Notes From Home

Allie has been with us for over a week, and our time together has been delightful. We're trying to enjoy these last few days to the fullest. I've pinched her at least a hundred times to make sure she's real.

She graciously helped Emma sew a skirt that she's been waiting to make for over two years now. Isn't it lovely?

I've been thinking much about how hard it is for Christians to rejoice with one another. I think the pagans are much better at that than we are. And I think these words from Michael O'Brien, in his book Island of the World, describe well one of the problems with church families not being able to disagree, even fight, and still make up and love one another and forgive.

"Yes! Minds and hearts alive!," Simon continues. "Here, we can struggle and debate and disagree because we are free to speak in an open forum. We are fighting and thinking because we trust one another."

Maybe we don't trust each other very much, and maybe we don't trust God and His wisdom in putting us in the church families we're in. 

I've been using Professor Horner's Bible Reading System since the beginning of the year, and I love it! I timed myself for the month of January, just to get an idea of how long it takes for an average reader to read ten chapters of the Bible. I finished every time in less than 30 minutes, and most often in less than 25. I jot down the verse references I want to return to and do my studying after reading all of the chapters. Even in this short time of using this system, I've obtained a familiarity with my Bible that amazes me.

I finally made a roasted tomato soup that was a hit. It's so simple, and I like that it calls for fresh tomatoes instead of canned ones. BUT, I'd love to know if you have a favorite homemade tomato soup, please, canned tomatoes or not! 

Roasted Tomato Soup

8 medium tomatoes
olive oil
pinch of salt
1 c. chicken broth
3/4 c. heavy cream
1/2 tsp. thyme

Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Core tomatoes, and rub the outsides with a little olive oil. Sprinkle some salt in the center. Place tomatoes on a jelly-roll pan, and roast for approximately 4 hours. The tomatoes won't be burned, but browned. Refrigerate until ready to use. Peel skin off roasted tomatoes. In a blender, add the remaining ingredients, and process until you get the texture you like. Pour soup into a saucepan, and heat till nearly boiling. Enjoy!
 (recipe from Leanne Ely's Saving Dinner the Low-Carb Way)

Have I mentioned my favorite wine before? Here it is. Chariot. I've only found it at Trader Joe's. If you ever decide to visit the Poff Funny Farm, you'll get extra chocolates on your pillow at night if you show up with a bottle of this.

All of Ink's siblings adore Allie. And they're always trying to get in the middle, too. Here Elijah is quite successful. And super-cute, as well.

My morning routine usually starts before the sun rises. I always gasp a bit when I get to see His handiwork of breathtaking colors for that brief moment in time before it all disappears.

This month marks the 5 month anniversary of my brother-in-law's death. My heart rejoices every time I speak to my sister and hear joy in her voice. It has been a hard 5 months, and the days ahead will continue to be hard, but God has sustained her. She has many Ebenezers to remind her of His goodness.

Our family prayer this year is Romans 12:9-13, and my word for the year is TRUST. And this month we're memorizing 1 Corinthians 13 again.

Finally, I like this reminder from Anna Quindlen.

"It is so easy to waste our lives: our days, our hours, our minutes. It is so easy to take for granted the pale new growth on an evergreen, the sheen of the limestone on Fifth Avenue, the color of our kids' eyes, the way the melody in a symphony rises and falls and disappears and rises again. It is so easy to exist instead of live."

And as Christians, it's so easy to get caught up in being busy, even busy with very good things, that we forget how blessed we are, how many mercies God is pouring out on us every minute of every day.

Mercies like sunrises, roasted tomato soup, home and family, godly future spouses for our children, church families, wine, fabric and sewing machines, and trusted friends.

With love,
Trisha

Notes from Home

"Take notice not only of the mercies of God, but of God in the mercies. Mercies are never so savoury, as when they savour of a Saviour."
~Ralph Venning, 1620-1673

Loving the Learning : It's that time of year when most homeschool families are excited about summer break. Us? We're thrilled (ok, I am) to be entering our third term and glad to be on schedule. July 23rd is our momentous last day, and then we'll be enjoying a break until after baby arrives.

Ink and Jake have especially enjoyed George Grant's Modernity course and the plan is to go through Christendom next year. Emma and Luke are loving Visual Latin, and Luke reminds me that Ink and Jake would have loved Latin, too, if they'd studied it this way. :)

I'm attempting for the first time ever to plan out an entire school year for all of the children. Mystie at Simply Convivial has been sharing awesome posts about how to do this. If I had a tenth of her organizational skills, I can only imagine what the days might be like. But since that is a haunting ideal, I'm not staying in my imaginary place for long.

Elisabeth's hearing: Elisabeth's green-pellet-in-the-ear adventure is behind us, and she got a perfect report from the ENT last week. I stopped by a hearing evaluation center the doctor recommended and was so grateful when they said they could see her right then. The verdict? Her hearing is just fine! Thanks be to God!

