Kara and Derrick's new home!

When we arrived at Kara's we gave her some early birthday presents, yikes 

she is 21 years old this week!!!

Kara opening one of her gifts.

Everyone helping Kara prime the walls of her bedroom, covering up the green paint.

Ruby was so excited to be able to paint too!

Painting party!! Kara & Derrick's friends Mitch and Larissa joined in on the painting of the livingroom.

Kara

Stephen was such a big help!! Here he is sweeping the hardwood floors.

Derrick and his Dad, Pastor Doug cutting wood for the new steps they built out the back of the house.

Friday night was a Dinner Theatre at the church, here's Adam serving Ruby & Emma their salads.

Here's Derrick's Mom doing a Chazzah presentation to "City on our Knees"

Derrick wrote and sang a beautiful song he wrote about Jesus, My Master.

This is Brad and Trevor doing a ventriloquist act! LOL

Here everyone is looking at the blue van after it just died in the driveway.

The big van loaded down with furniture and no seats! so thankful we didn't have to rent a u-haul especially after having car repairs necessary for the blue van.

Kara taking a break out back, see the new steps.

Derrick planning out his entertainment center lay-out.

Trying to charge the battery on the van, this wasn't the only problem unfortunately!

Stephen,Ruby, Adam, Amy & Zach taking a break and playing some ipod games.

Ellen, looking a little tired after getting up at 4 a.m. Sat. to make the trip with her Dad, see how lovely the dining room looks with the furniture he brought.

This is a piece of furniture Grandpa brought from his brother's house for Kara to have, it matches so perfect with all her woodwork.

The living room

Derrick's entertainment center, has some staining to do on it yet, but it's functional.

There are lovely built in bookshelves on both sides if a place for a woodburner in the living room.

A touch of Disney, of course!

Celebrating Kara's birthday!

This buffet piece was from Kara's great grandma, it looked great in the dining room!

This was one of the gifts Steve picked out for Kara.

Another gift from Dad.

Opening more gifts!!

Updates on Kara & Derrick

well where to start, just wanted to give an update on the newlyweds!  They are doing great, busy as ever, work has overtaken Kara's life right now and she's praying for a new job. She's working 12-14 hr. days, 6 days a week at Rent a Center.  She loves the job itself, but hates the hours. The job does not require her to be in the office every day, she gets to drive the truck, deliver and even set up furniture! Sometimes she's driving into NY as much as 2 hrs. away.  They lost an employee about a mos. ago and only re-hired a replacement this past week, only he lasted 3 days and quit! and this is the week someone else is on vacation, so she's wondering if 14 hrs. is now going to be 18!!!! 

The real downside of this job is that she has no time for her photography! She's had requests to do some family photo shoots and such, but has only Wed. off or Sun. (which of course is not really a day off, it's a day of rest).  So she has applied for a job with the local gas co. and was re-checking to see if the hospital is accepting any apps.  Please join us in praying the Lord will provide employment that will enable her to have her evenings free and Sat. to do what she loves, her photography. 

Derrick is teaching piano and voice and working with a local cleaning company.   He also would love to pick up more music students and do what he loves more. 

They are praying that the purchase of a home works out within the next mos.  They need to get out of the trailer before the weather is cold on a regular basis.  There is a possibility of a home purchase on the horizon, but all details need to fall into place.  Trusting God to work that all out. 

So prayers are appreciated on their behalf that they can be patient and prayerful as they seek God's best for their future. 

We did get to visit over Labor Day, it's not what I had envisioned for the summer, we figured we'd be seeing each other on trips there and their trips here, but with Kara's work schedule that didn't pan out.  Hopefully once they have a house, she can have a new job that would enable us to go up and visit more regularly.  We all really miss her terribly and 4 to 6 wks. between visits is too long!  And even then our visits are so short, they've gotten in as late as 2 a.m. Sun. a.m. and had to turn around and leave Mon. by 4p.m.  so we are all longing for longer visits.

flavored coffee syrup recipes/free recipe book

Molly over at Econobusters shared this, can't wait to try it, this list of ingredients will be way shorter than on the bottled brands.

Homemade Coffee Syrups Work for Me!

