My Niece or Nephew!

"For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them."

Psalm 139:13-16

Mandarin Beef Stir-Fry

Brown or black bean sauce can be found on the ethnic aisle at the grocery. Try serving this colorful dish over rice.

1 (1 lb) flank steak, trimmed and cut in half lengthwise
Cooking spray
5 cup broccoli florets
3 tablespoons water
3/4 cup beef broth
1 tablespoon cornstarch
3 tablespoons spicy brown or black bean sauce
2 teaspoons minced peeled fresh ginger
1 (11 oz) can mandarin oranges, undrained

1. Cut steak diagonally across grain into thin slices. Heat a large non-stick skillet coated with cooking spray over med-high heat. Add the meat, and stir fry 2 minutes; remove meat from pan and keep warm. Add broccoli to pan; sprinkle with water. Cover and cook 3 minutes or until crisp-tender.
2. Combine broth and next 4 ingredients, stirring well with a whisk. Drain oranges, reserving 1/4 cup liquid, stir liquid into brother mixture.
3. Add meat an broth mixture to broccoli; cook, stirring constantly, until thick. Gently stir in oranges.
Yield: 4 servings (serving size:1 1/2 cups stir-fry)
Points: 6
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This is a Weight Watchers recipe. I made a few changes to the recipe as follows...I used 1 1/2 lbs of meat so I used more broth and more mandarin juice. I hate how ginger tastes (thanks to being pregnant) so I didn't add any.

ENJOY!

Recent Pictures

Mimi had wanted to see some recent pictures of the girls. So I took my camera with us last night. It's been a little warm here during the day (80's) so we've been playing outside a lot around dinner time and after. Last night Ben took out 3 Oleander plants from the front of our house. So while we worked the girls and I played. We played on the swings, in the sandbox, then we went out front and played soccer. It was really nice. Then Ben went out with some guys from our small group to go bowling. Not that I don't like having my husband around, but I had such a pleasant & quiet evening making invitations for my sister's shower. I don't really know what I can say about Emma's hair. It was totally out of control because she decided that when she was done eating her dinner she would start styling her hair with her rice and meat. Beautiful, isn't it?About 3 seconds before we started eating dinner Charis accidentally spilled an entire cup of pomegranate/blueberry juice all over her. Hence the lovely outfit she is wearing in these pictures.

Look at how filthy her pants are! She loved the sand, in her hands and her mouth too! She had a little sand ring-around-the-mouth by the time we came inside.

3 Going on 35

Tonight I made Mandarin Beef Stir-Fry over rice for dinner. As we sat down at the table to eat Charis looked at her plate and said, "You made a beautiful dinner tonight, Mommy! Look at all the colors! Green, orange, brown, white and more brown!"

The Cable Poll

The results:
61% (22 households) do pay for cable
38% (14 households) do not pay for cable

Now I'm interested to know how much you all (who have cable) pay per month. (If ya'll don't mind, that is.)

Then I'll let you know why!

It's a Kite, It's a Plane, It's a Soccer Ball!

This morning we drove out (15 minutes) to the outlet mall near our house to return some items and happened to walk past KB Toys and saw a kite for $2 and a foam-y plane for $2 as well. Ben couldn't resist so we bought them in hopes of having a little fun after nap time with the girls. While we were at the mall we also saw some ferrets in the pet store. It kind of bothers me to think that someone would buy a "pet" from an outlet mall, but maybe that's just me. Anyway, after nap time we loaded Emma and our stuff into the wagon and walked 1/2 a block to the greenbelt near our house. You can kind of see the airplane in the upper left hand corner of the picture.Emma and hung out on the blanket while Ben taught Charis how to throw the airplane and tried desperately to fly the kite...it really wasn't windy enough. But we had fun anyway. Then I took a turn at throwing the airplane but ended up resorting to kicking the soccer ball around with Charis.

________________

In other funny news...

After dinner we were getting the girls ready for the bath and I was taking my sweet time checking my email and reading all of your blogs. Ben kept prodding me saying, "Come on, help me get the girls in the bath." Then he got a little threatening! He said, "Come help now or I will tell Charis you're going to read her princess I Spy book with her!" That got me on my feet and in the bathroom in no time at all! (For those of you who don't know, Charis has a Disney Princess I Spy book that she asks us to read with her at least 12 times a day. Realize that you can only look at an I Spy book so many times!) I have a feeling he'll be using that threat again.

