"100" -- Yellow

29. I didn't take the picture. Most of the ST JOHN'S-WORT was done blooming shortly before I started this ID-ing venture. St John's-wort grows about knee-high along roads and in country ditches (aka, "disturbed soil") and usually begins blooming at the end of June ... in other words, about the time we celebrate the Nativity of John the Baptist. The sap is red, and if you crush or boil the yellow flowers they will become red/purple. This reminds us of the blood of the martyr. This pretty plant is the same St John's-wort used for treating depression.


30. SWEET CLOVER is commonly seen along the highways and country roads, or unmowed locations in town (such as at the corner of highway off-ramps). I always thought "sweet clover" was an adjective describing the lovely smell of regular white clover that grows in your lawn. Nope. Sweet clover doesn't have a ball of flower. Rather, it looks almost feathery, usually growing at a height of about 3' and in airy-looking bunches. There's white sweet clover and yellow sweet clover, identical except for the color of the flowers. Most of the time, the sweet clover will wave above the surrounding grasses, but in this picture it's short enough to be partially obscured by the grass.

31. When you're zooming down the road at 60 mph, WILD PARSNIP appears to be the yellow version of Queen Anne's Lace.




32. MULLEIN is a biennial. The first picture here, with the rosette of soft soft fuzzy leaves is first-year growth. The second picture is the stalk that grows and flowers the following year.






33. BIRD'S-FOOT TREFOIL is another legume (like peas or soybeans) with gorgeous flowers. You often see bird's-foot trefoil climbing out from a lawn, creeping over a concrete sidewalk. It frequently spills out from a lawn over the edge of the curb into the street. It's a bright bright yellow, and will "mound" a bit (like impatiens). If it gets into pasture-land, it supposedly makes good feed, like alfalfa. But I see it more often in town, dressing up lawns and sidewalks.


34. Before blooming, YELLOW WOOD SORREL looks a lot like low hop clover. At least, they look a lot alike to an amateur like me. But the hop clovers and the sorrels aren't even in the same family, nor even in the same order. Hop clover flowers remain looking like little buds, whereas sorrels have the kind of flower that all first-graders like to draw -- a properly-petaled flower.

Oatmeal Muffins

This is from Barb Wieting, and Jane asked for the recipe today. Since I'm not sure if Rachel and Katie have it (and I know they'll need it), I figured I'd post it here.

One dozen.
Greased muffin tins.
400° for about 12 minutes.

1 cup rolled oats
1 cup sour milk
Soaks oats in sour milk 10-15 minutes. (Shorter is okay if you're substituting quick oats.)

Stir in
1 egg
1/2 cup olive oil

Combine in small bowl:
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup white flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder

Mix dry ingredients into wet. Stir just a bit, till all is moistened. Scoop batter into muffin tin, and bake.


Reasonably healthy as muffins go. Not overly sweet, but have that caramelly taste that comes from brown sugar. Quick and easy. And uses up some of that sour milk that sometimes ends up taking space in the fridge.

Summer Gradual

Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out. For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things. To Him be the glory forever. (Romans 11)


Of Him. The Father is the source of all things.

Rejoice, my heart, be glad and sing,
a cheerful trust maintain;
for God, the source of everything,
thy Portion shall remain.

Through Him. We are united to the Son. We are in Him. All of God's blessings come to us through the suffering, death, and resurrection of Christ.

Who is this that comes in glory
with the trump of jubilee?
Lord of battles, God of armies --
He has gained the victory.
He who on the cross didst suffer,
He who from the grave arose,
He hath vanquished sin and Satan;
He by death hath spoiled His foes.
Thou hast raised our human nature
on the clouds to God's right hand;
there we sit in heavenly places,
there with Thee in glory stand.
Jesus reigns, adored by angels;
Man with God is on the throne.
Mighty Lord, in Thine ascension
we by faith behold our own.

To Him. Because of the Holy Spirit's work when and where He pleases in those who hear the Gospel, we are brought to our Savior. And the words He gives us to pray go back to Him.

O Holy Spirit, grant us grace
that we our Lord and Savior
in faith and fervant love embrace
and truly serve Him ever,
so that when death is drawing nigh,
we to His open wounds my fly
and find in them salvation.

For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things.
Isn't that just so trinitarian?

Bender Binder

Look -- no longer a binder!
The second edition -- which has been edited to go with LSB -- is now available.

Cleaning for Company

I don't like to clean for company.
I don't want to clean for company.
I want to live in our house at the cleanliness level we can endure enjoy, and joyfully accept the company as it comes ... without stressing myself by thinking that we need to "clean for them."

So Jane and the guys are coming. And Andrew harasses me because

we're cleaning.

For the company. (So HE says.)

I say, however, that we are cleaning because there's cleaning to be done that didn't get tackled yesterday or the day before or the day before that. If we are going to take a good 24 hours to play instead of do any work, then it's time to work now. It's not for impressing company. It's "work before play." Well, actually, there will be work after play too, because we sure ain't gonna finish the house-cleaning before they come. So we'll have plenty to do after they leave. Not because they're messy, but because I've been doing silly things like cooking and laundry instead of dusting. And the dust is getting to where it bothers ME.

Sorry, but dust (no matter how big those dust elephants bunnies are) ain't big enough to sully my reputation. I've done that on my own quite well enough without the aid of mere dust!

Signed,
the hostess (term used quite loosely)
who welcomes you by showing you how to
make yourself at home and where the
glasses and towels are ... because I'm
so pitiful at serving the guests

"100" -- Fields

These may be obvious species to many of us, but I need my youngest to learn them too. So here's #25, CORN. And this corn is going to feed chickens and cows, and will not be going into anyone's fuel tank.



26 & 27. The crop on the left is WINTER WHEAT nearly ready to harvest. The crop on the right is HAY.




28. A bean field. When I was growing up, and my parents talked about the "bean fields," I always thought it meant green beans. Nope. In the midwest, virtually all the field-crops are corn, hay, wheat, and SOYBEANS. Other crops are seen occasionally. I took the picture of the bean field just as the soybeans were flowering. Aren't the soybean flowers pretty?

1 John 3:2

Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.

Okay, don't laugh at me. I don't know what I used to think this verse meant, but it wasn't anything normal. "It has not yet been revealed what we shall be." Will we have three arms? Two heads? Will we look like creatures out of a Sponge Bob episode?

No, that's not what I thought. But I thought "not yet been revealed" meant that there'd be some kind of surprise when it finally is revealed. Y'know how kids in Sunday School (or grown-ups, for that matter) will ask questions about what our "glorified bodies" will be like after the resurrection? I've heard it asked SO many times whether we'll be able to walk through walls like Jesus. Or [poof] appear and disappear. (Actually, the Bible never says Jesus could "walk through walls." It just says in John 20 that Jesus "appeared in their midst.") So there is lots of wondering about what WILL be revealed someday that hasn't been revealed yet -- and it's not just me.

