Saturday morning

We stayed up too late, as usual and I was tired. But, what a treat it is for my husband to still be home and two little girls to excitedly climb into our bed. My four year old's pretty little face was snuggled up close to mine. Her soft skin and blue eyes in the morning light made me just want to linger a little longer. Yes, snuggle time is very nice.

To health

Yesterday, I had some precious time to myself that I spent mostly at half priced books. (everything is an additional 20% off right now!) I bought this new cookbook about raw foods. I don't think that a completely raw diet would ever quite suit myself or my family. But, the book offers some wonderful information and amazing recipies (although it looks like they all have about a gagillion ingredients!) I won't call it a New Year's Resolution, but I do want to start learning more about how to provide my family with more delicious, healthy food. I would like to teach my children to be good stewards of their health and to educate them about all of the wonderful benefits there are to eating food just the way God made it. We may even start a garden in the Spring.

The Box

ruins lots of things, like conversation, games and music. Yes, I have one in my living room too. But, it sits in a closed cabinet and there is no cable hooked up - only a DVD player. How I long for a holiday of my dreams where live music joyfully greets us from the piano or fiddle or flute - hey I'm not too picky! And, where people are festively dressed and greet eachother with gladness. The wine pours freely. We eat, drink and are merry. The children run and dance and laugh. We enter God's goodness, because he is good. And, we keep the box OFF!

Cake

Here's a quick and easy way to dress up any old boxed cake. Add some chocolate chips to the batter before baking it! I recently sampled this easy recipe at a friend's daughter's birthday party. I can't believe that I never thought of something so simple. I'm adding them to a yellow cake mix that is in the oven right now. Yummy.

Bread

I've been baking most of our family's bread for about six months now. I actually really enjoy the process although it can be rather time consuming. I could do it much more quickly if only I had this amazing mixer. Wanna buy it for me? I'll bring you fresh baked bread every week...
Anyways, I still buy bread from the store once in a while. So far, the results have been decent. At least tasting much better than store bought bread. However, I began to wonder what would happen if I quit buying the cheap yeast, and spent a little more on the Fleischmann's. Well, I tried it, and WOW - much better bread!
The moral of this story is don't skimp on major ingredients, buy good quality products - it's worth it.

Glad tidings

When I have a long, quite moment to reflect upon my salvation I am often moved to tears over the profound truth that I am a child of the King over all the Earth. It is so easy, in our culture to feel humbled by our ordinariness. Especially with all of the media images of astoundingly beautiful people that we are bombarded with on a daily basis. However, despite our circumstances, we are far from ordinary. As children of the Most High, our calling is that of a royal child, full of both privileges and demands which other children are exempt from. Our training is strict, and our eyes are focused, but through it all, there is a blessed sweetness in knowing that "he rescued me, because he delighted in me" (Ps. 18:19) As we ponder the miracle of the very son of God leaving his glorious throne room to enter this world in the most ordinary of ways, may we delight in knowing that we delight him.

It is with these thoughts that I am able to joyfully wish you a MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Expanding vocabulary

My sweet little man who is nearing the end of his sixteenth month does not have nearly so vast a vocabulary as his sisters did at his age. However, he has shown a great interest in animals, saying 'woof' at every one he sees. Today, we stopped to visit the ducks because I noticed that there were new ducklings in the midst - their furry little bodies are too cute to pass by! My baby began 'woofing' immediately. I told him that ducks say "quack." And...he quacked!
I am so proud of my little man. He can speak when he wants to, he just needs proper motivation. Perhaps a trip to the zoo.

focusing

Today, I waited until 3pm to go to the local supermarket. With my three children in tow (one in the seat, one in the basket, and one clinging onto the end of the cart) we manuevered the crowded isles. I hate going to the grocery store in the afternoon, I don't know why I ever do it. Somehow, I found it difficult to focus on exactly what I was purchasing. The regular items that I always buy were no trouble, it was the irregular ones that were tricky. I needed more shampoo and conditioner. I always scan the isles for the sale signs and buy whichever brand seems to be the best deal. Sometimes the bottle is familiar, and sometimes not. Today it wasn't. I got into my nice hot shower tonight and realized that I'd purchased two bottles of conditioner. Arrrr...

Whatta weekend

Friday night was West's company Christmas dinner at Ruth's Chris - yummy.

Saturday was my birthday and my dear, sweet mother threw me a birthday luncheon with all of the ladies in our family and several of my friends. My Mom prepared a delicious lunch at elegantly set tables. It was very nice. I am so thankful to have so many wonderful people in my life, God has been very good.

Saturday evening was an Advent hymnsing at the home of some of our dear friends. Many people gathered to indulge in a lovely spread of sweets. The children helped themselves to bowl after bowl of popcorn and glass after glass of lemonade as they joyfully entertained themselves in the backyard. We also had a time together in the living room of scripture reading and hymn singing. The children all participated and everyone enjoyed it very much. This is such a sweet time of year to focus on God's goodness through the friends he has given us, and most of all through his gift of salvation through his Son.

Sunday, we attended church in the am. And, attended our church's Christmas party in the pm. It was a nice dinner at a local country club, they even hired a harpist to play which was quite lovely. We are so thankful to be a part of a vibrant church plant in our community, and for the many friendships that we are forming as a result.

So, despite the busy-ness, I did manage to enjoy myself quite a bit. Sorry for the previously grumpy post, I guess I was having a stressful day or something.

This really is such a sweet time of the year. May God be glorified with each day of it.

