Kartwrights in Brazil

Last Monday Our son Kartwright left for a month long mission in Brazil with a group of Impact 360 students. Please pray for him and his fellow students as they spread the good news of Jesus. Friday we were able to skype with him, and he looks and sounds terrific. I am so excited about all the Lord is teaching him, and doing in and through him. This video just shows a small tidbit of what he is involved in. He is the big guy in the baseball cap playing Jonah.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=ZUVytGvd8xs

SOAP noodle soup

Home made laundry soap is all the talk lately, have you noticed? So much so, that it is as if those who are not making their own, are somehow irresponsible. I began to feel guilty every time I bought a big jugO'Tide (I know, I have guilt issues),and I caved to blog pressure. So I went a googling, and found a laundry soap recipe, and went for it.

There were only 3 ingredients, how hard could that be?? All 3 were at my local Publix super market...cool! The recipe said after all was said and done, each load would only cost 1 cent! That sounded GREAT to me, and I specifically chose a recipe that made only one gallon, because I knew I didn't have containers to put several gallons into, or a space to store them.

The Fels Naptha was easy to grate, and then I measured out, and poured into the water, both the washing soda  and Borax. Easy peesie lemon squeezie I thought. As I stirred my soap soup I grinned as the thrill of victory set in, and I planned the blog post where I would tell you all what a happy and successful home maker I am.

 

Then I remembered the laundry, and I quickly set off to get it done. Soon after the first load went in, my trusty front loader started singing warning signals that something wasn't right. She was literally spewing water out the front of the machine where the soap dispenser was housed. The bottom drawer, full of beach towels, had already filled with water, and there was about an inch on the floor. We have been in this house for less than 4 months, and this is the second time we have flooded the laundry room. We aren't going to talk about the first.....no, we aren't...I said no!

Pride goes before the fall I often quote, and I and my soap soup were falling hard! I called out to my resident handy man, and after shop vac-ing my mess, he set out to find the problem. Apparently my machine was rejecting the water, because her pipes were blocked.

Now in an effort to fully disclose, I must add that there was a broken piece of plastic lodged in her parts, acting as a sort of dam, where the soap had coagulated preventing the water from flowing into the washer, as opposed to into the laundry room (how's that for a run-on sentance Mrs. Rawls?). The soap was however the real culprit, who knows how long the piece of plastic had been hanging out comfortably in the bowels of the white Samsung.

I went back to the beginning and read in the recipe that I was supposed to wait 24 hours before using the soap. The next morning I had a gallon of what could have been mistaken as lard! I scraped it into a larger pot, added 2 gallons of water, and heated it up. The recipe said it should look like noodle soup, and it did. 24 hours later it was jello, hard jello. I added another gallon of water, heated it up, noodle soup again. In case you have lost count, we now have 4 gallons of soap soup, in a pot, on my stove. 24 hours later.......noodle soup, 4 gallons of soap noodle soup.

Easy peesie lemon squeezie.

Anybody need some laundry soap??



Giant snow balls,muffin tops,COURAGE??

I have been missing in action in blog land since just before we moved. Life was being lived. In an effort to have some record of what's been happening, if for no one but myself, I am going to quickly recap the last two months.

The move from Georgia, to Florida, was uneventful other than the extra two days that it took! Everything arrived in one piece save a pottery bowl, and a few glasses. The unpacking and settling in took longer than I ever imagined.....and that is when the Holidays took over my life like a giant rolling snowball, and I could not stop its rhythm long enough to hang a picture or organise a drawer.

November marked my 47th year.....it's just a number ladies. It can not define me any more than my growing muffin top, or the ever deepening wrinkles on my brow. Lets just agree though that growing old is pretty much yucky.....I don't care what they tell you, don't believe them, it's yucky. Going to the cheesecake factory to "celebrate" with my family was pretty much heaven though, we had a wonderful time over indulging, and said muffin top came in handy to pad me as they rolled me back out to my car afterwords.

Thanksgiving wasn't long after that, and again we over indulged. This time at the home of my sweet niece Ellie Mae (Ellen) and her hubby, and two precious boys. It was fun to reconnect with my family and see all the growing babies. I took nary a photo as I forgot my camera. I was disappointed, but took the opportunity to just be in the moment for a change, instead of documenting it as usual. There was more food than you would need to feed an army, and I ate more than my share! We then had the privilege of caring for two year old Clairebell for the weekend.

