A good boy mom for one evening

On Thursday night, our local early childhood group had an event for families at the local wildlife refuge. Ram was planning to go with us, but one of the churches had a voter's meeting change the date so he was unable to go. My family never did much hiking or any camping, so I feel out of place on events like this.

We arrived early and I took a bunch of photos and this one turned out the best.

Each family brought their own picnic. We had a simple picnic (PB&J, grapes, etc.) compared to others, but I brought a real picnic basket unlike others. My boys only lasted a few minutes on this blanket, they wanted to go explore!

This big rock was not too far from our picnic area and the older Lambs played up there. Lamb 3 played in the dirt at the bottom of this area. A scavenger hunt (look for animal tracks, birds, leaves, etc.) was planned, but before they passed out the info on that, the Lambs wanted to go for a walk. And walk...hike... we did. Lamb 3 lasted about 2 minutes before I had to carry him. Lamb 2 made it the whole time (there was no way I was carrying him!), but after about 20 minutes he looked red in the face and tired. So we sat down here on this rock and took a short break. I spent the rest of the walk encouraging him that it was only a little farther even though I knew it was quite a bit farther!

Lamb 1 could have gone another 1/2 hour and didn't get tired at all. I tried to remind myself that I did the hike with an extra 25 lbs and it was steep uphill for 1/2 of the hike, but I felt really out of shape after a 1/2 hour hike. The mosquitoes were just starting to get bad when we got back to our picnic area. We picked up the scavenger hunt papers and recorded what we saw on our hike even though we weren't specifically looking for what was on the papers. Lamb 1 was excited that he saw a deer and I was glad he knew how to spell deer and write it on his paper. The group gave out kites and other outdoor prizes to those who attended. There were about 9 or 10 families so it was pretty good attendance. When we got home I gave all the Lambs complete tick checks. The night was successful and I felt like a good boy mom to do all that by myself. It gives me sympathy for those who are single moms all the time.

Prayers

A Looper dad is going to the Republic of Congo to help them with their new hymnal. You can read about it here. Please keep Cantor Magness in your prayers for a safe and successful trip and keep the people of the churches there in your prayers too. I personally believe the LCMS should be doing more trips and helping more churches around the world this way. This is an example of wisely using the resources we have (he is gifted both in music and speaking French) for missions. You can also financially support the project, especially to purchase hymnals. Please also pray for his family that will not be going with him on this trip.

Wordless Wednesday

My new favorite kitchen servant

A few years ago, Ram's parents brought us an ice cream maker. They brought us a lot of other stuff during that trip and I assumed that they had this ice cream maker and never used it so they brought it to us. It was put in the basement and we never used it until this week. With all Lamb 1's dairy problems, I thought it was one more thing to store that we didn't really need.

Lamb 1 has been able to tolerate dairy for awhile, but I forgot about the ice cream maker until we were cleaning out the basement recently. I dreaded getting it out, reading the directions, making sure we had enough milk and cream, etc. I also assumed it was like my parents' old electric ice cream maker where you have to put ice around the outside= lots of work.

I finally opened it up so Lamb 1 would stop begging. I was so surprised-you put the bowl in the freezer for a day and you're ready to make ice cream. You plug it in, pour the ingredients in the top, and turn it on for 25 minutes. Then you freeze the ice cream for about 2 hours.

First we made orange sherbet which was like frozen orange julius. Then we made simple vanilla ice cream where you didn't have to cook it or add eggs. They were both delicious. Orange took OJ concentrate, milk, and sugar. It was so simple. We're looking at some more recipes like pistachio ice cream.

I think we need to order more milk from the man that delivers it to us. We may be buying less Schwans ice cream now too. This is worth room on my counter. I think we also need to put making ice cream on our list of weekly chores like baking bread and making yogurt.

