Monday, September 16, 2013

A McAlister Family Update---In Pictures


 We are settling into life in the woods.  We are still homesick, but we are finding places for all of our stuff and finding our way around in the woods.  We started school as soon as we got here.  I wanted the kids to have something to do every day; especially since we don't know anyone yet. There's no one for the kids to play with besides me, so they needed something to do.  Here are a few pictures of our adventures so far.

Ella--first day of Kindergarten
Aidan---first day of 5th grade

Ella works on reviewing her letters

Aidan working on geography

Apparently, geography is funny
Homeschool PE---ride your bike down the hill to the pond
Recess when it's 102 degrees with 80% Humidity
Life Hack---If your dog ruins your slip and slide...just pour water on it with a pitcher
Making the Letter S with salt dough and cookie cutters
Or, as it is otherwise known...making a huge mess

Making a Salt Dough Map

Anna Loves the Porch Swing

Went inside to get a drink...came back out and found these 2 knuckleheads on the swing

She covered herself with a blanket...it was 96 degrees

Aidan practicing on the piano---he's doing great.  I love that he's excited to learn :)


So---this, along with unpacking/cleaning/organizing is what we've been up to.  And now, my mother can stop calling and asking me when I'm going to take some pictures.  :)








Saturday, September 14, 2013

Three Things About Apathy

Apathy is:
*the absence of passion
*void of emotion
*unconcerned
*uncaring
*immovable
*inactive

Apathy tells us:
*it doesn't matter
*someone else will do it
*it's not your concern
*out of sight, out of mind
*you can't help

Apathy allows:
*22,000 children under the age of 5 to die from preventable causes
*people to go uncared for, unloved, and unseen
*children to be orphans
*mothers to watch their babies suffer, unable to do anything to help them
*darkness to take hold

Will you allow apathy towards those in poverty to continue?  Or will you fight back?  Will you ignite a passion for those less fortunate?  Or will we continue to sit in our air conditioned homes, watching our cable TV, while playing on our smart phones and drinking our gourmet coffee while poverty takes the hopes and the dreams and the lives of children all over the world.  Have you thought about that?  We are watching television while children are dying.  How can we rest?  What can we do?  For $38 a month you can help one of these children.  For $38 a month you can provide them with medical care, schooling, food, hygiene training.  You can break the cycle of poverty for their family.  $38 a month!  I bet you waste that easily...I know we do.  What is it worth to save someone's life?  What would you give up?  Will you sponsor a child? 



Friday, September 6, 2013

God's Economy

I went to my grandmother's house today for the first time since she moved to a nursing home.  It was so weird to pull up there and know she wasn't there.  As soon as I rounded the curve and saw her mailbox I got a little choked up.  As I walked up to the front door, tears stung my eyes...it was locked.  If she was there, it would have been open, and I would be able to see her through the screen, because she would be waiting for me.  We were looking through some of her things, reminiscing, and it was such an odd feeling.  These were her things, her jewelry, her pictures, her decorations...things she loved and chose for herself.  And now they sit. It reminded me of when my other grandmother was sick.  She was going to move in with us, so we had a garage sale to sell a lot of her stuff.  She made several hundred dollars.  I remember the sadness in her eyes as she counted up the total at the end of the sale.  "This is all my life's belongings are worth?" she said.  It was a sad realization, and one that stuck with me...one I remembered again today.

We spend so much time and money on "stuff." We work crazy hours...hours spent away from our family...to buy stuff.  And then we work more to pay for the insurance to protect our stuff.  And then we get bigger stuff.  It consumes so much of our life...our time, our energy.  But in the end that stuff is either going to the dump, or getting sold off in a garage sale.  Sure, some things may be handed down to family...but most of it is trash or someone else's second hand treasure.  It's meaningless.

In our culture, we value hard work and striving to be the best.  I value those things too, but lately, I feel like we're all being duped.  We're spending our lives climbing ladders and accumulating stuff.  For what?  Has the American Dream been a smoke screen all along to cause us to waste our lives in meaningless pursuits?  It's not making us happy.  It's not making us healthy.  It's making us slaves...slaves to our stuff.

September is Blog Month for Compassion.  I love to use my little piece of cyber space to hopefully promote a little change.  Our first assignment for blog month is to write what we would say to our childhood self.  I've been thinking long and hard about it this week.  What is the one thing I would say to my childhood self---or to my children---or to my sponsored child?  If they were going to hear one thing, what would I want it to be?  After today, I think it would be this:

The only things that will truly last are the things you do for Eternity's sake.

Everything else is temporary and meaningless...here today and gone tomorrow.  What matters is not what you deposit in your bank account but what you deposit into the hearts of others.  Spend yourself in loving others.  Wear yourself out loving others.  Love God with all you have.  Expend every ounce of energy loving your family and those around you.  I know you have to work; we all have to eat, and hard work is a good thing.  But work as if you're working for the Lord.  Moms, love on your children like their very souls depend on it.  Make your laundry and the dishes a sacrifice of love for them.  Show love, live grace, forgive radically, love people.  Everything else is just a distraction.  Then you will be rich...not just in this life, but for all of eternity.  Work with unwavering focus at loving people.  The house, the cars, television, smart phones---all secondary.  They should all be tools that you use to love people better.  It's okay to have these things, as long as they are dedicated to the purpose of loving people.  Then, you will get to the end of your life, and the stuff won't matter, because you will be leaving a legacy of love and changed hearts, and healing and grace...which is so much more valuable than a few hundred dollars worth of stuff.

