The last few days....

OK, so lets start with thanksgiving...now I'm an Aussie, so uh, we really don't make a big deal about the historical side of it....to us it's a day to get together with family and friends....and for that we are very thankful! (I do plan on teaching the kids more on it, for anyone who may be concerned! but it's not high on my list of priorities right now) Anyway, we had friends and family over, and lots and lots of food.....and SNOW! After wearing t-shirts just 2 days prior, a cold front blew in, which we were expecting, but then gorgeous BIG, fluffy snowflakes started to fall. The kids had a blast...

OK, so her hands were frozen....but that's what happens when you don't listen to sound advice, and put on warm gloves...

It was soooo pretty...and fun! Although, I was sick with a lousy head cold, so I did beg not to be doused with cold snow...but as you can see some of the adults also had some fun...

We ate a lot...played table tennis/ping pong, and lit up the wood-burning stove for our first fire of this winter....and then we had to open the front door and windows, because it was too hot! Vic and Cindy (that's Vic above) fried a turkey for us to try, which was very good! Wish you all could have been there too! Our leftovers didn't last very long...I think I'll cook another turkey soon....I have 2-20lb'ers in my freezer, that I got some great deals on (1 free and 1 for $10), and chop it up and refreeze in baggies for quick meals.

This past week has just been catching up on housework, and laundry, and buying some more gloves/jackets/and hats, that the cold spell reminded me that we needed! (Doesn't Jared look cute in his new coat!) :)

Quick note....

Hey, y'all! Sorry that I've been away so long....after Thanksgiving, I just kinda took a break. I'll try to do a real post tomorrow? if I get the time! I'll have my niece/nephew from 7:20 am till about 5:30 pm, and then around 6 we have some friends coming over for burgers/armadillo eggs/apple pie. OK, definitely burgers.....the other two items are hopefuls... So it should be a busy day, but don't worry, I'll put the kids to work....LOL I got most of my laundry/washing done today at least! I am also very stressed as my sister is supposed to be getting married in a little over a month.....and I think she must have died....or fallen of the edge of the world. I haven't heard anything from her in so long.....sob! (BTW if I owe anyone an email...let me know! or just write to me again...please! :) I'll also try to post a couple of pictures here soon too...

Special Sale Announcement!

Just wanted to let y'all know that Crystal at the Biblical Womanhood Bookstore is having a sale! She has all of her e-books on sale for $2...I think I will head on over myself! So if you are interested click on the link in my side bar, and check out her Black Friday bargain bin!

(I would've put a link in this post, but can't make it work for the life of me....if anyone knows how to do that with out having the whole LONG link showing please tell me!)

Sorry I've been a little scarce....it's Thanksgiving tomorrow, and we are doing it over here....so cleaning is underway, plus we have no clean clothes, so laundry is underway, and there's a freeze tonight, so winterizing gardens and taps and hoses is underway, and I have come down with a cold.....but I am valiantly surviving, and will get it all done....uh-huh?! :)

Anyway, back to work!

Housework....

Don't ya love it! :) I just finished my floors....I got a LOTTA tile!

(Hey, Dad....you're not reading this are you??? 'Cause if you are...uh, sorry about the gramma...r....um, I am married to one of those AMERICANS after all....and you know how they are....their accents are shockin' I tell ya...not to mention their gramma....r...)

A'hem! Like I was saying....I have quite a large amount of tile, and it collects a great deal of dirt....therefore, it is necessary to admit that by the time I had finished mopping the dining room, my water was quite, almost, but not completely...black. (Was that better Dad?) Therefore, I proceeded to empty it into the bathtub to await the children who would most certainly render it fully and entirely....BLACK! After many such loads, and soaking for approximately 20 mins, the children emerged with such a lovely tan, and their hair was such a bonny orange....I definitely recommend Pinesol for the rinsing of one's hair, not only does it disinfect every follicle, it also smells....so clean.... Now, if you are on very severe water restrictions, you could further use said water to water the garden and start a pot of soup for the evening meal....who knows what you'll find in it, from yesterdays meal...."Waste not, Want not" is the old proverbial saying....or is it "Want not, Want not".

