No Grasp of Your Reality

Some pictures are online – I haven’t had time to do the captions yet.

SJA

Quite simply, I didn’t feel it. We’re safe. I was on my way to church at the time.

Apparently it was 6.9 magnitude quake that hit in central Japan and created a small (6in deep) tsunami. Aftershocks are expected, so maybe we’ll get to feel one of those.

Thanks for the calls and emails to check to see if we were alright!

Last night, my hunter-gatherer brought home several pieces of sushi. The sushi came packaged with pickled ginger and wasabi paste.

We all love sushi, however the children are lagged and fell asleep at the dinner table before we even prayed. The result? Lots of leftovers.

Not wanting to eat old sushi for lunch today, I turned it into fried rice. Here’s what I did:

Leftover Sushi Fried Rice Recipe

Leftover sushi
Wasabi paste
Cooking oil
Pickled ginger
Soy sauce

Separate the sushi into bowls: fish, rice & nori seaweed

Chop up the fish.

In a frying pan, heat the oil. Empty the pickled ginger into the pan and sauté.

Add the chopped fish to the pan and cook thoroughly.

Add a little more oil to the pan, if needed, and then add the rice. You will need to chop up the clumps, as sushi rice is quite sticky.

Remove from the heat, stir in the wasabi paste.

Drizzle with soy sauce.

Oishii!

On the Tara Barthel’s discussion board, someone asked about the Young Peacemakers material. I have not used it yet with my children (my mother in law has the YP books – they’re so good that I am considering adding it to next school year’s curriculum). I did have some thoughts on teaching young children about peacemaking:

Foundation first

Make it a point to teach the gospel and peacemaking ideas outside of conflicts, so that children don’t merely associate peacemaking with punishment but rather as part of their world view.

More important than teaching words and behaviors, regularly read stories about Jesus. Who was he? Why did he come here? What does this mean to us? You can ask these questions, and even answer them for children if they are non-verbal. (Great Commission’s First Catechism is a good resource for questions.)

Then, when there are fights and we say, “ask your brother/sister to forgive you” we can also say, “because Jesus forgave you of so much“, because the foundation is in place. They will eventually understand the “why” behind forgiveness.

It’s never to young to start teaching children, even when they are non-verbal. Ways to do this include reading to children and practicing habits with them (saying “I’m sorry, will you please forgive me” as well as asking God to forgive them). For example, if a non-verbal child bites another child, the parent may have to be the ones to be saying the words and praying aloud and modeling this. I see this as almost interceding for them. I can hear my barely-verbal two year old copy all of the word inflections for “I’m sorry, will you please forgive me”, even though to anyone else, it wouldn’t make sense what he was saying.

Along with teaching children about Jesus who is their Savior and who forgave them, it’s important to teach children that it’s not just mommy or daddy that say they have to say they are sorry, seek forgiveness and work out conflict. Teaching that it is ‘God that says this, and not just mommy or daddy’ comes from showing them and helping them memorize pertinent scriptures. Make sure to label sin as sin. Use like terminology with scripture – naming the specific sin – to help understand the correlation between what you’re saying and the Bible. “Handbook of Scriptures to Grow On” by Lois Schmitt and Joyce Price is a book that I often use to help to me when trying to find verses on behaviors (good and bad – put off, put on). It’s out of print, but there are many used copies out there on Amazon, Half.com and abebooks.com .

Discipline

I like to remind my children that they have a choice whether or not they will get into trouble. They can choose to obey or they can choose discipline. This has helped my more visual/spacial thinking children who seem have trouble relating sin with discipline – they just think I’m out to get them, whereas my more analytical thinking children who reason better understand right away.

Depending on the situation, we sometimes do “do-overs” – if someone yells something in frustration, I say, “how about you try that again in a kinder way.” (I WANT THAT TOY NOW! vs. “Can I play with that when you’re done?”) I believe that this has helped to teach them that they never have to be afraid to go back and try again – that when they are sinful that they can be reconciled and do not have to flee. They can have a second shot at the relationship.

Praise good behavior! There is much value in doing this. It also helps to establish a relationship with the children beyond a disciplinary one. It helps them to understand how they SHOULD be behaving as a future reference point.

