Autumn Pictures

The day of our cobbler party, I went around with my macro lens and took a few pictures of our decorations. Since we don’t have a ton of fall color here in Texas (although we do have some!) we have to do a little more decorating to make things feel “fall-ish.” J

Straw bales and pumpkins by our gate.

Mums.

Table decorations made by Roma.

Decorations in our front entryway (candle with a chest of our pecans in the background.)

"Same Kind of Different as Me" Book Review

Over the past several months, a book title kept coming up amongst friends: “Same Kind of Different as Me” by Ron Hall & Denver Moore. Initially I wasn’t that intrigued by it, but the more I heard, the more curious I became. Most of the story takes place in Fort Worth, Texas and knowing my friends and the types of books they read, I decided to go ahead and read it. So I borrowed it from the Family Pastor at church (the one I’m interning for.)

I got the book on a Tuesday afternoon, and I finished the book by Saturday morning. Yes, that’s how good it was!

Each chapter alternates authors. In one chapter, Ron Hall will be telling the story from his perspective. In the next, Denver writes his point of view. Ron Hall grows up in a fairly average American home, but as an adult, becomes a very wealthy art dealer. Meanwhile, Denver grows up as a modern-day slave on a share-cropping plantation in Louisiana.

The book shows their back stories, and how one woman—Deborah Hall (Ron’s wife)—brings them both together. Ron and Denver are perfect opposites; yet God drew them together in an amazing way and used them to change a city.

This book has you laughing one minute, and nearly in tears the next. It’s a story that reads almost like a novel. It’s that incredible!

One of the reasons I really enjoyed this book, was for the inspiration it gave me. Denver and Ron’s relationship is an incredible example to me. My natural inclination would be to overlook people like Denver (i.e. homeless, elderly, criminal background, etc.) But I need to look at people the way God does! I need to love them, reach out to them, pray for them, and commit to having a relationship with them.

I would highly recommend this book for ages 16 and older. Some of the themes in the book, as well as some negative racial language, make this book too mature for anyone younger. But I would highly recommend it for adults! It’s a fairly easy read (you just get drawn into the story!) and has so much food for thought!

1st Annual Cobbler Party! (Part 1)

It’s time for me to let out the big secret: our family hosted our 1^st Annual Cobbler Party this past weekend! We have been planning this almost since the time we moved to Texas. I was inspired by reading about a family who hosts an annual donut party. I wanted to do something similar, but I knew donuts would be a little too difficult for us. I racked my brain, and came up with cobbler!

Once we finally set a date for the party, we started to put together a guest list. Since we’ve only lived here 10 months, we decided to just invite everybody we knew. Turns out, that was a lot more people than we expected! We invited over 250 people! :-0 We had about 105 people RSVP, and we started to put together our party plans . . .

It required a good deal of planning! We began our shopping on Monday, and started baking on Thursday.

Photo Credit: Roma.

We made a total of 28 cobblers: 2 s’more, 3 hot fudge, 4.5 apple, 4 peach, 2 gluten-free peach, 2 blackberry, 2 blueberry, 2 raspberry, 0.5 blueberry/raspberry, 2 cherry, 1 gluten-free cherry, 2 strawberry, and 1 gluten-free strawberry!

Photo Credit: Roma.

While Mom and I worked in the kitchen, the kids worked indoors and out getting things cleaned up, out, and decorated! Apparently they took breaks to ride on the shop vac. J

Photo Credit: Roma.

They did an awesome job on our garage! A friend from my Dad’s work loaned us all these tables and chairs. Roma and Mom did an excellent job decorating them!

Photo Credit: Roma.

Inside we also had decorations and some fun things. We had a jar of our pecans and a jar of candy corn, and a basket for people to place their guesses of how many were in each. I also had a basket with cards for people to fill out for a scrapbook I’m putting together with pictures to display at next year’s cobbler party!

After many months of planning, and lots of hours of hands-on prep, the party day finally came! But you’ll have to read about that tomorrow. J

1st Annual Cobbler Party! (Part 2)

The day of our 1^st Annual Cobbler Party had finally arrived! The day passed by quickly as last-minute preparations were finished.

Roma did a great job executing our decorations! She put balloons and a sign out on our mailbox. Unfortunately the next morning we discovered that her decorations also attracted some negative attention. Someone came and smashed our mailbox up so bad it won’t close now, and also ripped our flag off and broke it. L

Now you can see what the mysterious straw bales were for. J Decorating our entryway!

Please excuse the fact that this picture is tilted. We had some decorations on our porch as well.

Around 4 p.m., people started arriving! The spread was great. We had cobblers coming out on a rotation, vanilla ice cream, cheese and meat trays, grapes, baby carrots, popcorn, and candy corn! We also had a variety of hot drinks including hot cocoa, apple cider, coffee and tea.

