Boundless Grace

Mystery

2011-11-28T17:27:00.000-08:00

Starting the advent season, and lighting the first candle tonight (instead of last night, because I, ahem, didn't actually have a wreath until today), I watched my two-year-old gaze around the table in wonder and puzzlement as we lit the candle and sang 'O Come, O Come Emmanuel'. He kept looking from the flame, to me, to his dad, to his brother and back to the candle. He is normally full of noise and wiggles, but tonight he sat still in wonder at our liturgy. Next year, he may recognize the candles, he may know some of the songs, and he might sing along. Only 18 months older, and now Ethan sits and answers our questions -- "What does Emmanuel mean?" "Who is the light of the world?". Matthew sits and stares.

I love the look of discovery and awe during Christmas that little ones can't fake. It makes me think of how confused everyone must have been when God told them that Jesus was going to be born, that His son was a baby on the earth, or when He told Mary she was going to be His mother. Can you think of getting news like that? I imagine they might have looked, even for just a second, a bit like my toddler sitting at the dinner table wondering what in the world we are doing.

Tonight, we light the first candle of advent, the prophesy candle. We light a candle to remind us that Jesus is the Light of the world. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

A Decade Past

2011-09-11T17:47:00.000-07:00

Ten years ago I was sitting in my barracks room, dreading having to go into work on my day off to study for my Career Development Course exams. It was a gorgeous day, and I was in an otherwise great mood because I had just gotten approval to move out of the barracks into my own apartment out in town. I flipped on the TV, then called my mom. I remember not quite really knowing how to say good-bye to her in that phone call, because how do you say, "I'll talk to you later" while your country is being pummeled with attack after attack and not knowing when it's going to end? But I hung up the phone and, despite everything, drove to the annex where I worked to start studying. Once I got there (a little over an hour after we were attacked), the base was locked down and I was studying for much longer than I originally intended. A few hours later, they escorted a few of us back to our cars, and I drove back to the base where my barracks were located. My car was searched. My ID was checked. Up until this point my military career, as long as I had a base sticker on my car, the gate guard would wave me through without stopping. In the decade since the attack I have always had a base sticker on my car, but I've never been waved through the gate again. There is always a stop now to show my ID. The next day it took me two hours to get into work two miles away because of the searching of each and every car. I was late for my exam, but it hardly seemed important, even after months of studying and preparing. It took me another two hours to get home to my barracks. For more than a week my 5 minute commute became 120 minutes each way, and sitting in my car all that time listening to news report after news report, my inconvenience seemed trivial.

My then boyfriend was just back from shore liberty, on the USS Peleliu in Australia, watching his country get attacked from afar. I had just visited him in July to see him off. In the airport I had walked with him to his gate! Imagine, walking someone to their gate! Their ship had left from San Diego a month before 9/11, on a routine "cruise" around the world, doing what Marines do: training, training and more training. Steve was an Arabic linguist at the time. I had no way of contacting him any time soon. E-mail was locked down, and he was in transit, so letters took weeks. As soon as I realized what this attack meant for him and his friends aboard the ship I had what I think of now as a rather embarrassing breakdown. Luckily I lived alone, but I called my mother again, in tears, selfishly wondering how I was going to handle him being in combat. At twenty, everything going on in the world seemed to revolve around how I felt about it and how it would affect me. Given the navel gazing in this post, I suppose not much as changed, but then again I was planning on not writing this post for that exact reason.

I feel sort of silly, now, writing about where I was during all of what happened on 9/11/01. Why does it matter where I was when so many were dead and suffering? My husband came back from the war (and two years later he came home to me again after another war). I am so blessed. He was unscathed and we married and have two beautiful sons. So why does it matter where I was? When I think of that day I think of my insignificance and helplessness among all that suffering and trauma. But it is hard to avoid the "where were you when" emotions and questions, especially among the blogosphere and on Facebook, so I came across this post in my reader just a bit ago and felt encouraged to write everything down after reading this:

I feel like I am finally able to admit, perhaps boldly, even though I did not personally suffer tragedy on 9-11, that we all suffered. I was traumatized. I never felt it fair to feel that or certainly not respectful to say so. I still feel so much grief and sadness when I think back to those raw emotions of watching the story play itself out, changing second by second, as I was transfixed for nearly 24 hours a day with a baby who barely even knew she was out of the womb let alone think it appropriate to ever sleep more than a few hours. So it was myself, Isabela, and the television all night long, so many nights. I would not let go of her. I needed her to need everything from me. And even though the contrast of what I was holding and what I was watching could not have been more opposed to one another, I am grateful that I was constantly reminded of the Good because of her precious, new innocence. Like a pill I had to take every three hours as I nursed her, to convince myself that there was still enough good, when I think so many of us questioned it. Didn't we? Thank God for good. So much of it all around us.

So I wrote down my story. Even hearing the news and watching the memorial coverage today, so many who lost so much on 9/11 seem to have a story of redemption and courage and goodness that came in the next decade. There is so much good here in this world, so much to be thankful for even amongst tragedy and heartbreak. Remembering on a day like today and what happened 10 years ago, I am especially thankful that Love has conquered death.

Rest for the Weary

2011-09-03T13:14:00.000-07:00

I wanted to blog about the most wonderful thing that happened about six weeks ago, but in order to do that, I have to go back even further. Around two years ago, my husband was just starting his tour at the Pentagon. He left for his first day of work, and I thought he'd be back relatively quickly. My experience with the military is that usually the first day of any job after a move is fairly light. They want you to get checked in with all the various offices around the unit, and give you a chance to take care of stuff at home, since usually there are boxes to be unpacked and utility companies to deal with and things like that. Well, my husband left for his first day of work at the Pentagon and...14 hours later he came home. I should say that I always do poorly on days when I think my husband will be home early. Every minute that passes the deadline I've set in my head causes my frustration that he isn't home "yet" to ratchet up a notch. It makes things very unpleasant for all of us! This day was the day that I had to lower my expectations quite a bit. I knew the next two years would be hunker down mode for us.

So, that first day was a sign of things to come, and that tour in DC was a very sanctifying experience for all of us. After about six months or so in to the shift work, long hours, and stress of a demanding job, Steve and I started talking about trying to organize a getaway after the tour was over. It was mainly just a dream at that point, but we started talking about it.

Fast forward 18 months to July of this year and my very blessed husband and I were boarding a cruise ship!! My mother-in-law flew all the way out to our place, stayed with the kids for 10 glorious days while Steve and I cruised up and back down the east coast. We boarded our ship in New York, sailed up to Cape Breton, then did Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, Maine, Boston, and Newport. We relaxed, we ate, we touristed, and then ate some more. I look back on that vacation and just think how very blessed we were to be able to do such a thing. The best part of the vacation is that when it came time to come back home, I was not at all sad that the trip was over, I was just plain excited to see my babies.

Peggys Cove, Nova Scotia

Me, being goofy in Halifax

So happy to see my boys! (this one sat in a puddle just before I got to him!)

Great to be home

Catechism 101

2011-08-26T19:27:00.000-07:00

We are about to get hit with a major storm here tomorrow, and we've been preparing the kids for the fact that the hurricane might be exciting and maybe a bit scary. We were discussing hurricanes in the car tonight, and Ethan asked me why hurricanes are exciting. I told him that with big weather like hurricanes we could see the power of God. He very seriously informed me, "No, Mom, you canNOT see God."

If you have ever catechized your children, perhaps using this little book, you might see where Ethan found my error:

11.Q. Can you see God?
A. No; I cannot see God, but he always sees me.

I love that the gears are turning in his little brain and starting to make connections between what he's memorized and how it fits in to his life. Even if he doesn't quite have it down pat yet.

After that, he informed Steve and I that he likes Jesus because Jesus is not scary.

New Places

2011-08-16T06:51:00.000-07:00

Well, I've come to the point in my life where I'm once again sitting in a sea of boxes. We've moved again and I'm trying to sort out where everything goes and honestly trying to sort out why we own some of this stuff in the first place. I walked into my bedroom last night, looked at the small area of the floor that is not covered in boxes and noted a newborn onesie, a wetsuit boot, and a name tape from my old Air Force days. Whoever came up with the principle of "everything in its place" was probably trying to help someone like me. These moves make me feel as though the TV show Hoarders may show up to film my house at any second. I imagine my reaction to the crew showing up would be somewhat indignant at first and then a shrug while saying, "Yeah, you've got a point."

Moving always makes me contemplative. Aside from going through all those sentimental items that only come out when we move, there's something about leaving a place where you've lived an made memories that always makes me a little bit sad, even if I wasn't too attached to it or didn't live there very long. We only lived in D.C. for two years and it's not really my kind of city, but we had an amazing church there and some great friends. It is always hard to leave those things.

The other thing that gets me about moving is the kids. With my littles, two years makes a huge difference. When I moved to Washington state 4 years ago, all I had was this:

Then, when we moved to D.C. two years later, I had these:

But leaving D.C., our family looked like this:

The days seem long, but when I look at these pictures, I can't figure out where all the time went.

If moving away from somewhere makes me melancholy, the other side is also true. I love the idea of moving to a new house, having a clean slate (at least until the boxes show up), and looking forward to God's blessings and how he will use us in this new place.

Covenant and Love

2011-06-13T07:48:00.000-07:00

Piper, Carson, and Keller on Sustaining the Covenant of Marital Love from The Gospel Coalition on Vimeo.

Two!

2011-03-24T19:39:00.000-07:00

From this:

To this:

Two years is all it takes, folks.

Happy birthday to my sweet Matty-Moo!

Stolen Moments

2011-03-16T13:47:00.000-07:00

Oh what to do with my second-born child? Adventurous and always pushing boundaries, he's much more inquisitive and care-free than his brother, and he's never known a time when mom hasn't been busy with two children, so he's able to get away with much of his inquisitiveness, often until it is too late and I am the one who has trouble.

Today we went to CVS to pick up a few St. Patrick's Day essentials (you know, silly hats and beads and what not), and we checked out at the counter where Ethan charmed the cashier and Matthew sat patiently in his stroller singing a little ditty to himself while I paid for our things. Or so I thought. We walked out of the store and were about 10 feet down the sidewalk when Ethan innocently asked, "Does Matthew have candy?". I had made the executive decision in CVS not to buy any candy, even though the Swedish Fish always taunt me, so no, Matthew did not have any candy. Again, though: "Matthew has candy." This is when I decided it would be best to stop sorting change, shuffling bags and actually look through the little plastic window in the top of the stroller and notice that Matthew had a nice little chocolate bar, halfway unwrapped, but as of yet uneaten. Instantly mortified, I wondered how many people in that CVS just watched my son shoplift and wondered if I was letting him do it or if I was just an oblivious, scatter-brained mom. I actually hoped, for the first time in my life, that people assumed I was the latter.

So we immediately turned around, went back up to the register and explained ourselves. Well, I explained myself and Matthew threw a fit because I took his candy away. The lady sort of chuckled as I got out a couple of dollars to pay for the chocolate. That's when it happened: the cashier said, "That'll be $3.52, please."

Three dollars and fifty-two cents for a candy bar. I'm pretty sure my jaw actually physically dropped while I searched for a $5 to cover the damage. You see, my son wasn't interested in just any candy bar. No. He selected the dark-chocolate, raspberry-filled Godiva chocolate bar.

At least no one can say that he has bad taste. And lets just say that after paying that much for a candy bar, I wasn't too keen on sharing it with my little thief, cute though he may be.

The Love that Covers

2011-03-02T16:23:00.000-08:00

Someone I only know through blogging land just wrote an excellent post on one of the many reasons marriage is worth it. The post struck a chord with me as I read it and looked up at my two handsome boys sitting at the lunch table -- two boys who just about die of happiness every night when their dad comes home from work. So I'm sharing it here!

When Nana & Papa Come to Visit

2011-02-16T11:29:00.000-08:00

Spending time together on the couch

Nana builds a mean train track

A lot of walks are taken around the neighborhood,

or downtown.

We all dress up and go to church.

More walks are taken,

nature is explored,

Winnie-the-Pooh's house is found.

Really, the only bad part about Nana & Papa coming to visit is that they have to go home at the end of their vacation.

Book Review: One Thousand Gifts

2011-02-07T07:16:00.000-08:00

I just finished Ann Voskamp's One Thousand Gifts yesterday and wanted to write a short review. Looking at the title and the book description I thought this book would be primarily about keeping a gratitude journal, and that is part of it, but the journal itself is a gateway to more fully understanding God in the face of all kinds of circumstances.

