Two Breakfasts For One

When the rest are at work and school, and there's only Charles and I at home, I am notorious for not eating. I don't enjoy cooking and Charles and I both have enough Gingerich genetics to easily do without or go with very little. It's not really the most healthy habit, because then we end up being starved at odd hours when it's easy to grab some quick snack to tide us over until the next meal.

Recently I've fixed myself two yummy breakfasts that I sort of made up and I got the notion to share them with you this morning. All of you homeschooling mommies or those with a busy row of toddlers or those heroes who get up and fix their school children a big breakfast can feel free to roll your eyes and skip over the bizarre idea of making a breakfast just for mom. Someday you might be odd, like me.

The first one is this....

No measurements here, of course. I just heated butter in my iron skillet, threw in a couple handfuls of frozen hashbrowns, sprinkled them with a few seasonings and fried them a couple minutes. Next I added some spinach leaves to the butter on the side, sauted it a bit, then mixed it into my tators. Last, I cracked two eggs into the empty side of the pan and fried them to taste. Two pieces of toast on the side, and there you have it!

It looked pretty and it tasted delicious too.... Except, that particular day I ended up getting two phone calls before I got a bite, so it was a little on the cold side.

The second one is a twist on creamed eggs over toast...

My mother-in-law is a native Virginian and grew up on cornmeal gravy. I'd never heard of it either, but I love it! It's basically the same idea as brown flour gravy but you use white cornmeal instead of flour. For my personal plate full, I put several tablespoons of vegetable oil in my little pan, added about an eighth cup of white cornmeal (I didn't measure but that's probably close) and salt and pepper to taste. I stirred that together with a fork and browned it a bit, then gradually added milk and whisked and cooked until it was gravy consistency.

I put two pieces of toast on my plate, cut up two leftover hard-boiled eggs I had in the fridge and sprinkled them over the toast, then poured the gravy over top. Yum.

I didn't bother to share either of these creations with Charles; he wouldn't have wanted them anyway! It's kinda fun sometimes to do something a little extra just for oneself.

Got any little extras you like?

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I wanted to thank all of you for your encouragement after my last post. I got feedback from a number of you, all encouraging and blessing, and it meant so much! I'm finding out that there are lots of people who have been in the ministry of foster care over the years and it's so good to hear their input and stories. Thank you.

I'm sure you'll hear more about this subject from me down the road. Sometime I'll tell you about some people in the foster care trenches that I have greatly admired who probably planted more seeds in my heart than I'll ever know. Also, a few of you thought it would be interesting to hear more about "Module VIII"... I'll keep it in mind.

Many blessings on your weekend!

The Things On My Mind

As of today, Chris and I have 27 hours of Foster Care classes under our belts and 9 more hours to go. My brain is cram jammed full of terms like 'Primary Family', 'Safety Script', 'Arousal Relaxation Cycle', 'Triggers', 'Child Protection Team' and that all inclusive answer to almost every question involving foster care -- 'It Depends'.

I've been keeping kind of quiet about this over here, I admit. It's something that I really never saw coming, to be honest. It's not some dream I/we have always nourished; not some idea we've had for years. It had crossed my mind a time or two, just because there's some people we know who do foster care and the county we live in has a desperate need in that area. But a while back when Chris nonchalantly threw out the idea that maybe we should consider foster care, I think my mouth dropped wide open. It just wasn't something I had ever imagined we would consider.

About a month ago, we attended an information night. It turned out that the meeting they had advertised hard for in order to spread awareness brought in exactly two people: Chris and Bethany Eicher.

We sat there with four members of the Guernsey County Social Services team that night and listened to staggering statistics and heartbreaking scenarios. We heard how the number of children coming into care in our county has more than doubled in the past two years due to the drug abuse going on. The same cannot be said of foster care homes available and you could hear the pain in their voices when they shared the difficulty to find placements and the devastation of needing to separate sibling groups and send children to other counties.

We came away from that meeting a bit overwhelmed and with an even lower sense of feeling qualified for the job. But we also came away with a deep impression of "Why not?"

Do we not feel a call to be the hands and feet of Jesus? Is there not a tremendous need right here before our eyes? Is there any reason to not at least make ourselves available to pursuing this idea? Why not?

And so, we enrolled in Pre-Placement Training and have spent the last three Friday nights and all day Saturdays sitting in a conference room, taking in information. To say the least, it has been stretching. Stretching and eye-opening and quite, quite interesting.

Frankly, I think all parents could learn a thing or two from taking Module VIII: Helping The Child Manage Emotions And Behaviors. It's not just foster kiddos who could benefit from some of this training.

