The Missing Ingredient

A long time ago, when I was a teenager, I made a batch of whoopie pies for some friends for Easter. Whoopie pies were considered a delicacy where we lived at the time, and I still enjoy them (Seth has made them a time or two). Whoopie pies have a chocolate (or other) cookie part and in between the two cookies is a bit of frosting. As I made the sugary frosting, I kept the blender going, wondering why the texture stayed grainy and wasn't smooth like the other whoopie pies I'd had. Finally, after many minutes of blending with no change to the texture, I added a bit of food coloring to the white frosting (in celebration of Easter) and blended some more. I never did get the smooth consistency I was looking for, and since it was time to go, I put the whoopie pies together and went to my friend's house. After I displayed my creations and mentioned that they had turned out a bit different than I thought, my friend Patti let me in on a secret -- the sugar I was supposed to use was confectioner's sugar, not regular granulated sugar. Needless to say most of that batch of whoopie pies went uneaten. Who knew there was such a big difference between 10x sugar and granulated sugar (besides all the people who have ever baked anything with them before)? 

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I was anxious to get my garden started. We planted the seeds, generously watered, and then sat the seed box beside our window and waited for the plants to grow. I'd read the back of the packages that talked about watering the seeds, which we did, and about putting them in a "warm" place. I figured beside a sunny window in a 69-degree house constituted "warm." 

Apparently, I was wrong. Even though most had a germination time of 7-10 days, by the 10th day, nothing had grown. I was about to give up on our seeds and toss the whole thing out. 

And then we got the new chicks. And to keep the chicks warm, we put up a red heat lamp. Figuring that maybe the instructions on the seed packets perhaps knew what they were talking about after all, and that our seed did need more warmth that what we were currently providing them with, I finagled both the chick cage and the seed starter bin together under the heat lamp.

And, voila! The seeds have started to grow. Who knew warmth was such a key ingredient to seed growth (nevermind everyone who has ever read a seed packet and grown seeds themselves)?

Of course, now that the seeds are growing, Cael is anxious to pick them. I've had to remind him several times not to touch them and that it would be many months before we can harvest anything.

"Grrr," he says. "I've been waiting years for this already!"

Cael Climbs

Today was a gorgeous spring day -- the sky was blue, the air was warm, the breeze was a reminder that outdoor weather is on its way. 

We spent the afternoon working on cleaning up another flower bed--this one is in front of the house. 

Because I wouldn't let them use my clippers, they got their own scissors to snip at flower heads and grass.

While we were clearing away last year's overgrowth, we found an (abandoned?) bird nest in the middle of one of the rose bushes. We left it there in case the mama bird wanted to return.

My sporadic helpers did other things while I worked. 

And finally it was finished and the sidewalk was given a good sweeping by Cael. We are slowly but surely building a good burn pile and will be ready for a bonfire in a few weeks.

After supper, we took a walk down to the creek. One of the benefits (?) of the new road construction is that there is now somewhat of a new path from the creek to the road, which Seth and Cael have discovered. Kieran decided he also wanted to try it (walking on the uneven rocks and climbing is excellent therapy for his gross motor skills).



Welcome, Spring!

Prayers

A few months ago, I downloaded the (free) PrayerMate app on my phone (available for iOS and Android). I've found it amazingly helpful in keeping track of prayer requests from church and friends and family, and it's helped to revitalize my desire to spend time with the Creator of the universe in talking with Him and talking to Him about the needs of those in my life (and my own needs).

One of the encouraging aspects of PrayerMate has been the daily prayer from Scotty Smith at the Gospel Coalition that I selected to have automatically imported into the app. Two of his recent prayers have really ministered to me and I wanted to record them here so that I can return to them and meditate more on them.

A Prayer for Humbling Ourselves When We’d Rather Not

Mar 18, 2015 | Scotty Smith

     Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. (James 4:10 NIV) When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom. (Prov. 11:2 NIV) Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. (Eph. 4:2 NIV) Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. (Matt. 5:9 NIV)

Dear heavenly Father, “being right” is so much more fun than being humbled; remaining defensive is so much easier than offering kindness; getting even is more instinctive than getting low. Alas, I find myself again in the need of fresh grace as this day begins. Thank you for convicting me without condemning me.

