Family Vacation, Chapter 2: A Walk in the Woods

One of the things we enjoyed the most on our vacation was hiking.  I guess you would probably just call it walking, since we had a 2 year-old, a 4 year-old, a 6 year-old, and an 8 year-old with us, but we enjoyed as many trails as we could.  I was a little nervous at first taking the little ones along, but they did really well.  There were only a few meltdowns, and only one hornet sting (poor Noel!), but their little legs just kept going.  We usually hiked in morning or right before bedtime, since it was incredibly hot, but most of the trails were pretty shaded, and we armed ourselves with plenty of water.

 Jude showed Noel the ropes of hiking:  how to go off the trails and find "treasures".

Our only family picture of the whole week.  Don't judge.  It was very hot.

 Here comes trouble. 

 Enjoying a break on the rocks.

A walking stick is a must when hiking.

Thumbs up from the Wittenbachs!

Family Vacation. Chapter 1: The Joy is in the Journey

 When David and I were first married, we traveled every chance we could get.  And when Noel came along, we took him with us.  By the time he was 10 months old he had been to 10 states.  Smooth sailing, for the most part.

Enter child #2.  Now, I'm not saying it's Elise's fault we didn't travel so much anymore.  It's just that traveling with 2 little ones is a lot of work.  We had a horrendous trip to Atlanta when Elise was about 6 weeks old that still makes me shudder, so we were a little gunshy.

But little by little we have gotten back into traveling, and last week we went on a trip to Devil's Den State Park in northwest Arkansas.  It was about a 12 hour drive, so we decided to break it up into 2 days and enjoy the trip.

 As you can see, Elise was riveted.  Actually, she sleeps for only 20-30 minutes on most long trips.  I just happened to catch a sweet picture of her napping.

 Noel is ready to go.  All he needs is his teddy bear and some movies.

On our first day we drove to a little diner near St. Louis called the Blue Springs Diner.  It's a family style restaurant with all the fixin's. And it was delicious.  Too bad our children weren't really into eating.  So David and I took turns entertaining the childrent while the other one gobbled down as much food as we could.  Hey, good food is good food.

We made a pit stop in St. Louis to visit my dear friend Jennifer Reedy.  Jen and I were roommates when I went to Illinois State.  We had such a good time visiting with her, seeing her house, meeting her dogs and just laughing.  My kids, of course, were crazy because they had been cooped up all day in the car.  I'm just glad they didn't break anything.

We stopped for the night in Rolla, nearly missing a huge storm, so we were very thankful for that.  Noel and David enjoyed the pool at the hotel and Elise and I enjoyed some Food Network (I'll have to write another post about how my daughter will not get in pools.  "Too scary," she says). The kids slept well and we were on our way early the next morning after I introduced Noel and Elise to the hotel wafflemaker.  Mmmmmm

By the way, does anyone really eat the hard boiled eggs at a continental breakfast?  They look strange and very uninviting to me. 

We arrived at the park Monday afternoon, and the fun commenced, especially after Matt, Jenni, Jude, and Mattie Collins family arrived and we got groceries.  Two ingredients to a fun time:  food and the Collins family.

Oh, and there is a town in southern Missouri called Noel.  Love it.

More to come in the next chapter. . .

Freezing Corn

Today  we froze our first batch of corn.  Before I met David, I had no idea what to do to freeze corn (or anything else, for that matter), and I just assumed it was really hard.  But it's not.  I kid you not, it is easy!  And we did this batch from start to finish in about an hour and a half.  David picked about 2 1/2 dozen ears and it made 7 bags of corn.  But even if you don't grow corn, I think it's worth it go buy some from your local stand and freeze it.

Preparation:
1.  It helps to have a partner when freezing corn.  David shucks the corn while I get the kitchen ready.  Then I boil the corn in batches while he cuts it.  Once my boiling job is done, I bag it up. 
2.  We use 2 pots at once so the job gets done twice as fast.
3.  An electric knife is really helpful in cutting the corn.  We borrowed one for 3 or 4 years before getting our own.  If you ask around, there is usually someone who has an electric knife.
4.  Make sure you have Ziploc bags and freezer space.

 A clothes hamper works really well holding the corn. 

You can reuse the corn water for a couple of batches of corn before you have to replace it.

 Years ago I learned the bundt pan trick.  If you put the ear of corn in the middle of a bundt pan, it holds the ear in place as well as catches the corn that you cut off.  (Note:  crockpot & gummy vitamins not necessary in the freezing process)

 Noel helped label the bags.  To be honest, you don't really need to write down what's in the bag, but we do write what year it was frozen so we use up last year's corn first.  By the way, I like to use my creative juices and come up with funny sayings on the bag like "It's Corntastic!"  This, as well, is not necessary. :)

 Once your water is boiling, put a few (4-5) ears of corn in your pot -- only enough that will be completely be submerged in the water-- and put the lid on it.  Boil for 3-4 minutes, depending on your liking (we do 3).

