etsy

So... I've been making things for quite a while and up until now, have only made things as gifts... baby blankets mostly, and recently coffee sleeves, with random things thrown in here and there.  A few friends in California encouraged me to sell my blankets, and one friend even offered to sell them in the gift shop she manages at a hospital in Napa.  I just never got around to it, or had the extra time to make things for selling.. I just made them as gifts.  Well, these days, I still don't have the time (maybe even less than before!), but I've been squeezing some crafting in here and there when I can, and am giving the selling thing a go.  I started an etsy site, and posted some things today.  I have more to post, but my photos were too large, so I'll have to take more pics tomorrow and try uploading again so I can finish listing the things I've made so far.  I may even contact that friend back in Napa about making some blankets and coffee sleeves (I'm calling them "green sleeves") to sell there.  Not sure what will come of it, but money is super tight right now, so I figured I'd give it a try.  Every little bit helps!  If you're interested, you can check out my etsy site.  Here are a few picures of some of the things I've listed there...

first thought

First thought of the morning:  "YAY!!!  My baby is back!!!"

I heard him crying, and looked at the clock.  5:49am!  He did not wake up once during the night!  I was so spoiled, as he'd slept from about 9:00pm until 5:30am since he was about a month old.  The last several weeks have been an entirely different story.  He has been waking up several times a night and I've been exhausted.  Each night as I lay him down and pray for him, I also pray that he'll sleep through the night.  I'm confident that God has heard my prayers each night, but last night, He answered the way I've been waiting for!  Now let's hope we're back to normal!  I'm so thankful!!!

bathing buddies/ answered prayer

After blogging about our sad day yesterday, I closed the computer and gave our little ones a bath.  Judah had been chomping on a biter biscuit while I was online, and if you've ever given one of those to a baby, you can imagine how messy he was.  Mercy was due for a bath too, so I put them in together.  This was a first for these two, because Judah has just recently started sitting steadily on his own, and Mercy likes the bath water higher than it could be with just Judah laying down.  She was so excited to take a bath with him!  It was so cute, and a great distraction from the sadness we had been feeling.

As I sat watching these two laughing, splashing and playing together, I was drawn to Judah's big brown eyes.  A lot of people comment on his eyes lately and say things like "he sure has his momma's eyes" or "look at those dark brown eyes!".  And I'm thankful.  God is so sweet to answer silly prayers that pregnant moms like me pray.  When I was pregnant with Brooklyn, I didn't know if we were having a boy or girl, but I was in Target one day and heard a little one talking with the cutest raspy voice.  And I prayed that our baby would have a raspy voice.  She's pretty much grown out of it now, but Brooklyn definitely had a voice like I'd prayed for, for several years.  And when I was expecting Judah, I prayed for brown eyes.  Brooklyn's are brown, Zeke and Mercy both have blue eyes, and this time I prayed for brown again.  He kept us guessing for quite a while.  I remember bringing him to church several times and my friends would gather around, some saying they thought they'd be blue, some thought brown, some just couldn't tell yet.  But now, there's no mistaking this boy's beautiful big brown eyes.  God is so good.

omelets

A couple of weeks ago, I was sitting having breakfast with some new friends at a women's retreat (which I should write about later).  We got on the subject of omelets, and one of the girls offered a new method of making them.  I loved the idea and was excited to try it at home.  They were so easy, and a hit with the whole family.  Here's the step-by-step:

First, break desired number of eggs into ziploc bags.  (We used two eggs each, and we used the double zipper bags, for added security during boiling.  This may or may not be necessary.)

Next, add ingredients.  This part was fun for everyone.  We added basic omelet things like cheese, ham, bacon.  I also added onion and tomato to mine.



Then you get to squish it.  Oh.  It's probably obvious, but just in case, I'll say zip the bag closed first.  It would get rather messy if you didn't.

Squish, squish until everything is well mixed.

Like this.

Oops, I also forgot to say you should start a big pot of boiling water before the first step.  That way the water should be boiling by the time you add the bags.  We did four at a time in our pot.  I guess it depends on the size of your pot.

