Final Exams!

Well, my last 2 final exams were Tuesday. I think I aced all 3 classes--even Henry's class! It was only 10 credit hours, but still a lot for me to juggle while homeschooling the Fruit.



This is Thursday, and we won't be leaving for school at 1:30. Instead we will be leaving for the airport to pick up my mom. She will be staying here with the kids while Craig and I fly to North Carolina. I appreciate her so much! She has stayed close to us regardless of what our return address labels say.

I haven't felt the sense of relief yet. Maybe it will hit me this afternoon when I pass the exit for the college, or Saturday morning when I wake up in a hotel room and have no plans to go to the lab. (I spent 65 hours of my life in the lab this past 4 months.) Maybe it will all sink in when I check my online grades and see the accumulated credit hours, who knows. I do know that I appreciate free time a whole lot more now than before. I am afraid though that this 1 month break of mine is so consumed with holiday events that I won't even notice all the free time.

Oklahoma

Last Saturday Craig and I took the two youngest 'fruit' to Oklahoma City. (Tiffani had a solo in the adult choir and wanted to stay here with Jason and Amanda) We went to minister to a couple of dear friends, Bro. and Sis. Kevin and Desise Borders. For the past 9 years, they have been growing a solid UPC church in Norman. Here is a picture of Denise and her daughter in love, Amanda.


Denise has won the cancer battle, and we are so thrilled about it.

We first met Kevin and Denise back when we were both evangelizing and living in tin cans. (Most people refer to these as RVs.) We evangelized just 9 years, but they stayed on the field 15!! Wow, my hat is off to them.

Our weekend was short, but fun. After we arrived, the temperature dropped, and it started sleeting. How nice it was to wake up in the warm evangelist quarters, hear the sleet pounding on the outside windows, get dressed, and walk downstairs into the sanctuary. I really felt bad for all of those who had to get out in the weather.

After church, however, we did have trouble getting the frozen car door open to drive to the restaurant. The kids had fun rolling down the window and punching the ice out. We all laughed and laughed when Craig would come to an intersection and have to open the door and look out before making a turn. Who would have thought to bring an ice scrater. (We don't get much of this kind of weather anymore now that we are in Texas, and we had fun with it.) Pastor Borders had to cancel church Sunday night because more freezing rain was coming in, and so we took the opportunity to get out while we could. (I did briefly entertain the thought of spending the night hoping to get iced in. The evangelist quarters were so comfortable; not even one window in our room allowing us to sleep until...)

Cooking from Scratch

Ever since we returned from Homestead with a 5-gallon bucket full of wheat berries, we have been making homemade bread. It has been great. It is so fulfilling to grind the flour, combine the yeast, knead the dough, let it rise, bake it up, and then slice into a warm loaf at the dinner table. (My husband especially likes this.) And, I feel so good about it. It is totally healthy, and (Jason, this is for you) it has SO MUCH FIBER!!

We wanted to try our hand at yogurt with the fresh milk, and we are getting quite good at it. It is really so easy! We have an abundance of yogurt, and so I decided to try yogurt cheese. It is just as easy. It has the consistency of cream cheese. I added fresh minced garlic, salt, and a bit of parsley, and it is a great spread for our rye crackers.

I've also been making these wonderful banana muffins sweetened only with bananas. They are filled with wonderful nutrients with 'extra' stuff I add like flax seed meal, and the pulp from when Jason and Amanda juiced for us. Yesterday I baked a dozen of these little guys, and this morning they were all gone!