Dilly Carrots and Beans

We harvested the remaining carrots from our garden last week.  Troubles had a great time pulling them. He was so excited each time he got a big one!  We got one that looked like a person walking that made him laugh and one that we called The Octopus Carrot because of it's many small points.  I forgot to take pictures of them, though.

We can't eat all these carrots before they go soft, of course, so we saved a big bag of them for crunching raw, and set about preserving the rest.  We topped, washed and cut them up and made Dilly Carrots!  I haven't had them before, but I am hoping that they will be a tasty snack for the kids a couple of months from now.

I purchased some green beans to try Dilly Beans, too.  I can't wait for green bean season!  We still have some of last years but I'm not sure if we'll have enough to make it until late summer.  I made 68 quarts last year, figuring that over 1 quart a week would be enough but we enjoy them SO much! I often use 2 quarts for a meal.

You can always find more canning ideas at my recipe blog: Feeding the Crew, and there's lots of other recipes, too.  Here's hoping that all of your harvests are going well and that your summer garden is growing well, too.

This post is linked at the current Carnival of Home Preserving.

Joy in the Morning!

I'm so happy to announce that Abbott's fund has grown!  He's up to $2311 and needs just $189 shy to get to the Moving Mountains page!  Please pray for Abbott; for safety and health while he's in the institution and that a family would choose him soon!









In other good news, Silas has found a family!  He's waited for so, so long!  Hopefully his family will get their blog set up soon, so we can follow them on their journey to their son.



Kristopher, too, has been chosen!  He's such a little cutie and trapped in that bad orphanage....you know the one.  The b.a.d. one.  Pray for a fast process for his family so he can be home as soon as possible!

Keith, Ahnja, Nicholas, Paula and Anjelina's family has finally been given a court date.  They will be in front of the judge on June 12th.  Pray for a good judge and that they will be home by the end of the month. 

Rummage Sale Totals and Other Opportunities

We organized a rummage sale last month for Abbott and Michelle and had it on the 7th.  Abbott doesn't have a family yet, but we are praying that someone will choose him soon.  Michelle has a family working hard to get her and they have recently chosen another girl to be their daughter!  Felicia will soon be a Cooper, too!

Our sale began at 7 am and we were cleaning up by 6 PM.  There were people digging through the clothes as we were trying to put them away!  We had a lot of good items donated and many of them sold in the first few hours. All day long, though, people bought small things and even things that I thought would likely not sell.  Thank the Lord for His blessing on our efforts!  After the sale, we were able to send $200 to Abbott and $200 to Michelle!

There are many other opportunities to help families who are adopting or children who need a family still.  Soon I will announce a new fundraiser for Abbott; I'll give more details as it gets closer.

The giveaway for Bernadette and Mason ends today.  Hopefully you can get over there and enter.  There are few people playing, so your chance of winning is really good! 

Here's a chance to win an iPad and bring Ava home. 

There are gift cards, beautiful dresses and more available here, to benefit the adorable Claudia.

This is an online auction that will benefit Jaxon and help him come home. There are tons of beautiful bows for that special little girl in your life, along with others great items.

Hidden Treasures will be holding the week-long Mission: Makayla auction beginning June 1. There is always a wide variety of items donated to this auction and they are of such great quality!  Don't miss out helping dear Makayla get out of "the very bad place" she is in and get home where she belongs!

Miles is a newly-listed child and so, adorable!!

Gabby hasn't much more time to be available for adoption.  She desperately needs to get out of the orphanage she is in and see a doctor!  Please pray for her!












Dear Mabel is longing for a mommy to cradle her and love on her!

Little Jolene is so sweet and needs daddy and mommy to cherish her and a brother or two to look out for her!

Ransoming Bernadette and Mason

Sweet Bernadette, whose new name will be Jessica, and little Mason are being adopted by the Rogers family. Time is critical for this adoption because Bernie is already 15 years old.  They are working desperately hard to get them as fast as possible, however, money is tight.  They've only been home about 5 months from adopting the last time!  From Renee's blog:

They still need the following (in US dollars):

5625     rent/food/transportation per day ($125/day x 45 days)
  600     train tickets (2 to region, 4 back to capitol after adoption)
1600     airfare for the parents over to EE
3200     airfare for the parents and Bernie and Mason back to the USA post-adoption
2000     2 one-day visas ($1000/ea) for Bernie and Mason
2000     USCIS i600 fees ($720/ea x 2, $225/ea x 2 for required Embassy medical exams for kids)
1000     miscellaneous


Please, please, please go read that link to Renee's blog.  Rene has been in this orphanage. She has spent time with Bernadette and knows how the Orphanage Director is reacting to this incredible, unbelievable adoption. 

