the back door

what a year 2010 was...here, i share my journey january: i turned 35, we hired a new pastor, and of course we packed up our first home of 11 years in less than 5 days and moved! it was quite the crazy adventure... february: we lived most of this month without a kitchen, blew a few fuses, realized the old windows allowed a lot of cold air, i threw my keys at the nice man at the car dealership and demanded he fix the door that wouldn't stay shut. yes, i truly did throw them and yes i demanded! i was quite proud of myself. march: we had our first real big adventure when we had the fire in our brand new dryer! we started to settle into life on the farm. we toured south bend chocolate factory april/may: i headed to atlanta for a conference with dear lizziey...we had a blast until the last day when she got sick....i set the car headed for home and in a few hours i was nearly passing out. we found a hotel and checked in. the next day - feeling weak, but eager for home we waite...

...my favorite things:) ...the glee cd! oh yes, it brought squeals of great glee!!!! ...the project 365 album....again more squeals of great glee!!! ...a vintage ring that brings great joy to my soul! ...a christmas without the flu, colds, ear infections, roseola, etc... ...many great family nights! ...watching my hubby teach princess to ice skate on our icy driveway! ...a renewed passion and zest for this crazy life i've come to cherish:)

sycamore hill lit up:) i had a rough several weeks surrounding thanksgiving due to some random viral thing that left me, and probably my good doc, puzzled! so anyways - i felt upright enough to venture out for our tree that weekend. we tried to talk the kids into a tree from lowe's - yes, we tried - but nope, they wanted to go to the farm to get one. oddly enough, we just walked their pre-cut trees and grabbed one. anyways, it is a beautiful tree that took the life of a dear club chair. i remember as an older teen making my mom do theme trees for a few years. i still think that would be fun, but as the kids put up the random collection of ornaments i was touched by the memories hanging on that tree of ours. i never thought of myself as too sentimental, but the memories just struck me this year. in other winter news: sycamore sledding hill opened up last week. we have had so much fun in our own backyard. the round of rain yesterday cleared our hill, but with the snow curr...

this is probably going to be a bit of an odd post. one that is full of rambling, but oh well, it is where i live... i live in memories. while that may sound sad, and sometimes i can't figure it out myself, i truly do. the older i get the more i realize this weird part of me. you see, i have a memory not like many people. it is very vivid and photogenic. i remember complete lectures based on what a certain person may have worn to class that day. yep, like i said weird. so about a month ago i was driving around by myself and heard this song (the one you are hearing). i like to think i know songs that i don't and immedietly start singing along, but this time all i could do was go in memory rewind. it was truly bizarre.....here is my trail of memories as i listened to this song for the first time: ...a kids-went-back to school gathering of mom's watching Anne of Green Gables and Ann of Avonlea ...watching Anne with princess last year. the boys ended up watching it wit...

last weekend we were out with the kids and talking about our anniversary. we told the kids we expected them to throw a party for our 25th. whizboy instantly did the math and let us know they would be 23 and 21....they wouldn't be able to pull it off. hubby and i told them we had both been younger when we did our parents. next thing i know, princess is in the backseat planning a party for this year! her and whizboy compiled a list of friends, planned a cake and goodie bags. they set the time and then sent out invites - some by facebook, some by email, and some by phone calls. on saturday princess headed into town with me to purchase the needed items: lemon cake and frosting, gum, mints, and bags. she helped bake the cake then stuffed the goody bags complete with silly bands from her own collection! they contacted the invitees and were giddy with anticipation. i have to say - i was hoping someone would come. all day they kept checking for rsvps. princess decorated the ca...

...a music teacher! early last week we were driving around when princess announced she wanted to be a music teacher. this really wasn't new to me as she has mentioned it several times this year. we were talking about it and she asked if she could spend a day with mrs. witmer . at first i just said no. but then i thought, why not? so i contacted my dear friend and ran the idea by her. she checked with her principal who gave his approval and cheers were heard all over sycamore hill! this afternoon whizboy and i dropped her off for her "teacher for a day." she was so excited. i mentioned she might have to talk and she shocked me when she walked right in, said hello, and never hid behind my back! mrs. witmer brought her home after school and said it was a great afternoon! thanks so much mrs. witmer:) as for whizboy - he said this might be the only week he can say that a weekday was the best. we had picked the makings for a picnic lunch. i didn't have lunch m...

