Not so lazy days!!!

Looking back at our busy winter week, we worked our butts off!!!  We started off on Monday making a ton of soups down at Moms!  We are known that when we can or do something as a group of sisters, it's a lot!  A lot of work and this time it was a lot of soup!!! 

Everyone been saying how they want soups.  So, Mom said to all come down to the rec room and let's can it together!  We loaded up our cookers (that Dad's gave to us for Christmas one year), put many, many jars in the Yukon, grabbed all my ingredients to make vegetable soup and chicken corn noodle soup and then with the two youngest with me, I went to Mom's to start browning hamburger and chopping veggies! 

We all decided to make different soups and if you wanted some of the same kind, we took the recipe times ???.  I took my vegetable soup recipe times five!  Here's the recipe we used.

VEGETABLE SOUP:
1 Qt. String Beans
Carrots
Potatoes
Peas
Onions
Corn
Lima Beans
7 Qt. tomato juice
3 lbs. hamburger, fried
3 TB. beef bouillon
3/4 Cup Brown Sugar
2 Tb. Chili Powder
3 Cup alphabet noodles

Precook at vegetables.  Mix everything together and cold pack for 2 hours.


I also wanted some Chicken Corn Noodle.  Mom cooked some chicken legs and also got three BBQ chickens at market that we chopped up.  We kinda made up our own recipe as we went along with this one.  Maybe that wasn't the best idea but I make this soup often for our family and I have a recipe of mine own I like.  I based it off of that and we mixed and added and then mixed some more.  Here's my recipe I created for my family.

CHICKEN CORN NOODLE SOUP:
Cooked chicken
Chicken broth
Wide noodles
Corn
Cream of Celery Soup
Salt & Pepper

* Boil the noodles and then add your broth.  Add cooked chicken and corn.  Open up one can of cream of celery soup and add it.  This gives your soup a creamy, yummy flavor.  We did add this plus some chopped celery.  Salt and Pepper to your taste.  Fill jars and cold pack for 3 hours.

I browned tons of hamburger for our vegetable soup.

Jody brought all the Chili Soup ingredients!!!  And we chopped so many vegetables!!!

Potato Soup and Chili Soup.

Dad's gave us these huge caners for Christmas this year!!!  We used it for mixing and canning!Vegetable Soup mixed and ready for jars!

Chicken Corn Noodle Soup ready for jars!!!  And here we are ... the Riehl's Canning Company!  Well, at least for one day!!!  :))))  We lined up our five cookers and canned away!!!

Vegetable Soup ready for the caners!

We also made Cheeseburger soup.  It was a hard working day but, oh, so fun to now have my canning shelves restocked with yummy soup!!!  Thanks to my mom and sisters for making this a fun day!!!

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This week was another week of basketball games and volleyball games!  The kids played hard and Hadassah's team won their first basketball game!!!  Yeah!!!

We've been emotionally challenged too with the news of Damien's cancer coming back.  John and Suz have been friends of ours for years but just in the past few years, they have become really special friends!!!  We love to travel to our annual football games together and we are blessed to have them at church and in our lives!!!  A few weeks ago, Damien had his annual MRI scheduled.  They took the trip to Hershey expecting normal results.  But, this time something showed up on Damien's brain again.  Two years ago, he was diagnosed with a cancerous tumor in the brain.  He survived surgery and many treatments.  He now lives with affects of both.  He has been in remission for awhile now and so hearing the news of something not right is heart breaking for Damien, John and Suz and their family!!!  Damien went for surgery and had another small tumor removed.  This time not as severe and the doctors could do it through laser.  He came home the following day but ended back up in Hershey Wednesday from being in a seizure.  There he was for another week.  They did more tests and it shows that the tumor that was removed was cancerous.  And that there is now another tumor on his spine.  PLEASE, please join us as we lift this family up to the Lord!!!  They are tired.  They have a family of five boys and a baby girl.  They need God's leading and direction on what to do next to fight this terrible disease!!!  John and Suz believe in God!!!  They know that God cares for them but in these dark, tough moments they can't help but wonder why God isn't answering their cries and prayers!?!  Again, please pray for them as they have some big decisions to make very quickly.  Damien is out of the hospital again and feeling OK.  It is comforting to know that the God who created our bodies does really know all about Damien's situation!!!  Lord, please give this family strength, mercy and endurance until the very end of this battle!!!  We are praying for complete healing.  Touch Damien's body!!!

On Thursday, Hadassah had a birthday!!!  Her day was packed with school and sporting events.  I baked a batch of bars to take along to her volleyball game and we shared it with her team.  We hope to celebrate her birthday dinner tonight!!! 

