A Tale Of Lorna and Nicholas ;) (Otherwise known as, who'll finish first?)

Do any of you belong to families where EVERYBODY likes to read? I coaxed everyone else along in this area, and have pretty much made them as crazy about reading as I am! :) Daniel comes to Sarah and I at night, flops on our bed, or walks slowly over to our shelf and asks what book he should read. I feel like some sort of seller of furs as I exhibit the pros and cons of each book. I have read them all. The hunt for a good book always ends up rather flat, because so has Daniel. Actually, we've read all those books several times. The younger girls ravage my bookshelf continuously. Friends from church have me draw up lists of books for them to read. I think they should start calling me "Marian"! (you know, that librarian from "The Music Man"? ;) Even if you don't like to read, I may just press you with promises of good books. In all fairness though, I should be able to list a whole catalog of good titles- even the Walkers are hard-pressed to find a book in their house that I have not read. Poor Matthew has been subject to taking my recommendations on faith and reading many things such as "To Have and To Hold", and "Pride and Prejudice", that he mayn't have read without a big, encouraging shove into it. Okay, so having a girl for a cousin can injure your reading list. (But I think he enjoyed them!) I also, though, have roped him into reading "The Scarlet Pimpernel" and "Ivanhoe", and Sarah has gotten him to read "the Pickwick Papers" by Dickens, so we aren't all girly about it! Anyway, the point of this post, was to describe a rather amusing scene that happened last night. Sarah and I were both in the last throes of very thick books. Sarah is reading "Nicholas Nickleby" by Charles Dickens, (731 pages) and I was reading "Lorna Doone" by R.D. Blackmore. (400 some odd pages) She is reading her book on credit, because it is really one I took out of the library to read, but let her read it while I was reading the other. We sat together in the living room. She cast a wary eye upon my reading- only about a 1/4 of an inch to go! Her book is longer than mine...will she finish before I swoop down and grab it from her? We are both feverishly reading. Then Mama wanted to watch "I Love Lucy" with us, so we pause. Mama falls asleep, and we both decide to take our reading up again in our beds. I am savouring the last few pages of "Lorna Doone". Suddenly, she is shot at the altar at her wedding by a wicked, wicked cousin of hers! :0 Horrors! I breathlessly read the part aloud to Sarah, in absolute agony! How on earth could an author kill off his title character? Sarah listens patiently, then waves me off. "I've got to keep reading!" she says. I finish my book in peace, once I learn that Lorna is not really dead, and they have a happy life ever-after! I am satisfied. Sarah is still reading. The time draws nigh midnight. Reluctantly, she lays aside her book, and we go to sleep. I am a good sister and I don't claw the novel out of her hands this morning and read it myself! ;) In fact, Miss Sarah is sitting here beside me with only 1/4 inch (or 3 chapters) to go! Hurrah for literature from the old days when thin books were for babies! Our literary tastes go for Sir Walter Scott, Dickens, Austen, Alcott, Twain, and all those solid 4 inch writers! :) I don't find it too bad to boast of one's family, so think that our only crime perhaps in this post comes from the fact that we simply love to read! -Rachel

The First of The Zucchini

Zucchini is a desperately misunderstood vegetable. ;) It exists in most peoples' minds as something their parents made them eat. Katie Wilson and I remember it as something our mother's threw on the grill on the way down to Clayton, GA, and that we ate with plugged noses. (For shame! :) I like it now. But did you know that some people don't even realize it is a vegetable? Abigail insists that the reason we don't like going down to the beach in the summer is because there are lots of immodest ladies walking around in zucchinis. Poor vegetable, it has such a false reputation amongst modest little girls who unbeknowst to themselves, daily tend it in the garden! :D All this to say, I have found two recipes in which even the most picky of eaters would fail to detect the presence of zucchini. The first is something Benjamin begs me to make each year. So yesterday, with the first zucchini from our garden, I made it: May I introduce you to:

Chocolate Zucchini Cake!

2 1/2 c. flour 2 c. sugar

1/2 c. cocoa 3 eggs

2 1/2 tsp. baking powder 2 tsp. vanilla

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda 2 tsp. orange zest

1 tsp. salt 2 cups shredded zucchini

1 tsp. cinnamon 1/2 c. milk

3/4 c. softened butter 1 c. nuts (optional)

Combine dry ingredients. Beat butter and sugar until smooth. Add eggs one at a time. Add vanilla, zest, and zucchini. Alternately add dry mixture and milk. Add nuts. Spoon into greased and floured Bundt pan. Bake at 350 degrees F. for 45 minutes. Frost with Chocolate frosting (recipe follows)

Chocolate Frosting

1/2 c. softened butter

2/3 c. cocoa

vanilla to taste

3 c. powdered sugar

1/3 c. milk

Cream butter and cocoa. Add vanilla. Add milk and sugar, alternating. Beat till smooth.

Sound good? We ate ours with fresh strawberries. Here is a picture. (Isn't that hand most mysterious? I wonder who it belongs to? ;)

And the other, equally great recipe that I don't have a picture of:

Zucchini Spice Bread

2 eggs, beaten

1 1/3 c. sugar

2 tsp. vanilla

3 cups grated zucchini

2/3 cups melted butter

2 tsp. baking soda

1 pinch of salt

2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 tsp. ginger

1 cup raisins or nuts (optional)

Mix the eggs, sugar, and vanilla together. Add zucchini and butter. Sprinkle the soda and salt over the mixture, and stir well. Add flour, one cup at a time. Add spices, raisins, and nuts. Bake in 2 greased loaf pans at 350 degrees F. for 50 minutes.

