She Goes Public...

What happened when my kids drove me crazy...

2011-09-29T09:00:00.000-05:00

Sometime last year, my kids were driving me crazy. Not just momentary chaos, but really, crazy.

While they'll probably always be categorized as "good kids", if yours are anything like mine, they are winsome and charming while out of the house, and downright terrible when I'm on duty all by myself.

At that particular time in our household history, they were picking at each other nonstop, disobedient, and - to add an even greater element of community - completely unreliable when Chore Time came each day.

So one morning, I'd had enough, and decided to put off our homeschool studies that day in favor of the study of some New Rules. We don't really have "rules" in our house besides Obedience & Respect, which cover most bases. Occasionally someone will lose the privilege of using scissors, and they're usually not supposed to turn on water outdoors without permission, etc., but being obedient and respectful is the main focus.

However...these children needed some additional focus. (I always call them Children when they're pesky. heh)

Martin (then 10yo) had begun memorizing George Washington's Rules of Civility as compiled in The Book of Virtues for part of his schoolwork, so I was probably somewhat inspired by them. Instead of honing in on good manners/situational ethics and backing myself and the kids into a corner, I chose to make a list of what I call:

Rules for Peaceable Living

Speak in a polite way.
Show kindness to everyone (even enemies!).
Obey quickly and cheerfully.
Be honest and trustworthy.
Do your work well.

That day, I begin by writing them out on our new handy-dandy white board in the dining room while they watched in somber silence. I briefly expounded the points, and then we memorized the Rules together. They each copied them out, even Laura who was doing kindergarten. We repeated them nearly every day at breakfast, and still refer to them. Not as frequently as we probably should, and I haven't done anything cool or creative with them (like paint them on my stairs), but they're a part of our family life now. I hope this post will give you some ideas for making your own Rules. I'm certainly challenging myself by sharing them. Isn't Pinterest the coolest?

If only I had some stairs. ;-)

What happened when I tried to read through the Bible...

2011-09-27T15:42:00.003-05:00

Two weeks ago, the kids and I had the pleasure of an impromptu trip to San Antonio. Visiting with my friend Michelle is always a delight, as she is both resourceful and wise. The fact that she writes an insightful biblical parenting blog is just a bonus! Happening to take time to visit her blog this afternoon, I literally dropped my To Do List in order to share these points from a post Michelle wrote this week.

The post deals with the difficulty most moms find when they try to read the Bible systematically. Surely some of us actually make it (right?!), but I was surprised to find Michelle addressing issues I've struggled with since having kids. Meaning, for the last 11 years of my life. For example,recently I set my mind on reading through the Bible again, and was really looking forward to it. But...

...that was at least a year ago. If not two. *cough*

I'm almost at the end of Leviticus, so you can see how far I've actually gotten. Also, our pastor just completed preaching through the Book of John, so I thought I'd add John for edification's sake while courageously plowing through the Pentateuch. (In case you were wondering, I've made it all the way to chapter 7!)

Below, are the points of "Busy Moms Finding Joy in God's Word". Please take the time to follow the link and read the post in its entirety - you'll be blessed and encouraged!

Spend the most time on the most profitable portions of Scripture
Save the portions that I don’t understand for later
Delight in what I’m reading, not forgetting that reading systematically is of great value, too.
Start applying what I can, and trust that God will show me the things I don’t understand later.

Personally, I'm going to stop pressuring myself to "perform" when it comes to Bible reading, and begin delighting instead. How about you?

Burnt Verdure, among other things...

2011-07-23T11:00:00.006-05:00

So the Dude and the oldest boy (Martin) are gone to a guy thing at church, and I've thrown the 3 Youngers outside to play before it's +100F for the day. I'm sitting here thinking that you and I haven't had much time to talk, and it's about time we caught up.

Firstly, it's S*mmer (so euphemized because it's just plain dreadful.) Morale has not been very high, and it's somewhat of a struggle to find joy and contentment in our situation. T*xas (also euphemized, when the need arises) is wearing on us. I mean, it's worn on me for like, ever, but the Dude is at last itching and forlorn for all the same things as I am. Woohoo! Being entirely unable to initiate an evacuation, we're simply praying...and waiting on the Lord to agree with us. ;-)

Second, I've managed to form thoughts about my children's education into an actual method and approach. (And the crowd goes wild.) You may remember that we've been homeschooling for...wait, four years? My word, it is four years! It's taken reading, listening, watching, interacting with other families/kids in the community, speaking my own ideas aloud, doing school, and so on...and I'm feeling much more confident than I was. The Four seem pretty well-rounded, after the emphases we've placed this year. But I'm no longer fretting about it. Besides, as with any branch of education, there's always a limitless amount to learn and discover. Whatever we don't get around to now, we can do later. (One of my favorite aspects of Homeschooling, that.)

Thirdly, a college-aged girl working in the kitchen at a camp center we were at recently accosted me as I was returning my dishes. The purpose? To ask me if I worked out. paha! That weekend was completely crazy, and at that particular moment in time, a comment like that was the least thing I was expecting. Besides being pretty cool. My innate vanity could have a party, if I allowed...*cough*...but in short, I'm more than happy to have tangible results after a year of Exercising For Real.

Fourth, you'd be shocked if you knew how many books I'd read in the last year or so. I mean, I'm shocked. It wasn't so long ago that I despaired of ever having time to read again. *blink* More on this later, but what started out as reading-ahead-for-Martin (11 now!) turned into a recommendation for the Kindle app by my brother, which turned into me having the entire world at my fingertips, despite being stuck in Smalltown, TX. Who could've even predicted this? Definitely not me -- sworn protestor of electronic "books". Hum!

But I've got to keep this quick. So let me at least leave you with a quote from one I've just started!

Brief background: The BBC's recent version of Little Dorrit was recommended highly a couple years ago, and the Dude came across it just last week in our own Smalltown Library. We're on episode 11...nearly finished. It's not quite what I expected, even as a faithful Dickensian, but it's terrific and very well done. Since I'd just finished Mary Barton on the Kindle app, I downloaded Little Dorrit for my new bedtime book. (Mom read it to us ages ago, but I didn't remember the story.) It opens simply and beautifully, and is going to be a great read.

"A blazing sun upon a fierce August day was no greater rarity in southern France then, than at any other time, before or since. Everything about Marseilles, and about Marseilles, had stared at the fervid sky, and been stared at in return, until a staring habit had become universal there. Strangers were stared out of countenance by staring white houses, staring white walls, staring white streets, staring tracts of arid road, staring hills from which verdure was burnt away. The only things to be seen not fixedly staring and glaring were the vines drooping under their load of grapes. These did occasionally wink a little, as the hot air barely moved their faint leaves."

That it stirred within me memories of another place in which an August sun blazes, producing "hills from which verdure is burnt away" and "vines drooping under their load of grapes" is only somewhat nostalgic. The fact remains that Dickens is a master. His characters with their various layers and curved noses is just a bonus.

Hope to speak to you again soon, dahl-ing...

Sitting still for a moment...

2010-12-13T19:50:00.001-06:00

December 8th came and went last week. The kids and I were sitting at the table doing school, chatting, and I must've been writing out a list when I suddenly gasped, realizing we'd been home from our Trip for two whole months. It's official. The Great Trip of 20-10 is well over, and we are back into Real Life again.

