well you get the picture, but in case you don't here's an actual picture of some of my mess. *embarassed grin*

4. Everyone wants to see us now that we are moving. Not that is isn't nice to feel wanted, or whatever. But I have so much work to do!

5. I really need to go pack! Do I have to? (WHINE!!)

6. I have let my baby play with paper because he likes it and it keeps him happy.

This may make me a horrible mother, I will especially think so if he has paper in his poopy diaper.

I have to go clean, pack, take care of the children, nurse the baby, cook dinner...oh ya, you don't want my whole list do you?

If you would like you can click on the links below and join in the fun!

Have a great day everyone!

Ultimate Pancakes

Ok, ok, before you yell at me for just posting recipes let me share with you that I have been on the look out for several PERFECT recipes. I have been searching for the perfect from scratch brownie recipe, and for the perfect from scratch pancake recipe. I think I may have found the perfect from scratch pancake recipe. I would love for you ladies to try it out and tell me if you agree. I received this recipe from our hostess during our trial sermon trip last weekend. She made these Monday and they were...well PERFECT! I could tell they were different this morning while I was mixing them and pouring them onto the griddle.

Easy Sweet Milk Pancakes
1 tbs. sugar
2 tbs butter (melted)
1 egg
1 cup sweet milk (I used 1 cup milk with 1 Tbs. lemon juice and 1 Tbs. sugar, so I had sweet buttermilk, let sit for one minute)
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup flour
4 tsp. baking powder
Mix dry ingredients together. Beat egg and milk together. Add butter and other ingredients to your dry ingredients, and mix well. Cook in frying pan or griddle. These will be light and fluffy (I promise!)

*One trick I do is I pre-heat my griddle to 350, after pouring the batter on I raise it up to 400. As soon as they are done I turn the griddle back down to350 while I remove the pancakes and re-butter the griddle. I do not burn my pancakes this way.
*For those of you who like to use wheat flour, I doubled this recipe and used 1 cup white and 1 cup wheat.
* I doubled this recipe and got about 15 good sized pancakes from it.
*You can also substitute the butter for oil, or shortening, whatever you have on hand. If you do so you will lose some of the buttery flavor.

Granola Bars

Chocolate Chip and Roasted Almond Granola Bars Recipe from Candace Creations

1 cup peanut butter (I just guess..I probably do a bit more..so decide if you like your granola bars more moist and chewy or more dry and crumbly when adding PB)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup applesauce
1/2 cup Honey (or corn syrup if you don't have honey)
2 tsp vanilla
3 cups oats
1 cup cereal (honey nut cheerios, chex, honey bunches of oats, rice krispies...whatever you want)3/4 cup wheat germ (better to have, but sometimes I'll leave it out if I'm making them gluten free for my sister)
4 tbsp ground flax seed (optional)
3/4 cup toasted almonds (optional)
1 cup chocolate chips (optional)
Preheat oven to 350 and spray a 9x13 inch baking pan

(I line mine with foil because it's easier to take the bars out and cut them up.)Mix first 5 ingredients together. Then add the oats, wheat germ and ground flax (optional). Stir in chocolate chips, almonds and cereal.Spread mixture into baking pan and bake for 20 minutes. the let cool.
EASY PEASY! ENJOY!
You can switch these up to make whatever kind of granola bars you like...add dried fruit, different nuts, whatever!
I melted my chocolate chips for a little different texture (it kind of tasted like no bake cookies) I also ommitted the cereal.

Granola

Here is my favorite recipe for granola!

15 cups oatmeal or whole oats

3 cups whole wheat flour

1 cup honey

5 Tbs. butter, melted

1 cup oil

2 cups water

3 TBS. cinnamon

2 TBS molasses

1 cup brown sugar

2 cups chopped nuts (optional)

Raisins (to be added after you bake the granola as they tend to burn very easily)

Pour dry ingredients into large bowl and mix thoroughly (I let the children help, they love to mix) Combine all wet ingredients and mix in with the dry ingredients. Be sure to mix thoroughly!