So when we got to this in Bible class a couple of weeks ago, I asked. And Pastor gave one of those DOH! answers, where you think, "Of course! Why didn't I see that before? It's so obvious!"

He said that it "hasn't been revealed" because we don't know what it's like to be sin-free. We don't know what it's like to have pure motives. We don't know what it's like to have no pain, no sorrow, no selfishness. We don't know what it's like to live in a world that has been freed from the curse of the fall. So, yes, we have been told what's coming, and in that sense, it has been revealed. And yet, it hasn't been revealed because we haven't seen what is coming, and we can't even begin to imagine what it will be like.

Two Kingdoms

Today's selection from Day by Day We Magnify Thee includes this:
Secular authority is an image, symbol, and likeness of the authority of Christ. The ministry of the Word brings eternal justification, eternal peace, and eternal life. The secular authority maintains temporal peace, justice, and life, yet it is a glorious divine ordinance and a wonderful gift of God, who has instituted and appointed it.


Pastor has been talking about how the Kingdom of the Left is still under God's control, and it is how He rules in the world. I guess I used to think that there was the Church and there was the world, and that God ruled in His Church. So I was beginning to get a grasp on the stuff Pastor was saying about God ruling in the world, overseeing governments and nations and police and armies and politicians. But this Luther quote seemed to help clarify things a bit. What God gives eternally through the Church, He gives temporally through the left-hand kingdom.

Forgetting

I left this morning with the car, to get the emissions test done prior to renewing the license plate. But I left without the paper work and had to run back home to fetch it when I was part-way there. Then I discovered that my memory of where the test-station was was better than what google-maps told me. Not trusting my memory recently, I figured I should check the map, and it took me 20 minutes out of my way because of showing me the wrong location.

Then we were headed off to the beach. Got nearly halfway there and realized I didn't have the beach pass. Turned around to go home and fetch that, frustration levels increasing.

The ugly and foul mouths of the kids at the beach was astounding. Andrew was as offended as I was. I could not believe how brazenly they talked about evil evil things, with potty-mouths. Andrew says that Matrix is the foulest-mouthed movie he's ever seen, and these teenagers made it seem like a clean movie. It's scary to think that these are "nice normal kids."

We had to pick up a few groceries while we were out. But while shopping, we checked a couple of stores for those large, blue, blow-up pools. We really need to check out a different beach or buy something for the backyard. The upper for the day was when I was tooling through the grocery store and saw one of the men from church. I don't even know his name, but he's a sweet man who usually attends on Wednesday nights. And it was just so pleasant to see him there, chat for a minute, and go on. It was, like, look!, there are other Christians wandering around this world full of cranky and/or potty-mouthed folks, and it's not just me and my kids surrounded by bad guys. It was inordinately cheering to see him!

Pesto

Because Glenda asked, this is what I threw together in the blender:

Grind up
4-5 cloves of garlic
1/4 cup of sunflower seeds
a little salt

then add about 3 cups basil leaves
and chop.

Drizzle into blender while running
1/2 cup olive oil
then add
1/4 cup parmesan,
until you have pastey mush.


You're supposed to use pine nuts, not sunflower seeds. But the sunflower seeds worked fine. Online references also suggested substituting cashews for the sunflower seeds. Erin tells me that you can use spinach instead of basil. I tried it a couple of weeks ago with parsley instead of basil, and that was good too.

You can use it as a sandwich spread, instead of mayo, or with mayo. We put some on the pizza last night, under the tomato sauce. Erin said she's made pizza with pesto instead of tomato sauce. It goes lovely-like on pasta!

General News

Philip started a job today!! Not anything exciting; it's a lot like what he was doing at Borg. He says he'll be building headlights. But it pays. It gives him something to do. And he's done working at 2:45, so that still allows him time to make appointments for interviews for other jobs or for taking classes to gain skills for other jobs.

Dad started chemo last week.

We spent a long and restful Sunday with our goddaughter's family. Ahhh.

I have access to a car today and tomorrow, as Gary's got a ride to work with somebody else. Having a vehicle available makes me feel a little more settled about getting things done that need doing. Still wondering if we should be looking for a car for Paul to take to college. Does it make sense to pray for him to be able to find a good church, but not leave him with wheels and a key?

We went to the beach this morning for sunshine and exercise for Miss Scoliosis. (Hey, that's what you can do when you have a car. LOL.) Less than five minutes after we arrived, she sliced her heel open quite badly. Now it's got one of those "advanced healing" band-aids on it. I hope we can try the beach again tomorrow.

I did a lot of hunting for an in-network osteopath who does manipulations. Can't find one. I guess we're going to have to try out a couple of in-network chiropractors. If I'm not happy with them, I guess we'll just end up paying out-of-network medical costs for little Miss Scoliosis.

Rosie (the cat) continues to improve. She's still sneezing, but doesn't look like she's at death's door anymore. She did, however, get reattached to running water. We were tempting her to drink with any scheme we could; she just needed hydration. So now she's once again begging for the bathroom sink faucets to be turned on to suit her fancy.

Finished off the lettuce from our garden. The cucumbers are coming along. They're itty-bitty, but we are looking forward to cucumber salad soon! Cantaloupe doesn't seem to be setting fruit yet, although I've seen plenty of blooms.

The plum tree has edible fruit, not just ornamental. Mmmmm. Gonna have to find some time to haul out the ladder, pick plums, and make jelly. I botched it with the cherries, so I better not botch it with the plums.

Started a compost pile. Finally. Now I don't have to throw all that perfectly decent garbage into the garbage can.

Last week I visited the doctor recommended by Erin, Cathy, and Becky. I like him. It's such a relief to find a primary-care physician on the first try! I'm so grateful to those who recommended him. I have another appointment scheduled for next week.

I made pesto with the big bag of basil from the CSA. Oh man, that is good stuff! Now, what am I going to do once I get used to these fresh herbs, and then don't have them in November? Hmmm? That's gonna be sad.

Looks like I have a lot of play-time coming up. Jane later this week. Tammy on the weekend. And possibly Barb early in the week. Then if I could squeeze in another trip to my folks while I have Dorothy's car on loan next week ... my goodness, I am just not going to get ANY work done at all. But I'll have lots of happy time for chatting!!!

Romans 8:23-24

A quote from last Sunday's Bible class, regarding the burden of living with the sinful flesh, and the problem of trying to overcome sin:

We ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.
If you're longing for a time in this life in which you will not have a struggle with sin, you have your longing misplaced. And if you believe that, that's where the devil tries to rob you of your salvation. He wants you to try to find that place where you can say, "I am now finally no longer having any struggle." Oh no. That's dangerous.

