Cheesy Beef and Rice

One of the goals that I have for my girls is to teach them how to cook.  Not just the basics, but the why's and how's.  Of course, many of those I am still learning myself, but, nonetheless, I want my girls to know not just how to make a dinner, but a healthy one. 

 

Unfortunately, I do not enjoy cooking with kiddos.  It is a big test of my patience! 

 

Oh well!  No one said this motherhood thing was going to be easy...

 

So, biting the bullet, this week I have been making an effort to let my kids "help" me make dinner, teaching them things along the way.  Heavenly Homemaker gave us another yummy recipe, Cheesy Beef and Rice.



 

 

 

Here is Caroline measuring out the sour cream.

 

Makayla is learning the art of browning meat.  We might have had a little bit of meat flung around the kitchen :)

 

Caroline is mixing her sour cream into our beef and rice mixture.

Sydney is our professional cheese spreader, she also has this job on Pizza Night.



The finished dish, which my sweet husband pointed out that I should have taken the picture before I served everyone's plate....



 

 

Don't be deceived by Sydney's smile, it was not one of her fave's, but we did have a lovely time as a family and that counts more!

Mexican Lasagna

I really only have a few mexican food recipes.

 

Ok, I really only have one mexican food recipe.  I just change the way it looks and call it something new.  The other day when I was low on Tortilla's I got inspired by an idea on Allrecipes.com and came up with this easy recipe.

 

Ingredients:

3 tortillas

1 lb cooked chicken breast, chopped and seasoned in taco seasoning

1 can refried beans

1 cup sour cream

1-2 cups shredded cheese

1 cup salsa

 

(I really have no idea how much I use of each, but that sounded good.  Feel free to make up your own proportions)

 

 

Tear up the tortillas and cover the bottom of an 8X8 (it took me about 1 1/2 tortillas)

 

Mix together chicken, salsa, sour cream and some cheese and scoop a big 'ole layer.

 

Add another layer of tortillas

 



 

And one more layer of chicken mixture.

 



Top with more cheese and some salsa for kicks.



 

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 or so minutes.  Super easy and super yummy! 

Serve like a casserole with some chips or mexican rice on the side and you have a meal.

The Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee

Photo Credit

Before I begin with my experience with the beginning of Pre-Lent, I feel like I need to point out a  big fact that I missed last night.  Orthodox Christians follow the Julian Calendar, which places our Easter (Pascha) at a different date normally than Protestant Easter.  So while the rest of the world is celebrating Easter on March 31st this year, Orthodox Christians will not be celebrating until May 5th. 

We also call Easter, Pascha, literally meaning "Passover."

Alright, now that we have those things cleared out of the way....

The story of the Publican and the Pharisee is taken from Luke 18:9-14.  This is the story where two men go up to the Temple to pray.  The Pharisee, supposedly a righteous man, prays an extremely prideful prayer, pointing out the reasons he is so much better than everyone else, including the Publican right next to him.  The Publican, typically known as a sinful person because of the fact that tax collectors are not known to be honest, prays a simple prayer, "God, be merciful to me a sinner."

This parable makes us aware of our need for humility.  Pride is the root of all sin, so what better attitude to approach the Lenten season than with humility!  Although this is the theme of the first week, it is also carried through the entire season.  Obviously, our church Fathers realized that this would take some time to sink in!

Father Alexander Schememann paints a wonderful description of humility in his book Great Lent: Journey to Pascha:

 

     "But what is humility?  The answer to this question may seem a paradoxical one for it is rooted in a strange affirmation: God Himself is humble!  Yet to anyone who knows God, who contemplates Him in His creation and in His saving acts, it is evident that humility is truly a divine quality, the very content and the radiance of that glory which, as we sing during the Divine Liturgy, fills heaven and earth.  In our human mentality we tend to oppose "glory" and "humility"
 - the latter being for us the indication of a flaw or deficiency.  For us it is our ignorance or incompetence that makes or ought to make us feel  humble.  It is almost impossible to "put across" to the modern man, fed on publicity, self-affirmation, and endless self-praise, that all that which is genuinely perfect, beautiful, and good is at the same time naturally humble; for precisely because of its perfection, it does not need "publicity," external glory, or "showing off" of any kind.  God is humble because He is perfect; His humanity is His glory and the source of all true beauty, perfection, and goodness and everyone who approaches God and knows Him immediately partakes of the Divine humility and is beautified by it." 

