My Memorial Stone

I thought I would participate this month with Grateful for Grace's Memorial Stone in Words. We were supposed to write about how God has worked in our lives.

We started this new year of 2009 like any other. We had just been with family for the holidays. We returned and everything sort of fell apart.

The Captain, with most of the remaining workers, had been laid off. He had work until the end of the week. I was devastated. I think I cried most of the next 15 hours.

Since the layoff, there have been numerous blessings, trials, and events that I am not sure yet if they are blessings or trials.

One huge blessing is concerning little Crash. We were not communicating well prior to those days. There were many frustrating days. I tried to get help for months, but our insurance at the old job would not cover speech therapy. I tried the school system and they would not help. Agh! To say that I was frustrated would be an understatement.

While working at the hospital, I starting asking around about good speech therapists for kids. One name kept coming up Miss K. When the Captain got the new insurance information we discovered that it did cover speech therapy and the only therapist in our town that it covered was Miss K. Wow! That's amazing enough, but the icing on the cake is that she is the best therapist in the whole world for my boy right now. She has been the tool for so much positive change in him. I still can't believe it.

When I left my job, I was able to stay on the weekend schedule. I work one Saturday a month. This extra money enables us to pay for his speech co-pays, other therapies, and schooling for him that would have been difficult to afford before. I just want to cry when I think of the huge change in Crash in the last 5 months.

While being laid off is no fun and we are still dealing with ramifications of that- I do know that it brought tremendous blessing in the life of Crash and our whole family in this area. God provided the needed services for our child plus the funds to pay for them.

Thank you God for abundantly blessing us in the midst of the storm!

Ladies Brunch

This past weekend our church had a ladies brunch. They asked for women to set tables with their china. I thought that was a fun idea plus my china had not been used in approximately 6 years. I was excited to use it!

The Captain and I used our wedding china a fair amount when we were first married for special dates, holidays, and such. Several moves and the addition of 3 boys have relocated those dishes to a china hutch that just looks pretty and has little practical function.

Here's my table. My plates have a gold trim on them so I thought it went well with the "fall" theme of the linens. I do not set a formal table very often so I had to consult a book and call my mom to determine the proper location for the dishes and silverware. I really should know that stuff.



My sister found this silverware for me. You can't tell in the picture, but it has a gold outline to match the dishes. I think it was the first time this silverware has been used.


It was fun being girly. I liked seeing all the other ladies tablescapes. I got so many good ideas. It was fun eating girl food as my husband calls it. We had mini quiches, scones, mini sandwiches, and fruit.

What a great kick off for the ladies ministry!

The tooth fairy

I learned another valuable piece of information while on the field trip.

After lunch, the kids spent some time playing on a playground. One little girl comes running frantically up to her teacher. She says, "My loose tooth fell out in that field and I lost it!"

Without missing a beat, the teacher says, "Don't worry honey. I will write a note to the tooth fairy for you."

The little girl was completely pacified by this and went on her way. I was impressed at the teacher's quick thinking. I think she has encountered this before. I will have to remember that one.

Sauer-Beckmann Farm

I was able to go on the first grade field trip to Sauer-Beckmann Farm with the test pilot. That kid loves riding on a school bus. It was perfect weather for such an outing.


It's a living history farm. The farm is on property now owned by the LBJ State Park, but at the turn of the 20th century was owned by a succession of two German farm families. All three of the buildings connect and were built as necessity allowed over time. The original building on the far left housed the Sauer Family and their 10 kids. Now that was a tight squeeze! The Beckman family added the middle building (kitchen) and the parlor on the right.

The guides wore period costumes. They took us in the kitchen and showed the kids how to use the wood burning stove. She demonstrated the many things you can make with the milk you just milked from your cow. She was actually cooking some gumbo on the stove made with vegetables they had grown and canned on the farm. It was very informative.

This machine is called a creme separator. You can run the milk through it and it separates the creme out so you don't have to let it sit and rise. I had never heard of one of those. Then she demonstrated how to make butter out of the creme. The kids loved it.

This farm has it's own chickens, cows, sheep, and garden. It has no electricity or running water. Watching the kids' faces while she explained the ramifications of no electricity was funny. When she described how they would wash their little babies diapers there were many groans and moans all around. Kids today have it so easy in comparison.

It was a fun field trip. On a funny side note: At one point the guide tells all the kids to sit around this table and lean back so everyone can see. She kept looking at the test pilot telling him to sit down. I looked at him and he looked like he was sitting to me. Finally, she says, "Oh you are that tall!" I had to laugh. My giant child.

Wingman is 20 months old!