If this is resonating with you at all, can I encourage you to do one small thing to shift your focus from "stuff" to "people?"  Sponsor a child through Compassion.  What I love about this, is not only do you send money that pays for a child's food, schooling, medication, and other necessities, you write letters and build relationships with these children.  You encourage them to do well in school, to take care of themselves, to come to a personal relationship with Christ.  It is amazing what so few American dollars can do for these precious children in poverty.  Not only will you be affecting eternity for the child that you sponsor, but you and your family will be changed as well.  That's God's economy.  You invest a little and he pays outrageous dividends.  I never thought I could love a child half way across the world that I've never met.  But I do.  I love him as part of our own family.  He is constantly in my thoughts and prayers. Sponsoring one child is not going to change the world...but it can change one child's world.  And in so doing, you'll be surprised how it will change yours too.  
"Then Jesus said to his disciples, "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.  For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.  What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?  Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?"
Matthew 16:24-26

Join Me for Blog Month

Monday, September 2, 2013

We've Moved...

...we managed to get everything moved this weekend.  Now, the unpacking starts.  It is overwhelming to say the least.  Aidan is doing well with it all, surprisingly.  I thought it would be the hardest on him since he is the oldest.  I think sometimes he's just acting tough because he knows I'm sad.  Ella keeps asking about home and when we're going back.  That's hard.
I don't have the words to process it all right now...so I'll just leave you with this.  Enjoy.  :)


SpongeBob SquarePants: "Texas Music Video"
Get More: SpongeBob SquarePants Episodes,SpongeBob SquarePants,SpongeBob SquarePants Games

Thursday, August 29, 2013

Things I've Heard (And Seen) Lately...the Moving Edition

So, things have been really crazy around here lately.  But, there have been some very funny moments.  Here are some of my favorites related to a move.

Mark: (trying to explain stepping out on faith to Aidan)  It's like stepping off a cliff and knowing that God is going to catch you (or something along these lines...I can't remember the exact analogy, but it was about a cliff).
Aidan:  Why don't you just turn around and walk away from the cliff?  (duh)


Mark:  So what do you think about moving?
Aidan:  Well, part of me thinks it could be really bad.  And, the other part of me agrees with the first part.


Aidan:  (while driving through a small town near where we are going to live)  Wow, this town is what they call a "fixer-upper."

This one has nothing to do with moving, but is still funny:
Ella:  Are the Veggie Tales real?
Me:  No, it's a cartoon.
Ella:  Well, who's singing then?
Me:  It's just people pretending to be vegetables.
Ella:  That's really weird.

We've had many misadventures while trying to rent our house.  And they all seem to involve the restroom.

For starters, we had potential renters show up an hour early!  I should have told them to come back, but we really want to get our house rented, so I said it was fine.  I had 6 kids here and we had just gotten back from swimming, so it was a little hectic.  I rushed all the kids to the car so we could get out of here quickly.  In doing this, I forgot Anna's diaper bag.  When we got to our friends house, she was in desperate need of a diaper.  "What's the worst that could happen?" someone said.  I took her soaking wet diaper off, wrapped her in a towel and headed home...surely she could make it home without incident, right?  Wrong.  She pooped.  And it was the worst poo you can imagine...of all the times to have diarrhea.  Seriously.  All over her, all over the car seat...but surprisingly very little on the towel.  You're welcome for that visual.

When we got home, the Realtor had locked our new kittens (that's a whole other story) out of the bathroom where their litter box was.  So, guess what I got to clean up.  More poop.

So, I decided to take the kittens to Arkansas so Mark could take care of them for a bit.  While we were gone, we had a showing and the Realtor let our outside cat in the house...and left her in...all weekend.  With no litter box, food or water.  So, guess what I got to clean up?  I'm really glad she was okay.  I'm not sure how much longer she could have made it without water.  :(

And one final incident...we were getting ready for a showing this week.  I noticed that the kids had left some clothes on the bathroom floor, so I asked them to put them in the hamper.  When I walked by again, they were gone.  So, naturally, I assumed the kids had picked them up.  When we got home that afternoon, I went into the kids' bathroom and guess what I found in the toilet.  Yep, the kids' clothes, a couple of diapers and 3 bath toys.  Have I mentioned that Anna has developed a fascination with toilets lately?  I hope the potential renters enjoyed that little spectacle.  And I hope the big kids learn to pick up their clothes when asked...or else they're going in the potty.

So that's been our life lately...2 more days and NO MORE showings to get ready for...alone...with 3 kids and a half dozen pets.  Hopefully, I can make it.

And one more funny thing...would you care to guess what both Aidan and Ella have been worried about lately?  Leaving friends?  Leaving church?  Leaving family...yes, but the main worry they've been talking about the last few days?  They are worried that Santa won't be able to find them in the woods.  It IS in the middle of nowhere...and there are lots of trees.  We'll have to get a spot light for Santa.

Have a good LONG weekend...and if you don't have anything to do, I know some people that could use help moving.  :)

Ella fishing in the pond




Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Moving

Wow, much has happened since I last updated here.  For starters, the thing that has been consuming my life this summer is we are moving.  Ugh.  I think I've hesitated to put that into writing...I haven't even made it Facebook official yet.  It seems so real to write it down.  We are moving in 4 days.  I guess there's not much avoiding it any longer.  Everything I own is packed into boxes and I'm sitting in an almost empty house.  We're really moving.

