Archive for February, 2009
Kid Quotes for February
It’s time for this month’s issue of Ellie-isms and Zach Attacks. Enjoy!
Ellie: “I know just about everything except for how old you are.”
Zach, while watching the garbage men: “They are just the coolest mans EVER!”
Ellie: “Only three more sleeps ’til Granny gets here!”
Zach, just before starting a new art project: “I’m gonna go stamp it up.”
Ellie: “I have a great idea. On Saturday when I come down the stairs you all jump and say ‘Surprise! Happy birthday!’ and then I will say ‘Oh, thank you! I’m so surprised!’ and I’ll be so happy. Isn’t that a good idea?”
Zach: “Let’s have a race.”
Ellie: “Okay.”
Both: “One …”
Zach: “THREE! I win!!”
Zach: “Oh, look at this koala. He’s SO CUTE! He has pink snots.”
Translation: “I really like the pink nostrils in this illustration of a koala.”
Ellie: “When Granny gets here she’s going to sleep in my room. I want her to sleep in my spot where I usually sleep and I’ll sleep on the other side of my bed where I sleep when there’s too much pee-pee on my favorite side.”
Zach: “Mommy, I burped.”
Me: “You did? Why did you do that?”
Zach: “I’m a boy, Mom. That’s just what boys do.”
1 comment February 28, 2009
Mama Loves: Remembering miracles.
Last week the kids and I had lunch with some friends from life BC (Before Children). It was so great! I miss those girls and desperately wish we lived closer. There’s just something fantastic about having friends who know so much about you and still love you, friends who don’t play favorites or keep secrets. What you see is what you get. Our afternoon together felt like a mini vacation to me. We have to do it again soon!
During our hours of chatting and eating and laughing and sharing these precious friends reminded me of the miracle of my children. I’ve mentioned this before, but it’s worth mentioning again.
We endured four years of infertility before God gave us Ellie. We went through tests and procedures. I prayed and fasted, join support groups, wept and measured and charted and underwent one very painful surgery. I took fertility drugs, saw specialists and prayed some more. I shouted out in frustration to God and my husband and just about anyone who would listen. Every month offered proof I had failed again. My desires slipped further and further away, down a dark road I didn’t want to travel. It was arguably the most difficult time in my life.
Finally, after four years, I fell under an unexplained peace. My doctor referred us to yet another specialist. “I’ve done everything I can do,” she said. The next step seemed too invasive, too much like playing God. We didn’t want to go there. Instead we decided on adoption. Two weeks after starting our agency research and three days after receiving our first applications, I took a test. A bright blue plus sign stared up at me. I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t believe it! I took four more tests (both in and out of my doctor’s office) then held my breath for three months. After the first trimester I started to believe it was real. Our miracle had come. Only six more months until we would meet her.
Ellie turns five next week. Sometimes in the rigor of everyday parenting I forget what a miracle these children are. Yes, Ellie was and is an unexplained gift to us, but so is Zach. I was nursing and on birth control when we conceived him! God really wanted us to have these two children when we had them. I can’t explain the timing or the ways. I’ll never understand exactly what happened in either case, but I know it was all God. He knit these children together … I am overwhelmed with gratitude.
Lately my hands always seem full. I ask the kids over and over: “How many hands does Mama have? Are they full or empty?” Once Zach yelled out “Four!” Not exactly the right answer. I don’t ask the question out of exasperation, but simply to teach patience to them and diligence to myself. I want to work hard, to use my hands wisely, but also remember that I can only do so much. Where I fall short, God may have a miracle waiting. I want to be sure my hands are prepared to receive it. Some days my hands are overflowing. Some days my heart is too.
Mama loves remembering miracles.
For more info on Mama Loves, visit this post.
3 comments February 24, 2009
A couple quick things …
I don’t know why my blog is all bold-faced now. I’m trying to figure it out and fix it. Sorry it it’s annoying. Know I’m not yelling at you! It’s just a glitch that, hopefully, will soon be fixed.
In other, much happier news Alexia of The Mommy Rambles gave me an award! Thank you, thank you, girl! I’ll get the Passionate Blogger button up soon. In the meantime I’m supposed to list five things I’m passionate about.
1-Solid Bible teaching
2-Encouraging and enabling strong marriages
3-Preventing the exploitation of women and children and protecting the victims of such crimes
4-Partnerships between evangelical and humanitarian missions
5-Adoption
Secondly … THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT.
In relation to #3 there, let me encourage you to visit Heidi’s blog at Moms, Ministry and More. There you’ll find a couple posts (here and here) written far more eloquently than I could that enable each of us to make a difference. Please, please, please jump over there and read what she has to say.
