The Broberg Family

All-Knowing Sugar Counter

2011-03-22T09:48:00.000-07:00

The other day, Paul (4) was upset because Sarah had put the bag of blow pops away. He was mad at her and very frustrated as he said, "Sawah put those sugar things away and I wanted one!" I said, "Paul, you already had one. You don't need another one." Then he really started crying.

I said, "PAUL... listen to me. You already had a sucker AND you had ice cream. You are definitely NOT getting any more sugar!" He had stopped crying while listening to me, then started crying again, putting his head down on the couch cushion. Suddenly, he lifted his head and just wailed, "HOW do you KNOW that???" then more crying (while Weldon and I started laughing!).

Paul's Clean Ears

2011-03-22T09:45:00.000-07:00

Last night, Jonah noticed Paul's ears and said, "Ew - he has a bunch of ear wax." So I told him to go get a Q-tip and I cleaned it. When Paul saw the Q-tip, he didn't see much, and he said, "There was only one ear wack." (Not a bunch of ear wacks?!)

Florida!

2011-03-20T14:25:00.000-07:00

Here is a summary of our trip to Florida:

FOR PHOTOS, CLICK HERE

HEADING SOUTH - GETTING WARMER!

Day 1 (Sat, Feb 19): 11 hour drive to Kokomo, Indiana

Day 2 (Sun, Feb 20): Visited Grandma Sarah (86!) and lots of family at Aunt Mary & Uncle Gary's, the drove to the Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky border.

Day 3 (Mon, Feb 21): Spent the day at the Creation Museum in Kentucky.

Day 4 (Tues, Feb 22): Drove to Macon, Georgia.

Day 5 (Wed, Feb 23): Drove to Titusville, Florida - to Mom & Dad's!

Note: Titusville is on the east coast, near the Kennedy Space Center, about 45 minutes from Orlando.

OUR TIME IN FLORIDA

Day 6: (Thursday, Feb 24) Settled in, etc. In the afternoon, we walked about one block from my parents house to Highway 1 and watched the Space Shuttle Discovery take off for the final time! We were about 6 mile away, across the water, but it was amazingly bright and loud!

Day 7: (Friday, Feb 25) Went driving through Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge and saw lots of alligators and other wildlife! Then Uncle Brett took us fishing and each of the kids caught a fish!

Day 8: (Saturday, Feb 26) Went to Cocoa Beach.

Day 9: (Sunday, Feb 27) Went to Jetty Park Beach (the boys insisted on calling it "Jedi Park" : ) )

Day 10: (Monday, Feb 28) Disney World!

HEADING NORTH - ARE WE THERE YET?!

Day 11: (Tues, Mar 1) To north of Atlanta, Georgia

Day 12: (Wed, Mar 2) To Bloomington/Normal, Illinois

Day 13: (Thurs, Mar 3) Home!

Sarah's Laughter!

2011-03-20T13:43:00.001-07:00

Sometimes when Sarah laughs, it just makes me laugh to hear her! She has such a hearty laugh, it's hard not to laugh, even when I don't even know what's making her laugh in the first place.

The other day, I heard her saying gibberish in the living room and then laughing hysterically. Then I heard it again, and the other kids were laughing. So finally I came into the room and saw what she had been up to:

(The words aren't really what was funny, but here's a translation: As you can see, I'm very skinny and fat. That's one thing. And another thing: I have very wide eyes. And another thing: I have very curly hair.)

Eager Expectation...

2011-03-18T07:18:00.000-07:00

"There is a phony faith that wants only escape from hell, but has no desire for Christ. That does not save. And it does not produces an eager expectation for Christ to come. It would rather that Christ not come for as long as possible so that it can have as much of this world as possible. But the faith that really holds on to Christ as treasure and hope and joy is the faith that makes us long for Christ to come, and that is the faith that saves." -John Piper

http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/sermons/what-christ-will-do-at-the-second-coming

Favorite conversations 1

2011-03-17T13:14:00.000-07:00

Sitting in a car at an intersection with my friend, Cathy, trying to get to a new place:

Me: Left, right?

Cathy: Right, left.

Christmas card 2010

2010-12-08T11:14:00.001-08:00

Here is the Christmas Card I chose for my 50 free from Shutterfly!

Rejoice Lord King Religious Christmas 5x7 folded card

Make a statement with custom Christmas cards at Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

Soup Sandwich 2

2010-12-06T09:53:00.001-08:00

Okay, so maybe I like the title Soup Sandwich for more than one reason... I love food! I would probably even LIKE soup sandwiches!

And that fits in with my post from yesterday -- my Love/Hate relationship with the internet. Not ONLY do I like keeping up with friends and family... I realized this morning that I spend WAY too much time reading blogs like Pioneer Woman

and Our Best Bites...

and this morning was introduced to Bake at 350.

*Sigh.* One more example of my soup sandwichiness...

Computer versus Real Life

2010-12-04T11:12:00.000-08:00

I am having a HUGE love/hate relationship with the internet (Facebook, blogs, email, etc.)

I LOVE being able to know what other people are experiencing in their lives. Friends and family who:
- have given up many conveniences and comforts to tell others the good news of Jesus.
- live in dangerous parts of the world where bombings by terrorists are not uncommon.
- live in the hottest places on earth where it is in the 120s F regularly in the summer.
- live normal lives all around the world
- have lost loved ones
- have been in accidents
- have had babies
- live close to me and could use help

And just people I love and want to keep up with!

But I HATE that I can sit for hours reading about all these people, even praying for them, and figuring out ways to help out and bring meals, etc.... and yet not have time for my own kids! What if I invested as much time studying my kids and husband as I spend reading my emails, blogs, and facebook posts? What if I spent that much time reading my Bible and praying? Hmmmm. Pray for me!

Christmas Olympics?

2010-12-03T07:39:00.000-08:00

I am having a hard time getting into the "Christmas spirit" this year. The older I get, the faster the years are going by, and it seems like we just put the Christmas lights away! (Oh yeah, I guess I DID leave those out until about July.)

NOT that I have a hard time with the meaning behind it, but it's just hard to listen to the "holiday jingles" on the radio (since BEFORE Thanksgiving), and I just don't want to get all the stuff out.

I think it's important to have some of the "stuff," though. For the kids especially. Not the presents, but the symbols... the advent candles, lights, etc. To make much of it for them to see it's a big deal that Jesus came, and what that means.

I DO like decorating for Christmas, too. Maybe more for "winter." I love the lights in the darkness of winter days.

But I was thinking: What if we just did a basic Christmas celebration most years... a few gifts for the immediate family. A few cookies to neighbors, etc. And then what if we did a BIG Christmas celebration once every few years... like the Olympics used to be! Then I could handle listening to the songs for an entire month, and would be motivated to give gifts... and maybe even plan ahead enough to MAKE them!

Never Mind

2010-12-03T07:02:00.001-08:00

I came out this morning ready to make a NEW blog -- a NEW start, something with MEANING. Then I started checking the availability of blog names:

"SoupSandwich" is already taken on the blogspot list. (By someone who wrote exactly one blog post ever... in 1993.)

So is "Soup-Sandwich"

and "SoupSandwiches."

Apparently I'm not the only mess out there. But I am just about as creative with words as I have been in the past. (As in, I've rarely had an original idea!)

That's just as well. After waking up at 4:00 this morning (thankfully NOT from coughing, but partly because of my cold), I couldn't stop thinking of all the things I wanted to WRITE! But then I realized I get into this mood about once a year. Last year I wrote 12 blog posts in December, 18 in January -- and... only 13 since then.

So, as I was getting disappointed with realizing my wonderful idea had been taken, reality set in. How often do I get super excited about doing something creative and then realize I don't have the time, creativity energy, or continued motivation. So it's good that I stopped before I had a SECOND blog I don't do much with!

I'm just going to write drafts for some of my thoughts and see what comes of them. If nothing else, I'll copy them to my journal : )

Soup Sandwich

2010-12-03T03:01:00.000-08:00

No -- this is NOT a recipe -- although if it were, I'd make sure it was high-fat, just for my friend Tracey who likes to give me a hard time about my recipes! ; )

It's actually what I'm considering naming my blog.

One day this year, I was walking through Menards with Weldon and realized that I was wearing a shirt that had been "folded" by one of my younger kids (more wadded than folded... but they have to start somewhere!) and that it was a wrinkled mess. Weldon said it didn't look that bad. But a phrase from one of my old roommates popped into my head, "You look like a soup sandwich!"

I was living with some girls in Norfolk, Virginia (after I was out of the Army and done working in Washington D.C.; before I moved back to Indiana and then on to Colorado Springs to work for The Navigators and meet Weldon...). I was about 25. My 19-year-old, soon-to-be-doctor (very smart) roommate said that her Mom had told her she looked like a soup sandwich. I said, "What is THAT supposed to mean?" She didn't know either.

For years I thought about that phrase. Then one day it hit me... what would a soup sandwich look like? What would it be like to try to EAT one?! What a mess!

By the way, don't bother looking it up online -- there were only two entries that weren't "soup and sandwich" recipes... one was a Twilight Zone episode, and one was the Urban Dictionary, in which every one of it's entries includes the f-word! I'll copy the safe part of the one voted as most accurate here:

1.	soup sandwich	122 up, 22 down
	buy soup sandwich mugs, tshirts and magnets A slang term used by members of the United States Army to describe a fellow soldier whose performance is unsatisfactory. This term is often shortened to just "soup." The term expresses a state of extreme uselessness, which can be understood by considering the functionality and worth of soup between two slices of bread. "You are SOUP, private! You are a dog-gone SOUP SANDWICH! DROP!"

I think it's funny that I was IN the U.S. Army, not to mention working at the Pentagon with every OTHER branch of military, for three years and never heard that phrase!

The whole time I was walking through Menards with Weldon that day, I thought... hmmm... I really am a soup sandwich.

Not always obviously, like with the wrinkled shirt... sometimes I can lay the top piece of "bread" on so that it isn't quite so obvious for a while (until it starts soaking through...). But "no matter which way you slice it" I am a mess.

I wear blue socks with brown pants (they don't have holes in them yet!)...

I yell at my kids to "just be patient!"...

I want to make our home fun... right after all the chores are done! (At bedtime?!)...

I get into Facebook instead of God's Word...

"I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. ¹⁹ For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. (Romans 7:18-19)

"But we have this treasure in [soup sandwiches] (jars of clay), to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us." (2 Corinthians 4:7)

(Not to compare Jesus worth to soup, but He IS the Bread of Life...)

Shutterfly Christmas Cards!

2010-11-29T18:06:00.000-08:00

My niece, Rachael, wrote on her blog about Shutterfly giving away 50 free (premium) Holiday cards to bloggers! She just received hers and said they're really nice... okay, she said, "They Rock!" (She's a little younger : ) ) So I was motivated to write my own blog post to try them out myself!

These cards start at almost $3 each, so this is a pretty good deal! I've used Shutterfly for making scrapbooks, but never thought too seriously about using them for cards before now. It's hard to decide on a style, though! There are a lot of nice ones, and I must say it's nice to have several options that include the meaning of Christmas! (Not just "Holidays.")

There are a lot of cute ones

AND a lot of stylish ones, but the biggest factor for me is "how many photos can I possibly fit on one card?!" I'm just better with pictures than with words.

So, I think I'm going with the one at the top... now I just have to go through the 14,628 photos I took in the past 12 months and see which ones to use! (Oh man... I'd better do a backup of my hard drive soon!)

Homemade Microwave Popcorn

2010-11-22T19:31:00.000-08:00

Okay, this is really random... I haven't blogged for so long, and this has nothing to do with the Holidays or anything, but here it is. The latest, greatest, most amazing (non-)cooking idea:

Did you know you can make microwave popcorn yourself? I read on someone else's blog, tried, it, and it really works!

Put 1/4 cup unpopped popcorn kernels into a brown paper lunch bag, fold over the end a couple of times, lay it down on it's side and microwave for about 2 1/2 minutes (until the pops get to be 3-4 seconds apart). No oil, no butter... it just pops! Of course you should ADD the butter AFTER it's done, but you can add as much or as little as you'd like, along with a little salt.

