Missing You

Christmas Cards Fav #1

2011-12-17T19:02:00.000-06:00

Our great friend sent us this Christmas Card. It's my favorite of the year thus far:

Inside she says: "Oxfam is encouraging people to 'give a Sh*t'for the holidays . . ."The idea: "The proceeds from your gift support Oxfam America's efforts to create lasting solutions to poverty, hunger, and injustice . . . Organic manure increases crop yields and is cheaper, greener, and safer than chemical fertilizers. Farmers and the environment prosper."You can find out more here.

Easter Sabbath (a.k.a. Holy Saturday)

2011-04-23T20:43:00.003-05:00

We couldn't find organic eggs that were white in the stores around here, so we had to use our brown and blue ones from our own hens. I was disappointed, until I saw the results: the colors were so deep and rich. Beautiful! What is more beautiful is my 4-year old breaking into unsolicited and out-of-the-blue shouts of "Yay for Resurrection!" before dinner this evening. Didn't get a picture of that, though.

The Rest of 2010

2011-02-23T08:53:00.002-06:00

To catch everyone up on the rest of our 2010 I'd like to refer you to our 2010 Photo album at Shutterfly (boehmerfamilyphotos@shutterfly.com). You may email us to get the password.

July 2010

2011-01-17T15:11:00.009-06:00

O.K., this first one is actually in WV on 29 June. We packed up that day and this is our last family photo before we left. After working my last day of residency at the free clinic on 30 June, left early afternoon, and left Huntington by 3 p.m., driving half way and staying the night in IN. We arrived in RC, WI on July 1, but wouldn't close on our house till the next morning, so we had to stay in a local hotel.

We moved in, but we only had a small trailer of items with us: The moving truck was supposed to arrive sometime in the next couple of days (that's the mattress H got to sleep on . . . I got the floor). On 6 July, the latest date it was supposed to arrive, we called the company to determine why our things hadn't arrived. Come to find out, they hadn't left WV yet and weren't sure when they might, probably in about a week and a half! Thanks to some work by the hospital (which was paying for the move), we only had to sleep on the floor for another week.

Meanwhile, GG and GG visited and stayed in their RV, allowing us to use their chairs. Grandpa G helped me with our mole problem, and we bought a card table and celebrated Ama's Birthday. The moving truck pulled in just as the great grandparents pulled out.

It was a busy month. Since I didn't start my new job until 2 August, we tried to squeeze in as much as possible. Our apricot trees that had been living in containers for the winter and spring months finally got to stretch their roots. One of the stray cats adopted us; A named him Krisagoo. Later he developed an infection and didn't pull through. Our chicks arrived. Summer heat, and ensuing enjoyments, also arrived. We were able to visit the Madison zoo.

Our pasture behind the barn was way overgrown, so we thought we needed to get our goats right away. They have done a great job on it, too. Olga (L) and Inga (R) are Nubian-Alpine mixes from good dairy stock.

We also had lots of visitors. Wayne and Kathy (from Oak Park, IL)serendipitously have settled in the same city and were able to visit after bumping in to them multiple times in town. Grandma Debbie, Uncle Nate (not pictured) and Aunt Jen also spent some time with us.

Mrs. Potato Head

2010-12-13T21:21:00.003-06:00

HI! So, months and months after my last post:

Aedyn likes to role-play Toy Story (we've only seen the first one.) Aedyn assigns roles. While we have no real costumes, Aedyn pretends we do. A few days ago Aedyn rushed into the kitchen where my back was turned to him, "Oh, you already have your Potato costume on!"

We're all well. Finally.
I hope you are.

We're Back!

2010-12-06T19:30:00.007-06:00

Sorry for the long hiatus. We will be using this next 2 months to try to make up for it. You should be enjoying some summer pics right about now anyway! We are down to single digits already, with 7 inches of snow blanketing our fields

This first set of pics is of the property. Will get some with the kids in it soon. We left WV on 30 June and arrived in Richland Center 1 July. That night we stayed in a hotel. We closed on our house the next morning and I drove up the driveway for the first time 2 July around 11 a.m. (only Heidi had seen the place before we bought it!). I was quickly struck by how big 67 acres actually was. We have a barn, a quonset barn, a shed and a 3 BR ranch on >40 wooded acres with a spring fed creek.

To the left is what will become our goat pasture (more on that later).

West Virginia 'Lasts"

2010-06-26T06:52:00.008-05:00

Weeks and weeks have passed since my last post, mostly because I haven't uploaded pictures often and think there should be pictures every time I write something new. I only follow a few blogs and I'm always aching for the pictures. Yes, I am transferring my expectations onto you. So. We move in less than a week! Today we have: haircuts for everyone except Eliyah, trip preparation errands, a going-away party hosted by the neighborhood, and a tiny bit of boxing-up stuff. TINY, you say? YES! Eric's new practice pays for movers. The kind who pack. and carry everything down the stars. and again down the stairs to the street. Collective Sigh of Relief, friends and family--not one of you will be carrying a dresser or bookcase or making 34 trips to a moving truck.

I'm aware of all the moments of "this is the last time that . . ." We'll miss this house and our neighbors and friends. We'll miss the milder WV winters, at least I will. But we are so excited to move to the place we plan to put down roots. (Literally, we have many potted trees that will be making the 2 day drive with us.) We're excited about Eric's new job and the people we already like there. We're eager to live life with a new community of Jesus-people.

And our new land! oooooh! This is a picture of a picture of the house (a ranch-style house to the lower-left of the flash reflection), barns, shed and most of the land. There is some more woodlands and pasture area not pictured to the left of the photo. The North edge of our property is along the ridge at the top of the big tree line. The big white road (Old Hwy 80) is the southern property line. Hwy 80 is on the southeast. That strip of cultivated land down the center was planted in corn. In a few years that whole plantable area will be restored to SW Wisconsin prairie. We're planting fruit and nut tries along the road, getting more chickens, some goats, and bees.

Six Bountiful Years

2010-05-22T18:23:00.005-05:00

Today is our sixth anniversary. Every day I thank God for the relationship he drew us to and for the great joy we have in our marriage. We went away for the night/day (20 hours, to be exact) and had a great time. This was our first night away from the kids. Carter Caves State Park in KY is about an hour away from home; the drive was lovely. We got there at 8:00 last night and went for a short hike in the woods. We stayed in the lodge hotel in the middle of the state park. This morning we tried to sleep-in and then went for another hike along streams and up through waterfall caverns. Every view was lovely and interesting and we saw no one else on the trails. We took a tour of one of the caves, ate lunch beside a stream, and walked through another wide stream to get closer to more falls recessed in a cavern. (Yep, wet feet. It was worth the view!) What a GREAT time away! Sara stayed with the kids and they all seemed really happy with their day with her.

She's 1!

2010-04-20T18:13:00.007-05:00

Eliyah Grace Tuleen is ONE! Saturday we celebrated with Grandpa Bruce and Grandma K (my parents), our dear friends Grammy and Poppy Wilcox, and Eliyah's birth-parents. She was surrounded by love! Eric is in Honduras on a medical mission so we'll have a second celebration when he gets home.

We had a really great day and I'm so glad that my parents were able to be here. Eliyah's birth-mom is with us a lot (Yeah! She's one of our favorite people!) and it was great that E's birth-dad could travel a long distance to be with us for the weekend. The birthday girl loved the attention, her cake, her Snow White doll and especially her new hair bows. Justice and Aedyn think the hair bows are pretty great, too.

