After supper one night, we surprised the kids with chocolate pudding. I was busy getting ready to cut their hair while Mark cleaned up from supper. I discovered Liam sportin’ a goatee like daddy! Too cute to pass up. And on top of that, there is a food related photo contest at 5 Minutes for Mom. The winner gets $500 for Groceries!!! I can handle that.
So we’re visiting my parents this weekend. It’s been fun. My birthday is coming up so the pampering has begun…sort of!
Anyway, my mom prepared chili for supper and the kids gathered around to eat. Liam looked at it and throughout Mark’s prayer was mumbling.
“I don’t like ‘dis. I don’t want it. Whine. Whine Whine.”
Mark said amen. Then Liam chirped in, “Okay, I’ll twy it.”
Silly boy!
ROLL TIDE!!!
After two weeks of canning, we now have a bushel of apples (that’s a lot folks) put away! Papa, Mark’s dad, orders apples in bulk every year from a place in Georgia. Let me just say that they are not that expensive and they are sweet! Last year, we got a 1/2 a bushel which was enough to see if I could do something with them. This year, we just got a full bushel since I am using more applesauce to make bread and Ceili Rain will need some for when she starts eating. So, I put away over 15 pint jars of applesauce and 18 half pint jars of apple butter (can you say Christmas gifts…if Zoe doesn’t eat them first). I know it won’t last a year, but at least I have some fresh applesauce, which, to me, is way yummier than store bought applesauce (by the way, we buy the unsweetened sauce with nothing but water and apples).
Next year, I’m hoping, won’t involve that much traveling and we will probably increase our order to more than a bushel…we’ll just have to see. I think Mark’s glad to have the apples out of the fridge!
I was laughing last night as I was canning apple butter and wondering out loud, “If someone had told me eight years ago that I would be canning applesauce to make my own bread…” I really just don’t think I would have believed it. Of course, I wasn’t going to stay home nor homeschool either…That just teaches you to never tell God, “no” when you haven’t asked Him first!
I’ve been reading Angie Smith’s blog since the spring. Her husband is a singer with Selah. She is real, funny, and full of God’s grace. This morning, I was reading a post about praying for our kids. I thought this was great, and worthy of posting a link here. She basically has short prayers she says for her kids as they go through out the day doing normal acitvities.
So visit her site…but I have to warn you…it’s addicting to read her stuff.
I’m wondering if people realize that our next president is not, in fact, black…nor is he full-blooded African-American…he’s bi-racial. His mama was/is Caucasian. And his father is not African-American. He’s African. Let’s get this straight people!!! However, historically, he is the first bi-racial president in office. And yes, I consider that to be historical…and that’s about it.
Here’s something my mom shared with me from someone she heard yesterday. Apparently a speaker made a statement about thinking about what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s reaction would be when he learned that people voted for the color of a person’s skin and not his character. I believe the speaker my mom heard surmised that it would set back all of the work that Dr. King strove for…where it’s not the color of a person’s skin but who they are that counts. Personally, that’s what Mark and I had discussed earlier…we didn’t notice his skin color but what he said (and mostly what he didn’t say) he would do as president.
We’re praying that God would work to protect and lead our family and our country during these next four years…and of course, since He is Sovereign, His will will be done, no matter who’s in charge of our our country.
‘Nuff said about this election. Feel free to stop reading my blog if you must or just send comments my way (remember they’re moderated…my blog/my prerogative).
Ta Da!
Happy Halloween, All Hallow’s Eve, Friday…or whatever! I got the kids dressed up this morning since I was finishing Ace’s costume and there’s no guarntee that he’ll actually dress up tonight. We’ve got some other things going on tonight as well. Enjoy your trip to Oz!
Here’s the whole gang getting ready to head down the yellow brick road. I must confess that I bought two costumes (Zoe’s and Josiah’s). I barely got Ace’s finished this year.
The Cowardly Lion was hiding!
Follow the Yellow Brick Road
The Tin Man is a little rusty (I’m so punny).
Dorothy lending a hand to the rusty tin man.
The Scrarecrow searching for his brain and trying to hide from the camera.
Yippee! I have my courage!!
Very flexible! In case you can’t tell, that’s her leg kicked up and it looks as though the baby was about to stick the toes in the mouth.
The baby is also very healthy! No problems whatsoever! Growing as a little 20 week on in utero baby should be doing.
Let’s see…anything else…hmmm…oh yeah, I guess everyone wants to know whether the baby is a boy or girl…well…it’s a girl!
Lots to praise God for: a healthy baby and a little girl. Did I get a little emotional when the sonographer announced it? Oh you bet I did. We were able to tell it was a girl, but know that there is still a small chance that something else could have been hiding (but from the u/s picture, I doubt it).
