Friendship

Through the years I have been blessed with some very close friends, friends that I never want to lose contact with.  When David and I did a premarital counseling, way back when, my temperament analysis said that I am the type of person that would lose contact with people and not care.  That is not me.  I may have misunderstood the results or maybe I answered the questions wrong but I do not like to lose contact of those close to me.

Thirty-Five years ago, my mom came home to tell me about this girl she had just met that had moved into the house down the street.  She wanted me to go over and meet her.  This was a bit out of my comfort zone but my mother persisted and I did it.  The girl was to be my friend for life and beyond. Her name was Tami which is my sister's name so we would refer to her as TamiB.   I am so thankful that her parents chose to move to my neighborhood.

Growing up, the church we attended preached frequently about the rapture.  I would have night mares about it.  I had shared with my new friend about the rapture and quite honestly scared to her to salvation.  I have heard it preached that this kind of soul saving doesn't work, but in this case it did.  Tami loves Lord and I am so blessed that we grew up together.  We had our ups and downs in our Christian walk growing up, but we were there to encourage each other in the Lord.  For that I am truly thankful.

As we got older, got married, had children and moved away it became hard to keep in contact.  It has been 5 years since the last time we got together.  When we get together we still have a strong friendship.  The other day, after trying to find a time all summer that we could get together, she actually had an opportunity to come to my town.  How wonderful it was to spend the day with Tami and catch up.

I am so grateful for the friends that God has placed in my life.  There are many people that have encouraged me through the years and it is my desire to never lose contact with them.  My prayer is that some day in heaven we will spend eternity together and I look forward to meeting with you all there also.  God bless you my friends and family.

Alicia
  

Us then ....

...and now

Aidric's new hair cut

Aidric fishing at harvest festival

Isabella and Sierra were very successful at the cake walk

Danika helping Aidric

August, Brent and Latisha as "nerds"

Fun Day

Yesterday we had a busy but fun day.  The morning was spent with yard work and a blessing from my neighbor.  She has an abundance of raspberry plants and let me come dig some for myself.  Apparently, I'm not very strong but was able to dig some and transplant them.  It was in the upper 90's so probably not the best time to be transplanting but the opportunity arose and I took it.  I drenched them in water and we'll see what happens. 

After that we went to do photos.  Oh what drama but we try to make it fun.  After the discussion of attire and hair we finally made it to the park to take pictures.  I brought lots of water but we drank it all and were very thirsty and tired when all was done.  I think we got some good pictures.  My favorite was of all the girls.  By that time Isabella was no longer happy and Cassie was ready to play but I still liked it.  It is so funny to see their personalities shine when you take pictures.  Several I took, I just couldn't delete because they cracked me up.   Alex was working so we'll have to get some of him later.

Then we hurried home for naps and to ready ourselves for the evening.  We were having Mark and Amy and their 8 (and one on the way) kiddos and Chad and Jessica and their 5 kiddos.  What a fun evening.  We roasted hot dogs (yes in 90 plus degree weather), had a great potato salad, yummy watermelon, homemade cherry ice cream (the remaining of the cherries we picked),  then finished the evening with games, conversation and SMORES.  How great is that.  I so enjoy getting our families together.  Everyone has someone to play with and I just love them all.  I am so blessed to have such good Friends.

Mark and Amy had just had their ultrasound that day and after 4 boys in a row they are expecting a healthy baby girl.  What a blessing!!!  The older girls are thrilled.  They have the sweetest story.  I wish Amy would start her own blog but she has ok me to tell this story.  God has been so good to them in blessing them with 3 (now 4) girls and 5 boys and the provision has always been there.  It has seemed that with several of their babies they received raises.  So, when Mark got a raise a couple months ago he came home and asked Amy is she was expecting again and to their delight she took a test and sure enough, they are.  Isn't God good?   

I wish I had pictures to share from last night, but I hope you enjoy the pictures from the park.  Have a blessed day.