The Polite Sinner

Emma has started a new thing. Every time she touches something she shouldn't and I say, "No touch, Emma!" She does her little sign language for "please" (which is patting her chest with the palm of her hand). It's so cute! And it almost works too!

My Sinful Hair

Remember how I named my grey hair? (Ben, Charis, Emma & Arizona perspectively) Well, I was telling Ben all about that last week and he said, "I could think of other names for them. How about anxiety, worry, control & sin?" I'd rather if he had just called me old!

Vote 2008

Make sure you vote on my poll about cable TV. I really want to know what the majority of people do...I'll tell you why when the poll is over.

For Gale

Hi Gale!
I don't have your email address so I don't know how to contact you! But to answer your question...Deidre's shower will be on April 26th. I don't think you'll still be in town but if you are, you are more then welcome...we would love to have you there!

Mommy Brain

I was so excited today because Southwest had tickets on sale for Burbank/Phoenix for $38 dollars! Perfect! So I called Ben and asked if I could book a flight for me and the girls to CA in April so I could see my pregnant sister and throw her a baby shower! He said, "Yes, that's great! Go right ahead." So I quickly booked them then went about my day. If you know how DING works then you know that the deals always expire at a certain time and today they expired at 5 pm. At about 4:58 pm I noticed something weird about my tickets...they were booked FROM Burbank TO Phoenix then the return flight FROM Phoenix TO Burbank. That's weird, seeing as I live in Phoenix...dumbo (imagine me smacking myself on the forehead)! Two minutes apparently was enough time to cancel 4 plane tickets and schedule 4 more...but it didn't come without a little sanctification. (Thank you, Lord!)

Bedtime Stories

(In order to get this you need to understand that one of Charis' Sunday school teachers is Mr. Jacob...she loves Mr. Jacob & his wife Mrs. Kiki.)

Charis always asks for a bedtime story. So Ben has been telling her stories through the Bible. They're at Joseph right now when he was in Egypt and his brothers came for food. I can overhear Ben telling her the story and he mentioned Jacob. Charis said, "Hey! That's two Jacobs! Jacob and Mr. Jacob. That's funny! Mr. Jacob teaches about Jacob. Hahahaha!"

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Earlier today Charis said to me, "I can't wait to find out what happens with the 7 skinny cows and the 7 fatty cows!" I love her mind...it's a sponge and everything in the world is new to her! So many things that I know and take for granted she is just discovering...it's great!

Emma

I've been noticing that a lot of people have been doing update posts on their children. When they reach a certain milestone age they write about their height, weight and other important stats. I, unfortunately, am not quite so on top of things but I'll give it my best shot.
Emma is about 13 months old (somewhere between 13 and 14 months...I think). I don't know how much she weighs (I think it's like 26 lbs, or something). I haven't the faintest idea of her length...I couldn't even guess! She loves to crawl and if given the opportunity she will scale our stairs to the second floor in no time at all. (Currently we have 3 baby gates in use at our house...bottom of the stairs, top of the stairs and the doorway to Charis' room.) Emma also loves pulling herself up on everything..the couch, the table, my leg, the toilet...that's another story for another time. Emma has her own little personality and it's starting to roar! Just a few minutes ago I told her, "No touch!" to some papers that she has been constantly playing with for the past few days. She knows not to touch them but for some reason she keeps going back. So when I said, "No touch, Emma!" She looked at me with this impish glare and literally growled at me. I don't mean she made a gutteral sound in the back of her throat by accident. I mean she growled at me, showing her obvious displeasure! She is generally a happy baby and extremely content to play on her own for hours...I'm serious. Her favorite thing to do is crawl over to our bedroom window (it's quite low, so she can pull herself up and look out) and she will yell at the dogs in the neighborhood. She gets them all riled up too! She yells, they bark, she laughs and yells more, they get frustrated and bark more...it's quite entertaining! She is great at imitation. We were playing earlier and I stuck out my tounge, so she did too, then I blew a raspberry and she did too, then I laughed and she did too, then I said "ma ma" so she said, "da da". Which brings me to another part of her personality. She's obstinate! If she doesn't want to do something, there's no way you're going to make her do it! If I put a piece of food in her mouth and she'd rather feed herself, then she'll take the food out of her mouth, put it on the table, look at me, then pick it up and put it in her mouth all by herself. She is the most kissable baby ever! She's so soft and sweet and she loves to be snuggled and kissed and mooched all over! Now on to her hair...I'm at a loss. I try to brush it, but then it's like a 'fro, so I try to not brush it, but then it's just a tangly mess. But I will admit, everywhere and I mean everywhere we go people stop and comment on her "beautiful hair". The best comment I ever got was from an older lady at the grocery store. She said, "In my next life...I'm going to have hair like that!" as she pointed to Emma.

