Category: Memories

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Campaigns Northwest – Part 1

In 1979 I had my first adventure to the Northwestern part of the United States. I traveled by car with a group of college students from Freed-Hardeman College and Harding University and the Obert Henderson family who had started Campaigns Northwest. The idea was to bring Christian college students to work with small churches in the Northwest for their summer break. Students who might want to settle there eventually and strengthen these Christians and churches. Many students brought their own cars. So we loaded up and No we didn’t head to Beverly but we headed to the Northwest. Obert arranged for us to be hosted by churches along the way who would house us for one night and feed us dinner that night, and breakfast the next morning and pack a sack lunch for us.  (Years later I would realize what a HUGE undertaking this was). There were about 50 students if my memory serves me correctly. The plan was to go to three congregations for about 3 weeks each. We also had a training session on the trip out while staying at a camp in the Colorado Rockies. Mid-Point we met up at  Camp Yamhill in Yamhill, Oregon.  (Is there a more glorious place?) Many experiences from this trip are seared into my mind. This trip and group of people as well as those we met probably impacted my faith and life more than any single event I experienced in my young life. I would be forever changed. I did not know this at the time.

 

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Traveling with Children and Ironing Sandwiches

Several years ago when many of our children were little we did a lot of traveling! Whether moving,  out of town overnights for doctor appointments, traveling to visit relatives and friends, or mission trips, we were on the move. We did a lot of different things to maintain our sanity and to make the trip fun. Today I will share a few.

Car picnics. Most of the time I packed a cooler. We especially like raw veggies. I would make peanut butter and jelly or honey sandwiches in the van and hand them out on napkins. Or plates if we were having other foods.

At night I sometimes made ironed sandwiches. I would take a roll of aluminum foil and cheese and bread. If I didn’t have those on hand almost any store would, including convenience stores. You will also need an iron. I usually take an iron (I wear cotton) and almost any motel will have one, if not in the room, at the desk. I place the cheese between two slices of bread and wrap the sandwiches in foil and iron each side of the foil until the cheese is melted and the sandwich is toasted. (And no we did not have Panini makers way back then either.)  Even if we were going to eat out some, we got tired of fast food very quickly and this helped save time and money.

Motels. Because of the labor-intensive work of unpacking and repacking the car each night we came up with a simple solution. We would just take in the sleepwear (for whoever wore any) and toothbrushes, etc. After the kids went for a swim and/or took a shower and were ready to settle down and watch a movie, sleep, read, etc. I would gather up all the dirty clothes and wash them at the motel laundry. They would put them back on the next morning. This made stopping for the night and getting back on the road a lot simpler!

Entertainment in the van. There were various ways to keep children entertained in the van to avoid utter chaos. We memorized scriptures, ABC verses, multiplications, parts of speech, and worked on complicated math problems. There was always singing, mostly spirituals.

We usually had read-aloud books and other books for the children to read on their own. We also made use of audiobooks. I have several fond memories of listening to classics on the road. Sometimes we had themes for the day: kindness, sharing, courage, etc. Sometimes I wrapped up little surprises. When people started getting restless I would give a surprise. Some things we tried worked better than others. Some we used with the older kids and should have used it with the younger ones too. Some we just didn’t think of with the older boys.

Bathroom breaks,  fuel stops, and rest stops. At times to cut down on bathroom breaks I would control when the kids would have a drink. If I knew we were going to make a stop down the road in the next half hour or so I would give the children their drinks. I didn’t want 10 people drinking at 10 different times and all wanting to go to the bathroom at every exit. Each stop takes up a lot of time.  When we were stopping for fuel we tried to take care of everything that we could. Bathroom breaks, snacks, stretching, etc.

Sometimes we needed an extra stop between fuel stops. We made use of rest stops. Everyone got out of the van. We would take the younger kids for a run around while everyone finished their business. We didn’t have to encourage the older ones to stretch their legs they found ways! Climbing trees, on the roofs of rest stops, etc. It felt good to stretch. If we were just making a quick bathroom stop I would make a game of it by timing how long it would take for us to all go to the bathroom and water fountain and back to the car and on the road again. I know this sounds torturous to some but we all survived just fine.

