Christmas Card 2013!

Our family wants to wish all our family and friends a very Merry Christmas! May God be the center of all your celebrations and may He be the LORD of your New Year!

With love,
Bryan, Cantina, Isaac, Sarah, Elijah, Timothy, and Joanna

Isaac's First Deer!!

Isaac has been very interested in hunting and fishing for a couple of years, but he has not had very many opportunities to do both. Then when we moved to Lawrence County in July that is what his new friends do all the time. :) Isaac's interest has been heightened from being around these new friends.

God has blessed us with 10 acres at our new home and a great place for Isaac to hunt and fish. He was on our land and was by himself when he killed this deer. I would have never thought he would kill a deer. Ha! He did a GREAT job, so proud of him! He came running up to the house to get Bryan, Isaac was so excited!!

You can read Isaac's story on the kids' blog, click here.

Thankful Thursday!

O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down, And are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue, But behold, O Lord, You know it altogether. 

Psalm 139:1-4

I am thankful for:
197) overnight guest. 
198) the windows being open and feeling the cool breeze.
199) baking for my family.
200) individual time with each child of ours.
201) an all knowing God. He knows EVERYTHING!
202) a note from a child.
203) the laughter of my hubby. I love to laugh with him!

Fried Okra

We LOVE fried okra! I will not eat okra any other way. :) Normally when we get okra I wash it, cut it up, and freeze it. This summer when we got a ton of okra I wondered if there was another way to put it in the freezer. A lady at church suggested that I wash it, cut it up, bread it, and freeze it that way. I thought I would give this a try...I am so glad I did!

I washed the okra, Isaac cut it up, the little boys and I put it in buttermilk and then in a bowl of flour, then Sarah laid it out on a parchment lined cookie sheet, we placed it in the freezer and when it had froze we removed it and put it in zip lock bags to go back in the freezer until ready to eat.

This has been great! I love already having the okra ready. The sad thing is since I didn't know how this would turn out I didn't freeze all of my okra this way. I will next year!! :)

A Visit from Pop and Gigi!!

Last weekend Bryan's parents came up for a visit and to see the kids play basketball. We were very excited when Bryan's mom emailed and said that they wanted to make a trip up to see us. :) Bryan and I didn't tell the kids and Bryan's parents met us at the gym for the first basketball game. The kids were very surprised and were tickled that they could spend some time with Pop and Gigi.

After the first ball game we came back to our house. I had made soup that morning before we left, so when we arrived lunch was ready. Then after a yummy lunch Bryan and his dad cut down a tree that was too close to the house and needed to go. We have plenty of trees here!

Of coarse it was something we all watched as the big tall tree tumbled to the ground. The kids thought it was "cool". :) Bryan's dad is great at helping with things like this.

Here is Gigi with her girls.

Gigi and Timothy

Mother and Son

Here is Pop with Joanna

We had a great visit with them and look forward to seeing them at Thanksgiving!

Thankful Thursday!

I am thankful for:
190) making cookies with the kids.
191) parchment paper.
192) wheat berries. I thought I was running low and I found a whole bucket...yay!
193) Wednesday night supper at church. (What a blessing, means I don’t have to cook!!)
194) shelves in the basement for storing things.
195) pumpkins to make pumpkin puree. (See picture above)
196) freedom in Christ from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:1-2)

Thankful!

I am thankful for:
183) doing art with the kids.
184) warm potato soup with a hot grilled cheese sandwich.
185) the boys John Deere gator.
186) a home with two and a half bathrooms. :)
187) Jesus the Messiah.
188) a cool fall day outside.
189) the colors of fall.