Preparing for Easter

This is the first year that Daniel will be really able to "get into" and enjoy Easter so we have been thinking more about what traditions we want to start as we celebrate Easter! I am so thankful for the many ideas out there in blog land! Here are some that I think we are going to try this year!

1. We did these Resurrection Eggs last year and Daniel had a great time with it. We will do these again this year. You start 12 days before Easter and read a short portion of scripture and open up an egg each day...the eggs have little "toys" in them that relate to that days aspect of the Easter story. Daniel really enjoyed our advent calendar this past year and I'm sure he will love this again this year!

2. I have always heard about Hot Cross Buns and even remember the little jingle, "Hot cross buns, hot cross buns, one a penny, two a penny, hot cross buns"! But I don't remember ever having one. So I think as a fun baking project I'll make these with Daniel. He loves to help me in the kitchen so this will be a great way to involve him in helping me and a great teaching time about the cross. I found this recipe that look good.

3. I remember reading in Noel Piper's book and in it one of the things she did was make a tomb and use pipe cleaners to make "people" and use it all to act out the events of the Easter story. I think Daniel will really love this one...he has such a great imagination and he knows how to play really well! I like this idea because it's simple and doesn't cost a lot of money!

4. I have gotten most of my ideas from this blog and one of the things that this family does is have lamb for the Easter meal instead of ham....I haven't ever thought of this but I really like this idea. I really like lamb and we rarely have it since it is quite expensive, so this would be a treat and another way of giving us a tangible reminder about Christ being the Lamb of God.

5. I really also like her idea for the egg hunt. I'll just copy what she said cause it's really good!

"Easter egg hunts need not be about a bunny! They can also be a symbol of our relationship to our Savior. God tells us to seek him, just as those little children will be ernestly seeking those eggs: ”You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:13) I have also thought it would be so nice to add little messages inside the children’s eggs with messages about God’s sweetness: “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” (Psalm 119:103 ESV); the rules of the LORD are true, and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward. (Psalm 19:9; Psalm 19:10-11 ESV); etc… The candy is an excellent picture to your child of how wonderful a relationship with Jesus is… it is even better than candy!"

6. Making Resurrection Rolls will also be a tradition we start! Daniel will have such a fun time making these....and eating them will be great too. I can just imagine how he will have a blast putting the marshmallows in the rolls, covering the roll all up and then discovering the marshmallow is gone and it's left an empty space.....we'll get to talk lots about the empty tomb with this one!

7. I found this printable and I think I'll make a memory match game with it. Daniel has started to learn how to play the memory match game so this works for us at this stage.

8. Although Daniel is not into coloring all that much, he will do it some. So I will probably print off some coloring pages from here and http://ministry-to-children.com/easter-coloring-pages/ for him to do this year...I don't know that we will make this a tradition, probably just something for the kids when they are young.

9. Here is a printable that I'll probably put up in the dining room.

10. And last but not least at all is that we will be reading the Easter story from the scriptures. I think this will be the most important tradition that we start. It is tempting to read just from a children's Bible because it's easy to think that children will understand it better from that...but what a disservice to our kids to only read from a children's storybook Bible.

This site also has some great ideas...I don't think we will be trying anymore than what is listed above but maybe in years to come we'll try some of these.

The Long View

It's been a little over nine months of adjusting to two kids. The longer I am a parent the more I realize that parenting is just one of the many things that require one to take the long view of things. Babies don't just eat solid foods well overnight. Kids don't learn to sleep in a big bed overnight. Kids aren't potty trained with the snap of a finger(ok there are some exceptions out there!). And all of those practical things which are important for me to teach my kids just scratch the surface. My kids don't learn the truths of the gospel quickly and they certainly don't come out of the womb knowing how to obey. So taking the long view of things means keeping at it. It requires endurance to do the same things over and over and over and over. It requires patience. It requires reliance on God. It requires wisdom. For the most part it requires not taking the path of least resistance. I have found that what requires less work now does not take the long view into consideration. When I am tempted to just "ignore" the temper tantrum or the "No way, did he just say that to me!?" moments, I have to remind myself that 1) If I don't do something about it now, I will miss many opportunities to point out the sin in my kids and the reason they need the gospel. 2) I will miss the opportunity to establish that God has given me authority of their lives for a season, that will be really important when they are older---the teenage years come to mind! 3) I would be sinning by not doing now what God has given me as my responsibility in nurturing and training my kids.

