It's beginning to look a lot like..... openhouse!

Glick’s Greenhouse Poinsettia Show


Friday Dec. 4 9am-9pm
Saturday Dec. 5 9am-5pm
Closed Sunday
Monday Dec. 7 9am-9pm


The drawbridge is down,
the gates flung open wide,
a Christmas Celebration
awaits you inside!
10,000 poinsettias, a wreath display,
There’s even a drawing for prizes on the way.

Gather into the great hall for music by the band -
Perhaps you’ll hear strains from a Celtic land.

You ask how much food and drink are worth?
You’ll find them completely free at our hearth.
So celebrate with us in a castle of stone,
As we look to the King upon His throne.



2009 Music Schedule

Friday December 4th

10:00-11:00 Keri Houp (piano)
11:30-1:00 Conestoga Christian School (choir)
1:30-2:00 Park Family (Scottish dancing)
2:30-3:00 Park Family (Scottish dancing)
3:15-4:15 Leonard Stoltzfus (accordion)
4:30-5:30 Andrew Uchida (vocal/guitar)
6:30-7:15 Beyond the Pale (Celtic music)
7:45-8:30 Beyond the Pale (Celtic music)



Saturday December 5th

10:00-11:30 The Inglin Family, vocal/guitar/piano/trumpet
12:00-1:30 The Hamer Family, Celtic music/Irish dancing
2:00-3:00 Cammi Glick, piano
4:00-5:00 Cammi Glick, piano

Monday December 7th

10:00-12:00 Keri Houp & Heidi Martin (piano)
12:30-2:00 Berks Christian School (choir)
4:30-6:00 Damien Drago (vocal/guitar)
6:30-7:15 The Martin Family Band (Celtic music/dancing)
7:45-8:30 The Martin Family Band (Celtic music/dancing)

Old becomes new!

Lately I've been on a decorating, refinishing, repurposing kick. I've been having a great time and am quite pleased with my efforts, so I thought I'd share some pics here! (Edited to add that I'm terrible at adding pics, so they're a bit out of order - do your best with figuring out the before and afters!)

Health update

I am praising the Lord! I went back to see the dr again to follow up on the treatments prescribed; and we were all disappointed to find little improvement. So, he decided to prescribe an antibiotic on the chance that I could have "an a-typical bronchitis or walking pneumonia". Unfortunately, I apparently don't tolerate Zithromax very well, so I had a rough couple of days. But, after that I have noticed an amazing improvement in my breathing and coughing! So much so that I have stopped the nebulizer treatments all together - about which I am very pleased. The Zofran seems to be helping still and has backed off my 'all-day-sickness' to a constant nausea with very little throwing up. Because I thought the tylenol with codiene was upsetting my stomach even more, I've also cut that out almost entirely, and am just taking ES Tylenol for the rib pain. I've gained back about 2 pounds and am starting to see my tummy pooch out a little again. I've felt an amazing peace too about the safety and well being of our little one, which I really count as one of the more important answers to prayer. Thanks to all who have been holding up my family in prayer!

Caution - long explanation of health!