Posted: 01 Sep 2010 05:18 AM PDT

I have a friend who drinks coffee a lot! She loves flavored coffee syrup, like the ones they use at Starbucks, but it is about $7 a bottle where she lives.
I decided that this year, I was going to make some homemade coffee syrup and send it to her as a gift. When my package arrived, she fell in love! She told me that they tasted better than the real thing and that I was now her official Starbucks replacement!
Here is what you need to be able to to do the same:
~Start with a simple syrup. To make a simple syrup, combine 1 cup water and 1 cup white sugar. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer until it has reduced by half, which should take about 5 minutes. Now if you want flavoring, you have to add those ingredient(s) at the same time you add the water and sugar.
Vanilla Coffee Syrup: Add 2 teaspoons of vanilla flavoring to the simple syrup. Taste to see if it is vanilla flavored enough. If not, add an additional teaspoon.
Cinnamon Coffee Syrup: Add about a teaspoon of ground cinnamon to the water and sugar mixture.
And to top off the flavored syrups, here is my favorite coffee from Starbucks! I don’t go there hardly at all any more since I have been making all my favorite coffee stuff at home! In fact, It has been months since I have been. I think mine tastes much better (I know, I am biased)!
Pumpkin Spiced Latte
2 cups milk
1 cup very strong coffee
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 teaspoons sugar (or one packet of Splenda)
1 teaspoon cinnamon (plus extra for dusting)
2 heaping spoonfuls of canned pumpkin
Pour all of the ingredients into a pot and heat over medium-high heat until the coffee is steaming hot. Pour into mugs and top with whipped cream & cinnamon. Enjoy!

Today she also has a link to a free ebook of Smart Schooltime Recipes there are 125 in there! so you can download that if you choose:
http://www.econobusters.com/?p=5248

Thanks Molly!

Appreciate your prayers

Steve's Dad had been feeling especially tired the last few weeks, enough that he felt he needed to get to the doctor.  After some initial bloodwork they deteremined he was anemic and requested some further blood testing, an ekg, and stress test.  After all that was complete and another round of bloodwork they were able to determine his red blood cell level was very low and dropped more on a third round of blood testing.  

They were able to get him in with a hematologist this coming Friday.  So please pray for the doctor to have wisdom and guidance as he interprets all the information.  And please pray for Dad and Mom both as they are anxiously awaiting the diagnosis.  I'll post next week and let you know the outcome.  Thanks so much for your prayers on his behalf, they are greatly appreciated!

Book Review

Wow! I don't even know where to start telling you about this book, except that you SHOULD read this one!
I read this one in about a 24 hr. period, my mother in law read it even quicker, and my friend Debbie probably has finished it in that same amount of time as well.  Once you start you can't put it down, you must find out what happens.

It is a TRUE account about a Pastor and his family and their life in North Carolina during the 1970's.  It is truly unbelievable and very eye opening.  You cannot read this book and not be touched by these folks who lived what they believed in spite of great persecution. This books is a real life fulfillment of the scripture to "Bless those that Persecute you, Bless and do not Curse" and comes from this family who lived right here in the USA, not a foreign country. A great lesson and a great read, one of those that you can say you'll never forget.

It is available at Amazon.com or from Library and Educational Services. 

more Tennessee

Stephen outside the knife works, every boys and mans dream place!!

another bear at Cades Cove

one of the many, many deer at Cades Cove

View of the Smoky Mts. from Cades Cove

this is one of the bears we saw in "Cades Cove"

Audiobooks from our trip

http://www.visionforum.com/search/productdetail.aspx?search=lamplighter+books&productid=55470

I can't recommend these audiobooks enough!!! This is the set I purchased when they were on sale and I had a $25 off coupon from Vision Forum a few months back.  Let me tell you they were such a hit, we can't wait for more to be released.  A new one just came out last week and they are working on 2 more for September release.  So I'll be waiting for a special day to buy the new one and get it out or I'll use it as some type of motivation for schoolwork. 

We listened to all 6 of the audios in the set throughout out trip to TN.  I have to say there was only 1 that was not as good as the others in my opinion, not that it wasn't good, it just wasn't as dramatic I guess you could say. Most all of them had us laughing and crying throughout the stories and that was not just the children!

Each night when we'd be traveling home (Balega's and our family together) we'd put one of these in and the children would all stay awake and quiet, despite the activity of the day.  Even little Ruby stayed awake all but one evening.  Then we couldn't finish the whole book so they'd have to wait till our next trip down the mountain to hear the conclusion.  They were all chomping at the bit to hear the story each day, asking to put the cd in from the second we entered the car.  

I'd have to say these were a well worth the money spent to purchase! I know I'll have to keep these in a special place or they'll be scattered throughout the house with everyone wanting to listen to them over and over.  The lessons they teach are so valuable that you'll be glad you had the opportunity to listen.

I can't recommend them enough, we are hooked! buy a set for a trip or buy a set and use them as a special reward.  If you can buy only one I think I'd recommend Sir Malcolmn and the Missing Prince, I think that's my favorite although it's a very close call between the others for first place!