My Family Loves Food

My family loves food - probably too much!! There doesn't have to be any reason for us to get together and eat, but we know that any time we are going to do something for the day, or even a few hours, there will be a meal involved.

When we get together like this we always go out to eat, we don't cook at home. This can be good or bad...good because we don't have to visit over cooking a meal and we have more time to visit...bad because we end up eating out way too much.

In addition to these restaurant visits, end up eating out a lot of other times because our son plays baseball, both high school and select. The seasons start in March and go through mid November. There are up to three games a week sometimes, which means late nights. Often times we stop on our way home to eat out vs. coming home and having to fix something at 9:00 at night.

It hasn't always been this way in our family though. My grandma always cooked at home, and it was a special occasion to go out and eat. That is how I grew up. We only went out to eat for birthdays, and the birthday person always got to have their pick of the restaurant. That is when it was fun to eat out.

Now when we eat out, though it may make life easier, is actually hard. We have a difficult time agreeing on a place to eat, either because someone just ate there, they've eaten there too much, or nothing sounds good to anyone because we rarely eat at home. My aunt and I just spent eight weeks in Cleveland, and we ate out every day. Once we got home I couldn't stand the thought of eating out...that only lasted a couple of weeks and we are right back at it.

Speaking of my grandma, it reminds me how much fun it was to know we were going to her house. We always knew she'd either have one of our favorite things waiting on the table, or she was going to ask us what we wanted and make it once we got there. She did the same thing for my son when he was little. When she thought he wasn't eating enough she'd make him is favorite thing for breakfast and dinner if he wanted it, and she'd be so happy at how much he ate that day. She did this for everyone that came into her home. There was always food ready, or would be ready soon upon their arrival. My husband used to pick up our son from their house once a week, and he'd do so after working the graveyard shift. When he got there she'd always have eggs, sausage and hotcakes ready for him. There was a period of time when my Dad loved spice cake, so once a week she'd bake him a cake and bring it to our house. She loved to make sure we were all getting our tummy's full, and with things we loved to eat.

I rarely cooked while I was working, because I spent too much time away from my family. In November and December, prior to going out of town, I began cooking often. I've gotten out of the routine since I came home, but I actually went grocery shopping tonight, and it consisted of food to cook for complete meals.

Church is a Community

Church is a community. It is something I'm very proud to be a part of, and love very much. At Pilchuck Valley Chapel (PVC) we are a community made up of approximately 70 people, but we are a small number in comparison to the church community worldwide. Our community at PVC is held together by Pastor Brady, his wife Bobby, the church elders, and the volunteers.

The people in my church community want to know God, through his Son, Jesus Christ. We come together each Sunday to get another lesson from the Bible, to pray for our families, friends, the soldiers, and other people we don't know. This community of people learn to show love to people they don't know by praying for them in a time of need, offer them food and clothing when they are homeless or can't afford to feed their children, and tell them the word of God. Our values are honesty, love, faith, and family.

There are many faiths and religions followed in our world. This is OK, except when someone of a different faith tries to tell me that mine is wrong. The same would be true if I did that to someone else. It is sad to me that not everyone finds faith to follow. There is a lot of sin in this world, and the church community faces it every day. Our faith leads us to prayer for these people, but we still have to listen to derogatory comments, or that there is no such thing as God or his Son, Jesus. There are television shows on Discovery and the History Channel where the researchers are doing everything they can to prove that there could be no such spirit or Son.

What I hold dear to my heart about this community is the unconditional love I receive from each and every one of the people that belong to it. Love is the first thing you receive as you walk through the doors, because every week you are greeted by a hug or a hand shake. The only thing you need to do to fit in is come to church and listen to the Word. Even if you walk through the doors and aren't sure whether or not you believe, or you haven't asked Jesus into your heart, the people in my community will share with you their personal experiences and knowledge from the Bible. There is no pushing, shoving, or hovering that happens at PVC, only love.