so....i'm a little distracted today and thought i'd share some of my favorite recipes. well, one is a new one that i just tried. the other 3 are fall favorites around here:) Smudgies 1 c. sugar 1 c. light corn syrup 1 c. peanut butter 6 c. rice krispies 1 c. chocolate chips 1 c. butterscotch chips Mix sugar and corn syrup to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter. Add cereal and press in greased 9x13 pan. Melt chips together over low heat. Spread over bars. Cool until firm. Friends - when my mom would send these to me at college i had to hide them from people. well, i did share some:) I like to double the chips and make a thicker topping! Peppered Beef (just made last night - for the first time) 1 rump roast (3lb or so) 2 Tbsp parsely 1 Tbsp oregano 2 tsp basil, pepper 1 tsp garlic powder 16oz mild pepper rings with juice (use vlasic) Place roast in crockpot. Dump on dry ingredients. Add the peppers and juice. Cook on low for 8 hours or longer. I serve...

....no, i don't believe so! yesterday seemed kinda weird, let me tell you about it, and then you can decide if it was random - or God just doing His thing:) i headed into work first thing. i'm always alone the first hour. i fixed myself some oatmeal, put things away from youth group last night and sat down to send some emails. while trying to open gmail, my mouse (remember my computer story - well, the mouse i have to use is quite unpredictable!) did a jump on me and i opened a blog i read sometimes. no biggy - i guess i'll just read this first. it happened to mention the book "radical" by david platt. hmm...i've heard a lot about this book. then the pastor rolled in, then the administrative assistant rolled in. the phone rang and as i walked into the office i heard her tell whoever was on the phone to "keep your head up." when i sat down she asked if i knew of "denise" from mcdonalds? umm...nope - nor do i even know a "denise"...

exactly where God has my heart these days http://www.truewoman.com/?id=1279

...my daughter is a rather unique kind of gal. if you ask people they say she is a lot like me. of course we are both blond and blue-eyed, but she has her daddy's build. she does get some of my shyness, although i seemed to have always had the ability to talk to anyone and everyone about anything and everything! one of the things i find most interesting about princess is her sense of style. i mean she will shop for hours. try on clothes, put them on hold, try on others in another store. she doesn't care if she is at good-will or macy's. walking chicago is pure bliss for her. and believe me, since she was able to put her own clothes on she has every intent of dressing herself in whatever fashion she comes up with. and boy have their been some doozies. as one friend said, "it's okay - on her, it works!" and yes, it surely does. this week, she came down in this outfit. i love the pants and sweater, but told her it would warm up and she might want a t...

...or just someone in process! i wrote several weeks ago about my motherboard exploding or imploding or whatever it is a motherboard does when she decides to stop working:) well, God has continued to specifically speak to me about lots of things, and now i'm listening, obeying, and living freely. you see, friends, while i wasn't necessarily being naughty, i had allowed my life to get a little out of whack. summer was stressful with creating creator camp, creating journey junction, putting both creations into action, and trying to maintain some kind of order to my home. oh how i longed to sit in an open field like the picture above and just be. for me, that is drawing near to God and therefore restoring order. however, that wasn't happening at all. then the motherboard episode kind of knocked me to my knees. God was definitely trying to get my attention and attention he got. since then He very clearly spoke to me about boundaries. i work "part-time" yet, bec...

one of my morning things is to have music on in the kitchen. i honestly don't know why because there is enough commotion but i guess it makes me feel better. princess has quite the passion for music - klove in particular. the other morning, a song came on that talked about having one life to live... here's the conversation that followed: princess: mom, there is something i don't understand with that song. me: what is that? p: why does it say we have one life if we have 2? one here on earth and one in heaven? me: well, we do have 2 lives, but we only have one chance to make a difference. p: huh? me: well, when we get to heaven it will be too late to tell others about Jesus. we only get the chance to do that with our life here on earth. p: so, only the people who know Jesus will live in heaven? me: yes, that is why it is so important to tell people about Jesus. p: (after a few moments of silence) i'm so glad my friends all love Jesus too!! with that she bo...

several weeks ago now, princess turned 8! it is hard for me to believe my teeny baby girl is growing up, but she surely is. with our big move this winter we promised our kids real birthday parties. but we managed to take a vacation just before her birthday and start school right after. my dear princess requested cake balls for her birthday. strawberry cake with white chocolate coating. so that's what i did - i love me some cake balls! princess graciously shared her birthday with oscar this year so we ate pizza here and made the trek to dairy queen. oscar seemed very thankful! i did however, manage to find a way to plan a birthday party for princess. she is into american girl, in case you didn't know, so her request was for a party in honor of the doll of year, Laniey. Laniey is all about nature - tree hugger extraordinaire. so we invited her bestest friends and had a back to nature party. whiz boy prepared a nature scavenger hunt. each girl had her own bag and list. when eve...

