Every year we participate in the annual Spring Production with our homeschool group. This is in addition to the Christmas Production, which kicks off our extremely busy Christmas season.
The Spring Production brings all sorts of challenges for our family. For years we had several boys playing baseball. And then throw in Speech and Debate season, and you have a full regular schedule, never mind the additional rehearsals that a Spring Production brings.
Years ago, I came to grips with what this kind of production meant. Years ago, we had tech rehearsals, dress rehearsals, principle actor rehearsals, harmony singer rehearsals, and this was all in addition to the regular once a week rehearsals. Some years I had a kid make a cameo. Some years I had a kid who actually had a line or two. Some years I had to find some elaborate costume for one of my kids for a 1 minute appearance, and then they needed to change back into a choir t-shirt. (Did you know that dryer vent hoses, the silvery kind, make really cool robot arms and legs?) In recent years, my younger boys have lost all previous inhibitions and go big, with lots of lines. Those are the years where "The Production" means we set aside 40 minutes EACH day to go through the whole play to make sure the lines are memorized. (That was this year.)
Many years, because the kids are together so often in the last week, rehearsing extra hard, they get sick. Yes, all of them. They share the same cold. One year we got to all share the same stomach flu. I remember when my daughter had a cameo as an angel. She went on stage, delivered her message (it was in a box on her angel wings), and then she walked back stage and threw up in a bucket. Why was there a bucket handy? Oh, you just take a guess! She had been with all of these kids all week!
But what does this kind of production really mean? The lessons are simple. No matter how small or how big your part, you are all part of the show. If it were just the principle actors, how boring would that be? Robots making appearances, Professors of Theology scootering in with some profound one liner, angels delivering messages... these are the parts that make the play interesting. We are all part of the body. We work together to make the play more interesting.
As a homeschooler, I can teach all sorts of things with life lessons: Math, English, Foreign Language, Sciences. I do have a hard time illustrating how the body all works together, even though I divide out chores. (Maybe it's what we are doing, not how we are doing!) I am blessed that our homeschool group offers us the opportunity to be in a choir and to have a Spring Production. Through this vehicle, my students can learn how all parts make a big whole! They will see that their small part in service to their church and their community can equal something big. They can see how if they cast their one vote at election time that it can equal a victory.
Yes, I take all of these lessons from the simple Spring Production. And when the show is over, everyone has done a good job. Solos were perfect, lines were perfect, dancers were perfect, and even the camera men with no lines lent a great deal of fun to the show! And I can also mention how fun the air guitarists, air drummers and "make up" girls were! Kisses and hugs go all around. Flowers are given, along with bunches of kudos. The hard work paid off, and it took the whole cast to make it a success. May my children always remember the lessons that they learn from their Spring Productions: that they were part of something bigger than themselves!
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Monday, March 1, 2010
Teaching Boys to Write Papers
I remember reading the first letter my husband ever wrote to me. I was 21 and had just finished my Junior year in college. Actually, it was a thank you note, but I remember thinking, "Wow, he doesn't write like an engineer." He had a degree in Physics and a degree in Mechanical Engineering, but I thought that he really wrote like a Liberal Arts major! Not only was his penmanship neat and "pretty", but his language was "flowery" and very interesting to read.
I don't know when I developed my perception of how people wrote, or what it said about them, but here I was 21, and passing judgment on a young man who had innocently written me a letter. Well, come to find out, law school fit him to a tee, and maybe I was right after all!
So, here I am given the task to educate four boys. However, NONE of them have demonstrated strong liberal arts tendencies. My daughter started journaling as soon as she could form letters. I have precious little notes that she wrote while on a field trip in first grade stuck in my photo albums. A couple of years later she was appalled at her spelling, but I know that probably now, as a senior in college, she can appreciate the process of becoming a fully functional writer. Her journaling turned into essays, critiques and term papers. Giving her ANY instruction in style only enhanced her writing, as she'd instantly try to adopt the new style. When she went back to Strunk and White, she said, "I don't consider all of that writing a waste. It basically gave me a bigger piece of marble to sculpt from." Ahhh.... music to a mother's ears.
Back to the boys. The Science boys. So far, I have one that graduated with a degree in Chemistry. Son number two has expressed an interest in getting an Electrical Engineering degree. Jury is still out for sons three and four, but I still have to go through the wringer trying to get them to write papers.... needless to say, they didn't start journaling at the age of 5.
