Fun in the Fall

This weekend was the first weekend in several weeks that we we haven't had lots of plans.  So we took full advantage of the free time and enjoyed some good ol' fall activities.

First, Noel and Elise painted the smaller pumpkins.

Then they carved pumpkins, with a little help from Dad.
(For the record, this might be one of the best pictures I have of all three of them together.  Everyone is smiling and nobody's eyes are closed!)

We also got to meet up with some friends who used to live in Kokomo.  We had a great time catching up and eating pizza together.

Then on Sunday we did a little bit of early trick-or-treating.  We went to my grandparents' house and then to a couple of houses in my parents' neighborhood.  The kids had a great time, although nobody knew what Noel was.  (I'll try and post pictures tomorrow, but he is a pig from the Angry Birds game).

We ended the night by lighting our jack-o-lanterns and watching them glow in the dark.

Happy Halloween, everyone!!!

Some Random Thoughts, of which I have many

*I love chocolate.  But, I am conflicted about my chocolate purchases because I am learning about the unethical practices of most of our chocolate producers in the United States, especially Hersheys.  It's hard to play ignorant  anymore.

*I went to the Children's Museum yesterday with the Cole family.  The kids had a great time.  I had fun, but I was exhausted by the end. Chasing a 2 year-old and a 5-year-old through a 4 story museum is hard work!

*Last weekend we had a retreat for jr. high and sr. high youth workers from our church.  In one of the sessions, we went over some statistics about teenagers, and my mind is still reeling from it.  I wasn't that shocked about the drugs, alcohol, etc. statistics.  What bothered me so much was the number of students who are abused in one way or another.  It breaks my heart that so many of our youth have to deal with these terrible issues.

*For the first time, the kids are pretty excited about Halloween.  Elise is going to be a princess, and Noel is going to be a pig from Angry Birds.  We are still working on his costume, but I'll try and post pictures once it's done.

*Today is Noel's 5-year doctor's appointment, which means the dreaded kindergarten shots.  I am sick to my stomach thinking about holding him down for 4, count 'em, 4 shots!!!  I want to say "poor guy," but I also want to say "blessed guy" because so many children don't have the opportunity to get immunizations.  Of course, I won't give him a guilt trip about that.  Today :)

*If you have a Compassion child, you can write to them online now.  It's super easy, and it includes stationary options and photo uploads.  If you don't have a Compassion child, stop reading my blog and go sponsor one right now here.  

*Have a wonderful weekend!

Thursday Thank You's--Thanksgiving Tree Edition

Since we are creating our Thanksgiving Tree, I decided that for the next few weeks the Thursday Thank You's will be a list of what we as a family have put on the tree.

We are thankful for (in no particular order):
*Mommy
*Daddy
*Noel
*Elise
*Family Walks
*Homemade Food
*Apple Pie
*Good Grandparents
*Our House
*Our Church
*My Blankie (have you met Elise, aka Linus?)
*My Princess Dresses (again, meet Elise. . .)
*Music
*Stuff God Made
*Sundays
*Our Friends
*The Library

What are you thankful for?

Best. Concert. Ever

Last night, I got to redeem my birthday present.  David took me to see David Crowder*Band at the Long Center in Lafayette.  First of all, it is a BEAUTIFUL theatre.  Very small and old-looking, with the old school marquee out front.  Since this is Crowder's last tour we paid a couple of extra dollars to get "VIP" tickets.  This just means that we got in 30 minutes early.  Normally, this isn't a big deal, but this show was open admission/seating, so getting there early was really nice in getting a good seat.  We sat in the 9th row, right in the middle, which was uh-mazing.

Disclaimer:  These pictures are awful.  All I had was my cell phone, and it's not really set up to take good pictures.  And I KNOW this is breaking all kinds of blogging rules by posting terribly fuzzy pictures, but I had to have proof of how close I was and how cool the stage looked.

