2011 ~ Our Year In Review

Greg and I started 2011 by sailing "off into the sunset" on our anniversary cruise!  (Our 5 year ann. was the previous Sept.)  We loved having long, lazy, sunny days with just each other.  We went deep sea fishing for the first time and one of us caught 2 fish (psssst, it was me!).  They were little fish but it was still fun to catch.  We wandered around Freeport & Nassau and Key West.  The Key West sunset was gorgeous.  The Lord can paint some beautiful pictures in the sky.  It sure was nice to have a week of summertime in January.

We celebrated lots of exciting events this year....

The Cutlers visited Miss. for the first time ~ so Bryant & Katie had an "in person" meeting ~

however I do love to tell people they met on the internet!

Rob proposed marriage to Sarah & she said yes!

Rob graduated from Mississippi State University!

Will went with a group from church to participate in Street Reach in Memphis for a week.  He came home with lots of stories of his adventures up there.

Bryant asked for permission to "court" Katie & several months later (July 2), he and Greg had breakfast and he asked permission to marry her....She said Yes!

Greg went to Haiti on a Mission Trip ~ his week was successful in the building furniture for the orphanage and loving on the children, but he had an allergic reaction to the lye in their soap and was pretty miserable from that.

Donna, Katie, Amy, Will, Granny, Aunt Brenda & Bethany started planning a wedding and completing many tasks while Greg was in Haiti.  We got lots accomplished but still had bunches to do.

Andy proposed marriage to Amy Kate ~ she said yes!

Allen continues to work hard in GA and in dealing with some issues that have come up.  The Lord has brought him a wonderful young lady, Jennifer.  Nothing official on that front yet.

James began his college studies in Welding & loves it.  He made a "B" for his first semester.  Now he wants to take scuba lessons...he has dreams of working on an oil rig in the Gulf as a welder.

Will & Amy began their next highschool year.  Will is in the 11th grade and Amy's in the 10th.  We are working lots more Bible history & scripture into our lessons and are really enjoying it.

Amy is helping in a Childrens Sunday School class & continues in her ballet lessons.

We spent a great week with Granny & my niece Bethany immediately before the wedding.  Lots of wedding preps, lots of fun, and lots of singing "Its all about Me" (thanks to the sweet rivalry between cousins Amy & Bethany)

My dear friends Angela, Angel, Rosana & Emmalyn spent hours helping us prepare the wedding reception food ~ and then set everything up for the reception!  GREAT friends!  Sons Rob & Andy and soon to be daughters Amy Kate & Sarah did a great job setting up the sanctuary & decorating!  Its great to have a big family.

Greg, Will, Amy & I drove the RV to Disney and camped for a week & had lots of fun times in the Magic Kingdom, Epcot & Hollywood Studios.  I would definitely repeat the RV experience ~ lots of fun and very quiet at the campground.

We made a whirlwind trip to St. Louis to visit the newlyweds & attend a reception for them up there. We got the fantastic news that the Lord is blessing them right away with a little baby.  We pray for our little "Olive" daily and can't wait to meet him/her in person in July.

Our Hershey gave birth to 4 beautiful puppies, we've found homes for 2 of them, but not the other 2 yet.  Amy is strongly HINTING that she wants to keep Oreo...because we don't have a white puppy.  She would keep all of them and then bring home strays if we would let her.  She is definitely the resident animal expert of our family.

We carried through with our decision to simplify our holidays, our decorations, our out of the house committments, and our gifting.  It was a very different day ~ but, one we liked.  It did keep the focus on Christ and his wonderful gift to us & not us and our gifts to each other.  

We filled many shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child & look forward to doing it for years to come.  We also volunteered at their relay center again and loved it.

As a family, we were the "once a month" cooks for our churchs Wed. night dinners.  We also cooked for the couples Valentines dinner & several fundraiser dinners throughout the year.

We are daily seeking the Lord in His Will for our lives.  What we watch, read, listen too, participate in, associate our names with, etc.  Its been a roller coaster journey and its still going.

Its been a great 2011.

Next year will be just as exciting...

Greg, Will & I are heading to Honduras in Jan. for a week long Mission Trip.  This will be my 4th trip down there and Will's 1st.  Amy will be babysitting her Granny & James will be doggy/house sitting for us.  

Greg & I will get the titles "Grandpa & Grandma".

We will share in the wedding celebration of Rob & Sarah in New Orleans.

And many more adventures the Lord will reveal to us!

We are very thankful to the Lord for each other, our families, our Pastor & church family & all our friends!