Voskamp opens her story recounting the death of her sister when they were both young girls. She speaks about growing up in a household where the resulting deep suffering was the everyday reality. It was this first chapter that drew me in. I have led a very charmed life with very little real suffering, but I have found just in these past few weeks that I have been directly confronted with the deep wounds that this world can inflict on people in the faces of my friends and acquaintances. I do not know, honestly, if God is sharing these stories with me to prepare me for my own hardships to come (sometimes it feels that way), or if He is simply wanting to change my heart in some way to be more tender to those who are grieving. All that to say: I bought One Thousand Gifts almost immediately after reading that first chapter online.

My main criticism of the book, which is more about personal taste, is that I'm not a fan of stream-of-consciousness writing. For me it is much like when you are reading something out loud and realize mid-sentence that you've gotten the subject, verb or rhythm of the sentence wrong. Then you have to go back and read it again to figure out what was actually said. But, it is also in this writing style that Voskamp gets her point across: keeping a gratitude journal, however trivial it seems, is a first step to thinking Biblically, and once we can think Biblically, we can start to internalize those truths and really live them out amidst the worst kind of suffering, or the litany of our daily life, or even more fully appreciate the great joys we are blessed with. She moves deep into the idea that most Christians give lip service to: "Yes, Lord, I'm thankful for all you have given me" and insists that we need to be specific and deliberate about thanking God, not for everything, but for each thing. When we are specifically thankful for even the smallest gifts and when we are actively looking for those small gifts, our thinking about joy, life, suffering, God, and His love really changes us.

I appreciate that Voskamp quotes Lewis and Piper, as well as some more heavy theological texts, and the Bible, of course. She didn't just write a touchy feel good book about thanksgiving. She grounds all of the feelings and introspection into Biblical principles. But the book isn't preachy. She bares her own domestic failings for all of us to see as we read how she is discovering what thanksgiving means during those moments when we are less than thankful for the kids breaking a glass door, or worse, when a precious child is injured or lost. She deals eloquently with the question of a sovereign God amidst the worst kind of pain, and these passages really struck me so that I read them over and over again, convicted of my own lack of grace amidst trivial suffering, or worse, amidst great blessings!

What do we do when we are so deeply wounded that all we want to do is be angry at the God who would have us feel this pain? How can being thankful for small things help us here? She lays her emotions and thoughts bare on the pages of her book so that we can see her transformation. Her writings about thanksgiving show a woman wounded, wooed by Christ and ultimately transformed by His love in the little gifts He gives.

So, yes, this is much more than a book about keeping a gratitude journal, and proof reading this review, I notice that I have failed to really capture the beauty and depth in Voskamp's book, but there are many more reviews more beautifully written on Amazon, so go look at them, and then pick up a copy of this book for yourself.

(I do not know Ann Voskamp, nor is my review in any way sponsored by her or anyone else, in fact, she'd probably prefer that someone with much better writing skills review her book! She does blog at A Holy Experience with beautiful photos and words.)

On Marriage

2011-01-03T19:14:00.000-08:00

A lot of posts on my blog roll lately have had to do with marriage. Tips, advice, and stories about long marriages. It got me thinking, and thus wanting to write. I feel a bit under-qualified to write anything meaningful about marriage as an institution since I've been married for less than a decade. But, since I have a blog, what else should I use it for if not airing out my incomplete thoughts on huge issues that have been discussed for millennia by people much smarter than myself?

I've decided that the toughest thing about marriage is loving another person as yourself. Of course you should do this for everyone as the Bible commands, but there is that particular calling to love and respect your spouse above others. The tough thing about loving your spouse above everyone else is that you live day-in and day-out with this person. You see their ugly habits, their sins, their faults up close and personal -- more than any other adult on this earth. So you see those things and live with them and then you have to love them, but not just love them, love them as you love yourself. This is instructive: the only other adult you know as well as your spouse is yourself. So think of your darkest secrets, your worst sins, and then think of how well you look out for number one in spite of those things. We rationalize our own big stinking sins away before we even commit them, but we are constantly getting annoyed at our spouses for things like not changing the toilet paper roll. What is worse: absentmindedly leaving dirty laundry on the floor, or rolling our eyes with a heavy sigh while picking it up, resolving to alert the offender to the error at the first available opportunity?

So, love your spouse as yourself. Thinking about this, I can't help but feel the weight of the impossibility. So what next?

I feel very blessed to have married someone who is very willing and able to keep short accounts. Any time I have messed up in the department of loving or respecting my husband (and there have been many) whatever argument we have usually ends with both of us apologizing and forgiving each other. Lest this sounds like we are the perfect angels about disagreements, this apologizing and forgiveness often comes after some time of stubbornness on one of our parts. God has really given us a lot of grace in this area, because, at least from my perspective, I can think of specific times that Steve and I have fought about something, but I cannot think of one time that we have fought where it hasn't been resolved and wiped clean. I realize that 7 years is a short time to stand on a mountain of accomplishment and proclaim that I harbor no resentment towards my husband, but God has given us a good start in this regard.

Something else that has been key for me in some of our more "spirited discussions" is to do my best to keep from arguing with my husband solely for the purpose of being right or proving my point. It is so easy to get wrapped up in an argument where all I want is for my husband to acknowledge that he is wrong and I am right. Obviously, this is how most discussions end up as arguments. But (if I may be cliche), when arguing just to be the winner of the argument, everyone loses. Defeating your spouse or getting them to capitulate to your own wants should never be the goal of any activity, which is why Steve and I stopped playing Settlers of Catan one-on-one.

Well, I suppose I should end with words from someone much wiser than myself, since for all my rambling on this topic I feel like I know very little about having a great marriage -- other than picking a very forgiving person as a spouse. But I found this quote one day, and it is really helpful in all areas of life, but marriage too:

Instead of assuming that the offending party is the one in the wrong, consider assuming that you are wrong to take offense. Then work from there. It’s amazing how it will simplify your life. --Nancy Wilson

P.S. Hope everyone had a great Christmas and is looking forward with peace and hope to a great 2011!

Keeping the Blog Alive

2010-10-08T17:43:00.000-07:00

So I read something recently that said to keep your blog alive you should post at least once every two weeks.

Well.

Ahem.

Anyway.

What's going on around here? Well, we spent the second week of September at the beach with my aunt and uncle. We stayed on the island of Ocracoke, which among other things, is fun to say.

Four days after we got back from the beach, my mom came out to help us celebrate Ethan's 3rd birthday. My first born is THREE!

While she was here we went to the Virginia State Fair and had a grand time. My boy, who doesn't like going down the "big slide" on the playground loved going on all the kiddie rides, even the roller coaster.

So now we are back from the beach and Grandma has gone home so we are settling back into regular life. It's never boring around here, though. My main activity over the next few weeks is to get into the habit of doing a teeny bit of pre-school using Sherry Early's book Picture Book Pre-School. It seems just about the right speed for us since Ethan is just three and already loves books and stories. I am getting excited because he is starting to sit and listen to longer stories that don't have a lot of pictures (like Winnie-the-Pooh stories), so I'm hoping we can start a family read aloud of The Chronicles of Narnia soon and he might actually enjoy it.

One Minute with Matthew

2010-08-25T12:34:00.000-07:00

As I watched this video play back before I posted it, I was struck by how different Matthew is from his older brother. At this age, Ethan was stacking blocks, but if they fell down or didn't stack how he wanted them he would get extremely frustrated to the point of tears. Matthew is happy just to stack and re-stack until he achieves his goal. Funnily enough, the goal is the same between the two boys -- to knock down whatever they build with great gusto!

Ladybugs

2010-08-04T13:46:00.000-07:00

Sit back and relax while Ethan reads you Five Little Ladybugs by Melanie Gerth

Puzzled...Or Not?

2010-07-21T18:20:00.001-07:00

Ethan, Matthew and I ventured to the library today to see if we could find our favorite truck book. It's a relatively tiny library located in a strip mall down the street from our house. A great location for us, though it doesn't have a huge selection or big kid's corner, but big enough (especially with our county's great inter-library transfer system). While we were there today, a five- or six-year-old girl wandered back to the kid's section with her grandma in tow. The girl sat down at one of the tables and started flipping through books while her grandma looked around through the shelves and in the corners. I couldn't tell what she was looking for because she wasn't reading any of the book titles or pulling any off of the shelves, but she appeared to be really dismayed. She finally stopped looking around and we had a conversation:

Grandma: Excuse me, do you know if they have any puzzles here?

Me: No, I don't think so.

Grandma: What about games or puppets?

Me: No, I don't think so. They do have those stuffed animals up there for the kids to cuddle with while they read.

Grandma: So, nothing else?

Me: No, I think it's pretty much just the books mainly.

I wasn't being sarcastic or snarky with that last bit, I was just sort of put off kilter by her questions given our location. In the meantime, her grandaughter was contentedly reading to herself at one of the tables, but upon finding out that this library location didn't have anything for kids except the books, the lady said, "C'mon, Julie lets go. This library isn't as good as the other one, is it?"

...

I weep for the future.

Still Sewing

2010-06-20T12:24:00.000-07:00

Yay for finished projects! Both babies are napping so I thought I'd do a quick write up about this quilt.

The front is obviously very basic patchwork. These are simple 8.5" squares made from some Kona Cotton solids (if you sew and quilt a lot a Kon a color card is an amazing tool for picking out just the right color for your project) and a fat quarter bundle of Chirp! fabric by Katie Hennigar. I always take pictures of the layout of my quilts before I start to sew. Somehow it is just easier to see what would look better where when I see it on the computer screen instead of on the floor.

The back was a little more complicated. There was a really cute panel that came with the fat quarter bundle, but it was on a green background that seemed almost neon. It definitely didn't go with my quilt so I couldn't use it as is. After getting some input from a friend on what to do, I cut out the scenes from the panel, leaving a 1/4" seam allowance around each of them. Then I used some 2.5" strips of Kona Snow (white, but not bright white) to achieve the layout I wanted. At that point I still had to make the back of the quilt a tad bigger:

I decided to go with a thin brown border (the same brown from the patchwork on the front) and then a wider yellow border to finish things off. The small detail on the yellow border was the happy result of coming up just shy of enough yellow fabric to finish the whole thing off. One of my favorite quilters puts a similar detail into each of her bindings as a tag, and so I shamelessly stole her idea, mostly out of necessity.

Speaking of binding, normally I love to hand bind my quilts. I've found that it's a really soothing thing for me to sit and sew by hand, plus it helps keep me occupied while watching a movie on the couch (because I can't just sit and watch a movie). But being the procrastinator that I am I just did not have time to hand bind this, so I took a leap and did machine binding using this handy tutorial. I used invisible thread and I loved the finished look. Here's a picture of the folded quilt where you can see the binding on both the front and the back:

The front looks so professional (I'm not bragging about my skills here, it was really simple and a result of the tutorial!) and the back has some spots where the stitching wanders a bit, but it's invisible thread so it hardly shows up as a flaw. Plus it was so fast! I bound this quilt in probably a quarter of the time or less than it would take to do the same work by hand.

The quilting is an all-over meander that is really fun to do now that I have a sewing machine that can handle free-motion quilting (and that is a shout-out for my ultra-generous hubby who encourages me in my hobby by providing all the fun tools of the trade).

This was a really fun project, and if you're in SLO and in the know I can tell you that this quilt is for a Baby Beaver. :)

*Please excuse the quality of the photos in this post, I usually sew at night when the kids are sleeping, so the light is not really great!

32 Questions

2010-06-09T13:15:00.000-07:00

Just to show you a contrast from the last post, we aren't always silly and indoctrination is happening in full force over here, this is Ethan reciting his catechism:

And if you don't speak Ethan's dialect of toddler, you can follow along with his answers here.

ETA: This is actually 33 questions. I forgot to count the question that Ethan adds in on his own "Who is God's son?"

Now I'm Not So Curious

2010-06-07T13:08:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I'm really curious about what goes on in the minds of my kids. Then I have a conversation like this with my toddler:

Ethan: Don't pee-pee in my underpants.

Me: That's right, don't pee-pee in your underpants, that's a no-no.

Ethan: Eat pee-pees? (with a big grin on his face)

Me: No, we don't eat pee-pee, that's gross.

Ethan: Mama eat poop? (followed by copious amounts of giggling)

Me: No, Mama does not eat poop.

Ethan: Only eat beef.

Me: Yes, sometimes we eat beef. (???)

Ethan: Eat beef.

Me: ...

So there you have it: eat beef.

My Facebook Status This Weekend

2010-05-28T03:43:00.000-07:00

10 years ago on Memorial Day Weekend, a girlfriend of mine convinced me (against my better judgement) to leave the confines of my barracks room in sleepy San Angelo, TX for a couple days of fun in Dallas with two USMC friends of hers. Three years and a couple months later, I married one of those Devil Dogs and we are currently living happily ever after. :)

This is our first photo together, taken that same weekend. A man with a Polaroid camera canvassing the bar trying to make a few bucks snapped it between rounds of pool. No, I don't believe I was old enough to be in a bar. Yes, my skirt is too short. God's grace (in abundance) is made clear to me looking at this 10 year old picture.