Instead of one opening act, this show had 3.  First up was John Mark McMillan.  If you've never heard of him, he is the guy who wrote "How He Loves".  His voice is very distinct, almost like an old country singer, but the words to his songs are so poetic.  He sang one song called "Murdered Son" that made me cry.  I was really impressed with John Mark.  He didn't seem to be putting on a show; he was just sharing his heart.  (Sidenote:  one of his guitar players looked a little like Willy Wonka.  Purple coat with tails.  hmmmm. . .)

 Next up was Chris August.  Now, I must confess that I didn't know who Chris August was until he sang his last song, "Starry Night", which got lots of airplay on Christian radio.  Before the show, I was standing in the aisle talking to my friends Bre and Hannah, and Chris was right next to me, signing autographs.  I seriously had no idea, and then Bre says, "Hey, that's Chris August."  I didn't want to look stupid, so I totally faked knowing him.  Then I looked around and realized that dozens of people were taking his picture, and it looked like he and I were together, so I leaned over to him and said, "I hope all of these people don't mind me being in all of their pictures of you."  He said, "Are you kidding?  I was just standing next to you so I could be in all of their pictures of you."  Ha!  So we linked arms, turned, and let a bunch of people (who have no idea who I am) take our picture.  Later, when I told Bre and Hannah that I had no idea who he was they thought it was hilarious!  So, now I like to think Chris and I are new BFF's.

The last opening act was Gungor. Without being too biased, I will say that Gungor blew the other two opening acts away.  They were incredible.  Seriously, incredible.  They didn't bring their whole band, so they did an acoustic set.  All three of the members who were there were amazing.  The cellist beatboxed while he was playing cello AT THE SAME TIME and the lead singer (Mr. Gungor--I don't know what his first name is) played guitar, mandolin, sang, and played the drum with his foot.  And Mrs. Gungor played xylophone, squeeze box, organ, and sang.  They were SOOOOOOO good! Their music is so elevated, it was hard to take in all of the things going on in a song.

And then there was Crowder.

Sigh.

David (Wittenbach, not Crowder) and I have been long time fans of David Crowder.  We have most of their albums, and have so many memories of their songs.  It was kind of bittersweet to see them for the last time, but it was wonderful.  They played oldies like "There is No One Like You" and "O Praise Him" as well as some of their new songs.  They also played a couple of bluegrass numbers that were really fun and shared a couple of songs from their Christmas album.  They played for 2 hours!  One of the best parts was when they sang "How He Loves", and John Mark McMillan, Chris August, and Mr. Gungor came back to join the band.  Incredible.

Last night I was reminded of a few things:

1.  Date nights are fun.
2.  Music is an awesome gift from God when we choose to give it back to Him.
3.  I need to play my guitar more often, especially if Chris August ever needs a back-up singer.

Preparing for Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.  By far.  Christmas is fun, but all of the commercialism and wasted money gives me a stomach ache.  But for the most part Thanksgiving has not been turned into another reason to buy more stuff.

But sometimes I wonder if we spend more time preparing our food and our houses for Thanksgiving than we do our hearts.

In an effort to change that in our household, we are making a Thanksgiving tree.

We went for a walk a few days ago and found some twigs and branches.  Then we put them in a vase on the dining room table.  Now, every night at dinner, we cut a few circles out and spend a couple of minutes sharing something we are thankful for.  (My favorite so far:  Elise is thankful for her blankie!) Then we punch a hole in the circles and hang them on the tree.  If we keep doing this, the branches will be overloaded with our "leaves" of gratitude that we can share on Thanksgiving.

Today marks one months until Thanksgiving.  I hope each person who reads this finds something to do to be thankful for the month (and all of the other months, too!)  If you have any other ideas of ways to do this, please share!

Driving North to go Down on the Farm

 I wish everyone had in-laws who had an apple orchard.  I wish I could take you all in our car with us.  We always have such a nice time at the farm, not just because there are tons of fun things to do, but because we get to spend time with part of David's family, and that is very important to us.

