Please, please, please WATCH THIS!

Okay I'm really not the green peace, tree hugging type. But I do believe that we have a biblical responsability to care for the earth that God has given us. I also believe that the society we are living in today teaches us the opposite of the bible. It is a society focused on "stuff" and how much of it we can get and what we can do to get it. We are supposed to go without the stuff and "Store up our treasures in heaven" after all "everything is meaningless". We are chasing after the wind. I'm not sure about everything on the webpage that I have linked to in the blog title but I can tell you I totally agree with the video on the blog. It'll be worth the 20 minutes to watch. Let your kids watch it! It's clean ;) Just click on the title and it will take you to the page.

The Story of Stuff.

Health in my home.

Emma is sick. I am starting to wonder what I'm doing to my family. Accept for last week, someone has been sick since the middle of December. She has a fever and is coughing. I have had my children secluded from other people for the most part, due to the fact that they have been sick and I don't want them to catch anything else.

There is a lot of work to be done here in the Wiebe home. There is a coop to clean and a home to organize and children to teach and most importantly, hold and nourish and enrich.

Have I even mentioned that I LOVE blogging. My mind if full of ideas. But my time is very limited. Right now I am sitting at a very messy desk. Something that has needed to be addressed for quite some time now. Next to the messy desk is a messy table and a half organized school room. I very badly need to go to town but I cannot drag Emma around and I cannot ask anyone to come watch her as they may get sick.

But I am not panicked. I have peace in my heart and I know that it is because I am surrounded by a loving God who sees my faults and gently leads me away from them. To work hard and care for my family... even when they are eating icing sugar from the bag.

Still I covet your prayers. This has been a hard time in our home. We have had a lot of good days of snuggling and watching movies, but not enough days to reading and science. I need to complete a portfolio in the next two weeks and I am not looking forward to it after this last stretch of sickness. I'm afraid it will be sparse, I'm afraid they are always sparse. This is the season of "littles". I can see it coming to an end as my son learns to do laundry and sweep floors. There is a light coming in the tunnel and I am praising God for his faithfulness!

Also I have a special project that I have been working on, slowly. It will be some time before it is all up and running but I'll just say this. My very small home business is about to face a very large shift. I am very excited and ask that you would bathe this in prayer as I seek to minister where God has planted me. Oh I guess I should talk to Mr. SuperFantastic about it before I announce it. Funny how we overlook these things ;)

Well I know it wasn't very exciting, but it's where we're at. I hope that you are fairing better than we are wherever you are!

I have posted a scripture below that is speaking into my life today.

Health in my home.

Proverbs 3
Further Benefits of Wisdom
1 My son, do not forget my teaching,
but keep my commands in your heart,
2 for they will prolong your life many years
and bring you prosperity.
3 Let love and faithfulness never leave you;
bind them around your neck,
write them on the tablet of your heart.
4 Then you will win favor and a good name
in the sight of God and man.
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make your paths straight.
7 Do not be wise in your own eyes;
fear the LORD and shun evil.
8 This will bring health to your body
and nourishment to your bones.
9 Honor the LORD with your wealth,
with the firstfruits of all your crops;
10 then your barns will be filled to overflowing,
and your vats will brim over with new wine.
11 My son, do not despise the LORD's discipline
and do not resent his rebuke,
12 because the LORD disciplines those he loves,
as a father the son he delights in.
13 Blessed is the man who finds wisdom,
the man who gains understanding,
14 for she is more profitable than silver
and yields better returns than gold.
15 She is more precious than rubies;
nothing you desire can compare with her.
16 Long life is in her right hand;
in her left hand are riches and honor.
17 Her ways are pleasant ways,
and all her paths are peace.
18 She is a tree of life to those who embrace her;
those who lay hold of her will be blessed.
19 By wisdom the LORD laid the earth's foundations,
by understanding he set the heavens in place;
20 by his knowledge the deeps were divided,
and the clouds let drop the dew.
21 My son, preserve sound judgment and discernment,
do not let them out of your sight;
22 they will be life for you,
an ornament to grace your neck.
23 Then you will go on your way in safety,
and your foot will not stumble;
24 when you lie down, you will not be afraid;
when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.
25 Have no fear of sudden disaster
or of the ruin that overtakes the wicked,
26 for the LORD will be your confidence
and will keep your foot from being snared.
27 Do not withhold good from those who deserve it,
when it is in your power to act.
28 Do not say to your neighbor,
"Come back later; I'll give it tomorrow"—
when you now have it with you.
29 Do not plot harm against your neighbor,
who lives trustfully near you.
30 Do not accuse a man for no reason—
when he has done you no harm.
31 Do not envy a violent man
or choose any of his ways,
32 for the LORD detests a perverse man
but takes the upright into his confidence.
33 The LORD's curse is on the house of the wicked,
but he blesses the home of the righteous.
34 He mocks proud mockers
but gives grace to the humble.
35 The wise inherit honor,
but fools he holds up to shame.

Pictures

This week Emma and I came across some really fun fabric and decided that she could use a new skirt. I've really been wanting to make a three tiered skirt and when I found a coordinating fabric in my stash and a shirt that worked with it at the Sally Ann I was inspired to get started. This morning I woke up with a bit of a flu bug. I had energy but just needed to take it easy so it seemed like a perfect sewing day.

Here is Emma at her sewing machine. It is a smaller than normal Shark brand from Canadian Tire. It was Emma's Christmas gift from my aunt and if you are just wanting to try out sewing I would recommend this machine. It has all the stitches you would need to get started and it's worked great!

This is Emma's third sewing project on her machine. She has also made a purse and done the waist and hem on a pair of pants for Joe. The first time I sat down with Emma I was amazed at how well she did. She has been doing hand sewing for over a year but I was very nervous to get her in front of a machine. She is only going to be six in March! She does AMAZING! I have to do very little correcting and for the most part just remind her to watch her fabric and keep it straight. I am not ready to leave her at the machine by herself but I am very excited about her ability. I sew and therefore it is very exciting to see that my daughter shows a natural gifting for it. She is very eager as well and is always willing to do a seam for me :)

Here she is in the finished product. Emma's job was to sew all of the strips together and I have to say she did great!

This is a close up of the skirt. I am hoping to do a tutorial of how I made this for any of you that sew. I am very happy with it but there are still a few things that I would do differently the next time around.

And the best part!! It spins wonderfully!!

Today since I was sick the kids pitched in a lot. I am now feeling very reassured about having a baby in six weeks. Adon and Emma cleaned my kitchen, hung the wash and spent a lot of time with Joe. Here they are watching Baby Einstein with him. He sat in that chair for the entire movie and a bit after. He loved it!

And really, what's better than hanging out with the big kids eating Gold Fish Crackers?

I just have to say how blessed I have been by Adon lately. Ephrim has been needing a lot of extra attention lately and hasn't been doing well at night. This is how I found them the other night. Adon has been so good to his little brother, making sure that he isn't lonely. I love him!

And here is Joe. He is now fully mobile and naughty. But so stinkin' cute! There are so many times that he's snuggling me and I think about how sad it is that I wasn't able to nurse him. It's such an amazing time that I've enjoyed a lot with the other two that I was able to nurse.... and then...

... there are times when I think "ummm... nope I'm okay";)

Couldn't you just bite those toes? His, not mine.

Here's my cup Lord
I lift it up Lord
Come and quench this thirsting of my soul
Bread of heaven feed me till I want no more
Here's my cup, fill it up and make me whole!

Enriching my home.

Enabler – enabling your children to reach their full destiny.
Endearer – endearing your family to each another.
Enhancer – enhancing the atmosphere of love and joy in your home, making it richer day by day.
Enlarger – enlarging your heart to the needs of your family, and maybe even some orphans.
Enlightener – giving understanding and enlightenment of the ways of God to your children.
Enlivener – making your home alive with the presence of God.
Ennobler – training your children to be honorable and noble in all things.
Enthraller – enthralling your children with new ideas, creativity and the wonders of God’s creation.
Enthuser – enthusing your children to be ardent for God.
Entertainer – keeping your little children happy.
Enticer – enticing your children into the joy of prayer and reading God’s living Word.
Enveloper – wrapping your children around with protection and love.
Envisioner – giving vision and hope to each member of the family.
Energizer – releasing the spirit of work and creativity in the home.
Engraver – engraving the names of your children upon your heart in prayer. (Exodus 28:29-30)
Entreater – entreating your children to keep a straight course in the ways of God.

Tubular dude.

When I say the word Tubular I don't think of the shape, I think of surfers. And on to the real reason I'm posting.

Ephrim had ear tubes put in today. This is his third set of tubes. Ear tubes are very common with cleft palates. They are pretty common for children without cleft palates. Here is my interpretation of why cleft palate kids need tubes.

The Eustation Tubes (number 7) are a little tunnel from the middle ear to the back of the throat. Fluid drains from the ear through these tubes. The eustation tubes are held open or closed with muscles. The muscles of the palate somehow affect this. I'm not sure if they are the same muscles or not.. if you know please tell me. So the boy's palates don't work and therefore the muscles that control the eustation tubes don't work. The tubes lay open all the time and whenever the kids throw up his middle ear gets full of stuff... and it doesn't drain properly.

Ephrim's hearing was very impared. That was our cue that he needed another set of tubes again and when he had his hearing test in Vancouver they agreed. So in he went this morning. He was very calm and I was very proud of how well he did. Ephrim has never reacted well when coming out of anasthetic. He becomes very wild and borderline violent. This is pretty common for kids and if you've ever seen Ephrim have a tantrum you wouldn't be suprised to watch him come out of anasthetic. Kids react very differently to the feeling of "waking up". Adon was all smiles and very peaceful and the nurses loved him. If Ephrim has to have tubes again and is much bigger, Dalen may have to come with us to keep him from hurting himself. He did however get back to normal much faster than last time and he responded to my voice. I'm starting to realize that it's also a self control thing. If he had good reason he could calm down. I can remember waking up from anasthetic after my heart surgery and being very confused and feeling like I was in a cloud. If a person was high strung or didn't have much self control I can see how this would make you feel violent.

Here he is in his fabulous hospital atire.

This picture shows the numbing cream that they put on their hands so that having the I.V. in won't hurt. They cover the cream with little "windows" and then the kids get to pick stickers to put on top. I forgot to prep Ephrim about getting an I.V. and by the time I realized it he was too distracted to pay attention. He would have gone to sleep before they put it in so when he woke up it made him very upset and he would not calm down until they took it out. He didn't even want a bandage on his hand.Here he is once we got home. He wasn't into having his picture taken before then. I was able to keep him still for about two hours. Now he's totally back to normal. He didn't need any pain medication at all. Tubes are a very simple procedure, they don't even go under a full anasthetic.

Ephrim loved being the star and unfortunately isn't coping to well with us not giving him everything he wants. But he's very good otherwise ;)

Prayer Request

I realize that there are people facing much bigger problems right now. But. I would like to ask for prayer for our family. We have had someone in our home sick for over a month now and have been fighting a flu for over a week. Ephrim has had it three times now. Tonight he starting vomiting and the runs again. For the third time. Mr.SuperFantastic (Dalen) is also sick but has managed to avoid any of the nasty symptoms. He was even able to go to work today. I am well. So far. Please pray for us. For healing in our home and a cleansing of viruses and bacteria. I will be getting down to work tomorrow sanitizing our house and hopefully our bodies. Thank you.

Baby Harper

Well I hope you are keeping updated on Baby Harper over at Kelly's Korner God has moved in amazing ways for this family. But it's not over yet. Keep praying people, no matter where you are or what you are doing, send up a petition for this family!

Please Pray!

I was visiting Angie over at Bring The Rain and read about Kelly. Kelly and her family desperately need your prayers for their new daughter, Harper who was just born tonight and is facing some very serious medical problems. At this time Kelly is not able to be with her baby. Please petition our gracious God on behalf of this family. I am so blessed by Kelly's words "We know that God is soveriegn. WE KNOW that God is the same right now to us as He was to us this morning when we were so excited and praising Him as we drove to the hospital. We know that He loves us and no matter what happens - we will continue to praise Him." but being a Momma I can imagine the nightmare this must be for them.

Wipes.

One of the things that I needed for the new baby (cause I'm pregnant... in case you forgot, I know I do) was more wipes. I have a decent amount now but with two babies in diapers I know I'm going to need a substantial amount. So when I was cleaning out the laundry center and found a big stack of old receiving blankets... Can you guess what I did? I think you're smart enough to figure this out.

I got out the old cutting board, ruler and rotary cutter and got to work. Now the rotary cutter always scares me but I use it anyway and managed to only cut Ephrim and I in the process. Ephrim barely bled at all. I did it in chunks of time over two days (cutting the squares, not Ephrim). In the end I had the pile of 8x8 flannel squares above and a big pile of scraps that you can see below. I am planning to use the scraps to try making a few of these .


Last night once the kids were in bed (accept for Joe) and I was done spending quality time with my husband (sitting in my chair watching a Canucks embarrassment game) I got to work on ironing all the squares.

It really is worth it to iron things before you sew them. And if you are sewing things with seams it's really worth it to press all of your seams. I had 120 squares and it took a bit of time but the end product turned out much better because of it. If you have ever sewn with me at all you will know that I cut as many corners as possible and I am a newly reformed "ironer" so you know that it's that important.

See how tidy my square pile is now. The ironing made it much easier for me match the squares up when I serged them.

I am blessed enough to have a husband who thought a serger was a great Christmas present a few years ago. Never mind the fact that I begged him for months before hand. So I can just whip these up pretty quick with the serger. If you only have a regular sewing machine then you can just sew your two pieces of fabric together with the wrong sides facing and then trim your edges and finish the wipe with a zigzag stitch around the edge so the fabric doesn't fray too much. If you don't have a sewing machine then just cut some squares and use them as is until they die.

And voila here's my pile of 60 wipes! Now 60 wipes are just too much for me so if someone out there needs some wipes I'll be happy to send you 20 of mine. Free! Because I'm great like that ;) I'll even be sure to filter out any with stains. These are made from old recieving blankets people! Also if you have some old blankets that you want turned into wipes you can come here and do it or pay me 50 cents a wipe to do it for you.

All in all I figure it took me about 4 hours to do all of the wipes, which works out to about 4 minutes per wipe. Definitely worth it.

I guess this was my first official tutorial! Yay!

Strike!

Okay this may not be a big deal for some people but I figured out how to get strike through text. There is a post in the near future. Just not right now as I am finally getting back on track after the flu.

Sickies

Joe has had the flu since Friday night. He seems to be keeping food down and in today.

Ephrim had it very quickly on wednesday.

Adon woke up puking today.

We might be getting chickens!!!

Angie Smith

I am a Mom. Aside from Daughter of the King and Wife, it's my title. It fills my day and drives me to my knees more than anything else in my life. What is my greatest fear? The loss of a child.

There are people in this world, gentle, quieter, changed people. With shattered hearts who are slowly allowing their Savior to put the pieces together. They have raw emotions hidden inside broken vessels. They have lived in the darkest places, and been carried by a heavenly father who needed nothing from them, who allowed them to grive and held them up.

Todd and Angie Smith are two of these people. They lost their daughter Audrey a year ago. I have been following her blog "Bring the Rain" for a year now. I have cried a lot with this woman, not because I understand what she feels but because I can imagine it and that is hard enough. Now Angie is letting us inside of the vessel, to see her time with her lamb. To share her joy and grief.

This is a beautiful Godly family and I would encourage you to browse her blog for other entries that she has done like "The Scarlet Cord" and The Glorious Hem

Revisiting.

I remembered this poem and wanted to dig it up again.. enjoy.

blue

warm inside, we are with you

yet outside cold, the world is blue

the sun, it cannot make its way

for many clouds have come today

and so it is, I think, with hearts

that freeze with cold, and break apart

with icicles of hurt that form

like bars they keep out love that’s warm

the ice builds up to form a wall

and slowly now that creature falls

frost sets in, deep to the core

love is not found there anymore

yet in these walls there’s no such thing

there’s peace and joy, and voices ring

while blue outside, cold and alone

here in this place, we have a home

Momma Bean

Oh how I need it.

This greeted me in my inbox today from our teacher Mrs. Kayban. What a blessing!

I am by the stove cutting warm loaves of dark bread, and my mother is at the window, gentle drops pattering the panes, sewing new and vintage fabric pieces together. I listen to the hum of the machine, thread lacing down, through, up, through, to the watering of the rain upon the earth, and to her.“Now you try, Hope. Just slowly. Take your time and really focus.” Her crown of white hovers over Hope’s shoulder.

“Like this, Gram?” I turn to see Hope’s furrowed brow lit by the machine’s glowing light. They are stitching up bibs for the new Carrere baby, the sixth child, fourth son. The needle stitches crisp new cottons to a backing of reclaimed, familiar flannels. Hope’s eyes are fixed on that quarter inch seam allowance, the curving arcs of the material.“Yes, that’s it, Hope. Now if you’ll stop a moment…” The machine drones to a halt.

Butter melts into the steaming warm slices. I ladle garden vegetable soup into a circle of waiting bowls, filling fare for rainy autumn evenings.“If you’ll look closely, do you see how it puckers here, when you push the material through? Don’t rush, or push the fabric along. If you push the material through, you’ll end up with wrinkled, disappointing handiwork. You just guide….”

“Gently?” Hope offers.

“Yes! That’s it precisely: no pushing…or you’ll wrinkle everything. Just guide gently.”

My ladle hangs midair. Empty bowl waits in one hand. I have ears to hear.Rain streams in rivulets down the glass. The needle again begins to purr. I close my eyes, breathe deeply, and finger write those words on soul sand: “Just guide gently.”

Push and it will all pucker.Don’t I know that too well. How many perfectly good days have I wrinkled because I pushed, arms heavy with an agenda? How many happy faces have I wrinkled into distress with pushing words: “Hurry up! We could have been finished this by now if you hadn’t dawdled here…” I don’t even want to consider how many bare, beating hearts I have crinkled and crumpled with my pushing for more.Pushed and puckered.

I come to, fill the waiting soup bowl, and whisper it again, etching it deeper, “just guide gently.” The Spirit nudges: “This is what I meant the other morning. You underlined it, remember?”I find black ink marking the words:

“Therefore, although in Christ, I could be bold and order you to do what you ought to do, yet I appeal to you on the basis of love.” (Philemon 1:8-9).

I could be bold and order you. Push, push, push.Yet I appeal to you on the basis of love. Just gently guiding. Gently serving. Gently leading by caring, encouraging, edifying.Wasn’t it Mama who also pulled me up on her lap as a four-year-old and told me the fable of the sun and the wind, arguing over which of the two was the stronger? I can still feel her leaning close to, her voice rich with story:

“The Wind began to blow cold blasts, but the man only drew his cloak closer, tighter about him to keep out the cold. Then the Sun took his turn, shining warm and full. Under the sun’s rays, the man released his grip on his coat, then threw it back, and, at last took it off! The Sun’s gentleness accomplished what the Wind’s force could not.”

She turned me to look me in the eye: “Remember that, girl of mine: gentleness can do what force fails to do.”

