Oh where, oh where, has my little blog gone?

It's gone to...repainting the walls at church after they were "white board markered"
by a certain two-year-old friend of mine
It's gone to...finding frogs on summer nights under the streetlights
It's gone to...peeling and shredding voluminous amount of zucchini
from my garden (and beans and tomatoes and potatoes! yeah!)
It's gone to...Family Camp
It's gone to...selling summer snowcones on the street
It's gone to...two trips to Ohio and back (whew)
It's gone to...our church soccer camp
It's gone to...a dog named "Chap", the newest member of our family

I'll have to post more later when I have "time". : )

Outflow

This past spring, our church did an all-church study on the idea of "outflow". We used Steve Sjogren's book, Outflow, in our small groups. The book used the illustration of a multi-tiered fountain that cascaded down from the top to larger and larger tiers. Sjogren used this idea to explain how God's love flows from our personal relationship with Him into our families, our communities and our world. The author included many stories of people who were able to glorify God (make Him look great) in the eyes of other people by doing random acts of service and love. At our church, we referred to this activity as "splashing" people with God's love.

The small group I was involved in had a great opportunity to "splash" some people in our community this week. A friend who goes to our church works in the section of a credit union that does all of the collections/fraud/bankruptcy work. Because of the current state of the economy, her office has been swamped with work and under a lot of pressure. We had been looking for a way to "outflow", and this was a perfect opportunity for us to show God's love. We bought Dairy Queen Blizzards for the employees on Friday afternoon. Several of the small group members went together (the rest pitched in the cash) and delivered the Blizzards, asking "Do you want M&M, chocolate chip or cookie dough today?" We said that we were from Sarah's church and that we knew they had a stressful job. We just wanted to show them God's love in a tangible way. It was a hit! Everybody was happy : ) and we enjoyed being able to do something loving for someone we didn't even know.

In Loving Memory

My good friend, my dryer, died on Sunday. It served me well. We bought this dryer (which is over 20 years old) 8 years ago for $50. You can't beat that for value. It looks like we have found a replacement on craigslist that we will pick up this weekend. I look forward to spending much time together with my "new" dryer and pray that it will be just as loyal.

On a side note, I love how Elizabeth George, in her book A Woman After God's Own Heart, compares our modern-day appliances to the "maid-servants" of the Proverbs 31 woman. I sometimes think of that in the mornings. "Got to get all of my servants working for me"--dishwasher, sprinkler, washer and dryer, dehumidifier, baby swing, etc.!

She rises while it is yet night and provides food for her household and portions for her maidens.
Proverbs 31:15 (ESV)

It's a "bad guy" theme

Anyone who knows my two-year-old understands that he can hardly talk at all. He's trying out more and more words every day, though. Tonight he was the last one in the tub. I washed him up and let him play while the other kids and I read on the couch. Halfway through our story, he came out to the living room, dripping wet. He looked at us, held a finger to the bathroom and said, "ba guy". "What, Zeke?" I said, "There's a bad guy in the bathroom?" He nodded and everyone laughed. He was serious though and said it again. Kaisa went to investigate. He pointed out the "bad guy" on the wall--a big spider. : )

A Fishy Feast

I guess Zeke thought the fish looked hungry because he gave them a full container of fish food. Here's the fishy feast...

And after mom cleaned the bowl again. Fortunately, all of the fish survived this ordeal.

If I don't laugh, I'll cry

For posterity, I want to remember that this week alone (and it's only Wednesday):

Zeke pulled the curtain rod in his room out of the wall. I've repaired the hole in the wall but still need to re-screw the rod.

Tad pushed a bike (with Ella on it) into the wall downstairs and made a nice big hole in the sheetrock. I'm leaving that for a summer project for Will.

Zeke ate 8 packs of Smarties (they were in ziplock bags for use with four little crafts).

Zeke broke my coffee pot.

Ella painted her fingernails bright red while sitting on the carpet in my room.

Zeke kept me up all night one night coughing.

I'm driving a two-door rusty gray Toronado. (Tad asked "Who was born the year this car was made?"--he's into the "age" of things--I think it is Uncle Brian who is in high school.) The "funnest" part is getting three kids into the back and buckled into carseats while being 33 weeks pregnant : ) (Our van is in the shop getting repaired after an accident a while back.)

