Turkmas

My mom had this great idea for Christmas, and it tasted so good that I think it may become a tradition. We made this turkey out of stuffing, Worthington dinner roast and pastry. I think we were stuffed after eating it too.

So the question for my viewers is.... Does it look like the real thing? Do take into consideration that it's not and then make a good judgement if it looks fairly close.

We even tied some mint flavored floss around the "legs" to keep them in place. Luckily it didn't taste like mints. So we enjoyed it throughly, and I don't think I will be waiting to make this great recipe until next Christmas.

Christian and Heidi were in Tennessee for Christmas and we really missed them. Gladly, General Youth Conference starts tomorrow so I will get to see them the rest of the week. We are all looking for a blessing that I know will be there.

To my new Christmas viewers, please remember to check out my "Christmas 2005" post. Oh, and make sure to leave a comment if you wish. God bless!

Christmas News 2005

Merry Christmas! This year has been so fun and a huge blessing. In May I went to Madagascar with Global Evangelism to preach a series of meetings. On the way my family and I traveled through London, United Arab Emirates, and the Island of Mauritius. We were able to spend some time in each place. Those were some great adventures together. Two days before we left I was diagnosed with mononucleosis, so I was extremely weak. However, I was not about to let this opportunity pass by. Each day I prayed that God would help me to feel better by the time we arrived in Madagascar.

Opening night was incredible, but I was even more amazed that God was using me to speak to 1000 people. Wow! I was nervous but what a joy to bring the hope of Jesus to so many hearts. I had a wonderful translator and family. They would often take me on little family trips with their two very cute boys. Elian and Elisha were my buddies. The meetings continued for 18 nights, and the mornings were given to sermon preparation and trips to the market. There were several students from SAU which allowed for around 20 campaign sites with over 700 baptisms on closing Sabbath. Praise God for so many souls won for Jesus!

In July I went to the General Conference Session to work at the General Youth Conference booth. Each day brought different people past the booth and of course many old friends. My family came on the last weekend, and we all enjoyed being together again. It is always neat to see how global our church is and how God is working in different areas of the world.

On August 26, after two years of looking, I bought a house. This is a lot of responsibility and a bigger bill but I love it. What a blessing it is to be in town. Each Wednesday night I have a Great Controversy study, Friday evening prayer group and then Saturday night fun. So I have dedicated my home to whatever God wants to use it for.

October brought a short vacation to the Upper Penisula to visit my parents. They had the priveledge of presenting an evangelistic series in Ironwood. While there, we saw some incredible sights on the Black River. There are so many water falls, and great hiking trails. It was a blessing to spend time with them.

December 22 brought our family together to celebrate with our friends Matt and Leah at their wedding. I remember being in pathfinders with Leah while my dad was pastoring in Holly, Michigan. Those were some of the greatest years of my life. So it was nice to be back there again, and it truly felt like home. Now we are moving into the new year. I don't know what to expect but I know that I can expect many wonderful things from God. Let's not forget how He has worked in the past and how much more He wants to do in our hearts this year. His coming is sooner today than yesterday and maybe tomorrow. I am thankful for that hope and it makes me want to ready my life more each day to see Jesus. I pray that you will feel and know the urgency to build bonds in your family and with friends that will help us get ready for His soon return. Praise God we will soon fly to meet Him in the air!

Friendship Sweet

Saturday night always brings some sort of fun. I praise God for my friendships. They are so special when I remember that I am not alone in this world. Unfortunately sometimes friends move away, and like I've mentioned before, it's normal in Berrien Springs. And since we always need an excuse to throw a party, we decided to surprise Rueben with a 'going away party'. He will be leaving for the middle east to work with ADRA. Joelle made this awesome vegan cake. (Nice plane Joelle!!) It was nice to sing Christmas songs together and realize how good God is to us.

Of course, we played some fun games starting with 'mafia'. I'm not too sure about this game, especially after the mafia won because we never figured out who they were. ;( Then we moved on to bigger and better things....... PIT! I thought we were going to take a night off but everyone wanted to play. Elizabeth and I were actually in the car ready to leave at an early 11p.m. Then Rueben said we couldn't leave without playing one round of pit. I'm afraid it's impossible to play one round of pit and I was right. I don't know how many we played but it was 1a.m. when we had had enough. What a fun night and by the time I made it back to the ice box (my house) it was closer to 2a.m. Good thing that only happens once a week, if that. I believe that friendship is a special gift from God and I hope to cherish each time spent with them.


