The Full Quiver

Re-using and Refreshing

2012-01-31T12:59:00.006-06:00

In our house scale down, I am often getting side tracked by other projects.

One of which is an old desk that we have been storing in our basement. It has functioned down there as little more than a surface to put things occasionally. I decided if I made it look a little spiffier, it could easily be a nice desk for me to do small watercolors and sketches.

I wanted to paint it to cover up the old scratches and dingy wood finish. So I picked a nice blue color, painted it, and now it sits nicely in our master bedroom.

These drawers are the color the whole desk was. I didn't get a photo of the whole desk before I primed it.

I've never really primed anything before, since I usually don't mind if it get's a "worn" look. But I really wanted the blue to be the actual color, so went the extra mile to prime this desk.

This is the desk after painting! I've always like colorful furniture, but it seemed too risky. But I really like how it turned out!

Another project was this old barn window. I am always trying to figure out new things to do with them since we have so many. I saw some fabric I really liked and thought, "that would look nice behind the glass panes". But it was $20 per yard.......on sale. So instead I drew out the pattern on a piece of paper and copied it onto the window with paint. It still seems kind of plain to me, any suggestions my crafty sisters and mother in law?

Now that those two things are out of the way, I can get back to cleaning.

Sometimes nesting means "Scaling Down"

2012-01-27T19:18:00.003-06:00

I know I'm in full on nesting mode, so I won't be offended if someone thinks I'm crazy for seriously wanting to chuck half the stuff I own (don't worry, I'm not being *that* drastic).

At the beginning of the year I made it one of my big goals to purge the house before the new baby comes. So I know it's nesting, but I also know it's this:

"I'm tired of being a household drudge, feeling resentful when I do take time to clean and guilty when I don't." (From "Scaling Down" by Judi Culbertson and Marj Decker).

So far, I've finished the upstairs purge, and it was some hard work.

I kept a lot more than I probably should have (it's okay to have two can openers, and 6 sets of sheets for a family our size).
But I also got rid of more than I ever dared in the past.
For example, post purge, we now own a total of 9 pieces of tupperware and about the same number of small pyrex containers. We said goodbye to two huge black garbage bags of tupperware, and tons of other misc. kitchen items that rarely if ever get used.

I can honestly say now that I know what every item in my kitchen is, and it is something I use! Imagine!

I found this book at the library this week and it's been echoing the feeling I'm hoping to achieve:

"Once in a while a wake up call comes sooner. Judi's came when she was in her early thirties and spent a week at the beach in a vacation house. The kitchen contained only the essentials that were needed to make easy meals; the living room and bedroom could be straightened up in a matter of minutes, leaving the family free to relax or explore for the rest of the day. For the first time in her life, she knew exactly where everything was. The experience was an epiphany."

As someone who likes to paint, sew, and enjoys working on many projects and updating and re-purposing old things, it's going to be hard to pare down ALL our clutter. But I'm going to make a herculean effort to pare down our "stuff" to the things I won't resent keeping and caring for!

Birthdays

2012-01-18T09:38:00.004-06:00

Violet turned 3 on Monday! Here she is showing us how old she is.

And here, blowing out her candles. Which we did about seven times. She also got to wear her Halloween costume all day.

Princess costume + pink cake + balloons + living room picnic for dinner +cards from family = over the moon 3 year old.

It's hard to believe we will have four birthdays in a row right at the beginning of the year! Violet, Ezra, Cranbaby 5, and mine! Four cakes before May!

Christmas Spirit

2011-11-29T19:19:00.004-06:00

We tried a little harder this year with the outside lights. I planned ahead on a warm day in October, and Jonathan braved the roof, much to the kids delight!

I think the kids did a pretty good job with the tree this year! They did all the ornament hanging except for the top two feet of the tree! We have so many kid ornaments now, there wasn't any room for mine or Jonathan's! Maybe we need a bigger tree.....

Halloween

2011-11-21T10:10:00.003-06:00

Thought I better get these up before Thanksgiving.
We had two fairies, a Super Mario, and a Captain America.

First Video of Baby!

2011-11-03T11:10:00.001-05:00

We're getting to experience a lot of new-to-us technology with the OB's here. This is a video of baby moving. They gave us a disk full of ultrasound photos (some 3D) and four video clips of baby moving!
In this one, baby is turning it's head towards us and kicking!

And here is one of the better photos:

Busy month!

2011-09-28T12:28:00.006-05:00

It's been a busy month!
Last weekend was the annual Apple Festival in Dubuque. The kids had a blast looking at the pumpkins, tasting apple cider, getting their faces painted, and most of all, jumping in the bouncy castle. They were the only kids in for their first turn, so I actually got a couple good shots of them jumping!

Ezra got a flag for his design. He was very excited to come home and put on his army hat for a photo op. He was not so excited when his flag started to crumble in the bathtub.

After the festival, we headed to my favorite fall destination--The Pumpkin Barn! I managed to only get five pumpkins/squash/gourds this year, to Jonathan's delight.
After the pumpkin barn, we all went to a UD football game. The kids had no idea what was going on, (Ezra was pretty impressed by all the "wrestling" though), but they enjoyed clapping, shouting, whistling, and stomping on the bleachers immensely.
After the football game we walked by the Old Chapel and got a family photo (thanks Alan for the great photos!). Here we all are at the same spot Jonathan and I walked down the aisle nearly 8 years ago!

Then, Monday morning, a friend from church brought over two of his chickens that he wanted to get rid of. I think this will be our last slaughtering experience until we move out of the suburbs. Jonathan wasn't as enthusiastic about this one. The chickens were a lot bigger, and the kids weren't nearly as squeamish this time around. Although the twitching after death really freaks them out. Me too!

We couldn't get around to them Monday night and ended up being wakened bright and early Tuesday morning (very early morning) to roosters crowing proudly. We groggily and hastily moved them into our garage so we wouldn't get chewed out by our neighbors, then we took care of them Tuesday afternoon.
At one point, when Jonathan and I were both inside working on a part of the process on the first chicken, Roxie literally ripped the seams on her collar and chased the other one around the yard. She had it pinned and was relentlessly biting it when we caught her. We chased her off and the chicken promptly fell over stiff as a board. We thought she had scared it to death, but it recovered a few minutes later, only to be slaughtered a few minutes after that. Poor chicken.
A week ago, I had my first prenatal appointment (yes, I didn't bother calling anyone until then). The Dr. thought I was measuring big and wanted to rule out twins. So we had an ultrasound, our first one ever this early, and our first 3D one, too.
Just one baby. Too early to tell the sex, which is unfortunate because I wanted to know and we probably won't get another one. So we might have a surprise by accident this time.
The above photos is at 15 weeks, so baby is no bigger than an apple all scrunched up, but can you see the little face?! This is a pretty bad scan, but I think it's visible.
Recently we've been feeling a clothing storage squeeze. The kids clothes get bigger, they get more of them, and suddenly we don't have enough dresser space, and then a new baby that will ALSO wear clothes is coming.
So I was delighted when I found this dresser at the Salvation Army for $50. It has very sturdy construction with dovetailed drawers, so it's probably sturdier than half the furniture we own.

I didn't really like the weird tan color, so I painted it antique white, and you probably can't tell from the photo below, but I painted the knobs regular white, for a tiny bit of contrast. So, Sadie and Violet will get a new dresser to share, and the new baby will get the one that all Violet's clothes are crammed in now! Thanks Jonathan for letting me get this and moving it all around for me!

That's about it, but I've got a list a mile long of things I still have to do in the coming weeks, including a commission, several paintings for family, Sadie's birthday party coming up, and some art for a game expansion Jonathan invented for one of his favorite games: Glory to Rome.

Not to mention school, which is an all day job at this point! It's like a race to see how much I can get done before Christmas, and then another race to see how much I can get done before March! We'll see!!!

Projects

2011-09-14T11:48:00.004-05:00

When I want to paint, but feel like I just can't carve two to three hours out of the day, I resort to, what I think will be, small projects.

I got this shelf at Salvation Army for $1. It had a pretty ugly yellow plastic panel on the back, which we took off before this photo was taken. I also sort of tried to protect the fabric that was on there, even though I was going to cover it, hence the masking tape.

I used spray adhesive to fix the fabric on top of what was there. So this project really did only take around 30 min. total.

This was an unfinished sofa table that had been in our basement for months. Finally I decided I wanted to try boiled linseed oil and oil paint to finish it. I really liked the results. It's probably not as durable as polyurethane, but it wasn't toxic to breathe, and I didn't have to panic about brush marks or it setting in a weird way. That's a nice advantage to wipe on, wipe off finishing methods.

Embryo Adoption??

2011-09-09T12:01:00.007-05:00

I was intrigued by this article -- (http://www.keeperofthehome.org/2011/09/embryo-adoption-a-unique-option-to-give-a-child-life.html#more-12355) -- and the discussion that resulted from it.

Frankly, I was surprised that so many people were unequivocally positive about it.
While I understand that a baby out of the freezer and into the world, rather than being destroyed, is a good thing, I still can't help but think that embryo adoption is a small band aid cover that could easily allow otherwise well meaning Christians to condone and continue to practice IVF and freezing embryos. Making the problem that much bigger.

Personally I feel, that if we had ever had a hard time conceiving children, adoption of already born children, domestic or international would have been our first option, and I don't think... no, I KNOW we never would have considered IVF.
Even though we didn't have a hard time conceiving children, we feel that caring for orphans is something ALL Christians are called to do, and adoption has always been on the back burner of our mind, waiting for it's time.

Do we really need our own biological children SO badly that we will spend thousands of dollars implementing morally questionable technology to make it happen? Especially when there are so many children in the world already waiting and longing for loving homes?

And how much of IVF/embryo adoption is actually just a flat out refusal to show the love of Christ to children who may come with scars and emotional baggage?

But then again, it can only be good when one of these little embryos is given a chance at life.

I'm very interested to know other peoples opinions. Please share.

So....much....canning....

2011-09-05T16:02:00.002-05:00

Watercolor Speed Painting

2011-08-18T13:04:00.000-05:00

Free will, Charity, and the State- "George Ought to Help"

2011-08-10T09:12:00.000-05:00

Five Children and It

2011-08-08T12:16:00.004-05:00

Garden/Summer update

2011-07-26T13:54:00.006-05:00

Somehow we missed posting about Jude's 4th birthday. He wanted a baseball cake, so that is what he got, although certain other children, who shall remain nameless, could not keep their little fingers out of the frosting. I am not very good at patching up cakes.

This lego boat was his birthday present. Daddy helped put it together.These are the kids I've been watching for the last couple months (now over). 8 kids made for some very busy days during the week. But the kids sure had a lot of fun.

And now for a garden update:

We have several thriving eggplants this year. Some started from seed. I'd never been able to keep them alive before so it's an accomplishment. This is an eggplant flower.
I must've thrown out some bad tomatoes over the winter, because these little plants popped up in the flower beds around the deck, and in the grass. They are even producing fruit. So, apparently, sometimes in Iowa, tomatoes can self seed!
If anyone knows what this weed is I'd appreciate the help identifying it. It's spiky on the very top, but otherwise has a long and smooth stem, and when it flowers it's orange on the top and bright yellow like a dandelion on the bottom. I've only seen a couple of them in my flower bed. They don't seem to spread or become invasive, so maybe it's even a flower?
Our red/green lettuce.
Corn patch.
Kale.
This tomato is beginning to be one of my favorites. The foliage is silver grey and fuzzy, and it produces nice size cherry tomatoes. It's called "Velvet Red". Which is a fitting name.
I didn't realize hollyhocks would spread themselves all over the place, but they definitely have. They are popping up all over the yard and garden. Sadie helped start and plant their parents almost three years ago, and we haven't purposefully planted new ones since.
All kinds of colors of bachelor's buttons along our split rail.
And finally, we have some fruitful grape vines. Unfortunately the japanese beetles seem to like them almost as much as we do.

What bored kids can do with a handful of carrots

2011-07-01T15:26:00.004-05:00

the walrus

the rabbit

the handlebar moustache

the goatee or as sadie called it, "the master shifu"

gentleman's moustache?

the charlie chaplin

pharoh

and sometimes you need a tortilla. especially for "the Roosevelt".

Books I Need to Finish...

2011-06-27T14:48:00.009-05:00

There are a few books that have been on my radar for a year or longer that I have meant to read, but just haven't got around to. Well, truth is, I've started all of them at least once, and then either was distracted or didn't have the courage to pull through. I thought what better way to find the motivation than to drive a stake into the ground and commit to reading these books by January 1 2012? So here's what the list looks like today:

Moby Dick [Melville -- because my 'classical' base is fairly weak]

Standing on the Promises [Wilson -- because I will never be as good as I should be raising children]

Chosen But Free [Geisler--because I'm yearning for a sound, exegetical defense of the doctrines of salvation]

Analysis & Design of Analog Integrated Circuits [Gray -- because I'm a glutton for punishment]

We'll see how it goes. If we're lucky I might be able to put together mini-reviews as I knock these down. Although that last one might be a bit of a challenge.

Nothing like butchering a chicken to get your kids to eat their salad.

