Expelled documentary

Dave and I went to see Ben Stein's documentary Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed on our date night on Friday. Have you seen it yet? This one is worth the money! It is a film about the evolution vs. Intelligent Design debate, except that there really isn't a debate anymore in America, which is the point. Go see it! We have been encouraging everyone to see it all weekend - it was so, so good.

I read this review of the documentary on Radical Womanhood tonight which was exactly what I would have written - if I could write that eloquently, that is. :)

She writes:

If you're not familiar with this documentary, it is fundamentally about a loss of freedom of inquiry and freedom of speech in scientific, academic and legal circles. It focuses on how those who have even minimally questioned neo-Darwinism in favor of intelligent design have lost jobs, grants, and credibility. But it broadens this focus to look at what it costs our society to have unquestioned support for evolution and staunch opposition to intelligent design. As Ben Stein pointed out in an interview with Bill O'Reilly, Darwinism was "a brilliant theory in the middle of the 19th century. It's the 21st-century, there are a lot of questions being raised about it. Nobody had any idea the cell was so complex. We would just like to ask some questions." (This is in reference to the evolutionist idea that all life arose from a single cell--and how biologists now see how complicated a single cell is, but aren't allowed to question this very basis of evolutionary theory.)

Read her whole review here. There is a youtube trailer in her post, and also an interview video, that are worth watching. But seriously, like she said, "sometimes a vote with the wallet at the box office can be quite meaningful." We don't go see movies very often, but this one is worth paying for.

Soccer game #3

After a run to the food court at the mall, we all headed back to the field for a little more soccer goodness, since last Saturday's game was rained out and needed to be rescheduled. I am feeling the term *soccer mom.* How do people do this? Isn't Saturday supposed to be devoted to yard work and house projects?

Instead I'm left desperately wishing I understood what I'm doing with this camera in my hands. Maybe entering the whole organized sports phase will be motivation....

Before the afternoon round of games, they held player introductions. Basically the kids lined up and ran through the tent, streamers, and smoke bombs, while they blasted music and yelled their names. Ethan felt like he was a pro!

So did Christian!

And the game began, this time against Isaac's team. Isaac is the son of a guy Dave roomed with in college, Dan. Isaac is the dark haired boy a few paces in front of Ethan. That kid has energy!

Ethan is mesmerized by this little blonde beauty. He always tries to sit out when she does, so they can talk. :)

I'm in good company, I guess. Anne even buys her daughter a t-shirt proclaiming it!

Abby was quite content to pose for me all day.

Oops...gotta watch the field....

Wham!

Get the ball!

Christian in motion - he is focused!

And this one just made me laugh...gotta chew those nails down from the pressure!

It was a good day. Ethan had a blast. Simon just kicked the ball up and down the slide lines the whole time, so he had fun too. Next time we'll try to remember sunscreen. Ethan's white skin was in shock from all those hours in the direct sun! I am a terrible mom. :(

Shots from soccer game #2

Ethan's team Lil' Surge played a double header on Saturday. Here's some shots from the early morning game against Camryn's team.

Ethan scored the first goal!

Ethan and his buddy Cam.

Stomach bugs and good little boys

Good news! That little stomach bug is over and done with - in a mere 36 hours! I am not sure if it was the massive amounts of probiotics I consumed, or just my incredible immune system (that's a laugh, isn't it?), but I am so thankful to feel normal again.

The timing is always off for these kinds of things, isn't it? We never seem to get sick when life is slow and we were planning to stay home anyway. Oh wait! That's because life is never that slow! Ha, what was I thinking?

Regardless, it was a busy time for Dave, and so there was no calling hubby home to take care of this sick momma.

But I have to brag on my kiddos for just a bit. When I was at my worst on Wednesday afternoon and evening, they handled it so well! They played in their rooms together for hours until Dave made it home, never once giving me a minute of trouble. No arguing, no fighting, no repetitive ball throwing against the wall until I felt like loosing my mind. I was amazed, and oh, so thankful for small mercies.

The picture above is from a different day, but they did a lot of reading together, from what I overheard from my bed.

At one point I heard Ethan tell Simon, "Hey, brother, let's go get a snack in the kitchen. Come with me, brother." And they headed into the kitchen to eat a cheese stick together.

Meanwhile, I was hugging the toilet. :(

They took care of themselves for 5 hours without any help from me. And the house was still in really good shape when Dave got home. Aren't they the best?!