Eliyah is saying mama, papa, 'us'is (Justice), a'en (Aedyn), and she does some great animal sounds. Her favorite activity is singing and dancing and she would be content for an hour if I would continuously sing "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and "5 Little Monkeys." Eric and I are so, so grateful to be her parents. Eliyah brings true joy to our hearts.

Happy Resurrection Day!

2010-04-04T13:11:00.005-05:00

Aedyn's Potty Party. He's trained! Diaper at nap and night but he's waking up dry.

Finding the easter eggs that we had just dyed moments before.
A cool and sunny day last week.
Potty training day. It took about an hour to discover the second best place for underwear.
Justice pulled Aedyn's paint project onto the floor and both babies enjoyed themselves.

It's 78 degrees, the kids are all napping, Eric is resting on the couch, Sara is asleep in the chair and I've been wandering around the yard. Next year I will have a huge 'yard' to wander. We are in a contract for a house on 65 acres, 50 of which are wooded, the rest are cropland or pasture.

I've been really overwhelmed as we try to get the house ready for viewing and feeling concerned for the price we probably won't get, but do need. Three years isn't much time to build equity in a house. We would consider renting the house and are praying that we find someone to buy or rent soon.

The kids are all doing great.

March Days

2010-03-12T06:31:00.004-06:00

My Sunshine Boy has been sick all week, along with his sister. Last week was Aedyn's week to feel crummy with this nasty cold. It's nice to see J so happy here.
This was taken a little more than a week ago on an afternoon that Eric was post-call. It was fantastic that he had time to play outside! He's on hospital service which means that he has no weekends or other days off for 15 days and he's 'on' every other night. Thankfully, as a 3rd year resident, he can usually stay home on those nights and do his part of the work over the phone /computer. This hospital service has gone really well, except for Eric getting sick, and it will be over on the 15th.
Eliyah is experimenting with her voice. How loud can she shout? Hmmm. See her curls? She is going to have seriously beautiful hair. I can hardly stand the wait! I was telling her birthmom that when I was a child I used to wear my hair in two long braids every day. So did she! Eliyah will be a braids girl, too.
I don't dress the kids alike often. They're lucky if the items within a single outfit match so the coincidence of the 3 kids matching each other is pretty great to me.

Happy Birthday, Aedyn!

2010-02-23T12:56:00.005-06:00

My big boy is 3 today! We celebrated on Sunday but saved a piece of cake for today which was requested at breakfast. Aedyn asked for a chocolate-orange cake so we baked a Brown Sugar Chocolate Cake with orange marmalade filling and orange-cream cheese frosting. Balloons, friends, and WARM WEATHER made for a great party.

So far, 3 suites him. He's been very polite today. "Fanks, mama!" is music to my ears. Aedyn Shepherd brings such joy and humor to our lives, I am overwhelmed with gratitude for him.

Some pictures from his party:

Happy February!

2010-02-09T15:43:00.003-06:00

Everyone's growing taller and toothier. (well, not EVeryone.) We're home for our WI house-hunting trip and we may or may not be buying. We'll post if/when we find a house to buy!

Enjoy these happy times. Aedyn posing. Justice getting his first haircut. Babies raiding the cupboards. Eliyah being silly.

and . . . Bacon!

2010-01-21T08:51:00.002-06:00

Yesterday morning I asked Aedyn if he would like cereal or toast for breakfast.

A: Toast with peanut butter and sumping sweet.

M: jelly or honey or apple stroop? (apple juice cooked down into a syrup, its German)

A: Bacon!

M: ok. peanut butter and bacon.

A: And sumping sweet. Apple stroop! and Bacon!

2010-01-09T09:38:00.006-06:00

Saturday, snow softly falling, just the babies and I hanging out at home. We started with morning nap and I got a full hour of sleep! The last few nights have been rough. Eliyah has 3 teeth coming in, one of which has a bone chip poking through the front of the gum, and J had his MMR shot the other day, so neither have slept well. This morning Eric took Aedyn with him to drop-off the minivan for a tune-up extraordinaire as we have no idea if/when anything has ever been done on it for the 106,000 miles before we bought it this summer. The first week of February we'll be driving 1,200 miles to WI for a conference, house-hunting, and family visiting and we need a safe vehicle. Eric just called from the mall to say that Aedyn was loving the new 'play-place' there and that the minivan would take 3 hours. Aedyn must be thrilled with his day out: the play-place, lunch in a restaurant, and his papa all to himself!

So, just me and the twins. Eliyah, my overly confident 9-month-old climbed the stairs yesterday, twice. The first time I had Justice in my lap and hadn't thought about closing the stair gate; the second time she was just quicker than I. I always have a hard time describing Justice. He's so "sunshiny!" And very determined. He shouts out/giggles, "Hi-eee!" for phone callers and for Eric when he comes home from work. (He just said this as Eliyah crawled into the kitchen where J is playing.) They are quite the co-conspirators. Together they rummage through cabinets and toss all the clothes out of baskets and diapers out of bins. They act the same age, they seem to have split the 4 month difference and settled on acting like 11 month olds. They will both be enjoying a meal and then one of them will decide not to like whatever it is that they ate happily 10 times before but the one baby refuses to eat and within a minute the other has concurred. (grrrrr, says mama.) Right now they are are crawling toward me together, looking for lunch, I'm sure.

Happy Christmas

2009-12-28T14:31:00.005-06:00

I tried, again, to load a video from iphoto but it didn't work. Shame, It was darling! Eliyah and Justice playing together, independent of anyone older. We had a great First Day of Christmas. Yep, we're celebrating all 12 days, Christmas through Epiphany. And we celebrated Advent. So we will have been consciously celebrating Jesus for 6 weeks! Our days of Christmas celebrations are less defined than I hope they will one day become. We want to do something special each day. Some of our friends also celebrate Epiphany and we'll be sharing a meal with them that day. I'll post more later on why we have chosen to remember Epiphany. It's quite relevant, you know, if you are a Jesus follower and interested in being missional.

On to the photos. Oh. My. Word, my kids are daaaaarling! I know the stockings-on-the-couch pic is smiliar to the banner photo, but I love Justice's roll-away smile. Aedyn is not so keen of potty training but he does like the sticker poster in this Elmo book. Yes. Eliyah is that sweet in person. More so. She is always kissing us, which means her widely opened mouth clamped onto our check or chin. Ellie's a lover.

Happy First Birthday, Justice!

2009-12-24T18:51:00.005-06:00

On Sunday we celebrated the first birthday of our beautiful son, Justice River. This has been an amazing year for our family with Justice's birth as the excellent beginning. Our joy baby loves to giggle, speed crawl, climb everything, share with his sister (toys and food), soak up the giant hugs of his brother and hang-out in papa's arms. LOVE LOVE LOVE you, sunshine baby.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Grandma Debbi's Eggnog

2009-12-24T12:39:00.006-06:00

I was just typing this up for a friend and decided to post it here as well. This eggnog is fantastic. If you love the sticky sweetness of most commercial "eggnog," you'll be surprised by how much better real eggnog tastes!

If you use eggs and milk from animals that haven't been confined in tiny boxes and dosed daily with antibiotics and hormones, even better!

Debra's Eggnog

Make the custard a day ahead, it takes time to cool. Recipe makes a quart, we double for 1/2 gallon or quadruple for parties.

