June 2011

The email that we sent this week

Dear Church Family,

Kate and I wanted to let you all know that we are currently in the process of pursuing adoption. We are working with an agency here in Idaho and hope to have the home study and application process done by September. After that we will be waiting for the right child. We are excited to be able to take part in the ministry of caring for the orphan and the fatherless. So far God has blessed us very much and we look forward to His coming blessings as we seek to bless others. Please be in prayer for us that we would have wisdom as we work through all the paperwork and that we would be patient as we trust in His good timing.

We are excited about all this so feel free to ask us about how things are going. We will also keep you posted when more things develop. We love you all very much and are thankful to have such a strong family community to support us.

The Lord be with you!
Jesse and Kate Sumpter

Books To Read

Recently I went through my hope chest and reorganized the stuff that was inside. I found, among a lot of other things, 6 sheets of authors and titles that I should I read. I think I made this list when I was in highschool.

C.S. Lewis
-Four Loves
-Pilgrims Regress
-Reflection on the Psalms
-God in the Dock
-Medieval and Renaissance Literature
-Mere Christianity
-Screwtape Letters
-Space Trilogy

Tolkien
-The Lord of the Rings

Dorothy Sayers
-The Lost Tools of Learning
-The Man Born to Be King
-The Nine Tailors

Chesterton
-The Ballad of the White Horse
-Everlasting Man
-Orthodoxy
-Father Brown

Dickens
-The Tale of Two Cities
-Bleak House
-David Copperfield
-A Christmas Carol
-A Cricket on the Hearth
-Our Mutual Friend

Alcott
-Jack and Jill
-Under the Lilacs
-An Old-Fashioned Girl
-Good Wives
-Jo's Boys

Jack London
-Call of the Wild

J.M.Barrie
-The Little Minister

Howard Fast
-Spartacus

Mark Twain
-Tom Sawyer

Nathaniel Hawthorn
-The House of Seven Gables
-The Scarlet Letter

G.A. Henty
-For the Temple

Aldrich
-A Lantern in her Hand

George McDonald
-Lilith
-Princess & Curdie
-Princess and the Goblins
-Littler Daylight and other Stories

James Hilton
-Goodbye, Mr. Chips

Sir Walter Scott
-Ivanhoe
-Rob Roy

George Elliot
-Middlemarch

Christopher Morley
-Parnassus on Wheels
-The Haunted Bookshop

Robert Lewis Stevenson
-Kidnapped
-The Black Arrow

Geoffrey of Monmouth
John Buchan
Agatha Christie
Flannery O'Connor
Rudyard Kipling
Elizabeth Gouge
Charles Williams

-Master and Commander
-Metamorphasis
-Astrophel and Stella
-The Tountine
-The Seven Laws of Teaching
-Silver Chalice
-Ben-Hur
-Portrait of a Lady
-Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
-The Brother's Karamazov
-Crime and Punishment
-War and Peace
-I Capture the Castle
-Wuthering Heights
-Adam of the Road
-Captian's Courageous
-Lorna Doone
-King Solomon's Mines
-The Red Badge of Courage
-Penrod
-Les Miserables
-Scottish Chiefs
-Uncle Tom's Cabin
-The Yearling
-To Kill A Mockingbird
-The Killer Angels
-A Year in Provance
-Under the Tuscan Sun
-

English Muffin Bread

This recipe comes from Grace Penney. It's very good mostly because I stick pretty close to it.

English Muffin Bread
1.5 cups flour + 1 cup flour
1 package rapid rise yeast
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoons salt
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup milk + 1/4 cup water (120-130 degreees F)
cornmeal

Combine 1.5 cups flour, yeast, sugar, salt, and baking soda. Stir in milk/water combination.
Use your hands to mix in remaining flour until dough is soft. Grease 8 1/2 by 44 1/2 inch loaf pan. Sprinkle with cornmeal, put dough in pan and sprinkle with more cornmeal. Cover pan and let dough rise in warm, draft free place for 30-40 minutes. Bake at 400 degrees for 25-30 minutes. It will stay 3 days in an air tight container, or frozen for a month.

Pork Carnitas for Crockpot

Pork (any where from 1lb to 4 lbs have worked well)
1 bunch Cilantro
½ Red onion
3 cloves garlic, minced
A sprinkle Garlic salt
A dash Oregano
16 oz jar of Salsa
Splash of Olive oil

1) Pour olive oil in crock pot. Add ½ chopped red onion and minced garlic. Put meat on top. Tear cilantro on top of meat (or use scissors to snip leafy ends of cilantro; some steams are ok). Sprinkle all with garlic salt and oregano. Pour salsa over everything; add ½ bottle of water. Cook on low 6-8 hours. Serve in tortillas and with chips, salsa, sour cream and humus.

A New Beginning

This video is neat to watch. While I don't agree with everything, I enjoyed watching it and was touched by the ladies' interaction.

C.S. Lewis' Top 10

In 1962, The Christian Century magazine published C.S. Lewis’s answer to the question, “What books did most to shape your vocational attitude and your philosophy of life?” Here is C.S. Lewis’s list of his top ten books, not including the Bible.

1. Phantastes: A Faerie Romance for Men and Women, by George MacDonald

2. The Everlasting Man, by G. K. Chesterton

3. The Aeneid, by Virgil

4. The Temple, by George Herbert

5. The Prelude, by William Wordsworth

6. The Idea of the Holy, by Rudolf Otto

7. The Consolation of Philosophy, by Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius

8. The Life of Samuel Johnson, by James Boswell

9. Descent into Hell, by Charles Williams

10. Theism and Humanism, by Arthur James Balfour

The Longest Spring

"7Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. 8You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. 9Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold the Judge is standing at the door! 10My brethren, take the propbhets, who spke in the name of the Lord, as an example of sufering and patience. 11Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord - that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful. 12But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. But let your "Yes be "Yes" and your "No", "No", lest you fall into judgement. 13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms? 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15And the prayers of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven."

from James 5

Hoeing

by John Updike

I sometimes fear the younger generation will be deprived
of the pleasures of hoeing;
there is no knowing
how many souls have been formed by this simple exercise.

