A perfect boy gift

We just received something I ordered for Kaleb for Christmas. Shh! Don't tell him! My boys love taking things apart, and building things, and learning about new things. I saw this originally on Vision Forum and then found it cheaper on Amazon. It's called Power House, and it's all about building a little model house with alternative energy sources. (I got it for $29.95!! Now it's a lot more! I wonder if it was a typo when I got it! ;)) I thought it would be a lot smaller than it is. It's a nice size, and it looks like a super nice kit! YAHOO!

One more awesome boy gift: my boys LOVE the Jonathan Park stories. They are about creation & the science around it, but they're adventure stories. I used a 25% off coupon code last week and picked up this: an ipod nano with all of the Jonathan Park stories on it!!! It is cheaper than buying all of the CDs. We were talking about getting them an ipod anyways, to put all of their music and audio books on...This just fit perfectly!!

The company that made the Power House Kit, Thames and Kosmos, makes all kinds of amazing kits and they have really good reviews. Isaac is getting the Fuel Cell Car (cheapest through Vision Forum). We thought the Microcontroller looked awesome (but expensive). Karry said he programmed a microcontroller in college. I said "yeah, maybe when they're in about 6th grade or so," and he was like "Ouch! What are you saying about my education?" and I said "no, homeschoolers are just brilliant!" :) :) I'm not saying that to sound stuck up! I honestly like to just hand my boys tools that are really above their age/level (as long as they are safe) to get them thinking, exploring, learning, questioning! That's all! :)

CRAZY WEATHER!

We are currently staying in a 4 story house that sits on the side of a mountain. We're on the top level. The house is relatively new...I'm not sure how old. The room we're in has a sloped ceiling (the roof being right above us), and tall windows.....and the wind is blowing like CRAZY! I don't think I've ever been in a crazier wind storm, let alone while residing in a home that sits precariously (my opinion) on a mountain. The hous keeeps shaking--as one might expect the top of a 4 story house to do in a wind storm--but it's still scary...

So this is my last will and testament.....Just kidding! ;)

Well, neither of us can sleep through this....So maybe we'll just keep googling windstorms & their damage, for the fun of it. ;)

2:30 am update (we've been up since 12:30): the glass on top of the patio table on our deck just went flying off the deck. Yikes. Good thing it didn't fly towards our window! It feels like a constant earthquake and it's very loud. We just saw a power outage happen down below!! (We are overlooking the city of Newberg). This is CRAZY!!

10 Years & Celebrating!

Our anniversary was July 31 of this year, and we have been married for 10 years! Right now we are away for our anniversary, and I want to write about the places we've been and what we've done while it's fresh in my memory!

Stop #1 (well, after getting gas, coffee, and dropping off the dog!) was Monteaux's Public House, in Beaverton,f or lunch. They had gluten free options clearly marked on their menu (a HUGE plus!) and very yummy food! They had a unique brand of bottled root beer, something Karry enjoys checking out. We thought it was a little costly for the style of restaurant, especially considering it was lunch time, but it was busy and obviously well liked! Karry had fish & chips, and I had Chiciken Schnitzel without the breading (it was more like Chicken Picatta). It was yummy!

Then we drove to Newberg! When we got close to our B&B, the roads started looking like this:

INTENSE FOG! And our directions brought us the wrong way, so we had to turn around in this fog....It was very hard to see, and there was a steep edge to one side of us, with no guard rails. I was scared, but Karry enjoyed the adventure.

Our B&B is sitting on one of those steep edges--it is a 4 story house that is all lit up at night, off of a foggy, dark, scary (I think) road.

To my delight, we found this in our room:



This is the jar after we each ate one! :) Gluten free Choco-Mint Cookies! YAHOO! Made for us! Our room is beautiful, There's a big window looking out on the city lights. The attention to detail is amazing here. There are remote control blinds (up high), and a box with a sewing kit, a toothbrush (in package), deoderant, etc.. There's a lint roller, and an iron, and a hair dryer, and a cd player with various classical, jazzy, bluesie and new-agey cds (as well as the ability to plug in your own ipod!).