I found it hard to come home...which, ironically, wasn't in the travel plans! After +5,000 miles, it was exhilarating to have actually pulled off such an amazing trip (and on such an unreal budget), but it was daunting to suddenly face the Day-Ins and Day-Outs. Sometimes we both secretly wanted to stop unpacking and simply reload the Suburban and head out again. Somewhere. Anywhere! For 9 weeks, that had been our routine: unpack, repack, and drive on to do it again. It was a bit overwhelming to face an overgrown yard (the only thing we hadn't managed during our absence was the lawn - oops!), cooking, church duties, e-mails, and dishes again.

Even though it was wonderful to be in Our Own Space. *happy sob* That was admittedly the best part. We slept and slept. So happy to be in our own beds (and in our own rooms! plural!!). No consideration for being seen in one's jammies by near-strangers, or any of that socially acceptable stuff. I mean, it's great fun to be with people you love (whether you've met them before or not, right Jem & Jada?? rofl) but at the end of the day, a family needs to be its own unit for at least most of the time.

So as tempting as it was to throw chores to the wind and drive away to a new (unscheduled!) adventure, it's lovely to be home. Even though it does mean I'm in charge of...well, everything again. 8-|

Tonight I found this post on Hands On Projects at Jimmie's Collage on my reader. (Endless resources and good advice over there.) The "homeschooling vs.everything else" is a skirmish I've only recently triumphed over, and I chuckled to see Jimmie unwittingly writing about one of my own secret dilemmas. So now you know.

What happened in Denver...

2010-08-23T23:11:00.002-05:00

So we got into Denver on Tuesday night, August 3rd, exactly 36 hours after officially commencing our Great Trip of 20-10. The next morning - Wednesday - I was a little miffed to find that Denver, land of granola, mountains and cool, was being threatened by a storm system and was therefore warm and humid. *blink* How wude! I mean, it wasn't 108F, but it was still warmish, when I was so looking forward to some real live non-summer.

We went to the Denver Zoo with our friends that day, which was terrific. The only negative bit was that it was...outside. But the day very quickly redeemed itself by cooling right down to about 65F by 6:00pm. I dug a sweater out of the suitcase as fast as you can say Bob's your uncle, and was probably the most happy person on earth that particular evening. Sweaters in August...old and dear friends...steak. It's a winning combination. :-)

Sorry for so many weather references, but...I live in one of the Extreme Summer states, so planning this cross-country excursion during August and September is a big thing. In fact, as I write this, I'm sitting upstairs in a seaside cottage on Camano Island, Washington, next to an open window. And as we begin Week 4, I can quite happily report that I have still not adapted, and am relishing every minute of delicious, normal, humane weather up to this point.

However...we're not yet in Washington in this series, so I digress...

The following days in Denver (Week 1, Days 4 and 5 for those of you at home following along) were happy and slow. We stayed up late, but not too late, and caught up on sleep and face-time with our good friends of the Peterclan. Jessica and I went shopping, but not with strollers, as we used to do in the Old Days. I was reminded of all the ways she influenced me back then, and was humored by how much we still have in common. After living far away from everything you know for eight years, and having to say goodbye to friends who move away, I suppose it was sort of soothing to find that certain friendships don't skip a beat despite the amount of time that goes by.

And I'm eternally glad to be going home to such friends at the end of our Trip. In case I haven't said it enough lately, God is good. (That's my new slogan, if you hadn't noticed.)

Next destination: Utah!

What happened when we loaded everyone up and headed out...

2010-08-17T10:49:00.002-05:00

Week 1, Day 1: Our self-imposed time of departure that morning was 4:30a.m. Actual time of departure was 6:00a.m. (No chortling, please!) Part of this because I stayed up packing/cleaning like a maniac until after 2:00a.m. and the Dude thought I might travel better with a 2 hour nap than a 1-1/2 hour nap. Also partly because THERE WAS SO MUCH TO FINISH UP. (And the day before we left would be a Sunday...)

So off went the alarm at 4:30a.m., and It Began.

Personally, I think dragging little kids out of bed super-early in the mornings for a trip is exciting and fun. We bustle about hugging and whispering "Goodmorning-night!" to each other. The look of dawning realization on their faces when you wake them up in the dark is indescribably rewarding. Like some sort of secret adventure you're in on together.

So we headed out, and drove north-er than we'd gone since driving into Texas that fateful...I mean...providential day we moved ourselves and our two babies to a previously unknown location to follow the Lord's leading of ministry, education, and, ministry education.

The sun came up. I did my duties as Flight Attendant and served breakfast in plastic snack bowls: Cinnamon Life and a dried cherry mix. We drove and smiled (and felt nervous!!) and drove some more. Only two stops that first day, in which we drove 9 hours total, and reached Tucumcari, New Mexico by mid-afternoon. Plenty of time to swim, shower, and prowl around for a restaurant. No one slept before 9:00p.m., mainly because it was so much cooler(!), and partly because I'd forgotten the fact that we'd be sleeping in one room. Oh. My. Moon. (Needless to say, we're not Dr.-Sears-loving, co-sleeping, family-bed folks.)

But we woke up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed (tho my eyes might've been a bit crossed at this point), organized the troops, and pointed them in the general direction of the Breakfast Room of the hotel. I'll spare the details, except to say that small-to-medium children experiencing their very first hotel stay are pricelessly hilarious. Especially when they bellow out repeatedly "This is the best hotel EVER!" *whimper*

We left only an hour past schedule and the extreme boringness of driving North Texas to the Panhandle (except for when we stood in line at the gas station behind a real gun-on-the-hip Texas Marshal) was quickly made up by the drive through northern New Mexico into Colorado....which was amazingly different.

My heart sobbed and soared when we drove through mountains into mountains. But then it was pricked to discover that the children did not share my heritage of mountains-in-sight-always. *blink* Emily kept pointing, "water-mountains, mama!" (watermelon? mountains? or something), and hollering the clouds were making them messy. By Colorado City, Laura had had enough, and was in glower-mode. "I'm tired of all these hills. If I live here when I'm big, I'll cut them down." 8-l

Moving on...

That evening we had dinner at the home of an old family friend of my mother's. She is like an auntie to me, but moved to Denver nearly 15 years ago, so it was lovely to see her, her husband, and one of her grown-up sons. After staying too late, visiting far too short, we piled back in the car and drove to the southeast of the Denver metro are to our hosts': parents of our good friend Randy , who lives nearby with his wife and two girls. Randy and Jess are dear friends who left us behind in Texas to follow his folks to Denver in 2004, meaning that we have 6 years of visiting to catch up on. (And visit we did!)

But that's another post. :-)

Pictures!

Philip, eagerly digging into his Wallace and Gromit 3D activity book

Emily and Martin, breaking out the little tea set I'd saved for the trip

"...and some sugar---!"

South of Amarillo, driving alongside a bit of the old Route 66

(see? nothing much out there except the occasional storm-beaten farm shack)

Train! One of the first trains we've encountered traveling along with us.

At our first hotel! La Quinta of Tucumcari, NM

The Four

(notice Philip, "in disguise")

Martin - reading! - and Emily

Phil-boy in the window, watching cars and people.

