Finally Home!!

I have to agree with Dorothy on this..."There is NO place like home!"

We finally made it home last week after traveling through much of the upper midwest and several states along the east coast. We saw God change the hearts of many teens and several adults through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We were privileged to see the work of God's church across the country. We met many faithful servants of God who either opened their homes to us, provided meals for us, or simply took time to get to know us or pray for us. What a joy it is to know that God is still at work in our country in spite of those who try to keep His name from being spoken.

But it is nice to be home :-) To cook and clean and organize my house! (I may not appreciate doing those things in a few weeks, but now it's still a novelty.) As we speak I have my husband happily working on my list of "to-do's." (He's happy b/c I made him chocolate chip cookies and then put him to work. Bribery, I know.)

Looking back on our travels, I failed to post some pictures! I think all of the sight-seeing pics are from Chicago. The other pics are just of Ethan and friends in various locations. Enjoy!

Better watch out!!

Can't Get Better Than This...

Unless it's free of course. I'm talking about a box of wipes for about thirty-nine cents!! Best thing about it is I don't have to wait for sales or coupons to do this (although sales & coupons do help). For about a year now, I've been making "home-made" wipes. I was quite skeptical at first...thought it would take way too much time....thought they wouldn't hold up...but alas, I was pleasantly surprised! Not only are they easy to make, but they also hold up very well, and I don't feel guilty if I use 10 wipes on a really bad diaper :-) Not to mention, I'm not constantly running out of wipes.

So here's how to make them. I didn't come up with this "recipe" originally. I have looked at so many different wipes "recipes" that I don't even know who to credit with the one I use. But the first time I heard anything about it was probably on Money Saving Mom's blog.

Home-made Wipes

1/2 Roll of Bounty of Viva Paper Towels*
2 Cups Water
1 TBSP Baby Shampoo
1 TBSP Baby Oil
Empty wipes containers

In a bowl large enough to hold your half roll of paper towel, combine water, shampoo and baby oil. Place the half roll of paper towel in your liquid mixture. Let it soak until you see that the paper towel roll is halfway wet. Turn the roll over to soak the other side of the roll. After all the water mixture is absorbed, you can either place the whole roll directly into the empty wipes container and tear them off the roll as needed OR you can tear the wet paper towels off the roll and lay them into the empty wipes container. I prefer the second option, although it takes more time initially, because it makes it easier to grab a wipe when I'm in a hurry.

*I'm going to be daring and say use ONLY bounty of viva. They hold up the best! Also, make sure you get paper towels without any prints or coloring on them. I like to get the rolls with the "select a size" option.

Maybe some of these questions are rolling through your head right now...

-How do you get half a paper towel roll? Use a big sharp kitchen knife :-) Sometimes I do have to coax the roll to break in half.

-How long does it take you to make a "batch"? It depends on how many rolls of paper towel you use. This last time I used two whole rolls (4 batches). It made 6 containers of wipes and took about 30 minutes from start to finish. This also includes the time it took to separate each paper towel and lay them into the wipes container. Great thing to keep your hands busy while watching tv :-)

The best thing about this is that you have all the ingredients in your house already! These wipes are also great for kids with sensitive skin.

This is the first time I had a little helper mix the ingredients for me :-) He did a great job!

Busy Stirring

Half Roll of Paper Towel Soaking up Liquid

"Measuring"

