Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

Big Family Food and Fun: May 27-June 3, 2023

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Here’s a look at the food and fun at our house during the last few days!

We’ve been working this week to finalize getting our house on the market, so the busy level has gone from insane to whatever is BEYOND INSANE. There’s been very little time to cook or to even think about food. Thanks to so many coming over to help us in so many ways, we’ve survived and been so very well loved and cared for.

Food we have to work with right now

I took a look at both of our big freezers to see what all we had to work with to make meals before we move. Both freezers are still very full, which is great because I can avoid going to the store between now and the end of the month. (Our closing date on “the Castle” is in just a few weeks!) My goal is to only buy fresh produce and dairy until after we settle into our new place. Meanwhile, we have a lot of meat and frozen veggies to work with. This freezer is full of hamburger meat, green beans, peas, corn, cheese, flour, pork butt, hashbrowns, pizza crust, tortillas, french fries, and a couple of ready-made casseroles.

This looks like a lot of food (because it is!). But making three meals a day for 10 people will clear this out pretty quickly! This freezer features a lot of chicken, hotdogs, frozen pizza, a turkey, and some pasta.

And now for the meals we ate!

Big Family Food and Fun

Our breakfast one morning consisted of the last of the Bran Muffins I had baked last week. I cut them in half, buttered them, and warmed them in our air fryer. The kids LOVE them this way. We drank some of our fun Azure Standard kefir with the muffins. Fun treat!

Trying to pack while feeding 10 people (plus a baby) is a bit of a challenge. :) It would help if I could ever finish what I start. This is what the kitchen looked like at lunchtime after I’d started packing a few cabinets after breakfast. I got derailed by the kids’ needs and never came back to it. Then we were hungry and I tried making quesadillas in this mess. Oy.

Keith decided to use safety scissors to cut up a box while I made lunch.

For our smoothies that evening with dinner, I used some of the Azure Standard Kefir instead of using yogurt like I usually do. I used an entire 5-ounce container of fresh spinach in these and I just love that the kids get so many greens into their bellies this way!

I made a pot of Cheeseburger Macaroni, steamed green beans, and sliced oranges for a quick dinner one night.

The kids ate outside again, which is so great but so distracting. Josie isn’t pictured here because she took a few bites and then ran off to ride her little scooter. :)

I grilled burgers one night and we ate them with chips and guac.

Anna woke up from a nap one afternoon and enjoyed a cheese stick while she was still just half awake, precious little sweetheart. :)

One morning, Malachi and I took the kids on a LONG walk so that Matt could do work on our house without kids underfoot. When we got home, I made some fast scrambled egg sandwiches and got out peach cups for lunch.

For dinner that night, I put some beef smoked sausage on our grill. While they cooked, I made baked beans, green beans, corn, and fresh strawberries. I pulled some Banana Muffins from the freezer to round out the meal.

Appetites have been pretty big around here because we are all working/playing outside for hours and hours every day! Keith and Josie “helped” Matt clean up the garden one afternoon. :)

The kids took advantage of Matt watering our lawn. I’m not sure how many times that day we had to put dry clothes on toddlers who kept wandering into the sprinkler.

I captured this rare moment when ALL seven littles were in one spot as we wrapped up our day and joined together in our living room for our nightly “Singing and Prayer Time.” Notice Brayden and Josie pretending to talk to each other on the phone from across the room. :)

I love it when the girls sit down to enjoy a book together. SO CUTE!

I had pizza crusts in the freezer so I quickly added sauce, cheese, and meat (some leftover grilled burgers chopped up!) to bake for dinner one night. I grabbed spinach from the fridge as a side dish and that was that.

Brayden and Kiya sat on the porch to eat their pizza. They’d gone to the pool that day so they were extra hungry!

The others ate their pizza at our picnic tables. Pizza sauce mess x4!

Our friend Tasha (you know her because she’s an awesome writer!) came and worked on our walls one day while her husband helped Matt with our porch and other jobs. We are so thankful for friends who are servant-hearted!

Meanwhile, Asa and Eva were also visiting and spent several hours helping us with the house and with childcare.

While everyone was either working on our house or chasing our kids for us, I put together these amazing Bacon and Potato Foil Packs for the grill. (I actually used leftover taco meat instead of bacon and highly recommend it!) I served them with canned peaches and boo, no veggies because goodness I am not keeping up very well right now! :)

I threw together a quick meal of spaghetti with green beans one night. I’ve found that using elbow noodles instead of regular spaghetti noodles makes it much easier for our toddlers to eat this meal!

At the end of the week, we had a photographer coming to take pictures of our house for the realtor’s site since we were soon to get it on the market. Matt and I were exhausted from all the work it had taken to get the house to this point, so I declared it to be a poptart morning. I’d gotten these with Azure Standard credit and saved them for a time like this. It was perfect – the kids were so excited!

That day for lunch, our dear friend Phyllis brought us lunch (because I asked her to, because I was worn out, and because she’s awesome). She brought two of her delicious hashbrown casseroles, veggies, and muffins. It was an incredible blessing to enjoy her food, and even more, her company. She spent some time after lunch reading with Brayden and Kiya, which is just what they needed. Everyone needs a Phyllis in their life. :)

I caught three of the littles (even Acacia!) trying to do Elias’ workout with him one afternoon. :)

We took the kids on an outing to the opening night of our Farmer’s Market and took advantage of their free-will donation hotdog meal deal. Magically, the kids lined up along the wall to eat their dinner and they actually stayed there for at least five solid minutes. :)

Amidst all we had going on with getting our house ready to go on the market, on Friday we also had a huge crew of roofers come to replace our roof after last summer’s hail storm. So there were nails and shingles and people EVERYWHERE outside of our house that day. We decided to take the kids to the library for Story Hour for the morning so they could play without getting hurt in our yard. At lunchtime, we ran home and I went inside to fill a bag with food for us to eat at a park that has a brand-new splash park!

