Video tour of our new home

 I recorded a short video tour of our new home. 

Video walkthrough tour of our old home

We moved into our home in Tempe in December of 2005, when we had just three kids: Solomon (4), Isaac (2), and John (12 months). 

As our family grew, we kept finding ways to make our home work for us, including enclosing the patio to make a school/dining room, and enclosing the carport to make our tiny second bathroom into a large master bath. You can see a video of how we made it work with 13 people in 1,650 sq ft here. 

We had been weighing the pros and cons of moving for years, but always decided to stay. This summer, with 11 kids ages 19 down to 1, the scale tipped in favor of moving. I will do a longer video on our reasons for moving, and what finally pushed us over the edge. 

Today, for the sake of nostalgia, I am sharing a walkthrough video of our home of so many years. Enjoy! 

Cruise the Zoo

The Phoenix Zoo is currently closed, but is offering a "drive-thru" zoo experience instead. This is the first (and quite possibly only) time in their history they have done this, and we just had to take advantage of it in honor of Chloe's 4th birthday this coming Monday. 

My van's clearance of 9' 4" exceeded the recommended maximum by several feet, so I borrowed one of our church's vans instead. We brought along some friends from church to fill the extra seats. 

The event was a blast! They even allowed us to do the drive with the sliding door open, and the little kids up in the cabin with us, for a better view of the animals. We were going super slow, so no worries. 

We left first thing in the morning and got there before the gates opened at 8 a.m. to avoid waiting in line for hours. The drive took about 45 minutes total and we saw SO MANY animals. We even heard lions roaring several times, which was a first for me. The zookeepers said the animals had missed seeing visitors every day, and were getting lonely.

Rhino in the back

Zebras

We got home shortly after 9 a.m., at which time it was still beautiful and cool in our front yard, so the kids kept playing out there. It was a wonderful day to remember!

Birth announcement and story (and pictures!)

We are thrilled to announce the safe arrival of Peter László Anderson!

Peter was born last Monday, January 15th, at 10:11 p.m. weighing 8 lbs 1 oz and measuring 21 inches. 

Birth story below. Please do not read on if blood and guts make you queasy.

Recipe for German Lemonade Cake

This cake has been a family favorite for at least four generations. It was the traditional birthday cake we had growing up, and it is what I make for my own kids now.

When I say 'Lemonade Cake' it really should more accurately be called 'Orangeade Cake,' but that just doesn't have the same nice ring to it. 

You see, in German, 'Limonade' means any type of soda. Most sodas are made from fruit juice plus carbonated water, and orange juice is the most common choice among those. The closest thing I can compare it to is Pellegrino orange or blood orange soda. In fact, both are great choices for this cake. 

Then there is the chocolate frosting. There is no way to accurately describe this frosting without doing it injustice. It is, at its core, the most delectable frosting in the universe. Period. The magic in transforming its simple ingredients into perfection is to follow the directions exactly, or it will not whip up smooth and creamy but clumpy and flat. Easy directions, but they must be followed to a T. 

Also, to warn American sensibilities, the frosting contains an egg. A raw egg. You may think it is only by the grace of God and many miracles that after hundreds of instances of my grandma, her six kids and all their descendants, and now myself and my family eating this cake we have not ever fallen ill or died from eating it, but it's true. I lived to tell about it! Raw eggs are not inherently dangerous! Chickens that live in squalid unnatural conditions might fall sick with E. coli, which could end up on the outside of the egg, which could end up in your frosting and go downhill from there, but rather than rejecting the raw egg, just buy from a reputable source of pasture-fed chickens. Or choose a pasteurized egg (only in America, lol!). Or take your life into your own hands and use a regular ol' cheap egg. The chances of getting sick from it are near zero because all eggs in stores are washed, washed, and washed again. You could even give it one more rinse yourself before using it. 