Here is what I do. 9th grader needs to write a cultural paper for Geography. I supplied him with ideas for about 5 different papers and let him pick his favorite topic. He chooses the topic that sounds the most interesting: Religions of Asia.
I grab a stack of index cards. I make him ask me at least 20 questions on Religions of Asia. I set the timer for 30 minutes. He knows some of the main Asian Religions. But, he starts with the easy one: What are the Religions of Asia? He gets warmed up, and starts asking varied questions. How did Buddhism get started? How did Islam spread? How many people practice Hinduism? I am furiously writing his questions down, separately on each card. Before he has finished, in 1/2 an hour, he has come up with over 30 questions.
Next, we take the stack of index cards and I have him categorize them. Now I have him line them up on the dining room table in an outline form. Still just questions on the cards, but he has an outline. Sometimes I'll have them transfer the questions onto a sheet of paper, but when they are younger, it is easier to just tape them onto a poster board, and let it sit up against a wall until the paper is done.
Over the course of whatever time frame we have, I have him do research in 1/2 hour increments on as many questions as he can answer. He puts the answers on the reverse side of the index card, and then puts it back into his outline. As he uses a reference, I have him make a Bibliography card, where he lists his references as he goes, and numbers his reference, and puts the same number on the question card that this reference answered.
When he is done gathering his information, he writes the body of his paper. This is where style is worked in. Using Institute for Excellence in Writing, or IEW, (http://www.excellenceinwriting.com/) has been very helpful for my boys. There is something to be said for using a checklist for them. I don't make them follow every rule, every paragraph, but it becomes like a puzzle to them, if they do try to finish the checklist. They understand how to vary their writing, and I am glad to have a checklist to give them.
In a week or so the paper is finished, waiting for me to (depending on the age): type it, run through it with my red pen making marks on all of the grammatical and spelling errors, and then let them redo it.
The "question method" of generating their outlines has really worked for my boys. The success has been that after they have done it for a couple of years, it becomes easier each time, with the goal being that when they get to college, they can just write those 20 questions into a document on their computer, and go for it. At least that's my goal. The "getting them to journal" goal never really got off the ground. And I don't know that they'll ever write like a liberal arts major, or their father, but I have hope.
I don't know when I developed my perception of how people wrote, or what it said about them, but here I was 21, and passing judgment on a young man who had innocently written me a letter. Well, come to find out, law school fit him to a tee, and maybe I was right after all!
So, here I am given the task to educate four boys. However, NONE of them have demonstrated strong liberal arts tendencies. My daughter started journaling as soon as she could form letters. I have precious little notes that she wrote while on a field trip in first grade stuck in my photo albums. A couple of years later she was appalled at her spelling, but I know that probably now, as a senior in college, she can appreciate the process of becoming a fully functional writer. Her journaling turned into essays, critiques and term papers. Giving her ANY instruction in style only enhanced her writing, as she'd instantly try to adopt the new style. When she went back to Strunk and White, she said, "I don't consider all of that writing a waste. It basically gave me a bigger piece of marble to sculpt from." Ahhh.... music to a mother's ears.
Back to the boys. The Science boys. So far, I have one that graduated with a degree in Chemistry. Son number two has expressed an interest in getting an Electrical Engineering degree. Jury is still out for sons three and four, but I still have to go through the wringer trying to get them to write papers.... needless to say, they didn't start journaling at the age of 5.
Here is what I do. 9th grader needs to write a cultural paper for Geography. I supplied him with ideas for about 5 different papers and let him pick his favorite topic. He chooses the topic that sounds the most interesting: Religions of Asia.
I grab a stack of index cards. I make him ask me at least 20 questions on Religions of Asia. I set the timer for 30 minutes. He knows some of the main Asian Religions. But, he starts with the easy one: What are the Religions of Asia? He gets warmed up, and starts asking varied questions. How did Buddhism get started? How did Islam spread? How many people practice Hinduism? I am furiously writing his questions down, separately on each card. Before he has finished, in 1/2 an hour, he has come up with over 30 questions.
Next, we take the stack of index cards and I have him categorize them. Now I have him line them up on the dining room table in an outline form. Still just questions on the cards, but he has an outline. Sometimes I'll have them transfer the questions onto a sheet of paper, but when they are younger, it is easier to just tape them onto a poster board, and let it sit up against a wall until the paper is done.
Over the course of whatever time frame we have, I have him do research in 1/2 hour increments on as many questions as he can answer. He puts the answers on the reverse side of the index card, and then puts it back into his outline. As he uses a reference, I have him make a Bibliography card, where he lists his references as he goes, and numbers his reference, and puts the same number on the question card that this reference answered.