Ministry Day at Church

Every once in a while, I come up with a "brilliant" idea.  One of those ideas popped into my head a couple of weeks ago.  Several schools in the area had food drives over Nov./Dec. and our church was the recepient of the 1000's of cans.  The church had been alerted there were about 6000 cans of food coming for our food pantry. I'm not sure there are 6000 but there were 3-4 thousand.  So my brilliant idea was, the kids and I would go organize the food and restock the food pantry.  We got Emmalyn & Jonathan to join us and then Shay, Ryan and Tyler.  It was still a brilliant idea for the first several hours ~ the brilliance faded after about 3 1/2 hours.  But the good Lord gave us the stamina, laughter, jokes, and strength to finish the job.  

Amy, Emmalyn and I completely sorted and rearranged all the shelves.  Putting all the green beans together, sweet corn, creamed corn, spam, canned chili, etc.  2 shelves aren't completely sorted ~ the black eye peas, crowder peas, kidney beans, & the like are all mixed up.  Another varied shelf is the soup~we did seperate out the spaghettios, canned ravoili, etc.  After all the rearranging was done, all the sorters started bringing us boxes to restock.  Our dear sorters also checked all the expiration dates on the cans, we ended up with several hundred that were out of date ~ some by several years.  We don't need canned vegetables, soups, tomato products, fruit, stuffing mix for a long, long time.  And we still have a Sunday School room with over 1000 cans in it.  They are sorted by peas, beans, corn, soup, etc.  I don't know what will happen with them.

We laughed so much our sides and stomachs hurt.  Our backs were sore from lifting and toting.  Our friendships were strengthened.  I am very thankful for Christian young adults for my children to have good clean fun with.  And also for their willingness to "help" with my brilliant idea!  They hung with the program and got the job completely done in about 6 hours ~ that includes cleaning up all the garbage, rearranging the shelves, throwing away the expired cans, and lunch at Wendy's!

Here are a few pics of our "fun"...

1/2 of the donations

When 4 teenage boys are "in charge" you get cities made of cans!

Thank you Vanna!

sorted & stocked

1/2 of After ~ sorted and stacked (stuff that won't fit in the food pantry)

Tipnut

Every Wednesday I get an email from http://tipnut.com/2011-december-28/.  The link is for yesterdays newsletter.  Each email contains links to wonderful papercrafting, crocheting, sewing, quilting, household cleaning resource sites.  I've gotten some great "FREE" patterns for quilting projects ~ like the link for my pinwheel quilt blocks.  I've gotten some great recipes for household cleaning products made with everyday items such as vinegar, baking soda, and other common items that most people have.  Yesterday's email contained some antique tips & tricks for the housewife that I would like to share........

• If a home is in disarray on New Year’s Day, the housewife will struggle with clutter and dissatisfaction throughout the year. If it’s tidy and clean, the home will be easy to manage.
• Laundry should never be done on Sundays for there will surely be a terrible stain, tear or worse in the week ahead.
• Above ground crops (such as tomatoes) should be sown in the wane of the moon; underground crops (carrots, potatoes, parsnips, etc.) at the change of the moon.
• The best day of the year to plant cabbage is on St. Patrick’s day.
• The best time to plant flowers is in the increase of the moon.
• A mild winter lies ahead if onions dug from the garden at harvest time have thin skins.
• Any women who desires to have order in her home must allow sage to flourish in her garden.
• Stir cake from you and you will stir your troubles away.
• A cake baked in the morning will rise, a cake baked in the afternoon will drop.
• To make cake light, it must always be stirred the same way.
• Pastry must be rolled an uneven number of times otherwise it will be tough.
• Every scrap of pastry must be baked or there will be an unwanted expense.
• Cold hands and a warm heart make the best pastry.
• A thunderstorm will addle eggs and sour any milk that’s been left out.
• Before a young girl bakes her first loaf of bread, her hands should be rubbed in sugar so that she may always make good, sweet bread.
• Stir bread away from you for good luck, trouble will come if you stir toward you.
• Evergreens should be taken down on Old Christmas Day (January 6th) or ill-luck will follow.
• A clean pot should be kept in an empty oven, this will ensure there will always be at least a little food to cook in it.
• When making the bed, don’t interrupt your work or you will spend a restless night in it.
• Stabbing needles through yarn balls will bring bad luck to anyone who wears something made from that yarn.
• Rosemary planted by the doorstep will keep evil away…put salt on the doorstep of a new house and no evil can enter.
• If a new bride should quietly take her mother’s dishcloth, she will never be homesick.

