FAREWELL BIRTHDAY PARTIES AND FAMILY TIMES

This year Jt's birthday party, his 24th, was bittersweet. Everyone came over Friday night for our favorite family cake--4 layer chocolate with what we call "Amish" frosting. Would anyone like the recipe? I'll post it if I get requests.





Emma and Sophie are pictured suspiciously near the cake with my son, Jeremiah. I am prejudiced, but I think he's handsome. Sophie's fingers and toes ended up in the frosting before we got the picture done.





I remember the day JT was born 24 years ago like it was yesterday. He was a beautiful little baby. Went in for a checkup in the morning and he was born at 2:10 pm. Easy delivery. No mistaking him for a girl--he looked like a boy right from day one. He was a good eater and a big baby. He's been a blessing from God. Now tomorrow, he's moving to Colorado Springs to attend Bible school at Charis Bible college. Since I'm a big fan of Andrew Wommack's teachings, I'm kind of jealous! We did a similar thing to our parents when we were about his age--actually a little older. We moved our two kids to Ohio to attend Bible school in preparation for ministry. It's really hard to see them go. We've been so close for so long. It will be a change for him. He grew up in our church here at New Covenant and he's never attended anywhere else except for the few Sundays we were in Ohio and he was only 5. (We came home 3 out of 7 Sundays that year so Clint could preach at our home church in pastoral transition at the time).

So because they are leaving so soon, I'm including this family post with pictures of Emma Rose and Sophia Truth. Sophie is getting big so fast. See her posing as a princess?I suppose she'll change the most by the time we see her again. Emma is talking alot and amazes us with her two year old intelligence. In the one picture we are reading her "shapes" book. She can name all the shapes and colors without hesitation. I can't begin to describe how their departure will affect our family and church. JT has been a key part of the worship team for years and years. He plays four instruments and can replace almost any member of the team. He will be sorely missed especially since there is currently no one to replace him. Kori is talented in a number of areas and is a capable and dependable church member.
Pray for us when we come to mind. I am uncertain how this family separation will feel. I'm not liking the thought of missing those babies, but I know they are in God's will with this move. Early on when we found out they were considering a move I felt the Lord speak to me something like this: 'Don't whine about them moving. Many parents would give anything to just have their children show any interest at all in the Gospel let alone going off for Bible school training.' That has given me great comfort in these months of preparation.



The more we have learned about our family--even just in the last few weeks with our genealogical research has added to the bittersweetness of this separation. My ancestors have lived here since before the Civil War. Clint's family was here not long after that, but we've all lived in the midwest forever. To say goodbye is difficult. Yet, the stories are the same in all our research--it appears that our ancestors kept moving-- came here from Europe for a better life and then from New England westward to Ohio and Michigan with a pioneering spirit. Can we deny any less to our children? God bless them--the next generation of pioneers! Blessings, LORI

FRUGAL SEWING TIPS IN THE TRADITION OF PROVERBS 31

I was pretty excited about today's accomplishment! I got the piecing done on a patchwork chair cushion I had had in the works for years--yes, years! I started making a patchwork cushion cover to replace a very, very old one that still adorns my great grandma's chair. She was born around the 1873. The wicker rocker sits in my sewing room and I'm sure my grandma replaced the cushion sometime in the 1960's or 70's. But it's time for a new one....so that finally got done. Now I just have to finish assembling it.

Then I started a much needed repair on this black jacket. It's a lightweight blouse I found at a Goodwill a few years ago. I literally weaR this jacket over almost everything I own. It's my all purpose-matches everything-hides midriff fat jacket! I don't know what I'd do without this versatile wardrobe accessory. I wear it with jeans, crop pants, and fancy dresses. It is the completing touch for my WW1 style outfits I concoct. I couple it with black skirts, tapestry skirts, and use it over camisoles to be more modest. Because of the constant wear, it was getting kind of "ratty," and very seedy-looking. I had a special event to attend tonight at the church I grew up in--one of their special services for their 150th celebration. I needed to couple this jacket with a dress Clint bought me a few years ago that is now so tight it can't be used alone and still look good. (Oops! Get on a diet!) I slung this jacket over the dress--a black sequin-embroidered flapper style with handkerchief hem and then put a velvet print skirt of mostly black underneath the dress. What a beautiful combination! The muted colors of the skirt showed out from under the uneven hem of the dress.