Our lunch that day was turkey lunch meat, cheese sticks, pistachios, peanuts, applesauce, raisins, chips, and juice. By the time we got home, the roofing crew was finished, loaded up, and gone. Phew!

That night, a sweet friend, Jaimie, brought us a most amazing meal of chicken-bacon-tomato-ranch salad fixings with this homemade ranch dressing (that ironically, I haven’t made in forever because of our crazy life!). Plus she supplied us with grapes, applesauce, and made us two super tasty loaves of sourdough bread and chocolate peanut butter bars. We felt so loved and spoiled!

Here’s Matt’s creation – isn’t his bowl pretty!

Keith ate his food before I could feature it, as did Brayden.

But of course, they all got seconds and if I remember correctly, Brayden got fifths. :) :) :)

Kiya is as beautiful as her salad.

The next morning, I scrambled eggs to go with our leftover sourdough bread/toast.


Our daughter-in-law, Kelsey, was able to spend the day with us Saturday so she and I took the kids on a walk to a playground so Matt could work on painting our house. I packed lunch again to buy us time at the park, plus because eating lunch on our outings is just a lot of fun! We ate cheese and crackers, blueberries, applesauce, grapes, and pistachios, and I surprised the kids with cookies. :)

Malachi has in Ecuador on a mission trip all week. WE MISS HIM!! We’re looking forward to having him home next week to learn all about God’s work there.

What a week!! We are so thankful for all the people who have come to our rescue this week with meals and help with home repairs, cleaning, yard work, and child care. It takes a village, and we have an amazing one!

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What to Make When It’s Too Hot to Make Dinner

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Sometimes it’s just too hot to make dinner. Here are 20+ ideas for what to make and serve to your family!

I love to cook. I love the heat. I love summer. I love sunshine. I actually love to be hot. But even I get to a point where I don’t feel like cooking when it’s super hot outside.

And while our kids play hard all day and work up big appetites, their food preferences change when they’re hot. None of us want a heavy hot casserole or steamy pot of stew, right?

So if you, like me, need a list of ideas for meals you can serve when it’s too hot to cook, I’ve compiled one. I basically created this on an unusually hot day in April when nothing sounded good. :) I started to brainstorm and THIS LIST is what sounded good!

What to Make When It’s Too Hot to Make Dinner

  1. Cottage Cheese with Fruit (pineapple is our favorite, and peaches are a close second)
  2. Peanut Butter Banana Toast with a side of Fresh Fruit
  3. Yogurt Granola Parfaits (set them up as a build-your-own like this)
  4. Lunchmeat, Cheese, Veggie, and, Fruit Tray
  5. Smoothies and Muffins (if I’m lucky, I have muffins in the freezer so that I don’t have to bake)
  6. Scrambled Egg Sandwich (which requires a little bit of cooking, but it’s not so much that we want to cry, right?)
  7. Beef Hotdogs and Watermelon (again, this takes a little cooking but the meal is easy and refreshing)
  8. Chicken Salad on Crackers with Veggies and Fruit or a Smoothie
  9. Tuna Salad on Bread or Buns with Veggies and Fruit or a Smoothie
  10. Meat and Cheese Wraps with Spinach on a Tortilla with a side of Fruit
  11. Rotisserie Chicken (they cost $4.98 at Sam’s and Costco, and you can make any combination of these 12 meals with them!)
  12. Any of these Salads
  13. Or you can Drink Your Salad like Matt and I do (we do this in the winter too, but oh in the summer these are so refreshing!)
  14. Tortilla Pizzas on the grill with Veggies and Fruit
  15. Guacamole with Chips and Smoothies.
  16. Easy Bean and Cheese Salsa Dip with Chips and Fruit
  17. Fruit Tray (watermelon, grapes, berries) with Cheese
  18. Popcorn, Apples, Peanut Butter, Carrots
  19. Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches with Veggies and Fruit (almost too obvious not to mention)
  20. Turkey and Cheese or Ham and Cheese Sandwiches with Veggies and Fruit

What is your go-to meal on a hot day?

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How God Used My Cheesecake

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God used my cheesecake in a way that surprised us all…

I’ve always felt that my biggest love language is food. Are you sick? Here’s a casserole. Going through a hard time? I just made fresh muffins. Exhausted while you adjust to having a newborn? Enjoy these frozen burritos. Want to come over and eat with us? I have something like Lasagna, Roast, or perhaps a big pot of Taco Soup. Also coffee, fruit, vegetables, bread, butter, potatoes, salad…

I feed people. It’s one of the ways God uses me to love people, and in return, I am delightfully blessed. God’s people are precious and food is one great way for us to get to know them.

How God used my cheesecake

Several months during this past school year, our family joined with a few other families to host lunches after church for young adults and college students. We invited any and all, and on one particular day in January, there were a few that joined us who had never been to church before. We loved this and were so thankful to prayerfully introduce God’s love and care for them.

I don’t remember what else I made to share around the table that day, but I do know that I made some big Cheesecakes to share.

Later that evening, our new friend J texted the Bible professor who had invited him to church and lunch:

No, you may not buy one, but we sure will make you one!

The next week, I made a cheesecake and Matt took it to campus to deliver it to J. The young man was amazed that people who barely knew him would do something like this. For us, it was easy. For him, it was love. It was “just a cheesecake,” but it was the beginning of a relationship and so much more.

As the weeks went by, we continued to get to know J. He came to church and joined us for lunch a few more times. (There was always cheesecake.) Meanwhile, many others whom he had gotten to know at the York University campus were sharing their lives with him and more importantly, sharing more about Jesus. He was open, he was ready, and a few weeks ago, he decided to become a Christian.

