Kingswood 08

Here we are at Kingswood for our annual camping trip. The weather was beautiful pretty much the whole time. Stars at night were so clearly seen like no where else I've ever been to. We took Gracie along and she was a lot of fun. She loved it. She was our little protector our anything in the woods alarm. She just needs to learn the difference between a frog alert and a bear alert.
Of course it was fun spending some time with the Haughery's. They are fun people and a blessing to be around. Kingswood is just a wonderful place to build memories with our family. It's definitely a highlight of our summer.

tomato bombs.......

So last night Erika and her son Elijah stopped over. Erika and I were chatting and then Erika glanced into the kitchen and then walked into the kitchen and she kind of yelled out in horror. I quickly walked over almost afraid to look at what was going on. Elijah was squatting on top of the table beside an almost empty basket of tomatoes. There was splattered tomatoes all over the floor. Rico was out there too just kind of standing off to the side. Of course we asked Elijah what in the world was going on. He kind of blamed Rico and when we asked Rico what happened he pointed to Elijah.
Needless to say something happened and it's a pretty good bet it was the both of them. But it's beyond me that either one of them would have done that. It really is out of character. For some reason tomatoes started flying. We got it all cleaned up and life goes on. But this memory will make me shake my head for awhile in disbelief.

New song........

Blessed Is The One


Blessed is the one whose sins are overcome
Whom God has sheltered deep within His grace
Blessed is the one who trusts in God the Son
His steadfast love the sinner’s hiding place

Jesus, Your blood covers all my sin
Jesus, Your love draws my heart to sing
What a Savior, Jesus

I will always hide at my Savior’s side
I find my refuge in His sovereign care
When the waters rise, God will hear my cries
His steadfast love will hold me safely there

© 2008 Sovereign Grace Worship (ASCAP)



I love this song. The first time I heard it was at the WG08 Conference. It really effected my heart. This song felt so personal to me. It has the feel of coming out of a personal quiet time with Jesus and just singing quietly to Him.
I was able to buy the new SG CD called "Psalms" at the conference. It's a great CD probably the best so far from SG. It should soon be available at our Crossway resource center. It's worth the money.
Doug also has another song on this CD it's called. "Praise the Lord" this is also a really great song. We sang this song a lot at the conference. Definitely a song you can celebrate the Lord with. I'm looking forward to singing these songs at Crossway hopefully soon. It is so very cool seeing how God is using Doug here at Crossway and all over the world where ever these CD's go.

Walking at the property.

Yesterday we went out to the church property for a walk/bike ride. Edwin, Rico, Gracie and I walked while Bri and Bella rode there bikes. It was a beautiful night.
After the walk we threw a little frisbee. The church property is so beautiful I wonder why more people don't go over and use it.

Worship God 08 pictures

WorshipGod08 Conference

I have the privilege of going to this conference. July 30th to Aug. 2nd. The folks who are making the trip are Doug Plank, John Teeter, Laura Carroll, Sara Rankin, Matt&Kim Randolph, Lane&Lori Randolph, Stephen&Ann Smith and Keith&Kristin Bunting.
Would you please pray for us. We are all staying with host families which is such a blessing. I'll be with both Randolph couples. Janet Borghi was to go to the conference as well and should have been with me at my host family kind of like my buddy. She would have made a great buddy. She's such a sweet woman but things shaped up for her not being able to go after all. My first reaction was I didn't want to go either. I don't know I just felt weird. But God has been changing my heart and has changed my heart to I do want to go and am looking forward to how He will use this conference in my life. It's my little adventure. I do know that the conference is full. Over 1600 people are signed up to be there. I hope I remember my camera. And while you are praying would you pray for my family here at home. Thank you. =)

Longs Park........

Noah asked Edwin and I to go with him to Longs Park to here Habib. The whole family would have went but the kids wanted to go swimming with the Mellingers. So it ended up as a rare time but sweet time Edwin and I alone with our son Noah. It was a wonderful evening. We took our Q grill and some burgers and snacks as we waited for the show to begin. We got there around 6 show didn't start till 7:30. But it pays to come early. Great parking space and free pick of where to sit. We had a good time people watching. People are crazy! The band was sooooo good. I think I will get there CD.
I have no idea what they were saying though as it was all in African. So I should probably try to find the lyrics somewhere first. It was fun to be there with Edwin and Noah enjoying a free night of great music.

Donut Peaches.......

For those of you who may not ever heard about these peaches. They are called Donut Peaches and they are the cutest things. As you can see they look like donuts. They have a small stone or seed in the middle. They are very easy to eat.
They are white peaches. And they are very flavorful. Just the right size for snacking. Right now they have some at Costco but they call theres Saucer Peaches. But if you want to take a nice little road trip head on down to Kauffman's Fruit Farm and they have the smaller ones pictured there. I'm not sure how long the season is so gettem while the gettin is good. Also Kauffman's now have a website that you can check for specials. It's http://www.kauffmansfruitfarm.com/

 

couple things........

