Nativity Conversations

A couple of days ago, I overheard Emma playing with our childs nativity. She was acting out some sort of scene in which Mary and Joseph were leaving the baby behind. An open door to talk about Jesus never leaving! What other opportunities have you had this month? Tell us about it!

Listening to her gave me a chuckle but it also hit home. How often do we leave Jesus behind in the hustle and bustle of this season? Just another good reminder from my kiddos just what we're celebrating this season. Not the gifts and the decorations and all such things, but God coming to earth as a tiny baby. A humble beginning with so much purpose!

Which brings me to the COD Living Nativity. If its not on your callendar yet, its this weekend! Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings from 6-9pm on COD's hillside. I hope I'll see each one of you there, as you experience the nativity with your kids.

Adventures in Turkey: Final Chapter

The finished bird.

I can't believe it! I've made a turkey!! And we ate it and it was juicy and tasty and delicious.
Here's the finished bird (prior to eating, of course):
Now the wings got a bit crispy there. Not sure why that happened, as I covered it loosely with tin foil pretty early on.
This beauty took a full 5 1/2 hours to cook at 350. I don't think it should have taken that long, so I think I better have my oven temp checked for accuracy. But it did finally hit 365 in the middle stuffing there, much to my relief.

So what have I learned?
I learned cooking a turkey makes your house smell yummy. Which makes me feel warm fuzzies and all homey.
I learned that doing something hard you've never done before is usually easier than you think it will be. Which makes me feel confident and adventurous.
I learned that at almost 30, I'm still calling my mom (and dad) when I need help. Which makes me feel safe and well loved.
I learned naming a turkey Tom can be confusing for others. And well, that just makes me giggle.

Thank you for following along this epic-to-me story. I hope you enjoyed it! What will you try for the first time now??

Adventures in Making a Turkey: Part One

You can read the full adventure here: Karen's Blog
Here's the highlights:

Making the Brine.









Giving Tom a bath.









This baby is resting before he gets stuffed!!









Brining smells yummy. Raw turkey not so much. But with only one quick call for a back up opinion, I have successfully clean and brined my turkey. In a couple hours I'll be making the stuffing, stuffing Tom and sticking him in the oven. IT'S TURKEY DAY!!!

Greater Than Flashcards

This is actually from a few weeks ago, but I thought you all would enjoy it just the same.

I was teaching Emma the concept of "greater than" today. So I pulled out the dollar store 3x5 cards and the stickers I have stocked away.

Together we made flashcards, 1-10. Each got a number sticker and then we put the corresponding number of objects on the card too. So the number 1 got one cow. And so forth. I also made one > card. Then I explained the "greater than" symbol and what it means facing each way. I used the old pacman analogy here, and actually drew a little > with a head. Like a giant open mouth, because Greater Than Man, likes to eat the most.

She giggled and I totally didn't think she was getting it. But then one right after the other, she picked two cards and put the greater than sign between them. And I bet some of your little ones will enjoy this too. It was easy, fun and cheap. (Although, now I have to buy a laminator so the cards will be around longer than today, but that's a whole other thing.)

Adventures in Cooking a Turkey: Prologue

Yesterday at GUM we had a tutorial on cooking. We covered two things: making a turkey, and some desserts. The desserts were de-lish...but what I really want to focus on is making a turkey. (Thanks Tina and Carol for you fab demos!!)

I'll be 30 next month, in 35 days to be exact, and if you've been reading my blog or ever had a conversation with me, you're likely to know I haven't handled the prospect of turning 30 with much grace. In fact, my husband has planned something special for me in an effort to coax me into my 30's. I told him it better be good, or I'm staying 29. I've also spent some time over the last year trying to come up with a list of things I should do before turning 30. I hadn't had much success with this list - until now.

Before I turn 30, I'm going to cook a turkey. My first turkey. Ever. I've never even HELPED make a turkey. Actually I've never even cooked a whole chicken. So this will be my maiden voyage in poultry. Probably a bit ambitious I know, but then I'm an ambitious kind of gal. I admit I am motivated by the thought of eating a wonderful turkey sandwhich (as they seem to have eluded me and my household so far this year). There's nothing like a leftover turkey sandwhich. And that's coming from the girl who thinks we should have ham at every holiday.

Either way, I'm making a turkey. I've comitted. I've posted about it here. And the adventure begins. I hope you'll follow me along the journey and are inspired and humored right along with me.

I'm off to read through Melinda Lee's website to read up on the recipe, the brine and make a list for the grocery store. Check back Monday for my next entry in Adventures in Making a Turkey.

Happy Thanksgiving

Emma and I made this Thankful Turkey. The foam turkey part was pretty easy and then we sat and carefully thought about what things we were thankful for. Both mama and kiddo were pretty pleased (especially since I made the list)!

But it got me thinking. Almost all of the things on her turkey were people. And right in the middle of this lightbulb I got my Tipping Points. Pastor Ed writes weekly Tipping points, which if you don't subscribe, you should and can do so here. Following is an excerpt:

This Thanksgiving, when someone asks me what I’m most thankful for, my answer will be the most tangible expression of His grace on earth—friends and loved ones who walk with us on this path as disciples of Christ Jesus.

“I thank my God upon every remembrance of you” (Philippians 1:3).

We are the expression of His grace on earth - how true this is and how very thankful for each of my friends and family.

Whatever your blessings have been this year, I hope you spend time telling our Heavenly Father just how thankful for you are for each of the blessings in your life. If you haven't yet, now's a good time.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Birth Journal

Though I haven't started yearly birthday journals for my girls (yet!), I have created each thier own birth story books. It's just a small bound photobook of pictures of the pregnancy, the entire birth story, and pictures of the birth and first few days. I'm hoping you can view mine here. And you'll find inspiration for your own. Someday I know the girls will treasure these as much as I already do!

Tina has inspired me in so many ways, you're going to get sick of hearing what I'm doing!! But non-the-less, I'm going to share. And I hope she inspired you too. So what have you already begun to do intentionally as a parent? Did you come up with a tradition you want to start? Share it in the comments or send me an email and I'll post it here.

Being Intentional about Christmas preparation

If you're like me about mid-December I think about decorating my house and pointing my children's activities towards Christmas. I've had a small advent calendar for two or three years now, still unused, as I can't remember to get it out in the first few days of December. So this year, I'm starting early - because I'm going to become an intentional parent. I started with wanting to do something adventy all month long to help the little ones understand little bits at a time. So here are a couple of books. I've already picked up the first:

Getting Ready for Christmas is a daily advent prayer and activity book for the family. Each day leading up to Christmas has a scripture to read and a few sentence devotional. It includes a prayer and an activity that coincides. I'm really excited, and so are the kids, since its been sitting out for about a week now, they keep asking to read it, but I'm waiting. Which is proving to be quite the build up.

When I mentioned the above book to another seasoned mom she shared her favorite book from when her children were small, The Best Thing About Christmas. (This one is only $4 bucks on amazon!)

Intentional Parenting Ideas

Session Two with Tina included a number of fantastic ideas to build unity, memories and family fun! Which one are you going to start?

Record Keeping:

Birthday Journals - Yearly journal entries sharing your heart, your memories and your prayers for your children.

Thanksgiving Journal - keep a record of thanks for your family. Bring it to thanksgiving every year and fill it up in between too.

Stones: Stones of Rememberance. Joshua 4:5b-7 "Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, 'What do these stones mean?' tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever."

Making Memories:

• Birthdays - midnight phone calls in order to be the first one to wish a happy birthday.
• Special Plate for meals, with a book that recorded the special person, reason, meal and date.
• Sunday Morning Breakfasts: everyone seems to be able to get ready in time for breakfast out, why not make it a tradition?
• Pajama Runs: Getting the kids back up after they've been put to bed and taking them out in jammies for a special treat. Dessert at a restaurant, a special visit to gramma's, viewing holiday lights -and only one rule - NO ASKING if tonight is a pajama run night.
• Plate-Over Night - flip thier dinner plate upside down over a simple treat.
• Me and My Mom/Dad trips - take them somewhere just the two of you and enjoy each other!

What ideas were you inspired with?

November: Intentional Parenting

If you missed one of the two Gum meetings in November, I won't lie, you really missed out. Tina shared with us a wealth of information all geared around the idea of intentional parenting. I'll do my best to share with you all the seeds of wisdom she passed on to us, but I'm sure I'll forget something. If I do, would those of you who were there please post a comment, because none of us want to miss one tiny seed.

Thank you Tina for sharing your heart with us about parenting. You've encouraged and inspired me, and I'm already 'growing up' a little more!

Intentional Parenting: treating your parenting like you would a ministry. Ministry requires preparation, discussion, goals, meetings, strategies and assessment. Intentional parenting is "having a purpose for what you do, rather thand doing what has to be done." Whew! That's a lot more than just waking up each day, feeding and carpooling the kiddos!

Good thing the Lord tells us in James 1:5 "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him."

Here is a list of tools for the minsitry, I know you'll find them helpful, just like I did:
Parenting Weekends: Time away to focus on the ministry of parenting your children.

Determine your goals. Work towards those goals with specific activites geared towards desired behaviors which exhibit your goals.

Strengths/Weaknesses: Know your kids strengths and weaknesses, list them, so you can work on ways to help them cultivate and conquer them.

Dinner Table Dialogue: The Question Basket. A basket with one question for each member, drawn at random.

Family Fun Club: Family preparation for the meal (each child with a task: setting the table/seating arrangement, decorations, dessert). Question Basket at dinner. Family Game, Teaching Time, Famiy Meeting and Dessert. All with a purpose/theme and goal.

Regrets Exercise: Imagine its 10 years from now (or more) and your little ones are headed out on thier own. What will you regret having not taught them? What will you regret having not done with them? What always/nevers do you want them to remember?

Tina's Recommended Reading:

• Raising Great Kids by Henry Cloud and John Townsend
• 1000 Questions (I couldn't find this, but check out Table Topics Conversation Cards - Family Edition by TableTopics)
• The New Dare to Discipline by James C. Dobson
• The New Hide or Seek: Building Self-Esteem in Your Child by James C. Dobson