this is only a test

Since home school started I haven't had the leisure time to be poetic. I haven't been inspired and I haven't been disciplined so I dug out a writing exercise from high school and sadly, this is all I could come up with
Shades of ...

shadowy, obscure
electronic shell
apartment carpet
automotive smell
bone dry sidewalk
driftwood weathered
chainlink fence
pigeon feathered
shiney or dull
what can I say?
there is nothing exciting
to write about ... grey

I love to write and would love to get better at it but without the time or energy I fear I will never move past my dr. seusical rhyme scheme. One of the saddest days of my life was when I "graduated" college (I still have 1 class left to complete my degree). I've spent the last few years trying to continue learning outside the classroom so if you have any pointers, websites or blogs to direct me to ... I can use the help! (and if you are wondering why I even bother I'll save that for another blog since I haven't figured that one out yet.)

I love my Eliot

Last night on the way home from AWANA I asked the kids what they learned and if they could still remember their verse. When I asked Eliot what his verse was he said without any hesitation, "I am TOTALLY beautiful" Psalm 139. The real verse is "I am ... wonderfully made". Here his is right before going to sleep. He got to sleep on the top bunk tonight.

God bless America

I read a great blog today that really challenged my perspective. I've been pondering the effects that culture has on my faith and I've realized that patriotism and Christianity need to be two sepparate things; two distinctly unique and in no way equal kingdoms. I think every Christian should be aware of world events, involved in their community and actively seeking ways to improve their world through the political chanels available.

At this point in my life the only way I am doing this is by keeping tabs on current events, voting and signing petitions that I have thouroughly read and understand (I don't usually sign them right outside the grocery store since I can't get a firm grasp of a petition from a 1 paragraph synopsis.) I'm hoping that as the kids become more and more independant I'll find a way to be more involved politically but I'm still trying to define one apart from the other.

In my quest to sepparate the two I've found the following hallmarks of our great country to be the most detrimental to my faith

1.) individualism!!
2.) greed, wealth, discontentment
3.) democracy
4.) self reliance
... the list goes on...

My brain is so fried right now I am having a hard time putting my thoughts together on this subject but this article (read this one first) was very helpful in my quest to understand how detrimental my culture is to my faith.

And what is Biblical (Nouthetic) Counseling?

It certainly isn't this (but close)



More on this topic later.

100th post : A little about myself ...

In 100 words or less
I am
5'7 and 3/4 inches
1*9lbs
hair: currently "Navajo Bronze"
eyes: have two, both blue
age: 28
religion: Christian
family status: they are all napping
sex: prefer not to comment
College: 4 years, completed all but 1 freshman level class (arghh....!)
Degree: Biblical Counseling
Hopes, Dreams, Aspirations: I want to be a godly wife and mother, and excellent friend, a willing evangelist, a compassionate counselor, respectful daughter, patriotic citizen and a friendly stranger to those I meet.
2 Major flaws (I had to limit myself):
1.) I am insanely curious to understand and know ... everything, I annoy my husband with "Did you know .... (insert random and usually useless fact)
2.) I have a mean face and often look mad or unhappy when internally I'm bubbling with joy. People often think I'm upset or irritated when I'm not. I don't know how to change this, but I'm working on it.
1 Major strength: hmmm... I am a Child of a God who has given me salvation as a gift and has promised to refine and perfect me on earth until He sees fit to bring me home where I can worship him for eternity in Heaven.

Yes, that was way more than 100 word but if you have any personal question, go ahead and ask!

What did you do today?

This is what you can do when you have at 10 year old niece staying with you to entertain the kids. Today I

steam cleaned the carpets for 2 hours
scrubbed the mineral deposits out of both toilets
stained and polished all my scratched up furniture
had a friend over for two hours (with few interruptions)
did laundry
made dinner
cleaned the kitchen
ran several errands
and had time and energy to lesson plan for home school tomorrow.

She is such a helper and such a sweetheart. I don't think I will want to let her go home on Saturday! (And if you are reading this Mom, yes, she's staying up on her home school too.)

It's amazing how a little help goes a long way. There are times when I think I'm too busy reach out to help other people but Stephanie's example of helpfulness was a good reminder to me how amazingly wonderful it is to receive that help and how easy it is to provide it. My favorite quote of all time is

"The smallest deed is greater than the grandest intention"

Who liked dinner tonight?

We Do!

I don't know about all you other ladies but in my attempt to make healthy food that takes less than an hour dinner is not always "palate pleasing". Tonight dinner got an enthusiastic 'Thank you' and I can't tell you how nice that was!