Spring Fever

Oh what crazy weather.  I so enjoy the sun popping out and the rain is good for the grass, but the temperature going up and down is crazy.  We bought our home over a year ago.  The yard was a mess so last summer was spent working on the yard.  We planted a lot of plants and trees.  I love beautiful yards and strive to make mine nice.  We had some watering problems and about 1/3 of our plants didn't make it.  At the end of the summer I planted a bunch of tulips and daffodils.  The last couple of weeks they have been popping out all over.  It stirred me to get out and do yard work again.  I have planted around 30 more plants and six trees.  I sure hope they all survive.  I was praying over them as I planted.  Silly I know but it was just so sad to see so many not make it last year.  My loving husband has been working hard on the yard too and our grass that struggled so much last year is green and beautiful.  This weekend I bought a couple pear trees.  I'm so excited to be growing my own fruit.  I don't know how long it will take for them to produce but we now have 2 pears, an apple, peach, plum and one tree that came with the house that we still aren't sure what it is but it has beautiful blossoms so maybe this year we can find out.  My garden is also clean and awaiting seeds.  It's a bit early to plant but I get so anxious and can't wait to fill it with seeds and watch them produce too. 

Our weekends was very nice too.  The highlight being we got to have dinner with some wonderful friends.  They have 8 children and just found out they are expecting their 9th.  We are so excited for them!!!  What a blessing.  They cooked a wonderful Mexican meal and then we played games.  The little ones played so well and the adults and older children got to show our word knowledge with speed scrabble. 

We also discovered our neighbors cow had an adorable baby.  God is good and I get so much joy in watching all things being fruitful, like my flower, vegetables, trees (hopefully), the neighbors cow and our good friends.  Spring is here and new life is popping out everywhere.  God bless and have a great day.

Some Friends are Friends forever

This weekend Lien, a friend of mine, came to visit.  It was so good to see her and her daughter.  There are certian people who are more of a blessing when they come then you can be a blessing to in having them at your house.  They live about 2 hours away and it is sad we don't get together more but she always goes out of her way to stop by when she can.  Lien has two children and I got to share two of my pregnancies with her.  There is something so special about going through a pregnancy with someone else who is doing the same.  I think there is a bond that is formed there.  There were about 8 of us who were pregnant at the same time when I was pregnant with Sierra.  The funny thing was three years later we were all pregnant again.  So when I got pregnant with Cassandra several of them got quite nervous.  Why they didn't all keep up I'll never know but we all had so much fun. About the time one of us was done going through morning sickness the next began.  What special memories.  Lien is a wonderful cook and blesses us with bringing us Asian food.  So for dinner we got to enjoy home made wontons and eggrolls Lien brought.  Then I added store bought orange chicken, some fried rice (that Lien made) and sweet and sour sauce (that Lien made also).  The kids are all thrilled when Lien comes and so is my husband and myself.  It is good to have friends who share your faith and encourage you.  Lien is such a blessing as an encourager and the gifts she brings. 
Some people will encourage you the wrong way, like you don't have to take that, or Why do you put up with that.   It is so good to surround yourself with people who encourage you in doing good.  But also you need to be that friend to others.  A friend of mine was concerned about a choice her husband wanted her to make.  It wasn't a big deal but she wasn't sure she wanted to do what her husband was asking her to do.  As she confided in us my independent mode went up and I was thinking it wasn't fair.  Another friend with us explained to her that if that was something her husband wanted then she need to do it.  Wow, she was so right.  She was honoring her husband and God and encouraging my friend to honor hers.  Women, as a friend encourage those around you to do right, especially in the area of our marriage and children.  Use Gods Word as the final say.  How much happier we are and our family is when we put ourself aside and choose to do what God wants us to do.  We are all weak and can tend to be selfish.  God help me not to be weak and selfish but may I choose to think and do right even when it is hard and may I encourage my friends also to think and do right as you Word asks us to. 

A good book on encouraging you to do right in addition to the Bible is Created to Be His Help Meet, by Debbie Pearl.  Very good and very challanging.  God bless you all,  Alicia

The girls made a brownie trifle.  They had lots of fun.

