Cooking Company

This week I did something that I have found I really enjoy. Twice this week, on Wednesday and today, I had friends come over and we cooked together. What a great way to get a tedious task out of the way! Visit while you cook!

On Tuesday, my fellow-mom friend who also has a JK student starting school this week came over and we baked muffins to have on hand to send to school for the boys' snacks. What a lot of fun ... most of the time! At one point when all the kids were either crying or screaming we just looked at each other and laughed and she shouted so that I could hear, "It feels like a day care in here!" With babies and preschoolers playing, fighting and being themselves, it got pretty noisy at times, but we got our baking done! Actually, it was quite nice. One of us would be tending to the kids while the other one kept measuring or stirring or washing dishes. We got so much done, had a great time visiting and the kids got to play with their friends. There is also a nice little stash of Raspberry Yogurt Zucchini Muffins and Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread in the freezer! Yummm!

Today another fellow-mom came and we made some delicious soup together for tonight's supper. She brought all her ingredients and we stood in the kitchen and chopped onions and carrots and potatoes and cauliflower together while we took turns wiping noses, changing diapers, stopping tantrums and washing dishes. Once again, lots of fun! It's amazing how enjoyable making supper can be when you're not doing it all by yourself. We traded tips on how to manage our days better, how to liven up boring recipes, how to get our kids to clean up after themselves, etc. We took a little break from cooking when we went for a long walk around the block after meeting Stephen at his bus stop. What a beautiful day for that, especially since about an hour later it started to pour! We all enjoyed our time together and wished that it wasn't nap time because that meant our friends had to go home and the boys had to head upstairs. There were lots of tears because of that, but the promise that we'd do it again soon calmed them for the moment.

If you've never tried this before, I highly recommend finding a friend that you can cook with. Last summer my baking partner and I got together with my neighbor several times and we let the kids play while we made several freezer meals. Two of us were expecting babies at the time and the other was getting ready to move, so we all had busy lives that would benefit from a frozen meal ready to go. We would make enough of a dish so that we had a meal ready for that night, plus one ready to go into the freezer. We got together about once a month or more and it was so nice to visit and work at the same time. If you want some recipe ideas of what to do, let me know. We put together several easy dishes that were simple yet something all of our families would eat.

If you try this, have fun and let me know how it went!

First Day of School

Today was Stephen's first official day of school! He is in Junior Kindergarten this year, which in Canada, is a preschool that is part of the kindergarten program in the public schools. He has been looking forward to this day for sooo long!

We did great this morning, making sure we had everything ready to go so we could be out the door and at the bus stop before the bus came. I thought we were well ahead of schedule, but the bus must have been, too! We got to the bus stop, said hello to the other students waiting in line, chatted a bit with the other kindergarten mother that was there and within a minute or two, that big yellow bus came roaring around the corner! It all happened so fast, I didn't even get to give my little baby one last hug before he got at the end of the line and was climbing on the bus! I watched as his little head slowly walked past row after row of seats (some of them empty!), all the way to the back of the bus where he squeezed in with two other children. I guess I forgot to tell him that he could sit in any seat that was empty or nearly empty. He had been talking about sitting in the front right next to the door so that he could see out the front window, but I guess not. Ok. Why am I relaying all these details? I guess because I'm a first time mom sending my baby off to school on a bus without me! I need to talk about the details just to make sure it was real.

Well, he came home with a happy face. He was telling us all about the bus ride home and how the kids were joking that the bus driver was going to drop one of the kids off at Sears and the other was going to Zellers (discount store) and the other was going to be dropped off at Zehrs (grocery store). He thought it was quite humorous. He told us about the building that he built with the blocks and how he wrote his name with really big letters, but he only did "S" and "T" and then he ran out of room. He told us that there were too many pretzels for his snack and that another boy named Jonathan (but not the Jonathan that is our cousin) had a Thomas backpack. Wow. I LOVE that I have a chatterbox little boy! We got to hear all kinds of stories from him this morning, and he willingly shared the details!

