Guest Blog: A Hero Like No Other

Our Guest blogger today is our brother, Paul. Paul presently lives in Kentucky with his wife and two children.

Stories have a plot: problem, solution, result. They also have a main character or characters, good guys and bad guys. This is true for romances (or I think this is true, I am not an expert here!) and even action movies (though, likely to a much lesser degree).

Take one of my favorites for example, The Lord of the Rings. This is an epic story about “the fellowship” trying to destroy a certain very powerful and enchanting ring. Sometimes in stories there is what I call, “the contrast character,” he makes the hero of the story look even more heroic. For The Lord of the Rings its Boromir, for romance movies it is the jerk who doesn’t care (or Mr. Collins in Pride and Prejudice), and for action movies it is probably the guy that is geeky and kills less people. Throughout the story, we see the hero overcome insurmountable odds and defeat the bad guys of the story and bring a solution to whatever problem was introduced. The narrative of Scripture similarly has a plot. Instead of Frodo (or whoever) being the main character, Jesus is, and all the supporting actors only serve to demonstrate Jesus’ superiority.

The Beach Boys are Back!

When asking a woman in her 60's once what it was like to grow up back then one of her comments was that all the young people listened to the same music. It wasn't like today with a hundred different genres. Regardless of race or economic status, everyone knew the same songs. I think that was part of the magic of the 60's and 70's. Music really was unifying (at least among the young generation!).

Just in time for summer, the Beach Boys will be releasing a new album on June 5th!  They are celebrating their 50th anniversary with a new album and a tour.  Three of the original members: Brian Wilson, Mike Love and Al Jardine, and two other members who were a part of the band as well but not founding members, David Marks and Bruce Johnston.  The other two original members, Carl and Dennis Wilson have passed away.

Of course, I was not yet a twinkle in my father's eye when the Beach Boys were hot in the 60's and 70's but, nevertheless, I feel a thrill of excitment at their reunion.  Who doesn't like the Beach Boys?

WAFFLES!

What is better then a warm waffle with maple syrup? Not much! Maybe, just maybe a savory waffle filled with paprika and cheddar cheese, topped with an over-easy egg and spinach? Well, at least it could give it a run for its money!

I recently invested in a Waffle maker one of the best decisions of my life.  Waffles go so far beyond breakfast food.  You can have them for lunch or dinner, gluten free, or good old traditional.  I do not regularly keep bread in my house but sometimes I get a hankering for a sandwich and what does a girl do? Waffle sandwich of course! The other day I had a delicious cornbread waffle sandwich with pulled beef, horseradish, spinach and peppers.  So, many things you can do with waffles.  

Sunshine, Showers, and Flowers

Who doesn't know that "April showers bring May flowers"? However, I'm thankful that it is not just the showers that cause pretty flowers to grow. This past weekend we had beautiful seventy-degree, sunshine-y days and it was exhilarating. My husband biked 50 miles on Saturday and afterward the boys and I met him at an outdoor musical playground to play for awhile. We made lots of noise and sat in the sun. It was nice. Sunday afternoon my husband biked 27 miles and still had energy left over! So, we took the boys for a hilly walk to a nearby park. They both ran around, climbed, slid, and swung. I hopped on the swing, too, and while I loved it, I couldn't believe that as I soared I also got a little nauseated. I am old. We played for a couple hours and made the trek back downhill. It was perfect weather for the weekend.

Sisters Chat: Dealing with the Elements

I have entitled this chat 'Dealing with the Elements' because we will talk about our responses to factors (exhaustion, anger, stress, excitement) that are simply part of living this life.

Lizzi: We all have full, busy lives. This can mean that at times we suffer from sheer exhaustion.

What do you do when you need to relax?

Maude: I have 2 main things that relax me - reading a good novel and laying down (that's important!). And listening to music.

Esther: A bath with a book.

Maude: Yuck. I hate baths. I tried that once - a bath with a book - I found it stressful, or at least irritating.

Lizzi: I like baths and books to relax, but not together!

Esther:  Really? I think it is wonderful.

Maude: Ugh. To each her own.

Lizzi: I'd just end up dropping my book in the water or catching it on fire with the candles and I'd be stressed out again. BUT I do love them both at separate times.

Maude: How do you turn the pages with wet hands?

Lizzi: Exactly!

It's A..... (boy/girl)?

Well, we are finally here.  Just the other day I had my ultrasound! 

It felt like I had to wait forever because according to my dates I should be two weeks farther along than I am but according to the baby's measurements I am just now at 21 weeks.  So it'll feel like 42 weeks of pregnancy to me (if baby arrives on time and not late!).

