These are my favorite pictures from 2007

Just moving these from the top of my blog...

Bryan & Sandi's 25th Anniversary

Kids singing on Palm Sunday

Here's a video with two of our boys (Jonah on left and Parker when I move the camera to the right, both on the front row, and both in light blue or green colored plaid shirts) and two of Dorothy Bode's kids (on the left side of the stage, but to the right of Jonah, both on second row, one on each side of director, Kevin Shull) singing on Palm Sunday. Dorothy and Robert were gone for a couples' retreat so didn't get to see them... so here ya go, Dorothy! (Parker does a little jig at the end again, too :) )

Where, exactly, is that located?

Well, thankfully, it looks like our family is through the worst of this flu stuff. I got a sinus infection yesterday, and I think Jonah did, too, but nothing like that mess the rest of them went through!

The other night, when Sarah was sleeping next to me with a pretty high fever, she was tossing and turning lots, and one time she started talking. She reached behind her with her arm, like she was reaching for her back side, and said with a whine, "I can't feel..." ... I thought she was going to say "my back" or something... she said, "I can't feel the mini muffins." I said, "What???" She said it again, "I can't feel the MINI muffins..." Guess that was the fever talking, unless she had brought a snack to bed that I wasn't aware of! (Or maybe she came up with a new name for her "buns"?!)

Growing!

Weldon just measured our kids height again. Since Dec 6 (almost 4 months ago) our kids have grown:


Jonah - 5/8 inch


Parker - 5/8 inch

Sarah - 3/4 inch


Paul - 1 AND 3/4 inches! Wow!

Less Junk Mail

Well, it looks like our family is on the mend now. There are still lots of lingering coughs, but no more fevers. Weldon stayed home again today, but seems to be getting stronger. And there was sunshine today... thanks, God!

Well, I just read one of my favorite blogs, by Mary Hunt, Money Rules, Debt Stinks http://moneyrulesdebtstinks.com/ (I get her daily e-mail, called Everyday Cheapskate, too). She wrote it last week when employees at the the U.S. Department of State looked into the passport records of Barack Obama, Hilary Clinton, and John McCain.

Apparently Passport Information is Private but Credit Information is Public? (click to read)... and the four biggest credit bureaus can sell our personal information. It's an automatic "opt-in" unless you opt-out. I just clicked on her link to opt-out of this and stop receiving credit and life insurance offers for the next 5 years. Just thought maybe some of you might want to do that, too. If you don't care to read her article, you can just opt out here: https://www.optoutprescreen.com/

Sick

Well, some sickness has been making its rounds through our family. Only Jonah and I haven't had it yet, and I'm feeling just a bit achy and weak this morning... can't tell if it's just from not sleeping as well, being up with Sarah last night, or not. It's some sort of deep cough (painful) combined with fever/chills, and achiness. Both Parker and Sarah complained of their stomachs hurting badly (but not feeling nauseous - I'm thankful for that!). Weldon has had it off and on all week (not the fever, but the cough, achiness, and chills), but has felt well enough to work during the days... he's just exhausted at night.

Paul had a fever most of the day yesterday, but didn't seem quite as miserable as Parker and Sarah did. Parker had it the worst so far... he was moaning and groaning and nothing was helping for hours at a time all day Wednesday. He was much better yesterday, and is still sleeping at 9:20 this morning (after getting up by 7:00 or 7:30 most of the week before this, even when he was sick).

All that to say, if you read this, would you pray for our family? I'd REALLY like to go to church on Easter morning, and also we have been planning to go to Weldon's parents' house after church for dinner with lots of family (a 2-hour trip each way). But I know God has other plans sometimes... we'll see!

The Innkeeper

I just read this poem again, and cried again. It's a story about what it might have been like for Jesus to go back, two weeks before he was crucified, to visit the Innkeeper who had housed him when he was born, and then lost his family when Herod had all the baby boys killed. Pastor John wrote it originally as an Advent poem.

You can read the book online: http://www.desiringgod.org/media/pdf/books_bink/books_bink.pdf

Or listen to Pastor John read it:
http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Poems/ByDate/1353_The_Innkeeper/

Here are a couple of excerpts, but it's best to read the whole thing:

(The Innkeeper speaking to Jesus)

We didn't have a clue what they
Had come to do. No time to pray,
No time to run, no time to get
Poor Joseph off the street and let
Him say good-bye to Ben or me
Or Rachel. Only time to see
A lifted spear smash through his spine
And chest. He stumbled to the sign
That welcomed strangers to the place,
And looked with panic at my face,
As if to ask what he had done.
Young man, you ever lost a son?"

The tears streamed down the Savior's cheek,
He shook his head, but couldn't speak.

(then the end of the poem)

(Jesus speaking to the Innkeeper)

In two weeks they will crucify
My flesh. But mark this, Jacob, I
Will rise in three days from the dead,
And place my foot upon the head
Of him who has the power of death,
And I will raise with life and breath
Your wife and Ben and Joseph too
And give them, Jacob, back to you
With everything the world can store,
And you will reign for evermore."

This is the gift of candle three:

A Christ with tears in tragedy
And life for all eternity.


May I post an article by John Piper on my website?
Yes, provided that you abide by the following conditions:
Make it clear that it is by John Piper
Post the whole article or make it explicit that it is an excerpt.
Do not alter the wording.
Link to the article on desiringGod.org.
Do not charge for it.

Let Judas Shake You - by John Piper

I just read this yesterday at Desiring God (www.desiringGod.org/blog) which I read most days. Pastor John is our pastor.

