Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

Our Family Service Trip Journal, Day 3: Denver Meet & Greet and a Wedding

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Thanks for following along as I share the highlights of our family service trip to Colorado. If you missed the first days, catch up on those here –  Day One: SEVENS Ministry and Day Two:  Handing Out Food to 100 Families.

On the third day we were in Denver, we headed downtown to Purple Door Coffee. We were so excited to finally have a chance to check out this great ministry spot, which was started in part by a friend of ours who had been a York College student several years ago. The coffee shop is beautiful – very well put together! They employ homeless teens and young adults in an effort to help them get on their feet and find a new way of life. We love this! It was our pleasure to hold our Denver Meet and Greet at this location. It was a perk that their drinks were delicious too!

Call me a geek (go ahead, really) but I had to take a picture of the bottoms of their tables (that they made themselves). They are made from old treadle sewing machines – just like the one my grandma had used (and let me use!) many years ago. What a gorgeous way to reuse these beauties. I learned to sew on a machine like this!!

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In addition (although somehow I failed to get pictures, duh) – Purple Door Coffee had lots of really cool jars in use in their shop. I was in jar heaven. What a great place! 

Even better was that I was able to meet several Denver area readers. We had such an encouraging visit. Thank you for coming (and navigating the crazy parking situation that day!!) so that I could meet you!

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Later that evening, we were blessed to go to the wedding of one of the ladies on our YC soccer team. We are so proud of this girl and the choice she has made by beginning her life with such a godly young man. It was wonderful to be a part of her special day.

While I don’t have any pictures of the ceremony  (because I was too busy wiping happy tears from my eyes to take pics – seriously, I am a mess at weddings) I do have a fun picture of our family at the reception. A photo booth was provided for fun, and we were able to get a little bit silly while leaving a fun message for the bride and groom. Malachi was in there too, but unfortunately, he was a little too short to make it into the pics without jumping. If you look really hard, you can see a tuft of his hair right under Asa’s elbow. ;)

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Side note:  Have you ever tried to put six people into a photo booth? Yowza.

We headed back to our hosting friends’ home that evening, and made preparations to head to Colorado Springs the following day. More details to come!

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Our Family Service Trip Journal: Day 2 – Handing Out Food to 100 Families

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Two days before we were to leave for Colorado, we still did not have plans worked out for Day 2 (Friday). Eek! It’s not like we hadn’t tried. In fact, we had emailed several ministries that we knew of in the Denver area. Answers kept coming back like, “Sorry, we don’t have anything available for you to do that day” or “We have a minimum volunteer age of 10” or “We are closed only one day each year – and the day you are coming just happens to be the day.”

Seriously. Doors closed one after another. We weren’t worried though. We figured those doors had closed because God had something else in mind for our family that we just hadn’t figured out yet. We continued to pray for direction.

We finally heard of a ministry run by a church in downtown Denver. They offer free groceries for low income and homeless families, available for pick-up on guess which day? Friday, of course. Could they use our help? Yes, they sure could. Perfect.

We showed up just after 8:00 in the morning. Food was being unloaded and sorted. We introduced ourselves and were put right to work. Malachi was put in charge of setting out shoes. (They offer free clothing too, not just groceries!)

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Mountains and mountains of lettuce, potatoes, breads, eggs, canned goods, granola bars, and so much more were brought out and organized on tables. We put our boys’ muscles to work. I can’t believe how much they enjoyed the jobs they were given to do. We all did! I think it may have had to something to do with the fact that we were dealing with food and obviously – we love food. Even when we aren’t the ones eating it.  It felt great to be working hard at a task that would bless so many families. This church group is really meeting a need in their area each week. We were so blessed to be a part of it.

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Right before doors were opened to hand out the groceries, we were all put in charge of “stations.” We were to replenish the supplies of food at our table, letting each person know, “You can pick one of these, fifteen of these, three of these…”

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Asa was thrilled because he got to have his first “real” conversation in Spanish. He and Justus have been studying it for two years. A man from Honduras came through the food line, and Asa struck up a conversation with him. I’m not sure who enjoyed it more –  Asa or our new spanish speaking friend. (Of course, then the man assumed that the mother of the spanish speaking child also knew spanish. I hated to disappoint him!) 

After several hours, doors were closed, leftover food was put away, and we were able to help clean up for the day. All throughout the day, the boys kept saying to me, “This is so much fun” and “I really like doing this.” Ah yes, just like we had told them as we prepared:  Serving others is such a joy when you do it with a Christ-like attitude.

We left that day tired, yet completely energized by the people we worked with and for. Our prayer is that those we were with felt equally blessed. 