And the winner...
Just this morning, Zeke pulled a gallon bag of half-thawed blackberries (for making jam today) off my kitchen counter, drug them (dripping all the way) all the way back to my bedroom (over our light tan carpet) and dumped them on the floor. Part of the gallon landed on clean laundry; most of it landed on the carpet. Then he and Ella sat and ate the blackberries while Tad yelled to me "Zeke just dumped bewwies!"

You'd wonder where I am in all of this!? Just one step behind, just one step behind.

Fear, Ditches and 1 Peter 3

1 Peter 3:3-6
"Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear—but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious. For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands, as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. And you are her children, if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening."

I've struggled with fear this week as the Iowa Supreme Court hears arguments regarding the legality of gay marriage in Iowa. I recognize that the ongoing effects of this legislation could impact my family and my pastor-husband. If he was sent to jail for some reason, it would be difficult for me to care for myself and five small children. I have been fixing my thoughts on 1 Peter 3:3-6 where women are instructed to "hope in God" and not to "fear anything that is frightening." Unfortunately, my hope is often in my husband and in his ability to care for us (he does an excellent job).

This morning, even with a school two hour delay and excellent Minnesota driving skills : ), our mini van spun on a rural road and went into the ditch. I called Will on my cell phone, but knew that it would take more than a good push to get me out of my situation. God sent along some men with a large truck who offered to pull me out of the ditch for $25. I happily took them up on the offer and was out in no time--even got Kaisa to school on time.

What an excellent reminder from my heavenly Father that, though He has given me a good husband, He doesn't need my husband to take care of me. God takes care of me. I can hope in Him alone.

Googols

A googol is a one followed by a hundred zeroes.

A googolplex is a one followed by a googol of zeroes.

Tad asks me repeatedly what the biggest number is. I say that there is no "biggest number". Numbers go to infinity, just like God. Since learning recently that a googol is a one followed by a hundred zeroes, Tad (on his own) decided that a "googol of googols" must be just about the biggest number out there.

And yet (very ironically)...

"A googolplex is precisely as far from infinity as is the number one." (Carl Sagan, Cosmos)

How great is our God!

Lunchtime today

I put some whole wheat pasta on to boil so I could make my specialty, Parmesan pasta (with butter, garlic and Parmesan cheese). Then I had to go look up on the computer what comes after "octillion" because Tad wanted to know how you say this number:
1,007,117,100,010,101,771,110,711,111,001. (It's "nonillion", if you were wondering.)
While I wasn't looking, Zeke added a handful of chocolate-covered pretzels to the boiling pasta. Yummy. : ) Tad then decided to actually write a "googol" (10 with a hundred zeroes after it). I think I'll frame it.

Broken Ovens and Romans 11

My oven broke yesterday. I couldn't tell what was wrong at first, but when I preheated it to bake some chocolate chip cookies, it would only go up to about 220 degrees and then stop (it is an electric oven with a digital thermometer). I realized later that the bottom heating coil unit was broken in half. The top one was helping to get the oven warm, but it wasn't able to bring it all the way up to the temperature I wanted (plus, I think it was probably dangerous to keep operating it like that!). Well, Will ordered a new heating unit online which should come early next week.

The funny thing is that this is the week I had signed up to bring a meal to a friend who had a new baby (I planned and grocery shopped to bring a baked chicken dish), four dozen Christmas cookies for "Christmas in October" at church (I bought stuff to make peanut butter blossoms), and my grandma's baked apple bars for a bonfire on Saturday night. That's not to mention the chicken pot pie and other meals I had planned to feed my own family. : ) What a week for my oven to go!

I was reminded of a passage of scripture that was brought to my attention this past weekend--Romans 11:33-36, specifically verse 36, "For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen." (ESV)

This broken oven is FROM HIM.
I will be able to endure the broken oven THROUGH HIM.
The purpose of the broken oven is to bring glory TO HIM.

This verse can be applied to every situation I face...financial problems are from Him, bad health is from Him, the actions of evil people are from Him. The only way to handle the things He brings into my life is through His strength and power (see verses 33-35). Ultimately, He will use all things to bring glory to Himself.

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

“For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?”
“Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?”

