Caleb's Bible Class

Caleb is getting completely immersed in the world of ministry. The church has kept him busy leading singing, visiting the sick, attending youth events and other aspects of church work.  Tonight he taught the auditorium class.  He was given the topic of 'How Can We Trust the Bible?'  The best part is the church streams the lessons on their YouTube channel! Enjoy! 

 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

3 John 4

Homemade Canned Tamales

Today I made us tamales for lunch, but it can be a lot of work.  So I usually make a double batch and freeze the extra tamales for another day.  So of course my thoughts move to if you can freeze it you can can it. 

So I flipped through my grandmother's Kerr canning book and there was a recipe for canning tamales.  I'll save the part about the recipe for tamales, basically you can begin with your favorite tamale recipe, pork, chicken, beef or combo.  We happen to prefer beef tamales. 

Once you've prepared your tamales and rolled them, pack them into sterilized Ball Wide Mouth Quart Jars. You can use a butter knife to make it easier to make room to pack the tamales into your jars.  I was able to pack nine tamales into each quart jar.  Add 1 tablespoon of water to each jar before sealing.

Put on lids and bands screwing them down firmly tight, Process in Pressure Canner at 10 pounds of pressure for 75 minutes, (60 minutes if using pints). 

Ta da!  Homemade canned tamales!  Serve with chili, or cheese or salsa. Homemade lunch in minutes! 

So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
1 Corinthians 10:31

Canning Caramelized Onions

While the girls and spent a lot of time peeling skins off of our green bell peppers, Jon chopped up six pounds of yellow onions for me. I like the caramelized onions in casseroles, on fajitas, in soup and other dishes.  But I don't always have onions on hand or want to take the time to cook them down.  

I tossed the sliced onions in my crock pot on low adding one stick, half a cup, of melted butter.  Stir to coat the onions and allow them to cook for about ten hours.  The onions will cook down to about one fourth of your beginning volume. 

To preserve them in canning jars add your caramelized onions to sterilized Half Pint Mason Jars and top with 1/2 teaspoon of Canning Salt.  Wipe the rims of your jars with vinegar to remove any oily residue. Because onions are a low acid food and since they were cooked with butter, I processed the jars at 10 pounds of pressure for 70 minutes in my Pressure Canner. 

We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost—
also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic.  Numbers 11:5

Canning Bell Peppers

So I'm missing the boy and needing something to keep me busy.  If only I had something to can!  We have about seven bell pepper plants all which are loaded down with peppers.  Normally I would just wash, seed and freeze them.  But instead I looked up how to can them.  

Apparently when canning bell peppers you want to remove the skins because they can become bitter in the canning process.  Sounds easy enough, right?  No, no it's not.  

One website said to put the halved peppers on a cooking sheet, drizzle with oil and sprinkle with salt.  Then bake in the oven remove from heat and peel the skins right off.  No that didn't work.  Another site said to toss baked peppers in a paper bag for 20 minutes and steam the skins off. No.

I ended up placing the peppers in a skillet with olive oil skins down on a high heat.  This blisters the skin.  Remove peppers from the skillet and dip in ice water to peel off the skins. 

Pack the peppers into Half Pint Mason Jars and cover with water and 1/2 teaspoon of Morton Canning and Pickling Salt.  Process in a Pressure Canner for 35 minutes at 10lbs of pressure.  

I have cooked with a few of the jars and they add a wonderful flavor to pastas and Mexican food.  But I'm not sure I would go through all that work again.  Peeling the skins was incredibly time consuming and I was very grateful for my two helpers, but next time I will just freeze my peppers. 

You will eat the fruit of your labor;

    blessings and prosperity will be yours.

Psalm 128:2

Year Round Softball

There is a saying by Ernie Banks, "It's a great day for a ball game; let's play two!"  In Abigail's case today it was a great day for a softball game so she played three!  Fortunately her tournament was in town so several of her friends made it to the ball fields to watch her play.  

She caught one game and played in the outfield for the other two games.  She had several good hits and scored in two of the games!  That's a good day at the ball park. 

For through wisdom your days will be many,

    and years will be added to your life.

Proverbs 9:11

PC's and Pizzas

Tonight was another meeting of our PEACH Technology Club for the high schoolers. Today they worked on building frequencies and their applications. 

