Momma's Day

~

“We are made for larger ends than Earth can encompass. Oh, let us be true to our exalted destiny.”

-Catherine Booth

(Why won't my Hannah smile in pictures???)

Breakfast at the Center

Chapel Service

Handed out flowers

Lunch out at Red Robin

Played another game of "hot" and "cold" for my gift of an outdoor Peacock

Went for a 45min run/walk

Laundry, Dishes, some pre-packing purging

                                                        (Elijah made me a picture frame)

Played out side with the kids, bike riding, ripsticking, and playing with/observing a couple of dead moles

Watched "Narnia:Voyage of the Dawn Treader"

                (Ann made me a picture with puffy paints)

Walked back to the Redbox with Ann to return the movie

Got things ready for school the next day

(David made me a cake!)

Practiced singing a song with David playing guitar.  We're getting to be quite the duet ;)

Called my Momma

Tucked kids into bed

Watched Extreme Makeover Home Edition.  Balled my eyes out.

Read more of my book "Addiction and Grace" by Gerald G. May, M.D.

Fell asleep.

 

Did you know God has a mother's heart? 
And that God guides those who are caring for young people?
"He tends His flock like shepherd.
He gathers the lambs in his arms
and carries them close to his heart;
he gently leads those that have young"
Isaiah 40:11



Some Typical Meals

I so enjoy my coffee time in the morning.  I'm doing it right now ;)

I've been doing smoothie's for my weekday breakfasts for about 10 years now.  I know that because I started when I was pregnant with Elijah and wanted to get in all my servings of plants.  The base is soymilk, nonfat yogurt, mixed berries and ground flaxseed.  Then I stuff as many fruits and vegetables in as I can.  Tons of spinach, bean sprouts, asparagus, kale, whatever I have.  Finish it with half a banana for sweetness.

Always in my big green cup so I can drink it on the go.

The boys's bring a lunch everyday, except Fridays when they can buy.  On the left is David's:  pita bread and hummus, juicy box, green apples and a go-gurt. On the right Elijah's: ham sandwich, apples, juicy box,  go-gurt.  I usually will pop in an extra treat, like a home-made cookie, or hershey's kiss. 

Meat Dip is a favorite in our home!  My good friend gave me the recipe a few years ago and I think I make it at least once a month. 
1st layer-- 1/3 cooked and seasoned ground beef mixed with 2/3 black beans.  2nd layer-- package of cream cheese, half a container of light sour cream, big jar of thick-n-chunky salsa, all mixed together. 3rd layer shredded cheddar cheese.  Bake at 375 for 30 minutes.  Serve with tortilla chips (you can get a huge organic bag at CostCo for about $5)  It's a fun meal to it and so yummy.  Here I served it with a side of peaches and strawberries. 

Oatmeal Fruit Bars for dessert.

I rarely cook a whole meal from start to finish in one time slot.  Having a meal plan, even just 2 or 3 days out allows me to put even just 15 minutes to good use.  In 15 minutes I can get all sorts of chopping done, or mix together some ingredients, or cook up ground beef, rinse and start soaking beans.  Soak beans overnight or simmer ham or chicken bones overnight and voila- I am working in my sleep!!

Just the other day I had a small block of time and in 20 minutes I chopped up the rest of our Easter Ham, threw it in a freezer bag, then added a large chopped up onion, and some shredded carrots.  Put the bag in the freezer.  Tonight I will start a chicken carcass (from my Cost-Co rotisserie chicken that we had with rice and seaweed last night)  simmering on the stove for broth which I will freeze.  Then, on a busy day... all I have to do is put my broth, ham mixture, and dried split peas in the Crockpot and come dinner time, it's ready to go.  You'd think I'd have slaved all day over such a delicious pot of soup, but nope :)

It is so important to me to nourish myself and my family as well as I can.  It saves money, keeps me focused on my family, trains the children to have a taste for home-cooked meals (as opposed to fast "food") and keeps us healthier in the long run.  It can be done! Glean ideas that  will work for you and your family, think creatively, and never waste a spare minute ;) ;) ;)

Where God Sets Us

                             ~

 "God sets the lonely in families"
                                                                 Psalm 68:6a


Our impending move is hanging over our heads.  We're all excited to see where the Lord will have us this summer.  God has been so faithful to us in San Francisco, that seriously, I have little worries about our next home and appointment.  We do feel the weight of our new ministry, but everytime things have seemed impossible, God has amazingly made them possible.  He wants us exactly where we are.  I'm proudly all done kicking and screaming ;) and looking forward to this new journey in the ARC family.  It's not how I expected things to go, but God does far more than we ask or imagine!!  Just look at the family He's set me in...

Reading "The Giving Tree" by Shel Silverstein.  I cry everytime I read this!  The kids have it practically memorized, but I still insist on reading it often.  Such a spiritual lesson here.

David working on his 3 dimensional light-up Israel map for school.  He wired it all and everything.  I just helped with the handwriting :)  He did such a great job! 

                               Hair curlers!

     Papa Bear reading to the wee bears.

Show and tell.  Hannah also made a "map" like her big brother.

David show and telling his little bro- "Lil' E"

I came home from the Center one day to see that Daddy-O had bought a whole new bin of legos for the girls while they were out store inspecting.  Wow, we have TONS of legos. I'm guessing five tubs when we move this time.

But it keeps them occupied.  The kids will literally spend hours building together. Robots, towers, machines, castles, gardens, houses, RVs, theme parks, fortresses, or the soccer game above. 

Mary likes to watch the TV all spread out.

Dinner time.  Come and get it!  I treated myself to a Triangle Bell for our new home.  It makes sense to me to use instead of having to take so long to round everyone up from the ends of the earth for dinner.