This is where he stayed most of the time in our room.

Philip quickly recruited Laura,

and they perched in the windowsill happily (and quietly!) all evening/morning.

The Great Trip of 20-10...

2010-08-02T01:36:00.001-05:00

It's about 1:20a.m., and everything's packed, the kitchen is clean, the last load of laundry is (finally!) dry. Why is it so difficult to pack and clean at the same time? Maybe you don't have this problem. Or, maybe you just draw the line when it comes to taking nine-week trips with your family cross-continent. (Yes, yes...I know. We're nuts.)

So off we go in T-minus 3 hours and counting. Sleep is not on the agenda (thanks to the packing+cleaning equation). Exciting-slash-terrifying adventurous travel is.

I'm cheating here...this is actually a picture from January, when our yet-unnamed Suburban was brand new to us. But the "Take serenely colorful pictures of us posing by the vehicle" item on The List just didn't get crossed off today.

Speaking of names and vehicles, we still can't come up with a keeper for our '95 white Suburban. We've had a '91 red Volvo 740 named Edmund, still own the '92 black Volvo 960 named Charlie, and the ex-van was named The Big Red Car - showing the influence of The Wiggles on our household (tho I called it "The Beast"...*cough*). But this one is a puzzle. We haven't quite experienced the personality of the vehicle yet.

...so we thought we'd pack everyone up and drive for nine weeks. ;-)

First destination: Denver!

Blast it out!, or, the tale of my journey to Jillian Michaels...

2010-07-24T17:20:00.002-05:00

As mentioned in yesterday's post, I'm in the 16th week of a new (and serious-er) workout routine. The fast that I haven't done it this week since Tuesday is something we'll overlook for the present... *cough*

What's my fitness background? Well, I'm no workout junkie, that's for sure. But I have been a Pilates fan since the birth of second child (now 8yo), and always tried to maintain stints of consistency...in between giving birth over and over again. Last year I was feeling the itch for something more intense, because the fourth baby really took it's toll on my body. Right around when she turned 2, I'd had it. I was done feeling physically weak. I wanted something different, yet I'm so not an "aerobics" fan, having grown up on Denise Austin. And reach! And reach!

So a friend and I were visiting one day and she pulled out her never-been-used Basic Tae Bo videotape by Billy Blanks. Apparently it was a door prize she won at prom, back in 1998 - ha! I learned and began doing the workout and loved it, feeling stronger after only a few months. But being only the Basic level, it wasn't even a year before it was hardly a challenge anymore...I had woken up my ex-muscles, but not really changed them yet.

Shortly after New Year's Day, however, mentions of Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred began circulating the social networks. Uh-huh...you know who you are. *eyebrow* Curious, I looked her up, and found out she was one of The Biggest Loser trainers. Intriguing! (I know, I know...and we really don't live in a cave, but we might be one of the last few on earth who neither receive nor care about television channels.)

Which brings me to sixteen weeks and three days ago, when I purchased No More Trouble Zones at Target for $9. I also bought two 2-lb. dumbbells to use, instead of the 3's they use in the program, partly because they were so cheap, and partly because I knew I didn't have enough muscle remaining to handle the 3's! I watched it the next day, and then I went for it. That was a Friday and on Sunday my legs were so sore that I could scarcely hobble across the church parking lot in my 4-inch heels. And how! The soreness lasted for about 5 days, so I didn't reattempt the workout till the following Tuesday. Five days of learning that I really did have muscles attached to my bones...because they screamed at me if I even thought about moving. Welcome to the wonderful world of Circuit Training. It's that effective!

Since then - barring the three weeks when my sister-in-law visited from the UK - I've been faithful to do the workout 2-4 times a week, and even graduated to 3-lb. weights last week. Boo-ya! Overall, I feel stronger, better balanced, and am truly seeing whole-body results. Personally, my main motivation was not weight loss, but to add some muscle to my chicken legs and some toning to my flat bum. That's definitely happening, but with an unexpected twist - my waist is leaner and the lovehandle area is almost gone. I mean, core strength is always something I've sought after, but I didn't think there was any hope of losing that extra post-4 babies "stuff" around my middle. Who knew?!

So that's a definite bonus, and really helps me stay motivated to continue advancing through the workout. Why did I choose the No More Trouble Zones over the (in)famous 30 Day Shred? Because it's longer, and composed of seven circuits, which you can mix and match, working through at your own level. A couple of the moves ("The Surrender", anyone?!) I still cannot do, and a couple of them I modify to favor my knees, but the point is that I can get through the entire workout - sometimes completing entire circuits, sometimes not - and that feels great! It's terrific thing that by adding just 2-lbs. to my weights, I've reached a all-new, challenging level of intensity. The possibilities are endless...I suppose I could literally go the rest of my life working through this particular set of circuits. ha!

Would I recommend this workout for beginners? Not really. I would call this an Intermediate level program. I'd highly recommend Ana Caban's Beginning Mat Workout to any moms out there who aren't doing anything. Unfortunately, chasing toddlers and going without sleep don't count as working out. So sorry! Get some core strength and flexibility going, then move up to this one, bringing into what you've learned (and toned!) from the Pilates work.

The only advice I have to offer anyone wanting to jump into this workout is to really focus on your abs while doing the moves. Keep them tight! Make that mental connection of pulling your belly button into the spine. It doesn't seem that Jillian make this a priority until you've seen and listened to all the circuits numerous times, and this frustrated me at the beginning. But...sometimes we miss out on what our TV trainers are saying until we've been using their tape for 6 months, right? This is the primary reason I promote the Beginning Mat Workout, especially for women who've been pregnant. The unique emphasis of Pilates exercises is using your "powerhouse" (which includes your abs) while moving other parts of the body.

Do you need something new in your routine? Check out No More Trouble Zones. It's killer, and Jillian is a great trainer who makes you look forward to the workout...even when you try to wriggle yourself out of doing it.

But don't take my word for it - see this review from The Dietgirl, whose amazing adventures saw her go from a size 24 to a size 12, and lose a total of 175.5 lbs. My favorite bit is when she references being "pleasantly crippled" the next day. heh

Blast it out! :-D

What happens when there's not quite enough going at once...

2010-07-23T18:01:00.001-05:00

I'm stealing a few moments of post-Quiet Time.

The Four are occupying themselves with legitimate activities, and not even bickering. Emily has tried to sneak past my elbow to nonchalantly nab the empty stapler sitting here awaiting a refill, but other than that, they're busy playing. The object of their attention is the boxful of Rokenbok, found at a garage sale for $5 when they were all too tiny to play with it. Sort of strange that they're all suddenly big enough to play with something with "pieces"....

Things have been slightly mad around here lately. Nothing new added to my range of hats, but I'm pretty much completely overwhelmed in every. single. part. of. my. life. And, naturally, we've managed to squeeze into our schedule the preparations for a Nine-Week Roadtrip, which - naturally! - we leave for in nine days.

[I'll pause here for you to laugh hysterically.]

