My blessing list for Tuesday:
1. I never liked meatloaf until I made Upside-Down Meat Loaf from Leanne Ely's book Saving Dinner. It is delicious--definitely qualifies as a blessing.
1 1/4 pound extra-lean ground beef (just as good with extra-lean ground turkey)
1 3/4 cups oats
3/4 cup buttermilk (I keep powdered buttermilk in the fridge for recipes and just add water.)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon salt
1 onion, chopped (I use 1 1/2 tablespoons onion powder)
1/4 teaspoon ginger
Combine all ingredients. Mix the following glaze, and spoon it onto the bottom of your 5 x 9 loaf pan. Place meatload on top of glaze. Bake for one hour. Turn upside down and serve.
Glaze
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup ketchup (I buy All Natural Hunt's Ketchup without high fructose corn syrup)
_____________________________
2. - studying my baby's face after she falls asleep nursing
3. - The humidity, which has made me less active the past week, should end in about three weeks. Can I hear an Amen?!
4. For the first time in two months all the clean clothes are folded and put away. I'm sure you're all gasping at this. Yes, I'm pitiful. I am determined to keep up this time!
5. Over a week ago we took Paul's bicycle training wheels off. It was long overdue--husband had been busy. We took turns holding the tail end of his bike during our neighborhood ride that day, so Paul could learn to balance without fear of falling. The heat and humidity, which at first didn't seem that bad (at 8:30 a.m.), made me feel old and ragged as I ran along beside him. My shirt began sticking to my skin and I could think only one thing. Shower. Fast.
I miss the California high desert!
Okay, not really. 108 degrees is not unusual there in mid-summer.
So here's the blessing. I do not have to run alongside Paul any longer. Peter taught Paul to ride his bike in our backyard this week, on the grass, where Paul felt confident and safe. We girls all jumped up and down like cheerleaders. Paul is happy. Peter, the teacher, is proud and happy. The sisters are proud and happy. And Momma is real, real happy. I don't know whether to be prouder of Peter or of Paul. They both brought tears to my eyes this week, as I watched them working together on this important milestone.
I learned that I'll be sticking to brisk walking for my exercise, thank you very much. Running + humidity = deadly combination. I know Stephanie from Canada, a reader friend, has taken up running and loves it. And I believe she has high humidity in her area of Canada. So I have this to day: What a woman! You're crazy!
6. My kids ask a lot of questions and make a lot of comments when I'm reading to them--particularly Peter and Mary. They should be interacting with the books, rather than just passively listening. Even though this taxes my patience, I'm reminding myself here that it's a blessing. Parents of disabled children would LOVE to have their kids interrupt the reading to make a comment or ask a question. We don't know how lovely our circumstances are!
7. We're back in Proverbs for our mealtime Scripture. A second helping, shortly after the first, seemed a good idea. I noticed the kids are starting to use vocabulary words picked up from Proverbs. And sometimes I wondered if they were really listening!
8. I read that hardship boosts a child's creativity. What a blessing! They have to solve more problems and make do with what they have, presumably? Create their own fun?
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Monday, August 9, 2010
recorded
Sweet things that need to be recorded:
Mary, during a bike ride: "Mommy, my knees are out of breath. Can I have the water bottle?" After drinking she added, "Water gives me more breath, Mommy."
Daddy is with us for two or three dinners per week. Monday is one of those nights. I was out of meat, so I made whole-wheat pancakes with blueberries and some fried eggs/cheese omelet (for more protein).
Paul said the blessing: "Dear Jesus, thank you for everything you do. Thank you that Daddy could be with us tonight to share this wonderful meal."
His prayer touched me because it blessed Daddy so much, and because it included the word "wonderful" in reference to a meal I prepared. Paul is my picky eater so for him to call a meal wonderful is really a blessing!
Kids and their pancakes! A happy combination!
Mary, during a bike ride: "Mommy, my knees are out of breath. Can I have the water bottle?" After drinking she added, "Water gives me more breath, Mommy."
Daddy is with us for two or three dinners per week. Monday is one of those nights. I was out of meat, so I made whole-wheat pancakes with blueberries and some fried eggs/cheese omelet (for more protein).
