It's beginning to look a lot like pomegranates

This week we've been thankful for John the Revelator, for Aiden, for the Rocky Mountains, for the goodness of God, for apples, for our sewing machine, and for remote control cars. We watched the Hoboken Chicken Emergency, read Squanto part II, and brushed up on Psalm 100.

"Over the River & through the wood
Now Grandmother's cap I spy.
Hurrah for the fun!
Is the pudding done?
Hurrah for the pumpkin pie!"

Jared wonders, "Will Grandma make pudding?"
Jared also observes, "I haven't gotten to snuggle with anyone all day."





The twins had a discussion about "a long daddy spider" they saw in the kitchen,

which reminded us all of "A long-legged sailor with a long-legged wife."




Allie said, "My nose are running." And Jason had a 45- minute nosebleed that even a tampon couldn't handle. True fact!




Today Aiden, Taliah & I went to town for groceries & errands. The kids were shocked that Christmas decorations were everywhere. I learned that I cannot buy presents in their presence and expect them to say nothing later around the recipients, no matter how hard they try to be discreet.

We picked out pomegranates, my favorite Christmas fruit other than fresh & dried cranberries.

I overheard Aiden's remarks . . . "now that Mom figured out how to make cookies right." So here is the recipe. Somehow, these are delicious, though they technically have nothing in them (they're supposed to be dairy, egg & nut free).

Cranberry-Chocolate Drop Cookies
from the Food Allergy Mama website

Yield: 2 doz. cookies

1/2 cup dairy-free margarine (I use butter)
1 cup granulated sugar (I use sucanat in place of both sugars & reduce amnt to taste)
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup soy, rice or cow's milk
2 TB orange juice
1 teaspoon orange zest
1/4 cup unsweetenend applesauce
3 1/4 cups flour (I use whole wheat flour or Pamela's baking mix)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup chocolate chips
2 1/2 cups chopped fresh cranberries (I used whole dried cranberries)

Mix butter & sugar together until light & fluffy. Add milk, juice, zest & sauce & mix thoroughly.

In a separate medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt & soda using a whisk. Add to butter mixture & blend well. Stir in chips & berries.

Bake in preheated 375F oven. Bake 12-15 min. or until lightly browned. Cool on baking sheets.

Virus-Killing Soup

Today I bought leeks, fennel and white wine to supplement the 20 cloves of garlic, fresh herbs, and frozen garden vegetables on hand to make this chicken soup. We have a 24-hour fever and upper respiratory going through the house; I'm sick of the germs. Yesterday I "Miss Haynied" all the light switches, door knobs and stair rails with hot vinegar water.

I got this recipe from the Sonlighters Club Forums:

One chicken
Appx 15-30 cloves of garlic, peeled & crushed
1 Tbs Salt
3-4 Thyme sprigs
Cayenne pepper
Rosemary
Fresh ground pepper

Place chickn & other ingredients in a soup pot & cover with water or chicken broth. Cook on stove top until chicken starts to fall apart. Remove from heat. Strain out chicken & stuff & set aside until cool enough to chop. Reserve broth for next step.

1 lg. onion (coarsely chopped)
1 fennel bulb (sliced thin)
1 leek (sliced thin)
4-6 stalks of celery (coarsely chopped)
large red pepper (chopped)
1/2 lb. carrots (chopped)
2 tbs. olive oil
1/2 cup good white wine
salt & pepper

Place oil in bottom of large pot & heat. Add onion, fennel, celery, pepper & leek & saute until onion is transparent. Add wine & simmer for 3-4 minutes. Cover the vegetables with chicken broth & simmer until veggies are just tender.

Green beans
Frozen peas
zucchini
(or cabbage, or any other veggies you like)
flat leaf parsley (chopped)
1-2 cans chopped tomatoes with juice
salt & pepper

Add these ingredients & simmer until everything is tender Add chopped chicken, salt & pepper to taste.

No virus can withstand this soup.

The next day add egg noodles & turn it into chicken noodle soup.