Watching him be baptized and embraced by dozens and dozens of people who had invested in his life was one of the most glorious moments of this year so far. This young man who knew nothing about a life in Christ before this school year had decided to fully embrace it. Our God is amazing.

The cheesecake was just a piece (pun intended)

In the big scheme of things, our family didn’t do much. The cheesecakes were a very small part of J’s journey as he decided to become a part of God’s family. Other people spent far more time with him, helping him study, learn, and grow. We simply found a small way to connect with him and we took advantage of it.

Let God use you

God gave me a silly cheesecake as a reason to reach out and text a new friend. If God can use cheesecake, He can certainly use your great gifts too, no matter what they are.

Listen to the Spirit’s leading and faithfully walk forward. You never know where He might lead!

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Big Family Food and Fun: Meals and Photos from Last Week (May 17-27, 2023)

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Here’s a look at the meals we ate last week! Plus, now that our girls are adopted and I’m free to share, I decided to add a bunch of photos of our family so that you can get to know our kids better.

As the week began, we were on the heels of throwing a huge adoption party and an even huger graduation party. So the first few days of last week consisted of using party leftovers creatively and mom trying to recover. :) Plus, we started focusing even more on our big move, so meals needed to be more simple than ever.

Meals we ate

I used the leftover hotdogs from our adoption party to make a big pot of Beanie Weanies one evening. I served it with spinach (dipped in ranch), sliced oranges, and grapes.

The next night, I smoked the chicken I’d picked up at half price to use with the leftover gallon of “Cane’s Sauce” from Malachi’s grad party. (Do you have Raisin’ Cane’s where you live? It’s our big boys’ favorite restaurant!) See those frozen peas there? I throw those in our kids’ mac and cheese to cool down their mac and to sneak in more veggies. :)

One lunch as I was enjoying my “salad,” Acacia grabbed my glass to finish it off. Usually I make this one for the kids, but actually most of the littles will drink this grown-up version too.

Who doesn’t want to kiss that face?

Not to be outdone, Keith also had a special mustache that day, but his was from digging in the dirt. While still wearing his pajamas. ;)

One day for lunch, Matt warmed up leftover mac and cheese and chicken, and we put out a bowl of leftover watermelon. Acacia and Josie gobbled it up, but Keith and Anna were too busy to sit down. While we love eating our meals outside when the weather is nice, it is a bit distracting. ;)

After our huge weekend that included our big adoption day followed by Malachi’s graduation, my body decided it should get sick from all the over-exertion. Boo. We used a gift card to order pizza for dinner on a night I didn’t feel like moving.

I had gotten a lot of hamburger meat on sale, so one morning after I started to feel better I cooked seven pounds in my Instant Pot.

For lunch that day, we used some of the cooked meat to build ourselves a Taco Salad.

I froze some of the cooked meat, but before I did that, I used some to put together a container of Sloppy Joe meat and another of an Unnamed Casserole. We’ll never have another cassserole like it ever again as I simply grabbed out some leftover this and that from the fridge to build a meal. ;)

We’ve been making these smoothies every few days, which is so perfect on these warm days!

Here’s Keith with our Bonus 4-year old (our former foster son who comes to visit often). They almost NEVER sit still, and in fact, when they are together, we have to watch them constantly. They are like twins who like to get into mischief. So when I spotted them sitting still, I took a picture to document the amazing moment. This has nothing to do with food and everything to do with what I do when I’m not making food. :)

We had more leftover smoked chicken and I cut it into tiny pieces for lunch one day. We had some whole wheat pita pockets so we filled them with chicken and dressings. I was completely out of greens and tomatoes so we didn’t have much else to work with. We ate our pitas with leftover potato salad and cut strawberries.

The first Monday morning of our summer break, I took the extra time to make scrambled cheese eggs, sausage, and fruit.

We are cleaning up all the limbs in our yard from the winter, so we had a fire pit hotdog night. The kids were so excited! (We didn’t make a dent in the stick pile, ha.)

All I made that night to go with the hotdogs was a plate of sliced oranges. We’re just hanging in there right now!

One morning I baked a double batch of Pumpkin Muffins and made a big pan of Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Bars. We had gone muffin-less and bar-less for about a week when I had been so busy getting ready for all of our parties, so getting these ready for easy snacks/breakfasts was a big relief! Too bad they’re gone already.

I used some of the cooked ground beef to make a big Tator Tot Casserole one evening. Our three little girls gobbled this up (right off of my plate of course, because food on Mom’s plate tastes better).

One morning Brayden, Kiya, Keith, and I drove to Lincoln to tour what will be their new school after we move. I decided to run to Aldi after our visit, and friends! Our new house is six minutes from Aldi. (And 13 minutes from Costco, in case you were wondering.) I’m so thankful for all of this and excited about how my grocery-shopping life is about to change and become easier!

I mainly went in to get a bunch of whole milk yogurt and fresh produce. I then picked up four boxes of tube yogurt to freeze for cold treats on hot days, some cheese, apple juice, and smoked sausage. It felt weird not to get a huge cart full! But I’m trying to only buy what we can eat before the end of June so that we don’t have to pack as much food when we move.

When we arrived back home it was lunchtime. So I washed berries and got out avocado cups for the kids to eat. Matt and I prefer these with tortilla chips, but the kids just eat them with a spoon!

For dinner that night, I had premade a Hamburger Hashbrown Casserole. We ate it with steamed broccoli and carrots and Bran Muffins.

