Pray for FBC Shreveport

I would like to ask you to pray for a friend of mine in ministry- Ronney Joe Webb. He is on of my friends from Rec Lab (a conference I attend annually and have for about 14 or 15 years). I learn so much from him when it comes to family ministry. He was accompanying a team from his church to a youth conference and the bus had a blow out and rolled three times. One student died, everyone had some sort of injury. The associate pastor's daughter is in critical condition. Several are still hospitalized. My friend Ronney Joe has a broken bone in his neck. His daughter has a broken collar bone.

You can go to their church website - http://www.fbcshreveport.org/ for more info.
They have been keeping their website updated with as much info as possible.

Thank you in advance for praying!

The "Real" Farmer's Market and More

Today our Mom's Nurturing Mom's Group - MnM's met for a stop at Preservation Station. Our theme for our Childhood Ministries this summer is "All Aboard the FBC Express"! We normally try to theme our summer off our Vacation Bible School theme- (Boomerang Express).
Here was our description of today's meeting-
"Don't you wish you had paid better attention in your grandmother's kitchen? Ever wonder why she always had fresh veggies and fruit? Or were your favorites her homemade jellies and jams? Come learn all the secrets of how to properly store home grown (or fresh brought) foods. We'll see and hear about how the things of yesteryear are becoming the "new" thing!"

Our first stop was checking in at the church, dropping off children in childcare, sharing tips and ideas (especially frugal finds) with each other and THEN I shared we were going on a field trip. Mrs. Robin R. from the Bradley County Extension and Mrs. Kathy from there as well- took us to the Bradley County Farmer's Market off Peerless Road. We visited several vendors and were given tips and pointers on knowing the difference in types of produce- like the types of corns, beans and squash. We also were given some help on knowing when something is ripe or to know if you are getting "good" produce. It was a lot of fun. We then went shopping to the different produce stands.

THEN we went to the Cannery that is located behind the Farmer's Market. You can schedule to use this facility free of charge. When you call Mrs. Odoms will give you an appointment and ask what you would like to can (or as my grandmother called "put up" ). She will in turn tell you based on the amount of produce you have what supplies you will need. She will also tell you what you need to have prepped before hand- i.e. breaking your beans before arriving. Two reasons for this are so they can schedule more people to use the facility and because there is no air conditioning- just fans (it is hot).
The staff and volunteers at the cannery will help you know what to do if you have never done this before.

We then returned to the church and ate the yummy snacks the moms brought and heard a presentation on canning. We were also given some great gifts from the Bradley County Extension-
1. Handout on A Quick Consumer Guide to Safe Food Handling ( an incredible piece)
2. July's Newsletter on Safe Food for Tennessee (Wit, Wisdom and Practical Advice on Food Safety)
3. Canning Foods Booklet (79 page booklet w/ guides, recipes, etc.)
4. Preserving Food: Freezing and Drying (47 pages of tips, guidelines and advice)
5. Fridge / Freezer Thermometer

What a fun time!

Potatoes going into the cans - getting ready to head to the steamers!

MNM participants listening and taking notes!
Learning how to tell if a watermelon and cantaloupe is ripe.
Seeing how to "pick" a good ear of corn. I also learned a really good way to "Freeze" corn- cut the ends off the ear of corn, put corn (shuck and all) in a paper bag. Double bag the paper bag and roll up and put in the freezer. Mrs. Robin says the shuck / silk will come right off when you go to use the corn. I thought I would try it so I bought a dozen for $3 of "peaches and cream corn" . I also wanted this farmer to know we appreciated him letting us camp out at his truck bed.
Here we are learning about beans.
We had a smaller group this month but a fun group. I know this isn't for everyone but what a great time. We also had door prizes due to Resourceful Amy's ability to pick out great prizes and get a great bang for our buck. As it ended up everyone who returned for the presentation ended up with a door prize. YIPEE!

Fourth Celebration

Today Mike and I are heading to my parents for swimming and food! It will be a family celebration today with my dad, mom, and two sisters. I love to swim!

Mike and I have been talking about purchasing an ice cream maker so we are picking one up before heading to the pool.

We will be making one of my favorite homemade ice cream recipes from my Brainerd Baptist Church cookbook - church cookbooks are the best you know! Thanks to Mrs. Debbie we will be enjoying her Milky Way Ice Cream

Milky Way Ice Cream
1 pt. half and half
1 pt. whipping cream
2 cups of sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 can Eagle Brand Milk
7 Milky Way bars
6 eggs
Beat eggs and sugar; add cream, half and half and Eagle Brand. Heat 1 cup milk with 6 to 7 Milky Ways. Add to egg mixture. Add 1 teaspoon vanilla. Pour into container. Fill container with milk.


Do you have a favorite homemade ice cream recipe? Will you please share it with me?

Happy Fourth of July! I am so thankful to live in a country where we can freely and openly worship the One True God!

An Emotional Day

Today I, along with many, many others celebrated the life of a husband, father, son, brother, uncle, son-in-law, brother-in-law, friend but most of all a true follower of Christ.