Family Worship

2010-04-11T15:04:00.001-07:00

When Steve and I started attending a reformed church soon after we got married I remember thinking there was something different about the service that I couldn't put my finger on. Of course it was more liturgical than what I had grown up with, but that wasn't it. The pastor wore a formal robe, but that wasn't it either. I finally figured it out when we sat next to a family with three small children one Sunday and all of their children were sitting in the row with them! The simple difference was the noise of people having their children sit in church with them for the entire service. It wasn't loud and obvious (most of the time), but there was definitely more general noise.

Now that we have two small children of our own I can fully appreciate the benefits and the hard work of having our children in "big church" with us. I should disclaim this by saying that I'm not an ogre about this concept. Matthew, at one year old, currently goes to the nursery during worship for many practical reasons. Ethan, however, is 2.5 and sits through the whole service. Matthew will get there, and it will probably be before his second birthday, Lord willing. But why do we bother? Why should the church encourage us to bother bringing these little ones into worship with us?

Think of your dinner table. This is where your children learn basic manners. They learn how to converse and interact with others. They learn not to put their feet in their dinner plates (oh, yes). More than that, they are fed. They are sustained and grown with people who love them, with people who model the very behavior they are supposed to strive for. I know very few parents who would send their toddler to a room full of other two-year olds, tell them to play with their food, and then expect them to love sitting at the dinner table when they turn 12. It doesn't happen. Further, I know very few parents who send their children to eat in a separate room away from the main meal because they are messy or loud or an inconvenience to everyone else.

And I really believe worship is the same way. A friend of mine once told me that when you keep your children in church from a young age they don't learn to hate the service. They learn to get involved in it. I can tell you that when my son hears the opening notes of "Come Thou Fount" or when the offering plate is passed, or when the pastor asks us to stand and sing the Doxology he is excited, he is joyful! When we say "amen" he says "amen!" when we say "Praise the Lord!" he shouts "Praise the Lord!" It is a wonderful thing, and exciting to watch. Getting him to sit through the sermon is, of course, more of a challenge. And like every other day of his life involves constant, consistent discipline from his dad and I. I'll admit there are Sundays that I don't hear much of the sermon and we spend a lot of time in the ladies room. But I believe that God is honored in what we are doing with our children during worship and He doles out the appropriate levels of grace as we need it.

Ethan does go to Sunday School prior to the service and he has a wonderful time there. But Sunday School is not the meat of Sunday. It is not where the meal is served. When he was a young baby and I was visiting my parents while Steve was on deployment, I attended their church for a few Sundays. They have special notes in the bulletin about not bringing children under a certain age into the service, and ushers are there to escort you out if your child makes a peep. I didn't place much importance on it at the time, but thinking back it makes me sad. It makes me wonder if children ever ask themselves why they are not welcome during the "real" worship of their Most High. The fact of the matter is that we are all messy, loud, obnoxious sinners. We all put our feet in our dinner plate sometimes. And God has allowed us all, through his Son to come and worship. May we all have the joy of the two year old that says "Praise the Lord!" at the top of his lungs when we come.

**There's a great post on the practicalities of having your children in church with you here.

Belated Greetings

2010-04-08T12:01:00.001-07:00

One!

A little late, but Happy Birthday to my sweet boy on March 24th, and Happy Easter to all of you!

Household Management Nirvana

2010-03-10T10:48:00.001-08:00

I want to be totally honest with you all (all three of you who are still reading my blog, that is):

I have a lot of trouble keeping house. The problem with that statement is that keeping house is #2 on the list of my full time jobs (#1 being child minding). So when I'm falling down on the job and it is one of my main responsibilities, things around here get a little hairy. Or a lot hairy since we have a long-haired dog, I am long-haired, and another member of this household is just plain hirsute. So the lack of housekeeping was resulting in the kind of tumbleweeds normally seen in the Southwestern United States, among other problems.

I looked at many, many printable chore charts and came away at a loss. I don't need a chart to fill in because I could look at a blank chart all day and just feel overwhelmed at filling in the first blank. It was the same way with actually doing chores. I would get the kids down for a nap, know that there were a lot of tasks waiting for me, couldn't pin point just one that was most urgent, so resorted to tossing in some laundry, picking up some toys and throwing up my hands. Not so productive really. Which chores should be done weekly? Monthly? What jobs should I give to my children? It was all too overwhelming for my little pea-brain. I finally realized I needed a chore chart that was already filled in. Someone needed to tell me what to do. I finally found one over at Motivated Moms.

The nice thing about their chore charts is that the daily tasks are all lined up on the left, and listed on the right there are a few manageable bigger jobs on the right. If you don't manage to check a box one week, the chore comes up again later. Getting even some of those little boxes checked off is, well, motivating. I can manage to keep my house clean and not spend all day cleaning house!

It does cost $8 (or $7 with the discount code giveaways). I would pay the $7 again knowing now how well this system works for me.

I have been using Motivated Moms with Managers of Their Homes for about 3 weeks now and things around here aren't perfect, but they are much better than they used to be. I still fall down on the job a lot. But something that has been key with each of these systems is that when I do fall down I have a place to start back up. I can look at my schedule or my list and gather up the kids and myself and head off again. It's really very encouraging!

Snowed In

2010-02-07T06:39:00.001-08:00

Connections Made

2010-01-12T13:54:00.000-08:00

Background:

a) Sometimes Steve works the night shift so there is some shushing around here if he is asleep during the day.

b) Ethan has been getting a dime every time he does his jobs around the house (putting away the silverware, Tupperware and pots).

So onto today:

Ethan: :being loud:
Me: Ethan, that is too loud for inside.
Ethan: Shh, Dad's seeping.
Me: No, Dad's not sleeping it is just too loud.
Ethan: Dad's seeping.
Me: No, Dad's at work. Dad's doing his job.
Ethan: Dad gets dimes. Dad's getting dimes.
Me: ...

2010

2010-01-03T16:39:00.000-08:00

I remember when I was a kid thinking that 2010 was the future. I mean, of course it was the future, but I mean The Future. Like we'd all be wearing silver jumpsuits and eating our meals in pill form and living in space. Fortunately none of those things have yet to be realized by the human race, unless you are on some crazy diet plan.

I don't make New Year's resolutions. I know that I can't keep resolutions, so I don't make them! Real disciplined of me, huh? But I do have some goals for myself and the kids this year, and here they are:

Me:
--more self-discipline. This one covers pretty much everything else in my life. But, specifically:
--get up before the kids. This is so hard for me, I love love love my sleep. But I think I need the time to wake up before they do so I can respond to their needs better in the morning.
--go to bed earlier. I'm a night owl. I love how quiet it is around here when everyone goes to sleep and I tend to binge on my quiet time to the detriment of the next day.
--be able to do three pull-ups. Steve got a pull-up bar for Christmas. I'm using it sporadically.

Ethan:
--prompt, cheerful obedience. We're in the thick of this. It is going to get harder before it gets easier, but he is showing promise.
--saying, "Yes, Mama" or "Yes, Dad" when he is asked to do something. He does say it now. He can say it. Sometimes he just doesn't want to say it.
--potty training. ugh.
--recognizing all of his numbers, letters, and shapes.
--memorizing the following: Psalm 23, the Lord's Prayer, 20 catechism questions, and the Apostles Creed. This probably seems like a lot, but he's already got some of Psalm 23 and a few catechism questions down (it is just a children's catechism, like "Who made you?" that sort of thing). I'm finding that little toddler brains are just ripe for memorization. I had a hard time believing i when I saw my friends posting YouTube videos of their kids reciting stuff at 2 and 3 years old, but here we are and it is amazing what they can absorb. And it is a whole year, after all.

The most important things are the first two on the list. All of the others (with maybe the exception of potty training) I'm okay with him not doing if he's not there yet.

Matthew:
--growing out of babyhood into toddlerhood. :'(
--not thwarting any of my plans with Ethan.
--sleeping through the whole night reliably. He is one finicky sleeper, this one.
--learning where he is and isn't allowed to go.
--learning how to play with his big brother.

I think that's it for us for 2010.

Happy New Year!

Picture Post

2009-12-14T19:51:00.001-08:00

Some fun patchwork that is making me happy!

Play Kitchens

2009-12-09T11:38:00.000-08:00

I know there are at least a few people who read my blog that will appreciate these:

So cool!

I want to make one for the boys!

I mean, how many junky old entertainment centers can you find just sitting on Craigslist or Freecycle for nearly nothing?! Project of 2010!

HT: The Common Room

Quilting!

2009-11-26T19:27:00.000-08:00

So, what have I been doing lately?

Well other than general wife-ing and mommy-ing, I've been quilting!

Here's the thing: I've always loved fabric and I've owned a sewing machine for going on 5 years and I've done absolutely nothing about with it. But something about having two under two inspired me to start some quilting projects. I think the basic thinking behind this is craziness, or madness, or the idea that I'm already up to my ears in busyness, so adding another hobby can't make that much difference, right?

Anyway, I signed up for a quilting class and in less than two months finished my first quilt. It is rough. There are a lot of bobbles. But I learned so much from making it and my next one (already in progress) is going to be loads better. But I'm not going to point out the flaws because I'm told that's just not done, but here it is all finished and happy.

Two!

2009-10-21T08:18:00.001-07:00

Ethan
Originally uploaded by Steve Bremer

So, as it turns out, I really stink at blogging lately. I'm finding short updates on Facebook to be much easier to manage at this point in my life, but I have been remiss in not putting up a post for my birthday boy.

Last month, on the 23rd, Ethan turned the big oh-two. He is my funny, funny guy who repeats everything I say (so be careful with your tongue, Mama!) and loves to be in on whatever his dad is working on. He has learned to sing the Doxology and "Come Thou Fount", and even if some of the words aren't exactly clear it is such a blessing for us to hear those melodies coming out of his heart. (I should say that yesterday we ran to Baja Fresh for a taco dinner and in his excitement Ethan sang the tune of Come Thou Fount, but every single word in the song was substituted with the word "taco".)

My oldest baby is turning into a little boy. It is fun for me to see, and yet I look at his newborn pictures and I wonder how I am going to send him off to college someday without bawling my eyes out!

Happy Birthday, Little Man!! We love you so much and can't wait to see you grow into the man God is shaping you to be.

We Marched on Washington!

2009-09-12T20:39:00.000-07:00

Yes, you read that right. Now that we live in the DC area I couldn't pass up the chance to express some of my displeasure with our current government. And since the Ultimate Tea Party was being held today, I got out the doublewide, packed up the kiddos and headed out to see about the hubbub.

I was very nervous about going out there -- huge crowds, a politically charged occasion, and two kiddos to tote around. But, I felt it was important for me to go and represent, and I was excited about doing so in the very place where all these decisions are being made. Corny? Perhaps. But off we went, cheesiness and all.

I have to say that hearing hundreds of thousands of people (maybe a million or more? I'm not sure what the final count was) cheering as we were walking up to the capitol building really gave me chills. I know that sounds corny, but if you have never heard that many people clapping and cheering at one time, let me tell you it is sort of surreal. It sounded like thunder. And this was before we could even see anyone.

But once we got there, it was a lot less intimidating. Everyone around us was so nice. Steve had to stay home because he was sleeping for the night shift, but I was there with a friend. All told, there were two mommies, a teenage boy, a single stroller with a toddler, and my double stroller with Ethan and Matthew. And everyone was so accomodating. Helping me manuever the stroller, making room for us to get through, smiling at the babies. It was just nice...in a loud, shouting, protesting sort of way.

I saw a few people having lively discussions with Obama supporters, but nothing ever got out of hand that I could see. And I loved the creativity some people had with their slogans and signs.

It was a good day, and fun to be a part of something so huge.

Clapping along with everyone else.

A common sight

Your typical right-wing extremist, a.k.a the angry mob.

What Would You Do?

2009-08-07T10:02:00.000-07:00

Okay, I need some home decorating help. When you walk into our house, you are on a small landing with half a flight of stairs going down to the basement, and half a flight going up to the living room and kitchen. This is what you see going upstairs:

The table is actually a kitchen island that does not fit in the kitchen. I like it as an entry table, but I want it to be cuter and less utilitarian looking. I don't want people to be eye-level with my grocery bags when they walk into the house, but yet it is handy to have them here to grab on my way out the door. Any tips on making this cute and functional all at the same time? I think we need more pictures on the wall (the one that is currently residing there is only temporary until we find places to hang all of our pictures) and maybe some small pictures in frames on the table? I got struck with a bit of inspiration when I found this cute runner at Target for $5, but that has been the end of it.

