Day by Day, at home, away

Obama and contraception part 2

2012-02-13T06:00:00.000-06:00

Today I'm going to speak personally about Obama's decision.
I do not agree with Obama that preventive care should include coverage of contraceptive services such as birth control. I found this statistic unbelievable in his speech.
"Nearly 99 percent of all women have relied on contraception at some point in their lives." Ram told me that statistic is probably right. I'm one of the only 1 percent that never took contraception. Wow.
I do agree that "no woman's health should depend on who she is or where she works or how much money she makes". That is why I disagree that preventive care should include contraception. A few years ago I found out I had Factor II. I was so thankful when I found out this diagnosis that I had never taken birth control. My chances of a blood clot, even a life threatening one, would have been much higher than the average woman if I would have taken birth control. I had no idea that I had Factor II until I was 36 years old. Perhaps if contraception was free, contraception would have been more tempting when I was younger. I know that you are going to say that I'm an unusual case. But the fact is that women don't know if they are high risk for birth control side effects until it is too late sometimes. I also know many women that took birth control and had terrible side effects.
I know many people that thought their family was complete and they ended up pregnant and had another child (or more than one more). Some of these were even told by doctors not to have any more and they still carried the pregnancy to term. All of them have said again and again how blessed they were to have that unplanned child. I also have friends that had several children close in age and then later on they couldn't have any more and they were so glad they had children when they could.
I know that I'm unusual because I didn't have my first child until I was 30. Then the babies came every two years. After 3 boys I've had nothing but miscarriages. The last OB/GYN visit the doctor was blunt with me and said that if I don't take birth control that I can expect many more miscarriages before menopause. Am I going to do contraception? No.
Ram and I did try Natural Family Planning when we were first married. I was teaching and I thought kids just didn't fit into the plan until Ram graduated from Seminary. But we weren't very strict about NFP and if I would have gotten pregnant we would have kept the baby even though it wasn't in the plans. In fact we were so loose with NFP that I'm not even sure we were keeping ourselves from getting pregnant. (But because of my NFP training, I got pregnant immediately when we stopped saying we were doing NFP!) If I were to do it over again I would not have done NFP then. I know now that God would have provided for us if I would have had a baby then. I was not trusting God then.
I have many friends that are experiencing infertility or secondary infertility. It is my fear that free contraception will make it too easy for women to take birth control and then later down the road they will regret that decision.
I do know that there are circumstances that don't fit my reasons for personally not taking birth control. Each woman should have a choice to make with her doctor and her husband if she is going to take birth control for those kind of circumstances. I say this even with my pro-life opinions. But by making it free to all women, woman will have it too easy to take birth control, and most of those women in my opinion should have to pay for and work for the birth control, not just have it free. Perhaps paying for birth control it will help more unwed couples to abstain. Perhaps by paying for birth control it will help married couples have more than then the expected 2 children.
I have much more to say about this issue. I don't think insurance companies should have to provide this free because in the end we are paying more for it. Contraception is way too broad because it includes birth control that cause abortions, especially the morning after pill. But I am ending my posts on this issue and planning a good Valentine's Day with my family tomorrow.

Obama and contraception

2012-02-12T06:00:00.000-06:00

This whole issue is much much bigger than the media or the Democrats want you to believe. The ramifications for this ruling are very far reaching. The new decision on this issue is just another way of saying the same thing-instead of employers being responsible for this now the insurance companies are. The ruling is still the same that birth control should be provided. At no other time in history has any administration been so brave to undermine the primacy of faith in America.
The damage of this is not limited to the Catholic church. Now that the government can tell religious institutions that they must violate their doctrine that has stood the test of time, how long will it be before they come back to the churches and attempt to regulate what is taught and spoken from the pulpit?
After this, what is to say that the State will not tax the churches now, particularly if the churches maintain positions that are contrary to the ruling regime? Many churches would simply go out of business all because we were not attentive to the big picture.
Tim Goeglin had it right in The Man in the Middle when he said we need to focus on the nuclear family in America. It is naive to think that this contraception thing is limited to just contraception. We need to fight for individual liberty, the nuclear family, our faith, and try to strengthen communities.
It is unbelievable to me that this is happening in the United States. I don't usually blog about politics. This is important enough for me to blog about. Please inform everyone you know. Do not think this is just one issue. When you vote in November think about this issue and your faith whether you are Catholic or not. This one issue is enough for me to make a decision on who and who not to vote for. No other issue is as important as life. It is our right to have life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

HT: impactwithclovis.com which was recommended by a Looper

Posting 2011 read alouds

2012-02-11T21:30:00.000-06:00

What I've been up to...

2012-02-10T06:00:00.000-06:00

1. I updated our home library list. I worked with a list I began in MN. I also typed up every book that is in our rental house, not packed up in the garage, mostly books for homeschooling and books that we received for Christmas. The list that I began in MN had almost all of our fiction and a little nonfiction. The list includes the Lambs books with Ram and Ewe's. Our list is currently about 2400 books and remember that this does not include very much of our nonfiction. I sent a copy of the list to my dad to keep for insurance reasons. I hope to update the list as I unpack each box at the new house. I am beginning with our home library and hope to also work on Ram's library at his office at church after that.
2. As I worked on this project I weeded through the boys school books and workbooks. Shh... don't tell them that I threw all the completed books away, just saved a couple of handwriting samples. Neither MN nor ID require keeping this stuff and I don't need to keep every school paper they do. Ram joked that there is probably someone that would buy completed workbooks on E-bay, but they went into recycling. After this the bookshelf in my office looks all organized and even has room to add more books!
3. I cleaned out the Lamb's closet. I have two bags for Goodwill and two bags ready to try to sell at a kids resale shop. Lamb 1 and 2 wear the same size now in most of their clothes so they passed everything else down to Lamb 3. Lamb 3 has way too many clothes now and I really should go through his clothes again and give away some more. The closet looks pretty empty on Lamb 1 and 2's side. They actually have a good amount of clothes now. They will have a small closet at the new house. Lamb clothes just seem to multiply here. I wasn't brave enough to tackle toys yet, I just dealt with clothes. I am thankful that I have all boys. I can't imagine dealing with kid stuff for both sexes. No one would believe how much stuff I gave away before we moved here. I don't regret moving what I did because we lived 3 hours away from a kid resale shop when we were in MN and there simply wasn't time to go through more when we moved so quickly. Hopefully I can make a little money with what I sell.
4. Last weekend Ram flew to the last session for Doxology with one of the elders from our new church. We were so pleased that our new church could take part in this last session. The elder that went enjoyed it and thinks it is a great program. Ram is thankful to have his support. When Ram began Doxology last June we had no idea that by February he would be at a new church and have to fly to MN. The Lambs and I got over our colds while Ram was gone and survived the long weekend without him.
5. The Lambs started making Valentines today. I think they are going to be late, but they enjoy making them for family and friends. I told a few family they needed to make them for. They kept adding friends to the list that we HAD to send to.
6. Next on my to do list is to get our info together for taxes. I'm dreading it with dealing with living in two places and moving expenses etc. I'm thankful that we have a tax person to do them, that I just have to get the info together. It takes me long enough to just organize receipts and get ready for her to do them. I'm hoping to send the info to her before we move to the new house so I don't have to worry about it then.
7. I also want to make Valentine cookies with the Lambs.
8. Ram and I have talked about and thought about the new house but we are just at the dreaming point right now. We'll wait until after the house closing to purchase furniture and set up appointments to have work done. I'm sure the first few weeks of March will fly by between closing and moving when we need to do all that. I'm trying to limit shopping now to both save money and to give the Lambs a break before we have all that to do with the new house.

Expensive afternoon

2012-02-09T10:52:00.003-06:00

Yesterday I had a doctor's appointment for my thyroid. (Yea! One more doctor found in this new town.) I didn't plan well and we didn't have leftovers. Ram came home for lunch and it was near time for me to leave for the doctor. So we packed everyone up and went to Qdoba for lunch. Everyone eats well there, but feeding 5 isn't cheap there. I took my food and rushed to the doctor while Ram ate at Qdoba with the Lambs.
We are now on a high deductible plan so the doctor bill without lab work (that will be a separate bill) was $283. The money will be direct deposited into our account to reimburse us for this, but in the meantime I had to write a check yesterday.
I had been having trouble with my "key" for our minivan. Ram went to get a new battery and found out it wasn't the battery. They were going to close soon so he has to go back today for a new "key". It will be $250. I just love technology, we didn't have problems unlocking the car with an old fashioned key! So not only do we need to spend $250, but Ram has to make another trip over to the car dealer and the time waiting for them to reprogram the key for our minivan.
The free part of yesterday was Ram took the Lambs to the library for homeschool library time and they checked out a bunch of books while I was at the doctor.
We have budgeted for new house expenses, not afternoons like yesterday!

What a 2nd grade homeschooled boy does in his free time

2012-02-08T12:13:00.000-06:00

We got a Mac last July. Lamb 1 enjoys doing "dashboard" on our Mac. He would spend all day if we let him-looking up the temperature of places around the world, times of places around the world, the weather forecast for places around the world, Google mapping places around the world, translating words into different languages, and I'm not even sure what else he does. He doesn't ask to play computer or to play computer games, he asks if he can have time to do dashboard. I made the mistake of asking him what the temperature of Tel Aviv was in F and I got a lecture that he could tell me it in F, but it wasn't right to not tell it in C because that is how they would tell the temperature in Tel Aviv!
We have been reading Owls in the Family by Mowat as a read aloud. This morning when I got out of bed Lamb 1 was google mapping Saskatoon, Canada to see where this book takes place. With moving we have been doing a minimum of homeschooling-math and reading and just a little extra, not all subjects. I do plan to homeschool through the summer and try to get caught up on a few subjects (Latin!) after this crazy year. But I can tell that Lamb 1 is doing just fine-he can spell places for Dashboard that I don't know how to spell, he's learning about geography, time zones, temperature, and much more.
Owls in the Family is a fun book for boys. I never heard of it before it was on one of our reading lists. Sometimes it's fun to read a book together that is new for Mama too.
My mom has nicknamed Lamb 1, dashboard boy. He really is dashboard boy!

January reading report-library books

2012-02-01T20:15:00.000-06:00

We used our library cards in January!
Ewe-in no particular order
One Magic Square-Houbein-made me realize we could garden with a small space almost year around here
Incredible Edibles-Day-I'm going to purchase this book after reading it from the library.
Nice pictures and explanations for the Lambs for planting.
Family Kitchen Garden-Liebreich-not as helpful as some of the other gardening books I got from the library
Organic Crops in Pots-Schneebeli-Morrell-showed plants growing in pots and nice to see a visual of how big pots should be and some ideas of cheap and easy pots
The Piano Book-Larry Fine-as someone that doesn't play the piano, it gave good advice of where to start to buy a piano
Gardening in ID-we had Gardening in MN and we will probably buy this one for a reference for gardening here
Sew Vintage-the first 3/4 of the book was not projects I would be interested in-clothes for women made out of doilies and vintage linens. But the end of the book was very interesting-instead of letting so many of my grandma's linens sit in a drawer perhaps I can use the lace to add to curtains etc. I'm still thinking about what I will do and it will have to wait until we get fully unpacked until I can see what I really have and how it might work. Frustrating because I think I have something but no idea until the boxes are opened at the new house.
Encyclopedia of Window Fashions-Randall-I now have some idea of how to do window treatments for our whole new house
Sew in a Weekend Curtains-I now have some idea of how to eventually sew some curtains for our new house.
New Kitchen Garden-Caplin-not as helpful as some of the other library books-did have some ideas for what grows well in containers, in shade, and what are the best croppers in small spaces.
Tips for Container Gardening-good, added to all my other knowledge about container gardening
Square Foot Gardening--Bartholomew-a friend recommended this book. It was good, but I think One Magic Square was even more helpful for me.
Fresh Food from Small Spaces--Ruppenthal-a friend recommended this book. We are not going to be able to keep chickens or make honey at our new house. We already make our own yogurt, kombucha, and many other things in the kitchen. I can see where this would be helpful to some people, but much of this book did not apply to our situation.
Room by Room Kitchens-Martin-gave me some ideas how to organize my new kitchen
Landscaping with Fruit-
Real Simple Solutions-learned a few household tips
One Year to an Organized Life-Leeds-blogged about this one already
Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks-I knew the basic story before reading this book, but it was both a sad and interesting story. I recommend this book.

Lamb 1-see a theme here?
Henry and Mudge and the Best Day of All
Henry and Mudge and the Great Grandpas-the Lambs laughed at the skivvies mentioned in this book
Annie and Snowball and the Wintry Freeze
Henry and Mudge in Puddle Trouble

Lamb 2-very eager to read books but hasn't quite caught on yet
Biscuit Goes to School

Family Read Alouds
Madeline at the White House
Many Clifford the Big Red Dog books
Many Arthur books by Marc Brown
Look and Learn about Animals on the Seashore
Babar's Battle
Bear feels sick
Little House book-County Fair-basically excerpts from Laura Ingalls Wilder books with pictures-I would rather read the real book but the Lambs like to hear the same stories over and over
Let's Count it Out Jesse Bear-I was happy to find more Jesse Bear books after we read one as part of Before Five in a Row
How People Lived-DK-we read the first few pages about prehistory-Egypt

Movies
Snow Days-Peanuts-we are big Charlie Brown fans
DK Eyewitness Bird-evolution but ok with parent watching with them
Pharoahs-50 minute movie that we watched in two sections but was still too long for the Lambs, I'll have to see what other Egypt movies I can find at the library

Before Green Gables

2012-01-31T23:28:00.000-06:00

I was given a book for Christmas that I never would have chosen for myself at the library. It is a prequel to Anne of Green Gables by Budge Wilson. I love the Anne of Green Gables books by L.M. Montgomery. I wasn't sure about reading this book that was like Anne of Green Gables but not the real book.
Ram encouraged me to not go in with high hopes. I tried to just read it as a book with a character the same name as Anne of Green Gables.
It was ok but I now plan to give the book away and not take up shelf space. Wilson's language and writing doesn't compare to a classic book like Montgomery's. It is not a must read book for your list.
I had a couple of problems with some of the historical parts of this book. The men would not be thinking about breastfeeding immunity for their children at that time. The women would not talk about their "monthly time" with each other. There were other details like this that bugged the history minor in me.
In her acknowledgements Wilson thanked several people who were Anne of Green Gables experts for their knowledge and help. I'm not convinced that Wilson read the entire Anne of Green Gables series as many times as I have and an author of a book like this should have read it several times and know it backwards and forwards. I also think that if Anne really had a childhood like Wilson says she would have had no children when she grew up, possibly not even gotten married.
I did stay up late a couple of nights to read this book though so it wasn't a complete waste of a book. I was especially interested in the mom that had 8 children, 3 sets of twins, and the oldest was 4 years old. I can't even imagine the work at that time of cooking, dishes, and laundry for a large family.
Sometimes things are best let unsaid and let your imagination fill in the gaps. I think if L.M. Montgomery wanted us to know Anne's story before she came to Green Gables then she would have written a book about that.
I was also given Return to the Hundred Acre Wood for Christmas. I'm not sure if I want to attempt a book like A.A. Milne's but by a different author after reading Before Green Gables.

Just another day off

2012-01-30T23:39:00.000-06:00

Here's what we did on Ram's day off today.

Did dishes.
Did 3 loads of laundry.
Made and ate brunch.
3 loads of cardboard to the transfer station (the place where the trash truck goes to dump their load and be separated and sent to the landfill-the Lambs went along and watched each time-just like the book we read about trash!) The city gave free unlimited trash the week after Christmas but not recycling-we're still dealing with the boxes from moving here in November and putting a few out every two weeks wasn't enough even though many of our boxes are still packed and in the garage.
post office-buy one cent stamps
get refund for egg cartons
Sears-replace Lamb jeans with holes in them
Target in big city-among other things in my organization of DVDs project, I chose some VHS movies that we like that should be replaced with DVDs or Blu-Rays-happy to find some on my list for just $5.
Costco-went for butter and rice milk and spent $125 on groceries
Lowes-checked out what the deal on installing blinds, garage door openers, and fences for the new house, would have bought some things for the new house there that we didn't need measurements for but the Lambs were hungry
Ram restaurant-ate out with Lamb kid club coupon making their meals affordable
Target in our town-wanted a movie that was empty spot on shelf at other Target so checked this Target and was glad they had it-unbelievable that I can shop at two Targets in the same day after living 1 1/2 hours away from a Target before.
Grocery store-stocked up on groceries
Put Lambs to bed
Discovered the sausage we bought was expired so sent Ram back to get money back and then he went to another store and bought more sausage.
Ram had to stop and get Starbucks for Ram and Ewe on the way home from the store using a gift card he got for filling out a survey.
Time for bed after being sick this weekend with a sore throat and Ram is getting ready to go to MN for Doxology next week. We promised the Lambs no shopping next weekend after a long day today.

More house tour

2012-01-29T11:43:00.000-06:00

My mom pointed out I forgot this photo in my house tour. It's one of the nicest rooms so I had to add it.

Downstairs-living room with gas fireplace

House tour

2012-01-27T19:50:00.000-06:00

I'm starting to get anxious to get settled in our new home. Closing is not until the end of February and we won't move until March. I complained about poor photos from the realtors when we were looking at a house. It's more difficult than it looks! Here's some photos while we wait-the best I could do during the house inspection with 2 Lambs "helping" me take photos.

I listened to the Loopers that recommended white kitchen cupboards.

Pantry at end of kitchen in photo above

Eating area-back door to patio

Coat hooks near garage door

3 car garage

Entryway

School Room by front door

Steps to upstairs (small landing and then you turn up more steps)
Our volunteers that help us move are going to love this part!

Lambs bedroom-upstairs

Ram and Ewe bedroom across hall from Lambs bedroom

Master bathroom

Another photo of master bathroom

Master closet

Lambs playroom-finally a place for Legos!-Upstairs

Library-Upstairs

Guest room-please come visit us!-Upstairs

Laundry room-upstairs by bedrooms

Lambs/Guest bathroom-Upstairs

Backyard-we need a fence before construction begins on the lot behind us
The lot behind us is the last unbuilt house on our block

Gulp

2012-01-25T19:03:00.000-06:00

We just locked into an interest rate for our new house. Closing will not be until the end of February, but interest rate was lower today than yesterday. When I bought my first house I spent several weeks checking the interest rate daily before locking in. Rates are lower now than my parents ever paid for a house. Rates were even lower when we first started this whole mortgage process. Maybe we will regret locking in today when it is still awhile until our closing. Hopefully we'll be glad that we locked in today when interest rates rise.

One

2012-01-23T16:28:00.000-06:00

The amount of cents that a postage stamp went up.
The amount of days that I went to buy stamps and missed getting the cheaper price.

I miss living in a small town where there was a sign on the post office to announce postage stamp increases and I went there daily to pick up my mail so I saw those signs. Sigh.

*I know there are now FOREVER stamps, but I was trying to use up some old stamps I found and I was proud of myself for getting the right amount on the envelopes ready to mail without buying 1 cent stamps. Now I need 1 cent stamps. Sigh.

On the bright side those 32 cent stamps I found will mail a postcard now. I won't think about being able to mail a letter for that price when I was in college.

Organizational Stewardship

2012-01-22T06:00:00.001-06:00

Blogger didn't cooperate so I posted two posts yesterday instead of scheduling one for today. Oh well.
Today I'm posting my final thoughts from the book One Year to an Organized Life.
1. Begin each organization project with some time to think through and plan what you want the finished project to look like. This is a good time to see if your room needs some decorating updating too. Are you using the room to the best use or could you convert this room differently or get new furniture?
2. Reward yourself when you finish each organization project. Sometimes it can be a reward for yourself, sometimes rewards for the whole family like serving their favorite dessert when they helped with the project.
3. Clean out what need to get rid of first, then buy the organizing products you need to organize that what is left, not the other way.
4. Goal is to make house peaceful for your family to live in, welcoming to visitors to your home, and to use each room in the house and park your cars in the garage (not have a junk room or so much junk in the garage that you can't park there). My new goal is to make use of all areas of our new home-not have rooms just to store things just because we now have 5 bedrooms.
5. Organizing your address book is going to be painful. Painful to remove those loved ones that died and to admit that you are no longer in contact with some of your friends. Take time to do this well so you can easily find addresses. Not only does your address book need to be cleaned out, but also your e-mail address book. Reward yourself after finishing this painful project. Each night enter any new addresses or phone numbers that you scribbled on post-it notes, repairman phone numbers, and new e-addresses when you learn of them. Try to keep on top of this each day before the post-it notes pile up.
6. Perfection in your home is not an achievable goal. Do the best you can do and then enjoy your home and your family.
7. Teach yourself first and then your children the habit of completion. After play time they put their toys away, after using an afghan they fold it up before they leave the room, after playing a board game they put it away.
8. The house that we bought is new and beautiful. I want to be a good steward of this new blessing in our life. I also want to be a good steward of everything we own-not have boxes of stuff sitting in the garage unorganized and never used. My goal is to make a place for everything and get rid of the rest-giving it to someone that can use it when possible.

Organization Guilt

2012-01-22T06:00:00.000-06:00

Here's a fast version of my life-I go to college and work in the library and am given a lot of teaching materials and books then, then work several jobs that summer and no time to organize those materials, then begin teaching and our school was developing our own curriculum so summers were even busier than the school year so school stuff piled up and got out of control, then got married and tried to cram Ram's stuff and books into a 800 square foot house along with mine-wanted to go through stuff but no space to spread out stuff to go through it, then help clean out my grandma's house that I was really close to and take on many of her "treasures", pack up classroom and house and move to MN and live in a huge house where storage was not an issue, planned to not get a job and just go through things now that we have space, one month after moving to MN I got pregnant and was hospitalized with morning sickness soon after-really sick during pregnancy, then had child with MSPI that never slept, just about got child #1 figured out when I got pregnant with #2, child #2 had a rough first 6 weeks and I had a difficult time with having 2 children, finally got being a mom to 2 children figured out when I got pregnant with #3, actually #3 wasn't bad, but having 3 children 4 and under was. Finally got used to being a mom of 3 and they got old enough to play nicely for a little while so I began going through things-organizing my kitchen the way I would have liked it the whole time we lived in MN, throwing out huge trash cans full of old newspapers and catalogs etc. I was finally getting a good handle on getting my house organized-doing a little at a time- and out of the blue Ram receives a Call to ID and from the time he announced we were moving until moving day was less than a month-we packed ourselves (with help from Ewe's parents and friends and church members in the area) but had movers move us. Everything we own was packed very quickly and not packed in an organized way-partly because it wasn't organized before we moved. I didn't even mention I also had 5 miscarriages and took time to heal after each one. We are living in a rented house currently where some things are in the house but most is in the garage. We plan to move to our new house in March.

I have felt bad that I have 15 years worth of stuff to go through. I am embarrassed to have church members help us move and see how much stuff we have. I have stuff in all areas to go through-too much kitchen stuff, tons of recipes unorganized, many office supplies, scrapbook supplies and photos unorganized, old computer files unorganized, the boys clothes, the boys toys, linens from my grandma, my clothes, my teaching files, and I could go on and on. One thing I learned reading One Year to an Organized Life was that it is time to stop feeling guilty about my unorganized stuff. I have already acknowledged in the last paragraph that I am unorganized and the main reason is that I was in "survival mode" for at least 7 years-from the time I was pregnant with Lamb 1 until Lamb 3 turned 2. There simply wasn't time to go through mail immediately when I got it and tasks like that. Even in the middle of all that I paid bills on time and got organized to do taxes on time so the important things got done. Plus my boys will only be little and need me to be a mom of young boys once. I don't want them to remember me always cleaning out things instead of spending time with them. The church members have remarked how amazed they were that we moved so quickly especially when they heard that we moved 20,000 lbs and did all the packing ourselves.

So this book reminded me to acknowledge that it got out of control, repent of being out of control, and start from this point doing what I can do ONE DAY AT A TIME to get organized. Most important I need to forgive myself for the past organization problem.

One Year to an Organized Life

2012-01-21T22:43:00.000-06:00

After a Looper discussion about getting organized, I read One Year to an Organized Life by Leeds. It took me a few days of "free time" to get through this book. It was helpful to help me think through how to make the move to our new house better. I have a little less than 2 months until moving day. After reading this book I'm going to try to get rid of some things in the house that we don't need (can't go through boxes in the garage right now-can go through our clothes etc.). I have a new strategy for moving day-how to have our church members that are helping us move do it the most efficiently. I am planning food to serve for moving day and house blessing day. I am planning what needs to be in both houses-bathroom supplies, cleaning supplies, basic kitchen supplies. I am planning to have healthy quick to cook meals at both houses. We will have a couple of weeks of being at both houses before moving day so this will need to be planned and organized. I am going to label the rooms by colors and then label the boxes with the right color. Then I plan to put everything that is currently in the garage in the new garage and some from the rental house also in the new garage and just bring one box in at a time and go through it and find a place for it or get rid of it. Our house in MN had a lot of storage space and we took advantage of that. It is time to get organized so that our new house is pleasant to live in and have visitors. My goal will be to quickly get boxes unpacked and organized at the new house so we can park both cars in the garage as soon as possible.
I have more about this book to post in future posts.

Wordless Wednesday-today's photos

2012-01-19T00:03:00.000-06:00

Western snow

2012-01-18T00:40:00.002-06:00

Yesterday morning it snowed for a few minutes, really for a few minutes. The snow was unlike anything I have ever seen before-it was little white pellets. It reminded me of the small pellets inside bean bags. Ram said I need to get used to dry snow in the West. This photo was taken from Ram's iPhone so I'm not sure if you can see the pellets on the sidewalk.
Then yesterday afternoon Ram took the Lambs for bike rides around the neighborhood. Lamb 3 did not go as he was just waking up for a nap, but Ram and Lamb 1 and 2 went. After bike rides then they all took a walk around the neighborhood.
Lamb 3's preschool class did not go outside for recess today. His favorite part of preschool is going outside so he was very disappointed. I couldn't believe they wouldn't go outside when it was in the high 20s. They follow the public schools on that. Lamb 3 doesn't understand because I make him wear a coat and hat to preschool, the rest of the time I let them go outside in sweatshirts. It will take us awhile to get used to the weather here. I realized today that it has been about 60 degrees warmer here than the Lambs were used to some of the days in a typical January in MN. They were used to -30 in January for their entire lifetimes. I'm just glad we moved to ID instead of being really drastic and moving to FL!

Granola

2012-01-16T23:06:00.000-06:00

2 cups rolled oats
2 cups quick oats
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup honey
1 tsp vanilla

Combine all but oats and stir. Add oats. Bake at 300 degrees for 40 minutes-stirring every 10-15 minutes. After cooled add dried fruits about 1 1/2 cups worth. Use whatever fruit you have on hand-raisins, cranberries, banana chips, apricots. This recipe was recommended to me from Stace Kendall from the Better Homes and Garden cookbook and I adapted it to this recipe.

Ewe's tips: I add about 1/2 cup of unsweetened coconut after I stir it the second time (for the last 10 minutes of baking.) I usually triple this recipe and it stays fresh because of the coconut oil instead of vegetable oil. I do not add fruit to mine, but have fruit available for each Lamb and Ram to top their granola when they pour themselves a bowl. The Lambs prefer different fruits for toppings. Dried blueberries from Costco are a favorite for everyone. Sometimes I add ground flax seed to the liquid mixture before I add the oats. You can also add almonds or other nuts, but I have not done that-to make it cheaper since we go through so much here. I usually use Louana coconut oil from Walmart for making granola because it is cheaper. Sometimes I use a better quality brand coconut oil and it does taste better. I would encourage you to experiment with this recipe and make it how your family likes it. I grease the pans so the granola comes out of the pan easier, but it is most important to stir every 10-15 minutes.

Homemade

2012-01-15T12:46:00.002-06:00

These are things that we make homemade at our house and buy very rarely. Most of these are made pretty regularly at our house.
bread
yogurt (well, we haven't done that since we moved, but hope to get back to it)
baby wipes
pizza
granola
cinnamon rolls (sometimes for a treat)
vanilla
jam (I have made blueberry, triple berry, raspberry, peach, and strawberry. Not only do we rarely buy jam for our family to eat, but I also use this as gifts.)
pickle relish
pickled beets
hummus
black bean dip
guacamole
ice cream
cookies
pie crusts
kombucha (haven't done that since we moved, but my kombucha mushroom is waiting for me)
chamomile lemonade
cranberry lemonade
applesauce
biscotti (Well, we haven't done that since we moved, but I just bought some at Costco and while the Lambs love it, I decided I prefer homemade so I'll need to make some soon.)
I also freeze veggies when we are given them or extras from the garden. Not sure how that is going to work now that we moved. Perhaps when there is a good deal at the farmer's market?

These are things that aren't homemade, but we have done differently.
Ewe uses aloe vera gel as hair conditioner.
Vinegar for cleaning.
Vinegar and baking soda for washing clothes.
Lamb 3 didn't use cloth diapers only, but used them a lot and still uses them for bedtime.
Ewe uses cloth feminine pads.
We have tried raw milk in the past, but currently aren't partly because we decided we drink such a small amount of milk that it isn't worth the trouble of getting it.
We usually buy farm eggs.

These are things that Ram and I are thinking of trying to make, not sure if we would make them regularly or just try to make them once.
yogurt cheese
kefir
naan

I'm sure there are other things that I have been doing for so long now that I forget them when I make my list. What do you make homemade that is not on my list? I'm thinking of what I could add to my list that I could learn how to make in 2012. My list does not need to be limited to foods. I'm looking for things that would either be healthier or save money for our family.

Not Grandma's garden today

2012-01-14T19:54:00.000-06:00

Our house we just purchased will be the first house in 10 years of marriage that we know we will live here for awhile. When we got married I owned my home but he was in Seminary and we knew we wouldn't be there after he graduated. Then we were in a parsonage where I either wasn't allowed to or didn't want to do things because I knew Ram wouldn't be pastor there until retirement. Lamb 1 begged to plant some fruit trees at the parsonage, but that wasn't possible. Thankfully we had nice members that either let us pick fruit or gave us fruit. Looking back perhaps we should have done some things considering we were there 8 1/2 years, but that is hindsight now.
When I knew we were getting this new house I checked a bunch of books out of the library. Gardening at the new house will be a challenge. I've never lived out of the Midwest. Our back yard is small and shade from the fences and neighbor's houses make very little sun there. I doubt our homeowner's association would look kindly on planting a garden plot in the front yard even though that is where the best sun is. It is totally new to me that there are some winter crops that will grow here with little snow and mild temperatures. I've never had an automatic sprinkler system (or a need for one). I've never lived where it gets so hot but no humidity.
I was looking in the library books for info on fruit trees. I've never bought or planted or taken care of a fruit tree before. Soon I was branching out looking for what to plant here. I figure if we're going to pay all the money for water here we may as well have something besides grass. There are two small trees in the front yard and none in the backyard. So if we're going to pay money for trees in the back yard, they may as well be fruit trees.
In my reading, I realized that container gardening, square foot gardening, and edible gardening are not only just trends for city dwellers now, but they really do make sense.
It will take us years to get our gardening going like I would like it. In the meantime we are blessed to live in an area with nice farmer's markets and places to go pick berries etc. But eventually I would like to see a few fruit trees in the backyard and one square foot plot (36 inches by 36 inches) in the middle of the backyard in the only sunny spot. For our climate here we can have at least 2 if not 3 different plantings in that one square plot. I would like to see containers of herbs and veggies in the front yard. I was particularly looking for ones with beautiful flowers-hoping that my neighbors have no idea that what I'm growing in my flower pots in the front yard on each side of the garage are really edible.
My grandma and her two sisters shared a huge plot of land for a garden. Later in her life when they couldn't manage that much then she had a small plot by her back door. It was amazing what she grew in that little space by her back door. My plans plan for an even smaller space for our garden plot but then have more in containers and other spaces in the yard. The traditional garden space still works well for places like where we lived in rural MN. But for those Americans that live in cities, it's time to not garden like Grandma did. This is a new concept for me after living in the Midwest and recently living rural.
Lamb 1 has a high need to be outside daily and it's even better for him if he can be outside working especially with his hands in the dirt. We are planning on not planting anything this first year we live here. We want to see what the weather is like first. But eventually if we don't do a little gardening it will drive Lamb 1 crazy. So I'm absorbing all I read in the library books and thinking through how our ID garden will look.
I was unsure about buying our new house at first because of the small back yard. Ram and his parents liked the house so much that I had to reconsider. I do really like the house and the layout of the house is perfect for our family. It's not worth not getting this house just because of a small back yard. There is lots of green space in the subdivision and we're not far from the park so we don't need a big backyard for the Lambs to play in. Smaller yard means less lawn to mow. So if I rethink how we garden, then this yard is perfect for us.

1/7/12-1/9/12

2012-01-13T17:40:00.002-06:00

Last Saturday we relaxed around home. Then Ewe went to the library book sale and found a few things and checked out even more from the library. It was nice to go to the library by myself. While I was gone Ram and the Lambs took the Christmas tree down and put it in the garage. It took a few more days for Ewe to get the ornaments put away, but I think the day after Epiphany is the earliest we have ever taken our tree down. Then when I got home Ram took his turn and bought a lot at the library book sale. He made it right on time before they closed the sale.
Sunday was church and relax at home.
Monday was Ram's day off, he had taken off Friday the week before since Monday was a holiday. So besides Sunday morning he basically had a 4 day weekend. Monday we did some tasks that needed to be done, some had been put off for years, and now that we are in a city we are able to do them more easily.
1. Ram had a bike from college that sat in our garage in MN. MN winters and sitting in a garage for 9+ years were not good for it. The tires and seat needed to be replaced but it was a good bike. He took it in on Monday morning and they didn't have much business this time of year so it was finished and he picked it up Monday afternoon.
2. Ram gave me a crucifix necklace for an anniversary present to replace the one I lost last spring. The chain was very short so he went to the jewelry shop and ordered a longer one for me.
3. The Lambs have used our sofa cushions as horses, walls of forts, and who knows what else in their imaginary play and the cushions were worn out and holes in them. The frame is still good. Shortly before we moved we tried to order cushion covers but they were backordered and finally we canceled the order so moving to a new address would not confuse the order any more. So online we found some new covers and ordered them. They were not what I wanted originally, but they will work and they were on sale. Eventually we may purchase a slipcover for the whole sofa, but in the meantime the cushions look a little better. I wish I was a little better at sewing and could make these myself because all this stuff is so expensive, but this is not a project that I want to do enough to spend the time on it. Plus I'm not even sure where we will put this sofa in our new house, I think the living room needs a loveseat, not a sofa. If it will fit, we may put this sofa in one of the bedrooms. At least now it is fixed temporarily.
4. Ram had a hole in one of his suit coats that I thought he got from rough play with the Lambs, but he corrected me and told me it got caught on a window at church as he passed by. I knew I couldn't repair something like that. He went to a few alteration shops to see if they could fix it and sadly they couldn't-it would have been such an obvious repair. That was why I didn't attempt to mend it. So after checking at a few alteration shops then he went shopping for a new suit coat. He bought one almost exactly like the one he ruined and it was half price, but yikes, that was an expensive accident.
5. One of our church members is a Creative Memories consultant. She had an evening in her home talking about getting photos organized and showing their new products. My scrapbook stuff is all still packed, but it was good to go hear some ideas when I get unpacked. I'm excited when I get unpacked to get back to scrapbooking.
6. Ram picked up the drycleaning. There were 3 items and the total was $6. In MN one sweater was $7. Plus it was done the next day after we took it in. This is one area where living in a big city is nice. I don't get much drycleaned, but a few of the Christmas outfits for the Lambs needed drycleaning.
Our whole weekend we accomplished a lot that needed to be done. It is good to get some of this done before we get busy on the new house.

1/6/12

2012-01-12T07:23:00.002-06:00

After a busy week, I'm going to attempt to get caught up on blogging an update of what has happened for us the past few days.
On Friday morning we met with our realtor. Our first offer on the house was counter-offered with at first glance didn't look very good for us. We had asked for a fence and garage door opener to be installed plus a much lower price. They didn't agree to any of that, but offered to pay our closing costs. Friday it was time to decide what to do. This was the second home I purchased and my gut told me to not accept their high price if they wouldn't do the fence. Our realtor was a little nervous about my decision on this, maybe they would take away the offer to pay our closing costs if we counter-offered. While we were meeting with our realtor the other realtor called our realtor and asked how it was going. (Clue they wanted to sell this house!) Our realtor asked if we could have a deadline on an answer yet that afternoon or if we needed to wait until after the weekend. Their realtor said they would have an answer by 5pm. Imagine my surprise when about an hour later our realtor called and said our offer was accepted! We didn't get the fence, but they are paying our closing costs plus the lower price.
Next I sent Ram with one car at a time to get license plates for our cars. One reason why it took us so long was I was dreading paying all that money. Ram's plates on his car expired at the end of the month so we couldn't put it off any more. I was pleasantly surprised that ID license plates were about half the price of MN plates.
Next we all loaded up and drove to the big city to get driver's licenses. On the way there we drove by our new house and were surprised to see a SOLD sign up already! It was just a few hours after we had signed the papers. They have now made just one place for the whole county to go to get driver's licenses. It was a little overwhelming for me to walk in there with a hundred other people waiting/doing business after being in a small town for 8 years where we were the only people in the office when we got licenses. Friday afternoon is not the time to get a license. The Lambs did a great job waiting. Lamb 3 fell asleep. I took my written test on the computer first. I had not studied as I didn't know I would have to take a test. There were 40 questions and if you miss 7 you fail. I was nervous about the question about animals on the open range (we didn't have that in IN when I took driver's ed.!) but I passed that question. I missed 4. The ones I missed I was actually more cautious-for example I thought the speed limit was 30mph in one question but it was 35mph. I also had no idea what happened if you were stopped by the police and were intoxicated, my answer would have punished more than the law. Ram missed 6 on his test, but we both passed. Driver's licenses cost a little more in ID than they did in MN. When we get our new house we will need to pay $15 to get the new address on our license.
We rewarded the Lambs after that long wait with a snack at Target. Then after much waiting (since Christmas Day!) they were allowed to shop with their Christmas money. We offered to start at Target and if they didn't want anything there we could go to another store. They all chose something at Target so we were done with that shopping. Lamb 3 chose a Duplo set right away. Lamb 1 debated for a long time but finally chose Legos. Lamb 2 chose Legos too.
Then we had a fast couple of stops at Costco and some other shopping. It's so unbelievable to me that we can stop in at Costco for gas or just a few items after we used to live 4 hours from Costco.
Then we went out to eat for pizza. The kids meals had pizza delivered on Frisbees and choice of Roy Rogers or Shirley Temple drinks. It was crowded and loud on a Friday night, but the Lambs loved this pizza place. Ram and I had an "adult" pizza with spinach and fancy cheese since we didn't have to share with the Lambs. I attempted to talk to my mom on the phone to tell her about the house while we waited for our food, but it was pretty loud in the restaurant.
Finally we did some more shopping. I have needed a small calendar for my purse since CPH no longer sends the small ones to pastors. This was more difficult to find than I thought it would be-guess everyone is electronic now. What I use my calendar for is to record small journal entries when something big happens-example when the Lambs say something funny that I want to remember, the date our house offer was accepted, etc. I keep these calendars and they make scrapbooking a lot easier when I finally get to the photos. I keep it in my purse as often we are not at home when these things happen. An electronic version wouldn't work for me. When I finally found the calendar it was 50% off. I talked to my sister on the phone while I was shopping for calendars.
It was a productive day (expensive too!) to buy a house, get license plates for two cars, and driver's licenses for both of us.

Our Epiphany present!

2012-01-07T01:10:00.003-06:00

I'm a little overwhelmed with everything there is to do since this is a new, never occupied house. It will be interesting how God works out these details-details such as getting a fence installed, garage door opener installed, window treatments for the entire house, and many other small details that a house usually has but we are responsible for as the first owners. We tried unsuccessfully to get the builder to add some of that into the deal, but took the lower price and agreed to get those things installed ourselves. Overall I'm happy with how the bargaining process worked out-I think I did better negotiating since this is the second home I've bought.
We can see that God has had this house saved for us since 2008 when it was planned to be built. Also that we came at the perfect time to buy a house and got the house for $89,000 less than it was originally priced. It is a good location for us, near church. It has most of the things on our original wish list for a house.
I will have work ahead of me to keep this 5 bedroom, 2 1/2 bathroom house clean. It will be a learning experience how to take care of the flooring and how to work the new appliances in the kitchen. It is a lovely house and it will be wonderful to make it our home.

S.D.G.

Refrigerators

2012-01-04T22:02:00.000-06:00

Before we moved into the parsonage in MN, the Ladies Aid bought us a refrigerator. It was nice to begin life in MN with a new refrigerator.
When it was time to move we realized our rental house in ID did not have a refrigerator and we had to leave the refrigerator with the parsonage in MN. So we went to a used appliance store and bought a cheap used fridge with the hopes that it would last us until we moved into the house we buy. We didn't know if there would be a refrigerator or how big the space for the fridge in the house we buy would be.
We bought the fridge in November and the last few days it has been making noises. The food was still cold- even right according to the thermometer I put in there.
So I called the store we bought it from and they said we had a 6 month warranty and would send a repairman out. Today I took everything out of the fridge/freezer and put it in our cooler, some on the counter, some on the garage floor. The repairman took one look at it and said it would be $350 to fix it so they would replace it instead. So since it still keeps things cold I loaded it back up with the food from the freezer and fridge. Tomorrow they will deliver the new to us fridge and I will take everything out of the old fridge and load up the new fridge.
I am so thankful that we bought this fridge at the second store instead of the first and that they had a 6 month warranty-Craigslist doesn't have warranties.
God has truly worked out all the details of moving for us-right down to replacing a fridge that broke down 2 months after we bought it.
A little before the repairman for the fridge came today we put an offer on a house. So now we even know the dimensions of where the new fridge will go if it comes to needing to replace this second fridge. Hopefully we will be in our new house before this second fridge dies though!

Libraries

2012-01-03T06:00:00.000-06:00

I worked for Allen County Public Library for a few years after college. I was spoiled living in a town with such a great library system. In high school I often met classmates at the library on Sunday afternoons to work on school projects.When I was teaching I would put on hold about 50 books at a time, just go to the library and check them out for my class, the librarians found all the books for me. We had a few overdue books but the students never lost or damaged any of those hundreds of books that I checked out. Sometimes I would give the librarian a topic and they would reserve as many books on that topic as I wanted and then I would just go pick them up, I didn't have to do the research myself.
Then we moved to MN and I think our home library had more books than the small town library 7 miles away. I never went to the library to browse and check out books. Instead I put on hold about 50 books at a time for homeschooling and would go to the library to pick them up when they arrived at my small library.
Everyone told me we would love moving here with the wonderful library system. All programs were canceled in December so I haven't been able to take the Lambs to storytime or programs so I can't judge those yet. The other night I sat down to order some books to be helpful as new homeowners (when we get to that point), about purchasing a piano and gardening in ID. Then I decided while I was there I should probably order some books for homeschooling. And maybe I should get a book for myself just to read for fun. The book that I chose for fun-the library owns 21 copies and there are 67 holds. It will be a long time until I get that book for fun. Then when I got to my 6th book to order, the computer said I had exceeded my limit for holds. Really, you can only have 5 books on hold at a time? Even when you know you are going to have to wait months for at least one of those 5? This is going to be a pain to order 5 books at a time and remember to get back to it after I check out those 5 books, instead of sitting down and ordering all the books while I am lesson planning.
I think I have a high standard for libraries after living in Allen County, IN. I am hoping that the homeschool program on Wednesday afternoons is great. I am thankful that we are part of this library system and can check out books from the neighboring city library, even if it is only 5 at a time. If we only lived one town over we would not be part of this library system.
So, is there a limit on holds at your public library?

Teaching

2012-01-02T06:00:00.000-06:00

When I was straight out of college, a new second grade teacher, I purchased a book from the book order. I read it to my class most of the years I was teaching in the classroom during the month of December.
I had not read this book to the Lambs before this Christmas as I thought it was a little long for them. I read The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree to the Lambs the other night. I couldn't make it through without crying.
I never had cried when I read it in the classroom. What was different this time? The sacrifice that the mother in the book made to make sure that her daughter had the perfect Christmas even though it was wartime. I'm now a Ewe and I would do the same as this mother if circumstances were similar for my Lambs.
Although I highly recommend this book, I recommend reading it to yourself first before reading it aloud to your children.

Christmas Vacation Report

2012-01-01T22:34:00.000-06:00

Christmas Eve-Attended church, came home for eggnog and treats, attended church again. Great that the services were at 7pm and 10pm so we were able to come home and relax in between services instead of rush from service to service like we did in MN. We did miss having the children's Christmas program on Christmas Eve like we did in MN. Some were surprised that we took our Lambs to both services, but it was just like MN to have two services. Lambs were awake for both services and kept me on my toes, but I was able to hear most of both services. This was the first year I let the Lambs have real candles for the candlelight portion of the service and they did great. Many people commented how beautiful the candlelight service is and also how glad they are that Ram is their new pastor.
Christmas Day-Attended church, made crepes, welcomed Ram's parents and helped them unload their car with presents and food, ate crepes and lingonberries, opened presents, ate "snacks" for supper-that will need to be another post.
Dec. 26-Rested and let Lambs play with their new toys (aka they built all their new Lego sets) most of the day. Went to Food Coop so Ram's mom could show me where it was located and what products they carry there. Very helpful to know that if I can't find my favorite products/brands anywhere else then we can go there. Ate out at a distillery pub, good food. Went to Winter Garden Aglow until we were just too cold. Ram's parents headed back to go to bed, Ram and the Lambs and I went shopping at Target and Walmart because I had nothing to put in their stockings. Found some good after Christmas sales.
Dec. 27-Met our realtor for some house shopping. First house we had not seen, it was a foreclosure, none of us liked it. Second house was a repeat visit. Ram's parents approved, which makes me glad that we're not just two young people that like this house. We have not put an offer on this house yet, but we are seriously considering it. So far this house has beat out all other houses we have looked at both in what we want in a house and price.
Ram and his dad head off for some shopping and Ram's mom and I took the Lambs to McDonald's playplace to play. We all met up and went out to eat. Put the tired Lambs to bed and had a brief visit with Ram's parents without Lambs before they headed home the next morning.
It was a short visit, but it was nice to have family for Christmas- the first time in our marriage to have family come to our house.
Dec. 28-Ram had taken this week off at church, so we finally had a day to rest and relax. We have been going nonstop since August and this was a much needed break for all of us. We popped popcorn and watched the new Pooh movie as a family-we haven't watched a movie together for a long time.
Dec. 29-I needed some lab work done so we all headed downtown to get that done so I didn't have to go by myself. It only took a few minutes but it was nice to get out of the house. We had a babysitter and went out-a first for us to go out on our anniversary day without the Lambs since 2003. I'll have another post about our anniversary date soon.
Dec. 30-Ram had to go to work today even though it was his vacation because he needed to prepare for Sunday. I called my parents house and talked to them and also my sister to hear how her wedding reception in IN went the night before. We were sorry we were unable to attend. They had a great reception with their closest friends and relatives, some traveling quite a distance, but it was closer than going to Hawaii.
I made gingerbread cupcakes and we headed over to my college friend Joelle's house for dinner and the Lambs to play with her kids. This was the first chance we had to get together for more than a few minutes chat since we moved here. I hope that this is the first get together of many for our families.
Dec. 31-Ram conducted a wedding at church. It was a small family affair with just cake afterwards at church. The Lambs were a little disappointed that they weren't invited. While he was there Ewe was busy making cookies. I made star shaped-dipped in chocolate for the adults, frosted with yellow frosting for the Sunday School kids. Then we went out to eat at the Ram restaurant, it was crowded on New Year's Eve, but kids were $1 with adult meal purchase. Then we went to church at Good Shepherd LCMS. They had services last night but we did not. It was a nice service and a nice way to end 2011. After services we met an old family friend of Ram's parents. She googled, "Boise New Year's Eve service" and Good Shepherd came up. She isn't LCMS but she loved the service and ending a rough year for her in church. She took photos of the Lambs because she was so excited to meet us after hearing about us from Ram's parents. Who would think we would run into a family friend when it wasn't our church?
Jan. 1-I let the Lambs sleep through first service after many late nights this week. We had a combined Sunday School with just kids from 4 families-including Joelle's children because they didn't have Sunday School this morning so I invited her to ours. They read a story, did a craft, ate the star cookies I made, and began to watch a movie before time ran out. At late service the Lambs were invited to join the choir to sing "I am Jesus Little Lamb". They all joined the choir but after many late nights this week only one of the Lambs really sang with the choir. Maybe next time.
For supper tonight Ram made chicken liver spread and all the Lambs gobbled that up even though they weren't as excited about the snacks that Ram's parents brought. My Lambs like butter, onions, and chicken livers better!
Ram will return to work tomorrow and we will attempt to get back into a routine here before Lamb 3 begins preschool on Thursday. I'm going to attempt homeschool Christmas break until then but I may not be able to handle the Lambs with no routine and we may have to start back earlier. I wish that they would just play with their new Legos and let me get some things done around here, but it doesn't work that way. They do much better with the routine of school and knowing when play time is during the day instead of a whole unstructured day.

December 29

2011-12-29T06:00:00.000-06:00

1 Ewe+1 Ram+3 boy Lambs
-5 miscarried Lambs, 1 brother (Tim), 3 Grandmas, 2 Grandpas, 4 Great Aunts, 2 Great Uncles, and several family friends going to join the saints in the Church Triumphant
+1 Brother-in-law (Eric)
+ 1 Saturn- 2 Saturns + 1 Blazer- 2 Blazers
+1 Toyota Camry + 2 Minivans-1 Minivan
+ 3 Digital Cameras- 2 Digital Cameras
+1 Laptop+ 2 Computers
+ Several vacations to IN, ID, CA, SC, AL, MO, WY, NE, etc.
+ Ewe's first cell phone
+ Living in 3 houses in 3 different parts of the country
- 1 house (sold)
+ 2 Major moves to different states
+ Ewe changing from classroom teacher to Mama to homeschool teacher
+ Ram changing from student to pastor
+ 1 major surgery for Ram
+ Ram two Calls to 4 different churches
+ Plus making many new friends from many different parts of the country and a few from overseas
+ Moving from living in the same city as one set of parents to the same state as the other set of parents
+Living in a big city, in a town of 113, and in a suburb of a big city

=10 years of holy matrimony for Ram and Ewe!

We thank Christ for being the center of our marriage and being with us through all these changes. We know he will continue to be with us in future years and future changes too.

*Sorry I can't post a photo, but the wedding photos are still packed!

**Baker family, you are in our thoughts and prayers today. We know while this is a joyous day on the calendar for us it is a difficult anniversary day for you which makes it a bittersweet day for us. May the Lord bless you and keep you. May we continue to look forward to the resurrection of the body and life everlasting.

Christmas Day 1

2011-12-26T06:00:00.000-06:00

3 Handsome Lambs

Photographer: Lamb 1
Not bad for his first photo!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

*Photos taken at our new church on Christmas Eve

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T06:00:00.000-06:00

Lamb 1

Lamb 2

Lamb 3

"For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord."
Luke 2:11

*Photos were taken in MN in October

Are you listening?

2011-12-24T10:30:00.002-06:00

The secular world says Christmas is only one day. About a week ago I heard a fellow customer talking on her cell phone in the grocery store. She was talking about taking down her Christmas tree. This was a week before Christmas Day! In our family we wait until Advent is almost over to decorate our Christmas tree. First we observe Advent. We take our Christmas tree down after Epiphany. We observe the whole 12 days of Christmas, not just one day.
Did you know there is a radio station that plays Christmas music for the whole Christmas season? You can listen here. Thank you Lutheran Public Radio for beginning Christmas music today.
You can also listen to talk radio about the Christmas season here on demand. Thank you Issues Etc. for discussing the issues in our world from a Lutheran viewpoint.
Our computer is tuned in to Christmas music today until we leave for church tonight. Is yours?

Busy Weekend

2011-12-22T10:34:00.000-06:00

We had a busy weekend at church this past weekend. Sorry it took me so long to post these, we were recovering from the weekend for a few days while also getting ready for Christmas.

Our family did not help, but our church provided food for 18 needy families. They went shopping, packaged up the food, and delivered it. Oh how excited those families must have been to receive a turkey, bag of potatoes, gallon of milk and OJ, bag of flour and sugar, and several canned goods to complete their Christmas dinner. Times are hard for many people in this economy and I'm glad our church was able to help out these families that needed it. I hope that next year we can help with this project as I think it would be good for the Lambs.

Saturday morning we had dress rehearsal practice for the Christmas program.

This was the first year our church tried doing a Living Nativity. It was out by the street for a few hours on Saturday afternoon. One man read the Christmas story and other readings from the Bible and the "actors" acted it out. There were no speaking parts except for the reader. Ram was King Herod and he is not in this photo. After watching the Living Nativity then you were invited into the church for cookies and apple cider. It went well for the first year and they plan to do it again next year.

Lamb 3 was not feeling well on Saturday night, I think he was just tired and too many cookies because he was better on Sunday. I had planned to go to church for early service but thought it would be better to let Lamb 3 sleep in a little more. The Lambs went to Sunday School and the Children's Christmas Service was during second service at our church. Here are my two shepherds and one sheep.

Shepherd Lamb 1

Shepherd Lamb 2

Sheep Lamb 3

All the children (except Lamb 3 refused to be in the photo)

After the second service there was a Happy Birthday Jesus party. The Lambs enjoyed these snowman cupcakes even though the toppings were sticky so Lamb 1 with caps on his teeth couldn't have them.

Happy Birthday Jesus Party
The Lambs were given treat bags

Sunday evening one of the families from church had a Christmas party at their house. The entire congregation was invited. It was well planned with crafts for the kids upstairs while the adults visited downstairs. They provided ham and turkey and we brought sides. Our letter of the alphabet was asked to bring a salad. I took these veggie trays and hummus. It was appreciated by those gluten free members and by others who had too much sugar all weekend. I didn't bring many veggies home. All Lamb 3 ate was hummus and dessert. The Lambs had a great time and our members appreciated seeing them outside of the church, especially seeing them "just being boys".

Homeschool Christmas Vacation

2011-12-17T06:00:00.000-06:00

At one time Lamb 1 was a whole year ahead in math, doing Saxon math 2 book while he was in first grade. Then Ram had major surgery, I had some miscarriages, and we had a major move. I am happy to report that Lamb 1 finished his Saxon math 2 book on Thursday. He will begin Saxon math 3 after Christmas vacation. After he completes Saxon math 3 I do not know what math curriculum we are going to use. I like Saxon for the lower grades but not for the upper grades. After our major life events I'm proud that he is still half a year ahead in math.
Lamb 2 finished his handwriting of capital letters on Thursday too. Writing is very difficult for him and lower case letters will be a challenge. He is only in kindergarten and as a boy, I don't push him in this area. I know it will eventually come. He is eager to write like Lamb 1 so I'm glad he at least knows his capital letters now. He is plugging away in Alpha MUS and doing very well.
Lamb 3 will begin preschool in January. In homeschool he has been working on coloring and cutting with a scissors, both skills that will help him in preschool.
Since Lamb 1 and 2 were at a good breaking point I declared Christmas vacation began on Friday. They have their Sunday School Christmas program on Sunday and we have cookies to bake!
We are all looking forward to adding all subjects in after Christmas vacation. After our move we just did the basics in homeschool the last few months. I especially want to add more memory in, using Andrew Campbell's book, Living Memory. The Lambs want to resume Latin studies and study of Egypt in history.

Growing

2011-12-16T06:00:00.000-06:00

When it was clear that the MN churches would not be able to pay Ram so he could stay there as a pastor until he retired, we began praying for a Call for Ram. In our prayers we prayed that we would move to a growing area with the possibility to grow the church. We loved our members and churches in MN, but it was tiring to live in a place where everyone was moving away and few were moving to the area. While we lived there a public elementary school closed and a bar closed and several businesses and stores closed. A LCMS church about 45 minutes away closed. Ram did about 50 funerals but only a few baptisms.
When Ram received the Call here we could tell this was a growing area; population growth is really exploding here. That was a positive sign that if the area was growing, there is the possibility to grow the church.
It wasn't until we moved here that we saw how MUCH the possibility is to grow the church. Ram went to a church meeting on Tuesday night. There is talk of definitely having a building project and possibly even moving locations so we could have more space. Many of the members desire a real sanctuary with pews. The preschool is growing and needs more space. Our church needs a better area for events at church besides just moving chairs and setting up tables in the sanctuary.
And the best part-they aren't doing anything special at this church, they are just being LCMS. I'm going to be very interested to see how God answers our prayers and what happens to our new church in the next 5-10 years.

More Family Update

2011-12-15T06:00:00.000-06:00

My last post was getting quite long, so I decided to continue it here.
Saturday morning I went to LWML. In MN they wanted the pastor to come to Ladies Aid to lead Bible study so with the exception of a few times a year where our whole family went, I wasn't able to go to Ladies Aid because I needed to stay with the Lambs. The LWML group is small here-we'll have to work on increasing attendance.
Saturday after the Lambs were in bed, Ram went grocery shopping. I'm still not used to living in a place that has stores open 24 hours a day. We were trying to figure out a time to go shopping in our busy schedule. Then he decided to go then.
I have looked at a few stores here and I can't find pretzels in Christmas shapes (tree, bell, star, etc.) That was always an easy baking project for the Lambs-dip the Christmas pretzels in chocolate. One more example of my frustration shopping here.
The Lambs and I have made 5 different kinds of cookies already and have plans to make more. I'll have a post of what we've baked soon.
Monday Ram went to the mortgage company and got preapproved for a loan. We would be allowed $280,000. Isn't that crazy on a pastor's salary? I know the house we buy will be no where near that much!
We spent Friday afternoon and most of Monday with Ram and I was glad because this is the busy time of the year and we won't see Ram much more this week.
This weekend will be busy with the Christmas program for the children on Sunday and a congregation open house at one of the member's homes on Sunday afternoon and a Living Nativity on Saturday.

Family Update

2011-12-14T11:55:00.001-06:00

On Thursday I tried going to a new chiropractor. He was running a deal that if you brought in food for the needy then your first visit was free. I liked him so I took the rest of the family back on Monday. Ram and I really needed adjustments after moving, sleeping in hotel beds, and the stress of living in a new place. We found out Lamb 1 has mild scolosis. Since we homeschool he has not had checkups with the school nurse and I had no idea. The chiropractor wonders if possibly his spiral fracture of his leg as a toddler is causing some of his problems. So the chiropractor will work on this monthly and if it doesn't improve we may look into seeing if there is a problem with his leg. Thankfully it is mild and the chiropractor can work on this. Lamb 2 was perfect, probably didn't even need an adjustment. Lamb 3 was afraid of a new chiropractor, even though the doctor's first name is the same as Lamb 3's! This chiropractor does things a little different method than our old chiropractor, but I still like him. I'm thankful there is one more new doctor that we found and liked.
Friday we looked at two houses. We ruled out one because none of the bedrooms were big enough for 3 Lambs (even with a bunk bed) and they don't want to be separated. The second one is a possibility-it had built in bookshelves in almost every room of the house. It had one big bedroom with bookshelves built into the whole wall. That would be our schoolroom/library. I liked the second house we looked at but I'm not willing to buy the first house we look at. Besides the bookshelves there was nothing that jumped out and told me this was THE perfect house for us.
There are two more houses that I would like to look at, both are near the one that we liked. One is brand new never occupied. Can you see any problems with buying a brand new house? Or would it be ideal to buy a brand new house? The problem with that one is there is a high home association fee. The benefit is a community pool. I'm not sure I'm willing to pay $700 yearly the whole time we live in that house, but it would be nice to have the benefit of a pool. We haven't looked at this house yet so we will see. After we look at these two houses then I think we'll take a break from house shopping. There are not many houses on the market during the winter and I think we'll do better in the spring.
After we looked at houses on Friday we took the Lambs to the park. I couldn't believe we were playing at the park in December. We did wear winter hats with our sweatshirts! We almost had the park to ourselves. It would be nice to live near that park.
Friday evening some church members invited us over for dinner. Their children are grown, but the Lambs had a great time at their house. They played with Legos (they had tubs from when their boys were little), made their own pizzas for dinner, had cake and ice cream for dessert, and played Wii for the first time. Lamb 1 was really good at Wii bowling. Lamb 2 and 3 didn't really get Wii, but they were thrilled when it was their turn each time. It was nice to be invited to their house-we can't really invite others over here while we are in this rental house.

Stockings

2011-12-07T10:52:00.001-06:00

My last post had a comment asking what we did for the 12 Days of Christmas stockings.

My mom filled our stockings each day for the 12 days of Christmas. We had a little larger gift in there for Christmas and Epiphany, and small gifts the rest of the days. Since our family was just two girls, the larger gifts were usually something like a purse. The smaller gifts were things like chapstick, candy, hair ribbons, etc. We always looked forward to Scotch tape in our stockings because we were not allowed to use my parents' tape (we would have used it all) and we always used ours up to wrap presents.

We have taken my parents idea but made it for boys since the Lambs are all boys. Christmas Day we put the smallest present Ram's mom gives them for Christmas that fits in there. They are allowed to open their stocking on Christmas Day before we go to church. We also put peanuts and oranges in the stockings then because that was Ram's parents tradition from Ram's mom's dad. For the rest of the days they get small gifts, often ones that we would buy them anyway, they are just in their stockings. Toothbrushes, crayons, Scotch tape, blank envelopes, candy, small cars, etc. Epiphany is a big gift from Ram and Ewe, sometimes it doesn't fit in their stocking. We started this because we wanted it clear that Papa and Mama gave a present and what they gave instead of being confused with all the other gifts from church members and from grandparents. A typical Epiphany gift: Lamb 1 received a watch when he could tell time.

I have heard of families that make a scavenger hunt with clues in the stockings where their treats are hidden in the house. I have heard of families that have treats in the stockings that the children receive once a year like pop or certain sweets. I have heard of stockings with totally silly gifts that the whole family can enjoy during Christmas vacation-like cans of silly string and a chance to go crazy together in the garage.

Some days I give "coupons" that they can redeem that day. When we lived in MN it was coupons like the next time we go to a city with Starbucks you can get your own drink. Also coupons like you can play play dough today for an unlimited time. I do try to limit the coupon days because they aren't as much fun for the Lambs as getting a gift.

Filling stockings for 12 days does take some organization and planning. It can get expensive to do 12 days times 3 (or however many children you have) Lambs. If you plan ahead you can get school supply type gifts on sale during August. If you don't plan ahead you may be able to get some deals during After Christmas sales. You can have some days be "coupon" days like I described. Some days can be a gift all the children could share, but that day wouldn't have something in each stocking. I would encourage you to be creative.

St. Nicholas Day

2011-12-06T19:11:00.001-06:00

My mom lost her dad in an accident a few weeks before Christmas when she was a young girl. Her dad had already picked out the presents and her mom wanted them to know that the presents (especially dolls for the girls) were from her dad, not Santa. So that year she not only lost her dad, but she also lost Santa. After that, she decided she would never do the Santa thing with her children. So growing up we never did Santa.
Because of my mom's experience I knew we would not do Santa with our children either. Julie Stiegemeyer wrote Saint Nicholas. I bought a copy and had it signed by Julie when I was pregnant with Lamb 1. We try to read it on Saint Nicholas Day each year. I like that it is short enough for even young Lambs to pay attention to the whole book.
Because we don't do Santa, but the Lambs know Saint Nicholas was a real man, we don't even talk about Santa, we only talk about St. Nick. When we moved here, the Lambs would walk into a store and talk about how many St. Nicks were out on the store shelves already at Halloween time. We went to the mall a few weeks ago and the Lambs pointed and yelled that they saw where people were having their picture taken with St. Nick. When we drive down the street they talk about how many St. Nicks they see outside on people's lawns for Christmas decorations.
Lamb 1 put his shoes out for St. Nick on Sunday night in anticipation of today. I didn't take a photo but the Lambs received chocolate coins in their shoes this morning from St. Nick.
This "solution" to Santa Claus has worked for our family. If someone would ask them if Santa Claus came to their house they would answer yes, because he came on St. Nick Day. If someone would ask them if Santa Claus was real they would answer that yes, St. Nick is real. They know that Santa Claus is the American version of St. Nick with flying reindeer and other additions. I like that I don't need to keep this a secret.
But what the Lambs look forward to is presents from Grandpa and Grandma and Great-Grandma and Aunt Hannah and stockings filled for the 12 days of Christmas by Papa and Mama. What they really look forward to is being in the Children's Program at church. We don't open any presents until after all the church services on the afternoon of Christmas Day. I like that they know people that love them give them their presents. Now, the next thing we need to work on is being able to have a conversation with either Grandma or Great-Grandma in November and December without having their Christmas wish list be part of that conversation!

Disclaimer: If you chose to do Santa with your children, I can understand the magical part of Christmas that many people have as part of childhood. It was just never part of my childhood experience so it also never became part of the Lambs experience. This post is explaining what has worked for our family, not criticizing your family if you do Santa differently. This post gave me the idea to post about Santa.

Writing thank you notes

2011-12-05T06:00:00.000-06:00

The boxes are unpacked so earlier this week I sat down and made a list of all our friends both there and here that helped us at our time of farewell and moving. I realized how long the list was and decided it would be best to go stock up on thank you notes before beginning. When I sat down to write those notes, I could only write a few before too many tears flowed to continue.
This is the 17th time that I've moved. I knew it would be more difficult because this is the first time I moved with children. There are so many things that were right about moving here-they were exactly what we prayed for before Ram received a Call to be pastor here. But we have to find all new doctors here after becoming close to several of our doctors in MN. ID has the best homeschooling law in the country but I found out that they are unfriendly to homeschoolers that need services from them like speech therapy. After student teaching in WI, teaching in a school in IN, and sending the Lambs to the public school in MN for speech, this has been surprising to me that all students do not have a "right" to speech. I was so happy to move to a city with stores just down the road instead of a big mall 3 hours away. But the stores here carry different brands and products than they did in MN. I was used to buying specific items in specific stores in specific towns-even if that meant stocking up when we were at that store and only buying some items a few times a year. Even if the stores carry what I'm looking for, I'm not used to where on the shelf it is like it was in MN. Ram is busy at church so I'm navigating my way through traffic in a strange city with 3 Lambs along. (I must say they have been quite the troopers for the shopping that we have done and I've bought them a few McDonald's ice cream cones to say thank you to them.)
When we were in MN I thought this was the perfect time of year to move-our garden was done, etc. Now that we are here, I realize it was a really difficult time to move. In MN I was really busy this time of year-getting ready to go to all the Ladies Aid Christmas parties, Christmas program practice, Christmas caroling, etc. I brought food to almost all those events so I was busy cooking and baking the whole month. Since this is a bigger church there are more people to help. Here others cover almost everything so as pastor's wife I'm not expected to do those things.
Oh, how generous our former members and friends in MN were when we moved. Here they were losing their pastor and his family and unsure what the future held for them as a tri-parish. They helped us pack, brought us food, gave us gifts, and made sure the parsonage was painted/cleaned/repairs made.
So this post was just to say that I miss MN and our friends and church members there. I know that I will get used to ID. I know there are a lot of great things about our new town and our new church and I will get used to it. I know there are a lot of other wives of pastors that have been at this point. I know I will get the thank you notes written. I know I will get used to my new role as wife of the pastor here. But I will be thinking of what our churches in MN would traditionally do on each of the days this month.
On the positive side, a couple from church invited our family over for dinner this week. If I'm not so busy with church activities, this will mean more time to do Christmas activities and baking with the Lambs.

First Field Trip

2011-12-04T06:00:00.000-06:00

Our church preschool went to Albertson's grocery store for a field trip a couple of weeks ago. We asked if we could tag along. They were surprised none of the Lambs had ever been on a field trip before. I had my hands full with Lamb 3 being very clingy-I think he was afraid I was going to leave him with the teachers and students. We had told him he would start preschool after Christmas and this field trip was not part of what he expected. So I didn't take as many pictures as I would have liked to. For the field trip they went to each section of the grocery store and talked about healthy food choices from that section-to buy bread at the bakery, but only occasionally buy donuts or cake. At each section they were given something to put in their bag. At the end of the field trip they had a lunch to eat-sandwich from the deli, apple, banana, granola bar, bottle of water, piece of bread, etc. They also received some nice coupons for when we shop there and since I have 3 Lambs I received 3 times the coupons! After touring the store then each child got to pretend to be the check out person and scan some items and then they sat down and ate their lunch together. It was nice for me to meet a few other stay at home moms. The preschool met at the store so parents had to bring their children, there was no bus or van to the store. We enjoyed our field trip and look forward to going on the next field trip with the preschool. Thank you Albertsons!

Pantry Shower

2011-12-03T06:00:00.000-06:00

We had some interesting meals here between the time that we got a refrigerator and when the church had a pantry shower for us on November 13. I didn't want to stock our pantry until I saw what we received at the shower.
The shower was overwhelming. It was very welcome after we had a full pantry in MN and gave away an entire chest freezer and pantry full of food.
We received lots of chocolate chips and items like pasta and spaghetti sauce. The boys ate their first can of Chef Boyardee. Toilet paper, paper towels, cereal, pure maple syrup, and other canned goods were appreciated. We also received several gift cards for local grocery stores. We even received a plant which was appreciated after I gave away all but one of my plants when we moved. It was great to be welcomed to the church with this pantry shower. The day after the pantry shower we went grocery shopping with our gift cards and finished filling our pantry with items to cook from a menu for a couple of weeks-basing the menus on the items we were given at the shower and finishing the menus to make complete meals.

The Lambs helped unload the car with the items we received while Ram led the second service at church. Then they unpacked everything to see what we received. We ate some soup we received for a fast lunch when Ram got home. Then they put everything out on the table and played store. So the pantry shower not only filled our pantry, but it also provided entertainment for the Lambs for an afternoon.

A surprise

2011-12-02T06:00:00.000-06:00

One day a few weeks ago Ram brought home an envelope from church. I would have sat down and blogged about it right away, but we didn't have Internet at home yet. A Looper that I have never met before sent me a gift. She didn't know my home address so she sent it to church. That is what is so nice about having a pastor for a husband! She sent a really nice card with it to encourage me as she knows moving is hard. She knows that we used to live 1 1/2 hours from Target and now Target is right down the road. So this is what she sent. I had never seen "gift coins" before. They were perfect for the Lambs to each get a treat and Ewe was allowed to use the extra coin on herself. It was good timing to get a gift as Ewe was discouraged-the washer had leaked water all over the office, we didn't have Internet at home yet, we found out that the post office wouldn't forward our mail, unpacking wasn't going as fast as Ewe would have liked after Ram started working at church, etc.

Ram took the Lambs to Target one day and gave Ewe a few minutes peace. Lamb 1 chose Legos and Lamb 3 chose Duplos which did not surprise me. They chipped in a little of their spending money with their gift coin and were quite happy. When they got home they claimed that Lamb 2 had spent a lot of his spending money in addition to his gift coin. Actually what Lamb 2 chose was on sale so he didn't spend that much extra with his gift coin. He chose a Busytown Richard Scarry board game. It surprised me that he didn't buy Legos. I thought that this would be a good learning experience for Lamb 2 with his spending money. It turns out that the Lambs have played this game several times almost every day since he bought it. They can all 3 play it or just 2 of them. It is huge spread out on the floor several feet. Yes, Lamb 2 won't have as much spending money as the other two Lambs the next time they go shopping. But it turns out it was a very good purchase for him. Add in that many of our games are still in the garage and it makes this even better. Once again the cashier was patient as the Lambs counted out their own money along with their gift coin to make their purchases.

So thank you to my Looper friend for not only thinking of sending a small gift, but also getting it in the mail. I often have good intentions but time goes by and ideas like this don't happen. I haven't used my coins yet, but one of these days we'll have to go to Target so Ewe can get her treat too. Hopefully some day I will get to meet this Looper friend in person.

Ram's installation at our new church on November 6

2011-12-01T06:00:00.000-06:00

Janet, Ewe, Becky
These are the "local" Loopers (LCMS homeschool e-list). Janet is about 1 1/2 hours and Becky is about 20 minutes away from me. They were both thrilled to have a Looper move so close! Janet's husband had to miss a football game to come to the service, but they enjoyed the service and stayed to eat afterwards. Becky's two children were real troopers to sit through a long afternoon service for a pastor they never met before. Becky's husband was out of town for the weekend so she was on her own with her children. It meant a lot to me that two Loopers I never met before took the time to come to the installation. Janet's children are older, but I still hope to be able to get together with her occasionally. I really look forward to getting Becky's kids and the Lambs together as her children are just a few years older than the Lambs. It's wonderful to already have local friends when we first moved here.

The pastors at the installation
The most familiar one (for Higher Things participants) is probably Rev. Timothy Pauls. Ram knew the names of a couple of other pastors from the circuit and looks forward to getting to know them better. Rev. Pauls was very happy to see Ram return to ID.

Our family with Ram's parents

Our family with Ewe's parents

Our family

Ram with Ewe's dad, who preached for the installation.
Ewe made Ram's stole for his Ordination
Ewe's dad's stole was a gift from a deaconess in Thailand

We had to hurry to take photos after the service. We found out our church is dark and photos are a challenge. I miss that part of our last church, photos with lots of sunlight through the stained glass windows. Following the installation service there was a potluck with meat provided by the church and a birthday cake for Ewe. It was nice to have some time with our family and friends after the long day of church and Sunday School in the morning and the installation service in the afternoon. There was some miscommunication between Ram and Ewe so we thought we had camcorded the installation service, but a new "tape" was not put in. We were just glad to see that the camcorder had not taped over the last thing recorded. It would be nice to have that service recorded, but it wasn't as bad as if we would have messed up recording something important to the Lambs. Lamb 2 and 3 slept through most of the installation service and Ram's mom helped Lamb 1 pay attention through the long service.

A visit from friends

2011-11-30T06:00:00.000-06:00

The rest of the week after Halloween was a blur of unpacking, getting a few supplies and groceries, unpacking, buying a washer/dryer/refrigerator used, unpacking, eating out until we had a refrigerator, unpacking, and getting ready for the installation. Ewe's parents arrived on Friday and we had not done grocery shopping yet as we had just got our refrigerator on Thursday. So we left them to go out to eat for supper and went and did some major shopping for food to feed our family the weekend of the installation. Saturday Ram's parents arrived and brought us some chairs to go with our kitchen table that they had in storage for us but never brought them out to MN.
Saturday afternoon a family friend of Ram's brought his family to visit. Dan Rutledge was doing some missionary work in Thailand for several years. This year he brought his family back to the States so he could go back for some more schooling. He plans after finishing some schooling here to return to Thailand to work with families there. After several years of sending care packages to their family and reading his blog, it was nice for Ewe to finally meet them. His wife, Mam, is from Thailand and has done well adjusting to living in the USA. The Lambs enjoyed playing in our back yard with their girls. Their youngest is a boy and he was frustrated to be too little to go out and join them. After visiting for a few hours they headed back to their family, we had supper, and tried to get to bed early before Ram's installation day.

Trunk or Treat

2011-11-29T06:00:00.000-06:00

I've already blogged about our movers, but they started unloading about 3pm on October 31. We had plenty of time to get into our house that we are renting, make a few decisions about where the movers would put furniture and how we would organize our garage with what we planned to keep in storage, go and pick up Ram's car from the church members that were keeping it in their garage, and take some stuff over to his church office before they got there. Our church has Trunk or Treat on Halloween. So as the movers were unloading, the Lambs put on their Halloween costumes and Ram took them over to church. They went from car to car trick or treating from our church members. I was answering questions for the movers back at home so I didn't take a picture of our doctor, Tigger, or Pooh, but Ram did take this photo.

The Lambs came home with a lot of candy that night and Lamb 1 was pleased to see that most of it was not sticky candy (he has caps on his teeth).
The movers quit unloading about 7pm because they didn't want to be driving their truck through our subdivision after dark on Halloween. First they made sure that our beds were all put back together so that we could sleep there. But we were too exhausted to look for bedding so we decided to go to the hotel for one more night. We went to Applebees and ate supper and headed back to the hotel. It ended up being a quiet Halloween for us but we still did something for the Lambs. We ate breakfast at the hotel and headed back to the house where they started unloading the truck again about 8:30am.

Moving trip part 3

2011-11-28T06:00:00.000-06:00

The final day of our moving trip was on Sunday. Before the delay of the moving truck getting to MN one day late, we had planned to arrive on Saturday and then go to church at our new church on Sunday. But with that delay there was no way we could make it there in time for church. So we went swimming at the hotel on Sunday morning, took it easy getting ready and left Pocatello, ID late in the morning. We stopped and got take out at Cracker Barrel in Boise for a late lunch, especially for the Lambs. Then we went to the hotel and changed into church clothes. Then we went to Nampa, ID for a joint Reformation service. It was nice to go to church on Reformation since we couldn't make it there for church in the morning. We could have stayed and ate there, but the Lambs were tired from traveling so we thought it would be better to go.
So we found this restaurant, how perfect for our family!

Our whole family really liked this restaurant and we later discovered there are a couple of locations near us. The Lambs enjoyed ice cream after they were finished eating their meals.
I had planned to call my college friend, Joelle, and tell her that we had arrived, but I couldn't find her phone number. So we drove out to her house and surprised her. It was near bedtime and we got her kids all wound up by playing outside in their backyard. After a little visiting we headed back to the hotel to get ready for the moving truck to arrive the next day.

Lambs shopping trip

2011-11-27T06:00:00.000-06:00

When the Lambs receive birthday money or money as gifts other times of the year, we have tried to teach them to manage their money. We have tried to have them put 10% in the Sunday School offering, 50% in savings at the bank, and Ewe kept the other 40% for their spending. Vacations are usually to grandma's house, not to a place where they could go shopping. We lived so far from shopping that they rarely had a chance to go spend their money. Lamb 1 spent about $20 on Legos after his birthday last March. So each Lamb had between $30-$50 of spending money. Recently they were complaining that Ewe kept the $ and said they were for spending but they never had a chance to spend them. They also had $ from their art store to spend.
So after we arrived at the Old Faithful visitor center and found out we had about an hour before the next eruption, we took the Lambs to the gift shop. We told them they could spend as much money as was in their envelope or save all of it. Lamb 1 chose a stamper with a buffalo footprint, a small sticker book, a plastic buffalo, and a bookmark. Lamb 2 and 3 each chose a set of small plastic animals and a few bigger plastic animals. One was trying to convince his brothers if they each got a plastic buffalo then they could have a buffalo jam, but one brother didn't want that, he wanted a bear.
When we got up to the register the cashier could see they were spending their own money and she was very patient as they each counted out their money and paid. She gave them several free bookmarks, some were quite fancy. She gave them change with shiny new 2011 coins.
I was quite proud of their first shopping experience. They each chose reasonably priced items and got what they wanted but saved much of their spending money for their next chance to go shopping. After our shopping then we went to sit and wait for Old Faithful to erupt.

Moving trip part 2

2011-11-26T06:00:00.000-06:00

We drove from Billings to Pocatello, ID on the second day of our trip. We stopped at Yellowstone on the way. We explained to the Lambs that you could spend much longer at Yellowstone but we just didn't have time. We drove in, waited for Old Faithful to go off, and drove out. I felt like we were cheating the Lambs to just go to Old Faithful when there is so much else to see. But it was cold and we didn't really have the time. I won't bore you with photos of Old Faithful or buffalo like everyone else takes. We also stopped to see buffalo and elk and the Lambs were watching for wildlife the whole time we drove through. So we did do a little more than Old Faithful. Then we ate at a pizza place in West Yellowstone that Ram and I ate at 9 years ago. The Lambs loved Yellowstone and hope that we can go back soon. It was strange to go when Yellowstone was still open but not at peak season, if we would have been a few weeks later then it would have been closed. Because it was a Saturday there were still plenty of people there even late in the afternoon. Then we drove to Pocatello for another night in a hotel.

Finally!

2011-11-25T06:00:00.000-06:00

It seems like I have been saying forever that Lamb 1 is 7 1/2, Lamb 3 is 3 1/2, and Lamb 2 is ALMOST 5 1/2. It really has only been the last couple of months, but today Lamb 2 turns 5 1/2. He has been telling everyone that his 5 1/2 birthday is November 25. All three Lambs, but especially Lamb 2 have had a recent growth spurt. Lamb 2 is 2 years 3 months younger than Lamb 1, but he wears the same size shoes now and he is only one size different in pants. Lamb 1 better watch out!
Today is also my baptism birthday!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T06:00:00.000-06:00

Now thank we all our God
With hearts and hands and voices,
Who wonderous things has done,
In whom His world rejoices;
Who from our mothers' arms
Has blest us on our way
With countless gifts of love
And still is ours today. (LSB 895:1)

Happy Thanksgiving from Ram, Ewe, and our 3 Lambs!

Our moving trip part 1

2011-11-23T06:00:00.000-06:00

The moving truck left our house in MN about 8pm on October 27. We did some last minute packing of the car and cleaning of the house and left about 9:30pm. That last 1 1/2 hours was a mad dash to finish everything. But we knew getting a hotel locally would be almost impossible during hunting season. We would have been welcome to stay with friends or church members but we were so unsure of our plans after the delay of the moving truck by one day that we had not made any arrangements. One benefit to this that I had not expected was it was not as sad or emotional to leave our house when it was dark. Plus at that time we couldn't stop and say goodbye to anyone else, we just got directly on the road. We arrived in Fargo a little after midnight and easily got a hotel although it was a little expensive during hunting season. We should have reserved something in advance, but we weren't sure if we would get all the way to Fargo or stop along the way.
We slept in a little and took it easy the next morning. We arrived in Bismarck and called DakotaPam. She brought her darling girls over to the McDonald's play place and in between ~~wrangling~~ helping her girls we were able to have a nice chat. The Rev. eventually came over to chat with Ram. It was a short visit but we were able to catch up for a few minutes and also the Lambs were able get out of the car and run around the play place. We hadn't seen Dakota Pam since January so it was a treat to see how much the girls had grown.
When we pulled in to McDonalds it was past lunch time but we had had a late breakfast so we had not eaten yet. I offered to let the Lambs get a snack at McDonalds and then after we were done visiting and playing on the play place then we would go out to eat for a late lunch/early supper at Cracker Barrel. Being completely serious, Lamb 1 asked what kind of food McDonald's had, what he could order at McDonald's. I expected Lamb 2 to respond with an answer to Lamb 1, but he also asked what kind of food McDonald's served. That shows how rural we lived before we moved here that the Lambs didn't even know what kind of food McDonald's had! We used to live 45 minutes from McDonalds but 1 1/2 hours from a town with McDonald's that we regularly went to. Now after you get out of our subdivision McDonald's is less than 4 blocks away.
The Lambs chose to just play and wait until we got to Cracker Barrel to eat. Then we headed down the road some more. We stopped at Theodore Roosevelt National Park for a bathroom break. The boys enjoyed watching the buffalo there. We finally made it to Billings and stayed in another hotel. This day was a lot of driving but made more fun with the stop in Bismarck.

Dakota Pam's boys were at school so it was just the twins and the Lambs

More about moving

2011-11-22T23:04:00.001-06:00

We had the impression that our driver and his two helpers for moving were picked for us by the lady that we worked with because she knew they could handle a job of 17,000 lbs. When we moved from IN to MN, they did not expect us to have 10,000 lbs and they only sent one guy to load us. He was supposed to load most of the boxes and then later in the afternoon get a helper to help him load some of the larger furniture and then get on the road and start driving after that. He walked into our house and panicked, knowing that he couldn't load what turned out to be 10,000 lbs by himself in one day. So I requested that Bekins be better prepared this time and they were. I think my request got us one of the best drivers and his helpers that works for Bekins. Our driver goes all over the country moving people.
When they were almost done unloading us the driver said to me, "You win the prize for the best self-packed clients that I have moved all year." This meant a lot to me because of what I wrote above. Considering this is November, I doubt any one else will beat us! The one helper had said several times that if we would have let them pack we would have had less boxes, possibly even only half of the boxes. I'm not so sure about that because our boxes were full. When the driver made the comment about being the best self packed, he also said that some of our boxes were small, but those boxes were heavy and all of our boxes were full. Most self packers make the mistake of not filling their boxes. Towards the end I would have been tempted to not fill boxes, but the lady from church that volunteered to help us pack our kitchen filled up boxes even more than I would have.
When the man came to give us an estimate he saw that we had several plastic tubs (totes) in the basement. He was pleased to see that and told us to fill all of those tubs up. They stack and are great for moving. So when we packed we began by filling all the tubs before we packed boxes. We had 780 items before they counted beds and mattresses and they found a few items that they forgot to number in one of the closets. I didn't hear the final count of items, but I believe it was close to 800.
The other thing that helped us was I had saved all the boxes that our wedding presents and things we purchased over 10 years of marriage. When my parents came to help us pack, my dad's job was to put all the appliances and things like that in the boxes they came in. It was very easy to identify what was in those boxes and where in the house they went when the truck was unloaded. The packing material was all there for those. Also any time Ram's mom mailed us stuff or we purchased something and it came in a large box or a box that was a good size for moving books, we kept all those boxes. Our basement had lots of room for storage for those boxes. We were thankful for all those boxes at moving time.
When we got here about half of our belongings (nearly all of our books that are not theology books) are in the garage. When we unpacked what we need to live in this house that we rented, I did throw away the boxes that that stuff came in. We just don't have the room to store those empty boxes here. Many of those boxes survived two major moves. We live near several grocery stores and liquor stores that it will be easy to get boxes to pack the things that we unpacked for us to move across town to the house that we buy next year. We are hoping to never move again after we get in that house so at that point when we unpack everything I will throw out the remainder of the boxes.

Moving photos

2011-11-19T23:54:00.001-06:00

I downloaded photos from the last few weeks and I'll try to get caught up on posting them here. This was our second move with Bekins and we were very pleased with them both times. When we moved to MN we had 10,000 lbs exactly. In that move two beer glasses got broken. It was our fault for not packing them better. They were in a small box by themselves, not packed in another box. When they fell off the cart they got broken. Everything else made it here fine.

After hearing horror stories from fellow pastor's wives that moved, I knew we wanted Bekins again. When we called the LCMS moving services, we found out we got a discount if we went with certain movers. They were very surprised that we didn't want quotes from several companies, that we only wanted Bekins.

Bekins had no one in the area in MN to come out and give us a quote so someone from another company 1 1/2 hours away came and gave us an estimate. They estimated that we had 17, 500 lbs. You don't pay more than the estimate. I even questioned the lady we worked with for Bekins. She said their estimates are rarely off more than 500 lbs either under or over. She assured me that as long as we didn't add anything to what we had showed the man that gave us the estimate that we would be within 17,000-18,000 lbs.

In MN they loaded the stuff upstairs our house on the main level from the front door. Then they pulled around to the garage to load the stuff from the basement and the garage.

There was another family's stuff in the front section of the truck. It was eventually going to Oklahoma after dropping off our stuff and then some other stops throughout the Midwest. Our stuff began about where the second reflector line begins, after that front section over the front tires. Our stuff was loaded from floor to ceiling from there until after the S in Bekins. There was about 6 feet in the back that was empty. So we didn't fill the truck but we came close.

When they got to ID the movers began unloading our stuff late in the afternoon. They worked until about 7pm and then they quit because they didn't want to be driving a truck after dark on Halloween. They came back the next morning and finished unloading by noon. The driver is the one holding the blanket. He was like a grandpa to our boys. I know they do this daily, but I couldn't believe how they could carry queen size mattresses by themselves and things like that. When they were finished unloading they put tables and beds back together, anything they had taken apart in MN.

When they were done unloading I asked them how much they thought it weighed. They had carried everything out of one house and into another and they do this daily. Their estimate was 16,000 lbs. I told him if that was right I would be thrilled because then the church would pay less. (Customer pays less if under the estimate.) He hadn't been able to find a weigh station for his large truck so he had to weigh it again after it was unloaded. He called me about an hour after he left our house. He said, "You're not going to believe this!" I thought he meant that he was close on his estimate. Our total weight this move was 20,325 lbs! Not the estimator, not the movers, not even us thought it weighed DOUBLE what we had brought to MN. It shows that having children really does multiply your belongings!

I don't think the movers believed us that we got rid of a lot before moving day. The stove and fridge belonged to the parsonage. The dishwasher, washer, and dryer we left for the next pastor. The freezer was given away. So we moved no appliances. We gave away an entertainment center that our TV was on, a glass doored bookcase that was very heavy, bunk beds, and put a huge computer desk in the trash after we couldn't give it away. We gave away a whole back of a full size van with baby items-crib, pack n play, baby clothes, baby bathtub, etc. We gave away a very full pantry and freezer full of food. We took a big load to Goodwill and threw away a bunch. I can't even imagine how much weight we would have had if we had moved all that.

Many of our belongings are still packed in our garage so we won't know for sure until we unpack those next July, but so far nothing has been broken in what we opened. We have opened all the kitchen stuff and nothing was broken. This is amazing because we had several friends help us pack and when we packed we were in a hurry. Everything was not packed as carefully as it would have been if I would have done it all myself and had more time to pack. We are hoping to never move again after we get in our house that we buy here, but if we do, we will be sure to use Bekins again.

National Tie One On Day

2011-11-18T06:00:00.000-06:00

I'm a little busy this year so I'm not participating, but don't forget National Tie One On Day is next week. I'll be sure to tie an apron on while I'm doing holiday cooking even if I don't make something for a neighbor in need. There is a giveaway too if you are participating.

Back to School

2011-11-17T12:38:00.001-06:00

The first plan was to continue getting settled in our house that we rented and also exploring our new area. After Thanksgiving I planned to begin a little school with the Lambs, but not do full schedule during the holiday season. Then we would begin 2012 with the full schedule.
Yesterday was the last straw that I knew we needed to get back to more of a routine immediately. Lamb 3 took the kitchen faucet apart! Water every where plus I couldn't get it back together.
So today Lamb 1 and 2 were back to where we left off in math. Lamb 2 also did some writing as he did not have as much math to do as Lamb 1. Lamb 3 practiced holding his pencil and coloring.
We had been on school break since the end of September when I knew we were moving. It was good to hit the books again today. Lamb 2 had forgotten how to write some of his numbers. I can see that he is going to need to work harder on writing than Lamb 1 ever did.
So far it doesn't look like speech at the school is going to be an option for Lamb 2, so I'm going to need to look at our other options. In the meantime we will work on the materials the old speech teacher gave us to work on at home. We're still waiting on health insurance details to be worked out to see what options there are there. Lamb 3 should also be evaluated for speech, but we'll begin with Lamb 2. I'm still hoping that something will work out for Lamb 2 at the school.
Lamb 3 will begin at our church preschool after Christmas so two mornings a week I will have extra time to work with Lamb 1 and 2 on school work.
There were a few sets of Legos that were still unopened here so after school work this morning we opened those up. I'm hoping that that will keep them busy this afternoon while I try to tackle the laundry and dishes and continue to contact people about our change of address.

Congratulations H & E!

2011-11-12T06:00:00.000-06:00

Congratulations to Eric and my sister, Hannah as they begin their life together today on a beach in Hawaii. Wish we could be there with you today. We love you and hope to see you soon.

Putting fires out this week

2011-11-11T14:13:00.001-06:00

This week has been a whirlwind. Ram began a more normal schedule of work this week. My parents left early on Tuesday after being here for the installation. Tuesday evening we discovered our washer had leaked. The repairman came right away. There is still water on the carpet in the room we had planned for an office. We quickly moved all the unpacked boxes out of that room before they got more wet.
We found out this week that we currently have no health insurance as the proper paperwork wasn't turned in (partly our fault). The church needed some info for direct deposit for our paychecks and of course the bank was closed on Veteran's Day. We had a question for our tax lady and she wasn't in the office today either. So all that needs to wait until Monday.
The boys have colds and if they don't get better I don't think they can go to church on Sunday.
We found out the post office won't forward our mail because it was the same address as the church mail. We can't get internet at our house until Monday. Once we get internet at the house I have a lot of people to contact with our new snail mail and e-mail addresses. The e-mail address was for the parsonage in MN so we need to close that account soon.
I'm thankful that we have moved before because I know that all this will be straightened out and life will be more normal soon. We appreciate prayers, especially for the health insurance paperwork.

Moving update

2011-11-04T17:20:00.003-05:00

We stopped in Bismarck, ND to visit DakotaPam, the Rev., and their darling twin girls. We made it here in time to attend the circuit Reformation service on Sunday. We didn't stay for fellowship afterwards as we were tired. The moving truck arrived Monday afternoon. They unloaded about half of our belongings before calling it an early night because they didn't want to be out on Halloween with a semi in a subdivision. They came back Tuesday morning and finished unloading. The 3 men who loaded/unloaded us were wonderful-we would recommend Bekins. They unloaded everything and estimated we had 16,000 lbs. The estimate given us was 17,500 lbs. The driver was shocked that we had 20,320 lbs. We had a great deal as you don't pay more than the estimate. We were honest and showed what we had, but I don't think the normal family has as many books as we do. We actually got rid of a lot of furniture and stuff before we came! We are storing much of our stuff in the garage as we are renting before we buy a house. The movers were a little disappointed that they only had to put many of the books and file cabinets in the garage, not take them up a flight of stairs. Ram is taking many of his books to church, but we still have many at home for homeschooling.
Ewe's parents arrived this afternoon and Ram's parents will arrive tomorrow afternoon. Sunday is Ram's installation. Ewe's parents are only staying a few more days because travel time is so long to get here and home.
This will be a big weekend but we are looking forward to meeting everyone and Ram beginning being pastor here. This transition time was difficult for me in the sense that he wasn't a pastor here yet, but wasn't a pastor in MN any longer either. The Lambs and I are anxious to finish unpacking and get back to a more regular schedule and homeschooling.
We don't have internet at home so it will be awhile before I get back to regular postings. I just wanted to update you that we arrived. Eventually I'll have some great stories to post about the Lambs first impressions in a city.

Moving Update

2011-10-27T12:39:00.001-05:00

The moving truck was supposed to be loaded yesterday. They weren't able to get here that quickly. They called us early enough in the day that we unpacked a few boxes of bedding and spent another night here. They arrived at 8 am and started loading today. The current tally is 773 items, not counting mattresses and they may find some they missed while they load the truck. The last time we moved we were second place for the most weight. The movers record is 776 items so we should take first place for these movers! The one mover asked if we ever considered using the public library instead of owning all these books!
Because the moving truck wasn't loaded yesterday it makes a change of plans. We had originally planned to go through Cheyenne even though it was a little farther so we could visit friends. We had planned to attend church in ID on Sunday. Now we are thinking of going through Bismarck and visiting friends there. Our plans are not definite until we see when they are finished loading the truck and we can do a little cleaning. We are hoping to get out of town tonight yet because there are no hotel rooms locally due to both hunters and a meeting for the local power plant. We are not expecting to make it to ID to attend church there on Sunday. We will see after the truck is loaded and we are finished here.
Blogging will be very infrequent as we transition. Ram will have wireless internet at church but I'm not sure what we are doing for home. I can live without TV, but not without internet! We'll see after we are settled how that works out. I'm actually pretty calm about the whole situation.

Being a housemother

2011-10-24T06:54:00.000-05:00

The weekend is over. We picked up Ram from the airport, bought a few odd size boxes for some special items, went to two farewell parties, and Ram had his last services at our tri-parish. It was a whirlwind and the Lambs are tired and grouchy. Hopefully they will sleep in today.
Ram always thanks me for running the house efficiently and trying to stay on budget when shopping and also raising 3 young boys at the same time. Today will definitely be a day to try my patience. We have a lot left to pack-Ram has barely started his office and there is much in other rooms of the house to pack too. This morning someone is coming to pick up our freezer. Sometime today/tonight someone is coming to pick up our bunk bed frames. This afternoon someone is coming to pick up my food and take what she wants for her family and then take the rest to the Food Shelf. A kind member offered to bring us lunch and come pack up my kitchen today. Running all this, watching the 3 Lambs (who have no idea what moving is or what is happening!), and also trying to get a major part of the packing done today is going to be challenging. The truck comes on Wednesday. Prayers are appreciated.

Pregnancy and Infant Loss Day

2011-10-15T21:52:00.001-05:00

Today is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Day. My friend's 4 month old, Elizabeth, went to heaven last week. We have 4 miscarried babies in heaven. I have many friends who have had miscarriages or infertility problems or both.
If you haven't checked out the blog, He Remembers the Barren, or bought the book yet, I would encourage you to. I bought 5 copies and I've given them all away. After we move I'll have to order more copies to give away.

Who so happy as I am,
Even now the Shepherd's lamb?
And when my short life is ended,
By His angel host attended,
He shall fold me to His breast,
There within His arms to rest.
(LSB 740:3)

Moving Update

2011-10-13T09:10:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we were approved for a rental house for a year. We decided to do this instead of rushing into buying a house. I was mildly worried that we would have trouble renting since we have been in a parsonage for the past 8 1/2 years. We did have trouble submitting the application online, but once that was straightened out we were approved. So we now have a temporary address. Now begins the fun of figuring out what snail mail to transfer to our new address and knowing that we will have to do it all again when we get into a house.

In the last week I emptied/packed everything in our big computer desk and entertainment center/TV stand. We got the desk hauled out to the garage ready to give away. We will take the entertainment center out to the garage soon. I listed in the newspaper the furniture we plan to give away rather than move (twice because we will be in a rental for a year).

Yesterday I completed packing one full size bookshelf. Only 10 full size, 3 half size bookshelves that are my responsibility to go! (Ram will do his theology books.) I am mildly concerned that it took me that long to do one bookshelf and I have more to pack than just books! We are also starting to run out of room to place the packed boxes and I've barely begun packing.

The company that we chose to move us did not have any one in the area to come and give us an estimate. So they sent someone from another company. It only took a few minutes to do the estimate, but 1 1/2 hours for him to drive here. I am hoping they are prepared to move all our stuff!

On Monday we took the Lambs to the dentist. It was a successful day-no cavities for any Lambs, received the name of a dentist in our new town for the Lambs, took a full car load to a friend to give her a bunch of baby stuff (crib, pack and play, baby bathtub, baby clothes, etc.), used some coupons for stores/restaurants that will not be in our new area, and met Lamb 3's godfather's family to say goodbye.

Last night I read Father Hollywood's blog post and downloaded some beautiful music to listen to while packing. A friend that I don't think I will see before we move also called me and we had a nice chat.

Time for me to get back to packing!

Happy Birthday, Olivia!

2011-10-06T06:00:00.000-05:00

Last year when we got back to the hotel on the day of Ram's surgery there was an electrical problem. When I went to use the power doors everything froze up. There were a few worried moments when we were "trapped" in the van as neither the power doors worked nor could we open them manually because the doors wouldn't unlock. I finally got everyone out of the van and I was so thankful Ram's dad was there to look at the minivan. He got it working again and the next morning he took it down the road to be looked at. We had planned to check on Ram and then Ewe and the Lambs were going to go home and let Ram rest and recover. That morning Ram's dad called and the conversation was something like this,
"There is a computer problem with the van. It will be $2000 to fix it and they can't guarantee that was the right computer part so it may not be fixed. You can't drive the Lambs home from Rochester by yourself in a van like that."
So instead of visiting Ram and starting home that day, Ram's dad asked if they had a used van exactly like our other van with less miles. They did, but it was newer so it had a few more features that I love having. Ram's dad did all the car shopping so all I had to do was go over and sign a bunch of papers and then they gave me the keys. Then began the task of cleaning out the old van-we had not cleaned it out after our vacation to Fort Wayne/St. Louis plus we had many items in it to entertain the Lambs for 5 hour trip to Rochester and home. Amazingly by lunch time we went back and picked up the Lambs who had been at the hotel with Grandma and went out to lunch before finally visiting Ram.
We spent another night in the hotel because we got the minivan that day and planned to drive home the following day. Because we were at the hotel that extra night, I was able to receive the middle of the night phone call that they had transferred Ram to ICU because of loss of blood. I was so thankful that we were not 5 hours away when that phone call came. God was even in the details of an electrical problem with the van helped us to be there when we wanted to be.
The Lambs named our new van, Olivia. We haven't taken any big trips other than coming home from Rochester in the last year, but we have driven 12,000 miles of local driving and driving to conferences and doctors when the whole family went along. We are so thankful to God for providing Ram's dad to help us through that minivan experience. We are so thankful to have a "new" van. God was even in the details of finances-Ram's total bill for all his hospital time was only $50.

We praise Thee O God...

2011-10-05T06:00:00.000-05:00

Today is the one year anniversary of Ram's surgery. We are so thankful to Ram's parents for coming and helping the entire time Ram was in Rochester. We are thankful to Ewe's dad for filling in as pastor of the tri-parish while Ram recovered. We are thankful to the Wessels for letting Ewe and the Lambs visit to get our mind off of that day when we were worried. We are thankful to the many friends and family that were praying for us and offered to help however they could. We are so thankful to the wonderful doctors at Mayo, especially when the words BENIGN were spoken but also when they took such good care of Ram when there were complications. We are thankful to our local doctor that took the time until she found out what was wrong and sent Ram to Mayo immediately and did all the checkups following Mayo. We are thankful to our church members who brought many meals. We are thankful to God for working out all the details and helping Ram, Ewe, and the Lambs through the surgery and recovery. We are thankful to God that at his recent checkup Ram's one kidney is still very healthy.

Day by day we magnify Thee.
And we worship Thy name ever, world without end.
O Lord, let Thy mercy be upon us, as our trust is in Thee.
O Lord, in Thee have I trusted; let me never be confounded.

The big announcement

2011-10-03T06:00:00.000-05:00

I knew what Ram's decision was several days before it was announced at both churches. It was difficult to keep it a secret. Also difficult to get started on things that need to be done before we move when I'm not allowed to tell any one!
Yesterday was pretty emotional at the two churches I attended (one for Sunday School and church, one for a potluck). Please keep us in your prayers as it is going to be difficult for us to leave our dear members here.
We had a very busy weekend with a wedding too. The October calendar is full for us even without needing to pack and move. We're trying to squeeze in visits for friends from MN too.
Blogging will be very infrequent as I have less than a month to pack or give away so that we have less than 15,000 lbs. I know those of you that don't have books like our family will laugh at that statement. The moving company was glad to hear that we don't have a big screen TV or any appliances to move. Did you know it costs $600 to move a front loader washer? I don't have one to even have to consider moving that. If I can accomplish limiting it to 15,000 lbs we will be under the church budget for moving by several hundred dollars. That is big motivation for me to downsize!
We are blessed with many friends that have offered to help however needed and especially with prayers. Being busy will be an advantage during this emotional time.
Eventually I have photos from the boys recently and the wedding to post and blog about. One task at a time . . .
Everything has been so perfect about this Call and the timing of the Call that I'm confident that God also has all the details worked out for moving and housing there. I'm actually not stressed, just keeping extremely busy and also finding time to spend with the Lambs during this difficult time in their lives.

Ram's decision announced today

2011-10-02T16:22:00.000-05:00

Do you have a friend?

2011-09-29T10:10:00.000-05:00

Lamb 3 is going to his kindergarten screening at the school tomorrow. He is so excited, every day this week he has asked if it is the day yet. I'm glad he's also encouraged his brothers to go to sleep early so that he can have his rest because he is going to school on Friday!
One of the questions in all the paperwork that I had to fill out in preparation for Friday asked if the child could name a friend. Because we have so few children in our church and because the Lambs rarely play with other children besides their brothers, I thought I better ask Lamb 3. His answer, "my friend is Carol". The girl in Sunday School with Lamb 3 also starts with a C so I thought he wasn't talking clearly. Then I realized that his friend is the church member/neighbor lady. Yes, Lamb 3 it is ok to have friends of all ages, even retired ones.

Wordless Wednesday-My hunters

2011-09-28T06:00:00.000-05:00

Shh! I know it is before opening season and that they have some illegal!

My microwave

2011-09-27T21:28:00.002-05:00

A few years ago our family gave up microwave popcorn. I pulled out the air popper I took to college (boy did the RA give me a difficult time about that until I showed her popcorn makers were not on the list of unallowed appliances!) I don't think the boys ever remember making popcorn in the microwave. That air popper that I spent $3 on at the thrift shop 17 years ago is still working!
After hearing how evil microwaves are for the past few years, Ram and I talked about putting our microwave in the basement. I figured if I thought it was important enough to run downstairs to use it I would use it much less frequently than I do now. Today my microwave died and we are not going to replace it. I had planned to have a trial with the basement, but we are going cold turkey. (Pun intended!)
My parents bought this microwave when they thought theirs was dying, but it didn't die. It sat in the box until I took it to my first house in 1998. I have no idea what the normal life for a microwave is, but I would say my parents got their money worth.
Today we had to heat homemade fudge sauce for our ice cream on top of the stove. I had to melt butter for a recipe on top of the stove. It sure makes more dishes to not have a microwave, but it isn't that bad. If what the reports say, it will be much healthier for our family too. I have much more counter space too.
So do you use your microwave often?

Random updating post

2011-09-26T22:06:00.001-05:00

1. Ram will announce his decision on the Call this Sunday. He will not visit the congregation before his decision.
2. I attended a presentation by MCCL tonight. Ram was nice enough to put the Lambs to bed for me to attend. Before the meeting I thought I was pretty up to date on what was happening. There were facts given at this meeting that are horrifying for the direction America is taking. We need to keep the unborn, disabled, and elderly in our prayers. I will probably be posting some of what I learned in future posts. In the meantime feel free to check out their website.
3. Since Lamb 1 was born I have always had an extra laundry basket sitting in my laundry room-when there was something with stains or something that needed to be washed separately I would throw it in there. I am happy to report that it took me 7 1/2 years, but I finally completed all the clothing in that basket. It was full last week and I tackled one piece at a time. The ones with stains I washed with normal soap and then hung them on the line outside for about 3 days in this beautiful sunshine we have had. I was amazed that without any stain remover almost all those stains were bleached by the sun. It feels good to have that completed. Hopefully the Lambs didn't outgrow them before I put them back in their drawers!
4. Our family worked outside together all afternoon on Saturday. The weather was beautiful and we got a lot of yardwork done. Ram borrowed a pick up truck and took several loads up to the dump. We also cut bushes and tore out the garden. All the Lambs helped and it feels so good to have our yard ready for winter.
5. Our calendar is full right now and it seems everyone I talk to has the same busy schedule. Ram has done weddings in the area, but this Saturday he will do his first wedding at one of our three churches. The bride is the first confirmand he had. Our family is so excited to go to her wedding and reception. That is where we live-in 8 1/2 years he did so many funerals that I lost count but only one wedding. The end of this week will be very busy getting ready for that, which reminds me I should give the Lambs and Ram haircuts soon too.

If you pray for rain be prepared to deal with some mud!

2011-09-22T15:17:00.000-05:00

I have a Mary Engelbright bookmark with this saying on it. For the last few years we have prayed for a Call for Ram. We went from the second largest city in IN to a town of 113 in MN. It took me a long time to get to this point, but I can honestly say that we like living here and I do not want to move. But we can tell that these small churches will soon no longer be able to afford a pastor with 8 years experience like Ram. We continued to pray and nothing seemed to be happening.

Yesterday Ram received the paperwork that he has a Call to ID near Boise. The church is in a growing area. Many things that were in our prayers and dreams for the future are right about this Call. We would be 3 hours from Ram's parents. We would live near my college friend, Joelle. We would live near Costco. We would live near the state capital. I could go on and on about the things that are "right" about this Call. I was shocked that he received this Call and I don't know why because it is what we've been asking for in our prayers.

We prayed for "rain" and we received "rain" which made "mud". It is a difficult decision for Ram to make for our family. Please keep Ram in your prayers while he is considering this Call. Please pray for me to be a good wife whatever his decision is. Our Lambs only know life in a very small town where they could play in the street, had to walk to the post office as mail wasn't delivered, and had to drive 3 hours to go to the dentist. Please pray for the Lambs to adjust if the decision is yes. Please pray for our three churches here in MN.

Ram plans to announce at both the church there and the churches here what his decision is on October 2.

Wordless Wednesday-First for Lamb 1-Finally at age 7 1/2!

2011-09-21T23:17:00.000-05:00

He Remembers the Barren Book Tour

2011-09-20T06:00:00.000-05:00

I know this is far in advance, but I thought I would post this here for any in the area. The author plans God willing to be these two places in November-

Friday, November 4, 2011, 7:00 p.m.

Immanuel Lutheran Church

604 Bush Street, Lakefield, MN 56150

Saturday, November 5, 2011, 10:30 a.m.

Zion Lutheran Church

620 E 3rd Ave., Mitchell, South Dakota 57301

Happy Birthday!

2011-09-19T22:45:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday to my mom! The Lambs made cards and of course a flag with her birthday number to put on her dessert. When we called her today she wasn't sure if she was going to have dessert so she might need to put her flag on her main course. We started this new tradition this year of flags on our birthday cake. The Lambs are always excited to see what number will be on the cake.

New MN Homeschool Law

2011-09-18T06:00:00.000-05:00

This was the first year we were required to turn in paperwork to our school superintendent for homeschooling because Lamb 1 is now 7 years old. Last year I looked at the law and figured out in my mind what we needed to gather-copy of parent college diploma, calendar we would use, etc.
Our state government was shut down for about 20 days this summer and then one of the first orders of business after the shut down ended was to make the homeschooling law easier for homeschoolers.

I turned in the form for Lamb 1 on Friday. This is what was required under the new law-
Name
Address
Child's Name and birthdate
Immunization Information (we had to get a notary to sign ours because the Lambs do not have varicella vaccine plus the report from their doctor that they have all their other required vaccines)
What test (each student must take a norm-referenced standardized achievement exam) and where it will be administered-in our case we plan to give the CAT at home

That's it! I know that many states are even easier than that and even under the old system MN was not that bad for what we were required to report compared to some other states. I'm just glad that our system is easier for us now.

I'm glad to get one more thing checked off my to do list and turn in the form before the October 1 deadline. Lamb 2 has already had two sessions with his new speech teacher too. So actually 2 things are crossed off the list. I'm hoping that the superintendent understands the new law enough to approve our form as first time reporters. (I don't expect him to fully understand the new law because it is so new. The hope for homeschoolers is to turn in the form and be left alone until they turn in the form next year.)

Oh, Ewe of little faith...

2011-09-17T06:00:00.000-05:00

I do the financial books in our family. September is always a rough month paying the for a propane fill for heat, paying ahead for all our propane for the winter (much cheaper to pay for it in September than as it is filled during the winter), and paying quarterly estimated taxes on top of the other regular bills. We took a few trips (Doxology, Betsy Tacy houses, DeSmet, SD) this summer and those credit card bills are now due. The electric bill was high after air conditioning from our warm days this summer. We try to save throughout the year to be prepared for this but that doesn't always work out. We do have money in savings and Ram reminded me that is what the money in savings is for, but I hate to tap into that savings to just pay bills-would rather save the savings for true emergencies. So I was thinking about this but not truly worried about it.
I try to usually pay bills immediately when we receive them but I had a couple sitting here waiting for money to pay them even though I knew I couldn't wait as long as pay day because they were due before that.
Ram did a funeral last Saturday and we've been so busy that I forgot that pastors often get a check for funerals until he handed it to me. Then all 3 of the churches gave him his paychecks a few days before pay day. It is very rare that any of the churches pay him early, usually they are right on time for pay day. (So thankful for that, I know that isn't true for all churches!)

Cast all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7

I just love to see how God has provided for our needs after we pray about it and sometimes before we even ask Him!

Sunday School 2011-2012

2011-09-16T06:00:00.000-05:00

September 11 was the first day of Sunday School for us. There is one other family with 3 children besides our family. The teacher that is over 80 years old along with one other lady to help teaches the boys-Lamb 1 and 2 and another 7 year old boy. The dad of the other family with kids at our church teaches his 4th grade daughter. I am teaching Lamb 3 and their 2 year old girl. We have a SS opening and then the two older classes use CPH Growing in Christ materials.
Lamb 1 asked me if I ever taught Sunday School before. It got me thinking, I hadn't taught Sunday School since 1993! I helped with SS and VBS some years but I didn't teach. I taught kindergarten SS when I was in high school and also taught VBS at a neighboring town the summer of '93. Then I went back to college and lived there during the summer and didn't have another chance to teach SS. When I taught in the LCMS school the church did not like day school teachers to teach SS-they liked them to attend Bible class and have a day off of teaching once a week, which I appreciated. Since we moved here I wasn't needed to teach and with young children I didn't volunteer for anything extra.
We chose to not buy any extra materials for my class since it is 2 and 3 year olds. It was fun to go through my files and see what I could find plus we are using the CPH Bible story posters that I purchased a few years ago. They have a very short attention span as compared to the first graders in my classroom so I'm glad we chose to not buy more materials.
I was mildly concerned that the homeschooled Lambs would be behind the other boy (public school) in their class. Lamb 2 still has a difficult time writing his name without gentle reminders to check that all the letters in his name are facing the correct direction. I was so happy to see him write his name correctly as he was drawing during church today-that was a clue to me that he probably wrote it correctly during SS too. Lamb 1 is very shy and I know he can read but he doesn't read to me very often and talks to others even less than he does to Ram and me. On the way home from church he mentioned that the SS teacher asked him to read a prayer on the worksheet. He admitted that he did but she had to help him with ONE word. I started to praise him and he got embarrassed and acted like what is the big deal, I just read the prayer mom! I looked at the prayer and it wasn't the easiest vocabulary or short. Now if I could just motivate them to do that well during homeschool for me!

*The prayer Lamb 1 read-
Dear God, You have given me a family. Forgive me when I lie, deceive, or become jealous of others in my family. Thank You for making me Your child in Baptism, for forgiving my sin, and for blessing me with a place in Your family through Jesus Christ, my Lord. Amen.
(CPH 2011)

Home Schooling Book Part 2

2011-09-15T06:00:00.000-05:00

I will continue my reflections of Home Schooling A Family's Journey.

I also find it interesting that our homeschool currently has all boys. It would be a very different environment if both sexes were represented like in the Millman family. Lamb 1 has a high need for me to approve and see that he has done his math work-he often won't start until I am done teaching Lamb 2 and 3 even though he could easily do it by himself. He just "needs" me to sit next to him and give him the attention that I see he is working. I can see that he is goal-oriented-he needs me to "see" he does his work. I don't believe if Lamb 1 was a girl that he would have this high of a need. Lamb 1 also only talks when necessary-I believe our homeschool would be very different if he was a girl. Lamb 1 knows how to read but he won't sit down and read a book to himself-he wants to read to his brothers or to Ram or Ewe. So far I see it as an advantage that we have an all boys school.
The book talks about one of their college daughters noticing a mushroom growing near her dorm. When she spoke to her friends about it none of them had noticed it. She couldn't believe this because it was right near the entrance to their dorm. I believe we are teaching our Lambs in a similar way-they are so observant of nature. Much of their play time outside is looking for toads and caterpillars and Lamb 1 often runs to get a book to try to identify them.
The book has a whole chapter about travel as part of a homeschool education. My family traveled much like the Millman family. We went to museums and historical sites on our vacations and with the exception of Disney World once not to amusement parks. I don't know if I would take my kids to Italy like they do, but I do hope to travel a lot as part of homeschool.
The next chapter talked about The Family Dinner as Homeschooling. We do eat a variety of foods and sit down and enjoy dinner together. We do devotions together as part of lunch or dinner. We often will make or buy a food that they have not heard about when we read about it.
Where we live there are not the options for field trips and enrichment classes that the Millman family has in NJ. But we have taken what was offered in this rural area and added to it when we visit family out of state. Our early childhood group does many field trips and learning activities that we participate in. The Lambs took swimming lessons and soccer this past summer. Lamb 1 is starting piano lessons now. We took the time to see the Betsy Tacy houses and DeSmet, SD. Some of our homeschool is every day activities in the area-running errands or taking time to walk around a park. The fact that last month was the first time that Ram and I left the Lambs shows that they are often going places with us.
The chapter about college admission would be helpful to reread when the Lambs are closer to college age.
So those are my thoughts after reading this book. I would highly recommend reading this book if you are new to homeschooling or considering homeschooling. If you've been homeschooling for awhile and you are happy with how it is going in your family then I don't see this book being as useful. But if you are stuck and not happy with how homeschooling is going but want to continue, this book is very motivating.

Home Schooling Book Part 1

2011-09-14T06:00:00.000-05:00

Indiana Jane recommended Home Schooling A Family's Journey by Gregory and Martine Millman here. First let me say that I have never read a book about homeschooling before. That may surprise you, but Ram and I decided to homeschool and then I went straight to HOW we wanted to homeschool, never took the time to read a book about WHY to homeschool. I think I might own a few books about why to homeschool, but I haven't read them. A home schooling book is never going to be in the "new books" section of my small library. So if I want to read a homeschooling book from the library I have to take the time to inter-library loan it.
I thought this book was interesting of how and why one family homeschooled. I would highly recommend it for someone considering homeschooling. I agreed with much of how they did homeschooling. But there weren't a ton of new ideas for home schooling for me. Maybe Indiana Jane has tried reading other home schooling books before and this one was exceptional for her. I will write some of my thoughts after reading this book. They are more reflections of how we homeschool vs. how the Millmans homeschool.

Ram was homeschooled for some of his elementary school years. Both Ram and I had moms that stayed home with us for most if not all of our time at home. When I was a teacher in the classroom I saw students that needed more one on one time than a classroom teacher could give them. I didn't want to put my young boys on the school bus for 7 miles with the high school students. All that put together plus more influenced our decision to homeschool.
One idea I never thought of before but is true is that on an one income family it economically makes sense to homeschool. I do have a friend that started homeschooling and one of the reasons was they could not afford the LCMS school tuition for all their children and continue to let mom stay at home.
The Millman family does not school at home in a traditional sense of a strict schedule and using textbooks. We don't either although many homeschoolers would say we have a stricter schedule than they do. I personally need the structure of the day if I expect to get anything done (housework!) besides homeschooling. The Lambs need the boundaries of when school will be done and they can play. I keep it a secret that many of their toys (Legos included) are educational. I do expect the Lambs to sit at a student desk to do handwriting. Other than that the rest of our "school time" takes place at the kitchen table or on the sofa or outside of the house.
The Millman family lets their kids watch limited TV-we only let our Lambs watch approved movies-no TV. So far Ram and I have approved all the books that come into this house-either library books or books for us to own. Some modern classics have gone straight to the give away pile at our house (Olivia). The Millmans also screen books coming into the house for style and substance.
To be continued tomorrow...

I know the Lambs are homeschooled because. . .

2011-09-13T06:00:00.000-05:00

I'm posting this to remind myself on bad days why we homeschool!
1. The Lambs called each other names last week when they were upset with each other-only they called each other names in Latin! I heard, "You're a Cancer!" and then "Well, you're a Capricorn!" and then to top it all off, "You're a Virgo!" They were soon laughing and not upset with each other. (I don't want to encourage the last one listed here though.)
2. When the Lambs have time to play they play things like-
-Lamb 1 reading a Bible story book to Lamb 2 and 3
-they build a "library" in the living room and pretend to check out books to each other
-they organize rocks on the sidewalk in shapes and I bet they counted them as they laid them out
-they go on a pretend nature hunt inside the house when it's too hot to play outside and stop several times to read
-they build a fort under the dining room table and have to bring books inside the fort
-when they find a caterpillar outside two are told to watch it while the other one runs inside to get a book to identify it
3. I began homeschool with a few subjects and waited until Labor Day to add all subjects. All the Lambs complained that we weren't doing enough school. No one complained when all subjects were added that it was taking too long.
4. Many days some or all of the Lambs only have on underwear until 11am.
5. The Lambs beg to be asked questions during Bible story and sometimes try to answer questions before I finish asking them or suggest a good question for me to ask!

15 minute warning

2011-09-12T06:00:00.001-05:00

I received an e-mail last week describing a man and his wife (Dr. Lou and Martha Jander) that had retired to TX after many years of faithful service to the LCMS. On Sunday afternoon, September 4, he was watching TV when there was a loud knock at the door. He was told he had 15 minutes to evacuate his house. He talked about how fast those 15 minutes went trying to gather everything important. They gathered a few important things, their dogs, and each took one of their cars. Everything they now own from 45 years of marriage is now in one of their cars.
It got me to thinking, if I had 15 minutes, what would I try to save from my house? Some of the things that I would try to save are packed up and might not be possible to find in just 15 minutes.
1. photos-I have several boxes at different points ready to scrapbook-I would grab a few boxes and of course the scrapbooks, but probably wouldn't be able to sort through which boxes were the most important
2. quilts from my grandma and family linens like that-again, they are organized in different places in our house-not sure I could find the right ones
3. not all my china, but there are some pieces in the china cupboard that I would want to take-not realistic to pack those up so they wouldn't break
4. I know there are certain books that Ram would want-not realistic to choose the old books from my grandfather etc. in just 15 minutes
5. Important things for the Lambs-not realistic to go through a couple of tubs of baby clothes and pick out my favorites. I do have their blankets from baptism in small tubs in their closet. If there was room I could take those 3 tubs, but not a whole lot would be saved there.
6. I would try to take our computer as much information and photos since the Lambs were born is on there.
7. My great grandma's hymnal
8. Christmas ornaments-that is what I often get as a souvenir on vacations plus lots of homemade ornaments-again not time to choose which ones in 15 minutes
9. Practical sense says to take a change of clothes and my purse but know that wouldn't be as important as the other items listed above-not sure I could grab a change of clothes for all 5 of us while grabbing everything else.

Things that I would not take-
1. Anything that could be replaced.
2. My wedding gown-right now I only have boys and don't see a daughter wearing it some day. I have photos of our wedding day. (Negatives for our wedding photos are not stored in our house.)
3. We don't have any pets.
4. Family movies-Our parents have copies of our wedding and the Lambs baptisms-don't consider much more of that family camcorded stuff to be important
5. I would really like to take some toys for the Lambs so they wouldn't lose "everything". But I have no idea what to take for them-Legos etc. could be replaced. I think I would probably have them take their matchbox cars as a couple of boxes of those would be easy to take and they would have something to play with when we evacuated. But matchbox cars are not their favorite toys. None of the Lambs have a favorite stuffed animal or blanket etc. They wouldn't understand the seriousness of just 15 minutes to pick toys.

I have a friend that has a bag packed ready to go in case of evacuation-important papers, change of clothes for everyone in the family. I think that is a great idea but wonder if I would really keep up with "updating" that bag with clothes to fit the Lambs and continue to keep important papers in there.

I have a friend that had a house fire and while I don't mean to downplay the consequences of a house fire, she did joke that she never has those boxes in the basement that really should be gone through. Throughout the year I spend hours going through "stuff" and finding a new home for it.

I understand that emergencies like tornadoes or floods or house fires don't always give you the 15 minutes to gather any belongings. I understand that 15 minutes is not very long. But I do think thinking about this is important to see where your values are. Perhaps it will also be a little motivation to pack that emergency bag and get my scrapbook stuff organized a little better. Perhaps it will also be a conversation starter with the Lambs to get them thinking about what is important to them. Lamb 1 thinks EVERYTHING is important to keep-thinking about this would be good for him.

Dr. Jander said in his e-mail that his wife and himself were safe and everything else was just "stuff". He ended his e-mail "To God be the Glory". I pray that if we are ever in a similar situation I can have an attitude like that. I don't know the Janders, but they along with the others from TX are in my prayers. May God give them the strength to go through the long days they have ahead of them after this.

10 Years

2011-09-11T06:00:00.000-05:00

The blog world and e-mails recently for me have been full of 9/11 anniversary news. I suppose if I had TV or did Facebook I would have heard even more of it. When the e-mails first started coming in my first reaction was "It's ONLY been 10 years. Why isn't all this focus on a BIG anniversary like Pearl Harbor?"
Then as the 9/11 info kept coming in I changed my thinking a little. 10 years ago:

Ram and I were not married. We were engaged but there were still a lot of details for the wedding to work out. We had no children.
Ram was on vicarage and I was teaching.
I lived by myself in an 800 square foot house in Fort Wayne.
Ram's younger brother was still alive.
Both of my grandmas, all 4 of Ram's grandparents, and several of our great-aunts and great-uncles were still with us.
I owned a Saturn.
My computer had dial up AOL.
I owned a TV without cable (3 free stations) and a VCR.

So I guess a lot happens in just 10 years. I still didn't pay a lot of attention to the 9/11 anniversary news. Yesterday I received a link to this site from Cate. When I watched that it brought back these memories and tears-

I was finishing up getting ready for the students to come for another day of school. One of my students came in with her dad a few minutes before class. The headmaster came and got all of us (student, her dad, me) and said we had to watch what was on TV. The news kept replaying the damage to the first tower. My sheltered American view first reaction was that it was pilot error, not terrorism. The headmaster quickly broke my naive view. It was time for class to begin so I rushed to my classroom unsure of what to say to my students. I had to say something because the one student had watched the news with me. I tried to say a prayer with my students. It was so difficult to remain focused on teaching and calm around my students. I had very little information at that point nor did I know how to talk about this with 1st graders. I heard about it right before school started so the teachers did not have time to plan together what to say to our students.
We had daily chapel so it was good to have that first thing in the morning. On the way out of chapel the pastor stopped me to talk about our wedding that we had planned a few months later. Without going into all the details, after that conversation I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to get married at the church I wanted to get married at. So I had two huge burdens that day while I taught. I didn't have recess duty that morning so I went over to the cafeteria and watched news for the whole recess and saw Bush speak from Florida.The end of the day we rushed to get a note to the students that there would be a prayer service that night at our church.
There was panic over gas rationing and I spent a couple of hours waiting in line to get gas. I tried to grade papers and use the time wisely but I just wanted to listen to the news.
The prayer service was wonderful that evening. We sang some patriotic hymns that I didn't even know were in our hymnal. It was amazing how word had spread through our congregation that there was a service and how many of our members and their friends came that evening. Everyone stopped what they were doing to come together in prayer that evening.
After the service I talked to my parents about the wedding problem and cried at the thought that we might have to change our wedding date or place that we get married.
I stopped at Walgreens and bought some newspapers to have a paper memory of that day.
After all that I finally was able to call Ram. We talked for hours about the wedding problem, about how his dad traveled for work often and how nervous our family was going to be when he was able to fly again, about Ram's younger brother was in the hospital and how was his mom going to get home after visiting him, about how Ram had plans to fly to a wedding a few weeks later, and what had happened to us during the day. We ended our phone calls with Compline and it was so good to finish our phone call that way after that terrible day.
It's a blur to me what happened the next few days. I remember the wedding problem being totally cleared up the next day and we were able to be married on the date we planned at the church we planned. I remember Bush speaking to America but not sure if I watched it live or when it was replayed the next day or if I taped it. I really did not watch very much news coverage as I was either at school teaching or on the phone with Ram most of the next few days. By the weekend when I had time to watch it I had had enough of seeing the same photos over and over.

One part that I don't know how to explain to children that were too young to remember or not born yet like the Lambs is this was not a one day event. This was on the minds of Americans for months. It was in the back of our mind when we were married 3 1/2 months later-it was a real fear that all of Ram's family, some of my family, and several of our friends were going to be flying to our wedding. I remember real relief meeting Ram's parents at the airport a few days before our wedding. Our best man almost didn't make it to our wedding because of new regulations and he was flying from Canada to our wedding. My dad ended up driving to Chicago to pick him up a few days before our wedding so that he could be there. I know that 10 years later this story is not over, but especially the whole next year everyone had a true fear in the back of their mind continuously.

We spoke to the Lambs about this a little bit this week. Lamb 1 is older than the students in my classroom but since it was 10 years ago I did not share as much with him as I did with my first grade students then. I have a new sympathy for the parents of my first graders then-how do you explain this without giving them a total panic? Those first graders have almost graduated from high school now.

I am thankful that the 10th anniversary is on a Sunday so we can spend some time together in prayer. Our church is not doing anything special besides having a special bulletin cover and prayers and singing some patriotic hymns. But that is enough as it is on all of our hearts and minds today any way. I'm sure today's church service will bring back memories for me of that prayer service in the evening 10 years ago.

Agnus Dei Lutheran Academy 2011-2012 Daily Schedule Part 3

2011-09-10T06:00:00.000-05:00

	2-3 Boys rest time (educational movie or nap or play/read quietly)/ Mama nap? 3-3:30 Tea time/Music 3:30-4 Art T/R 4-5 Boys play/Mama declutter 5-6 Make and eat supper and clean up 6-6:30 Boys play/Mama housework 6:30-7 Boys clean up living room 7-7:30 Read aloud-fiction, science (see side of blog for current study), history (homemade list of Ancients, may post more on our history schedule as we get into this quarter) 7:30-8pm Get ready for bed/bath (some nights)/prayers (Kyrie, Lord's Prayer, Creed, Luther's Evening Prayer, hymn (one practiced in morning), I am Jesus Little Lamb, Now the Light has Gone Away) 8-9pm Boys in bed listen to story on CD or classical music/Mama correspondence time 9-10 Mama computer time 10-11 Ram and Ewe Compline and Together Time 11PM-8AM Sleep Weekly Activities-not sure of exact days or times yet Lamb 3 ECFE-Tuesday afternoon Lamb 1 (maybe Lamb 2 too) piano lessons-probably Tuesday afternoon Lamb 2 speech class-Friday morning

Agnus Dei Lutheran Academy 2011-2012 Daily Schedule Part 2

2011-09-09T06:00:00.000-05:00

I left a comment for Melrose on my first post about our schedule (two days ago) to answer her question about if we do these daily or a rotation during the week.
In case she has the same question for this post-We do work on all this for the whole hour of 10-11. We don't always get a whole lot of all of this in for 3 Lambs in just one hour. We do try to get to all of it (writing, phonics, reading, spelling) because I believe it is the most important academic work for the early grades. Working on each part daily even if some is for a short time is more important to me than working for a long time on one part. They work hard until 11am and then they are rewarded with some time outside. I do try to get the "academic work" done by 11am. We aren't done with school yet but the afternoon/evening is fun activities or my reading aloud to them.
Also Lamb 1 is in second grade this year and does everything in our homeschool schedule-sometimes Lamb 2 and 3 play and don't get to everything and I don't worry because they are just 5 and 3. We did not do this much when Lamb 1 was just 5-we have worked our way to this.

10-11am Writing Road to Reading (mainly phonograms and spelling) /Handwriting (homemade worksheets)/Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading (especially for Lamb 2, but also Lamb 1 review) /Lamb 1 read (one time in the day that I will listen to him read to me, I don't always make the time to listen to him read until bedtime and then he's tired so it is on the schedule here)
During this time I also plan to spend a little time working with Lamb 3-nothing serious for a 3 year old but practice holding a pencil correctly, basic workbooks for coloring, etc. Lamb 3 is very anxious for this time. Before this year he's always been told to play while he watches his brothers each get their own time with Mama.

11-11:30 Outside time/walk to post office

11:30-12:30 Make lunch/ Devotions (rotate Matins and Vespers etc., prayer time as a family, read a Psalm together daily for a month)/ Eat lunch/ vitamins and cod liver oil/ clean up

12:30-1:30 Chores/Mama housework/boys get ready for rest time/boys play if extra time

1:30-2 Board Game/Card Game/Do puzzles (trying to get the Lambs to use some of these educational games we have by putting it on the schedule!)

To be continued next time. . .

The Man in the Middle

2011-09-08T06:00:00.005-05:00

Timothy Goeglein was a member of my former church in Fort Wayne. He worked in the White House for President George W. Bush. We were so sad to hear about his plagiarism and resignation. We trusted in God, but were worried for him and his family when he resigned his job. He has written a book that gives an insider's view of Bush's time in the White House. The book is called The Man in the Middle. Here's a video by Mr. Goeglein. He is now the vice president of External Relations for Focus on the Family.
I preordered my copy today. When are you going to order yours?

HT: Rev. Joel Brondos

Postings about our homeschool schedule should continue tomorrow.

Agnus Dei Lutheran Academy 2011-2012 Daily Schedule Part 1

2011-09-07T06:00:00.084-05:00

The Mama asked me to list what we are doing for school and I thought I would do list it by our schedule. Feel free to leave a comment with questions if you want more explanation. It will take me a few days to post our entire day.

Ram and I spent some time planning "religion" for this year. We wanted the entire day organized of prayer and devotion time in our house. We decided to make the morning time where we work on "teaching" Bible story and memory work. Lunch time will be our family time to pray together and for the Lambs to begin learning Liturgy (Matins/Vespers/etc.). We shortened some of what we used to do at bedtime and put it at lunch time where no one is too tired to participate. I'll be honest that it is taking several days for the Lambs to adjust to this new schedule and they complain about it basically because it is not what we've done before. I'm hopeful that our new system will work after we get used to it. I'm also hopeful that this new way will work when we add in all school subjects again too. Part of the reason for this new schedule is if we get busy and miss one of the times (morning, lunch, or bedtime), they will still get two times of devotions in daily.

Lamb 1- 7.5 years old, second grade
Lamb 2- 5 years old, kindergarten
Lamb 3- 3 years old, preschool

8-8:30am Ewe read (personal time)/Lambs play

8:30-9 Invocation/Luther's Morning Prayer/Bible Verse (verse of the week from Sunday School)/Poem (Linguistic Development through Poetry Memorization by Andrew Pudewa)/Calendar (Lambs write down weather daily and holidays-family birthdays etc.)/Breakfast/Get Dressed

9-9:30 Bible Story (CPH posters)/ Hymn (practice hymn that we will be singing in church each week)/ Catechism (CPH Sing the Faith CD)/ Latin (Prima Latina and Song School Latin)/ Geography Song (Geography Songs by Larry Troxel)/ Math Song (Math U See CD, also Scholastic Tunes that Teach Multiplication Facts CD)

9:30-10 Math- Lamb 1 has about 20 lessons left to finish in Saxon Math 2, then I want him to work on his math facts for about a month, then (I'm hoping about Thanksgiving time, but we'll see) he will begin Saxon Math 3. After he finishes Saxon Math 3 we are switching but I don't know what to. I don't expect him to finish Saxon Math 3 this school year, but we will see.
Lamb 2 will continue in Math U See Alpha, hopefully finish this school year.

Lamb 3 will listen/sing with us from 8:30-9:30 and be allowed to play while Lamb 1 and 2 do math.

To be continued next time...

Labor Day Weekend

2011-09-06T06:00:00.000-05:00

When we talked to our family on the phone they were surprised that we had no plans for Labor Day Weekend. Here's what happened.
Last Monday Ewe had to have a toenail removed. Disgusting story, but doctor was very glad to see the problem was just the toenail, not my toe. I figured I would have to be off my feet for a few days so I prepared for that the week before. The week before I did a ton of yardwork, gardening, cleaning (both garages, clean out cars, clean up basement, etc. in addition to regular cleaning), and canning (pickled beets and pickle relish). This last week I did things I could do sitting down-made photo books, sent photos to Snapfish, worked on going through some boxes of papers etc., paid bills, and got birthday and other cards ready to send. I got the Lambs started going through some of their things (papers and other treasures) and keeping some important to them and pitched the rest. I was doing work this week, but it wasn't the heavy work of the week before. I wasn't bored, but it was definitely a different kind of work. I felt lazy even though I was still working.
The toenail is healing and every day I tried to do a little more. The doctor said I didn't ever need to be off my feet, just to do what my body told me to do. So by this weekend I was ready to do work again. Our garden did half well and I needed to take care of those veggies. I did dishes, laundry, put tomatoes in the freezer, made applesauce and we ate a bunch right away and I froze the rest, put beets in the freezer, and shredded zucchini and put it in the freezer.
Over the long weekend we talked to all of our family on the phone or Skype-my sister, her fiance, Ram's grandma, and both sets of our parents. We grilled out on Labor Day.
I did some planning and made copies to teach Sunday School this fall for Lamb 3 and a little girl his age. I did some planning and made some copies for homeschool. We begin all school subjects today.
Lamb 1 turned 7 1/2 on Labor Day so he picked a dessert for me to make. He chose blueberry pie so I got a couple of bags of the blueberries he helped pick in July out of the freezer. Everyone except Lamb 3 was glad he picked that dessert!
So no, we didn't go anywhere or get together with friends or do any big projects over Labor Day weekend. It was a regular weekend with church, lots of times for the Lambs to play outside in this nice weather, and Ewe to get some work done around the house.

DeSmet, SD Part 3

2011-09-05T06:00:00.001-05:00

It was after 6pm and we were getting hot and tired, but we fit in a few more sightseeing sites in DeSmet. On the corner of the Ingalls Homestead there is the Laura Ingalls Wilder Memorial Site. This corner was donated to the Laura Ingalls Wilder Memorial Society in 1957. This is where the 5 cottonwood trees remain from Pa's homestead claim. Laura said during her 1937 visit to DeSmet, "Yes, these are trees my Pa planted".

This is the original Loftus Store. It was closed by the time we got there. It is interesting that it is still there.

Then we went to the DeSmet Cemetery and saw the graves for Carrie Ingalls Swanzey, Mary Ingalls, Infant son of Laura and Almanzo Wilder, Caroline Ingalls (Ma), and Charles Ingalls (Pa). We walked a few more steps to see the graves of Nathan and Grace Ingalls Dow. There are many other people mentioned in the Little House books in the cemetery but we didn't take the time to look for those graves. It is a huge cemetery with some headstones dating back to 1881.

I already blogged about the rest of our day. We drove to Watertown, SD and ended up eating at Culver's and then hurrying to get some shopping done and getting home around 11pm. It was a very full day. We were all glad that we went to the Society museum sites first and the Homestead second and then ended with a little more sightseeing at the end. There was more that we could have done in DeSmet but I think we hit the highlights of the town. I would love to go back again. I am thankful that we did take a day and do as much as possible.

Interruption in DeSmet postings

2011-09-04T06:00:00.004-05:00

Sorry to interrupt the DeSmet postings, but I have to announce that my sister is ENGAGED! He's visiting her now so she hasn't posted it on her blog so I have to announce for her.

He surprised her and immediately when he arrived in he town he tried to propose but she said "yes" before he asked. Welcome to life with Hannah, Eric! They hadn't seen each other since January so I expect they will have lots of late nights talking this week. Ram and I had our first chance to talk to Eric on the phone on Friday night. It reminded me of talking to Ram's brother, Tim, after we got engaged. You know a lot about your future brother-in-law, but what do you say when you are on the phone for the first time?

She will finish out her contract teaching English in South Korea in October and if everything goes as planned they will get married in Hawaii, possibly as early as November. There are a lot of details to work out yet.
Our Lambs are thrilled that they will now have an uncle to say "uncle" to.
Hannah, you thought I was so OLD when I got married, but I was still younger than you will be when you get married! We are so happy for you and Eric that you connected after all these years. May the Lord bless your wedding planning and especially your life together as husband and wife.

Desmet, SD Part 2

2011-09-03T06:00:00.018-05:00

After we were done with the tour in town, then we headed to The Ingalls Homestead. The sites in town were part of a tour led by the Laura Ingalls Wilder Society. They were a tour where you could look and listen, not touch or try. I am so glad that we went there first and Ewe took the tour by herself.

The Ingalls Homestead is called Laura's Living Prairie and it was the complete opposite of the sites in town. Our Lambs were a great age to go to this. We had only read the first book (Little House in the Big Woods) so the Lambs were a little confused asking to see sites that were in WI in that book, not sites that were in DeSmet. The tour didn't make much sense to them. Ingalls Homestead encouraged the children to touch everything. We stayed until 6pm and had a great afternoon. We all agreed we were glad we went there second.