For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope: for why does one still hope for what he sees?
So if you feel your sin, and you struggle against it, and you long to be free of it, God be praised. That's what it is to be a Christian in this life. "But I don't want to struggle!" you say; "I don't want to keep sinning." I know you don't. So confess your sin, believe the Gospel, and don't get too attached to the things of this world -- look up for your redemption draws near. "But I want the freedom from sin now!" you say. I know you want it now. But remember that the present sufferings of this life are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in you. And just as the suffering of Jesus was necessary on the way to His resurrection, so we who are baptized into Christ Jesus' death and resurrection must suffer until the glorious day of our resurrection. Do not be afraid: His proclamation is steadfast and unmovable.

Weekend Projects

We've lived here nearly five months. Friday I finally got bathroom curtains hung. It wasn't so bad in the first few months; the glass has a frost coating so that it's not see-through. But it's warm now. We want the windows open. At the old house, there were two times a year when there was ANYbody around who could see in the bathroom window: when the farmer planted and when he harvested. Otherwise, who'd be in a position to see into the bathroom? But here? There are neighbors. So if you took a shower during the day, you'd just be careful with where you undressed and how you slipped into the shower, out of sight. But at night, with the lights on, NO WAY. The window had to be closed, or you had to shower in the dark, or something. (Believe me, it was loads easier to shower during daylight hours.) And we could always use the toilet in the little bathroom, where you can't see in the window. But now I have the curtains done! Finally! They aren't fancy. But the blue-daisy fabric goes well with the linoleum and the bright yellow walls. Best of all, though, it's so much easier to take a shower without having to finagle some privacy.


And here we see part of Gary's project. The guys all put a lot of manual labor into this!! The boards on the deck have been removed, turned over, sanded, and sealed. But along with that, a whole lot of dirt had to be dug out and carted away because the joists were sitting in the soil. And what happens to wood boards sitting in dirt? They turn to compost. And when they start rotting, they aren't the best at holding up weight. So the guys have a nice airy place under that part of the deck, with the soil graded away from the house now, and a porous ground-cover that won't hold moisture next to the joists. The guys also had to build a small retaining wall. The only thing that had been holding the dirt back at all was a few 4x4s next to the shed. It wasn't enough. But the men here dug, and carried those heavy stones, and got them all placed properly, and put the shed back into its spot. Isn't it pretty? And now we even have part of the garage back because the mower and edger and wheelbarrows can live in the shed instead of by the bikes. Yippee!

I just think what Gary's done with this deck is SO impressive!! There's still quite a ways to go, but I think he's at least halfway done now. And hopefully it will help to be getting into the drier part of the summer -- more days to work without being bogged down by mud mud mud.

Romans 8:18

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

Pastor made the point last week that these sufferings are not primarily things like car accidents, lost jobs, illness, and broken relationships. It of course includes those things. But in the context of Paul's letter (with chapter 8 following on the heels of chapter 7!) the sufferings spoken of here are primarily the suffering with the sin of our flesh waging war against faith, bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. THAT suffering --a suffering more grievous than any suffering imposed from the outside-- is the suffering which still isn't worth comparing to the glory which shall be revealed in us at the Last Day.

"100" -- Trees in Yard

Because my children are making me obey the rules about identifying species "within a mile of your home," they won't let me count this one. It's in the backyard of our old home. We planted it quite a few years ago. Last week I stopped and nabbed some MULBERRIES when I was in the neighborhood doing some errands. I'm sure Katie is jealous.


I can't tell the difference between the members of the rose family until they fruit. The peach trees, plums, apples, crab apples, apricots, cherries, and pears all look alike to me. (Hey, is there a parable about that: the way to tell what the thing is would be to look at its fruit??) Anyway, this one with the dark leaves is #20 on my list, a PLUM TREE.


21. BIRCH TREES always make me think of Wisconsin. I loved it, back when I was little, when we got far enough north on Highway 51 on our way to the northwoods, and there were birch trees everywhere!


22. The guys picked CHERRIES one day, but I never got around to finishing off the picking and doing something with the fruit. I feel so wasteful! Perfectly decent cherries and I let the critters have them instead of eating them ourselves. I intend to do better next year.


23. There is one LILAC by the garage and another by Maggie's bedroom window.




24. This CRAB APPLE TREE flowers so prettily and is placed near the corner for everyone to enjoy in May as they come into our little section of dead-end streets.

Walnut Cravings

I used to tolerate walnuts in the cookies or brownies. Sometimes I thought Mom would put nuts in the treats to slow their consumption by certain children. Even up till a year ago, when I had long since learned to like walnuts, I still preferred pecans and almonds. But I usually bought walnuts for the recipes where I needed nuts, simply because the walnuts were more economical.

For the last several months I've been having walnut cravings. I usually don't let myself get started because I just can't stop. When I make granola, I want to snitch as many for my mouth as I put into the whole recipe. Now when I put pecans in the granola, it's not the special treat it used to be ... because I WANT walnuts.

Then I went to the store to refill the walnut supply. Oh no! What happened? The walnuts are significantly more expensive than the pecans and almonds now. Oh dear. This is sad.

I suppose planting a walnut tree will not be a very speedy solution, eh?

1 John 3:6

Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.... He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning.... Whoever is born of God does not sin.


Surely I'm not the only one who's heard the speech. "You are no Christian. You sin. You should work harder to get your life in order. You should quit sinning. If only you could be as sanctified as I am. I really don't think you're a Christian. You should commit your life to God, and make Him lord of your life."

Pastor pointed out in Bible class this week that the verse in chapter 3 cannot mean what these pharisees claim it means. After all, look back at chapter 1: If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.




The Sunday epistles recently (in 3-yr series) have been from Romans. Recently we heard, To will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. The good that I will to do, that I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. If anybody at church hadn't already memorized that section, I suspect they must have memorized it by now, after hearing it expounded upon so often in the sermons of recent weeks.

Interestingly, besides the third chapter of his first epistle, there is another place where John talks about children of the devil as differentiated from the children of God. It's near the end of John 8, the gospel for Judica. Jesus tells the pharisees, "You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do."

The desires of your father you want to do.

The children of the devil want to do his bidding. The Christian doesn't want to but nevertheless continues to fall into sin (a la Romans 7). There's something comforting there....

Cafeteria

Information from Paul's college's cafeteria arrived recently. It touts the healthy food choices available, but the word "healthy" seemed to be used nearly interchangeably with "low fat." I don't agree with that. I think "healthy" and "minimally refined" are more synonymous than "healthy" and "low fat, low calorie."

