"Souls" vs. "Selves"

To my anonymous commenter who seemed to take objection to the use of the use "souls" in the Jeremiah 6:16 verse in the right hand sidebar, I would like to see how you come up with the word "selves" in OPPOSITION to the word "souls"? The Hebrew word is transliterated nephesh, which as you probably know can mean "a soul, living being, life, self, person, desire, passion, appetite, emotion".

In my quick word study, it seems that we may both be right. No?

Another One

BELLE: "Hey Mom, what's this mean: 'take a bath, hippie!'"

Whaaa?

Ice Skating with Dad

Fun in the Snow

Snow, White Socks & Shih Tzus

We got a LOT of snow over the last 24 hours. Charlie the Shih Tzu was not happy. Have you ever seen a Shih Tzu cross his legs and refuse to go outside to go potty? It's not a pretty sight. Luckily Charlie's Dad, while lacking some pajama fashion sense (you can't see the white socks and black slippers) and nerve-endings to sense the below-freezing temperatures, is a very compassionate and doting pet owner.

See? All better.

Sweet Scallywags

There are times as a parent that you ask yourself if you have the right perspective on your family and your children. After all, we only truly know our family and our own children...it's not like life is like an episode of wife-swap, where we can really drop in and live life in someone else's house for weeks at a time...you know, to gain perspective that way. (Let me be clear that I have watched only one or two episodes of that awful show...this is NOT an endorsement!)

Sometimes when I come across something wacky that the kids are doing, I really don't know if it's "normal", "inherited genetic weirdness" or "uh-oh, they're homeschooled". I think these same things about all the lovely and bright and intelligent things they say, do or ask too...but somehow it's the wacky things that make me long for the truth on the matter. :)




Moo and Belle extended the footboard of Moo's bed, attached a "sail" and brought the upstairs tabletop fan down to give their pirate ship a steady breeze. Their swords were made from sticks and pvc rings with the help of some duct tape...and there are always plenty of bandannas lying around the Grant home.


I suspect that the "genetic" card is being played here...and that the main contributor can be seen peeking out from behind the door. He had nothing to do with the set up, but plenty to do with how these little tomboys think and play.

Little Ones

This is a trailer for a movie that is coming out in April 2010 about 4 babies in different parts of the world--from birth through the first year. I was touched, and so I thought I'd share. I can't get the YouTube video screen to fit my blog so it wouldn't crowd out other page elements, and the perfectionist in me is majorly bugged by this! Anyway, click here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aCZUb_dUGA&feature=player_embedded

Just to Catch Up

Since my computer caught a cold a few weeks ago, I've been having a hard time uploading photos and videos to my blog. It just has been taking a much longer time than usual, so that has kept me from keeping my blog up-to-date. So, here...in no particular order...are some of the things that I've been up to:

My dear Moo turned 11 years old this month, and I made her this little hat from a darling pattern found in a book whose title escapes me right now. It's called the "Emma Hat". I also made eight other "Hot Head" stocking caps for some of the men in our family and a few friends. I am VERY done with stocking hats right now. Oh, and with ballband dishcloths...I made three of them in three days...and I have the callous to prove it!

This was my first attempt at wood burning. I made it for some dear friends in Michigan. Along the rim of the plate, the Hebrew reads the first words of Psalm 128--ash-re kol y'-rei Adonai ha-ho-leich bid-ra-chaiv--How blessed are all who fear Adonai, who walk in His ways. In the center of the plate is an olive branch.

This is my hubby and friend from Michigan, David Olson. I had just taken a picture in which my husband appeared to be sneering (he can't help it...that's just how he smiles for pictures...argh). When David heard that, he decided to sneer as well. His on-purpose sneer is nothing like my husband's accidental sneer. :)

The Olson tribe--Heidi, Benjamin, Moo & Belle, Zechariah and Jonathon. We had a great visit during the last days of the Festival of Lights--so thankful that we can celebrate while understanding who the Light of the World really is during this cold and dark time of year.

My husband's famous challah bread...this stuff makes all our friends and family swoon!

I had to include this precious picture of my littlest nephew, Roan...affectionately called Roanie, or Macaroni. He is the sweetest and best natured little guy you'd ever want to meet. Love him!

Say What?

Some of the best conversations I've had with my daughters are when I have just one of them one-on-one. This is a luxury I don't have too much of...strange enough, since I homeschool and they are ALWAYS with me. But they usually stick to each other like glue...but I digress...

