Tulip Festival Pictures

It's been a while since you heard from me. A few days ago Bob saw me working on the blog and gently suggested to me that perhaps I shouldn't do any more blog posts until I finish the skirts I started sewing for the girls back in April. My machine, however, was giving me fits, breaking the top thread every six to twelve inches of sewing. It was frustrating. I gave up for a while after fully lubricating my machine and filing all nicks and burs off the needle plate only to have the thread break again. My attempt to arrange an alternative sewing location failed because my friend was using her machine and then her machine stopped working.

Later this week I had a breakthrough. I saw exactly where the thread was catching and breaking. A damaged screw was snagging and cutting my thread. I filed the screw head so it was smoother, and Bob turned the screw a bit so the thread couldn't catch. I started sewing a line of stitches to gather one tier of the skirt and I was able to sew really fast (speeding up was when I would have trouble before). Unfortunately when I was just inches from the end of a very long run, my bobbin thread ran out. For those of you who know anything about sewing, that wasn't good. To gather something you have to have a continuous chain of stitching all the way around. At 11:00 at night I wasn't feeling up to doing any more work. I let the skirt sit for a day before tearing out the stitching.

I must confess that the skirts are still not done. They are hemmed and have nicely finished side seems, but the tiers have not been gathered or sewn together. I am setting a goal for myself to finish before I go to Des Moines on Thursday for a homeschooling conference.

I asked Bob if even though I wasn't done with the skirts I could post these Tulip Festival pictures that I had uploaded a week ago (that's the really time consuming part of bloggiing). He conceded. I really wanted to share them with you before the month was through. So, here they are.

My prayers

My last entry about Carie wanting to be like me when she grows up got me thinking about some of the prayers I pray for my children. There are so many, but the ones I share here were at the forefront of my mind as I wrote about Carie.

My prayer for all of my children is that they will love the Lord their God with all of their heart and all of their soul and all of their strength and all of their mind and love their neighbor as themselves. I pray that they will follow Jesus and walk in humble obedience to God as Jesus did. I pray that they will be honest with themselves and with God that they are not perfect -- they don't love perfectly, not God or His creation, nor are they perfectly obedient. "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). I pray that they will realize "The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 6:23). I pray that they will believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved, hold firmly to their faith, and abide in Him. I pray that when they mess up they will confess their sins and know God's forgiveness. I also pray that they will realize that Jesus can sympathize with their weakness as He was tempted in every way yet did not sin and because of this Hebrews 4:16 says, "Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." I pray that they will be filled with the Holy Spirit and that the fruit of the spirit will abound in them.

As Paul prayed in Ephesians 3:14-21, so I pray for my children, family, and friends:

For this reason I kneel before the Father,

from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name.

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power

through his Spirit in your inner being,

so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.

And I pray that you,

being rooted and established in love,

may have power together with all the saints,

to grasp how wide

and long

and high

and deep

is the love of Christ,

and to know this love that surpasses knowledge

-- that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more

than all we ask or imagine,

according to his power that is at work within us,

to him be glory in the church

and in Christ Jesus

throughout all generations,

for ever and ever!

Amen.

Just like you

"I want to grow up just like you," Carie said while we sat across from one another at the kitchen table.

"Do you mean you want to be grown up just like Mommy?" I queried.

"No, I mean I want to be just like Mommy when I grow up." What a great thing that was to hear when I was feeling sick, unkempt, and exhausted.

"Oh, you want to have three great children and a wonderful husband. And you want to take care of them and fix good meals for them."

"Hee, hee. I want to fix things they don't like like tomato sauce. All the time I want to fix things they don't like" responded Carie with a goofy grin. I was hoping for a more positive follow up statement.

