May 31, 2009

Overview

I can never gather my thoughts into a clever post after a long weekend, so I present you with a little randomness...

Friday:
Spider spotted on porch.

Nate failed in killing it, he promises me that it's long gone.
I think it's under my porch cackling...

Date night, children included

We did it again. We always see families out together on Friday nights holding hands and linking arms and we think it looks like fun. So we attempt it. And then I remember the only reason we link arms and hold hands is to keep Finn from running in the parking lot and to keep the boys separated so they don't spend the whole evening picking on each other. Don't tell me that it's a blast to go to Target and out to eat with kids, I will not believe you.

We found another restaurant that we like better/equal to Fork in the Alley, which I never thought would happen...

Been there, done that, bought the new style t-shirt to prove it...
Two Tines the Fun

Saturday:
Drew's team won their soccer game for the first time this season.
I'll just let you guess who scored 2 out of 5 goals...

Sunday:
Twin Oaks church service at Philpott Lake.
Great weather, great sermon, great fun, great food, great people...
...the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net that was cast into the (lake)...

Drew and Ferguson

May 29, 2009

Happy Birthday to You...

Happy Birthday to You...

Happy Birthday to Jill @ sewafineseam.blogspot.com...

Happy Birthday tooooo Yoooouuuu!

Package is in the mail.
God bless you, Sister. Have a great day.

May 28, 2009

Making Jesus...

I was sewing yesterday and I heard the familiar rustling of Finn taking my living room apart, pillow by pillow. Usually this means a fort is being constructed, so I asked him what he was doing. He answered, "It's okay Mom, I'm just making Jesus." Now this I had to see.

He had the pillows perfectly arranged. I said, "Okkkaaay..... Jesus?"
He grinned, "Yep. On the cross."

Pillows?

And Jesus was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was great calm.
Mark 4:38-39

Stripes?

Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And the said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. And he took them in the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightaway.
Acts 16:30-33

AND

He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath born our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him:
and
with his stripes we are healed.
Isaiah 53:3-5

Comfort?

But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
John 14:26

Rest?

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
Matthew 11:28-30

Laying down?

This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
Matthew 15:12-14

Transformer shirt from Goodwill?

And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God.
Romans 12:2

Yes, Finn, you are correct. You did make Jesus. Now just lay down and let the Comforter wash your stripes and rest easy in His abundant love for you. He's the best Transformer of all.

May 25, 2009

Diptych Addict

Did she really have to call it a dare? I'm always up for a dare. If she would have just left it at "Contest" I might not have played. I've got a weakness for pictures and stories, so combine the two and you've got diptych. I'm definitely not a professional phoTog, nor do I have Photoshop, but I am a mom that loves pictures. So, here you go. Let me tell you a story (or six.)

Who: My Lord and My God, Rabboni and Master
What: The Cross, Crown, and Grave Clothes
When: Resurrection Day
Where: John 20
Why: That ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.


Who: Husband, Brother, and Sister in Law
What: Scene of Grandma's Accident
When: April 2009
Where: Route 127, Darke County, Ohio
Why: God's WillWhat: Our First and Only Snow Day
When: March 2009
Where: Front Yard
Why: Desperate for Snow

Who: My Big Boy Drew
What: His Favorite Pastime
When: May 2009
Where: Bath County, Virginia
Why: That's what boys do.

Who: My Little Boy Finn
What: Attempting Some Sick Tricks
When: March 2009
Where: Public Skate Park
Why: That's what boys do.

Who: Nate and Joni
What: Celebrating 10 Years of Marriage, Alone
When: November 2008
Where: Sundance, Utah
Why: We thought we wouldn't miss our boys for a week. But we did.

Okay, now take all the diptychs and squish them all together and that image is what defines me. Thanks, Morgan, for a fun project. Apologies to my regular blog readers for using pictures you've already seen.

