You GOTTA go

I have heard about the Christmas Train at Dry Gulch, USA for years. Why in the world have I never been?

Because my husband is a basketball coach and is primarily unavailable this time of year.

Oh yeah, that's right.

This year, however, I didn't let that minor detail stop me. I found a day and time that looked good enough and let T know that we are going to the Christmas Train this year. Come rain or shine, pain or line, we were GOING. And go we did last night. Check HERE for details. It was SUPER. Honestly, words can't describe it... we loved every minute of it, and of course, our favorite part was the train and the poweful telling of the story of Jesus from birth to resurrection. Also loved the carousel rides, the wagon ride with the retelling of "Twas the Night Before Christmas." Take my word for it. You gotta go.

You won't be disappointed.

Sicko

Awww.... poor girl....

not fun to be sick this time of year.

104.8 fever, ick!

What a sicko!

Our Babe in Toyland

Ellie's 5th performance at the Spotlight is the musical Babes in Toyland, directed by Bruce Webb. Although it has nearly killed us (the rehearsals were absolutely time-sucking little monsters at a time of the year when time is sooo important), the play has turned out to be adorable (I say through clenched teeth). I did finally get to see the whole show and here are some favorite scenes.... (I really did enjoy the performance, it almost made it all worth it!!) Ellie pre-show in her Jill costume (as in Jack and Jill)

Ellie as a townsperson in the opening scene...

Introduction of Fairy Tale characters on stage....

Jack and Jill went up the hill...

Ellie in the classroom scene...

Ellie as an elf in Toyland (center)....

Ahhh, all is well in Toyland. Contrary Mary gets to marry her true love, Allen....

Ellie's friends came to watch!

And Brooke won the cookie they give away at intermission.

Ok. Take note. It WAS worth it. To see Ellie doing something she loves, in an environment where she thrives, TOTALLY worth it.

Giving it Up

As I make little ant tracks on this earth,

I create a concept of what my life should be like,

how God should work things out for me.

And when the river of my life encounters rapids and roaring waters,

and other events that frankly rail against all common sense,

it's easy for me to be taken aback: God why have you allowed this?

But I'm giving it up. I think it's in my best interest.

The God who made the ants and rivers and every layer of this richly detailed universe

is the God who does what He pleases. Yes, He is loving and gracious and kind.

And He sustains me daily. I can't possibly understand all his kindnesses toward me.

But, lest I forget, He is God. He Does as he Pleases.

Take Mary. I'm positive she was completely shocked and confused about the developments in her life. Not only did she embarrassingly turn up pregnant before she was married, she had to ride a donkey while very pregnant and give birth to a baby in a stable. It makes no sense. But I really believe she had given it up: "I am the Lord's servant... May it be to me as you have said." ~Luke 1:37

She could have kicked, she could've screamed. Instead she gave it up.

I notice this same response with many of God's chosen people:

When faced with talking to the king and risking her own life, Esther surrendered: "If I perish, I perish." She held on Loosely but Didn't Let Go.

When responding to Nebuchadnezzar, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego hotly retorted: "If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” They definitely gave it up. I love those guys.

Take Jonah, however. We're studying him at church right now and being reminded how he held on to Jonah's will. He didn't feel like taking the trip to Nineveh and he really despised the Ninevites, so "Jonah ran away from the Lord." As we know, things got worse for Jonah. What really gets me about Jonah was that after he had finally obeyed God, he held on to his own bitter will. He waited outside the city of Ninevah, hoping to see calamity fall upon it. But when it didn't he was "greatly displeased and became angry [with God]." Jonah's final words of the book are "It would be better for me to die than to live." How sad. Give it up, dude. How different the book of Jonah could have been.

It sure is easy to see the err of Jonah's ways, but the irony is that I live my own life like Jonah. Questioning the things that happen in my life. Such as, I prayed to be a missionary (in college I really did surrender my life to mission work), but I'm living a very secular life married to a basketball coach. Huh? That makes no sense Lord. And as far as basketball goes, I would think it's in God's perfect and pleasing will that the ORU basketball team, who holds up the banner of Jesus, would win each and every basketball game we play!!! Ha. Not even close. It doesn't make sense. There are also numerous unbloggable things about my life that just don't make sense. And in the lives of many, many of my Christian friends.