More later about The Great Trip of 20-10, as I've dubbed it recently. (Thanks, Tez!) It's going to be mostly amazing, but definitely unlike anything you've ever thought of doing in your lifetime. You know, unless you're one of those weirdies who's always dreamed of packing up their 4 not-so-tinies into a 1995 Suburban for nine weeks. Not really sure whether to be thrilled or having a meltdown from moment to moment. The Dude & I frequently glance at each other nervously for a few seconds, till one or other of us breaks eye contact with a forced chuckle or cough, leaving the other to wonder if they're the one having second thoughts about this craziness...

Amidst the self-imposed nuttiness, the only area in which I feel some semblance of order and control is the Fitness I'd promised to write about. It took a little musing just now to recollect when I began the routine exactly...but the start date was April 2nd, which means I am now in the 16th Week. (You can't help calculating things by weeks when you've been pregnant and/or breastfeeding for nearly 10 years of your life.) And I honestly don't even recognize certain parts of my body. Areas that I'd resigned to the oblivion of youth and prenatal-ness. Every other part of my life is sort of like a highspeed car chase - exciting, purposeful, but not exactly ordered or controlled! Somehow those 30 or 40 minutes I spend a couple times a week helps steady me for all the other stuff, and so I'm thankful to have them.

A more detailed post about that (for those of you who are interested) will show up here tomorrow. No, really...I kromise!

The Day of Emily...

2010-05-12T17:08:00.007-05:00

Three years ago today was the due date for my fourth pregnancy. Lucky me, my brilliant (Jamaican!) OB pulled rank on me and chose to induce a couple days early. I'm an advocate for natural labor whenever possible, plus I always imagine/prepare for the worst, so I was terrified to be induced. (Because if anyone's going to be paralyzed from an epidural gone awry, it'd be me. No doubt.)

But induce he did, then facilitated the smoothest labo(u)r and delivery than we ever imagined - or experienced. I'm still not a promoter of inductions and epidurals outside of necessity, but fourth-time moms are sort of on autopilot in normal cases, so it was a absolute breeze. And my wise doctor saved me an even later birth than my others, trauma to the baby with meconium en utero and post-birth, and, a dramatic side-of-the-highway delivery since we live more than an hour from the hospital. It was a win-win scenario, besides the teeny baby girl I got out of the arrangement!

The Day of Emily

(May 9, 2007)

This is me, a few minutes before the induction.

Nervous and slightly weirded out to be in the Labor Room

...but *not* in labo(u)r.

Four hours later! Teeny Emily with the Labor Nurse, Doctor, and the proud (relieved!) Dude.

A strange sensation to be holding a newborn minutes after delivery!

Martin (6), very excited to be an even bigger brother.

Little Philip (4) happy but slightly mystified at the New Baby.

And sweet, fiery Laura (2), still practically a baby herself.

My little sister who drove down as fast as she could

from Little Rock to be here for the homecoming.

Here she and I are giggling at that

nothing-can-wake-me-up deep newborn sleep.

Me, holding Little Em, and washing bottles and pump pieces

a few days after delivery. *long Napolean breath*

(Breastfeed! It's so much better!)

One of my favorite pictures ever.

...and here she is, Miss 3! Finding her Happy Birthday Cake.

...with her giant Birthday Dog from Uncle Mark & Auntie Sandra.

...taking the dutiful photo in front of the Picture Door.

(I started a tradition last year of painting them a birthday shirt. Yay!)

...and a new favorite picture.
A rare, holding-still-yet-expressive pose while

listening to Auntie Tina sing "Happy Birthday" over the phone.

Happy Birthday little Em'y. What a blessing you are!

What happens when you use your Tuesday eyes... (2)

2010-05-11T17:42:00.006-05:00

This post is a part of Tuesdays Unwrapped,
hosted by Emily of Chatting At The Sky.

I got to sleep in today. At 7:55, Little Em barged through the door, turned off the Noise Fan, grabbed the pen and Tums from Daddy's bedside table, and ran pell-mell around the bed to my side, shoving them into my still-asleep hand. It's the traditional way she wakes up the Dude, who usually sleeps later than I do.

"Wake up, mom! It's SEVEN-FIRTY!" I chuckled at the cuteness of the irony, because for weeks I've been teaching her to lay in bed and cuddle till the Legal Hour of 7:30. (Capt, we have retention!)

I'll skip the part where she used all of her 3yo might to peel back the covers only to bellow with laughter at the sight of my "unnerwear"...

Tuesday continued in full force. The Dude gratefully retreated to the office to work once I made my morning entrance into The Workstation of the kitchen/dining/living areas. I assigned math lessons, paid bills, washed dishes, picked up alphabet sets, and broke up bouts of bickering. All the while walking on a crumb-covered floor which I refuse to sweep pre-lunchtime due to the canceling-out nature of lunch to clean floors. Kid lunch was served. Afterward, the Dude and I had nearly an hour of lunch together during Quiet Time, before I resigned myself to a list of computer work for the remainder of the afternoon. With that (mostly) done, I wanted to contribute to Tuesday Unwrapped but couldn't find anything but dust and mediocrity around me. (The kids were still schooling or resting during Quiet Time, and are of course neither dusty nor mediocre. *wink*)

Then my eyes fell upon the notebook from a recent women's conference I attended. It's propped up between my desktop CPU, tax folders, catologs, and business checkbooks.

...oh, and there is some dust in this picture.

The sight of the logo reminded me of the theme and speaker, which were both a blessing and a downright thrill to me that weekend. Whenever I see it, it renews my zest for normal, boring, domestic life. Because, let's face it - ministries and resources that promote thinking among believers aren't too rare, but among women? Nearly non-existent. (You know how it is...women's classes only ever tackle "felt needs", and there are no authors of Bible study materials besides Beth Moore.)

My favorite talk that weekend was the main speaker, Mary Jo Sharp's, "Redefined Confidence" during the general session on Saturday. She built a case for the desperate need of biblical literacy among believers as the only sure way to counter influences of society (atheism, etc.) on our thinking, the lies of which eat away at our confidence...and even our faith. It is critical that we hunger and thirst for the knowledge of God (Prov. 4:5-7; Hos. 4:1-2, 6), otherwise we are left open to attack, and unable to give a defense of our faith!

Deepening knowledge of God ---> builds belief and faith --->

strengthens confidence in who we are.

Naturally, I nearly rocketed out of my seat when she used the word "apologetics" repeatedly, and could hardly contain myself when she even mentioned Greg Koukl of Stand To Reason a number of times. (She highly recommends his book, "Tactics".) The wow factor in all of this was that I was surrounded by women, instead of the usual living-room-full of seminary students/grads and keen laymen discussing such things with my husband (who happens to have his PhD in Apologetics). Whee!

Mary Jo Sharp is a speaker/apologist/debater/author who co-founded the website Confident Christianity. Enjoy the extensive resources and goodies on her site, and don't miss her blog!

So that's my Tuesday gift, unwrapped. What I do matters, what I read matters, and - most of all - what I think matters.

Menu Plan Monday...

2010-05-03T08:17:00.004-05:00

This morning I woke up...and it was Monday.

I'm not a Monday-hater by default because - let's face it - every day is Monday for mothers of multitudes. But today I'm a little worn down with extra duties, so I thought it'd be fun and change-of-pace to jump on board with Menu Plan Monday.

Via my gal Jada at Food. Fun. Family. She is a master.

So here we go!

