Christmas day is over...but the Christmas season is not over for me.  I begin the days of Christmas as soon as Christmas is over.  I think the technical term for it is ephiphany.  Noah Webster's definition of ephiphany in 1829 was

EPIPH'ANY, n. [Gr. appearance; to appear.] A christian festival celebrated on the sixth day of January, the twelfth day after Christmas, in commemoration of the appearance of our Savior to the magians or philosophers of the East, who came to adore him with presents; or as others maintain, to commemorate the appearance of the star to the magians, or the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles. Jerome and Chrysostom take the epiphany to be the day of our Savior's baptism, when a voice from heaven declared, "This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased." The Greek fathers use the word for the appearance of christ in the world, the sense in which Paul used the word. 2 Tim. 1.10.
  The 1913 edition defined ephiphany as this:
 

[F. épiphanie, L. epiphania, Gr. 'epifa`nia (sc. (?)

An appearance, or a becoming manifest.
Whom but just before they beheld transfigured and in a glorious epiphany upon the mount. Jer. Taylor.
An epic poet, if ever such a difficult birth should make its epiphany in Paris. De Quincey.
A church festival celebrated on the 6th of January, the twelfth day after Christmas, in commemoration of the visit of the Magi of the East to Bethlehem, to see and worship the child Jesus; or, as others maintain, to commemorate the appearance of the star to the Magi, symbolizing the manifestation of Christ to the Gentles; Twelfthtide.

 I like the mention of it symbolizing the manifestion of Christ to the Gentiles--that's me!
 The celebration of ephiphany where the  The 12 days of Christmas was taken from--a gift given on each day.  At one time I celebrated the twelfth day of Christmas (January 6th) with a winter tea at my house.  I still love the idea of having a winter tea in celebration of the culmination of the celebration of Jesus' birth.
 I would make the tea Victorian and add a snow theme to it.  I love stringing white Christmas lights on white fleece, hanging crystal snowflakes, serving white chocolate cocoa along with the tea, making beautiful white snowflake cookies with crystal sugar on them and having snowmen everywhere...oh, I'm getting in the mood just thinking about it!
There are some wonderful ideas out there that can get you enthused~ here's one I found:
http://www.tea-party-circle.com/snow-tea-party.html







  You can even spin off of other party themes (this one is a wedding) and make it work for you.



We do make the wise men move across the living room to show up on January 6th.  It's important they get to be a part of the living nativity. 
  This year I have a desire to give something to someone each day between now and the 6th of January.  The last few days I wanted to give myself to my family that got together after Christmas to celebrate.  I had a wonderful time making bread bowls with my grandchildren and decorating sugar cookies with them.
 Today's gift was to give myself extra time with the Lord--a very refreshing gift to myself.  Although I wanted it to be an act of worship toward Him, the gift ended up being for me--He always gives when we worship Him in spirit and in truth.  I was in desperate need of a refill in my spiritual tank and I'm so thankful for today's gift.
  I pray that each day between now and the end of ephiphany that I will listen very carefully to His voice and give to others exactly what He desires me to give.  That each gift will be from Him to others using me as His instrument.
  Winter is a wonderful time--let's use it to bring honor and glory to His wonderful name and keep on giving even though Christmas Day is now history!

 

 



Day # 4 of advent...
Keeping the Christmas story central in Christmas...believe me, we have a lot of wonderful things going on during Christmas! Today, John and his dad got the porch at our house decorated. This is a first for us--decorating the outside of the house with anything more than luminaries. Grandpa Charles would approve of the job they did! (lots of lights)
Inside, we have my favorite Christmas decoration--our moving nativity. Mary and Joseph have their residence on one side of the living room while Bethlehem is on the other side of our living room complete with shepherds on a hillside.
About 10 days before Christmas Mary and Joseph have a soldier standing outside of their house and a tiny note attached to their door telling them they must go to Bethlehem to be taxed.
They have a donkey and a bedroll ready to go and they begin their journey across the living room to Bethlehem.
We have wise men on the other side of the living room that begin their journey too and arrive after Christmas.
On Christmas morning baby Jesus is in his place and all is well. A star burns over the stable and the shepherds are hovering around the baby and his parents. I love the whole thing.
During the ten days Mary and Joseph move during the night and are in a new place each morning. Each year a new person or thing shows up as a gift for the pocket calendar and makes our nativity scene just a little better for next year. It might be a palm tree, flickering campfires for the shepherds, or a new tradesperson for the city of Bethlehem. The whole nativity is a hodgepodge of homemade, Fontanini, my grandmother's sheep from her nativity set or Dollar Tree goodies but that's what makes it uniquely ours. Each part of it has a special memory and place in our lives.
John begins fretting if they don't move fast enough or don't get going as soon as they get their notice. I stay content knowing that the Christmas story is being carried out right in our living room and we're keeping it in front of the children each day. In front of mom too, when it's busy it's good to go into the living room and look at the whole scene and remember what all the celebrating is really about!

 

Day # 1 of Advent!

