Harvest Party

It was another fun harvest party at Evangel Assembly of God. There were so many more things going on then these pictures show.

Junior Bible Quiz

Evan and two of his friends from church are on the JBQ C Team representing Evangel Assembly of God. The letter C means it is their first year of quizzing. There are a total of 5 teams this year representing churches from Great Bend, Topeka, Fredonia, and I think the rest are from Wichita.

They had a preseason match this past Saturday from 9AM-2PM. There are a total of 10 rounds, but they had two byes during the competition, so they played 8 rounds. Each round lasts about 20 minutes. Each team can have 2-4 quizzers in order to compete. The preseason match does not count towards the overall score for the year. It was just a great way for everyone to get familiar with how competition goes, learn what will count as fouls, take instruction and learn tips and advice from the judges, and put to the test all of the things they had to study.

JBQ has a set number of questions about the Bible that all teams study at the same time. For this match they had to study 72. The next match will be in Great Bend in about 3 1/2 weeks and the kids have to study 72 more questions. Each match is cumulative so next time the kids can be asked any of the 144 questions. They will then have two more matches throughout the year and will have studied a total of over 280 questions.

How it works...
Each team sits at two tables facing the judges/score keeper/time keeper. There are a total of 20 questions in a round, each worth 10 points. The kids just try to buzz in to be the first one to answer the question first. If they can't answer it correctly, or at all, they lose 5 points. If this happens 3 times, that child must sit out the remainder of the round--a "backwards quiz out". If a child answers 5 questions correctly he "quizzes out" meaning he sits out for the remainder of the round, but it earns 10 bonus points for the team. The coaches keep score along with the official score keeper. When the round is over, the coaches and score keeper verify everything, the winning team is declared, and the highest first, second, and third place finishers declared. There are a bunch of other rules, too, but I'm still learning them. I got to keep score for two rounds, and it is so fast-paced that it is actually kind of tricky to keep score.

Our team won 4 rounds, and lost 4 rounds. Evan did great and had a blast! He never got a backwards quiz out (the kind you don't want), but got 3 quiz outs (the kind you want) and was able to earn a button for that.

We are looking forward to the next competition!

Fall Foliage

Here are just a few sites of autumn around our house...

Our purple mums didn't bush up much, but the color is still pretty


Pretty yellow and golden mums mixed in with a few leftover spring flowers


These mums bushed up so nicely this year


Our little tree in the backyard with pretty orange leaves (all thought quite a few leaves have fallen off already)

Fall Leaf Fun 2009

The 40-something degree temperature with a 21 mph NNW wind was not going to slow these two down from playing outside with a yard full of golden leaves! And then of course the time outside had to be topped off with mugs of hot cocoa!

Count Your Blessings

I have been overwhelmed with my prayer list lately. Why are so many of my friends struggling with illness or relational problems or economic/job issues? Why are so many strong Christian women I know (including me) using the same word to describe themselves--weary? Who can deny that we are being attacked by the things not of this world? Who can deny that God wants us to cling to Him and grow stronger, putting on the full armor of God, so that we can help each other fight?

One thing that God has helped me work through is not letting these kinds of things effect me and those around me too much. I used to take on someone else's burden and literally feel as bound by it as they did. Thank God not anymore! I still feel for that person, but not a consuming kind of compassion like in the past, and that probably makes me an even better prayer warrior.

My family is in a good place right now. There are things we are still working on, of course, but we are good--even better than good. But, one thing I have made sure of during this good season is to not forget about God first and foremost, and to constantly remind my children and try to be a good example of it to my husband.

God is strengthening us right now. Or at least me--I guess I shouldn't speak for my husband or children. Of course there is a little part of me wondering if there is a particular reason for this strengthening--is God going to allow some kind of blow to come my way and try to knock me down? Or is God finally giving me the good "normal" life I've always prayed for and starting with me the next generations are just going to get better and better?

God really put on my heart today this little song and maybe it will give whoever reads this some encouragement also:

When upon life’s billows you are tempest-tossed,
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done

Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your blessings, see what God hath done!
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your many blessings, see what God hath done.

Are you ever burdened with a load of care?
Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear?
Count your many blessings, every doubt will fly,
And you will keep singing as the days go by.

When you look at others with their lands and gold,
Think that Christ has promised you His wealth untold;
Count your many blessings—wealth can never buy
Your reward in heaven, nor your home on high.

So, amid the conflict whether great or small,
Do not be discouraged, God is over all;
Count your many blessings, angels will attend,
Help and comfort give you to your journey’s end.

Pumpkin Patch

We had the best 2 1/2 hours at the pumpkin patch. Roger and I both feel it was the best pumpkin patch we've ever taken the kids too. So many things to keep them entertained--even more than what we took pictures of. It was a 1 hour 15 minute drive from our house, and it was a little costly, but so worth it. For the first 30 minutes the sun was hidden and it was cold, but then it came out and warmed us up nicely. It was a great family outing.

Some of My Favorite Sayings:

*If God leads you to it, He will lead you through it!

*Don't tell God how big your storm is, tell the storm how big God is!

*GOOD friends are like BRAS, supportive, never leave you hanging, make you look good and are always close to your heart.

*Live your life in a way that when you wake up in the morning and your feet hit the floor, the devil says "Crud, she's awake"!

Girl Scouts at Botanica

The temperature was only in the 30s, but thank goodness the activities were inside except for collecting leaves. It was a fun 1 1/2 hours at Botanica--our first Girl Scout outing that Lauren will earn a watering can patch for. She enjoyed it and so did I. (The last slide shows her holding a butterfly made out of leaves--sorry I didn't get a better picture of it).

Mom, Can We Play in the Rain?

You Bet!!!

Squirrel Crossing

Every autumn is Squirrel Crossing time out by where we live. They are everywhere looking for those nuts to store up for winter. The kids went out last week and picked up baggies full of acorns and wanted to keep them. Today I came across them and they had all turned black with a little grub crawling around in the bag. As Evan was taking them out to the trash, Lauren found more grubs on the school table where the bag had been. It's interesting and could have been a great lesson, but since I don't know anything about grubs I opted to just pass on the lesson this time. When I went searching for a new blog background I just loved this acorn one. So, I chose it in honor of all of the squirrels and acorns (and let's not forget the grubs) that are so plentiful this time of year.

Goddard Fall Festival 2009

Another year of Evan's cub scout troop in the Goddard Fall Festival Parade. Evan was happy that one of the bands was behind their float because he got to listen to music the whole parade route, but was very tired of waving by the end. Lauren's Girl Scout troop also marched but Lauren didn't. She was very upset for 2 days when we kept telling her no (she doesn't like to walk long distances--next year she will get to), but when she realized how cold it was today, she was happy to just wave at her Girl Scout friends as they walked by. Plus, she got to sit and gather candy as parade participants walked by and handed it out and was happy to do that. After the parade Roger and Evan rode the Sizzler ride and Evan got dizzy but liked it. Lauren and I rode the ferris wheel and she enjoyed that.

Experimenting...

with blond and lighter brown hightlights. Only $35 for both colors and haircut! Lauren liked it but said I should go totally blond so that I matched everyone else in the family. It's fun once in a while, but I don't think I'm the blond type. I like my brown.