Oh, and while I have you here, this is in our front yard:

What would you do with this area around the tree? I mean, I think we are going to need to pull out all the ground cover, shore up the beams and start from scratch, but what would you put in? I am landscaping dumb, so any details and diagrams would be helpful. It's rather late in the year to start anything now, but I'd like to have a plan of attack for this Spring!

Lifehouse Skit

2009-07-28T20:49:00.000-07:00

I found this little sketch really moving. I'm not generally one for theatrics as applied to the Gospel, and I'm not sure about the finer points of the theology, but I did enjoy this.

Content warning: this is not for the kiddos! It deals with some pretty heavy issues. Kiddos, please get your parents to watch this first and have them decide if it is appropriate for you.

On "On Children"

2009-07-20T06:07:00.001-07:00

Okay, I know I said my next post would be non-controversial, but I thought this comment needed a place of its own on my blog. My hubby wrote this, and he articulated many of my points much better than I did. I knew there was a reason I married him!

Kate makes a good point about the role of age in maturity. We should hope that as we grow up we will do a little “growing up”, and usually this is the case. This line of thinking can be taken too far, however, if it becomes a vehicle for excuses and not an explanation for change over time. “Teens will be teens”, for example, isn’t a valid excuse for teenage rebellion and selfishness does not really come from being young – it comes from our sin nature. I knew a lot of people who when they just turned twenty were a lot less selfish than others who were much older.

Also, circumstances impact how we mature. A child constantly indulged by his parents will be a shameful, self-indulgent adult – circumstances matter. This doesn’t necessarily mean that having children early in your twenties will make you less selfish than someone who waits until they are thirty. You can selfishly despise your children for shackling you while you are young; but if that is the case then you are not living by faith and trusting in the promises of God. If you live by faith, God uses the children to sanctify you, which is to say that you will be less selfish because of your children. This doesn’t just apply to having children, though, the principle is universal – taking communion without faith, reading scripture without faith, or disciplining your children without faith will always end poorly.

Dealing with selfishness need not be the only reason to want children when you are young. Our view of the biblical mandate to have children is important and we should shun elevating popular wisdom above scriptural wisdom. It is possible that waiting to have children is more honoring to God than having them immediately. We are not all cut with the same cookie cutter and Godly wisdom must prevail in each situation. When it comes to specifics, what is good for you may not be good for me; but in principle, what is good for you is always good for me, and that means that we should all read the bible and come away with the same high view of children and family and the same low view of worldly wisdom.

Unfortunately there exists an evil kind of individualism in Protestantism (at least in America) that sometimes makes what I have just said taboo among Christians. In some ways childbearing is a very private matter, but it is also a covenant matter. We are members of a community and we are not called to be individuals with a private faith, we are called to be members of a community whose Lord is Christ. I think the issue of childbearing and childrearing needs to be discussed in the church in a way that is deliberately contra mundum. I believe a lot of good would come from it.

Popular psychology usually has enough truth in it to be appealing to Christians, but more often than not it is anti-biblical. We should live in fear of conforming the Bible to our minds and a good first step would be to eschew any conventional wisdom that doesn’t find its support in scripture. Where in scripture are we advised to enjoy the first few years of marriage without children? Where are we told to take time to learn to love our spouses before we bring children into the picture? This advice is peddled by Christian counselors and psychologists, but it is not biblical, and we accept it because it is immensely convenient to our individualism and hedonism. Vacations, together time, and date night do not weigh heavily in scriptural promises of blessing; raising godly children most certainly does (Psalm 127:3-5).

Finally, I will say that there is a real danger of becoming judgmental in this matter. Thankfully, we are not called to divine the reasons why each couple does or does not have children and then issue our judgment on the matter. We have not been deputized as the childbearing police to inquire of each of the childless why they haven’t started pumping out the babies. We should admonish one another to think biblically, however, for the purpose of living rightly before God.

On Children

2009-07-11T20:00:00.000-07:00

Number 1) I do plan on writing about our big move and our new home sometime soon; it has been a real whirlwind around here, but I had to get some other thoughts on paper first.

Number 2) I don't like to disclaim my posts, but I will say that none of this is a condemnation of others' choices. I just get to thinking and then I decide I need to publish my thoughts because ~~I'm a glutton for punishment~~ I like the feedback and discussion.

Recently, I had the chance to catch up with a good friend over the phone and we talked about a lot of things. Of course, the topic of children came up (as it always does with us girls!) and I mentioned that I wished I had started having children earlier than we did. The discussion meandered from there, but something struck me and I ended up having an involved discussion with my husband about it later that evening. What has been eating at me was the notion that young married couples, or newly married couples need time "just to themselves" before they have children.

Here's the deal: my husband and I didn't start "trying" for children until we'd been married for just over two years. Our reasons back then were mostly financial, but I think for me, the idea of having kids right away did not even enter my mind as a responsible thing to do. And then it took us two years to have our first child. We basically had four years to goof off as a married couple, doing what we wanted, when we wanted. It was a wonderful time for us, but it did leave me with one big problem that has been exasperated in my "childbearing years": selfishness. And aside from physical factors like wishing I had my early twenties self to chase my toddler around, my development of selfish habits and ways of thinking is the biggest factor in wishing we had our children earlier on in our marriage.

Of course having children straight away into marriage is a radical notion that raises a lot of eyebrows, even Christian eyebrows, who also would acknowledge that children are a blessing from the Lord. Why the contradiction? Something my husband pointed out to me is that the main reason God makes husbands and wives into one flesh is to raise Godly offspring.

Has not the LORD made them one? In flesh and spirit they are his. And why one? Because he was seeking godly offspring. So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth. --Malachi 2:15

Thinking on this really got me. If my main purpose in life is to glorify God, and his main purpose for my marriage is to have Godly children for Him, then what was I doing putting this off for my own reasons? Even if those reasons sound totally reasonable and not at all selfish?

So I really wonder why this sentiment of having children soon after being married became regarded as irresponsible or crazy, even by evangelical Christians. Have we bought into the world's way of thinking that we better pack as much fun as we can into our years before kids, because when they show up the fun is over? And if we do think that way, what kind of attitude are we going to show to our children when they are here? Are we going to be looking for "me time" and "date nights" away from our kids because that is what we need just to tolerate them on a daily basis?

I don't have all the answers, because I struggle with my own selfishness daily. I just want to read one more blog before getting Ethan his snack. I just want them to nap a little longer so I can finish what I'm doing. And oh, remember when Steve and I were able to just go out on our own and I didn't have to worry about what I would wear that was easy for nursing, or what time to be home because the baby-sitter has a curfew?

The problem is that God sent us these children and they are a joy to him. He delights in them. He uses them to sanctify us women (1 Timothy 2:15 - one of my favorite verses!). And when I put off that sanctification in the beginning of our marriage in order to "have more fun" or "get to know my husband better before the hard work of children comes", I think I really missed something in God's Word along the way. And, of course, I say this now as someone who did have, what I believe to be, a misunderstanding about what my ultimate purpose is in life. I do want to goof off with my husband, I do wish sometimes that it didn't take half an hour to get out the door to do the simplest of errands, but God designed this for me. And it is so amazing that he entrusted these little souls into my care. So why was I putting it off?

I'm not a legalist, I don't think that people should never use birth control to manage the size of their family. I do think it is about intention and what someone's heart is telling them. My favorite non-biblical quote on that issue comes from a Credenda Agenda article that I read a long time ago (which is really fabulous, you should read the whole thing!):

So if a Christian couple have bought all the current propaganda, and they are diligently limiting themselves to 1.2 children, then they are allowing the current false assumptions of the world to dictate to them how the Bible is to be read. But if another couple know that children are a blessing, and they use birth control in order to "space" their seven children, I would be hard pressed to say that this was an example of some kind of compromise. A man can have a high view of apple trees and still not plant them a foot and a half apart in his orchard.

Anyway, all that from one phone call with a friend! Hopefully she doesn't mind being my jumping off point! ;) And it's not all her fault, I've been reading this lately that also got me contemplating about how I'm raising my kids and where I need to grow.

I think the next post will be a photo tour of our new home. Pretty easy and no real thinking or controversy involved, except maybe my husband's exasperation at having to move that big painting again because I just want to see what it looks like on this other wall.

Saying Good-Bye to Washington

2009-06-16T14:08:00.000-07:00

Almost two years ago to the day, I made this post about moving in to our little country house on Whidbey Island.

Tomorrow we will be leaving this little house in the country for something a tad larger in the big city. On one hand I will be happy to have more than one bathroom and more than two bedrooms. On the other hand I'm sad to be leaving the home where I had my first babies, sad to be leaving the West Coast after such a short stay, and sad to be leaving our church family. I love Washington, I love driving one way and seeing the Cascades, driving the other way and seeing the Olympics. Hopefully we'll be back here someday.

Also, I'm just so incredulous that when this picture was taken I had no children except the one in my belly and I am leaving here with two boys!!

So, tomorrow we will go pick up my mom at the airport so she can help us on our road trip from one Washington to the other. Who is going to lose their mind first -- me or the toddler?

A Long Post On A Soapbox

2009-06-04T08:04:00.000-07:00

Last week we went on a whirlwind Memorial Day beach trip to the Oregon Coast, then off to D.C. for house hunting (we move in less than two weeks...yikes!), and then back home. On our trip home, we stopped by my friend's house and stayed a couple of hours to let the kids out of the car and catch up with chatting. She is just beginning to home school her oldest and our conversation on the topic got me thinking of all the reasons that I want to home school my boys.

I believe my boys deserve, and God commands, that they receive a Christian education. I know that this is possible without home schooling them, or even sending them to a Christian school. However, I'm pretty lazy. I really do not think that I have the energy to "un-teach" the values, behaviors, and morals that are currently taught in government schools. I just don't. Not to mention the fact that they won't be old enough for quite some time to fully report everything they learn in school (including behaviors and words learned at recess). So how can I address lessons they may have learned if I don't know what they are? And, how confusing would it be for my young child to go off to a place that I have sent him to, to learn about many things, and then to come home, only to be told that the things he has learned about who made the world, who is his ultimate authority, etc., are not true? It is confusing for me to try and think of a way to explain to them why I think Christ is the center of our lives, yet I send them to spend the majority of their days at a place where he is at best not mentioned, or at worst ridiculed.

"How can an education that proceeds in part on the assumption that the child is the image-bearer of God and in part on the supposition that it bears the image of the animal, an education that is partly religious and partly irreligious, i.e., anti-religious, ever result in a life that is truly unified? It can only lead to one thing, and that is a divided life so strongly condemned by our Savior (Matt. 6:22-23), a life with scattered energies and dissipated powers, swayed and torn by conflicting opinions, lacking in singleness of purpose, in stability and strength, and in that true joy that fills the soul which is consciously moving in the right direction." -- Mortimer Adler

Some might argue that in lower grades, children aren't learning about complex issues that require God to be addressed in school. Kindergartners aren't debating evolution, right? They are learning the basics, and the basics don't involve religion, right? I wholeheartedly disagree! From the very youngest age, Scripture and God and the order of His universe should be the central point of our children's education. Some people think that government schools are neutral on the issue of religion, and therefore our children aren't getting a religious education while they are in them. But if they aren't taught that God is Lord over all things, if they aren't taught that they are His image-bearers, then they are getting a religious education, albeit one that Christian parents don't want them to have.

"An education that denies God and His Word as the interpretive principle of al all things, including academic disciplines, is an education that implicitly denies the whole of biblical truth and the validity of the Christian faith." --Stephen C. Perks

I myself went to public school and private school. I know the difference having God involved in each and every lesson makes. That isn't to say that every math problem in my Christian school was a word problem including Scripture. But we did pray before each class, and it was understood that the order in the universe represented by the figures in our text book was divine. In science, we studied life and cells and microbiology with the presupposition that the wonder in the creation we saw was from the Maker.

The other thing that prompted me to write this post was a posting over at The Common Room. The issue of socialization came up in a post she had linked to (as it always does in home schooling discussions) and there were many amazing comments from home schoolers about the issue. This one truly stood out to me:

"Thus I find myself asking yet again: Does anyone find it a tad disconcerting that we all so willingly and unquestioningly accept the state as the primary agent of socialization for the child? "

My answer to that question is yes! And more than just a tad! The home schooled kids that I know are far from isolationists. In fact, they experience more varied groups of people than I did when I was in school and spent all day in a room of kids from my age group.

