Our Corner of the World

My Favorite Vegetable 1 - Parsnip Fries

2012-01-18T19:54:00.000-06:00

Ever since I started my crazy bean diet, I have tried to find new and interesting ways to eat vegetables. After all, one can only eat so many baby carrots and steamed broccoli. As I made dinner tonight, which included one of my favorite new vegetables, I decided to write a series of posts highlighting my most-beloved ways of preparing them.

Enter . . . Parsnips.

I'm only slightly embarrassed to admit I had never had a parsnip before the bean diet. I'm not sure I would have even recognized one in a line-up if asked. So here is a picture of a parsnip, in case you wondered. Our local store, The Pig sells them pre-packaged in bags, usually containing 8-10 parsnips, perfect for feeding our family of 4.

I begin by peeling and cutting the parsnips into fries. Since they can be rather odd-shaped, thick at one end and itty-bitty skinny on the other, I usually quarter the thick end and only half the skinny end to keep them similar in size.

In a separate bowl (sorry no picture - who do you think I am? The Pioneer Woman?) mix 1/2 tsp. paprika, 1/2 tsp. garlic powder, 1/2 tsp. fresh ground pepper, 1 tsp. salt, and 1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper (less if you don't like much heat). To the spice mixture add 3 Tbsp. olive oil.

Coat the parsnips with the spice and oil mixture and put in a 425 degree oven for 40 minutes, stirring every 15-20 minutes. In case you wondered, I had used some of the parsnips for another dish (this one!) and so my pile is a bit smaller than it would have been if I had used the whole bag.

When they are done, they will be crispy and slightly dark. That is okay. They taste sweet and spicy with the cayenne and are really good. Even my kids eat these up.

Try them some night as a side dish. You might be surprised, like I was, at how tasty they can be!

2012-01-10T08:50:00.000-06:00

Despite consistent failure, every year I make a list of resolutions. Some years it has only been one or two things which I want to focus on completing, and some years it is a full-on list of many decisions that I view would make my life better. For the last couple of years, I have worked more around a general theme that encompasses some of what I want to change.

In 2011, I wanted to Love More. For reasons I won't get into, I felt like I had spent the years before kind of in a state of withdrawal, partly because I had been hurt and partly because I had selfishly taken on too much in the name of serving God. I had been working myself into quite a state trying in my own power to do everything I thought God wanted or expected me to do. It took a good friend to remind me that Jesus told us His yoke is easy and His burden is light. And it didn't seem that way at the time, so Dan and I took a deliberate effort to slowly unwind those binding cords and focus on what we knew God had given us.

So, along came last year and after a good 12 months of stepping back, I really wanted to take one baby step forward. I wanted to actively love others, outside of my immediate family, since I felt like I had lacked in that area. But then I found out I was pregnant, and the endless Dr's appointments and subsequent surgeries and stays in the hospital (which Dan lovingly called our most expensive home) and bed rest helped push that goal completely out of my mind.

Then we lost Stephen and I was consumed with grief. And that focus took up most of the rest of the year. And while I won't say I'm no longer grieving, it is different now. Not quite as raw, the moments that I'm overtaken are further apart and shorter. Basically, I'm able to function now, quite normally, while still tending my aching heart and trying to help my children process the grief as well.

Then 2012 stared sneaking up on me. And I was back on the bandwagon of resolutions (exercise more, lose weight, read more, stay in contact with family better, etc. . . ) But I felt like 2011's theme was wasted. That I didn't really love anyone better last year. Once again, God sent a friend to remind me that even though last year didn't look a thing like I had planned, He was still working in me. And although my loving others didn't pan out like I had envisioned, He was growing in me love, and a desire to help those who are hurting and love the unlovely. He cultivated a new compassion, tender young sprout that it is, and He was faithful to bring me to His goals, without my direct involvement. And while I could wax eloquent about the theology behind "working out your own salvation with fear and trembling" I had certainly not given adequate emphasis on the "for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure." (Phil. 2:12-13)

So for this "make-a-list-and-stick-to-it" girl, it was exactly what I needed to learn in 2011.

Beef Stew with Molasses and Raisins

2012-01-08T13:53:00.004-06:00

Quite possibly the best thing I have ever eaten. And I'm not exaggerating . . .

Beef Stew with Molasses and Raisins

1/3 c. flour

2 tsp salt, divided

1 1/2 tsp pepper, divided

2 lbs beef stew meat, cut into 1 1/2 in pieces

5 Tbs oil, divided

2 medium onions, sliced

1 can diced tomatoes, drained

1 cup beef broth

3 Tbs molasses

2 Tbs cider vinegar

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 tsp dried thyme

1 tsp celery salt

1 bay leaf

8 oz baby carrots, cut in half lengthwise

2 parsnips, diced

1/3 c. golden raisins

1. Combine flour, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt and 1 teaspoon pepper in large bowl. Toss meat in flour mixture. Heat 2 Tbs oil in large skillet or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add half of beef and brown on all sides. Set aside browned beef and repeat with 2 additional tablespoons oil and remaining beef.

2. Add remaining 1 Tbs oil to skillet. Add onions and cook 5 minutes, stirring to scrape up any browned bits. Add tomatoes, broth, molasses, vinegar, garlic, thyme, celery salt, bay leaf and remaining beef and boil 1 minute.

3. Transfer mixture to Crock pot. Cover, cook on low 5 hours or on High 2 1/2 hours. Add carrots, parsnips and raisins. Cook 1 to 2 hours longer or until vegetables are tender. Remove and discard bay leaf.

*My Modifications: I didn't have diced tomatoes, so I used a large can of whole tomatoes and cut them up, but added the juice also. I probably added another 1/2 cup broth, because I wanted it with a bit more juice, and I didn't add the celery salt because I didn't have any.

Also, I did all of this in my dutch oven and put it in a 300 degree oven (even added the vegetables right away) and let it cook for about 3 1/2 - 4 hours.

It was perfectly divine. Definitely 5 stars on this one!

Elijah's First Ski Lesson

2012-01-07T11:54:00.000-06:00

None But Christ

2011-12-06T09:40:00.003-06:00

We sang this song at church on Sunday, and I am reminded of my sinful tendencies to run after so many things that ultimately do not satisfy. What empty pursuits I so earnestly seek! This is one of my favorite songs and unfortunately it is not available anywhere online to which I can link. That is because it is an old poem, whose author is unknown, or at least debated, and my friend wrote the music to go with it. I wish you could hear the tune, as it makes the words that much more meaningful, but you'll have to be content with the lyrics, unless you ask me to sing it for you . . .

O Christ, in Thee my soul hath found,
And found in Thee alone,
The peace, the joy I sought so long,
The bliss till now unknown.

Refrain:
Now none but Christ can satisfy,
No other name for me;
There's love, and life, and lasting joy,
Lord Jesus, found in Thee.

I sighed for rest and happiness,
I yearned for them, not Thee;
But while I passed my Saviour by,
His love laid hold on me.

I tried the broken cisterns, Lord,
But ah! the waters failed!
E'en as I stooped to drink they'd fled,
And mocked me as I wailed.

The pleasures lost I sadly mourned,
But never wept for Thee,
Till grace the sightless eyes received,
Thy loveliness to see.

That last verse always gets to me. Praise God that he opened my eyes to His loveliness and keeps pursuing me even when I try to replace Him.

Honored and Remembered

2011-11-05T09:32:00.003-05:00

Today is the day that our Stephen would have been born. At least, the day he was due, as calculated using our limited human intelligence to determine. But God knew he would never have a home here with us, that his life would be a vapor that lasted only 5 months.

While I've known for a while that we wanted to honor Stephen today, I wasn't sure how we should do it. Until the Holy Spirit brought me the perfect idea, and instantly Dan and the kids were on board . . . we used today as the chance to sponsor a through Compassion.

We searched using Stephen's birthday, June 7th, and found Alexander, a 7 year old who lives in Mexico. Since Elijah is 7, he was adamant that we choose this boy. So this morning, as the family all gathered around the computer, we committed to helping this boy financially, but more importantly, we committed to praying for him.

As tears rolled down my cheeks, Elijah said to me, "At least we know Stephen's death will work out for good - at least I think it will."

Yes, buddy, I think it will, too.

October Unprocessed

2011-11-01T06:45:00.003-05:00

I'm tempted to say that the October Unprocessed challenge was a bust. I'm tempted, because with a death occuring mid-way through the month, which required me to be out of state for 4 exhausting days, and then trying to get back into the groove the following week had us eating most anything that could be prepared quickly and without much thought. That meant that I raided my freezer and pantry, and while it wasn't terrible food, it was far from being unprocessed.

Although I'm tempted to admit failure, the truth is, the month did bestow a few gifts. First of all, I am more aware of what is going in our mouths each day. I'm committed to making healthier choices for all of us, but especially the kids, who are more inclined to snack on highly processed foods than I am. Dan is still a bit of a hold out. He'll eat whatever I serve without complaint, but we still have lively discussions about what constitutes healthy eating.

Secondly, as I type this, I have fresh, homemade crock-pot yogurt in my refrigerator and I must say, I am starting to enjoy the tartness of plain yogurt (okay, with a little homemade granola thrown in) and I think I'm getting my kids to eat it with less sugar than it's highly-processed cousin, Yoplait. I also have resumed making my own bread. And while it is time-consuming, the bread is so delicious and my family LOVES it and it is really hearty and filling. One sandwich goes a lot further on homemade bread than on the air-filled bread we were buying.

I've spent a lot of time thinking about my health this month, and fighting the temptation to think that God owes me a long life if I'm careful about what I eat. But then I'm reminded of a man like Steve Jobs, who was by all accounts a very healthy eater (I think the only meat he ate was fish) and he was stricken with pacreatic cancer and dead by 57. It's been a battle to remind myself that God has my days numbered and while I should be a good steward of my body, and I admittedly feel much better when I'm eating well, it is up to His good pleasure to bring me home when He sees fit. Nothing I do can change that.

So maybe the challenge wasn't a complete bust. I failed it in so many ways, but it didn't fail me in giving me the renewed vigor to make smart choices and to shop differently as we move forward.

I'm hoping to post some of the new recipes I tried this month in the coming days, assuming I have the time. You might have noticed that I don't post as much as I say I will!

A Prayer for Vegetables

2011-10-19T14:25:00.000-05:00

credit

Our oldest child has a sincere dislike for most anything from the vegetable family. This does not cause much of a problem at either breakfast or lunch, where fruit tend to dominate, but for dinner - boy, oh, boy - does this ever cause distress.

If you were a fly on our wall at most dinner times, you would get an eye and ear full (that is, if flies have ears?). It seems every dinner is plagued with complaining from one side of the table and pleading and demanding from the other. I'll leave it to you to figure out which side I'm sitting on. But as it is, I refuse to let my child determine his own diet, so the veggies must be eaten.

Before you start leaving suggestions as to how to get him to eat veggies cheerfully, I'm fairly certain we've tried it all. Butter, cheese, ranch dressing, holding your nose, mixing with food, drinking copious amounts of water and even pureeing them to secretly add to the main dish have been attempted and failed on most accounts. When we think we've discovered a way that he will tolerate, more times that not, by the next serving he has changed his mind and once again fights having to ingest them. On more than one occasion, I've reminded him that I caught him eating dog food multiple times as a toddler and then I reassure him that my green beans with bacon are much tastier than that, but no luck. He still won't budge.

So I wasn't surprised when he reported to his grandmother that he often prays that he will like vegetables. We've had that discussion, too. Unfortunately it hasn't seemed to work yet, and he is only too aware of that fact.

So where does that leave me? I'm praying and pleading with God, too. Only not that he would just eat the stupid vegetables and make my life and our dinner time more peaceful (although I would take it!) but I'm begging God to answer his tiny prayer. I'm asking God to give him the ability to do what is right, that is in this situation, to eat his vegetables without complaint, and to make it so powerfully different that he sees it as a direct answer from God. I want him to grow up knowing a God who can and will help you do difficult things and I want him to run to God at every turn, especially when life gets difficult.

Is that too much to ask of my Heavenly Father? I don't think so. Please, God, make yourself real in my child's life, even if it means answering a silly request like being able to eat vegetables.

October Unprocessed On Hold

2011-10-10T14:59:00.000-05:00

I'm afraid that this coming week marks a hiatus for our family from the October Unprocessed Challenge. There has been a death in our family, which requires me to be absent from my daily life. As I plan on still doing my best to choose healthy, unprocessed foods while on hiatus, I'm afraid eating out and eating meals prepared by others will limit me a bit. I'll check back in a few days and let you know how I fared.

5 Days In

2011-10-05T09:16:00.002-05:00

Well, we are officially into our October Unprocessed Challenge and I must admit, it is harder than I thought. Mostly it is difficult for the kids and Dan, although he is kinda ignoring my advice and eating whatever he wants when he is on his own.

So here is a breakdown of what we've been eating for the last 5 days:

Breakfast - I went ahead and made my homemade granola recipe with brown sugar. Sorry, I'm not ready to mess with that. Besides, I don't eat it. My breakfasts are almost solely comprised of eggs, re-fried beans (only beans and salt in those!) and sauteed peppers and onions. But for the rest of the family, I'm willing for them to eat healthy, preservative-free granola, with a little brown sugar, than sugary boxed cereal. I'm hoping to get them eating real oatmeal soon, but these sensitive transitions take time. The kids are still drinking milk, but on the rare occasion I eat oatmeal, I use unsweetened almond milk. In fact, I've been using almond milk as a substitute for regular milk in almost all my recipes (except bread).

Lunch - This has been a bit more difficult. So far the kids have eaten pbj sandwiches on homemade bread. We buy Skippy Natural peanut butter, which may not pass the "completely unprocessed" rule, but it is better than the regular stuff. I searched for jelly made without high fructose corn syrup and was amazed to find a couple of brands at Woodman's that are made from fruit, sugar and pectin. Once again, I'm not totally on the bandwagon of sugar-free yet.

I've mostly been eating tuna or egg salad (with beans), although my mayo is processed. Not sure what I can do about that, except I am planning a trip to Trader Joe's this week and maybe I can find something there. Yesterday I made a salad with chicken and beans and without thinking I added dressing. Oops! Should have been homemade, but it was Newman's Own, which is all-natural, whatever that means. As I start to make more soups this fall, I plan on eating leftovers regularly.

Supper - is the easiest. Most of my recipes are made from scratch and while I do fudge a little when the recipe calls for soy sauce or something of the like, for the most part it is the most un-processed meal of the day.

Dessert - this is for the kids and Dan. I really try to stay away from sugar and unnecessary calories myself, so I rarely partake. But snacks and such are a must for the kids and I have to indulge them with more than apple slices sometimes, so here has been our go-to snack for the week:

Cookie Dough Dip - from Chocolate-Covered Katie

1 1/2 cups chickpeas (1 can, drained) (250g)
1/8 tsp plus 1/16 tsp salt
tiny bit over 1/8 tsp baking soda
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup nut butter (You can get away with using only 3 T)
up to 1/4 cup nondairy milk (Start with 1 T, and add more as needed)
Sweetener (see note below, for amount)
1/3 cup chocolate chips
2 to 3 T oats (or flaxmeal) (You can omit, but also omit the milk if you do)

Add all ingredients (except for chocolate chips) to a blender or food processor, and blend until very smooth. Then mix in the chocolate chips.

