When there are 11 people living in one house, you have the joy of knowing that there will be lots and lots of laundry. Although laundry can be quite a burden with so many people living under one roof, I am finding joy in being able to wash my family’s clothes each and every day.

Last year during our Big move to Culpeper, our family went through a time when our washer and dryer were unavailable for use. So the question arose, what do we do without a washer and dryer? Well, the answer to this very important question came when we discovered a laundromat not far away in the country town of Culpeper. This wasn’t just any ol’ laundromat, this was a Super Suds Laundromat. We decided to make our presence known to this “wonderful” place,  by getting to work on our ever increasing amount of laundry. Kenan, Adam, Hannah, and Mark all joined Mom and I at different times during those 5 weeks to help with this sometimes arduous task.  A wonderful time of strengthening relationships occurred. We had great fun and grew closer to each other. It was also a time for us to shine our lights in the small corner of the world, which God has placed us in. God truly blessed our time working together.  I can now say, I am very grateful for those few weeks of not having a washer and dryer in our home.

By God’s grace I am learning that what sometimes seems to be a difficult situation is really a tool in the hands of my loving heavenly Father to teach me to be content in whatever state I am in. Although I still have a lot learn about being content, I believe  I can truly rest in the joy of the Lord knowing He will work all things together for good in my life.

On Friday Nights we usually have pizza as a family. Homemade pizza is the best kind you could ever have!

So Hannah and I had the joy of making pizza the other night together. I love working with my sister Hannah. She is such a joy to be with, and she always knows how to get the job done while have fun doing it. I would like to share with you our family’s yummy pizza recipe.

My brothers are always going back for their fifth or sixth ( sometimes ninth or tenth ) with this recipe! What a blessing it is to serve my family in this way.

Here is the Recipe for Wilkes Team Pizza:

This recipe makes 2 pizza’s, we usually quadruple or quintet it.

3 cups ~ Flour

2 Tblsp. ~ Sugar

2 1/4 tsp. ~ Fast rising Yeast

1/2 tsp. ~ Salt

1 cup ~ Warm Water

2 Tblsp. ~ Oil

Directions:

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine 1 cup of the flour, sugar, undissolved yeast, and salt; blend well.

2. Gradually add water and oil to mixture. Blend at low speed until moistened, then beat for 2 minutes at medium speed. By hand, add 1 1/2 to 2 cups flour until dough pulls away from sides of bowl.

3. On floured surface, knead in 1/4 to 1/2 cup flour, until dough is smooth and elastic, Cover loosely with plastic and let rest in a warm place for about 15 minutes.

4. Press out dough onto (2) 12-inch pizza pans, pick randomly with a fork.

5. Brush crusts lightly with oil then prebake them in a 450 degrees oven for 5 minutes.

6. Top as desired, then bake again in 450 degree oven for 4-5 minutes, or until desired doneness.

~ Don’t forget to add your favorite toppings on top!:-)

Written in honor of Grandpa on his 80^th Birthday ~ I love you

I am so grateful for you Grandpa

With words that can not describe or explain

The love and compassion you showed to us

When you gave your life for sadness and pain

You gave it all for me and my family

Despite the miserable conditions of battle

You fought for my freedom, my liberty

Despite the times of immense hardship and struggle

The thoughts that ran through your soul

Were not of fear, but of love for your country

You knew that Christ was in control

Amidst your highest and deepest valley

The fight wore on, like all fights do

But you my dear Grandpa, never quit

Though the storms were tough, and no light showed through

God’s grace was ever more sufficient

Bullets were flying over head

Grandpa stood firm with all endurance

Companions were killed by pieces of lead

Grandpa gave all, with great perseverance

You fought for the freedom of this great nation

You loved America, this great land

You were fighting for the next generation

You gave your life to fulfill God’s plan

You are my hero forever

My soldier who fought with courage and love

My Grandpa forever and ever

God’s wonderful gift to me, from above

I am so grateful to have a Grandpa like you

Your care and concern, your love and laughter

Has been such a blessing to me, its true

I am so blessed to be your Granddaughter

Spending time with a parent or sibling is a time to never ever take for granted. I am realizing this more and more as the days go by, and hope for many more opportunities to spend time with my wonderful family members.