The group was going to take a break over the summer but have enjoyed handing out and learning from Mr. Kleinfall so they've kept the meetings going through the summer.  

The nice thing for this mom is that the girl can drive herself to the meetings, AND the meetings are near the Papa John's where we pick up pizzas on Thursdays for the food pantry.  That means she can stop by and pick up pizzas and drop them off at the pantry's cooler on her way home.  Tonight she snapped a picture of the back of her car loaded with pizzas.  That's just the back of the car there are more stacked in the back seat. 

Praise our God, all peoples,

    let the sound of his praise be heard

Psalm 66:8

Happy Birthday, Ryan!

We took a break today to run up to Ada to celebrate Ryan's 18th birthday a couple of days early.  The girls loved seeing the new calf born earlier this week.  We all had a good visit and enjoyed hanging out and celebrating with Ryan.  It's hard to believe these kids are one by one becoming adults. 

Let this present that your servant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who follow my lord.  I Samuel 25:27

Doing Good

It's Monday morning so we are back to work at our local food pantry.  We put out the call today for food donations and our community responded.  

Abigail went to work helping unload cars with donations and Frankie worked inside marking bar codes and circling food expiration dates.  

Some of the things we go through the most are spaghetti sauce, canned mixed veggies, canned spinach, canned potatoes, soup, mac & cheese, dried beans, canned pasta, and toiletries.  

Most food pantries can do the most good with cash donations because for $20 they can purchase food from local food banks at a dramatically reduced price.  In fact the cost of purchasing food from a food bank can be about one fifth of the sale price at the grocery store!  So with a monetary donation food pantries can purchase five times the amount of food for the same dollar value!  Just something to keep in mind, when you're wanting to help out!   

You shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may go well with you, and that you may go in and take possession of the good land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers.  Deuteronomy 6:18

Sunday Selfies

The Lord's Day is the best day of the week!  It is the day we pause everything to worship.  It is who we are and the driving force between everything we do.

When the kids were young I loved even the car ride to church.  The three would recited all the books of the Old Testament and New, then we would sing songs on the twenty-five minute drive to the church building.

At services even when the kids got older they still choose to sit with Jon and I as a family.  

When Caleb went to college my mom heart missed the family camaraderie on Sunday mornings. We began a new tradition in the spirit of what held us together.   Every Sunday morning we send Caleb a Sunday selfie taken in the car on our way to church.  Caleb would then take his picture or a pic of him with friends at church and send it to us.  Now that Caleb is working with the church in Houston, we've continued that tradition.  This is the Sunday Selfie from his first day at work! 

After worship services this morning Abigail had another ball game in her tournament so I included a few pics from our afternoon. 

What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, 

who will be able to teach others also. 2 Timothy 2:2

Field, Friends and Fun

High school softball season has ended, and this week select softball season began.  Abigail's select team is Rage, she's been with them for two seasons.  The select teams in the area kicked off the season with a tournament this weekend, with each team guaranteed three games today and two tomorrow afternoon.  

The girls played three games between 8am and 5pm.  Each of the teams set up pop up shades tents and camp out for the day.  Each of the players brought food and some of the dads grilled and kept the girls nourished throughout the day.  

Richard brought Melissa and Hannah down to watch the girl play ball and after her final game of the day we headed to On the Border for some Mexican food!  It was so good to hang out with them, there was so much laughter!  Why the girl is drinking salsa out of straw is beyond me! 

“Go in peace, for we have sworn friendship with each other in the name of the Lord, saying, ‘The Lord is witness between you and me, and between your descendants and my descendants forever.’”
I Samuel 20:42

New Adventures

This morning Caleb headed to Houston for his paid summer internship.  He will be working as a Ministry Intern for a congregation in Baytown, Texas.  Our Biblical Text and Preaching major is beyond excited for this opportunity!  He's completed two years of college on the Dean's Honor Roll.  This year he had two semesters of Greek, Hermeneutics, Homiletics and other subjects I'm sure I can't pronounce!  

His internship will be working as a ministry intern with the pulpit and youth ministers.  He will be staying by himself in a home near the church building.  It belongs to a member of the congregation who is doing missionary work in Romania this summer.  It's a great arrangement, Caleb gets a place to stay and they get someone to house sit! 

