WigLife

What we do

2012-01-08T16:19:00.001-05:00

What are they watching?

Thanks mom, for sending us a good time, this got a lot of replays!

Not to be left out:

Photo Highlights of the last few weeks

2012-01-07T21:15:00.000-05:00

After the holidays, we let loose...

That, in case you can't tell, was our first ever gingerbread house, which I realize now, I forgot to take a before picture of. Oh well, this will have to do.

Skyping with Grandma and Grandpa

Juni in her business attire.

"Hi there! It's my first Christmas, if you can't tell from my jumpsuit."

The Disney game that is entertaining for those not playing as well!

"If you only knew what I was thinking right now!"

Random picture of our backyard's produce. Can you spot the turkey eggs?

We had a lull in egg production for a while, but now that the ladies are done molting and regrowing their feathers for Winter, they're back in business and the new chickens and turkeys are just now up and running. Needless to say, we have a lot of eggs right now.

The New Year's Eve crew, at least the younger generation and Uncle Matt. We had six kids age three and under for our overnight party and a five year old! It was wild.

Whole lotta princess going on.

Three buddies who have celebrated New Years together for twenty years now!

Busy getting our hearts melted

2011-12-18T22:44:00.001-05:00

She's been smiling to herself off and on since she was four weeks old, but now at almost seven weeks, Phoebe can smile back at you, which she is most likely to do if you're Daddy. She also smiles when she's just sneezed or she's proud of herself for something, like holding onto your fingers while you pull her to sit upright.

Ezra* and Juni* have been sick for the past week, Ez is just starting to feel better and now me and Ben are sick too. We missed having Christmas with Ben's family today, it was a bummer. They Skyped with us so we could participate in the sibling white elephant gift exchange with them. Debbi wrapped up a symbolic present from us with a note in it stating what it was that they would get from us next week when we see them all again to do Christmas. We exchanged food items under $10 this time and we ended up "stealing" a giant Spiderman cookie since we had a very excited 5 year old boy sitting at the computer with us.

I've been finishing up some home made Christmas gifts this weekend while Ben is off work and can watch the kiddos while I'm upstairs sewing. Today, we woke up to snow and decided to decorate Christmas cookies:

Later, this evening I was looking up something I knew I blogged about a long time ago and with Ben and Ezra looking over my shoulder, we had so much fun remembering how cute and little the kids were just two years ago. I decided that I don't blog for other people, or rather, I don't need to, it's fun for me and we benefit from having a record of our adventures together. I don't keep a scrapbook and I'm not the best at keeping up with the baby books or journals I've started for the kids. Even though the knowledge that anyone could read what I write inhibits me at times (and should do), knowing someone (yes you, Grandma!) may read it, gives me enough accountability to keep it up. I appreciate the grace to slack when I want or when I've birthed a baby, but it's time to get back on a schedule of some sort for cleaning toilets, making meal plans, doing school and blogging. Well, let's get through the holidays, then we'll get super organized, eh? Here's hoping!

*Formerly known as Z and Juju. I like to keep my kids safe, but I also really like their real names, that's why I picked them. Besides, their real names are all over FaceBook, so what's the point of trying to feign safety?

Just for Granparents

2011-12-03T17:02:00.000-05:00

We were having a staring contest and she won...again.

Here she is doing her famous sleep watching. It's a little creepy, but we still love her.

Just found this...

2011-11-06T11:39:00.000-05:00

Not everyone has pictures from an ultrasound from the day they were born! We had an appointment that morning, got this ultrasound and never even got a chance to show the pictures to Daddy before she was born that night! This was my favorite view:

We're doing well, this is the easiest baby to adjust to. She eats and sleeps well. She even sleeps through the our noisy household of little people and two dogs. She's just precious. She has smiled even while awake (perhaps because of gas...), she often smiles in her sleep and today I got to hear her giggle in her sleep twice! I'm in love...

The New Wiglet

2011-11-03T12:58:00.000-04:00

Still at the hospital, but wanted to share some pics with you!

Introducing, Phoebe! She was 7lb 6.5 oz, 21" long. I had four hours of labor, two big pushes and she was out! Ben's mom was my mid-wife again, helping me secure a room with a birthing tub, a good nurse, and countless other perks I don't even realize. Also present was Ben's Grandma Harris, Sister Bekah and Aunt Val. It was a quick one, so Ben's two other sisters who live farther away couldn't make it. I like to make it a party when I push babies out. :-) Ben was also there holding my head up out of the water the whole time I was in the tub and held my hand while I pushed on the table.

Phoebe meet Daddy, Daddy...Phoebe. They were both smitten, even while she was covered with yuck and still had a cone head!

The next day, she got to meet her big brother and sister, who loved her crazy toes.

The kids had wanted to name her Chrysanthemum or Petunia...they took the name news like champs.

Our new WigFamily

We'll have to impress her later, she's been sleeping an awful lot these past two days!

Speaking of which...Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.........

Anticipation

2011-10-13T19:27:00.001-04:00

Still here, still pregnant. My mom arrived Monday and it's all feeling rather real now, like we're really having a baby soon.

Favorite new thing

2011-10-01T07:51:00.000-04:00

We've been getting so many beautiful heirloom tomatoes this year, I had to learn how to save seeds. After watching a couple of YouTube videos on different methods, I opted for the simple route of using paper towels instead of letting the seeds ferment for weeks in jars.

After removing the seeds we threw the meat in our pot of salsa that we canned. I spread the seeds out on dry papertowels sitting on plates. Let them sit there and dry for one week.

Once super duper dry, I folded the papertowels into fourths, put them in zip-lock baggies (making sure to get all the air out) and threw them in the bottom of my fridge. We've saved cucumber, red raspberry, sweet pepper and ground cherry seeds as well. So, our cheese drawer in the fridge is pretty full of seeds right now. I still want to save some pumpkin seeds from a special pumpkin we just got in our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) basket that is supposed to be awesome for pies.

The beautiful thing is that all we'll do next year when we do our starters is pinch off a piece of the paper towel with a seed on it and the towel draws moisture to the seed in the cup. We save any styrofoam cups we come across all year long just for starting plants in the Spring. With a hole in the bottom they make great plant starter containers.

September Birthdays!

2011-10-01T07:29:00.000-04:00

This week we had two birthdays that are close to my heart...Ben and Juju! We had a party Saturday night in Mansfield with Ben's family at a Greek Restaurant.

We had another party the next night with Grandma and Grandpa Claypoole (Ben's mom and step-dad) - she brought all the food (and I let her!)

And went out to eat Monday night with Ben's Dad! Yup! I got out of making dinner THREE nights in a row! It was a full weekend of festivities for sure. It was so nice to see so much family. Happy Birthday guys! It was fun!

Finally got Started!

2011-09-15T15:38:00.004-04:00

I share for those who are curious what one homeschool family does.

My Story
I was excited to get started homeschooling. So very much so that I tried to start a year ago, when Z was four and totally not ready to sit for long. When "school time" failed miserably last year, I was nervous to try again. I was sneaky all Summer (as I wanted to get started with the baby coming this Fall), and sneaked school in on him without ever calling it that. For the record, I am a huge fan of Charlotte Mason, who believes that children should have no structured school time until the age of six. That's one point that I take comfort in, yet slightly disagree with. I think the earlier kids read the better, so if I can help that along when they're three or four, I will! Make them hate school, I will not. I am prepared to fight the battle of "We are doing school now, like it or not" after age six, but not now.

So, after numerous people asked Z this Summer if he was starting school soon, I watched in amazement as he began to beg for school time. Though we did tons of educational stuff over the Summer without his knowing it, we officially began "school" about four weeks ago. I have read books upon books on Charlotte Mason approaches, Suzuki Pre-School, Organized Home-Schooling, etc. and I took notes on the practical suggestions I liked. Finally, I made them into a plan for us. Since, I LOVE to read what other moms do, their schedules, how they fit housework, chores, school and life into a week, I thought I'd share our rough, informal schedule that we've just begun. My final disclaimer is that I cast no judgement on anyone who does not homeschool, we may not always do this ourselves! We will take it year to year, child by child. I was very nervous to start, and now that we have, I can see how low the stakes are for preschool/kindergarten. In Ohio, I don't even have to report our homeschooling to the state yet as he's not six yet. Pretty much anything I do educationally with him is great, as long as it doesn't give him a bad taste in his mouth for learning.

What We Do
I pick three days of the week between Tuesday and Saturday (Daddy's work days) to do school and allow myself the other two days to shop, work on my giant nesting to-do list or make plans with others. Those three chosen days are completely dedicated to school, even though it only takes a couple of hours. It's my black and white way of making sure school happens.

We have been rotating through four sets of school work, so with a three day week, one week never looks the same as another.

School Days
6:30am I wake up, get ready and make last minute preparations for school time
7:30am Wake Kids Up, they eat and dress
8:30am-9am Start school. Review day of week and what we'll do that day.
10am snack time whether we're done with school or not
10-11am finish school
11-11:30 Z helps Juju on "Starfall.com" while I make lunch
11:30 Lunch
Noon - Clean up house together, do dishes, etc./free time to play Legos until quiet time
1pm - Quiet time
2:30 - Get them up if they fell asleep - I only make them stay in their room reading for an hour if they can't sleep - Half hour TV show to wake up if they slept, no TV if they never slept
3pm - Start Supper - kids have free time or can help me in the kitchen
4pm - Straighten up last time before Daddy gets home, send kids outside if weather permits
4:45 - Daddy gets home and mows or splits wood for a half hour lately - kids help
5:30 - Supper Time
6pm - Clean up Kitchen
6:30pm - Ben has been playing with the kids outside so I can work on my "nesting list" right now I'm making dog coats for the Winter
8pm - Library Movie/Snack Time
8:30pm - Get Ready for Bed, Story Time, Pray, Blessing, then kids read in bed
9pm - Lights out! Mommy preps for next day of school, Daddy folds laundry

Ben and I tend to go to bed between 9 and 10pm depending how well we slept the night before. We still do a giant family bedroom, but the kids have their own beds. Below is our classroom. The rug was $10 from Menards, the cube chairs $15 each from WalMart - the kids like to sit in them. I stashed all the puzzles in mine. The chalk board/white board was $7 at a garage sale. The metal shelves holding their cubbies and the paper supplies were $15 at Lowe's. The purple shelves we've had from a garage sale years ago, but I bought way too much plum paint to give them a fun face lift for the classroom. Let me know if you need anything painted "plummy". The big bookcase I paid way too much for ($80) a while back for our living room, but now it holds all the kids' books, which is fun. We have a big green couch facing the bookshelves for cuddling and reading on. We are fortunate to have what we called a "music room" (aka a formal living room) that we could make space for homeschooling in.

OK, so here's the rotation schedules of school: you'll notice there's a pattern of Reading, Writing, Arithmetic and Bible everyday with something fun thrown in. Sometimes a lesson only takes 5 minutes, sometimes it's 30, it just depends on how attentive he is, how cooperative Juju is, and how much I have to do with them.

School Day "A"

Math: How to tell time
Practice identifying letters and numbers with Juju
Reading: Word Quiz (Jelly beans for reading words correctly) or Letter Bag where we go around house filling a bag with things that start with the letter "G"
Writing: Practice writing name on white board
Bible time*
Games - just playing kids board/card games

Writing Activity from a "D" Day

School Day "B"

Bible Time*
Puppet Play - we pull out the couch and take turns telling each other stories with puppets (I always tell the Bible story we read with puppets)
Math - Money
Reading - Poetry Books
Write letters to family - kids get to pick who we send it to. Letters currently look more like artwork, but they see me write a little letter to the person to go with it.

School Day "C"

Science - we're currently learning the 5 senses and had fun doing taste tests and sniff tests, etc.
Reading - Lesson out of "Teach your child to read in 100 Easy Lessons" - I write the letters and words he needs to read on the white board ahead of time so we're not stuck with our noses in a book for this.
Writing - Write letters from 100 Easy Lessons in lasagna dish sprinkled with corn meal, jello or whipped cream
Math - Addition & Subtraction with lighting and blowing out candles. This sounds dangerous, I know, but I only have two kids at this time and I do all the lighting for now. That's why we homeschool, so we can do crazy things like this if we want. I definitely need to think of something else once baby is here.
Bible Time*
Fun Box - I have a box full of activities: crafts, balloons, special sticker books we were given, Wonder Coloring books, felt coloring pages, marshmallows and toothpicks to build, etc. and let the kids pick an activity out of the box (almost all are in a gallon ziplock baggy for easy picking).

Today was a "D" day and Z's improv story was about a "colorful boy" who had no hair and as he ate different colored candies, which he is holding, his hair grew in different colors until he had a whole head full of colorful hair.

School Day "D"

Word Scavenger Hunt OR Improv Storytelling with Pictures (this is where we take turns making up stories and drawing them on the white board or chalk board as we tell them) Yes, Juju participates too!
Writing: Make letters with sticks, rocks, beans, etc.
Math: Count the sticks, rocks, beans, etc. that we made the letters with
Bible Time*
Reading: Kids choice of books, read for a half hour
Art Project - This is different every week and I have to plan and prep ahead for it

This is our art room (aka mudroom), recently renovated thanks to my nesting and a useful husband

*Bible Time is a structured time the kids love because it involves candy.

Scripture Memory Verse (right now we're doing the Lord's Prayer, so we open up with that).
Review the Old Testament Books of the Bible (thanks to this CD from my father-in-law we have a song to sing them to)
Catechism (we use this book. They get 2 jelly beans or m&ms if they answer correctly even if helped by each other, but only one if I have to help them and they repeat after me). We've been doing the same five questions over and over.
Bible story. I read it from this book for two days, then this book for two days, then from my Bible. Then we change stories. I hope to get this one someday for even more variety.

That's Bible Time!

My Weaknesses: Ben helps round me out as I don't tend to get them outside as much as I should. He keeps them moving, wrestles, outside every night, etc. My excuse is being 34 weeks pregnant. We recently added "Stretches" to begin our school days, and we have a dance time nearly every day while we're cleaning, so we do get a little movement in. Later my weaknesses will include, but not be limited to: Science, History, Advanced Math, etc. Thankfully, those are areas my husband enjoys and is good at.

New Variable: Can I keep this up after Baby comes in six weeks? Thankfully, I started secret undercover school at the beginning of Summer and can afford a lovely two-three month break over the holidays after baby arrives. After that, I do feel like, for the most part, we can do school this way. It's getting dinner on the table and keeping the house clean that seems more daunting as I have to be on my feet using my hands, but that's what slings are for, right? My back hurts just thinking about it...so maybe don't come see our house for about a year after baby is born, ok?