As I watched a family say an earthly "see you later" I wept with sadness for I know their hearts are breaking. Yes, as Christians we do have a peace that we will see this brother in Christ again but humanly death is never easy. I believe this is especially true when someone is taken tragically and at a young age.

My heart hurts for this family and I ask you to lift them up to our Heavenly Father. I pray He holds them close, He drys their tears, and that His love will be their covering.

I pray as a church family we pour out our love on them- that we are found faithful in ministering to them both now and in the many days ahead.

Today our community was reminded that we are not guaranteed tomorrow. Therefore we need to be busy about the things that matter- living for Christ and sharing Him with others.

It All Comes Back to Jesus

It is that time of year again when churches all over are experiencing a fun week called Vacation Bible School. Our church is busy preparing for a great week- June 15 - 19 from 9 a.m. - 12:15 p.m. We will begin to turn our church campus in to the Australian Outback next week! The Boomerang Express will be ready to take children to new adventures as we learn more about following Jesus!
If you live in the Cleveland area and your child (or children) are 4 years old (4 by June 15th) and older (through those entering 6th Grade) join us for this exciting week! You can register your children online - Register for VBS at FBC !!

I can't wait! If you are able to help us decorate next week - leave me a comment or email me! We need lots of help!

Do you have Syrup?

As I began to make plans for my latest adventure in missions, I decided one activity suggested in the VBS Boomerang Express teacher's book I just had to do. I wasn't sure why. I even told my husband I didn't know why I was so determined to accomplish this task. I knew I couldn't do it exactly like the book suggested- after all I would be on a mission trip. So he began to help me think how can I accomplish this. Someone told me about Bisquick's new Shake and Pour- where you just add water. Okay I could take spray butter. My husband said well what about syrup - well I will just pack that too. He was concerned it would spill in the luggage- but I reminded him it would be sealed and I would put it in several sealed bags. My next obstacle was how in the world was I going to cook the pancakes. Well I had learned from my good friend Amanda and Cooking Live demonstrator that you can purchase electric single cooking eyes. So I set off in search of one. For under $10 I discovered one at Walgreen's. My next concern was how in the world would I find something to cook these in without it weighing a ton. We were already so close on luggage, I knew this could be the one thing that prevented us from completing this activity. Until............ I passed by the camping isle at Wally world. I stopped and said, " Mike look!" It was a fold up skillet (the handle folded up) and it was relatively light weight. It was also under $10. I was on my way to Croatia ready to make pancakes with ten 3 and 4 year olds whose families live all over Europe with the sole purpose of advancing God's kingdom.

The day came to look at the story where Jesus fed his disciples breakfast. This was the whole point of the activity was to eat a breakfast item and further reiterate the point. Little did I know the point of the lesson this morning was just for me.

As I shared Mr. Jake (a member of our mission team) was going to make us pancakes. He began his preparations but the questions began. The first little girl in her small little voice said, "Mrs. Tara do we have syrup?" I answered yes, we had syrup. She asked, "Where did you get it?" I said I brought it with me. She asked, "From the United States?" Thinking her curiosity over the pancake syrup was a little strange, I simply said yes. As the children finished cleaning up and realized we were really going to have pancakes, their excitement continued. However, the conversation I had just finished about syrup repeated itself with several other children. I thought that is really odd. What is up with syrup.

As the parents came several hours later to pick their children up, the children began to share we had eaten pancakes. That first little girl who asked me about the syrup, exclaimed to her mother and we had syrup. I looked at her mother and told her about our conversation and simply said what is the deal about syrup? By this time several of the parents had gathered and began to laugh. They said, Mrs. Tara we can't get syrup. And if we can it is at the very least $15 a bottle- so we make our own. They shared that syrup in a bottle was a real treat. Wow! I was really overwhelmed. I didn't realize the determination I had to make this activity possible was because for ten boys and girls whose families sacrifice much for God's kingdom, God wanted to bless that morning. Yes, with something as simple as syrup. This was another example to me that God not only cares about big things in our lives but the smallest of things like syrup in a bottle.

This little girls mom told me that every snack we had brought to give the children for snacks were real treats- either they could not be purchased at all or they were way to expensive. Wondering what those treats were- gold fish crackers, fruit roll ups, animal crackers, oreos, lorne doones, fruit snacks, graham crackers and mnm's. Feeling like you take so much for granted yet? It was right then I knew the whole purpose of that lesson was to show me how incredibly blessed I really am, how much I take for granted, how I do not pray for those who serve on foreign fields enough, ............... yes, the list of lessons from a gracious heavenly Father continue to come. I pray you look around today and realize the small ways God blesses you and your family!

We're Back!

Just wanted you to know our team has returned home from Croatia. We returned about 1:30 a.m. Sunday morning. We had traveled for about 25-26 hours when we arrived.

Once I have caught up on some much needed sleep and returned to the land of the living- I have much to post about!

Until then- thanks for praying!

You can read and see pictures from our trip at
http://fbcincroatia.wordpress.com