2011-06-20T21:51:00.022-05:00

Today after work I got to enjoy, for the first time, butchering and cleaning a chicken. Well, two chickens, actually. And Sadie, Ezra, Jude and Violet helped. Well, watched. And cried a little. At first. Thanks to some wonderful friends at Cornerstone church who had a few unlucky roosters, I found myself scouring the internet for a straight-forward guide. Sara found this: http://www.butcherachicken.blogspot.com/ What a great site!!! Here are the victims: We spent a few minutes prepping the kids what to expect, and gave them each a chance to say a few last words to Cluck and Doodle. Violet had an instant connection with this one. Jude wasn't so sure whether Daddy knew what he was doing. "We can't eat that chicken, daddy, that would kill it!" And after I had cut the neck: "Oh no, we're all doomed!" Boiling water bath to facilitate de-feathering and skinning: [in case your wondering, Sara refused to snap any photos that depicted any 'gore', blood, etc. so only a few snapshots of the process are recorded for posterity]. Sadie and Ezra look on, critiquing Daddy's questionable abilities. This member of the family desperately wanted to be involved in the process, and let us hear about it from across the yard where we had her tied up. Well, 40 minutes and two chickens later: Sara put together some yummy seasoning, carrots and onions and TADA: Now for the panel of judges to make their final decision. As you can discern from the photos below, Dad is scoring around a 75% with this family project.

Perks

2011-06-18T14:41:00.002-05:00

It's nice living near a big prairie! Every time we go for a walk, I have four little helpers eager to pick a bunch of wildflowers or two.

Dresses

2011-06-01T12:04:00.002-05:00

Jan, this is for you!
Thanks to the half hour of sewing machine technical support provided by Jan, I was able to finish these two dresses for the girls. This was supposed to be easy fabric to make a dress with and it was just cut and sew until I got to the sleeves...that took a little more time. We improvised that part though. :)

Next project in line: quick dog bed. She's getting a little big to keep hoisting onto Ezra's top bunk!

Oil painting flowers (Speed painting)

2011-05-06T10:55:00.002-05:00

This is about four hours worth of painting, real time. I would say this piece is about half way done. I'll put a photo up of the completed painting when I get it done.

You can watch it in high definition, there's an option on the bottom bar, but I'm not sure if it's any clearer.

Dance Partay-again

2011-04-27T17:25:00.000-05:00

I'm learning new stuff

2011-04-22T11:10:00.005-05:00

This is probably going to look pretty pathetic, but I am very pleased that I managed to make a short video of the kids dancing. I figured out how to speed it up and add a soundtrack. It is sideways, but that's because I was being idiotic when I recorded it. This happens a lot.

This is in preparation for a time lapse video of a painting from start to finish (your painting Alan and Jan).

Edited to add: Does anyone know why the quality became so bad when i uploaded it? Alissa?

Spring Bonanza

2011-04-12T10:03:00.004-05:00

It seems like every year from Christmas until Spring I pretty much neglect the blog, and end up posting one huge update around March-April.

So here it is.

-Our computer crashed and we lost *almost* everything. Recovered a few documents and photos (mostly worthless stuff and duplicates)
-Ezra turned 5
-we mulched our entire garden and started our plants
-I got a hair cut
-dog training
-working on the rental
-we've had a LOT of people over and played a LOT of board games
-We signed up with the local Home School Assistance Program (get to check out and use some resources instead of buying them, and they offer classes and all kinds of other fun stuff. Come June I'll be assigned a supervising teacher who will check in with us a few times a year to fulfill the state requirement.)

It just doesn't sound like we've done much in the last three months. But we are almost done with Sadie's first year of homeschooling and it has been a lot more work than I thought it would be. We've enjoyed it a lot though. We love almost all the books that Sonlight includes in their programs, and it's nice that I can do the reading with all the kids at once.

So without further ado, here are some photos.

These are the only photos left from Ezra's birthday. They're both blurry, but I kind of like them anyway. The bottom one has a painterly quality to it, I think.
Picklebot Log.
New haircut, for those who are curious.
Dog training.

Love lies bleeding and basil.
Tomatoes.
Newly mulched garden. It had better keep the weeds down, or I might just go crazy.
Violet has graduated from whispering to talking. Hooray!

A Child's Peculiar Understanding of the World

2011-03-30T17:53:00.002-05:00

Jonathan: "Once when I was little and I lived with Mimi and Papa in California, there was a VERY big earthquake..."

Ezra: "Did you die?"

****************************

Jonathan: "Once when I was a little boy, a bully picked me up and threw me over his back!!! But then Papa came to the rescue and chased him away!"

Ezra excitedly: "Oooh! Did he have a gun?!"

****************************

Me: "Jude, how do you ask nicely?"

Jude: "Nicely?"

Children: Heritage or Possession?

2011-03-24T22:43:00.000-05:00

Children: Heritage or Possession?

Doc's update

2011-02-18T16:06:00.003-06:00

So we spent a whirlwind two days in Rochester. Haha, no...I kid. More like a plodding, sitting,
my-butt-is-going-numb two days in Rochester.
Probably, a grand total of at least 10 hours in various lobbies and waiting rooms.

So, two days, ten sitting hours, and one MR angiogram later, we get to hear that; yes, indeed, I do have a Chiari 1 malformation, and it *probably* is causing my weird and my normal headaches, and NO, nothing needs to be done about it, because a) I do not have an anyeuysm and b) I am not drooling, mumbling, or falling down! Although I suppose those last three are debatable...

So best of all possible outcomes! Thank you all for praying!

Second opinion

2011-02-12T23:13:00.002-06:00

We're traveling to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN on Monday. Hopefully we'll have more information about Chiari and different treatment options when we get back!

Birthdays and updates!

2011-01-17T15:35:00.006-06:00

I can't believe my youngest...my baby....is 2 years old!!! I can't even call her my little girl...she'll correct me and say, "No, baby." Happy Birthday, Violet!

Here are some various photos of the birthday celebration and the kids.

Also, I have an appointment at the Mayo Clinic on Feb. 14th. They ask that we be prepared to stay 3-5 days in case any additional testing needs to be done. So, Jonathan and I will be spending a week up there as we try to get a second opinion about my Chiari and what, if anything, should be done. If you know of anything fun to do in the Rochester area, let us know!

Common Sense

2011-01-08T09:11:00.003-06:00

Aborted fetal tissue and cultured diseases pumped into a two week old baby who hasn't fully developed their immune system yet?
I don't know about you, but when I've looked at each of my babies at two weeks old and how completely helpless they are, choosing between them and a vial of poison which most likely wouldn't prevent the diseases they are never exposed to anyway, the choice wasn't that hard.

I don't think any amount of "breaking news" from our biased media with multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical companies backing them, will reverse my opinion on this issue. I feel sorry for Dr. Andrew Wakefield (and the rest of us) because the huge amount of corruption out there prevents us from really knowing if his research was actually fraudulent or if this is all a witch-hunt to ensure we keep spending millions of dollars on vaccines.

Cervical cancer in nine year olds? Don't need a vaccine for that. Childhood chicken pox? We all survived. Measles? Children recover pretty well.

The vaccine-autism link didn't start with Wakefield and it won't end with him.

http://adventuresinautism.blogspot.com/2011/01/round-20-in-destroy-andrew-wakefield.html

New Year's resolution-The Pilgrim's Progress

2011-01-06T10:34:00.006-06:00

I'm not a big one for New Year's resolutions. But upon reading an article in the most recent "WORLD" magazine by Andree Sue, I've decided I'm going to borrow her ideas for a New Year's and life long, resolution. (Quotes that aren't documented are from Andree Seu's article).

To simplify, her three wishes for the new year, and mine also, were:

1. Pray to have friends who have more faith than you do.
"It is much easier to understand the Scriptures when you have a living, breathing, walking example beside you."

2. Get rid of everything doubtful in your life.
"Let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God." (2 Corinthians 7:1). "If anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work." (2 Timothy 2:21).

"I learned from them (communists). As they allowed no place for Jesus in their hearts, I decided I would leave not the smallest place for Satan in mine." -Richard Wurmbrand, "Tortured for Christ".

3. Master the tongue.
"Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit." (1 Peter 3:10; Psalm 34:12-13).

A Great Cloud of Witnesses

2011-01-06T09:20:00.006-06:00

Recently the kids and I were watching an animated movie about Richard Wurmbrand. The movie is part of a series called "Heroes of the Faith", by Torchlighters, that I would highly recommend.

The movie came to a scene where Mr. Wurmbrand, who was a Christian pastor in Communist Romania during the 60's, is being thrown into prison simply because he believes in Jesus.
Ezra turned to me, accustomed to Justice League and Spider Man and said, "Isn't he going to fight the bad guys?"

I was kind of at a loss. I know we have talked many time about how Christians SHOULD respond when they are bullied, persecuted, or abused. We have spoke of the story of Jesus' crucifixion, and how he *gave* up his life for "the bad guys" over and over.
But, kids have a keen sense of justice and really, the idea of not fighting back doesn't come naturally to us.

"Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: 'It is mine to avenge; I will repay,' says the Lord." Rom. 12:9
"Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you.” Isaiah 35:4

The superheroes we watch so often on TV, always arrive right in the nick of time. Whereas God often doesn't seem to arrive at all, or way too late. Doesn't 14 years in prison seem too late?

After this exchange with the kids I got around to reading Wurmbrand's book "Tortured for Christ".
I was simply in awe at the love and faithfulness of God's church in Romania when for all appearances God didn't arrive on time. Many weren't saved from being tortured.

One heartbreaking story spoke about a man who was being tortured by the Communists. They became frustrated that he wouldn't give them what they wanted. So they brought in his teenage son and started beating him in front of his father. The man withstood as long as he could, but eventually broke down and said, "Son, I must tell them what they want! I can't bear your beating anymore!"
Who could stand to watch their children being tortured? The son's reply was, "Father, don't do me the injustice of having a traitor for a parent. Withstand! If they kill me I will die with the words 'Jesus and my father-land.'" They beat him to death after this.

Becoming a Christian was in most cases a guarantee that you and your family would be harmed. Many weren't rescued from death. Was God absent? Or late?

No, God's ways are higher than ours, and because of the saints beautiful testimony, many were saved, brought to Christ and given true light in a dark place, freed from the evil lies of Satan and Communism. Many even, who had formerly been the persecutors and torturers of the saints.

Fighting back wouldn't have produced that kind of result. Human anger, however justified, does not bring about the righteousness that God desires.

"Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD." Leviticus 19:18

Loving your enemy when your enemy has done atrocious thing to you, your family, and others, is only possible through Christ and the Holy Spirit. The Underground church in restricted nations is a shining light in dark places simply because they obey God's directive to love their neighbors and pray for their enemies, not trusting in themselves, but God, for their rescue and salvation.

Introducing: Roxie Crandall

2010-12-24T19:43:00.003-06:00

After we moved to CR, we considered calling the gentleman we had given Jack to to say, "Hey! We didn't move to California! Can we have our dog back??"
But it didn't seem like a very nice thing to do.

So this is Roxie. She is a 6 week old Brittany, and the new best pal to Ezra (hopefully the cat will learn a thing or too in this regard), and playmate to all.
She has a very sweet disposition and is a quick learner, too. We've had ten potty breaks so far, and all of them have been outside. Let's hope we can keep it up!

Christmas with the Crandalls

2010-12-13T10:13:00.010-06:00

The two smallest cranbabies, Louise and Levi, were so cute! Violet loves this monkey aunt Alissa made!

Stockings!!

I think Jonathan provoked him. Either that or he hates wooden stars.

I don't think so, Violet........................................................okay.
Mouth full of candy.
Crocodile tears? Definitely

Fillings? We hope so! We also got some nice nose hair shots.

Building pirate ships and painting birdhouses was fun!

Aw...what nice family photos!

Hold on! Wait....guys! C'mon! No! Don't do the can-can! You don't have the figures for it!
Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil....pick your nose. I'm pretty sure that's how it goes.

Everyone loved Mimi and Papa's woods! The cave, the fort, the fire...the kids had a blast. And I think we can all agree that we'd take fire-roasted meatballs over hot dogs any day!

And finally Andrew was kind enough to model his newest pose for us; "Blue Steel".
It was so much fun having everyone together. The kids can't wait to see all their cousins and aunts and uncles again!

Halloween before Christmas

2010-11-16T20:17:00.004-06:00

I thought I would post a quick Halloween post before we celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas and I fall too far behind.
Here are just some quick photos of that day. Believe it or not, the following is the best picture of Jude. The rest are hazy blurs of motion. He was waaaaay too excited!
Alan came to help with the rental and trick or treating and stayed for a complimentary episode of Sherlock (or at least half of it).

Today I found Sadie constructing this gem during "quiet time". Thankfully there was no one to use it on, except perhaps that unfortunate doll lying on the ground.
I love how she chose a pink colored pencil for her "arrow".
I think I may need to start hiding the rubber bands.

No Syrinx!

2010-11-06T15:39:00.002-05:00

The MRI of my spinal cord showed that I do not have a syrinx, so that is great news!

I still have to meet with a doctor at Mayo for a second opinion on when/if surgery should be done. The neurologist here in CR has never had a Chiari patient before, so he wants someone more familiar with the condition to help him determine whether or not the headaches I was having are related to the condition and if so, what they mean for treatment.

MRI

2010-11-02T13:38:00.007-05:00

Quick update:
I have to have another MRI tomorrow of my neck to check for a syrinx in my spinal cord. It's like a cyst that blocks the flow of spinal fluid.
If a syrinx is left untreated it leads to a slow progression of muscle loss and function, which eventually ends in paralysis.

