WELCOME HOME DEAR FRIENDS

True friends are few and far between!!

Acquaintances and casual friends can be many, and praise God we are blessed with them, but true friends who can weather separation (whether willful or forced by circumstances) and remain close, abiding friends is truly a gift of God. Such is our friendship with this family.

(left to right from back) Michael, Brittany (Britty), Emily, Kahri, Mickey, Ethan & Kaedra (Kaedy)

Our Pastor recently taught on prayer and said "God always hears and answers our prayers. Some times it's "yes", some times it's "no", and some times it's "wait". Their return and move back to their home in Broken Arrow is one of those "wait" prayers that was answered two days ago.

Our ties date back to November, 2004, shortly after Kaedy was born. I invite you to read Kaedra's story. If you have meet me through this Penless Writer blog it is due to Kahri who first exposed me to blogland and was responsible for my finally stepping out in January, 2007 and becoming Penless Writer.

ANYWAY!!!!! We are just so happy to have them back & become an active part of our life once again.

So Thursday night, to welcome them home we were blessed to take dinner in to them.

The cold stuff: ice tea, milk, salad, salad dressing, & ice.

The hot meal: Swiss Chicken, green beans, hot french bread, & brownies.

Utincils!!


As always, this family always gives more than they receive and our Kaedy had drawn this lovely heart for us!!!!!!!

It was such a joy to get our long awaited hugs from them and we look forward to getting acquainted with Ethan who we had only seen as a new born in the hospital!

You'll be hearing a lot about Kahri & her family in my blog posts as they are truly "part of our family".

WELCOME HOME!!!

WE LOVE YOU!!!

A big thank you to granddaughter Oksana who help me prepare the Swiss Chicken & the brownies!!! Grandson Aric was really wanting to sample a brownie, but that was not allowed :o)

CATCHING UP!!!

Life has been so busy for me this month that I have only posted 9 times in the past 29 days of July. I am using this post to try and play some "catch up".

On July 2nd, which by the way would have been my Mother's birthday, I received the following award,

The RULES are:

•Thank the blogger who awarded it to you: Thank you so much Bobbi of Great Adventures II

•Sum up your blogging philosophy, motivation, and experience using five (5) words:

TRUTHFUL, SPIRITUAL, HERITAGE, REWARDING, FUN

Pass it on to 10 other blogs which you feel have real substance: Every other reward I have received I have always passed it along as required.....BUT this time I am going to leave it up to my readers. If I read & comment on your blog and you consider your blog to be "A Blog With Substance" please accept this award from Penless Writer. Thanks~!

Some close friends of ours gave us these wonderful looking and tasting peaches from their very own peach tree!!! Aren't they beautiful? Trust me, they are very tasty.

With our wonderful blueberries, & these peaches I added a store bought banana and have been enjoying a delightful bowl of this healthy eating every morning. Yum and double yummy!!!

Tomato's galore from Mickey's garden this year :o) He planted 4 plants and he has been bringing in a supply like this every few days. We have eaten tomato's almost every day, sliced, in salads, & bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches. We have given some away and I have 9 (to date) 2 cup containers full in our freezer. Have this many to work up this morning. They will continue coming until frost time, that is a l-o-n-g way off!! Thank you Lord for your bounty, blessing & harvest.

I had recently attended a 3 hour training class, put on by our local County Election Board, to learn about assisting at elections. Shortly after attending the class I was assigned to participate at one of the election sites.

Tuesday was our Primary Election here in Oklahoma and I worked as a Clerk from 6:30 a.m. until 7:30 p.m. (you can take a lunch but you cannot leave the premise). It was a totally new experience for me and I enjoyed it thoroughly: found it both fun and very interesting. I worked with 3 other delightful woman. I love meeting new people. It was also fun having people I know coming in to vote and saying (with a shocked look on their face) "Hi Susan - What are you doing here?"

