The Three Trees

This story has been around for a long, long time.  Maybe you have heard it.  I just discovered it recently when I ordered a copy for our family.  I thought it was so neat, I ordered one for all of our nieces and nephews for Easter. 

The Three Trees has its origin in Lebanon and is a story of, obviously, three trees who each have a dream for their lives.  One wants to be the most beautiful treasure chest in the world, one wants to be the strongest sailing ship in the world, and the last one dreams of being the tallest tree in the world in order to be closest to God. 

Just when it looks like none of these dreams will come true, God makes them a reality--and even better than any of them could have imagined.  

This story is a great little lesson in faith, patience and trust.

 

This version is available from Pauline books, and also available on Amazon.

 

a little less slumpy

I'm not quite as much of a "slumpy" (thanks, sister-in-law Angela for that great name) this week.
It probably has something to do with finding a babysitter, venturing off the farm for a few hours, and spending some fun time at the new Italian restaurant in Aberdeen for my mom's birthday celebration on Saturday.  I also had a group of fun ladies over yesterday afternoon for a Clever Container party.  Ahh . . . it's amazing what some real conversation with adult humans can do for a mama! 

The kids and I went outside this evening after school.  Rachel was not impressed with the snow impeding her ability to walk.  She would much rather be toddling around the house in her squeaky-soled shoes!
After finding mamas for all but two calves, we picked up another new baby yesterday.  Miss Moo is called a "baldy" calf because of her white face.  So, if someone ever asks you what cows that have white faces are called, you are now ready to impress them with your knowledge of cattle. :o) 
Here's to a less slumpy week! 

unslumping myself

As Dr. Seuss taught us many years ago, "When you're in a slump, you're not in for much fun, for unslumping yourself is not easily done."
Yes, I appear to be in a winter slump.
And the Dr. was right about climbing out of it.

I am not complaining.  Somehow influenza has so far missed our home. Except for a shared cold, we've all been good.  We are all super, super thankful for our family's health, and of course, all of our other blessings that are always too many to count.
But, still, I'm bored with the mundane tasks of life.  (One would think that this would also mean that my house is perfectly clean and organized, but that is not the case.)  Everything I do is soon undone and, although this provides plenty of job security, it's getting a little old.  Although I am also thankful that I don't have to venture out into the freezing cold mornings to an outside job, the walls of this house are getting a little blah--even with a new coat of paint.

I need some FUN!!!!

Usually, we get away somewhere for a few days for a winter vacation.  But, this year, (again--not complaining!), our November free-time was spent in Rochester with Rachel's surgery and, although we talked about putting something on the calendar for January, we didn't know where she would be recovery-wise.  It looks like March could be promising, but we will be taking a few days for a trip out there again for Rachel's check-up.  (Maybe, if we can stay an extra hour or so and eat at John Hardy's BBQ, I will count it as a vacation.) :o)

I'm ready for a new season.
I'm ready to buy some flowers, maybe plant a vegetable garden (I haven't committed to that yet), dig in the dirt, take walks down the road.
There are some fun trips and reunions on the calendar this summer, but for now there's a lot of white out there with several weeks of winter left.

I need to get myself unslumped.

Any ideas????

