Church family.

This past weekend reminded me of how much a church can become like family. Saturday night at church I was working on slides for the sermon, announcements and songs. I get very into looking at the monitor while I am doing this and I don't pay much attention to those around me. So, I about jumped out of my skin when Dennis Patty came into the A/V room and said my name really loud...he finds this very funny, because he did the very same thing last week. I would like to think I would remember from week to week that he is going to do this, but no matter what I don't seem to. Well, he thought it was so funny that he told Pastor Kris that he should do the same thing to me. So, Dennis stood down on the stage and Pastor Kris snuck up on me (he was much more sneaker than he needed to be, I had no clue he was even coming up stairs...once again being totally into my work) and he poked his head into the A/V room and yelled my name....I seriously jumped really high! (During this time, Dennis is down on the stage watching me through my window laughing his head off at me as I jumped.) I am really glad they did not have a video camera on me, for fear that it would be posted on youtube by now. I felt like I was being picked on by brothers or something.

Then on Sunday it was nice hanging out with our church family at Arbys. It was nice knowing we were supporting the Pfohl's and we also got to sit around and chat with different friends from church. It has been kind of cool the past 2 weekends the church has done something were we could all get together. I always come away from these times telling Dwayne just how good it feels to belong to a church that we really feel apart of. I think it really helps that we both serve in different areas of the church. I strongly feel the best way to feel like part of a church is to get in and serve...give your time for others, get to know others and it is amazing how much more relaxed you start to feel. I like feeling that I can be myself, no matter how weird that is...and it can be pretty weird. I also like watching how comfortable my children are with everyone. After all the different churches I have been to, it feels really good to be at home.

Sleeping in?

Is it really possible to ever get to sleep in any more? What exactly is sleeping in? What time do you have to stay in bed til to count as sleeping in? I get up every morning to wake my kiddos up, granted it is not really that early in the great scheme of life...just 6:30am. I always have high hopes of being lazy on Saturday morning, but with Angel food last Saturday, my son leaving to go to a circus this Saturday (he has to be at the school by 6:15am!!!), and then most Saturdays my hubby likes to be up bright and early so he can get started on any home projects he might have. He always makes me feel like a lazy bum if I stay in bed...lol. Sunday mornings have been a little on the lazier, sleeping in side for us. I am at Saturday night church pretty much every weekend and lately, Dwayne has been coming as well. So, our Sunday mornings have been nice these past few weekends. You know, even if I could sleep in, I would not sleep past 7am. I have been waking up early for far too long...but that is just the life of a mom...right?

Baklava...

Ok, if you are ever going to make Baklava, I strongly suggest that you buy the phyllo dough that it requires. Don't be a fool like me, I forgot to buy the phyllo dough, so I thought, no big deal I will just make some. It is really hard to roll that dough out as thin as it needs to be for the desired effect in the Baklava. (By the way, everyone in my house has just been going around say BAKLAVA, it is a really fun word to say.) So, anyways, I worked out my arm muscles yesterday rolling out very thin sheets of phyllo dough to layer in my pan, then coat in butter, the real stuff...not margarine, then do a layer of nuts, sugar and chocolate chips, more dough, more butter, another layer of the nut, sugar and chocolate stuff, and then finish off with more dough and butter. I rolled out at least 12 sheets of phyllo dough. But it was all worth it. It tasted really good. It was Greek night at our small group and when someone mentioned that we needed baklava, I instantly volunteered to make it, I have always wanted to try and make it. I also made some Greek like chicken and pork for pita sandwiches, I was suppose to bring lamb, but I could not find what I needed. Our lessons these days are on the book of Hebrews. My hubby was our fathful leader last night and it is very enjoy reading through each verse and discussing them as a group....not only is the food good...the learning is too!

True Test!

Ok, it was a true test of will power for Mindy and I today. I really wanted to stay in bed and be lazy, but instead I went to down to the Pfohl's house and worked out. It can be so easy just to quit something, especially for me, I just seem to always give up after a few times of doing things. I start to make excuses for why I can't do it until I finally convince myself that I have put it off for so long there is no reason to even try and do it any more. I have done this many times with reading through the bible. James is really challenging the youth group to read through the bible in one year. He asked me if I was going to take the challenge as well. I told him I am already doing a challenge with the bible, I started a read through the bible in 90 days thing back last February and I am in Esther right now. I know...not very far for almost a year's time, but I still want to stay with this one. My thought is that so many times I would start over again, because I failed so miserably the first time, but only to fail again. So, I am not starting over until I have totally read through the bible this time. I figure I can start putting stars on the youth group chart when they catch up with me and then try to stick with them...I may actually finish this year, I hope.

It was a wonderfully cold day!