A. The Custard

3 egg yolks

1/4 cup sugar

4 cups milk

1/8 teaspoon mace or nutmeg

Mix the yolks and sugar in a pan. Add the milk and mix well. Cook the custard on stovetop on med, stirring often (constantly at the end) until the mixture coats a spoon (you will notice a change in the consistency—a thickening). The change from raw eggs to custard seems to happen suddenly, just before the boil. Don't let it boil. This takes a LONG time. 30 min possibly, much longer when quadrupled. Let cool, strain, then refrigerate until cold.

B. The Meringue

3 egg whites (room temp)

3 Tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

Just before ready to serve, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form. While beating, gradually add the sugar and then the vanilla.

Combining A & B: Gently fold in about 1/3 of the custard to the meringue. When fully incorporated, fold in the rest of the custard. This helps keep the eggnog a bit fluffy. Top with more nutmeg. Nice with a little kick of bourbon, rum, or brandy.

She's Official!

2009-12-16T19:10:00.003-06:00

Our baby girl is legally ours forever! The court hearing lasted about 10 minutes and then Eliyah enjoyed having her parents' full attention as the three of us went to lunch. The adoption party on Saturday was really lovely. (The court hearing had been re-scheduled from last Friday.)

We are so happy.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Joy to the World, Banner instructions

2009-12-11T13:44:00.005-06:00

Jenny, Sara and I made this lovely banner the day after Thanksgiving. We made it from a kit from Oriental Trading. It turned out so pretty! I sent the banner kits to my sister and S-I-L's so they could make some lovely-ness as well. It would be really fun to do with older kids. Unfortunaly, there were no instructions in the kits. Here are some brief directions.

1. Coat the punch-out letters with glue and cover with glitter. (We used tinsel glitter, silver/gold mixed) and set aside.
2. Choose 13 papers as 'backing' papers. Cut along edges with craft scissors.
3. For each backing paper, choose a coordinating paper. This is your 'front' paper. Use the rectangular cardboard tag as a template and trace tags on your front paper. Cut them out and glue onto the cardboard tags.
4. Poke a whole through the front paper to complete the wholes on the cardboard tags.
5. Glue the front paper/tags onto the backing paper. Poke the holes all the way through so the ribbon can be strung.
6. Glue the letters onto the front papers.
7. Make some spacers from the cardboard shapes. We used stars. Cut paper to shape and glue onto cardboard. Poke holes in the paper to match those on cardboard.
8. Thread ribbon through the letters, leaving a little space and the word spacer shapes. (see picture for how we did it) The ribbon that came with our kit was bright red and so I bought some burgundy to match better.)
9. Embellish with shapes or bows, if you wish.
10. Enjoy!

Adoption Hearing Date Change

2009-12-08T08:03:00.003-06:00

We got a call from our lawyer's office yesterday afternoon. The judge has changed our hearing date from this Friday to next Wednesday, Dec. 16. So our Christmas cards are inaccurate. And, this Saturday when we hold Eliyah's adoption party, she won't be legally ours yet. Oh well, we'll eat cake anyway.

The Reenactment

2009-12-02T11:35:00.006-06:00

On Sunday, while Eric and I were putting the babies to bed for the night, Aedyn tripped on the living room rug. Our friend Sara (whom the children call Ama Sara) was with Aedyn at the time. Aedyn cried for a few minutes, was comforted by Sara, and he was drying his tears as Eric and I got downstairs. He told us he fell and asked me to take pictures of him falling. And crying.

Enjoy the reenactment.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Autumn Afternoon with the Boys

2009-11-21T19:39:00.003-06:00

Last week, while Eliyah napped, Eric and I played outside with the boys. The afternoon was warm and sunny and the leaves perfectly crunchy. Justice loved exploring the yard on all fours while Aedyn jumped in leaves and smacked the stone path with a stick. Looking at these pictures puts my difficult weeks in perspective. I have a truly blessed life.

Shake It

2009-11-19T08:51:00.003-06:00

A few moments ago Aedyn was watching Backyardagins, a cartoon that usually has interesting music. I told him that the music made me want to dance. Aedyn replied, matter-of-factly, "Mama wanna shake her bah'um." (That's 'bottom,' for those of you not versed in Toddler.

Poop

2009-11-01T07:43:00.001-06:00

The poop situation is out of control around here. Perhaps we should stop feeding the children.

Where is Jesus Christ?

2009-10-29T14:34:00.002-05:00

Aedyn: Where is Jesus Christ? (we were listening to worship songs)
Me: He's in Heaven, waiting to be with us.
A: Ae'yn want to play with him!
Me: Jesus loves you! He wants to play with you, too.
A: Ae'yn is Jesus' friend!

I love my job!

Happy Hemi-Birthday, Eliyah Grace Tuleen

2009-10-17T07:35:00.004-05:00

She's scooting a bit and vocalizing loud squeaks. She LOVES watching and reaching for her brothers. Her first two teeth came in this week. Our Eliyah is such a Sunshine Baby, always grinning and constantly interacting. She prefers looking into peoples eyes over playing with any toy or even eating. Every day we are delighted to be her parents!

The Night She Slept

2009-10-04T06:31:00.003-05:00

Friday evening I drove to the bigger city around here and stayed in a lovely B&B for a night of REST! I arrived around 7:00 and enjoyed a glass of wine and headed upstairs to soak for an hour in a big tub surrounded by Italian marble. A cup of chocolate hazelnut tea and magazine made for one great bubble bath. No crying baby or barging-in 2 year-old! I was in bed by 9:15 and slept for 8 beautifully uninterrupted hours then stayed in bed dozing off and reading for a few hours. At 8:30 I joined 8 other guests for cinnamon swirl french toast, sausage, and fruit salad in the dinning room. Good coffee, too. mmmmm. I took a walk around the pretty neighborhood before a drive to the big mall to pick-up Greek food for lunch. I was back home by 1:30, the kids were napping and Eric and I watched The Daily Show. A long family walk in the Autumn sunshine and dinner at our fave Mexican restaurant topped off the day. What a great early birthday present from my fantastic husband! AND there's more to come--Dinner out at the new (& only) Thai restaurant in town (THANK YOU, Sara for the gift certificates and for babysitting!) and a weekend with our lovely friends in Columbus, OH. Happy Birthday, indeed. (mm-hmm, on Friday my age will be divisible by 5 & 7 but not 6 & 8.)

9 to 5 (and 31)

2009-09-22T13:54:00.003-05:00

Eliyah Grace Tuleen is now 5 months old, Justice River is 9 months, and Aedyn Shepherd is a ripe old 31.

Imagine

2009-09-08T19:51:00.002-05:00

This week Aedyn met 2 new friends. A few days ago I walked into the dinning room to find him standing on a chair that he had pushed up to the window saying, "Hello, Mrs. Star!" He told me she had black eyes like Eliyah and that the sun was 'so bright' to see her. Today I went to get him out of nap time and he said, "Get Thomas, too."

Me: Where's Thomas?

A: (pointing towards the pillow) "Right there. Thomas awake."

M: Come on Thomas. Let's go downstairs.

Aedyn held out his hand and 'held hands' with Thomas as we walked down the stairs. Near the bottom he said, "Let's go see the pretty flowers, Thomas." and they headed for the front porch. Thomas has blue eyes and dark brown hair and is big like Aedyn.

My 2 1/2 year old! What a fun kid.