One week later we sent Kartwright back to school, and delivered the girls to Hilton Head for an extended play date with their grandparents and flew off to Cancun Mexico to celebrate 25 years of wedded bliss and jump start our next 25 with a bang! The sun was warm, the water was aqua, the sand was white, and the company was my FAVORITE! Again, the food was plentiful, and we partook, plentifully! The Mexican waiters liked to call it a booofet (buffet), always made me smile, and at our favorite restaurant, each night was a different theme. Our goal was relaxation, and Cancun did not disappoint!

We returned to the bustle of Christmas in the states, and it was palpable when we landed in the Miami airport. We had two weeks to get ready for the big day, so the pressure was on. Internet shopping was my new go to plan. So, the girls were retrieved, the college boy returned, my parents joined the fun, and son number one and his beautiful family were able to come for Christmas dinner! Somehow most of the pictures were hung, and errant boxes were banished to the garage and everything came together. Jesus was worshipped, His Birthday was aptly celebrated, and once again.....food, lots of it.

And, now we come to New Years. I LOVE new beginnings, fresh starts, clean slates, try agains.

So, see ya 2011, you were great! We learned a lot, and with each disappointment came a surprise right around the corner. We said good bye to our third son, not forever, but he is grown now, and the hormonal scales  have tipped quite sharply toward estrogen. Our house of boys has become feminised, and Michael stands alone as protector....aka spider killer. We welcomed a new sweet bundle of boyness with the arrival of Grandbaby Ryder in August, and all of us relocated further south, have new work, and fresh beginnings. My one word for the year 'Kind' was used often, and practised even more, but stands still very far from perfected. It will be an on going resolution for our home, and added to the list of one words.

I have been ruminating on my one word for 2012. My problem comes not in thinking of a possibility, but of narrowing down many, to just one, and the narrowing has come to this.

COURAGE

 I have heard much talk about the lack of need for resolutions this season....not needed? Perhaps not, but I think they can prove useful. Resolutions can be a starting point, a rendezvous of ideas that join and help make things happen. Just a tiny jump start to the beginning of something big. Big ideas have to start somewhere, and they also require a measure of courage.

It is a word just for me, very personal, and yet many may be brushed by it's afterglow I suppose. I need it, I must practise it, pray for it, encourage it, nurture it, and possess it, and maybe just maybe my little word can be the start of something big as well!

Have you picked a word yet??

Final goodbye

We are back in Georgia to pack up the house for the BIG move. No, it hasn't sold yet, but our six months in the villa are almost up, and we had to rent something more permanent. Outside is luxuriously beautiful, and even though the leaves are well past their prime, they show quite beautifully.

Inside, not so much! Four strangers, two days, 276 boxes, and one huge mess! And guess what?? Someone wants to see the house tomorrow! No, I can't make this stuff up! The house has sat, show house ready, for SIX months, and had very little action, now they call! Really, really??

Outside it is beautiful!

Inside, ummmmmmmm, really??

Outside, cute as can be,

but they aren't for sale...well, not today (smile).

Inside, Ohhhh myyyyy!

Outside! yeah!

Inside, blah!

Okay Lord, time to do a miracle!

We call it Candy night

The girls were paper dolls this year, the easiest costumes ever! They were so easy I almost felt guilty for not giving more blood swear and tears into the project. Not only were they super easy, they were a big hit, especially with the older folks. I was a little afraid that people wouldn't know what they were, but it was obvious that paper dolls brought back fond memories for lots of people. Several strangers asked where we got the costumes, "ummmmmm, they're just cardboard??!" The girls were so excited, and they must have thanked me forty times!

This guy really cracked me up, I just had to take his picture. He looked to be a very masculine man, and he was very stern with the children he was with, and so serious. Definitely not the type you would expect to find in a flamingo suit.....so funny. How do you wear a blow up bright pink flamingo suit, and not smile.

This family went all out. The mom is cut out of the pic, but she was the tin man, and the baby was the lion. It was fun to see so many adults dressed up this year, and very few creepy ones here in our "new home town".

 

This man looked to be eight feet tall. He was also very serious, but at least that went with his costume.