As you can see, Padme' wasn't anymore ready for Caleb to leave than we were but I'm so proud of Caleb and look forward to hearing about his adventures! 

How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?  And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!"  Romans 10:14-15

Rest for the Weary

Caleb has been home for fourteen days and the two weeks have gone by too quickly for me!  He managed to squeeze in time with his sisters, family pictures, hang out with friends at the food pantry and some time in the kitchen with mom.  No one tells you that what every college kid wants more than anything is to sleep and eat home cooked meals!  

Between classes, working in the Bible office, tutoring eight students in Algebra, Student Senate, Kyodai, Honors and Ambassadors the boy was warn out! Knowing he would need to hit the ground running as soon as he got to Houston, he tried to get a little caught up on his sleep. It's a good thing we have a dog who likes to sleep almost as much!   

Truly my soul finds rest in God;

    my salvation comes from him.

Psalm 62:1

Canning Pulled Pork

Yesterday I asked Caleb if there was anything he wanted home cooked and he said, a pulled pork sandwich!  Guess what I'm cooking today? 

After our morning Bible reading I ran up to Kroger where pork shoulder roasts were on sale.  Because they were $0.99 per pound instead of $2.99, I purchased three roasts for a total of fourteen plus pounds of meat.  Looks like we will have plenty for dinner and a few extra meals! 

First, to cook the pork, with this much meat, I cooked them all in my electric roasting pan (fat side up).

Pulled Pork

1 teaspoon vegetable oil 

1 (4 pound) pork shoulder roast 

2 cups barbecue sauce

1 1/2 cups apple juice 

1/4 cup light brown sugar 

1 tablespoon prepared yellow mustard 

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce 

5 loves garlic, in slits on top of the meat

1/2 teaspoon Liquid Smoke

The meat cooked for six to eight hours in my Rival Roaster Oven. On a cookie sheet I used two forks to shred the meat. After setting aside the meat for dinner, I packed the meat into sterilized Ball Wide Mouth Quart Jars. I topped the jars off with my own homemade barbecue sauce.  The sauce the meat had cooked in was a little greasier than I wanted to pack for long term storage.  

Always wipe down the rims of the glass jars with vinegar to ensure a good seal.  The quart jars must be processed in a Pressure Canner at 10 pounds of pressure for 90 minutes. Each jar holds about two pounds of meat.  We had dinner tonight and I put up seven quarts of meat that I can open up, heat, and serve! We always add a few homemade dill pickle spears on the side! 

That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, 

along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast.  Exodus 12:8

Canning Green Beans

With Caleb home for a few more days I gave him the option of whatever he wanted to do before he headed to Houston for his internship.  His choice was to hang out at the house.  

So we took a trip to the farmers market in Lewisville and picked up some green beans, came home to stream a little Netflix and snapped beans. 

It's pretty simple to can green beans you literally only need green beans and salt!  Two pounds of fresh green beans will fill approximately 2-3 pint jars.

Sterilize your canning jars, rings and lids.  You will need a Pressure Canner to process the jars. 

Rinse the green beans and trim off all the ends. You can either cut them with a knife or just snap them off with your fingers. Fill sterilized jars with green beans adding 1 tsp Morton Canning and Pickling Salt to each pint. Add boiling water, leaving 1 inch head space. 

Wipe rims of jars with damp paper towel. Place rings and lids on jars.

Process Ball Pint Jars in a pressure canner at 10 pounds pressure for 20 minutes. 

While we worked we caught up on episodes of the Flash!  

Take wheat and barley, beans and lentils, millet and spelt;
put them in a storage jar and use them to make bread for yourself.  Ezekiel 4:9

Stuffed Bell Peppers

Preparing dinner for a family of five is so much easier when I have several of the steps already prepared.  One of my favorites is to have plenty of seasoned hamburger meat canned and ready to serve.  I also keep homemade tomato sauce on hand for delicious Mexican and Italian dishes.  

For dinner this evening I was able to throw a few things together and have a delicious homemade dinner with minimal effort! 

Stuffed Bell Peppers

1. Cut off the tops of green peppers; discard seeds and membranes.

2. Cut peppers in half long wise. 

3. Drizzle the pepper with olive oil and sprinkle with salt then bake for 5 minutes at 350.

4. Prepare rice according to directions on package.

5. Stir hamburger meat and tomato sauce into cooked rice.  Stuff mixture into bell pepper halves. 

6. Bake, covered in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. 

How simple was that?! 

