Heavenly Homemakers

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Big Family Food and Fun: April 12-18, 2026

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: April 12-18, 2026 post!

We enjoy a Sabbath rest from Saturday evening through Sunday evening – so I turn off my computer on Saturday afternoons and miss posting some of these pictures. I’ll catch up on our last Saturday activities before launching into our new week!

April 11

Eva was out of state visiting a friend, so Asa and Arrow spent a good part of Saturday with us! This was a rare delight, and we loved it. While Arrow napped that afternoon, the guys set up frisbee golf in our yard.

Keith had a soccer game that afternoon. It had rained a lot so everyone got very muddy – soccer players and siblings alike. :)

Sam’s is close to our game location, so Matt dropped me off at the store while he drove to get gas. I only needed salad kits for Sunday Lunch, but I couldn’t not check for meat markdowns. Ground beef discounts for the win!

Remember the BBQ Chicken legs I’d made last week? After that meal, in order to make the leftovers easier, I had pulled all the meat off the bones. Before we left for Keith’s soccer game on Saturday, I had put that chicken into a crock pot to warm up for our dinner when we got home. We had lots of leftover odds and ends – potatoes, green beans, corn, and baked beans. So we rewarmed those plus I buttered and toasted some rolls. We all got full and we had a cleaned out fridge after this meal!

Big Family Food and Fun: April 12-18, 2026

On Sunday, we had planned for several families to join us for lunch after church. But a few of them had big needs come up so they had to cancel coming over. We missed them and prayed for them while enjoying lunch with the Laws family who were still able to come be with us that day.

I had made two huge pans of pasta – one of Cheesy Spaghetti Bake and one of Italian Cream Cheese Chicken Pasta. Even with just 21 of us compared to the 35ish I was planning for, we made pretty big dents in the pans!

I’m so thankful for these friendships and time spent together. After lunch, Matt and I got to enjoy Community Group time spent in life-sharing and prayer.

That evening, I baked four Frozen Pizzas and we ate/played outside.

We visited with neighbors throughout the evening, then took a short walk to end our night before getting ready for bed.

On Monday morning, Emma came over to help with kids. I headed out to grocery shop. My first stop was Sam’s, and I filled the cart!

I grabbed a few things at Wal-Mart, then headed to Aldi. I didn’t find many exciting meat markdowns or deals there that day. But I did get some food for our Little Free Pantry along with the granola, milk, greens, sausage, and fruit/veggie pouches we needed.

Dinner that night was a big skillet full of Taco Rice Dinner. Throughout the night, I cut up 6-pounds of strawberries and made four batches of Strawberry Parfait. We all love this stuff and get pretty excited when strawberries are on sale!

We spent the evening outside playing, even though it was actually quite hot outside.

Kiya experimented with making “lotion” with coconut oil mixed with the inside of some pods that fell from our tree. They smelled good to her, and Matt helped her look it up on his phone to see if they were good for skin. Turns out, there were instructions for what do to, so she and I got to work on her lotion idea! We’ll see what happens. :)

The highlight of the evening – Malachi got home in his “new” car! We were all so excited to check it out!

Tuesday we had ABA therapy all morning, attachment therapy, plus Hopelyn came over. The weather was beautiful so we were outside as much as possible.

I was able to take Brayden, Kiya, and Keith to our weekly Food Distribution that day. Keith helped Brayden wash coolers and did great!

Back at home, I had slow cooked Beef Stew Meat all day. It tasted amazing along with Mashed Potatoes and Salad. The adults in our house took this meal up a notch by stirring together their meat and potatoes with bacon bits, cheese, and sour cream.

I had also slow cooked The Easiest Pulled Pork all day to prepare for a youth group family meal on Sunday. It felt good to get that done and in the freezer.

On Wednesday, I took Josie to an appointment (after canceling her ABA therapy) – only to arrive and learn that they’d sent a letter informing me that they’d rescheduled. Say what?! We were bummed, but drove back home and enjoyed more time with Arrow who had stayed behind with Pop, Acacia, and Auggie.

Dinner that night was Cheddar Jalapeno Sausages and Beef Hotdogs made on the smoker plus Veggies and Fruit. We fixed everyone’s plates then Matt and I left the kids with therapists and Elias and Malorie while we headed out for our Wednesday night date!

Hopelyn joined us Thursday, and as we’d been doing all week, we spent as much time as possible outside.

A highlight of our morning was when Acacia and Josie’s preschool teachers came to visit. They do quarterly home visits and this will be their final one as the girls head into kindergarten next year. Ms. Kristine and Ms. Rachel have been a wonderful part of these girl’s growth the past two years!

Everyone was hot, so the kids enjoyed a 100% juice pop before the preschool bus came.

After naptime, Malachi came home from his office to pack for a video job he had in Oklahoma over the weekend. Hopelyn usually prefers Lolli and Pop when she comes to our house, but Malachi has been determined to win her over. He pretended to eat her snack, made her giggle, and then…

As I walked away, she walked right into Malachi’s arms. It was soooo sweet, and a huge win for Malachi!

For dinner that night, I had made a big crock pot full of Baked Potatoes. We ate them with Bacon Bits, Peas, Cheese, Sour Cream, Butter, Salt, Salsa, and Avocado.

After we ate an early dinner, we all walked with our ABA therapists to the kids’ elementary school for a fun event!

Kiya loves animals, so I wasn’t surprised that she was eager to touch all that came out on display. But Keith and Josie are very shy around animals. When then both chose to touch the Tortoise, I was very pleasantly surprised!

On Friday morning, Matt took Acacia to her Physical Therapy and Speech sessions. Auggie and Josie were spending time at home with their ABA therapists. This freed me up to get a few things done, including making Breakfast Sandwiches for the freezer.

Some of our kids prefer a simple sausage patty on a roll, so I made a batch of these for the freezer also.

Auggie takes a couple of ten minute “work breaks” during his three hour therapy sessions. During this break, he was very grown up and helped me put some food into our Little Free Pantry. We have up to a dozen people stop by this pantry every day either helping themselves to the food they need or putting food into the pantry and fridge. It has been incredible to watch God use this space to bring our community together and meet needs. I love that our kids get to be a part of this!

After ABA therapy ended, I decided to take advantage of having only two kids at home. While Josie played in the sink “washing dishes,” I give Auggie a much needed haircut. He did great!

So handsome! (And itchy!)

Dinner that night was a mix of several odds and ends. I had one package of Ham and Cheese Sliders in the freezer that I baked. We had a few Fries and one pan worth of Chicken Strips. I made some Tomato Soup and cut up a bunch of Kiwi. And that was dinner!

My Helper of the Day, Acacia, helped me make a double batch of Honey Sweetened Peanut Butter Cups. I used to make and eat these ALL THE TIME. But I don’t think this set of kids has had them before. I think they’ll love them – but if not – I will. :)

On Saturday morning, I ate two of the Honey Sweetened Peanut Butter Cups with my early morning coffee and they kept me full until lunch! And guess where I was all morning? Brayden had been invited to join the Unified Track team at his school and he happily accepted. We are incredibly proud of him for this!! His first track meet was Saturday morning and he participated in shot put, long jump, and the 100 meter dash. He was nervous going in and all smiles going out. This is amazing for him!

The weather was cold and windy that morning, so during the track meet, Matt stayed home with the other six kids. What a guy!

Brayden and I ran to Buresh Meats after his track meet because the store was very close to the high school where we were. We got some AMAZING deals – eggs for $0.75/dozen and grass fed hamburger meat for $4.50/pound! Yes, I bought 30 dozen eggs. I couldn’t help it. I’ll share with Eva and Kelsey plus I’ll put some out in our Little Free Pantry fridge to share with our community.

Back at home, we ate leftovers for lunch, then met the Case family at Scheels for a fun Star Wars Lego Event. Everyone got to put together a little Grogu.

Listen friends, I’m proud of this. I have had Lego-loving kids my entire mom life, but I’m not sure I’ve ever actually put a set together by myself. Acacia needed help, and I was her person. I’m admittedly much more comfortable in the kitchen!! But lookie – I made Grogo!

Back at home, we got ready to leave again for Keith’s soccer game. I’ll share more about that next week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: March 1-7, 2026

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: March 1-7, 2026 post!

We enjoy a Sabbath rest from Saturday evening through Sunday evening – so I turn off my computer on Saturday afternoons and miss posting some of these pictures. I’ll catch up on our last Saturday activities before launching into our new week!

February 28

We’d gone to a Husker Women’s Basketball game Saturday afternoon, and came home hungry. We warmed up leftovers for dinner plus I sliced some oranges for everyone.

We did some cleaning to get ready for a new week. Daddy had to take apart the vacuum to clean out all the long hairs that had wrapped around it. How about that? We have a LOT of long hair in our house now. :)

Big Family Food and Fun: March 1-7, 2026

We ate a plate full of Breakfast Cookie Bars as we got ready for church on Sunday morning. I had been feeling pretty worn out from several weeks of sickness traveling through the house plus all the new therapies we’d started. But we didn’t want to cancel Sunday Lunch because it’s such a fulfilling time for us. So we decided to take advantage of a pizza deal we found online. Families who joined us pitched in on the cost and we had a super chill, restful Sunday Lunch.

