A Chosen Course

If our principal treasure be as we profess, in things spiritual and heavenly, and woe unto us if it be not so! on them will our affections, and consequently our desires and thoughts, be principally fixed.  -John Owen

Perhaps you may have noticed it's been a month since the last post here.  I, on occasion, have read blogs where the writer returns after days, weeks or months and apologizes for an absence.  While I (somewhat surprisingly) have missed the once daily writings myself, I make no apology.  

The new year always seems a time to refocus, to realign and to reset.  

Time has been taken here for just that.  The Advent and Christmas seasons have passed and the decorations are put away.  The house has been cleaned and a new semester of homeschool has begun.  

It seems often that we run along fulfilling our many roles and responsibilities and don't often evaluate where our time is being spent.  I often say that our time spent reflects our priorities.  Clearly, the computer (and this blog), while both things I enjoy, do not top my list.  They are not responsibilities I am tied to, or need to be burdened by.  

With three children to train (all of them boys - in January in New England mind you!  Oh how thankful we are for a mild winter!), a husband with a full and busy work schedule, a toddler having just switched from two naps to one, and two school age boys to teach, there is often simply not enough time in the day to accomplish all I hope to accomplish.  There is, however, enough time to do that which is in God's will that i do.

There are times when this machine is not meant to be used.  It's OK for it to sit idle for a while.  Aren't there many things in life like that - that start out as hobbies or things we enjoy that become burdensome as we increasingly feel tied.

I like the analogy of the rodent in the wheel.  Many folks spin their wheels as the hamster does, running without a finish line in sight, going nowhere.  Unlike the rodent, we have goals and a vision.  We know where we're going.  The challenge is to get there without getting sidetracked by the lure of the wheel.  Sometimes it looks fun, and sometimes we jump on enjoying the novelty for a time, only to be reminded of why we want to jump off... before the force of the endless motion consumes us.  

Our prayer beginning this year is that we will grow as we did in 2011.  While I must admit that I consistently add my own silent prayer, "...but Lord, it's gotta be easier than last year!", I know that our greatest times of growth have been in the greatest times of trial.  Should He choose to lead us through the flames yet again this year, we will follow.  I'm not waiting in line for that, as my mother would say, but if that's the direction the Lord leads we are, somewhat reluctantly if I'm being honest, willing.

Is your prayer for 2012 to be in His will?  Is your plan His plan?  Is He your focus?  Do your activities allow you to meditate on His word, to reflect on His work and seek His will, or do they - will they- leave you spinning on the wheel?  

“The will of God is not something you add to your life. It’s a course you choose. You either line yourself up with the Son of God…or you capitulate to the principle which governs the rest of the world.” - Elisabeth Elliot

The Shine-A Bug, and other scary things

"I scared a flies, Mama!"

We hear this daily.  He's scared of flies.  No.  He's really scared of flies!  Paranoid.  The 35 pound toddler is simply petrified.  He shakes like a leaf at the mention of a simple house fly, or for that matter anything that even resembles a house fly!
Uh huh... things such as cotton balls ripped up by big brothers and sent floating in the bathtub.  And straw wrapper bits being blown around restaurant tables in two year old Noah's general direction.

Don't misunderstand.  He's not afraid of much.  He gets bulled over in the backyard by his brothers playing tackle football and he giggles.  He plays hockey in the driveway - his brothers on roller blades. The big boys make Noah play goalie, a position he gladly and happily fills.  Balls fly at him as fast as boys on skates can send them, and he's not phased.

A house fly on the other hand is another matter entirely.  It's hysterically funny.  It got even funnier the night that I tucked him into his crib and thought I saw something on Mimi.  I jumped and pulled the blanket from the crib.  As I did so, I said {clearly without thinking}, "Ooh- that looks like a bug the size of China!"  Noah scrambled to his feet saying, "Bug-a-size-a-shina!?"  I reassured him that there was no bug and that what I thought resembled a large bug was just a newly torn hole in well-loved Mimi.

I won myself a mid-night trip to the babe's room that night!  The poor thing was crying, "I scared a shine-a bug!  I scared a flies!" I had to shake out all the blankets before putting them all back in his crib.  Only after they were all shaken would he lay back down and settle for sleep.

These little passing phases pass so quickly that I cannot remember at all what my other sons feared at this age.  I do recall a number of night terrors with our oldest around this age, and our middle son certainly had his list of fears, but like most childhood phases it passed so quickly that I can no longer recall the specifics.