I know you resist the proud, but give grace to the humble—and the last thing in the world I want is to experience your resistance, so, Father, I humble myself before you today. Bring glory to yourself, as you bring me back to the ways of the gospel.

Forgive me for trying to justify my haughtiness, coolness, and withdrawal. Nobody’s failure to love well can excuse my own. Forgive me for investing more energy in propping up my reputation than in working towards peace and reconciliation. Forgive me for confusing the self-righteous monologue I’ve been carrying on in my head with prayer. I’ve been talking to myself, not to you.

Forgive me for relishing the thought of being right, when there’s been everything wrong with my attitude. Forgive me for “processing” the broken situation with others, when it’s really been closer to gossip. Forgive me for being passive in the face of a potential messy confrontation, rather than active as a peacemaker.

Have mercy on me, gracious Father, have mercy. As the day unfolds, please grant me humility, kindness, and courage to move towards the situation. Bring glory to yourself, gentleness to my heart, and a good gospel outcome. So very Amen I pray, in Jesus’ wonderful and merciful name.

A Prayer for Avoiding the Deadly Toxins of Bitterness and Resentment

Mar 24, 2015 | Scotty Smith

Look after each other so that none of you fails to receive the grace of God. Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many. Heb. 12:15 (NLT)

Resentment kills a fool. Job. 5:2 (NIV)   

Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Eph. 4:31-32 (NIV)

     Dear heavenly Father, these Scriptures cut to the chase and bring conviction to our hearts. We are your beloved daughters and sons, but today we are also your “busted” daughters and sons; for resentment comes to us as quickly as someone steals our parking place, or eats the saran-wrapped piece of cake we hid in the “frig,” or fails to include us in some social event. It’s amazing how quickly a little slight can launch us into a big spite. Have mercy on us, Lord, and grant us fresh grace, thicker skin and bigger hearts.

     But Father, being slighted is one thing, but being assaulted by the betrayals and failures, deceit and lies, attacks and abuse of others, is an altogether different matter. These aren’t things to shake off, but deep wounds, broken hearts, and incredible pain to bring to your throne of grace. You’re not calling us to denial, but to yourself. Have mercy on us, Lord, have big mercy; and grant us wisdom, strength and tons of grace.

     Father—through the power of your Holy Spirit, the truth of the gospel, and the gift of community, don’t let our appropriate anger morph into destructive revenge. Don’t let our raw hurts become a band of vigilante marauders, not just bent on getting even, but upping the ante—repaying harm for harm, evil for evil, and death for death.

     Don’t let our vulnerable hearts become gardens for the planting of roots of resentment and bushes of bitterness; and keep us from medicating our pain foolishly. Father, as Jesus has forgiven us, so help us to want to forgive others. Write stories of redemption and restoration with the ink of our hurt and your grace. So very Amen we pray, in Jesus’ tender and triumphant name. 

Spring cleaning

Today, we continued to celebrate the arrival of Spring with Cael's spring break from school (shortened to just a week because of the snow days we've had previously) and with a little spring cleaning. 

A bit of a chill has settled back into our area, but today was still sunny, so we went outside for a bit this afternoon. I decided that the time had come to clean up the dead leaves and branches from last year's flowers along the side of the barn. The spring bulbs have been asserting themselves lately, and I thought it might be good to give them a showcase for their beauty by getting rid of the junk that was laying on top of them. 

So, I got out my rake and clippers and went to work. Kieran decided he wanted to use the clippers. When I told him "no, they were too dangerous, he needed to be a little older to use them," he said, "Mom, you need to learn to share the clippers. You need to learn to share."

Even without sharing them with him, I got that area mostly cleaned up and we called it a day.

Later in the evening, after supper, Seth decided to pull out some of the things we're using to help Kieran learn spatial relationships, like this Peek-A-Boo Bunny set that my parents got him for Christmas. He took turns having the boys follow the pattern on the card and placing the pieces in the correct order.

Kieran needed a bit of redirection but he does like doing those sets and it's encouraging to see he's getting better at following the pattern.

Just another Spring day in the Holler.

Walking down the lane

Seth has been working in earnest on rehabbing his knee, which was operated on last October due to a torn meniscus. His knee had been bothering him for years, making it difficult for him to run and play well with the boys outside, and taking a walk wasn't something he enjoyed because of the pain. So, this afternoon, it made my heart happy to hear him suggest that we all go for a walk down the lane. 

