Family & Friends - Thankful Hearts

As I read and reflected upon the comments posted earlier regarding Thanksgiving, I realize just how nice I have it as a mother.  To have a loving husband and six healthy children is a gift from God and I give Him thanks for how He has blessed me.

My Thanksgiving dinner was a reflection of years ago when I was the daughter, and my mother was busily working around in the kitchen getting all the last minute preparations ready for our holiday feast.  Now here I was, the mother, trying desperately to make our Thanksgiving Day meal special and delicious as I always remembered my mother's meals to be.  With some help from MY daughter, we put some good food on the table and didn't have the kitchen in shambles like it usually is after a big meal. Thanks, Stephanie for your help!

So as we sat at the table and were sharing what we are thankful for, Jonathan pipes up with his 'thanks'.  "I'm thankful that we can just sit up to the table and all this delicious food just miraculously appears on the table, without any effort!"  Looking at the smile on his face, it was obvious he liked what he saw on the table!  We all shared in the humor of that comment!  I pondered that comment later and thought "he obviously knew how much work and effort I went through to get that food on the table and it was his way of saying - Thanks for your hard work!"  So we all have our unique ways of communicating our thanks!

We spent Saturday outside in the yard cleaning up the landscaping and trimming bushes, getting ready for winter.  That is just another thing I can be thankful for...another nice day to be able to get outside and finish what should have been done earlier but didn't have time.  Chuck pretty much butchered the trees as he does every year (but they always look beautiful in the spring again), and Travis and Jesse were having a great time driving the lawn mower around picking up the trimmings and branches and taking them out to the brush pile.  Jesse even made his debut driving the lawn mower as Travis was his 'teacher'...yes, a little scary but I didn't know about all of that until we were back inside - so probably better that way.  Saturday afternoon, my brother Rob & wife Kax and cousins Drew & Kendra came over for a short visit.  It is always so nice to have them here as we don't get that chance very often so we were thankful they stopped by, even though it was short.

We enjoyed guests both Saturday and Sunday evenings and learned how to build a fire from sticks.  And for the record, Tom & Brayden Lanz are now masters of building a fire without matches!  They got a fire built yesterday afternoon right in their driveway and planned to roast hotdogs over it!  So next year when Chuck and our boys along with Tom & Brayden head up to boundary waters...they will not be taking any matches!! Just going to live off the earth and use nature to get their fires going!  However, doubting Billy claims he will be sure to keep a book of matches in his back pocket - just in case.  Both evenings were entertaining and good family time with good friends.  God again has blessed us with a weekend full of family, fun and food...!  Hope the rest of the holiday season goes this well!

Mom

Give Thanks

"And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also 

ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful." -Colossians 3:15

I have finally finished the big Christmas letter and can get back to my other writing projects!

Tonight I would like to go back to yesterday, which was Thanksgiving. I really like this holiday, because it is so much more peaceful than any other holiday I know. We get to cook, eat, sleep, be with the family, and, of course, remember to give thanks to God for all He has given us!

Giving thanks is something we should do every day, but Thanksgiving day always provides us a sort of "refresher" course. It is important to be thankful for all we have, even the things that may not seem like "blessings" right now.

Yesterday afternoon while we were eating Mom's huge Thanksgiving meal with the family, we decided that for every negative thing a person said, we would think of something to be thankful for about the subject of the complaint.

"I don't like my teacher!"

"But you are thankful that she is willing to teach you every day at school!"

"This water smells like mold!"

"But we sure are thankful to have safe water to drink!"

"My tooth hurts!"

"But you're so lucky to have teeth so you can eat!"

"There's a twig in my stuffing."

"But I'm so glad to be able to eat such an amazing meal!"

Then the thanks just started coming:

"I'm thankful for the ribs that protect my heart."

"I'm thankful for the bonds between chemicals like hydrogen and oxygen."

"I'm thankful for my ability to release methane gas."

After the last one was thrown out there, we muttered in disgust before deciding that we would often be sick if our body did not complete such functions. The last ones may have seemed silly, but those three "thankful" comments made me stop and think about how much detail God put into His creation to make sure everything worked just perfectly. What would we do without our ribs? How would our body function if hydrogen and oxygen didn't come together to make water? Thanks be to Him for His wonderful creation!

It is easy to remember to give thanks for the big things in life: our family, our friends, our daily bread, our salvation, and our church. Certainly these are all very important and wonderful to have in life. As the Bible instructs, "And having food and raiment let us be therewith content." (I Tim. 6:8)

When God has given us so much more than we need, we must give Him thanks! What about my car? I forgot to give thanks for my car until I started having troubles with it and realized I couldn't go to college without it. Water? I forgot to give thanks for fresh available water until it became moldy and I had to remember to appreciate the safe drinking water we have in America. Health? I forgot to give thanks for my health until I got a small cold and realized how much better my lot is than many people in hospital beds this Thanksgiving.