Once again, I used brown sugar for the sweetener (2/3 cup), but hey, my kids are scarfing down chickpeas. I can overlook a little sugar for that fact alone. They love to dip apple slices in this and they are convinced they're getting the most sugary treat possible. I love it!!! I also found some amazingly simple graham crackers in the health food aisle, so when apples get boring, I'll break those out.

Next up is homemade applesauce! I hope to be posting some other recipes soon. I can't say we are doing this challenge completely perfectly, but I love that I'm thinking purposefully about my food! Hope you are, too!

WHAT?!?! Sugar is Processed?!?!

2011-09-30T16:00:00.000-05:00

Gearing up for the October Unprocessed Challenge and I read this post which informed me that white sugar is processed. Forgive me for my ignorance, but if the label says "contains sugar" I kinda assumed it was okay to eat. Apparently the processing makes it unnatural. How's a non-crunchy girl supposed to know that? Anyway, I was prepared to make all of our "treats" this month and to use real ingredients (i.e. no cake mix cookies) but this new revelation has me in a tizzy. It changes a lot of ideas I had about what is and is not considered "processed." Hmmm, this is going to be a bigger challenge than I previously thought.

So I've been browsing a couple of blogs for sweet ideas and found some that look really good, using agave nectar or honey as a natural sweetener. The two blogs I have been most impressed with are:

Chocolate-Covered Katie (how can you go wrong with a title like that?)
and
Deliciously Organic (of which I have already made the homemade coffee creamer)

I'll admit, we have been using up a lot of totally-processed foods this week. Dinner every night has been an attempt to see what I can use from my pantry before I start the challenge and in case I fall so madly in love with the idea of eating real food that I forever banish processed ingredients from my household (thick sarcasm there!)

Anyway, last night was a bean soup mix to which you only add water and I must admit, it tasted kinda artificial. Surprising, since I haven't started yet. Maybe just thinking healthy thoughts has already retrained my taste buds.

Tonight is barbecue meatballs. The meatballs are frozen (probably laced with cyanide or something dangerous like that) and the sauce is made from ketchup (can we say high fructose corn syrup?), soy sauce, which the before-mentioned post informed me was processed, tomato paste (I'm calling that safe) vinegar (safe) and brown sugar, which I'm assuming the Great Value brand is probably akin to eating anthrax. Oh, and white rice that is parboiled, of which I just bought a 5 lb. bag, so that is getting used this month challenge or not. I hope I survive long enough to make it to the start tomorrow!

*Small caveat* Tomorrow is our church's annual chili supper and bonfire, which I can whole-heartedly say is my FAVORITE activity of the year. I'm eating whatever I want and I'm not going to apologize for it. 'Nuff said.

Autumn Finally Arrives

2011-09-27T19:20:00.001-05:00

For some reason, my kids are ecstatic about new seasons. Now don't get me wrong, I love Fall and often look forward to it coming, but the kids seem to insist on knowing the actual day the seasons change and they always want to do something special to commemorate the occasion.

Enter Pinterest, that amazing site I blogged about earlier. We (being me) decided that a sugary treat would be the best way to welcome this warm and fuzzy season. And I found the perfect idea.

Get yourself a box of doughnut holes. (Never you mind my last post - this was a week ago!)

Smear one end with chocolate frosting. If we ever do this again, I would choose to use Nutella (that's all-natural, right?)

Dip the frosted end in some sprinkles.

Stick half of a pretzel stick into the end . . .

. . . and VOILA! You have an edible fall acorn.

Eat and repeat, as many times as necessary.

Happy Fall!

The Unprocessed Food Challenge

2011-09-26T09:23:00.002-05:00

October Unprocessed hosted by Eating Rules!

I'm committed (or maybe I should be committed!) to this challenge. Click on the link above to check out the "rules" to this challenge.

Since eating unprocessed is relatively new to me, there are a few adjustments that I will make for our household in this challenge:

1. While I will try to refrain from canned foods with additional un-pronounceable ingredients, there are a few exceptions. Since I eat a TON of beans each month, my pantry is already stocked with cans and cans. I plan on trying my hand at cooking my own beans, but I can't promise that I won't occasionally pop open a can when I'm in a rush. Besides, most canned beans only have calcium chloride added and although a few cans that have high fructose corn syrup added, I'm betting that I wash all that away when I rinse. At least that is what I'm telling myself to stay sane.

2. I figure most of my meals will have to be completely homemade, but once again, in the rush of our busy life I will be willing to use a previously prepared meal that I have frozen. I use my chest freezer a lot and often make a double batch of a recipe so that I can freeze one for later. I'm not going to waste meals in a lame attempt to worship this challenge. The idea is to serve us, not for us to serve it.

3. Still haven't decided what to do for breakfast. I don't think I can manage cooking breakfast every morning, especially on Sundays, so the occasional bowl of sugary cereal may be consumed.

I'm hoping to blog my way through this challenge, as time permits. Homeschooling has overtaken our schedule like never before! I hope some of you will do this with me so we can encourage each other toward a more healthy lifestyle!

With only 5 days until the challenge starts, we better get busy eating up all our junk food! ;)

First Day of School 2011

2011-09-06T18:20:00.004-05:00

It seemed like a late start this year, but we finally had our first day of school today.

Elijah complained that his handwriting wasn't nearly as good when writing with chalk, but I convinced him it was worth the picture. He is my perfectionist 2nd grader!

Alli did not complain, but she is about as much of a perfectionist as her older brother.

I had a couple of fun surprises for the kids on their first day . . .

including a package of Pop Rocks. My kids had never experienced the strange candy sensation that is Pop Rocks, and they did not fail in exciting them tremendously!

Elijah woke up to a new place mat with the solar system, as we will be studying astronomy this year in science.

Alli got a place mat that has instructions on how to set the table. She was so excited to use it for dinner tonight, and mommy was happy to allow her that responsibility!

Overall a good first day, even after a pretty rough start first thing this morning. The kids belong to a home school co-op that also met today, so they were excited to see their friends and attend the classes. With the fall weather we've had these past few days, it really felt like the start to a new school year. Let's hope and pray that we continue to go strong.

Pinterest Ignites my Craftiness

2011-08-31T15:45:00.002-05:00

I don't know if you have discovered Pinterest yet, but let me warn you in advance, it is a bit addictive. Basically, it is an online pin board, which allows you to save all those great pictures, quotes, recipes and such that you find around the internet. It also allows you to follow people's pins (luckily I have amazingly crafty and stylish friends!) and see what the larger community of "pinners" are interested in. I've found some amazing ideas and last week decided it was time to quit looking and thinking "someday" and actually try some of those crafts out!

First up: Mod Podge scrapbook paper onto tiles, add felt on the bottom and voila! you have new coasters. Here is my attempt.
Next time I'll cut the paper a bit smaller and maybe round the corners, but I like them.

Second project: Mod Podge (I was on a roll with a new bottle!) scrapbook paper over an oatmeal container to store headbands on the outside and bows and such on the inside.
Alli loves it, but I must admit that the paper bubbled a bit under the mod podge, but who's really going to see that, when covered with all those headbands? I will warn you, a 12x12 scrapbook sheet doesn't fully wrap around the container, so I had to cut and glue an extra piece, but I put that part towards the wall.

Now, on to all those other projects that I have been "pinning" all day!

Energy Balls

2011-08-22T17:57:00.001-05:00

I've been looking for snacks and treats that are easy to make and relatively low in sugar to give the kids since they seem to be ravenously hungry 99% of their awake hours. Somehow, last night, the memory of these quick bite no-bake cookies came to my mind and I decided to look up the recipe and make them. They are a perfect recipe to have your kids "help" you make.

Quick Energy Pick-Me-Ups

3-4 crushed graham crackers
1 c. powdered sugar
1 c. peanut butter
1 c. chocolate chips
1/2 c. instant non-fat dry milk
3 Tbsp. water
optional: coconut

Mix all ingredients in a bowl. Using a tablespoon measurment, scoop out dough and form into balls. Refrigerate for 1 hour before eating, then keep refrigerated.

Thanksgiving in Grief

2011-08-22T10:29:00.004-05:00

Last week a friend returned from 7 1/2 long months in Afghanistan. While he was away, I prayed for his safety, but probably more often I prayed for his wife. Their children are grown and so she had to live by herself while he was deployed. I can't say which I would hate worse - being away from my husband for so long, or having to sleep in an empty house each night. Either way, there was much rejoicing this last week when word came he was home.

I found myself praising God for his safe arrival. I thanked Him for keeping our friend alive and for being everything his wife needed during this extended trial. I saw God working in her life, specifically, I saw her leaning on Him to get her through each day and I appreciated her opening up her heart to others when they asked how she was doing.

Yesterday was the first day I was able to see our friend since he came home. I hugged him as I entered the church before the service began. I told them both that I had been praying for them and praising God for bringing him home.

And then it hit me. I don't know if I've praised God for anything since we lost our baby. The Spirit pricked my heart during the worship service and immediately tears filled my eyes. I thought I had nothing to praise Him for - how could I be thankful for the tears and heartache we've experienced over the past 2 1/2 months? But that one instance of thankfulness reminded my heart of the joy gratefulness brings. It reminded me that although I have been remiss to thank God for much of anything these last few months, He has been and continues to be very gracious to me. And I can be thankful, even in grief.

The Power of the Written Word

2011-08-13T19:58:00.002-05:00

I was cleaning up today, and as I gazed around the dining room looking for articles out of place, my eyes rested on a pile of cards. Nothing belonging to the kids, but a stack of letters and cards that have been arriving in the mail since we lost Stephen.

I gazed at them for a moment. They have collected on a cherry hutch since mid-June. The first few weeks after our loss, they came every day, many in each mail delivery. As the weeks passed, the flow of sympathy cards diminished, but their power did not.

I found every bit of condolences offered as very touching. In this technological world, many of the messages we received were over Facebook, email or texts. Those were great. They were nearly instantaneous and greeted me every time I sat down at the computer. But there was something special in those cards. The fact that someone took the time to carefully select a sympathy card, and then to write a personal note acknowledging our pain was immeasurably comforting.

Feeling the grace and kindness from others expressed in a handwritten letter has been incredibly healing. I am resolved to be better about it myself as I encounter others who grieve. And less you are tempted to think that it is too late to send a card, that too much time has gone by since your friend experienced a loss, let it be known that some of the most touching letters we received arrived weeks, even months after our loss. Please don't think that the time frame matters as much as the sentiment. I know people who have cherished notes even years after their loss, knowing that someone realizes they still mourn.

I decided to put those cards away today. But not before I read each and every one of them over again, pausing for a moment to relish each sentiment. The tears came, as my heart swelled with the remembrance of each grace given in every note. I tucked them into the box of things I have for Stephen and put them away in my closet. Out of sight, but of course, never out of mind.

So if I can encourage you to say something to those grieving around you, can I also encourage you to write something? Take whatever time you need to do it, but do it nonetheless. I guarantee you will bless the hurting around you.

2011-07-12T20:36:00.002-05:00

Father's Day 2011

Elijah ~ 7.5 years

(Still working on natural posing . . .)

Allison ~ 5 years old

Don't Say Nothing

2011-07-09T12:22:00.006-05:00

I know it is awkward. I remember feeling the same way. I've had others tell me they don't want to make me cry, that it is hard to know the right words to say. My brain can comprehend the fear, but my heart can't grasp the reasoning. If you have a friend, or even an aquaintance, going through the grieving process, don't say nothing.

First of all, there is no "right" thing to say, like there exists the perfect, magical phrase that will make the pain go away, or at least serve some higher purpose. And because everyone grieves differently, I can't say with certainty what any one person might desire to hear. But silence can be as painful as the worst, most insensitive comment.

Silence gives the impression that my pain doesn't matter. It makes me feel like your desire for comfortable conversation is more important than my life-shattering trial. And as much as I long for easy-breezy interaction, my heart won't allow it if you can't even acknowledge the bludgeoning my soul took with this death.

It doesn't have to be the first thing you say to me. It might not be the right moment, but don't ignore the trial altogether. A simple "I'm so sorry for your loss . . . I've been thinking and praying for you . . . Is there anything I can do?" is more than adequate. And don't worry about making me cry, knowing you care enough to talk to me about our trial makes up for any smeared mascara that may result.

Worst-Case Scenario

2011-06-27T09:29:00.004-05:00

It happened 3 weeks ago. The worst-case scenario unfolded in front of our eyes. Admitted into the hospital with signs that my water had broken, we waited as my temperature rose and then endured an amnio only to find out what my heart feared most: my water had broken and an infection had entered my uterus. Fatal for my 18 week old child, and equally dangerous for me.

Stephen Ryan Zempel was born on June 7th, weighing only 7.8 oz. He was perfect and beautiful and we buried him next to his sister.

Right now, we are all grieving. Probably me, most of all. The tears come often, the questions are even more frequent. I don't understand why God chose to send us through this grief again. I don't know what to do with this hole in our family that didn't exist 5 months ago. Fear and worry threaten to overtake me at times and I'm devouring all I can find and read on grief. This time seems to be even harder than losing our baby girl. I think it is because we are mourning both now.

I don't know what this blog will look like over the coming weeks and months. I don't know if I will share more of my grief or if it will remain silent as I grieve. I guess you'll have to wait and see. I guess I will, too.

Asking for the Best Case Scenario

2011-05-29T12:17:00.005-05:00

Life has been pretty eventful since my last post, happily announcing our unexpected blessing of another child. I believe most people who read this blog know about the loss we experienced the summer of 2005, when I delivered our 22 week-old baby girl too early to survive. We mourned and buried her, fully aware that the physical complication that caused her premature birth could prevent us from ever having another full-term baby again.

3 months later, God blessed us with another pregnancy, and a surgical procedure allowed me to carry that baby girl to full term, although it required constant monitoring and modified bed rest for the majority of the pregnancy.

After that taxing 9 months, Dan and I knew that making the decision to have another child would be difficult. We knew what trial we would have to endure, and so we decided to be content with the 2 wonderful children God had blessed us with, but knowing that if God should so choose, we could still have another child.

That brings us to March of this year, with a 7 year old and *almost* 5 year old and plans-a-plenty for summer fun. We found out that I was expecting again. Surprised but overjoyed, I knew the temptations for fear and worry would rear their ugly head and they did. I was certain I would miscarry.

I didn't miscarry in the first trimester, which meant that I could have the same surgical procedure that protected my pregnancy with Allison, which I had 3 weeks ago. One week ago I went in to have a check-up on the surgery and the Doctor found that it was failing. I was admitted immediately and the surgery was repeated. Since then, I have been on a stricter bed rest than I ever had with Alli, but not confined to my bed 24/7. I have to have in-home help every day.

Those same demons of fear and worry are back. I am fighting them still. You may see me cry and you may hear me express worry and doubt, but that does not mean I'm not fighting and I'm not trusting. After losing our first baby girl, God's grace was so present and helpful through those dark days. I know His grace will be there again, new every morning for exactly the battle for that day.