Paul said the blessing: "Dear Jesus, thank you for everything you do. Thank you that Daddy could be with us tonight to share this wonderful meal."
His prayer touched me because it blessed Daddy so much, and because it included the word "wonderful" in reference to a meal I prepared. Paul is my picky eater so for him to call a meal wonderful is really a blessing!
Kids and their pancakes! A happy combination!
Saturday, August 7, 2010
My Saturday List
My blessing list for Saturday:
- Baby Beth in the bathtub, playing with spice containers and their handy-dandy flip lids. What happens when you start cooking from scratch? You go through a lot of spices! The containers make great bath toys! She has such a good time that she kicks me and hollers something fierce when it's time to leave the bath.
- That last part is not included in this blessing list, mind you. I just had to emphasize how much she loves spice bottles. One night I decided to give her the electric toothbrush to play with while I put lotion and a diaper on her. So far, so good. I'm receiving fewer kicks. Fewer kicks is a blessing.
- Baked ziti with lean Italian turkey sausage. Yum.
- You know the Breyers natural vanilla ice cream with the vanilla bean specks? Walmart now makes their own version of it with the same ingredients. Tastes exactly the same for over a dollar less. That's a blessing!
- We love chili! I make a double batch and enjoy the leftovers for lunch for a few days after. We top it with colby-jack cheese and serve with corn bread (if I can get it baked). Do you ever add salsa to your chili? Try this chili recipe we invented:
- 1 jar Newman's Own Black Bean and Corn Salsa in medium spice. Oh la la! (All natural ingredients)
- 2 to 3 cans of black beans (or soak your own black beans)
- 1 bag of steamed corn
- 1 can of chili-ready tomatoes
- 1 pound of 93% lean ground turkey or ground beef
- 1 1/2 Tbsp. onion powder
- 1 tsp. Garlic powder or use refrigerated garlic (I don't have time to chop onion or garlic.)
- Chili powder to taste
- And to save time, this five minute microwave cornbread is a blessing.
- Okay, enough with food.
- My Paul loves football. He has a stuffed football he plays with in the house frequently, acting as announcer and solo football player, tossing the ball to his other arm as he makes his way down the hall. It's hilarious! He does the same thing out in the yard with a nerf football. Baby Beth witnesses this scenario often, and apparently thinks it looks like great fun. She actually started imitating it while I was cooking the other night, using the word "foo" for football. I was so tickled that I started playing with her and taking photos to capture this funny memory. She was all giggles! The football almost made it into the chili! My girl has a good arm!
- Baby Beth in the bathtub, playing with spice containers and their handy-dandy flip lids. What happens when you start cooking from scratch? You go through a lot of spices! The containers make great bath toys! She has such a good time that she kicks me and hollers something fierce when it's time to leave the bath.
- That last part is not included in this blessing list, mind you. I just had to emphasize how much she loves spice bottles. One night I decided to give her the electric toothbrush to play with while I put lotion and a diaper on her. So far, so good. I'm receiving fewer kicks. Fewer kicks is a blessing.
- Baked ziti with lean Italian turkey sausage. Yum.
- You know the Breyers natural vanilla ice cream with the vanilla bean specks? Walmart now makes their own version of it with the same ingredients. Tastes exactly the same for over a dollar less. That's a blessing!
- We love chili! I make a double batch and enjoy the leftovers for lunch for a few days after. We top it with colby-jack cheese and serve with corn bread (if I can get it baked). Do you ever add salsa to your chili? Try this chili recipe we invented:
- 1 jar Newman's Own Black Bean and Corn Salsa in medium spice. Oh la la! (All natural ingredients)
- 2 to 3 cans of black beans (or soak your own black beans)
- 1 bag of steamed corn
- 1 can of chili-ready tomatoes
- 1 pound of 93% lean ground turkey or ground beef
- 1 1/2 Tbsp. onion powder
- 1 tsp. Garlic powder or use refrigerated garlic (I don't have time to chop onion or garlic.)
- Chili powder to taste
- And to save time, this five minute microwave cornbread is a blessing.
- Okay, enough with food.