Another reason I've hesitated to write this here, is that it's not really an exciting move for me.  Mark has taken a job that he loves.  I am excited for him.  But I am also sad.  Sad to be leaving family...my whole family lives here--parents, brother, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins.  I LOVE living close to my family.  I love the kids being close to my family. I love that my kids can play and have sleep overs with their cousins.  I love that we get to have lunch with my grandparents a couple of times a month.

 I'm also sad to be leaving friends that feel like family.  I have been seriously blessed by some amazing friendships here.  I don't know how people, especially stay-at-home mom type people, make it without friends. And we've been through a lot together...I was thinking the other day that our little life group at church has really been through it.  We've had members that have had miscarriages, lost children, lost spouses, lost jobs, been through divorce, struggled with their faith.  And we've shared the joys of new babies, healing, new jobs, and on and on...I've created some precious bonds with the people here.

I'm sad to leave my home.  I love this house.  It's not the greatest house; it's not special in anyway.  But, we have lots of memories here.  We've put lots of work into making this house our home, and I will miss it.  I will miss museums and the zoo.  We have museum and zoo memberships and we go several times a month.  We are taking a lot of special memories with us when we go.  I'm sad to leave all of my "stuff."  We will be staying in Mark's parents' house, at least for a while, so most of my stuff will go to storage.  I know it's silly to be attached to stuff, but I am.  It makes me feel at home.  Plus, I really like to decorate and make things just the way I like them, so it will be a challenge.

So, on Saturday, we will be packing up and leaving to move to the woods.  Seriously.  The woods...30 minutes from a grocery store.  Not another house in sight.  I love being in the woods...the smell, the peace and quiet, the solitude...but living there?  I feel a little claustrophobic just thinking about it.  Y'all pray for me.   And pray for our kids.  They are sad.  Watching them leave the family and friends that they love is even harder than my own leaving.

So, please keep us in your thoughts on Saturday.  It is bittersweet.  Mark has been gone since the end of July.  So, I've been here...keeping the house clean for showing with potential renters, packing, and caring for our 3 kids by myself for the better part of a month and I am tired.  So, for that reason, I am anxious for Saturday to get here.  But, Saturday is when I have to leave...it doesn't seem real yet.  Pray that we make friends quickly and settle in easily.  Pray that we find a church that we love quickly.  Pray that I am able to feel at home and relax.  Pray that someone rents our house pronto!

Sorry for the bummer of a blog update...but that's where I am now.  Now that all the sad is out there...you can anticipate all the good with me...new friendships, new experiences, etc.

To end on a happy note, some pictures of where we're moving.  It really is pretty.
The Cabin that is on the property

The View from the back porch


Thursday, May 23, 2013

Compassion Homeschool

A couple of years ago our family decided that we would sponsor a child through Compassion International.  There are so many things that I LOVE about this organization.  The more I learned about their commitment to helping children in poverty---not just by providing them a meal or two, but by really changing their lives, the more hooked I became.

We sponsor a little boy in Rwanda.  We do many thing to try to teach our children about helping others, but this sponsorship is so meaningful, because it is personal to them.  They know our child by name.  They know about his family.  We read letters from him, as well as from his pastor and his mother.  We know what he likes to eat and that he wants to be a pastor when he grows up.  When we send him money for his birthday, he doesn't buy toys...he buys goats, to help his family.  We know that he has chores...like hauling water for the family.  It has been eye opening and educational for us and for our kids.  We hope we are making half the impact on him that he is making on us.  

By American standards, we don't make a lot of money.  We are a family of 5 living on one teacher's salary.  God has been so gracious and generous to always provide for all of our needs.  So, even though money is tight around here, how could we not extend that same grace and generosity to someone else?  If you have ever considered sponsoring a child, my advice is DO IT.  You will never regret it.  Whatever you have to give up in order to afford it is trivial in comparison to what you will gain.  

So that's my plug for sponsoring a child through Compassion.  The other reason I'm writing this blog is because I have lots of Homeschooling friends, and I just found the coolest thing on Compassion's web-site.  They have lesson plans especially for homeschool families!  I am so excited to start these with my kids.  Teaching my children compassion for the poor/less fortunate is a constant battle.  Where we live we are surrounded by so much...they think they have it bad because we won't buy them a WiiU AND an Xbox...they just can't comprehend what real poverty looks like.  So, I am really excited to do these lessons with my kids.  I haven't started them yet, but they look great.  You know what would be really cool is to do these lessons and sponsor a child as a part of your home school.  ;-)


Thursday, May 16, 2013

Things I've Heard Lately

Ella:  Aidan, do you like cub scouts?
Aidan:  Yeah, you should be in girl scouts.
Ella:  No
Aidan:  You get to sell cookies.  And, if you sell the most you get a prize.
Ella:  Oh!  I hope it's a machine gun.

Heaven help the girl scouts.  :-/

Anna:  Ella!!  (when they are supposed to be going to sleep)
Ella: Yes baby?
Anna:  gobbledy gobbledy blah goo gah
Ella:  Look!  Listen to me!  I know you want to play, but I am TIRED.  My legs hurt and I need to get some sleep.  You may not want to go to sleep but I do!
Anna:  Ella!!
Ella:  (Sigh)

Thursday, May 9, 2013

For All the Single Ladies...

