Sweet Baby

(photo by Grace)

BBQ Quest

If you look up BBQ on Wikipedia, you'll see a picture of Matt (just kidding). Seriously, the man loves his BBQ. He used to travel a lot to Oklahoma on business. He always ate plenty of BBQ while there, and even brought some home on the plane a couple of times. There might even be a famous picture of Matt with BBQ sauce all over his face floating around out there--I'll never tell.

While driving through town a couple of weeks ago, Matt saw the sign for a new BBQ place. He had a whiplash moment, "What's that?! BBQ?!" I'm telling ya, the man loves his BBQ. Since Matt just finished a huge project at work, we decided to celebrate on our date night this week by eating at the new BBQ place.

The place is a hole in the wall, but that's no deterrent to us, we don't mind lack of atmosphere if there's good food. All the food was in crock pots of various vintages on the counter. A white board had the menu written on it. We chose the two meat, two sides option. The place is only a dine in/take out establishment, but the guy let us sit at lone table to eat.

My chicken must have been on a diet before it was butchered because it was the skinniest little drumstick and tiniest little thigh I'd ever seen. However, the chicken was definitely the best. My ribs were nearly inedible, beings how they were almost all fat and tougher than rawhide (so much for the last plastic knife in the place being of any use). Matt's brisket wasn't very good, either. But he did like the baked beans (when does he not like baked beans?) and we both thought the dirty rice was pretty good.

As I said before, we're not restaurant atmosphere snobs, but I would have to say I do have my limits. The fly strip hanging above Matt's head and the t.v. blaring about what happens to something after it dies --"The head of a dead animal, especially, is a tasty treat for the other forest critters."--didn't exactly improve the taste of my meal.

The guy who owns the new BBQ place was super nice, but his food wasn't so nice. As for Matt's quest to find good BBQ in this part of the country--well, he'll just have to keep trying.

Fall Fun

The kids and I recently visited an apple orchard with several other homeschool families. We pressed apple cider and each family was able to take home eight gallons of yummy goodness.

Yesterday the kids and I met up with the rest of the cousins and Grandma for our annual pumpkin patch hay ride. Unfortunately, instead of our usual crowd of four Macduff generations, we were down to three this year. Grandma Ethel (age 96) couldn't make it as she's been under the weather lately. She was greatly missed by all.
The pumpkin patch we've been frequenting for the last fifteen years has increasingly gone in a more commercial direction. We decided we wouldn't miss the crowds (hoards, actually) and lack of personal attention, so we chose a different location this year.
The farmer was very personable. He took us all on an extra long hay ride, let the kids try out his tire swings and even gave us a discount on the gargantuan pumpkins that the boys (and one girl) chose. The pumpkins were so big that the farmer used his fork lift to load them into the backs of our vans. The farm had a spectacular view, the rain threatened, but thankfully it didn't produce and we had a very peaceful, enjoyable morning. (It was also nice that we were the only family there at the time because it's a lot easier to keep track of fifteen kids when they're not getting all mixed up with other little people.)

Ruling My Domain

This year I'm participating in a Bible study called the "Five Aspects of Woman." So far, I've learned that God created me to rule, subdue and produce within the domain (sphere of authority) that He has given me. My domain includes the things for which I'm responsible in my household. The concept of "ruling my domain" gave me the final push I needed to finally (after several years) create a written schedule.

This past summer, I studied the book "Created to Be His Help Meet" with my sister-in-law and a friend. One of the most convicting parts of the book for me was when Mrs. Pearl asked if there was anything around the house that I could do that would relieve some of my husband's burden. Mrs. Pearl said that this category could even include things that I thought my husband should do.