Signs of Summer

1. Watermelon

2. Baseball
One ball, six boys.

3. Old Navy Flip Flops
Looks better if you wear the same color to games, and WalMart, and yard sales.

May 23, 2009

Meet Peck

Drew's new addition to the family. I wish I could say he was abandoned, but Drew got him out of the nest. After a human touch, I knew the mama would not take care of him anymore, so I allowed Drew to keep him. He's been feeding him worms and soggy dog food and water with a straw. I was surprised, I didn't think we would be able to get him to eat anything and he would die. He's been with us now for about ten hours and still eating good, so we'll see. I googled to see what we should be feeding him and it recommended feeding every twenty minutes. That should be interesting come Tuesday when Drew goes back to school.



Drew figured out that the squeaking of the wheels would make him open his mouth, so that's how we've been feeding him.



They're bonding.

The Worm Wagon

May 22, 2009

Psalm 128

Blessed is every one that feareth the LORD; that walketh in his ways. For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands: happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee. Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house: thy children like olive plants round about thy table. Behold, that thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the LORD. The LORD shall bless thee out of Zion: and thou shalt see the good of Jerusalem all the days of thy life. Yea, thou shalt see thy children's children, and peace upon Israel.

I love this psalm for several reasons.

1. Advice on family dynamics
a. Fear the LORD and walk in his ways
b. Work for a living and provide for your family
c. We are to be happy with what God has provided us

d. We are to produce fruit
e. Huge blessing in training our children to love the LORD
f. We will see results from living a life fearing God.

2. Reminder as my duty as a wife and mother
a. Nate works to provide and I have a duty to prepare the food that his money provides us.
b. Encourage my husband when he's overwhelmed with work.

c. Be happy and full of fruit for the sake of showing my family the blessings of living a life serving God and my husband.
d. Enjoy cooking for my family. It's a blessing that God has given me the ability and opportunity to fix great m
eals for the family. The best memories I have as a child is pulling up to the counter and watching mom make bread, or cut up chicken, or homemade pizza, or cookies, etc. It's another way that we can demonstrate our love for our family.

3. My guidelines for baby names
a. Drew Montgomery
Verse 6
We desired to carry on my maiden name to give honor to my grandpa and father.
b. Finn Asher

Verse 1
The Hebrew word for Blessed in the first verse is Asher. Asher means both a condition (blessed) and a human reaction (happy.) And that is how we feel about him. Check out Genesis 30:13. Leah said, Happy am I, for the daughters will call me blessed: and she called his name Asher.

(Info from Beth Moore in Stepping Up)
c. Gives me some great ideas for a girl's name.
Olive, Zion, Vine, Aster (scientific classification of olive)

Okay, now the real reason I began my post. I got distracted a little.
Instead of dismissing the olive plant connection, I desired to go a little deeper and see if Drew and Finn are as olive plants around our table.

1. The leaf is a symbol of abundance, glory, and peace.
Nate and I both feel abundantly blessed with our two boys. Instead of being angry and hurt all the time with all the things I thought Nate was doing wrong, having Drew gave me the opportunity to focus on all the things Nate was doing right. We truly feel with all our heart that having a baby brought our marriage some peace.

2. Used to crown the victors of games.
As discouraged as I can get about my faith, or my ability as a wife, or my dirty house, my two boys think I'm great, for now. We are not perfect parents but our kids are our crowns.

3. The oil is used for a energy source.
They are definitely a source of energy.

4. Branch was brought to Noah demonstrating that the flood was over.
I am reminded of the promises of God every time I look at my boys. The instant I held them in my arms I knew we were in for some glorious days ahead. I am thankful for every single day that God gives me to spend with them.

5. They are extremely long living when pruned correctly and regularly.
Discipline does them good, even when it hurts me as a mom to punish them. My biggest desire as a parent is to encourage a personal relationship with Christ and a life that honors God. Sometimes I let some battles go so that I can concentrate on the stuff that really matters.

6. Begins as a seed and can be years before producing fruit.
They are not perfect. They are growing. They are learning to live for Jesus.