Instead of allowing discontentment to drown our usefulness for the Lord, let us GIVE THANKS to Him for his wonderful grace and provision for our lives!

"In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God 

in Christ Jesus concerning you." -I Thessalonians 5:18

This Thanksgiving holiday, the Massner family went to church, where we got to see Aunt Diane, Aunt Angie, and our cousin Jake. When we got home, Mom finished making an amazing Thanksgiving dinner for the eight of us to share. She had turkey, gravy, green beans, mashed potatoes, stuffing, raspberry tapioca salad, lettuce salad, pumpkin pie, and chocolate mousse pie. The meal was absolutely delicious! Dad said it made his list of Mom's top 100 meals, but then we changed it to the top ten. Of course, we were stuffed at the end. After cleaning up and napping for a bit, we went over to Peoria to visit Grandma and ordered pizza for supper. We spent the evening there and got home late last night. 

I hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving!

Reunion

A day without M&Ms, and a week without water. But all is well when the Steffens come to town.

Yes, they came to town. The whole crew, plus one adopted Ehnle. We had a grand time, as usual. They arrived Friday night and stayed until Sunday evening. I can't say we necessarily did anything noteworthy or exciting Saturday, but every moment holds some sort of entertainment with fourteen kids running around with four adults to supervise.

Saturday evening, Mom and Dad went to Bloomfield for testimonies, Matt and Deanna had to temporarily return to Princeville, Jonathan and Ethan went to a Bible Class event, and the seven oldest kids went to a singing. The other five stayed home and made cookies for our return home.

Something always has to be a little amiss for it to be a true weekend with the Steffens. So we provided moldy water for them to remember this trip. It wasn't us, really-the local water was having problems. And it's only temporary, so I hope I don't scare anyone from visiting us again. The water was just difficult to choke down, so everyone resorted to drinking lemonade, orange juice, soda, and flavored water. I just significantly cut down on my fluid intake.

People played games, such as ping-pong, Farkle, the Farming Game, and Say Anything. People talked, people played, people laughed, and people slept.

Ethan, Jesse, Justin, Quinn, Travis, Cherelle, Liberty, and Jonathan  

Oh, I missed one. And people ATE. That's what we do best. We ate tacos, we ate chili, we ate candy, snack mix, loaves of bread, crackers, cheese, cereal, and cookies.

We even ate gooey monster bars without the M&Ms. I made them. Mom said to make them without M&Ms, but then they were really gooey. So we ate them all gone right out of the pan with spoons and forks after supper on Saturday. The parents were gone so it was ok. The entire pan had been eaten within two minutes. I wish there was a way to prove it. But really, the dent that 12 kids with 12 spoons can make in a pan of bars is quite impressive. Please see below.

My gooey pan of bars gets devoured. This was only the beginning.  

Making progress...

Two minutes after being set on the table, the only part left was the rectangle set aside for Jonathan and Ethan when they returned. It was well worth the labor of making them.

Sunday evening, Matt gave a presentation at church about the Apostolic Christian Home for the Handicapped. He also introduced us to the Tacobell Canon (Guacamole) before their departure. We look forward to the next reunion of the Massner-Steffen clan!

Belated Birthday

I am home for Thanksgiving break this week and found these pictures on the camera from Jonathan's birthday from a day when I was up at college. Looks like he had a good day and enjoyed his Reese's and cupcakes.

Not sure what is in the bag...

Billy brought home some cupcakes from Olde World to share before eating the cake mom had made. Think of it as an appetizer to the birthday cake.

"Ooooh, now look at that! Isn't that nice?" This was Jonathan's reaction to every single gift he received. 

(Video used with permission.)

Raindrops on Roses

This song was stuck in my head this afternoon...to go along with Stephanie's week of optimism. :)

(BE ADVISED: This video comes from YouTube so I cannot control ads 

or other media that may become available after you finish.)

My Favorite Things

(The Sound of Music)

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens,

Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens,

Brown paper packages tied up with strings,

These are a few of my favorite things!

Cream colored ponies and crisp apple streudels,

Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles,

Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings,

These are a few of my favorite things!

Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes,

Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes,

Silver white winters that melt into springs,

These are a few of my favorite things!

When the dog bites,

When the bee stings,

When I'm feeling sad,

I simply remember my favorite things

And then I don't feel so bad!

Cheer up, friends! Not only is every day a gift, but so is every moment of each day! When there's sunshine in the soul, the weather forecast doesn't matter! Don't forget to smile! :)

May each of your days be filled with sunshine and gladness for the many blessings the Lord has given us! :) Have a good rest of the week!

It's Monday!

