Is It Called "Mellowing With Age" or "Going Soft In The Head"??

I used to think that I was being a great Mom when I made my boys always go to bed at a decent hour - no matter the circumstances, and never eat much junk food - even if it's Christmas. But last night (Christmas Eve) I felt like a great Mom because I told them they could stay up as late as they wanted and eat "all" (with a bit of guidance) the food they wanted. My, how things change!

Last night was the Christmas Eve service at church. I felt pretty good about how it went. Emily did a slide show to go with all of the songs, scripture, and narration. That really made an impact, I think. It was a good evening and I'm so glad the Gospel was shared! Afterwards, I wanted to head home with my tired baby, and people stayed around and talked and talked. It's so interesting that people don't seem to care about rushing home even when it's Christmas Eve. It was great to see a bunch of former Red-Lakers: All the Leonard Hochstedlers, a bunch of Nisly's, some Ramers...

We had invited some people over after the service. Not all of them came, but we had a nice time with Josiah, AnneJisca, Dad and Dru. The menu: shrimp ring, crunchy cheese dip and crackers, hot broccoli dip with baguette bread, veggies and dip, assorted cookies and candy, meat and cheese tray, sausage rolls, egg nog, punch and coffee. Now, how much of that 15 pounds am I going to keep off?? The boys managed to stay up until we went to bed at 11:30!! Madness!

The boys did sleep in a bit this morning. We had a good, (mostly) relaxing Christmas day. We had our big, traditional breakfast (pancakes, eggs, sausauge - from Baduik's of course) and then Keith made us clean up the dishes before we could open presents. (Can you believe it?!?) We sang a few songs and then had fun opening presents. We didn't clean up the paper and junk until late afternoon. :-) We sat around, played with our toys, ate more yummy food, and I made some carrot cakes because we wanted to do a birthday cake for Jesus. (I figured making cake was playing with my new toys since I got some silicone scrapers and a stainless steel compost bucket!) Derek stopped in for a visit too, which was nice. Around 2:30 or 3:00 we got motivated (and I got dressed) and took plates of cookies around to some of our neighbors. It was quite fun, once we got started. Why is it so hard to step out to meet people?? After that we had to rush around a bit to get to Grandpa Graber's for supper. Yummy supper, more presents, etc. We watched the boys' new Veggie Tales DVD on Keith's computer. Grandpa and Grandma seemed to enjoy it too!

Now Keith is on an ambulance call and I'm sitting at the computer while the house is in absolute shambles around me. So, I think I'll go to bed! As long as all the food is in the fridge, what does it matter?? We'll clean up the mess tomorrow and maybe go sliding... Don't know yet. Meanwhile, Mom and Dad G. gave me a new Bodie Thoene book, so I think I need to go to bed and read it! :-) Merry Christmas!!! I hope the wonder of Christmas - the birth of our Saviour - stays with all of us for a long time!!!

Logan Strikes Again!

A few weeks ago, Logan was getting into the habit of saying, with great feeling, "You're making me sad!" Sometimes he used it properly, but I finally realized it was becoming a tool of manipulation as well. So one morning we were packaging cookies for the cookie exchange...

Logan: Can I have a cookie now?
Me: No, not now.
Logan: You're making me SAD!"
Me: You're just saying that because you're not getting what you want.
Logan (quietly): I'm trying to control you!

I'm pretty sure I told him something along those lines some time in the previous days. But he sure put it all together and saw what was going on! Incidentally, I don't think he's said that since. :-)

Highlights From the Last Week or Two

Here they are, in no particular order:

*Our baby is walking! He still falls often or has to reach down to regain his balance, but he’s learning to motor. It’s so cute!

*Caleb and Logan each had a little “recital” for their last music lesson before Christmas. They are really enjoying playing!

*I had a great vist with Iris last weekend! Thank God for friends!

*I’m helping to plan the Christmas Eve service. While it has been a lot of work and a little bit of hassle, I’m really looking forward to seeing it all come together! God definitely has been helping us with it and our prayer is that He is glorified and hearts are drawn to Him!

*Keith and I are singing “How Deep the Father’s Love” with Keith and Debbie Fretz on Christmas Eve. It was fun practicing. That song is so beautiful and meaningful!! And I figured out how to play a C#m on the piano. (But I’m not playing tomorrow night! Robyn Schantz is playing for us.)

*I stepped on the scales this week and saw that I’ve lost 15 pound since September! Yippeeee! (Oops, I’m up a little today since I “feasted” too much yesterday.) More about that later…

*Keith took most of Wednesday afternoon off and I got to take as long as I needed to do a bunch of shopping and errands. I was gone almost 3 hours. It was so wonderful!! And when I got home, supper was almost ready. :-)

*I heard a guy on a radio call-in show talking about the history and meaning behind Christmas carols. Someone asked about “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” – where does it come from, etc. He said he researched the meaning of the words when they would have been written, and the song actually means, “God make you mighty, gentlemen…”. Ponder on that for awhile! It blessed me so much.

For all my fans who are clamoring for an update...

...well, there are two or three out there, anyway! This is my problem: I need to learn to write short little posts about one or two things like Wendy does. I think I need to write an epistle, and I never have time for that! Today we're headed for Ear Falls where Keith is going to speak at their Christian School Christmas banquet. Josiah is staying with Grandma Graber. I will try really hard to update SOON! I have lots to say, of course. :-) Merry Christmas everyone!!

Peanut Butter Decadence

At the request of my peanut-butter-loving sister-in-law, Rhonda, here’s a recipe for peanut butter popcorn! Mmmm, I love it!

Peanut Butter Popcorn

Cook to a rolling boil:
½ c. sugar
½ c. corn syrup

Stir in:
½ c. peanut butter
½ t. vanilla

Mix into 12 cups salted popcorn. Try not to over-eat!

A Blessing

Keith was shocked and amazed by an amazing gift today. Tonight our friend, LaMar, stopped in on his way home from work. He brought a brand-new, top-of-the-line, Mac lap-top for Keith! Apparently he thought Keith's wasn't fast enough so he talked to a bunch of guys and raised money for this computer for Keith! Man, were we floored! We've never even dreamed of having such a nice computer! We had bought LaMar's "old" Mac lap-top awhile ago and that's what Keith had been using. LaMar is the one who got Keith started on Macs. I'm still not quite converted, but I might be convinced now! :-) (I mostly use the old desk-top PC.) So, I guess we have a computer for sale. We're just not sure which one - the old PC or the second-hand Mac. It just strikes me now that this gift is sorta like God's grace. We certainly did nothing to deserve or earn it - it's just a gift. Isn't God good?!?

What Christmas Looks Like At Our House

What We're Up To

Well, it seems like we’ve packed all the fun events of Christmas into the last two weeks or so. :-) Now it feels like life is more “normal” for the rest of December. Here’s a run-down of the major events.
- Last weekend the Vermillion Bay Church Youth Group put on a dinner theater at our church. They did a great job. It was on Sat. and Sun. nights. Someone else was taking care of most of the details so we didn’t have too much to do. We went Sat. night and took the boys and Keith’s boss and his wife. On Sunday we had a bunch of the guys over for lunch, then we went again in the evening. The church was packed on Sunday night and there were a lot of non-church people which was great to see!
- On Monday evening I went over to Jeff’s new house and helped Wendy paint. We worked until after midnight. I paid for it the next day but I’m glad we did it. We got a lot done! She’s picked out really nice colors including one called burgundy wine. Nice!
- On Wed. morning the boys and I went over to Dad’s to watch “The Price is Right”. My dear friend, Karla, and her hubby were at a taping of the show a few months ago and it just aired. So I got to see you on TV, Karla! I saw Brian and Gina too. Wow, you’re famous!! :-)
- Iris called on Wednesday afternoon and said that Olivia broke her arm and they were coming in to the Dr. She wondered if they could stay here. Well, of course! So, we had a nice little visit and poor Olivia has a little cast. Too bad it was such a short visit, but they’re planning to come to RL this weekend too.
- Friday night I had my cookie exchange/ladies party. It went pretty well. I worked hard getting ready on Thursday and Friday and then it all turned out quite nicely. Ten ladies came and we talked and ate, and exchanged lots of good-lookin’ cookies. I had written out some questions about Christmas memories and traditions, etc. and we all drew a question and answered it.
- On Saturday I crashed! I didn’t shower until about 4:30 or so, and didn’t even try to accomplish much all day. (And that’s pretty amazing for this work-aholic!) The boys and I played some games and I started making peanut butter balls. Keith was out hunting most of the day but didn’t see anything. I guess that was our last chance for a moose this year. :-( That evening I went to the Ladies Christmas Tea at church until 8:00. Then I rushed home, put Josiah to bed, and then we went to a Christmas party at some friends’ house until 10:00. Dad and Dru were here with the boys.
- Sunday evening we had a joint-church Christmas hymn-sing at Believer's Fellowship (for those of you from Red Lake.) It was such a wonderful evening! The church isn't that big and it was quite full, so we really lifted the roof with our singing. There were some special numbers too which were good. John Paul Keesic sang "Because He Lives" and we sang along a bit with him. That was special. It was just so clear that Christmas isn't about Santa and gifts. It's about God's love for us and His plan of salvation for all of us! Mike ended the evening with "There is a Redeemer". What an amazing song and message! Thank you, Heavenly Father, for sending your Son!!! It was also meaningful because there were people there from so many different churches. Just a little foretaste of what Heaven will be like! Can't wait!
- Now this week seems really open and not too busy. (Of course there’s always stuff to do!) Tomorrow my Mother-in-law is coming over to help me make applesauce. This coming Sat. evening is Keith’s work Christmas party. I don’t know what to do with Josiah. What do you do with a baby (who’s almost a year old) who won’t take a full bottle from anyone but Mommy? He’ll take a few ounces from Keith, and that’s all. I’m thinking we may have to let him scream it out with a babysitter (any volunteers?) until we get home at 9:30 or 10:00.

