Family Motto

            Many people go to great lengths to research their history.  However, many of our ancestors came to America in order to start over.  It was in their memory that my husband began the process of creating a family motto.  God lead him to the passage of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in Daniel.  When they were about to be thrown into the furnace, they said that they knew God could save them but even if He chose not to help they would never stop worshiping Him.  From this passage our family motto,  “But if not…” was developed.  For us it meant, our faith in God is based solely on who He is, not what He does for me.

                It was several weeks later before the true meaning of this motto became real to us.  When our son was 5 weeks old he, started running a high fever.  We took him to the emergency room.  The test showed a high level of white blood cells in his spinal fluid.  He was immediately admitted him to PICU with meningitis. It would take the doctors 4 days to determine if he had the deadly bacterial form or the much less dangerous viral form. It was during this time that God asked me, “If I don’t heal your child, will you still serve me?”  I struggled with this question for 2 days.  On the third day of our hospital stay John developed a heart murmur.  All the iv fluid he had been given, reopened the natural hole in his heart.  I held him as they did an ekg, and once again I heard God ask, “If I don’t heal your child, will you still serve me?”.  

                I learned a lot during these days.  I learned how to swaddle a baby without disrupting any of the cords coming from his chest or the iv into his leg.  I learned that God loves my children more than I ever can and He loves me just as much.  I learned that my commitment to God was not based on what I could get from Him.  Faith has never been easy for me, but as I grow in my understanding of who God is, it is easier for me to worship Him for whom He is regardless of the circumstances in my life. 

                Last week we celebrated John Paul’s 7^th birthday.  After 4 days in the hospital, the doctors determined that John’s meningitis was the viral form and he was released.  It took another 3 months for the hole in his heart to reclose.  

Time without Opportunity

       When I decided to be a stay-at-home mom, I was really looking forward to getting more involved with my kids and my husbands ministry.  I have always wanted to be able to volunteer at my kids school or help out with things at church but as a teacher I was working 50+ hour weeks and then bringing work home so I never had time.  Now that I have the time to help, I have discovered that the opportunity is not there.  It seems the very thing that keeps me home (my youngest child) also prevents me from being able to help with anything.
       It would be nice if the organizations that need volunteers could help connect people like me.  If there were 5 mothers willing to help one could keep the kids and the other 4 could volunteer.  They could rotate childcare duty each week, so everyone has a chance to be involved.

Gardening Class: Trees, Shrubs and Roses

This is what I learned this week in my gardening class. 

• Shade trees can reduce the temperature by 20 degrees.  This can effectively reduce the need for air conditioning in the summer if they are on the South side of the house.  Deciduous trees are great for this because they allow the sun through in the winter to help with heating.

• My new favorite tree is the Rhus typhina or Staghorn Sumac.  This tree produces flowers at the ends of its branches causing them to turn a different direction each year. (Pictured on the right)
• Shrubs are able to do everything trees do but on a smaller scale.  They are most often used to define a landscape.
• Roses do not compete well with other large plants and need at least 8 hours of direct sunlight during the summer.  For these reasons, they should not be planted near any trees.
• In the late fall roses should be cut back to waist height.  In February, they can be cut back to 10” – 18”.  The shorter that you cut them the larger the roses will be during the next season, however, the shorter you cut them the fewer roses they will produce. 

Glasses

Yahel broke her glasses playing wall ball at school the week before spring break.  When I took her to get a new pair, the store was having a buy one pair get a free pair promotion, so she got 2 new pairs of glasses during spring break.  Three days after returning to school, she came home with broken glasses.  (They fell off and were stepped on.) Fortunately, she has the second pair and we got the warranty so we will be able to get the broken one fixed.  When she was getting ready this morning, she couldn't find the glasses.  Both of us looked all over and they are not in a logical place anywhere in the house.  In the last 3 weeks, she has broken 2 pair of glasses and lost one pair.  She has never had a pair longer than 6 months without breaking them but this is a little excessive.

Getting Started

I have wanted to start a blog for several years.  I have played around with the idea of writing about teaching science, education in our nation, family & parenting, and our ministry.  At this point in my life all of these things have come together and so this blog will be a hodge podge of them all.