I have so many little matters to tell you of, that I cannot wait any longer before I begin to put them down.
May 24th, 2008 by ECM
Tommy’s been quite the lucky dude of late…lots of time two weeks ago with Grandma Willett, last weekend with Grandma and Grandpa Muller, and another visit this weekend with Grandma and Grandpa Willett! He’s figured out that going to the playground with grandparents is much more fun than just with Mommy–he can go down the slide again and again until he’s ready to be done!
Hey–this looks fun!
Not so sure about it…
I like this slide better…
Again!
Helping Grandpa pack up the car…
May 23rd, 2008 by ECM
Possibly my favorite Christmas present this year: The Valley of Vision: Puritan Prayers and Devotions. The prayer I read today seemed so appropriate. Since my legal adviser isn’t here to tell me about copyright law and blogs, I’ll just pull a few quotes (the full prayer, for those who have the book, is on page 224).
I thank thee for the temporal blessings of this world–
the refreshing air,
the light of the sun,
the food that renews strength,
the raiment that clothes,
the dwelling that shelters,
the sleep that gives rest,
the starry canopy of night,
the summer breeze,
the flowers’ sweetness,
the music of flowing streams,
the happy endearments of family, kindred, friends.
Things animate, things inanimate, minister to my comfort.
My cup runs over.
Suffer me not to be insensible to these daily mercies.
What a beautiful reminder to me, as I struggle to be thankful in all things, that my cup truly runs over with blessings. As soon as Tommy wakes up from his nap, we are going out to enjoy several of them this morning!
May 20th, 2008 by ECM
At my in-laws this weekend, we feasted on all sorts of treats, including these homemade granola bars. Since the Muller men seem to have all sorts of allergies, it’s a good idea to do homemade treats so that I know what goes into them. (Many granola bars have peanut flour, making them toxic for Derek…)
Homemade Granola Bars
3 cups rolled oats
1 cup coarsely chopped nuts (I used unsalted cashews)
1 cup dried fruit (I used dried cherries)
1 cup sunflower seeds (I didn’t have these, so I substituted flaxseeds, my newest obsession for boosting our family’s omega-3 fatty acids intake.)
1 can sweetened, condensed milk
1 stick butter or margarine, melted
(1 cup shredded, dried coconut–the recipe didn’t call for this, but I love coconut and had it on hand, so I figured I’d just add some in!)
Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. Line a 10 x 15 inch baking pan with foil and grease the foil (I used Pam.). Spread mixture into pan. Bake at 325 for 25 to 30 minutes, until golden brown. Cool slightly, remove from pan, peel off foil, and cut into bars. (I used our pizza cutter.)
So granola bars are not health food, but hopefully they’ll still be a better choice for us this week when we get a chocolate chip cookie craving…and next time I’m going to experiment with adding in more healthy items!
May 19th, 2008 by ECM
It happened to me again…at a wedding this weekend, a lovely young lady approached Derek and said, “Is this your wife? Hi! I’ve seen so much of you and your darling son on facebook!” I lost the thread of her catch-up conversation with Derek, noticing instead her perfectly highlighted hair, her beautiful bridesmaid dress (this was a bridal party in which all the girls had the perfect bodies to carry off strapless dresses), and a few phrases about her exciting new career. Derek seemed to be mentioning his, and then she asked me that dreaded question…”What do you do?”
I gulped, then mumbled, “Well, I mostly stay home with Tommy…” Her ” oh that’s nice” response pushed me to add that “I also teach a little on the side–English literature, very part-time…” (Somehow that’s supposed to make me seem more important to important- seeming people.) And then she moved off and I felt very aware that this was the first time I’d worn makeup in three months, my (no longer highlighted) hair was air-dried, my dress was a size bigger than all the lovely pre-Tommy dresses I gave away this spring, my nose was almost certainly red from my monster cold, and I’d forgotten to pack any jewelry for the wedding because I was trying to find Tommy’s missing moccasin before we left for the airport. Add the sippy cup in my purse, and I pretty much screamed Stay At Home Mom! My typical feelings of inadequacy when faced with a put-together career girl soon faded, though, and I just felt embarassed for being embarassed about my calling.
Yes, it’s my calling! I’m living my dream at 25–married to a Godly man, mommy to a rambunctious little dude, and keeper of my very own little home. I’ve had the desire to be a stay-at-home wife and mother for as long as I can remember, and God has graciously granted it. Admittedly, I do have moments where I look (bashfully) at other women who seem to have more glamourous lives, but when I walk into the living room and find Tommy pretending he’s a commander of a ship (puppy dog hat and all), I realize that my life can never be sweeter 
than this. God has called me to be faithful in the home, and I love my job. I never grow tired of the funny faces Tommy makes. I love reading Moo, Baa, La La La to him six times a day. Really! So I’m gearing up for next time the dreaded question comes at me unawares–I’m hoping to be able to answer, joyfully, “I get to stay home with Tommy and make a home for him and Derek, and it’s the best job in the world!”
