Oh, and by the way

Boys playing in the freshly raked leaves - what fun!

Ever notice how life has a way of getting away from you? Things don't always seem to happen the way I think they will - or should. Last time I blogged, I mentioned that we were going to pick apples for a field trip the next day. That's not what actually happened. We got up early the next morning, with every intention of making it there (the field trip was 2 hours away from our house). But by the time we got into Eureka, we only had 20 minutes to get there, and were still an hour away. So we decided not to go, and took the kids to the Sequoia Park Zoo in Eureka instead. We had a really good time, even though it wasn't what we had planned. The weekend after that, we went to another field trip with our homeschool group. It was a butchering field trip (which was at the same place as the apple trip had been - so while we were there, we also got to pick some apples to bring home!). The kids got to watch a turkey and goat being butchered. Josh didn't want to see the animals being killed, but once that was over with, he helped pluck out feathers, and enjoyed the anatomy lesson. It was a great experience for us, because it taught us how to prepare our chickens for the freezer as well. Jeremy and the boys butchered 3 of our roosters on Saturday, and now they are in the freezer. Rob told me after they finished with the chickens that he really enjoys our lifestyle. He told the kids in Sunday school about what they did with the chickens. One boy said, "Why'd you do that?" Rob told him that it was because we had too many roosters.

Last week, our Pioneer Club hosted a community spaghetti dinner. I don't know if anyone got a real count to know how many people they served, but it was a lot. And they all did such a great job. They were courteous, helpful, and happy to be serving. Most of the kids in Pioneer Club don't go to church anywhere, but did such a good job serving dinner - I wonder if we should do it again! Our church does a similar thing for Thanksgiving - the church members sign up for the Thanksgiving dinner (potluck style) and then open the doors to the community to come and eat as well. I think my boys will enjoy serving at that dinner as well. I know they really enjoyed serving at the spaghetti dinner.

I made sweet potato pie without sugar last week. And it was a hit! Jeremy and Rob fought over it. Between the two of them, they ate at least half of it. And Anna thought it was yummy as well. I didn't even realize my family liked sweet potatoes, and have never served them before! Everyone loved it, but Silas. He doesn't seem to like potatoes at all - except for French fries, but I'm not sure they count as potatoes.

We got another puppy two weeks ago. Her name is Peach. She is now 7 weeks old, and is a Daschund/Jack Russell terrier mix. Most people think I am a glutton for punishment, but we actually wanted her to be a companion for Daisy. We thought they would keep each other company and be good playmates. They are doing really well together. They do enjoy playing with each other, and Daisy doesn't bite at the boys' toes so much! ;-)

We are blessed to have wood for the winter. A man in our church had wood on his property that he told us we could have. And another family had a splitter that they let us borrow. So Jeremy, Rob and Josh spent 5 hours splitting wood with this man one day, and they ended up getting about a cord and a half. The man still has more wood at his property for us whenever we need it. The Lord is providing for our needs!

I don't know if I mentioned that Jeremy is back into preaching in Genesis. He really enjoys studying the Law. He fills his sermons with so much information that it's hard to take it all in. So he has started using Sunday evenings as a question and answer forum. So far, we have had a good response. Those that come enjoy being able to ask questions about the morning's sermon that they obviously can't ask during church. And Jeremy enjoys being able to share more of what he has learned that week. He learns more than he can possibly put into a 45 minute sermon. Before Jeremy went into the ministry, I don't think I ever really appreciated how much work pastors put into their sermon and how much I took their knowledge for granted. I, like so many others, expected the sermon to only last 30 minutes. And if it was much more than that, I would keep checking my watch with disdain, and start thinking about everything on my to-do list for that afternoon. I have such a different perspective now, being the wife of a pastor. Watching Jeremy come home every day with exciting new tidbits about what he is uncovering in his studies is so much fun. But he does get disheartened with not having time to share it all. And he even stretches his sermons out to 45-55 minutes. I heard of another pastor telling a visitor of his church what a shame it was that we expect our pastors to spend 15-20 hours a week on sermon prep, and expecting him to present all of the information in 15 minutes. Sigh...I will now climb down from my soap box. I'm so sorry - that just took off without me! ;-) But I really do think we should appreciate our pastors more. They work so hard to share God's Word with us, not to mention all the behind the scenes work that we will never see (unless we happen to be married to one!). And this coming right after Pastor Appreciation Month (No, I didn't plan this). If you appreciate the work your pastor does, and you didn't get a chance to thank him last month, send him a card and let him know how much you appreciate him! And on that note, I will close...