When he is done gathering his information, he writes the body of his paper. This is where style is worked in. Using Institute for Excellence in Writing, or IEW, (http://www.excellenceinwriting.com/) has been very helpful for my boys. There is something to be said for using a checklist for them. I don't make them follow every rule, every paragraph, but it becomes like a puzzle to them, if they do try to finish the checklist. They understand how to vary their writing, and I am glad to have a checklist to give them.
In a week or so the paper is finished, waiting for me to (depending on the age): type it, run through it with my red pen making marks on all of the grammatical and spelling errors, and then let them redo it.
The "question method" of generating their outlines has really worked for my boys. The success has been that after they have done it for a couple of years, it becomes easier each time, with the goal being that when they get to college, they can just write those 20 questions into a document on their computer, and go for it. At least that's my goal. The "getting them to journal" goal never really got off the ground. And I don't know that they'll ever write like a liberal arts major, or their father, but I have hope.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Teaching Spanish Vocabulary - Clothing
In trying to jump start my blogging, or actually the recording of day to day events, I thought I'd start with what I did today.
This year, I have a Spanish 1 class. 14 students, 10 of them girls. About 7 of them perfectionists. Working with perfectionists is a little different, fortunately my daughter broke me in.
But, no energy to pontificate on my policies of working with perfectionists. I'm here just to relate how I tried to teach my students clothing vocabulary in Spanish this morning.
Last week, some mothers brought in lots of doll clothes. I introduced the vocabulary basics.
This week, I hunted for 14 dolls to take into class. Quite a feat to find 14 dolls in my house...well, actually, I didn't. In addition to 9 dolls from various countries, I ended up taking in a "Woody", an Angel Rally monkey, a USC Rally monkey, and a couple of "Build-A-Bears", all fully clothed. I put one "doll" in front of each student. I gave each student a chance to tell me what their "doll" was wearing, along with the colors of each clothing item.
In advance to the class, I took the doll clothes that different mothers had brought in the previous week, and I create 14 different outfits on index cards. Some of the outfits made sense (they matched), others were just a little outlandish. In addition to writing the clothing item and it's color on the cards, I added in new vocabulary if I want to talk about a print or a design on the clothing. In class, I put all of the clothes in a laundry basket, mixed them up, and then handed each student an index card with the outfit on it and instructed them to find the outfit. It was a fun time, especially when a couple of students grabbed the wrong items and left the other students with things that didn't match their descriptions at all! Then they had to cooperate in order to get the correct outfit in front of them.
I guess I'll figure out if this activity worked next week, when they take the vocabulary quiz! But, by then, we will have moved on to "food vocabulary", which I introduced this morning. Should be a great time!
This year, I have a Spanish 1 class. 14 students, 10 of them girls. About 7 of them perfectionists. Working with perfectionists is a little different, fortunately my daughter broke me in.
But, no energy to pontificate on my policies of working with perfectionists. I'm here just to relate how I tried to teach my students clothing vocabulary in Spanish this morning.
Last week, some mothers brought in lots of doll clothes. I introduced the vocabulary basics.
This week, I hunted for 14 dolls to take into class. Quite a feat to find 14 dolls in my house...well, actually, I didn't. In addition to 9 dolls from various countries, I ended up taking in a "Woody", an Angel Rally monkey, a USC Rally monkey, and a couple of "Build-A-Bears", all fully clothed. I put one "doll" in front of each student. I gave each student a chance to tell me what their "doll" was wearing, along with the colors of each clothing item.
In advance to the class, I took the doll clothes that different mothers had brought in the previous week, and I create 14 different outfits on index cards. Some of the outfits made sense (they matched), others were just a little outlandish. In addition to writing the clothing item and it's color on the cards, I added in new vocabulary if I want to talk about a print or a design on the clothing. In class, I put all of the clothes in a laundry basket, mixed them up, and then handed each student an index card with the outfit on it and instructed them to find the outfit. It was a fun time, especially when a couple of students grabbed the wrong items and left the other students with things that didn't match their descriptions at all! Then they had to cooperate in order to get the correct outfit in front of them.
I guess I'll figure out if this activity worked next week, when they take the vocabulary quiz! But, by then, we will have moved on to "food vocabulary", which I introduced this morning. Should be a great time!