If I *do* have one, I will need to have the decompression surgery pretty soon.

If I *don't* have one, I will, most likely, still need the decompression surgery to avoid a syrinx in the future, but the window is possibly a little wider as to when.

The neurologist explained that it's better to have the surgery before such a thing develops (or other complications) because your chances of having good results from the surgery (i.e. your symptoms go away) are better.

So far I am extremely thankful that this seems to have been caught very early. I am not currently having problems that indicate I have a syrinx. However, brain herniation greater than 5 mm are often associated with a syrinx, and my brain herniation is 8mm, hence the MRI to confirm.

I am so thankful that of all the brain problems out there, Chiari 1 is relatively minor.

Also, most research seems to indicate that Chiari 1 probably forms during embryonic development, so no...epidurals didn't cause it, and labor didn't either. Although the strain of Violet's birth *might* have set it off.

Some people who have this go their whole lives without any symptoms, some people only develop symptoms after some kind of trauma, and others always have the problems. But it's likely I've had this since birth.

It does tend to run in families (they suspect it's genetic-so it's probably not caused by a lack of folic acid when in the womb) being more common in women than men, but testing and treatment are not necessary unless someone starts developing problems related to it.

New Season, New Stuff

2010-10-30T14:31:00.009-05:00

Today we had fun hiking through a state park a few miles from our house. Sadie found a geode, and the kids became professionals at identifying deer tracks. We also found some cool striped sedimentary rocks. Sadie just studied the difference between sedimentary and igenous rock in school.
The kids found this huge fallen, log that had a perfect child sized seat hollowed out of the middle. They decided to name it Picklebot Log. Which reminded us of the whimiscal names from LOTR. Buckleberry Ferry?

In other news, I recently went to see a neurologist about some weird pressure headaches I have been having for a while now (our insurance doesn't require a referral so I skipped the general practitioner step).

The doctor thought what I was describing sounded like exertional headaches since they get worse or are triggered by coughing, sneezing, singing, etc.

He scheduled an MRI just in case. They started occurring after Violet was born so he wanted to rule out a blood clot.

Yesterday we got the results back and they found that I have something called a Chiari 1 malformation. Apparently it's a problem with my brain and spinal cord. The brain slips down and presses on or shares space with the spinal cord. Which may account for the pressure headaches I was having.

Sometimes people are born with this, and sometimes it forms later in life. They don't know what causes it, although there are a few theories floating around on the interweb.

I have an appointment on Monday to find out more, but for now I think they are just going to monitor me to make sure I don't develop anymore symptoms that indicate it's getting worse. The doctor also wants to get me on a waiting list to see a neurologist in Iowa City. That wait can be up to 6 months.

Eventually I may need to have a surgery where they remove a small piece of my skull near the base of my head to make room for my...brain, I guess.

But for now, it's not an emergency or anything.

Prayers would be appreciated. Hopefully it won't get any worse and I won't have to undergo the surgery.

(I don't know why I can't make new paragraphs without the periods!!)

On a lighter note, having an MRI is a lot like listening to this song by Thom Yorke (although a lot louder and with more strange noises).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7nz6-UVrmU

Birthday and Trip to Grandpa Rick's

2010-10-19T10:43:00.004-05:00

Sadie had her 6th birthday a few weeks ago. We had a very nice party at our house. Every kid that was able from our church attended! She loved having all her friends over for cake and games!

The kids played a game called "Balloon Stomp", musical chairs, and a game involving catching rubber ducks for prizes. The final game was the pinata. Here is Sadie taking her turn.

Sadie had a hole in her bag during the subsequent candy collection. It was pretty tragic, but Grandpa Rick helped her out.

Grandpa is also helping me learn how to shoot a bow. He gave Jonathan one of his old bows, so we're learning together. I made this arm guard. But I need to make it about a foot longer. I'm hitting my arm less and less, but there's still no knowing exactly where the string is going to thwack me.

It's nicer to practice on Dad's farm than in our backyard. I'll have to take a picture of his set up. We actually shoot down from a stairwell towards a target that looks like a deer. That way the arrows stick up out of the ground. We lose less arrows, and I don't have to worry about the roofing guys working on our neighbors house commenting whenever I have to toe through the field next door for lost arrows!

Grandpa also has some nice walking paths on his farm.

Don't worry, we didn't lose any of our long or short ^^^ arrows in the cornfield!

The Christian life is like....bungee jumping.

2010-10-12T21:57:00.005-05:00

I've been thinking a bit about suffering this week. Hopefully this won't be too disjointed.

We know, as Christians, that suffering will come. We are even called to take up our cross daily and follow Jesus. March to your death everyday? Carrying the thing that's going to kill you?
Pretty much.

I went bungee jumping once. I was 15 and we were on a family vacation in South Carolina.
I don't remember much about the actual flying through the air, but I remember vividly how I felt standing hundreds of feet above the ground and looking down.
Every cell in my body was in panic mode. Some part of my brain had decided jumping off a really tall ledge with some rubber bands around my groin was a good idea. But it hadn't managed to convince the rest of my body. The conflict was SO intense. My body was screaming,

"DON'T DO THIS! YOU'RE GOING TO DIE!"
It was completely seperate from my will, which was determined to jump off the ledge.

We all think of our minds as being the primary controlling agent behind the things we do, however, I can tell you that jumping off that ledge was *physically* difficult. The man said, "Go" and I just stood there. Finally after several seconds my will conquered, and I jumped. But it was so unnatural it almost didn't happen.

Enduring suffering is kind of like that. Every part of you is screaming to make it stop. and in some instances that's fine, there's a vast difference between self flagellation and accepting a bitter cup from God. I'm not recommending the former.
However, Job's choices were endure or curse God and die. I bet a lot of times dying looked like the easier thing, how he must've longed for a way to make it all stop. But he endured.
Jesus had an actual escape route. Ten thousand angels could fly to his rescue. How many of us would take God up on that offer during our trials? But Jesus didn't. He obeyed His Father.

I don't think enduring suffering is natural. Physical, emotional, or spiritual. Maybe Adam and Eve just weren't hardwired for it, a genetic defect, only exposed because of the fall.

If you burn your hand on the stove, you don't keep it there. It hurts, so you pull it away. If someone dislikes you and makes a point of letting you know, you do everything you can to avoid that person. If a situation is making you miserable, you rack your brains to figure out a solution that will end your suffering.

But Jesus calls us to love our enemies and to pray for them, not duck your head when you see them coming. Pray for and bless that jerkwad? Well, that's mortifying. Literally.
Sometimes Jesus actually calls us to accept and endure horrible circumstances, persecution, insults or abuse.
Sometimes there's no escape route without compromising your character or your faith. Disobey, curse God and die, or just endure.

It's completely unnatural and against every instinct you have, but sometimes God wants you to go THROUGH the fire and not around it. He wants you to jump OFF the ledge and not back down the ladder.

Jesus did it first, for our sake. So it only seems fair that we could do the same for Him. He even promises that the burden will be light. He took the heaviest part of it.

I submit, though, that it's extremely difficult...no-completely impossible to force yourself to jump over the metaphorical ledge....to patiently endure suffering rather than avoid it without the Holy Spirit's help. Otherwise our body AND will would most likely be in complete agreement to preserve ourselves.

Which is why I'm glad God promises to never hand out more than we can handle, and even if we still succumb to self preservation, He loves us the same.

Here's what you look like though when you die to self....er bungee jump.

Rewind

2010-09-27T07:29:00.030-05:00

The frost on my windshield this morning suggested that, indeed, we've entered the Autumn season. Iowa's best! Pumpkins, harvest, pumpkin pie, hunkering down, pumpkin cake, apple orchards, jack-o-lanterns, pumpkin juice.. uhm, pumpkins..

This summer has been pretty filled with activity -- I thought I'd post a few photos to "summer-ize". Ok, ok, I'll stop. Below you can see some fun we had in Dubuque this weekend at various Fall-Apple-Squash festivals in the Tri-state area. I've also thrown in some photos that were stuck on my phone from earlier this summer. But first, a snapshot from one of the complementary Airline publications that is stowed in the seat-pocket in front of you:

This photo and caption is introducing a renown hotel staffperson named Christian Jurgens, who, yes, you read it right, is the chief chef at Hotel Uberfahrt in Germany.

Violet was ecstatic at the thought of operating this vintage tractor.

Quite pleased..

Ezra and I both hope to raise goats some-day.

"Sadie, you're cramping my style!"

"Much better..."

Sadie showing off her toothy grin at Thomas.

Parenting 101: When the diaper breaks, use duct-tape.

"Dad, look what I found on the ground at Target! Can I eat it?!"

Climbing trees after a Cornerstone picnic @ Taube.

Ezra after picking a bouqet for his little sister.

Judah testing his mettle on the spider web.
Not to be outdone...

Suffice it to say, more work than I thought it would be. On the other hand, I've learned how to install vinyl siding, framed up a bit of the interior, and repaired lots of dry rot. Up next: drywall, and the remodel of a bathroom and kitchen.

Photos from Italy

2010-09-18T16:05:00.007-05:00

Rome

Trevi Fountain

Spanish Steps

The Vatican

Assisi

Basillica of San Francesco d'Assisi

Florence

The Baptistry

at the top of the Duomo

The facade of the Cathedral

View of the Arno River from inside the Uffizi gallery

Fall? Not quite.

2010-08-18T13:09:00.004-05:00

It seems like the weather is cooling down a bit. A teeny tiny little bit.
But the kids cannot wait for the summer to be over.
Sadie wants to start school and get to her birthday in October.
Jude and Ezra want Halloween to get here so they can dress up like a fireman and Spiderman, respectively.
I cannot wait for cool, crisp, jacket weather.
And of course, all the kids are looking forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas.

It's been a busy summer. We've been trying to cram in lots of outdoor play in between working on the rental house, me working on some new artwork and other projects, and preparing for a big trip in September.

With the fall and winter comes the inevitable slow down of life as we become more house bound. It actually doesn't sound too bad right about now. But I'll be kicking myself for thinking that come February. By then we'll all be longing for more of this:

So, we'll enjoy it while we can.

At the Splash Park

2010-07-13T12:20:00.007-05:00

Look Beneath the Surface-The person you've encountered may be a victim of human trafficking.

2010-06-29T09:37:00.007-05:00

I recently attended a conference about human trafficking in the US. I wanted to share some things I learned in case any of you might find yourself wondering if that person you saw at the store or walking downtown might've been a victim of human trafficking, and what you should do about it.

The thing about victims of human trafficking is that they are not hidden, they are out in public all around us. This is how pimps sell their merchandise--by putting it on the street. And this doesn't just occur in deserted back alleys or the "bad side of town". Trafficking rings have been found running from suburban homes, nail salons, "massage parlors", and many other places that you wouldn't suspect.

If you've ever seen the "To Catch a Predator" shows, you know that there is no stereotype for the type of man that will prey on young children over the internet. You see blue collar, white collar, every possible race, ethnicity, and background. And it is the same with pimps. The men that abduct or lure away young children and teens in order to work them on the streets have no set stereotype. It could be anyone.

Also humans are trafficked around the world and the US not just for sex, but also for labor, so all the below signs apply when considering whether someone is being forced to work against their will.

So here is some advice and indicator signs we were given at the conference in order to help us identify if we have encountered a human trafficking victim:

-go with your gut. If you get a weird feeling that something isn't right, you should call someone if you're wrong, then you're wrong, but if you're right, you could've just saved a victim.

-person is accompanied by a controlling person or boss; not speaking on their own behalf
head down, won't make eye contact (or conversely stares at you or others as if silently pleading)

-lack of control over own schedule, money, ID, travel documents, etc.

-transported to or from work; lives and works in the same place

-debt owed to employer/crew leader; inability to leave job

-bruises, depression, fear, overly submissive

-child dressed way beyond their years with above indicators

A man who works here in Cedar Rapids with victims said to look for the "brick on head" clue. Meaning a person who won't look up or make eye contact, often times will be afraid to speak to you or others for fear of being watched or getting in trouble with their controller.

Here are some questions you can ask if you are able to speak to the individual:

-What type of work do you do?
-Are you being paid?
-Can you leave your job if you want?
-Can you come and go as you please?
-Have you or your family been threatened?
-What are your working and living conditions like?
-Where do you eat and sleep?
-Do you have to ask permission to eat/sleep/go to the bathroom?
-Are there locks on your doors/windows so you cannot get out?
-Has your identification or documentation been taken from you?

If you feel like something is wrong DO SOMETHING! Call 911, or the national trafficking hotline,
1-888-3737-888
give them a liscense plate number if you can. Use language that will get law enforcement officials attention, words like: human trafficking, force, coercion, etc.

Don't say things like, "I see a creepy guy." They will probably not take you seriously.

Finally, educate your kids about the danger. Stress to them to NEVER take a ride with strangers (esp. in their teenage years when they might think it's okay), monitor computer use very carefully, teach them self defence, let them know that if someone is abusing them it is NOT THEIR FAULT and that they can tell you.
A lot of abused children say nothing, either out of fear because the abuser has threatened them or bribed them, or because they feel that they will get into trouble for what happened to them.

Finally watch your kids in public! Predators tend to target kids that feel vulnerable or are troubled, have bad home lives or are neglected, but no child is safe.

