"Trader Joe's" Garden

I know this doesn't look like much.

But it's filled with hope!

This garden bed is used for veggies in the summer, but is also home to all kinds of bulbs, most of them purchased at Trader Joe's in springs past.  You know, cute little 4 inch pots of daffodils, tulips and hyacinths.  Always a great deal at TJ's.  You can pop them into a pretty container and enjoy them for a week or two.  But after they're done blooming, you can also save them, because they will come back every year!

As the flower buds get larger and closer to opening, I dig them up, stick them in a pot, and bring them in the house to enjoy.  I've also experimented with burying spent bulbs in the plastic pot, digging it up again a year later, wiping it down, and placing it inside a decorative container.  It's worked, but as the years go by, they will probably not thrive without more room to multiply.

This little pot is on year two - just pulled it out of the ground yesterday.

And just in case you were wondering, my desk is STILL clean! :)

And on an unrelated note, here's a close up of the card leaning against the "flowers" box.

I love my new bird and nest stickers!  For the "Anointed, Transformed, Redeemed" Bible study I'm doing we have had lots of opportunities to write down verses for meditation and to pray for our families.  I love God's Word, but my flesh is weak, and having them on cute sticker-ed notecards makes me more likely to memorize and pray them!

Food Confusion

Are you confused about what's really healthy to feed your family?

Me too.

I'm still learning, but here's a few basics ideas based on the way people ate for thousands of years before the rates of degenerative diseases skyrocketed.  I'm guest blogging today over at Kari Patterson's.

Happy Friday!
Heather

Inspiration for Organization

I've always loved organization.  But as I got into this wonderful world of having kids, I stopped being any more organized than I absolutely needed to be for survival.

Now that Bode is four and a half, I feel like this January has been my best ever.

And if you're in the mood to get organized, I'll share what has helped this crazy mother along.

First off for me was January's issue of Better Homes and Gardens.  I perused it during the Christmas break, and it made me itch to get back home and clean off my desk.

My desk has always been the thorn in my side.  I've never been able to stay on top of the paperwork.  It has certainly never stayed clean longer than a week.  And while this may not seem monumental to you, I am proud to say that it's been perfectly clean before bed, every night, for three weeks.  I sure hope I have turned over a new leaf.

I think the secret is that I've applied the Flylady's shiny kitchen sink theory to my desk.  It must have taken me three years to consistently get the kitchen sink clean before bed each night.  Prior to that I didn't try at all, due to the fact that I was nursing babies, changing diapers, not sleeping through the night, etc.  

Of course, the Flylady wouldn't quite approve of my sink.  Only the left half shines.  The right half usually has dishes from late night snacks, but I don't mind... as long as they're covered in a mound of Mrs. Meyer's honeysuckle dishsoap bubbles.  Somehow that makes it okay.

So applying the kitchen sink theory to my desk is simply this:  It must be clean before bed.  Every night.

To get things started, I put away all the stuff that I didn't really need (and probably should be filed, but I never got around to it) in a remote file drawer under my desk.  And only kept out the stuff that really matters.

I reclaimed a cute container from my gardening armoire to be my catch-all, and this is all I'm allowing myself to keep on my desk.  My desk, by the way, is one half of a country pine table.  It's roughly one quarter of the office that is shared by four or five of us, so I have to be content to keep my little corner of the world tidy.

I have a few active files on the side of my storage armoire.

And pretty new things always help me get organized.  I love these antique-looking butterfly file folders.

This is it.  It may not be much, but it's tidy and I'm happy.

I take care of paper work daily, instead of weekly, monthly or when I'm in trouble :-)

And you know how it goes... you organize one spot, and it leads to more!  You should see my bathroom.  And schoolroom!  I'm sure I'll keep it up... until gardening season starts.

Happy January!

P.S.  I can't help myself.  I have to post pictures of my bathroom.  Look at those cute bird stickers down below!

A New Way of Shopping

I have continued to enjoy this new pursuit to shop fair trade.  It's kind of like when I woke up to the reality of how badly I ate.  I started reading labels and switching to whole foods, and it hit me: What was I thinking before? When I would stick anything that tasted good in my mouth without thinking about what it really was and where it came from and what it was doing to my health.

What was I thinking when I cared only about the cost of an item?  Why did I never consider the benefit of buying a costlier item from an ethical company?  That you really do get what you pay for and I want to pay for workers being treated fairly.  