Family Update

*Last Sunday we had a baptism at one of our churches in the tri-parish. This is the 3rd baby Ram has baptized (not counting our Lambs or a few baptisms of grandchildren at our church that were baptized but live far away). It is exciting after he has done so many funerals. Afterwards the family had a lunch at church and our family attended. The Lambs were so impatient to cut the cake-they thought it was like a wedding.
*My parents left early Monday morning. My children must be getting older because I completely slept through them gathering their stuff and leaving. I used to sleep so lightly that I would always hear them leave.
*We were exhausted after Ram was gone for a week at Synodical convention. We rested on Monday. On Tuesday Ram went back to the doctor because he just couldn't beat this cough. He's on another round of antibiotics and doing much better.
*Ram and I had a hot date on Tuesday afternoon while the babysitter was here and picked blueberries. I spent most of the rest of the week taking care of the blueberries. We have a few blueberries left in the fridge to eat fresh, but the rest are gone or in the freezer or in jam.
*I had an eye doctor appointment on Wednesday. I hadn't been to the eye doctor for 3 1/2 years. There is no point in me going to the eye doctor when I'm pregnant or the first few months of breastfeeding. I still don't have to wear glasses to pass the driving test, but he said I could get glasses mainly for driving at night if I wanted to. I drive so rarely that for the time being I'm not going to get glasses. I may change my mind though. My one cornea has a problem that is usually seen in people with dry eyes so I'm taking over the counter drops twice a day for a few weeks. Other than that my eyes are healthy.
*We've gone lightly on homeschool the last few weeks. Lamb 1 has done a little math. We've read a lot, especially library books. Goldilocks and the 3 Bears, Dick and Jane, Curious George, a math book about equal, and Lamb 2 has been reading a pre-reading book where he has to tell the story happening in the pictures. This has been good for Lamb 2.
*July is another month of quarterly voter's meetings at each church in the tri-parish. It is a good reminder for me to pray for our churches this time of year. One church had "a little lunch" at one of the members homes afterwards today. They invited the Lambs and me to come over too. The Lambs were excited to have sandwiches, pickles, cookies, and orange pop. It was fun to have a little socialization after the meeting. Plus they were good Lutherans and had beer at this party!
*We had a garage sale on Friday and Saturday. I had cleaned out the garage and we put a bunch of stuff out for free. We got rid of a lot of that stuff instead of just throwing it out. I sold an outside swing and one stroller. We still have a baby swing, double stroller, and mobile for sale. They are so bulky that I'm not sure what to do with them because they are so big to transport to donate some where.
*We had a pastor and his wife over for dinner on Friday night. This inspired the Lambs and me to do a little cleaning and especially to clean up the clutter. It's so nice to have a clean house! I invited them for 7pm and by the time we ate it was the Lambs bedtime and they weren't happy that they didn't even get dessert! We enjoyed the evening and all agreed we should do this more often.
*I got my haircut on Friday and everyone has been commenting that it must be so much easier to take care of now that it is short. I think long hair is easier because I usually just put it in a pony tail and now I have to comb it and take care of it. Ram likes me to have long hair. As long as I have detangler spray, I don't mind long hair. This is the first time I have ever donated hair. I heard Locks for Love has more hair than they can use. So I decided to try Wigs 4 Kids with Leukemia. It's amazing to me that I had 21 inches off and I still have almost shoulder length hair. I'm going to have to try the curly girl routine and see how wavy my hair gets.
*We don't have too much planned this week although Ram has some visits to make after being gone to Convention. It will be good to "rest" this week before August gets busy!

Bountiful Blueberries

23 lbs of blueberries=
*12 jars jam
*24 cups in the freezer
*eating lots and lots fresh
*1 salad (blueberries, strawberries, balsamic vinegar, little sugar)
*1 blueberry crisp
*1 banana blueberry cake
*27 blueberry muffins
*triple batch of blueberry pancakes

I'm not going to post photos because it would make your mouth water and since blueberry picking season is over, you can't get your blueberry fix right now. I'm going to make sure to go pick blueberries again next year and you can join me then!

Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let your hair down...

7/22/10

For Wigs 4 Kids/Childhood Leukemia Foundation in memory of Harrison M.

21 inches

7/23/10

Paychecks

Ram receives 6 paychecks each month-twice a month payday from each church in the tri-parish. Church #1 pays him in person as close to the 1st and 15th each month (if he has turned in his mileage expenses at the end of the month). Church #2 pays him either in person or mails it, whatever is easiest for the treasurer on the 15th and 30th. Church #3 mails his paychecks ahead of time and trusts us to cash them on the 15th and the 30th when they are dated.
While Ram was at Synodical convention, the 15th came, so I went to cash the check from church #3, but I couldn't find it. I assumed it was around here somewhere. I couldn't remember if the treasurer had given it to Ram even though he usually mails it. My plan was today to go through my huge pile of mail and look one more time before calling the treasurer. This morning we received a phone call that when the treasurer went to do the books he realized he made a mistake and never sent us the checks. He's mailing them today. I'm thankful that I didn't lose the checks and that I don't have to look through my messy pile for them any more.