Over all we had a terrific Candy night and the girls went to bed exhausted, in spite of being hopped up on twizzlers and Reese peanut butter cups.

Funny

Kartwright was home last weekend for fall break.

The girls were ecstatic to have him back!

I think his personal space was invaded repeatedly.

Funny how personal space seems to grow as you grow older.

Funny how just five weeks can change things.

Funny how some things never change.

Funny how funny Kartwright is.

Life is funny.

legacy or not?

My Mom recently lost her last sibling, my Aunt Nanny (Nancy). She was a good aunt, even if she did get a tad bit demanding in her old age.  When I was a little girl she used to bring a bag of candy to our house once a week for us to share, and she and my mom would sit at the kitchen table and talk. Every Spring she would overpay my sisters and I to "clean" her already immaculate house! I remember wiping down wood paneling with lemon scented Murphy's oil soap, and dusting hard back condensed version readers digest books. Every cupboard in the kitchen was emptied and washed, her sewing basket was organised, the chrome faucets were polished, and even the leaves of the plastic plants in her front door planter were shined to perfection. In my adolescent mind I thought it all very silly, and pointless, to clean an already clean house, come to think of it, I still think it pointless.

 

Nanny would drive me home after a short day of "cleaning" in her tiny red Volkswagen beetle. I thought her life was so cool. She was a career woman, and she dressed nicely everyday to be important and looked up to. She talked often of her job at Storey's Piano Factory, and the people that she was over. She didn't have any children, just one step son who was by then, grown and gone. I never saw Nanny working hard over piles of dirty laundry, or cooking over a hot stove for her family. She spent her days off, golfing at the country club, and learning to play the piano. In contrast to my own mother, her life seemed so easy and carefree, and I dreamed of one day being like her.

Aunt Nanny was a talker, never at a loss for words, never short on opinions, but I never remember having a conversation with her about anything of eternal value. She went to church every Sunday, and I know she was a believer in Jesus, but she didn't talk about her faith, at least not with me. I knew she was very proud of me, and she often told me I was pretty, and that my hair was shiny. She gave me lots of compliments about my physical appearance through out the years, and as an adult she always said my children were precious. That's what I remember about my Aunt Nanny, She was a nice lady, and I don't mean any disrespect, but it has just caused me to ponder.

A few Sundays ago we sang a familiar hymn in church, one that I had grown up singing, one that at the moment I can not remember the name of. It's sound carried me back to my childhood in Spring Lake Michigan and the dimly lit baptist church I attended as a small brown eyed girl, and I could almost hear my parents singing right next to me. When I came out of my little day dream about the past, I realised my 7 year old ElizaJane was belting out the tune sure and strong beside me, and her 12 year old sister Haven next to her. What a legacy my parents left I thought, and my mind drifted back to how the Lord has used my parents to create such a strong legacy for Him.

My parents made a decision to follow the Lord, and walk in his ways when they were in their 20s I believe, when they had two small children. It is my understanding that they had both heard the gospel before that, and stories have revealed that my fathers grandmother was a strong believer, but I think they really made a commitment, and began to serve Him in their local church, at that time. They went on to have 4 children in all, me being the baby. Boy I sure am glad that little surprise happened! All four children have married, so there are now also 4 children-in-laws, and then came 11 grandchildren. Five of those grands have now married bringing that total to 16, and now there are 8 great grand children and counting. That would be thirty two people from this one couple. That my friends is a wonderful legacy, and puts a new spin on the whole be fruitful and multiply. So, because in part, this young couple made the conscious decision that they were going to serve someone bigger then themselves, there is a family that will spend eternity together, not to mention the myriad of blessings we have encountered here on earth because of our faith.

Legacy has been large and in charge in my thought life lately. perhaps because of a sweet little somebody named Ryder that recently joined our family, and who has the middle name Clifford, after my dad by the way, and Michael after both of his grandfathers. 

What have I been left....what will I leave...Will my children and grandchildren, some day remember that I cared about their spiritual condition, and have I communicated those things that are important, and not just those things that are temporal? Will I be remembered the way I hope to be remembered, and for those things  that I really believe to be important? I want to be remembered as a nice lady, and a kind lady, and even a lady that told them they were pretty, but oh I pray to be remembered for so much more than that.

What about you, what will your legacy be?