Burnett Family

Christmas is definitely one of my favorite times of year! We have some really fun traditions, I love being with family, plus I get to bake … A LOT! :) No, really, I think you’ll be able to see why it’s so special to me after you look at all these pictures – enjoy!

 

The twins and I got to accompany some friends to Branson earlier this month. There’s a lot I could say, but to sum it all up, we had a VERY good time! A big highlight was that we unexpectedly all got free tickets to Silver Dollar City-it was so pretty all decorated up for Christmas, and the roller-coasters were terrifying  great!

 

When we got back home, most of our family got to sing and play for the sweet folks down at the Senior Citizen Center here in town.

Tradition: We always go Christmas caroling to our neighbors, and around town. (including the local police station and sometimes to random folks we’ve never met =) Our list is getting bigger. It seems to be a real blessing to others, but sometimes I think we are the ones who feel the most blessed by it.

As I said earlier, we did LOTS of Christmas baking. =)

Christmas caroling.

 

Tradition: For several years now, mom has put together a themed Christmas tea for just our family. This year the theme was ornaments. She did an AMAZING job with spazzy decorations and lots of good food – we all really enjoyed it!

 

After the tea, Dad read from a Christmas devotional, then we opened stockings and presents. With both the older boys working, and well, I guess some us girls have taken plenty of trips this year, it makes me appreciate even more when we can all be together – I love my family.

 

For the first time, our little church group held a Christmas Eve candlelight service, complete with beautiful carols and formal dresses. It was lovely.

  

We were encouraged to memorize Luke 2:1-20, this was a blessing to me.

 

Tradition: Daddy writes up our annual Christmas letter. We sent out 106 copies this year! :)

We had a special time celebrating at Grandma’s house on Christmas day after church. We are so blessed to have godly grandparents who live close and love the Lord.

A few of us did some duck hunting, we got…one. :) (Carinna didn’t hunt, she brought our dog to retrieve the ducks, and Dad carried a rifle hoping we’d spook a doe.)

Some special things we do at Grandma’s on Christmas is: Eat Grandpa’s amazing chex-mix and open stockings.

  

We taught and learned some new games this time. It was fun and we had some pretty good laughs! =)

 

On the 26th, we drove up north a little ways to welcome the Paine family to Oklahoma. They are moving here from Chicago. We had a great time fellowshipping, playing volley- ball, and playing games. We are glad they live “close” and are definitely looking forward to the next time we can get together with them!

On the 27th we celebrated with mom’s side of the family at Granny’s house.

Yay! We remembered to sing carols this year! :)

It’s pretty fun, there are 5 great-grandkids now, which means there are little people around again! =)

 

The winners of a game with their prizes. :)

Twins holding twins. Carinna has Nickolas Patrick and Maggie has Natalie Shae.

 

Special traditions at Granny’s are: Eating her delicious homemade cinnamon rolls and playing white elephant.

“ And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto YOU is born this day in the city of David a Savior which is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2:10-11

When you have this many people, I guess it takes ALOT of stuff. ;)

 

 

Notice their big smiles? They REALLY enjoyed their lunch! (smirk ;)

 

If ya’ll ever go camping, you HAVE to try this one! First, cut a big slit across the top of a banana, then fill it with butter, chocolate bar, nutella, peanut butter, and marshmellows, then roast it over the fire and consume.

Abbie and Hannah trying to come up with new roasted concoctions… :)

Gotta love singing your heart out around the campfire. =D

We enjoyed catching a lot of fish-perch, crappie, and bass.

      

Now that is what I call FRESH fish! This stuff was amazing!

Granny and Granddad (mom’s parents) joined us on Saturday, and greatly contributed to the loads of fun we had!

The hiking trail we went on was stunningly gorgeous! Near the end of the trail was this beautiful view of the lake.

…take notice of the storm clouds rollin’ in…

There was a really cool water dam near the camp ground we climbed, it was pretty epic!

We sang from the top… :)

  

On Saturday afternoon/evening/night :), the big adventure came – in the form of a STORM. Thank the Lord, those of us who were out hiking made it back in time before it hit. Knowing that a storm was coming, and that our big tent leaks (from past experience :) Mom, and others took out some stuff and piled it in the van, so it wouldn’t get all wet.  As the storm quickly approached, we snarfed down our supper, finished filleting the fresh catch of fish, Granny and Granddad headed back, and we all piled in the vehicles to take refuge, all except for J-C and Caleb who stayed in their tent to hold it down.

This is a 15 second video, of a 30 minute time lapse to show you how quick this thing came!

As the rain poured, it lightening and thundered, we waited and waited, Dad checked the weather on his phone, we phoned called and walkie-talkied each other back and forth to give each other updates…and ate good comfort food like chips and cookies…:) As we watched the wind pick up, we started wondering if our big tent, which we’ve had since Charity was 6 weeks old,(17 1/2 years) was gonna survive, so we got out and put more stuff in the van, shortly after, the wind whisked it up, right in front of our eyes and blew it into a tree!!! …so glad we took that stuff out! We found out the wind probably got up to about 60 mph!

