Home Ec 101....

We have had fun this fall spending some time with our special friends, the E's who are teaching us how to can fruits. The girls have time together in the kitchen while the little boys and their friend I are busy doing 'boy things'....Our first project was making jam~

We learned that with jam precision is key both with the amount of ingredients used and the time you boil the fruit! A good lesson for my girl who loves to cook but isn't so keen on reading the directions completely first!! Thankfully there were no mishaps...Mrs. E was there to keep that from happening :)

We made peach and strawberry jam and it was so delicious!!!

Ready to boil...

Hot, hot jars of jam out of the canner and ready to cool on the counter~

A few weeks later, our next project was applesauce....

My smart shopping friend purchased all these apples for $10!!

How grateful I am for enthusiastic kitchen helpers. The girls spent at least an hour helping to scrub and slice apples...of course they were able to put aside book work so that's always a nice motivator!!

Getting ready for the E's...

Now the fun part...using the food mill to mash the cooked apples~

Thank goodness for eager hands ...

and many workers!!

The boys and the littlest E took a brief turn milling but quickly concluded Legos were more fun!!

Getting them ready for boiling...

Boiled and ready to cool...

A job well done...what a sense of accomplishment to have all of this to show for a few hours of labor!! We will enjoy the fruits of our labor all winter long :)

I am so grateful for friends who I can glean from and make memories with!!

Happy Belated Birthday, Odesco!

Yes, I am officially 6 weeks behind on posting...now that Mercy's birthday is just days away, I am a bit compelled to get Odesco's birthday post on here...as you can tell, life has been full in the B household. We had our family vacation in September this year and Odesco actually celebrated his birthday in Florida! Pictures forthcoming on another post. Homeschooling is in full swing and we have been busy preparing for our outside coop classes. It's all good and a blessing though...now that some of my outside teaching responsibilities are behind me, I hope to keep up with our family archive here.
It is hard to believe that our youngest son is now 7 years old and a 2nd grader~ We are so grateful to the Lord for adding this little guy to our family almost 4 years ago! Some things I love about our boy:

*He has a very unique sense of humor and keeps us laughing~ He also is quite the dancer...showing his moves when he thinks no one is watching!
*His hidden talent:he can wipe his mouth without a napkin...he has the longest, most agile tongue I have ever seen. Now, this is a 'skill' I try to discourage with the use of a napkin but being practical he wonders,"Why waste a napkin, when I can just lick it off!?"

*He is a deep thinker: One evening he was pondering the workings of heaven and trying to wrap his brain around the details we had read in the book Heaven for Kids. He was worried and concerned and I was so grateful he allowed his Daddy and me into his world to talk about eternity.
* He loves to invent things and is often the culprit behind my empty scotch tape dispenser :) With paper and gobs of tape, this little guy can come up with some pretty ingenious inventions!
I'm so grateful this little man is a part of our family!!

P bought Odesco all these balls...he loves balls and has been known to actually name them...Sadly, he lost 'Jimmy' on the roof at church...you would have thought this was a family member the way his siblings ran to tell me "Jimmy is up on the roof".... my mind raced as I tried to figure out who Jimmy's mom was so we could rescue the little guy...phew, was I relieved when the kids reminded me it was Odesco's favorite ball!!

I try to take out one of the kiddos each week for 1:1 time...thankfully we have lots of coupons from birthday clubs and other venues so we can keep it cost effective. Odesco's turn just happened to be right in time to use his Bob Evans Birthday club coupon...he enjoyed this meal to the last crumb...but he did share his french fries with me because he wanted me to have more than just a cup of coffee :)!!

Odesco really wanted a 'ripstick' for his birthday. It is a fancy skateboard and quite pricey. I looked on Craigs list and found one for $20 but the lady never contacted me. While we were in Florida she finally returned my email and the day we returned home I went and picked it up as a gift from Mimi and Pop-Pop. It is in like new condition and even came with a dvd and a new set of wheels...he has spent many hours in our cul-de- sac perfecting his skills:) How kind of the Lord to provide in this way~

Odesco was very patient in waiting for his birthday dinner since we were in Florida on his special day. He requested meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and potato green soup...he and Mercy were the only ones who ate that up. I love his 'potato green soup' smile~ in many of the pictures we received while the kids were still in Liberia, they would have shiny mouths... after they came home,I finally realized it was the red palm oil from this dish~

Thanks for still checking in in spite of my delinquent posts!

Now to Him who is Able....

