The Missing Christmas Lamb

This morning we finally set up the Christmas trees!  I say finally because I prefer to put them up the day after Thanksgiving, but it has been a very busy couple of weeks to say the least!  As we finished up the last string of lights, Cole reminded me of the Missing Christmas Lamb.

A couple of years ago, I had bought a cute little nativity scene from the Family Christian Bookstore.  Courtney was just about to turn 4 the next month, and was very interested in the little figures.  Every time she would walk by the foyer table, I would see her stop and look at the little dressed up children.  It warmed my heart to see her kiss her little finger and touch the baby Jesus. 
Maybe it was seeing her stop there everyday that made me look at the scene each time I passed, but whatever the reason, I noticed something was 'off' one day.

The lamb was gone. 

I checked under the table, I looked in the kitchen.  I even looked in the dogs' kennel.  I couldn't find the lamb anywhere. 
Now if it had been the baby Jesus missing, I would have asked Courtney about it right off the bat.  In this case, I asked Cole if he knew where the lamb had gone.

"Courtney was petting it this morning."

Hmmm.... suspicious.

I went and found Courtney playing in her room.
"Courtney, do you know where the little lamb from the table is?"
Big eyes.
Ah ha.
"Courtney, where's the lamb?"
Big eyes. Sigh.
"Jesus' lamb?" she asked, careful not to make eye contact.
"Yes, that one."

Another sigh.  She reluctantly put down her baby doll and went to her bed.  Her little hand slid under the pillow and retrieved the little lamb.
I thought it was so cute that she loved that little lamb so much she just had to keep him is a special place close to her. 

Follow my erratic thought pattern here for a second...
The lamb reminded me of how Jesus is the Lamb of God.  Jesus is also considered the Word of God. 
Psalm 119:11 says "I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you." 
Aren't we supposed to keep Jesus and his words in our hearts?  Courtney seemed to be understanding this is a very sweet and simple child's way.

The next thought that occurred to me in the symbolism of the situation is how often the Lamb is lost in Christmas and goes unnoticed.  A very sobering thought for sure. 
We played music all morning while we fluffed branches and strung lights.  I can only recall two that mentioned Jesus' birth.

My children know the reason for the season (excuse the corny line).  They know it's essentially a big birthday party for the Savior.  But maybe we need to work on infusing Him into every little moment of the holiday instead of just being pleasantly surprised when an obvious reference pops up.

The lamb is back on the table. 

Now to work on getting the Lamb back in everything else :)

"She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."  Matthew 1:21

Laundry Soap

Sorry, that's the most inventive title I'm up to today... my eyes are still stinging from the ammonia (see facebook post for blonde moment of the day details O_O)

So I had to make a quick stop by Wal-mart for a few essentials yesterday.  I dont' know about you, but these little stops usually land me close to $100 poorer every time.  And let me just say I _loathe_ paying so much for laundry soap and dish soap.  I guess that comes from getting it free from a friendly neighbor in Corpus Christi.  It's taken us 3 years to go through all of the tubs of dish soap she gave us!

I searched for a good laundry recipe and landed on this one from www.thyhandhathprovided.blogspot.com 
Jane has all kinds of great recipes and inspirations for getting back to basics and out of the stores ;)

Of course, I was looking this up in the middle of the Wal-mart isle on my phone via Pintrest (another note, if you're not browsing pintrest.com you're missing out on life.  Seriously.)

I was ecstatic when Walmart had all 3 ingredients I needed!  You have to understand, I live in a geographical and commercial oddity.  We are 1 1/2 hrs away from ANYTHING you might actually need unless it's bread and milk!  Here's how the recipe went:

1 (5 gallon) bucket
long handled spoon
container to store the finished soap in (*think clean juice or random plastic jug)
hot tap water
1 Fels-Naptha Laundry Soap Bar (*or Ivory soap bar for sensitive skin, Castile soap for SUPER sensitive skin or baby laundry detergent-- see links at bottom of page)
1 c washing soda
1/2 c borax

(my alterations have an *)

I was a little hesitant about where I was going to store 5 gallons of laundry soap, to I divided the recipe and made a 1/4 batch.  My finished amount was about 1.5 gallons.  If you make the full recipe, it makes 5 g of concentrate and 10 g of ready-to-use.

1.  Grate the laundry soap bar and add to a medium sauce pan with 4 c of water.  Heat over med-hi heat and stir occasionally until the soap is completely melted.  *This may take a little time, but you really want to get it ALL melted down!
2.  While that's melting, fill your large bucket of choice (*I used a big 2 gallon glass jar)  half full with HOT tap water.
3.  Once the bar is melted, add it to the hot water in the bucket along with the borax and washing soda.  Stir well until everything is dissolved (*Seriously- mix well.  This is the easiest point to mix, much more difficult once it's gelled) These pics are of the gelled concentrate:

4. Add enough HOT tap water to finish filling the bucket and stir again.
5.  Cover tightly and let it sit overnight to thicken, *and it will!  Stir again in the morning.

When you're ready to use it, stir the detergent well and then fill the old detergent bottle (or whatever easy to handle jug you're going to use) half full, then fill the reminder with water.  Shake well before each use.
For top loading machines, use 5/8 c per load.  For from loading, 1/4 c.

Once you get the hang of it, you can experiment with adding a few drops of essential oils to the mix for a nice scent.  The Fels-Naptha bar has a strong clean scent when you grate it, but it's diluted considerably by the time you use it. 

An extra tip is to add vinegar to the rinse cycle!  My friend Erika suggests a 1/2 c for every load. This will remove any residue from the detergent and soften clothes nicely.  Believe it or not, you will NOT smell the vinegar once it dries...I'm still trying to convince people of this with my shampoo bars ;)  But, should you....oh, I don't know.....mix up the ammonia bottle and the vinegar bottle (hypothetically of course) you WILL smell that for sure.  I'm not sure if it was the ammonia stinging or my pride stinging O_O...... ammonia is now safely in the garage :D


If you're looking for Castile or Bastile (90% olive oil, 10% coconut oil) soap, check out these pages on etsy:
Castile
Bastile

The Reflection of the Refrigerator...

  I have been falling behind in my housekeeping duties miserably lately-- I know, surprise surprise :)  I think the whole 'kids gone all day' thing has really thrown me for a loop lately, but that's an entirely different posting that's going to take more time than I have right now!

Anyways!  I was heading to the fridge for who knows what- just because the kids are gone doesn't mean I've reclaimed any of that brain power I lost during pregnancy :/ and I noticed two things...

A-- it looks sooo much better since I finally purged all the layers of 'stuff' from the outside!  I think the magnets were screaming in protest at the abuse they were being put through holding up long expired coupons and paper upon paper that, wether visible or not, had a knack for getting lost in the general cold chaos...


B-- My fridge tells my life story.  Well, at least part of it.

You see, everything important to me is represented on this appliance. 

I have priceless works of art... the pumpkin drawing from Courtney's art class (complete with pumpkin patch on the back) and Cole's numerous monster drawings awaiting their frames for our Halloween decor.

Pictures of my family...John and I on a date, my brother, sister-in-law and mother's graduation pictures

A picture of the little boy, David we sponsor in Tanzania (need to get another letter put in the mail!)

A calender for the week detailing what needs to be done...yes, I know it's empty.  That's pretty telling in itself :P

Spelling words and school projects with little fingerprints in paint...

A card from my mother with Texas Bluebonnets on it...

Report cards with delightful comments from the teachers and very good grades...

So next time when I stand in front of the fridge, maybe it won't be to peruse the goods inside, but the goods outside... less filling to the waist line, but much more filling to the heart <3

Yes, I know it's 1 a.m.....

Don't hate...I bet Edison came up with odd thoughts at ridiculous hours ;) 

So, it just occurred to me....

....if we refer to the Bible and scripture as the 'Truth',

and the saying is "the truth hurts",

why do we expect everything from the Bible to be sunshine and daisies?  Just curious.....

Wellllllll......

Is it a bad sign that I forgot to check in for my very first Round of Words??  Good grief!  I have to say in my defense it has been a crazy week!  With my husband gone on a hiking trip, it seems like everything in the word has decided to happen in those 7 days!!  Of course!  I'm hoping to get more done tonight....this falls completely in line with trying to convince the DH I need a laptop ;)  But, if things don't go well this week with Congress, a computer will be the last of our worries!!  Looks like I might need to tend my sad little plants even more diligently!!

A Round of Words.....

Alright.
I can do this.
Feel free to envision me in some yoga pose practicing lamaze....

I keep stalling out on my WIP due to planning.  And replanning.  And planning again.  I've got a killer outline, but practically not story at all on paper :/  So,  clearly while OCD is the forerunner in my repertoire of character qualities, I thought I'd pull out my #2 and ace-up-the -sleeve.

You guessed it.... my pride.
Issue a challenge and wether I want to accept it or not, I have an uncontrollable urge to acquiesce.  Don't worry, I don't plan on ever going to Vegas.  My husband knows me too well.


This challenge is to state clear, measurable goals for my writing and actually (gasp)
....stick.....
......with....
....them.....

I know, I know.  Way outside of my comfort zone.  Right up there with publicly announcing I'm working on something.  so here goes..

I hereby decide I will write 300 words a day, with the exception of one night a week, insurance against Murphy's Law.  I also retain the right to count character development as progress toward this goal-- give an obsess-er a break here.

How will this workout? Heck if I know...

'Mere Christianity' and Constant Movement

"[E]very time you make a choice you are turning into the central part of you, the part of you that chooses, into something a little different than it was before. And taking your life as a whole, with all your innumerable choices, all your life long you are slowly turning this central thing into a heavenly creature or a hellish creature: either into a creature that is in harmony with God, and with other creatures, and with itself, or else into one that is in a state of war and hatred with God, and with its fellow creatures, and with itself. To be the one kind of creature is heaven: that is, it is joy and peace and knowledge and power. To be the other means madness, horror, idiocy, rage, impotence, and eternal loneliness. Each of us at each moment is progressing to the one state of the other."
— C.S. Lewis (Mere Christianity)

I've noticed that God seems to work in seasons for me.  He sticks with a certain theme and hits on it again, and again.  And again.  Maybe this is an attestment to my stubbornness, it's quite possible.
Lately it's been  the concept of constant motion.  Last year we visited Sonlight Church in Chesapeake.  It was an awesome church, very alive and vibrant- a little too far of a drive though ;)  The pastor's message was about recognizing that you are in constant motion.  Either toward God, or away.  This struck me as a really interesting little tidbit of information.  It had always seemed to me that if I wasn't ready to do the 'right' thing (which was typically the harder thing, wadda know?!) I would just hold still until I was ready to move forward.
Uh-uh.
Apparently it didn't work.
Today that was reiterated again in church at Forest Park.  The pastor, Scott Neal, quoted the lines from C.S. Lewis' 'Mere Christianity'.  I loved how a) it reaffirmed what kept popping up in the back of my head and b) it really illustrated things for me- the imagery of the hellish creature vs. the heavenly creature.

I am very capable of being a very hellish creature.

In fact, I'm pretty dang good at it. 

How ironic that "the other side" would make someone that wants so desperately to be good at something excel at the characteristics of their team.  Yeah, go figure.

This leads me back to John, as a lot of spiritual things do.  I believe whole-heartedly God picked him out for me because he can meet and match my spiritual needs.  It sure doesn't hurt that he's pretty good looking too ;)  Presentation people!  Presentation! :D

He makes me want to be good.  <-- collective gasp here.....

He makes me appreciate the little things, even when he's bugging me.  He's that slight pull to the good side.  Now don't get me wrong- he's not the only thing pulling me.  He used to be, but he's not now.  He shouldn't have to be.  That's too much weight for one man to carry.  But he led for awhile there.
I'm interested to see how it turns out.  If Satan, the perpetual loser in the situation, can do such a works on me I wonder what God can do.  I have no idea, quite frankly, but I bet it's gonna be awesome ;)

Practice Makes Perseverance

I am a failure.

I fall short on everything.  I’m not patient enough with my children.  There is always laundry in the basket.  I consistently come way too close to the limit of my grocery budget.  There is never a day that something doesn’t happen to remind me that I am inadequate.

I doubt I’m alone in this realization, but you have to keep in mind how much this rattles my little brain.  I’m the girl that straightens the placemats. Every time I walk by.  Even when it’s not my house.  I’m the one that will notice the brown shoes/black belt combo.  My husband laughs about how crazy my antics are, but I don’t think he realizes how deep it goes for me.

I was raised to understand the concept of “fearing the Lord”.  He gave you rules, you don’t cut it- he’s not happy.  No squishy, lovey-dovey pat on the head.  Remember Sodom and Gomorrah?  The flood?  The ten plagues?  Yeah- THAT guy.  It wasn’t until I had children that I began to understand the loving side of God.  You would think the compassion and love filling the pages of my bible would set me at ease.  Nope.  Quite the opposite.  A god that adores me, watches over me and allowed his son to die for me?  Talk about pressure!  All of the sudden, the fear I had known turned to guilt.

