Thanksgiving Thoughts

This Thanksgiving two of our children were in other states.  Actually a state.  Pretty far from home, but close in our hearts like many, many other families were experiencing for a multitude of reasons.  Two others were  celebrating  elsewhere and not able to come.  But this Thanksgiving also brought extended family here to us for the first time - for their first Thanksgiving from halfway around the world.  And it reminded me that each day, holiday or not, provides new opportunities for me to relate to new and old friends and family.  Instead of wishing for the time when all the children were "under foot" and we were all together (yes, every Mom's wish!), I realized that one of the blessings of grown children is that your family keeps growing in numbers.  Even if you don't have grandchildren being born, the grown ones are making new friends, getting married and adding "in-loves" to the family, connecting with new coworkers or roommates or classmates.  And it dawned on me this Thanksgiving that I am thankful for new connections.  New opportunities to pray for, and with, and about, wonderful, unique, beautifully created people that just last Thanksgiving I didn't know, or knew to a lesser extent.  What a wonderful gift.  The gift of new connections.  The gift of opportunity to share life and share heartaches and share laughter and share memories with old friends and new alike.  As a young girl scout we used to sing this song on the camp bus, "Make new friends, but keep the old, one is silver and the other gold."  How very true.  But for the believer, it also has a deeper meaning.  Connection with fellow believers brings deeper ties than even the best friendship - it brings true sisterhood and brotherhood that is eternal.  It brings a shared purpose for ourselves, a shared burden for others, a shared joy in Christ, and a shared beautiful, wonderful, amazing perspective on the true meaning and value of life itself.

Thank you, Jesus Christ, for this day, for these many days, where You have added to that treasure in my heart called fellowship.  Thank you for Your Salvation, Your guidance, Your love that blossoms in that sweet temporary fellowship that is only a glimpse of the perfect fellowship to come.  Help us, O Lord and Master, to seize the opportunity to expand the fellowship in whatever way you put before us.  Help us not to get caught up in the temporary filling of our bellies with worldly things but to keep our eyes on the beauty of the eternal, so that none will be left out of the feast to come.  -Amen.

Merry CHRISTmas to All!!

We're Home!

Got back tonight from 1400+ miles from Texas. Last week included the marriage of our son, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day festivities, the death and funeral of a cousin and a major road trip from 5am Friday morning (when we flew out) until tonight (Sunday). Thanks for all the prayers! I will post details of our trip on our farm blog soon, and details of everything else on this "family" blog whenever I get pictures. Now I'm off to bed to get a good night's sleep in my own cozy bed before beginning to unload the truck, dig holes and plant trees for the next 5-6 days if it will dry off enough. Hope you have a wonderful week and HAPPY NEW YEAR! Let me know what you're up to!
-F

I am Glad that People Protest Nativity Scenes

Shocking, huh? Yes, I am glad, even thrilled that some people are so up at arms and upset and protest against having nativity scenes on public property. Before you write "heretic" by my name hear me out. When my daughter was in an Asian country a couple of years ago, a country that bans Christian missionaries and the spreading of the gospel by both foreigners and nationals, she was shocked to see Nativity scenes in public squares and shopping centers. How could they allow this when they were so adamant about opposing Christianity? As she pondered it and asked her American hosts about it, a local national overheard their conversation and in broken English said "You talking about that?" and pointed to the manger scene complete with a baby Jesus. "Yes" they replied in unison. "Oh, you no know that is? That when Santa Claus born!" he smiled broadly back at them. What a heartbreak for my daughter and her hosts when they realized the horrible commercialized impact of western society on this country filled with millions who had never heard the name Jesus. Oh, they knew "CocaCola", "Santa" and even "WalMart" in English but had never heard the one name that could change their lives for eternity.

So yes, I am glad that there are those in our country who get upset about a nativity scene in a public place. It helps to clarify the meaning of the scene - not that a regular baby or a superhero or a legend or a nice fictional character was born, but a Divine, Eternal, King of Kings Savior who left his heavenly throne to die on a cruel cross for my sin. Let us be thankful that the name of Jesus Christ has been and always will be something that makes people uncomfortable if they do not believe and rejoice beyond words if they do believe. And let us pray that those who have been fed distorted lies can hear the true meaning of that manger and that cross. In whatever country they live.

