25 Years of Growing in Hope

This past weekend was the 25th Anniversary Celebration of Hope Mennonite Church in Wichita. The church has been planning for this day for a year and plans were in full swing when Brett became their pastor in March. The last few months, especially, have been full of meetings and planning and it all paid off. Saturday was marked by community service events in Newton and Wichita and Sunday was a day of celebration on a gorgeous Fall Sunday!

Hope has a rich history of purposeful ritual and tradition and Sunday was the day to remember their beginning and the road they have travelled to this point. Former pastors returned as well as congregants who had moved away.

One of the church's traditions is to create a banner for each year. It marks significants events in the life of the church as well as members; births, deaths, anniversaries, graduations, etc. Certain banners hang in the sanctuary on a regular basis and for this event banners from every year were displayed in the building. As the service began there was a procession of banners from 1985, 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005, and this year's-2010. They were carried by individuals or families for whom that year was significant. The banners carry the theme "Sharing our Hope", except for this year, "Growing in Hope".

Also part of the service was the dedication of the sanctuary mural, painted by three wonderfully talented women from the church. The mural depicts the life of Christ and seasons of the Christian calendar in a beautiful design and array of color. I was MOST impressed when Brett told us that these women painted from a 25' tall scaffolding!  It is a goregous view that anyone leading worship gets to see.

We are always so blessed by the music, whether it be by the choir, acapella congregation singing or the "Hopeful Blues". This group can make great music!

At the conclusion of the service we all moved outside for the tree planting. This is another tradition marking significant events in the life of the church. A lovely blue spruce was in place and the children were allowed to put in the first shovels of dirt, followed by adults.

They ended the day with a catered banquet and lots of remembering. Perfect finish for a perfect celebration!

Praise be to God - the Giver of our hope!

Making Memories!

Yesterday was the last day of half-day kindergarten for Isabel. She's come home to our house every Tuesday-Friday for the last six weeks. Monday she will go full day. We've had lots of fun with her. She and Papa have gone to Taco Bell for lunch on several Wednesdays when I'm at Bible study.

We've played lots of games. One game she and I like is the Memory Game. She's amazing. As Brett said, her brain isn't as cluttered as mine, so she can remember more!

Friday was an early-release day for Moira and Audrey and so they arrived home about 1:45. I wanted to do something fun with the three of them that didn't cost money. Rich suggested a hike on the Sand Creek Trail, near Bethel College, here in North Newton. They were excited. Audrey suggested they write down the things they saw. Great idea! So I put water and necessary stuff in my backback and we drove to the trail.

It's a lovely trail, easy walking, covered in wood chips so it's not dusty. It's very wooded with many different species native to Kansas.

They ventured off to explore but came to a cliff so returned to the trail.

Moira and Audrey loved running ahead, but that freaked out Isabel. She was so afraid we would lose them. The trail goes in a giant loop around much of the Sand Creek and we went about half way around before turning back.

When we returned to town the girls were surprised to see how the creek widened and became much deeper. Great observation!

We came across this little memorial to someone's beloved dachshund. Moira read the writing and all went. "Ohhhhh".

 This post marked a high water mark during heavy rain this past June 13.  I'm such a poor judge of distance but it was a long way. The next photo the creek is in lower portion, between the two forked branches, and water went all the way up the bank and over the trail. Quite a distance!



On the way back, Mo wanted to run ahead so the rest of us walked, taking a little break whenever we came to a bench. I was trudging ahead, watching the path carefully (so I wouldn't trip/fall and re-injure my ankle) and just focussing on catching up with Mo. When I heard a giggle, I turned around and there were Isabel and Audrey sitting on a bench up the bank when I went hiking right by them. They were very proud of themselves that they had fooled me and thought it was quite hilarious!

So how do you end a very fun afternoon, why with a trip to Sonic, of course. Mo asked if they could order ANYTHING. Sure. Pure pleasure - all the way around.

Fall is Here!

Fall arrived here with a rainy day and PROMISE of cooler temperatures! WAHOO! That makes me a HAPPY girl!

This is what our dining room table looks like - all decked out for Fall.

To celebrate the first day of Fall, Isabel and I thought it would be fun to make caramel apples. So after her USUAL lunch of PB&J, we began.

Her first job was to dry the apples and remove the stems.

She carefully dipped in the hot caramel.

Into the fridge to let the caramel set.

Let it be said that parchment paper works MUCH better than buttered wax paper!

Isabel's bottom front tooth was very loose, she could almost push it out with her tongue. So while waiting for our apples to "set", I tried to pull it, but it was so stinkin' little that I couldn't get hold of it.  We decided she could just eat her apple on the side.

After an hour we sat down to eat our yummy treats. They were delicious. The tart crispness of the Honeycrisp apple with the buttery, sticky, sweetness of the caramel. Pure decadence! We were two happy girls!

I made a quick trip to my office when I heard a panicky "G.R.A.N.D.M.A.!!  I swallowed my tooth!!" Sure enough her bowl was empty. It must have gone down with the last bite of apple. She was a V.E.R.Y. good sport about it and I'll bet the Tooth Fairy will still make a stop at her house tonight!

The first day of Fall was a good day here.  Hope it was for you too!

Parsley and Caterpillars

This spring I planted curly and flat-leaf parsley in two of our deck pots. I had read they were good for attracting butterflies (remember this point!) and so that would bring some fun gardening. As summer progressed, so did the parsley. I loved cutting it for cooking and it grew back quickly.