The girls set up a small table with a picnic in the hallway that afternoon. This is both very sweet and also slightly rebellious because they aren’t allowed to eat outside the dining room or kitchen. ;)

Matt and I enjoyed Community Group time that afternoon. For dinner, we ate our way through a crock pot full of Ham and Potato Soup that I’d made that morning. It was so nice to be able to feed all of us that evening without doing any work! This soup is so easy!

The kids set up a stage in the living room and rehearsed a play and with some music. Here’s Brayden directing Jesus Loves Me while the three littlest kids magically cooperated. It was VERY SWEET.

As the kids played, I made a big batch of Chewy Granola Bars for the upcoming week.

On Monday morning, we finished last week’s Easy Chocolate Protein Mousse leftovers with our Eggs in a Nest breakfast.

Emma came that morning to help out, plus we had ABA therapists join the crew – all at 8:00. That’s a pretty crazy time of our day as we get school kids ready and out the door and other kids ready for therapies. I always feel a bit frazzled as we transition here, but everyone is so gracious. Who cares if I’m still in my pajamas when people show up to our house because there hasn’t been a moment yet to head upstairs to get myself ready for the day? Oy.

With four kids headed to school and the other three settled in with therapy and Emma, I (dressed myself, aren’t you proud? and) headed out for the day. My first stop was Aldi, and I got lots of tasty fruits and meats was on sale!

Eight pounds of strawberries? Yep, when they are that good and that good of a price!

After that, I spent a lovely couple of hours at Panera sipping coffee and writing. Then I went to Costco before heading home. My goal was to get some special foods for our Spring Break outings next week! Plus I also needed the basics: greens, milk, bananas, broccoli, sausage, and more fruit. :)

Knowing I’d be gone for several hours that day, I had thawed two packages of Ham and Cheese Sliders to bake for dinner. I warmed up Tomato Soup to go with them. And of course, we had to eat those strawberries I’d bought! I cut up 4-pounds of them plus made a double batch of Cheesecake Parfait. Everyone was excited about this and it all got eaten before bedtime. :)

Our Tuesday morning was extremely full with our regular ABA therapies starting at 8, plus attachment therapy we’re doing now for two of our kids starting at 9. At the same time, I had two IEP meetings to go to at the kids’ school and a 504 meeting to work toward. Malachi helped Matt juggle everything at home while I took care of all the school meetings.

Back at home finally at 11:15, we got the girls ready for the school bus at noon. Hopelyn was here for the day and she and Auggie enjoyed playing outside after the hubbub of the morning calmed down.

I took Brayden and Kiya to our weekly Food Distribution.

We had a fridge full of food, so dinner that night was Leftovers. But I did cut up another big bowl of strawberries, this time for Chocolate Cheesecake Parfaits!

Bright and early on Wednesday morning, Acacia, Josie, and Auggie helped me make Flourless Chocolate Banana Muffins.

Arrow came to hang out that morning. We found puzzles and made farm animal sounds. Auggie kept insisting that the horse was a giraffe, and while we could see how he would come to this conclusion, Arrow kept telling him that it was, in fact, a “hos.” Hearing their conversations is beyond sweet.

We’d brought home several bags of prepped chicken from Tuesday’s Food Distribution that we needed to use up. So we warmed it for dinner that night, finished off the Chocolate Cheesecake Parfaits plus had Raspberries and Baked Beans.

Suddenly all of the kids are very into the game of Chess. Acacia begged for a game before bed and all the kids gathered ’round.

Hopelyn came over on Thursday morning. She spent a lot of the day shopping…

Auggie had a visit from a special education teacher from Early Development Network. He has made so much progress and it was so great to have so many positive things to report.

For dinner that night, I made Spaghetti with Broccoli. It was a simple meal because Matt and I were trying to sneak off for our weekly date. Several kids had major meltdowns before we left so it was difficult to get out the door. Malachi took over with the final fighting kiddo and we left, hoping for the best. (Everyone did fairly well while we were gone. Elias reported that truly everyone was pretty calm while we were gone, yet as soon as we walked back into the house, the screaming started up again. Ugh.)

Either way, we had some needed down time at Panera while we were gone. Silly as it was, we took Matt’s laptop so we could work on our taxes. This isn’t the most fun way to use our time alone, but this had to be done and there hasn’t been another moment to do it. So taxes by the fire sipping drinks…this was our date. :)

Friday morning, I made French Toast for the kids to grab and eat for breakfast. (No syrup needed because I used Cinnamon Bread, making this a grab and eat food!) I was in the middle of making these Smoothies that morning also.

During breakfast, I put together a huge Lasagna to freeze for an upcoming youth group event.

Acacia had an hour of Physical Therapy and an hour of Speech Therapy that morning. She’s meeting some of her goals which is very exciting!

Late morning, our friends, Paula and Randy, dropped off a huge load of pantry items for our Little Free Pantry. Auggie had a very good time helping me put everything away.

The little girls didn’t have preschool that afternoon, so they got to go with us to an assembly at the elementary school.

Keith was honored to receive the Responsible Award AND an award from the Music/PE/Art teachers. He was so proud – and so were we!

After the assembly, we got to have popcorn and take pictures in the hallway!

I made a very simple dinner that night of “Nacho Tots” with taco meat, cheese, salsa, and guac to put over tator tots.

That night, I made a huge roaster full of Smothered Pork Chops for our upcoming Sunday Lunch. I’m in the middle of writing this recipe to share with all of you soon!

We taught the kids to play Skipbo that night. I used to play this with our older boys a lot so playing this brought back great memories!

On Saturday mornings, we let the kids watch a couple of shows when they get up. So this allows me to get a little bit of kitchen work done in preparation for our weekend and upcoming week. This Saturday, I made a double recipe of Flourless Brownie Muffins, a batch of Crustless Cheesecake, and a double recipe of Breakfast Cookie Bars.

We got ready after that and headed to the library for Sensory Storytime. Kelsey and Hopelyn met us there!

After that, we took the kids to a free event at the International Quilt Museum. Some of the kids handled this fine and some of them didn’t, which is par for the course. We went home and ate leftovers for lunch, did some cleaning, played outside, and gave haircuts to the boys. And that was our week!

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The Best Parts of Life that Help Me Feel Human

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The last post I wrote while sitting with an ugly cry right on the surface. This one? I’m writing with a smile. How great that God always provides joy in the midst of struggle! There are always, always good things happening when we are looking for God’s power at work.

So first, do I not always feel like a human?

Indeed, I do not. I definitely feel the struggles of the flesh that distract me from a life of peace. But mostly? I often feel like a very worn out caretaker.

But!! There are many moments of each day that pull me out of the heaviness to remind me who I am and that life is full of goodness! It felt sweet to think through all of these moments and to write about them here.

The Best Parts of Life that Help Me Feel Human

1. Our Grandbabies

These are top of the list. At our house, we are almost always knee deep in our own kids’ poop, snot, screams, and tantrums – and I often feel desperate for a kid break. But when a grandbaby shows up? GIMME. I don’t even care if they come with poop and snot.

I can’t explain this. There’s something different about loving on the grandbabies – quite possibly because I am not the one fully in charge of them like I am our own kids. I simply get to squeeze, kiss, play with, and delight in them. And such a delight they are!

We are “Lolli” and “Pop” and do you know the best thing in the world? Seeing those babies’ faces light up and hearing them say “Yah-yee!” (Lolli is hard to say) and “Pop!” (Pop is easy) as they run toward us. It’s the sweetest thing in the world – I believe made sweeter because we are so knee deep in tantrums at our house. Everything sweet is sweeter for us because the hard at our house is so hard. Grandbaby sweetness tops the list.

2. Family Gatherings

Praise God – at this time, all 11 of our kids and their families live in Lincoln. I don’t take this for granted but instead appreciate every moment we have as a family doing life together in the same city.

Our grown kids have beautiful schedules full of all kinds of awesome endeavors be it work, friends, ministries, or activities. So when the stars align and we are able to gather together for a meal and maybe even a couple hours of gaming? Oh man. It’s the best!

Extra special: Being a bystander as our four older boys share inside jokes as they relive their childhood, throw shade about the variety of different soccer teams they each claim to be the best, or laugh together because they are all super hilarious people. This is all such a treasure to me.

In general, seeing our first four kids all grown up gives me so much joy and hope for the future of our young ones. It’s HARD WORK raising kids. But I see my adult kids and recognize so many ways that God was at work in their training and how He is still at work in their lives. If I can hold on to this truth – the truth that it isn’t up to me to ensure that our kids grow up to be awesome but that I can surrender them to God’s work for their good? I know it will all be ok. Being with my older kids reminds me of this.

3. Hosting Sunday Lunches

It’s a bit challenging to explain how hosting a big gathering in our home for 25-50 people every Sunday after church is life-giving for us. Isn’t it a lot of work? Isn’t it draining? Doesn’t it make a mess? Well sure, I guess.

It does take work – but not much more than it takes to feed 14 of us every day anyway. The work it takes to make one huge casserole compared to the work it takes to make two huge casseroles? Not harder. It’s just a doubled (or quadrupled) recipe.