So I asked the food-service director. He tells me they have whole grain breads. But is that what I call "whole grain"? Or is it the kind of bread that has a little whole grains, just enough for them to legally label it whole-grain bread? I asked about brown rice, and I was told they have it available. But is it real brown rice, or brown Minute Rice? I asked about peanut butter, and was not surprised to find that it's the standard kind, made with hydrogenated fats and high-fructose corn syrup. But when I asked about butter, I was surprised that they don't even have any of that. EEEEEEKS!

Philip, Katie, and Nathan -- none of them did well with cafeteria food. Paul cares more about eating right than any of them did when they headed off on their own. When Gary and I would face 4 days of cafeteria food (oh, say, at FtW sem for symposium, prior to the era when Jane and/or Katie would feed us part of the time while there), a person can get to feeling pretty cruddy in that short amount of time. It's going to take some careful choosing on Paul's part to get enough unrefined foods into him to feel fit.

It's Not Fair

Last Sunday's epistle (3-year series) was from Romans 8.
For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.

Rosie Cotton, Andrew's kitty, has been sick. She started sneezing on Friday morning, after being uncharacteristically lazy on Thursday. By church on Sunday morning, I was honestly surprised that she was still alive -- sick eyes, lots of sneezing, barely moving, not having eaten nor drunk for over 48 hours. One sad sad kitty. (By the way, after forcing some water into her, and sneaking some lysine into her, and giving her some time, she began slowly to improve on Tuesday. Today she is beginning to be herself again. Whew!)

Remember in grade school, when the class was being naughty? If you were a disgusting goody-two-shoes like I was, it made you mad when the teacher canceled recess or some other fun activity as a punishment for the whole class. "I wasn't throwing erasers. I wasn't being noisy. I wasn't copying off the neighbor's paper. I am a good shepherdess girl." [Sorry. The shepherdess comment was irresistible, and will make sense only to 10th Kingdom groupees.] Anyhow,... we don't like getting punished for transgressions committed by somebody else. It's not fair, after all.

Of course, Jesus was punished for transgressions committed by somebodies else. But we dismiss that altogether too easily. Ah, He's God. Ah, He wanted to. Ah, we take the atonement and the blessed exchange for granted.

But the rocks. The clouds. The rabbit that was nabbed by coyotes in the backyard last Wednesday night. The irises and daisies and the cherry tree. And poor little Rosie. They have been subjected to futility. They suffer with a world gone wrong. There are earthquakes and tornadoes. There is illness. There is death, some of it predatory and painful. It wasn't their fault. It was mine. And yours. The kitten did not sin. The sky did not sin. The dirt did not sin. But it suffers. And it waits for the Last Day when all things will be made new.

That is not fair.

Still, the rocks and the kitties and the snails and the moss take it. They wait. They suffer. Why? For our sake. God cursed the creation so that man would realize his need for a Savior. God cursed the creation so that we would know that things are not right. God cursed the creation to bring us to repentance.

So when I am tempted to say, "But I didn't vote for Clinton or Perot," or when I am tempted to say that I didn't want a particular synodical bureaucrat to win an election, or when I am tempted to say that I don't want to be bound by laws that restrict my freedoms that I can handle responsibly (but my neighbors have shown that maybe they cannot),

in other words, when I am thinking, "I don't deserve this punishment; it's meant for them"

maybe I need to be reminded of the rocks and Rosie and their sufferings for my sake. It wasn't fair that the Christians in 586 BC had to endure the siege of Jerusalem and suffer through the Babylonian exile; after all, it was the Baal worshipers that brought God's wrath on the nation. And it isn't fair that responsible American citizens must put up with government that is seen by some as a punishment, a punishment consequence brought down on our country because of folks with a welfare mentality that thinks somebody else owes them something. And it isn't fair that faithful pastors are fired.

But so what if it's not fair?
The wildflowers suffer for my sake. Rosie suffers for my sake. The oceans and mountains suffer for my sake. They are placed in a fallen world though they did nothing to deserve it.

(Assuming we can claim innocence.... quite the assumption!) can we do the same for our fellow citizens, or our fellow brothers in this synod, or our fellow family-members? Love for the neighbor and a longing for his heart to be turned in repentance to faith in the true God -- that kind of love makes it easy to bear the unfairness. (God give us that kind of love, because we sure ain't got it, in and of ourselves!)

Baseball Movie

My husband tells me The Final Season was panned by the critics. Apparently, the critics don't approve of a movie that thinks small-town America is preferable to the Big City. Apparently, the critics don't approve of a movie that exalts discipline and CHORES for straying children. Apparently, the movie critics agree with the educrats that consolidation of high schools is a good thing, rather than keeping the local schools operating. Apparently, the critics don't appreciate the message that, in baseball, as in so many other endeavors, the fundamentals are ... well ... fundamental.

Sean Astin stars in this movie, and for me, that's reason enough to watch it. But the whole setting of the small-town baseball team excelling even when some are trying to squash 'em ... it's definitely an uplifting and fun movie! One of those movies where I find myself cheering, clapping, and wooo-hooo-ing along with the people in the bleachers in the movie.

This movie made me think of Hebron and their basketball water-tower. Except in this Iowa story about baseball, the place was a dynasty for two decades. And it was about the size of Sadorus.

Mom, Gary says Dad would like this one. It's got more language than you'd like, but not too bad. And other than that, it is outstanding!

Church Signs

Pr Esget got something posted on "Crummy Church Signs." If you're not a reader of his blog, you may not have seen his link there. You gotta go look! It's hilarious!! (Second one on the page, submitted by "Christopher E.")

Psalm 37:28

For the Lord loves justice,
and does not forsake His saints.

The response of my works-righteous heart: If I practice justice, if I am fair, if I do right, then God will not forsake me. He will like me and stick with me if I am properly "doing justice" for fellow-humans.

A better way to hear this verse: Because the Lord loves justice, and does justice, and already meted out punishment on Jesus for my sin, He cannot punish a second time. That would not be just. Instead, He will justify me, declare me righteous for Jesus' sake. Because He is just and loves the justice He enacts, He will be faithful to His promises, and hang onto His saints forever, never leaving them nor forsaking them. (Even if they are sinners and do not practice justice like they ought.)

More Wedding Pictures

The pictures from Katie and Nathan's wedding are now on the computer. Gary set up the screen saver to rotate through the pictures in the computer. And I can't even begin to express how CHEERFUL it is to have these pictures flitting past all day. I hate turning off the computer screen now! It was such a beautiful day as far as weather, and so relaxed, and I knew everybody there, and it was a fun party. The ultimate no-stress wedding. I love the greenness of the grapes and trees and lawn and ethanol patch cornfield. I love the pictures of the potato cannon. This one had a shutter-speed fast enough to catch the potato. But Bethany or Lynea had a superb picture (on facebook where I only got a glimpse via Rachel) of Katie kneeling to shoot the cannon. I think that one was my very favorite picture from the whole day; it captured the light-heartedness of the whole day, with the bride kneeling on the grass firing a potato cannon into the corn. And notice what's in Gary's hand in the last picture: one of the pastors brought along an advance copy of LSB. (I tell you, that's cruelty to wave a new hymnal under the nose of a hymn addict when she's got loads of friends there to cook for and chat with. LOL.)

Now, I just need to figure out how I get a hold of Rachel's wedding pictures and get them onto the computer too, so these wretched children of mine will quit pestering me about how Katie is my FAVORITE because all the pictures are of her and her wedding. But when I do get them, I think that I'll still have a special spot in my heart for the pictures of Kate's wedding, because they're just such happy pictures with the outdoors and the tent and the balloons and the silliness.

Wedding Pictures

Okay, so their second wedding anniversary is coming up in two weeks. Okay, so I'm not speedy at getting to wedding pictures. Now that I'm starting to figure out this whole digital-photo thing, I'm sure enjoying it!

Wart Removal

Thanks to the loan of a car from a friend, I managed to squeeze in a visit to my parents this week before Dad starts chemo. (Boy, their calendar is so full of doctor visits right now that it makes my head swim!) While there, the tv was on now and then. I noticed several ads for Compound W and other wart-removal schemes.

The real solution? VITAMIN E.

About 10-15 years ago, we were having problems with warts. A friend's family had problems with them too; she told me that they suspected there was a problem with the virus in their soil. We tried several different brands of wart removers. We tried going to the doctor to freeze them off. We tried the plan where you tape banana peel to the wart, putting on fresh banana peel several times a day. (Banana lovers thought this was a good plan. Somebody had to be eating these bananas so we could make medicinal use of the peel.)

Then somebody told us about vitamin E. It worked better than any of the alternatives. Much faster too. And way cheaper.

You just get a vitamin E capsule, poke a hole into it with a pin, and squeeze some of the oil out onto the wart and just a smidge onto the surrounding skin. Ideally you would apply the vitamin E oil 3-4 times per day. But sometimes we'd remember twice on one day, and only once on the next. Overall, though, it took only a week for the wart to simply fall off. No pain. No doctor visit. No stinky medicine. And far less likelihood of having the wart come back there or anywhere else on the body.

Marine Joke

This came from a Backwoods Home Magazine from a year ago. Check out the link; the blonde joke is a crack-up! But I thought the following one had some good Lutheran theology in it alongside the joke.


A United States Marine was attending some college courses between assignments. He had completed missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. One of the courses had a professor who was an avowed atheist and a member of the ACLU.

One day the professor shocked the class when he came in.

He looked to the ceiling and flatly stated, “God, if you are real, then I want you to knock me off this platform. I’ll give you exactly 15 minutes.”

The lecture room fell silent. You could hear a pin drop.

Ten minutes went by and the professor proclaimed, “Here I am God. I’m still waiting.” It got down to the last couple of minutes when the Marine got out of his chair, went up to the professor, and cold-cocked him; knocking him off the platform.

The professor was out cold. The Marine went back to his seat and sat there, silently. The other students were shocked and stunned and sat there looking on in silence.

The professor eventually come to, noticeably shaken, looked at the Marine and asked, “What is the matter with you? Why did you do that?”

The Marine calmly replied, “God was too busy today protecting America’s soldiers who are protecting your right to say stupid things. So, He sent me.”

Lazy?

Once upon a time, several of us were sick. The sickest we'd been in a long time. We were resting, sitting on the couch for a whole week, aching, feverish, popping a couple of tylenol, and then two hours later some aspirin, and two hours later some more tylenol. A friend told us what we needed to do was get outside and work. She said that her family had been sick recently and they didn't have time to sit around and recuperate because there was work to do. So they did it. She said they "sweated it out" and got much better for having worked through the illness rather than resting.

It makes some sense to me, theoretically, because sweating does eliminate a lot of toxins from the body. But boy oh boy, when you're so sick you can hardly get to the kitchen for a drink of juice, the idea of going outside to shovel gobs of snow sounds ludicrous.


When a person gets older and the body shows more and more signs of the corruption of sin (weakness, lack of endurance, less flexibility, longer time to heal, etc), how does a person know when her "laziness" is just an unwillingness to work and when it's lack of ability? I think that I've been lazy recently, and I've been trying to gather my oomph to overcome it. I've been giving myself speeches. I've been trying to work harder, move faster, be organized and efficient. And I'm not managing it.

Do I need to try harder? Or would it be better to recognize that, as I'm trying to learn new things, it's going to simply take some time? And that my body cannot DO the things it could do when I was in my twenties?

You know what? Ten, fifteen, and twenty years ago, I was asking these questions about my children ... and their readiness for learning. In the kids, I could recognize that sometimes I could spend a HUGE amount of effort trying to teach them something before they were ready, or I could wait until they were physically and mentally capable of something, and then the educational task would be a breeze. Loads of homeschool moms face this: should we bash our heads against the wall trying to teach cursive or phonics or long division or how to use the potty (hopefully not in that order!) or do we admit that the child is simply not capable of this right now?
And now I'm wondering the same thing about myself -- but on the downhill slope.

"100" -- Around the House

15. A patch of DAY LILIES by the mailbox. Turns out there are lots of different kinds of day lilies; the most popular ones around here are a small yellow trumpet-shaped lily.









I'm not counting the WEIGELA as part of my 100 species. The only reason I can identify it is because it was planted recently by the previous owners, and the tag is still on it. Maybe in time, as it grows and I get used to seeing it, I'll be able to recognize weigela in other people's yards even if there is no tag to read the label!




16. I'm not sure why the RASPBERRIES are planted under the eaves, hiding next to and under the lilac. But that's where there are a few. I hope to put out a nice big long row of 'em next year, in the sun, where they belong.






17 & 18. RHUBARB is also planted under the eaves, where it doesn't get much rain. Not sure why. Maybe I can fix that in years to come.

The first spring at our old house, I thought we had rhubarb. We didn't. We had BURDOCK. Even now that I know the difference, it's really only the redness of the stem on the rhubarb that enables me to differentiate rhubarb and short burdock. If it's not in a place where you mow, once the burdock starts to grow really tall, that too helps distinguish the two. Oh, yeah, and the fact that rhubarb doesn't have burs that get stuck in the cats' coats.










19. We have four different kinds of HOSTAS planted next to the house, and many more varieties in the neighborhood. The one on the left is called "lemon lime" hosta because of the yellow and green colors. I don't know what kind of hosta is this particular blend of green & white.

