Sunday, May 30, 2010

Bake Sale, Yard Sale, Craft Sale and.....Pancake Breakfast!!!

Hi Everyone,
I am still alive but just barely.  Our sale was a screaming success and now my feet our screaming too.  I ran from one spot after another trying to keep it all going and organized.  I guess I didn't really think that people would really respond to my advertisment in the news paper but bright and early, before I even had a chance to set up, people were showing up.  It was the craziest thing ever.  You see, my friend Pat and I had planned this together and we were going to be a team and pull this off.  Well, she didn't get to stay because suddenly she had to leave Yukon for medical treatment down in Kamloops, B.C.  and I couldn't back out because it was all advertised and so I was in over my head and alone.  Well, I guess the Lord knew that I needed help and some of the first people that showed up for pancake breakfast were some SDA people from Wasilla, Alaska whose vehicle broke down here and they were stuck for a few days.  She graciously took over the pancake turning and hashbrown stiring and veggie sausage rolling and it freed me up to run around making sure things were running smoothly as possible.   None of it was exactly smooth but after all was said and done and everyone was gone and I loaded everything into the van, we had managed to raise $700.
My husband's mouth dropped to the floor when I told him because it was just the evening (or should I say, very early morning hours) before that he said I was crazy and didn't have enough stuff for my sales or food to make a go of it.  We actually had plenty!
God is good and I'm exhausted and we are happy for the Blessings of today.

Julie

Friday, May 28, 2010

Fruitscream!

Market day everyone!  That was yesterday and it was fairly successful.  I bought myself a little freezer (3.5 cubic feet on the inside) and decided to make homemade ice cream sandwiches and fruit popsicles and  waffle cones with fruit ice cream.  Well, it just so happened to be a hot day and I sold over $200 worth of ice cream.  It paid for my little freezer in the first try.  Anyway,  I was wondering how people really liked it until today when in mid afternoon a van full of homeschooling friends showed up at my house asking if they could buy more ice cream.  Their parents bought them each what they wanted and they all ate and played for a while until it was time to leave.  As they were all piling into the van one of the little guys quietly snuck around to where I was and whispered,  "I really need another ice cream cooking to eat while we are driving home.  Do you think you could give me one?"   I laughed and said, "what about all the other kids in the van watching you eat by yourself?"
His answer was to share.  So since only one other little girl seem to notice the free giving away of ice cream cookies, I broke a big one in half and handed the little guy and the little girl each a half.  This is not exactly what the little girl had in mind and she quickly let me know that she was not interested in half cookies.  She needed a whole one all to herself.   That's when her mother noticed and embarassed a little asked what was going on.  I just laughed when the mother said that half was enough and then took the half and ate half of it herself.  Poor kiddo only got a few bites. 
Well as a result of one day of market, I have two small quilts lined up to sell and several bats and a couple frogs.  At least people say they are coming back with their money to get them next time.  I'll be prepared.

Well, Ed and Cheryl Dunn will be here for Church tomorrow and so I have to prepare something for a potluck dinner.  I also have to teach the Sabbath school lesson, so I have to be prepared for that too and I am having a bake sale on Sunday so I have to bake more stuff.  I am also having a craft sale and a yard sale at the same time and a Sunday morning pancake feast at the church.  I doing the entire feast.  I'm trying to raise money for school supplies and a mission trip to Africa.  The boys, especially C.  are pretty gung-ho about gathering some donations and earning money and going to help Memere for a while in Africa.  I hope we get to do it. 

God bless everyone and happy Sabbath.

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

One Disappointment and Another

Ok, my fingers are on the keys but I'm not sure too much intelligence will come out of them.  All ten of them seem rather brainless at the moment!  :0)
As many of you know, my husband and I have been looking for a home to buy and call our own so that we don't have to pay someone elses mortgage every month through rent money.  We really found an awesomely beautiful house on 16 acres of  cleared land and we were so excited and worked hard to get that piece  but it wasn't to be, after pray and hoping and praying some more we discovered the man was trying to subdivide ilegally and manipulate the sale by not telling us all the facts and wanting us to hand over the money while he continued to hold the title until he could subdivide properly and we just decided to get out of all that mess and not look back lest we find ourselves in over our heads in a big matata!!!
Well, that last house was the right price but finding as nice a house as that again in the country is normally in the 4 to 5 hundred thousand dollar range and sometimes even 6 hundred thousand.  Way over our ability to get financing like that.  Anyway, so we've looked at this and at that and this way and that way.  The boys roll their eyes now every time we mention going to look at something else.
We finally found a cute little home in a quiet subdivision that would do for us and we put in an offer and we were quite sure the guy was going for it but at the last minute he turned us down because someone else came with a bigger offer.  Ugh
I felt like crying but I have been praying and praying hard in my heart that God would close the doors to any place that isn't in His plan.  Well, he closed it and I was disappointed again.
This evening though, Our realtor called and wanted to show us a couple of places.  The first place was in a crowded little subdivision near the airport where Art works.  It was huge, old, and ugly!  The place would need a ton of work and I mean a ton and then I would only live there so that I could turn around and sell it for a profit but would I make a profit after doing all the work to it that needed to be done?  It all costs a ton of money to renovate.
Then we drove out to a couple of acres out in the country.  The acres were nice enough but the house was teeny tiny and the best way to describe it would be to say, it needs a match and a can of gasoline!  Yuck, Yuck! Stinky smelly, moldy, yuck!
Well, after well looked and commented and hummed and hawed about what we would do if the places were ours, we decided to do a drive by (not a shooting, a looking) of another house in the country on the other side of town....well actually quite a ways out of town!  Oh my,  we were immediately struck!  not only is it in our range of financing but it has enough rooms for us all and it is a beautiful house.  It has a tiny greenhouse and lots of garden beds already planted with potatoes and a shop for my husband and it is on the lake.    We get to go see the inside tomorrow and hopefully the people will take our offer.  It would be a grand place to raise the boys.  Well,  here I go again, setting myself up for another flop but I hope it works out this time.
Pray for us!
Market tomorrow.  So to bed I go!

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

My boys are growing up....

...I no longer have to build their dreams for them.   They have spent the last week on some big project out in the woods.  They have been intensely working on this tree fort all on their own.  Niether I nor my husband have lifted a finger to help them or even given them advise.  I went out to see and take pictures of it this morning and was quite impressed with its stability and how well they did considering what they had to work with.