While our friend Christen was here, she made fresh salsa and gaucamole with us! It’s super easy, really tasty, and lots of fun for everyone!

So here’s what you do for the salsa…

In a mixing bowl combine the following ingredients:

There’s really no rule as to how much of everything you add. Just mix, taste, and add a little more of this or that until it agrees with your taste buds!

Now for the guacamole…

In a mixing bowl combine the following ingredients:

And just like the salsa, be creative! Do what you like to it to make it perfect…

Since we are not able to have salad dressings on our Candida diet, we have been using fresh tomatoes and avocados with every meal. Some of us were doubtful about putting the salsa and guacamole all over our salad… at first! It was DELICIOUS and we have decided to do it often.

If you do decide to create your own Mexican salad, add a little cooked brown rice for more deliciousness.

We had a special guest this week from out west! Christen lives in Wyoming, and attended a 2010 and 2011 Journey to the Heart. We were thrilled to have her come spend 5 days with us! Unfortinately we are lacking pictures of all the exciting things that happened over the weekend. Next time we need to remember to do more group shots!

One thing we learned about Christen, is that she LOVES hot peppers. In fact, she loves everything spicy! As a family, we don’t usually include jalapeno peppers and habanero peppers in our daily diet, but Christen showed us some tasty ways to include them (Since she puts them in just about everything) . One morning a few of the girls tried them in their eggs. Someone decided to fry a few so they would be less spicy. The result… well, let’s just say that when you fry jalapeno peppers, you end up inhaling the spice instead of eating it! We were all sitting around the breakfast table coughing and choking and laughing…

A few highlights from our week were:

- Doing a photo shoot an old farm behind our neighborhood.

- Preparing Christen’s special homemade salsa and gaucamole for our salads – a new delicious favorite!!!

- Singing choral arrangements and then sharing one at church (David enjoys learning them for us to sing, and Christen is an excellent pianist!).

- Playing a family game of Settlers of Catan!!!

- Visiting the horse farm in our neighborhood

- Designing fun t-shirts (another story for another time…)

- Laughing, talking, and doing fun projects all weekend!

Everyone made the most of the last night by staying up until midnight. Christen had a 7:40 flight, so some of us got up around 4:30 AM, fixed breakfast, and had a special devotional time before heading to the airport.

Thank you for coming to visit us Christen!

This Saturday we invited mothers and daughters from our church to have breakfast and fellowship! One of the ladies planned a special devotional to share with us, and we participated in a fun gift exchange game. it was a really special time of fellowship and friendship with our church family!

One of the highlights of the morning was when Mrs. Wuerffel shared from the Gospel of Luke. She read portions from chapter one, where Mary encounters the angel and receives the news that she has been found favored and chosen to bring forth the promised Messiah. I think we are all pretty familiar with this story. But do we consider the price tag of being “highly favored”? Here are some thoughts that Mrs. W shared that we often overlook when we read this story.

- Mary was young, probably about 13 or 14 years old.

- Mary was betrothed, and had committed to keep herself pure for a year until she would go to live with Joseph. To be found with child during this time could have resulted in her death by stoning. Joseph’s accusation would have ended her life.

- Mary had to leave her family to go with Joseph to his home town. This meant a long rough journey in advanced stages of pregnancy, and an unfamiliar place without friends or family to help her deliver her child.

- Mary was rejected by the people who had loved her most. It is likely that her friends and family members doubted the validity of the truth she told them.

“Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word.” What a response! Of all the things she could have said, all the questions she could have asked, all the doubts she could have raised… “Be it unto me according to thy word…” Interestingly, Mary is referred to several times throughout this passage as “highly favored”. But consider the cost of being highly favored. There must have been times when she felt afraid, lonely, rejected, misunderstood, and falsely accused. And yet, she was favored! She was chosen by the Lord to be the mother of our Messiah!

This was a really special time. What a blessing to spend time together in fellowship, and to remember the story of our Messiah’s birth. While some people idolize Mary as the mother of Jesus, we often pass right by her. There are so many timeless reminders, valuable lessons we can learn from her life and response to being a chosen vessel of God. May we learn to respond as Mary did, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord. Be it unto me, according to thy word.”