Yep, it's Monday. The perfect day for giving details about recent life proceedings.

Last week was pretty normal, all other things considered. The highlights were my financial accounting exam on Monday and my law paper due Thursday, if that says much. I also can (now) delight in the fact that I don't have anything major happening in any class until finals week!

The weekend was a little more exciting. My family came up Friday afternoon in response to an invitation for family weekend, so they got a walking tour of my campus, a walk through Macbride Hall and the Old Capitol Mall, and a tour of my beautiful and amazing business college (brought to them by yours truly...). Then there was food provided by Tippie so we ate a bit before heading out. The boys rode the bus with me back to Finkbine and so we all got to experience Friday night traffic in the city as it took us forty minutes to get back to my place. It was a lovely drive. When we finally got back, I packed up my belongings and we headed up to Cedar Falls to spend the night in a hotel. I spent the evening catching up on my stats homework before we got any further into the weekend.

The single group came and picked up Billy and me Saturday morning on its way to Lester for Blake's wedding. We arrived around five for supper and singing. I stayed with my dad's cousin in Rock Rapids and Billy stayed next door at their parents' place.

The family remained in Cedar Falls because Jonathan's football team was playing at the UNI Dome in the state semi-finals. They also spent some time with Dad's cousin in the afternoon and for supper. I don't know many more details than what I've already given, so hopefully someone will enlighten our readers.

Oh, and it is noteworthy that the Mediapolis Bulldogs WON their game Saturday and will be headed to the state finals on Friday! The team is pretty excited!

Dad, Mom, and the four younger boys left bright and early Sunday morning and came up to Lester for the wedding. All went well and the couple is now married. We left as soon as possible after getting through the reception, but had a few lengthy stops on the way. I was dropped off at my apartment at ten and it was great to have the satisfaction of knowing I got an hour more of sleep than any of my traveling partners! :)

Today I did a bit of necessity shopping and then came home, did some laundry and fell asleep. I still haven't eaten supper because I'm not hungry yet. My roommate didn't have to work today so she sadly isn't around to keep me structured. Oh, the life of a college student. Next week is Thanksgiving break!!

Hope you all had a blessed weekend and will have a wonderful week!

Orange I Gonna Eat?

The wonders of oranges.

I ran out of apples yesterday, so I decided to mix things up and buy oranges to eat at lunch for the next week. That was before I knew any better.

As a typical day would have it, I came out of my class at 12:30, sat on a bench, and began to eat my lunch. After finishing a wonderful bowl of leftover potato soup and some bread to go with it, I pulled the next menu item out of my lunch back: the orange.

I analyzed the fruit in my hand. It was shaped like the apples I'd eaten before, but there was a problem. Instead of simply biting into this fruit, I would have to peel off the outer layer. As ambitious as I was feeling, I thought ah, no problem. And off I went. I dug my fingers and started peeling. Oh, the pain of peeling an orange! But in the end, I was fully confident that it would be worth the struggle.

I finished the top part of the orange peel and gave my hands a break. Oh, dear. I'm not even halfway there! I resumed my work.

When I was a little over halfway there, I stopped again to realize that the sticky sour juice was oozing from the orange onto my laboring fingers. I re-positioned the continuing operation over to my lunch box to collect the mess, and continued to press on.

Finally, I was making my last round on the peel. How happy I was! Finally, I would open the lovely orange for which long I had labored and could delve into its marvelous tartness. I twisted and prodded the stubborn thing until the first pieces broke off. More of the sticky juices squirted into my hand. That was fine; this was going to be great.

And then it happened. All my fantasies of a tasty orange came crashing down on me as I bit into the slice of fruit. It was the most undelightful orange I had ever tasted. Oh, what disappointment! What shame at my bitter loss!

Guess what? I kept eating the orange, and each slice was the same: an unappealing sticky mess. I was only assured by the thought that I was eating my daily serving of fruit (I strive to make my mother proud).

When the orange was finished, my hands were dripping with orange juice. I picked up my napkin to wipe them off, but the sticky stuff just made my napkin dissolve and crumble in my hands. Out of sheer frustration at my predicament, I finally wiped my hands on my skirt (sorry mom). They were still sticky, but were no longer wet.

However, my sticky hands probably weren't even the worst things, because I still hadn't finished eating my lunch. In the modified words of our reelected president, "The best was yet to come." You're right there, sir.

That's because dessert comes next! I pulled out my brownie, in all of its deliciousness and mouthwatering delicacy, feasting my eyes on the prize that would overcome the grief from the orange. I took a bite and froze. It tasted like oranges. All I could smell was the dried orange juice on my hands. Would my misery ever end?

I finished the last bites of the brownie that eventually left me with a deliciously sweet ending, threw away my trash, packed up my stuff, and, because of the brownie, had nearly forgiven my orange for the laborious and unrewarding journey it had brought upon me.