To me, it is just a reassurance that they are learning something here at home. I have to admit, sometimes I wonder! I find myself venting here about the hard days more often than the good ones, and I really shouldn't do that. It isn't an accurate picture of life around here. Not that Wednesday was a particularly good day for me, but seriously, my boys could not have been better behaved. It made me realize that our training is somehow paying off, even now while they are young, and there is no way we can quit now!

Because some days I feel like quitting. Okay, there, I said it. Don't be shocked. My husband hears it all the time. Don't worry though - he won't let me quit. :)

I thought of Proverbs 29:17 today,

"Correct your son, and he will give you rest; Yes, he will give delight to your soul."

and Hebrews 12:11,

"Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it."

It is not for nothing! We serve the Lord when we train little ones at home for Him. And work for Him yields fruit, in His time. This is so humbling to me because I regularly feel like the most impatient momma out there. I have one bad day, and I am just sure I have failed completely! (I am so dramatic, aren't I?) But on Wednesday I was reminded to continue on, to be faithful in what the Lord has asked of me. Because it does matter. Because it has an effect.

Because the Lord is working in our family - in His time. Isn't that reassuring?

Hall Bath Remodel

The hall bathroom is nearly done! Hopefully these pictures will do it justice. I was trying not to use my flash, so I had to edit them quite a bit. Yuck...I still need to put some effort into learning photography, don't I???!

By the way, I still need to paint the frame of the mirror I am hanging above the vanity, buy some hardware for the cabinet, and buy a vent cover. But technically, it is done!



Oh, and I need to choose a shower curtain. I am just not sure??? Help me out please. :) Surely the rest of you are more decisive than I am!

My first option is a blue silk panel with embroidery on it. It matches the walls well. This is Ethan's favorite, by the way. :)


I would iron it if it ends up staying, by the way. :)

The next option is a blue, tan, and chocolate stripe curtain. It is a Nautica pattern, which I like a lot. But does it go? Hmmm....not sure.


My original plan was a white curtain. This one from Target is quilted, which I love. Is it too plain?

So tell me what you think. Be honest! Should I just keep looking? I do have an opinion, but I think it will be fun to hear what you think!

I know the majority of you reading won't comment, so I'm including a poll for ya. Nice and anonymous.

Which shower curtain would YOU choose?
	silk with embroidered flowers
	white quilted
	nautica stripe
	something totally different
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Home again

We had a wonderful time at camp. Our boys were the only little kids there, since it was a high school/college age crowd, so they got tons of attention from everyone. It was very sweet - Ethan sat with someone other than us every meal and every chapel time. And he didn't know a soul there when we arrived. What a little socialite!

The speaker for the weekend was Robert Fitzgerald from St. Louis. Dave and I enjoyed meeting him and his wife Barbara- they have 4 sons, and just in our casual conversation, they shared so much good parenting advice. It was helpful for us to hear what they thought they would change if they could do it all over again, and what they thought was important for raising godly young men. We were really blessed by meeting them and spending time with them.

Because I don't know about the rest of you, but I LONG for the advice of those who have walked this path.


The Lord has given us this huge task of raising the next generation. Sometimes I am so overwhelmed by the enormity of it! There are plenty of days I am just sure that motherhood was designed to make me feel like a complete failure. :) How do I look past the nitty gritty of today's work at home and trust the Lord to do His work in my children's lives? It was inspiring to see the godly young people at this conference, to listen to seasoned parents, and to visualize what we are aiming towards.

Robert spoke on the "man of God" from 1st and 2nd Timothy, and went through the books in an exhortational way, encouraging us all to live for the Lord with everything we are. "...that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work" (2 Timothy 3:17) which of course refers to being in the Word - there is no way around it, is there? We need to be reading, studying, meditating, memorizing the Word of God. We have no power against sin without it, and we are useless in the church if we're neglecting it.

We got home late Sunday night, and so far this week has been less than desirable. I was tired and cranky for the last couple of days (I assumed from the long weekend), and the kids were up to their ears in mischief. And as of this afternoon, I have a fever and the pukies. Instead of doing what I was planning on, I ended up laying in bed all afternoon. I was supposed to lead the women's Bible study tonight, go to a VBS meeting, go to MOPS tomorrow, and have the evangelistic study over here tomorrow night. Now what, Lord? He has been changing the plans on me a lot recently. I know I can trust Him, but I still wonder sometimes.

Off to Turkey Hill

We're headed here this weekend so Dave can direct volleyball conference. Ethan is beyond excited. He loves camp, and his enthusiasm reminds me of how I felt every year before camp. In fact, this is the same campgrounds my parents took us every year since I was two.