As most of my readers know (because probably 6 out of the 8 are family!); I've been suddenly bombarded with some rather frustrating health issues. At the end of August, we were very excited to learn that baby #5 is on it's way! Thus far, all seems to be well with the little growing one; I saw the little peanut in an ultrasound and heard it's heartbeat -what a blessing! About the same time, I started with a deep chest cough that never really turned into a cold or anything, but I just couldn't shake it. I did see the NP at my dr's office who thought it was allergy induced asthma and gave me an inhaler. I didn't use the inhaler much because #1 I was worried about the effects on the baby #2 I didn't like the shaky feeling I got afterward and #3 it didn't seem to have that much good effect to make it worth while. Then last week, my constant 'morning sickness' took a turn for the worse and I couldn't keep anything down for 4 days. After the continual coughing and throwing up, I also developed a rather severe pain in my side. So, off to the dr again. After spending over an hour with the dr, he prescribed four different things. A medicine to control the throwing up - which is great. And some tylenol with codeine for the pain in my side, which seems to be a fractured rib. An inhaled medicine; and a nebulizer treatment every hour. My major concern was the nebulizer, because when my heart races after a treatment, the baby's does as well. So, by the second day, I'd cut the nebulizer back to a coupla times a day. I've been praying for safety for the baby and peace for myself very much over the last week. Sunday, I asked for prayer at church and Denise had a word of comfort for us. She said that she saw a picture of hands wrapped around our little baby; and felt the word "filter" - that my body is doing it's job of filtering the medicines before it reaches the little one. What an answer - as that was exactly what I'd been praying for! Then at my follow up appointment yesterday, the dr was very understanding about my concerns with the nebulizer and suggested I do half treatments to cut back some of the bad feeling afterward; and is also trying an antibiotic (safe for baby) to treat what may be "an a-typical bronchitis or walking pneumonia". I'm still a bit frustrated at the very slow speed of recovery; but feel that my dr's care and concern have been an answer to prayer as well. I'm still in quite a bit of pain, as my rib will take several weeks to heal and I'm still coughing from the tightness in my chest- but the dr assured me that my pain meds were ok for baby, so I don't need to hesitate to take them. So, right now, I lay and watch a lot of the DIY channel, and nap quite a bit too. I hate not feeling like I'm contributing to my family, but my kids have been wonderful and we've been getting a lot of extra snuggles. I'd appreciate continued prayers for my recovery, the health of the baby, and some rest for poor Joey, who has been Super-dad. I apologize if this came across as a long complaint; but Denise challenged me to blog through this tough time, so I had to start somewhere!

Spiritual Metabolism

There's been this vague picture that's been rattling around in my brain for the last couple of weeks and I'm hoping that putting it here may help me clarify the idea. I've been contemplating lately the idea of God's word being my 'daily bread' and the lessons I've learned about what it means for God to by my 'portion'. Years ago, after my first miscarriage, when we struggled for months to try to concieve again, that experience bottomed me out. I struggled with depression, fear, and disappointment. Through that dark time, the foundational truth I received from the Father was the reality of what God being my 'portion' meant. When I first thought about it, the word 'portion' seemed so small, so exact, rather disappointing - like a Weight Watchers allowment! lol But, I felt like God revealed to me that it was exactly what I needed to get through each day. I had this picture of a refugee camp type place where each person had a certain ration; an exact amount that certainly didn't seem satisfying, but would be sufficient to make it another day. And in that time, God showed me that when I felt I had nothing else to lean on, to help me through another day - He was my portion. And for many years, and through many trials, I've returned to that revelation.
Lately, God's been taking it a step further. Looking back on the refugee camp picture, I thought about a person rescued from such a camp and the process of recovery they'd have to go through. It's kinda a reverse weaning process. After being undernourished for so long, you can't just take them to a buffet and let them stuff their faces. Slowly, you'd introduce more and more while their body adjusted.
Naturally, my train of thought turned to food, which we as a family - love! Joe can eat. Like few people I've ever met - he can put away a serious amount of food. But, he stays slim. Irritating to any person who struggles with their weight, but amazing none the less. I figure that it's his metabolism and how busy he is. Because of his job - he is constantly on the move. He takes in an incredible amount, because he's constantly using it up! Through that, I felt God challenging me to jump start my spiritual metabolism. I felt like God was reminding me that it's not good enough to take in as much of Him, His presence, His word, His grace as I can. I have to use it up too! Don't sit still and get fat on this spiritual meat - burn it off! Use it! I struggled with this - thinking, "what, I'm not at a place to do missions or evangelism or leadership", and I kinda stalled. Then, last night, at small group, we were talking about (amongst other things) not underestimating the little things. And, God brought this back to my mind in relation to my spiritual metabolism. Even little things burn calories - like laughing, walking - even kissing! So, even little things can be accomplished using the energy from the spiritual meat I'm consuming. Having patience with my children, quietly serving those around me, listening and encouraging my family and friends - all of these things are only accomplished when I'm being fed! If I neglect a health diet - physically and spiritually - everything around me feels the effects! I want to be able to take in more, so I need to up my activity level! I still feel like this is a slightly fuzzy picture, and I hope that it wasn't terribly confusing to read; but I also feel like I'm being challenged and encouraged!