December 1st....lots of excitement begins at the Neal household....Ralph and Pixie are sitting on a big box of Top of the Stove cookies with Christmas chocolate chips in them (red and green) delivering their first pocket calendar gift...most importantly, this is the first day of advent-time to 1) prepare 2) expect 3) anticipate & 4) wait--by Christmas Day I have a goal of preparing my heart to be closer to Him as His second coming approaches, to expect great things from Him as I draw closer, to anticipate all He has for me during this time, the things He desires to teach me and tell me, and to wait in His presence for His voice and direction during this season!

Fall Musings....

  Here it is and September is almost behind us!  I can't believe that the month has gone by as quickly as it has!
  I began on September 1st getting my fall decorations out.  I love my wreath for the door and I love my mantel decorations.  I still don't have my dining room area where I'd like it to be, but that gives me something to look forward to!

  

      Fall makes me feel cozy and always gets me pulling out the cookbooks to see what I can fix that's comforting and makes my family feel/smell the change of the season.  I've been busy making pumpkin rolls which is one of our family fall favorites. 
      Here's the recipe for anyone that wants to try this delicious dessert!  It's pretty, you can wrap it in plastic wrap and then in foil and freeze it.  Just a little before serving take it out of the freezer and it always slices so much prettier if it's frozen!

Pumpkin Roll

  Beat 3 eggs on high speed with mixer for 5 minutes.  (This is when you're glad you have a stand mixer!)  Gradually stir in 1 cup granulated sugar.  (That's underlined because I forgot it more than once!)  Stir in 2/3 cup pumpkin and 1 tsp. lemon juice.

   Stir together:

   3/4 cup flour

   1 tsp. baking powder

   2 tsp. cinnamon

   1 tsp. ginger

   1/2 tsp. salt

   1/2 tsp. nutmeg 

  *For those of you on a tight enough budget you can't go buy ginger and nutmeg, you can up the cinnamon by a tsp. and it is still wonderful!

   Fold into pumpkin.  Spread in grease and floured 15x10x1-inch pan. (This is a smaller cookie sheet.  Be sure and really give it the greasing and flouring or lots of Pam.  You don't want it to stick!)

At this point you can top it with 1 cup of chopped nuts.  You need to press them down into the batter a little or they'll tend to fall out after you roll it up.  I don't put nuts in mine.

   Bake at 375 degrees for 13-15 minutes.  Turn onto a towel that has been generously sprinkled with powdered sugar.  Starting at the narrow end, roll the towel and cake together; cool.  Unroll and spread with the filling below.

   Filling-

   Combine:

   1 cup powdered sugar

   6 oz. cream cheese (I use a full 8 oz. package)

   4 Tbsp. butter or margarin

   1/2 tsp. vanilla (I use 1 tsp.)

  Beat smooth, spread over cake.  (Stay about 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch away from the edges as it will spread when you roll it.)  Roll cake back up.  Chill. 

  I have added a section to the back of my cookbook called Fall Recipes I have so many that we love to eat in the fall!  One of our favorites is German Apple Cake.  We love it with Cream Cheese Frosting but it's also good with Penuche Frosting, Caramel Frosting or even the Browned Butter Frosting. 

   It's this time of year that I usually make UT Fudge.  Since our UT game days are over (the fans have all moved away!) I don't have as much fun making this for an event like I used to, but my family is still so in love with it.  It tastes like a Dreamsicle.

   I usually make a Maple Nut Twist this time of year.  It is a large breakfast sweet bread that you make on a round pizza pan.  You twist the outside edges of it and it's full of yummy cinnamon sugar and maple flavoring inside with a maple glaze.  My bunch usually all try to get the center out of it because it is so delicious.

   Also this time of year finds me making Pumpkin Doughnut Drops and sometimes even my Grandma Mettler's Long Johns.  Mmmmmmm.....

  Breadbaking is a given in this house but this time of year it gets better.  When you walk in a house on a fall day and the bread has just come out of the oven you can't resist going and cutting off the end of that warm bread, slathering it with butter and homemade strawberry jam or honey and slowly eating it!

  My mother's caramel corn seems to always show up this time of year too!  Can't do without an ice cream bucket full of that sitting around in the fall!

  We love soups and stews this time of year too.  Potato soup (in homemade bread bowls with lots of cheese on top) , Corn chowder, Chili, Beef Stew are just some of our favorites.

   I also make goulash with cornbread for my husband each fall.  He loves it any time of year but says it tastes better in the fall. 

   John loves projects and activities and last year we wanted to do this but my health didn't allow me much but the basics.  This year we're going to have a backyard campfire and try to learn to cook over the campfire.  I've already found the neatest afterdark craft we're going to have ready for our evening campfires. 

   It's found on this link and it is #9 of the projects.   I can't wait to see how pretty this is going to be in the dark.  We'll probably do several of them and make a perimeter around  our campfire area.

   http://toolsfortheimagination.com/2011/05/18/may-i-give-you-some-inspiration/

   I'm sure my older married children can remember how many times we took the rack out of my oven and put it over rocks on a campfire outside.  We even learned to cook breakfast in an iron skillet out there.  So much fun with kids.  Teach them some of the fun cowboy songs there are to sing or teach them the "Moose Song" that my grandkids like to sing with me!

http://www.campingdude.com/content/song/crazy_moose-1336.asp

     Well, that's my autumn musings for now...sure wish I could have everyone over for some of this fall food and atmosphere.  My husband just walked in and it's time for some vegetable soup with corn bread!