The dry earth like a great scab breaks, revealing
moist-dark loam--
the pea-root's home,
a fertile wound perpetually healing.

How neatly the green weeds go under!
The blade chops the earth new.
Ignorant the wise boy who
has never performed this simple, stupid, and useful wonder.

Information for the Playbill

Murdered to Death
by Peter Gordon
April 7th, 8th, 9th
7pm at All Souls Christian Church


Role: Elizabeth Hartley-Trumpington

Previous roles include minor parts in home school productions, the stage manager in The Importance of Being Ernest produced by Blue Milk Productions, and 'Hermia' in A Midsummer Night's Dream performed for Trinity Fest 2005 during which I met my future husband.

Thanks to my family for all the dinner conversations when nobody could get a word in edgewise; for the lovely, I say the lovely Foghorn Leghorn comments; and for champagne on Christmas Eve. Thanks to our director and assistant director for all the time they put into this play. Thanks to my husband, who encourages me in everything I do and for fighting the occasional dragon I bring home to dinner.

Other items: Christ said that we must become like little children. In play acting we are those little children and play games for our parents to laugh at. The Lord loves to tell stories and we imitate Him as we act out His world. We love the world and the silly things in it, like kangaroos and palm trees and French accents and knitting. He made it all and it is good.

Home decorating update

Our living room as of January 2011. Pictures on the wall make such a difference!


South West living room wall. New loveseat and I moved my desk to the living room for more sun light while I work.


From the living room looking at the front door


Another view of the front door and dining room


Bathroom - new shevles from Ikea!


Bedroom


Bedroom - other side

Autumn 2010

Lydia and Hannah joined me for lunch at Smokey Mountain Pizzeria!



Jesse decorating my birthday cake.

Fall SRO Ball 2010

My and my cousin. Ain't he great?



I was the only Callihan girl at the dance so I had my two brothers all to myself.

Nieuwsma Flowers

Liz dried all the flowers that Luke gave her when they were courting and engaged. I arranged them for her and sent them to her in Oregon for her birthday.



These are more various flowers from other occasions and people.

Doughnuts with Maple Frosting - Sept 2010

Family Fun

Oma, Aunt Molly and Uncle JJ came for a visit in September!

Felicity and Tovia


Add River


It's a party with everyone here!


Flying River-Boy!


Felicity and Aunt Kate


Felicity and Oma


At Uncle Jesse and Aunt Kate's house watching Lady and the Tramp

Cooking in my home

Julia Child's Haricots Verts a la Provencale, or Green Beans with Tomatoes, Garlic, and Herbs







It was so tasty!



and went really well with Julia Child's Poulet Roti, or Roast Chicken






Cranberry and White Chip cookies for my niece Sophia Ruth's baby shower - August 2010



Gumbo







My husband took this one

Tuesday Bookgroup

What we've read:

Sept. 2009 - Flannery O'Conner short stories

Oct - I Serve: A Novel of the Black Prince Roseanne Lortz

Nov - In Defense of Food Michael Pollock

Dec -

Jan 2010 - Bucer's meeting for planning next few books

Feb - Til We Have Faces C.S.Lewis

March - The Moonstone Wilkie Collins

April -

May - The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society Mary Ann Shaffer

June - The Scarlet Pimpernel Baroness Orczy

July -

Aug - The Supper of the Lamb Robert Farrar Capon

Sept - The Number One Ladies Detective Agency Alexander McCall Smith

Oct - The Book Thief Markus Zusak

Nov - Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science Atul Gawande

Dec - Christmas Stories

Jan 2011 - The Hiding Place Corrie ten Boom

Feb - The Blue Castle L.M. Montgomery

March - Choosing Rest Sally Breedlove

April - Buffalo Coat Carol Ryrie Brink

May - The Man in the Brown Suit Agatha Christie

June - Social night :)

July - Endurance: An Epic Polar Adventure by F. A. Worsley or The Endurance: Shakelton's Legendary Antartic Expediton by Caroline Alexander

August - 84 Charing Cross Road

September -

October - The Help Kathryn Stockett

November - One Thousand Gifts

December - movie night! watched 'The Help'

January 2012 - Sense and Sensibility Jane Austen

February - Unbroken Laura Hillenbrand

March - continued Unbroken and the WWII theme

April - For the Life of the World

May - Master and Commander

June -

July -

August -



Next up ...


Other Suggestions:
Faithful Women and Their Extraordinary God
To Kill A Mockingbird
The Name of the Rose
The Yearling

House Summer 2010

Living Room corner South East



Living Room corner South West



From the living room looking towards the front door



From the front door looking towards the living room

Bedroom Update

While I haven't been able to check off my earlier list on account of our budget tightening, I have improved the room.

Two weeks ago we were in Grants Pass and bought picture frames for our wedding photos. After all, it's only been three years since the actual wedding. I hung a large one over my tall dresser and three were put over Jesse's shorter and wider dresser. I think it really helped the room feel fuller and "lived in".

My other accomplishment has been keeping the bed made! Such a difference.

I'm looking at this on Craigslist. Perfect in everyway, except a tad big. Oh, and their a pair! Love it!