Discovery

Charis: "How many teeths does a shark haves?"

Long day

Charis woke up at 4 am this morning...don't ask me why, I don't remember. Anyway, she's been up since then and she's getting quite bored with being awake. (Emma woke up at 5:45 so she took a long morning nap.) Mommy isn't feeling well so we're just hanging out at home. Anyway, Charis is full of tons of questions..."Why this, and why that?" So I responded, "Charis why are you so cute?" She matter-of-factly answered. "Because Gawd made me tho tute!"

The James' Pharmacy

I think Walgreens should have a "buy 2 get 1 free" policy. Goodness knows I could use it! Charis is on Augmentin this time. It's another ear infection.

President's Day Hike

Ben was off work today! YAY for the presidents! YAY for us! We organized a super fun hike for a bunch of friends at a mountain near our house. There were 12 adults and 14 children (we're used to being out numbered). After hiking we all came back to our house for pizza. Thank you to all who came...you made our day! (And if any one visits us October-April, we'll take you on the hike too!)

Here is Charis and her friend Michael...they are so cute! (This was not set up!)

In the distance you can see Ben and our pastor, Scott commenting on the situation.

The kids decided to do a little off roading, we were just waiting for someone to comment on our "destroying the wildlife"

My very good friends Tonya (with baby Charlize) and Heidi (with her own little baby still in her tummy)! I am so thankful for both these girls. They both live really close to our house so we get to see them often!

Emma loved riding on Daddy's back...

...and Charis loved riding on the front!

We had to park really far away so Charis was super tired and hungry by the time we made it to our car. But as I said, "You can't really complain about the walk when you're on a hike." Is it a little bit like our Christian life? You prepare for the big trials like a hike, but the little ones like walking to your car always seem to be more difficult.

Raw-hiiiiide!

We discovered a new, fun, little place near our house. It's called Rawhide and it's a old-time western town from the 1880's complete with cowboys, gunfights, blacksmiths and camel rides?I'm really not too sure what camels have to do with the old west but it was still fun. Charis was unsure about the camel when she got close, so as you can see in the above picture Ben is convincing her to ride the camel by explaining that Noah & Mrs. Noah probably rode on a camel too...it worked! And she loved it!Emma is still too little to ride the camel, so she watched from a distance. Stake-A-Claim Pete

(insurance claim, that is)

I'm probably biased but isn't she just the most adorable baby in the world?

After the camel ride we ate lunch in the Wagon Wheel Cafe then walked through Magirks' Toys, Sweet Sally's Confections and the Rawhide General Store.

I couldn't pass up this photo op! Happy trails to you...until we meet again!

Happy Valentines Day!

Thank you Grandma for these super cute Valentine's jammies! I tried really hard to get a good picture of the girls in them...as you can see, it just didn't happen.

Sometimes love hurts!Sort of sick of this whole picture thing. Mmm...jammies are yummy (so is that belly!)This turned out to be the best one!(Grandma was way more then generous to us. UPS delivered a box around 6pm last night while we were eating dinner. When we opened it it was full of goodies. The girls got these cute PJs, Charis got 3 pairs of heart underwear, there was candy for the girls, candy for the Daddy and best of all peppermint candy for the Mommy! Grandma also sent heart shaped cupcake pans with Valentine's cake mix and frosting. The girls also got a fun Valentine's art project...we'll do it tomorrow and take a picture. Then best of all Grandma sent me tons and tons of scrapbook supplies! From stickers to paper and all sorts of fun stuff, I can't wait to scrapbook! Thank you, thank you, thank you!)