Mmmmmm -- delicious!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Autumn is in the air... must be time to cook again!

2010-09-05T17:18:00.000-07:00

I have been avoiding cooking for most of the summer. It's too crazy and too hot (okay, Rachel, it's not AFRICA hot, but I would just die there...). I stocked up on as many ready-to-heat-and-eat meals as possible and used them well!

But as soon as it got cool out... even with a touch of some unidentifiable sickness (and partly because of it)... I was ready to cook again! One of the first good meals I chose was one of my all-time favorites from my "cousin-in-law" Marci, Sweet Potato Soup. It's spicy, somewhat creamy, feels great on an almost-sore throat, and warms me up fast. We had left-overs a while ago and I thought I should share : )

Sweet Potato Soup

1 stalk celery, chopped

1 medium onion, chopped

2 T butter

2 14-oz cans chicken broth

2 cups water

2 chicken bouillon

(OR instead of broth, water, and bouillon, I use 5 1/2 c water and 8 bouillon)

4 medium potatoes

1 large sweet potato or yam

2 c fully-cooked, cubed ham

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp season salt

1/2 tsp dried oregano

1/8 tsp pepper

1/8 tsp crushed red pepper

1/4 c flour

2 c milk

Boil whole potatoes with skins on until medium-tender.

Let them cool some, then peel skins and chop into cubes.

Saute onion and celery in butter until tender.

Stir in broth, water, and bouillon. Bring to a boil.

Stir in potatoes, ham, and seasonings. Stir and keep on med-high to high heat until boiling again.

Combine flour and milk until smooth.

Gradually add to soup, stirring constantly until thickened.

(By the way, I just learned the "cook-the-potatoes-before-you-peel-and-chop-them" trick from my Mother-in-Law. I can't believe how many years I have killed my wrists trying to chop sweet potatoes while they're raw...)

Nick Jr. Intimate Wear Ads?! Really???

2010-06-06T16:54:00.001-07:00

Okay, I am just ticked off right now. My daughter, Sarah, age 7, was playing online games at Nick Jr.'s website... you know, Blues Clues, Dora, Diego, Backyardigans, etc., and I looked over and saw a bra ad. Really??? That's ridiculous! "5 Must Haves For Your Intimate Wardrobe."

I took the computer and looked for a "Contact" button, but apparently there's no way to contact them on email. You have to write physically or call. I don't have time for either.

So, guess what... I'm just going to tell everyone I know that we're not using that website anymore and why.

It's hard enough to keep that #$%^&! (you-know-what!) out of our lives.

So there. That's all I've got to say about THAT. For now.

Milestone Day

2010-05-15T18:15:00.000-07:00

Jonah learned to mow today!

(And Steve W., you would be so proud... Weldon even had a chance to do the weed-whacking while Jonah mowed!)

Video of Steve with Jonah in 2000

2010-04-25T15:08:00.000-07:00

I've been copying old video tapes onto the computer before they disintegrate, and I found an old bit of video of our friend Steve with Jonah. I saw it playing as it recorded, and I said, "Hey, you guys! There's Steve!" And all three of the older kids looked and in unison shouted, "That's STEVE?!" Then Sarah looked at me and said, "Can I faint now?" I guess he looks a little different now : )

Unwise

2010-04-25T14:23:00.000-07:00

I was SO encouraged this morning. I always feel like I’m doing a horrible job homeschooling my kids. Jonah is an excellent reader, and all the kids are very smart, and yet it doesn’t feel like the kind of “homeschool smart” I hear about and see around me. Like Alex & Brett Harris “Do Hard Things” kids. Kids who are good with words and good at speaking and arguing their faith.

Then, guess what? This morning at church, there were these words from 1 Cor 26-29:

26Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29so that no one may boast before him.

What a relief. I will try to get God’s Word into their hearts, and teach them what I can, and then God can change them and make them what He wants to make them (whether that's smart or not), and everyone will know it wasn’t because I was so brilliant and a great teacher. God will get all the credit.

Chicken Spinach Salad

2010-04-24T08:59:00.000-07:00

Well, I've been a bit shy on posting my recipes lately, having received some criticism on the high fat content of some of my favorites. (No hard feelings! : ) ) But I must say that I actually had someone I DON'T even KNOW write and thank me for my recipe for "Tater Tot Casserole" which they served for a holiday meal and everyone loved!

Anyway, I thought I'd share this wonderful salad recipe I received about 8 years ago from a neighbor when we lived in South Minneapolis. Mim gave me this recipe, and I didn't think I'd ever make it, because I don't usually like vegetable and fruit salads mixed together. One or the other is great. But then she brought it for a birthday picnic and we all devoured it!

At least one of our kids requests this for their birthday dinner every year.

The amounts are all just a starting point. I have always added extra of what I like. I think I used 5 chicken breasts this time, two large cans of oranges, and two 16-oz boxes of noodles! I did leave out a couple of the other ingredients that the kids pick out anyway, but the dressing was still plenty.

It does take a little planning ahead of time, mostly to get the chicken marinated, cooked, and cooled. But the chopping takes a little time, too. It's fun that Sarah (6) is old enough to help me now! She did all the grapes this time.

Chicken Spinach Salad

1-2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breast

1-2 cups Kikkoman Teriyaki Sauce

2 cups green (or red) grapes, halved

1 cup snow peas or sugar snap peas

2 cups torn spinach

2½ cups celery, sliced

7 oz rainbow rotini, cooked and drained

½ cucumber, sliced

2 green onions, sliced, with tops

1 small can of Mandarin orange slices

Dressing:

½ c vegetable oil

¼ c sugar

¼ c white wine vinegar

1 tsp salt

½ tsp dried, minced onion

2 Tbsp parsley, minced

Combine dressing ingredients, mix well and refrigerate at least 2 hours ahead of time. (6 hours to overnight is better).

Place chicken in teriyaki sauce and let marinade for 3-6 hours (overnight is great, too). Grill chicken and let cool. Cut into small, bite-size slices.

In large bowl, combine chicken, grapes, peas, spinach, celery, pasta, cucumber, and green onions. Cover and refrigerate. Just before serving, add Mandarin orange slices, pour dressing over salad and toss.

About 6 servings.

Class Reunion Fears...

2010-04-22T13:32:00.000-07:00

High School seems a hundred years ago... a distant memory... until a class reunion has been planned.

I always think maybe I'll go to the next one, but the thought of going suddenly turns me back into that stringy-haired, acne-ridden, self-conscious girl with braces, moving to a new school in 6th grade.

Picture me yelling, "I'M NOT JOSIE GROSSIE ANYMORE!" (@ 4 min 45 sec, from Never Been Kissed)

I'm not even planning to go, but I can't believe how many memories and emotions have been running through my mind just at the mention of a reunion.

Anyone else?

My Websites

2010-04-09T13:17:00.000-07:00

I just finished my third website!

One is for Weldon's business, Weldon Broberg Construction: http://weldonbrobergconstruction.com/

One is for one of Weldon's former co-workers, George Sullivan (better known as Geo), HardStone Concrete: http://www.hardstoneconcrete.com/

And the last

one, the one I just finished, is for Dave Rozek at Custom Contracting, someone Weldon has done work for over the years... I did the website for him in return for when we stayed in his beautiful Townhome on Lake Superior last fall (pictured in the photo albums): http://www.customcontractingmn.com/

(Actually I have done four websites, but the first one I did was for PCM (Progressive Concrete & Masonry) where Weldon used to work, and which closed down last year. That one was horrible to do, using

a "website builder" online. These three I did on my Mac and I love it!)

How I Use Facebook

2010-03-08T12:05:00.001-08:00

This is my Facebook Profile Picture.

Several of my friends are overwhelmed by Facebook, so I thought I'd just like to say how I use Facebook in a way that I don't feel used by Facebook anymore!

Note: Facebook has been notorious for changing their format... all of my notes are for the format that just went into effect about a month ago (Feb 2010).

#1. Privacy.

When I had been on Facebook for a short time, I received a "friend request" from some guy in our city's network that I had joined. I had no idea who he was, but he said, "You looked cool and I thought we could be friends." His profile picture was of a 20-something guy in a tub... thankfully with a lot of bubbles... but -- ew! No THANK you! (Note: If you refuse a friend request, the other person will not be notified that you refused.)

I have since changed all my settings so that only my friends (that is, only those I have chosen to officially accept as friends on Facebook) can see anything I do. The only exception to this is if I post a picture or album of a friend that I think any of his/her friends would like to see, then I mark that photo album to be seen by "anyone," or at least by "friends of friends."

I have also been contacted by someone I knew many years ago that I wasn't sure I wanted to know where I was or what I was doing. Then I discovered you can block people from seeing you if they are logged into their own account. (It doesn't rule out their being able to look you up from someone else's account, if they have access to it, but it's helpful.)

Also, I have had many people say to me that they don't want to be on Facebook because they have too many people they wouldn't want to be contacted by (i.e., a teacher or someone in a bad job.) I haven't tried this, but I believe you can make it so that no one can find you on Facebook... you would have to give them your information or find them yourself to make them friends. I believe this would be under the "Search" options below.

To change your settings, you'll need to go through the options under "Account" (at the top right of your Facebook page) and then on the pop-up that shows up, click on "Privacy Settings" and then you will go through each option: Profile Information, Contact Information, Applications and Websites, Search, and Block List (this is where you type in a person's name to block them from seeing or interacting with you).

#2. Don't fill up my email inbox!

Another thing I hated at first was that I got an email for every single thing any of my friends did on Facebook. I hated that. Now I only have email notifications for when someone writes on my wall or writes a message to me, and a few other things. That way if I'm feeling like I can't spend time on Facebook, at least I can see if someone has written something specifically to me that I need to know about.

To change your email notifications, click on "Account" (in the top right corner) and then on the pop-up that comes up, click on "Account Settings" and then "Notifications" is the third tab in the list of options across the top of the page.

#3. "Go offline."

When I first started Facebook, if someone started a "chat" session with me, I felt stuck. I thought, "Now I have to answer them, even though I only have a few minutes left, because they'll see that I'm making comments on something but not answering them!" Of course, it was always someone I WANTED to talk to, which made it even worse!

I am at a point in my life where I need to be able to do things in little bits of time. If I get on Facebook to see what's happening I can't get into a "conversation" with anyone where I have to stay near the computer. That's what I LIKE about Facebook... being able to have conversations a little at a time with someone. I can type something to someone, and go away, and check to see if they wrote back later.

To go offline, click on the bottom right of your Facebook page and click on "Chat" then click on "Options" and then "Go Offline."

#4. Ignore applications.

Just do it. : )

I used to accept every "growing thing" and "Christmas tree" and "fish," etc. because I didn't want to offend anyone. I always appreciate the thought... but I don't have time. Plus, sometimes it seemed to make my computer slow down... I don't know for sure that it was the applications, but I don't trust them.

To ignore applications, just click the ignore option when it comes up. This also works for being invited to groups.

#5. Status Updates

The latest format of Facebook automatically brings up the "News Feed." Personally, I type in a "Status" when I want people to know something that's going on with me... otherwise I don't always want people to know every little comment I've made on other people's statuses, and I don't want to know the same about my friends or how many games they have played.

It takes a little more effort now, but I still like to go to the "Status Update" page and then skim to see what my friends are saying.

I also have made new "friends lists" with people I really want to keep up with, because it seems like Facebook somehow doesn't report all the statuses. (See my "Additional comments" below for a better solution to this!)

To view the Status Updates, click on "Home" (at the top right of the page) and then over to the left of the page (under your profile picture and name), click on "Friends" and then on the new options that come up, "Status Updates."

To make a new friends list, after clicking on "Friends" (as above), click on "+ Create A List" toward the top of the page, slightly to the right. Then on the pop-up box, type in a name for your list, like "Best Friends" or "Family" and then scroll through your friends list and choose people to be on the list. To finish, click on "Create List" in blue at the bottom of the pop-up box.

