Baking Bread

For Christmas I received a new Kitchen-Aid standing mixer! I received one as a shower gift eleven and a half years ago, and its motor is giving out. So my dear husband got me another one! I have to say, I use my mixer a lot, and I was delighted by the new one! After a couple of experiences baking bread, I confessed my frustration with the process to him. I just didn't understand it enough. He responded with getting me this:


This is an incredible book! It explains the process really well. After reading through at least 100 pages of how the steps in bread baking worked, I was ready to try again! Here are my bread baking apprentices:



The final product! A bull's-eye rye with light and dark rye swirls. It tasted good too!

Decorations are down

Well the Christmas decorations have made their way back into the basement. We were greatly helped this year by a very mild spell which made taking the outdoor decorations down very easy, though muddy. I also popped some tulip bulbs in the garden which I had forgotten to do in the fall!

Inside, we are still a little disorganized as some of the furniture is not put back, notably the drum set (I guess that's not furniture though!), but the house has a much sleeker and pared back feel. It's a good feeling! The routines are being re-established, and good intentions (organize the kitchen!) are beginning to be acted on. A Happy New Year.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to everyone! I hope 2008 will be a year of blessing, getting to know God better and deepening your relationships with others.

We were happy to see Uncle Chris today - he's visiting home from England.


The children in particular were happy to see him - so much so that we had trouble seeing him for a while!


Uncle Chris didn't seem to mind!

Choirs!

As well as acting, we have been involved this fall with a new venture - a homeschool choir. I direct the Junior Choir which has my oldest three in it. We had two Christmas performances recently, the first not all the choir members were able to attend but those that did, did a great job!




Later, the full choir was able to perform. There are 25 members.

Dr. Luke's Book

Several of our family were involved in a church play recently - it was called Dr. Luke's Book and followed Luke as he decides to write his gospel and does early research. The play was written by me, the role of Luke was taken by David, his daughter Evie by our Emmi, and Tim and Ben appeared as shepherds!

We also had a real baby in our play - a six day old baby girl took the part of Baby Jesus. I think she stole the show!


Luke and Theophilus converse with Luke's daughters looking on:

Blessed Be the Name of the Lord

Last week, David was returning from his great-aunt's funeral (in Oshawa) when he was involved in a car accident (he was not at fault). He suffered just minor bruising, but the car was totalled. It was a difficult day: the funeral, the accident, the reporting of the accident, the line-ups at the collision centre, talking to insurance agents, trying to get home, lining up at the rental car place, the traffic on the way home....

However, at the end of the day, he was able to tell us how good the Lord is. We are thankful, of course, that he was not injured, or worse. And we have seen blessings of the accident too. Tim has been wondering what God was trying to teach us. Emily was able to encourage David by reminding him our treasures are in heaven. And David says he was filled with a sense of the provision of the Lord while he was waiting for the tow-truck to arrive.

Blessed be the name of the Lord!

The Grand Prix Open!

We recently had our church's AWANA Grand Prix! Emily won the first place for Novelty (things that don't look like cars) with her French Fries:


She was very excited to get a trophy!


And she was able to go to the next level, which is a regional meet called the Grand Prix Open. It was today, and we took a friend from church who won second place for Design. The girls had fun, but didn't place in any categories here, but were consoled by badges for their uniforms.

Maybe next year!!