I’ve struggled with making my menu the last couple of weeks, what with being out of town and then our computer virus.  We ended up having too much pizza!  It was a good reminder of how important a meal plan is to my family’s health and my sanity!

I spent time today, though, planning the menu and making mixes for bread and pancakes.  I even got some granola made, and am sharing the recipe with you.  It’s my mom’s recipe; it’s delish and sooo filling.  The great thing about granola is that you can add in whatever extra nuts, seeds, or dried fruit you’ve got in your pantry; it’s different every time I make it and good every time! 

JANET’S GRANOLA

6 cups old-fashioned oats

1 cup wheat germ (or oat bran)

1 cup roasted sunflower seeds

1/2 cup oil

1/2 cup honey

Mix together thoroughly and spread on 2 cookie sheets/jelly roll pans.  Bake (300*) about 1/2 hour, stirring occasionally.  Let cool and stir again before storing in a sealed container.

     *Optional additions: 1 cup pecans, walnuts, almonds, raisins, pumpkin seeds, etc.  The more, the better!

     *I also like to add several shakes of cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice

Now for my menu; this week I’m doing better than pizza :) 

• Monday:     tortellini, meat sauce, salad
• Tuesday:     appetizer supper (meatballs, cheese, crackers, fruit)  *This meal is to eat up some of the 15 pounds of cheese we got on sale at the Amish bulk foods store!
• Wednesday: burritos, nachos, fruit
• Thursday:    lentil soup, toast
• Friday:        salsa chicken, rice, tamales
• Saturday:    leftovers from the week

Oh, what fun the 10 plagues can be!  We’re reading in Exodus 7-11 about when God sent 10 plagues on Egypt because the pharoah wouldn’t let the Israelites free.  I was looking online for a booklet or activity to help my kids remember what the plagues were, but found something even better.

I stumbled upon a website called Biblical Holidays, which gives information on the Hebrew roots of Christianity and holidays from the Bible.  They had a page called 10 Plagues Adventure that gives examples of things to do in your home that will allow your kids to ’experience’ the 10 different plagues.

We just started yesterday with the water turning to blood.  After I read that part of the Bible story to the kids, we talked about what it would have been like with the smell and stickyness… ew.  Then I started them all on Math so I could go add red food coloring to their water cups, their toilet, and their sinks.  As soon as they found the first ‘blood’ they understood what was happening, and went running around the house looking for more.

So today I put out little ’frogs’ everywhere: in the cereal box, in their beds, in the fridge, on the chairs and floor, everywhere.  I called them in for school (in the dining room) and they were asking what the green things were; then I read that part of the story, and they took off looking for all of the frogs.

What came next I wasn’t expecting.  I had read the whole ‘frog’ section to the kids: the Bible says that Pharoah asked Moses to pray to God to take the frogs away and he’d let the Israelites leave; Moses prayed, the frogs died, but then Pharoah changed his mind and refused to let the people go.   So after my kids found all of the frogs, they started putting them all around the house again, then asked me to really look at the frogs.  They had colored red crayon on each one to show they were dead, and then very seriously asked me, “Now will you let us people go… outside to play?”  Of course I said no, in true pharoah form!

This is such a great activity; the kids (and me!) are learning not just facts from the Bible, but are getting a taste of what the Egyptians experienced.  The frogs got a little annoying today, always underfoot and in every area; what started as fun is growing into an irritation, and we haven’t even gotten to the gnats on our skin for tomorrow!

10 Plagues of Egypt– Part 2

Do you have a spot in your house that is bugging you?  A spot that is messy and seems too overwhelming to deal with?  Or maybe like me, you’ve got several spots in your house like that? 

Today I want you to tackle at least one of them, but only for 15 minutes.  If you’ve never tried this trick, today is the day!  Determine which spot is irritating you the most right now; if they’re all equal, then pick one that is in the highest traffic area. 

Then set a timer for 15 minutes and put things from that spot back where they belong (or in the trash!) working as fast as you can.  When the timer beeps, stop working.  If the area is not clean at that time, you can set a timer again tomorrow and give it another 15 minutes. 