Until yesterday.  The god that sees my heart knew what it needed and chose this week to lay some serious truth on it!  I’m always floored by his timing!  I love how a message I’m handed one day is echoed the next in a completely different way.

Round one?  The realization that “conversion” to a follower of Christ is a journey, not a destination.  This particular truth was given to me by my pastor.  His example was Paul and Peter, a character I recently discovered I can identify with!  The problem was I expected a Paul-style conversion.  Jesus was supposed to show up, shake me by the shoulders, and then make everything in my life different from there on out. 

Self-control?

No problem!

Money problems?

Yeah right!

Disagreements?

Me? No!

But it didn’t happen.  I was more Peter than Paul.  I remember walking into the baptismal pool thinking, “This is going to fix everything!”.  I wasn’t wrong in my estimation of God’s power, I was wrong in expecting to pop out of the water a newly formed, perfect Christian.  I found out I am not a PopTart.

Paul’s letter to the Romans seems like a profile of my life: “… the evil I do not want to do- this I keep on doing…” (Romans 7:19 NIV).  I can’t explain my relief to hear someone else say it.

Round two came Monday morning.  I had come to understand that I’m on a road-trip and God understands that.  He doesn’t expect me to be perfect, and even loves me despite it!  I still secretly wondered when he would start chipping away at my “type A” personality.  After all, weren’t all Christians nice, docile, mousey people?  Immediately the “you’re not the right type” doubts began sneaking in again.  Then I read more about my sandaled twin.

In John 13, when Jesus attempts to wash Peter’s feet, ever-out-spoken Peter speaks up.  Come on- remember who this is??  The Lord of lords?  Washing my dirty ol’ feet? 

I don’t think so.

But when Jesus explains, I can’t help but think he may have smiled just a little at Peter’s enthusiastic response.  Peter and I?  We’re the “go hard or go home” type (insert rock and roll hand sign here). 

So off to my bible concordance I went.  The word I seemed to be getting was “persevere”.  I found lots of scriptures about persevering and interestingly quite a few were coupled with the term “confidence”.  One in particular seemed to hit the nail on the head.  Hebrews 10:35-36 admonishes “So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.  You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised” (NIV).  This is no timid statement.  First we’re told not to lose our confidence, but then it tells us why.  It doesn’t say “if you manage to pull off a miracle and get something right”. It says when you succeed. Yes, it will be work.  I haven’t yet found a scripture saying “thou shalt have a cake walk”.  But you’ve got two guarantees: you can make it and you will be rewarded.  God doesn’t bail out.  Ever.  I always liked the mental image of casting my crowns at Christ’s feet.  And let me tell you, I want to have a big, shiny, beautiful one to toss!  James 1:12 really reiterates this for me: “Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised…” (NIV).   Again- “will”, not “maybe, if you’re lucky”.

The third point came as a sigh of relief for my little choleric heart.  We are told to go about our path boldly.  Not even a sentence after his guarantee for the achievement of our goal, he tells us “if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him”. (Hebrews 10:38 NIV)

So I believe I have learned these things.  One- I am not a screw-up.  I am human.  I don’t have to question whether I am saved or not.  Jesus’ thumbprints are all over me.  I have all the more reason to keep pushing boldly on. 

Will I hit hurdles? 

Undoubtedly. 

Will I trip occasionally?

 Yep. 

But now I’m not scared of failing.  When those nagging voices creep in, telling me I’ve already fallen so many times, what’s one more?  I know I’ve got the cheat codes- I will win.  This time, next time and in the end. 

What will my first step be? 

I wrote this, didn’t I?

Soap Soap Soap!

I have been on such a soap kick lately!  I just can't believe how hard of a time I've had trying to find suppliers close to where I'm at!  I guess I'll just have to stick with online ordering and crazy shipping fees until I can get home in June...hope my mother-in-law is ready for a shopping trip ;)


I've checked (and re-checked) the shipping confirmation and it looks like my first kit should be here either tomorrow or the next day!  Take a look:

 The kids are so excited about the Soap Tarts!  They smell like strawberry too!  Can't wait to see if mine turn out as well....and should they......it's only the beginning ;)  Check out these Soap Pops from Debbie's www.soapylove.com site!

I just can't wait to get started!