Ingalls Homestead was expensive, our family was $36 with AAA discount and Lamb 3 was free. We all agreed it was worth it.

First we all climbed this tower.

Climbing the tower gave me the first chance in my life to really visualize 160 acres. This photo doesn't show it well, but you can see some of the 160 acres. Yes they had to work hard. Yes they had to pay filing fees. But after 5 years if they met all the requirements they got 160 acres for about $16 of fees. Pa far exceeded the requirements and easily got his land.

This photo was also taken from the tower. The white building was a museum showing all the places the Ingalls family lived. The only place they lived that was not mentioned in the books was Burr Oak, IA. That was not a happy time in their life when her parents ran a hotel and lived next to a saloon. She only wanted to write books about happy memories for children.
In the back of the photo are 5 cottonwood trees that are what remains of the thousands that Pa planted on the homestead claim.

I took this photo of the places Laura Ingalls Wilder lived. The numbers are in order where they lived-yes they lived some places twice.

Lamb 1 standing in a hayloft barn like Pa built.

Lamb 2 working hard to pump water-can you see it in the photo coming out of the pipe?

Lamb 1 and 2 in a sleigh-I pictured my Grandma riding to church in this.

We took many photos of the Lambs riding and driving the stagecoach.

We rode a covered wagon that was built for rides at the Ingalls Homestead, much larger than a real covered wagon.

Each Lamb had a turn to take hold of the reins and drive the horses.
Lamb 3

Lamb 1

Lamb 2 left his hat in the car and was sunburned the next day.

In the driving seat of the wagon

Then there was an old car repair garage with activities for the children. The Lambs each used this machine to make a jump rope and see how they made rope.

The Lambs each used a corn sheller to get the corn off the cob and make a corn cob doll. They were so happy to each have their own doll to name and hold on the way home. Shh... don't tell them only girls are supposed to have dolls. They made a little bed for them the next day out of a shoebox and bandanas for blankets.

They each took a turn to practice grinding wheat.

Lamb 1 practiced playing a pump organ. I couldn't help but contrast that with the pump organ behind a rope that we couldn't touch at the site in town.

Lamb 2 practiced sewing with a machine like Ma was so happy to receive.

The Lambs all helped to wash clothes on a washboard and hang them on the clothesline.

When we first got there the Lambs were timid, but before we left they all took a pony ride.
Lamb 3 had a miniature pony

Lamb 1 has come so far from his fear of animals

Lamb 2

We sat in the pony cart but didn't take a real ride. It reminded me of Winona's Pony Cart (Betsy Tacy).

It was 6pm but we still weren't done in DeSmet. More next time...

DeSmet, SD Part 1

2011-09-02T13:01:00.000-05:00

Last Friday we took a one day trip to DeSmet, SD. We ate a fast lunch in Brookings at 10:30am and then headed to DeSmet. Our first stop was the Laura Ingalls Wilder tour. The tour was almost full and we didn't want to wait for the next tour so only Ewe took the tour. That ended up being very wise as the Lambs would not have been able to listen for that long of a tour before wanting to play outside after the long car ride.

Surveyor's House 1879-1880
No photos were allowed inside. Laura felt like they were moving into a mansion when Pa was asked to live here so the railroad workers could go home to their families. They were very fortunate to live here through a long hard winter. This is where the tour guide talked the longest. Did you know only 5% of the Little House on the Prairie TV show is accurate according to the books? The Walnut Grove tour stressed the TV show so I enjoyed the DeSmet tour because it stressed the books. Our tour group had a group of Hutterites (or some Christian group like that by the way they were dressed) so it was very interesting to hear their questions. The women asked questions about baking bread and homemaking and the men asked questions about the tools. I'm not sure the tour guide could answer all their questions, but it was interesting to hear their point of view and they knew the answers to many of the questions by the tour guide because they had read all the books (children too). And the children were very well behaved and interested in the tour.

Lamb 3 is standing in a replica of the Brewster school that Laura taught in first.

The school was very small and Laura was just 16. No wonder why she was anxious for Almanzo to pick her up and take her home for the weekends! It was important for her to "survive" teaching here and help get money to send Mary to Braille school.

DeSmet's First School that Laura and Carrie attended. It was only a school for about 5 years before they built another school. Then it became a house and they recently moved the house here.

Renovation is still in progress and will take a long time. But it was easy to visualize the whole town coming to this school house for school presentations.

Then we drove a few blocks to see the Ingalls home from 1887-1928. No photos were allowed inside. Here the tour guide talked of what happened to Laura's sisters and family. I had read all the Little House books but I didn't know the history of what happened after that. The tour guide also pointed out other sites of interest near this house but we did not go see them.

It was getting warm and the tour took about an hour and a half, maybe longer as I was listening and not paying attention to time. The Lambs ran around this garden, played on the playground across the street, and went to the Discover Laura Learning Center while I took the tour. Ram was so nice to allow me to go on the tour without the Lambs!

The rest of these photos were in the Learning Center. They had a little play stove.

Lamb 1 and 2 were the students.

I think Lamb 3 would have a difficult time with discipline as a teacher with a smile like this!

Sorry for the glare on this photo, but the play train set helped visualize the placement of the homestead. The Lincoln Log house was not really in the lake!

Lamb 1 made some papers with split peas that were like Braille. Lamb 2 and 3 didn't have enough patience for this.

Not everything in the Learning Center was historically accurate, but it was a good chance for the Lambs to be allowed to touch and play with things unlike if they would have gone on the tour. I was glad we spent some time there.

Then we went to make a contribution to the Laura Ingalls Wilder Society aka gift shop. The Lambs played with some John Deere tractors and were shocked when we didn't buy that for them. Ewe bought some treats for herself and her goddaughter, sorry Lambs.

Next time I will post activities for what we did after we were at this site. There is so much to do in DeSmet that a day isn't really long enough!

Doxology Trip Day 5

2011-08-31T06:00:00.010-05:00

This was our final day of our trip. We drove from our hotel to Cedar Rapids, IA. We ate lunch at Biaggi's, one of our favorite restaurants. Then I called my friend Elizabeth's house to see if we could get together. I caught her mom home on lunch break from work and she gave me Elizabeth's work number and cell phone number. We decided to finish our lunch and do a little shopping to give Elizabeth some more time at work. So of course we had to check out a Half Price Books and buy a few items while we waited. I was getting used to shopping for books without Lambs along! Then we went to Elizabeth's work place. We just missed her at work. We called her cell phone and she didn't answer. I didn't know how to reach her so we were trying to decide what to do. She called back while we were trying to decide. She was shocked that we were in town and could visit. We went back to her place of work and met her there and then we went to a coffee house. We talked for nearly 2 hours and waited for the rain to let up before taking her back to her car. It was so nice to have some time to catch up with Elizabeth, our match maker. It was hard for her to believe we are going to celebrate our 10th anniversary in December. We hadn't seen Elizabeth for about a year so it was good to get together again.
We finally drove pretty much straight home from Cedar Rapids with fast stops for gas, food, and bathroom breaks. We arrived home about midnight, we never would have made it that fast with the Lambs! I had hoped to get in before the Lambs bedtime. We both agreed time to see Elizabeth was worth getting in late. My dad helped us unload the car and then we all went to bed. Doxology, the trip alone with Ram, and seeing friends was all fun and worth being exhausted for the rest of the week after we got home!

Ewe and Elizabeth

Doxology Trip Day 4

2011-08-30T13:49:00.000-05:00

A wonderful Divine Service began our last day of Doxology. Then Dr. Yahnke spoke to the wives. Her topic was "Parsonage Depletion Hazards". She spoke about this to the pastors earlier and now she talked to us wives about it. Pastors and their wives give of their time, love, and energy all the time. Sometimes it is good to think about your own (and your spouse's) health and well being. There is more that I could say on this topic so perhaps I will blog about this in a separate blog post as I think it would be good for all pastor's wives to hear.
Then we broke into small groups of wives and discussed our personal goals. We all agreed after participating in Doxology that we had some goals in common now, others were more personal goals. We want to work out our schedules to have more prayer/devotional time, more time with our husbands, and try to exercise more. It was interesting to hear goals from all the women at the table in different stages of their lives-some were just beginning an empty nest and others were pregnant and others had children in the ages between.
After lunch Dr. Kleinig led his last session on "The Cleansing Blood". He was a little rushed as he didn't have his full time but I took a couple of things away. 1. The devil stops people that need church the most from going to church. 2. The blood of Jesus is the remedy for sin. 3. Remember your baptism and attend Holy Communion.
Then we had our final church service and said goodbye to our friends.
When we went out to the car it was nearly 100 degrees. Next we tried to find a Starbucks to buy a St. Louis Starbucks mug. We finally gave up and went to my college friend's house, Matt and Karla and their 6 children. Karla made beef sandwiches and we had a nice meal together. After 4 days away from the Lambs, the supper table seemed noisy! It was cute how Matt and Karla and the children all tried to talk to us at the same time-the children were respectful but they wanted to tell us about things too. We've never visited a family just the two of us without the Lambs. Usually the children all play together while the adults talk. Karla told us where to find a Starbucks. We found our mug and of course had to get coffee and tea while we were there.
Then we drove to Hannibal, MO. We didn't know how far we would get so we hadn't reserved a hotel room. We were too tired after all the activity of Doxology to drive much farther or search too hard for a hotel room. So we went to Holiday Inn and slept and then had a nice breakfast the next morning.
I'm anxious to finish posting about Doxology (1 more day of our trip) so I can post about our trip to DeSmet, SD to see the Laura Ingalls Wilder sites.

Ewe, Daniel (almost 1 year old!), Karla

Our phone number

2011-08-29T06:00:00.001-05:00

When we first moved here I went to rent a movie and really confused the person at the counter because I had the same address and phone number as the former pastor but a different name.
We just had a guest preacher who married a former pastor's daughter of our church. He called the night before church to tell us he was here. He enjoyed dialing the phone number because it was his wife's phone number when they were sweethearts (I think about 25 years ago!).
I'm sure most of our members have the pastor's phone number memorized because it has always been the same. That fact makes the telemarketers that call for a former pastor worth it.

Doxology Trip Day 3

2011-08-28T22:14:00.000-05:00

This day was a full day at the conference center. We started with church. Then Dr. Kleinig had another excellent session-"Access to the Father's Grace Finding Help for Ourselves and Others". What did I take away from this session? Who do I know that is spiritually crippled in my family, friends, and former church members? What can I do for them? Pray for them specifically. Make a list of these people and "take them to church with you each Sunday". The devil will continually be on our back-you can't even get all your family to go to church! You can bring yourself and others to the Father through the Son by the Spirit.
Then we had another session about financial strategies. Ram and I thought we are doing pretty well financially for the salary we have. We have no debt and are in a parsonage so we don't even have a mortgage. We have started to save for retirement. One thing I learned was if you have been working 1-5 years your goal is 6 months salary/More than 5 years your goal is 1 year salary/More than 30 years your goal is 2 years salary of emergency savings. Ram and I have worked on this and we are close to 6 months salary of emergency savings. But it was clear we need to work on this more and start with getting the whole 6 month salary saved first and then since Ram has been a pastor over 8 years we need to work towards the 1 year salary. We know it can be done with some serious work. Ram and I discussed our financial goals on the way home and came up with a "plan" for how we can work on our emergency savings some more.
Then we had a nice lunch that I've already mentioned chatting with Adriane the Lutheran Witness editor.
Then the wives broke off into small groups and had time alone with other pastors wives. I took a couple of things out of this conversation. 1. We need to work on having people over more. I don't need to always cook a big meal or have a perfectly clean house to have people over. Ram and I talked about this more on the way home and we are making a goal to have people over to our house at least twice a month. We always talk like there aren't "friends" here our age, but there are a few, plus we want to have the area pastors over more often and our church members too. With 3 churches it will be difficult to get all of our members over here-but we can invite a few couples at a time. Ram and I discussed that when we first start this our church members will be surprised since we haven't done this before, but after a few come then it will be easier. I think it will be good for our Lambs and good for us. Our plan is to have dessert or just ice cream with a few toppings-keep it very simple, but actually have people to our house instead of just talk about it.
2. The second thing I learned was when you hear yourself say "I'll pray for you", have the goal to already have prayed for them before you say that. When you receive that e-mail with bad or good news from your friend, pray for them immediately before you open the next e-mail. Then try to pray for them several times the rest of that day while you do your work around the house. If you do it several times that first day it will be in your mind to continue to pray for them instead of just praying for them once and forgetting.
Then we had church again.
Then Dr. Yahnke had a session for the wives about parenting and discipline. This inspired Ram and I to talk on the way home about how we could do better in this area with the Lambs. We especially want to work on nice manners and have a tone in our household of nice talking and working together. That needs to start with Ram and I doing a better job of talking to each other and to the Lambs because the Lambs will copy us. We have not implemented Dr. Yahnke's "discipline plan" but it was so nice to have an uninterrupted conversation with Ram about this on the way home. I feel that we are "on the same page" now and have noticed a difference about this since we got home from Doxology. The real test will be when we get back to a full homeschool schedule if we can continue it.
Next we had a banquet and they actually ran out of cheesecake so our table didn't get any! Other than that it was a nice meal and nice time to chat with new and old friends.
Then we had church again and a wine and cheese reception. I already mentioned that we had time to chat with Rev. and Mrs. Harrison. We were tired when we got back to the hotel this night and there was still one more day.

A first for me

2011-08-27T20:51:00.000-05:00

I don't think before yesterday I had ever walked out of a restaurant before I was served. Yesterday we went to DeSmet, SD to see the Laura Ingalls Wilder sites (a big blog post is eventually coming about that!). We waited until we were back in Watertown, SD to eat supper. It was almost 8pm and the Lambs did fantastic to not complain since they hadn't eaten since 10:30am. We tried a local sub shop but they were closed. Then we tried a local barbeque place but they weren't there any more. So we ended up at Applebees. We were seated right away. We waited and waited and no one came to take our order. Finally Ram spoke to an employee. We waited some more. We finally got up and left. The Lambs were quite confused since we hadn't even ordered yet. Where to go at 8pm when we're starving? We walked over to Culver's. It was very busy and Ram waited in line for awhile. He finally ordered and then we waited longer for them to deliver our food to our table. Drive up was even worse. We were finally done eating about 8:45pm. Then it was a mad dash to get to Starbucks, Target, and Menards before they closed. They were open longer than I thought so we made it to everything. We finally got home about 11pm after a very fun day.

He Remembers the Barren book now available!

2011-08-25T06:00:00.003-05:00

I'm ordering my copy today. Here's where to order yours.

After I ordered my book I saw a coupon code good through 8/27 for 20% off. The code is SCHOOLED. It was too late for me, but hopefully it will help you. (It would have been very nice since I ordered some for gifts!)

First Day of School

2011-08-24T20:42:00.000-05:00

I decided to start school today gradually and go to all subjects after Labor Day. Being from IN I felt lazy not getting back to school until after Labor Day. But we are trying to squeeze in a few more events this summer plus I'm trying to get some cleaning/yardwork done before we get back to full school. Today we did religion and then Lamb 1 and 2 did math. We began right where we quit in their books last year. That is one part of homeschool that I like-no months of review what they already know. Lamb 1 asked to do more school but I told him after Labor Day. That's a good thing when your child requests more school! I'll try to fit blogging about our Doxology trip and other photos from this summer in soon too.

Doxology Grand Reunion

2011-08-22T14:03:00.000-05:00

The title for the Doxology session where the wives attend with their husbands is called "The Grand Reunion". Oh, was it ever a grand reunion for me! There were many friends I hadn't seen for several years.

This photo is for Cheryl . Cheryl's husband was the cantor for all of our worship services at Doxology. Ram and I also had a chance to talk to him for a little while at the hotel one morning. It is nice to talk to a fellow Looper dad. The music was excellent at Doxology.

These are the parents of a blog friend that I've never met. Hopefully one day I'll meet Kristen too.

Suzan, one of my new Doxology friends. She is a pastor's wife in rural CO. We had many conversations of things we had in common over the few days of Doxology.

Sarah and Preston, my CUW friends. I hadn't seen them since we moved to MN. They also live in MN but in a complete different part of the state-probably 6 hours away.

This is Teresa, a pastor's wife in the same circuit as us. One of her husband's churches is closer to one of Ram's churches than to the second of her husband's churches.

This is the pastor and his wife of my sister's former church in SC. Evelyn became a second mom to my sister. My sister is very close to the Burgers. I had never met them before Doxology. They had never been away from their children before either. I'm so glad they were able to come to Doxology and I was able to meet them.

I believe these were all the female Loopers at Doxology
Ewe, Glenda, Beth Speers
(Glenda forgot her camera so some of these photos are posted for her)

I had been reading this blog for awhile. It was so nice to meet Emommy! Emommy is expecting her first girl. I had some girl items here and decided to pass them on to someone who could use them instead of sit in a box. It was embarrassing to have so many girl items when I've never had a girl before! She was thrilled to receive baby girl clothes-after 2 boys they are going to have fun with dresses/pink/other girly items!

Adriane, the editor of Lutheran Witness. We had a nice chat over lunch one day of Doxology. We talked about what our members would like to see in Lutheran Witness. Who knows, maybe after our lunch Ram will be asked to write an article? Adriane came just to participate in Doxology and be a journalist. It was wonderful to have her give up her weekend and participate with us.

This is Jennifer, one of my close CUW friends. Seeing each other at Doxology saved at least one several hour phone call, but we still talk on the phone a few times a year and those talks turn into several hour talks. Saturday was her 17th wedding anniversary. I went to her wedding. I'm having a difficult time accepting that was 17 years ago.

Our LCMS President, Pastor and Kathy Harrison, joined us for the whole weekend. We took this photo after church on Saturday night. There was a wine and cheese reception after church. I walked back to the reception with the Harrisons and then we waited in line to get our treats together. From our conversation I could tell the weekend was as good for the Harrisons as it was for the Doxology participants. Everyone in the Synodical office is working so hard-17 hour days are the norm. It was so good to spend the weekend together as a couple away from other responsibilities. I was glad to get the chance to speak to them together on Saturday night. It was also a good reminder to continue to keep the Harrisons, their marriage, and their boys in our prayers.

There were others that I didn't get a photo, but it was fun to see again. Rev. Juhl, the Uttenreithers, and other Seminary friends.

So LCMS friends, in this small LCMS world, who do you know in these photos?

Day by Day, at home, away

Obama and contraception part 2

Obama and contraception

Posting 2011 read alouds

I'm finally changing my sidebar for 2012, so I decided to post these here.

2011 FAMILY READ ALOUDS

2011 HOMESCHOOL SCIENCE

What I've been up to...

Expensive afternoon

What a 2nd grade homeschooled boy does in his free time

January reading report-library books

Before Green Gables

Just another day off

More house tour

House tour

Gulp

One

Organizational Stewardship

Organization Guilt

One Year to an Organized Life

Wordless Wednesday-today's photos

Western snow

Granola

Homemade

Not Grandma's garden today

1/7/12-1/9/12

1/6/12

Our Epiphany present!

Refrigerators

Libraries

Teaching

Christmas Vacation Report

December 29

Christmas Day 1

Merry Christmas!

Are you listening?

Busy Weekend

Homeschool Christmas Vacation

Growing

More Family Update

Family Update

Stockings

St. Nicholas Day

Writing thank you notes

First Field Trip

Pantry Shower

A surprise

Ram's installation at our new church on November 6

A visit from friends

Trunk or Treat

Moving trip part 3

Lambs shopping trip

Moving trip part 2

Finally!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Our moving trip part 1

More about moving

Moving photos

National Tie One On Day

Back to School

Congratulations H & E!

Putting fires out this week

Moving update

Moving Update

Being a housemother

Pregnancy and Infant Loss Day

Moving Update

Happy Birthday, Olivia!

We praise Thee O God...

The big announcement

Ram's decision announced today

Do you have a friend?

Wordless Wednesday-My hunters

My microwave

Random updating post

If you pray for rain be prepared to deal with some mud!

Wordless Wednesday-First for Lamb 1-Finally at age 7 1/2!

He Remembers the Barren Book Tour

Happy Birthday!

New MN Homeschool Law