It always surprises me how much thought has been put into the Liturgical calendar. Although at first I was a bit put off by the fact that each day had a scripture attached to it and every Sunday carried the same theme from year to year, I have come to begin to appreciate the order in which the year has been planned.  As Orthodox, we also follow times of fasting during the week and during different seasons at various levels.  Just like the Pharisee in the parable, we typically fast twice a week, on Wednesdays and Fridays.   Wednesday's are to be a reminder of Jesus' betrayal and Friday's of His Crucifixion.  In order to help humble our attitude we are asked not to fast this week.  We are no better than anyone else and this week reminds us of that fact.  Isn't that so smart!  And I thought all this time we weren't fasting this week so we could clean out our freezers of any lingering red meat (and let me tell you, we will be eating a LOT of red meat this week)! 

It was also pointed out that as the Lenten season progresses services will be getting rather long.  While this makes me a little nervous as a mother of 5 young children, it was explained that these services are intentional.  They will wear us down, helping us to submit to God.  Father Schememann also states in Great Lent:

"We understand then why the services had to be long and seemingly monotonous.  We understand that it is simply impossible to pass from our normal state of mind made up almost entirely of fuss, rush, and care, into this new one without first "quieting down," without restoring ourselves a measure of inner stability.  This is why those who think of church services only in terms of "obligations," who always inquire about the required minimum ('How often must we go to church?' 'How often must we pray') can never understand the true nature of worship which is to take us to a different world-that of God's Presence!- but to take us there slowly because our fallen nature has lost the ability to accede there naturally."

 

I love how the church Fathers acknowledged and had the foresight to realize our humanity.  We are slow learners and in our fast paced world, it can take a lot to adjust our attitude and focus on Christ.  I love how the Liturgy, although seemingly repetitive, always helps to bring me into focus.  While I might miss out on a few "Lord have mercy's" in the beginning of service, I am thankful for the opportunity to try again later in the service.  And of course, what better reminder than to sing "Lay aside all earthy cares" as we proceed to the Eucharistic portion of the service. 

 

It is the same way in the process of Lent.  Although we still have 3 weeks until the official beginning of the Lenten season, we are being prepared slowly each week to help change our attitude and mindset.  Lord knows I need some time to work on my humble spirit! 

 

So this week, as we near the beginning of Lent, we focus specifically on our attitude of humility.  We begin with the Troparion:

"The doors of repentance do thou open to me, O Giver of life, for my spirit waketh at dawn toward thy holy temple, bearing a temple of the body all defiled.  But in Thy compassion, cleanse it by the loving-kindness of Thy mercy." 

 

"Have mercy on me, O God, according to Thy great mercy; and according to the multitude of Thy compassions, blot out my transgression.  When I think of the multitude of evil things I have done, I, a wretched one, I tremble at the fearful day of judgment; but trusting in the mercy of Thy loving-kindness, like David do I cry unto Thee: Have mercy on me, O God, according to Thy great mercy."

 

And the Kontakion:

"Let us flee the bragging Pharisee, and learn the humility of the Publican, while crying out unto the Saviour with groanings: Be gracious unto us, O Thou Who alone dost readily forgive."

 

There have been a few websites that have been recommended or that I have found helpful while researching the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee.

Publican and Pharisee Sunday- This site had some great suggestions of things you could do as a Sunday school teacher or as a parent.

Mystagogy: A weblog John Sanidopoulos-  This site provides some thoughts by Gregory Palamas.

