Lessons in Love: Little Visits with Jesus

The girls' teacher gave me a box of things that her daughter had grown out of (books and clothing, both), and the devotional book Little Visits with Jesus was in there. I remember going through a book like that with my mom when we were little (might have been the same one, come to think of it). I like the younger child devotional books that we can do as a family.

We have been reading one each night with the girls for the past week or so. I was reading a chapter of a book (Little House on the Prairie or another book of their choosing), but I'd much rather do a devotional geared toward them instead. :) I really like that the reading/story for each day is short and that it is easy to read (for me) and understand (for them). There is verses listed at the top of the page, a story relating to the verses, then a little prayer to sum it all up at the bottom. Iris and Lily have been wanting to pray after we read (I normally do the before-bed prayer time), and it's so cute to see them pray about the things we had just read in the devotional. Hopefully the lessons are making sense to them and they are really considering them. It's so neat to see them each apply or speak about the lessons in their own way and see their individual growth, spiritually.

Today, while they were doing math worksheets, Iris was asking about Heaven. I LOVE being able to talk with her about it and for her to understand as much as her 4 year old brain can. :) She likes to talk about Heaven and seeing Jesus and naming the relatives we'll see in Heaven. I have explained salvation to her and she sort of understands, but I think she hasn't quite yet personalized it or understood the decision that must be made about it. She's still in the "let's all love Jesus" way of thinking....which is great, but she hasn't quite caught on to it being more than that just yet. I cannot wait for it to click with her and for her to understand the choice and for her to make that choice and accept Jesus as the only way to Heaven and understand (again, as much as she can) about His death and resurrection. Coming up to Easter in the next few weeks, I can see we'll be talking even more than normal about Jesus and His death. I am really hoping she keeps asking questions and continues to WANT to talk about it and not just feel it's something we do only at church or during devotion time.

I am so thankful for the open minds and hearts of little ones. They seem to see so clearly the simplicity of loving God. Obviously there's so much more beyond just loving God, but it all starts with that and I love that kids seem so eager to love Him. :)

Motherhood Mania: Math Madness

Ok, so I got the title of this post from the whole March Madness thing. It's probably copyrighted or whatever....hope no one sues me. :)

First thing this morning after breakfast, I gave Iris and Lily 2 math worksheets to do...for fun. :) Of course I think math is fun! LOL. I'm building a math book for them, so I gave them the worksheets for numbers 1 and 2. Iris is getting so great at identifying her numbers 1 to 10 by sight. She is doing much better at counting objects in a set; she wasn't one for sitting still to point to each item and count it, so she would get all mixed up with which one she should be pointing to. Now, she holds the tip of the pencil on each one and counts it before moving to the next one. I'm loving it! :)

Lily still struggles with number recognition, but she's only 3 so I'm not worrying (or at least trying not to be such a perfectionist about her getting them all right every time. hahaha). She mostly liked me to count along with her and then get to coloring them!

I found the free printouts online. There are so many blogging moms out there that have written or are writing curriculum for preschool and kindergarten aged children. This is great news for me! :) I have saved so many printables and booklets to the computer; can't wait to print them all out and actually complete them!

I found an Alphabet book idea to do with the girls over the summer. Almost every day you work on a new letter and find things to stamp onto the letter's page. Then, the pages are combined into a spiral edged thing and it becomes an actual book that they can reuse all the time! That would be a great book for in the car! Oh, and I want to make a lapbook or quiet book for the girls! So many ideas!

AND, I got a ton of free fabric from a lady on Craigslist (a HUGE moving box of fabric cuts and scraps). Now, I'm working on saving up for a sewing machine. :) I have so many ideas for that, too - tank top dresses for the girls, pillow shams, fun things for school. And putting a zipper on one of the pages of the lap books would be much easier if I could just sew it on! BUT, I am trying to maintain some patience til I've actually saved up the money for it and not just jump into buying one and creating debt. SO HARD!

