A Typical Shopping Trip...

So what was life like after that “surprise” came along?  People have remarked that I must be amazing to be able to handle all those kids so close in age.  I wish I could report that they were correct in their thinking, but I commonly reply, “No, God's Grace is Amazing.”

I thought, however, I would add a few anecdotes in my next few posts about what life was like back then—the insanity, the chaos, the disposable diapers (you have NOOOO idea...), the wet kisses and sticky hugs that were not short in number, and even how I handled discipline.  I claim no originality for the coping mechanisms that worked because they were either accidentally happened upon after much trial and error, or gathered from others who had walked the path before me. I will, however,  claim complete responsibility for the failures (if I am brave enough to post them...) even though blaming my kids for my shortcomings would be the easier route to take.

As a starter, I thought I'd give young mothers of multiple youngins and curious onlookers a glimpse into a typical shopping day.  I'll admit, this narrative isn't one particular trip, but it does represent things that really happened; some of them all on the same day.

Since setting is really important in a good story, I want to you to picture the spot where we lived when the kids were very young. We lived smack dab in snow country in Central NY. Add to that the reality that we lived at a high elevation on what southerners here would have considered a mountain and had a driveway that went up at a "decent" pitch for over 200 feet.

It’s January, and I desparately need bread, milk, cereal, and some vittles for the hard working hubby. There’s just no getting around it, I must venture out for groceries.  After strapping up my attitude, I gather up the kids’ winter gear and begin dressing four youngins to brave the elements: four snowsuits, four knit caps, four sets of mittens, four pairs of boots. And, lest you think I was some organization wizard, it took time to locate all the pairs. Mind you, these children were not unusual toddlers; they wriggled, fought, complained, and inevitably would soil a diaper once they were totally bundled up. After a good forty minutes (ten minutes per kid...)I'd herd them into the minivan, buckle them into four carseats amidst loud protests (who would want to be confined in a carseat with a snowsuit on??), and carefully slide the car down the driveway.

Twenty minutes later, we arrive at the grocery store. As I park, I silently bless the person who thought of special parking near the door for “Parents with small children”—after all, that’s a handicap in and of itself! It is no small feat to safely unlatch four children and get them from the parking lot into the store. I had a routine, though. After each child emerged from the van, they had to put one hand on the vehicle while I unbuckled the others. It worked fairly well, if I do say so myself. With the baby’s carseat on my hip and three others holding hands, we would navigate the parking lot.

Once inside we get two shopping carts. I clip the youngest’s portable carseat onto the seat portion of one shopping cart, stick another older toddler in the seat of the second cart, and put the two smallest into a basket, surrounding them with the winter gear we have shed. Now that I have created a spectacle, I begin pushing the two carts (one in front, one pulled behind) down the aisle. Of course, my angelic children played quietly and let me comparison shop, NOT! I routinely stop to break up a fight, patiently (ahem) acknowledge a “mommy, look!”, or glare at a child and say through gritted teeth, “we’ll settle this at home!” Needless to say, curious onlookers stop me to ask, “Are they all yours?” I am tempted to say that I run a daycare in my home, but I grudgingly answer, "Yes."

After about an hour of wandering aisles and filling up the empty basket, oh, and trips to the restroom for the one potty training toddler, I checkout and then the process of bundling up begins again. This time we even make it out of the store with all of the mittens and hats.

At the car, I strap the four in their car seats, deliver a snack to each (except the infant, who at this time really wanted to nurse and is letting it be known...), then proceed to put the groceries in the back of the minivan. I then unbundle and sit in the passengers seat to deliver lunch to the infant, then plop him back into the carseat and head for home.

Look for installment number two soon—arriving home and putting away the groceries...

Be courageous, President Barack Obama

From John Piper‘s sermon this past Sunday (January 25, 2009) at Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota:

HT: Desiring God Blog

Homemade latte

Since I began touting the wonders of my new moka pot, I have been receiving many questions about various coffee drinks and how to make great espresso drinks at home.

So I thought I'd post a few articles on making coffee drinks at home, and today's will be how to make a basic caffè latte.

Using the French Press to froth milk
Prior to frothing on the left; same milk after frothing on the right

Caffè Latte

Approximate Italian proportions

Pouring the espresso from the moka pot

One part espresso to four parts steamed milk, with no foam on top

1. What is called a caffè latte in America is essentially a monster-sized cappuccino in Italy.
2. Steam the milk first and set it aside. Pour the freshly brewed, hot espresso directly into the cup.
3. Pour the preferred proportion of steamed milk over the espresso.
4. Add sugar, Splenda^®, or even a biscotti, if desired.

I typically heat the milk in our microwave and then froth it using a French press (churning it in the manner of the old fashioned butter churn while I wait for the espresso to brew). I add the heated milk to the espresso in the coffee mug, holding back the froth with a spoon.

Final result

Then I spoon some frothed milk on top of the coffee and milk mixture. I stir the result slightly to give some color texture to the frothed milk. If I'm feeling particularly fancy, I sprinkle a small amount of nutmeg or cinnamon on top.

I typically use 2% milk, which froths quite easily and contributes some flavor to the latte. Skim milk froths more easily but doesn't impart as much flavor to the final drink.

An offer of economic assistance

In these tough economic times, it's a bit overwhelming to think of coming up with the cost of a college education. So, just at the right time, the school that Mary and I went to is offering economic help in the form of a tuition grant.

Click here [BBC Grants] to learn more and to learn about an education from Baptist Bible College.

And the hits keep coming

One of my favorite web sites/blogs/whatever for the past decade or so has been The Sacred Sandwich. It is an extremely funny, tongue-in-cheek fake newspaper that hits the nail squarely on the head with its satirical articles. The Sandwich's favorite targets seem to be post-modernity (Emergent) and the Seeker Sensitive movement.

But today I found a particularly hilarious thought and it did not come from one of the articles posted there, but from the comment thread. The article was called Things I don't want to hear behind me in church and it contains a great list of reasons why you might prefer to sit in the back of church. But in the comment thread the conversation turned to my personal pet peeve in church, on the road, in the grocery store ... cell phones.

One person complained of folks whose cell phones go off in church and their ring tone is set to Led Zeppelin. To which another responded with this scripture (?) quote:

“The ringing thou hast not prevented. And a thrashing with wheat stalks shall be thy due punishment. For the merchants of the earth have waxed rich with the assortment of tones. Lament and wail for your bill is in the mail.”
First Opinions 3:17

And yet another one

One of my favorite bloggers, the Internet Monk, has posted a great post about The Face of a Gracious God. In this post he is contrasting two views of God:

1. The view that God is majorly torqued at us and can't wait to beat us over the head. We're currently being protected by Jesus, but if we step out of line we're in danger of the huge divine wet noodle heading our way.
2. And the other view—that God is a loving God who has blessings upon blessings stored up for us. He can't abide sin and our sin has caused a rift in the relationship, so he provided Jesus' sacrifice on the cross to restore us to full fellowship with him, which includes that huge storehouse of blessings.

Having grown up in a church that preached the second definition but lived the first, I am particularly sensitive to those Christians that iMonk describes as "grumpy." They seem to revel in looking for things God is going to be upset about in the lives of others and then instantly jump all over that person. Of course, they defend their attack by saying that they are simply concerned that the person repent and be restored to fellowship with that really ticked-off God of theirs.

Here's a quote:

We have far too few Christians who are overwhelmed at the news that God has fired the bookkeepers, sent home the bean counters, dismissed the religion cops and bought party hats for the grumpy old people. The big announcement is this: In Jesus, we discover that God is just sloppy with his amazing grace and completely beyond common sense when it comes to his love. Just to enhance his reputation as the God who know how to throw a party, he’s inviting all of us back home, no tickets necessary, no dress code, for a party that will last, literally, forever. With open bar, and all on him. (Oh calm down Baptists. You can go to another room.)

Go read the rest.

A blog to watch

I found a new blog (new this year) that looks like it will be a good one to watch. So far the posts have been positive, humble, and appear to have the desire of bringing glory to God.

This is the permanent footer on the Charis Jesus blog:

Grace is God’s lavish and undeserved free gift of eternal life, and His ongoing generosity, affection, goodness, initiative, strength, & faithfulness to you because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

Surprise

I meant to get this out a little earlier so that it would correspond with Sanctity of Life week, but I'm sure it's every bit as useful now.  Anyway, below is a story/poem to remind you that every human life is valuable to God and should be to us as well.

It was my 35th birthday.  Around me stood my husband of ten years, my nearly four-year-old, nearly three-year-old, and my fourteen-month-old.  "Make a wish, mommy!  Make a wish!" were the cries of the little ones.  As I watched the flickering candles and listened to the noise, I quipped, "I know what NOT to wish for!"  Taking in a deep breath I blew out all but one of the candles.  A week later I knew that my wish would not be coming true this year...I was pregnant once again.  

Overwhelmed would not be an adequate word to describe what I felt.  Granted, hormones were at peak levels, but I spent the next three days crying and telling God that He could not possibly know what He had signed me up for.  I even pondered the verse, "He was in all points tempted, even as we are." and thought, yeah, right, I'm not buying it.  

By God's grace, my sense of humor took over, and I began to look at things a little differently.  I won't tell you it was a major change of attitude, as I kept remarking "that's all I need is one more toddler to pull out of things!!".  But I was heading in the right direction.  So I sat down and penned this poem.  It became my "announcement" to friends and family who would be frowning at our reproductive habits.  (And we did get lectured, by the way!).   Enjoy—

Surprise!

