Bread

Tonight at church we had a New Years Eve dinner. They served your choice of potato soup, beef soup, or chili. It was delicious. They sent us home with some left over bread bowls they purchased from the Atlanta Bread Company, one for each member of our family including the baby.

Oranges, Potatoes, Noodles

Mary sent over some "pineapple oranges", some macaroni and potatoes. God is never late. Thank you Mary :)

Applesauce and Milk

Evelyn Bonilla, our next door neighbor knocked on our door offering this.

God Given Board Games (and more ham)

The Betons invited us over for dinner. Catherine has know Conrad and Cheryl Beton since she was eight. They are older now and not as active in ministry but they used to be very involved in Youth for Christ. Conrad led Catherine to Jesus when she was just a little girl. They have stayed involved in her life ever since, encouraging her in her walk with our Lord. They had alot of board games on hand left over from their youth ministry days. Cheryl said that each kid could keep one. They were all in excellent condition. Trust picked Monopoly. Above is a picture of the kids playing. We also brought home Boggle, pickup sticks, chess, The Worst Case Senerio Game for Surviving Life and Deal or No Deal.

On our way out Chery offered the ham bone from a spiral cut ham to use in soup. When we got home and opened it up, we found that it was a half of a ham.

More Star Fruit

Vicky gave more star fruit to Freeman.
:)
Everybody in our family loves these.

God Gives Wood Craft Projects

My boys were playing hide-and-seek in the front of our block. Some of our boys were hiding in Ed and Frans front yard. They are french canadians who have lived here longer than us. Ed came out and gave these gifts to our sons. They are 7 Home Depot Kids Workshop kits. These are fun kits and the kids love them. I already helped my kids build three of them.

Pumpkin Pie, Pears, Gum, Tea and Candy

Our friend Fanny came by with these gifts.
Two pumpkin pies, delicious pears (they were perfect), white tea packets, Royal Rolls candies and Spry chewing gum. We don't let our kids chew gum because of the sugar and we don't like the chemicals found in most sugar-free gum. There are a few sugar alternatives that can be purchased from health food stores. Fanny gave us a xylitol sweetened gum which is an excellent sugar substitute. This is a rare treat because it cost more than regular gum and is not found at the grocery store. Each child got their own pack of gum.

Deer, Elk Meat, Cookies and Candy

Funny, sometimes gifts come on top of gifts. These gifts came to our door while my in-laws where visiting and treating us to pizza. I have to stop here and interject again, we don't tell people or financial needs. Our home is clean, neat and I keep it fixed up. My kids are healthy and well clothed. There is no outward appearance that we are in need. God moves peoples hearts.
Anyhow, the Savilles popped by with this venison. If you read earlier you'll remember they intended to bring this over a couple days earlier with other food gifts. The Savilles are very generous, but they are not rich. The gifts are from the heart. Sarah Saville loves to cook and makes wonderful baked treats. There are some cookies missing from picture because we set them out as dessert for my in-laws. The pic was taken the next day. In the box are some home made candies. The venison comprised of deer hamburger, elk hamburger, deer rump roast, elk rump roast, and deer sausage. I never had elk before but I hear it is better than beef. I looking forward to sinking my teeth into it. Thank you God. Thank you Savilles.

God Provide Baby Clothing

Janelli and Javier are a married couple who live next door. We've known Javi since he was 12 and he's always been a descent fellow. They are expecting a baby girl and have received more new born clothing than they know what to do with from family and friends. Catherine (my wife) is pregnant also. When Janelli heard we don't plan to learn the gender of our baby-to-be before the birth, she came over with all her gender neutral outfits.

God knows all our needs. Praise Him for his provision for us.

A Refigrator Full of Food from God

A church family we know was led by God to bring these groceries over. It was a very generous gift and we are very thankful to God and this family. I know that God will bless them in return.

Included in this gift was 3 whole chickens, 2 bags of chips, zucchini, asparagus, spinach, potatoes, carrots, chicken broth, mixed vegetables, maple syrup, shredded cheese, bananas, pistachios, 2 loafs of wheat bread, 2 loafs of whole grain bead, organic whole milk, peanut butter, frozen strawberries, coffee creamer, heavy whipping cream and cherry tomatoes. I think that's all. Almost all items were in jumbo portion sizes.

The gift was intended to provide for three meal. I think it will last longer. I didn't include the name of the giver because they wanted to remain anonymous.

Hot Dogs and Cake Mix

I just finished sharing this blog with Catherine, showing all the gifts that pour into our home the past couple days. I had to say how good God is and how He not only meets our needs but often even our heart's desire.

It wasn't 15 minutes later that Jane and Brenda (her daughter) came over with these gifts. God doesn't just fill our cups, He overflows it.