Thankfully, the doctor said that everything they could check on the baby came out healthy so that was wonderful which only left the mystery of the gender of my little blessing.

Going in to the ultrasound I thought that the little one was a boy, my husband thought it was a girl, and each of the kids thought it was the same sex that they were.

Two of us were right.

Drumroll please.
It's a .....

Soaring to Freedom

I sit and watch the little planes take off and land from the airfield near our house.  My son always yelps an excited "ooh!" as they fly by.  Often I have this feeling well up inside me that I want to soar like that plane, go where the wind takes me.  May I be honest with you? Motherhood is hard. I am a care-free person, I like to be able to just go and do, try new things, go exciting places but that is a little hard when you have a two hour afternoon nap to fit in and an 8pm bedtime.  Where can you go between 4pm and 8pm? Not very far.

Stay-at-Home Mom's Response to Ms. Rosen

I'm sure you've all heard about Hilary Rosen's comments about Ann Romney on Thursday, April 12th. By now it is old news so it may even be hard to find the original story, but her comments clearly showed her disdain for women who choose to stay home to care for their children. I know that she tried to clarify, implying that it was Ann Romney's wealth that kept her from being an "expert on women and the economy" but we all know the truth. Hilary Rosen would have had no problem with Ann Romney being an expert on the economy (and women!) if she was a wealthy "working" woman. (Well, at least if she was a liberal wealthy working woman.)  Leftist feminism wants every woman to  have a choice, as long as the woman's choice lines up with their ideology.

Sister's Chat About Music Part 2

Maude: This is about music again but a little different than the chat Esther recently lead. But to start off I did want to remember wht genre of music you typically listen to...
Esther: okay!
Maude: I listen to country and classic rock (and a LOT of kids music!)
Esther: singer songwriter/folk/indie rock
with some bluegrass & classic rock thrown in
Yes kid's music too!
Lizzi: I listen to Christian (rock, pop, contemporary, worship, hymns), some classic rock (mostly of "Delilah" style), jazz, old styles (20s-40s)
and LOTS of kids music too
Maude: I want to listen to oldies but there are NO oldies station here!
Okay, what song do you really like right now?
Only ONE ladies!!
Lizzi: Oh dear.
Maude: I REALLY like "A Little More Country Than That" by Easton Corbin. It is sweet because it says "If you think I'm gonna give you this ring and then take it back - I'm a little more country than that." Good song.
Lizzi: This has been a favorite for a little while now, but I still really like 'Blessings' by Laura Story
Esther: I have been listening to a lot of "May your power rest on me" by Sojourn
Maude: Cool.
Is there any band/album that you particularly like that you would recommend one or both of us to listen to?

Natural Bridge

We recently visited the Natural Bridge in Virginia.  We had stopped once before but didn't want to spend $19/adult to see a rock formation.  This time, however, we decided to go ahead and check it out. 

The Natural Bridge is much higher and bigger in real life than this picture makes it look.

The Hunger Games...and popcorn!

I love reading. I love eating popcorn. I love reading and eating popcorn together.  Last night I did both; a lot of both.  I have been reading the Hunger Games

 which is the popular teen book at the moment. We had our Harry Potter faze, our Twilight faze and now it is the Hunger games (maybe I missed a few in between?) The Hunger Games is the first one I have gotten sucked in to.

Brothers Together

We are four days into a new sleeping routine with our boys: shared bedroom. Our oldest has been experiencing fears and wanting "someone with him" for some time now, and usually when we lay him down to sleep either my husband, or myself, stay upstairs (in our room) until he is asleep. It seems that just knowing we are down the hall helps him to fall asleep peacefully. It started out innocently enough, but eventually became a problem (especially at night) because we'd come down, only to have a few minutes before we had to head up to bed ourselves. (Yes, he was taking that long to fall into a deep sleep.) I know many of you parenting experts are chiding us right now, but it's really a hard choice when you're in the midst of it, you know? Anyway, when my mom was here, she helped us to come downstairs by sharing with him that the distance downstairs really is about the same distance as "down the hall" and instating a special sign to share when we went down. Worked great. The problem, though, was that he knew Gramma would be sleeping in his room later that night, and he had that to look forward to. Well, after Gramma left we were back at square one. And so we decided that our younger son was sleeping well enough through the night at this point to attempt the transition.

