Here it is the day after Thanksgiving & I'm just getting around to telling you about it! For those that may not know we celebrate our Thanksgiving at camp. The ministry provides the turkeys & a ham. Everyone who comes provides a side dish or two or three. We all have our usual items & then sometimes we try a new dish. This year I just did 2 of my 3 usual dishes. Wednesday evening I made a white fruit cake. Now I would tell you I'm not a big fan of fruit cake but this cake is different than your usual fruit cake. It's almost like a pound cake with the dried fruit & pecans in it. I also make Sally Lunn bread but I wait until Thanksgiving morning to make that. You see there is nothing like straight out of the oven bread.
Knowing the bread would take a while & that I wanted to be up to the dining room by 11, I was up at 6:30 yesterday morning. Shampooed my hair before starting the bread so kept my hair up in the towel until the bread was made. That way I was pretty sure no hair would be in the bread. Had the bread going by 7 & it was rising by about 7:15. After getting the dishes in the dishwasher, I sat down to have my Bible reading. I'm using a "read the Bible through in a year" plan. This is probably the 6-7 year, I have done so. I read 4 chapters a day & actually finish reading before the year is finished. So instead of reading the NT 2x like the plan suggests, I just go back to the OT & start again. Currently I am in 2 Chronicles. Yesterday I was reading chapters 21-24 and ran across something interesting...something I don't remember ever reading before. In chapter 21 verse 20 we read a brief summary of Jehoram becoming king of Judah...he was Jehoshaphat's son. He was 32 when he became king & reigned 8 years. The verse goes on to say (& this is what intrigued me) "and he departed with no one's regret". I thought that is sad...no one missed him. Then I thought about my life and wondered what would be my 4 word summary after reading she departed.... I don't want my departure plastered over the front page of the newspaper or be shouted from the TV set. I wondered will I have made a difference in a Bible club girl's life. She may not remember my name (or maybe not even remember that she came to Bible club) but will she learn from me that Jesus loves her? Will she come to know the Lord as her Savior because of something she has seen modeled in my life? Will she feel "safe" while in Bible club? I also thought about camp. When the campers see me doing my job, will they see that I love the Lord? Even though I'm not a counselor & able to be with the campers during the day, when they see me will they see a smile on my face & see that I'm loving loving the Lord & doing the small, minute jobs needed to be done. I don't want to be thrust into the camping program...I'm more of a work in the background person...but I do interact with campers quite a bit. When they've grown up & think back to their summers at camp, prayerfully they'll remember that I love the Lord...they may not remember my name and that's definitely alright with me...but will they remember there was a peace, calm, contentment that only the Lord can give.
After my reading (& thinking) was finished, I thought I'd rest while the bread was finishing rising. I knew it would be a long day. I hoped I would fall asleep but was unable to. When the timer beeped, letting me know the bread was finished, I put the dough into the bundt pan. Set that to rise for the last time. Put the mixing bowl in the dishwasher. And finished my preparations for the day. Where my hair had been in the towel, it did not look the best & I couldn't do anything else with it.
Finally the bread has risen & baked. I put it on the cooling rack, stuck the cooling rack on top of the platter I would set the bread on, called John & asked if he could come down from the dining room to help me carry things up. He did. We took up some cranberry juice (which I don't think was ever set out to drink), the fruit cake and bread. I cut the bread & cake while waiting in the dining room.
There were not many people that came this year. The staff & families, and friends & former staff children came. If I have listed everyone correctly there were only 45 people. My mother's cousin's children came. When a big deal was made to the oldest son about them being there, he said well what else would we do. We've done this too long to not continue coming for Thanksgiving. He & I were able to talk during lunch. Currently he does not have a job but is house sitting for some friends who own 2 houses & are trying to decide on which one to settle. When his brother needed to leave, he left with him but came back in time for supper.
There were no crafts this year...the children went outside & raked a big pile of leaves. Then they spent the afternoon jumping into them. It was fun watching them have fun. The game "Apples to Apples" appeared & 2 good games ensued. I came close to winning the first game. The second game, I was nowhere near winning.
During the game, the leftovers were brought out & stuck in the oven to warm up. Even though none of us were hungry we still ate a little when it was time. The children (under 13 years) were the only hungry ones.
After eating, I came down to the house to get some powdered sugar. Funnel cakes were being made & there was no powdered sugar in the kitchen. As I was exiting the dining room (to come here), I heard that we would be able to see the space shuttle & space station in a little while. I thought they had said 7, so called my sister so she could let her 7 year old look. I told her I would call her when I got back to the dining room, I'd ask to see what time it would go over. As I left the house, I saw there were people standing around outside. In a few minutes we could see the lights from the shuttle & station going over. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get my sister called in time to let her know it was earlier than I had thought.
