Did I hear this right?  My 7 year old’s backseat musings as we drove to a friend’s house.

“I wish I was a monkey. I know that I’m supposed to be content with what I am and how God made me, but I just wish I really could be a monkey because I love climbing trees, people don’t really have good monkey hands to grip things or feet to climb trees… well I guess babies are kind of like monkeys because they’re really strong,  but older people are not.”

Do you find yourself tripping over thin air on occasion?  Cross and mischievous, full of tension and close to tears for no real reason at all?  I sink to the corner of my floor in quiet and with barely any words, acknowledge Him… why this struggle today?

Could it be I expected his early morning snuggle and he didn’t come?

Is it because little girl has her own way of wanting the morning to go, heels clunking hard on wooden floor and little voice asking me yet again for another cookie?

Does it have to do with blinding white clouds which hover too close and staccato drips that are never-ending today?

Perhaps I can blame the hormones that are like marionette strings, yanking my emotions all over the radar.

I have no idea what it is today.  But I heartily recognize I dislike it intensely.

Dearest and closest Papa-God, with the same power that raised Christ from the depths of a hillside, that warmed cold body, please bring life and light and breath to this hard stone of a woman today.  Fill the places of anxiety and ridiculous pride with peace and joy and grace and rest – thick and full of Your scent and Your touch.  Ooze into the broken cracks and touch the craggy places.  Only You sweet God can do this – change bland in tasteful, change stony into soft, change tired into energized, command starlight in the dark, pull a straight line into a smile.

“Tremble O earth at the presence of the LORD, at the presence of the God of Jacob, who turned the rock in a pool, the hard rock into springs of water.” Ps. 114:7-8

“The cows that were ugly and gaunt ate up the seven sleek fat cows, … The thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven healthy full heads.” Gen. 41:4,7

This dream should be a warning to each of us.  Yes, it IS possible for the best years of our life, the best experiences we have enjoyed, the best victories we have won,and the best service we have rendered, to be swallowed up by the times of failure, defeat, dishonor, and uselessness in God’s kingdom.  Some people whose lives offered exceptional promise and achievement have come to such an end.  It is certainly terrible to imagine, but it is true.  Yet it is never necessary.

Samuel Dickey Gordon once said that the only safe assurance against such tragedy is to have a “fresh touch with God daily – or even hourly.”  My blessed, fruitful, and victorious experiences of yesterday have no lingering value to me today.  In fact, they can be “swallowed up” or reversed by today’s failures, unless I see them as incentives to spur me on to even better and richer experiences today.

Maintaining this “fresh touch with God” by abiding in Christ, will be the only thing to keep the “ugly and gaunt… cows” and the “thin heads of grain” from consuming my life.

From Messages for the Morning Watch

Due to several bits of unforeseen-til-recently circumstantial caustic crudolla (yes I did just write that) we had to cancel our TEN year anniversary trip that we’d been planning for a year.  We had looked forward to gallivanting like honeymooners around Amsterdam, Frankfort, Brussels, Luxembourg, Lucerne, Liechtenstein, Stuttgart, Heidelberg and a few others, being history nerds and eating cheap, getting lost together and oohing at all the incredible sights.   I know (in my shrunken walnut sized brain) God will take this lousy turn of events and use it for His glory…

Thankfully we did have some sort of little romantic holiday last fall when Brian and I visited Sadie and Dave in Italy.  I had looked upon that whirlwind week as frivolous and a spur of the moment abandonment of sensibility but now I am SO pleased we did it.

It’s taken me several posts past and near 6 months, but here is the last bit of the adventure, mostly in photos in no particular order.  I feel slightly better already.  (to see the other photos and read travel stories, click on side bar for Travel.)

Sadie performing her routine
Real Mummy	Medieval Head Gear
Brian and Glen
Dinner with family of Dave	Inside Doge Palace
Doge Palace Courtyard
	I didn't realize the story of Pinocchio was Italian but it is!
Church is in session, St Mark's Basilica	Hanging over the edge
Bless you my children
Giddy	Glass art sculpture on island of Burano
	Glass art
Homemade Gnocci
	Best splurge ever
Murano is famous for its lace	This woman and her mother owned this lace shop and hand sews all their lace on this roll
Say Formaggio!!!	Very colorful water avenue
No parking left
	Simple
Ponte Del Diavolo on island of Torcello which currently has a popluation of 20	It is said that this was a chair of Attila the Hun when he invaded nearby city of Altinum, clearly now a resting point for weary legs

I love Spring… the sunny part of it.  Everything asleep is waking up.  This weekend was a gloriously warm one and we made every minute count.

And we love Powell Butte.  Totally worth the 40 minute drive out of the city.  Pack the water bottle and a snack, gab some good shoes, and plan to relax for a few hours in absolute lush beauty and heavenly equestrian trails of woodsy smells and teeny creatures.

		Where are we?
Raced to the top
Frank the 'piller

For all you foodies or ones on the edge curiously looking in, I have the best homemade recipe for you.

If you have a chance and dare to look, check out the ingredient list on your can of cream of mushroom soup.  Most likely you see more than the should-be “cream and mushrooms”… unsightly things like” modified” food starch, some type of vege oil (cottonseed, canola… ick or corn), processed soy protein, and MSG!

