Life at the Lodge Last Week

Last week went by in a blur...here is why:

The new goat babies are here...

Marshall and Moses joined little Mabel in the goat pen last week, 

They are just her size, only she is two weeks older. 

 Rose had to play midwife and pull both of these babies,

 who are doing very well along with their mama.  

Aren't they adorable??

  We will be rich in goat milk in a few short weeks.

Besides playing and gentling these cuties, we have been doing some big cooking.

I enjoy cooking and hospitality. 

 Here is one way that I serve in the church body with these gifts:

Every Wednesday, I cook dinner for about 30 people

 who come to our "Family Fellowship" night at the church. 

 Last week, we ( myself and with the children's help)  oven fried 20 lbs of chicken,
according to my dear friend, Enola Gay's recipe, 

and oh, was it good!!! 

 Enola is a very good cook who has her own cookbook. 

 I highly recommend it.  

We served the chicken with baked potatoes, and,
having bought the chicken (thighs) on sale,

 the total cost was approximately $2.00/person,
just so you know, 

if you are planning on cooking for a crowd soon.

 

 There were many raves over the chicken, so it was a big success.  But, then...

Toward the end of the week, the family began coming down with INFLUENZA B. 

 This we have been battling with home remedies with some success.  

 Oil of Oregano, taken in the early stages of illness worked very well on three of us. 

 Grandma Gladys had a special recipe for cough syrup-one of those hillbilly potions-  

implemented at night that always works well...but ICK!!
  Perhaps it is the nastiness of the syrup that motivates one to get well real quick?!  :-)

 Then, giving comfort is Vicks on the chest, honey lemon tea throughout the day,
as well as Immune Booster tea

and lots of rest are the natural treatments we have used. 

 The poor littles have just slept and slept...

here, there, and everywhere!

 The stealth napper...

the burrito style napper...

I find them to be adorable --illness and all!

Today is our first day up and at em. 

My, but it feels good!

 The pouring rain outside makes it feel like a great day for tea...

(but then, every day is a great day for tea in my book)

 and extra reading to catch up from a week lost to illness..

..maybe some board games as well.  

If you're of a mind to wander across the internet..do visit our daughter Anna here...

..she's a resourceful, sweet, gem making a lovely home life for her wonderful hubby in NM

 and expecting a baby in June...

and our vivacious, beautiful Rose..here...just days from departing for Africa again...

she is so excited and will tell you all about  the ministry opportunities awaiting.

I know you will be blessed by both of these blogs.

Wishing you well...

Julianne 

Birthday Blessings

Benjamin Creed

March is a big birthday month in our family.  

I counted six birthdays in the extended family.

After putting up the crepe paper, balloons and birthday banner, 

we started fixing pizzas for the 20 some guests, mostly family.

  Rose and Joe are the main pizza chefs. 

 Joe prepared his specialty:  BBQ chicken pizza, 

Rose made the Pepperoni, and we all worked on the Jalapeno Popper Pizza, 

which we copied from Anna, who had just tried it the week before with great success.

 When the food was ready,

 Daddy prayed a special blessing on the birthday boy, Ben, who is turning 11 years old.

 After dinner-- cake, of course...except our boy wanted banana splits instead,

 so we put his candles in his ice cream.  

He was quite pleased with it.

Long ago we started a tradition of giving the same gifts to each boy at a certain age.

  This has worked very well...and the children look forward 

to the day they will be old enough to get  ______, as if it has become a right of passage.

 It also keeps things fair.

Once our boys are nine, 

we leave toys behind and enter the age of tools that will last, hopefully, a lifetime.

When they turn nine, we give them a foot locker.

 At ten, they get their first pocket knife.

  At eleven, a hatchet.

  For twelve they get a hunting knife.  

Thirteen, a .22,

 and fourteen- a gift especially for their particular interests.

 Fifteen- a fishing vest. 

 When sixteen, they receive  a dinner date with parents, with a "becoming a man ceremony".

 Seventeen, a tool kit for a car,

  And eighteen, a "senior trip" with daddy.

We have a whole different list for girls, but that will be told another time.

  

Here, you can see, 

that this little woodsman is happy as can be to have yet more camo and a fishing net,

 gifts from grandparents. 

After stuffing ourselves with pizza AND banana splits,

 enjoying all the company...which somehow consistently includes a dress up party for the little girls  (always amusing), opening presents, visiting some more...

...and the guests have left...sigh...

we settled the children down and read a few more chapters in Little House On Plum Creek 

before tucking them in, then seeking our own happy slumbering place.

  Another birthday..

..one more year added to the many years we have been blessed with our children. 

 Each one has their own gifts and talents, bents, and love language.

 Each one so unique, so precious in their own way,

 and  yes, challenging in their own way.

 Yet each one, certainly a reward (Psalm 127).

 We concluded the day feeling overly full and abundantly blessed..

...the perfect ending for a birthday.