"TWINKLE, TWINKLE, LITTLE STAR"

Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star
Wishing to encourage her young son's progress on the piano, a mother took her boy to a Paderewski concert. After they were seated, the mother spotted an old friend in the audience and walked down the aisle to greet her. Seizing the opportunity to explore the wonders of the concert hall, the little boy rose and eventually explored his way through a doormarked "NO ADMITTANCE."When the house lights dimmed and the concert was about to begin, the mother returned to her seat and discovered that the child was missing.Suddenly, the curtains parted and spotlightsfocused on the impressive Steinway on stage.In horror, the mother saw her littleboy sitting at the keyboard, innocently picking out "Twinkle,Twinkle Little Star."At that moment, the great piano master made his entrance, quickly moved to the piano, and whispered in the boy's ear,"Don't quit.""Keep playing." Then, leaning over, Paderewski reached down with his left hand and began fillingin a bass part. Soon his right arm reached around to the other side of the child, and he added a running obbligato. Together, the old master and the young novice transformed what could have been a frightening situation into a wonderfully creative experience. The audience was so mesmerized that they couldn't recall what else the great master played. Only the classic," Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star."
Perhaps that's the way it is with God. What we can accomplish on our own is hardly noteworthy.We try our best, but the results aren't always graceful flowing music. However, with the hand of the Master, our life's work can truly be beautiful. The next time you set out to accomplish great feats, listen carefully. You may hear the voice of the Master, whispering in your ear,"Don't quit." "Keep playing." May you feel His arms around you and know that His hands are there, helping you turn your feeble attempts into true masterpieces. Remember, God doesn't seem to call the equipped, rather, He equips the 'called.'Life is more accurately measured by the lives you touch than by the things you acquire. So touch someone by passing this little message along.
May God bless you and be with you always!

Girl Time

We are very big on spending special time with one another in this house.

So last night I got my youngest daughter bathed, snuggled in a big fluffy towel, and dressed. Then we went into Mommy & Daddy's room for some "Mommy and Me" time..... We snuggled in with a book of her choosing....and read a few stories out of it.

Next I got to comb her hair out while breathing in the strawberry smell of her new shampoo....All the time thanking God for such a precious gift, and asking for guidance. Then she happily trooped off to her room for some more "reading" time and journal writing before "lights out" time.

Next was time with my older daughter. I went in and washed her hair with the new shampoo, gave her finishing instructions, and told her to meet me in my room in 5 minutes........5 minutes went by, and then 5 more, finally we practically had to drag her out of the tub. She will spend an hour in the tub, no joke, without actually cleaning anything. So finally we had some "Mommy and Me" time. Time was short but I still savored the look and feel of her hair as I combed it, parted it, and braided it into 2 cute little braids for bed......all the time talking together

It seems so seldom that I take the time for these little things, and how precious are the moments......

Wonderful Weekend

We were able to have a great weekend with our wonderful brethern. We went to a dual 50th, 25th anniversary. We set in a beautiful meeting. I missed out on most of the testimonies because of our baby (who isn't a baby any more). Mostly the meeting was about living the faith and how that your parents and granparents can't live the faith for you. Also the many examples of our parents, grandparents and older brethern. How there are ones that we say "I want to be like them when I die."
We took my Mom and Dad with us. He wasn't feeling good, hurting alot. Many of the visiting brethern stayed in the same hotel as us. On Saturday night, most, if not all of the brothers went to my parent's room to pray for Dad. He was very cold and shivering when they came to pray. My dad said that when the brother's laid their hands on him to pray for him he could feel their hands bringing warmth to his body. The brothers could tell a difference in that when they got there he was shaking and when they were done praying he wasn't shaking any more.
My dad had a rough ride on Sunday afternoon so we decided to stay a night in Prosser. We called my husbands widowed aunt before hand and requested that she call some of the brothers to come and pray for dad. Right after we got there a brother and sister showed up. Then more showed up. My dad laid out on the floor and requested that we sing. It was beautiful and I could tell that he was feeling some better. My cousin helped dad get ready for bed and then came again early the next morning to pray for my dad.(He'd had a rough night) My dad was then able to get some much needed rest.
We left about 5pm Monday and it seemed that my dad had a better trip. I'm sure that it was through the prayers of the brethren.
My husband and I thought about how blessed we are in his job and in the fact that we are homeschooling our children. God has truly blessed us and allowed us to go among the brethren from time to time. Oh the wonderful treasures we are building in heaven. The foundation we are shoring up for our children.
May God bless and keep you all.

