Archive for November, 2009

Baby Stumble Baby Step

by admin on November 29, 2009 in Bits Of My Personality, My Listening Year with 2 Comments

I have been so thankful to have less fatigue this week that I might have gotten a bit carried away. Filled my days pretty full and went pretty hard for the first part of the week… needless to say I was breathless at the end of the week. I found myself jittery and kinda worn out.

I realized my prayer time had suffered, I stumbled into cookie cutter prayers again. I was doing the same old ‘be with me Lord, be with me Lord… oh gotta run, hope your coming too!’ pray…

The other night I gave into the gnawing need to quiet myself and have some focused prayer time.
I had barely closed my eyes when ‘be with me Lord’ escaped my lips…
I froze as soon as I said it…
His Spirit called to me to come.
I winced and was stilled as my heart felt the prick…
He was still softly asking me to come…
and it hit me like a ton of bricks…
I was again running ahead…

In that quiet moment, in the whispered conversation between my savior and I…

My ‘please be with me Lord’ was instantly traded in for ‘I come to you Lord’…

So again I took his hand…

I traded in my reckless headstrong racing ahead for trust, obedience and a willingness to be lead by my Lord.

TTFN

Yum Yam Pancakes!

by admin on November 28, 2009 in Domestic Damsel with No comments
This recipe is a big hit in our house!
The kids say it tastes like pumpkin pie!
My baby boy screams in between each mouthful,
he can’t get more put in there fast enough!ENJOY and let me know if you try it!
  • 2 1/2 cups mashed sweet potatoes
  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • 1 1/2 cups milk
  • 1/4 cup butter, melted

Directions

  1. Peel potatoes and cut into little cubes to cook faster. Boil till soft. Mash potatoes well.
  2. Mix mashed sweet potatoes, eggs, milk and butter in a bowl.
  3. In another bowl mix the flour, spices and baking powder.
  4. Blend sweet potato mixture into the flour mixture to form a batter.
  5. Have a hot pan ready. Drop batter mixture onto the pan and perhaps gently help the batter spread out a bit with your spatula.
  6. Cook until golden brown (which will probably be longer then other pancake types as this is pretty dense), turning once with a spatula when the surface begins to bubble.
  7. Serve with maple syrup.

TTFN

Christmas Cheer On Sale!

by admin on November 26, 2009 in Bits Of My Personality, Holiday Messages with 2 Comments


Christmas and sales make me feel cheery:)

The kids and I set up the step today, to go with our ‘fairy lights’ (called that in England according to E-Mom). The ribbons where a dollar each (at the dollar store), garland was on sale for 4.00$ at Zellers and the little sign was only.47 cents (also found at a Zellers sale). We got the Christmas look for a deal!

I am tickled!

TTFN

Don’t

by admin on November 25, 2009 in Bits Of My Personality, Do I Call It Parenting Advice? with 3 Comments

Don’t!
pack up the babies once the big kids are off to school and stop at Home Depot for stuff for your man…
and then pack them into the van and out again just across the street and down a bit to hit a clothing store to get same man’s favorite laces…
and then pack them up and out again to hit costco, and push a cart with both kids, that is too heavy for you and keeps getting the tire stuck…
then pack them up again and head home for a quick lunch and nap… then skip nap while they are sleeping so you can clean up the house…
then pick up the other two kids and hit the grocery store just before supper…
then bag your supper so you can go to a ladies evening…
then let your man talk you into staying up till one…

Do!
put a limit on how much you will do in one day…

WHY?
Cuz the next day will be a waste due to you and the babies needing to recuperate and your back will be killing you all day!

Just some wisdom I thought I should pass on… not that I practice what I preach in this regard, ha ha ha!