It took longer than I expected for them to cook.  I think maybe around 20 minutes.  Sorry I don't have an exact time.  Just watch them.  You can tell they're done when the egg looks cooked and no longer runny at all.

Here's our first batch, all finished!

We just opened the bags and plopped them onto a plate (or bowl in this case).

This was a fun breakfast for everyone.  They took a while to cook, but it was nice that everyone got to put in their own ingredients, squish up their bags and add the bags to the water.  It was also nice that as they boiled, we could do other things (like Family Fun Cranium game), and they were ready at the same time.

Labels: food, recipes

a sad day

Today the sad day came when we had to take Josh back to the airport.  He was with us for almost three weeks, but it went by too fast.  We enjoyed  him so much and made the most of our time together.  We stayed up late last night having last minute fun, and then had to leave at 5:00 this morning to get him to the airport.  Since he was an unaccompanied minor, we were able to wait with him at his gate.  We grabbed some breakfast and spent our last half hour playing a game he taught us.  They started the boarding announcements and the time came to give hugs and say goodbye.  It was so hard on all of us.  I know he had mixed feelings, being away from home for so long, he was ready to get back.. but he was really sad to leave too.  And we were really sad to see him go.  We all cried on our drive home.  We really don't know when we'll see him again.  We're hoping to make a trip back to the Bay Area in the spring, but right now finances are really tight, so it's not a sure thing.

Between sobs, I listened to Frontline's "The Combination" cd and remembered singing my heart out to those songs many times.  There's one song called "Better in the End" (which you can hear on their myspace page).  I love Frontline and this cd and have listened to and sung along often.  I really purpose to be a worshipper who pays attention to the words and sing the songs from my heart.  Today as I listened, when it got to the "I don't want to fear what you may change.  Make Yourself at home in me.  You see the picture of my life... so much better in the end" part, I thought, "really, God?  With this plan it's going to be better in the end?  Because I liked my life before.  Things were going great and You know how much family means to me.  Really, we had to leave all that?"  And I often wonder if we'll go back or if His plan is to keep us here.  It's not that I don't like it here.  I actually do.  And we've been making friends and connecting with great people.  But "what used to be" was amazing too.  I really don't like the idea of being so far away from sisters and cousins and close friends that we have no idea when we'll see them again.  I feel like there's such a huge hole because they're not part of our daily lives anymore.  Yes, we can call and email and Facebook and Skype.  But there's just nothing like cousins getting together and laughing and playing and creating and just being.  Together.  My youngest niece has started walking since we've been gone.  I'm afraid Judah may be walking by the time we see them again.  That's just not ok with me.  Yes I trust God completely with my life and what His plan is.  Yes He's blessed us with an amazing church and people here already.  This is a new church and we're getting plugged in, and it's exciting to be a part of what God is doing there.  But I'm sad today and that's what's coming out here.  This is a good place.  And these are good people.  I just want both.  A couple of weeks ago my kids were doing a floor puzzle of the map of the U.S.  They rearranged things a bit and put Minnesota right next to California.  I liked that idea.  I think I'd even overlap them so we could be neighbors.  My God is a good God.  I know that His plan is to prosper and not to harm us.  I know that this is a grieving process and I'm so thankful that He knows me and lets me cry it out and holds me through it all.

one's (not) on the way

When I was growing up, we only listened to country music in our house.  My dad was a big fan of Willie Nelson, my mom loved Dolly Parton and Loretta Lynn, and I remember our record rack being full of other favorites such as John Denver, the Oakridge Boys and Alabama.  This morning I had an old Loretta Lynn song going through my mind, "One's on the Way".  I don't remember the whole song, but it's basically about a chaotic house full of kids, and the demands on the mom.  It goes something like, "One needs a huggin, and one needs a cookie, and one's on the way" and "One needs a spankin, and one needs a changin, and one's on the way".  Ooh, I just found a video on youtube.  Right now I have seven kids in the house.  My sister (aka Bitzy the Clown) went to Russia on a missions trip.  She'll be visiting orphanages, spreading joy and the love of Jesus with children.  While she's gone, her kids are here.  Two nieces, ages 15 and 13, and a nephew, age 11 are with us.  The girls have to go back early because they're involved in a youth theater program and need to be there for auditions.  My nephew will be with us for two more weeks.  We're having lots of fun with them.  I'm enjoying having 7 kids in the house!  But this morning I had to laugh as that song went through my head.  In our case, it was more like 

