Goin' Crazy

This has been one crazy week and it isn't even over yet! I like to feel like I have accomplished things at the end of the day. Every day this week I have accomplished tons and yet still go to be with tons left undone.
Partly, it is adjusting to working full time. Church has been extremely busy as we are getting ready for our annual Pig-a-Palooza event. The copier is smokin' due to all the copies I am running, lol! This will be the 5th year of this community event. There will be pony rides, a bounce house, climbing wall, live music, bow hunters, Chicken BBQ and more. I am sure I will post pictures since I seem to be the designated photographer.
Then there's the boys. They are still adjusting to school, homework, chores and the like. Of course they don't do those things in a vacuum. Homework requires our help, chores require our oversight, school requires us to get up at the crack of dawn too. Did I say I was looking forward to a routine again? WHAT was I thinking??
Josh is in football and now the games have started. I don't know who is responsible for their schedule this year but most of the games are away and most of the locations are an hour's drive. They had their first game on Wednesday and it tied up 5 hours. Poor Josh didn't get home until 8:30 and then had homework to boot. Here is a shot of him after a scrimmage last weekend. He plays offensive line at the moment.


And then there is the call of the produce! I thought I was mostly done with my canning, except for a couple more batches of salsa for Kaleb. But then came the call of more free peaches. The kind perfect for canning. So, off we went to glean more fruit. Greg and I were up until 11 the other night putting up quart jars of sliced peaches. Again, a first for me. I was glad to have a helper because these were a bit time consuming. But look at the result of our labor...


Aren't they beautiful?? We did 18 jars in total. One broke in the canner. On the last batch I cooked some whole vanilla beans in the light sugar syrup to see if we could mimic the vanilla peaches we tasted at the Mennonite market this summer. Oh Baby!! We opened a jar at dinner tonight and it was unanimous...these peaches ROCK! You know what that means, don't you? Probably more canning in my near future!

Back to School

Summer is over. The buses are running. The new sneakers can finally be worn. Ah yes, the start of another school year. Kaleb is now a 6th grader, officially a middle schooler. Josh is an 8th grader. As I do every year, I made them pose for a picture before the bus came. I needed to use the flash since the sun wasn't exactly up yet. I was wishin' I wasn't up yet, lol. So, here are our two fine, young men...

Loaded down with stuff already. Poor Josh had 3 bags to carry. One for the football gear he needs for practice after school. Yes, you read that correctly. Josh has signed on to play modified football this year. Kaleb decided to sit the season out and I think he has missed it somewhat.

Kaleb was very nervous about entering a new building with new rules. He now has to change classes every period. He managed just fine, no major incidents to report.

Last week we had the chance to go to a Buffalo Bills preseason game against the Detroit Lions. Our friend Lynn gave us 4 tickets she got from work. She was going to take the guys but at the last minute had to cancel, so I went along. It was a perfect night for watching a game. We had awesome seats, mid way up on the 40 yard line. All I will say about the score is that it is going to be a loooooong season if you are a Bills fan! Here we are at the end of the game.

One of our old Young Life kids is now a Buffalo Jill cheerleader. We didn't get a chance to talk with her but we could see her on the field doing her thing. Fun stuff!

I am off to bed. Tomorrow is another early morning.

Ministry

Here is the definition of "ministry" according to Webster...

Main Entry: min·is·try
Pronunciation: \ˈmi-nə-strē\
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural min·is·tries
Date: 14th century
1 : ministration
2 : the office, duties, or functions of a minister
3 : the body of ministers of religion : clergy
4 : a person or thing through which something is accomplished : agency, instrumentality
5 : the period of service or office of a minister or ministry
6 often capitalized a : the body of ministers governing a nation or state from which a smaller cabinet is sometimes selected b : the group of ministers constituting a cabinet
7 a : a government department presided over by a minister b : the building in which the business of a ministry is transacted

I have spent much of the last few days thinking about that word and what it actually means. I thought Webster might be a good place to start. I think it is a pretty lousy, at best incomplete, definition. It seems to me that ministry is way more than how Webster defines it. Well, at least it is in our world.
I am finding out, or rather being reminded, that ministry is anything God calls you to do. Sometimes it is things you want to do. Or things you are good at. Other times they are silly things. Or hard things. Or things that make no sense, at least for now. It is an open ended job description. There is fine print at the bottom that reads "...and other things deemed necessary by the boss".
This is one look at ministry this past week...