So, now you know what's been consuming my mind lately. I still have lots of questions and feelings about all of this. We're still holding this idea loosely, waiting to see what God has for us; how He will choose to lead. Just because we take classes doesn't guarantee we will ever actually foster children but we're open to that; we're making ourselves available. It's a bit of a struggle for me to consciously keep my hand in the open position.

It's felt a little scary and somewhat unnecessary to put it all out there for everyone to see. A bit like the early weeks of a pregnancy, perhaps, when you're not sure if you want to tell people yet or not? So I haven't talked about it -- which, in turn, has seemed to effectively shut off my ability to talk about anything at all! But I'm kinda tired of hiding over here in my corner. I believe in honesty and openness and I sure would welcome any prayers you feel led to pray on our behalf. We don't know exactly what we're doing in all of this but we're pretty confident God does.

'Cats and Lilacs'

It is one of those "Cats and Lilacs" seasons around here. So many things tumbling around in my mind but none of them are things to elaborate on at the moment. The longer I don't push through and just write something, the easier it is to just be quiet. The odd thing about being a person with a need to write is that, while it is easier to just be quiet, the longer I am quiet the more restless and unsettled I feel inside.

And so, since I have no cat pictures and no lilacs blooming, I will show you the pictures that I do have.

We've had sunshine...

And snow....

 And rain...

And flooding...

All in the course of a week.

We also had two birthdays in nearly a week's time --

Jennifer turned 10 on March 30th. Her birthday wish was a trip to the American Girl Doll Store in Columbus. She was thrilled to have her dad promise a day together making her wish come true. At the last minute she opted to invite her sister along. They were two excited little girls!

Charles turned 5 on April 7th.

Remember the Curious George story a while back? I turned it into a book for his birthday. He loved it!

The incredible thing was that after several months of being missing, "Curious George" was found two days before Charles' birthday!

His sisters had great fun decorating his cake. They did a super job.

In other news, there's always new ideas and new projects happening at this house. Jasmine has gotten into playing with sourdough.

She's turned out some tasty muffins...

And some yummy crackers...

and some flops.

Her starter is finally looking healthy enough to try bread!

In spite of snow again this morning, outside the grass is beginning to turn green and on my daily drive to school I see more and more glimpses of tiny, green leaves. Inside, our windowsills are full of tiny seedlings, just waiting for warm enough days so we can plant them in the dirt.

So, there are my 'Cats and Lilacs'. Maybe one of these days the reminder rant or the emotions over another's crisis or the curious ways God leads will turn themselves into blog posts. For now, I really must run along and take care of laundry and get my hungry child some lunch. 

No Greater Joy

Last week my husband was in Arkansas helping one of his buddies with a countertop job. Upon hearing this, a lady at church commented that we'll probably hear about it in a blog post. I confess that I was immediately quite sure she wouldn't. But, here I am, writing some thoughts from last week after all. There is something about having the man of the house gone that makes me think things I wouldn't otherwise.

Here is the startling reality that hit me last week: My children are not merely children anymore. They are quite mature, responsible young adults who have wise, thoughtful ideals that I am proud of. They could now probably take care of me quite capably if the need arose.

Granted, there are plenty of times and situations when they act very much like they are merely children and, for sure, the youngest are just that. It is easy, in the muddle of daily life, to become so focused on the faults and failures that their childishness becomes all that I see. But on a grander scale, my children are so much more than that and they make me quite proud.

It is hard to completely understand the feelings of a parent until you are one yourself. When sitting down to play a game turns into an hour long discussion on church and living out our Christianity, your heart just swells with gratitude. Upon expressing my feelings of pride and appreciation, one of my children questioned, "Why? We haven't done anything!" My response was given with tears in my eyes.

"Yes, you have have done something. I see you wanting to follow God and making good choices; there is nothing that means more to a parent!"

Being a parent is hard, we hear that all the time. We all know that no matter how carefully we do our job, these children ultimately have the freedom to make their own choices. No matter how diligently we tailor our care, somewhere along the line we will hurt these children entrusted to us. No matter how much we pray and lean on God's wisdom, we are not going to get everything right.

My children are not all grown up yet. I don't know all the choices they will make or what the years will bring. But when I stop and take notice, I see the beginnings of good fruit and oh, how it blesses me. 

So, dear Mammas. In the midst of the hardness of parenting, there is hope. Take a moment to pause and look past all the childishness. I'm guessing if you do, you will catch a glimpse of some good fruit, however small it may be. Allow that glimpse to swell your heart with gratitude. And, while you're at it, it might not hurt to share your pride with your children. The shy smiles and bright eyes will do something for both of your hearts.

"I could have no greater joy than to hear that my children are following the truth." 3 John 4 NLT

To Make Their Eyes Sparkle

In Ohio, the first day of Spring meant a snow day. I'm not going to mention any attitudes associated with that, except gratitude about school being cancelled. I almost felt like I should apologize to the rest of the school patrons about the change in schedule, because it was obvious to me that the Lord just needed to take care of the lady on The Hill who's husband wasn't at home.