One needs a calculator, one needs a tissue.  One needs a changin, one needs a towel, one needs some Motrin, one needs a nap, one needs a pancake....  The difference here is there's not one on the way!  And really, it's not so chaotic.  It's going really well.  The older cousins help the younger ones, and everyone has been getting along great.  It's been so nice to have a little piece of home here with us.  Sadly, tomorrow is our last day with the girls.  Then they'll spend the weekend with their uncle (their dad's brother) before flying home to California on Sunday morning.  It's nice to have a house full.  We're enjoying every minute together.  We spent time at the Mall of America after we picked them up from the airport, going on rides and celebrating Brooklyn's birthday.  We've played the game "Mafia" a lot, gone for walks and bike rides, church, library, done some cooking and smoothie making, they all helped Joe mow the lawn, they're doing school together, board games, Wii, and just enjoying being together.  I even let them sneak into the corn field behind our house one day.  They're great kids to have around.  I think our house will be strangely quiet when they're gone.

baby talk

Sitting here on the couch with my two girls and my sweet baby boy.  Zeke was in the shower, Mercy was on my lap, Judah was laying next to me, holding my fingers while Brooklyn read a library book to us.  Judah is a pretty quiet little guy, but he bursted out with what really, really sounded like "Brooklyn".  We stopped and looked at each other with wide eyes, thinking "Did you just hear what I heard?" and "Did he just say what I think he just said?"  We all talked to Judah and asked him to say it again, and I kid you not, he did.  It sounded pretty clearly like "Brooklyn".  Just to be sure, Brooklyn asked him to say it one more time.  It took a little while, but he did it.  That was quite a gift to his big sister.  Her eyes and smile were so wide with love and excitement.  And so it will go down in the books that Judah's first word was "Brooklyn".

first week of school

We just finished our first week of school.  We're adjusting to a different schedule this year.  Since Joe works from noon until 8:00pm, we take the mornings off to be with him.  We start school at around 11:30, take a lunch break after a couple of subjects, put Mercy down for a nap, and get the rest of our school day done while she's asleep (which makes it easier).  It's a different schedule to get used to, as before we always enjoyed being done by lunch time.  But it is nice to have the mornings off, and we've just started a running program.  So a couple of days this week we've put Judah and Mercy in the bike trailer/stroller and Joe and I run/walk while Brooklyn and Zeke ride bikes, scooter or skateboard alongside us.  During the school part of our day, Judah sleeps for a while, then hangs out with us.  He's pretty mellow and content.  Yesterday he was sitting with Brooklyn while she worked on her math drill.

Brooklyn has been so excited for weeks because she asked if she could teach Mercy preschool this year.  She even went shopping with me the week before school started to a teacher supply store and bought some things with her own money that she could use for teaching Mercy.  Mercy loves the one on one time, and I use the time to do Language Arts with Zeke. 

When Zeke and I finish, he plays with Mercy while I work with Brooklyn individually.  It works out great.

We're enjoying our studies on Exploring Countries and Cultures.  This week and next we're studying about maps and globes, and getting ready for our trip around the world through books and food.  I'm really excited to try new recipes for each area we learn about.  My sister is going to Russia in a few weeks on a missions trip (and I get her kids while she's gone.. Yay!!!).  It will be fun to be learning about and praying for Russia while she's there.  This week we drew the continents on an orange and then tried (unsuccessfully, unfortunately) to peel it in a way that we could flatten it out, to show how map makers have to distort things a little to put a round world on flat paper.  The kids also filled out passport applications and we took pictures for them, so they'll have passports to stamp for each country we visit.  They also learned about scale and made maps of their rooms, measuring everything and transferring it from feet to inches for the map.  They love the activities that we're doing.  It definitely makes learning fun.