Five guys covered in drywall dust! Pastor Bill is in the yellow shirt. In person he looked a lot like the ghost of Christmas past, lol. They have been working on a renovation project at church, creating one large room for the kids ministry. It started in April and is finally nearing completion. Sometimes ministry includes blowing drywall dust out of your nose or standing in a 3' ditch laying pipe.
Sometimes ministry is traveling 7 hours with a van full of teens to Lake Placid for a camping weekend. Greg and 18 other teens and adults pulled out of the church parking lot this afternoon bound for a weekend of fun and fellowship. (yes, that means I am home alone but I have a to do list longer than there are hours in the day)
Maybe asking "what is ministry?" is the wrong question. Perhaps instead I should be asking "am I willing to do what God calls me to do?". Or "am I willing to go where God wants me to go?".

Have a great weekend!

Blueberries, Raspberries, Peaches...OH MY!!

In the three weeks since I quit my day job (get it? My (1) day job?? Yes, I crack myself up!!) I have embraced the homemaker inside me again. Oh the joy of doing what you are meant to do! I put in a 40 hour week at church, hosted a Grill & Greet for 50 folks after our evening worship service last night, and still had spring in my step to do more. It reminds me of tithing. Tithing you ask? Yes! When we take care of our needs first, we are often left with little to give to the Lord. But, when we give God our best, our first fruits, we find that he stretches what is left to cover our needs and often, then some. It makes no sense to the rational mind, it is a faith thing. This past week, I gave God my best and he stretched my time and energy to cover so much more.
So I present to you the latest line-up in my kitchen...

Peach Vanilla Jam, Raspberry Jam, Bread & Butter Pickles and Blueberry Lime Jam.
I have actually been at this for the last 2 weeks. Somewhere around 55 jars total. I ought to buy stock in the Ball company, lol!
The best part is they all have a story to go with them.
Josh, Kaleb and I spent one morning picking blueberries, a first for us. We had a fun time eating, laughing and talking while we picked. We tried to figure out if we could decipher Korean or Chinese or whatever language was being spoken in the next row. We couldn't so we made up our own ideas. After we finished picking berries, we shared a Stromboli for lunch. I chipped my front tooth on a fork. It was a memorable day!
The raspberries came from Pastor Bill's garden. The Lowery's were in Michigan for their eldest son's wedding so they hired Kaleb to take care of the chickens and the garden. We got chowed by mosquitoes while we picked berries. Then Kaleb spotted a snake in the bushes. That was it, I quit! We picked enough berries for one batch of jam. We shared half the jars with the Lowery's since it really was a collaboration. Now that we've tasted it, we kind of wish we hadn't, lol, it is pretty awesome stuff!
Pickles were a first for me. The boys and I ventured to the Niagara Falls City Market for another first time experience. Joshua helped feed the food processor as we sliced our way through about 45 cups of cucumbers. At one point the bowl of the processor was so full, it started to slice off parts of the underside of my processor lid. Yikes! Luckily we stopped it before it got too damaged. The family had a tasting when it was all done and Joshua discovered he likes pickles now!
After church this morning, we took an unplanned trip to the Raby's orchards to glean more peaches. Butch lets us pick peaches off the ground for free and we filled three 5 gallon buckets in about 20 minutes...in the rain. A lady from church joined us and then came back to the house to help me cook up 2 batches of jam. We talked and laughed. It was a good opportunity to get to know her better.
Ministry in the mundane. Pastor Bill reminded us last night that all of life can be worship if we do it to give God glory. So, these past two weeks have been about giving God glory while canning. It is a good thing I don't sell my goods, they would surely be priceless!

Derailed

Do you ever feel like your life is derailed? Off track?? That some how you are on the wrong road? If you haven't, then I want to talk to you and eek out every last secret you have!