And on that cheery note, I’ll sign off and head for bed!! Hope you’re all having wonderful Christmas season remembering Jesus’ birth and what he’s done in your life!

The Long-Awaited Curtains

Long-awaited by me, I mean! I don't expect that you were on pins and needles waiting for me to get them done! Anyway, there they are, and I need your opinions. The one at the top is two identical swags that are hung with the blue one in the front on the left and the plaid one in front on the right. It doesn't quite look like I had pictured, but I still like it. Does anyone have any idea how to do it differently? And does the blue swag hang down too low in the middle? I could shorten it up a bit.

Part of the payment for the curtains. I just thought they looked kinda pretty. And if Robyn can post pictures of her salsa.... :-)

So, here's the "new" do. It's really nothing new, just thought you might want to see me. :-) And it always looks better when the hairdresser does it. Here's something odd... After Josiah was born, I lost a lot of hair. Now it's growing back in and I have lots of little hairs that are all about 2 inches long. It's almost like bangs in some places. They look like they were cut, they're so uniform. The encouraging thing is that they are growing back!

One more odd thing. When I sat down in the chair to get my hair cut, I had one of those moments when I look in a mirror and nearly scare myself by how much I look like my Mom. It's the strangest feeling!

Christmas Stuff

I really love Christmas! And lately I’ve been able to enjoy it even more as I’m so grateful for what Jesus has done for me. Where would I be without His forgiveness, healing and grace?? In a deep pit, that’s for sure! You know how Christmas is so “commercial” and we all complain about it… Well, I’ve found that as I’m grateful and joyful and in love with Jesus, it’s easier to do the same things with new meaning and joy. Thanks to our wonderful Saviour!!

Yesterday was the annual Christmas tree hunt. I’m glad we live in a place where we can just go out in the bush and find one. On the other hand, as we were driving down the highway toward Dixie Lake Rd, I counted and realized it’s been 4 months since I’ve been out of town. Grrrr. Sorta makes me squirrely thinking about it. But I digress…

By the time we got to Dixie Lake Rd, both Logan and Josiah were asleep. So we moseyed along and about a mile down the road, Keith stopped (we were in separate vehicles since the van doesn’t carry a tree so well, and the truck doesn’t carry all of us…) and wanted to look around. He and I often have very different ideas of what is an acceptable tree. In the past this has been a source of contention and not so much holiday cheer. I tend to look at the tops of 60 ft. trees for something really full and nicely shaped. Keith looks at the 15 – 25 ft trees and isn’t so picky about form and fullness. But, I’m happy to say that we’re both learning and this year we quickly found “Mr. Right”. Keith actually picked it out and I agreed! It has a very nice shape and is what my friend Debby would call “airy”. A nice word for thin. :-) But, it didn’t take us long at all and we also found a “Charlie Brown” tree to put on the front porch with lights on it.

I bought frozen pizza for supper and then we headed off to the “Parade of Lights”. (You wouldn’t want to call it a Christmas parade, now, would you?!?) Unfortunately, Keith got an ambulance call just as we were ready to leave. So the boys and I headed off without him. I was just coming down the hill by Home Hardware when I realized the ambulance was right behind me with it’s lights on and they had to turn on the siren to get me out of the way! How embarrassing!! A paramedic’s wife should know better!

We watched the parade at the stoplights and then headed for home. When we were turning onto our road we saw Kendra and Tia in the Saan parking lot so we went back and watched it again with them. Jeff’s were there and Dad and Dru. Then we came home, cleaned up from supper and decorated the tree. It really turned out nicely. I loaded the lights on and skipped the bead garlands this year because of "little Joey" who's into everything right now.

Today I did some more decorating around the house and Keith is putting up lights on the house! Yay! I’m excited about that. We were “sensible” and got LED lights, but I’m afraid I might be disappointed with them. They’re just not as bright and warm. Oh well, they’re still lights.

Tonight and tomorrow night is the dinner theater. I’m looking forward to that. Tonight Keith’s boss and wife are coming with us.

We had friends over last Sunday evening for chili and making sugar cookies. This week the boys and I made some more Christmas cookies. We really enjoyed it and I was surprised at how much the boys can actually help!

We started our Advent calendar yesterday and I have the wreath all ready to go for tomorrow. Now I’m heading over to the church to set up an Advent wreath there.

I’ve rambled on long enough here! And I still didn’t post the pictures I promised. Sorry. I’ll keep trying.

Yup, I'm Still Alive

Yes, I know it's been a long time since I've posted much. And now my baby's crying. So, just a few quick notes to let you know what we're up to.

- Josiah got a tooth and I didn't even know it was on way - although I wondered why he was up during the night a few times. This is a whopping number three for our 11-month-old. (And he has more than his brothers did at that age. :-)

- I got my hair cut yesterday. Yay! I can't remember when the last time was. Something like 6 or 8 months ago. I'll post a picture for you soon...

- We "cancelled" school today and did a bit of housework instead. (Caleb can vacuum!!) This afternoon we're going to go get a Christmas tree and hopefully put it up tonight. I'm also hoping to start doing some other decorating this afternoon. And I'm not putting any pressure on us to do lots this year!

- Yesterday afternoon I went to the library and used the high-speed internet there for awhile. I got lots of Christmas shopping done. Man, after using cable internet for awhile, it's hard to be content with dial-up. It just goes to show that we don't know what we need until it's available! :-)

- I have swags up in my kitchen and entry-way! I've only had the fabric for 2.5 years! I finally got my friend, Phyllis, to sew them for me, and I'm baking bread for her. A good deal all around. I'll post pictures soon. Promise!

- It's a beautiful, sunny day (but cold) and I have a wonderful God who loves me and cares for all my needs. Isn't that awesome!?!

Christmas Thoughts

We're hoping to celebrate Advent at home this year. I got a calendar with little windows to open every day. And we want to do a wreath. Of course, I know very little about it, so I googled it. If you're interested, here's one website I found: http://www.kencollins.com/question-10.htm. I'm sure there are many more as well. Now, I hope I can find a small wreath and purple candles in Red Lake somewhere!

Since our Christmas candy tradition is not happening this year (Rhonda, are you sure you can't just make a quick trip for it??) and a big cookie-baking day with a bunch of others seems like too much commotion and craziness... I'm thinking about hosting a cookie exchange/ladies Christmas party at my house some evening soon. I'm trying to think what would be a good focus for the evening, what should we "do", etc. Do you have any ideas? Oh, of course we'll eat good (fattening?!?) food!

Our church is hosting a Christmas dinner theater this year. The youth group from the Baptist Church in Vermillion Bay did it there last year and people loved it. So they're doing it again and decided to "take the show on the road". It will be Dec. 2 & 3 and I'm excited about it. You can pray with us that many people will come and that the Gospel message will be received! And, that we can find a babysitter! :-)

Is This Normal?

As I type, my boys are getting their kicks by running outside in the snow with bare feet. Do you think this will help Caleb get over his runny nose and hoarse throat??

Odd and Ends

Time to end my long silence… Keith is at a prayer time at the church and I should be in bed, but I really have to peck out a few lines to you, my faithful friends! So, what have I been up to?? Several things spring to mind…

-I still feel like I’m catching up from the busy-ness of the last few months. Last Saturday I took Caleb and Logan over to Dad and Dru’s in the morning and hired my niece, Erica, to come help me clean. That was sure a boost! My floors, bathroom and dusting finally got done! I feel like I’m slowly getting “caught up”, whatever that means. On some days, though, I still feel overwhelmed with all the demands on my time – and the seemingly endless list of things a homemaker, wife, Mom, and “school teacher” needs to do. At least one day this week I was feeling really discouraged and overwhelmed. I’m really glad I don’t feel like that every day!