So, this whole mess in Ohio has been making me sick all week.  I just can't comprehend it.    And it's not just Ohio---women and little girls are victimized all over the world.  All. The. Time.  If you really want to be sad and angry, start reading about the sex trade of little girls.  Do you think this is a 3rd world problem?  Americans are the largest consumers in this trade.  Disgusting.  According to the International Rescue Committee , one in three women will suffer some kind of abuse in their life time.  That's a third of all women. I've got two little girls.  This is unacceptable.  So, what I've been trying to think about all week is, how do we fix it?  What is to be done?

Well, I'm sure all the politicians out there can think of a million ways to throw billions of dollars at this problem.  Maybe that would work, but I've learned to never wait for the government to fix anything.  Seems they can't work on a problem without creating a million more.  I'm sure we could legislate it into the ground---stiffer penalties for offenders, more laws and on and on and on.  But, you know what?  We could execute the 3 men in the Ohio case right now and it wouldn't do those women a bit of good.  It would not take away the pain they suffered.  Don't get me wrong.  I do think some changes need to be made in the laws.  I mean, one of those brothers severely abused his wife.  And I don't know all of the details, but it appears to me that he walked away from that with little to no consequence.  That's a problem.

But, what can we do?  The average, "I don't have a gazillion dollars to run for Congress" person.  There is plenty I could say to men on this subject.  For starters, if I had a captive audience of young men, I would say, "the world needs you to grow up.  Like right now.  People are suffering and God has blessed you with the strength to be their protectors and defenders.  So, turn off the video games.  Get off the couch.  Stop working on your six pack and get out there and start helping.  Stop being a part of the problem and be a man and a leader.  Stop watching movies about heroes and start being a hero."

But, since only about 3 men read my blog, and two of those are my dad and my husband...and they are already good men (hey, what do you know, if you read my blog, you have a 66% chance of being a good man) I will address the women instead. If I had to guess, I would say most of the women that read my blog are already married, and I hope the man you married is amazing.  So, please pass this on to all the single ladies you know.

Girls:  Stop marrying jerks.  Stop reproducing with jerks.  Because that jerk will be the father of your children.  And that jerk will make your little girls feel like they have to do unspeakable things to gain the favor and attention of men.  That jerk will model for your little boy how to be a jerk.  If he treats you badly, he will teach your precious little boy to treat women badly.  He will teach your little girl that they deserve to be treated badly as well.  The influence of a father, for the good or the bad, is immeasurable.

So, who do you marry?  I'm no expert here, but I've done it the wrong way, and I've done it the right way, and this is what I've learned.

1. Marry a man that respects his mother.  Not just loves her, but respects her...treats her with respect, no matter what.
2. Marry a man that wants to please God above all else.  The man that wants to please God will know that he must be willing to lay down his life for his wife.
3. If a man yells at you, intimidates you, belittles you in anyway, dump him.  Did you hear me?  Dump him, do not marry him.  There is no excuse.
4.  If a man utters the words, "boys will be boys," or you find yourself uttering these words to excuse a behavior in a man, dump him.  Boys will be boys, but you're not marrying a "boy" (hopefully).  And you don't want a "boy" helping you raise a family.  Dump him and find a man.  Because our culture has been telling us for a long time now that boys will be boys and sleep around, look at pornography, go to strip clubs, etc.  Like they can't help it or something.  Yes they can.  This is a lie that we have been buying into for far too long.  You need a man that can practice some self control.  Furthermore, you're going to have kids someday and you need a man that will stand in the gap for your sons and encourage them to be pure...to turn their eyes from all the filth in this world.  Trust me---no matter how cute or cool he is, don't tolerate this behavior. Dump him.
5.  Marry a servant leader.  Think about Jesus.  He possessed all the power in the universe and could have made anyone do anything he wanted them to do.  But what did he do?  He healed.  He loved children.  He washed feet.  His heart was broken by the suffering of others.  He reached out to those no one else was willing to be near.  He loved.  We have got to change what our image of manhood looks like.  It is not weak to serve others.  If you are dating a man who talks/thinks only about himself...never concerned with lifting others up, dump him.
6.  When you are considering marrying someone, ask yourself, "If they never change from who they are today, will I be okay with that?"  Marrying you will not change someone's character.  I know you are amazing, but marrying you will not change someone's character.

I don't mean to sound harsh or unforgiving.  There is no perfect man, so of course you have to be willing to overlook some flaws.  But, let's overlook flaws like:  "he leaves his dirty socks on the floor", or "he's a little overly obsessed with baseball."  Let's stop overlooking flaws like: "he treats me like dirt," or "he makes me feel bad about myself."  Come on ladies.  Let's up our standards.  I promise you there are good men out there.  Don't get in a hurry.  If we start setting our expectations a little higher, men will learn real quick that they've got to step up or be alone.  Otherwise, they're going to keep getting away with it.  And maybe, just maybe, in a generation or two we will find that all the sick/twisted/abusive men have died sad and alone.  Maybe we can raise a generation of real men and help end the cycle of abuse.  We can at least make that stand for our own family and our own children.  I pray that we will.  For the sake of my little girls.

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Anna Speaks

Anna will turn 18 months old this month.  It's hard to believe how fast it is going!  She is at that age where her language is exploding.  I love all the little things she is starting to say.  Here are her top 10 favorite phrases right now:

1.  Outside!  We hear this about a gazillion times a day.  Outside is the only place Anna wants to be...

2. Bye-Bye Car!  ...except when she wants to be in the car...the girl loves to go for a ride in the car.  And, she says Car like she's from Jersey.