I haven't dared to mention the number of those who loved God in the Bible and beyond who died awful deaths because of their profession of faith in Christ. Now that just does not jive with my idea of what God would do. Yeah, I'm having a hard time getting that, and in my human mind, maybe it's not possible to understand.

But with God's help I'm giving it up. God is God. He does as He pleases.

I think this attitude will be strengthened by a three keys:

*An understanding of my place, God is God; I am put here on earth as his humble servant, doing whatever it is he asks.

*An yearning for my real home, earth is temporary, heaven is forever.

*A belief in God's love enormous for me, and how in the end God's plan is perfect, even if that doesn't mean perfect as we understand it.

I can't think of a better thing to give God for Christmas than my stubborn will which wants my own way. I want to give him my heart that says, "I trust You, I love You and I submit to You, even when things don't make sense."

J is for Jolly, Jaunty, and Jokey Uncle Jon

One of the best parts of the holidays is that Uncle Jon, Tom's oldest brother, usually comes to town to see us. He is tons o' fun for the kids, and hung out with them each day he was here. JOLLY * He came to watch Ellie's class play.... (plus her performance at the Spotlight, and came to observe her guitar lesson too)JAUNTY * played hours of football with Luke, plus watched a little Sunday and Monday night football... and cheered Luke on at his basketball game.

JOKEY * he schooled Kami in some Social Studies and that's about it because she studied her little buns off for finals this week!

We are thankful for Uncle Jon and already miss him very much!

What Ellie Wants For Christmas, 2010

A tarp

A realistic train set

Antique pocket knives

A round trip airplane ticket to Hong Kong (where her Uncle Zach lives)

A bow and arrow

A new puppy

A rifle

A chemistry set

A machete

Needless to say, Ellie is a bit difficult to shop for this year. I just can't picture a tarp under the Christmas tree or a machete for that matter. If you don't know her well, you may be a bit worried about her; if you do know her, you know that Ellie is Ellie and nobody else but Ellie.

Cough Variant Asthma

This is the story of Luke's health struggle the last seven years and how we *think* we have finally found the answer to his problem.

Luke had RSV when he was 9 months old. It didn't require hospitalization, and he recovered quickly. We were relieved about that. But in caution over his "twitchy" lungs and wheezing, we were sent home with a nebulizer and Albuterol to help control "possible asthma."

But no one ever said anything about asthma again.

We heard about allergies (tested with the stick method twice)
We heard about steroids (given them a lot)
We had his tonsils and adenoids removed when he was 3.
We heard about sinus infections (and administered countless antibiotics to him over the years, literally, dozens of rounds and I don't want to THINK about how many x-rays he has had)
We heard about sinus passages, and how sinus surgery was a last resort.
We tried medicine after medicine. Singular, Zyrtec, Albuterol, Alavert. You name it, he tried it.
At one point, he was on 9 different medicines.
That's when I decided to take him off everything.
That didn't work either.
We tried sinus rinses. They helped.
But regardless of all these things, Luke still struggled with this:

RELENTLESS COUGHING, primarily at night. Coughing until he vomited. Coughing so hard blood vessels broke in his face. And there was absolutely no cough medicine that would make a difference. Fresh air, lemon and honey, cough drops, lollipops, they were all mocking us. He lost sleep. His face puffed up. And then we would crawl back like servants to an antibiotic, the only thing that would relieve what we believed were sinus infections. No one really seemed to get it but Tom and I. The helplessness we felt when we heard that first little strum of a cough, the unproductive, tight cough that was a sure sign of a long, long night.

And then, at age 7, our ENT recommended an Infectious Disease doctor. Just in case Luke was dealing with some kind of immunity problem, because after all IT'S NOT NORMAL FOR A KID TO HAVE A CONSTANT REOCURRENCE OF A CONDITION SUCH AS A SINUS INFECTION. I get that now. I get that I should have searched harder and quicker. But Dr. Chang sat and listened for an hour to Luke's health history. I could see his wheels turning. He is one of those people who is smarter than smart, yet personable and warm. After I took Luke for a potty break, we walked back in and Dr. Chang gave me his tentative diagnosis:

Cough Variant Asthma.

