Burnett Family

According to this picture, you would think it is spring…

Yes, our lilacs are BLOOMING.
In NOVEMBER!!

At our house right now, you could be collecting colorful leaves off the ground with the rich perfume of lilacs floating through the air. Crazy! =D I guess the drought caused the lilacs to go into dormancy, and now the big rains woke them up and they think it is spring. =D

According to this picture, you would think it is summer…

We made homemade oreo ice cream last week for a guest who we were trying to bribe to stay longer…it worked! :) It was a little strange to enjoy the treat on a chilly day instead of in the triple-digits, but delicious nonetheless!

According to THIS picture, you should know it’s fall!!

Last winter, we became huge fans of chai tea. The other day, Mom brewed up this new recipe from Taste of Home which we heartily rated as a 5-star winner! We use sucanat in place of the sugar (sucanat is unrefined sugar that tastes more like brown sugar and gives a slight caramel flavor to the tea). Unfortunately, we haven’t tried it with whipped cream on top yet, but it would be delicious!

Chai Tea

2 cups water
2 individual tea bags
1 cinnamon stick
6 cardamom pods, crushed
1 whole clove
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
2-1/2 cups milk
1/4 cup sugar
Sweetened whipped cream, ground cinnamon and cinnamon sticks, optional

In a small saucepan, combine the first six ingredients. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 5 minutes.

Stir in milk. Return to a boil; boil for 1 minute, then strain. Stir in sugar until dissolved. Pour into mugs. Top each with whipped cream, cinnamon, and a cinnamon stick, if desired. Yield: 4 servings

“To every thing there is a season,
and a time to every purpose under the heaven:”
Ecclesiastes 3:1

May our Unchanging God be your stay in whatever
season of life you find yourself in today!

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! =)

Surrender = {to give up into the power, control, or possession of another}

A probing question has been searching my heart of late. Why do I surrender to God?

Is it because He is sure to give me something better in return for what I’m giving up to Him? Because I have high hopes that He will eventually fulfill my desire? Because I want Him to make it all turn out perfectly good for ME?

Or, do I surrender unreservedly to Him, expecting nothing (not even one thing) in return, but give all to Him simply for the fact that He is WORTHY?

It’s a probing question.

What kind of a God is it who asks everything of us?

The same God who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all.

He gives all. He asks all.

-Elisabeth Elliot

May the LORD deepen your level of surrender and give you a fresh revelation of His worthiness!

P.S. Do you remember my thoughts on the drought this summer? Guess what! The LORD sent us 3 inches of rain last weekend. It’s true – the “hard places” don’t last forever. :) One more thought on surrender & rain: I think sometimes we picture the drought as our surrender, and the refreshing rain as when God brings fulfillment of the thing surrendered. It’s more like the drought is our process of struggling to surrender, but the refreshing rain is when we reach the point of real, complete surrender…because that’s when we truly find in sweet fullness of joy that Christ is all we need! Just a thought. :)

This is our yard. For over a month, it has been over 100° nearly every day. Add to that a severe lack of rain, and the conditions get pretty serious. Our yard is brown, dry, and crispy. The flowers are “surviving" only with constant watering. Even our big shrubs are wilting and the ground is cracking. Some areas have taken the first steps to ration water.

Day after day, week after week, we keep hoping and praying for a drop in temperatures – even if it was just to the 90°s, but still there is no relief in sight. Today’s heat index is 105°, and the forecast shows triple digit temperatures for the next 10 days.

You might say this is a “hard place” for our state. And maybe, like me, you feel like you are in a hard place yourself right now. Perhaps you have a struggle, a testing, a silence that is harder on some days than on others, but is still always there. And it seems to go on…and on…and on.

Is your heart crying out with David in Psalm 13, where he says four times, “How long, Lord??”

I may see no relief in sight, but I know, just like with the weather, the “forecast” means nothing to God. He can completely change a circumstance in a moment. But even if He doesn’t…will I trust Him?

David didn’t end with questions. He finished with a declaration of his choice:
I WILL sing unto the LORD, because He has dealt bountifully with me.
Could he see the end? No. He could see God’s promises that he knew would be kept.

Be encouraged, friend. The hard places don’t last forever. But while you’re still in the middle, let this be your prayer – Be glorified in my hard place, O LORD, and may it cause me to love You more!

On Tuesday, as we were enjoying our afternoon, the town’s fire alarm sounded, and we started to smell something strange. Carinna went outside and announced that there was a fire!!!!! We went outside to see lots of black smoke. This building is about 2 blocks south of our house.

Burn ban in effect for Garvin county.

This gives me a greater appreciation for fire men! Thanks, guys.

The little red fire engine.  :)

Some spectators across the street at the Barber shop. Oh, see that man in the suit – he is our great uncle’s niece’s husband, aka the funeral home director. Oh, and see the man in the overalls – he is our great aunt’s ex-husband’s cousin, aka the barber. I told you this was a small town. :)

This is looking back up the street towards our house. Major smoke!

This is the view from our yard.

The firemen had to tear down that metal, so they could spray inside and put it out.

Then today, as we were enjoying our morning, the alarm went off again, and Hannah came in and said it looked like another building was on fire! This one is about 2 blocks from our house too, and on the other side of the block from the first fire! Wow!

This is was a little BBQ place.

On a lighter note, here is our cute dog. :)

On a serious note, we are in a record-breaking drought, which has been causing wild fires. Please pray with us for rain!