I absolutely loved traveling with my children. I am not sure my children loved it near as much as I did. For many years there were no cell phones, no electronics, no TVs, etc. It was a glorious time for me to spend time with my children. Sometimes it could be long and tiring for all of us but I have many wonderful memories of our traipsing about.

I know that many of you have great ideas so please share them in the comments below. I would love to read them!

 

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Easy Communion Bread – 4 Recipes

Learning to Make Communion Bread is Easy

Easy Communion Bread? Yes, it is easy. Today, I will share recipes I have collected over the years. It all started with Campaigns Northwest 1979 and a special sister, Madge. I was blessed to be a part of Campaigns Northwest. Little did I know that this would be a life-changing experience for me!  I worked in West Seattle, Washington for 3 weeks.

After our mission was over I stayed an extra day to spend time with a couple of the ladies from the church. One was Madge Boubonik (I am sure the spelling is butchered). I remember this day very well. I was so excited. Madge and I walked around her sunny yard with flowers growing and some rhubarb too! We talked and visited but I was there for a purpose.

Madge made the communion bread for the church and she had agreed to teach me how to make it! I was very excited to spend the day with her. She treated this with great respect and thoughtfulness. She used olive oil because she felt that was most likely what was used in making unleaved bread. I thoroughly enjoyed spending the day with her and that was almost 40 years ago. I  never saw her after this day but she lives on in my memory and I hope to walk in heaven with her one day.

Aberdeen Washington

In 2011 we moved from Spanaway to Aberdeen, Washington to work with the Aberdeen Church of Christ. We hosted a VBS day which was about the Tabernacle. We had loaves of unleavened bread leftover from that day. One of the ladies asked if we could use that for communion and so we did. Our son James started making it for the church after that. He was 11 years old. He enjoyed making the bread and helping to fix communion each Sunday.

Today I am sharing three recipes * that have been used in various places I have worshipped (from homes to buildings to church camps). The first one is the one our family has used for many years. I am not sure it is the original one I received from Madge, if not it is very similar.

Our Family Communion Bread
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup olive oil
1 cup of water
pinch of salt

Mix the dry ingredients and add the wet ingredients and knead a little until it easily forms a ball to roll out. I roll mine out into about 6-inch circles. This recipe makes about 16 small loaves! You may want to half the recipe. Bake at 350° for 10 – 15 minutes until lightly browned on the bottom. I usually do mine by smell 🙂

Our family recipe

Delano Bay Christian Camp Communion Bread
1-quart whipping cream
¾ lb. of butter
5 cups flour

Mix ingredients and divide into 4 sections and roll them about 1 inch thick each. Poke holes in batter with a fork, and bake at 325° until no longer doughy. This makes a big batch of communion bread. Enough for 100 campers at least.

Susan’s Unleaved Bread
1 cup all-purpose flour ( use ½ whole wheat)
1 Tablespoon sugar (brown or honey)
¼ teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons olive oil
¼ cup of warm water

Mix dry ingredients. Cut in 2 Tablespoons olive oil and ¼ cup warm water, Knead. Roll into a circle. Next, you prick with a fork and fry in a nonstick pan until both sides are light brown.

Communion Bread
Communion bread

*A Fourth ADDED (3/15/2020) Lee’s Communion Bread

Here is a fourth recipe I received from my friend Lee. With her notes.

1 cup of unleavened flour (all-purpose)

1/4 cup olive oil

3 Tablespoons cold water

Preheat oven to 400°. Be sure to wash and dry your hands first. This is holy bread. Use clean utensils and a mixing bowl to mix the ingredients. Gently knead the dough and roll out flat to about 1/16 inch thickness. Using a biscuit cutter or other round object cut out circles of bread. Lay on an ungreased cookie sheet and score with a fork or rolling piercing tool. This represents the body of Christ. Bake for about 20 minutes. They should not be sticky or brown. Let them cool completely. Store in an airtight container and they can be kept in the freezer.

Please send me your communion bread recipes and I will update this collection as time allows.

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Up, Up, and Away!

This year seems to be the year for “adventure birthday gifts”. Gabriel received the gift of hang gliding and Lawrence hot air ballooning. Lawrence’s birthday was in April so it took awhile before we could get set to go Up, Up, and Away!

