The Neely Team

… and learned just how much we REALLY appreciate our siblings!

You know, there are times in life when you imagine something beautiful… something perfect… something romantic…… to commemorate, bless, or honor someone or something or some occasion… you just want to make things extra special. You imagine a peaceful atmosphere, complete with candles, a well-thought-out note of love, maybe even roses or daisies…

And (sorry to tell you this), there are times in life when your dreams of fun, fluff, and fantasy just don’t happen!

That’s when you get a prime opportunity to trust in our Sovereign, loving God and blossom right where He places you!

We let you all know about Sibling Appreciation Day, all the while mentally preparing for our own celebration (a lovely picnic by the river). Then……………

There was mulch to spread!

(A HUGE, double-load.)

We faced a choice. Not exactly whether or not to spread the mulch, but whether or not to spread it with joyful hearts, accomplishing the duty set before us with smiles and laughter.

By God’s grace, the Team collectively chose to do right.

Though the evening’s events were completely different than we had anticipated, we were all reminded again just how much we really appreciate our siblings (just you imagine trying to spread that trailer heaped with mulch all by your lonesome! ) and we really did enjoy the project. It was work… hard work… hot work… exhausting work… but it was rewarding work and quite fun as we did it together.

So, be encouraged next time your plans for something wonderful are altered… or maybe even blown away completely. There are treasures in the darkness… hidden riches in secret places… a delicious-grilled-salmon-rice-sauteed-asparagas-sweet-peaches-dinner-made-by-Jessi-at-9:30 pm (with chocolate-mint brownies for dessert!) awaiting you when your work is finished –  if you will simply trust the hand of God as He takes you through the process of life.

(aka 12 happy Neelys)

A few weeks back Mrs. Tammy, a sweet friend of ours, came over for two days and instructed Amanda, Jessi, and I in beginning haircutting! For a while we have been wanting to learn this skill to bless our family and our future families. It was fun, educational, and character-building – it was great character training for Mrs. Tammy, anyway, who learned more about patience in those two mornings than she probably has in a while! 

Thank you, Mrs. Tammy, for so willingly giving of your time and expertise! You truly model the verse from Matthew 10: “… freely ye have received, freely give…”

101: Practice with the mannequins

By the way, your victims must have names, so let me introduce you to Ventura, Charalina, and Jemima.

102: Practice with the mannequins and the live mannequins

(Special thanks to our dear brothers for being such great guinea-pigs! )

(written by Susanna and Lauren)

When we went to Grandmama’s house for Thanksgiving, we picked up pecans at a friend’s orchard. Here are some thing’s that we learned:

The pecans grow on huge trees (about 3 feet in diameter).

They use a shaker on a tractor to shake the trees. (It has huge “arms” about 4 feet off the ground to shake it.)

We picked our pecans up by hand…and filled buckets and bags. But the man who owned the orchard did have a gatherer that would rake the pecans up and fill burlap bags.

Once gathered, the pecans are dumped on to a sorter that blew out the sticks, leaves, and empty shells.

After we got them gathered we took them to a business that cracks pecans. They set the machine to the size of our pecans and then it cracked every single pecan one at a time.

After they were cracked, we picked the nut out of the shells. A good return is 50%! If you gather 20 pounds, you’ve done well if you have 10 pounds left to eat.

When you harvest pecans, you must show diligence. It is good to remember this verse:

“…if any would not work, neither should he eat.” 2 Thess. 3:10

On Monday, Kathryn and I had fun putting up 8 gallons of strawberries together! This is how we did it:

Step 1: Put strawberries in a large dishpan, and fill with cold water. Let them sit for a few minutes.

Step 2: Drain the berries in a colander.

Step 3: Stem them. We used sharp knives. Take as little of the berry as possible.

Step 4: Put strawberries through the food processor with a slicing blade. Or, you can quarter them.

Step 5: Put 4 c. of sliced berries in a glass measuring cup and stir 1/4 c. of sugar. Be sure to stir gently or they will get mushed.

Step 6: Pour strawberries into a labeled quart-sized FREEZER plastic bag and gently squeeze air out. Make sure you don’t get any juice on the zipper of the bag, or it will not seal and the berries will leak in your freezer!

Step 7: Place bags on a flat tray in a single layer and put in the freezer. When they are frozen, you can take the tray out.

The berries are now ready to be used in your favorite dessert or salad. We like to use them, along with a quart of frozen peaches, 1 cup of frozen blueberries, and 3-4 fresh bananas, to make a yummy breakfast.

“Who can find a virtuous woman? … She worketh willingly with her hands. She is like the merchants’ ships; she bringeth her food from afar. (Proverbs 31: 10, 13, 14)

The biggest event of our week so far has been an addition to the family. Or, perhaps I should say 60,000+ additions to the family! For a long time we have been interested in bee keeping, and because of the generosity of Mr. Brandon, our front yard and the surrounding area is now the home to five hives swarming with honey bees. We are just “housing” them for him, but this has been unbee-lievably educational and we may just have to get some of our own in the future!

For all of our bee-keeping friends, none of this may surprise you, but for people like us, you might find this fascinating! Did you know:

- that male bees (drones) can’t sting? And that they are stung to death by the females after mating season? (Sounds feministic, if you ask me!! )

- that the worker bees control the hive population by only giving the queen enough food to lay the number of eggs they want?

- that the workers select the largest larva, build a bigger cell around it, and feed it extra to make it a queen?

- that the new queen makes a special buzz before leaving her cell, announcing her arrival to the other queen and telling her to prepare for battle?