We got a nice-sized Azure Standard order this month and Malachi went and picked it up. I love that some of the littles are getting big enough to help unload groceries! I’m realizing that I’ll have to check to see if there are Azure Standard deliveries in Lincoln. Any locals want to chime in on that for me? :)

The kids helped me unload boxes, discovering frozen green beans and peas, frozen bananas, frozen strawberries, a case of tortillas, a case of canned peaches, onion salt, seasoning salt, yogurt, several varieties of Kefir, and a big surprise: Poptarts. If they’re organic, they’re good for you, right?! ;) I had some Azure Standard credit from referrals so I took advantage of it to order some convenience food to help us during move time. OH! And I meant to order a case of canned pears but as it turns out, I only ordered one can. Hahaha, that’ll get us through half a lunch. :)

Food and Fun

That was the food. Now on to the fun!

Here’s Acacia feeding her baby.

Josie chose a butterfly dress one morning and she was so proud.

I came across this photo of Elias and Matt on Elias’ graduation day and LOVE their smiles!

Brayden was getting huge smiles from BabyBoy#11 one morning!

This merry-go-round at one of our local parks is perfect for us because it’s safe for the littles and they all fit on it together.

Keith got a new bike for Christmas and is finally able to enjoy it now that the weather is so nice!

I’m not sure how Matt pulled it off, but as I was still unloading Josie, he headed into church with all these ducks in a row…

Firechief Keith to the rescue!

Here’s Brayden and Kiya on their last day of school. See ya later, 3rd and 1st grade!

Anna and Acacia had the opportunity all school year to go to a pre-preschool hour once each week. The little bus picked them up and they LOVED it! Here they are waiting for the bus on one of their last days.

We were blessed to go to the wedding of some dear friends, and I snapped this of Malachi as he was their videographer.

During the reception, Josie wanted in on the action.

Brayden and Kiya danced their hearts out and were a bit mad at us when it was time to load up and leave. I asked if I could get a picture before heading out and after four tries, they finally smiled. :)

And that’s a wrap! I suppose I should take some pictures of the COMPLETE MESS that is our house right now as we sort and pack to move! Meh, it’s more fun to see our adorable kids. :)

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The Coppinger Castle

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Welcome to Part 2 of The Coppingers are Moving! series. Be sure to read this first so that you will understand what is prompting this transition to Lincoln.

Our search for a house to fit our 11

There are 11 of us in our current household including Matt and me, Elias (pursuing a career in Lincoln), Malachi (growing his Sideline Media Production Company), Brayden (9), Kiya (7), Keith (4), Anna (3), Acacia (2), Josie (1), and Baby #11 (4 months).

We need an updated family picture to feature our new baby. We’ll get to that in our spare time, oy. Here’s our latest from last summer at Justus and Kelsey’s wedding before Baby#11 was born and joined us:

When God made it clear that he was moving us to Lincoln, we looked and looked at properties that would meet our family’s needs and our hospitality desires. Nothing worked. Some had lots of bedrooms, but a tiny kitchen. Others had a sort-of decent kitchen but not enough overall square footage. Still others had a good price but not enough bedrooms. House after house after house  – we just kept looking and praying. If God was moving us, surely He would provide. We trusted this. Plus, He had told me that He had something even BETTER for us than the house we planned to build.

After looking at so many houses that just didn’t work for us, I couldn’t see what in the world God was doing. How could any house be better than one we had designed to meet our unique needs?

I prayed very specifically, yet I felt bad for asking for some of the things I was asking for. I kept trying to stop myself from praying for a house with two dishwashers. What house has two dishwashers?? Couldn’t I just be content with a house – any house that would humbly take care of us?

I kept saying, “God, I want to be content with what you have planned for us. I just want to want what you want me to want.”

He replied, “I have big plans for you and for how I will use your home. Stop feeling guilty for wanting what I want you to want.” So it seemed that He had put a vision on my heart and that I wasn’t being greedy or selfish in my requests. But still. Did such a house exist that would accommodate everything on my list?

Then I stumbled onto this.

We found this unique home for sale, and it meets our needs and more (for less than the cost of everything we had found that was much smaller).

It is a historic building/home that has been run as a Bed and Breakfast. It was so different that I almost didn’t even click over to look at it. But we love brick exterior, plus Matt had always joked about wanting a castle. This house looked like a castle. Sure, I’ll click. Why not?

As I looked at all the pictures of the rooms, I was incredulous. It was everything. It was more than everything. And the opportunities this place could allow for ministry and outreach? Well, we don’t even know yet, but we know God is up to something.

I jokingly told Matt, “Hey, I found your castle!”

Our laughter soon turned serious as we prayed about whether or not this could be the house for us. It’s huge – over 7,000 square feet with 9 bedrooms and 10 bathrooms. Amazing! But how would we keep it clean? Would we lose the children on the third floor? The basement? This house was awesome, but was it too much for us?

Or was it just right?

We prayed. I cried (of course). My biggest prayer was that I wasn’t being selfish or greedy. I truly want a functional home for our family – one that I can set up well to meet our needs, especially in the kitchen. And even more for whatever it is God wants us to do for people beyond our family.

Matt and I made an appointment to walk through it. We walked in and I knew it was what God had for us. Be very proud of me – I didn’t cry. Not even once. Not even when I walked into the kitchen.

It was all I could do to keep my jaw off the floor. Our daughter-in-law, Eva, was with us and we just stood in that kitchen in amazement. It is huge. Big enough for multiple adults and children to work together at the same time. This is what we need.

Dear ones, this kitchen has two dishwashers.

It also has the very same range/oven I wanted to put into the house we were planning to build. The very same one.

It truly is better than what we had planned. I stand in awe and also bow in thanks. We are so grateful.

God is faithful

I wish I could put into words what the last few months have been like for us. We have been in a very deep time of questioning. God made it so clear that He was creating big changes for our family, and we still don’t know all the reasons why. Maybe we never will.

But we know He is faithful. We know He is good. We know God’s plans require us to be visionary, to think outside the box, and to be open to whatever He wants to do with and through our family.