This new list will show up under "Friends" as above... just choose your "Best Friends" or "Family" list instead of "Status Updates." It will show the "news feed" format for all you have chosen, but at least you don't miss anything!

#6. Photos.

This is one that I haven't done well with, but wish I did! I think I miss lots of photos! When I finally remember to click on it, there are always way too many photos that my friends have posted that I've missed! You can help me if you tell in your status that you added photos or videos! But I'll just try to remember to check. : )

So... these are the things I've done to be able to enjoy Facebook and not be overwhelmed by it (most of the time!).

What is your Favorite use of Facebook?

Additional comments:

I thought I'd add a solution a friend shared on my Facebook acct. regarding all statuses not showing up. She also shared an idea that I have used sometimes when I have been "bummed" by someone's comments more than a few times... thanks again, Sara!

Sara said: Good tips. One more thing. Since you mentioned thinking facebook didn't include all your friends. You may need to manually increase the number of friends in your Newsfeed - go the the bottom of the Home page (the one with the Newsfeed) and click on Edit Options. The "number of friends" area on the pop up is set for 250. If you have more than 250 friends, you need to set it higher than the number of your friends! I know I have some people that I really like to follow that I don't comment on, and facebook thought I wasn't interested and didn't put their stuff there for me. It's been fine since I changed my number.

Another one is to "Hide" people on your newsfeed that make you sad, angry, bummed, negative in anyway! Just click the "Hide" option to the side of their post and they will not be included anymore! You can always click 'see hidden..." at the bottom of the newsfeed if your curious what you are missing.

Wanna Get Away?

2010-02-09T22:18:00.001-08:00

Winter has been harder for me to get through this year. Not sure why, but it's feeling much longer than normal.

Last week I discovered the Como Conservatory. We have gone to the zoo many, many times, but never the conservatory. I took the kids last Monday (fieldtrip!)... and we all went again, on Friday, with Weldon. What an amazing thing to walk in and smell growing things! A breath of fresh air! When Weldon first walked in to the "sunken garden" (first picture) he said, "It makes me want to smile!"

It got a little too warm for Sarah the first time through (see her makeshift summer attire!) but we got to see chocolate and pineapples and coffee growing, too!

Another Haiti Story

2010-01-23T13:18:00.000-08:00

Our friend Amy has been in the Dominical Republic for over two years now to help with medical missions. She has been through at least two major hurricanes and their aftermath and now these earthquakes. She has sent out a couple of updates in the past several days, and her story about watching surgery on a little 6-year-old girl was eye-opening. It made me realize we need to pray, not only for people to get medical help, but to get GOOD medical help. How many people are getting haphazard and unsterile surgeries that they will die from later because of infections?

Here is what Amy said about one of this little girl's surgeries (I'll put the whole story below in case you're interested.)

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I was shocked when I walked in the same OR where our American teams had done surgeries and found that nothing was sterile, the patient hadn’t been prepared, the surgeons were just wearing the same scrubs they had been sitting outside in the waiting room and it seemed like they had the same gloves on. One of the surgeons was very rushed and in a hurry and everyone was trying to get him to slow down because it was starting to get reckless and compromise the patient. He was just thinking of all the other surgeries he had and ones that kept coming.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

This was actually the 2nd surgery the little girl had been through in a few days. The first was to sew the skin back onto her head. It was pretty hard to read about, but it helps me to hear one person's story, because all the tragedy there is impossible to grasp.

Here are all of Amy's updates about this girl, used with her permission. CAUTION: She tells about the injuries pretty graphically. (Just a side-note: Amy is American, but she was born and raised in Mexico, so her first language is Spanish.)

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

1-16-10

It has been an emotional draining last few days. As they keep bringing more and more injured from Haiti, it just breaks your heart and also hearing their personal stories. On Friday I broke down and couldn't stop the stream of tears. I wasn't the only one, it seems like all the nurses and doctors also.

We were asked to evaluate some children to see if we could operate on them. I went to interpret with the main surgeon and was not at all prepared to see what we saw. A little 6 yr old girl had a huge gash on her head exposing her skull. I mean that from the top of her head you could peel her scalp all the way down to her eyes and bridge of nose and you could see all the white from the skull. She also had a femur fracture that was exposed. She wasn't crying at all until the doctor approached her and she was afraid. The surgeon spoke a little Creole and with his words calmed her down immediately where she allowed him to work on her. Her father was in shock after having lost her 2.5 yr old daughter and his own mother and leaving a very injured wife. He was walking to the door of his house when it collapsed on his entire family. He walked for 3 days to the border trying to find help for his 6 yr old girl. He said he prayed and believed that God would take care of them and he said we were the answer to his prayer since other hospital had told him that they couldn't do anything for her. When his daughter started crying with the doctors again, he spoke to her gently telling her that the doctor was here to help her and make her better and that Jesus was by her side to help her. Watching and hearing him brought us all to tears. He told us Haiti is gone, everything crumbled, dead bodies everywhere and injured people all over the place with cut off limbs, sticking out bones, lost eyes, blood and huge head and face gashes. What is on TV and the news is nothing compared to reality. We fed him since we didn't know how long it had been since he had eaten, gave him something to drink and gave him a patient bed where he conked out immediately after so many days without sleep. A nurse gave him her baby powder and he put it in his shoes saying he didn't want to smell bad to others.

We took her into the OR and just used local and IV anesthesia since her hemoglobin was 5 and she was receiving blood transfusions. The surgeon used a scrub that they use for before surgery and scrubbed that flap of scalp and the skull very hear and removed dead skin since it was 4 days old. He cut the edges again and sutured the scalp together putting 2 drains for pus and blood since it was infected. We looked at the leg. The muscle was coming out 2x2 in area. We all tried pulling on the leg while the surgeon tried to get the femur back in and aligned but it wasn't possible so it would be left for an orthopedic surgeon

1-18-10

Sadly when I saw the 6 yr old girl, she was the same as how you left her on Friday. No had assessed her, or cleaned her leg or seen it. She is was in excruciating pain and even though no one touched her she was crying. If we tried touching anywhere her leg she screamed. When I talked to the nurses they didn’t seem aware of the open fracture and infection. I asked about taking her to the capital to the best trauma hospital “Dario Contreras” but they said it was full and they were taking mostly amputations, so it would be pointless. I talked to them about the urgency of getting an orthopedic surgeon to operate on her or she would lose her leg (like Mike said). They said the 2 only surgeons of the hospital would come and see the patients later. I know Dr. Rosario and personally went to look for him and found him. I brought them both in and explained what was done and what was needed. They assessed the wound and said they were inundated with orthopedic stuff all over the hospital but they would do the surgery this afternoon (Monday). She needs a fixator which cost $1500 but the other orthopedic surgeon said he would give her one he had which I thanked them both immensely for. I will go later this afternoon to see if she was taken into surgery.

The father is very frustrated with the language barrier and the lack of care in the hospital and he was aware on his own that she could lose the leg if something wasn’t done soon and didn’t know what else to do. He was very appreciative for all your group’s help and for me advocating for him to get his girl in before other patients. The girl got the drainage tubes out today and I insisted on pain medication which they gave her to calm her down. Her head looks really good, no signs of infection and healing. Leg smells and is infected.

1-20-10

I have been going daily to the public hospital to check on the little girl. When I had talked to the orthopedic surgeons (who know me because of the surgical teams that come to help), they had told me that the 18^th in the afternoon they would do her surgery. When I went in the afternoon, they hadn’t taken her in yet. I went the next day in the afternoon again and still she hadn’t had surgery. They had too many patients for orthopedic surgeries and had bumped her. I went directly to the OR where the 2 only orthopedic surgeons of all Barahona were operating together. I had an assistant ask them if they were going to operate the little girl. It seemed like they had forgotten about her and there had been no paperwork done. They told me to bring her up. I went and got them and brought her upstairs. The trip from her room to the OR was excruciating painful and she was screaming and crying in pain with each jolt and her leg was not at all stable. I wasn’t going to leave until she got in the OR because more and more patients were coming requiring surgeries and I was afraid they would bump her again.

The 2 surgeons got out and they were both stressed out and tired. They were working all day doing surgeries and the emergencies kept coming. They had left their private practice to volunteer their time in the public hospital and were donating their own rods, screws, etc and getting no help or support. They were wondering where all the money that was donated by Dominicans, who was managing that and where was it going because they hadn’t seen any of it. They said the girls surgery would take 10-15 min which I found hard to believe and thought it was just Dominican time.

They took her in, put her out and started surgery. I asked if I could go in and watch and got some scrubs. I was shocked when I walked in the same OR where our American teams had done surgeries and found that nothing was sterile, the patient hadn’t been prepared, the surgeons were just wearing the same scrubs they had been sitting outside in the waiting room and it seemed like they had the same gloves on. One of the surgeons was very rushed and in a hurry and everyone was trying to get him to slow down because it was starting to get reckless and compromise the patient. He was just thinking of all the other surgeries he had and ones that kept coming.

I’ll tell you that I have observed many surgeries but never one so savage and rough. I was shocked and couldn’t believe they were yanking and pushing and prying so roughly. Nurses were pulling her shoulders, the other surgeon her leg and the main surgeon prying scissors in to try to align the bone. At one point I thought they were going to break the lower part of her leg or the whole leg would snap off. The kept making the hole bigger without care. Then he got a drill (sterile) and started drilling the bone to put an external fixator, and then wiping the end of the drill on the dirty sheet and drilling the bone again! Talk about huge risk for bone infection. The surgeons hadn’t seen me and at this point our eyes met, their eyes showed surprise at seeing me there and they knew I knew they weren’t being careful or safe. The main surgeon stopped and asked for everyone to leave except the main nurse. We all left. I kept feeling like having this surgery was going to be worse than having left her leg the way it was. They literally did the surgery in 15 minutes and had her done. Sewed up part of the leg and left a big hole because of the infection. I had never seen someone taken off anesthesia so quickly because as soon as she was sewed and before she was out of the OR she was screaming in pain. The OR has no post-op monitoring, no medications until she gets to her room. The nurses are so negligent that they don’t give meds when needed. I could not stand to see her crying and screaming in pain and there was nothing we could give her. I wrote a note and told the father to show the nurses downstairs immediately so they could give her medication for the pain. We just need to pray that her leg will heal and that there are no complications or infection. I had to leave because it was going to get dark and we can’t travel at dark on a motorbike.

I went again Wednesday morning and she was doing better and quieter. She had been given pain medication and the father says that now since the bone can’t be moved and is held in place, she cries less and can move a little more. The surgeon said no one is to clean the open wound except him. I just hope that he remembers where she is at and has the time to clean it with some compassion.

I haven’t been able to go to Haiti but I am helping here. If I can make a difference in the life of one family, one person, that is enough for me. This little girl is alive, the huge open wound on her head exposing her skull is healing well (even though she will have a huge scar). She is alive and was recounting her experience of having the house falling on her, not passing out and calling for her 4 and 2 yr old sisters. The 4 yr old answered but the 2 yr old didn’t answer (she was dead). Her grandmother also died. Father had to uncover the rubble to get her out and walked 3.5 days carrying her to the border to get help. He hasn’t had any communication with the mother and she thinks the girl died on the way. The father wants to go back to Haiti to give her the news that their girl is alive and doing well.

Sarah's Room

2010-01-19T07:49:00.000-08:00

We are trying to help the kids learn to sleep in their own beds. Usually Jonah sleeps on his top bunk and Parker and Sarah sleep on the bottom, but sometimes we find all three of them curled up on one of the bunks together. None of them likes to sleep alone, but they fuss and argue too much and they need some time AWAY from each other!

We finally decided to try to get Sarah to sleep in her own room by putting pretty new sheets, etc. in there. Now she sleeps in her room, but so do the boys : ) Jonah sleeps on the floor and Parker sleeps with her. Oh well... maybe someday they'll figure it out!

Here is a picture of Sarah right after we let her see her "new room." She was just about to leap into Weldon's arms! You can see the new "Hello Kitty" border (from my favorite thrift store, Hidden Treasures, for about a dollar) and you can see the new pink sheet and bed spread.

