Baking Day!

This weekend we are hosting the society at Cedarville University that is all MK's. This is the group we hosted last year. Tons of fun. All the guys sleep in the barn in the hay wagons, and the girls fill every corner of the house. Of course, feeding them good down-home cooking/baking is a ton of fun. I love to cook/bake big. I think I was meant to have a catering business or something. I just love cooking for masses of people.

And being the crazies that we are, we decided to just make a weekend of partying. And we're having Heidi's 1st Birthday party on Saturday afternoon. The college crew is usually gone by 10:30, so I gave myself 3 hours....and we're having a late lunch at 1:30. We invited several folks, but haven't heard back from them all yet.

At any rate, the plan today is to make Blueberry muffins, Pumpkin Chocolate Chip muffins, Apple Pizza, a triple batch of chili, cupcakes, and maybe a couple pies. I also need to put together the 3 egg casseroles. One of them will go in the crockpot, though, since I have a very small oven and can't fit all 3 in. I might have to wait to toss it in the crockpot right before I go to bed on Friday night.

All this necessary baking has come on just the perfect day. It's coooool outside, and having the oven on feels good! As I am working, I'm sipping on hot caramel mochas that I've concocted. Super-duper YUM!

In other news - I got Heidi's birthday present on Tuesday. A pair of Robeez. FINALLY a pair of shoes she can't get off. And they're super cute. She's already wearing them, since it's too cold to go barefoot and she always kicks off shoes and pulls her socks off!

Happy Thursday, y'all!

Before the Throne

I have been singing this song practically non-stop since I learned it at camp over Labor Day weekend. I know it's not a new song, but I'd never heard it before. It's my new favorite. It makes me cry every time. Every line is just so rich!

Camp Barakel

Several weeks ago Jonathan and I got to talking about wanting to have a little get-away as a family. Wanting to have a profitable time as well as a fun time, we decided to check a couple Bible Camps for their family camp weeks. We decided on Camp Barakel. I called the camp registrar. There was only one opening left. So we wrote a deposit check, filled out the registration, and sent it off with a prayer, knowing if God wanted us there, our registration would beat out everyone else's last minute decision.

One day about a week later, Jonathan brought the mail in and opened a letter from Camp Barakel. We were registered for their Labor Day family camp!

It was the best money we've spent all year. There was plenty of time for just the 5 of us, the chapel messages were wonderful and convicting, the boys had fun in their very own chapel class, and Heidi learned to be ok without Mommy in their nursery. We hiked, took naps, sipped hot cocoa, talked, went for a hayride in Huron National Forest, got to visit with new people (Christians from Korea over here studying for a year, a couple with grown children who encouraged us to be faithful in training our children, a young mom and her son on the hayride), and Jonathan and I got to go on their 950ft. zipline. THAT was fun!

And now it's back to late summer in Ohio - freezing produce, mowing the grass, getting ready for fall harvest. But we are all refreshed, and the boys have had their scope of imagination greatly increased! Their tube slide on their playplace is now the "thunder express" slide from camp, the guy wires coming off the electric poles in the yard are the ziplines, and they "hike" everywhere they go. So funny to watch!

Our first glimpse of camp!

Loading up for the hayride!

our little family

Jonathan on the zipline

Me, loving the zipline!

Found this old International truck, and had to take some pics!

My four favorite people!

My little men

Could she get any cuter?!

Momma and the kiddies

Kenny was happy the top bunks had rails!

Sam's first time on a top bunk. Happy much?

Yes, we plan to return!