All of that being said, I have been asking friends to pray very specifically. My last prayer request was that the surgery would take and that I would be allowed to go home on bed rest, as opposed to being hospitalized long-term. God was gracious and it appears the surgery did work and thus my last 7 days have been at home. Friday is my next appointment.

I am asking you all to continue to pray. I know you will pray for peace and grace and for victory over fear and worry, and all those are necessary, much-appreciated prayers. However, I fully believe that it is honoring to an Omniscient, Sovereign God to speak honestly about our desires. He knows our heart already! He is my Father, who earnestly desires for me to come to Him like the needy child I am. So before next Friday, June 3rd, I'm asking you to pray specifically the following:

1. that the surgery is still performing it's intended purpose. To be graphic, that my cervical length has not shortened - at. all.

2. that the current bed rest arrangement will be adequate for another 2 weeks until my next appointment.

3. that the baby would continue to be safe and healthy - it is difficult to know that it is my body threatening the loss of this otherwise healthy baby.

4. that the next 6 weeks would go by quickly and uneventfully!

Please know that we are all to aware of the potential of the loss of this baby. We are trusting God that it is He who gave us this gift and it is He who will have to preserve it. Please don't think that if the worst-case scenario occurs, it will mean that God failed us. We know who is in control. We are trusting no matter what happens. But please pray with us for the best case scenario!

In Case You Haven't Heard Yet

2011-04-07T15:28:00.001-05:00

Due November 4th

The Cozy Corner

2011-03-16T08:22:00.004-05:00

Usborne Greek Myths - If you have never looked into an Usborne book, you are missing out on beautiful illustrations that captivate children's eyes! This book is no different. Composed of 17 common Greek myths, this book retells them in a simple style with gorgeous pictures. My kids loved the stories, although I will comment that many of the Greek myths are quite violent. I remember reading them in 4th and 5th grade, so if you don't think your child can handle scenes of war and bloodshed, maybe wait until they are a bit older. I liked explaining that many common sayings and words in our modern language come from the Greeks, like Pandora's box, narcissist, Midas' touch, etc.

My verdict: Fun retelling of the most-known Greek myths, but my caveat is that the stories are a bit violent and I had to keep reminding my kids that these gods are nothing like the one, true God!

Henry Huggins by Beverly Cleary - An enchanting book about Henry, a young boy who thinks life is pretty boring, until he meets a friendly dog, seemingly lost and looking for a home. Henry adopts the dog, names him Ribsy, and then all sorts of exciting adventures begin to follow them everywhere! This book was perfect for the ages of my kids. Elijah loved that it was about a boy, and Alli just giggled the entire way through each chapter.

My verdict: Your kids will love this book! Also a great reader for those a bit older (maybe 8-12).
Little Pear by Eleanor Frances Lattimore - Little Pear is a young boy who lives in China and is always looking for excitement and adventure! He doesn't have to look far to find himself involved in all sorts of exciting situations, but it is usually because he has disobeyed instructions from his mother and father. The parent in me did not enjoy this aspect of the book, even though Little Pear is reprimanded, it is also implied that his family just shakes their head at his mischievous ways. And after reading the last 2 books, where each chapter was a stand-alone story about a character, I was ready for a book with a character where you see some growth and development.

My verdict: Take it or leave it. While the kids liked the stories, I would only give this book 2.5 stars out of 5.

At Your Service

2011-02-23T07:27:00.002-06:00

Allison heard the word "butler" the other day for the first time. She naturally came to me to ask what it meant.

Me: a butler is someone who takes care of everything you would need. It's his job to help you out with anything you ask.

Alli: Mommy's my butler.

Truer words have never been spoken . . .

The Cozy Corner

2011-02-16T20:00:00.006-06:00

Still making our way through the school year, cherishing those daily moments where we read and cuddle on the couch. Here are 3 more of the books we have read this school year:Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater

This is a delightful book! The story is about a man and his love for the Antarctic and the explorers who venture there. He becomes the unlikely owner of a penguin and the story revolves around how he rearranges his house and life to accommodate his new friend. Really playful and funny, the kids ate this book up.

My verdict: buy it and read it again and again!

Mountain Born by Elizabeth Yates

Sonlight has a tendency to group books that are age-appropriate with some more difficult books in their core. This was one that falls in the latter group. We started it on a Monday, and only one chapter in, I could tell the language was going to be too complex for my kids. I always struggle with just giving up on a book, but when I saw the suggested ages on the back cover said 9-12 years, I was easily convinced to shelve it for later. I understand it to be a book about a boy's friendship with a sheep, but I can't confirm that since we didn't get past page 8!

verdict: skip this one for your 4-7 year olds. We'll try it again in a few years.

The Year of Miss Agnes by Kirkpatrick Hill

This story is about a small, one-room school in a remote part of Alaska, set in the mid-20th century. All of the teachers the village brings in end up leaving after one year, complaining of how hard it is to live there. The story is told from the perspective of 10-year old Fred (Frederika) and it is obvious that not much has been learned in this little school. Everything changes when Miss Agnes arrives, who does not teach like her predecessors. The children begin to thrive and learn, but will she stay for more than one year?

This book was very enjoyable to me, but the descriptions and Alaskan vernacular were more difficult for the kids. They didn't complain, but questioning them after I read each day, I found they weren't really able to grasp exactly what was going on.

verdict: I'm glad we read it - maybe it stretched their minds a little bit. But possibly save it for 8 or 9 year olds next time.

Elijah's 7th Birthday

2011-02-02T15:58:00.003-06:00

Somehow, beyond any reasonable explanation, we now have a 7 year old. I don't know how that happened. There is something about 7 that sounds soooo much older than 6 . . . *wiping tear from eyes*. Even though he battled the stomach flu the day before his birthday, we still managed to have a great day and celebrate this momentous occasion!All month long we had been teasing Elijah that his only present was going to be a box of vegetables - even Alli joined in the teasing! At least now he can't claim we were lying!

A Lego cake for a Lego birthday . . .

Just one of the sets he received.

A few days later, he had his friend spend the night, and conveniently his friend has a sister the same age as Alli, so it was sleepover central for Elijah's birthday. His birthday dinner was postponed until the sleepover because his stomach couldn't have handled the waffles and pie filling supper he requested.

It was a fun week to celebrate (except for the vomit) and we are still in awe that he is 7. I think 4 or 5 fits him better . . .

My "Crazy" Diet, the Wrap-up

2011-01-18T19:06:00.003-06:00

***update: I forgot one major positive change! It is added below.***

I wrote about my family's health issues and my own concerns that led me to embark on a healthier lifestyle here and here. Ultimately, it led me to see a nutritionist who put me on what many people think is a "crazy" diet, and although it took me a few weeks to get into the swing of things, now I view it as a completely normal and decent way to eat.

I've been meaning to write about what positive changes I've seen in my own life, so I'll take a few lines here to do just that. For brevity, I'll use bullet points:

Headaches - I used to have 2 to 3 headaches a week. Not migraines (although my nutritionist does deal a lot with people who suffer from those) but more of the end-of-the-day, tired-as-all-get-out kind of headache. Sometimes I would take a Tylenol or ibuprofen for them, and sometimes I would just go to bed and sleep it away. I do not have headaches anymore (unless my neck is out - but that is a different post).
Cholesterol - mainly the #1 reason I went to the nutritionist, my cholesterol levels had only been going up as I got them checked each year. And although my numbers were not dangerously high, they were elevated and at the tipping point. My family history did not bode well for them ever going down naturally on their own. After only 2 months of the diet, my overall cholesterol number went down 18 points and my triglycerides dropped 30. I'm actually pretty excited to get them checked again this summer and see how much lower they have become.
Sensitive stomach - if you've know me for any decent amount of time, you know that lack of sleep, late nights, strange foods, or too much excitement in general will affect my stomach. As a child, it always manifested itself in throwing up. Always. Like at every slumber party I've ever attended. As I've grown older, it has started to affect my digestion in different ways, but unpleasant just the same. Since starting this diet, I have traveled and stayed up late and eaten unfamiliar foods without it affecting my digestion. Massively huge difference this has made!

Some of the less tangible benefits have been an increase in energy, and most of all, an overwhelming sense of health and vitality. I used to obsess about every ache and pain and imagine what terrible diseases I probably had, but going off sugar has had the most significant benefit to me. I used to be embarrassed to give sugar that much credit, thinking it showed my spiritual immaturity to give a food (or lack thereof) credit for changing me. But I had a friend tell me, "You cannot separate your physical body from your emotions." In other words, God created our body to respond to certain stimuli. And if my body was reacting to all the sugar I consumed and it was affecting my mood and emotions, then it isn't cheating God of His glory to admit a diet brought about changes in my emotional well-being. After all, that is how he intended our bodies to work!

There have been other benefits from this diet, but some are too personal to share on a public blog! ;) So I'll leave it here and tell you that although my diet might look crazy to you, it has been a gift to me, and one that I'll gladly share with you if you want more details.

God bless!

Nude Hosiery and Being a Slave to Fashion

2011-01-10T16:05:00.002-06:00

As I got dressed for church yesterday, I put on a pair of nude hose under my pants. My mind went racing back to my freshman year at college, and all the drama that hose brought up.

Let me begin by explaining that I went to a conservative Christian day school that required all girls to wear skirts and to have some sort of stocking on their feet. Since ankle socks with dress shoes were only appropriate for those 8 and under, most of us wore hose. (It seems so funny now that as a 12 and 13 year old, I was completely comfortable in hosiery!) Anyway, I had a drawer full of boxes of Leggs brand, mostly in black and nude, as those two colors covered the bases for all my leg-covering needs.

Fast forward to my freshman year at college, where I attended an equally (if not more so) conservative Christian Bible college that also required girls to wear nylons or tights. Since the fashion industry hadn't reinvented tights into the cool, lycra-infused samples we have today, most girls didn't wear them because of the dreaded "elephant ankles" they produced. So I packed up for college with my suitcase full of Leggs, prepared for them to last the entire semester, or until my mom offered to buy me more. Once again, nude and black were the colors of my choice.

Oh, mournful day, when my new roommates (older and wiser) informed me that no one wore nude hose on campus. They were soooo 80's. So there I was, with boxes upon boxes of nude hosiery, and wanting to fit in, I couldn't (or wouldn't) wear them.

I convinced my mom to buy me a few more pairs in the more acceptable colors of white and cream, and steeled myself to take extra care of them so that they would not develop a run and force me to wear the old lady shade.

And none too soon, I myself joined in making disparaging remarks about the clueless girls who dared to wear such out of date nylons.

I'm so ashamed of that girl, who was such a slave to fashion and popular opinion. And yet, I'm not that different now. Sure, I have less time to agonize over my wardrobe like I use to, and I'm learning to be confident in whatever I wear now, but all too often I find myself thinking way too much about what other people think of my clothes.

I'm still growing and trying desperately to remember that being clothed in Christ's righteousness is more important than any designer label, but the pull of fashion still has a few of it's claws in me. The funny thing is, looking back at pictures of myself in high school and college, I thought I was dressed so fashionably! And I laugh now at how silly I looked. I guess that is one of the lies of slavery to style - you look fabulous for a day, and the rest of your life you will be mocked for your choices. Thanks be to God that His clothing for us will never go out of style!

The Cozy Corner

2011-01-04T12:48:00.005-06:00

We are half way into our school year and I forgot to start blogging about the read-alouds from our Sonlight curriculum, so I'm going to try to catch up here in a few different posts.

We started out our year reading the classic, Charlotte's Web.
Do I really need to give a synopsis for this book? I had forgotten how sweet as well as funny the story is. The kids loved it, and although it took us about 4 weeks to finish, they seemed very engaged the entire time. We rented the movie (the newer, live action one) and enjoyed it a second time as a family.

My verdict: perfect for us!

The second book we read was Homer Price by Robert McCloskey. I was familiar with McCloskey's book, Make Way for Duckling, which is a children's picture book, so I was really curious how his writing would translate to a longer, chapter book.
Well, it was much funnier, in a subtle way. There was some slapstick, obvious humor, like in the story about the doughnut machine, but much of the humor was lost on my kids. Not to say that we didn't enjoy the book - the stories were interesting enough to keep us all engaged, but I found myself giggling and then trying to explain what made me laugh.

My verdict: read it now to your 4-6 year old, but maybe again in a few years when they can grasp it better. Or save it and have them read it for themselves!

By the way, I found both of these books at Half Price Bookstore, so if you want to save a few bucks and support local businesses, check there before going to Amazon.

December 25

2010-12-26T19:32:00.001-06:00

Favorite gifts

December 24

2010-12-25T17:30:00.000-06:00

December 23

2010-12-24T10:11:00.002-06:00

Our Christmas Eve tradition

December 22

2010-12-22T10:24:00.001-06:00

Out for dinner with friends.

December 21

2010-12-21T21:48:00.002-06:00

Christmas crafts with the cousins

December 13-20

2010-12-20T15:24:00.006-06:00

The stomach flu hit our family this last week, and I promise you don't want to see pictures of that, so in lieu of a picture each day, I'm posting some of the best shots from my family Christmas, celebrated yesterday. Enjoy!

Alli started off the gift opening and was quite excited about a new tea set.

I love this picture. It's my dad's "you shouldn't have, but I'm glad you did" face. My brothers and I went in on an ice-fishing tent for him. That should give him something to do now that he lives in the frozen tundra of WI.

Mom was equally shocked and excited about her Kindle. I am a bit jealous. It's really cool.

Elijah wanted equal billing with my Dad for the pearl earrings he picked out. He referred to them as "marble" earrings, and was quite proud of choosing them for Grandpa to get Grandma.

Cool kid.

Alli made and decorated a cupcake.

My niece, KaraJo, got her graduation present early. I made this quilt for her and couldn't wait until May to give it to her. I reminded KJ that she had to graduate, or I come and take it back!

Another pic of the quilt. I loved making this.

December 12

2010-12-13T16:48:00.001-06:00

My favorite Christmas movie.

December 11

2010-12-13T16:46:00.001-06:00

Allison's stocking is being embroidered.

December 10

2010-12-13T16:45:00.001-06:00

Decorated cookies with Grandma.

December 9

2010-12-10T07:43:00.000-06:00

This photo is from Thanksgiving, but I had to share it. Like uncle like niece!? :)

December 8

2010-12-08T19:20:00.001-06:00

Ready to watch the Christmas specials.

December 7 - Gift Idea

2010-12-07T19:10:00.004-06:00

My day was made the other night when we were at The Machine Shed and I came across this product: Beer Bands A few years ago, my mother-in-law received a gift of small colored plastic tabs that fit on your drinking glasses to differentiate between otherwise identical glasses. It was perfect for the weekends the whole family descends on the homestead and we have drinking glasses scattered throughout the house. It also cuts down on dishes, since we could drink out of the same glass all day.

My sister-in-law, Noelle, found these ingenious markers at Crate and Barrel, and a couple of years later, when I finally decided to get myself some, the workers at C&B had no idea what I was talking about. I've been looking for something similar ever since.

Fast forward to last week when I spotted these in the gift shop of a restaurant. Intended for beer bottles, because they stretch and give like a strong rubber band, they are perfect for drinking glasses, also. I snatched them up immediately.
Each package comes with 12 bands (2 were missing for this photo) all stamped "mine". Of course, after coming home and checking Amazon, I found them for a dollar or so cheaper than what I paid, but I'm supporting local business, right?! Here's the Amazon link if you think this would make a great gift, or perfect for a stocking stuffer!