Tridion- This site has the readings for each week of Lent.

And so it Begins: Intro to the Pre-Lent Season

So tonight marks the beginning of the Pre-Lent season.  Our church offers Great Vespers services on Saturday nights,  unfortunately I have not managed to figure out how to get my family there on time and have dinner.  Just another thing to be working on!  Had I been at services tonight, I would have noticed some changes in the readings as they have officially brought out the Triodian which has all the readings for the Pre-Lent season.  Since Lent  and Pascha is such a big deal in the Orthodox Church, we prepare before we prepare.  Each Sunday's readings are selected with specific things to help prepare our hearts and minds before we enter into the season of fasting and services. 

I have NEVER experienced anything like this.  In my previous faith tradition, Easter was celebrated primarily for the Easter Bunny and candy.  We got to wear a pretty dress and white shoes for the first time since Labor Day.  The church even went so far as to have a major conference on unrelated issues specifically on Easter Sunday (I usually got my Easter basket in a hotel room before we hurriedly checked out and drove home early, instead of going to services).  The stance was "we celebrate His death, burial and resurrection every Sunday, we do not need a special day for it."  The same concept was also practiced with Christmas.  So, needless to say, growing up Jesus' resurrection was rarely mentioned in connection with Easter.

Now I have 10 weeks of prep for the special event.

WOW!

I have no idea what I am headed for.  I have taken a peek at the church calendar and know that there are A LOT of church services scheduled in the near future.  My goal is to go to as many as possible...with the entire family. 

There are many aspects that I am looking forward to.

Maybe even a few that I am dreading.

But I look forward to the life change that God has in store for my heart through the process.

Stay tuned as I share my journey through this event for the first time!

Ladies Day: Training my Daughters in Manners and Modesty

Homeschooling to me is more than just ABC's and 123's.  There is so much knowledge that I want to give to my girls.  For some it might seem a bit taboo, teaching my daughters how to cook, clean, mother and such.  Shouldn't they be independent and professional minded?  Nope...not it my house :)  Someday, regardless of whether they marry and have a family, they will need to know how to take care of a household, no matter what  the size. 

 

Twice a year it's shopping time.  Once in the Spring, once again in the fall.  Being the mother of 5 girls, I have to be quite methodical in how we buy and plan our clothes.  There is only so much space in our house and drawers for clothes, and whatever we get for #1 needs to last through #5.  Our budget doesn't allow us to do retail shopping so I hit up my favorite consignment sale for our seasonal clothes. 

 

Since Makayla turned 5 I have been taking her along as I clothes shop to teach her lessons in modesty and budgeting.  Caroline of course now likes to tag along...until she realizes that she's not walking away with a whole new wardrobe. :)  I have turned our outing into an educational experience.  They learn skills in being ladylike, budgeting and thriftiness and modesty.

 

A little while ago we had our biannual outing.  We started off at a "nicer" restaurant (meaning there was no fried food).  We talked specifically as we ate about polite table manners, such has where we put our napkin, how to sit at a table, and proper and polite disposal of food. 

Here are the girls tasting some bread samples with some yummy oils that were put out while we waited in line.

 



My sweet ladies ready for a fun meal!

And of course, so special outing is complete without a special treat, chocolate covered marshmallows, yum!

 

 

 

Now the real work begins!  Consignment shopping!  We arrived a little bit early, so we had some time to snap some shots while we  were in line. 

 



We begin the madness by going down the rows looking at clothes.  Makayla has a chance to look through and find clothes she likes, while I look along side her.  Each outfit must meet my approval before getting into the basket.  I review all clothes based on our family standard of modesty and by price.  Makayla quickly catches on to how much is a good price for an item and what clothing is modest, by the end, she is baulking at all the "improper clothes" and putting anything that is $6 or more back on the rack with out any prompting from me. 