Love,

Mom

Summer Is Almost Here!

   As much as I love teaching when we get into the month of May I go back in my mind to being a little 5th grade girl sitting in my classroom.  In May our teacher would raise the windows to cool the room and although my body was sitting at the wooden desk lined neatly behind someone else's, my mind was outside under the big trees that lined our school.  I wanted so much to be out enjoying the warm breeze, the newly leafed trees and playing--not doing school.  I'm sure I wasn't a very productive student in the springtime because my heart and mind were already on summer break!
  Well, not a whole lot has changed.  I truly feel for my children when they have a hard time concentrating this time of the year.  I give them the standard lectures on how the end of the year grades are SO important so they need to focus on those last few tests, but inside I'm with them--dying to close the books and get outside!
   My husband says that the reason I love children so much is because I've never quit being one myself.  I don't argue that point because the last week as I go to sleep at night I try to think of what the children and I will do this summer.
  Sometimes I'll try to think of a theme.  I love the camp theme for kids in the summer.  You can have "cabin clean-up" each day and have a winner at the end of the week--boys against girls.  You can have a canteen and when they do good on chores and projects they earn reward money that can be spent at the canteen.  It can be chips, candy bars, granola bars, cheese crackers or coupons "good for a McDonald's ice cream cone" (each one having a value put on it in your fake money) but kids love spending money at the canteen.  By the way, the canteen is only open at certain hours of the day!
  You can have craft projects you do together.  These can be carefully disguised jobs that you're wanting to get done.  I'm trying to figure out how to slip in my "sand and paint" the little table for the front porch into a craft project for the kids this summer! 

  You can have badges that the kids earn by carrying out their craft projects or doing a nature project.  You can teach them how to make lanyards, how to sew a simple skirt, baking 101, make and paint your own birdhouse, backyard garden, etc.  All this keeps the kids busy and happy and teaches them something new at the same time.  I don't know about anyone else but I enjoy these projects just as much as my kids do.  I've been a mama long enough now that you can do just about anything with a kid and if you're into it with them wholeheartedly they're going to have a wonderful time!
  One year when I was at Alicia's helping after a baby (I believe it was Macey Joy) I brought "camp in a suitcase" with me when I came to watch the children while Alicia recovered.   I had scarves (like the boys scout and girl scouts wear) that we sewed badges (special buttons and beads) on when they earned them.  We had canteen, morning devotions, game time, craft time and rest time. (that last one was Grandma inspired and needed!)  We had cabin cleanup contest, special treats to make and eat and we even designed and made our own camp flag. On each Friday evening we had "awards night" where the kids earned their choice of $1 gifts from Dollar Tree for being the one with the most initiative on their chores or the most cheerful or that learned all of Psalms 100.   The camp was called Camp Tamarak.  (My name is Tamara Kaye and I was really pleased with the name of the camp. :)

   Something else kids love is being out at night in the summer.  My kids and I have always loved building campfires and sitting by it after dark.   You can chase fireflies, play flashlight tag, find the summer constellations and tell them stories by a campfire.  You can teach them to make S'mores, try making some hamburger packets or other campfire food, and if you're really brave you can even camp out with them in the backyard.  I have actually built tents with sheets and clothespins over a swing set and had a wonderful time camping out with my kids. 

  Children love games and adults seem to draw back from games with children because, well, because kids can sure complicate games with their playfulness and their argumentiveness with one another, BUT they love games and they need games.  So I plan a game night and make myself do it.  I've found once I get into it I have a wonderful time and it if you make rules and stick to them everyone learns about cooperation and taking turns and you learn all kinds of new things about your kids!

   When I think of summer and kids I think of several things that you cannot fail with.  Eating outside is one.  Set up a table outside and roast some hot dogs, throw the chips on the table and have popsicles or ice cream cones ready for the end of the meal and you've got happy kids!  Summer is such a fun time for outdoor meals and snacks.  I've made my kids sack lunches or bought the little plastic trays at WalMart and let them carry their lunch outdoors to eat in the treehouse or fort.  Makes it so special!

  Another sure winner is water to play in!  Rather it's just a large tub of water they're allowed to play in with toys and cups or a small pool you keep carefully maintained ,(and I know what a job this is as we had a wading pool almost every year we lived at the Swan Pond parsonage that I cleaned manuall.) kids and water love each other on a hot summer day.  One of the funnest $1 investments I ever made was a bunch of water balloons with the little gizmo that goes on your outdoor water faucet to fill them with.  So fun!  Get a big trash barrel and let them spend an hour so filling them and then let them go at it. (with you in the middle)  Makes for a good half day of fun!