(Disclaimer: For any poor soul who may stumble across this blog, I do not, I repeat, I DO NOT bathe my children in dirty mopping water (yes it was very dirty though...), and I DO NOT recommend Pinesol be used on ANYBODY....and no, I do not make soup from it either....although I do use city water to make soup....is that better???? I don't know either!)

OK, so I mopped and mopped and mopped some more...
then I found I was finished, with the floor
so I looked around, and mopped the door....
having such success, I could barely wait...
to try it on the walls, and it worked out great...

Yes, I really did mop some doors
And the walls are clean
Now fit to be seen,
If you've not tried it, you've missed out
So 'ave a go, it'll make you shout

Now, it's time for bed, I really must go
Please don't leave me, I usually won't
Act so strange...really I don't
Housework does strange things to me...
Please be patient you will see....


(It's OK...I don't mop very often!)

Refined As Silver

The following was sent to me, and I thought it was pretty neat! Thanks Karen!


Malachi 3:3 says: 'He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.'

This verse puzzled some women
in a Bible study and they
wondered what this statement
meant about the character and
nature of God.

One of the women offered to
find out the process of refining
silver and get back to the group
at their next Bible Study.

That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an
appointment to watch him at
work. She didn't mention
anything about the reason for
her interest beyond her curiosity
about the process of refining
Silver.

As she watched the silversmith,
he held a piece of silver over
the fire and let it heat up. He
explained that in refining silver,
one needed to hold the silver in
the middle of the fire where
the flames were hottest as to
burn away all the impurities.

The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot;
then she thought again about
the verse that says: 'He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver.'
She asked the silversmith if it
was true that he had to sit there
in front of the fire the whole
time.

The man answered that yes, he
not only had to sit there holding
the silver, but he had to keep
his eyes on the silver the entire
time it was in the fire. If the silver
was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.

The woman was silent for a
moment. Then she asked the silversmith, 'How do you know
when the silver is fully refined?'He smiled at her and answered,
'Oh, that's easy -- when I see
my image in it.'

If today you are feeling the heat
of the fire , remember that God
has his eye on you and will keep watching you until He sees His
image in you.

Pics of the girls....

I had to do these in two posts as I am having probelms 'shrinking' them...Here's the girls!

Some pictures....

Here's my boys on our camping trip....

Sorry Folks!

Hey, everyone! Sorry about the delay here....we snuck off on Friday down to visit Heath's grandmother, Mema, and also so that Heath could visit an inmate that he has been writing to for the past few months...it was a good time, the kids had a blast getting to see their cousin Ella again (we wish we could have seen more of them, but it didn't work out....next time?), and then they gather pecans for Mema, and then she let them take them home! So now we have a huge bag of pecans to shell! Yesh! lol

Heath's visit at the prison went great....they had a good time and talked for the full two hours. "J" is due to get out, I think, at the end of next year....please pray for him....he wants to make sure he is spiritually strong when he emerges, so that he can withstand the attacks of the devil. We know that the Lord will give him the strength that he needs! Pray that he can strengthen his foundations, so that he has a firm footing to stand on.

Heath had a humourous experience too, while at the prison, he was jogging back to his car, and a guard stopped him....because he was wearing white! LOL That is the inmates colour! The guard kindly suggested to him that he might not want to wear those colour again! And not only that....a 2ND guard also stopped him...."grin" So we now know...don't wear white! We didn't even think about what the inmates might be wearing, but if we had we would have figured on orange anyway!

The past couple of days have been just trying to get back into the swing of things....can't say that it has worked yet!

We were frozen...

....well, now that others had arrived it was time for them to set up, and eat our Frito pie etc....well, after much fun and fellowship it was time to hit the sack. It was already 'freezing', so I went ahead, and threw the 3 oldest into one "bed" to conserve blankets, Jazz had his own, and of course Mommy and Daddy shared too. It was down right freezing! It was in the 30*'s somewhere, and I shivered and shook all night long....except for ten minutes when I snuggled up to my darlingest man....till he started nudging me to "get lost"....Oh, he says he didn't, but he did... really. LOL

Well, after freezing all night, it dawned another beautiful day! We spent the day 'chillin', and then Doug and Heath took the kids, Dandi too, up and down the rapids....at least that's what they were calling them LOL! I had too stay behind with Jazz and let him sleep....bummer! Now, I love my little dude, but I also love doing stuff with the rest of my crew... While they were doing that, they managed to ram the boat into a tree....sooooo...when we went out later on, Jekkie would flip out every time she saw a stick poking out of the water, being sure that we were headed for certain doom...

