Chocolate Covered Strawberries (& Topping suggestions)
This is an EASY dessert that tastes and looks amazing with little effort! Great for parties or gifts (they need to be kept cold, though, to keep the chocolate from melting).
The kids and I just made a batch, and are going to go bless the neighbors with them. Wish we had the camera – they look beautiful!
You’ll need: Read the rest of this entry »
Children create housework, but children are not housework.
As I observe friends with children, particularly those who seem to be discouraged and overwhelmed with motherhood, I have noticed a pattern of sorts: they all seem to treat raising children as though it is a form of housework.
They go through the motions of caring for their children as if they are washing the dishes. They feed their children, care for their basic needs, and even exist in the same room as their children, but do not actually interact with them.
Yet, children are not to be maintained, they are to be nurtured. Read the rest of this entry »
Tom had made the following comment:
As you can see from her previous posts, Sarah copes with separation the same way I do – by staying really busy. At least when I’m on travel, I’ve got lots of work to do to keep busy – Sarah has to be creative, and she’s better at being creative than I am.
I’m busy as it is – why the need for creativity?
Tom’s work requires that he keep his mind alert and engaged the whole time he is at the job site.
Housework, to contrast, I can do in my sleep. Read the rest of this entry »
I’ve arrived in Japan. Didn’t sleep much on the plane, and I’m exhausted. Got the BBC on the television, and Soba noodles in my belly. Time to get some real sleep tonight. I forgot my sleeping pills.
grandvisit/IMG_0294 My mom and my sister also came to visit – they were here last week! They, along with my friend Laura and her daughter, came to church with us for Micah’s baptism. We filled up two rows!
My mom had written “Your Mamma Loves You” in a heart on my chalkboard, and I’m NOT erasing it.. never ever! Ben recognized the handwriting right away – he thought it was surreal. I was really sick right after they left, and didn’t have a chance to update the photos and blog. That has been remedied! (Click on the photo to see more pics from their visit.)
No, we’re not having rice for dinner.
benvisit/IMG_0340My brother Ben (who is 19 years older than Thomas to the day) was visiting friends in PA and came to see us, too! (Click on the photo to see more pictures from his visit.)
I had known that he was thinking of visiting, but not sure when. Yesterday, he called and said, “I’m in Pennsylvania – I’m in King of Prussia”. Woah! Only about a half-hour away!
The weather yesterday was amazing. Sixty-eight degrees. Ben and his friends Lindsay and Matt went to Philadelphia, had a cheese steak (by the way, Jim’s Steaks, which is linked to “cheese steak”, does overnight delivery to anywhere in the US), and walked around South Street.
This morning, Tom left before the sun came up. He had to drive to the airport shuttle pickup location.
At 11 a.m., Becky came by and picked all of us up to go get our car. Then, Ben and I took the kids grocery shopping. It was such a contrast to yesterday – freezing cold, sleet and snow, and crazy wind.
Ben’s ride home was waiting for us when we got here, and he left around 1pm. Short and sweet!
Posted on March 8th, 2005 in Tom | 2 Comments »
Nice. My new laptop arrived just in time for me to bring it on my trip. When I ordered it, the sales guy told me that it would ship on March 18, and arrive 5-7 business days later, so, I was very surprised when I received the notice that it had shipped last week. I spent last night going back and forth between installing the necessary software, and packing for the trip.
The only fault I’ve found with the laptop is that it doesn’t have an airplane power adapter. This really has never been a problem for me, though, since I’ve never seen the need to use a laptop on a plane. Even my coworkers who do have the adapters have really only used their computers to watch their own movies on the plane. With the garbage they show on the plane, this alone could justify the cost of a generic power adapter.
Philadelphia International Airport advertises that there is “Wi-Fi access” in their terminals. Technically, there is… if you have an AT&T wireless account. You can’t even sign up to get one while your in the airport. How useless is that? Chicago wasn’t much better. When I arrived in the lounge, I saw the signs that said “T-Mobile Wifi“. I cracked open my laptop and tried to connect, but was given a place to enter my credit card. At least this time I was able to sign up… now I can blog.
As you can see from her previous posts, Sarah copes with separation the same way I do… by staying really busy. At least when I’m on travel, I’ve got lots of work to do to keep busy… Sarah has to be creative, and she’s better at being creative than I am.
One other cool thing… last night, I downloaded the recently released beta version of OpenOffice 2, and it is amazing. Why anyone would want to pay $200+ for an Office program is beyond me. My plan is to only use OpenOffice for reading and writing all work documents, and see if anyone at the office notices. I’m also going to be using it to write blog entries when I don’t have Internet access.
4thBD/IMG_0314 Thomas turned four on March 2nd!! (Click on pic for more party photos.) I had started to write a blog entry on his birthday, but didn’t get it done on the same date. I didnt’ want it buried in the blog, so I left the date as today’s.