We had the option of a sunrise or sunset ride. We chose the sunrise and I am so glad we did. For one thing, it is cooler and the peace of morning with mist rising from the hills permeates your being! We arrived just before 5 a.m. at the designated meet up spot in Franklin, TN. to board the van.  We met Tina and Logan the owners of Middle Tennessee Hot Air Adventures. (www.TNBalloon.com) By the way, they are new parents of a sweet little boy! I’m so excited for that adventure for them! There were four couples who were taking this trip together. It was everyone’s first flight!

We could hear cows mooing, see deer racing across fields, and some predators chasing them. We enjoyed the beautiful landscape but also enjoyed seeing some homes from the sky with swimming pools as large as houses! We saw people enjoying their morning walks and stopping to wave at us. Doesn’t everyone just enjoy seeing hot air balloons in flight?

I had anticipated being a bit nervous about the flight because I am usually afraid of heights. I had not a moment of concern. Our flight was an hour in air time. It was a beautiful, smooth, and peaceful ride and landing! I hope to take a future flight. I loved it!

 

Tina and Logan owners of Middle Tennessee Hot Air Adventures. RR
Just before our flight. www.TnBalloon.com
In the basket getting ready for lift off! www.TNBalloon.com
Filling the envelope. The balloons diameter is 75 feet. RR

 

Can you see the gas going in? RR
And we have a lift off! www.TNBalloon.com
Sunrise! www.TNBalloon.com
RR
RR
DCIM100GOPRO www.TNBalloon.com
Our shadow just before landing! RR
And we have landed! www.TNBalloon.com

It was a wonderful experience!

Credit for the photos goes to Middle Tennessee Hot Air Adventures.  A few I took (RR) but the really cool ones came on the thumb drive we purchased at the end of the flight.

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Sanity Garden

Spicy Globe Basil started from seeds.
Sweet Basil!
Sweet mint!

 Have you ever felt stuck? Sometimes I feel stuck. I can’t make any progress (it feels) in any direction. I have some goals and I start working on one and hit a road block for some reason so I head a different direction only to meet with a different obstacle. A lot of life is like that! It reminds me of the little activity we did at library programs where you can’t go around it, you can’t go under it, etc. You have to go through it! Much of my life has been like that and I believe that God wants me right in the middle of that situation. Most of the time for a reason beyond my grasp God wants me to live through certain situations. For the good or bad of it, I am there right where God wants me. It doesn’t mean I just sit there, I can try to learn the lessons I am supposed to learn from the situation. God loves me and is working something out in my life whether it is a situation or just a work in me. Thank you, Lord!

Esther and I built this box.
Oregano

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is how my “sanity garden” came to be. My children laugh when I tell them to come and see my “sanity garden”. A while back May 26th to be exact, I was feeling stuck. I had to do something. So I planted some seeds in a few pots and in a tiny little space we have at the townhouse. And I mean tiny! Esther and I even made a little planter box out of pieces of pallets. And I have been thrilled. Seeing even my tiny little herbs sprout and grow has given me a joy I would not have had. So if you are feeling stuck, plant a few seeds today.

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Lawrence and Reda

Lawrence and Reda engagement. This is the photo we sent to our parents. They had NEVER met our future mates.

When I transferred to Freed-Hardeman College January of 1979 one of the first people I met was Lawrence. He was my first date at the school and then he waited a long time to ask me out again! I got to know him through shared classes, devotionals and trying to match make him with several friends and family members. I thought he was such a wonderful guy! I still think so too!

Lawrence and I both shared an interest in mission work and still do! We were part of a group called Campaigns Northwest. In 1980 we traveled to the northwestern part of the United States to work with small churches. These works had been pre-arranged with the churches by Obert and Juanita Henderson. During our preparation meetings, camps, and travel to our locations, we spent a lot of time together. I remember taking a hike in Colorado and realizing he was for me! We were both to work with a small congregation on the Oregon coast. Ranch Road Church of Christ in Reedsport, Oregon. It was during our time serving this church that Mt. Saint Helens erupted in Washington state on May 18, 1980, and Lawrence asked me to marry him! That was 37 years ago! We completed our time with that congregation and went home and got married. And now you know a little more of our story.