December 6

2010-12-07T13:47:00.001-06:00

Watching the snow (albeit flurries that didn't stick around too long).

December 5

2010-12-05T19:18:00.002-06:00

Pink cheeks mean she's too cold to play outside anymore . . .

while this one's pink cheeks shows the fun is just getting started.

December 4

2010-12-04T19:12:00.000-06:00

Nightly Advent reading.

December 3rd

2010-12-03T17:23:00.001-06:00

Admiring a display of gingerbread houses at the Grand Geneva.

December 2nd

2010-12-03T17:03:00.002-06:00

Doing school at the Grand Geneva.

December 1st

2010-12-01T20:42:00.002-06:00

Inspired by my friend, I'm going to **attempt** to post a picture each day this month to remember our Christmas traditions. Here's December 1st - the Advent calendar is loaded and ready for the countdown to begin.

My "Crazy" Diet, part 2

2010-11-08T14:07:00.004-06:00

I previously wrote about my nutrition plan, detailing what I have to eat every day. Besides the "do eat" list, there is also a "don't eat" list, much tougher to handle, I'll admit.

The #1 thing I thought I would struggle with the most? I cannot eat sugar. Well, it's not that I can't eat any sugar, just that I can't eat any sweets. You know what I mean: cakes, pies, cookies, doughnuts, ice cream, candy, sweetened breads, etc . . . I also stay away from natural sweeteners, like honey and maple syrup and all artificial sweeteners.

The main reason that my nutritionist is against sugar is that it is addictive. Like cocaine-quality addictive. I think most people know this. The more sugar you eat, the more your body craves it and the more damage you do to your endocrine system. Your body is forced to churn out insulin to keep you from going into a diabetic coma and it causes your blood sugar to fluctuate like a speeding car on a roller coaster. Besides the fact that sugar has a direct effect on triglycerides, part of what makes up cholesterol, and I'm trying to get those numbers down!

So no sweets includes sweetened drinks and fruit. Now granted, fruit is healthy, and this is just a partial ban since there will be a time I'll be allowed to eat a small amount of fruit, but since I am eating so many vegetables, she assures me that my body is getting all those anti-oxidants that fruit growers crow about.

I can't have milk, but I can eat cheese.

Probably harder than the sweets thing was the fact that I would have to give up caffeine and even de-caf drinks. Now I hadn't been addicted to caffeine for almost a year when I started this diet, but I do enjoy an occasional coffee and a trip to Starbucks is one of my favorite treats. But I'm committed, so I gave it all up.

The strangest thing on the list? Perfume and perfumed products. There are many sites on the Internet talking about how dangerous the chemicals are in our modern cleaning and bathing supplies, but Karen's issue is more about our adrenal glands constantly being stimulated by smells. Fragrance Free shampoo and conditioner, lotion, deodorant and soap have been easy - it's the hand soap and hair products that are hard, and I must admit I've not given up my Aveda Be Sleek hair straightener. I feel like a *little* fragrance doesn't hurt, right?!

That is the meat of what I've done without over the past 6 months, although there have been a few occasions that some sweet was too hard to resist. But for the most part, I have found that giving up sweets has been easier than I thought. Partly because there is so much I have to eat already, I don't have a lot of room for more and also because once I got the massive amounts of sugar out of my diet, I found I didn't crave it like before.

Next post I'll tell you about some of the benefits of this diet.

2010-11-01T09:21:00.002-05:00

I found this blog, Practical Theology for Women a while back, and have always walked away from her posts blessed, and too often convicted. Today is no different.

She writes about wanting to see fruit in the lives of other believers too soon. She admits that too often we walk away from struggling friends because we give up on loving them the way Christ loves us.

"We Christians are an impatient lot. We insist on gathering grain before it grows. We want to see flowers before spring and fruit before fall. When a brother or sister is going through a tough time, we insist that the Spirit’s work be obvious. Unless they speak of their trials from a spiritual perspective, we tend to apply pressure more than we dispense grace. We rarely believe that life is hidden in the barren tree. Let a friend express his exasperation with a four-letter word, and immediately we’re more concerned with his language than with his agony."

Ouch. If you identify with that statement, let me encourage you to read the whole post and then glory in the great Gospel message of forgiveness without a timeline.

My "Crazy" Diet

2010-10-25T09:36:00.002-05:00

Last May, I embarked on quite the dietary adventure. Burdened with the fear of heart problems creeping up on me in my 30's since that had happened to both of my brothers, and knowing that my cholesterol was already on the high side, I decided to consult a nutritionist. Not the same as a dietician, a nutritionist seeks to heal the body through food.

My in-laws introduced me to a nutritionist that they had been seeing for about a year, to much success. Her name is Karen Hurd. She is from North-Western Wisconsin, but many of her clients are from around the world. She is willing to do consultations over the phone, which was extremely helpful for me, being a busy, homeschooling mom.

I'll admit, I knew what I was getting myself in to. My mother and father-in-law had discussed their diet with me enough for me know what radical steps I was going to take if I embarked on this plan - and a nutritional plan is what this is. I called it a diet, but really it isn't a short-term fix, it is a lifelong decision to improve and maintain my health through my food choices.

So here is the bones of my nutritional plan:

I have to eat 7 vegetables a day

I must eat a palm size serving of an efficient protein at every meal (efficient proteins come from animals - beef, chicken, fish, seafood and eggs)

I drink 96 oz. of water a day

I eat a half-cup serving of beans at every meal (Karen is big on soluble fiber)

Here is my typical breakfast. I cook up an egg (this is an egg, tomato and goat cheese frittata), saute half of a bell pepper and onion with mushrooms and eat a half cup of refried beans. Does it look like a lot of food? It is! But it fills and satisfies me for hours, keeping my blood sugar level and giving my brain cells, as well as other cells, plenty of good protein to keep working.

I'm 5 months in, and even though it hasn't always been a bed of roses, I remain committed to this plan. Tomorrow (or soon, at least) I'll write about what I'm NOT allowed to eat.

Mommy's Good Old Days - Choosing a College

2010-09-19T20:41:00.004-05:00

This post is part 15 in a 15 week series sponsored byMommy's Piggy Tales that encourages women to record their youth.

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

I have really enjoyed linking up with Mommy's Piggy Tales to help motivate me to write down some of my childhood memories. Although the initial 15 posts are completed, I plan on sticking with this theme and revisiting some old photos and the memories that accompany them. Stay tuned for that!

My senior year was winding down and I knew that I had to make a decision about which college I was going to attend. It was a tradition at our school's graduation to announce where each graduate was attending college and their proclaimed major, and I had decided on neither. But one thing was for sure: I was NOT going to go to a strict Baptist college that would impose on my new found freedom.

My oldest brother had attended Maranatha Baptist Bible College in Watertown, WI and though I knew a fair amount of people there, it was the last place I wanted to go. My parents were big proponents of this particular school, because our old pastor was the president and many friends from my home town had moved up there to work for the school. It was only a 3 1/2 hour drive away, which made for easy weekends at home and it was so familiar it didn't feel like moving away at all.

Even though I could be described by most people as a "good girl," my heart was not interested in continuing in the legalism I felt I was reared in at my home church. I wasn't overtly rebellious, but I thought I knew what was best for me and I was confident in my own relationship with the Lord that I could handle attending a less strict school. My first pick was a Southern Baptist university in Missouri, a comfortable 8 hour drive away. I knew I would be rid of dress codes and rules about movies and the like at this school, all the while still attending a "safe" Christian school. My parents weren't crazy about the idea, but agreed to take me to a prospective student weekend.

We arrived on campus a few hours before the official events started and as we were discussing what we should do in the meantime, the girl whose room I was scheduled to stay in happened upon us. She volunteered to show me around while my parents went back to the hotel. They reluctantly left me alone to experience college first hand.

The events that occurred over the next 3 hours were divinely inspired by my sovereign Savior to show me His will, I believe. In those short hours alone with my guide and her friend, I heard about a potential sexual assault case against a male dorm supervisor, saw flippant posters for a Bible study to talk about the what the "hype" was with Jesus and heard about how to get around most of the rules the college had.

By the time we went to eat dinner, the scheduled events still hadn't begun, but I knew I was finished. I was sick to my stomach, physically and emotionally battling with the Holy Spirit as he spoke to my heart. I knew I was not strong enough for an environment like this. I knew I would be too weak to battle these types of issues. I knew where I was supposed to go, but I had to eat a lot of crow to admit it.

I tearfully apologized to my hosts (if only they knew how their conversation turned me away from their school!) and called my parents to come pick me up. We returned to the hotel and I admitted my struggle. I submitted to attending good ole MBBC and although the atmosphere there would be difficult for me in the coming years and a trial in different ways, I knew at that moment it was where I was supposed to be. And by God's grace, I made it through 5 years of ankle length skirts in sub-zero weather, draconian dating rules, and a bit of legalism, and by God's grace, I am a stronger believer because of it.

Mommy's Good Old Days - Senior Year

2010-09-10T20:29:00.006-05:00

This post is part 14 in a 15 week series sponsored byMommy's Piggy Tales that encourages women to record their youth.

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I couldn't figure out how to condense my senior year into one blog post, since it was such an exciting and busy year. So many changes! So I decided to relive my last year of high school through pictures.

One morning in early February, my mom took an inordinate amount of interest in my outfit for school. She kept urging me to wear "something nice." I'm not sure why I wasn't more curious, but I wore one of my "nicer" outfits, just to appease her. By mid morning, I had figured it out. I was being inducted in the American Christian Honor Society. I was surprised to see both of my parents at school for the ceremony.

Boy, am I glad I wore a nice outfit!

Still surprised by the honor.

Slightly a late bloomer, I was the only senior in the group being honored.

As the end of my senior year approached, the calendar filled up quickly with exciting events. My Junior/Senior banquet (the Christian School version of prom - sans dancing) was the first. I wasn't dating anyone, but went with a friend of a friend and had a fun time, despite my "single" status.

The 8 Senior Girls

On the Sunday after banquet, it was a tradition to wear your dress to church. What fun to dress up again! I felt like a princess in this dress.

Shortly after banquet, our class was off on our senior trip to San Diego, CA! It was the most fun and exciting time in my life. We visited a guided missile cruiser, an old lighthouse, Sea World, watched the Cardinals play the Padres (and beat them!), plus hung out on the beach and shopped. The highlight of the trip was a beach cookout. We watched the sun set over the water and laughed and chased one another around the incoming tide while we waxed eloquent about how much we would miss one another. It was the last great hurrah before graduation.

The last day of school. I thought it would be cool to post it next to my first day of school picture, but I couldn't find that one.

Graduation morning. It was fixing to be a hot day the end of May, 1996. As mom started to prep for the party after the ceremony, my dad was shooting arrows at the possum in our back yard.

Our friend and classmate, Stephanie, moved away the summer before our senior year. She came back to see her classmates, some of us together since 1st grade, graduate. A couple of us traveled up to Wisconsin a few weeks later to see her graduate.

We did have boys in our graduating class, I just don't seem to have any pictures of them!

Graduation was the climax to the amazing, dramatic, roller-coaster adventure of high school. I was really lucky. We had a good class, my friends were responsible (for the most part!) and well-behaved, which kept me out of a lot of trouble, I'm sure. Even though most of us have gone our separate ways, I will always remember those years with a smile on my face and in my heart.

Mommy's Good Old Days - Junior Year

2010-09-02T10:24:00.002-05:00

This post is part 13 in a 15 week series sponsored byMommy's Piggy Tales that encourages women to record their youth.

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My Junior year brought many new opportunities that I joyfully embraced. One stereotypical change was my ability to get a job. Although both my parents offered to get me a job with their companies, I, like most teenage girls, was more interested in working at . . . the MALL. So when I saw the local Sears was hiring, I applied and interviewed.

Dressed in one of my best church dresses (I knew how to make a good impression) I entered the store and asked to be directed to "Bob" the man who was going to interview me. I was led back into the storeroom, past all the pretty clothes and shoes and I sat down in front of a short, balding, skinny older man and he began to tell me about the job. No questions about why I would be a good fit for the company and such like I expected, just a short job description and an explanation of pay and when to start. And just like that, I was gainfully employed. Except I had to change out of my best Sunday dress into jeans and a tshirt because I was going to work in the storeroom. Definitely not as high-class of a job as I had imagined, but it was work, nonetheless.

Bob was gruff and coarse and kinda intimidated me, and the fact that we were working in a darkish warehouse made me more nervous. I was glad there were other girls my age back there with me, specifically Jamie and Wanda. The three of us became fast friends and Bob turned out to be the most gentle, kind, almost fatherly boss. He watched out for us and generally made work a more fun place to be.

I made many friends at Sears, all of them teens from local public schools. I learned a lot those years (probably some stuff my parents wish I hadn't) and I tried to be a "good Christian example." Most of all I learned that I could be in the world and not necessarily of it. I worked at Sears until my junior year in college, moving from the warehouse into the junior department and finishing off in shoes. I still have very fond memories of my time there, and most of the friends I made there stayed friends for years.

My junior year also found me doing more at our school with plays and musicals,even singing my first (and only) solo. I competed in dramatic prose and poetry and found I was quite comfortable performing, which ignited a love of the theater that influenced my decision for my college major

Probably the most exciting adventure of that year was going to Mexico with a friend and her family for their vacation, but those stories and pictures deserve a separate post altogether. You'll have to stay tuned for that one at a later time!

Mommy's Good Old Days - 10th Grade

2010-09-02T08:05:00.003-05:00

This post is part 12 in a 15 week series sponsored byMommy's Piggy Tales that encourages women to record their youth.

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I'm afraid the time to sit, ponder and reminisce has been woefully lacking these past two weeks with school starting, so I'm a week behind and short on memories. Here's the two best things I remember about my sophomore year . . .

1. Because I started school as an almost-6-year-old, I was always the oldest in my class. Never thought too much about it, until I was 15 and in driver's ed with the class above me and then when I turned 16 just 2 months into my sophomore year. My friends were all still taking driver's ed (my small Christian school offered it, which was amazingly helpful and easy on all our parents) and I got my license.

My mom took me early to the DMV on my 16th birthday and I nervously took the written portion of the test and waited to be called for the driving portion. I think my hands were visibly shaking! When my name was called and the instructor and I started driving, I made sure to go about 5 mph below the speed limit, just to show him was a careful driver I was. We made it back to the office and he proudly told me that I had a perfect score. I was ecstatic! The best part was being able to prance (a little late) into homeroom smiling from ear to ear as my classmates eagerly rushed around me to see the new license. I still have the picture, but of course I couldn't find it for this post!!

2. My niece, KaraJo was born the spring of my sophomore year. You think I was excited about my brother getting married? I was on top of the roof about my prospective niece. My sister-in-law and brother had moved out of town and lived a good way off in the country, so on nights before her doctor's appointment, she would stay at our house and sleep in my bed so she could be close to her appointment the next morning. I would bed on the floor beside her and we would spend the time before we fell asleep talking about parenting and how much fun a baby would be. That was the closest thing to having a sister I ever experienced.