Who knew a recipe could get this political just in the intro??!? Without further ado, here is the recipe:

German Lemonade Cake

Ingredients

For the cake:

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup sunflower oil or melted butter

3 eggs

2 1/4 cups flour

1 Tbsp vanilla extract

1 Tbsp baking powder

3/4 cup (blood) orange soda or orange juice mixed 50:50 with carbonated water

For the frosting: 

2 sticks + 2 Tbsp butter

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1/2 Tbsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

Directions

For the cake:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 10x13 baking dish.

2. Mix together eggs and sugar. While the mixer is running, add the oil/melted butter and vanilla. Turn the mixer off, dump the flour and baking powder into the bowl, and slowly start mixing again while pouring the soda into the cake batter. Turn mixer off as soon as the batter is well combined. 

3. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 25-30 minutes until the edges are turning golden and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

4. Completely cool cake in the pan before frosting.

For the frosting: 

1. Melt the butter completely and pour into a small bowl. Allow to cool down to room temperature or a little warmer. This is critical! The recipe will not work with just softened butter - the butter has to be melted and warm, but not hot (that would make the egg curdle).

2. Add powdered sugar and cocoa to the bowl, and beat with electric egg beaters or an immersion (stick) blender until well combined. 

3. Add eggs to frosting and continue to beat. You will see the frosting become smooth and creamy immediately. 

To finish:

1. Frost the cooled cake while the frosting is still soft. 

2. Add colored sprinkles (we love these).

3. Enjoy! The cake tastes best at room temperature. If you have to store it for an extended period of time, do so tightly covered in the fridge, but allow the cake to come to room temperature again before serving.

Chloe's Birth Story

My actual due date with Chloe was Friday, May 20th. Of our kids born up to that point, two had been born on their due dates, two had been born a few days after their due dates, and the rest had been born in the week before their due date. All that to say, our kids typically arrive right on time.

I had also learned from previous births that I typically have on-and-off contractions for 2-3 weeks leading up to birth, so for me that is another clue how far out actual labor is. These contractions started on Monday, May 2nd, a little over two weeks before Chloe ended up being born. The last few weeks leading up to the birth can be frustrating (especially for those who have to live with me!), but I think that letting baby choose his/her own birthday is one of the first gifts we give them, so I just wait (and wait and wait). Typically, baby comes right around the time I am thoroughly convinced that they will never be born. 

By the middle of May, the contractions had changed in nature, to where they no longer went away when I lay down or went to sleep. This, too, is an indicator that these contractions were now the real deal. That fact, however, is offset by the fact that I live in a house with 9 other people, 8 of which are kids that make noise and have all sorts of needs from sun up to sun down, which psychologically does not lend itself to being the perfect labor and birth environment. I knew that until my body pushed past the "point of no return" during the peaceful night hours, the contractions would mellow and space out during the day. After a few nights of sleeping only between regular contractions that came anywhere from 2 to 20 minutes apart, I finally felt I was in labor for good on the night from Monday to Tuesday, May 16/17. 

So around 4 a.m. on Tuesday, May 17th, I texted my mother-in-law and asked her to fly out. She had been on standby, ready to leave, for a couple of weeks. She has been here for the last three births before this current one, watching the kids while I am in labor. Even before that, she would come out as soon as baby was born to help for as long as she could get time off from work, but has come out in time for labor ever since retiring (she used to be a flight attendant). 

However, by the time the sun came up on Tuesday morning, I knew that was not going to be the day I gave birth. The contractions were still coming every 5 to 15 minutes, but they were much milder, too mild for being past that "point of no return" which I'm guessing is around 5 cm dilation for me. As usual, my husband took the kids to their P.E. class that morning, while I stayed home resting after not having slept well at night for almost a week by that point. After P.E., they picked up his mom at the airport, and were home in time for lunch and naps. I was supposed to have a prenatal appointment that afternoon, which I cancelled because I knew birth was imminent, and I was too uncomfortable to leave the house. I, too, lay down for a nap instead. 

