Yikes Clay!

Whenever Clay climbs the tree outside the back door, I turn away. He climbs like a squirrel or a monkey, and holds on like a sloth or lizard, so I don't know why I worry so much.
Maybe it's because he climbs wearing cowboy boots.
Maybe it's because he can't seem to walk over flat ground without tripping.
It could just be that I'm a mom.
Whatever the reason, imagine my concern when I noticed him affixing a 6 foot long board to a branch 8 feet off the ground.
Yeah.
I asked what he was doing, to be informed that he was building a "teeter-totter".

"Well Don't you DARE sit on that thing - do you hear?!!" Says I.

"Don't worry mom..." he chirps back to me "...it's an ORNAMENTAL teeter-totter!"

Well THAT was a relief to find out! And since he seemed sincere, I went back about my business with a grin, shaking my head.

And I didn't.
Worry, that is. ...Although sometimes it's better not to ask! :-P

Still Growing...

A week late, I bring you my "half-way" pictures! 20 weeks of evidence for the growing miracle inside.

Tonight I am thinking of some friends who are sorrowing. Two precious mothers who lost their own growing miracles just last night.


I revisited my last "Plunged Into The Deep" post, and was sobered accordingly as I read the words I wrote some months ago. today feels so far away from that time, and yet it all happened yesterday.

Tonight my laptop is resting on my lap, but my lap is disappearing under a big round ball full of life! My feet are swelling some already, and every other part of my body is rounding out as well. I am trying to walk "normal" since there is really no excuse for waddling... yet.
My hip and shoulder are getting sore at night from lying on one side, and peanut butter sandwiches, and ice cream cravings have been the bane of my "round" existence.

And yet...

I have a choice. My cup is not half empty. It is not even half full. It is full to overflowing! Everywhere - even in my aches - are signs of life. Signs of an everyday miracle.
Evidence of the mercies I could not earn, and do not deserve, yet am graced with by a God whose ways I don't understand.
I don't understand, but I will choose to be thankful! To be grateful! To see the gift, and be amazed by the Giver.








He is good.

some of that reveling...

Today's school lesson in Hybridizing Roses (and yes, you did read that correctly) given by Gramsie and captivating all, allowed me a little freedom and an impromptu coffee with a girlfriend.

What a breath of fresh air for one and all of us Bugs!

Thanks Grams.
Thanks Shannon:-)

Thanks Lord!

On "Wol Nut" Cake and Follow-Through

I realized with some irony that today while I was battling one child on follow-through, I nearly lost an opportunity to facilitate another child's natural bent to follow-through.

That one little guy, Clayton, filled his pockets with Walnuts at Uncle Charlie's three days ago.
The next day he put them all into a zip lock bag, with a label on it that read "Clays Wol Nuts".
Yesterday he spent all afternoon sitting outside with a rock, cracking every nut and carefully removing the meats - many of them in perfect halves - and completely filled a coffee mug over the course of several hours.
As he cracked away, big plans were being laid for making some kind of "nut cake".

Hmmm... nut cake?

I wan't sure I was prepared to find a "nut cake" recipe, but Clayton's determination wasn't easily squelched, and by late this afternoon I straightened out my priorities (another little victory?).
I dived into Mother Hen's blog Homemade and Wholesome and found a recipe that appeared suitable.
Clay was ecstatic, and we commenced the making of Apple Nut Cake! We enjoyed our time together and made a few adjustments to the recipe - adjustments that would do certain friends proud! Surprisingly, it was a success.
















And most especially to see the shining face of my little guy as he placed before the family the last step in his carefully laid and well executed vision. Well done son!

Apple Nut Cake

Preheat your oven to 350°. Butter a bundt pan and sprinkle it with sugar and set it aside.

In your large bowl mix:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda

Set that aside and get your medium bowl and mix:

• 4 eggs
• 3 cups peeled, grated apple
• ½ cup raisins
• 1 cup chopped walnuts
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• ¾ cup vegetable oil

Now stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Don’t overblend. Pour it into the bundt pan and bake for about 50 minutes. Do the toothpick test. It’s ok for little bits of cake to adhere to the toothpick, as long as what sticks is not raw, gloppy batter.

Let the cake cool for about 10-15 minutes then turn it out onto a serving plate.

Our substitutions are as follows:

2 cups hard white wheat, freshly ground on the pastry setting.
1 cup Honey (instead of 2 cups sugar)
1 cup applesauce (instead of 2/3 cup oil) no raisins in ours.
I am very proud of these substitutions Jenny S. and I fully expect a very nice comment from you!!!
Clay wanted to serve with a dollop of whipped cream so that's what we did. Good idea too!

Blue-Eyed Baby Bugs

One of Those "Thank You Lord" Finds!

This is a "new" book we bought at the used bookstore. I don't usually have luck with this kind, but it looked promising, and upon further inspection, I'm tickled pink!


The front cover proclaims:

"over 400 kid-friendly experiments and explorations for curious minds"

We started at the beginning yesterday and the children all had a blast learning about the eye, it's parts, and how it works.

We started out by observing each our own eye. The book suggested a mirror, but we also used the digital camera and took a picture of each child's eye - it was so neat to zoom way in and see intricate detail in the color of the iris! Also, with so many blue eyes around here, we got to notice the differences in each set of blue eyes. That was fun!









I will tell you if I continue to love this book, but so far I am really impressed by the "experiments and explorations" that require no more than what you have on hand in your home.

I also like all the colorful pictures and the amount of information.
We didn't finish the eye chapter until today and didn't even do all the experiments suggested.
Their favorites were their eye drawings, and a cool experiment to see how each eye sees a different view. This was done by rolling up a sheet of paper, holding it up to one eye and placing the palm of their hand next to the rolled up paper.
Keeping both eyes open and moving their hand closer to their face there appeared to be a hole in the middle of their hand! Way neat-o!













