Anniversary Party

Ice sculpture and lots of champagne to celebrate the company's anniversary.



Helen is the woman in the center of the first picture; she is on housekeeping staff and hates to see food go to waste. So when there are leftovers that don't get taken, she'll send them home with Gary rather than putting them in the trash where everybody else thinks they belong. Thank you, Helen!!!

The couple with the lady in the dark dress: Krissy was a boss for Andrew and Paul when they worked the catalog projects over Christmas breaks. Her husband is a policeman here in town. They are members of Luther Memorial (where Gary substitute preaches frequently for Ken), and their son really likes Gary. When they have visited our church on occasion, their baby lights up when he sees Gary.

The couple with the lady in the silver shirt: Randy taught Andrew to sing bass, and Pam heads up the strings for our church's music. Randy helped make sure Gary's resume wasn't thrown straight into the trash when he applied for the job.


The couple with the lady in the blue dress: Melissa has been Gary's boss, and he thinks she's great. She is being promoted, and he's going to miss having her in charge of the team.

Last pictures are Gary with some co-workers, and me with Mary who is a member of our church and works at the company debugging programs. We had dinner with Mary and Wally; they are so much fun to be with (as are so many people from our church).

The Strength of the Hills

As we studied Habakkuk last week, we came across the passage in chapter 1 about being held guilty when "your strength is your god" (also translated in some versions as "ascribing power to their god"). I wondered then if that was the same thing Paul was talking about in 2 Corinthians 12 when God told him, "My strength is sufficient for you" and when Paul explained "for when I am weak, then am I strong." Turned out that those are different words, though.

Then, as we sang the Venite today, I noticed "the strength of the hills is His also." So it's not just us who are weak. Even the mountains have their strength only in what God gives and what He has made them to be. But when I looked up that one in the original languages, the word is really referring to the heights of the mountains.

But ... as I was looking it up, I discovered all the places where that one word for power/strength/might is used. It's the word used when God tells Cain that the earth would no longer yield up its strength when he farmed. It's the word used in Habakkuk (the passage I started with) to show that strength cannot be our god (that is, what we rely on or trust in). It's the word used in Revelation when we see heaven: "Blessing and honor and glory and might be to God and the Lamb forever!" In several passages we are called to love the Lord our God with all our heart and all our mind and all our soul and all our strength. Because of sin, our strength fails, but the Lord is our strength and our song, and He has become our salvation.

Even if Psalm 95 isn't referring to the hills' strength but is talking about "from the depths of the sea to the heights of the mountains," there are other passages that indicate that the earth's strength, the angels' strength, man's strength, even Christ's strength, comes only from the Lord.

Grocery Shopping

Grand opening is scheduled for first week of November. "Soft open" is tentatively scheduled for my son's 21st birthday. He will celebrate by buying an adult beverage. I will celebrate by buying peanut butter and apples.

Absolom's Death

from chapel yesterday

The story of the coup runs from 2 Samuel 15-18. King David's son slowly won the hearts of the people away from his father. He took over. David and his family and loyal servants skeedaddled out of the capital city. Prior to the battle for control of the kingdom, King David instructed that no harm be done to his son Absolom. When Absolom was caught, David's general killed him. When David heard the news of his son's death, he wept and mourned. Even though David's side won the battle, they returned to the city in mourning as though they had lost.

Joab, the general, was disgusted. He went to the king and told him to knock it off. He reminded the king that many people supported him, and that the king was making them feel worthless, like as if the king cared more about the death of his unfaithful, rebellious son than he would have cared if all his faithful servants had died.

Joab makes some good points: the king needed to encourage his followers. But what Joab didn't understand was the parable of the lost sheep (Luke 15). King David shows us (albeit imperfectly) in so many ways what Jesus was like. Here we have a father who loves his son, who wants that one saved and restored to him, almost to the point that it's like none of the others matter because his love for the one lost sheep/son overwhelms his mind and heart.

Think on that: that unreasonable and all-consuming love of David for his son. And our heavenly Father's love for me (and you) is so much more intense.