And having extras in our house to play with our kids, help fix our kids’ plates, support and love our kids as they form relationships with them? The best gift! Most of our friends have no idea how good they are to our kids, but here they are being great, Sunday after Sunday.

Meanwhile, Matt and I get our cups filled up with precious adult conversation. We actually get to sit and eat our food. We watch as relationships deepen and community grows through interaction and sharing life with so many people that show up to these lunches.

And I don’t know if you knew this about me or not, but…I love feeding people. Our seven younger kids are beyond picky with their struggling neurodivergent brains and the taste buds this has affected. But our guests? They go through the food buffet line and not one person yells at me or throws food. Instead, they fill their plates and delight in the dishes. This feels so satisfying to me and brings such joy.

4. Sundays in general

While Sunday Lunches are awesome, the before and after are just as sweet. Worship on Sunday mornings is always fulfilling. Sometimes I cry all the way through it, usually from relief and joy, because of how good God is. I love Sunday worship and the fellowship with our people at Heartlands.

And after worship and lunch? We send the kids downstairs to watch a movie (a special privilege they look forward to!) while Matt and I enjoy time with other couples for our weekly Community Group. This is so life-giving. With all of this, Sundays are incredibly full and rich.

5. Going to our weekly Food Distribution

This one is harder to explain, because I am still parenting while there, taking 2-3 kids with me to help teach them to serve. But I think I enjoy this so much for several reasons. One, there’s food involved, so this is another form of feeding people that makes me happy. Watching 100ish people walk through the food line being provided with free groceries each week is such a delight to me.

Two, serving here takes me outside my own head every week for two hours. I’m there for others, I’m not pulled in a million different directions during that time like I normally am at home, and I can serve in ways that match my giftedness. Even vacuuming to clean up at the end of the session is life-giving to me. I like to work hard and to feel productive about it.

Three, I’m becoming friends with people that we see there each week. Even if we don’t speak the same language, we share familiar smiles, kindness, and care. It’s beyond awesome.

And four? Well, being there reminds me of different ways we taught our four older boys to serve when they were growing up. This feels normal to me – like a real life way we can help our kids learn to care about and serve others. So much of what we do with our kids now is trauma-healing. Taking them to serve at Food Net is similar to things we did with our first set of kids. It feels really good and familiar. It gives me hope.

 

6. Spending alone time with Matt

This guy and I work very hard together, doing very hard things all day long. When we have a chance to get away just the two of us and talk about something besides the kids and appointments and ABA therapy and the latest meltdowns and parenting strategies – and can instead talk about finances, our future, ministries, people we want to connect with, goals – wow. I feel human again. To feel human alongside my favorite human is a super bonus.

We currently get to sneak out of the house one evening each week to have time together while the older kids who live at our house take care of the needs of our younger seven for two and a half hours. In addition, we block out Friday afternoons to spend time together at home during Auggie’s nap. No appointments, no meetings – only together time. On nice days, we sit in the sun and drink coffee and visit. On cold days we sit inside in our sun room and drink coffee and visit. These hours are precious and life-giving, and they remind me that indeed, we are human.

7. Mondays

As much as we can make it happen, on Mondays I sneak away to spend the morning grocery shopping and then WRITING for several hours at Panera. Our friend, Emma, comes to the house to help with the kids, which makes it easier for Matt back home and frees me to get necessary shopping done for our family.

Then the time spent writing while enjoying sweet down time? Oh, I can breathe! Writing is so therapeutic for me and I don’t have much opportunity to do this during the season of life we are in. So these hours of being alone, sitting by myself, and going into my “writing zone?” Man, I love it!

8. Sitting in the Sunshine

When it’s possible, I sit for a few minutes in the sunshine during Auggie’s afternoon nap time. My nervous system needs to reset, my body needs to breathe, and the sun shining on my face is a precious reminder that His face is shining down on me to bless me and keep me. Now that the kids are a little bit older, sometimes I can even sit outside with them while they play independently nearby. It’s rare, but it’s starting to be possible. Oh sunshine. I love it!

9. Morning time with God

This one is my very favorite. But the struggle comes with having kids that get up very early, which interrupts my ability to sit in the quiet and find refreshment in the Word, and through journaling and prayer. I hurt over this sometimes. I always want more quiet time with God than I usually get now, and never feel like I get enough. Sometimes I barely stumble into the living room with my coffee and Bible before I hear little pitter patters of feet and the needs of the day press in.

So, time in the Word with Jesus is life-giving. I just don’t get much right now. Sometimes it’s two precious minutes, though everyone once in a while the stars align and I get a nice chunk of time. I am always so grateful for God’s provision on those mornings. I’m clinging to the years in which I had “quiet God time” in bulk. Back when I consistently slept through the night and got up early to dig in with Jesus for an hour and a half before starting my day. Those years prepared me for our current season, and the Truths that became my lifeline are holding me up now. God is faithful.

10. Being outside

I’ve learned that being outside is so life-giving to me! I love fresh air, sunshine (as mentioned above), walking trails, nature, getting exercise in a natural way – I love it all! Any nice-weather day, we take advantage of. It makes everyone feel better when we can be outside, and I definitely notice that I feel more alive and like myself when I can be out enjoying fresh air.

I’d love to hear from you!

What are your favorite parts of your days and weeks? What fills you? What makes you feel your best?

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Sometimes I Forget My “WHY”

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In the midst of our daily struggles, I realized that sometimes I forget my “WHY.”

Why are we doing this? How did we get here? What is even happening right now?

God was so present in the WHY. He made it so obvious that He was in this, that He was leading us to this, that He had brought us to this. And He’s still in it all now, without a doubt. It’s just different – and harder – now. Therefore, I often question what we’ve gotten ourselves into.

  • When the Egg Casserole gets smeared across the table and floor in defiance, followed by an angry cup of milk that gets thrown across the room
  • When someone strips back down to a fully naked state – right after I’ve bent over backwards to make all the accommodations to help them choose their clothes and dress for the day – because the sleeve didn’t feel right
  • When there are so many appointments to schedule and juggle that I haven’t had time to shower all week
  • When I dare to say “no” to a child’s unreasonable request and it takes 45-minutes to settle them down from their meltdown
  • When I open the yogurt “wrong” and get told “I HATE YOU!” as a result
  • When all of this happens before 8am.

That’s when I forget my “why.”

What is the WHY?

Why do we have a houseful of kids? Why is there not much quiet to be found? Why aren’t we empty-nesting? Why are we faced with so many big needs all day, every day? Why are we doing this?

I’ll tell you (and remind myself) why.

Because 10ish years ago, we asked God to show us what it means to live more fully through the power of the Holy Spirit. And we asked Him to help us understand what it really means to love our neighbor. So He did.

He showed us our neighbors that were struggling with addictions and He walked us through loving them. Then, in a special and unexpected turn of events – He asked us to raise some of their children.

We didn’t know that this is what “loving our neighbor” would look like in our context. But now our house is full, and we have to seek the Spirit’s guidance constantly.

Sweet Memories of Preparation

Back in those days so many years ago as we were digging in with God to understand how He guides His people through the power of the Holy Spirit to more fully love our neighbors, we were in our final years of homeschooling our older four boys. Elias and Malachi and I spend hours and hours reading Janet and Geoff Benge’s Christian Heroes books. In this incredible series, we read many that told about Christians who started orphanages all over the world. People who took in children to raise as their own, to protect and provide for, to care for and to love.

We loved these books – and we were so challenged and inspired by them. But we had no idea that God was using them to prepare us to essentially have an orphanage of sorts in our home some day.

Wow. George Muller. Lillian Thrasher. Amy Carmichael. So many others. These heroes launched us into our WHY and helped us learn what an open home for hurting children could look like.

And then there was Teresa of Calcutta. Mother Teresa, as most of us know her. Reading about her taught us so much more about what it can look like to love the least of these. She shared that when she looked into the eyes of the hurting, suffering, and dying – she saw the eyes of Jesus. She made us ask: How could we do this? What would that look like for us? Who were the least of these around us that could show us who Jesus is?

As it turns out, our home is now filled with three brown-eyed and four blue-eyed sweet souls who hold a lot of hurt. These are the eyes we look into to meet Jesus every day.

It’s powerful. It’s holy. It’s humbling.

This is our WHY.

I can forget all of this in the midst of a meltdown and the weariness that follows. And selfishly, I want to do life the easier way – without having to struggle so much, work so hard, and feel inadequate so often.

As if any of us are adequate. As if we can do anything in life without the help of Jesus. As if anything worth doing for the Kingdom and because of the call of Jesus is a simple matter that doesn’t truly make us die to ourselves.

As if.

So I remember my WHY. I lean into my WHY. I go all in to keep in step with the Spirit who has led us here, walks with us here, and carries us through each day.

Remembering my WHY reminds me of my WHAT: Loving these children enough to lay my life down to serve and care for them every day. And in the name of Jesus, healing will come.

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Big Family Food and Fun: February 8-14, 2026

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: February 8-14, 2026 post!

We enjoy a Sabbath rest from Saturday evening through Sunday evening – so I turn off my computer on Saturday afternoons and miss posting some of these pictures. I’ll catch up on our last Saturday activities before launching into our new week!