In case anyone didn't get to see the pictures from our Birthday Celebration Circus and Carnival - you can see them here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2016050&id=1224232508&ref=mf (You have to copy the address and paste it, I can't get the link thing to work!)
I think our party was a great success. We were a little disappointed to have it inside because of the weather, but it was fun regardless. The girls (and Joe) did a great job with their circus performances; which we had to do on the bar in the kitchen. Then there was games and lots of candy prizes at the carnival set up in the basement. Pin the nose on the clown; Knock down the milk bottles; Ping Pong ball toss; Toss the lion into the rings of fire; Feeding Henrietta the elephant with peanuts; and tossing frogs onto lily pads. Joey had done such a great job of building me the games out of scrap wood, and I had so much fun painting it all! All of the girls had a fabulous time (I do believe they enjoy being the center of attention!). Eventually the weather cleared up and the kids went outside to play and discovered a good sized black snake in our rock pile that entertained them for a while too. And we all got to enjoy a huge rainbow over our back yard too! It was a busy, blessed day

Pretty girls

Our friend Nathan Desch is a gifted photographer, and he had some lovely subjects to work with recently! Also - the newly updated pictures of the girls in my sidebar were thanks to him as well!

We're planning a big birthday bash for Saturday, celebrating all three of our summer birthday girls. And then, my three little ones suddenly got hit with crazy fevers and sore throats. So, we lined them up on the counter to annoint them all with oil and pray for them. After that, they went to get jommies on, and then came back to the kitchen when they decided that they should pray for us so we don't get sick either. So, they held hands around us on the kitchen floor while Lil prayed. How awesome was that?! (Lest anyone think we are too super cool and spiritual; this prayer circle was then sealed with an all hands in, "Gooooo Glicks - Break!") I am so blessed by my children.

Things I'm re-learning...

Sometimes lessons I've known for seemingly my lifetime, turn around and look brand new. I find that it's no coincidence that the struggles that I've been dealing with over the last several weeks, happened to rear their ugly head around Easter. Fear, worry, depression, self depreciating attitudes.... How can any of those things stand in the light of the work that was done on Easter? Something that was brought out again on Easter was the simple fact that Jesus CONQUERED THE GRAVE. Duh, right? But, realizing the depth of what that means was new to me again. Jesus didn't remove death. He put it in it's place. In a place under His authority. Yes, we still have to deal with death, everyone does. But as a believer, and through the authority that comes with His blood - we are not conquered by death. And not only death. Any life-robbing thing - like fear, worry, depression.... They're not gone - but they are defeated. I still deal with them, but I need to remember to deal with them from a place of authority in Christ, from a place of hope. They are sneaky little buggers and I often 'forget' that I don't have to struggle under the load that they lay on my shoulders. But there is a certain freedom in knowing that I don't have to fight those fights - they've already been won on a level that I can not even fully comprehend. The only thing I have to do is accept the victory that is offered and continue to lay those 'losers' at the feet of the 'champion'.

Joys of teaching..

Conversation in the car....
Lily: I can spell 'the' - t.h.e.
Mom: very good.
Lily: I can spell 'he' - h.e.
Mom: very good Lil!
Lily: I can spell 'me' - y.o.u.
Mom: oh dear....*sigh*

Easter

We held a Jewish Seder meal here on Maundy (sp?) Thursday - what a great learning experience for our kids - and what an awesome reminder to us adults - so intense!



Easter day festivities were held at our house too! Church on Easter morning, then our family dinner.

Some things that make me smile....