-Okay, here are some true confessions. Because I’m “better at it”, it falls to me to do the budgeting, banking, paying bills, etc. I put that in quotes because of the following confession: In all the craziness around here and for some reasons unknown even to me, I fell WAY behind in my book-keeping. We use “Money Matters” on the computer so I balance the budget and checkbook, etc. on the computer. Anyway, a few weeks ago I spent an hour or two entering receipts, paying bills, etc. It was then I discovered that I had forgotten to pay our Visa bill. It was about 10 days late. A day or two later, I discovered that all the work I had done on the computer n the previous few days had not been saved for some reason. Arrrrgggggg!!!! That discouraged me and I didn’t get back to it for another week or two. By that time, several more bills were late. Also, the next Visa bill had arrived and I saw that we paid $32 in interest for my forgetfulness. Wouldn’t you agree that this is inexcusable!?!?!? So, I’m now almost caught up with the budgeting and I’ve determined to change my ways!

-Did you know Christmas is almost here? Yeah, I know it’s a month and a half away, but you know how fast that goes! I was having a really hard time getting excited about Christmas. I was feeling rather scrooge-like in relation to gifts, decorations, etc. I think it’s partly because I’m already so busy with home-schooling, etc., that it seems like there’s no way I can do all the extra stuff of Christmas. It might also be partly because of the heavy stuff that Keith and I are going through right now. Anyway, we did sit down and start to think about what gifts we might want to give and that helped get me going. When we went to Stormer Lake I took the Lee Valley catalogues along so we could start “shopping”. Now I’m shopping on-line and almost ready to start ordering a bunch of stuff. I really like shopping from my living room! So, most gifts this year are coming from Lee Valley, Amazon (free shipping!), and Christianbook.com! I also want to make Christmas more simple and meaningful. One thing I want to do with the kids this year is an Advent calendar. I need to go pick one up at Treasure House. So, I’d like to hear if you have ideas for keeping Christmas simple and meaningful.

-I got invited to a scrap-booking shindig at the high school. So I went last night from about 5:30 – 11:30. It was a lot of fun. There were a few people I sort of knew or had met before, quite a few strangers, and my friend, Kim. Some of these ladies are hard-core, crazy scrap-bookers/card-makers. Talk about paraphenalia! It was amazing. I’m doing “scrap-booking lite” right now because I just want to get my pictures in books! So I’m not decorating most of the pages – mostly just cropping pictures and writing. So I didn’t feel like I was in the same league as most of the ladies, but it was fun anyway. They get together once a month, so I hope to go again. It was fun to meet some new people outside of my little circle!

-God has been changing/freeing/healing my heart in some neat ways. I’m so grateful to my Lord Jesus for His mercy, grace and unfailing love. One of the latest “praises”: I’ve battled with an anger problem for a long time,and after praying and being prayed for at Stormer Lake, I have a new freedom like never before. And you should see the changes in my kids because of it! I’m able to enjoy them so much more these last few weeks – even when they’re naughty. :-) I’m so grateful! “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit says the Lord.”

-That’s all. I must go to bed!!

A Question for You

I'm starting to think about Christmas presents... I think we'd like to give Caleb a magazine subscription - preferrably something about nature/animals. And preferrably something that's not too expensive to send to Canada. Any ideas??

The mighty hunters and some of their catch. We had some for supper last night and it was tasty!

Doing some school work at Stormer.

Stormer Lake

Well, Stormer Lake was good! The retreat was a refreshing time of worshiping, sharing and praying for each other. I’ve experienced some new freedom in my heart! Maybe I’ll tell you more about it later. :-) Our two days of vacation were really relaxing. What did we do? We:
-played games (Caleb learned to play Phase 10.)
-watched movies (I discovered I’m not as “high-brow” as I thought. Phantom of the Opera was a little too intense/dark for me.)
-read books (maybe I’ll tell you about my latest book soon. It’s really good.)
-played outside (Josiah really doesn’t like sliding) :-)
-shot grouse (a total of five and two of them were with one shot! What a mighty hunter man I’m married to!)
-slept – Oh Bliss!
-ate good food
Sound like fun?? It was much-needed and now I’m trying to get back into a “normal” routine. I’m hoping to find some fine young girl that I can pay to help me clean my house tomorrow. It’s been too dirty for too long! I’ve had it with dirt and clutter!

The Giant and the Shepherd

I'm Still Here!!!

Oh my, where to start? I’ve had all kinds of cool blogs bouncing around in my brain yesterday and today. But, in the end, I only have a few minutes to dash something off. Why, you say? Well, we are on our way to Stormer Lake this weekend for a Retreat and much needed vacation! We’re so excited!! Marvin and Yvonne invited us to the retreat which is a gathering of a network of people from Ontario, Manitoba and North Dakota. I’m looking forward to being refreshed and hearing what Jesus has to say to me/us. Then, we are staying on at Stormer Lake for Monday and Tuesday – just for a rest! The last few months have been full of busy-ness (how do you spell that?)and lots of pressures. So we’re going to just chill out! We have books, games and movies – oh and lots of good food and a sled. What more could a little family want??

Other items of note (to me at least!)

- We just finished a wonderful month-long visit with Matthew, Rhonda and family. We almost got to spend enough time together. Rhonda and I finished it off nicely with a late-night chat and a fun ride home in the truck in a blizzard at midnight. It was so much fun to get re-aquainted with the girls and see them getting to know their cousins. It’s hard to think of not seeing them all for another two years! Sigh! Makes me anxious for heaven…

- Josiah started pulling himself up last week and this week he’s even cruising around furniture a little bit. My baby is growing up! Oh, and I don’t think I ever mentioned that he got his first two teeth (top center) a few weeks ago. It wasn’t too traumatic. Especially not with the help of a little Advil! :-)

- Last weekend was crazy!! And fun! Wanna know how? Sheldon and Darla and kids came on Thursday night for INM board meetings. On Friday we women and kids were hanging out here so I thought I should invite the rest of the family to drop in if they wanted… So, Wendy and her kids came over. Rhonda couldn’t come, but I went and got her three oldest. That made 9 kids 8 and under when they were all here! Dad and Dru also came over for visit. And all of this while Keith was trying to prepare a sermon at his desk in the living room. :-) He did retreat to the basement after awhile. The kids really did quite well. It think it helps when there are a few older ones. And Sara (12) played with them for awhile too. It was happy chaos. That night Matthew, Rhonda and Caitlyn came over later to spend some more time with Sheldons. There was an intense game of Settlers. :-) Keith and I also spent a few hours with Don and Marilyn Showalter praying and talking through some heart stuff Thursday and Friday evening/night. Thank God for people who can help and encourage us! Sheldons left Saturday afternoon,and that evening Matthews and Mark and Kim and kids came over for supper and a games of Cities and Knights. I think we were all still friends when it was over. Oh, and I think I won. (They say the first thing to go is your memory.) As much as I like to win, you’d think I’d remember when I do! On Sunday, Chris and Lisa invited us over for lunch. Then in the evening it was Ladies night at church. Then I crashed. :-)

- The Baptist Church had a Noah’s Ark party again this year on Halloween. We had never gone before, but this seemed like a good time to start. (Because I was so well-rested and had so much extra time.) So, on Monday and Tuesday between housework, music lessons, and swimming lessons, I made costumes for the boys. They were David and Goliath and they were so cute! They had a lot of fun at the party and came home with sufficient treats. Now the hard part is rationing them. I’ll try to post a picture of them in their costumes next week.

- Yesterday Caleb asked me, “What is infinity times infinity?” and “What number comes after infinity?”. Where does he come up with this stuff???

My Favorite Guys

Oh, can you tell that I got my digital camera? :-) We're having fun with it!

Family Getaway

My family all (except Sam and Tyler) went to Stormer Lake last weekend. We had a fun time being together and doing some of the stuff we enjoy together: playing games, staying up late and being silly, singing, eating, making gingerbread houses, exchanging gifts, etc... I came home quite exhausted!! Here's a picture of Dad and Dru with all the kids. I'd post a picture of the whole family, but Derek didn't send me one yet (hint, hint). :-)

Presents! We had a little gift exchange and Matthews gave us presents from Madagascar. That's the guys all wearing shirts from Madagascar. And Larissa (Matthew's youngest) opening her presents.

Making "gingerbread" houses. From the top: Wendy (Jeff's wife) and their oldest, Tia. Sierra (one of Matthew and Rhonda's four) and Helen (Mike's wife), Caleb.

From the top: Matthew, Alicia (Sheldon's oldest), Alabama (Jeff's second daughter) and the newest member of the family - Scott Jacob. He's Derek and Elise's first baby. He's just over a month old.

My Latest Decorating Endeavors

The picture arrangement in the living room is finally done. Thanks to Iris for picking out a picture of Josiah to put up. (It's the bottom, centre one.) The quilt is hanging in the basement. The quilt is one that my Grandma Slaubaugh made for my Mom and Dad - I think for their wedding. The wrought-iron quilt hangar was made by my uncle Paul Eichorn. I'm very pleased with it. Some time this winter (hopefully) I'm going to put up framed black and white pictures of our ancestors - a grouping by the quilt and a bunch on the wall beside it.

Here's Another Good One

I know I should be doing something profitable like laundry, but I just have to share another quote with you from the same author. This one hits me right between the eyes!

