A cool bowl

This is a cool little bowl. We inherited it from some of our friends who have older children. My little chick #5 is now three, so she had learned how to carry a bowl with out tipping it. She can walk through the house with a cup of water without spilling. Please do not think that I have a daughter that never spills, she does. But this skill is pretty much on her I can do list.

What if I only gave her bowl like the one pictured above? This bowl is designed not spill, a no mess bowl. Great for mom, maybe even mom focused, because is the child learning anything? Do they learn to carefully balance the Cheerios so they do not have to pick them up? Would other things then be delayed by a child using nothing but a spill proof bowl and cup.

These are the things that make me go ummm while I wait for the coffee to brew.

A New Year

We now find our self at the beginning of a new year. A new year means many things, we can improve our self, eat better, organize things, cook better.......The list can go on and on and on. Maybe we will make plans to do things, lists! Who does not like a good list? I know nothing feels better than checking something off of a list.

How about planning to die? Do we ever put that on list? Do we ever think of our death to sin through our baptism? Daily we drown ourselves in our baptism through Jesus Christ our savior. We must die in order for Christ to dwell within us and do the good that our sinful nature is not capable of doing.

"We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the father, we too may live a new life. Romans 6:4"

Our baptism is the most comfort giving part of our christian lives. My children can deal with their fears so much better when they remember the promise of their everlasting life. They make the sign of the cross and remember that they are completely cared for by their Heavenly Father. How does their Father in heaven do that? By giving them loving parents, a safe home, clothing and food. Most importantly though, is because He did not abandon them in their sinful nature. He sent them the perfect savior, the spotless Lamb, Jesus Christ. He made the payment for all our sins. Not with gold or silver, but with his holy precious blood. That he poured out upon us, to forgive us of our sins.

Fears can be set aside because God is our Heavenly Father. We are able to trust in Him through our baptism. Christ, living in us, is able to have the trust in God that we lack. He is able to calm our troubled heart and bring us back into the safety net of Christ.

You are free to live each day in your baptism and have your sinful natuer die. Through Jesus Christ we are able to live in Gospel.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from the Lutheran hen house. This year flew by as most seem to do when there are five chicks in a house. Everyone is growing and learning and living each day in the forgiveness so freely given to our by our Savior, Jesus Christ.

I feel as though we have been greatly blessed this year. When most people think of blessings, they think of earthly things. In a baptised child of God, we think of our forgiveness as a blessing. Everyday our sins are before our eyes and we may feel like we will never be able to accomplish the tasks before us. Our Father in heaven knows our every plea and sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to be the perfect lamb for us. Jesus was blameless, we are not. Jesus was kind, we are not. Jesus was taking care of his neighbor, we are not. Jesus was spotless, we are not.

Through our baptism we were crucified with Christ and raised from the dead. We are now the spotless lamb because Jesus Christ dwells within us, through our washing at our baptism. "He Saved us though the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by His grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. This is a trustworthy saying." Titus 3:5-8

Here are the five chicks after the Christmas Eve service at our church tonight. As you can see Chick number 4 wears glasses now. He also broke his arm last spring. He loves math and plays games with numbers all of the time.

Chick number 5 is now THREE. She is cute, cute, cute and likes to snitch butter, look at babies, play with her sibling and ask for chocolate milk.

Chick number 2 has learned to count many, many carbs. His type 1 diabetes diagnoses came in September and our lives have been forever changed. It is just our new normal.

Chick number 3 has the best imagination in the world. She loves to play and sing and talk and change clothes and decorate and use glitter and anything else that is fun.

Chick number 1 reads and reads and reads. She also helps me a lot! She is what you would call, my right hand gal. She has begun to babysit and like the extra pocket money that she can make.

Chick numbers 3 and 5 had matching dresses this year. Thank you Nana and Papa for the cute outfits.

Enjoying their goody bags after the Christmas Eve Service.

Dutch Baby adventuers

My friend, who is a much better cook than I am, taught me how to cook a dutch baby. Some of you may now be asking, "what in the world is a dutch baby?". It is a fluffy type of pancake, a play on a popover, because it is baked all together. I use this recipe for my dutch baby and have tried it three times.

When I first made one the children were very concerned that we were going to eat a baby. Kids are funny that way, especially mine. They try to whip me into a frenzy every chance they get. Chick #5 was the most confused by the title of Dutch Baby. The first attempt at cooking a dutch baby involved sauteing apples. After the apples were tender, the batter was poured on them and it was baked. It also involved melting butter on top of it and drizzling some lemon juice upon it during the final minutes of baking.

Dutch Baby number three was full of bacon and sausage. It was a huge hit and completely disappeared. My sister and her son were here so the dutch baby knowledge was passed on to her.
The bacon/sausage version has been the most popular one I have made so far.

This morning I tried a coconut dutch baby. I added flaked coconut to the batter before I baked it and I loved it. The kids were half and half in love with it. It was not a hit so I am not sure that it would be worth it to try this version again. Coconut does have a funny texture and a few of my kids do not like the way that it feels in their mouths. I would like to know how it tastes when made with coconut milk. If I ever try that one I will let you know.

Here is the coconut Dutch after I served it. I tried to make homemade whipping cream but you can tell I failed. I added the powdered sugar right away and I bet that did something to the chemistry of the fat and fluffing and the whipping. I will have to search out a episode of Good Eats to figure out why my cream flopped. There is a good thing about cream and sugar, it always tastes good even if it is not fluffy.

Here is the coconut dutch baby hot out of the oven. Yummy!