 Once the corn is cooked, place it in ice cold water for a few minutes to stop the cooking process.  After it cools off, dry it on a towel.

 Cutting tip:  David stands on a little step stool when he cuts the corn.  That little bit of height really helps with leverage when using the electric knife.  It sounds kind of strange, but try it!!  Or find someone about 8 inches taller than you and ask them to cut your corn.

 Cut all corn off the cob.  Don't get too close to the cob or you will end up cutting too much of the cob into your mix and it won't taste as good.

Put in Ziploc bags and enjoy.  We put about 3 cups in each bag, but that all depends on how much corn your family can eat in a sitting.  All you have to do is heat it up and serve. 

Any freezing tips you want to share?  Please do!!

Ahhhhhhh

Don't let the face deceive you.**  It was a wonderful day at our house today, because we got to eat some of the sweet corn out of the garden.  It was soooooo good!!  There is really nothing like going into the back yard to find dinner.  Looks like we will be freezing corn in the near future. 

**For the record, Noel was trying to be silly and say, "I can't stand corn on the cob," hence the face.

Thursday Thank-yous

This week I am thankful for. . .

281.  air conditioning!!!

282.  celebrating my husband's birthday.  One more year in the 30's, baby!

283.  being a part of something bigger than myself.

284.  upcoming plans to see some of my dearest friends in the whole world!

285.  the moon.

286.  how forgiving my children are.

287.  the freedom to worship how I choose.

288.  food on the table every night (especially that rotisserie chicken from Sam's Club.  Wow!).

289.  every experience that I learn from, when I take the chance and embrace it instead of complain about it.

290.  the fact that there is so much more than just this life I lead here.  God has a huge plan!

What are you thankful for?

Mission: Kokomo??

This summer our youth group went on a trip to Arizona to work on a reservation.  They had an amazing experience, one they will not soon forget. 

And about 300 or so students from all over the country are doing something similar, only in Kokomo.

Kokomo?

That's right.  Every week this summer Youthworks, which is a mission organization, is bringing students in groups on mission trips to Kokomo.  While they are here, they are leading VBS for different churches that are in low income housing areas.  They are working with Kokomo Urban Outreach.  They are praying through the city and learning about poverty.

David and I have had the opportunity to work with these weeks through Urban Outreach.  One of the nights they are here they play a poverty simulation game.  In this "game", they learn a little bit about what it is like to be judged because you are on food stamps, to stand in line to ask for assistance, to be followed when you go into a store because you look suspicious, to be turned away by a church, to be looked over for a job that you need.

The game is all in fun, and the students have a good time while they learn, but it is definitely eye-opening.  I think the most eye-opening part about it is that from the outside most cities look normal, but there are needs everywhere you go.  Sue, one of the directors of Urban Outreach, said there are approximately 300 families in Howard County living in their cars.  In.  Their.  Cars.

I can't help but think about how they are coping during a week as hot as this one.

I've been reading this book called "Lord, Here am I. . .Send Someone Else!" and it's all about what we do when opportunities are given to us.  Some are exciting.  Some are exotic.  Some are dramatic.  But some just mean helping out at your local shelter.  Some mean donating those fans you aren't using to a mission in town.  Some mean opening our eyes to the needs all around us.

What are your opportunities today?

Memories

So I'm heading up to my old church camp tonight to visit many of our students who are there for a week of high school camp, and as usual I am flooded with memories of camp.

I'm a camp kid.

And when I say that, I mean that camp has been a part of my life as long as I can remember it. 

I went to camp every year growing up, from 3rd grade until high school graduation.  And when I was in high school I started working as faculty at various weeks of camp. After my freshman year of college I worked as a cook at camp.  After my sophomore year of college I traveled on a camp team for Lincoln Christian College, where we went to camps all summer and worked as faculty as well as tried to recruit students to come to Lincoln (that's what small, poor schools do).  And every year after that I had been a part of camp in some way or another until I had children. 

At camp. . .

I learned to love with the Bible and studying it.
I made friends that I still have.
I experienced some of the most intense worship experiences.
I first learned about missions and spent time with missionaries.
I learned the meaning of hard work.
I fell in "love" for the first time.
I saw lives changed, including my own.
I saw the power of prayer.
I learned that Christians will let you down, but God won't.