Quick Update

* Last Sunday EK was in a Christmas parade with her dance class and loved it!
* Finally got all my cards and Christmas letters sent out.
* Less than one week until the wedding!!
* Uncle Bill (my Mom's last living brother, age 88) died last week and we made a very quick trip to/from the mountains. Prasie for safe travel in really rainy weather. Please pray for my Aunt who loved him dearly and for my Mom's last living sibling (their sister) who has lost all 9 of her brothers/sisters over the past few years, as well as her husband just this September. Praise that all of these relatives know and love the Lord and look to Him for their strength and hope.
* Christmas is just a little over a week away and I still haven't done much shopping (gonna be lighter this year anyway) but have one main thing for each of the two youngest.
* My oldest daughter turned 20 and we had a wonderful BDay celebration with all of the family here last night! Happy (Belated) Bday to my beautiful daughter!
* My MIL is doing tons better on her new fluid meds and has even been able to cut way down on the blood pressure meds now.
* Please continue to pray for my SIL and BIL and niece as they face the holidays without their daughter/sister who so loved to wrap presents and decorate and shop and sing carols and dress in holiday colors.... She is sorely missed.
* Have a wonderful CHRISTmas season!!
-F

Whewww!!

What a very busy but wonderful week last week!
D was off from "work" so we dug 383 holes with a 3' auger, mixed lime by the shovelful into the dirt from the holes, refilled the holes and marked the exact location of the tree for each one. Wednesday I came in from that job at dark, made salads (7 Layer and apple cranberry), tea, pecan pies and a pineapple casserole for Thursday's Thanksgiving meal. The next morning we started back in digging, liming and filling as soon as it was light enough for us to see. I put out the rolls to proof about 8am, and by 10am came in to clean up and finish cooking - peeling 15 pounds of potatoes to cream, making pumpkin pies, and baking the casserole before our 1pm lunch. Wow, oh wow, did Gran outdo herself again with scrumptious turkey and dressing and yams, in addition to my food and my SIL's great fudge pies, beans, peas, collards and cherry pie on top! After eating our fill and doing the dishes, I had a most wonderful time with all 6 of my children (I'm counting my soon-to-be daughter-in-law already because I love having her as one of "my children"!!). We played Apples to Apples, ate more dessert, talked, laughed, ate another piece of pie, played more Apples to Apples and finally called it quits on both the games and food!

Friday we finished digging, liming, refilling and measuring tree holes (along with doing dishes here left over from Thursday). Saturday my youngest daughter and I had a special day together with lots of good girl talk while we traveled to and from my "other Matt's" house to see the new baby that EK and I tried to bring home, but even with sleep deprivation Matt, Lindsey and Lindsey's Grannie wouldn't give her up! So we had to settle for lots of good memories of holding that little precious one and giving Lindsey a birthday hug, too. If they lived closer they might have to worry about us trying to sneak her away!

Sunday was another wonderful shower for Russ and Katy. Aunt Wanda, "Aunt" Janet (she's a cousin but all my children call her "Aunt") and Gran really had a shower that was fit to be in a magazine it was so beautiful and the food so good. I am just overwhelmed at how blessed I am to have such a remarkable, loving, creative and generous family!

This week will be busy, too, as we strive to get the house back into order after a week of neglect last week, start to decorate for Christmas, deal with computer printer problems, hair appointments, getting some work done on the van, regular things like piano and dance and Awanas, and have a few things to do for wedding preparations, too. [BTW, for those who knew about Ethan's accident, his leg was not broken but the bone was chipped. Praise! Thanks for the prayers and notes. He's back up and running (literally) now!]

Have a great start to December!

Thanksgiving Crafts and "Good Reads"

For Thanksgiving each year for the past few years we pull out the Nest Family VHS of "William Bradford", watch it, and do some of the activities from the accompanying book. I got both the tape and the study guide for $5 several years ago on consignment at a homeschool book store.

We also have a "Thankful Tree" where each day each child takes a construction-paper leaf cutout (children can draw and cut out their own when old enough) and write or draw something they are thankful for that day. The leaves get taped together on our French doors above where I put a "trunk" that says "I Am Thankful For...." They love watching the tree "grow" each day. On Thanksgiving Day, they take turns reading the "leaves" to the family and friends. This year we didn't have any brown construction or butcher paper for the trunk so my creative 9 yo ran and got an empty gift paper tube to use for the trunk - she and her brother even cut out a hole in the middle for a "squirrel hole" !

Along with the Thanksgiving and Harvest theme each year for the past few years we have read "The Little Red Hen" and had the children do a finger puppet play of the story. Make your own from felt like these or from paper like these.