Update

We attended the Cardinals game on Tuesday night. Our seats were near a church-group of really nice folks. One of the guys from the church had gotten free tickets from the gas station (same as we'd done) but he collected way more receipts than he needed and got lots of tickets, and then set up an outing for friends from his church. I think it sounds like a great idea! It was an unusual game insofar as a coach, a manager, a player, and a fan were ejected from the game, all in separate incidents. I've been to five Brewers games in a little over a year, and it was kind of hard to root for the Cardinals against the home team. I'm becoming a cheesehead.....!

The tomatoes seem to be done. On Katie's walk home from work today, she noticed that everybody's tomatoes have the same fungus and wilt. I'm glad mine started producing early. With last year and this, I'm beginning to see that frost isn't the end of the tomato season -- now it's fungus that does the tomato vines to death.

The winter squashes are almost ready to bring indoors for storage.

Today we started ripping out the rest of this year's strawberry plants; that's where next summer's paths will be. The new plants have nicely filled in the empty rows we created in July.

Katie has an after-school babysitting job. The two little girls like it when Alia comes along. Katie says Alia is a nice distraction for the girls.

After two unusual weekends of company, Nathan has begun to adjust to working third shift and has also begun to adjust to the fiberglass dust at work. However, a different job would be a very good thing.

Choir has started. Happiness -- our introits and graduals will be out of New King James this year. Also, it's sweet to be back to having chapel every weekday again.

I took Andrew shopping yesterday to buy new shorts; it's clearance time. No wonder his shorts were falling off him -- one pair we bought was 2 sizes smaller than what he owned, and the other new pair was 3 sizes smaller! There's only so much cinching a belt can do when a fellow loses that much weight.

I've been having a hard time blogging the last month or so. There are all sorts of things I want to write about but they just don't flow out onto the keyboard the way they did before. And with certain projects (including lots of salsa-making!) and trying to get school restarted and with an overbooked calendar for mid-September, it's not easy to make time for blogging either. This should be remedied.

Learning Names

I don't know if Alia finally just got old enough to start talking, or if being with Lydia several times recently gave her the incentive to speak up. But boy oh boy, she's doing a good job of using verbal language instead of just sign language or pointing!

One fun experience was when Nathan was trying to get her to say "Yes." She really likes the word "No." Katie said Alia carefully practiced the word "No" with her toys so that she'd be an expert at saying it to her parents. And believe me, she was quite adept at saying "No" with all clarity! That one morning, Nathan said "Yes" and Alia said "No," back and forth, back and forth. Silly Grandma sang a tweaked Beatles song: "I love you YEAH YEAH YEAH; I love you YEAH YEAH YEAH; I love you YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH." Pretty soon, she's saying "Yeah yeah yeah." Never one "yeah" -- always in triples. Funny and smile-inducing! But it did cross our minds that we needed Victor (from Miss Congeniality) to teach Alia to put an Sssss on the end of her "yes."

When she moved here, she'd already been saying Momma and Daddy clearly for quite a while. Gumpa was the first name she used for one of us here. But then Andrew was called Gumpa too. I figured it was a generic word for Adult Males In The House Who Are Not Daddy. But then she called me Gumpa a few times too. Hmmm; do I look that masculine? She tried an abrupt grown-up-sounding "Mum" on me twice, both times in the wake of hearing Maggie, Andrew, and Katie call me "Mom." We think there's a name for Maggie -- something on the order of Aggie. When Matt and Rachel visited on Sunday, she learned "Mott" very quickly. Last night Nathan said she came up with a "grandma"-sounding word and then tore down the hallway to attack me in the kitchen, so I may have a name soon too.

It's so much fun to watch a kid during his language acquisition! Last week, when we first realized that Alia was beginning to copy almost any word we would tell her to say, Andrew decided to teach her to say "robot." Robot? Ah, come on! If you're going to teach her words, teach her something good, something useful! So the next thing I hear from around the corner: "Alia, say 'justification.'" (Can you see me rolling my eyes??? LOL!)

Homeschooling with Toddlers in the House

Sorry, no tips here. Just extolling one big benefit.