"...develop an attitude of gratitude. Be thankful. God is more concerned about your being thankful than just about anything else.... How you tell your story (the story of your life, family, ministry, church, etc.) to yourself and others will be a powerful indication of your thankfulness or bitterness. You have the power to put different spins on all the phenomena of your life. You can (without lying) tell your story so as to make people cry for you out of pity or envy you out of awe. Let others sense your thankful heart when they hear your story."
-James Abrahamson in "Lessons In Leadership"

Yes, well! I struggle against bitterness and negativity as a lifestyle. So, this is a kick in the pants for me!! I'm now asking God to give me a thankful heart in the midst of my struggles. I want to see God and His goodness in all of my circumstances - even the hardest ones!

And now, my hubby is going to take me out for lunch! So there's something to be thankful for right now!

Quote For The Day

I read this yesterday and it really struck a chord with me. I suppose it's all stuff I've known before, but it was said in a different way, or I was ready to hear it in a new way. I hope you're blessed and enlightened like I was...

“…always remember that God accepts you without approving of all that you believe or do. Avoid the cult of “grace lite” (which is usually accompanied by “law lite” and “sin lite”). When you doubt God’s grace you will be tempted to make the Law manageable and sin tolerable. Don’t be afraid of acknowledging your depravity. Things are not as bad in your soul as you think they are; they are much worse! But God’s grace is able to cover the greatest sin. So let the holy Law of God convict you deeply – but don’t ever base your relationship with God on the verdict of the Law. In other words, don’t link the fact of God’s acceptance of you in Christ with God’s appproval of all your beliefs or behaviors. Remember that you walk with a God who “justifies the ungodly” by faith.
Similarly, God’s love for you is not increased by your obedience nor is it diminished by your disobedience. The exact same love that the Father has for Jesus, His Son, is also offered to you because you are hidden in Christ.” -James Abrahamson in "Lessons In Leadership"

Once Upon A Time...

Long, long ago there were three silly young girls. They liked to talk and talk about many things great and small, go canoeing and camping, climb rock cliffs, talk about boys, make true confessions, read Winnie-the-Pooh, make up and play crazy group games, struggle through the issues of young-adulthood together, do crazy skits at youth retreat, sing, listen to music, laugh and laugh, play preposterous tricks on each other, work (work?!?) together, and just plain hang out.

And then those silly young girls grew up and life got harder, but better, and suddenly, between the three of them, they had 10 (yes, ten!) children. And all the children were beautiful and precious, and the now-not-so-young-and-silly girls still enjoyed getting together to share their lives and rememeber the past and get to know each other’s kids. Oh, and one of them still had enough silliness in her to get marshmallow shooters for the kids to play with!

A Few of Those Ten Adorable Kids

Who's Confused??

The other day I was trying to phone a company that sells supplements, to see if I’m giving Josiah the right dose of his iron supplement. Part of the conversation went roughly like this:

Nice guy: hello, mumble, mumble, mumble
Me: May I speak with Lida, please?
Nice guy: Lida who?
Me: I don’t know, I was just told to ask for Lida.
Nice guy: Give me your name and number and I’ll check for you.
Me: Jenni, etc, etc,
Nice guy: And what was your question?
Me: I’m giving my baby the Floradix iron supplement and want to be sure I’m giving him the right dose.
Nice guy: This is General Motors

So, if anyone wants to phone General Motors, I have the number! (And I did get the correct number for the supplement company.)

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We were going for a little drive after church and drove through the cemetery. Here’s a rough reconstuction of the ensuing conversation.

Logan: What are we doing here?
Keith: I just wanted to see the place where Grandma is buried.
Logan: Married?
Keith: Yes, buried.
Logan: People get married here?
Keith: Yes, buried.
Logan: That’s a stinker place to get married!

At this point I intervened and translated for Keith and the whole misunderstanding was cleared up. And we laughed and laughed!!!

Just Thought You Should Know

I just found a really good way to release the tension of the day and annoy my dear husband at the same time!! Just hum loudly and very off-key along with the really nice music that’s softly playing. There were (idle) threats of ice cream being poured on my head, but I didn’t even care. It felt as though it would be worth it at the moment. Sometimes ya just gotta let it out!

A Favorite Ritual

I don’t know if I’m strange or if other Moms feel this way too… A few days ago I went through Caleb’s clothes and got them sorted out for the winter. Every spring and fall I do this and I always enjoy it. What fits from last year? What bigger stuff do I have in a box for this year? What are we missing that we need to buy? Of course, with the younger ones it’s always fun to dig out the cool stuff that the older one(s) wore before. And it’s wonderful if I discover we have almost everything we need!

An added bit of fun lately has been to call my sister, Rachel and tell her what we need and then she goes to Good-will and finds all kinds of great stuff. We get to do that again this year, since she’s coming home for a visit next month. Yeah! So, Rachel, I have the list ready – and it’s not very long! I’ll call or e-mail it to ya soon…

Heart Stuff

I’m finding myself overwhelmed pretty often right now with everything on my plate. Home-schooling, music, swimming, baby, sick kids, garden and yard to get in shape for the winter, a house that I like to keep somewhat better than a pig-sty, mothering, cooking, laundry, etc, etc,. You get my point? I know this is probably the most demanding time in my life physically, and I know it will get better as the boys get older and can help me more… But it’s hard not to feel stressed and overwhelmed.

Yesterday morning I was out for my walk and praying. I told God that when I get to Heaven, I want to do things and then come back in “10,000 years” and find them still done!!! He reminded me immediately that my children and anyone else whose life I impact for the Kingdom of God are things that will “stay done” for all of eternity! That helped my perspective and my attitude a lot!

One other thing that God has been working on me is in the area of praying for my husband. I’m ashamed that I’ve not done that very well or consistently for most of our married life. But the Holy Spirit has been urging me in that direction. So, I’ve commited to praying for him every day for a 10 or 15 minutes. Man, the first day I did that, I couldn’t believe the things that happened around here. Keith came home from a meeting that normally could have been stressful and difficult and said it was a good meeting! We had a wonderful day together and God showed me some practical and specific ways to help Keith – and he was open to my help. Since then, I think I’ve seen changes in Keith, but I know for sure there are changes in my attitude. :-) (You mean to tell me, I have a problem here??) :-) Now that I’ve said it in cyber-space to who-knows-who, I’m really accountable to continue this!

So, now you know how to pray for me when you think of me! Life is a journey - let's travel together and help each other along the way!

Bits and Pieces of our Lives

*We’re starting to get into the swing of home-school. We spend about an hour doing Sonlight stuff in the morning. Caleb and I are enjoying it! We also read some stuff to Logan and I’m sure he absorbs some of Caleb’s stuff by just being around us. He’s still mostly interested in stories with pictures! Then Caleb does Math and Language worksheets in the afternoon when Logan is sleeping. So far he hasn’t started complaining about them.

*There’s some excitement on the extra-curricular side of things. Last week we started swimming lessons. The boys both love it and I enjoy watching them learn and excel. Caleb seems to be a natural fish. This week, they are starting music lessons. The program is called “Music for Young Children.” They will be learning keyboard, singing, reading music, rhythm, etc. It’s a really good and fun program for kids. I’ve always wanted my kids to learn piano or another instrument, so I’m excited about them having a good start this way. Hopefully it will be fun enough that they will want to go on and learn more. You can check out the program on the web at myc.com. Caleb was very unsure of the whole thing when we told them we were doing it. But after the first class, he's very excited.

*Logan and Josiah have finally recovered their health and appetites. In fact, Josiah has been wanting an early morning bottle the last couple of mornings and it seems like he’s just “catching up.” Unfortunately, Logan is sick again today. This time it’s a high fever. :-( It seems like he gets sick so much more than Caleb. Poor little guy. And tonight is his first music lesson. Bummer!!

*Did I mention that Josiah is crawling? He’s been working at it for a couple of weeks. And he’s gotten quite good at it. Of course, his favorite place to crawl to is the boy’s room where the Legos are all over the floor! :-( We’re trying to remember to keep the door closed. He sure is a cutie!! He likes to grin at you with his whole face – he squints his eyes and wrinkles up his nose. Awwwwww!!!

Small Things Make Me Happy

Some of you may remember the crumbling cement pad at the bottom of our front porch steps. Well, when Neal (the brother-in-law who does cement work for a living) was here, guess what?? We got a new one. Yeah! It looks really nice. Unfortunately, the railing along the steps didn’t quite survive when they took it off. It’s still laying in the grass, but Keith has an idea for salvaging it, and I hope he can put it back up on Sat. Then the surrounding flowerbeds need a little attention, etc. But the cement looks great!!

Hints from Hilda the Housewife, #1

How to Make Easy and Tasty Soup

1) Clean out/organize your freezers
2) Take out all the leftovers and bits and pieces that look like good candidates for soup. This would include, but not be limited to: pizza casserole, chicken gravy, scalloped potatoes, chicken broth, vegetable broth, pureed squash that the baby wouldn’t eat, etc.
3) Don’t be too concerned about the age of said leftovers. You can even use stuff that someone else gave you when they cleaned out their freezer and you KNOW it’s more than a year old. (I’ll protect your identity. Hehehe.)
4) Put everything in a big soup pot and simmer.
5) Eat and be thankful (that it actually tastes good!)
6) This works great for those “cleaning out the fridge” frenzies too!

