-double blessing-

This is our friend Bodie, who came to our house after church today and invited our family out to eat.

He does this every so often. He’ll have some extra money to spend, and instead of splurging on something for himself, he’ll take our entire family out to eat. Bodie inspires me to be generous. Sometimes I need to be reminded that people are more important than things.

He also wanted to buy a chest freezer for his house, so after lunch at Captain D’s the 7 of us took a trip to Lowe’s. He picked out his freezer and then very kindly wandered with us around the store while we looked at countertops and hardware that we’ll be buying soon for our bathroom remodel. Then we followed Roger over to the tile section where he found this:

That may not look impressive to you – but only because you don’t know what it is. These three bins of “odd” tile (which just happen to be the color we want to tile our shower with) were being sold for $8 each, or $16 for all three. Roger was wanting to get an assortment of shapes and sizes – to add a little artistic interest to our shower walls – so this was a very exciting purchase. Especially when our cashier typed all the numbers in and announced, “That’s $203 worth of tile that you’re getting for $16.” (Not entirely accurate, since some of the pieces were chipped or broken, but still… you get the idea.)

And the next time you see that tile, (hopefully) it will be right here:

See my shower shelves? I’m not claiming this as good photography. But it captures the necessities: Roger – in the bathtub – showing off the built-in shower shelves – that he made just for me. (Told you I was a spoiled brat.) The broom is not a necessary part of the photo – although in this pose he makes me think of the chimney sweeps in Mary Poppins, and that makes me laugh. This is where our $16 worth of tile is going to go. Or the $203 worth, whichever way you choose to look at it.

Some of the kids are already excited about helping him lay out the tile and design the shower walls. Malin could probably create an entire shower out of a box of macaroni, a sharpie marker and some scotch tape – so it’s inevitable that she’ll be involved. Wesley said he can’t wait; “it’s like putting together a giant puzzle!” I’ll just be happy to have my 2nd bathroom working again.

-i am a spoiled brat-

My husband makes beautiful wooden recipe boxes – for gifts and to sell at our camp’s annual benefit auction. Most of the time he has enough leftover wood glued up that he can make a matching cutting board to go along with it. He brought his most recent cutting board up to the kitchen for the final steps; slathering it with mineral oil and keeping it in a plastic bag for a few days. This makes the cutting board last longer. It’s less likely to dry out and develop cracks.

All that to say…. this lovely cutting board was sitting on my counter, and the more I looked at it, the more I loved it. I kept telling him how beautiful it was and saying that someday I’d like him to make me one just like it. This sounds like I was dropping hints; I honestly wasn’t. But… a couple of days later…. I was relaying to Roger a late night piece of news from Wesley that he “would really like a piece of furniture that was made just for him” (It’s amazing what kids will come up with when they’re supposed to be going to sleep!) when Roger said, “Oh, I’m making something for YOU! Want to go down to the basement and see it?” The rugged creation that we visited in the basement wasn’t exactly a thing of beauty… but I could definitely see its potential. Here it is later, in all of its finished glory:

 

And again, embarking on its maiden voyage:

 

-what is it?-

Your only hint: I pulled it out of my box of childhood treasures.

-surprise! (for me)-

Good news:
My ceramic stovetop safely holds 4 cups of liquid.

Bad news:
I discovered this by forgetting that I’d set a freezer bag of turkey broth out to thaw last night before I went to bed.

Piece of truth for you:
The freezer bags with the slide-lock thing don’t seal as well as the old-fashioned double zipper zip-lock. After 10 hours, the bag was empty.

For once I was grateful for a fresh covering of snow. Otherwise I would have been in a rush to get out the door and go to work, and the cleaning-up process would have been much more flustering.

-busy-

Tags

afghan, elnora miller

Here’s one of the reasons that I haven’t had much of an online presence lately. I’m trying to get this finished for Judah while it’s still cold outside. I promised to make each of my children an afghan for their beds; they get to pick the colors and the patterns. I’ll probably do one each winter. Judah gets the first one, and he’s really looking forward to it being finished. Sweet boy – I know he really wants it, but he isn’t rushing me. He just says things like, “I can’t wait til my blanket is done!” and “I’m glad I picked these colors.”  Originally he wanted bright orange in the color scheme too; I talked him into a compromise. (I don’t think either of us regret that compromise.)