Stay tuned for more details of our trip!

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Our Family Service Trip Journal: Day 1 – SEVENS Ministry

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After eight days on the road, we are now home. Bags are unpacked (mostly). Pictures are uploaded. Now I can finally find the time to tell you all the details of our family service trip to Colorado!

First I wanted to tell you a little bit about how this trip came to be. With the idea in mind that we, as a family of six, would take a mission trip somewhere, sometime – we began to pray together about a year and a half ago about where and when God would send us. While we waited for answers and direction, each time Matt had the opportunity to do an extra job for someone (painting, repairing, building, etc.) he and the boys would head out to work on the project together. The money they earned from each of these jobs went into a special account, reserved especially for our Family Mission Fund.  (Avon and Margaret, you’ll be happy to know that your projects were among those that helped make this trip possible. Thank you!!)

About six months ago, Matt and I sat down to look at the calendar and to narrow down some options based on where we felt God was leading us. Because of holidays, family events, summer camps, basketball season, and two soccer seasons (spring and fall), we had exactly one open week during the entire year of 2013. That very week, we had a wedding to attend in the Denver area. What if, we decided, our family service trip took us to Denver?

Long story short, God just took it from there. He orchestrated every single detail, put in place service opportunities on just the right days we needed them, and absolutely knocked our socks off with His goodness and plans for us. In addition, He helped prepare our hearts and gave us guidance as we prepared our kids to take a trip like this. Learning to be selfless? Remembering that what we were heading out to do was meant to be an encouragement to others – and that blessing others would be a blessing for us as well? This is what we talked often to our boys about in the weeks leading up to the trip.

For the next few posts, I’ll detail each day of our trip (with some other posts sprinkled in). Everytime I share the details about our trip with a friend, I find myself spilling out excited words faster than my mouth can say them. To say that this trip was amazing is an understatement. God made this experience incredible for our family, and we pray that those we were in contact with were blessed by our family even more.

We arrived in the Denver area last Wednesday. (We were able to stay with friends every night but one, which was wonderful.)  Thursday, we got up and headed to Boulder to meet our college friends Benny and Niki. (Like how I didn’t say, “Old college friends?” C’mon. We are all totally young.)

Benny and Niki operate the SEVENS ministry – sharing God’s love with street people in Boulder. They feed them, talk to them, listen to them, and pray with them. They give them new socks, bottles of water, and daily do whatever they feel God leading them to do for these people. 

We began our day with them by taking everything out of one of their SEVENS storage closests so that it could be reorganized. 

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Items in boxes were sorted and put away for easier access: hand warmers, socks, backpacks, food items, sleeping bags, and much more. 

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Because he was the lightest among us, Malachi was given the job of climbing on top of the fridge to place a bag of socks for storage on a high shelf. Now that’s not something a kid gets to do everyday. :)

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Our kids, along with two of Benny and Niki’s kids, filled backpacks with socks so that they can take them downtown to hand out at a later date.

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Once the closet was finished, we made an assembly line to fill gallon-sized zipper bags with items like water, socks, granola bars, applesauce, and other snacks. They will keep these on hand for later needs.

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All jobs finished and cleaned up, we all headed out for a late lunch on the Pearl Street Mall. This is the area where Benny spends most of his street ministry time. After lunch, we were able to meet some of the street people who have become friends with the Nowells, listen to street performers, and walk the area to learn more about the ministry. 

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It was a tremendous blessing to our family to spend the day working with and learning from the Nowells. I didn’t see how any of our other service days could be as rich as this one. As it turns out, God had much more in store for us…

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Branson Ziplines, Springfield Meet and Greet, Playing Games, and My Weekend Plans

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It has been a very busy few months, and I’m not sure we’ll be slowing down any time soon. Spring soccer season has begun, our kids are preparing for LTC, and now that the book is finished, I hope to get caught up on all the work I am behind on! (Are any of us ever really caught up, though?!)

I wanted to take the time to share a few more highlights of our Branson trip:

Thanks to Donna, one of the awesome gals I met at the Branson Meet and Greet, Matt, Asa, and Justus got to experience the Adventure Ziplines of Branson. They loved it!

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The final day of our Branson vacation, my dad took us to ride go-carts and play games. The boys had a blast!! Who am I kidding? I had a blast too. :)

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On our way home from Branson, we stopped in Springfield for a Meet and Greet. I so enjoyed meeting and visiting with these wonderful ladies!!!

