The End of The Gathering Place

Dear Friends and Family,
After much thought, we have decided to end our family blog, The Gathering Place. We have found it to much of a burden to keep up with. We appreciate all who have commented and linked us to their blogs.

Alli, however, is going to have her own blog. Please visit her at her new blog address on the sidebar under "Alli's Blog". This is a new blog, not her old one. I have enjoyed blogging and maybe in the future, I'll make another attempt.
God bless ~ Julie

A Family Visit

Sorry for the lack of blogging these past few days, but we have been delighted with a special visit from Papa and Sheri! They drove all the way up from Georgia on Thursday and stayed with us until Sunday morning. They have been staying with Aunt and Uncle since Sunday morning, and just left this morning for their long trip home. We had such an enjoyable time during their visit! I only took a few pictures, I wish I had taken more!


Papa was Buddy's new best friend during the visit. When Papa and Sheri arrived Thursday afternoon and had settled in, we had Oyster's Rockefeller for dinner! They had brought us TONS of fresh oysters and shrimp to be eaten during their visit, and we wasted no time! Sheri had never had homemade Oyster's Rockefeller before, and I think she really enjoyed it! We were allowed to have 15 each, but no one made it that far. :) On Friday, Aunt Rhonda, Uncle Tony, and the kids drove over to spend the day at our house. I had fun making 2 big pots of Cheesy Chicken Chowder for lunch!
And of course, what goes with soup...or anything for that matter? Ummm...Chocolate Oreo Cheesecake of course! Meredith, you would be so proud! It wasn't crumbly this time. :) Finally! After lunch, we took the girls and Papa over to a little Mennonite store to look around. Papa and Sheri love when we bring them little dried spices and mixes from this store when we visit them in GA so they loved it. For dinner, Papa fried us some King Mackerel fish and leftover oysters. We were stuffed.

Saturday morning, we left at 7:30am for an EARLY breakfast! We ate at a small restaurant close by called The County Seat in downtown Powhatan.

Dad, Eric, Mom, and Philip

Sheri, Papa, and I

Of course, we had to have our picture taken in front of the sign. :) It says "COUNTY SEAT Food and Gathering Place." :) Later that morning, Aunt Rhonda and the kids drove out again to have Papa's famous Low Country Boil! Goodness, it seems like all we did was eat! lol!

For those of you who have never heard of a Boil, let me explain. Shrimp, red potatoes, corn, sausage, onion, celery, etc (we added rutabagas) are boiled in crab boil in a big pot. When it's finished, you're supposed to dump it all on a table with everyone gathered around, and you eat 'till you're full! Since it was too cold outside to dump on the picnic table, we just used pans. :) It was definitely less of a mess but equally as good!

Thanks Papa and Sheri for coming to see us. We had a wonderful time and enjoyed every moment! ~Alli

It's Snowing!!

This morning, we woke up to this peaceful scene of our first "big" snow this year! So far, we have only had dustings of snow and nothing really stuck to the ground. Today, we got about 1 1/2 inches! Eric wasted no time and immediately put on his boots and gloves for snowman making. Philip and I followed shortly, along with a curious Buddy who had never stepped in snow before. :) I, of course, had to grab the camera!!

This is my favorite path to walk on when it snows. It's so peaceful and quiet! You only hear the snow crunching under your feet. :) I love to see the white against the dark colors of the woods and the footprints of the deer that just walked by. A little further down the path, there is a line of evergreen trees that "bow" on both sides of the path when their branches are weighed down with snow and ice. :)


Here is Eric working on his snowman. The snow was perfect packing snow!

I thought this looked funny. :) Growing lettuce and spinach surrounded by snow! Look how green the lettuce is against the snow!

Buddy getting his first taste of snow

Don't you dare!!! You know, he chucked that snowball at my head as soon as I took this picture! Don't let that innocent face fool you. :)

Ta da! Eric and Philip's "ninja" snowman. :) He has a scarf tied around his head and a sword stuck in his back, I mean sheath. :) He looks like he's getting ready to karate-chop me!

I wanted to post a passage from Job that I was reminded of this morning in closing:

"God's voice thunders in marvelous ways;
He does great things beyond our understanding.
He says to the snow, 'Fall on the earth,'
and to the rain shower, 'Be a mighty downpour.'
So that all men He has made may know His work...
stop and consider His wonders."
(Job 37:5-7, 14) ~Alli

Ahhh! A Wonderful Daughter

Today, after a particularly hard day, I came into the kitchen and found this.

