More Randomness - This Time Pictures

Keith has been ski-ing home from work some days, and this is the view he gets!

"The girls" on Easter Sunday.

Keith was telling the kids a story as part of his sermon. He almost always does that when he preaches.

Our "Easter Saturday" breakfast: coffee cake, hard-boiled eggs, and hot chocolate.

Plinking away at the ivories. This is a rather rare moment, since it's usually not too peaceful when Josiah tries to join in the fun at the piano.

I've started taking Josiah's clothes off when he plays with play-do since he tends to get it ground into his clothes. It works great!

Caleb in his little corner in the dining room - and having a barrel of fun! :-)

Caleb and Hannah, just being themselves! See the new tile!

Two months old (and pretty happy about that, apparently)!

I just had to post this and ask those of you who knew me when I was two, or have seen pictures of me - doesn't Josiah look like me in this picture?

"I love my Daddy!!"

Random Bullet Points!

* Josiah is now sleeping with the big boys in their room! It’s been a bit of a challenge but he’s doing pretty well now.

* Hannah is very free and generous with her smiles!! And she has an adorable dimple.

* The boys have been diagnosed with “molluscum contageosum”. (Not sure how to spell it.) For a long time they’ve had randomly appearing and disappearing little spots on their faces, and bodies. When one of Logan’s got infected I finally took him and Josiah to see the nurse practitioner. She said it’s a very common pox virus that comes and goes and is nothing to worry about. It’s contagious and very common in children. That’s one I hadn’t heard of before!

* Hannah’s evening and night-time schedule is still pretty erratic. A few times she’s slept until 6:00. Other times she still wakes up anywhere from 1:30 to 4:00. Oh well!

* The other day, Logan informed us that his favorite color is “bright brown”. Upon further questioning, he changed it to dark brown.

* I’ve been feeling fairly overwhelmed lately with housework in general and laundry in particular. It seems like we barely get one “batch” folded before it’s time to start washing more!

* I think one reason I’m feeling overwhelmed is because I’m almost out of freezer meals, and I’m having to cook meals most of the time. So, I’m planning another marathon cooking day on Monday. I’m not really looking forward to it, but I’m looking forward to the results!!

* Hannah is apparently sensitive to dairy and possibly a few other things. When I eat dairy, she doesn’t nurse well the next day – gassy, etc.

* You could all write your names in the dust on my piano.

* Caleb told me yesterday that he prays every night for a soft heart and a compassionate heart. That blessed my heart so much. It’s a confirmation that God does hear my prayers!

* Yesterday Josiah ate three bowls of cereal, two slices of orange, and a piece of toast for breakfast. In retrospect, I don’t think he ate much supper the night before. Oh, and the other day for lunch he had two bowls of peas, about 6 perogies, and ½ of a hard-boiled egg. Then he wanted a piece of bread but I wouldn’t give him one because he wouldn’t finish the egg. And many times he eats almost nothing! What a kid!

* Last night at small group, Hannah screamed if anyone but me held her (including Keith)! She often has fussy evenings.

* I spent lots of the day Saturday sewing a new blouse for myself so I’d have something nice to wear for Easter.

* When you don’t sew much anymore, sewing even a very simple blouse can be fraught with much frustration and many mistakes!!

* Caleb and Logan have been blowing out the knees of their jeans left and right! Never mind abs of steel! Someone find me some jeans of steel!

* Last night on the way home from our small group, we stopped to look at some great northern lights. When Logan got back in the van, I asked him what he thought of them. He replied that they were “cute” and then added “cool”. I wonder what the Creator of the northern lights thought of that? :-)

* I want to write something about Easter weekend, but I think it deserves it’s own post. I’m not sure when or how, but I’ll try to do that soon.

* That's all for now!

Please Don't Insult My Intelligence!

The following was found on a cereal box at our house:

Directions for use

Place 55 g (300 ml, 1 1/4 cup) of VECTOR* in a bowl.  Add 200 ml (3/4 cup) skim milk.

Then what??  They didn't tell me to get a spoon and eat it, so how am I supposed to know that??  Needless to say, my "ducks-in-a-row" eldest son had to get out the measuring cups this morning and try it!