We know that this will be good.

But wait, there’s more.

As we toured the house, we found that there is actually a third dishwasher in a pantry room just off the kitchen (as well as another stove/oven, another sink, two more refrigerators, and lots of shelves). I’ll show you the pantry another day, after we’ve moved and settled in. Today, I can’t stop crying in thanks. :)

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us. Ephesians 3:20

P.S. The photos I’m featuring today show what the house looks like currently, as a Bed and Breakfast. Some of the furniture is staying but not all of it. We’ll furnish it to best meet the needs of our family.

P.P.S. I plan to take time to tell you all about how it goes as we move, settle in, and furnish this home. Most importantly, I’ll share what God is doing with this space He is providing for us. It is very clear that He is doing big things and together, we will praise Him and give Him full glory!

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How Our Youngest Became Oldest of 9

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Once upon a time, Malachi was the youngest of four boys. We thought he’d hold that status forever, but God had different plans.

18 years ago when Malachi was born, one of my sisters-in-law made the boys adorable shirts that said:

  • Biggest Brother
  • Bigger Brother
  • Big Brother
  • Baby Brother

Having our four boys was so special, and their friendship grew and became beautiful through the years.

 

Then one day, 13 years after Malachi became our baby, God shocked us by adding a four-year-old boy to our family. A few months later, his baby cousin joined us. Within a year, we had adopted them both and Malachi had two younger brothers.

This transition was full of challenges, but Malachi, like all of our older boys, opened his heart and let God grow him into his new role.

God continued to bring more children into our family, and within five years, we had grown from a family of six to a family of 15 (including two parents, four biological children, six adopted children, one foster son, and two daughters-in-law). In addition, one of our former foster sons still spends time with us and we consider him one of our own.

The day we adopted our four girls, the judge asked Malachi to come to the front and sit with Matt and me and the girls. We thought this was strange, seeing as we had lots of other siblings who were a part of this too. But the judge recognized something special about Malachi as he had been the only one of our older sons living at home during the entire process of fostering the sisters we were getting ready to adopt. So with a grin, Malachi stepped down and had a seat with us as Matt and I testified and as the judge finalized our girls’ adoption.

The very next day, Malachi graduated from high school. At first, I was overwhelmed by having two huge events back-to-back. But as the weekend progressed, I was profoundly impacted by how perfectly timed these events were. You see, we had thought that the day Malachi graduated, we would have launched our last child and become empty nesters. But in fact, just the day before, God officially added four more children. The beauty of God’s timing in this astounded me and I couldn’t get over how good God is in overruling our plans and giving us so much more.

Our graduation tradition is to gather in our living room and speak a blessing over our graduate. Here we are, gathered around, listening in as Malachi FaceTimed Justus who couldn’t join us that day.

My blessing was this. I’m sharing it with you so that you know a little bit more about who this wonderful young man is:

Malachi,

We all got a chuckle yesterday when the Judge asked you to sit up front, but the truth is that she was very right when she said, “You need to be up here; you’ve played a very big role in this.” So true.

Today, your graduation day, looks very different than what we all expected five years ago. Literally overnight, you went from being the youngest brother to being an older brother. Within the past five years, you’ve become oldest of nine. THIS WAS SO UNEXPECTED! It hasn’t always been easy for you, but you’ve turned out to be such a beloved big brother to your little sisters and brothers. What a gift you are to them (and to your older brothers, and to Dad and me).

I think God has used this huge life change to teach us all something so important. First, we can make plans for our life, but God is the One who knows what we actually need. Our job is to be open, to listen to Him, and to trust that what He has for us is best – even if it’s hard.

Second, being uncomfortable is often right where God wants us. You’ve been learning this and I pray that you never stop seeking to be uncomfortable in all the ways God wants you to be. I pray that being uncomfortable becomes comfortable as you continue to walk in obedience to Christ.

Third, remember that your identity is in Christ. Not in where you fall in line in our family birth order or in your Sideline Media career (which is awesome, by the way, and we’re so proud of you) or in anything else – but who you are in Christ is all that matters. You are a child of God – adopted, chosen, cherished, and so very loved. Live your life in that love, and choose to let the Holy Spirit love others through you. What amazing things God will continue to do with and through you when you walk in His love.

Thank you for being my boy, and for loving me through my weaknesses. Thank you for crying with me as we’ve navigated these years together. Thank you for always making me laugh. I love you.

Mom

As Malachi launches into adulthood, he will be working full-time at the thriving production company he created two years ago, Sideline Media. He is so admired by his three older brothers Asa, Justus, and Elias. And by his younger siblings Brayden, Kiya, Keith, Anna, Acacia, Josie, Baby#11, and Bonus Brother K.

We truly don’t know what God has in store for us, but we know that He is faithful and He is good. He is provider and we can trust Him fully.

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May 1- 17, 2023 Groceries and Meals We Ate (Big Family Food!)

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Here’s a look at our groceries and meals from the first part of May 2023 for our big family!

Everything feels a little bit EXTRA right now. We just finalized the adoption of our four girls. Elias and our daughter-in-law, Kelsey, just graduated from college. Malachi graduated from high school. And oh yeah, we’re moving.

I adore this recent photo of Malachi with our youngest babe. It is so significant that Malachi used to be the youngest and as of his graduation last weekend, we would have been empty nesters. But here he is now, the oldest of 8 at home (9 if you count our former foster son who is still very much a part of our lives). Malachi’s life has changed significantly during the past five years. We’re incredibly proud of how he has let God grow him through this.

