KJ's Ladies: 2011

Happy Halloween

from the tooth fairy, minnie mouse and a little pumpkin

June/July/August/September/October 2011

During 2010 we have been learning how important the power of prayer is. We have learned that we can be good christian people and try really hard at doing the right thing but without the power of prayer we would be working in our strength. God wants to provide us with so much more beyond what we can comprehend or imagine. Therefore in the this new year we would like to begin being more purposefully with our prayer life and share them with you, our faithful family and friends. (Plus it gives you non-facebookers and peek into our daily lives.) And please feel free to send us any prayer requests that your families may have.

~BIG, SUPER DUPER Praise: we bought a house!! That is the "strangely" quiet reason for hearing nothing from us this summer. We were approached by some good friends of the family and asked if we would be interested in buying their mother's house. It was perfect as we have admired the house from afar for a long time. It was 3 houses up the road from where we were renting. We made the offical move on October 1st!

~ I again directed our church's VBS program. We had the largest VBS I have ever directed this year. Averaging 120 each night. Our theme was a western theme and all of our family was able to participate. KJ was in the "skit" each night playing a dual role of Caleb the propector and Dr. Marvel the traveling saleman. He was great as usual. Each of the girls were old enough to participate in the night's activities and I got to oversee them all. It was great fun!

~ Kimberly was able to go to summer camp for the first time this year. She attended Camp Pinnacle, a Christian summer camp about 20 minutes from our house. She was only old enough for the Day Camp program (which means they do everything the campers do but don't have dinner or the evening activity) but she is already talking about how she wants to stay over night next year. She was able to also participate in the horse program as well and wow did she love it!

~ Kimberly and Courtney both took swimming lessons in August at the Middleburgh Pool.

~Rick and Candy left to live in Alaska for 4 months at the beginning of August and we became landlords for our very good friends who are missionaries in Alaska. It has been fun having them "home" again. Pray for safe travels for both Rick and Candy and Jeff and Ann as this next week they make the "swap" back.

~ The end of August we all had a shocker of a hurricane come through. Most of the entire area was effected in some way, but KJ and I were both just floored at the devestation in the Schoharie Valley. Our family seemed to fair ok, some lost more than others. My parents did not have any damage to their home but have been working non-stop since to help those who lost everything. The village of Middleburgh is slowing recuperating but the village of Schoharie is still in ruins. Please pray for these families.

~We went camping at the beginning of September with a group of our very good friends. We had 5 families with 17 children. It was a very busy weekend!!

~My mom was such a blessing to us in early September with her annual "Fashion Show/Tea Party". She spends the summer sewing beautiful clothes for the girls to start school with. Margot was able to make her debut this year and even one of the girls friends was able to get in on the action.

~In September I also started working. I am currently watching 2 children 3 days a week for a family from our church. It has been a blessing to me to be able to help another family, help our family financially, and to get to know these little ones a little better. Keep us in your prayers as we go through the cold and flu season.

~Princess #1 and Princess #2 also started another year at school. Princess #1 now has in 3rd grade and Princess #2 in 1st grade. Each of the girls is doing well, we are working on adjusting to our new routines and schedule. Keep Princess #1 in your prayers as this year is alot more independent work and much more homework.

~In October we moved and then 6 days later went on vacation. Whew!! We took a 2-day road trip out to Kentucky with 4 other families to visit the Creation Museum. It was amazing to see how scriptures match up exactly with science of today. The more we learn about our world the more it just confirms what we know about God. We then took a 2-day road trip back home. We had a great time and look forward to the next time!

~We rounded out the month with "birthday season" My dad's birthday, followed by my sister Morning Dawn, followed by our goddaughter, Pearl 1st birthday, my nephew Shy Guy, and rounding out the pack is Princess #1 who turned 8 a few days ago.

Up, Up, Up! It's Apple Picking Time!

Today I was feeling really homey and decided to "put up" some applesauce. We don't have a lot of freezer space so I can all my apples. A friend of mine wanted to know how I canned... so I did a little pictorial for her and anyone else who reads this can come along on the journey.

So, first is the cast of characters... I have learned over the years not just any apple makes good apple sauce. I did not have time to go and pick my own apples this year, so I went to my local orchard and bought from the stand. I usually look for one that has good texture, a firm white apple. This year my favorite apple was available, the macowan! (mmmm, a few of those may not have reached the pot), then I look for one that has a very sweet taste, usually a little softer apple, I choose my daughter's favorite, honey crisp (a few more that didn't make the pot) and last but not least one for color because I like pink applesauce. Doesn't matter what kind it is as long as it is really really red. The redest on the stand this year was Empire so they rounded out the party in the pot.

I loosely follow this recipe http://www.freshpreserving.com/recipe.aspx?r=126. So first off, quarter the apples and throw in a pot, skin, seeds and all. Add a little water in pot to keep them from sticking on the bottom. Everyone in the pool...