Stop #3, shops in downtown Newberg. We spent the most time in Chapters, a book store. I found a new book I hadn't seen by Cheryl Mendleson, and I like Cheryl Mendleson books. My iphone helped me find it cheaper on Amazon. ;) I had no clue there were spiral editions of Simply in Season and More with Less, also--I am in love. I love spiral books, especially sprial practical books.

Stop #4 The Painted Lady, in Newberg, where we filled our bellies to the BRIM with a 7 course meal!!

This is a once in a great while type of place (though I got the impression that some who were there had been there before--perhaps even often). We thought the lunch place was costly--well----yeah.....I don't think we've ever been to a more spendy place than this one, ever. But it's our 10th anniversary! Hey, 10 years ago we planned that this very year we would go to Italy (not thinking about children, a mortgage, etc.!). This was cheaper than a trip to Italy, I'll say that. :)

Our courses:
#1 2 little appetizers. One was a beet (steamed?) with a seafood (I forget?) mousse on it...And a fried potato slice with a pesto sauce on it.
#2 I had French Onion Soup without the bread. Karry had venison that was seared, and then frozen (uncooked in the middle), sliced very thin, with a salad.
#3 We both had the Steelhead, with cooked Spinach under it. It was yummy, but more fishy than we're used to--a little on the rare side. I think rare makes it fancier? :)
#4 I had "Steak 2 ways", which was some sliced steak on top of green beans, and some ribs (off the bones in a yummy sauce) on top of mashed potatoes. These were little portions, but it still adds up to a lot of food! Karry had Bacon Wrapped Pork Tenderloins with Candied Pecans.
#5 A Cheese Tray. This cost extra, but I'm a cheese lover, so this was worth it to us. I always want to try every kind of cheese at Whole Foods, but it would cost a lot to try them all (and I might not like them!). It was $15 to try 4 kinds of cheeses, and 2 of them were fabulous! I had the waiter write down the names of them for me!
#6 Dessert #1! Karry had a cheesecake wrapped in white chocolate (seen below). It was beautiful, and tasty (he says!)! :) I had a "Citrus Quartet": grapefruit with a sauce, blood orange sorbet, another kind of sorbet with meringe on top, and a lemon creme brule. YUM. I loved the last 2 items.
#7 Dessert #2! This was like the after dinner mints that come with the check--only much fancier! Little bites of a flourless chocolate cake with a white chocolate cream on top, chocolates, and Russian Wedding Cakes. (Gluten-ous, I couldn't try those ;).

Here we are with dessert:
My plate had a hardened chocolate message on it!

We had a local bottled fancy grape juice with dinner (we're not wine drinkers--I know--what are we doing in Newberg, right? :). With dessert, I had a yummy English Breakfast Tea with milk & sugar, just the way I like it.

Wow that was a lot of food! Tomorrow we have a whole new adventure ahead of us! :)

Stainless Steel Muffin Pan & Books, Books, Books! :)

I was at a site called Marmee Dear last week, because I wanted to buy The Hope Chest, by Rebekah Wilson, and this is one of the few sites that carries it....I've been wanting to buy this book for a few years now...it was on my "someday" list. But I found out recently that the book will no longer be in print. :( There is a new law that requires that all books written for girls under a certain age (I think 16?) go through federal testing (expensive testing) to verify that the ink doesn't contain any lead. While this seems like a great thing--protecting young girls from lead, but it's putting independent publishers like Rebekah Wilson out of business. Small publishers & self-publishers cannot afford to go through this kind of testing. So, sadly, I am seeing many homeschooler's home businesses shutting down...Site after site, I am seeing, will be closed "indefinitely." :(

SO...before The Hope Chest & the 3 picture books that go with it are gone forever, I snatched them up! I went to Marmee Dear, and also to Books on the Path, and bought them! Yay!