This morning, Belle got up at around 6:30 and joined me in my room as I sipped my coffee and attempted to wake up to take on the day. This time of year finds Belle extra excited upon waking...she clearly has the excitement of Hanukkah, Christmas and SNOW-SNOW-SNOW on her mind 24/7. Well, this morning when she came into my room, she started humming the tune to "Have a Holly Jolly Christmas" (if that is how I woke up, I would not be closed up in my room sipping coffee!). Then she started singing...."oh, ho, the nipple-toe...". I at first ignored it, thinking it was a hysterical slip of some sort; and then she sang it again. I jokingly smacked at her arm and said, "hey goofy, cut it out", at which time she said "wait, what are the real words?".

"MISTLE-toe, Belle. MISTLE-toe". "Oh,"....and she kept singing.

She now knows the right words. I, however, will never sing that song in my head the right way again.

Let it Snow

The girls are so happy that the snow has finally arrived--and I've got the video to prove it! Oh, to have the outlook of a child on such things. To somehow not worry about icy roads, shoveling driveways or the probable demise of my mailbox every third year...now THAT'S becoming like a child.
Hmmm, I don't think that is what Yeshua meant in the context of Matthew 18:4...but there is something to admire in a child's unabashed love for this cold, dark and sloppy time of year! :)

On Gratitude

Today, unlike my poor turkey friend, I have much for which to be thankful. I could say lots, but instead I just took 3 minutes to walk around my home, and I quickly took pictures that tell of my reasons to be thankful more accurately than a thousand of my own words.

I have a wonderful, handy and loving husband.

I have a home filled with music--a luxury few enjoy.

I have a refrigerator filled with food, when so many go hungry each day.

I have the opportunity to fritter away time knitting together wonderfully colored fibers from my yarn stash.

I can look outside my family room window and be graced by one of God's creatures.

I have a husband who studies and loves God's word.

My children have the luxury of having their own bedrooms with beds to keep unmade for days at a time.

I receive a steady stream of lovingly handmade crafts from my girls.

I receive the unconditional love of a stinky little dog named Charlie.

My children have the good fortune of not having to take themselves too seriously...

which is a good thing, right?


To speak gratitude is courteous and pleasant, to enact gratitude is generous and noble, but to live gratitude is to touch Heaven. ~Johannes Gaertner

Prairie Girls

My girls are just crazy about "playing prairie". This usually includes donning some sort of bonnet and skirt, and proceeding to forage for nuts and berries...which usually end up being beads, buttons or stones brought inside for just such imaginative play. They are currently going through "A Life of Faith" series with a dear friend of mine and her daughter Sophie, and the stories that they hear are right out of the same time period that their play is usually centered around. This picture is from a recent Thanksgiving gathering of the LOF girls at a local forest preserve. The girls made butter, sampled foods that would have been eaten this time of year "in the olden days", and made a paper cornucopia that Mrs. Kennedy kindly filled with candy. They had an excellent time.

Hat Head

Whenever I have an overwhelming project ahead of me, I tend to have a period of time before tackling that project that I indulge in a fair amount of PROCRASTINATION. This was true in high school and college; it reared it's ugly head big time in graduate school...and for the last several years I have settled into the habit of rearranging my sock drawer before taking on bigger household tasks. It all gets done...but on a longer timeline than necessary. In fact, I should be vacuuming and mopping right now (how domestic, right?), but instead I'm posting about procrastination. Ah, sweet irony...


Bottom line? I have a TON of holiday knitting projects to tackle...and instead, I take on making hats. Now, this is all in the name of working on new techniques...but I could be ALL DONE with my planned projects by now!!!

I thought I would post some pictures of my head model Belle showing off my work. I am quite pleased with myself, since one of the items that I completed was MY FIRST FAIR ISLE PROJECT!!! (Thank you to Lisa for lending me "Knitting Little Luxuries")

This is a hat pattern that I took on in order to learn how to increase by knitting through the front and back of a stitch. At least I think that's what I did...it's all a blur.

This was going to be a snood for a friend that we are visiting in December in Michigan. I got about 4 inches into the project and decided it was too tedious and I was afraid I was messing it up, so I decided to start the decrease part of the pattern and make it into a little cap for the girls. They love it.



This was the easy Fair Isle pattern from "Knitting Little Luxuries". It has a 5 color option, and a 2 color option. I just held my breath and jumped into this one, and it turned out just great. I only wish I used better fiber, but maybe next time. I also learned to do a 3 needle bind-off. (For my knitting friends, this will make sense.) I am feeling victorious!

I now shall return to my regularly scheduled projects. And to my vacuuming.