Food has been abundant around here because we’ve hosted a lot of parties as we’ve celebrated such wonders! But then on non-party days, I’ve resorted to a lot of scrambled eggs in an effort to survive and put food into our bellies, ha. I’ll share more about our meals below, but first, let’s take a look at…

Groceries We Bought

Early in the month, I made a quick run to Walmart to get formula for Baby#11 and a few other WIC items for the little girls. The produce they allow is so very wonderful! While there, I checked for meat markdowns and found two packages of brats for just $1.92 each. How great it will be to feed our whole family meat for less than $4!

In preparation for our Adoption Party, I went to a local store to get hamburger meat that they had advertised to be on sale. BUT, I came home with much better deals!!! They didn’t have any of the advertised meat in the cooler, so I asked the manager if they had more in the back. He replied with, “I do have more, but if you want an even better deal I have a bunch of meat back there that we froze before it expired. I’ll give it all to you for half price.” YES PLEASE.

I ended up with 69 pounds of ground beef and four big packages of boneless chicken for $181!!

Now, I have to say that I wasn’t really planning to stock my freezer before our big move to Lincoln next month. But the prices were too good to pass up!

Costco and Sam’s

Two days before adoption and graduation, I took a day and went to Sam’s and Costco to get ready for two huge parties. For Malachi’s graduation, I splurged on several cases of a variety of individual drinks to serve. We packed them in ice and guests could choose what they wanted. It was a huge hit!

I picked up some of our normal groceries for our family’s needs, plus some convenience items to help us as we pack and get our house on the market. I got triple the produce I usually buy at one time as our menu for Malachi’s party included lots of fruit and veggie trays.

Not only was the back of our van packed on my way home, but the side was full too!

Now let’s look at what we did with all these groceries!

Meals We Ate

The last weekend in April we celebrated Elias and Justus’ wife, Kelsey’s college graduation. We came home and served a Sub Sandwich Station to 15 of us, but of course, I was too distracted with feeding everyone to take a picture!

That night, we hosted a huge reception that filled our living room, kitchen, and front yard.

I didn’t get many pictures, but here’s our “toppings table” as we had another table with a huge roaster full of baked potatoes plus a big bowl of tortilla chips. People could then fill a bowl with baked potato toppings or nacho toppings – however they wanted to enjoy their meal! We also had a lovely dessert made by Kelsey’s mom. :)

The day after graduation I used many of the leftover sub rolls to make 19 Breakfast Sandwiches for the freezer (and for breakfast that morning).

For lunch that day, I fried leftover baked potatoes with leftover nacho/taco meat and served it with steamed green beans.

The next day, Malachi had a soccer game an hour away. We knew it could be his very last high school game, so instead of lugging all the kids there and chasing them instead of watching, Matt and I invited three babysitters to come to our house and help us. We left all seven littles behind – what a gift to know they were well cared for – while Matt and I actually had time to visit on the road and then enjoy watching Malachi’s game! I made six pizzas before we left (some of them with more of the leftover taco meat from the graduation party). We took some to eat on the way to the game and left the rest for our kids and their sitters. :)

One morning I got a huge batch of Vanilla Extract started so we’d have some ready in time for the holidays.

I grilled Chicken Legs for dinner one night (there were a couple of extras joining us), following this Dump Sauce on Chicken method. <— This is such a great idea! Except for when you get the bright idea to finish off random sauce bottles from the door of your fridge and ONE OF THEM IS MANGO HABANERO. Meh, I figured the ranch dressing I added to the bag would cool the spice. I was wrong. Our chicken was super spicy and not kid friendly. We ate it all anyway, though, ha!

We ate our spicy chicken with fried potatoes (this finished off our graduation party potatoes), fresh pineapple, and roasted broccoli and carrots. Brayden’s head is featured in this photo – isn’t he cute?

The first Saturday of the month, we took all the kids to a park in town that was hosting a special free “play in the sand” event. Matt and I decided at the last minute to take a picnic lunch so that we could stay longer on the playground so I threw together everything I could grab quickly and we loaded everyone up.

The kids played hard and were super hungry. So they devoured turkey lunch meat, cheese sticks, bran muffins, peanuts, applesauce, veggie straws, and clementines. I was so thankful I had enough to-go foods on hand to throw a lunch together like that!

Before my big meat markdown purchase, I was in a “clean out the freezer” mode. There were a few homemade frozen Meatballs, so I thawed and baked them one night and made spaghetti to go with them. I grabbed out some leftover fresh pineapple and fresh spinach to serve with it.

I had some Hawaiian rolls left over from Easter that I’d frozen, plus I found some small steak burgers in the back of the freezer that I’d gotten marked down a couple of months ago at Sam’s. We smoked them one night and had Mini-Burgers on rolls with cheese, pickled green beans, and baked beans.

I had a package of bacon in the freezer, so I cut it into bacon bits. Then I made scrambled bacon cheesy eggs and smoothies.

One morning, I took the girls’ snack outside to their little table. Here’s Acacia and Josie enjoying blueberries and peanuts. I can’t tell you how wonderful it is to finally be able to share their beautiful faces with you!

The day I went to Costco and Sam’s I also brought back a Rotisserie Chicken for our dinner. Matt pulled all the meat off the bone for us to eat while the rest of us unloaded all the groceries. I put fresh berries I had bought that day on the picnic table to go with the chicken and that was our simple but perfect meal for that night! To think, our entire family ate that meal for less than $10 and I didn’t have to cook! Using those $5 rotisserie chickens as fast food is fantastic!

May 12, this happened! You can read more about our four girls here. :) :)

After court, we headed to a park for a big party. Around 100 people were there to celebrate with us. It was incredible!

That week, I had pre-made 40 hamburgers so on the morning of adoption, I warmed them up along with 80 hotdogs and put them into a roaster to stay warm. A friend of mine picked it up for us on her way to the park and by the time we got there, everyone had set up a lovely spread of food!

With the burgers and dogs, we served veggies, grapes, watermelon, potato salad, chips, drinks, and desserts.