Yesterday we held our first Homeschooler's Day Out in our OWN building!!!! I never did post about our 'Grand Opening Summer' as we are now settling into our new beautiful building which officially opened the beginning of June. It still seems surreal that after 17 years of holding meetings in schools and hotels, we finally have a church home. It was very moving when we recounted the mercies, favor, and grace of God upon our church family through these years. God has met us mightily in hotel ballrooms, school cafeterias, and auditoriums. He moved in our midst regardless of our lack of air conditioning and comfy chairs. Now that we do have this amazing place to call home, we are positioned to reach out in new venues that were not possible previously. It really is an exciting time in the life of Sovereign Grace Church! As I have said so many times, I am so grateful to be planted in such fertile soil. I am overwhelmed with gratitude that our children have the privilege to grow up in such a loving, supportive environment. There's no place I'd rather be than here, where the Lord transplanted us 17 years ago!!

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Ephesians 3:20

Our new building!!

Aren't the rocking chairs so inviting??

The warm and cozy lobby where we hold smaller meetings, youth group and even some HDO classes!

The well equipped nursery :)

G was thrilled to be able to help with this wee one during her free period~

L and Odesco, hard at work in their Hands on History class:)

Mercy showing of her timeline~

If you click on this picture, you can see the full schedule offered to our students... it really amazes me that our little group can offer so much!

Moms hanging out during our lunch break

Four Square is making a comeback!! Our kids play it all the time now in the court in front of our house~

Knitting/crocheting class...I love how our girls are becoming proficient at this skill and using this to bless others with their projects!

Felicia is old enough now to join Knitting Class...Mercy was trying to help her get started!

G with her newly rolled ball of yarn in her favorite color!!

I took this picture in our last class of the day...it's not great quality but it is significant. I am including a quote from my dear friend, KB who sent out a followup email after our first HDO.
"I have to admit, I got a little teary today in the last class of the day. It was our Tapestry of Grace class with the older children and what struck me was that we had more people in that room than we had on our church planting team in 1993! No one on the team back then would have ever imagined a building of our own...with a homeschooling group of our own...with all of the wonderful people God has added through the years. Yes, Lord, You certainly do more than we could ever ask or imagine!!"
I also was undone to consider all that the Lord has done...here I was sitting in a class with my favorite people including my 2 oldest sons...
Yes, He has done more than we could ask or imagine!!

Mimi and Pop-Pop's new place!! Many Hands make light work--

Friday, the kids and I were thrilled to see Mimi and Pop-Pop after their summer away in Indiana. They sold their house in June and put most of their stuff in storage in preparation for their move to the new place. We were able to help them unload their storage unit into a rental truck and then move the boxes into the garage of their new home. We all loved their new place...because of the open layout, it feels so spacious and inviting...perfect for family gatherings with 28 grandchildren!!! The Lord certainly directed their steps and ordained all of this in His perfect timing...I stand amazed at all the details that had to fall into place for this to happen. The fact that their house sold in this economy is no small miracle in itself! We are all looking forward to making new memories with Mimi and Pop-Pop,cousins, aunts and uncles, in their new place!!!

The unloading of the storage unit went pretty smoothly...

P and C fit everything into the truck and our van with no room to spare!

Quick, shut the doors before anything falls out!!!

Phew...the unit is empty!!! After a 30 minute drive through beautiful back country roads, we arrived....

Front view of their home...as you can see by the lack of landscaping, construction is ongoing but the inside is finished and so beautiful!

The rest of the street is still "hard hat" territory!

Home sweet home...the kids thought the bow(hung there by the Builders) was pretty sweet!

Mimi in her beautiful new kitchen~

Catching up on snuggle time~

After lunch, we emptied out the truck....I was proud of the kiddos who all worked really diligently :)

A job well done!!

In the midst of the boxes, C (aka 'Cyber Boy') unearthed the computer and was able to set it up for them... He was bugged though that he could not solve the wireless connection glitch...it was solved later by a 'professional' :)

After unloading the truck, we took a walk on the path behind the house...it is so beautiful-lots of sprawling Amish farms, and mountains in the distance~i can't wait to see the valley ablaze with color in another month or so!!!

Their development even has its own water tower... we hope it never springs a leak!!!

And of course no visit to Mimi and Pop-Pop's is complete without ice cream...this picture was snapped just as Pop Pop declared," I think I died and went to heaven"....

My heart overflows with gratitude for His care and provision for Mimi and Pop-Pop