There are 1500 registered voters in the precinct I worked and we ended up with 324 voters. Isn't that sad?!!!! Only 21.6%. Of course some people vote by Absentee Ballot I realize, but it's still so sad that so few people take their privilege and responsibility so lightly. I know a lot higher percentage do vote in the General Election but they should realize how important it is to research and get the right candidate, of their party or choice, on the ballot for the General Election. SO please VOTE!!!!

Yesterday, I received a call from the Election Board asking me first to work the Run-Off Election, which will be held on August 24th, and then asked if I would be willing to be assigned to this Precinct to work on a permanent basis. I was delighted to be asked, and delighted to accept.

We had both Aric & Oksana this week on Wednesday & Thursday. On Wednesday we took them to eat at McD's and then to see the movie, Despicable Me. They thought it was cute and enjoyed it......me, not so much!!! I am always appalled at the price you have to pay at the movies for pop-corn and soda drinks......but....what's the movies without those things? Then it was home and to Wednesday night Church services.

Yesterday, after they got up (which wasn't early!) it was off to the dough-nut shop. Then Oksana and I spent a good part of the day cooking. I'll post about that in another post tomorrow.......so please come back to read it.

Aric & Oksana had to be up at 5:30 a.m. this morning and are flying off to California to spend 2 weeking with their Aunt, Uncle & Cousins. They will also be seeing their Maternal Grandparents, their Great-Grandmother, other Aunts and Cousins. I know they'll have a grand time. Aric was a little apprehensive about the plane flight but he'll do fine. Thankfully they do not have to change flights either going or coming back.

I am truly blessed to live a wonderful, busy, satisfying and very happy life!!!!!

BLUEBERRIES

I was blessed with being given 2 large bags of fresh, just picked, blueberries. YUM!!

I love eating them on my cereal with milk for breakfast and have been doing that BUT one must make Blueberry Muffins!

The recipe is from the lady who gave me the blueberries.

CAFE BLUEBERRY MUFFINS

2 C flour

3 t baking powder

1/2 t salt

3/4 C milk

1/3 C butter

1 C blueberries

2/3 C sugar

2 eggs

Mix ingredients & bake at 425 degrees for 18-20 minutes

Makes 12 muffins

Two of my favorite people eating hot, out of the oven muffins.....with butter of course.


The evidence


I'm not really saluting...I was wiping the sweat (excuse me - prespiration!) from my brow!! But these muffins do deserve a salute.

Coming attractions: Blueberry Cobbler

ABOUT AGE & AGING

Three years ago, soon after beginning this Penless Writer blog, I wrote a post entitled IN THIS SKIN about my view of aging. A number of months ago a blog friend suggested I re-post that writing. Since it is one that I have on my side-bar I felt like most everyone who reads this blog had probably already read it and so did not.

Lately I've had quite a few people who know me in REAL life, as well as in this magic Blogland, comment on how young acting I am and how they forget how "old" I really am!!!! I'd been thinking about this quite a bit lately and then a few days ago I was going through some old quotes that I have, love and treasure, and stumbled on this one:

"Youth is not entirely a time of life; it is a state of mind. Nobody grows old by merely living a number of years. People grow old by deserting their ideals. You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubt; as young as your self-confidence, as old as your fear; as young as your hope, as old as your despair." Douglas MacArthur

Three years ago, when I wrote the IN THIS SKIN post I was 69 years young. Now I am 72 years young! and I believe both what I wrote then and this wonderful quote by McArthur even more today than ever.

This aging process, this growing older, this journey through life, truly is so very much about our attitudes, our outlook, our view of life, and most importantly our view of our eternal home and where we are going than it is the mere passing of these 365 days a year, year after year.

So for all of you many out there who are so much younger chronologically than I am please be assured......growing older is not bad at all!!!!

To close with another great Douglas MacArthur quote:

"In the central place of every heart there is a recording chamber. So long as it receives a message of beauty, hope, cheer and courage - so long are you young. When the wires are all down and our heart is covered with the snow of pessimism and the ice of cynicism, then, and only then, are you grown old."

A DAY IN THE KITCHEN

I wonder how many of you are like me and sometimes end up spending the better part of a day in the kitchen. That is what I did this past Saturday.