But the most important part of the day was the people who have been such a beautiful part of this journey with us!

We went home and rested for a while during the girls’ naptime. That night for dinner Matt scrambled eggs and I used leftover buns to make scrambled egg sandwiches. We set out the leftover grapes, some strawberries, and Matt made hashbrowns and sausage. All of our big kids were there, plus Matt’s dad from California. Everyone was fine with a simple, thrown-together meal. :)

The next day was Malachi’s graduation. This post explains how we have a homeschool graduation at our house. This was our fourth time to do this and we have come to love this tradition in which we gather ’round in our living room and each speak a blessing over our graduate. Justus had to miss this so here is a picture of the rest of us (during the girls’ naptime) while Malachi was FaceTiming Justus so that he could still be a part of the day.

For lunch that day, Malachi chose Lasagna, salad, corn, and fruit, plus cookies baked specially by a dear friend of ours. I had made the lasagna two weeks prior and put it into the freezer to make it easier to serve a big lunch during such a hectic weekend.

That evening we threw a huge graduation party along with some friends. Over 300 people came, shocking us all. It was incredible!!! What a gift to see so many people come in support of our children!

We served Chicken Strips with a variety of sauces, chips, veggies, fruit, and a variety of drinks. Elias was the rock star who kept baking the chicken and dumping it into the warm roaster to serve. Most of the food was gone by the end of the night. It was amazing!

The next day was Mother’s Day and I was pretty tired. :) I set out easy breakfast food for everyone, we had leftover lasagna for lunch, then Matt made dinner (which I forgot to get a picture of!). Best of all: that afternoon I took a nap! :)

I was able to capture this sweet moment between Grandpa Coppinger and Acacia during one of our meals during his visit. What a gift it is that he came to celebrate adoption and graduation days with us!

On to something new!

These “groceries I bought and food we ate” posts are super popular and fun to share! So instead of working on it all month long and posting one huge post, I’m going to try posting each week to share what our food looked like the week before. Sound good? We’ll see how it goes! Watch for our first Weekly Food Update coming up in a week or so. :)

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The Coppingers Have Decided to Move

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What? The Coppingers have decided to move? Well, it could be stated that God decided for them…

We’ve been in York, Nebraska for 21 years. I know this because Elias was 4-months old when we moved to York from Colorado Springs. Now he’s 21.

And, of course, our family has grown just a tiny bit during these years.

We don’t even have a current family photo because just a month after that one was taken, it became outdated when this guy was born and moved in with us:

Short Family History

Matt and I went to York College (now York University) starting in 1991. We married in 1994, had Asa in 1997, then moved to Colorado Springs in 1998. Justus and Elias were born in Colorado, then God moved us back to York in 2002. For us, it felt like going home.

We moved into this house, and it felt enormous. Because it was/is.

Malachi was born here in 2004. I started my blog in 2007. We homeschooled here, hosted here, grew here, and loved here. Our boys grew up and started to move on. God filled our home with more children. Two of our boys got married. God kept adding children to our family.

As our family grew, we found that as big as our house was, it no longer met our needs. Could we make it work? Absolutely. God always provides. But I longed for a functional dining room. A more practical kitchen. A space in our home that was large enough for all of our family plus all the people we loved hosting.

We just kept squishing people in. It worked and it was beautiful. No one complained about sitting on the floor and up the stairs.

We started talking about building a house – one that was functional, practical, big, and would give us more opportunities for hospitality in the ways we felt called. We spent hours praying over this, planning this, and just when we were getting ready to execute our plans, God put us on pause.

We didn’t know why. We just knew He was doing something big because He made it clear that He was getting ready to expand us. 

I was intrigued and excited by this!! And at the same time, I grieved this. We were going to build my dream home – one with a large functional kitchen and lots of room to host gatherings. One with a laundry room, a mud room, and a garage that fit our super-tall Ford Transit. So I kicked and screamed a little bit during my talks with God. I thought He had told us to go ahead with building a house. Did I misunderstand? Did I even know how to listen to Him at all?

He assured me that He loved me, that He was faithful, and that He had something even better for us.

Even better? How was it possible? How could any other house be as good as the one we designed for our needs, much less better than?

As we pressed in to learn more about what God had planned for us and why He halted the groundbreaking for our new house, He started to make a brand new plan very clear: Our family was to move 45 miles east to Lincoln. The biggest reason? That’s where our older kids are. Asa and Eva live there. Justus and Kelsey live there. Elias just graduated from college and had plans to go in that direction. Malachi just graduated from high school and was heading to Lincoln.

We want to do life together. We want our 25-year-old to know our 1-year-old. We have a total of 11 kids now – and they are in two separate generations. If we want our kids to be siblings, we need to live close by. And someday, when we have grandchildren, we want to be available to be a part of their lives. With this many littles at home, getting away from York to Lincoln is extremely difficult. Living in the same city provides so many opportunities for us to be together compared to living even an hour away.

So, friends. The Coppingers are moving to Lincoln.

If you didn’t see that coming, rest assured that we didn’t either. But God sure did. He’s had plans for quite some time now, and He’s paved the way so beautifully. Don’t think I won’t cry my way out of this place. This has been my home and where I’ve raised several of our children. This is the town that brought our new set of children to us. Our York people are so dear to us that I can’t bear the thought of driving away.

But remember? God said He was expanding us. We aren’t losing our York people. We’re expanding to become a part of a new community with our current relationships still intact and solid.

We don’t know all of His purposes in this move. We just know that this is what we are to do. So here we go. We’re packing and selling properties and giving things away. And where exactly are we going? What house could possibly fit us all that doesn’t cost a literal million dollars?

Oh, my friends. You won’t believe what God gave us.

To Be Continued…

 

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The Day We Adopted Four Girls

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Today. Today we adopted four girls.