My older kids all had younger siblings around during their homeschooling days. There were little people in the house playing with Legos or drawing or making messes or being distracting in a gazillion different ways. But you did what you had to do, read what you had to read, etc.

The two youngest kids never had that. They were the interrupters, not the interruptees. Now there's a toddler in the house. And they cannot pay attention when we're doing schoolwork: Alia might do something cute that they'll miss! Yoo hoo!!! Tune in to the history lesson and let Alia play trains or dolls or whatever!!!

So next time you bemoan the fact that you can't do a good job homeschooling your 10-yr-old because the 3-yr-old is being distracting, just remember that there's a lesson the big kid is learning that's far more valuable than dividing fractions or studying the Boer War.

"My Father's Business"

Our Bible story today was about the boy Jesus in the temple. When Mary and Joseph found him after three days of searching and worrying, they asked what on earth He thought He was doing. He answered, "I must be about My Father's business." I betcha you, like me, have always heard that He meant He had to be busy hearing and speaking God's word.

But this morning, Pastor made the point that He was also "about Joseph's business." Joseph and Mary had been teaching their children God's word, teaching them to pray, teaching them to worship, teaching them to listen to the promises of the Lord. So when Jesus is in the temple doing that, it's not just the Father's business but also His father's business.

Oh, blest the parents who give heed
unto their children's foremost need
and weary not of care nor cost.
May none to them and heaven be lost!

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego

Three times in this story the Bible runs down the list of "satraps, administrators, governors, counselors, treasurers, judges, magistrates, and all officials." It's almost like Daniel (chapter 3) was trying to whop us upside the head with how very much everybody was against the three young men ... in the same way that everybody was gathered against the Christ to do Him to death.

In this story, it was the Chaldeans who accused the Jews because they refused to bow down and worship the false god. How different this is from the Chaldeans who came from the East to Bethlehem five centuries later, that they might bow down and worship the newborn King of the Jews.

Not a hair of their head was harmed. There was not even the smell of smoke on their clothing. Such a picture of Christ, of whom it was said "You will not leave My soul in Sheol, nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption" (Psalm 16)!

Septic Fun

Alia thinks the hatch to the septic tank makes a great little table to play on! And the electrical box that operates the alarm is her little chair for the "table."

Playing the Recorder with Finesse

One toddler playing the recorder. Loudly. Squeal squeeeall SQUEALLLLLL squeal.

Two teenagers watching tv together. Dialogue constantly being interrupted by "squeal." Eventually they tire of it. Solution? Remove the recorder from the toddler's hands and replace it with a fife.

Toddler blows into the end of the fife (not the flute-like blowhole on the side of the fife). She blows and blows. Quiet ensues. Teenagers contentedly settle down to hear the television without concentrated effort. Toddler blows some more. Still no sound emanating from the musical instrument.

Solution? Toddler still has a voicebox: engage voice and continue to squeal SQUEAL squeal.

Grandma busts a gut laughing. Munchkin's voice does a darn good impression of a squeaky recorder!

Heritage Days

A couple of weeks ago there was a re-enactment weekend not far away. It was at the height of the mosquito infestation, but the township must have sprayed the park well, because it was beeeeautiful outside there.

Not only did they have antique firetrucks, but they had the modern ones too. Alia really like trucks!


I think these guys were Civil War era. They had plenty to tell (and demonstrate) about warfare on the sea, shooting cannons, and trying to capture ships instead of sinking them.


Those cannons said BOOOOOM!


Philip knew from way across the field that this dude was a Hoplite. As far as I recall, I never heard of Hoplites before. The kids tell me I knew about them. Apparently they pay better attention to the history books I read to them than I do. By the way, the Romans were the next camp over from the Greeks. These guys were plenty chatty about their clothes, food, culture, methods of warfare, etc. I love the chatty re-enactors!


As Andrew amused Alia while listening to the Hoplite, swinging her around, the Greek soldier pointed out how much she enjoyed swinging from her arms like that, and used that to help explain the use of his spear and how it was held/carried and thrown and the physiology of that. Cool.


