Dreams

Today was the first time that Roman was able to tell me about a bad dream that he had.

I'm sure that he has had them before...he has woken up crying and distressed...but he has never been able to explain; he has never been able to verbalize what he saw and why it scared him.

Today he woke up from his nap with loud crying. I went into his room thinking maybe he had fallen off of the bed or that he just wasn't quite ready to wake up (that happens sometimes...to me, too!). Right when he saw me he said "Mommy, hold me!"

I walked over and picked him up, all the while reassuring him that everything was ok.

Then he said "The horsies can't get you!" I almost laughed at first because it seemed so random and took me by surprise. I just wasn't expecting an explanation, and it made me so sad for him!

He continued, over the course of the next few minutes, between some more crying, to tell me that a black horse was chasing him. Then he asked me "Are they downstairs?"

I made it clear that there were no horses anywhere in our house. I also attempted to explain that dreams are just pictures we see in our sleep, and they're not real...that they're gone when we wake up (that's got to be a hard concept to understand when you're not even 3!)

Then he kept reassuring himself all afternoon: "No horsies". "No horsies in our house".

On the one hand, I felt so bad for him, and on the other hand I was so glad he could finally tell me why he was sad.

I love that kid. :)

Recipes: Granola

If you know me at all, you know I like food. I like to cook it. I like to eat it. I like the camaraderie that comes with sharing a meal.

I am going to start sharing some of my favorite recipes here. The first is my current obsession: granola. I am on a huge yogurt and granola kick (which happens frequently). Try pairing with Stoneyfield French Vanilla Whole Milk Yogurt Enjoy!


Lazy Granola
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup honey
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. vanilla
7 cups oats (I use old fashioned, NOT quick cooking)

Mix brown sugar, oil, and honey in a small saucepan. Bring to a low boil.
Remove from heat. Stir in cinnamon and vanilla.
Pour over oats in a large bowl. Stir until well coated.
Spread oats in a 9×13 pan. Bake at 375° for 10 minutes.
Take out and stir.
Return pan to oven. Turn oven off.
Go to bed. Wake up to a delicious, cinnamon-y sent wafting through your kitchen!

*Except that I usually make it in the morning and can't wait very long...so when I put it back in the oven I end up only waiting about 15 min...but it is better when it's been sitting a bit longer. Crunchier that way.

**I add pecans and craisins for extra deliciousness.

***I totally stole this recipe from some friend or website...which I totally can't rememer now. If it was you, I owe you many thanks.

Let me know if you like it!

Need a Pick-Me-Up? Look No Farther!

a sleeping Roman...something I rarely get to see! Isn't he sweet?! Usually he has to be closed in a dark room in order to fall asleep. :)

My buddies. Roman likes to climb into the crib with Judah...Judah finds it very amusing. I should probably stop him from doing it but it's just so darn cute. So, I take pictures instead.


Mr. Blue Eyes

Why yes, yes this is three rolls of paper towels completely unrolled in our living room. Roman did this while I was making dinner one night....again, do you like how I just took pictures instead of correcting the behavior? :) I figure he worked pretty hard to get to that point, he deserved to enjoy it.

So happy!

Didn't that just bring some extra joy to your day?

Roman Reads...

Here is a fun video of Roman "reading" one of his favorite books, "The Zoo Book".

What I Thought I Knew

Monica did a great post on why last night's episdoe of LOST was so disappointing. Well, the episode wasn't disappointing, it was just one scene...but we both sat there with jaws wide open and hearts bursting with frustration. The thing that was the most annoying to me, was that I felt they did a good job of representing authentic Catholic faith in some of the earlier seasons.

It's the perfect example of why there are so many misconceptions about Christianity and, specifically, about Catholicism. It happens all the time in the secular media. No need to list examples, I'm sure you can think of plenty on your own.

When I joined the Catholic Church (7 years ago this Easter!!), it wasn't necessarily a popular choice. There were people in my life who did not agree with my decision, there were people who believed I was doing it "for Joe". We weren't married, or even engaged at the time, so I never really understood that argument.

I still have close or even great relationships with all of the people who expressed some type of concern, so this isn't to point fingers or express any bitterness. The truth is that, for the most part, I understood why they said the things they did.

Maybe that sounds like a contradiction, but I understand why some people felt I was making a bad choice. Honestly, if you had asked me about Catholicism anytime before 2002, I would have said (and in fact, DID say) that I would never become Catholic. God had other things in mind (as he usually does!).