KaraJo Ann was born just a few weeks after my last grandparent died. I remember quoting "The Lord gives and the Lord takes away" and resting in that promise. What a joy to our family to get to welcome a new baby at such a sad time! I was on cloud nine with my new niece and I loved her from the moment we met. So strange that she is a senior this year and almost 18 years old!

Necessity is the Mother of Invention

2010-08-30T19:38:00.002-05:00

For the past year, I have been using these letter cards to help teach Elijah to read. We use them to identify beginning and ending sounds, to form words, and for games. Each sheet contains 10 lowercase letters and 2 capital letters (this sheet already had a strip removed).

Perplexed on how best to arrange the cards after they had been torn apart at the perforations, I opted for bunching them together and securing them with a rubber band. Not unique and definitely not very user-friendly, you could usually find Elijah and me fumbling through the stack looking for the letter he needed to form each word.

While shopping at Target for school supplies almost a month ago, I stumbled across this blue, 5 row card holder in the $1 section that I thought would work perfectly for holding each letter as Elijah (and now Alli) learn to form words. So on school day #1, we pulled out those rubber-banded stacks of the alphabet and I eagerly grabbed my new card holder when it was time for Elijah to form vocabulary words. But we encountered a problem. The pockets were too deep to see the letter. I sighed, assuming it would be a worthless purchase until inspiration struck.

With the help of a black Sharpie, I turned the pocket holder into a place to store all the alphabet cards! Now we could separate all the letter cards, thus assuring that we would always have enough "T's" and "S's" for any word the kids had to form.
And since it is free standing, I can just set it up on the table or counter and both kids can pick out whichever letter they need, without my help! Then we fold it flat and it takes up almost no room on the bookshelf. Now you might call me simple, but this really made my day!
Alli had to help tear each letter apart, which resulted in a few misshapen cards, but she loved the responsibility and I loved having her help.

Not bad for a $1 Target find!

First Day of School

2010-08-30T17:08:00.003-05:00

Monday, August 23rd, 2010. (Okay, so I'm a little behind in posting these!)

Alli is starting K-4, so she held up her age. The backpack is really just for show. She will probably only use it for our homeschool co-op every other week. But who could resist a purple butterfly backpack?
Elijah is starting 1st grade. And is still mastering the "don't squint while smiling" pose.
Ready for a great day!

Mommy's Good Old Days - Expanding my Borders

2010-08-19T14:39:00.003-05:00

This post is part 11 in a 15 week series sponsored byMommy's Piggy Tales that encourages women to record their youth.

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By the time 9th grade rolled around, I was a full-time teenager. Life consisted in my mind only of friends and boys and clothes. I was outgrowing my homesickness that seemed to haunt my earlier childhood and I was ready to embrace every new and exciting experience that came my way.

One of the best things about being a teenager was our church's youth group. It was a large group and very active, so that meant I had more and more freedom to socialize with my friends than my brothers ever had growing up in the country. We had singspirations at least once a month after church (we would visit some one's house and eat and sing and have a short devotional), I went to Six Flags multiple times and even worked up the nerve to try the roller coasters. We had organized activities every month, but the most exciting part of youth group was the yearly trip we took in the summer.

Our church didn't go to one summer Bible camp every year without fail. In fact, I thought it was really cool that we would try different camps all around the country. So while we had a "winter weekend" every year in Wisconsin at Camp Joy, summers meant a new camp to try. I had a really bad camp experience much earlier in my life and I had decided that church camp was not for me. My parents never made me go, even though the prevailing attitude was that if your kid didn't go to Bible camp, there was something spiritually wrong with them or you or both. They understood my homesickness and never pushed the topic.

Well, about 9th grade I began to want to go to camp, and when the summer camp was in Colorado, I couldn't contain my excitement to attend. We left on a bus for something like a 24 hour drive to Denver and stayed at a hotel with a pool and rode the train to the top of Pike's Peak.
I had so much fun on that trip, seeing a new state that my parents had never visited. I felt so grown up! After sight-seeing in Denver for a day or two, we headed to a remote camp in the mountains. The camp was ours for the week. Our youth leaders did all the preaching and activities and fixed all the food. It remains one of my favorite memories of my time in the youth group.

I also managed to convince my parents that we needed a family vacation that didn't involve visiting old relatives. Since I was the only child at home now, my parents felt that we had enough extra money to take a trip. So we headed off to St. Louis for a long weekend. We did a lot of the tourist-y things, like visiting the Arch and taking a ride on a riverboat.
As we were walking downtown one afternoon, I spied a wax museum and begged my parents to take me on the tour. It was the middle of the afternoon and no one else was in the museum. So Dad paid for our tour and we began walking through the dark halls. We would turn a corner into a hallway that was pitch black and then it would open up to a scene (often historical in nature) of wax figures. I remember seeing Abraham Lincoln and marveling at how life-like the figures were. But the further we got into the museum, the more fearful I became, certain some crazed murderer was waiting for us around the next corner. The wax figures which were so intriguing to me in the beginning became like corpses and frightened me more and more as we passed each vignette. Tearfully I begged my parents to abandon the tour and take me out of the house of horrors. They complied (surely rolling their eyes behind my back) and once we were out in the light of day, my fears subsided and I realized how silly I was to be so scared. Silly, but still not brave enough to go back into the wax museum!

So even though I thought of myself as this brave, adventurous teenager, a few wax figurines proved how immature I still was!

Mommy's Good Old Days - Finding my Favorite Teacher

2010-08-11T14:43:00.005-05:00

This post is part 10 in a 15 week series sponsored by Mommy's Piggy Tales that encourages women to record their youth.

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I dreaded eighth grade. I had nightmares about eighth grade. I knew from the class above me that eighth grade meant having Mr. Campbell for THREE classes, and my class actually had him for THREE HOURS IN A ROW.

Mr. Campbell was that teacher that loved to intimidate you. And intimidate he did. He had the reputation for being scary mean and his classes were killers. Everyone warned you that he loved to fail students and he would require vast amounts of homework and projects and you'd be lucky if you made it to your eighth grade graduation after a year with him. And, like the silly teenager I was, I believed every story, even though my brother and new sister-in-law assured me that Mr. Campbell's bark was bigger than his bite. I entered the halls of my first day of eighth grade trembling.

My 8th grade school picture. My mom had recently told me that my bangs were too high. I didn't believe her - until this picture. See pictures of subsequent hair changes below.

Our class had the distinction of having Mr. Campbell teach us Bible, History and Science. I hadn't been in his classroom many times, but I recall the larger-than-life world poster framed on his wall, with intriguing army figurines adhered all over the continents. He was constantly in the middle of some big project for his room and currently there was a train track that was mounted almost near the ceiling that traveled a circuit around the classroom, even entering a tunnel made in the wall of a closet. And he had snakes. In cages. And he fed them mice in front of the class. You can imagine what a squeamish eighth grade girl thought of that!

My brothers, Kevin and Erik and my sister-in-law, Trena, pregnant with my niece. We are with my grandfather, who died weeks before Trena gave birth.

We entered his classroom with much fear and trepidation. I'm not sure I knew what to expect, but I figured it would be horrible. One hour with a difficult teacher was bad, but the time frame we had Mr. Campbell was outrageous. How would we survive?

As you might have guessed, I was completely wrong about Mr. Campbell. Our class loved him. He was a difficult teacher, with high standards and tough demands, but he was a gifted teacher who inspired us, joked and had fun with us and treated us like the semi-mature teenagers we thought we were. He was fair and outrageously funny, often devoting the entire 3 hour block with us to working on projects. We had more freedom in those classes as eighth graders than I would ever get in a classroom again until college. And I thrived in it. Gone were the days of sitting still in your seat while you listen to your teacher lecture, and in came freedom and exploration and understanding your subject so well that it was easy to retain the knowledge we gleaned.

Christmas 1992 - excitement over a walkman. . . remember those?

Being the silly girls my friends and I were, we often giggled and teased Mr. Campbell. He put up with it good-naturedly, and after we graduated from middle school, we even invited him to our party that one of my classmates hosted. He came with his wife and talked to us for a few minutes before going inside to visit with the parents. We huddled together and discussed the embarrassing idea that maybe Mr. Campbell thought we had a crush on him. I vividly remember thinking that I didn't want Mrs. Campbell (our choir director) to think we loved him, or something gross like that! So we called him outdoors and assured him that although he had become our favorite teacher, we were not in love with him. He laughed and said "good to know" and the subject was dropped.

The next year, newly minted as Freshman, we told the eighth graders what they were in for. We didn't spread the false rumors that he was a terrible teacher, we told them how great he was and what fun they would have and really talked him up. Unfortunately, most of the eighth graders never felt the same way about him as we had. I guess our class was a little bit special to Mr. Campbell and I've always appreciated the great year we had with him.

Mr. Campbell told all of us students that the day we graduated from high school, we were adults and could call him by his first name. Last year, at age 32, when I saw him and his wife at my parent's church was the first time I greeted him as "Mark."

Mommy's Good Old Days - 7th Grade

2010-08-05T14:54:00.003-05:00

The year I turned 13 brought about many new and exciting changes. I felt like my world was finally opening, I shed the chains of elementary school and fully embraced my new life as a teenager. (All sarcasm and extreme drama intended.)

It would be a thrilling year of sleepovers with new classmates, first "real" crushes and entering the youth group, which was a watershed moment for most kids in our church. I found new self-confidence (read :: obnoxious pride) and in all my self-proclaimed maturity, I was probably more silly and immature than in years past. But, as most middle-schoolers are, I was sure I was the coolest 13 year old around and that the world was my doorstep.

But probably the most exciting thing about my 7th grade year was what happened the summer before - my brother got married!

Kevin was marrying his high school sweetheart, Trena, and I think I was as excited as they were! The summer was filled with showers and planning and I even got to search for apartments with them. But the best, most exciting part of my brother's wedding? I got to be a bridesmaid!

What 13 year old wouldn't have jumped at the chance to be in a wedding? I had never been a flower girl, a point of which caused much jealousy towards my flower-girl friends, and I loved the idea of participating in a wedding. So when my soon-to-be sister-in-law asked me, I didn't have to think twice about saying yes.

She chose hunter green bridesmaid's dresses, made of satin with "poofed" short sleeves and a bow in the back (think Laura Ashley - this was 1990). I was able to get my first pair of high heeled shoes (small pumps, really) and we had them dyed to match the dress perfectly. I practiced walking in those shoes around the house, certain I needed to get used to all the thin air my head now occupied. I'm sure I thought all eyes would be on me on their special day.

The day of the wedding came and I carried a single lily, draped ever-so-elegantly over my arm and adorned with pearls and taffeta down the aisle. I cried when my brother said his vows and dreamed of what a romantic moment like this would be for me someday. We celebrated at the reception afterwards and wished the happy couple off into newlywed bliss. It all seemed so perfect and romantic to me.

The only high that would top this one in my young life came a few years later when my first niece was born . . .

post-script: Kevin and Trena celebrate 20 years of marriage this month. Happy Anniversary, you guys! Yours was the first love story I saw first-hand and it swept me off my feet, too! Love you both!

I couldn't resist . . .

2010-08-02T11:00:00.002-05:00

If you love all things Jane Austen, then please check out the Brookish Etsy Store. Have fun!

Mommy's Good Old Days - Desperately Wanting a Dog

2010-07-29T09:58:00.009-05:00

This post is part 8 in a 15 week series sponsored by Mommy's Piggy Tales that encourages women to record their youth.

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Sometime before my 6th grade year, our dog ran away. He was my brother's dog and Sam was always a runner. Out in the country, he would bolt every time the door opened and often mocked us as we chased him, coming just close enough to grab him before he ran off in the opposite direction. In the country, we didn't worry about him wandering too far, though, and there wasn't a lot of traffic to be concerned with, either.

After we moved to town, however, his running away became more of a problem. He would bolt into the street without looking both ways (stupid dog) and we were always fearful of him being picked up by the pound. Sam was a mixed breed, medium to medium small, but he still managed to climb the chain link fence or dig underneath to follow his call of the wild. And follow he did. Since he was never neutered, he was literally being driven crazy by all the females and found a way out whenever nature called.

Well, one fateful summer, while Erik was away at church camp, Sam ran away and never returned. I remember visiting the pound to look for him, without any luck. I mourned his loss, as did my brother, I am sure.

After a year or so passed, my parents were persuaded to get another dog; this time it would be my dog, and I was ecstatic. We started by calling the Humane Society, who would link us up to a family looking to get rid of their dog.

We got the first call. A black cocker spaniel a short distance away was needing a good home. I wasn't partial to any breed, so we jumped in the car and drove to the next town to meet the dog.

His name was Bud. (Remember the Budweiser dog from the commercials in the 90's?) And while I wasn't crazy about his name, I distinctly remember thinking it would be rude to the family to say I didn't want him, and ever-optimistic that we would bond instantly, we loaded him up into the car. I jumped into the backseat with him as my Dad got into the driver's seat. Bud decided he liked the front bench seat better, so he bounded over and turned back and placed his paws on the seat, facing me. Dad had started to back out of the driveway when I playfully scratched Bud behind his ears. The next thing I know, Bud yipped and bit at my face, then retreated. I screamed and my dad stopped and turned the lights on as a look of horror settled on his face. I touched my nose and instantly saw the bright red blood that stained my hands.

Obviously, we returned the dog to his owners. I was rushed to the hospital and cleaned up and given shots, even though the dog was up to date on his vaccinations. I had 2 long scratches down my nose and Bud had grabbed my upper lip, biting it and causing it to swell into an enormous lump.

I felt fine, and dad and I drove home. My mom was gone that night, and returned home after I was in bed. I remember her telling me she just about cried when she checked in on me that night and saw the extent of my cuts. We heard that Bud did the same to the next family that visited, so he was put down shortly thereafter.

The cuts weren't pretty, but by Monday the swelling had gone down considerably in my lip, and mom let me wear makeup to conceal the cuts to school on Monday. The following Friday was school pictures and while I still wore makeup, I can detect the long, thin scars on my nose. No one else could really notice, but I still had my 15 minutes of fame in the class for such an exciting story.

A few months passed and when my parents were certain I wasn't forever petrified of dogs, the talk about getting another one began. I was fairly certain Iwanted a puppy who would grow up loving me and would no longer be threatened with having my face bit off. Easter weekend came and my brother was coming home from college. I was so preoccupied with being excited to see him, I didn't think much about my parent's suspicious behavior.

They called me outside to tell me there was an Easter basket for me. When I went out into the front yard, my dad was holding a small, white, puffy little puppy that he had just picked up for me. I was ecstatic. She was adorable and cuddly and everything you could want in a puppy. I named her "Pebbles" and she became my obsession for years to come.

I got that same feeling of excitement and possibility when Dan and I adopted our current dog, Sadie. It may be trite, but there is something special about a kid and her dog and I will never forget the good years that Pebbles and I had together.

Alli

2010-07-25T20:44:00.000-05:00

Mommy's Good Old Days - 5th Grade

2010-07-22T19:41:00.003-05:00

This post is part 7 in a 15 week series sponsored by Mommy's Piggy Tales that encourages women to record their youth.