Bye Week continued

2010-01-19T07:07:00.001-08:00

A few of my favorite photos of Dorothy:

Working on her house

Taking care of her kids (and anyone ELSE's kids that happen to be around!) at sports camp

Collapsing for a few seconds at the park... I think she needs to do this MUCH more often : )

Escaping and recharging with a pedicure and a McDonald's hazelnut iced coffee.

Bye Week

2010-01-18T06:11:00.000-08:00

This week is a week of saying goodbye to the Bodes, starting with a "going away" reception at church yesterday. I'm refusing to do it, and thankfully, I don't have to until shortly before they really leave town... and even then, I'm planning to just say, "See you soon!" (Lord willing!)

Sometimes I've wondered why we encouraged them to go. Then I remember how much I love Colorado, and the new job waiting for Robert with better benefits for them and how God has guided them. I keep praying they will all, within a very short time, be able to see God's hand and just be excited to live in such an amazing part of the country.

We will miss them all. I'm just in denial right now!

Video clips of summer-time fun with some of the Bode "littles."

Follow-up on Math Help

2010-01-13T10:36:00.001-08:00

Thanks for all the input on math help! (I guess I should take all my comments from Facebook and put them on the blog, too!)

I just wanted to share that I also found a blog post about practicing math facts (The Game That Is Worth 1000 Worksheets), and it's already helping us. Basically, it's just playing, "war" but laying out two cards and adding them (or whatever you're practicing -- subtraction, multiplication, etc.)

My youngest are only on the "2's" so I just leave a 2 out on the table and make them call out their total when they lay down their card next to it.

So far, math is a LOT more fun. We're still doing "Right Start Math" review, too, but this really helps.

A Gift To All Our Future Guests...

2010-01-12T12:35:00.000-08:00

If you've ever stayed in our guest room downstairs, you may have noticed the little "squeak" in our floorboards above your head (in our bedroom).

Even our friend Steve, who stayed with us last summer and used EAR PLUGS, hated the squeak. It was the only thing that got through those ear plugs. Our kids, especially, would jump on the squeak many times while telling us goodnight at bedtime. We always yelled, "Don't step on the squeak!"

The first thing the kids did on the night that Steve left was to stand on top of the squeak and jump up and down : ) (We really did miss him... they were just excited to not have to worry about it!)

Weldon finally got rid of the squeak a few days ago. Very exciting! So if you want to come and stay with us it will be really quiet! Or... not really, but maybe you can stand it for a night : )

Skillet Ziti

2010-01-11T08:24:00.000-08:00

Here's another of my favorite, easy meals. It only takes about 20 minutes. One kid, who doesn't like sauce on his noodles, tries to get all the "chunks" off of it before he eats it, but the rest of us really like it.

Also, this is one of the recipes I use tomato paste in place of tomatoes. I save lots of room in my pantry by using tomato paste instead of tomato sauce or tomato juice -- just add water to equal the consistency needed. (If you want the amounts you can Google it or ask me : ) )

Skillet Ziti

adapted from The Best of America’s Test Kitchen

1 Tbsp olive oil

6 garlic cloves, minced

¼ tsp red pepper flakes

1 ¼ tsp salt

1 28-oz can crushed tomatoes

(or 1 15-oz can tomato sauce +

almost 1 can more of water

or 1 can (6 oz) tomato paste

+ 3 cans of water)

2 tsp onion flakes

1 tsp oregano

3 cups water

12 oz ziti (used Penne) (3 ¾ cups)

½ cup heavy cream

½ cup Parmesan cheese

¼ cup minced fresh basil (used about 1T dried)

½ tsp pepper

2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded

• Combine oil, garlic, pepper flakes, and salt in large, non-stick skillet (oven safe if available). Sauté about 1 minute. Add tomatoes, onion, oregano, water, and ziti. Cover and simmer, stirring often, about 15-18 minutes until pasta is cooked.

• Stir in cream, Parmesan, basil, pepper, and cheese.

• Heat through until cheese is melted and serve.

Green Beans with New Potatoes

2010-01-10T16:04:00.001-08:00

I found a book at the library last week called, "Jan Karon's Mitford Cookbook & Kitchen Reader." I think I only read the first of the Mitford series, but really enjoyed it, so I was excited to see this book!

The first thing I cooked from it was "Emma's Green Beans with New Potatoes." It interested me, because my Mom used to make this meal lots.

It might end up close to the top of my list of tasty AND easy meals. Plus everyone LOVED it! The kids were actually thanking me for making it!

Green Beans with Ham & New Potatoes

adapted from Jan Karon’s Mitford Cookbook & Kitchen Reader

2 pounds fresh green beans, prepared & washed

2 ounces salt pork

1 cup chopped onions

12-14 small new potatoes, halved

2-3 Tbsp salt, plus more to taste if needed

¼ tsp black pepper

½-1 cup fully-cooked ham chunks

• Combine the green beans, salt pork, onions, new potatoes, and salt in a large saucepan. Add water to cover all and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat, cover, and simmer for 45 minutes to 1 hour or until the beans and potatoes are tender when pierced with fork. Add ham chunks and heat through. Adjust the seasonings with salt and pepper before serving.

• Serve with butter or margarine on potatoes and beans.

Tater Tot Casserole with Sausage & Eggs

2010-01-09T13:15:00.000-08:00

This is supposed to be a "breakfast" casserole, but we like it better than the traditional Tater Tot Casserole (with cream of mushroom, etc.) It's another of our favorites and another of my easiest. Jonah prepared most of it when we had it a few days ago! (I used the last of my pre-cooked sausage... next time it will take a little longer!)

Tater Tot Casserole w/ Sausage & Eggs

3 eggs

1½ cups milk

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp pepper

½ cup sour cream

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

1 lb ground breakfast sausage, cooked and drained

2 pounds of Tater Tots

• Preheat oven to 450°F

• Spray 9”x13” baking dish with oil.

• (Cook sausage if not already done.)

• In large bowl, beat eggs, milk, salt, pepper, and sour cream until well-mixed.

• Stir in cheese and sausage.

• Pour Tater Tots into bowl and mix as well as possible. Pour into baking dish and spread out evenly.

• Bake in preheated oven for 35-45 minutes until eggs are fully cooked and Tater Tots are nicely browned.

Bathroom Remodel - Before and After

2010-01-08T17:09:00.000-08:00

Weldon finished the bathroom! I've had a couple of days to get used to it. I love it! It seems funny, but one of my favorite changes is the dimmer switch he added... now middle of the night visits are a little nicer, too : )

Jonah said, "This bathroom looks like it belongs in a CASTLE!"

Here are the before and after pictures, to compare:

Before

After

After again

Before

After (pardon the poor choice of towel colors... Sorry Weldon!)

Before

After

This is the shower where the handles go... Weldon had fixed the pipes a few years ago and then put it back together with some caulking. The picture already has a couple of tiles up that he decided to put on to make it match the rest of the bathroom...

... much nicer!

Thanks Weldon : )

Math Help!

2010-01-05T17:54:00.001-08:00

Actually, today, I need help with more than just MATH, but I thought I should start SOMEwhere!

For some reason, we all hate math in our house. Okay, just the kids and I -- NOT Weldon. Actually, I enjoyed math when I didn't teach it. But I'm not a good teacher, and we're really struggling.

Jonah and I started on math early and quit. Then I talked to a couple of homeschool Moms with lots of kids (Sarah and Dorothy : ) ) and they encouraged me to be a little more laid back and not worry about it so much until 4th grade or so.

But now, here we are with Jonah in 5th grade and he does okay whenever we start with something (Right Start Math AND Teaching Textbooks... we both hated Math U See and any workbooks) but after lesson 10 on Teaching Textbooks, he is struggling again...

I think we just all need to learn our basic "math facts" (addition, 0's through 9's) and I was considering just making flash cards (which I hated and had to stay in from recess to learn and STILL never learned)...

SO, does anyone have any ideas for me now??? Is there an online game that's fun, or something I can buy, or should I just make the flashcards (and learn them mySELF this time???)

Thanks everyone -- I'm glad I have many friends and family who homeschool.

His mercies are new every morning... I need to go get some rest and get ready for a new day.

Super Easy, Tasty Recipe

2010-01-04T17:11:00.000-08:00

This is a good project for me. Each time I get ready to post a recipe, I retype it in a format to print on a 4x6 card. Nice to get everything into the same, small, format!

Hopefully it will benefit someone else someday, too!

Here is one of my easiest and tastiest recipes. The whole family loves it, and when I use my already browned and frozen ground beef, it only takes about 10 minutes and one pan to make!

Asian Beef and Noodles

1 lb ground beef, browned and drained
5 cups water
5 packages Oriental or chicken flavored Ramen Noodles
2 cups broccoli, chopped
½ tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp pepper
¼-½ tsp salt, if needed

Brown and drain ground beef, if not already done.
In separate, large skillet or pot, bring water to a boil. Add Ramen spice packets, ginger, and pepper.
If ground beef is cooked and drained but frozen, add it to the boiling water until it is defrosted and separated.
Add chopped broccoli to water and let cook 2-3 minutes.
Add Ramen Noodles to water with broccoli and let cook 3-4 minutes.
Add salt if needed/desired.
Serve immediately! Gets soggy if overcooked or left on heat for long.
6-8 servings

Here's a picture from tonight's dinner:

Bathroom Remodel 3

2010-01-03T18:01:00.000-08:00

Almost done!

Weldon put up the new light, mirror, medicine cabinet, and put in the floor tonight!

Colorado Activities and Churches

2010-01-03T13:44:00.000-08:00

Our friends, the Bodes, are planning to move to Colorado in just a few weeks. They will be living in temporary housing near UCCS for the first two months until they can close on their house at the end of March.

So Dorothy is asking for EIGHT THINGS TO DO in Colorado... one thing a week... that she can do with 11 kids to help them get through the first couple of months while they don't have their household things available.

For those of you in Colorado (and those who have lived there) -- what do YOU think???

Also, they are looking for recommendations for a good church. If you live in Colorado Springs, what church do you go to and WHY?

Thanks! (If you live in CoS and don't see this or respond, I'll be emailing you specifically!)

Bathroom Remodel 2

2010-01-03T13:10:00.000-08:00

Time for a bathroom update!

Getting ready to put the new tile on. Weldon just took off the top two rows of tile that were already there, then added an accent line of natural stone tile.

Grouting the tile.

The new accent line of tile.

New paint! (One wall plus over the shower are dark brown, the other walls are cream.)

Next is the new light fixture, which Weldon is back there working on right now. Don't know if we'll get to the new floor today or not.

“McDonald’s Pancakes”

2010-01-03T12:06:00.000-08:00

I made these pancakes for breakfast one Saturday when I really wanted to go the McDonald's for breakfast, but didn't want to make the effort to get the kids ready or spend the money. I looked on AllRecipes.com for a recipe and found this one under Buttermilk Pancakes II. I just changed the directions a little so I don't have to use more than one bowl. Also, I don't think I've ever had buttermilk in my house, so my recipe shows the substitution for that.

This morning Sarah said, "Can you make the McDonald's pancakes?" So she helped me make them. We have enough left for breakfast for the rest of the week, too!

“McDonald’s Pancakes”

3 ½ cups milk

1Tbps lemon juice

3 eggs

1/3 cup butter, melted

3 Tbsp white sugar

1 Tbsp baking powder

1 ½ tsp baking soda

¾ tsp salt

3 cups all-purpose flour (I usually use half whole wheat and half all-purpose)

Mix milk and lemon juice (may use buttermilk if desired). Warm for a minute or two in microwave.
Whisk together milk, eggs, and melted butter.
Gently mix in sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and flour, until just mixed. Do not overmix.
Lightly grease griddle and cook pancakes over medium heat.
Makes about 25 very thin 4” pancakes.

Food and Creativity

2010-01-02T13:56:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago, my friend Rachel blogged about food. Rachel lives in the hottest country on the face of the earth and yet she still loves to cook. I loved what she had to say about food and our emotions. I'm also amazed by her dedication to figure out ways to make her favorite foods when many of the ingredients are very hard to come by!