The Gospel in Waves

World magazine has recently awarded their 'Daniel of the Year' to two Episcopalian priests in Africa who have held on to their biblical convictions and refused to go along with the liberal movements of the US Episcopalians. This and other articles in this edition focus on a trend that I have also begun to observe.

It seems as though the church in Europe, who was for so long at a glorious crest of faithfulness has crashed. We can also see the steadily diminishing peak of piety from which our own United States began. Meanwhile, the waves are rising to great heights in many African and Asian countries.

These new Christians oversees view the Bible as the inerrant word of God and this gives them great zeal and unity. It will be interesting to see over the coming years what the last names of the great theologians to come will be. In a time not too far off, Christians, instead of translating our materials into other languages may see greater need to translate material in other languages into our own.

May we hold steadfastly to the word as we rejoice for our brothers and sisters being brought to Christ all over the globe.

"The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." John 3:8

My Fashionista

This is my second born all dressed and ready to go. I just had to take a picture. In case you can't tell, her pants are backwards, her shirt is two small, she's wearing red and pink(!), and her hat is not all the way on. Many times, I have frustratedly (am I inventing words here?) re-dressed her before leaving the house. But, today I decided to just enjoy the 'simple glory' of it. Soon enough, she'll learn what matches and what fits. These sweet childhood years will be gone far too soon. So, as we get funny looks at the Y today, I'll just treasure the fact that my sweet one is still a child, a child who brings me laughter and joy each day.

Just wondering

why all of a sudden so many people think that female nude photographs are okay if the woman is pregnant. I have observed even Christians are falling into this trend of erotic, pregnant photography. I certainly think that pregnancy is a beautiful time to be cherished, and it is appropriate that this time be documented through photography. But, for goodness sake - keep your clothes on!

Happy Birthday West!

My dear husband turned 28 last Thursday. We celebrated with a dinner at our home complete with a foil crown for the birthday boy and lots of peanut butter/ hershey's kiss cookies. (the birthday boy's favorite)
Only two more years...

The Sabbath

My husband and I have recently been faced with a number of articles about celebrating the Sabbath and truly honoring the fourth commandment. While we do honor many holidays in our home, the Sabbath is the main holiday that the Lord set in place in scripture. It is a day to rest and enjoy him, to really enter into his goodness. Well, here's a beautiful new website to help us all instill the traditions of celebrating the Sabbath in our homes.

The menus and information on the site can be a bit overwhelming at first. I think that it will take time, maybe even generations before we get into a rhythym of true celebration weekly. I also think that celebrating can vary a bit from family to family. But, it certainly sounds nice, and I appreciate the work and suggestions that have gone into the website. I think that we'll make it our goal to make this happen once a month, and go from there. I'd love to hear about any special ways you and your family celebrate the Sabbath.

The busy season

It seems like this time of year, even more than others everyone wants their little piece of you. An ornament exchange here, a white elephant there, gift exchanges, cookie exchanges, you know - the list could go on and on. And, I'm not very excited about them! I just want to focus on Christ, not get bogged down with purchasing, wrapping, dressing, and getting babysitting. But, I'll go. After all, who wants to be seen as the party-pooping Scrooge?
Through all of the buzzing of busy little elves (do elves buzz?) I am realizing that I'm just not made for organized events. I much prefer more personal encounters like inviting the neighbors over for tacos or having friends join us for our advent devotions followed by a homemade pie and some good conversation.
As the recipient, I've always felt much more loved and ministered to as the special guest in someone's home. It's pretty rare that a big event can produce the same sense of love and comforting. Maybe, if everyone would just take the time that they would have spent on calling the caterors and lining up the speakers and spend it on loving their neighbors we would all feel a little more loved.
I sound so pessimistic, and I don't mean it that way. This is a season to celebrate, and we certainly have reason for great rejoicing. But, in the midst of that rejoicing, let us leave time to share with the hungry family down the street not just food for their bodies, but for their souls as well.

who's got the goodest grammar?

I can't brag of 100%, but I did respectably. I suppose that I should know this stuff if I am to teach it to my children.
Your Language Arts Grade: 98%

Way to go! You know not to trust the MS Grammar Check and you know "no" from "know." Now, go forth and spread the good word (or at least, the proper use of apostrophes).

Are You Gooder at Grammar?

How did you do?

Christmas Decorating

Here is the box of Christmas decorations that has been sitting in my living room for about a week now:













And, this morning I found the girls cheerfully working on a 'project' at the Dining room table where they proudly showed me some of their morning's work:



If you can't tell from the picture, it's a mound of garland with lights on it that the girls have used to begin hanging ornaments on.
I think that the poor little ones are ready for a tree.

Habit

Recently I've been convicted that I'm not doing a very good job in training my children in the habit of neatness. It suddenly occurred to me that whenever I pick up their clothes off of the floor that belong in the hamper or neatly stored away - I am actually contributing to their habit of sloppiness!
So, Mom's cracking down around here. Toothbrushes go back in the drawer, clothes get put where they belong, beds get made properly and so on. The challenging thing is that whatever I enforce, I must also submit to. This means keeping my things neat and setting a good example by doing it cheerfully.
I intend to be patient. My goal is that sometime in the next year these new habits will be formed and I will not have to remind so often. But, that means that I have to remind myself to remind them for quite awhile. By the time that the girls have it down, it will be time to start training Simon.
It is important to focus on the fact that we can glorify God by being good stewards of all that he's given to us, even toothbrushes.