We got a text from John and Suz later that night.  They were just hurting and needing encouragement.  A group of us close friends all said that we would come over.  We hugged and cried out to God!  They really do need His leading and guidance right now!  It was so good for them to share their burden and feelings.  They have an appointment with the doctors on Friday to discuss what next?  What now???  They dreaded breaking this news to their boys and Damien.  It just doesn't seem like life is fair right now for them!  Going through this again the second time is a real blow in the gut!!!  "Lead them Lord!!!  Let them feel your presence!  Shower them with your love and hold them tighter than ever before in your loving arms!!!"  ~ Amen.

Friday, was our 16th wedding anniversary!!!  Hadassah and Matthew were invited to a birthday party last evening and we dropped off Ashlyn and Austin at Linda's.  (Thanks lady!!!)  This gave us a chance to go visit The Speckled Hen coffee shop!!!  We ate delicious sandwiches.  We drank yummy 'pour over coffee's'.  The live music was cool.  But the best part of all was to just be together!!!  Without the kids distracting us.  Just Mike and I!!!  I'll take that as a gift even though it was for only a short moment in time!!!  Date nights are always good for us!!!  It brings us closer together and we get a chance to laugh, talk and chat.  It re energizes us!  Thanks Babe for being my wonderful husband!!!

Normally, after we get back from a date night, we watch a movie together.  But, this time Mike was totally exhausted.  He was up Wednesday night until 1:30 AM working in his office.  This happens about once a year.  He came home at regular time on Wednesday evening.  Ate supper.  Hung out with the kids and then after they were all in bed, he went back to his office to work.  He got caught up with emails, bills and invoices without the distraction of the phone ringing or customers wanting this and that.  It's totally not my way of getting things done, but it works for him.  :///  I think he even gets a kick out of it.  It just proves that he's a good worker and gets it done!!!  :)))  Then it was another late night on Thursday.  So, by Friday night, he feel asleep early!  :)  I was totally OK with this and seen it coming!  Plus, we are super excited to have a getaway trip coming up!  Just him and I!!!  We can't wait!!!

The kids had off of school yesterday and that gave us a chance to pull out our first winter puzzle.  I love doing these when it's cold outside!!! 

Now, cheers for the weekend!!!  We are going to celebrate Hadassah's birthday as a family tonight!  Then drink in God's word at church tomorrow.  Then serve the youth some yummy snack!  :)))  Life is never dull and boring for us!!!  We live a good life!  Action packed!!!  We are so blessed!!!

16th Wedding Anniversary!!!

 

Today marks the day of being married to my best friend for now 16 years!!!  It's been a good journey together!!!  We have learned how to let the pet peeves not get between us!  We have learned how to communicate better!  Parenting our children has been a team work from the very start!!!  Loving each other, even when we see our mistakes and mishaps, is the only option!  Choosing to forgive, to love deeper and live out a good marriage is our daily routine!!!!  It truly is easy to love a man that loves his wife so much!!!  Mike treats me like a royal queen!  I love him SO much!!! 

 

As I look back over the years, I realize how fast they go!  Here are some favorites and I'm so happy to say that this is only a small glimpse!!!  Living my life with this man is a dream come true!!!  I wish for many, many, many more years to come together.  In love.  Thriving on each other.  Being each others rock when one of us is down.  Encouraging each other.  Growing more in love!!!

 

Just being together is wonderful!!!  And yes, we have decided that taking family portraits is hard work and we would try our hardest to make it a fun thing to do!!!  Thanks Babe!!!

 

Mike loves to visit cities.  Cinncinati was good to us!

Mike challenges me to excerise!!!  He pushes hard!

Drinking coffee together makes the caffine jive!!!

Going to football games together with friends is a tradition.  Cleveland it was this year!!!

Mike pushes me to get out and run!!!  It's so hard but good for me!!!  We ran a 5K together this fall. 

Another city to see!

The love of my life!

Anniversary trip to Philiadelphia!!!

The very first football outing was to Dallas, Texas!!!  One of my favorite trips together!!!

We took many trips to Florida together!!!

Our latest fun event was the 50's Party!!!  We gathered with friends for dinner all dressed up in 50's style!!!  This was one of the funnest parties Mike and I went too!!!  Thanks again Bryan and Karen for hosting us!!!

 Happy Anniversary Mike!!! 

I love you so much!!!

Thanks for loving me!!!

Hadassah turns 15!