When I was at Marmee Dear, I noticed a Stainless Steel Muffin pan. I have been wanting something other than nonstick, but I thought my only option was cast iron--and the cast iron pans only have 6 holes....So I was delighted, indeed, to find this muffin pan! It is cheaper on Marmee Dear than on Amazon (I researched this). You do have to pay for shipping, but if you're buying something else (like a book), it's not really that much more & makes it a wash, or maybe even still cheaper than Amazon's price.

I got my pan today, and it's sturdy, and beautiful, and it works nicely! I made 2 batches of chocolate chocolate chip cupcakes for Kaleb's baptism celebration tomorrow (his request!). :) We are having 40+ people here and I've got a spread on the counter! Covered up, of course, the fruit flies are annoying this time of year!

Off to bed! :)

Kaleb's Bible

shhh....Kaleb doesn't know he's getting a new Bible tomorrow after his baptism! :) This is his old one, but he recently wrote inside the front cover:

He thought it said President, instead of Presented On, and he wrote Obama. He asked Karry why he had to write Obama's name in there, when Obama didn't worship Jesus. He tried wiping it off after that. :)

Youth in the Church

I'm writing this on our brand new imac. :) We've considered getting a desktop for a "family computer" for quite a while now, so that the boys could learn typing, and actually use the Rosetta Stone program we purchased a year ago! Karry got my laptop working, but only when it feels like it. ;) He still has some tweaking to do on it, and we couldn't really get me a new laptop AND a family computer...so we got the family computer, and for now, it's also where I work on stuff, write, etc....

So, youth in the church...Tell me if this describes your church....

You go every Sunday, and rush in the door to drop off your children into their separate classes. You're secretly (or perhaps outwardly) relieved that you get a break from your kids for that hour or two.

The youth program is hard to staff. They're always begging for volunteers. You feel like, because you have kids, you probably should help, but you don't really want to.

The curriculum is ok, but really kind of lame. You realize that if you just "wing it", the kids will actually learn more than the designated lesson plan for the week.

The kids do fluffy crafts, hear a verse (maybe even memorize it, if they've got a good teacher), and play some games.

Church is over, you gather up your children, and rush out the door--seeing them for the first time in a couple of hours. They're wound up--and begging to open the suckers they earned.

Welcome peaceful, worshipful Sabbath!

;)

I think this describes most church experiences in America.

Most people wouldn't argue with this method. We're doing it right, most think. Kids need to be kids. Kids need to be entertained. Kids need to think church is "fun" so that they will want to come to church.

My question then, is, why are something like 90% of church-going children from Christian families walking away from their faith when they go to college? If we're doing it so well--why wouldn't they want to keep going to church?

Youth pastors see these statistics, and they think "more youth programs! A bigger, better program! More of the budget going towards youth!"

Does it help? Maybe for a few. But I am doubtful that it really makes that big of an impact.

I look back at the youth group I was involved with in high school, and afterwards as a leader....It was huge--the biggest youth group in the area. The most budget of probably any youth group for miles and miles and miles. We had fun games, and crazy Wednesday nights. I wonder, today, how many of those kids--out of the hundreds that went to that youth group--are walking with Jesus? How many are reading their Bibles today? Or how many believe they are Christians because they once had a church experience, and yet never really knew their Savior?

I wonder if these big crazy youth groups actually inflate the #s of people in our country who claim to be Christians, and yet have no clue what the Bible actually says. I wonder at how many kids grew up in well-meaning, strong Christian families who have walked away from their Savior because of such fluff and drama, thinking that must be what He was about...

Statistics also show that kids generally follow what their parents believe....So the idea that, when 90% kids are walking away from Jesus, we need to ramp up the youth programs and get them *away* from their parents more is really insane. I know, I know--there are many parents out there who sit around watching TV all day and never once open the Bible for those kids...and maybe the youth program was the *one chance* they had to hear about Jesus. I know--there are those rare kids who actually do grow up and have a thriving relationship with God because of those experiences.....But they're rare. Very rare.