We missed Stephen this morning. He's such a people person who always wants to be in the thick of things and we really noticed his absence. Even my little introverted Timothy was asking when it was time to go get Stephen from the bus. I have to confess, though, that even though we missed Stephen, I sure got a lot of stuff done this morning! We went to the library to return our books and get the boys' birthday books (free books on your birthday up to age 12!), put Christopher down for a nap, Timothy played alone in all his glory (no one to steal his trains or blocks or crayons!) and I did two loads of wash including putting them away, made supper, cleaned the kitchen, played with Timothy, read him books, caught up on some emails, etc, etc. Just one little boy away at school gave me so much more time. I didn't have to break up one fight all morning! :)

Our little baby is now our big school boy. God, please protect that little boy and let him make friends with those who will be a good influence on him. Let him shine for you and reflect your love. Did I teach him everything he needed to know before he left for school? I don't think so, but that's where I have to rely on You! Take care of our little boy at school!

PS Werner was released from the hospital this morning and is resting at home! He wasn't supposed to be released until Friday, but he's doing well enough to be at home! Thank the Lord for that!

A Miracle

We received this email from my sister-in-law, Joanna, regarding Werner's surgery today. What a miracle that the kidney does not show any cancer! This was what they saw last week and what they were expecting to find today, yet there seems to be only a cyst! Now we just need to continue to pray for the results of the bladder's tumor biopsy. Pray for another miracle!

Dear Brothers and Sisters in the Lord,

All praise to God. We want to first thank you for all the prayers that you have said on our behalf. God has heard them and answered many of them so far.
After being concerned that Werner might lose one kidney, hearing from the doctor today following the scope on the kidney, the doctor identified that the area of concern was only a cyst and not a problem. The doctor also removed the tumors in the bladder. It will take one more week to get the pathology reports.
God truly has caused another miracle to occur and we yet ask for your prayers that the pathology report is favorable.
Werner is feeling fine and very peaceful and, Lord willing, will leave the hospital on Friday. Truly this peace comes from God and knowing that so many are praying is a great comfort also. This experienced has again increased our appreciation of all of you, our church family and friends.
The Lord brought Psalm 20 to his mind last evening and we would like to quote 2 verses. “We will rejoice in thy salvation, and in the name of our God we will set up our banners”. “Some trust in chariots, and some in horse; but we will remember the name of the LORD our God.”

We will write again next week after receiving the report.

God bless you all, Werner and Joanna

Urgent Prayer Request

This news may have gotten to you already, but I would like to ask all of you to please pray for my brother-in-law, Werner. He was diagnosed with cancer in his bladder and one kidney last week. He is scheduled for surgery on September 21, but is seeing another specialist this morning in Toronto for a second opinion. Please pray for his healing according to God's will and also for the family and our church. Thank you! (This is a picture of Werner and his daughter, Laura, in June a few days after his 50th birthday.)

Mom Never Sleeps

Last night I was tucking the boys in and I was cuddled up next to Stephen in his bed as we talked about the day. I told him that I was so tired that I would LOVE to be going to sleep with them instead of going back downstairs to finish my work. He cracked me up when he looked at me and so sincerely asked, "Mommy, why don't you ever sleep?" He went on to explain that I am awake when he goes to bed and I'm awake when he wakes up in the morning. When he wakes up overnight, I'm awake (yeah, right!). He never sees me sleep! I admit, I did laugh at him when he was telling me this because it's so true! This is what he sees and he thinks that I don't sleep. I told him that I do sleep, but I don't sleep until I know that he is ok and all the work that I do for him is over for the day. Then I wake up in the morning before him so that I can be ready to take care of him again. Well, he didn't gush all over me and thank me profusely from the bottom of his heart for caring for him or anything, but just the smile on his face was thanks enough for me last night.

Of course, it brought to mind the scripture in Psalms 121:4 where "He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep." God "keeps" Israel and He doesn't sleep! I "keep" my children, but I still need sleep. :) How comforting that God doesn't! There comes a point in our day when we are completely exhausted and we NEED to sleep, but God doesn't! He keeps on "keeping" for us! That gives me peace so that I can sleep, even when Stephen doesn't see me.

Christopher's Turn

Is it the end of summer that is bringing on all the accidents in our house? I don't think it can be. These guys don't even realize that it IS the end of summer! So what's the deal?!