Enjoy the recipes! They were super good! We ate the cake last night, and the bread for breakfast this morning! :P -Rachel

And So We Part. (A whole 1/6 of a mile!!!)

Hey Everybody! As most of you read below, the Walkers have now moved into their mobile home! It is small, but new and cozy, and I think they'll love having their own space! ;) We have had so much fun together! Here are some of the things we learned to love and do together in a home of 21 people!

Take walks and scare each other in the dark
Put on crazy talent shows
Play midnight volleyball
The proper way to catch a goat
That 21 people really can fit together and live in harmony (mostly. The three yearolds got to eachother's nerves the last couple of weeks)
Stay up WAY too late laughing, and realizing that the Walker sense of humor runs scarily prevelant through us older Heff.s
That an additional older boy (Matthew) is handy as a "Go-fer", an escort, a polka and waltz partner, and for extra laughs
And many more things! I am not adventerous enough to try to link all these topics. Nevertheless, I have written about all of them (?) during the past 10 weeks, so take a look! :)
Here are some surprising calculations;
We have used 4,410 styrofoam plates during meal times, *ducks from enviromentalists*
Jeremiah has single-handedly (almost) washed 13,230 plastic cups
We have used 13,000 plastic utensils
We have drunk over 100 gallons of iced tea (we're southerners. Sorry!)
We have eaten app. 210 different meals together
We have run 490 loads of laundry, and we girls have hung up at least 245 of those loads.
We have collectively eaten 480 hotdogs during this time. (Okay. I didn't eat them every time we had them. But they feed hungry masses of boys pretty well. Now we can all go on a liver detox! ;)
We have bought enough groceries for 4,410 hungry people.

Sound crazy enough? :) Life's good! -Rachel

Oops!

Hey Everyone! We forgot to post the winner of our contest about a week or so back! Sorry. Here are the results: ( we didn't have alot of people leave answers so...:)
Abigail: 6 wrong
Hannah: 9 wrong
Shaina: 10 wrong
Jo March: 10 wrong

Here are the real answers:
Likes putting honey on her mashed potatoes: Sarah :)
Popularized using the word "blast" in our circles: Rachel
Has had a vacuum cord plugged into the top of her head: Rachel :P
Her nickname in volleyball is CeCe, the Viper Server: Sarah
Thinks that if you name your kid "Chase" or "Hunter" that's what you'll always be doing.(Chasing or hunting for them:) : Rachel
Hates slugs passionately: Sarah
Sings constantly while she works, to the point of irritation to some people: Rachel
Closed her eyes the whole time on the Griffin: Sarah
Screamed the whole time on the Griffin: Rachel
Is not scared of people choking: Sarah
Would rather go barefoot than wear any kind of shoe:Rachel
Is always commanded to sit as a model for a profile for the other sister's drawings: Sarah
Likes the Casting Crowns song "What this World Needs": Sarah
Is the flip-flop queen: Sarah
Can get online and check the comments on blogs in 25 seconds, much to the other sister's glee: Rachel
Cannot for the life of her draw men: Rachel
Can't ever keep a straight face when asked to: Rachel
Used to climb any tree she could get her hands on: Sarah
Thinks ice plants look like lizard tails and wants to squish them: Rachel
Frequently gets charley-horses at night:( or used to ) Sarah

Whew! There you are! So you've learned a few random things about each of us, and yes, honey is very good with mashed potatoes. How did I find out? I was at a friend's house when I was little and we were eating dinner. I saw a bottle of honey and hadn't seen that there were rolls to go with it, so used it on my 'taters! :)
So the Walkers are officialy moved out. Tonight they are sleeping for the 1st time at their own house on their land! Hurray for them!:) But we are gonna miss having them around to stay up late with us and fun around with! :'(
Well, that's all I have for now.
-Sarah

A Few Thoughts

Hello! Recently I have been reading a book called "Preparing To Be A Helpmeet" by Debi Pearl. It has been a great encouragement to me, and renewed my vision for how I will use my single years. One thing that really stuck out to me, was the idea of using these years to learn and store up as many skills and as much information as you possibly can. The author stated that if God has plans for you to be a farmer's wife, you'd better learn how to make cheese and butter, plant a garden, and preserve food. If he has plans for you to be the wife of a man who loves to be hospitable, you had better learn to cook for alot of people on a shoestring budget. And since we don't know God's plans for us, it is advantageous to learn all of these things, for we never know when we might need them. I think of the verse in 2 Tim. 4 where it says "..Be ready in season and out of season." I may not think I'll ever need to know a certain skill I have an opportunity to learn, but you know what? It doesn't hurt to learn it in the "out of season" time, and keep that knowledge for "someday". Another thing that challenged me is this: I desire to marry a man of valour and godliness. A man with a very strong vision for his family and his walk with the Lord, and who is a true man. That is all a very noble idea, but it becomes a bit selfish if I am not now preparing to be the woman that such a man will need. And so that is something I am working on also. It would be dreadful to marry a wonderful man like that and let him discover later that I was ill-prepared for anything useful! (I'm not saying I am that way, but it is just a thought you know.) Even after I technically "graduate", I will focus even more on storing up knowledge. It is an exciting thought! It almost gives me the feeling of a race to see how well I can prepare and how much of a true godly woman I can become before my "Prince" comes to get me! :) -Rachel