It does seem, however, that the Shine-A-bug, if for no other reason than how hard we've laughed, will be one of those memories that sticks.  It may take it's place with other sweet memories like "pean-tut sauce" {Isaiah's words spoken with a lisp when he was small, for peanut butter} and "chewelve" {the way Elijah still pronounces the number twelve and the way Noah stands, two fingers in his mouth and his other pointer finger stuck in his belly button.  If his shirt's in the way, we hear "can't find ya button!"

For now, in the midst of this fun (for us) phase, we will keep tickling him every time we speak of flies.  It seems a good and fun distraction, and surely he'll learn one of these days that flies are harmless, and there's no such thing as a "shine-a bug".

A Most Joyful Noise

All week we have had the pleasure of having little Noah serenading us.  

The song we have heard day in and day out for some time goes something like this: "Amazing grace, how sweet... to trust in Jesus... loves all the little children... How great our God... saved me..."

It's his own song, the song in his heart, and in case you didn't recognize it, it is a compilation of Amazing Grace, 'Tis So Sweet, Jesus Loves the Little Children and How Great is Our God.

He just goes about his day singing parts of each of these, his favorite songs.

It's sweet sounds like these that have shown us the fruit of a decision Dan and I made years ago.  We decided sometime before the birth of our oldest child that we would not listen to secular radio.  We tucked away all our old CD's and began to familiarize ourselves with Christian music.  With no local Christian radio station, this has taken a bit of creativity, especially early on, in the pre-iPod dial-up internet days.

I think what initially prompted our decision was the day I was driving a mini van belonging to a family I was nannying for.  The mom had her Shaggy CD in the player and before I even realized what was playing, the children, both just toddlers at the time, began singing along.  They knew every word by heart.  It was about then that I decided I wanted my own children, when we had them, to have a very different song in their hearts.

Sure the message of many secular songs can be said to be "not that bad", and in very few cases the overall theme of some songs may actually be good.  Unfortunately, it's very difficult to filter out the "not that bad" from the atrocious and we decided it was simply better for us, and for who were then our future children, to nix it altogether.

Now, we have learned to enjoy jazz, classical and a wide variety of Christian music.  Our children know that there is other, more popular music and they recognize some of it.  It plays in dentist offices, grocery stores, shopping malls and restaurants.

They understand why we listen to different music at home and though none of us are musically gifted, Dan has done a wonderful job of instilling in the children a love of music, and a love of worship through song.

There may be no more joyful noise than that of a two year old singing Amazing Grace while in the bathtub getting ready for bed, or a six year old singing This is My Father's World while feeding his "pet cricket" (that he named Christopher) out on the front step, or the sound of a nine year old humming How Great Thou Art while whittling baby Jesus out of balsa wood for the nativity he's creating.  And yes, when it's all happening at once it sure is noise... but such joyful noise!

When the day ends, we gather for family worship.  Prayer, scripture reading and worship through song.  Oftentimes, the song placed on a young heart is the pick of the evening.  Lately, poor Noah can't decide which one to choose.

"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God."  Colossians 3:16 

The 89 Cent Treasure

With Thanksgiving around the corner, there is much talk of turkey.

The grocery stores are running sales on the popular thanksgiving bird.  The wild turkeys are still meandering about our backyard and they are remembered daily in prayer in our house as the two year old prays, "Dear Dog... Tank you for da turkeys backyard".

... Perhaps he understands more than we think as our oldest seems determined to one of these years provide the turkey, one he has hunted himself, for our Thanksgiving table.  Maybe Noah knows that the turkeys might need protection from his big brother.  That's beside the point...

Feeding five mouths is not always easy, and is never cheap.  I am always looking for ways to create easy, economical meals and all the talk about turkey prompted me to share this tip.
One of the best ways I have found to accomplish both easy and economical meals is to take advantage of the oven roaster chickens that go on sale for about $.89/lb. from time to time.

When that sale runs, I stock up.  These chickens freeze well.  I thaw one for a few days in the fridge and after it has had time to thaw, I place one in the crock pot early in the day.  No liquid needed (in fact, if your crock pot is small, adding liquid may cause the pot to spill over).  Simply add salt, pepper and perhaps some poultry seasoning is all.  Left on the low setting until dinner time the chicken cooks perfectly.

Though you certainly can, we do not often simply eat the chicken this way as I find I can stretch it further if we use it in other dishes.  I have, over the years, compiled a large collection of recipes involving cooked chicken.

After dinner (yes, after, as I rarely plan to use this bird for this meal so as to save time), I debone the chicken.  I separate the meat into meal sized freezer bags.  I find that I can get at least six meals out of a good sized chicken.  The skin, bones, and juice all get put back into the crock pot and are refrigerated until the following day.  The meat is refrigerated or frozen for future use.