Unfortunately the weather wasn’t what we had been hoping for. The temperature was in the upper 50’s and it rained pretty consistently. But we made the best of it! We had the party in our house and garage, and it spread out into our barn as well. The kids had fun playing out there, and the guys had fun trying their hand at our stilts. J

Our garage was probably the most popular spot with the guests. It felt like we were outside, but we were sheltered from the elements!

Josiah was in charge of games for the kids, and he had fun buying and filling a piñata for them! It was a hit (literally! J)

Our kitchen was always pleasantly crowded as people sampled cobblers, chatted, and enjoyed jazz music.

Towards the end of the party, I had fun playing some piano tunes with the kids.

Photo Credit: Roma.

When all was said and done, we had almost 90 people come out for the party despite the rain! We were so glad for the opportunity to have so many people over, and hopefully encourage them! We are really looking forward to making this an annual tradition. So if any of you are looking for a reason to visit Texas, this is a good one! J Every October!

Twilight

“Like the sky before the dawn
While the night is holding on
Sun and moon together in the gray
So my soul is shared by two
The worst of me, the best of You
Saint and sinner mingle in my veins
And I pray You'll end this twilight

Twilight, twilight
I'm torn inside my soul tonight
The dawning day, the dying night
Oh rid my soul of twilight…

Good I love but evil's done
Good intentions come undone
Good to know I know the One
Who saves me from myself  and

Twilight, twilight
I'm torn inside my soul tonight
The dawning day, the dying night
Oh rid my soul of twilight…

(from “Twilight” by Shaun Groves)

~ posted by Betsy ~

Recipe--Potato, Leek, and Rosemary Soup

I love soup season! I can’t think of any better meal to have on a cold, windy night than a bowl of hot soup accompanied by fresh bread for dipping. This soup is a delicious, fragrant, sophisticated version of potato soup. It was a hit in our family! Although it takes a little more work than some soups, it’s definitely worth it!

 

Potato, Leek, and Rosemary Soup

 

 

 

2 Tablespoons butter

1 lb. leeks, trimmed and finely sliced

4 cups peeled and coarsely chopped potatoes

3 ¾ cups vegetable stock

4 fresh rosemary sprigs

2 cups whole milk

2 Tablespoons freshly chopped parsley (I used 1 tablespoon of dried)

2 Tablespoons crème fraiche (I substituted sour cream)

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

 

Melt the butter in a large saucepan, add the leeks, and cook gently for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove 1 tablespoon of the cooked leeks and set aside for garnishing.

 

Add the potatoes, vegetable stock, rosemary sprigs, and milk. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat, cover, and simmer gently for 20-25 minutes until the vegetables are tender.

 

Cool for 10 minutes. Discard the rosemary, then pour into a food processor or blender and blend well to form a smooth-textured soup.

 

Return the soup to the cleaned saucepan and stir in the chopped parsley and crème fraiche. Season to taste with salt and pepper. If the soup is too thick, stir in a little more milk or water. Reheat gently, without boiling, then ladle into warmed soup bowls. Garnish the soup with the set-aside leeks and serve immediately. Serves 4-6

 

Tasty tip: This rosemary-scented version of potato and leek soup is equally delicious served cold, when it would be called Vichyssoise. Allow the soup to cool before covering, then chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours. The soup will thicken as it chills, so you may need to thin it to the desired consistency with more milk or stock and season before serving.

 

 

Festival

~Posted by Josiah

Every year there is a festival in our town when about 15,000-20,000 people come (and only about 4000 live in our town.) This was our first year. We went early so Ben, Roma, and Rubia could run their race. Unfortunately Bianca missed it ‘cause she had to go to the Rad Dog Road Trip.

The moon was still out when we arrived!

Photo Credit: Betsy

Dad went to pick up Ben, Roma, and Rubia while Mom stayed with me for my Tae-Kwon-Do demo. It went well, and halfway through the others came back from their race.

Roma, after she finished her race.

Photo Credit: Mark

They did well, and the demo was fun too.

Getting ready for the demo.

Photo Credit: Betsy

The black belts’ first show.

Photo Credit: Betsy

Doing my part of the demo.

Photo Credit: Betsy

Then we went to the parade and got to see all kinds of fun things. There were big and little cars.

There were remote-controlled cars doing tricks.

This was my favorite car since I like Camaros. J

Then we went to the rides there and I did bumper cars and won a toy penguin at a shooting range.

I got to drive a bumper car!

Photo Credit: Betsy

I had fun shooting down the bottles.

Photo Credit: Betsy

Next we went to the shark slide and jungle bounce houses.

The shark slide was one of my favorites, because it was really fast!

Photo Credit: Betsy

I also had fun at the “Jungle Adventure,” sliding down the volcano.

Photo Credit: Betsy

We looked around some more and did some shopping. Then Dad wanted to look at cars at the car show.

Ben had fun posing next to his pretend-new-car. J

Photo Credit: Betsy

We had fun all day and we can’t wait till next year!

What Are We Up To . . . ?

Any guesses as to what our family is up to this weekend? I’ll give you a hint: it’s probably not what you’d expect. J I’ll let you guess over the weekend, and tell you what the deal was on Monday!