Sunday October 18

This is the last daily saga. I didn't mention all the phone calls to experienced bison handlers or all the phone calls and personal visits to landowners. So far, 1 cow is still missing, last seen Thursday about sunset by yours truly. The other 3 are staying put. We had a normal church day today & painted the cutest fall trees in Wee Worship. They are for decorations for the church thanksgiving dinner. Taliah attended a birthday party. We attended a fundraiser for our neighbor's daughter whose body is racked with cancer. I begin my annual 40 days of Thanksgiving today. Each day I will be praying for Orphan Care around the world. With the kids I'll get out Thanksgiving decorations, read Thanksgiving stories, sing our favorite Thanksgiving & praise songs, bake stuff, make stuff, and fill out a calendar with Thankful things each day. Maybe we'll make our Thanksgiving tree again for the table. We try to do just one little activity per day, even if it's just reading a book.
I'm thankful for my neighbor, (whose oldest daughter is dying--in her 20s with a 5 year old boy) who reminded me that some day I'll be thankful for the permanent paint splotches on the new deck boards because my kids won't be around to do things like that anymore.

Saturday October 17

J takes 2 hours off work to find missing cow. No dice. Kids & I go to farmers market to buy . . . bison meat! 122 pounds of it! We take coffee to J and a friend, fill up with gas & come home. Lunch, naps, and out to Camp to decorate for next weekend's Pure Joy Retreat. Home at 6 p.m. supper, bed, prepare for Sunday.

Friday October 16

Borrowed platte maps. Studied, planned, took off for one last day of hunting.
School. No lunch. J calls & found the "herd." Tried again for corrals but missed again. No lunch. Can we all come out & help with the "drive"? Tried to line up help to move them up the road 6 miles. Found 2 ranchers moving calves on the road. They agreed to help. I was to go ahead & block traffic, but the critters took off up the road before we were ready. Me & my minivan full of kids went behind praying. A truck pops over the hill; the buffs hop fences and take off in the prairie. I race ahead to block traffic. The bull stops hopping fences. The cows cross the road and take off in another prairie. The kids & I drive & wait & Taliah sings, "Till the answer comes, you gotta keep prayin.'" 2 1/2 hours later, the bull comes up the road with 2 4-wheelers. The cows are still out there somewhere. Kids & I go home to eat and start supper. 1/2 hour later, the cows are also back "home." J comes home and asks us to go build fence. We build until 6:30 p.m. and go home. He takes the kids in to Runza. I get changed for a dinner with girlfriends. I get home at 11 p.m. 1 cow is still missing.

Thursday October 15

Got all dressed up for school pictures & began to walk out door when phone rang. Photographer sick. J took a vacation day. Drove out to retrieve 4-wheeler. Fixed 4-wheelers all afternoon. School. Sunny! Wrote missions article.

Wednesday October 14

School. Buff-hunting. borrowed 4-wheeler breaks down. Walk a few miles. Science day at the Children's Museum. AWANA. One visitor came along.

Tuesday October 13

24 hours Fire Dept. Very cold & rainy. Pick up coop order. Library day.

Monday October 12

School. Borrow 4-wheeler. Found 1 bison cow. Procure haybale. Tend to ranch wells. Land-owner says another land-owner said he saw 3 bison. Another prayer night.

Sunday October 11

Sunday school, Wee Worship, more buff hunting, not finding. 4-wheeler breakdown. Reminiscing about college days & listening to old Greg Long music. Watch a movie.

Saturday October 10

Winter wonderland. 12-15 inches of powdery snow. Binoculars. No buffs. Avalon/Selah concert 82 miles away. 2 teen babysitters until midnight.

Friday October 9

School. Cold & foggy. Putting the garden to bed; bringing in all salvageable vegetables. Buff hunting all day. 5:30 p.m. found. Attempted to corral. 6:30 p.m. great north wind and snow. 7p.m. Darkness. Ghost buffalo gone again.

Thursday, October 8

Winter weather again. Search for buffs all morning. No dice. Afternoon of errands in town. Coop order. Put kids to bed early; make chai tea; an evening of prayer about disappointments and direction. Killing freeze in the garden.

Wednesday, October 7

School. Sunny. Cook meal for family with new baby. Check the buffs. They're gone. AWANA club. Look with 4-wheeler until dark. No buffs.

Tuesday, October 6

Fire Dept. 24 hours. Clinic visit for chronic ear ache. School. Phone call to realtor. Our most favorite property got sold less than a week after we looked at it.

Monday, October 5

Very cold & rainy. School. Women's Resource Center 11am - 4pm. Stoking the fire place. Dark very early.

Sunday, October 4

Fire Dept. Very cold, very rainy. Church day. Email from business opportunity. They changed their minds.

Saturday, October 3rd

A chilly but normal fall day. Baking. Cleaning. Ranch working. Check the bison.

Happy Birthday Jonathan!

Make a Smilebox photobook

Super Nanny Summer

Taliah is ready for the hotel at Arnie's airport: zebra ears, winnie the pooh, subway drink, monkey sleeping bag . . .












Sarah's and Jason's new haircuts.

Arnie in Nebraska, looking much healthier and ready to go

Baby Esther and her goat friend in Wisconsin

The Werners' twin goats

The girls tried on Great-Grandma Viesselman's hats in the attic.

Taliah caught her first fish.

The Trimble and Werner boys went to a Milwaukee Brewers' Baseball game.

These are a few of our summertimes with Sarah this year.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Life is So Full of a Number of Things: Facebook Friends

Life is So Full of a Number of Things: Facebook Friends

Here is a boundless article on Facebook that I liked:
http://www.boundless.org/2005/articles/a0001990.cfm?utm_id=emailafriend&utm_campaign=1

Photo Record

Allie & Annie

Taliah, Jared, Anneke

We were watching the buffs to make sure they didn't wander on to the road. That was our "rodeo" day. We spent all day getting them rounded up and back to their own pasture.

Jason, Jim and Jeremy gutting turkeys in the yard.

Jared on the trampoline at Uncle John & Aunt Melanie's

Sweet times with Uncle Arnie

An amazing evening with Mr. & Mrs. Finnamore

Taliah had her first manicure by her cousin Lacey.

She also lost her first tooth that week.

Reading glasses

Shooting blow darts with Uncle Scott

Anneke & Taliah

Aiden's U8 Soccer team

Uncle Andrew's singing "Bill Harlan's Goat."

Alethia likes to play dress up.

Twin Time

I'd Rather Be Gardening, Wouldn't You?

It's just that I have a love affair with summer. We have had the most delicious nights with the sun setting late. I can smell the lilacs, the apple blossoms, the grape blossoms; it's a heady, swoony feeling. I want to go out and check the seedlings one more time, swing on the tire, dig a bucket of dandelions, reintroduce my bare feet to the soil, walk, run, go on a road trip, read a great book, dream of childhood, climb a tree, hold hands, name the constellations . . . Don't you?
Every summer I get this feeling of intense longing. I remember feeling it in Kansas as a child, in Nebraska wtih Grandma & Grandpa, in Cote d'Ivoire as a teen, in Wisconsin as a young adult, and still now. The other day I was driving down a tree-lined lane in North Platte, seeing ladies working in their lawns and people walking and garage sales and I felt so overwhelmed by longing that my chest was tight. I long for peace and rest from drama & worry. I long for all the pains I pray for to be healed and no longer burdensome. I long for there to be an evening of pure childhood innocence of the world's evils. As I was driving that day, it occurred to me that what I am pining for is Heaven! At first I felt a little dismayed that I never can completely have these longings fulfilled here, but then a quick sense of relief and a little more understanding of the meaning of Heaven. There will be no night there. Just basking in the light of Jesus' glory, and OH! Pouring out all my stored-up worship for ever and ever, and green growing things and peace.

Sick Day

Except right now the ibuprofin is working, so I'm upright for awhile. We had NO sickness in our family all winter until March & April, when winter began in earnest. It's been nothing but noses since then. Since the end of February, we've had a blizzard a week. So while spring was on our minds and the garden was in our hearts, we had to find something to do with all that cabin fever.

Jason took up mandolin. He can already play several chords smoothly.

I took up Dickens and knitting. I decided to read Little Dorrit after seeing part 1 of a 5-part miniseries on PBS. I was so intrigued, I went to the library that week and found the (800+ page) book. It's been so long since I read a novel, I forgot how they consume your thoughts. Charles Dickens is sarcastic about social structures, compassionate for orphans, and develops his characters so richly. The main character, Little Dorrit is so good as to see through the best intentions in us. Her family is so bad as to embarrass what we see of ourselves in them. Perhaps not coincidentally, I am reading George Mueller to the kids right now. His life work took place in Dickens' England. Dickens can paint such a dreary picture that I love reading of all the light the Mueller's were shining at that time. I thought I'd like to knit because I like to wear knit clothes and it seems like a useful skill. So far, only one stitch mastered.

Aiden & Taliah took up Adventures in Odyssey. Like good little descendants of Johnsons, they can quote episodes with the best of them.

Jared took up a computer game. We hadn't let him play on the computer before this spring. He likes to "color" pictures of David & Goliath, but especially Goliath.

The twins took up toilet training, finally of their own accord. Praise be to God!

I wasn't there to take pictures, but Aiden got to attend his first branding. He was the brand caller for awhile, and he can't wait for his next one. They got him to sit on a calf, but he wasn't quite ready to ride it. He also learned a few new words. He told Mr. Miller, "We need a steer-maker over here."

"It Was A Wild March Day"

This here is a quote from our current "read aloud" (to use a little homeschooling lingo). We're just finishing Mountain Born, a book about the lifecycles of a European family of shepherds. Every time we get to the end of a book, Taliah gets tears in her eyes, because she doesn't want the story to end. Speaking of literature, we were thinking of

Storybook Bears We Love

The Berenstain Bears

Winnie the Pooh

Little Bear

Moonbear

Cordouroy

Paddington

The Three Bears

Can you think of any more? Let us know.

March has been ripe for harvesting kid soundbytes.

Here are a few:

ALETHIA: (watching Jared carry a big box) Jared, awesome!

ALETHIA: My unnerwear hurts.

ALETHIA: I dooted. (A statement which brings great delight to her 8-year old brothers heart).

ANNEKE: My buns falling down.

ANNEKE: No! Not daaaaaaaaaaaaaaat!

JARED: (singing) If I were a caaar, I'd fank you Lord for giving me wheels.

JARED: Mom, did March come out like a monkey, or a lion?

TALIAH: (while beating eggs for an omelet) (crooning) Poor little chickens who couldn't be born. . .

TALIAH: (wrote her name on a teeny scrap of paper and handed it to me) That's for when I'm married, in case you forget me.

ME: Thanks. You mean after you're gone? . . . .

. . . I don't think I'll ever forget you, though.

TALIAH: Just in case.

AIDEN: (upon being scolded by Taliah for his bread-making mistake) Hey, I don't know how to make bread! Boys are supposed to work; girls make bread.

AIDEN: Dad, do you want to know a fact about Mars?

AIDEN: Mom, you look like a rancher in Hank the Cowdog.

Spring is . . .

Calling outside, and I just spent thirty-eight minutes trying to update this blog and get pictures from the camera and change the background and write about spring. But now it's been 39 minutes and only one of the list accomplished, and minutes during the twins' naptime are precious . . . . Perhaps next week I'll be able to write about spring. Hang in there, dear readers.

Jared's Birthday

No time to write this week, but I'll just say that Jared said, "Mom, you can wrap up a present for me. You can wrap up 'de-odor.' Aiden has de-odor, and then all the boys could have de-odor. " Ask and you shall receive! :)

He also has a love/hate relationship with both swords and stuffed animals. He loves to carry them around all day, but at night they seem scarey to him. He has scarey dreams.

In this picture he is enjoying a handful of oats.

Jared loves to sing, and often sings a mixture of the ABCs, O-B-E-D-I-E-N-C-E, I am a C-H-R-I-S-T-I-A-N and G-O-D is L-O-V-E. He also recently sang, (a la the butterfly song), "If I were a car . . . I'd fank you Lord for giving me wheels."

For his birthday, Aiden & Taliah gave him presents they'd made and found at the AWANA store. We invited the Most family over for supper. Their son Lukan is one of Jared's friends.

Happy Birthday, little guy! We love you so much!

Our Week

Aiden got to "roast cookies." (Huh?)

Aiden's goldfish was dying in the fishbowl, but he loves his new home.

Anneke

(sorry; I'm still learning how do pictures)

Annie, Allie in a coop box

Coop order came in; nothing like raw rolled oats!

Jared "reads" to the twins during school time.

Look-alikes (Allie & Taliah)

Valentine's Day Tea with friends and

Great-Grandma Bennett's tea dishes

Another batch of snow (but he melted by suppertime.)

A Love/Hate Relationship

. . . with blogs, of course!
What's to love? A blog is like a scrapbook and a journal and a letter and a soapbox all in one! All 4 happen to have been some of my favorite things my whole life. Thanks to blogger, we get to be creative and spill our guts and preach and share pictures with faraway peeps. It's like writing our own little magazine.

What's to hate? Well, that was the previous article's subject. And the amount of time it takes. As a matter of fact, I have a love/hate relationship with computers in general! They're so useful and fun, even, but so plastic and glass and electric and flickering and technical and so demanding of my eyes and hands. Unlike the mythical mother with eyes in the back of her head, I need to actually give my face to my children and husband. :)

Last weekend I spent an evening perusing Other People's Blogs and had lots of fun and gathered a few ideas. Hope to put those ideas "up" soon.

Facebook Friends

Facebook friends aren't really friends! Or are they . . . ? This is a rant I've been building for a long time.

Blogs got me started, because I didn't understand why people would rather go look at virtual "pages" about each other than write each other real personal letters in handwriting. Or give each other a phone call and talk with their real voices. Or even . . . "go visiting" or have a maple syrup party like the Wilders/Ingalls did when they wanted to socialize.

So we went from physically visiting each other to phone calls to emails (which became too lengthy). So it was text messages or Twitter. Or MySpace or Facebook, or just driving around the internet visiting people's blogs, where you don't have to interact at all; just put up your stuff and read other people's stuff and somehow, you feel connected. Even instant messaging can be multitasked or ignored. Does anyone else feel the superficiality of some of this? I miss real people!

Real friendships are not made or kept by clicking "confirm."

Friday night Jason & Ben stayed home with our 9 children so that Julie & I could go out for supper. When she lived in town, she & the girls would drive over on their tractor mower for a visit. Now that she's moved, we call or email sometimes and visit a snatch at church, but we haven't just hashed things out for quite awhile. We went to Ruby Tuesday and ate our meals and drank many refills of water with lemon, and talked. Face to face in a tiny booth where we could hear each other's tones of voice and see each other's facial reactions and without even realizing it, we'd been there almost 4 hours!

Now, everybody's not as intense as I am (I don't like to shoot the breeze). But that evening just meant so much more to me than spending an afternoon "socially networking."

Here are the pros and cons of Facebook, etc. as I see it:

PROS:

• people will talk to me on Facebook that would never ever call or write
• it is easier to look up someone on FB than hunting their address or phone #
• people can catch up at each other's convenience without having to plan a time/place
• we can see photos of people we wouldn't be able to visit
• it's free, fun, and it's not just for teenagers

CONS

• friendship is reduced to click click (not even clique)
• all the fakeness is taken so seriously (fake pokes, fake food fights, fake gifts, fake top friends lists, fake games with fake prizes, fake groups, fake shouting matches . . . )
• i do not care that so-and-so just got up from a nap/hates work/is a fan of ___/went outside/came in/blah blah blah, and they don't really care that i did either
• it's just a new toy, and pretty soon something else will replace it

My nephew has over 400 "friends" on facebook. I hope that he has one or two real friends.

Finally Snow

Annie and Allie

Our neighbors brought the 4-wheeler and we brought the sled.

Taliah, Jared (where are you?), Aiden

Phinally Photos!

Anneke has the potty-training woes.
P.S. They're making progress!

Here is the Johnson Family Christmas dinner party sans Arnie.

The TWO two-year-olds on their birthday in Hot Springs, SD. We went up for Joe Charles's funeral. It was a special time of remembering his life. Then we went out for supper at the chinese restaurant and stayed overnight in a motel. AIDEN also turned 8 that day, but can I find any pictures of him?! This is terrible!

Here we just cut down the Christmas tree in Cottonwood Canyon. Dec.'08.