Blueberries

Ram and I went blueberry picking while we had a babysitter this afternoon. The deal was one pail at regular price and any other pails 1/2 price. If I can find some time to go again, any future pails will also be half price. Ram and I picked about 23lbs-4 pails-in about 2 hours. I'm not sure if I'm really saving very much money by the time I paid the babysitter, but our friend that owns the garden thought it was very wise that we didn't bring the kids. He said families think it will be fun and kids only last a few minutes before they are hot, hungry, thirsty, and the bugs are getting them. They are usually only open in the morning, but he was kind enough to open it for us this afternoon. We had a beautiful afternoon and it was hot, but not that hot for July-upper 70s/low 80s. There was a slight breeze and it was a little cloudy. I looked at our calendar and this was the best day to go pick based on our schedule, needing time to take care of the berries we picked, and the chance of rain later this week. Plus Ram was free this afternoon and we had a babysitter so we picked twice as much. My grandma had raspberries and I had gone strawberry picking several times, but I had never picked blueberries before. The bushes were overflowing with berries!

Tonight I made one batch of jam and I plan to use some fresh in the next few days and I plan to freeze a bunch. Please leave a comment if you have any other good blueberry recipes.

Young LCMS members

I have never been to a Higher Things youth conference, but from what I hear from other high school students and their parents, I would love to go. This skit was done at the Higher Things youth conference in Nashville last week. I have never watched very much Veggie Tales, but as a life long Lutheran, I thought this skit was hilarious!





Ram has called me each night while he is gone at the convention. Each night he tries to tell me who he saw that I know. It is interesting to me how many of the delegates are people that went to Seminary with him or went to college with me. In our circuit many of the pastors wanted the pastor that had been in our circuit for the longest but had never been to a Synodical convention before to be the pastoral delegate. (Even though the pastors said they wanted this, Ram had to be elected at a circuit forum-and he was.) There are two other pastors in our circuit that have been pastors here longer than Ram, but they had both already been to other Synodical conventions. The other pastors in the circuit came to their churches after Ram came here 7 years ago.





I'm thinking that many LCMS circuits had similar thinking to ours-send a pastor delegate that has been at their church for a little while and is not a brand new pastor, but also send one that has never had a chance to go to convention before. That means that many pastors that are close to my age (from both college or at Seminary when Ram was) are delegates this year. It has been fun for Ram to see old friends and catch up during their free time in the evenings.





There are many changes for LCMS happening this week at the convention. It is exciting to me that many of these changes are being voted for by young pastors. There are so many areas that our church just can not continue to follow-theologically, financially, and with so much division. It means a lot to me that the young pastors are the ones that both want change and are acting on it. Plus many of those elected are young. Rev. Harrison, the president-elect is 48 years old.





It must be so interesting for those that were at both one of the Higher Things youth conferences and at Synodical convention this year.

