family of five? week 2

 

This past Sunday was Father's Day...

  The Cowgirl in her new skirt (birthday gift from Grandma F.)

It seemed I didn’t have the ability to think about it, let alone plan anything.  But my sister was in town and wanted to get us together.  (Thanks, Marcia!)  We decided to have ‘everyone’ here for dinner on Sunday.  A whopping ten of us.  Not hard ~ very nice and relaxing!  Especially when Tim grilled the main dish(es)  :-) 

• Turkey tenderloins, not marinated by me
• Hamburgers, not shaped by me
• Hot dogs (you getting the picture?)
• Watermelon
• Potato salad (leftover from my nephew’s graduation party)
• Iced sun tea
• I’m not sure what to call Kim’s dish of baked zucchini with rice, tomatoes and cheese ~ except Delicious!
• Flaxseed corn chips, hummus, pineapple salsa, choc-covered almonds (all from Trader Joe’s and courtesy of my sister)
• Symphony Tier Bars and leftover chocolates from Kate’s graduation party

 

Symphony Tier Bars ~ made by the Cowgirl especially for her dad 

 

Monday?  Maybe laundry.  Not much.  Five people don’t make much laundry… or eat much food.  :-)  Remember, I had time to post a daybook.  And we’ve been eating Saturday’s and Sunday’s leftover’s all week long.  Really.  I finally made some turkey salad yesterday…  (Granted, Sunday’s leftovers was a lot of food, but whatever.  Next week will be different.  Mark my words.)

 

Tuesday we picked strawberries... lots of strawberries.

 

The available kids helped pick them, and they helped ‘deal’ with them.  And insisted we make jam.

 

 

They still find time to relax...

 

Wednesday and Thursday I baked bread, attended a funeral, caught up on my Treasurer duties, shipped the dvds back to A Beka, bought groceries, shopped W-mart, vacuumed, did a little more laundry…

Friday I finished a couple more blankets for some special babies ~ the farm animal blanket is headed to Prague  :-)

 

…and called the IRS again.  This time it was GOOD NEWS  :-)  Praise the Lord!  Oh, happy, happy day!

 

And downloaded all the pics off my camera and wrote several posts to go with them!  ha

 

And found this passage in Luke 17:

…Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not.

So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.

 

Next week I will have more help ~ along with more mouths to feed and socks to wash ~ Life is good.  We will be a family of 8 again.

Vacation Bible School 6/13-17

 

After sending the big kids off to Brazil, the rest of us went racing with VBS . 

REV IT UP!  Full Throttle for God

We made the keys chains for Monday’s craft.  On Tuesday they put together their candy bar racer (and took them home to eat!) and painted the empty TP tubes for their inedible race cars.

Wednesday's craft was a foam license plate.  Thursday they put their TP tube race cars together.  And Friday was a checkered flag placemat.  Jill has the coolest toys tools ~ Check out the laminator!  And the trophies came out of her Cri-cut.

Thanks be to God,

which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Thursday was Crazy Hat Day  :-)

      

 

And snacks too!  Leah & Brianna were two of our helpers.

Monday we served slices of co-jack cheese and NASCAR-themed Ritz crackers. 

My oh-so-clever-and-always-helpful Chief Snack Assistant Tricia came up with the great way to serve the frozen 'fun pops'  {in a pitcher}  on Tuesday ~ along with a bag of chips.

The Cattleman and the Popper helped by cooking the 120 hot dogs we served on Wednesday.  It's not very often we can provide "all you can eat" snacks!  The kids thought it was great  :-)

        

For Thursday Tricia put together a snack mix of pretzels, m&m’s, car-shaped marshmallows and graham crackers, and Bugles.

Friday we had pizza!  and a homemade cookie  :-)

 

 

You might notice that I didn’t take pictures of our largest class ~ the 4 and 5 year olds  ;-)  The Popper and the Cattleman each had less than ten children in their classes usually.  The 4-5yo and 1st-2nd grade classes, however, had 20-25 children every day. woo hoo!  We had lots of fun with them all!

The Cattleman memorized enough verses that he and a friend had a show-down in a Sword Drill Sunday night to determine the final winner of the big prize before the final program.  They both win big with those verses in their minds and hearts!

Afternoons at home ~ (when we weren’t shopping or visiting the chiropractor) ~ I let the kids watch some library videos (dvds, yah).  Swiss Family Robinson and The Lone Ranger.  Good fun.

catch-up with photos

Mr. J. mowing our first crop of hay...

Tim and kids did the raking while we avoided most of the scattered showers...

Miss Artist 'working' on a slide show for Brazil...

...with a little 'help' from c-A-t...

 .

I indulged myself in some pretty pots and put the Gerbera daisies in them...

On Memorial Day, Jill came over to help me plan crafts for VBS.  Her kiddos are good friends with mine  :-)

 We told the girls to put on some sun screen before they went to the creek to play.  Cute, eh?

 One rainy day, Tim added trim to the school room doorway  :-)

I also decided to start some lettuce and spinach indoors...  

and some cilantro and parsley      

 The Popper painted her "M" to go with the Cowgirl's "E"

The Cowgirl celebrated her 13th birthday!  She finished her cake Saturday night about 11pm.  Gram & Gramp came for the party on Sunday.

