paw print cupcakes

Yesterday was Rachel's birthday party with friends.  Thanks to Google, we were able to come up with this fun cupcake idea!  The girls loved them.  We used Pearson's mints and chocolate chips.  No one was the wiser that these coconut flour cupcakes were gluten free!

 

Strength in Weakness, interview from World Magazine

Because all too often I do try to "gussy myself up before God," and this may encourage others who are just a bit like me:

The apostle Paul said, "Boast in your afflictions."  Don't be ashamed of them.  Don't think you have to hide them and gussy yourself up before God in the morning so that He'll be happy with you and see that you're really believing in Him.  No, no, no.  Admit you can't do this thing called life.  Then cast yourself at the mercy of God and let Him show up through your weakness because that's what He promises-2 Corinthians 12:9

-Joni Eareckson Tada

You can read the rest of the interview here.

real hope in broken world

It is a discouraging world that we live in.  Devastating headlines in the morning paper, chronic or terminal illness in someone we love, frustrations, disappointments, anger, and loss loom around us.  It can be easy at time to lose sight of joy and give in to despair.  Where is God in this?  What kind of world has He put us in, anyway?

King Solomon was a man who faced the questions of life head-on.  Though clearly a wise and wealthy man, he expressed his disillusionment with the human existence in the book of Ecclesiastes. One word, one phrase reflected the cry of his heart as he puzzled over the complexities of life in a fallen world: vanity, vanity of vanities.  All is meaningless under the sun if this life is all there is.

Yet a closer examination of the book shows Solomon had another view in mind as well; that of life viewed through the lens of an eternal God with an amazing plan.  There are glimpses of that view in his book as well.

"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven;
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace." (Ecc. 3:1-8)

Solomon studied the rhythms of life and expresses early in the book how futile it can feel to those born into this world.  Early in his poem of Ch. 3, that is seen in "a time to be born and a time to die," and later as well in "a time to embrace and a time to refrain, a time to keep and a time to throw away."  We can sense the weight of the curse: death, destruction of relationships, and decay.  But if one pays close attention to the rhythms of life, there is something else there.  Sometimes, there is healing.  Things torn down make way for something to be rebuilt.  Weeping turns to laughing, and mourning turns to dancing.  There is a reversal of the curse.  Things are set right, and hope dawns new in our soul.

That is the hope of the gospel, and it is how to be set free from the weight of disillusionment.  When circumstances take unimaginable twists, when sin is exposed in horrific ways, we take comfort in the hope of redemption.  Christ entered our broken world as our Savior, took the weight of our sin and its curse on Himself, and broke it forever when He rose again. 

The time for redemption shall come!  The rhythms of this fallen world will be ushered in to an age that cannot be measured by time and in which Christ will reign.  There will be no more death, no more sorrow, and the relationship between God and His people will never be marred by sin again.

O Glorious Day!!

mid-year musings and celebrations

We are officially more than halfway through our school year.  It is so rewarding to look back to where we were on the first day of school and think about how far we have come.  I will never get over the privilege I have to spend time with my children in this season of their lives and to have a front row seat to their learning and their own personal growth!

 

 

This little guy is like a sponge, soaking up everything I can give him.  I just wish the sponge had a seat belt attached to him sometimes!  Josiah loves school but there are certainly challenges there...things need to move quickly for him or he tends to get overwhelmed.  It seems like every time I turn around I have seen ways God is providing for us...someone graciously sent us a weighted vest that helps him with focus, another friend lent us her chair pads and weighted turtle that have helped him stay planted in his seat.  But mostly, Josiah loves to listen to me read, and he especially loves his science books.  He seems to be a very hands on learner, so we will be making some adjustments in the coming weeks to provide more of those kinds of activities. Today we ventured to Sugar Grove for a class on worms.  Josiah was in his element!!

 

 

Working with Rachel this year has been such a blessing, and she has come so far.  Right now we are knee deep in her favorite period of American history--Lincoln's presidency and the Civil War.  We were a week ahead in our schedule so this week I added an extra Lincoln book and history readings that would have otherwise been skipped over in our curriculum.  She officially graduated from Math U See's fraction book to the one on decimals.  I see pre-algebra being a distinct possibility in the near future, but we'll see how long it takes to move through decimals.  We recently did some academic testing with her and were amazed to hear how well she did with math!  The person who tested her told us that homeschooling is probably the best thing we could possibly be doing with her right now.  It does seem that the quiet environment and one on one has given her a new confidence and new insights into how God made her.  I marvel over the creativity and dramatic skills I see in her...mostly because they are so foreign to how I am wired.  It makes me appreciate how uniquely God has formed each one of us!

 

I miss the read aloud times that I shared with both older kids last year, but am thankful we had one year together before breaking Micah off to do his own thing apart from Rachel.  He has really learned to take on more responsibility in his schoolwork this year; not perfectly, but it is coming.  It seems the bigger the challenge, the more enthusiasm he has to meet it.  Whatever God leads us to do next year for high school, he will be ready to embrace it!  To realize that one year from now this boy will be taking driver's education is enough to make me have little shivers go up and down my spine.  How does the time go so quickly?  He is growing in the Lord as much as in his studies, and growing in his willingness to serve.  This has been such a valuable season in life to homeschool with him.

 

Onward we shall go!  I am looking forward to see how God's hand leads us through the second half of this school year.

come again?

From our math lesson on how many cups/gallons/liters/quarts today:

"Is this page loud, Mommy?" asks Josiah.

Clueless mother fumbles for a response.