Some highlights from our trip:

 *Playing in the leaves

*Tractor and Combine Rides

*Noel and Elise tried having a "sleepover", but Elise would not stop talking!!  It was hilarious and frustrating at the same time.  Noel thought it would be so much fun to sleep in the same room, but the second night he asked to be in a different room because Elise was so noisy!
*We went to Liz and Tye's band performance and Tori and Justyce's soccer games.  I hate living so far from our nieces and nephews because we miss out on their activities, so this was a great opportunity to see them.
*Sunday family dinner
*Picking apples and meeting some of the workers.
*Visiting the apple packing plant.  They had been packing for 34 days straight, so things were a little stressful there, but it was really neat to see how the apples go from tree to delivery truck.  Noel was fascinated by the whole thing.
*Just being together.  My children (and I) are so incredibly blessed to have so many family members who love us!  I always say that any activity with our kids isn't great unless it ends in tears, and that's how we always leave the farm.  "I don't want to go!"  "How come we have to leave?"  Cause if we stay they will put us to work, Noelman, that's why!

Happy Fall!

Thank You Thursday

I am thankful for. . .

401. hard conversations that hurt, but are needed.
402. wonderful trip to the farm, filled with tractor rides, apple picking, family, and fun.
403. getting to use my writing in different ways.
404. a breakthrough with one of our life group students.
405. my friend Ginny.  She if advocating for children, like Oscar, who need our help.  Read it here.
406. a book that I've been reading to help me better understand poverty and the people who are living in it.
407. a school who donated 200 computers to Urban Outreach that they will give to people who complete the computer course!
408. new Christmas music!
409. discovering the beautiful combination of pumpkin and chocolate chips.
410. a wonderful husband who not only makes my coffee every morning, but is taking me to see DAVID CROWDER Tuesday night!  I'm soooo excited!

What are you thankful for?

On a lighter note. . .What Works For Me

I'm linking up my post to one of my favorite blogs today.  On Wednesdays, We are THAT Family shares "What Works For Me" and then asks us to share the same.

So, here's something that works for me.

Let me preface this by saying it's kind of weird.

Once a week when I clean the kids' bathroom, I clean their toothbrushes.  To do this, I put them, bristle side down, in a glass liquid measuring cup.  Then I add just enough water to cover the bristles.

And then I microwave it.

Yes, microwave it, for 4-5 minutes.

I have no scientific evidence that this is at all helpful, but the boiling water helps keep the kids' brushes stay nicer, it gets rid of the leftover toothpaste build-up on the brush, and I like to believe that it gets rid of some of the mouth germs that can hang around in there.  (Sidenote:  I have a separate toothpaste for each child.  I feel like that spreads less germs as well).

AND HERE'S THE BONUS ( A 2-for-1, if you will):

After you take the toothbrushes and glass out of the microwave, the steam from the water makes it really easy to wipe down the inside of your microwave.  Give it a quick swipe and it looks all shiny and clean!

What works for you?

Heavy Heart

If you read my blog, please stop and say a prayer for my family.  We are having a rough time dealing with my grandfather, who has dementia.  This week we are having a family meeting with elders from our church to talk about it.  I have a stomach ache just thinking about it.  If there is a word that describes my grandfather, it would be passionate.  If he believes in something, he will not rest until others around him do as well.  This is turning out to be a very hard thing to handle as he is battling dementia now.  So, I'm just asking anyone who reads this to pray for my family, especially my grandma and grandpa and my mom.  She bears most of the weight of taking care of them at this point, and it weighs on her a great deal.

400 Thank yous

Several months ago I read an amazing book, One Thousand Gifts, by Ann VosKamp.  I cannot recommend this book high enough.  It really changed the way I thought about giving thanks, why and when I do it, and how Jesus did it.  And from that book came my Thursday Thank-yous.  Every Thursday I write down 10 things I'm thankful for.  Sometimes it's easy.  Sometimes I struggle; not because I have nothing to be thankful for, but because the day has been hard.  It's a lot easier to give thanks when everything is going well.  But the true thanksgiving comes in being grateful through the hard.  So, rain or shine, I give thanks.

I am thankful for. . .

391. music.

392.  getting to catch up with some friends from high school over the weekend.

