TreasuresInTerraCotta

What's your plan for the new year? Do you have a plan for spiritual growth? Will you intentionally be learning about and loving Jesus more? Would you consider joining me in a study of Ruth? My regular Thursday Bible study group will be working through Ruth: Loss, Love and Legacy by Kelly Mintner. Our in-person group will begin meeting January 6. Several of our regular attenders can't make it in person but will be studying along with us. I am going to take a leap of faith and open up an on-line discussion to anyone who might want to join us here in blog world. The workbook will take us through the four chapters of Ruth over the course of six weeks by providing five days of homework each week. There are no videos or specific group sessions. In person we will probably highlight a few questions from the workbook for discussion or share something that impacted us during the week. I plan to do the same here either posting questions or opening up the floor for personal obser...

If you know the good that you should do and do not do it, you sin . (my paraphrase of James 4:17) I read very few blogs and books these days. I go to church once a week. I do not listen to sermons by pod cast or on TV or on the radio. But I seem to keep hearing the message to sell all that you have and give to the poor, to give every day, to be radical, to live communally like Acts 2, to live each day as if it is your last, to repent from living at ease in Zion and on and on. Honestly, my heart rebels at many of these notions. Perhaps it is because I just can't wrap my mind around the idea or expectation presented. Perhaps I don't want to. Perhaps it is because I naturally rebel against any church movement of the day...before this it was the men's-movement, preceded by the small group movement, which was preceded by the seeker-friendly mega-church, which was preceded by the introduction of "worship" music which, I am sure, was preceded by some other popular ...

Tyler and I see our marriage counselor every 6-12 months "whether we need it or not!" We've been seeing the same guy since our pre-marital counseling sessions almost 10 years ago. When we finished up the number of sessions required by our pastor Tyler said, "We'll see you in 6 months." And that was that. It's been a good thing to have a routine check-up that doesn't require a blow-up, a catastrophe or a melt-down as the initiating factor. Fortunately, we have managed to avoid many grave situations that can occur in marriage, but I never cease to be amazed that I leave most meetings having learned something new about my husband, having learned something new about the psychology of relationships and having expressed something that would have been otherwise unspoken. I tell you all of that as an encouragement, just like I would tell you if we were face-to-face talking about marriage. I hope that in some small way I can normalize "marriage co...

Tell me I am not alone in the struggle to find a well-fitted bra. I had an afternoon without kids so I stopped at Kohl's knowing I could be in a dressing room without the door being flung open at an inopportune time. I probably tried on 15 different bras in four different sizes. (Maybe I don't know my size...or maybe the size is a mere suggestion??) I could not find any correlation between sizes and common bra problems such as puckering, pooching or cutting off the blood circulation to half my body. Finally after finding one that fit well I thought it might be nice to have two different colors. I tried them both on because I'm on-to these bra manufacturers. Sure enough, they fit differently. Anyway, I ended up bringing two new bras home...two different brands...two different sizes. And then I went to the men's section to pick up a couple things for my husband. I got a pair of slacks (34 x 30) and a button down shirt (16 neck; L). I didn't unfold them. I d...

Boy! Due April 25, 2011. Everything looks healthy and good so far.

There is one section in my cook book that does not get much use. The Vegetable section. Not because I don't like vegetables, I do. But because most vegetables can be steamed for about 8 minutes and put on the table. Add your own salt, pepper and butter if you wish. Call me lazy, but that's how most veggies are served in my house. But for Thanksgiving I was looking for something a little fancier for green beans, but without a lot of extra ingredients or prep. Something sorta "fresh." I found Parsleyed Green Beans from Better Homes and Gardens and it is a recipe worth sharing. (I halved the amount of butter.) Did you make any new recipes worth sharing this year?

I have been putting off reading The Hole In Our Gospel. I don't know if I will do a Book Review about it, but maybe I need to confess that I own it and that I have a book mark somewhere in the Forward. Is that accountability? I don't know. Maybe I should also confess that I want to read it, but really I don't want to read it.

I made another floor/reading pillow for the kids. I made two back in the summer, but at that time I purchased four pillow inserts. Here is my third creation. Once again, I only used scraps from my left-over material box. (It really is only one Rubbemaid tote!) Most of the original material was used for quilts. I didn't even need to buy material for the backing. I used one pair of old jeans destined for the garbage. As before I made two overlapping pieces with a one inch hem that allows the pillow to be folded in like an envelope. One pant leg for each half. If If you recognize the colors or pattern in the pillow it's because I made it after I made the vest for Calvin's hobo rat Halloween costume. I had some pieces left over and I just didn't want to stop sewing all those straight lines. Quilting is very relaxing. Have you done anything creative/crafty lately?

For better and for worse my kids show me myself. Today the eldest said to the youngest: I'm not angry at you. I am angry at everybody. Including me. I don't know if I have ever said those words out loud; but they are the cry of my heart more often than I care to admit.

Do your kids have too many things? Too much stuff? Too many toys? Too much to clean up? Mine too! Back in September Calvin received some birthday money. We were trying to be a little more creative with this gift money, so instead of heading to the store we asked him what he wanted to DO. This is what he came up with. What kind of miniature golf course would it be without a windmill. My Utah-raised husband and my Wyoming-born friend call it put-put golf. Andrew at Queen Anne's Doll House. He liked chasing the balls. Especially the ones that go through a slot on a higher green only to pop out on the lower green. Two balls, but no children ended up in the water hazards. It was a good day (back on October 15). Lots of fun! No new "stuff" except pictures and memories. What about you? Do you have a favorite way to spend (save?) gift money? Do you call it miniature golf, put-put golf, goofy golf, something else?

I suspect that homeschooling life, just like life with children in general, will be full of firsts. Of course there are the biggies like first steps and first words; first game of Monopoly and first phonetic spelling. But you can't miss those other big firsts...like the first time the baby manages to spit up on your hair, shirt, arm, pants, shoes AND the floor. Or the first threat of Principle Daddy. This week, for the first time, I spent (a short amount of time) with two kids "doing school." We were studying "Oo for Octopus." Calvin worked on letters, sounds and spelling. Andrew did an ocean puzzle. Andrew can even count with us...every number is "eight." He can identify letters...every letter is "B." And he can even identify colors...every color is "b-ue" I was smart enough, however, to wait for nap time to do blue-for-the-ocean finger painting. And it's a good thing...somehow it turned into face painting!? Another first...

Yesterday the kids decorated a Haunted Gingerbread House. As you might expect, they were very excited about the candy. This is what we ended up with. I think it is appropriately creepy! We didn't have a theme this year amongst the cousins as we have in the past. They all were, however, traditional Halloween costumes. Andrew was a train engineer. Calvin was a rat, specifically the rat Templeton from Charlotte's Web. (Calvin got the idea from the character/costume of Templeton in theater production of Charlotte's Web.) Calvin's rat tail. Here you can see Calvin's rat ears attached to his cap. The cousins. A ghost. A princess. A rat. A train engineer. The baby cousin, who is almost 4 months old, was a dog. I didn't take my own advise and have a separate dress-up picture day prior to Halloween. Perhaps that's because I was working on Calvin's vest and tail last night at 11 and we rigged his ears as we were walking out the door for trick-or-treating. ...

As a contrast to October in Arizona , we got to spend last week near Boston. Here are a few highlights from the beautiful scenery. Philip J. Riley Park, South Lawrence, MA How do colors like that happen in nature? To this desert girl, it is amazing! Philip J. Riley Park, South Lawrence, MA We had beautiful weather the whole trip. Calvin "likes to be cold so I don't get too hot" so I only packed one long sleeved shirt for him and a sweatshirt. As you can see he usually preferred to be in short sleeves. Salem, MA Calvin could not resist shuffling through the leaves and throwing them over his head. The Chapel at West Parish, Andover, MA By the end of our trip, our rental van was full of leaves Andrew picked up. A park in Wellesley, MA To tell you the truth, I looked at every leaf and thought it was a masterpiece. I wanted to pick up and save every one too! Instead, I took a lot of pictures. A park in Wellesley, MA One of our highlights was getting a tour of Wellesley ...

I love Apple Annie's . We made the hour and 15 minute drive to Willcox on a sunny Tuesday morning. We arrived at Apple Annie's about 10:00 and after initially sharing the bathroom with a couple buses of elementary school field-trippers we had the place to ourselves. We skipped the hay-ride, which would have also been with all the field-trippers, and walked through the sunflower patch to the nearest pumpkin field with wagon in tow. Oh, and we had clippers too, as Calvin was proud to wield. We picked a pumpkin for each person in our family. And we picked some squash that were inexplicably growing along the path through the sunflowers. And we bought two loaves of Apple Annie's Apple Bread! YUM (I hear they export it to CostCo , so keep your eyes open when you're there. It's definitely worth the $6.) A sunny field with pumpkins all around makes for pretty good pictures. Maybe that's why Apple Annie's has quickly become one of my favorite places. An hour...

October 11! When Calvin asked to play on the Slip-and-Slide I had to resist the urge to say, "No, It's October!" or "No, it's not summer!" Because in reality it was still 95 degrees. Which, of course, is Slip-and-Slide weather to any kid. While we're at it, we might as well try to finish that box of Popsicles! How do you celebrate the last Hoo-Rah of summer? I guess if you don't live in Arizona, you might have waived good-bye to summer two months ago!

The second butterfly emerged on October 2nd. My sister came to rescue them from our empty house while we were camping. She captured a few great images. Here they are in the butterfly habitat. As you might expect the butterflies did not seem especially happy with this confinement. So after a couple days of observation they were set free! They know the good-stuff when they see it. This one immediately visited the Texas Ranger flowers. Look very closely at this picture. The butterfly is on the flowers on the right side of the picture. Entering on the left, near the green bush, is a hummingbird! Nature is amazing!

Later the same morning... Beautiful!