I Have A New Nephew!

Congratulations to my brother Derek and his lovely wife, Elise, on the birth of Scott Jacob. He sure is a little cutie and I can’t wait to hold and snuggle him!!

Puke Is Good For Something!

It really is! Some time ago, someone spilled coffee on the carpet and it left a stain. I tried a bit to get it out, and since then I’ve been pondering what to do about it. It’s in a very obvious spot. Well, last Sat. when Logan got sick, some puke got on the carpet. I cleaned it up but later I noticed that some of it had been on that stain and where the puke had been, the stain was gone!! How weird is that?!? I pondered upon it and decided, hey, why not give it a try… I took a pillowcase or something that had puke on it, rubbed it on the stain, then scrubbed it with soapy water. I know it’s gross, but I just had to try. Guess what?? The stain is gone!! Maybe someone should market that!! :-)

One Word - Puke!

Yeah, there’s been a lot of that around here lately! There’s this really nasty flu bug around right now and it’s been making itself at home here. :-( Logan started throwing up on Sat. morning last week. He took a break on Sunday, but started up again early Mon. morning. He was puking from about 2:30 – 4:00 or so and when he was done, Josiah started! It wasn’t a very restful night! Since then, Logan hasn’t thrown up anymore, but he’s just not feeling 100% better. He hardly eats anything and lays around sleeping quite a bit. Josiah was still having trouble keeping stuff down today. He sure isn’t drinking much milk. Last night we had an adoption party at church for some friends who just adopted two children. I was helping organize the party so it was a really busy day! Once the party started, I started to feel dead tired!! At 8:30 or so I had to go home to feed Josiah, because he wasn’t cooperating with Keith. As I drove home I realized I was starting to feel nauseated! Oh brother! I absolutely abhor the stomach flu!!! I fed Josiah and put him to bed and took Caleb back with me to the church since he hadn’t been able to go. By that time I knew I was coming down with it. So I quickly gathered up some of my stuff and headed for home. Yeah, it was the flu all right! I”ll spare you the details! Thankfully, the nausea went away sometime between 4:00 and 6:00 this morning. Then I was just left with that achy, weak feeling all day. Not fun. I slept LOTS and I think I’ll be good tomorrow. I think maybe Logan and Josiah are showing signs of getting better too. Then tonight Keith started feeling yucky! I sure hope he doesn’t get the full meal deal like the rest of us!!

Can I Complain Just A Little Bit?

I know many people have worse troubles than I. But… This morning I woke up with a blister or two on the roof of my mouth. And as the day progressed, they spread. I’m pretty sure it’s a cold sore, which I’ve often had on my lip, but never in my mouth. It’s a real pain! There, I’m done complaining now!

God Cares About The Little Things!

On Monday we spent most of the day out on the lake with all the Grabers. We were at a nice little beach that even had a little picnic table. In the afternoon I was settling into my chair for a little snooze when I realized my necklace was missing. Of course the chain and pendant were both gifts from Keith. :-( Heather said she had seen it on me since we were there. I looked for awhile and tried to retrace my steps. But most of the area was quite sandy or the typical moss/pine needles/sticks of the bush. I finally gave up and decided, “Things come, and things go!” Quite awhile later, Keith, Heather and I were talking and I was absent-mindedly “drawing” with my toe in the sandy dirt. All of a sudden Heather exclaimed, “There’s your necklace!” I had uncovered it with my toes. Or else it had been lying there and I had missed it earlier. Anyway, I was very surprised and thankful to the Lord!!

Just Stuff

* Josiah has some new accomplishments. He can now push himself to a sitting position. And he's getting up on his hands and knees and rocking. Yesterday he was making little crawling motions. So, he might be crawling pretty soon. He's eight months old today. Wow, where did the time go?? In the last week and a half or so, he's decided that food is good stuff. He now eats quite a lot of baby food for each meal. It's so much fun to shovel it into his open mouth! :-) The bottle is still not his favorite thing, but he's gradually getting better. I think he's still struggling with the concept of filling up his tummy when he's awake. He still likes to snack. So, I keep urging him gently in the direction of not snacking all the time.

* We're slowly getting into the school routine. I'm struggling with being happy about the time commitment it requires of me. I do like the Sonlight stuff that we're doing. I guess I'm just struggling with contentment with where I'm at in life and the job that God has called me to.

* The Grabers are coming, the Grabers are coming! Neal, Sandra, Heather, Meriah, and Shania are arriving here tomorrow afternoon. Yay! So, I'm expecting the next week and a half to be mostly partying. :-) We might even go camping on Sunday night. I was really looking forward to that, but the weather is a lot cooler already, and Josiah is sometimes fussy, and I'm starting to feel wimpy about it. We'll see...

* I just have to say that I love my kids so much! God has graciously been teaching me patience and love and how to value them more. Don't think I'm perfect though! Caleb has taken to asking me, "Mom, are you getting mad?"!! That makes me stop and examine my heart and my words!!

* And then there's my dear hubby. God is doing a great work in his heart! I'm so thankful that he is seeking God and saying yes to Jesus! And I have such a struggle to TRUST God in the process. I'll just confess here that two of my besetting sins are fear and control (a form of pride). I get so worked up about stuff that I think Keith should do or shouldn't do, etc. Then when I give it to Jesus and confess my fear and control and just pray for him, God does something in his heart. Of course, duh! (To quote a certain young niece of mine.)

* That's all for now. My two big boys are at Grandma Graber's for the day and I have computer and internet work to do. I'm closing in on buying a digital camera! Yay!

* One more thing... Keith and I are going back and forth on whether or not we should go to Winnipeg for Kim's wedding. Sept. and Oct. are so busy already, it would cost quite a bit, to make it "worthwhile" we should really go out on Thurs. and take the boys to the zoo or something on Fri. - which would all cost more money. We could just go Sat. and come back Sun. and leave the boys here. But we said we wouldn't do that again after the trip to Dad's wedding. I really want to see Twila and the others who will be there and OF COURSE, see Matthew and Rhonda, and I'd love to see those three adorable little flowergirls. And of course, it would be great to see Little Kimmy get married to her handsome man and share in their joy. Oh dear, what should we do?? AARRGGG!

* Okay, that really is all for this time. (This was gonna be a quick little post!)

Yes, I'm Still Here!

I’m not feeling very inspired, but I’ll try to update a bit here on our week… Church camp-out was, um, stressful. I decided that camping with a large group of people when you have little kids (including a baby), plus you’re in charge of the weekend, is, well, stressful! I didn’t feel like I relaxed much at all and I was really glad to get home. Usually I want to stay another night. :-) But there were some bright spots…
-the gorgeous sunset on Friday night
-playing games on Sat. morning with nearly everyone getting involved. Mary Leschied and Esther Mast even ran the three-legged race!
-Ryan, Melissa, and Emma stopped in on their way back to MN. It was nice to chat with Melissa!
-We ate frogmore stew with the Hartmans Sat. afternoon. Delicious!
-Tammy and Menno and family were there for the weekend! It was so nice to see them again!
-Shelley McKenzie and her daughter Courtney were baptized Sunday after the worship service.
-There were virtually NO mosquitoes!! But lots of bees. :-(

On Monday, Keith picked up our Sonlight order which had come over the weekend. Yay!! It was a lot of fun to look through everything. I told Caleb we might be ready to start next week. I have just a little more reading to do so that I’m familiar with what we’re doing. I ordered Math and Language Arts from Abeka and that’s not here yet, but I’m in no hurry for it…

This past week was more laid back than the last month or so. No blueberries to pick. Not as many beans to pick. No big deadlines looming. Mary-Jane was staying here until tonight. She’s going to stay at Kendra’s for the rest of her time here. We watched a Nicole Johnson DVD on Monday morning. Good stuff!

This morning we all went garage-saleing. We found some great stuff. I now have a punch-bowl and Little Scotty has a life-jacket. My family is having a “garage-sale”, Christmas gift exchange in October when Matthews and Rachel are here. And the Grabers are having a “garage-sale” birthday party for everyone when everyone is home next week or the week after. We got almost everything we need. Yippee! So, tonight after supper we had fun wrapping stuff in newspaper. I hope you all like what we got you! :-)

Tonight we had a first for our family – a shabbat meal! I’m sure it was pretty far from an actual Jewish Shabbat, but we tried to do some of it. The purpose of it wasn’t to "be Jewish", but to hopefully benefit from some of the aspects like just having a special meal together, speaking blessings to one another, reflecting on the past and what God has done, etc. Hopefully it will become a family tradition. Time will tell.

Okay, it’s time to sample my dessert for tomorrow (chocolate chip blondies) and then head for bed soon!!!

An Ethical Question

Let’s just say, hypothetically speaking, that you had a little son about, say, four years old. And let’s just say that he walked into the bathroom one day, announcing that he had to pee, but at the same time, he had a doll stuck under his shirt and was “nursing” it (hypothetically speaking). So, of course, you said, “Put the baby down while you pee!”, and he said, “No, I can do it.” And, hypothetically, he did it – peed standing up while “nursing” a doll. If this happened, hypothetically, how would you feel, and, more importantly, would it be ethical to write a blog about it?