I've started this post multiple times, trying to make it amusing and interesting to read; but have been unsuccessful. I just wanted to share a few things that happened this past week with my children that is making me hold them all a little tighter.
Monday I got a phone call from my sister asking for prayer because she had a tick bite that is looking rather scary and has to have blood work done to see if she has Lyme's Disease. After that call, I remembered that I had pulled a tick off Lily's head on Thursday and called her over to check on it again. AFter 4 days, it was still very swollen, red and sore - so I called the dr. Fortunately, they think she's fine, but has to take antibiotics for a month. (Prayers are still appreciated for my sister, as we won't know her results for about a month.)
Then, Wednesday, the girls were all sitting at the bar finishing lunch. When I went to the sink, Eva decided to get herself done from the stool, but apparently slipped. I turned in time to see her flip and do a direct head dive onto the tile floor. I immediately scooped her up and set her up to check her out. She was groaning and not crying and struggling to breath. I called Joe and he came home within about 2 minutes to find her still grunting and pale, and wanting to go to sleep. He called a worker from the greenhouse to come stay with the other girls and we took off for the drs office which normally is about 7 minutes away, and I think we made it there in less than 4 minutes. By the time we arrived there, Evie was starting to breath normally and still wanted to go to sleep, but was able to talk to me. After checking her out thoroughly, the dr said that she had gotten the wind knocked out of her and was stunned, but perfectly fine, not even a bump on her head. We kept her awake for a couple hours and she's been fine since.
Then, Friday night, we were having a family night. Evie and Elley were watching a movie and Joe, Anna, Lily and I were playing Scrabble. At some point, Lily went upstairs to get something, and we heard what sounded like someone falling down the stairs. We took off running, expecting to see Lil on the landing. Running up the stairs, we discovered that that was not the sound we heard. But, right inside the girls' bedroom we saw the tall chest of drawers toppled. Apparently, Lil tried to climb up the dresser to get in the top drawer and it fell. She says she tried to hold it back when it started to tip (she weighs about 35 pounds!), but managed to get out of the way, except for getting her fingers pinched in the drawer. I just held her and thanked the Lord for His protection, because I absolutely believe there was angelic intervention that kept that incident from being much much worse. Lily was very shook up and will NEVER try that again and will be very cautious to make sure her sisters don't either!
Finally, last night, we were in Ephrata at an international worship service at another Dove church. We had only done one song, when we heard a loud noise and the power went out. People scurried for candles and flashlights and they continued the service, despite the loud pounding, which we discovered was golf-ball-sized hail. After the service, people were heading out,still in the dark, when I discovered Evie missing. She had been sitting with Jess' boys at the other end of the row, and when Jessi went up front to retrieve Kate's ring that she forgot in the bathroom, apparently Eva followed her without anyone seeing. Immediately we fanned out, looking and calling for her and after a few minutes, she was found being "detained" by two guys in the front of the church trying to figure out where she belonged. It was heartstopping, considering it was dark, and the doors to the parking lot were propped open to allow some light in. She was oblivious to my fear and was content to be stuck right back into my sling. When all was said and done, we also discovered that apparently, it was not just a hail storm outside the church, but also some tornado activity, that shattered the church sign, tore down the steeple and destroyed a barn across the street, as well as poles down, roofs blown apart and other random damage all around where we were. We are very grateful for our safety!
All this to say, I think God must be pulling out all the stops lately to get me to deal with some issues! I'm feeling a bit battered dealing with the identity thing, and now adding the fear thing on top of it! I'm about ready for a break!

Ahhh! I screwed up my facebook account and had to start all over again! If anyone was my friend there, could you please add me again, so I can rebuild my friend list? I just don't know what I'll do without my connection to the outside world through facebook!

Normally, I try to refrain from posting unless I have something good to share - something funny that happened, something uplifting that I'm learning. But, I've been feeling less than amused or uplifted for a while. Maybe it's the time of year; I definitely struggle when I'm not getting quality time with the hubby, and get to feeling restless waiting for the warm days of spring. Maybe it's just that I was really enjoying feeling a bit of peace for a while and God decided to rip me a new one to shake things up. I don't know. I'm not yet to the point where I can clearly see the lesson. Still at the point where I just want to hide and cry. Having to come back to basics - who God says I am. This seems to be a recurring theme with me - struggling with my identity, my value; apparently I'm a very slow learner. Where does this come from - this feeling of being unaccepted? My poor husband doesn't know what to do with me, when every time he comes home, he finds me crying. So, just putting it out there - kind of a warning to those that may be unfortunate enough to cross my path right now.

