Brenda Walsh

Yesterday I was privileged to attend a one day conference with Brenda Walsh as the guest speaker. You know...the host of Kid's Time on 3abn, author of Passionate Prayer, and one of the cooking, singing Micheff sisters. What an inspiring lady she is! So full of life and love for Jesus! I was truly inspired to passionately pray and seek the Lord to use me!

If anyone is interested in checking out her website, she has lots of interesting information, along with her schedule, materials, and "needs." http://www.brendawalsh.com/ Here is one of the needs she has right now:

Miss Brenda Needs YOUR Help!! Brenda Walsh and Kay Rizzo have teamed up once again for an exciting project… ”Miss Brenda’s Bedtime Stories.” This will be a five volume, hard cover set of books, which will include an illustration for every story. The series will be publish by Pacific Press Publishing Association and similar to the popular Uncle Arthur’s Bedtime Stories that have been around for years and now are quite outdated. We are looking for 200+ fresh stories about children that are “character building” for today’s 6-9 year olds. No fiction please.We need:

Stories with a good moral,
Stories that encourage children to make wise choices,
Stories that inspire children to have a closer walk with Jesus,
Stories that glorify God through the experience,
Stories that illustrate honesty, respectfulness, acts of kindness, an answer to prayer, witnessing experiences, how they gave their heart to Jesus, etc. This is your opportunity to have Your story printed in these books! We are not looking for writers! Kay and Brenda will rewrite your story! Be sure to include the basic facts: who, what when where, why, and how. If you are willing to donate your story to bless others,

Please Send Brenda an Email If you have any questions, please call Brenda at 865-776-4908. Jesus is coming soon and our goal is to draw children around the world closer to Him! Remember we can only write as fast as we receive the stories so please don’t delay! Please fill out a Release Form and mail or fax it (703-880-5467) to me. Thanks for your help and quick response!

Keep Praising Jesus,
Kay and Brenda

It's Apple Time!

This is just the beginning of our apple adventures. We don't usually pick them ourselves since the price is hardly different, but a friend was going to pick apples today and we decided to try it ourselves! We had a great time! And the trees are small enough with many branches hanging down low enough so the kids were a big help also.



This time we picked Macintosh and Honeygold. We'll be drying some of them and making applesauce with some (for my tart loving husband!). What a fun time of year!

Michigan Deer

I suppose from the title of this blog entry you would assume that there would be pictures of deer. No....this blog entry is about the damage that deer can do to a person's car while driving in Michigan at night!



Dave had just left a Bible study when the deer tried to cross the road. It's head hit first and the whole body swung around and the car the as well. But Dave was perfectly okay and Praise the Lord for good insurance! So we're now surviving on one car for the next two weeks. It could be worse!

Red Lentil Soup

Yum! Yum! That's what we all had to say after we ate our soup and cornbread on Friday night. A friend of mine sent a very good recipe that we tried out for the first time. Here it is!

Red Lentil Soup
10 C water
1 1/2 cans tomato sauce
2 onion, chopped
5 med onions, diced
1 carrot, chopped
6 T olive oil
3 C red lentils, rinsed
3 T chicken seasoning
2 tsp curry powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
basil and oregano to taste

Put all of the above in a large pot and bring to a boil. Simmer on medium heat for 45 minutes. Makes a lot of soup which is good because you'll want leftovers!!

Yummy, yummy pears!

Pears are probably my least favorite fruit to can, however my kids love them in the winter time! So, of course, I gotta do them! They just seem to take more time and three utensils to half them, core them, and peel them. It is fun taste testing them though. They are excellent pears this year!



Yes, it's all worth the effort!

Raspberries

Grammy has raspberry bushes at her house and the kids always love to go over and graze on them! (so does mommy!) That's what we did for dessert on Sabbath. It was yummy and we're sure to enjoy a few of these every once in a while the rest of the month!

In the Kitchen

This past Thursday we were still practicing and learning attentiveness and we put it to use in the kitchen while making a new cracker recipe. There is lots to be attentive to in the kitchen so it was a productive day. Some of us like the crackers, and other don't. Oh well, it can't always be a winner for everyone! :) We did, however, have a good time mixing and rolling and cutting! That's the most important part, right?!

"School"

I put school in quotations because Chaeli just turned 5 last month and we aren't doing formal school yet. I'll start some sort of Kindergarden with her next year. But I am excited about what we are having fun with this year.

CHARACTER FIRST (characterfirst.com)

We're concentrating on character...and yes, I know I don't need a curriculum to do this. But someone recommended this to me and we are really enjoying it. There are four series with 9 character qualities in each. We have the first series and will be concentrating on attentiveness, obedience, truthfulness, gratefulness, generosity, orderliness, forgiveness, sincerity, and virtue until Christmas time.

I have a 16 page booklet for each character trait and it is filled with stories (from history and nature), crafts, songs, memory work, games/activities, and a coloring page. I've also chosen two bible texts to go with each and we also have a CD with a very cute song for each trait. We're spending two weeks on each character trait and each day we will look at it from a different aspect. One day from history, another from science/nature, another from in the kitchen/home life, or using it for others, and on Friday we will explore how it relates to Sabbath and how we serve God.

This and swimming lessons, that is what we're doing now...

Vacation - Mackinac City, Etc.

Mackinac City had some attractions of it's own. One was Mill Creek. We really enjoyed walking around in woods exploring nature, but we also got to watch a water powered saw mill demonstration. Water truly is an amazing thing!




This was probably the biggest attraction for the kids! They wanted to go swimming in the hotel pool all the time! We managed to fit it in three times and they were pretty happy about that. It has encouraged us to sign up for swimming lessons this fall!




Just chillin'...

Papa with Chaeli's prized "baby."

Vacation - Mackinac Island

This is the type of boat that we rode over to Mackinac Island. At first we rode on top deck which in the morning was VERY windy and cold. It proved to be a better ride up there on the way back when it was warmer!



One of the things we did while on the island was to tour the fort. Very interesting if you like history. We also got to see (and hear!) a gun demonstration. And the two fellows were kind enough to have their picture taken (for the zillionth time, I'm sure!).




The other major thing that we did on the island was to bike the 8 mile circumference. We rented two bikes a trailer and tootled all over. Although I didn't get any pictures of us riding, this was one of the pictures along the way. It was an absolutely beautiful day and the ride was wonderful! We stopped a few times along the way to play in the water or along the rocks.

One of the things you can't miss on Mackinac Island or in the city is the sweets of ALL KIND! There are soooo many fudge shops, it's unbelievable! And although we didn't eat any fudge, it was fun to watch them make it. These shops carry everything from caramel apples and ice cream to caramel popcorn and many, many kinds of fudge and candy! Here's Dillon enjoying some ice cream.

Vacation - The Dutch Village

This was a cute, cute little Dutch village and we had a fun time while there. They had lots going on that we could be involved in or watch. There was everything from walking or feeding a goat and sliding down the dutch shoe slide to making cheese, riding the carousel or dutch swings and watching them make wooden shoes. Everyone there was dressed like a Dutch person, shoes and all (and 5-12 pairs of socks!!).

Vacation - the Children's Museum

The first day of our vacation we didn't venture too far away. We had never been to the Children's Museum in a city not too far away so we decided to check it out. Here are a few photos of some of the fun things to do.

Dillon did it all and had a great time! Chaeli two favorite things were probably the fire station pole to slide down and the bank! It was a great little place and definitely worth our visit!