   Another fun toy that kids love to play with is sheets and/or refrigerator boxes.  Have your hubby stop by an appliance store and get a couple refrigerator boxes and then you and the kids can cut, paint and play.  I've made a Noah's ark out of one for Asher's third birthday, made nice big long tunnels for the kids to play in, made a castle, a fort, a pirate ship and a playhouse out of refrigerator boxes.  You can even let the kids cut up scrap fabric and make curtains for it.  You can attach it to the side of a swing set for a huge fort or hideout.  My kids have been detectives, spies, Civil War soldiers, pirates, and the list goes on and on and a refrigerator box has been part of the props many times.  As far as the sheets, you can make a wonderful tent over a clothesline, you can create instant shade on their swing set, and you can drape them over tables to make hideouts!  I remember having the kids completely convinced that we were hiding from Indians that were attacking when we were under a draped table!  
  I know there's more but the last one I can think of is taking a walk.  Where we live now it is beautiful and it is so enjoyable to walk the neighborhood.  My kids and I take penny walks sometimes.  You take a penny along and when you come to a corner you toss the penny to determine if you're going straight or turning!  We've forgotten the penny at times and so we'll throw the water bottle or something else we find to decide is is left, right or straight!  I also turn walks into scavenger hunts.  The kids get a certain amount of points if they see wildlife, a certain color of flower, an insect, children in a yard, a clothesline and the list can go on and on.  Last year I threw in that they would get 500 points if they saw a bear!  Much to my surprise a house had a wooden bear on the porch and one of the kids got the points!  Another time it was a frog and some people had a yard full of fake frogs!  You can reward the one with the most points however you wish.  You know, the losers have to wait on him all evening or something like that!

   This summer gas prices are high, my husband is working off hours where we will be home almost every day but I am looking forward to summer.  Years ago a lady wrote in a book I read how blessed you would be if you learned to find joy in those things that were God-given and were free.  Watching children play wiffle ball in the twilight, telling stories as you sit on the porch swing and watch fireflies blink.  Bathing a baby and teaching them to play with bubbles.  Being thrilled with watching your coffee perking on a counter with dappled sunlight mixing with the steam.  There is so much to do with children that is free or almost free.  If you're struggling financially right now it isn't the time to mope because you can't run to the amusement park with your kids this year--make your own amusement park in your own back yard and have fun!  If you ask the Lord to help you see this summer through the eyes of a child you can make it the most memorable summer your kids ever have and years later they'll say, "Mom, do you remember the summer when....."  and that will make it worth it all!

With love,

Mom


 

The Fall Season in the Interim of Our Lives...

  Well, here we are living in a "between" home during the holidays.  My husband is between pastorates and so we're living in a rented home.  It's absolutely perfect for us and I thank the Lord every day for giving us such a wonderful home to live in during this interim of our lives. 
  We have always lived in a parsonage and so we've never owned a home.  In our early days of ministry that bothered me a little but as I grew in years and in my spiritual life I began to see it as a blessing in our lives.  Then the Lord gave me a wonderful verse about being a "parsonage dweller".
" And they lodged round about the house of God, because the charge was upon them, and the opening thereof every morning pertained to them. " (I Chron. 9:27)
  Since the Lord gave me that verse I have been very content with my home wherever the Lord might put me.  At this point He has us in a holding pattern in our lives until He gives us new and clear direction.  Needless to say this has altered our life and that includes the holiday period of our lives.
  I'm a true traditionalist.  I love things to be the same so my children and family look back and can say, "Do you remember how mom (Grandma, Aunt Tami, or whatever name fits) always made this or did this during the holidays?
  I also know that flexibility is good too.  This year I couldn't have found all my fall decorations if I tried so I decided to use nature and whatever else the Lord sent my way.  I won a little engraved pumpkin and a candle as prizes at the Wings Conference and the kids and I gathered acorns and pinecones from our yard.   I have a beautiful fireplace mantel and I wanted to decorate it for fall and little by little it was filled with beautiful fall decor. 

  Since I took this picture the Lord even added a beautiful fall vine with berries and leaves and a sign that says "Give Thanks".  My husband and children have all mentioned how pretty the mantel looks.  Thank You Lord!
   This time of year I feel an excitement building up in me.  It's time for the holidays.  I can't resist getting the cookbooks out and while we sit in the living room watching a movie I'm marking the ones I want to try to make.  This year for Thanksgiving I decided we'd have to have the pumpkin cake I made at Jennibeth's house when we spent Thanksgiving with them.
  It was after Thanksgiving and she and I were wanting to make a dessert but we'd about emptied the pantry out for Thanksgiving.  We went scavengering and found a can of pumpkin.  I'd gone through some of her cookbooks and found a recipe that called for just flour, sugar, eggs, pumpkin and spices so that was the choice.  It called for cream cheese frosting and we didn't have cream cheese so I made cooked caramel (I call it penuche but nobody knows what that is) frosting on it.  Oh, my goodness!  It was SO good and became a Thanksgiving keeper at the Neals!
    Here's the recipe:
PUMPKIN CAKE
2 cups sugar
1 cup oil
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups pumpkin
2 cups flour, sifted
2 tsp. soda
1 tsp. salt
4 tsp. cinnamon
   Combine sugar and oil.  Add eggs separately, beating well to combine.  Add flour, soda, salt and cinnamon to sugar mixture.  Blend thoroughly.  Bake at 325 degrees for 25 minutes in pans which have been greased and floured.  Makes three (3) 9" round layers.