Saturday, February 7

We went to Storytime at the library on Saturday morning. Hopelyn and Arrow (and their mommies) met us there. How happy was this Lolli to have both of her grandbabies there?!

Keith and Acacia were excited to put on a puppet show during play time after the story time.

From the library, we headed over to Morrill Hall for a special Dinosaurs and Disasters event they were hosting. The Case family met us there to enjoy this.

We got home and ate a late lunch of Hotdogs that I’d cooked in the crock pot while we were gone. Then, two college girls from York came to spend the afternoon and evening. This was such a special time! Liz asked if she could bake Cinnamon Rolls – and who were we to argue?

Our friend, Simeon, from York had come to hang out with Malachi so that made the day even better!

I had planned to make Egg and Hashbrown Casserole, Sausage Patties, and Pancakes for dinner. But with Liz making Cinnamon Rolls, I scrapped the pancake idea and she doubled her roll recipe. Perfect!

DELICIOUS!

Big Family Food and Fun: February 8-14, 2026

Sunday was a super huge day for us. This was the final Sunday for the Nabb family – who have become dear friends to us in Lincoln and have been a major part of Heartlands since its beginnings – to be at church before they move to Texas. Their “going away party” request was to have Sunday Lunch at the Coppinger Castle, and we were all in for this. Our Community Group helped make this happen, and the entire church was invited to come send these dear ones off with all the love that we could.

Almost 100 people came for lunch after church that day, which was absolutely fantastic! Pockets of people were everywhere, kids were playing, and adults were visiting. We are so thankful for this house God gave us!

The weather was beautiful so the kids mostly played and ate outside. But this might have been one of my favorite scenes in which many of the young adult men were circled up in the yard throwing a football around.

Meanwhile, in the kitchen…

I had made two huge roasts into Pulled Pork. Trent and Robin were in charge of Rotisserie Chickens plus buns and sandwich fixings. Derrick and Stacey brought a big crock pot full of Baked Beans. Matt and Terra brought drinks. Everyone else from church was asked to bring sides and desserts. People went through the line, and kept coming, and kept coming. I forgot to take a picture of the counter that held all the buns and meat. But look at all these tasty sides!

And desserts. :)

I tried to take as many pictures as I could to capture all the faces of people who love the Nabbs so much.

The day was incredible and we praise God for it.

By Super Bowl time? I was a little bit tired and simply threw out snacks for the kids and called it dinner. :) Malachi, however, made himself a bowl of Cream Cheese Salsa Dip to take to the gathering he was going to. Cutie.

On Monday morning, I baked a pan of Nutella Oat Breakfast Bars.

We had two sick little girlies plus Emma, who usually comes and helps us with kids on Mondays, was sick too. So Matt stayed with the three preschool kids while I ran to Costco for our weekly groceries, but then I came home instead of working on my computer at Panera like I usually do.

A friend of ours had been in a serious motorcycle accident. I reached out to his mom that morning to see how we could help. We discovered that he was in the hospital just five minutes from our house. I would have driven across town for them, but how wonderful that we live so close and can therefore be more helpful! I packed up food and took it over for the family to eat while they sat at the hospital: Rotisserie chicken that I’d picked up at Costco and taken off the bone, raspberries, mandarins, rolls with butter, plus a basket of snacks. I also took over some Breakfast Sandwiches, Ham and Cheese Sliders, and Breakfast Burritos that I had in the freezer for anyone to heat up as needed. I had a most wonderful visit with our injured friend’s mom – our good friend from York. We laughed, we cried, God is good and faithful.

For dinner that night, I made a big skillet full of Last Minute Bacon Spaghetti with Steamed Broccoli.

On Tuesday morning, Anna was in a very helpful mood which we praised her for big time. She found all the clean towels and wash rags and folded them for me. :)

Kiya has been asking me to teach her to sew. We finally had a moment during our attachment therapy session together to work on mending some holes in a stuffed animal. It was a very sweet time.

Our kids had been fighting illnesses all week. Here’s Acacia, Josie, and Auggie all snuggled up with fevers watching a show.

I took Brayden and Kiya to serve at our weekly Food Distribution after school.

Matt baked Pizza Chicken Bake while we were gone and warmed up leftover Green Beans for dinner.

That night, our friend Tori texted us this sweet memory from her phone: Anna and Acacia when they were little piggy tailed babies!

On Wednesday morning, the three little sickies felt better enough to prep their Valentines for school.

Arrow came over for the morning. While he snacked, finished putting together a big batch of Breakfast Sandwiches.

The girls found our thermometer and put it in the stuffed animal’s armpit to take its temp. Thankfully, the dinosaur was fever-free.

Kiya had a volleyball game that afternoon. Brayden, Keith, and I went to go cheer her on!

For dinner that night, I stirred leftover Pulled Pork into a crock pot full of Party Potatoes. It was an amazing dinner with Steamed Peas.

On Thursday, Hopelyn came to spend a few hours with us.

I slow cooked two crock pots full of Chicken Taco Soup for dinner that night. Our Community Group came for what we called The Last Supper. The Nabbs would be pulling out of Lincoln early Saturday morning, and we all wanted to enjoy one last meal together.

The goodbyes after dinner were hard. Ugh, Sam and Keith…

And, Brayden and Luna. Those two bonded in a special way being the same age and with lots of common pieces of their past. And I can’t even talk about my goodbye with Cindy, a friend with whom I’ve connected deeply since we moved to Lincoln. We praise God for the time we’ve had with this family.

On to Friday…Anna had gotten sick and missed school and her class Valentine party. Her teacher was sweet to send her valentines home with me when I picked the other kids up from school.

I got ready for Sunday Lunch that day, making a huge roaster full of Italian Cream Cheese Chicken for Pasta to celebrate Justus’ birthday.

We had a very simple dinner of Chicken Bites, Mac and Cheese, and Peas.

Matt stayed home with the sick kids and I took the other five to church for a special Dance Your Heart Out evening. It was so sweet and fun!

Saturday, I baked a double batch of Butterscotch Bars for Sunday Lunch dessert – Justus’ birthday dessert request.

Anna and Auggie still needed to stay home that day, and Brayden and Kiya opted to stay home too. So I took Keith, Acacia, and Josie to the library.

I planned to share about that, but I barely made it home from the library before realizing that it was my turn to get sick. I truly went from fine to not fine in about five minutes. Fever of 102 sent me to bed and I slept for hours. And that was our week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: January 11-17, 2026

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: January 11-17, 2026 post!

We enjoy a Sabbath rest from Saturday evening through Sunday evening – so I turn off my computer on Saturday afternoons and miss posting some of these pictures. I’ll catch up on our last Saturday activities before launching into our new week!

Saturday, January 10

On Saturday afternoon after Auggie’s nap, we took the kids down the road to the Irving Rec Center to run around and play before dinner.

Brayden has been feeling awkward during P.E. class, so I worked on teaching him to shoot a basketball. Learning is hard for this guy, but he kept on trying and trying until a few things started to click. He was very proud to make several baskets before it was time to leave!

Before we left for the gym, I had made 24 hamburger patties, knowing that we’d be hungry when we got home. We rewarmed them, plus warmed up some bacon and got out burger fixing’s when we got home. As much as we’d hoped that getting some energy out at the gym would help our night go more smoothly, it was not to be. There were lots of fights that evening as we ate dinner, got baths, and went to bed. So much for a restful Sabbath evening. But at least we tried. :)

Big Family Food and Fun: January 11-17, 2026

Sunday was a fresh new day, and everyone woke up in a calmer state than they’d gone to bed. We had a plate of Breakfast Cookies ready to eat while we got ready for church.

There was a special Kid’s Event after worship, with a potluck meal and game time.

After everyone ate together, the games were brought out.

Our friend, Christina, got this super fun shot of Brayden and Clara featuring their sweet friendship during a game they were playing together.

We came home and enjoyed our Community Group. Then it was Birthday Dinner time! Anna turned six and her meal request was Mac and Cheese. I made Chicken Nuggets and got out some leftover sliced Apples to round out the meal.

Here’s our birthday girl!

Anna opened a fluffy, twirly dress and a princess puzzle during present time.

Then our sweet neighbor brought over a pretty flower and card for her. My favorite part of this is how Leisa spoke Jesus’ truth into Anna as she delivered this birthday gift.

Anna was anxious to put her new puzzle together, so Daddy got the other kids’ teeth brushed while Mommy got to help with the puzzle. It was a sweet time together, so we documented it with a six-year-old selfie.

On Monday morning, Emma came to hang out with the girls and Auggie had ABA therapy. So I left as soon as Matt took the other kids to school so that I could have several hours of respite. I grocery shopped for the first two hours. My first stop was at Aldi, and I walked in with my new found FREEDOM in not keeping track and calculating my purchases. Wow, it felt good!

Check out my huge pile of 50% off chicken breasts and thighs!! I love the red stickers. :) The markdowns gave us this meat for $1.75/pound – amazing!! I also got yogurt, oranges, bananas, Caesar salad kits, spring mix, cake mix, sausage patties, ground sausage, grapes, cherries, fruit/veggie pouches, chips, spaghetti sauce, taco shells, and I can’t remember what else because guess what? I did what I said I would do and I threw away the receipt. :)

My next stop was Wal-Mart. There were no meat markdowns that day, but I got ingredients to make some huge lasagnas plus sour cream, milk, spinach, flax seed, shredded coconut, eggs, and some cracker packs to fill up our picky eaters. I grabbed some of the cheap Valentine card kits for our kids to hand out at school next month. It felt good to have those purchased and ready to fill out when we have time.