This busy week

Ram left for Houston very early Saturday morning and won't be home until Saturday night. We spent Saturday doing tasks around the house. On Sunday, my dad led 3 services for our tri-parish while Ram was gone. We planned to go out to lunch, but the place we chose was closed so we came home and ate a simple lunch here.
On Monday, we went to the Watertown, SD zoo in the morning. My parents visited some friends in Brookings, SD while the Lambs and I went to a Looper family for the afternoon. I'll post pictures from Monday later.
On Tuesday, we spent most of the day in front of the computer watching the Live Stream from the LCMS Synodical Convention in Houston. At lunch time my dad said a very nice prayer to help my mom and I as all we could think about was the convention. I put the Lambs down for rest time and we tuned in for the election of the president. I don't know what I expected, but when Harrison was announced as the winner, it was such a somber and serious announcement. We didn't expect Harrison to win on the first ballot and we also thought the election would be extremely close. You can watch the election and Harrison's speech here. I have watched it several times since Tuesday and I notice something new each time. Ram said that several people at the convention cried-the room was filled with tension waiting for the election and that tension was broken when Harrison was announced. I liked Harrison's speech because he began with Scripture and also that he commended Kieschnick. I was very glad the convention sang the Doxology and stood up several times to thank Kieschnick and his family.
On Wednesday, my mom did not feel well and my dad was trying to do some handyman tasks around the house so I did everything with the Lambs by myself. We went to library storytime and also went to the grocery store. I know that many moms take all their children to the grocery by themselves all the time, but I don't do that very often. When we do our major shopping Ram is along and when we just need a few things then either Ram or I go by ourselves. I had WIC to get plus other groceries. Shopping was not bad, but the paying was-Lamb 3 almost fell out of the cart and Lamb 2 ran off. We survived and then I made chili, cornbread, and non-alcoholic watermelon drinks for dinner. No one had a nap because of library time and Lamb 2 fell asleep while we read bedtime stories. Bedtime routine was a lot easier without Lamb 2. I then saw what the Lambs had done while I was cooking supper-our living room had just about every piece from their card and board games out and several other toys too. I was exhausted last night after doing everything with the Lambs plus cooking supper. I'll be so glad when Ram is home and we get back to our routine and Ram does most of the cooking again!
Today we plan to tune into the convention while we do tasks around home. There is swimming with our early childhood group tonight-it should be interesting without Ram since 2 Lambs had swim lessons and don't want to be in the baby pool any more, but Lamb 3 still needs to be in the baby pool.
This week has gone very fast and I've just been doing daily tasks here of cooking, cleaning, laundry, and taking care of the Lambs. I haven't done anything on my to-do list that I hoped to get done while my parents could watch the Lambs. Oh well, the Lambs have had a fun time this week and we'll be back to our regular routine next week when Ram is home.

Today's OT Reading

Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad for her, all you who love her;
rejoice greatly with her, all you who mourn over her.
For you will nurse and be satisfied at her comforting breasts;
you will drink deeply and delight in her overflowing abundance.
For this is what the Lord says:
I will extend peace to her like a river, and the wealth of nations like a flooding stream;
you will nurse and be carried on her arm and dandled on her knees.
As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you; and you will be comforted over Jerusalem.
When you see this, your heart will rejoice and you will flourish like grass;
the hand of the Lord will be made known to his servants, but his fury will be shown to his foes.
Isaiah 66:10-14

Welcome, Ram, to Houston!

Ram left our house at 3:45am as planned to go to the airport. He found out he should have left earlier, but he did catch his plane. He said nearly 1/2 of the second plane was filled with LCMS going to Houston. He made it to Houston early this afternoon. He said there was a nice sign at the airport that said, "Welcome to Houston!" with the LCMS logo.

We spent much of this week getting Ram ready to go. He had a cold/cough/sinus infection that he was trying to get over before he left. Because I wasn't going along, it took him longer than his normal 15 minutes to pack for a trip.

Before he left, I realized I would need to cook for a week! Ram enjoys cooking and it's not that I can't cook or hate to cook. Ram does most of the cooking to give me a chance to do other tasks-laundry, dishes, homeschooling, spending time with the Lambs, cleaning, and other homemaking tasks. It is a little overwhelming to me that I will need to continue to do all these tasks this week plus do all the cooking. Ram did write me a list of where our recipes for bread, yogurt, guacamole, and other main dish recipes that we make often. I have made these so little that I wasn't even sure where he got those recipes! Some recipes he practically has memorized. So I was glad for the "cheat sheet". I'm so glad my parents are here to help me with the Lambs.
Lamb 2 has been melting down and crying about everything today. This is going to be a long week without Ram for all of us, especially for the Lambs. They are Papa's boys!

I made granola, served breakfast (yogurt with berries) and lunch (leftovers and salad), did some laundry, and went with the Lambs to get the mail and milk. After rest time, I am in a strange mood. I'm not worried, but I am concerned about what is going on in Houston, especially what happens tomorrow (if the rumors are true that the presidential election will be moved on the agenda to tomorrow). I am concerned for the direction of the LCMS for what happens all week. I know that this will be in my thoughts and prayers constantly until Ram is home. The challenge will be to get something done this week besides being in "survival mode" while Ram is gone.