At the conference, we learned that when the Trafficking Victims Protection Act was passed back in 2000, presented as evidence was a telephone book sized catalog of PRE-ABDUCTED children that was used for child "shopping" in trafficking rings.
There was photographs and descriptions, and these were children that were STILL with their families! This is incredibly frightening.

We all should know that this is going on and that it is a HUGE money-making industry, more lucrative then drugs, and thousands of people are trafficked every year.

So be vigilant with your own kids and in your community. Keep your eyes and ears open and look beneath the surface!

"Best Caption" Contest Part 1

2010-06-21T14:58:00.008-05:00

Rental

2010-06-11T10:04:00.003-05:00

YAY! We finally closed on our rental house on Monday. After waiting nearly six months since our offer was accepted.
This house is a disaster, but in a pretty good location.

Oh, but it is SO gross.

Everything is moldy.
Everything is dirty.

The house basically needs to be gutted down to the studs in most places. So that is what we are cheerfully doing.
De-construction can actually be kind of fun.

There's something satisfying about taking out a bunch of screws and watching an entire kitchen's worth of moldy kitchen cabinets fall down.

I love before and after photos. Jan got some great "before" photos a while back, so I will post those eventually. For now, here is a photo of Alan and Jan knocking out a brick corner where a wood-stove used to sit.

Get a Handle...

2010-05-10T10:15:00.009-05:00

Well done!

A little fuzzy on the details of how plumbing works...

From the Girls

2010-05-07T09:42:00.015-05:00

"Can you see my halo?" (!!)

"This sunshine tastes sour."

"A perfect performance!"

"Let me show you my favorite page."

"Girls can wear cowboy boots too, you know."

"I'm winning!"

"That was a grreat burrito! What's the next course?"

"Pop-corn and little smokies!"

Happy Mothers Day, Mom! Love, Sadie & Violet

Cool Boys

2010-05-07T09:04:00.017-05:00

"King of the spider web."

"Not a very healthy dinner, Mom."

"What he said."

"Where's the party at?"

"It's finally 'free' day for the Ferris Wheel!"

"What he said!!"

"Thumbs up for Ice Cream."

"Where's the emergency landing gear?!?!"

"Aaah.. here it is."

"Look, Dad, I can fly without watching where I'm going!"

Jude: "Hey, Mom, you look this big from up here!"

Ezra: "Itchy bark.."

"It takes special skill to climb a tree while wearing cowboy boots..."

"I have skills."

Happy Mothers Day, Mom! Love, Ezra & Jude

I hate coming up with titles.

2010-04-22T10:41:00.004-05:00

So I have a very small selection of Easter pictures because most of them are on Jonathan's phone. Never the less, I really liked this one. Doesn't Ezra look like a smooth dancer? Funny thing is, I don't think he was dancing. I can just imagine him making this pose 50 years from now as a middle aged man. Is that a little weird, or what?
Also, those little shoots in the last blog turned into this:

Tulips galore! Also, you can see the edge of the rhubarb. It's gotten huge!

Our potatoes are coming up, we put in corn and stuff from the broccoli/cabbage/cauliflower family.

I'm holding out on putting my tomatoes out.

We found THE perfect little (11 acres) acreage. With a stately 150 year old brick house, the tallest trees you'll find in Iowa, and lots of room for pasture, orchards, hay etc.

I'm envisioning a pick-your-own berry patch, a small orchard, farm fresh eggs, possibly goat meat/milk or even a dairy cow, and bountiful squash and pumpkins in the fall....in short, a family business.

Only problem is, it is a wee bit out of our price range.

But we still have a shot, and I'm not putting my tomatoes in the ground until I know for sure we can't live there.

Hopefully they won't die in the cups...along with all my hopes and dreams. Am I waxing melodramatic? Yes, I suppose so, lol.

This is what we ended up doing for Sadie's art project. We got a cheap quilting hoop and spray painted it, stretched the fabric, and cut off the edges. Finito. (Is that Italian?)

Signs of life!

2010-03-30T10:29:00.003-05:00

So happy to see these!

And my peonies I thought were dead...

And this gorgeous rhubarb!
Soon the broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower and other brassicas will be ready to go outside!

"Look, Mom! No winter coats!"

Yay! For eating outside!

Finally, a while back Pier 1 was selling artwork that looked sort of like this:

Sadie really wanted one for her room. So we found some scrap fabric in the house and made one! After we stretch it on a frame it will be ready for hanging.

Healthcare

2010-03-24T09:34:00.004-05:00

I'm sad to see the healthcare bill has passed. Contrary to what most liberals believe (that conservatives are greedy, rich cads who don't care about the poor), I'm sad because I believe that this will lead to more poverty, shortage of doctors-meaning less care, and lower quality healthcare for everyone.

Not to mention the mortgaging of the next few generations. My kids and grandkids, who cannot possibly carry the load of debt. OH! And the underhanded dealings that went on to ram the thing through....AND the fact that leaders ignored their constituents....

Everyone understands that Peter robbing Paul to pay for Mary's healthcare is wrong. Yet, many Americans are rejoicing today that they will be able to siphon others hard-earned money for their own gain.
And my problem is not the issue of helping others with their medical bills. I would be more than happy to do that, the issue is being FORCED to so by the government.

Also, as Jonathan aptly pointed out to me, this bill is essentially charging Americans for being alive. You breathe-therefore you are forced to buy our government mandated insurance or be punished.

I would be more than willing to forgo my "fair share" of Medicare, Social Security, and this new program just to see them end.

I think Nancy Pelosi unwittingly prophesied the future result of universal healthcare when she said "We will be joining those who established Social Security, Medicare and now, tonight, health care for all Americans"

Exactly. Because SS and Medicare have worked out so well.

The night before the bill passed I had a horrible dream that I was losing my children to be raised by the government in a Nazi-Germany type state. Our only hope was to flee to Canada (ha!). I wept bitterly for most of the dream and woke up completely exhausted.

I hate to seem like a fear-mongering psycho (which I know I will to some), but I have to wonder if I won't live to see us come closer to this in my lifetime.
The government has partial control over so many areas of life; education, agriculture, food, business, banking, media, healthcare...I honestly wouldn't be surprised to see a completely different country emerge in the next 50 years.

Don't worry, I haven't completely lost it! I definitely won't tell you to stock up on your gold, guns, ammo, and land.

(Although that's what we'll be doing...everything except the gold)

Chair, hair....I like color

2010-03-21T17:22:00.015-05:00

I finally finished that old grey Goodwill chair...
First, I had to fill in some pretty deep gouge marks on the left arm with wood putty.
I sanded the wood putty to make it somewhat smooth. Then I spray painted the whole chair, rather than try to stain the wood putty.

Jan (willingly--however much it looks like slave labor) sewed covers for the cushions for me.

As you can surely tell the arm doesn't look perfect.
But it's better.

A couple weeks ago, Jan also helped me sew these covers for our loveseat cushions.

I'm so grateful for her help! I've certainly learned a lot about sewing in the last month.

I can proudly say, I did sew those small throw pillows by myself...woohoo!

It looks so nice, now.

Everything was kind of a poop brown color before.

Kind of like my hair...

Which is now RED.

At first, I tried blonde. But then I realized I haven't been naturally blonde since I was ten.

Why oh why, do I keep trying to recreate my 5th

grade look?

Once I overcame the but-I've-always-been-blonde fallacy, a whole new world of possibilities opened up.

I was actually going for a dark brown that had a *hint* of red. This is okay, too.

I think my kids have gotten over the shock.

Now I'll just cross my fingers that my hair doesn't fall out.

Spring Fever & Projects

2010-03-03T09:19:00.007-06:00

It's almost Spring! There may still be 2 feet of snow drifted up in my garden, but by golly, I am going to plant my peas on St. Patricks Day. That snow better clear out fast.

We have 90 new little babies at this house. 30 of them are leeks. The rest are tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, broccoli, cabbage, and various flowers. And we *will* baby them, probably more than our actual babies.

Sometimes I just feel like rearranging the whole house and making everything look different. Since we've moved we've kind of retained the zero clutter, hardly any belongings look that we had to have for open houses in Huxley.

But recently I just wanted more color.

This is an old, really cool, albeit banged up frame, given to us by my grandma. Inside I just stretched and stapled some colorful fabric I had lying around.

We got these candle holders at Goodwill for some other project. They were brass. I really don't like brass. So I spray painted them aqua. Much better.

I found this lamp at Goodwill for $5. First I painted it aqua, then I painted it a color called "paprika", then I decided it needed a more toned down blue. I sure love spray paint. Its so fast!

This drum shade used to be plain white. Jan helped me cover it with some fabric (Thanks Jan!).

It took me forever to find a fabric I liked. It had to be geometric, NOT floral, but a girly sort of geometric, not too plain but with muted colors.

Voila! And here is the finished lamp. I'll probably decide at some point in the future that the blue doesn't match with anything in my house, then I'll probably spray paint it hammered metal black, but for now I really like it.

And this is my next project, a $20 chair from Goodwill.

The frame is really solid and heavy, and the cushions are still in great shape. It needs a little work on the arm (children's teeth marks that someone tried to sand off with a heavy hand), and the cushions are pretty ugly, so we'll cover those! The most time consuming thing will be hunting for fabric!

Ezra's Birthday and Other things...

2010-02-23T19:01:00.000-06:00

Ezra had a birthday on Feb. 10th. Actually his birthday has been "coming up tomorrow" since Violet's birthday.

He was so looking forward to getting Legos that anytime I asked him what kind of cake he wanted, he would just say he wanted a Lego cake.

If I had had internet I would've tried to find a Lego cake to reproduce...but since I didn't, I just made a cake and plopped a Lego man in the middle.

Last Friday Jonathan came home early and reported that it was a decent temperature outside. So we all piled into the car prepared to play at the park even if it meant freezing our butts off.

It seemed warm at first--it was sunny. But ironically, in Iowa, when it's sunny in the winter, that's when it's the coldest!

The kids were so happy to get out of the house that they still insisted on playing on the equipment, eating icicles (gross), and making snow angels!

"Don't do it, Judah!!!"

"Eww! He did it!"

I get cold just looking at these pictures.

SO! What have we been doing these last two weeks without internet? Well, watching a lot more Austen movies (while folding laundry of course), learning to corn-row (Sadie's still not sure how she feels about it), and finishing year old craft projects, and starting new ones, like covering nearly all the dang pillows in the house---coming soon.

I attempted a few 40's hairstyles on my own head, but unless you are a fan of pomade I don't recommend it. We've been finalizing our garden plans (it's more ambitious than last year), and ordering seeds. We're going to try some new and wild varieties this year. After all, variety is the spice of life.

These are called Job's Tears and they've been natures perfect beads for 2000 years. Hopefully they will produce enough for Sadie to create as many necklaces as her little heart desires.

Tomatoes that look like lemons, leeks with blue and purple stalks, white and blue pumpkins, italian broccoli that spirals, and funky south american grains will hopefully all be found growing in our backyard this summer.

We've been visiting Mimi and Papa frequently.

Last visit, Violet burnt her wee little hands on the fireplace. The poor kid was in such shock that she didn't even think to pull her hands away--luckily Daddy was nearby to rescue her.

We spent from about 6pm until 1am keeping her hands in water (and watching the Winter Olympics), and then thankfully, she fell asleep.

She seems to be doing much better, having her hands wrapped in gauze doesn't seem to slow her down much.

Although, I predict that later in life she will have a weird and mysterious aversion to the winter olympics...speed skaters will come on the screen, and her palms will grow sweaty.

I guess we can probably rule that out as a possible occupation.

And man, watching the Olympics make me feel all antsy...like my kids should be training for something right now. Skiing? Tennis? Swimming? Ice Skating? Gymnastics? Kung fu?

10 hours a day for the next 20 years is all it takes!

Gosh. Seriously, though. How do you know if your kid would want to do that? How do you even know at age 4 what they would be good at? How much of it is pushing and shoving from the parents?

Anyways....this has been a short....or not so short (possibly rambling) update from our house.

Happy Birthday, Dear Violet!

2010-01-18T10:47:00.002-06:00

Christmas: Part 2 & 3

2009-12-31T20:14:00.007-06:00

We've had so many Christmas celebrations, we were afraid the kids were going to start thinking they were entitled to presents and pie everyday at the end of the year.

We've slowly been getting back to normal around here, although how normal can it be when Dad has two full weeks of vacation? And why is it everytime Jonathan has vacation, we all get sick?

Most of us are mostly recovered now. Two years ago when Jude was a wee baby, we spent a week long vacation sick, on the couch watching "LOST". This week was like and extended deja vu.

Before we were under the weather, we were able to celebrate Christmas morning at home with the kids. We also gave Ezra a hair cut. He no longer looks like a poor, unkempt, homeless boy.

I don't want a hair cut, Mom.

Well now...this is interesting.

My head feels so light!

Jan and Alan came over Christmas evening and gave the boys some NERF shotguns. Oh boy howdy, were those a hit. Jude can barely load his gun and pull the trigger, but he still enjoys holding us at gun point during diaper changes.

He also enjoys his very loud whistle from Grandpa Rick. All the kids enjoy those whistles, but hopefully since I confiscated them immediately, they'll forget about them until oh....let's say May.

We celebrated Christmas with my dad and sisters and their boyfriends, on the 26th. Alan and Jan joined us and helped bunches with food prep and clean up. It was the first time hosting Christmas at our house, and it was fun! A lot of work...but very fun.