This morning I overheard Ethan telling Simon, "On the first day of camp, I am going to climb a mountain."

"On the second day of camp, I am going to walk in the woods and see all the scary animals."

"On the third day of camp, I am going to shovel rocks into my bucket."

"On the fourth day of camp..."

Someday tell that kid we are only staying for the weekend! He would live at camp if he could. :)

Ethan's first soccer game

He has been talking about this for almost a year now, and the day finally came! It has been interesting to me how early my boys have been interested in sports. I doubt I was asking to play soccer when I was only 3 (I'm sure I had my head in a book, even then!), but Ethan has been begging since his 3rd birthday.

It was so cold on Saturday morning, and windy too. I love E's expression in this one; he was definitely not impressed with having to wear shorts in 40 degree weather.




I felt sorry for my frozen soccer player and let him wear my sweatshirt. It looked like a dress on him!

In the 4th quarter he got to play goalie, and he was very excited about this! He stopped 3 goals, I think, and then got to kick the ball back in each time. Forgive the horrible photos - I have to figure out how to take moving pics.



And so it begins, the life of a boy. :)

Rock Chalk!!!!!!!

The Jayhawks just won the national championship!!!!!! Go Hawks! We let E stay up for the whole game tonight (this may or may not have been a mistake on my part :), because we had a feeling there was going to be some history in the making. I wonder if he will remember this night when he is older. Probably just the screeching coming from Aunt Kim's side of the room. Ha! We love to tease her, but it really is fun to watch the game with her! :)

My little men wanted to wear KU stuff tonight - they were so proud of how they looked. Simon learned to say *Jayhawk* last week, just in time for the big game.
Asher enjoyed the cupcakes Aunt Kim brought - he even did a little finger painting. Here he is, predicting KU as number 1!!!!





We had quite the group over tonight. So fun! We're not sure we can sleep tonight!

Things to be thankful for today:

• I picked a paint color for the bathroom. Okay, Dave picked a paint color, after I went back and forth a million times between color or beige, color or beige. Dave picked color...for me (he hates beige). It's called Rhino by Behr, and it's pretty similar to the color of our drapes in our bedroom. Grey blue. Anyway, it was just one of those days where I couldn't make a decision to save my life, and of course I needed to slap some paint up on the wall before they grouted the tile surround. Which was happening around lunch time. So that was kinda crazy.
• But the boys were sweet angels and played together so nicely the whole time I was painting. I was very impressed and made a point of telling them so. Sometimes I feel like all I do all day is dole out correction, so it was so fun to see how their little faces lit up at the praise.
  
• It was warm enough to open the windows today and air the place out. It felt so good to feel a breeze!
• Simon had a fever this morning, but not since his dose of Ibuprofen at lunch. So I hoping he is on the mend. We will stay at home a little longer though, just to make sure.
• For lunch I made myself: a serving of leftover Southern Italian Pasta with a white wine sauce and a salad topped with walnuts, strawberries, and blue cheese crumbles with a raspberry vinaigrette. And the boys had mac 'n' cheese. :)
  
• We took a walk as a family this evening, just in our neighborhood, since we had to stay home from church. We were out for about 30 minutes, and Simon ran the whole way! Every once in awhile, Dave would ask him if he wanted to ride on his shoulders, and Si would shake his head and say, "No, I walk!" Pretty impressive for a brand new 2 year old!
• Ethan is learning to love showers, and I am so happy about it. We've been without a tub for a week and a half, and so the boys have had to take showers instead. This has been a bit of a battle, not fun at all. But tonight Ethan requested a shower, even when I wasn't going to have him take one. And he stayed in there awhile! He just looks so big to me, coming out of the shower. :)
• So that is it...it was a good day. Lots of things to appreciate and be thankful for! Hope yours was a good one too!
  

Encouragement for sick boys...and mama too

A package arrived today from a very dear friend of mine. I guess I really should say that she's a friend to all of us though - the boys love her as much as I do. And how could they not, when she sends a get-well basket like this one?!



She is so sweet, isn't she?

The boys helped me open it. Simon kept saying, "Wow! Wow!....oh, wow!" It was pretty cute. I didn't take a picture of him, because he is still quite sick...and looks it. Poor boy, he is not quite his usual, happy self today.

Ethan seems to be on the mend though, and he is looking forward to soccer practice tonight. The first time he's left the house in over a week!


Along with the basket of yummy goodies, was a sweet, uplifting note. Kelly is always good about writing notes of encouragement to me, and I love that about her! Thanks, dearie! We love you!

"Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all." 1 Thessalonians 5:14