Portals of Prayer

I absolutely love Day By Day We Magnify Thee, and have also benefited from using Every Day Will I Bless Thee (available from CCA). But yesterday I was invited to take a peek at this month's Portals of Prayer.

Oh. My. Goodness. Pick one up from your church narthex and use it for July! (Or click on the link at the end of the preceding paragraph.) This month's lovely devotions show us that JESUS and His work to forgive our sins is God's message throughout the Old Testament, the Gospels, and the Epistles. Wow! Not only that, but the July devotions are written on the appointed daily readings found in LSB and thus in many congregations' prayer guides. When I saw this month's daily meditations, I checked out the previous volume of "Portals of Prayer" and found June's devotions sweetly comforting too. Wow!

Swim Test

At the beach there are more rules than we're used to at a beach. My kids are accustomed to MY watching them, MY enforcing safety rules, and MY allowing or disallowing whatever activity. They're not used to there being lifeguards around to do those things. (I guess if that's all you've experienced in your swim-life, it's almost like the lifeguards are usurping Mom's place.)

So today Maggie and I are at the beach. There is a rule that kids under 14 must pass a swim test to go into the deep section of the lake, out to the raft, off the diving board. Okay, so Maggie goes out and swims and gets her little wristband and goes off happily to play in the water. Personally, I think it should be my problem if I'm dumb enough to let her go in above her head if'n she's an incompetent swimmer. But most people think it's the government's job to protect everybody, so the government has set up these rules about the swim test and have provided gobs of lifeguards at the lake.

And today I saw why.

Parent after parent questioned the lifeguards when their kids didn't pass the swim test. One little girl walked the path for the test, moving her arms in a swimming motion. Maybe she was trying to scam the lifeguards, or maybe she just is too little to know what swimming IS. Some kids couldn't even swim half the distance without stopping to stand up. When the lifeguards said "no" to giving the kids permission to go into the deep end, the parents questioned: Why won't you let my kid swim here? Uhhh, that would be because the water is 30' deep and when your kid tries to stand up because he can't swim that far, he'll drown; he can swim in the shallow sections. And the parents would get huffy about it.

I just don't get it.

And They'll Know We Are Christians by Our Love

Bible class this morning was on the beginning of 1 John 3, particularly how we have the status as the children of God because we are IN the Son of God by virtue of His baptizing us.

Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. (3:1)

Melynda asked about that, and somehow the old song came up. "And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love, yes, they'll know we are Christians by our love." And Pastor made an interesting point. THEY will know we are Christians by our love. It isn't that WE will know we are Christians by our love. When we look at ourselves, we see only sin and corruption and struggle. We will look only to Christ and what He has done. That is where we see hope and salvation. WE "know we are Christians" by the declarative Word, in baptism and in the preaching of the absolution. If WE are looking to ourselves to see our love that is oh-so-winsome to the unbelievers (or not!) then we won't have the love such that THEY can be looking at us to see love. It is when our eyes are on Jesus that others will look at us and see the love that we may not be able to see in ourselves.

"100" -- Garden Patch

These are the five veggies I planted in my tiny little space on the sunny side of the garage.

10. CANTALOUPE










11. CUCUMBER



I have a hard time telling cucumber and cantaloupe apart. The seeds are nearly identical. The vines are quite similar. But I know which is which right now (before the fruit begins to be produced) because I planted the seeds from little baggies that had pictures on them.






12. There's something I just love about the smell of a TOMATO vine.










13. This LETTUCE is "black-seeded Simpson" which I know because I saw the seed packet. On the other hand, I've planted this enough times, and seen other kinds of lettuce, that maybe, just maybe, I'd be able to ID the particular kind of lettuce if I saw it elsewhere (but I'm not counting on it).







14. Cabbage leaves with a knobby base of the stem = KOHLRABI. The earwigs have been at my lettuce and kohlrabi.

Warm

Philip went out back to haul some dirt this morning and came in feeling a mite hot. I noticed yesterday that the deck seems like an oven on hot days, blowing hot air in through the window of the breakfast nook. (That aspect of the deck might be nice in March or November, but I'm not sure what to do with it in August!)

We put the thermometer out in the backyard. 110°. Oh. So it IS warm! It's only 90 in the front yard where there's shade. Y'know, in days past, the whole point of a day like today was to just simply get through it without heat stroke and without the livestock suffering from the heat. Nowadays, most of us just crank up the AC, and the main inconvenience is when we get a glimpse of the electric bill. Some of us, though, continue to get by just by splashing water on ourselves and drinking a lot and being lazy on days like today. But, hey, there's an upside: the laundry is drying super-fast on the clothesline!

Is there anybody sitting in the air-conditioning today that would like to send me money for their indulgences carbon credits???

Congratulations...

... to my son-in-law.

Weird Vegetables

I was recently reading Richard Blunt and he lamented that most Americans only eat about a dozen different kinds of vegetables. So Maggie and I brainstormed what they might be. Maybe:
onions
corn
green beans
peas
broccoli
carrots
potatoes
lettuces
cucumber
green pepper
tomatoes

Those are the kinds of veggies that are readily available at most grocers, most of the year, maybe in the freezer, and often in the produce section or as canned goods. But variety in the diet is good. It's good for our nutrition intake. It's also good for the cook's attitude so that she doesn't get bored out of her gourd. So Maggie and I brainstormed again. What else do WE eat (or should we eat)?

spinach
kohlrabi
cabbage
bok choy
brussels sprouts
rutabaga
parsnips
turnips
beets
cauliflower
okra
garlic
summer squash
eggplant
winter squash (including pumpkin)
greens (collards, turnip, kale, mustard, etc)

Then I realized that only a couple of items on this second list are available at Aldi or Super-Walmart (the grocery stores around here). But they're all available at Woodmans. My friend Tammy mentioned that she was missing the kinds of veggies she could get where she used to live; they just don't sell much variety here.

This year we joined community-supported agriculture. There are the benefits of getting good, fresh, organic foods. But one of the other attractions is that we get a variety of veggies that aren't sold in local grocery stores. And you gotta figure out what to do with them. (For instance, we got beets in our veggie-box this week. Several people sat down at the table with wrinkled noses. But you know what? Steamed beets with a slathering of little butter and salt tastes really good.) We're fine until October, but what happens when we have to start depending solely on the local grocery store for veggies again?

Looking at the seed catalog today, thinking about what kinds of shrubs and trees and raised beds we'll want to start next spring, I noticed all the weird fruits: the gooseberries and pawpaws and aronia-berries and currents. Maybe it would be better to plant those than apples. Apples are readily available. Blueberries and raspberries and Concord grapes and strawberries -- they're available but pricey. And some fruits are simply not available at all.