First of all if you are reading my posts would you take the time to comment even if it's just a hi it would be encouraging for me to know that someone is reading on a regular basis along with Gina. =)

The kids and I went over to the church property this passed week for a walk for me,Rico and Gracie and a run for Bri and Bella. I have to put a plug in for the property. What a beautiful place to take your kids too or a family picnic. Apart from Sundays I'm not sure how much it gets used. But it's well worth the time to get there. We plan on going more.

Yesterday I had such a fun day. I got to drive Amish to a picnic they had along with my mom and sister Diane. They needed three vans so mom asked me to help. I love to drive things with power and the van I drove definitely has it. I took it easy on my Amish friends though. We picked the Amish up at 8:30 and took them to there company picnic somewhere towards the Welsh Mountains. We didn't need to pick them up again till 6:30p.m. Mom had more runs to take but Diane and I were free. So Diane and I went to a about 4 Amish stores and checked out things along with a gift shop. We did meet up with Mom for a later lunch at the Bird in Hand Restaurant as well. It was a fun fun day. I wish I would have remembered my camera.

Ratatouille

I only recently found out what Ratatouille really was. Not just a movie. I made these wonderful grilled veggies layed out below and it's excellent. The great thing is I have all these veggies in the recipe in my garden. What fun picking your own vegetables. Get your grill fired up and have some Ratatouille.






Grilled Ratatouille Recipe courtesy Bobby Flay

2 zucchini, cut into quarters lengthwise
2 yellow squash, cut into quarters lengthwise
2 Japanese eggplant, halved lengthwise
2 red bell peppers, stemmed, seeded and quartered
2 yellow bell peppers, stemmed, seeded and quartered
2 red onions, quartered
1 pint cherry tomatoes
1/2 cup olive oil, plus 2 tablespoons
Salt and freshly ground pepper
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh oregano leaves
1/4 cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsley leaves
Preheat grill to medium-high.

Place all cut vegetables and the tomatoes in a large shallow baking dish, add the 1/2 cup of olive oil, and toss to coat. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Place the vegetables on the grill and cook for 5 to 6 minutes, turning halfway through the cooking time. Remove the tomatoes, cover grill, and cook the remaining vegetables for 2 minutes, or until almost cooked through. Transfer vegetables to a cutting board and coarsely chop (leave tomatoes whole). Place the chopped vegetables and tomatoes in a large bowl, add the 2 tablespoons of olive oil, garlic, oregano and parsley and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Serve at room temperature.

Crossway blog.........

I want to put a plug in for the Crossway blog. This blog is worth looking at everyday. I know I do. Everyday Monday through Friday I get up in the morning and I go through my morning routine which includes checking my email and checking the Crossway blog. I love looking at it. I'm very interested in what our pastors have to say. There entries are always encouraging and who doesn't want to be encouraged. And then the little icing on the cake is Fridays. Fridays are special because we get to here from the wives of our pastors.
I so look forward to which wife is going to post and what is she going to say. It's not easy having a blog and writing things that you hope make sense. I hope everyone is appreciative of the effort the pastors and there wives are making to help us know them better and to encourage us in our walk with God. So this is just a little friendly reminder to please read the Crossway blog and don't just read it but post your comments on it as well. Since this blog was created for the church family I do believe the pastors and there wives would truly be blessed to have more people interact on the blog. So don't forget to check the Crossway blog. The pastors and there wives are writing to you and for you.

Mountains 08

Oh goodness I was trying to post these pictures for awhile and I finally got it all working. These are pictures from our annual mountains vacation. We had a great time.
I'll let the pictures do the talking.

Father/Daughter Campout...

As you can see Bella had a great time at the campout spending time with her Dad and friends. I asked Bella what was the highlight of the campout and she said waking up in the tent with her Dad. I thought that was sweet. When Bella and Edwin were pulling out of the driveway on there way to the campout the look on Bella's face was so sweet you could see her excitement of being with her Dad for some quality alone time. It's not always easy to find that one on one time with our kids but I can see the benefit of it is great. Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Mom......

 

Even though this picture is below in the slide show I thought it deserved to be by itself. I love this picture of my mom. Even though the flowers are beautiful around her she is even more beautiful then they are to me. I love my mommy!

Mother's Day Excursion......

For Mother's Day my sisters, my daughters and I took mom out. We went to Waterloo Gardens which is on the way to King of Prussia. Funny how the closer you get to Philly or away from Lancaster County how expensive flowers and plants are. We've got it made here with flower prices. But we had a nice time looking around at the gift shops and garden departments. On the way home we ate at Chili's. We all had very good meals. It was a nice day with our much loved mom. And oh the picture of what looks like Bella spilling a drink on Bri's pocketbook was all staged. It was one of those fake glasses with fake spillage.

the mind...........

It's very interesting how the mind works. Thoughts come flying in and out all the time. It's not fun when the thoughts are not glorfying to the Lord but on the other hand when thoughts come that do point us to God well that's a good thing. This morning I had a nice thought. This oldie but goodie of a song just popped into my head while I was cleaning up the kithchen this morning.