At the end of my last post I shared how I was starting a new job. And so I did. My first day was interesting to say the least. I had a pit in my gut all day that I was not where I was supposed to be. To be honest, I had many uneasy feelings for the 2 weeks prior. I dismissed it as nervousness. I knew I was mourning my life as I knew it. I told myself I needed to suck it up. My family needed me to take this job, to bring in more income. On that first day, I had conversations with 2 different staff. One was new to the agency and the other had been there several years. These were people I had never met before. They both basically told me to run as fast as I could. What? Totally unsolicited words. I was partially discouraged and partially scared out of my mind! These people were God's way of telling me that I was in the wrong place, on the wrong road.

What do you do when you realize you are not where you are supposed to be? Or that you are doing something you aren't supposed to be doing? Do you continue to walk down the road and hope it gets better? How crazy would I be to quit a job I just started? I was in a terrible fix. What about the money? The boys both need braces, debts are mounting, college is not too far away, the economy is bad....oh those whispers from the devil. I went to bed praying hard that God would give me the right response. If I am really derailed, help me to get back on track. If I am just nervous, give me peace. When I woke up the next day I had a firm resolve that I needed to quit. I was clearly not where God wanted me to be. As soon as I said my intentions out loud, the peace followed. So, I drove in to the agency and resigned on my second day. It was one of the harder things I have had to do. Throw in a bit of humiliation for added measure.

My job at church had not yet been filled, so I went back. With one change. Tomorrow I start the job on a full-time basis. The pay is way less than I would have made. But if the Lord has called me to this place, to this job and ministry, then he will also take care of our needs. His purposes and plans are sometimes beyond my understanding. He is asking me to trust and obey. I am trying. And just in case I needed a little affirmation, an unusually large number of people came by the church office that day and rejoiced over my return. Aw shucks!

What have I learned?
--it is better to be on God's road than my own path
--God's still small voice is much less painful than the bricks he uses to get our attention
--When Jesus condemned them in Matthew 6:30, saying "oh you of little faith", he meant me
--peace is priceless
--Mercy and grace are precious gifts
--God is good and loves me more than I know
--some lessons take years to learn

I wish that falling down was only for toddlers. I wish I was a faster/better student in God's University. I wish I wasn't so bent on being independent. But more than all of that, I am grateful that the God of the universe loves me and calls me his child. That he dusts me off when I fall. That he continues to urge me on in the race.

"Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." Philippians 3:12-14.

Chillin' at the Lake

Well, summer is now complete! We have just returned from our annual week long stay on Cayuga Lake. The weather was par for this year, rainy and cooler, but we still had a great time.

We finally got the chance to use the jet ski that our friends gave us when we moved. Last summer was consumed with the kitchen reno so there wasn't time. Over the winter we had it tuned up and we got all the necessary paper work and boaters safety courses completed just before vacation. We had lots of fun zipping around the lake!

The rain held off on a few nights so we got a fire going and roasted marshmallows. Chris also rigged up his annual firework display. Fireworks over the lake are spectacular!

Of course, there was lots of fishing. Josh and Chris got up early most mornings to fish and were very successful this year. The first day out Josh got a lake trout and Chris cooked up some yummy Laker Cakes with it (think crab cakes). Josh also caught an 8.5 lb brown trout that we enjoyed for dinner on Wednesday. On one of the last outings Josh and Chris both caught matching 10.5 lb brown trouts. Chris let his go and Josh's is in our freezer for another day. They discovered a secret weapon but I can't tell you, I have been sworn to secrecy!

The boys did lots of tubing again this year. Every year we try the skiing thing and Josh was up longer than any previous year. The pieces are coming together for him. Kaleb just pops out of the water and this year he finally caught the "bug". In years past, they ski (or attempt to ski) to appease us, but with much apprehension. This year Kaleb couldn't get enough. He started to go over the wake and really got over his fear of falling in the middle of the lake. It was so exciting to watch!

Relaxing was the name of the game most of the week. The boys did a lot of stone skipping and by the end of the week this is what they looked like...

too tired to even stand, lol! They threw rocks while laying down on the beach.

When we came back from a trip into Ithaca, we found Melissa and little Logan asleep on the dock...too precious

At some point Josh got a pretty bad case of poison ivy and it may require a doctor visit. Poor guy!