3.  Daddy!  She walks around the house looking for her daddy when he's not here.  It's so cute to hear her calling for him.

4. Tovey!  Lovey is the stuffed giraffe that she sleeps with.  When she gets tired, she will walk around saying   "Tovey!" (She can't say the beginning L sound).

5.  Ella! She loves her big sister, but she usually yells her name like she's in trouble.

6.  Good Boy!  She says this every time she sees Ranger. She likes to lay her head on his tummy.

7. Bubba!  She loves her big brother too.

8.  That!  The girl knows what she wants, and when she wants something, she points and says, "that!"

9. Mommy.  Melts my heart every time.  

10.  Gone-gone.  This is what she says when her milk is all gone---and she wants more.  Now.

Recently, she has also learned to give kisses.  She gives Aidan and Ella about a hundred kisses a day.  It is so sweet to see her with them.
We are having so much fun watching this little one grow and learn.  Love her so much.

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Ranger

This may be old news for some of you, but about a month ago, we adopted a dog from the local shelter.  I was REALLY nervous about this.  Let's just say, we haven't had great luck with dogs in the past.  But, Mark found this dog that was part Border Collie, part something else (maybe Golden Retriever?) and he was sweet.  He kept going back to visit him, and after a few visits we took the kids up to see how he did with them.  A few days later, Mark brought him home.  I was still skeptical.  But, he has been the best and sweetest dog I have ever had.  He wasn't house broken when we got him.  But, that only took about 2 days of working with him.  He is very obedient and a gentle dog.  He loves belly rubs and treats.  All in all, it's been a great experience.  Look at him:

He was very underweight when we got him--you could feel his ribs and hip bones jutting out.  But, he has quickly fattened up.  :)  The vet thinks he's anywhere from 6-10 mos. old.  


So, things have been going great with Ranger...except for this morning.  Our neighbors left their water running in their yard all night...which ran into our yard...which made a giant mud puddle around the peach trees.  Ranger decided he was part pig and went rolling in the mud.  I started to suspect something when he was outside for a long time this morning and we didn't hear anything out of him.  So, I opened the door, called for Ranger and he came running.  It took me a while to realize he was covered head to toe...back to belly...tail and all in mud.  He ran about 5 circles around the living room before I could catch him and get him back outside.  My family room looked like a dirt track.  

The funniest part of the story is that I discovered Ranger hates baths.  In fact, he hates them so much that whenever I tried to get him to take a bath, he rolled over on his back, paws up, tongue out to the side, stared off into the distance and played dead.  If I hadn't been so frustrated with him, I would have taken his picture.  It was so cute...and he did it every time I tried to bathe him.  I swear he's the sweetest dog ever...which just might have saved his life after his mud fiasco this morning.  I could only imagine what was going through his mind..."Sorry, can't take a bath right now, because I died."  Cutest. Dog. Ever.



Monday, April 22, 2013

Ella's Fake Life

Ella has a great imagination.  I've mentioned before, that I love to sit and listen to her play with her toys.  The stuff she says, cracks me up.
For instance, tonight, she was pretending that she was making donuts.  She was talking to an imaginary person about the donuts and said, "this is so romantically weird."
Romantically weird?  That's a new one...now, I will have to try to think of some other things that I can describe as "romantically weird."

While she was playing this game, she turned to me and said, "Mommy, I've found a boy I want to marry!"

I said, "You have?  Who is it?"

Ella:  "Well, in real life, I want to marry Aidan.  But in fake life, I want to marry Sun Slice."

Me:  "Wow, what an interesting name."

Ella:  "Yes, it's because he's like scissors."  (Huh?)

Me:  "Well, what is it about Sun Slice that makes you want to marry him?"

Ella:  "He eats wildly.  Just like me.  Moon Slice is nice but he eats all calmly, so I don't want to marry him."

So, there you have it.  The girl's got standards!  It's a start anyway.

On another note---you maybe, just maybe, have a strong willed, controlling child if she spends half the day telling your dog that he is panting the wrong way.  (Apparently, Ranger likes to pant with his tongue hanging out to the side of his mouth.  Ella thinks he should only pant with his tongue hanging out the front of his mouth.)  She finds it completely exasperating that we cannot get this dog to pant the right way.  Maybe he's just too romantically weird for front of the mouth panting.










Sunday, March 24, 2013

Easter Cookies---again

I posted this recipe a few years ago.  It has become one of our favorite family traditions.  We do this the night before Easter.  I thought it was worth re-posting.  :)

Ingredients:
1 c. whole pecans (or chocolate chips if you don't like nuts)
1 tsp. vinegar
3 egg whites
a pinch of salt
1 c. sugar
a zipper baggy
1 wooden spoon
scotch tape
Bible

**Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.  This is very important to do before you make the cookies.  It will not work if you wait until you are half way done with the recipe.
1. Place the pecans in the zipper baggy.  Let the children beat them with the wooden spoon to break into small pieces.  Explain that after Jesus was arrested he was beaten by the Roman soldiers.  Read:  John 19: 1-3

2. Let each child smell the vinegar.  Put 1 tsp. vinegar into mixing bowl.  Explain that when Jesus was thirsty on the cross He was given vinegar to drink.  Read John 19:28-30

3. Add egg whites to vinegar.  Eggs represent life.  Explain that Jesus gave his life to give us life.  Read: John 10: 10-11

4. Sprinkle a little salt into each child's hand.  Let them taste it and brush the rest into the bowl.  Explain that this represents the salty tears shed by Jesus' followers, and the bitterness of our own sin.  Read Luke 23:27.

