Grandkid weekend

Adam and Jill felt they needed some time away so we watched Hannah and Sophia for 3 days while they took a trip to Kansas City. The girls had lots of fun!
Hannah playing in the playhouse under the stairs.

Here is Sophia calling her mommy.


We went to McDonalds.

Hannah doesn't look so happy, but she really was.

She loves to go out to eat!

We had to go shopping for pasghetti and meatballs.

We had lunch at

Hannah's Fancy Restaurant!

Our waitress and cook, Hannah.

"Do you want some more water?"

The girls enjoyed painting.

Sophie thinks it funny to paint her hands.

These past couple of days she said so often

"It's funny!"

or

"I'm happy!"

Hannah loves to cook. In fact, she has helped me

in the kitchen since she was one year old.

They lived with us for 8 months and it all began then.

She is quite the cook!

Here is the recipe for the Men's Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies that we made:

2/3 cup shortening

2/3 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar, packed

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

Mix all together until blended.

In another bowl, mix together:

3 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp soda

1 tsp salt

Add to the sugar/egg mix.

Add:

1 cup nuts, walnuts or pecans (or more!)

2 cups chocolate chips

Drop by rounded spoons onto baking sheet. I line mine with foil. Bake 15 minutes in preheated 325 oven. Very soft and delicious!

(Hannah wanted oatmeal in them, so I substituted some of the flour with oatmeal. )

There was quite a mess afterwards but it is easy to sweep the flours, wash down the cupboards and the child and the dishes too.

For many years now, I have kept a bottle of Joy on my sink.

There is also a verse I keep there that says,

"Be joyful always,

pray continually;

give thanks in all circumstances,

for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."

1 Thess. 5:18

Always a good reminder when things are not going the way I want. Oh and what a joy it was to watch the grandchildren this weekend!! Thank You, Lord for the gift of these little children in our lives!!

October

I LOVE

FALL!

It is my favorite season!

So fun to decorate the house!

I found the most unusual gourds.





Marilyn Reimer introduced me to the mix of candy corn and nuts.
Yum! It has become a tradition at our home every fall.


Oh and I love the smell of apples!

October is the time we start up Mom2Mom again at our church. This is a program at our church to support and encourage moms of all ages. We meet once a month and have both a morning and evening edition. Child care is provided in the morning session.

Caryn Harder made a beautiful centerpiece!

This year our theme is "Managing Life: Living out God's Plan with Passion & Purpose". Our verse for the year is Philippians 2:13 "It is God who works in you giving you both the desire and the ability to do His will."

Our first program was "Managing Your Spiritual Life" and Bobbie Friesen was our speaker. Bobbie is the wife of Steve, who is our pastor of counseling & discipleship. Steve is an MK (missionary kid) from Japan and his sister and I were even room-mates at CAJ, our highschool in Tokyo. Bobbie grew up in Guatemala, also an MK. After they were married, they spent several years in Japan as missionaries but we are so grateful to have them here at Grace now!

We had wonderful food! At the Tuesday evening session, we had soups and in the morning, pumpkin and nuts breads and a yogurt cup (yogurt, mixed fruit, granola).

Coffee and teas too.

And lots of laughter...

...and friends.

Bobbie led us in a worship choreography.

They are getting down!

Some of us weren't coordinated enough and just watched.

One of us had a really good excuse.

Bobbie gave a wonderful analogy of the spiritual life and our own physical life.

And spoke of God's grace in our spiritual growth.

If you are able, please come next month!

It will be a combined session on November 10.

"Managing Your Home Life" with Karla Conner.

Fall also means Awana. I am helping with Awana on Wednesday nights, listening to the little Cubbies say their Bible verses. During game time this week, the kids played with the parachute. They had so much fun!

I know Christmas trees are already in stores, but I sure hope I can hang onto fall just a little.

Be ready!

Arkansas

This past week I drove to Arkansas. I had planned to help Josh and Staci get the baby's room all ready. Well, we ended up deciding to wait to paint the room. I actually like the chocolate color - it matches with the bedding. We thought we'd see what it looked like all put together. So we began to put the bed together, but the borrowed crib didn't work out (missing pieces) so they ended up ordering one. It will come next week. So we didn't accomplish much there.

But I did get to go to a lovely shower hosted by Staci's friends!

The outfit Staci wore matched the icing on the cake!

I had fun playing with Emeri!

Emeri loves to read books. We read tons of them!
I took along a craft/story for us to do on the Shepherd and the lost lamb.
It was fun to do with her!
I'm soooo glad that our Shepherd seeks us. His love overwhelms me!

On Sunday, I went to New Heights Fellowship. Josh led worship. It makes a mom feel so grateful to see their child serving the Lord! I have prayed for each of my children to follow Christ and use the gifts He has given them for His honor. That morning they had the student ministries pastor from Fellowship speak. Instead of a "normal" sermon, he gave a monologue about a young business guy who's into himself. He dies. And this is a story about what happens after he dies. It was riveting! captivating and convicting! If you can, you should listen to it!! Listen here. Scroll down to 6/7/08 to Matt Newman, The Bema Seat Monologue. You could even down load it and listen to it on your commute.

Looking forward to a return to Arkansas soon!
Baby Elijah will arrive shortly!
Even if the baby room is not all in order!