We were very thankful that the baseball size hail didn’t hit us! Meanwhile, Granny and Granddad were having a VERY difficult time getting home. With the Lord’s protection they finally made it.

Now that it was very dark (round 10:00) and 6 of our sleeping places were slightly unavailable   GONE, Mom and Dad decided that the girls should all sleep in the van and Mom sleep in the car.

A spur-of-the-moment sister sleep-over in the…VAN…of all places!!! What a night!

 

 

The ol’ tent gone kasplat. Guess it was time for a new tent anyway. =)

 

Sunday we attended this local church, did some more hiking and fishing, and a lot of rearranging and packing-up. Our stuff needed a lot of organizing after last night.

On our way home, those in the car barely missed having a head-on collision driving on a two-lane road. They topped a hill and saw a car coming from the other direction erratically drive in their lane, to the shoulder and grass, and back to their lane. Not knowing where the car was going to end up, mom didn’t know what to do. She stayed in her lane, and the car stayed on the shoulder coming the wrong way, passing within 6 inches of the car. They think they heard the other car scraping the guard rail, and then it zipped right back in with the line of cars that it came from.  We are praising the Lord for His hand of protection and guardian angels!

Needless to say, after such a dramatic weekend, it was a very good feeling to be home ALL TOGETHER, ALIVE, WELL, AND SAFE, and in our own beds again. :) I don’t think we’ll ever forget that memorable camping trip.

Until next time…

happy trails! =)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This past weekend, on the first day of fall, we celebrated! Boy has it been a hot, dry, Indian summer here, and the cool weather and rain the Lord has blessed us with have been wonderful! With the wonderful arrival of this season came a great excuse reason to cook up a bunch of fun food! ;) It was a lot of work, but a lot of fun too. I’ve included links for all the recipes we made, in case anyone is interested. :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ya get a little bit of this and a little bit of that. =)

 

Pumpkin pie dip with pie crust “dippers”

 

Chicken Veggie Appetizers

 

Sweet Potato Cranberry muffins         Baked Coconut Shrimp

Saucy Meatballs                               Pesto Pinwheels

 

Caprese Skewers

Apple Pot Stickers                                  Sweet Onion Cheese Spread Hannah made

                                                                this, and it was one of my favorites!!!

Bacon Wrapped Tator Tots Out of all the food, this one was a big hitter!

Along with the normal version of the Tator Tot recipe (cheese and tabasco), I also tried the variation with a pickle and dipped it in brown sugar, and those were REALLY good!

 

Holiday Bark                                             Fried Corn Balls

Turtle Tassies

 

The faithful dish-washers. :)

Happy Fall Ya’ll! =)

Just in case anyone is wondering, we didn’t fall off the face of the earth, but, we DID go all the way to the upper peninsula of Michigan and back, in our big green van! There’s our shadow in a corn field. =)

 

 

I love my family, and this was a trip of a life-time! All 10 of us were able to go together…something that doesn’t happen very often any more. The purpose of our trip was to coordinate and attend the Journey to the Heart Reunion.

Here’s how it started: Journey to the Heart is a 10-day retreat that 5 of us older kids have each been to. It’s a set-apart time to seek the Lord, and each of us has been very blessed to have had this opportunity. We enjoyed it so much, made some really close friends, and had a desire to go back to the Northwoods in Michigan where it is held. Back in December, we popped the idea to the Journey office about having a reunion for everyone who has attended Journey to the Heart. Long story made short, they loved the idea, but didn’t have the time to do it themselves, so they asked us if OUR family would like to coordinate it! After much thought and prayer, we excitedly took on the project and for the past 6 months or so, we’ve been planning, creating, organizing, designing, adjusting, promoting, recruiting, and praying!! It’s been a wonderful, HUGE, learning experience for us that we wouldn’t trade for anything, and now after months of preparations, it was finally here!! We can’t wait to tell you all about it, but we have sooooo many pictures, we are going to spread it out over several posts. This post is just to document our travels UP there. =) Ya ready?

Our first stop was in St. Louis, where we went to church with the Burns family (check out their exciting new film in the making!). We arrived early, so instead of sitting around, we stretched our legs and walked across this mile long bridge. There was a nice breeze, and the sun was shining which made it very refreshing. :)

 

This bridge used to be a part of Route 66.

Macho-man. ;)

After church, we went to the Burns’ house and ate lots of delicious nachos…

played foos-ball…(while eating cookies??? :)

enjoyed some very entertaining games of “occupation telephone”…

go Nick!…

…and played a late night game of Settlers of Catan…

 

and of course they played it, Burns’ STYLE! We’re convinced that’s the only way to play Settlers now.

Thanks guys, for your generous hospitality, a great time, and all the good laughs! Now YA’LL have got to come see us! =)

  

We didn’t get very far down the road, when we stopped and got some REAL apple cider at a quaint little shop, then continued on our way.