1 comment February 23, 2009
Recipe Swap Sunday: Midwest Sausage Skillet
I’m a little late with this, but it is still Sunday. *grin* Last week Kellie requested my recipe for Veggie Pizza. It is forthcoming. I made it this week, but decided it needs a little tweaking before I post it. Stay tuned. In the meantime, enjoy this family favorite!
4 comments February 22, 2009
100 Things About Me
How many of you are onfacebook? The “25 Things Meme” has taken over enough to catch the attention of Time Magazine. Several friends tagged me, but for some reason (I can’t remember why), I refused to do it until a certain number of people tagged me. I promised if that many people tagged me, I would not only write 25 random things about myself, I would write 100 and post them on my blog. Now, I gotta tell you: this was more difficult than I expected! I’ve had this blog for more than two years, so coming up with 100 things I haven’t already talked about was definitely a challenge. But 30 people tagged me, so here it is. The List.
100 Things About Me
- I love old men, not in a sick, twisted sort of way, but in an endearing “aren’t they cute and funny” kind of way. I find them absolutely hysterical. I could watch the movie IQ over and over just to laugh at old Albert and his friends. I can’t wait for us to get old so I can laugh at Rick. Never mind. He already makes me laugh!
- I have many secret ambitions: to be a chef; to act in just one movie; to author a book or two; to design wedding gowns; to be a photojournalist; to travel the world; to be a prettier, nicer Martha Stewart …
- I completely forget all my secret ambitions when faced with a single opportunity to share God with someone else.
- My right pinky finger is massively crooked. It got slammed in a truck door when I was five, but because I could still bend it, my dad believed it wasn’t really broken and I didn’t need the hospital.
- I’m obsessively careful not to slam my kids’ fingers in doors.
- I’m also a little bitter that I could never be a hand model or an Allstate insurance salesman. They have to have good hands.
- As a kid I would jump out of trees in an attempt to break one or both of my legs. I thought crutches were cool. (more…)
5 comments February 22, 2009
‘Fro Me to You: Forced Family Fun
One hundred fifty people read Tuesday’s post on Forced Family Fun. I never get that many visitors in one day! Perhaps I’ve hit on a familiar topic. I thought I’d carry the theme through today with some pictures. I mean, it’s not really Forced Family Fun until you take pictures of the wonderful memories you’re making – right? (If you missed Tuesday’s post, click here.)
I love these pictures! They’re almost three years old, but they’re so funny. In spite of the agonizing looks on some faces, this vacation was actually really great. Most of the time.
If you can’t decipher Beth’s shirt, it reads:
“All your sons will be taught by the Lord and great will be your children’s peace. Isaiah 54:13″
Don’t we look peaceful?
At least Ellie and Jack look … well, at the camera. Ah, they were both under three years old and pretty oblivious to the torture that gathered us all in one spot at the same time.
Our shirt backs say:
DENNIS
FORCED FAMILY FUN
Virginia Beach 2006
It’s right there. We HAD to have fun. Or else. Yup, I married into a military family. Literally.
I know, John! Zach doesn’t like pictures any more than you do, but can you humor us? We’re trying to make lasting memories here!! Now, smile and show off your matching haircuts.
Oh, we made lasting memories. We’ve got the tee-shirts to prove it.
(Mom, I know you’re reading this and you know I LOVE YOU! You also know we really did have a great time. I can’t wait to do it again. Can we get new tee-shirts, though? Ellie suggests pink next time.)
This post is sponsored by We Are THAT Family and the ‘Fro Me to You Carnival. Jump over there for more great stories accompanied by pics.
8 comments February 19, 2009
Mama Loves: Forced Family Fun
Every Tuesday you’ll find me here with Mama Loves. It’s my weekly exercise in blogging Philippians 4:8-9: thinking on the good, the pure, the lovely. It’s an encouragement to regularly focus on the positive side of things. For more details on Mama Loves, visit this post. Grab a button and join the party!
Mama loves Forced Family Fun.
You know what I’m talking about. These family activities start out as a great idea for making memories but, for some reason, always involve tears by at least one member of your party and grumbling from another; most of the group ends up having a terrible day. Everyone wants to blame the person who planned it (usually the mom), but years later you all laugh about it. The memory isn’t at all what it was planned to be, but it’s still treasured and cherished as one of your family’s great bonding moments.
We had one such moment this weekend.
While at Target on a very blustery day, I spotted some kites and decided to take one home, all along having visions of wonderful family memories at the end of that string. I wanted Rick to be part of the experience (This was, after all, the kids’ first time flying a kite.), so we waited until Saturday. By then Ellie’s excitement overflowed!