Monday, April 6, 2009
Holy Week
In an effort to make sure that my children understand the meaning and significance of Easter, I have worked very hard to put in place family traditions that hopefully will not die in the next generation. When the children were younger, I remember saying to Don, "I have managed to make this week more stressful than Christmas!" Now, it is not stressful at all, but a week that I, too, anticipate. I am realizing that this week I am breaking away, but it is not intentional at all!
Palm Sunday we were in Santa Barbara. Monday evening held a beloved small group faculty meeting. Wednesday we will back in Santa Barbara for a wonderful occassion of watching our son get the Westmont Warrior Golden Eagle scholar/athlete award. And throughout this week, the three who remain at home are taking their standardized tests. So, the challenge here will be to integrate the traditions as we have time.
After Palm Sunday, I like to decorate the house for Easter. Then it is on to preparing our hearts.
On Monday, we watch the Disney movie Prince of Egypt.
On Tuesday evening we watch The Ten Commandments, you know, the one with Charlton Heston.
On Wednesday evening, we have a "Chametz" ceremony where we clean our house of all leavened bread. It is actually a Jewish tradition that reminds us of the flight from Egypt, where the Israelites fled without their bread rising. It has double significance for us as the leaven reminds us of our sin and how we need the Messiah to take our sin away. After the ceremony we eat with matzo until Easter morning.
On Thursday we used to do a Passover Seder, but because of events in recent years, we save our Passover Seder until Good Friday.
On Friday, I prepare all day for the Seder. I set the table with care, a full formal setting for whoever will be spending the evening with us, along with a place setting for Elijah. We follow a Haggadah that I purchased years ago. I prepare a matzoh tosh, though I'd like to make or purchase a real one some day. I also prepare an afikoman bag, charoset, the Seder Plate, and the items that go on a Seder Plate: lamb shankbone, roasted eggs, parsley, and maror (I try to find the hottest I can find). We typically have lamb for dinner, with butter beans, carrots, potato latkes, a green salad, and then Passover cake with strawberries for dessert. Of course, we drink enough grape juice throughout the ceremony to make that a meal all by itself!
As we go through the ceremony, from the hand washing to the singing to the reading to the teaching, we are reminded each year of how God always comes through for us. Our Seder has become as a meaningful a meal to me as I can imagine. I think it is good to reflect on what God has done.
On Saturday, we dye eggs. We watch The Jesus Film and we go to bed early. Earlier in the week, I will have gone to purchase some special, meaningful Christian gifts for my loved ones to put in their Easter baskets.
On Sunday, we go to sunrise service. As the sun rises and I sit in the amplitheater with 5000 other people, and I watch the cars pour in, I always contemplate how wonderful it would be if Christ would come back right in that moment. The amplitheater would be empty except for all of the blankets strewn all over. The cars would all be neatly parked and left there to be removed by someone else. I enjoy the worship, the teaching, the Word, and the whole service, but I always think how wonderful it would be if....
Typically on Sunday afternoon, we have all of the cousins over where we have the most awesome Easter egg hunt I have ever seen. Everyone brings the eggs that they took home the prior year, and this year they are filled again. The dads and the bigger cousins hide the eggs and the moms go through the Resurrection Eggs with the little ones. Then there is eating and swimming. And, by the way, we eat leavened bread and ham - not kosher!
That is how we spend Holy Week, and I love it!
Palm Sunday we were in Santa Barbara. Monday evening held a beloved small group faculty meeting. Wednesday we will back in Santa Barbara for a wonderful occassion of watching our son get the Westmont Warrior Golden Eagle scholar/athlete award. And throughout this week, the three who remain at home are taking their standardized tests. So, the challenge here will be to integrate the traditions as we have time.
After Palm Sunday, I like to decorate the house for Easter. Then it is on to preparing our hearts.
On Monday, we watch the Disney movie Prince of Egypt.
On Tuesday evening we watch The Ten Commandments, you know, the one with Charlton Heston.
On Wednesday evening, we have a "Chametz" ceremony where we clean our house of all leavened bread. It is actually a Jewish tradition that reminds us of the flight from Egypt, where the Israelites fled without their bread rising. It has double significance for us as the leaven reminds us of our sin and how we need the Messiah to take our sin away. After the ceremony we eat with matzo until Easter morning.
On Thursday we used to do a Passover Seder, but because of events in recent years, we save our Passover Seder until Good Friday.
