Safe in the Fold

Yesterday we were happy and excited to finally become identified with Christ Covenant Church. They use the term "identified" to simply make the distinction that while we are now becoming identified with this particular church body and now under its care and oversight, we are also members of the greater body of believers everywhere.

Little 7 month old Juliet's vocabulary consists only of "Dadda", "Mamma" and various spitting sounds so it was funny while Pastor Dean went through the questions with Brian, after he would answer "I do" and Juliet would echo "Ah dooooooooo!"
What a fun day! The kids were very excited. On the way to church Essie yelled out from the back of the van "I thought we was alweady bathtized!?!?" And Hannah asked "Yeah, I thought we were already members." I explained that we certainly have been members of Christ's body all along and that's what their baptisms had shown (like how Mommy & Daddy's wedding rings are the symbol of our marriage covenant). I explained that the elders had visited us during the week to talk with us about what it would mean to be a part of Christ Covenant Church and how scripture says all of us christians are like sheep and Christ is the head of all of us. But like sheep, we so easily go astray and need to flock together in smaller herds. God appoints earthly shepherds to watch over those flocks. Today Pastor Dean is gonna be like a sheperd asking Daddy in front of all the other sheep, if we want to come into their flock and be fed, loved and watched over. Do we want to become a part of their flock and serve and obey. So of course the analogy was too irresistable for Silas ahd he had to pipe up "Yeah! I'm gonna yell Baaaaaa Baaaaaaa!!!!! ...when we go up there!"

That made great sense to all my little lambs and one turtley turtle. Aren't they sweet?!

Even ovens need a Sabbath Rest.....sheesh.
So I wasn't aware of this but according to KitchenAid Oven's Use and Care Guide, even ovens need a Sabbath rest. I discovered this curious fact this saturday while I had my oven set on the cleaning mode preparing for the Sunday Potluck we were hosting in celebration of our becoming identified with Christ Covenant Church. Anyway, my oven apparently overheated and blew a fuse or something. I noticed it was dead and instead of running screaming for the hills tearing my clothes and hair like I was tempted to, I finally decided to follow Hannah's mature example (I heard her calmly saying..."hmm I wunda what God's plan must be with this!") Oh.yes. God's plan. So I dug in the cupboard for the troubleshooting manual and found this funny "Sabbath mode" stuff. It says...

Thankfully I have a pretty easy going man who doesn't get as fazed as I do when stuff like this happens. The guy is a ROCK. (and I'm not just talking biceps here...) Both ovens quit just hours before the house is to be infiltrated with ladies and casseroles needing to be baked. I was like "...but Brian what'll we do?!?!" and he says..."We'll make something else, they'll save their food in the fridge and take it home to feed their families later." And then just moments after reattaching the bathroom door that had been somehow ripped out of the wall by a four year old girl...he set out to fix those darn ovens!He only stayed in the fetal position for a few moments. (The guy knows humor keeps me going.)


Momma's Little Sunday Morning Helpers...

Gemma gets coffee on the Lord's Day. She's such a little Momma herself!Hannah helping cheerfully with the dishes.. Elijah chopping up polish sausage for the Bean Soup! Note to parents of boys: A good way to involve them in the kitchen is to involve weapons of some sort)
Frying up the sausage!

And don't tune out yet folks...

Yes...just when you thought we were too Flander for words...you see one little punk in a backwards baseball hat stealing the sausages...Does this look like remorse for the treachery....just the plain old humiliation of getting caught...or is my precious little hunk-of-attention-deficit-son just simply savoring the chunk of sausage still in his cheek? (He's not really ADD, but you put this much boy in school and make him sit...and I'll betcha they sure as heck would try to label him as such.)
Benches are great for squishing lots of little pairs of buns around the table!Miss Azaleah dishing up some soup!GOOD TIMES... How many kids are in that hot tub?! Twelve?! No, actually thirteen! The other big announcement yesterday was our new expected McPherson addition. Could she be any glowier?!?! So many devoted husbands and Daddies...Delicious Lucius Comis and Juliet are only three days apart! Pastor Dean's sermon touched on the different giftings in the body. I don't know if I was ministered to more by Mrs. Comis' help in the kitchen...or Mr. Comis' rendition of Bob the Builder... :)"Good bye Essie, thankyou for having us! "

"Goodnight Londy...thankyou for coming....I love you..."