People with CVA have no classic symptoms of asthma, such as wheezing or shortness of breath. For that reason, it is a very difficult condition to diagnose.

Here is what I found on "Pediatric Planet" - Some children with a persistent cough have a condition called "cough variant asthma." This means that we believe that the child is coughing because his or her breathing tubes (bronchi) are reacting to irritation by squeezing in to a smaller size, just like in asthma. Children with cough variant asthma do not make the wheezing sound that we usually hear in children with ordinary asthma, though. This can make it difficult to diagnose the condition, and very often children with cough variant asthma have been through a number of other diagnoses or treatments. Parents of children with cough variant asthma usually find that regular cough and cold medicines don’t help their children, and of course antibiotics don’t help either. Cough variant asthma can be a very frustrating condition.

This blog also helped. It helped me to hear the story of another parent who dealt with similar issues.

So, we have been treating Luke's asthma for the last few weeks, and so far, it's like magic. He's doing very well on the Flovent inhaler. And it's such a relief to have a healthy little boy. It's only been a few weeks, so I am a little hesitant to declare it a total cure, but we are very optimistic that we have made some progress by finding out about CVA.

Encouraging Ida

Granny loves the holidays, but unfortunately, she's spending this one stuck in a wheelchair living in the nursing home. So we thought we'd spice things up for her a little bit. You would have thought we had brought in a live 24-foot Douglas fir like the one in Washington, D.C.......she was so pleased with the little, silvery, tinselly thing. She was in good spirits on this day.

One night last week, I went by to see her around 7 P.M. She was wearing her red laced gown and all tucked in under 3 layers of covers (now I know why I love covers so) with the lights down low. She says to wake her up when she's asleep "I want you to wake me up!" she insists sweetly. "It breaks the monotony." So woke her up I did, and I don't know if was the heaviness of night that or the dream-like state of sleep that had her baring a soul a little more freely to me. She talked of what ifs (what if that darn swivel chair hadn't taken me down), and she affirmed God's protection over her (it didn't even hurt! God was right there with me.) She expressed her motherly worries (how's your Uncle Rex [her son] doing) and then spoke of her frustration at her current situation (I just want to be home). I wasn't sure what home she was talking about, her earthly one or heavenly one, but I just felt my heart twist up and I said, "Granny, God has left you about this old earth for some reason. He has a little more work for you to do here." She looked at me with a tiny twinkle in her eye. "You think so?" she wondered aloud.... "I know so, Granny!" I replied. "In fact," I explained, "you are already doing God's work, just being here in this nursing home and living so faithfully with your eyes on Jesus." I told her that several of my friends have been inspired by her over the years and especially lately. (I know this, friends, because you've told me!). "Really?" she questioned. "Yes, granny." I told her I share with my friends her love for God, her fear of nothing but him, the way she is always looking for God to return to earth, in anticipation of meeting Jesus each and every day of her life. She said, "Well, that just makes it worth it, then doesn't it," she whispered before she drifted off in sleep.

If my granny has touched you in any way, if you have seen her faith shine, I'd ask you to consider taking a moment and telling her so. I'd love you to send her a card to the nursing home. I know that many of you have never met her, but felt you have from hearing me talk about her incessantly. :) The words from you would confirm to her that her faithful walk has touched hearts along the way, even those she doesn't even know. It would make her days there a little softer. Here is her contact info:

Park's Edge Nursing Center
Attn: Ida Reynolds
5115 East 51st Street
Tulsa, OK 74135-7430

Perfect Pairings - Ephesians 5:15-16

Ellie (who you might notice walks to the beat of her own drum...) walks in the house and says through clenched teeth: "Look mom, I'm multitasking!" I wonder where she gets that from? Ha!

Here's my perfect pairing emphasizing the "value" of multitasking..... Ephesians 5: 15-16....Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.

Turkey Day {Bittersweet}

Thanksgiving was bittersweet this year. And I'm not talking about the food. Bitter in that it was the first year in 40 that I didn't spent Thanksgiving with my extended family at my cousin's house, like we have always done before.

Sweet in that Thanksgiving was spent at our house with our immediate family, mom, dad plus Kim and family. And my cousin Heather and her kiddos came over later that day. Bitter in that my granny is in the nursing home right now, and it's so hard to see her there when you know that she wants to be home with her family.