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Now that we’re home, we’ve been busy packaging and sending books, then picking up more books from the printer to start the process over again! Our boys were supposed to have their first soccer games Saturday, but they were cancelled because of snow. I have to admit, I was happy that they were cancelled. I feel like I’ve been given a bonus day to be home, rest, and get work done this weekend!

So, what do I plan to do with my bonus day? COOK and BAKE!!!  I need it, I want it, and I can not wait to get all floury and messy while I get caught up and maybe ahead in the kitchen. Here’s what I’m planning to make:

We’ll see how far I get. Sometimes, my to-do list gets longer than the hours in my day. 

What are your plans this weekend? 

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When Family Business and Homeschooling Come Together

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It was really all because of Matt. He’s the brilliant one. 

After breakfast, Bible, history, and math on Wednesday, Matt picked up several boxes of our Oh, For Real books from the printer and got everyone started on putting them into envelopes as we filled orders. Thanks to my friend Jenny, we had many of the envelopes already addressed and ready to go. By the time I made it out into the living room to help, here is what I found: 

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If that isn’t the picture of a family business, I don’t know what is. I was thrilled and grateful. But Matt hadn’t just put the kids to work on preparing orders. He had a geography lesson going on at the same time. Impressive, huh?!

You see, one of the many fun parts of printing off invoices as your orders have come in has been seeing where they are coming from. So, Matt had the younger boys get out our big U.S. puzzle to fill in the states as they showed up on each package. 

Here’s Malachi, looking to see if the state on his envelope has been put into place yet. In the meantime, I was burning lunch. Yep, I had hastily put a frozen casserole into the oven that morning while we worked, but had the oven turned up too high. Good grief. It seems as if I should get out my Oh, For Real book and read it! I’m pretty sure the instructions in the book tell me to heat the casserole slowly at a low temp. Duh. Be glad you can’t smell our burning noodles as you look at our book packaging process.

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By the time we were almost finished with “round one” of book packaging – our map looked like this:

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 I believe by now, it is completely full. How fun!

I want to say thank you to all of you who have ordered so far. We continue to pray that you will be blessed by Oh, For Real: Real Food, Real Family, Real Easy. For those of you who live outside the U.S., if you are interested in a copy of this book, please email me for details! Then maybe we can get out our World Map Puzzle to see where our book is headed… :)

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Malachi’s Thanksgiving Song

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From our house to your house. From our kitchen to your kitchen. From our hearts to your hearts. From our piano to your….ears. We bring you this song that our seven year old, Malachi, composed and wanted to play for you today.

We wish you all a Thanksgiving filled with blessings that can only come from our loving Father.

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My First 5K!

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I am so pumped! I just participated in my first ever 5K Walk-Run Event! I was going to wait until Gratituesday to share it with you, but I’m too excited, so I’m telling you about it now. :)

The race would have been a little much for Elias and Malachi to participate in, so they went with us,
but hung back and played soccer with a college girl. Asa was out of town, so we were bummed that he missed the event.

It was gorgeous outside, so that probably helped us all love it a little more. ;)  The race was set up as a fund raiser for Tiny Hands International, an organization our family loves to support. 

I typically don’t run much because I have found that running is much harder on my knee and hips than power walking. BUT, I was excited and wanted to at least run a little bit of it. We started out all jogging together. After about a mile, Matt and Justus went on running without me, and Jen and I finished it out by doing our typical power walk.

It felt so good!!!

Being able to participate in a REAL 5K event, and knowing that the money we paid went for a great cause we believe in – well, the morning was just awesome.

Then Jen and I were so pumped up, we went and lifted weights when we were finished. We figured we may as well make it a complete workout, right?

Loved it!

Have you ever done a 5K? Half Marathon? Full Marathon?  Wow. 

And don’t forget, even if you never have or never will do any of the above, if you at least do something to get moving, you’re doing great! It pays to be fit!

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It’s That Time of Year Again!

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It’s time to feed the York College Ladies Soccer Team again! 

My husband is an assistant soccer coach at our local Christian college, something he loves and is very gifted at doing. Each year, I am privileged to feed the team several meals when they come into town for pre-season workouts and practices. Having me cook saves the soccer budget quite a bit, as reimbursing me for my food expense costs less than feeding the team in the cafeteria.

This has become somewhat of a tradition that the girls look forward to each year, and I love being able to bless them in this way with home cooked meals and special treats. 

Today and tomorrow, I’m getting a jump start on all the work since the fun begins on Sunday evening. Today Elias, Malachi, and I went to the store to get all the groceries. Two full carts later, we were ready to check out.

Why no, we weren’t finished yet at this point. Still had to hit the frozen food section!