When she sat down with the harvesters, he offered her some roasted grain.

She ate all she wanted and had some left over. Ruth 2:14

Canning Dill Pickle Relish

For the record, I'm not a big fan of pickle relish.  I do like a spoonful in my tuna or egg salad but I don't eat it on hot dogs.  But again my kids, specifically my 'pickle boy' loves all things pickle! 

The other day I made the mistake of purchasing Sweet Pickle Relish.  My kids quickly let me know that they prefer Dill Pickle Relish.  

Armed with a extra cucumbers from yesterday's canning, today we made Dill Pickle Relish for the first time and it was really simple! 

Spicy Dill Pickle Relish

4 lbs cucumbers (cut in 1/2" slices)

3 cups white onion (finely chopped)

2 jalapeños (de-seeded and chopped)

1 tsp turmeric

3 Sprigs of fresh dill 

1/2 Tbsp dill seed

1/2 Tbsp mustard seed

3 Tbsp white sugar

1/4 cup Morton Canning and Pickling Salt

2 cups white vinegar

2 cups water

Run the sliced cucumbers in a food processor or blender to finely chop your cucumbers.  If you are using larger cucumbers, cut the cucumbers in wedges instead of slices and remove the center seed pocket.  

Place chopped cucumbers, salt, turmeric, and water in a large bowl and let set for 2 hours.

After 2 hours, rinse and drain cucumber mixture using a strainer.  Rinse the cucumbers and rinse a second time. 

Combine cucumbers, chopped onions, jalapeños, fresh dill and dill seed, mustard seed, sugar, and vinegar in a large sauce pan or Instant Pot, bring to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer for 10 minutes.

Ladle hot relish into hot sterilized Half Pint Mason Jars leaving approx. 1/2 inch headspace.

Wipe rims, apply lids and rings (finger tight), and process jars in a hot water bath for 10 minutes in a Pressure Canner.  Jars can be stored for up to one year.  The jars I used were decorative blue tinted jars giving my relish an extra blue-green shade! 

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. Matthew 23:23

Scarborough Renaissance Festival

Caleb is home for one of his favorite events of the school year, the Scarborough Renaissance Festival Student days.  It is like stepping back in time complete with 24 stages of Medieval Times entertainment including full combat jousting, Birds of Prey exhibitions, knife throwing, fire whips, jugglers, high flying acrobats and sword fighting just to name a few. 

There are also plenty of shoppes of crafts and artisan demonstrations like glass blowing and sword making. Plus, Children’s Knighting Ceremonies, a Grande Parade, Renaissance rides, games of skill and so much more.  The food is fit for a king including turkey legs, gyros, cakes and tarts! 

Caleb's favorite event would be the jousting but to be honest he really goes for the food.  Abigail's favorite is the tomato throwing booth where you can throw whole tomatoes at a jester for $1 per toss. I don't want to know how much she spent throwing tomatoes but my softball girl had a blast and she did nail the jester! The whole time the jester was hurling insults at her!  

The way of fools seems right to them,

    but the wise listen to advice.

Fools show their annoyance at once,

    but the prudent overlook an insult.

Proverbs 12:15-16

Canning Jalapeno, Garlic and Dill Pickle Spears

My pickle boy is home and we are now out of spicy dill pickles!  It's a good thing it's cucumber season!  It's even better that Caleb is home to help me prepare our crop.  Spicy Dill Pickles are one of the first foods I ever canned almost twenty-five years ago and they remain  a staple in our pantry.  These are such a staple that I grow my own dill, jalapenos and garlic to have on hand!

Spicy Dill Pickles

3 lbs of 4" pickling cucumbers

6 cups water

2 cups white vinegar

¼ cup Morton Canning and Pickling Salt

1 large sprig of fresh dill per jar

1 cloves of garlic per jar

1 small jalapeno per jar
 1/2 tsp Ball Pickle Crisp Granules  

Wash and scrub the outside of the cucumbers, cutting the stems and blossom ends off.  In a large pot bring to boil water, vinegar and pickling salt stirring until salt is dissolved and boil for approx 3-5 minutes.