Pour into large pan or 2 9x13 pans bake at 300 for 50 minutes, stirring every 15 to 20 minutes. Allow to cool completely, for several hours at least!

*Hint: Measure your butter and oil first before the honey and the honey will come out of the greased cup easily.

Add other ingredients you may enjoy, nuts, seeds, dried fruits, just be sure to add dried fruits after baking.

This mixture keeps for weeks.

I will serve this in the morning to the children, I cook it like oatmeal, add the raisins and serve with milk, they love it!

You can also use this in my Granola Bars recipe in place of the oats, simply omit the sugar.

This makes a lot but keep in mind it keeps for a long time, our family has no trouble eating it up!

Recipe adapted from Wendy Jeub

Simply Delicious Fruit Salad

I can be lazy sometimes, wait let me rephrase that as that sounds bad : ) I love simple things! They make my life so much easier, I especially love simple recipes that my kids enjoy.

This was super easy to make and only required these ingredients:
Simply Delicious Fruit Salad:

1 can any size peaches

1 can any size fruit cocktail

1 can any size mandarin oranges

1 can any size pears

1 can cherry pie filling

Drain all the fruit, and pour into a large bowl, stir in pie filling. Wala! Enjoy

Variations: Use fresh, frozen or your favorite fruit. The cherry pie filling gives this fruit salad a different twist.

Singing in the Shower

Spread some love on your kids.

It doesn't take much to make a child feel loved!

When I bathe my children, and I do one by one sometimes for extra one on one time, I sing them a little song just for them.

It doesn't rhyme.

It doesn't even have a great tune.

But they love it, and so do I!

It goes something like this:

I love you, you make my heart so happy. You are so special, a gift from God! You are a special treasure and God has a special plan for you. You are my special little man (or girl).

I also add some other things unique for them.

It's my way of saying I love you.

They love when I sing to them in the shower.

Thankful Thursday

The Girl on the Floor

She stood in the upstairs hallway
Her heart frozen in dread
Her body braced for the expected
When it started, she wished she were dead.

It wasn't her, not the girl on the floor
Going to her judgement, facing alone
It was her sister, though she felt it too
She knew how it felt, had faced it before.

Whack, Whack, Whack, Whack!
She fell to her knees in utter despair,
She could do nothing, was powerless;
She was frozen with terror.

In a fetal position
She crouched to her knees
Stop it God, Why God? We need you God!!!
Those were her desperate pleas.

Crying inside while the tears would not flow
Wishing to hide, but nowhere to go.
Pulling her hair, burying her face
Wishing the sounds and agony could be erased.

"Well you moved your knees, five more!"
The screaming continued, the pain all too real
No, no, no!! Cried the girl on the floor
She wished she could stop it, and wouldn't feel.

Finally it ended, the wounded appeared
With spirit badly battered, face streaked with tears.
There eyes locked then quickly moved away
Asking the question, why did it have to be this way?

The dryness inside, the feelings of hate
He somehow came, she felt His embrace
Soothing the broken, bringing the tears
Softly saying, "Forgive, show grace."

I stare at the girl, crouched on the floor
I know that her heart doesn't ache anymore
Pondering what was lost, what might have been
It is then that He comes, holding me again!

Today I give thanks that He is still holding me!

Word Filled Wednesday

http://internetcafedevotions.com/

Tiny Talk Tuesday

We had to go pick up Jonathan from work, while we waited I wrote down these things the kiddos said. It really made me smile.
Karagen: Mommy, what can we draw on? We're poor. (How do you come up with us being poor just because we don't have any paper?)

Vaughn: We went swimming, we took a boat ride, Daddy also took me to see tractors! (He was using his imagination as none of those things had happened yet : )

Emmaus: I watched TV all day and ate macoroni. (Really? I must be an aweful mother!!!)

Silas: I took my shoes off-giggle. (They all had their shoes off, sigh)

Home, for now.