Up until the past few generations, people were terrified of evil and more afraid of bad luck than they were of a little dirt (not realizing that pestilence and disease could flourish in an unkempt home), so these little words of wisdom served a purpose…even those that seem ridiculous to us today.
The average person worked HARD back in the day and the last thing anyone wanted to do was worry about which direction the dirt should be swept (according to my collection of tales, it should be swept away from the house rather than towards it or you’re sure to attract doom). Common sense for basic cleanliness? Sure! But the purpose of the tale was to make sure the chore was done with care and attention by a people who commonly lived a hardscrabble life from early morning till late evening…there were no Real Housewives episodes to distract and ease the stress of the day, it was “Go” time from start to finish.
And who knows, maybe these old gals knew a thing or two that we just can’t grasp .

I've got several old magazines from the early 1900's and some reprinted old cookbooks and household manuals from the late 1800's & early 1900's full of these gems.  How interesting to read how life was for the housewife from 100+ years ago.  And while I think its fascinating reading, I am very thankful for my "modern conveniences" that are designed to make life easier for the homemaker of today!  Love, Donna

Whats Going on At Our House

Oreo & Skunk learning to walk

Chip & Licorice think Amy is comfy

coasters for Amy's hopechest

Bibs for "Olive"

Cross Stitched afghan

monkey on afghan

sewing room ~ laptop is for the embroidery machine

Amy's Cricut table

Another bib

finished hand quilted potholder

Greg working on the Coke puzzle from Will

Set of 10 puzzles I got at Kroger for $6.49 on Monday

Amy's set of Animal puzzles from Kroger sale

Will prepared the spot for my new planting boxes

Amy's holiday painted decoration for the Fair

Redneck Stemware from Katie & Bryant ~ we have 2

New planting box, Will & Greg built!

Machine embroidery for a baby jumper

Quilting Frame for hand quilting in my room

Daybook

 

For today.....

Outside my window.....cloudy, cool, its been raining for a week

I am thinking...how the spirit of thankfulness has seemingly disappeared and the 2 words "thank you" are being said less & less

I am thankful for...the Lords amazing love for me and my salvation through his sacrifice ~ my thoughtful, generous, loving husband ~ my 7 children ~ my home, food, appliances, & central heat/air ~ books ~ Greg's days off from work ~ sewing/crochet/smocking/cross stitch ~ being a giver

From the kitchen...probably something easy ~ like a Zatarains meal with chicken, some vegies

From the learning rooms...nothing formal, its still break time

I am wearing...black skirt, striped top

I am creating...doing some machine embroidery for gifts, finished a cross stitch last night, starting a smocking project and working on a baby afghan I am crocheting

I am going...to stay home all day, probably pack away our simple holiday decorations, finish laundry, sew

I am reading..."Astra" by Grace Livingston Hill, the book of "Romans" in the New Testament

I am praying...for salvation for family members, for our January Mission trip to Honduras

I am hearing...the computer "hum", cars driving, fingers typing

Around the house...crafting, garden box building (thanks Will & Greg), thinking about plants, watching 3 week old puppies learn to walk

One of my favorite things...phone calls

A few plans for the rest of the week...general house clean up, lots of crafting/sewing, Bible Study at church, Greg's 4 day weekend for New Years, chaperoning our Youth New Years Eve get together, enjoying our school-less days

Proverbs 3:5-10

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.  Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil.  This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones.  Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops, then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.

To read other daybooks, please visit...
http://thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com/

Jesus Is...

Jesus is....

the only begotten Son of God

the Messiah

the King of Kings

the Prince of Peace

the Redeemer

the Savior
the Way
the Truth
the Life
the Light of the World

the Lord of Lords

the Promised One

the Spotless Lamb

the Good Shepherd

I Am

the Lamb of God

Alpha & Omega

Immanuel

the Annointed One

Advocate

Comforter

Prince

Ruler

Soveign

Wonderful Counselor

Everlasting Father

Christ

God with Us

Son of the Most High

Righteous

Sinless

Holy

Just

Humble

complete revelation
the Word
2nd person in Trinity

Teacher

Submissive to the Father

Triumphant

Justifier

Head of the Church

Worthy

Strength

High Priest
Holy One
Root of Jesse
born of a Virgin
2nd Adam

Precious

Resurrected

Reigns on High

seated at the right hand of the Father

Matthew 1:21 And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.

I am sure I've forgotten some of the names...please feel free to comment and leave additional "names of Jesus" that I can add to the list.  I've already added to it twice since I posted it!