As the deer pants for the water so my soul longs after you
You alone are my hearts desire and I long to worship you.

I want my hearts desire to be as this song states.

The eagles again........

I went to see the Eagles again a couple of weeks ago and that time I saw one. Wow! it was so cool to see he or she flying all around. Seeing the white head just really gave me a thrill I was squealing with excitement as I had my binoc's trained on it. So we went to visit mom today and then Diane, Mom and I went to see the Eagle again. This time we didn't see any. For those of you who want to know where the Eagles have there nest here's the directions. Go to Intercourse turn right on Hollander Rd. Follow Hollander all the way till you come to Peters Rd. Pull into Zeltenreich Church and face your car towards Peters Rd. and as you look across the field you will see the big nest and hopefully some Eagles. I here the best time to see the Eagles is either in the mornings or right before dusk. Let me know if anyone heads down there I'd like to here how it went.

Rico's progress.......

Rico is reading is at the 1st grade level. He is reading books at school from the "Reading Milestones" series. There are 10 books in the series and he is up to book 8. The story he is currently reading is called "Friends".
Rico is working on filling out simple job applications. He is also working on comprehending advertisements, utility bills, check writing and understanding local newspapers. His teachers work with Rico on explaining the listed things and he has to answer comprehension questions about them.
Rico has mastered printing his address. He is working on writing "friendly" notes. He will work next on writing the return address in the proper place on an envelope.
Rico needs to apply himself more at following directions. He has demonstrated he is able to do read directions but is not following through with this lately.
Rico is doing Saxon Math. He is able to count pennies up to 100 4/6 times accurately.
He is also counting by fives up to 30 and using nickels. This is hard for him to do.
He is learning to use the calculator. He is also working on filling out bank deposits, and withdrawal slips. Rico is learning how to use an analog clock and tell time.
Rico is taken out with his class and is learning how to navigate through people and places like the grocery store.
Rico goes out on job training weekly. I am told he works well and is diligent in his work.
Rico is continuing in learning how to use his Dynavox to speak for him. He navigates it well but must be reminded to use it in conversation. He can use his Dynavox for many things such as saying the Pledge of Allegiance. Rico needs to learn more about using his Dynavox to ask questions and share his feelings and tell about his life. We want Rico to learn how to initiate conversation using his Dynavox.
Rico is still learning how to button his pants, tie his shoes, zipper his jacket.
Concerning Rico's diagnosis of having Celiac Disease. He is adjusting very well to eating his gluten free foods. Pancakes for breakfast, lunch and dinner consist of either mac and cheese, spaghetti, rice, french fries, yogurt, applesauce. Snacks consist of Utz potato chips, pretzels and corn curls. He drinks milk, and o.j. and can have some soda I know that the brand Pepsi and Coke are gluten free so I'm sticking with those. I have a goal of trying to get Rico to eat meat. Since he is anemic it would be so good for him to get more protein in him.
I give Jesus all the glory for making the transition for Rico from gluten to non-gluten foods. It hasn't been that difficult and I thought that it would be. The hardest part is myself having to always make his food which isn't hard just takes more time.

a peek............

Okay well I thought I'd give you a little peek into my morning routine for a change. This morning I got up at 5:30 and got a shower. 6:00 went downstairs and started making breakfast. Pancakes for Rico and eggs for the girls. During the hour from 6-7 is probably the most trying time of my day. Sin is usually flying none stop through out the morning. Whether it's my girls not getting along or me being inpatient and angry that the girls aren't getting along, me trying to hurry up my one daughter who daily pushes the envelope on not getting ready on time. Me yelling for the girls to hurry up and get downstairs the bus is coming up the hill. It's very rarely that our mornings go well. God is definitely using that time to point out all my weaknesses and the areas we need to grow as a family. Honestly at times it can feel overwhelming and hopeless that we are ever going to grow in our patience and obedience. The very thing I'm asking my kids to grow in is exactly what I need to grow in. What a circle. Many times I take my eyes off of God and only think about everything I'm doing wrong instead of keeping my eyes on Jesus and all that he accomplished for me and the hope I have in Him for grace to change. So if you think of me during the hours between 6 & 7a.m. please throw up a prayer for me you can rest assured I most definitely am needing it.

Fab 5

 

 

Fifty is Nifty. At least that's what I hear. Two of my Fab 5 friends Connie and Roxanne have already found out since they turned 50 this year. The Fab 5 ladies had a little surprise get together for the birthday girls. We met at the "Blue Pacific" which I highly recommend eating there it was super. Good food, good conversation, birthday cake, balloons, and gifts were the order of the night. Have you ever heard of Pandora bracelets. Well they are these really cool charm braclets and that's what we got the ladies. It will be a tradition now that we will all get one when we turn 50. After dinner it was back to Sharon's house for a sleep over. Fun times!