So it's adventure every week, in some way or another.  I still have lots to learn, but I am enjoying the journey.  One of my favorite finds so far was prizes for Abby's birthday party.  I purchased bottle cap necklaces made by eleven-year-old Sami on the east coast.  All of the proceeds go to buy shoes for orphans in Ethiopia, including our Adanu.  Sami's dad pays for all her materials, so 100% of the proceeds go to buy shoes for kids who are being cared for by Children's Hope Chest and learning daily about God's love for them!

She also has cute polka-dot backgrounds with an initial of your choice, 

and other styles, so be sure to check them out here!

 Little Goody 2 Shoes  

Stocking Stuffers

During last Christmas season Cade was very into making me proud of his healthy choices.  We were walking through the candy aisle in some store, and he declared with much enthusiasm that he didn't want candy in his Christmas stocking.   And even went so far as to add, "I'd rather have Popi's chicken salad in my Christmas stocking."

Well, of course I couldn't pass that one up.  Too cute.  Somehow chicken salad has become a signature recipe of my Dad's and all the kids love it.   I told Dad, and he was all over having a little rubbermaid container of chicken salad for each of the kids stockings.

Well this Christmas my parents are in South Africa visiting my brother and family (they relocated there for a few year with Heinz).  That chicken salad had already become a relied upon tradition would never have crossed my mind, especially with the recipe calling for quartered grapes.  (Really now?  Who has time for that?)

But as soon as we pulled out the stockings after Thanksgiving, Bode's eyes lit up and he turned to me and said, "Remember?  Santa brings us chicken salad for our stockings!"

So here I am in the kitchen before the crack of dawn on Christmas morning quartering grapes.  And tucked in or under every stocking is Santa's gift.

Oh, the funny things we do for our kids to make Christmas magical.

May your day be filled with love, and the knowledge of the true miracle of Christmas.  That God humbled Himself to be born into this world, so He could show us how to truly love, and then made the ultimate sacrifice to pay for our sin, that we might have a relationship with Him.  To be His children and His friends. Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Simple Christmas Traditions

I am finally content with our Christmas traditions.  It's our 20th Christmas as a married couple and our 17th Christmas with children.  I guess it's about time.

I have learned my limits, and no longer come into the season with goals to make new ornaments for the Jesse Tree or bake ten types of Christmas cookies or have special gift boxes to open each day for the twelve days of Christmas (all failed experiments from my past).

I am good for one big day (or weekend) of decorating, and whatever does not get done then will not get done at all.  Our tree doesn't have a theme or much organization.  Just a lot of white lights and all the ornaments added over the years.  Each year we buy each child a new ornament that they can take with them someday (sniff!) to start their own tree.

I'm not really into crafts.  But I print out Christmas coloring pages and crossword puzzles and phonics worksheets and math worksheets to do "Christmas School."

I am really, really good at reading (impressive, I know!) Christmas books and buying a few new ones each year to add to our collection.

(I'll list some of our favorites at the end of this post.)

I'm also really good at buying a fun variety of Christmas cookies at Trader Joe's.  I buy a new kind every week in December!  But we only bake cookies once or twice.

I love making Jesus the center of it all.  One of our favorite long-standing traditions is to set up the manger scene with the animals and shepherd, but the baby Jesus gets hidden away until Christmas morning.  Mary and Joseph "travel" throughout the house on their way to Bethlehem and the kids love searching for them every morning.  They move from bookshelf to counter to under the piano... in no real order... throughout the season.  On Christmas Eve they will be in the stable.  And on Christmas morning at least one small child will melt my heart when the first thing they ask is "Is baby Jesus here????"

(Even this simple tradition isn't always perfectly done.  "Mom, Mary and Joseph haven't travelled since yesterday."  "Oh, okay, sorry, uh, close your eyes!"  And then I stomp all around the house to throw them off track as I move them to their new spot. )

Here they are today, hidden in the base of one of the advent trees.

I do love the Jesse Tree, but I finally had to break down and buy the ornaments.  You can read more about it here (minus the part about homemade ornaments), but it's a daily advent devotional that takes you through the highlights of the Old Testament and the geneaology of Christ.  The name comes from Isaiah 11:1:  "Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit."  It's a beautiful reminder of how much we need Jesus - He is our Rescuer!