Then last week I made Weldon watch "Julie & Julia" with me. I loved it, and it made me wish I had some sort of creative outlet. It made me really think about what I really like.

Yesterday I read a great article by Carolyn Mahaney about Homemaking Internship -- passing on our skills to our daughters. I loved the idea of the article, but I felt sad after reading it. She talked about passing on some "homemaking enthusiasm" to our daughters, but I realized that my attitude is pretty much, "You guys are the ones making the messes, so you'd better learn to help me clean it up." So much for enthusiasm.

Today I took the kids to the library. First I saw a drawing book and looked through that section. Then I looked through photography books. Then scrapbooking and various other crafts. Finally I realized I don't have time for ANY of those things right now, and started to feel down. Then I saw the cookbooks and thought, "That's it." That's one thing I can do in this season of my life. We eat every day, and if I focus on food, at least it's not distracting me from taking care of my family!

So I'm not sure exactly where that leaves me, but it makes me feel like I DO have an option for a creative outlet AND something I can be enthusiastic about in taking care of my family.

Maybe I'll share some of my favorite and low-stress recipes that I've collected along the way.

Here is the first recipe I'll share. I made it tonight, and changed some things, so the recipe below is now right. It's not low-fat, but you should have seen the original recipe -- 4 cans of evaporated milk, and even more butter! By the way, my ENTIRE family loved it!

(This is one of the recipes I use my pre-cooked, chopped chicken in.)

Curried Chicken Rice Soup

1 stick (½ cup) butter
2 large carrots, sliced
2 celery ribs, sliced
1 small onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 Tbsp season salt
1 tsp curry powder
1 Tbsp dried basil
½ cup flour
4 cups chicken broth (or 4 c water + 4 chicken bouillon)
3 cups milk
2 cups cooked rice
1-2 cups cubed, cooked chicken
1 12-ounce can evaporated milk

If rice is not already cooked, do so as directed and let cook while preparing soup.
In a large saucepan, sauté carrots, celery, onion, and garlic in butter and seasonings until tender.
Stir in flour until thickened. Gradually add broth and milk. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened.
Stir in chicken and rice.
Add evaporated milk, heat, and serve.
Makes 10-12 servings.

Through the Bible in 2 1/2 Years

2010-01-02T08:22:00.001-08:00

It's supposed to be "Through the Bible in a Year." But I'm not sure I've ever made it in a year.

It's a set of bookmarks from Discipleship Journal that helps you read through your Bible in one year, but you read in four different places each day, so even if I'm "bogged down" in one section, I can still read the other sections and not feel too overwhelmed.

Someone sent me my first set of bookmarks when I was still in the Army, I think! Every time I start, I think maybe I should be more disciplined and actually do it in a year, but then I just get overwhelmed when I get behind.

Right now, I have two months left, which should take me my last 1/2 year. And Weldon just finished his in just under three years : )

The truth is that I really like to have these bookmarks, because even if I haven't opened my Bible in WAY too long, I still know right where to start, unlike other times in my life where I would sit down to read my Bible and spend half of my time just looking for a place to start again. This way, even if I only have 5 minutes, I just read for that long and know right where to start next time.

You can download the bookmarks here: http://www.navpress.com/dj/content.aspx?id=138 There are two other options there. The third one, "The Discipleship Journal Bible Reading Plan" is the one I've done many times.

So, even though it takes me 2 1/2 times longer than it's supposed to, I have still read all the way through my Bible 7 or 8 times in my life. And every time makes a big difference in my life.

Were you stuck?

2009-12-30T14:45:00.000-08:00

I love some of the phrases my kids use. They just can't seem to get it right no matter how many times I tell them some things.

Just now I asked Jonah, Parker, and Sarah if they were still working on clearing the table to get it set for dinner... Jonah told Sarah that she was the one that stopped him. And Sarah said, "I just got extracted." That's DIStracted, Sarah!

Bathroom Remodeling Project!

2009-12-30T13:39:00.001-08:00

We're at the time of year when Weldon has lots of time on his hands, and even though we don't have lots of money (beCAUSE he has lots of time on his hands!) we try to get part of the house fixed up... an investment for some future date of sale AND a more enjoyable house in the meantime! Thanks, Mom & Dad and Grandma Sarah, for Christmas money we are using toward fixing my little bathroom this year! We're passing on the shower part for now, since that would be twice the cost... maybe later in the winter... or another winter?

So far we found a remnant of vinyl flooring for half price (called "Middle Earth" -- I suppose that's why I loved it... "Lord of the Rings" must have been in my subconscious!)

And today Weldon went to order a new vanity/sink/mirror combo and found out it was discontinued. So, even though it's not really inexpensive, they sold us the floor model for $40 off the original price PLUS we didn't have to order it and wait a week OR put it together!

Weldon is back there ripping up the floor, which turned out to be rotten under the vinyl flooring. So it's taking a while to get it out, bit by rotten bit...

Here are some before and beginning pics:

The kids are so disappointed that we're getting rid of the "cool" countertop... I'm pretty excited, myself!

Paul got his "workboots" on and helped Dad for a while.

You can hear Parker in the above video expressing his amazement that the floor wasn't real tile : )

And here is the floor model we took a picture of in the store yesterday : )

...To Grandma's House We Go... ?

2009-12-23T07:42:00.000-08:00

We have been planning to go to Weldon's parents' house for Christmas Eve (about 2 hours north of us), but now that there is a major winter storm expected (10-20 inches of snow!) we're wondering about leaving a day early. So today is a packing day, then we'll decide tonight if we will leave tonight or tomorrow as planned... or stay home if it's just going to be too crazy.

So, here I go... "packing all the day."

Merry Christmas everyone!

WELCOME BABY BODE!

2009-12-23T07:36:00.000-08:00

I finally called Dorothy last night and said, "I'm dying!!!" So she told us the news... baby Isaac was born safely, 7lb 9oz. They were all wondering if the baby would be pink or blue : ) Blue it is!

Here's her announcement with a picture:

http://urbanservant.blogspot.com/2009/12/announcing.html

Pray for the birthmom, "C" who will be having a hard time saying goodbye as they bring little Isaac home tonight. Dorothy says they all kind of hold their breath until the 10-day period when "C" could change her mind about giving Isaac up for adoption is over.

And pray for good travel home during the snowstorm that is expected later. They're about an hour away.

25,000 Pictures

2009-12-22T14:20:00.001-08:00

25,000 Pictures -- that's how many pictures I have on iPhoto on my MacIntosh laptop. I'm trying to get organized, but when I made projects like slideshows on my old computer, I wouldcopy pictures from all my folders and then put them all into another folder. On the Mac I don't have to make copies of a picture, I can just "tag" them with "Anniversary Slideshow" or whatever I want to name my new project, and then I can search and bring all of them up at once.

So now I have 3 or 4 copies of MANY of my favorite pictures, which I need to delete. But I have to find where each belongs chronologically and then find all the other copies before deleting them. Oh, this is going to take a long time....

Here are a few of my favorite pictures (they're mostly several years old)... they are the reason I take so many -- so I have a few REALLY special ones.

Paul

On the way to the State Fair

Cousin Jenna & Paul

Weldon and Sarah

Cousins Krista, Jenna & Kyle with Jonah & Parker

Sarah

Parker

Parker in Florida

Jonah

Weldon with Sarah

Me with cotton candy at the State Fair.

Sarah

Grandma Phyllis reading with Jonah

Bode Baby Update

2009-12-22T12:46:00.000-08:00

Dorothy called a couple of hours ago and said "C" is dilated to 5 and Dorothy is at the hospital! I haven't heard anything since then -- just didn't have a chance to write here right away. I've been thinking of them and praying all morning.

Also, Dorothy did write on her blog a couple of days ago that she had received a copy of their home study update and was off to the post office to mail in several grant applications.

Did I mention that they are in the process of selling their house and planning to move to Colorado at the end of January???

Weldon Broberg Construction

2009-12-21T16:09:00.000-08:00

It just occurred to me that I haven't written about Weldon's job change this year. That's not surprising, of course, because I had only written about 7 blog posts all year until this week. I'm not sure why I'm writing all of a sudden. It's not like I have extra time all of a sudden, but I think it was because of watching, "Julie and Julia" last week. : )

Anyway, I thought I'd update everyone on Weldon's new work.

In April Weldon's brother, who owned the company he had worked for off and on for over 20 years, including most of the almost 12 years we have been married -- decided to close up shop. We weren't really surprised, with our country's economic situation and the way things had been going, but it made things very interesting! The first day, Weldon said, "I don't know if I should be excited or terrified!" He's been wanting to get into a more "diversified" line of work for a while... concrete work is back-breaking, and when there's any work, there's usually LOTS of it.

We asked lots of friends for prayers for wisdom about what to do. We thought one option might be working at Glen Eyrie, because we had just had an email and a phone call from them about the possibility. But we never heard back from the guy Weldon had talked to.

So, we just did the next thing, which turned out to be forming an LLC, which for those of you like myself who don't have a clue about what that means, is a Limited Liability Company, which basically protects your personal assets/finances from being taken in the event of someone suing the company.

We wanted to do something clever with Weldon's name for the company name, but you'd be amazed at how many people already use, "Well-Done Construction!" So we went with Weldon Broberg Construction because that is unique... only one of those guys! And I must add that I'm excited to see that it was the first link (after ads) that came up when I typed it on Google just now!

Even before we formed the company God started supplying work. The day he found out about his old company closing, our neighbor called and said he couldn't get in touch with the guy who worked on his backyard patio & deck in the fall. He wanted to get the railings up, so Weldon started there right away. Plus he was already planning to go to our friends' house to see about another remodeling project, which kept him busy between many other jobs that kept coming!

Only in the past two weeks have things even slowed down enough for us to have a chance to get nervous about paying bills... not that I should EVER worry about that, because God has ALWAYS given us what we need, when we need it.

"You Need a Power of Attorney..."

2009-12-21T13:21:00.000-08:00

I don't mind taking care of the finances in our home, even now that Weldon has his own business. It definitely adds to my job list, but it's usually fine. One of my HUGE frustrations though, is when I call a business or bank to ask about my account, and they say, "I'm sorry, I have to speak to the person on the account." Usually we have both of our names on any account, but our Health Savings Account (HSA) is like an Individual Retirement Account... only one person allowed on the account.

Today I called the bank that takes care of our HSA to ask if a check I sent two days ago had been received. I didn't want a dollar amount or to make a withdrawal... I just wanted a "yes" or "no." She said, "I'm sorry, I can't give you any information on the account." So I asked, "How can I get my name on the account?" She said I can't get my name on the account, but "if you get a power of attorney, you can access the information."

I know, in my head, that I should be glad that they will protect our information. But I don't feel protected because I know if I just deepened my voice and gave the right information, they would tell me what I want to know... that's not protection. Just frustration.

SO... does anyone know how to get a power of attorney? Know anyone in the area and how much it might cost? I looked at Legal Zoom, but didn't see a price right off. Don't even know if it's worth it -- I think it's now our only account I don't have access to.

In the meantime, I'll try to remember that after Jesus comes back I won't have to deal with these things, or my sinful responses to them, anymore...

Hebrews 9:28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

Family Trip to India?

2009-12-20T13:28:00.000-08:00

About 10 months ago, our friend Dorothy found a blog by a lady (Sarah) who lives in India with her own family and runs a home for orphans. The blog is called Sarah's Covenant Homes. Dorothy showed Weldon and then Weldon showed me. We were both in tears at the condition of the kids she was taking in, and all the effort she was putting into their lives to get medical treatment and surgeries for them. The kids had been in a government orphanage and Sarah wanted to give them a place to live that was like a home instead of leaving them lying on mats all day with lice in their hair and dying of malnutrition. She just loves on those kids so much... she ends up with all their itchy things, but I don't think she can even help herself!

We started following Sarah's blog and sent money for a special project she was doing to raise money for the kids. Then sometime a few months later, I got overwhelmed with life and went through my blog "reader" and deleted lots of blogs from my list. I kept the links to check once in a while, but took them off the list that shows up on my homepage daily. Sarah's was one of them.