This book is about the right speed for all my children to read together. Simple enough for Susanna and Olivia (3 and 4) to participate if they want, and plenty involved for my boys who are 6 and 8.
I highly recommend it - especially if you can find it at a used bookstore too!!! ;-)

Deliberate Victories? (Part 4)

Yes.

I was deliberate in executing a "little victory" today.

During school, we took a break to played Hide and Seek! Momma would hide and all the children would look... screaming hilariously when I roared as found! Then all the children would hide (in pairs, until Olivia thought she'd rather count and seek with me) while Carolina and I searched around every crack, crevice, and corner.

It was a hoot! That Zack is especially good at thinking up original hiding spots, and Susanna faithfully relied on the same one - under the bed - every time;-) (Hey, if somethings working for ya, stick with it!)

It was a good thing for me to play WITH the children. It was wonderful to laugh together! It was also a nice treat to stop in the midst of doing duties to do something fun and unexpected.

I doubt I could do it every day, but then that's what makes deliberate little victories like these so special.

Oh... you want to know where I hid? With Carolina and a pregnant belly? Hmm.. Let's see...

First the Shower:-)

Then the closset,

and finally under the bedroom desk. (It's a big enough desk) (Okay, I squeezed!)

Amazingly Carolina was a very cooperative participant! We had a good time:-)

How We May Sometimes Aquire Our Theology... (but hopefully not often!)

Overheard today:

Gramsie: "What are you doing Susanna?"

Sue: "Making biscuits for dinner."

Gramsie: "Oh! Pops is going to be in HEAVEN!!"

Sue: "Pops is going to be in Heaven because of biscuits?"

See what I mean?

Deliberate.

That is a word that I might do to put into practice more.
It's felt like we've been on vacation staying with Grandparents for the last weeks - even though AJ works and we attempt to get in some school during the week. We've had so much FUN! Lots of rest, and many opportunities to enjoy family and beauty in the Lord's creation.

But it would seem that in the midst of a little school, a little work, very few chores, sipping hot tea on cold days and ice tea on the porch on warm ones; snuggling into bed late and rising late too as the fancy strikes... deliberate is a word in my vocabulary that is gathering dust.

What is there to be deliberate about when you have extra hands for a change, or a dishwasher?
What happens when you go with the flow for too long?
You lose momentum. You lose ground. I know because I am getting slower by the minute. I have been flying by the seat, giving the children "stuff" to do as I see fit, and keeping them occupied in between the romps that thrill their little hearts... rather than having a plan.
Oh some days there's a plan, but mostly we have taken life as it comes, freeing ourselves for that instant stopping and smelling of the roses.
Unfortunately, some of us have forgotten discipline. Wha...? Huh?
Discipline.
Follow through.
Work.

Yes work. Did you know that to "spoil" something is to plunder everything of value from it? You know, spoils of war? Have you ever thought of spoil in those terms when you think of "spoiling" your children? Typically we think that to spoil is to give them an excess of everything they want.
Did you know that doing that can strip away everything of value that they already have?
Patience.
Contentment.
Thankfulness.
The satisfaction of successful toil.



Here's my thought.
Perhaps if I decided to be deliberate in dealing with my children (ie. planning their school and work, and then helping them follow though) we might all value the tea-sipping, Rose-smelling, garden-walking, lego-playing, slipping-into-bed-late, Rocky Road-eating moments even more than we are right now! We all feel so much more accomplished when we make a plan, work through it, and look back over the day knowing we have been faithful.
Deliberate.

I LIKE seeing those little Bugs have fun! I like doing nothing! But I know that too much of a good thing really truly isn't good for a body. At least if it's not tempered by a a little hard work and elbow grease. I guess that's what I aim to do. Balance our indulgence with some intention.
I intend to be more deliberate.

Already I am being successful with my little victories; I just want to add another bite to that.
The goal here is to build virtue, integrity, and character - in ME as I sand away my children's rough edges and attempt to instill those things in them. I doubt it matters WHAT we do, as long as we purpose to do something and then DO it!
Deliberately.

Little Victories (part 3)

We played Chicken Foot for some of our schoolwork today. It was the right kind of weather for gathering around the kitchen table with the dominoes - wet and overcast.

After eating soup and crackers for lunch, we sat on the front porch to listen to and smell the rain.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

This morning I woke up feeling weepy. Ready to crawl into a hole. By myself. Those two things are a little hard to come by right now, a lonely hole. But somehow, with gentle kindness and tender compassion the Lord picked up the pieces of me and redeemed the day. A day which had hardly begun, but appeared lost from the outset.
Not to be.

After our traditional Fried Egg Friday breakfast, with something hot to sip on and some instructions for a boy who needed work to do...
I read up on Elderflower blossoms (more pleasurable schoolwork for us all), and over the course of 30 minutes plans and aspirations were popping into my head one after another. The children were already drawing at the kitchen table when I wanted to sing hymns, so I allowed them to continue drawing as we sang today. We also managed to clean out the car in between light rain showers. That was long overdue, but will be much appreciated by the hard-working dad of our family! We napped this afternoon. In silence. Another two things hard to come by, a silent nap.

Now at 5:00 the pizza fixings are ready to go, only needing the whole wheat dough to be made.
There's a fire in the fireplace, rain on the windows, and happy voices that are neither too soft nor too shrill.
We eagerly prepare and await the arrival of daddy!
And I shake my head slowly in amazement that beauty indeed, came of ashes. The God of all heaven and earth met me today, and found mercy to scoop me up and give me more than one little victory.

"Blessed be the Lord: for He hath shewed me His marvelous kindness..."

Psalm31:21