Oh Marmalade, How I Loathe Thee...

  Okay, another thing about me.  I'm horrible at making preserves.  I know, I'm really setting myself up for a bad track record here....bad gardner, bad preserver....don't worry!  My kids are fine! 
  My first attempt was cherries.  It could be called a glaze, or rather yet a syrup.  I chose to call it 'bad'.
  Then there were the strawberries.  I thought I had learned my lesson (no pectin = disaster) and added some pectin.  Don't ask me how much I put in, I've blocked the memory.  I do, however, know how they invented Fruit Roll-ups.  DH kindly pointed out that at least it tasted really good as he chewed it off a knife. 
  We threw those jars away when no amount of soaking/prying could get the stuff out.
  So my hopes weren't very high for my huge box of tangelos bought from the FFA that were going to ruin any day.  But two things were at work here.  I really don't like to throw away food and I really really wanted to be able to make my own preserves! Apparently it's a matter of pride for me.  More on that later.
  Three.
  That's how many sets of lids I have bought for this darn marmalade because that's how many times I had to process it!  I won't mention where I found the recipe, but lets say it didn't persuade me to go vegan.  I made the first batch- which might I add took HOURS and sooo many dishes!  Again- picture the DH face. 
  It still 'slooshed'.  Even after the two weeks the recipe said it might take to set up.
  So I reprocessed and added a box of pectin.  It still looked questionable, so I added half of another box for good measure.
  Still 'slooshage'.
  So, resigned that I could only put so much money into these tangelos and only handle so much embarassment, I hit the internet.  This site SAVED my jelly!!

                       http://www.pickyourown.org/how_to_fix_runny_jam.htm

  I could feel myself nodding my head as I read, like a hypochondriac listening to a comercial for Lunesta.  Runny?  Yes!  Frustrated?  YES!
  So I took a chance and bought more lids.  Buying lids for me now is like taking vows.  And I bought more pectin too...that's like pre-marrital counceling :D
  I am proud to say I am now the owner of 12 full pints of gorgeous, delicious tangelo marmalade.  Born on Sunday March 13th at 5:02 - 5:55 p.m. and taking up the entire sink full of dishes.  So don't be shocked when I don't hand out this orange gold and I make you lick your spoon. 
  You've been warned.

P.S.  I did share a jar with my friend whom I bought the tangelos from.  Nevermind that I wrapped it in four layers of bubble wrap before leaving it in her locker...

Well, here goes!

  Alright.  Let me say right off the bat, I'm not real sure if this will work for me or not!  I have come to the realization I've got some serious ADD kicking or something- I'm completely and totally into one thing one day, but it might be something completely different the next!  Let me just tell you how much my husband loves that ;)
  This all started a few months ago.  I always get the itch about halfway through winter to start planting.  Am I a great gardener? 
  No.
  Way. 
  My mother and grandmother could grow anything- I pick on my mother relententlessly for snapping a bloom of a plant we walk by at random, but a few months later she's showing me her new creation.   Hysterical, but a little disappointing.  I was hoping that would be genetic or something.  But no, I'm such a black thumb my husband once told me it concerned him that I took care of our children.  I thought my response was pretty logical- "They tell me when they're thirsty." I honestly replied.  Apparently it didn't make him feel any more confident.
  But this year something was differnt.  Normally, when i begin hatching my next plan, my husband gives me 'that look'.  You know the one.  The head cocked slightly to the side, one eye narrowed and a look of warry suspicion as that little hampster on the wheel in his head comes to a screeching halt, sitting down with his little calculator and figures up how much this one is going to cost him.  This time though, he agreed.  (I'm assuming you all took a collective gasp for me right there)

  So, at this point I figure I'm approximately 4-5 weeks into this 'farming' endeavor and probably at about a 70%......okay, 65%-ish success rate. The seranno peppers and jalapenos are just starting to come up, the basil and onions are doing ok (finally).  The alyssum is going crazy and the fat cat (formerly know as Scraps) has squished my hollyhocks that WERE doing amazing.  'Were' being the operative word.  At this point, to be honest the tomatoes are the only thing saving my reputation.  I don't think they understand the pressure they're under- this is about them making it, or DH being right!  For God's sake grow!!
  The weather is certainly not working for me either.  I am officially to the point of getting angry about being cold all the time.  The poor plants can't even go outside yet because of the alternating wind/rain/freezing cold.  I am sooooo ready for spring!