Snow Days

In 2000 when I was teaching we had 2 full weeks off of school after Christmas break. There were a couple of days in there that were supposed to be delays and the teachers came in to school but by the time school would have started they ended up calling off the whole day. I was single and one snow day led to another and with dial up Internet I honestly lost track of what day of the week it was!
This year Fort Wayne has set records for snow. They have missed so many school days that I've lost track. When they have school it is often delayed. It is also confusing between the public schools canceling some days and the Lutheran schools only having a 2 hour delay. I'm praying they don't have floods in the spring after all this snow. I feel sorry for teachers trying to plan lessons with this routine and parents trying to arrange childcare for this crazy routine. Plus they have a lot of school days to make up in June.
Here they very rarely cancel school, once a year or less. In January inversion caused thick fog all day every day for weeks. It was bad when I did drive in it. School was never delayed for that. The Lambs complain when public schools cancel that we still have homeschool and they miss out on time to play in the snow with their neighborhood friends.
The plan for today was that we would go to one of the first showings of the Lego movie. I figured the Lambs have worked so hard on therapy, exercises, and homeschool, that a benefit of homeschooling would be we could go to a movie during the school day. It would also reinforce the idea for the Lambs that we really do not go according to the public school schedule. We may have some homeschool during the summer and on public school holidays and snow days. But we are also free to go to a movie during the school day or go on vacation during the school year. The Lambs have never been to a movie at the theater before so this was to be an extra special treat.
But guess what happened? Today the public schools here have a snow day. I expect the movie theater to be packed both because this is the opening day and the roads don't look that bad so people will go to the movies. We have a very busy schedule the next couple of weeks in addition to therapy and homeschool. I don't really know when we can go to the movie if we don't go today. Ram has a meeting late this afternoon for church so we need to go to one of the first showings. It may turn out that the big event today is watching the Olympics at home tonight. The best laid plans...sigh.

Lutheran Detectives

I discussed the latest news story about the violin theft in Milwaukee with the Lambs at supper last night. I was careful to present the story so they wouldn't be afraid of theft, especially if we go to Milwaukee to visit friends. I thought it was a current event story that they would be interested in. Real life detectives are trying to find real answers to the mystery of this theft. Just like we are doing with our Highlights Top Secret Adventures, detectives are trying to figure out who did it, where the violin is now, and how they did it.

The conversation did not quite go how I expected though. After I told them what was happening, they immediately started naming all the commandments that the bad guys broke.

Audiobooks

Ram found a deal that we could try audible.com for 3 months at 95 cents each month. We figured it was worth a try for that price. Normally there is a fee each month (I think $14.95) and you get one credit for a book each month. Credits can carry over to the next month. If you would like more books then there is a fee for extra books.

Before we tried this I had planned on getting several easy to read books for the Lambs. I figured we would use this wisely and get as much possible during this 3 month deal. I saw that was not going to work on this plan. Then I saw that Our Island Story was available. It is a children's history of England. It was quite expensive if it would be an extra, but our one credit in January covered it. I was planning to read this aloud soon to the Lambs but it was even better to listen to it.

Each night we have been listening to a couple of chapters. I am learning a lot about the history of England. Lamb 1 doesn't like it basically because it is long. We allow the Lambs to play quietly/do crafts while they listen.

We still have a February credit to use and soon we will get a March credit. What audiobooks do you recommend we use our credits on next?

We may not do this every month, but we may ask the grandparents if they would be willing to sponsor one month as birthday presents. I was glad to try it for a few months and we will be able to make a better decision if we want to continue. Do any of you do audible.com?

Changes

The last couple of months we have had some changes, I'm not sure I would call them big changes, but combined I have had a difficult time keeping up. Here are a few examples:

• Lamb 2 began Vision Therapy twice a week and this has made a new daily routine for all of us. Lamb 2 is exhausted at the end of VT days so we now NEED to get to bed on time every single night. We have more trips to therapy and exercises to do at home. I'm even going to notify grandparents and tell them that we need to celebrate birthdays over the lunch hour instead of over the supper hour like we have done since we moved here. VT has changed our entire schedule even though it is just 1 hour a week. I know this will get better, but it feels like we are back in the toddler years of early bedtimes that can't be interrupted no matter what.
• Our health insurance changed the way the Be Well Serve Well rewards program works. Ram and I haven't had time to really look over the changes and decide if we are going to participate any more. We need to get started soon if we are going to participate. In the past it wasn't much work and we always had Amazon credit in our account. I became used to buying school books, piano books, treats for us, and even groceries with this "free" money. If we don't participate any more it will also mean that I need to majorly change my shopping habits.
• Creative Memories went bankrupt. I scrapbooked with CM since 1998. I have a lot of supplies stocked up but I need to start thinking about what to do when my supplies do run out. I'm trying hard to picture myself being involved with the new company and the new way of doing things, but I'm finding I scrapbooked for so long the old way that I'm not eager to change.
• Like many Americans our family budget is tighter this year. We changed the way we did some things with our H S A and I'm hoping this eases our budget concerns. We've been blessed that in our entire marriage this is the first time we've really had to watch our budget and expenses. (Well not counting the few months that neither of us were employed.) But that makes changes for the way I shop and the way the Lambs receive both necessities and treats. I know in the long run this will be good for all of us, but it definitely involves growing pains right now. Plus it takes more time to keep track of all of this.

