My children are weird.

For some reason Elinor thinks it is hillarious to watch Connor pile stuff in front of her. Sophia is obsessed with taking it all away. And, I'm left thinking "Wow, these kids are strange, I should get a video of this."

Not a great video - but who doesn't love baby giggles?

I know I do.

Building it Right.

Today we went to visit with the pastor at Risen Savior Lutheran church in Basehor, Kansas. Risen Savior is one of the churches that supported Ben during seminary and we were fortunate enough to visit with them in the past.

This time was a little bit different, as we were able to visit their brand new church building. The congregation wanted the new church building to be something that was beautiful and looked...well, like a church.

The result is wonderful.

 Outside

 I love the wooden doors on the entrance. 

 It is hard to see, but over the doors it says Unaltered Augsburg Confession in German. 

 Stained glass Luther's Rose

 Reflection of glass on the floor - the kids thought this was very cool. 

 Baptismal font in the middle of the church. 

 Connor taking the opportunity to remember his baptism - something he loved to do in the Chapel at the seminary.  

 The font. 

 Altar.

It is hard to see, but on the wall as you leave is the Nunc Dimittis.

A week from tomorrow  Ben is going to be preaching at this church so that the pastor can have a Sunday off. We are looking forward to catching up with the congregation again. 

Little Miss Chubby Cheeks

Today was Elinor's six month well child checkup.

And the verdict is:

That this little girl...

 May actually be a distant relation to this guy.

I mean, seriously, look at those cheeks! (And I'm not talking about Winston's).

Our latest stats.
Height: 26 1/4 inches
Weight: 18 lbs 8 oz

Looks like we are well on our way to a girl's basketball team...or you know...wrestling. Just so long as we take State.

A boy, some bugs, and a snake.

It started very simply  (it always does) with a grasshopper. Then there were some crickets, some more grasshoppers, and the dream of a dragon fly.

Then there was a camping trip. My idea of camping is staying at the Motel 6 instead of the Comfort Inn and this trip involved sleeping in tents. Needless to say, the girls and I stayed home.

Connor went, and took his bug house with him along with dreams of bug catching awesomeness.

He brought his bug house home the next morning and proudly displayed his prizes. Two grasshoppers, a huge dragon fly, some worms, and...a snake.

When he told me there was a snake in his bug house, I really thought he was just trying to get a reaction out of me. But no, there really was a little ringneck snake in there. "Don't worry, Mom. They are only slightly venomous  and very gentle."

That wasn't the part I was worried about - or at least not until he said that.

Since Mr. Pet Snake (my name for him) is being set free today to...uh...do the things snakes like to do...I promised Connor I would take some pictures of him.

Enjoy, or you know, get the heebeegeebees. Whichever.

 Connor teaching Sophie about his snake. 

 Time for a close up. 

 Slithering. 

 Sophie and Connor giving the snake a piece of wood. 

 Sophie braving a closer look, 

A boy and his snake. 

Flea Market Finds

This last Sunday in Atchison was the fall flea market. This flea market is big - spanning a couple of blocks and I really really really wanted to go.

This was our schedule on Sunday:

8:00 - 9:15: Early Service

9:15 - 10:15: Sunday School (Ben and I are teaching the 9th and 10th graders)

10:30 - 11:45: Second Service

12:30 -2:30: Church Pot Luck

4:00 -6:00: Adult Catechism Class

6:30 - 7:45: Evening Church

The flea market ran from 9:00 am - 4:00 pm. 

But don't worry. I wasn't about to let a little old thing like lack of time keep me from a place where I could potentially score some Pyrex on the cheap. 

The kids and I went to early service and the minute Sunday School was over I grabbed the little ones, threw them in a stroller, told Connor to book it, and we ran downtown to hit the flea market. We only stayed there for approximately 45 minutes (we saw about 2/3 of it) and then rushed home to make something for the potluck. 

I did find a couple of great Pyrex dishes that I got for a total of $12. Totally worth pushing 45 lbs of little girlness in a double stroller up hill on the way back. Check it out.

Because I am at least 1/16th German

In my ongoing endeavor to be one of those domestic type peoples, I decided to try to make some Bierocks from scratch. In the past I have made Bierocks with Rhodes rolls and without cabbage because...well...it just seemed easier.

No more. I decided to embrace my Germanish heritage and go for the real thing.

I have been making a cookbook this summer of recipes that I've found online and want to try out or recipes that are some of our favorites. 

Here is my handwritten bierock recipe. Handwritten, because, um...well, paper and a pencil are cheaper than a printer and ours broke in the move. 

I don't know how people that don't have a Kitchen Aid make anything. I use mine at least three times a week. 

This is my favorite bowl to let dough rise in. 

While your dough is rising you can brown up some meat. I am not using all this meat for the bierocks, but when I brown up meat, I like to do a big batch and stick the rest in the freezer. 

Take out the extra meet and add some cabbage and onions. 

This dough didn't rise very fast. It is not my usual dough recipe. It was supposed to double in size in an hour. I waited another hour. 

Bake 10 - 12 little balls of dough and then roll the dough out into circles and fill with meat mixture. 

And if you find little finger pokes in your dough and it looks like somebody grabbed a taste....

It is probably this little girls fault. 

I decided to brush them with egg wash - it made them smell delicious while they were baking and made them extra golden brown. 

Ready to go into the oven. 

Roughly 20 minutes later they are ready to go. 

Mmmm...delicious. 

How to make your parents want to buy you a pet.

1. Ask for a mason jar with holes in the lid.
2. Catch three crickets and a grasshopper. 
3. Name the crickets and the grasshopper the following names: Marty, Little Black, Hanger, and Orange Wings. 
4. Carry this jar around and introduce them to the whole family. 
5. Hug the jar on a fairly continuous basis. 
6. Talk incessantly about how much you love your bugs. 
7. Watch television shows your pet bugs. 
8. Say things like "these bugs are just our pets for now, but they are going to become part of our family soon."
9. Talk about how fun it is going to be when the crickets have babies and we have a whole cricket family.
10. Put a picture of a bird on the outside of the mason jar to encourage your bugs to get some exercise. 
11. Give your bugs private time. 
12. Plan how awesome it is going to be to let the bugs sleep beside your bed all night long. 

This boy needs a dog. 

Revisions

When I thought about being a stay at home mom, it kind of looked like this on paper:

• 6:30 - wake up and feed the kids breakfast. 
• 7:00 - get all children dressed, teeth brushed, hair fixed. 
• 7:30 - look at books or play calmly. 
• 8:00 - send Connor to school with Ben. 
• 8:15 - go to YMCA daily!
• 9:15 - put Elinor down for morning nap. 
• 9:30 - teach Sophia everything she needs to know in the entire world. 
• 10:15 - play with Sophia
• 10:30 - let Sophia play quietly while I do some housework
• 11:00 - get Elinor up from her nap
• 11:30 - put on show for girls to watch while I make lunch. 
• 12:00 - Lunch with Dad
• 12:30 - quiet play time before nap. 
• 1:00 - Nap time
• 1:00 - 3:00 - create amazing craft projects, clean entire house, in general - just be amazing. 
• 3:00 - Wake girls up from their naps. 
• 3:30 - Connor comes home from school and gets to watch two television programs.
• 4:30 - Kids play quietly while I begin dinner preparations. 
• 5:00 - Dad is home!
• 5:30 - Time for dinner. 
• 6:00 - Dinner clean up
• 6:15 - Baths
• 6:45 - Bedtime stories and devotions
• 7:00 - Bed time for the girls.
• 7:15 - 8:30 - various quiet activities with Connor.

In real life it looks more like this:

• 6:00 - wake up 
• 6:30 - breakfast
• 7:00 - Run Sophia to the bathroom
• 7:30 - continue to try to get everyone dressed and wonder if I have enough time for shower
• 7:45 - Run Sophia to the bathroom
• 8:00 - send Connor to school with Ben and hope that he actually did brush his teeth.
• 8:15 - Sit on the couch, exhausted, and think about going to the YMCA
• 8:30 - Run Sophia to the bathroom
• 9:00 - Convince myself that I will go to the YMCA tomorrow and put  Elinor down for a nap. 
• 9:30 - Play Barbies or My Little Ponies with Sophia. Pretend that all of them are going to the mall. 
• 9:45 - Run Sophia to the bathroom
• 10:00 - put on an educational TV show to teach Sophia all the stuff I was supposed to while I check facebook
• 10:30 - Do some housework - mostly the stuff that Ben will notice so he will think I am working harder than I am. 
• 10:45 - Run Sophia to the bathroom and go get the crying baby out of bed.
• 11:00 - put on show for girls to watch while I change diapers, and think about what would be the easiest and healthiest..ish thing I could make for lunch. 
• 12:00 - Lunch with Dad
• 12:30 - Run Sophia to the bathroom. Clean up from lunch. 
• 1:00 - Nap time
• 1:00 - 3:00 - play on the computer, look at amazing craft things other people made, take a nap.
• 3:00 - Wake girls up from their naps. 
• 3:05 - Run Sophia to the bathroom.
• 3:15 - Clean up a Sophia accident.
• 3:30 - Connor comes home from school and gets to watch two television programs.
• 3:30 - bedtime - Connor and Sophia scream and fight with each other
• 4:30 - Take Sophia to the bathroom.
• 5:00 - Dad is home!
• 5:30 - Time for dinner. 
• 6:00 - Dinner clean up
• 6:15 - Baths...maybe.
• 6:45 - Bedtime stories and devotions
• 7:00 - Bed time for the girls.
• 7:15 - 8:30 - various quiet activities with Connor.

Is anyone else's life like this?

Parenthood: the gift that keeps on giving.

Being a parent is such an challenging vocation. It is harder than it looks, you never know if you are really doing a good job, and (if you are anything like me) it seems like most of the other parents you know seem to be doing this more effortlessly than you. 

Parenting requires a kind of selflessness that is hard for me to muster. I'll admit it, I am a selfish human being. I would like to occasionally eat an entire meal without a kid either sitting on my lap, or stealing food from my plate. I would like to use the restroom without anyone trying to walk in on me, or screaming at me through the door. I would like to not have to clean up dirty diapers and I hate cleaning up poopy bottoms. I dream of sleeping in past 6:30 am, and although I enjoy Backyardigans, it is kind of sad that I basically have every single episode memorized. 

I'm forever finding these super moms on the internet. Women who make delicious and nutritious foods for the kids all the time, keep a spotless house, never complain, and whose children are well behaved and polite little beings. I kind of hate these moms. And... I also kind of think they have to be faking it. And... I like to think that if they are not faking it and their life is really that simple it is just because they are way less capable of the many and various challenges that God obviously thinks I can handle. 

In addition to describing myself as selfish, I should have also added petty, snarky, and hateful. I freely admit that I am the chief of all sinners and that no one is more in the need of Christ's grace and forgiveness than me. 

It is easy to forget that my children are little sinners too. And just as I am in constant need of forgiveness from Christ, my children are in constant need of forgiveness from me. Likewise, I am always in need of forgiveness from them. 

Me and my children have something in common. We are sinners, clothed in the righteousness of Christ. This righteousness does not come from us and we do nothing to earn or deserve it. It is given to us freely. It saves us. It preserves us. It teaches us what true sacrifice is. 

Despite the challenges that being a parent presents, there are times where the new creation that my children received in their baptism comes shining through. These are the moments where I hear my children confess Christ crucified. There is nothing more amazing or joyous than when your little ones prays fervently, asks for forgiveness, or talks openly about how Jesus died for them. 

These happier moments are the kind that sustain us through the rough moments. When the baby is crying at 3:30 in the morning and all I want is for her to sleep, I remember her sweet little smiles and think about what kind of person she will become some day. 

When Connor and Sophia are fighting and yelling and screaming and generally driving me completely crazy, I think about the times when they are sitting quietly and looking at a book together. Or I think about the fact that every time Sophia is in big time trouble, Connor tries to convince us to not be so hard on her. I can tell that he truly does love his little sister. 

My life may not be as put together as some of the other moms out there (or you know, all of them). And, I know that this is mostly my fault. But I also know that I am forgiven when I mess up. 

Christ sustains us in all things. He provides our daily bread, and more than that, He provides for our eternal needs. His perfect life, death, and resurrection make it so that we can have an eternal home in heaven. If He is willing to provide that for me, won't He also sustain me as a parent? That is not to say that I won't have hard days, or days where it seems like I have about three too many children. But it means that on those days that I fail as a parent, I am forgiven. It also means that on those days that things are going great and I think I need about three more of these little monsters, that I can thank Him for the precious gift of parenthood.