Is taking the long view hard? Yes. It takes more work. Is is worth it? Yes, but boy am I glad that I don't have to do it alone!

Baby Fat

So I think everyone would agree that baby fat ON THE BABY is super cute! Here's an example!



Baby fat on the mommy....well....that's not so cute! As a mother of two...and post pregnant going on 4 months...this has been on my mind, or my hips rather! In an age where the magazines are plastered with skinnies and all the women's magazines have a new wonder diet, it's hard to think truthfully about my weight. But here are my thoughts.

First of all, if you are the kind of girl who looks better than before you had your baby, when you walk out of the hospital with your newborn, it's not encouraging to us girls that have to work at getting the weight off to hear about how quickly you lost it. I will work on being happy for you, you can work on keeping it on the DL about how fast your metabolism must be.

Second, it's not my job to be model-like but it is my job to take care of what God has given me...that includes my weight. I read a facebook post a girl had put up quoting Jessica Alba and how her post pregnancy diet was to basically starve herself. I don't know if Jessica Alba really said or did that or not but I know that it's my job to be healthy and feed my infant. I can't starve myself and expect to nurse for long...besides I could never starve myself. Some ways that I have decided to live healthily are to 1) Reserve eating sweets for special occasions, like parties. 2) Exercise 30 minutes a day, 5 times a week 3) Remember that food is fun(I really like to cook and bake) but that it is energy so what I consume must be used or turned into fat for later. This is helpful for me to remember when I really want to eat that sweet something. It's just poor stewardship to eat more than what my body needs. 4) Learn what is in your food. I was randomly looking at the nutrition facts for a cake that was sitting on the counter(by the way there is another person in the house that buys most of the sweets and I don't have any control over that...it's not Joshua!) and the serving was 1/16 of the cake and it was something close to 400 calories!!!!! WOW! The only useful thing that I could think of that I would be getting from that would be a grain serving...maybe! So it has helped me to just think more about what I am eating. 5) Eat things that are good for you and find things that will fill you up. It takes a lot more cookies to make you feel full as opposed to, say, an apple or carrots, and it's pretty obvious what's better for my body!

Third, as I want very much to get back to wearing smaller clothes and not feeling like a frump-o-la at times I have to remember (a lady at church has graciously reminded me of this) that it took 9 months for your body to make a baby so it's ok for it to take a while to go back to normal. That is so good for me to remember. As with most things in life the things that you have to wait for are usually worth that wait. So I can give myself a break while at the same time pushing myself to persevere in much of what I wrote in #2 because I guess like most people the weight is not going to fall off of me.

Fourth, much of these thoughts come from a very helpful book that I just read, "Loving the Little Years". Let me just say that this book was SO encouraging and convicting at the same time. I would recommend it for any mom with little kids. I would say don't read it before you have kids though...it might scare you off! Anyway the author talks about being joyful because your body is used and maybe even scared because you have had kids. I had never thought of this before, but that should be my response. I can be joyful in the fact that the reason that I have gross stretch marks on my tummy and that I weigh more than my husband is because of the HUGE, WAY MORE IMPORTANT THAN MY WEIGHT BLESSING THAT IS MY SON AND DAUGHTER!!! This thought is at cultural odds. Our culture tells us to worry about number one and anything that we give of ourselves better be repaid to us because that's fair and we shouldn't have to suffer. Christ calls us to sacrifice ourselves for the sake of others (He calls us to do this in many ways) and one way he calls mothers to do this is to give up (for a season) being your ideal weight. Put that on a magazine cover and see how many copies you will sell!

I thought I had a lot more...maybe I do but it's getting late and I didn't take a nap today...it was too nice outside to stay in while the kids slept! I guess the only other thing I've thought about is to set goals. So for me. 1) Run a 5K in Sept. 2) Run a 5K in Dec. 3) Only eat sweets for special occasions. 4) Get back to pre pregnancy weight by the new year. 5) Remind myself often that while this is important it doesn't need to be consuming and there are more important things in life.