Let's come alongside the Rogers Family and help them raise the ransom for these dear children!  They need the church right now!  Another friend is graciously hosting a giveaway.  I have donated an item, as have several others.  It's not a huge, flashy giveaway, but a chance to do the hard work of James 1:27.  


"Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world."


Please go visit Mandy's blog and contribute to the Chip-In.  Leave a comment letting her know that you did.  You'll have the chance to win a prize, but much more importantly, you'll show the Rogers that they are not alone in this.  That others are praying and caring about dear Jessica and Mason. They are NOT forgotten!

Catch-Up Post

We've had so much going on lately that blogging has fallen by the wayside.  Therefore, a catch-up post in in order!

Of course, I have to include the family Easter picture.

My father-in-law, sister-in-law and all three cousins came for a visit!  While the guys went to the range to shoot a while, we went to The Dizzy Park, ran around and fed the ducks and geese.  What fun! My SIL and I also made Creamsicle Jam together.

My dear Oregon in-laws are coming for their annual visit later this month and we are beyond excited.  We love this special time of year!!  It's often the first hot streak of the year while they are here, but our weather has looked like this lately, so they might get lucky. The forecast is variable, calling for temps from the mid 60's, mid-70's to low 80's for their visit, with low chances of rain, even.

I've been working on our front yard landscaping.  It's been the same for ten years and the plants were getting pretty tired looking.  On a whim, I ripped everything out one morning and began anew.  I'm making a special little spot we're calling "Shady Grove" for the little  girls who love hidden places to read and do schoolwork.  It's coming together nicely and I should be finished this week.  I haven't taken any pictures yet, though.

I am collecting items for a Sidewalk Sale at church to benefit Abbott and a least one other Reece's Rainbow child.  The announcement was in the bulletin last Sunday. Please pray that we raise local awareness of the need and also lot of money to donate!

My Honey and I took our eldest daughter EmBlem and her friend R. to Six Flags last week to celebrate Em's 16th birthday.  We had a great time.  I sure do love roller coaster-ing. Colossus is still my favorite ride, with Ninja a close second, but I rode Scream for the first time and liked it, too.  The girls even rode the bigger rides like Tatsu and X-2.  Brave things!

I am making a cute retro granny square afghan to donate to a giveaway or auction, as the Lord leads.  It's working up fast and I really like how the colors look together.

We had a swarm of bees across the street in a neighbors bush on Easter Sunday afternoon.  We really didn't want them sprayed so we called all the bee collectors in the area.  Only one would come out that day.  He was something else.  He did collect the swarm.  We got to watch the process close up. One of my girls walked up to the swarm barefoot, though, and as we were saying, 'Go put on shoes!" she stepped on a bee in the yard and got stung.  This was her first sting. She is not allergic, so yay! Her remark?  "I thought it would hurt more than that to get stung."

All in all, it's been a great spring!  What have you been up to?

New picture of Abbott

There's a new picture of Abbott! Isn't he the most handsome boy?  There was no new information, but I am SO glad to see that he is, at least, getting food in whatever institution he was transferred to.  His grant fund has grown a little over the past few days.  If you have donated to it, here's a big THANK YOU! from me. (((Abbott)))  I'm praying that your daddy and momma find you soon!

Totals and More Fundraisers and Giveaways

The Mulligan Stew giveaway is over and almost $49,000 was raised for the kids and families.  What a blessing to be able to be involved in it!  There are some donations via check that are still coming in, so a final, exact total has not yet been figured.

There are always quite a few other giveaways and fundraisers going on and I thought I would link to some of them. If you want to share another, please link it in the comments!

Hidden Treasure-an auction benefitting the adorable Keith Unroe

Clare....her family was fully funded, but had an unexpected delay that will add about $4500 on to the cost of their gotcha trip.  They are having a giveaway featuring an iPad, in addition to other cool things.

Lillianna-top prize is an iPad 3, 32g!

Sam and Duncan-They have a matching grant, up to $2000, but just until April 4th.  Even if you read this after that date, they still need help!

Bernadette and Mason-someone has blessed them with an Etsy fundraiser.

No Greater Joy Mom-this has not yet been announced in full detail, but check back often. It will be soon!