Now for the frosting.
COOKED CARAMEL FROSTING (EASY PENUCHE FROSTING)
(For this cake I use a double recipe.  You can double it if you want, but you'll need a strong arm or a helper in the beating stage! :)

1/2 cup margarine or butter
1 cup brown sugar (packed)
1/4 cup milk
2 cups powdered sugar

Melt butter or margarine in saucepan.  Stir in brown sugar.  Heat to boiling, stirring constantly.  Boil and stir over low heat for 2 minutes.  Stir in milk; heat to boiling.  Remove from heat and cool to lukewarm.
Gradually stir in powdered sugar.  Place pan of frosting in bowl of ice and water; beat until its of spreading consistency.  If frosting becomes too stiff just heat slightly stirring constantly.

  This is a wonderful three layer cake!  The one in the picture has an extra batch of icing on it.  (I do one batch for the layers and 1 1/2 batches for the outside because our family likes lots of the icing! )
  I have a little recipe holder with all my very favorite holiday recipes in it.  Our Christmas punch recipe, cheeseball recipes, spinach dip, sausage bites, baked macaroni and cheese, Swiss medley (a wonderful full-of-cheese side  dish with broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, mushroom soup, sour cream and Durkees onions), sweet potato casserole that a died-in-the-wool sweet potato hater will love, all my specialty cheesecake recipes, peanut butter pie, every truffle and fudge recipe you can imagine and the list goes on and on and on in it.  My head is already dancing with new ideas to try this year.  Can't wait to see what the Lord has in store.  I have a new cake ball truffle recipe I wanted to try and someone already brought me some dark chocolate chips they found on clearance.  They're tucked back to become truffles!
  Because of my love of cooking I like to use fall/holiday baking as an excuse to stop by the neighbors with a pie pan full of goodies and a chance to talk to them.  We have a couple near us with failing health and I so want the Lord to use us in their lives.  I love it when you knock on a neighbor's door and you can see genuine happiness in their eyes when they open the door and see you standing there.  It's also an opportunity to teach our children to help others around us. 
  John asked me the other day when I was going to be taking the neighbors some goodies and I told him probably this week.  He said, "Can we take some to the neighbors with the new kittens, because maybe they'll let me see them when we go!"  That struck my funny bone!
  We're going to have Brian and Niki with Halle and Evan for Thanksgiving this year and I'm so excited about that.  I like a FULL dining room table.  The more I have at the table the happier I am!  Niki and I are already talking about what we want to have.  She's planning on bringing a new pie recipe she found and I'm planning on--well, I can't make up my mind!  Too many good things to choose from!
  I also am working on Christmas projects this year.  The main one that I'm working on is making little nurse's costumes for the little girls in my life.  When Niki and Alicia were little my mom made them a nurse's apron and then I made them little hats out of paper.  Every time someone got sick at our house we made the couch up into a hospital bed, stuck the humidifier next to the couch (sometimes complete with tent) and the girls became nurses.
  Mike Shockley says his first memory of my girls was coming into the house to visit us and one of the boys was sick.  He said he remember Niki and Alicia running around in their little nurses costumes and bringing them their needs on a cookie sheet with a tea towel over it.  (All meals were served in the hospital bed when you were sick.)  They loved being nurses! 
  So maybe it's memory lane for me but I wanted to make the granddaughters their own nurses costume.  My pattern is a really old one but it's so cute.  On the cover the little girl has a white turtleneck on and white tights so she looks like the old-fashioned nurse of my childhood that's dressed in all white.  I have Halle's all done but getting the waist and hat fit to her perfect size.  They're quick to sew and take very little fabric.  That's good for the budget!

  

So tonight I'm listening to Old Fashioned Christian Radio, and thinking about the wonderful blessings of a sweet Christian home, good food, the wonder of fall sunsets, leaves crunching under your feet, having the blessing of grown children, grandchildren and children still around me to fellowship with each and every day, the joy of being a woman, wife, mother and grandmother and so many, many other blessings.  How can we begin to thank the Lord for his daily benefits! 

  I pray you're having a wonderful fall season and that your walk with the Lord is real and personal.  May God bless you all!

With love,

Mom



  
 

Camp Id-Ra-Ha-Je....

One of the greatest loves the Lord has blessed me with is the love of children. I've always loved mothering them, teaching them, mentoring them. I loved Jr. Church when I was needed there and I love my Sunday School class I have now.

My Sunday School class is made up of girls from ages 9-17. ( This is one of the necessities of a small church-we have lots of kids and not too many teachers!) We call ourselves "The King's Daughters". I feel very close to my girls. About 80% of my class comes in on the vans and come from broken homes. I marvel at these girls faithfulness in spite of having no one to wake them up and tell them to get ready for church. They rarely miss. Some of them have been with us since they were about 5 years of age.

This summer we had a camp theme. With the help of my dear sister Esther we transformed our Sunday School room into camp.

I took cardboard refrigerator boxes and made a false cabin front and taped it to the end of our tables. The girls were able to name their cabins after we divided them up. One cabin called themselves Joyful Gems and the other The King's Daughters. (wonder where they got that name?)