When your kids are sick

Anna is not feeling well tonight. I'm not sure what is wrong and where she may have picked it up but her tummy seems to be upset. So as I've been sitting here I've been thinking.

1. Be thankful for her cuddles right now since she is not normally very cuddly.
2. Be thankful that I even have a sweet baby girl to hold and take care of...some people don't have babies to take care of.
3. Learn to joyfully give up my own desires in order to serve my daughter. (I wanted to work out, among other things)
4. Learn to give sacrificially and do it without grumbling or complaining. (I expect to not get much sleep tonight)
5. Use this opportunity to teach Daniel to have compassion for his sister and teach him to serve his sister.
6. Look forward to the new creation, when there will be no more sickness.
7. Pray that Anna and Daniel will be saved so that they will experience life in the new creation.


That's as far as I got thinking last night about this, but I thought I'd share it for what it's worth!

*She's feeling better today

The Coolest 91 Year Old I Know

Just over a year ago we moved into a house with Betsy. She turned 90 the weekend we moved in and we have now lived here a year! I've been reflecting on the blessings of living here with her and thought I'd share them! I don't know any other 91 year olds but even if I knew more, she'd still be the coolest! Here's the list of what I've learned from her and how we've been blessed by her and funny things about her.

1. She lets us live in her house and loves our kids like they are her own grandkids. What 91 year old actually enjoys having a two year old tearing around her house and leaving toys around? And what 91 year old gets excited that we just added another kid to the mix?!

2. She doesn't worry. Or at least not much at all. She said to me once how much of a waste of time it is to worry about what you have no control over.

3. She is generous with what she has. Whether Betsy had much or little she would be generous with it. She enjoys giving people things that would be useful to them and she gives much. She has said more than once that she's not taking her money with her so she might as well use it here. I admire how willing she is to give it away.

4. She loves flowers! Betsy is a great admirer of flowers and she doesn't tire of marveling at how beautiful they are! One thing that she has taught me is the joy of giving your flowers away. I don't know why I had never thought of doing this but Betsy loves to cut the flowers in her yard and bring them in the house and also give them to friends. I had always thought the flowers are in the yard and we should keep them in the yard but Betsy is of the opinion that we can enjoy them more inside on our table! I agree. I also love how she has taught me to give flowers away. She will call her friends and tell them to come over and take a bloom from the latest flower gracing her yard. This is a simple act but brings such joy to her and others!

5. If you want to know the best place to get a particular food just ask Betsy! If you want a pork chop go to KT's, shrimp is at Longhorns, shrimp and grits are at Cafe Lou Lou's, any kind of seafood, go to Captain's Quarters. The list could go on and on!

6. She says really funny things. Here are some of the best.

1. In reference to Daniel, “He’s cuter today than he was yesterday.”
2. “The problem with all those liberals is they’re liberal.”
3. “How’d it get so late so early?”
4. “I don’t know how people could be against wine, after all, it all through the
Bible.”
5.“You do not pick on flowers; they are delicate – like me!”
6. “I’m not stubborn; I just know that when I’m right, I’m right.”
7. “We have a lot of frozen dinners; no one is gonna starve to death.”
8. “I repeat myself because I must believe you don’t remember too well.”
9. Just let him go out and play between the yellow lines
10. “Ya know, it just does not know whether to raid today or not.”
11. “You know, the problem with criminals is that they’re stupid.”
12. “Let me put my hearing aid in so I can see you.”
13. “If you are going to get by in this world, then you have to learn to get along with
liberals.”
14. “Speaking of peanuts, I don’t care too much for Jimmy Carter.”
15. “Only nice people camp.”
16. “The only good moth is a dead moth.”
17. “This knife would not cut hot butter.”
18. “I would rather have a piece of crust outside than a banquet inside.”
19. “Oooooo, wonderful!”
20. “Blessed are those who go in many small circles, for they shall be called big
wheels.”
21. “I never met a blueberry I didn’t like.”
22. “As I always say, ‘I would rather leave the house without my undies than my
earrings.’”
23. “I don’t feel like doing anything – and that includes everything.”
24. “Luck in cards, unlucky in love.”
25. “You know what they say, ‘Dinner is ready when the smoke alarm goes off.’”
26. “You know what they say, ‘If a man answers, hang up.’”
27. “Ya know, God doesn’t give us more than we can handle, but sometimes we wish he didn’t have so much confidence in us.”
28. “You'll recognize me in Heaven by my long legs and curly hair. I'll be on the dance floor.”