Miss Congeniality

2009-09-08T07:25:00.005-05:00

Eliyah has been with our family for just over 3 months and in 3 more she will be officially our baby! December 11 is our adoption hearing date. We should have a party. (You coming?) She is such a sweetheart! She's now so social that she would rather smile and giggle than take a bottle.

Aedyn is sitting next to me (we keep up with kid friends on the blog, some he's never met, "Hi" Z & M, Elliot & Isaiah, Micah & Eli). He just said, "The yellow sun smiles so pretty in the sky." It's overcast outside so he must be remembering.

Justice, our Joy Baby, is happily napping right now. He's teething his front 2 top teeth, speed crawling army style, and laughing at EVERYTHING.

I love the opportunity to raise these little people!

August in Review

2009-09-02T08:46:00.004-05:00

I just uploaded 60 pictures, our record of August 2009. The kids and I were home, mostly; playing, eating, and sleeping. We did get to the farmers' market in the capital city as a family one Saturday which was a nice outing for us. We also went out to lunch TWICE as a family. These are Big Successful Events to me. You see, a two year old and virtual twin babies are major work. Eric has had some brutal rotations that kept him away about 100 hours a week and I have a hard time functioning cheerfully on the very little sleep I get.

Eric had the great honor of standing up in our friend's wedding in England last week, and, while that kept him away for 5 days, him mom and our niece came to stay with us and help. We loved having Grandma and Ashley here! We miss them already.

May September bring more good growth for our kids, more time with Eric (the second half of the month, maybe?) and more sleep for me. My mom's coming tomorrow and Aedyn is so excited!

Bearing False Witness

2009-08-20T07:01:00.004-05:00

This post isn't about my family. I'll do that later. But first I've got to get this off my chest. I have been so disgusted by some of the comments made by people (famous and not) whom I consider Family members, Christians who are either deliberately misleading others about health care reform or those who are doing so with irresponsible ignorance. Of course people can disagree about any issue; but obscuring an opposing position is cowardly and rude. I urge you, my blog friends and strangers, to fact check so you can positively contribute to the conversation.

http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/settingtherecord

Below is an article from CNN.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Obama appealed Wednesday to faith-based groups to help garner support for his plan to overhaul the nation's health care system.

President Obama speaks at the White House Wednesday.

"I need you to knock on doors, talk to neighbors, spread the facts and speak the truth," he told religious leaders and reporters on a conference call that was streamed over the Web at faithforhealth.org.

"This debate over health care goes to the heart of who we are as a people," he said. "I believe that nobody in America should be denied basic health care because he or she lacks health insurance."

Some 140,000 people participated in the call, the coalition of more than 30 faith-based groups that organized the event said in a written statement.

Obama urged the listeners to reject misinformation about his plans, noting, "There are some folks out there who are, frankly, bearing false witness."

He referred to some assertions as "ludicrous," and cited as an example rumors that the government is planning to set up "death panels" to determine the fate of the nation's elderly.

"That is just an extraordinary lie," he said, adding that it was based on a provision in the House legislation that would allow Medicare to reimburse someone who voluntarily sought counseling on how to set up a living will for the end of life.

"It gives an option that people who can afford fancy lawyers already experience," the Harvard-trained lawyer said.

In addition, the plan does not provide health insurance to illegal aliens, it does not represent a government takeover of health care and it would not lead to government funding of abortion, he said.

"These are all fabrications that have been put out there in order to discourage people from meeting what I consider to be a core ethical and moral obligation: that is, that we look out for one another; that is, I am my brother's keeper, I am my sister's keeper. And in the wealthiest nation in the world right now we are neglecting to live up to that call." Watch a discussion of the emotion and rhetoric of some town hall meetings »

Obama, who took no questions, said the opposition was no surprise. "Throughout history, whenever we have sought to change this country for the better, there have always been those who wanted to preserve the status quo," he said. "These always boil down to a contest between hope and fear."

Prior to the call, Obama's director of domestic policy, Melody Barnes, said the president still believes that including a public option is the best way to achieve low-cost, affordable health care.

The public option has been a sticking point among some Republicans, who consider it to be the camel's nose under the tent of government-run health care.

But, she added, "he also said he's open to other ideas.

My Beautiful Children

2009-08-10T20:07:00.002-05:00

The Lovely Angela shot these. Thank you, Ange. I treasure these photos.

Three Kids in a Row

2009-08-03T19:36:00.000-05:00

Beautiful Weekend

2009-07-28T19:22:00.003-05:00

Please read Angela's lovely post about our Girls' Weekend. It was really wonderful. I love my friends! I love that they love me! So click on the highlighted words and go see some pictures of us.

Some Happy Children (But their mama is tired.)

2009-07-22T17:57:00.004-05:00

Cucumis sativus

2009-07-11T13:13:00.003-05:00

Or, its common name, according to Aedyn: cute-cumber

7/4/09

2009-07-08T11:10:00.002-05:00

I'm trying Smilebox slide show for the first time. You have to wait a while for the pictures, unfortunately, but they are worth the wait, I think!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Week in review

2009-06-28T19:00:00.003-05:00

Here we are, enjoying Fathers' Day out on our deck.
Twins being wiggly (I have a video of the wiggly part, but can't get it to upload.)
Brothers reading.
Aedyn making yogurt pie for Fathers' Day. (That's sour dough starter in the jar, it's not for the pie.)
I am tired. I can't get more than 5 hours of sleep on a good night and none of those hours are consecutive. Thankfully, Eric's schedule changes this week so he will be able to help with the early morning routine when everyone needs diaper changes and fed at the same time. I also have a mother's helper coming for a few hours each afternoon, mostly to play with Aedyn, and this helps tremendously (THANK YOU S and J) and I'm able to get something on the table for supper, even if it's scrambled eggs and toast, repeatedly. BUT I'm grateful for each day with our three kids!

Happy Hemi-Birthday, Justice!

2009-06-20T12:04:00.005-05:00

Loves: Banana/Rice meals, nursing, chewing on anything, waking in the morning, cuddling

Talents: grinning for photos, holding his sister's hand while they lay next to each other to nurse/bottle eat, sucking on his own toes

Accomplishments: great solid food eating skills, cutting 1 tooth with 1 on the way

Favorite Words

2009-06-19T19:59:00.002-05:00

I love Aedyn's pronunciation of many words. Sometimes they are his own words, entirely.

squiffy: squishy

skaw-yee: coffee (I almost cried when A corrected himself and said 'coffee' the conventional way today.)

skeekens: chickens

nook: (until recently, gawk): milk

mimi vahm: minivan

Eh-ee-ah: Eliyah

J...Ustice: he's working on getting the J in there

wittle waahm: little lamb

oct-oct-coc-ta-gon: octagon

scoikel: circle

k-tangle: rectangle

hesh: fish

brawn cwackos: graham crackers

Babies Edition

2009-06-13T19:28:00.003-05:00

How do you pronounce it?

2009-06-10T15:43:00.005-05:00

We intend Eliyah's name to sound like Elliot, changing only the final sound. Please respond: should we consider spelling her name with two L's?

Eliyah or Elliyah?

It's a Girl!

