Say Cheese

Do any of you have kids that Just.Don't.Like. to have their pictures taken.  Period.  Don't even ask.


Gregg has always been "one of those kids".  I love this "boy" dearly, but can't for the life of me get him to smile for the camera ... and neither can sweet Kayla.

Maybe I'll get a smile ...

when Noah is born ???

Yes ...

this wild, hairy, bearded man was our "clean cut kid"

that served in the Army for 4 1/2 years.

I guess he is rebelling after all those years

of being required to keep his hair short.

Christmas Day

After a late night for Papa, Mama, & the Big Kids,

we let the young ones watch a movie when they got up,

and the rest of us rolled out of bed around 10:00.

We started the morning with ...

Strawberry Banana Smoothies

Cinnamon Rolls

Mama's Candy Cane Sweet Bread

After a leisurely breakfast, 

it was time for a bit of ...

Present Opening.

It took Papa a full 3 minutes (video-taped) 

to unwrap this present ...

layer #1 ... regular gift wrap

layer #2 .. gift wrap covered in clear box tape

layer #3 ... cardboard box taped shut

layer #4 ... an old comforter

present ... 4 big bars of Dark Chocolate from Ben

Elijah was THRILLED with his Nerf Gun.

Jeremiah sent Navy Attire for Josiah and all of the kids.

Ben bought his own truck this fall,

so Papa & Mama thought an Emergency Kit 

would be good for him to have.

Ben is wearing his new Grinch Pajamas.

Rachel got a couple of Barbie Dolls.

She was in need of a few more quiet time activities.

Sarah was very excited for her new Sewing Machine.

After everyone opened a couple of gifts,

we took a break from presents for a few hours.

Out came the Candy and Games for awhile.

"Adopted Big Kid" Jared came by

and we played a game of Hand & Foot.

Josh & Hannah came over for a couple of hours.

Don't you like Josh' sweater?

I asked him if the orange hat

was to keep him from getting shot.

After dinner ...

we headed back downstairs to finish the Present Opening.

Hosanna got a couple of movies.

Ben got a Plaid Shirt in the mail from Cassie,

and the new Glenn Beck Book from Gregg.

Mama's memory card was full before this present 
was fully opened; but Gregg loved his gift 
of all of our 1980-90s Children's Cassettes.

He bought a car recently that still has the old 
cassette deck, and since baby Noah is due in March,

we thought we'd pass along all of our old cassettes.

It was wonderful to have Gregg & Kayla with us for Christmas,

and good to have a visit from Josh & Hannah,

but we were so sad that the other Big Kids

couldn't make it home from around the country.

It's been a very long time since 

all of the kids were home for Christmas;

but we have usually only had one or two Big Kids missing.

This year, we were missing 4 Big Kids and 2 Spouses.  So sad!

Candy Cane Sweet Bread Recipe

Several of you asked for the recipe for our traditional Candy Cane Sweet Breads (in this morning's post).  The original recipe is from an old "orange-cover" Betty Crocker Cookbook.  However, they have a very similar recipe on their website, which can be found HERE.  




Here are the differences ...


Instead of 1 1/2 cups Buttermilk,
I use 2 cups sour cream.


Instead of 1/2 cup butter,
I use 1/4 cup butter.


Instead of 1/2 cup sugar,
I use 1/3 cup sugar.


The old recipe calls for No Baking Powder.


Instead of using both the apricots and cherries,
I used 3 cups cherries.


For the "glaze", the old recipe calls for a simple,
2 cups powdered sugar with 2 tablespoons water, icing.


I decorate the candy canes with cherry halves rather
than red hot candy.


I started making these 29 years ago, and last year was the only year that was "missed" due to our wedding trip to Texas.  I always make them the morning of Christmas Eve, and then Jim and I deliver them in the afternoon.  When we moved away from our old house 11 years ago, we had several families who had counted on these for their Christmas morning breakfast for 15 years.  They were sad to see us move (and not just because of the missed candy canes).  We now have friends who have gotten these as gifts for the past 11 years, and they always tell us how much they look forward to it.

Christmas Eve

Gregg had to work on Christmas Eve day, so he couldn't come up from Seattle until after work.  However, Kayla had the day off and wanted to spend the day with us.  So, Ben, Hosanna, and I headed down to Seattle on Thursday night and picked Kayla up after work.  We then stopped at Wal-Mart for a quick shopping trip on our way home, at midnight, and could. not. believe. how long the lines were.  Crazy!

Us late nighters slept in on Saturday morning, while Papa and the little guys got up at 6:15 to head to Wal-Mart for an early morning trip.  (The boys wanted to exchange gifts, and we hadn't been able to really find anything they wanted in our little town.  So, Papa agreed to an early morning trip, complete with hot chocolate and donuts after their gift buying was complete.)

