Below are pictures of our day at Lake Skonewood. Some of these cutie patooties aren't ours, but I couldn't resist taking the pictures of little girls in pink dresses throwing rocks into the lake!:) My daughter, Lily (in orange), is with her cousin Bodie and another of my daughters, Paulina (in blue) is with her cousin Cami (Bodie's sister). It was SO neat to have them there for this special day! Natalie, Olivia, Kaci, Alex and Billy ~ we wish you could've been there!

Oh so CUTE!

Baptism Day!

Today was a WONDERFUL day. The weather was perfect and three of my daughters followed their profession of faith with baptism. Ephesians 2:8-9 says "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast." My girls understand that it is only by asking Jesus to save them from their sins that they can be saved. It was our annual church picnic at Lake Skonewood and what better place to be baptised than at a lake in 85 degree weather?? Their Grandma Margie, Aunt Carrie, Grandma J., Aunt Marnie, Grandpa Dean and cousins all came, not to mention tons of friends and church family. It couldn't have been more perfect. Here are some pictures of our special day. Reading for the day is John 3:3 (one of my favorite verses).

Dog Days of Summer

We've been getting ready for tomorrow's big day. Three of my daughters are getting baptised at Lake Skonewood! I will be posting the pics after tomorrow, but today I'll put on a picture of the cake we ordered for this special occasion.


We've also been canning today (pickles) and freezing more corn. So far I think we have about 15 quarts done. Not nearly enough! Lots more to be done this coming week. The tomatoes are STARTING to turn red! Woo-hoo!!! We're going to have a ton of squash so I'll have to figure out what I can do with it as I've never "messed" with squash before. This is all so FUN! I've also posted a picture of our "canning shelf". Lots of raspberry jam left and we're just getting started with those pickles. The bottom shelf has a couple of jars of cinnamon flavored applesauce. I need to find a good source of apples as our trees aren't producing yet. It'll probably be a couple of years.


Ed's Grandma "B" isn't doing well. Yory and I went to visit her yesterday (she's in at the nursing home in Luck) and she didn't look good. I think she was aware of me but couldn't speak, so I read some Psalms to her. I think she liked that. Then some more of her relatives came, so Yory and I left. Ed saw her today, but she was sleeping. Pray for her please as I don't know how much time she has left.

Now Maddy would like to type a message to everyone...

Hi Everyone! (Aunt Leenie & Aunt Dawn)
I am so happy that Yory, Lily, & Paulina have decided to get baptized!
It is sure going to be a fun day for our family, and all the church members for that matter.

Helping Mom can has been fun this summer. Boy did we get a lot of raspberries!
We got like 47 quart jars of it, but it was sooooooooo good that we gobbled up a lot of it right away! We picked every day for about two weeks, (except for a break here and there), and all 7 of us that picked got almost full bowls each time we picked. That's a lot of berries.

I hope you all have a good Sunday tomorrow! -Maddy

P.S. We couldn't resist putting a picture of "the flying sausage" on the blog. She has been a great "help" in canning, yardwork, making beds, vacuuming, etc.!!! NOT.

Take a Peek

Here are some pictures of the kids, the garden, etc...

Welcome Aboard!

Hello family and friends ~

I have finally started our family's blogspot, so now you can see a little bit of what's going on in our lives. I will try to update it once every week or two, but you know how time flies!

The summer has gone swiftly by - we're already bringing in the "harvest". So far we've canned raspberry jam, pickles, pickled green beans and applesauce. I just started freezing corn and have a long long way to go. Next will be salsa! We have so many green tomatoes that I made fried green tomatoes for the first time. They were delicious although only two of my children liked them. Here is the recipe if you'd like to try making them yourself...

Zesty Fried Green Tomatoes

4 med. green tomatoes, cut into 1/4-inch slices

Salt

2 eggs

1/2 cup cornmeal

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon garlic salt

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)

1/4 to 1/2 cup olive oil

Sprinkle both sides of tomatoes with salt; let stand for 10 minutes. In a shallow bowl beat the eggs. In another shallow bowl combine the cornmeal, Parmesan cheese, flour and seasonings. Pat tomatoes dry. Dip in eggs, then coat with cornmeal mixture.

In large skillet, heat 1/4 cup oil over medium heat. Fry tomatoes, a few at a time, for 3-4 minutes on each side or until golden brown, adding more oil as needed. Drain tomatoes on paper towels. Serve warm. Yield: 6 servings.

Right now it is very peaceful here as all of the kids are outside making a movie. Viktor and Mike bought a video camera and they've all been working on a re-make of Lord of the Rings! Paulina asked if she could fall in the swamp for one of the scenes - they're very serious about this! I'll let you know how it turns out.

Until next time...Laura

P.S. Chapter of the Bible for the day....Psalm 38