"Well, I was just wondering, because it says volume."

learning His kindness

"But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life." Titus 3:4-7

There is something very human, completely erroneous, and ugly in me.  It's this desire I have for self-righteousness. 

When I was a little girl, I always wanted to be the one who did right, never got in trouble, the one the teachers would talk about in the teacher's lounge because I was so good.  (I have been a teacher, and can now assure anyone who wonders that they do not talk at all in the teacher's lounge about the kids who are GOOD.)

When I became a mother, I wanted nothing more than to be a good mom.  Of course!  Who aspires to be a bad one?  But I thought I had that figured out.  I'd studied kids (other people's), took child development classes in college, taught school for a few years, and had high hopes for my children.

Then I had some.  And I was not a good mother.

I love my children dearly.  But from the time they were wee infants who did not know when to stop crying once their need for nourishment was satisfied in the night, to the days of toddlerhood when they asserted their demands, to the days of elementary and even middle school years, they have tested my patience, pushed me to my limit, and even driven me over the edge some days.

And thus I found out I am not good. 

Instead, I found I am selfish, easily irritated, lazy and sloppy about too many areas of my life, short sighted about what truly matters, and that those things among others cause me to act in ways that are not always good. at. all.

"For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."  Matt. 9:13

In my early days of parenting, the gospel went from my head to my heart.  I realized more fully that Christ died for MY sins, that in Him alone would I find the resources to give my children what they needed (and the wisdom to not give them what they didn't!), and that He could help a selfish woman to joyfully pick up His cross and follow Him in a surrender of self-denial for the sake of the little ones entrusted by Him to her care.  Even though I didn't do that perfectly.

I still put on the self-righteous mask more often than I would like.  It took years of painful self-consciousness while leading in a local ministry before I realized that what really mattered at the end of the year was not my perfect execution each week, but that women would leave my group desiring Christ more fully than when they came into it.  That was something I could never do in my own power.

These days, I spend time daily (so very daily) with my children, trying to do this thing called home education.  It's been fun to blog about because there are some very sweet rewards, but I don't have many awesome ideas about how to go about it (so I am thankful for those who do and share them with me).  I constantly face my shortcomings as a mom, housewife, and teacher.  My kids do not speak 5 languages, sit angelically while receiving the lessons I am imparting to them, or stay as organized as I would like (I realize I am not alone here.)  I struggle to get meals on the table they can eat, and do not always have the best attitude about our limitations.  The Lord has used this time at home to strip away all my props and show me once again that my only righteousness is that of the Savior who clothes me in His, that my resources for this journey are in Him, that the outcome lies in His hands, and that He is more than enough.

His kindness becomes more evident with every passing day.

In Rachel's words...

Creative, fun, right-brainer, silver and black, horses, scars everywhere, imaginative, dogs, hates needles, poet, artist, thinker, writer, smiles, Legos, dragons, loves holidays, reader, decorator,  hamster, crafty, love to make up my own things, tough, and stuffed animals.

New year, new look

New glasses,

New teeth...well, eventually.

And to remember...

 

Stockings,

 

 new soccer uniform,

 

an airplane, of course.

 

She didn't need a present!

 

 

A terrific birthday sleepover.  Ask Micah how much pizza he has eaten in the past week...

getting busy in the kitchen

Ah, January is here.  The holiday baking rush is over, the kitchen is clean, and my resolution is made.  Time to stop complaining about the difficulties of eating and start digging into cookbooks for new ideas.

Actually, things look much rosier than they did just a few weeks ago.  Rachel's latest digestive issues seem to be directly related to red meat, and she's been feeling much better now that we have closed that case.  A test of dairy today even seems to be going well.  We have also added things like peppermint oil and digestive enzymes to her mealtime fun, and those have calmed her tummy down considerably.

However, for Josiah and I things remain tough.  He has his usual tricky food issues, and I've discovered that eating gluten is truly not something I want to do.  After spending 6 months mostly off, my body has developed a very closed mind to the idea of anything closely resembling wheat.  It is NOT FUN if I indulge.

That's where the cookbooks enter in.

Eric surprised me with Special Diets for Special Kids for Christmas.  The pictures, the kid-friendly food, the extra information on special diets all make for a great source of information.

 

Another tool to added to my toolbox this Christmas is a tortilla press.  I can't wait to try making some GF soft tortillas.  I was hoping to do corn, but that hasn't been working well for me either lately, so rice flour will have to do.  

But tonight, I turned to a cookbook sent to me a few months ago by a friend: Gluten-Free on a Shoestring.  I thumbed through it looking for the ever elusive banana pancake recipe.  My past attempts of recipes off the internet have been flops, so I was eager to try again. 

We have a winner! 

Banana Pancakes (adapted from the Banana Muffin recipe in GF on a Shoestring)

2 c. all purpose GF flour
2 t. xanthan gum
1/2 t. baking soda
1 t. baking powder
1 t. salt (I never use as much as a recipe calls for)
2 T. sugar
1 extra large egg, lightly beaten
1/2 c. milk (rice milk tonight)
1 1/2 t. white wine vinegar (I took out the wine part)
2 T. unsalted butter, melted and cooled (dairy free margarine for us, we like Earth Balance Soy Free)
2 ripe bananas diced (we mashed)

Stir together dry ingredients.  Add wet ingredients, stirring after each one.  Cook pancakes on hot griddle.

This is a recipe for muffins, and I felt it looked too thick for pancakes.  So I added another egg and a bit more milk.  They were still quite thick but believe me, no one complained!!  In fact, my pancake topped with Eric's cherry raspberry Christmas jam was an unbelievable treat.

Resolution kept so far!