“And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior.  For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name. And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation. He hath shewed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree. He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away…” (Luke 1:46-53).

We recently had the wonderful opportunity to attend a very joyous occasion in Rocky Ridge MD. Our dear friends Joshua Wilkes and Lisa Butler announced last year that they would be getting married, and the wedding took place this weekend! Ecclesiastes 3:11 became their theme, as they comitted to wait upon the Lord, setting aside their desires and choosing rather to walk in the path God set before them. We were so blessed to attend as a family, and were greatly encouraged by the beautiful way that their wedding displayed the union between Christ and the church. Although the rain caused a temporary setback for their beautiful outdoor ceremony, God was gracious! Our family cried out twice on the way to the wedding, and a little while later we saw God part the clouds. The day was beautiful, the sky was blue, and the air was crisp and cool. Yet again, Josh and Lisa saw God’s beautiful work in His own perfect timing. As a family, we were thrilled to be able to fellowship with wonderful like-minded believers, and to re-unite with dear friends – brothers and sisters in Christ who exhorted us, blessed us, and encouraged us in every way imaginable!

We are so grateful to our friends the Normoyles, who graciously opened their home to us throughout the weekend, and hospitably served us in many ways. We had met them briefly at previous F.E.W. Conferences, as well as the Indianapolis ATI Conference, but this was an exciting time of really getting to know them better! We enjoyed every moment spent with them – whether gathering around the table for meals, talking late at night, playing games, or learning about goats and chickens as the they allowed us to participate in the exciting task of farm chores! As we observed various family members at work doing their assigned jobs, we had the opportunity to observe and participate in gathering eggs, milking goats, feeding chickens, and walking the goats around the yard. They also took us to Sugarloaf Mountain which is directly up behind their house. We drove the short distance up the mountain to a look-out where we could see the entire countryside… fields, farms, and beautiful open country! We stood on top of a Civil War rock fort, overlooking the other side of the mountain, just a little while later. During family devotions one morning, we divided into small groups of 2 and chose a verse (or several) from Romans 8 to memorize and illustrate with pictures. The Normoyle family is working together to memorize Romans 8 as a family, and has found pictographs to be extremelly helpful! We were thrilled to help them complete the first 16 verses, as each person and their partner thought up ideas of how to effectively portray God’s Word through visual pictures. On the last evening we fellowshipped with the Normoyles and some of their friends around a bonfire! We roasted smore’s and sang with the guitar well into the evening. It was a delightful time, and made for a very memorable family trip with dear friends.  

Our time in MD and VA was short but incredibly sweet and worthwhile. We are so grateful to God for bringing together two (Josh and Lisa) into a covenant of life-long unity, making them one. What a blessing it is to see God’s children, walking in His perfect will, choosing to wait upon Him for His best, rather than have their own way. Josh and Lisa’s lives portray a beautiful story of Christ and the work that He has brought about in His ideal timing. What a tremendous encouragement it was to witness this working in such a glorious way this weekend! (Sorry there are no wedding pictures! The Wilkes Team posted some beautiful pictures on their family blog though.)

Truly, “He hath made everything beautiful in His time…” (Ecclesiastes 3:11a)

15 years ago, we learned of a home-schooling family in the area that was looking for a church! To make a LONG story short, we invited the Lauries over to dinner, and thus began a blossoming friendship between our two families! That’s the beauty of what God brings about… and when we least expect it! I was only 3 then, but I am so grateful to the Lord for allowing our paths to cross. Growing up, we did everything together! We played together, ate meals together, learned lessons together… we had the same interests, attended the same church, and learned music from the same teacher. We spent holidays together, wrote and performed plays, reenacted history in our backyards, and spent countless hours talking and planning, and thinking up great ideas (that weren’t always great!!!).  For a while, they had someone that was the same age as every one of us! God kept blessing us with more children, and God kept blessing them with more children! So many memories…so much fun!