Holding Nothing Back

Have you ever been on vacation or visiting family and have come to the point where you just want to go home? Even though what you're doing may be fun, you just want to get back to your own bed and your own schedule. Well, after being away from home and living out of suitcases, and moving from house to house every week for 2 months, I came to a breaking point. I felt like I had enough and just wanted to go home! I questioned what God was doing in calling our family to travel across the country. I questioned how it could possibly be good for my little toddler to go to bed late and get up early (he doesn't know what sleeping in means yet). I just wanted my own house that I could clean, meals that I could plan and prepare for my family, a garden I could plant and my own house that I could make a home out of. As I was pouring my complaints out to the Lord (all of which I felt were justifiable), He began speaking to me about full surrender. Surrender? Haven't I already surrendered enough? I mean, most people don't just leave their job, home, family & friends to travel and tell others about Christ. (what proud thoughts!) I was wondering what else I needed to surrender. . . It was the small things. Those small desires I had to take care of my family it the way that best suited me. Simple desires to have my day run according to my schedule. My ideals on how to raise our little boy . . . With these small things in my life, I couldn't obey Christ's command to "Seek FIRST the kingdom of God." What was I seeking after? My own desires. Were my desires wrong? Not all of them. God has given me the task of taking care of my family. But I wanted to take care of my family in the environment that suited me most. It is important to set a schedule. But I was so frustrated and upset when my schedule was changed. So how do I seek first the kingdom of God? By holding nothing back. Even "small things." Giving those small desires, plans and ideals to God everyday, all day. But that's not all. He promises that all these "small things," the details that have been occupying my mind, will be taken care of by the Creator of the universe. What peace this brings!! And you know, I have realized that no matter where we are staying each week, and even when our drawers have turned into suitcases, I can still make our "house" a home.

So, what are you holding back?

Sweet Babbling

It was hard for me to surrender to the fact that Ethan didn't need a morning nap any longer. I guess it happened sometime after Christmas. Morning nap time was always "my time" to read the Bible or get ready for the day. I think Ethan needed a break from me too :-) Giving up a morning nap also meant that Ethan wanted to crash for his afternoon nap before or around lunch--not too ideal for the schedule. So taking the great advice of my sister, I tried putting Ethan in his crib for quiet playtime in the morning around the time he usually took a nap. I left the curtains open or the lights on, put toys and books in his crib, and let him play. It worked GREAT!! At first he would play for a few minutes, fuss, and then fall asleep. Now, he usually stays in his crib without fussing for 30 minutes. He comes out a happier, less-fussy boy than went in :-) My favorite part of this is listening to his sweet babblings. I hear him reciting names of people he knows, "reading" his books as best as he can and singing at the top of his lungs ("singing" consists of the word "la" put to his own melody). He does also throw all of his toys & books out of his crib one by one, but hey, it keeps him entertained! My favorite was last week when I heard him say "tittle-tittle" (tickle, tickle) and then giggle. I guess it's amusing to tickle himself :-) On rare occasions, he still falls asleep during these morning "break" times.

(yes, his wet diaper is protruding through the bottom of his outfit :-( Bad mommy!)

Spring Flowers

Welcome to Marhsalltown, Iowa!! Ethan is having a blast exploring the parks and fields around the church. His cousins have taught him about picking flowers. Mommy only made him pose for these pictures... maybe I need a little girl....

Trying Out New Things

I've thought about blogging ever since I started reading blogs about 2 years ago. I just didn't think I had anything interesting to blog about and I thought "How in the world will I have time to do that?" After Ethan was born, I tossed around the idea a little more so that I could get my creative juices flowing (sometimes you need a little more that daily "conversation" with a baby to keep your mind challenged :-). But I never had time then to explore how to create a blog. Now it seems more time is at my disposal since I don't have to cook meals or clean up much while we are traveling. So...now the question of subject matter... I love reading blogs about saving money, child rearing, cooking and biblical womanhood, but I don't feel I am qualified to write about those things. I have been encouraged by various friends & family members to keep a record of how the Lord provides for us as we walk by faith as well as the fun and exciting events of our little toddler. I want to be able to look back and remember the goodness of God to our family. I want my children to know what God did for them even before they could understand that there is a God who is a faithful provider.

So here we are... hopefully, I'll be faithful to writing!

Here are a few recent pictures...

Visiting a Children's Museum in La Crosse, WI

Visiting the monkeys at the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago (don't worry, we did see real monkeys too)

Excited to try blogging for the first time :-)