Gifts from church members

When Ram was a pastor in MN, the members knew they were not paying him as much as a pastor that lived in the city. So they supplemented his pay with gifts like extra garden produce in the summer and meat when they bought meat for themselves or when the butchered their own meat. There were many Christmas gifts for both the family and for the Lambs. Many of these gifts were handmade. We love looking at these gifts as they are displayed around our new home.
When we moved here to one church in the city, things changed. Ram got a salary increase but there was no parsonage so we had to buy our own home. I must stress that at both MN and ID we were financially fine. Finances are just different in the two places. Last year Ram had only been a pastor at the new church for about a month, so people at the new church didn't know us. I don't know what Christmas presents will be like this year after we have been here for a year.
Living in the city, those with gardens just raise enough for their own families. There was one family that gave us a few veggies when they had way too much and one gave us a lot of tomatoes. But that was it. Much different than being given produce from different members all summer.
So when one of the members offered to let us go pick onions in the field next to their home, we took them up on the offer. Thankfully we went right away before it rained and the onions rotted in the field.

Yes, this is in our front entry way! This photo was taken after we gave away a bunch of the onions, this is what we had in November.

The Lambs and Ram went out and picked a bunch in a little time with all 4 of them working. When my friend Joelle came over she laughed about the onions. We gave a lot away. We made French onion soup and have gradually been using the onions. We are down to two cookie sheets now. About a week ago when we had people over at our house they noticed the onions under a table. We gave away a few more then.
We are thankful for all gifts from our members, even onions!