The first thing he did on his birthday was go downstairs to see if he grew. We have pencil marks on one of the walls in our kitchen with the children’s names and heights. He had grown! About 1/4″ since October. He was thrilled.
At Thomas’ request, we had Chinese food for dinner. His favorite dish: Sweet and Sour Chicken. Recently, at a Chinese food restaurant, Thomas asked the waiter “if Chinese people ever sleep.” By the way, the answer was “yes”.
Also by request, we had Carvel ice cream cake.
Presents included art supplies, Pikmin 2, Curious George’s Birthday Surprise, and new clothes.
(Happy Birthday to Uncle Ben and Hannah Collins, too!!)
While Tom is traveling, I like to think of fun and fruitful things to do to help pass the time.
Here are some goals on my itinerary.
I am hopeful that our friends will join us – please e-mail me to “RSVP”.
Party for the kids
I would like to have a little costume / “dress up” party for the kids. As it is, there are pirates, cowboys, royalty, and even a combination butterfly-fairy-princess running around at our house. (Parents have to get dressed up, too!). Let me know if you have any food or game ideas.
Memorize Bible Verses
I just ordered “My ABC Bible Verses: Hiding God’s Word in Little Hearts” by Susan Hunt as well as the teacher’s guide, which has lessons and activity pages that can be duplicated and distributed. Each letter of the alphabet has a corresponding verse and a short application story. The book is also available through CE&P, and the study guide only at CE&P. It would be fun to do this simultaneously with other families, especially as there is not currently a children’s Sunday School at IPC. My goal is to memorize a verse a week.
Book discussion via e-mail
This month, I would like to read the book “Sink Reflections” by Marla Cilley, which is a book about home organization. It is also available through the FlyLady website. (As you can see, this site is mentioned under our favorite links – “You can do anything in 15 minutes!”. This is how I get things done!). Anyone else interested in reading it this month, we can do an email book discussion.
Care Package for a Missionary
This is something I’d like to do for one or more of the missionary families supported by our church. I need to look into this further – get the ages of the children, confirm addresses, etc. I am hoping to send both practical and fun items as well as notes, children’s drawings, etc., from members of our congregation. I would like to circulate a sign-up sheet at church.
Hooray! Finally a break in the clouds.
Aiden’s doing much better than yesterday. He actually ate dinner tonight as opposed to balking at everything except for frozen Go-Gurt. His nose isn’t as runny, and he seemed to have fun playing today. He was even jumping off of things again. Read the rest of this entry »
This is our favorite Barbecue Pulled Pork recipe. It’s just the right amount of spice, sweet, and sour. Perfect for potlucks, parties and picnics. We just made a batch last Sunday for a gathering following Micah’s baptism. Read the rest of this entry »
Aiden woke up screaming and didn’t stop all day. Tylenol wasn’t much help. I took him to the doctor, and they confirmed what I suspected: a double ear infection. Read the rest of this entry »
Found an online nerd test. Like we didn’t know what the score was going to be.
Take the test and post your scores in the comments…
UPDATE: I didn’t know that y’all can’t post images, so just post your scores in the comments. Can anyone honestly beat my score?
Every now and then, you see stories that are so deliciously ironic that you have to laugh out loud. Today, I found oneā€¦
Annette “Flirty” Stevens, president of the Springfield chapter of the Million Mom March, an organization that aims to “prevent gun violence”, was arrested last week when police allegedly found an illegal gun and drugs in her home.
Now, in reading the article, it seems that the gun belonged to her son, and she got involved with gun control after her son was shot and killed. If her son had a gun with a scratched-off serial number, then it seems he was not acting totally “above the law” with that firearm. Also, if it was the gun’s fault that her son died, then it would seem she would have done anything in her power to get it out of her house.
The truth, of course, is that MMM doesn’t want to get rid of all guns… just the guns of other people.
Proverbs 26:27 “Whoever digs a pit will fall into it, And he who rolls a stone will have it roll back on him.”
(via the Drudge Report.)
One of my favorite authors, Nancy Wilson, devoted an entire chapter to “When the Kids are Sick” in her book “Praise Her in the Gates: The Calling of Christian Motherhood.”
I was thinking about it while shoveling snow this morning. (Yes, it was quite a storm – and it’s a very heavy, wet snow. The boughs of our backyard holly tree are nearly touching the ground.)
An excerpt:
“When children are ill, it is a wonderful opportunity for teaching. You can model patience and cheerfulness to them when you get up in the night to comfort and minister to them. One of my daughter’s happy memories is when she was sick with a respiratory illness. We sat in the bathroom in the wee hours of the morning reading stories (Chatterer the Red Squirrel, in fact) and drinking pop while the shower steam helped her breathing. Mothers do have the capacity to make illness a happy memory…”
“If mothers are worried, it will show. We must teach children to trust in God in their illness… When they see you being calm, they will be too. Sickness is a good time to teach them about compassion and mercy, as well as about the frailty of life. Use these times for spiritual profit.”
Read the rest of this entry »