We spent a truly lazy day lounging around in night clothes, playing games that we were too lazy to find the pieces for and other such strenuous activities.

In the late afternoon, when I was putting off starting supper as long as possible, my eight year old came begging to have a "Restaurant" for supper. They've been wanting to do this for awhile and I've been putting them off for lots of 'good' reasons - mostly laziness and selfishness on my part. I started to drag my feet and then decided, why not?

We decided on a menu of Taco Salad so that each person could choose what they want on their salad and they came up with appetizers of Ritz crackers with melted cheese with or without pepperoni or ham. We came up with a simple dessert, some cheesy biscuits and a choice of drinks to round out the menu. And then we got busy.

Of course, the unique thing about this restaurant was that I got to be the chef and then turn around and be a customer ☺

Jennifer and Lillian busily worked on menus and setting up their table in the basement while Jasmine helped me work on food.

We set up food stations for them while they prepared all the details for their customers, right down to bells to ring for service.

When everything was ready, Isaac, Jasmine, Charles and I took our places at the table and our friendly waitresses came to take our drink and appetizer orders.

As they were leaving, Isaac wondered if this place has crayons and pictures to color? Lillian promptly popped his bubble by producing stickers and paper that she had prepared just for that purpose! We got a good laugh out of that one.

I had to be the annoying customer who rang the bell just to bring a waitress down to ask if they have a restroom?

The drinks and appetizers were served and then it was on to ordering the main course. Our waitresses made a few mistakes, which they apologized for profusely, and we chuckled (behind their backs) over the meager helpings they served us.

Turns out it was an all you can eat type of deal, so we all had seconds and were quite well filled.

Last of all we were offered dessert which some of us barely had room for.

We left our waitresses a generous tip, which they were quite thrilled with. Then we did a most unusual thing and told them the customers would clean up their dishes and food if they would bring the things up from the basement.

All in all, it was quite fun and well worth the extra effort. The sparkling eyes and the multiple thank yous, given with hugs and big smiles, were enough to make this mom glad she had said yes.

What makes your children's eyes sparkle? Do you have memories from your childhood when you were the one with sparkling eyes?

The Day That Didn't

You know how it is when you hear about an event and you can't get the idea out of your head that you'd like to go? You're sure that if you don't go, you'll wish you would have but you're afraid that if you do go, it will end up not being any good. And, if you're like me, if you do go and it ends up not being any good, the day will become a hopelessly wasted one that you now know -- beyond a shadow of doubt -- you should have spent at home to start with.

Maybe none of you are like me.

If that scenario does ring a bell in your mind, you probably learned long before the age of 39 how to handle such issues. I can't say that I've learned, but I think I might be learn-ing.

I think the first time I consciously made a choice to break my trend was when we took our famous train ride. Many times since then, when I'm tempted to grovel in despair that I've made the wrong choice and the day has been ruined, I'm reminded that I have a choice to make and my feelings aren't necessarily true. Actually, I've started trying to remember to do one better than that. When I've finally made the decision to do one of those things that I've gone back and forth and around and around on, I pray about it. I tell God, "Please would you bless this day as I go __________. I would love it if everything goes the way I'd like it to go but if nothing goes right, I'll be ok with that too."

And then I do my best to keep my promise.

Yesterday was one of those days. I'd heard that Zinck's fabric store was having a 50% off sale on some of their dress fabric this week. I find fabric for a lot of my girl's school dresses at that store so it seemed like an event that I should try to take advantage of. But that meant an hour + trip and pretty much spending a whole day away from home. Should I or shouldn't I? There was no way Chris could take a day off and turn it into a date day. Should I go alone or ask someone to go with me? Yes or no; around and around.

I'd finally decided I would just go alone but the night before, all my usual second guessing began. I could just see the van leave me set somewhere or spending the whole day away and coming home with nothing. For every reason I had thought I would rather just go alone, I now knew having someone along would be better. The very fact that I was so nervous about the whole thing was probably a clear indicator that I should just stay home, you know?

In the morning, I fished for sympathy from my husband. All I got was, "If you get left set somewhere, I'll come and pick you up personally." Which sounded to me a lot more like, "You're being silly but I'll humor you a bit," rather than the sincere sympathy I was coveting. Deep down inside, I knew I was being ridiculous. So, I said my prayer and set off with my trusty GPS, determined to keep my promise.

My first stop was a large, lovely Goodwill. I've found lots of treasures there numerous times in the past but in spite of enjoying meandering through the aisles, this time I left with exactly one item. A pair of pants for Charles in the next size up that I wasn't sure if I should even buy.

