My Dad

~Posted by Mark (Tribute written to share at the funeral)

 

My Dad!

 

Dad, when I look back, there are so many memories that I could share. I look back at what was really important and that would be how you shaped the character of your children. You showed me what a godly man looked like. Your strength came from the Lord. You were loving, compassionate, slow to anger, wise, humble.

 

Over the years, it was an encouragement to see you daily read your Bible. I know you also prayed for your family, our spouses, and our kids. You were a loving husband to mom. You showed her your love daily. You provided a great model for a marriage. God blessed you and mom for 57 years! You were a humble man who lacked nothing.

 

It was hard the last half year to see you struggle with your breathing. I know now you are in a place where you breathe freely and once again sing praises to the Lord!! Even as you were in the valley of darkness, you relied on the Lord. As you were reading your Bible daily, I know you often were comforted by the 23^rd Psalm. I know the Lord was your comfort and you are now dwelling in His house.

 

Dad, I thank you for all the great memories: the model railroad, the high adventure canoe trips with the Boy Scouts (including when the black bear attacked your pack), the time working on home projects together, the time you spent loving on my children, the times of advice and comfort, and so many more.

 

Dad you have run the good race and have finished well. I can only imagine God saying to you, “Job well done good and faithful servant.” Dad you will be missed, but I look forward to being with you in heaven one day and rejoicing again!!

 

Dad, I love you. Mom, I love you. You were the best parents one could hope to have.

 

Gone

Dear blog readers,

Yesterday morning just before 9:00 a.m. my beloved Grandpa passed away. There are so many details swirling in our heads as his death was rather sudden. Due to all of this we will be taking a temporary hiatus from blogging for the next couple of weeks. I’m not sure when we’ll be back to it, so for now whenever you check the blog (or would normally check the blog) please take a moment to pray for our family. Pray for peace, wisdom, and comfort in our grief. Thank you.

~Bianca for the family

Babysitting at Life Group

This past Monday, the twins and I started babysitting for our Life Group (instead of adult Sunday schools, our church has small Bible studies that meet during the week.) Their prior babysitters were college students who were going to be too busy this semester to continue. When the leaders found out that we had not 1 but 3 babysitters in our family, they asked if we’d be willing to take over.

It was a tough decision for us girls. J Of course, we said yes! Every other week the Life Group meets at church and we keep the kids in the nursery. The other weeks the adults meet in one house while we watch the kids at a nearby house.

For our first night, we were at the church and had 5 kids, ages 5 and under. Only one of the little boys cried when his Mommy left (little T in the orange shirt above.) But he calmed down quickly once I read him a story and the other kids did great.

Photo Credit: Roma.

Rubia having a pretend picnic with some of the kids.

Photo Credit: Roma.

About half-way through the evening I gave the kids a snack. As you can see from this picture, I think they took out every single toy in the room. J

Photo Credit: Roma.

Towards the end, the kids were getting a little bit rowdy/stir crazy. So I put in a Veggie Tales movie and cleaned up the room a bit.

Of course, being young kids they didn’t watch the movie for too long before they were pulling out toys again. J But I think playing with toys is better than watching movies any day!

Overall the evening went very well and we are very excited to be the regular babysitters from now on!

Blogger Challenge Day 5: Your Siblings

I am blessed to be the oldest of 5 siblings. Just by reading the “About Our Family” page, I’m sure you can tell that we all have our own unique personalities. J Rather than simply copy what’s already on the AOF page, I thought I’d add a little bit of my own perspective of what my siblings are like and what I appreciate about them.

Ben is two years younger than me and the oldest boy in our family. We were two peas in a pod when we were younger; now we’re errand buddies, soon to be world-traveling buddies. J I hardly go anywhere without Ben these days. He is very conscious of what’s going on in the world and loves to have discussions surrounding politics, law, and government. He hopes to have a career in politics someday. He has a big servant’s heart and is always willing to do the man’s work around the house. He loves history, reading, coffee, weight-lifting, and counting down the months until he can drive.

Rubia is the oldest of the twins by 7 minutes. She and Roma have been best friends since they were about 5 years old, after being known as “the fighting Fitzgeralds” for so many years. J Rubia has a very soft spot in her heart for animals, and can often be found playing with, grooming, and loving on our pets as well as the many strays and neighborhood dogs. She has about a dozen pen-pals and her free time is often spent writing them letters. She is gifted in writing, and likes to write stories. She has a very strong sense of justice and empathizes with those who are mistreated. She hopes to be a missionary one day.

Roma has always been the lovable firecracker of the family. J When she was younger, she was always into something. As she has grown older and matured, a lovely personality has emerged. Roma is very easy-going and is the peacemaker of our house. She loves her precious kitty, Zack, and spoils him quite a bit. J She is developing an interest in putting together outfits, color-coordination, and learning new hair-dos. She can often be found “shopping” in my closet. J Roma loves writing to her pen pals, riding her bike, taking photos, and playing the piano. When asked what she wants to be when she grows up, she says that she wants to smuggle Bibles and be a missionary where it’s illegal, and have at least 15 kids. J

Josiah is the baby of the family, but make sure you don’t bring that up. J He’s an elementary schooler going on 25. He is quite a tough little boy who loves guns, sling-shots, hunting for wild animals, building with Legos, wrestling with Ben, plotting the types of dogs he’ll have when he’s older, and explaining what he just accomplished in his MetalStorm computer game. But he also has a soft spot in his heart for the underprivileged. Just a few weeks ago he noticed a homeless man outside Wal-Mart. He quietly asked Mom if we could buy him lunch and give him a tract. The man was very appreciative! Josiah’s not sure what he wants to be when he grows up, but he wants it to include guns. J

I am so blessed by my siblings! They are such a gift from God.

