Fresh Produce!

We have been so blessed with so many people giving us fresh produce from their gardens. I've already had help with some ladies helping me can 35 quarts of green beans! Nearly every day, someone is coming to visit us with produce from their gardens. I'm not complaining! I love it! You can't beat fresh tomatoes on bread with mayonaise! Yummy!

Here's a pic of 7 quarts of bread and butter pickles that I canned this morning. 

First Two Weeks in Knoxville

On our first Sunday we were invited out to a family farm for lunch. We had a great time fellowshipping with the family and the food was wonderful! Afterwards we were invited to go flying! One of the family members is a pilot and owns his own 2-seater airplane. We all enjoyed taking turns and going up in the plane! The girls had a blast!

The next week, we were invited by the same family to go to the Iowa State Fair. We all had such a good time looking at all the farm and exotic animals. We rode the big slide and enjoyed our favorite fair foods!

Last Sunday, August 11th, Greg was officially installed as the pastor of the Knoxville Church of the Nazarene. Our Iowa D.S., Kim Smith and his wife Rosie, were there for the special service. 

This isn't the best picture of the girls, but I assure you that they are excited to be here and are enjoying all the "new" that comes with moving. 

Moving to Knoxville

  I've had several messages of people asking how we are doing since our move. So... I thought I'd share a bit of how we are doing.

  Well, we are doing great! God's presence has been so real and His peace is absolutely incredible!! We've had so much help with packing and unpacking over the last 2 weeks, that it seems as if everything we owned just magically appeared here in our new home. The girls are doing just wonderful and adjusting wonderfully. We are so thankful. Our first Sunday was awesome! God spoke powerfully through Greg's morning and evening messages. On Sunday after church we were invited to one of the families home for lunch and fellowship. They invited their parents and siblings and their children. It was a great time together out in the country on their farm. One of the family members owns a small 2 seater airplane. He graciously took each of us up in the plane for a short ride!! What a way to spend our first Sunday here in Knoxville! This was mine and the girl's first time to EVER fly! We all enjoyed it very much!
  Today, the girls and I went to visit w/ another family on their farm. The kids played and 3 ladies and I worked on green beans. We managed to can 35 quarts of green beans! Then we rode around the farm and looked for blackberries. We found a half gallon. We also found wild grapes and enjoyed snacking on those.
  I could write so much more!! God has been so good! I cried for the first hour when we pulled out of the Iberia Church and parsonage. I prayed during that time that God would heal our hearts and do something incredible and help us to make friends quickly. All I can say is, He did. He loves us so much and truly cares for us. I love Him.

God is Faithful

I'd like to share two stories of how God has been so faithful to us, just this last week.

Story #1:

 Last week, we received a $530 medical bill in the mail. It was 2 years old. I thought, "This is odd. Why am I just now getting this?" It was slightly disturbing because the bill was for when I made a visit to my OB when I had my first miscarriage in May of 2011. But I immediately gave the bill to God and surrendered it to Him. I prayed, "Lord, you are faithful. You know we don't have an extra $530 laying around. I've seen you work so many times with situations like this. You can do it again. I'm sure."

 Still yet, I knew I had to do my part and at least call the insurance companies and doctor's office about the details. To make a long story short, the accountant told me that she was going to zero my account!! 

 God is good. I knew He would come through. He did. Will you trust Him with your situation today?

Story #2:

 After we move to Knoxville, Iowa, Greg and I decided that we wanted to buy Mary Ellen and Molly bunk beds that match Lexie and Leah's bunk beds. I've been selling stuff left and right on the facebook yard sale page and God has blessed my efforts. I had made enough to purchase the bunk beds and new mattresses for them! But then one day I saw a post online that someone had two twin mattresses for $15 each. I had already planned to pay $60 each. So I got excited and thought I was going to save some money, something that I love to do! Anyway... I put myself in a situation where it was difficult to not purchase the mattresses, even though they were NOT what I wanted. Like my husband had warned me, I was probably gonna get what I was paying for. He was right. I made the mistake of not heeding his advice. I beat myself up. Apologized to him. Beat myself up so more. Then prayed for God to help me resell and at least, maybe, get my $30 back. Well, God did even better! Don't ya know? I instantly remembered that our Church District's Girl's Camp was looking for old, used mattresses for a "mattress surfing" event next week. Wah-lah!!! I was so excited. I called the camp director and she said that they would be so happy to take the mattresses and that they really needed them! I was so happy to donate them and know that God took my mistake and turned it into something that will honor Him!!! He is, indeed, so very good!!!