Sweet in that we all went to see her and took her a heaping plate of our favorite dishes.

Bitter in that we knew that the guys were leaving for 10 days the morning after Thanksgiving.

Sweet in that we know that God is with our husbands and with us too as we manage our households alone.

And the rest was just sweet, sweet, sweet as we ate, played games, wrestled (that would be Luke and Kyler) and enjoyed the day. Hope yours was sweeter than bitter too!

I Caught My Dog Worshipping God Today

Wilson is such a good dog. He crates contentedly. He was potty trained in a few, short days. No kidding! He has had two surgeries and absolutely will not chew on his stitches. He cuddles on command. He plays rowdily when summoned. He knows how to sit and a few other tricks. And now he worships God. I saw it.

I let him outside the afternoon and the weather was warm and musty with leaves. Wilson sensed that too and decided to stay out back for awhile. Later, I checked on him and saw him sitting on the ground, nose pointed to the sky, eyes closed, breathing in life. And I thought, I bet he's worshipping the one true God, what a dog! Can you picture the moment? I ran right out with my camera to capture the doggy devotional, but he of course looked up at my interruption. Let's all be more like Wilson tomorrow... and just take a minute to stop, breathe in the fresh air and worship God!

Halloween Randomness

Some darling people I know coordinate their Halloween costumes.

Like Jonni Baloney whose entire family dressed up as different Mario characters.... yes, even the adults dressed up. I think that's so darn cute. And Katie's kiddos were all super duper coordinated.

You guys are my idols. Because what my kids chose to be were ...... drumroll please...... a table, a twin, and an injured skateboarder. There is no great photo op for costumes so random as these. Ellie was absolutley determined to be a table for Halloween. After dumpster diving for boxes, I finally went to UPS and paid over 20 bucks for a 3X3 one. A few cuts with a box knife and one trip to the thrift store later, and oh yeah, a LOT of hot glue, she had a fun costume that took everyone she saw by surprise.

Boys of course want to be as gory or scary as possible. After working my buns off on the table, i was relieved to shred up some old clothes and throw on some red and black makeup for the effect of scrapes and bruises. He was perfectly happy and as an added bonus, he got to ride his skateboard around on Halloween night.

And here is Kami's twin sister Katie. No matter that Kami is about a foot shorter than her and their hair is different colors, and so on. What they did have in common was that they are both darling. And coordinated!

Okay, a little random, but a lot fun. Can't believe another Halloween has come and gone.

In a Baking Kind of Mood

I think if I lived in a simpler time, I'd be a canner of all things preservable. Baker of golden-brown pies and cobblers. I'd stuff my visitors' hands with baked goodies. Everyday would be a day that my home would smell like my granny's. Scrumptlicious.

However, 2010 time corners me and forces me to schlop the ingredient heavy applesauce off the shelves at Walmart, and anonymous cans of soup line my pantry.

Lately, though, I really have been in a baking kind of mood. I think I started making Pumpkin Bread the very weekend the pureed pumpkin hit the supermarket - seasonal item, you know. And even before granny's fall, I was simmering up pots of brown beans and muffin cups of cornbread. Just tastes like granny, you know? This weekend, I cooked up a big batch of homemade noodle soup... and yummy, we ate every last tidbit.

I don't want to forget granny's favorite dishes, so I decided to post the recipes right here, right now. There's no sugar-free or fat-free claims on any of these, but hey, she's been eating this stuff for years on end, and she's 99. Just saying!

Here are a few of our favorites:

Brown Beans and Ham
Soak brown beans overnight. In the morning, drain beans, rinse and cover again with water a few inches above the bean line. Add hamhock, salt pork or other source of flavoring (ham cubes and crumbled bacon are other possibilities.) Bring to a rapid boil and then turn down heat to simmer. In there somewhere, you will need to add salt and sugar to taste. Granny guesstimates that she starts with about 3 tsp. salt and 2 tsp. sugar, but she really has no idea. Simmer down for about 4-5 hours. A family favorite.