When I discipline my children, I remind them that I do not WANT to discipline them, but that God says I HAVE to – if I do not, then I will be disobeying God and He will hold me accountable. I used to think that the words were more for me until I heard my four year old encouraging my three year old “not to hurt Micah – because mommy doesn’t want to have to discipline you, but she’ll have to anyway because God says she does.” Lo and behold, he got it and immediately stopped hurting the two year old.

The purpose of discipline is restoration. When my children are disciplined, I remind them that they are restored and forgiven. Parents can make the Four Promises of Forgiveness too:

1. “I will not dwell on this incident.”
2. “I will not bring up this incident again and use it against you.”
3. “I will not talk to others about this incident.”
4. “I will not let this incident stand between us or hinder our personal relationship.”

Seeking forgiveness /reconciliation

The question was asked (paraphrased) : What should a parent do when one child says they are sorry and are forgiven but then forgiving child don’t want to have anything to do with the offending child – such as a hug or kiss?

Part of teaching children to forgive is to help them go through the outward motions of forgiveness. The Four Promises of Forgiveness could be reviewed at that time, especially as a reminder that we need to guard our hearts against bitterness.

Although we can walk our children through requesting/granting forgiveness, it is impossible to make someone’s heart change. A child’s been hurt by another child – they are afraid they’ll be hurt again. Maybe they are still in physical pain from the bite/punch/kick. This is no different with adults, right? If someone lies about us, it’s hard to tell them our hopes and fears. We are afraid to be hurt again. This doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t do all we can to keep the relationship from being hindered, but there is often a time of heart-healing and growth – both spiritual and relational.

Rather than creating a further discipline issue by forcing them to hug (although you can suggest that it may be a good idea), pray aloud with the children and ask God to strengthen their friendship and work in their hearts to help each other genuinely be reconciled. Sometimes just hearing these words in a prayer will soften little hearts – I know it does mine when someone who has offended me takes time to pray for me! Leave room for the Holy Spirit to work in their hearts, and place your trust in the Lord. We cannot control our children’s hearts. Pray over them throughout the day. Then, the next time they are playing nicely, affirm the relationship by pointing out how much fun they have together and how they love each other no matter what. “Now can you give a hug to your brother/sister?” When they do hurt inevitably hurt each other, remind them of the happy times they have when they are reconciled.

I sat some of my children (ages 5,4,3) down to watch these interviews as well as the video that Amanda made. They have never knowingly observed someone with autism before, and I wanted to teach them so they would have a better understanding.

“Why is she doing that, mom?”

“Because God gifted her in that way – she is more aware than we are of how things taste, feel, sound and smell. She is rattling the paper because she is looking at the flag out her window and thinking of the sound it is making as it flaps in the wind.”

We talked about how God made each of us unique – Thomas is good with numbers and likes adventure games. Tabitha can whistle – but Thomas can’t. She can eat more than mommy can, and yet she’s a little girl! Aiden is very sturdy when he climbs high.

I told them that God has made this woman to be unique, too. Yes, she does things differently than we do. But, she is a person just like we are.

We must never make fun of or hurt someone because they are different from us. To do so is like telling God that His creation is not good enough for us.

Tabitha was sad that people would hurt someone else just because they were different. I told her that if she ever sees someone being hurt or made fun of that she could tell those bullying to stop and to come get an adult if they didn’t.

This morning, as I was perusing the headlines at CNN online, I stumbled across the most fascinating interview series with Amanda Baggs, a woman who has autism.

I am so thankful to have seen these videos today, as they have helped me to appreciate the beauty of about how people with autism interact with the world on a holistic level.

Video Links:

Interview 1
Interview 2
Amanda’s original video uncut (8 min+)

Related written articles about Amanda Baggs:

Living with autism in a world made for others
Dr. Sanjay Gupta’s Blog Article

Psalm 139:14-18 means much more to me today

I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Wonderful are Your works,
And my soul knows it very well.
My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth;
Your eyes have seen my unformed substance;
And in Your book were all written
The days that were ordained for me,
When as yet there was not one of them.
How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand
When I awake, I am still with You.

as does 1 Corinthians 1:25-29

Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God.

Much love,
Sarah Joy Albrecht

There are two young sisters who are dear friends of mine, as is their mother. This morning, I collected a few things I had been saving for them and put them in a sweet Victorian Valentine note card and sent them in a mail. I wanted to remember this one part of the note even for my own encouragement, so I’m making an entry in my blog with the excerpt. I hope that it is of encouragement to you, too!