May 18th, 2008 by ECM
We’re back, safe and relatively sound. (I am not doing too well, but the guys are both great–Tommy slept for the whole plane ride back!) Highlights of the weekend…
Space age toy (aka Uncle Jason’s battery-operated back massager)
walking around the playground with Grandpa
giving Mommy a dandelion (actually, he never really gave it to me–but it was a cute picture)
playing on the slide with Grandpa and Grandma (a newly acquired skill/interest as of this past week)
walkin’ home to Grandma and Grandpa’s…what a tough life for a little dude…
May 16th, 2008 by ECM
No pictures yet, because we didn’t bring the camera adapter card to Detroit, but Tommy (and Mommy and Daddy) survived his first plane ride today! We’d planned it over his naptime, but that didn’t pan out. Instead, he climbed all over Mommy and Daddy, flirted with other passengers, and ate crackers happily for a solid hour. The lack of sleep didn’t slow him down as he gleefully explored Grandma’s house this afternoon. We’re wondering why he doesn’t do this well in church…maybe we need a new kind of cracker every Sunday morning….?
May 15th, 2008 by ECM
Today my pain was redirected by rereading Evidence Not Seen. Oh, how gently God has purified my faith compared to many, many others. These passages especially brought tears to my eyes:
When there were no more tears to cry, I would hear Him whisper, “But my child, my grace is sufficient for thee. Not was or shall be, but it is sufficient.” Oh, the eternal, ever-present, undiminished supply of God’s glorious grace!
Just two weeks before I was brought to this prison, the Lord had laid it on my heart to memorize a poem by Annie Johnson Flint. Now I knew why. After drying the tears from my face and mopping the tears from the floor with my skirt, I would sit up and sing:
He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater
He sendest more strength when the labors increase
To added affliction, He addeth His mercy,
To multiplied trials, His multiplied peace.
When We have exhausted our store of endurance,
And when our strength has failed ere the day is half done,
When we reach the end of our hoarded resources,
The Father’s full giving is only begun.
His love has no limit, His grace has no measure.
His power has no boundary known unto men.
For out of His infinite riches in Jesus,
He giveth and giveth and giveth again.
May 13th, 2008 by ECM
Inspired by recent conversations with friends and family, here’s a brief compendium (in no particular order) of some of my favorite nonfiction books, either reread annually or recommended often:
Evidence Not Seen by Darlene Diebler Rose. This is the best missionary autobiography ever. I cry every time I read it, but I’m also incredibly moved at how God used Darlene and her husband as His witnesses in some of the most brutal Japanese prison camps of WWII. Powerful. My scripture memorization always gets a boost after being inspired by the author.
Love Your God With All Your Mind by JP Moreland. Several recent books have tackled the problem of intellectual laziness in modern Evangelicalism; this one was the most compelling one I’ve read. I appreciate that he gives us thoughtful suggestions for how to fix things instead of just leaving us ashamed of the scandal.
Treasuring God in Our Traditions by Noel Piper. According to my Amazon account, I have bought four copies of this book for friends, and I’m permanently lending out my own copy. I love Mrs. Piper’s simple and inspiring ideas for creating family traditions!
Let Me Be a Woman by Elisabeth Elliot. It’s hard to pick one favorite from this role model. I also love Passion and Purity, Keep a Quiet Heart, Shadow of the Almighty, Through Gates of Splendor, and The Mark of a Man, to name a few. I love the gentle encouragement that Let Me Be a Woman provides me as I strive to live out my vocation of wife and mother.
The Hidden Art of Homemaking by Edith Schaeffer (along with What is a Family?) The subtitle gives it away: Creative Ideas for Enriching Everyday Life. Since I am called to be a homemaker for this season of my life, Edith Schaeffer is an inspiration. Her style is often quaint, but I’ve already shared on this blog how her creativity has blessed me when I’m struggling to keep everything together.
Mere Christianity, The Abolition of Man, and An Experiment in Criticism by C.S. Lewis. Okay, this was really hard. I could just put down “anything Lewis wrote,” but these three books have images that have stayed with me long after rereading…MC‘s proposition that Jesus was either God or insane (not just a good man), AoM‘s “men without chests”, and EiC‘s admonition to intersperse new books with old ones for proper perspective.
Oh–and how can I forget my favorite college textbooks? I just got carried away with the Christian writers there…
A Short History of World War I and A Short History of World War II by James Stokesbury. These truly are the best “textbooks” I’ve ever “had” to buy. I actually have reread them multiple times since taking my World Wars class in college. They’re just so clear, interesting, and succinct! They’re most likely not the best histories of the wars, but they certainly are great overviews that world wars history nerds like me enjoy reading!
May 12th, 2008 by ECM
We spent Mother’s Day with my fam in Columbia, and we had a little more excitement than we’d bargained for when we went to visit Grandma Willett… I guess the local news station had sent over a team to the nursing home to see people visiting their moms for Mother’s Day, but my dad and Tommy and I were the only people under 80 in the place. So they asked us if they could follow us around…miked us, asked us stupid questions (“what does 100 years of Mother’s Day make you think?”), got lame answers from us, and decided to leave. I hate, hate, hate seeing myself on video, so it was sortof a relief to hear this morning that they had decided to do most of the feature on a teenage single mother who had a baby yesterday with five seconds of footage of our four generations at the end. And of course they mispronounced Muller!
May 10th, 2008 by ECM
Tommy has made some exciting new acquisitions. Nowadays, he carries his favorite things around the house for hours, putting them down to play and picking them back up to go to the next activity. Yesterday Grandma brought him some bright orange shorts to match Daddy’s. (Daddy loves them! Mommy is underwhelmed…) I couldn’t get them out of his hands until naptime.
This morning I bought us all new toothbrushes. One of Tommy’s favorite activities is brushing his teeth, so his new Elmo toothbrush was a big hit. Everytime we thought he was done, he’d sign “please!” to ask us to let him brush some more. I was delighted; Derek less so. Hmmm, wonder where he gets his love of dental hygiene?