Vacancy, Conclave, Smoke . . . in a nutshell

In case you haven't heard, Pope Benedict XVI recently announced his resignation.  It is the first time a pope has resigned in 600 years.  Otherwise, obviously, a papal vacancy has been the result of the death of the previous pope. 
Chances are you will be seeing a lot of news concerning the upcoming conclave, or election of a new pope, in the media.  The most recent conclave was in 2005 when Pope Benedict XVI, formerly Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, was elected pope after the death of Blessed Pope John Paul II. 
I didn't pay a lot of attention to the previous conclave, or at least I don't remember much about it in detail.  (That probably had something to do with having an energetic one-year-old and experiencing the joys of "all day" sickness early in my pregnancy with Nathan at the time). 
So, this morning I decided I was going to learn all there was to know about history and procedure of the papal conclave.  After 14 pages poured out of my printer, I realized it was going to take a bit longer than I had previously thought! 
As God would have it, this link appeared in my Facebook news feed shortly after that.  I have just clicked around the surface of Electingthepope.net, but I can tell it is just what I was looking for and would be helpful to anyone interested in papal history or merely how the conclave to elect a new pope works.
One thing I have heard a lot in the media already concerns the "black smoke" and the "white smoke."  What is that all about?
It should come as no surprise that the results of the conclave are not communicated to the world in the form of texts or Facebook.  A special temporary stove and chimney are set up in the Sistine Chapel for the conclave.  Once ballots are counted, they are burned.  If the electors did not agree, an additive will be added to the burned ballots and black smoke will appear coming from the chimney.  If the results produce a successful election (2/3 + one supermajority vote and the acceptance of the elected person), the additive will be left out of the fire and white smoke will pour from the chimney.  This is the first signal to all of the people gathered in St. Peter's Square and the world that a new pope has been elected.
Of course, this information and more can be found on Electingthepope.net. 

May your day be blessed.

Banana Cake

Happy President's Day! 
With the boys at home again, I had Landen whip up this cake for our family this morning.  This is the only banana cake I ever make.  (I thought I had blogged about it before, but my recent search says I have not!)  Sometimes I will mix it up and add about 1/2 cup cocoa to the batter to make it chocolate or about 1/2 cup peanut butter for something different.

Banana Cake
1/2 shortening
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (2-3)
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flower
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup buttermilk (or add a few drops vinegar/lemon juice to regular milk)

Brown Sugar Frosting
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup butter
6 T milk
2 1/2-3 cups confectioner's sugar

Cream the shortening and sugars. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Beat in bananas and vanilla.  Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; add to the mixture alternately with the milk.  Pour into a greased 9x13 pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.   Frost with brown sugar frosting, cream cheese frosting, or dust with confectioner's sugar.
*To make the brown sugar frosting, combine brown sugar, buter and milk in a saucepan.  Bring to a boil over medium heat; boil and stir for 2 minutes.  Remove from heat; cool to lukewarm.  Gradually beat in confectioner's sugar until frosting reaches spreading consistency.  Spread over cooled cake.

Last Week Recap

It's time for a recap.

Last week, I painted the downstairs toy room a nice, clean shade of gray.  (I know, I'm kind of into gray this year, and I haven't even read the books!)  :o)  Within hours of that, I came down with a little stomach bug that left me uncomfortable for a couple of days.  Just as I recovered, it was time for Parent-Teacher Conferences and a long weekend for the boys.  Of course, the weekend included a blizzard and an extra day off from school for the boys on Monday.  On Monday night, Rachel started with a croupy cough, which I always hate to hear because it sounds awful.  Just to make sure, I took her into the doctor yesterday and I was thankful that he made the same diagnosis--she sounds terrible, but her lungs are clear and she should be good as new in a couple of days.  The big three have been coughing and had been running intermittent fevers over the weekend, too.  I almost kept the boys home this morning, but when they came bounding up the stairs with their usual energy, I decided to equip them each with a dose of Cough & Cold and send them on their way.  Tonight it sounds like more wind is moving in again.  I appreciate a good blizzard now and again, but enough is enough! :o)

On a sad note, yesterday I found out that two great teachers had passed away.  Mr. Ronald Cooper, who taught science and chemistry classes in Eureka for at least two generations of students was 75.  I wouldn't say he was my favorite teacher, because as a high school student, I didn't understand his motivation-by-intimidation approach.  But, as an adult I have seen that he really was a great teacher expecting excellence from his students.  Mostly, I remember he always referred to his students as "people" which he said really quickly, only as Mr. Cooper could do.  One year, he told our class, "I'm going to crucify you people!"  Of course, that line eventually made us laugh, but at that point in our high school careers, we were sure he would do it!  He did have a kind spirit, though, as the thing I excelled at most in chemistry was breaking thermometers and flasks in labs.  He never, ever got angry with me.  I am thankful for his service to Eureka High School and the community.  He was a very intelligent teacher who later served as mayor of Eureka after his retirement.