Monday: Pepperoni/Mushroom/Onion/Spinach Pizza with Green Salad.

Tuesday: Whole-wheat Linguine with Alfredo Sauce, Chicken, Bacon & Steamed Broccoli.

Wednesday: Crockpot Chili with ground turkey (technically made the day before to allow flavors to meld, which means I need to soak my pinto & kidney beans tonight) & Whole-wheat Cornbread.

Thursday: Chicken Tikka Masala. Oh, yes. Thank you, Jamie Oliver for making this not only possible, but probable. And thank you, mom, for the cookbook on my birthday last month.

Friday: Barbeque Beef on Homemade Sandwich Rolls with Steamed Veggies.

Sunday: Pork Loin or Beef Roast in the traditional English "Sunday Roast" style with roast potatoes, Yorkshire Pud' and all the trimmings as described in Jamie Oliver's "Food Revolution" cookbook. Most of the players for this meal I could already do, but the Roast Potatoes have alluded me for years. I'm anticipating impressing my visiting British relatives. Hopefully.

I haven't allowed for the desserts I'll likely make, but that can be a future post...and I've skipped a day to allow for leftovers and/or mental lapse on my part with all the projects I have going at the mo'. ;-)

Here's a brief recap of what we ate last week:

Monday: Homemade Pizza & Salad.

Tuesday: Black Beans & Brown Rice with Chicken Fingers and Corn.

Wednesday: Whole-wheat Spaghetti with Homemade Bolognese Sauce and Peas.

Thursday: Mexican Casserole (corn tortillas, pinto beans, ground turkey, tomato sauce, corn, cheese) and Green Salad.

Friday: Leftovers.

Saturday: Even more Leftovers.

Sunday: Tuna Salad on wholegrain crackers, Steamed Broccoli, Popcorn, and Grapes. (It's what happens when mom and dad are both working on joint and separate deadlines all weekend.)

So what about you? What're you cooking up this week? I always suggest trying for something new and fabulous or zany and plan a couple of additional meals with similar ingredients. Makes for simpler (and cheaper!) grocery shopping.

What happened on Monday afternoon...

2010-04-28T13:21:00.004-05:00

Thursday, April 15th was a special day in our house, not because of Tax Day (took care of that weeks ago - for once), but because my British husband's sister and brother-in-law whom we haven't seen in nine years planned a three-week vacation based at our house. Our whole family was excited beyond measure, and the timing was absolutely perfect - their arrival fell right between my birthday and the Dude's. Talk about celebration!

However...there was a small hitch the night before:

The "Eyjafjallajokull" volcano in southwest Iceland.

(This genius photograph was featured here.)

We didn't find out till the morning of...and neither did my sister-and-brother-in-law. There was much wailing and consternation. (The latter mostly from Uncle Mark.) But absolutely nothing could be done except to wait. So, Auntie Sandra went back to work, the kenneled doggie came back home, and my children did their schoolwork. All of this, despite all parties being led to believe they were beginning a much-anticipated holiday.

As you can imagine, spirits were very high.

*cough*

The Dude had a rather mopey birthday two days later (bless him), and even though I made a fabulous cake which surpassed all other fabulous cakes, it was admittedly depressing to eat it without Auntie Sandra!

Each day began with "maybe today!" and by this time, my three olders could point to Iceland on a map in 2 seconds flat. Martin (9) was sad, but calm and intellectual about it all, reciting facts from BBC newscasts to anyone who asked. Phil-boy (7) was frustrated with the lot of us, because the logical thing for Auntie Sandra to do was to come by boat, obviously. (We did try to explain that it took weeks to sail across...) Laura (5) was disappointed, but not too concerned, since she wasn't sure who Auntie Sandra was, and Auntie Sandra must actually be Auntie Alicia (my middle sister), and she didn't live in England, so there wasn't much of a crisis really!

This quote is from the BBC website I linked to above:

Iceland is a country of fire and ice, home to several volcanoes and straddling two tectonic plates. The Eyjafjallajokull volcano began erupting in March. On 14 April, the eruption entered a new explosive phase which was to bring European airspace to a standstill.

And, holy moon, bring it to a standstill it did! Poor Auntie Sandra & Uncle Mark aside, the UK airspace was shut down for four days. As they say over there, the "knock-on effect" was massive. See this additional BBC page for a terrific diagram of flight paths that were affected. (And you really must click on the "19-21 April" selections just above the diagram. Unbelievable!) So not only were vacationers...erm, "holidaymakers"...and businessmen stranded in and out of the country, but troops and troops of RAF soldiers were affected - my nephew in the Middle East among them. The airline industries lost an estimated 2 1/2 million dollars a day. (A day!)

By the following Tuesday (5 days later), we were back in Normal Mode, trying to pretend they hadn't been coming. It admittedly helped the week to pass quickly, and suddenly it was Monday again. *sigh*

A very normal Monday it was, too. Kh... (You know how Mondays are.) But around 12:30pm, Philip aka Lightning Streak passed me in the hall, shrieking and nearly sobbing with the house phone to his ear. By the time he came back to find me, handed off the phone, and resumed shriek-streaking back across the house, I realized who was calling. Auntie Sandra! Not only were they on the way, they were here! Stopped on the edge of town so Uncle Mark could recover from RV-ing through Dallas, apparently. (heh)

What a kerfuffle of vacuuming and picking-up ensued! With generous amounts of group-shrieking, of course. And within minutes, as promised, Auntie Sandra & Uncle Mark pulled up in their rented RV in front of the house.

Pretty much the best Monday we've had in awhile.

The End.

What happens when you come back after 5 months...cough

2010-04-21T16:55:00.003-05:00

Well, hello there.

Just so you know, I really was going to start blogging again. But the Dude's laptop would give up the ghost the very month I set up a nice little blog page. *long Napolean breath* And since he runs an online ministry, he kind of has to be on the computer. All day. Every day. So much for 2009, I suppose! But 2010 and I have gotten rather chummy, and I'm looking forward to posting regularly. Never let it be said that I'm not a chatty person! But you'll find that out for yourself when you stop by for tea later. (Milk? Sugar? Both?)

Here's a brief list of post categories you can look forward to, not necessarily in this order:

Homeschooling - I'm finding my style, and I must say it's invigorating to figure this all out bit by bit!
Food & Fitness - because let's face it. I was a mostly-whole-foods advocate long before Her Fabulousness began her now world-famous Challenge.
Book Reviews - yes, me! Reading again! 3 years ago, I still didn't believe this would be possible before age 50. *happy sob*
What Happened in October/November/December... - a recap of some of our most (in)famous moments during the last few months. Oh, yes.

In closing, I wanted to share this terrifically simple post which was timely for me today: "7 Tips for Fighting Blogger Burnout" from Mandi Ehman at Organizing Your Way. (Thanks again!)

What happened when I wanted Chicken Tortilla Soup...

2009-11-25T17:34:00.003-06:00

So I tried my hand at Chicken Tortilla Soup in the kitchen the other night. The motivation for this particular dish was that I brought home a package of corn tortillas by mistake recently. We always get flour. Always. But it was the end of a Costco-shop, I was tired from running errands up in the city with 4 tinies, and, I trusted that the kid I asked to grab them was paying attention. (ha)

The Dude and I weren't disappointed, we thought corn tortillas made a nice change to our once-in-awhile quesadilla lunches (or dinners). But the tinies were not impressed. So here I am, stuck with a Costco-sized package of corn tortillas. I mean, one can only eat so many quesadillas and maintain one's delicate figure (and their love of cheese!).