Some Christian families I know have put their children in public schools to be "salt and light" or "missionaries" to their classroom. While I respect their choices for their family, I do disagree with this position. In general I feel that missionaries require many months, if not years, of training before going out into the field. In most cases, kindergartners are just beginning to arrive at a saving knowledge of their faith...certainly not equipped to defend their beliefs or explain them in school with an authority figure who is charged with keeping religion out of the classroom. If their teacher tells them something that they believe is untrue, how are children to defend themselves? Who is going to have a bigger impact on the classroom: a child/student who has one small voice among many and no authority, or a teacher with all of the power and authority? I submit that children should not be put in a classroom in order to evangelize until they are at least in their teens, and even then it depends on the child.

I confess that I'm often a bit wistful when friends speak of sending their children off to school some day. I think about what it would be like to have a quiet house for 6 hours per day. And yet, I don't think I can do it, for all the reasons I've listed above. If I found a school that was able to cater to my children's individual learning needs, taught a classical curriculum focused on Christ as the Center of all things, and held high standards of discipline...and I could actually afford it? I'd definitely be sending them off to school. ;)

The Winner Is...

2009-06-01T20:36:00.000-07:00

Steve and I held a grand ceremony that involved much pomp and circumstance to determine the winner of the coveted Skirty. I used my best penmanship and paper crumpling skills, Steve got out his best ball cap, and then deftly drew a name from said hat and the winner is...

Kristen of The Borland Bunch!

Congrats, Kristen! Send me an email at airjordi at yahoo dot com with your address and I will send you your Skirty straight away!

A Girly Giveaway!

2009-05-19T12:41:00.000-07:00

Remember awhile back I linked to The Fornightly Purse? Well, as luck would have it, I won!

Included in my winnings was a Skirty. This thing is ingenious. If I had girls, they would be wearing these cute little shorts under their dresses. As it happens, I have two boys, no dresses, and no need for cute little lacy shorts! So I'm giving this away!

The giveaway is for one Skirty, size small (the website says that is a 4-5). In order to enter, please leave me a comment and tell me about one family tradition you have started since having children. It doesn't have to be big or grandiose, just something you do together as a family.

The contest will end at the end of May, after I get back from an east coast house-hunting trip.

Good luck, and tell your friends!

Comparison

2009-04-28T21:48:00.001-07:00

Hmm, I think they might be related.

Matthew, last night

Ethan, 19 months ago

Easter Egg Hunt

2009-04-11T17:40:00.001-07:00

Well, after putting Steve on a plane to The Desert this morning, Ethan, Matthew and I went to the base's Easter egg hunt. It was Ethan's first, and here he is showing off his loot (Yes, this was all of it. He didn't want to put any in his basket so he just picked up two things and carried them around triumphantly):

And, in a totally different sense of "showing off," here is Matthew sporting his baby acne. I'm hoping it clears up soon, before I break down and get out the Clearasil.

Couch Potatoes

2009-04-02T21:36:00.000-07:00

This looks so serene. In reality, Ethan was vigorously giving me five before saying, "Down! Down! Down!" and squirming his way off the couch. Then I discovered the wet spot that Matthew left on my shirt from I'm not sure what bodily fluid.

I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that I have two kids, but looking at this picture makes me feel so blessed.

One Week Old!

2009-03-31T20:43:00.000-07:00

Here are some picture from the last week. As the mom of a newborn and a toddler, I feel that I am allowed the cop-out of a picture post!

Ethan has learned to say cheese and give a cheesy smile for the camera.

Looking at Grandpa

Tired Mama

Brothers!

Matthew

2009-03-25T21:28:00.001-07:00

Boy II
Originally uploaded by Steve Bremer

March 24th
8:46 a.m.
8lb 2oz
19in
Cute as a Button

The Big Four-Oh

2009-03-17T11:40:00.000-07:00

No, I'm not over-the-hill, I'm just due to have this baby. Today! Or, anytime really...since I'm pretty sure the baby doesn't know what day we assigned to him. But, for me, the sooner the better at this point!

Have You Heard?

2009-03-02T16:29:00.001-08:00

about The Fortnightly Purse?

If not, I recommend checking it out!

Stimulus

2009-02-13T10:09:00.000-08:00

"Those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account — to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day — because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government." -- Barack Obama, Inaugural Address

What are you hiding under there?

2009-02-09T21:26:00.001-08:00

What are you hiding under there?
Originally uploaded by Steve Bremer

I've Crossed the Line

2009-02-04T13:58:00.000-08:00

I think maybe every pregnant woman knows the line.

On one side of the line, everyone tells you how small and cute you look for how far along you are.

On the other side of the line, people look alarmed when you tell them you still have _____ weeks left to go. They look alarmed because they are thinking that you already look like you are going to burst.

This line can be crossed in a matter of days.

I'm a small person, it seems my babies stick straight out, especially towards the end. I wonder some days how I'm going to make it to 40 weeks, or if I will. Only time will tell, but don't worry, Mr. Scared-Looking-Grocery-Store-Cashier, either way I won't be giving birth in aisle seven!

How Many Children Should You Have?

2009-01-12T13:53:00.001-08:00

I randomly stumbled across this blog post last night while I was having a nice bout of insomnia, and I love this little gem of a quote:

"I do think we need to quit thinking in terms of 'what can I handle' and think instead 'how can I be stretched.' We tend to make decisions in this arena based in fear, not in faith...and then that is no real decision based in the Lord at all."

Does This Count as a Belly Pic?

2009-01-12T01:19:00.001-08:00

Late Christmas
Originally uploaded by Steve Bremer

It's not the traditional pose, but here I am last week (around 30 weeks along) with my son in his Jolly Roger diaper celebrating our late Christmas.

You see, we were supposed to fly to Kansas City this year to spend Christmas with my grandparents and aunts and uncles, and my parents were flying out there to meet us. Well, as it turned out, Seattle was hit with the most snow it had seen in 10 or 20 years or something crazy like that. And it didn't just snow. It snowed and stayed cold and the snow stuck, and then it snowed more. And then it snowed some more. The poor Seattle airport just couldn't handle it. Our flight was canceled, and there wasn't anything to rebook us on until after the 25th, from Seattle or Portland. So we stayed in the snow.

Christmas was not a total loss, as we were able to use the barely-plowed freeway to travel south and stay with Steve's parents. So we weren't alone and desolate without a tree or anything.

So, this picture was taken after the New Year when all the gifts from KC made it up to us. For some reason, every single toy Ethan got from my side of the family (save for some clothing, a truck, and wooden blocks) makes noise. A lot of noise. Now Ethan loves music and pushing buttons and making noise so these toys are perfect for him, but I can't help but wonder if someone in my family is trying to slowly drive me insane from listening to Elmo say, "LET'S JAM!" repeatedly over the course of the day. I won't even talk about the Fridge DJ, because it scares me that I've sort of gotten to like the songs that it plays.

What else has been going on here? Well, I made preserves for the first time ever last week! Satsuma marmalade to be exact. My triumphs are that 1) all the jars sealed like they were supposed to and 2)it actually tastes like marmalade! It doesn't hurt that all the jars look really pretty too. Steve has ordered a batch of strawberry preserves for my next round of canning. Making homemade jam turned out to be super easy and exciting in that I-hope-one-of-these-glass-jars-doesn't-shatter-all-over-my-kitchen sort of way, and the I-hope-that-I-don't-burn-myself-with-this-really-really-really-hot-orange-puree sort of way. Fun!

I still have two months left on the pregnancy front and in some ways that doesn't seem long at all, and in other ways it seems very long indeed. I did manage to sort out Ethan's old newborn stuff and get a stash of newborn diapers ordered, so I feel pretty good about being ready in that sense. Being ready to go through labor again and then have two children under two? The jury is still out on that one. I am quite excited to meet this new little guy though, and looking forward to seeing brothers grow up together. It's strange for me to think that all I know about raising my children I learned from Ethan, and while basic day-to-day baby care will be pretty much the same, I will have to get to know this new little guy from scratch. A totally different person. The mind boggles. :)

CPSIA

2009-01-11T19:32:00.001-08:00

I need to do a general what's-going-on-around-here post, but I had to get this out of my system first! I promise to do an update this week!

If you enjoy buying or selling children's items from places like Etsy, HyenaCart, thrift stores, flea markets, used book stores, or even visiting the children's section at your local library and haven't heard of the CPSIA, now is the time to read up!

To sum up, in response to last years problem's with lead in toys imported from China, our wonderful Congress sped a bill through the legislative process that has since been signed into law by President Bush. This law mandates that any item made for children under 12 has to be tested and certified to fall within new lead limits. Sounds pretty good, right? We don't want our kids to get lead poisoning, right? Except that the law is retroactive and applies to clothing, books...anything made for kids under 12. Think about what that means when you think about everything your children own and where you bought it from. Used items, new items, handmade items from small businesses run out of someone's home -- all of it has to comply with this law.

I'm not a fear-mongering alarmist, so I do not think the government is going to go around fining and arresting consignment store operators or trying to shut down public libraries (in fact the CPSC has pretty much said they won't), but I do see at least two significant issues here (aside from the increased prices on children's goods that we are going to see as a result of expensive testing):

1) Some small business owners hear the government saying that they aren't going to enforce the law on them, so they won't feel the need to change their business practices based on that assurance. However, some store owners will feel ethically bound to adhere to the law, regardless of the wink wink they are getting about how they don't have to worry about complying because the law is just for the big manufacturers and not for small thrift stores or used book sellers. So someone who feels duty bound to obey the law of the land is going to shut down their business because of their own moral convictions, no matter how much the government assures them they don't have to worry about enforcement. And lets be clear: the CPSC says that they won't actively seek to enforce this law on certain businesses, but they still maintain that those businesses do have to comply, and if they don't and are found out they can still be prosecuted. Which leads to this other problem over here...

2) Maybe the government wants to get a search warrant for someone's house for some unrelated crime, but they can't because they don't have the necessary evidence or probable cause. They find out that someone in that household is making and selling stuff for children on Etsy without proper lead testing or certification. Now they have a legitimate reason to execute a search warrant on someone's home based solely on the fact that they are sewing or whittling children's toys. I'm not a tin-foil hat type of person, but I don't think this is something completely without precedent.

There are many facets of this that I'm glossing over, but it is just a prime example of the way our government operates. We have congressmen and senators passing bills without even reading them and doing some basic critical thinking about how these laws will affect their own constituents. Of course no lawmaker (aside from Ron Paul, God bless him) wants to be seen as the heartless one who voted against stricter lead standards for children's products, because the media would rake them over the coals (or they would have if they had been paying attention to this issue), so instead they have passed a bill that makes absolutely no sense and is impossible to enforce gets signed into law and now something has to be done to fix the situation.

The Deputy Headmistress over at the Common Room has a good sum up of everything here (start at the bottom posts and scroll up to go in chronological order).

If you feel compelled, please write your legislators and tell them what you think.

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T09:44:00.001-08:00

Our White Christmas
Originally uploaded by Steve Bremer

From the Bremers to you!

Let it Snow!

2008-12-17T19:38:00.000-08:00

Let's celebrate my 100th (!!) post with a video (I apologize in advance for my high-pitched whooping):

What is it about kids that are so puffed up in snow gear that they can barely move that makes them so darn cute?

Supplies

2008-12-10T10:43:00.001-08:00

Supplies
Originally uploaded by Steve Bremer

Well, it's that time of year and I'm going to bake some (maybe a lot) of cookies in the upcoming days. When I went to the commissary I needed sugar (we were almost completely out) and they had their 10lb bags on sale, plus there were coupons sitting out right there for an additional 50 cents off. Same with the 10lb bags of flour. So I come home with 20 pounds of sugar and flour, plus various other baking supplies and they were sitting on the counter after dinner. Steve said, "I should take a picture of that." I affirmed that he should and I would blog about it. So here I am. Steve got a chance to set up his fancy off-camera lighting system (and pulled out all the rest of my baking supplies from the cabinets) to do this still life and I got a nifty little picture for my blog.

Here is a recent portrait of Ethan. He is so much fun these days. Still not walking, but mobile enough for his own purposes. I am sure that one day he's just going to take off running and I'll only see a blur of him after that. He is totally resistant to any attempts to persuade him to walk, however, so I'm just leaving it up to him. He has about 5 teeth coming in at once right now (wheee!), and jabbers up a storm. He pulls up my shirt to look at my belly and say "bah-buh" and he also says "doh" (dog), "da do" (all done), "bai-puh" (diaper), and his very favorite word ever "nanuh" (banana). I am pretty sure he would eat bananas until he threw up if I let him. I can't even say the word out loud anymore unless I'm actually going to give him one because it causes so much strife. And I now have to cringe when we go by them in the produce section of the grocery store. "Nanuh, nanuh, NANUH!" It is somewhat cute, in that don't-make-eye-contact-with-anyone-who-might-be-watching-your-child-beg-for-bananas sort of way.