For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

Romans 11:33-36

Oh, and those chocolate chip cookies I mentioned at the very beginning...plenty of cookie dough is waiting at my house if you like it raw! My kids are sneaking into the fridge whenever they can. : )

Too True

I'm not sure of the source on this (I got it in an e-mail), but it is a nice play on those children's books by Laura Joffe Numeroff and Felicia Bond.

If you give a mom a muffin,
she'll want a cup of coffee to go with it.
She'll pour herself some.
Her three-year-old will spill the coffee.
She'll wipe it up.
Wiping the floor, she will find dirty socks.
She'll remember she has to do laundry.
When she puts the laundry in the washer,
she'll trip over boots and bump into the freezer.
Bumping into the freezer will remind her
she has to plan supper.
She will get out a pound of hamburger.
She'll look for her cookbook. (101 Things To Make With A Pound Of Hamburger.)
The cookbook is sitting under a pile of mail.
She will see the phone bill, which is due tomorrow.
She will look for her checkbook.
The checkbook is in her purse that is being dumped out by her two-year-old.
She'll smell something funny.
She'll change the two-year-old.
While she is changing the two-year-old the phone will ring.
Her five-year-old will answer and hang up.
She'll remember that she wants to phone a friend to come for coffee.
Thinking of coffee will remind her that she was going to have a cup.
She will pour herself some.
And chances are, if she has a cup of coffee, her kids will have eaten the muffin that went with it.

Fish-Killer, Hair-Chopper

My three-year-old little miss has had a busy week.

Tuesday night she squirted hand soap in the fish bowl. We all couldn't believe how quickly the poor things expired. It's a bit disappointing as I was quite proud of myself for keeping them alive in a fish bowl for nearly nine months!

Today, during nap time in my room, she decided her bangs were in her eyes. (These are the same bangs which I've been carefully grooming to be long and go behind her ear.) She found the haircutting scissors in the clipper kit and did a number on the front of her hair. Ah, well...what is life without a little three-year-old drama?

"Why you a nice mama?"

My third child, Ella, has a terrible middle-of-the-night habit. She will, without warning, let out a blood-curdling scream. Usually the purpose for this shriek is blankets that have gone awry or a lost stuffed friend. It drives us all crazy. When I hear it, my heart starts pounding, my skin crawls...and I get mad! Kaisa, who is supposed to share a double bed with Ella, has decided that it is more peaceful to sleep with Tad in his room.
Last night, Ella, started screaming at 3:00 a.m. I jumped from my bed and ran to her room to check on her. Her pillow had fallen on the floor. Still upset myself at the interruption of my sleep, I slammed the pillow on her bed and tucked her back in hurriedly. I noticed, though, that Ella smelled like she also had a dirty diaper. I knew I couldn't leave her there without changing her, so I slowed myself down and went to find a diaper and wipes. I came back and changed her diaper (more compassionately now). She looked up at me and asked "Why you a nice mama?" My first reaction to such a sweet question was to say, "Because I love you." But I knew that the love wasn't in me. The better answer came to me next, "Because God has been so good to me." That is the only reason I have any mercy to pass on...because God has been merciful to me.

Grocery Shopping

We went to Fareway today for another grueling grocery shopping adventure. I am still recuperating. I'll have to try to write my own "grocery shopping with the kids" story sometime. For now, I think this story about grocery shopping is as good as it gets. Because I can empathize, I think it's hilarious. This lady first posted the story on e-bay because she was trying to sell some Pokemon cards her kids threw in the cart. My favorite part about this story is how she keeps changing her answer to "Are those kids all yours?"

"Many Colored" Trials

James 1:2-3 (ESV)
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,
for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.

I've read that the "various" of James 1 could also be defined "many colored". Today the colors in my house were "spring green" and "olive green". They were two crayons that went through the washing machine AND, unfortunately, the dryer. This happened to me a couple of years ago with a crayon called "macaroni and cheese". That time, it mostly affected my white sheets and some underwear. This time, it was Will's clothes--three pairs of Dockers pants and a dress shirt, plus some other stuff. I've learned the best thing to do is to throw everything away. Then try to forget about what was lost. If you find yourself missing something, then you will need to replace it. (I try this philosophy on kids' clothes that get stained.) I might need to do some shopping this week, however, because I think Will will start missing his Dockers pretty quickly. : ) Praise God that these many colored trials are producing patience in me and a longing for other-worldly things, things that moth and rust and Crayola crayons do not destroy.