Two Mexican casseroles and numerous force-fed quesadilla meals later...

My thoughts wandered again to Chicken Tortilla Soup. That lovely soup which conjures up "everything satisfying & delicious" emotions. But I was dubious to try it. Pretty much every recipe I've ever seen is either: 1) so durn complex that I feel hopelessly bullied into never attempting, or, 2) made by dumping numerous canned goods into a pot and heating (which cooking method I'm saving for the End of the World, you know, when we're all living in bomb shelters). It's silly really, because when I'd been married only a few years, I ran across the Dairy Hollow House Soup & Bread Cookbook. I bought it, and studied it thoroughly before launching my soup-making legacy. It's changed my perspective on beans, soups, and even created an unbreakable marital bond. I am confident in my husband's stickability and committment to our marriage because I make him soups!

But I digress...

My attempt was not only successful, it was inspired. Mostly by perusing 8 different recipes on AllRecipes. *cough* I wasn't satisfied with any of them, so set out with a firm step to make my own version. It's a thick-ish soup, not watery (because Tortilla Soup should never be watery!), but there is no masa or floating used-to-be-corn-tortilla mush (because that's just gross). And so it is - with no small amount of pride - that I now introduce you to:

*The* Chicken Tortilla Soup

2 (froz.) chicken breasts

Cook at a medium boil in a saucepan of salted water with a tsp. of vinegar (to reduce foaming).

2-4 tbsp. oil
1 onion, slivered
5 cloves garlic, pressed

Meanwhile, saute the above ingredients in a dutch oven/soup pot, until onions begin to brown. Then, add:

1/3 c. short-grain brown rice
1 tbsp. chili powder
2 tsp. cumin powder
1 tbsp. oregano
ground black pepper to taste

Continue to saute until rice is toasted (a few minutes). Add about 6 cups of boiling water, and simmer on medium-low for about 30 minutes, while the chicken continues to cook separately. (Not too much water! You can always add more later, if necessary.) Then, add:

1-2 cans Rotel tomatoes – OR –
1-2 cans of crushed or diced tomatoes & 1-2 small cans of chopped green chiles
2 cups cooked beans (preferably: pintos, kidneys, or reds – if using canned beans, drain & rinse)
1 can condensed tomato soup
1 chicken bouillion cube

When chicken is tender, remove to a separate plate and shred. Add to the simmering soup pot along with:

1-2 cups frozen corn

Cover and simmer until corn is tender. At that point, do a taste test, and add more oregano, cumin, black pepper, chili powder (and, cayenne?) to taste. I don’t remember adding any additional salt!

Top with these Homemade Tortilla Chips:

Stack 4-6 corn tortillas and cut pie-style into 8 wedges. Arrange close together on a stone (or baking sheet covered with foil), spray sparingly with Pam and sprinkle lightly with salt. Bake at 400F for 8-10 minutes.

This soup was brilliant. Legen-dary, even. And although I am a cheese freak (hem), I didn’t add any cheese on top because I'm a firm believer that a good soup should be able to stand alone. (But being cheeseless also serves to make the soup cheaper to cook, and cuts out some fat.)

The Dude and I meted out equal portions for leftovers-lunch today, each casting extremely suspicious looks at the other's bowl. It was that good...

What happens when you use your Tuesday Eyes...

2009-10-13T14:04:00.003-05:00

Yesterday I woke up on the correct side of the proverbial bed: things were good, I was productive. And today? I stumbled out from the wrong side. Besides the fact that I have minutes to type up and distribute from last night's meeting, two e-newsletters to edit, a payroll tax form to figure and file, and an explosion of too-big/too-small clothes to finish sorting, I didn't think I felt overwhelmed. But apparently I did..do. Not exactly a spiritual response to the day!

...and then I remembered that it's Tuesday.

I groaned and didn't think I'd find anything redemptive about this long day, but sighed and dutifully started looking out for today's gift to unwrap. Imagine my surprise when I then began enjoying the little details I'd missed during my self-absorbed huff. Things like:

Martin's near-perfect penmanship. *blink* He had a whole year of messy writing, but suddenly his writing is uniform, compact, and straight.

Philip's knack of always holding something small and random in his hand while eating, writing, brushing his teeth,...and doing chores. It annoys me terribly at times, but really, how dexterous of him.

Emily lying her crayons two-by-two on paper napkins. (Emptying the napkin dispenser in the process...) "And one for youuuu - here'ya go! Here's a nakkin."

But schoolwork was half-over - and I still hadn't gotten Tuesday's point - when I hopped on the computer to edit and return a Word doc quickly before the lunchtime meltdown, looking woefully at the clock, calculating just how much time there was left to finish school, feed the kids, pick up the place, nap the baby...and feed myself.

Toast popped up from the toaster, and when I tried to pop out of my chair, it didn't budge. Instead, it giggled.

So I found my Tuesday gift in the form of Laura, wrapping herself up in the raincoat I laid over my computer chair. She finished her Explode the Code bookwork - even those pesky K's! - and found somewhere to hide while waiting for lunch.

God is good. He loves me enough to (again) remind me to stop focusing on myself, and to enjoy these Tiny details around me. By nature I do not enjoy details unless they're straight, matching, and in alphabetical order. (It would be complicated, you know, but it's filed so neatly...rofl)

But I am just overcome by this tiny girl - growing up, thinking big thoughts, and so gifted with hand-on creativity. What a gift!

Living in a "Broken Down House"...

2009-10-07T17:16:00.009-05:00

This is my first "Wisdom Wednesday" post, hosted by my friend Michelle, on her parenting blog.

Recently, the Dude went to a conference primarily for those in pastoral ministry. The speaker was Paul David Tripp. Now, it's not terribly often that he (the Dude) will wax exuberant about contemporary speakers and ministries, but in a phone call to me on his way home, he answered my question of "how was it?" with outstanding, really good, and a tremendous help.

*blink*

Naturally, I went looking for Paul David Tripp on T witter the next morning, because that tends to be the quickest way for me to connect with people and ministries these days. I learned that they were sharing excerpts of his new book "Broken Down House" in tweet-bunches, which I followed, opting to have the tweets sent to my phone so I could keep up.

The excerpts via Twitter started on Monday, and since my brain was still on overload from the last couple of weeks, I wasn't assimilating as much as I'd anticipated.

...until this morning.

When I stumbled out to the kitchen to start bread dough, turned on my phone, and read the latest batch, which hit me right between the eyes.

You see, I had a bad two days last week, and handled pretty much everything and everyone around me...badly. Even while I was wide awake and hating my sinful behavior in the process, I was so overwhelmed and consumed with my "needs" that I just. couldn't. stop.

I've spent the last few days praying, entreating God to help me get out of this ugly and destructive pattern. And He graciously sent these, in the form of SMS text messages, no less:

We always live out of a sense of identity. Who are you? The identity you give yourself largely defines your responses to difficulty

To live by grace, you need to stay very clear on who you are. Ch3 of BDHouse covers our 2 identities: sinner & child of grace

To recognize their existence and understand what it means to possess them both, together, is to see yourself as you truly are.

