Bill of The Boar’s Head Tavern emailed me this great idea.

“Tomato chips.  I have scads of cherry tomatoes.  I cut them in half and put them on the dehydrator racks.  sprinkle with kosher salt and pepper and dry until crispy.  I don’t like eating tomatoes as a general rule, and I love these things.”

Thanks Bill!

I am going through a new phase. Its now official. My obsession with health stuff has subsided a bit. Its all “my” guitarist’s fault. He keeps giving me these great songs that just fill my head with pictures and ideas for lyrics. So now most of my extra time is spent listening to songs, writing lyrics and practicing my vocals. It is much fun, but more isolating in nature. I miss blogging more, but I have learned to allow these season the Lord brings to sweep through my life and enjoy them for all they are worth before the winds change direction again.

I also see a new freedom in my mothering, a heart that wants to let the dishes sit just an extra hour or let the bathroom go an extra day uncleaned so that I can play Memory with my eldest or color with my 2 year old. Oh, my girls are SO precious and adorable. I cannot get enough of them these days. This may, however, have to do with the fact that I am doing better to get refreshing mommy breaks.

It is not noble or loving to your children to never leave for a rest and run ragged. The moments you are home are not worth half as much as a refreshed moment. And there are ways to refresh without hiring a babysitter and going to get your nails done. It might look like an extra shower to wash away stress, or maybe letting them watch (another) quality movie so that you can sit and plan meals in peace. I am over fretting with guilt every time I let them watch a video. Its just a reality of life where you live in a suburbia far, far from any relative and the afternoons have averaged over 100 degrees for 61 days this summer!

I found this children’s dance video which at least gets them moving while they watch. The girls love the butterfly ballet part. Ms. Christy is a bit annoying but . . . few things in life are perfect. “Step, heel! Step heeel! Step heeeeeeeeeeeel!” The video is on this page with another few options I might try. I think I am going to stick with Ballet videos. Pretty cheap for pre-school ballet lessons, don’t you think?! I may browse the resale shops for some tutu’s.

I have also been scrapbooking again. Maybe I will post some pictures here. My heart is just a bit more at home than online lately, and I think that is a good thing. However, I think without the wonderful Christian Mommies’ blogsphere, I wouldn’t be as inspired in my home. God is good.

This is why I stick to the edges of the grocery store. The isles are dangerous I tell you. I dash in for all natural PB and dash back out. Phew. I made it.

From Nancy Campbell’s The Power of Motherhood, pg 34

The Best!

With all the gadgets and labor-saving devices on the market for babies nowadays, I thought I’d try to find the best of each. I was not surprised to find that:

The BEST infant seat is mother’s arms.

The BEST baby swing is mother’s lap in a rocking chair.

The BEST stroller is mother’s body.

The BEST nursery record is mother’s own heartbeat.

The BEST lullaby is mother’s singing, and of course,

The BEST pacifier, electric warmer, and tranquilizer can be found at the mother’s breast.

By Sally Simmons, Nebraska

So why do we resist to give our children ourselves? I certainly resist. Why does a baby swing sound so much better to me than using my lap? Because I have better things to do! Like blogging about what a great mother I am . . .

Now to be sure, there are many things that need to be done. I certainly cannot sit in the nursery all day and rock the baby. But I must be real and confess that my first prefrence is to do the task, not rock the baby. My priorities and loves are inordinate and mixed up. Sin has tousled this mother’s heart and made it all backwards. It is a daily battle, a constant spiritual war, to reorient my heart according to God’s priorities. It is a daily struggle to let the Holy Spirit have His way in me.

Sadly, it is my need and now my prayer for the Lord to attach my heart to my child’s; to remove all sin and fear and let my heart be knit so intimately freely to another. What a vulnerable calling we CEM’s have been given! Constant vulnerability and sacrifice, yet in surrender to this calling we find out Lord. We lose our life and find Him.

One of my favorite songs this week is Jesus, Lover of My Soul. If I did not have these precious, sweet and tender trials of motherhood, demands to liberally love others, I would have no real or deep idea of what it means to long for the Lord to “let me to thy bosom fly.”

A final note ~ In regards to breastfeeding, I must confess that though I am really very open to nursing in comparison with the average American woman, still I struggle with a prudishness that our culture seems to harbor. We are so sexually liberated in vulgar ways but when it comes to the tender nurture of breastfeeding all the sudden we are utterly prude. A verse like Isaiah 66:10-13 seems awkward and uncomfortable. Oh Lord, heal our broken, broken lives.

“Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad for her,
all you who love her;
rejoice greatly with her,
all you who mourn over her.

11 For you will nurse and be satisfied
at her comforting breasts;
you will drink deeply
and delight in her overflowing abundance.”

12 For this is what the LORD says:
“I will extend peace to her like a river,
and the wealth of nations like a flooding stream;
you will nurse and be carried on her arm
and dandled on her knees.

13 As a mother comforts her child,
so will I comfort you;
and you will be comforted over Jerusalem.”

I am fairly sure that unschooling is the Crawford way to educate in the early years. Anything structured feels like torture. And my children are definitely learning. Elise was reading Berenstain Bear Books (not from memory) at three years old. My 2 year old knows her ABC’s completely and can count to 15. Our learn as we are interested way of educating is working so far, because mom and kids are always interested in something.

My girls LOVE United States puzzles and maps. We have 3 puzzles, a world map, a world puzzle and a United States “sticky” map where we can stick and remove the names of states and capitols. My four year old has had the states down for 2 years (really, the child is oddly intelligent) and almost has the cities down now.

I though it would be fun to make the states not just abstract names, but real, colorful places. I LOVE to travel and explore this awesome country and I hope my children might too. Luckily enough, I have been getting Cooking Light for over 2 years and in each issue is a travel article with lots of pictures from somewhere in N. America.

I pulled out my old issues and we had a blast starting a United States notebook. Each state gets a piece of cardstock 3-hole punched on which we glue pictures of that state. This goes in a three ring binder that we proudly show Daddy when he gets home. Last night Tommy was greeted to the excited sound, “Daddy! In Maine they eat LOTS of lobster!”

Mom thinks this is as much fun as the girls. I love silly little organizational, low skill projects like this!

These two certainly are bedfellows, and it seems to in truth be a threesome with politics frequent friend, Financial Gain.

Of course, always take articles such as these with a grain of salt. Still, salt added, this dish of news tastes nasty. I don’t trust the FDA with my family’s health anymore than I trust the IRS with my income.

Form today’s email devotional by Nancy Campbell ~

Isaiah 32:18, “And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.”

A quiet resting place! Doesn’t that sound idyllic? It sounds like a wonderful vacation, to me. But let’s get back to the real life. It’s not always quiet when you have lots of children around you. There is often so much to do that life doesn’t seem like a rest! I know that I would have to go away for a vacation to have a rest from my busy life around here.

And yet this is what God calls our homes-resting places. I don’t think it is necessarily a rest from noise and activity (although we need these respites from time to time). I believe it is a rest from fear. A rest from tension and strife. A rest from anger, bickering and fighting. A rest from complaining and grouching. These are the things that put strain upon your home. It’s not the noise of children; it’s not the hard work-it is the wrong attitudes! They cause frustration and vexation of soul more than outward circumstances.

To sign up for these devotionals, go to the Above Rubies website and click on “Weekly Devotion for Mothers.”