Pregnancy Numero Dos is moving right along. Bubs is very active and wiggly, and I can't wait to meet him, although I still have a little over three months until that happens. Actually three months is good, since I feel like I still have so much to do before he comes. The biggest task is sorting through all of Ethan's old clothes and deciding what goes and what stays. Maybe I should have done that a long time ago instead of just stuffing everything into a box to deal with later?

Training in the Pews

2008-11-23T15:29:00.000-08:00

I don't normally blog on Sundays, but as a mommy who just had a very challenging morning, it was such a blessing to see this on my blogroll when I came home from church today.

What is Jodi Interested In? or Subjects Men Aren't Interested In

2008-11-08T16:26:00.000-08:00

Some of you may know that one of my big interests in life is pregnancy and birth. I discovered this when I was just starting my career in the Air Force, and I can't specifically say how or why it started. All I know is that I was on the internet one day (shocking, I know) and for a couple of weeks after that day I was reading everything I could get my hands on about birth and pregnancy. I was absolutely enthralled with what I was reading, because I thought that having babies meant hospital, epidural, probably c-section and the term "home birth" seemed quite radical. At the time I was all of 20 years old, not married, no prospects of having children any time soon, and I was completely committed to a career in the Air Force as a linguist for the next five years of my life. I was honestly sort of frustrated that God led me to all this information about natural birth, doulas and midwifery and there I was in a great position to do nothing about it for several years. I was ready to go to midwifery school right that very day if I could have. However, in His infinite wisdom He's given me a lot of time to think about where exactly I want to go with this "career" and I don't think it will lead to me being a midwife. It might, but I think I may be more of a doula-type person. And since I will have a few littles around for the foreseeable future I don't think I will really branch out into anything that requires being on call 24/7 for anyone but my family for a few years.

I'm about this >< close to being certified as a childbirth educator (I probably would have been done with my certification by now, but Ethan's little brother has affected my productivity somewhat). I will probably start a separate blog about pregnancy, birth and my classes sometime in the near future, because there are a lot of topics that I want to blog about in that area that I just don't want to put here, since this is more of a "keeping up with our family" blog. The reason I haven't created the blog yet is because I haven't found a definite idea of where I want it to go or what I really want it to be about (sort of like this post, har har). In the meantime, here are a few articles that I've been saving on my bookmarks list for awhile!

Home Birth Reference Site (UK)
Industrial Childbirth
A Healthy Baby Isn't All that Matters (may be sensitive for those who've had traumatic c-sections)
Medical Indications for Induction
Prevent Pre-Eclampsia or Pregnany Induced Hypertension with diet?
Optimal Fetal Positioning

For what it is worth, while I am an advocate of natural birth, I am not against necessary medical interventions. I know that cesarean sections are sometimes necessary. I know that induction is sometimes necessary. I do feel that they are used way too often, and that obstetrics is a rare medical specialty where evidence based medicine is not always practiced, due to many factors including litigation and insurance issues. All that being said, I think the best way for women to have the best care possible during their pregnancy, labor and birth is to educate themselves. Women should be making educated decisions about their care based on research, and not on what their midwives or doctors will "allow" them to do.

So that's all that I will put about this stuff in this blog. When I get some classes started up, I'll probably start the other blog and put my ramblings about pregnancy and birth over there where no one has to see it. :)

"That Book Doesn't Talk"

2008-10-30T21:36:00.001-07:00

Recently while watching TV, I saw a commercial for the following product. The talking book is tested by a line of kids who really enjoy the neato gadget that talks to them in character voices when they point a magic wand device at words on a page. They are testing this alongside a "regular" book of the non-speaking variety. The company mascot (a cheerful frog) asks the final kid, who is looking at the regular book with a dismayed look on his face, if he is missing something. The boy says, "That book doesn't talk!"

This commercial disturbs me on so many levels. I never really had a problem with talking books until I saw this ad, but I am now boycotting all books that so much as utter a squeak at my child.

I want to teach my children that books do talk. The don't talk in character voices and they don't tell stories about Sponge Bob or Dora. They tell stories about Prince Caspian, Achilles, and tortises and hares. My kids will learn that they get to make up the voices, and the characters and the landscapes all on their own (did I just say I want voices in my kids' heads?).

I'm not saying that I want my kid to sit through The Illiad at age 3 and understand it all. I'm all for finding children's versions of the great books and starting my kids on those. Starting them with picture books and simple words. I want them to be read aloud to at the youngest age, hearing the stories told by Tolkein and Lewis and learning to use their imaginations.

I don't ever want to hear my kids complain that their books don't talk.

You May Have Noticed..

2008-10-28T20:02:00.000-07:00

That my blog has recently taken on a blue-ish hue.

That's because we found out today that Ethan is going to have a little brother!

I really thought that this baby might be a girl since my pregnancy has been significantly different than last time. But I am super glad, since they are so close together, that they are going to be brothers!

And, you know, this saves me the money that I might have spent on a pink shopping spree!

The only downside is that Steve and I have the toughest time with boy names. But I'm sure we can come up with something both of us like in the next 5 months, right?

At the Pumpkin Patch

2008-10-27T21:14:00.001-07:00

At the pumpkin patch
Originally uploaded by Steve Bremer

Ethan really enjoyed our time at the pumpkin patch on Saturday. He went on his very first hay ride, and helped us pick out a good pumpkin for carving. He spent a lot of time playing in front of this old wagon. He kept looking into the center part of the wheel (where his hand is) to see what was in there.

Also, I have the best husband ever! I had the absolute worst craving for a Big Mac tonight. I know it's not healthy, I know it is full of fat and stuff that I shouldn't eat, and I don't normally get pregnancy cravings, but here it is. He's out right now getting me a Big Mac. I told him to feel free to get himself an ice cream sundae for his trouble. :)

Reunited Again!

2008-10-21T21:34:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm behind on posting (what else is new?), but my wonderful husband is home from his far off travels and our family is together again! Not 48 hours after his return to Washington, we were on our way to California for my friend Melanie's wedding, which is where the above picture was taken. It was so beautiful and such a nice time for the three of us to reconnect as a family! As a bonus my mom came along to nanny for Ethan while I did all the girly bridesmaid/wedding things. Melanie was a gorgeous bride and I'm so happy for her and her new hubby! Newlyweds make my heart happy!

Ethan also got a haircut while we were in California, and not a moment too soon. I love his long hair and curls, but he is such a little man now! I cried a little when his dad brought him back from the barber.

The pregnancy is going well! I'm almost halfway and still feeling pretty small. I'm enjoying feeling small while I can though, because I know in a couple months I will feel anything BUT small. I've been feeling the baby move for a little over a week now, so that is nice. It's just reassuring to get a little thump now and again so that I know all is still good in there. Our "big" ultrasound is on the 28th and all indications are that we will be finding out the flavor this time around. That decision, however, is completely up to my dear husband. I will keep everyone updated!

Birthday Boy!

2008-09-30T22:14:00.001-07:00

One
Originally uploaded by jodisue

I am a week late crafting this post, but we have been busy with family in town to celebrate this milestone, so here it is today!

I cannot believe Ethan is one year old. I can remember so vividly the day I met him. It was a day of hard work, but oh so worth it. We waited two years for God to bless us with a baby, and then all of a sudden, 9 months later he was in my arms. It was unbelievable. I still marvel at how God

My Sweet Bud, my long-awaited babe, I pray for you every day, that you will grow to love the Lord with all your heart. I cannot wait for you to meet your little brother or sister and become fast friends. You are so silly and funny already; I can't wait to see more and more of your personality.

I can't wait until you are old enough to sing with me, the song we have heard together every Sunday since you were one week old:

Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow; Praise Him, all creatures here below; Praise Him above, ye Heavenly Host; Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.

Here is the year in (a few) photos:

Just born:

First smile on camera:

The famous Flat Smile:

Eating birthday cake on Saturday:

More birthday photos are here!

Butter, Butter and MORE Butter!

2008-09-14T21:19:00.000-07:00

I made these today for our church's monthly fellowship dinner (substituted Sprite for Mountain Dew). They were so decadent, and yet easy peasy to make I wanted to pass them on. Also, the Pioneer Woman has many other fabulous recipes that are not at all good for you, but taste insanely good. While our bodies are temples not to be abused and we are not to be gluttonous, I do think God created food for us to enjoy, especially on the Sabbath when it is appropriate to feast to celebrate the Lord's day.

Ein, Uno, One, Odin

2008-09-03T22:47:00.001-07:00

For those of you waiting to know, I am having just one baby. Whatever my doctor saw on the first ultrasound two weeks ago was gone by the time I had this scan. I never really felt as though it was twins, but it was sort of neat to think of the possibilities for a couple of weeks.

For those of you who didn't know that I've been waiting for these results, the doctor saw a little "bubble" when she was doing my dating ultrasound and thought there may be another baby behind the one she could definitely see. So she sent me to radiology where they have bigger and better machines and there was clearly only one baby. Double blessings would have been fun, but I am happy with one as well.

I will try to get an ultrasound pic or two scanned in in the next couple of days.

I Feel Like No One Is Listening

2008-08-27T18:33:00.000-07:00

I'll just say it: Barack Obama voted against saving the life of infants that survive late-term abortion.

Let's say you're a liberal and you agree with his pro-choice position. You can stomach his support of late-term abortions because you feel that if they are banned it will cause a slippery slope and abortions may become illegal altogether. But how in the world can anyone vote for a man who is okay with a living baby being left to die in a janitor's closet as medical waste?

I'm sitting here watching the coverage of the democratic convention, where tens of thousands of people are applauding this man that supports infanticide. How does this happen? My heart hurts to think about it.

I know some conservatives have trouble casting their vote for John McCain. I have trouble casting my vote for John McCain, but darnit I will, because I can't stand the idea of Obama getting to appoint supreme court justices who support his position.

Feeling Sluggish

2008-08-26T19:32:00.001-07:00

Frowny
Originally uploaded by jodisue

I know, I have not blogged in awhile. I have been gestating Ethan's little brother or sister while taking care of Ethan (and our dog) on my own while Steve is deployed, and honestly it has made me a bit tired. But to make up for it, I have done a small evening photo session with my boy tonight and added the photos to my flickr page (it does not have as much esteem as my husband's flickr page, but is getting better).

Oh, and for you curious ones out there, I have been to the doctor and they used their fancy machines to tell me that I am eleven weeks pregnant and due on March 17th. Since I don't think my baby has a calendar in there I will take that to mean pretty much any time in March. A Spring birthday!

The Oldest

2008-07-23T19:30:00.001-07:00

...
Originally uploaded by Steve Bremer

It is still very early on, but we are definitely celebrating over here! That is, until the morning sickness sets in. But I can count it all joy, right?

Cheerios and Strife

2008-07-23T12:20:00.000-07:00

Where Hobbies Intercede

2008-06-24T14:08:00.000-07:00

So, I mentioned in my last post that my addiction is cute cloth diapers, and Steve's is photography, right?

Well, you combine those two interests, and now Ethan's butt is famous.

Long Overdue

2008-06-17T21:38:00.000-07:00

It seems I haven't posted in quite awhile, so there are many updates to be made.

First and foremost, I'd like everyone to offer up a praise with me that Ethan's skin, which has for the past 7 months been the bane of his (and my) existence, is finally clearing up. I am still holding my breath and waiting for the red scratchy dryness to return with a vengeance, but even after tempting fate with a milkshake on Monday night (I had sworn off dairy when that seemed to make things worse for him) he seems to be baby soft. I'm sure those of you with babies who've had problems that made them chronically fussy or uncomfortable can take joy in my relief with me.

Secondly, I am addicted to cloth diapering. Yes, it's true. No, I have not gone off the crunchy granola deep end. The idea of cloth diapering first appealed to me when I was pregnant and someone sent me a link to this website. Aren't they just the cutest little pants you've ever seen? Anyway, I was promptly discouraged from trying to cloth diaper, hearing it would just be too much work. Then, last March, I just started looking around again because I had heard of these diapers, and since we are living in base housing all of our utilities are paid so it would definitely be economical for us. I bought a couple of them to try out, and the rest is history. Ethan is now in cloth full time and I am addicted to buying him cute diapers. Steve says that cloth diapers don't save us money unless I stop buying them. I suppose he might be right. However, all of the diapers I buy are one-sized, and therefore will be used on any future children that we are blessed with. The laundry isn't even that much of a problem, and wouldn't you know I just love seeing all of Ethan's diapers folded up and clean in their baskets! So, if you ever want to know about the difference between an all-in-one, prefold, or fitted, I'm your girl!