TTFN

OUR Lights!

by admin on November 24, 2009 in Bits Of My Personality, Four Little Eggs In My Nest, Holiday Messages, Life Keeps Changing with 5 Comments

I had been pleading with my husband for years to let me get Christmas lights. I love the cheery light on the short days of winter and wanted to have my own to plug in each night. We had finally gotten one little string of lights for our Waldheim home and then we moved… and forgot them there…

Well it must be official! We must be in our own home again because we put up lights! We have graduated from one little string to four! I am so happy every night I plug them in! I hope to get one string each year and keep adding to them. It was a family event putting them up. I had a wonderful helper in ‘Big Boy’. He handed me the clips and helped me unwrap the lights but most importantly he held the ladder for me (except when he took the below picture.). Holding the ladder and chatting with me turned out to be very important because I discovered I don’t like being on ladders at all! I was pretty shaky getting down again. It is so funny how we change when we grow old. I remember climbing up and swinging on ladders as a child… we used to play ‘dare devil’ and jump from fence to ladder to roof tops as kids!
The pretty star lights are to ‘Little Woman’s credit. She insist we get them! Such a grand helper she was as we found a few affordable strings of lights.

When Daddy plugged them in for the first time all the children where on the couch watching out our big window. They clapped (even Baby Boy) and a chorus of ‘Ooooh’ and ‘Aaaah’ rang out. There is no snow here yet and it seems so strange!! So for now we decided with shorter days the cheery lights where needed… might as well get them up while the weather is still mild! But the inside will probably wait for a bit! I am not looking forward to removing ‘Baby Boy’ from the Christmas tree constantly…

TTFN

One Calm Evening

by admin on November 23, 2009 in Bits Of My Personality, Mama Heart Mushings with 1 Comment
One calm evening I looked to see,
all the gentle blessings surrounding me.

Outside a peach glowing sky,
warms my heart till it wants to cry.A rarity this house full of children so quiet and kind,

Peaceful enough to ease my mind.
Inside a collection of sweet beauties all mine!
An eldest daughter reading wisely and fine!

At my table a boy who has always been my joy,
Filled with passion for art he loves coloring more then any toy.Finally I find two babies at play,
In and out of a Costco box they would spend their whole day!

I was so eager to get pictures of the sky and glowing apples I ran out in bare feet. As I ran across the yard I stepped on one of the apples and it instantly mushed beneath my feet, YUCK… but capturing the moment was worth it! This gorgeous sky was the perfect reflection of how warm my family and home felt that evening! I had barely taken all the indoor and outdoor pictures when the peach sky died away into night! It had been so pretty it looked edible!

Next to the peachy light, and how it sets nature aglow, my favorite is mocha light and how it changes the look and feel of everything it touches. Here is a photo of mocha light on my old neighborhood… This photo doesn’t get the color perfectly correct… Mocha light is worth drinking! One day I hope to really capture the peach and the mocha but these pictures are a start:)

TTFN

Beyond

by admin on November 23, 2009 in My Listening Year with 1 Comment

Why just tithe?

I feel like a lot of the institutional church pushes the ten percent because that is all they think they can get out of us so they are gonna work hard to get at least that… I am wondering today though if that is the cause or the effect? Perhaps GIVING is to be just as much a part of our spiritual growth process as everything else?

At some point the real followers of Christ will feel moved to invest what they have been given… They will be urged by the Spirit to do more then bury their coin in the ground and wait for Christ to return… ‘You could have at least invested it??’ said the king to the disappointing servant… He could have at least tithed to a church!

I am thinking lately that we need to break free of this limitation as with all limitations of the institutionalized church… we need to embrace the CHURCH, the bride of Christ, our brothers and sisters united by the Holy Spirit and allow ourselves to be taught, selflessness and GIVING, by the Lord. It goes so beyond the stifling concepts taught about tithing…

If we seek to live by the Spirit he will lead us beyond what the institutionalized church calls tithing and toward freedom. We will seek investments into souls and perhaps we will learn to skip the middle man and do it directly.

TTFN

Oolong Tea

by admin on November 17, 2009 in Bits Of My Personality with 2 Comments
or
black dragon tea

Garnet and I are adventurous in the world of tea; together!
We find mutual enjoyment in our little obsession with tea!

Oolong is somewhere between green and black, as far as oxidization, and is very popular in China. It isn’t as veggie tasting as green so my husband and I are big fans. We have a chocolate mint variety that we particularly enjoy in the evening but the Twinnings plain Oolong is my current favorite with lunch. It is caffeinated. You should try it!

TTFN

Every Now And Then Was Today

by admin on November 15, 2009 in Bits Of My Personality, Mama Heart Mushings, My Listening Year, My Romance with 8 Comments

HOPE!