Missing Esther...

Last night at dinner, Leah asked me who I was going to miss the most when we moved. Before I could say anything, Greg spoke up and said, "Esther." I still didn't say anything, but was thinking, "How did he know?" 

Ya see, Esther was a lady in our church who didn't have any grandchildren and all her kids were well grown and moved away. For some reason, she took it upon herself to adopt our family as her own. She took a liking to me, I guess, when she discovered not only my love for our Lord Jesus, but also for sewing and canning. 

We have spent many days around my kitchen table breaking beans. We've spent several hours together shucking corn. She taught me the basics of canning. And of course, all those hours of working on produce and canning includes lots of wisdom gained for me!

She introduced me to some of her Amish friends and through them, our family started eating healthier and more organic foods. For the last four years now, I have developed friendships with some of the best people in the world, the Amish, because of Esther. And today, I will say good-bye to them. A real good-bye. There will be no facebook connections with them, no phone calls. It will be like I've always read in Beverly Lewis's books, we'll write letters. Hopefully, one day I'll walk out to the mailbox and find a letter from my friend and I'll have it read before I get back to the front door. 

Esther taught me how to skim cream, make butter and the best of all, make homemade ice cream with fresh-raw cow's milk!

I have so many wonderful memories of her. In the fall, she loved to pick up hedge apples near the Amish farm that we visited weekly. She said that these hedge apples would keep away spiders if you placed them strategically around your house. I just thought they looked pretty!

She taught me about flower gardening. My flower garden looks so pretty this year, and it's all because of her. She dug up "starts" from her flowers at home and was constantly bringing me flowers for my flower bed. Isn't is funny that the year that my flower bed would be it's prettiest since we've lived here, would be the year that we move? One of the ladies in our church even noticed this and mentioned it to me just Sunday night. 

Esther also taught me more about sewing. My grandma taught me the basics when I was a kid and teenager. Esther built on that and introduced me to dress patterns, quilting and digital embroidery. 

I remember when we moved to Iberia from Nashville, TN, that the move was much easier with not having to move away from my grandma. It really would have made the move so hard. I loved her so much and always wanted to be close to her. It was easier knowing she was in heaven. And so, it's the same with this move now. God gave Esther to me as another grandma. She loved us and we loved her. It will be easier moving from Iberia with her already haven made her move to heaven.

This is a picture of Esther in our church nursery, a place that she loved to volunteer!

Homeschool Field Trip to Dino Space Adventure

We are blessed to be a part of a wonderful homeschool group in our area. We have had field trips to the local bank, post office, L B uniform factory, and other places this last school year. To end the year, we went over to Camdenton and visited the Orion Center/Dino Space Adventure. It is a Biblically based science museum. The kids really enjoyed their day there. They especially enjoyed all the outside activities. They had huge sling shots so the kids could shoot water balloons at "dinosaurs" out in a field. There was also water rockets and zip-lining. Well, you just take a look. You'll see that they had a great time....

Updating Our Blog...

It's been approximately a year and a half since I've updated our blog. I thought I would try it again! We'll see. Just check in from time to time and see. I'm not going to try to go back and cover the last 18 months, but here are some highlights....

This is a picture of the girls when we went fishing one day at a local lake.

 Back in April, I walk/jogged my first 5K. I finished the 3.1 miles in 42 minutes. I won a 3rd place medal in my age division! I hope to do it again!

 Here the girls are on Easter Sunday!

We have 5 kids from our church that qualified to go to the World Quiz in Indianapolis this summer. We are really proud of all of them!

 Lexie donated 10 inches of her hair to Locks of Love recently. We are proud of her!

 Here's a family picture that we managed to get on Memorial Day!

Keep checking back! Now that it is summer break for us, I may have a few more minutes in the day to post pictures of what's happening in the McClain Home!!! We hope you are all doing well!