I can't believe how fast he has grown. He's 33 inches tall and weight 25.8 lbs. You are pretty much an average size boy until we get to your head circumference. Let's just say he's following in the foot steps of his brother, father, and numerous other apple family members with large heads.

He had his first haircut the other day by mom. My sister's kids probably have had 10 haircuts by this age, but us apples just don't grow hair that fast. That might be the last cut by mom. His hair is so fine that it kept slipping through the clippers.

He chatters all the time. He can say football, more, please (pez), big brother's name, mama, dada, nose, bye-bye, and a few other random things he says one time. Even when they are not intelligible words he is chattering away all the time.

He definitely thinks he's 3 or older. He just assumes he can do all the things his big brothers do. It doesn't always work out well for him but he tries. His favorite thing it to play legos with his big brothers. Once again, don't tell him he is not yet 2. He is going to play with legos. That's where he learned the word "help".

His second favorite thing to play would be football. He loves balls, but especially football. He recognizes our local high school stadium and yells "football" every time we drive by. He would play catch for hours.

He's a pretty average eater with leanings toward the picky side. He likes all carbohydrates but will tolerate some fruits and vegetables. He is still not too fond of many meats. You can drink your weight in milk. "More! More!"

He's funny! I don't know what he is laughing at half the time, but he thinks he is hilarious. Peek a boo is always a good one to get you chuckling. You are so ticklish!

He's no longer my little baby. He's turning into quite a little boy.

My boys are in heaven

Just like their mother, my boys love chocolate especially in the form of cake, brownies, and other desserts. My favorite cake is a fudge layer cake from The Flying Star bakery in Albuquerque, NM. It has fudge cake with fudge filling with fudge frosting and some chocolate sprinkles on top. That's my kind of dessert.

Over the past 10 days, I have taken food to 2 different families and we had another family over to eat. It's not a complete meal in my mind if there is not dessert. (We normally don't have dessert but maybe once a week but if guests are around that no longer applies.) My children are reaping the rewards of my labor.

The Captain requested peppermint patty poke cake. The wingman was able to say "choca cake" at about 13 months old. That's my boy.

Another family received some mint bars. That recipe is courtesy of Cooking Light. You have to try them. That is one of my favorite magazines and that has turned out to be a favorite recipe. It's a "light" dessert. You can't beat that one. Don't tell me otherwise.

The last family received a brownie cake. It's plain and simple but delicious.

Usually, I split the dessert when I take food to people so we all get one serving. They think they have died and gone to heaven. They are going to be in dessert withdrawal next week.

I have some of the pickiest eaters at my dinner table, but put some chocolate cake out there and the food is inhaled in a matter of moments and everyone is asking for seconds. I never get that response from beans.

Good thing I am not in charge

"In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps." Proverbs 16: 9

This proverb came to mind as I was thinking how thankful I am for Crash's pre-school teachers.

When we started MDO (mother's day out) last April we went to a school that had openings for both kids. That was really the reason I sent them to that school. I had every intention of switching to another MDO in the fall that was closer to my home and where most of our friends attend. I am now catching a glimpse of God's much bigger plan.

The first weeks/months were a pretty rough transition on Crash, but I kept bringing him knowing it was the right thing to do for him and me. He finally got settled and even started enjoying going to school. He had great teachers that were so patient and loving. They didn't force things on him, but let him be at the level he was at. They did not chastise us for not being potty trained at age 3. (Hallelujah that goal is accomplished!) He really started to thrive.

Then it came time to decide what to do for the fall. We could switch again to the MDO I initially thought we would go to, but I was not excited about going through another transition with Crash. Another issue was that Crash has a late summer birthday so we will not be starting him in Kindergarten until he turns 6. The new school would put him in a pre-K class with a great teacher, but I heard she had pretty high expectations because she was preparing for Kindergarten. I just thought it would be too stressful and challenging for him so we ended up staying where we started. I also thought he would be in a 3/4 year old class instead of pre-K.

It turns out that he is in a pre-K class at our school with the same exact teacher that I had thought would not be right for him. Good thing God is sovereign, because my child is doing awesome in school!

I did tell them the first day about some of his speech and hand issues. They have just gone above and beyond my expectations. They spend so much time with him helping him work through his difficulties. They seem to be right on target with him. He actually wants to write letters and color a little bit, which is a pretty difficult thing for him so that's a huge step. They even brought me one of his paper's yesterday saying, "I thought you might want to show his therapist how good he did." He loves going to school. He asks to go when it is not school day.

I am so thankful for these Godly women who are my child's teachers. I could not imagine him performing/communicating at this level just a few months ago. I am so thankful that I am not in charge and God knows so much better than me. I truly did think I was making the right decision for him and I guess I did, but with God designing every step of the way.