 



 

 

Once we fill our basket, or Makayla gets tired of looking, we go to an open area and start sorting our clothes.  I sort by shirts, pants, pjs and dresses.

 



Once I sort by type of clothes, then I sort by price, placing the least expensive items on top.  We go through each item, choosing the cheapest first.  Once we have met our max number (8 shirts, 8 pants, 4 pjs and 4 dresses), everything else goes back on the shelf... promptly.  That way we are only spending money on the least expensive items and any of the more costly items are put back.  We don't look twice! 

 



This process happens with each article of clothing, here are the pants sorted by price. As we go through each item, I also talk about what makes them modest and inspect for stains. 

 



 

 

All the selected pants go in the basket!

 



Here is each dress sorted by price, Makayla is allowed to pick her favorites, starting at the lowest price.

 



In the end, our basket is full of our final choices. When budgeting is tighter, there may be some shuffling based on how much money there is to spend.  I total up our purchases before we get to the register.  If I have gone over the budget, it's back to the shelves to find some cheaper items. 

 



 

This year we are starting the "one week of clothes" rule. All the girls will only have a weeks worth of clothes in their drawers, with one extra outfit just in case craziness happens.  This is an idea that I stole from another mother with many children.  This will limit the clothing chaos that happens in our drawers and closets!

 

It's a thorough process, but it does only happen twice a year.  We do no other clothes shopping (other than replacing socks and panties) throughout the year. 

 

Once the clothes are home we give daddy a show of our purchases and then put them away to be detagged and washed.  Then we prepare for the "changing of the seasons" when we switch out everyone's clothes from one season to another...which is another post in itself!

 

 

Italian Pasta Bake

What better for Valentine's Day than to share a dish I LOVE with a slightly romantic Italian theme...ok, maybe not so much romantic, but throw in some candles and put the kids to bed early and it could be...just a thought... 

 

Have I mentioned before how much I LOVE the Heavenly Homemakers recipes???  Maybe a couple hundred times, but here is another of her recipes I tried recently and absolutely LOVE! It's called Italian Pasta Bake, and it couldn't be much more simple. We love some pasta in our house, and her time saving and pot saving tips really made this cook happy!

 

 

 

Heat your spaghetti sauce in a dish. I think she recommends using tomato sauce and adding spices, but my husband couldn't find that at the store, so I had  gladly used marinara sauce instead.  The magic?  Add water to the sauce and then throw in the noodles!  Genius!  The noodle absorbed the water, so it was a perfect two-for, heating the sauce and cooking the noodles at the same time!

Add your browned meat to the pot and mix.

Throw it in your pretty new stoneware 9x13 from Pampered Chef and top with cheese.

Bake for a bit and you're done!

 

Proof that even my kids liked it!  That means it's a new must for our menu!

Prayer

 

 

Prayer.

 

Talking with The Father.

 

Sharing your heart with the Lord.

 

Appealing for forgiveness.

 

Begging for mercy.

 

Pleading for healing.

 

Petitioning for lost souls.

 

Supplication.

 

1 Thessalonians 5:17 "pray without ceasing"

 

James 5:16 "...pray for one another..."

 

Jude 20 "...praying in the Holy Spirit..."

 

*sigh*

 

It should be so easy.

 

I mean, I have been doing this ALL my life.  Prayer should be second nature to me...it should be first nature.  I shouldn't have to continually struggle with my prayer life.

 

But I do.

 

And I always have.

 

I desire to be like the widow in Luke 18, praying with such persistence.

I have tried many things.  While a Protestant I have been in classes and read books on all aspects of prayer: praying through scripture, posture of prayer, methods of prayer, accountability partners, prayer groups, prayer vigils, the power of the praying this or that...

 

 We have even built prayer rooms in both of our houses....yet they get filled with clutter.

 

It is embarrassing to confess that even as the wife of a minister, our prayer life as husband and wife has been almost completely nonexistent.  I confessed this to a minister friend, sharing how personal prayer is and how difficult it was for Josh and I to pray so intimately with each other.  His answer.."Well it wasn't hard getting naked in front of each other.."  OUCH! 