We got the news the other day, another baby's on the way
If you're surprised, well so are we.  Ourselves, we were content with three.
But God had other plans in store, Our children, soon, will number four.
What's more our baby will arrive before the oldest one turns five.
One more carseat, one more bed!  Such thoughts run rampant in my head.
Another year of little sleep, while I, my midnight vigil keep.
My weight loss plans I must postpone—my body's once again on loan.
And yet, you'll find no sadness here;  some panic, yes, but not a tear.
In fact, it's hard to hide the smile; For I know in just awhile
Our Father's sending from above Another child for us to love.
And though budget's now too small, you won't find us upset at all.
Far greater than a cache of gold is the child we soon shall hold.
The fruit of the womb is His reward, so join us as we praise the Lord.

Mary Fuller (May 97)

Blog Header - January 25, 2009

I took the photo for today's blog header at the Lynchburg Market last spring. I thought the warmth of the day shown in this photo might provide some hope for things to come; it is currently 21 degrees as I type this.

I've always enjoyed taking pictures of people. There is so much variety and I love to try to decipher their expressions. I especially enjoy photographing interaction between people, with kids interacting with adults being my absolute favorite. It makes me think of what the "Lion King" called The Circle of Life.

A day in Lynchburg

Today Kim and I had about four and a half hours to kill while we waited for David to attend Saturday school. We have found that losing his Saturday play time impacts his behavior much more than getting to stay home all day because he's been suspended. I know these are not the victories most parents look for, but such is life with our son.

So early in the morning we headed out to take David to the downtown Lynchburg location of the Saturday school. And after dropping him off we decided to enjoy our awesome city.

It was quite dark this morning and the sky was beautiful so we headed for one of our favorite photography spots—the Old City Cemetery. On the way I noticed the sky behind the spires of two churches and stopped to take the picture. A guy walking down the street asked me what I was taking a picture of and I said, "the sky is beautiful today." He turned around and looked at it and said, “you’re right—the sky is beautiful. Thanks.”

At the front gate to the Cemetery, I stopped and took another picture. The sky can change so quickly and I really wanted to make sure I got pictures of it before it changed. And about 15 minutes after taking the picture of the Cemetery gate, the clouds thinned and the sky brightened—still beautiful, but not nearly so moody.

Since I photograph Lynchburg so much, and because I have some favorite photography spots, I like to look for unique angles of things I have photographed before. So I took the photo you see here of the chapel behind the grave stones. Previously, I have photographed the chapel only from the park, which gives a warmer look to the chapel, probably the builders’ intended look all along.

But in the photo to the left, with the grave stones in sharp focus in the foreground and the chapel slightly out of focus behind them the mood is altogether different. And I like it. I guess I was in the mood for moody photography after photographing the heavily cloud-laden sky. So this composition just spoke to me as we drove past these stones. In fact, I took this photo from the driver’s seat of the car without even getting out. That’s not an advisable way to take photos, but this scene just seemed so photogenic that I didn’t even attempt to look at it from any different angles.

After cruising around the Old City Cemetery for a while, we headed to the Lynchburg Market to buy vegetables and apples. The vegetables are for our family. The apples will be split between our son (who loves to juice them in our vegetable juicer) and the deer who now realize that we leave apples on our back patio for them each night. They wander into our back yard and amble over to the patio to get their treats. If we go outside before they’ve found the apples, they begin to walk toward us expectantly. If we go out while they're eating, they just look up at us and continue chewing. David talks to them in a loud voice, typically asking if one of them is Bambi. Of course, I've told you about Thumper—our pet cottontail rabbit. Well, his name is actually Roger—as in Roger Rabbit.

Since we still had about two and a half hours left to kill before the end of David’s Saturday school, we headed across the street to Inklings, the delightful gourmet coffee shop and bookstore. This store has a fantastic collection of books for purchase. Or you can simply read them while you're sipping your latte, hot cider, gourmet hot chocolate, or chai tea. The store was hopping this morning and it was fun to listen to some of the conversations at the nearby tables. It’s obviously a meeting place for deep thinkers and we heard discussions on classic literature, theology, philosophy, and warfare tactics of the mid-nineteenth century. I read a few chapters of Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, and now want to purchase a copy. I read this book when I was in high school and loved it. The quick reading of the first couple of chapters reminded me of what a great book it is. So now I have another book to add to my wish list. It's getting pretty long.

All-in-all, another enjoyable day out and about in our wonderful city. And David did so well in school that his teacher came out to see us afterwards to say, “I just wanted to tell you that David did fantastic today.”