My thoughts: the church budget and effort needs to go into training the parents, not into more youth programs. The parents have the most influential voice in their child's life of *anyone*. If the parents are properly trained how to teach their children about God--given resources--ideas--encouragement---I believe that more children will grow up to walk with their Savior, even as they go away to college.

The churches across America need to stop seeing children as a burden. It's annoying to have to teach Sunday School--most of us think so, don't we? Those snot-nosed kids get hyper, and they never listen, and it's hard to get them to sit still and do the ridiculous crafts....Right? :) The Bible says "he who walks with the wise grows wise, but the companion of fools suffers harm." Well we're dumping all of our precious gems (our children) in with a bunch of other fools and 1 or two wise people who are overwhelmed by the chaos of the fools! So what do our children gain from that? A play hour? Great. But is that what we want church to be for them?

Sometimes I wonder if kids leave church when they're older because it isn't fun anymore. It isn't entertaining. It isn't specifically geared towards them. Maybe because they never learned that living for Jesus is big--and important--and real. Maybe because they have no clue how to transition from making cotton ball sheep to digging into the Greek and Hebrew, because they never learned how...And maybe they just don't feel like they "fit" there anymore.

More and more churches are having to make services "entertaining"...The music has to be just right or they can't keep the crowds....These are our youth groups grown up, people...They're still demanding that church be catered just for them, and that it be fun....

The youth in our church and in our families are not burdens. They are the future of our country, of our world. They will be the next adults sitting in church with their families---or not. They will be the ones who grow up to share Jesus with their neighbors--or not. It's up to us, really. What do we want for the future generation? Do we want one who believes that church is about meeting their "needs" and desires? Do we really want a future generation that is that narcissistic and immature plaguing our churches, becoming our pastors, leading the next generation? (unless there is a miraculous revival, it can only get worse after that, right?)

I say train the parents how to teach their kids....Train the parents how to transition their kids from picture Bible books into reading Greek and Hebrew when the timing is right....Give the parents confidence in their job, and remind them that it is their job, and not the church's.....I think this will make an impact on future generations....That's my 2 cents! :)

Fixing a Mac with a PC :)

My hubby is home! My computer is open! My hard drive is dry on the inside, so my data is most likely safe! The keyboard was very wet, as well as other parts. We will see how it all turns out. Some people wrote about certain keys shorting out, or the mouse not working after water spilling on their Mac. We'll see. We're thankful that we can use this computer to get on You Tube to figure out how to take a Macbook apart correctly....NICE! ;)

Well, homemade chocolate agave nectar ice cream and Tetley's Summer Berry Tea (from our trip to Canada in July) is a perfect end to these 3 days and an especially crazy day! I'm so thankful for Karry being home! =>

I could never be a single mom...

Dear Jesus, please protect my husband as he soars over California and Oregon in a jet, and get him home to us safely! Amen!

This life (the 3 days of it I have lived) is not for me! I was not meant to be a military wife, or a single mom--no can do...Never. Nada. No way.

I have the most amazing husband ever. I know that I was created to be HIS helper, but I feel like in so many ways he is helpful to ME! When I need a break, he will take the kids for an hour or whatever I need. He plays with them, reads to them, helps get their jammies on, helps brush their teeth, prays with them, reads the Bible to them at the dinner table, helps me get dinner on the table, pours the kids' milks, pours our waters, takes out the trash and the recycling and the stinky diaper pail, helps wash dishes, makes sure there is no wet laundry sitting in the washing machine over night (getting stinky..yum), gets the mail, opens the mail, discards the junk mail, makes a nice neat pile of "my mail," picks up random kid things, listens to me, spends time with me, offers tech support, fixes all electronic problems around here, lets the dog in and out, feeds the dog, crates the dog at bed time, lets the dog out to go potty early when everyone else is sleeping, takes leftover food to work for lunch so that I don't have to find it 3 days later in the fridge, carries big heavy stuff out to the garage, vacuums the house, helps fold and put away laundry, changes Ruby's stinky diapers, prays with me.....

Should I keep going??? Oh I miss him!