I've committed the cardinal sin of parenting

Well, I guess if there is a cardinal sin of parenting anyway...but I've done it...actually 2 cardinal sins.
First, I put Emma to bed with a juice sippy cup! Ahhh! I was completely astonished at myself! As I was handing her the sippy cup and silently praying that should would drink it and go to sleep I felt like I was outside my body watching myself and saying, "Tsk, tsk, tsk...what a horrible mother! Hasn't she ever read a parenting book? They all say, 'Never put your child to bed with a sippy cup.'" But I had a perfectly good reason. Emma has this horrible cough and it prevents her from sleeping, it goes something like this...cry for 30 minutes, sleep for 30 minutes, cry for 30 minutes, sleep for 15 minutes. It's quite unfair...to us both. So I figured if I gave her the juce then she could drink it when she coughs and sleep better. And you know what? It worked! She slept for 1 1/2 hours...which in Emma-land is an eternity!
Ok, now for my second confession. I forgot my own child's name! Let me explain, somewhere between midnight and 5:30 am, Charis came into our room. She wanted to get in bed with us. Since my back has been bad again I can't just hop out of bed without screaming in pain, so I rolled over and said, "Ben, she's here." He got up, went to the bathroom and got back in bed. I rolled over again and said, "No, she's here...I don't remember her name, but she's here." What!?! I couldn't remember her name!?!? At least Ben and I could laugh about it this morning!

What love means

"When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That's love."

Rebecca- age 8

*****

"When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth."

Billy - age 4

*****

"Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other."

Karl - age 5

*****

"Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs."

Chrissy - age 6

*****

"Love is what makes you smile when you're tired."

Terri - age 4

*****

"Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK."

Danny - age 7

*****

"Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more. My Mommy and Daddy are like that. They look gross when they kiss"

Emily - age 8

*****

"Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen."

Bobby - age 7

*****

"If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate,"

Nikka - age 6

*****

"Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday."

Noelle - age 7

*****

"Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well."

Tommy - age 6

*****

"During my piano recital, I was on a stage and I was scared. I looked at all the people watching me and saw my daddy waving and smiling. He was the only one doing that. I wasn't scared anymore."

Cindy - age 8

*****

"My mommy loves me more than anybody You don't see anyone else kissing me to sleep at night."

Clare - age 6

*****

"Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken."

Elaine-age 5

*****

"Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Robert Redford."

Chris - age 7

*****

"Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day."

Mary Ann - age 4

*****

"I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones."

Lauren - age 4

*****

"When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you."

Karen - age 7

*****

"Love is when Mommy sees Daddy on the toilet and she doesn't think it's gross."

Mark - age 6

*****

"You really shouldn't say 'I love you' unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget."

Jessica - age 8

*****

And the final one --

Author and lecturer Leo Buscaglia once talked about a contest he was asked to judge. The purpose of the contest was to find the most caring child... The winner was a four year old child whose next door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife. Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman's yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there. When his Mother asked what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said, "Nothing, I just helped him cry"

4 times in 6 days

That's how many times we've been to the doctor...today it was Emma's turn. You know, part of me is regretting teaching Charis how to share...Emma has broncitis and an ear infection. Yipee! She's asleep on my lap as I type. Imagine that, trying to type with a 26 lb 13 month old asleep in your arms. I'd better go, my shoulder is cramping!

Emma's sick...waaaaaaaa!

The Invisible Mom

(This is a story I received via email from my mom.)

I'm Invisible .
It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of response, the way one of the kids will walk into the room while I'm on the phone and ask to be taken to the store. Inside I'm thinking, 'Can't you see I'm on the phone?' Obviously not; no one can see if I'm on the phone, or cooking, or sweeping the floor, or even standing on my head in the corner, because no one can see me at all. I'm invisible. The invisible Mom. Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more: Can you fix this? Can you tie this? Can you open this? Some days I'm not a pair of hands; I'm not even a human being. I'm a clock to ask, 'What time is it?' I'm a satellite guide to answer, 'What number is the Disney Channel?' I'm a car to order, 'Right around 5:30, please.' I was certain that these were the hands that once held books and the eyes that studied history and the mind that graduated summa cum laude - but now they had disappeared into the peanut butter, never to be seen again. She's going, she's going, she's gone!

One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of a friend from England . Janice had just gotten back from a fabulous trip, and she was going on and on about the hotel she stayed in. I was sitting there, looking around at the others all put together so well. It was hard not to compare and feel sorry for myself as I looked down at my out-of-style dress; it was the only thing I could find that was clean. My unwashed hair was pulled up in a hair clip and I was afraid I could actually smell peanut butter in it. I was feeling pretty pathetic, when Janice turned to me with a beautifully wrapped package, and said, 'I brought you this.' It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe. I wasn't exactly sure why she'd given it to me until I read her inscription: 'To Charlotte, with admiration for the greatness of what you are building when no one sees.'
In the days ahead I would read - no, devour – the book. And I would discover what would become for me, four life-changing truths, after which I could pattern my work: No one can say who built the great cathedrals - we have no record of their names. These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never see finished. They made great sacrifices and expected no credit. The passion of their building was fueled by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything. A legendary story in the book told of a rich man who came to visit the cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving a tiny bird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man, 'Why are you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will be covered by the roof? No one will ever see it.' And the workman replied, 'Because God sees.' I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place. It was almost as if I heard God whispering to me, 'I see you, Charlotte. I see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around you does. No act of kindness you've done, no sequin you've sewn on, no cupcake you've baked, is too small for me to notice and smile over. You are building a great cathedral, but you can't see right now what it will become.'