5. So far the ingredients are not very appetizing.  Add 1 cup sugar.  Explain that the sweetest part of the story is that Jesus died because he loves us.  He wants us to know and belong to Him.  Read Psalm 34:8 and John 3:16.

6. Beat with a mixer on high speed for 12-15 minutes until stiff peaks are formed.  Explain that the color white represents the purity in God's eyes of those whose sins have been cleansed by Jesus.  Read Isaiah 1:18 and John 3:1-3.

7.  Fold in broken nuts.  Drop by teaspoon onto waxed paper covered cookie sheet.  Explain that each mound represents the rocky tomb where Jesus' body was laid.  Read Matthew 27: 57-60.

8.  Put the cookie sheet in the oven, close the door and turn the oven OFF.

9.  Give each child a piece of tape and seal the oven door.  Explain that Jesus' tomb was sealed.  Read:  Matthew 27: 65-66

10.  Go to Bed!  Explain that they may feel sad to leave the cookies in the oven overnight.  Jesus' followers were in despair when the tomb was sealed.  Read John 16: 20-22

11.  On Easter morning, open the oven and give everyone a cookie.  Notice the cracked surface and take a bite.  The cookies are hollow!  On the first Easter, Jesus' followers were amazed to find the tomb open and empty.  Read Matthew 28:1-9


Saturday, March 23, 2013

Ella's Noah Complex and My Hairless Belly

Before you can fully appreciate the story I am about to tell you, I need to explain 2 things about Ella.

1.  You may already know that Ella is obsessed with animals.  She loves all animals.  What you may not know, is that Ella loves animals in pairs.  She never wants just one of an animal toy.  She has to have 2 of the same animal.  They have to have family.  Like Noah, she prefers her animals two by two, and really has a hard time if she only has one of a particular type of animal.

2.  Ella has always been somewhat of a daddy's girl.  You may remember this story from when she was younger.  She loves me for sure...it's me that she wants at bedtime or when she doesn't feel well...she loves to have "girl time."  But daddy...well, he's on a pedestal.  You're about to see why.  :)

Now for the story:

We were at the museum and Ella wanted to buy a dinosaur.  She had enough allowance to buy just one.  I carefully explained to her that if she spent all of her allowance on this one thing, she would not have any money for the rest of the month and wouldn't be able to buy anything else.  But, she really wanted it, so she bought it.  Almost immediately, she was upset that she couldn't buy two.  She pouted the rest of the time that we were at the museum, because her dinosaur was lonely and missed his friend.

The next morning, she woke up and immediately asked to go to the museum again to buy another dinosaur.  I reminded her that she was out of money and couldn't get the other dinosaur until next month.  She was very upset at this point, and this is the tirade she unleashed on me:

"You think you're so strong, but you're not.  You can't even drive the tractor and you don't have a furry belly.  You don't even have those hairs in your nose to keep you from getting germs!  Alls you can do is have babies and get snacks!"   (translation--you're not daddy!)

Seriously?  I had to walk away.  Quickly.  So she didn't see me laugh.  I have never had a harder time trying to discipline a child for being rude while desperately trying not to crack up.  Where does she get this stuff?  When Mark got home from work that day, he was very sure to point out how thankful we should all be that I do NOT have a furry belly.  On the bright side, I can get snacks like nobody's business.  :)

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Ella's Rainbow-Unicorn, I mean Ocean, I mean Sea Horse Party

This year, Ella wanted a rainbows and unicorn party for her birthday.  She talked about it for months.  I tirelessly scanned Pinterest for ideas, and pinned many of them.  (You should check out my party ideas board--lots of unicorns and rainbows).  I had all of my ideas ready, and was preparing to make the invitations, when Ella informed me that she no longer wanted a unicorn/rainbow party.  She wanted a seahorse party--not an ocean party, a seahorse party.  (She's nothing if not specific).

So, I switched gears...revisited Pinterest and threw together a ocean seahorse party.  Here are some pictures:

The invite:  for the invitation, I bought plain white cards, glued a little white sand to the bottom and a cut out sea horse that I made using my mom's silhouette cutter.  I also glued on a couple of seashells.  I wrote the info by hand.  I would have loved to have had it printed nicely, but we decided on this sea horse theme only 2 weeks before her birthday---so I was working on a time crunch.


The cake.  This cake was actually pretty easy.

I made 2 9" chocolate cakes for the bottom, and 2 7" white cakes for the top.  (I didn't have a 7" cake pan, so I made 9" and used a small plate to cut around).  I made a buttercream frosting and dyed it light blue and spread this over the whole cake.  Then I used the slanted frosting tip to put the waves all around the cake.  I kept adding more food coloring to make a darker blue as I got lower on the cake.  I sprinkled brown sugar on top for sand and topped it with candy shells.  I made the shells using a candy mold that I bought at Michael's.

I wish I was better at taking food pictures.  :(

I have discovered that kids really love to eat food on a stick.  So this blow fish made out of a cantaloupe and fruit kabobs was a must.  One of Ella's friends called it a "fish"kabob.  :)
So, maybe he's a little scary.  :)


For decorations, I used a blue table cloth.  Scattered starfish that I found at Hobby Lobby on the table and made tissue paper pom-poms to hang above the table.  I loved making the pom-poms.  They were so easy and fun.  

I also served gold fish and peanut butter and "jellyfish" sandwiches.