I’ve never really liked sleeping with an afghan on my bed. Either they’re too stretchy… or there’s an annoying fringe that tickles your face… or the yarn is itchy… And then I tried out this pattern from Elnora Miller (using nice soft yarn and skipping the tickly fringe.) It’s a very solid afghan. “Blanket” feels like a better word for it. It’s heavy and warm and the stitches are so dense that it doesn’t stretch out of shape. I threw it on our bed one extra-cold night this winter, and it’s been there ever since.

This pattern always makes me think of my friend Elnora. I’m grateful for the time I spent working with her at the bakery during the last year of her life. I’m so glad that I knew her.

-home-

Tags

postaday2011

Today I’m tired of the snow and the cold and I feel ready to see a little green again. So… here’s a glimpse of summer at mom and dad’s house. This is where I lived for the first 20 years of my life.

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- -

I’m not blogging today. Instead I’m going to copy a bucket list out of someone’s facebook note and mark off the things I’ve done.

Okay, I did it. That was an extremely boring list. I have no desire to do most of those things. You wasted your time here today, didn’t you?

- Went on a blind date

- Donated Blood

- Skipped school

- Watched someone die

- Been to Canada

-a good day-

Tags

postaday2011

Today was a good day. And an eventful one, for a snow day. Since our church was cancelled for the weather, and we were in pretty dire need of groceries, we visited a church in Hazard. It’s really something to sit in a congregation with people who worship differently than you (I didn’t know a single song!) and who may have different priorities than you…. but who believe the same basic truths. It was a very good and encouraging morning – also it was nice to have an excuse to just be at a different church. Sometimes I feel like we miss out on a lot by tying ourselves down to one little body of believers.

Not that I’m doubting that decision. I also feel like it’s really important to be a solid member of a church group. But every time we visit another church, I leave thinking, “Wow. I could totally be a part of this group. I wish I could have my cake and eat it too.”  I guess that’s a good thing.

For lunch we went to the new Chinese buffet in Hazard. It was a nice change from the one in Jackson where we usually eat. Not necessarily better – just different. They had sushi. I tried some. Again. Okay, so the only place I’ve ever eaten sushi was at Chinese buffets. Tell me this: do Chinese buffets serve low-quality sushi? Or do I just not like the stuff?

And our final stop was….. Wal-Mart. The kids each bought a fish, and they went in together to get a filter for the fish tank. So we now have a fish tank in our living room, right outside our bedroom door. I’m wondering if the sounds of water trickling through the filter will lull me to sleep or drive me crazy and keep me awake.

-pinata time!-

It’s a Voth tradition to hand out candy sacks to all of the grandchildren when we’re together at Christmas. This year, Roger and I volunteered to be in charge – and to mix it up a little bit we put together a piñata. Yay! Fun! Right?

It wasn’t your typical piñata. Watch all the way to the end.

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And to ease the disappointment and heartbreak that was bound to occur after busting a piñata full of vegetables…. we had real candy sacks made up to hand out afterwards.

-advance notice-

Tags

phil callaway, postaday2011, thriving family

Here is my twelve-year-old son at his Christmas program the other evening. Pretty handsome guy, huh?

It worries me a little that there already may be girls in his life who are just as charmed as I am by his sparkling brown eyes, his sensitive personality and his confident way of taking on the world. Here are seven things I have to say to them. (Taken without permission from my latest Thriving Family magazine – article written by Phil Calloway)

Rule 1: If you would like to talk with my son, please do so in the church foyer. Bring your Bible.

Rule 2: If you call my house to talk with my son, your conversation may be monitored by a customer service representative.

Rule 3: The following locations and activities are acceptable for your date:

Rule 4: My son cannot use my minivan to drive you to the mall. He has a bicycle. You may ride on the handlebars.