Meal-time Solutions For A Harried Mom

Scenario One

Problem: They didn't like the turkey/potato/green bean casserole. (Too much thyme, perhaps?)

Solution: Add broth and some milk and call it turkey chowder. (I might have even poured off some of the original sauce, hoping to make the flavor milder.)

Problem: They recognized it and still didn't like it.

Solution: Put it in the freezer and get it out a month or so later. Add more milk and thickening, and cheese so it's a thicker, richer turkey chowder.

Result: They didn't seem to recognize/remember it and although it wasn't a great hit, they ate it. Score: Mom - 1 Kids - 0

Scenario Two

Problem: Little Mr. Two-Year-Old is still really picky about what he eats. If he doesn't like it, he would often rather just go to bed hungry. :-( And, now that I'm so busy with Baby and all, I sometimes even forget to offer it to him later. And, he's a bit on the scrawny side.

Solution: If he doesn't like what we're having, I offer him a bowl of oatmeal (I sometimes even keep some cooked in the fridge to heat up when he needs it.) He's been eating it with great enthusiasm. When I tried this awhile back, it seemed like after eating oatmeal for a few meals, he was more ready to eat what we were eating. I guess we both win on this one!


I'd love to hear some of your challenges and victories (or defeats if you want to share them) with feeding your family.

Something to Make You Smile

Thoughts on Worry

I've known for a long time that I have the propensity toward worry, anxiety and fear - oh yeah, and a desire to try to control people and circumstances, which is closely related! It's something I fight/confess/repent of fairly often. Lately I've been "worrying" again. Just stewing over problems and issues in my mind a lot. What a waste of brain power! Anyway, I had lunch with my sister-in-law, Wendy, today and she reminded me of some important truths:

1) God hears and answers prayer!
2) I can and should prayer anywhere and anytime, or maybe I should say, everywhere and all the time.

I was convicted because I know if I have time to "stew", I have time to pray!! Keith said recently, "If you know how to complain, you know how to meditate." (He can't remember who he was quoting.) I'd like to paraphrase that a little: "If I know how to worry, I know how to pray!" I just need to turn those anxious thoughts into petitions to my wonderful Heavenly Father, who is completely powerful and good!

Then I came home and read this:
"So I advise you to live according to your new life in the Holy Spirit. then you won't be doing what your sinful nature craves. The old sinful nature loves to do evil, which is just opposite from what the Holy Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are opposite from what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, and your choices are never free from this confilict. But when you are directed by the Holy Spirit, you are no longer subject to the law." Galatians 5:16 - 18, NLT

So, my desires to worry, fear, and control are from my old, sinful nature. And I know that I have good desires, from the Holy Spirit - desires to pray lots, trust my Saviour completely, be filled with His peace, joy, and love, etc. Apparently what makes the difference is my choices. And it's good to know that "my choices will never be free from this conflict." It's a daily thing and when I forget that, I fall into the enemy's trap.

"Change me, Lord, and help me to make the choice to pray, not worry, every moment of every day!"

In Case Anyone Is Still Checking

Hi Everyone.  I really am still alive.  But whenever I think about blogging, it just seems like too much work!  But, I have a few minutes here to at least say hi  and try to figure out what to tell you all about ourselves.

Hannah's doing pretty well.  Growing like crazy.  She doesn't sleep great during the day, much of the time, so I spend a lot of time holding her.  Any suggestions?? She's gracing us with smiles now, which makes us very happy!

We're managing to get some school-work done and so far we've had food to eat and clothes to wear!  What more could anyone ask for??  I'm really surprised sometimes how well it's going.  It might be because my expectations are so low.  :-)  (Oh, you mean toilets and bathtubs are supposed to be cleaned??)  The boys are doing well at helping out - which reminds me, I was going to get Caleb to water the neglected plants tonight, but I forgot.  Bummer.

God has been working on me in the area of mothering.  I need it.  I've been a lousy mother in some real ways (And don't comment and tell me how that's not true.  I know what's been in my heart and I've lived with the consequences in myself and my children!)  But, God is good and He's changing me - and my children - by His grace!!  Where would I be without Him?!?

That's all for now.  It's time for another feeding and then blissful sleep under a poufy down duvet.  (Remember when we got them, Karla?)  Once in awhile, Hannah even lets me sleep until 5:00!