Joey was cleaning up around the outside of the house today, and Evie was watching him move things on the back deck. He threw some dead plants in the garbage and Evie said, "Good girl Daddy!". Hey, a little encouragment goes a long way - even if it's slightly gender confused!

He's a true romantic

Since I started back working at the greenhouse, twice things about my husband have come to my attention that make me sigh with love. One day, the women that Joe works with informed me that they had asked Joe at some point what his favorite color was. His response? "Hazel, the color of my wife's eyes." Awww.
And then, later we happened to be working in the office at the same time and he was logging into some account of his online - credit card, or cell phone or something - and I happened to see that his safety question/password that he had chosen was, "What is the last name of your best friend?"; and he typed in glick. He could've chosen any of those other questions, like the name of your first pet, or the town where you were born. But he picked the best friend question - and put me as the answer. It may not seem like a big deal, but I found it seriously touching. Because, after being married for almost 10 years, I'm still so in love with this man, and I really really LIKE him too; and it's nice to be reminded that he still feels the same.

Frog leaves

Tonight, we were sitting at the bar and commenting on how surprised that our flowers from Valentines day are still lovely. We were all talking about what we liked in the bouquet. Lily mentioned that she liked the "one with the frog leaves". You'd think with Joey and I both being in flower businesses, we'd know which was the one with "frog leaves"; but we were both stumped. She said, "the one with the long stick in the middle and frog leaves on both sides". We took a closer look. Ah yes!

Sure enough, there was a couple stems of eucalyptus in the bouquet. And the leaves on the eucalyptus certainly do look like lily pads. And lily pads are what frogs sit on. Thus - frog leaves. The thought processes of a 5 year old are astounding.

Anna's belated birthday party

Anna turned 8 in July, but had asked to have a sleepover party instead of a traditional birthday celebration. So, we agreed to wait until we were in the new house to hold the sleepover so she could have several girls over. Unfortunately, between getting settled in the house, dealing with the business of the poinsettia show and Christmas, and then my period of being laid up with my knee injury - it got reeeaaallly pushed back. But we were finally able to pull it off this past weekend. And it went over quite well I think. She requested that they play a bunch of games, and so as not to be sabotaged by little people, I made arrangments for Joelle and Eva to stay at their auntie's overnight. It was kind of strange to not have to do a whole lot though! It was all (except Lily) bigger girls, and they didn't need (or want) much input from us! Anna did request a scavenger hunt to find the favors, but otherwise, just wanted to play board games, Wii, and watch movies - so easy! They made personal pizzas for dinner and later we set up a make your own sundae bar. They were having such a good time entertaining themselves, that Joey and I actually played a game ourselves and then watched a movie! Anyway, they all seemed to have a good time - though not much sleep was had! Here's some pics!



We had fun picking out girly favors - hairbrushes, lotions, hair things - and then personalizing their little shower caddies!