We were driving through Iowa and decided we couldn’t pass within 15 miles of the Bontragers’ house without stopping! So, we dropped by for about 30 minutes. They were having a huge Labor Day party, with tons of people, but they still showed us great hospitality, and served us ice cream! =) Next time we come through, we’ll definitely have to plan on staying longer!

Back on the road. Iowa was probably my favorite state that we drove through – all the rolling hills and picturesque farms were a sight to see!

 

Monday night, we arrived at the Dorninks’ house in Minnesota! (Dustin and Melody were on J-C and Hannah’s Journey teams in 2009.) We were definitely feeling a difference in the weather by this time…in a good way!  We had a great evening/late night/early morning (if ya know what I mean ;) filled with great food and fun fellowship.

 

Big game of 1-100! Grab the pen!!!

They endured our my pathetic volley ball skills. :) …but we’ll have to play again sometime, because I improved at least a little by playing so much last weekend! =)

 

Ya’ll are so much fun – thanks again for opening your home to us!

 

Check out all that corn! We decided that for every corn field up there, there is a pasture of cows down here. :)

On the 3rd day of travel, when we were about an hour or so from our destination, we stopped at Lake Superior and stretched our ‘tired of traveling’ bodies. :)

 

Gorgeous shot, Charity!

This is a great way to streeeeeeetch after a long van ride! =)

 

Enjoyin’ the fresh air!

 

That water felt good!

 

Final leg: I see 2 mischievous lookin’ guys in the back row, hmmm. ;)

*Ahem, after 24 hours, split up into 3 days in the van, the chances of getting a little goofy increase considerably. :)

almost. there.

 

You should’ve been there to see our excitement when we saw this sign and pulled into the long awaited drive-way of the NORTHWOODS CONFERENCE CENTER!!! We are so thankful for the Lord’s protection the whole way and for Him sustaining us…and our van! =) Lord-willing, in the following post we’ll share more pictures and tell you about the great time spent with the Lord and our Brothers and Sisters in Christ.

Until then, God bless you all!

Kids are great, and this summer the Lord opened the door for me to travel to 3 of the ATI regional home-school conferences and help out with the Children’s Institute (CI) -  a program for kids ages 4-7.

The first conference was in Nashville, TN. I was thrilled with the opportunity to go and help lead a team, but I had no idea that the Lord had a huge lesson for me on this trip!

10 days before the conference began, I was asked if I could or would want to play the piano for the CI. Now you need to understand something. I am not “the pianist” in our family – Hannah is, and she does a great job! =) I can play, but reading music isn’t my “forte”. ;) Well even in spite of that, I decided to give it a try…and back out if I couldn’t get the songs down good enough in time. =) …so I practiced and practiced the next week, and got really stressed about playing. So stressed, I even started losing my appetite, which by the way is VERY UNUSUAL! =) I was so consumed with trying to get these songs down.

One morning, 4 days before we were planning to leave for the conference, something really cool happened. I was still in bed, and felt prompted to go back and read Joshua 1 which I kind of set as ‘my chapter for the year’. So I did. Listen to this: “…I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. Be strong and of a good courage: …Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever(even Nashville :) thou goest.” The verses spoke directly to me about my fear of playing! Isn’t God awesome!

So we went, and I played the piano. It wasn’t always ‘perfect’, but over-all it went well. And guess what? It was a blast! I loved it! Praise the Lord!

Now for some pictures. :D

This is Olivia, she was a very special girl in my group. :)

I helped lead a team of 16 kids (when they were all there) along with 2 other teachers. The Lord really blessed me with patience that week – it is fascinating how far your brain can stretch! =)  The theme we taught through the week was about The Armor of God, which is what I learned about 13 years ago when I first attended CI! :)

 

Getting ready to load the kids on a bus/van, to do a parent presentation.

Guess we worked her too hard. :)

Praise the Lord for an awesome week!

 

The next conference was in Sacramento, CA. Hannah and I both went, but were on different flights, as she had already booked hers when I found out I was going. Needless to say, I had some great opportunities to share with the people I sat by on the plane, going there and on the way home…but that is a whole other story. ;)

Helping with CI registration.

 

At this conference I helped do prep work for the CI, get together crafts for the teachers leading teams, helped with Scripture during large group, and helped with some kids who needed some “extra attention.”

Even though I didn’t actually lead a team here, I still made some great little friends. =)

 

  The little guy in the red shirt was so sweet! He would give me a great energy-giving smile! =)

 

And last but not least, was the conference in Indianapolis, Indiana. Mom and 3 of us girls drove out there and had a great time together! =)

 

This was my little buddy Matthew, and he has Down’s Syndrome. It was a new experience to work with him, but I am glad I got to. =) Doesn’t he have a great smile!?

 

I got to be the pianist again! It is so cool how the Lord blessed me with the opportunity to play the piano. It’s not like something I dreamed about doing, but God knew how much I would enjoy it. I count it as a special blessing from Him. =)

“And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” 2 Cor. 12:9