2009-06-07T09:14:00.004-05:00

Meet our new baby! We are pursuing her adoption while she lives with as. Eliyah (the new name we gave her) is 6 and 1/2 weeks old and seems very easy going so far. For instance, she squirms so little that she has kept socks on for the 13 hours since Eric picked her up in Florida. Babies keep socks on?! We are working on a very open adoption as Eliyah's birth mom is a great mom and is becoming a good friend. We're keeping quiet with details and, as we've planned this new addition for only 5 days, everything is a bit jumbled. Also, I'm writing this at 2am. PS: We need a minivan!
(It's now 8 hours later, Justice and Eliyah are napping at the SAME TIME! and Aedyn went to Sunday School with our wonderful neighbors [thank you!] isn't Eliyah darling!)

Super Great Marriage!!

2009-06-03T14:28:00.002-05:00

I just reread the previous post and I sound so under-enthused about our 5th anniversary! Well, that's just because I was rushing to get the post done and get all the photos in the right places. I am THRILLED to celebrate with my amazing husband our excellent life together! Yeah for marriage! Yeah for being with the one who perfectly complements me! Yeah for the life God is gifting us with!

xoxoxoxo, my darling!

Morning

2009-06-01T07:02:00.007-05:00

Hi. It's been a long time since posting.

Eric and I celebrated our 5th anniversary. We went to a really nice restaurant and ate a great meal. Then we went to see Startrek.

This is the first time we've ever gone to dinner and a movie in one date. If we have had the money to do so, we could always think of ways we would rather use that money. It was fun to have 2 dates in 1!

Jenny visited us and our friend Sara has beeen over lots, so I've had good company and I LOVE that.

Justice is our doll who loves to coo and cuddle and is beginning to become interested in food. He's sitting up better and has the BEST giggle.

Aedyn did a great job sitting for a haircut yesterday and he's loving coloring and sculpting play-doh and playing colors and letter games.

AND we decided on the location of our next home! We'll be moving to southwest Wisconsin where Eric will start his family practice w/OB. We're really excited about this. Eric had solid offers from all the places he interviewed in person and we had a lot to consider in choosing. We've got another year to enjoy our friends here in our Southern state and we will treasure it.

Charmer Alert

2009-05-15T21:39:00.005-05:00

We're home from our second interview trip to Wisconsin, tired and sniffily. The trip was rough on everyones sleep patterns but it was productive. We're really glad Eric interviewed with both positions as they are really promising. There's the rub! Now we have 3 jobs/lives to choose between! I know, it IS a wonderful problem. Each opportunity has different pros and cons so comparing them isn't easy. We hope the locale we choose is our place to settle for a while. We do still plan on international 'lives' but we also want to have a home here to grow food, raise chickens and a goat or two, and be involved with our families.

Here's Justice at the hotel and Aedyn wearing his "surf's up board shirt"

When is it time to . . .

2009-05-01T09:11:00.003-05:00

1. Wash your dinning room window sheers? When you find your toddler drinking milk through them.
2. Clean your storm door? After your toddler rubs his sunscreen covered hands, arms, and face against it. Not BEFORE you send him out the door covered with said SPF.
3. Keep a straight face? When your toddler's repeated singing of a word that may be shirt or ship or possibly chip sounds a bit profane.

Contentment

2009-04-22T13:28:00.000-05:00

Like the new look?

2009-04-21T13:27:00.001-05:00

Four months of Justice (River)

2009-04-21T08:54:00.004-05:00

He's so happy when he wakes in the morning: smiles and coos and giggles for all. He pulls his head and chest up to sit more upright in his rocker and he LOVES grabbing the toys hanging from the activity bar. His chubby thighs and triple chins are adorably kissable and ticklish. My little JR is a joy baby. I'm so grateful for his life. His big brother is pretty great, too.

Happy Brothers

2009-04-17T14:15:00.002-05:00

May many, many posts share this title.

Cousin Love

2009-04-13T10:50:00.001-05:00

A few pics from our family get together last month (Eric's fam). Yeah, cousins!

Happy Resurrection Day

2009-04-11T19:41:00.003-05:00

Heidi asked me not just to copy the link, but to put the text from this article run in the London Times by our good Bishop, Tom Wright, in hopes that more of you would actually read it (she doubts that you guys link to the things I sometimes post with reference!). The Lord is Risen!

From The Times
April 11, 2009
The Church must stop trivialising Easter
Christians must keep their nerve: the Resurrection isn’t a metaphor, it’s a physical fact
Tom Wright
Private Eye ran a cartoon some years ago of St Peter standing in front of Jesus's Cross and saying to the other Disciples: “It's time to put this behind us now and move on.” It was a satire not on Christian belief, but on politicians and counsellors, and their trivialising mantras. It depended on Jesus's death being not just an odd, forgettable event - and that it was His Resurrection, rather than a shoulder- shrugging desire to “move on”, that got the early Christians going.

Easter was the pilot project. What God did for Jesus that explosive morning is what He intends to do for the whole creation. We who live in the interval between Jesus's Resurrection and the final rescue and transformation of the whole world are called to be new-creation people here and now. That is the hidden meaning of the greatest festival Christians have.

This true meaning has remained hidden because the Church has trivialised it and the world has rubbished it. The Church has turned Jesus's Resurrection into a “happy ending” after the dark and messy story of Good Friday, often scaling it down so that “resurrection” becomes a fancy way of saying “He went to Heaven”. Easter then means: “There really is life after death”. The world shrugs its shoulders. We may or may not believe in life after death, but we reach that conclusion independently of Jesus, of odd stories about risen bodies and empty tombs.

But “resurrection” to 1st-century Jews wasn't about “going to Heaven”: it was about the physically dead being physically alive again. Some Jews (not all) believed that God would do this for all people in the end. Nobody, including Jesus's followers, was expecting one person to be bodily raised from the dead in the middle of history. The stories of the Resurrection are certainly not “wish-fulfilments” or the result of what dodgy social science calls “cognitive dissonance”. First-century Jews who followed would-be messiahs knew that if your leader got killed by the authorities, it meant you had backed the wrong man. You then had a choice: give up the revolution or get yourself a new leader. Going around saying that he'd been raised from the dead wasn't an option.

Unless he had been. Jesus of Nazareth was certainly dead by the Friday evening; Roman soldiers were professional killers and wouldn't have allowed a not-quite-dead rebel leader to stay that way for long. When the first Christians told the story of what happened next, they were not saying: “I think he's still with us in a spiritual sense” or “I think he's gone to heaven”. All these have been suggested by people who have lost their historical and theological nerve.

The historian must explain why Christianity got going in the first place, why it hailed Jesus as Messiah despite His execution (He hadn't defeated the pagans, or rebuilt the Temple, or brought justice and peace to the world, all of which a Messiah should have done), and why the early Christian movement took the shape that it did. The only explanation that will fit the evidence is the one the early Christians insisted upon - He really had been raised from the dead. His body was not just reanimated. It was transformed, so that it was no longer subject to sickness and death.

Let's be clear: the stories are not about someone coming back into the present mode of life. They are about someone going on into a new sort of existence, still emphatically bodily, if anything, more so. When St Paul speaks of a “spiritual” resurrection body, he doesn't mean “non-material”, like a ghost. “Spiritual” is the sort of Greek word that tells you,not what something is made of, but what is animating it. The risen Jesus had a physical body animated by God's life-giving Spirit. Yes, says St Paul, that same Spirit is at work in us, and will have the same effect - and in the whole world.

Now, suddenly, the real meaning of Easter comes into view, as well as the real reason why it has been trivialised and sidelined. Easter is about a new creation that has already begun. God is remaking His world, challenging all the other powers that think that is their job. The rich, wise order of creation and its glorious, abundant beauty are reaffirmed on the other side of the thing that always threatens justice and beauty - death. Christianity's critics have always sneered that nothing has changed. But everything has. The world is a different place.