Can I just say how nice it was to have the boys along to help? Last year I went by myself, thinking that it would be easier. But, no, it was not easier. I am not capable of driving three carts, which is what I had after checking out. (Thankfully a kind man from church happened upon my poor struggling self and helped me to my van!)  This time, Elias and Malachi helped push carts, fill carts, load groceries onto the check-out counter. And don’t forget unloading once we got home! That was an entire family affair. Phew!

With that, I’m off to start making lasagnas. I’ll share my entire soccer team menu on Sunday, and as much as possible, I will take pictures to share with you. 

Now you know why it was so important for me to try and get ahead a few weeks ago! :)

 

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My “To Do” List As I Prepare for the Fall (And My Plan to Blog My Way Through the Preparations)

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I know it’s only July, but I have to start preparing now if I plan to survive the busy fall season. August through October are always our busiest months of the year, as we start school, freeze and can garden produce, and juggle umpteen soccer practices and games. I love soccer season, and am so excited for it to start I can hardly stand it. My husband helps coach our local York College ladies soccer team (I can’t wait for these gals to get back into town!), three out of four of our boys play on teams, two boys referee, and two boys are on additional traveling teams. There are a lot of schedules to keep up with. 

I’m not complaining. I soooo love it. But at the same time, I’ve started to feel almost panicky about being away from home so much and keeping up with all of my responsibilities. My solution?  I’m praying for peace.  Panicking helps…nothing. Oh yes, I’ve proven that over and over. I’m asking God to help me relax, to use me to bless people, and to help me enjoy the ride this fall. Oh, and I’m also already starting to warn and remind my friends that in a few weeks, I will not be able to formulate cohesive thoughts or finish my sentences. I am so blessed to have friends who continue to put up with me during these busy months.

In addition to spending much time in prayer, I’m doing as much as I can now to make my homemaking and home schooling efforts easier once we’re in “the thick of it”. I decided to share my “to do” list with you, then blog my way through it during the next several days. You do want to watch me prepare for the insanity, don’t you? Yes, that’s what I thought. ;)

First, here are the home projects I’d like to complete by August 5:

  • Clean and organize our “School Room”.
  • Help the boys get their bedroom and the “Lego Room” cleaned and organized.
  • Type up book lists and writing goals for the boys for the year.
  • Take the boys on our traditional “school supply shopping, then eat lunch out” celebration. (They’ll never be too old for this, right?!)

Here are the kitchen projects I’d like to work on so that our fridge, pantry, and freezers are stocked and ready for busy days ahead:

Disclaimer:  All items on these lists are subject to change. I may not be in the mood next week to make calzones. I may instead decide to make Creamy Chicken and Rice Casseroles. Or maybe I’ll make both. Or neither. I will likely think of something in the middle of the night tomorrow that I forgot to add to my list. I’ll be sure to call you at that time so that you are aware that my list has changed. You’re welcome. I may decide that cleaning the Lego Room isn’t even worth it since it’s likely to be a mess thirty seconds after we finish. If produce becomes freezable or cannable during this next week, that will trump all else. (“Cannable” isn’t a word and spell check wants me to change it to “cannibal” but that is obviously not at all related to my plan for next week, so I am leaving it as is. We all know what I mean. I think.)  Regardless, I do plan to take lots of pictures and blog my progress. It may will be messy. Read at your own risk.

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Family Pictures!!!

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Remember how I told you about meeting up with friends at Soul Quest last week? One of those friends was Tracy who is a wonderful mother of three boys, and as you will soon see, is also a wonderful photographer.

When I saw Tracy the first night of Soul Quest, she whispered, “Hey, I brought my camera. Do you think you can pull Asa away from camp for an hour sometime this week for a family photo shoot?!” Wow, I’d seen her work before, so this was an offer I couldn’t refuse. 

Now that we have our pictures back, I can’t stop looking at them. I have five of the most handsome men in my life. God is so good.

Aw, how sweet is this, all of my men looking at me in admiration (yeah, yeah, they are all just doing what Tracy told them to do). :)

Will you just look at all of us, standing still in one place with arms intertwined and looking like a calm, peaceful, little family…

Oh here we go – now this is more like our crazy family reality…

This has got to be my favorite shot.  :)

And here I am with my amazing hunk of a husband!

Thank you for letting me show off some of our pictures. Tracy is super talented and I am so thankful that we were able to be blessed by her giftedness. Check out our About page here if you have time. I updated it with some of our new pics!

P.S. If you live in this general area, you can look into more of what Tracy does at TracyWoodPhotography and/or her facebook page here. :)

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