393.  These amazing fall days we have been having.

394. God's plan, even when I have no idea what it is right now concerning where we should live and what I should do for a living.

395. lazy days.

396. the fact that each of us has a story, and when we share it, it touches people's lives.

397.  Texas Sheet Cake.  There, I said it, and I'm not ashamed.

398. packing up to head to Wittenbach Orchards tomorrow!

399. my kids' imaginations.

400. upcoming date with my husband to see David Crowder Band on their final tour.

What are you thankful for?

What have you been given?

One time when I was in high school, I was talking to a friend of mine at church, and I made the comment, "I can't wait to be old enough to. . ." I can't even remember what it was I wanted to be old enough to do.  What I DO remember is my friend's grandma (who was one of the sweetest ladies I've known) said, "Honey, don't wish your life away."

That has always stuck with me.

I work with students who are in junior and senior high.  A huge amount of their time is spent wishing.  Wishing to be older, prettier, stronger, in a different place in their lives.  And I try again and again to encourage them to enjoy every stage of their lives.  It goes by so quickly.

And then I eat my words, because as adults we are guilty of the exact same thing.

How many of us wish for something we don't have?  How many of us are discontent because _____________.  Maybe it's the stage your kids are in.  Maybe it's the way you look.  Maybe it's something tangible, like the job you are dreaming of or the career path you decided on.  Maybe it's some trials you are in the middle in.

Every one of us has a ____________ that we focus way too much on.  We are wishing our lives away instead of enjoying every moment we have.  Our preacher reminded me of that in his sermon yesterday, and then I heard about it again this morning on the radio, so I think God is definitely trying to tell me something.  I figure if He's telling me, maybe somebody reading this needs to know, too.

How are you going to make the most of today.  Don't let it slip by, filling it up with wishes for something different.  Use it to live abundantly (John 10:10)!

Thursday Thank You's

I am thankful for. . .

381.laughter.
382. high school students who babysit my kids.
383. jumper cables.
384. money to buy the groceries we need.
385. articles that convict me to live differently.  Check this one out:  Rage Against the Mini-van
386.  celebrating Noel's birthday.
387.  one more last burst of sunshine and warm weather!
388. conversation so good you stand outside of Starbucks after it closes for an hour and a half to keep talking.
389. all things pumpkin:  buying pumpkins for jack-o-lanterns, pumpkin bread, pumpkin pancakes. . .you get the idea.
390. a neat and tidy husband who cleans up my clutter.

What are you thankful for?

A Whole Hand

Today Noel turns 5 years old.

A whole hand.

I always rolled my eyes at people who went on and on about how time flies.  But I feel like I blinked and my little munchkin was on his way to being a kid.

Happy birthday, Noel!  You are a treasure from God that we are so thankful for.  Your strange sense of humor keeps us on our toes.  I've never met someone who pays so much attention to detail (definitely not a trait he inherited from me).  You are smart, brave, and imaginative.  And to watch you play with your little sister just melts my heart.

Now, please stop growing and stay five forever.

Sincerely,
Your mom

The Remains of the Garden. . .

We are almost done with the garden.  Actually, after last night's frost, we might be completely done.  But Saturday we picked what was left, pulled out the plants, and tilled the garden.  We still have a bowl full of peppers and tomatoes that haven't been taken care of as well.  But my first goal was to try and figure out something to do with all of our hot peppers.  I've frozen a few bags of them, but I don't really use them enough, so I didn't want to freeze 10 bags of them.  

And then I remembered that our dear friend Rita gave us her old dehydrater a few years back.  

 First, I cut all of the peppers lengthwise and placed them on the trays.  5 trays of peppers.  My hands were ON FIRE!!

 Then we let them dry.

and dry.

and dry.

In total, they dried about 30 hours.

In addition, the air in the kitchen cleared up my sinuses during this whole process.  And I may or may not have sneezed so many times in a row that I kind of peed my pants.

 Then I put them in our little food chopper and ground it into powder, and. . .

Presto!  Red pepper flakes!  David said, "Are those like the shakers from Pizza Hut?"  Yes, yes they are.