But we really did have a great relaxing time, and I can't wait to do it again....we plan on getting a few more supplies, and then just keeping it all 'ready to go' so that we can take off whenever we want to/get the urge. We have a teeny-weeny trailer that is always packed with most of the camping stuff. We need some more sleeping bags though, after our freeze! Heath had the bright idea of keeping a bathroom bag packed with toiletries strictly for camping/traveling, which I thought was a cool idea....I hate trying to remember if I got everything! LOL

Well, that's going to have to do for now...hope you weren't all bored to tears...!

A note for prayer....

I recently entered in some of the Rocks in my Dryer Fall Y'all giveaways, and although I sure didn't expect to win anything....I did! Now, when she contacted me to let me know that I had won, she also let me know (via her blog) that her brother is having brain surgery today....so if any of y'all would pray for them, that would be great, his name is Lorin.

More about Camp!

OK, so Thursday we pull into the campground, and start figuring out what campsites we want...we come up with two main options: secluded, peaceful, room for kids to safely run....or close to the bathrooms? Hmmmmm....we chose the secluded, albeit fearing the wrath of the women in the church! LOL (y'all aren't reading this are you???? LOL) We decided that folks could walk, I mean we were going camping, right? (besides, we stick a potty in our tent at night for the kids to use!) So we chose the pretty, secluded campsites near the river....BTW, just so you know, although we were camping we do get sites with electricity and water....LOL After picking the sites, the fun was on! We pulled out the tent and Dad and Jazz got busy setting that up, while Mom and the others got started on grilling some hot dogs for lunch. Then it was on to making up the beds....and then due to the fact that Jazz was whining, it was time for a nap. So Momma cornered the baby, while the others went on the hunt for firewood. After naps, we went and rented a boat....now this was really cool...for $5 you could have the boat all day! Now these were aluminum boats, and to get to the water, you had to go down a steep set of steps down the river bank....So we picked up the boat (yes, literally "picked" it up, and yes, it was heavy!), and carried it to the top of the stairs....now what? Heath, smart cookie, decided that the best way to get it down there was to throw it....just kidding....was to slide it down the steps holding on, and it worked very well! So we finally got it in the water, and climbed in the boat and set of down the river with Daddy, Lyd and Jorge paddling, and Mommy holding on to Jazz, while Jekkie just enjoyed the ride! It was sooo quiet and peaceful, and the kids really did a great job of helping dad. Then there was a call from above us....others had arrived....

To be continued.....

Camp Food!

Sorry for the silence....we went camping on Thursday and came back Saturday avo. We had a blast! We went with our church folk down to a State park. Y'all need to come with us next time! Thursday was mostly just our family, which was nice in itself, as we were able to just spend some time together having fun setting up camp, then renting a row boat and taking it down the river....it was such a peacful place to camp! Then as more folks rolled in we had Frito Pie for supper, and boy was it GOOD! That is one of the best parts of our camping trips....meal times....LOL...and not just because I like food! We have so much fun with the cooking together. And with Doug being a Boy Scout Man, he has access to some really nifty cooking gear. We cook most stuff on a 'wok' made from a plow disk...there is always teasing and laughter going 'round and round'. Our menu was
Thursday evening - Frito Pie (Fritos (corn chip strip things?), topped with Chile (not the peppers, the meat), onions, jalalpenos, hot sauce, and whatever else.

Friday morning was Breakfast burritos
Lunch - fend for yourself
Supper - Steak, baked potatoes, and foil packed veggies cooked over the fire

Oh, and campfire cobbler....Doug is a great camp chef!

Saturday - Breakfast burritos; eggs, sausage, bacon, fried potatoes, cheese, hot sauce....mmmmm!

Plus of course, hot chocolate, coffee, marshmallows etc.....