Jesus and the Naughty Chair

Have I told you how much I love Av's school?   She recently came home and informed me that when you do something bad, like disobeying your parents, it's sin which make your heart dirty and God is the only one that can clean it.  Wow!  An exposition on sin at age 3.  Along with the recent topics at school, 3 as become more of a disicpline challenge for us.  Well, I'm thinking that as a result of these 2 things, we had the following conversation recently while we were driving the grocery store.

Av:  Did Jesus have to sit in the naughty chair?

Me:  No, he was good and obeyed his parents

Av:  Did Jesus have to go to time out?

Me:  No, sweetie he obeyed his parents and didn't have to sit in time out                   because he was good

Av:  I think he did

Me:  Repeat above statement with more explanation

Av:  I think Joseph spanked him

Me:  (Again)  He obeyed Mary and Joseph so he didn't get spankings or time outs

Av:  I think Joseph spanked him and I don't like Mary and Joseph

Me:  Why don't you like Mary and Joseph?

Av:  Because they don't love me

How many ways can you explain that Jesus was a man, yet without sin to a 3 year old.  After Av's last statement we had arrived at the store and she changed the subject to what we should buy.  I can't say I didn't welcome the subject diversion!  Theological discussions with a 3 year old-what next?

Imagination

OK, so one of my friends actually called me after my last post, somewhat concerned for me. I wasn't trying to be a downer, but just sharing what I had been reflecting on over the week Now onto to today's post.

Can I tell ya'll how much fun Av is right now? I find her completely hilarious and the stuff that comes out of her mouth is priceless. I know that if I don't document it here, I will soon forget it, so here goes.

A few months ago we were getting ready for bed and Av informed me that we had to take the baby squirrels to bed with us. I had no idea what she was talking about as I watched her walk over to empty couch, bend over, and scoop her hands together as if picking up, well, a group of baby squirrels off the couch. That's right folks, my child's first imaginary friends are a group of infant rodents. Then she "carried" them upstairs, "tucked" them into her bed, and then climbed into the bed herself. Over the next month we continued to put the "squirrels" to bed, bathe them, read to them, etc. I even accidentally sat on them one day, but Av immediately let me know and I quickly jumped up to move to another seat. Well, we haven't heard much about the squirrels for the last month...until a couple days ago. I lifted up Av's bed skirt looking for a shoe I couldn't find. I didn't find the shoe, but I did find her pink lamb stuffed animal, Esmerelda (don't ask me how a 2 year old names her lamb Esmerelda). I let her know that Esmerelda was under the bed--her response?--"Yes, she's there with the baby squirrels." It was a very "duh, Mom" statement from her. I guess they're all hibernating for the Winter with Esmerelda guarding over them. Silly me for not knowing where they have been for the last month.

Change

Change might be the one word that best sums up the last year for us.

• Jonathan and I have both had job changes-at times not by our choosing, causing large swings in our "expected" income.
• We sold our house and moved to a different city
• My brother got married
• We found out that I am pregnant

There are others that I could add to list, but these are the major points. Some of this is change that we sought out and desired, but other parts of it were unexpected {our future son was planned, if you're wondering :)}. I think I've decided that all major change, even wanted change, can be stressful. The last few weeks have been especially difficult and I had a couple moments of breakdown recently.

I was blessed to be in a fantastic Bible study while in our former city and one thing my teacher frequently stated was that it's hard to complain when you have an attitude of thankfulness. I've tried to take this attitude recently, and focus on the many, many blessings that I have in my life, instead of the circumstances that I'm not so fond of right now. We are blessed with wonderful friends and family, we have transportation, food, health, freedom, a (generally) safe country to live in, shelter, and countless others

This thought process did make me thankful and helped to alleviate my stress level, and although I do want to be thankful for all these things and keep an attitude of gratefulness, there is part of this thinking that is flawed in a sense. All of that above list is conditional and could change by the time I am done writing this post. Instead of being thankful for the effect, I need to be thankful for the cause, a God that is constant, unconditional, and unchanging. He is the only thing that I can place my trust and confidence in and that can give me peace. I do not want to take the gift for granted, but first and foremost, my focus needs to be on the giver.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Hebrews 13:8

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. James 1:17

Cranky to Crafty

Do your children wake up grouchy from their naps? Av is chipper and ready for the day when she gets up in the morning, but not so much in the afternoon. She was so crabby today that she was sent back to bed until she could come out with a different attitude. 10 minutes later she said she could come out and be nice :) After (1) an entire afternoon/evening of crafts and (2) a good dinner , all was well.


(1) Av has a Valentine's party Thurs and needed 12 valentine's for her class. I am a self proclaimed uncrafty mom, but we opted for homemade Valentine's this year. We started with construction paper.
Then I let Av color/scribble all over it and we cut hearts out of her "pictures"
I thought I had glitter, I was wrong. These sprinkles I bought for cookies and cupcakes worked just fine........and I noticed that Av kept licking her fingers.
The final product. Valentine's handcrafted by a 3 year old.

