Creativity and Jello Salad

John has been in creative mode lately. It does his mama good to see him creating balloon creations and creations in the kitchen. Last evening, he made a jello salad. Now this may not seem like much, but it is not something I ever make. Dave actually makes fun of me because of how easy jello is, but yet I never make it. My mom makes yummy jello salads with fruit in them. So...John and I thought we'd try one last night. He did all the work. Yeah! It turned out and is yummy! Extra good with fresh strawberries that we picked.

His other project has been a unique "report" on Abraham Lincoln, one of his favorite people in history. He twisted balloons of various stages of Abe Lincoln's life. The first is Abraham as a baby:

The second phase is Abraham as a young boy with an ax in his hand:

And finally, John himself is dressed as a much older Abraham Lincoln with a wild black beard and a cane:

His own unique version of history.

Beach Time

What a nice week! We spent the last week at Dave's mom and step-dad's in Delaware. Five out of the seven days we were there we went to Ocean City, MD. The boys are old enough now to both go in the ocean by themselves and body surf and dive through the waves. They loved it. Dave and John could spend hours out in the ocean. Josiah likes it too, but also likes to spend a lot of time digging and building creations in the sand. In addition to swimming, laying in the sun, reading and just plain relaxing, we enjoyed walking the boardwalk and continuing our yearly skee-ball tournament. Josiah and I were the champs last year. This year, our title was taken away. Dave and John beat us 6 out of 7 games. Ouch! Think Josiah and I will sneak away to Chuck E's or the Coliseum to get some extra practice in before our trip back to DE next month. Hee hee hee...

Overnight at Grandma and Grandpa's

The boys and I just returned from an overnight visit to Grandma and Grandpa's house. It was amazing to see the difference in my dad. Last time I saw him was the end of April. Now it is June, just two short months later. When I left, he was shuffling around, with his shoulders bent over. He was recovering from major abdominal surgery and was going to begin physical therapy. He has since finished his physical therapy and the change is drastic. He is now walking again--up to 1.5 miles/day at this point. My mom says she cannot keep up with him. He looks great and is joking around once again. It really makes me smile to think of how far he has come. Thanks for all of the prayers.

Long Time No Post

A brand new day...what a blessing to be able to begin again and experience God's mercies anew each day. The kids are finishing school in 2 short days. Wowza! Today Dave and I go into the 4th grade classes to do some ballooning. I will read the story while Dave twists balloons. Then we might teach them something simple to do on their own. The teachers and kids really seem to love this. And it is fun because we can take a book or story that the teachers want the kids to hear and make our own animation out of balloons. Today the kids will be seeing a chicken, a duck and a pig. We are reading "Chicks and Salsa". We also might read "Dogzilla". Cute book, but less creations that can be made from the story.

Last night was amazing. A very powerful storm went through our area at about 1:30 AM. I don't remember a storm hitting so close in a long time. The sky continued to flash repeatedly. The booms were loud. I expected the ground to shake and trees to begin falling around us. It made me stop and ask God if Jesus was returning right then. It was that kind of sobering storm. It reminded me of how powerful God is. It made me bow to Him and ask Him for forgiveness for forgetting how majestic He is. How can I get so caught up in life that I forget these things? We can be wiped off the face of this earth in an instant. I actually love to be reminded of that so that I am sent to my knees. And there I am reminded that through anything...anything at all...God is with me still. Even through death.

This morning I read Isaiah chapter 6. The storm last night allowed me to relate on a small scale to what Isaiah witnessed when he "saw the Lord". It says, "In the year King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord. He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of his robe filled the Temple. Hovering around him were mighty seraphim, each with six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with the remaining two they flew. In a great chorus they sang, ""Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty! The whole earth is filled with his glory!"" The glorious singing shook the Temple to its foundations, and the entire sanctuary was filled with smoke." (Just like the thunder rumbled the ground and lightning lit up the sky)

Verse 5 shows Isaiah's response to this power. "Then I said, ""My destruction is sealed, for I am a sinful man and a member of a sinful race. Yet I have seen the King, the Lord Almighty!""
Then one of the seraphim flew over to the altar, and he picked up a burning coal with a pair of tongs. He touched my lips with it and said, ""See, this coal has touched your lips. Now your guilt is removed and your sins are forgiven."
"Then I heard the Lord asking, "Whom should I send as a messenger to my people? Who will go for us?"
"And I said, ""Lord, I'll go! Send me."

What a blessing to see God in all His power. It is so easy to lose sight of how powerful He truly is. What an insult to our mighty Creator. What a gift when we are reminded of who He truly is and when we get to see more of Him. He is love...and He is power. I will bow to Him because He is God.

