Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone. Please do not miss the best gift of all - salvation by grace through faith free to all who put their trust in God.

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. - Ephesians 2:8,9





We took a 3-day trip to Flagstaff last week to go play in the snow (about 2 1/2 hours north of here). It's nice to live in a warm place like we do, but close enough to the snow if we want to "get our fix".

Solomon and Miriam

Isaac and John

Becky

The view from our balcony.

Our family's coats. That's a lot of people!

(There are 8 in the picture. No, I am not pregnant. I brought both a coat as well as a snowsuit for the baby. If I don't say this, somebody will ask me about it.)

Our little snow princesses

At a cowboy museum in town

Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!

Just a bunch of pictures

Between tending to various chores, I wanted to upload miscellaneous pictures from the last few months that I thought were too cute not to blog.

Miriam enjoying a messy snack...

(she needs the cell phone to call her Daddy all day long)

... with Becky

the culprit:

Solomon's favorite hobby: reading

Some wonderful friends sent the kids a box full of really cool science kits. Thank you again!!

Miriam pushing Becky around in her toy stroller

Every mom's favorite place to find the baby...

(And just in case you were wondering, my boys almost never remember to flush. Please forget that I ever told you that.)

In fact, there's a video about it. The mess was already there, I figured I might as well make the best of it and get some funny footage.

Miriam came out of her bed at night and decided to sleep in the dirty laundry pile in the hall instead, where she could see and hear us


Pushing Becky around again. They both enjoy it tremendously.


Not sure what she got on her mouth, I think it was diaper ointment.


John dressed up as a revolutionary American soldier. There is literally NEVER a day he does not dress up as something. On Sundays, he sometimes tries to sneak a costume under his church outfit, just so he knows it's "there".


I thought it was funny that our family alone took up the whole pony ride



Isaac, dressed up as a fireman. There was a fire truck in the parking lot for fire prevention month, which is why both Isaac and John wore their costumes.



We made pretzels the week that we learned about Russia in school.



Isaac made this Viking shield himself with some help from me. (Sorry, the camera messed up on this one.)

Maple syrup makes for great hair gel. Smells nice, too.


The kids enjoying some German stollen and hot chocolate with whipped cream and peppermint sticks. Isaac and Solomon are both such sweethearts, just like their Dad.



Becky is addicted to these candy canes. They ARE very good. I found them at Whole Foods, they are 100% natural and organic, and contain no artificial colors or flavors. They are made from brown rice syrup, and taste wonderful.


Did you know that if you stick a candy cane into a lemon and start sucking, the lemon juice will eventually come up through the candy cane straw? - Instant lemonade!

Another bread recipe

Recently, I blogged about the recipe I use to bake all of our breads. It was taken from the book "Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day", and it's true, it takes me no more time than that. Every couple of days, I make a batch of dough, bake 2 loaves of bread from it, slice both when they are done baking and cooling, and then stick one in the freezer and leave one out to eat.

However, this dough is not suitable for crusty breads like French bread, or for pizza crust. The authors of the above book came out with a new book recently, called "Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day". In this book, they give a great recipe for dough that works wonderfully for breads that need more crunch. It is not 100% whole grain, so if your family doesn't like whole wheat they may still like this one.

INGREDIENT	VOLUME (U.S.)	WEIGHT (U.S.)	WEIGHT (METRIC)
whole wheat flour	5 ½ cups	1 pound, 9 ounces	720 grams
all-purpose flour, unbleached	2 cups	10 ounces	270 grams
granulated yeast	1 ½ tablespoons (2 packets)	0.55 ounces	15 grams
salt	1 tablespoon	0.55 ounces	15 grams
vital wheat gluten	¼ cup	1 3/8 ounces	35 grams
lukewarm water	4 cups	2 pounds	900 grams

I included the weights because rather than measuring my ingredients, I weight them with my digital kitchen scale, which is much faster and more accurate. I simply put the mixer bowl on the scale, pour in each ingredient, and then hit "zero" before adding the next.

Add all ingredients in a large bowl, and stir with a wooden spoon until all ingredients are combined. If using a Kitchenaid, mix with paddle (not dough hook) for about 1 minute. No need to proof the yeast, knead the dough, etc. The dough will be wetter than bread dough typically is, which will allow it to rise even without being kneaded.

