drama

This morning, Ingrid came into our room complaining of owies on her leg. She had been bitten overnight in two places by an insect of some sort (probably a spider). The bites looked pretty sore and itchy, so I put some topical Benadryl on them. As the morning progressed, it became apparent that these bites were not going to feel better anytime soon. She started complaining of a headache, and feeling generally yucky. I knew she really must not be feeling well when I told the girls that we needed to go up to Base to run some errands, and she didn't want to go. She always loves outings.

One of the stops was the pharmacy to pick up an Rx, so I dropped by the Peds clinic to have her checked out. By this time, each of the bites were easily the size of a silver dollar and raised a good quarter of an inch. The triage nurse told me to give her some oral Benadryl and just watch for changes in the way they look.

As of tonight, the Benadryl hasn't reduced the swelling or redness at all, but they haven't gotten any worse either. Poor Ingy.

Ilsa just has kind of gone with the flow...bless her heart! Oh, and tonight, she didn't even ask for her Sassy once.

mod*mom = giveaway

One of my favorite blogs is sponsoring a contest to give away two smokin' hot new Dyson hand vacs as a way to raise breast cancer awareness.

Click on over to mod*mom for details, and check out the post from 9/22/08 with the picture of the pink vacuum.

sassy is broken...

Oh sweet Ilsa, today I discovered that your beloved sassy (pacifier) had cracked. We promised you that we wouldn't buy you another one. I never thought I'd be sad about it, but I really am. You loved it so much. It helped comfort you when your teeth were coming in; when you missed Mommy and Daddy; on takeoff and landing on trips up to visit your Grandmas and Grandpas; sleeping when the storms blew over our home.

When I told you it was broken and had to go into the garbage, your face showed your heartbreak. I understand. You did a great job sleeping at naptime and going to bed tonight. Sweetheart, Mommy and Daddy will be here to comfort you. Lord willing, when you know Him, He will be your comforter forever.

Love, Mommy

10 things for which i'm thankful

In no particular order:

1. Quick Domino's Pizza delivery


2. Banana bread


3. Cinnamon rolls in a can


4. Moisturizer & lip balm


5. My little OXO broom and dust pan


6. http://www.blueletterbible.org/


7. The health, physical strength and joy of my children


8. My husband does what he can to maintain his health


9. Affordable groceries at the Base Commissary


10. Strawberries

bread = four day sourdough

Okay, I'm not convinced that this bread was worth four days of preparation. The flavor was really, really good, but not outstanding. I think I can find a better recipe that doesn't take four days, and still yields a great-tasting loaf. To its credit, the recipe did yield three loaves, but this was the best of the bunch.

On the other hand, I got to use my brand new bread lame ("luhmay" - fancy schmanzy french bread slashing tool) to create this pretty cool design on the top of the loaf, and new baguette pan which did help achieve a very crunchy crust. Thanks mom for the great birthday presents!

crochet = mini snuggly baby blanket

Ingrid received a beautiful mini blanket when she was born from a dear friend of mine. Ingrid still loves her "softie" and feels lost without it during stressful times. It used to be pink, and is now sort of dirty tan.

So when a friend of mine had a little baby boy about two weeks ago, I decided to crochet a mini blankie for him. I hope he likes it even a fraction as much as Ingrid loves hers.

sola scriptura

Sola Scriptura -- scripture alone, the Bible is sufficient...

Check out this great blog article over on one of my favorite websites, Camp on This (Steve Camp -- yep, the singer/songwriter...)