I am so thankful for Betsy and the time we have gotten to live with her. I look forward to more years!

Small Victories

Joshua and I were just about to fall asleep the other night when we woke up to Daniel coughing really hard. He just couldn't seem to stop coughing, so I went in there, picked him up and offered him water. As the coughing went on and I could start to hear him wheezing I could feel the vice-like grip of fear squeezing my heart. Daniel stopped coughing and we put him to bed but I could still hear the wheezing. I decided to sleep on the guest bed in Daniel's room so I could keep an eye on him...his breathing wasn't getting worse but it wasn't getting better either. There are a lot of awful things to listen to in this world and one of the worst I think is listening to someone struggle to breath...and it's 100x worse when it's your child. So while I am thinking of what I can do to help him that fear just begins to grow. "What if he gets worse?" "Do I know what to do to help him?" "What if we have to go to the ER?" "What if the ER is really full and we have to wait a long time, will he stop breathing?" "What if Anna gets sick?" "What if Anna or Daniel die?" Yes, that really is how my mind works.

The small victory is that even though I did ask myself all those questions, I realized I was being fearful and worrying and knew that I needed to pray and ask the Lord to take all that fear. Daniel has been memorizing verses and one of them is Psalm 56:3, "When I am afraid, I will trust in You [God]." That verse helped me so much that night. I recognized that I needed to do what I could to keep helping Daniel, even take him to the ER if needed. But ultimately I could trust God for everything involved in this situation. As I put my trust in God that hold the fear had on my heart slipped away. God is kind because I can't trust Him without Him giving me the ability to trust Him. So it's small but encouraging to me!

I'll start blogging again....

I decided that I'll try to start blogging again some. A lot of my pictures get posted on facebook, but even though I have no idea if anyone reads this I thought I'd give it a shot.

So for my first post back I thought I would share two really yummy recipes that my friend Jena gave me. She is a great cook and baker and I don't ever have to worry that her recipes may not turn out so well! I'm not sure where she got the chicken recipe but I know she made up the rice one...both are amazing...I'm not pregnant anymore and I crave this meal often!

Honey Spice Chicken

3 lbs chicken, cut into bite size pieces
1/3 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup mustard (I like to use stone ground)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp curry powder
garlic to taste (1-2 cloves)

Mix together all ingredients besides chicken in a large bowl. Add chicken pieces and marinate at least a half an hour. Pour chicken and marinade in a foil lined pan with sides in ONE layer. Broil for 4-5 minutes on one side. Remove from oven and turn all pieces over. Broil for another 4-5 minutes.


Caribbean Coconut Rice

2 cups water
2 cups long grain white rice (I like Jasmine the best)
1 can coconut milk
1 tsp fresh chopped zest from one lime
1/4 green onion (in a pinch you can use onion powder)
1 generous tsp kosher salt or 1 regular tsp if regular salt
1/2 tsp ground pepper
2--3 minced garlic cloves
1/4 cup sugar

Mix together in a medium pot. Bring to a soft boil and stir. Simmer 20 minutes, stirring half way through. Remove from heat and let sit for a couple minutes.

Sorry I don't have any pictures...if I did you would be drooling right now.

We had a Baby!!!

Her name is Anna!

Oriental Pasta Salad

My mom's good friend Donna from Massachusetts gave my mom this recipe and then I got it from my mom. I don't make it very often because it makes a ton of salad, but I decided to make it for last night's potluck dinner at church. I figured it would get eaten up since there is no food left over at the church potluck. Turns out we got there late and most people had eaten, so we ended up with a lot of it back home! That's ok, it's good and Joshua and I both like it! A friend said last night that it looked like worms. I can assure you(even though I haven't eaten worms, it's better than worms). And it's easy, which is always a plus for me!