Why should prayer be any different?

 

I have to admit, I was very hesitant of Orthodox prayer.  Rote prayer?  How boring!  How confining! How heartless! 

 

And yet, here I find myself, as an Orthodox Christian, praying rote prayers; stirring, unconfined and heart filled prayers.

 

Our Father, which art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy Name.
Thy Kingdom come.
Thy will be done on earth,
As it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
As we forgive those that trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,

The power, and the glory,

of the Father, and of the Son,

and of the Holy Spirit, 

Both now and ever,

and unto ages of ages. 

Amen.

 

The reminder of living on the basics, our daily bread, and being content.

 

Have you ever repeatedly prayed for those who trespass against you?  It is humbling.

 

Daily asking to not be lead into temptation but to be delivered.

 
Our own Lord, Jesus Christ, gave us the perfect example of prayer, why would we not choose to pray as He did?
 

Doors have been opened up to me through the Orthodox church regarding prayer that I never imagined.  Prayer is central to the Orthodox life. As an Orthodox Christian, in an attempt to attain Theosis, one strives to "pray without ceasing."  Though this is not an easy task, there are a plethora of resources that help!

 

My first attempts at prayer as an Orthodox Christian began with Evening Prayers.  In the back of all Orthodox Bibles there is a section for Morning Prayers and Evening Prayers.  I began saying these prayers in bed each night.  I quickly learned that you are not meant to be tied down to the prayers on the pages.  I love how Deacon Michael Hyatt explains them as more of a "warm up" to your own prayers in his podcast series based on Anthony Blooms Beginning to Pray.   Seeing them as a guide, and not something I was bound to, relieved much of my hesitancy. 
 

Once I realized that Evening Prayers were doable, I broached the next big road block: Josh.  The familiarity and orderliness of the prayers made praying with my husband so much easier.  "Warming up" with rote prayers helped me to open my heart in prayer and lose the fear of embarrassment of praying in front of my spouse. 
 

We have now reached a point in our lives that we all pray as a family in the evenings.  We all gather in front of our Icon Corner, light a candle, and say our prayers.  Our daughters are quickly memorizing the rote prayers and we often have them take turns praying for us.  We also like to have time to pray whats on our heart, which even Sydney insists in joining. 

What started with fear has now become one of the most valued parts of our family's day.

Tangent #1  Our Icon Corner is pictured above.  It is a collection of Icon's that hold something dear to our heart.  On top we have Jesus, Jesus Crucified and Jesus Resurrected.  In the middle we have St. Joshua (obviously Josh picked this one out), The Wedding at Cana (to represent our marriage), and St. Emilia (whom I picked out and enjoy getting to know better day by day).  On the bottom row we have a Guardian Angel, St. Sophia and her daughters Faith, Hope and Love (for our children), and Jesus the Good Shepherd.  This collection of Icons represents our "Heavenly prayer group."  Just as I had friends over once a week to have a prayer group, I have my "Great cloud of witnesses" as mentioned in Hebrews 12.  They're my buddies, I know I can relate to them, and while I pray, it gives me comfort to know that they have experienced many similiar things and survived through it. 
  

 Once we became Catachumens, our Priest urged us to come to as many church services as possible.  One of these services includes a weekly Third Hour Prayer.  This is a brief prayer service at 9 in the morning.  Orthodox Christians have a prayer routine through the hours of the day.  While this is mainly a practice that Monks follow, it is a wonderful way to stay prayerful throughout the day.  Our family continues to attend the weekly Third Hour Prayer service offered by our church as frequently as possible.  It helps that we all fellowship at Panera afterwards :)   It is so nice coming together as a Body of Christians and praying together.  It is also a good time of learning for our newly Orthodox family by watching others and praying often. 