I love this loud, LOUD whistle.

Look, MOM! It's that candy filled plastic phone from the closet!

This is cool, but where are the LEGOS?

Do angels have cold sores? Yes, indeed.

Sadie was an angel in our church's Christmas play. It was so stinkin' cute to see all the small chillun's singing "Away in a Manger". And then to cap it all off, Joey B. announced loudly during the silence at the end of the song "MINE DOESN'T WORK" (talking about his fully functioning microphone).

Christmas night.

(sorry for poor photo quality...scanner is broken)

Another year has come and gone. The days go soooo slooow, but the years are just flying.

Happy New Year everyone!

Christmas: Part 1

2009-12-07T19:42:00.008-06:00

We had a fun time celebrating an early Christmas at Alan and Jan's house during Thanksgiving week.

David and Hillary stopped by our house on their way there. The weather was surprisingly nice for most of the week, so there were lots of chances to play outside.

Can you believe that 6 of 8 cousins fit on this swing?

One of the few quiet moments at the house. This is what zombies look like.

Okay, so this was taken today, but I had to include it. She loves her some shake.

Here's Jude playing "Grandma".

Here's Sadie as "Grandpa" and Grace as "Grandma. Hannah is an amish flamingo keeper.

Sadie takes a shot at the pinata.

Grace takes a swing.

To Hannah, this is serious business.

We also got a chance to visit the Milton House in Milton, Wisconsin. Home to many Crandall family relics and much Crandall family history. It was fun, although I nearly had an embolism trying to stop my kids from touching everything, and yelling....and stomping all over the old creaky wood floors and stairs.

They all thought the Underground railroad room and tunnel was cool. Sadie was pretty disturbed by the poster depicting slaves being abused and at auction.
It'll be fun to go back in a few years.

We visited Jonathan's Papa and Mimi's grave.

Christmas in November

2009-11-17T14:44:00.007-06:00

Considering Christmas is only a week away for the Crandall's, we got our Christmas decorations up on Sunday.

Everyone is very, very VERY excited about our new full size tree (last year's christmas clearance purchase, thanks again for spotting that, Jan!).

We even got outdoor lights last January-very bright, blue LED lights.

So we're all in the Christmas spirit here.

(I just had to add a couple more...)

U2 and Kevin Hartman--Best Marriage advice ever.

2009-11-15T15:50:00.002-06:00

" 'I can't live with or without you.' Exactly!!! You can't live. You have to die!"

-Kevin Hartman on marriage with help from Jonathan's all time favorite rock band U2.

I want your opinion (and, more importantly, the truth)

2009-11-13T15:02:00.004-06:00

This topic has come up several times in Christian circles of conversation and I have my own very determined position, but I've come across some that have a different position than me and they are also very determined....imagine that!

I want to know what everyone else thinks. What do you think Scripture says? Give verses and/or biblical examples if you can.

Here's the question:

Can a Christian (someone who has been born again-has a salvation experience-professes that Christ is their Saviour) live a lifestyle of sin? Or would that indicate they were never saved in the first place? Or does it indicate a loss of salvation?

I don't think a Christian can lose their salvation, but I tacked it on just in case someone else did. If you think you can lose your salvation you must also address whether or not this is an irrevocable loss or not.

(I'll share my thoughts in the next post).

Thanks everyone.

Feb. 4, 1993

2009-11-03T23:01:00.005-06:00

This home-school creative-writing masterpiece is free of charge, complete with spelling goof-ups. How did I ever make it to 7th grade?

Chad knew it was dangerous out in the Montana forest country, but he was tired of zapping aliens on his Nentendo. He wanted adventure, so, without his parents permission, he creeped off their property and after a while of exploring, he heard a heavey, low toned noise comeing at him. Chad wheeled around and started running in the direction he came.

"Why did I disobey my parents and explore past that barb-wire fence?" Chad scolded himself.

He knew something or someone was following him, but, at the moment, Chad wasn't going to turn around and find out.

The low noise seemed to be gaining on him. He knew he wouldn't be able to outrun it. So, with a courages heart, he wipped around, picked up a stick, and started hollering at the top of his lungs. The noise disappeared and all was quiet.

"Oh no!" mumbled Chad. "It's 6:00. I'll never be able to get home in time for sup...hey, where am I?!"

The darkness spilled down like an unwanted guest. When "What in the world?" Chad stamered. He saw a lighted house! He cautioned his way to it.

Suddenly, two people came out of the house. "Mom, Dad?" Chad asked while he bommed toward his home.

As he got there, they were nothing like his parents. "Kidnappers!" Chad gasped as he started running in the opposite direction. How he knew they were kidnappers, nobody knows.

The taller of the two people was upon him and started shaking him. "No!" Chad yelled. "Help, help,
help!"

"Wake up, Chad!" said Chad mom as she shook him awake. "It's almost time for school."

"Mom," Chad said as he wiped the sweat from his face, "I had the worst dream."

The End~

Halloween and other fun!

2009-11-02T16:48:00.008-06:00

Ezra and Sadie had a lot of fun trick-or-treating this year.

This is the first year Ezra's really gotten into it! I heard once he realized what was going on, he practically bolted from house to house.

Jude and I stayed home to pass out the candy. Later, the boys got a little too enthusiastic and started inviting all the children to "COME IN!!! COME ON INSIDE!!" Which I'm sure most people felt was truly frightening.

Sadie went as the obligatory princess, and we scrounged up a soldier outfit for Ezra.

Sadie said she wanted a haircut, and even though I threaten to cut her hair all the time ("What would you rather do? Brush your hair or get a haircut?) I really didn't want to cut it. So we compromised and cut some bangs.

I should've just said "no". Bangs and curly hair don't mix. Most of the time they are curled up to her hairline. Don't be fooled by this cute picture, on a normal day it makes her look like a poodle with a bad perm.

Today Violet and I planted 100 tulip bulbs. Okay, she mainly ate grass while I planted tulip bulbs. (She was watching the swinging lense cap)

Also, Ezra and Jude LOVE legos. I'm not really sure what the major attraction is. I mean, they're fun and all, but are they realllly that much greater than other toys?

They must be because, it seems, boys of all ages and sizes go ga-ga for Legos...ahem.

Homemade Wine

2009-10-29T13:34:00.004-05:00

Jonathan has been wanting to try to make homemade wine for a while now. So here's a picture of our first attempt.

You mix grape juice (in this case, homemade grape juice from concord grapes) sugar and yeast together and pour it in bottles. The yeast reacts with the sugar creating carbon dioxide which inflates the balloons, when the balloon deflates, the wine will be done.

So we'll know if it's any good in about six weeks.

Family Flint Memory Verses

2009-10-12T23:23:00.003-05:00

The link for the Family Flint memory verses put to song is in the "Welcome" box, in the side bar!
-------------------------------------------------------->>>>>

Sleep Securely

2009-10-12T22:33:00.003-05:00

A lullaby for our children.

My Unexpected Helper

2009-10-09T14:47:00.016-05:00

Elvis.

Recently he's been quite a boon during nap-time.

Here's how it works:

1.Place Violet down for nap wide awake and crying (after much pacing, nursing, and playing with).
2. Place Elvis next to Violet

3. Elvis falls asleep and Violet soon follows suit.

He is remarkably patient, too, while she grabs at him and swats, and for her part, she doesn't seem to mind the occasional cat bath.
My very own cat babysitter. Who would have thunk it?

Here are some other pictures from this summer.

Violet has five very fervent admirers.

Baseball game. Kids are free, food is provided. Hehehe. They never count on someone bringing an entire army of children that will clean out the hotdogs.

Sadie turns 5. Cake theme:"use up all the frosting tubes, and candy in the pantry", or perhaps it was "tacky". Sadie liked it.
She's been listening to a lot of audio books.

and drawing, too.
We walk.

Jan helps chop apples for applesauce.

Alan and Ezra take a nap on the trampoline.

4 kids, 1 newly potty trained, 1 accident prone. 50 degrees at night *shiver*. Approximately 25 items that smell like pee at the end of the day. 12 smores are the bright spot.

Camping trip=FAIL.

However, it seems more fun the further away we get from it.

It's the end of the season for the garden. Jonathan tills it all under.

Our summer in a nutshell.

Monkey See, Monkey Do (or, Pig)

2009-09-21T20:56:00.003-05:00

She does this on her own, too, as her "happy" excited noise--like after every bite of applesauce. But I had to kind of coax it out of her for the camera, hence the lovely snorting.

Also, quotes from other kids:

Sadie- "You know, I like eating toothpaste better than boogers."

Ezra- "No thanks, mom. No eggs. It will hatch in me."

Jude- "Excuse YOU! HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Yikes. Is the President a public servant? Or are we the servants?

2009-09-10T13:12:00.004-05:00

Sounds good until the last creepy minute. (except we all know to cure Alzheimer's we need embryo's...right?).
Apparently this played at a school in CA.

The voices in unison at the end made me shudder.

The "Knack"

2009-09-02T12:46:00.001-05:00

Click here to listen.

Monster Squash

2009-08-01T07:49:00.002-05:00

Strange Words

2009-07-12T22:08:00.008-05:00

Did you ever notice that the word "latchstring" has six consecutive consonants? What a stellar segue into...I am looking for an English word with a Colyer Consonant Rating of better than 13. First, let me explain:

A friend from my Iowa State days, Josh Colyer, was in his usual state of deep reflection when he suddenly became irrationally excited about a formula:

CCR = X/v + Y,

where 'CCR' stands for the Colyer Consonant Rating, 'X' is the total number of consonants in the word, 'v' is the total number of vowels, and 'Y' is the longest run of continuous consonants. The earth-shaking ramifications of this breakthrough formula are, well, none. It was just an attempt to quantify seemingly "odd", consonant-rich English words. But for the next week at Alpha Sigma Phi, everyone was quite entertained in the attempt to find the highest-scoring word. Some of the respectable submissions were:

schticks [CCR = 7/1 + 4 = 11]
borschts [CCR = 7/1 + 6 = 13]
strengths [CCR = 8/1 + 5 = 13]
twelfths [CCR = 7/1 + 5 = 12]
angsts [CCR = 5/1 + 5 = 10]

I also found another questionable spelling of the Russian beet soup, "borschtsch", but is it English? The general selection guidelines are [1] proper names shall not be submitted, and [2] the Oxford English Dictionary shall have the final word.

Video Test

2009-07-12T21:10:00.003-05:00

Violet's tongue trick, compliments of a Samsung M510 cellphone.

John Adams by McCullough

2009-07-11T12:13:00.008-05:00

It has been some time since affording myself the leisure to sink my teeth into a good book. More correctly, now that we've made our TV "disappear," I've had more time in the evenings to read.

History has never been my strong suit. But perhaps this stems from the lack of exposure to great biographies [like this one]. As a result of carefully plodding through "John Adams", I'm enjoying an improved understanding of the events leading up to 1776, the American revolution, and American politics through the 2nd presidency. This tome has fostered my appreciation for Adams' philosophy of government, his devotion to liberty, and his affection for simple living.

At many points in the text, I felt frustration. His duty to public service, which, when asked for was always rendered, demanded much sacrifice. Long periods of his life kept him away from the most important people in his life, his wife and family. Bitter separations and joyful reunions were constantly recurring themes. Ever introspective, Adams' also recognized his weaknesses of vanity and ambition. But I believe it to be a deeply-entrenched sense of duty to God--and not these particular vices--that was his driving motivation. He was placed in a unique position in history and society in order to make the world for his children, and childrens' children, a better place.

I was impressed by Adams' own letter-writing and journaling, which is considered a national treasure. The "art" of it is mostly lost in today's world of instant-messaging, wireless handsets and e-mail. In numerous excerpts referenced in the biography, we get an intimate look at Adams' personal struggles, his sharp reasoning, and his education--both deep and broad by today's standards. But it is especially in his correspondence with Abigail, that we see the tender love and depedence on one another that they shared. Their tireless attempts to connect with each other on paper, when unable to be with one another in person, is a challenge to me. How often do I take my relationship with Sara for granted?

My mind being what it is, I read "John Adams" side-by-side with my trusty Merriam-Webster's dictionary. Despite the risk that I embarass myself for listing words that everyone else already uses on a regular basis, I'll share a few that I struggled with:

argosy -- a large merchant ship, or fleet of merchant ships
calumny -- a misrepresentation spoken to damage one's reputation or slander one's character
erudite -- well-learned, eloquent, bookish
epicurean -- philosophy of giving oneself to "fine tastes", sensuality, or living to please one's senses
avarice -- excessive, disgusting greediness for money
vizard -- a disguise, guise, mask
aphorism -- a concise statement of a principle, truth, or sentiment; a maxim
foldorol -- a useless ornament or accessory; a trifle; nonsense
intriguer -- a cheater, an entangler; one who tricks
allay -- to subdue or reduce in severity; to alleviate
probity -- an adherence to highest principles and ideals

And best of all--never again in a political discussion will I let slide the vital distinction between "democracy" and "republic."

Harry Potter Reviewed

2009-07-08T22:48:00.006-05:00

I just finished the Harry Potter series and thought I would do a book review.
I read the first one several years ago now, and didn't read anymore after that until roughly a week ago. Then I zoomed through the last six (required reading level=6th grade), and thought to write out my thoughts since there's been so much controversy surrounding these books.