Texas Picture: January

Last year I did a photo challenge where every month I posted a few nature pictures taken during that month. This year I decided to post a picture of something that says “Texas” every month.

For this month I’ve posted a picture of some type of cactus growing underneath our back fence. After a bit of research, it looks a little like a purple prickly pear cactus. I might be able to better determine what type it is after it flowers. While we don’t see cactus all over the place in our part of Texas, we do see it commonly in landscaping. Who knows, perhaps some cactus will make its into our landscaping someday soon!

Picking Pecans

*The events of this blog post actually happened before Christmas, but I couldn’t post it until now because we gave away some of our pecans as Christmas gifts.*

Since moving to Texas, we have become the owners of 13 mature pecan trees which reside at the front of our property. According to our neighbors, this was an extraordinary year for pecans. The pecans had just started to fall when we moved in early December. We decided that even though we were busy with unpacking, the kids should go out and pick some before they went bad.

Josiah stretching to reach some of the pecans.

Photo Credit: Roma.

Rubia hard at work.

Photo Credit: Roma.

The tools of the trade: a bike to traverse the long driveway, a bucket to collect the nuts, and a ladder to reach some of the higher branches.

Photo Credit: Roma.

Actually, I thought I heard Mom tell them NOT to climb the tree. Apparently they interpreted that as not to climb too high. J

Photo Credit: Roma.

They collected about 2 gallons of pecans in one afternoon. We packaged about half of them in little bags with nutcrackers to give away as Christmas gifts and then kept the rest.

Photo Credit: Betsy.

Fresh native pecans taste delicious! They have such a different taste than what you find in the stores. I’m usually not a fan of raw nuts, but I definitely like these. I’ve read that a mature pecan tree can produce up to 50 pounds of nuts in a good year! I’m looking forward to utilizing our pecans more in the coming months!

Gratitude

Send some rain, would You send some rain?

'Cause the earth is dry and needs to drink again

And the sun is high and we are sinking in the shade

Would You send a cloud, thunder long and loud?

Let the sky grow black and send some mercy down

Surely You can see that we are thirsty and afraid

Photo Credit: Roma.

But maybe not, not today

Maybe You'll provide in other ways

And if that's the case . . .

Photo Credit: Roma.

We'll give thanks to You

With gratitude

For lessons learned in how to thirst for You

How to bless the very sun that warms our face

If You never send us rain

Daily bread, give us daily bread

Bless our bodies, keep our children fed

Fill our cups, then fill them up again tonight

Photo Credit: Roma.

Wrap us up and warm us through

Tucked away beneath our sturdy roofs

Let us slumber safe from danger's view this time

Photo Credit: Roma.

Or maybe not, not today

Maybe You'll provide in other ways

And if that's the case . . .

Photo Credit: Roma.

We'll give thanks to You

With gratitude

A lesson learned to hunger after You

That a starry sky offers a better view if no roof is overhead

And if we never taste that bread

Photo Credit: Roma.

Oh, the differences that often are between

Everything we want and what we really need

So grant us peace, Jesus, grant us peace

Move our hearts to hear a single beat

Between alibis and enemies tonight

Photo Credit: Roma.

Or maybe not, not today

Peace might be another world away

And if that's the case . . .

We'll give thanks to You

With gratitude

For lessons learned in how to trust in You

That we are blessed beyond what we could ever dream

In abundance or in need

And if You never grant us peace

But Jesus, would You please . . .

--“Gratitude” by Nichole Nordeman

“Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

1 Thessalonians 5:18

Recipe--York Sensational Brownies

Most people would associate this recipe with Christmas. It’s kind of a funny story why I’m posting it now. J You see, a certain member of our family threw a fit when we didn’t have these for Christmas. Try as we might to explain how little time we had for Christmas baking, this person couldn’t get over the fact that we couldn’t have York Sensational Brownies for Christmas.

So we came to a compromise; we would have the York Sensational Brownies after New Year’s when life was a bit more normal. So yesterday afternoon he made a batch for us. Thus the reason why this Christmas recipe is being posted in January. And now we have a very happy young man in our family. J

York Sensational Brownies

1 ½ Cups (3 sticks) butter, melted

3 Cups sugar

1 Tablespoon vanilla extract

5 eggs

2 Cups all-purpose flour

1 Cup unsweetened cocoa

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

24 small peppermint patties

Heat oven to 350°F. Grease 13x9x2 inch baking pan. In a large bowl with spoon or wire whisk, stir together butter, sugar, and vanilla. Add eggs; stir until well blended. Stir in flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt; blend well. Reserve 2 cups batter; set aside. Spread remaining batter in prepared pan.

Unwrap peppermint patties. Arrange patties in single layer over batter, about ½ inch apart. Spread reserved 2 cups of batter over patties. Bake 50 to 55 minutes or until brownies begin to pull away from sides of pan. Cool completely in pan on wire rack; cut into squares. Makes 24 brownies.