What a surprise and a relief to find a carefully prepared dinner all ready to go into the oven!!!! Directions were even on the chicken enchiladas. Homemade salad dressing in the mason jar. Spanish rice in the Tupperware!!! I cannot tell you how wonderful it was. Alli is such a blessing to me. Thank you Alli, I love you ~Mom

Christmas 2007

The Trents are back online from our holiday break! We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas spent with family and friends. We had a wonderful holiday, and we are still stuffed full from all of those Christmas goodies! On Christmas Eve, Nan, Bernie, Aunt Rhonda, Uncle Tony, and cousins Sarah, Jack, and Emily came out to our house for a Christmas Eve dinner.
Here we are waiting for everyone to arrive.

Once everyone had arrived, the festivities began. Punch was served, snacks were snacked on, and everyone just had a great time!
On the menu: Oysters Rockefeller, Aunt's lasagna, salad, and rolls. You have not lived until you have tried Oysters Rockefeller. I myself am not a big fan of oysters cooked by themselves, but I could eat my weight in these (as a matter of fact, I think I did!). Here, the tin foil cups are ready to be filled with oysters, a horseradish/spinach mixture, topped with breadcrumbs, cheese, and bacon. Nan is the best Rockefeller maker! I'm trying to learn the recipe so I can pass it on like she has to us!

While dinner was cooking, Emily enjoyed the little snowy village.


Ever since we had purchased our spinning tree, we have begun a new Christmas tradition with the kids. Before our Christmas Eve get-together, Mom buys little toys and candy and fills a little bag for each kid with their names on them. She hides them in the tree, and when they come over, they each take turns finding their gift bag. In this picture, Mom is playing "one potato, two potato, three potato, four..." with Sarah, Jack, Emily, and Eric to see who gets to find theirs first. They couldn't wait for after dinner to find their bags, so the grown ups gave them the "Ok". :)



Trays and trays of oysters kept coming one after another! I ate 12 oysters! Can you believe it? Once you start, there's NO stopping!

After dinner, there was a flurry of presents being opened! Amidst all of the excitement, Bud-lo found a spot to rest right in the middle of the action. We had a wonderful time!

On Christmas Day, we woke up at 6am to open presents. I was going to take pictures, but it was too early! We had our traditional breakfast casserole, cinnamon rolls, and orange juice for breakfast.

Later that afternoon, we headed on over to Granny and Papa's house for Christmas dinner. I forgot my camera! The smells of roast and hash brown casserole welcomed us when we got there, and I was put in charge of making sauteed broccoli and rolls. After we had all stuffed ourselves full once more, we exchanged gifts. Afterward, Granny had us all play the Christmas gift exchange game with gag gifts that she had bought! I was stuck with a rooster alarm clock that crows rather loudly! Eric won huge dog slippers where you stick your foot through the dog's mouth, Philip won a singing squirrel, Mom was stuck with blinking reindeer antlers and fake teeth :), and Dad won a shirt with a funny saying on it. It was very interesting!

All in all we had a fabulous Christmas! I can't believe it has already passed and tomorrow begins the New Year! Are y'all staying up? I didn't make it last year but I am going to try harder! Tonight we are having snacks and are going to play some board games while we wait for the ball to drop. Have a great night everyone, and we'll see you next year! :) ~Alli

Return Of The Daughters

A lot of people ask us, "Why isn't Alli working or going to college?" I mean, after all, isn't that the next step after high school according to the world's standards? This question is a hard one to answer. We know that our society thinks that the only way to be successful is to follow these traditional paths. Tony and I have been convicted in this area for Allison.

Her heart's desire is to be a keeper at home...God's highest calling for a woman. She has embraced these single years as a time of learning and loves being a helper to her family at home. Does this mean that she is uneducated or wasting her life? On the contrary! She has helped make our home the center of education, ministry, entrepreneurialism, and especially hospitality- valuable tools to carry with her to benefit the next generation for the glory of God.

This movie, the Return of the Daughters, has been such an encouragement to our family! It's wonderful to know of the growing number of young ladies who are turning to this way of life and defying today's anti-family culture.

We give this move the highest of ratings!

~Julie

A Very Chocolaty Birthday

Today is Mom's birthday! Because today was a special day, she was treated like a queen, of course! Instead of cake, we thought we'd try a new dessert for a treat after her birthday dinner. I decided to try making little chocolate bowls with chocolate mousse inside... a dieter's nightmare! I had seen some fancy chef make this dessert on a cooking show and I have been longing to make it because it looks so elegant!