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All settled into our new house, just blocks away from our church and school, I became quite social. My parents always allowed me to have friends for sleepovers, but living out in the country put a cramp on the frequency which I desired. Now living right in town allowed me to have friends over after school and on weeknights and even after church. My parents became more social, too. We started having more dinner companions, and even kept missionaries at our house. I might have missed our old house, but I loved our new place.

I remember being able to ride my bike to school. I loved this new freedom! But as my parents began to expect me to ride to school each day, I started to see it as a chore and began to miss the daily drive, even as it only took minutes to get there. My ever over-active imagination pictured a boogie man on every corner and I specifically remember being certain that a stranger was following me to school one morning. When I reported it to my parents, they rolled their eyes and assured me that no one was out to get me, but I wasn't convinced.

Our new house was across the street from a 20-acre park that our church owned and used for sports events for the school. I loved not having houses across from us and I loved being able to walk across the street to soccer and baseball games. There was also a small playground that my friends and I frequented and at the back of the park was a chain link fence that had been cut and a portion pulled back that made a perfect entrance to an overgrown area that bordered an old, abandoned rail road track. We often imagined outlaws lived in that area, and we spent hours exploring and often finding hidden treasures. Once, we actually did see some teenagers drive back there late at night and another car came to meet them. My parents were certain that there was a drug deal going on, so being the responsible neighborhood-watch kind of people that they were, called the police. They showed up, only after the offending vehicles had left and promised us they would patrol the area more heavily. This only heightened my fear that a boogie man was lurking in the shadows.

Around this time my mother started working for a ministry that had their offices at our church. I remember cherishing the ability to see my mom right after school and being able to roam the church halls with my best friend, Stephanie. Steph's dad was the business manager at the church and she spent most afternoons entertaining herself and her brother in the enormous, mostly empty church while she waited for him to be done with work. But before my mom's job change, I wasn't allowed to roam the halls with her, as students weren't typically allowed in the church. So when my mom became employed there, it opened up at least an hour of BFF time with Stephanie as we played in the nursery and snuck around the basement, finding secret passages I never new existed.

My 5th grade year was also the first year that my oldest brother, Kevin, was away at college. Even though we never got along at home, I missed him terribly and looked forward to his visiting on occasional weekends. My 5th grade teacher even commented on my report card that I spent a lot of time talking about my brother. This was a huge shock to my parents and to Kevin, I'm sure, and I'm still not sure what caused me to be so homesick for him, but it definitely marked a change in our relationship.

That period in my life is filled with very pleasant memories. Nothing huge and exciting happened that I can recall, but just positive changes that made my already comfortable life even more easy. God was very good to our family, providing blessings beyond what any of us deserved.

Mommy's Good Old Days - 4th grade

2010-07-21T15:44:00.003-05:00

This post is part 6 in a 15 week series sponsored by Mommy's Piggy Tales that encourages women to record their youth.

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Just when life was in a routine and I was getting comfortable . . .

One night my parents called me into the kitchen. It seemed serious. They sat me down and told me they had something to talk to me about. I braced for the worst. Situations like this never turn out well.

In a very quiet, serious manner, my parents said, "Donette, we are thinking about moving into town. There is a house just 4 blocks from church and school and we are thinking of buying it."

My response? "If we move to town, you are going to have to start paying for water." You see, we lived in a little clump of houses (not exactly a subdivision) and had a well on our lot. The 5 closest neighbors used the water from our well and paid us monthly for the expense. It seemed like a position of power to my 9-year old brain, not considering that we incurred all expenses for the well when it wasn't working properly. Either way, it seemed like an advantage one should not give up indiscriminately.

After my parents assured me it was a sacrifice they were willing to make, I went on about my daily living not thinking much about it. Until the day to move finally arrived. For some reason, we were moving mid-week and my parents had the audacity to insist we were to go to school that day! Luckily for me, my sensitive stomach flared up just in time to stay home that day and miraculously was settled by the time we got into the new house! I got busy arranging my bedroom and unpacking all my belongings and generally acclimating myself to the new house. How exciting was that day!

Shortly thereafter I began to miss our old house, often dreaming that we had moved back. I loved our new place, but there is just something about the first house you lived in. I've driven back there just a few times in the 23 years since, but each time I am shocked at how small the yard is, or how tiny the house looks. I prefer to remember it as I have it in my memories.

Mommy's Good Old Days - 3rd Grade

2010-07-08T19:11:00.002-05:00

This post is part 5 in a 15 week series sponsored by Mommy's Piggy Tales that encourages women to record their youth. Week five's assignment is age 8/3rd grade.

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Third grade was a year of changes for me. My oldest brother was beginning his senior year at the Christian school I attended and my other brother, who was to enter 7th grade and I were ceremoniously told that we would be homeschooled. What ?! Homeschooled?!

I guess I knew what homeschooling was, at least I don't remember it being explained to me, but in our large church, which ran the Christian school I attended, almost all of the kids I knew went to school with me. I couldn't imagine what it was going to be like to have to stay home everyday while my friends were at school.

My mom tried her best to make the school day as typical and normal as what my brother and I were used to. She made us dress for school (I even had to wear a skirt!) and we rearranged part of the kitchen to house our school books and papers. We started the day off with the Pledge of Allegiance and she told us to call her "Mrs. (insert maiden name here)" instead of "Mom". Needless to say, that lasted all of about 2 hours and we went back to calling her "mom" from then on. And we quit dressing up for school, although mom wouldn't let us do schoolwork in our pajamas.

The year went by quickly. I enjoyed the freedom that homeschooling provided, and I was usually done with my work by early after lunch. I played outside more and ran errands with my mom and stood silently by her side while strangers questioned why my brother and I weren't in school. Homeschooling, by no means a new trend in the late 80's, was still not as common as today, so most people assumed we were truant when they saw us in the grocery store at 10 AM.

I missed my friends that year, specifically my best friend Stephanie, but our friendship survived on seeing each other on Sunday and occasional sleepovers. My mom decided that homeschooling was not her calling in life and the next year my brother and I were enrolled again in our old school. I don't regret losing that year at my Christian school, except for missing out on an amazing teacher that all my classmates raved about. But overall, I enjoyed the experience of being homeschooled and I think it made me just a little bit more willing to try it with my own kids.

Mommy's Good Old Days - 2nd Grade, or the Year I Found Out My Parents had Friends

2010-06-29T15:39:00.005-05:00

This post is part 4 in a 15 week series sponsored by Mommy's Piggy Tales that encourages women to record their youth. Week four's assignment is age 7/2nd grade.

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Yes, until this time in my life, I believed that my parents were put on God's earth to serve my every need and make me endlessly joyful. Of course that didn't always happen, but it was their job, I thought. Somewhere in this blissful ignorance my parents decided to have a cookout.

Most of you are probably thinking, "what's the big deal, sister?" Our own children are 4 and 6 and have sat through countless cookouts with friends and family. But for some reason, be it the distance we lived from our church (those 13 miles were a vast wilderness to forge for the city folk), or my parent's arduous working hours, or a host of other, I-don't-know-so-I'll-come-up-with-some-excuse/reason, it is my perception that my parents were not social and did not have friends. My 7 year old brain computed that as completely normal. We 3 children were friends enough for them, I guessed.

This all changed when they announced we were having a cookout with some friends from church. Not attending a cookout, but having one. This was a new experience for me. What would this look like? Would I know who these "friends" even were?

Then the next big shock came: they were going to invite the Andersons. Wait. Did you say the Andersons? Like the parents of the boy in my class? You know them??? Once I recovered from the shock of finding out that my parent's social group blended into my own social group, I was able to get excited that kids my age would be coming over to play, even if they only had boys.

The cookout went splendidly, as I recall. I know there was more than one family there, but I only remember all of us kids playing in the backyard tree until after dark (which is one of the best things about your parents having friends over, I discovered, they let you play way past your normal bedtime).

It was a defining moment for me, to consider my parents as social beings who desired to connect with their peers as much as I did. Maybe Mom and Dad didn't just exist to serve me . . . no, that can't be right. I think I'll stick to my original conclusion.

Recent Etsy Finds

2010-06-29T10:10:00.005-05:00

I never have to look far into Etsy to find something I like. Here are my recent purchases:

From Vintage and Glam, these little bird earrings caught my eye. I love how whimsical they are. I've been wearing them a lot this summer already.

This necklace and the following earrings are from Piper Blue. I LOVE these. Delicate and summer-y, these are perfect for a scoop neck t-shirt or a dress.

Piper Blue had many other pieces I liked, but this girl's gotta answer to her husband for all these purchases. So the next best thing is to add them to my favorite's list and hope he peruses the list before my birthday!

Check out both the sites. I'm sure you'll find something you like!

Mommy's Good Old Days - 1st Grade

2010-06-22T11:53:00.005-05:00

This post is part 3 in a 15 week series sponsored by Mommy's Piggy Tales that encourages women to record their youth. Week three's assignment is 1st grade/6 years.

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I tried in vain to come up with a cheerful story from my 1st grade year. And maybe I did have an exceptional birthday or Christmas, but alas, that year is scarred forever in my memory because I did not like my 1st grade teacher.

Her name was Miss Broom, and although I'm fairly certain she was a kind person outside of the classroom, she was VERY stern and strict as a teacher. And now, as a mature adult, I understand the necessity of strictness in a classroom, especially at the time when most kids had only 1/2 day of kindergarten and first grade was their first foray into all-day school. But nonetheless, I felt like Miss Broom was out to get me and I was often out of her favor.

It all started so innocently. It was the first day of school and we were introduced to real desks with our names printed on them, full of wonderful textbooks that were so inviting to page through. The room was decorated brightly and cheerfully, just as you would expect any elementary classroom to look. There were pictures and books and a table full of learning toys that just begged us to stare longingly at them. And that is where I had my first encounter with Miss Broom.

She had just dismissed us to line up at the door to leave for the day. I had survived, unscathed up until this point, and although I was wary of her sternness, I had yet to provoke her anger. Until, that is, I passed the table with all the learning toys on it and my eye fell to the one toy I had been staring at all day.

It was a teal green plastic microscope with gigantic, bugged out eyes on the front. This was a toy meant to be played with, it was not a technical piece of machinery. And as we lined up to leave, with strict instructions to do so quietly, I slowed my pace as I passed the table and quietly mouthed, to no one in particular, "Wow. That is so cool!"

Well, nothing got by the strict eyes of Miss Broom, and she was quick to pull me out of the line and required me to stay after school to reprimand me. I was shocked. I had never been in trouble, and certainly not on the first day of school! I withstood my scolding and was released to get my things, the hallway already eerily silent. The other students were outside getting picked up by their parents, and I had to walk, shame-faced, out of the school on my own.

My brothers were waiting for me and I confessed through tears that I had to stay back for disobeying. They didn't think it was anything to get upset over and even told me to expect it for the whole year - Miss Broom's reputation proceeded her. But it ruined my first day of school.

The year went on and I ceased to be the only child reprimanded (luckily I did not have a nose-picking problem, for they were the lepers of the class), but I always felt Miss Broom had it out for me and I had forever tarnished my up-till-now flawless reputation.

Happy Birthday, Allison

2010-06-21T11:45:00.006-05:00

To my baby, Alli, on her 4th birthday:

Sweetheart, I cannot believe that you are 4 years old! You still seem to be a toddling 18 month old in my mind. The years have gone too fast. You have grown up so quickly and are becoming quite the little lady, with your preference for dresses and all things princess. I love your willingness to share kisses and hugs and for saying you always want to be my baby. I love your friendship with your brother and how you often call to him for help before you call for me or Daddy. I love how you want to be around me and help me clean or cook or weed the garden. I know God has a perfect plan for your life, and I pray that you will always be sweet and submissive to His goals for you.

I love you, Missy Moo, have a glorious 4th birthday!

Mommy's Good Old Days - Preschool Memories

2010-06-16T14:10:00.011-05:00

This post is part 2 in a 15 week series sponsored by Mommy's Piggy Tales that encourages women to record their youth. Week two's assignment is preschool/kindergarten years.

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I don't have many concrete memories of my preschool days. Mostly I just remember snippets of time, often jogged into my memory by old photographs.

I remember sitting on my knees on the couch looking out the front picture window waiting for my older brothers to get home from school with our faithful dog, Rufus, by my side.

I remember running around the back yard and swinging on the tire swing that hung from the box elder tree with my neighbors, Jeremy and Jenny and Trish.

I remember the long drive to church (a whopping 13 miles!) and how my mom used to make us sing choruses to keep us kids from fighting with each other.

I remember joyfully playing in my room - Barbies, teaching school to all my dolls and enjoying each and every stuffed animal I owned, even though I had many.

My brothers and I wading in a Kentucky creek with my grandma

But one solid memory, forever etched in my mind is the memory of my grandmother, Beaulah. My mom's own mother, she was my favorite person in the world. Loving and kind, always willing to have us over and make no-bake cookies with us, she embodied everything you expect in a grandmother. She lived just 4 or 5 blocks from school and I remember walking that distance

with my older brothers to hang out at her house after school when I was in kindergarten until our parents could pick us up.

She would often have us sleep over and although I only remember sleeping on her couch, the story is told that she would put the littlest one in the bathtub to sleep so we wouldn't roll off the bed. I only remember her living in a tiny, one bedroom apartment, but my mind seems to have memorized that home. She collected salt and pepper shakers and I would stand for what seemed like hours looking carefully at each individual set, even playing with some when she felt I would be trustworthy enough not to break them.

I remember her love for cats, Siamese cats to be specific. She had a porcelin lamp shaped like 2 Siamese cats with a small bulb in the back whose light only escaped through their oval eyes. I was both scared and intrigued by that lamp.

I remember celebrating Christmas Eve with her, in that miniscule place we would cram both my family and her son's family, all clammoring to have a moment of her attention. She didn't necessarily lavish us with gifts, especially compared to today's standards for Christmas, but she always seemed to pick out the best present for each of us. I was never disappointed from her gifts; she knew each of us well and reflected her knowledge in that way.

She worked at the hospital in town. My mom would bring us to visit her on many occasions and we would ride the slow elevator to the basement and walk down the long, green corridor to the laundry room to see her and she always took the time to stop and visit with us, and pose for a picture if my mom remembered the camera (and she usually did!). She would squeeze all of us around her and we would willingly smile, cherishing those stolen moments with her before she returned to her work.

My memories of my beloved Grandmother end before I graduated from Kindergarten, as she died of a heart attack just days after her 61st birthday. Of course as a child, your grandmother always seems old, and as I mourned her, I didn't fully realize how young she was to die. Now that I have children of my own, I understand better how young she really was, and what a tragic loss it was for my mother, as well it was for us.

When I think about my life as a preschooler, my memories may be snippets, but no memory is more precious than the few years I was honored to know my Grandma.

Mommy's Good Old Days

2010-06-09T15:26:00.006-05:00

This post is part 1 in a 15 week series sponsored by Mommy's Piggy Tales that encourages women to record their youth. Week one's assignment is your birth/naming story.

"What an interesting/unusual/pretty name you have!" is usually the comments I hear from people when they first meet me. Sometimes they ask me to spell my name, sometimes they guess it's origin (French is a common query) and often they just tell me they have never met a "Donette" before. No matter what exclamation I hear, it is still the same. I cannot introduce myself without some comment about my name.