We also like to make turkeys from apples, pine cones or just tracing our hands/feet onto card stock. We usually make place cards like these or similar just a day or two before Thanksgiving, and sometimes make napkin rings from construction paper with corn kernels or leaf prints. One of my favorite websites for ideas and crafts is THIS one. Last year we did a "mini-lapbook" with a map of the Mayflower's journey, a diagram of the Mayflower, a craft using lentils, construction paper and paint to make a picture of Indian corn, collected and studied about sassafras (it grows wild here), and colored a nice picture of the Pilgrims in prayer for the cover. I got most of the ideas and copies from the internet from sites like these and these.

Our favorite Thanksgiving books and stories are Samuel Eaton's Day and Sarah Morton's Day, The First Thanksgiving (an easy reader that the youngest reader in the family gets to read aloud the first year they learn to read) and excerpts from Of Plymouth Plantation by William Bradford. We also have a wonderfully written story of Squanto in one of our short-story books. William Bradford's Prayer of Thanksgiving or Abraham Lincoln's Declaration of Thanksgiving are amazing historical documents that can be read aloud on Thanksgiving Day to reinforce the importance of the season. After living overseas years ago and having to work on Thanksgiving Day I am acutely aware of the blessedness and honor of celebrating this holiday. What a wonderful reminder to all of us of our Godly Christian heritage in this country that is being all but forgotten lately.

May you and your family have a very wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving season!

Fall Fun

Friday night our friends held a "Fear Not" party (a God-centered alternative to Halloween) and we had a blast! Go to Beth's post to read and see pics (I've smuggled these two over here from her!). My two youngest children were "Florence Nightingale" (shown playing the Widow's Mite game with her new friend) and "Wyatt 'IRK' " (shown below in Armor of God relay)! I'm sure it was a lot of hard work for the Herberts but we not only had a great time but also had a lot of discussion on Saturday about Light versus darkness, how "Mr. Rob" showed them that no amount of darkness was stronger than the light, and we talked about being a light in the world. We hope to be invited back to Beth's party again next year (hint, hint!!) but also hope to have one of our own for several families we would like to invite, both believers and non-believers, praying for it to be an evangelical outreach. (I'm gonna needs lots of help to plan it, Beth!)

My oldest daughter went to a costume party because she had a (rare) night off from work, my second son went with his fiance and her family to another family's for a bonfire and marshmallow roast. What did you do for Friday night's celebrations?

Saturday we laid out the (hopefully final!) layout of the orchard, placing 362 flags in their exact spots for the tree holes. Read about it here if you are interested in the progress of the farm. Russ helped for a while in the afternoon and then we went to a rare evening out at a steak house with him ad Katy. I must say that although that was only my third time ever eating at a LoneStar Steakhouse I have been very impressed with the food and service every time. Matt spent the day Saturday with his best friend (since they were 12!) taking pictures in the NC Mountains while his wife was away for the day.

Sunday we got to visit with Joanna for a while; I'm cooking a pot of "Chicken Stew-pid" for supper; the children went and visited with Gran while I cooked. (Yes, she's home from the hospital and doing well although very weak and will have to daily monitor her fluids to ward off another possible attack and potential congestive heart failure.) We played a game of badminton before Joanna had to go back to school, ending when it was getting pretty hard to see the birdie with the new early sunset time.

Tomorrow is a full day of school (including doing a life-sized outline of each child on which we will label their major organs), taking a tractor radiator to a "specialist" about 25 miles away, dropping off soil samples on the way, and getting back in time for dinner and dance classes. I really do loving being a wife, Mom, farmer and homeschool teacher. I can't imagine what joys I would be missing if it were any other way. It may not sound much to you but then you don't see the smiles, feel the hugs, hear the laughter, smell the earth and trees, that I do. My prayer, though, is that your world would be as wonderful to you!
Happy Fall!

The last few days....

Hope each of you had a wonderful Fourth - we sure did!! On the third we went to White Lake for the day (just D, Gran, and the two youngest since the others were working) and it was perfect weather and loads of fun. Then although several families had to cancel coming on the 4th, we were still blessed with all 5 of our children plus Gran and several young adults that we count as family, too! The Broglis were here and we were so very glad since we probably won't see them as often after they move. Matt B. will be a Youth Pastor, and although we will miss them we are very glad that the Lord has opened a door for them and we know He will bless them greatly in their new adventures! After we ate (and ate - esp. D's homemade salsa from veggies from the garden - I am so glad I grew that cilantro!) we drove over to a baseball stadium to watch some fireworks. My Matt "practiced" taking firework pictures (like he needs practice - I've not seen a bad one yet!) so that when he and J are in Paris this weekend for Bastille Day he will have some practice with them (although I'm sure the French would not compare their fireworks with those of the Mudcats :) !!)