(Here is a link to the original:
http://www.desiringgod.org/Blog/1133_let_judas_shake_you/)


Let Judas Shake You
March 18, 2008 By: John Piper Category: Commentary

Judas left the fellowship of the twelve apostles after the anointing in Bethany and arranged to betray Jesus for 30 pieces of silver (Matthew 26:14-15). But when they met again at the last supper, there he was! Near enough to dip in the Savior’s cup.

When our family read this for devotions last night I was angry at the absolute wickedness of Judas coming back to eat Passover with the one he had just sold. I said to my daughter, evidently with more emotion than she was used to, “That is utterly wicked!”

She said, “What is so wicked?” I said: “What if I went out tonight and arranged for a cruel man to kill you on the way to school tomorrow morning? That would be horrible. But then would it not be wicked to high heaven if I came home, after arranging for your murder, and had devotions with you and prayed with you?”

She was shaken.

Small wonder that Jesus said, “It would have been better for that man if he had not been born” (Matthew 26:24).

Let us be shaken this week, again and again.

Ladies' Group

Last month I joined a ladies "Homemaking" group at my church. I've been praying about being involved in a small group for a while, mostly wanting help with my child-raising skills (especially learning to control my temper...). So when I "happened" to hear some ladies at church talking about how they needed more "mentees" (women to be mentored) because they had more than enough mentors, I wondered if God was answering my prayers!

I was pretty hesitant to join anything new, because it's just hard to try to leave home very often, but the group only meets once a month -- just my speed! And I was also not sure it was a group for me, because it's a lot about "homemaking" skills, which I could almost teach myself!

But since I'm always looking for new ideas, I decided to give it a try. And I'm so glad I did! I love this group of ladies! The woman who leads it at her home, Mary Carlson, is only a few years older than I am, but is MUCH farther along in life skills and raising kids (since I didn't have kids until I was in my 30's, and she started much younger.) She's just great. And so are the ladies who have come to the group. God brought together:

- 2 moms of 4 kids each (I'm one)

- 3 moms of 1 child each (one is the co-leader)

- 3 single women

In our first two meetings, we've started reading, "By Design" by Mary Hunt, about God's unique design of women (and men).

And we've also gotten to sample some DELICIOUS foods from Mary and Gudren (the German co-leader), along with a great sweet bread recipe from Mary's grandmother, that she taught us to make.

I'm sure I'll be adding lots of ideas from this group to my blog!

Judge orders homeschoolers into government education

Did anyone else know about this? I just heard about it for the first time about 5 minutes ago.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=57679

Here is a link to sign the petition to depublish this ruling if you'd like to sign it, too: http://www.hslda.org/

Ideas to Make Life a Little Easier

Well, I decided to start an on-going list of things I discover that make taking care of my family easier. Please comment to add any of the things YOU have discovered so I can try them for myself, and also to add to my post! Thanks!

Cooking:

- Ground beef: I have been buying 5 pounds of ground beef (from Sam's club) and, since I make so many meals that have browned ground beef with onions, I've just been cooking it all up at once with about 2 large onions chopped up in it. (I'm considering adding garlic, too.) Then I freeze it in zipper bags. (You have to put it into a couple of bags, or it gets too thick and icy to break apart and get out what you want when you want to use it.) This has saved me LOTS of time in the few weeks I've been doing it.

- Sauteed onions: I love onion sauteed in butter with a little salt for my scrambled eggs/omelets, but no one else in my family does, so when I saute some, I do an entire onion and then freeze what I don't use. The butter keeps it soft enough to easily break off the amount I want to use next time, and after cooking, it doesn't smell up the entire freezer!

- Bell Peppers: I don't use bell peppers (or, as Parker keeps calling them, "Pepper Bells") very often, and when I do, it's for cooking, so I buy them when they're on sale (for something less than $3 apiece!) and cut them into strips and freeze them. They last for a long time and they're very convenient to use when I need them.

- Tomato Paste/Sauce/Juice: I'm tired of always having to have all three tomato products stocked in my pantry for cooking, so I just bought a big package of tomato paste and now I mix with water when I need sauce: 1 can paste + 1 can water, or juice: 1 can paste + 3 cans water. (All three freeze well if you make too much or don't use all of the opened can of paste.)

- Chicken Soup Base (From my friend Dorothy - Mom of 9!) Soup base is my favorite trick for saving time. (Other than cooking many pounds of any type of meat at a time and freezing it in one meal portions.) I take the big bag of frozen chicken breasts (15lbs?) and boil them all in my two 8 quart stockpots until they are tender. (Same idea with leftover chicken carcases and boned chicken when I have them.) Then I dice them, throw them back into the pot with about 1/2 of the cooking water, add bouillon, seasonings and sauteed onions (grab those frozen ones!) and cook it down to about 1/2 again. One pot becomes that nights dinner by adding rice or noodles and veggies. The other pot becomes two other nights soup bases. I make it really strong so that I have to add about 1 gallon of water to it when I defrost it for that future meal - then there is enough to feed 12 of us and I can store it in my 1 gallon Ziploc bags. (Hint- I freeze them flat on dinner plates and then stand them up on the shelf like books.) I do a similar thing with beef and pork so there is always a 'homemade' meal just 30 minutes away for completion.

- Baking/broiling When baking or broiling anything that sticks really badly, like teriyaki chicken breast, I just cover the pan with foil first. Makes for super easy clean up!

Nanny McPhee - where are you?!

Nanny McPhee is one of my favorite movies now. I just watched it again with the kids last night -- I could use her at our house once in a while...