What am I going to do with all of these red pepper flakes?  I'm not sure yet.  Chili, salsa, fajitas, soups, breakfast smoothies, face scrubs. . .

Okay, just kidding.

Who would put these in chili?

Happy preserving!

Shout out!

Today I'd like to give a shout out to. . .

New episodes of some of my favorite tv shows!

I'm not gonna lie--I love me some tv.  We don't have great cable, and we try to keep the tv off while the kids are awake, so I don't have much time to actually watch tv, but thanks to the DVR, when I do get to watch tv, I have a great line-up of shows ready.

These are some shows I am currently loving:

Parenthood.  David says it's too girly for him to watch, but I think it's great.  Every time I think I have a favorite character, another one makes me fall in love with them.  I love that they interact like a real family.  They step on each other's words, conversations don't always get wrapped up neatly, and there is lots of laughter at each sibling's expense.  Love it.

The Amazing Race.  This is one of only a handful of shows that David and I like watching together.  We each pick a team to root for, and whoever's team goes the furthest wins the prize (to be determined).  For the record, I'm cheering on the snowboarders, and David's team is the father-son team.

Parks and Recreation.  Funny stuff. One of the only comedies that consistently makes me laugh out loud.  Maybe it's because I live in the equivalent of Pawnee, Indiana, or maybe because I love Amy Poehler, but it's just funny.  I think I watched last year's season finale 4 times over the summer.  Oh, Lil Sebastian. . .

Top Chef.  Right now Top Chef Just Desserts is on, and it's okay, but there is nothing like the real thing.  The new season starts in November, and they are traveling all over Texas, so you know I am all kinds of excited about that.

Castle and The Mentalist.  These two shows are kind of lumped together in the drama/mystery/funny sidekick genre.  But I really do like both of them.  Have you all seen the movie Waitress with Kerri Russell?  Every time I watch Castle I think about that movie because Nathan Fillion was in it.  That's just a little sidenote for you.

So, what shows am I missing?  Any recommendations?**

**I don't like Glee; don't ask me to watch it anymore.
**There are some other shows I like (Big Bang Theory & Modern Family come to mind), but they aren't always appropriate, and I'm not sure I should be watching them.  Maybe I shouldn't be watching any of these, but I guess that's a subject for another post. . ..

By the way, if you're reading this, become a follower (look at the right hand column)

Thursday Thank You's

These are some things I am thankful for:

371.  music on Pandora.  I love it.  Sincerely, I do.

372.  three words:  Apple.  Cider.  Slushie.     mmmmmmmmmmmm. . .

373. speaking of apples, an upcoming trip to the farm.

374.  morning quiet time.

375.  beautiful fall weather, including the rain.

376.  hearing Elise tell David, "Noel and I got married today!"  Translation:  She put on a fancy dress and he spun her around.  Will they always love each other this much?

377.  a friend who tells me what I need to hear, even when it's not easy to say it.

378.  re-learning how to crochet.

379.  a little boy who will be five--A WHOLE HAND!--by this time next week.

380.  Getting to share the moment with Noel and Elise when they saw their very first real rainbow.  Priceless!

What are you thankful for?

Goals

I am a list person.  I'm not ashamed to admit it.  I have learned that if I don't have a list I don't get much accomplished.  I also have come to learn that I need to always be ready to trash the list and do something else if needs arise.

But without a list I will sit on Pinterest and read books all day (sounds like a great vacation, but not a very productive day-to-day lifestyle).

So I'm trying to take the "list" mentality to the next level and make some longer term goals for myself.  Here are some for the fall:

*Get at least 5 rooms ready for trying to sell the house.
*Exercise at least 3 times a week.
*Get the kids outside for 30 minutes every day if it's at all possible.
*Write devotions for the upcoming fall retreat.
*Eat less processed food.  If I want a treat, I have to fix it from scratch!
*de-clutter the kids' toys.
*Get 6 Re-start boxes prepared for Urban Outreach (I'll write a post about this soon).

What are your goals for the next few months?