This month, I’m sure you will have fun at school making Valentines and thinking about love and what it means.

The Bible says in 1 John 4:19, “We love because He first loved us.” Who is the “He” referring to?

1 John 4 and 1 Corinthians 13 are two places in the Bible that talk a lot about love. We learn from reading them that unless we have love for people – unconditional love, as Jesus loved us – that even the nicest things we do for them are meaningless.

We can show love to everyone, even people who are mean, because we remember that God loved us even when were were His enemy.

Pretty cool, huh?

I hope you girls are having a lovely day!

Much love,
Your Friend,
Sarah Joy Albrecht

Despite the illness over here (this past week, THE FIVE had chest colds, four of them along with ear infections), there have been some cool milestones:

• Thomas pulled out his first baby tooth (got it on video!)
• Aiden learned to put together jigsaw puzzles (thanks to Aunt Lynn!) and is very talented in this area
• Micah learned to touch his tongue to his nose and can do it on demand (and has attained Hero Status)
• Leah, in defiance of gravity, rolled over this morning! There IS hope!

And Tab? She’s going on 40. She completely orchestrated the bringing in-and-putting-away of groceries last night – every item exactly where it needed to go. I was very impressed. I was talking to Grandma Becky at the time, and we were getting a kick outta Tab saying, “Hurry up, BOYS! That goes in the pantry!” She has also been volunteering to help change the babies. And, she’s been making me work out with her: “This is so relaxing, isn’t it mom? We should do this every day.” Really. Who could ask for anything more?

At some point in our lives, we’re all either trying hard to forgive or counseling someone who is struggling to forgive. The result of unforgiveness? Bitterness.

Bitterness damages our relationships with others, and with God. Not to mention that bitterness makes those in its wake pretty miserable.

What does carrying the burden of bitterness say about one who has been forgiven of ALL their sin?

There is a short and excellent book entitled How to Be Free from Bitterness by Jim Wilson that I want to share with you. While you could spend a few $$ for a pretty version at Amazon or Canon Press, the text of the book is now available free online at:

http://www.mountzion.org/fgb/Summer03/FgbS5-03.html

Do you have a friend that only talks to you about how they have been wronged? Maybe you could gently share this book with them after reading it yourself.

Remember… as we think of having a clean slate and starting over at the beginning of this new year, we can make resolutions to diet, stay organized, read to our kids, be more disciplined with our free time, and so on and so forth. But, these things only produce a behavioral change. A change of heart will change your life from the inside out. You can quote me on that

Coatesville’s Ash Park, a few streets over from my house, is featured as Rip Hamilton’s hometown court in NBA Street Vol. 4: Homecourt. The Electronic Arts game for the XBox360 and PlayStation 3 will be in stores mid-February.
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In effort to save money, I buy the store-brands of pain medication containing Acetaminophen (Tylenol) and Ibuprofen (Motrin).

When I called the pediatrician on behalf of one of our daughters this morning, he asked about the dose of Tylenol she was given. I had given her one and one half teaspoons, but it turned out that she should have been given two teaspoons based on her weight.

The problem is that store-brand medicines often label dosage by age and not by weight, so it’s guesswork to figure out how much to give.

As a result, I looked up dosage charts online. The most detailed charts seem to be at www.askdrsears.com. I will be printing these and taping them inside my cupboard door .

To save you the search if you find yourself in the same predicament, I have listed the links are listed below. Both links orient you directly to the charts, but there is also pertinent information above and below the charts that can be read by scrolling up or down:

Ibuprofen Chart
(Found in these and other brands: Motrin, Advil, Pediacare Fever, Children’s ElixSure)

Acetaminophen Chart
(Found in these and other brands: Tylenol, Feverall Suppositories , Tempra, ElixSure IB)

11879Every now and then, Tom arranges a date night with a surprise destination. Last night’s date almost didn’t happen – Tom got stuck in traffic and we’d miss the beginning of the dinner if he had to come home first to get me. Tom called and said, “Can you get a ride to dinner and I can meet you there?”

And I said, “Um, the destination was a surprise – I have no idea where we are having dinner.”