Go retrieve a few missing apples...

Let them bask in that nice steam bath until they are all mushy and brownish (but not burnt).

Now unless your hubby has been super nice to you and bought you one of these nifty attachments for your mixer like this...

your gonna need a food mill that looks like this...

so you take those nicely steamed, warm apples, and pour them in the top and turn the crank (or turn on the mixer) and out comes this beautiful pink applesauce that looks like this...

and the skins and seeds (or apple poop as my kiddos call it) get caught in the top....

Now add sugar to your taste, I added about 3 cups....

Then put it all back in pot for another warm up or until it simmers gently. While you are doing that you are going to need to warm up those canning jars, so get a LARGE pot of water boiling (a word to the wise it takes about 20 minutes for that pot to come to a boil) and put the canning jars in it for about 10 minutes. You will need to time it so that your jars are hot when your applesauce is hot again.

Then take the jars out of the boiling water and fill with hot applesauce almost to the top...

Put the lids and rings on and make sure they are tightly secure cause they are going for a dip in the hot boiling water...

After it nice a hot with a simmering boil, let em hang out together for 20 minutes. Then when they come out you should have a nice looking batch of pink ladies...

And just cause I love my Daddy and want him to be around for awhile I made him a little batch without all that sugar.

Now go make yourself some goodness!!

Progression of the Living Room

Ok... I have really tried to find the time to post all these wonderful "blog" entries that run around in my head but the day goes so quickly and it doesn't get done, so here is one of them that I thought I would send along. I thought maybe you would like to see how the living room has progressed since we have been here. It is still not done b/c we need to update the paint, but the current color is not too far off from what I would like to do so you get a general sense of what the living room will look like.... now on to the bedroom!

Here is what the living room looked like before we moved

Here is what the living room looked like the day we moved in. Yes! There our bedroom was in the living room because we needed to put flooring down in our bedroom, but that is for the Progession of the Bedroom post soon:

Here is the living a two days after we moved in. Prince Charming spent one night in the living room and worked hard the next day to get the flooring down in the bedroom and we moved the bed in the next night. But I do have to admitt it was kinda nice to lay in bed and watch a movie on the flat screen and surround sound. You will notice the new playroom where the bedroom used to be:

Our almost done living... notice the rearrangement of furniture, pictures that have been in storage for years and new curtains:

Super Busy Summer

This summer has been super duper busy! When school ended we jumped right into VBS season and summer camp season. Princess #1 went to her first week of summer camp at Camp Pinnacle (about 20 minutes away). She loved going and is already preparing for next year! She was able to take a hoseback riding camp which was her absolute favorite and when asked each day what her favorite part was, she would say "horses!" While I prepared for the big Vacation Bible School week. Prince Charming and I also got away for a quick overnight where we just enjoyed some nice R&R before the rush. VBS was 6 days if amazing, crazy, and fun! We had than 120 kids each day except for one and about 17 kiddos come to know the Lord as their personal savior.

March 2011

~I have decided to direct our church's VBS program again this year. It is a large committment and takes may months of planning. We have anywhere from 75-120 kids attend on any given night and about 75-90 staff members. This year we are going to run the Answer's In Genesis program "Gold Rush" (www.answersvbs.com) I am very excitied, but a little nervous as well. Please pray that God will direct the program and just use me a his vehicle.

~Our girls are growing like weeds! We have had a wonderful family who has given us hand-me-downs since Princess #1 was 6 months old. Unfortantely Princess #1 has caught up in size to their youngest, therefore we are praying for another family who has a slightly older girl for size 8 hand-me-downs. (Mainly pants) We have an over adundance of size 6/6x so if anyone is in need... please let me know!

~We have still not found Prince Charming's ipod please continue to pray it will show up somewhere.

~ We celebrated Prince Charming's birthday with a small family dinner and quiet party. He was quite pleased.

~ Princess #2 found her first wiggly tooth this morning and she is super excitied! Let's pray it isn't too long before she actually looses it or I think I might go crazy with her exicitment!! :)-

~We have been blessed with a snowblower! What an answer to pray! Prince Charming's dad gave us his snowblower on permanent loan, while he upgraded to a plow which was a better fit for his 800 foot driveway. We were able to use it during our last storm of 12+ inches. What a wonderful provision from the Lord!

~January/February/March are long cabin-fever months for this social-bug of a housewife. This year seems to have it's really slow months. Please pray for God's unwavering presence in the long, cold days of March and early April.

~Prince Charming is starting the budget process for our church with the Trustee board. Just keep him in your prayers as they have to make wise and prudent decisions for our church and its ministries.

~I am starting the process of nominating church officers through the nominating committee at our church. Please pray that God will direct our decisions, and keep us unified.

That seems to be it for this month. Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure...