We Have Seen Jesus

Christ has no body now on earth but yours, no hands but yours, no feet but yours,
Yours are the eyes through which to look out Christ's compassion to the world.
Yours are the feet with which he is to go about doing good;
Yours are the hands with which he is to bless men now.-St. Teresa of Avila

We have told our children several times that Jesus is everywhere and always with us; we just can't see him.  We were wrong.  We can see him.  In these past few days, we HAVE seen him more clearly than ever.  Many times.
We have seen him in the hands folded in prayer, arms wrapped around us, help in doing the chores at both farms so that we could be with our family, feet carrying meal upon meal, phone calls, email messages, cards, caregivers for our children, the gift of an open house next door for us to stay in (the owners even took it off the market for 10 days to make room for our families), pillows and blankets pouring out of the neighbors' homes for us to use in that house, heartfelt shared tears, and the list of kindness goes on and on and on.
David and I used to not know what to do when others were going through similar situations.  We wanted to help, but we didn't want to be in the way.  Now, through the kindness of others, we know what we can do to bring Jesus' love to others.
Thank you, thank you, thank you all a million times for being the hands and feet of Jesus on earth for us.

Our family asks and thanks you for your prayers as we mourn the loss of our grandson, son, brother, nephew, cousin and friend Luke Alan, who went home to Jesus on Thursday night at the age of 4. 
Just hours before, he told his dad the story of Jesus' life and that someday we will all go to Heaven and be happy.
May we all have the faith of a child, as Jesus himself told us we must have.

Today I have added "Held" by Natalie Grant. 

This is what it means to be held, how it feels when the sacred is torn from life and you survive.  This is what it is to be loved and to know that the promise was when everything fell--we'd be held.

SNOW!

Usually my kids are tired of snow by this point in the winter (and so am I), but since it first made its arrival last week, the snow has been a new source of entertainment.

The boys now get off the bus and immediately hit the snow pile with their sleds. 

And they aren't just sledding.  Oh, no.  They are SNOWBOARDING!

New Tunes

One of my new favorite songs is "Brighter Than The Sun" by Colbie Caillat (#69 on the playlist). 
It makes everything--even making the bed and changing a diaper--more fun.
Try it and I think you'll agree!
Another one that has been around awhile, but I've recently rediscovered, is "This" by Darius Rucker (#76).  This is probably because of the beginning and the reference to getting up with a newborn at night. :o)
My new thought for each day is "It won't be like this for long."  Whether we're going through good or bad times, whether my children are at a stage that is mostly fun or mostly frustrating, this statement is always true. 
We have to enjoy or endure because it will all change soon enough!

Dad's Story

As promised, here is some good stuff from last week.  Nathan wrote a book!  He worked very hard on it for two nights after school.  He drew all of the pictures and told me what to write.

 This is the front cover,

 and this is a sample page.

Maybe he can illustrate my book someday!

Weird Week

Last week was kind of weird.  It started off alright as we returned from a fun weekend in Minnesota at Carter and Lily's house.  Then it was downhill from there.  There was a dentist appointment, missed coffee opportunity because of after effects of the dentist appointment, a sick husband who was not allowed within 6 feet of the baby for several days, nasty weather, cancelled religious ed, cradle cap, baby acne/dry skin, more nasty weather, cancelled Sunday mass, a missed chocolate party--Yes!  A CHOCOLATE party-- and after all that, I didn't even have a bottle of wine in the house! 

Do you know what all this means?
I haven't been off this farm since last TUESDAY.  I may escape today . . . maybe.
Surprisingly, I am doing pretty well despite it all.  Some good things happened, too.  More on that later. 
It's time to feed Rachel and she thinks she is a little more important than a blog post! :o)

One Dream Fulfilled--Meyer Lemon Pudding Cake

With one willing assistant and one willing napper, I set to work on those Meyer lemons this morning! 

Here's the deal with the special lemons.  I tore out a recipe for Meyer lemon cakes a few years ago.  I wanted to make them shortly after, but then I found out that not even the local "big" grocery store had the Meyer lemons it called for.  (They are a cross between a lemon and a mandarin orange, so a usual lemon just wouldn't do!)  When I came across a bag of these the other day, I just had to buy them!  They weren't even that expensive.  And--aren't they just so pretty?

 

Instead of making the individual cakes from the original recipe I had intended to try, I used a recipe on the bag of lemons for one larger cake. 
Learn from my mistakes and look ahead in the recipe.  It will make this much easier! 
Pour the milk ahead of time to make it room temperature and do the same for the eggs so the whites cooperate better.  Also, melt the butter first so it can cool before you need it.