At times, my invisibility feels like an affliction. But it is not a disease that is erasing my life. It is the cure for the disease of my own self-centeredness. It is the antidote to my strong, stubborn pride. I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great builder. As one of the people who show up at a job that they will never see finished, to work on something that their name will never be on. The writer of the book went so far as to say that no cathedrals could ever be built in our lifetime, because there are so few people willing to sacrifice to that degree. When I really think about it, I don't want my son to tell the friend he's bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, 'My mom gets up at 4 in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand bastes a turkey for three hours and presses all the linens for the table.' That would mean I'd built a shrine or a monument to myself. I just want him to want to come home. And then, if there is anything more to say to his friend, to add, 'You're gonna love it there.'

As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be seen if we're doing it right. And one day, it is very possible that the world will marvel, not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible women.

Great Job, MOMS

Ahhhh!

Charis now has an ear infection...anyone want to come over? She's a joy to be with!

Reese Kostjuk

When you have a few spare minutes I'd like to ask you to check out this blog. Ben went to college with the dad and we've known this family and her parents from Grace Community. It's a very sobering blog but I think it puts a lot of things into perspective. They update it about once a day. While you're there please remember to pray for Reese.

Mimi to the rescue!

YIPEE!

My mom lands tonight at about 9:30 to help out with the sickies. The next few days will be filled with a lot of hugs, kisses and "aww, poor thing." (Not to mention a little bit more drama and worry as only a grandmother can provide.) I think she just couldn't stand being so far away when Charis is so sick. My dad called me at about 2:30 and asked if he could send my mom out to help. I'm not crazy, so of course I said, "YES!" My mom called back at about 3:30 and said she'd booked her flight.

I'd better go, I've got to "Mom proof" the house before she gets here. (You all know what I mean...take out the trash, put away some toys, change the towels in the bathroom, sweep the kitchen, etc...I know you've all been there!)

Pray for my baby girl!

Yesterday, what a day! We spent a total of 4 hours at the doctors office (2 seperate times) and around $100 and something dollars in co-pays & medicines. The result? Charis has strep throat & bronchitis. She's on a total of 5 prescription medications (not counting tylenol for the fever). This picture is of her doing her nebulizer treatment. She has to do it every 2 hours until this evening when she can let up and do it every 3 hours! Whew! Charis & I were praying last night (about 3 am) and I was trying to remind her to be thankful for all she has...doctors, medicine, insurance, etc. I'm not sure if I was trying to remind her or myself...God is good! He never makes a mistake!

The Brady Harasick Story

This family are friends of ours from CA and GCC.

Misc. January

January was an exciting month in our house...

Did you hear the big news? Charis likes to pretend she's Auntie Deidre!

___________________

One very chilly morning Charis proceeded to get herself dressed. She came out wearing teeny shorts and a light cotton t-shirt. "Charis!" I said, "It is 38 degrees outside, you need to go put on a pair of pants."

This is how she came back to me. Clever, Charis, very clever!

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Last Saturday we drove to try out a new park that just opened near us. It was so cool!They had "city land""farm land"

"critter country"and a great big dinosaur egg!

A thought for the day...

"As for those parents who will not use the rod upon their children, I pray God He useth not their children as a rod for them."

-Thomas Fuller

Mothers vs. Fathers, airlines & my eggs

My husband often wonders why I leave food sitting on my plate during our meal. I always tell him, "I'm leaving it for the children, in case they want more." Well, it happened again this morning. We were eating our eggs, toast and freshly squeezed grapefruit juice for breakfast and I left a small pile of eggs on my plate. Ben asked, "Why are you not eating your eggs?" To which I replied, as always, "I'm leaving them for the children, in case they want more." Then I added, slight facetiously, "That is what a mother does." Today his response was different. Usually he just shrugs his shoulders and laughs. But today he cleverly said, "Fathers live by the airline mentality...secure your own oxygen mask before helping small children."