Vitaliy-This a puzzle fundraiser.  Donate $10 and your name will be written on a puzzle piece for Vitaliy to see all who helped bring him home.

Gracie-another chance at an iPad!

Sara- Lots of fun giveaway items here!

A Chance For Chandler-look at his sweet face!!

The Family Challenge-MET!!

We are *this* close to meetingWe met the Family Challenge for the Mulligan Stew giveaway!  Want to see then new numbers?  Keep reading.

First, let's remember that Laurel and Harmony have $500 each riding on meeting this challenge.  They are both SO close to aging out and not being chosen!  Please share Laurel's picture and the stories of both girls.  Even something as easy as that can make a world of difference!  Their families may be just one or two clicks away from seeing them for the first time!  There's a new picture of Harmony over at Covenant Builders. I can't share it here, but do go look!!

There's also a giveaway within a giveaway today!  Give to any of the children, families or the Lost Boys today and you are entered to win one of 26 EXTRA prizes!  These will be awarded Saturday night.  We have to wait until Sunday for the drawings for the Mulligan Stew prizes.

So the totals as of 7:30 AM PDT are as follows:  The giveaway has raised a total of $34,413.46!!  What an amazing number!  363 people have donated.  Will you share this post to all of your friends, please, so new folks can get a chance to join in?

Family summaries are as follows:

The Unroe family - $1357.77 raised - OVER THE WALL!!

 The Carpenter family - $2251.00 raised - OVER THE WALL!!

The Burman family - $2010.00 raised - OVER THE WALL!!

The Menges family  - $1660.00 raised - OVER THE WALL!!

 The Duncan family - $2140.00+ raised - OVER THE WALL!!

The Booth family - $2000 + raised - OVER THE WALL!!

The Brown family - $2000 + raised - OVER THE WALL!!

The Archer family - $2030.00 raised - OVER THE WALL!! 

I can't wait to write that they are ALL over the wall and the challenge has been met!  PLease keep praying for our giveaway and its hostess as the time to end draws near.  The enemy loves to attack when good is being done and lives are being saved.  Bur our God is mighty to save and is the Father to the fatherless!  Praise His holy name!

Mulligan Stew Challenge: Redeux

A new challenge has been poised today, nearing the end of the giveaway.  If each of the families get over the $2000 wall by the end of the night of March 31st, $500 will be donated to Laurel and Harmony's grant funds.  A $1000 donation hangs on this!  Please, do all you can to get the word out.  Share, Facebook, Twitter, call your friends, whatever you can think of!  Let's get these funds raised and help find the girls a home.  They are both so close to aging out.

You can see a picture of Harmony here and read an incredible story of personal sacrifice and love.  The Heim Family is one amazing example of Christ's love for others!

As of 10:00 PM PDT, these are the totals.  I will update them as I can.

The Unroe family -  NEED $822.23

 The Carpenter family - NEED $671.00

The Burman family -  OVER THE WALL!

The Menges family  -  NEED $350.00

 The Duncan family - OVER THE WALL!!

The Booth family - OVER THE WALL!!

The Brown family -  NEED $116.00

The Archer family - OVER THE WALL!!

A Challenge-Updated-Challenge MET!

Hooray-Hooray-Hooray!  We're almost there!WE MADE IT!!

Four of the children have passed over the $1000 wall!  Thanks to you and others' generous donations, Heath, Laurel, Victoria and Igor have all gained at least $1000 in their grant accounts!

Jack

Today we need only $595.84 to bring the rest of the children to $1000 and earn the $500 donation to The Lost Boys.  Please pray we meet it and for families for all of the children.  I'd love to come write a "My Family Found Me" post for each and every featured child (AND ABBOTT!)  This is nothing to our great and loving God!

Hanson

Needs updated as of 3:00 PM PDT:
Harmony $192.36 -  UPDATE - Harmony is over $1000!!
Emmitt $91.48 -  UPDATE - Emmitt is over $1000!!
Hanson $185.00 -  UPDATE - Hanson is over $1000!!
Jack $117.00 - UPDATE - Jack is over $1000!!

Emmitt

Harmony 

I've seen her picture and, please, take my word for it, she is beautiful!  Pray for her family to find her soon.  She must be chosen in the next couple of months or she will forever be locked in a mental institution.  She's in a good place now, going to school, doing well in all her work and self-care, etc.  She NEEDS to be found!  Please go read her description and pray, pray, pray for her!