The rest of us got up about 10, so that we could get busy with our day.

The younger girls worked on a puzzle,

while Mama and the big girls worked in the kitchen.

Sarah really enjoys the challenge of a good puzzle.

Mama made hot mochas for the big girls,

and flavored hot chocolates for the young ones.

Mama, Kayla, and Hosanna worked on one of our

Favorite Family Christmas Traditions ...

Candy Cane Sweetbread

Kayla hasn't done much baking,

so she was excited to learn from us.

Hosanna hasn't been too involved in the past,

when all 3 of the Big Girls were home,

so she was excited to make Candy Canes this year.

The finished project.

Wrapped up and ready for delivery to close friends.

Papa & Mama spent 3 hours driving around the county,

making deliveries and wishing our friends a

Merry Christmas!

We got home just in time to make 

Waffles w/ Strawberries & Whipped Cream

(a Christmas Eve Tradition).

Gregg arrived from Seattle 

just as we were gathering to eat.

After a yummy dinner, 
we opened our Christmas Eve Presents ...
New Pajamas for Everyone.

Then, we put the young ones to bed,

and played a game of Hand & Foot

(Kayla's first card game w/ the family).

It's always fun to have 

some of the Big Kids home.

Christmas Cookies

The week before Christmas, we babysat for some friends of ours.  The mama was really sick, while the papa really needed to go to work.  Thankfully, they knew who could handle 5 extra kids (ages 4-7) for 8 hours.

I knew that a few planned activities would help the day go better.  So, they played for awhile ... watched a Christmas movie ... played for awhile ... ate lunch ... played for awhile ... decorated sugar cookies ... played for awhile ... watched the Little House on the Prairie Christmas movie.

Aren't they all so cute?

We had a fun day, 

and were so glad that our friends knew 

they could call us at the last minute, 

to play with their kids for the day.

Please Pray ...

RAD (reactive attachment disorder) has tried to control our household for the past 4 days.  It is completely and totally out of control today.  Papa and Mama are tired ... exhausted ... ready for a break from RAD.  Praying for healing for our precious daughter who has allowed RAD to take over her life.

Praying for healing.

Praying for answers.

Praying for respite.

Praying for support.

Praying for a job so that we can afford to start therapy.
($500+ for the initial consultation, 
plus $150 for each ongoing session)

Praying for a breakthrough.

Praying for release from the enemy for our daughter.

Praying for peace in our home.

Praying for comfort for all of the siblings.
(It truly scares the boys.)


Please pray for our family today ...

Dusty Barren Land

Kati, one of our "Adopted Big Kids" (that lived with us last summer), wrote a beautiful, encouraging, inspiring post last week, that I just have to share ...


Kati is from Western Washington, but this is her 2nd year in N.E. Texas, studying with Youth With A Mission (YWAM).




Rain.
It is good for my soul.
I love it.
It feels like home.
It puts a smile on my face.
Yup, even in the perpetually rainy Pacific North West.

I love the sound of rain.
I love falling asleep to it. Or waking up to it.
I love hearing it on a metal roof.
I love a glorious torrential downpour.
I love the warm rain in Uganda.
I love that magical misty rain in WA.
And puddle jumping? OH SO MUCH FUN.
Especially in my cute polka dot rain boots!
And dancing in the rain? it's the best.

See, what's fantastic is that rain brings life. You can see it in the incredible green-ness of western WA.
And thus, lack of rain brings death. As I see daily in dry, dusty, drought-ravaged east Texas.
You see, here we haven't had enough rain in a looong time. Dead trees. Dead leaves. Dead Cows.

but do you know what else is utterly amazing about rain?
God says that is what His Word is like!
"For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there without watering the earth and making it bear and sprout, and furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; it will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it." -Isaiah 55:10-11

Now, when it rains, things always get wet. Everything. The ground soaks up the water, the plants drink it, and everything turns lush and green and happy. Why? Because we need water to have life!

Do you know what else is true? We need God's word to have life! We need Him, desperately. He is our love, He is our life, He is our Lord. Without Him we are dead. And so, when I don't have enough of Him in my life, when I am not spending enough time soaking up in His word, I start to see dead patches in my heart. The leaves turn brown, the grass gets crunchy, and I start to look and feel haggard. God's word brings me life, it reveals to me more of what He is like, so I can fall more and more in love with God and know HIm better and better. Which the Bible says is life in John 17:3.