Keeping it Fun: Z and I get bored with routine quickly, so that's why the schedule is ever changing and mixing things up, but even the above schedule can get monotonous, so I plan to ditch it every once in a while and do unit studies (like study everything Dinosaurs for one month). For now, I keep notes on what he likes and doesn't as well as big successes or deficiencies in his learning. Week to week I've mixed up and customized the above schedules to meet Z's likes/dislikes and needs based on my observations. Though school time is currently geared for Z, Juju participates in everything we do by her own choice. Once in a while she pulls out a puzzle and skips reading time, but usually she wants to do it too, especially if there's candy involved!

The Socialization Issue: Thankfully, we are finally getting our out of control social lives a little more restrained now. We were going, going, going, doing, doing, doing. It wasn't good for my kids and I admit, it was a form of avoidance of home responsibilities on my part. So, the two things I wanted most to be awesome in, being a wife and mother, were both weak at best the more we did. I felt God's Spirit leading me to "defluff" our busy lives in January this year, and I stepped down from Mommy Group leadership, teaching classes at a large and wonderful homeschool co-op, even attending it as it was a half hour away and generally stopped making constant social plans like weekly playdates, etc. Now, we have a monthly local homeschool co-op that I started with some friends, we had our first field trip last week to Hartzler's Dairy. We still meet with our Guatemalan friends weekly for about 3-4 hours. The kids are picking up Spanish really fast, which is fun for us to hear. They look forward to church every week and monthly family gatherings and go with Daddy to play with the neighbor kids regularly. So, we still do plenty, we're just learning to curb our overly social lives and find some moderation.

In Conclusion:
I confess all Summer I was really nervous to make the big change toward structure and "formal" school time, but we are all enjoying it. It's still very flexible and like I said, the stakes are low in Kindergarten, anything we do together is good, as long as it breeds a love of learning. Next year will not look like this, I'm sure. We may do another year of "Kindergarten" if we need, or start some first grade stuff, we'll see where Z is at. Right now, he is preschool level writing, Kindergarten level reading and math, first grade letter and number identification and sounds. So, he says he's in Kindergarten, but it's not really that simple.

Thanks for reading, now you know what we've been up to. BTW, if you call during school, we won't answer the phone. But we'll call you back after lunch when I'm needing a good excuse not to clean. :-)

The wee turkeys aren't so wee any more

2011-09-09T22:10:00.003-04:00

Just thought I'd share what our flock is looking like these days...

Here we have Tom and Hen Turkey with some Ameraucanas (green egg layers) and a Welsummer on the right (brown egg layer)

Yes, his face turns blue when he's gotten himself worked up. He has done a great job protecting the whole flock, though Buddy doesn't like him much as Tom isn't afraid of him and will charge at him if provoked. They stay in their fenced in area and usually this isn't a problem.

Here's one of our newest feather-footed Brahmas. We have four of them and an all black Jersey Giant. None have started laying yet, but it won't be long!

A few months back we had to slaughter one of our Ameraucana chickens because she wouldn't stay in their fenced in area and was getting into the neighbor's garden. Last week, we had to slaughter a female turkey because she started pecking "Shorty" one of our favorite chickens till her head was bleeding. Here she is in the cage of doom.

She almost looks sorry doesn't she? Ben did all the work, we all watched. Juju was a bit upset afterwards, but only for a minute. I found myself eating tomatoes out of the garden while the execution took place. We're all getting a bit tougher. I threw one of her feet in my last batch of chicken stock I was making, as I heard chicken feet help make wonderful stock. I saved the other one with the frozen turkey meat which we're saving for a holiday this year.

We still have a male and female turkey, and as long as they can behave, we hope they'll stick around to make baby turkeys next year for us. We'll see!

Canning the moment

2011-08-22T16:49:00.000-04:00

Here's our lives at a glance right now at 4pm Monday, August 22, 2011:

Juju is wearing size 9/10 mud boots now
She potty trained herself in three days a couple of weeks ago. I'd asked her every day for months if she'd prefer big girl undies or a diaper. She was finally ready.

Z is size 13, but can wear his first pair of men's size 1 that I never thought he'd grow into...

Both are in bed napping, probably growing their feet more...
Ben is at a church checking to make sure the air conditioners are working, he split wood all morning as today is his day off. Here he is cooking pizzas at the Farmer's Market:

I am listening to "Yesterday" by the Beatles on Pandora while I sit here updating you. I spent all morning making pancakes and canning tomatoes. I am surrounded by little messes that I want very badly to disappear, but they wait for me, sleeping, and probably growing too.
We had a family lunch together before naptime...I asked Juju what she wanted for her birthday, she said "stars". She continued, "I like stars, toys and flowers." I misheard, "You like boys?" I asked. She quickly responded, "I don't like boys, they're wild...I like you." I like you too, Juju.

Baby #3 wiggles more than her siblings ever did, but right now tries to sleep through her hiccups.
Yesterday, Ben canned his third batch of pickles.
Last week, I had the best day ever canning peaches with my little ones. Z loved peeling the skins off. They told me stories for an hour as I cut the peaches open and they removed the pits. I told Ben I wished I could can our day today. He said, "You did."

Here's hard worker #1 canning peaches last week

This is all that remained and I found this awesome peach jelly recipe to make using the pits and peels. Ours turned out great and we didn't even have to water bath them!

Here's hard worker #2 this morning using a big girl knife for the first time!!!

Our dining room table hasn't been this happy since it had authentic Indonesian food served on banana leaves on it!

We have lots of work yet to do, but it's all very rewarding. Time to wake the sleepy hard workers. I need to make dinner too. Stir fry again (so many veggies this time of year!!!)

More Birthdays!!!

2011-08-13T16:06:00.000-04:00

A special Happy Birthday today, to my Dad who is serving our country in Afghanistan for six months. Last weekend he crossed his halfway mark, so he's on the downhill now. We're excited for him to come to Ohio to meet the baby just a few weeks after she is born. Thankfully, we can Skype and it won't be that long before he sees her. I sent him a package and it got to him in less than a week, so he's been waiting for over a week to open it today. I hope the rice krispy treats are still good!! Happy Birthday, Dad!

------------------------------------

Well, it's August, dare I share August birthdays for Ben's family in August!?! I think I dare!! This past week we had yet another very special birthday. Grandpa H. turned the big 8-0! Yay, Grandpa!! This is quite an achievement! Grandpa H. used to work as a mechanic at a Chrysler/Honda service center and also taught auto shop at the local high school until he retired. Now he works part time driving cars for a dealer who buys cars at auction and full time as the family mechanic/handy man.

Here he is doing driving his boat at the cabin in WV with a wee little Z. He and Grandma are the primary caretakers of the cabin. We know he loves to be in WV as much as his father-in-law, who built the cabin, did. Happy birthday, Grandpa!! We love you!!

Finally, Grandma H. (aka Gramma) has a birthday just a week after Grandpa! Grandma also serves a very important bonus role in the family (besides Queen Mum), she was an OB nurse and supervisor until she retired and now fields many of the family's medical questions on a daily basis! Here she is holding a brand new Juju. Happy Birthday, Gramma!

We are so thankful for all the ways Grandpa and Grandma bless our family - I'm especially thankful they adopted me 14 years ago when I married their grandson.

Here's a birthday present for you all that I can't give you any other way, it's a photo and videos of Z's Christmas pageant last year. I never got around to posting them!

I know it cuts off the right side, but Z is on the left anyways. He's below the most left cow. Happy holidays! I mean, Happy Birthday!!

good food, locally

2011-08-08T14:15:00.000-04:00

Our church has grown and is planting a church in Strasburg, which is the town just North of us. The new pastor and his wife, Heather, are just lovely and only moved here last week. I talked to Heather this week about where to get food and told her I'd write up where we've learned to get food after 13 years of living in the area. This is what I wrote for her and I share publicly in hopes that it will benefit someone else locally too.

Last year, we committed to eating locally as much as possible within reason. Along with that went our use of the big chain food stores. We have one local chain grocery store that, when we couldn't get something locally, we could rationalize that at least we were supporting a truly local business. The following is a list for locals of where we get our food in Tuscarawas County. I told Heather that we don't go to Aldi's anymore because we can't get all our groceries there and it's too hard with kids to make multiple stops, but as you will see, it's not about that at all (because we go a lot of different places). The prices may be cheap, but how far did the food travel to get there? Who is my money supporting? What were the animals fed who's meat or dairy products I'm eating? How were the workers treated at the factories that packaged the food? How much packaging am I paying for and having to figure out how to dispose of?

We're not perfect, our eating habits and purchasing habits are a work in progress. I'd love to eat less sugar, but currently we are not on any special diet, we only try to eat locally and naturally. This is where we're at right now:

Eggs: Our chickens in our backyard. Farmer's Market for above and beyond needs.

Our solar-paneled chicken coop and garden

Produce: We try our best to eat what's only in season and therefore can get most of this from one of the three farmer's markets in our area during the Summer months. We have one early Tuesday mornings at Tuscora Park in New Philadelphia, one on Wednesday afternoons at the fairgrounds (there's a cute guy cooking pizzas there most every week too!! He says he's Scottish-Italian, like "Wigtonio" or something) from 3-7pm and one at Dover park on Thursday mornings till about 10am. This year we have three primary ways we're getting produce: our CSA through Shepherd's Market (a vendor on Wednesdays), our community garden through church and our backyard. We're usually pretty set between them all. The Shepherd's Market delivers through the Winter and kept us stocked with purple carrots almost all Winter long. It was wonderful!

Our first CSA basket with lavendar jam

Meat: We bought a half beef from Shepherd's Market last Fall which was so big we'll only need to buy a quarter beef this Fall. We bought 25 chickens from the Geiser farm in Kidron, Ohio. Both farms treat their animals well and do not give them any hormones or steroids. Before last Fall, we bought our meats from Sugar Valley Meats in Sugarcreek. I believe all their meat is steroid and hormone free, but I can't vouch for how happy the chickens were at Gerber's or wherever the beef comes from locally. We still buy pork from them, we just try not to eat much of it since it's not "kosher".

Where we get our seafood. :-)

Milk: The Shepherd's Market people hooked us up with their neighbor who is Amish. After personally inspecting his farm, we bought into his herd (called a herd share) and pay a monthly fee of $24 for boarding of the cows. He sends a gallon of raw milk to the farmer's market every week with the Shepherd's market people. As I mentioned before, the Shepherd's Market still make deliveries to our area through the Winter, they go to the Daily Grind Cafe in New Philadelphia every other Wednesday, so we can get deliveries of milk year round. Before we started this we were paying more for milk per month buying Hartzler's pasteurized, non-homogenized milk from Buehler's.

Bread: About 40% of the time I make my own. My best recipes are this one and this one. In the school year I bake a little more, but this Summer I've been relying heavily on store bought bread. I am a fan of the Brownberry whole grains line. I mainly check for cellulose which we began to avoid after reading this article. I always knew Frosties were too good to be true.

Beans and Rice: These are staples at our house. I buy hard beans from the grocery store and use my pressure cooker to make them. I buy Jasmin or other short grain white or brown rice from the Oriental Food Store in Canton. I buy Basmati and lentils, Indian spices, pureed garlic and ginger from the Indo-Asian Grocer in Canton.

Spices: I love to go to Sugar Valley Bulk Foods in Sugarcreek for these since they're so cheap. I try not to go crazy there because it's mostly mystery food (and spices). I have no idea why the King Arthur flour there is less than half the price of King Arthur flour at the grocery store. It bothers me a bit. Not enough to begin a full fledged investigation, but I wonder still...

Flour, Sugar and other baking stuff: I usually buy flour in bulk from one of the Amish bulk food stores around here. The closest one to me is next door to KFC at the Dover exit by the highway, but they have a better selection at SV Bulk Foods in Sugarcreek. I have been hearing lots from nurse, Joel Lehman at church about different local mills. I think Baltic Mills is one of them. I've checked out Magnolia's Mill myself and they only grind wheat flour these days.

Lunch Meat: This is a luxury for us as we're a bit picky. We only eat turkey and only nitrate free, unprocessed meat. So, we pay $8 a pound at Buehler's or Giant Eagle (yes, we do go there too) or we drive all the way to Walnut Creek Cheese and pay $4.25 a pound. Usually, we don't have lunch meat, we eat leftovers or peanut butter and honey sandwiches. If I do go to WC Cheese, I buy a bunch in half pound bags (nitrate free goes bad quickly) and freeze them.

Cheese and Butter: We like cheese and butter that Minerva Dairy makes and Shepherd's Market sells. I've driven to the dairy myself to save money and found that with the drive, I didn't save any money after all. I buy the roll butter in bulk and just freeze it, same with the cheese. I'll get a 10-12 lb. hunk of cheese, cut it up, freeze it. A fun local place to go is Yaggi's Cheese in Stonecreek, just South of New Phila.

Krantz Berries

Pretty much we go to Buehler's or Giant Eagle for everything else (tea, chips, etc.). I'm being challenged to can more and try my hand at making more. I've started making my own yogurt, croutons, laundry soap, softener, shampoo and I canned peaches for the first time this year. Every year we add something new to our canning repertoire. We will or have already canned sour kraut, pickles (Ben did both of those this year), diced tomatoes, and salsa. We freeze jam, corn and apple sauce every year. We also have started storing potatoes, apples and onions in our garage during the Winter months. I bought 100 pounds of seconds potatoes from Shepherd's Market for $20 last year and they were organic and five different colors. We get apples for sauce and storing from Hillcrest Orchard in Walnut Creek. Oooh, I just noticed on their site, they have peaches too! I just bought my first peck of peaches from the farmer's market, but maybe I'll go there for the next two. One peck didn't can very much (10 pints). We pick strawberries during their season at Krantz Berry Farm in Dover. I got my other berries at the Goodings Market stand on your way to Sugarcreek near the Dover exit. The corn I package for freezing en mass with several family members in Mansfield and Grandma gets good sweet corn from a road side stand for us to do that. Last year I froze 7 dozen, this year I'm upping it to 10.

Making Apple Sauce in the Victorio Strainer

We found Discount Drug Mart met our requirements for local business more than CVS, so we try to mostly go there for drug store stuff. For dining out, that's a real luxury with kids! We have to go all the way to Canton for good Indian food that I don't have to make myself (The Bombay Sitar) or a Chipotle (not a local but happy meat). We have several good Mexican restaurants in our area. El Campesino's in Strasburg is one of the best. I think that about covers it! Sorry if this was boring for any one out of town. This post was written for people new to the area. Happy Eating!!!

June Birthdays...really!

2011-08-05T15:42:00.000-04:00

Yes, it's really August and I'm just getting to June Birthdays! Despite my delinquency, these are very very important people that I love very much. They just have birthdays in the middle of Summer when we're so very busy! In order, we have Jenna, our niece who just turned 9! Wow!! Happy Birthday, Jenna!

The very next day is her Daddy's birthday, my brother-in-law, Andy. He's a construction builder and can make just about anything. He and his wife make such a cute couple, he at 6'7" and she just a few inches over 5'. They definitely make wonderful kids, maybe we're a little biased! Below is a rough picture of their whole family and those three kids are my kids' favorite people in the world. I wished we lived closer, but alas, we're a whole hour and a half away. At least we get to see each other every other month or so.

The day after Uncle Andy's birthday is my little guy's! Z turned 5 this year! We love this age. He is so much fun, and such a sweetie heart.

Yes, the day after Buddy's b-day is his Aunt Biz's b-day! Happy birthday, Biz! This is her holding baby Juju when she was one month old. Biz is currently an apartment manager, but is also a licensed massage therapist. She is getting married to this guy in the Spring. We're so excited for you, Biz!

While I'm at it, here's the rest of the pictures of June this year. Sorry for the lateness, but it's been nothing less than wild here at the WigHouse.

I'll put July's pictures in the sidebar for a while until we get some August pictures taken. Last night I canned peaches and tonight we're canning our second batch of pickles. Turns out Ben makes AWESOME pickles!! He also made sour kraut which is still fermenting. I had fun talking to my Dad today on Skype. He had sent goodies from Afghanistan and we opened the box together. Oh the wonders of technology! Can't wait till he's safe and sound at our house just after the baby's born. That'll be a fun reunion since my mom will be here already. I think they talk almost every day on Skype! She's busy helping her parents find a house to buy in TN near her and her brothers. So funny that for my whole life my parents and two sets of grandparents lived thousands of miles apart (England or MD, TN, IL or IA) and soon all of them will have houses in the same area of TN! It's practically a miracle! Well, it will be when my parents retire and really live there and not in Germany.

Last month, Marcella returned to Indonesia. We miss her terribly, but know she's happy to be home and ready for the next adventure. Kami cinta kau, Cella Bella!

Here we are

2011-07-21T21:41:00.000-04:00

The profile picture of our family on the upper corner of this blog seems awfully overdressed for the weather today. Still, we ate outside, a hot meal, since we didn't get salad greens in our CSA basket yesterday.

I am 26 weeks along now with Baby #3 and can't wait to meet and hold her. We usually like to meet the baby then choose a name, which I think we'll try to still do, but so far we only have one name we like, which we're keeping a secret so we can have something to announce on her big day. Ben says her birth is plenty news, but I think the giving of a name is also worthy of a headline. So, we wait.

July seems to be a month of sickness for us. We have each taken a week (I guess my week was at the end of June) and filled it with hard to diagnose symptoms. Juju just finished with her fever (that Z had last week) yesterday. She still has a cold, but that's practically normal.
----------------
As I was typing this, Ben rushed in with Z saying he just puked everywhere outside. Now that we've got him cleaned up and fed again we've decided, rightly or not, that he drank too much pool water this evening and tossed his cookies after jumping on the trampoline. We're going with this theory as we're done being sick. Not sure how moms with five kids manage sickness after sickness, but I'm not that seasoned of a parent yet and I'm praying we get a break.

I've been busy doing virtual tours for a local realtor. She actually has her house up for sale now too, the one she really lives in. It's beautiful, you wanna see?

Here's a tour I just finished today. The house is only $119,900, it's 4,600 square feet and has really cool features like a third floor. It needs some work (like the kitchen), oh, and A/C, but otherwise, it's got a lot going for it. I just love taking pictures of cool old houses!

I made popcorn balls today with Z and ate at least six of them myself. My mom used to make popcorn balls with me as a kid. I remember she made tons of them. I also remember she loved them. Now, I'm that mom who loves them more than my kids do as I relive my childhood. Good times.

Catching Up!

2011-06-22T08:00:00.007-04:00

Quick Update here:

I neglected to update pictures for a few months (and birthdays of family!) so here we go! Just click on photo to see album for that month.

March 2011

April 2011

And May's you can see in the sidebar. Shew!

Also, I went to Tennessee with the kids in March and missed some very important birthdays. I need to acknowledge these asap as more come this weekend!!! I'm featuring birthday celebrants from Ben's immediate family this year as I did mine last year. There's a lot of people in his inner circle, so it was surprising we didn't have any to celebrate for April and May.

Happy Belated Birthday to Dan, Ally and Scott!

Dan is the newest addition to our growing family. He's a portfolio manager at a big bank in Toledo. He and Biz (Ben's sister) get married next Spring, but to us he's already family.

Ally-gator, as I like to call her, is such a big girl now at six years old. She's the middle child of Ben's brother, Andy. We love you Al-Pal! (She has a lot of nicknames!)

Scott is Ben's Step-Dad, and wonderful "Grandpa Scott" to our kids. He's a personal trainer and a Godly man. We appreciate him very much!

Here's a fun picture I found of the cousins while I was looking at all the Christmas pictures today:

Z and Juju love their cousins soooo much, they pray for them every night...and ask every day if they can visit them. It's too bad visits are usually only once a month, but watch out, 4th of July weekend is coming!!! West Virginia here we come!!!

It's for sure a girl!

2011-06-14T17:04:00.001-04:00

I'm 21 weeks along now and had so much fun seeing our newest baby on the ultrasound today.

She likes to stick her one leg straight up over her head like she's doing yoga.

She repeatedly would stick her leg up like in the above picture then bring it down and with both feet kick me a few times (like in the video below) then throw it back up above her head!

Three times while we were watching her this morning she yawned, we caught this one on video.

I have been nesting almost since the beginning of this pregnancy and have had a hard time rationalizing sitting down at the computer when there's so much work to be done around the house. My apologies for the lengthy delays between blog posts, I'll relax eventually and procrastinate from all my housework again soon, I'm sure. We sure are excited about this surprise baby! We can't wait to meet her, it feels like we still have a long wait, but it'll go fast, I'm sure. I love feeling her move all the time, Ben and the kids can feel her kick now too! Thanks for your prayers and for joining in our excitement. Much love to you all!

Butterfly Trivet to make someone's day

2011-06-07T14:32:00.001-04:00

The prettiest thing my Great Grandma Grosvenor said she'd ever seen (when she saw one at my mom's house in Tennessee that I'd bought her for a house-warming present).

Went to Lehman's Hardware and it was the last one like it!

This one's for you, Grandma, can you tell? This is the backside.

Some people are really easy to please!

Not quite 15 minutes of fame, but 5 will do!

2011-05-04T07:27:00.001-04:00

This is the IVEP video that we were honored to be part of. To see the Wigtons, you have to either wait until this first chapter about IVEP history is over (5 min) then it goes into the chapter about hosts (also 5 min) OR you can push play then scroll over the bottom of the screen and a forward and back arrow will pop up allowing you to skip chapters. Our Marcella is featured a couple of times in the first chapter though, she's the one putting her hand on the wall of painted hands. My mom makes a cameo appearance, and our pastor and his son are also featured, as well as our dogs and Christmas decorations! :-)

Another devo I wrote for my co-op

2011-04-21T11:20:00.001-04:00

After being raised in the church, my husband and I, who met at 17 and married at 20 found ourselves in our early marriage knowing exactly how to move up in the ranks of our church. Despite being youth group leaders, running Bible studies and ABFs, we were not growing, nor were we happy. Were we doing too much, when the work was already done on the cross? Probably, but I think besides being spread too thin, we were driven by spiritual “success” than the Spirit, Itself. We took a six year “sabbatical” as we searched and wrestled with church as a concept. After having our first child we were motivated to get involved again, knowing, at least, that many of the problems we had with “church” were really problems in our own hearts. We are now part of a healthy, growing church that is more like a sin recovery group than a country club. We are still, however, still in the process of shedding our own Pharisaical tendencies. During those six years we did a lot of research on the early church (< 325AD) and read lots of good books, including one by John Fischer called, “ 12 Steps for the Recovering Pharisee (like me)”. His twelve steps are still difficult for me to own completely, but they are a challenge to us all and below I share them with you. Do read the book for an explanation of each of these points. May we live out Scripture’s command:

“He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?” Micah 6:8

12 Steps for the Recovering Pharisee (like me) by John Fischer

Step 1: We admit that our single most unmitigated pleasure is to judge other people

Step 2: Have come to believe that our means of obtaining greatness is to make everyone lower than ourselves in our own mind

Step 3: Realize that we detest mercy being given to those who, unlike us, haven’t worked for it and don’t deserve it

Step 4: Have decided that we don’t want to get what we deserve after all, and we don’t want anyone else to either

Step 5: Will cease all attempts to apply teaching and rebuke to anyone but ourselves

Step 6: Are ready to have God remove all these defects of attitude and character

Step 7: Embrace the belief that we are, and will always be, experts at sinning

Step 8: Are looking more closely at the lives of famous men and women of the Bible who turned out to be ordinary sinners like us

Step 9: Are seeking through prayer and meditation to make a conscious effort to consider others better than ourselves

Step 10: Embrace the state of astonishment as a permanent and glorious reality

Step 11: Choose to rid ourselves of any attitude that is not bathed in gratitude

Step 12: Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we will try to carry this message to the others who think that Christians are better than everyone else

Good times in Tennessee

2011-04-20T15:34:00.001-04:00

On St. Patty's Day Ben flew us down to Tennessee so we could see family for a bit and we stayed with my grandparents for the first few days. Unfortunately, Ben had to fly back to Ohio to work while we had fun for two weeks down South. We ate A LOT of good food!

Carrot/Orange Smoothies

Puffy Breakfast Torte, served with whipped cream :-)

Teddy Bear Pancakes!

Then my Uncle David came over and made us Southern Fried Chicken!!! He also taught me how to cut up a whole chicken, as I was wanting to learn.

This is my cousin Josh playing with Z and my
Uncle Delvin behind him.

In addition to having fun with family and eating amazing food, the kids thoroughly enjoyed their FIRST visit to their Grandpa and Grandma's house. You see, they really live in Germany and just bought this house in December, as it's a good time to buy and in preparation for retirement someday. We haven't visited them in Germany since BEFORE we had kids, so my parents were eager to have their grandchildren visit them for the first time.

My mom planned an amazing Butterfly Party, where she read books about caterpillars turning into butterflies and gave them butterfly toys and gummies. Yes, that is a pile of cotton candy on Z's plate. Yes, he was in heaven.

Even the table cloth was "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" theme!

I was playing with my art filters on the last pic and this next one.

Look at Z, can you tell the sugar is kicking in here?

They also had a grand 'ole time playing in my parent's jacuzzi tub. Turns out, when you have jets, you don't need to put very much Mr. Bubbles in...BUT it is more fun if you do!!!

We also had fun just enjoying all the beautiful birds in their backyard, playing together and don't forget our awesome Time Capsule Day. Lots of memories to last forever! The whole way there, I thought, how will we do this next year when there's five of us and only four seats on the plane? Then Ben came up with a nifty solution. He's bartering avionics work for flight time with a guy who owns a six passenger plane. How cool is that? So, watch out Tennessee, we'll be back!

More WigLife here!

2011-04-17T20:32:00.000-04:00

Guess what?! We're expecting again, if you haven't heard. I am three months along, due October 26th. Here's the baby's heartbeat.

I've been more nauseated than previously, and when you cut out mornings as mostly non-productive, take a short nap with the kids, then only have the afternoon to clean up the house, do dishes and laundry and make dinner there isn't much time to blog. Especially, when I'm ready for bed by 8:30pm. The nausea is getting better, but still comes back briefly twice a day when I take my prenatal vitamins, there's so many!

Anyways, God is good, we are thankful for what looks like another healthy little WigBaby. I am excited to share our adventures with you all, thanks for your prayers and for your understanding when blogging gets put on the back-burner.

My family's time capsule day

2011-03-26T12:32:00.001-04:00

What would it be like to open a time capsule from 22 years ago? Well, I got to do that very thing this week. In 1989, the Air Force transferred my family to England for a four year tour. That four year tour turned into five for me, before I left for college at age 17. It became 16 years total for my parents, who then moved to Germany and still live there now, six years later. They recently bought a house in TN because they want to retire here someday (3 years to go) and have been allowed to get their storage crates out of the warehouse in Maryland they've been sitting in all these years. They also had some storage sent back when they moved from England to Germany, so half of what you see below is from that. A week and a half ago, Ben flew the kids and I down to TN to see my parents, grandparents, and especially be with my Dad before he deploys to Afghanistan. The day we went through our 1989 time capsule (aka boxes) in their garage was my favorite day so far:

After 22 years you kinda forget what you put in storage and what you didn't. I did remember one thing all these years though: my cedar chest. It was from my Grandma J, who grew up with it too, and it was filled with linens and special things for when I got married someday, a "hope chest" if you will. This year we'll have been married for 14 years, so I was pretty excited to see it. It was pretty damaged compared to it's former state, but I like it's new weathered look. I'm thankful my grandparents have offered to help drive it up to Ohio in May if it fits in their car.

It turned out that everything had been removed from my hope chest and put in other boxes and wrapped safely. The linens still had mysterious stains on them somehow, but I found some other things that I remember being in there: a special stuffed animal gift from "Pop Pemble" a local artist and family friend from when I was born and my baby shoes.

I found my old Barbies, Legos, Tinker Toys, even my Cabbage Patch kid!

We found plenty of baby clothes of mine and embarrassing clothes from the 80s that I must have thought I would either save for my preteen kids someday or did I hope that in four years they'd still fit me? The pink shirt and pants with suspenders and a giant floral pattern on the bottom left is one of those outfits.

My parents also found their share of treasures that day. Here's my mom with one of her Barbie's from the 60s:

Here's my Dad showing Z his shell collection from many years ago.

We even found some "Jarts" a yard darts game that was discontinued because it was too dangerous!

Here's my Dad's suit he wore at he and my mom's wedding in 1975!

This is me pretending to wear my mom's Swing Choir outfit. She made it. It's not a dress, it actually has giant bell-like pant-legs. I don't have a scanner here, or I'd share the picture I found later in the week of my mom wearing it when she was 14 years old with her choir. It's missing it's yellow sash, but it's still pretty fabulous, don't you think?

Here's my Dad sporting his spelunking hat. I'm pretty sure this and the Jarts made their way to the garage sale pile. It was fun to find things like this and remember for a moment though.

There's a whole room of goodies, mostly from their 16 years in England, to potentially sell on e-bay. There's another pile of fancy antiques and antique furniture (several hundred years old) to sell at auction. It'll be hard enough to get my hope chest up to Ohio, so there's no plans for keeping any of the furniture for myself. Here's some of the really old goodies:

It was a fun day full of memories and laughter, one I won't soon forget. I've been eager to share it with you all, hope you enjoyed seeing a bit of it here. To end, I wanted to share one of my favorite finds: a decoupage bottle my mom made for my dad when they were dating. It's covered with magazine clippings from the late 60s, early 70s! Ahhh, true love...

My Parent's New House

2011-03-26T12:28:00.001-04:00

Just a half hour from my grandparent's house in Tennessee:

This is the back of the house, showing the patio, there's a little fountain next to the house.

Juju loves the pink trees in the backyard that are currently in bloom:

And, yes, there's a pond with a fountain in the backyard to officially make it an enchanted garden.

Just thought some of our family members would like to see my parent's stateside home.

One day in January...

2011-03-09T15:36:00.000-05:00

One day in January, a horse ran across the field behind our house. Ben went out to get it as we don't typically have wild horses in our backyard. He called if from over 50 feet away and it ran straight to him and stopped. He led it toward the horse farm two doors down, but it bucked and ran down into our yard, until he caught it again. A neighbor girl told us it comes from over a half mile away the other direction. As she and Ben led it to it's home, the owners were out looking for it, and had brought it's best friend, a goat, to lure it home. When we go by their house, we stop to watch the silly horse and goat who are friends. The horse had jumped the fence that day and happened to come our way. Just another day in the country! We so love it!

We've got talent, yes we do!

2011-03-07T14:10:00.001-05:00

"Seee mom?"

He does this all the time, next time you see him, just ask! He can leave his ear like that until he touches it and pops it out! If you can do this too, let us know! Ben and I sure can't!

Fruit of the Spirit and Interpretive Dance

2011-03-02T08:58:00.000-05:00

One more video from our TN trip, just had to share:

Our first big trip as a family!

2011-03-01T12:43:00.004-05:00

The first week of January we took a trip down to Tennessee, where I was born, to visit my grandparents there. We left just before dinnertime, so as to maximize our sleep when we got there nine hours later and also enjoy half of the drive with the kids asleep. They were fabulous travelers, we were quite surprised! We celebrated my grandpa's birthday together, below Grandma is helping the kids make decorations for the party.

After the party there was much dancing and celebration:

On Sunday we got up and went to church. We were shocked at how cold and windy it was, it felt like we were still in Ohio! We made sure to take family pictures with everybody dressed up.

Except that during a lesson (for my Grandma) on how to delete pictures from one's new digital camera, I accidentally deleted all those pretty pictures. Oh well. We took some more right before we left for Ohio.

We had a lovely time and can't wait to go back again soon! Now that my parents, who have lived overseas for 21 years recently bought a house in Tennessee, I do believe we'll be going back quite often, though they won't be living there full time for about three more years. Once my grandparents in Iowa sell their house, they plan to move there too, which will be amazing to have my parents and grandparents from both sides living all in one place, since that's NEVER happened before in my lifetime!

A gift He gave me

2011-02-28T21:19:00.000-05:00

I wrote a devotional for my homeschool co-op a couple of weeks ago, something I'll be doing regularly in the next eight weeks. I wish I had more time to blog, but as it is you get what I've already written:

Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. James 5:16

"I once was blind, but now I see."
I have many testimonies, stories of how God has transformed my life. I'm quite sure I'm in the process of yet another testimony, to be concluded. Lately, I have been challenged to more freely share these stories of God's faithfulness in my life.

In the two years I have attended CHECCS, I have changed. The year 2009 was the most difficult in my life, thus far. I joined you all in the Spring of that year with my very active two and a half year old son, Z, and an infant daughter, Juju. I knew I wanted to homeschool, though it was far too early to begin. I came to learn, to be inspired. Separate from researching my dream, I was angry. I'm not sure exactly why I had so much anger, except for my sinful heart. If I was honest, I'd say I was disappointed and frustrated. I didn't expect to struggle so much with two little ones. I struggled to get dinner on the table, to keep the house in an acceptable state, I struggled to get out the door to go anywhere. Everything was hard. As an only child, I had no idea what to expect, and my mother, who lives in Germany was too far to help. Little Juju got kisses and attention, while poor Z was the scape goat of my frustration. He learned to potty train that year, and how I lost my temper with him when he'd have an accident. He was not abused, but I struggled to feel any positive feelings toward him. I am so ashamed of my lack of patience with his normal, little boy energy, his age-appropriate abilities or lack thereof and his naturally dependent personality.

But, God is good, even when I'm not. That Fall, when I was at my lowest (I even lost it at CHECCS once!), I prayed a prayer, I'm embarrassed to admit I needed to pray. I prayed that God would help me love my son. Our pastor always says, "God loves to give good gifts! Just ask!" It was true indeed, as only God can do, He softened my heart toward my son, I made every effort to connect with him in a positive way every day and rebuild trust. As a three and a half year old toddler, though, he still needed discipline and I wrestled with the best approach to truly teach him right from wrong. Early in 2010 I found a little book I'd had on my shelf for years, a gift from my mother, "Don't make me count to three!" by Ginger Plowman. What an answer to prayer!! Addressing the heart and sin issues behind misbehaviors, this book utilizes Scripture to reproof (put off) bad behaviors and reprove (put on) good ones. I was so excited, I shared the book with probably a dozen people in 2010, who read it too.

Between changing my heart toward my son and the wisdom brought out from Scriptures in the book, I saw a changed person in myself. I was relieved to see self-control where I had previously been a lose cannon, I saw grace where I had been hard and cold, I saw patience where I had previously had none. God has since restored my relationship with Z and blessed us with a very special bond. In addition, in the past year I have seen his anger dissipate, his patience with others increase and God's peace reigns over all of us in our home. I am still a sinful human, and have learned I must leave early enough when we go places or my hurriedness will still cause me to sin by impatience and anger with my children. Asking for forgiveness from my children is a daily practice and one that has blessed me in return by little Z also asking for forgiveness when he sins against me. All these changes are my testimony to God's power, grace and patience with me and in my family. He is so good. Praise Him, praise Him!

Happy Birthday Amy!

2011-02-21T21:27:00.000-05:00

So glad we got to see her yesterday for a bit! A big Happy Birthday to my step-mother-in-law (that doesn't sound scary a bit, does it!?), Amy Parr-Wigton. She's really very nice and a very good principal too. She and Dad have resumed their dance classes, and when the weather is better, enjoy boating on Lake Erie. They are a fun fun couple. We're so glad to have you as part of the family, you are very special to us. Much much love to you on your special day!

Our only nephew...so far!

2011-02-20T14:25:00.000-05:00

Our nephew, Owen, turns 4 today!!

We are especially thankful for his lifelong friendship with Z.

Whether working hard together...

...or playing hard together...

...these two will be friends forever.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, OWIE!!

It's somebody's birthday!

2011-02-08T23:15:00.002-05:00

I am very blessed to have FOUR beautiful sisters-in-law. Wednesday, February 9th, yet another one of them celebrates a birthday. Missy is married to Ben's brother, Andy. She's the gorgeous blond in the front on the right. When she and her hubby got married, we all loved seeing the stark contrast between her petite stature and Andy's towering 6'7" self as they exchanged vows. I wish I had a picture of that!! Oh well, here's Missy with a cute baby Ally:

She is a leader and is awfully powerful for being such a tiny person. Currently, she is a middle school English teacher. She has stories of other teachers mistaking her for a student as she blends right in. She is on the fast-track to becoming a principal now, following in the footsteps of Ben's Dad and step-mom.

She also scrapbooks and gives good gifts. She and her husband have the gift of hospitality and are always ready to host get-togethers, including our family Christmas every year. My favorite thing about Missy is her laugh. She laughs easily, and always at herself if given the chance. She is first and foremost an excellent mom to my children's three favorite people in the world*, their cousins:

Jenna

Ally

and Owen

You can tell they're a bundle of fun! They take after their mother, an ex-cheerleader, who waterskis like a pro and is always up for exciting adventures and trips to the amusement park. Z and Juju are pretty sure their house is Disney World as it's so much more fun than ours!

Missy, Happy Birthday! We love you!

*Ben and I think they're pretty special too.

What Ben's been up to

2011-01-26T15:13:00.001-05:00

He still works at the little airport in our town, but did not pass up an opportunity to work on one of the three GoodYear Blimps when they called requesting his services. He was given souvenir mini-blimps for the kids, which they loved. He was even offered a job, but is pretty sure it would involve a lot of traveling, ha!

Apologies if you couldn't see the pictures before,
thanks Grandma J. for letting me know!

My Fraternal Name Twin

2011-01-19T10:20:00.002-05:00

Siblings: (L-R) Biz, Ben, Debbi, Andy, Bekah

This year, readers of WigLife will get to know my husband's family as I acknowledge them on their birthdays. The first celebrant happens to have the same name I do! Meet Bekah Wigton, my sister-in-law! Since our spellings are different, we are not identical name twins, but spoken aloud, no one knows! This is how I became "Big Becca" at family gatherings, and she, "little Bekah". I first met Bekah when she was seven years old.

Bekah is a beautiful person, inside and out. I am so honored to know her. She is strong, funny, loving and extremely intelligent. She never minces words and is unafraid of people. She is a natural arbitrator/mediator and would do well at any peace keeping job in the world. She has deep thoughts on politics and reads thought provoking books. She is naturally athletic and can whirl around on the ice like Katarina Witt! She is a certified sign language translator and is studying speech pathology and audiology at Kent State. She is a determined spirit and will excel at anything she puts her mind to.

we are so very proud of her!

Happy Happy Birthday, Bekah-boo!

We love you more than you'll ever know.

Last Respects

2011-01-15T09:44:00.002-05:00

This past week we say goodbye to three of our flock: Stumpy, Ping and a no-name Welsummer. We lost them all to a Red Tail Hawk who was starving in the cold weather. We know because the hawk was waiting for it's breakfast to come out of the coop the next morning. It was sad, but we are thankful we only lost chickens. We have lost two in the past to a raccoon, one to a mystery predator who found our lost chicken before we did and now this.

Stumpy led a much fuller life than most Frizzle chickens get to lead. Here's most of her story from a previous post. She had quite a few fans on FaceBook and made such a miraculous comeback from losing all her feathers (see above lower picture). Here's her first appearance on this blog and this is her last.

Interestingly, when we first got the two white crested Polish chickens, we named them Mutsu and Ping. I just liked the names. Later in the year when apples were in season, I remembered that Mutsu was an apple, and the very kind we chose this past year to make sauce actually. When Marcella moved in with us, she heard the names of our chickens and though Mutsu had already passed away (she wandered off never to return again), we still had Ping. She said, "Ping mean "apple" in Chinese." So, we inadvertently named both Polish chickens after apples!!! They all love to eat apple scraps when we make sauce too.

Here's a baby picture of Mutsu and Ping

We have loved having our chickens roam the yard and have plans to get some turkeys this year and a few more chicks in order to bring up our numbers again. We started with 11, then got Stumpy from our friends, and now we're down to 6: four Ameraucana and two Welsummers. One Welsummer seems to have camouflaged itself to look like an Ameraucana and it looks like we have five Ameraucanas and one Welsummer. It's a mystery that baffles us. We only bought four Ameraucanas, so there can't be five. So weird. Above is the last picture taken of the ladies all together when there was still nine just a few weeks ago.

We've had an eventful year already with a trip to Tennessee to visit my grandparents there. I have so many pictures to share with you all! Hopefully in the coming week I'll be caught up on laundry and housekeeping stuff and can get those up. Happy New Year, may the Lord keep you from predators swooping down from the sky to take you out!

An invitation

2010-12-30T11:39:00.001-05:00

check out the new pictures in the slideshow, took me all morning to upload them...and that only took us to mid-December....whew! More to come...happy new year friends and family! Hope your Christmas was merry.

Taking a break from their snow chopping to enjoy some cocoa.

And back to work.

Stumpy (who's not so stumpy anymore) says it's been a good year.

We're suckers for British humour!

2010-12-23T08:05:00.001-05:00

Z's favorites are the nighttime/daytime bird and the chipmunk, mine are Sid and the owls. I think Ben liked the monkeys best. Happy Christmas!!

Family times

2010-12-21T07:34:00.002-05:00

I find myself ahead of the game a bit this year, things for Christmas are mostly done, only fun things left to do this week with the kids. Last week Ben and I embarked upon a media free time with the kids, I felt they were spending too much time either watching TV or playing on the computer. It took lots of extra energy to get organized enough to have a bit more of a schedule for them, that involved one of us reading to them or playing with them, but they're always happy to help in the kitchen. Z can crack an egg with one hand already (I think I was in my twenties!), Juju can crack eggs too and knows to pick out any shell that drops in the bowl. Z is obsessed with cooking his own soup and making his own spices. He carries it around and has us try it on everything. "Buddy's Super Spice" is not that bad on potatoes, actually.

We've been very domestic lately, making yogurt and cheese about a week ago. My mom was here to help still, and I may wait till she comes back for a visit to try the cheese again. It took us an hour and a half to make 30 minute mozzarella. I cheated this year, and though we did make some cut-out cookies for the Mommy Group a couple weeks ago, we didn't make any other fancy Christmas cookies. But we did happen upon a new easy creation that hardly counts as work. I call them pretzel mints. Here's the recipe for them. Takes five minutes in the oven, half hour from start to finish if I'm mass producing them. We actually bought Christmas colored Cadbury's chocolate candies to put on top instead of m&m's and they look even cuter, like little winter hats with a bobble on top! Yum. We packaged them up for neighbors, to be delivered tomorrow night.

I had started buying presents at the beginning of November, well, I suppose some I bought at the Farmer's Market over the Summer, but not many. We made a New Year's resolution this year to buy locally or fair trade whenever possible and I feel we did pretty well this year, but especially in our Christmas buying. I can count on one hand the presents that were mass production and imported. I stayed in contact with artisans whose displays I liked from local festivals or the farmer's market, called them up in November and ordered Christmas presents, shopped at local artists' shops or made the gift myself (only four people this year!). I learned from last year, making too many gifts stresses me out. We bought the bulk of our gifts at the World Craft Store in Kidron, though it's not local it is fair trade and supporting a good cause.

We have a tradition of only getting each other one gift at Christmas to symbolize God's gift to us: Jesus. I can tell you what the kids are getting as they're too little to read this! Z has consistently asked for a "Whack-a-mole" game since he saw one at the store a while back, so that's what he got. I wanted to do something sentimental for Juju as at 2 years old they don't remember much. Make no sense? Well, if I make her a gift, and we save it, she'll know later what she got and that it was special. So, I made her a big chunky necklace with a magnetic clasp and am putting it in an ice cream cone purse that was knitted by a lady down the road. I can't wait. Speaking of which, I really need to go finish making that necklace.

May you all have a stress-free week, enjoying each other, enjoying food, caring for others less fortunate, living life to the fullest!!

The First Noel by Marcella

2010-12-10T19:39:00.000-05:00

She never played piano before she came to our house four months ago!

Our Marcella

2010-12-10T14:22:00.014-05:00

Dear Marcella,

Hello dear! I wonder when you'll finally read this! I may have to drop a hint, we'll see... I wanted to post all about you and share with the world all the things you've taught the Wigtons about Indonesia, life and God since you joined us through the IVEP program and I figured I'd just make it a letter to you.

Ben and I really didn't know anything at all about Indonesia before you arrived. We read a little pamphlet that told us some things I didn't understand at the time, like how your culture is more indirect rather than direct and will more readily tell others how they feel about you rather than tell you to your face and that I may have to ask you three times before trusting that a "no" answer really means no, when offering you food or other things to be nice.

We also learned that Indonesia is the fourth largest country in the world (by population) and that there are six major religions that it hosts, with Muslim being the greatest by 85%, then Christianity by 12%. Also though we knew Indonesia had several islands, we had no idea that there were 17,508 of them! Nor that they stretched across almost 5 billion square miles (only 1 billion square miles smaller than the US in total land mass). I'm in awe that there are 2-3 hundred ethnic groups in Indonesia and each one has it's own language, traditional clothing and practices. I love all the Indonesian traditional clothes that I've seen:

Now that you've been with us for four months we've learned so much about your culture and you, though we have lots to learn still. We really mean it when we tell you that you are a gifted musician, the fact that you can play piano and guitar so well by ear and not had lessons means you have a gift. We're so impressed by you! We had a funny moment when you first got here and I gave you the job of shredding the carrot skins off with something like this:

You said to me, "What do I do with this?" It dawned on me at that moment that we might as well be from different planets. Wow. Of course, it turned out that what you use in Indonesia isn't all that different, and we happened to have one on hand, thanks to a recent gift from my Grandma:

Now you like the American kind of peeler and I like the kind you were used to. So funny. It still blows me away to know that in Indonesia most people wash their laundry by hand and only keep 3-4 changes of clothes. I've learned from you that since you're closer to the equator you have the same hours of light and darkness every day, all year around: 6-6. How strange to us it would be to have darkness in the evening all year around. Since it's about 83 degrees Fahrenheit all year you have little need for running hot water and so don't mind not having such in your house, though it would not be fun here in Ohio! We do need more changes of clothes here with all the changes in weather, but probably not as many as most of us Americans keep, but you're finding this out.

I love that your culture is a blend of Chinese, Dutch and Portugese cultures. Your language reflects it, I find it fascinating.

Here's my list that is hanging in the kitchen, so I never lose it:

How do you say ___? = Bagaimana kamu mengatakan __?

Excuse me. = Permisi

Where is ________? = Di mana _______?

Good morning! = Selamat Pagi!

How are you? = Apakabar?

Please eat! = Silahkan Makan (my favorite)

Thank you = Terima Kasih

You're welcome = Sama Sama

We love you = Kami cinta kau.

I especially like how in Indonesian language when you make something plural you say it twice (unless it's an English word you use there) and I won't ever forget that "tooth" is "gigi" and that "teeth" is "gigi gigi". I still don't completely understand why your middle name, which we thought was your last name, sounds so Italian, or all the rules for men and women regarding taking on different family names, like you and your brother do. But, I suppose we still have time to learn. Thankfully, we get to keep you all the way through July 2011.

You are such a hard worker, I wonder if you worked this hard in Indonesia. You work nearly a full time job at our church doing secretarial and pastoral work and still work twenty hours a week at the coffee shop ministry too. I love that you have found some foods that you love to eat here like quesadillas, chili and hash browns. You're so nice, I don't know if you genuinely like all the foods I make you or if you'd just never tell me. It's ok, in our culture, to say you don't like something. Maybe it is in yours too, but you've been sweet as sugar and I wouldn't know if it was. We have really loved all the foods you've made us, the Singaporean coconut chicken rice, the fried rice, the beef with red chilis, and my favorite, the chicken and rice porridge. I hope we can find more of the sweet soy sauce some day, it's dreamy over that porridge! Thanks for bringing some for us to try!

Maybe someday we can translate your books, "Radical for Jesus," and "Matters of the heart" into English together. Seems like a fun family project, does it not?

We're making lots of fun memories together, day by day. We're so very thankful to have you as part of our WigLives for one whole year. Thank you for all you've taught us and will teach us. You're a wonderful addition to our family. Kami cinta kau!

-Your Ohio Family

Good Friday all year round

2010-12-02T06:54:00.003-05:00

Our church just asked us all to write a devotional message for printing in a little Christmas advent devotional guide. Here's what I came up with:

At Christmas we celebrate the Savior’s birth, at Easter, His resurrection. In between them, though, is an important day we overlook as Christians. Good Friday is the day our Lord was brutally murdered. I feel that we push this day to the side because it reminds us of our need for someone to die for us. We just don’t want to be reminded of our own personal giant bailout, let alone tell others about it. Worse yet, our avoidance of Good Friday and the crucifixion, I believe, is symbolic of how we tend to live our lives in American culture. We are entitled to a “good life” here in America and feel spurned by God if we don’t get our due. We spend most of our energies, monies, and conversations trying to feel as good as or better than others. We constantly give ourselves grace instead of holding ourselves to a higher standard, when the Bible clearly says, “Now you must give yourselves to be slaves to righteous living so that you will become holy” (Romans 6:19b). New life in Christ insists on a radical new way of living: Forgiving others, loving our enemies, building others up instead of ourselves and self-discipline in a country that gives us every freedom in the world. Death is not a subject we like or are comfortable with, but is one that Christians, of all people, should know well. In this world that does everything opposite of how God intended, it only makes sense that our lives in Him, would begin with death. Neglecting the price paid for this precious gift of salvation demeans it, doesn’t make it attractive to others or help them know how they can have it too.

“Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others.

Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves.

Don’t look out only for your own interests,

but take an interest in others, too.

You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.

Though he was God,
      he did not think of equality with God
      as something to cling to.
Instead, he gave up his divine privileges;
      he took the humble position of a slave
      and was born as a human being.
   When he appeared in human form,
     he humbled himself in obedience to God
      and died a criminal’s death on a cross.
Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor
      and gave him the name above all other names,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
      in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
      to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2:3-11

Our Farm Girl

2010-11-13T07:08:00.000-05:00

This was taken in September, she already looks so much older than this! They're growing like weeds!!

E-Card for my Grandma in Iowa

2010-11-05T23:49:00.005-04:00

This is my Grandma.

We have the same middle name. (Irene).

She graduated Valedictorian of her high school class.

With her sweetheart on their wedding day.

Here she is with my mom, pregnant with my uncle Danny

I love this picture of her with her foot up on her leg.

This says January 1973 along the side, so my mom is 15 here. :-)

Grandma raised five children, then four more who are her grandchildren, now she cares for her mother. She can best be described as nurturing. She's very good at what she does, and boy does she know babies...

My Grandma used to collect owls, now she collects roosters. I respect her a lot for changing her mind. Sometimes you just want something different. My Grandma likes to laugh a lot and my Grandpa likes to make her laugh. She's a pro at entertaining, and can whip up a giant spread of food in no time. I didn't know it, but it turns out she's the world's best cookie maker. If you've been wondering who that is, you've found her! {By the way, Grandma, I tried to make the chocolate chip oatmeal cookies like you said, and they did not turn out anywhere near as good as yours.} Sometimes people just know what they're doing.

She loves cards. Specifically, she loves to pick out the perfect card just for the perfect occasion for someone. She sends between 10 and 15 cards a month out. She always writes a letter to go inside or at least a nice note at the bottom of the card. I have several cards from her hanging on a string above my window right now. Yes, I did send her a real card.

Like her hubby, she devours the Word of God. She likes to wake up, drink a big glass of ice water and read her Bible. Then you'll catch her reading it again a couple more times in the day. Below are some memory verses she has above her sink. She devoutly attends church and shares God's Love with others in everything she does.

Happy Birthday, Grandma!! We love you, love you, love you.

Hope your day is as delightful as you are!

kids make traveling hard...or do they?

2010-11-02T23:23:00.001-04:00

Mi amiga, Clara. She brought us what I call "Dead Bread" last night to help me finish leftover Mexican beans and rice and to celebrate la dios de los Muertos or the day of the dead. It's very sweet and yummy, especially with ice cream. This holiday also happens to be election day (yes we did), and my friend Chrisie's birthday and her friend and my long time bloggy friend, Deanne's birthday as well! Happy Birthday, ladies!

Solar Panels on our chicken coop**. Why, you ask? Well, to keep their water from freezing this Winter, possibly keep them laying longer and save my husband from running electricity all the way up the hill. Makes sense to me! Besides if it works well heating them, down the road we may try the same for us. For now, this is one pampered puffy cheeked chicken (aka. green egg laying Ameraucana).

Today two kids played and played and played with their new quilts which arrived in the mail from their Grandma and Grandpa (my folks) who live in Germany. My mother lovingly made each one out of flannel. Thank you, Mom...I mean, Grandma*!!! They're BEAUTIFUL!!!

The box got it's fair share of play time in too (quilt under bottom).

Tonight we had a wonderful Singaporean meal made by our resident Indonesian with Amish chicken parts. It was served with Mexican "spicy" (aka pop) that was on sale at Buehler's and topped off with German cookies which came with the quilt from my parents. This is our new mode of world travel...

...tomorrow, back to Guatemala (or down the road) for mutual Spanish/English lessons!***

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*Reference to an inside joke about how every time I call my mom or dad,, "Mom" or "Dad", my little Z adamantly protests, "That's not "Dad", that's "Grandpa"!!!" or "That's not "Mom", that's "Grandma"!!" He does it even when I'm talking to them on the phone, we have to laugh because he's so good at policing me in this!

**Don't ask me what the chicken coop story has to do with traveling, it was blog worthy, I thought, so I threw it in there. :-)

***Aren't they adorable? Like their aunt and parents (who work all day), they speak no English. They hang out with Z and Juju while I try to teach their aunt English with the itsy bitsy bit of Spanish I know. Hablo poquito Espanol!!!

what we do

2010-10-27T15:46:00.001-04:00

You might have noticed I haven't been blogging much lately. I have been busy. Summer was frenetic, now we're trying to get into a Fall routine.

Here's what busy looks like to us:

Learning Spanish at weekly classes and embarrassing weekly get-togethers with a sweet Guatemalan lady who speaks no English. We spent three hours together today, challenging but our best day yet!!!
Learning about Indonesia every day! A few words here and there too, like "Silakan Makan!" Please eat! (FYI, Marcella's family was unaffected by the tsunami over the weekend and is safe.)
Mommy and Me every Tuesday - going very well!!
Preparing for the College and Career class I teach at the homeschool co-op every Thursday - love this class and my gym class of high schoolers (not much prep for that though).
Changing diapers and picking up toys (thinking I should be making my children do this!)
Making everyday life an education for two little ones (we recently poo pooed the structured school time for fear our four year old would develop an aversion to school forever, we'll try again when he's older).
Cooking and baking like it's nobody's business! Every other day I try to make either bread or cookies. We're trying to eat local and healthy too, which means homemade soup or beans and rice most meals, much to the kids' chagrin.
Praying and fasting, not reading as much of God's Word as I'd like...
Leading worship at church on Sundays, something we love to do. We just learned a new song we can sing easily in any language. We introduced it last week in Indonesian and English, and this week we're adding Spanish.
Letting my eyebrows grow out, it's not as easy as you would think. They're almost back to their splendid bushy selves (circa 1989!). I don't know, I'm just trying to be more natural, but I guess I shouldn't have to try, should I?
Doing more and more virtual tours lately, like this one:

Laughing with Ben every time we hear Juju cry then hear Z say, "Sorry Juju." and she says, "It's ok." then hear the whole scenario again three more times in a row. Or when Juju says, "I tooted!"
Trying to be in the moment with my children, present, listening, positive....
Putting little hair "pretties" into a little girl's hair every morning
Keeping a list of a four year old boy's dreams of fun ideas like making a treasure chest (a big one!), making our own "Ring the Gack" game inspired by Dr. Suess and lots more as he thinks of 2-3 a day.
Dreaming about having the time or motivation to exercise or get back into martial arts.
Dreaming about having an amazing flower, herb and vegetable garden in the back yard.
Ushering the chickens out of the neighbor's yard, naughty chickens!
And taking lots of pictures and videos of our crazy children, chickens and dogs. Here's a few:

So, the camera story got really painful and I've been dreading having to tell you, but long story short, I had to send back the used one I got from the UK and bought a new one from this store. The price was definitely the best on the web, HOWEVER, a creepy guy from Brooklyn called me and tried to upgrade my camera battery. He told me the one I was getting only lasted for a half hour and he could get me a four hour one for $72, no make that $50. I didn't feel good about it and told him I would not be giving him any personal information over the phone, he said he already had all my information and he was the sales rep for bpelectronics' olympus department. I told him no thank you. He said, "What are you thanking me for?!" I had no idea what to say. Afterwards I looked up batteries on-line and couldn't find any battery options for my camera and when it arrived, whaddaya know? It lasted at least four hours. What a con! I read some reviews of this store (since) and several people have gotten yelled at by a man with a Brooklyn accent. I don't recommend the store, but am very thankful I got the camera I paid for and at a very good price. I used a safe credit card for my purchase so I should be ok if they try anything fishy later on. Let's hope!

After living with Debbi right after she spent five months in Uganda and now with Marcella, I've been given a two excellent live-in examples of how not to be rushed or too busy. You'd think I'd learn, but I'm very slow at slowing down, you see.

Here's a quick update on Stumpy:

She's finally growing feathers, and just in time for Winter! What a good girl!!

peace to you.

My Great Grandma G

2010-10-19T23:05:00.001-04:00

Here's a couple of Five Generation pictures taken with each of my little ones. I have only taken the kids to Iowa one at a time as lap children, so they each have their own picture.

I don't mean to brag, but I have a VERY cool Great Grandma. She's feisty and witty, she's tough as nails and she loves all of her family unconditionally. She is so much fun to be around. She's also very talented. She worked well into her eighties on gorgeous quilts for each of her grandchildren. You see the sewing kit beside her chair in the above picture? Well, she taught me how to sew a button hole (with a tiny needle and thread) while I was there visiting last month. I messed up and she finished the whole thing for me, because she can. She broke her neck last year (she's all better now), and the first time my grandparents had to leave her alone after the accident they left all their numbers of where they'd be and how to contact them and Great Grandma said, "What do you think I'm gonna do? Burn the house down?" You can't spend too long around my Great Grandma without laughing, she really brings out the fun in life. I love that she wears Sketchers!

I'm sorry, I'm boasting, I just think she's great (to Juju and Z she's great great!!).

While I was there, I took lots of pictures and videos, trying to soak up every minute and make it last for forever. Here's one of the videos I took:

I also have a video of her telling the story of how her great great great grandma killed four Indians who tried to break into her house through the doggie door (turns out early settlers had doggie doors!), unfortunately it doesn't want to upload right now. I've mentioned before about her Grandma who was royalty from Sweden who smoked a pipe and her Grandpa from Sweden who owned a fleet of ships. She has wonderful stories I could listen to all day every day.

What I haven't told you is that today my Great Grandma turns 98 years old. I don't think she minds me sharing...

Here are some fun links to look at:

What happened in history on October 20th

What happened in the year 1912

A couple of my favorites: In 1912 the Republic of China was established, New Mexico became the 47th state and the Titanic set sail. Oh, and Woodrow Wilson beat President Taft and Theodore Roosevelt in the general Presidential Election.

I hope you have a Happy Birthday Grandma!

I know I speak for the whole family when I say,

"We love you the mostest!"

My Grandma J

2010-10-18T15:15:00.001-04:00

Well, things are back to working again so I can finally give a proper birthday wish to my Grandma in Tennessee. She thanked me for not posting any pictures of her, saying, "Perfect! You know me so well!". So, out of respect for her wishes, I won't post any photos like the ones of her on this post or this one.

However, I will post some pictures she drew. You see, my Grandma is an artist. She can paint or draw just about anything. She likes to look at a picture for inspiration, but the skills are all hers. Her Daddy (my Great Grandpa Miles, who Z was middle named after) was an artist as well, just like my Daddy is.

When I was a little girl, she'd send me large envelopes filled with pretty leaves, stickers and silly face drawings. Now she sends recipes for me, stickers for the kids and drawings for them to color. What she doesn't know is I keep them in a file with plans to take them all to the printers to make copies of them for coloring books for the kids (hence sparing the originals). I love getting her drawings.

(Sorry this one is a pencil sketch and hard to see.)

Aren't they precious? I am so thankful for my Grandma who always gets excited and squeals when I call her. I used to spend a few weeks every Summer in Tennessee for the six years I lived in Maryland. While there, she taught me how to make amazing pie crust, set the table (thumb joint from the edge of the table), label an envelope properly (you slide lined paper inside to get your lines straight) and iron clothes among other things. She's the genetic root of my children's (and my) cute little snort when laughing. She makes the world's best fudge and chicken madras. She can sing harmony to any hymn in church, which I try to copy, but I don't read music and so just make it up. She keeps her house immaculate, which I can't even begin to aspire to with two little ones right now, but she gives me inspiration and tells me, "Bless your home every day."

She's told me a million times that she prayed for a good husband for me since before I was born and another million times told me how God answered that prayer through Ben...and she's right. She's the first person I call when I need prayed for and the person I thank for teaching me to believe in the power of prayer.

Thank you for loving me, praying for my husband and soaking up our children as much as you can from far away. We're looking forward to visiting you this Winter! Happy Birthday again, we love you!

May the festivities begin...and go on and on and on

2010-10-16T06:24:00.004-04:00

This year, you might have noticed that I've featured a few family members on their birthdays, like my my Grandpa in Iowa, Grandpa in Tennessee, my mom (who I did not do justice to), and my Dad. I only have three more biological relatives left that aren't cousins, aunts or uncles*. All three are Grandmas and all three have a birthday in the next three weeks! How fun is that!?

Well, our first celebrant is.......Grandma J in Tennessee!!! Happy Birthday Grandma!
I'm so sorry, I am having some technical problems and I can't access any of my pictures right now. I've been trying all day. Sorry, Grandma!!

I'm very thankful for you and hope your day was super special! love you...

*My in-laws have adopted me and made me family in so many ways that I hesitate to say this sentence. I do hope to acknowledge them next year as their many birthdays roll around so watch out family!!!!

Anybody make underwear?

2010-10-11T15:28:00.001-04:00

Right now I'm holding a sleeping Juju who is donning two little pigtails in back for the first time and my heart is melting. She's like concentrated cuteness. I'd take a picture but alas, the camera story.

I decided to go as cheap as possible and it backfired. After spending weeks searching for a used camera that would work, I settled on a decent one, I thought, and took it to do a virtual tour and it ran out of memory half way through the house AND in reviewing the pics many of them had lines going through them. So, I spent all last week searching for something that would do what I want and meet my affordability criteria. I really want to get a used one. Without any oaths or promises, I've been trying to only buy used or homemade this year, I did search for underwear on etsy.com, but they were $35 a pair! Hence, I've had to make some compromises. I found the camera I wanted on e-bay, it's used, but has a guarantee, so if I have problems (within the first week) I can return it. It's being shipped from the UK and I'm counting down the days till it arrives on Friday. It's an Olympus Pen (e-p/1). My Dad really encouraged me to get a DSLR for quicker picture taking. I'm so tired of missing the best shots of the kids because my point and shoot cameras have taken so long to respond. So, there you go, the camera story. I will take a picture of Juju's cuteness on Friday. For now you can enjoy one of my recent virtual tours...the million dollar house!

He likes hunting, can you tell? It's a good house for a hunter. Anyways, I don't do a ton of virtual tours, like 2-3 a month lately. I had hoped that the income from that job would at least pay my school loan payment (our last debt, may it go away and soon!!), but since that's not always happening, I was excited when I was asked to do another job! It fits me well and gets me back into the world of psychology. There's a brand new girl's group home starting in Gnadenhutten, Ohio (20 min. away) that needed a contract licensed counselor to sign their paperwork, like intake, treatment plans, reviews, discharge paperwork and so on. Thanks to a connection from my old Kung Fu class I got the job! I helped write my own job description as Clinical Supervisor of the home and go out this week to help in the creation of the documents that I will at some point sign. Others complete the paperwork, I sign it. We're in the process of recruiting girls for the home still, so I'm really getting involved from the ground up. It won't be a lot of hours either, but it'll be a good way to keep my resume up to date and not get too far out of the loop while I'm busy homeschooling the kids.

Speaking of which, I should really get up and do some school with Buddy. Later!

Weekend of Squeezes

2010-10-02T09:04:00.001-04:00

A couple of weekends ago Juju and I got on a little plane and flew out West to see my grandparents in Iowa. My middle name is the same as my grandma's there (Irene) and Juju's middle name is the same as her great great grandma (Eleanor) who was also there for us to soak up. All the greats can get confusing, so for the sake of this article, I'm going to reference them as from Juju's perspective.

Can you tell that we soaked each other up? We did and how. I got videos of Great Great Grandma telling stories about her Great Grandma (to be shared soon!) and pictures galore as you can see. I think we all hugged as much as physically possible in a three day period. Juju ran around like an only child and danced and sang and strutted her stuff because she had the perfect audience who clapped when she paused. She took to her Great Grandpa quickly and led him around by the finger wherever she willed. She had a special game she would play with Great Great Grandma at the dinner table where their pointy fingers would run along the table edge until they would meet then they'd bounce up into the air, then they'd laugh. Great Grandpa and Grandma would play peek-a-boo with a toy froggy at the table too. Dinners were my favorite part for lots of reasons, the food was so good!!

We decided to celebrate Juju's birthday a week early together and Great Grandma made a perfect angel food cake with pink icing. Juju eyed it all day and was SO excited about her party. After we sang to her and she blew out her candles (which, of course caused us to applaud wildly), I began to cut the cake. Juju had a look of horror on her face and shouted, "Don't cut the cake!!!" She reached for the candles (which she had already licked) and stuffed them back into the cake and with her hands tried to push the cake back together to fix what Mommy had done. Under some pressure from soft hearted grandmas I agreed to relight the candles and let her have another go. We repeated the previously stated lighting and clapping and this time I insisted on cutting the cake afterwards. Juju, ever stubborn, protested, calmed down to open presents, but did not eat the cut cake. She did partake of some ice cream however.

We had a wonderful visit and can't wait to go back!

The Tale of a Chicken

2010-09-28T22:51:00.000-04:00

We've told you before about our foster chicken, Stumpy. When she came to us she was missing all the feathers on her sides and bottom from her pen mates pecking her nearly to death.

Turns out hybrid chickens tend who lose feathers tend to molt all their feathers before growing any back. She is now nearly featherless. She looks like a broiler chicken running around in our back yard. We've been concerned about the cold weather coming and how she'd manage.

So we bought her a coat. It's really for a tiny dog, but looked like it would work.

It fits her, but she trips over it when she tries to walk. I know, we already have naked dogs, who wear coats, now a chicken, yadda yadda yadda. She could freeze to death! For the record she's much more pleasant to hold when wearing her sweater, it's a bummer it won't work out for her. We're hoping she learns to stay in the coop for the winter, she is so cold already that she stopped laying eggs. She's an older bantam and has laid eggs since we got her. The good news is, two of our Ameraucanas started laying finally! Wing-Wing, Z's favorite, was the first to start laying. Chickens are usually about 5 months old when they start laying eggs, these two were two weeks shy of becoming 5 months old. We don't expect to get many eggs over Winter, but lots come Spring.

The fun part is that the new eggs are GREEN!

I'm sorry if all of this is WAY too much chicken information. We just had to share! We do love our chickens. If you happen to see Ben in person, be sure to ask him what a chicken sneeze sounds like, he does a great impression!!!

Stumpy keeping an eye on things.

Wahaha

2010-09-09T14:33:00.004-04:00

Eeew, FrankenFish.....click here for more.

Oh and I finally updated my photo album in the side-bar. Sorry for the delay, Grandparents!

Here's a wee little video taken with my wonky camera as consolation. xoxox

300th Post!

2010-08-31T22:39:00.008-04:00

I had to edit this post so that my 300th post was longer than a sentence, since my WigPosts have a tendency to be more like WigJournals at times, there's a ton of links throughout this, you may have to scroll over to see them, as I can't get blogger to change the color of my links:

"Just stayed up longer than I should have watching this documentary on Monsanto. All I can say is, ugh."

That's all I wrote last night. The following is bonus, for you WigReaders out there!

Today we had our second day of school (MWF is the plan, with fun activities with friends on T/Th). We're using "How to teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons" for reading and Math-U-See for Math. I previously bought the pre-school Rod & Staff curriculum, but am focusing on the essentials right now and may use those at another time.

Below are a few pictures of our school week, taken with my hand-me-down camera which, I recently remembered, was dropped and so it gives a fun funky look to the pictures that almost look like they were on purpose, but they werent. So, I'm preparing to buy a camera, as these may be fun, but they won't do for virtual tour pictures:

Z on his first day of pre-school

Here he and Juju are working on their scavenger hunts

Here's the results of the scavenger hunts, everything green for Juju and a list of backyard finds for Z.

I wish I could say it's been a breeze, but I'm learning as we go, how to help keep Juju occupied and keep Z's interest. I'm figuring out his learning style (more auditory, I think) and his tolerance, focus and frustration levels/triggers academically. I'm finding I work just fine in a loose schedule where I budget twice as long as I think I'll need to do something with him.

Happily, Z really enjoys the reading lessons and has already shown improvement in his blending abilities! Yes, in just two days! Juju worked on counting and colors today. She doesn't know her colors yet, but can count to seven along with me just fine. I'm amazed at how quickly we get through lessons and how much time there is to spare...I even cleaned my bathroom today! I'm not sure what I was doing with my time previously.

I'm reading this wonderful book called, "Plain" about plain living. I love books that inspire me to get off my duff, move more and turn off the t.v. Oh and I made these yummy peanut butter chocolate chip oatmeal cookies on Monday that I can't stop eating. Be sure to switch the measurements for white and brown sugar and to roll them into balls and press them down before cooking. Soooo good!

Finally, I have three blogs I must share with you! One is the travel journal of my mother-in-law from her mission trip to Chad, you might remember she's a mid-wife and delivered Z and Juju. She went and worked with pregnant women and their care providers. The pictures are outstanding!!!

Secondly, since my friend, Rachel suggested it, I've been following Andrea at The Sandbox as she shares her heart, her joys and struggles of breast cancer. She is a homeschooling mom of 5 and I find her inspirational.

Finally, I noticed today that our sweet Marcella updated her blog too! You might notice some of the people in her pictures. Here's a picture of what she made us for dinner the other night:

It was spicy fried rice. The salad on the side was to cool your mouth down. We loved it!

Thanks for reading my really long 300th WigPost!

Miss Marcella

2010-08-26T08:21:00.003-04:00

Meet Marcella! The newest addition to our WigFamily. Marcella comes to us through the IVEP (International Volunteer Exchange Program) and is sponsored by two churches where she'll be serving twenty hours a week at each. She will be here for one year.

We've had lots of adventures already and she only arrived last Thursday evening.

Making zucchini brownies

This week we say farewell to my sister-in-law, Debbi, who lived with us this Summer. She spent the first five months of this year in Uganda and we celebrated this past Monday with a big Ugandan dinner. She returns to Messiah College this weekend as a junior studying anthropology and sociology. I learned a lot from this amazing little sister of mine and know she will do great things in the future. Marcella likes her a lot too! Debbi knows what it's like to go to a country and live with a foreign family who doesn't speak your native language, and has taught us a lot through sharing her experiences.

We're getting ready to go to the grocery store for the first time since Marcella's arrival and I'm excited to see what she thinks. It's been interesting to learn how very different our cultures are, and yet how much we have in common as humans. Marcella is always smiling and very patient with our children...in fact she's listening to an interesting story that Z is telling her right now about smashing things. I'm off to rescue her...

My Daddy

2010-08-13T00:02:00.006-04:00

Yup! It's my Dad's birthday! Time to get out the old pictures and brag on him a bit. Truly, he is an international man of mystery. I don't know really what he does for a living, I never have. He always said, "I could tell you, but then I'd have to shoot you." Did I mention he was the one who taught me the Willie poems? He's got a very dry sense of humor, living in England for 16 years only encouraged this.

Here he is with my mom in 1974.

They got married a year later and celebrated 35 years this year.

We went on lots of adventures together. Here we are on a hike. He would later take mom and me to 27 countries and just as many states (not by piggyback). We loved to travel as a family, although he's been to countless countries without us now, how many passports have you filled, Dad?

All our earthly possessions were packed and we were on our way to California from Tennessee for Dad's linguistics school, it took a week to get there, and we broke down in the desert. That was the first of many moves for me. My Dad would forevermore write out his Christmas list in Persian, Farsi.

My Dad is an artist. He's one of those very complex people that can program a computer and paint a masterpiece too. He can also sing. Our special song we always sing together is, "Get a Job" by the Sha Na Nas. I loved when he sang in a barbershop quartet while we lived in Maryland. He can sing the really really low notes.

My family in 1983

I may have won a mother-daughter look-alike contest with my mom when I was sixteen...

...but there's no room for milkman jokes, he is clearly my Dad.

In 1997 he gave me away. Can you tell we love each other? We do, to pieces actually. He also shared with me a love for God. Growing up I'd jump onto Mom and Dad's bed for family Bible time and I recall great discussions on theology as a teenager. Remember the lemmings, Dad? He always has great analogies and maybe should have been a preacher.

Nine long years later, he became a Grandpa, and then I learned something about my Dad.

He loves our kids as much as he loves me and Ben. It's so fun to watch him with Z and Juju as he just comes alive. He can hardly say no to them and Z has caused serious (and irreversible) damage to my Dad's ipad in the past...twice. His interest in photography was reborn with the birth of our children and can be thanked for the wonderful catalog of pictures we have of them. He loves being a Grandpa, which is a very good thing indeed.

I hope you have a very happy birthday on Friday, the 13th, Dad! Such a fitting day for you, my funny, creative Dad, who loves Alfred Hitchcock (and shares a birthday with him) and who always has a Groucho Marx quote at the ready. I wish Germany wasn't so far away. I'm giving you hugs in my heart right now, wishing they were big bear hugs in person. I love you to pieces and always will.

Friday's Adventures

2010-08-07T07:59:00.008-04:00

Yesterday, Ben and his sister, Debbi, went to Kidron, Ohio to help some new friends of ours, Olin and Karen Geiser, slaughter about 80 chickens. They each had their part in the cleaning of them. Then they went to the Tuscarawas River and kayaked about 14 miles. They left at 7am and came home a little after 6pm...exhausted and stinky. Neither one took any pictures of either adventure and neither one is prone to showing much excitement, but Debbi said last night, "It was my kind of day."

They did bring back a few "mouse melons" from the Geiser farm. They look like little watermelons, hence the name "sandita" in Spanish ("little watermelon") but taste more like cucumbers. Here's where you can find the seeds to grow this recently rediscovered heirloom that evidently tastes good on salads. Z is not a big fan of their slighly sour taste, but I think they're neat! I'm still figuring out my new camera, sorry the focus is off! Have a great weekend!

A really long post that gets more exciting as it goes!

2010-08-02T12:31:00.009-04:00

The bountiful harvest from our community garden. Notice I don't show you a picture of all the weeds in the garden. That's symbolic for something worth mentioning. Below I will share with you much of the bountiful harvest God's given us in our lives. Please don't assume that our lives are perfect or that we are because we share our happy news with you. We'll share the yuck too, but only in metered doses due to the public nature of this medium. We are sinners, who somebody had to die for and we are completely undeserving of all the good that we share. Come, rejoice with us!!

Good ole' Gwennie and Wing-Wing (above)

Meet "Stumpy" our foster chicken. We took her in after her pen mates were pecking her to death (literally) a good month ago. This is the first time she's been able to have her picture taken, she was in too bad of shape for public viewing. The picture definitely shows her better side. Her back end is still naked as a jay bird. Her name was "Frizz" as she's a Frizzle breed, but she had a Biblical name change after her wing feathers were completely pecked off, now all you see are little stumps like you dip in sauce on Wing Night. She's the smallest of the chickens because she's a bantam but she is the oldest and subsequently our only "layer" right now. We get one small egg a day from old Stumpy. She's feisty, runs with a giant waddle that makes me laugh out loud and lays her eggs in the corner of the coop where she makes her nest since she can't fly up to the laying boxes.

We had a rough week this week with the chickens and lost our Mutsu (above left). We actually lost two chickens this week, but after a brown tailed hawk swooped down to attack, the remaining 8 chickens ran into the corn field behind us to hide and came back with one of the missing chickens (a no name Welsummer) and so we have nine. We had some hope that Mutsu might also make a miraculous return, but our hope is dwindling as each day passes. Her Polish buddy, Ping, misses her very much, but is beginning to move on with her life. Glad I took these pictures the day before she went missing!

Remember in a previous chicken post, that beautiful chick who, I said, should be named because she's so beautiful, but we hadn't thought of anything? Well, we thought of a name! Meet "Mrs. Crooked Toes"! Yes, she's married. It's arranged anyways, Mr. Rooster will be joining the flock shortly (each hen has chosen to keep her own last name for the sake of individuality in their polygamist family- I checked and this is kosher for chickens). I'm praying we don't lose anymore chickens, we've gone from 11 of our own to 8, plus Stumpy makes nine now.

The above are the last of the pictures taken with my camera. Ben took it apart to fix the smoking problem it had and we agreed it wasn't worth trying to put back together. Thankfully, my mom gave me her old camera a while back and if I can find the charger for it's battery I'll be in business again. I kinda need to find it before I get another order for virtual tours. I did three last week. I don't think taking panoramic shots with my cell phone would be a good idea.

I have a confession. I've been holding out on you all. Big time. My laundry life has been so exciting that I'm not even sure why you've ever read this blog before now. I've decided to come out of the closet, the time has come. Hold on to your britches! I have been making my own laundry detergent since January of this year. I liked it so much I found a recipe for fabric softener too. Then I started making shampoo for Ben. He loves it. I haven't told you all because I didn't want it to be a passing phase I was going through, like, "Guess what I'm doing everybody!" but then stop doing it, y'know? So, now that I've been doing it for seven months, I can officially share with the world what I'm doing. I also bought a drying rack from Amish country last Fall and hung our laundry to dry in front of the wood stove all winter long. Spring came and I took a break from hang drying, but was reinspired when Ben's sister, Debbi, moved in with us for the Summer. She hand washed all her clothes when she moved in as she spent her Spring semester in Uganda. She now lets us throw her clothes in the wash with ours, but she still bathes out of a bucket like she did there.

Anyways, the move to make my own laundry detergent came when our friend, Matt Sebree, sent me this recipe:

Homemade Laundry Detergent

Yields 10 gallons. (cost approx. $5-$8 dollars a batch)

Ingredients:

4 cups of hot tap water

1 bar of Burt's Bee's body soap or any other natural soap you feel safe using

1 cup of Arm & Hammer Super washing Soda (not baking soda and not the A & H laundry detergent)

1/2 cup of Borax

Equipment needed:

Cheese grater

5 gallon bucket with lid (an ale pale with a spigot works great)

Tall stirring spoon

Smaller containers for dispensing

Directions:

1. Grate bar of soap into sauce pan with hot tap water and still continually over medium heat until dissolved

2. Fill 5 gallon bucket half full with hot tap water.

3. Add melted soap, washing soda, and borax.

4. Stir well until dissolved and fill bucket to the 5 gallon mark with more hot tap water.

5. Stir, cover, and allow to sit overnight.

6. Optional: add an essential oils such as lavender, rosemary or tea tree oil (good anti-bacterial oil)

This 5 gallons of liquid is your concentrate, to use:

1. Stir well

2. Mix it 50/50 with water in an old laundry detergent bottle for easy dispensing.

3. Use 1/2 cup with regular washing machines or 1/4 cup in HE machines.

This batch will yield 10 gallons of chemical free and safe laundry detergent.

Can be used as a pre-treatment

For an inexpensive alternative to fabric softener, add 1 cup of vinegar to the rinse cycle (will not leave smell and increase the absorbency of your towels)

One batch lasted our family of four (and random guests who stay for weeks/months at a time) six months. So, I just made my second batch of it. It makes a ton!!! Note: Use hot/warm water to dilute at the end, as it ends up super lumpy otherwise. I have tried two different laundry softener recipes and much much much prefer this one to the recipes that have one to one ratio of baking soda and vinegar as the baking soda ends up all over the laundry room. I used this website to pick out a good shampoo recipe. I make the Step 2: Stimulate recipe for Ben and am still searching for the perfect recipe for me. Next on my "make it myself" agenda is HAIR GEL! I found this recipe and am excited to try it!

Finally, I saved the best for last! On August 19th, our family will welcome a 24 year old girl from Jakarta, Indonesia who will live with us for one year! She is sort of a missionary to America. She comes to us via the IVEP program (International Volunteer Exchange Program) and is sponsored by two churches. One of the churches has a coffee shop as a ministry and she'll be working there twenty hours a week and the other church is ours, where she'll be doing random miscellaneous jobs for twenty hours a week. We are excited to meet her, get to know her personality and culture. Maybe we'll even learn how to make some Indonesian food! We are busy preparing her room and reorganizing the house for her arrival. We look forward to meeting you, Marcella!

**UPDATE**

Good news! I found the charger, it was labeled "CAMERA" Thanks for the clue, Dad! Thanks for the hand-me-down, Mom!!

Like reading a job description, and liking it.

2010-07-26T12:49:00.005-04:00

It sat on my shelf for far too long, then, perhaps out of desperation, I loaned it to a friend, who loved it, then I had to read it. "Don't make me Count to Three!" by Ginger Plowman is my Summer pick for 'the book to tell everyone about' and I have been! Regina, Anna, Melissa W., Emily Y., and Melinda C. have all read it since this Spring and I've got more people in line! So far it's the only parenting book I've ever read that I can jive with. It looks at the child's heart, not the behavior and challenges us parents to do what we know we should do, take the time to teach the right behavior and not just punish the wrong. It does not condone counting to three or threatening consequences (guilty!) even if you do follow through. It's philosophy is that the child should obey, "all the way, right away and with a happy heart" (shouldn't we all?). It encourages creative discipline all the time and spankings under certain circumstances, however, none of this happens without a simple Scripture that reinforces what crime has been committed, and more importantly what God would have us do instead. Essentially, putting off the old, putting on the new, then most importantly, she encourages role-play, so the child practices the right behavior.

One heart-probing example of parenting was given in the book that I was able to try out with little Z just after reading it: We were with some friends at their house and their little boy was playing with a toy lawn mower for quite a while. Z came to me and said, "Mommy, Tommy won't share the lawn mower," now normally I would say, "Did you ask him nicely if you could have a turn?" But, instead, I said, "Does it look like Tommy is having fun with the lawn mower?" Z nodded eagerly. Then I asked, "Don't you want your friend to have fun and be happy?" His face started to sag. "The loving thing to do is to wait until Tommy is done with the lawn mower, then you may ask him if you can play with it. You may find another toy to play with while you're waiting." Z didn't need anymore help that day, though some days he does. He watched him for a while until he found another toy to play with. Finally, Tommy was done and Z got his turn.

It gave me direction and tons of examples of a Biblical model for parenting, not to mention really handy Scriptures like "[Love] finds no pleasure in injustice done to others, but joyfully sides with the truth." That's a handy one when someone decides it's fun to taunt his sister by pointing a stick at her until she cries, over and over and over, or "Love is not rude," for back talkers or for interrupters, "Love is patient, Love is not self-seeking and is not easily angered." All of these were found in 1 Corinthians 13, but she had lots of awesome verses, but my handy reference guide is still out on loan. Well, I guess I still have this one:

It's a quick reference guide ($3.99) also by Ginger Plowman, shaped like a calendar, with common behavior problems, questions to ask to probe the heart, Scriptures to "reproof" (put off the bad), reprove (put on the good) and extra verses for special occasions. This author definitely met a need in my life, as it can feel a little out of control and cloudy at times as to whether I'm doing the right thing for the ones I love most.

I'm striving for becoming the kind of parent that only is a "helicopter parent" when it comes to heart issues, not controlling their every move. But, I want to be right on (not that I'm perfect at this!) the sin in their heart, as I don't want it to take root in their lives...and it's my job. On the topic of helicopter parents, my college friend, Rachel (a feisty, common sense mother of eight), linked us to this site in a recent post that addresses how common sense in child rearing has been all but forgotten in our highly protective, fear based society. It was an interesting read, to say the least!

I'm now reading, "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle," by Barbara Kingsolver and "Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls. Both are very intriguing so far. I'll keep you posted!

My best yet Indian dish

2010-07-11T14:12:00.011-04:00

I. Love. Indian. Food. There, I finally found something to say worthy of one word sentences. Indian food is slow food, takes lots of time to make, but they believe that the more work that goes into a meal, the better it is for you.

Last Summer I met a new friend at the park who is from India. As we got to know each other a bit, she said she'd love to teach me how to make Indian food, which I've been trying to do all by myself for years now. What an amazing experience!! Her mother-in-law led the cooking tutorial and Anita whizzed around the kitchen doing this and that. Both of them flitted in and out of the kitchen to check on the kids (four between us) while I took as many notes as possible to not forget all that I learned. I have made this numerous times now, I can't even count, and it is hands down the best Indian food I know how to make. The following recipes are written separately, though they were combined in my notes as they made them simultaneously. However, true to Indian cooking tradition, the recipes are written experientially, just as you would do them, not with ingredients in a list, then directions.

Sauteeing the onion, and spices (unmixed)

Garbanzo Bean Curry

Puree three onions in food processor, set aside in separate bowl

Puree 6 garlic cloves, 1” ginger, 1 med. Hot chili (green long skinny), set aside in separate bowl

Puree one 14oz can undrained tomatos, set aside in separate bowl

In another bowl, microwave 3 cans chickpeas (undrained) for 5-8 minutes (cover, they pop!)

In large skillet put:

3 T oil

2T butter

Pureed onion

1t. sea salt

In small bowl mix:

½ t turmeric

1t. garam masala

1t. chili powder (can use American or Indian hot chili powder)

2t. sea salt

2T Punjabi Chhole Masala, also called Chana Masala. (don't skimp on this!)

After cooking onions for 10 minutes add garlic mixture, mix well, add spices, mix well, add tomatos. Cook at medium heat. With potato masher, mash chickpeas half way. Add to pot of onions and spices. Add 1c. water. Turn up heat to medium high 10-15 minutes. Add a little salt. Serve with puri, naan or rice.

Poori/Puri

___________________

Poori is that scrumptious soft, puffy flat bread that they serve at Indian restaurants. I never in a million years thought I'd actually learn how to make it!! This recipe lasts my family of three adults and two kids at least three meals. Anita used this bread to scoop up the curry, had no rice and used no utensils. We usually make rice and do a mixture of forks and bread scooping.

In large bowl combine 4c. all purpose flour, 1 c. wheat flour

Add 2 T. vegetable oil and 1/2 cup plain yoghurt, mix with your hands.

Add 1/2 c. warm (not hot) water and mix by hand.

Add 1t. oil to make it smooth, get on your hands and knees and knead vigorously in a bowl on the floor for several minutes until dough is firm. That's what my friend did, so I copy her.

Let sit for a while (doesn't matter, longer is probably better, or you can freeze it until ready to use). Then grab a little dough and roll out into flat rounds (or oblongs like mine). A skinny rolling pin is easier to work with and what my friend used.

Rolling out the purri

Oops, too thin.

That's better. 1.5mm is just about perfect.

Don't have the oil up too high or they'll fry hard as a rock.

Medium to Medium high heat is perfect.

This is my current favorite dinner to make and to eat. If you're feeling fiesty, run over to your nearest Indo-Asian Grocer and pick up some spices!! Or order them on-line. You'll be glad you did!!!

Happy Birthday Buddy!!!

2010-06-28T11:01:00.007-04:00

Dear Buddy,

Thirteen years ago today your Daddy and I got married. I wanted a baby very very much. It wasn't practical though as we were in college, then when I realized that I had a degree I could do nothing with until I got a Master's degree and a license, I kept going, and kept waiting. It was a difficult time for me, as my heart wanted children, but my mind knew we needed to wait a while longer. When I graduated we were in debt* and I needed to work so I did for five years. During that time we began doing foster care and got dogs, in part, because I ached to have children. Finally, on June 27th, 2006, we welcomed you into the world, we celebrated our ninth anniversary in the hospital with one cute baby Z.