These pictures are of a few of the construction details I used to "fix" the jacket and bring it up to new quality again. I meshed two strips of narrow lace together (because I didn't have the right width) and replaced all the lace that looks grey in the picture. It was faded from being washed so much. Then I replaced the wide lace at the hemline with a new strip of wide lace. When done, I carefully cut away the old lace underneath with very pointed, tiny sharp scissors. This saved me from tearing out hems and seams to fit the lace in.

When I arrived at the event this evening, an older lady told me my outfit reminded her of some antique necklaces she had at home and if I'd come over, maybe I'd like to have them! This was a very wonderful compliment for me--since I'm the queen of antique and vintage looking jewelry!!!!! Which brings up another subject....today Rhiannon and I think we found amongst my grandma's antique buttons a button from my great, great grandpa's Civil War Uniform. She spotted this miltary button and then checked online. It appears to be the original button. We wrote the manufacturer for imformation to confirm this. Will picture the button in question sometime in the future if it turns out to be authentic! Blessings, LORI

TOMATO CANNING 2010

Hi, everyone! I wanted to share these pretty photos of our 2010 tomato canning operation! I've been canning tomatoes for almost 30 years now. Doesn't seem possible. I remember the first time I canned pizza sauce and me and my mother in law had every possible container in the house filled with juice awaiting the second stage of "cooking down." We did the whole operation in one day--picking them, cooking them, juicing them, cooking them down, spicing and flavoring and then canning them. What a lot of work. I have rarely ever done it that way again.

Here's a handy tip. I juice up a few tomatoes at a time--whatever we have ready. I use a Victorio strainer that I got years ago. It's a great time and arm-saving device. If it's a nice day we set the strainer up outdoors or on the porch to save a huge splattering mess in the kitchen. We put the juice in old ice cream pails and freeze it. Then I get it out later in the fall when the mornings are cool and the house needs to be warmed up. I cook it down and add spices, then cook it down some more. Then I fill the jars and give it a few minutes in the pressure cooker! This makes for two days of work instead of one, but a much shorter day each time and helps heat the house up on a chilly fall day. I'm always pressed for time it seems, and this saves me a partial day to use for other work.

So this year's tomatoes were juiced and because there were not too many and I had Rhiannon's help, we cooked it down as well. I froze this batch and we will add to it with the next ripe ones we pick. Then one day in the fall, I'll get it out and cook it down. This year I can add my own herbs since my garden is overflowing with all kinds of basil, oregano, rosemary, and thyme. I'll also have my own onions to add. The kitchen smelled wonderful and we were thrilled with the beautiful color of the tomatoes!

I am so thankful for the bounty we have. Blessings, LORI

A WHOLE LOTTA BAKIN' GOIN ON!

I finally got to post again! Hooray! It's been along time since I've had a chance to photograph something worthwhile to blog about. We've been busy with alot of miscellaneous stuff.

We had another "farm supper," just recently inviting some friends over who do evangelism in the form of Bible schools. They live in a travel trailer for a large portion of the year and don't have a chance to cook for themselves in a "homestyle" way because of limited refrigeration space, etc.