After taking care of the dishes we came home. John was not feeling well. He had not felt well all day. Very shortly the nauseousness overtook him & he spent 2 rounds of 30-45 minutes each in the bathroom. I looked in our medicines but we had nothing for an upset stomach. So I grabbed the flashlight, my set of camp keys & went up to the dining room to see if the first aid station had something. There was a bottle of Pepto (well generic). I brought it down to the house & started giving it to John. His stomach finally calmed down enough to let him sleep. He slept for almost 10 hours & is once again sleeping.
Knowing the bread would take a while & that I wanted to be up to the dining room by 11, I was up at 6:30 yesterday morning. Shampooed my hair before starting the bread so kept my hair up in the towel until the bread was made. That way I was pretty sure no hair would be in the bread. Had the bread going by 7 & it was rising by about 7:15. After getting the dishes in the dishwasher, I sat down to have my Bible reading. I'm using a "read the Bible through in a year" plan. This is probably the 6-7 year, I have done so. I read 4 chapters a day & actually finish reading before the year is finished. So instead of reading the NT 2x like the plan suggests, I just go back to the OT & start again. Currently I am in 2 Chronicles. Yesterday I was reading chapters 21-24 and ran across something interesting...something I don't remember ever reading before. In chapter 21 verse 20 we read a brief summary of Jehoram becoming king of Judah...he was Jehoshaphat's son. He was 32 when he became king & reigned 8 years. The verse goes on to say (& this is what intrigued me) "and he departed with no one's regret". I thought that is sad...no one missed him. Then I thought about my life and wondered what would be my 4 word summary after reading she departed.... I don't want my departure plastered over the front page of the newspaper or be shouted from the TV set. I wondered will I have made a difference in a Bible club girl's life. She may not remember my name (or maybe not even remember that she came to Bible club) but will she learn from me that Jesus loves her? Will she come to know the Lord as her Savior because of something she has seen modeled in my life? Will she feel "safe" while in Bible club? I also thought about camp. When the campers see me doing my job, will they see that I love the Lord? Even though I'm not a counselor & able to be with the campers during the day, when they see me will they see a smile on my face & see that I'm loving loving the Lord & doing the small, minute jobs needed to be done. I don't want to be thrust into the camping program...I'm more of a work in the background person...but I do interact with campers quite a bit. When they've grown up & think back to their summers at camp, prayerfully they'll remember that I love the Lord...they may not remember my name and that's definitely alright with me...but will they remember there was a peace, calm, contentment that only the Lord can give.
After my reading (& thinking) was finished, I thought I'd rest while the bread was finishing rising. I knew it would be a long day. I hoped I would fall asleep but was unable to. When the timer beeped, letting me know the bread was finished, I put the dough into the bundt pan. Set that to rise for the last time. Put the mixing bowl in the dishwasher. And finished my preparations for the day. Where my hair had been in the towel, it did not look the best & I couldn't do anything else with it.
Finally the bread has risen & baked. I put it on the cooling rack, stuck the cooling rack on top of the platter I would set the bread on, called John & asked if he could come down from the dining room to help me carry things up. He did. We took up some cranberry juice (which I don't think was ever set out to drink), the fruit cake and bread. I cut the bread & cake while waiting in the dining room.
There were not many people that came this year. The staff & families, and friends & former staff children came. If I have listed everyone correctly there were only 45 people. My mother's cousin's children came. When a big deal was made to the oldest son about them being there, he said well what else would we do. We've done this too long to not continue coming for Thanksgiving. He & I were able to talk during lunch. Currently he does not have a job but is house sitting for some friends who own 2 houses & are trying to decide on which one to settle. When his brother needed to leave, he left with him but came back in time for supper.
There were no crafts this year...the children went outside & raked a big pile of leaves. Then they spent the afternoon jumping into them. It was fun watching them have fun. The game "Apples to Apples" appeared & 2 good games ensued. I came close to winning the first game. The second game, I was nowhere near winning.
During the game, the leftovers were brought out & stuck in the oven to warm up. Even though none of us were hungry we still ate a little when it was time. The children (under 13 years) were the only hungry ones.
After eating, I came down to the house to get some powdered sugar. Funnel cakes were being made & there was no powdered sugar in the kitchen. As I was exiting the dining room (to come here), I heard that we would be able to see the space shuttle & space station in a little while. I thought they had said 7, so called my sister so she could let her 7 year old look. I told her I would call her when I got back to the dining room, I'd ask to see what time it would go over. As I left the house, I saw there were people standing around outside. In a few minutes we could see the lights from the shuttle & station going over. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get my sister called in time to let her know it was earlier than I had thought.
After taking care of the dishes we came home. John was not feeling well. He had not felt well all day. Very shortly the nauseousness overtook him & he spent 2 rounds of 30-45 minutes each in the bathroom. I looked in our medicines but we had nothing for an upset stomach. So I grabbed the flashlight, my set of camp keys & went up to the dining room to see if the first aid station had something. There was a bottle of Pepto (well generic). I brought it down to the house & started giving it to John. His stomach finally calmed down enough to let him sleep. He slept for almost 10 hours & is once again sleeping.
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