 

 

Hadassah turns 15 today!!!  How can this be???  I clearly remember seeing that line on my pregnancy test!  The joy and emotions of being pregnant with our first baby was wonderful!!!  And then we blink.  Now, she is a young woman.  Beautiful inside and out!  She thrives on a busy schedule.  School is a great place for her to show her intelligence and leadership skills.  Sports always brings out the determination needed to win games!!!  Right now she's deep into basketball and volleyball!!! 

 

And that brings me to her schedule today.

* Quietly I gave her her birthday gift before heading out the door early this morning.

* Basketball practice began at 6:30 AM!!!  Yes, that means early this morning she was at the school gym practicing lay ups and game strategies!!!

* High School.

* An after school basketball game.

* She needs to leave promptly after the basketball game because she has a volleyball game later tonight!!! 

* Celebrate her birthday!!!

 

This girl has a crazy life at times!  Thursday's are especially busy with basketball practice being early and volleyball being late!  Mike and I try hard to join the kids with all their sporting events!!!  They do really love it when they hear us cheering and showing our support.  But, today we are going to spare "little man" from driving an hour to the basketball game and then an hour back home.  Plus expect him to be decent at the volleyball games later tonight!!!  Sometimes I need to pick my battles with juggling being a mom of the teenage life AND the toddler tantrums!!!  Naps for our little guy are important these days!!!  :))))

 

Watching Hadassah grow up is fun.  I'm glad God didn't have us in the same stage of life for real long.  Hadassah is excited about being with the youth group more.  She loves her friends and hanging out!  Just pray that Mike and I can keep up!  :)))

 

 

There are things that remind me of myself in Hadassah.  I loved my a busy life too back in those carefree, teenage years!  Some days I wish for them back and then other days when I see her high school homework sprawled on the kitchen counter, I'm glad to be out of that stage!!!  :)))  Watching her grow up is a blessing right before my eyes!!!  I can't believe that she is now taller than me.  We can share each others clothes.  She has a job!  She's learning how to save, spend and tithe with her earnings.  I am so happy that she has a father that leads her in many of these things in her life right now!  Parenting the teenage years look both exciting and terrifying!!!  Exciting to see Hadassah turn into a young lady with a soft heart for Jesus!  Terrifying because the world has a much different set of morals and expectations than us Christians do!  So, to instill the word of God in our kids and teens is a must!!!  Being surrounded with good friends and a school that teaches kids to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and soul and a church that preaches the word of God for what is really is, is huge!!!
   

There are things in Hadassah that are similar to Mike as well!!!  These two love a good debate.  They watch movies.  Leadership skills are wonderful!  Both are deep thinkers!  I love them so much!!!

Normally, we let the birthday girl pick a place to eat dinner tonight.  But because Hadassah is maxed out with sports and school today, that will happen this weekend! 

Happy Birthday, Hadassah!!!  I am so proud of you and proud that you are our daughter!!!

Milder tempts.

All week we've had temperatures in the forty's.  It seems like Spring wants to come but winter is hanging on.  I'm really OK with either one!  But, when it says "Spring" on my calendar than I will be looking forward to more warmer tempts to stay here for a long time!!! 

This past week was another busy week with sports and events.  The day off on Monday was relaxing though and it gave the teachers time to finish up the report cards numbers!  Hadassah and Jess wanted to go to Saphora and then to Beiler's Donut Shop (where Hadassah works) and of course, eat donuts and ice cream.  The outing was fun and Austin knows what donuts are by now!  He always picks the ones with M&M's!  It's so cute how he says donut and calls most sweets cookies. 

 

Mike and I went to our church membership meeting on Monday night.  Honey Brook Community Church is going back to membership options and the teachings are always to be learned from!  We are loving this church of believers and are excited to see Honey brook being transformed into a community of Christ followers!