It was a beautiful day so next, I decided to drive to a shopping center I rarely venture to. I walked around Trader Joe’s with no agenda, enjoying the slow pace and fun food. I picked up a bag of Josie’s Mandarins – because how could I not?? (Bonus: mandarins are our Josie’s favorite fruit!) The yogurt cups looked good and Brayden loves these hashbrowns. So that was my Trader Joe’s “splurge.”

I wandered over to Old Navy next and found some great sweaters on clearance. I loved how this fit, so I went back and found two more in different colors! It felt soooo good to shop slowly with a restful spirit.

I headed to Panera after that and took advantage of my Sip Club membership and their wifi. I wrote for two hours before heading home as a “new woman.” (Matt told me he didn’t want a new woman, but he was glad I rested and felt refreshed when I got home, ha.)

Earlier that morning before I left for the day, I had put Salsa Chicken into a crock pot to cook for dinner. When I got home, just before we left to pick up kids from school, I threw together a pan of Stick of Butter Rice and baked it. At dinnertime, we enjoyed a full Chicken Taco Buffet with chicken, rice, black beans, salsa, cheese, sour cream, corn, spinach, avocado, chips, tortillas, and cilantro. This meal works great for our family because everyone can eat whichever part of the buffet they like – even if it’s just a tortilla with cheese.

That night, I put another round of Salsa Chicken into a crock pot. On Tuesday morning, I shredded it and bagged to to freeze for our upcoming Sunday Lunch.

Auggie had a great ABA therapy session that morning. Daddy spent some time playing a game with Acacia and Josie.

Little Sweetheart spent the day with us. She loves helping get the girls’ coats and backpacks ready for bus time.

After school that afternoon, Brayden, Kiya, and I went to at our weekly Food Distribution. There was a huge long line of people served that day!

We were sent home that day with a full box of small packets of sliced apples. (There had been four cases to give away, and clients were given all they could take, and that still left us with an entire box!) The apples were frozen, but the kids still had fun munching on them. I told them they could eat as many as they wanted!

At bedtime that night, the little girls all “needed” their robes. They looked like mini mommies (not that I ever wear a robe, but still).

On Wednesday morning, I baked a batch of Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins. Wait. Didn’t I just bake a batch of these last week? Yes. We fly through these muffins so we already needed more!

We’d brought home several varieties of breads and buns home from Tuesday’s food distribution. So I used some to make a few Breakfast Sandwiches to have on hand.

Arrow came to spend the morning with us. He toddled around wherever we were, and he helped Lolli reorganize her pantry.

All those frozen apple slices from Tuesday night had turned to mush in our fridge on Wednesday. I did what I could to salvage as many of them as possible. I made a big Apple Pie and three loaves of Apple Bread.

For dinner that night, we enjoyed several bags of Chicken that we’d brought home from food distribution the day before. Matt made a salad, I buttered and toasted some buns, and we set out fruit.

Then, Matt and I ducked out for a DATE!

As part of my need for a time of Recovery, I’ve prayed about ways Matt and I could have some regular down time together. We’ve now worked out a plan (that is a work in progress) with Elias, Malorie, and Malachi to give us Wednesday evenings off. We got the kids fed and the ABA therapy kiddos settled in with their RBTs. Then the grown-up kids took over with the little kids while we headed out!

We have a Panera Sip Club membership, so we used our two and a half hours of down time sitting with a Lime Bubbly, having FULL CONVERSATIONS. It was so awesome, and as of right now, we get to do it again next week and the week after that. Here’s a little shot of our time together in which we were finally watching a podcast episode we were in at Asa’s work at Back to the Bible. These were recorded in November, aired in December, and we never had found time to actually watch them mid-January!

On Thursday morning, Josie helped me with a Nutella Oat Breakfast Bar experiment.

The results? Oh so good. Watch for a recipe soon!

We also threw a double batch of Breakfast Cookie Bars into the oven for the next two Sunday breakfasts.

Mid-morning, I put all the needed ingredients for Taco Soup into a crock pot for our dinner that night.

Charlene, my great friend from York, came for the afternoon and we talked non-stop until time to go pick up kids from school. Matt walked all the kids home by himself while I stayed at the school so that I could attend three parent-teacher conferences. Kelsey showed up at our house to pick up Little Sweetheart and stayed a nice long while helping with kids until I got home.

On Friday morning, Acacia was my Helper of the Day and was excited to do any task I would assign her. She helped me put together two pans full of Crunchy Ranch Chicken for our dinner that night.

Matt stayed home that morning with Josie and Auggie to navigate Auggie’s ABA therapy plus a visit with our Early Childhood Network team that checks in on Auggie’s needs frequently. Meanwhile, I took Acacia to Physical Therapy and Speech Therapy.

We baked our Crunchy Ranch Chicken for dinner that evening plus had Steamed Broccoli, Sliced Oranges, and Buttered Rolls.

Brayden had been asking for several days to make his “banana whip thing” that apparently he’d made with me back when we lived in York. I only had a vague recollection of his “recipe” but on Friday evening, we were finally able to spend some time experimenting. He put five overripe bananas into our blender and measured some cream. We added just a bit of sugar, then he blended it.

The result was a rich Banana Shake that he was so proud to share with his siblings!

On Saturday morning, I made a big pan of Fudge Brownies for Elias’ birthday the next day. I put a bunch of hotdogs into a crock pot to cook for our lunch, then we loaded everyone up and headed out for the morning.

First we went to the Sensory Friendly Story Time. I love that we are making lots of friends there. Most of the parents we meet with each week are also there with their special needs kids. So we are able to visit with each other with a kind understanding of what our kids are going through.

After the library, we went to the Children’s Museum. Asa and Eva met us there with Arrow and Kelsey came with Little Sweetheart. This Lolli LOVED the sweetness of this time together!

All of the features of the Children’s Museum are great. But seeing our kids in aprons and hats pretending to work at Runza is THE CUTEST!!!

I ran out of time to share more about our day at this point, so I’ll finish telling you about our Saturday fun next week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: January 4-10, 2026

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: January 4-10, 2026 post!

We enjoy a Sabbath rest from Saturday evening through Sunday evening – so I turn off my computer on Saturday afternoons and miss posting some of these pictures. I’ll catch up on our last Saturday activities before launching into our new week!

Saturday, January 3

For dinner on Saturday evening, I’d made a huge pot of Beef Stew with some stew meat I’d picked up marked down at Sam’s that week. The kids didn’t eat it very well, but we grown ups enjoyed it. :)

The evening was uneventful, filled with bath time and the normal mayhem. I did manage to finally cut and individually wrap the Flourless Peanut Butter Brownies that I’d baked the day before. Having these ready to pack in school lunches was my main goal for them.

Big Family Food and Fun: January 4-10, 2026

On Sunday morning after worship, Josie and Auggie helped Matt fill a tote of pantry items to bring home and fill our Little Free Pantry.

Our lunch gathering after church was a huge delight, as usual. Our friend Steve walked in a case of Root Beer to share – and it didn’t take much arm twisting at the mention of Root Beer Floats for him to run right out to the store to pick up ice cream so that we could add Floats to our dessert bar. He was back with “the goods” right as we were getting ready to serve lunch: Ham and Cheese Sliders, Tomato Soup, Fruit, and Potatoes.

I’d put together six foil 12-packs of Sliders to warm in the oven – so 72 Sliders altogether. At the end of our meal? Exactly one slider remained. I guess this meal was a hit!

There were 25 of us gathered that day, with so much joy in our conversation and fellowship.

Matt and I sent the kids downstairs to watch a movie with Elias, Malorie, and Malachi during the afternoon while we enjoyed time with three other couples during our Community Group. For dinner that night, I put a box of Taquitos into the oven, warmed up White Queso, and served up Grapes. Easy and fun!

In an effort to get ahead for our launch into a new school semester after a long break, I made a big batch of Breakfast Burritos.

On Monday morning, Emma came to help with the non-school kids, Auggie had ABA therapy, and guess what I got to do? I ducked out for the entire day for some time of Recovery. First stop: a massage. I’ve been holding onto this certificate from my sweet daughters since August.

My friend Terra is amazing if you happen to be in Lincoln and want a healing massage. I was so relaxed after this that I wasn’t sure it was safe for me to drive, ha. But, drive I did – all the way to Panera where I sipped (well, a ton of water at first to get the most out of my massage and then…) coffee. I had my laptop and spent two blissful hours writing.

I ended my time away from home with a run into Costco to get a couple of things. This is what “a couple of things” looks like for our household…

Back at home, Matt and I took Auggie in the stroller for a walk to pick up the school kids. Mayhem and meltdowns began immediately, then ABA therapy, then dinner. I’d thrown BBQ Sauce on Chicken in the crock pot early that morning, then I made Green Beans and Buttered Rolls to go with it.