Lost Emails

The email addresses (and old emails that I needed to keep) haven't been moved yet from the old computer to the new computer. I've been stymied in needing to ask people questions, and not having email addresses to do it. So today I FINALLY hauled out the old computer with intent to weed out obsolete addresses and transfer the edresses to my new machine. And somehow --I'm still not sure how it happened-- rather than deleting about half the B's, I deleted from C to V.

I did manage to find a lot of email addresses in the files of old emails, and cut-n-pasted them into a Word document so as to move them the slow and painstaking way to the new computer. So at least I've got many of them. But this is not a speedy endeavor!

This is being reported so that you will have patience with me when I do not write to you. Lack of communication will not be because of lack of caring about you, but rather it will be due to utter techno-stupidity. :-)

Brakes

My bike wouldn't slow down properly. Sure, I could get it stopped, but not like I should've been able to. Brakes like this were the reason we finally had to put Zippy (the Toyota) out of her slow-death misery.

So I got new brake pads and installed them myself. I was impressed with myself! The brakes improved, but still needed help.

So I lubricated the calipers. Myself. But not one single bit of improvement.

So I got online and read up on how to make the brakes pinch the wheels tighter. I found the information. I found the screw-piece on the brake cables. I adjusted. All by myself. And now my brakes work just right! Yeee haw!

Biking

Plan A: We need more exercise. Especially Maggie and Andrew.
Plan B: I don't want to buy another car.

Plan A+B: We gotta start riding bikes to town.

The one time I jogged to town, it took 32 minutes. Last week I biked to town, and it was 20 minutes. Being the old and decrepit mother, I figured that two teens (who have been, incidentally, riding their bikes for fun & exercise while I engage in the tantalizing entertainment of dishes-washing and laundry-folding)
two teens should be able to do any physical activity that I am capable of. If I could bike to town and do a few errands and be back in an hour, they'd be able to. Right?

Wrong.
Andrew can.

Maggie cannot.
That hour of exercise/errands today took TWO hours. Maggie was hot, red, and exhausted. She needed rest stops.

We were supposed to go visit the cardiologist this week. Due to car-sharing amongst the family, I called and postponed the appointment. We're due to go now in October for a stress-test and check-up. I see no reason that her heart defect should have anything to do with her inability to keep up on the bike; I think it's just plain being out of shape.

I think it's very important for mommies of wee ones to get them out in their buggies and strollers for daily walks in the sun and fresh air. I think mommies of toddlers and preschoolers should make it a priority to get to the playground frequently and to go for walks. Something in my gut tells me that I should not have to do that with a 13-yr-old. But apparently I do.

Can I?

Decorating

(Hey, check it out! I'm figuring out how to work the camera and how to add pictures to my blog without complete step-by-step instruction by the kids every time I attempt pictures!)



With the red walls in our living room, a lot of our framed art didn't look so great in the house. Like I wrote the other day, figuring out how to make the house look nice is very taxing to my brain! So anyway, we were trying to look through what we had, figure what we especially wanted on the walls, what was expendable, and what might work. So we find this poster of Luther at the Diet of Worms; it had been rolled up in a tube for years after Gary won it as a door prize somewhere. Okay, the colors work very well in the living room. But it needed a frame. We tried a poster frame. No good. So we checked at Goodwill for a frame yesterday. Ooooh -- found a NICE frame, almost the right size, for only $5.


Turned out that my poster and backing didn't fit the glass and the frame. So I decided to just put the picture on top of what was previously in the frame. UGH! The colors were awful together. So now what? I found the touch-up paint for the living room and put that around the edges to cover the blue/purple/grays underneath. I would've rather used black, but I didn't have that available, and I'm not altogether too patient with this decorating stuff.

The second coat of paint dried overnight, and we proceeded to try to reassemble this complicated frame. Eventually we got it. Between me and Andrew, only three cuts on our fingers from the sharp edges of glass. And then we found the studs for the nails. Overall, it looks fairly decent. Not the best, but better than using Wacky Tack to hang a poster, which is more like my normal decorating modus operandi.

Jack It Up

Spent the weekend trying to accomplish projects that I've been procrastinating on. Gary and the boys worked on the deck.

When doing projects around the house, it seems good to take into account how your methods will affect the house in the long-term, as well as how repairs will need to be done later, or how the same job will be handled when it needs to be redone in a decade or two or three.

Gary's finding some frustrations with how things were fixed around here by previous owners. For example, when they put together (or repaired?) the deck in days past, they used a wide variety of screws: some deck screws and some that would rust, as well as several different varieties of screw-heads. Gary wants ONE kind of screw so that he won't have to keep hauling out different screw-drivers when he makes repairs someday.

Today's stunner was when they found that one of the posts/pylons holding up the deck wasn't attached to the joists that it was supposed to be attached to. When the deck was initially built, they just kinda sorta missed when they put in the bolts. So THAT's why the deck sagged there.

Philip's been digging out mud from underneath the deck. (Some previous owners put down non-porous plastic under the deck too. Then critters dug and threw dirt on top of the tarp. That stuff is muddddddY!) Today Gary and Paul did some more digging to clean up the wetness underneath the deck. And that's when the found the deck not attached to the supports.

So Gary and Paul came up with a plan. They would use the jack from the car to lift the deck back up to the height it was supposed to be. They dug down a little further, and then applied the jack near the place it had become detached. A little cranking, and it was in the right place, ready to be re-attached.

We are so proud of these resourceful guys! Like Gary said, he didn't expect to be able to fix this unless we paid somebody thousands of dollars to do it. We'd figured we'd just live with the deck being saggy. The guys sure are working hard and throwing a lot of physical labor into the spiffing-of-the-deck. But they're doing a better job of it than I'd expect of somebody who was just doing it for the money and didn't have to live with the long-term ramifications of how the repairs are accomplished.

Ethanol Ads

My husband tells me he's hearing ads now from desperate ethanol producers who are out to make us realize that ethanol has NOTHING to do with rising food costs. No! Of course not! Because [get this!] they aren't producing ethanol out of the corn we eat for food. Oh, no! They are just using the feed corn.

Well, of course. The feed corn for the animals is what's going into our fuel tanks. Not the food we humans eat! See? NOTHING to worry about!

Are they really so stupid as to think we don't realize the animals' feed corn is what provides us with milk, butter, cheese, eggs, beef, chicken, and pork? Good grief!

(And the scary thing is ... what if they're right, and we are stupid enough to buy into this propoganda???)

Nothing to Show for It

I spent most of the day trying to figure out which pictures and crucifixes and icons should go on what walls in which rooms, and which should be packed away for a while or maybe even given away altogether.

Oooooooh, my brain is tired!
I don't do pretty.
Trying to make things pretty is exhausting!

I'd try to figure things out, and then escape to go start the bread kneading. Then I'd look at the walls and ponder some more, and then go hide by doing some picking up. Help, help! Any chore so as to procrastinate on the "making things pretty" duty. Eeeeeks!

