It's December Already?!? - Catching Up

Explanation, Excuse, or Whatever You Want to Call It
You might wonder why it has taken so long for us to give any updates on our blog; as I was wondering this myself the other day, I realized that the last time I published a blog post, I was headed to the True Woman conference in October (yes, two months ago!). (Chris has written once since then, but I have not.) What has happened in that time, I wondered, that has prevented us from updating our blog? ...And then it hit me: My excuse has a name! JOSIAH.
While I was away at the conference, our dear oldest child decided that would be the perfect time to begin climbing - er, falling - out of his crib. Chris felt that the best way to prevent an ER trip in my absence would be to convert Josiah's crib to a toddler bed. (Have any other mothers cried when their children graduated from a crib to a bed? No? Just me? Well, we'll blame the tears I shed on the fact that I was away from home and my firstborn was going to experience this milestone without me. *sniff*)
Anyway, Chris converted the crib... And we have been being reminded almost every night for the last two months now WHY we didn't convert the crib earlier: Our 2-year-old just wasn't ready for that independence (and we weren't ready for him to have it)! It's kind of like having a newborn again, only this time not only does the child wake up multiple times throughout the night, but if you don't respond fast enough you'll find him walking around the house, or playing with toys in the living room (at 3 a.m.), or trying to go outside... You get the picture.
The last two weeks have actually been getting much better (I think there's a light at the end of this tunnel!), but before that we had been getting up probably an average of 5 times a night: Chris tending to Josiah, me tending to Charis. (Oh yeah, since the kids share a room, if one wakes up the other does also.) So this is my excuse for not having updated the blog: We've been pretty consistently exhausted for the past two months and haven't had the time or energy to do anything extra in addition to our building responsibilities at church, practicing hospitality in our home, and trying to convince our kids to go to bed and stay there. No complaints: I love my kids and have even been able to find some joy and thankfulness in the extra late-night snuggles knowing that this, too, shall pass, and someday my babies will be grown and I'll miss this time.

True Woman 2014: Indianapolis
Well, I was in the process of writing a draft about the True Woman conference, but it seems that somehow that post got lost or deleted. :(
Since the chances I have had lately to sit down and blog have been few and far between, I'm not going to try to replicate it; suffice it to say that the conference was great. It was very refreshing/encouraging/convicting for me, and I enjoyed the time I got to spend with Jan from our church who accompanied me. (Other women from our church, including Diane, had also originally registered, but were unfortunately not able to attend because Amber's viewing/funeral ended up being held during the conference.)
It was also neat to run into some other Village Missions wives who were in attendance.

Jan and I enjoyed the conference!

Charis was exhausted after three full (but good!) days!

Rural Living: Experiences
Chris has written about a couple of the new experiences he has had as the people from Liberty Chapel attempt to turn that city boy into a true country boy (see The Change of Seasons and Chainsaws and Crossbows). Unfortunately, we didn't get any pictures of the lost pig that was wandering up and down our driveway last week, but it was another "first" to check off our list!
We are really enjoying having people in our home a few times a week for dinner and to get to know them better, and have also appreciated the invitations we have received to go to other peoples' homes.

This farm belongs to one of the elders of Liberty Chapel

We also enjoyed a work day several weeks ago (Ok, I'll admit it...These pictures are from September!) at the church helping with some of the landscaping. Josiah may have had more fun than anybody!

Finally got all those pictures posted! Now, back to November....


Money for Missions
If you ever are looking for a great fundraiser to raise money for missions, Liberty Chapel's annual Missions Bake Sale/Auction is a great success. Honestly, I'm not even sure that this would work in every church, but LC has found a fun idea that works for them: Generous bakers, a giving congregation that cares about missions, and two talented auctioneers with just the right personality for the job make this recipe a success!

It is so evident that this church cares about missions. Many people baked tirelessly in order to donate three tables full of yummy food, and then the congregation came prepared to give and prepared to have fun doing so! There were certain items that were in high demand: A jar of pickled beets, for example, sold for $35; and there was a pumpkin roll and a blueberry pie that --each-- sold for $60! The auction overall raised over $1700 for missions!!

All the goodies that were donated for the auction!

Jan & Stan: Talented Auctioneers and overall delightful couple

The stash we took home: Cookies, tea & coffee mixes, strawberry-mango preserves.

Other Liberty Chapel families organizing their stashes to take home

Well, before this post gets overwhelmingly long (or maybe we're already there...), I'm going to take a break. Hopefully in the next couple of days both kids will take another good nap (at the same time!) and I'll have a chance to write about other things I didn't get to tonight: Chris' sermons, my involvement at the Women's Resource Center, some projects and assignments we have been given recently at Liberty Chapel, a support update and upcoming presentation, and our recent visit with the District Representatives. Until then, I'll just keep you in suspense! :)

Thanks for supporting us in prayer...even when we don't get to update as often as we'd like!!!