The following day, I add water and vegetable scraps to the carcass that has sat in the fridge.  This is left to simmer, again on low, all day in the crock pot.  At the end of the day, the liquid is strained.  The solids are tossed in the garbage and the broth that remains is saved and frozen for future use as stock, or broth for soup.
This stock is separated into several tupperware containers to be later used as soup broth.  Smaller, one-cup amounts, are saved in recycled yogurt or margarine containers to be used as stock or broth for casseroles, etc.  This all freezes perfectly.

Not only do I eliminate the need to buy broth or bouillon, but also I am able to very quickly thaw already cooked chicken and whip up a quick casserole, chicken pie, or stir fry.  It is also leaves me little excuse to be unprepared for dinner.

"She rises while it is yet night and provides food for her household and portions for her maidens."  Proverbs 31:15

"It is good to give thanks to the Lord..." Psalm 92:1

Favorite Books --of a 9 year old boy

When he was little we began to fill the tiny child sized bookshelf.  He loved to be read to.  He loved to thumb through the colorful pages of his books on his own.

When he was an infant I read to him from the Bible often, and we read Paddington Bear.  When he was two I read him The Wind in the Willows.  He doesn't remember either.  As he grew we continued our Bible reading and we read aloud Charlotte's Web, Christie's Old Organ, The Little Woodchopper, The Hidden Rainbow.

We talked about them and great lessons grew out of those most wonderful stories.  Though for me those are sweet memories of time spent with my oldest child, he doesn't recall them at all, or the conversations we had.  Some he has since reread on his own.

The little bookshelf one day overflowed.  We filled another, larger, one.  We grew even more selective about what we allowed to occupy a precious space on the shelf.  We got rid of anything that could be classified as twaddle (n. books that are silly, foolish, trivial, nonsensical, insignificant).

Finding quality literature for little boys is not always easy, but it is certainly possible.  It does take time and effort to filter out that which is valuable from that which is merely popular.  The time and effort is well worth it...

...That small boy who used to lay with his head tucked on my shoulder, night after night, listening to story after story has just turned nine, his head now at my shoulder as he stands beside me.

As I type, my eye glances at his father's bookshelves, filled to overflowing.  Mine look much the same.  Apples don't fall far from the tree.  Our younger sons' following in the footsteps of their oldest brother.  They are apples from the same tree.

As Isaiah, the boy now nine, was nearing this birthday I asked him for a list.  A list of his 25 favorite books.  One's he has read all on his own.

He said, "Sure Mom!  I will put them in order of my favorite for you!"

I smiled.  He began.  Days passed and I asked, "How's that book list coming?"

"Well... Ok", he replied.  "I'm having trouble.  I think I'm done and then I think of another one I really liked.  I keep drawing arrows because I can't decide what should be first and what should be next!"

I told him to forget the order and just write down what he would consider his top 25 as of today.

He struggled, admitting that he's read so many great stories.  Stories that have stretched his comprehension, expanded his vocabulary, developed his spelling ability, and impacted his play.  Stories that have sparked a love of adventure, taught him about right from wrong, fact from fiction, and have clued him in to what life may have been like in times past.

Having just turned 9, here is his list...
The list he could narrow to only 27.

The Holy Bible


The Chronicle's of Narnia by C.S. Lewis


Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll


The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner
(The original series, volumes 1-19)


Rascal by Sterling North


The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss

Buffalo Bill by Mary R. Davidson

Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

Justin Morgan Had a Horse by Marguerite Henry


Dolphin Adventure and Dolphin Treasure by Wayne Grover


Stone Fox by John Reynolds Gardiner


The Sugar Creek Gang by Paul Hutchens



On The Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder



The Littles by John Peterson


Homer Price by Robert McCloskey


Ben and Me by Robert W. Lawson


The Borrowers by Mary Norton


The Little Woodchopper by anon.


Ralph S. Mouse Collection by Beverly Cleary


The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare


Stuart Little by E.B. White



My Father's Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett


The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White


Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie


Black Beauty by Anna Sewell


The Little Pilgrims Progress by Helen Taylor


The Imagination Station by Paul McCusker (an Adventures in Odyssey series)

*We highly recommend offering children the original, unabridged versions of any book.  They are the author's original work and are undiluted.  They are often far richer than any abridged, or early reader versions.  See in the column on the right the article, "What is Twaddle" bookmarked on Delicious, for a better understanding.