Meyer Lemon Pudding Cake
3 Meyer lemons
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
3 large eggs, separated
1 cup whole milk at room temperature
4 T butter, melted and cooled

Preheat oven to 300 and butter an 8x8 baking dish.  Grate 2 tsp zest and then squeeze 1/3 cup juice from 3 lemons.  Set aside.
Combine dry ingredients.  Whish together yolks, milk, butter, zest, and juice.  Add to dry ingredients and whisk to combine.  Beat eggs whites until soft peaks form.  Stir 1/3 of whites into the batter.  Then gently fold in remaining whites.  Pour into prepared pan and bake 35-40 minutes or until golden brown.

 Then, enjoy!  We tried ours warm, but I think I would like it even better chilled.  It does have a definite lemon/orange taste--not a typical lemon flavor!

And there you have it--one little dream fulfilled.  That didn't take too long!  Now, onto the rest of the list . . . .

Don't Carpe Diem

Today I am sharing someone else's thoughts with you.  I don't read parenting magazines very often because I find them to be all the same and often the parenting tips they give can't even be applied to a rural lifestyle. 
(If you've met my children, you probably think I should read more parenting advice.  Just don't put your name on the Parents gift subscription card if you wish to remain anonymous!) :o) 
But once in awhile, I come across something and think, "Finally!  Thank you!  I've needed this!"
How many times as a parent have you heard, "Enjoy EVERY minute! It goes by so fast!" 
This wise advice is most likely to come when your children are at their naughtiest.  Bedtime is so very far away and the promise of kindergarten--even farther.  The problem is, as I've written before, that this well meaning advice can be a source of guilt and even a trigger for depression. 
Landen was just days old when I realized loving every minute of being a mom was going to be impossible.  Translated--I always wanted to be a mom and there I was--a failure and barely a week into it.  That feeling, combined with the normal crazy hormones, made me absolutely miserable.
After I learned that I perhaps had taken the "enjoy EVERY minute" advice a bit too literally, and sought some medical assistance, a huge weight was lifted.  I started to enjoy my baby boy even more when the pressure to enjoy him ALL of the time was gone.
That brings me to the link I am sharing today by Glennon Melton.  As a parent, you know what a blessing it is to have a healthy child.  At least I hope you do. 
I also hope you find this column helpful and appreciate her humor as I did. 
If you are having one of THOSE days as a parent today, feel free and
Don't Carpe Diem.

In My Dreams

Lately I have a desire to create--lots of things!  I want to start Rachel's scrapbook, catch up on everyone else's books, bake Meyer Lemon Pudding Cakes (I actually found Meyer lemons at the store yesterday), make felt play food for my girls similar to what I have seen on Etsy, design a new photo wall in our living room with room for all four kids and candid shots in between . . . oh, yes, I have lots of ideas! 
Too bad there is just one of me!  Last Saturday morning, I caught myself trying to catch a nap while drinking a cup of coffee.  A few days before that, I knew I needed to sleep, but I so wanted to put in some time on the treadmill (a short nap won out).  If only I could split myself in two once in awhile!
I know it will take some time before time and energy align and I am able to make any of these grandiose creative notions a reality. 
(I do hope to get to those lemons before they shrivel up!)
Until then, I can live vicariously through the talented bloggers I follow and Etsy creations I love to browse through. 
It's always fun to dream.

Baby Skin

In my years as a mom, I have found that baby skin can be kind of tricky. I sometimes wish I had gone into dermatology!

As a baby, Nathan had scaly patches on his head from early on. I learned that was called cradle cap and scrubbed his head with baby oil every morning for several months.

When he was a little older, he developed red blotches all over his torso. The diagnosis? Eczema. Teresa joined him in the eczema club for a time, too. They each had to use a prescription lotion to treat it.

Now we have a new one—baby acne! Rachel started developing bumps on her forehead, cheeks, and chin last weekend and now its running its course. All of the advice I find says to keep her skin clean with water, otherwise leave the area alone and it will clear up within a few weeks. It looks like it could be irritating, but it doesn’t seem to bother her. We still think she’s one of the four cutest babies we’ve ever had!

Are there any other pediatric skin conditions I should know more about?  Time will tell!

German Russian Goodness

Our family made a trip to Eureka on Sunday and I picked up a few comfort foods while we were there.



Landen (my good German boy) always wants me to pick up a snack pack of kuchen, which happens to be the Official South Dakota State Dessert, when we visit. Last week I mentioned that we Germans like our dough. Well, we like cream and sugar with our dough sometimes, too. Landen, Teresa, and I appreciate this delicacy. David and Nathan aren’t sold on it.

One treat we all agree on are the homemade noodles from Hosmer—a very small town not too far from Eureka.   

To make this week even better, our neighbor surprised our family with a big bowl of knepfla soup yesterday!  Knepfla is, you guessed it, pieces of dough.  It was delicious and was a little taste from my home territory!

There’s just nothing like comfort foods from home!