Back and onto other things....

We've been back from our trip for nearly a week now. It was such a wonderful trip. I got to visit with a dear sister who is not doing very well right now. I met her at a time in my life when I really needed a friend and she was there. When I first met her she and her husband had just received the mixed blessing of raising 2 of their grandsons. She told me at that time that it wasn't something either one of them planned on, but she wanted to do a good job of it. Her prayer at that time was that she could raise them with the Lords help.
Now 11 or so years later I can see where the Lord has been with her, and they've raised some pretty good boys. There is a few years yet before the boys will be on their own but I'm confident that she's done all that she can. If the Lord was to call her home now she can rest assured that the Lord has answered her prayers.
We had a few close calls on the road that we know of and God only knows how many we weren't aware of.
Now we're gearing up for our camp out and school. Our camp out quilt was about #3 in line so it is just now in the frame ready to be quilted. Lord's willing I'll get to bring it home to quilt on next Sunday. Every year we make a quilt, have all the brethren at the camp out sign it, sell tickets, and raffle it off. Each year it seems that more and more of the brethren donate items for the raffle. Each item is something unique, hand-crafted or homemade using the special talents that God has given them. This a wonderful, fun, and meaningful way to raise money for our camp out.
We're thinking about doing a camp out themed quilt with a twist next year. Our home body will make the center block, then we will send it to another assembly, they will do the next round, and then send it on to another assembly, etc, until it gets back to us to quilt. It will be very interesting to see what it looks like when its done.
This year school starts on the 28th for us. With the hot weather I may see if we can start on the technology early. We haven't received their books yet so we can't get a jump-start with them yet.

Zuchini Bran Muffins w/raisins makes 3-4 doz

Here is a recipe I came up with a few years ago.
One of those were I had some ingredients on hand I needed to use.
I buy my bran in bulk at Winco and pay less than $1 for a bag full.

Ingredients

1 1/2 - 2 cups boiled water Mix bran and water till bran is moist
3 cups bran throughout, set aside.

1c sugar Beat sugars and oil until well blended.
1c brown sugar
1c oil

3 eggs Add eggs and vanilla, beat until blended.
2 tsp vanilla Add bran mixture, beat until blended.

Mixture may be soupy

3 cups flour Add sifted dry ingredients
1 TBS cinnamon alternately sith zuchini.
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda Stir well.
1 tsp baking powder

3 cups grated suchini

1 15oz box raisins Add raisins

Spay bottoms of muffins tins, fill 3/4 full. Bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes.
The muffins should be nice and moist. They will need to be refrigerated, ate quickly, or stored in the freezer. They usually don't last long at my house. They may stay good in a sealed bowl on the counter for up to 3 days.

I used dried cranberries this morning. I just use whatever I have on hand. A dear sister gave me some zuchini last week so I had to get out this recipe and use it.

Summer Fun

We are getting ready to go out to Oklahoma.........5 more days and counting. We are so anxious. Its been four years since we've been there. My list of things to do is almost done. For today I need to:

• Put up the sewing machine, material, patterns ect. (All finished with those summer outfits for this year and feeling a little sad)
• laundry
• clean the kitchen
• sweep and mop floors

Thursday night 5 of us dear sisters went to the Portland airport to pick up Bomshell, a country music group I've never heard of before. We ended up picking up the band and taking them to their hotel in Eugene. I got home about 4am, made my hubby some breakfast, and went to sleep on the couch for about 5 hours. My dear husband and I went to listen to them last night. It seems that country is starting to sound like rock.

Right about the time we were leaving last night they had a singer on that was singing classic country, more our style. Maybe tonight there will be some good ones. Maybe even some of that good gospel music.

Well time to get that list done and go help with the church garage sale........

Somethings in life you only do Once!!!

Here is a picture of the 3 and under sleepover we had. We made pizza together and had lots of fun. Things were going well until bedtime.....fortunately none of the young ladies cried for Mommy or home.....unfortunately none of them were ready to go to sleep. I eventually had to go in there and lay done with them. And I thought teenage and older girls were hard! The mattress was so uncomfortable that needless to say it got put on the top bunk the next day.