I share this with you because just as I longed for you, you have been very eager for your birthday. A week after your last birthday you began to ask when your next birthday is. You have talked about it on a weekly basis, if not daily for the entire year. Every time we went to a birthday party or ate out and heard that familiar tune, "Happy Birthday to you..." you cried. We were unable to read books to you that referenced birthdays birthdays for fear that it might stir up that eagerness in you for something that was months away. Finally, it was upon us.

Saturday was your last day as a three year old. I savored every moment with you. I got to hold you after you hit your mouth on the desk while you were being silly walking around with a towel over your head. I was so glad your teeth were ok and you only got a bloody lip. I thought a loss of teeth would be the icing on the cake after you cut your own hair the day before, leaving a giant gap in the middle of your bangs. Just in time for your party. You danced, jumped on the bed, we played library and played outside. At lunch as we sat at the table, I decided to ask my soon to be four year old boy a big boy question, just to make conversation.

M- "Who is God?"

Z - "I don't know."

M - "What do you know about God?"

Z - "God is dead." [I'm in shock, have you been reading Nietzche?]

M - "What did you say?"

Z - "God is dead." [now I'm feeling like a bad mom]

M - "What makes you say that?"

Z - "He died on a cross." [huge relief right about now]

I proceeded to talk to you about how Jesus, who is God, did, in fact, die to pay for the sins of Mommy, Daddy, Buddy, and Juju. He died so we don't have to, then He rose again and still lives today. You listened, then asked to play thumb war with me. I obliged and you beat me...again...with the help of your other hand.

After your nap, Daddy took you to the community farm with your sister so I could work on your cake and wrap presents for the big party we had on Sunday. You shared a party with your cousin, Jenna, Aunt Biz and Uncle Andy as you do every year. You got horrible sunburn on your back from playing in the pool and too few sun lotion applications but you had so much fun and slept all the way home.

We hid some of your presents to pull out later, as you got so many toys. They'll be fun on a rainy day. We'll be going through old toys today and giving some away. Today your Daddy is off work and he made you a fort out of giant appliance boxes from our friends at Weaver Appliance. You put on a puppet show for us today out of one of them. The four of us played hide and seek together upstairs, played checkers with Fruit Loops and played with your new toys. You're a four year old now and I'm very proud of the big boy you are. I hope your birthday was all that you had hoped for it to be, I know meeting you has been a dream come true for me.

All my love,

Mom

*We still have that stinky loan of mine to pay off, but thankfully it's the last one we have. Hopefully when you're old enough to read this and understand it, we'll be completely out of debt!

P.S. Here's one more video of you and your sister on your last day as a three year old:

ON-AIR

2010-06-26T15:13:00.010-04:00

"Welcome to Lake Wobegon, where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average." -opening line of Prairie Home Companion

We were given two tickets (thanks, Dad and Amy!) to see Garrison Keillor perform his radio show, "Prairie Home Companion" live at Blossom Music Theater last Saturday. We declared it an early anniversary date, my mom cheerfully watched the kiddos for us, and we grabbed Chipotle on our way. Blossom is an outdoor theater, with a giant pavillion then a big hill surrounding it all around that you can picnic on. Years ago, before kids, or foster kids, we sat on the hill with friends and watched Garrison Keillor, but we couldn't hear very much. This time we were front and center, just a few rows back. We got a mini-concert before the show went live on the air. It was great!

We decided you can hear the nuances of genius, Fred Newman, better over the radio than live, but it was neat to see him at work. Surprisingly, he uses a lot of hand gestures.

Ricky Scaggs and his band, Kentucky Thunder played some wonderful

blue grass music that we loved.

Here's what he looks like now:

And you have to love a guy who can get away with wearing an ivory suit, with a pink dress shirt, red tie and red sneakers. Really. By the way, it was blazing hot, or at least felt like it here in Ohio in the 80s and yet, Garrison kept that jacket and tie on the whole time.

We were most impressed at the story time which was toward the end of the show. He literally walked around the stage with no notes or anything and just told us a great story of Lake Wobegon. Even if he had written it or outlined it earlier in the week, it was long enough and good enough to wow us with the fact that it was coming right out of him. Something we never appreciated from listening over the radio.

We so enjoy listening to Prairie Home Companion on NPR, it wouldn't be much of a show without Garrison Keillor, so we'll enjoy it while we can.

Scenes from SLC

2010-06-05T15:59:00.004-04:00

What's the Juju girl all dressed for? Well, we took her with us a couple of weekends ago to Utah. She did great on the plane and handled all the transitions wonderfully. Z stayed home with my mom who watched him for us. She's visiting with us for several weeks and my dad is here too for almost two weeks.

The groom was (and is) our dear friend, Matt, from LeTourneau University. He and Ben roomed together for a while at Lambda Alpha Sigma (the aviation society) before we got married. He brought his lovely girlfriend to meet us in October last year and we couldn't help but love her too. You might recall, she's a knitter, and a very good one! I had to get a picture of what she knitted for her flower girl and junior bride's maid to wear for the big day (she made the whole outfit, shoes and all!)

They had the wedding at Matt's house, where they now live happily ever after. They had a cellist play their favorite classical songs, you can see her a little above her at the top of the landing. They wrote their own vows, had communion and special prayers by each of their brothers and only had, I think, 14 people present. We were VERY honored to be among them.

The next day we checked out the sights, ate at an In'N'out Burger, and visited with old friends who live in the SLC area. The newlyweds took off for Switzerland and are back already, they had a great trip, they said.

It was simply beautiful there. I'm afraid, though, we're going to have to stick to Ohio. The dryness did nothing for Juju's hair. As soon as our plane landed in the midwest, her curls sprang back to life and we all sighed with relief.

A moment of silence, please.

2010-05-31T08:55:00.005-04:00

RIP

Nutmeg 4/25/10-5/29/10

We were enjoying a lovely dinner out with the family on Saturday night at Der Dutchman. I thought, "We should really get back to the chicks to lock them up for the night..." Ben told me later that he thought the same thing. As we drove home at 9pm we watched the sun set. The dogs were barking wildly in the house when I came in and I let them out, as Ben and Z were slowly making their way from the car to the coop to put the chicks away for the night. The dogs tore up the hill straight to the coop, barking wildly. Z came down to tell me that a chickie was dead. I gave him a hug and was thankful it wasn't more as our friends with the incubator lost all of their chickens just a week ago. Z cried and cried after we put him to bed that night. Ben and I had heavy hearts too. The next morning after I watered the garden, I went to see which one it was, and I only counted nine chicks. We had eleven.

We think a raccoon got into the coop. Mean old coon just killed 'em and didn't even eat them. Thankfully our naked dogs ran up and scared him away before he got more of our birds. Also, we're thankful it was likely two roosters (sorry Nutmeg!). You only need one rooster and we were thinking we had 2-3. Now time will tell if we have any. Currently, none are apparent roosters.

Thankfully, we still have:

Gwen (who, like her mother, is not very photogenic)

Mutsu and Ping (the fiesty duo)

and Z's special Wing-Wing who is adventurous and sweet,

along with five other no-namers, that used to be six (may he or she also rest in peace). These pictures were taken last Monday when we put them outside for the first time. They absolutely loved it. It was like watching prisoners set free. They would jump and run and play. They love their new coop that Ben built with a ramp to take them into the yard. The fence is only for honest chickens, Ben likes to say, because it doesn't keep them in as much as tell them where their boundaries are. He's been training them to come to him when he calls. We're pretty sure they think he's their mommy. Silly birds! I'm the mommy!

We had a lovely weekend with family. How special to have my grandparents from TN here, aunt and uncle from NJ, cousins from PA, NJ and MD, as well as my parents from Germany. Such a good time we had, I hope to share pictures soon. Happy Memorial Day!

My still to do list:

2010-05-28T15:31:00.003-04:00

Five virtual tours (check), two exterior updates, make lentil soup for tonight, grape salad for Sunday, two loaves of bread for Sunday, get groceries (check), get stuff together for references about secret adventure, advertise Karen Geiser's seminar on eating with the seasons for June 18th at our church, call a few people, hang a balloon outside so family finds the house ok. Then I can update WigLife. {sigh}

Open Eyes, Open Mouth

2010-05-19T07:03:00.004-04:00

Found these in Proverbs this morning, like I'd never seen them before:

28:27 "He who gives to the poor will not lack, but he who hides his eyes will have many curses."

29:7 "The righteous considers the cause of the poor, But the wicked does not understand such knowledge."

From my Baptist grandparents, I learned evangelism. From my Presbyterian (PCA) heritage, we learned theology. From Ben's Christian Missionary Alliance heritage, we learned the importance of missions. When we dabbled in Catholicism, we learned about tradition and history. When we were Apostolic, we learned about the Holy Spirit. When we became non-conservative Mennonites a year and a half ago, we were exposed to a part of the church body that we'd not seen before, the social justice crusaders.

I have learned to appreciate all of our experiences with different branches of the body of Christ. We are enjoying our newest adventure, and are joining with them in passionate cries for those who suffer throughout the world. For now, as a new church, we are focusing our energies on the local poor and a sister church in Colombia, South America, who with so much less than we have, is making a profound impact on its neighborhood. Ben and I are taking Spanish classes at church so that we can speak to our community's dominate poor population from Guatemala and Mexico and correspond with our sister church.

Before joining this church we didn't know any poor people. Not personally. We had a Compassion kid in Haiti, but that was it. For whatever reason, poor people want to come to our church, and it's been great to see imperfect people in the pews, like ourselves. There always were in other churches, but not that we could tell from looking at them. It's symbolic of the humble spirit that permeates our services. Where we share our flaws, our triumphs and little and big ways we see God every week.

It's funny, how I've read the Proverbs 31 woman so many times and never noticed how just before it was this:

31:8&9 "Open your mouth for the speechless, in the cause of all who are appointed to die. Open your mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy."

Meet the crew

2010-05-12T22:29:00.003-04:00

Gwen (My Favorite)

Center we have Nutmeg (who we think is a rooster because he struts and is getting a comb already), with Mutsu and Ping to his left and right respectively. Far left are no-name chicks.

This is Wing-Wing, named and loved by Z

This one has no name, but should because she's beautiful!

Note the difference in orange legs vs. gray legs. Ameraucanas have the gray, Welsummer have bright orange and the Polish mop tops are somewhere in the middle.

All the way in Iowa

2010-05-07T19:25:00.008-04:00

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

Looks like it was practically my birthday in this picture above! Just a year ago we were together. Juju and I so enjoyed our visit. Grandpa made us breakfast as he does for Grandma everyday. What an honor.

My mom tells me that when she was born, Grandpa was a preacher. He still memorizes Scripture constantly along with my Grandma. Both are able to whip out the perfect Scripture, in King James Version no less, at the perfect time, in a perfectly loving way. He is active in his church ministering in innovative ways door to door. Below are stacks of Bible verses and evangelism questions and answers to help people come to know Christ.

My Grandpa makes the best duckie sounds ever, and is famous for his funny sounds - suck in and say, "Oh-whoa-whoa-whoa"...oooh, not bad, but he can do it better. He LOVES the Cardinals and playing Dominos with good friends. He has a gorgeous singing voice and sings solos in church.

Grandpa and his father

He's a man of mystery, every time I visit him, I learn something new about his life. Like the fact that he grew up on a horse farm! He worked as a cook in the Marines during the Korean War. He worked as a security guard for a while and worked in heating and cooling for a while. There's so much I still have to learn about him. We have always lived far apart from each other, which has made us sweethearts. Always wanting to be closer to each other.

Knowing how much Grandpa loves to share Christ with people, I helped him set up his very own blog. He was a little shy at first, perhaps daunted at the possibility of so many people possibly reading his thoughts, but he's found a way to make it his own. His children and grandchildren are notified whenever he posts to the blog, which is usually a monthly Bible verse that he and Grandma are memorizing. He has also shared his personal testimony and other stories of interest on there, so check it out!

He's a man of few words, but his legacy is clear, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself." Luke 10:27

We love you, Grandpa, and hope you had a very happy birthday!

Siblings

2010-05-05T07:10:00.002-04:00

I took this video while we were changing sheets and doing laundry, and I thought to myself how perfect! Such a great clip of the kids playing together, and with no fighting! I continue to be amazed at the wonder that is "siblings". As an only child, I had no idea what to expect when we had our second child. So, I am enamored with interactions like the one above, sorry if it doesn't compete with Thursday night line up. These are our simple WigLives.

Last Monday Morning

2010-05-02T14:53:00.005-04:00

Dear Juju, Perhaps it was because you weren't exactly dainty...

...and fell on concrete, the bathtub and gravel countless times...

...or perhaps it was just bad dental genes...

...or perhaps, it was both. When I noticed you had a loose front tooth, we took you to the dentist. He took an X-ray which revealed that it was broken above the gum AND that it was a Siamese twin in it's root system with the tooth next to it. The break was a potential source of infection and the pulp was already swelling. So, they both had to be extracted. We knew the broken tooth was bothering you as you favored the other side when you ate and you hated getting it brushed.

We found a pediatric oral surgeon who does this procedure all the time. We were glad they didn't want to use general anesthesia, but knew you wouldn't like being restrained. When we went for the consultation last Monday, we were a little surprised when they said the teeth had to come out immediately. You were so brave and it seemed that you were thankful to have the incessant pain gone.

Mommy and Daddy love you no matter what and are sad that you had to have this done. We're mostly thankful that it wasn't worse! We're getting used to your new smile, which will change again when you are 5 or 6 years old and your adult teeth come in. Thankfully, we are told, any speech problems that might arise from this usually correct themselves when the new teeth are in place. You are eating apples and normal foods again like a champ and it hasn't been a whole week since they were pulled.

We love you, sweet Juju, and hope you don't mind Mommy dressing you up like a pirate for Halloween for the next few years! xoxoxo

Five more chicks

2010-04-27T21:51:00.004-04:00

Out of a dozen eggs, five hatched and time will tell how many are roosters. The five Welsummers are brown with stripes and look very similar to two of our Ameraucanas, who, we are told can take on the look of any breed. The Welsummers have orange feet which help us identify them, the Ameraucanas have grayish feet and puffy cheeks. The new babies have integrated nicely with the six we got yesterday, it helps they all hatched on Sunday and are the same size.

Here they are all sleeping.

A Polish chick taking a drink

Welcome little chicks, we are so excited to have you in our basement. Z can't wait until tomorrow when you turn three days old and he's allowed to hold you for the first time. Next week we'll invite little friends to come and visit you. What a great experience this is for all of us.