I did this today on my dresser.  I’ve got several places throughout the house that are piled up and bugging me, but I chose to clear my dresser-top because I couldn’t use the mirror with the piles of clothes and junk stacked a foot deep.  I worked as quick as I could and, lo and behold, I actually beat the timer with 4 minutes to spare! 

That annoying mess on top of my dresser has bothered me for several weeks.  Every time I went into my bedroom I’d feel overwhelmed and tired… and all it really took was 11 minutes to change it!

Find a spot right now, whether it be a drawer, counter, table-top, or shelf… and spend 15 minutes cleaning it off.  Go!  Now!

I really don’t like to shop with my kids.  When I shop I like to slowly browse, read every label, and in general take my sweet time.  But with kids… not so much.  I’ve spent a lot of time training my kids on how to behave in a store: no whining; no asking to buy something; go to the bathroom before we leave the house; don’t touch the merchandise; don’t touch each other; move out of the way of other customers; stay with me; don’t touch the merchandise– wait, didn’t I already tell you that?! 

Here’s 3 basic tips for grocery shopping with your children:

1. “Touch the Cart”  Once my kids were too big to sit in the cart (actually, I couldn’t fit many groceries in a cart that had 3 kids) I trained them to walk next to the cart.  The rule is they have to be touching the cart at all times, which keeps the kids with me but allows them the freedom to look where they want.
2. “Fold your hands”  We’ve had our share of torn packages and broken jars from the kids handling products.  I now have them either fold their hands in a store or put their hands in their pockets.  The subconcious reaching for an object is hindered just long enough for them to remember to ‘look with their eyes’.  Usually.
3. Get a babysitter!  For real, shopping with kids is difficult because there’s not much for them to do except exercise restraint.  If you never teach your kids how to contain their energy for two hours in Walmart, they will still grow to be well-adjusted, disciplined adults; there are many, many other opportunities that you will have to teach self-control.  For grocery shopping, hire a babysitter, trade watching kids with a friend, or even shop at night when your husband can be home with them. 

I’ve noticed that when shopping is not a stressful activity, I tend to buy less chocolate… hmm.

My daughter Kyra has no hips, lucky thing.  Her trim body looks so cute in pretty much anything, but for a long time her lack of hips was a big struggle.  I felt like I was constantly telling Kyra to pull up her pants so her little bum crack wouldn’t show.  She’d get an embarassed look on her face and yank up her pants as far as they’d go.  It became a toss-up for which way to humiliate her: let her bum hang out the back  for all to see, or remind her to pull up her pants for all to hear.  Then I came up with the code word.

I had Kyra pick out a word that I could use to remind her to pull up her pants, and that way no one else would know what we were talking about.  She chose “simple,”  and we practiced; I’d say “simple” and she’d pull up her pants.  We practiced plenty before doing it in public so that it would hopefully be enough of a habit that the days of the humiliating, “Pull up your pants, Kyra!” were over. 

I still remember the first time we tried it in front of other people.  We were visiting with some friends of ours and I noticed Kyra’s little bum peeping out of her jeans.  I softly said, “Kyra, simple.” and without looking at me she tugged up her pants.  I was inwardly patting myself on the back when I heard her loudly proclaim, “That means I’m supposed to pull up my pants!”  *sigh*  It did get better.

We use code words now for lots of things, like the reminder to chew with your mouth closed is “chap” and helping Levi stop the habit of chewing on his fingernails was “giddy-up.”  We even use code words for things we just get tired of saying; instead of “Please sit with your bum on your chair and your legs in front of you when you sit at the dining room table” we just say, “joy!” and the kids shuffle into the proper position. 

Try some code words of your own; your kids will appreciate these gentle reminders that won’t embarass them.

Okay, I just spent 3 minutes digging around my ‘hair’ drawer in the bathroom, looking for Tea Tree Oil… it  doesn’t belong in there, but neither do a lot of things I found.  Rummaging around in that nasty drawer prompted me to do a cleaning mission TODAY.  Among the necessary tools (hairbands, clips, brush, combs, mousse, gel, hairspray) was a ton of junk that should be either in a separate space or just thrown out! 