Gooey Stuff

Oobleck is back and it has a new name at our house—Gooey Stuff.  You can find the recipe HERE.

I really prefer this project outside on the picnic table, but I’ve been letting Teresa play with it at the kitchen table almost every day this week. One batch, with her Little People animals and people, will keep her occupied for at least a couple hours.


The texture is the crazy part. Even though it pours like a liquid, it will be dry to the touch. If it dries too much before you are done playing with it, just add a bit more water.

I let Teresa choose which food coloring colors to add and her favorite part is watching the colors swirl together at the beginning. She even made an exciting discovery. Yellow and blue make green! She also thinks it tastes good, although I don’t know how it possibly could!

Gooey stuff is inexpensive to make, fun to play with, and wipes or sweeps right up.

Put corn starch on your next shopping list and have fun!

NCL Sines

Landen started his own home based company over Christmas vacation—NCL Sines. It is named for the three boys who are allowed in their boys’ club, Nathan, cousin Carter, and Landen.

He spent most of one day down in their room designing signs, gift cards and coupons for his upcoming sale (99% off!), and running his business.

He even sold a few signs to his grandparents and decorated our doors for free!

It’s good to have connections with a talented sign maker.

Climbing and Swimming

As a proud logophile (that is, lover of words—thanks, Google for that info), I can’t believe this quote by Albert Einstein escaped me until now.




“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”



When we got married, I went from a small town girl to a farm wife just 70 miles from where I grew up. Some days I may as well have become a rice farmer’s wife and moved halfway around the world for how different the two worlds can be. Where I come from, farming is different, people think differently, and many of the older generation even talk differently as they are fluent in conversational German.

Our delicacies are based around dough and carbs (our ancestors had to feed hungry families on a diet consisting of mostly flour and eggs), and foods many other people wouldn’t touch, like sauerkraut, borsht, and pickled watermelon.

Here—yes, so close to that hometown of mine—things are very different. So is my home environment. I am not complaining. I do love the man I married, what we do and where we live.

My fins have strengthened a bit over the years and I have made it a little way up the trunk. But, it is still not my natural environment. It can be very easy to judge myself solely on my ability to climb. And then I can start to feel pretty stupid.

Maneuvering the loader bucket on a tractor is not second nature. The gestation of a cow is not in my brain’s storehouse of trivia. The inner workings of running a business as big as a farm operation are completely beyond my intellect.

When my children are acting up and I am completely overwhelmed and I can’t even escape to the bathroom for a minute and I completely forget that I once was intelligent enough to earn a college degree, I start to long for that pond I once swam in.

So, I have to find little puddles of water to swim in when I can. I’m not sure what I am a genius in, but I do have a few talents that I can feel pretty good about. I know my way around the kitchen pretty well (Landen didn’t even know cookies could come from the store until he was 3 years old), I am pretty creative and crafty around the house, and I love to write. I am still not sure where this writing thing is going to go, but someday it will have some direction!

That will be my resolution for this year. I will find places to swim when I can, and when I do find myself resembling a fish out of water, I will try not to let it make me feel stupid.

We all have our places of genius.

Sometimes we just forget.

What are yours?

Wow. Beautiful. Amazing. Grace.

Wow. Beautiful. Amazing. Grace.

As yesterday came to a close, those words kept swirling inside of me. Today I still feel as though I am overflowing with love. A day, a blessing, so beautiful could only come from God Himself.


Yesterday Rachel Olivia Melius received the Sacrament of Holy Baptism.

Due to time constraints in the morning, we planned the baptism as its own ceremony yesterday afternoon. This was the first time we had baptized outside of mass, so we were expecting a short ceremony, as it would be during mass.

It was so much more than we expected. Father Christopher provided our family with a loving, personalized, and deliberate ceremony. That, coupled with the miracle that was taking place in our daughter’s life, completely overwhelmed our hearts.

It was one of those moments in life that was really too beautiful for this earth.

There are several details I always want to remember about Rachel’s baptism:

Many wonderful friends and family in attendance to pray and celebrate with us

Teresa starting an impromptu round of applause after Fr. Christopher closed his homily and said that Rachel Olivia would soon be baptized.

Nathan with his nose right up to the font as Father prayed over the water.

Landen assisting with the oils and getting a taste of altar serving. (He is proud to say that he has been trained for that.) :o)

Rachel completely wide eyed as she was blessed and baptized.

All of our children taking an active part, really understanding what was happening, and wanting to know more about their own baptisms.

Coming home to a house full of loved ones, great conversation, food, and laughter

How can one really sum up such an awesome day?

 Godparents Eddie & Rachel, Fr. Christopher, Godparents Deb & Doug

Melius family (except for Uncle John)

Joachim family

Wow. Beautiful. Amazing. Grace.