In the evening, we left the kids home with Grandma for a trip to Costco. There were a few last minute things we needed, plus I figured the walking would help move labor along. It was about 10:30 p.m. when I got to bed that night, and I slept well for the first hour. At 11:41 p.m. the contractions had picked up in intensity to where I could no longer sleep through them. In fact, I could not even stay in bed in between them, as I needed to get up and move with the contractions to help ease the pain. 

Let me tell you, the hours between midnight and sun up are the worst hours to be in labor, at least for me. I was SO tired. The contractions were coming very regularly every 8 minutes at this point, ever increasing in intensity. While they lasted, I got much relief from leaning over the birth ball and rolling with it from side to side. I did this while standing up, with the birth ball on a raised surface. While it offered relief, it was impossible to sleep between contractions while standing up, and I was too tired lie down and get up again in between them. 

After about an hour of laboring this way by myself, I woke my husband around half past midnight to ask him to set up the birth pool, which involves inflating the pool, fitting it with its liner, connecting the hose to the shower head, and then fill the pool with water (which takes a while as we wait for the water heater to keep up). As with Boaz, the birth pool was set up in the office, which doubles as our guest room, and has a bed in it. In between filling the tub, my husband would doze off on the bed, while I was laboring and trying to rest. The contractions were still very manageable, but only as long as I was able to move with them. But like I said, standing up for 7 minutes in between them didn't do much in the way of letting me sleep. 

Around 1 a.m. on Wednesday, May 18th, I finally figured out a way to sit in the corner seat of our sofa in the living room in such a way that I could sleep between contractions, while still being able to move and work through them when they came every 8 minutes. So for the next 3 hours or so, I slept on the sofa, and woke only for the contractions. They were definitely painful, but manageable. My husband was asleep in the office next door, only waking to turn the hot water on and off as needed. 

Sometime around 4:30 a.m., I suddenly woke with a start, shivering and nauseated. This was an indication that labor had shifted into a new phase, and things were about to really pick up momentum. I woke my husband, and asked him to call the midwife and tell her it was time to come. I had wanted to hold off on that as long as possible to allow her to sleep, but as it turned out later, she had not been able to sleep much at all that night, knowing that I was in labor and could call at any moment. 

Once I was awake, there was no going back to sleep. I started throwing up (very typical for me in labor), but otherwise, I felt great between contractions. During each contraction, I would again lean over the birth ball on the guest bed, while my husband put gentle counter-pressure on my hips with his flat hands on either side. 

The birth team consisted of 4 ladies: my midwife (the same one I had used for the previous three births), two ladies who she had trained and who are just finishing their midwifery education (who had also been at my last two births), and a new apprentice midwife she was teaching. They showed up sometime around 5 a.m., and let themselves in silently so as to not wake the kids (labor plus kids just doesn't mesh well, and it was too early to send them all out of the house for the day). I remember hearing the cat, who prefers to sleep outside, meow - my only indication that the birth team had arrived and let the cat into the house when they came in. Later, one of the midwives told me that when she opened the door to let the apprentice in, my cat had leaped on her and scratched her up, something she has NEVER done - she must have been spooked by my being in labor. The ladies were setting up their stuff, making themselves coffee and letting me do my thing.

Around 5:30 a.m. or so, I asked my midwife to check me for dilation, and I think I was at a 6, though maybe it was 7. Things were going well and very manageable, so I didn't care much about the exact number. Having had the same midwife for the last four births, I knew she would have a good idea of when baby would be born, so I asked for her prediction. She said she would be very surprised if baby was born before 7 a.m. or after 10 a.m., so that was my "window." Might seem silly, but she's always been right in the past with me!

I got into the birth pool around this time to give me additional relief, and for the next couple of hours, I would sit in there resting and chatting, then turn over for the next contraction so my husband could push on my hips. In past labors, I always wanted counter-pressure on the tailbone, but this time, it felt much better to have him push to the right and left of my tailbone, on the hips. Between contractions, we were still laughing and talking.