Funny thing was that about a month later, all of a sudden Sarah's blog was back on my reader with all the posts I had missed! I said, "Well, I guess God wants me to keep up with this!"

Over the months, as we would read some of the posts about the kids and their progress and the struggles with running the home, Weldon and I would wonder out loud about going to India to help them. Weldon especially wondered about their need for concrete work or maintenance.

Finally about a month ago, I wrote to Sarah and asked her if they would ever have any need of his services... with the understanding that we don't have any idea if we could ever really come or not... just checking to see if there is even a need there.

Sarah wrote back and said, "Absolutely!! Patty, that's one of our biggest needs." And she wrote a "wish list" of about 10 things she'd love to have done!

I really have NO idea if we could ever really go to India as a family! I'm excited about the thought, though. I've wondered if God would ever have us go anywhere in the world as missionaries. And I've never felt a "call" to go anywhere in particular, let alone an excitement about going AND an excitement for what we could help with. But I DO feel excited about going to India and about helping a woman who is taking care of so many children in such an unbelievable way. Maybe I should say I'm excited to have a husband who can help, and that maybe I can help him.

Another big part of my desire to go is for my kids to see that not everyone in the world lives like we get to for now. As Pastor John said during our Missions week last year, "Our prosperity is killing our kids." (My paraphrase.) I'm sure it would be a good eye-opener for me, too.

So, we're praying about going. I want to go so much. But the reality of taking a 3-year old and a strong-willed 6-year old (along with the older two boys) on a really LONG plane trip (having never even done it myself yet) could be really hard. Wondering if maybe Weldon could go this winter with just a couple of people to "scope it out" and see what it would take to bring the rest of us another time.

We have at least three friends who have expressed interest in going along. Anyone else want to come? We'll keep you updated!

Movies "Based on the Book"

2009-12-18T19:21:00.000-08:00

Recently, I almost decided to never watch a movie that is "based on" any book I have ever read.

A couple of weeks ago, we watched the old movie of "The Hiding Place" about Corrie TenBoom but it was so different in parts. Then a couple of nights ago we tried to watch "Inn of the Sixth Happiness" about Gladys Aylward, but WOW, how messed up it was! It was painful to watch! First, it was called the "Inn of Eight Happinesses" just because the lady thought it sounded nice, but they had to change the name and then give it a reason. They totally skipped the WEEKS it took for her to make her journey to China, being arrested, having her passport changed from "missionary" to "machinery," and then stalked in a hotel, barely escaping from Russia. I won't even go on...

We also recently watched "Paddle to the Sea" after reading the book for school. It's just so completely frustrating to watch them add in the "politically correct" parts, like adding the "sludge" that was being dumped into the rivers (which was not part of the book at all).

Well, the reason I say I almost decided not to watch any movie based on a book is that we went to see "A Christmas Carol" (Robert Zemeckis) tonight for our Family Movie Night (which is usually a rental at home!).

Wow! We just read the book by Charles Dickens a month ago, and it was very close to the book! They did change parts of it, but it was still mostly right on. Plus, I absolutely love 3-D movies! (Warning, though, it was pretty scary and intense in parts -- I had to cover Paul's eyes, and Parker will NOT be getting his pjs on in his room by himself anytime soon!)

I was also informed today by my friend Liz that "The only movie that is like the book is 'A Room with a View.'" Might have to read that someday!

And, I have to remember that "Lord of the Rings" was based on the book, and I would never have made it through that book without knowing the long list of characters I learned from the movie!

So, what is the worst or best movie "based on a book" you have seen?

Pray for the Bodes

2009-12-18T04:29:00.000-08:00

Our good friends, the Bodes (pronounced with a long O and E, "Bo' Dee"), Robert and Dorothy, have opened their home to seven adopted children over the years, along with their three "home grown" children. A few months ago, they found out that one of their youngest children has a sibling on the way and that the mom, "C," would probably want them to take him or her. How could they say no?

(Read her announcement here: http://urbanservant.blogspot.com/2009/10/all-i-want-for-christmas.html)

They have been expecting a January or February birth but have had mostly no news or just rumors of news. They got their home study updated, and now Dorothy says she has been informed that C will have the baby by Tuesday or they will induce her! She may be able to be there for the birth!

Pray for the timing... they updated their home study, but they don't have a copy of it yet to be able apply for grants to cover the cost of the adoption, and if I understand correctly, it may be too late to apply for any grants after the baby is already in their home.

I'm SO excited to meet this little one.

For updates, go to Dorothy's blog: http://www.urbanservant.blogspot.com/

Bedtime Reading

2009-12-17T13:43:00.000-08:00

Sarah drew a picture of our nightly reading time last night:

(Left to right: Weldon, Me (reading), Parker with Jonah laying half on top of him, Paul at bottom middle, and Sarah, drawing... we do have a king-size bed, but there is not NEARLY this much space between all of us... it's pretty realistic of Jonah & Parker!)

There are SO many things I don't have time for in my life right now that I would love to do... blogging (which is also my journaling), drawing/painting, learning to knit, organizing our lives. Most things are not so important as they are urgent, like laundry, meals, cleaning, paying bills. But I'm thankful that one thing we DO get to do is read together. We've been reading lots (and not much else) for school this year, and we've been reading together as a family in the evenings, too.

In the past month or so we have read, "The Hiding Place" about Corrie TenBoom and "The Adventure of a Lifetime" about Gladys Aylward. We started on the story of Brother Andrew's life last night. It's called, "God's Secret Agent" which is why it was chosen next -- Parker jumped all over that title! I really like the series, "Christian Heroes: Then & Now" that the last two books are part of. It's at our attention level.

I feel like it's so important to read the stories of how God has worked and provided for His people in the hard times, like in the Holocaust. I really feel like more days like those are coming. I hope I'm wrong, but the Bible does say things will get pretty hard before Jesus returns. These stories encourage me not to lose heart, and it gives my kids a stockpile of stories for God to remind them of when they go through tough times someday when we might not be around for them.

Plus, I just really like having time with the family being all together. These times won't last forever.

How Faith Makes God "Look Good"

2009-10-14T13:23:00.000-07:00

This is a great illustration... it's supposedly for children, but I seem to like those illustrations best.

New Blog Name?

2009-09-28T12:34:00.000-07:00

Okay, I realize that I can make my own blog on my Mac now, and it's SO much easier to do (especially uploading photos, which I've been spending way too much time on with this last post) -- my only drawback is figuring out a new blog name and getting it set up -- and then not having an easy-to-remember address, because it will be something like, "http://web.me.com/pbroberg1"

SO -- I'm just wondering if I have ANYone out there who still reads my blog, and if so, does anyone have a creative idea for a blog name? I don't even know how to describe myself or my purpose for blogging. Mostly it's for Grandmas and Grandpas, but it's partly for me to "journal" and "scrapbook" because I don't do that anywhere else very often. And then, sometimes I just want to say what's on my mind. It's all pretty random. But I can't think of a NAME for it! (I don't expect to hear from the Grandmas and Grandpas, because I always have to call them to look at the latest : ) )

Well, I'd better get on with the real business of life -- sorting through that stack o' finances and paying bills and getting things in order for our life and business...

Toney Family

2009-09-27T14:06:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I haven't written on here for a REALLY long time. I've been on Facebook -- which I love. But I want to write on here again. As a new friend reminded me, it's a good way to journal, since I don't do it any other way.

My Mom was visiting us a few months ago, and she brought a treasure in disguise: a brown paper bag full of moldy photos. They were found at my Grandmother Toney's house not long ago (my Dad's side of the family). I know lots of her and Papa's (we pronounced it, "Pa [as in Pat]-paw") things were gone through when they passed away many years ago, but I guess these were left behind.

Some of them were photos I had never seen, and it made me see my family in a whole new way, and made me wonder what they were like -- what would it have been like to meet them? I never saw them when they were this young, even in pictures.

I have lots more, but I think I will just put these few up for now.

2009-05-19T20:01:00.000-07:00

I already posted this on Facebook today, but it was one of the most challenging and encouraging things I've listened to -- especially in relation to being a Mom -- in a long time.

It's a talk by Rachel Barkey, who is a 37 year-old wife and mother of two young girls who is dying of cancer. She only has weeks to live. She gave this talk March 4.

It's about 55 minutes, but well worth listening to for me. I wanted to share it with anyone else who struggles with getting the work done each day, wishing you could balance it better with loving on those young kids.

http://deathisnotdying.com/eventvideo/

Weldon's Winter Project

2009-03-07T20:45:00.000-08:00

Weldon has been staying sane for the past six weeks by getting out of our house most days and doing a project for our friends in Minneapolis. They have 10 kids, and until this weekend, no shower!

For anyone who is interested, here are all of Dorothy's blog entries on the "Bathroom Project" with LOTS of fun pictures of Weldon and the job he did. You'll have to start at the bottom and go up to see it in chronological order.

Paul Sings

2009-02-19T18:46:00.000-08:00

Paul has been singing, "Jesus Loves Me" for many months now, but I was never able to get him recorded. He would always get shy and stop singing, or be distracted by the camera and want to hold it. Once I recorded it, and it was PERFECT... no one interrupted, and he sang it all the way through... and then I realized it hadn't recorded... ugh.

SO... finally, the other night, Paul decided he likes an audience, and he must have sung it through 6 or more times. I thought I'd try it again. I love his little voice. Hope you enjoy it!

My Friend

2008-12-28T18:42:00.001-08:00

This is an article and slideshow about our friend Dorothy and her husband Robert and their family. We go to the same church, and we've known of them for many years, as we've watched their family grow. But we got to know them much better when Weldon did some work for them on their kitchen last winter. I just love these guys.

God bless them all with good sleep ; )

Scared!

2008-12-16T18:16:00.000-08:00

A couple of nights ago, we were sitting in our bedroom, getting ready for “Bible time” and Weldon asked Parker to go get Parker’s Bible from the living room. Before he could get up, Paul quickly said, “I do it!” and slid off the bed to go get the Bible. Weldon said, “See Parker… Paul isn’t afraid to go in the living room by himself. If your little two-year-old brother isn’t afraid of the dark, why are you?” Parker said, “He doesn’t know about MONSTERS yet! The older you are, the braver you are… the younger you are, the braver you are… but if you’re somewhere in the middle… [in a high pitched voice] scaaaredy cat!”

11th Anniversary and 2nd Birthday

2008-11-15T17:39:00.000-08:00

Weldon and I got to go away for three nights last weekend. It was a late celebration of our 11th Anniversary, which was on 10/11 -- 11 on the 11th -- guess that doesn't make it our "golden" anniversary, though!

We are so thankful to the Rozeks! They let us use their home on Lake Superior, near Lutsen... it was SO nice. We ate all of our meals in. It was actually fun to cook for only two! (Plus Weldon makes the best breakfasts!)

I even beat Weldon (once) in Scrabble!

Grandma and Grandpa Broberg (and some wonderful Broberg cousins!) watched our kids (thanks again Bethany, Krista, Kyle, and Jenna!!!). We got back on Sunday afternoon in time for Paul's birthday party (he turned two on Sunday, November 9).

Here's a little video of us singing Happy Birthday to Paul -- he even got to practice blowing out the candles!

And Grandma Judy sent some money for Paul's birthday, so I thought I'd show her what she bought him: the little V-Tech train set (goes well with the train table from the Bode family! Thanks!) and the little hiking boots (FINALLY something he can't take off!) Both from the Hidden Treasures Thrift Store -- on a 30% off day! We'll just put the rest of the money in our ING account and save it for a rainy day! Thanks Grandma Judy!

Pumpkins, Progress, and 'Puters

2008-11-01T11:37:00.000-07:00

Pumpkins

Our kids were four of about six trick-or-treaters who came through our neighborhood last night! We had two (besides our own kids!), including the teenage neighbor who felt sorry for our kids not having anyone to pass candy out to, so she came down and rang the doorbell :) (She didn't take NEARLY enough candy, though, since I bought two giant bags!)