i wonder if sitting there at the prom they knew where their life would go. today my parents celebrate 50 years of marriage. in today's world, that is quite a rare thing. i can honestly say my parents are just as happy, and frankly maybe a little happier than ever. i feel blessed to have seen a marriage that honors both God and one another. i have watched my mom serve and respect my dad at all times. i have watched my dad love and cherish my mom. they taught me what love looked like. yes, i was always disgusted by their kissing and hand holding and ugh...their dancing in the kitchen, but deep inside i loved it - and still do. they have truly lived life side by side as they raised 4 kids, married us all off, hang out with their 10 grandkids, and travel the world. they shared their first kiss as husband and wife in this same spot 50 years ago. i think they look pretty good today! thanks mom and dad for being so in love and choosing to love deeply

the past few weeks have been a whirlwind of furry! the good, the bad, and the ugly all rolled into one, although i'm not sure the ugly is really there - or even the bad, so maybe just the good kind of whirlwind furry! we headed off a few weeks ago to holiday world with my parents and 2 of my nephews. this is a family favorite. i was the only brave soul among us that would tackle the big rides with my nephew. sadly, i've gotten older and after hearing my neck crack and snap mulitple times told him i was done. although i fully enjoyed the plunging water ride! then my little crew took off for spring mill state park. we were super excited the cave was open. however, i was totally freaked out when a wonderful little bat critter didn't like us invading his space. then the guide let us experience total darkness - while the bat chose that moment to stop his screeching! be still my anxious heart.....i guess there was a little ugly on the trip! of course, travelling with ...

this weekend we'll are saying good-bye to my grandpa. grandpa was 94 years old - can you imagine? me and my grandpa grandpa was an amazing man that led his family well! i always remember him telling jokes or laughing, but we also couldn't get away with much when grandpa was around. he loved peanuts, so much so that every christmas we would all buy him peanuts. while it sounds superficial, it is such a real memory and to this day, when i eat peanuts i always think of him. i was the youngest grandchild, #13 actually, so when i went to visit it was just me. when i was born they had just sold the farm and moved to town. it was a small town and he knew everyone. from the time i could walk, he would walk with me up town to get pizza, take me to the rainbow restaurant, or to the dime store to pick out a treasure of some kind. it was a long walk, but he would always be so patient. what i really remember is that grandpa loved us all. he always encouraged us and always acce...

i have a ton of blogs i'm wanting to put up, but i feel compelled to share about our after dinner hours tonight. while finishing up dinner i made the comment that i really wanted a baked item - you know, like a pie or cake or something. hubby threw out "or cookies" to which princess replied, "let's make cookies i can take to the tea party!" okay - cookies it is. i remember that i don't have any kind of chocolate chips and since i don't like to make sugar cookies i suggested oatmeal raisin to the crew. every one seemed fairly excited at the prospect. so then i text my friend kelly and beg her to come pick our green beans. now i realize i should get those cookies made - i mean wouldn't it be fun to offer her and the boys a warm cookie after taking my green bean bounty?!?!!? then i remembered i also needed to make a veggie type breakfast casserole for saturday. so i pull out the computer and search for zucchini breakfast recipes. i settled...

so whizboy turned the big "10" a few weeks ago! i can't believe he has now lived a decade. what a tiny squirt he was, then he was fat - VERY FAT, but such an enjoyable toddler. now, he is lean again and enjoyable mixed with a bit of frustration. i'm told that goes with the gender and age. anyways, we had promised the kids with the move to the farm they could have friend parties because there would be a ton of space to run and play. of course, i didn't anticipate 90 degree weather:) but we had a football event that could rival any superbowl in history. 5 friends from chuch showed up in their jersey's ready to run! we did a punt, pass, kick, and sprint contest. although it was hot, it was fun. then we came inside to "cool" off with some cake and homemade ice cream. we opened some gifts too! note to others - green frosting does funny things to ones digestion! since they decided this old house without AC wasn't cooling them down, this...

as most of you know we planted a garden here at sycamore hill. now, we always gardened in town, too. we could get a couple helping of green beans, some peppers, one year 4 ears of corn and some zuchinni and squash. well, this years garden has turned into a crazy jungle! we have vines running wild and zuchinni that could be used for batting practice! it is insane...... one of our abundant crops is cucumbers. i hate cucumbers but hubby and whizboy love them. he thought he planted just a few. well, today alone they had to have picked over 25 of those cukes. we've given a bunch away already and have more on the way. feeling a bit overwhelmed with these, and feeling the need to use them to our benefit i broke down and made a batch of these... yep friends....I MADE PICKLES!!! i despise pickles....everything about them, the smell, the look, the taste...i even make hubby brush his teeth before he can kiss me. and i get all weird when a pickle jar is placed on a buffet table ...