By this time (about 7:30 a.m.), my mother-in-law had taken all the other kids out of the house, although they were so quiet I hardly even heard them leave. I was dilated to an 8 or 9, and I could feel the baby right at the cervix, but not pushing past the tailbone and ready to descend into the birth canal. The baby has to navigate a "turn" at that point, which is very noticeable. Once they clear that turn near the tailbone, they are born within the next minute or two. This baby, however, just stayed put right where it was. This was partly due to the fact that I was not yet fully dilated, although I knew from past experience that the last lip of my cervix typically doesn't get pushed aside until baby comes through, and I often do start pushing at 9 cm dilation.

It was around this time that my midwife told me the baby likely had its hand up by its face, based on the fact that he/she was not coming down sooner, and the fact that my hips felt like they were being split in half during contractions. This was NOT what I had wanted to hear. It meant that I could be stuck in this transitional phase for anywhere from 5 minutes to 5 days - just however long it took for baby to navigate past my tailbone, having increased its head circumference (the largest part to be born) by having a hand on its face/head.

Strangely, from the get-go, this labor had reminded me of Isaac's birth. Isaac is our second-oldest child, and my first home birth. His birth was going well, and was pretty manageable like this labor had been, except for the very end, when I got stuck in transition for several hours without any progress. After he was born, we learned that not only did he have a very short cord, but that he was making it shorter by having it looped up and through his legs. It took so long for him to be born because his cord had to stretch, stretch, stretch for him to be able to descend. By the time he came out, the cord was stretched very thin. I remember the last couple hours of that labor, I had gotten out of the pool, and was passed out tired on the bed in between contractions, waking only as they peaked and biting down on my husband's hand in pain. We have since learned to keep washcloths on hand for that! ;)

Having already experienced what it felt like to get stuck in transition, I was really discouraged by the prospect of having to relive that. Remembering Isaac's birth, I got out of the tub, and tried to rest and even sleep between contractions. At this point, labor was a lot more difficult to manage, because I no longer felt that each contraction brought me a little closer to holding baby - it felt like I was making zero progress, while in a lot of pain, with no end in sight. I remember telling my midwife to transfer me to the hospital via ambulance, so they could just deliver the baby via C-section, because I was DONE with labor. The ambulance was not due to any urgency, just the simple fact that I though riding lying down on a gurney would be a lot more comfortable than sitting in a car - ha!

After a couple of hours of that, around 9:30 a.m. I got another little burst of energy, and got back into the pool. It only took a couple more contractions until I finally felt the baby clear the tailbone, and descend into the birth canal. I knew he/she would be born with the next few pushes.

The head crowned with the next contraction, and while it was stuck there before the next one came, the midwife and I felt knuckles on both sides of the head. We had suspected one hand by the baby's face, but not two! I remember yelling for someone to put pressure on my perineum to keep it from tearing, then with the next push the baby was born at 9:48 a.m, just before my midwife's predicted delivery window ended. The cord was pretty short, I think just over a foot and a half, which probably didn't help labor progress any faster. I had to lean down carefully so as to not pull on the cord while checking to see if we had a boy or a girl. I had thought boy all along with this pregnancy, but had started to think girl toward the very end and while in labor. I was washing the dishes one night close to the birth when the name "Chloe" came into my mind as a choice for a girl, and was relieved that my husband liked it and we now had our girl name choice settled.

 This is how she was born, and still likes to sleep.

I knew I was supposed to get out of the tub as soon as baby was born (to better monitor blood loss), so with the help of my midwives, I moved out of the tub and onto the bed. The placenta was born shortly thereafter, followed by a lot of blood. It would have been alarming if not for the fact that I always bleed a lot after delivery, and my midwife knows this. They were keeping a close eye on me, monitoring my blood pressure and giving me stuff to control the bleeding, but I was not worried about it. I think that my body just makes an excess of blood while pregnant (blood volume increases anywhere from 150-200%, so there's a wide range of normal there), which is why I can afford to lose more than average without any complications. My iron levels, blood pressure, energy, and milk supply in the days after delivery were all stellar, which means that whatever amount of blood I lost was not an issue. I have donated blood before and felt far worse.

My husband called his mom to tell her the baby had been born, and that it was a girl. They were not too far from the house, and came home immediately to greet the newest member of the family.

 
 

Admiring her little fingers

My husband drained and cleaned up the birth pool while the midwives got me settled and kept monitoring me. In spite of Chloe's two little hands being born alongside her larger-than-average head, I had zero tearing. I had some pain near my tailbone from when she had to squeeze by there, but after a few hours that was gone, and I felt like I had never even given birth.

I hadn't eaten much in the last two days leading up to the birth, but I was still not hungry at all, and just ate a cheese stick. There was also cake and milk for everyone - knowing the birth was imminent, I had made birthday cake the night before.

Around nap time, the midwives left, the little boys napped, and my mother-in-law took the older kids out of the house so us parents could also rest in a quiet house.

About 10 days old and loving her bath. 

The midwife and her team came back to check on us on days 1 and 3, and at 1 and 2 weeks postpartum, which always includes flowers for baby and chocolate for mom. Chloe is growing and gaining well, and there have been no issues whatsoever with either her or me, except that I think she has a slight intolerance to me consuming dairy products. Mostly, she just gets colicky if I drink milk straight up, but seems to be fine with cheese etc. (though I have cut out all dairy for the time being just to make sure). I am not a fan of milk, and rarely if ever drank any while pregnant, which may be why she couldn't handle me drinking it now.

 

Boaz helping check Chloe's oxygen saturation

My husband drove me to see my chiropractor the day after giving birth, to set my tailbone straight again and to check Chloe for any misalignment. The chiropractor I see has taken care of me with my last 6 pregnancies, which I am certain plays a large part in my natural deliveries. I see her all throughout my pregnancies as often as I see the midwife for prenatal checkups. She is trained in the Webster technique, which is very gentle, and does not involve "cracking" my joints. 

Other than that, I have been home resting and holding baby. My mother-in-law left earlier this week after having stayed and helped for two weeks. Yesterday and today, I ran my first errands, not because I had to but because I was going stir-crazy from having been cooped up in the house so long. All went very well - Chloe actually likes the car seat, something most of our kids hate with a passion! I can't wait to go back to church this Sunday morning, though I will take some more time to phase in the evening services because I am going to bed early these days. 

Thank you again to all who prayed for a safe, easy delivery!

Baby's Little Nest

Can you tell that with the school year finished, I have more time to blog? :) I have been having fun preparing for baby in my extra time.

We needed to get a new bassinet, but I wanted to just use a Moses basket this time around because it is much smaller, more portable (since baby might need to nap in different rooms on different days), and non-toxic. I absolutely detest that virtually all baby products in the US come doused in flame retardants, which are known carcinogens, and are what I believe the biggest culprit behind SIDS. Whenever possible, I try to avoid them. 

Amazon carries a really nice Moses basket. They also sell an organic mattress pad for it, but that may or may not mean it has been treated with funky chemicals, not to mention it looks thin and stiff because it is covered in plastic. The bumper pad I found was nice, but too pricey.

Instead, I opted to buy barrier cloth and wool to make a mattress, and flannel and sateen tape to make the bumper. I already had wool batting in the house for the bumper, so my total cost was far less than getting these items ready-made, plus I had fun making them.

Thinking about getting a Moses basket reminded me that back in Germany when my brother was little (he is 16 years younger than me), my mother used a special hanging cradle for him, which he loved. This contraption basically consists of a soft spring attached to the ceiling that moves very gently up and down and side to side if the baby stirs at all, with a net hanging from the spring that holds the Moses basket (or a pram top or car seat - recommendations in the Old Country are not subject to the same safety concerns as here). Sadly, amazon.de does not ship this item to the US, but I was able to get it from a different online vendor in Germany. I was getting nervous that it would not arrive in time, but it did get here in less than 3 weeks total.

