Thanksgiving With the Davises

This year was the year for Thanksgiving with my family. We got to spend wed afternoon through saturday morning with them. It was a special treat to get to attend wednesday night prayer meeting at my home church too! :0) Luke assisted dad in serving communion, and my mom and sister MADE me play the Kurzweil (The electric keyboard) with them. LOL Then on Thanksgiving day we ate ourselves silly. So...of course the next day we made Christmas cookies (about 21 dozen I think) because we won't be together before Christmas to do them. Boy was that interesting! LOL We made Peanut butter blossoms, mint crinkles, raspberry ribbons, and melt-in-your-mouth pumpkin cookies. I think we ate about half of them on that day. LOL No, not really... We also tried to take a group picture of all of us, but we had to prop the camara up on the lamp shade to take them so... LOL Still, they turned out pretty decent. :0)

This was at church on wednesday night--me and my brother's girlfriend, Pam.

Thanksgiving With the LaVans

We spent monday through wednesday with mom and dad LaVan this year for Thanksgiving. Grandma LaVan came over to eat supper with us and we enjoyed seeing her, as always! :0) Then on Wednesday we travelled up to Salem and met at Lori's apartment for our family picture. We just set the camara on a tripod and took them ourselves this year. Didn't turn out too bad with what we had to work with! Just kidding! :0)


Grandma LaVan

Thanksgiving Traditions

Does your family have a tradition for Thanksgiving? Most families have something that they have made a tradition in the family; whether it be food related, something they do, or something they wear. My family started a Thanksgiving tradition several years ago that we have kept for the most part (it gets a little more difficult to do when the family grows larger). After our Thanksgiving meal, we go around the table and each person tells something that they are thankful for. Its hard to pick just one when you get to really thinking about all the blessings that we have! Its a good tradition, and I think it wouldn't hurt us to do that more than just at Thanksgiving! I would love to hear about any traditions that your family may keep! You can post them in the comments box of this post, or email them to me at ljlavan08@yahoo.com.

Pioneer Pastor's Outreach Convention

November 10-11 all the Pioneer Pastor's were to meet at Carlisle Inn in Walnut Creek, Ohio for the outreach convention. It is always a wonderful time of fellowship, relaxation, and "filling up". We really enjoy this special time! The speakers this year were Bro Tiberio and Bro Cawman. Both did an excellent job of sharing their passion for ministry and helping us to get a fresh vision for ours.

The speakers with their wives: L-Tiberios and R-Cawmans

Bro and Sis Marshall who work so hard!

Sis Luther playing the baby grand piano they have in the lobby

Up North With Family and Friends...

While we were up north for the Pioneer Pastor's Outreach Convention (pictures soon to come) we got to stop in at both of our parents houses. Monday we celebrated our brother-in-law, Jeffs, birthday. We had a nice time and lots of fun! :0)


Mom delivering Jeff's cake to the table

Yum! Jerrod enjoying his cake :0)

My little princess Jessica

My brother and his sweet girlfriend Pam! :0)

Jerrod eating an apple ( He loves them! )

Jeffery and Jessica showing us how flexible they are LOL

Saying Goodbye...

Most of you are aware by now that we are going to be losing a very important part of our congregation soon. Sis Barbara and Sis Arlene (who we affectionately call "The Ladies") are going to be moving up north to Pennsylvania in a few weeks. We have really enjoyed having them as a part of our congregation, and have become rather attached to them; and hate to see them go. They are currently our pianist and organist, so after they leave that will leave me as the pianist (help us all!) ;0). This past saturday, the church people met at a local restaurant to have a "farewell party" for the Ladies. They will be greatly missed by their King William Church family, but we pray that God will make them a blessing wherever they are. We love you Sis Barbara and Sis Arlene!

The Church gave them this picture as a keepsake to remember us by

Opening the card from the Church

Bro Ron and Sis Kate

Victoria

Bro Bobby and Sis Jane Ann

The Hodak Family (Nathan, Bro Steve and Sis Crystal)

Sis Esther Sutley

Fall Pictures of Us

Here are a few fall pictures of us that we took a couple weeks ago.

Recipe of the Month

Pumpkin Coffee Cake

I made this recipe one morning for revival and everyone seemed to enjoy it. It is another Taste of Home recipe, so you know it has to be good! :0) Enjoy!





Makes 9 Servings

Prep: 15 min. Bake: 35 min. + cooling

Ingredients:
1 package (16 ounces) pound cake mix
3/4 cup canned pumpkin
6 tablespoons water
2 eggs
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon baking soda
TOPPING:
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons butter, melted

Directions:
In a large bowl, combine the first six ingredients; beat on low speed for 30 seconds. Beat on medium for 2 minutes. Pour half of the pumpkin mixture into a greased 9-in. square baking pan.
In a small bowl, combine the topping ingredients; sprinkle half over the batter. Carefully spread with remaining batter. Sprinkle with remaining topping (pan will be full).
Bake at 350° for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

Revival at King William

We had a wonderful revival this past week with Rev. and Mrs. Richard Price. The Lord was there in every service and it was just a week of precious time spent in the presence of the Lord. We were privileged to have the Prices in our home this week. We had fun visiting with them and getting to know them better. Most of all, we thank the Lord for how He's choosing to work in our midst. There is just NO substitute for the presence of the Holy Spirit in a service!

Rev and Mrs Richard Price

When Life Gives You Lemons-Make Lemonade!

You know how everything always happens at the worst times? Well, we had that happen this past week...We were in revival and had the evangelist and wife staying in our home, of course, and so therefore I fixed all our meals for the 4 of us. Well, everything was going pretty well when one morning I was about to fix a breakfast casserole, and my oven decided it didn't want to stay on and work any longer. Talk about frustration and panic! LOL Not quite panic, but definately frustration! Anyhow, to make a long story short, Bro Bobby Garis and Ron came over to look it over, and discovered it would have cost nearly the same amount to fix it as it would to get a new one; so the church decided they would get us a new oven. However, that couldn't happen until the NEXT day, and I had an evangelist to feed TODAY! LOL So... our gracious neighbors (Sis Barbara and Arlene) let me borrow their oven for our supper that day. The next afternoon they delivered a BEAUTIFUL brand new stove to the parsonage. It's the kind with the ceramic stove top so I am still learning how to care for it and use it! :0) But we thank our church people for acting so quickly on our behalf; and rescuing their preacher's wife from her state of panic on how to cook for her company without an oven and stove! ;0) (I do have a crock pot so that helps, however, there are some things you just need a stove/oven for!) :0)



Bro Ron and Bro Bobby checking over the "old" stove
Banned to the back deck

Putting in the new "kid on the block"

Making tea on the new ceramic stove top for the first time! LOL

Here's the beautiful new stove! Yay!