Last Monday, after bible study, Kelli & I drove to the peach orchard and split a 1/2 bushel of fresh peaches. Yummy!!!!

In addition, Mickey's garden has been producing tomato's and cucumbers galore. So I decided Saturday was a day to get some of these items put up. A couple of weeks ago I had stewed enough tomato's to fill 4 two cup containers each for the freezer.


I stewed another 2 cup container of tomato's for the freezer. In addition I had a bag of apples that were getting too ripe so I stewed up all but 2 of them and made this bowl of Cinnamon applies. I also made a fruit salad of peaches, apples, & pineapple.

Next I baked 3 loaves of one of our favorite breads - Hawaiian Banana Nut Bread. I was going to take a loaf of this over to some new neighbors who moved in 2 doors from us but they were not at home :o(

By now it was lunch time so I fixed up a big bowl of Tuna Salad to have with our garden fresh tomato each. We love tuna salad with a lot of ingredients in it so I added: celery, pickle relish, dill pickles, apples, walnuts all blended in a mayonnaise/milk mixture.


Last, but not least, after lunch I made a peach cobbler. Sorry, but I forgot to take a picture. But trust me it was very good!!!

So I spent a great deal of time Saturday in the kitchen.

PRAYER SHAWL #2

This is the second prayer shawl I have completed and I made it for my oldest daughter, Suzette. Like the first one I made, for my second daughter, Jacque, it took me almost 2 months to finish. I am hoping the third one, I am currently working on, will not take me quite as long to complete.

My Tuesday night Bible Study group prayed over this one at our meeting on June 29th.

The card that is tucked under the cord reads: "This Prayer Shawl was handmade and prayed over by your mother, Susan Errett Joyce, in 2010. It represents tangible evidence of my prayer and love for you, my child. I ask my Lord Jesus for you to receive His healing, His love, and His hope. As you wrap yourself in this shawl, may you find His comfort as it represents His arms around you.

Jeremiah 31:16-17 - Psalma 33:11 - Proverbs 22:6"

Our church has a Prayer Shawl Ministry that I first posted about here if you missed it and care to read about it.

HONEY HYDRATE DRINK

Ever since Mickey ended up in the hospital a couple of months ago from dehydration we have been extra careful about him getting enough fluid to drink.

We have been purchasing Pedia*lite & Gat*or*aide which can get a might costly.

I was delighted when looking up some honey recipes last week after he harvested the Spring Honey flow and I found this hydrate drink made with honey!!! It is so delicious I wanted to share it with everyone.

Honey Hydrate Drink

1/2 cup honey

1/2 teaspoon lite salt

2 cups orange juice

5 1/2 cups lukewarm water

Combine - Stir until honey is dissolved & refrigerate.

You can see I am bottling it up in the empty gator*aide bottles we had.

Delicious, convenient and money saving.

CELEBRATING on Two Fronts!!!

The 4th of July and the celebration of our great countries 234th Birthday was EXTRA special this year for us for many reasons and was a great day.

It was special to spend the morning excercising one of the most important freedoms we have in this country.......freedom of religion. Freedom to believe....or not believe. Freedom to walk out our front door, without fear, and attend the church of our choice. That is exactly what we did. Our Pastor's sermon was "True Freedom....Only in God". YES....we are truly free when we know Him who sets us free!!!!

Next was celebrating this freedom with our wonderful new blended family at a cook-out at their current home in Owasso.

Our grandchildren grew from 3 to 6 and we are loving that.

(left to right) Cody (9) Aaron (11) Mason (13) Aric (11) & Oksana (15)

(missing this time) Jessica.

The Hostess Deann....our wonderful new daughter-in-love

Who prepared delicious ribs AND grilled chicken breast AND hot-dogs plus all the fixings and the trimmings.

The Host - our son Marc. He might look relaxed and leisurely here but he'd been busy setting up, helping and serving.

Daughter Jacque (who brought the fresh garden salad and fixing) and granddaughter Oksana (who had prepared dozens & dozens of deviled eggs for all of us.)

