Collier's Golden Birthday

I heard someone comment that if your birth day happens to be the same as your age numerically, this particular year is dubbed the "golden" birthday.  We just so happened to have the very last one of those in our little family.  Collier turned 22 years old on the 22nd of February!

I don't know why we tend to make a big deal out of birthdays because none of us enjoy the extra attention.  It is far more enjoyable for the rest of the family to celebrate a birthday rather than enjoy the occasion ourselves.

This year Collier's request included a great deal of food.  On his menu we included:

Zuppa Tuscana soup (not the Olive Garden recipe, but rather our fabulous homemade version that has been carefully tweaked over the years).

Steak Gorgonzola (we have an Italian theme going here, which I don't think he intended.  This was a reclaimation meal of sorts as Collier remembers eating a "nasty" steak gorgonzola at Olive Garden and has wanted to rectify his perception of the dish ever since).

Ice cream cake.

 Now, this ice cream cake was a bit involved, but I took the idea and ran with it.  Reminiscing about my days as an employee of the food industry (Cold Stone Creamery), I pulled out all of my round pans and recalled past Pinterest searches.  The creating of the cake only took 2 days, mostly during which the ice cream and chocolate cake rounds sat in the freezer.  Collier wanted our delicious homemade whipped cream for the frosting.  But I wanted to do an experiment.  You see, the very first pin that I "pinned" on Pinterest was this one:

Neat decorating idea, right?  This is what I wanted to do with Collier's ice cream cake.  And this is how it turned out:

It's not exactly the same, but I am certainly not a pro.  I also added a couple of things to the top of the cake that probably could have been left off for aesthetic purposes.  Added to the personality though.

All in all, my first attempt at making an ice cream cake at home was successful and I couldn't have been more excited to create my own pin!

Favorite Family Recipes

This summer has brought our family so many opportunities to fellowship with people that we love.  When I consider how we have spent the majority of our time, I realize something about my family:  we love to feed anyone with a stomach!

Having SO many opportunities to cook our favorite family recipes multiple times in rapid succession has generated a good deal of interest in these recipes.  So, rather than try to remember who wants which recipe and whether we should mail or e-mail them... here is a page totally dedicated to making those very recipes accessible.  To the right you should see a new link called "Family Favorite Recipes".  I will be adding to it as I have time or requests are made.  The inaugural inclusion:  Mom's famous Peanut Butter Pie!

Enjoy, and use these recipes to bring joy to your family and others!

Repurpose old Picture Frames

I have recently become addicted to Pinterest!

I am an idea person: very visual with a brain that is constantly coming up with ideas for everything from home decor and organization to future wedding plans. This is where Pinterest replaced my "book of 'Someday' ideas". I can sift through endless photos, save the ideas that I like and want to implement, and figure out how to actually make these ideas come to fruition. This brings me to a perpetual dilemma in my home: what do you do with old picture frames?!

We recently downsized our photos on the walls of our home and were left with an over abundance of frames. I used one antique number to display my recent degree from Florida State College - it looks rather distinguished on my bedroom wall - .

There is always a need for frames at some point, so I really do hate to get rid of them. Cross stitch and embroidery projects have been frequent productions over the past few years, and I know that I can turn just about any frame into a home for some project. However... I have been carrying around a set of frames that once displayed photos of the McGehee cousins in my grandparent's home.

They were totally "grandma" style: white with green mats, short and wide (or tall and skinny depending on your vantage point) enough to hold three 4x6 pictures. They are a shape that you just know you will want to have at some point in the future, but that currently sits in a box labeled "frames for future projects". I hate that box. It doesn't fit into my carefully arranged layers of storage bins in the basement. Tonight, insomnia proved productive -and- I was able to use one of the three frames!

Here, you can see both the "before" and "after". With some black spray paint, a scrap of fabric, and a Sharpie this frame was transformed into a functional and stylish memo board.

I don't think that I am completely satisfied with the result.  As you can tell the fabric pattern makes any memo hard to read...  I was also thinking about embroidering the word "memo" on a less busy piece of fabric.  In the near future, these three frames will all be black and have a different memo function (maybe a menu and chore list...)

The point here is that you can transform an old, useless picture frame into one of those spiffy dry-erase boards that you pay big bucks for at the craft store.  It is more versatile in design, it requires very little effort, and it can give you the satisfaction of reducing the size of your craft-donation-throw-away pile.  AND, if you do need a picture frame in the future you can wipe away any writing and pop a photo right in.  It always helps to have irregular sized frames around just in case.