Yesterday Carie's actions demonstrated beautifully her desire to be like Mommy. In the morning I was in the living room with my Bible on my lap. Carie pranced in and sat down for a minute. After exchanging greetings she said, "I need to go get my Bible." She ran out of the room, retrieved her Bible, plopped herself down on the love seat, and commenced a retelling of several Old Testament stories. I soon left the room to get breakfast for some hungry family members, but Carie remained "reading" her Bible for quite a while longer.

I hope that as Carie looks at me and desires to grow up to be like me, she will see me as one who abides in God, who relies on His mercy and grace, who walks by faith, who is filled with the Holy Spirit, and who loves others deeply from the heart. I pray that she will be an imitator of God.

"Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children

and live a life of love,

just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us

as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God."

Ephesians 5:1 (NIV)

Wonderful Discoveries

Yesterday Maggie, Carie, and I had a lovely time at the Dorothy Pecaut Nature Center in Sioux City. We joined with over 40 homechooling parents and children from Northwest Iowa to participate in a class on birds, a guided hike through the forest, and a scavenger hunt in the nature center to locate the various birds on display. We enjoyed lunch outside at picnic tables overlooking bird feeders and a beautiful wooded area. After lunch we had another class on reptiles and amphibians. The kids got to touch all sorts of things during the classes -- birds legs and feet, a turkey bone, a turkey wing, snake skins, a turtle shell, an alligator head, and a live ornate box turtle. Did you know that it is against the law to keep a box turtle as a pet in Iowa? Just across the border in Nebraska it is OK. Go figure.

Around the nature center were several trails, so we went hiking afterwards with our friends from Orange City with whom we had travelled. The steps got a little tricky with my friend's stroller; nothing the two of us couldn't handle, though. The children has a great time running ahead and making discoveries -- a tree fallen across a swale ("No one should climb across that tree."), a tree bereft of its branches and charred to its base, and many little white snail shells. What a delight it was to be walking around surrounded by beautiful sights, sounds, and smells! Birds were singing lustily, the wild flowers were blooming gloriously, and the trees were rich with new maturing leaves. God's creation is so wonderful!

Psalm 100 (NIV)

Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.

Worship the LORD with gladness;

come before him with joyful songs.

Know that the LORD is God.

It is he who made us , and we are his;

we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving

and his courts with praise;

give thanks to him and praise his name.

For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;

his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Caretaker Carie

Carie was also an outside helper today. She watered our new grass which really needed it as our temperatures soared into the 90's.

For a learning activity she, David and Maggie collected seeds from trees and flowers (the dandelions and violets we are happy to have in our yard). She tore into a yellow dandelion and showed me wear the fuzzy seeds would come from. When I took her to inspect our packaged birdseed she selected a sunflower seed that she wanted to plant. We found a bare spot from last year's garden and planted the seed. She watered it and told me it has all that it needs to grow -- sunshine and water.

Later in the day we read about the life cycle of a sugar maple tree and it echoed her words about the need for sunshine and water. As I read the book time she interrupted me numerous times to ask questions and share her knowledge, particularly about pollination and the role that butterflies play. She finished up her year at preschool with a unit on butterflies that included watching dozens of caterpillar in the classroom change into butterflies. She also got to take a trip to the Sertoma Butterfly house in Sioux Falls. We visited a couple of weeks later with our whole family and Grandma and Grandpop.

Bob the Builder and Handy Manny

Dad W., Bob, and David built a raised bed the other day. Today David and Bob finished the job by securing it into the ground before we get soil to fill it.

Candy, Creativity and Perseverance

Maggie has been exercising her creativity and love for experimentation. Yesterday she attempted candy making, trying to produce maple sugar candy like she had read about in a Laura Ingalls Wilder book. Having no real maple syrup, she substituted pancake syrup. She also decided to add a little flavor by sprinkling in some cinnamon sugar, cocoa, and vanilla extract. She heated it briefly on the stove and then set it aside to cool with straws inserted in the pot of brown liquid with the hopes that lollipops might form. When the syrup didn't harden Maggie moved it to the fridge thinking that chilling might help it harden. In the afternoon she boiled it a little while longer. The liquid thickened but remained a liquid. Today she put it in the freezer for a while. The pot frosted over, but the syrup did not solidify. We enjoyed the confection by dipping pretzels in it and Maggie had it over ice cream. Maggie now thinks that maybe she should take a look at candy recipes.



Candy making hasn't been her only creative outlet. A friend of our gave us a box full of fabric scraps that Maggie pounced on with delight. She immediately busied herself with dividing up the contents for different projects and people. Today she began to cut the fabrc into squares to make a travelling quilt for her baby doll. She says that she wants to hand sew the whole thing. That's just as well since my sewing machine keeps breaking my thread.

Wahter not wooder

When Oma and Grandad were here, David frequently corrected their pronunciation of the word water.

"It's wah -ter, not wood-er," he'd say. He also corrected their pronunciaton of syrup.

Mom and Dad suspect that David will be an English teacher someday. However, until last week David referred to heads with no hair as "balb" heads and would strongly disagree if we said the word was "bald."

Do pirates have to be nice?

David posed this questons this morning. I think he was contemplatng dressing up as a pirate and the possible freedom that might give him to break out from being Mr. Nice Guy. I told him that traditionally pirates weren't very nice, but that in our house we expect everyone to be kind, even those dressed up as pirates. Maggie chimed in and said that being kind is better than being nice because someone could be nice to try to trick someone but kindness comes straight from the heart. Well said!

Freaky Flower and Other Flower Fun

This morning I was blowing my hair dry when Mom W. stopped by the room and asked if I could come, she wanted to show me something. Here's what she wanted to show me:



I burst out laughing and hurried in for my camera. I also told Bob to be quick with his shower because there was something he needed to see. He finished and meandered to the back door. His reaction was not quite the same as mine, since he doesn't usually burst with laughter. He shook his head with a smileThe children, however, were delighted with the tulip they found in the yard.
Carie couldn't stop laughing. The tulip walked around the house and drew the attention of several neighbors. One little girl came over and when asked what she thought, "Freaky," was her choice description. The tulip has not made an appearance at Tulip Festival . . . yet.


A transformation took place and there was a grandad at our house. After a nice breakfast of oatmeal and some time relaxing, Dad W. and I made a run to the lumber yard to get supplies to make a raised bed for vegetables. That will be a project tomorrow during a break from T.F. activities.

Upon our return from the the lumber yard, children were getting dressed in their costumes in preparation for going to Tulip Festival again - this time for the more active role of riding the Northwestern College float. We wandered through the side streets past all the floats and made our way to the Straat Markt where we had lunch. After figuring out where Oma and Grandad would sit and Bob taking a rigorously dancing David to the potty, we headed to the float. We had fun riding and waving, especially when we saw people we knew. Funnel cake and rain concluded today's time in town. It was a gentle, short-lived rain that added to the adventure without becoming uncomfortable.

At home we had a tasty dinner of grilled chicken, roasted potatoes, and fresh steamed green beans. Dessert was an amazing assortment of confection covered pretzels. Bob had to dash off to baccalaureate. For the first time in our five years of being here, the college's graduation falls the same weekend as Tulip Festival.

While Bob was gone Grandad and the kids and I planted flowers that Dad W. bought while he was out exchanging screws for the raised bed. I wondered why it was taking him so long to exchange some screws. I was pleasantly surprised to find out why. Our patio is really shaping up. I love flowers! Thanks, Dad.



The children continued the evening with some creative construction that finished with injured fingers. It was late and there were tears. Ice, hugs, and gentle cleansing seemed to help calm things down.

