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.