That Monday was the beginning of our VBS ~ But that's another post!  :-)

 P.S.  No pics available of the days we spent shopping or sewing or packing before the kids went off to Brazil.  But it will be worth it all...

and GOOD NEWS from Prague too!

We also received news from the Rettigs (who are on furlough in the US this summer)...

Proverbs 25:25  As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country.

Spiritual birth and physical birth was the news we received from Prague.

Pavel has been preaching regularly in our Pribram services and does a tremendous job. He and his wife, Jana, and faithful Tomas go every week to minister to the small group there. Last week Pavel reports… “But the evening was not over yet....Jana spoke to the lady, Jana,  who was coming for studies and she was concerned about the salvation. We were just about to leave (it was 7:30 already) and she wanted to pray...So we went to study the Bible, to understand what is Salvation and what is the purpose for our salvation. We stayed together (2 more hours) with my wife and Zdenka and taught about sin, repentance, faith in HIM. She was clear on everything and ready so we prayed for salvation and I do believe she is really saved. First person with whom I prayed for salvation..I am so glad Zdenka was there as well. She was crying with joy after we finished and we sang songs...”
Praise the Lord for the second lady in Pribram to be saved and for faithful Zdenka, baptized in May, who is a “Lydia” in that city.


Congratulations to Monika and Roman Kratky on the birth of their son, Simon (She mon)  on June 23rd. Simon weighed in at 4kg, 51cm  (8 lbs. 13 oz. and 21 inches). We praise the Lord for another added blessing to the church in Prague.
Emilie

monkey tales from Brasil :-)

Coelho email still not working... but the phone must!  :-)

 

Hi everyone - just some tidbits "as the monkey swings through" (literally one was found outside Coelho's front door when they returned home today).  It was a full grown dust pan size monkey, and everyone had their picture taken with it.  The monkeys usually do not come through this area until August and then not very many are seen. 

 

Everyone now has a great tan and loved the sand dunes and the beach. Riding in a dune buggy along the beach was a big highlight of their overnight stay at Morro Branco.  On the way back to the sitio (Coelho's home and retreat center), they decided to make another trip to the beach outside Fortaleza for more souvenir hunting.  An exhausted group was ready to call it a day after that excursion.

 

Your youth and their sponsors will be leaving for the airport in Fortaleza around 12:30 p.m. Friday.  Hopefully they will be able to sleep on the long flight home.  Yes, home!!  What stories they will have to tell.  Can't wait to hear them, myself (Fran).

 

Shari and Valdez want to thank all of you immensely for allowing your young people to come visit them and their children and see first hand what mission work is like in Northeast Brazil.  Keep praying for fruit from the English immersion camp and for the Lord's working in the lives of your youth.

 

Thanks also for the youth bringing all Valdez's study books, the gifts and clothing sent from friends and family.

 

Glad to send this to all of you.  Fran 

 

update from Brasil ~ last few days

Latest from Brazil via Mrs. Coelho's mom...

Hi everyone - just to let you know that Shari called Jim and I last night after 10:30 and asked us to relay a message to each of you.  They have been having problems sending and receiving emails for a few days. 

Tuesday they took it easy.  Shari took 2 groups of teens to a local grocery store to purchase items for themselves and items for them to take home.   No fancy supermarket and quite an eye opener.

The teens went to a very small (60 students), extremely poor public school for a couple of hours.  There they taught some English to the students (K4 through 3rd grade), gave out wordless bracelets, gave the gospel message, and prayed with them.  This is a school that cannot afford to purchase a soccer ball nor do they have a playground (just a small patch of cement in the hot sun).  It is a typical government school. 

Lunch was at a Brazilian restaurant with lots of good Brazilian food.  Afterwards they went to the largest new modern shopping mall in Fortaleza. 

They walked out on the beach and watched the sun set (6 p.m. daily) from the boardwalk.   Such a georgeous sight!!

There will be no updates to you until they return from their overnight outing to Morro Branco
and the Dunes!!!!  Last great experience before returning to the States.

Thanks for letting us report to you.  Keep praying for God's working in their hearts, for health, safety, and witnessing opportunities.



And from Giselle (foreign exchange student back in the day and good friend of one of the other moms of our group) via facebook  (See, facebook IS good for something!)...

The place is so beautiful, the sunset, the time of the day.Then, after the sunset all the group went to step their feet on the water, it was so warm.I enjoyed watching them so happy playing, laughing, having fun by the water, by the the waves. It was really a very special and happy day for everybody. Jessica told me that they have a tight schedule.Today, Wednesday, they are going to a nearby beach called Morro Branco, to visit the colored hard sand cliffs. My family and I went there three weeks ago. It is such a beautiful place. The group will love it. Jessica told me that they will arrive home on Saturday, late at night. 

I think Monday was the day of rest and grocery shopping, and Tuesday was lunch in Fortaleza after visiting the school.  Tonight they will be in Morro Branco.  Friday night they fly back to the US (home late Saturday, Lord willing).

photo credit:  http://wanderlustfood.blogspot.com/2008/11/lunch-on-beach-morro-branco-brazil.html

Thank you for praying with us!  

As one of my children at home commented yesterday after counting the days until the older kids return...

"After a few days, you start to miss them!"