Immediately our back yard shed came to my mind. It's been a mess since the day we moved, when we literally just threw things in there. It's been a thorn in Matt's side ever since, but he just hasn't had a large enough block of time to commit to the project. Even though I had previously thought Matt should deal with the shed because it has all the "man stuff" in it, I realized that I was perfectly capable of cleaning it myself. Yuck! Quite frankly, that task could not have been lower on my priority list. I put it off all summer. Then I learned the concept of "ruling my domain" in my Bible study. God has given me authority to make decisions about the stuff I own, where to put it, whether to keep it or get rid of it. I knew it was time to tackle the shed (and stepping in a bag of fertilizer while trying to retrieve something I needed was also a good motivator).
This past Tuesday, the kids and I cleaned the shed. Elizabeth watched the littles inside the house while Paul, Grace and myself worked on getting the shed in order. We took everything out and laid it on the lawn and then sorted, discarded and reorganized it all. We gave the shed a good sweeping and organized all the cupboards and shelves. I even separated all the plumbing supplies from the electrical supplies (I think) and hung up all the garden tools. Paul was pretty impressed that I could hammer a nail.
We found a dead mouse and even Paul, who is usually quite eager to deal with anything dead or gross, refused to touch it. But since I am "Mistress of my Domain," I mustered up the courage and got the thing into the garbage. I even killed a Black Widow spider. I was in the "ruling my domain" groove.

The shed project took us the better part of the day to complete, but we all felt good about our accomplishment when we were done. The kids made a big production of showing the newly cleaned shed to Daddy after dinner that night. I think he was pretty stunned. He was also very pleased. "I can't believe you guys did this," he said.
Matt has been working extra hard and dealing with a lot of stress at work lately. Our shed cleaning project was a way for the kids and me to show Matt how much we love and appreciate him. And now I must end this post because I have quite a bit more ruling of my domain to do and according to my schedule, Saturday is project day, so I'd better get to it.

Burst of Gold

Here's a picture of our birch tree in all its autumn splendor. I had hoped to get a picture of it yesterday, but I didn't. Yesterday was a gorgeous balmy day and the birch tree's leaves looked like pure gold in the sunshine. The kids and I were working outside and we stopped to take a moment to relish the beauty of our birch tree.

When I was a little girl, I sat in my grandparents' cozy kitchen and looked out the window at their beautiful birch tree. I remember many a quiet conversation with my grandparents as we sat under that tree in the glider on their deck. My aunt and uncle live in that house now. The birch tree still stands in their yard and I still see it when we sit down to eat a meal with them in their kitchen. That's why I love our birch tree so much.

Shortly after we moved here, one of our big maple trees fell down in a wind storm. One of the other maples had to be removed when we had to put in a new septic drain field. Another tree on our property should be removed as it has suffered irreversible damage due to lack of water over the years. But the birch tree still stands. It has birch borers, but the aborist that looked at the tree said treatment will fix the problem and it will survive.

God is so gracious. When I look out my kitchen window, I'm reminded of how He can do "immeasurably more than what we could ask or think." After all, He gave me my very own birch tree. Today the kids played under the birch with their Grandma as the tree "snowed" leaves of gold. They pressed the prettiest of the leaves between sheets of waxed paper, a reminder of Fall and God's goodness. Yes, God is indeed good and worthy to be praised.

"You alone are the LORD;
You have made heaven,
The heaven of heavens, with all their host,
The earth and everything on it,
The seas and all that is in them,
And You preserve them all.
The host of heaven worships You." Neh. 9:6

Goings On

We're still here, we're just living life--in the fast lane, instead of in the slow lane as I had planned this year.

I'm still working the couponing angle. I've finally put the coupon planning and shopping into several specific time slots during the week. I've also put my other time responsibilities into a schedule, which is something I've been trying to do for the last couple of years. I've bucked against the whole idea of an official "schedule" as it's my natural tendency to be very uptight about not deviating from anything that's been written down. But my dear husband (very kindly) pointed out some imbalance he was seeing in my time management, so I took it to the Lord and He gave me a schedule. The schedule is bare bones enough that I have some flexibility if need be. I'll give this a go for awhile and then work my way toward even better use of my time.
Matt and I are also attending two Bible studies this year, both of which we're enjoying very much, but both of which require a fair bit of time (another reason for the schedule).

Last week I started to get some of the eight boxes of apples that we picked processed. I had to borrow my mother-in-law's mixer. When I upgraded my Kitchenaid mixer a couple of years ago, her applesauce sieve (which you can't buy anymore) no longer fit on my mixer bowl, so I've been borrowing my mother-in-law's mixer every time I make applesauce. This past weekend, however, my mother-in-law presented me with a mixer just like hers (it was given to her by a friend that no longer had any use for it). Now I won't have to schlep her big mixer to my house every Fall. It never ceases to amaze me how God takes care of all the little details.