On Friday, I prepare all day for the Seder. I set the table with care, a full formal setting for whoever will be spending the evening with us, along with a place setting for Elijah. We follow a Haggadah that I purchased years ago. I prepare a matzoh tosh, though I'd like to make or purchase a real one some day. I also prepare an afikoman bag, charoset, the Seder Plate, and the items that go on a Seder Plate: lamb shankbone, roasted eggs, parsley, and maror (I try to find the hottest I can find). We typically have lamb for dinner, with butter beans, carrots, potato latkes, a green salad, and then Passover cake with strawberries for dessert. Of course, we drink enough grape juice throughout the ceremony to make that a meal all by itself!
As we go through the ceremony, from the hand washing to the singing to the reading to the teaching, we are reminded each year of how God always comes through for us. Our Seder has become as a meaningful a meal to me as I can imagine. I think it is good to reflect on what God has done.
On Saturday, we dye eggs. We watch The Jesus Film and we go to bed early. Earlier in the week, I will have gone to purchase some special, meaningful Christian gifts for my loved ones to put in their Easter baskets.
On Sunday, we go to sunrise service. As the sun rises and I sit in the amplitheater with 5000 other people, and I watch the cars pour in, I always contemplate how wonderful it would be if Christ would come back right in that moment. The amplitheater would be empty except for all of the blankets strewn all over. The cars would all be neatly parked and left there to be removed by someone else. I enjoy the worship, the teaching, the Word, and the whole service, but I always think how wonderful it would be if....
Typically on Sunday afternoon, we have all of the cousins over where we have the most awesome Easter egg hunt I have ever seen. Everyone brings the eggs that they took home the prior year, and this year they are filled again. The dads and the bigger cousins hide the eggs and the moms go through the Resurrection Eggs with the little ones. Then there is eating and swimming. And, by the way, we eat leavened bread and ham - not kosher!
That is how we spend Holy Week, and I love it!
Monday, January 19, 2009
The Body
I Corinthians 12:14, 18 - 20
For the body is not one member, but many… But now God has placed the members, each of them, in the body, just as He desired. And if they were all one member, where would the body be? But now there are many members, but one body.
As I walked into the Community Center at Mariners Church at 7:45 on Saturday evening, I was overwhelmed with emotion. The 700 chairs we rented were all there and set up. The awards were gleaming in the stage lighting, all set up. The DVD was done and handed to the sound guy. The ballots were in the back in crates, alphabetized. The scripts were right behind them. Lost and found throughout the campus was also on its own table.
This wasn’t the work of one person, this was the work of The Body!
I know you haven't heard from me in a couple of months. I've been busy planning a big speech and debate tournament. 414 competitors. 298 families. Over 400 community judges. About 50 "workers" who helped run this tournament. At times it was overwhelming at what needed to be done and accounted for, like little pieces of paper with one word cut up and put into 16 envelopes to whether or not everyone had paid their fees.
On Wednesday, driving over to the start of the tournament, I was overwhelmed again, as I called my husband and told him that I could do no more. I was "empty" and that Christ was going to have to do the rest. I told him that I could never run a country, nor a state. One tournament was enough for me. He told me that if I did ever decide to run a state, that I would be surrounded by perfectly capable paid staff who would answer my every whim.
But the amazing thing was that I had a perfectly capable VOLUNTEER staff who did answer my every whim. What could be better than that?
Time and time again, I am impressed by the way the Body of Christ works. When everyone knows what they are going to do, things work like clock work, and everything gets done on time. AMAZING! And how great is our God to know the inner workings of a clock and even more profound, the inner workings of people! To God be the Glory.
For the body is not one member, but many… But now God has placed the members, each of them, in the body, just as He desired. And if they were all one member, where would the body be? But now there are many members, but one body.
As I walked into the Community Center at Mariners Church at 7:45 on Saturday evening, I was overwhelmed with emotion. The 700 chairs we rented were all there and set up. The awards were gleaming in the stage lighting, all set up. The DVD was done and handed to the sound guy. The ballots were in the back in crates, alphabetized. The scripts were right behind them. Lost and found throughout the campus was also on its own table.
This wasn’t the work of one person, this was the work of The Body!
I know you haven't heard from me in a couple of months. I've been busy planning a big speech and debate tournament. 414 competitors. 298 families. Over 400 community judges. About 50 "workers" who helped run this tournament. At times it was overwhelming at what needed to be done and accounted for, like little pieces of paper with one word cut up and put into 16 envelopes to whether or not everyone had paid their fees.
On Wednesday, driving over to the start of the tournament, I was overwhelmed again, as I called my husband and told him that I could do no more. I was "empty" and that Christ was going to have to do the rest. I told him that I could never run a country, nor a state. One tournament was enough for me. He told me that if I did ever decide to run a state, that I would be surrounded by perfectly capable paid staff who would answer my every whim.