- My Paul loves football. He has a stuffed football he plays with in the house frequently, acting as announcer and solo football player, tossing the ball to his other arm as he makes his way down the hall. It's hilarious! He does the same thing out in the yard with a nerf football. Baby Beth witnesses this scenario often, and apparently thinks it looks like great fun. She actually started imitating it while I was cooking the other night, using the word "foo" for football. I was so tickled that I started playing with her and taking photos to capture this funny memory. She was all giggles! The football almost made it into the chili! My girl has a good arm!
- Walks with my children
- Paul obsesses about football and puzzles/board games, and Peter obsesses about catching/studying insects and swimming. They are learning to submit to one another in love by playing what the other desires, even when they don't feel like it. They do it for the love of companionship. I think their differences and the compromises required are training them to be good husbands and fathers. God gave them the gift of each other for a reason--to sharpen and bless one another. That's one of my top three reasons for homeschooling: Gleaning all that God intended from family relationships.
- The joy on Mary's face when she catches a butterfly or moth or cricket. She is quite the tomboy, while still loving femininity. I'm so blessed by her fun-loving, sweet nature.
- My husband, who is trying so hard to provide for us. He just picked up six more hours, making it a total of fifty working hours per week and eight school hours, plus studying. He is overwhelmed and cranky often, to be sure, but he makes a conscious effort to be a blessing to each child, and to me. I'm so grateful for him!
Seeing is Everything
Our homeschooling friend met us at the library with her two sweet girls, ages 3 and 5. They got out of their newer second car dressed in well-made, colorful summer clothes, with Mom donning a popular maxi-skirt ensemble.
As our conversation flowed that day--in the library's Literacy Room--I learned that she has a housekeeping service come every two weeks at General Motor's expense. They are Michigan residents on an eighteen-month assignment in Ohio--benefiting quite substantially financially with a company-paid apartment, company-paid car, and per diem, along with the aforementioned cleaning service.
She buys whatever homeschooling curriculum she desires regardless of price. If she doesn't like it she tries something else.
Her children are neurologically normal, as are her husband and herself.
If her daughter won't keep a hat on, she simply goes shopping--for a hat with a tie.
What ever comes up she takes care of promptly, whether it be purchasing new boots for wading in streams, or replacing a broken appliance at their Michigan home, which they visit once a month.
While I wouldn't describe her as frivolous, I can definitely say she's privileged.
I write all this to say one thing.
For the first time since my husband lost his full-time job seventeen months ago, I felt frustrated and strongly discouraged that our lives are so hard right now compared to so many in our culture. Yes, the jobless rate is close to ten percent, but that still leaves 90% of the country employed and buying maxi skirts or another latest trend for their summer wardrobes.
As a woman in my forties and comfortable in my own skin, I don't struggle with envy. And yet on that day--physically and emotionally exhausted--I was on the fence.
Had I let myself lean too far, I'd be lost on the envy side right now. An ugly, sinful place. A good-for-nothing place that serves only the enemy.
My older son, eight years old, is starting to compare our lifestyle to that of others, including to that of the friends I mentioned. Sometimes he can disguise his envy. Other times he lets it flow, although not in anger. He's more puzzled than anything else.
"Why did God provide a second car to so many people, and not to us?"
"Other people go camping but we can't. When will we be able to?"
"Will we be able to go to Stories and Crafts at the library this fall?"
"Will Daddy be able to take us to homeschool gym in September?"
All day long I repeat, "I'm sorry but we can't afford it. Take your requests to God". Or, "I'm sorry but we don't have the van at that time. Take your requests to God."
A few times a month I gently remind him that God isn't about making us comfortable and happy. He wants more people in heaven. Sometimes making people uncomfortable and then helping them cope, accomplishes that best.
I can see his comprehension when I talk about this. It's in his eyes. He knows how sweet salvation is.
Still, Peter is particularly bothered by our lack of transportation, especially as Daddy adds more hours and spends more time away. I am less bothered because if you don't have much gas money and can't even stop at the ice cream stand, a second car isn't much good. Even a country drive is wasteful, due to the gas involved.
But no. I don't envy her.