It's Working!

Well, we're just about ready to head out for church camp-out, but I thought I'd better write a little note here in case anyone is worried about me or my baby. :-) Yesterday I found a bottle nipple he likes and things have been going much better since then! He now takes the bottle with very little fussing. Just need to burp him frequently sometimes, but at least he's not fighting it and only taking an ounce or two at a time... I'm so thankful to Jesus for helping us! And thanks for your prayers! And now we're off to Pakwash to go camping...

Just a Sheep Needing a Shepherd

Thanks everyone for your support. You can keep praying as you think about it... Yesterday went okay as far as not too much crying. But there wasn't too much eating either. He took a few oz. at a time during the day and then finally at bedtime he drank 7 oz in about a 45 min. period. He still wasn't too happy about it. I'm having a fear now that he will be "content" to be hungry. I realize that with the way he mostly nursed as he was going to sleep, he's not really used to filling up at all when he's awake. :-( So, you can pray that God will push his re-set button. This isn't just learning to take a bottle for him, it's learning a whole new pattern of eating.
The other strange thing is, that even when I know he’s hungry (like yesterday) he has little or no interest in solids. And he’s 7.5 month old. How weird is that?!? Please pray for wisdom for me to know how to tempt his tastebuds. And I am a little concerned because when I weighed him yesterday, he had gained only.5 oz. or less in the last two weeks. That’s not enough! So, here’s a promise for all of us Moms: “He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will carry the lambs in his arms, holding them close to his heart. He will gently lead the mother sheep with their young.” Isaiah 40:11

I Need Your Prayers

Today is the day that I wean my little Joey. :-( And I'm dreading it. He had his last nursing at 6:00 this morning, had a little nap, and now he just started crying - probably because he's hungry. So, here we go... I'm finally ready to give up. The medication I take so I will have enough milk gives me headaches and I'm just done with that! So, please pray that he will be willing to take a bottle without too much struggle and that I will be strong emotionally. I've cried my tears about having to quit. I love nursing my little guy and I wish we could keep on for a long time. But, God hasn't answered my prayer that way, so we'll move on. Sigh!

A Little Exercise

One of the speakers at the Summit said that everyone should make a list of what drains you emotionally and what fills you up, or rests you emotionally. He said that husbands and wives should each make a list and then pray over each other’s lists. Keith wanted me to do this so I thought I’d share it with you. It’s interesting to think about!

What Drains Me

-Fighting and/or disobedient boys
-Carrying the burdens of life alone
-Not being connecting with my hubby
-Fear, bitterness, trying to control
-Unresolved conflict
-“Wild” kids (too much noise and confusion at once)
-Childish foolishness

What Rests Me

-A nap!
-A snuggle/talk on the couch with my hubby
-Watching a movie
-Playing a game with adults
-Talking with friends/family
-Blogging and reading my friends’ blogs
-Scrap-booking with friends – or alone
-Doing just about any craft
-Organizing and getting rid of stuff
-Talking and praying through issues with my dear husband
-Laying on the couch and reading a book – I think. I haven’t tried if for so long that I’m not sure.

So, how about you? What drains your tank and fills it up again??

Miscellaneous...

Keith just got back last night from the Leadership Summit in Winnipeg. Whew! We survived three days without him! We went blueberry picking one day (and Logan stayed with Grandma Graber), had a hot dog roast with Dad and Dru one night, and bought supper at Chips and More one night and took it over to Rita's house to eat with her (that was after our long day of picking berries). Then yesterday morning as I was thinking about my garden produce that needed to be put in the freezer, and the filthy, messy state of my house, I had a blinding revelation: I could hire help!! So I found two young girls (Erin and Elena for those of you who know them) who were having a lazy Saturday and asked them to come over. They were here for almost 3 hours. Elena played witht the boys and helped them clean up their room and the basement. Erin and I got the zuchini in the freezer and cleaned like crazy. Wow, did we ever get a lot done! It feels so good to have a more organized and cleaner house!

Tomorrow is Logan's birthday. I have this little obsessive compulsive thing I do where Logan has the same kind of cake that Caleb had on that birthday. I'm starting to see that it's a bad idea, because Caleb always gets to pick his cake and then Logan just has to take what I give him. Up until now it hasn't been a problem. But when Caleb turned four, he knew his numbers - and even some addition. So, when he saw pictures of his cousins' cakes that were shaped like a 7 and a 9, he thought that was neat. So he had a "4" cake for his birthday. Now Logan comes along and he doesn't know a 4 from a 2 from a z! :-) So, I had to do some convincing and explaining to get him to agree to a "4". He did agree. Then this morning after church I saw him talking to Mary Lescheid. Later she came and told me that Logan invited her to his birthday party. He told her, "It's okay, we'll have enough. We're having four cakes!" He just doesn't get it! Hopefully we'll have a fun birthday party anyway.

Hey, Rachel, I Did Have Time!

The Alphabet...My Way!

Accent: I don’t have one – everyone else does. Seriously, I don’t know. Probably somewhere in between American and Canadian.Bible Book that I like: Psalms – they’re so “real” and sometimes I feel like something was written just for me.

Chore I don't care for: Lots of them. Can I tell you what I do like? Organizing and putting stuff away, laundry. The rest I do because I have to and I try not to complain. :-)

Dog or Cat: Neither, thanks, but I’d be less opposed to a dog, IF he doesn’t dig up my flowerbeds and if my boys were old enough to take care of it!

Essential Electronics: Computer and – hopefully soon – a digital cameraFavorite Movie: Apollo 13, The Hunt for Red October, Princess Bride, An Affair to RememberGold or Silver: Gold, please, and lots of it. :-) Just kidding

Handbag I Carry Most Often: This cute little brown thing I bought at Kohl’s on a little outing with my sister and her roommate. It was so cute I had to get it, but it really is too small. Almost more exciting was the smashing red wallet I got at the same time. Sometimes it doesn’t take much to make me happy!

Insomnia: Only in the first trimester of every pregnancy – ugh! And after the occasional caffeine overdose. But I’m pretty careful about that (the caffeine, that is) since I hate the effects of it!

Job Title: Hoo-boy! Full time nanny, law-enforcement officer, teacher, nurturer, cook, maid, psychologist, helper/supporter… I could go on…

Kids: Three rambunctious, full-of-energy, precious boys! Ages 6, 4 (tomorrow), and 7.5 months.

Living Arrangements: Yellow house with a big yard. Four bedrooms, one and a half bathrooms, basement rec room and shop. And we’re so thankful for it!!

Most Memorable Moment: Hmm, probably that one where he said “Will you marry me?”! Or else that second just before the 50 (?) foot freefall on the “Demon Drop” at Cedar Point or King’s Island. Remember that, Brenda and Karla? :-)

Naughtiest Childhood Behavior: I try to forget…

Overnight Hospital Stays: Just three times with my little baby boys. Two nights with Caleb and one night with Logan and Josiah.

Phobias: Nothing so strong that I’d call it a phobia.

Quote: This wiill have to be a paraphrase and I don’t remember the author. But I know I read it in Reader’s Digest. :-) “With kids, the days are long and the years are short.”

Religion: Follower of Jesus Christ and a daughter of the King!!

Siblings: One awesome, cool, really great, very funny, kindred spirit sister, and five great brothers (who also have a decent share of coolness and funniness – and sometimes just plain weirdness!)

Time I Wake Up: It seems like I consistently wake up between 5:00 and 5:30 – from months of feeding Josiah, I guess. But I go back to sleep and (try to) get up around 6:00.

Unusual Talent: Nothing springs to mind. Maybe someone will have to remind me…

Vegetable I Refuse to Eat: I don’t totally refuse, but I mostly avoid tomatoes, raw onions, and probably asparagus. And there are numerous others that I just don’t cook with, like eggplant. I need to be more adventurous, I guess.

Worst Habit: Getting excited about projects and then over-committing myself.

X-rays: My hip once, and my wrist when I smashed it in the big mixer at the bakery. Wasn’t that a lot of fun!!

Yummy Stuff I Cook: I’m tempted to say breakfast, lunch, and supper, but I know it’s not all yummy. Let’s see: homemade whole-wheat bread, various mexican dishes, muffins, desserts, moose roast and the fixin’s, pizza… Hey, I’m hungry! Who wants to come over for peanut-butter popcorn??

Zoo Animal I Like Most: Probably monkeys, elephants, and giraffes.

There, I did it! Now I tag Derek and Elise. Have fun!

True Confessions

True Confessions

*I bought three shower curtains in Kenora because I didn’t know which one I wanted. Now my dear hubby gets to return two in Winnipeg this weekend.

*Some of my flowers died from neglect – mostly lack of sufficient moisture. :-(

*Last week’s and this week’s laundry were all folded at the same time - this morning. Things are getting a little out of hand with the housework!