We are home and tired but so thankful for traveling mercies! What a weekend, traveling over 6 hours on Saturday, got lost (a little) the directions we were given had 1 wrong word in the street title that made us late, but we got to the home of the District Superintendant and his wife safely. We REALLY enjoyed our visit, they made us feel so at home! When we arrived I was able to go nurse Jachin and relax a little while the meal was finishing. We ate at almost 7 pm. We talked and visited awhile then went to bed....I drove the whole way so I was very glad to see the bed. And suprisingly the children did not really sleep on the way, not even the baby, so they all went right to sleep, what a relief!

Sunday morning Jonathan was up at 4:30 and handed me the baby to nurse then he worked on his message. We had a late breakfast that put us behind schedule, Jachin wanted to nurse and sleep and was screaming, so were my nerves. Admist that I realized Jonathan forgot to pack his suit pants -REALLY? I actually thought it was rather amusing is an uh oh kind of way. I wish I had a camera when I told him he had not brought them, I don't think I have ever seen his face so horrified! I also forgot my slip but the the couple we stayed with loaned me a slip and our host had a pair of black pants from when he was thinner that were just a tad too short, but fit around the waiste (at least stayed up, they were 34 and Jonathan is a 32 waiste) You can't expect perfection when the pants you normally wear are 32x34, tall and skinny and at home, anything is better than blue jeans though, right? But we managed to get ready and were 15 minutes early to church YAY! Those of you with children may understand the sense of relief of getting to your destination ON TIME!

Both services went well and we enjoyed meeting the people, sort of. I get shy or at least feel shy and feel so intimidated. But I watched a beautiful thing happen, our children melted hearts and broke the ice for me, even helped me to relax. I thanked God for this! We joined everyone for lunch in the fellowship building and once again I nursed the baby, which by now I realized was a lifesaver, I was able to relax, catch my breath and pray in the quite. After we ate, we met with the board and then we were able to see the parsonage. It was BEAUTIFUL! I told Jonathan Friday night (here at home) that I would really like to just be "wowed" by the parsonage, although as the words came out of my mouth they sounded selfish and crazy, but true ; ) All the children gleefully ran through all the rooms and giggled and jumped. Karagen kept asking the church people if they would like to come see the new house, it was so cute.

Sunday night was even better, Jonathan was more relaxed, so was I since we knew a little more of what to expect. I sang a special and he preached, then we visited with the people some more. I really sensed that we clicked with them better that night than we had in the morning. Jonathan and I were so glad we stayed for the evening service, it really helped us to "see" the people a little more.

Although we are not officially announcing our decision, I am free to say we were impressed and glad we went. The church will be voting this coming weekend and we are waiting to hear what the result is.

Before I go I want to list off the things about the parsonage to show you why I was "wowed". They are not listed in matter of importance so just keep that in mind.

It was built in 2001, central air, a master bedroom with a full bath, one 1/2 bath
(no more waiting in line to go) and another full bath. 4 bedrooms, a study, a 2 car garage, living room, dining room, laundry room, a full screened in back porch, a BIG, SPACIOUS kitchen, a dishwasher, nice kitchen flooring. Plenty of yard for gardening, playing, dog raising.... all kinds of things. Really a place I have only dreamed of living in.

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Funny Friday

Mary's fourth-grade homework assignment was to make sentences using the words in her spelling list, along with the definition.
Coming across the word "frugal" in the list, she asked her father what it meant. He explained that being frugal meant you saved something.
Her paper read:
Frugal: to save
Sentence: Princess Marion fell into a pit when she went walking in the woods so she yelled for someone to come get her out.
She yelled "Frugal me, Frugal me!"

You know the economy's bad, when even princesses need savings I mean saving : )

Quick Update

I will not be posting much this week or weekend. My husband and our family will be traveling to Henderson Maryland so we can visit a church there to see if we are a fit to be their pastor. My husband is a pastor and we are earnestly looking to return to the ministry.