Homemade Croutons

I found this on Pinterest the other day, and I wanted to share it, because it worked so well.

HOMEMADE CROUTONS

There, I said it. 

They are so easy to make, and once you realize how cheap they are, you'll never buy the ones in a bag again.

So, this is what you need:

*old bread (not moldy, just dry and not good for sandwiches, etc. anymore.)  If you wanted to, you could save your heels in the freezer and do this.
*olive oil
*spices of your choice:  salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, Garlic Salt, and Paprika are what I used

 (I know you like the clearance sticker on my pepper dish.  Yeah, I got it about 2 years ago.  Don't rush me!

Step #1:  get an able-bodied-almost-4-year-old and promise him fun with a butter knife.
Step #2:  cube up old bread and put in a bowl. **
**step #1 may be skipped if said child cannot be found.  Or you can come to my house and let Noel do it.

 Once the bread is cut, drizzle oil over the cubes, sprinkle with seasonings, and bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes.  They should look something like this:

That's it.  See?  I told you it was easy!  Store in an airtight container until ready to use.

Enjoy!

Good weekend

These are just some of the things that we enjoyed this weekend:

 On Friday, Elise and I joined Noel and his pre-school for a trip to Guffey Acres.  It was super fun.  There is so much to do there, and the kids all loved it.  Noel said on the way home, "I don't think I could handle any more fun in one day!"  The picture above is most of Noel's class (including Elise.  She decided she was part of the class as well) in front of Squarely, the farm's mascot.

 Barrel Ride.  I am savoring these moments, where they actually want to ride and play together.

 Learning about how corn is grown and its many uses. 

Friday night we went to a church in town for a puppet show.  One of David's co-workers told us about it.  The show was okay (the kids liked it), but the highlight was when one of the adults wanted to use a visual aid to show us about God's power.  He tried the Mentos in Diet Coke trick, but didn't think about the effects.  It shot all over the church stage, the front row, and down the aisle!  We laughed about that poor guy all night.

Saturday was rainy, and to be honest I was kind of grumpy about some stupid stuff, so I loaded the kids up and we went to McDonald's Playplace (aka the germ factory).  Again, I cherished seeing the two of them want to play together.  And, I figured out a little secret.  If you buy something they have to eat with a spoon (the yogurt parfait) it's not so gross thinking about them running around inside the playground and then eating.  Consider that your gross tip of the day.

Saturday night I made stir-fry, and the kids learned the beauty of the eggroll.  For the record, I did not make the eggrolls.  We always get them from a Chinese take-out place around the corner (one of the many things I will miss if we move out of this neighborhood).

We also took some bread that was getting old and made croutons, but that is tomorrow's post.

Sunday we had church, and David spoke at the Awake service (for jr. & sr. high).  I was so proud of him, especially because speaking is not something he loves to do.  But he stepped out of his comfort zone and did it, and it was great. 

I will leave you with this little gem of a picture.  I totally forgot to share any pictures from the kids' first bowling experience.  Black lights + music + bumpers + cool shoes = fun for everyone.

How did you rock this weekend?

Shout out

So, the buzz going on everywhere is about all of the changes Facebook is making.  I love Facebook as much as the next person.  I like to connect with people and see what's going on with them.  And I really like looking at their pictures.  I find it funny that everyone is all worked up about a free service that nobody is making them be a part of, but nobody likes to walk into their comfy living room and find a rearranged mess that you don't understand, right?

In light of all of this, I'd like to give a shout out to Pinterest.

Pinterest, you say?

Yes.

What is it?

Well, it's a social network of sorts, but instead of sharing your complaints about the service at Arby's or your funny story from dinner, you share pictures that you find online. 

And I love pictures.

And with your pictures you make boards (Think of them as bulletin boards) that are in categories, like Food, Design, Places, Quotes, Books, etc.  Whatever you want.  And you can follow anyone who is on Pinterest.  So, if you find a person whose pins are really cool, you can follow them and see.  And people can follow you, too. 

I am by no means an expert on Pinterest, but it is really entertaining and I don't feel like a creeper so much :)

So check it out here!