Number three on my list of updates concerns my hubby's addiction. He is still doing quite a bit of photography these days, and some friends of ours were kind enough to tromp out to the beach and let my husband snap some family photos of them. This was his first session for someone other than his own family. I think they turned out quite well!

Ethan gets the last but not least update. He is almost 9 months old and still has no teeth! No matter, he can gum up some cereal puffs with the best of 'em. He can get around pretty well, even though he doesn't really crawl. His current modes of self-transportation include rolling, lurching, and diving from the sitting position. Some of these methods are more successful than others, and some are downright painful (or so I hear). I called my father tonight to inform him that Ethan had his first taste of meat -- some turkey mixed with some vegetables. My father has been aching to get some Kansas City barbeque into my son since the day he was born, so the addition of meat to his diet is a welcome change. Next week he'll be gnawing (gumming?) ribs right off the bone, right Dad?

Just tonight Steve and I were discussing how painfully cute our son is becoming. Sometimes I just can't stop staring at him because each expression he makes is cuter than the last. His babbling (to include Daaadaaa, maaamaaa, bwaah, bobobob, and aaaaaaahhhhhh) is out-and-out endearing. I'm starting to worry that if his cuteness continues increasing I may never be able to discipline him properly. Just to prove my point, I'd like you to look at these photos and try not to melt. Just try. (that second picture is how he looked while his father was trying to teach him to clap)

Knitting Help

2008-06-06T17:58:00.000-07:00

Can one of you crafty peeps out there translate this knitting pattern for me? I understand all of it except what the numbers in parentheses mean.

K4 (border sts), *K1, YO, K6 (5, 4, 3), K2tog twice, K6 (5, 4, 3), YO* rep between * to last 5 sts, K1, K4 (border sts)

Family is Love

2008-06-05T21:33:00.001-07:00

My Bud
Originally uploaded by Steve Bremer

Sometimes I just can't believe that God blessed me with this little guy. And the big guy that took the picture.

Lists of 5 Things

2008-05-29T21:35:00.001-07:00

What I was doing 10 years ago:
1. Getting ready to graduate high school
2. Finalizing my enlistment into the Air Force
3. Riding around in Renee's Saturn, Patrick
4. Making 6 of the bestest friends evAH and having tons of fun (Supa7!)
5. Getting the worst grades of my scholastic career (somewhat due to #'s 2-4)

5 things on my to-do list today(most of which I already did since it's almost 10 p.m.):
1. Finish Memorial Day Weekend laundry (it was really more of a week's worth since we ended up staying two extra nights with my in-laws)
2. Make my meal plan for the week.
3. Grocery shop for above
4. Make dinner instead of eating out because our fridge is bare
5. Put Ethan to bed. Tonight this is taking awhile. He's fussing in his crib as I type and the Prowlers are flying around our house.

5 snacks I enjoy:
1. Kettle Chips
2. Chocolate
3. Popcorn (with salt and fresh ground pepper!)
4. Chips and Salsa
5. Ice Cream (Oh, how I miss ice cream! When Ethan weans, I'm going on a dairy eating binge I tell you what)

Things I would do if I were a millionaire:
1. Tithe
2. Find the ideal spot for living, buy a big bunch of land and build a neighborhood of dreamhouses for myself and my family. This could either be a compound or a commune depending on how you look at it. Maybe a little of both.
3. Found a classical Christian school, make my husband the headmaster. Find and hire the most awesomest, Godliest, smartest teachers. They can have dream homes in the communpound too.
4. Find babies that need a mama and bring them to live with me (aka adopt)
5. Make my way through midwifery school and found a birth center with other Christian midwives and help women have babies (this would have to wait until my own babies were mostly grown)

5 places i have lived:
1. Kansas City, MO
2. San Ramon, CA
3. Morgan Hill, CA
4. San Antonio, TX
5. Monterey, CA

That's it! Now you!

Enjoying the View

2008-05-18T15:03:00.001-07:00

Enjoying the View
Originally uploaded by Steve Bremer

Yesterday was so nice and warm here that we were actually able to wear shorts and t-shirts on the beach! We had a great day going on a short hike through the woods and down to the shore at Ft. Ebey State Park, and then we headed down to Langley for a yummy lunch overlooking the water. One of my favorite things to do here on a Saturday is just drive the island and find things to do as we go. Luckily my huband doesn't mind the aimless journeys and humors my requests to "turn here".

Ethan was not too sure about the sand. He could pick it up, but then he couldn't drop it. And Mama wouldn't let him eat any, either. Although I think he did manage to get some in his mouth surreptitiously. His least favorite by far, though, was when Mama dipped his toes into the waves lapping up at the beach. Doesn't she know that stuff is cold?!

New Photos

2008-05-01T20:16:00.000-07:00

My hubby put up a bunch of new photos on his Flickr site.

FLDS Saga

2008-04-23T11:42:00.000-07:00

The Deputy Headmistress over at The Common Room (linked in my sidebar) has been blogging extensively about the recent events out in Texas with the FDLS raid. Her posts on the subject can be found here. Her latest post is an excellent summary of why we should be bothered about all of this, instead of thinking this is just happening to those crazy people that dress funny in that cult.

I am in no way in favor of polygamy or any sort of child abuse, but the way the state has handled this whole thing is really scary. It is scary to me as someone who plans to homeschool, use Biblical discipline and teach my children there is one truth in the world.

Busy Mama

2008-04-22T13:41:00.001-07:00

I have been wanting to blog about a lot of things for awhile, but haven't had any time! Hmm, I wonder what could be occupying me? I have some idea and I think it is the little Bubba in these photos. He will be 7 months old tomorrow!

Ethan and I have been taking the Mommy & Me swim class down at the Oak Harbor Pool. We love it! He doesn't know enough to be afraid of splashing and going under, and I'd like to keep it that way. He isn't actually learning how to swim of course, but he will be comfortable with the water when it comes time for lessons. I could get on my soapbox about how teaching young kids to swim and be around water is super important for their safety, but I won't. :)

Then, last weekend Ethan had a visit from his Grandma and Grandpa Bremer. We had a great relaxing time even if Daddy wasn't around to enjoy it with us.

The Saturday that they were leaving, we all woke up to snow! Snow! It all melted off by early afternoon, but Sunday this is what I woke up to:

Even more snow! Yikes. It was so pretty, but so strange to be seeing it this time of year (or at all, really, since I lived in Texas for 6 years). Once again it all melted, probably before noon. Monday and today have been nice enough that I have been outside in short sleeves. I have been working on starting all my veggie seeds for this year's garden. This year's garden will actually be a first veggie garden for me. I feel really blessed to have the space to plant one, and I hope that will be the case whenever we move to a new town.

Hopefully in the upcoming weeks and months I will actually get these starts into the ground and we will have fresh lettuce, carrots, green onions, peas, brussel sprouts, potatoes, onions, squash, mint, and fennel. And there will probably be more as I get comfortable sowing all my little seedlings.

So that is my life in a nutshell these past two weeks. Hopefully hubby will be home this weekend to share in our full, fun days!

Aftermath

2008-04-16T21:58:00.000-07:00

This face brought to you by: peas, carrots and snot.

Hey, Ethan, you have a little something right there on your face...no you didn't get it...it's on your chin around the nose area...nope still there...no you didn't get it.

Link-a-Doo

2008-04-16T21:55:00.000-07:00

High Octane Love

and

the sweetest thing I've read in awhile

A Day at the Park

2008-04-13T22:02:00.001-07:00

Kyle, Ethan & Conner
Originally uploaded by jodisue

Saturday was so nice here, the first warmish day in quite awhile, so some of my friends and I took our boys to the park. I know this picture isn't very good because I cut off the little boy on the right, but I just love it anyway. It looks like they are in some sort of baby-thug gang. Ethan even has his dukes up! If you click on this photo, you will find more of our day out in the sun on my Flickr page.

Stats

2008-04-05T12:29:00.000-07:00

Here are Ethan's six-months facts and figures:

Weight: 17lb 12oz
Length: 26.3in
Head Circumference: 17.6in

He's just starting to sit up unassisted. Well, mostly unassisted. He sees nothing wrong with leaning over onto his face in order to get to a toy, that is, until he is actually on his face, then he sees everything wrong with it.

Half Birthday

2008-03-23T22:07:00.000-07:00

Today Ethan is 6 months old. I don't have his height/weight stats yet because his checkup isn't until the 2nd of April, but I think these pictures say it all. I'm pretty sure there is nothing cuter on this earth than this little boy's smile.

Don't you just want to squeeze him? I do, so I'm going to get off the computer and do just that!

and, He is risen! Happy Easter everyone!

What is the World Coming To?

2008-03-16T17:24:00.000-07:00

So, I'm looking at my local library's website, looking for the Baby and Me story time, and I find this:

Teen Gaming Event Type: Teen Program Date: Tuesday, March 18, 2008 Start Time: 3:00 PM Library: Oak Harbor Description: DDR and Guitar Hero for Teens. Take a break from homework and try your PS2 skills. Age(s): Teens

Playstation 2. Video game time. At the library. Instead of homework*. Someone please get me a fainting couch.

*I know all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy and all that, but if a kid is going to venture out of the house to go to the library, please for the love of books encourage him to read something!

Homeschooling Ruling

2008-03-12T14:43:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting to blog about the recent homeschooling brouhaha in California, but so many others have said it better than I ever could. There is a lot of good stuff here and especially here. If you listen to the NPR interview from the second link, the teacher's union representative actually says (referring to the credentialing of educators), "It's not about intelligence, it's about training." That, my friends, is the most telling statement I have ever heard about public education. I'd really encourage all of you Californians to write your state legislatures about this. The Homeschool Legal Defense Association is also a great place for information. I have to admit that I feel a wee bit scared of what will happen by the time Ethan is school-aged. And, I find it ironic that someone would allow me to send my son to a public school no questions asked, but they would require me to prove that I am worthy as his parent to educate him at home, when I know my educational and ethical standards are far above any of the public schools that I attended.

Reunited!

2008-03-12T14:08:00.000-07:00

My wonderful husband is home! He got home Friday evening and we had a lovely four-day weekend together. Yesterday we took the ferry to Port Townsend and then drove to Port Angeles, which is right on the edge of the Olympic National Forest. We took a short hike into the woods where the above picture was snapped. The hike was only about a half mile, but man that turns long when you have a 17lb baby strapped to your chest! Actually, we would have gone on some more but the trail was incredibly muddy in some spots and I was only wearing tennis shoes. At points I thought maybe waders would have been a better option. My jeans had muck splashed up to my knees by the time we were done. Ethan enjoyed a lot of the hike, but did get hungry and cranky towards the end. I can't wait to go back this summer and do some real hiking and camping.

Today Steve is back at work and I am, well, back at work at home. Life is good.

On the Road

2008-02-18T12:29:00.001-08:00

Getting bigger in the Bumbo.

Chubbo

His cousins used their cars to decorate him on his playmat.

I haven't been posting much because Steve is gone and Ethan and I are on the road visiting the grandparents on both sides of the family. Hope everyone is having a great February!

Mothers of Littles

2008-02-02T23:15:00.000-08:00

If you have small children, this post is a must read! I think I'm going to print it out and keep it nearby for when I (Lord willing) have a houseful.

The Business of Being Born

2008-01-25T15:22:00.000-08:00

I just got back from a screening of The Business of Being Born. I am thinking of becoming a childbirth educator and/or doula, so I was really excited to see that there was a showing not too far from me. Check the website to see if it is playing in your area; if not it will be out on NetFlix in March of this year.

I recommend this movie to those of you who have had babies, will have babies, are concerned about women's health issues, and pretty much anyone else. As a content warning I will say that birth is shown several times with no censoring and there are two instances that I can remember bad language being used. Oh, and I took Ethan with me and there were a lot of other moms there with babies so it seems to be the one acceptable time to take your baby to the movies!

Just Use Vaseline!

2008-01-22T14:53:00.000-08:00

Little Ethan has quite sensitive skin. Around the middle of January I took my red, itchy boy into the doctor to see if I could give him (and myself) some relief. The doctor looked him over and gave us a treatment plan which included a couple of different steroidal creams for flare ups. The other part of the treatment was to coat Ethan in Vaseline (petroleum jelly) 2-4 times per day. I was a bit skeptical to say the least. You see, I had bought and tried expensive baby lotions, baby eczema creams, and gentle bath soaps. The products I bought said things like "colloidal" and "hypoallergenic" and "natural oat extract". If the expensive stuff wasn't working, what was a $3 jar of Vaseline going to do for him?