The Compassion International blog posts from Africa changed me forever. They kept me balanced on that fence I mentioned, so that envy didn't win.
I am rich in knowledge of what God wants Americans to do with their money. Most Americans are impoverished in comparison--sometimes through no fault of their own. They don't understand why God detests frivolous spending.
Sure, they might hear once in a while that children in some countries sell their bodies so they can eat.
But when it comes to abject poverty, hearing isn't enough. Seeing is everything.
If and when I am ever financially secure, you can bet I won't be jumping up and down about going to a retail store for my clothes.
I'll stick to thrift stores thank you very much.
And I'll give my discretionary funds to Compassion International for child sponsorship, knowing that fewer children are eating rotten fruit out of trash cans.
And no, I won't look down upon those who spend freely.
But I will do my best to open America's eyes, through any forum available to me.
The financial discomforts we're feeling make us rich. I've never been surer of anything.
Living in a style well under the Joneses and learning to be happy about it?
That's priceless.
As our conversation flowed that day--in the library's Literacy Room--I learned that she has a housekeeping service come every two weeks at General Motor's expense. They are Michigan residents on an eighteen-month assignment in Ohio--benefiting quite substantially financially with a company-paid apartment, company-paid car, and per diem, along with the aforementioned cleaning service.
She buys whatever homeschooling curriculum she desires regardless of price. If she doesn't like it she tries something else.
Her children are neurologically normal, as are her husband and herself.
If her daughter won't keep a hat on, she simply goes shopping--for a hat with a tie.
What ever comes up she takes care of promptly, whether it be purchasing new boots for wading in streams, or replacing a broken appliance at their Michigan home, which they visit once a month.
While I wouldn't describe her as frivolous, I can definitely say she's privileged.
I write all this to say one thing.
For the first time since my husband lost his full-time job seventeen months ago, I felt frustrated and strongly discouraged that our lives are so hard right now compared to so many in our culture. Yes, the jobless rate is close to ten percent, but that still leaves 90% of the country employed and buying maxi skirts or another latest trend for their summer wardrobes.
As a woman in my forties and comfortable in my own skin, I don't struggle with envy. And yet on that day--physically and emotionally exhausted--I was on the fence.
Had I let myself lean too far, I'd be lost on the envy side right now. An ugly, sinful place. A good-for-nothing place that serves only the enemy.
My older son, eight years old, is starting to compare our lifestyle to that of others, including to that of the friends I mentioned. Sometimes he can disguise his envy. Other times he lets it flow, although not in anger. He's more puzzled than anything else.
"Why did God provide a second car to so many people, and not to us?"
"Other people go camping but we can't. When will we be able to?"
"Will we be able to go to Stories and Crafts at the library this fall?"
"Will Daddy be able to take us to homeschool gym in September?"
All day long I repeat, "I'm sorry but we can't afford it. Take your requests to God". Or, "I'm sorry but we don't have the van at that time. Take your requests to God."
A few times a month I gently remind him that God isn't about making us comfortable and happy. He wants more people in heaven. Sometimes making people uncomfortable and then helping them cope, accomplishes that best.
I can see his comprehension when I talk about this. It's in his eyes. He knows how sweet salvation is.
Still, Peter is particularly bothered by our lack of transportation, especially as Daddy adds more hours and spends more time away. I am less bothered because if you don't have much gas money and can't even stop at the ice cream stand, a second car isn't much good. Even a country drive is wasteful, due to the gas involved.
But no. I don't envy her.
The Compassion International blog posts from Africa changed me forever. They kept me balanced on that fence I mentioned, so that envy didn't win.
I am rich in knowledge of what God wants Americans to do with their money. Most Americans are impoverished in comparison--sometimes through no fault of their own. They don't understand why God detests frivolous spending.
Sure, they might hear once in a while that children in some countries sell their bodies so they can eat.
But when it comes to abject poverty, hearing isn't enough. Seeing is everything.
If and when I am ever financially secure, you can bet I won't be jumping up and down about going to a retail store for my clothes.
I'll stick to thrift stores thank you very much.
And I'll give my discretionary funds to Compassion International for child sponsorship, knowing that fewer children are eating rotten fruit out of trash cans.