My kids had plenty to talk about with the guy on top of the hill. They talked about trebuchets and catapults. Oddly enough, the man who plays with ancient and medieval weaponry had never heard of the books "Art of Catapult" and "Backyard Ballistics."

Dolly

The crib was a gift to Katie from my Aunt Mary, one of Katie's godmothers. Someone thinks it's not just for dollies.

Psalm 131

Have you noticed how Psalm 131 is a reflection of Psalm 130 (one of the seven penitential psalms)?

"O Israel, hope in the Lord."

One psalm says "my soul waits for the Lord" and the other talks about my soul being calmed like a weaned child with his mother.

One starts with "Out of the depths..." and the other with "My heart is not haughty..."

They shed light on each other.

(The psalms are in the order they are for a good reason; God wanted them that way; they are not just a hodge-podge of poems/hymns.)

Delicious Tomato Salad

1 quart of fresh chopped garden-tomatoes
3 Tbsp of minced fresh basil
2 tsp of balsamic vinegar
salt
pepper
garlic powder or minced fresh garlic
onion powder or minced fresh onion

Toss it together and let it sit for a few hours or overnight for flavors to blend. Mmmmm.

Dressing for Dinner

Gary and I went out to dinner today. It's a nice restaurant, great atmosphere, the kind of place kids flock to for homecoming and prom. I went in a Sunday-go-to-meetin' dress. When some friends went there with us for a birthday celebration, they all looked nice.

We noticed this evening that almost nobody was dressed up. Most of the people were in jeans and t-shirts, or cargo shorts, or other types of play clothes.

Is the lack of dress-up due to people eating out SO often? I mean, if going to a restaurant is a regular part of your day (just like teeth-brushing or exercising or whatever) maybe you go out to eat in Whatever You Happen To Be Wearing ... just as we at our house come to the supper table or snarf down our lunch sandwich in Whatever We Happen To Be Wearing.

And then I remembered reading in a recent volume of Betsy-Tacy how they would "dress for dinner" on vacation. They always went to a resort for summer, swam in the afternoon, and then dressed up for supper in the resort's family-style dining room. So here I am tsk-tsking people for not dressing up when they go to a relatively fancy restaurant; maybe older people tsk-tsk me for not dressing up for dinner in my own house.

Such a Wholesome Story

While sorting through piles and clearing the school bookshelves, I found some old notebooks that we'd used for writing. Here is an unnamed child's story from several years ago, spelling and all:


One upon a time ther was a prises [princess] who liked to get drunk. she was in a bar wen the ugly princ came in. the princes was so drunk tha she bafed all over the prins. He called his gard and they took her to prison. then the prince drank two Beers and imidietly got drunk. the prince was so drunk that he comited alot of crimes, and went to jall. The End



Good grief! Amazing to think such a child could --only three or four years later-- go to college, write papers (properly spelled and punctuated), and do well. And to think that some homeschool moms fret over 8-yr-olds who are writing with similar aplomb.

Parents'

Even though it's been 14 months since Dad died, I still find myself referring to "my parents' house" or "my parents' church" or getting a card from "my parents." I wonder when (if??) the words "mom's house" or "mom's church" will someday roll off my tongue naturally?

Today's Laugh

Four women are at a stylist convention: a blonde, a brunette, a redhead, and a woman with green hair. Each is asked the same question by a stylist, "Did you dye your hair that color?" The blonde, brunette, and redhead each answer in turn, "No, it's all natural," sweeping their hands through their hair. When the question was posed to the green-haired woman, she too said,"Nope, it's all natural," as she sweeps her hand over her nose and into her hair.

Wisconsin Homeschoolers Filing 1206

Homeschoolers in Wisconsin will be submitting their affidavits electronically this year instead of on paper forms. Please see the WPA website for information about how to file, as well as what the 1206 does and doesn't require and the who-what-when-where-why of the form. (Also, please consider joining WPA to support our excellent homeschooling law and to keep abreast of news which will impact either our homeschooling or our law.)