Rule 5: Please do not touch my son. Do not lean against him unless you are falling over and are in danger of plunging from a cliff. Do not even pull lint from his ear. He can do that himself.

Rule 6: I am aware that it is considered fashionable for girls your age to wear Fergie-style “shirts” that do not reach their low-slung pants. My wife and I want to be fair and open-minded about this, so you are free to show up in such attire. My wife will affix it properly to your body with a glue gun.

Rule 7: Above all else, remember that we’ve been praying for this boy since God gave him breath, and we will continue to. When he chooses a godly girl, we will be overwhelmed with joy. Until then, we’ll pray that you’ll chase Jesus first and watch everything else fall into place.

2010 superlatives

Tags

creative zen, jars of clay, needtobreathe, postaday2011, settlers of catan, shirt woot, sriracha, ticket to ride

Our favorite hot sauce:  Sriracha. Not sure I can pronounce this, but we eat it on everything! And we do our best to get all of our friends and loved ones hooked on it too.

Best book I read: The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandrew Dumas)

Favorite book we read as a family: Little Britches (Ralph Moody)

Biggest gift I was given: For years my biggest fear has been losing Roger. One week when I had been worrying about this more than usual, we were talking to our friend Mark (but not about any of my worries or fears – we were discussing camp stuff.) Mark asked if he could pray for Roger about some of the things that he was going through at the moment; he ended his prayer with these words: “….and I want to pray against this fear of dying. Roger, know that you will live and not die.” When he said amen, I asked Roger, “Have you been worrying about dying?” He shrugged and said,  ”No, I don’t think so.”   It was a little shocking to hear God audibly address my deepest fear and offer me comfort.

Favorite place to buy a witty t-shirt: shirt woot!

Most surprising way to be awakened at night: This happened the night that a lazy little yellowjacket crawled into my shirt while I was sleeping peacefully in my otherwise safe bed. Everything was fine until I rolled over and he started feeling squished….

Greatest discovery:

These are our friends Ralph & Linda – and Noah, Josh, Luke & Micah. We’ve been friends for a while now, but in the past year, our friendships have developed more as we’ve spent more time together. We took a mini-vacation to a waterpark together, had a Christmas-cookie-baking family slumber party, and have lots more ideas of things to do together in the future.

Favorite albums added to my personal library: The Shelter (Jars of Clay),  The Outsiders (Needtobreathe)

Favorite poet: Carl Sandburg

Best purchase I made for myself: My Creative Zen Mozaic mp3 player. I loved it so much that I bought myself a second one this year after I lost my first one. Actually I have vague suspicions about it being “lost.” It’s a very small thing that would be easy to pocket. I’ve been keeping a closer eye on this one.  (The link isn’t quite right. It looks like they don’t sell my 16g player in this style anymore…)

Craziest out-of-the-blue compliment: The guy who saw me in the Wal-Mart parking lot, parked his car and came into the store to find me and tell me “you’re gorgeous” and “if you weren’t married, I’d ask you out” and “Your husband is a lucky man – and you can tell him I said that.” And just for the record, this wasn’t an old geezer – I’m not sure he’d even hit 30 yet…

Favorite game for our family to play together: Until Roger’s birthday brought us Settlers of Catan, I would have said our favorite game was Ticket to Ride. Time will tell…. but I think we have a new favorite. But they’re both well-worth the money you’ll put into them.

Most relaxing weekend get-away: In April, my parents kept the kids and Roger and I stayed at a bed and breakfast with Marcus & Danielle. It was especially fun to make memories with my new sister-in-law.