For years I *strongly disliked* (never say hated) my name. As a child, I was often called "donut" (it does not help that there are Hostess powdered "Donettes" out there), but I've heard "been-there-donette," "Darnit" and many other not-so-intelligent puns on my name. My parents still remind me of the times I begged them to change it. The most common name I longed for? Star. Yep, Star. Now that wouldn't have been mocked at all.

I wish I had some magical, epic tale about how my name came into being, but it is actually quite simple. My parents were looking through the baby name book after my birth and saw the name "Danette" and decided to change it to "Donette" because my dad's name is . . . you guessed it, Don. They, of course, thought it was beautiful and unique and perfect, even as I later questioned their sanity. The funny part of the story comes when they came to church the first Sunday after I was born and an older woman approached them and said, "Donette is my name!" My parents were shocked - here they imagined they were the only ones who could invent such a perfect namesake, and there was one all along sitting in the same sanctuary as they were. Oh well, she spelled hers with two n's, so it was unique enough to placate my parents.

I have encountered one other Donette over the years - while sitting in a waiting room before I met my college advisor and I wanted to ask if she had the same love/hate relationship with her name, but she just gave me a weird look after our name was called and went back to the advisor's office before I could speak.

Now I embrace my name. I joke that I should have changed it before I started college, as I could have taken on a new identity, but I'm glad I never did. It's a tribute to my dad, and to my parent's bravery in taking artistic license on a published name. I may have to spell it whenever I meet someone new and I may have to endure the questions, but it's my name, and I wouldn't be me without it, I think.

And as a tribute to the name, Dan and I chose it for the daughter we lost in pregnancy. I don't think I would have chosen it as her name had she lived, for I know too well the trials she would have endured, (petty as they really were), but as a simple way to embrace the name, honor my daughter and accept it as part of my legacy and now hers, too.

Stay Tuned

2010-06-07T18:49:00.001-05:00

Starting Thursday, and going for the next 15 weeks (hopefully!) I will be participating in recording my youth with Mommy's Piggy Tales. This is a great site about parenting and memories that is encouraging participants to blog or vlog (that seems to be beyond my technical expertise!) stories from their childhood to share. The first week's topic will be my birth/naming story. This should be a lot of fun, and I'm excited to take the time to really think about my childhood and record those stories that are important to me. Hope you all stay tuned for the series!

The Cozy Corner - Max Edition

2010-05-26T10:05:00.003-05:00

I knew this would happen. I knew that we would finish school before I had time to review all the books we read in our Kindergarten curriculum this year. So instead of giving up, I'm going to do a one sentence summary and one sentence review of the rest of the books (13 - yikes!), linking to Amazon in case you are interested in purchasing them.

Are you ready? Here goes nothin'!!

The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes - a young girl gets caught up in making fun of a classmate who is obviously very poor yet claims to own 100 dresses and learns a valuable lesson about leadership and compassion.

Kids loved it, even though the protagonist was a girl, and afforded some great opportunities for discussion about how to treat others.

The Family Under the Bridge by Natale Savage Carlson - an old hobo befriends homeless children and selflessly helps them during the Christmas season.

Kids hated this one because the language was over their heads - better for older kids.

Dolphin Adventure by Wayne Grover - a true story about a diver who helps a wounded dolphin underwater. An exciting adventure!

My son ate this one up! He loves dolphins and this is written in pretty simple text, even though it is a chapter book and he hung on every word.

Mary on Horseback by Rosemary Wells - three true stories about a nurse who gave up a typical job to help the mountain people of Appalachia and thus founded the Frontier Nursing Service.

This was a tough one, also. Written in Appalachian dialect, most of the stories went way over the kids heads.

The Story of Doctor Doolittle by Hugh Lofting - come on, you all know this summary. He talks to animals and they go on a grand adventure to Africa.

What kid wouldn't like this story? My kids laughed and loved this book. It is a bit long, 156 pages, with only a few small pictures, so you might have to hold off with your little ones, but my 5 year old didn't struggle.

In Grandma's Attic by Arleta Richardson - my husband read this one to the kids and I eagerly listened while he recounted tales of a mischievous little girl and how she learned valuable lessons from all her mistakes. The stories are told from a grandmother to her granddaughter while she spends time at their house.

Lovely book. Sweet and funny and presented great opportunities to talk with the kids about disobedience, since most of the stories center around the grandmother's stubborn will.

The Light at Tern Rock by Julia L. Sauer - mixed reviews on this one. The story of a young boy who spends his Christmas stuck on a lonely island manning a lighthouse with his aunt.

My kids seemed to not care for this book, but the story was good, in my opinion and the lessons about attitude are priceless. Also, it is short (60 p.) with a decent number of pictures, so it ends up being a quick read. I'll probably keep this to read to them again this year.

The Story about Ping by Marjorie Flack and Kurt Wiese - ultra cute little story about a duck who disobeys and the consequences.

Kids loved this book, very easy level, even the 3 year old didn't get bored!

Five True Dog Stories by Margaret Davidson - the title explains it best . . . focus' on dog's amazing sense of smell, devotion, loyalty, etc . . .

So cute, kids were amazed by the dogs and we had a lot of fun with this book.

Twenty and Ten by Claire Huchet Bishop - a fictional account of a common story during WWII, it is about 20 French students who do their best to hide ten Jewish children from the Nazi's at their remote boarding school.

Great story, but might be a bit dark for small children. It speaks of death and starvation and torture (in an age-appropriate manner) but my son loved it. It sparked many conversations about the war. My 3 year old ignored us while we read this one, though!

The House at Pooh Corner by A.A. Milne - lovely chapter-length stories about Pooh bear and his friends and adventures.

Hate to say it, but my kids had too much trouble following this book and all the different characters, and their mother had too much trouble trying to read it in the different voices (speech major that I was)! So we shelved this book about 1/3 of the way in for when they are a little older and can understand the adult humor.

Richard Scarry's Please and Thank You Book by . . . do I really have to tell you? If you haven't read one of Scarry's many books to your kids, go to the library now and get one! So cute and fun, this book tells how to behave politely using his famous characters.

This book was great and I think you could use it for much younger children, and as a reminder to older kids of what polite behavior should look like!

Are you still with me? One more to go!

A Grain of Rice by Helena Clare Pittman - the story of a poor Chinese boy who, when denied the hand of the princess in marriage, instead asks for a grain of rice, to be doubled every day for 100 days. You can guess what happens!

The math in this book was over my kid's heads, but they enjoyed the story, and it is a short book (65 p.) and the print is large, so it was a quick read.

Well, there you have it. A lot of books to read, but a great place to start if you are thinking about using Sonlight's curriculum or just looking for a fun book list for your kindergartner. Whew! I'm off to read something for myself!

Old Wrapping Paper and the Body of Christ

2010-05-18T13:25:00.002-05:00

A few years ago on my son's birthday, he received a present from his grandparents wrapped in cowboy wrapping paper, I mean, vintage cowboy wrapping paper. My mother-in-law had saved this paper from when my husband was a little boy (5, maybe?) and his grandparents used it to wrap his birthday present. How cool is that?!

If you know me well (or not so well, possibly you've heard all the rumors) you would know that holding on to a piece of wrapping paper, however cute and sentimental it might be, for 27 or so odd years would be the last thing I could or would do. I just don't hang on to things for that long, truth be told, even a quarter of that long. I don't like clutter and so many of those sentimental pieces of paper get thrown away. (see here for an example)

By God's grace, I have a wonderful mother-in-law who was quite at ease with my teasing over the wrapping paper and we joked that if the world were made up of people like me, there would be no Smithsonian because I would have pitched every historical piece of paper I came across. What's this? The Constitution? I'm sure we have this saved on a computer somewhere - to the trash! And we joked that if the world were made up of people like my dear mom-in-law, we would be living on a spaceship while Wall.e was busy tidying up our planet for our return. There is a need for both of our personality types, to balance out each group.

I've spent a lot of time thinking about this, especially when the Holy Spirit is kind enough to bring my sinful pride to my attention. This is exactly how the body of Christ is made up. For some reason He has chosen to redeem all kinds of people and then place them in the same local body to work together to bring Him glory. If the local body were made up of people who think like me, there would be some serious deficiencies, I'm sure. And the same goes for other personality types.

But the rub occurs when we actually try to get along with people who think and/or act differently than we do. When we would rather just smile and nod and move along and never have to speak to that person again. That is when the gospel matters. That is when I have to remind myself that John 13:35 is true: "By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

This type of love doesn't come from steeling my will to put up with someone different than I. No, this love comes from Christ, from His sacrifice that implores us and enables us to love each other as He loves us. It isn't always easy, but ultimately I believe that it is possible, and I remind myself of this miraculous truth when I'm tempted with superiority.

Thank you, Father, for making each one of us unique and for loving us despite our pride and arrogance. Help me to love others as you have loved me and to further your gospel by this supernatural ability.

Pioneer Woman's Pizza

2010-03-25T11:32:00.002-05:00

I spied this recipe the other day on my most-favorite website, The Pioneer Woman, and decided right there on the spot that I must try it. What could be better than caramelized onions on a pizza? So on my next outing to the grocery store, I picked me up some prosciutto and came home to make the pizza crust.

Now let me just tell you, the pizza crust is easy and delicious. I've been looking for a good recipe, and my only complaint is that you need to make it about 2 hours before you start the pizzas. But trust me, it was so good it was worth the wait.

The picture above shows the results of following the recipe exactly. Wow. She wasn't lying. That was one good pizza. But I will admit that because there is no sauce on the dough, it was just a *tad* dry for me. So I made it again last night, with a very thin layer of Sweet Baby Ray's sauce under the cheese and we liked it even more. So much that we didn't share it with the kids - they were content to eat corn dogs!

The star of this pizza is the caramelized onions, so if you really like them, do as I did and cut up 2 onions to throw on the pizza. More is better, right? And if prosciutto scares you or you just don't want to pay $6 a pkg, by all means use bacon or deli ham. Just use it sparingly, because the onions are what makes this pizza pop!

Now that I have finished my review, I'm off to see if Dan forgot his lunch of leftover pizza and to eat it if he did. It's even good cold.

On Reinstating Old Resolutions

2010-03-18T13:31:00.002-05:00

I'm back on the wagon. Your comments from my last post helped put me there. Now I can't say that my family will never eat anything out of a box again (can we say "cereal'?) but I am resolved to quit buying the vast amounts of groceries from the middle of the store. I'm sticking to the fresh fruits and vegetable, fresh meat and dairy items. With a little bratwurst thrown in when the weather is warmer!

I was sizing up my pantry for all the things we shouldn't be eating when I noticed the box muffin mix. I checked my muffin recipes, and most call for 10-12 ingredients, whole ingredients like flour and fruit. Then I compared the box mix, which contained 25 ingredients, and only the first 3 or 4 could I even pronounce. That's disgusting!

So I need your help. What box mixes and the like have you replaced with homemade recipes?

Here's mine for the day:

Homemade "Cream of _____ Soup" recipe

2 c. non-fat dry milk crystals
3/4 c. cornstarch
1/4 c. Instant chicken bouillon
2 tbsp. dried onion flakes
1 tsp. dried thyme, crushed (optional)
1 tsp. dried basil, crushed
1 tsp. pepper

Add 1/3 c. of mix to 1 1/4 c. water and heat and whisk until thickened. Works great in casseroles!

How do you eat healthy?

2010-03-15T13:51:00.004-05:00

Missy just reminded me this morning of a resolution I made about 2 years ago to eat more whole foods. It was shortly after my brother had a heart attack and I was convinced I was next, because, you know, (well maybe you don't) my family paid for the heart center at the local hospital.

And I did really well for some time. No more hydrogenated oils, I made more things at home from scratch and I felt like I was making at least a little bit of difference in my health.

And then came couponing. I have been actively couponing for about 6 months now, and I realize how much unhealthy food I have bought in the name of saving money. I mean, you can get some really amazing deals on prepared meals and jarred sauces and the like. But now I'm thinking I've exchanged good health for a buck.

So, my question is to you, my readers. How do you eat healthy on a budget?

The Cozy Corner

2010-02-23T08:26:00.002-06:00

After finishing The Apple and the Arrow (and by "finishing" I mean "laboring through") I was excited to see a lighter, more kindergarten-friendly book on the list, My Father's Dragon.

This book is told from the perspective of a young boy, retelling his father's adventure on Wild Island, as he works to free the captive dragon that is a slave to all the island's animal inhabitants. The dragon is chained and forced to fly across a river to transport the lazy animals from one side of the island to another.

Now don't be fooled - this is not a "tug on your heart" kind of book. It is hilarious! The boy encounters tigers who are distracted by chewing gum, a rhinoceros too busy worrying about his dirty horn to guard the island, a vain lion, and a whole host of animals who are ready to do him harm, but are easily averted by simple means. Each chapter leads you through another adventure, told simply and with great humor. Both the kids loved it (even the 3 year old!).

The book is 87 pages long, with pencil sketches on about every other page, and the author is Ruth Stiles Gannett. Apparently this is a series, but since we have only read this one book, it is all I can comment on . . .

But my verdict is: buy it and read it and giggle with your kids!

Family Photo Shoot

2010-02-15T08:26:00.006-06:00

Dan surprised me on Valentine's Day by suggesting a family photo shoot, with Dan as the main photographer! With the help of a remote, I think he did a fine job! Here are my favorites:

Don't his hands look rugged here? Pretty impressive for an insurance salesman!
Somewhere in the middle of the shoot I realized my lipstick was totally gone. And I realized why my mom always reminds me to put it on - I do look like death warmed over without it. Can we photoshop in some dark red lips here?

Is it too early to say this will be our Christmas picture next year?

Subtle Differences in the Sexes

2010-02-06T13:40:00.002-06:00

Context: Elijah had a friend over to spend the night last night, and while they were furiously running around the house shooting at random villains, I overheard this conversation . . .

Alli: Ija, remember that you are the soldier and I am the princess that you rescue.

Elijah: Alli, we aren't playing that game. You can be part of our killing team!

Happy Birthday, Erik

2010-02-03T20:23:00.002-06:00

I worked furiously to finish the binding before Mom and Dad left to go home and bring your birthday gift to you.

And here it is, the finished project. I was apprehensive about a quilt in all neutrals, but I love the way it turned out. Hope it keeps you feeling warm and loved.

And Kevin, don't be jealous. You have not because you ask not! ;)

My Baby Turns 6

2010-01-26T12:20:00.004-06:00

Seriously, if I talk about this too much, I may cry. Here he is, all 10.5 lbs of him, just a few days after his birth.

Elijah, you were such a perfect baby (except for all that nursing trouble you gave me!) You were content and loved to cuddle, slept most naps in my arms and generally made me into a new person who never knew she could love so much.
Now you are 6 years old. You are smart and sweet and tender. You still need to cuddle (even though you wipe off most of my kisses.) You are creative and a problem-solver and I don't think your mind ever shuts off. You wouldn't know what to do with yourself if it wasn't for Legos and I think that's awesome.You are still a little shy about new experiences, but you have big plans for when you are older. Just don't be so eager about getting older. You'll know what I mean someday. Enjoy where you are right now and keep trusting God with your whole heart. He's got great things for planned for you!