Now I am resisting urge to buy two of these trees.
Or two of these.

Now, the part of the psalm that talks about the wife as a fruitful vine, to me that means have another baby. Nate views it a tad differently. He thinks I need to work on my Fruits of the Spirit. Sigh.

As I was working on my blog, this is what Finn was up to.

You little olive plant, you.
Another bottle of shampoo wasted.

May 21, 2009

That's a first!

Last night, Nate and I had plans to be at a friend's house at 7:00. For once we were early, so we were taking our time getting there. It was up the mountain behind our house, so we were winding around the curves and enjoying the scenery and chatting. All at once, a car zoomed around us, cut us off, pulled to a screeching stop in front of us, and waved us over. We pulled up to the car and rolled our window down. The woman was gesturing wildly and yelling, but we couldn't hear what she was saying, so Nate held his hand up to his ear. She didn't want to roll her window down, but she finally did and yelled, "Just WHO do you think you are? You do NOT own the road! You were not even going the speed limit! Some of us have places that they need to be! SOME people..." At this point, I was just staring at her with my mouth hanging open. Nate said, "I'm sorry, ma'am, for keeping you from getting where you need to be, go right ahead." And she threw her hands up and said, "Oh no. You go. Keep moving!" Nate said, "No, we don't want to hold you up." And she just kept shaking her head back and forth forcefully. So, we rolled our window up and kept going and watched her turn into her driveway that she was already at. We looked at each other and began dying laughing. Nate said, "Well, I can honestly say that I have never been yelled at for driving too slow." Keep in mind that we were going about 45 on curvy uphill roads. We passed another sign for an s-curve and it said Speed Limit 30 on it. I felt the need to quote Beth Moore, "Bless her heart. I don't think she had time to say her morning prayer today." I am still a little confused about the whole situation, but I have learned a few things.

1. No one looks attractive when they are mad.
Her face was flushed, her hair was mussed, and her nose was wrinkled, and her eyes were large. My kids always notice how bad I look when I'm mad, Drew told me last week that sometimes I look nice until I start yelling. Then I look ugly. I am also known for flaring my nostrils, if you remember that story.

2. There is nothing we could do or say at that point to take away her anger.
Her mind was made up, and all we could do was apologize and move on.

3. Anger breeds anger.
We had been in a great mood, but the more we thought about it, the more tempting it was to lash back at her. As we went by the 30 mph sign, we were so tempted to point at it. I begin thinking, "What in the world was HER problem. Like she really needed to put all of us in danger by passing us in a curve and cutting us off." Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: because it only leads to evil. Psalm 37:8

4. I've been there.
No, I've never flagged some random person down and told them everything they've done to make me mad, but I've been angry at people when it wasn't even their fault. It might feel good at the time to make someone else feel bad just because I'm having a bad day, but when I lay down at night, I regret it. But by the grace of God, I am what I am.

5. More than anyone else I've come in contact with this week, she needed the gift of grace and forgiveness.
I forgive her. And I feel sorry for her. She obviously was under a lot of pressure. Who knows, maybe she is going through a divorce, or maybe her child has cancer and needed some medicine, or maybe she was going to lose her job if she was late. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and brawling, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you. Ephesians 4:31-32

6. Be very careful to keep my anger in check.
Righteous anger is one thing, but bitterness and pressure can build up and blow at any time. Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. James 1:19-20

7. Forget being early to anything else.
We get along a lot better if we're hurried and stressed. Nobody yells at us when we're late.

May 19, 2009

Okay folks...

Move it along.
Nothing interesting here.
Look elsewhere for inspiration.

Travel across the country in a tricked out VW bus
or
Do some neato photo editing
or
Have a little Compassion
or
Gaze at my baby niece
or
Try this awe inspiring bread
or
Preview Stellan's news clip
or
Feast your eyes on some great fabric
or
Pray for your kids.