Here are a couple of pictures of our school room.  We each have a table for individual work, and lots of floor space for reading together, activities, etc.

uprooted

What a weekend!  The last several days I have been very sad and missing family and friends.  We're getting more settled here and today's our first day of school, so with that means new routines.  I guess it hit me that these routines don't include the people and places that our old routines included.  It also hit me that the ministries and "outlets" that I was involved in on a weekly basis there are no longer a part of what I do or who I am.  I was feeling sad and disconnected.  

 

Joe and I were looking online a couple of weeks ago for a "NOR * CAL" decal for our car, knowing that soon the unfortunate day will come when we have to trade in our California license plates for Minnesota ones.  We decided to get a norcal sticker so there's still a representation of where we're from.  While on the website I saw this "uprooted" t-shirt and Joe said I could order it.  It came last Friday, when I was in the midst of heartache.  The lovely poppies and their long, scraggly roots.  I felt uprooted, yanked up from my homeland, torn away from people who know and understand and love me.  I didn't want to tell Joe much about my sorrow because I didn't want him to feel bad.  I wasn't blaming him or anything... just very sad.

On Saturday Joe's mom called to let us know she just found out that a friend Joe grew up with in church had recently started a church just 10 miles from where we live now.  She didn't have any other information but we looked it up online and found where it meets and the time of the service, and decided to go.  So Sunday morning, I was full of emotion as we drove to this new place of worship.  It's just hard finding a new church.  Especially when you're so sad to have left your old one.  But we drove up to this beautiful log building on a golf course where the church meets and followed the signs to where the kids would go.  The children's staff was very nice and welcoming, and Brooklyn and Zeke quickly made their way toward the kids church area.  Mercy, on the other hand, was holding me tightly, saying, "I don't want to go to my class!"  We took her over to some very kind ladies in the nursery, and one of them reached her arms out and said, "Can I hold you?"  Mercy nodded and went to her, snuggling in to rest her head on her shoulder.  I was almost in  tears myself leaving her, and then Joe and I (with Judah) made our way into the service.

We walked in and in the back of the room there was a coffee shop!  I lost it!  I couldn't keep the tears in anymore.  I cried through most of the songs and the rest of the service.  But it was good.  God was there, and He was reminding me I was in His presence and that's the bet place to be.  The last song we sang at the end was "Better is one day in Your courts, better is one day in Your house, better is one day in Your courts than a thousand elsewhere..."  And I realized that if I'm really honest, I'd much rather be in His presence here than in Vallejo without Him.  And then the pastor read from Psalm 84:

"How lovely is Your dwelling place, O Lord Almighty!  My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.  Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young-- a place near Your altar, O Lord Almighty, my King and my God.  Blessed are those who dwell in Your house; they are ever praising You."

Later that afternoon, Brooklyn got out an old jar that was chipped and asked if she could have it to put dirt in and then pick flowers to put inside.  I told her that the flowers would die if she did that.  I said they have to be uprooted so they can grow.  As I said the words, I caught myself and remembered the t-shirt.  Uprooted.  I was doing just fine where we were, growing, even flourishing.  But God had plans to move us to another garden.  I'm so thankful He didn't just let me be plucked up, snapped from the stem.  Because of His love, I was uprooted so that I can continue to grow.  His ways are higher than my ways, that's for sure.  But I trust Him completely and I'm glad He cares enough to pull me out from the roots.

panakuken

recipe handed down from my mother-in-law, Nancy Swanson

(This makes 2 9x13 pans, so you can half the recipe for less people.)

6 eggs, beaten

5 cups milk

3 cups flour

2 tsp salt

2 Tbsp sugar

2 sticks butter

Melt butter and add half to batter.  Put remaining batter in 2 9x13 pans.  Mix all batter ingredients together.  Pour into pans and bake at 375 for 30 minutes or till light brown (it will bubble up).

We usually eat this with brown sugar, strawberries, and sometimes sour cream.  You can also slice apples and lay them on top of the batter before baking, and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.