Christmas Cookies

Our next neighbor Debbie made these Christmas cookies for us. I had some already. There's definitely some Christmas spirit in them.

Children's Bible

Frannie came by with this Children's Bible.
She spotted it at a Thrift Store and purchased it for us.

We try to have devotions every day. During it all the kids read their Bible, including the little ones. That means these picture Bible get chewed up pretty quick. We're regularly replacing them with new ones. Fannies good heart resulted in our blessing by remembering us while she was shopping.

Ham, Cheese Potatoes,

This morning my wife broke down crying because she couldn't see how we would have a holiday meal this Christmas. Durning her prayers this morning she shared with God how her Mother never failed to put out a feast every holiday. But money is tight right now. I'm not one to worry between turkey or macroni and cheese. I try to be content and to me the feasting wasn't that important. There are enough things to keep busy with today.

Mark Saville goes deer hunting every year bringing back more than a freezer full. Yesterday Sarah (Mark's wife) said she was gonna bring by some venison. When she and Mark arrive we were surprised with a Christmas ham (Honey Bake Company) and lots of other treats intended just for Christmas. Catherine was in tears. They forgot the venison and plan to bring it over another day. God bless the Savilles.

Star Fruit

Freeman and Forgiven (two of my sons) were riding their scooters around the block. Vicky on the back of our block has a Star fruit tree. The boys were about to approach her to ask for some when Vicky beat them to the punch and offered them a bag of them. When you slice Star fruit side ways it forms a star. They are very delicious.

She gave the boys some more the next day but that was because they asked her for them. The rules of this blog is to show only gifts that were not asked for. So I didn't include a picture for a second entry.

Ice Cream, Apples, Eggs and Pecans

Kim Kulatz (from our church) stopped by with her kids to share these gifts and spend some time with our family. She said the Ice Cream was for Catherine only, but she shared some with me.
The kids had a great time playing in the backyard while Kim and Catherine enjoyed some fellowship sitting in the shade of the lemon tree.

Apples and Marshmallows

Mary phoned to have one of our kids run over and pick up these yummies. The marsh- mallows are left overs from a schools science lab. The apples are just because.

Hot Chocolate and Jello

Our neighbor Mary's daughter is a school teacher. I believe she used the hot cocoa and jello for a science experiment. These are left overs. Mary also gave use some oranges and cream cheese too.

Scooter

A couple of my children sell sodas in front of our house for spending money. Today a fellow drove by and gave my daughter this scooter. The man works in the business of cleaning out houses that have been foreclosed. There's a lot of that going on these days. A vacated house had this nice scooter left it it. He didn't have use for the scooter and seeing a cute little girl selling sodas, he stopped and knocked on our door and asked if he could give it to her.

10 notebooks

While on my walk this morning I spotted Ivor Bryant. He's a local crossing guard. I was planning to avoid him because our strong differances on the presidential election. My side took a whipping and I didn't want to talk about it. Still, my heart was stirred to talk to him. So I reluctantly walked in his direction. After a bit of "how you dos" and a brief chat our topic drifted to my having 7 kids and one on the way. I guess he didn't know this. After further learning that we also home school he offered these note books. I believe they were donated to send to Jamaca but the weight to ship them wasn't worth their value so they sat in his trunk waiting for a reciepant.

Hand Squeezed OJ

Shotzie just got back from his mom's house. She has a friend with an orange grove. The grove owner shared oranges with Shotie's mom. Shotie's mom shared oranges with Shotzie. Shotzie made some orange juice and shared it with us.

This container was nearly full when we receive it. I took the picture two days after receiving it.

Roast Beef, Garlic Potatoes, Pecan Green Beans and Salad

Rich Popovic stopped by again with left overs from the Saint Vincent Men's Dinner.

He came over just after we finished having roast beef and morels mushrooms (plus other yummies) my mom made for our family. She came down from Cocoa Beach to make a dinner for us as a late celebration of my birthday. Between the leftovers of my mom's meal and the food Rich brought over I had to play a bit of Tetris in the refrigerator to make sure everything fit.

Nothing went to waste. Buy the time I posted this, everything was ate up. Seven kids eat a lot.

God Given Christmas Cookies

My wife Catherine was just wondering if the ingredients she'll have to purchase for home schoolers Christmas partly will fit into her shopping budget. A few minutes later our neighbor JoAnn O'Rourke brought over this bag of baking ingredients as a Christmas gift from her and her family.

Italian food from God

We sent Freeman around the block to get Andy's mail. We're picking it up for him while he's away. Mary intercepted Freeman on his way home and gave him these gifts.
Ragu sauce, pasta and onions ... I love italian food.