Now I'm kind of in that limbo stage where my kids aren't big enough to take with me, and nobody is really able to keep them for a whole week, so I am opting out of camp for right now.  What I do instead is write devotions for the students' quiet time during the week.  It's something I just recently realized I'm not terrible at.  But it's not the same as being there. 

And I know not everyone loves camp.  In fact, my husband doesn't have fond memories of camp at all.  And that's okay.  But I am a different person, for the better, because of the experiences I had at church camp.  And for that I am eternally thankful.

Timing is everything

 So, there you have it.  We are back to square one with the cucumbers.  We are trying again with a different variety.  Luckily, lots of people have too many cucumbers in their gardens (which David finds it impossible to have too many cucumbers) and they have been sharing.

 Peppers are there.  Just waiting for them to turn red, orange, or yellow.  This is the hardest part.  The waiting.

Same is true with the tomatoes.  We cut one head of cabbage this week, and it looks great.  We also started using the onions and got some more broccoli, so we are seeing some progress.

Now, the trouble is going to come when we head out on a short vacation in a few weeks.  When we get back hopefully there will be corn that hasn't been there too long and red, ripe tomatoes that don't have bugs or haven't fallen on the ground. 

All in good time.

What a trip around the Sun will do

Howard County Fair.  July 2010

 Noel sitting in the combine wheel

 Our bald beauty last summer.

One year later. . .



 Now they both love tractors

Still squeezing into the bike trailer.  These two racked up quite a stash of free stuff.

 First year enjoying a ride. 

Make way for Elise. Oh. My. Word.

Be still my heart.



Thursday Thank-yous

I am thankful for. . .

271.  Another great year of life for my husband.  He will be 39 in a few days.  Yikes!  We are getting old!

272.  upcoming vacation with my oldest and dearest friends.

273.  air conditioning.

274. zucchini bread.

275.  God working in big and small ways to show some upcoming plans for us.

276.  elephant ears, pulled pork sandwiches, bumpy barrels, and everything else at the County Fair (including some great people watching).

277.  finding others who are convicted about the same things I'm convicted about.

278.  Sesame Street.  What a great show!

279.  God's beautiful creation everywhere we look.

280. smoothies.

What are you thankful for?

You light up my life

(Okay, okay, no more cheesy song titles as blog post titles, but I couldn't come up with anything else)

On our second day of "Dave & Beth's Kid Free Extravaganza" we explored Holland.  It has a really cute downtown with an AMAZING deli and a very hip coffee shop (I definitely brought the cool level down upon my entrance!).  My favorite part of downtown was a store called The Bridge. It is run by volunteers from Western Theological Seminary and it full of goods from all over the world.  Each item was tagged with an explanation of how & where it was made as well as what the money was going towards.  This is something I have become very passionate about recently (I have a blog post in the works about it), and found that store so inspiring.

After checking out the downtown, we headed down the coast to meet Big Red, an old lighthouse in Holland.  We had some trouble getting there because it's behind a big private beach, but we finagled our way there, and the view was beautiful. 

This was my attempt at funny photography.  It's supposed to look like he is holding the lighthouse in his hand.  It's the thought that counts, right?

We drove up to Grand Haven, which is a few miles north of Holland, for the afternoon.  The beach there was beautiful as well, and we both fell asleep in the sun.  Luckily, it was late in the day, so no sunburns to report.  And of course we had to have some fried fish on the trip, which we did at JW's restaurant, which had a BIG sign out front that said "South Haven's Best Kept Secret".

Does anyone else find the irony in this?

We headed back the next morning to make sure our kids had not driven Ed and Linda to the brink of insanity.

They had.

But were glad for the trip.

Baby, You're a Firework!

On Monday of our trip to Michigan, David and I left the kids with his parents and headed out on a 2-day vacation, just the two of us.  We did this last year and decided as long as the in-laws were game, we were up for it!

Our first stop was Saugatuck, Michigan, which is right on the coast.  Let me just stop right here and say that Florida beaches have nothing on Michigan beaches in the summer.  The sand is beautiful, the water is wonderful (maybe a little chilly, but no salt), and it take, oh, 15 hours less time to get there.  The only thing is that they are only great for a couple of months each year.  But if you are looking for a short getaway, I cannot recommend Michigan beaches enough. 

We spend the day walking around, looking at the water, watching people, and enjoying a kid-free lunch at a place called Pumpernickels.

David could not stop raving about the Reuben he had.  I love the idea that they serve their sandwiches in cast iron skillets.

We drove to their neighbor town of Douglas, where we hung out on the beach for a few hours.  If you can't tell, my kid-free vacation goal is to do all things that one cannot do with kids. 

Eat a meal without having to cut up someone's food?  Check
Lay on the beach and read a book?  Check

Next on the list?  Fireworks, of course.