Another teacher, Mrs. Deanna Mauck, taught an English methods class I took one semester at NSU.  She was just 64.  At the time, she was also teaching high school English at Roncalli, so we had to start our class at 7:45am to make sure she could get to the high school in time.  None of our little group of future English teachers minded since we enjoyed her and the class so much.  I used several of her techniques in my own classroom and still do in my writing (there is ALWAYS a more interesting word than "interesting") and even one in my parenting (sometimes you just have to look out the window and give yourself a mini-vacation).  :o)

Blessed be their memories.

Today is Ash Wednesday and we begin our journey of Lent.  A couple of weeks ago, Landen was preparing early and told me to save the 4-cheese pizzas for Lent.  Leave it to Landen to be concerned about the food supply of meatless options.  :o)

Let's end on a happy note today, shall we?

 

Rachel has found her legs!  It's hard to say when she took her "first" steps as she would take a few and then go back to crawling for several days or weeks.  But, last Friday she REALLY took off.  I think she was mostly just showing off for her friend Theresa who was visiting and who is a few months younger. :o)  It's fun to see her toddling around the house on her little unsteady legs, as it was with each of our toddlers.

 

And . . . that's the Melius recap for today!

  

bottle-fed babies

It's time for baby bottle calves again! 

Landen could not wait to get his first bottle calf and now he is 5x blessed with these bottle-fed babies. 

We are very proud of Landen.  He gets up at 6am every morning on his own and goes out to feed them by himself.  Then he feeds them again after school.  Sometimes brother and sister help, but most of the time he is on his own.  It takes him about 45 minutes to get them all fed.

Since there are 5, all of the kids and I (since they allowed me to be the next in line) got to name one.  We have Jumpy (Landen), Small Fry (Nathan), Cinderella (Teresa), Baa-Moo (Rachel), and Sammy (me). 

We went to Runnings this morning and bought some supplies to make things a bit easier, like these bottle and feed holders that hook on the fence.  Hopefully that will cut down on feeding time. 

One bottle calf is a hobby, but Landen has got himself quite a job right now!

 

 

Something else that fell right out of the sky!

After my weather balloon post, I heard from David's great-aunt Joetta, who lived and farmed with her family 1/4 mile from our present farm.  She gave me permission to share.  The balloon she describes was found 1 mile north of our farm.

"We came home one night at 11pm and the kids were all in bed.  Zeke heard this funny noise up there and a light would go off and on.  He came in and told me and we listened to it.  It was a little scary.  We went and drove up north to Hettich's farm. 
Here it was--a big parachute with a big box, a heavy one.  It was hooked on the fence.  Just as we got there, the wind came up and it went dragging across the pasture and Melvin and Zeek tried to hold it.  I was driving the car and I tried to run on the long rope that was attached to it.  But by the time it hit the next fence, it broke loose and the box stayed there, but the balloon flew up and away. 
We read the note like you did, but it said to call a number.  We did.  It was an experiement sent out from Canada and so a couple of days later they came down to pick it up.  It was about 400lb.  They took it to Aberdeen and loaded it on the train and shipped it back to Canada.  They would not say what was in it.  They paid us $300 for the fence and our trouble for reporting it.  We never even got to keep the balloon parachute that carried it, as it flew away." 

What are the odds?  I'm just glad these things are lighter now.  I can't imagine seeing a 400 lb. box falling from the sky--and I would hope I wasn't under it!!

Falling From the Sky

Our mail carrier alerted us to a parachute-looking thing on our road yesterday.  The Big 3 were more than happy to check it out. 

They came back with something exciting--and it had fallen RIGHT OUT OF THE SKY!

We were the lucky finders of a weather balloon and its contents.  We were supplied with all the information we needed to know.  1.  Don't touch the balloon if it is still inflated (it wasn't). 2.  The wires and other contents attached to it are not dangerous.  3.  Please mail the wired box back in the enclosed mailer.

We did as we were asked to do and mailed it back.

The best part?

We got to keep the parachute! 

 

You just never know when something exciting will fall right out of the sky!