- that the “scout bees” use special body motion to tell the hive of the location and distance of food? (the angle of their movement implies direction; the duration of the motion communicates distance)

- that when the bees leave the hive, they either fly straight out, or they do an upward spiral and then fly straight?

- that a queen bee can live between 3 and 5 years?

- that the eggs hatch into larvae after three days, and the larvae turn into bees after an additional 6-8 days?

- that if you face the entrance to the hive toward the sun, the bees will leave the hive earlier in the morning?

- that if you have an excessively aggressive hive, you just replace the queen, and in a few weeks, the hive genetics will have changed? (Occasionally this doesn’t work though. Mr. Brandon once had to replace the queen 3 times and finally had to burn the hive! But that was only with REALLY mean bees… )

- that honey bees have the ability to live for 2-3 years, but they work themselves to death in a few weeks?

- that the hive temperature has to be kept between 90 and 97 degrees F. or the larvae will die?

- that by flapping their wings, the bees have their own air conditioning system? And that by standing in certain positions, they circulate the air in one side of the hive, and out the other?

Thanks to Mr. Brandon, and City of the Bees – a  Moody Science film we found fascinating – for all of this information!

“O LORD, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches.”  Psalm 104:24

I love missions work – hearing about it, reading about it, experiencing it, and talking to those who are serving on the field where God has called them. I am very blessed to be in a family that loves people and hospitality, and to have parents who do everything they can to develop relationships with Godly people and meet those who are following the Lord whole-heartedly. Thus, I have the opportunity to know several missionary families who are serving every where from Florida, to Lithuania, to Mexico, Togo, Honduras, South Africa, Ireland, Uganda, Germany and Austria.

Several months ago, I wrote to our friends who are serving in Austria/Germany, Todd & Kim Lapato. I asked Mrs. Kim for a sample menu from over there – a common meal for the average people. My idea was to re-create that meal here for my family as well as I could, and have a special evening highlighting the Lapatos’ ministry while eating food from that country. (Since we enjoy food so much, I thought that might be a good way to make it more meaningful and memorable!) Her response was quick, mouth-watering, and far more detailed and thorough that I had even hoped for! So then came the next step: finding the perfect evening for our “missionary night.” For me,that was a little more difficult than the initial planning stage, and several months passed before we actually did it. (There were MANY nights that would’ve been great, except that we didn’t know that we’d be home or we didn’t have all the supplies or we just didn’t think about it until it was too late in the day to prepare everything!) However, the idea was “cooking” in the back of my mind all the while (pun intended ), and we finally did it – exactly five months after she sent me all the menu ideas and recipes!

It was great!! I enlisted Mom and Kathryn’s help, and we made schnitzel (a very thinly pounded filet of chicken that is dredged first in flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs), fried potatoes, and gravy, as well as a big salad, German style. (Mixed greens on top of individual piles of corn, kidney beans, green beans, grated carrot, and thinly sliced cucumbers in the bottom of the bowl; it was served room temperature, and the dressing was plain oil and vinegar.) Our beverage was equal parts mixed of carbonated water/apple juice – very yummy! (Again, the beverage was room temp, since Europeans don’t usually use ice in their drinks.) Dessert was apple pie (as a substitute for apple strudel) and coffee. Dad even let all the kids have coffee since it was a special occasion, which was quite a treat!

It was a delicious way to “experience” the Lapatos’ mission field, and everything was a smashing success! I’ve heard several requests since then for “Austrian chicken” (schnitzel), so I know everyone really liked that. The potatoes turned out softer than I had expected, so I want to do those again and see if we can make them a little crispier. We put Montreal Steak Seasoning on them (which is a grilling seasoning with black and red pepper in it), and they were really good, although probably a little spicier than they would normally be in Austria. Some of the salad “toppings” (they STARTED in the bottom of the bowl ) were a nice break from our norm, and I heard several votes to make salad like that again. We really enjoyed the whole menu, and I have a feeling that this won’t be the only time we have it!

After supper, we read an update letter from the Lapatos’, and we enjoyed hearing more about what life is like for them. We also got on their blog and read their list of prayer requests, and then prayed for each one specifically during our family prayer time. All in all, it was a fun (and delicious!) way to experience a little piece of missionary life, and we almost felt like we were “with” the Lapatos while we read their updates and prayed for them. Even though we couldn’t physically travel to Europe to see our friends, Missionary Night was a great way to take a mental journey there and visit them in spirit, while we also enjoyed some of the wonderful food like what we might have eaten if we did visit in person! The prayer time was very special, and we enjoyed having a whole evening devoted to just one family, so that we could pray more directly for their specific needs.

So what about you? Do you know anyone who is serving the Lord on a foreign field? Could you set up an evening devoted specifically to updating your family about their lives and ministry, learning about the culture they are living in, and praying for the needs that they have? Read their prayer letters and learn about their ministry. Find out what their needs are, physically, emotionally, and spiritually, so that you know better how to pray for them. Contact them and ask any questions that you may have about their field or lives. Tell them that you are thinking about and praying for them, and if you are going to have a Missionary Night, tell them that, too. I promise, your interest in what they are doing will encourage them greatly, and will also be a blessing to you and your family!!

Yes, we know, it’s been way too long since we last posted anything… sorry about that. We’ll just have to blame it on the busyness of life – because it has been CRAZY here the past few weeks!! Anyway, we wanted to at least pop in and say “hi”, just so you know that we really haven’t dropped off the face of the earth… not yet, at least. We still have a good bit going on for a while, so until we have time to post something a little more interesting, here are some clips from a couple of  the songs we recorded a few weeks ago.

To hear the clip, click on the title; a couple buttons will pop up, then click the little “play” arrow.

Turn the Tide

Patriot’s Honor

God bless you all!!!