Tulip Festival fun begins

Yesterday we had another busy day. First we cleaned, then the kids played outside with two neighbor girls and two children visiting their grandparents across the street for Tulip Festival. Bob came home and we had lunch together, intending to go into town for an after lunch treat. That was not to be. David needed a nap, though, so David and Bob stayed home while the girls and I headed into town with some friends to see the first of six Tulip Festival parades. When we got home I was exhausted. I prepared for dinner and then took a rest. Not long after I got up Mom and Dad Winn (Oma and Grandad) arrived and we sat down to a dinner of homemade chicken soup, fresh baked bread, and salad. To finish off the evening Bob made a fire in our new fire pit and we toasted marshmallows and made s'mores. Smoky, sticky, yummy fun.

Rise and Shine and Give God the Glory, Glory

As I sat in the living room this morning I heard Maggie's clear soprano voice singing "Rise and shine and give God the glory glory. . ." It was beautiful and helped me remember how to go through my day. I was also reminded of a few special moments yesterday that I forgot to share last night (perhaps because I had no pictures to remind me of them).

Yesterday morning I went into the girls' room to greet them and Carie started singing "The Wise Man Builds His House upon the Rock." David came and joined as the girls and I sang. When we were done singing we talked about Jesus' explanation of wise and foolish people. Wise people are the ones who hear the words of Jesus and do what he says. Foolish people are those who do not obey Jesus' teachings. I love how some teaching times "just happen."

A little later at breakfast time we read the story of the four friends who lowered the man who couldn't walk through the roof to be healed by Jesus. Afterwards we listened to one of Maggie's favorite songs from a CD we got last summer. Not long after breakfast, David joned me in the kitchen asking me to read him a book. I stopped what I was doing and sat down on the floor with him to read (not necessarily a typical thing for me to do). He had his Lift the Flap Bible. We read story after story. Carie joined us, too, and the two children didn't even fight over who sat where or what stories to read. What a blessing!

In the afternoon Carie asked me to teach her how to read. I grabbed a preschool reading workbook and we looked at "og" words like "frog" and "dog," and then "ee" words like "tree" and "bee." She was very excited and I was too. She's eager to learn to read. She'd also like to start piano lessons.

Well, those are a few of the unphotographed but very special moments of yesterday.

Tulip time

After hearing the Christiain school marching band pass by at the end of our street, we went on an excursion uptown today to visit the library, the post office, and the bank. But the real reason we wandered up there was to see the rides. The town was bustling with acitivity. A few food stands were open, including Woudstras's Meat Market, home of some very fine bratwurst. The children wanted to pose in the large wooden shoe that made its first appearance at last year's tulip festival.

David's Deeds

"There's a big fly!" Carie pointed with concern.
"We need to get the fly swapper," David seriously intoned.
I smiled. I love that they David and Carie call the fly swatter a fly "swapper."

David enjoyed wrestling with Daddy and reading in bed.

Carie's creativity

Carie waited patiently today for me to paint her nails. Finally after lunch, when David took a nap and Maggie drifted off to sleep, we had our chance. I asked her if she wanted me to use my nail polish (I have one color) on all of her nails. She declined because she wanted to be "more beautifuller." Translation: she wanted to have an assortment of colors on her nails rather than be so plain as to have only one color on all of her nails. : )




After having her nails done Carie assisted me with laundry and then got busy with some paint brushes. Excitedly she announced that she had sorted the paint brushes and showed me her sorting criteria. I was quite impressed.








Later Carie dressed as a princess and David dressed as a firefighter. I think the plan was for firefighter David to rescue princess Carie.

Sickness

At 2 A.M. sickness struck the top bunk of the girls room. Not pretty. Not fun. Not pleasant. I don't know if it was a case of nerves (from the piano recital) or of holding kitty cats and not washing hands or if there was some other cause, but it took two adults, numerous rags, a large utility sink and several loads of laundry to deal with the mess. Our patient got cleaned up and resettled in a freshly made bed on the floor.

She took it easy today, listening to me read about printing presses, gunpowder, and the end of the Middle Ages as well as the accomplishments of and disregard for Christopher Columbus. She also napped, watched the second half of Mary Poppins, read and listened to me read Cora Frear, a book about an Iowa pioneer girl who helped her dad with his patients and who survived a prairie fire with him. Here's Maggie looking up Sloan, IA where the story took place. Turns out it is just south of Sioux City -- less than an hour away.