Our church family

Yesterday the hymns chosen for distribution during communion were short so there was a long time to think/meditate. I try not to be distracted, but yesterday I really got to thinking about some of the people's "stories" while they were up at the rail. I thought about:

• That couple is older and has a more difficult time getting around. 
• Her husband got a job on the other side of the country and she is still here trying to sell the house waiting to join him. We will miss them when the house does sell.
• They are married each for the second time with his and her children trying to make it work this time. 
• His wife and son live in another country and they only see each other for a few precious weeks of the year. 
• She is a widow. 
• She is grieving for her adult son that she buried. 
• Her mom is in the hospital and no one knows what the next step is when she gets released-nursing home? 
• Her daughter is a freshman in college. 
• They are in the rough preschool/toddler years with their children.
• Her sons are in the military. 
• Those boys are finishing their last semester of high school and preparing to go to college next year.

And my list could go on and on and I bet as the pastor Ram's list would be even longer as he knows more of people's "stories" than I do. It is amazing to me in just a little over 2 years how close we can get to our church family and even though I don't know every member's story, I know a lot of them.

Then I went to Bible study and we were finishing the last chapter in Katie Schuermann's book, Pew Sisters. Due to commitments with Sunday School I was unable to attend many of the sessions of this Bible study, but I do plan to go back and read the chapters I missed. I thought of the list I had made in my head during communion. This is exactly what Katie was getting at-every one in the pew has a story to share of God's faithfulness in their life. We can build up the faith and encourage our Christian family at church. And when we think of each of their "stories" we can pray more specifically for them. It was a good reminder to not only keep my family in my prayers, but also each of my church family that I know. And when I don't know the specifics of their stories, I can just pray Lord Have Mercy for them.

Hoppin' John

Several years ago my Grandma invited us over to her house for a meal on New Year's Day. She lived in TX for many years so she served black eyed peas. My sister and I were not very happy with the meal she served, it was just too different from what we normally ate. I thought of all of Grandma's other recipes that I liked better. But of course I ate a whole helping and said thank you and didn't ask for seconds, just got ready for yummy dessert. I don't remember if my sister ate it or just tried it.

Early in our marriage I decided we should have black eyed peas on New Year's Day and revive the tradition from Grandma. Ram found an excellent Hoppin' John recipe in one of our cookbooks. We have made that same recipe on New Year's Day most of the last 12 years. It was even allowed when we had to eat dairy free for Lamb 1.

This year we were at Ram's parents house on New Year's Day. I cleaned out the pantry recently and found some black eyed peas and thought we should make Hoppin' John since we didn't have it this year. We made it on Thursday for supper.

On Friday at lunch while we were eating leftover Hoppin' John I told the Lambs about this tradition that my Grandma started. I said that usually we had it on New Year's Day but since we were at Ram's parents we were having it a few weeks later. Right away Lamb 1 and 2 said that it was Chinese New Year. I planned this better than I thought!

Copying Glenda's recipe

My friend Glenda posted this recipe in October. I didn't even go to Germany and I wanted to try this. It was not Paleo but healthy and close to Paleo. I started thinking about how I would make this recipe as soon as she posted it.

In December lamb was on sale at the local grocery store so I bought some and put it in the freezer. We were just too busy to experiment with this recipe over the holidays. I felt so uneducated buying lamb in the store for the first time, but it ended up ok. I'm sure with this sale our meal was cheaper than if I would have bought a nice cut of beef. And now I know how to buy lamb for next time.

Then a friend began selling Wildtree and I wanted to help her out so I ordered some tzaztiki seasoning. It came in last Sunday so we were ready to try the recipe. I got the lamb out of the freezer to thaw in the middle of the week and we put it in to marinate overnight on Thursday. Thursday I stocked up on veggies at the store. The local store had lots of veggies on sale for the Superbowl to make a veggie tray so it ended up that the most expensive veggie I bought was red cabbage. Friday afternoon we made the sauce, cut up some veggies, and Ram cooked the lamb. It was done in time for me to eat it before I went to scrapbooking last night.

Lamb 1 refused to try the sauce because it had dairy in it but had several helpings of lamb and veggies without any sauce on them. He asked if there were leftovers for lunch today. Lamb 2 tried everything, but mostly ate veggies. Lamb 3 ate a bowl of plain yogurt, not even the sauce or anything else. Sometimes I think he is hopeless to try new foods besides his favorites. Of course Ram and I ate everything. Lamb 1 complained that the house smelled like a meal with pita bread and of course I hadn't planned on serving pita bread with this. He requested pita bread if we make this again, but I think we'll keep the meal gluten free.

I don't think I would do anything differently to make this recipe again. I'll be watching the grocery store flyers for a lamb sale again. There are some advantages to living in ID (even if we can't get local Midwestern foods!) We do have some leftover veggies and sauce to snack on during the Superbowl.

Thanks, Glenda, for experimenting and posting this recipe on your blog!

I can't tell you how difficult it was to type lamb instead of Lamb for this blog post-hopefully this Lamb Mama caught all the typos!