We were also celebrating belated Father's Day (since we were out of town and had to cancel on Father's Day due to the funeral in Tennessee).

Mickey putting on the new Sperry Top-sider shoes he had just opened from his kids. Dave is showing off his which Mickey had seen at our last gathering and commented on. Daughter Suzette, by her husband, and Benny, barely visible on the couch by Mickey. Suzette had brought her delicious potato salad.

Me - cutting the two cakes I baked and brought. German Chocolate with home made icing and a Dark Devils f ood with white creamy icing and of course chocolate/vanilla swirl ice-cream.

After the sun went down it was to the patio and back yard for the kids to shoot off their fireworks. Each of the 5 had been given money to select the items he or she wanted.

Aaron going through his things and demonstrating one.

Oksana & Cody getting theirs ready.

Aric, who already had his items by him, and was waiting patiently on the swing for his turn. They shot them off taking turns from the oldest to the youngest, which made him next to the last.

Cody & Mason getting ready for their next round and turn.

Last, but not least, was the joy of knowing that in Coweta at our Coweta Assembly of God Church the church body (who could be there) were having a great cook-out and fireworks display and time.

BUT THE GREATEST FIREWORKS OF THIS 4TH OF JULY WAS

Our Pastor and the other 2 men who also signed the original note

burning the mortgage on our church property!!!

FINANCIAL FREEDOM

The 1.1 Million $ mortage paid off in 7 years!!!!

This quote from our Pastor: This past Sunday evening July 4th we celebrated freedom from debt and burned the mortgage on our church. In September of 2003 we entered a contract with First National Bank for $1,100,000.00. We made our last payment Thursday July 1st. Our church is now completely out of debt. The two buildings we currently have total approximately 45,000 square feet on 8 acres. God has been faithful and blessed our church even in the financial difficult time we are currently experiencing. This is not us bragging, but giving thanksgiving to the Lord. We want others to know that God is faithful and if He can do it for us, He can do it for others.

Oh yes, lots for us to celebrate & to rejoice over!!!!!!

4th of JULY

Happy 234th Birthday America!!!

Pray earnestly for our country. Pray that it will return to the God on who's Word it was founded and based.

Spring Honey Flow

This is the 3rd flow of honey that Mickey has harvested since becoming a bee keeper. One last year, one in mid-may and now the first of the Spring Honey Flow.

The first dozen bottles and caps all ready.

The honey in the bucket after being extracted and filtered once.

Mickey filters his honey two additional times before bottling it.

16 pints of pure, wonderful honey in the bottles.

The finished product!!!!!!

Pure, edible honey comb!!!!!

This post can't be closed off without also reporting that Mickey was attacked by his bee's prior to this harvesting and was stung TEN times. As one of my blog/fb friends, Kathy, said, "It just makes the honey taste sweeter."

I love it that honey is one of the foods mentioned so much in Scripture!!!

Thank you Jesus and thank you bees.

A KLOTHES KLOSET UPDATE

Even though I don't actively work in the Klothes Kloset ministry any more, since Mickey started The King's Kitchen in February, we still have a real heart for this ministry. Another wonderful ministry in our church is called Bridge Builders. It is headed up by a husband & wife team, Dianna & Danny, and began a year & a half ago for people with special needs.

About a 6 weeks ago the Bridge Builders ministry expanded to operating the Snack Bar which serves beverages & snacks before our services. They are open Saturday nights from 4 to 9 pm, Sunday mornings from 8 to 9:45 am and on Wednesdays from 2 to 7 pm. This 11 3/4 hours per week is an expansion of this ministry to oversee, train & teach skills that will help Bridge Builders participants obtain jobs in the public sector.

This article, which ran on June 11th in our Coweta American newspaper, is announcing an important step of expanding the clothing ministry hours to a 3rd day per week by being open on Saturdays from 3 to 7 pm. It is also announcing the news that the Bridge Builders are providing this service, giving them an additional 4 hours of job training skills per week.

We are totally amazed, and oh so thankful , with the way the Lord is expanding the unity and growth in so many areas within our congregation as we reach out to serve the needs of our community.