We hiked over eight blocks to the nearest park with the fewest power lines (remember my children are 4 and 3 years old) during which time Ellie tripped (she’s going through a growth spurt, and her feet are grossly disproportionate right now) and bruised her knee on the pavement. Did I mention it was 34 degrees? So, yes, we hiked with our young, vulnerble preschoolers in freezing weather until we reached the park. There we found no wind, but an abundant littering of goose poop. The kids ran and played, dragging the kite behind them (through the aforementioned bird feces) until poor Zach could no longer feel his fingers. Ellie sobbed when we said it was time to go because she knew we just weren’t trying hard enough to fly the kite. “Mommy, if you were taller or if I could run faster …”
I’m still laughing. Don’t we make great memories?
Your turn! What happened this week that you can laugh about, praise God for or find a silver lining in? Comment or write a post and link up. I want to hear it!
4 comments February 17, 2009
The Work Assigned Me
A stomach bug has been making its rounds through the area. It visited our house on Thursday. And Friday. And Saturday and Sunday. Today, I think (but don’t want to proclaim this too loudly), it’s through. Today we’re dealing with the residual weariness of having a sick house. Because of this, I’m not going to write much today. Rather I’ll just share a verse with you.
“My life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus — the work of telling others the Good news about the wonderful grace of God.”
Acts 20:24 (NLT)
I don’t read the New Living Translation much. In fact, I usually stick to my New American Standard Bible. It’s what we used in college and it’s what I’m used to. But sometimes a different translation, an alternate word choice, can magnify a verse with significance. Lynn Mosher posted this verse in this version on twitter a couple weeks ago. It struck me. I’ve read it a hundred times or more and yet this time it called out to me in a different way. I grabbed one of my notecards (you know those 3 x 5″ things designed for making speeches), wrote it out and taped it my kitchen cabinet. It’s been there ever since. When I’m on the phone or waiting for the next step of meal prep, I pull it down and retrace every word.
What is the work the Lord Jesus has assigned you? Are you using your life to finish it?
Add comment February 16, 2009
Recipe Swap Sunday: Fruit Pizza
I haven’t totally decided what to do with this Recipe Swap Sunday. I would love to do it every week since I adore food that much. But I think we’ll just see how it goes. It may just be me sharing my recipes until word gets out and more people decide to participate. If you want to share something this week, just leave a comment with the recipe or, if you publish the post on your blog, leave a link. If you have a request or are looking for something specific, comment on that too. I’ll see what I can do!
My collection of recipes comes from several sources: friends, family, books, magazines (I subscribe to Cooking Light, but can rarely resist Intermezzo.), Food Network, the backs of boxes … just about everywhere! My favorite online sources are www.foodtv.com and www.recipezaar.com, but I also follow a few food blogs which are now listed in the sidebar. (Did you notice the new organization over there? I’ve separated my links by category: book blogs, food blogs, etc. Cool – huh?) And then some of my recipes are really my recipes.
This recipe, while not really mine, is my take on a familiar favorite. I took a little from my mother-in-law and a little from Paula Deen and ended up with this. It’s always a hit! The presentation doesn’t hurt either (although the color in this photo is a little off).
Fruit Pizza
Ingredients:
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1 pkg store-bought sugar cookie dough
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8 oz softened cream cheese
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1 c powdered sugar
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¾ c white chocolate chips
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2 T orange juice
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Fresh fruit, sliced – Anything you like – peaches, pears, apples, kiwi, bananas, plums … whatever strikes your fancy
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Fresh berries – any kind!
Instructions:
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Preheat oven to 350’. Flatten cookie dough into a 12” circle. Bake until firm to the touch, about 20 minutes. Cool.
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In a medium bowl, blend cream cheese and sugar. Spread over the cooled cookie. Decorate with sliced fruit. Top with berries.
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Melt chocolate chips in the microwave, stirring every 30 seconds so as not to burn. Stir in orange juice and mix until smooth. Drizzle over the fruit. ENJOY!
4 comments February 15, 2009
I can’t resist.
In spite of my apathy toward Hallmark holidays, I have to share this with you today.
I sometimes wish reincarnation were true just so I could relive my life a dozen different ways. One of those lives would be spent as a professional cake designer. I mean, what’s better than making edible art? Seriously. Art out of butter and sugar? It’s just awesome.
In honor of Saint Valentine’s Day, I give you a creation by Bakerella.
Yes, this whole thing is cake. Even the box! The truffles are individual red velvet cakes covered in ganache. The box is a cake wrapped in decadent fondant. It’s so cool! For more pictures and step-by-step instructions, visit Bakerella’s blog. She’s a fantastic food photographer! I might take that up on another one of those lives.
3 comments February 14, 2009