As the kids were finishing their meal, I decided to make Cheesecake Parfait to go with the Strawberries I’d picked up at Costco. We went through one two-pound round of strawberries very quickly and I got my blender back out and made another batch of parfait. Four pounds of strawberries later, I’d say this was a huge hit with everyone that night!

On Tuesday morning, Little Sweetheart came over to spend the day. We did some hair styling then played in the container of hair ties – which are very, very fun to throw all over the place.

That afternoon, I took Brayden, Kiya, and Keith to serve at our weekly Food Distribution. They all did well this week, and it was great to see over 100 people go through the food line.

Back at home, Matt finished the dinner I’d started: Leftover BBQ Chicken turned into Meat and Cheese Melts with leftover Veggies.

On Wednesday morning, I baked a batch of Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins.

Arrow came and spent the morning, making a batch of his own muffins in our play kitchen.

Somewhere in there, Josie helped me make Party Potatoes to slow cook for our dinner that night.

It was gorgeous outside, so I grilled Steak and Pork Ribs out on our smoker. IN JANUARY. What a treat!

Before bed that night, Brayden and Auggie helped me put together a large Cheeseburger Casserole for our Thursday night dinner.

On Thursday morning, after we got the kids off to school and settled Auggie in with his ABA therapy, I made a new extra large batch of Granola Bars to have on hand.

All throughout the morning, I baked many pans of Bacon. I had plans to use it with our casserole that night for dinner, for a breakfast-for-dinner on Friday, and just to have bacon on hand for anyone who wanted bacon during the next few days. The grown-ups in our house like it when I have cooked bacon on hand. I also save the bacon grease to use when I make Green Beans.

On my last round of bacon, I put two pans of Spinach Cupcakes into the oven to bake for a snack that night. I felt very relieved after all of this time in the kitchen because now I had a lot of good food items made ahead for upcoming needs!

When Malachi got home from work, Auggie helped him warm up and make a cup of coffee. There’s no way Malachi could have done this without the help of his three-year-old brother.

We enjoyed our Cheeseburger Casserole that night with Bacon for those who wanted to add it, Buttered Corn, and Spinach Cupcakes.

Keith took a break from his ABA therapy that night to make rice with Elias. I love how our younger kids love to be a part of life with their older brothers. And I love how the older kids include their younger siblings in their tasks.

On Friday morning, Daddy took Acacia to Speech Therapy. But first, this Helper of the Day helped me make Banana Bread with all of the bananas I’d been holding onto in the freezer.

We quickly ate our way through one loaf of Banana Bread, but I froze the other two loaves for later.

Dinner that night was a HUGE hit with everyone. I made a mountain of French Toast, 20+ Sausage Patties, and warmed up a large amount of Bacon from what I’d baked the day before. We got out Applesauce and Blueberries and feasted on dinner for breakfast. Everyone ate so well that we ran out of food before all of the adults got home from work to eat. Wow.

On Saturday morning, we took the kids to our favorite Sensory-Friendly Library Storytime. There’d been a break from this during the holidays, so we were very excited to go back! The theme for the day was SNOW, so we got to enjoy snowflakes made of felt, books and songs about snow, and then…

…we got to have a snowball fight!

Ms. Diane is incredible at putting this weekly program together!

Matt helped me load up the kids in the library parking lot, then he left in a different vehicle to drive to Heartlands to support our friends during their mom’s funeral service. I was on my own at home with all seven kids for a couple of hours, which is rare! We planned that we would let them watch a movie to help me survive the time. It all went well, and everyone did ok overall!

Part way through the movie, our friend Paula showed up with a car full of groceries for us to put into our Little Free Pantry. Their church group has been awesome to take part in this ministry with us! We paused our movie so that all seven kids could help bring in food.

It overtook our pantry floor – a great problem to have! So many people will be blessed by this food!

I needed to turn off my computer at this point, so I’ll continue sharing about our Saturday next week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: December 28-January 3, 2026

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: December 28-January 3, 2026 post!

We enjoy a Sabbath rest from Saturday evening through Sunday evening – so I turn off my computer on Saturday afternoons and miss posting some of these pictures. I’ll catch up on our last Saturday activities before launching into our new week!

Saturday, December 27

Saturday afternoon, Asa, Eva, and Arrow came over to hang out. Eva brought her camera and was amazing to spend time taking an photo of each of the younger kids so that we can update our picture wall. It was almost comical how complicated it was to get Josie to stand still and look at the camera. Her autistic traits showed up during this shoot, for sure. She was very sweet about it though, and Eva was very patient. :)

I made a simple dinner of Mac and Cheese and Peas that night. We warmed up leftover Taco Meat to stir into the Mac and Cheese for those who wanted some.

We were out of muffins, so I solved that near tragedy by baking a batch of Flourless Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins. After Asa’s family headed home and we’d given the kids baths, we loaded up in our jammies to drive around and look at more Christmas lights.

Big Family Food and Fun: December 28-January 3, 2026

Sunday morning, we ate through half of a large pan of Breakfast Cookie Bars.

It started to blizzard as church was letting out. Whoa. Several friends were still able to make their way to our house for lunch, and we were so grateful for all who gathered.

I made a full crock pot of White Chicken Chili. Friends brought bread and fruit. Then for dessert, we ate through some Christmas treats others had gifted us. It was a simple and delicious feast.

Even with the blizzard, 24 of us were able to gather and enjoy time together that day.

We introduced our friends to our “new” Air Hockey Table. This is one of the reasons we bought this table – to enjoy it with friends who came over.

The kids broke out their new puzzles and worked together on those.

Here’s what the crock pot looked like at the end of our time together. Empty food containers make me happy. They tell me that everyone was well fed and that our fellowship was sweet.

Matt and I enjoyed Community Group time that afternoon. Then the girls helped me bake some cookies from mixes they received for Christmas.

For dinner, I baked some Mini Pizzas that I’d picked up on sale at Costco.

Then we loaded up most of the kids and headed out to look at more Christmas lights. Kiya stayed home with Malachi because she was sick. And another kid had had a major fighting meltdown and lost the privilege of going out with us. :( Malachi was so good to help us with the follow-through on this. All kids were calm by the time we made it home.

On Monday morning, Auggie had ABA therapy and everyone else played.

It was Brayden’s and Auggie’s birthday that day! Keith was my special helper of the day, so he helped me make an Ice Cream Cake.

After lunch, we took down our Christmas tree to pack it away until next year.

That afternoon, I made a big batch of Granola Bars. It’s pretty important that I keep something like this on hand for Keith because when he needs to eat, HE NEEDS TO EAT.

Elias and Malorie and Justus’ family were all out of state visiting family, but Asa’s crew and Malachi were able to join us in celebrating birthdays that night.

Brayden wanted Orange Chicken for birthday dinner and he even requested Stir Fried Veggies to go with it! I made a pan of Stick of Butter Rice to stretch the meal.

This is the first year Auggie has understood what a birthday is, and it was very sweet to enjoy this with him. Here’s his face when Malachi asked him to “smile with your teeth!”

I’d put twelve candles on the cake – then lit three of them for Auggie. After we sang to him and he blew out his candles, I lit all twelve and we sang for Brayden!

Present time was fun – and did I mention that ABA therapy was going on for two of the kids (including our 3-year old birthday boy) throughout this whole night? The therapists were sweet to work their programming around our birthday fun.

Brayden was excited to receive a digital clock that has weather and temperature features! One of his special interests is ALL THINGS WEATHER. So he was very excited about his gift!

On Tuesday, we took the kids to the mall to get some energy out in the play area there.

We had a pile of free Subway kids’ meal coupons that expired at the end of December, so we enjoyed the treat of eating in the mall food court!

That afternoon, I took Brayden and Keith to serve at our weekly Food Distribution. There was a ton of food to give away that day, and a lot of people came through the line to be blessed by this! Brayden’s job is to clean all the coolers as they get emptied out. Every single cooler got used so his work load was bigger. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a picture of him doing this job. But I sure was proud of his hard work that day. Keith mostly helped me hand out chicken at my table.

I’d made a large Tator Tot Casserole and a pot of Green Beans before leaving that afternoon, and Matt got everyone fed before we got home.

On Wednesday, we loaded up mid-morning to go to a gym nearby to watch Asa and some of his buddies play basketball. We weren’t sure how this would turn out because we didn’t know how much space around the gym there would be. Well. We were in for a great surprise!

First though, look at these sweet sisters admiring their biggest brother playing ball!

What we learned about this Rec Center: IT IS FREE TO THE PUBLIC. We had no idea! The gal at the desk told us that we could come within certain hours of the day to use the gym, the game room, and their collection of games and balls. Wow. This is a gold mine for us – and it’s only a mile from our house! We assumed it was like the YMCA in which people have to pay monthly fees for a membership. Nope. Free to the public. Well, we will see you again very soon Rec Center!

We ate leftovers for lunch at home, then I baked two Pumpkin Pies for a special New Year’s Day breakfast.

We still had plenty of leftovers, so we warmed up more at dinner time as kids got hungry. I had brought home several packages of Hawaiian Rolls on Tuesday’s Food Distribution because one of our local stores had donated several cases. This was a fun score, and I spent some time Wednesday afternoon putting together six foil wrapped Ham and Cheese Slider Sandwiches for the freezer with plans to warm them for our upcoming Sunday Lunch.