He laughed. “In Downingtown. It’s at the Victory.” Sweet. Just ten minutes away. His mom, who already had four of our children, picked me up and dropped me off at the Victory with Leah.

The food and beer combinations were out of this world.

After dinner, the Victory staff came out and sang to us and Santa gave each guest a large bottle of Golden Monkey.

Bill Covaleski, who is the Brewmaster and President of Victory, ate with the guests and he presented me with a sample of Scarlet Fire Rauchbier. Bill wondered what I thought of the taste. I liked it. It reminded me of Smoked Gouda cheese.

Here is the menu:

FAMILY STYLE HOLIDAY BEER DINNER
- TOUR OF THE WORLD -

DATE: December 19, 2006
TIME: 6PM
LOCATION: Victory Brewing Co. – 420 Acorn Lane, Downingtown, PA

First Course
Scandinavian meatballs in a white sauce with fresh parsley
Prima Pils

Second Course
Black mole with smoked turkey and pascilla chilis
Victory Festbier

Third Course
Lammkrone – Crown Rack of Lamb with ginger pear stuffing
Hop Devil IPA

Fourth Course
Cornish Game hens with cranberry relish, walnut dressing, sweet potatoes and green beans
Storm King Stout

Fifth Course
Old Horizontal Holiday Cake
Old Horizontal Barley Wine

From PCA News Time Capsule:

Twelve Rules for Promoting Harmony Among Church Members
by Thomas Smyth

1. To remember that we are all subject to failings and infirmities, of one kind or another. – Matthew 7:1-5; Rom 2:21-23.
2. To bear with and not magnify each other’s infirmities. – Galatians 6:1.
3. To pray one for another in our social meetings, and particularly in private. – James 5:16.
4. To avoid going from house to house, for the purpose of hearing news, and interfering with other people’s business. – Leviticus 19:16.
5. Always to turn a deaf ear to any slanderous report, and to allow no charge to be brought against any person until well founded and proved. – Proverbs 25:23.
6. If a member be in fault, to tell him of it in private, before it is mentioned to others. – Matthew 18:15.
7. To watch against shyness of each other, and put the best construction on any action that has the appearance of opposition or resentment. – Proverbs 10:12.
8. To observe the just rule of Solomon, that is, to leave off contention before it be meddled with. – Proverbs 17:14.
9. If a member has offended, to consider how glorious, how God-like it is to forgive, and how unlike a Christian it is to revenge. – Ephesians 4:2.
10. To remember that it is always a grand artifice of the Devil, to promote distance and animosity among members of Churches, and we should, therefore, watch against everything that furthers his the Devil’s end. – James 3:16.
11. To consider how much more good we can do in the world at large, and in the Church in particular when we are all united in love, than we could do when acting alone, and indulging a contrary spirit. – John 13:35.
12. Lastly, to consider the express injunction of Scripture, and the beautiful example of Christ, as to these important things. – Ephesians 4:32; 1 Peter 2:21; John 13:5-35.

Thomas Smyth (1808-1873) was pastor of Second Presbyterian Church, Charleston, S.C.

Currently, I’m working on regrouping after having baby #5.

The Organized Home website – complete with free printables to help plan and organize everything from cooking to cleaning to homeschooling to shopping – has been an inspiration today.

Excerpt on Evangelism from John Piper (For complete text of the sermon “The Fruit of Hope: Love” and other Piper sermons, click on Piper’s name):

In summary, direct the attention of your mind day and night to the word of God’s promises, seek in all humility the help of the Holy Spirit to see the wonder of what is really there, and, as Peter says, “Set your hope fully on the grace that is coming to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:13).

And by the grace of God the result will be the visible fruit of love.
This means:

• We will be more patient, more kind.
• We will be less jealous, and boastful and arrogant and rude.
• We will not just seek our own advancement but will strive to do to others what we would have them do to us.
• We will not be so irritable.
• We won’t be so prone to keep an account of wrongs or return evil for evil.
• We will be inclined to bear all things and endure all things for the sake of our neighbor.
• We will not speak about our neighbor’s faults without first going to the neighbor ourselves.
• We will return good for evil, and use our discretionary time not by maximizing our fleeting comforts but by devising ways to be a blessing to the lost and suffering.
• More and more our whole lives will take on an overflowing and other-directed spirit.

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