In each sterilized Ball Wide Mouth Quart Jars place 1 garlic clove, 1 large sprig of dill, and one small jalapeno. Next, pack each jar with cucumber spears. Fill each jar with the prepared vinegar liquid mixture leaving ½" space from the top of the jar. Wipe jars and rims clean and place sealing lid and tighten bands by hand.

Process the jars of cucumbers by placing them in a pot covering jars with water  and allow to boil for 15 minutes.

Let stand at room temperature for 3 weeks before serving.  Jars can be stored in a cool dry place for up to 1 year.  This recipe yields four quarts. 

We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost—also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic.  Numbers 11:5

A Good Day's Work

It was a good day at the pantry today!  We had quite a few donations come in from church friends.  

One of the elderly guests who has a disabled spouse.  Their washing machine is broken and beyond repair.  I asked friends at church if anyone had an extra washer for this family.  Friends of ours came through with in just a few hours! 

Jon and Caleb were able to pick up the washer and dryer, deliver and install it for the family!  

Next we have guests who are expecting but were in need of infant car seats.  Again I asked my church friends and a nurse at NICU came through with three car seats! 

That's a good day serving with the family and friends! 

In the same way, good deeds are obvious, and even those that are not obvious cannot remain hidden forever. I Timothy 5:25

Happy Mother's Day

Family traditions are important and one of our traditions are early morning celebrations. Every birthday is celebrated with breakfast in bed, singing and gifts.  All the family members work together early in the morning allowing the one member who is being celebrated to sleep in. 

This tradition holds for all birthdays, Frankie's adoption anniversary, Mother's Day and Father's Day. That's eight opportunities per year to pile onto one bed with breakfast dishes, sleepy eyes and warm smiles.  

Because Mother's Day and Father's Day always fall on the Lord's Day they tend to be an abbreviated version of our celebration.  In fact this morning I got ready for worship and then climbed back in bed when breakfast was delivered by the kids.  

Every Mother's Day the kids each make my cards which is pretty impressive to have hand drawn cards from a 16, 19 and 31 year old! Their gifts included accessories for my Instant Pot; paring knives specifically for canning; and a little bling.  They know me so well! 

Jon supervised the breakfast production of bacon and eggs!  It was a great way to start the day! 

My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of your mother. Proverbs 1:8

A Dog's Life

Some days a girl just needs a good bubble bath and today was that day for this sweet girl.  At twelve years old a bath requires a lot more energy.  Fortunately Caleb was able to help her in and out of the tub at Hakuna Matata.  

The girl loves the bath and pranced around the rest of the day, well, right up until we took fer to the vet for her comprehensive exam.  But, that's another story!  Good news is she's in great shape for her age, bad new is she's old and needs to loose a few pounds, don't we all! 

 She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table.” Matthew 15:27

Celebrating Friends

It's not everyday that you get invited to a Willy Wonka birthday party!  A few weeks ago Abigail and Frankie received a 'golden ticket' invitation to this special guy's birthday party! 

Abigail babysits for several really great families at church and it makes her super popular among the elementary age kiddos.  Sometimes when Abigail has several families to care for in the same evening, Frankie has accompanied her.  So both girls were included in tonight's celebrations.  

There was pizza, a pinata, games and cake. As Willy would say, "Little surprises around every corner, but nothing dangerous!" 

Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.

John 1:12

Harvest Food Program Pick-Ups

The boy slipped back into our normal routine of food pick-up for the Harvest Food Program benefiting the food pantry.  I guess after so many years of doing the same thing every week it's easy to step back into that routine.  

It was great to have his help today because we had three full baskets of breads and desserts donated from our first stop, Tom Thumb.  We went on to pick up almost fifty pastries from Starbucks.  Next were our two stops at area Papa John's pizzerias.  

That make for a lot of loading and unloading and it's much easier with an extra set of hands!  Plus it just makes me smile to see him hanging out with us! 

In the same way let your light shine in front of people. Then they will see the good that you do and praise your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:15

Kyodai Formal

This post is a little out of order but I just now downloaded the photos off of my phone.  This year in addition to LCU's Honors Program, LCU's Ambassador Program, Student Senate, tutoring math students, working in the Bible Office Caleb was also an officer in Kyodai.  Tonight was the big end of the year celebration for Kyodai.  

