This is why we can't have nice stuff

I can't blame this on my kid.  It's all the fault of the adults.

Seriously, who goes through this many meat
thermometers, and keeps them?

Here's what you shouldn't do with meat thermometers.

You shouldn't put them close to the burners when they're on.  It melts the plastic cover, and makes the numbers difficult to read. (My fault.)

You shouldn't put the meat back in the oven with the thermometer still in it.  The plastic cover pops off, and the sensor is forever ruined. (My husband's fault.)

You shouldn't put them in the garbage disposal.  They break. (Both our faults.)

Award Night

Last Friday, I told my son he could invite his friends over today.

I delayed making arrangements this morning.  I kept hoping he'd throw up or something so I could avoid dealing with extra children and take a nap this afternoon.


Mother of the year, indeed.

It's beginning to look a lot like Advent!

I'm not one to rush the holidays. I love Christmas trees and lights and wreaths as much as the next guy. I enjoy decorating my house with evergreen and Nativity sets, baking Christmas cookies, and opening presents. I dream of sitting by a fireplace and listening to Christmas carols as the evening comes.  Heck, I'd even throw a campout party in the living room and sleep under the tree if I didn't fear my husband would look at me cock-eyed for suggesting it.  Christmas has a place in my heart.

Christmas also has a place on calendar.  I respect its place at the end of December, and I leave Thanksgiving to November.  We also spend the four weeks leading up to Christmas celebrating Advent.

Something prompted me, however, to give a little bit of premature thought to the December Holidays, however.  The dear ladies over here have started a little party, trimmed in purple (or blue, depending on your church), and cloaked in patience.  It's an Advent party.  Since Advent begins in a few weeks, I thought I'd join in a bit early in case anyone wanted to use my ideas.

Here's what advent looks like at our house:

If you think that's a dead branch hot-glued into a stump I found in our wood pile, you'd be right.  It's our Jesse tree. ("There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit." Is. 11:1)  Each day, beginning on December 1st, with our evening devotions, we read a Bible story that tells the story of Christ beginning with Creation, and add one ornament:

As this refuses to rotate, no matter how I try, you'll have to go with it.

Throughout Advent, we walk through the stories of the Bible and see why Christ had to come. Most of the ornaments are well-known Bible stories.  The last eight before Christmas are the O Antiphons.  As the ornaments are added to the tree, it becomes lovelier.

You can do a search for "Jesse Tree" and find many great resources. There are kid-friendly symbols, or elaborate designs; some simple black-and-white coloring pieces, some cut from foam.  The stories even vary from resource to resource.  Some include the O Antiphons, others don't.  I'm partial to great art, and love stained glass, so I used the resources found here for ours. She has the ornaments available for free in PDF.  I simplified her procedure, mostly because I didn't have all the cool stuff she did, and I was a bit frantic. It was December 1st.  I don't recommend waiting that long to start making them.

However, last year, I did make up a Jesse Tree program for the Advent Tea the ladies do at church. While many of the stories are the same, I based it on Christ's lineage and the Jesse Tree stained glass windows in many great cathedrals. The stories toward the end include some lesser-known stories of the kings from David to Zerubabbel, before switching to John the Baptist, Mary and Joseph.  Also, I only made 18 of them, which leaves room for the O Antiphons. (We only had 45 minutes for the tea). The ornaments are quite large, as we were hanging them a Jesse Tree six feet high in the front of church.  If you're interested in seeing it or using it, I can send a copy your way.

Of course, we do a number of other things to celebrate Advent (fasting, noon prayer services at church, decorating the house slowly over the weeks, baking and freezing cookies, deep cleaning the house, listening to Advent hymns, etc.), but I think the Jesse Tree is sufficient for one post.

Check out the Advent Link-up party at Sister, Daughter, Mother, Wife.  There are some great ideas!

There's something in a Sunday

Sunday mornings are tough.  Somewhere between the struggle to put down the trains and put on church clothes, the two of us have successfully broken the first five commandments, and finally show up for church with our angry eyes.  I'm sure most parents have heard the same complaints: There's nothing for me to do at church.  Church takes too long. Church isn't fun. I don't want to think about Jesus, I want to think about trains!

Imagine my surprise then, on Tuesday morning, when my child starts proclaiming the truth about church.

"God doesn't give us too many gifts at church.  He just gives us a few.  He gives us his Word."

"But what does His Word produce?"

"Faith."

"And what does faith give us?"

"Life and salvation.  But that's only two gifts."

"But they are very valuable gifts."

"And no one can steal them from us. And these are the gifts we should rejoice.  And if anyone came to my house to try to steal them, I would say, 'Sorry, Jesus died for me and saved me from my sin.'"

So there it is.  The sound of a Sunday morning coming down might seem awful lonesome to me, and the congregation may be sick of our angry eyes, but my child's faith is growing, despite his stubborn sinful nature.

Oh, Hail!: A Photostory

 

The Seed is in the Ground

The seed is in the ground.
Now may we rest in hope
While darkness does its work.

-Wendell Berry

A poem for when your losses press hard

A gracious Sabbath stood here while they stood
Who gave our rest a haven.
Now fallen, they are given
To labor and distress.
These times we know much evil, little good
To steady us in faith
And comfort when our losses press
Hard on us, and we choose,
In panic or despair or both,
To keep what we will lose.

For we are fallen like the trees, our peace
Broken, and so we must
Love where we cannot trust,
Trust where we cannot know,
And must await the wayward-coming grace
That joins living and dead,
Taking us where we would not go–
Into the boundless dark.
When what was made has been unmade
The Maker comes to His work.

by Wendell Berry, emphasis mine.

Today's weather

Warmer than yesterday:

It's springtime on the prairie.

Public Service Announcement

Posted on the bathroom door:

 

What does it mean that the adults in the house merely participated this affair, rather than doing something to remedy the problem?

Gardening in the snow

There is only one logical thing to do when it's springtime, but the garden is still frozen and the snow is still falling.

You plant seeds.  One seed for each cell of an empty egg carton: celery, tomatoes, Brussels sprouts, ground cherries, marigolds, eggplant.

We make a place for birds to sing/ in time to come -Wendell Berry

The Flesh is Weak

Mom said, "Kiddo, it's time to get dressed."

After Mom left the room, he mumbled, "No, I don't think I will."
Dad asked, "What did you say?"
"I wasn't talking to you.  I was just talking to my brain.  It's trying to tell me what to do, and I'm trying to tell it I don't want to."
"Oh? What was your brain telling you to do?"
"It was telling me that I should listen to my mom, but I'm trying to tell it I don't want to."
"Maybe your brain is trying to tell you that because it's a good idea."
"No, sometimes it just says weird things like that.  Like sometimes, when I'm playing on the little computer,* it tells me that it's too loud and it's hurting my ears, and I should turn the volume down.  But I'm afraid if I do that, then I wouldn't hear what Vee* was telling me to do, so I try to tell my brain that I'm not going to turn the volume down."
"Maybe sometimes you could try meet your brain halfway?"



*Our Kindle
*The talking street lamp from Chuggingtons