Sarah was "Barbie and the Nutcracker," Paul was Buzz Lightyear (compliments of cousin Jenna who very reluctantly gave up her costume about 5 years ago in time for Parker and Sarah both to use it, too), Parker was "Super Why" (see http://www.pbs.org/parents/tvprograms/program-superwhy.html) - his costume is made out of 4 brightly colored t-shirts bought at a Salvation Army thrift store and haphazardly sewn together in 2 hours yesterday! Good thing you can't see it close up! Jonah was Moses with his 10 commandments written out by his own hand, put into the cases of two VHS tapes - his outfit was a set of old curtains from another thrift store... didn't even do any sewing, just tied it with a strip cut from them :)

The kids got to carve pumpkins (Jonah and Parker did their own little ones -- completely on their own!) and Weldon got to do the huge one! (Got lots of yummy roasted seeds from this guy!)

Weldon also got to stay home to pass out candy, and with the lack of trick-or-treaters, he had PLENTY of time to work on his foil costume to get a free burrito from Chipotle... the only problem is that by the time we got there at 8:30 last night, the line was all the way through the store, and another store length OUTSIDE!

Progress

Today Weldon's brother stopped by and helped Weldon get the last of the brick and the stone window ledge on the front of the house:

As far as I know, all it needs now is a couple of coats of paint!

'Puters

Wow... if I see this many more times I'm going to lose it...

(well, I guess it's debatable if I've ALREADY lost it, but)

It says, "MSN has encountered a problem and needs to close..."

The other crazy thing my computer does is, when I open a new window, it tries to be very helpful... too helpful... and opens window after window after window... and there's no way to stop it except to shut it off on the front of the computer (the "wrong" way).

I'm seriously considering getting a MacIntosh computer -- since there are "no known viruses" for them. I spend HOURS looking for viruses, and if I don't, then I spend MORE hours waiting and then having to shut the computer down in the middle of 5 things I was doing... including paying bills which I now do online.

So, if anyone knows anything about Mac, or has any suggestions on getting one (an old one is completely acceptable!) let me know!!!

Next Project

2008-10-18T09:09:00.000-07:00

This morning Weldon decided to take advantage of a weekend at home and the temps that are predicted to get into the 60s (it's 50 now). (I already took advantage of him being home and slept for 9 1/2 hours! I haven't slept well for several nights, so it was a huge blessing!)

He has been wanting to replace the brick on the front of the house since before he jacked up the house, but especially SINCE then, because jacking up the house put a crack through them.

I went out with my camera just in time to take a picture of him taking the board off that I thought was a leftover from jacking up the house... turns out he left it there, because he was pretty sure of what would happen, as you will see in this video:

He's still out there, with the kids helping, knocking the mortar off the bricks and cleaning it up. Update later!

Basement Project -- Completed!

2008-10-08T16:43:00.000-07:00

Well, THIS project spans January until two days ago! So it covers a little more than just the summer...

I'll try to tell what each picture is, in order:

1. Picture from January -- this is the "Before" picture. It's not very good for the overall basement, but a good section. Notice the paneling and the old fireplace. This is also the corner of the house that sunk over the years since it was built... about 3 inches total. Weldon't brother, Bryan, helped a lot with this project... he's the one in the corner.

2 & 3. Weldon and Bryan used the frozen ground to brace the jacks and raised the corner of the house! (No, they didn't raise it three FEET... the picture is just crooked and I'm not going to spend 10 minutes trying to crop it to make it look right!)

4. Paneling is gone and Weldon added lots of insulation (no wonder it was so cold down there!). This is a good shot of the old fireplace, and you can see the old carpet that I was glad to get rid of... until I saw the orange tiles under it! (See picture 7)

5. Weldon tearing out the fireplace.

6. Bryan laying the stone on on the new fireplace Weldon prepared. Also notice the sheetrock on the walls.

7. The orange tile under the carpet... thankfully it came up SUPER easy -- not a normal thing for us doing home remodeling projects!

8. Weldon pouring concrete in the corner, to bring the floor up to the level of the rest of the room. Also a good shot of the ledge and windows that he sanded and refinished. And the painted walls.

9. Bryan & Weldon laying carpet!

10. Finally, this past weekend, we found a gas log to put in our fireplace. Weldon hooked it up and we have enjoyed warm fires every evening so far! (Also, note that this is in our "guest" area, so if you'd like to stay with us, you can enjoy a cozy fire with us (or without us if you want to wait until the kids are in bed! On second thought, maybe we'll let you take care of the kids and WE'll head down there! :) )

Bye, Steve, We'll Miss You!

2008-10-06T15:07:00.000-07:00

Our friend Steve Williams (best man in our wedding 11 years ago) is off to Colorado without us!

Steve came down over two years ago to help Weldon out with our other house... finishing up the basement for our renters... before he headed out to Colorado. He stayed with our family for a few weeks and went to church with us a few times. After a few weeks, he decided he'd like to stay for a while and listen to some more John Piper sermons... he was very encouraged (and challenged?) by his time there.

He worked in this area for a while and headed back to St. Louis to be with family again for the winter. Then ended up back here again for awhile. And after our reunion in Colorado two months ago, he was ready to head out to Colorado -- finally!

Thankfully our kids have said bye to him a few times now, so it wasn't quite as overwhelming. But we'll all still miss him. He's a great friend to Weldon and me, and a fun "Jungle Jim..." er... "Jungle Steve" for the kids. Not to mention a really good example of a godly man for our kids. Sarah says she wants to marry him when she grows up... and while I'm not so sure about THAT, I am ALL for her marrying someone very much like him!

God bless you in all you do, Steve! We look forward to visiting you :)

Catching Up

2008-10-06T13:48:00.000-07:00

Well, I decided to go back through my summer and do a few highlights -- one at a time, because there are too many! We'll see how this works... trying to stay caught up with the recent AND going back through the summer!

So, here we are on July 4, enjoying some time at Weldon's parents' house on Sandy Lake, north of our house about 2 hours, in Barnum.

Notes:
* Weldon and his brothers repainted the row boat and named it the "Myrtle-O" after Phyllis' Mom -- Myrtle Olivia Cassel.
* Our niece Krista and our Russian girl, Julia, on a photo shoot :) (I'll have to post some of the results of that session another time... Krista is a GREAT photographer!)
* We celebrated Jonah's birthday a couple of days early.
* Enjoying the fireworks in Duluth with the lift bridge in the foreground.
* Made a trip (earlier in the day) to the neighbor's to see the new puppies! If we had an all-outdoor area for a dog, we would've loved to take one of these!

Out with Daddy!

2008-10-06T13:31:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Weldon was going to run to Menards for something to finish hooking up our new gas fireplace in the basement - another blog entry there! - and he was going to go alone, but I suggested that maybe he could take Paul... since he doesn't need a bottle anymore, he's pretty easy to take alone, for a short time.

So Weldon asked Paul, "You want to go to the store with Daddy?" Paul seemed excited, and let Weldon put his shoes and socks on him, and the two of them headed out the door (with a sippy cup of gatorade and a granola bar... just in case.)

I was a little surprised when Weldon walked in the door at least 5 minutes later. He said, "I lifted him into the van, and started buckling him into his seat, and he started freaking out... crying and yelling! So I thought he must have decided he didn't want to go after all. So I unbuckled him, and he ran over to the truck, yelling, 'truck, truck, truck!'"

So Weldon had to find a car seat (the one in the van is built in) and get him in the truck. Then he was very content and had a good adventure with Daddy -- alone!

It's gonna be okay...

2008-10-04T22:25:00.000-07:00

...but it's not okay now.

Where is God when there is pain? Where is God when I'm sick? How can a God who lets people die be good?

One of our pastors spoke last week and answered these questions with Scripture in a powerful way:

Tim Cain - Jesus: The Resurrection and the Life - 09.28.2008 - mp3

I'd love to know if you listen (or listened) to it, and what you think.

This is one of the most powerful sermons I've heard... in my life.

Do I have any milk left?

2008-10-04T20:16:00.001-07:00

Oh, how did I forget to write about this one? Maybe it's just because I didn't take a picture of it (you'll be thankful, don't worry!)

This morning, Weldon asked if he had any milk (he uses skim, the rest of us use 2% -- until recently Paul also used whole). I went down to get the gallon that was in the basement fridge... the little one we inherited from our former renter (in our other house) last year. The same one Paul used to get into every couple of days to go through Julia's (our Russian girl this summer) yogurt, or eat her grapes and drop them on the floor, and leave the door open.

SO... I went down and opened the fridge... blech! Not only was the milk a couple of days past the "best if used by" date, but SOMEONE (Paul!) had turned the fridge off COMPLETELY. OH, it was so NASTY! The jug was swollen up and it had apparently been spewing out, because there was liquid (NOT milk, but some part of it) all over the sides and bottom of the fridge. The jug had solid "cheese" in the top and clear liquid in the bottom.

Not really the way I had planned to spend the beginning of my Saturday. But God reminded me to be thankful, so I decided that I WAS thankful that I found it when I did, before more things were growing in there. And now that I think about it, I'm REALLY thankful that it WAS on a Saturday, when I wasn't trying to get breakfast done and get school started!

NOW I'm thankful that I'm done with that cleanup and that the smell is starting to go away :)

It was just a JOKE, Paul!

2008-10-04T20:06:00.000-07:00

Tonight Paul decided to try out our "electric hammer." Only problem is that it was a joke gift that we received from our family (Weldon's side, I might add!) at our rehearsal dinner for our wedding, almost 11 years ago! The cord is just stuck into the end of the hammer! (Notice the darkened, warped prong in the picture.)

Thankfully, God protected him, and all we had to do was reset the breaker!

Well, I'm really behind on this blogging thing... been pretty overwhelmed by getting back into homeschool. I think we're doing better now, so I'm going to try to get on here a few times a week (famous last words?!) That's okay, you're pretty forgiving, Mom! :)

California UnderAchievement Test

2008-09-02T12:54:00.000-07:00

Wow... I forgot to order the mandatory testing for my boys until a couple of weeks ago, and I'm realizing what a mistake that was! I should have done it at the end school. NOT a good way to start the year on a positive note. At least for Jonah and I. We're both feeling frustrated. I feel like the biggest loser of a homeschool Mom ever because of the seemingly simple things my boys can't do on the tests... and Jonah feels frustrated that he doesn't understand some of the things, and then on the things he DOES understand, he doesn't have TIME to do them!

We've had tears flowing off and on all morning.

I keep telling the boys it doesn't really matter, because no one even looks at the tests after they're scored, AND because we know that they know a lot more than can be judged by the test... but still, we both keep getting our blood pressure up! I think we'll have to take the rest of the week off to recover before we start school for real next week!

Summer Camp!

2008-07-26T15:09:00.000-07:00

I finally took the kids to camp this year! My friend Dorothy asked the day before it was supposed to start, "are you sending the kids to camp this year?" I had completely forgotten to even check into it, so when she took her kids the next morning, she asked and they had open spots, so I got the kids up, dressed and fed them, threw together some lunches and swim suits, etc. and headed up to Ham Lake (our local, little, Baptist camp).
(Sarah with her friend, Leah - above)

It worked out so well... Sarah is only 5, but because we did Kindergarten with her last year, she was still able to go, being ready to go into first grade. (Most people think she's seven, anyway... ) So I got to take all three of the older kids. It was day camp, so I drove two hours each day (half an hour each way, twice a day), but it was so fun for them, and still a good break for me... even though I realized that I was still almost as busy at home with only Paul! I DID get to listen to a fun book on cd during the QUIET half of the drive each day!

Maybe we'll even try it again next year!

Artist

2008-07-11T10:50:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we got a brief visit from a member of the family that Parker is named after... Craig Parker (from New Hampshire) stayed with us on his way to a wedding up north. While he was visiting, Sarah decided she wanted him to stand still so she could draw him... I was pretty impressed! Craig took the picture of her, Jonah took the picture of him:

33 Messages

2008-07-06T13:11:00.000-07:00

As I've been decluttering our house, I've also been trying to declutter my computer. Today, I have 33 messages in my e-mail in-box... that's down from over a thousand a few weeks ago. I'm not sure why I thought I needed all those messages. But not long before I thinned them out, I had a scare that I might have lost them all... and then I was almost hoping I had, so I could start with a clean in-box! So that prompted me to do it on purpose. I have kept a few messages that I know I'll want for the next conversation I have with some friends, but most of them are gone. Even though they didn't really take up physical space, it still feels like I got rid of a filing cabinet full of things!