Allow dough to rest for 1-2 hours, until doubled in bulk. At this point, you can either refrigerate your dough in a covered container for later use (for up to 2 weeks), or use it immediately. The dough is easier to work with if it has been refrigerated first.

To use, wet your hands, and tear off as much dough as you will need. This batch makes enough for about 3 baguettes/pizza crusts/small freeform loaves. Sprinkle dough liberally with flour, and shape into whatever you are making. Allow to rise until doubled, and then bake.

I let our bread rise on a pizza peel that has been sprinkled with cornmeal. When it is done rising, I slide it onto a pizza stone that has been sitting in the oven at 425 degrees, and bake until the top looks golden brown. Adding a glass bowl with water to a lower rack in the oven makes it come out even crunchier.

freeform loaf
tastes great dipped in olive oil as a side dish to pasta, or sliced with ham and cheese on top

For pizza, I roll the pizza crust out on the pizza peel that has been sprinkled with cornmeal, prick it all over with a fork, and then slide it onto the stone immediately without letting it rise. I bake it at the highest temperature on my oven for about 5 minutes, then take the crust out with the peel, add the toppings, and slide it back onto the hot stone in the oven until the toppings are done. The crust comes out fantastic!

chicken pesto pizza

Please let me know how you like the recipe if you try it.

John's birthday

John turned five last week. The theme of his party was "Pirates". My camera is broken and it was acting up, so I did not get a lot of pictures.

We played walk the plank, pin the treasure on the treasure map, another treasure-themed game, and had a pirate ship pinata.

For the cake, I made a sheet cake and decorated it like a treasure island in the middle of the ocean. On a side note, if you are looking for great all-natural food colors, check with a Whole Foods market in your area. The one I shop at let me buy small quantities of the bulk bottles they use in the bakery. The colors work great, and are a fraction of the cost of what I used to pay for the India Tree colors.

It's hard to believe John is five already. He is such a sweetheart. He tells me dozens of times per day that he loves me, and writes me sweet notes such as "My love for you is as big as the sun".

For over one full year now, him and Miriam have pretended to be husband and wife, it is so cute.

John has always been very advanced for his age, especially in his verbal skills. My husband was reading the book of Jonah to the kids recently, and John interrupted him with: "Excuse me please, when Johah was in the whale's belly, that was a foreshadowing of when Jesus would go to Hell for three days and three nights."

At a hotel recently, as we stepped into the elevator, he told me: "Mommy, I noticed this elevator has a tendency to go down."

He cracks me up every day, and his sweet smile is irresistible. I wish he would stay this age forever!

Case thrown out!!!

I just got a call from my husband. At the hearing today, the case against him was thrown out with prejudice. This means there will not be a trial tomorrow, and he is not guilty of the two traffic-related misdemeanors he was accused of. More details soon.

Thank you to all who prayed!

Tamiflu a complete scientific fraud

Read the article here.

If you took Tamiflu and started acting weird, this may be why.

Quick update on my husband's border patrol case

Floor remodel

Back this summer, when it was warm outside (as opposed to the 40-or-so degrees, rain, and howling winds outside tonight) and the kids were on summer break, I tore up the carpets in three of the bedrooms and replaced them with laminate.

Room 1

I started with one room first, to see if I could actually swing it. This room used to be the kids' playroom. It is the largest room in our house (approx. 230 sq ft) and the only one with a vaulted ceiling. It gets lots of natural light, and has big double French doors to the backyard. It had a loft bed in it, but nobody ever slept in there.

Because this room was only used for playing, and because it "belonged" to all the kids, nobody felt it was their responsibility to keep it tidy. Toys for all different age ranges were always scattered everywhere. The huge closet in this room also held all of the kids' clothes, which made the room even messier. Therefore, this room used to be a constant source of irritation for me. Glancing at it on my way to bed at night was frustrating.

The kids did not like playing in the room when it was messy, so I felt like we were wasting the nicest and biggest bedroom.

There are no good "before" pictures of the whole room because I forgot to take any. These are just some pictures of the kids playing in there to give you an idea of what it looked like.






First I tore out the carpet, which took me two full days because all the carpet boards had to be ripped up. To break up the large space, I had a 4 ft high dividing wall installed. I spent two more days painting the walls. Installing the flooring took several more days. After the floors and baseboards were in, I made this room our bedroom and moved all of our stuff in. Then I hung curtains and did some other decorating.