We all ignore our sin, forget our sinfulness, & overestimate our maturity. The biblical doctrine of sin reminds us of our neediness

(Ow...)

Minimize the presence & power of remaining sin & you don’t seek help from God & others - you live more independently than God intends

(Ow...)

1st step to living productively in this fallen world: see we’re not as good as we thought, thus more needy & vulnerable than we imagine

(Ow...ow...)

Productive living in Christ’s kingdom is always rooted in a humble sense of personal neediness.

There will be a war in your heart between what the Bible says about you and what you would like to think is true about you.

My greatest problem isn’t external, environmental, and circumstantial. It’s internal, personal, and moral.

(Ow...ow...ouch!)

Yet I mostly want to blame family, neighbors, church, job, friends, boss, community, $$$, gov’t, traffic, Internet, society etc.

Only when I own the sadness of seeing myself accurately can I know the joyful grace God gives those who acknowledge their need

Good stuff. And here is a description of the theme of "Broken Down House" on the Shepherd's Press website:

Sin has ravaged the house that God created. It sits slumped, disheveled and in pain, groaning for the restoration that can only be accomplished by the hands of him who built it in the first place. The good news is that the divine Builder will not relent until everything about his house is made new again. The bad news is that you and I are living right in the middle of the restoration process. We live each day in a house that is terribly broken, where nothing works exactly as intended. But Emmanuel lives here as well, and he is at work returning his house to its former beauty.

Isn't that beautiful? I hope you are encouraged...or possibly hit right between the eyes, as I was. Here is the complete excerpt from Chapter 3. (By the way, they're giving away a free, signed copy to 7 followers of @bdhouse!)

What happened outside...

2009-10-05T12:07:00.000-05:00

So little Em and I went outside, and had a great time. She went up and down the slide, laughed at Philip and Laura on the trampoline, and I gave her a ride on the trike, and pulled a few weeds in the garden. She "helped" me cut flowers from our zinnia plants (that grew from year-old seeds!), and I snapped these:

She's very cheeky, now she's nearly 2 1/2,
and will hardly look at the camera
...but this shot just captured her perfectly!

Until later...

2009-10-04T16:50:00.000-05:00

Emily, 2 years old,
eating her soynut butter sandwich
at the lakefront yesterday

I sat down to catch up here, but simply cannot deny this tiny girl.

The three olders are playing outside in the (cool! delicious! breezy!) outdoors, and after listening to little Em'y putter about happily in here, chattering to herself, I just can't sit here glued to the screen - I have to be with this child. She hasn't asked for anything, she isn't whining, and she is perfectly happy to toddle about by herself, singing snatches of Sunday School songs, and peering out the window at the others outside. But I can't do it...her sweet contentment is making me feel like a complete heel!

Homeschooling posts can wait - *sigh* - tinies cannot. :-)

p.s. While I was browsing, she paused now and then to glance at the 'puter, and was filled with glee to see the mamas, daddies and babies on your blog pages, and air-kissed them all. "I tiss a-baby!!" Then she was suddenly woeful when she played with the water cooler (illegally) and spilled on her shirt. "My shoat! My shoat! Diddit OUT, mummy!!" rofl

Ah, me...

T-Minus 2 weeks till school starts, Capt...

2009-09-17T14:11:00.000-05:00

Since I purchased this particular stack of books on July 15th, this post is slightly overdue, but with homeschool starting in two weeks from today, it's no less pertinent!

July 15th, was a Marker Day in our family. That was the day we realized Half Price Books was hosting a summer reading program. Each child received a $3 store credit for reading at least 30 minutes per day, 5 days per week during the summer. Martin and I immediately exchanged our eyeballs for dollar signs. You see, Martin is 9, and he reads at least 6 hours a day. (8 hours if he can get away with it.) He even takes a stack of books outside with him...until I confiscate them and give him the Play Like a Child lecture.

But back to the dollar signs...

The manager at Half Price Books then proceeded to inform me that we could turn in backdated reading forms. So, not only was this our Lucky Day, but we were going to have repeat episodes. We are a family who lives for books. And with (now) three school-age children turning in reading forms for each week's $3 store credit for the next six weeks. The joy was indescribable.

It was the end of a very long, much-traveled day, and my poor brain could scarcely add up the numbers, but it turned into 13 forms x $3. That equals $39, right...? (See, I like to blame it on cooking 5 meals the day before, arranging to pick up 2 more, and coordinating drop-off times to a missionary-family-with-a-new-baby in Dallas, followed by lunch/fellowship with ministry friends in East Dallas, and dinner/more fellowship with more ministry friends in Arlington - all in 106F/41C T*xas misery - but the truth is that I have issues with Small Math. *cough*)

But whichever sympathy you choose to lean toward, regarding my math, erm, skills...

...it was heaven. And (and!) we happened to be at the nicest location I've seen, with a large and varied inventory. Martin and I took turns clambering over each other and letting out shouts of "Look what I found!!". He got a whole stack to himself, Laura and Philip picked out a few, and I fairly glowed over the pile pictured above - all of which will be Read-Alouds, then Readers for our upcoming school year(s).

They looked so pretty sitting there on my computer desk that I had to take a picture and tell you their story... :-D

Wednesday!

2009-07-29T20:44:00.000-05:00

Waiting for the kettle to boil for our nightly pot of peppermint tea, and posting my first contribution to What I Found Wednesdays - which should really be my first Find, I suppose! - care of Angie at The Creative Mama.

As mumsy to four precocious tinies, work-at-home mom, and wife to a dedicated ministry-man, I have a lot of demands on my time and emotions. In case I didn't mention it before (heh), I'm also three days away from any relatives and/or long-time friends, so don't get much relief. We attend a great church, but as any ministry-wife knows, it takes years to build close relationships!

All that to say, I've been encouraged today. Greatly encouraged. I stumbled(?) across page after page of blogs of other moms - ministry and not, homeschooling and not, craft-y and not. I turned off the 'puter today to find I was joyful and at peace, everything around my not-perfect house seemed beautiful, mainly because of the little bodies that were running, screeching, drawing and bouncing all over it. God is good.

Here are some that I found most inspiring:

Organizing Your Way - Simple, and extremely resourceful. And the woman is about to have her 4th baby, for cryin' out loud. I ran across Mandi via:

Simple Nest - my favorite categories so far have been "Decluttering", "Organizing", and...*whimper*..."Decorating". Eureka! (And her site's affiliated with Simple Mom!)

Balancing Beauty & Bedlam - homeschool mom of five (5!), speaker, and bread baker. And owner of a beautiful, inspiring site. Can't wait to read more.

Nesting Place - the byline here is "it doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful". With plans of starting a new year of homeschooling, and boxes and BOXES of pictures stored here and there, I really needed this one today. I love that The Nester posts "real" photos, too.

That's it for me! Now I'm off to finish baking the rest of the triple-batch of chocolate cookies I whipped up earlier. Recipe care of the husband of my pal Sarah over at Emerging Mummy. Although, I made them (mostly) whole-wheat, and did break down and use an electric mixer. (Sorry, Bri...*cough*)

Stepping away from the children...

