The Joy of Fall Leaves

Just what the kids needed tonight! The little neighbor girl came over to see if they could play so after supper we went outside for a little while. The kids entertained themselves by raking piles of leaves and and jumping in them. From there it went to sliding into them and then even chasing each other and throwing leaves. It's gotten a bit colder (53 right now) here so we aren't outside as much and they desperately needed to get some fresh air and exercise! Mission accomplished!

Applesauce

IT'S APPLESAUCE MAKING TIME!!

This is actually my favorite fruit to can! I love my victorio strainer. It makes the process so easy and the kids love to help as well. This year I'm making many different mixes...mostly as an experiment to see if we can find other varieties that we like. The problem comes because David likes tart applesauce and I like sweet applesauce. Since we don't add any sugar, it's all up to the taste of the apples.

So far I have 13 frozen quarts and 17 canned quarts....with plenty to go as my livingroom floor is covered in apples! And I've tried different mixes that include any or all of ginger gold, macintosh, honeycrisp, and cortland. My favorite from last year is a mix of golden delicious and fuji! Yum! I also added some Mutsu to that mix and it was tasty as well so I'll be getting those next week.

Applesauce time is sooooo much fun! :)

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Association and similar to the popular Uncle Arthur’s Bedtime Stories that have been around for years and now are quite outdated.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!