Yesterday we invited my parents for dinner. They spent a pleasant afternoon with us. A friend of ours challenged Grace to memorize the first chapter of John (which we are studying this year in BSF as well as our small group Bible study). Grandma Jane helped Grace with the memorizing as Grace peeled potatoes for dinner. Grandpa Tom helped post signs around the neighborhood about the lost pig and enjoyed some time shooting the BB gun with Paul and helping with the chickens.

This week we have more schedule keeping to do as well as some clean-up projects to tackle. I'm still trying to get all of the clothes put away after the big Summer to Fall clothes switch out. We're also still trying to put the finishing touches on the kids' rooms, which we recently rearranged. We will post pictures in the near future. Meanwhile, I must get some dinner ready for my hungry little crew.

Piggy Mystery Solved

Three weeks ago, we had a little piggy bantering about our yard, but when we tried to catch him, he went running into the neighbor's hay field and we couldn't find him--until Saturday. The neighbor came over to ask if we had lost a little black piggy. He had been told by another neighbor (whom I'm sure had seen all of us running after the piggy in our back yard) that we owned the pig.

No, we don't own a pig, but we told the man we could find someone who could take it. Enter my friend Julie (we've been friends since kindergarten). We called to see if she could take the little piggy as we knew she and her family had piggy raising experience. "Yep," she said she'd take him. Julie picked him up on her way back to the farm and we told her we'd help pay for the feed and split the sausage with her.

Yesterday we received a phone call from Julie. The piggy was not of the sausage variety, it was of the pot-bellied variety. She had asked her pot-bellied pig loving friends if they would take it and they wouldn't. So the pig was to come back to our house. She made signs for us to post around our neighborhood, which we did.

We even asked some other friends if they would take it. Nope. Already had a guinea pig, didn't need a pot-bellied pig.

Then, providentially, right as Julie was redelivering the pig to our house, the rightful owners called us. They had lost their little pot-bellied pig three weeks ago. They had no hope of finding him again because they were positive that "Bacon Bits" had become tasty victuals for a coyote. They were tickled to have their piggy back and Julie and I were tickled to no longer be the owners of a little piggy. The guy even gave us eight tickets to the corn maze that he owns. I gave the tickets to Julie since she paid for feed and housed the pig for three days (she even brought him into her house at night because he was shivering).

Bacon Bit's mama wrapped him in a blanket to take him home. She held him like a baby and he squealed and grunted delightedly (I'm not kidding). A very happy piggy reunion. I had prayed that God would take care of that little piggy when he ran away. Guess what? My God is big enough to care about little pot-bellied piggies who've got wanderlust.

"Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows." Matt. 10:29-31
Ahhh--back in mama's arms. (The pig looks much bigger in this picture than he actually is. He's not more than 10 lbs--his mama is just really petite.)

Home at Last

Yesterday, Chris Klicka, homeschooling dad and attorney for the Homeschool Legal Defense Association, lost his fifteen year battle with MS, but is now in Heaven with his beloved Jesus.

Seven years ago the Lord started to impress upon Matt's heart and then mine that we should begin homeschooling. We attended our first homeschool conference. Chris Klicka was the keynote speaker. The words Chris spoke at that conference touched our hearts, but his actions are what really made a deep impression on me.

Chris struggled to walk, even with the assistance of a cane, to the podium in order to speak to the conference attendees. He struggled to stand and deliver his message. I saw him struggling all weekend, but never once did I see a look of discouragement on his face.

Chris Klicka was instrumental in giving me the confidence to take the plunge, follow God's leading and begin homeschooling. I thought to myself, "If that man can overcome so many obstacles in order to homeschool, than surely I can homeschool, too."

Homeschooling is not easy. Chris Klicka didn't say that it would be, but he did say it would be worth it. Now in our seventh year of homeschooling, I can attest that homeschooling is worth it. The Lord has allowed us to see some of the fruit He is producing through our homeschooling and I have confidence that He will continue to show us more fruit in His good time.

"Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." Heb. 12:1

Winter Wonderland

This morning our yard turned into a winter wonderland in the middle of autumn. The lawn sprinklers froze and created icicles all over the yard.

