Busy Saturday

Yesterday was a full day! Hence no post.

Started the day at the church flea market/plant sale/car wash. I worked the concession stand with a good friend, making work much easier. While Haley washed cars with the youth group. Jacob stayed home with Faith. Making it easier for me to work and not worry about what she was getting in to, and Lord knows Jacob didn't mind the excuse to not have to work.

I did have an opportunity to peruse the plant sale. Came home with an awesome tomato plant, grown by a parishioner in his green house.

And a healthy forsythia shrub. To help Mike and I with our landscaping efforts.

Then we were off to a local elementary school for their music jamboree. Where Jacob's band DTK (Dressed to Kill) had a 45 minute set to play. They do well for teenage boys with big dreams.

Back home to get cleaned up and ready for mass at 5:00. As I sat in the pew listening to the Gospel, I remembered... Feast of The Good Shepherd. I hadn't planned anything to celebrate it with my kids! Does this make me a bad Catholic mom? I don't know, but I do know I put a lot of pressure on myself when I don't feel I measure up.

The day is still young and I do have some house work to do that I didn't have time for yesterday. But I will at least discuss the readings with the kids and pray I haven't damaged their spiritual souls too much from this oversight.

Catching Up

Advent

We've been lighting our candle (now 2) at dinner to help us prepare for Jesus' birth. We've been learning about different saints. Including Saint Nicholas of course whose feast was yesterday. The kids each got a small gift, that was left in their shoes.

This week my goal is to set up our nativity. The nativity I have was my mother's. I remember one year us kids all bought it for her for Christmas. I was somewhat younger that year, I don't think I contributed to the cost, but I still remember it.

Faith enjoying her Saint Nicholas gift. Polly Pockets!

Our Christmas card photo was taken, and cards have been ordered. What a fiasco that was this year. It took 3 attempts and several clicks of the shutter before we came up with one that all 3 kids looked good in. Not sure why it was so difficult this year? To make the hunter husband happy some cards will be sent, to a select few, of the girls with Jacob and his first buck.

School Work

The kids have been working really hard. Especially Jacob. High school is giving him a run for his money. Seton offers a college prep. level education which is a really good thing, but it can be tough if you would rather do enough just to get the diploma. I'm proud of his determination!

Now that we are working during the week it has been nice having Mike available to work with Faith. Freeing up my time to dedicate to Jacob on the days he's struggling.

Mike working with Faith on Math. Not her best subject.

In the Knitting Bag

Finished the socks for my sister Laura's priest.

I took the afghan out of hibernation that I started back in February, and I've been working on it when I'm at home.

I casted on a sweater, in a lovely shade of green that is worked from the top down, by Diane Soucy.

Really don't like having more than one project on the needles at once, but the afghan can't be taken out side of the house very easily.

In the Kitchen

I've tried a couple of new venison recipes that the family seems to really like. (If anyone is interested in them let me know.) Since we now have 4 deer in the freezer, figured I better get a little more creative.

On December 5th after mass our church had their monthly pot luck. It worked out really well because the town had their Christmas parade on the same night. Everyone ate and then went outside to enjoy the parade. My motive was to use up some of the many eggs my chickens have been laying, so I made 36 deviled eggs. I wasn't too confident this was the best item to bring, but to my surprise they were gone before half the people had gone through the buffet. Someone came over to me later, she was at the end of the line and didn't get one, and told me to bring 2x as many next time.

My girls made chocolate covered decorated pretzels for the pot luck also. It isn't easy for me to let go of the control in my kitchen, but they did an awesome job! (And I let them do it without much help. Big step for mom!) It made them feel good to bring something to the bounty too.

Haley dipping the pretzels in chocolate.

Faith putting on the sprinkles.

Life is Good

We have phone lines to the new house! Yippee!! However, the big draw back to living out in the sticks is going to be the lack of high speed Internet. The only Internet available is dial up. I know! Dial up still exists? It is amazing how we have come to rely on high speed Internet so much. We will have to find a way around this, but if this is our only real difficulty, life ain't so bad.

Last night was pot luck at our church. Remember I mentioned they do this every month or so and they had one again to celebrate Halloween. The kids played games, wore costumes, and got these incredible grocery bags full of loot!

It was great to be able to tell everyone that we would be moving in to the house officially, and people even offered help. What a wonderful community we have found. We are truly blessed.

Just Everyday Stuff

Not much happening around here.

We had to renegotiate the contract on the house because the appraisal came in lower than buying price. Which is good for us. One more hurdle to hop over that is all. Because it is a new construction there are a lot of forms that need to be completed that we have to wait on. But, we still expect to close before the end of October.

As for knitting, I'm still working on Laura's 50th birthday gift. Almost finished there and formulating the next project. Thinking Dad will get something knitted for Christmas.

Today we all go to mass at 1:00, and then we will do some shopping. Haley is in need of warmer clothes. Then off to Liberty University for Jacob's piano lesson.

The Church for Us

There are 2 Catholic Churches in the city of Lynchburg. So, when we first got here we tried them both out. We really like the priest at St. Thomas More so that became the church we affiliated ourselves with. However, after a couple of weeks of going there, something was bothering me.

I couldn't quite figure out what it was, but something didn't feel right. Then it hit me, or the Holy Spirit whispered in my ear. It wasn't traditional enough. The church is pretty, but it feels secular. Can you imagine a Catholic Church that feels secular? It also dawned on me that the other church in town was the same way. No tabernacle in the church, it is in the back behind the scene. No holy water when you walk in to bless yourself with, and there are no kneelers. You find yourself wondering, "Did I go to the right church?" (And believe me around here there are churches on every corner so you very well could.)

St. Thomas More Church is pretty enough. Then the final test came yesterday, we went to church in Amherst. Only 10 minutes from the house we are buying. As soon as we walked in Jacob's comment was, "There is a tabernacle." Check one! Holy water was at the entrance. Check two! Four different people introduced themselves to us. They were actually able to tell we were new.
Finally, we've found our church.