Isabella sucking on her "spoon"  too

Lien and I working on dinner

Rebekah and Sierra love getting together

the girls made necklaces

here were five of us with our new babies almost 11 years ago.

Valentines Day

So another Valentines day has come and gone.  When I was in school I loved Valentines day and getting cards and finding out if there might have been a hidden meaning in one of the cards I received.  Oh how exciting!!!  Once we had kids I started to take a new perspective on it.  In an effort to protect our children's hearts we encourage them not to date or have boy friends or girl friends, but how do you avoid this when the big love holiday comes around.  I was so encouraged when I read a children's book about St. Valentine.  The book told of how St. Valentine was a Christian with a strong desire to share how God so "Loved" the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believes on him will not perish but have everlasting life.  (John 3:16)  He was imprisoned for his faith.  While in his cell St Valentine continued to send letters of Gods love to others so they would be encouraged and find a personal relationship with him.  He was later executed for his faith.  What an amazing story.  Valentine's Day isn't about finding a quick superficial crush but it is about finding God.  For God is Love and no greater love has any one than to lay down their life for a friend.  (John 15:13)  So I fell in Love with the holiday.  We made it a family day long celebration.  A time of celebrating God's love for us and our love for each other.  The holiday is what you make it.  I remember that God demonstrated his own love for us that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).  I am also celebrating the love my husband and I share and the love that we have for our children.  God is so good and we are so grateful for all he has done for us and given us.

So as for our day we begin with pink chocolate chip heart shaped pancakes for breakfast.  Lunch I love to share with friends and make a variety of heart shaped pizza.  We were so blessed to have the Duenas and Argons.  With all of our children there were 17 and 2 were not able to make it.  Lots of fun.  We love getting together with them all and sharing time with people we love and trust.  The kids love to share cards, time with their friends, games and crafts.  Come dinner time we have chicken cour don blue (the frozen kind, let's not get too carried away) baked potatoes, green beans, strawberries, and bread.  We decorate our table and use our china.  We eat at candle light and enjoy each others company.  It was so beautiful but I forgot to take a picture.  Then we had bread pudding.  I have tweeked a recipe to make it the way I like it and I think I'll share it with you at the end.  I hope you had a wonderful Valentines Day.  God Bless Alicia

Cassandra ready for breakfast before anyone else

I love to braid the girls hair in heart shapes

Our dear friends that got to join us for lunch

Cassie always ready for a picture

Caleb riding around

the older boys hanging out

dessert time

Lots of kids enjoying dessert

here it is the bread pudding

Alicia's Bread Pudding
1 jar apples (see below)                                           1 cup heavy cream or evap. milk
1 1/2 loaves french bread cut in 1 inch pieces            1 cup white sugar
3 cups milk                                                               3/4 cup brown sugar
3 eggs slightly beaten                                                 2 Tblsp molasses
1/2 cup butter melted                                                 1 tsp lemon juice
2 tsp cinnamon                                                          1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla
Place bread in 9 x 12 in baking dish.  mix in apples.  In large bowl, combine the milk eggs, butter, cinnamon, vanilla, heavy cream, sugar, br. sugar, molasses, lemon juice and salt.   Mix well.  Add 1/2 cup liquid from apples.  Pour over bread.  Let sit until bread has soaked up all the milk mixture for at least 1 to 2 hours. 
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Place baking dish in another larger pan and add water about halfway up the sides of the baking dish.  Bake for 1 hour or until bread pudding has set.  Remove bread pudding from oven and let cool to just warm
Sauce:
Melt 1/2 cup butter on medium.  Add 1/2 cup apples syrup, 1/2 cup sugar and 2 egg yolk.  Heat till slightly thicken.  Pour over top of each serving.  Enjoy

I can my own apples but when I run out I just cut up some apples (about 3), place in boiling water 1 1/2 cups, 1/2 cup sugar and 2 tsp cinnamon mixture.  Let is simmer till almost soft.