From there, I punched in another thrift store and promptly did one of my directionally challenged deals, which is the reason I use a GPS religiously even though it doesn't take care of all my driving issues. What I did was forget that there are two thrift stores with the same name and select the one I didn't want to go to and assumed the GPS was taking me a different way instead of going the way I was familiar with. Oh well, I'd check out this location for a change.

Let's just say, the Lord didn't arrange that mistake so that I would find some wonderful bargain. I walked out of that store with nothing.

By that time, I decided I should just go to the fabric store and do what I'd come to do in the first place. Pleasantly, my route took me right past another thrift store that I recognized, so I stopped. I added two shirts for Charles to my meager stash.

On to the fabric.

I don't know if the manager of the store was just trying to lure people in their doors for nothing or if all the good stuff had been snatched up by the bolt the previous two days of the sale or what but ladies, there was no fabric on sale that I wanted. None. Nada. Out of sheer revenge on a day gone haywire, I bought some knit pieces that I liked at full price but I couldn't believe it!

It was time to have lunch and regroup, so I did just that over a juicy, yummy Sub. The thought crossed my mind that maybe I should just abandon the rest of my plans and go drop in on my sister who works at a newer thrift store 40 minutes away. In spite of living so close to each other, we rarely spend time together and I'd never managed to check out the store where she works. I'm not good with figuring out what time I need to be where in order to make my appointments, so I texted Chris for his input. When my sandwich had disappeared and no reply had come back, I decided to throw caution to the wind and just do it.

Driving along over this road and that road and then another, I figured it might be just my luck to get there and discover my sister wasn't even working that day but I'd come to far to stop now.

Long story short?

She was there. I had the fun of walking in and surprising her. I got to see what she does and tour the part of a thrift store behind the 'Employees Only' doors. I got to discover how they sort and organize and keep everything running smoothly; it's quite impressive! And I got to chat with her and even buy a few things. I ended up picking up my school children nearly 10 minutes late but all in all, the day that didn't go as I envisioned didn't do some other things either.

I didn't feel blue and discouraged; I didn't feel like the day had been totally wasted; I didn't feel certain I had made the wrong decision and should have stayed home. And, perhaps best of all, I didn't have to be picked up personally.

Normal Days And Saying Nothing

I probably shouldn't even mention the silence in this corner lately -- as if I believe myself to be so important that people are breathlessly waiting for me to say something. Somehow there hasn't seemed to be anything to say, so I haven't said it; that's about the only reason I can give.

To be honest, there doesn't really seem to be anything to say this morning, either, but I'm saying it anyway.

In Ohio, the battle between Winter and Spring continues to rage fiercely. One day we revel in short sleeves and the urge to dig in the dirt; the next, we are forced to admire the magic of a snow covered landscape. The grey, dreary days always wear on my mood but every sunshiny day holds the promise of warmth and new growth and Spring. I cling to those glimmers of hope and Jasmine's row of paper cups hold a promise all their own.

Life has been very normal here at The House On The Hill. We eat and sleep and go to work and school. We consume food and create dirty laundry and a messy house with alarming regularity. Except, if you think about it, it's actually not alarming but comforting. Normal means we're all here; healthy, comfortable and reasonably happy.

Normal means there are little girls creating imaginary houses and accessories out of upside down bar stools.

Normal means a little boy making up stories about 'Honey Bear' and strewing toys all over the floor. It also means shared laughter over the funny things this little boy says. Last night before bed Chris said, "I volunteer Charles Eicher to pick up all these toys. Everyone voting for Charles, raise your hand." Everyone quickly raised their hand. But when Chris told Charles to get busy he piped up, "But I didn't raise my hand!"

Looking back through recent pictures I realize that there have been extraordinary days too. Little things that switch up the 'normal' and keep life interesting and exciting.

One day, grades 1-4 went ice skating. Along with several other moms, I went along for the day. I tied skates and encouraged the wobbling ones, letting them hang onto my hand and even, once, landed hard on the ice when the wobbler lost their footing. I had some sore muscles the next day but it was fun anyway.

Speaking of school, Jennifer and Lillian are enjoying special days during the month of March. The latest one was Hat Day and different headgear seemed to put a sparkle in their eyes. Maybe I should try it myself someday?

Sometimes a cup of hot tea is just the thing to cheer up a cold, dreary day. It's even better to share a cup with a couple of friends, which is just what I enjoyed doing yesterday. I need to do that more often.

I continue to dabble in my new hobby. When I get started, it's hard to stop.

One day, the nice man at this house did his usual good deed of stopping at Aldi after work to pick up whatever it is that I'm desperately needing and grabbed some flowers while he was at it. They are still brightening my days.

That about covers it for normal days and saying nothing.........