Angel Food went great. I put on a couple of extra layers, Dwayne set up heaters and all the different church's trucks blocked the wind. All this equals a tolerable cold morning. I had my new no fingers gloves that helped. I must say by the time we got to the last few items, my fingers were a little on the numb side. Handling frozen foods when it is already freezing outside, well...it just makes hands really cold. I got to meet some new people yesterday and finally meet some people who had been there for the last few months, but I am always to busy to actually meet them. It is funny they always know my name. It is kind of like when you around parents and kids, you always know the kid's name, because the parent is usually constantly calling the kid's name, but you never know the parent's name, because all the kid ever says is mom or dad. Well, I guess I am like the kid who the parent is constantly calling...the really bad kid, I guess...lol, because you hear my name being called a lot. The kids did a great job and I even heard one man comment that he could not complain about the cold, because he had not heard the little red head, my Dora, complain yet...lol.

Then it was on to the movies. It was great fun to sit in a theatre full of people from church. As we were getting ready to head into the theatre, Tobi commented that she was seeing so many people she knew from church. I told her, yes honey...it is an all church movie day. I really hope we can do this more often as a church. It was just so nice to see our church family out away from church and just to have a few moments to catch up with them and chat.

After the movies it was on to Jo-Ann Fabrics. I am looking into more material for some new pieces of clothing for our re-enacting this year. I am getting so excited about re-enacting already. Patty has been filling me in on some possible day trips that we can do as families, so that helps the excitement build. Dora is very excited about our 1812 re-enactment in October, we go Thursday thru Sunday, and Friday will fall on her birthday. She will get a period correct birthday party this year...she can't wait.

Saturday night was church...I love working up in the A/V booth, but on Angel food Saturdays I usually start to crash by the time we hit service time. Poor Bruce had to do with me not quite keeping up with him when it came to words of the songs. But I did not do too bad keeping up with Pastor Kris and the sermon...lots of slides there to work with. The sermon was great! The kind that you walk away from saying..."Yeah, what am I here for...what should I be doing...Come on...let's get going!"

Friday night we had a great time with the Pinkertons. We had them over for dinner and then the guys were suppose to play video games while Tonya and I scrapbooked. Well, we got into some serious games of Farkle, and I ended up being the only real loser of the night. Tonya won the first game, James the second game and Dwayne the third game....me....I lost all 3 games....but I am use to being a big loser. Just wait, we will have to meet up with them again and have a rematch...I have to win sometime...right?

Tomorrow is Angel Food.

It is really cold outside. It is going to be REALLY cold tomorrow morning. Angel Food is tomorrow. Tomorrow morning I get up at 5:30am to go stand outside of the church. As the pallets of food are taken off the delivery truck, Pastor Jeff and I keep order by making sure each church that is picking up at our church, usually about 6 churches or so, get just the right amount of items that they need. I know this sounds fairly easy, but when you have a bunch of people who just want to get done so they can get back to their own churches it can get a little out of hand. Most times I have to open boxes and bags, to get to the individual items to pass out to the churches, so they will have the correct number needed. The bad thing about that is that I can not wear gloves...no gloves on a freezing cold morning, working with frozen foods....brrrrrr.....very cold. Last month I found that I could wear some fingerless gloves and still get my work done. I love doing this work, just not the really cold days as much. I do have one blessing for tomorrow, my wonderful hubby went to his father's house yesterday and picked up an outdoor heater that we will be using tomorrow morning. I have a feeling I will not be the only person singing his praises tomorrow. I love hanging out with all the different people from the different churches. I must have a kick me sign on my back, because it never seems to take a new person long to figure out that I am the prime person to make fun of...lol. Another great thing about Angel Food is watching my son, Brighton age 12, and my daughter, Dora age 8, getting involved. Even if they stay up way late on Friday nights with friends, even if it is freezing out, no matter what it takes, those two get up with me at 5:30am and they really help out. Trust me, they work for me, when I count out our items they take them inside and working for your mom is not always easy, I am always harder on my children than other people are. I have gotten tons of comments on how good of workers they are and they would never forgive me if I did not wake them up to go work. I love to see how they are using the the serving heart God has given them. It makes working in the really cold weather even more worth it for me.

Who Knew...

Who knew grocery shopping could be an exciting night out? I told Dwayne yesterday morning that I needed to go to town to do some grocery shopping and he was like..."Wait until after 5 and I will go, too" The poor man so badly needs out of the house that he will even go grocery shopping with me. That is fine with me, because he also took me out for dinner. My poor kids had to stay home and have leftovers, but I got treated to a nice dinner with my wonderful hubby. We certainly don't get out that often these days and we have to take advantage of the times we have. Does it mean we are getting old when we turn grocery shopping into a date night? I think I always spend more at Aldis when Dwayne is with me...wait, I think that I always spend more every where when he is with me...lol.