A prayer for my children's health

One of the most challenging and frustrating things for me as a parent is helping my children when they are sick. It is so difficult to know which medicines to give to them and to best know how to help them. I pray that God gives me the wisdom and guides my hand when it comes to making decisions for these little people that trust me to make the best choices for them. It is hard to wait, learn, and realize that I may be making a bad choice or a mistake. I don't want to make mistakes when it comes to their health. I don't want to give them things that may affect their health in the long run, say even years from now. I try to weigh what traditional medicine says is best. I also try to research what natural medicine says will work. It seems to be a process of trial and error. Right now, John is complaining of ear pain. Pretty much any time he complains of ear pain, he has an ear infection. Hmmm...to antibiotic or not to antibiotic? How many antibiotics have my sweet children had in their short lifetimes? Is their resistance to these growing? Am I harming the bacteria in their gut when I give these? Will the probiotics sufficiently replace the good bacteria in their system to ward of future illness and provide a strong immune system? My other child is struggling with a cold and some asthma/bronchospasms. We are doing breathing treatments with albuterol. We are contemplating allergy medicines. We have not had much success with these in the past. Should we try bee pollen? grape seed extract? God...you know my children. You know their bodies. You know what you have provided in nature. You know what you have allowed us as humans to learn and create. Dear All-Powerful God, lead me to the best path to take for the precious ones You have put into my care. I know You love them more than I am capable of loving. Your love is perfect. Your power is perfect. Your knowledge is unlimited. I trust in You. Amen.

Friends and Family

The past few days have been visiting days. It kind of goes in waves. We will have times where we are just rolling along with our regular schedule and then all within a few days, we have visits with friends and family that we haven't seen for a while. This past Friday, the boys and I packed up and headed west...two whole hours west! We drove to New Enterprise, PA, near Woodbury, PA where we used to live. We went to see our friend Sara in the musical "Cinderella" that her high school was performing. Sara was the Queen. She did wonderfully. She impressed me with how dramatic she was and with how comfortable she seemed to be on stage.

We stayed with our friends Joyce, Larry and "Big John". Their family were our boys' regular babysitters when we lived in Woodbury. They were actually more like surrogate aunt, uncle and grandparents. Helen was "Big John's" wife. She passed away the very same week that we moved away from Woodbury, to Mechanicsburg. And "Big John" was not "Big John" until little John came around. As a matter of fact, "Big John" is not really all that tall. But he has always been "Big John" to our boys.

This family really is precious to us. This past weekend, we were their first EVER overnight guests. Pretty cool. The day following the musical, Sara and her family came over for breakfast. It was fun to spend time with old friends. Ethan was John's first best friend. Those boys used to sit and gab nonstop with each other...more of what you would expect from little girls, or maybe adolescent girls. It is great to see them pick up right where they left off last time.

For some reason, going back and visiting people I haven't seen for a while takes me out of my comfort zone. This is especially true when going back to Woodbury. When we lived there, the population was 239. With Dave being a pastor at a church there, we got to know so many people. It was amazing the amount of people in that high school auditorium that I knew. I have always been uncomfortable with things like that and I don't really know why. Maybe because of the unexpected, things I cannot anticipate. Or maybe it is because I don't know how to answer questions like, "How are you?" "How have you been?" "What have you been up to?" I'm not so good at small talk and not very good about summarizing in 5 minutes what life has been like the past 5 years. Having the boys makes me do things that I wouldn't normally do. I will leave my comfort zone because I think that it is something that will be good for them. In the process, it challenges me and stretches me as well.

Well, we got on our way early because Gram and Pop-pop were coming to visit on Saturday. So when we got home, they were here already with Dave. It was great to spend the afternoon with them. They live in DE and will drive 4 hours to spend an afternoon with us and then turn around and drive 4 hours back. When the boys were younger (and she would probably still do it now if we asked), Peggy would drive 4 hours just to babysit them when we had something major going on.

Then on Monday, one of my college roommates came for a visit. She lives in Hershey and it is always wonderful to spend time with her. This time, baby Abigail didn't get to come. She is so precious.

So, all in all, it was a weekend of spending time with special people that we are blessed to have in our lives.

Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

Wow, I lost a week. Now it's time to catch up. Last week, I tried making Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies for the first time. I was a little uncertain as to how they would turn out. I only have the before pictures with my ingredients. My mom had purchased some Rice Flour (EnerG brand) when we were visiting my parents two weeks ago. We didn't use it then so she sent it home with me. I used the recipe off the box. The dough tasted good so that was a good start. I made the cookies about a tablespoon size and did my normal 12 on a pan. To my surprise, they all ran together and became very flat. I was still able to tell where they ended and the others began so I just cut them apart. They are a different texture than "regular" chocolate chip cookies. These are more cake-like. But they are certainly still good. And when you cannot have the traditional cookies, these are just wonderful! Funny how your perspective changes when your options are limited.