The feast

Chick #1 was confirmed on Palm Sunday. We had so many family and friends that traveled to our little neck of the woods to celebrate this wonderful occasion with us. Some of you maybe be wondering what on earth is a confirmation any way. First I will begin by explaining what it is not. It is not a graduation from church or Sunday school. It is not a turning over of one's life to Christ. My daughter did not turn her heart over to Christ or ask him to come into her heart.

A Confirmation is a confession of one's faith. A faith that was given to them by the Spirit. It is also a understanding that our learning of Christ is never ending and that we live in continued catechises for our entire lives in this world.

My daughter became a Christian by hearing the word of God. My daughter became a child of God at her baptism when she was only 11 days old. She was baptised with plain water, "from the tap" to use her words. This water was then combined with God's word and she became holy and set apart from all people.

During her questioning which was before our pastor, family and one set of friends she spoke of the faith that was given to her by God. In a very poised manner, she told us of the triune God, her sinful nature and her need of a Savior. She spoke of the Commandments, Creed, the Lord's prayer, Absolution, Baptism and Communion. She was alone and the only confirmand and she did a beautiful job.

In the Sermon our Pastor did a beautiful job of telling Chick #1 that Christ was coming and where he would be. He would be placed into her mouth under the bread and wine of communion for the forgiveness of her sins.

Chick #1 with some of our dear friends. I have known the lady in this picture since she was born.

Chick #1 always giggles when she is visiting with this lovely women. She prepared beautiful food and everyone loved it.

My sister decorated this beautiful cake for the special day. Chick #1 had a hard time coming up with an idea for the cake but we guided her to this nice design.

Here is the whole family.

Chick #1 with The Rooster's father. It was so nice having him and his sister and bothers there for the afternoon.

Here she is again with The Rooster's mother and step-father. We are very lucky to live close to them and spend a lot of time them.

My parent's were able to make the trip down and Chick #1 was very excited to have them here, so was I.

These are her Godparents one set traveled 10 hours and the other 16 hours. Thank you so much for coming and spending time with us.

Our Pastor, he who must not be named, posed for a picture with our churches only confirmand this year. I need to get a copy of this picture to our church soon, so I can be hung on the wall with the other confirmand photos.

A mother's face

A mother's face can show many different emotions. We, as mothers, go through many things with our children, who have been given to us by God our Father. These children give us joy and laughter. Most of the time our lives, as mothers, are not that bad. We have it pretty good and we do not even realize it.

My dear friend is going through something no mother should have to go through. Her son is in the hospital and he is very sick. He can open his eyes and look at her, although his eyes can not focus because of all of the medicine he is on. He does try to hold onto her hand when she places her hand in his. She looks forward to every tiny wiggle of his toes. She loves him!

Love is a feeling that you can not always see. Kicking is a verb you can see and laughing is a verb that is seen and heard. Love is little harder to see. Last night, while I was visiting the family at the hospital, I saw her look at her son. It was not a happy glance that you often see parents give their children. This was a look of determination, compassion, longing, needing and loving. I have never in my adult life seen a look like that upon a person's face.

Even though this mother loves her child so so much, her love can not save him. Our Father in heaven loves this little boy even more than his mother is able to love him. God has promised to save this child and already has. This little boy, of seven, is promised an ever lasting life in heaven. This promise was given to him when a little bit on water was sprinkled upon his forehead during his baptism. He was one day old and our Father in heaven already loved him. In all reality, God loved him at the beginning of time. God loved each one of us and that is why we were made by him. God loved us so much that his Son, Jesus Christ, shed his blood for payment of our sin. He loves us so much that he gives us His Holy Spirit that is poured out on us in our baptism. God loves us so much that he feeds us with the holy food of His Son's body and blood in Holy Communion.

These are the only gifts that matter. Who cares about the wii or ipods. The new clothes and jewelry are all junk. When it comes down to desperate times, sorrowful times and fear times, the gifts that our Father in heaven has given us are able to put a safety net under our feet. There is something outside of ourselves that has promised us life. The object of this faith is solid and will hold us safe even though the world is tumbling around us. God, our heavenly Father, looks down on us with love in his eyes and he shows mercy upon our sinful nature.

Kyrie Eleison

All that I need

What is the fourth petition of the Lord's Prayer?

Give us this day our daily bread.

What does the mean?

God certainly gives daily bread to everyone without our prayers, even to all evil people, but we pray in this petition that God would lead us to realize this and to receive our daily bread with thanksgiving.

What is meant by daily bread?

Daily bread includes everything that has to do with the support and needs of the body. Such as food, drink, clothing, shoes, house, home, land, animals, money, goods, a devout husband or wife, devout children, devout workers, devout and faithful rulers, good government, good weather, peace, health, self-control, good reputation, good friends, faithful neighbors and the like. (Luther's small catechism)

The Lord's prayer, the perfect prayer, given to us by God's only Son Jesus Christ. It is a prayer that rolls off of our tongues with ease. We do not have to think about it. It is comfort.
Mommies set food on the table before their children to enjoy and eat. Daily Bread.
Daddies go to work and provide for their families. Daily Bread.
Clothing is received for birthday presents or from friends that have out grown them. Daily Bread.
I have a husband that loves me. Daily Bread.
We live in a country that provides us with freedom to work and learn. Daily Bread.

What if a family is struggling to receive their daily bread? Who provides these meals, housing, clothing..... God our Heavenly Father.

It is a wonder to behold this work done by God the Father through his Son Jesus Christ through people here is a sinful word. That is the church, caring and providing for the sheep and making sure their trough is full. These little sheep need a roof over their head. These little sheep need a place to lay their weary heads.

When there is a crisis with a member of the church, Christ in us provides for these people whether it be food, drink, clothing, shoes, house, home. . . . . .

God gave us one prayer and it is perfect. He provides for his sheep.