I love our very traditional stockings.  Even though we've added many over the years, they all go together.

I love having at least one nativity that the kids can play with.  It's fun to walk through the living room and see that the animals have been rearranged.  They might even be on the roof.  But I know the kids hearts are thinking about the real meaning of Christmas as they play, and they always ask such good questions.

Most of all, I love to take time to be quiet.  To turn out all the lights except for a few candles and the tree lights and sing carols on the couch.  To have days with nothing planned except to sit and read Christmas books.  And reflect on the beauty of God's precious gift to us.

--------------------------

Picture Books:

Christmas in the Country by Cynthia Rylant

Apple Tree Christmas by Trinka Hakes Noble

Christmas with the Mousekins by Maggie Smith

Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree by Robert Barry

The Legend of the Candy Cane by Lori Walburg

The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey by Susan Wojciechowski

One Wintry Night by Ruth Bell Graham

The Pine Tree Parable by Liz Curtis Higgs

Christmas Day in the Morning by Pearl S. Buck

Silver Packages by Cynthia Ryland

A Little House Christmas (Holiday Stories from the Little House Books)

Chapter Books:

Jotham's Journey

Bartholomew's Passage
Tabitha's Travels
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

The Best Before and After EVER!

We began sponsoring Adanu at the Trees of Glory care-point in July.  The picture below was taken in June.

This next picture was taken in November.  Just five month later!

I can not get over the difference.  I had e-mailed Karen, our contact with Trees of Glory, telling her I couldn't wait to get a new picture of Adanu when she (Karen) went to visit in November.  I wanted to see Adunu's smile!  And I couldn't wait to take that sad picture down.  

But I had to leave it up on the fridge.  It's lower now, and to the side of the new picture.  But I can't get enough of seeing those two pictures next to each other.

What a difference sponsorship makes!

In the new picture Adanu is holding the care package we sent with Karen.  All the love we could stuff into a gallon size ziploc bag.  A new shirt, other small gifts, and letter and a picture of our family.

18 more kids are joining the care-point, and need sponsors!  Please e-mail Karen if you can help.  $34 a month makes a world of difference in the life of a child!

Below is more information from Karen's blog about Trees of Glory.

"Trees of Glory" care-point is located about a 2 hour drive North of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.  It is a semi-mountainous area of Ethiopia that has been greatly affected by famine and drought  The care-point is located on 27 acres of land that can eventually be developed to help the care-point become more self-sufficient.  There are 13 buildings on the property that are being renovated to provide shelter for the kids when they visit the care-point.

The local government identifies the neediest and most destitute children in an area, and provides the opportunity to attend a care-point to meet their basic needs.  84 orphaned and destitute children have been assigned to "Trees of Glory" as we develop a sponsor program here.

Most of these children are orphans, and are living with a relative or guardian that is barely able to provide for their basic needs.  As a result, many of the children are severaly malnourished, and are vulnerable to illnesses like malaria and pneumonia.  Local livestock owners employ many of the children as herders, and pay the child's guardian a meager wage of about $12 per year.

Your sponsorship will provide your sponsor child with nutritious meals every day, along with clothing, medical care, Christian discipleship and EDUCATION.  Without a sponsor, these kids will never have the opportunity to go to school and they will continue "working" to pay for the roof over their head.

Ginia, with Children's Hopechest, spent a day with the kids at "Trees of Glory" in May 2010 and she emailed me: "Trees of Glory is WONDERFUL. It's a 2 hour drive into the mountains from Addis. We gave kids bread and bananas today. Most of the kids are orphans and are living with relatives or on the streets. They work as "herdsmen" of sheep and cattle. The relative is paid 120 ETB (equivalent of about $12 dollars) for year by livestock owners for the kids to work. It's very sad. Simret's (the director) vision is very big. She is a beautiful Godly woman. Very sweet and you can feel the presence of God in this place. There are no Christians living in the area. They are mainly Ethiopian Orthodox and live by superstitions and witchcraft."  A sponsor program will make a dramatic and lasting impact for the kids at "Trees of Glory"!!

If you are interested in sponsoring a child at "Trees of Glory", please contact me at kjwistrom@yahoo.com and let me know if you have a preference for a boy or girl, one child or a sibling group of 2.  I will email you with a child's photograph and biographical information and instructions on how to register as that child's sponsor.