Field Trip

Yesterday the kids and I went on an unexpected field trip. We had planned on going to see Grandpa Tom and Grandma Jane so we could pick apples together, but we hadn't planned on getting a lesson in agriculture at the same time.

One of the women who works for my Dad has a brother who is an apple farmer. His apples got hit by hail this year. The skin on many of the apples has scars from the hail. Since the damage was so widespread, the farmer decided not to thin or harvest them this year--the cost would have been too great, even if the apples had just been sold for sauce or juice. The food bank wouldn't even take the apples because they were "damaged." (This was really too bad, because it was a shame to see all the fruit going to waste.)

Anyway, we were invited to pick as many apples as we wanted. The orchard had Fujis, Braeburns, Goldens and Grannies. If you were careful to pick on the South side off of the lower branches, there were plenty of unblemished apples from which to choose. We picked almost eight boxes.

Then our hostess took us to another farm to get some potatoes. When we arrived they were busy harvesting. The kids and I had never seen potatoes harvested before, so we asked plenty of questions about the process.

Once the potatoes are dug from the ground, they travel to the farm via semi-truck where they are unloaded onto a huge apparatus called "Spudnik" which carries the potatoes into the enormous shed in which they are stored. The vines, weeds, rocks and such are picked out by hand as the potatoes travel along the conveyor belt to the shed. Any "green" matter is a potential rot hazard and needs to be removed.

The potatoes are put into the shed (which has a aerated floor) with a piler. The piler is operated by a man who has a remote control joy stick. The shed had four bays, each able to hold 600 tons of potatoes. The potatoes will be stored until as late as next July, depending on the rise and fall of market prices.

The potatoes are checked every day for "hot spots." Hot spots indicate spoilage. A laser thermometer is used to check the potatoes' temperature. The potatoes also have their temperature taken manually when a man climbs out onto the huge pile of potatoes and sticks a thermometer into them. Any hot spots that are found must be eliminated by removing all of the potatoes stored in front of the hot spot and then removing and discarding all the potatoes in and around the hot spot.

Since I grew up around wheat farming, learning about potato farming was all new to me. In fact I may have enjoyed myself even more than the kids did. We left the farm dirty and tired, but we all agreed it was a good time. Even Elizabeth, who had protested earlier in the day about the long car ride, said she enjoyed herself.
(Videos by my Dad, on his iPhone.)

My Big Ears

I overheard the following conversation a few days ago:

Paul: "Grace, can we let Daddy be in our club?"
Grace: "I don't know . . ."
Paul: "Daddy is older than you, so that would mean you couldn't be the president anymore."
Grace: "Well, we'll have to see . . ."

A few minutes later I heard Paul approach each of his other siblings. "Vote for Daddy to be in the club. Vote for Daddy to be in the club."

Might we have a politician in our midst? A bag piping politician--now that would be quite the shtick. Only time will tell, I guess.

How Do I Love Thee. . .

Let me count the ways. . .
(Sixteen ways because sixteen years ago today I married the man I love)

1. I love how much you love Jesus.
2. I love the way you make me laugh.
3. I love the way you grab me and kiss me in the middle of the kitchen and send the kids scurrying in embarrassment.
4. I love the way you sing Nat King Cole's "Mona Lisa," substituting "Melissa" for "Mona Lisa."
5. I love to see you run across the yard with the kids--laughing hysterically as you chase a football or a chicken or a pig.
6. I love how you never complain about a lack of dinner or clean underwear.
7. I love that no matter how tired or busy you are, you always take the time to change a messy diaper.
8. I love how much you love to sing hymns.
9. I love that you're so good at math (because I'm not and sometimes its nice to have a human calculator around).
10. I love that you're always so patient when I ask you to explain something to me for the umpteenth time.
11. I love how you remember everything you read.
12. I love how you're always thinking deep theological thoughts.
13. I love that when I really need to go to WalMart, you're willing to go with me on date night even though you can't stand the place.
14. I love that you read the Bible to the kids.
15. I love how you work so hard to provide for the kids and me.
16. I love your hugs and the way you smell.

Happy Anniversary, my Matthew. God has been so gracious and faithful to us. Here's to another sixteen years and beyond!