New News

In the past few days we have launched three new blogs!


The Barn on Rough Knob

The Barn now has it's own blog, complete with pictures and supplied with basic rental information. Our hope is that this can be an asset for those who are interested in spending time on our mountain and exploring the outlying area. The pictures are especially exciting, and you can now take a look at the fruits of our labor! Check it out and let us know what you think.

Garden Drive Home

We are also in the process of selling/renting our house in Aurora, CO. It is currently available for showings. We have supplied a blog for easy access to basic information about the house. If you know anyone who is interested/in need of a home in the area, please pass along the blog link and our contact information (sale and rental will be By Owner).

Frugal Health Solutions

Finally, I have been learning so much about the food industry, and we are attempting as a family to be more frugal and cautious about what we eat. Part of this shift was brought on by Dad's chronic migraines. Before we left for North Carolina, we put Dad on a modified version of the elimination diet. The frequency of his migraines was drastically reduced. This is leading us to believe that the majority of his headaches are diet-related. This blog is an easy place to share our discoveries, recipes, and tips that we are gathering as we change our lifestyle for optimal health and nutrition. Most recently, I have started producing my own organic yogurt. My favorite recipe is now included with pictorial instructions for making regular and Greek style yogurt.

We hope that you enjoy these new sites and that they can serve in some way as a blessing to you and yours.

Astounded in His glory,

Chelsey for the McGehee Family

"CO"mpletely Done!

Well... not exactly.

The month of March and early April were filled with arduous labor once again as Mom and I traveled back across the country to work on The Barn. Our trip was riddled with torrential weather and vehicle problems (even though we elected to bring my car, which is the most trouble-free vehicle we own). So far, on three of our four drives to and from North Carolina, we have brought my poor little Nissan Cube straight into the eye of a terrible hail storm. It just so happens that each of these hail storms were part of the extreme weather systems that wiped out towns like Joplin, MO. God has graciously brought us through each storm unscathed.

We stopped by the Williams' latest home in Fredricksburg, VA for a long overdue visit. It was so good to see the babies again and marvel at how the children continue to grow in stature and favor with God and man. What a precious family! We continue to pray for Mrs. Williams and the little one she is currently growing. What a special thing to watch this dear family grow.

When we finally arrived in North Carolina, we wasted no time in getting to work on the barn. Our goal: to pass the final building inspection and receive the coveted "CO" letter from the county. Our list was long, but the primary objects of our attention were plumbing and tiling. Don't be fooled though! Our list was about ten miles long and even after extending our stay an additional two and a half weeks, the whole shebang is not quite where we would have hoped. But by God's grace we did finish the plumbing, clean up the property, paint the deck, and finally scrub the construction dust out of the house.

It was such a fun process to experience the benefits of each milestone we reached. The use of the toilet was especially thrilling, though we initially had to carry buckets of water upstairs to flush. And I have never been so excited to do laundry in my life.

On the whole, the trip was extremely long, exhausting, and inhumanly busy. Mom and I reverted to our solid muscle form by the end of the five weeks, and were blessed to have minimal injury despite the use of unnaturally heavy tools. But we achieved our primary goal and The Barn is livable! It is a wonderful thought to know that the next time we visit North Carolina we can actually stay there... in the place that we built.

Mom also discovered her sense of humor (to a greater extent than usual). For instance, as we were installing the washer and dryer she told me to "Go get the thing." We had just been talking about "the thing", and I knew right away what it was (despite the fact that it was 2am). But as I turned toward the tool box I decided to challenge Mom's memory a bit. "Wait a second," I said, "do you remember what 'the thing' is?" Mom spoke without hesitation, "It's what I told you to get." Praise God for the ability to laugh at oneself and each other through exhaustion!

Now that we are home in Colorado, I can chuckle about our return trip. But at the time we were traversing Kansas it was no laughing matter. We arrived in Salina about two minutes before a tornado crossed the interstate. We didn't exactly feel a great sense of safety surrounded by 100 big-rigs that were parked at the gas station in hopes of waiting out the storm. But we decided to continue down the road. Of course, the radio weather broadcast was listing numerous tornadoes by county and we had no idea which county we were in. The black clouds and rabid wind did clue us in to the fact that the tornadoes were likely close.