Join me in this purge-and-clean; take 15 minutes to clean all the floating hairs, un-used haircolor cartons, hairbows (!?) and bobby pins out of one of your bathroom drawers.  Wipe it out with a damp rag or paper towel, and then arrange only what you need and use back in the drawer; everything else goes!  Put like things together, preferably in containers of some kind: hairbands and clips can all go in tiny baskets so they don’t slide all around the drawer; I used pretty boxes left from Christmas that are too cute to toss.  Brushes, combs (pare down on these– how many do you need?) can go in a small plastic basket that’s made for office supplies, and then place any gels and hair products that you use in a neat little row.   

Your drawer should be orderly and you should be able to see all of your supplies without having to move anything.  Now stand back and smile.  And fix your hair.  :)

Last night Josiah came downstairs after having been sent to bed over an hour earlier; he asked if we could talk.  He said he had to tell me something that he should have told me about a long time ago, and he was afraid that I’d be upset.

My mind was whirling… had someone molested him?  Did he do something terrible like… to be honest, I couldn’t think of anything he could have done that would have him standing in front of me with such guilt and tears in his eyes, but it had me scared, really scared, and I felt a heavy stone in the pit of my stomach.

Me:  “Honey, no matter what, I love you.  There’s nothing you can ever do that will make me not love you anymore.  We will deal with whatever happened, but I love you.”

Josiah: Okay. *Big steadying sigh* Okay.  Today at [my cousin's] house… *another ragged sigh* I’m sorry, Mommy, please forgive me, I’m sorry, but… I almost ate a worm.  *Throws himself into my arms, hugging me really tight*

I wanted to laugh with relief that nothing truly bad had happened, and laugh at the silliness of eating a worm (which I should have seen coming since he just read “How to Eat Fried Worms.”)  But I didn’t laugh, because to Josiah it wasn’t a laughing matter; it was a moral matter.  The guilt I could see in his eyes was so big in his heart that it had kept him awake in his bed and gnawed at him. 

We asked Josiah a few questions: did he eat it (no, chewed it and spit it out,) why did he do it (cousin had promised a foreign coin if he did it,) did he think it would be wrong to do it (yes,) and was it gross (yes!)  Then Nate and I thanked him for confessing to us, and talked about  how God tells us to confess to each other because He knows we need it; confessing our sins makes us feel better and it helps others to help us do right the next time.    

We told him that the act of eating the worm wasn’t wrong (we have absolutely no rules about eating worms, go figure) but since he had believed it to be wrong and had done it anyway, that is what made it sin.  Josiah was right in telling us he was sorry and asking for forgiveness, but he needed to do the same with God as well.  We also talked about Christian friends/family and what that means; to help each other do right, they should be talking about whether it’s right or wrong (I think if the cousin knew Josiah thought it was wrong then he wouldn’t have continued the dare) and encourage each other to do the right thing.  We also spent time discussing options of things he could have said or done differently, like tell his cousin he thought it was wrong or walk away if it felt like too much pressure to stand against or if he was unsure if it was wrong, to ask someone he trusted.

I’m so thankful to God that my nine-year-old is still so sweet and innocent, that his heart is so pure that the thought of willfully disobeying his parents keeps him up at night…  and I treasure these things in my heart.

I’m back home from a great conference done by Hearts at Home, in Bloomington, Illinois.  It’s a bit of a trip from here (close to 5 hours,) but going with good friends makes drive-time one of the best reasons to go! 

It was so nice to relax and listen to speakers talk about the profession of motherhood; gain ideas and encouragement as a Christian wife and mother; laugh at Dr. Kevin Leman share stories that spoke to my heart; walk around vendors’ booths and look at books… and take my time doing it!  And it was then good to come home, to a house that was clean and laundry that was done (I have the best husband!)

My guilt with going to the conference (or leaving my family for any reason) is balanced by what I reap from get-aways like this: a renewed sense of purpose, ignited motivation, guidance from speakers that I can’t wait to ‘try’, and ideas and understanding from my fellow travellers that helps me almost as much as the rest of the conference!

