A Time for Goodbye

God is our hope and strength,

a very present help in trouble.

Therefore will we not fear, though the earth be moved,

and though the hills be carried into the midst of the sea;

Though the waters thereof rage and swell,

and though the mountains shake at the tempest of the same

There is a river, the streams whereof make glad the city of God,

the holy place of the tabernacle of the Most Highest.

God is in the midst of her,

therefore shall she not be removed;

God shall help her, and that right early.

Be still then, and know that I am God;

I will be exalted among the nations,

and I will be exalted in the earth.

The LORD of hosts is with us;

the God of Jacob is our refuge.

(Psalm 46)

We have had sad news in our house.  Husband's uncle Duane passed away Tuesday evening.  He had been very ill with a horrible, incurable, lung disease for a while but it was still somewhat of a surprise.  We spent Thanksgiving with husband's parents and his aunt and uncle at their house in Springdale.  He was hospitalized with pnuemonia the following week and never recovered.  I am so thankful we were able to spend that last holiday with him.  As you can imagine it was a loud, rowdy, cluttered Thanksgiving with our four children and their toys all crammed into Uncle Duane's small house, but Duane said that the noise, chaos, and floor littered with toys made him happy.  That was what made it a home and a holiday with family.  He loved it!!  And I am so thankful we got a couple of pictures of the children with Duane before he passed.  

O God, whose mercies cannot be numbered:  Accept our

prayers on behalf of thy servant Duane, and grant him an 

entrance into the land of light and joy, in the fellowship of

thy saints; through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth

and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now

and for ever.

Amen

(Book of Common Prayer: Burial of the Dead Rite One)

Goodbye Duane!  We love you!  You will be missed!

A Time to Be Thankful

Let me just say, I love my church!  It is truly a loving, caring, giving place where I feel God's presence and see his work done every day.  We only joined this church less than 2 years ago so we are still rather "new" but we have been welcomed with open arms and brought into the church "family."  I love how warm and welcoming everyone is.  I love how children and families, and the noise and chaos they bring, are celebrated and not shunned.  I love the music, the prayers, the friendships, and the generosity.  I love how there are so many ways to get involved and give back that it is virtually impossible not to get involved.  And I love how generous with time, talents, and money the church is.

Our church helps to support a ministry for the poor and homeless here in Little Rock called St. Francis House.  Before Thanksgiving our family helped pack boxes of food for the needy.  These boxes were given to St. Francis House who distributed them to those in need.  It is such an easy way to help those in need during a time of year when we have so much, and it is a great way to involve young children and teach them about giving to those less fortunate than ourselves.

We gather together

to ask the Lord's blessing;

he chastens and hastens

his will to make known.

The wicked oppressing

now cease from distressing.

Sing praises to his name, 

he forgets not his own.

Beside us to guide us,

our God with us joining, 

ordaining, maintaining

his kingdom divine;

so from the beginning

the fight we were winning;

thou, Lord wast at our side, 

all glory be thine!

We all do extol thee, 

thou leader triumphant, 

and pray that thou still

our defender wilt be.

Let thy congregation

escape tribulation;

thy name be ever praised!

O Lord, make us free!

Text of the hymn We Gather Together written by Nederlandtsch Gendencklanck & translated by Theodore Baker

Technical Difficulties

Sorry I haven't been posting this week.  I've had some technical difficulties.    You see, I have been happily blogging away posting tons of pictures of my children, because let's face it, they are adorable, but not thinking about the size of the pictures I was uploading.  Ooops!  Anyway, I hit my data limit because I was uploading huge photo files without even thinking about it.  As a result, I ran out of storage space.  I am working on fixing the problem but I'm  not a "tech-y" person and between that, the Thanksgiving holiday, taking care of the four children and husband, and getting in gear for the Christmas holidays, I just haven't had the time to sit down and fix the sizing on all my pictures.  I'm working on it though.  Slowly but surely.

I will be back soon with new photos.  In the mean time just know I have been working away making the girls matching dresses for the holidays, making tutus for birthday and Christmas presents for the daughters of some of our friends, and working on that Christmas shopping.  Matching pajamas for all four of the children is next on my list.  Hopefully I can get those done before pajama day at school.
 

OK.  Back to work.
Talk to you soon.

Pie Week!

This week has been Pie Week around our house and I have been baking up a storm.  I have made a total of 5 pies in the past three days.  The tally...3 pumpkin, 1 pecan, and 1 apple.

I made two of the pumpkin pies to give to the kids teachers at school.  Just a little way of saying thank you.  I got the idea of making a Thanksgiving pie for each teacher from my mom  You guessed it.  She's a teacher.  The Parent's Association at school where she used to teach gave each teacher and staff member a pie for Thanksgiving.  It was a way of saying thank-you, but I also saw it as a way of helping out.  Since the majority of teacher's were women and mothers they were likely doing the cooking on Thanksgiving.  By giving them a pie, I always saw it as a way of taking one less thing off their To Do lists when it came to making Thanksgiving dinner.  And so I have "stolen" the idea from them and have been making pies for my children's teachers since John David was 2.  I have only missed one year, the year we lost our babies Lane & Reese.  I was still reeling from the loss and recovering from surgery and just skipped it.  I even managed to revive the "tradition" last year when I was pregnant with Ava and on bedrest for pre-term labor.

So....pie week in a nut shell.