Saturday was Christopher's day for accidents. Poor guy only has two bottom teeth, but that can be a problem when you're in the bathroom using the stool to try to reach up to pull the towel off the counter by the sink and the stool slips out from under you. I watched it happen in slow motion from across the kitchen and I knew exactly what was going to happen. As he was reaching up, he was balancing himself on the footstool and it slipped under him. He came crashing down, whacking his chin on the stool. By the time I got over to him, I saw blood coming from his mouth. His two little teeth had cut into the toothless upper gum and I could tell that it was really hurting!! I tried the freezie thing on him, too, but he wasn't interested either. He just wanted to cry and have me hold him. I didn't complain!

By bath time, that incident was forgotten, but he wanted to add another bit of excitement to his day. The boys were all three in the tub having a great time. Christopher decided to stand up in the tub, even though he had been warned how many times before that he needed to sit down! Well, I saw another slow motion accident happening in front of my eyes. I watched Christopher stand up, lean over the tub and then just slip like a seal at Sea World right over the edge toward the tile floor! I dove over to grab him, managed to do so, but then he slipped out of my hands back into the tub and landed on his back with a huge splash that surprised all of us! Once again I heard the echoes of the warning never to leave your child in the tub unattended!

Thankfully all is well now. I know that these are probably the simplest of accidents that he will encounter in his life, but that's enough for me right now. We have boys. I think I just have to get used to seeing injuries with blood and scrapes and broken bones and huge lips, etc. In the meantime, every night Fred and I still pray that God would protect them from all those potential dangers that are just calling out for them!

First Accident

Today Stephen had his first major bike accident. I don't know who was more traumatized by it: Stephen, Timothy or me! We were heading down the street that has a slight hill and Stephen whizzed past Timothy on his tricycle and Christopher in his stroller. I warned him to slow down because I knew it could get fast for him, plus there was a curve coming up. Well, sure enough! He rounded the curve and wiped out big time! He jumped up and all we saw was blood pouring down his face. He was screaming like crazy and Timothy started shouting, too. "Mommy! He has blood! Mommy, his face hurts!" I had a difficult time getting down to him because Timothy panicked then and didn't want to ride his bike down the hill so I had to drag him and push the stroller at the same time, all the while hollering to Stephen (who couldn't hear me over his screaming anyway!) to hang on because I was coming!

By the time I got to him, there was blood up and down his arms and legs. His face was a total mess. His shirt and shorts were drenched in blood and I was starting to panic. I only had two skimpy baby wipes with me and I tried to sop up what I could see coming from his nose, but it was still pouring from somewhere else ... in his mouth. My fear was his teeth. After getting him calmed down enough to listen to me, I had him open his mouth so I could take a look. Thank God all his teeth were still there! I could see a HUGE gash on his upper lip where all the blood was coming from. We got things stablized and I tried to head back home ... half way around the block yet! He refused to ride his bike. Timothy refused to get on his. Christopher is wailing because everyone else is crying. I felt like just plopping down on the grass in front of me and screaming, too, until some neighbor would come out and deal with this all for me. Instead, I hooked Stephen's front wheel into the basket of the stroller and plunked him on the seat so that he could ride back as I dragged him along...back uphill! I forced Timothy to ride his bike anyway even though he was screaming that he didn't want to. I also handed Christopher some junk mail that we had just gotten from the mailbox and he was happy looking at the ads for ReMax.

When we got home, I tried as calmly as I could to get Stephen settled down and cleaned up. During this whole ordeal, he had also managed to drench me in blood so I had to clean myself up as well. What a mess! How disgusting! I was trying so hard not to be grossed out. I kept telling Stephen that Uncle Joe has a job where he does stuff like this all the time and he stopped screaming briefly to ask the simple, but familiar question, "Why?!" I couldn't answer that one because I'm not really sure why Uncle Joe wanted to have this job, but we sure are thankful that he does!!

Tonight before bed when we were recapping our day, we were talking about the accident because I prayed, "Thank you for using Stephen's helmet to protect his head." He said to me, " Mommy, today after my accident, my top lip was a mountain because it had a huge, huge bump on it. But then it sank down and became a hill. Now it's just a flat road again." What imagination and description he has!

So despite the major nosebleed, the "mountain" lip, the "pink marker" colored scrape on the knee, the ripped up elbow and the emotional trauma of the experience, we are all doing well tonight and Stephen is back to his old tricks of getting out of bed to complain that he's too hot or too cold or that his stomach is a desert ... it needs water!

I'm glad today is over. I'm exhausted.