(Someday I'll tackle the "sent messages" folder...)

Tagged by Dorothy

2008-06-30T22:19:00.000-07:00

Okay, I couldn't sleep, so I prayed for a few people that I could think of, then thought I heard a child cough, so got up to check, and decided to come and check e-mail and all the blog updates.

Then I discovered that I was "tagged" by my friend Dorothy, who is a Mom of 9 (waiting on number 10): 3 "homemade" as she loves to say, and 6 adopted. I think her "Top 5 Things You Wish People Knew About You" were probably more interesting and funny than any I can think of about me, but I've never done any of those and actually sent them back to anyone (sorry if you were waiting!), so I thought I'd try. Here you go, Dorothy!

1) Like my friend, Dorothy, I give my kids healthy snacks, and then hide with some M&Ms and read for a few minutes in the afternoon. (It's partly because I know I'm not going to bounce off the walls and cry for more when I'm done with my one handful!)

2) I'm a perfectionist. (Hard to believe, huh?) It's hard for me to accept help because I like things done certain ways... meaning in ways that work best (I KNOW it's pathetic! God is working on it!) Like: loading the dishwasher, and folding clothes. Okay, this is a very boring one. AND I'm not sure I really want everyone to know it... but maybe it will cause some to pray for me and my kids!

3) Even though I've been a Christian for a long time (since my teens), I still sometimes lay awake at night fearing death (picture the kid on "What About Bob," "It's GOING to happen; we're GOING to die." I question my salvation, because of how rotten my attitudes are, but I think it's good because it makes me realize how big Jesus' death really was.

4) I guess most people now know I was in the Army when I was young. But did you know my favorite part was my M-16? I loved carrying it and taking it apart and putting it together, but I REALLY loved to go to the target ranges. I got Expert, and even though I didn't do well on the interview for "Soldier of the Quarter" I still got promoted to E-2 at the end of basic training because of it. I got to qualify (got Expert again) with handguns when I was stationed at the Pentagon, and the officers (all 10 or so men that I was a secretary for) who encouraged me to go said, "I'm not messin' with Toney anymore!"

Well, so much for five things. I'll have to think about it as I hopefully drift off to sleep... it's 12:48am, and I pray I won't be a rotten Mom if Paul wakes up too early again tomorrow.

(The other day when he decided to wake up at 6:00 am, I let him cry and he slept for a while longer, then woke up crying again. I was so frustrated that he was awake, and when I opened his door I just glared down at him, and he looked up at me with his tear-stained face and said, "uh oh." It almost made me laugh... just what I needed!)

Stuff

2008-06-24T13:24:00.001-07:00

In the past couple of months, I've either sold or given away about 26 things from our house on Craigslist http://www.craigslist.org/about/sites.html (click on your city). Even things like TV/VCR's that the VCR doesn't work on, and old computer games for old computers, and broken cameras (anything electronic goes in about 5 minutes!) and old magazines.

I have to admit that ever since I was in the Army, I have loved an orderly life, especially in relation to "stuff." Of course, now, having four kids (and two women living with us), it's a challenge every day to just do the basics and not get overwhelmed with the piles of things that accumulate: dishes in the sink, craft supplies and drawings on the kitchen counter, and on some walls (mostly just taped on!), clothes on all floors, food on the dining room floor, shoes that won't stay in that nice little box with shelves, and toys -- everywhere!). I'm constantly trying to get rid of things, since most of what we own is "strewn about" our entire house!

But, sometimes I get a wake-up call that reminds me to get rid of even more...

Almost three weeks ago, Weldon's family had an auction to sell things that his Dad had accumulated over the course of the last 20+ years, on a piece of property with 2 workshops and a garage. Now, granted, he had a business, and lots of what they sold was supplies and equipment he used for it. But even the auctioneer told him he should have started getting rid of most of the things a long time ago. Weldon, his parents, his 5 brothers and many sisters-in-law and nieces and nephews spent about 2 months of weekends going to the property and going through the stuff to pull out what could be sold, and filled up a 30-yard dumpster at least three times with what couldn't.

Thankfully, God granted good weather (rained in the morning before, and rained in the evening after, but nothing but overcast skies during) a very good auctioneer company, and caused many people to come and take all the stuff! EVERY thing went (some of it was grouped together with other things to MAKE them go away!) and the property went for a "not-as-bad-as-it-could-have-been" price, considering the real estate market the past few years. One of the really good parts is that, since they sold the property, no one even had to go back to remove the things that were left, when someone bought a group of things to get ONE thing they wanted.

Anyway, it was just a good wake up call for me to see how many hours went into sorting and cleaning and selling. Phyllis & Ardell were very generous to our families, in that they split the income from the auction between the 6 brothers families... so of course I'm very thankful for THAT! But all in all, I just want to keep my "stuff" down to a minimum so I don't have to pick it up 5 times a day, and so someday our kids won't be spending many hours, going through all our things saying, "why did they keep these broken TV's???"

20 Years???

2008-06-22T21:05:00.001-07:00

Wow. I know I'm "getting old" because time is flying by faster and faster every year. This morning I woke from some very strange dreams, where my friend Debbie decided to change her name to Jane Normal, and my friend Jessica wanted to make scorpion ice cream... (any counselors out there???)

But in between those two dreams, I somehow figured out that it's been 20 years, to the month (June of '88), since I got out of the Army! THAT is crazy. It does seem like a long time ago... a lifetime ago, in fact, but still, it doesn't seem like it should have been THAT long ago!!! ("Life is a vapor...")

This is a picture of me (Specialist Toney) and my fellow soldier, Carrie (Sherwood) Rick (I lost track of her years ago) when I worked at the Pentagon in a Special Ops office. One of my favorite offices. (Those poor guys couldn't wait to get back into the field!)

Fathers' Day

2008-06-16T09:24:00.000-07:00

Well, it was a good Fathers' Day for Weldon... only a few times was it a little overwhelming! But it was probably one of the best he's had! We had a Dutch Baby (German pancake) for breakfast, followed by church, where the kids no longer have Sunday school for the summer, so we had the 3 oldest with us... usually that's a disaster, but after I bribed Sarah with the promise of M&Ms for behaving, she did very well!

Then we picked up food and went to our local park (Long Lake Park) and had a picnic. God gave us some wonderful weather, all day long. Sunny but cool and breezy. Then we came home and set up the hammock so "Daddy" could take a nap... as you can see, it wasn't so relaxing as he'd hoped! He did actually get a nap, eventually, but only after I made all the kids come inside for a while!

I actually took a short video of them all getting "comfortable." It's pretty entertaining! (Especially if you keep in mind that it was supposed to be just Weldon...) I told him it's for us to watch and laugh at some day when the kids are older and gone... well, we'll either laugh or cry!

Fast Talking?

2008-05-14T07:37:00.000-07:00

Nope, a fast FROM talking. That's what I'm on today.

I was having a quiet time (quiet doesn't happen around here often, but I actually had some this morning AND even spent some of it in my Bible). I was praying and asking God for some of His creativity in dealing with my kids... yesterday was so frustrating for both Weldon and me... the kids just don't hear us anymore. And in the back of my mind, I'm remembering the wisdom from the book, "Making Children Mind Without Losing Yours" by Kevin Lehman. Basically that it's not the kids fault they don't hear you... they know you don't mean business until your voice reaches a certain pitch, so they block out all the other words (noise!)...

So, right after I prayed, I remembered a lady I heard once on Focus on the Family, Rhea Zakich (http://rheazakich.com/journey.shtml). She had lost her voice and was told she shouldn't talk for a month. On her way home from the doctor, she was so sad, thinking how hard it would be on her kids. She was shocked when she told her family and the kids were excited! It ended up that she wasn't able to talk for several months... and ended up creating the "UnGame." So I decided not to talk for a day... then I amended that to trying it for an hour, then maybe until noon if it was going well.

Well, here it is almost two hours later. I must admit that it is harder -- writing notes and having to move to where they are. But they're already responding better. And I'm not yelling, which is a HUGE improvement in our home!

I just have to talk a couple of times on the phone in a little while, but not to the kids. We'll see how it goes!

Another blustery day...

2008-04-26T12:48:00.000-07:00

Today we woke up to snow! On April 26! I don't know why I'm surprised; it IS still springtime in Minnesota after all. I've actually had a fairly good attitude, but I could NOT help laughing at Parker when we were leaving a friend's house today.

The snow was coming down in tiny, almost sleet-like flakes in a blustery wind. As he ran to the van, squinting to be able to see, Parker said, "Is it RAINING, Mommy?" I said, "No, Parker, it's SNOWING!" Then he said, "Mommy, the snow is like evil rain!"

Video Short from Parker & Jonah

2008-04-18T12:43:00.000-07:00

Before I go scrapbooking (for two nights!) I wanted to put the latest creation from my older boys... they've only made about 20 short movies in the past few days, but it's fun to hear them planning them at night (as they lay awake WAY past bedtime... we've gotta work on that).

Hope you have a great weekend!

Patty

our friends in Africa

2008-04-17T08:32:00.000-07:00

This post by our friends in East Africa yesterday gave me a pretty good laugh... she said I could put it on here:

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Clueless

This morning I was at the hospital with our old baby-sitter. She is overdue with her first baby. While we waited, another woman came in and did her urine test. When she finished, she brought the Dixie cup to the nurse.

“Should my husband pee in it too?” she asked.
“What?!” shouted the nurse, too shocked to take the woman seriously.
“Should he go too?”
“Is he pregnant?” the nurse asked.
“No,” the woman responded in all seriousness.
“If he isn’t giving birth, he doesn’t need to pee in the cup,” the nurse said.

Our baby-sitter repeated the story to me twelve times in a row in the car, word for word, laughing so hard she was almost crying.

Always a good time to be had by all at the hospital in Djibouti.

Posted by Jones Family at 11:53 PM

Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall is now Interactive

2008-04-14T08:10:00.000-07:00

I just saw this on our local news website. Footnote.com has taken over 6,000 pictures of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall and made each name a link. They added all the information they had from archives, and now it's available for family and friends to add more information. I saw the Wall in person, and it's heartbreaking just to see how many people died, and sometimes the flowers left by loved ones. But now you can see a little of who is behind these 58,320 names.

http://www.footnote.com/image/#48064217

For the story and more info on this site, here is the link to the story I watched: http://kstp.com/article/stories/S411133.shtml?cat=1

Almost done with another year of school

2008-04-09T13:16:00.001-07:00

I have spring fever SO badly (even with the snow on the way) and I'm so ready to be done with school for this year. Sarah has two letters of the alphabet left to learn next week, and then we'll be done for a while. Here is a video of Sarah reading a short sentence.

Spoke Too Soon...

2008-04-09T12:08:00.000-07:00

Thursday through Saturday, we're supposed to get about 6" of snow here, but some places could get 8-14"!

Ahhh... here comes Spring!

2008-04-05T15:01:00.000-07:00

Here's a time lapse I did of the snow melting in front of our house on Thursday.

Fishbowl

2008-04-02T17:30:00.001-07:00

Jonah decided to draw our fish, "Clifford" (the little, red fish - a betta) in his bowl today. I thought he did a pretty good job! (Those are sea shells below him.)

These are my favorite pictures from 2007

2008-03-29T09:26:00.000-07:00

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

Bryan & Sandi's 25th Anniversary

2008-03-28T06:57:00.001-07:00

Kids singing on Palm Sunday

2008-03-27T12:46:00.000-07:00

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?

2008-03-27T09:10:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-03-26T17:45:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-24T17:01:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-21T07:16:00.001-07:00

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

2008-03-19T09:47:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-19T07:24:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-18T13:22:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-07T10:37:00.000-08:00

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/