Caleb and Sonny had a wonderful evening.  It was pouring down rain getting in and out of the event venue but everything else went off beautifully. When I downloaded the pictures Sonny texted me from the banquet, I thought it would be fun to include some of the other pictures of the two of them from this school year.  Aren't they darling!  Caleb looks good in his tux but he looks even better with Ms. Sonora standing next to him!  (The couple in the bottom photo with Caleb and Sonny is Sonny's roommate and her date.) 

Light is sweet, and it is pleasant for the eyes to see the sun.

Ecclesiastes 11:7

Family Photos

For Mother's Day I requested family pictures both as a gift for me and to have as a gift for the grandmothers. I know they will arrive a little late but with Caleb in college and Abigail has worked every day for the past week, I took what I could get.

I was really ecstatic at the results.  These are a few of the outtakes, I didn't want to post my favorites from the proofs until the grandmothers receive them.   

If you're in the area and need a fabulous photographer who is just a joy to be around, and incredibly humble, I can hook you up! 

Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders I Thessalonians 4:11-12

Becoming Better

This is my sweet Bible study group of amazing ladies.  We are moms of college kids, moms of middle schoolers, moms of toddlers, and newly married ladies.  Some of this sweet group are younger than Frankie and some are the precious moms of my Bible Bowler.  It is just a wonderful variety of women seeking God's wisdom for our lives.  

Together we've studied six books, rejoiced in new births, lost family members and moved to this busy area of the Metroplex. Tonight we were celebrating the end of the school year.  We take a break during the summer months and start back up in late August. Abigail also attends with me, after all she's not that much younger than some of these sweet ladies.  Abigail also enjoys being around the ones who are Frankie's age and having that 'sisterly' banter.  

Ms. Shae and Ms. Angie faithfully lead each study and I'm so grateful for the time and energy they pour into each lesson.  They are really gifted teachers which is evident by the fact that we've kept returning for three years! 

 Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.  Titus 2:3-5

Family Business

The boy is home but it doesn't mean he gets to sleep in.  He knows on Monday morning we arrive at the food pantry at eight to begin setting up.  So he set his alarm and showered and down stairs ready to leave with us this morning.  

In April our volunteers helped distribute food to 447 families, representing 1,783 individuals in North Texas. Many of these families are seniors on fixed income in our community and single parents living in The Colony, Little Elm & Lewisville.

In April we served 25 first time families including 2 families in crisis. Our volunteers assisted 80 guests with job leads; but more importantly we were able to pray with 96% of the guests who came through our doors offering hope!

“Whoever oppresses a poor man insults his Maker, but he who is generous to the needy honors him.” Proverbs 14:31

Sunday School Selfies

Here's a sneak peek at Frankie's beloved four year old Sunday School Class.  Jon and I took the selfies but Frankie is in the back of both pictures with her sweet class. 

This morning the regular teachers for the four year old class are ill so Jon and I stepped in to teach.  We knew we had an expert level assistant in Frankie.  She has helped out in this classroom every quarter on Sunday mornings for almost ten years!  

She kept us on schedule today with craft time, singing and story time.  With sixteen kiddos in class I can understand why they need an extra helper! 

See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.

Matthew 18:10

About Town

What a happy sight, all three kids back together again! I got this picture from them while they were out running around together.  

I knocked out a few loads of laundry while they ran around conquering the sites of Plano! 

Whoever fears the Lord has a secure fortress,

    and for their children it will be a refuge.

Proverbs 14:26

Thriving on Friday Afternoon

Caleb made it home yesterday from Lubbock Christian University, the girls had his Jeep unloaded and all his stuff put away within thirty minutes of his arrival. He's been home less than 24 hours and I had him up with me this morning picking up food for our local food bank with me.

At noon we headed up to the McDermott Road Church of Christ to put together fruit and vegetable bags for the church's Thrive ministry.  We packed up around 200 bags of fresh produce and loaded them on the Thrive trailer's shelves and headed to McKinney's Fitzhugh Park.  

The residents in the area come to the park on the first Friday of the month and we offer the bags of produce, prayer and Bible study.  Our friends from church were excited to see Caleb and catch up on all his busyness. 

A generous person will prosper;

    whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.

Proverbs 11:25