His value to me is not based on what he does (of course!) but I am noticing how much he does around here and how much of a team we are, and how much I need him!

He left Monday morning, and he'll get back late tonight. My friend Raychel came to stay with me (which was SUPER nice!) and I really enjoyed her. She helped me entertian the kids, and set the table, and pick up. That was AWESOME! I really enjoyed having someone to hang out with and not having an eery quiet house after the kids went to bed! I hate that part! I feel safer just having another adult in the house with me. (I don't know how all of you moms with husbands who work out of town often do this!!! Props to YOU!).

I am exhausted. There are 3 loads of laundry clean & laying flat on my bedroom floor. I just finally vacuumed up the dog treats that the kids dumped all over the living room floor last night (they were "training" the dog...). I was thankful that the dog cleaned up her own vomit after said training (I know, gross). The pan I cooked eggs in this morning is still soaking by the sink. I made ice cream last night & the big ice cream maker is sitting out, ready to go back out to the garage...There is laundry in the washer, and the dryer. The garbage cans are still at the curb (I should have brought them in this afternoon), and the small garbage cans that go in different rooms are still sitting in the garage. The craft projects we worked on yesterday (melted crayons, flower pens) are sitting out in the kitchen and in the den...Although I want our house to sell quickly, I'm praying nobody comes to look at it today or tomorrow! I am exhausted and feeling like I'm getting a sore thoat, and I wish it was bed time *right now*.....

I don't know how he does it! I went on a retreat a week & 1/2 ago and when I came home, the house was all cleaned, and he had hearts all over the walls (the kids had cut out) and a photo of them that I had to go find (a "treasure hunt"). He had done laundry, and dishes, and cooked, and cleaned, AND played with the kids! He was AMAZING.

The kids didn't hear the Bible read at the dinner table at all the last 3 days. :( Tonight the kids ate sliced cheese, craisins and corn chips on paper plates while watching The Magic School Bus.....Life has not been normal these last 3 days!

Oh, and my Macbook accidently got a whole glass of water spilled on it today and it is officially (for now) dead. Thankfully we have my old, clunky Toshiba that is incredibly slow and missing a few keys. I went over to my neighbor's house today (who works for Apple) and he helped me get the battery off, because I had a hard time doing it. I got out Karry's electronics tools (tiny screw drivers, etc.) and tried taking the computer apart to get it all dried out, but I can't get it. I need my techy hubby!

Jesus, Pallllleeeeeeeaaaaasssseeee protect my husband and get him home safely tonight. I can't wait to see him! Amen!

Why I'm avoiding BPA...

I recently created a price sheet with all of the prices of every organic & gluten free grocery product that my family would buy. I have thought much about the price of coconut oil--if I buy it in 1 or 5 gallon containers, the cost is about $3 per lb less than the coconut oil in glass jars. This is not insignificant, considering how much coconut oil my family uses!  Recently we have been using about a 32 oz jar every 2 weeks....So that is an additional $12 per month just for my family to have coconut oil in glass vs. plastic.

Is it worth it???

I've been reading up on bpa just to make sure....

Tiny amounts of bpa (2o parts per million) used in water bottles & food containers for mice caused their babies to be born with brain damage & other birth defects...

BPA is linked to:

Hyperactivity (my kids don't need MORE of that!)

Decreased immune function

Increased fat formation

Early puberty

Changes in gender-specific behavior

Prostate cancer cell stimulation

Increasted prostate size

BPA mimics estrogen....

There have been over 100 studies showing that BPA is harmful to human health.

BPA is not the only toxin in plastic! It's just the one in the media these days...Plastic is not good for us, at. all.

Fat is a perfect dwelling place for toxins. In our bodies, this is where the toxins go.  If we're storing a fat in plastic, the toxins go right into it and dwell there...

The 1 gallon tub would last my family about 8 weeks...A 5 gallon tub would last about 40 weeks. (the cheapest pricing is on the 5 gallon tub) Plastic breaks down over time, and leaches more and more into the food content. So most families are getting these big tubs & storing them (many for a year or more). While coconut oil is usually stable, the container it is in is not...