Recently, Dad asked me if I would like to go out with him and be his official secretary. He didn’t have to ask me twice: we quickly jumped into the car and went to one of his client’s house where we purposed to shine the light of Jesus. I appreciate Dad’s focus on meeting both the physical and spiritual needs of his clients.

After finishing up there, Dad surprised me with a trip to a putt-putt golf course. I love playing golf but haven’t played in years. We really enjoyed our time together as father and daughter. God drew our hearts closer to each other and closer to Him, as we spent that precious hour together.

Yes, playing golf is fun, but it wasn’t so much the activity as it was the building up of relationships between a father and daughter that was important. Thank you Daddy for giving of yourself to spend time with me. This will be remembered for years to come. I love you!

One of my many favorite traditions to do around Christmas time, is to go with my family and pick out our Christmas Tree. We usually go in the evening when all  the Christmas lights are on in the neighborhood and when the busy-ness of the day is past. This year we decided to get our tree at the wonderful store: Home Depot. Upon arriving, we invaded  the place in search of the best and loveliest Christmas Tree for the Wilkes team’s home.  Looking, seeking, peering, and trying to find a tree isn’t an easy task for a family of eleven . When someone would think they had the right one, we all would  gather around and inspect it, but none of them were quite right. What could be our problem?

Finally after looking at ten to fifteen trees and about  thirty minutes later the answer came. One of the employees came to the rescue. He seeing that we were in need of a tree, went to work on finding one. All of us stood back wondering if he would be able. To our amazement, he chose the best one for us out of the many long rows of trees. Cheers rang out as he showed us the perfect tree that would soon be in our living room. Quickly and happily we all piled back into the car with the Christmas tree and drove home.

In days gone by, when a farmer had a need for a new barn, friends and family from all around would rally together for an old fashion barn raising. The amount of work accomplished in so little time was remarkable as time was willingly sacrificed out of a desire to serve.

So..in the spirit of the good old barn raising days, our church family, last Thursday, had a wonderful opportunity to practice working as a body.  We came together for a work day at the Thrash family’s house.It started around 10:30 in the morning and went all day.     

  We were able to chop fire wood, landscape gardens, work on a shed, and clean the house.  The sticktuitivness I saw in each person as we worked was very much a blessing. Over the loud poundings of hammers and both electric and gas machines you could hear laughing, singing, and joyful voices everywhere. To name a few of the projects: the house cleaners cleaned 28 windows inside and out,

the wood choppers chopped 3 cords of wood, and all the footers for the Thrashes’ shed were dug out.

We all learned that we can work together very well even admist all the different giftings, abilities, and opinions .
  I know I could say this for each person that we are looking forward to many more days of working together.

Over these past ten days we had a dear, dear family from Texas come up to the  Northern Virginia area. We hadn’t seen this  family for over two years. How fun it was to have Team Southerland come to visit.  We enjoyed our time so much with all 1/2 a dozen of them, especially those babies . One thing that really encourages our family is their joy in serving Jesus. Its hard not to smile when they are around.

We enjoyed talking about what the Lord is doing in our families, playing army men wars, having entrepreneurial conversations, and of course holding little Joshua and baby Ezra.

The Bible says, "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for  brethren to dwell together in unity (Ps 133:1)!" This definantly was the case for our time with Team Southerland. Thank you Team Southerland for being an inspiration for joy!

I started studying about the Mushroom, since it is a fungus. The main parts of a mushroom plant are, the cap, the stalk, and the gills which hold the spores. I really enjoyed finding fungus and showing it to the family. One day this past month I was playing outside with my younger siblings and found a mushroom plant. It was living during the middle of winter. I was so excited and brought it to the house. The mushroom was pretty large. It was fun to find all the different parts that I had learned about, and then show everyone where the parts were located.
I am glad God created and formed even the ugly mushroom. An encouraging thought about the mushroom is how it endures through hard growing conditions and continues to send out spores to produce new life. When we, as Christians, endure hardness, God gives us testimonies that will encourage other believers to persevere.

Homemade Hot Cocoa 

____________________

1 cup of sugar

2/3 cup of cocoa

1/4 teaspoon of salt

8 cups of milk

2/3 cups of water

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Combine the sugar, cocoa and salt in a large pan. Stir in milk and water. Cook and stir over medium heat until thoroughly heated. Remove from heat and stir in extract. Serve in your favorite mugs with a few little marshmallows on top to finish it off. Yields: 10 servings (some of you may have to double it )