the fun in life: sauce for a dull day

Posted on May 18, 2015 by Shanda

A sense of humor is more valuable for a busy woman than all the latest inventions for making housekeeping easy. The patent dish-washer, the self-feeding and self-shaking range, the washing-machine, the bread-mixer and the egg beater all put together will not help “mother” through Saturday morning so well as the ability to laugh long and heartily.

Unfortunately, there is no school where this accomplishment can be learned. The giggling girl is not so sure to grow up a laughing woman. She may regard herself and her own affairs with a portentous seriousness. Egotism is fatal to a true sense of humor. So is a lack of imagination. So is that morbid conscientiousness which is our least desirable inheritance from Puritanism.

That family is fortunate indeed where the mother is first to see a joke and to lead the mirth. In too many homes her sole share in merriment is her dismal “I’m sure I don’t see what you’re laughing about!” The mother, an invalid for years, who could answer an inquiry about her health with a quizzical smile and a quick “Sick abed, and worse up!” was not a burden but a joy to the children who found her room “the jolliest place in the house.”

A nonsense rhyme, a droll conundrum, a lively repartee, a story of misadventure may all serve as sauce for a dull day. The appetite for fun may be coaxed to grow by what it feeds on, until the mature woman, laden with responsibilities, can smile at her own small trials and help others to follow her example. She will learn first not to cry over spilt milk, and later will master an even more useful accomplishment, and will laugh over it.

Youths Companion, 1903

We laugh a lot at our house. I mean, honestly, there are gloomy times as well like just yesterday when they (not I) decided upon the idea of going to Subway for lunch after church…ordering subs for 11 people and overtaxing the employees can put a damper on any joyous attitude.

However, in general, we are constantly laughing over things…like, for instance, the funny things that the little ones say. Yesterday Sarah was riding in the backseat with her brothers. They were playing with toy animals when we overheard her little voice saying pleadingly, “Will you please give my ear a little nibble?”

We read humorous stories from the latest Reader’s Digest out loud on the way to church.

We love watching funny movies.

Sparing back and forth with my husband…we get ourselves laughing and happy to be together. Like last week when I had to use the bathroom twice in the first half hour of church…as I pressed myself past him during a song he said sarcastically, “What did you do, drink a gallon of water before church today?”

I make up funny songs and sing them to the kids…like this morning when Sarah was trying so hard to look sad because she hasn’t seen a baby calf and I sang, “Sarah looks sad but her Mother think she’s funny!”

After the initial shock, we even laughed about the applesauce.

“Sauce for a Dull Day”

The other day, Seth wanted some applesauce so he brought me a new plastic tub of it from the pantry. I was busy making dinner with several children around me underfoot. “Seth, we already have one open, go put that back.” I told him rather impatiently, only to hear a loud crash when he went to do it.

“What was that?” I cried as I left my dinner preparations to walk to the pantry. I met Seth on his way out with a very messy jar of opened sauce. “What did you do?”

“I threw it in the air and didn’t catch it,” he explained with no remorse.

There was applesauce across the floor, into the cat food dish, and on the front of the freezer. A couple of days later I happened to look up and there was some dried to the ceiling, too.

Emily helped me make him clean it up, I was silently seething, but by the time we got done with the mess I had found my sense of humor again.

“Now, what was I doing before my son decided to throw applesauce into the air?” I asked, as Emily pretended to throw her own imaginary jar of it, sky high. We laughed together at our crazy little boy who is so impulsive. Later on when Rich was home, I took Seth to him and said, “Seth, tell Dad what you learned today. About applesauce.”

“I learned not to throw applesauce too high or it will ‘splode.”

(six words too long of an answer)

I believe in happy people, happy Christians…joyful hearts…giggling in church…life is hard and dreadful at times, so we need to laugh as much as we can…it’s the best medicine in life!

*******

I put the morning’s egg collection in Sarah’s bike while she played and I gathered rocks to surround a flower bed down by the woods near the long pond. (thinking of Aunt Carol as I did so).

This is what the baby toads look like now. Growing so fast, they spend their days swimming.

Violets as delicate as purple tissue paper.

Strawberry blossom.

More violets…our property is overrun by them, to my delight.

We decided to go for a little walk with Dave, who was home from school with a stomach ache. While Sarah hesitated on the other side of our makeshift bridge, David dissevered a baby lizard in the water (unphotographable) and……………

a small snapping turtle!

He picked it up carefully by the tail. It’s little arms and legs spun around and around in fierce anger. His neck stretched out so that he could face his foe:

Oh he wanted a piece of Dave so bad. David left for home with his prize while Sarah and I continued on our walk.

I wanted to see the violet patch in the field by the edge of the forest. There were thousands of them blooming all at once.

There were also a great number of bright dandelions, fully opened with nice thick stems. I taught Sarah how to make a dandelion chain with them and she had no trouble making me a wreath for my hair, as I made one for her, too.

You can see that she was smelling them..her little nose is yellow. I tucked an apple blossom into her wreath, and some violets, too. She looked so pretty.

When we got back home, Sarah wanted to see Dave’s turtle so bad. Dave had put it in a bucket by the pond so we ran down to look inside. It was gone, completely gone, David’s head turned this way and that in disbelief. When we told Jacob later on he spoke with experience, “Oh snapping turtles always escape from buckets, every turtle I ever put in a bucket got out. You can’t keep them unless you put a lid over it.” And we wondered. How can a turtle climb out of a bucket?? And now that snapper is no doubt in the pond waiting to bite off the toes of my children this summer as they swim.

There was a box on the porch from a friend…with beautiful fiesta dinner plates contained inside! And an encouraging note and card: thank you Jami, from the bottom of my heart. God bless you.

ex library books…beautiful books…library bindings, hard covers, oldish copies of good, wholesome, living stories for my own collection of the best books for my children and someday grandchildren. all for a song at the thrift store. TWO DOLLARS!

Nana Upstairs and Nana Downstairs, by Tomie DePaola

Such a heart warming, sentimental story that David was very touched by that day he was on the couch with the stomach ache and I made him read all the books.

A wonderful story: Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by Steig

and a funny one : ANIMALS SHOULD DEFINITELY NOT WEAR CLOTHING

“because it might make life hard for a hen”

Happy Monday, my friends! Hope you have a great day with lots of belly laughs.

We love to laugh
Loud and long and clear
We love to laugh
So everybody can hear

The more you laugh
The more you fill with glee
And the more the glee
The more we’re a merrier we.

(Mary Poppins song lyric)

my favorite amphibian

Posted on May 6, 2015 by Shanda

The moon was quite distracting two nights ago.

Spring in general is quite distracting and I mean that in the very best of ways….after a quiet winter all nature is alive with growing things, singing birds, visiting ducks, opening buds, blooming flowers,,,,,,,and procreating toads.

I have an affection for toads. Thanks to the fabulous Handbook of Nature Study, I have learned some charming basics of their simple yet fascinating ways.

“Whoever has not had a pet toad has missed a most entertaining experience. Toad actions are surprisingly interesting; one of my safeguards against the blues is the memory of the thoughtful way one of my pet toads rubbed and patted its stomach with its little hands after it had swallowed a June bug.” page 170

Every time I read the above quote I am filled with longing for a pet toad of my own. I need an aquarium and a toad. This would currently be the ideal time for finding a toad, I could take a pick from a very many many many of them right out of my own pond. But soon they will be done with laying eggs and hop away again and we will only come across them randomly in the woods as we walk along.

Toads lay their eggs in very long strings of black dots. Soon a jelly will form around the eggs and the tadpoles will develop, tiny at first and then growing little by little until soon a miniature toad will be perfectly formed about the size of a pencil eraser. When that happens, they will hop out of the pond to make their way in the world. It’s so fun to watch year and after year.

Male toads are smaller than the females, which are plump with eggs. All the single males sit on the side of the pond and sing a magnetic song….with the purpose of calling to himself a lovely female.

I sat and watched this one for quite a while, it never moved, and never attracted a female. I hope it had success after I left.

The males are so ready for action that when the kids catch one it immediately hugs their hand or wrist, and needs to be pried gently off. Interestingly, if a male tries to “hug” another male, he knows something is wrong right away and lets go almost as soon as it grips. “begs pardon”

Our dog Parker came to investigate along with us and caught a couple of toads in his mouth. While Sarah and I were yelling at him, he rushed away up the bank with his prize. But very soon he dropped them and started gagging repeatedly and foaming at the mouth. I was telling my friend about this and she said that her dog did the same thing. She found out that the toads spit some kind of nasty fluid which make the dogs drop them….a lovely defense mechanism.

I learned more this morning: “The warts upon the back are glands, which secrete a substance disagreeable for the animal seeking toad dinners. This is especially true of the glands in the elongated swellings above and just back of the ear, which are called the parotid glands; these give forth a milky, poisonous substance when the toad is seized by an enemy, although the snakes do not seem to mid it.” page 173

Other toad facts:

It eats insects and worms.
It doesn’t drink water, it absorbs it through its skin.
It burrows into the ground, typically staying there during the day and coming out at night to eat…also, it burrows deeply into the earth to sleep all winter….awaking in the warmth of spring.
It breathes air by swallowing it into the lungs.
It sheds its skin as it grows, and eats it.
It likes having its back scratched gently.
Its chief enemy is the snake.

(all facts from The Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Botsword Comstock—a highly recommended book for all nature lovers)

Dandelions and Violets

Please pet me, little girl. ~Billy Cat

I like to sleep in the garden amongst the tulips. ~Snickers

This little boy SETH is recovering from ear infections, bronchitis and a cracked nose (trampoline collision with Caleb)…but nothing slows him down…usually has a glove and baseball at all times and dirt on the knees and under the fingernails. Very rare boy, one of a kind really, and belongs to a proud mama and papa.

handmade (day 4)

Posted on March 12, 2015 by Shanda

With fingers shaking with exhaustion, I bring to you day four of our admiration for all things handmade. Yes, I am tired, but it is only the common tiredness of motherhood, so I am thankful. For instance, it’s taking a long time for Seth’s amazon.com order to come. He asks so much for his little dog Duke which he ordered days ago. Seems like forever. And another boy is having a little trouble, and another one (a girl) doesn’t get home until way after dinner is over, and a couple others stay up too late playing video games, and another one forgot to do his homework, and another one was so grumpy…..and several are still coughing. But, it’s not a big deal, the sun is shining and soon the snow will be gone along with all the problems. LOL

I read Seth and Sarah Curious George and the Pizza this midmorning which gave Seth a powerful hunger for pizza of our own. Did you know that when a child is recovering from being sick you’re supposed to do whatever they ask? Me neither, but in this case it seemed good and proper so we got in the kitchen, argued about who was going to stand where, and made HANDMADE pizza and they were so cute that I had to document the process with the camera.

Seth was telling her that his was going to be better but she didn’t care.

She was busy spreading around sauce and she was entirely capable…. sauce sauce sauce, rub, pour, slap, sauce.

And then when it came to the cheese…..she put a tiny bit right in the middle. Very amusing.

What she really wanted to do was eat all the dough raw but we talked her out of it.

Seth’s was stuffed crust.

We each made our own pizza and we all exchanged slices with each other.

Seth, can I have a piece of yours? Sure!
Do you want a piece of mine? Uh…. Okay!
Try mine!

She had to blow on her pizza a little bit and we made up a song about it.

I was pretty proud of mine, too! We were all proud of our pizza.

Talking to her brother….

quick and easy pizza dough recipe here. (SO SO GOOD!!!)

************************

MORE HANDMADE:::

On Saturday, my Mom and Dad gave me a handmade wooden box , and they also gave me this handmade trinket hook board.

I hung it up today, it was obviously made for the wall above my sewing table. It should have only taken two holes in the wall, but of course it took me four since it was a struggle for me to get it straight…….(don’t tell Rich)…..

They decorated it with buttons from my childhood clothes. I loved these heart buttons then, and I still love them now. (first day of Kindergarten dress)

They used other little odds and ends, too. I hung some of my necklaces from the hook on the left.

And a beaded necklace, with a paper heart made by Dawn, was hung on the hook on the right.

The two metal pieces are an “S” for my initial, and a “38” for my age. Everything was meaningful……

Even the board was from my Grandfather’s chopper (farming machinery).

zzzzzzzzzzzzz

I’ll be back tomorrow with no words, for a “this moment” friday post.

{this moment}

Image

{this moment} ~ A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

snowy birthday for seth

Posted on February 2, 2015 by Shanda

Seth turns six years old today and received his first wristwatch. It’s adorable when he calls out the time. He also received a lego set from Uncle Dave and Aunt Maria, a remote control car which every child in the family loves to play with, and a wallet with twenty dollars to put inside of it.

He has requested a turtle cake. I mixed up the batter and baked a round cake, and a dozen cupcakes. Later on, after they cool, we will put the cakes together as a turtle and frost them green and brown. Seth scraped the batter from the bowl and had to have his face washed.

Our fifth son Seth is a loving, energetic, impulsive, happy, bright little boy just like his brothers were before him. He teases and laughs, jokes, and dances. He burps and toots. He is healthy and strong. He has a thin, wiry body and his Dad calls him his little Scrapper. Rich says the part of Seth he loves the most is his fearlessness. My favorite thing about him is that he endearingly calls me “Moo-Moo” and still loves to be by my side constantly, talking to me, hugging me, kissing, and snuggling. He still says, “I want you, Moo-Moo! Can you come sit on the couch with me?”

He is in Kindergarten and learning so many things.

He wrestles and has a lot of talent and heart.

I put a little extra time into his birthday portraits this morning because we are having a snowstorm and school was cancelled. I wet his hair down, washed blue candy stains off his lips and put some clean clothes on him. I bought two photography apps for my laptop to edit the portraits with and enjoyed looking into his handsome eyes as I played with the editing tools.

Outside the window there are snowflakes blowing around from the sky and off the roof of the house, snow on the ground is slowly getting deeper, and hungry little chickadees line up to select sunflower seeds at the feeder. The nine of us, and our six pets, are all snug and warm in the house. Jacob is putting dinner into the crockpot for later and Grace is reading a book, The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier. It is actually Jacob’s reading book for school. It looks as if she’ll have it completely read before he does, which he finds somewhat annoying.

David and Caleb are playing together in their room and Ethan is drawing. Rich is working from home and the two little ones (birthday boy and his sister) are taking naps. We were up late last night *having a super bowl party* so they are tired and need a snowy day sleep in the afternoon.

*****

Happy Birthday, Seth!

funny morning

Posted on January 28, 2015 by Shanda

“Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life.” Psalm 23:6
(yesterday, early morning) The snow was falling and blowing all over the place….the flakes were small and icy cold.

(yesterday, around noon). The snow was till coming down and the road wasn’t plowed.

When the snow let up in the afternoon, Rich went out to plow the driveways with his tractor. Ethan, Seth, David, and Caleb got dressed to play on the mountains of snow their Dad made.

Torturing his brother.

They came inside with blotchy skin, it was so cold that it took a little while, and some hot chocolate, to defrost.

We began to see a little traffic on the roads again.

Sarah began throwing up.

Grace and Jacob, who was recovering from being sick, played a card game. David searched the cupboards for something to eat, Rich was in the other room on a phone call.

The rest of these pictures are from this morning. We rarely get a snowstorm that causes us to have to shovel our porch.

“This is ridiculous!” ~Sherlock the Cat

Shadow of the house where I was standing on the porch, and drifts against the garage.

You would think that with a three car garage I would not have to deal with this.

Sherlock is cute because he likes to all of a sudden dive into the snow and play like a crazy cat. it was too much for Parker the Dog, so he pounced on the cat to play, too.

(Emily are you reading this? I love you!)

a walking path through the snow

I took this picture back in the house, through the glass door. The chickadees line up to get a sunflower seed from the bird feeder.

Seth was the last child to leave for school this morning. He walked carefully to the bus. He normally runs full speed, perhaps he didn’t want to go?

***

This morning was a two hour delay and frankly, we needed it. I woke up to discover that Rich was already gone to work and all seven children were awake. Sarah was sick on the couch, and Ethan was making french toast. As soon as my door opened Seth ran to me and asked if he could have a piece of French toast, too. I stumbled into the kitchen and used the last of Ethan’s eggs to make Seth his requested breakfast.

Grace wandered around asking me for safety pins and I told her where to find them at my sewing table.

Jacob wanted french toast so I gave him directions on how to make the egg dip for the bread. I made myself a cup of coffee and added French Vanilla creamer.

By the time Jacob was done making his breakfast, Seth asked for another piece, so this time I used Jacob’s left over egg.

David made himself scrambled eggs and asked me to put toast in the toaster for him so I did.

Sarah asked me to sit with her. I got my Bible from my room and began reading the portions for the “bible in a year” program, with a reading in Exodus, Matthew, Psalms, and Proverbs. I read it all out loud to her. I read about the Nile being turned into blood and you should have seen Sarah’s face. She gasped and was properly disgusted. She asked several times, “Is this true?” and I was able to say in a motherly sort of tone, “This is the Word of God, and everything in it is true.” We laughed over the names in the genealogies of the Israelites. She said she thought they were weird names and I told her she was smart. (I was impressed that she listened so intently, but when you’re sick you don’t have as much fight in you.)

Grace was trying to wear a pair of pants that fit almost perfectly; the waist was about 2 inches too big. First she pinned them and then she tried a belt. She was getting annoyed with the pants so I had her slip them off in my room and I took them in on my sewing machine.

As I sewed, screaming began in the boys’ room. David found Seth playing the DS and took it away from him and Seth screamed at him and came to tell me about it. My bobbin had just emptied (of course!) so as I talked to him, I got out my manual and refilled the bobbin, letting Seth help me by pressing the pedal. “Slowly, Seth! Slowly!” David came and perched on my bed and I stopped what I was doing to say, “Dave. SETH was not the problem in this situation. YOU were the problem. If you see Seth doing something that you don’t like, you need to come straight to ME and I will help you. You are NOT Seth’s parent, I am his parent. You are only Seth’s brother so he is offended when you boss him around.” I made him give Seth back the DS (which Dave had put in his own dresser, even though it wasn’t even his) and then of course the GAME cartridge was missing, so I had to send Dave back to give Seth the game. *sigh* David was upset and wondering why HE was “always the bad guy.”

I got Grace’s pants taken in and now fit perfectly. She was happy and asked if I would put her hair up in a bun for her.

I left my room and immediately smelled burning eggs. Caleb was trying to make scrambled eggs and he did really well except he didn’t scramble them as they cooked. Instead, he stood there and watched them burn, wondering when to “flip” them. I ran over and flipped the eggs over and sure enough, there was a smoking, burned skin that I promptly tore off the top. I took the egg patty out of the pan and placed it into the bowl containing french toast egg dip remnants. I got Caleb a plate and some cheese, hoping with the cheese to make the eggs more palatable. He didn’t complain or say anything. He just ate them. I’m sure they had a taste of ash and cinnamon to them, but like I said, he had no comments.

Sarah was thirsty and requested a gatorade. I went in the pantry but did not find any so I got her a juice pouch. She wanted it in her teacup so she put the straw in and squirted juice into the cup, and some onto the coffee table, too. I got the wood cleaner and paper towels to clean it up.

I sat Grace down and put her hair in a pony tail, then braided it and sent her upstairs to pin it into a bun herself. I noticed later that it didn’t happen. She smiled and said that she gave up. She went to school with just a pony tail.

I noticed Jacob and Ethan both quietly reading their Literature books and secretly fumed, wondering why I hadn’t seen them doing their assigned reading YESTERDAY when they had the entire day off. I may have even said something sarcastically but received no reply.

Finally, the High School bus came and took four children away to school. I had another hour to get Caleb and Seth ready by washing faces, making sure their teeth and hair were brushed, and turning on an episode of Arthur. I had nuts and a banana for breakfast and Seth ate a hotdog, a bowl of applesauce, and half a banana so I think it’s safe to say that his appetite is back after having the stomach bug.

I emptied a dishwasher, loaded the other one and pushed “start”. I scrubbed off the island.

Eventually, the other two boys got on their busses and I could breathe a sigh of relief. I love them all to death, I was amused by the chaotic morning, but I admit it was nice to have them leave for school.

{this moment} I’ve never found a child in this place before

Posted on January 23, 2015 by Shanda

I know the photo quality is terrible…this was taken at twilight yesterday…if you read yesterday’s post you know I’m dealing with a house full of sick people this week. Well, Seth is healthy now and not only healthy but twice as active, impulsive, and mischievous as usual. (I’m blaming the meds he’s on for his cold)…anyway, after an afternoon of dealing with his shenanigans, it was finally almost-but-not-soon-enough-for-Seth time to go to wrestling practice. I still had to go to the bathroom, put on my shoes, and grab Rich’s dinner, so I sent hyper Seth out to wait in the car, with the admonition to “not turn it on!!!!”

*I’m impatiently going out the door into the frigid air to go on my THIRD trip of the day to the High School.
*I’m leaving sick children calling out to me for one more act of service before I vanish.
*I’m crying for my mom.
*I’m cursing the stomach bug.
*I’m hating the sport of wrestling.
*I’m limping on my bad knee.
*I’m feeling old ugly and worn down.
*I’m hungry and need a warm meal.

When I see this:

All of a sudden, the Lord restored unto me my sense of humor, I took a crappy picture, drove him to school, and was still laughing about it in my bed last night as I fell asleep. Dear, dear little boy.

But Jesus said, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like these children.”

one step at a time

Posted on January 14, 2015 by Shanda

See how pointed and sharp the corners of this first place wrestling metal are? Hold that thought.

Thank you for the get well wishes for my husband. He still has groin and hernia pain but he is happily limping around and getting better by the moment. He went to school last night to coach, and he went back to work today for a half day. His spirits are such that despite any odd shooting pain he may feel, he is joyful because of the relief in having the hard parts over.

Somewhat ironically, on Saturday and Sunday when their Dad was recovering from his wrestling injury, all five of our sons were participating in wrestling tournaments.

Uncle Jason watched Jacob and Ethan both win their weight classes in the J.V. tournament on Saturday, while Rich and I were waiting to leave the hospital.

On Sunday, I left Rich at home with the girls and drove an hour away to watch David (12), Caleb (9), and Seth (5), each wrestle in their first tournament of the season. Ethan was there as an assistant coach.

The school was loud and hot. I was thankful for my tank top that I wore layered under a sweatshirt. I was thankful for the concession stand so I didn’t have to be concerned about food and drink. I was thankful for the bathrooms everywhere. I was also thankful that Jacob and Michael came later on in the morning, to watch with me. Finally, I was thankful that Sarah Joy was at home with Rich and Grace.

(Jacob, Michael, and Ethan, and Seth)

Seth was adorable. He had been itching to wrestle for over a year. Last year he was a spectator of his older brothers. Now he is finally an athlete on the team and he smiled the entire time. He was a joy to watch, in fact, I got a little sentimental at times watching him.

This is the video of his first match ever. I started taping right at the starting whistle and Seth immediately pounced on his opponent.

Caleb’s group wrestled in the morning, too, and he did well but lost each match.

Here is a video of a portion of one match:

Over several hours, Caleb wrestled three times, and Seth wrestled four times.

I am happy to announce that little Seth ended up winning all of his matches and was given a first place metal.

He said, “I knew I was a good wrestler!” and then later on, “I wish Dad was here!” He was as proud as a peacock and I was, too.

He never got tired. In fact, he never stopped moving.

He was so active that at times I sent him over to hang around with coach, so I didn’t have to defend myself any longer.

(Mike took this picture as Seth was trying to perform moves on me.)

He wrestled everything that day; the wall, the floor, his mom, his teammates, his coach, his brothers…….

…..and then……

Dave and I were talking, sitting cross legged on the floor. Seth was hanging around, swinging his metal (see first photo) when suddenly it accidently bounced sharply off the back of Dave’s unsuspecting head. (Seth felt terrible).

We immediately stood up and when Dave looked at his hand after holding the back of his head, it was covered.in.blood, my friends. Blood dripped down. I rushed for the paper towels…….poor Dave could not see the wound so he was scared, but after cleaning him up and looking at it we knew that he was okay to continue wrestling, it was a only a very small cut.

His coach is from the era of “brothers and boys throwing a punch now and then is healthy and normal” so to encourage and distract Dave I heard him say, “David, when you get home later, when mom’s not looking,” he punched his palm, “punch him in the kisser!”

Coach and I took Seth’s metal away from him.

David was a wreck. He was upset, pale, and had to struggle to hold back tears. My heart sank.

He lost his first match, and in the midst of it, they had to stop and wrap his head all up in gauze to stop the bleeding.

He felt so self conscious and foolish that right after losing, he went in the hall to hide. I went out to find him and encouraged him to use his feelings to be aggressive, rather than give up. I told him I was proud of him. His coach did a great job of motivating him, too, and I went back to the stands to wait for his next match.

He fought hard and to my surprise, won it. Coach didn’t know where I was, so when I went to the team to congratulate Dave, he said, “Did you see David? I couldn’t find you! He did great!” I had watched it all from the stands, sort of hiding, myself.

And, to make a perfect ending to a crazy-day, he also won his third and final match.

The relief was visible on his face, and he went to collect his hard-earned metal.

Well done, my son. You are well on your way to impressive manhood.

The wrestling for our family was done, but we stuck around to watch just a few more teammates.

Mike took the other boys in his car, so Dave and I had the car to ourselves. We stopped at Dunkin’ Donuts on the way, and he read a book while I listened to the radio and drove us back home again. It had been an exciting day. To say the least.

I was rather tired of all the excitement, to tell the truth. How thankful I am for a loving heavenly Father. We can trust Him completely with every moment of our lives, so that even during busy seasons of life, a peace that passes all understanding is there from above to nurture us along. He gets all the glory for everything and always and His loving hand is so blessedly and obviously underneath us all, holding and loving us, even during the most difficult of times.

“This is the blessed life—not anxious to see far down the road nor overly concerned about the next step, not eager to choose the path nor weighted down with the heavy responsibilities of the future, but quietly following the Shepherd, one step at a time.” F.B.Meyer

why seth is home today (the very long version)

Posted on December 18, 2014 by Shanda

All is pearly blue, silver, and sunshine outside. It’s currently 8:17 in the morning, and 32 degrees. Seth and Sarah are watching a Christmas Thomas the Tank Engine show on Netflix while Mama (in her red robe) puts her feet up and tries to get some words out of her head, through her fingers, and onto a blog post…….

Why is Seth home from school, you ask?

Grace has needed to fill her prescription for much-needed new glasses for over a month. I had a doctor’s appointment on Tuesday and thought I would make use of the trip by taking her out of school to go to Lenscrafters. She also asked if she could get her hair trimmed. I was pleased to be able to take care of my beautiful, very busy daughter, but as soon as my doctor’s appointment was over, I had to take a phone call from the elementary school nurse. She told me that Seth wasn’t feeling well; he was complaining of a tummy ache.

I texted Rich; he was busy at work and couldn’t get him. Time with Grace is very rare, so I decided that the glasses were of utmost importance. We went quickly to the mall to chose a pair. I told the man that I would pick them up the next day and we left. As soon as I got the girls back in the vehicle and turned on the car, Rich texted me back and said he could get Seth after all. This was happy news, so back into the mall we went and the girls both had hair cuts. And we had time to pick up the glasses, too.

I need to tell you that I found my jar of Vitamin B12 gummy vitamins in the bathroom later, with the top secure, and with only 2 left in it. I had a panic attack as I googled “Vitamin B12 overdose” into the computer, wondering if Seth had eaten them and was sick from them….there were about 35 missing and to this day NOT ONE CHILD IS ADMITTING to eating them!! (David said he ate one). I eventually discovered that overdose can result in panic attacks and heart palpitations, because the B12 is an “energy” vitamin. Seth was doing the opposite (sleeping in my bed). They are also water-soluble which means the excess gets urinated out rather quickly. But this experience added to the drama-trauma of the evening. I took the boys to wrestling practice and went back home to my sick child.

I let Community Bible Study know that there was a possibility that I wouldn’t make it the next morning to decorate my tables for brunch or facilitate my group. I was disappointed, but by the end of the evening Seth’s fever had broke and he was acting like his normal self. He slept good that night, so I sent him to school with a note and let Paula (from CBS) know I was able to attend after all.

I did all the one million small things to get ready by 8:15 am; loaded my little gifts for the ladies into the car along with a beautiful centerpiece for the tables, cut up a pineapple, packed up the creamers, sugar, tea, coffee carafe, and so one. I took my shower, put on make up, got Sarah dressed, started my car……

AND THE NURSE CALLED ME TO COME GET SETH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

She said he couldn’t go back to school until his fever was gone for 24 hours.

I wasn’t going to study after all, but I couldn’t contact Paula.

Then, I thought, well…maybe my friend Caroline is available today. She usually has to work but after a text and a phone call, I found out that she was indeed home, waiting on a stove delivery. She agreed to take Seth, so I drove to school to get him, and drove to her house to leave him. Paula called me back and I told her I was running late……

I drove 40 minutes to the church, loaded my arms with all my stuff, rushed to the gym to my tables…and found that they were completely done and decorated. “Oh Shanda, I tried to call you back to let you know but you didn’t answer your phone!” My sub core leader got the message that I wasn’t coming and never got the message that I was coming, so she had decorated the tables. I felt like she was my Christmas Elf. Despite the frazzled morning I was glad to be there and the morning was a blessing to my heart and soul.

My bible study friend Lisa is a baker. She gave everyone in our group a delicious quick bread for Thanksgiving and yesterday she handed around small paper boxes decorated with glittery star stickers. She told me, “These are Homemade!” when she handed me my box.

Needless to say, after I was back home again with Seth and Sarah, I opened the little box, and almost cried. The box was filled with the most delightful darling chocolates. There were two generous layers of beautiful HOMEMADE chocolates. I squealed and exclaimed. I thought about the thank you card I would send. I couldn’t imagine the work it took to make them! I ate one; it was raspberry filled! I ate another; it was coconut! I gave one to Grace and Sarah and put the box on the bookshelf, my own personal little guilty-pleasure that I intended to savor and linger over the next few days.

entirely homemade and beautifully detailed

Eventually, David and Caleb were home, too, and it was time for me to make dinner. Rich and the boys were at wrestling practice and I had recently *dropped the ball* with dinners so I wanted to put some thought and care into the food. I roasted a chicken, filling it with three garlic cloves, salt, rosemary, and a teaspoon of balsamic vinegar. I placed a sprig of rosemary on top and basted the chicken carefully every fifteen minutes. For a side dish, I made tomato rice; 2 cups of chopped onion, a chopped yellow pepper sautéed in olive oil. I added a cup of rice, a tin of whole tomatoes, and half a tin of water and let it simmer until the rice was creamy and perfect. With a salad and the pineapple I had cut up that morning, we had a lovely meal.

But Jacob and Ethan didn’t come home. They had Subway and went back to school for the basketball game.

We have a housefly problem in the house. As I made dinner I concentrated on killing flies. My son David advised me to aim cleaning spray on them to render their wings useless; so I did that and then stepped on them. I hate the dirty flies; I am becoming obsessed with them…I imagine maggots….I MUST GET RID OF THE FLIES….I was getting up and down from a stool, bending, spraying, cleaning, killing…..

After serving the little ones their dinner (Seth had five bowls of salad and nothing else, weirdly) I was simply done with it all…done with the day…tired…head was buzzing…I collapsed on the couch with my kindle and let the kids watch a Phineas and Ferb Christmas special. When Rich came home at 7pm, he found a tired mama and five (never ever tired) children. He did enjoy my dinner, which was nice, but still I wondered, was all the fuss worth it?

I went to get a chocolate; I couldn’t find them. I looked all over the place. Nothing. I asked the family. Nothing.

I wanted one of my special, homemade chocolates. I deserved it!!

You’ll never believe.

I found the box.

I found the wrappers.

They were on the floor.

Behind the bookcase.

Every chocolate.

GONE.

I screamed.

I asked the children; their dear little faces looked at me in blank innocence.

When I showed the box to the dog he wouldn’t look at it. He wouldn’t look at me. He went straight to the door to be let out.

“I won’t make eye contact with my mom because I ate all her homemade chocolates.”

I will never get over it.

At six this morning I stumbled out of bed and came out to the living room to ask if the Dog was still alive. I’ve read everywhere that chocolate kills dogs.

He was fine.

But Seth had just thrown up.

And that is why Seth is home today.

{this moment}

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A Friday ritual. A single photo-no words-capturing a moment form the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.