We had a wonderful, Spirit-filled church service on Sunday morning!  The Holy Spirit was there and people were getting anointed and prayed for!  It started with a baby dedication for Kailena!  This is our friends John and Suz's fifth baby but their first girl!!!  She is so cute!  After praying over her, our church anointed Damien and had encouraging words spoken to him.  Damien was diagnosed with a brain tumor two years ago and had brain surgery done to remove the tumor.  He went through a bunch of treatments.  Every three months he goes for an MRI in Hershey just to make sure cancer doesn't return!!!  Well, Friday was their regular MRI appointment.  With so many MRI's showing "good", it was a shock when the doctors said that there is something again in his brain that looks suspicious.  We prayed for Damien on Sunday and hoped that God would take away the spot!  Monday, they went back to Hershey to have another CAT scan done.  It still showed that something was there.  So Tuesday, Damien went into surgery to remove, with laser, another small cancer tumor.  The doctors hoped that they would just find scar tissue but it was another tumor.  It's so hard to see our friends receive this news AGAIN!!!  John and Suz have been through so much already and now with the unknown in front of them again, it's so hard!!!  Damien was able to come home from the hospital on Wednesday and had a good evening with his family.  Waiting for the doctors reports as to what now to do must be so hard.  Thursday, Damien was rushed into the hospital again because he was having a seizure.  By the night time, he wasn't responding.  I have no idea how hard this must be on the parents and family!!!  We just kept praying and praying!!!  John barely slept that night.  Him and Suz are so tired.  We went for a quick visit Friday afternoon with JR & Loreen.  Watching friends hurt and be so emotionally and physically stretched is difficult!!!  But, I keep praying that they will never loose sight of Jesus through all of this!!!  Jesus knows what they are going through.  He is right there in the midst of such uncertainty!!!  By now, Damien was moved into ICU.  The doctors have him on meds to help him relax so they weren't expecting him to open his eyes or respond too much that day.  It was so refreshing to see their Caring Bridge post this morning saying that Damien is opening his eyes again.  Saying a few words.  Focusing.  It's seems like a long journey ahead for them but with one day at a time, God will strength them!!!  Please join our family in praying for Damien and his family!!!  They will have many decisions to make in the next few weeks!!! 

The new Bible I am reading had this verse drawn on one of the pages.  It was a great reminder for me!!!

Tuesday night, Matthew's basketball team played against Hinkletown.  Mike went to Seattle for a short business trip so it was up to me to keep little man, Austin occupied!  :)))

Matthew did a school project on Russia and this is how his set up looked.  Good job!!!

Ashlyn worked on some Valentine cards because these weeks go by so fast that we decided to get a head start on this!!!  :)))

Hadassah had her basketball game on Wednesday afternoon.  The girls worked so hard but still lost.  The game was close and fun to watch though!!!  She had basketball practice first thing Thursday morning.  Mike usually takes her to these early practises but because he came home at 1 AM, I took her.  I was back home just in time to get Matthew up for school!

Matthew had after school basketball practice today.  If this sports schedule sounds at all confusing to you, it does to me at times too!!!  Mike went to pick him up at 5 PM.  He pulled into school driveway and called me.  "Where is Matthew today???"  "At Faith High School Gym."  Thankfully that's not far from school and he was there in no time.  But right after Mike called me, so did coach Mr. Hardbold.  "Just making sure you guys remembered to come pick Matthew up."  :))  I said that Mike's was at school but on his way there!  When Mike pulled up to Faith, he called again.  "Hun, there's no one here.  The lights are all turned off.  Where is Matthew?"  I told him to look around because I had just talked to his coach!!!  Ridiculous as this sounds, I called Mr. Hardbold back and asked where they were!?!  He said that he sent an email out saying that Faith was not available today so the practice was moved to Houston Run!!!  He said to call Mike and tell him to meet back at school because he was needing to go there to drop things off anyway!  I called Mike back and we laughed!!!  How ridiculous to not be able to keep up with all the emails and practises and games but on the bright side, we have not forgot a player yet!  YET!!!  :))))  Mike and Matthew were finally home and eating supper together, in our home, at the dinning room table, felt great!!!  You can only have so many hot dogs and snack stand foods before feeling like a sports game jumper!!!  :)

We had one more event!  Hadassah played volleyball that night at school.  Winter league has begun and we went to cheer!!!  I love this sport and inside I kinda wish I would be the one playing!!!  :)))
 

It's Friday night.  Inauguration Day!  With making a quick trip to Hershey to visit John's, my day went fast.  I was ready to snuggle on the couch and watch some news.  I'm not what you call a history buff by no means but when history is in the making and I can watch, I do!!!  President Trump made is appearances at the three balls!  It was fun to watch and now we as Christians have a duty to keep praying for our new leader!!!  God please be with this land we call America!!!  Lead us.  Guide us.  Help the darkness to be flee and our lights to shine brighter for you!!!

We were so impressed at all the prayers that were spoken at the Inauguration!  Then seeing the Piano Guys and Amazing Grace being song at the Balls was encouraging!!!

Mike is always looking for a treat to go with his morning coffee.  Sometimes there are options and sometimes not.  This morning I decided to make Shoofly Muffins.  Austin, our little muffin eater, was all into this!!!

Then I filled mini muffins papers with granola and peach yogurt.  Then I froze them.  I hope the kids will like these quick snacks!!!

 

Warm bread just got pulled out of the oven!!! 

 

We look forward to having a weekend around home! 

 

Please remember to pray for Damien and his family!!! 

 

Happy Weekend!