I have another friend... the orange neighborhood cat, and yes she was in my house ( only for 5 minutes of pat pat pat on the rug). When I first moved into my house she welcomed me to the neighborhood and we are friends.However, that friendship is not as close during the winter because I won't let her stay in my house. Plus, it's too cold to sit under my lovely green porch and pet her. So once in a while she comes over and starts meowing super loud. That's when I get out the tasty tuna treats. I've never tried them but they must be good or maybe she's starving. So after she has a treat she's ready to leave. I look forward to summer time so I can be outside with her again. Until then I hope all the flees follow her out the door....:) All the animal lovers think I am so cruel to not let her live in my house, but I don't really welcome little hopping bugs, inch long red hairs everywhere, or stinky litter boxes. So I will just keep it the way it is. Besides, I am pretty sure that the reason she is fat is because she has several friends.

Moral of the story... the orange cat and I both love our friends, and we think you should too!

Remnants

Meaning the last post of the week...I am thankful for Friday and even more that tomorrow is Sabbath. Today the snow is flying like crazy. Everyone who left for break yesterday can count their blessings, because the blizzard has hit! This week I received my gas bill in the mail, and what a disappointment. $150! PLEASE! And that's for one person. Needless to say, I turned my heat down to 63...burr, and I will be putting plastic on my windows...maybe I will just seran wrap the whole house!! :) So life is fun since adding all these new bills. Through this though I am learning about trusting in God. He did provide me my house so I am trusting Him with the outcome.
During Thanksgiving I was at my grandparent's house in Kansas. They are so much fun and I always learn new things when I go there. This time it was a fun ride behind my grandpa's lawn mower. He hocked up a wagon type deal that we
all sat on as we rode around their property. They have several fruit trees, sweet potatoes, strawberries, grapes, green beans, tomatoes, squash, corn and many other things that they harvest and can every fall. We have always said that when the time of the end hits we will go there because of all the stocks of food they have. My Grandma always says that they eat off the "fat of the land." She is so funny and always brings a smile to everyone she talks to.

I am looking forward to heaven where we will be together all the time with our families. I know that we will talk about many things like...how good the fruit is off the tree of life, how much the angels did to protect us and how we were redeemed by Jesus' blood. Happy Sabbath!

Precious in His Sight

This is Abby. She is a little friend of mine. I have known her since she was born. When her parents lived in Berrien Springs, her mom and I used to walk together. I miss those days, but it seems that people come and go a lot around here. Now Abby will soon have a little brother. I am sure that she will have fun playing with him. As you know, the Bible talks a lot about being like little children. It also talks about growing...so that means we have to keep a teachable heart like a child and still grow in our heart relationship with Jesus. Everyday I want to be connecting with God in a very special way. I try to imagine myself on His lap and listening to Him speak to my heart. I have another little friend named Avalon. She is so precious. Her mom has been my friend for at least 15 years. Avalon will be 2 years old in April, and her mom is also expecting a baby soon. By the way, her parents are extremely proud of her, not to mention her grandparents:) There is something extra special about Avalon and that is she looks a lot like her Uncle Daniel. He passed away a few years ago and it was an added blessing when she came along. I know that when Jesus comes, Avalon will have a lot of fun with her Uncle Daniel.

These two little girls have brightened my day just thinking about them. I hope that you can remember that Jesus wants to hold you close to His heart like a child. You are a child of the King. Enjoy it, cherish your position in Christ. There is nothing more precious in the world!

"Behold what manner of love the Father has given unto us, that we should be called the children of God."

Christmas Party Time

It was a snowy night last Thursday but it was Christmas time. This year's office party was in Union Pier at Timothy's. I don't think I have ever seen veggies stacked so nice. Anyways, I work with all wonderful people. Jeannine is the head hygienist and a blessing. I have learned a lot from her...this being my first position after graduating 2 1/2 years ago. Of course you can see how happy Dr. Kuball is with his lovely staff. We are proud to be working with him too. There are many times that we are all laughing together at work and I am so glad for that. What would life be like if work was dreaded? So each day I am reminded of how good God is to provide me with such nice people to work with. Oh and before I go let me show you a picture of my stack of veggies. You know, in these fancy places there is usually one option for vegetarians. It said on the menu... " Vegetarian selection of the day, $18" ... I'll take it! So there it is... the most exquisite veggie stack around these parts. The way home was treacherous but after having so many veggies I was up for the challenge. I hope you can make some fun Christmas memories this season too. We all have so much to be thankful for and it's obvious that I have been blessed by many smiles throughout the day. Thanks Dr. K, Jeannine, Lisa, Tammy, Nancy, Connie, and Christine. You make life fun on a daily basis. Merry Christmas and God's blessings to you!!!