Also, God says His word is like snow.
Snow inspires wonder. It makes us giddy with delight.
We love snow. We sing songs about it. We pray for it at Christmas. We make paper cut-outs of it and tape them to our windows.
God's word is like that too.
It should inspire wonder. not just at the words, but at the Speaker, Himself.
Seeing who God is, hearing what He's done, and how much He loves us, should make us giddy with delight.
In Psalm 119:103 it is declared that God's words are sweeter than honey!
I want a love like this. I want to love God and His word this way.
It's not always easy.
Believe me, when reading the Bible is your homework, it can sometimes be difficult to engage your heart.
I want to declare that I love you, Lord, and this love is worth the work and the fight and the everyday ordinary moments.
So...
"Let it rain, let it pour, what we have is worth fighting for!"






Are you watered, growing, thriving ...
or are you dried out and dying?


I know that I have had some dead patches this year.
My leaves have turned brown,
my grass has gotten crunchy,
and I have started to look and feel haggard.


I am certainly in need of 
a refreshing shower from the Lord.


I need to once again stand in awe of his wonder,
as I do the freshly falling snow.


Yes, Lord.  


Let it rain.  


Let it pour.


Soak me.  


Fill me.  


Grow me.  


Change me.






Thanks, Kati, for this encouragement and inspiration.  Can't wait to see you this week.

What Are Vacations For?

Watching family movies, right?


Well ... it's 2:00 a.m. and Jim, Ben, Hosanna, and I have just spent a few hours watching a few episodes on dvd of one of our favorite t.v. shows.  (Not that we even know very many t.v. shows, since we haven't watched t.v. at our house for 20 years.)


Anyway ... the question when having such great "family bonding time" with the older kids is ...


Who is going to get up and make breakfast for the younger kids in the morning?


Yikes!


We don't buy cold cereal and milk at our house, because of the cost.  


Which means ... one of us "big people" needs to actually get up and make something.


Oops!


It was fun, though.






Do you ever do crazy things like this when you're on vacation?


Who do you think will get up to make breakfast?


What t.v. show do you think we were watching?

Lost & Found

Please tell me that I am not the only one who has moved into a new house ... stored some boxes ... and never looked at them again for 10 years or so.  (We used to move every year or two, so our boxes in storage got looked at more frequently.  Before this house, we had never lived anywhere longer than 4 years.)


Anyway ... when we moved almost 10 years ago ... we had 10 kids (the youngest being 6 months old).  Life was a bit crazy, to say the least.  For this move, we were just moving across the county, so we had friends helping with pickup trucks rather than everything going into a moving van.


Shortly after moving in, I realized that we must have lost a few boxes along the way.  Not only were we missing a LOT of our everyday dishes, but we were also missing my Grandmother's Silver, and my other Grandparents China.  I looked, and looked, and looked ... but could not find the missing boxes.  I was sure they had fallen off of a pickup truck and ended up in a ditch somewhere.


I thought of the Silver and China many times over the years ... sad that I didn't have those treasures from my grandparents.  


But, I never missed them more than when I bought my ...

New Oak China Hutch

My $225 Craigslist Deal

I had nothing to put on the lighted shelves,

behind the beautiful leaded glass.

So ... guess what I found last month?!?!

In the craziest of places.

In our downstairs bathroom ...

the kid's bathroom that Mama never goes into ...

there is a really weird little storage area ...

behind the toilet ...

which is under the stairs.

These really cool old suitcases were moved forward,

and their were a LOT of boxes tucked back here behind 

the toilet.  Is that not the weirdest place for storage?

Yes.  

I found the Silver ... the China ... and a 

big box of our everyday dishes.  

Yippee!

Random Little Decorating Task ...

This is the Little Girl's bathroom,

and I hung this shower curtain between the toilet/storage area

and the sink area so that they can both be in here getting 

ready for bed together, while still having privacy.

Don't you like the theme, for my Little African Beauties?

Yea!

Thank You, Jesus!

My cupboards are no longer bare.

Seriously.

I want to know.

Am I the only one that doesn't know what

is in every cardboard box in my house ...

or do you all not even have 

cardboard boxes in your houses (or garages) ???

Oh ... 


just in case you are wondering ...


in the bottom of the Oak Hutch I have a place to display


Grandma's Cookbooks
(and quite a few of my own, as well.)

Yes.

I have a lot of both of my grandmother's cookbooks.

Not only do I love to try old recipes,

but I really love to read all of the handwritten notes,

and newspaper clippings tucked into the cookbooks.

What's your favorite cookbook?

Cute Kids

Just a couple more pics from

Ben's Photo Shoot 

with the Young Ones ...

Elijah  -  9

Rachel  -  10

Josiah  -  11

Sarah  -  13

I'm sure glad that we didn't "stop" 

at "just" 6 kids ... or 7 ... or 8 ...

we are BLESSED to have #9, #10, #11, and #12.