It's been a great Monday so far. Laundry is under way. Tomorrow I am picking up Ugandan necklaces from my friend Kathryn, since we couldn't do it today. I hate being behind on things, stuck at places I don't want to be, causing me to miss out on the errands I'd really like to get to....like seeing friends and picking up the necklaces! Ugh. At least Addy and I get to do it tomorrow. It'll actually be easier tomorrow, since Iris and Lily have school. So, I guess I should stop whining. :)

Pleasantries of Pregnancy: Nervousness

Arthur has been practicing my lamaze breathing with me. Correction: I have been practicing, he has been timing me with his coach-like stopwatch. :) I like that he helps  by timing it. Then, I can work on my focus and relaxation techniques and not have to remember to watch the clock, too.

I have had some crazy dreams lately, some that even make me question if certain events took place in real life or not. It makes me nervous because they feel so real, and I wake up so upset that it's hard to remember if these things happened or not.

For example, I've had dreams about labor and delivery and my health being at risk. It freaks me out, and I start to think maybe there are some issues with my health already that I don't know about until we get into labor and then something bad happens. I have a hard time NOT thinking about the dreams, and of course my mind takes it to the next level and I start thinking about my own death and being without Arthur and the kids, not making it home from the hospital, finding out I have some awful illness right after giving birth, etc. It's so frightening in the middle of the night. I try to remember to just stop and pray before I let my thoughts get out of control, but when I'm in the dream it's so crazy.

I talked to my mom today and found out one of our cousin's wife has breast cancer. She didn't know too much detail, but the woman is young - early 40's maybe. They have a young daughter, too...I don't think she's a teenager even, yet. So scary to think about. I cannot imagine what they are going through right now, but then I start thinking about how prevalent cancer is and how many people I know or are related to that have had it or currently have it. Scary.

Of course, I really want this labor and delivery to go well and for everything to remain as perfect as it is. I thought having Addy on jaundice lights for a week was traumatizing; I've got NO CLUE what trauma is. I would really prefer to keep it that way. Obviously, God is in control and knows what will happen and to whom. He doesn't give us more than we can handle with Him. But, like I always say...sometimes I'm afraid to know just how much it is that I can handle. :(

Rejoicing in Recipes: Green Rice Casserole

I am using this recipe, courtesy of MoneySavingMom, tonight. I am still trying to remember Mondays are meatless, but I often forget and pull out meat to defrost. Today, I remembered, so here's the meatless recipe. If I made it any other night of the week, though, I think I'd throw in some chicken to make it a meaty meal. :)

Green Rice Casserole

3 cups cooked rice (we use brown rice)
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup milk
1/3 cup chopped dried parsley (or 1/2 to 1 cup fresh parsley)
4 oz. can chopped green chilies
2 cups cheddar cheese, grated
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1 small onion, finely chopped (or 1/4 cup dry onion flakes) (can be omitted)
Combine all ingredients and pour into a 9″x13″ baking dish. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake for 10 minutes longer. Serves 8-10. Freezable.

MoneySavingMom mentions this would go well with the brown bag burritos. I still have some frozen, so I might pull some of those out as well, since there's no main dish of meat to go with it.

I don't normally like to post recipes unless I've tried them already, but I think this one looks very tasty and pretty hard to mess up, so I'm posting it. :) Oh, I don't have a can of chilies, so I'm skipping that ingredient. I imagine it won't be as seasoned or flavorful, but I don't feel like running to the store for one ingredient that is probably NOT on sale.

Enjoy!
 

Motherhood Mania: Braid Bonanza

I have been french braiding the girls' hair the past few days. They love it! And I like that it does a better job than ponytails at keeping their hair out of their face for the whole day.

Their favorite thing is when we take the braids out and their hair is all crimpy. :) So, yesterday they wore braids and wanted to sleep in them and have crimpy hair for church today. BUT, we had baths to do. I ended up putting 2 braids in both Iris and Lily's wet hair, so they could wake up with crimpy hair for church. They were up late. 4 braids in under 30 minutes, though....that's pretty good for me! :) Addy had 2 braids in all day, but I didn't feel like doing another 2 in her hair before bed. A total of 10 braids done yesterday! I should open a salon. :)

They all look so cute with their braids....like little farm girls. :) I always liked whenever my Aunt Fawn would braid our hair. My hair didn't hold them very well, but my sister's hair did. I was so jealous. Lily has hair like my sister, Mindy - nice and thick and holds styles. My hair is too thin and wispy at the ends, so styling is difficult. Iris, unfortunately, has hair similar to mine. :( Not sure what Addy's hair is doing yet. I can do half braids in her hair, just to the end of the hairline, then I have to make the bottoms ponytails because her hair is still short to braid further down. She liked them, too, though, so it was fun to do!

I love having little girls to do those things with. And I love watching their reactions to the braids or the crimpiness after the braids are out. Their little giggles really warm my heart. :)

Pleasantries of Pregnancy: 30 weeks!

Nothing new to report, really. I am retaining water like crazy lately! My legs and arms are swollen. I wore a dress to church today, without nylons, and really noticed how dimply my legs are starting to get. Ew. :( Oh well. It's totally worth it! Baby is still super active in the evenings. He was dancing around during Sunday School today, too. :)

My hip pain at night is getting worse, but that's no surprise. Just trying to take it in stride. Less than 10 weeks to go, hopefully!

Rejocing in Recipes: Ham & Spinach Alfredo

So, I forgot to take meat out of the freezer for dinner on Friday. I ended up pulling out already cooked ham slices (that I had frozen). Here's what I threw together:

Pre-cooked frozen ham slices, cut into bite-size pieces
1/2 box of spaghetti noodles, broken in half (makes it easier to serve and cut for my girls)
Jar of Ragu Creamy Alfredo Sauce - too lazy to make my own that night. :)
Fresh spinach leaves, about 2 handfuls, washed and chopped

I cooked the noodles until almost done, then threw in the spinach just to wilt it. Drain and return noodles and spinach to pan on low heat, adding in ham pieces and sauce. Stir frequently and heat through, making sure ham pieces are completely heated.

I served it with a salad, that also had spinach mixed in with it...my girls are loving spinach these days! No complaints here! :) And, I wanted garlic bread but didn't make anything in time, so I used leftover hot dog buns. Take them apart at the seam. Butter one side of each and lay on foil-lined baking sheet. Sprinkle butter tops with garlic powder and Parmesan cheese (or Mozzarella cheese - both are delicious!). Heat under broiler (on High) for a few minutes until butter is browned and before bread starts to burn, maybe 3-5 minutes.

Yum, yum! A semi-homemade Italian meal. I like getting creative with bread usage. Those buns had been sitting for a while and were starting to dry out, so it was nice to be able to use them up. And I had a large bag of Spinach that was starting to go; I was happy to be able to use it in the pasta dish, as well as in the salad.

It pays to be creative sometimes - less waste!

Rejoicing in Recipes: Skillet Spanish Rice with Ground Beef

I had 2 pounds of ground chuck in the fridge from yesterday's shopping, so I decided to use a pound of it tonight and freeze the other pound. I am making Skillet Rice with Ground Beef  (Go HERE for the site/recipe).

Here it is:

• 3 slices bacon
• 1 pound extra-lean or lean ground beef
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1/3 cup chopped green bell pepper
• 1 clove garlic, finely minced
• 1 can (14.5 ounces) diced tomatoes
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 3/4 cup long grain rice, uncooked
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, or more, as needed
• dash black pepper
• shredded Mexican blend, Monterey Jack, or Cheddar cheese, for garnish, optional

Preparation:

In a large skillet, cook bacon until crisp; remove to paper towels to drain. Leaving about 1 teaspoon of bacon grease in the pan, brown the ground beef, stirring and breaking up as it cooks. Add onion and green pepper and cook until onion is softened. Add garlic and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add the tomatoes, water, ketchup, rice, chili powder, sugar, and Worcestershire sauce, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and a dash of pepper. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and cook for about 30 minutes, or until rice is tender. Top with crumbled bacon and shredded cheese, if desired.
Serves 4. (although, this serves all 5 of us for dinner and most of us for lunch the next day, too)

Tonight, I grabbed a can of  Mexican Fiesta Tomatoes, with lime juice and cilantro in them. We'll see how that changes the flavor....hopefully not too much. Also, I used up the rest of the bottle of ketchup I had and it didn't quite equal 1/2 cup. So, mine will be slightly different this evening. Oh well. It's fairly easy and tasty, so I'll be happy with it regardless, I think.