Andrew had a friend over this evening. When his mom dropped him off, she said she would LOVE to help and give advice and make those kinds of decisions. I think I'm gonna take her up on her offer. I've narrowed down which pictures must be put up, and which are expendable, and which ones just do NOT go with those red walls in the living room. But overall, I could only figure out a couple items on my own that I'm quite satisfied with. And my daddy taught me to be very slow and deliberate about deciding to put holes in the wall for pictures! So I don't want to rush into anything (only 4½ months after we bought the house....)

Tattoo

Philip did me a big favor yesterday by sitting with Maggie at the beach while I did errands. While there, he saw a woman go by with a tattoo of a Japanese letter character on her lower back (very lower, as in, the upper part of her tuschie).

It said...

LARGE.

Surely she picked the symbol based on how it looked and is clueless as to what it says, right?

Necessity of Those Records

WPA has long advised that parents filling out the PI-1206 request confirmation from the Dept of Public Instruction that the form was received. I usually stick a post-it note on my submitted 1206, stating simply, "Please send a letter confirming that you have received our form" and include a self-addressed stamped envelope.

Philip is applying for an apprenticeship. We were amused a couple of months ago that they wanted his high-school transcript. Would his college transcript do? After all, it's from an official public school and not from some homeschool mommy. But no, they needed the high-school transcript.

Okay, so we found the transcript and mailed a copy. Today he was at the application for the unionized program. They need an official transcript with the school seal on it. So he wisely asks, "School seal??? I was homeschooled. There is no official school seal." They instructed him to send in photocopies of his paperwork for the state. I don't know if they require the 1206 or the acknowledgement back from the DPI that they received the 1206, but we'll send copies of both Official Papers from each year that he was homeschooled in high school.

Oh, gosh, I'm glad I kept them. I'm thankful for WPA's advice. I'm glad the records were in an easy-to-find location, safe from purging during a decluttering frenzy (or a move).

And for those who are curious, only half the guys who pass the tests actually get placed in an apprenticeship within the first year. Two-thirds of the guys who apply don't even pass the test, but Philip already took that and did exceptionally well. Problem is, nobody has been placed so far this year because the masters just aren't taking on apprentices right now. So it may be quite a wait.

Romans 10:10

If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

You know how the doctors have to give you the whole run-down of all possible side-effects that may result from surgery or a treatment or a medicine? You're getting ready for surgery, and the doctor is telling you that you could end up paralyzed, or you could be allergic to the latex gloves on the doctor's hands, or you could end up in a coma or dead.

Prior to Maggie's first heart surgery, the doctor was telling us about the possible complications before we signed off on okaying the operation. One of the possibilities was that her voice could be damaged or that she could even become entirely mute. "Scuse us? You're cutting on her heart, right? Her voicebox is way up in her throat. How could her voice be damaged???"

So the surgeon explained how the nerve for the voicebox goes from the brain, down into the chest of the person, wraps around the heart, and then goes back up to the voicebox. So when he's working on the heart, the main nerve to control the larynx is right there, and it's possible that it could get nicked or damaged during heart surgery.

And at that point, the surgeon lost us from the anatomy lesson and the permission to allow the surgery, and found us in awe at how the physiology dovetails with the theology found in Romans 10.

Beach Hours

About a week ago I finally got Maggie to the beach for the first time this summer. There's a county park nearby (only four miles!) that used to be a quarry until they got too deep and hit water. At least, I think that's the story. Anyway, now it's a very nice lake for fishing and swimming.

Problem is, there are rules. I am really missing Lake Geneva. This beach requires you to swim in a roped off area right smack in front of a life guard. And there aren't enough life guards to man all the sections. The beach is open from 11:00 to 7:00, which are very inconvenient hours for me now that dinner is at 6:00. And even more inconvenient now that I'm short a vehicle. I want to get up and go to the beach from 10 to noon. Or after supper is cleaned up. Not only that, but at this beach they call for rest-breaks when everybody has to be out of the water for 20 minutes. Rachel recalled this rest period every hour from the times she's been to this beach with Matt, but I sure hope it's only on the odd-hours, and that it just seemed to her to be so frequent as to be hourly rest-times. Can you imagine swimming for only 40 minutes before they kick you out of the water for 20 minutes?

I keep trying to finagle a way to get Maggie out in the sunshine for some swimming exercise, and the hours that swimming is allowed are just not jiving with our schedule. I may have to take a drive over to Pewaukee and see what kind of rules and hours they have at their beach -- and whether they've recuperated from the flooding yet. This little scoliosis-girl needs some hefty doses of vitamin D while it's still available. And I'm not doing a good job taking care of that for her.

WW Noodles

We have seldom had whole wheat noodles that were edible. They tend to make a gooey, sticky, mass of yuck when boiled. My friend Sandy makes totally awesome ww noodles. And one time we found a brand at a store that was good. Backwoods Home author Richard Blunt informs me it must've been Ronzoni.

But today we found one that boils nicely and tastes just fine. At ALDI! This is so mega-cool. Fantastic price. Good pasta. Whole wheat. Wow!

Movies

Over the past several weeks, we have been bumping into GOOD movies. First was Girl with a Pearl Earring. It's basically "historical fiction" which is my favorite genre for books. It was decent enough for kids to watch. It's about a girl who was a maid in the home of a famous painter in the 1600s. For those of you who liked Spanglish (because of the characters not submitting to the desire to commit adultery), this story has some of that flavor too.

North and South was another one that came highly recommended, although I can't remember from whom. It is not about the Civil War, as the name would indicate to those of us who homeschooled history buffs. It is about a family who moves from the country (the south of England) to the city (in the north) where everything is about the mills and industry. We watched the first disc, and wanted to spend another two hours watching the second disc but didn't have it. ARGH! So we're still waiting to hear how the story works itself out. It was set in the late 1800s, and it really does a good job of showing the vocation of the workers and the bosses. But mostly it just is a riveting and well-done story (although it starts a little slowly). Highly recommended! But if you have it in your Netflix queue, don't start the first one until the second disc is in your house too. I hope I still feel the same way after we see the conclusion.

We also picked up Beautiful, a comedy with Minnie Driver about beauty shows. The heroine is an awful person, doing anything necessary to win Miss Illinois and then the Miss American Miss pageant. But in the face of adversity, she begins to grow up and make the right decisions. Some language that may be inappropriate for kids, as well as some pretty sassy behavior from the kids, but overall a really good show.

And finally, Madagascar. It was excellent! Hilariously, gut-busting funny! Great for kids and better for grown-ups! This is one of those movies that I might even consider buying ... and there aren't many that rank so high that I'd be willing to make space for them in the house.