Okay, I want to hear some true confessions from all of you! No excuses! And that means you people who lurk out there and never comment, too. Lisa, Betty, Kathrina, Sheldon, Elise, Derek, Brenda, Karla, I know you’re out there!

Poor Little Guy

On Thursday morning, Rachel and I were getting ready to go to Kenora to get Josiah's picture taken. Wouldn't you know it, Josiah had a close encounter with a hair straightener! He got quite a shiner. Bummer! So, we went anyway and got some really cute pictures of him. We put some make-up on it, but you could still see the bruise. Oh well, I guess since he's the third boy he thought he had to do something to be different than the others!

If...

If your child ever decides to sharpen a whole pile of crayons..

And if he makes a big mess of crayon shavings on the table and floor…

And if you’re having a busy, somewhat frustrating morning…

And if you think to yourself, “Oh, he’s having fun and I’ll just clean it up when he’s done"…

Give your head a smack and find some other fun activity for him!

And if you choose to ignore this advice, then you’ll need a vacuum cleaner, a thumbnail, a good cleaning rag (preferrably microfibre), and lots of patience.

You can take it from me. I know.

Oh Blissful Day!

Last night Logan wore underwear to bed and (drum roll, please) STAYED DRY!!! How, you ask, did this finally happen at almost 4 years of age? Well, this is how… About 2 weeks ago Logan and I were having a little conversation about his night-time “bathroom” habits. Somehow (Divine inspiration?) I thought to ask him if he knows when he goes pee in his pull-up. And he said yes! I wasn’t sure if I should believe him, but I told him I’d talk to Daddy about it and maybe we’d have to start spanking him if he just peed in his diaper because he didn’t feel like getting up. Keith wasn’t quite ready to do that yet, but talked to Logan about it that night. Wouldn’t you know, the next morning at 6:00 I heard Logan in the bathroom! And he was dry when he got up later! Yippee!!!! Since then he’s had only a few accidents, so last night we thought we’d try it with just underwear. He’s pretty proud of himself and I’m quite happy!! And I’m wondering why we didn’t think of this months ago! :-) Anyone need some leftover pull-ups??

Living Off The Land

Today is a holiday in Canada. Just because there is no other holiday in August! Don’t you Americans wish you lived here? So today we all went blueberry picking. The boys did really well – even Josiah We took the pad from the play-pen and sat him on it in the middle of the bush. He seemed to like it! Then he took a nice long nap in the play-pen in the shad of the van. I didn’t know he’d do that1 The blueberries are better than last year (that’s not difficult) but not stupendous. Together we picked over 4 gallons. So, that’s a good dent in what I want for this year. And now I have lots of blueberries to clean tomorrow! :-)

When we got home, I picked two bucket of beans. I had gotten some moose steak out of the freezer for supper and the rest of our supper came out of the garden. I don’t think I’ve ever done that before and it was really fun. We had beets, beans, grilled zuchini, cucumbers, and three itty bitty carrots. And of course, blueberries for dessert. Unfortunately, we didn’t raise the milk and yogurt we had with them! It was all quite delicious! And it gave me a good reminder of God’s goodness and abundance!!
By the way, picking blueberries is hard work and I sorta feel like an old woman tonight!

Yeah, I'm still here...

Yes, my friends, I know it's been awhile since I've updated! You know what that means? I still haven't learned how to slow down and these past seven days have been packed full. Packed full of what you say?
-Wendy helped me get started on staining the kids play structure (it was looking terrible!) and then I finished it.
-Rachel came! Yay!!!
-We made almost 24 dozen donuts on Sat. morning and sold them at Ned and Marcella's garage sale. I won't tell you how many I ate!
-There were people we know from IA in church on Sunday, (Loren and Lisa Helmuth. He lived here many years ago.) so we had them over for supper. Rhonda, Loren asked about Matthew.
-We picked two buckets of green beans in our own little garden, and last but not least...
-Blueberries! I went with Sue and Wendy yesterday. We didn't find very good ones, but I got a few. Then, later I heard of a better spot. So, hopefully we can get some more!

So that's what's going on around here. And today Rachel, Josiah and I are going to Kenora. Rachel's looking into some jobs and I'm shopping (!) and getting Little Joey's picture taken.

Newsflash! At the ripe old age of 7 months, Josiah is now sitting up (with supervision because he's still tippy.) Yay!

Supper!

Sorry for teasing you about my supper and then taking so long to tell you about it… I just want to do my part in helping you learn patience! I heard about this recipe from Rita, but she ate it at Rhoda Shank’s and didn’t have the recipe. So, I made it up from what she told me. I guess it’s sorta like Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches, but I don’t know what the name was. Maybe you could name if for me? So, here goes…

Slice up about 2 lb. of steak or roast into very thin, narrow strips. Slice when it’s partly frozen if possible. Brown in oil. Add 2 cloves garlic when frying or after. Put in small crock pot on low. Add seasoned salt, pepper, worchestershire sauce (1 tsp?), and a couple squirts of BBQ sauce. Cook for 5 hours or so. Add sliced green peppers and onions – be generous. I sauteed them a little first. Cook another hour or two. Put meat mixture on sub or hamburger buns (homemade is best of course). Top with cheese. I used Mozzarella, but Rita said the recipe called for Swiss.

I thought it was deeeelicious. Keith said next time he’d add lettuce, tomato and raw onion. Do what ya want. Ya will anyway! (As my Mom and her Mother before her used to say!)

Well, Isn't That Sweet!

Yesterday in the mail I was very surprised to receive a cheque for $200 from the Government of Canada! The paper with it said it is my first monthlty installment of the Universal Child Care Benefit. They're giving $100 per month for each child under the age of six! Isn't that amazing! I told Keith, "I'm getting paid to take care of my own children!" I guess it still doesn't work out to much of an hourly wage, but the thought is nice anyway! Sorta makes me want to have another baby soon so they have to send me $300 a month. :-) (Then I'd have to use that money to hire some help!)

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I'm cooking up something intersting and new for supper. If it's good I'll tell you about it later. :-)

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I weighed Josiah today and he gained the required 2 oz. So we'll just keep plugging away for now. The last 3 days or so, I've had a bit more milk and he's nursing a little better. I guess I should just keep asking the Lord for that miracle!

Lazy Days Of Summer!

Yeah right! What does that mean? Here are some ramblings from the last week and a half…

One beautiful morning I was out on the patio which is in the shade in the morning. I had the following “thought train”: “It’s so beautiful out here in the morning. I should have a brunch for some ladies out here on the patio like we did last year. Hmm, last year we did that for Wendy’s birthday. Good idea! I’ll do that for Wendy’s birthday again. Let’s see, Wendy’s birthday is… in two (or was it three) days!!” So we did pull it off and had a lovely Thursday morning brunch with Wendy, Phyllis, Leslie, Helen, Lisa, and myself. Lucky for me and Wendy, Kendra had the same idea, so she had Wendy and me over for brunch on Sat. morning. That was so nice - and relaxing too!

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On Saturday, Keith and I started sorting through our way-too-large collection of books. I am so pleased with our BIG pile of books to get rid of. And it’s almost scandalous the things I threw away! :-) Of course, as these things often are, we didn’t get done that day and I couldn’t get back to it until Thursday. But now it’s DONE and the books are all on the shelves (or waiting to be sold or given away). That is sure a good feeling. And it’s a good feeling that we even have some extra space. It’s a good thing because…

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We’re thinking seriously of doing the Sonlight Curriculum for Caleb’s schooling this year. And it involves a lot of books. Which is one of the main reasons Keith likes the idea. He loves to read! So, we really need to get serious about deciding and ordering…

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Monday and Tuesday were “Mad Marathon” days for me. When will I ever learn? My family got together for supper on Monday night at the beach. I made BBQ beef sandwiches for the main course. Of course, I have no use for store-bought, white hamburger buns. So I made buns, and the BBQ beef. And, since Keith’s birthday was the next day, I made a birhtday cake. (But I did concede to use a cake mix.) So, that was a busy day! But we had a nice, relaxing time with the fam at the beach…

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Tuesday was Keith’s birthday. I had been planning for awhile to make him a white chocolate raspberry cheesecake. Then I decided to have the leadership team over for dessert after supper. So, I had to make two cheesecakes. I decided on English Toffee for the second one. It was a killer! (As in delicious, not difficult.) Thankfully, both Caleb and Logan were at Bible school that morning, so I could really fly. Keith ordered chicken enchiladas (sorry, Rachel) for supper and his parents joined us for that. He was surprised when others started showing up after supper. :-) I had asked Alvin to lead a time of blessing/encouragement/prayer for Keith. I think that was a special thing for him. And the cheesecake was wonderful!