Initially I was reluctant to read these books. I have to admit the main reason was sheer snobbery. I figured if everyone in the world and their uncle liked these books then they must be over-hyped rubbish (which isn't the case).

My personal disclaimer would be this: Around book 4, the characters are becoming teenagers and the content is more suited to young adults rather than the age 9-12 bracket the first three books were meant for.
In books 4-7 the mood is darker and the stakes are higher as the battle between good and evil ramps up, so aside from the teenage hormones and occasional mild cursing, there is some dark and violent content that could be quite frightening for younger children. The series as a whole I think is more suited for children age 12 and up.

The basic plot is about an orphan boy named Harry Potter. He lives with his aunt, uncle, and cousin, who mistreat and abuse him. At the age of ten, he finds out that he is a wizard which explains why odd things are always happening around him, and he is sent off to Hogwarts, a school for magical children.

At Hogwarts he is already famous because of the reason that he was orphaned. As a baby, a very dark and powerful wizard named Voldemort tried to kill him, and his parents died trying to protect him. The dark wizards "killing curse" backfired upon himself for some mysterious reason, nearly obliterating him physically.
Harry is the only known person to ever survive the killing curse, and is celebrated because he survived and also because he inadvertently brought about the downfall of the dark and evil Voldemort.

However Voldemort was not completely destroyed and through the rest of the series he attempts to regain physical strength, power and control, and revenge upon Harry Potter.

A lot of people (so I've heard) have objected to these books on the basis that books talk about magic and accordingly those who practice it are called "witches" and "wizards", and is therefore too close to pagan reality to be safe for children to read. I don't know much about how witchcraft in the real world works, so I have no idea if any of the details in the book line up with real pagan practices (I find it hard to believe that they would), however to me this was just a very well-written fantasy story.

It's true that children's minds are more susceptible to believing whatever they read, but if we were to always act according to that fear, as parents, I suppose we would only allow our children to read non-fiction.
I think with adult discussion and guidance the concepts brought forth in this series would provide hours of wonderful conversation for parents and children.

Even the most obtuse child would probably understand that magic, in the Harry Potter sense, isn't real.

Elves don't exist, neither do orcs, hobbits, talking animals, or magical wardrobes, but there *IS* an epic battle between good and evil raging in our world, and even within ourselves. This is the part of the book to discuss with your children. What it means to be brave and courageous, to have conviction and to be loyal, to know pain and sacrifice and to love in a world where there is both good and evil.

Those themes crop up plenty in this series.

The other objection one might have to the series is that shortly after the final installation was complete, Rowling came out of nowhere and whacked people everywhere with the knowledge that Dumbeldore, one of the main fatherly figures in the books, is gay.

She can say whatever she wants, but it's not written into the story.
I'm not sure why she felt the need to declare this. Making a statement about one of the characters supposed sexuality seems utterly superfluous and completely political. Please. Outing a fictional character after the fact? It seems pretty silly to me.

It's not important to the storyline whether he is or isn't (there is not even a whiff of a romance sub-plot involving Dumbeldore), and there isn't a single hint (even a very sly and subtle one) that points to him being gay. And I looked carefully, fully expecting to find one.

Aside from the political and personal views of the author, there is very little about this series to be offended about, in my humble opinion.

As far as the literary quality, I would have to say it is very good. There are enough characters to rival "Lord of the Rings" and almost all are marvelously well written. My favorite being the mysterious Severus Snape.
Rowling has created an engaging and fascinating, magical world.
Even now, I feel a mixture of awe and envy at the amazing alternate reality that she managed to weave together in this series.
Truly, our ability to create and imagine is an amazing gift from God. I am reminded of this every time I read a good book :)

I will say I was a tad disappointed with the last book. I know the pressure must have been great when she sat down to write the final book, and there were about a million loose ends to tie up, so all in all she did an amazing job, but I couldn't help feeling a little bit unsettled when I finished.

I think Rowling may have got a little in over her head, and the final wrap ups/show down were too complicated, as evidenced by the fact that they required a lot of out-loud monologuing so that, we, the reader could understand what was happening. Some of the characters started acting out of character, new stuff was introduced that unnecessarily complicated and clouded the main issues, and the story was starting to stretch the bounds of believability (that is, the bounds in the world she had created). Conversely, (and ironically) the epilogue was so simple and cliched that it was almost deflating.

I will have no problem with my kids reading this series after age 10, as long as we can talk about it as they go through it.
Honestly, I think I'll have a harder time discussing the concept of teenage dating, then trying to teach them that magic isn't real.

When all is said and done, it was very good series and well worth reading--as long as fiction is worth reading (and I happen to believe it is).
Life sure would be dull without the ability to dream or imagine.

John Adams on ...

2009-06-29T14:45:00.004-05:00

On investing:

"I had heard my father say that he never knew a piece of land run away or break."

On the limits of government:

"We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."

On republic:

"They define a republic to be a government of laws, and not of men."

On democracy:

"Democracy ... while it lasts is more bloody than either aristrocracy or monarchy. Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide."

On training children:

"It should be your care, therefore, and mine, to elevate the minds of our children and exalt their courage; to accelerate and animate their industry and activity; to excite in them an habitual contempt of meanness, abhorrence of injustice and inhumanity, and an ambition to excel in every capacity, faculty, and virtue. If we suffer their minds to grovel and creep in infancy, they will grovel all their lives."

On the corrupting influence of power:

"Because power corrupts, society's demands for moral authority and character increase as the importance of the position increases."

Staking Tomatoes

2009-06-24T15:24:00.008-05:00

I wish I could be on the victorious end of this conversation and post about my "success", or give a great tutorial, but I can't!!! I'm at the very messy beginning.

The long story made short: my kids are driving me up the wall!! Absolutely crazy. With disobedience, and with the plain old, irritating things that kids do that drive adults nuts. Plus, there's four of them, so quadruple the screaming, the constant "I wants" and "I needs" (the absolute worst is the "I'm hungry" 's that I hear 50 million times a day, what do these kids need, their own grocery store?).

Also, you can quadruple the guilt I feel, for not always addressing these needs and correcting the disobedience with the utmost of self-control.

Okay, so I've got roughly an hour long window each day to figure out the answers to all of the questions of life. (that would be naptime)

After a lot of praying (and some kicking and screaming) on my part I've decided that my kids are driving me nuts, not because I'm spending too much time with them, but rather because I'm not spending enough time with them.
I'm not sure I entirely belive this, but I guess I'm going to find out.

I have removed our TV from the living room and put it in a place where it is very unlikely to be retrieved (I'm counting on my own laziness here).
I have three methods for losing my kids when I have something I need to get done: the most reliable is the TV, then there's always the play-room in the basement, and if all else fails, forced outdoor play.

But there's always something that needs to be done, and the TV is the one that I feel the most guilt about, because it's obviously altering their toddler brains, and later on I get whatever one-liners they learned from their favorite movies (When I get: "Don't you shush me." in a very sassy black-lady from the Bronx voice, who is there to blame except myself? Maybe, Dreamworks for making the dumb movie...).

An Anology I can be Excited About

Staking tomatoes (raisinggodlytomatoes.com). We just staked our tomatoes last week. We drove a big bar in the ground really really far so it wouldn't sway around in the wind, and tied our tomatoes to it with flexible pantyhose.
So, I'm the bar (grounded in God's word), the kids are the tomatoes.

And I know, it isn't in the original analogy, but let me just speculate that maybe the pantyhose could stand for flexibility for each individual tomato plant, grace or mercy, or something like that.

Pantyhose=grace.

So, I read nearly every article on that site, and took this away: if I want my kids to obey consistently, I need to correct them consistently, and to correct them consistently I need to be around them 100% of the time.
I.e. If I don't want my kids to go all "Lord of the Flies" on me, I should not leave them alone to act like little savages so much.

Sheesh. Sounds more obvious than it is.

I don't know how we're going to make it through the day without TV. But I feel encouraged by that one statistic I found through Google that said that most parents find their kids easier to manage without TV. So um...yeah. I feel a lot better.

At least season five of Lost isn't coming out for a while....

So, here we go, kids...in the words of Elvis:

I'm gonna stick like glue, stick because I'm stuck on you.

Growing Children and a Growing Garden

2009-06-19T22:34:00.021-05:00

June 16 was Jude's 2nd birthday. I just can't believe how messed up my sense of time is! I looked at Jude on his birthday and I thought "I cannnot believe he is already 2, but wait....shouldn't he be older?"

Sadie helped make the cake, which we all enjoyed. Not the most beautiful cake, it fell apart on us, however that did not affect the chocolately goodness.

The garden is growing, and everything is up. Now to fight off the weeds and the rabbits.
I'm starting to feel like I'm in "Wallace and Gromit and the Were-Rabbit".

I hate those bunnies and their "anti-social, veg-ravaging behaviour".

1 of 5 apples that we *might* harvest this year.

8 plots of vegetable goodness.

Perfectly formed lettuce amongst the onions.

Zucchini.

Corn!

Have you ever seen a potato flower? I hadn't until this last week. They are actually quite pretty.

Here is our Judah, just a few days old.

Baby model.

Almost 1, how the time flies!

Our happy boy. What a joy he has been! Your laughter is contagious! And boy, do you laugh hard!

Happy Birthday, Jude. Dig in!

2 years old!

Some trust in chariots....

2009-06-15T16:00:00.007-05:00

Lately, we've been having church "issues". The ultra conservative, never-varying, always reliable denomination we have attended for years, has a less than ideal church in our new location.

I won't get into the gory details of how we fit (or don't fit into) the mess, but there was, from what we understand already problems before we got there.
So, we've been "church shopping", which need I say, is something I have always looked at with disdain (of course, never having had to do it myself).

This last week we visited a very friendly E-free church. They had their service in a public park, and instead of the typical Sunday style,
they had worship and personal/family testimonies. Even some (gasp) women shared. Yes, it's true. My husband even learned something, so hopefully he isn't disobeying the biblical command to never learn ANYTHING from a woman. Or wait...did I get that right?
(Just some humor...please don't read into it more then is there.)

During the service, several people walking by stopped to listen. Instead of being ignored until it was the proper time to acknowledge them, they were immediately welcomed and talked to by church members.

I was a bit amused later, because these seemingly mundane details were the things that surprised me the most.
I think we've gotten used to such a rigid Sunday schedule, that these innocuous variations seemed to require my evaluation.

There's a truth here, that while knowing it on the surface, it's easy to dismiss as a technicality in the assemblies: we all come to God differently on Sunday mornings, and no one way is completely perfect and "right".

Don't get me wrong, I believe some ways are more right than others. But the fact is, when two or three believers are gathered in His name, there God is!

It's easier the older and more crotchedy I get, to adopt a very comfortable "us vs. them" stance. Us versus those believers that don't do everything the way I do, those "other" churches, and those nonbelievers.
Which leads to some isolationism, some fear, and some judgmental-ism. None of which is very conducive to fellowship with other believers (even the like-minded ones), or witnessing to a lost world.

Meanwhile, we get caught in a Christian culture syndrome, where it's very easy to start to put your faith and hope in *systems* rather than Christ.
If I just have church the right way, if only I can serve my family healthy home cooked meals that are 100% organic everyday, if only I can become the perfect wife and mother, if only I home school my kids, then life will go well for me, and God will be pleased with me.
Those things are good in and of themselves, but as far as righteousness and our standing with Christ goes, they are just dirty rags.

I think I've been finding too much of my identity and comfort in a set of systems.
If I trust in these systems, rather than in Christ, I will only be disappointed, or worse--hardened into a Pharisee. Righteousness is found in Christ alone.
I'm just being reminded anew of God's grace, which extends even to the imperfect way we *all* come to Him on Sunday mornings.

We should all strive to obey God and offer up our lives as a living sacrifice, but if I am trying to do that, how lame and arrogant is it to think I will mess up His plan with a dumb decision or my pitiful lack of earthly perfection? And I'm not saying I'm always trying my hardest, I'm just saying I think I may have elevated myself to some sort of universal importance if I think that His eternal plan might be messed up if I pick the "wrong" church, or can't go one whole day without being impatient with my children.
While it's incredibly implicating, I have to chuckle when I think how often it's easier for me to believe that I can make a dent in God's eternal plan, than to have faith that God will lead and guide me or my family, simply because we are His. Not because of my perfect obedience.
His will, will be done!

Thank you, Lord, for your never-ending, never giving up, always patient, always forgiving love and the grace that you extend to me each day.

"I won't trust in the things I do, for they will not stand and they won't come through, so I'll trust in the name of the Lord my God." -Jennifer Knapp

Food and Birthdays

2009-06-09T14:06:00.008-05:00

Today is Jonathan's birthday. He tried to convince me this morning that he was turning 27. I think he really thought he was. We must have lost a year of our lives somewhere, because I thought I was turning 25 this year, and actually it was 26. It's quite shocking when all of sudden you can't remember how old you are and time seems to be moving forward without you taking notice!

So, without further ado, HAPPY (28th) BIRTHDAY, Jonathan!

There is a birthday treat uniquely tailored to your tastes waiting at home:

Speaking of food, we picked up our first share from the CSA yesterday. Green onions, asparagus, arugula, mint, radishes and spinach. I'm glad we got a half share, because it's quite a lot of fresh produce. They also emailed some useful recipes specific to this weeks share. It'll be fun to try some new things like arugula-mint pesto. We love asparagus, so it's nice that we got a big fat bunch.