 

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Annual Fish Fry

 The Smyrna Church of Christ held the Annual Fish Fry yesterday. (and I almost missed it! Thanks to Val for the reminder!) This has been going on for many years. It is a fun time and everyone brings friends and family to this event. The fish and hush puppies are provided and the rest of us bring sides and desserts. I made my GIANT pan of Blueberry Crunch Pie. I received this recipe from a lady at the Adamsville Church of Christ just before I got married almost 37 years ago. If you have eaten at my house chances are good that you have tried this dessert. Earlier this year I tried a lemon version. You can find that one here:   http://www.redaredding.com/lemon-crunch-pie/

 

PHOTOS: The top picture is a part of the group lining up to fill their plates, under the blue tents are the fish cooks! Esther wanted to take a picture of me holding my blueberry crunch pie for some reason, so I humored her this time! The bottom picture is my 1/2 sheet size blueberry crunch pie!

Blueberry Crunch Pie  12 X18 size

Ingredients:

2 ⅔ cup self-rising flour

2 cup nuts (pecans preferred but walnuts are fine too) divided – reserve 1/4-1/2 cup to garnish

2 sticks butter or margarine softened

22 oz cream cheese

1 lb. powdered sugar

2 cans blueberry pie filling (or make your own)

Whip topping 16 oz. – 24 oz. I like a lot!

nuts to garnish

Layer 1  Combine flour, nuts, and margarine

               Press into 18X2 pan, bake until lightly browned

               about 15 minutes at 350°

               cool 

Layer 2  Combine cream cheese and powdered sugar and fold in some

               whipped topping at least 8 oz. or a little more. Sorry I

               don’t measure it 🙂

               Spread gently on the cooled crust

Layer 3    Spread 2 cans blueberry pie filling

                evenly over layer 2

Layer 4    Spread with whipped topping

Layer 5    Sprinkle with nuts.

Refrigerate until you are ready to serve. This will make 54 small servings (2-inch squares). Most of my family will eat a larger serving! So maybe only 30 Redding size servings.

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Questions?

I have a little favor to ask today?

Do you have any questions for me? Years ago when my older boys were teens they had their own magazine – Redding Magazine. Some of you may have heard of it – it was world famous (well not exactly but nationally maybe). The boys wrote about many topics and it even featured columns by both grandmas and I had my own column! For my column, people submitted questions and I would answer them. It was fun and interesting especially for me. I did get a lot of questions everywhere I went. Probably because a 5-foot tall woman running around everywhere with a van load of kids was a spectacle. I was asked if I was a school, daycare, boy scout troop! So here is your opportunity. You may ask your question in the comment box or you may send it privately to redaredding@gmail.com. I will choose some questions to answer, just for the fun of it! If you do not wish your name to be published let me know. Thanks!

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An Interview with Sarah from China!

Happy Birthday, Sarah!  In honor of Sarah’s birthday, I thought it might be nice to ask her a few questions about her experience in China (so far).

Here are the questions and her responses.

What do you miss the most? Family and friends

What do you wish you had taken with you? More towels because all the towels are very small and strange here.

What do you like the best about teaching English in China? The students and how friendly everyone is.

What is the most surprising thing you have discovered about the Chinese people? Chinese people really care about social status. Also, babies poop in the street until they are seven.

What is the most surprising thing you have discovered about yourself on this trip? I am more Chinese than American. haha.

What makes you happy there? My husband and teaching a really good lesson.

What makes you sad? Not having many women to talk to. Also, how discarded some people are from society. Like the street sweepers.

What is your favorite food so far?Jiaozi or pot stickers.

What size are your classes? 20-25 students

What age are your students? 18-21 although I have one business English class with older men.

What do you want to bring home with you?A fan, a Chinese dress, and nunchucks

What do you enjoy the most? We enjoy going out to the track at about 8:30 pm and running with the community and practicing nunchucks, playing Kungfu or TaiChi, and doing acrobats. The community is wonderful here. The nightlife is especially interesting.

What has made you say WOW? Children walking across busy traffic by themselves and masterfully navigating through the cars is pretty amazing. They are much more brave and skilled than I.

If you have questions you would like answers to leave them in the comment box below and I will see what I can do!

If you would like you can send her birthday wishes at sarahnseth@yahoo.com or leave a comment on here as she is able to read this blog.

Also, remember to share one of my blog posts today or sign up to receive notifications when I make a new post. You will be entered into a drawing to take place in TWO days for the BEST CAN OPENER!!!

Sarah and Seth