We will be leaving Saturday morning and traveling there, then we will be staying with the District Superintendant and his wife. I am nervous and wish we could skip this part and just know where God wants us and go there. So unrealistic I know : )

Sunday we will be seeing the church and we are supposed to sing a special and Jonathan will be preaching twice, once in the morning and once in the evening. One thing I am pleased with is the church has a wonderful pianist, since I do not play this is wonderful news.

This church has a 4 bedroom parsonage, 5 acres and a fellowship hall. It is located in a beatuiful section of the country near the Chesapeak Bay. There are numerous parks and State parks around it as well. It is very close to Deleware, just a few miles from the border and is surrounded by other tiny towns, from what I have gathered it is a true country church.

I am focusing this week on helping Jonathan with his messages and spending time with the children.

Please keep us in your prayers. I hope to take pictures and will share them when we return. I really appreciate each of you and count you as friends, your support means so much to me!

Wordless Wednesday

Independance Day With Thanks

Only women wear aprons. And, for good reason. They can come in handy. The men at Fort Henry, in what is now West Virginia, sure thought so. Under attack from Indians one fine day late during the Revolutionary War, there was a shortage of gunpowder. With no men or time to spare, Elizabeth Zane volunteered to run to her brother's house a short distance away to retrieve some needed gunpowder. The Indians did not try to shoot her on the way there. But, on the way back they noticed that she was carrying gunpowder in her apron. The Indians opened fire, barely missing her with arrow and musket shot. Reinforcements arrived the next day to save the fort from falling to the Indians. Had it not been for Elizabeth, that day might have been too late.

Today I enjoy a life of ease and luxury, escpecially compared with the the beginning days of our country. I don't have to struggle and work my fingers to the bone to just survive. I can Thrive with relative ease in a nation that has forgotten the real reason for its freedom.

In a nation that is quickly changing, right before my very eyes, I hope to be a woman who can face an uncertain future in an out of control world, with the courage of Elizabeth Zane.

Happy Independance Day!!! Happy July 4th!! God Bless America!!!

Funny Friday

Of Mothers & Daughter

One day, a little girl is sitting and watching her mother do the dishes at the kitchen sink. She suddenly notices that her mother has several strands of white hair sticking out in contrast to her brunette hair.

She looks at her mother and inquisitively asks, "Why are some of your hairs white, Mom?"

Her mother replied "Well, every time that you do something wrong and make me cry or unhappy, one of my hairs turns white."

The little girl thought about this revelation for a while and then asked, "Momma, how come all of grandma's hairs are white?

Never Enough

Have you ever wondered why you can have a great relationship with someone, have a wonderful time with them, talk to them, share your heart with them, feel so full and so free. Then a few hours or days later, it's no longer enough?

I love my husband we have an awesome relationship but he doesn't fill me.

I have 5 beautiful children but they don't fill up that void.

I have friends, relatives and a church family, but they are not enough.

I have myself, my mind and the thoughts of my heart, but that is not enough.

I always need MORE!

When will I ever get "enough"?

To the woman he said,
"I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you. Genesis 3:16

"The curse for Eve and all her daughters cannot be limited only to babies and marriage, for if it were true then every single woman without children get's to escape the curse. Not so. The meaning is deeper and the implications are for every daughter of Eve. Woman is cursed with loneliness (relational heartache), with the urge to control (especially her man) and with the dominance of men (which is not how things were meant to be, and we are not saying it is a good thing- it is the fruit of the fall and a sad fact of history). Isn't it true, aren't your deepest worries and heartaches relational, aren't they connected to someone? Even when things are good, is your vast capacity for intimacy ever filled in a lasting way?"
John and Stasi Eldredge in Captivating

I know there are other women who have felt this same way, I have talked to them and we have shared this openly. But never have I really understood the reason. I have always sort of wondered....why?

I have experienced this today. A long day home with the children, my husband gone to work on a project. My deep need for relational communication was sooooo apparent and haunting to me. Understanding why I sometimes feel so needy and so alone really has helped me understand myself. God made me the way I am, a relational creature, the curse makes loneliness something I will never escape. Now that I know that, understand the why, I actually feel much better, accepting myself without judgement and with a stronger reliance on the God who created me.