On our way, I stopped to smile at the beautiful faces of the flowers that were greeting us. 

We went down to the creek for a bit so that Seth could check out the repair process of the lane.

This is a photo from last week. While the snow was melting, we received several days of rain, making our creek quite turbulent. So much so, that part of the road by the creek had fallen in.

This lane is the only access to our house, so if it had caved in all the way, we would have been stuck in -- or out of, depending on when it caved -- the Holler.

Our neighbor notified the county of the impending doom, and on Monday, a work crew showed up to start fixing the road.

They brought several loads of larger rocks in and dumped them into the cavity.

And then this thing, whatever it is,

moved the rocks around and made a nice pile of them. 

The little front loader (?) scraped and pushed the rocks off the road and into the pile.

And this was the result at the end of Monday.

Tuesday morning, we watched out the window as the cement truck came

And dumped a load of cement over the rock pile.

  
And this was the result at the end of Tuesday. 

This is what we saw from the creek today.

Apparently, they didn't care about this section right next to it that is also eroding.

I'm sure you can imagine that Seth and the neighbors aren't very thrilled with the current "fix" (what happens when water gets into the rock pile, freezes, and cracks it all?). We're waiting to see if they come back to finish resurfacing the road or doing anything else to it.

And then we continued down the lane, collecting trash . . . again.

And ended up with another bag of trash to deposit in our trash can. 

It was a nice way to celebrate the advent of spring -- and the gradual healing of Seth's knee. 

A love song

One of the things that I love about Seth is his sense of humor. The other day, I posted this on my Facebook status:

Random memory (as I listen to country songs on the radio -- don't judge): I once asked Seth why he never wrote a love song for me. He said, "Because nothing rhymes with 'Stacia'." ‪#‎acacia

Several friends offered their recommendations for words rhyming with "Stacia" . . . in case Seth wanted to write that song after all: aphasia, Valencia, facia.

My multi-talented SIL Ruth took it one step further and actually wrote a song on behalf of her brother in the country genre. It made me laugh and I thought I'd share it here, too.

Stacia, Stacia, oh mah, Stacia,
Ah jus’ wanna take this occasia
Ta sing y’a little song
 Cuz Ah cain’t help but praise ya!

Ain’t a never gonna take ya on a trip ta Asia,
But Ah can grill ya’ll a steak and feed ya focaccia.
Ah’d surely take the jolt if somebody tried ta taze ya
Even though it means Ah’ll get another abrasia.

Ah love the choice o’ yer life’s vocatia.
It don’t matter to me what yer boss pays ya.
Ah don’t care what the bathroom scale weighs ya,
All ya need ta know is that I gotta embrace ya.

As time goes by an the years start ta age ya,
If ya end up with rheumatism and hip dysplasia,
Even if ya grow some whiskers on yer facia,
Ain’t nuthin’ could convince me that Ah oughta replace ya!

While I'm on the topic of Ruth and her many talents, I thought I'd share these cute button puzzles she made for Kieran. I had mentioned a while ago that he was working on learning to button with some button boards but that I thought it would be good for him to practice on buttons of different sizes. Ruth immediately had the idea of making puzzles with buttons that he could practice with. And quick as a wink, she sewed up these two puzzles out of fabric scraps and buttons she had on hand for him to use.

He saw the dragon as an elephant. Can you?

He's enjoyed putting them together and taking them apart.

 I think she could start a business out of making custom button puzzles, don't you?

New Arrivals

Seth has moved from the "they are YOUR chickens" phase to the "hey, chickens are kinda cool" phase, thankfully. So much so that recently he has been suggested that we get new baby chicks. Since our current chickens are heading into their second year, they'll be molting later this year and their egg production will drop during and after the molt. So, I agreed to getting new chickens to keep the eggs a comin'. 

Last week, he took the boys to our farm supply store to pick out some pullets, but that week's shipment was already picked over and they didn't have the breeds he was interested in. He likes the idea of having a variety of egg colors in our basket and wanted to add some darker shades to the mix via breeds such as the Welsummer. So, they came home empty-handed. 

Tonight, I got a text from him that said, "Been busy picking up chicks." And when he arrived home, he had these. 

Which Cael immediately had to hold. 