Obviously, I’m crying. Friends, this has been a long time coming. Typically these cases should be opened and closed within a year and a half but for some of our sweethearts, it has taken almost three years.

So yes, I’m crying now, but oh these are tears of joy. Relief. Gratitude. Overwhelm at God’s goodness.

The past 2.5 years have been rather grueling so the tears I shed then were often as I was screaming out to God for help, wisdom, patience, understanding, and rescue. He is faithful and while I haven’t enjoyed every part of this journey, I gratefully accept all that God has taught me about Himself during it.

We can trust Him. We can. We can cry out to Him and we can listen to what He tells us. We can believe Him. We can sit in the quiet with Him and not say anything because we can’t find any more words. We can grieve alongside Him and know that He will care for all that is lost. Because while there is much to be gained when we adopt, it also means that much has been lost. This is deeply felt.

But today, I rejoice. I set aside all that has hurt and all that is hard and I go all in with my feelings of JOY. Today, four little girls became Coppingers.

Would you like to meet our daughters?

This is Zakiya. We call her Kiya (key-ah). She is seven and she is a bio sibling of one of several others in our home. She is smart, helpful, and loves to chit-chat while she works with me in the kitchen. She loves animals, twirly dresses, and playing school. She is a delight to us and her beauty is overwhelming.

This is AnnaSophia. We call her Anna. She is three and is a bio sibling of several in our home. She is a little mommy, full of sweetness and independence. Hearing her sing Jesus Loves Me in her precious little voice reminds me why we’re doing what we’re doing. She brings a smile to everyone who sees her.

This is Acacia Joy. (pronounced uh-kay-shuh) She is two and a bio sibling of several in our home. She has been with us from the time she was a newborn. Matt and I chose her name because Acacia wood was used in the building of the Ark of the Covenant and the Tabernacle – which was filled with the glory of the Lord. (As a fun bonus, Matt grew up on Acacia Avenue in Fresno, so this makes her name extra special.) She is everything JOY, from her incredible belly laugh to her naturally sweet spirit and slightly ornery personality.

This is Josie Lynn. She is one and a bio sibling of several in our home. She has been with us from the time she was a newborn. Matt and I named her after both of our middle names: Joseph and Lynn. We love the story of Joseph in Genesis – how God took him from his traumatic beginning and made him something great for His purposes. This is our prayer for our Josie. She is quiet, observant, sweet, calm, and gives us her best giggles when we kiss her cheeks and neck.

We were all-boy-parents for our first 23 years. We never once regretted not having daughters, but we did wonder what they would have looked like. As it turns out, they look like this. They are beautiful, precious, and so very loved.

Thank you for celebrating with us today.

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Ways to Eat Out Without Eating Out

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Here’s how to eat out without eating out. What in the world am I talking about?

I’m talking about enjoying outings with your family that are a special treat – but that don’t cost much and offer a fun variety to restaurant outings.

I’m not completely opposed to restaurants, but for our family right now, they simply do not work. Why?

Why Our Family Doesn’t Go to Restaurants Right Now

  1. Because we have so many kids (11 plus two daughters-in-law) and many of them are very small. Taking seven kids under age nine to a restaurant sounds the opposite of a treat to me. Oy.
  2. Because feeding 15 people at a restaurant costs much more than we want to spend.

Therefore, Matt and I have gotten creative as we find ways to give our kids outings without spending money beyond what we are already spending for regular groceries. Here are some of the ideas we’ve tried. I’d love to hear yours too!

1. Take Food to the Park

This one is a no-brainer that you didn’t need me to share as “go on a picnic” isn’t a brand-new idea. BUT, it is worth sharing because we’ve relied on this over and over as a great way to have outings with all 15 of us! And we’ve become creative with the food we enjoy at picnic tables together. Think wayyyyy beyond the sandwich!!

Here are some food ideas we’ve enjoyed in various parks:

2. Take Food to Outdoor Games

I always pack our dinner when we go to Malachi’s spring soccer games. Here’s a picture of our kids eating hot hamburgers that I made at home and packed for them to eat on a blanket. :) As an added bonus, this keeps them occupied for a while so that I can actually watch the game. Sort of. ;) Here are some other great foods that work well to pack and take to games.

3. “Splurge” on a Costco or Sam’s Meal

This is the only way our family can “eat out” for around $35! I usually grab a bunch of hotdogs and a pizza and all 15 of us can get full for a very reasonable price. The kids love it when we do this!

4. Find a Grocery Store with a Seating Area

Find a grocery store that has a section of booths and tables. Typically they have prepared food to purchase there, so take advantage of that if you want. Otherwise, grab a cart and run through the store and grab any variety of:

  • Sandwich or wrap fixings (even just a loaf of bread and a jar of jelly and peanut butter)
  • Carrots and other veggies with dips
  • Fresh berries, cut melon, grapes, or oranges
  • Chips and dips
  • Fun drinks
  • Yogurt or applesauce pouches

Then go through check-out, and sit down in your booths and eat!

Our littles had so much fun the last time we did this, and our older kids enjoyed it too (grabbing some prepared sushi!).

5. Play Restaurant at Home

This idea is only fun for littler kids, but it’s worth a mention! My 9 and 7-year-olds enjoy coming into the kitchen at dinnertime and ordering “tonight’s special.” I tell them what their cost is (usually something ridiculous like $1,000), they put their fake, invisible money on the counter, and they grab their plate. Somehow dinner tastes better this way. :) :) :)

Bonus Idea:

Eat at the shopping mall food court. But take your own food.

I felt weird about this at first but tried it anyway on a day we were going to be shopping with most of our family. It was too cold to take our food to a park to eat, so we just sat down at the food court where we were shopping, passed around the food, and it was all just fine!

What are some of your “ways to eat out without eating out” ideas?

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