Scrabble for Hours

How long does it take two people to play one game of scrabble? And...what in the world are the rules?!

Well, I think for my Mom and Christian the average time is three hours and the rules...well... they change when points are on the line or something like that :) During Thanksgiving, on our 12 hour trip to Kansas, they played all the way there and all the way back. There was even time for my mom to take short naps inbetween turns. Heidi and I teamed up in one game...we were the third place winners!!! Mean while my Dad to busy driving and listening to how bad the Green Bay Packers are losing. ;) Sorry Dad. So then we get tired of the flat landscape and stop for some eats. But anyways, back to scrabble... There used to be a time when we didn't have the car version of scrabble ( the tiles snap onto the board). I remember one such trip and at one point, flying down the road in my parents van, Christian had one of the bucket seats in the back disconnected and moved to look for a tile. WOW! Good thing our windows are tinted. By the way, we still have problems with tiles popping off but luckily this time no seat removal was necessary for locating tiles. To top it off, they both usually end the game at around 400 points each. I think that might be in the 'scrabble professional' range.:) It's nice to know that they have fun and provide laughs for the rest of the passengers with the words they come up with. So if I had one last word for this 'Scrabble for Hours' post it would be ummm...hmmm...well...urrr...drawing a blank...big blank...blank tile I guess. No points for me:(

Weekend Blessings and Fun

Sabbath... that word always spells rest and fellowship to me. This week my church had our Christmas program and I was priveledged to sing a trio entitled Bambino Divino. The funny thing is that those were the words I repeated throughout the whole song(sometimes singing alto can be boring).But actually it was a lot of fun and people really liked it. I also sang a song I composed entitled Humble Baby. It always amazes me when God helps me to write songs.

Humble Baby
Who would have thought you'd be my King
Humble Baby
You have made me sing

So small and quiet
Born in a stall
Without one fret
You gave up all

Humble Baby
Who would have thought you'd be my King
Humble Baby
You have made me sing

Opening blind eyes
Covering lies
Setting my heart free
So I could see the

Humble Baby
Who would have thought you'd be my King
Humble Baby
You have made me sing

Bridge: And from the manger to the cross
You went from life to death
And now you're asking me
Can I bring you life again?

Then there was the "Deck the Halls" Christmas party at my house. I think it must be the style to be fashionably late. However, there was a party after everyone finally came:) These are my favorite times with friends. Some of the activities were cookie decorating, stringing popcorn, cranberries and paper chain for my live christmas tree, EATING, and then there was the all famous and very fun pit game.

I really can't say that we can use the word honest to describe how we play this game. I think that by the time someone actually grabs a spoon that we all know what everyone else is collecting, and then who knows who grabbed how many spoons?! Today I am a little tired but I think I have enough energy to hit the ice rink and then church board...yippee!

Popcorn Mess

I must say that I have never made popcorn balls in my life... OH ... and I probably won't make them ever again. Why? Well, take a look to your right... it was a mess. I had big plans to make 50 of them but after the first batch, I was hoping to just get the goo from the first batch off my hands. By the way, it was easy because of all the grease. Then it was recommended that I should use the rest of the syrup in my bleaching trays, but I thought I would just gargle it instead. :) I think my boss would love that!!!

On the serious side, I am thankful for fun like this. I am sure there a spiritual lesson in this experiment. I know that I want to be stuck to Jesus like corn syrup and I also know that it is even better than that. The Bible says, "There is a friend who sticks closer than a brother..."

Boots

Hi there to those out there in winterland. Yes, today I wore my boots to work and yes, I forgot to bring my normal shoes. SOOOOO..... all day I have been cleaning teeth in boots. For one patient I was glad I had my work boots on;) I don't think I will forget to bring my shoes again. At least my boots are black like my shoes.

I'm throwing in some pictures from Thanksgiving to bring some smiles. It was so nice to be with my family.

BIG SNOW

BIG SNOW!! I am so happy to see the snow falling. My patients are loving it too even though the roads are bad. It has been reminding me of Jesus' purifying power in my life.

"White as snow...though my sins be as scarlet... Lord I know...that I'm clean and forgiven, through the power of Your blood, by the wonder of your love, through the faith in You , I KNOW, that I can be white as snow."

Isn't that great!