4 packs Oriental flavor ramon noodles
2 cups frozen peas
2-3 bunches scallions chopped
1/4 head shredded red cabbage
1/2 cup roasted unsalted peanuts

Dressing:
1/2 cup veggie oil
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
3 of the oriental flavor seasoning packets
dash of soy sauce

Boil the noodles for about 30 seconds. Drain and mix all the ingredients together. Add the dressing and mix. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving.

Serve this salad with teriyaki chicken!!

Garden Fun

We will be moving into a house that we will be sharing with the lady that actually owns the house and I will probably post more on that later...but this post is about the garden that she has in her back yard. We spent a few days over at her house (we haven't moved yet) and I spent some time picked gobs and gobs of weeds. Daniel had a fun time exploring the garden and we got some cute pictures!!

Working on a quiet book

In an earlier post I had pictures of the first quiet book that I made for Daniel. I thought I would post some picture of the one that I am working on now. It is not complete or put together at all, but it's coming together well and I am pleased with it so far!!

"Can you put some flowers in the vase for Mommy?"

"Help me get dressed!"

"Can you make a phone call?"

Match the shapes.

"Write a letter or draw a picture and mail it"

The letters are stuck to the page with velcro so you can attach and reattach them!

The Quirks and Favs of Daniel

Walking around hitting things with the fly swatter(don't worry it's clean!)

Putting on mommy's running shorts.

Eating!!

Playing on the pillow "mountain"

Talking on the phone

Putting the letters in and out of the container.

And on a different note...I am loving my new boots that I used to keep mud off myself while I picked weeds the other day.

Dad's Blueberry Crisp

When we lived in Utah my parents were friends with Bill and Sarah Robertson. I have a distinct memory of a time we went over to their apartment, they were like second parents to my brother and me--I recall they watched us when my parents would go out of town. Anyway, I remember this time when we went over to their apartment because my dad created on accident the most amazing blueberry crisp I have ever had! The way I remember it was that he was starting to make cookies--Sand Tarts--which are a Pennsylvania traditional cookie(I'll have to put that recipe on here sometime!) Well he forgot to put the eggs in until it was too late to mix them in, so he decided to use it as a topper for blueberries and bake it. WOW!!! Taste bud delight!! So here is the accidental dessert. Note that it's super easy!

Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
1 stick butter, softened
1 cup flour
4-5 cups frozen or fresh blueberries

Cream the sugar and butter together. Mix in the flour. You want it to be crumbly. Put the blueberries into a baking dish, spread the covering over it and bake at 350 degrees until the crust starts to get golden brown. It's really good warm or cold. Ice cream is a great addition but not necessary!

Here's a picture to wet your appetite!

A Quiet Book

I first learned of what a quiet book was a few weeks ago when I was looking over this friends blog. I then found this blog that had more ideas about making a quiet book. I started out with a simple one that was just of colors. That one Daniel gets to look at when we are at church and he is sitting with us. I don't know when I will have the second one done...it is more advanced(skill wise for what Daniel would do with it) so I am thinking that I will give it to him for Christmas...that also gives me a long time to work on it! Here are some pictures of the first quiet book that I have made.

Daniel Update

This summer is going to be a busy fun one! Daniel is walking around and loving to explore. It's been great fun to have him toddling around the backyard and parking lot of our apartment complex. Everything is new to him and it's so fun to see him learn things about his world. It amazes me how he knows things that I don't even think that I have taught him. Like, the other day we were out in the parking lot and he picked up a pine cone and held it up above his head and pointed with the other hand to the trees. I don't remember ever telling him that the pine cones come from the pine tree, but he picked it up somewhere.

What is it about dirt that is so exciting for little kids? He loves to just play in it! And eat it!

His favorite word is "UP" right now. He repeats "UP" over and over as he is going up the stairs. He comes to me and holds his hand up and says "UP." He wants to go "UP" on the bed. He wants to go "UP" on the grass from down in our patio area. He says "UP" when he's going down the stairs!