And for the number people…

Whoopie pies I baked: about 3,120
Whoopie pies I’ve had the desire to eat: approximately 3
Peanut Butter Rolls I’ve… created: about 2,080 (And each one of those is cut into 10 individual servings.)
Slices of Peanut Butter Roll I’ve wanted to eat: 1
Bedtime kisses I received: about 6,205 (that’s averaging 1/night from Judah, 10 from Wesley, 4 from Malin and 2 from Avery.) This number does not include the masses of butterfly kisses and love butterfly kisses that have been blown my way as I try to quickly escape my loving daughters’ bedroom.
Number of times my van left me sitting helpless: 2
Times the tow truck came to pick it up and it started up for them the first time they tried it: 2
Times the van refused to start, but we waited it out instead of calling the tow truck: 2
(It’s been a little while since that last one…. I have a bad feeling that the next time is coming soon…)
Number of doors that my UPS/FedEx packages have been delivered to: 5 at least
Amount of whipping cream we’ve used in our coffee: 4.25 gallons
Pickup loads of firewood that our children loaded and stacked in the basement: 5
Amount we’ve paid them for the firewood job: $50
Times I’ve come in first on Mario Kart: 1
Bathtubs Roger removed from our house: 1
New bathtubs installed in our house: 0
Number of people we can fit in our house for a meal: Tonight it’s going to be 15, and I have things to do to get ready for them!

-pride and joy-

Tags

postaday2011

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-magnum opus-

Tags

postaday2011

Here’s Wesley’s “great work” of December. He started the main ball up at the dining hall and rolled it all the way down the lane back to our house. Down the gravel lane. I had no idea how many rocks his snowball had picked up until the snowman started melting. Roger and I got a kick out of watching the snowman shrink and the gravel pile grow.

Some of my Hunsberger family may recognize the snowman’s top hat from Wesley’s magician set. Remember that magic show/skit that the cousins put on for us in Mam-Mam and Papaw’s basement?  Hilarious!

accomplishment(s)

Tags

postaday2011

Topic: What’s the single most important thing you accomplished in 2010?

Looking back over 2010, I feel like the only important and definite thing that I accomplished (and this isn’t even about parenting, which is the most important part of my life!) was sending out birthday cards to all of our campers. There were some that I missed – during the busiest parts of my year – but I think I mailed cards to about 75% of our campers and staff. If you know how many campers & staff we have, that sounds like a monumental task, but… it’s not. Really. Every so often I bring a massive stack of cards to staff meeting and we pass them around and try our level best to sign our names legibly. It leads to some good laughs when we mess up our own signatures. I’ve learned to be organized about mailing them, and make it a part of my daily routine.

That feels important.

As far as parenting goes, there’s another, less easily defined accomplishment – but one that I can’t take full credit for. In the past year, our children have started having sleepovers with their friends from school. Roger and I are so thankful that the Lord has provided each of our kids with at least one good friend that we really feel good about them having. It means a lot to know that your child is with people that you can trust. The part that sort of qualifies as an accomplishment is talking to the parents of our children’s friends and hearing that they feel the same way about our kids. I love hearing that my children have been well-behaved and considerate and even that they’ve been a good influence on their friends.  (Okay, I’ve only heard that last one from one person, but it’s what I’ve always hoped for my children, so….. I’ll take it as an accomplishment.)

I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in truth.  3 John 1:4

And there you have it. My two greatest accomplishments of 2010. If we’re playing the comparison game, it’s not much. One tiny yearly connection with up to 400 people, and the huge, daily connection with 4 little people who I am still responsible for.

Oh, and there’s one more accomplishment from 2010… I loaned out my mandolin to someone who might actually do what I didn’t and learn to play the thing. Good luck, friend!

2010 in review

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.

Crunchy numbers

A helper monkey made this abstract painting, inspired by your stats.

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 3,400 times in 2010. That’s about 8 full 747s.

In 2010, there were 62 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 202 posts. There were 32 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 24mb. That’s about 3 pictures per month.

The busiest day of the year was March 11th with 123 views. The most popular post that day was -the happy wretch-.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were facebook.com, theselvedgeyard.wordpress.com, Google Reader, alphainventions.com, and bloglines.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for ten4ruthie, carolyn coalson, baby & shoes, heather wesselhoeft, and best baby shoes.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

-the happy wretch- March 2010
1 comment

2

-honeysuckle, one of my favorite scents- June 2010
3 comments

3

Back in time… to 1998… January 2010
2 comments

4

grand theft September 2010
3 comments

5

get out of jail free May 2010
3 comments