Anyway, it was a wonderful holiday here (except for a while mid-day when I got the "Martha syndrome"and was ill-tempered with my dear hubby - who is loving and gracious enough to forgive this middle-aged whacky woman) and I pray that each of yours was great, too. On Saturday I gathered the first purple hull peas and green beans from the garden and we ate them and some of the salsa and leftover grilled chicken and burgers for supper. Yummy! Purple hulls are probably my favorite veggie. Lindsey had left some of her watermelon here so all weekend I pigged out on watermelon, too!

Service Sunday was very special with a beautiful tribute to the armed forces, with the veterans standing when their military anthem was played. I couldn't help but get teary-eyed thinking of my father and many of his WWII generation that have passed on as well as the many young men and women who have/are serving and the ones who have paid that ultimate sacrifice. May we not be foolish in living, voting, praying in a way that will help to carry on their memory.

As we get ready to send two off to Europe, do gardening, canning and housework, keep two extra children part of the week, get ready to have relatives from Kansas visit this weekend, and try to squeeze in some time to enjoy the summer, I probably won't be back at the computer long enough to blog but will try to keep up reading yours. Hope you have a wonderful summer week!

Father's Day

When I was younger these "days" didn't mean much to me. Yes, I made a little card and/or gift for my Dad and as I got older I bought him something but I don't think I ever properly thanked him for being a great Daddy. Not perfect, but he did not only better than his parents but in some ways better than I have been. So on this Father's Day I rejoice that I had a Christian Father. That I had a wonderful Christian Father-in-law as well and that my hubby is a fantastic father who loves and prays for his children with his whole heart. He might not always say it but they would be pretty blind not to see it. And most of all I am thankful for the best Father of all - our Heavenly Father. I am in awe every day that HE would be willing to call this sinful, disobedient, willful child His own. I thank Him for giving me men in my life and my children's lives who love all of us, and who love or have loved their Heavenly Father. Happy Father's Day!!

Memorial Day

Just gotta take a minute to say a prayer of THANKS to each and every veteran, and especially to the families who have paid the ultimate sacrifice. WE REMEMBER AND APPRECIATE each and every veteran who has served or is serving. May GOD truly reward you, uphold you, comfort you, heal you, and give you a sense of understanding that many, many of us still honor and appreciate you.

Happy Wedding Day

Where does time go?! See if you can guess who these two (very!) young people are.

If you think the wedding day was joyful, you have missed many, many days since then when the joy has been even greater. You think you love each other all you can when you marry. And maybe that's true. But God shows you how to love even more after you share moments and days and years of joys and sorrows, new life carried in your womb created by that love, loss of loved ones, quiet times, angry times, tender moments, lots and lots of laughter - all these are the sunshine and rain that makes that love grow even greater than it was when you were young and wide-eyed at the world and each other. Today we celebrate 10,592 days of married life. I cannot imagine sharing it with anyone else. God is so good to have brought us together and He has been the One to teach us how to love more. Happy Anniversary to my Sweetie!

Wonderful Resurrection Sunday!

What a beautiful time we had on Sunday. Not only was the weather very nice, the trees and flowers blooming and filling the air with sweetness, the children dressed in nice clothes, but also a very nice addition was the fact that everyone was well and healthy. The good news that my MIL will not have to undergo chemo and radiation is just a wonderful joy to all of us and we have now all recovered from the last flu bug just in time to still be grateful for our health (isn't it a shame we have to get sick before I really appreciate all the wonderful healthy days my family enjoys?!). Saturday we had spent a fun day with the oldest son taking the youngest two and me to a 3-D movie about "Sea Monsters" and the Kid's museum and we didn't return home until supper time. Then we ate a quick bite and went right to work on two cakes - Emma made a "Bunny" cake and Ethan made a chocolate cross and frosted and decorated it by himself (well, except for me writing "Happy Easter" on it for him). I got the children bathed and in bed and went to work on Emma's jumper (which was finished at 1:45 am on Easter - not too good an example to my children about not procrastinating!! - but I decided Sat. evening that they were at least going to know Mom kept her promises if at all possible!). Sunday morning we had a wonderful church service and then went to Gran's for lunch where we all stuffed ourselves on turkey and then we all dyed eggs. At 3pm we drove a short way to D's Uncle's house (the old home place where my FIL and his 9 siblings grew up) for the annual Creech Family Easter egg hunt. Somebody figured it up that this was about 78 years in a row that the family has had the egg hunt there. Now that's what I call a good family tradition!! My children did their share of finding eggs and then we all did our fair share of chowing down on the goodies - everything from homemade egg salad to bbq'd hotdogs to homemade candies and cakes and lots of other goodies! The children also took advantage of the fishing pole we had taken and Katy was lucky enough to catch a couple of fish out of the old pond! (No, we didn't fry them up but threw them back to catch another day.) Early in the evening we moseyed on back home and spent a little extra time chatting with Russ and Katy and just enjoying our time together. Before bed that night we reread the resurrection story to make sure that the youngest ones remembered that all of the wonders and joys and good days in life are just a little foretaste of the joys we will receive because of the amazing sacrifice that our Savior and God made for us on the cross. D told them that the fun they had today was a gift that they didn't do anything to earn, just like we can't earn the joys Christ gives us, and that the fun of the family was there for us because we were part of the family, just like Christ makes us part of God's family. I thought that thought was one of the most special parts of the whole wonderful day. How true that no matter how wonderful a day we have here there is so much more awaiting us, not because of anything we do but just solely based on His amazing love for us sinners.
Hope you have a wonderful week and that you, too, know with certainty that Christ is preparing wonderful joys for you both here and later just because you are a part of His family!