I’d been sorting through some of our older puzzles in an effort to get re-organized for the new year. I discovered a set of three wooden puzzles all a mess. So we had Puzzle Challenge at the table to sort the pieces and put the puzzles together. Even Auggie had fun with this!

On Thursday morning, we ate Pumpkin Pie for breakfast, then made a batch of Cheater Cheater Pumpkin Eaters to take for a snack on an outing.

We loaded up the kids and went to Scheels, hoping to entertain them with the aquarium and play area. Unfortunately, they started scattering after two seconds of looking at fish. So we had to move on right away.

We headed to the second floor and found some cool new features (or maybe they aren’t new but we just haven’t been there for a while to discover them?!). We hit some golf balls in the putting area.

Then we took a boat ride in a pond. Ha. I wish. I actually had no idea that taking a picture there would give us that background. We were just sitting for a minute. :)

After that, we fought over who would bowl first paid two dollars and let our kids take turns bowling. What a great, cheap activity!

Then six of us went on the Ferris Wheel while Daddy hung out with the remaining crying kids. Ultimately, this was a great but hard outing as we tried to have fun with kids who often sabotage the fun we try to have. Crazy though – I think they will have good memories from this, and we only had to spend a whopping $8.00.

For dinner that night, I made two Quiche with Caesar Salad and Tator Tots.

After dinner, the kids and I did some baking. First we made some Crustless Cheesecake to have on hand for a high protein snack option.

Then we made a double recipe of Flourless Peanut Butter Brownies, also for a high protein snack option, and also for school lunches next week.

On Friday morning, I cut and individually wrapped the Flourless Peanut Butter Brownies and put them into the fridge. I made a batch of Tapioca Pudding because Brayden has been requesting it! Keith really wanted to do the stirring. So I put him in a safe spot and that kid stuck with the whisk for twenty entire minutes – amazing!

Acacia had Physical Therapy and Speech Therapy that morning. Matt held down the fort at home with Auggie and his ABA Therapy and the other five kids hanging out.

We had Spaghetti with leftover veggies for lunch, then Meatloaf, Peas, Strawberries, and Buttered Croissants for dinner. The night was filled with more ABA Therapy for Keith and Anna – then bedtime!

On Saturday, we loaded up and headed to the Children’s Museum. We spent over two hours there with friends, and we enjoyed several of the new exhibits!

That afternoon, we did some baking and cleaning to get ready for Sunday. Then we transitioned into our time of Sabbath rest. And that was our week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: December 14-20, 2025

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: December 14-20, 2025 post!

We enjoy a Sabbath rest from Saturday evening through Sunday evening – so I turn off my computer on Saturday afternoons and miss posting some of these pictures. I’ll catch up on our last Saturday activities before launching into our new week!

Saturday, December 13

Saturday morning, I was blessed to sneak away to Heartlands Ladies’ Christmas Brunch. Justus and Asa and their babies came to our house to help Matt with our kids and I hopped in with Kelsey to enjoy the morning.

Asa and Arrow hung out a while in the afternoon, watching a little soccer and playing.

The little girls needed an activity to do during Auggie’s nap, so I got out Christmas paper, scissors, and glue. They cut and cut and cut, then glued it all together. This made a big mess but kept them occupied for a nice fifteen minute stretch. Look at Acacia’s hair, courtesy of Malorie!

We had our Sabbath dessert before dinner that day, mostly because I needed another activity to fill our afternoon. We had made Christmas cookies a few days prior, so today they got to frost, sprinkle, and eat one!

It was a big day for Auggie as he got to help Daddy take apart his crib. He’d been transitioning to a mattress on the floor, had mastered sleeping there, so today was crib graduation day.

For dinner, I made a million Quesadillas – some with leftover Salsa Chicken and some with just cheese. This is all that was left at the end of the evening.

Big Family Food and Fun: December 14-20, 2025

Sunday morning, we ate Breakfast Cookie Bars – but they were very dry. I’d run out of my Azure Standard whole wheat pastry flour that I love so much and had used regular whole wheat flour from the store. This did not offer the same baking results. Thankfully, I have more Azure flour ordered and on its way!

We were so glad to host Sunday Lunch after church since we’d had to cancel last week!

I made a huge pot of Cheeseburger Potato Soup, which was this recipe with hamburger instead of ham.

For dessert, I set out Peppernut Cookies (made into actual cookies instead of tiny bites) and Cream Cheese Cut Out Cookies.

There were 29 of us gathered that day.

This was one of my favorite scenes of the afternoon: Sam (age 18, bless his heart) joining Keith and Bonus Buddy in some football tackles in the living room. Sam is SO GOOD to love on Keith in this way.

Matt and I enjoyed Community Group time that afternoon. Afterward, we realized that the Huskers were playing volleyball and the game was tight. So we managed to pull it up on our TV to watch the intense ending.

Brayden had a youth group Christmas party that night, and the rest of us made Frozen Pizzas for dinner. I loved this sweet scene in which we were handing out pizza slices while Elias and Malorie worked on cooking and prepping lunches for their upcoming work week.

After dinner, I gathered the kids to help make goodie bags to add to our Little Free Pantry. We added a microwavable popcorn, a package of cookies, and a chocolate to each bag.

Monday morning, Auggie had ABA therapy and Emma came to hang out with Acacia and Josie. I took advantage of this break to head out and grocery shop!

I was blessed to spend several hours out of the house that day. I filled one cart at Costco with non-perishables. Then I went across the street to Panera and sat with my laptop and a cup of coffee. I wrote for two entire hours at my favorite spot by the fireplace. It was so lifegiving!!

Then I went back across the street to Costco again to get all the cold food we needed. I filled this cart also, plus got a Rotisserie Chicken for our dinner that night!

As the kids got home from school, they dove into the fresh fruit I’d bought. Acacia and Josie love cherries and put on their aprons to keep their dresses from getting cherry stains.

Keith was my “helper of the day” so he made two bags of Caesar salad to go with our dinner.

We enjoyed an easy meal of Rotisserie Chicken, Salad, Rolls, and Cherries that evening.

I’d picked up three 8-packs of high quality festive kitchen towels at Costco on clearance for $8.00 each – score! That evening, Brayden and Kiya helped me roll them and tie on a ribbon as we put together simple little Teacher Gifts, then we stuck in a candy cane. This isn’t much, but it’s practical and pretty and will allow all of our kids to give their teachers a little something as we head into winter break.

Tuesday morning, the little girls helped me make a pan of Stick of Butter Rice. My goal was to make a big batch of Burritos. The rice is the only thing that got done, but at least I became one step closer!

While Auggie had ABA therapy and Acacia and Josie played, Little Sweetheart helped me finish wrapping presents upstairs. She promised not to tell anyone what was inside their packages.

It was a beautiful day, so we played outside in the sunshine during the late morning until the school bus came.

That afternoon, I took Brayden and Kiya to our weekly Food Distribution. Back at home, Anna and Keith had ABA therapy.

After this, we transitioned quickly to get Brayden to his band concert. It was a full evening, for sure!

Wednesday morning, I baked a batch of Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins.

Since I had the oven on, I decided to quickly put 18 eggs on a cookie sheet and bake them to make Breakfast Sandwiches in an attempt to get ahead.

Keith’s teacher sent me the SWEETEST picture that afternoon. Keith knew that Acacia loves Frozen and all that is associated with Frozen. Olaf had visited his classroom, and he told his teacher, “My sister loves Olaf!” So Ms. Urbanovsky was amazing and asked Acacia and Josie’s teacher if the girls could come have a little Olaf visit. All three kids were overjoyed to have this experience together. Wow, do these kids have great teachers who go above and beyond for them!

For dinner that night, I used leftover chicken to make Chicken and Cheese Melts with Croissants. I made some with honey mustard, some with ranch, and some with barbecue. We had them with grapes, cherries, and pickles. Auggie started evening ABA therapy again that evening with a new RBT (registered behavior technician). So I needed dinner to be simple so that we could help with this transition.

Everything went extremely well that night for Auggie and his new RBT. So that freed me up to finally finish  making the Burritos I’d started making Tuesday morning.

On Thursday morning, both grandbabies were over! Of all the things we did and played together, this one was the best. The kids had turned two boxes into a train and Matt was giving Auggie a ride. Arrow and Little Sweetheart were following it around with complete delight!

I had a tub of Chili in the freezer and simply warmed it up for an easy dinner that night.

I made a quick batch of Christmas Spice Cookies to have in the freezer for the upcoming days.

Then we gathered at our living room table to put together fun and practical Sock Gifts to put into our Little Free Pantry tote. We filled them with toiletry items, candy, a pen, and an orange.

As great as all these activities were, intermixed with all of it was an extreme amount of fighting and meltdowns that left me completely exhausted and discouraged. God is faithful, we know He is in this. But I hate how hard it is so much of the time.

I was encouraged as I went to bed that night with this tasty photo of the Stir and Pour Bread Kelsey made. Isn’t it beautiful!

Friday morning, Kiya requested Eggs in a Nest. We used a snowflake cookie cutter to cut holes in our bread.

Of course, they liked eating the snowflake toast the best. :)

During the quiet of our afternoon, Matt and I brought down the wrapped presents I’d stashed away so that the kids would be excited and surprised when they got home from school.