This beautiful hanging cradle now adorns my room, though we do also have hooks in the ceiling in two other rooms of the house should it need to be moved for a nap. The motion of this cradle is almost magical. I like to bump it when I lie in bed just to admire it. It swings/rocks about 70 times per minute, mimicking mom's heartbeat and motions. I can see why babies would love it! 

For now, Boaz gave it a little test drive, and certainly enjoyed that.

As I mentioned in a previous post, my mother-in-law had given my bedroom a fresh coat of paint on her last visit here, and had also decorated the room with some new pictures and other items. She did not hang any pictures on the walls above the bed, because she knew they were likely to get knocked down by little people sleeping in my bed.

One morning this week, I woke up and thought, "I should stencil something onto this wall!" and did just that. It took me all afternoon until almost midnight, but I got it done in one sitting. There really was no other option as I was using a projector, and there would have been no way to get it to line up exactly a second time if I took it down in between working on the project.

This is not the room I plan to give birth in, but these verses always make me think about pregnancy, birth, and child rearing. 

 A look around the rest of the room. It is the smallest bedroom in the house, but I really like how it turned out. This will be my little quiet retreat during the postpartum recovery.

The girls were all impressed with my art work, but one of their big brothers quickly gave me a reality check when I overheard him telling his sisters, "It's not like mom is some great artist or anything, she just used a projector to throw it on the wall, and then drew it on." Oh-kay! I agree it's not the Sistine Chapel, but it was tedious work, and took a lot of time.

In addition to the bassinet, I also wanted to make a quilt for baby. The fabrics I had on hand had actually been picked out for a blanket for Boaz, but I never did get around to making him one, so I was going to use it this time around instead. However, once the quilt top was assembled, I realized it was far too big for a little baby, and would indeed be better suited for Boaz, who is now in his own toddler bed (and mighty proud of it). 

Miriam really has an eye for making things look pretty. She not only put the quilt on his bed, but then went on to decorate his little "den" by matching the safari theme of the blanket with a stuffed elephant, a book about a giraffe, and a tissue box of the same color. Then she snuggled up with Boaz in his bed and read stories to him. :)

Miriam and Becca have been wanting to learn quilting, which I thought they are just a tad too young for, so instead I picked up some pre-printed/quilted flannel top for them that they could use to practice just the layering, quilting, and binding part on, without having to actually do any piecing. Once they are done, those little quilts will be plenty warm for the baby - not like we really need much in the way of blankets in this summer heat.

Yesterday, my husband and I finally also settled on a girl name, after already having chosen a boy name some time ago. This is pretty unusual for us to do ahead of the birth, especially because both names were picked by me this time. Don't ask what they are, though - we won't tell until after baby is born and named. Announcing baby names ahead of time is a rookie mistake that seems to invite others' unsolicited opinions. ;) Both are New Testament names, so you can have fun guessing if you like.

And with that, we are all set for baby here, and are just waiting for his/her arrival any day now. :)

Advent Calendar

For the first time ever, it occurred to me this year to make one advent calendar for all the kids to share. As I was putting the finishing touches on it yesterday night, I was shaking my head at how in the world I had managed to pull off making one for each child for so long, without losing my sanity. Then I remembered that I had lost my sanity years ago, and it all finally made sense.

Besides saving me time and (theoretically) my sanity, there are other advantages to this new method: Since I only have to come up with 24 treats and not 192, I can put bigger/nicer things in for items that can be shared, such as this book that was in the calendar for today. This means that there are zero Dollar Tree-like trinkets in there, which goes well with my new "less is more" motto. If I'm going to give them a treat, it will be something of nice quality, practical, and not clutter/junk. About half of the days are filled with goodies that fit that bill, while the other half are filled with German candies (thank you, CostPlus World Market!).