Eventful Day

Today was a busy day -- school, outside play time, watching the marchng band, walking 4 blocks to our friends' house while David beat his can drum and Mommy played a tin whistle (until half way there when David asked to switch, then Mommy was parading through Orange City drummng the popcorn can. Don't you wish you were there with your video camera?). The day also included a fittng for Maggie's Dutch costume, taking a look at some hogs on a farm, holding some kittys, and getting our car all dirty from driving on gravel roads. The highlight of the day was Maggie's piano recital. She was nervous but appeared very composed and did a fine job. David and Carie sat well for the recital, which was also an accomplishment.

Holy Smokes!

"But I'm not done smoking!" David cried as we took the marshmallow roasting stick into the house and covered up the fire in our new clay fire container. He had just finished catchng a marshmallow on fire as a special treat for Mommy, and he wanted to keep roasting marshmallows. Three wasn't enough for him.

We had no trouble with bugs on our patio this evening. I'm not sure if that's just becasue they aren't very active yet or because there was so much smoke. Some of the wood we burned was still a bit green. At one point I overheard Carie say, "Holy smokes!" Maggie laughed and asked if she said that because of the smoke. Carie enjoyed the response and repeated herself several times.

Last week a neighbor offered us a fire container at a great price (free), but we weren't sure that an aluminum pot on top of a semi's brake drum was exactly what we had in mind for our patio. We prefer the one we found at Lowe's today on our productive shopping trip in Sioux City.

Maggie announced with great force, "They're here! They're here!" She almost sounded distressed. "The lilacs are blooming!" And sure enough, they were.

Happy spring! Happy Mother's Day! Happy Lord's Day!

Noisy future?

David's obsessed. Last Thursday he heard the drums from the marching band at the end of our street and began to shout frantically, "It's here! Tulip Festival is here! Come on! Come on! You'll miss it." Around the house he went earnestly gathering all family members to witness the junior high band practicing for the upcoming parades. For over a week now, each morning at 11:30 we hear the drums begin to beat and David's response is always the same. He tolerates no delay from family members, even ones visiting from out of town. Though the band may be over a block away, we all have to line up and wait expectantly. More often than not we have to parade ourselves to the end of the street so we can be up close and personal as the band marches by.

A day or two later David approached me with a large popcorn tin in hand and his shirt pulled out. He asked me to fasten his shirt between the lid and the tin so he could carry his drum around.
After one or two stretched shirts I realized I could achieve the same support by attaching a soft belt as a strap. A side benefit was that it became much easier to switch who got to be the drummer. Carie no longer had to figure out how to attach the drum to her dress as she did when the kids held their own parade. They were so innovative. Maggie asked for something she could use for a baton and we found a support from their play kitchen set for her to use. For flags we tied plastic grocery bags (yes we still sometimes forget to take our reuseable cloth bags to the store) to old broom sticks. They happily marched around our house. I'm not sure what the neighbors thought.



Marching band drums may have stirred David, but watching a drummerworld.com video of a 14 year old Brazilian drummer inspired his soul. I believe he now has his heart set on being a drummer. The day after seeing the video I spotted him beating away on a self-designed kit, complete with a cymbal held by Daddy. The video doesn't capture his best drumming, but it is fun nonetheless.


Carie found it all rather fascinating and I later found her on the living room floor drumming away, too.



Two drummers! Can one households stand it?

Blessing blog

So much happens in a day that is worth sharing with more than a select few. My spiral bound notebooks aren't easily shared and the pictures that sit on my camera only serve to enthrall our own children now and then.

This blog is for you my dear family and friends spread across the nation. This is my chance to share our world with you, to share God's work in our lives. May you view it and laugh. May you read it and be blessed.