 

And here is some food for thought I'll leave with 

Discouraging Younger Women

I felt so encouraged in my convictions and still exhorted to do better myself after reading this.

Easter

                                         Easter Crafts

                                                   Egg wreath

Lilies grow all over the place here.  We even have some behind our house.  Everytime I pick them we think of our friend, baby Lily, and we sing "He's the Lily of the Valley".  I just love Lilies.

                                         Coloring Easter Eggs.

                                                   Ann and David

                                                   Elijah and Hannah

Mary

You know those plastic sleeves that come with the Paas decorating set?  Well, we lost the directions and Paul thought you must microwave them on the egg to get them to shrink on.  I remembered something about boiling, but how can you argue with a man whose made up his mind.

It blew up! It was so loud, we all screamed and jumped.   It was so funny, but it really stunk up the house.

Twas the night before Easter.  The girls had been making pictures and "crafts" for the Easter Bunny since Christmas it seems like.  They laid them out for the Bunny to take.  On the left are Elijah's Resurrection Eggs he made at school.

Bunny grass and "droppings".  Mini-marshmellows really.

Early Easter morning I went and did a Sunrise Service, when I came back the kids were still sleeping.  Very nice for me ;)  They started pouring out of bed around 7 (that's sleeping in for them!) and were so excited to see if the Easter Bunny left anything for them besides droppings.  Daddy read the Resurrection Scriptures before the hunt began.

  It was fun to search for the baskets in a new house.  All brand new hiding spots!

       I was so mean and made them take a picture before they tore them up.

        They were all so pleased with their little trinkets and candy. 

We headed to services at the Center.  Church Service followed by a fabulous Easter Brunch.  It felt so very good to me to be in fellowship with the men and the women and our Comrads this holiday. 

                                                    He is Risen!

Mary got into her chocolate on the way home.  She had it stuffed in her shoes and she was a disaster by the time we finished our 20 min. drive home.

                                                   Captain Daddy

Captain Mommy's self-portrait.  Since I can't wear an Easter dress for Easter Sunday,

I always put on lipstick and gloss.

Easter afternoon, we watched The Blob (1958). Ate a ham.  Putzed around.  And before bed, shared the Resurrection Eggs.

We had a wonderful Easter. It felt very different to my family this year not being absolutely exhausted by the end of the day.    We still followed our usual traditions at home, but it was very sad to me not having all of our Corps(Church) traditions and people.  Even the older children were reminiscing about all of the things we would do in the Corps and community.   We have a new life in that sense, one that we haven't yet fully experienced until we get our stride as ARC Officers.    I wonder if, when Jesus rose from the dead, if it hurt?  I wonder if his body was stiff and resistant while God was restoring his flesh to life.  I wonder if Jesus was even aware that He was being brought to life, until he was fully alive...  

"The resurrection gives my life meaning and direction and the opportunity to start over no matter what my circumstances."
                                        ~Robert Flatt

Make a Nest... 3 Easy Steps

Supplies:

Brown Lunchbag

Runny Glue

Nature such as twigs and leaves

1.  Take a nice long walk outside with the children.  Collect twigs, leaves and whatever else they want to use to build their nest.  They can collect it into their brown lunchbag.

2.  Smush their lunchbag down into a rough circle.

3.  Glue all the bits of nature onto the lunchbag.

Hannah putting her nest in the tree.

Ann putting hers in too.


Later they added some sunflower seeds to lure the birds into their nest, really though, it lured the squirrels and 'coons.

Dinner... An Event

"And indeed... this woman is now turning a dinner into a kind of love affair-into a love affair of the noble and romantic category in which one no longer distinguishes between bodily and spiritual appetite or satiety!"
-From Babette's Feast by Isak Dinesen

It really doesn't take much to turn meal time into an "event".  Most nights it is for us and I swear I don't spend every minute of the day in the kitchen.  I just plan and prep ahead a lot.  I have responsibility outside the home too, and I just love my crockpot for days like those or make ahead freezer meals.
For dinner, I always light candles on the table.  Easy peasy!  Also, using fancy dishes, we have to use dishes anyways, might as well use maybe fancy glasses, or dessert plates or something "special".  How about a tablecloth (saves times washing down the table anyways) or send the children out to pick some flowers or pinecombs for the middle of the table.  The possibilities are endless really. 
Lately, I've been trying to put interesting things as a centerpeice.  Right now you would find a spring toned placemat with 2 Ceramic birds perched in the middle, 3 candles and a Lily the girls and I picked from the park.  Makes me sing "He's the Lily of the Valley" everytime I pass by!

My goal in all of this is to keep my family at the table for at least 30 minutes, to make dinnertime an event to be looked forward too, and to give everyone the opportunity to be satisfied:  physically, emotionally, and spiritually.    And on a spiritual note... early on in Genesis, God walked in the Garden of Eden in the "cool of the day" (Genesis 3:8).  Most commentaries agree that this the time before dusk.  When do most people eat dinner? Before dusk.  God is present at our table when we break bread together (or mac-n-cheese, or whatever ;)  And how about the signifigance of all of the celebrations that God instituted... feasts.  And even when our Lord Jesus came, He ministered in meals many times, especially His last Passover.  

The Family Meal Table is an excellent video that I bought a few years ago.  I would suggest it to anyone who needs a boost in their family meal time.  I've even used this video in Women's and Family Ministries too. 

Veggie Potstickers

                                                    Brown Fried Rice

                                    Dipping sauce for Potstickers

                                      Rice Krispie Treats


"There is no spectacle on earth more appealing than that of a beautiful woman in the act of cooking dinner for someone she loves."
~ Thomas Wolfe