But don't stay here.
I'm just sewing.
And feeling sorry for myself,
because I have a lot more to do before next weekend.

May 18, 2009

Bath County

How does a weekend at a cabin with six adults and six children sound?
Great, right?

Okay, now add mud, flooding, momma mice, one minute market 20 minutes away, lots of wet clothes, two bedrooms and three families, flipped canoes, thunderstorms.
Still sound fun?
It does to the three boys in my family.

Foreshadowing.

Got her. Do we feel guilty for taking a mom from her babies? Not a chance.

Within seconds of arriving, Evan made some pretty large ruts in yard.

Due to the danger of canoeing in thunderstorm season, Nate took one single picture on the trip. Did the overflowing stop them from a dangerous canoe ride? No way.

Okay, that's all the bad.

The good part was six cute kids that I got to take lots of pictures of, a hilarious game of Cranium, nothing to do but sit for hours on end, fishing a creek that had trout in it, great food, big laughs, and worn out boys that had their idea of a dream vacation.

Is there anything cuter than a nine month old baby taking a bath in sink? I think not.

The best part of Finn's day was when Chase woke up. "Hey Chasey Wasey..."

Worn out Bryce.

Brody has a classic redhead temperament. When he's mad, he's on fire. But when he is happy, he's a sweet little boy with a mischievous grin.

And then there's Brelynn. The red curls and freckles get me. And the little teeny flip flop earrings. And the fact that she follows me around telling me that my hair is pretty. She's all about some bugs and caterpillars.

Drew's still holding a grudge against Ryan for catching the most fish.

May 13, 2009

Sheesh...

I can't go anywhere. I was only gone for two hours.

No, they didn't fall off the roof.

Just a tree.

Faux Chipotle



How do you like yours?

I know, I know, you Ohio readers.
Chipotle is not that big of deal because you have them close.
Ours is an hour away.

On Drew's last field trip he had to pack his lunch, and when I asked him what he wanted, he said, "Chipotle!" The crazy thing is I was so tempted to get one for him because from that moment on I've been craving them.

Sooo, I was pumped to get the mock recipes off of this site. I know it's just a click away, but I'll share them with you.

Chipotle's Chicken Marinade
 
  1 (2 ounce) package dried ancho chiles
  1 teaspoon black pepper
  2 teaspoons cumin powder
  2 tablespoons fresh oregano, chopped
  6 cloves garlic
1/2 red onion, quartered
1/4 cup vegetable oil
  4 chicken breasts (6 ounces each)
 
Soak dry chilies overnight in water, until soft. Remove seeds. Add all
ingredients except meat in food processor. Puree until smooth.
 
Spread mixture over chicken, or other meats and refrigerate at least
one hour, up to 24 hours.
 
After marinating, heat grill to about 400 degrees F, or if cooking
inside, heat small amount of oil in skillet or grill pan over high
heat. Salt meat to taste (optional), and grill lightly, turning only
once, until done. 4 minutes per side of chicken.
 

Chipotle's Basmati Rice Recipe

1 teaspoon vegetable oil or butter

2 tsp. fresh cilantro
2/3 cup white basmati rice
1 cup water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 Lime


In a 2-quart heavy saucepan, heat oil or butter over low heat, stirring occas
ionally until melted. Add rice and lime juice, stir for 1 minute. Add water and salt, bring to a full rolling boil. At boiling, cover, turn down to simmer over low heat until rice is tender and the water is absorbed, about 25 minutes. Fluff rice with a fork.

Or, you can calculate the calories of your favorite burrito.
P.S. I am not so pumped anymore.

So, even though the 1225 calories disgusts me, I started soaking my peppers tonight. Maybe if I leave off the lettuce....


FYI: Red chiles are definitely not the same as ancho chiles.
FYI: WalMart only carries red.
The black is more what you're lookin' for.
I'm thinking the red chiles are just a tad spicier.
Maybe my red peppers will burn up, let's say, 1000 calories or so?