Before this remodel/move, my husband and I shared the smallest bedroom in the house (100 sq ft), and both girls usually slept in our room with us. It was a little cramped, as you can imagine.

This is a picture of the (mostly) painted room, floors undone...

... after I started installing the flooring ...

... later that night, I had worked around the wall...

And, the finished product:


A closer shot of Miriam's little area and what she calls her "princess bed":


With this new room, we have a lot more space, and there was even room to put a little craft/sewing table in there. It's nice not having to get the sewing machine out and having to set it up every time I want to sew for a few minutes.


Look at all my fabric nicely sorted and stacked. I bought about 80% of this fabric from a lady on Craigslist for $20. It's a lot more than it looks in the photo.



Room 2

The next room was the one that all three boys had been sharing as their bedroom. Again, I didn't take a before picture, but it was basically wall-to-wall beds, which was terrible with trying to keep stuff and dust out from under the beds. The boys insisted on all being in the same room, with enough extra space for us parents and the girls to sleep in there with them "as needed". Oh, how I miss those days when I would go to bed at night, with all five kids sound asleep in there, and from where I was lying I could reach out and give each of them a pat on the head in their sleep. Now that I am not used to it any more, they disturb me too much and I prefer my own room.


After I did the floors, only Isaac and John stayed in there. They like everything to do with firemen, so I sewed the curtains and also put in some other cute firefighting decorations (which you can't see in this picture since it only shows about one fourth of the room). Solomon hung the picture of George Washington, his favorite president.



Room 3

Solomon moved into what used to be our bedroom, which means that he is the only person in the house who has his own room. At 100 sq feet, it is the smallest room in the house. He is actually pretty good about keeping it clean on his own.

Before:



After:


His loft bed has a pull-out desk, book shelf, and chest of drawers underneath it. There is also a bookshelf in his room with bins to keep his stuff. The closet is not in the picture, either.

All in all, start to finish, I spent about 3 weeks to do all three rooms. Several of those days were spent buying and hauling the flooring to the house, as well as going back to the store for little stuff I needed along the way.

Becky was only 8 months old at the time. Without Solomon helping take care of her, I would not have been able to do the floors.

I have honestly never looked back. Not once has the thought that I wish I had carpet again even remotely crossed my mind. My allergies (that I never had before moving to Arizona) have all but disappeared. I never wake up all night long any more, having to blow my nose incessantly.

And just in case you were wondering, I did all the work wearing skirts. And kneepads. And I didn't chop any of my fingers off with the table saw, although there were a few close calls (don't tell my husband).

The reason why I spent so much time tonight putting together this post is because I needed a reminder to focus on the positive. I am bummed about the fact that both our washer AND our dishwasher broke this weekend (what are the chances of that happening?). And our indoor plumbing had a leak last weekend, and really the house needs to be repiped. And our windows and doors need replacing; the draft from them is freezing me out. But hey, my floors look great!

Babies are people, too

Becky being held by Solomon, with John watching on, shortly after being born

I have been pondering what impact, if any, the birth of a child has on his or her future physical, emotional, and mental well-being. After all, this point in time is every human being's first introduction to their family, to society, and to life in this world.

Are they treated as one of several thousand nameless faces that pass through the average hospital every year, with little regard to their feelings? Are they just frail creatures on the brink of death unless somebody forcefully suctions their mouth, slaps their back, pokes their heel, puts eyedrops in their eyes, injects them with viruses, and lays them under a warming or UV light? How would you feel if you walked into someone's house for the first time and that is the treatment you received?

Most people assume that babies are too young to understand what is going on around them, but we only think so because babies do not have our verbal skills. What they lack in communication they make up for with intuition. I learned this with one of our children, John. When John was born he was wrapped in the cord a total of three times, twice around the neck and once around the torso and up between his legs. The cord around the neck issue is such a bogus scare tactic, because babies don't breathe through their mouths at that point. The concern is compression of the cord if it is wrapped too tightly, since it is the cord that supplies baby with oxygen, but it could be wrapped too tightly anywhere, not just the neck. Many babies have the cord around their neck at birth. Well, John was wrapped pretty good. The moment his head was born, the cord tightened around his body, which probably made the oxygen levels drop. This in turn caused him to empty his bowels, but he was born seconds later into the birth pool so untangling him was a snap and the water prevented the meconium from sticking to him.