We love you, buddy. You have made our lives so joyful, we thank God for you!

The Cozy Corner

2010-01-14T16:11:00.001-06:00

I just realized that if I am to blog about every read-aloud book we read for Elijah's Kindergarten experience, I better get going! I've only reviewed 2 books, and there is a shelf-full in my dining room! So here is my 3rd installment of the cozy corner.

The book we will discuss (and by "we" I mean "me" unless there is a rip-roaring discussion in the comment section - but I won't hold my breath) is "The Apple and the Arrow" by Mary and Conrad Buff.

This is another Newbery Honor Book, which Sonlight has a habit of choosing. And although I am impressed by their classic choices, how this book got on a Kindergarten reading list baffles me.

It tells the story of William Tell and the legendary founding of Switzerland. Now don't get me wrong, it is an intriguing story (remember the apple on his son's head that Tell is ordered to shoot?), but the language of this book is suited for much older children. My 5 year old was bored to tears (literally) and when I questioned him after reading, he had no clue what was going on in the story. For some asinine reason, I finished reading the book (blame my obsessive-compulsive nature), but I was still completely understanding when the kids complained about it.

So my verdict is: great book for an 8-10 year old boy, but skip it for smaller kids

Conversation with a 5 year old

2010-01-09T10:53:00.004-06:00

Quiet whispering and giggling in the living room - never a good sign when it involves a 5 and 3 year old. So I quieted my own activity to eavesdrop until said 3 year old starts yelling,

"Ija said a potty word!"

"Elijah," I reply calmly, "please come in here."

He enters, sheepishly. I ask him what potty word he said.

Defensive, he replies, "I was just repeating a word I heard on a movie!"

Wait. We don't let him watch movies like that. "What movie?" I queried?

His moralism sets in. "Veggie Tales. And Veggie Tales aren't supposed to teach you about potty words, they are supposed to teach you about God!"

"Really? Veggie Tales? Okay, what potty word did Veggie Tales teach you?"

He's prepared, "An old man was saying to a little girl, 'if you don't go to bed, tomorrow you are going to be pooped!'"

And once again, I am reminded how literal children are.

Is it the New Year already?

2009-12-30T14:27:00.002-06:00

*I found this post in my archives . . . I though it would be good to go over my resolutions from next year and see how I did, especially before I write my resolutions for this year!!
New Year, Same Resolutions

We've had a wonderful few weeks of celebrating Christmas with both our families, although that always involves a bit of travel. I'm winding down and looking forward to a few weeks with nothing big planned, and a chance to really think about my goals for the new year. Here are a few that I've come up with so far:

1. Resolved to stay in touch with my siblings more often - even if just through Facebook.
(side note to Erik and Kevin - the phone connection works both ways!)

Okay, I did keep in touch with them through Facebook more, but I need to work on this again this year!

2. Resolved to read through the Bible in one year - Dan helped me with this resolution by suggesting we do it together. I don't know if that will make it easier or more difficult. We see each other (awake, that is) only a few hours a day.

Well, this did not happen. We were doing so good and then got sidetracked when summer came and we've been hit and miss since then. This year we hope to finish where we left off, and focus on that time together in the Word, instead of frantically trying to check off the day's reading on the calendar.

3. Resolved to sew for fun, but to not let it take over my life and finances! Along with that resolution comes mine and Dan's desire to add a bit more color into our lives.

I definitely got this one! I only sewed one custom quilt, and mostly sewed only when I wanted to, taking major breaks during the warm weather. And I'm glad to say I did not go hog wild on fabric, although Dan is probably more glad about that feat than I am!

4. And the biggest resolution I have made is to strive to find the balance between serving in the body of Christ and knowing when to step back before I get so stressed that I have heart palpitations! That's an on-going struggle that I don't expect to fully solve - it's going to be a constant battle, but one that I'm hopefully more prepared for.

This one is still a struggle for me, although Dan and I are taking significant strides in making this true. We have come to the conclusion that our family is our first priority, even though church needs are important, too, we have failed to consider our family's needs when we try to be Superman for everyone around us. God is not honored when we try to "work" for Him in our own strength. A good friend reminded me that Scripture says that His yoke is easy and His burden light. And if I'm stressing out, it's because I'm doing more than He's called me to do, or I'm doing it in my own strength. Either way, I need to work on being a Mary instead of my usual Martha. Does all this even make sense?!?!

Well, that's my list so far. I'm sure I should add exercise and less sugar consumption, but I'm afraid if I write it down, someone will actually keep me accountable for it.

Stay tuned for my last installment of "Handmade Christmas" and some of my favorites of 2008!
Happy New Year Everyone!

Family Blog

2009-12-29T17:36:00.003-06:00

FYI - We have a new blog, just for pictures, in case you are interested. This new blog is run by Dan, so you'll notice a lack of commentary I know you enjoy so much here! Basically it is for our families to keep up with all the pictures we take of the kids, but right now we have uploaded videos from Christmas morning. Stop on by if you are interested!

Our Photo'z

Dinner with the Pioneer Woman

2009-12-23T12:25:00.002-06:00

Thanks to the tasty new cookbook from my favorite blogger on earth, Christmas Eve dinner is going to be a tasty affair.

Here's the menu:

Beef Brisket (prepared in my new Nesco!)

Creamy Mashed Potatoes

7 Layer Salad (that's for my honey - it's his favorite) and

Roasted Carrots

Dessert is being brought by friends - I'm sure it will be scrumptious!

I'm salivating already. Now off to the store!

Christmas Quilting

2009-12-10T08:39:00.000-06:00

This is the advent calendar that I made for the kids this year. Finished it on December 1st - just in time to fill the pockets with candy and then let the kids take out Day 1's stash!

This is a stained glass nativity quilt. Although I love the finished look, I really struggled quilting it with a double needle. There are also 2 more patterns that hang on the side of the wisemen and the shepards, but I think I'll just be content with this one piece. I'm ready to start working on a traditional quilt again!

Perspective on Trials

2009-11-30T14:19:00.004-06:00

Wow, how did almost 2 weeks go by without me posting again?!? I guess it is silent commentary on how busy we have been lately.

On our way home from a long Thanksgiving weekend, Dan and I listened to a sermon on trials by Mark Driscoll. It seemed an appropriate subject since many of our closest friends are experiencing great trials. But the preacher reminded us that all believers experience trials, some are trials of blessing and abundance, and others are trials of loss and want. Either way, trials are to be expected in life.

The entire message was excellent, but the phrase I've been mulling over all day is when he said (loose quotation here) "As a believer, this life of trials is the closest you will ever come to hell." It's making me think a lot about Christ's sacrifice, which is an appropriate meditation around Christmas, don't you think?

The sermon can be found here and you can get the other sermons in the series at http://8witnesses.com/

Let me know if you listen and what you think of it.

The Cozy Corner

2009-11-16T08:58:00.004-06:00

The first book we read aloud at the start of our school year was The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner.I admit, I was a bit skeptical at first. This book has 13 chapters, 154 pages, with only a few, small, black and white pictures in each chapter. Up until this point we had read only picture books, or short stories that didn't have pictures, but were quick to read. I didn't think either of the kids would like this book.

But since I bought the book, and the curriculum told me to read it to my kindergartner, then I felt I had no choice but to try. We started reading, and although Elijah balked at first, he really did start to enjoy the story of 3 homeless, orphaned children who live in an abandoned boxcar. They survive using some ingenious ideas to meet their daily needs and rely on each other to help make their life fulfilling.

What helped make this book age appropriate for my 5.5 year old is the simple language used. Written in 1942 (yes, Elijah, older than Grandpa!) the sentences are not complex, and made it easier for Elijah to follow along. There were very few words I had to define for him to understand what happened in each chapter. And as always, after we finished reading, I would ask him comprehension questions and was always surprised by how much he understood and retained. We even talked through some of the "why's" of the children's behavior.

Apparently this is a series, but I think we'll stop while we are ahead, and maybe read some more of the Boxcar Children this summer.

Verdict: read this to your kids and be prepared for them to play "Boxcar Children" for weeks to come.

Cozy Corner

2009-11-11T13:54:00.003-06:00

I have been homeschooling for exactly 12 weeks now. So, as you can assume, I am officially an expert on the subject. And since I know you are dying to hear my intellectual arguments for why we do what we do in our little academy, I decided to start a series on this blog to highlight the books we read and my little genius' reaction to them all.

Okay, now that I have successfully caused you to lose your lunch, let me explain what I'm really doing:

I am 12 weeks into an educational experiment with my children, specifically my 5.75 year old. Now I know all those die-hard home school moms out there are screaming after they read that sentence, but hear me out. In no way do I think homeschooling is any less desirable than public or private instruction, nor do I think it ranks as the "only" way to teach your children. All I'm saying is that I'm 12 weeks in to this and I have no idea if it's the right way or not. I think it depends a lot on the individual child, even more on the desire and ability of the parents and truthfully, I really don't think there is a "right" or "wrong" way to educate a child. It is just the option we have chosen for our family for this moment in time.

Whew. Glad that's out of the way.

Now, let's get to the real reason for this post. After 12 weeks of reading aloud a lot of books to my kindergartner (and his 3.5 year old sister, when she decides she will sit still) I decided it might be fun and maybe even a little helpful if I blogged about the books we are reading and how the kids have responded to them. I'm no expert book reviewer, but I know which books my kids love and respond to and which ones have them snoring on the couch as I drone on. I'm calling this series "The Cozy Corner" because even when the books are boring, we all enjoy cuddling on the couch or bed while I read.

So stay tuned over the coming weeks to read my personal reviews of the books we read, specifically the books from our schooling curriculum, Sonlight. It should be interesting, and maybe it will even cause me to update this blog more regularly!

Happy Halloween (a few days late)

2009-11-05T07:30:00.001-06:00

Our family, which consists of a baseball player, bee, cat and clone trooper hope you all had a sugar-filled Halloween!

Custon Quilt

2009-11-01T14:12:00.008-06:00

Me and my sis-in-law, Noelle, have tossed around the idea of a custom quilt for her for almost a year now. So I was super pumped this last September when she came for a visit completely prepared to pick out fabric and finalize the details for her queen sized quilt. We visited my favorite quilt store and had a blast picking fabrics and deciding what color scheme best suited her.

Noelle has an awesome, funky, colorful style, and we wanted to choose fabrics that really reflected an eclectic look. She picked out all the fabric, and I just helped group and get rid of or add a few others. I think she did a fantastic job!

We decided on a vertical stripe quilt pattern. We didn't want anything too traditional, and the vertical stripes really helped the fabric pop.

Mounted on the frame, ready to quilt. Noelle specifically asked for pictures of the process.

It's finished being quilted here. Now I have to trim the edges and sew on the binding.

All done! I finished in time to bring it on our last visit a few weeks ago. I think she loved it!

Quilt for a Friend

2009-10-19T13:42:00.002-05:00

This is one of my latest quilting adventures, finished recently and just gifted to my friend who moved away.

Stay tuned for pics of my first custom quilt order!

Sometimes I need a break

2009-10-11T20:09:00.000-05:00

I figure if I give him a friend to play with, and throw a pet rabbit in the mix, it should keep him busy for a few hours so I can have some peace and quiet.

Now to await my mother of the year award. I think I hear them knocking on the front door. Oh wait, that may not be the award committee . . .

Pretty Pretty Picture

2009-09-28T09:58:00.000-05:00

Alli has found her inner artist. She has begun coloring, and coloring, and coloring. She colors as soon as she gets up in the morning, she colors as I sit and teach Elijah every day (it's my school, she says), and she colors before and after supper and would color in bed at night if we allowed it.

Don't misunderstand me, I love that she is so fond of this exercise. It has helped her learn more names of colors (like pwurpish-pink) and it keeps her occupied quietly for hours. The problem occurs when I must keep every picture she finishes. There are hundreds now, maybe thousands. And anyone who knows me at all knows my OCD nature and my severe allergic reaction to clutter.

So all this background information leads me to the exchange I had with my sweet daughter the other night after dinner:

I was cleaning up and wiping off the island and I picked up a half-sheet coloring sheet and absent-mindedly threw it in the garbage right in front of my daughter. She instantly opened the garbage can, peered inside and said (in her sweet 3 year old voice),

"Why you frow away my pretty piture?"

And I'm not exaggerating when I say she had tears in her eyes. So of course I quickly rescued it from the trash heap and promptly displayed it on the refrigerator. And all malice was forgotten.

I guess I'm going to have to learn to deal with the piles of her art. And she'll have ample reason to suffer later in life when she is starving for her craft and she remembers that her Mom used to throw her masterpieces in the garbage.

90 Years and Counting

2009-09-21T12:32:00.006-05:00

Is it any indication how busy our life has been when I am just now getting around to blogging pictures of events at the beginning of August?

Anyhoo, my mom and my great aunt Imo both celebrated their birthdays on the same day at the beginning of August. Imo is my grandmother's sister, and since my grandmother died while I was still very young, and Imo never married, she became like a grandmother to me. She lived 85 years of her life in Kentucky, and moved to Illinois 5 years ago to be closer to her family, my mom and my uncle.

Imo celebrated her 90th birthday last month, which calls for a party like it's 1999.
Doesn't she look beautiful? I hope I'm this gorgeous at 90, although I don't expect to live that long.

My mom is gorgeous, too. She turned 60, but the poor woman's birthday has always been overshadowed by Imo's. There is no love lost, though, because my mom dislikes the spotlight. She would rather enjoy a quiet dinner with her family, which she got.

My dad and I matched, even without planning it. He looks so handsome when he smiles, I only wish he was a bit more in focus in this picture.

This is Imo's "what you talkin' 'bout, Willis?" face. I'm not sure what my Mom said to deserve that look!

My great aunt has always been a magnificent seamstress and quilter. She is awfully proud that I have taken up the mantle. I made this table runner for her, hoping her eyesight keeps her from being able to pick out all the mistakes.

Imo desperately wanted a picture of Allison in her lap with this doll nearly as old as herself. She has a similar picture of me and the doll when I was a bit older than Alli. This doll is better dressed than your average doll. Imo has made all of her clothes and changes her dresses monthly. She sits posed on her bed during the day and it is one of the things Alli always goes running for when we visit.

It was so nice to be able to celebrate Imo's birthday with her. She was proud to have made it to 90, but gave strict instructions not to say or sing, "and many more." I guess you can say that when you get to that age. Either way, I secretly hope she's around for many more celebrations!

First Day of School

2009-08-31T19:10:00.004-05:00

Elijah in Kindergarten
With his proud papa

And his teacher

And his little sister, intent on getting in on the action.

Alli's Homemade Birthday

2009-08-20T08:26:00.006-05:00

I'm taking advantage of making all the homemade gifts I can while my kids still treasure anything I make them. Alli's 3rd birthday (almost 2 months ago!) was no exception.

I made her this paper dolls quilt from a kit. It includes prints of old-fashioned paper dolls that I fussy cut to frame and then made the border from a smaller print of the same dolls.

The kit also included yardage of clothes to dress the dolls, onto which I fused fleece onto the back, thus making them like flannel graph, and Alli gets to dress each doll in a variety of dresses, hats and shoes. She loves it! I also crafted a kid's purse for all her girly accessories. It's so much fun to have a girl!