If it is at all possible, go to a conference every year.  Whether it is for moms, Christian women, homeschoolers, scrapbookers, whatever will meet a need for where you are in your life right now, do it.  Save up the money, work out sitters for the kids, and GO!  You will be blessed!

Mornings can be a hassle.  Getting myself and 3 kids ready for our day is pretty much never smooth-going, but having my kids do their Morning 5 has helped. 

The Morning 5 is the basic ‘care-for-yourself’ things that I want my kids to do every day of their life.  I thought about what I would want them to do when they stay at someone else’s home, what they should do when they are in college, and what should be habit for them to do as adults:

1. Make your bed.
2. Get dressed.
3. Take care of dirty/clean laundry.
4. Clean up bedroom.
5. Brush teeth, wash face, fix hair.

We had to spend time practicing these steps, and they’re still not habit– yet; but I know that if this is our family’s expectation all the years they are in this house, it will become second nature to them eventually.

When the kids were younger I made some alterations to help make things a little easier:

1. Make your bed.  *They were able to do this because I did NOT use a sheet, only their comforter, and I tucked it in around the foot and most of the sides of the bed.  That way they were only “making” the head-end of the bed, and the rest stayed put.
2. Get dressed.  *With help when they needed it, but it’s suprising how young a child can fully dress themselves.  Laying out clothes for them helps with this step.
3. Take care of dirty/clean laundry. *I taped pictures of clothing on the dresser drawers so they could put away their clean clothes.  It doesn’t matter if they put them in messy!  A few wrinkles are worth this life-long habit.
4. Clean up bedroom.  *This can be difficult if your kids have too many toys.  I’ll be writing about Trade-Out Toys soon, which will help.
5. Brush teeth, wash face.  *Always with supervision until you know they are getting those pearly-whites clean! 

After my kids were able to do the Morning 5 without help, I also added a requirement: they had to do their 5 before they could have breakfast.  This has helped them speed up the process, because they can’t wait to eat each morning– except for my youngest, the laid-back easy-going kid.  He doesn’t do his 5 quick, but he does get them done; baby steps…

Why is it when I leave my family for a short period of time, it’s almost not worth it?  There’s pros, there’s cons, and then there’s the guilt factor.

• PRO:  The conference I’m going to is for moms.  It will be encouraging and uplifting.
• PRO:  I’ll be exposed to resources and lectures that will help me to be a better wife and mother.
• PRO:  I get to stay at a hotel 2 nights.
• PRO:  I will be responsible for myself only.  I only have to make sure I brush my teeth, pick up my laundry, and wear a coat outside.  This means no nagging!
• PRO:  Hours in a vehicle with 2 of my favorite people, and we can chat… and laugh… and tell stories without code words…
• PRO:  Eating out, which means no cooking or dishes! 
• PRO:  Getting away, not having the role/responsibilities of wife or mom but just being me…
• CON:  I need to get all the laundry done so there’s not such a mountain when I get back.
• CON:  I need to prepare meals ahead of time so the family eats things other than popcorn, chips, and Taco Bell.
• CON:  I need to have the house clean just in case we have a showing over the weekend.
• CON:  I also need to have the house clean so that it’s not a crazy mess when I get back.  I can hope, can’t I?
• CON:  The GUILT.  This one pretty much encompasses all of the above cons; it’s all tied together.  If you’re a mom who has left your family for a short period of time, for any reason (conference, funeral, whatever) then you know the guilt I’m talking about. 

Why do I feel guilty?  I know this conference will help me in so many ways; it is good for me; yet there’s a tiny little face in the back of my mind, shaking her head and looking at me with condemning eyes.  I can’t even name what the guilt issue is, which is how unjustified guilt usually works.

Ok, now’s the time for me to say how I’ve figured out how to whoosh away the guilt and not look back… but I haven’t figured it out.  I don’t know if this guilt comes from Satan, who wants me to give in to the guilt and not go be encouraged; or if the guilt comes from within myself, as though I’m not being a good mother if I’m not making constant sacrifices; or from somewhere else… I just don’t know. 

I will reason with myself, give myself pep talks, and reassure myself… I will go to my conference and have a great time.  I will do my best to ignore the disapproving face in my mind.  But I will know she is there.