Slaughter Day

This is the head of a goat. This is the head of a goat that we killed. This is the head of a goat that we killed and cooked. This is the head of a goat that we killed and cooked for slaughter day. This is the head of a goat that we killed and cooked for slaughter day this year.

Every year for, oh I don't know, almost a decade I'd say, we and our Warren Ham crew select an animal and slaughter it and roast it over an open fire in the woods as a sort of fall celebration. We have done pigs, cows, and even emu's. This year was our little goat friend here. Along with the meat (cooked in various forms as you'll see below) the ladies always bring delicious side dishes and desserts too and it's just a great flavorful night with the old friends. Some years it's 50 people and some years it's small like this year but every year is a much needed break from the daily/weekly/yearly grind.

A shot of the shanty - no power up here in the woods but there is a wood stove which is nice when the sun sets for the little ones to warm up. See the deer horns on the side of the door? Elise, my little animal loving almost vegetarian, said in a disgusted tone "Geez. They sure like to kill things up here, don't they?!" Hahaha. Later on our drive home I asked the kids as I usually do after any event, "What was your favorite part of the day?" to which Elise stated "My favorite part? Nothing. They killed a goat Mom!" Hahaha. To each his (or her) own. But don't let her words fool you. She was all smiles all night as she played and ate desserts :)

Joel, Chris and Rob (and usually Tim but he's excused for having a baby 3 days before) cut up the meat all afternoon right at the campsite, prepping it for cooking.

There, of course, is always a keg of root beer or in the case of this year, birch beer.

What would be a campfire without a little boy poking it? Oh, I mean "fixing it".

Sister has to join in now of course.

The pot that will host the goat stew. My sister Jess is the one sitting in the stone thrown there - she was psyched to come up from Pitt for a visit just to find out it was slaughter day weekend!

Chris' daughter Hazel slept through most of evening.

Malachi loves babies and took many turns holding and feeding her :)

Yummy home made pumpkin whoopie pies.

Goat meatloaf cooking in a dutch oven.

These are templates for making shirts. Carved backwards so you spray on bleach and then press face down onto your blank shirt.

Rob stirring the stew.

Sally's fresh rolls. To. Die. For. These are just as famous and anticipated as the slaughtered animal!

Pumpkin whoopie pies and fresh warm apple crisp.

Finished stew. It was good. Meat was nice and tender. I'm not a huge meat fan in general so I only had one bowl but others had quite a few helpings.

Done meatloaf.

"Time to eat the kid"

I miss that place so much. Before we all had kids we'd be up there every Saturday night rain or shine just chillin in the woods. Axe throwing competitions, a never ending supply of mountain dew and way too many discussions about constructing a round boat.

Yes, we are strange. But we all fit together so nicely. My 5 year old looked at Chris Barker half through the night and whispered to me "He's weird" to which he and I started cracking up, "You have no idea Elise. This is just the tip of the iceberg!"

Viva Warren Ham.

Home Growth

I am wicked behind on blogging these day with work and school and life but I am trying to slooooowly catch up. This summer we did a tiny amount of gardening and I wanted to share some pictures. Rob's small crop of veggies did well and were of course beautiful to look at and tasty to eat.

One day while at Agway for something random the kids begged me to let them buy seeds. I did the whole "Yeah. Yeah. Fine. Just grab 'em." that moms do when they are in a hurry and then sat them down with dirt and pots more to amuse them than expecting anything to grow. They planted different kinds of seeds in the same pots, forgot to water them, and even Gus (the dog) knocked them over more than once. But low and behold, many grew and grew HUGE.

Watermelons - One watermelon seed took root and right before vacation I was like "Man, I better at least put this into the ground before we leave so it maybe will have a chance." I quickly stuck it in my flower bed (once again sure it wasn't going to grow) and when i did it was about 2 inches high. When we returned a week later it was huge and starting to sprawl.

It produced two melons. We had never grown watermelons before so we found out the hard way that we picked them way too early. BUT the red-ish one still was tasty. Next time we'll do a little more reading up and prep work so we can actually enjoy a fully ripened one. The kids were still very excited to eat the fruits of their labor.

These were some they planted and they grew higher than Elise!

These I bought but wanted to show you the flower box Malachi made for me with Daddy one day :) I love it.

And last but not least - this may not look like much but it's a young golden rain tree that I started down in Maryland from just a tiny twig and I can't wait until it's grown and starts to flower.

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All four of us are excited about planting a large garden next year. We plan to use about a third of the back yard (and one third for the chickens - I want 3, Rob wants 6.... we'll see. He DOES eat a ton of eggs...) We're already planning our planting strategy so that we have things coming up at different times all spring, summer, and fall long.

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I love nature.

Purging

Every once in a while you have to examine your life and purge the dead weight. I am going through one such time now. Best Buy was to the point where I realized that the issues I had there were never going to improve so I quit. My last day was Saturday the 2nd of October which strangely enough was the one year anniversary of the store opening. I started a new part time job I got in an Chiropractic office recently and love it. I'm still nervous and learning TONS every day but a) it's in the field my degree is in, b) has more potential for the future, c) is 8-4 week days so I'm home with my children at night and d) is only 10 min from home instead of 45. I am learning to be a Chiropractic Assistant there - taking blood pressures, etc. It's all very exciting to me. The doctor is also very into natural remedies which REALLY interests me. It seems like an honest to goodness God-sent to me.
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Also...... I decided to end youth group and the youth rec center all together. Both of which I'd work so hard to get lessons and snack and money around for just to sit there alone. I gave both the college try (youth rec center one year) but to continue to do something that's not working is the definition of insane. I'm not sad about closing the youth house either because I truly gave it all I had. I feel like the trying has to count even if the action is a total flop.
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Youth group response has been under whelming and as we tried different things I tried to think about what the difference was between the youth group I grew up in and the one I was trying to run. All of the sudden one night recently it hit me like a ton of bricks: the parents. My youth group as a child and teen loved Jesus and we wanted to follow Jesus and lead others to him and were passionate but the difference was our parents were ALL fully in love with Jesus and themselves shared Christ. Without this element our youth group never had a chance. I can bang my head against the wall til the cows come home but if youth see their parents living "good lives" but with Jesus only being a small piece of the pie (if any at all) then they will naturally feel no need to make him anything more. I will continue to hang with and mentor the few kids that showed up on a regular basis via taking them out to eat, going to their sports games etc. But as for an open invitation gathering, no.
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My heart has been tugged HARD upon by the Lord recently by the overwhelming stat that 26,000 children die PER DAY of hunger related causes. I have cried, I have pondered, I have brainstormed, and I have felt helpless over this fact... what the heck can I do to even put a dent in this number? I mean I sponsor a few kids through Compassion and give to missions here and there but I don't want this stat to be true. I want this stat to decrease a lot in my life time. but how?
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Rob was the one to convince me to end youth group and focus more on this cry of my heart for the time being because God puts things on our hearts for a reason. I'm not sure how that will translate yet... probably some fasting so I can really FEEL hungry like they do and prayer.... maybe I will gain some clarity then.... not sure....
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My daughter has also been very effected by the poor around the world lately. This summer in bible school she learned about Haiti and what happened there and ever since has been giving her money to missions and trying to come up with ideas to help poor children. She draws pictures of people handing out aid and asks me many questions. I tear up every time at her heart for the poor. We are getting ready to make shoe boxes for Samaritan's Purse and she and Mal are excited to shop for the items they will each make for a child their age. Honestly, THEY challenge me all the time with their generosity and how they really get "do unto others as you would have it done unto you".
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I graduate in about 4 weeks. Life is changing..... but life is good.