G.I. Belle

It used to be that every morning when the girls awoke they would come in to my room to say good morning. Well, things are slowly changing in this routine, and it has become the norm that when the girls do get up, 75% of the time they plop on the couch and pick up a book to read. Only when I am done showering and getting ready do I even know that they are up. (My suspicion is that they are trying to keep really quiet so I won't send them for their breakfast, which is one step closer to starting their school work!)

So this morning, when I was drying my hair and noticed Belle's little body plopped across my bed with her nose in a book, I wasn't too surprised. Then she said, "Mom, did you know that you can set up a string...and if the bunny nibbles on it, a rock will fall on it and kill it?". She has been reading Thorton Burgess' "The Burgess Animal Book for Children", and I know that Mr. Burgess' strength is his ability to convey a lot of information about the animal kingdom through fun stories about Peter Rabbit, Reddy Fox, Jumper the Hare, and Mother Nature, among many others. I thought this was a little dark for Mr. Burgess, but I just said a hesitating, "Uh huh" as I finished applying my mascara.

Next, my eight-year-old animal lover started matter-of-factly rattling off a whole list of ways in which one could trap, kill or incapacitate small woodland creatures. Yes, it was time for me to come around the corner and investigate. This is what I found:



She had found her Dad's Survival Guide from his time in the military. Both her father and her grandfather will be very proud to read this post. :)

First Violin Recital

This is the morning of Moo's first violin recital, November 8, 2009.

The room was packed.

Both Moo and her Dad were excited. They are like twins, don't you think?

Waiting for Moo's turn.
Can you see how excited my Dad is to be there? The Bears played this afternoon, and let's just say he was...um..."conflicted" about not spending time with his large screen t.v. and our embarrassingly lousy football team.

Violin instructor, Miss Honna Austin, announcing the piece that Moo would play; "Andantino" from Suzuki book 1.

She did extremely well...we are so proud of her.
The kid has an amazing ability to hide her nerves.
She gets that from her Dad.

Moo with Miss Honna.


And now, the moment you all have been waiting for....the video:

A Beautiful Picture

This my sister's farm.

Over the years, our little family has visited to spend time with cousins and various animals. These days, Kristen has added a couple of horses to her family, so Belle and my husband are especially excited about that fact. Kristen recently took this beautiful picture, and I found it to be irresistibly blog-worthy.

Goebbert's Pumpkin Patch

Each fall, we try to make a trip out to Goebbert's Pumpkin Farm in Hampshire. Over the years, the place has just exploded in size, and now it even has an exotic animal petting zoo, multiple cornstalk mazes, a restaurant, pony rides, camel rides and several shows that happen throughout the day. There is the pumpkin-eating dinosaur "show", the singing chickens, a magic show, and now there is a pumpkin cannon that attempts to shoot a target every half hour. The girls love the time we spend there. As we walked around, I realized how many things my girls were just about ready to outgrow there...and that in a couple years, they may not be that excited about going. So I took a lot of pictures!




One hungry giraffe with a LOOOOOONG black tongue.

So amazing to be nose to nose with a beautiful giraffe.

After I took this picture, Belle wanted her Dad and I to stand in front to mark the year and our height.

Moo and the nestlings.

Belle and the nestlings.

Belle could play around with the miniature gourds for hours. Easily entertained, I suppose.

Okay, it's not just Belle. Moo loves playing with them too. They remind me of Mary and Laura in the Little House books!

This poor momma pig was desperately trying to get away from her squealing and demanding little piglets.

The girls and Daddy on the way into one of the mazes.

I took a picture six years ago with Moo in this bus. She was so little...

I think I liked the "Cackle Review" more than even the girls. I admit...I am fascinated by puppets. It's embarrassing.

Last time we were here, Belle was scared to death of the pumpkin eating dinosaur.

Another view of the Cackle Review.

Someone will never grow up, and can always be found playing with the kids. I'm not naming names.

This is supposed to be a toddler's haystack maze. The Grants temporarily took it over to run on top along the walls and play tag.

Who is that girl under that hat?



Petting the dinosaur.

Wow--we are both in the picture!

Best Dad in the World nominee for years 1998 to 2009.

The Grant ladies.

Sweet corn--yum!

Sweet corn + braces = a mess

I'm a bad mom--I forgot that Moo isn't supposed to eat corn on the cob! So, we just cut the kernels off the cob, and she had an easier time eating than the rest of the family, and it was just as yummy!

A joey.

Belle in her element.

This goat desperately wanted to come home with Moo.

Belle could stay here forever.

Joe camel.

Sweet corny.

Happy Thanksgiving!