I could be bold and order you…yet I appeal to you on the basis of love.To release a child to be all that he or she was meant to be requires the sun, requires guiding gently with loving words of encouragement. Recent research confirms it. A study of twenty-two grade eight students found that those who were kindled with positive feelings generated significant more creative and problem-solving ability than the group of students in which “a neutral mood was induced.”Fail to encourage, abandon children to a slush of neutral feelings, and settle for dismal, uninspired handiwork. Sloppy work, dragging feet, shrugging shoulders, glassy far-off glazes. Push, order, and rush will result in worse: puckers and wrinkles. Tears, pouting, stomping, surly sullen glares, and explosions of defiance.

Appeal on the basis of love, with a light touch of guidance and the warm igniting of encouragement, and watch hearts and minds creatively, joyously thrive. The gentle guiding reaps far more than pushing.Can I take up this mothering fabric, and smooth out the wrinkles?

Bowls served and dinner bell waiting to be rung, I survey the trail of rainy day pursuits: strewn legos, a blizzard of paper snippets, scraps of material flung about for good measure, counters offering up a trifle of smudged markers, pooling glue and a sprinkle of crayons.Take a deep breath, O Heart. Push and the day—no, more than the day--- delicate hearts, will pucker.What if I were to just guide gently? So I try.

“What a day we’ve had, best beloveds! Such grand creations here! Made in the image of Your Creator Father, you are! Come, show me your work!” Books are set aside, scissors left, and masterpieces presented.

I appeal to you on the basis of love; true, genuine love.“Such color! What a design! You made that by yourself?” Hearts embroidered with tender, edifying words shimmer.“Let’s clean this up together, so your work will be in its best light when Dad comes in.” No bold ordering. Moments gently threaded with positive encouragement. A love appeal.My hands, their hands, we sort, organize, gather. Laughing, happy bodies pile around the table for soup and bread. I run my hand across the clean counter.No puckering, no wrinkles.

My mother smiles. This girl of hers remembers the fable. This mother in Christ turns from blustery, bold ordering and appeals on the warm basis of love.Yes, just guide gently. A pucker-free pattern for hearts.

Cookies

Adon recived a bag of cookies from Grandma Wiebe the other day (he had requested them for his birthday but the power was out that day) and they sure were looking good. Since he didn't offer to share them and I managed to convince myself that putting him to bed and sneaking a few really wouldn't fall into the whole "teaching my kids to be Godly people by my example" category, I decided to make some of my own. I wanted them to be crunchy and soft with chocolate chips and raisins. I used the ingredients search on allrecipes.com(I think I just thought of something for WFMW) for oats, chocolate chips and raisins and came up with "Bobbies Oatmeal Cookies" I made a few alterations. I didn't have any white flour so I used fresh ground oat flour and soft white wheat flour. I also added some nutritional yeast (I add it to everything that I can), some mesquite (it's a natural sweetener, that isn't that sweet and has a lot of lysine in it, which is a cold sore killing amino acid) and substituted coconut for one cup of the oatmeal.

The finished result in my cookie jar from Joni

These cookies are very very good and I will deffinately make them again. Here is the recipe from allrecipes.com



INGREDIENTS

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup raisins
1/2 cup chopped pecans




DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets.
In a large bowl, cream together butter, brown sugar and white sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt; stir into the creamed mixture. Mix in the oats, chocolate chips, raisins, and pecans, one ingredient at a time. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto the prepared cookie sheets.


Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.



Please please please let them cool before transfering them as they are very soft when they first come out. And let them cool all the way before you eat them or they will just fall apart... or you can skip all of that stuff and just eat the dough.

Works for me Wednesday

I realize I said that I was cooking up a post. It's still cooking and I just don't have time to post as much as I want to. I will never be one of those people who vow to post every day. It would be very unfair, borderline deceitful. But I do want to start doing Works For Me Wednesday from Rocks in My Dryer. I am trying very hard to think of something interesting but it's really not working. I am boring. So while I will not be joining WFMW this week please head on over to Rocks in my Dryer and check out everyone else that is!