This picture shows a bit of the work I did prior to their visit. I had been canning peaches that week. Then I baked my oatmeal dinner rolls that everyone seems to like! In addition to that I told them to choose their favorite pie. They like strawberry/rhubarb which fit in well with our theme of a farm supper since I had raised both in the garden and could produce a dessert from our property! The other pie shell was for a chocolate pie--our family's favorite. Except for me and Rhiannon--I like all pies, she is a peach fan; cream pies are our family's favorites. Thankfully, we have Clint's Grandma Sally's famous recipes for all kinds of cream pies. As for the strawberry rhubarb, I had just made one a few weeks before for a carry-in dinner. I had the recipe in my mind already and it was a good thing--I couldn't find the recipe when I went to do this pie. I just sort of "did it" anyway and they thought it was very good. We enjoyed more fried chicken (those we had butchered in June), fresh tomatoes from the garden, corn on the cob, new potatoes with herbs, and even the black raspberry jelly for the rolls came from our fencerows. It was a real fun evening and I was glad we could bless some of the Lord's traveling servants with what we had in our hand--food!

My flower garden is undergoing a huge clean-up. I have worked for two or three days in the last week, pulling weeds. It was almost completely overgrown. I am honestly looking for ways to cut down the work out there by reducing the size of the beds. I haven't yet figured out what to do since all edges of the perimeter are filled with flowers and shrubs that I don't want to sacrifice. Any suggestions? Blessings, LORI

ZEHR'S AT THE ZOO!

One day recently, the Zehr's went to the zoo! Emma loves animals. She loves animal book, toy animals, animal videos, animal documentaries...you name it...if it's animals, especially zoo animals, Emma loves it!

She and Sophie had a great day with Mommy, Daddy, Granny, and Papa. The big special event was feeding the giraffes. Granny kind of thought that was special too since they were her favorite animals on her African safari back in 2004.

Though you can't tell from the picture, Emma is wearing her new giraffe dress from the second hand store in Colorado Springs. Her mom and dad got it for her when they were on their recent trip out there to set up things for their upcoming move. JT will be attending Bible school there and working for a Mr. Rooter business. That was a real blessing and the story of how he got the job is a real God planned story. It won't be long now before they leave and we will be very sad to see them go, though we feel it's God's will for them and are very proud of them taking this leap of faith. After all, we did the same thing in 1990 and have never regretted it. I'm sure our parents were sad to see their little grandkids move to Ohio for a year to attend Bible school in preparation for ministry, but they let us go with their blessing.

So, these little trips and outings we've been able to make this summer are even more sweet knowing we will soon be separated for a time. It kind of reminds me of Jesus. We Christians are now separated from Him for a time, but someday we will be rejoined in Heaven, be it through our deaths or His second coming. For now, the time we spend in His word and with His Holy Spirit guiding us is very sweet. Blessings, LORI

BOUNTIFUL BLESSINGS!

"Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, the produce of your ground and the increase of your herds, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks." Deuteronomy 28:4

I just wanted to share some pictures of summer's bountiful blessings with you! The picture of the roaster full of corn was taken during our annual sweet corn freezing operation. Rhiannon's generous employer plants a whole field of corn for the families of employees! We are so blessed by that. I never have to raise sweet corn because of their generosity. The corn this year was exceptional! The ears were 100% filled out and HUGE! All the rain we've had has made the gardens overflow.

The next picture is of a few hills of potatoes that I dug this afternoon. The garden is getting weedy since it's been so hot that I failed to get out there like I should. I decided to dig a few hills so I had a clear path for tilling. I was absolutely amazed to see red potatoes this huge. I have never seen them like this. We had a potato for supper--yes, that's right, a single potato fed both Clint and I with some left over!

The last picture is of a supper I cooked a week or so ago that was all from our property except the corn. A beautiful plate of sliced tomatoes--nothing like home grown! The herbed potatoes were some of the many, many potatoes we have this year, the corn is from Rhi's employer, and the fried chicken is the first I cooked of the chicks we raised this spring. I was really proud of this supper! I felt like a real Proverbs 31 woman!

I am thankful that we live in a place where we can eat the good of the land and enjoy the blessings of God!