This picture is kind of deceiving, those radishes are huge, the green onions are two to three times the size you get at the grocery store, and the bunches of greens are quite hefty.

If you have a great recipe calling for lots of arugula, spinach, or mint, please share!

What do you do all day?

2009-06-05T13:03:00.007-05:00

I was writing a comment to my friend Mandie, and then it got so long and complicated I thought I would just do a post instead.

This is the "general" chore chart. On the very left are the things that all the kids need to do every morning (get dressed, tidy room, make bed, brush hair-that's mostly for Sadie, but the boys do it, too). The pictures are pretty bad because we were running out of ink. The nice thing is I can change them up easily.

Then in the middle are the things they do before and during meal time. The boys empty the garbage cans, Jude puts the dirty laundry in the hamper and puts napkins on the table. Ezra gathers all the sippy cups, empties bathroom trash and puts out silverware.
Sadie wipes the bathroom counter, puts out the plates, and wipes the table after a meal.
Then in the right hand column are a list of chores we do after breakfast, brushing teeth, and laundry related things.

This is the toy-room pick up chart. Each kid is responsible for making sure certain toys get put away (I tried to arrange it so each kid has the ones they play with the most).

I'm also trying to impose a schedule for the rest of the day so that we can get in a groove before Fall comes around and we start homeschooling officially.

After breakfast and chores we usually read a story from a children's Bible, right now we are going through "The Jesus Storybook Bible" that Jan and Alan got for the kids.

If it's nice we read outside and after the reading the kids play outside or help me with garden chores for a while.

At about 10:30 the plan is to do school with Sadie while the boys play in the basement.
Then lunch.

After lunch is naptime for Jude, and the older two have "quiet time". If I put them in their room, they won't be quiet. So we all go outside with our books and they have to read quietly for an hour. No talking. At all. Because mommy likes to read in silence. They usually do pretty well at this. They like books. I'm hoping this skill will transfer over to church.

Then after nap Sadie will have round 2 of school, while the boys either watch TV or play outside, or downstairs. Ezra may sit in on the lessons, we'll see how advanced it is.
I'm hoping we can fit in piano lessons in here after this. We have some beginner books I think I could teach. Sadie wants to learn the flute, so we'll probably start forking over for that pretty soon.

Then I start making dinner and we all start wandering over to the window every five minutes to see if daddy is home yet.

And that's sums up what we do all day.
I once had my brother ask me if I watched soap operas and ate chocolate all day...as you can see, Jonathan Rieger, there is no six hour time slot for daytime television. You must be confusing me with some sitcom mom stereotype!!

You know you're a Mom when.....

2009-06-03T13:24:00.007-05:00

The baby you're holding pukes over your shoulder and all down your back....
and then a toddler walks up, grabs your legs, and wipes his snotty face all over your jeans.

Sadie started swimming lessons on Monday and she is really enjoying it, although the four year olds aren't doing much more than learning "saftey lessons" and getting used to the water.

Food for thought: the first day the instructor told us that every day after we should drop our kids off and leave, or sit outside the gate, because then the kids would learn to trust them.

It made me think about public school and how there's probably a similar sort of attitude there. Delegate this area to "us"-the government or the school system, so that your children can learn to TRUST and believe US. And the hidden (and maybe disputable add-on would be--"US" as opposed to "YOU" the parents).
I'm not worried about the swim instructor indoctrinating my kid, obviously, but then again she doesn't get 13 uninterrupted years with her either...

It just got me thinking, how practical it is, from that viewpoint, to exclude the parents.
Just thinking.

p.s. the kid on the left is NOT mine, I don't know why he's smiling at me--maybe his mom is behind me? Also, this poor quality picture was taken THROUGH the gate.

Public places=Rude comments!!

2009-05-31T17:23:00.005-05:00

Me=what the heck???

A "gotcha" moment occured at Sam's Club about a week ago. We had finished up shopping, and Jonathan was taking all four kids out to the car while I waited in line, as he was walking out, Sadie happened to be whining about something, but everyone else was being pretty good.

As he was walking out, a 50 something woman craned her neck to watch him go, then walked up to me (I happened to be at a check out close to the door) and said "I'd cut my throat! I'd cut my throat!" (literally she said this--I thought it was a bit graphic). I innocently replied "What?" and she said "Did you see that guy with the four kids? I mean, he looked so calm and collected (1 point for us!), but I would cut my throat."

I was feeling completely calm and not at all riled up by her comments, so I said, "Yeah, actually those are mine! They're not really that bad."
Her face immediatetly turned red, then she started rambling really fast--"Oh! Well, were they just really close?? Nobody loves kids more than me! I didn't mean to embarass you!" But I was not embarrassed. Then she shuffled away as fast as she could without looking back.

I had pretty much forgotten about it until yesterday. We were walking in the park near our house. On our way back I kept stopping to pick wildflowers, consequently Jonathan and the 2 girls were about 30 yards ahead of me and even off the path heading home. I only had 2, *2* boys.

A 50-ish man sped walked past and felt free to say "Good Lord, I'll have to tell my wife I ran into Octo-mom at the park!". I just smiled and didn't reply.

I can only assume he walked past Jonathan earlier and assumed we were the same family, it seems odd that he would think seeing a mom and two kids at a public park was interesting.

What struck me about both of these comments was how incredibly negative they were, after all, who has a high opinion of octo-mom, and why would you rather slit your throat than be around a few kids? And even if you did feel that way, why would you say something so violent and graphic to someone you don't even know or insult a complete stranger for no good reason?

If baby-boomers, many of whom grew up in large families, think that seeing a family of three or four children with a mom and a dad is incredible, what will the "normal" family be for my generation or the next?

On a more positive note, the park near our home grows some beautiful wild flowers I've never seen before. I'm not even sure they are wild. I think one of these is lupine, maybe Jan could help me out there. I'm especially curious about these other two.

Sadie starts swimming lessons tomorrow! She is super excited!

This was a couple feet tall.

Is this a thistle? There was nothing spiky or painful on the plant.

Violet likes to put everything in her mouth.

Enjoying the sprinkler.

Springtime

2009-05-21T13:30:00.000-05:00

In an effort to improve our dining room table, I destroyed it...several times.

Luckily it's back to usable condition, but still not looking the way I want.

It had these decorative grooves that food got stuck in. I tried tablecloths for a few weeks, but I just don't like them. So I thought I would fill in the grooves with some sort of product from the hardware store. When that didn't work out, I tried to cover it up with 15 layers of black paint. Then when that didn't look so hot, I thought maybe a little varnish will help this out. It was a no go. So finally, we bought a sander, and I spent a few hours taking all 20 layers of junk OFF. Then we stained, and varnished-with the wrong kind of varnish. Then we sanded. Then we stained again. And varnished again. But I could see my brush marks. So I sanded some more, varnished some more...I think you're getting the picture.

Now I've given up. It's not a perfect-looking table. But after sanding down to the grain 6 times or so, those pesky grooves are all but gone!

May I recommend wipe on polyurethane, for all your polyurethane needs? Also, just start with sanding.

Other goings-on at our home: recently Violet became big enough for the walker, Ezra is using the potty (intermitently), Jude really like taking baths, especially when we are not watching, and Sadie will be taking swimming lessons this summer!

Also, thanks to some help from Hillary, we are getting a little more organized around here. We made a few chore charts, and are getting a better schedule in place (we had one before, but the kids grow up and then you have to change things--duh, I guess).

I feel a little more prepared to start Kindergarten with Sadie in the fall, because I can see now how we would fit it in the day and manage. We're going to give the Sonlight curriculum a trial run. Did you know you can return it all for a full refund if you don't like it? You can even use up to 18 weeks of the materials to make your assessment.

That's about all that's going on (except Jonathan shaving again, check out his new profile picture). I agree with Sadie, the beard is preferred around here.

There's a nice shaded park somewhat near our home, here are some pictures form park excursions:

Four Things

2009-05-19T09:27:00.006-05:00

I thought I would share four things I really appreciate about my wife that stood out to me last week, that she demonstrates on a daily basis:

1. She has an amazing tolerance for complaining. And I'm not referring only to the complaining made by our children. I tend to take a more negative view of every situation, especially if I am stressed or worried about something totally unrelated to the issue at hand. We have four children, but on any given day I can be the biggest kid in the house. But she (usually) handles me with understanding and grace!

2. She keeps the refrigerator stocked with good food for me to take to work. It is such a blessing not having to buy lunch or eat ramen noodles every day.

3. She has a sincere compassion for people in need, who are unable to help themselves--especially children and orphans--and is softening my heart in much the same way. You can join us in praying for two children, Jenny (Columbia) and Jordi (Ecuador), that they grow to love and fear the Lord, have a healthy and God-centered family life.

4. She overflows with creative ideas for our home and garden, and it grows me mentally and spiritually just to keep up with her. I think about how stagnant my life could have been had I been left alone to my former, rather mundane, interests (e.g., Law & Order). Although the other side of the coin is that I constantly feel behind on our projects!

So Thank-you Sara.

Calling all Mommies and Chefs

2009-05-15T12:45:00.004-05:00

Okay, I could spend hours scouring the internet for what I'm looking for, but I know of several skilled moms and grandmas that occasionally read this blog and could help me out.

I'm looking for make ahead breakfast ideas (if you've got some lunch throw that in too). I don't care if it sits in the fridge overnight, if it cooks all night in the crockpot, or if it's frozen, I just need something that I don't have to scrap together at 7:00 in the morning!

We are eating oatmeal every single day. It's been going on for months. No complaints, but I'm getting pretty tired of oatmeal. There's always the bread and fruit stand by, we've even got some yogurt, sometimes boiled eggs, (scrambling and cooking wipes me out at 7 am). Can you tell I'm not a morning person? Which is ironic since my children are.

Recipes and helpful websites would be greatly appreciated. Email if you'd rather.

"Food, Inc." Coming to a theater near you.

2009-05-07T08:41:00.003-05:00

I don't know what we can do about it, but doesn't this disturb you?

Dandelions

2009-05-06T12:27:00.005-05:00

It must be every mothers joy to get a bouquet of these, every day, all summer long.

In a field of yellow flowers,
underneath the sun,
bluest eyes that spark with lightning,
boy with shoes undone.
He is young, so full of hope,
reveling in tiny dreams,
filling up, his arms with flowers,
right for giving any queen.

Running to her beaming bright,
while cradling his prize.
A flickering of yellow light,
within his mother's eyes.
She holds them to her heart,
keeping them where they'll be safe,
clasped within her very marrow,
dandelions in a vase.

She sees love, where anyone else would see weeds. all hope is found.
Here is everything he needs.

Fathomless your endless mercy,
weight I could not lift.
Where do I fit in this puzzle,
what good are these gifts?
Not a martyr, or a saint,
scarcely can I struggle through.
All that I have ever wanted,
was to give my best to you.

Lord, search my heart,
create in me something clean.
Dandelions
you see flowers in these weeds.

Gently lifting hands to heaven,
softened by the sweetest hush,
a Father sings over his children,
loving them so very much.
More than words could warrant,
deeper than the darkest blue,
more than sacrifice could merit,
Lord, I give my heart to you.

-"Dandelions", Five Iron Frenzy

St. Louis

2009-05-04T10:59:00.009-05:00

We had a nice time in St. Louis this weekend with Alan and Jan. We went to a marriage conference for those who don't know.

The conference was good-very insightful. My take home thought was about shame. How often we (i.e. *I*) use contempt, anger, or control to cover up shame. Some of the time it is legitimate shame because of sin. But I was struck by how often we feel shame over illegitimate things (like losing something, being clumsy, forgetting something, etc.).

We feel shame because these things make us feel or look foolish, not because they are sin. I think often we might make others feel shame over silly things like this, and then of course, we feel it, too. Even my three year old feels humiliated when he has some sort of accident-often times instead of seeming to be embarrassed (which we know he is), he is acting out in anger within 30 seconds, even if no one is upset with him.

Trying to cover up shame goes back to Adam and Eve in the garden. So it's not surprising when we see it in ourselves or our children, legitimate shame is a gift from God that can lead to brokenness and true repentance, however *illegitimate shame* "destroys our capacity for worship" as our workbook put it. How often do we feel like a failure, or feel inadequate because of something illegitimate? For our family, I think it happens more often than it should, both for Jonathan and I, and for the kids.

I'm praying for our home to be a safe place, a place where legitimate shame can be used for God's glory, and we can be free from illegitimate shame. The gospel is the answer to both kinds. Christ's death and resurrection enabled forgiveness from God for our legitimate shame, and Christ's covering of righteousness-a knowledge of who we are in Him, frees us from the burden of illegitimate shame-feelings of inadequacy.

Okay, so after all that intensive sermon-listening, we visited the St. Louis zoo, which was fun-except the kids were wiped out from two long days, and one late night!

We spent Sunday outdoors planting vegetables, flowers, shrubs, and Jonathan dug the pavers into our front flower bed. Actually we went to two zoos this weekend as Menards was absolutely packed to bursting.

It's Spring fever for sure. I just found out today our little cherry tree had one tiny flower, which the kids promptly picked. So-no cherries. I tried to explain very carefully why they can't pick the flowers on the apple trees (can you believe our first year apple trees, planted only a month ago have blossoms?). I have a feeling all our beds and planters are going to be flowerless all summer long!