I took another table and made a roof and sides over it (with the help of white paint and refrigerator boxes) and turned it into the canteen. The table was covered with chips, pop, candy bars, and cokes and each one of them were given different points values.

Another table became our craft table. Outside the door a cardboard sign pointed to our door and said, "Camp Id-Ra-Ha-Je" with an arrow.

The bulletin board was transformed into a scene with a mountain in the center, two cabins at the bottom on each side of the mountain and pictures of our girls heading up the path to the top of the mountain.

In my class the girls receive points for each of the following:

• Present-50 points




• Bible - 25 points




• Offering- 25 points




• Verse memorized- 50-100 points (extra if you know it when you walk in the door)




• Visitor-500 points




• Bible papers filled out-100 points per paper




• Bible reading chart filled out and returned-100 points

Each girl moved up the mountain as her points increased. The total points of each cabin were put on the top of the board on each side above their cabins.

The girls are given individual folders with a cabin glued to the front that has an attendance chart on it. They mark their own points (with Esther right there to help) and inside they keep their papers and Bible reading charts. Also inside they have an empty sandwich bag stapled to their folder. As they earn points they are given paper money to spend at the canteen. Each item in the canteen is marked with a point value. They run from 50 points for tiny candy bars to 500 points for the giant candy bar. Chips, theatre candy and pop are in between that. Based on how much they do they are able to spend money in the canteen at the end of class!

Sunday mornings were divided into careful time slots. Attendance-10 minutes. Announcements- 5 minutes Game and song time-10-15 minutes Lesson-15 minutes Canteen-5 minutes

Some mornings we had song contests, some mornings crafts, some morning we would go across the hall and play a cabin against cabin game of air hockey. We made up a camp song from our camp name -I'd-Ra-Ha-Je. (Have you figured out that it's the beginning letters of the song, "I'd Rather Have Jesus"? Esther came up with the name and I love it!

Here's our song to the tune of Jesus Loves Me!

I'd-Ra-Ha-Je that's my camp!

Come and join; you'll be a champ!

Learn of Jesus God's own Son,

Crafts and Games, come have some fun!

Chorus:

Camp I'd-Ra-Ha-Je (rah!)

Camp I'd-Ra-Ha-Je (rah!)

Camp I'd-Ra-Ha-Je (rah!)

The Camp that we all love!

We've had contests to see which cabin can sing it the loudest and they've made me laugh with their enthusiasm. I've watched the girls bring lots of visitors this quarter. We've had new girls that don't know the Lord as their Savior in attendance several times this quarter. It is good to see my girls trying to learn their verses.

Today when I announced that this was the last Sunday of our camp theme I was met with groans. You know it's a success when they don't want it to end. I assured them that they had nothing to fear--Sunday School class is about to become a fitness center! The canteen will now be a health shack, because we're about to start a new theme---"The Fitness Center"....can you imagine where I'm headed with this one?

Children always amaze me at how much they can learn when you come along side and encourage them, excite them and give them your full attention. I am counting on seeing these girls grow up and do great things for the Lord. I tell them often that I want everyone of them at my table at the marriage supper of the Lamb. Let's give it our all as we minister--rather it's the nursery or a Sunday School class. It doesn't take much money--just a willingness to invest our hearts and lives into theirs!

Childhood...