CAMPONTHIS: TREASURING THE TREASURE OF GOD'S WORD


Here are the Bible verses with which Camp leads his article:

The Scriptures should be our joy: Psalm 1:2 and Psalm 119.
God gives His Spirit through His Word: Galatians 3:2 and Romans 8:5.
The word of God gives hope: Romans 15:4 and Psalm 78:5, 7.
The word of God makes us free: Psalm 119:45 and John 8:32
The Word of God makes us wise: Psalm 19:7-8 and 119:98.
Wisdom brings joy: Proverbs 3:13.
The Word of God gives assurance: 1 John 5:13
The Word of God overcomes the evil one: Ephesians 6:17
The Word of God revives us: Psalm 19:7.
The Word of God is our life: Deuteronomy 32:46-47
Our physical life depends upon God's word:
He created us by His Word: Psalm 33:6 and Hebrews 11:3
He keeps us in existence by His Word: Hebrews 1:3
Our spiritual life depends upon God's Word:
We are born again by God's Word: James 1:18 and 1 Peter 1:23
We go on living spiritually by God's Word: Matthew 4:4
The Word of God causes faith: Romans 10:17 and John 20:31.

reflections on the ligonier fall conference

Some of you know that Chad and I had the distinct privilege of attending the Ligonier Fall Conference last weekend up in Scottsdale, AZ (near here, Almost Mexico, AZ). We heard R. C. Sproul, John MacArthur and Ligon Duncon speak to "Hard Questions Christians Face". There's no way I would ever comment on everything discussed (besides no one would want to read my post, if anyone does!!).

But what I did take away from the conference:
God is Sovereign. Completely. Wholly. To his own glory. Soli Deo GLORIA!

Psalm 115:3
Our God is in the heavens;
he does all that he pleases.

Daniel 4:34 - 35
At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever, for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation; all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?”

Amos 3:6
“Is a trumpet blown in a city,and the people are not afraid? Does
disaster come to a city, unless the Lord has done it?

Christians! Don't try to "defend" your belief that God is sovereign! What I mean is this: we all have, from time to time, certain misconceptions about evil in the world, the bad stuff that happens whether natural calamity (disasters, famine, disease...), personal evil (sin of the heart that we all possess), supernatural (demonic) or the existence of hell because...

GOD EXISTS!!! He is the true and only living God! He is absolutely over everything, and will consummate all things -- that means when the time comes, evil WILL be eradicated. But for now, all of history is in line with his purposes, whether we understand it or not.

He is HOLY, HOLY, HOLY and can not look upon evil or do evil. This is the part I'm still struggling with (not because of unbelief, but because I don't get the subtle difference of these two concepts): God WILLS evil to exist, he ALLOWS it and DESIGNED it into the universe WITHOUT being RESPONSIBLE for it. In other words, God wills evil to exist but he did not create it.

Romans 3:5
But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of
God, what shall we say? That God is unrighteous to inflict wrath on us? (I
speak in a human way.)

Romans 9:22-23
What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known
his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for
destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of
mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory...

BECAUSE....

Romans 5:8
...but God shows his love for us in that while we were still
sinners, Christ died for us.

Please comment if you wish. I'd love to hear feedback.

new blog colors

Majority rules. Back to the original green and orange.

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What about this combo? (olive, fuschia and orangeish)

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Likee? Don't likee? Just messing around at 9:00 pm when I should be in bed...maybe I'll go back to the standard green template.

1 down, 30 to go...

30 days to Halloween. Yep. 30. I've been hearing about the candy explosion day for oh, 11 months now. Ingrid has asked me every day, at least 5 times a day, if she can be:

• Princess (Easy)
• Pink Princess (Easy)
• Ducky Fairy Princess Mermaid (Not so easy)
• Ariel (The Little Mermaid -- tail logistics could be a problem)
• Jasmine (no way...too much like a belly dancer)
• Belle (a personal favorite)
• One of The Incredibles (would've been SOOOOO cute - red shirt and leggings would've been practical, too!)
• Wall-E (a box...what could be easier?)
• Eve from Wall-E (hmmmm, a white garbage can?)
• Hula Badula Girl (hula girl...) (See Jasmine)
• A genie (See Jasmine)
• A door (Huh? Maybe we could've tacked the 95 theses...appropriate considering it is Reformation Day the next day)
• A rubber duckie in a bubble bath (easier than you might think...)

Ilsa would then chime in echoing whatever Ingrid said, except for a while, she really wanted to be Jack Jack from The Incredibles. With pretend fire on her head.

The question is now finally settled: Ariel and Cinderella. Thank you Target for reasonable, cute costumes.