I searched the whole town for jelly fish cookie cutters to cut the sandwiches...but with our short notice, triangle shaped sandwiches had to do.



Because I'm cheap, and did not feel like spending a fortune on little pieces of junk and candy to send home in goody bags, we made oceans in a bottle instead.  A craft, and a party favor to take home.  2 birds, 1 stone.  
I didn't get many pictures of this, because I was trying to supervise kids with sand AND water, funnels and tiny bottles around my kitchen table.  Basically, I found little plastic bottles in the sand art section of Hobby Lobby.  I also found sand there (imagine that).  I bought the bottles, white sand and tiny sea shells.  The kids used funnels to pour in the sand.  Picked out the sea shells they wanted, and topped it off with a little salt water that I tinted blue.  It was fun and cute.  




Ella and friends with their finished oceans.  They shook them up, which is why they look cloudy.

Pouring in the ocean water

And, that's all I did. Simple, right?  I could have gone crazy, planning more stuff...spending more money.  But, at the end of the day, Ella just wanted to play with her friends and open presents.  She loved it and had a great time, and I got to visit with our friends and family instead of running around leading birthday games.

It looks like Anna will be having a rainbows/unicorns party this year.  :)






Friday, March 15, 2013

Ella is Five

Ella turned 5 last week.  Wow.

This is her 5 years ago...


My beautiful first daughter.  She won our hearts and wrapped us around her dainty little fingers right from the beginning.

She is feisty.  She ALWAYS has something to say.  She makes us laugh. all. the. time.  She is opinionated and always knows exactly what she wants.  She is a force to be reckoned with.

But, she is also sensitive.  She hates to disappoint.  She cares deeply about her family and always wants to be surrounded by them.  

She loves animals.  Really loves animals.  It's all she talks about.  Most of the time, she is pretending to BE an animal.  It is always a hybrid of some sort.  Her favorites are the chipmunk-squirrel, the chicken-duck, the flamingo-penguin, and the horse-unicorn.  

She is a scrappy wrestler.  She fights like a little spider monkey.  If Mark and Aidan are wrestling, she will fling herself at them from across the room and tackle them with arms and legs flailing wildly.  

She is a great little sister.  She adores Aidan and wants to be with him all the time.  She takes an interest in what interests him.

She is also a great 2nd mommy big sister to Anna.  She watches out for her, teaches her things, helps take care of her and plays with her constantly.  

She is beautiful.  With wild blonde hair and big blue eyes, she has taken our breath away right from the beginning.  And with a big personality, and an even bigger heart, we could not be prouder of our first born daughter.  I can't believe she is already five years old. 

My Ella:
My precious 5 year old.


She is such a ham

Ella on her 5th birthday


Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Because I Just Realized...

...I haven't updated my blog in over a month.

Oops.

So, since life is crazy, I thought I'd share a quick list of what is going on with us.

1.  Anna is 15 months old.  She is not walking yet.  She is standing, cruising, climbing onto the couch, pushing furniture all around the room, but not walking on her own.  Aidan is convinced she is going to crawl down the aisle at her own wedding.  Has anyone else had a late walker?  I'm curious to know if this is all that unusual.

2.  She is, however, bossing everyone around already.  If you pick her up, she will point where she wants to go and say, "One, two, three, GO!"  She also loves to tell her brother and sister and the cat "No!"

3.  Ella is going to turn 5 on Saturday.  I still don't know how this is possible.  This was not cleared with me. She is alternating between excited and sad about her birthday.  She cried last night at bedtime because she does not want to turn 5.  In fact, at one point, she was sobbing, "Dear God,  Why are you making me have a birthday?!?  How can I stop it?"  She doesn't want to grow up, and she doesn't want to leave me.  She will, however, take the presents she would normally receive for having a birthday.

4. Have you seen the news about the kid that got suspended over a gun shaped pop tart?  Is that just beyond ridiculous or what?  Come on people.  Gun shaped pop tarts don't kill people.  People kill people.  (On a side note...have you ever noticed how many calories are in a pop tart??  It's crazy...so in a way, maybe pop tarts DO kill people.)

5.  Aidan and I discovered a really cool website today.  We have been studying continents in geography.  We are using Ann Voskamp's book, Explore his Earth, A Child's Geography.  At the end of every chapter, she has some outreach ideas to allow you to "reach out to his world."  Today's was a website that tells you about a different country every day and tells you how to pray for that country.  Check it out:  http://www.operationworld.org/today2

6. We are really getting into a groove with the home school thing.  At first, it was really stressful, but this semester, we have really started to figure out how to make it work best for our family.  I am so thankful that I am able to do this.  I am so excited about the education Aidan is getting, the experiences he is having and the memories we are making.

7.  I have been in a serious cleaning/remodeling/reorganizing phase lately.  I have redone our laundry room, reorganized our closet and taken a ton of stuff to goodwill.  Is it weird that I get an extreme amount of satisfaction from taking car loads of junk out of this house?  It makes me happy.  I am officially a nerd.

8. Since I started writing this post, Ella has asked me 367 questions and told me 114 facts about various animals.

9. Aidan has been working on a new art curriculum.  He LOVES it, and he's good at it.  It is such a fun thing to see.  He gets so much joy out of being creative.  I hope he chooses a job some day that will allow him to be creative.

10.  That is all I have for now.  :)  Which doesn't really deserve a place as #10 on the list...but you can't have a list of 9 things.  You just can't.