Let me tell you, since being on the Vaseline plan my baby actually has baby soft skin! Every morning, afternoon, and evening I grease him up and since I have started doing that his skin is wonderful! He still has flare ups, but they don't spread or get weepy and crusty (ew, I know). I stopped using my expensive diaper rash cream too and now I just keep Vaseline on his bum. It works wonders! It is greasy and messy to apply, but luckily it is winter so his arms and legs are covered and not getting petroleum jelly on anything but his clothes.

Anyway, many of you more experienced parents may already know about the wonderful substance that is Vaseline, but I thought I'd share for those of you who don't.

Amusing Myself

2008-01-19T23:14:00.000-08:00

This is so neat. Just let the page load and wait for the fun.

Bumbo!

2008-01-15T20:04:00.000-08:00

Ethan just got his Bumbo chair in the mail today (yay for eBay!). These pictures are not very good (either blurry or Ethan's not all the way in the frame), but he seemed to like sitting up. And he looks so darn cute.

Ethan Rolls Over or We Have Video

2008-01-13T23:24:00.000-08:00

Remember how I posted that Ethan couldn't roll over? The very next day he went and did it. It took me some time to finagle this video onto this here internet, but I think I have done it (digital camcorders can be complicated!).

Keeping the Homefires Burning

2008-01-09T16:56:00.000-08:00

Well, here is my first post for 2008! I know you all are super excited.

I have to say that this year is not starting out on a particularly great note as Steve has just left for a 3-month deployment. However, I am thankful that it is only 3 months as opposed to some of the year-long tours that the Army and Marines have to endure. The other neat thing about Steve's deployment is that he is in the same place that I was deployed to in 2004. In fact, one of the first things he did upon his arrival was to go check out where I used to work. So now he knows where I was for those 4 months.

For Christmas, Steve and I got each other a digital camcorder, so I'm going to try uploading some of our Christmas footage in the upcoming days (preview: one of my nephews exclaims, "I'm a thepard!" and proceeds to chase my dog around as one of his "theep").

Ethan's doing really well these days. My favorite new skill that he has mastered is head control. It is still a little wobbly, but for the most part he can keep it steady to look around while I'm carrying him (which makes carrying him so much easier). He isn't rolling over yet, but puts a lot of effort into tummy time. The thing is that he has never really been bothered by being on his tummy, so he doesn't have much incentive to try and get to his other side. Here he is trying to figure out how to work one of his Christmas presents. It is a sweet little rocking chair:

"I can't believe they want me to fly this thing. I can't even sit up for more than half a second!"

"Alright, I suppose I will give it a shot."

I got him a Bumbo chair from eBay and I'm excited for it to get here so he can try it out. The rocking chair is a bit advanced for him yet, even if he does look cute in it. My father-in-law has uploaded some other pictures from our Christmastime here.

The Higgins, Rogers, and De La Rosa Cousins

2007-12-31T10:44:00.001-08:00

The Higgins, Rogers, and De La Rosa Cousins
Originally uploaded by R J Bremer

All the cousins on Christmas morning.

I've been told that the responsibility of getting another set of pink pajamas in there rests solely on Steve and me.

Ethan's Getting Baptized! Part III

2007-12-19T13:29:00.000-08:00

Let us look at it like this: To be a Christian means that we have had an experience of the grace of God. That is essential Christianity. There are many definitions that one could give. One I have often quoted because it seems to me to be such an excellent one is that old definition of Henry Scougal, the Scotsman who lived nearly 300 years ago. He said that Christianity is ‘the life of God in the souls of men.’ In other words, what makes us Christians is not primarily what we do, but what God does to us. That is essential Christianity. This rebirth, this being born again, is all God’s action. It is not man’s, it is God’s. It is being born from above. It is the work of the Holy Spirit of God. Therefore, the essential thing about being a Christian is that one has thus been dealt with by God.”

Martyn Lloyd-Jones, My Soul Magnifies the Lord

Well, we had quite the busy weekend here in the Bremer household, which is probably why I've not been able to blog about it until Wednesday. It was so much fun though, and pretty much everything went off without a hitch! Ethan was baptized on Sunday of course, but the fun started on Thursday when Nana and Papa showed up. Papa read Ethan some stories, but he didn't like this one:

Ethan soon forgave him though:

Friday was spent shopping for party food and supplies. Then Steve came home from his business trip to a family that was very happy to see him. Saturday, the men worked in the garage (and put some shelving in my utility room so it is so much more organized now!). Steve's sister Jill and brother-in-law Tim showed up Saturday afternoon and Jill helped me cut veggies and cheese and get ready for Sunday. I made a new recipe called Apache Bread Dip that a friend gave to me...so yummy! That night we played my favorite board game ever, "Beyond Balderdash." Unfortunately it is not Jill's favorite board game ever, but she humored me and played anyway (and came in 2nd!).

Sunday morning we all got up and got ready for church. Ethan and his dad sang some hymns for us all before we left:
After the baptism, Steve and I had an open house for the church. Almost everyone came out to celebrate with us, and I was nervous if we would have enough food and space, but the Lord really worked everything out. No one went away hungry (some gracious friends even brought some food with them), and the house seemed to expand to fit all the people.As the youngest member of the church, Ethan got plenty of attention from the girls.
Over all, it was a fantastic time of fellowship and celebration for our newest little member of the Covenant.

Ethan's Birth Announcement

2007-12-12T19:05:00.000-08:00

As promised, here is a scan of Ethan's birth announcement. This was my first ever stamping project that I designed completely on my own and it was so much fun. And hey, it only took me 2.5 months to get these out to people!

The colors didn't scan so well, but all the blues sort of complimented each other when you see them in person.

Ethan's Getting Baptized! Part II

2007-12-08T14:02:00.000-08:00

Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. --Psalm 139:16

I ended my last post with these questions:

So then what? Why does an issue of apparent semantics -- me choosing Christ or Christ choosing me -- mean that babies should be baptized? They haven't chosen or been chosen at all yet, right? How does their baptism mean anything if they don't even remember it?

I want to focus most of all on that last question. My experience with my own baptism was very important to me. It was built up to be important to me; it was to be a public confession of my faith in Christ. My thoughts have changed on that, however, and now I view baptism as a sign of God's covenant with his people. In the Bible, God promises that our children are a part of that covenant, which is why, when someone professed their faith in New Testament times, their household was also promised to be saved (and everyone in the household was promptly baptized). We see this happening in Acts 16 (specifically verses 15 and 31). The way I read these scriptures indicates to me that children were baptized as part of the covenant of grace.

Even when I understood all of those things in my head, my heart still had a problem with baptizing infants that didn't even know what was happening to them. How was that at all meaningful? During a theology class at church, another mom told this anecdote and it really hit home with me; I think I almost changed my mind about infant baptism right there on the spot! She told us about how above each of her children's beds, there was a photograph of their baptism. At bedtime, it was common for the children to occasionally ask their parents about the photo -- they wanted to hear the story of their baptism. The parents would then tell them about how helpless and tiny they were as babies; how they depended on mom or dad for their every need. They then talked about how, to God, we are all like helpless little babies; that we don't even know that we need him, but he still cares for us and nurtures us. They talk about how God chose us to be part of his family before we even knew it, when we were too weak to choose Him (she mentioned reading Psalm 139 to them)! And so, they were baptized as small helpless babies into God's family, and Mommy and Daddy had to promise to teach their baby about God and Jesus.

That story from that mom is what really hit me about baptism -- it isn't about the experience one has, it is about pointing the child to Christ their whole life. God promises that our children are a part of his covenant and their baptism is a sign to us, their parents, of that promise. Does this mean that every infant that is baptized professes faith later in life? No. But many people that are baptized as believers go on to abandon their faith later in life as well. We don't know why this happens, but I believe Paul tries to explain much of it in Romans 9.

Part III of these postings will come on Monday, with pictures of Ethan's baptism. Hopefully I haven't bored everyone to death

Christmas Cookies!

2007-12-07T16:44:00.001-08:00

Check out how to make these fabulous cookies at The Pioneer Woman Cooks!

I made these for an ornament/cookie exchange party that I'm going to this evening.

Ethan's Getting Baptized! Part I

2007-12-06T13:00:00.000-08:00

And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. --Genesis 17:7

I suppose, since the time is drawing near and I will be posting pictures of the event here, I should just come right out and say it: Ethan is being baptized in about a week and a half. No, I have not converted to Catholicism, and yes I said baptized and not dedicated. I've been wanting to write a series of posts on the subject, because if you had told me 5 years ago that I would be having my infants baptized I would have looked at you like you had two noses. But here I am, and I couldn't be more excited about little Ethan's big day.

Steve and I started going to a reformed church right after we got married. I had always grown up in non-denominational churches, and it was Steve's preference to attend a Presbyterian church. I didn't really think there would be a huge difference. I was a little wrong. We started going to Redeemer and becoming reformed really changed my theology a lot. Even still, my biggest sticking point with all of the new things I learned was not the total depravity of man, or the idea of a limited atonement, it was the relatively small point of baptizing babies. Anyway, I don't want to give a big theology lesson in these posts because, honestly, I understood the theology behind infant baptism long before I was comfortable with committing to it for my own children. I would mostly like to write about my own experience with baptism and what ended up changing my heart, and why I am so excited about Ethan's baptism. However, Patch Blakey has written an absolutely excellent article which sums up the theology behind infant baptism really well. Since you will inevitably be confused at my attempts to explain things, that article is a good place to start and see where I'm coming from.

To start out (yes, I'm just now starting; the above paragraphs were just, er, not the beginning), I want to say that I was baptized as a believer. I have witnessed many wonderful child dedications. I don't think either of those things are wrong by any stretch of the imagination. I don't think that my baptism "didn't count" because it wasn't done as an infant, and I don't want to make anyone feel like I think their baptisms were less than sufficient. But I am going to talk about why I think infant baptism is better, so hopefully I don't offend a whole mess of you.

I was baptized when I was 15 (some of you reading this were there! how neat!). I had come to confess my faith in Christ only a year before. Leading up to my baptism, there were one or two Sundays when I met with my youth pastor and we talked about my testimony. The main question was, "how did you come to know Christ?". There was an emphasis on when I accepted Christ into my heart and my story. During my actual baptism, I stood in the baptismal and told my story to the whole church. It was really a great day for me, and I was glad to experience it.

So why would I want to deprive Ethan of that experience?

Well, looking now, through a new lens of theology, I really feel that the day focused too much on me and what I had done to become a Christian. The thing I started asking myself when I was studying reformed theology is: if I am totally sinful (as the Bible teaches) how was I able to choose Christ at all? In Matthew 16, when Peter confesses Christ as the Son of Man, Jesus tells Peter that it was the Father that revealed the truth to him (Peter) and not flesh and blood. Peter didn't come to his faith on his own, the Father gave him his faith! So maybe the focus on my journey to Christ during my baptism should have been more of a focus on the faith that the Father had given to me.

So then what? Why does an issue of apparent semantics -- me choosing Christ or Christ choosing me -- mean that babies should be baptized? They haven't chosen or been chosen at all yet, right? How does their baptism mean anything if they don't even remember it?

Ahh, now that I've thoroughly offended everyone, I have to go attend to my wee babe. I will answer my own questions in the next post (maybe tomorrow).

Menu Plan Monday

2007-12-03T16:25:00.000-08:00

So after somewhat of a hiatus, I'm getting back into my weekly menu planning. I've never blogged about it before now, but I was getting pretty good at it before Ethan was born and then, well, Ethan was born. We had a lot of help from the church with meals and I had a lot in the freezer too, but I hadn't planned out a menu for my week in a long time. I actually started up again last week and it just reminded me how much it blesses my daily life. Dinner should be such an important time for the family and having it planned out makes a much easier day. It also saves me a lot of money and time when I go shopping. I don't coupon clip or look for specials, really, but having a set list of things to buy helps me keep the impulse purchases to a minimum and prevents me from having to run out and get a key ingredient at the last minute. I plan my menu on Mondays and do a big shop on Tuesdays. Anyway, enough blabbering, onto my menu, which I am going to work on posting every Monday (we have a lot of leftover days because it's just the two of us and I usually cook more than we eat).

Tuesday: chicken noodle soup, wheat rolls, salad

Wednesday: marinated flank steak, green beans, salad, rolls

Thursday: leftover buffet

Friday: sole with lemon-butter sauce or cod with fennel and potatoes (depending on the fish selection)

Saturday: (sabbath feast): ham, homemade macaroni and cheese, salad

Sunday: leftovers for me (Steve will leaving town for a week)

So that's it! I try to vary the protein (red meat, chicken, fish, pork), and none of the recipes are all that complicated, save for maybe the mac and cheese. I pull from a variety of cookbooks and I always take requests from hubby. :)