Annual Tradition

Matt and I got out of town on Friday (by ourselves!) for a little overnight trip. This has become somewhat of an annual tradition, as Matt's parents are usually available to watch our kids the weekend after Thanksgiving. I know--brave and loving Grandma and Grandpa--taking on six kids. We usually enjoy the trip as a belated anniversary get-a-way and this year, as our last trip before the baby comes.

We ate a nice dinner Friday night at a little French restaurant in a tiny town that happened to be celebrating its annual "Christmas Kickoff" weekend, so after dinner, we meandered downtown to watch fireworks in the snow. Then we crossed the street to see the movie "Secretariat" in the renovated historic theater. We sat in the balcony and enjoyed the movie immensely, except for the noisy teenagers in the very back row (we should have known better than to sit where we did). After the lady in front of us got annoyed enough to go back and scold them, they did calm down and we were able to watch the dramatic ending of the movie in peace and quiet.
Matt and I also relished our being able to have uninterrupted discussions over the weekend. We were able to talk about some of the deeper subjects for which we never seem to have the time. Matt even indulged me with trips to two thrift stores. He also joined me on a couple of coupon shopping adventures.
When we got home late afternoon yesterday, we found the Christmas tree all decorated and all the kiddos and Grandma and Grandpa safe and sound (although all were a bit tired). Grace and Grandpa cooked and baked up a storm while we were away, so everyone had been well fed. As nice as it is to get away, we always miss our kiddies and our own bed. All felt familiar again when I awakened at 3 a.m. to eat my snack and start another load of laundry.

A picture of the homemade Boston Cream Pie that Grace made while we were away. Boston Cream Pie is a long time favorite of Grandpa's. Grace made it as a belated birthday gift to him. It wasn't popular with everyone, though. Jude took one bite and declared, "Ick!"

Happy Thanksgiving

Last night we had our annual Mayflower Dinner as we cuddled up in blankets in the coldest, darkest part of our house (the basement fruit room) to listen to Daddy read by candlelight from Margaret Pumphrey's book "Stories of the Pilgrims." As an ocean sounds cd played in the background, the kids ate dried beef and learned about the pilgrims--their tenacity, perseverance and deep faith in the One True God. Those people desired better lives, not just for themselves, but for their children and childrens' children. They were willing to sacrifice mightily (even unto death) to achieve that desire, always giving thanks to God for His providence and care, not matter what befell them (good or ill). Amazing. What dynamic and real faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. What a spiritual heritage those first men and women left us.

Today we're headed "over the river and through the woods" (or across town, anyway) to Grandma and Grandpa's for a Thanksgiving Feast. All sixteen cousins will be in attendance and a thirty three pound freshly butchered turkey will be in the oven. Even though this past year has held various trials for many of us, we will all give thanks to the Almighty God for the many blessings He has lavished on each of us as we gather around the bounteous Thanksgiving table.

Snow!

Culinary Pursuits

It's official. I'm on a diabetic diet to keep my gestational diabetes (glucose intolerance) under control. The good news--I'm able to control my blood glucose levels through diet alone. Even though my fasting (morning) blood sugars are a bit high, my doctor says I don't need to go on medication because my sugars are great the rest of the day.

I met with a diabetes counselor last week to get some ideas for bringing my fasting blood sugar down and she suggested that I either take a walk at 3 a.m. or eat a snack at that time. "If I were you," she said, "I'd opt for the snack." No kidding. So I've added an early morning snack to my routine (cheese and a sugar free pudding--yummy!) and it seems to be helping.

The counselor asked me how I was doing emotionally with the change in my diet. I said, "Well, I'm pregnant and sometimes I just get crabby about it." She said, "You're eating to live, not living to eat." That's never been one of my strong suits, but God is teaching me through all of this. We're studying Isaiah as a family this year through Bible Study Fellowship. In one of the lectures, the teaching leader said, "God can use anything to discipline His people." So instead of complaining, I've been trying to learn from the discipline, which is not a bad thing.

Even though I'd rather be cleaning closets and getting Christmas organized and just leave dinner prep to my two oldest girls, I've been forced to make time for meal planning and meal making due to my dietary restrictions. Grace's specialities--Thai noodles, chicken spaghetti and baked macaroni and cheese--just aren't part of my life right now. Neither are her cinnamon rolls :(
So instead, I've gotten creative with the crock pot. My mother-in-law gave me the America's Test Kitchen cookbook "The Best Slow and Easy Recipes" as a gift last year and I've been using it a lot lately. The recipes are quite a bit more work on the front end than the usual run of the mill crock pot recipe, but the end products are very tasty. So far we've sampled chicken Provencal, chicken curry with potatoes and carrots, Thai chicken coconut curry soup, beef goulash and beef stew. Another benefit of branching out of my usual cooking rut: Matt's been delighted. There's nothing he loves more than being greeted by the aromas of exotic spices when he walks in the door at night.

I've also been roasting a lot of vegetables including, cauliflower, butternut squash and brussel sprouts. Grace and Elizabeth have been keeping me supplied with homemade wheat bread, cooked sugar free pudding and sugar free jello salads so that I don't feel completely deprived. I've found that I can even indulge myself with one piece of Hershey's Bliss dark chocolate after lunch without it affecting my blood sugar levels.

I have yet to face the plethora of food offerings during the holiday season, but a healthy baby is a strong motivator. I can hardly wait to meet the little guy. And I guess I can take the advice I gave my firstborn son a few weeks ago, "For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it." Heb. 12:11

Rearranging Nest Feathers

Once I realized that I have approximately five weeks to get through Thanksgiving, Christmas and any pre-baby chores I'd like to accomplish, my nesting instinct kicked into full gear. I've spent the last week cleaning closets, purging, reorganizing, ordering Christmas presents and getting blankies, clothes and burp cloths put away for baby Isaac.

What is it about pregnancy and the NEED to clean closets, anyway? At any rate, I do have some pictures I'd like Matt to upload to the blog and some cute kid stories to report and I'll get to all of that--after I get a few more closets cleaned.

Fall Leaf Fun

A Treat for the Man of the House

Blackberry pies--my great grandmother's recipe--made with a friend's offering of her frozen summer bounty--for Daddy--because he works so hard to provide for his brood.

Happy Birthday Raphaella!

Our not so little goddaughter is growing up!

First Hunt of Fall

Pictures by Grace (her first hunt.)

Reformation Party

This post is a bit late. We had our annual Reformation party last weekend and had a grand time. We're without a good camera at the moment (Grace's camera was stolen last month), so I'm a little behind on getting pictures posted on the blog.

Anyway, this year's Reformation party was our best yet. We had four other families in attendance for a total of ten adults and fifteen kids. We played games which taught the kids about Martin Luther's life, we worshiped and fellowshiped over a meal together.
In order to prepare for the party, we needed to clean our basement. It was a huge job that stretched out for days. We purged, reorganized and finally had enough room to decorate for the party. Grace did a wonderful job of organizing the evening's order of worship, deciding which games to play and accompanying the hymn singing by playing piano for us.
Elizabeth sewed a little Martin Luther doll which we used for a couple of the games. Matt and the kids spray painted the bed sheets that we used to create the stone walls of the Castle Church and the trees of Thuringian Forest.
Paul collected sticks and stones that we used to create a "fire" in which to burn the Papal Bull and he also was my willing helper the whole week prior to the party (as were Grace and Elizabeth).All that to say this: It was really neat to see the way our whole family worked together to pull off a bigger Reformation party than we'd ever hosted before. What one didn't think of, another one did. God used each of our family member's talents to produce an evening that none of us could have pulled off on our own. We prayed as a family that the party would teach those in attendance more about Jesus and about one man named Martin Luther who sacrificed much to spread the message of the Gospel. We prayed our combined efforts would bring glory to God. We all worked really hard, but God Himself saw to it that it was a wonderful evening and for that we are truly thankful.

Pumpkin Patch

We made our annual trek to the pumpkin patch with (almost) all of the cousins a couple of weeks ago. Two cousins were sick and couldn't make it and the newest cousin, at one week old, was just too young to go this year. Grandma didn't make it either, as she and Grandpa were leaving for a vacation to New Zealand the next day. So we were missing some folks, but my brother-in-law was able to get this picture of those who did attend the fifteenth annual Macduff family pumpkin patch adventure.

Instrument of Torture

This is Paul practicing piano.


To him, the piano is a necessary evil. It's a means to an end--the end being that he is allowed to move on to the bagpipe cantor and then eventually to actual bagpipes. Both his piano teacher and his parents believe that playing the piano for a couple of years is the first step in this process. It's a process that requires perseverance, not something that comes naturally to most adults, let alone nine year old boys. Paul is perfectly capable of playing the piano and his theory work comes very easily to him, he just doesn't like it. I've talked to Paul about how "For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it." (Heb. 12:11 ) Just what he wanted to hear, I'm sure.

Sometimes I sit alongside Paul on the piano bench and help him practice (like when his fingers haven't touched the keys all week and his lesson is in two days). Oh the torture! Mommy helping you with the correct fingering and making sure you give each note it's proper timing!

It was during one of these recent Mommy/son piano torture sessions that I couldn't help but reflect on the history of our particular piano. I inherited the piano from my grandmother, who had a natural talent for the piano (she played by ear) and had a lifelong love of anything pertaining to music. Eighty five years ago, Grandma went with her parents to buy the piano my children now play. My great grandmother liked the piano with the lighter colored wood, but my grandmother, at six years of age, liked the tone of the piano that is now in our family's possession.

My Grandma's four children (my mother and uncles) each practiced on the same piano. I've heard stories of Grandma sitting alongside her children on the piano bench as they were made to practice. And all this came back to me so poignantly the other day as I sat alongside Paul. Yes, the old piano continues to fulfill it's legacy as an instrument of torture as it now moves into its third generation of inflicting misery on innocent children.

Adorable

Jude singing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" --- "Tickle tickle star."

Another Lydiaism

. . . and a bonus--a Joelism . . .

Today, per my usual routine, I announced it was quiet time around 1:45 p.m. Lydia and Joel have been bugging me the last few days to have quiet time together. I keep saying, "no." Today Lydia asked, "Mommy, can Joel and I have quiet time together? We want to do Bible study together." That girl, she's a clever one.

Then Joel, not missing a beat, leaned into Lydia, gave her a big hug and said, "I love Lydia, Mommy."

I laughed. Then I caved. I told them they could lay down together with their blankets on my bedroom floor IF they were very quiet--NO WORDS.

This seasoned mom should have known better. Whisper, whisper, whisper. When we got up from quiet time I told them both that they would not be having quiet time together again. Lydia said, "I know Mom, we just wanted to try it one time." Oh, she's good.

Lydiaism

Paul's birthday was a couple of months ago. The morning of his birthday I heard the girls go into the boys' room to give Paul hugs and presents. I heard the rustling of wrapping paper and then I heard Lydia ask, "How do you like the Lutheran Prayer book, Paul?" (Lydia had picked up the booklet of Luther's prayers from the materials table at the back of our church.) Paul, being the kind and caring big brother that he is, replied, "I love it!"

During the past weeks, I have occasionally found a Lutheran Prayer book lying about the house, put it on the bookshelf and haven't thought much more of it. Until this past Sunday. We got home from church and we were busy preparing lunch when I spotted another prayer book on the kitchen table.

I said, "Lydia, you have to stop picking up these Lutheran Prayer books!" Lydia replied, "But, Mom, I like to use them for gifts!" The girl may not have means, but no one can claim she doesn't have ingenuity.