My dad brought me some materials to scrapbook from his aunt and his parents. Some of the material to scrapbook is letters and materials from when my grandfather was in WWII. His Lutheran faith amazes me and it shines through in this scrapbook material. My mom's dad was an LCMS pastor in TX. I do want the LCMS church to remain my Grandfather's church even though times have changed. I pray for my beloved Ram, the other delegates, the nominated candidates for all the positions, and my beloved LCMS.

Prayers for friends

Heavenly Father, You have adopted us as Your sons and daughters by grace. We give You thanks that Matt and Joelle have been granted the gift of Timothy. Fill this family with wisdom and patience that they may live together in faith and love; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Dear heavenly Father, thank You for the gift of the Timothy that you have given to Audrey. Keep him safe and help Audrey to love him. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Almighty God, heavenly Father, Your judgements are mysterious and Your ways beyond our understanding. By the grace of Your Holy Spirit, show us Your loving purpose in all things. Have mercy on those who continue to mourn the death of their loved ones. Strengthen their faith and ease their distress that they may abide in Your peace; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

O almighty God, You have delivered Your servant Bekah from the pain and peril of childbirth and granted her a safe delivery. Keep mother and child always in Your tender care; and grant that Ashley may be brought to the waters of Holy Baptism and grow up in the true fear, love, and trust of You; through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

(All prayers from Pastoral Care Companion, CPH 2007)

More prayers

(I am posting 2 prayers today thinking especially about marriages where one spouse will be at Synodical Convention and spouses will be separated next week like Ram and I will be. And this is a strange combination to be thinking about now, but also praying for all marriages that are struggling and trying to resolve marital conflicts and problems-that prayer is not for Ram and me, but it is on my mind now.)

Heavenly Father, consecrate and sanctify marriages by Your holy Word that husbands and wives may live in steadfast love and faithfulness to one another. Grant grace ever to remember with gladness that You have joined them together in this holy union; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God now and forever.

Lord God, through our Baptism into Christ You have bound us together in a common faith and life. Help us in the midst of our struggles to confront one another without hatred or bitterness and to work toward mutual forbearance and respect; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
(Both prayers from Pastoral Care Companion, CPH, 2007, p. 381)

Prayers

Lord Jesus, divine Savior and Helper, Thou hast established in Thy Church the office of the holy ministry that Thy Word may be preached and the Sacraments administered to the salvation of immortal souls. I pray Thee, grant to Thy ministers wisdom and strength and faithfulness in the performance of the many duties of their holy calling. Make them fearless witnesses of Thy truth, instant in season and out of season. Keep them from error and deceptions. Make their preaching effective, their admonition sympathetic, and instructions lucid. Grant that they be patient toward the weak, helpful towards the distressed, loving toward the erring. Give them strength to walk in the way of Thy Commandments and to be an example of Christian living to all men. May Thy Church through their work be established far and wide. Give to the members of our congregations grace to honor their pastors and gladly accept from them the divine Word and instruction. Keep them and us hearers faithful until death, and give us in the end a crown of life. In Thy name I ask it. (Lutheran Book of Prayer, CPH 1951)

Lord Jesus Christ, King and God, who in this world of unrest and strife hast founded Thy Holy Christian Church as a kingdom of peace and joy, I thank Thee who hast established this great world-wide communion of saints in which all believers are joined by the invisible but precious bond of faith in Thee as the only Redeemer. I thank Thee that Thou hast made me a citizen in this Thy holy kingdom and praise Thee who in Thy goodness hast bestowed upon me and all Thy children the richest and fairest of all gifts, Thy Holy Spirit. Keep alive in all the flame of faith. Fill us again and again with the spirit of love and peace toward one another. Make us in an increasing measure the salt of the earth and the light of the world, and fulfill Thy promise at this time that the gates of hell shall not prevail against Thy Church. Extend this kingdom of Thine that "the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto Thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto Thee." Hear us for Thy truth's sake. (Lutheran Book of Prayer, CPH 1951)

It is clear to me today that the devil is hard at work. More prayers on my blog next time...

Ram is a Synodical Convention delegate

First, a disclaimer that these views are MINE and Ram does not necessarily agree with everything I write here. I thought I would start with my memories and perspective of Rev. Harrison.