I take great delight in finding and feeding the most whole foods I can to my family and knowingly adding a can of this to my meals is “hard to swallow”.

I have added my touch to a basic recipe I found online for Cream of Mushroom soup.  Give it a try and feel free to change or add to to make it the best you’ve ever tasted for your family’s palate.

Ingredients for saucepan:

A good hunk of unsalted Organic butter

Sliced button mushrooms (about 10)

1/8 cup chopped sweet onion

Saute lightly, adding sprinkle of Pink Sea Salt, Pepper, a pinch of celery salt, and dried oregano.

Take a few good sniffs.  This is heavenly.

In your blender:

A pint of organic half and half (I bet you could totally use a non dairy product here if you wanted but I haven’t tried it…yet)

About 1/3 cup of Bobs Red Mill corn starch

(you can use reg. flour or potato starch here to thicken too, or coconut flour?  Tapioca flour? somebody try it!)

Add sauteed mixture to blender.

Add anymore seasoning you want… sometimes I add a 1/2 tsp more seas salt and pepper each.

Blend all together

Voila!  Can freeze or use right away.

Sliced b

Alicia has been getting super creative over in her “craft corner”.  This area I generally stay completely away from because for a person who likes her house organized and picked up after, this is a lawless holy mess.  I get squirrly just walking past this nook.

Needless to say, she has been producing some brilliant things out of the rubbish in the recycle bin.

Recently she has been learning about orchestra instruments.  So one day she decided to make her own.

This one was lovely covered with fabric, strings were added, and even a bracket thing at the top where one can "tighten" the strings if needed. Lastly the ZZZZer... or as un-fun adults call it, a bow.

It has three keys, a mouthpiece attached to the newspaper, a place to stick your sheet music (in case you're up for marching) and plenty of shine, see the metallic yellow on top?

Today our prowling feline brought in a surprise.  Those of you with outdoor/indoor cats probably have experienced theses moments.  Proud of kitty’s spunky nature and desperate to save the poor creature in its mouth.

Julia  caught and brought in a tiny baby bird this morning.  Airy grey down feathers were scattered everywhere by the time we discovered this little match of cat and bird.

Not wanting to give up her prize, she scampered around the furniture, bird in mouth, crouching low while we tried to get her to drop it.  Finally in a brave attempt the bird escaped and fluttered across the floor and we gently cornered it with a dish towel.

We’re pretty sure the baby bird is a goner.  It is currently wrapped up warming in a towel, next to Brian’s desk.  Sure we should probably put it out of its misery but the thought of “finishing it off” while it stares up at up with tiny black eye, is too much.

Once as a child, our family cat Sam brought in a little finch.  Us three kids took it upon ourselves to rescue the dazed and punctured little thing.  Too our amazement (and of course ample TLC) the bird survived.  Because dad had such a soft heart, he actually went and purchased another finch at the local pet store and we put the two birds in a cage together.  If I remember right, they both lived there for several months.

I am reminded that our Papa God sees even the life of this tiny bird, fallen from its nest, now precariously hanging onto the last moments of its life.  How then if God notices this little bird, do we think that He is in any way neglectful of us, His special creation that he breathed His own life into?  May we take notice of His tender and protective care for us each day.  And remember to thank Him for it.

This is a Post Script I am adding a day later… birdie is gone.  Brian left him/her in the box by his desk to take a break downstairs and when he came back, Julia had snuck in a finished it off.  But even that wasn’t the end of this little winged critter.  Brian buried it out back (what a softie), only to have Julia discover it later,dig it up, and bring  it back to the doorstep.  Yuck.

Albert Einstein once said “Play is the best form of research.”  And we’ve been doing a lot of it.

Below is a recipe for genuine flubber (compliments of OMSI).

We also enjoyed seeing this incredible exhibit of Lego Art by artist Nathan Sawaya.
  It is completely made of legos.

The Ingredients

3 cups Warm Water

2 cups Elmer’s White Glue

Liquid Water Color (food coloring stains)

20 Mule Team Borax, available in the grocery store laundry section.

(Please see NOTES section below for safety information about Borax.)

Glitter (optional)

White Vinegar (for cleaning)

The Steps

In a large container combine and mix:

1 ½ cups very warm water

2 cups Elmers white glue

A few drops of water color and/or glitter if using clear glue

Make sure this combination is completely mixed 

In a small container combine and mix:

1 1/3 cups very warm water

2 level tsp 20 Mule Team Borax. Adults, please do this step.

(Please see NOTES section below for safety information about Borax.)

Make sure the Borax is completely dissolved.

Combine the glue and borax mixtures:

Mix well using your hands until all the liquid is absorbed. You may need to squish, mix, and break up the flubber to get it fully combined. Store the flubber in a plastic, air-tight container at room temperature. For best results, measure precisely and mix well as noted above.

  Praying God’s covering over mistakes… in our kids lives.

“We can’t undo everything… But we can and should pray that God in His mercy and favor would thwart the enemy from turning these moments of weakness into the makings of a stronghold in their lives.  We can boldly ask that any potential, long-term harm and confusion be covered by Christ’s blood and dissolved before it takes root and becomes any kind of hindrance to them.  Thankfully, Christ’s power can cover that.”  P. Shirer

Even full of holes, when held up in the Light, there is beauty.