Archive | October, 2006

What’s Normal in FOCUS

The pitch-black room is suddenly jarred by the annoying beep of an alarm clock. It was set for 4:45AM. Minutes later, all the leaders are hustling to their students’ rooms banging on the doors and giving a 5 minute preparation time to be out in the hall, ready for personal devotions. Soon the hall settles to silence […]

Pictures from Life Focus

James sent some pictures from Life Focus today! Here are a couple that we thought everyone would enjoy: “This is a group picture of most of all Life Focus. We just finished tearing down an old chimney in Pastor Goodwin’s church (he is sitting in front). It was a quick setup as it was raining hard where I had to take the […]

Pumpkin Bisque

The days are getting colder and there is nothing like a good hot soup to warm you up. Hmmm. What kind of soup should we make? Around here pumpkin bisque is a logical answer. Last week Donald brought in over 300 pounds of melon squash which can be used just like pumpkin. The blending step […]

Hard to Beet

Harvest time is here! Esther and I went up to the garden and found a gigantic 5½ lb beet. It looked so good that we ate it today for dinner. 🙂 And this gigantic beet came from a seed the size of a pin head! That just shows you the wonder of our Creator!

Happiness or Joy?

We recently had company and I overheard the six-year-old asking her mother, “Why do the people in this house laugh all the time?” Well, that was her perspective. It made me laugh. 🙂 It also made me think. What is the reason people laugh? People are happy when things go their way. It comes naturally. […]

A Wonderful West Virginia Weekend

This past weekend was the 22nd Annual Apple Butter Festival here in Salem, West Virginia. But what really made it a fun and memorable time for me was the family and friends that came to visit over the weekend. Friday evening we enjoyed having Great Aunt Evelyn, Uncle Tom, and Cousin Michael over with Grandpa […]

Nutmeg Crisps

I thought that you would enjoy these cookies that Mom and I made during my Math class. I had to double the recipe. Instead of 6 dozen we made 118 cookies! ½ c. butter 2 tsp. baking powder 1 c. brown sugar ¼ tsp. salt 1 ½ tsp. vannilla extract nutmeg ½ tsp. almond extract […]

A Greased Pig Contest

The chilly morning air was filled with excitement as I rounded the corner of the old Salem Post Office. It was Saturday, October 7, and I was about to witness one of the enjoyable traditions of the annual Salem Apple Butter Festival. Up ahead I could hear the cheers of the many family and friends […]

Daniel goes to Indianapolis

Daniel headed off to Indiana this week with our friends the Elliots. They will be attending a week-long Counseling Seminar at the Indianapolis Training Center. With Michael and James also away at Life Focus, our house is going to seem really empty this week. But we’re excited for him as he receives practical counseling instruction […]