Think and Pray, Pray and Think

Sometimes a person just needs a little alone time, when nothing is required of her.  Even if that means getting a cavity filled.

Rewind to this morning. Eleven o'clock.

She said, "Just lay back and relax."

And I did.

I realized I had time to think.

So I freely thought.

And I prayed some.  A mom in my Sunday School class is needing to answer her son's question, "How does a baby get in there?"  In addition she wants scripture to back up the theory that God desires us to be virgins until we are married.  So I prayed for her and went over the verses I had found last night.

Then I still had some time, so I did some more relaxed thinking.  Have you done that lately?  So nice.

Then she started drilling.  And I jumped a bit.

"Did that hurt, or was it just pressure?"

"I'm not sure.  Try again."

Big pain.  Big jump.

Another shot to my gums to get really numb.  Okay, it went up to my eyelid.  My eyelid was numb.  But I had another fifteen minutes of thinking and praying time before she came back.  More about myself at this point.  Please let the numbing juice go to the place where she is going to drill, not just the whole right side of my face.  No longer very relaxed.

As I sat there I remembered my Dad telling about a time when the dentist couldn't get him numb enough and he told her to just go ahead and do it.  Could I be that tough?  How bad will it hurt?

She came back and drilled and my body tensed in anticipation of pain.  But, it was okay folks.

My hour of peaceful, no responsibilities time had come to an end and Paul and I laughed about my overly relaxed face.

Have you ever heard that red-heads have a hard time with anesthetic?  I believe it.  There was this one time "when I stayed up way past midnight," no, when I was having foot surgery and I totally woke up.  I remember my arms being strapped down and I said to anyone who could hear me, "I can feel that.  I can feel my foot."  And then I went back to sleep.  True story.

My Night In

Tonight it's me, two raspberry truffles, and Serendipity,

wrapped up in flannel sheets and a preheated mattress pad.

And Reuben, who thinks he wants to watch too.

Maybe it's the lure of the chocolate truffles.

Or maybe it's the cozy cuddly time with Mom and the cat.

I like to watch Serendipity at Christmas time.

Some watch...

whatever other Christmas movies are out there.

I watch Serendipity.

That's a lot of tubas.

Rabbit Stew

Look at this little boy.

I wish you could feel his bursting excitement.

He came into the kitchen and hugged my leg

saying, "Thank you!  I'm so excited!!"

He and Paul layered up in their snow gear

and just pulled out in a big truck

driven by our friend Jeremy

to go catch a rabbit.

And skin it.

And eat it.

This is no big deal to Jeremy.

He's a big hunter.

Even has a son named Hunter.

You never know when you go over to their house

if a big deer will be hanging from the rafters in their garage.

One time we went over and he had a coyote

laying out on his tail gate.

Reuben thinks his hunting abilities are fantastic.

And Jeremy loves being idolized by him.

"For Reuben.

Jeremy's Wild Hog Sausage"

from last year's wild boar hunt

So Jeremy called up this morning

saying today's a good day to catch a rabbit.

Really?

It's 15 degrees.

But it's sunny.

And who feels the coldness when the hunt is on anyway?

So what shall I do today?

Besides educate Peter.

Play with my laundry.

Something New

Silly, yes.

But I have the excitement of a child about to play with a new toy.

My new toy?

While I was out yesterday

all by myself

(it was a glorious two hours)

Paul designed and installed

an indoor clothesline

in our laundry room.

He's so sweet.

And strong.

And creative.

And thoughtful.

And,

handsome.

Let's find a picture of him...

See?  Handsome.

I've got laundry on the rinse cycle right now, just about ready to be clipped up.

You can sense the excitement, right?  Ooo, eeee!


Oh, the spin just stopped!

Happy laundering!


(Okay, it's 15 degrees and my world is covered in snow and ice.  It's a time of creative entertainment.  Like hanging up one's laundry.  May your day be much more thrilling.)

Snow Day

Were you fortunate enough to get the 6:36am weather report delivered to your bedside by a cutie cutie four year old this morning?

No?

You should come for a visit.



"Mom, it's a 'nowy day!"