So, we pulled out all our chicken-raising paraphernalia from the barn and got the new girls (I'm hoping they're all girls) settled in their new home. There are two Barred Rock and two Rhode Island Reds. They will eventually join the three Easter Eggers and three Black Sex-Link older chickens that we already have. 

The red aura is from the red heat lamp we have for them.

Kieran laid down by the coop and let them know they didn't need to be scared.

I was hoping to wait a few more weeks until we picked up new ones because I don't like having them in the kitchen for more than a month and want to be able to transition them outside as soon as possible (when it warms up). Last year, we moved the chickens outside at the end of April--we'll see if I can wait until then to move these girls outside. 

Later, after every chicken and every boy were settled down for the night, Seth pulled out the chicken book that his dad had given us one year to see if he could find some other breeds that lay darker egg colors. He did and then, after looking around on the Internet for places that sold them, decided that we could wait until next year to order the minimum 15 chicks that those mail-order hatcheries required. 

And so the Holler chicken-keeping continues . . . .


(And, just for fun--here's a chicken-related cartoon by my friend Dan . . . . )

The Promise of Spring

When I first moved to this area almost 18 years ago (has it been that long?!), I enjoyed experiencing the changing seasons again, after living in Florida for several years. For the past two years, however, winter has become an enemy to me. Last year, for the first time, I experienced that heaviness and depression that I've heard others speak of. And, although we were able to spend five weeks in Florida this winter, the cold and cloudy days seemed worse after we got back. And then we've been hit with snow after snow and bone-chilling cold that makes it difficult to spend much time outdoors. 

So, I've spent the last few weeks huddled on my couch under a blanket with no energy to do much of anything. And the boys have spend a lot of time in front of the TV, I'm sad to say. I wish there was some spiritual encouragement I could offer but my motto during these times is "do the next thing." Some days it really feels like I'm just putting one foot in front of the other.

On Friday, I somehow mustered enough energy to take the kids outside to play in the snow for what I hope will be the last time this winter.

We went for some sled rides (through the mud that was exposed because the snow had already started to melt). 

 And climbed through the snow tunnels we'd built. For the life of me, I can't figure out how to build an igloo and end up just digging tunnels through piles of snow.

And, we enjoyed the playset for awhile. (At least we didn't need to worry about chiggers.)

It felt good to be in the sun and when Cael got out his lawnmower to mow the snow, I was reminded of the promise of Spring. 

And today, when I walked out of church and didn't need to keep my heavy winter jacket on, I was encouraged that Spring is on its way. I stopped at Lowe's on my way home (the boys had stayed home with Seth because he wasn't feeling well and they seemed to be a bit on the sickly side), and the veggie seed packets drew me in. The sun was shining, the air was warmer, the snow was melting, and I was able to think about gardening again.

We haven't done much gardening the past few years, apart from the perennial fruits we have (blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, grapes, etc.), but Cael has asked about growing some things lately (mainly pumpkins and corn), so I thought we might try our hand again.

After I got home and unloaded the car, Cael helped me get the soil into the starter cups.

 Kieran joined us eventually.

And we planted pumpkins, corn, green peppers, yellow squash, zucchini, and cukes. 

I know it's a bit early, but it was just so nice to be able to be outside without having our nose hairs frozen and it was so nice to see the sun that I couldn't help getting the seeds started. 

Cael found some puddles of melted snow to use as water for the seeds. 

After a few minutes, Cael came back and asked, "Have they growed yet?"

After we got the seeds planted and returned everything safely inside, we went to the barn to check out Seth's new creeper (that he uses to work on the cars).

And, in another sign Spring is on its way, Kieran got out the little tractor and drove it around the yard and through the puddles. 

I checked my flower beds on the off-chance that the bul1bs had started growing and, amazingly enough, despite the snow and freezing temperatures of the last few days, they had. It always makes my heart glad to see the green tips poking their way up through the dead leaves of last fall and the remaining patches of snow. Another sign that Spring is coming.  

I had almost forgotten what it felt like to have energy and the desire to be outside and to get things done. There is hope that Spring is coming.

There's a super cape under there somewhere.

PS -- Not that this matters to anyone in particular, but I'll be taking a short break from blogging (I know, I know -- I said I was going to post every day this year; it's my blog and I can break my own rules if I want to) to work on a few other writing projects that I need to finish. I'll be back in a week (or so), Lord willing.