Update

I haven't updated in quite a while, and I apologize to those of you who log on regularly - waiting with bated breath while my page loads, only to sigh in disappointment to discover I still haven't blogged anything new. The last several weeks were difficult, as I struggled through physical therapy and my regular life that was rather impeded by my lack of mobility. But the therapy paid off and I am now fully walking! They released me from the physical therapy last week on the condition that I would buy weights and continue my excercises at home at least 3 times a week. So, now Joey gets the joy of watching me doing leg lifts and squats. But, my leg is definitely improving - so praise the Lord for that.
In other news, we'd (meaning me and Jessi) been busy helping to plan a Valentines event with another church. It was a dessert and dancing party - which was a great success. Jess and I did all the floral arrangements, which turned out lovely and yet once again, we didn't get any good pictures. But I also made some new desserts - which turned out awesome! I'm very excited to have some new recipes to pull out for company and parties! I made Mini Java Cakes, Cheesecake Cookie Cups, Smores Cupcakes (which I had made before - yum), Mini Lemon Tartlets and Dulce Le Leche Cream Cake. Unfortunately, there was tons of left overs and I've been having to take care of those over the last several days - oy. I had great intentions of wanting to don my adorable new apron over my dress and get some pics of my lovely desserts to post here - but unbelievably, was running late and didn't get a chance to do it. Story of my life. *sigh*
On Monday, we threw together a little Valentines party for our kids. We weren't going to do anything, but they kept saying, "when are we doing our party with the pink pancakes?", so it looks like we started a tradition! Turned out to be a great time for all!
We've also been working on plans for my mom's wedding coming up in May. Overall, it's going well. It's an adjustment, and there's a lot to deal with in that situation - but God is good.
So, other than getting back into the swing of regular life, with schooling, and catching up on the cleaning that lagged for weeks - not much else exciting happened lately. Sorry to disappoint ya'll! But, we are throwing Anna's long-awaited birthday sleepover this weekend, so I'll be able to post some pics of that soon.
In the meantime - here's some random pics from the last couple days.

As much as I despise being helpless, I think I could get a little spoiled by Joey's new found confidence in the kitchen! He has been in charge of all food shopping and preparation since my "incident" - and he's gotten quite adventurous! He has wowed me (and sometimes the girls) by making things like roast beef, snow crab legs, bacon wrapped scallops, mashed potatoes topped with lobster cream sauce, chicken picatta and broiled scallops! He's been so great to me while I'm laid up - though he is beyond tired - having to tend to me, the girls, the house and the woodstove is really wearing him out, and I can't wait to be better so I can give HIM a break. I am just reminded again and again what a wonderful husband I've been blessed with.

I"m a wimp

I have been terrible lately at updating my blog - but I claim the excuse that I'm injured and therefore have been spending more time on the couch and less time at the computer and when I AM on the computer, I'm usually a little dopey from my medicine. So, for those of you who haven't heard - I fell UP my stairs - twice, and ended up with "micro-tears" on my tendon, which equals a lot of pain and a major inconvenience to my lifestyle. I had my first ever experience with the legal and morally approved version of torture that I'm told is called "physical therapy". Joe, cruel husband that he is, sat by quietly and watched as some brutal Amazon woman held firey torches to my thigh and jammed spikes into my knee. Ok, so, it was more like an average sized woman, older than my mom, doing stretches and ultrasound therapy - but it felt ugly. Apparently - I was horribly disillusioned to think I have a high pain tolerance. Tears dripped onto the table while I did heel slides; I wimpered my way through the ten repetitions of leg lifts. Ultimately, I discovered that I'm a big baby. And, lest I forget what a spectacular wimp I am - I have to go back and be reminded three times a week.

Crazy December...

The month of December for us is usually busy, and this year was probably even more so. Starting off the month we have our annual Poinsettia Show Openhouse; this year the theme was Route 66, and was another great success. This was the first time in 10 years that I was not part of the preparations for the openhouse, which was a much needed break, and yet felt very odd to be left out. If you'd like to see pictures of the show, you can visit Aunt Beth's blog here:
After the openhouse - Joey helped transform my house into holiday loveliness in time for hosting my family's Christmas Tea. Jess and I had started this tradition years ago and loved hosting it, until she moved and we ran out of room. It has been 3 years I think since we had the joy of holding this event, and I was thrilled to be able to open my new home for our Holly and Ivy themed gathering this year! Here's some pics of that!



After the Christmas tea we had several other gatherings in celebration of the holidays! We had a good time with my sisters in law baking Christmas cookies.

I even got to host my entire family for Christmas Day! Here's some pics of Christmas here. Cliche Christmas eve scene: The sign on the basement door before Christmas - and then pics of the girls gifts that were the reason I was spending so much time downstairs!



The girls waiting patiently at the top of the stairs:

And the whole gang here: