No Cartoon Hearts for God

I just had to share this with y'all, because I knew you'd laugh.

This morning I was browsing through a fabric store's website, and I came across a fabric that had Noah's Ark on it. I clicked on it to get a better look, and this is what came up:


Okay. Now, I understand the cartoonish animals. I understand sticking a rainbow in there, however random the spot. But the Noah flag on the ark? Really? With hearts on it? Really?

It just totally made me laugh.

I think it even says "Noah" (bookended with hearts, of course) above the little door/window where the cow is sticking his head out.

Not only is it so cheesy, but it also makes it look like Noah is their hero. Rather than "Noah," it ought to say "Yahweh." But maybe not with hearts on either side. God is too majestic and too awesome of a presence for cartoon hearts.

Money-Saving Tip

Hey y'all,

I am not going to write a discourse on today's economic events, dramatic as they are. But in light of all the talk about crises, I figured today would be a good day to pass along a little money-saving tip I picked up the other day.

A magazine I was reading (I don't remember which one) suggested baking potatoes in the crock pot. It struck me that since leaving a crock pot on for a few hours is pretty much akin to leaving a light bulb on, energy-wise, it is probably cheaper--and greener--to cook them this way rather than heating the whole oven for 45 minutes. Unless, that is, you bake like 20 potatoes at a time, like my mother-in-law does when the whole family is home. :)

The other reason it saves you money is because they're potatoes. Which are cheap. Especially when you eat a baked potato as your entree, maybe along with some soup or stuffed with broccoli or chili or whatnot. When Nathan and I were first married and I had next to no cooking skills, we ate baked potatoes a lot. With canned peas, with canned baked beans, with canned soup. (That's as much of a reflection of how poor we were as it is of my lack of cooking skills. See? Money-saving! Not to suggest you eat a bunch of canned foods, but back then we were more interested in thrift than nutrition.)

So I tried baking potatoes in the crock pot tonight, and it worked like a charm. Simply scrub the potatoes, rub them with a little olive oil and seasoned salt, wrap them in foil, and put them in the crock pot on high for 6-8 hours (mine were done after about 6 hours).

There ya go.

A Short Weekend

This weekend felt so short!

I usually look forward to weekends a lot, even though I'm no longer working, because it means that Nathan is home. It's just nice to be all together as a family. Plus, he can watch Noah while I do other things.

Nathan is working really hard right now, though, because he is giving two talks at an upcoming conference, and he has been working long hours preparing his research. So he worked all day on Saturday, which made it feel like a regular weekday to me. And then we slept half the afternoon yesterday (all three of us took a two-hour nap!), so it just seemed like this weekend was very short.

A note on the naps: we were all beat because Noah is waking up really early these days. Yesterday he woke up at 4:45. That is probably the earliest yet, although for the past week, he has been waking up around 5:00. What happened to my good sleeper?! He used to sleep until 6:00 or 6:30! I think it's because he started crawling. I've heard that babies' sleep gets interrupted whenever there is a new development. Plus, his teeth have been bothering him more lately, which may also be contributing. But anyway, that's why we were so tired yesterday. I was a much more cheerful mommy afterward.

Sweet Potato and Apple Soup

I made this tonight, and it's pretty good. I adapted the recipe from one I found in Real Simple this month. It'd be great served in a sourdough bread bowl.

Sweet Potato and Apple Soup

2 sweet potatoes
1 tablespoon olive oil
3/4 of an onion, chopped
1 celery stalk, sliced
1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored, and thinly sliced
3 cups water
salt and pepper
1 tablespoon flour
2 tablespoons milk, half and half, or heavy cream (the more fatty the dairy, the more of a velvety feel the soup will have)

Bake the sweet potatoes. Wash them and prick them with a fork, then microwave them for approx. 12 minutes or bake them in a 400-degree oven for 40-45 minutes.

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onion, celery, and apple and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, 10-12 minutes.

Halve the baked sweet potatoes, scoop out the flesh, and add to the saucepan. Add the 3 cups of water, one teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Cook until heated through, 8-10 minutes. Add the flour and milk and stir.

Puree the soup in the saucepan using a handheld immersion blender (or, working in batches, a standard blender). Add water, if necessary, to reach the desired consistency.

Serves approx. 4

Cute Baby Stuff Galore!

One of my bloggy friends, Sabrina, just started an Etsy store, and her stuff is CUTE, y'all!

It's called Noodles and Milk, and she specializes in baby items. She's got bibs, blankets, and onesies galore, and the best part is that they are super cute. None of this run-of-the-mill plain blue and pink. No, this stuff is stylin'.

My favorite is this owl onesie. I am always on the lookout for cute, non-cheesy owl things, since we went to Rice. This one is awesome:

Check the rest of her goodies out! They'll be perfect for the next new baby, the next baby shower, the next first birthday party, Christmas, . . .

Noah Update

THE BOY STILL HAS NO TEETH!!!!!!

Oh my gosh. Seriously. Eight-and-a-half months old and still no teeth. His four front teeth have been coming for about two or three months now. I wish they'd hurry up and break through.

On the bright side, he is army crawling as of a couple of days ago! Before that, he wasn't stationary or anything, though. He had been getting around quite well, but it was not in any consistent way: roll, reach, twist, scoot, reach again, arrive at the toy. He has also pulled himself up into a standing position from time to time.

Beginning at the End

Upon the recommendation of my friend, Sara, I joined a local Mom's group at a church near my house. It's called Mom to Mom, and although I had never heard of it before, it is apparently a worldwide thing. Basically, a group of moms gathers to watch a video or hear a lecture on a mom topic, then you break into small groups and go over some discussion questions.

I have only been once, but so far I love it. There are several reasons. First, this church's nursery area is freakin' awesome. They actually take your and your baby's pictures and print them out on his name tag so that only you can pick him up. They have a paid childcare staff, and it was apparent from the first few minutes I was there that they are very capable. You know that taking care of babies is their gifting when you go back to pick up your child at the end of the first day, see a sea of crying babies (which is to be expected on the first day), and all the adults are totally at ease, holding, rocking, comforting, doing what they can but not freaking out about the 15 crying children in the room. They also give you a beeper and buzz you if your child needs you, which is comforting.

Another reason I like it is because they assign you to a small group led by what they call your "Titus 2 mom" or something like that. The reference is to Titus 2:3-5 (particularly v. 4), where it instructs the older women to teach the younger women:
3 Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. 4 Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, 5 to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.
So because they assign a mentor mom to your group, not only do you get someone who might have an answer to why your child simply won't nap, but you also get someone who can give some perspective on the things you're dealing with. From what I understand, some of these small groups become great friends.

I was also really impressed by how organized this particular church was. Since it's the church where Mom to Mom started, I guess it makes sense that they'd have it all together, but I noticed how much time they put into making the whole experience easy and welcoming for newcomers. It would be easy for someone like me, who doesn't attend that church, to get lost in the probably 200+ group of women who gathered there. But it was not that way at all, and it struck me that being a person who knows how to make others feel welcome is of real value in this world--it is a ministry, itself. One girl in my small group is not even a Christian, but she wanted to learn about God, and she's a new mom and wanted the fellowship. How awesome is it that she felt comfortable coming?

Mom to Mom follows a curriculum that cycles every three years, I think. This year, the curriculum is called "Inside Out Parenting," and the idea is basically that your parenting has to do with who you are more than what you do. The first lesson was on beginning at the end. The idea is to think about what kind of legacy you want to leave your kids, and to realize that you are creating that legacy right now. I think all of us, not just the moms, have a tendency to get so caught up in the everyday things that we don't always think about the goal. But in anything that we do, we should "begin with the end in mind," which is not exactly a new concept. If we do that in business, with a home improvement project, heck, with lasagne, then we ought to do it with our parenting. That's what last week's lesson was about.

So today I was looking over the reflection questions, and I just thought I'd post them here as food for thought:

The Big Question:
What legacy do you want to leave?
What legacy do you want to live?

Ask Yourself:

• What do you want your kids to remember?
• Who do you want them to be?
• Whom do you want them to serve?
  

Remember:

• Parenting is more about right relationships than getting it right.
• Practice "mono vision": Live in the moment--but look ahead!
• Be intentional--and directional. Point your children Godward.
• In order for your children to listen to you, they must feel loved by you.
• You really do make a difference. What you're doing each day IS worth it!
• Mistakes are inevitable. They're how we learn. And children--and God--are very forgiving.
• We can't secure every plane on which our children will fly or control the weather. We can know the "pilot." And that will make all the difference!

A legacy worth living: "Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve . . . as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD." Joshua 24:15, NIV

Mom to Mom Inside Out Parenting Member Book, p. 11

I don't yet know exactly how I want to answer all of those questions. But I am glad that I have been prompted to begin thinking about them.

What do you think? Do you have any thoughts on the legacy you want to leave, to children or otherwise? (Not just how you want to be remembered, but how you helped shape others' lives?)