Unbelievable

My daughter is just starting to put letters together to make words. Recently she wrote "SRE" (sorry) on a piece of paper. She also spelled her friend Kaden's name "KADN" without any help at all. I was impressed until I found "NO WRTN" (no writing) written on the wall in the living room.

"Bad" Days

In human terms, I have every right to say that last week was a very "bad" week. Last weekend, a 53 year old woman in our church died of cancer. We planned the funeral and luncheon all last week; it finally took place on Friday. On Tuesday Will and Zeke came down with fevers. Will's turned out to be strep throat. He felt poorly for several days. Zeke was cutting a tooth and slept very little for about five nights in a row. We were supposed to go to Minnesota for an overnight to celebrate Will's parents' 35th anniversary. We left immediately following the funeral luncheon. After fifteen minutes in the car, Ella started screaming and continued to scream for the next two hours. We found out that she had double ear infections. After so many sleepless nights, I finally got sick and felt terrible all day Sunday. At the end of it all, the house is a mess and there are no groceries.

A study on the word "day" has encouraged me this week. There are no "bad" days with God. Every day is a gift, filled with purpose. "This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it." (Psalm 118:24) I'm learning to be more careful how I talk about my days. It seems that every night when my husband gets home, I'm tempted to tell him what a terrible day it has been (I admit, I'm overly dramatic). After a while, it is draining on him, on me and on the children to have every day be a "bad" day. In fact, every day should be a rejoicing day. To describe my days as "bad" shows that I am not obeying God. I am not rejoicing in what He is teaching me. I am not using my days in the ways He commands and being thankful for each moment of life that He gives. "Sing to the Lord, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day" (Psalm 96:2)

Hope you have a good day!

A Cup of Cappucino

Someday I’m not going to remember what it was like to have four kids four and under. But I don’t want to lose sympathy for young mother struggling in the midst of toddler years. My day started out great. I got up before the kids – only because they slept in for some reason, and was sitting at the counter eating my homemade cinnamon roll. I thought I was doing great, I had a homemade cinnamon roll and a cup of cappuccino, that I thought I might actually finish today all in one sitting since the kids were all still in bed. It’s been a while since I haven’t had to reheat it or dump it – I mean months. I sat at the computer making phone calls. Nora has a problem with her eye and we need to have it looked at by an optometrist. I called to ask some questions and they said they would call me back. I finished making a few phone calls but I didn't finish my cappuccino before Nat came out, then Nina and Nora, and finally Nessa woke up. Let me state here that Logan was out mowing the lawn. I should have known they would wake up soon. Right at the height of changing diapers getting kids dressed and fed, Logan’s mom called on Skype. We chatted for a while, sometimes from across the room while I was changing Nora. Nessa was crying so I picked her up and started to feed her when I got a phone call from the eye Doctor. I had to close the call with Susan and talk to this receptionist – a very important phone call. I was nursing Nessa and it just continued to get noisier and noisier in the house. Logan was outside mowing, all the windows were open and Nat and Nora were at my feet asking, whining, etc for anything they could think of. I couldn't feed Nessa and talk to this lady. I put Nessa in Nora’s crib and had to let her cry, then came back to the kitchen for a second to calm Nat and Nora and look up something for the receptionist. But just then Nora grabbed the cup of cappuccino that I had made for Nat from the table and dumped it all over the table, chair and entire dining room floor. It was everywhere. I tried to dry it up while talking to this lady, but it was getting too loud, I.e. Nessa screaming from the crib, the mower and Nat – whose drink had been taken. I walked to the back bathroom and closed the door to finish the conversation. (Still trying to drown out the noise.) But just then a deafening scream came from the kitchen. I thought Nat had gotten really hurt. I told the lady I thought there was something wrong with my son so she said she would put me on hold while she looked up something. I walked out to the kitchen only to find Nora running towards me with Nat’s cinnamon roll. The reason for the scream. Then the cell phone rang. I answered it, asked them if I could call them back (above the lawn mower) as I walked around trying to shut the windows and stepping over the cappuccino all over the floor. Then the eye lady was back. I finally finished with her back in my bedroom and picked up Nessa to begin feeding her again. I thought we were nearing the end of the story, but then she threw up all over me. But the phone calls were done at least so I put her in the tub to wash her off and and the door bell rang. I grabbed her out of the tub and rushed to open the door for the three other kids I would be watching today, a 8, 5 and 3 year old. And Logan's response when he got inside - Why didn't you come and get me? Forget about that cappuccino- it finally got dumped about supper time. What did I learn? My idol for peace, quiet, cleanliness is slowly shrinking as my cappuccino gets cold every day. Sometimes we get so caught up in the worlwind of life that we forget the most important. The people around us and a God who is always in control. I can praise Him for that. I can live with cold cappuccino. That’s no big deal, and I look to praise God for things that are happening that are good - no real tornadoes or hurricanes coming through our town this week.