Soooo, anyhow, I needed a design that could accommodate various size gifts, and enough for 8 kids each day. This means that advent calendars based on uniform containers like matchboxes or toilet paper rolls never work well for us. I also needed something that wouldn't cost an arm and a leg in craft supplies, was adorable and eye-catching while fairly easy to make, and that wouldn't break my heart to throw away after each day was opened because I'm not trying to store anything unless I absolutely must. If you have looked at my "Advent Calendars" board on Pinterest, you know this decision is serious business for me! 

I discovered the above idea for an advent calendar in just enough time to pull it off. It was originally sold as a craft kit on a German website. I created my own knock-off version by using paper lunch sacks for the body, creating a template for the antlers from this design (I scaled it down to fit 2 pairs of antlers per sheet of paper), and using white Avery brand self-sticking round labels in two sizes (#5294 for the larger eyes, and #5293 for the smaller eyes and noses). I designed the noses on the template maker on avery.com. Other than cutting out the antlers, this project really was pretty fast and easy. For items that were too large to fit into a lunch sack and leave enough room at the top to fold the bag over, I cut the bottom off a second lunch sack, and glued this "sleeve" to the first bag to make it taller. 

This calendar now adorns the top of our piano. Like most years, after I had stayed up too late finishing it, the kids were up bright and early today, excited to open the first bag. I forgot to give them the speech about if they get up too early, they don't get to open the calendar until lunch that day... So yes, I'm tired today! ;)

(To see design ideas from years past, please click here: 2014, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2008, 2007. Evidently, 2009 and 2013 didn't get blogged about.)

10-year Church Anniversary

You know how they say kids grow up in the blink of an eye? Well, in much the same way, it seems like just yesterday that we started our church. It certainly doesn't seem like a DECADE ago! Yet, in a little over 5 weeks from now, we are celebrating our 10-year church anniversary.

Aw, look at wittle Solomon in the front row! And Isaac asleep in his chair... And look, my husband with no beard! (March 2006)

And, much like a mom will look at her grown child and always see her "baby", I see our church as the same it was when we had our first service, in our living-room-converted-to-an-auditorium with just 9 people in the first service on Sunday morning, Christmas Day 2005. Five of those were our own family! The family of two of the ones who came are still members of our church, which is very dear and special to us. Our current Sunday morning record is 185 in attendance, set just this past week, and yet I look at the crowd and it seems like nothing has changed since those early days. Just a group of dedicated Christians who sincerely love the Lord, and each other.

Ah, memories! There have been many ups and the inevitable downs, much like anything in life. My husband and I love our church dearly, and are very blessed to be able to serve God through this ministry.

Some of our key members approached me months ago, sharing their hopes of making this anniversary an extra special one for my husband, who truly labors in the word and doctrine every single day. To that end, they have several surprises planned for him. Paul Wittenberger put together a short video that explains a little more about this, and someone else at our church has set up this website that has all the details, which I don't want to reveal here on the off chance that my husband is reading this post.

You might think, "Surprise? But you are writing about it on our blog?" Well, my husband and I have a little joke that he never reads my blog, and I never listen to his online sermons. It's true - we do live with one another, after all, which is like streaming preaching 24/7! And after a long day with the kids, he isn't one to seek out more stories and pictures of them on my blog. :)

Additionally, my husband has also been informed that surprises are being planned for him, and that there is a website with all the info. He has been asked not to visit this website should he see it promoted. So please feel free to share this post. I have held off sharing the website for several months, but since we are close to the special service, it's time to spread the info near and far, so as many as possible can join us on that special day.
So please visit the website here and join in the celebration!

Mummy Dogs

As part of our "All Through the Ages" history-based unit study, the kids and I have been studying Ancient Egypt.

We try to have a special meal and/or activity each week relating to each era, so when I saw the idea of "Mummy Dogs" on Pinterest, I was immediately sold on them. Basically, they are like "pigs in a blanket", except that we used pretzel dough instead of biscuits, which we then wrapped mummy-style.

The kids had a blast. For me, this definitely beat the idea of "mummifying" each other in rolls and rolls of toilet paper... :)