Tangent #2:  When I say "our family" what I mean is, ALL of our family.  The Orthodox Church believes that we are all members of the church and therefore all people should be included in worship services.  There is absolutely NO childcare during church services.  So, the whole Bradley Clan, including the wee 4 month old Abigail, all participate in every service together as a family. (This will also be a topic for another post, so keep your eyes peeled!)

A more recent addition to my prayer life has been Morning Prayers.  Being someone who thrives in the evening rather than the morning, this is definitely an area that could use some growth!  So far I have made this optional for the girls.  I pray with them carrying on about the house and they join me if they choose, which typically by the end I have 4 little girls at my feet :)  There are so many different versions of Evening and Morning prayers that one could follow, but I do enjoy the one to which I linked.  It leaves me with little to say.  After thanking God for blessing me with a new day, stating my faith, praying for everyone individually and then prayers of strength for the day, I usually have little else to add.  My absolute favorite right now is by Metropolitan Philaret:

O Lord,
grant that I may meet the coming day in peace.
Help me in all things
to rely upon Thy Holy Will.
In every hour of the day,
reveal Thy will to me.
Bless my dealings with all who surround me.
Teach me to treat all that comes to me
throughout the day with peace of soul,
and with the firm conviction that Thy will governs all.
In all my deeds and words,
guide my thoughts and feelings.
In unforeseen events, let me not forget
that all are sent by Thee.
Teach me to act firmly and wisely,
without embittering and embarrassing others.
Give me the strength to bear the fatigue
of the coming day with all that it shall bring.
Direct my will.
Teach me to pray.
Pray Thou Thyself in me.
Amen.

Since morning prayers are so difficult for me, I have typed up this prayer, laminated it, and taped in in our shower.  So, on the off chance I actually get a shower sometime during the day, I have a prayer right there ready to go!

Another prayer that has been so useful during the day has been the Jesus Prayer.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

When the girls are screaming and the babies are crying...Lord have mercy!
When dinner is not going right and I just want some fast food...Lord have mercy!
When I'm tired during a workout, but I know I have more to go...Lord have mercy!
When I'm about to loose my temper...Lord have mercy!
When I'm homeschooling the girls..Lord have mercy!
When I'm about to tackle a big pile of laundry...Lord have mercy!

So simple, but such a pure cry from the heart. 

Praying without ceasing.

Frederica Matthews-Green, whose book Facing East was so vital to my Becoming Orthodox, has also written a book about this prayer.

Once a month all the parents (grandparents, godparents, those wanting to be parents, etc.) gather at our church to say prayers for our children.  We pray the Akathist to the Mother of God, Nurterer of Children.  The word Akathist is a word for prayer that literarly means not-sitting (which I find a little humorous, because 99.9% of services are "not-sitting").  The Mother of God, or Theotokos, would be who Protestants refer to as Mary. What woman understands better about raising children than the Mother of God herself!  I love, love, love this prayer!  It is so rich in scripture, talk about praying scripture!  It goes pretty much through the entire Sermon on the Mount and then some, praying for our children to live faithfully.  One of my favorite gifts came from our Deacon's wife, a CD of this prayer.  It is so nice having this prayer playing in the background on days that I want to strangle hug my children :)

One final prayer that I would like to share comes from St. Ephraim the Syrian.  This prayer, which is such a great reminder for me daily, is also used during the Lent season.

O Lord and Master of my life, Take from me the spirit of sloth, despair, lust of power and idle talk.

But give rather the spirit of chastity, meekness of mind, patience and love to Thy servant.

Yea O Lord and King, grant me to see my own transgressions and not to judge my brother, for blessed art thou unto ages of ages. Amen.

I am so thankful to have so many different resources to help guide me as I grow in my prayer life.  I know I have barely touched into all that Orthodoxy has to offer regarding prayer, but it is such a beautiful beginning.  Seeing prayer as a lifelong process and not something to expect to have perfected right away gives me the grace and perseverance necessary to continually strive to give God my all and to never stop communicating with Him.