(Just as a note, after 1 year of marriage I recieved 4 cookbooks for Christmas, 2 from Phillip and two from his mom ... that should tell you something about my cooking.)

Since I never use recipes I thought I'd write this one down while I still remembered what I did.

Vegameatarian lasagne:

ground beef
can spaghetti sauce
spinach
any kind of summer squash
garlic, milk, butter (or 1 can alfredo sauce)
lasagne noodles
cheese

1.) The Noodles:
Cook them in a large pot according to package directions. The will take about 10 min to al dente. Don't bother draining them, by they time they are all cooked you will need start assembling the lasagne and you can just fish them out with tongs.

2.)The Meat Sauce:
Cook the ground beef until almost done, add one jar of spaghetti sauce and set aside to simmer until you are ready to use it. I wish I had used a leaner ground beef but .. whatever.


3.)The Alfredo Sauce: (this is instead of ricotta and egg)
Put a couple of tsps minced garlic and 2T butter or extra virgin olive oil in a skillet and roast until light brown. Warm 1 1/2cup of milk in the microwave. Add about 3T of flour (I used whole wheat) until most of the oil is absorbed and it is the consistency of peanut butter. Slowly add the warm milk and whisk until smooth. Stir constantly until it thickens back up. Alfredo sauce usually has parmesan cheese too but I didn't have any and didn't miss it.


4.)The Veggies:
Cook summer squash in a skillet (skip this step if you want your lasange to crunch a little). Don't bother cooking the spinach.


teeny bit of white sauce on the bottom to keep the noodles from drying out
noodles
spinach leaves
summer squash
white sauce
noodles
meat sauce
noodles
meat sauce
cheese to top it (I used mozerella)

375 in the oven until the cheese gets brown. The kids were starving so we pulled it out after the cheese melted (about 10min). Everything is cooked already so even putting it in the microwave for a few min instead of the oven wouldn't hurt.

Flattering or Creepy?

Yesterday when Eliannah and I were admiring a bird in a tree, we noticed a friendly looking man smiling at us and taking our picture with his camera phone. Since I am not a celebrity I am by no means used to that happening but since I was in highschool every once in a while a complete stranger will come up to me and ask to take my picture. I can't imagine why anyone would do that, but I'll take it as a compliment ... or is that just weird? what do you think?

A rose by any other name ...

Everyone in our house has a nickname, some of us have several. Here is the rundown

me: Piglett, Pigaletto, little pig (note: Phillip is the ONLY person on earth allowed to call me any of those and I will not explain how I got that name)

Phillip: Pmo, it started as P-mo at work (a switch from the very brief "Mad-eye-Moses") and now he is introduced to clients and new hires as Pmo. It confuses people when I call Phillip at work and ask for him using his real name.

Zak: "Zak man", "Zak attack" and "giggle spit" (he hates that last one)

Eliot: poor guy, his nickname is "smelliot" and he loves it! (It used to be smelly-butt but that was just too crass a name for my little boy)

and last but not least there is "Yelliannah" geez, I wonder why such a quiet, demure little thing would get such a name?

Just so you know, these are family nicknames (except for Phillip's) and if anyone tries to use them outside our family they might get hit. I'm not kidding ...

So what are your family nicknames? do you have any?

Girls night out!!

In case you didn't get my evite invitation (sometimes it gets recognized as spam) you are all invited on October 19th to "Fabulous Faces" Girls Night out. The main reason I'm hosting this party is because 25% of the evening's sales will go to the Borlands to help offset their adoption costs. Since their adoption is up in the air right now it will be great to hear from Kristin and find out how things are going. So click on the link, enter your name and email in the RSVP box, bring a friend and join me as we learn how to take care of our faces.

One step backward taken - Robert Frost

Not only sands and gravels
Were once more on their travels,
But gulping muddy gallons
Great boulders off their balance
Bumped heads together dully
And started down the gully.
Whole capes caked off in slices.
I felt my standpoint shaken
In the universal crisis.
But with one step backward taken
I saved myself from going.
A world torn loose went by me.
Then the rain stopped and the blowing
And the sun came out to dry me.
- Robert Frost

I don't know where to start! This is such an amazing poem I can almost see the mudslide and feel his sigh of relief at not being swept away by it. What a picture of life choices. I think that this poem should always be read alongside his more famous "The road not taken".
I haven't been able to get this poem out of my mind recently, I guess it is because I feel like I am on the brink of some sort of change but I don't think I will have a choice about a path so much as a choice to how I respond. Like something is going to happen that I can either embrace and rush into headlong or take one simple step back to avoid the chaos.
Who knows, maybe I'm just making things up. Good thing I have this thought to keep in mind as well.

Deuteronomy 29:29
"The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law"