2009-07-27T16:08:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was one of those rare occasions when the Dude and I go somewhere for more than a couple of hours. Together. At the same time.

When you have one child, this is quite a normative experience. (Especially when your parents live in the same town.) When you have two children, it's not quite as regular, but can happen as often as necessary. (Even when you move far away from everyone you know, but especially when you are blessed enough to move down the street from people who adore children and love God even more.) When you have three children, it's more difficult to pull off, but still...not out of the question. (Especially when the college-aged son of your best friends lives 2 apartment buildings down and is a very good sport. Or when your little sister lives with you for 6 months.)

But when you have four children? Not so much. In fact, not really at all. (Unless your little sister marries the college-aged son of friends and moves a day's drive away. And for two blissful years...before moving far, far away again.)

We did manage to pull off a business trip recently, but as amazing as that was (amazing = moving heaven & earth to place 4 children in 4 homes for 4 days during VBS week), it was business. We had little to no down time, and any ministry wife can relate to sharing your husband with a laptop and Powerpoint presentations in a hotel room.

Despite the impossible, however, I managed to gain enough babysitting credits and/or charity with a friend - who has three tiny girls of her own! - to cash in on TWELVE HOURS of babysitting my four tinies. *blink* It's always such a huge undertaking, in my mind, for someone else to watch my kids. I'm always loathe to be thought an imposition. I mean, I have four children!! It takes a lot of grace and sacrifice for someone to even offer to keep them.

Finally, I had to make myself allow her to do this for me. I've done it for her, numerous times over the last year or so. Sometimes for pay (when it's work-related), sometimes not. Sometimes planned in advance, sometimes day-of or even night-before. And it's always fine. She knows she can drop them and go - we have everything we need here: kid-friendly food, sippy cups, toys, diapers, blankets, tiny-girl clothes, crayons, and kid movies. It came down to me packing hardly anything for them and letting she and her husband caravan away from the church parking lot in their Suburban and our van. You'd think it would be simple, but I had to tell myself to literally...

...step AWAY from the children!!!

And so I did. It was very freeing, and I didn't worry a bit, because I know she doesn't worry about hers when they're with me. (Sound so simple, doesn't it?) Here's what we did:

A friend of ours from the Chinese church that the Dude preaches at occasionally is a HUGE Chelsea fan. (For you Americans, Chelsea is an English football [soccer] team.) Apparently, Chelsea were coming to D/FW, to play at the brand new Dallas Cowboys stadium. Naturally, our friend got tickets, and naturally, he invited the Dude! Somehow I got invited to go, too, but we didn't find out till last week. Brilliant!

We were supporting Chelsea - of course, because the Dude is English - but were absolutely outnumbered by the Club America fans. The parking lot was even full of cars with Mexico license plates. I mean, I honestly respect anyone who drives more than a day across an international border to attend a soccer match! It was the final match of the World Football Challenge...something I'd never heard of. But I'm game for any sort of competition that will encourage the USA to get involved with (or, even aware of!) what the rest of the world have been doing for the last century and longer. "Our" team beat the Mexican team soundly! 2-o. It was very exciting. Personally, I'm glad for the pre-World Cup 2010 exposure (the only time we get cable TV - every 4 years, for a month. ha) If you're a soccer/"foot"ball fan, you can read about this final match here, and Angry Trey posted pix of the match, and the beautiful new stadium on his blog today.

One more thing...during the World Cup soccer tournament, and, again last night, I always suppress a big pahahahaha when some of the Mexican teams come out in their "Bimbo"-sponsored uniforms. Bimbo is Mexico's brand of of Wonder Bread. I always try to pronounce it in Spanish in my head. But sometimes my giggles still get the best of me...

Loose & Lose...

2009-07-23T13:00:00.000-05:00

Philip and I have a deal - he pulls out his tooth today, or I do it after dinner tonight. Terms of the deal include no screams of terror, no loud wailing, and no wrestling him down to do it. The tooth is begging to come out, but it's been a tenacious one that's taken ages to get properly loose...unlike the first one, which was a piece of cake.

He lost Tooth #1 (shown, missing) on June 15th, 3 weeks before his 7th birthday. It was a long-awaited triumph! He's been impatient to cash in on the Tooth Fairy, you know...

So tonight, it's me vs. Tooth #2. You can see it there, just to the left of the space left by Tooth #1. One of us is going down. I've never been bettered by a tooth before, and Phil and I do have our deal, so the chances are pretty good that I'll make it out of this alive.

Then again...I've learned to never underestimate the tinies' mortal dread of any physical procedure - medical or non. 8-l

"Just greenery and humid air"...

2009-07-20T15:16:00.000-05:00

I'd almost despaired of my poor garden, but here I am, sitting in a quiet house, listening incredulously to the still-steady rain. A quiet house in itself is pretty good cause for incredulity (love that word), but calm rain and 78F/25C temps in the third week of July? Typically out of the question for even the most credulous.

Unlike my other 5 siblings, who grow beautiful, abundant things whenever they durn well please, I did not inherit my mother's green thumb. But I determined that this year would be My Year. This year, I would prove that certain scientific truths must prevail, regardless of thumb-color. Taking my British mother-in-law as my strength, I made the trip to Home Depot in April and purchased actual plants. Further, I planted them in the actual ground. But just a few, mind you. (Still planning ahead for mortality rates, you know.) A tomato, two squash, basil, rosemary, and some onions.

Hurdle 1: They lived for the entire month of May.
Hurdle 2: Early June brought heat and strong sun, and the things thrived. 8-l

My own naivete proved to be Hurdle 3, and that was supposing that plants which require "Full Sun" will do great no matter how much sun they get. (You know, because Full Sun means they should be in the sun. All the time. Right...?)

Not so.

Mid-June brought us consistent +100F temps, with a heat index of around 110F. (For all you Celsiu'ns, I'm not bothering to convert, because it's a temperature you'll probably never experience in your lifetime. Just think "really, unbelievably hot".) A month later, you can imagine my dismay when these (supposedly) Full Sun plants withered, shrunk, and did everything but thrive and produce...although being well-past their 60-day period till fruition.

Naturally, when daily watering and other care rendered no response, I hurried to conference with some of the Master Gardeners at church (like, the elderly organ player) and was shocked that my result is typical of everyone's about now. Huh? I'd always assumed that more heat = better tomatoes, but apparently that's not the case. Tomatoes have a hard time thriving in +95F temps, and ours have been well past that for an age already. *long Napolean breath*

A glimmer of hope shone through when, last week, the weatherman insisted we'd be seeing highs (or, lows, for this particular region of T*xas!) of 88F/31C over the weekend, and - thrilled out of my mind!! - I'd planned to make soup today. But then yesterday returned to +100F, so I watered my pitiful, nearly-dead garden once the sun relented at around 8pm, and reverted to mentally designing Madeover Leftovers for today's dinner.

My bad.

I should have gone with soup! But no worries. I'm wracking my brain for all the pent-up baking I've been putting off the last few weeks, so come this evening, the oven will be ON. And who knows? Maybe the plants will still produce. Perhaps if they can make it through August, they'll produce for me in September and October. I mean, summer doesn't end for us till at least October 1st, so...?