Easter has been sidelined because this message doesn't fit our prevailing world view. For at least 200 years the West has lived on the dream that we can bring justice and beauty to the world all by ourselves.

The split between God and the “real” world has produced a public life that lurches between anarchy and tyranny, and an aesthetic that swings dramatically between sentimentalism and brutalism. But we still want to do things our own way, even though we laugh at politicians who claim to be saving the world, and artists who claim “inspiration” when they put cows in formaldehyde.

The world wants to hush up the real meaning of Easter. Death is the final weapon of the tyrant or, for that matter, the anarchist, and resurrection indicates that this weapon doesn't have the last word. When the Church begins to work with Easter energy on the twin tasks of justice and beauty, we may find that it can face down the sneers of sceptics, and speak once more of Jesus in a way that will be heard.

Still Sick

2009-04-10T08:35:00.002-05:00

Three weeks after the first fever, Aedyn Shepherd is finally doing much better. Justice is runny-nose boy and their mom still has ear/nose/throat grossness. Eric is doing lots better. We are home all month before a week of interviews in May.

Big News: We are officially potty training. That is, mom took Aedyn's diaper on / off 4 times in 10 minutes because Aedyn would want to go back to the toilet and then want off almost immediately. When I said, "This is a lot of work!" Aedyn patted my face and said cheerfully, "Work!."

Two good interviews

2009-04-02T08:35:00.005-05:00

Finally, I post. We've all been sick with bad colds which we probably picked-up while traveling. I took lots of antibacterial wipes but somehow Aedyn would always beat me to the remotes, light switches, alarm clocks, etc. so my planing was for naught. We took 8 flights in 2 weeks and the boys did really well. Eric was Aedyn's minute-by-minute in-flight entertainment while I nursed/held Justice.

The interviews, for a job which will begin 16 months from now, are going very well. I won't give any details yet as we still plan on another 4 or 5 interviews. Eric's an in-demand candidate in an in-demand field so we have a lot of choices to make. One of the positions/locations we visited looks especially good to us so all the other jobs have to compete with this one. We're looking for a place to call home for a long time. That's something neither of us has done before. Very Refreshing! Yep, we still plan on spending some time overseas but we plan on having a home here first.

Because this really is why you come here:

Home Again

2009-03-22T21:11:00.003-05:00

We're home. We had a great time interviewing and meeting some fantastic people in a beautiful part of the country at a great Family Practice center. We then got to see my entire family, including 2 of my nieces I rarely see, and visit at a great Irish Pub in Madison. This morning our plane was cancelled and instead of getting home at noon, it is 10 pm and we are just now unpacking. Hard on the kids, but they were so great the entire time. Also cost us quite a bit more than we were expecting, but we are trying to see it as 'vacation' (which in many ways it was).

That's one cheap baby

2009-03-12T10:13:00.004-05:00

Not him, but the hospital bills! Giving birth to Justice at the hospital where E is a Resident and where our insurance is good, was less expensive than the glider we bought to rock him in! WOO-HOO! The anesthesia bill here was 1/12 what we paid for Aedyn's birth and that didn't even work. (And, the anesthesia did work here, a good thing as the first 31 hours of labor were enough for me to 'experience' and work through. Once they started the pitocin, I was ready to go with the pain meds!) Just 7 hours after that, I finally held THIS darling.

Easter Egg #1

2009-03-09T12:10:00.006-05:00

The green-blue egg is the first one laid by our Americaunas hen (commonly and more accurately, since they are not the true breed, "Easter Egger"). The darker brown egg is from a Buff Orpington and the little egg's hen is a little mixed bantam.

Eric butchered 2 Easter Egger roosters yesterday, we have 1 left. I have one of the chickens in the crock pot and the other is brining before being roasted tonight. It's much quieter in the yard now!

Taking matters into his own hands

2009-03-04T10:27:00.003-06:00

Justice, almost 10 weeks

2009-02-26T10:30:00.003-06:00

Aedyn's Happy Birthday!

2009-02-25T11:15:00.005-06:00

He's 2! We had a little party with the neighbor boys. They loved the chocolate train cake. (A neighbor gave me the 1975 Wilton Choo Choo pan.) Playing with balloons was the day's highlight.

Heather came for a few days; there's no one like a sister. We get to see each other so rarely and I miss her every day. Now that I also have 2 boys, I think of how much I want her near for advice and encouragement. I took her to Charleston for her flight last night and I miss her already. Thank you, Ethan and Miles, for sharing your mom with us. Aedyn and Justice love you!

Sun Face

2009-02-19T10:48:00.006-06:00

That's what Aedyn Shepherd calls it.

A Fun Friday

2009-02-15T07:23:00.004-06:00

Aedyn and I made "1-2-3 Almond Butter Cookies" for the nice neighbors who brought us pizza last week.

(adapted from a Peanut Butter Cookie recipie)

1 C. almond butter or peanut butter
1 C. sugar
1 egg

I tossed in some chocolate chips. Almost always a good idea.

The twin neighbor boys, Spencer and Samuel, brought their mom to play in the afternoon sun.

One Waking!

2009-02-12T10:53:00.002-06:00

If it was a fluke, it was a wonderful one. Hopefully it's the beginning of a new pattern. Justice awoke only once to nurse during the night (9-7:30). These boobs weren't used to that so I was awake more often.

Tired

2009-02-11T12:31:00.002-06:00

I just re-read the last post. I must have been really tired to write so poorly! I meant every stammering sentence, though.

Saturday, Eric was on call. He had to leave before we were awake and didn't get home until noon on Sunday. He had had no sleep so he went upstairs to nap. Saturday was hard for me. Aedyn had to go to time-out 3 times for hitting or bitting Justice and that little one hardly napped all day.I put Aedyn to bed in the clothes he had worn all day even though there was pizza sauce on the shirt (pepperoni pizza. no veggies, no fruit. poor kid) and just kicked the toys toward the toy box in some effort to clean up. I was crying by the time Eric called to say good night.

So you can see how special it was to be reminded how great my life is. Because it is, even when my kids are cranky and my house is a mess and my husband comes home too tired to speak.

Grateful

2009-02-09T08:00:00.003-06:00

I sometimes have really good prayer time during Justice's middle-of-the-night feedings. Sometimes I can't stay awake enough to think clearly. But in the early-early hours of Sunday I was overwhelmed by how good my life is. My husband in an example of selflessness and his love is a great treasure to me. I really ENJOY him. My boys are a joy. Right now Aedyn is climbing into my lap for kisses. while I'm typing he's sitting in the dinning-room chair next to mine and blowing on the purple cosmos Eric brought home for me yesterday. Aedyn blows on them just to see the petals dance. Yesterday Justice pulled his mouth away while nursing and smiled at me! Then he nursed some more. Eric has a stable job. We bought a modest house and can afford the mortgage.

Our World Vision magazine came yesterday (our sponsered child, Maria, lives in Brazil). My heart is daily engaged with orphans and the poor (weather I want to love them so much or not. sometimes this is very painful. but a privalage.) Aedyn sat with me looked at the pictures of kids praying over their one daily meal and I we prayed for them. I pray for Aedyn's shepherd's heart.