Lo and behold, one day I saw these "green, yellow and black things", eating my parsley in front of my own eyes. Surely they were garden pests!! I plucked them off for several days until they disappeared. The parsley grew back. And then one day I was reading a column that I enjoy in the Wichita paper that talks about what is blooming and growing in the Wichita Botanical Gardens. Lo and behold! What was featured and photographed in the article was the Swallowtail Caterpillar - those "green, yellow, and black things" in my pots! Oh my! When I told the girls about it, all they said was "Ohhhh, Grannnndma!" I felt like a really big meanie!

Not to worry. The little critters reappeared. At first not more than what looked like a 1/2" piece of moving dirt. Then very quickly they changed colors and were the very same caterpillars!

In no time at all they devoured my bush of curly parsley (you can see only short little stalks remain!) and being the "Good Mother" than I am, I began breaking off some of the flat-leaf so that they could continue munching away.

Moira thought we should put two caterpillars in a large plastic cup, place some sticks and parsely in it, cover it with plastic wrap and give them some air holes, then watch for a chrysalis to appear. Great idea! So twice a day the two caterpillars got two branches of parsley - EACH. These little critters were getting big, now over two inches in length and were becoming quite the "poopers". Google said they'd get 3-4 inches before the next stage. By this time, I was getting tired of the smell of the poop in my kitchen so I set them outside on the deck.

The next night we had rain. They were OK. I moved them to what I thought was a safer place but the wind blew the cup over and when I checked, one had crawled out. No problem, we thought now there would be more room for one chrysalis. Well, when I checked again, the other had crawled out. Too bad. I was really getting into seeing what they would eventually look like. Bummer!

Just before I went back into the house, I turned and this is what graced me!

The largest, most beautiful Monarch butterfly I've ever seen. So now I hope the Swallowtail caterpillars will reappear as butterflies. After all, the parsley is growing again so lunch will be ready!

Grandparents Day

Last Friday was Grandparents Day at Maeve's pre-school. We went for "muffins and tea" (milk for her).

When we entered and introduced ourselves the  rather "round" lady at the door said, "Oh I love Maeve! She loves to eat!" This very petite little girl, who still wears size 18-24 months clothes! - is a GOOD eater!

We did a craft, presumably a couple of photo frames because they took a photo of the three of us. Papa layed down a strip of glue and Maeve placed the beads and colored macaroni, all of her choice on the frames. (These short little tables and chairs were a challenge!) :0

We went outside to play. Her favorite place to play is the sandbox. How can she even sit like this??? I know I NEVER could!



We were there about an hour and then had to leave to get home for Isabel's return from school. It was a fun little visit!

California Visitors!

Jeremy and Renee blessed us with a short 'n sweet visit over Labor Day weekend. It was their last trip before their baby girl is born!

We simply enjoyed each other's company for four days! They wanted to hear Brett preach, so we went to Hope for church and then did Audrey's birthday dinner.

Brett, Esther and girls gave them a very full, very sweet bag of little girl clothes. The girls were so excited as Renee took each one from the bag!

Brett L.O.V.E.S. it when his brothers come to town! He took Jeremy & Renee to breakfast before they caught their flight back to LA. What "hot spot" breakfast place could that be??? Well, Charlie's truck stop, of course! Don't we know how to live!! Actually Rich took Jeff and Cole there earlier this summer and they loved it. Jeff even got a haircut there!

Brett said this photo was of a "belly contest" and Renee LOST!

We're so blessed to have our kids make these visits! One of my agonies in leaving California was that I was afraid I wouldn't get to know and have a relationship with whomever God chose to be Jeremy's wife. I can truthfully say that I've been so blessed. Renee is so open and friendly - and so loving to Rich and me - it feels like we've known her for years.

Thanks kids for making OUR weekend so special!

A Birthday Surprise!

Audrey asked for a yellow birthday cake. I told her it would be a surprise.

So... I began with these.

They stacked up like this....

A mighty big blow!

It's a rainbow!

A very satisfied 8 year old!

So how do you make a rainbow cake?? It's easy, but does take a fair amount of time. But SO worth it!

Recipe:

2 white cake mixes - prepared according to package directions.
Wilton icing colors in purple, blue, green, yellow, orange and red. V.E.R.Y. important to use these, NOT your common food coloring. Can get the Wilton colors at Wal-Mart or anywhere cake decorating supplies are sold.

Make one cake mix at a time. Measure out 1.5 cups of cake batter into an individual bowl. You will have enough batter for three individual bowls. Start with 1/2 teaspoon of one color (original recipe said 1 teaspoon of color, so go as bold as you like) and mix in one batter bowl until well blended and color is vibrant, follow with remaining bowls. Pour cake batter into prepared 9" cake pans. Bake at 350 degrees. Watch carefully as it doesn't take as long to bake, anywhere from 12-20 minutes, depending upon oven. Cool in pans 10 minutes and then turn out on wire cooling rack. Prepare second cake mix and follow same directions, ending with six layers, each a color of the rainbow. Trim the crown of cake layers, as needed, to make a level cake. This is REALLY important so it stands tall and STRAIGHT!  Frost with your favorite icing.  I used my basic powdered sugar/butter frosting with some cream cheese added to cut the sweetness.  I also poked thin wooden skewers through all layers to provide support. This is a tall cake!

It was a very fun birthday surprise! Moira wants one for her birthday - next June!