Her name is Ceili Rain Mabry. Ceili (pronunced Kaylee) is celtic for “celebration/party”. Rain is the stuff that falls down. So our translation for Ceili Rain is a celebration coming down from heaven (since, ya know, rain falls from the sky). I must confess that is not original and is the name of a Celtic Christian group but we felt it was beautiful and with such a sweet meaning it fits. We’ve waited for our sweet girl blessing to come down from God for a little over four years (since we decided on the name). Her middle name, Mabry, means “joyous.” She is already a joy to us (well, with the exception of Ace…he’s still trying to adjust to the idea and when Zoe told him he said, “ughhh, man!”). Oh, and she will be called Ceili Rain for anyone wondering. We call ’em what we name them (but sometimes add and embellish it for endearing terms).
Thanks for the prayers for a healthy baby and for our little girl! She is growing and moving all over the place!
So Mark and I headed off to Canada to do pretty much whatever God wanted us to do. Our missions minister and his wife put on a marriage conference so we helped a little with that. Mostly, we just built relationships. There is a church plant there that our church helps support. They are built of lots of new Christians. It was a great church because the people were not content to just sit within the walls of their church. They were not happy to just do nothing in their big city. In fact, the church was voted 2008 Community Service Provider for Ottawa (or something to that affect). Basically a church that is open to listening to and doing the will of God. Mark and I are looking forward to traveling there again and visiting with our new friends and getting involved in what God is doing there. Here’s some pictures from our trip.
A view from the airplane coming home. There was quite a lot of turbulence as we ascended. Extremely bumpy, in my opinion. I was told later that it was actually just a small bit of turbulence…not so for me.
On Monday, we got to do a little sightseeing before our flight out. So, we got to go to Parliament Hill where all the movers and shakers move and shake their laws. We were told by our friend/tour guide, A, that the government system is set up quite like Great Britain…which makes sense since it is Canada.
When/if the queen visits, she sits in that big chair to the left and Prince Phillip sits in the chair to the right. I think the head of the Senate (where this all is) sits in the chair in the front. Think of their Senate as the House of Lords…not voted, appointed. Their House of Commons is set up like our whole of Congress…’cept they don’t vote a set number of years. Just when they decided to hold an election. There’s your history lesson.
Pretty carvings in the Senate
The very beautiful entrance to Parliament.
The eternal flame. Not sure why…it’s just eternal. The shields around it represent the provinces (think states) of Canada.
Our awesome hosts for the weekend. They put up with us and S. contributed to my shocking weight gain! Thanks bunches! We so loved spending time with these guys and getting to know them and their daughters…I forgot to get a picture of them before they left for school that morning…agghhh.
Our host cat, Rusty…
…and his diva sista, Mia.
A beautiful shot of Ottawa!
A picture of where we stayed for one night for the marriage conference. It was so pretty driving to it. Apparently, it’s just south of Ottawa so the trees were still changing color…simply beautiful!
If you ever step foot in Canada, you have to go to a Cora’s for breakfast…let me just say….WOW!!! That was some good food. I had a western crepe omelette and it was smothered in hollendaise sauce with some fruit. Simply delicious!
Our only adventures included almost missing our flight from Chicago to Ottawa because we weren’t sitting right beside the gate. And when we flew into D.C. Monday afternoon, our 5:30 flight was canceled because of “mechanical problems.” Mark and our MoM headed over to customer service to change our flight. The MoM’s wife and I were thinking about what we might do with a night layover in DC. Thankfully, the guys were able to get a flight out of DC at 9 that night. We got home at midnight…it was a long night but it was so nice to be home!
is home. We got it today. I’m so excited. It’s a 12 passenger van. Crimson, as I like to say. The only down side is that it’s the same color as another family at our church, but theirs is bigger (#12 is due in November) and has a different passenger door on it…so it’s a little different Cindy!
Anyway, God has really provided for us and we feel so blessed. He has guided our steps in this purchase and we have (okay some of us better than others…Mark over me) patiently waited for this van. It was a private sale and we had to drive to Atlanta to test drive it last Monday. However, we didn’t have the paperwork to complete the sale, nor could we pick up the van until the next week with our Canada trip. The van did not sale, even with two other interested buyers later in the week last week. Mark was able to contact the seller on Monday when we arrived in D.C. (another story) and confirmed the go ahead with it.
Mark drove the van home and said it handles really well. I’m hoping for a little practice before striking out on my own. We’ll see how the kids wake up. If I don’t get practice before my doctor’s appointment, I’ll just make sure I park where no one can hit me and where I can’t hit anyone.
Canada pictures coming sometime tomorrow, with everything else!