Make crust

 














Repeat..In my case 5 times.  Here are the two "teacher" pies.

Just for fun...get fancy and decorate the crusts with leaf cut-outs.

Make the filling.  Here is the pumpkin filling.  Sorry no shots of the apple or pecan.

Add filling to crust and bake.

This is the "teacher" pumpkin pie before baking.

 

And this is the family pumpkin pie while baking.  

Lastly, the apple after baking.

   

Sorry...no shots of the pecan pie.  It was still in the oven when I sat down to write this post.

  

Some interesting pie facts obtained from the Huffington Post

*  The first pies were filled with meat and called coffins.

*  Mini, sliced and half pies make up 24% of pies purchased

*  Recent growth in the popularity of blueberry and cherry pies can be attributed to the increase in the public's desire for antioxidants

*Pies are slowly starting to challenge cupcakes for the "trendiest" desserts

There is something so American about pie.  Whether it is apple, pumpkin, pecan, or banana cream. 

According to the Huffington Post the 9 most popular pies this Thanksgiving are: 

1.  Apple

2.  Strawberry

3.  Pumpkin

4.  Cherry

5.  Blueberry

6.  Pecan

7.  Lemon Meringue

8.  Chocolate

9.  Chess

According to chacha.com the top 10 pie flavors are:

1.  Apple

2.  Chocolate (French Silk)

3.  Coconut

4.  Pecan

5.  Berry (all types)

6.  Key Lime

7.  Lemon

8.  Pumpkin

9.  Cherry

10. Banana

My personal favorites....apple, pumpkin, and key lime.  Husband's favorite....probably pecan, although I didn't ask him before posting this.   

What's you favorite?

Happy Pie Week everyone!

A Better Late than Never Happy Halloween

It is horrible that I am just now getting around to posting Halloween photos but that's the way it goes around here sometimes.

We had a great Halloween.  Really this isn't my favorite holiday.  I just don't think we need all that candy around the house.  The kids don't need it.  Husband and I don't need it.  It is just too much of a temptation.  Plus, our neighborhood really doesn't have many trick or treaters and we are never actually home on Halloween so I don't buy any candy.  I learned the hard way the first year after we moved here that there weren't any trick or treaters and was stuck with one of those jumbo bags of candy.  Not good for the waistline.

We actually trick or treated twice this year.  Once, the Sunday before Halloween at our church's Trunk or Treat, complete with spooky organ concert and hay ride, and then again in my parent's neighborhood on Halloween.   My parents neighborhood is the BEST for trick or treating and people all over the city have figured it out.  My parents easily give out 400 pieces of candy and still turn their lights off before 8 pm.  Anyway, here are a few pictures of the gang in their costumes.

Helping big brother adjust his chaps.

 Say cheese!  I'm a doctor just like John Robert and Jessica

(Thanks for the authentic Cincinnati Children's scrubs)

This cowboy needs a moment to reflect.

The two cowboys talking things over before the festivities begin.  I think they are plotting the best strategy to get the most candy.

So...you been farming long?

Cowboy JD giving directions to the hay ride.

Little sister the pumpkin... just along for the ride.

Have cauldron will trick or treat.  

Ready for the candy.

Tried to get one of all four of them plus the dog but Ava wasn't interested.

And off they go.

TRICK OR TREAT!

Happy (late) Halloween from our family to you!

Autumn on the Farm

THROUGH the ample open door of the peaceful country barn, 

A sun-lit pasture field, with cattle and horses feeding; 

 

And haze, and vista, and the far horizon, fading away.

~Walt Whitman~

All photos taken by me and the property of 501 Housewife

Four Little Pumpkins

So much has been going on around here lately that I am woefully behind in posting.  In addition to the regular "goings on" of life with four children , we have had family in from out of town (twice), a weekend on the farm, parent teacher conferences, and dinner parties.  In the midst of all that we took our annual trip to the pumpkin patch.  This was something my family always did when I was growing up and is a fun tradition we have continued with our children.  And this year, since my brother and Jessica were home visiting for a few days, they and my parents joined in the fun.  My poor mother was sick so she didn't have quite as much fun as the rest of us but she was a trooper and toughed it out anyway.

As most of you parents out there know, the pumpkin patch is more involved than just picking your very own pumpkin out of the field,although that is an important part of the "experience."  Our pumpkin patch experience also included a small petting zoo, hay bale maze just the right size for the children, sunflower maze for the "older" folks, a corn pit and hay ride. 

Seeing how much he has grown in a year.  

And here he is last year, just for comparison.  Boy he has grown!  And not just taller...he looks so much older than he did last year.

The whole gang.  It is impossible to get everyone looking at the camera at the same time.  

The boys petting the miniature pony.

Some fun in the corn.

Ava had to check out the corn too.

Hay Ride!

And now what we have all been waiting for....time to pick out the perfect pumpkin!

Found it mom!

We all had a fabulous time.  It is days like these that I truly treasure.  No matter how much of a hassle it can be to get the car packed with mud boots, changes of shoes, extra towels for wiping off seats and muddy hands, and those "just in case" items every parent travels with, as well as everyone dressed and out the door, it is so rewarding in the end.  I want to make memories with my children that will last their whole lives.  I want them to remember the family fun and pass it on to their children and grandchildren.  It is worth the "hassle" when you see their little faces like this....

Thanks Pumpkin Patch.  See you next year!