Our "craft" table when all was finished.

(2) We tried a new recipe tonight. We try to eat healthy around here, but we don't eat much fish. J and I both love it, but we just don't cook it much. This weekend I decided to search allrecipes for a few good fish recipes, and this is where we started. So quick, easy, and good-Av even ate all of hers! We did adjust the recipe for a smaller serving since it was only J, Av, and me eating tonight.

Balsamic Glazed Salmon
The pic is from the website, but we had roasted asparagus, brown rice, and spinach salad with it--YUM!


INGREDIENTS

6 (5 ounce) salmon fillets
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon white wine
1 tablespoon honey
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
4 teaspoons Dijon mustard
salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil, and spray with non-stick cooking spray.
Coat a small saucepan with non-stick cooking spray. Over medium heat, cook and stir garlic until soft, about 3 minutes. Mix in white wine, honey, balsamic vinegar, mustard, and salt and pepper. Simmer, uncovered, for about 3 minutes, or until slightly thickened.
Arrange salmon fillets on foil-lined baking sheet. Brush fillets with balsamic glaze, and sprinkle with oregano.
Bake in preheated oven for 10 to 14 minutes, or until flesh flakes easily with a fork. Brush fillets with remaining glaze, and season with salt and pepper. Use a spatula to transfer fillets to serving platter, leaving the skin behind on the foil.



Since my skillet was lined with foil, and I brought it up over the edges, this is what the skillet looked like immediately after I served the fish. The clean up involved trashing the foil and putting the skillet back in cabinet!

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Please take time to pray for precious Hannah Grace. She is the same age as Av and is struggling medically, but she is fighting and God has already worked wonders. She and her family would greatly appreciate your prayers on their behalf.

Beach Beauty

Here are the pics from the beach trip from over a week ago. Enjoy.

Making cinnamon muffins for breakfast.

Then bike riding and throwing the tennis ball with Lily

Heading down to the beach and then everyone enjoying their favorite activities. Av searching for seashells, J fishing, and Lily playing in the water.

The only people I saw on the beach that day-J, Av, Lily, and one of our neighbors. This is what it's like most the time, even in the Summer, at my parents' house-no beach chair rentals and no fighting for a spot to put your stuff....although sometimes it would be nice to have the "beverage" hut and for a waiter/waitress to bring me a pina colada when it gets hot :).
This scene makes me sad. You can see all the erosion that has happened with hurricanes over recent years. Even a stairway that was destroyed and hasn't been rebuilt yet.
Our "neighbors" are from Canada and were renting the house for the Winter. She went to the beach and collected seashells almost daily and was decorating the porch rail with them.
I tried to get a few cute photos of Av and Lily one evening. I think Av is contemplating the candy and ice cream store across the street in the bottom photo.
Av and I ended up going to the candy store. Out of the entire candy store Av picked ONE bite size tootsie roll! Lily had to stay in the car and this is how I found her when we finished. I think she was ready to head back to play in the ocean.
Here is the dreaded scorpion that struck Av. Little, but packing a powerful and painful punch.
I'm ready to go back right now!

Sick

A GI bug has hit our house. All I have eaten in the last 2 days is half of a piece of toast and some yogurt. I have spent the remainder of my time either in my bed or bathroom. Will be back when feeling better.

BEACH!!!

Hey everyone. We have been at the beach since last week and just got in this evening. On our way to the beach we had a quick, but wonderful visit with some of our friends in our old city. I miss all of them so much and Av misses their kids! They are exceptional friendships that were my family while we lived there.

I took quite a few pics this weekend, and wanted to post while we were at the beach, but of course, forget my cord to download them. We had a great time over all. Lots of activity outside, sleeping in, drinking coffee on the porch, 65 degree weather, minimal TV (had to watch the Superbowl!), and great food.

We did have one episode of drama yesterday afternoon. I put Av down for a nap and then heard her calling for me an hour later. She needed to go potty. After the potty break we went back to her room and she asked my to read a book (we're doing Proverbs with her). I started reading, she was sitting on the comforter, and then suddenly jerked her leg. As I picked her up I saw a scorpion under her leg that stung her. I immediately took my shoe off and killed it, but oh, she was screamed and screamed and screamed and..... Normally she's very easy to console, not this time. Growing up out west I was prepared to immediately jump in the car and run to the ER, but since we're in the southeast, it just needed to be treated like a bee sting-wash it, cold compress, and watch for allergic reaction like swelling, hives, trouble breathing, etc. She calmed down with the cold compress and ice cream for bribery. It never got any bigger than a mosquito bite, and all was fine in 10-15 minutes. Whew-I can't believe my toddler has been stung by a scorpion. I wonder what the likely statistics are of that happening.

I'm off to bed, hopefully pictures will follow soon.