Friesencold

These are some pictures from almost two weeks ago. TJ and Bauer built a snowman after lunch on a Saturday. Bauer finally got to use the snowman accessories that Gigi gave him for Christmas.

Our snowman is still standing, even though it’s 47 degrees out today. All of the accessories had fallen off, save the hat, but Bauer remedied that today when he came from from Parents Day Out.

Now on to other truly random stuff from lately….

I finished copying down all the parts of Donald Miller’s book A Million Miles in a Thousand Years that I had underlined. Now TJ says he wants to read the book again. It’s that good.

My first attempt at homemade bread was less than stellar. I made the “Almost No-Work Whole Grain Bread” from Mark Bittman’s book Food Matters. It truly was almost no work, but I think I shouldn’t have added quinoa to the dough. It just made the bread a little too crunchy. Also I should have oiled the loaf pan even more; I thought I was using plenty of oil, but half of the bottom crust stayed in the pan when I turned the loaf out. Rather than use the bread for sandwiches as I had hoped, we’ll probably have it on the side with our dinner tonight. I will try again soon.

TJ and I celebrated his birthday recently with a trip to downtown Chicago. We left our kids with some good friends and made the long trek on a Friday evening to our favorite restaurant in these parts. Bandera! We got our usual fare of house veggie burgers and TJ used his iPhone to take pictures of our meals.

TJ got his burger with mashed potatoes.

And I had the amazing peanut coleslaw.

After dinner, we went shopping at The North Face Store on Michigan Avenue, so that TJ could pick out and purchase a winter jacket. I had secretly emailed some of our family members, asking if anyone who was planning to give TJ money for his birthday would be willing to give toward the purchase of the jacket. I heard back from several people and was able to surprise TJ over dinner by telling him we could go buy a jacket for him. It was fun going into the store that night, knowing we were there to buy. TJ found just what he was looking for but I have no picture to show you. Later that night, we watched the movie Slumdog Millionaire, which I had rented from the library for $1 and which after seeing the movie, I would paid $20 for a story that good. It was nice having a night without the kids, but knowing they were in such good hands with our friends. Bauer was asking this morning (a week later) when he can go back to their house. The reason he was asking is because we were having waffles for breakfast and Bauer loves the Aunt Jemima syrup that he got to have at Branton’s house.

I got an iPhone yesterday. That’s pretty exciting. I am liking plenty about it, but haven’t yet figured out to use it with one hand like I could with my other phone. The church where TJ works recently switched cell phone providers and when AT&T was decided upon, the iPhone for TJ was also decided upon. I’m an add-on to TJ’s plan so I  could have gotten the iPhone too. But I decided to go with the Samsung Magnet because it was cheaper and I didn’t really think I needed all the extra capabilities, but after a month of TJ seeing me text on that little thing, he decided enough was enough. He really wanted me to enjoy the greatness of the freakin-awesome iPhone, as he would say, and now I thank him for it. So that’s that.

I got some godly sorrow this week too. It was good how God led me to that through a number of things all on the same day. I have been reading a book called Grooming the Next Generation for Success. I have some mixed feelings about the book so far, but I have definitely been convicted to be more intentional about what we are or are not doing as we train Bauer and Cash for the future. Then there was a phone call I had with my friend Jaime about some of our children’s behavior recently, coupled with a long email I received from my friend Gretchen about things they are doing to groom their children for success, that made me realize how short I have fallen from being the kind of parent God wants me to be and that I know I want to be. I found myself that day and night telling God how sorry I was for not being better, but there was also a lot of hope in my prayer, knowing that God is going to help me remember and help me change. I have noticed a difference in myself in the past two days in the way I interact with Bauer on the little things and I am truly grateful for God being at work in my life.

I am also kinda grateful the Olympics are over. We enjoyed them, don’t get me wrong. We had the TV on probably every night but two. But the Olympics were totally cramping my style with Arts Hour. I couldn’t focus on reading when we had the excitement of the Olympics to watch all the time. But now that it’s over, I want to get back to some good old-fashioned reading. Anybody wanna recommend a great story?

Last but not least, it seems to me that MealBaby is picking up some momentum. We have a new developer and are in the process of making some updates and changes to the site. Please recommend the site to anyone you know who needs meals delivered. We might even see about getting a MealBaby app for the iPhone. How cool would that be?