This morning my mind was on mothering. I guess it was because I've been hearing commercials and getting e-mails about Mother's Day. Of course, I thought of my own sweet mother and the memories of my childhood that are precious.
One distinct memory I have in my first five years is the smell of her face. She used Cover Girl makeup and I can remember thinking how soft she was and how sweet she smelled.
Kindergarten was very frightening to me. I remember coming home from school and curling up in my mother's arms in a rocker and making sure I was close to that sweet smell of "my" mother. A little phonograph sat on a stool next to the rocker and she would play a record as she rocked me.
I remember sitting in a big walk-in pantry off of the kitchen and playing by the hour with a cardboard family my mother made me out of poster board. The dad wore a business suit and went to work each day. I had a house (upstairs and downstairs!) where the mom and dad slid into their bed (neat slots) the baby had a nursery and my cardboard oven and refrigerator actually opened! My mom drew the mother in different positions. She might be at the stove, sitting on the couch, dressed in her lovely nightgown and robe ready for bed or pushing her shopping cart. I had a little grocery too, with a chubby butcher who actually had little meats to take in and out of his meat case!
It took time for my mother to make that for me, but she created more in my heart than just a cardboard family. She created a love for her, her values, family with a mother at home and a dad at work. Her afternoon of drawing something for me had big dividends in her life.
Another memory is that of always knowing that my mother was there. If I was playing outside she was just a call away. Sometimes I would run in just to be comforted by seeing her in the kitchen. As a newly married bride I remember walking down to chat with her one day and she wasn't there! I remember wondering what was wrong, or who had got sick! I also remember the little prick of irritation--mom was supposed to be there where she belonged.
When my husband was pastoring in another part of Tennessee we would get newsletters from a Christian legal group educating you on problems that could affect the church. One newsletter was on teenage suicide. This was back in the 80's or early 90's. I remember that it said that over 60% of teens suicide notes faulted the mother for "not being there when I needed you".
Scripture makes it clear that a child left to himself will bring shame to his mother. (Proverbs 29:15) That word "left" means to send away, to dismiss, to let loose, to give over. Who have we given our children over to so that we can do what we want with our time. The government, a daycare facility, the television, a computer, even our church and its activities or grandma?
Scripture also clearly defines where our lives are to be spent as wives and mothers. (Titus 2 and Proverbs 31 for starters!) It would do us all good to ask how much time we are spending outside of our God-given domain. This time includes the computer and the tv and the telephone--not just the mother that walks out the door to punch a time clock each day. It also includes being a busy beaver in ministry work outside of the doors of your home. Make your home the core of your ministry. There is plenty to do from within its walls that will minister to others. Even one trip a day out of the home can destroy proper priorities in a woman's life.
Remember Superwoman is a figment of someone's very active imagination. Something is going to use up your time and how anyone can find time to do more than her domestic duties that God has given her in His word is beyond me. Something is going to go undone, and it's usually the ones that should be at the top of our list!
Beside the fact that it damages our children (when we find other things more important to us than they are) women are missing so much that cannot be reclaimed and is so wonderfully valuable.
Go buy a little piece of clothesline and string it up at your daughter's height. Buy some little clothespins at the craft store. Pick a warm, sunny day and get her two dishpans and fill one with sudsy water and one with warm rinse water. Help her wash her dolly's clothes and hang them up. You can be the neighbor lady or the grandma of the baby. After they're dry let her help iron them and put them away.
I can promise you that this will be one of those "Mom, do you remember when?" moments in your life.
Take your little boy and go outside and help him make a town in the dirt. Little streets for his trucks and a little field for his tractors. Name his little town with him. Get down on the ground and play with him! He won't forget the day you did that when he is grown.
Women are so busy today chasing valueless things and it breaks my heart. Each generation is showing the loss of their spiritual moorings and I firmly believe that the mama that wore an apron, cooked hot homemade meals for her family, found pride in the white shirt she had neatly pressed for her husband and loved sitting in the evenings reading to her family is why the word of God is being "blasphemed" now instead of revered. (Titus 2:5b)
Let's each one have a "heart to heart" with the Lord and decide that we're going to keep our chicks under our wings. It doesn't take money it takes being there. If this message was taken to heart by the saved women that each one of us know it would revolutionize and revive America. You can't do it for anyone else, but you and I can decide that we individually are going to do it.
It is my prayer that each of my "daughters" and "sisters" that read this will "stand perfect and complete in all his will" (Colossians 4:12) in this area of your life. Let's hold each other up and "pray and obey" together. The dividends are eternal!

The Christmas Season

I love the Christmas season from the first day to the last. I love it during hard times and good times and I love it no matter who I'm with or where I'm at.
Yesterday I had a doctor's appointment and afterwards we had to stop in a couple stores to get some supplies for my many Christmas "projects". When we came out of the last store it had got dark and the many lights, the busy-ness of the shoppers, seeing store windows with the colors and decorations of Christmas all gave me a contented and excited feeling at the same time as we drove down the city streets.
I have several books I get out at Christmas time and scan just to get myself into the mood and spirit of the season. One book helps me to get my devotional life in place, another gets me in the mood to bake, create and open my home.
Christmas time takes me down memory lane and brings back warm memories. I can go back to my grandmother's cozy living room and remember the smells of Christmas dinner, the warmth of her kitchen, the tastes of her food. The sweet memories of her at Christmas help to shape the grandmother I want to be to my grandchildren and the memories I want them to have of me.
I can go back to when my children were little and during an especially frugal year the fun we had making a happy birthday cake for Jesus and eating chocolate cake with hot Tang (an orange drink) by the light of the Christmas tree with my babies. I was so concerned about only having Tang (which was given to me) to serve with the chocolate cake and the next year they wanted the same thing, and the next and the next. Tang and cake became a Christmas memory and tradition for them!
Christmas means hours spent at my sewing machine making little aprons, cowboy costumes, pirate costumes, tiny dresses, doll furniture and the list goes on and on. This year's list includes a Union soldiers costume, a Roy Rogers cowboy shirt, a little girls very fancy dress-up dress (with lots of tulle), a military outfit, and a brand new superhero invented by my grandson Caleb named Sylvester man! That one required Caleb's art sent to his grandma so I knew what Sylvester man looked like!
Christmas means the cupboard decorated, the village set out on the buffet, all the nutcrackers standing at attention on the dry sink, and the nativity in the living room ready to move.
Our nutcrackers have been known to attack and kill mice more then once. This began after we watched the Nutcracker on a cartoon and our son Asher was convinced that we needed them to catch the mouse that we had been after for about a week in our kitchen. Sure enough the night that he put the nutcrackers on patrol by the kitchen cabinet the mouse was killed and found dead at their feet. Isn't that amazing? Our son John sets the trap every year now just in case a mouse is lurking in the cabinet.
As for the nativity it is my favorite part of Christmas at the Neal's. It all began with a book given to one of the children that opens out and forms the stable. One at a time nativity figures were added. First Mary and then Joseph and then the baby in his manger.
Now we have shepherds in their fields with little campfires that actually flicker, and we have wise men on the other side of the living room far, far away from Bethlehem.
Along with that, the children and I built Mary and Joseph a house in Nazareth which is on one side of the living room with Bethlehem on top of the piano.
Tonight, Mary and Joseph have had a decree left on their door which states that they have been commanded to pay taxes in Bethlehem. The Roman soldier is standing outside their door.
In a few days they will take their little burro who patiently waits outside and put a blanket roll on him and each morning they move just a little further across the living room. At long last they end up in Bethlehem. And of course, on Christmas Eve the baby appears in the manger.
Within a few days of Christmas the wise men end up with all the others. (Although I know that doesn't follow the Bible I put everything away before they would actually appear!)
We also have a pocket calendar at our house hanging in the hallway that has treats in it every morning up to the 25th. The kids never get to old to check the pocket calendar each morning to see what's in it. It might be a candy bar, a pack of gum, a new mechanical pencil, or all their battery operated toys lined up down the hall with batteries put in them!
Isn't Christmas wonderful! And yes, at our house we have the stress of it too.
We have the weeks we don't know how we're going to make it financially, we have the late night sewing, we have the lights that don't work, the time when one more batch of cookies to make is almost revolting but when I see the look on the children's faces, or get a letter from my daughter saying how sweet the memories of Christmas are all that is quickly forgotten and I know it's worth it.
So pour your heart and soul into making this month a month to let people know how much you love them and to put your silly deer antlers on (like I did today!), play the jolly music, tell the Lord how thankful you are He was born and celebrate His birth all month long!