With Daniel's new ability to walk has has really come to enjoy the park. So we are finding out about different parks in the area. Daniel has learned how to go down the slide on his tummy. And he thoroughly enjoys walking back and forth over the bridges on the jungle gym. There are a few parks that have water spouts, which is fantastic because it has been getting quite hot.

Daniel has gone strawberry picking...of which he was a fan!


Today he experienced blueberry picking...his favorite part is sampling them....by the fistfuls.


We will get to see family off and on throughout the summer and of course Daniel is the highlight for everyone that we go see!

Joshua and I have decided to start bringing Daniel up to the first part of the Sunday morning worship. We have noticed that he does not know how to sit still very well. So we decided that since he likes music, and the part of the service before the sermon is mostly singing, that we would start helping him learn how to sit quietly. We have books for him to look at and I think we have a long road ahead of us! We've done this for two weeks, so I know that I shouldn't expect much but I just need to keep that in perspective! I have started making a quiet book for him to look at during this time. I have had a great time making it!

*My next post I am working on is going to show the progress that I have been making on a quiet book for Daniel.

Quiet Books

Have you ever heard of a quiet book? I had not until I was looking at this friends website. I am so inspired to make one for Daniel. She had this other site linked to her blog and it has so many cute ideas! I think I'll start out simple though and do something like the colors book and then maybe move on to more ambitious pages!

Thoughts on Running

How does running glorify God?

If we are as Christians supposed to live to glorify God, and I think we are, how does running and spending time training for a half marathon bring God glory? There must be a way to run that doesn’t glorify God. It’s probably the easier way, it doesn’t take thought or effort to not run for the glory of God. At least for me, it takes thought to see how I run can be something that glorifies God. This may seem like a strange question to a non-Christian, it must sound mad, but I guess as a Christian that’s what I am supposed to do. I should be thinking differently about life because I am different. Maybe this is apart of what it mean to be a peculiar people. Running is not just running. People are complicated so I guess I would say that for all people at the most basic level, running is not just running. We all have motivation so I can run for myself or I can run for God. Some would say that is why you should run for a cause, like cancer research or orphanages in Africa; those are good things, and I think give meaning to something as hedonistic as running. But I think that although running for a cause is good and adds to the depth of people’s motivations, it still misses the mark.

Running reminds me of the passages in the New Testament where Paul uses the image of an athlete to encourage us on in our walk as a believer. Running takes effort. So does the journey of a Christian. Running is hard work and walking according to God’s ways is not easy. Running requires endurance and perseverance, as does the Christians walk. This scratches the surface of how running reminds, encourage, and challenges the Christian in their walk with the Lord.

As I run I feel the pain of the strain on my muscles. It made me think of how my body is not perfect. It’s not perfect because of the fall. I am wasting away. My body is not naturally able to run mile upon mile. I have to work hard to run any short length let alone 13.1 miles. This makes me realize that I am not God. If God were to run, he would be able to run forever without hurting or getting tired. How does remembering my humanity bring glory to God? God is glorified when I realize that I am not God because I then realize that He is God.

The frailty of my body also makes me remember that I am not going to live on this world forever. Even though I can run and get in shape my body will always be going downhill. So I will be reminded each time that run that I am destined for a new home.

I also thought the other day about how my body is created by God to work. I decide in my mind that I want to run and start putting my legs one in front of the other and I want to go faster so my mind sends a signal to my brain to speed up. Obviously this is a very simple explanation of what goes on, but it just shows that God created me and sustains me. The complicated way that my body works when I run is a testament to the power of God.

Thinking on these things helps me love God and glorify him more. Running can be done to the glory of God.

Daniel's Day

7:14am


7:18am


8:05am


8:28am


8:41am


9:22am


9:26am



10:15-11:30 Naptime


11:32am


11:50am


11:57am


12:34pm


12:50pm


2:25pm


2:29pm


2:47pm


3:15-4:15pm Naptime


4:15pm


The rest of the day was spent eating dinner and at church. I forgot to bring my camera for those parts. Daniel had a good, full day!