 



Easy Noodle Stir Fry

Fresh veggies are becoming an easier favorite at our house, especially as we learn to adjust to the rhythms of the ascetic lifestyle of the Orthodox Church and a whole foods approach to eating. 

This is another recipe from my new favorite blog Heavenly Homemakers.  Seeing Easy in the title is definitely a lure, but Stir Fry, it won my heart over since that means I get to use my new ceramic skillet from Pampered Chef.  Nothing sticks to that thing!  And I won't end up with Alzheimer's as with aluminum pans!

Moving on.

This recipe couldn't be more simple.  Pick your favorite veggies, fry them in olive oil, mix in noodles and add soy sauce.  Voila! Check out the link for the recipe for Easy Noodle Stir Fry!

So without further ado, here is my version of Easy Noodle Stir Fry in pictures :)  (Plus a super duper time saving tip!)

 

Don't you just love a rainbow of vegetables??  I chose red "juicy" peppers (as we call them around here), corn, carrots and broccoli.  The corn is frozen, the rest is fresh.

 



 

This is the best part!  I cooked the noodles, and I was draining them thinking of the torment that lies ahead of cutting up noodles for 4 kids, I remembered my all time favorite kitchen tool: Double Bladed Scissors!  These babies might be called Salad Choppers, but I use them more for other purposes.  Another fave is cutting up chicken into bite size pieces, it takes two seconds!  So, here you have me chopping those noodles in no time!  It was bliss! Did I mention they are spring loaded?

 

 

I threw the noodles back in the pot and added the soy sauce.  Give it a little stir and you're good to go!  This would be great with some chicken too. 

 

Thanks again Heavenly Homemaker for another winner of a recipe!

Field Trip to the Police Department

This year I joined a couple of home school groups so that I can have some educational fun with other homeschooling families.  I am in a secular group and a Christian group. 

This is the FIRST time I have been able to do something with any group ALL year! 

It's January! 

Having 5 kids 6 and under really inhibits my outings...

That and church...but I'd rather do church...

Anyways.. I took my 3 oldest (Josh stayed home with the babies, Go Superdad!) to the local Police Department for a field trip.  We watched a power point presentation and took a tour of the station.  It was all nice, brand new and sparkly.  There weren't many people there, which I guess is a good thing, they were all out working.  

 

Here are Makayla, Caroline and Sydney sitting at their desk getting ready to hear an oh so very thrilling power point about what a police man does.  This was Makayla's favorite part, sitting at a desk that is.  I think she felt like she was in "real" school (aka Public School).

This was my favorite part, real fake money!  It was taken from a man trying to use them at our local Walmart, read all about it :) I pretty much felt famous being connected so closely to the news....

Caroline had the camera for the most part during the tour, we came home with 79 pictures!  This is a police car...not like you didn't know that...but this is taken from a 5 year old perspective.  I forget how short they are!  This was also Caroline's favorite part.  We also saw the motorcycle, bikes and ATV.

This is a memorial for the 3 Clayton officers killed in duty.  Since the first was in the early 1970's, I think our record is pretty good, but I guess one cop killed in duty is one too many!  I really liked the design of the memorial, on the flip side you can actually see the image of a police officer.  It shows him going out into the world and the void left behind when they are taken from us too soon.  I also loved how they included Matthew 5:9  Blessed are the peacemakers...  The Bible is not lost in our small towns, Praise God!

Here's the whole group!  Well, at least the ones who hadn't left yet.  It was quite the crowd! 
Yay for good field trips!

The girls with a real police officer.
I'm pretty sure he's the same guy that came to help me when I locked my kids in the car at the pediatrician, a block from our house, only to realize once he got there that a door was left unlocked.
Thanks Officer
The girls made sure they mentioned that story.

 

And here is Makayla showing of the tooth she lost recently, on the bottom.  How does one eat with no teeth :)