Responsibilities...

As a wife and mother I have a lot of responsibilities. I have always felt so blessed to have a job that has so many varied aspects to it. When I read Proverbs 31 I see a very busy, talented woman! The Proverbs 31 woman has always been my goal and role model, but as I look at her I have a feeling there were some things she enjoyed doing and some things that were more of a duty than a joy.
When I was a teenager my mother tried to get me interested in learning to sew. She was a very good seamstress and so was her mother. I'm sure she wanted one of her daughters to enjoy sewing like she did. I had little to no interest in it and although I would try every once in a while I remember telling her that I was going to marry someone that could buy my clothes so I didn't have to sew. I also remember watching her rip out a seam and telling her I would throw that thing in a corner before I'd sit there and do that.
After having two little girls and a very limited budget sewing began to look like a way to dress my girls in the boutique look I liked without the boutique price tag! I wanted them to have matching dresses and I didn't want them to look like they were dressed from a rag bag. So, "yours truly" got a pattern and some fabric and began studying pattern sheets and library books. I also would call my mother (long distance now) to get advice when something went wrong.
To this day I think of my precious mother every time I rip out a seam and think she probably had to hide a smile sometimes when she saw me tearing out a seam.
The miraculous thing is that as I continued to sew I developed a deep love for it. I began to design dresses in my head and plan the next project. I began sewing for my home and sewing gifts for Christmas. I even learned how to smock and to this day a smocking project is a luxury that I am thrilled with. It's a way I reward myself--sit down and spend some time smocking a little dress.
What happened? Well, when you accept something as your responsibility and decide your going to learn to do it the very best you can you develop a love for it.
Pay close attention to what I just said and think of it in every area of your wifely, motherly, homemaking and other duties. If I am supposed to do something then I should determine I'm going to be as good at it as I can possibly be.
That includes laundry, washing dishes, cleaning my home, cooking meals, homeschooling or reading bedtime stories. Remember the verses, "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might;" (Eccl. 9: 10a, and "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God;" (I Cor. 10:31)? When we think of what we're doing as a service to God it makes us want to do it properly.
Have you ever tried praying over each person as you fold their clothes? Try sitting memories verses on index cards in your kitchen window to memorize as you wash dishes. Get out of the rut of making the same foods just because they're quick. Learn to make food from scratch to save money and make it taste good too! (I've been asked for the recipe more than once from items that were leftovers put together to make a meal for unexpected company!) Pray over your duties and ask the Lord to help you get good at it, to be a wise steward of what you have and to be creative and excited about what you do.
My grandmother told me that some of the most beautiful pieces of creative work came during the depression when people had to use items that were not normally used to decorate with. I still have a piece of embroidery work that when held up to the light has the writing from a feed sack on it. Don't think you can't do a proper job if your income is limited.
And always remember--the more you do it and the more you practice it, the more skilled you are going to become and the more joy you are going to get from it.
The season for family and giving is here and I always have this little feeling of excitement growing in me as it approaches. Now is a wonderful time to start practicing to do all that you do with enthusiasm and a determination to do the very best job you can do rather it's a job that you enjoy or one that you hate.
Don't get in a habit of only doing what you like and sloughing on those things that you aren't particularly interested in. Many times I see wives do a good job at keeping a clean house but a halfway job on teaching and training her children. Or maybe she's a wonderful decorator but her cooking is half-hearted or non-existent. They're all our jobs--so let's make our families (but most of all the Lord) pleased with the fact we do a good job on every job. The jobs we love and the jobs that require patience and persistence!