so this morning i woke with the birds and thunder in the background. seems rather fitting - sweet little birds and roaring thunder. a bit of my life these days. anyways, i decided that my legs needed to rest this morning, (they were still burning from yesterdays run) so i grabbed my cup of coffee and bible and headed outside. i was reading from hebrews and over and over i kept reading "today, please listen; don't turn a deaf ear..." hmm...i guess God wanted me to listen huh? so i just sat and asked God what He wanted me to hear. i got silence for awhile. so i kept reading beyond the turn a deaf ear part. it seemed God was referring back to the wilderness wandering. that even though God continually provided they didn't "hear" Him. which leads me to this today i am struggling to hear God because of the above picture. i knew i was a bit touchy yesterday. i wanted to blame it on the heat and i'm sure that was part of it, but if i want to be hone...

this has been such a crazy month of storms - both weather and life. it seems like every other day we were getting the lantern out and hunkering down to weather another tornado warning. the wind has been insane but sycamore hill remains strong. whizboy captured a brewing storm on camera a few weeks ago. as far as life storms...well, i feel a bit waist high in stuff. and realizing how much of it is just that - stuff. but seriously, i feel like i have way more on my plate than i should. hubby and i dreamed up a new approach to VBS and i'm having a blast pulling it off, but it is basically pulling it all out of my head - with the help of a great team:) add to that, i'm writing some curriculum for july and august, and totally changing up the children's ministry beginning in september. what i find frustrating isn't the changes or even the work - it is the fact that i feel so stretched right now that nothing on the homefront is getting done well. i will say though...

...that my kiddos could spend hours (literally) with a tote full of random animals and little people??? i believe they stand on the porch and try to throw them into the bucket.

i love this kid.....and by the way, i think his new name needs to be whizboy because he knows more stats than any other man i know - including my oldest brother!!! seriously, as we were watching the butler-duke game, i commented to hubby that i don't remember the last time a championship game was so close. whizboy rattled off the last game that was this close including the year, teams, and final score. i just laughed, i mean who knows that on the spur of the moment, and then was surprised when the paper the next day had the exact some stat! wowzers... anyways...whizboy is playing flag football this spring and loving it. 2 weeks ago he jumped up to block a catch and took a pretty hard fall, sideways, on his hip. he hopped up and looked at us with this huge grin! he is quite the "coach" and likes to call the plays. he has even drawn up a few of his own:) honestly, his ability to see the field and know what to do does amaze me. he just might be a pretty decent qua...

...you can see me!! and now i can see you!!! photos courtesy of princess

2 weeks ago princess came home with an invitation to her first slumber party! yikes? seriously, in 1st grade. *sigh* i guess she is just growing up. i could tell you that she was excited but that would be an understatement. she started packing that very day..... i have to confess to being slighly torn about this whole event. i mean, she cries like crazy at grandma's house before bed - how would she survive the night at a friends house without her momma? funny thing here - at home i can't stand her cries for momma at night, but i guess there is something to liking the feeling of being needed. so yesterday afternoon we dropped her off a friends house who volunteered to drop both the girls off at the party. she ran off with her friend and never looked back. seriously??? so this morning hubby picked up the 2 girls before church. they both ran right up to me full of giggles and smiles. i hugged princess and told her i was proud of her staying all night and asked if she cr...

...i am so incredibly in love with my man!

i truly believe that God is really stirring my heart these days. it is one of those times where conviction has set in, but along with it has come such a desire. a definite stirring of God. let me back up, although, if i'm honest, it is a rather circular thread God has been weaving. a few years ago, God introduced me to a young woman. she had some interesting insights into "motherhood" and at times i thought she might be a bit cuckoo! i mean, my ideals were the right ones, right? well, i spent some time with this friend, and while i didn't agree with everything and knew not everything would have worked for me, i came to a much deeper appreciation for her opinions on motherhood. for her desire to be with her kids. i mean truly be with her kids. it actually opened my eyes a little. or maybe God just used her to start this brewing in my heart. about a year ago i started reading some fun blogs. at first i was reading blogs that made me feel like a failure. how on earth cou...