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Caleb had the idea to get Seafarers for Keith’s birthday. We finally played it last night. And I won, but only because Keith hadn’t counted his points and didn’t realize he had enough to win. :-)

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Here’s a story for any guys who might be reading. And I’m writing this with my husband’s permission! Our ancient, yet trustworthy (go Toyota!) van was having some real brake problems. It pulsated like crazy whenever you braked. So Thursday evening Keith changed the brakes on the left side. He had bought parts for both sides, but it turned out only the left side was bad. So the next morning I was taking Caleb to VBS and I started to hear grinding sounds whenever I braked. Then there were metallic rubbing sounds whenever I drove too. I knew this wasn’t good, but I had to pick Caleb up from VBS. Guess I should have taken the truck. This morning Keith took it apart to see what was happening – and discovered he had put the outside brake pad on backwards. There were big grooves ground into the brand-new disk. Big oops, but it was kinda funny too. He was glad he had the extra disk to put on!

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And now back to the feminine side of things… Little Josiah isn’t nursing well and I’m 98% sure it’s because I don’t have enough milk. I’m taking medication, but if I take too much I get head-aches. :-( This week when I weighed him he had only gained .5 oz in just over a week. Not enough! I’m trying to stick it out until next Tuesday when I will weigh him. But I’m quite sure the little guy will be going on a bottle next week – unless Jesus does a miracle before then. So, you can pray that I will have LOTS of milk, or that he will go on the bottle without too much of a fight. I don’t look forward to the emotional trauma of weaning him!

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And on that cheery note, I must be off. It’s Norseman Days and we’re going to go take in some of it and eat Helen’s bannock burgers for supper.

My Favorite Little Monkeys!

Just in case anyone is wondering... Josiah is rolling over both ways, but not showing many signs of sitting up. He's eating some baby food, but not always very excited about it. And it looks like he had the chicken pox last week! How odd. I don't know where he wouldn've picked it up. He had some mosquito bites on his face, but kept getting more, which I thought was odd. Finally a friend said, "Are you sure that isn't chicken pox?" On closer examination, it seemed she might be right. He got more the day after that and then that was it. They aren't scabbing over much, but a nurse friend said it could still be that. Thankfully, he didn't seem to be bothered much by it!! Now we'll see if the others get it in a couple weeks.

A Little Riddle

A few days ago I put this in one of my comments and wondered if anyone would ask about it. No one did, so here it is again. Is anyone old enough to remember this and know what it means?? PBP GINFWMY Sheldon, you don’t get to guess. One hint: You would’ve seen it on a button – probably in the late 70’s. I know, I know I’m older than some of you (but not all of you!!). :-)

Sobering Thoughts

Just now Caleb said to me: "Do you know how to be a good Christian? Copy-cat your parents." Wow, that makes me sit up and take notice. "Lord, please help me to be a Godly example, and not really mess up this monumental task You've given to me!"

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And the other day, I was giving the boys a pep talk about not fighting, etc., and also making my "to-do" list for the day. I was exhorting them that if they wouldn't fight and we would all work together, we could get so much work done, and wouldn't that be fun!! And Logan's reply was something like, "Or we could just relax!" When will I learn to relax and not be so driven to accomplish. I think I need to have a "waste-a-day" challenge. Not sure how to do that, but why don't you ask me tomorrow or the next day if I was able to "waste" a good portion of a day!!

Graber Pixels

Backyard Camping

Keith, Mark, and Logan got home from their canoe trip at about 5:30. They hadn't had their supper yet, and mine wasn't made yet, so they made their pizza pops with camp irons in the back yard. They were sure yummy! And Mark made strawberry rhubarb "pies" for dessert. We have to get some of those nifty camp irons!! In case you're not acquainted with them, you put some kind of filling between two pieces of bread and toast it in this little iron thingy over the fire. They are great!

I Can't Think of a Witty Title

Here they are: my pretty posies! Thanks to Kendra for the pictures, and Helen for showing me how to make them smaller.

Little Obadiah

I just had to try this. This is a picture of Josiah that Derek took at Dad's wedding. More pictures to come as soon as I figure out how to re-size them!

Oh yeah, this is why we live here!

It was such a beautiful Sunday evening…. So we snarfed a sangwich, made some popcorn, threw the canoe on the truck and headed for Half-way Creek. It was a gorgeous, calm, sunny, cool evening. This is the first time all five of us have been in a canoe together and the first time I’ve taken a baby this young. (I’m not “Iris the Wonder-Woman of the North”!) The boys were in the middle and I just laid Josiah on a cushion in front of me. He was so happy. Just talked, coo-ed and smiled most of the time. We paddled up the creek to Falkenham Lake and just paddled around looking at the cliffs, rocks, trees, etc. In the creek we saw 2 Great Blue Herons – one of them we got really close to several times. We also were fairly close to an eagle. It was so peaceful and just nice to be together –and so nice that no one capsized the canoe!!

On the way back we had some contests: wolf-howling (I won), moose grunting (Keith won), loon calling (no clear winner), and spitting (obviously Keith won that one!), cat-tail throwing (just the boys did that one and Caleb won). Josiah started getting a little fussy, but he never really howled so I just left him lying there and by the time we got back he had gone to sleep. Yay! I have a “go-anywhere baby”!!! My first one! Actually, I’m just finally becoming a “go-anywhere” Mom.
Now, Keith is just finishing up the dishes (he’s the greatest!). There’s still camping stuff to unpack from yesterday, piles of laundry to do, and I’m almost out of bread. Oh, and of course, the basement to finish putting back together. So, it doesn’t look like tomorrow will be boring. Oh, and I’m supposed to remember to “Seek first the Kingdom of God”, which most often means putting the needs of my children ahead of my to-do list. “Lord, please help me remember that one all day tomorrow!”

I forgot...

...to tell you Keith's reaction to the renovations. He was surprised and impressed. He says he likes the color. Yeah!

And, Rachel, I changed my settings so my blog is "public". So you can get to my blog by clicking on my name in someone else's comments. Happy now? :-)

I'm Seeing Red

I did it! I painted my basement rec-room red and I like it! When we were at family camp-out, Darla told me how she re-decorated their bedroom while Sheldon was gone on his big bike-ride – without telling him. That inspired me since I’ve been wanting to re-paint the basement ever since we painted it that yucky algae color two years ago. I knew Keith was planning a little canoe trip this month, so the gears began to grind away. I made all the plans without Keith knowing it. I’m very indebted to the help of Rita, Mom and Dad Graber, Melva, and Kendra. The room is transformed. It’s not quite finished yet. I just put the last coat of paint on the trim, so Keith will have to put that up. And I still need to paint the door. Other than that, there just a lot of stuff to move back into the room. And my intention is that not everything that was in that room will go back into it. How does “stuff” accumulate so quickly?? Now, please don’t hassle me for pictures of what we did. Kendra brought her camera over and the pics are now on my computer, but I need to figure out how to “smallify” them and post them. Remember, Rome wasn’t built in a day. And I can’t figure out how to post pictures in a day! I did start looking at cameras on-line today. :-) I told Kendra I should paint the basement, and buy a camera while Keith is gone.

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Logan got to go along with Daddy on the canoe trip, and I thought I’d do some things to make it more special for Caleb. So last night I told him he could stay up as long as he wanted. I painted (and talked on the phone with Rachel) until about 11:00. Caleb watched a movie for a lot of that time. Then I headed for bed and Caleb wanted me to play with Legos with him. I informed him that he could stay up, but I had no intention of doing the same! I was in bed by 11:30 and he was in his room playing with Legos. Some time around 12:00 he came in my room and wondered if I would lay down with him or something. I groggily told him to crawl in with me, and that’s how our night ended. I think he was pretty proud of himself for staying up that late!

Just Call Me "Flower Child"

I love flowers!! I guess I learned it from my Mom. I remember her flowers at our "little house" in MN. I remember where the pansies were and how they came up every year and that the colors would change as they cross-breeded. I remember the beautiful begonias across the north side of the house. And I remember the big, um... not-so-pretty (in my humble opinion) cracker-jack marigolds all along the side of the driveway. So, now it's ro surprise to me that I like to spend lots of time and energy - okay, and money too - on my flowers. I teased Keith this year that I'm like Mom: go to the greenhouse and buy flowers, plant them, go back to the greenhouse and get a few more, plant them, go to the greenhouse for just one more thing, and come home with a few more than one, get out another planter because I have too many flowers....

This spring I was pleasantly surprised to see some pansies coming up and blooming almost as soon as the snow melted! I guess that flowerbed is the place for pansies! I also have a fair number of perennials that I've acquired over the last few years. It's so much fun to see them coming up without me doing anything!

This year it seemed like planting took a long time since I did it in one and two-hour segments. But, it was fun. I like containers since you can put them anywhere without making a flower bed. Favorite flowers? Hmmm.... Pansies, geraniums, impatiens, sunflowers, lobelia, lilies. Oh, I could go on and on. Favorite flowerbed? The big one along the side of the patio. I'm doing it all in red, yellow, purple, and orange. (Except on clump of shasta daisies that I don't have any other place for.) Before we moved to this house, I would never have had orange flowers. But Phyllis had some great orange perennials here and I sorta fell in love. :-)

So now a lot of things are blooming, but we're not yet at "full strength". We'll see what the summer holds. Often the plans that I have in my head don't turn out like I wanted. So I try something different. It's not like I'm a master-gardener or anything. I'm just having fun. I'm so thankful that God created beauty - and beautiful flowers!!