We got some great pictures of the zoo animals, but I'm sure you've all seen a photo of an elephant or a zebra!

Evolution? I don't think so.

Violet and the Rhino.

Jude and Papa.

Ezra and Mimi.

I guess Sadie was already grumpy the first night.

Pavers in!

What happens with all those picked flowers?

Investing in the Farm...even if it's not yours!

2009-04-30T10:00:00.007-05:00

Even though we aren't always good at it, we think it's important to eat healthy whole foods, and also to support the local farmers that invest their energy and lives into growing these healthy foods. Did you know the average supermarket produce item has traveled over 1500 miles?

Eating locally grown produce is not only good FOR you, it's good for the local economy, and good for reducing our dependence on oil.

We have been wanting to try a CSA for a while now! CSA stands for community supported agriculture, and it's exactly what it sounds like. Here is a good description from the website of the CSA we will be investing in this year, Supernatural Organics (supernaturalorganics.com):

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is an agricultural program that connects local farmers with local consumers. 'Members' or 'shareholders' of the CSA purchase a share of the season's harvest directly from a local farmer. As a CSA member you make a commitment to support the farm throughout the season, and assume the costs, risks and bounty of growing food along with the farmer or grower. Members help pay for seeds, water, equipment maintenance, labor, etc. In return, the farm provides, to the best of its ability, a healthy supply of seasonal fresh produce throughout the growing season.

Using localharvest.org's handy-dandy CSA finder, we discovered this CSA only 4 miles north of us, right here in Marion!

Since we have a rather large garden, we will only be purchasing a *half* share for the season (which runs June through October). But this should provide us with extra produce we might need after canning and freezing, and hopefully we'll get to try some vegetables we don't normally buy (i.e. kale, turnips, beets, etc.) and also some new varieites of herbs.

As for cost, our half share will cost us $18/week. Just this week I spent nearly $25 on fresh produce. On a stock up week I might spend a little over $30. A full share would cost $30/week, so it's pretty close to what I'm already spending. The advantage is, it's local, it's fresh(er) and it's organic!

I can't wait to pick up our first share!

(p.s. you can use http://www.localharvest.org/ to see if there are any CSA's near you)

The Segmentation Problem

2009-04-27T10:11:00.002-05:00

This last decade, more so than ever before in the history of man, we have seen the advancement and widespread adoption of technology at all levels of American society. I contend that this fact, coupled with the pervasive attitude of entitlement and self-absorption so common in the West, has resulted in one of the most segmented cultures in human history. What do I mean? Let me try to describe a few examples. As a society, our personal sweat, blood, and labor only rarely have a direct influence on the following activities that, but a few years ago, were the major activities, “stuff” if you will, of life:

Growing our food,
Building our homes, and even
Raising our children (gasp).

I argue that this leads to a disconnection with life as God intended, at several basic levels. Parents are disconnected from their children who spend all day in school and then an after-school day-care. Husbands are disconnected from their wives because they hold less in common, sharing fewer hours together each day, and communicate more with co-workers than their own partners. Adults working a traditional career are trained in a specialized, segmented skill set that has, as a stand-alone trade, little or no connection with putting food on the table—aside from the abstract conception of a paycheck. This leads to a disconnection or “independence” from the earth, from the growing seasons, etc. but replaces it with a dependence on the high-tech man-made industrial society in which we live.

This leads to another line of questions altogether: If life as we know it (transportation system, currency, mass food production methods, Casey’s general store) all went away, could I reliably provide for my family for more than a few weeks? I ask myself this question a lot, and my answer is always an unsettling “no”.

Easter weekend

2009-04-13T09:32:00.013-05:00

We had a very busy and productive Easter weekend.

We woke up bright and early on Saturday. I was ready (for Jonathan) to get to work on our (my) outdoor projects while I got everyone dressed and fed. He was a little resistant to this idea, so we all ate together, and then all went outside together. While the kids played in the mud this is what we did:
-screwed 12 fence panels to our posts
-dug 14 holes with the auger
-put in our split rail fence for the garden
-cemented all the posts for the split rail
-planted two roses and four grape vines

Sounds very consice. But it took allllllll day.
Let me explain the hole drilling process, lest anyone think it was a piece of cake.

We have borrowed from my dad a tool that looks like a four foot tall screw with handles at the top. We turn this thing on, and push it into the Earth until the handles touch the ground, so we have a four foot hole. While it's spinning around and digging it's hole, you hold onto the handles with all of your might to keep it from spinning at the top.
Let's just say by the fourteenth hole my arms were like jelly, and Jonathan had raw beef hands from carrying all the lumber around.

By 1:00 we had one side of the picket fence done, and half of the split rail.

We took a break for lunch in the middle, met Nick Wilwert, who happened to be in town, at Wendy's, stopped at Menards for some more screws, let the kids play for 30 minutes or so, and head home to finish up.

We finished with the split rail around 7:00
Then we came inside and I cooked dinner, washed and folded five loads of laundry, swept all the mud off the floor, gave everyone a bath, got everyone ready for bed, and helped the kids clean the basement. Did I mention no one took a nap??

Suprisingly, it wasn't a bad day.

THEN Sunday, we visited the Banowetz' church. The kids liked that it met in a movie theater. The pastor spoke about the walk to Emmaus. He showed many slides of artists depictions of the walk to Emmaus. Jonathan liked how in nearly all the paintings (classical and modern) the artist had obscured the face of the second disciple, presumably because the text doesn't mention who he/she was.

Then we headed straight to Waterloo for Easter lunch at my grandma's house. The kids enjoyed this. Because the thing is, Easter for my side of the family is more like Christmas. There are Easter baskets loaded with toys, and lots of candy.

In fact my dad was generous enough to gift us with three solid chocolate bunnies as big as my head. The question is, who is going to eat those massive bunnies? The kids couldn't eat it all even if we rationed it out over three months. They would totally get sick of chocolate. I'm avoiding them like the plague, and Jonathan prefers to indulge in beans, cheese, and taco sauce. In fact he took some pictures of his taco sauce this morning. (The strange things I find on my camera card)

Anyway, we headed home loaded with leftover food and three very tired children. We actually put them in their pajamas before we left. We put them in their pj's for Wednesday night church, too. I'm sure some people think we never even bothered to get them dressed that day, but it saves some time at the end of the night.

With a shorter drive, we actually made it home in time to watch "Little Dorrit" on tv, captions and all.

Okay, so not such an etheral Easter, but it sure felt good to get a lot done, and Sadie and I actually did have a good conversation while I was brushing her hair (I like to distract her so she doesn't scream bloody murder at every tangle). It was actually sort of similar to the conversation Alan had with Jonathan at age 3 (posted on their blog).
"Sadie today is Easter! That's the day Jesus rose from the dead!"
"Why did he do that?"
"Well, Jesus died on the cross to take our sins away, and He rose from the dead so that we could rise from the dead, too and be in Heaven with Him, if we put our trust in Him." (I'm sure there's a better way to explain this to a four year old)
Sadie: "Yeah, I'm going to invite Him into my heart and pray for good righteousness."

She will often insert big words into her prayers like she'll pray for "a glorious good nights sleep" or to have "a magnificent Cinderella doll".

I hope everyone had as nice an Easter weekend as we did (minus the raw beef hands).

Grandma Lois holding Violet, and my sister Sam with her baby boy Brody (one month older than Violet).

The loot.

All babies make this face at some point.

The picket fence.

My lovely split rail! I can't stop staring at it. The garden will go behind it.

Violet.

Update in Photos

2009-04-06T16:09:00.007-05:00

Dinner tonight: Potato soup & homemade rolls. (Tried the egg white trick Alissa, and I used your pizza dough recipe, Sarah).

Potato Soup

4 c. chicken broth

4 c. potatoes peeled

1/4 c. onion minced

1/2 t. seasoned salt

1/4 t. white pepper

1/4 t. red pepper

1 8 oz. pkg cream cheese

--Combine broth, onions, potatoes, and spices. Boil on med. heat until potatoes are tender. Smash potatoes to the consistency you desire (we usually add some pot. flakes to thicken it). Reduce to low heat and add the cream cheese. We also add some bacon bits. Yumm.

Sadie learning phonics and reading at http://www.starfall.com/

Caution: Men at work!!! Dad and Jonathan digging holes for fence posts.

One side done. Whew!

This is how we are watching Masterpiece Theater's latest PBS series--"Little Dorrit" by Charles Dickens. We missed an episode and a half---thank goodness they have them online so we can watch them on the computer on top of our cooler!

Brotherly love.

The babies reading with daddy.

The sweetest baby, all bundled up for cold weather.

Funny Video on Having a Large Family

2009-04-03T19:04:00.001-05:00

I finally found some clever responses to all the comments!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaD8xat6VDw

Front and Back

2009-04-02T13:25:00.008-05:00

Here is a shot of the house taken from the street out front.

And here is a shot of the backyard from the deck. That's our swing chair on the ground. It fell over in some high winds.
You can barely see the two white posts in the back. Those mark the edge of our property.
The lot on our right is empty (hasn't been sold or developed yet) and to the right of the empty lot, is a fairly busy street. Hopefully my dad is going to get us started on our fence this weekend.

Getting Settled

2009-04-01T12:06:00.005-05:00

We've been in Marion for a week and one day, and we've already had dinner with two different families! The Banowetz' came over on Sunday evening and brought some wonderful home-made pizza, and last night we fellowshipped with a family from the Cedar Rapids Bible chapel, who had six kids! 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10. I guess most of you probably don't know that the Banowetz' have four kids, the same ages as our kids.
So Sadie, Ezra, and Jude have been having a blast playing with all their new friends. And we have felt very welcomed.

It actually doesn't feel like that much of a transistion. Which is amazing, and must be the grace of God working.
The movers certainly helped with a lot of the grunt work, unpacking went smoothly thanks to Alan and Jan watching the kids for a few days.

Our new church *feels* similar to the old one, and when I look out our front window, I feel like I'm in Huxley, living on the street that was behind ours. Our home and neighborhood are that similar.
Our bedroom even has the furniture configured in the exact same way as before. I wondered as I was telling the movers where to put it, if they get that a lot---people wanting their "stuff" in the exact same configuration (if possible).
And then I wondered if I subconsciously picked this house, because there was the possibility of it looking and feeling so similar to the last one.

I have learned some new things: maple floors are not as tough as walnut. The act of pushing some heavy cardboard boxes across the floor has left corrugated marks, and also, black appliances and dark counter tops, while very modern and elegant looking, show every single crumb and speck of dust.

Anyways, I took some pictures after we had unpacked most of our stuff.

This is a view of the living room from the sliding door to the porch. To the left you can see part of the kitchen counter. Straight back and to the left is the front door.
This is the view from the front door. The stairs you see on the right go down to the partially finished basement. If you go past the staircase the hallway to the bedrooms is on the right. The kitchen is mostly hidden by the tall counter. It looks pretty small, but there's actually more cupboard and counter space than we had before. Not to mention a huge pantry.
This is the finished basement. As you can see, there is a lot more room for the kids to play and run around. We moved *ALL* the toys to the basement, and while it's a job to clean up before bed, it's nice to not have to clean up several different rooms. Also, because there's more space, the kids are fighting a lot less. Probably because they aren't right on top of each other all the time.
This is a photo from our time with the Banowetz, all eight of the children are in this picture!

Homeless!!!

2009-03-21T09:56:00.010-05:00

Hello all,

Yesterday we left our beautiful home of four years *sniff sniff* and drove to Dubuque to stay with Alan and Jan for a few days. If all goes according to plan (it rarely does, does it?) we should be able to move into our new home in Cedar Rapids on Tuesday.

Some wonderful ladies from church helped us out on our last day in Huxley. Thank you Heidi for the wonderful meal, Leah for helping scrub our house down, and Libby for your vacuuming help (and Alan for buying Libby such a nice vacuum).

I only dug up one plant. I wanted to take all my garlic, but decided that wasn't very reasonable.
So I dug up our sweet autumn clematis instead. Of course to confound my husband I insisted on starting all my seed cups a week before the move, providing some extra difficulty in the transport department. But we all made it in one piece, and nothing died.

So here we are, officially homeless! All of our worldly belongings (except the most valuable things like Ezra's gigi, Buzz, and Woody) are sitting in a truck somewhere in Cedar Rapids.

As Alan commented last night, it's a strange feeling to have all of your possessions crammed into a truck. Looking at the huge semi from our house the first day the movers came, I had contradictory thoughts simultaneously: we don't need a truck that huge! and is that truck big enough?

And we are officially reunited with our long lost camera. So here are some backlogged pictures and the more recent variety!

Uncle Glenn holding Violet during our trip to California.

The most recent picture of our smiley girl, taken this morning!

Sadie, Ezra, and Jude. The last night they spent in their old bedroom.

**edited to add a big thanks to Jenica for watching all four kids the day we moved our couch!! What a brave soul!!!**

Long week, wiped out

2009-03-07T10:45:00.002-06:00

Ezra, the bookworm

2009-03-07T10:44:00.002-06:00

Update

2009-03-06T09:00:00.005-06:00

Let's see if I can summarize an update in one sentence: We are taking the Rockwell Collins offer, moving to Cedar Rapids, closing on our home sale on the 27th, and in contract to buy a new one. Whew.