Saturday, February 2, 2013

Metamorphosis

I've been thinking a lot about caterpillars lately.  Aidan and I have been studying them in school.  Of course, I already knew that caterpillars make a chrysalis and inside that chrysalis they change into a butterfly.  I've always found it fascinating.  More than once, we've purchased caterpillars for the kids so we could watch this amazing transformation take place. What I didn't know, is what happens inside that chrysalis.  I didn't know that in order to become a butterfly, the caterpillar spins a chrysalis and then dissolves into nothing but goo.  And by a process that no one fully understands, this goo becomes a butterfly.  It is the same being that went into the chrysalis, but it is made completely new and has a new purpose.  Everything it did as a caterpillar, was all in preparation for what it would one day become.

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, a new creation has come:  the old has gone, the new is here! 2 Corinthians 5:17


I've been wondering about that caterpillar...dissolving into goo.  What must that be like?  Is it painful to dissolve into goo?  Does the caterpillar have any kind of understanding of what it is going to become?  I am in awe of this process.  What an amazing thing this is.  This dissolving and becoming new.  You have to wonder why God didn't just make a baby butterfly look like a little butterfly...why all this dissolving, and goo, and being made new.

I can't stop thinking about these caterpillars...how they feed on leaves and gorge themselves to the point of bursting, and then one day they just stop.  And they wrap themselves in a chrysalis, and they dissolve into goo.

I can't stop thinking about caterpillars because I feel like that sometimes...I feel like I'm dissolving.  My wants, my needs, my ravenous desires for what this world has to offer...I can sometimes feel it...right in the center of my being...dissolving.  And, it's not always fun.  Sometimes it's painful.  And, I wonder, is it painful for the caterpillar too?  Does the caterpillar resist?  Does he just want to stay as he is?  Or does he get sick of crawling around munching on leaves?  Does he innately know he was made to be so much more?

I feel like since I started walking with God I've been in a chrysalis, dissolving...He just loves me too much to leave well enough alone.  My grip on all the things I think I need...dissolving.  Selfishness...dissolving.  A critical spirit...dissolving.  My plans, my ideas about how things should go, my control...dissolving.  I don't always like all this dissolving.  If I'm honest, sometimes, I just want to be left alone for a while.  Caterpillars are cute, right?

Did you know, that unless a caterpillar turns into a butterfly it can't reproduce?  So, if it doesn't go into that chrysalis...if it doesn't dissolve...it will die a caterpillar.  It won't make more caterpillars, it won't pollinate flowers so they can reproduce...it will leave nothing behind.  If it doesn't get into that chrysalis and dissolve, it will accomplish nothing that it was created to do.

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."  Jeremiah 29:11

So, maybe that's why God made caterpillars, instead of baby butterflies.  To remind us about metamorphosis...about becoming new.  Caterpillars are cute, but butterflies are glorious, and they have a purpose.  Maybe he wanted us to know that dissolving is not pretty, but it is necessary.  We must die to our old self to become something new and glorious and useful.  This constant dissolving, the constant submitting of our will, this focusing on things unseen instead of what is right in front of us...is all accomplishing something in us, and in God's kingdom.  He loves us too much to let us be caterpillars when he created us to be butterflies.

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.   The life I live in the body I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.  Galatians 2:20

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Menu

We are serious about saving money around here.  One of the ways that we have saved a lot of money since I started staying home is by very carefully managing our grocery budget.  In fact, it's become somewhat of an obsession of mine to spend as little as possible on groceries and still feed my family decent food.  Over the last few months, I have gone from doing a weekly or bi-weekly shopping trip to a monthly one.  This has really made our grocery budgeting a lot easier, and we save money too.  Everything is planned for the month...sticking to a plan saves money.  Plus, fewer trips to the store, means fewer impulse buys, which means money saved.  So, I've started making a monthly menu and shopping for the whole month.  We still have to make small trips for bread, milk and produce, but Mark usually picks that stuff up for me, which means I'm only going to the grocery store once a month.  (Insert angels singing "Hallelujah" here).

The hardest part is planning a whole month of meals at one time.  Here's our menu for the month...we can get 2, sometimes even 3 meals out of many of the things I make because the girls aren't really eating huge portions yet.  Some nights we will just have sandwiches, and on rare occasions, we eat out.  So, I don't plan something for every night.

1. Cranberry Apple Pork chops
2. Mini Cheddar meat loaves--a friend gave me a recipe for this a couple of years ago...so good.  It's quick and easy, and I usually have all the ingredients on hand.  I'll have to post this recipe in a later post.
3. Beef enchiladas--I'm trying this recipe I found on Pinterest for the first time...hope it's good.
4. Crock Pot cashew chicken
5. Chicken Spaghetti--from Pioneer Woman
6. tacos
7. taco soup--this is one of our favorite soups, and it makes a ton, so you can freeze some for later
8. Crock Pot Red beans and rice--found this on Pinterest, I love how easy and yummy it is
9. Pulled pork sandwiches--Aldi sells pulled pork, already made, and it is really good.  It's nice to have on hand for those nights that you need something quick.
10. White Chicken Chili--this recipe makes a lot.  You can either half it, or make the whole batch and freeze some for later in the month.  It is quick and easy.
11. BBQ ribs
12. Baked Spaghetti--another recipe that I will post in a later post.  It's a good twist on traditional spaghetti, and it is one of Mark's favorite meals.
13. Salmon Patties
14. Pizza
15. Chili

So, what is your family eating this month?  I'm always looking for new ideas. :)