     "Mmm."

"Is it enough 'now to go to the big hill?"

     "It's too early to go to the big hill now."



Then he disappeared for an hour and a half.  Maybe back to bed?  I don't know because I locked our bedroom door and went back to sleep.

Eight o'clock now...



"Unlock the door."  (Read that in your lowest four year old voice.)

     "No."

"Open sesame!"  (Say it like you believe it will work.)

      chuckle.  "No."



We did eventually get up and acknowledge, and fulfill even, our child's intense desire to be one with the snow.  Paul and the boys went out to inaugurate the third year of Peter's Snow Removal.  I dutifully went to the kitchen and whisked together hot cocoa.  Snow removal is a family business.

I was going to make homemade marshmallows as a hostess gift for our dinner outing this evening.  But, alas, the local market has not any plain gelatin.  Plan B will probably involve something else dipped in melted chocolate  Whatever it is, I'll have to test them before I give them, of course.

If you have light corn syrup and plain gelatin on hand, you could try making marshmallows.  Here's a video demo from a blog of a blog I know.




Click the link up there to watch it whole screen and to see the recipe.

If you make some, will you please dip them in chocolate and mail me some?  Yum.

As I am about to push the Publish button for this post, the boys are regearing and headed to the sledding hill.  It's barely ten o'clock.

We're Not Alone

Okay.

Doesn't it feel great when you meet someone new who thinks just like you do?  Maybe you have some crazy idea that no one else understands, but you are so sure of its rightness.  But occasionally you wonder why you're the only one who thinks that way?

Yes!

Meet... ha, I don't even know her name yet.  I just came across her blog from a link from someone else's blog.  Let me see...  It looks like her name is Shonni.

I was drawn to her blog because she's an adoptive mom with ten kids and two more waiting in China.  She has a lot to write about.

But the post that caught my eye and caused me to jump over here to This Small Life to share with you was called Advent and When We Stopped Celebrating Christmas. You can read it for yourself right here.

Here's a quote to give you an idea what she talks about:


 
"We do not give gifts to the children for Christmas...they get gifts for their birthdays.  We do not want to take away from the real GIFT of Christmas.  No competition for My LORD!!!  We want to remember, celebrate, honor, and give praises to Him and Him alone."





It felt good to read her words and realize there is another family out there who has gone against the grain of how an American Christmas must be, should be, is usually celebrated.


If some want to celebrate Santa's arrival, okay.

If some want to celebrate Christ's arrival, okay.  Right?

Yes.

And if we choose Christ, we are not alone.

Just Another Day

Before I was dressed and put together this morning, Reuben was outside playing in the snow.

I tried to get a pic of him making a snow angel

on the sidewalk in about 1/4 inch of snow.

It was cute,

his desperation to play in the snow.

 Peter soon joined him,

dutifully headed to clear our sidewalk.

Beach toy now snow toy.

 Reuben asked of me,

"Mom, you want to come outside with me?"

"Um... I am... going to make hot chocolate

so it's ready when you come in!"

Score.

Early morning coldness avoided.

 Here they are.

Round one of snow play completed.

So now onto our lunch adventure.

Yesterday I made pumpkin bread,

but it didn't get cooked all the way in the middle.

See...

 Gooey in the middle.

 So I tried an experiment.

What if I cooked it up like French Toast?

Would the middle get cooked?

I hate to throw it out,

especially since I personally turned a whole pumpkin into

pumpkin mash for most of the day on Monday.

And... it worked.

And made a delicious lunch.

Now, the afternoon Peter has been waiting for.

Peter has been planning for three days for this Big Event.

 He's been so giddy about the bunk beds

and wanting to do all his lessons up there

while I sit in a folding chair nearby.

Anyhoo,

on Monday he asked if we could go to the library

and pick out a stack of books

so he could read them on his bed for

"one to two hours."

Yesterday we trekked to the library for said stack of books.

TODAY he got his

"one to two hours" of reading bliss.

Books were stacked and prioritized before lunch,

ready to go.

Exciting, yes?

We did accomplish some formal learning in there too.

Promise.