Lest you think this is just an abnormal day let me explain my house today. Nessa is screaming, Nora and Nat begging for milk in their cereal and we have no clean bowls or spoons because I loaded the dishwasher, but forgot to start it. Logan is trying to instant message me from church, I still have a towel on my head, and Nina just called from the bathroom, the toilet is plugged and 1/4 inch from running over. All this while listening to the Ratatouille soundtrack (quite loud) I better go...

Hiking with the kids

On our thankful list I put down "hiking with the family." We did make a good memory. But I should specify - it started out great. The kids were excited to find leaves, acorns, sticks, ferns that we pointed out, but then about 100 yards into our 1 1/2 mile hike they started complaining. We tried to keep their spirits up, but then halfway around the loop Nora pooped her pants and didn't want to walk anymore. I thought I had wet wipes, but Nat had taken them out of the backpack. - Nessa had fallen asleep in the stroller so we didn't want to pull her out of our single stroller, so Logan put stinky Nora on his shoulders. I was carrying Nina because she fell and was hurt soooo bad. (right) And Logan was pushing the stroller. We weren't walking very fast because we could only walk as fast as Nat's little legs could go. I think we were carrying all of them by the end, and next time we might just go for a short walk around the park instead of a hike in the bug infested woods.

I Tried to Make Salsa

People tell me that everything I touch turns out just right, but not so today. I've changed that. Every craft I touch might work out, but when it comes to the kitchen, I just can't do it. I tried. I was given over 30 tomatoes and wanted to be very productive so I decided to try salsa. Actually it looked great. I spent all morning cutting, dicing, blanching, peeling all sorts of things and threw it all together without a problem. I was simmering the salsa on the stove for the few hours it needed and was cleaning up my kitchen. I got out all the jars I would need to sanitize them and began to smell this delicious smell of salsa in the kitchen. Well it wasn't quite the smell I thought I would smell. It was kind of garlicky. Hummm. I decided to look at the recipe. Could I have done something wrong? No... Well, maybe - What is a clove of garlic? I thought I knew, but maybe I didn't. Early I had to look up how to cut garlic, but I never looked into what a clove was. So I called my sister. She said a clove was one of those things in a garlic bulb. Ok - so I thought a clove was the bulb. What does that mean you ask? The recipe called for two garlic cloves and I put in about 20 garlic cloves. That's why the house smelled so garlicky. The question now remains. What should I do? I just spent all morning and part of the afternoon, money on ingredients and jars...

Option 1: Dump it and cry
Option 2: Double the batch - actually that would be by 10. We would have salsa coming out of our ears. And I certainly don't have 120 jars.
Option 3: Save 1/10 of the salsa I made and try to make the rest of the batch again.
Option 4: Go to Wal-mart and buy Pace Picante Sauce and put it into my jars - labeled Anna's salsa. No one would know right?
Or
Option 5: Forget this whole kitchen canning thing and next time someone offers me tomatoes say - I'm sorry I'd love to, but I tried that once.

What did I do? I cried a little, laughed a lot and my husband told me it was fine and to can it anyway. And so I did. And I’ll remember, every time I take out a jar of “garlic salsa” to eat, what a clove of garlic is. Lesson learned. And we will say thanks God for our salsa. “All things work together for good, to them that love God to them who are called according to his purpose.”