That's when I made the mistake of licking my lips.

As a New Week Begins

The following is my favorite song of the week so I felt the need to share. I have the CD playing in my car-beautiful words and so true!

Would We Truly Long for Heaven?

Would we truly long for heaven 

If this life was perfect here, 

If we had no pain or heartache, 

If we never shed a tear? 

If we had no disappointments, 

And our dreams would all come true, 

Could we keep that heavenly vision 

And that deep eternal view? 

Would we truly long for Heaven 

If we never gave a sigh, 

If the old were always taken, 

And the young would never die? 

If we had no cherished loved ones 

Waiting at the eastern gate, 

Would we truly long for Heaven 

And reunion that awaits? 

Would we truly long for Heaven 

And the bliss of yonder shore, 

If we had no loved ones tugging 

On the line at Heaven’s door? 

If our precious family circle 

Never was broken here below, 

Would we truly long for Heaven 

Where our loved ones we shall know? 

Would we truly long for Heaven 

At the ending of the road, 

If our backs were never bleeding 

From the burden of the load? 

If the sun was always shining, 

If we never felt a gale, 

Would we long for Heaven’s Harbor 

To be safe within the veil? 

Yes, dear Savior, we are longing 

To be safe on Heaven’s shore, 

And these trials only make us 

Long for Heaven more and more. 

And we see that Thou art using 

Every trial of each day 

As a tug from Heaven’s anchor 

Just to pull us Heaven’s way.

Let us make our lives a "joyful noise" for the Lord this week as we walk on to that wonderful goal!

[This is not from the CD in my car, but was the most legal version for me to upload. :-)]  

Happenings at Home

(By Mom)

It seems that I just spent 30 minutes trying to write an update and 'poof!' everything just disappeared?!?!  So I guess it either posted some place that I cannot find it or I deleted it...oh, well, it was beginning to drag on anyway so I will try again, only in a shorter version.

We have had some exciting things going on this weekend here.  First, yesterday and today we spent over at the new church site and with the help of volunteers, we were able to get 57 trees planted along with many other bushes, plants and shrubs.  We also were fortunate to have some people with expertise here to assist in laying some edging around the church in a few different areas.  WOW!  We had about 50 volunteers each day and had finished our project by 2pm today.  We have so much to be thankful for and feel truly blessed to have so many people come and help out.  Today, while the others were doing the hard physical labor outside, I decided to bring my vacuum and sweep the assembly and balcony.  My big vacuum seemed very tiny when I walked into the assembly and started to sweep....that is a huge room!!  We are hoping to have the church pews delivered and installation to begin on Monday so that will be another exciting thing to watch!

Well, also on Friday night, the Mediapolis Bulldogs Football team had a state play-off game here in Mepo and they won with flying colors!  The final score was 48-14 and Jonathan got into the game in the 3rd quarter so he was pretty excited and pumped when he came home!  Funny thing is that his back has been bothering him so when Justin came home from the game and told me he play in both the 3rd and 4th quarter, I was worried about his back and knew that he would be in pain when he got home.  So I got out the Ibuprophen and set it out on the counter with all of the other snacks that I was serving at the time and decided that would be his 'lunch'. :-)  Well, when he walked in the door, he was in a good mood and when I asked him about his back, he smiled and said, "oh, it still hurts but not as bad as last night" - I think their whole team was on a high from the game and he was so excited that they are going to the UNI dome, he forgot about his back pain for a while.  Sorta funny how that works ;-)  So next Saturday, they will be the first Mepo football team to play in the UNI dome...in a semi-final state tournament game!  It is pretty exciting for the kids.

This past week has been pretty crazy with all of the events going on, and I was hoping for a more relaxing week next week, but it always seems like that never happens anymore.  Travis started Basketball today and his first game is next week already! Also, we are planning to go to Stephanie's Tippie College of Business Family night on Friday evening then head up to Waterloo to spend the night.  We are hoping to spend the day with Chuck's cousin and Aunt and Uncle and then wait for Jonathan to get done playing in the UNI Dome so that we can head up to Lester, IA Sunday morning for a wedding! WHEW!  The logistics of this weekend have been a bit stressful  but I think it is all going to work out.  Oh, did I mention that the kids do not have school on Thursday because the High School Volleyball team is playing in the state tournament that day and if they win, then we don't have school on Friday either!?!  Eeeeee!  I just don't know what I am going to do with all the 'unknowns' in my schedule.  Sigh...it is exciting but a bit tiring for me.

BUT good thing is that we gain an hour of sleep tonight...so maybe that will give me the extra energy I need to survive another week.

Oh, yeah - guess it didn't really end up being a 'shorter version' like I said in the first paragraph - sorry :-(