Happy Birthday, Sarah Beth!!

Today is my baby girl's 6th birthday. Every birthday she has kills me. We had several years of heart breaking infertility before having her. The doctor had tears in his eyes when we finally had a healthy sonogram.(It seemed as though the pregnancy was not viable. We were doing one more last ditch sonogram before a D&C.) Needless to say there are a lot of emotions wrapped up in this child. We try not to spoil her, but being the sister of 3 brothers and Daddy's princess it is hard sometimes. We do a birthday feast for each child. She has chosen hamburgers, asparagus, tomato salad, potato chips, and brownies. I love seeing their menus! So, we are off now to get party supplies for tomorrow night. We do not do friend parties every year. This happens to be one.

I told you I would post our Sabbath feasting menu. We forgot it was a fellowship meal week for church. It is a Mexican theme this time. We do not have a huge feast at home on these weeks. It is too much to prepare food for both on Saturday. We will still celebrate the Sabbath together as a family on Saturday night. We will grill something and have a few salads to go with it.


You will have to turn sideways. I do not know how to turn my pictures around:)

Back to Routine

We arrived home from vacation yesterday. We had a great time enjoying the beach with grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Restful, no. Fun, yes. My older sister laughs at my attempts to rest. Her children are older and she can actually set up her station in the sand and sit there the entire day if she chooses. Not so for my younger sister and myself. It becomes a game to see who can sit the longest in our beach chairs. The longest time was 8 minutes. Oh well, memories, right? The children had a blast with their cousins. Now mom and dad get to come home and catch up on things. That said, it has been an incredibly busy summer for us. Our feasting has been hit or miss and we are anxious to get back into our routines. This weeks feast I will cook everyone's favorite. My husband will choose the main dish and the children will pick the side dishes. I will try to make it extra festive as we get back into our routine. I will let you know the menu in the next day or so.

I read this in A Return to Sunday Dinner and thought it was a great explanation of one of the reasons we feast. " The Sunday table, too, has always been a center for family celebrations. Restful Sundays provide us with unhurried hours for enjoying our shared lives-exploring our heritage, remembering the sacrifices of those who made our lives possible, and giving thanks for God's kindness and blessings. But the Sunday dinner offers even more than true rest and joyful celebration. It also provides something often overlooked in this casual age: the gift of encouragement and inspiration. It helps us remember that there is indeed something above and beyond our commonplace world."

This is a great cookbook. I will post more on what he has to say later, but I thought he said so well what I have been trying to say.