Also, acidic foods break down bpa and cause it to leach even more. Aluminum cans are lined with BPA. Thus the reason I am trying to avoid aluminum cans--especially the ones that contain tomato products, or anything else acidic.

Isn't this crazy?? I don't want to expose my family to this stuff!

Getting ready!

I know it's a nice autumn day (rainy! leaves on trees! perfect time to sit by the fire!), but I decided it's also time to listen to Christmas music. So there you have it--on the right--my favorite Christmas songs. All but Nat King Cole's version of Adeste Fideles (O Come All Ye Faithful, in Latin). :)

ENJOY!

TV?

I'm struggling again with TV....We went 3 years without watching TV. When I look back on my articles on Serious Moms during that time, I feel convicted by my own writing! Yikes! We had more time to do stuff! I don't know why we got into the habit again. Please understand that I'm not saying all TV is bad or wrong to watch, and I'm not judging any of you. This is my own personal struggle, k? :)

So we started watching TV again about 4 years ago.  At first some of the stuff was shocking to us! Crazy shocking! Like, this is what people are watching?  The funny thing is, recently, the same kinds of things haven't bothered us.....And that started to bother us.  Both of us, around the same time. Which is a good thing.

We've also gotten into this habit of laying the kids down & seeing what was on our dvr...every night.  We got into a lot of shows: Heroes, 24, Lost, The Office, House, Smallville, The Sarah Conner Chronicles, American Idol, 18 Kids & Counting, etc....So we'd stay up, because we would want to watch just one more show....And we'd be exhausted the next day!  And things weren't getting done around here.

We both felt like we were watching too much TV and we didn't want our life to be set up around TV (like "we have to get the kids to bed so that we can watch ____!").  So we've determined to watch less.  Which is a GOOD THING, in my opinion. :)

We both decided that Heroes is getting really dumb & there's nothing great about it. We both decided we're not that crazy about House anymore.  We both determined that the Office has been having some pretty bad humor on it recently, and we don't want to have any part of that....We're not watching American Idol this year.  We don't have a desire to watch 24.

At the same time we're convicted that we shouldn't watch too much, conveniently, we're feeling like it's all same 'ol, same 'ol...nothing new under the sun!  House is always the same--they think they have it figured out, but wait, no they caused more problems--oh, whew! They figured it out!....24 is always the same. Jack Bauer does more in 24 hours than 20 people could realistically do, and he's never hungry and never goes to the bathroom. :)  Heroes is just dumb--everything with Matt Parkman & Syler was driving us crazy, it's just dumb, dumb, dumb!  The Office--there will be witty lines that continue, I'm sure...but there's nothing we have to see....American Idol. Same 'ol, same 'ol, and the singing is getting worse every year, I think. ;)  See, we're getting bored!  This is good!

Did you all listen to that sermon that was on my blog the other day, by Paul Washer? I keep thinking about some of the things he said.  I think we (Karry and I) have watched TV shows without any regard to what our Lord would think about them.  Oh, we haven't watched the really bad shows....But are we comparing the shows we watch to the other shows out there, or are we holding them up to Scripture?

Again, I'm not judging any of you! This is our own conviction as of late!

I know there is a thought out there (and I think I've been guilty of it), that because we're saved, there's a whole ton of freedom, and we can really live however we want (mostly, anyways)....Since our actions have nothing to do with our salvation, heck, why not watch whatever we want?  

I was just reading in 2 Peter today:

"But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.

Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.

So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. Bear in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.

Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen."

(emphasis mine)

Yes, there is freedom....but my concern is, how should we live?  I think it's too easy to take that freedom and run with it. And then take parts of the Bible and say they don't apply to today, and it was a "cultural" thing.  Just like the Scripture says: "His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction."  I believe this is happening today, and I want to be careful to not be one of the people who distorts Scripture to fit the way I want to live.

Anyways--these are my own convictions....take them or leave them, I just wanted to share. :)