Rev. Harrison was my pastor from 1996-2001 and his oldest son was in my first grade class at Zion Lutheran Academy, Fort Wayne. When you are a teacher at a dayschool, you see the pastor in all kinds of settings, maybe even more than the the other members of the congregation. He was truly concerned about our Academy not only surviving in inner city Fort Wayne, but also that it would succeed beyond expectations. He (along with our headmaster) made daily chapel a priority-how many Lutheran schools do you know that have chapel daily? The students learned about the church year, hymns and liturgy and much more in this daily chapel. Rev. Harrison could have easily given responsibility for the teachers and Academy to our headmaster. But Rev. Harrison found time in his busy schedule to often participate in faculty meetings and do other things at the school.
Rev. Harrison started a group at my request for singles older than college. We had Bible study, played volleyball, and had treats at this. It never really took off because everyone is so busy, but at least Pastor Harrison tried.
Ram had his vicarage in the New Orleans area for a year and he came back once during that year and we tried to schedule wedding plans during that one time he came home. I was disappointed that Rev. Harrison was visiting and deciding if he would go to St. Louis for his current job now when Ram was home. We never met with him about our wedding. He was in St. Louis by the time we had our wedding.
Pastor Harrison had excellent sermons and Bible studies. I remember once during a Bible study about Lazarus, he actually laid down on the table and "acted out" the Bible study. How many of you have a pastor that has done that before? It stuck with me and that was probably 13 years ago!
Along with the Catholic priest in the neighborhood, they had a neighborhood renewal project. The area around the church was run down and not nice any more. He got it going to get the abandoned houses torn down. I will always remember one house in particular where he wanted us to go march around the house 7 times and shout like Joshua fought the battle of Jericho. (He teased about it, but we didn't actually do that!) He was so happy to see each part of the slow progress they were making to better the neighborhood. He had left when much of the project was finished, including a public library was built there.
He went to St. Louis before I left Fort Wayne and now I moved away too. I find it hard to believe that Rev. Harrison has been at LCMS World Relief for 10 years already, but he has. Much has happened in those 10 years both for Rev. Harrison and his family and for my family. He has done a fantastic job at LCMS World Relief both for running the "every day" and disasters. He has done an excellent job speaking at the many events and conventions that he was invited to. I have not finished reading A Little Book on Joy, but Ram has and he said it was excellent.
Rev. Harrison and some of the other vicars and pastors at our church and in the area played their banjos and some other instruments in a band. They would play for our annual church picnic and for the Symposium banquet etc. They sure had a good time playing!
Rev. Harrison and his wife have had a lot of different experiences in their lives and lived a lot of different places. I would love to hear his wife, Kathy, speak to pastor's wives!
Cross Focused Leadership for Missouri sent Ram a copy of the paper It's Time by Rev. Harrison. If you haven't read this yet, I would recommend it. (Click on Rev. Harrison's photo on my sidebar to get to the link.)
That is why Rev. Harrison's photo has been on my sidebar over a year.

Recently I started paying a little closer attention to the mailings that Ram is receiving. It is almost overwhelming for Ram as a first time delegate. When you don't know any of the candidates running for a particular position, you can look at some of the lists of recommended ones. The problem is 2 conservative groups don't always have the same people listed. Ram and I sat down together and read through the whole list of everyone running. It's amazing the small Lutheran world that I went to college with him or her husband was at the Seminary when Ram was etc. But there are many that neither Ram nor I had ever heard of. So, if you read this blog, and you have any recommendations for people Ram should vote for (obviously after the big positions like president and the vice presidents-I'm talking about the positions like the board of regents for the universities) then please leave a comment and I'll pass the info on to Ram. (So far MY list includes P.Magness, J. Hardy, M.Thoelke, & G.Roberts.)

And this note is especially for my friends from college-Rev. Jamison Hardy is running for board of regents for Concordia Austin.

This year's convention has many more political issues than just who is elected for the different positions. The delegates need our prayers and the LCMS does too. I pray that no matter who wins the election, that they are able to have a successful convention and accomplish a lot during the week with peace and harmony for the sake of our church.

Family Update

The Lambs finished swim lessons this week. I'll blog more about that next week. Lamb 2 was sick with a cold one day the first week so he still has one lesson to make up next week.

I finished reading the last book (#8) in the Anne of Green Gables series.