And no, I won't look down upon those who spend freely.
But I will do my best to open America's eyes, through any forum available to me.
The financial discomforts we're feeling make us rich. I've never been surer of anything.
Living in a style well under the Joneses and learning to be happy about it?
That's priceless.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
oh so random
A List:
- I'm blogging at 2:58 a.m. Yes, that's a.m. Don't ask why.
- Changing my blogger template seems to have caused Google Analytics to stop tracking my site. So I tried to remove the new template, which seems impossible.
- I hate computers. Really, I always have.
- Cookie baking paraphernalia is still sitting on my counter. I have yet to do the dishes, or change the laundry. Don't ask why. (Hint: I wish my baby would sleep.)
- My eight-year-old son is not into memorizing addition facts to 20. Not to mention subtraction facts. I've decided I'm done with that. Moving on.
- My other son, two years younger, knows them all without ever having used a single flash card. Some people just have a brain for mathematics. Others do not. Why fight it?
- Japan is getting away from rote memorization and standardized testing, while America is rushing more towards their old model. Creativity scores in American children--particularly in younger ones--have declined since 1990. Wasting any more time on memorization of facts seems futile. Creativity is more important. As long as he learns the multiplication facts, he'll do fine. I wouldn't want him going through life needing a multiplication table in his briefcase.
- Seriously, I don't know if he'll have a briefcase. I imagine him as a forest ranger or insect genius. Definitely a scientist of some sort.
- The non-mathematical son uses big words. The mathematical son does not. We all have our gifts. Peter will be a well-spoken scientist.
- Don't tell Peter I mentioned that he doesn't have a head for mathematics. He can come to that conclusion himself, but let it not be because of something I said or didn't say.
- I am blessed beyond measure. Now please just get me a housekeeper.
- Anyone else out there not sleeping? (New four-time Mama Jess?) Welcome to the Middle-of-the-Night-Club. I have chocolate chip cookies to share.
- Tomorrow (or is that today, since it is now 3:15 a.m.?) we are going to a literacy playroom at the library, instead of the park, while Daddy sleeps till noon. The humidity is awful here. I know. Paul, my mathematician, loves weather data and checks it online several times a day. It all started when we shut off the cable earlier this year. Peter, my anxious one, wanted to know how we would hear about tornado warnings without cable. I said we would just check the weather online. So, come summer, he made me do it often. Especially if it looked like a storm was brewing. Lo and behold, they fell in love with the weather site.
So that's how it was decided that Momma is not taking four kids to the park with two thunderstorms expected, in addition to rain-forest type humidity.
- When we mentioned to Californians about moving to Ohio, those in the know said, "Oh, boy. Get ready for humidity in the summer! It's awful! And buggy!" I'm happy to report that this is the only summer out of five that the humidity has been jungle-like. And as for the bugs? They keep my family entertained. So there, California!
- I spend a significant portion of my day looking up bug facts. First, we have to find a picture that matches the insect. It has to be a perfect match. Then, we use the given name to look up what it eats and how it should be housed. Sometimes we get into mating habits and how the insect benefits our world. Are we having fun yet?
- All sarcasm aside, I do love science. It beats math any day. It's just that the pics of some of those caterpillars could give you nightmares. If my baby would let me sleep long enough to have a nightmare, I probably would. It is teething? Who knows? She won't let me check the progress of the last tooth--her bottom incisor.
- My baby will be 20 months in a few days. That hurts. Only four more months of babyhood left. Husband is out working graveyard, but if he were here, he'd say a hallelujah that our baby days are ending. I can't ever get enough, which is probably why God has me enjoying her in the middle of the night too.
- Do you think I should go and do the dishes, and just count my sleeping from 9:30 pm. to 1:00 a.m. as my sleep for the night?
- No, because the second I get started, she'll wake up again. And that will be frustrating. But equally frustrating would be trying to do the dishes in the morning, while also trying to keep four children quiet until the library playroom opens at 10:00 a.m. It's air conditioned, you know. And my children love the library. Like the park, it's free. Free is very good. Free is very, very, good.