Old Fashioned Applesauce
Peel apples, as many as you want. Cut into pieces. Add H20, but not completely covering the apples. Just so you can see it through the apple pieces. Cook down til done, or soft and mushy. Mash up as you cook if you want. Add sugar and cinnamon to taste. That could be 1-2 tsp cinnamon and 1/2 C sugar for starters.


Mashed Potatoes
Peel 5-6 potatoes, if that sounds good to you. Dice into chunks. Cook down til soft. Real soft. Pour most water out, but leave a small amount. Add 1-2 sticks butter. Add milk. Add salt and pepper to taste. Mix with mixer. This is potato heaven or as Ellie calls it "creamy goodness."

Field Trip Favorite

One great highlight of elementary school is the day-long field trip to the one-room school house in Perry. It was a great learning experience when Kami went (and I had my camera fully charged), and Ellie loved it too, (but my battery lasted all of two and a half minutes, Dang Technology!). So my pictures are few but the memories are many. (which pretty much kills me by the way - the picture part that is...)


Ellie is more of a prairie girl at heart (remember the summer of Laura Ingalls Wilder?) and she soaked in the bridge of time, the school marm, the strict learning environment, the lessons on the slateboards, the spelling bee and the kid who had to put his nose in the circle on the chalkboard. For a day, no smartboards, no intercom announcements, no lunchables and no smart-mouthed boys (for this is the age when the boys really smart noticing the girls and their way of getting attention? Smart-mouthing. Ellie knows. It happened again today).


So glad that Ellie could experience just a taste of what her very own Great Grandma Ida lived in her childhood. Kami's post contains an interesting interview with Granny about her schooling, and this time my sister and I went over and got Granny on film. I would love to post snippets of her when I can so you can get to know her better and go back into time yourself to a time when things were simpler and humbler and... cold! Granny says the only bathroom was God's green earth and that when it was cold, then so was your hiney! Cold hineys aside, the "good" old days are a'calling my name.

In All of Her Glory

Fall, beautiful fall, on fire with beauty.
I know I am absolutely driving my kids bonkers as I point out the exact hue of each and every tree that catches my eye. I have definitely become a full-fledged "old person" as I ooh and ahh at the oaks and elms on every street of our town. This year's foliage has been absolutely stunning though. Has there ever been a prettier fall season? While watching the trees closely the last few days, I was thinking how funny it is that God gave their ravishing beauty directly before they shed their leaves and become bare. Only God could do something so surprising, so gorgeous, so blessed! It's sad that the beauty will go, but such a gift of God, one we can enjoy and savor.

And God is working His magic in another area too... He is allowing my granny to glow like the yellows and reds and oranges that are lining our streets. She is granny in her full beauty... so precious and bursting with the Spirit of God. Inevitably she, like the rest of us, will shed her leaves, but before she does, she is truly glorious, attracting attention whereever she is.

And that whereever she is is.... right now.... a nursing home. After 99 years of living, and living independently, she needs constant help. She is not able to put any weight on her leg yet, so the rehab wing of the nursing home is her temporary home. It's surely to be a tough adjustment, but my beautiful granny doens't complain. She smiles. She says witty things. She hurts, to be sure, but her attitude is no-doubt a testimony to her faith in God.

You may have read what I put on Facebook when she was still in the hospital . After singing "How Great Thou Art" from her hospital bed, she declared, "My God is so great, and He is so good to me." Then she quipped, "Put that on Facebook!" Yesterday, while talking to my mom about the challenge of becoming mobile again, she said, "If Jesus can walk on water, I know God can help me walk again!" I walked in her room a couple days while she was sleeping. Her eyes popped open "Annie!" she exclaimed. "Is anyone here with you?" she asked. "No just me," I answered." She smiled lightly and said, "Just you and the Lord!" One night, I ran by to see her. She wasn't feeling well, but I wheeled her down to the assembly room where a gospel band was singing "He Touched Me," and "Oh How I Love Jesus." I watched as she raised her hands in faith to her Father, and tears rolled down my cheeks as a I did the same.

Sometimes, my sister and I talk about how hard it is to see Granny hurting, living in the nursing home and for things to be so different than they were before. We wonder if it would be better if she could just go to the place that she's longed to be for most of her life... in heaven with Jesus. But I think her work here isn't quite done yet... God's making her a colorful and stunning testament to His goodness and mercy. Praise Him!