After our day in Saugatuck/Douglas, we headed to our hotel in Holland, where (thanks to the best concierge ever) we ended up watching fireworks right on the water in Kollen Park, Michigan.

My camera doesn't take great action shots, but it was so neat to see the fireworks' reflections in the lake. 

We had a wonderful first night!

Down on the Farm

On Sunday (July 3) we packed up the kids and headed for a week up at David's parents' house.  They live on an apple orchard, which David's brother owns.  Before his brother owned it, David's dad owned it.  Before that, David's grandpa owned it.  It is between 300 and 400 acres of apples and then hundreds more acres of corn and beans.  When I first met David and found out he grew up on an orchard, my only frame of reference was Farlow's Orchard, which is near my school. 

Besides the word "orchard", there is almost no comparison.  This orchard is beautiful.  I wish I had picture to insert here, but I always forget.  I took about a hundred pictures the first time I ever visited, but that was before I had a digital camera, and I can't find them, so you will just have to believe me when I say it's beautiful, no matter what the season. (The above picture is what came up on Google Images when I typed in "Wittenbach Farms".  Must be 20 years old, but, hey, it's a picture, right?)

So, of course my children love visiting the farm.  Here are just some of the things they love:

Seeing Grandma Linda and Grandpa Ed
Playing with cousins
golf cart rides
tractor rides
fork lift rides
riding down to the neighbor's farm to see the cow's
riding down to the other neighbor's farm to pick cherries
cookouts on the back porch
playing in the basement

And Noel loves that he gets to stay in David's old bedroom. It's too sweet.  The funniest part of going to the farm is that Noel thinks every kid gets to do this.  When I try to explain that not everyone's grandpas or uncles have tractors and huge fields, he looks at me like I'm crazy (which I most certainly am, but not for saying that). If only he was right.

And there are always tears when we have to pack up and leave, which is a sure sign that a good time was had by all.

So much to share, so much to share. . .

This past week we went on a family vacation to Michigan.  I have much to share about our time with the Wittenbachs, seeing extended family, and David and I going on a little excursion alone for a couple of days, but I had to share some garden pictures first. 

Above you can see that we got a few cucumbers, but it looks like those blasted beetles are going to win this war.  David just planted more of a different variety, so we will see how they work.

David picked the first batch of beans (see below), and they look pretty good.  When we were in Michigan, his mom gave us a french cutter for the beans, which Noel is trying out.  We did one bag of french cut and 4 bags of whole beans. 

 Well, hello, little red grape tomato!  Nice to meet you!  Tell your friends to hurry up and join you, because we are anxiously awaiting salads, salsa, and snacks!

 This is David with the corn, which is a pretty cool picture when you take into account what the corn looked like 2 weeks before that:

It must have been growing a couple of inches a day!  Oh, my, I love sweet corn!  I hope it turns out.  We enjoy it all year. 

We've picked a few zucchini, more snow peas, and a little broccoli.  Once the peppers and tomatoes are ready we are going to have a house full of vegetables.  YIKES!

Now, if I could just get a plant that grew candy bars. . .

5 Minute Friday

On Fridays, I try to take the "5-Minute Friday Challenge" that is given on this website.  The challenge is to write for 5 minutes straight on a given topic with no editing, no second drafts, nothing.  Just 5 minutes from my fingers to this blog.

Today's topic is WELCOME

GO

I feel like I am always in a state of cleaning something in my house.  When I am in one room, my children tend to be messing up another room.  Plus there is always laundry.  And dishes.  And an endless supply of bags from the van (I think they multiply when I'm not watching).

But why do I try and keep the house clean?  Yes, a small part of me is afraid if I don't we will end up on a reality show where there is some sort of "Intervention" team, but mostly because I want people to feel welcome when they come here.

I want my husband to feel welcome when he comes home.
I want my children to have a welcoming place to play and invite friends over.
I don't want to be a nervous wreck if someone decides to 'pop-in'.

(I would have a great transition statement here, but I only have 5 minutes, so bear with me).

I've been reading and studying about the Holy Spirit and how the Holy Spirit works in my life.  And this word "Welcome" made me think about that.  I spend a lot of time making sure my house is a welcoming place, but how much time am I devoting to making my heart be a welcoming place for the Holy Spirit to live?  Am I concerned?  Do I care more about how other people perceive me than how the Almighty God does?  I certainly hope not. 

So maybe while I'm vacuuming today or putting clothes away I will also take time to be with God and ask Him to continue to restore my heart and make it a welcome place as well.  There is an old song I love, and the lyrics go:

Come and make my heart Your home
Come and be everything I am and all I know
Search me through and through
'Til my heart becomes a home for you

STOP