When my midwife came back to check on me later that night, she told me what had happened with the cord at birth. John, who at this point was very content and just looking around, suddenly started shrieking in a panic and grabbed at his throat with both his hands, as if trying to pull something (the cord) away from his neck. He not only understood what we were saying, but he also remembered the event. Everyone who was over at our house when it happened agreed, and it was a little creepy. John has had exceptional verbal skills his entire life. He spoke in complete sentences when he was just barely 18 months old. Babies do understand, they do get scared, and they do remember.

With my next birth after that, Miriam, I came to the realization that this could work to my advantage. In labor, I talked a lot to the baby, and kept telling her that she was doing great, or that she needed to move off my tailbone, or rotate this way or that. I told her we were waiting to meet her and very excited. It worked like a charm. The labor was fast and the pushing stage very short. Same thing with Becky, once I actively started labor. Both were great deliveries, and the babies really worked with me. Most people would think it crazy that I would talk to my baby like I would talk to anyone else, but those same people are having highly managed hospital births that end in being sliced open one third of the time. I guess I'd rather seem a little crazy but give birth to a baby that is calm and content and not screaming and scared.

Babies are extremely smart, and we don't give them near enough credit. When our children enter the world, they are the only baby born to us in about two years. Everyone in the room is eagerly waiting to welcome them. The room is warm and damp, the lights are dim, and nobody is going to inflict any pain on them moments after birth, or take them away from the only person they have been with for nine months. Mom and Dad are right there, as are all the other faces with familiar voices like siblings and the midwife, all of whom the baby has been hearing all along through the belly.

I don't know what impact, if any, a traumatic birth has on a baby (and yes, I believe that 99% of hospital births are traumatic to mother and/or baby), but I am still glad that I have the option of delivering babies in a quiet, safe environment. Obviously, being a Christian, one could overcome any obstacle in life with the help of the Holy Spirit, but I for one would like to avoid even burdening my children with unnecessary obstacles if it is possible to do so.

Miriam, about 1/2 hour after being born, checking out Mom close up

Becky, about 1 hour after being born

An inexpensive Christmas gift idea

If you have lots of little kids in the house, especially boys, you may like this gift idea. It is a book. A book on how to build practically anything from cardboard boxes:

Don't let the title deceive you, there is much more than castles and cars in this book. I can't even begin to list all the fun projects that it covers, but you can look inside of it on Amazon and check out the contents page. Some stuff is easy enough for a 2-year old to make, and some projects require the help of an older sibling or parent. Our boys have LOVED having this book from the library, and yes, they are getting a copy of it for Christmas.

In addition to buying the book for $11.07, there are a few other things that are handy to have on hand as your children will want to start making something from it immediately:

- cardboard boxes in all sizes - appliance stores usually give these out for free, but call around and ask, because not all do. We keep an assortment of sizes in stock year-round.

- box cutter - about $2 at the hardware store. Definitely for use BY ADULTS ONLY!!!

- big bottles of tempera paint - teaching stores usually carry these for $2/bottle. Tempera paint washes out of most fabrics, and it can be diluted with water if you are painting a large project and want to "stretch" your paint.

- mailing tape - the paper type used to seal packages is best, but the plastic will work, too, it's just a little harder to paint.

- cardboard tubes, milk jugs, pie tins, extra pieces of PVC pipe, blankets, and anything else that can be turned into something new.

For a total cost of less than $30, you can give a gift that will bring hours upon hours of constructive, cooperative fun. Sure, I could buy a video game for my son to play by himself and rot his brain, but why would I when instead he could be playing outside with his siblings and building something tangible. The real sacrifice with this gift is not that I throw down a bunch of money that my husband worked long and hard to earn, but that I will have to dedicate some of my time to help them build whatever it is they pick, rather than keeping up with the never-ending housework or taking a break.

I already shared a picture of the castle I built with the kids a few weeks ago, which they are still playing in (even though it's in a state of disrepair by now). Today, we made a behemoth of a "fireplace" out of three medium-sized appliance boxes. This project was not in the book, but I thought it was fitting anyway because it was just like all the stuff in there.


We have since added yellow and red tissue paper "flames", and I am thinking about a way to make them "light up". We also need to hang stockings this year, which is why the kids wanted a fireplace to begin with.

Enjoy your child(ren) today, they grow up too fast!