In other news...I start a full-time job tomorrow morning. I am having a hard time getting excited about it to be honest. Even though I have worked part time for years, I consider myself mostly a stay at home mom. I love that job! It is what I feel called to do. I like being a home maker and being here for the boys. But we can't afford for me to stay home any longer. So, tomorrow I will pack a lunch and head off to work. I will be teaching independent living skills to persons with brain injuries. It will involve quite a bit of travel since the meetings all take place in their homes. I appreciate your prayers this week!

Hope you all are well! Thanks for visiting.

Family Camp

Howdy, friends and family! We have just just returned from a week of family camp at Lighthouse Christian Camp. It was a wonderful time but now I need a vacation to recoup from our vacation! You know how that goes. Although we have dropped in on family camp in the past, we have never stayed for the week. Greg was asked to lead music for the morning worship time and he was originally going to commute since camp is only a half hour away. But, the Hunt family graciously offered us a place to lay our heads so we were able to take it all in.

Josh was only able to join us for 2 days and on Sunday I dropped him off for a week at Boy Scout camp. He had a great time!! He was able to complete requirements for 4 merit badges and he also got a Junior Shooting Team badge he really wanted. To get the badge they had to shoot at a target and get a minimum of 35 points, out of a possible 50. He used a .22 at 50 feet and got 5 bulls eyes for a perfect score!! He even saved his target sheet to show us. Uncle Chris will be so proud! He returned home with only minor scrapes but one huge smile!

Kaleb stayed at family camp but we didn't see him much. They keep the kids very busy with activities and any spare time was spent playing four square. I watched several times and all I can say is that they don't play that game like I remember! There are a gazillion different rules these days. It was the perfect kind of week for Kaleb, lots of sports and running around. He met up with some old friends and made new ones. You know it was a great week when they don't want to leave. He and Greg had a chance to get out on a sailboat the last day.

It was an interesting week, a time where old and new things collided. Lots of folks from Pearce church attend FC so it was a good time to reconnect with old friends.

The Harp family and the Kuhlkin family have been friends for many years, going way back to when they attended Parkminster Pres together. Greg, Jon and Thom were in scouts together with Mike and Dave. Greg and Mike have both worked for Young Life. They even applied for their first ministry jobs at the same church. Mike got the job and shortly there after we moved to Florida to work at First Christian. Fast forward a few years to Greg working as the youth pastor of Pearce church and Mike doing Young Life in Rochester. They often paired up to do ministry together and were a great source of encouragement to each other. Who can better understand a wacky youth guy than another wacky youth guy?! Fast forward a bit more and you find us at Ransomville FMC and now Mike is leading the youth at Pearce. This past week Mike lead the teens at family camp and once again we all were together. Thursday nights of family camp are reserved for a baptismal service and Mike and Greg were asked to participate in some of the baptisms...as a team. Isn't it cool to see how God weaves together our lives? I am sure if you got Mom, Dad, Char and Roe Kuhlkin together, they would tell you they had no clue their sons would end up in ministry, let alone doing baptisms together! It was a cool service, 23 people in all were baptized. Thanks to our friend, John, we have a couple of wonderful photos to share with you. This was on the shore of Lake Ontario...going in....

And coming out...

"He is a new creation, the old has gone, the new has come" 2 Cor 5:17

Greg also ran into a couple of people from his years at Rochester Christian HS. Greg hadn't seen Jason Storm since those days, more than 20 years ago and there he was at family camp! The boy that Kaleb befriended happened to be Jason's step-son. The last night at camp they invited us over for supper and we were joined by George and Kathy Merz! George is another one from the Parkminster days and Kathy we met through Young Life. They are friends with the Storms and were visiting for the day. We had a great time of fellowship that night!

At the start of the week I had no idea what lie ahead. On our last night there Greg and I were walking back to the cottage and he commented to me "you've changed". He was referencing that I had sort of come alive as the week progressed. I was more out-going, more talkative, more joyful. I think I felt more myself than I have in a very long time. That makes me both happy and sad. Where has my old self been?? I hope it sticks around awhile.

Today the boys are headed to Covenant Acres Camp for the week. More of the new and old colliding. We arranged it so that they would be there at the same time as several of their old friends from Rochester. They have been looking forward to this week for a long time. I bet Kaleb will have a week where he feels more like his old self too. I can't wait to hear their stories!

Blessings!