Happy Birthday, Grandpa Bruce (Feb.3)

2009-02-05T12:38:00.005-06:00

Justice smiled just in time for the picture. He's wearing my dad's sweater, first worn 64 years ago. Happy Birthday, "Duce!" (Aedyn's pronunciation of grandpa bruce)

Tia Hannah is here and Aedyn took a nap on her lap yesterday. He NEVER does that. She's pretty special.

Exciting, but not what you were expecting

2009-02-01T12:56:00.003-06:00

You probably want to see some new pics of Justice and Aedyn, now that J is 6 weeks old; well, that's not what I'm here to post! But I will tell you he is doing fine and that Tia Hannita will be visiting here this evening, so we may get time to put up some pics of the boys. But in the mean time, here is a photo of a freshly laid egg (less than 1 hour)—our very first!

Inauguration Day and One-Month Old Justice

2009-01-20T09:10:00.004-06:00

We're watching inauguration coverage on CNN online (no TV here) and Aedyn keeps calling out in excitement, "Obama!" We didn't teach him to, he's been observing the crowd. Justice is sleeping. His cold rebounded last evening and I had to hold him upright during the night so he could breath. As promised, here is the balding baby. You can compare to the with-hair photos in the previous post. Please notice the BEAUTIFUL quilt he's resting on. Hannah made that! I love the colors (matches the living room furniture and the green walls in the boys' rooms) and I LOVE that Tia made that for Justice River. Aedyn wanted a picture of his hair, too. He has gorgeous hair, thick and a bit long; great eyelashes, too. Click on Hannah's name to see the quilt she made for Aedyn. It's an "I-Spy" quilt. Very neat. Aedyn loves it.

2009-01-18T13:25:00.004-06:00

Justice is content in eric's arms and he and Aedyn are watching a counting movie on netflix. Two loaves of honey wheat bread are in the oven, the chickens are taking a nap in their house (as they do every afternoon) and I'm finally sending out a few baby announcement cards. We are happy and, as the boys' colds are now clearing up, healthy.
The pictures are all from last week. I'll get some pics of J's retirement-home style balding ; we are so captivated by him!

Just a few pics to keep you satisfied . . .

2009-01-12T15:23:00.003-06:00

Happy Sixth Day of Christmas

2008-12-30T15:41:00.002-06:00

Justice River's First Week

2008-12-27T18:50:00.001-06:00

He's sleeping well and gaining weight now. Our boy is a very content little boy. Aedyn's in love and kisses (and licks) his brother whenever he can.

Justice River Boehmer

2008-12-21T21:24:00.009-06:00

Just a short post and some teaser pics announcing the birth of our new son (more later). Justice River Boehmer was born on 20 December 2008 (his actual 'due date', which rarely happens!) at 18:12 EST after 38 hours of labor. He weighed 7#10 and was 19.5 inches long. He and mom are now home and doing well. The entire event is quite a story to tell.

As a related matter of unknown significance, Eliannah Anissa Sartori (spelling?) was born to Eric and Rachel Sartori (Eric was Eric's Best Man in our wedding) only 10 minutes later (Eric and Eric also share the same birthdate).

Sorry to disappoint

2008-12-18T17:28:00.002-06:00

Justice is enjoying the womb, it seems. Calm uterus Monday and Tuesday and lots of contractions on Wednesday which got very intense in the evening and then suddenly stopped at 1:00 a.m. Today, just a few intense ones.

Aedyn has been HAPPY today and yesterday and we've had a lot of fun. I'm enjoying the last few days of his only-childness.

Thank you for your prayers for a quick labor and birth and especially a well boy!

Nope, not yet

2008-12-14T18:36:00.001-06:00

He's still in the womb. I feel good--and expectant.

Early Labor

2008-12-12T11:07:00.003-06:00

Last night we were expecting a Friday birth but the contractions stopped just after midnight. I had a great night's sleep and the contractions are fewer today than they have been all week! So. Maybe we'll meet our boy this weekend!

Thanksgiving Pictures

2008-12-07T18:47:00.006-06:00

I know 10 days have passed but they have been interesting baby-born-any-day-now days. Lots of contractions and the stomach flu have added to the fun.
WELL! Thanksgiving was great. Eric's sister, Rachel, and her fam came for the holiday and Aedyn loved the entertainment his cousins provided. Our friends Jenny, Jen, Carrie, and the Kims all traveled here for at least part of the long weekend. Everyone had long or really long drives. THANK YOU for the gift of your presence here with us! We love you all so much and I needed to see each one of you!

I Was Tagged!

2008-12-02T19:17:00.008-06:00

I was tagged by my sweet friend, Angela. I get to do what she tells me.
These are the rules:

1. Choose the 4th picture folder on your computer
2. Choose the 4th picture
3. Explain your picture
4. Tag 4 people to do the same

Communion at our wedding! I love this picture. Our pastors and parents prayed over us after Eric and I took communion and prayed together. Our friend, Angie W, sang "How Beautiful" through it all.

I tag
my S-I-L, Georgeann
my friend, Hannita
my college roomie, Rachel
my college roomie, Jodie

Relaxing Before Bed

2008-11-21T11:29:00.003-06:00

Here are a few minutes just before book-time. I know he's a typical toddler but I can't get enough! Grandparents, here's what you asked for, to see a bit of our day.

35 Weeks Pregnant!

2008-11-16T18:03:00.003-06:00

A baby this age is, on average, 5.25 lbs! Our boy has moved into my lung space. Aedyn can almost say the baby's name; an accomplishment as he never says his own name.

You must see Aedyn's smile close-up! Click on the photo to enlarge.

Autumn Day (Updated)

2008-11-03T06:51:00.004-06:00

On this very chilly Saturday morning we went to the park so Eric could be one of the on-site doctors for a 5K and a fun-run. We had a package waiting when we came home, homemade pretties from Tia Hannita! She made me some peachy-glass earings and for Aedyn's room (soon to be Brother's room) a darling pillow and plastic bag holder. Aedyn also received a sweet cloth bird. He loves it! Below, he's 'flying' his bird as he swings on our front porch.

updated: After we spent the morning at the park we went to our county courthouse to vote. I am HAPPYy to vote for Obama!

Visitors!

2008-10-31T09:29:00.013-05:00

Aedyn's new friend, Giovani, and his parents came over for a fun afternoon. G's mom is one of Eric's fellow residents.

Aedyn loves wearing our shoes.

The big excitement of the week! GG (great-grandma, Eric's grandma) and Great Great Aunt Carole came to visit! Aedyn loved the non-stop cuddles and captive audience for his little speaches.

let justice roll like a river . . .

2008-10-25T08:12:00.008-05:00

This is a quote from Justice in the Burbs. I linked it in someone else's post about a year ago, but thought it was worth posting the actual quote.

Jesus lives next door. He's an eight-year-old girl and her three-year-old brother. The Son of Man looks like those starving Ethiopian children. He only gets breakfast and lunch at school, when he makes it. His mama is a crack whore. Nobody knows where his daddy is. I heard his mama lets her "Johns" do things to him.

Poor King of Kings.

Jesus is two houses down and has six children. Now he's pregnant with the seventh. I don't know if he hasn't figured out what birth control is, or what, but how does he expect his husband to feed all those babies on that salary? And you know with all those kids the Lord of Lords can't work. That means hardworking taxpayers' money has to go for Christ's food stamps!

He needs to get fixed.

The Lord is a crazy man—paranoid schizophrenic. If he doesn't take his medication, he walks up and down the street, cussing and spitting on everybody he passes. He's homeless. Nobody knows where his family is--if he's got one. Digs out of the trash cans for food. Somebody ought to get him off the street.