We stopped at a gas station in Lincoln county after lightning made a funnel cloud visible to me - the storm-watcher - directly ahead of us. Craning to stay upright in the wind, I asked the store owner if he knew where the storms were. He said that one tornado had just lifted about a mile away, and another one was moving in quickly (the weather service clocked the fastest tornado at nearly 70mph and most others at 45mph). Against his advice to "hunker down", we hit the road again, not wanting to stay in the middle of all the severe weather (and at this point we were unless we kept going). When we only saw two or three cars on the highway, we questioned our own sanity. But again, by God's grace, we drove about 90mph down the interstate and to the outskirts of the extreme weather system. Naturally, this was just in time to drive into Colorado snow on Highway 24. That's adorable...

What a relief to be home at last! Of course, the call of domesticity is ever present as Mom and I apparently increase cooking, laundry, and cleaning by our return to the "man cave". It may take a week or two to re-balance the estrogen and testosterone in the house. Dad and Collier are thrilled - to say the least - that we are home to care for them, and we are all so glad to be together again. We are four adults who enjoy each other so completely that we ache when we are apart. It is an incredible gift as parents, children, and friends.

Joyfully returned to our earthly home,

Chelsey for the McGehee Family

That Beloved Hole

My trip to the Post Office yesterday resulted in a providential encounter with a dear lady. I planned to brave the crowds that are inevitably present at any location and at any time of day, and renew my passport for my potential upcoming internship in the Philippines. The dear older woman that ran the passport counter, ushered me into a little conference room so we could take pictures, sit, and review my application.

The anticipated question came quickly, "Where do you plan to go?" I proceeded to explain my chosen trade (midwifery) and the maternity clinic in Davao City. Her questions became more pointed and soon led to discussion about church planting, being a daughter-at-home, and courtship. When we broached the subject of courtship and my prayers for the Godly husband that I believe the Lord has been preparing for me, my new friend seemed to have an epiphany. Her eyes were wide and gleaming, and she exclaimed, "You know who does work in the Philippines is that Tim Tebow! It sounds like you would be perfect together. You should write to him!"

While part of me was not surprised that she made a connection between Christian young adults based on the values I described to her in those few short minutes, another part of me was inspired to consider yet one other aspect of preparing my own heart for my Beloved.

I have never had a picture in my mind of an "ideal" man. I don't try to imagine what he may look like (though I hope he is significantly taller than me) or the profession that he has chosen. This is to my advantage, I believe, and a blessing from the Lord. I am preparing myself to avoid disappointment by not giving him any preconceived notions to contrast. I might like to jest-fully say that I need to find a chiropractor or a pediatrician. But what I want in all honesty, is a man who is diligently following the path that God has set before him.

I have also realized the sheer breadth of skill and information that I have absolutely no knowledge of or passion for. Football is one of those things (the initial inspiration for this thought in the first place). However, I also feel like this is a gift from the Lord! He is preparing my husband to be a man that I can look up to for his ideas, skills, and diligence. He is also preparing me to be in awe of the man that he is and for my Beloved's passion to become my passion.

I currently have no guess as to what he does or the ways that he serves the Lord, but I trust that he is accomplishing things for both the Heavenly and earthly kingdoms. If he is a plumber, then I will become passionate about plumbing with him. If he is a football player, then I will become passionate about football with him. He is my desire. What a joyful thing to realize that I am a whole, new creation in Christ, and yet the Father has left a hole in my heart; just the right size and shape for my Beloved to fill.

Newlife

While the path to a completed midwifery education is unclear for me, the heart and the goal are still the same as they have always been. I believe that God has designed and perfectly suited me to provide pointed and compassionate care to women and their families throughout the childbearing year with the purpose of directly demonstrating God's glory and Christ's love. He has given me a specific vision for both my Christian community, and those who have yet to embrace the call of Redemption. Last week I applied for an internship at the Mercy Maternity Center with Newlife International School of Midwifery in the Philippines.

Please, if I may, request prayers for God's will in both this potential internship and the challenges and opportunities it affords, and for the midwifery profession as a whole as midwives around the nation face numerous issues related to the law and wise practice of their trade. I so desire to not just develop this passion while I am still single, but to do so wisely and with a vision of humble service in mind. As with every mission -and essentially every action we aspire to take- prayer is the foremost need.