Christian Cowboy

Saturday we enjoyed the MOST GIGANTIC, STUPENDOUS, COLOSSAL circus in town courtesy of Esther's school, College Heights Kindergarten.

 Below are some photos of the Hendrik and the shirt he wore. It was hand-crafted in 1977 for our son, Chris, (Hendrik's Uncle Chrisbo) who is of course, the rightful heir of the garment. And for the record, Autumn would look adorable in it! Made by a friend in our church in Santa Rosa, I've been treasuring it for over thirty years and am so happy to see it being worn by this little guy. It brings back so many good memories - first, of 'my' little boy and second of the old-but-not-all-good days in Santa Rosa, Calif. where we began raising our family.

He's really NOT smirking!

HAPPY 61 YEARS-YOUNG TO RICK!

Esther and Hendrik's b-day cards to Grandpa

Silas and Grandpa: Party Animals, jr. and sr.

Silas at 3 Months!

Happy '2' Months-Birthday, Silas!

Grandpa schools Silas in the fine points of

self-storage merchandise sales.

He is now completely under Grandpa's spell

Silas is now contemplating his own 'sales pitch'..I believe he's going with the

 'You-must-buy-this-stuff-because-I'm-an-adorable-baby' technique!

Silas At 4 Weeks!

BAPTISM Bean Soup

Prepared for the after-church party in honor of Silas's baptism last week - hearty and delicious!

Baptism Bean Soup
This is the method I used, I’m sure there can be many variations…
• 1 bone-in ham - baked, then finished over-night in crock-pot

• 1 small bag of ‘small white’ beans (navy beans o.k. too) soaked in water overnight (old-school, not quick-soak)

• Sliced carrots to taste

• Chopped onion to taste
After the ham was baked I took it off the bone, reserving the yummy juices, then simmered the hock for about 2 hr.

Remove hock, drain, rinse and add beans and reserved ham juices to ham broth, bring to boil then simmer until beans are almost tender.
Add sliced carrots and chopped onion and simmer until everything is tender. Add ham chunks as desired to finish. Heat through and serve.
I didn’t add any salt – the ham had enough, I did add some pepper, you can all other spices if you like. I also sometimes add cut potatoes – very good. If the soup is too thick after it cools, add water to desired consistency.
Freezes well.

And for dessert - I highly recommend 'Just A Spoonful's' fabulous 'Over The Top' Brownies - see link...Thanks again, Mary!

Silas Is Baptized!