I got 13 orders (1 or 2 tapes each) ready to take to the Costco photo center. It took a long time to watch all those movies and decide what to transfer-only 2 hours footage is allowed per DVD. Some were from teaching, most were church services-of course our wedding and Ram's ordination and each of the Lambs baptisms, and a few short tapes of Lamb 1 as a baby. We're going to take them along the next time we go to Costco and get them all transferred to DVD. I'm excited and I know the Lambs will ask to watch their tapes often once they are on DVD. I think we will be caught up on camcorded movies once we do this-until we tape some more! This was a big project and I'm so glad to get caught up on this.

I finished the cleaning out the kitchen cupboards. I still want to clean out the refrigerator/freezer and do a little more cleaning in the kitchen, but I have most of the kitchen done. Next I'm going to work in our library/guest room to declutter there. Hopefully I can get a lot accomplished in there before my parents come next week!

On Tuesday the Lambs had an early childhood event at the golf course. It was such a simple idea to let the kids putt on the putting green, read books, and serve ice cream cones. The Lambs loved it, especially Lamb 3 enjoyed putting. On Wednesday the Lambs had summer library storytime and also one of the local churches had a cookout and an evening service. We went to that and Ram stayed for a meeting but we went home. On Friday the local pastors had a summer get together at one pastor's house. We had a bonfire even though it was a really windy night. The Lambs had their first s'mores. Lamb 3 wasn't too impressed, but Lamb 1 had a great time roasting marshmallows. Our children are the only young children among the pastors. They were glad we brought the boys, but it was hard work for Ram and I to watch the Lambs near the fire, tools for the fire, etc. Add in swim lessons every day and we had a very busy week.

We read some modern Dick and Jane and Frog and Toad books from the library and Lamb 1 did some math this week too. They painted fish at library storytime. Our babysitter was sick and unable to come last week. We all battled colds last week and I think we're all finally mostly over it.

We baked cupcakes and decorated them today. Lamb 1 and 2 decorated their bike/tricycle for tomorrow. Our small town has a lawn mower parade and potluck. We're hoping for nice weather even though rain is predicted. We could use the rain though. It was HOT today and I stayed inside the A/C except for the bike decorating. I weeded the garden yesterday and there is always more to do, but at least it doesn't look as bad as it did.

I'm not making this up!

We received the State Primary Ballot yesterday in the mail so I filled it out right away before I forgot about it. I had to search the internet a little bit to find out about the candidates for attorney general. Somehow they aren't mentioned in the news like the candidates for governor. I was glad that our ballot was mailed so I could educate myself a little before I voted. Our ballots are always mailed to us when we vote-there is no polling place for us to go to. This really surprised me when we moved to this small town.

I had to laugh when I saw this on the ballot. Ole' Savior and Todd "Elvis" Anderson are running for governor and lieutenant governor.

Our VCR

I have been spending a little time each night watching some old camcorded stuff and deciding whether we should put it on DVD or just throw the tapes out. Last night when I went to put a tape in, the VCR didn't work. As I unhooked it from the TV to see if I could tell what was broken, a DVD fell out of the VCR. We still had Ram's old VCR so we pulled that out of the basement and set it up. I really need a VCR right now because I'm in the middle of this project to see what really is on the old tapes. The Lambs have a lot of VHS tapes that they would be sad to no longer watch too.
This morning we tried to question the Lambs about the VCR. We knew Lamb 1 didn't do it. Lamb 2 denied doing it a little quickly to make me believe him. Lamb 3 admitted doing it a little quickly to make me believe him. Lamb 3 has such a limited vocabulary that we don't know. Ram tried questioning the Lambs and they all (even Lamb 3) blamed Lamb 3 very quickly. We'll never know who put the DVD in the VCR. Ram suspected Lamb 3 because he is the one that is always taking apart the music instruments-perhaps he wanted to watch a movie so he tried to start the movie by himself.
I would really like to have a backup VCR because Ram's VCR is older than mine was. We need one both in case of the Lambs having another accident or if it breaks because of age. Does any one have a VCR to sell to me? I know they are almost impossible to find to buy new-well maybe you could buy a DVD/VCR combo, but I'm sure that would be very expensive and we don't need a DVD player. I am hesitant to get one on Ebay even if I could find one there, because who know how old or what kind of shape it would be in?