I was under a lot of assumptions about the Catholic Church based on hearsay...on what I thought I knew, based on what other people had said to me. I thought I knew some things about the Catholicism because I knew some people who were "Catholic", and I had seen plenty of things on movies or TV shows that reaffirmed all the things I "knew". The secular media is good at that game. And to be honest, people are good at buying into it. I would just like to encourage you...if you are not Catholic, or if you are Catholic and you are looking for an answer to some question, please go to a reliable source that will give tell you what the Church actually teaches. Here are a few of my favorites:
Catechism of the Catholic Church - search any topic
Catholic Answers - ask a question and get an answer or browse topics
Scott Hahn - Protestant minister who converted to Catholicism
Christopher West - Writes books about JPII's Theology of the Body. Good News about Sex and Marriage explains a lot of the Church's teachings on sexuality.

Maybe at some point I will share more of my faith journey here. It's a story that is very dear to my heart. I am still in awe at the way that God has pursued me through all my life. He has captivated me and challenged me in ways I never thought possible. He has sometimes shocked me with the things he has asked of me. I never pictured that I would be where I am today, but I wouldn't have it any other way, because I know that I have been obedient to His call on my life and he is ever drawing me nearer. What more could I ask for?

In closing I would just like to say one more thing.

There is not a Catholic Body of Christ and a Protestant Body of Christ. Though we have doctrinal differences, we (sadly) have division, we have different styles of worship, we have different liturgical practices...

It all comes down to one thing. One man.

God made flesh.

Freedom for the Captives.

Because if He sets you free, you are free indeed.

A Day in the Life

Even though we have all been a little under the weather (we have all had a bit of a cold...and poor Judah has an ear infection), we had so much fun today!

For starters, Joe went out and got us donuts before he went to work today. He got some coffee for us, too, and decided he would give Roman a sample of his iced chai latte. Roman took a sip, grinned ear to ear, and enthusiastically asked "What is that called?" We all cracked up because his reaction was just so over the top and hilarious.

As I have mentioned, the boys love to have dance parties, so that was next on the agenda. Roman's newest fave is Nichole C. Mullen's "Freedom". This one is old school. She was one of my favorites in high school...we listened to this song a lot on our mission trip to the Rosebud reservation in South Dakota...I know some of my girls reading this are dancing just thinking about those good times!! :) When I saw Nicole sing at the Women of Faith conference I went to last weekend (that's another post coming soon!), I had to bring her back. Needless to say, she's a big hit with my little ones.

When the boys nap at the same time, I get to have some "me" time, which is great...and some days necessary. :) But, when they stagger their naps, like they did today, I get to have more one-on-one time with each of them...which I love! So, today I got to thoroughly enjoy each of my sweet boys.

Judah is loving music more and more everyday. He recognizes "Move it, Move it!" and gets so excited to dance to it. He also tries to beat box with Joe when Joe sings it to him. Hilarious! He is so sad after he coughs hard...which breaks my heart! Thank God it's finally starting to go away! He laughed SO hard at me gargling salt water the other day. Judah is a CLIMBER. He always sits on the bottom of the TV stand and then stares at me with defiance in his eyes when I tell him "no". When Judah has something he knows he is not supposed to have (i.e. remote controls), he grabs it and runs (ok, it's not quite a run...but it's a really fast walk) down the hall toward his room.

Roman is learning Genesis 1:1. I am trying to get him to learn how to compose notes for friends and family members, so that he can start sending mail. He is starting to get it, and it's really cute. He really loves putting coins in our Rice Bowl for Lent. He is really good at drawing triangles. He says the same sentences over and over again...i.e. "I'm all clean and fresh" after a diaper change or "Mommy, please can I get you some cold milk, can I get you some red milk?" when he wants a drink. I don't know why, but it seems like once he likes the sound of sentence he sticks to it. No variation. (And, as you can tell, we're still working on the pronouns. We're getting better...but it's going to take a while!)

After their naps, it was nice enough to go for a walk. We went yesterday, too, but it was pretty chilly later in the afternoon, and Judah wasn't really feeling it. But, today, it was BEAUTIFUL outside! We walked for about 45 minutes and enjoyed talking about everything we got to see along the way. Naturally, Roman's favorite thing was seeing all the dogs out walking. Joe has told him that we can get a dog as soon as Roman is potty trained...which doesn't really seem to be working, but we'll be excited to get a dog sometime...you know, hopefully before he's 12.

My Recent Favorites

Judah:

• will be 9 months old tomorrow!! Wasn't he just born?
• is walking! (As of about a week ago, I would say that he is a really proficient walker) He is even starting to be able to turn around. He's good.
• such a good eater! I know I say it every time, but seriously, it brings me so much joy. Today at lunch I literally had to bribe Roman to eat pizza. Pizza. Judah, on the other hand, laughs when the spoon is coming towards his face and yells when I am taking more than about 3 seconds in between bites....which brings me to...
• he doesn't cry, he yells. It's not a half-cry. It's not a high pitched scream. It's a from-the-gut intensely angry yell. This is Joe's newest biggest pet peeve.
• he says "ba-ba" when you ask him what a sheep says and sniffs when you ask him what a bunny says.
• Raises his hands above his head when you ask him how big he is...and smiles ear to ear when you say "so big!"
• he LOVES to play with Roman. They laugh at each other so much. They especially like to wrestle around on the floor in blankets.
• loves playing "peek-a-boo" and now puts the blanket over his head by himself.
• is obsessed with drinking out of sippy cups...and chases after Roman's as if he has found the Holy Grail.

Roman:

• "reads" books all the time (from memory)...which I find to be the most charming thing ever.
• memorized Hebrews 11:1 this week
• so good with letters! today he put his drum sticks perpendicular to each other on the floor and then announced "That's a 'T', Mommy! T says /t/ like Tony".
• still not able to count objects...just can't get the one-to-one correspondence. Ideas?
• is currently obsessed with the movie "Homeward Bound".
• LOVES making Judah laugh and chasing him around
• Yesterday I asked him "Roman, what color is grass?" After some deep thought he responded "green?"...yeah, I can't really remember either.
• loves dogs...especially Sedona, Chrissy and Jon's new dog. He told us on Sunday that Sedona is his best friend.
• is more affectionate now than he ever has been. No complaints here. :)

Sometimes it Takes a Toddler

As I have demonstrated over and over again through this blog (and many other life circumstances), I tend to be a little slow on the up-take.



Yes, I am a college grad. In elementary education.



I was on the Dean's List.



I have a long list of resume-worthy descriptions of myself. None of which make me immune to the density that sometimes overtakes me. I guess maybe it's not so much density as plain old self absorption.



Let me give you a perfect example.



I may have mentioned that I recently read the book Crazy Love. If you haven't read it, you should. It will change your life.



Now, I tend to exaggerate...just a tad...every now and then, but I couldn't be more serious about this. I am pretty sure it was the most challenging book I have ever read. When I say challenging, let me clarify: it was an easy read, but it made me rethink so many things in and about my life. You should go buy it/borrow it/check it out. right now.



One of the main points that Chan conveys in the book is that we need to take much more literally Christ's command to love our neighbor as ourselves. How? Well, it's obviously going to be a different call on everyone's life. I appreciated that he acknowledged that. It could be through giving money, serving, sacrificing time or comfort of resources. He gave a lot of good real life examples.



I also really appreciated that Chan was bold and unapologetic about saying that, for some people, it would be a very radical call. He says something along the lines of "I'm not saying that everyone is called to quit their job and move to Africa to be a missionary. But, are you? Maybe." The point is that we are quick to claim that we are "called" to only things that we want to do and feel comfortable doing.



Enter: me.

I could give you hundreds of examples of how I am a lot of talk and not a lot of walk. I am an outright hypocrite about so many things. In all reality, until I read that book, I didn't think too much of my lack of faith-in-action. I am easily caught in the trap of comparing myself to everyone else and thinking I'm ok.

You know how it goes.

You put your life up next to someone else's and you start tallying.

"Well, at least I don't struggle with _____".

"She might be better about_____...but at least I am doing ______".

"Even though he has_________...at least I have my act together when it comes to _______".

And, seriously...what's the point of that??

We are called to:

Feed the hungry
Give drink to the thirsty
Clothe the naked
Shelter the homeless
Visit the sick
Visit those in prison
Bury the dead
PERIOD.

(Matthew 25)

It doesn't matter if I feel like doing it.

It doesn't matter if it's not convenient.

It doesn't matter if other people don't make it a priority.

It doesn't matter if other people don't think it's a good idea.

It's what we are called to do.

Why is that so hard for me sometimes?

So, all of that to FINALLY get to the real story.

The other day I was driving somewhere in Ames with the kids. I saw a man walking on the sidewalk. I have seen him before. I don't know his story, but I know he's homeless. I passed by him without a second thought.

Until about 30 seconds later.

Remember the part where I am slow??

So, after I realize that I am an idiot...about 1000 things start going through my head.