We talked up the move and they both seemed excited. They "helped" Daddy move the crib and set it up in big brother's room. Now the trouble was figuring out a compromise: Our oldest had started sleeping with a night light on and the blinds up in his room, and our youngest was used to a blackout curtain over the closed blinds. We decided to start with the blinds closed (especially with increasing daylight rapidly approaching!) and leave the night light for a little while. Well, now that we are four days in, I don't know why I worried about the night time! They fall asleep pretty quickly because they are so worn out from partying during nap time!

No More Mondays

If you're reading this, then you are aware that we have posted five days a week since we began this blog together last summer. After Katharine stopped regularly blogging with us, we have rotated the Monday duties, and asked guests to share certain blog posts. Well, after several months of sharing this responsibility we have voted to cut down to four days a week and forgo the Monday post. This will begin immediately.

We will still post Tuesday- Friday. Lizzi will post on Tuesday, Esther on Wednesday, Maude on Thursday, and Sisters Chat on Friday. One Friday a month we will plan to have a guest blogger instead of posting a chat.

We believe this change will allow us the time needed to prepare our entries, participate in and tweak the chats, and give priority to our homes and families. Thanks for continuing to read, comment, and connect with us! We appreciate you!

Question and Answer Time with Mom

Maude: What is your favorite thing to grow in the garden?

Mom: Why flowers, of course! Sunflowers and zinnias are my very favorites! They don't count, actually, because they are just for fun. Thank you, God, for their beauty. They cheer the heart! I also love tomatoes because I love to eat them! Sun-ripened, fresh from the garden- yum! Also because they are easily canned or frozen, and can be enjoyed in so many recipes.

Maude: That's funny.  I hadn't really even thought of flowers for my garden.  We do have Nasturtiums but that is mostly because their leaves are edible greens for salads.  I mostly think of the garden as functional, not as much pretty.  I am excited about my tomato plants though!  Did I tell you that we started them from seed?  We've not put them into the ground outside yet but we will be in the next couple of weeks.  My husband's never a tomato fresh from the garden so he's excited about that.  I told him about your tomato sandwich.  I always think of you with tomatoes, Mom.

Esther: I planted flowers in my garden this year because I loved how you always did Mama.

Maude: What has been your favorite thing about motherhood?

Mom: My kids! :) By the time I have gotten to the "red hat" age group it's hard to remember anything I didn't like. After the 1st couple babies I even relished the time alone at night with my little one- well, most of the time. I remember being pretty tired with the buddy boys, #9 and #10. My favorite thing? Maybe cuddling in bed. After awhile it got pretty crowded. My favorite thing? I loved loading up the big monster van, Nessie, with all the family and heading off to church. It was not easy but very rewarding. My favorite thing? Sitting around our Dining Room table praying together and singing hymns. What a privilege to worship together as part of education. (As a new believer in my 30's I took seriously Deuteronomy 6:4-9, desiring that my children would love and serve the Lord all of their days.)

Esther: Fun memories Mama!

Maude:  That's a lot of favorites!  Is that allowed?!  Haha!  One can definitely tell you love being a mom.

Lizzi: Those are great memories, Mom! And what an encouragement to those of us "in the trenches" that you mostly just remember the good stuff! :)

Lizzi: What advice would you give a new parent, or parent of young children?

Happy Easter!

As I was putting my kids to bed earlier this week, I turned on a CD for them to listen to as they fell asleep.  It happened to be a Christmas CD.  While I prayed with them and rocked them for a few minutes I found myself singing along to The First Noel.

It really hit me, and I tried to explain to them what I was thinking, how that tiny little baby, that sweet innocent babe wrapped in swaddling clothes that we celebrated just a few months ago was beaten and scourge and killed for us.

My garden

We did it! We planted our garden. I was beginning to think it was never going to happen. We have been having torrential downpours here. But, on Saturday evening we got it planted! Because we have had such rain I have not watered it once! (That is my kind of garden).

Creativity at Work

My mother always brings out the creative spirit in me. Actually, she is just fun and creative herself, and I trail behind, enjoying her ideas and the end result they display. The first day she was here, she pulled out a goody bag filled with beads, stickers, pipe cleaners, foam shapes, balloons, and more.

Egg Mobile

Memory Monday: Coloring Easter Eggs

Today, we colored Easter eggs. Gramma is still here, so she made the food coloring/vinegar dye and we set to work. It was my first year to attempt coloring eggs with my son. (We did it during naptime for my 14-month old.) He turned three recently, and so it seemed a good year to begin this tradition. In years past I knew I would be the only participant, so I had no desire to begin until he could fully enjoy it himself.