Jesus is nothing but a nuisance.

I'm starting to see the Son of God everywhere I go. He's always crying or begging or looking pitiful. Why doesn't he pull himself up by his bootstraps? This is America! Makes me mad. He's ruining our neighborhood.

Somebody ought to do something about him.

Somebody.

Try reading this out loud to your spouse. I dare you not to cry.

Beautiful Bad Hawk

2008-10-25T07:33:00.005-05:00

Hannah requested an update on the chickens. Here are 4 pics taken yesterday. The gold ones are called Buff Orpingtons (there are 2). The black are Black Australorps (2). There are 2 mongrels. One unknown (silvery, perhaps a Silver Laced Wyandotte?). And then there are 3 Easter Eggers (1 white, 1 brown-grey-black, 1 brown). That last part is the sad segue. There used to be 4 Easter Eggers. A hawk got one the other day and ripped out its innards. The others were terrified and haven't left the coop until today. Since then, I've got this netting to cover a large part of the yard to keep the hawks out. The chickens are still not impressed.

BTW, chicks stop being cute chicks by the time they are 4 days old. Then they go through this awkward stage as their feathers come in. Now they look like little hens! We expect them to start laying eggs around January or February.

Book Club Announcement

2008-10-25T06:27:00.008-05:00

I've started a new blog for the book club as indicated earlier this month. It is linked at the side under Book Club under Readings of Note. Anyone is welcome to read it, but you need to email me if you want to be a member and to be able to add comments. The first post will go up later today. Also, let me know at that time if you want to receive an email when new comments are made.

Concluding Prayer

2008-10-23T07:05:00.005-05:00

I love the concept and practice of 'the offices.' This morning's concluding prayer for the morning office (from Phyllis Tickle's series) was beautiful and extremely heartfelt. I hope others of you can also pray it:

Lord God Almighty, you have made all the peoples of the earth for your glory, to serve you in freedom and in peace: Give to the people of our country a zeal for justice and the strength of forbearance, that we may use our liberty in accordance with your gracious will; through King Jesus, our lord, who lives and reigns with you and the holy Spirit, one god, for ever and ever. Amen.

Smiley Days

2008-10-22T18:25:00.008-05:00

The little mechanic trying to 'fix' his new circus from cousin Miles.

A boy and his apple.

We picked apples from a neighbor's tree this weekend.

The dress-up picture is from my birthday dinner.

Aedyn with our chickens.

Eric is on vacation and we are enjoying relaxing!

Be a Smart Voter

2008-10-16T16:01:00.004-05:00

My friend and college roommate, Rachel, is married to a political science professor. Prof and Rach made a great list for us to be informed voters. PLEASE check them out. The links are in the sidebar. Eric found the top site, Voting for a Culture of Life, and added it to the list. We have found all these sites useful.

Book Club

2008-10-04T12:40:00.004-05:00

A friend of mine (E.S.—the best man in my wedding) and I are planning to start an online book club. I have a few titles I'd eventually like to explore, but the first is The Secret Message of Jesus by Brian McLaren and available here. We'd love it if you joined us at any time. There is no time limit, since it will be in blog format and you can just pop in on the chapter you happen to be on at any time. I hope some of you will hop aboard! I'll start it some time next week to give people a chance to purchase it and me a chance to start reading it. I'll announce it with another post and a link!

19 months and 1 week old

2008-09-29T18:31:00.004-05:00

Our sweet, funny boy enjoys eating with a spoon or spork by himself. He giggles during "Little Bill" and loves talking to the chickens. Today, when I asked him where our baby was, he pulled up his own shirt and patted his belly.

Aedyn is now sleeping, I'm drinking chai and am about to do ironing, Eric is FINALLY on his last 30 hour shift until February.

We miss you, friends and family.

Golden Boy

2008-09-18T12:32:00.002-05:00

He is himself again. Now that he feels well, Aedyn is sweet as honey. He happily runs into our legs to hug them and sits with us to read his books and plays contentedly. Last week I was worried that his strong will was turning an ornery shade and now it's back to jolly-ness. He is, of course, still strong willed! But his name does mean "fiery one!" He's napping now. Eric just got home from a call day/night/day and I need a little nap, too.

I'm feeling good most of the time and am really happy with 3 of the 5 days of my water aerobics class. (The teacher on the other 2 days just isn't as skilled.)So far, no symptoms of the nasty liver disorder and we pray it doesn't develop. The baby moves a lot and seems to be resting transverse. Aedyn likes to shout and sometimes his little sibling responds with a solid kick. So fun.

Happier Day

2008-09-13T17:43:00.002-05:00

Today was much better for Aedyn. He woke up cheerful and didn't throw any tantrums. He did seem to practice throwing his body to the ground but he wasn't screaming at the same time. We visited E at the hospital and had supper with him. Aedyn went to bed peacefully. Ahhh.

A challenging week

2008-09-12T15:09:00.002-05:00

Aedyn was really sick and crabby and then more crabby while a tooth came in and Eric is on hospital service which has a terrible schedule. Ugh. Eric won't have a day off until next weekend, that's after 14 long days (plus 4 nights) of work. Boy, I'm tired. Aedyn really knows how to do a tantrum in big way. Several times a day. No cute pictures this week because none of us were very cute. Except maybe the chicks who are growing beautiful adult feathers.

Chicks!

2008-09-04T19:36:00.007-05:00

Our chicks are here! Three of the 5 eggs we incubated hatched. They are in the lower pictures. The little box that Aedyn is inspecting is our mail-order batch of beauties. We have two Black Australorp hens, two Buff Orpington hens, and 5 mixed Aracanas (they lay blue-green eggs.) The hatchery sent a surprise chick and we think it may be a Silver Laced Wyandotte.
They are all so beautiful. We currently have them in a big box with a heat lamp in the dining room and they are so fun to watch. They pile around each other to nap.

Girl or Boy?

2008-08-29T05:49:00.003-05:00

We have tried twice now to determine what the new baby is. Unfortunately, both times the baby's position or movement has prevented us from figuring it out. At first, I thought perhaps this was due to my skills at ultrasounds not being as honed as I expected they were, but some lengthy consultations with the OB doctors and their own attempts only confirmed what I was already not seeing! So, we still don't know, and chances are we will not be looking again since I start hospital service this Monday and will become much busier than I currently am. We didn't find out for Aedyn, either, but back then, by choice, we didn't even look.

The baby's very squirmy. I am able to feel it moving now (Heidi has been able to for more than a month). Looks healthy. Heidi has not yet had any liver problems. Please pray for us for that: keep her liver functioning appropriately and keep the baby safe. We'd like to deliver as naturally as possible.

Family Reunion Highlights

2008-08-25T16:18:00.003-05:00

The cousins on Rodeo Night: Miles, Aedyn, & Ethan

Family wagon ride through the prairie and forest

The guest of honor and birthday girl, Grandma Peggy, and her daughters, Kathryn (mom), Sue, and Jane

We had so much fun together!

Our Visit with Angela and the kids

2008-08-23T11:35:00.003-05:00

Over on the right, click on Elliot & Family to read about our little visit with Elliot, Isaiah, and Angela this week. I was so glad to be with my dear friend and watching our kids play together was great. Below one of her photos Ange has a link to her picasa photo album with more pics of the boys. SO CUTE!