"What should I have done? I have kids in the car. I don't know if he is mentally stable...some people say he's not. Other people say he is. How much should I consider my own safety? Maybe if Joe was in the car...would that have actually changed things? Does it matter? I didn't do anything. I could have at least bought some food for him. Is that lame? Shouldn't I be taking that verse in Matthew 25 literally? Does that mean I...like...bring him home with me?"

Ridiculous, I know. It's hard to be in my head sometimes. (To be quite honest, I am still a little confused on what this should look like - especially when there are kiddos involved. Any ideas?)

About this time, Roman pipes up from the back, singing a song at the top of his lungs, from the Veggie Tales movie, "Jonah".

"If you believe God's love is true then you should know what you should do"

And I actually start thinking about Jonah's disobedience.

I know, I know.

If I claim to belong to the King, then I need to be serious about people being able to see Him when they come in contact with me.

I should know what to do.

The eating and the not sleeping, The pretending and the dancing

It's been a while since I have written about what the boys have been up to...the time has come.

Judah:

• still eating like a champ
• still not sleeping much (much to my dismay. But, much more to Joe's dismay...he has very little patience in the middle of the night. Can't blame him.)
• cruising and getting really close to walking! He actually took a couple of steps to me today - although it was slightly falling forward steps. :)
• waves
• says "hi, da", "mama", tries to say "baby", "bye-bye" - none of these are super clear, but he says them in appropriate situations or when you ask him to say it.
• gives kisses
• gives high-fives

Roman:

• really enjoys pretending: pretends to drive his little 4 wheeler to the park, to the zoo, to Grandma's house. pretends to make me chocolate cake.
• is very in tune to the people around him: knows to "make" Tony a cheeseburger (because he loves McDonald's) and Judah an avocado (his favorite lunch), gets very upset when Judah is sad
• memorizes Bible verses: he knows John 3:16, Zephaniah 3:17, Ephesians 4:32. We are working on Phil 4:13. Any other recommendations??
• asks for a dance party every time Joe comes in the door (which consists of Veggie Tales music and Joe's DJ lights)
• can identify most letters and knows some letter sounds. I was really impressed with him the other day when he got out his Noah's ark matching game and stacked matching cards on top of each other so that the word "lion" was right above the word "lion" on the card underneath...I hadn't shown him that, but he was noticing that the words matched.
• the other day he dumped out his woven toy basket and laid in it. When I looked over at him, he said "Just like baby Moses".
• He ruined his first library book :(. I put him down for the night, and later walked by his bedroom as I was going down the hall and noticed he had turned his light on. I opened the door to see him sitting on the floor with three torn pages. We had a nice long talk...several times. A couple of days later I took him to the library, and before we went in, I reminded him he needed to apologize to the librarian. He walked in, went right over to her, and said "I tore the pages". She kind of looked at me for an explanation, so I said "Roman has a confession to make". He repeated and then said he was sorry. She reassured him that he was very brave for being honest and telling her. We had to pay for the book, but I was so proud of my little guy for being big enough to apologize.

1000 Gifts (10)

181. hope in the dead of winter: Isaiah 1:18 "Come now, let us reason together," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow..."

182. winning free things - especially free things that we needed anyway!! We won a tricycle AND a car seat at Boone's health and safety fair this weekend. That was a God-incidence.

183. time out of the house doing fun things with my family

184. dinner with 3 couples whom I love and admire

185. people who chose to be genuine and make themselves vulnerable

186. God's timing...a lot of things have come up recently that can only be explained by a providential plan.

187. new babies

188. a sweet message at church today about spiritual warfare in the most obvious places...why is it that we never look in the most obvious places??

189. my husband...words can't describe how much I love that man.

190. people who are obedient to God's call when it requires much sacrifice and much more trust...you know who you are! So excited to see how God will move in the upcoming weeks!

191. high schoolers. I love them so much. I love that they aren't afraid to ask questions. I love that they aren't worried about being "politically correct". I love that they want raw truth.

192. people who challenge me

193. Lent. Because 40 days in the dessert makes you thirst.

194. El Azteca. Best Mexican food ever.

195. How incredibly adorable Roman is when he carries on an entire conversation with me...using correct pronouns!

195. Judah's first steps.

196. sunshine

197. Sunday = day of rest

198. people who work hard to make their marriages great

199. Children's Bibles

200. The 5 Love Languages

**For the record, I am not editing these as I go. As I look back on this list, I see many things that are repeats from other posts. My first instinct was that I was doing something wrong.

After some reflection, I think I'm doing something right.