This was the last day of school before break, so there had been holiday parties and everyone came home so happy.

Anna was so happy with her new scarf that her teachers gave her!

We loaded everyone up and headed to a high school graduation party for one of our dearest Sam. He was graduating at semester because his family is moving (sniff). We went to go celebrate him!

There was a super fun room attached to the party room and the kids had a blast the entire time we were there.

Ms. Christina tried to teach Acacia how to hold a pool stick.

All of our adult kids and grandbabies came throughout the evening too (minus Eva, who was sick, boo).

It was a great night, and took us right into bedtime!

On Saturday, we farmed out all the kids to three different wonderful families. Then all of us grown-ups met at Justus and Kelsey’s for a gift exchange and game day. As a bonus, it was Malachi’s birthday, so we celebrated him! AND, two of our nephews drove up from Kansas and joined us.

It was an amazing day, and I’ll share more about it next week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: December 7-13, 2025

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: December 7-13, 2025 post!

We enjoy a Sabbath rest from Saturday evening through Sunday evening – so I turn off my computer on Saturday afternoons and miss posting some of these pictures. I’ll catch up on our last Saturday activities before launching into our new week!

Saturday, December 6

We had a great day Saturday, starting with a 4-hour long DATE for Matt and me! Three friends from church offered to stay with the kids so we could have some time away. The kids were super excited when Mr. Trent arrived!

While we were out, Matt and I had Sip Club Coffee at Panera and took advantage of a gift card at Red Robin for lunch. Mostly, we enjoyed conversation – uninterrupted!

That evening, three families from York came for a little holiday party. We had planned to eat together and play at our house, then go look at Christmas lights around Lincoln.

I made a Nacho Bar with Chips, Seasoned Meat, Stick of Butter Rice, Tomatoes, Cheese, Spinach, Beans, Salsa, and Guacamole.

For dessert, I made a big pan of Brownies, then frosted them and put on Christmas sprinkles.

After we got everyone fed, the kids played for a while, but guess what? That was CRAZINESS.

We had our seven plus each of the mamas who came had three each. So that made for a total of 16 kids in our dining room, then living room and playroom. Whoa. These kids were having some LOUD FUN! :) We gathered for a picture (a true Christmas miracle), then put coats on everyone and scooted them outside for a few minutes before we loaded up to go look at lights. Look at this fun crowd!

Big Family Food and Fun: December 7-13, 2025

In the middle of the night, Acacia woke up sick. Boooooo. We canceled our Sunday Lunch plans because we didn’t think it would be wise to have guests in our house that day. Acacia was fine when she got up that morning, but we kept her home, just to be safe.

The rest of our household ate through a plate full of Breakfast Cookie Bars – of which I forgot to take a picture until we had exactly two crumbs left.

I’d planned to make a huge pot of Cheeseburger Soup (this recipe, but with hamburger meat) for Sunday Lunch guests. But since we canceled, I decided to save that plan and instead made special individual pizzas that I’d found at Costco. The kids enjoyed this, and we let them watch a movie all afternoon while Matt, Elias, Malachi, and I played a game together.

Heartlands had a big Christmas party that night. We left Acacia home with Malachi and the rest of us headed over.

Keith and Anna were excited to pose in their disguises.

Keith found a way to play with Little Sweetheart that had her belly laughing!! It was the sweetest!

To end the evening, Justus and a couple other Heartlands guys sang us some fun Christmas songs. Our friend Kaitlyn grabbed Auggie to dance, and Anna joined them. Auggie wasn’t sure at first, but then had huge smiles by the end. How could he not?

On Monday, Emma came and took care of the girls for us. Auggie had ABA therapy all morning. I had a zoom meeting as we prepare to get Josie set up with ABA therapy. Then, I took off for the day to finish Christmas shopping and to do our weekly grocery shopping.

Before I left, I’d filled a crock pot with Taco Soup. This was a perfect way to feed everyone after school and as the evening progressed with homework, ABA therapy, and keeping everyone settled. Our friend, Elicia, had made Homemade Rolls that were supposed to have gone with our Sunday Lunch that we’d canceled due to Acacia’s illness. She handed them to those who were at church on Sunday morning, and we enjoyed them with our soup Monday night!

On Tuesday morning, I pulled a plate of Angela’s Banana Chocolate Chip Breakfast Cookies from the freezer to feed the kids before school/therapy.

Acacia, Josie, and Auggie helped me scrub a crock pot full of potatoes for dinner.

The girls played with Little Sweetheart and Auggie had ABA therapy all morning. Then we put on jackets and went outside to play until the bus came. Temps in the 50s in December? Yes, please! They “ice skated” in the alley behind our house.

After Acacia and Josie got on the bus, Auggie and Little Sweetheart had the BEST conversation. Over and over, Little Sweetheart would tell Auggie, “jabber sweetness jibber jabber” and Auggie would look up at her with a big smile and say, “What??” So she’d repeat it, and he’d say, “What??” Over and over. Oh my goodness. It was amazing.

That afternoon/evening was a BIG one. I put together a 3.5 pound Meatloaf and Steamed Green Beans. Plus our Baked Potatoes were cooking in the crock pot. I left all of that to Matt while I took Brayden to our weekly Food Distribution.

We weren’t able to stay long, but we helped for almost an hour before heading home to transition to Kiya’s and Brayden’s music concerts. We left Auggie home with Elias/Malorie/Malachi (who were available at different times to help) and Anna stayed back to do her ABA therapy. The rest of us loaded up for a wild night.

Kiya’s Ukulele and Vocal Music performance was at 6:00 at the elementary school.

Then Brayden’s Vocal Music performance was a few blocks away at 7:00 at the middle school. Kelsey got him there on time, and the rest of us loaded up quickly after Kiya’s concert and made it there barely on time. PHEW. Back at home, much had happened and our grown up kids saved the day. We got the kids to bed late and yet, we all survived.

Wednesday morning, I made our Peppernuts recipe into soft cookies to have on hand during the next couple of weeks.

I also made Uncrustables. We had plans to take all seven younger kids to Children’s for Genetic Testing that morning. I packed Uncrustables, Grapes, and Applesauce for the kids who would miss eating lunch at school.

The team of doctors was great as we were quite the room full that morning! Per our appointments over the summer, one of the specialists we had worked with recommended that we do Genetic Testing for the kids to see if there was more we could learn about their challenges and needs. They were gracious to allow all seven kids to come in at the same time, which wasn’t easy, but it was easier than making seven separate appointments!

As the kids finished each of their appointments, they got to enjoy computer games in the waiting room with Daddy. Then we dropped them all off at school to finish out their day.

For dinner that night, I made a simple meal of Tomato Soup with Meat and Cheese Melts. The sandwiches started to disappear before I could get a picture!

One of our kids was having sensory struggles and insisted on leaving the light off during dinner. Thankfully, everyone cooperated with this and we were able to talk the kids into eating in the dark. :) For the record, it was only 4:45pm.

During the evening, Keith and Brayden helped me make Mini Pumpkin Muffins for upcoming snack needs.

We were able to spend some time playing games in between the kids’ therapy needs. Anna and her RBT came in and joined us for a round of Rack-o as they worked on her skills with taking turns, waiting, and sharing.

On Thursday morning, I made a big pot of  Warm Vanilla Soother to go with our breakfast. The kids LOVED this and the entire pot was empty before they left for school. Oh look, there’s my un-exciting glass of morning smoothie.

I had some spinach in the fridge that was in its final days, so I turned it into Spinach Cupcakes.

The girls wanted to wear their matching Adoption Day dresses (that are almost too small, but now they work like shirts with pants). They also had a fun idea to cut tortillas “like we did at Ms. Kathi’s!” and melt cheese on top. This was a very fun and tasty morning activity.

Both Arrow and Little Sweetheart were over all morning, so playtime was extra special! (Also, we were gifted this amazing dollhouse this week – WOW!)

Arrow was busy shopping, but gave Lolli the obligatory grin she asked for.

I had slow cooked Salsa Chicken all day. So for dinner, we made Chicken Tacos with leftover Stick of Butter Rice, Black Beans, and other topping choices.

The main highlight of the night is that I’d mixed up a quadruple batch of Cream Cheese Sugar Cookie Cut Outs. We took turns rolling and cutting and baking our cookies. Phew, it’s a big job with this many helpers! But the kids love this and it’s a Christmas tradition. This is the best way I’ve learned to make cookies like this with our kids.

On Friday morning, the girls got good morning/goodbye hugs from Malorie as she headed off for work.

I made a monster-sized batch of Mudballs.

Then I took Acacia to her Physical Therapy and Speech Therapy appointments.

We were all incredibly excited that our Bonus Buddy got to come spend the weekend with us! The evening was loud and rowdy, with ABA therapy for Keith and Anna thrown into the mix. Therefore, I forgot to even take a picture of our dinner – Hamburgers, Pickles, Fruit, and Chips.

Kelsey sent me this fun picture of Poppyseed Quick Bread baked in a 9×13 inch dish!

Saturday was full with a Ladies Christmas Brunch at church and family time. I didn’t have time to upload photos and share about the rest of our day, so I’ll add those to next week’s post!

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