Every now and then a woman has a perfectly lovely day for no particular reason. Nothing out of the ordinary, in fact the day is usually completely ordinary!

Today was such a day.

Just days ago I felt like writing a play by play ‘day in the life of ME’ type thing because it all felt so ridiculously difficult. I wake up assuming I will keep it together and more often then not I have sunk like a stone lately…

Hope held me back and I didn’t blog…

Time to focus on the victory in my life and the blessings and Jesus. With little steps I went from a dark valley to the hill… stayed there looking at that monster hill for a while but then the little steps took me slowly up… I am pretty sure I am still on my way up but ‘I’ve come a long way baby’.

I think my senses are hungry lately… my ears really want to hear… my eyes really want to take it in… my hands to grasp, clasp, feel…

I want to taste and see that the Lord is good! Forgive me if I don’t mention smell for I have no experience with this sense (wink).

Woke up late (yahoo for sleeping in) and savored a cup of tea drowned in cream and honey toast smothered in cinnamon.
Took a brisk walk down my fall drenched street to the salon at the community mini mall.
Meet a wonderful person and she did my hair! Discovered how small the world was as we talked and realised all the mutual people we know.
Walked home, very slowly, tickled pink at an excellent hair cut.
Burst in the door and snuggled my baby, then snuggled my three year old daughter, then hugged my man!
Chased my older two around and around the kitchen and living room as I cleaned up and they pretended to be spy’s following me.

The afternoon was largely spent NAPPING!

The evening was spent grocery shopping. It was just me and my half sweet gingerbread latte filling the cart. I was singing and humming the song Daddy and I had sang to Baby Boy just before I left. He stopped our hearts by singing back to us in his own language and I couldn’t stop thinking about his little song and head sway… I checked myself out with the self serve check out machine and had no problems! Happy, I puttered home.. Eagerly I unpacked the groceries so I could dig into the fresh fruit!

I was welcomed home to a warm house and soft worship music on the stereo. My man greeted me with the magical news that all four kids where in bed! I am now eagerly waiting for our evening tea time together!

What was so different about today, what was so special, why can’t I trap such days in a bottle and save them for later when I am wigging out?

Thank you Jesus for all the blessings in my life! Thank you for the every now and then days!

TTFN

Counting It A Big Blessing!

by admin on November 12, 2009 in Do I Call It Parenting Advice?, Four Little Eggs In My Nest, Mama Heart Mushings, My Listening Year with 1 Comment

I find at a young age all children posses the heart of a helper and if parents calm down enough about perfection the child learns how to be good at helping. I am learning to be this parent.

Big Girl used to play ‘Cinderella’ when she was little. I would give her a damp cloth and she would, well, smudge everything in her path but with an earnest heart and desire to help Mommy. Big Boy was my little tidy up ‘Prince Charming’ and still is. He loves helping Mommy clean up the clutter in no time at all.

Little Woman is now entering that stage and partly because she like to feel like a minny mom. For the last couple weeks she has insisted on drying the dishes. I was very nervous about it at first and tried to deter her but, as many of you may no, three year olds are amazingly susceptible to ‘reverse psychology’ so this back fired for me.

Turns out she is quick, very careful and dedicated! I thought the fun would wear off right away but she is still drawn to me like a magnet when the sink starts filling up with suds and hot water! I clearly see one reason she really enjoys this is because she has me pinned down and can talk my ear off. I often get a little tired and just start doing the ‘uh hu‘, ‘oh yah‘, ‘yes dear’ but more often I really enjoy listening to her describe her crazy ‘Little Woman world’.

And please don’t offer to help! Oh she gets mad if I suggest she not worry about the last few dishes or try to dry them for her! And Mommy better get out of the way when it is time to wipe down the sinks at the end, this too is HER JOB! Truth is, if you can’t already tell, I appreciate the help GREATLY and adore the company while washing the dishes. It has made this miserable job something to look forward to!

I can count my blessings! I have been hoping for a dish washer and while I haven’t gotten that yet the Lord sent me company, conversation and a loving littler helper to make my burden lighter:)

TTFN

← Older Entries