I also had about 6 small yellow onions that were starting to get soft, so after chopping (in my Ninja!) one for this meal, I chopped the rest and separated into 2 freezer baggies with 1/2 cup onion each. Yay for remembering to freeze almost expired veggies! :)

Lessons in Love: Girlhood

I read a nice post yesterday about girls and growing up and the pressures and crazy things they face today. The mom that wrote it is much older than I am, but she made a point about the challenges she faced as a young girl being so much less difficult than what her girls are facing today. I think her oldest girl is 13, and they had such a hard time finding a modest dress for confirmation. I can relate....I'm not 13, but I have a hard time finding clothes (mostly shirts and dresses) for myself! I still fit Junior sizes, so I often buy my jeans and shirts in that section of stores, but the tops are either super tight or low cut. Same with the dresses - tight or low cut or even super short.

I always hated that my mom picked out clothing to buy, or at least had to approve it before it was bought. She shopped with me for summer clothes while I was a senior in high school. I remember going to the store for shorts and tank tops for our senior trip, and my mom picked out almost all the styles. I think the only thing I picked myself was a sweatshirt. I always felt uncool because my friends were picking out and buying what they wanted and most of their mothers shopped with them as their girlfriend, not as their mother. It drove me nuts at times that I didn't have that. Oh how dumb I was! :)

Now, please listen carefully when you read these next few thoughts. I am not an advocate of rape, child molestation, pedophiles, pornography or anything related to these things, but SERIOUSLY:
How can we place all the blame on these criminals?? I realize they are demented and sick and it upsets my stomach to think about any of that stuff, but if we're dressing our 13 year olds like 21 year olds, teaching them to dance like strippers, ok'ing music that calls them awful names, and letting them post raunchy pictures of themselves on Facebook or MySpace or anywhere else online......what do we expect?! These people have no will power, obviously.....so, throwing all this temptation in front of them does not help anything. I'm not saying (AT ALL) that we're responsible to control their urges or their problems, but why encourage them with what we're putting on our little girls?!

I was just talking to my mom about Easter dresses for girls. My two little sisters (both taller than me, but I still call them 'little'. lol) are in Girls or Junior sizes, but my mom has a hard time finding clothing for them that isn't trashy. Their school has a dress code, which is hard to follow at times I'm sure because of the lack of options out there for girls' clothing.

Come to think of it, I had a hard time finding bathing suits for MY girls. Iris and Lily are about the same toddler size, but even the toddler swimsuits trouble me at times. They are super high-cut on the legs or ride up in the back or are 2 pieces. I have nothing against anyone that puts a 2 piece on their little girl, but I can't. I cannot bring myself to do it. I was not allowed to wear a 2 piece while I lived at home, so maybe that has something to do with it. But, I just don't like to see little girls in 2 pieces. It makes them look older. I don't like having their navel showing; it draws attention to that area of their body, which creeps me out. Tankinis are one thing (most are okay), but the straight out 2 piece bikini things just drive me nuts. That's just my opinion for my girls. Again, nothing against anyone who has their little girl wearing one. Some are really cute designs. Maybe I'm just too paranoid about the creepos out there, but I can't put my girls in a 2 piece and take them in public. I've been wearing a 2 piece since I moved out of my parents' house (originally out of rebellion - LOL), but I was 19 or 20 before that happened!

The other thing that drives me up a wall is dancing. Now, I think it's hilarious when my girls start dancing to ANY kind of music (Iris even broke into dance in the pew Sunday at church. very funny), but to see the dances the tweens on TV are doing today kinda nauseates me. Even Arthur has comments about how raunchy they dance nowadays. It's gross - simulating sex....and they're barely teenager age!

I also have a problem with teen pregnancy. Who doesn't, really? But, my problem is that it's not made to look like the disgrace that it once was. Even when I was in high school, just 10 years ago, girls that got pregnant at my age were looked down on. I'm not saying that shunning them or looking down on them is the best idea, but it wasn't in any way cool or cute or the order in which to do things. Girls were kicked out of my high school for being pregnant. Girls in public school even were removed and sent to alternative schools. Now, you can be a teen, have a baby and bring them to the daycare at your school, so you can complete your education.

Getting an education is important, I agree. BUT, I don't think that should be first priority when you have a baby. You should be dealing with that. YOUR plans move to the back burner and you deal with the consequences and hardships of having a baby FIRST. Helping teen moms is great, but making it as though it's just another daily occurrence is wrong to me. God's plan is obviously for a husband and wife to have babies, not a tenth grader with a casual boyfriend.