So now I'm pursuing speech therapy methods I can try at home with her. If you have any suggestions, I'm all ears. :)

Family Time: We've got one last chapter in the Penrod and Sam book. It's such fun having Daddy do this read aloud, and it's a favorite of the children.

We're considering our first family vacation ever to somewhere other than the east coast. The Littles are especially excited, and I love that they'd all rather be able to stay longer somewhere than have a lot of fancy things available to do. I'm thankful for children who love the outdoors, have great imaginations, and delight in books. This makes it much easier when planning a trip. :)

Baby Boy: How gracious God is to bring me thus far in this pregnancy. I'm 22 weeks and 2 days, and my visit yesterday with my OB went very well. My blood pressure and weight are great, and I'm thankful for a normal, uneventful visit.

I'm grateful to be feeling well enough to work out consistently, which is especially important when you already have enough fat for baby to thrive on. Plus, the terror of hearing them say in the operating room, "This lady requires two operating tables!" is quite the motivator. Ha!

My Crohn's is quite subdued most days, and that is a great mercy! In all my years of having this disease, even though I was so sick when pregnant with Ella and didn't know if I'd ever be able to walk normally again, I have never known the affliction of being hospitalized for extended periods of time or losing massive amounts of weight. It is only because of the grace of God, and I've grown more and more aware of how much He's spared me.

Do we have a name? We think so. Are we sharing it? Not yet.

Making it Home: We're eager to have a new roof overhead, but we're still waiting on our monstrous mortgage company to release the money that belongs to us since we've paid those insurance premiums all these years the money we had to send them from our insurance company. They're tyrants I say, and if I didn't believe in God's perfect timing, I think I'd fly to Minnesota and picket their office or something like that. ('Cause that's such a productive use of my time...)

That said, I'm grateful we haven't had major rainstorms, considering we have several exposed areas on our roof. Every time those dark clouds gather but the rain doesn't fall, I praise God for His mercy. (And honestly, I'd praise God for His mercy, though it would be harder, even if He saw fit to have our roof leak. Is it not true that everything God does for us is best and is a mercy?)

The guys painted our master bath, and it's beautiful! I'll post pictures after I finish adding the lovely details.

Prayer Requests: Most importantly, my Mom is having a heart catheterization done tomorrow at 10:00 eastern time. Test results have shown that her heart is very weak, so the doctor is considering a stent or a pacemaker, depending on what he finds during the surgery. Her results explain why she's been feeling so miserable these past months and has been struggling to breathe.

Her visit with a neurologist revealed that she's also been having mini-strokes, with a more significant one having happened in January. This explains her constant falling and the change in her walk.

Heavy and serious stuff, and the hearing those reports put me in a state of panic and worry.  My heart is especially heavy knowing that everything she does is such an effort for her. But I remembered Who I belong to, and Who exactly orders every moment of our days. "...Thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance." Psalm 32:7

Your prayers for my Mom are greatly appreciated! Thank you in advance for interceding on her behalf.

I'll be away from the blog for the next few days, but I hope to have Ink post an update about my Mom.

With love,
Trisha

Notes From Home

~Every time I sit down to write a post, I can't seem to put the words together. I know what I want to say, but I'm a bit at a loss for how to say it. And most of all, I'm not even sure I need to be saying any of it. Maybe every blogger has those times when you think you should pack up your stuff and go. You've said enough.

But this is my family blog, too. It's where I capture those memories that I love looking back on later. That seems to be the hardest thing to walk away from. I'm not sure I'd have the discipline to scrapbook my life like I do on my blog.

Time isn't an issue. My priorities are in order. My Beloved isn't telling me to quit. My Ink Slinger would tell me not to quit. So, I'll keep thinking on this one. If you have insight, I'd love to hear it. :)

~I can't wait to share with you about God's provision for me during my jury duty. It's not that I didn't want to serve, but being pregnant and having my Crohn's active presented quite a challenge. I'm so thankful for a merciful God who never forgets us even when we forget He hasn't forgotten us.

~Cap'n had his first haircut today. After battling a metal chair and losing (see bruise on forehead), he wasn't pleased to be told he was losing hair, too. He's such a serious little guy, and now he looks like a serious little man.

~I've made some yummy recipes lately and hope to post those, too: Homemade applesauce, a brown sugar chicken rub, five cheese toast, raspberry chipotle sauce cream cheese dip, cakey brownies, and and honey-garlic pork chops. Emma has been in the kitchen, too, and made some delicious homemade tomato soup yesterday. Mountain Man, who has been home sick all week, found it most comforting.

~Cap'n has his moments when he prefers Jake (Little Big Man) over me. Can you believe it? Ink, with great wisdom, tells me "it's time to start letting go." HA!

~I've used a baby doppler since I was pregnant with Miss Ella. They're worth every penny of the rental fee, and I'm in awe every time I hear that precious, precious heartbeat! Tomorrow I see my perinatologist for the first time during this pregnancy. I'll spend an hour hearing about the many risks of being pregnant at my age, and then I'll get to see this wee one on the big screen. :) Hopefully, I'll have an amazing picture to share with you.

~I've just finished George Grant's The Micah Mandate, and I loved it! I'm reading John Flavel's The Mystery of Providence with tissues in hand , and the margins are already full of "Amen" and "Yes!".

~I'm tackling Jonathan Edwards Charity and Its Fruits with the sad realization that I think I know almost nothing about Christian love.

~And it's official. I'm old. How do I know this? I don't like some of the music my oldest sons like. I never thought I'd see the day. :)

Much love,
Trisha

Notes from Home

***Update: I corrected my wording about Introverts in the Church from "far outweigh" to "do not outweigh." That was a confusing blooper! AND, it's snowing! :)


We're cozied up inside hoping for the forecasted snowstorm to arrive today. I'm reminded that we often want Jesus to be like our snow storms, enough to make us feel warm inside, but not so much that we're troubled or inconvenienced or have to change anything.

Other notes from home:

Traditions: Advent crept up on me this year, and I didn't have my traditional calendar made for our children. I was stressed a bit, but then decided to just let it go, knowing the past several months have been harder than usual. What sweet confirmation it was to hear our Pastor's good words this past Sunday as he reminded us that Advent is often celebrated according to the life season we're in. For some of us, it will mean just getting through the day and doing our routine. For others it will mean regular traditions or perhaps modified ones.

Without a schedule, I'm trying each day to add in something special. If it doesn't happen that's ok. (I am doing a different version of Ali Edwards December Dailies. I'm simply using what I have around here, and my pictures include Advent and will go into January, too.)

We've managed to: enjoy doughnuts from Krispy Kreme, watch a Muppet Christmas Carol, make tortilla snowflakes and paper snowflakes, and savor cider made in the coffee pot!

Bible Reading and Memorization: Everyone is reading the book of Philippians this month. All four chapters. Every day. MacArthur mentions this as one way of becoming very familiar with a book in the Bible, and since our children are memorizing Philippians, it seemed a good way to end the year.

Music: We're listening to lots of Christmas music and singing it, too. Each year, it's been a tradition to buy at least one new cd, but I've decided we'll be very satisfied with all the music we already have. The older children and my Beloved will be enjoying a performance of Handel's Messiah next weekend.

Family: Grandma left yesterday after being with us for a month. She gave lots of hugs and read lots of stories and helped Emma finish another cross stitch project.  In just a few weeks, my Mom (MeMaw) will be with us to celebrate Christmas and the New Year.

Decorations: The tree will be real this year. Costo had just lovely, affordable ones last year, that we've decided to try it again. There will be lights outside, too, and maybe on the mantle this year if I can make it work. And do you know what a difference it makes to simply freshen up the paint on all of your inside doors? :)

Food: This week I made several new recipes,  macaroni and cheese in the crockpot, apple cider in the coffee maker, and chicken salad. I'll share them in another post.

Heart Tending: Our Pastor's sermon on Sunday reminded us to beware of abiding sins in our lives. I'd almost call those "respectable sins," like Jerry Bridges. They're the ones that we simply get too comfortable living with. It's our prayer that God would do major heart surgery and bring repentance and victory.

Movies: We finally watched Elf last week. I know it's a favorite for many, but I wouldn't show it to the Littles. Our favorite movie this time of year is still George C. Scott's version of A Christmas Carol (and yes, that can be scary for some Littles..).

Books:  I just finished a wonderful biography of Elizabeth Prentiss. I'm savoring Gilead by Marilynne Robinson, and I'm trudging my way through Introverts in the Church. It's the first book this year that I'm having to make myself finish. Any good points, and it does have some, do not outweigh the mishmash of postmodern thought and mystical leanings. Sadly, it's recommended by influential women bloggers, as well as Trevin Wax at The Discerning Reader. I'm wondering if we read the same book.  Tonight we start reading The Lamb of God by Russ Ramsey for Advent.

Thanks-giving: I'm thankful for toilets that work just fine and heat to keep us warm. I'm thankful Grandma had a safe flight home and that we were able to enjoy her company for a month. I'm thankful that everyone is healthy right now....no coughs or colds or flu. I'm thankful for warehouse clubs that sell cheese in 5 lb. packages and cinnamon sticks in bulk.

I'm thankful for a Pastor who knows his flock and cares for us. I'm thankful he speaks to the needs of our church body and prays for us.

I'm thankful that God doesn't give up on us when we battle the same sins over and over. I'm glad He gives us the grace to do hard things and love others when we think it's impossible.

I'll post pictures tomorrow. It's a good thing I write to remember, for I'm sure I've lost most of you by now. :)

Much love,
Trisha