President's "Week"

We are doing something special about Presidents all week instead of just on Monday and I thought some of you might enjoy hearing about it. We started off on Monday watching a short video about George Washington, then doing a few worksheets and games about him. We made finger puppets of George and Honest Abe from HERE and as the week goes on each of my youngest two are finding facts about "their" President to be ready to give a "report" with their puppet on Friday. We have also done coin rubbings, made some silhouettes from cut outs I already had and my 9 yo is memorizing the first 16 Presidents, the 5yo memorizing the first 6 ones. Math has included things like the difference between years of each of the 2 (Washington and Lincoln), converted to weeks and then days, etc. Geography has included finding and learning about Philadelphia, Trenton, New York and Washington, DC as well as finding out how many states have cities named Washington and/or Lincoln and tracing the Delaware and Potomac Rivers.

On a different subject we are all planning to stay up late after Awanas tonight and view the Lunar Eclipse. We just finished a unit about the moon last week (when I had no idea the eclipse was coming up :) !) so we are looking forward to that. Just wish we had a telescope but it will be lots of fun - we are all planning on climbing out onto the back porch roof (almost flat), wrapped in blankets to watch it. It's great to live in the country with no street lights around!!

Enjoy Presidents, Lunar Eclipses and most of all your family this week!!

Happy Valentine's Day

For the fourth year in a row we had a very special Valentine's Day (OK, we've had many in our home but I'm talking about a new tradition that we began 4 years ago). We picked up 5 other children this morning, spent a while making more cards (they had all done some ahead of time) and then went to a local nursing home where we handed out 82 hand-made valentines. It is such a joy and privilege to have the flexibility with homeschooling to do something that will really make a smile for someone else. The children love making them, giving them out (along with many hugs and "blown" kisses) and this year I treated them all to a milkshake afterward before some of the girls had to be at dance class.

[This card is actually one made 4 years ago by my then barely 5 year-old. Unfortunately today I just didn't even think about the camera until we were on our way over there -- Duh!!]


Hope you had a very special Valentines day and that you have rejoiced in the fact that every day is a gift of love from the One who loved us so much He died for our sins. Happy Valentines!

Collards and Blackeyes and Pork, Oh MY!!

We celebrated the New Year in a very quiet country way. Well, that is after all the gun shots and pot banging were over! Our dog was nowhere in sight until well into the next morning and still somewhat shaky. (I rewarded her with some of the leftover ham we used to season the collards). We proceeded to cook black eyes ("pennies") and since we couldn't find any good greens ("dollars") at the grocery we went over to a friend's house and picked collards from their garden (they farm and sell collards, cabbage and numerous other good things to a local grocery). We had lots of fun checking out their new poultry additions (more types of ducks and geese than most poultry catalogs!) and chatting and visiting. I really was glad the grocery was out because it was a lot of fun to visit with them. Then back home, cooking collards, and visiting with my MIL who cooked the pork chops ("to be able to live 'high off the hog' ") and cornbread. My older children "opted out" of this most Southern of traditions but my niece and SIL and BIL joined us to catch a little of one of the ball games. Food was good (we like an excuse to eat these things even though the children have yet to develop a taste for them), but family and friends are even better. Hope you all had a wonderful beginning to the year 2008!

[Thursday is "triples" (triple coupon days) at Harris Teeter so I'll be grocery shopping bright and early with a list of 5 "shops" using over 100 coupons if all goes well - but until then I'm cleaning out my fridge and pantry to be prepared to stock up big time (hopefully)!]

Beach trip photos

Finally got around to processing the photos from our trip to the beach. We had a blast on the beach the first day and on my BIL's boat the next day. Here's a few "thousand words" --