...i had remembered my camera!! two weeks ago princess signed up for swim lessons at our local high school. this program is put on by the youth swim team and i had heard great things about it. she was so excited as she loves to be in the water and is getting rather frustrated with this momma making her wear floaties! so for two weeks we swam each night. i was so proud to watch her go from nothing to diving into the deep end and swimming to the side (i missed that night but this was what she told me!) i was out of town when they were having a mock meet for the parents. bummer....but when i called hubby to see how it went he let me know that they had moved it to monday! apparently one of the young un's from the earlier session had what we fondly called at camp, a baby ruth incident, leading to the closing of the pool and therefore one less lesson. in an effort to not short the kids (and parents) they added a day at the end. well, monday, princess woke up super pumped and very ...

so izziey b and i were having a great time. i'd been challenged and convicted to tears. i had laughed like a crazy woman and been wowed by some amazing stories. but as friday afternoon was winding down i had no clue what the road home was going to be like. we had a break out session from 2:30 - 3:30 on friday. the closing session was at 4:15. we checked out of the hotel in the morning and planned to drive north of nashville that evening. great plans right!? i had just called home to hubby to let him know all of that....then the call to izziey b. me: where are you her: um.....i'm in the bathroom me: pause her: i'm not feeling so well....i'll be there soon me: are you sure you are okay? her: yeah, i'll be there soon. okay...so i sit down to wait for her. it seemed to be a long time. now, honestly, i'm just thinking cramps, or the need to poop. we all know that feeling when gone awhile...when i finally see her, she is GREEN!! i mean GREEN!! i take one look and know...

so i'm out of town right now and this time with my friend izzie b (names have been changed to protect the people we know). we are actually at a conference that is rocking my world, but we are two crazy girls alone in a big city. anyways.....she is a weird person. she likes car rides and she likes to watch the sunrise while riding in the car so we started our trip at 5:30 AM!!! 5:30 AM friends...ugh. but we had a non-eventful trip and honestly it wasn't so bad. i'm weird so i had packed us ham and cheese sandwichs. we stopped several times to get out and walk. we stopped for gas somewhere a bit redneck and they sold mostly fireworks. lots and lots of fireworks. that place also had some kind of super duper blue light hand dryer. it was honestly a bit freaky. then we checked in and found we had a smoking room. it was quite smoky and so we asked for a change. no luck, but the nice lady offered to bring up an odor remover machine while we were at the conference. um....

i have had several requests for a follow up on the cheerio feast here on the homefront. well a couple weeks have passed since then and i believe i can say SUCCESS!!!! it was definitely a rough day around here. i had never seen him consume so many cheerios in all my life and he was very good at shoveling them in as a baby! i also am pretty sure he hadn't been that mad at me in several weeks. that night we had quite a discussion about meals, how much time i put into preparing, etc and on obeying/respecting our parents. the following morning he knew he had to eat whatever i prepared - no complaints or the cheerios came right back out! he patiently waited for me to serve him breakfast and he ate every last bit. then we had lunch and another joyful meal. dinner was at our friends house - he ate quite joyfully again! so saturday came and he was allowed a tad more freedom in that i gave him a few choices at both breakfast and lunch. dinner came and he started to lose it a bit ove...

...well kind of anyways! i had the chance to get away with my amazing hubby last week. it was 3 days of nothingness, but time spent with hubby and nature and oh.....the dozen of ladybugs that felt the need to make the trip with us. oh yes, friends, within about 15 minutes of checking into our room we noticed the little creatures crawling about. they kind of taunted me. we are awaiting the phone call from the hotel stating that we brought an infestation of asian beetles. so far so good! so back to the getaway.....hubby had a conference in the town we honeymooned. of course i'm up for tagging along and since my parents recently returned from 3 months in the south they were just as excited to have our kiddos. and hubby's mom was pretty excited to seek refuge here at sycamore hill to care for the dog and suck up the lady bugs that didn't make the trip with us. okay....back to the getaway one more time! when we left i packed up some work and my laptop. i fully intende...

most of you all know i have a love affair with chocolate, so it shouldn't surprise you that i took the kids for some spring break fun at the local chocolate factory. seriously, this was a pretty good tour. okay, so the tour itself was just so-so, but for $6 for all 3 of us we got 3 bags of chocolates, made our own chocolate spoon, and steal on some christmas goodies! the above mr. cocoa might have been a bit too much however - so glad they saved him for the end! my wonderful nieces joined us on this grand trip. i think they had fun, they were quite excited about the hair nets we had to wear. i think i heard them talk about wanting to make a new fashion statement with them. mapboy making his spoon....they were supposed to freeze while we were in the movie with mr. cocoa, but they didn't seem quite solid yet. mapboy was very concerned that his was melting. after a day of cheerios he desperately wanted to eat the spoon! princess making her spoon. she was much more patien...