Home-Away-From-Home Ministry

Back in October 2012 when Dad moved to Texas, we started researching churches online from Michigan. When looking at our church, I was really intrigued by an outreach ministry they had for college students. In our town, there is a fairly large college and lots of kids that live on campus. Our church started a ministry called “Home-Away-From-Home” where families “adopt” a student for the school year. They get to know their student, take them out or have them over for meals, pray for them, and just show love to them in whatever way they can!

Since we moved in the middle of the school year—and were still getting acclimated—we didn’t get involved last year. But when the introductory luncheon rolled around in September, we made sure to attend. We got to meet several students, and then both the students and families desiring to be involved in the ministry filled out application forms. Then our Associate Pastor (who oversees the college ministries) prayed over all of them and started pairing families with students.

We were very excited when we finally found out the student we would get to “adopt.” J Turns out, probably due to the large size of our family J, we were assigned two students! We contacted both of them, and set up times to get together and meet with them.

The first student we met is a freshman this year and experiencing the full-blown transition from high school to college life. He is Mexican, shares a love of running and music with our family, and is just a really great guy!

After church on Sunday, we took him out to a new restaurant in town that makes wood-fired pizza. It was pretty busy, but we were seated quickly. I loved the scripture they had painted on the wall! (Deuteronomy 8:10)

The neat thing about this restaurant is that the kids get to assemble their own pizza. Josiah was quite tickled by that. J After they’ve rolled out their dough and put on their toppings, they take it up to the counter by the stove and get to watch it cook in the big wood oven.

I ordered a pizza with peppers, kalamata olives, mushrooms, artichoke hearts, pesto, and feta cheese on it. It was good, but I think next time I’ll custom order it and have some meat on there. J

Dessert was *incredible!* I ordered their s’more pizza. Nutella, graham cracker crumbs, mini marshmallows, and a deliciously sweet dough. Don’t worry, I shared both pizzas with the others! J

All of us kids with O in front of the wood oven.

Photo Credit: Mark

The following Sunday, most of the family got to meet with our other student K, and his friend, J, at Cracker Barrel (Roma and I were babysitting at church.)

Photo Credit: Mark

K is a sophomore, math major, chemistry minor, and pre-med student. His family history is so neat! He was adopted from Peru by an Iranian dad and a Native American mom. And his sister was adopted from Romania!

We really look forward to getting to know both of our adopted students over the next school year!

Rad Dog Road Trip

This past Saturday, I had the privilege of going on a special event with the middle school ministry from church: a “Rad Dog Road Trip!” As part of my internship this fall, I’ve been working with this ministry, and one of their big events every fall is this road trip. It’s an all-day trip, filled with surprise stops that the kids don’t know about. As the intern, I also got to help plan the event. J

 

We met at the church at 9 a.m. Saturday morning. I had only been expecting about 15-20 people. We had 23 students, and 6 youth leaders/drivers/parents! It made for a very fun-filled, high-energy day!



Our first stop was a farm that is owned by a family at our church. Several years ago, they discovered a dinosaur on their property. One of their riverbeds is dried up, and you can find marine fossils (primarily sharks’ teeth) there. They graciously allowed us to come and do some looking! But first, the kids fueled themselves with some hot and creamy donuts. J



We had fun enjoying the crisp morning and looking for fossils. There’s a bit of a funny story behind this picture. J I climbed up on this log and sat for a few minutes. Then I went to jump down. I thought it was only 3 or 4 feet to the ground. It turned out to be more like 5 feet. I miscalculated and ended up flat on my bottom, feet sprawled out in front of me. Thankfully, the only injury was to my ego. J But I started my day by landing square in the mud!

Photo Credit: My friend, C.



After about an hour, we piled back into our 4-vehicle-caravan and headed south. As the day wore on, the girls got more giggly and noisy. J



Our next stop was a park where we played a game of speedball (a combination of soccer and ultimate Frisbee.)



After working up a good appetite, we had lunch at Raising Cane’s.



Our after-lunch event was probably the highlight of the day. We went to an adventure park where they had go-kart racing, laser tag, putt-putt golf, and bumper boats. We had fun racing each other on the tracks.



I joined 3 of the other youth leaders in a bumper boats battle. I got in, not really thinking about getting wet. But each boat is equipped with a water gun. J It turned into an all out war, and all 4 of us were drenched by the end of it.



We dried off with a round of mini-golf.



Next was a tour of the Ranger’s ballpark! This is the view from the press box. We also got to go in the Ranger’s dugout, the tunnel underneath the stadium, and inside one of the suites. It’s HUGE!



Then we had dinner at Double Dave’s pizza. The guys were VERY interested in the Texas A&M game going on. J



Our last stop of the day was a pumpkin farm!



We were there specifically to do the corn maze. I love these!

We didn’t make it back to the church until 9:30 that night, but we had such a fun day together! I’m so glad I had the opportunity to go along and get to know some of the middle school kids at our church better!