- I've decided to go and do the dishes. And sleep for an hour or so more, should she let me. Before she wakes at 6:30 a.m.
- Life is good. Well-rested is a word I will use in my future. I will. Right?
- I'm blogging at 2:58 a.m. Yes, that's a.m. Don't ask why.
- Changing my blogger template seems to have caused Google Analytics to stop tracking my site. So I tried to remove the new template, which seems impossible.
- I hate computers. Really, I always have.
- Cookie baking paraphernalia is still sitting on my counter. I have yet to do the dishes, or change the laundry. Don't ask why. (Hint: I wish my baby would sleep.)
- My eight-year-old son is not into memorizing addition facts to 20. Not to mention subtraction facts. I've decided I'm done with that. Moving on.
- My other son, two years younger, knows them all without ever having used a single flash card. Some people just have a brain for mathematics. Others do not. Why fight it?
- Japan is getting away from rote memorization and standardized testing, while America is rushing more towards their old model. Creativity scores in American children--particularly in younger ones--have declined since 1990. Wasting any more time on memorization of facts seems futile. Creativity is more important. As long as he learns the multiplication facts, he'll do fine. I wouldn't want him going through life needing a multiplication table in his briefcase.
- Seriously, I don't know if he'll have a briefcase. I imagine him as a forest ranger or insect genius. Definitely a scientist of some sort.
- The non-mathematical son uses big words. The mathematical son does not. We all have our gifts. Peter will be a well-spoken scientist.
- Don't tell Peter I mentioned that he doesn't have a head for mathematics. He can come to that conclusion himself, but let it not be because of something I said or didn't say.
- I am blessed beyond measure. Now please just get me a housekeeper.
- Anyone else out there not sleeping? (New four-time Mama Jess?) Welcome to the Middle-of-the-Night-Club. I have chocolate chip cookies to share.
- Tomorrow (or is that today, since it is now 3:15 a.m.?) we are going to a literacy playroom at the library, instead of the park, while Daddy sleeps till noon. The humidity is awful here. I know. Paul, my mathematician, loves weather data and checks it online several times a day. It all started when we shut off the cable earlier this year. Peter, my anxious one, wanted to know how we would hear about tornado warnings without cable. I said we would just check the weather online. So, come summer, he made me do it often. Especially if it looked like a storm was brewing. Lo and behold, they fell in love with the weather site.
So that's how it was decided that Momma is not taking four kids to the park with two thunderstorms expected, in addition to rain-forest type humidity.
- When we mentioned to Californians about moving to Ohio, those in the know said, "Oh, boy. Get ready for humidity in the summer! It's awful! And buggy!" I'm happy to report that this is the only summer out of five that the humidity has been jungle-like. And as for the bugs? They keep my family entertained. So there, California!
- I spend a significant portion of my day looking up bug facts. First, we have to find a picture that matches the insect. It has to be a perfect match. Then, we use the given name to look up what it eats and how it should be housed. Sometimes we get into mating habits and how the insect benefits our world. Are we having fun yet?
- All sarcasm aside, I do love science. It beats math any day. It's just that the pics of some of those caterpillars could give you nightmares. If my baby would let me sleep long enough to have a nightmare, I probably would. It is teething? Who knows? She won't let me check the progress of the last tooth--her bottom incisor.
- My baby will be 20 months in a few days. That hurts. Only four more months of babyhood left. Husband is out working graveyard, but if he were here, he'd say a hallelujah that our baby days are ending. I can't ever get enough, which is probably why God has me enjoying her in the middle of the night too.
- Do you think I should go and do the dishes, and just count my sleeping from 9:30 pm. to 1:00 a.m. as my sleep for the night?
- No, because the second I get started, she'll wake up again. And that will be frustrating. But equally frustrating would be trying to do the dishes in the morning, while also trying to keep four children quiet until the library playroom opens at 10:00 a.m. It's air conditioned, you know. And my children love the library. Like the park, it's free. Free is very good. Free is very, very, good.
- I've decided to go and do the dishes. And sleep for an hour or so more, should she let me. Before she wakes at 6:30 a.m.
- Life is good. Well-rested is a word I will use in my future. I will. Right?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)