I don't know if all my thoughts made sense or came out right. I don't want to sound like all teen moms should be quarantined or that we shouldn't offer them assistance, but I feel like the ball has been dropped when it comes to teaching children to make smart choices and teaching them to understand the consequences for making poor choices. It's just too easy these days when they have poor judgment. There's always someone there to take the burden off of them. BUT, if more poor judgment teens were MADE to bear the burden of their choices, I really think there would be fewer teens making poor decisions. They'd see that it's not easy, that it's not cool to be irresponsible, and that there's not always going to be someone to take the baby so you can go on like a normal teenager...continuing to make stupid decisions. At least that's how I saw it - the girls that had babies in my high school had to leave school, they had to quit the sports they played, they lost a lot of friends because they spent all their time taking care of the baby, their mothers helped them but not 24/7. I don't even know if most of those girls ever got GED's, but they certainly weren't the talk of the town after having a baby. We all gossiped about it for a few weeks, but we moved on....without them. I have noticed several of them went on to have more kids out of wedlock and ended up in crappy relationships. I realize not all teen moms end up that way, but since that's a serious possibility once you start that trend of having kids out of wedlock, why even risk it the first time?!

I don't know. Maybe I'm too harsh. Maybe my views aren't in line with God's. I hope they are. A pregnant teen daughter is actually my worst fear. My mom's worst fear might have been one of us getting a B+ on our report card (which I did in Bible class, and my mom threatened to take me off the cheerleading squad for it!), but with the way pregnancy is glamorized today I fear my girls will fall into that trap of thinking it's not that bad. I really pray that they guard their hearts against the stupid ideologies of the world and just focus on God, family, school, and building good, wholesome relationships. I don't have a problem with teenagers dating, as long as they understand the whole purpose for dating and/or courting and marriage and male-female relationships. Having a boyfriend is so trendy lately. You're uncool if you don't have one. What ever happened to just hanging out in groups? Seriously! I realize I was boy-crazy by 8th grade, but I didn't really date until several years later, and even then we didn't really do many dates alone. We went with another couple or hung out with several other people to watch a movie or whatever. Of course, I wasn't an angel. I regret a lot of stupid things I did when I was a teenager. BUT, I can tell you when the topic of sex would come up amongst us girls, I honestly thought a lot about the girls that had kids and all that I would lose if I ended up pregnant. What a deterrent that was! I was Valedictorian, Homecoming Queen, cheerleading captain, volleyball co-captain, and had lots of friends. I can guarantee I'd have lost all of that as well as any chance of going to college (and then meeting my husband!) if I had been pregnant in high school.

I really hope I am able to raise my girls like my parents raised (and is still raising) my sisters and me. As much as I hated not being "cool" like the other kids, I know I'm a much more responsible adult and parent for it. I know this world is only going to get worse, but I pray my stand on clothing and boys and music and dancing stays the same. I don't want to sway from godly principles.....my daughters' lives depend on it.

Pleasantries of Pregnancy: Sugar

I got the call - passed my 3 hour glucose test. Yay! I figured I would, but I was slightly nervous. I know I'm heavier at this point than my other pregnancies and I have been really craving sweets at night, so I worried I might just fail it (even if by just a small amount). Thankfully, I'm in the clear!

My contractions are getting stronger. Still nothing to worry about, but it's just a nuisance for now - having to stop what I'm doing to ride them out. And I almost always have to use the bathroom after a contraction. Thankfully, I got a great deal on toilet paper last week! :)

Other than that, everything is going as expected. I got my Rhogam shot yesterday....in my behind. Ouch! Why is it I can get through labor pain with no problem but a shot in the behind makes me a big baby? :) It burns and then my backside is sore for the whole day.

My next appointment is April 13. After that I'll go every 2 weeks for checkups til 36 weeks, then every week. I'll be 30 weeks on Saturday! Time seems to be flying now. Can't wait for warmer weather (yes, we have snow this morning!), when I can spend more time outside and time will hopefully seem to go by even faster.

Last night, Arthur and I watched a movie and he had his hand on my stomach. The baby must have known it wasn't my hand because he was jumping around all crazy. Arthur thought it was hilarious. :)