It’s been 15 years since God brought our families together. With growing up and school, and the busyness of day to day life…we don’t see each other that often anymore. It’s a blessing to plan one of those “get together” days now and then. It’s nice to catch up, to talk about the past, and to spend some quality time together fellowshipping, laughing, and remembering. Today was one of those days! We piled into the van and headed off to make a day of it! Singing around the piano, photography, cooking and baking, games… fun memories!

Thank you Laurie family for having us today! We treasure your friendship, and the wonderful memories made together!!!

Two weeks ago we had the opportunity to attend the Indianapolis ATI Conference as a family! At the beginning of the year, Daddy had made plans to attend Big Sandy, Sacramento, and Nashville, but his schedule had conflicted with the Indy dates. We were surprised when he unexpectedly announced that it was going to work out after all…and the whole family was going!

Many of us had never been to Ohio or Indianapolis. We traveled through 5 states on our way to to the conference and saw some spectacular sights!

The country was beautiful, and we passed hundreds of farms like these in the pictures above.

Although the Indianapolis conference was much smaller than Nashville, we were blessed to see so many familiar faces and to make new friends.

At Nashville, we participated in the various programs – Alert Cadets, COMMIT, and Children’s Institute. It was neat to be able to attend the main sessions as a family and to hear enthusiastic speakers with wonderful messages!

Jody (above) served us breakfast every morning at our hotel. She is such a sweet lady that has an incredible love for Jesus Christ, and the joy on her countenance tells a beautiful story of her faith in God. Her curiosity about our family and the conference led to a sweet time of fellowship and prayer, as Hannah and I shared about our faith in God, and our family’s involvement in the ATI program. A huge smile lit up her face, when we told her that we were born again believers. She shared her beautiful testimony with us of her recent conversion to Christianity! That was the day we discovered that she was not only our friend, but our sister in Christ! We love Jody. She has such a servant’s heart and a selflessness that is truly a radiant example of her Savior and King.

We recently began a tradition of visiting Dairy Queen on the last night of the conference. This is the second time we have done so with the Staddon family! Several other families came along, which made for an exciting evening of laughter, fellowship, and catching up!

We were so blessed by the Indy conference. It was a joy to take time away from the busyness of life to be encouraged once again. What a wonderful finale to the conference season. Until next year…!

If you are interested in attending a 2012 Regional ATI Conference, visit the following link and watch for an announcement of future dates!

www.ati.iblp.org

The Third Conference in Sacramento CA took place in July. Our parents testified that it was a delight to attend! Unfortunately, the camera stayed behind, so we don’t have pictures. However, the seven of us that stayed behind took pictures of our week, which we recently posted.

Hannah had the privilege of attending the Big Sandy ATI Conference with our parents. At the conclusion of the girls’ Journey to the Heart program she joined some staff from the IBLP Headquarters that were driving down to Big Sandy. She took these pictures throughout the week, between various sessions.

This week we had wonderful guests from Idaho! What a privilege it was to host Mr. and Mrs. Young and their baby girl, Sylvia! The Youngs have been touring various states throughout the U.S so we were pleased when they made plans to stop in Waxhaw, NC! Mr. Young and Daddy went to high-school together, so it had been quite a while! That gave lots of opportunity for reminiscing and catching up. We learned that Mrs. Young is a midwife and enjoys natural healthcare! This provided Mommy and Mrs. Young lots to talk about. And just for the record…Sylvia is ADORABLE!!! We took every advantage to help out by caring for her throughout their stay.

We had the privilege of touring some historical sites around the Charlotte area, including Latta Plantation in Huntersville. We had so much fun touring the great house, hearing about the Latta family and their slaves, photographing, and making memories with people we love!

We took the Youngs to our favorite Chinese restaurant in Charlotte. Rather, I should say the Young family took us there! Thank you Young family – we thoroughly enjoyed every part of our experience!

Later on in the afternoon, we visited Andrew Jackson State Park, where we toured the historical buildings and made other fun memories together .

On the last night, Chef David prepared us a gourmet meal, using his new special sauce book and some other wonderful ideas which he created to perfection. And yes, everything was delicious!

Thank you Young family for making our week special! We enjoyed every moment of fellowship and friendship. Please come back again soon!!!