Okay, I got off to a rough start. :) In order to make the chocolate bowls, you melt chocolate and then dip an inflated balloon in it to make the bowl shape. When it hardens in the refrigerator, you pop the balloon and...voila! Well, I was not thinking and dipped a balloon in piping hot chocolate fresh out of the microwave! KABOOM! There was chocolate all over the kitchen! I think I still have some in my hair. :) So, if you want to make this dessert, please make sure your chocolate has cooled!
To make the mousse: Whip a carton of whipping cream with a mixer or a whisk (the chef held three whisks together and whisked the cream making it go a lot faster!), melt some chocolate in a separate bowl (I used a bar of Baker's chocolate), then pour the whipped cream, a little bit at a time, into the melted chocolate. The chef added a scoop of whipped cream to the chocolate first to temper it and cool it down a little bit before adding the rest. Then you fold it together...not too much or the whipped cream will loose its fluffiness. Then, I scooped the mousse into a plastic baggie, snipped a corner, and piped it into the chocolate bowls. We had raspberries sprinkled on ours, but you could also use strawberries.
Mom's bowl :)

Oh another thing...if I were going to make this recipe again, I would make the bowls a lot smaller! This is a really rich dessert! It was very good though, and it is a recipe that is definitely going in the recipe box. :) The "queen" enjoyed it! Happy birthday Mom! We love you!

Target Practice

A couple of weeks ago, Dad and Mom bought Eric a knife and tomahawk throwing DVD from Vision Forum along with two throwing knives and a tomahawk. On the DVD, the instructor had made his targets out of tree stumps, and Eric was inspired to make his own.

Nice color choices :)

I am standing out of the way! Eric is really impressive when he throws his knives. :)

I, on the other hand, am not so great. :) Maybe he can give me lessons! Every time I throw the tomahawk, it either ends up in a tree or we can't find it. :) I think I'm going to have to get a few pointers from my 12 year old brother...just in case I ever come across a bear or a ravenous squirrel. Not like I would have the courage to actually kill it anyway. ;) ~Alli

Fun With Seeds and Family

Today I have started a project that I have never attempted before- growing vegetables from seed during cold weather. I'm kind of nervous. :) We have grown vegetables in our cold frame in the spring and they did extremely well so we'll see what happens! I tried growing flowers from seeds last year and wasn't very successful. :)

Yesterday, Eric helped me relocate our empty cold frame to our open garden plot so our veggies would get more sun. After loosening the soil today, I planted my seeds! For my experiment, I decided to plant some lettuce and spinach for salads throughout the cold weather. Also, planting lettuce and spinach is pretty fool-proof since they're both very versatile vegetables. I planted half of the cold frame with lettuce and half with spinach. We shall see if they grow!

Buddy watched me plant today and was constantly running away with my seed packets! I guess his cuteness makes up for his mischievousness. :)

At around lunchtime today, Nan, Aunt Rhonda, and Emily came over for a visit! It is always so nice to have them. :) We had spicy vegetable soup, pasta salad, and turkey wraps for lunch. Emily loved playing with Buddy!

After everyone had left, Mom, Eric, and I went for a country drive to pick Philip up from college. Mom surprised us for dinner by taking us to an Italian restaurant! Now we are all stuffed and sleepy. :) A perfect ending for a wonderful day! ~Alli

A New Addition

Announcing the newest member of our family!

Buddy

Today, Eric received his first dog- a 5 week old Jack Russell Terrier puppy! He is such a sweet little thing!

A boy and his dog :)

Welcome to the family little Buddy!

Celebrate the Glory!

What a wonderful weekend we had! On Saturday, Dad, Mom, Eric and I travelled to Lynchburg, VA for a encouraging and uplifting conference that celebrated the glory of the Lord! We heard about it through the Alexanders, who also went.The topic of this particular conference was how to establish family worship in the home.
The first speaker and the man who ran the show, Marc Jantomaso, gave a wonderful session on the glory of God's Word.

Eric Wallace was there to speak about the beauty of family worship in the home and in the church.

We were also able to hear Scott Brown speak which was a real treat! We have only heard him on tapes and CDs, and we enjoyed being able to actually "see" him speak! He gave a session on family worship leadership.

Arnold Pent, the author of Ten P's In a Pod, was also there to speak on the fruit of family worship. He was hilarious!

All throughout the conference, we were blessed with beautiful music played by the Harrow family. It was neat to see them actually take Scripture and put it to music.
This is the view we had from the conference!

Sitting in the sun after lunch. It was so cold and windy there!

During the conference, we were challenged to memorize a passage from Psalm. Here, Dad is trying to rehearse it before sessions began again.

Afterward, Dad went to Scott Brown to get him to autograph a book that we had bought of his. He ended up staying and chatting with him and Mr. Pent for a good 15 minutes!

We joke Dad about him hanging around all of those "famous" people. :) We had so much fun at this conference and learned so much from it. It was a blessing to see Mom and Dad be encouraged. We also enjoyed being around so many like-minded families! ~Alli

"Praise the Lord!
Blessed is the man who fears the Lord,
Who delights greatly in His commandments.
His descendants will be mighty on the earth;
The generation of the upright will be blessed."
~Psalm 112:1-2

~To see some Harvest Party pictures from Sunday, please head on over to my blog!!