But the amazing thing was that I had a perfectly capable VOLUNTEER staff who did answer my every whim. What could be better than that?
Time and time again, I am impressed by the way the Body of Christ works. When everyone knows what they are going to do, things work like clock work, and everything gets done on time. AMAZING! And how great is our God to know the inner workings of a clock and even more profound, the inner workings of people! To God be the Glory.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Thanksgiving Dinner, Stout Style
One year, I can't tell you which one, I was pretty smart and organized. Since I feel like I'm regularly losing brain cells, it must have been quite a while ago. Anyway, I typed in our Thanksgiving menu into the computer. I also added the recipes, and on the second page I added the shopping list. For the last few years I simply hit print and my menu comes out, along with the shopping list.
~The Stout's Thanksgiving Menu~
Appetizer platter: stuffed celery (cream cheese or peanut butter), carrots, pickles, nuts, Aunt Christina's eggs
Roast Turkey
Stuffing with onions, olives and celery (Nana Hill's recipe)
Plain Stuffing (for the picky)
Cranberry jelly (out of the can, for Don's comfort)
Cranberry Jell-o Salad (Nana Hill's recipe)
Green salad with raspberry dressing, dried cranberries and pralines
Spinach and Artichoke casserole (from the year the Crouch's didn't have a kitchen and this was their favorite and we didn't want them to miss out, but we thought we should adopt it as a regular)
Carrot/Cheese casserole (Nana Hill's recipe)
Macaroni and Cheese casserole (Nana Hill's recipe)
Green bean Casserole (Mom Stout's recipe)
Sweet Potato Souffle (Grandma Hattenfield's recipe)
Pumpkin soup (My own recipe!)
Garlic mashed potatoes (for my niece, Christen's delight)
Turkey gravy
Cranberry juice with 7up (Nana Stout's mixture)
Egg nog (A recipe I adopted while in college from my Campus Crusade for Christ staff member)
Fresh baked bread
Pumpkin Pie
Apple Pie (I prefer Dutch Apple or French Apple, so I make one of those, and then a traditional for everyone else!)
Each year, we host a different crew. And I see, as the years go on, that it will continue to be different people for the rest of my life. Tomorrow we are hosting 21. But every year is different. I input all of the casserole recipes into a calorie counter a few years ago, and figured I ate 3100 calories in one meal! On Monday of this week, I boiled and peeled everything. Yesterday I mashed everything. Today, with the help of Priscilla, Philip and Andrew, we mixed everything. Tomorrow we will put on the toppings and bake everything, after the turkey is done, resting and waiting to be carved. I love to have a clean kitchen when I serve dinner. I like the dishwashers to be empty and ready to be loaded with the dinner dishes before we eat dessert. That's why I trash my kitchen the day before! Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
~The Stout's Thanksgiving Menu~
Appetizer platter: stuffed celery (cream cheese or peanut butter), carrots, pickles, nuts, Aunt Christina's eggs
Roast Turkey
Stuffing with onions, olives and celery (Nana Hill's recipe)
Plain Stuffing (for the picky)
Cranberry jelly (out of the can, for Don's comfort)
Cranberry Jell-o Salad (Nana Hill's recipe)
Green salad with raspberry dressing, dried cranberries and pralines
Spinach and Artichoke casserole (from the year the Crouch's didn't have a kitchen and this was their favorite and we didn't want them to miss out, but we thought we should adopt it as a regular)
Carrot/Cheese casserole (Nana Hill's recipe)
Macaroni and Cheese casserole (Nana Hill's recipe)
Green bean Casserole (Mom Stout's recipe)
Sweet Potato Souffle (Grandma Hattenfield's recipe)
Pumpkin soup (My own recipe!)
Garlic mashed potatoes (for my niece, Christen's delight)
Turkey gravy
Cranberry juice with 7up (Nana Stout's mixture)
Egg nog (A recipe I adopted while in college from my Campus Crusade for Christ staff member)
Fresh baked bread
Pumpkin Pie
Apple Pie (I prefer Dutch Apple or French Apple, so I make one of those, and then a traditional for everyone else!)
Each year, we host a different crew. And I see, as the years go on, that it will continue to be different people for the rest of my life. Tomorrow we are hosting 21. But every year is different. I input all of the casserole recipes into a calorie counter a few years ago, and figured I ate 3100 calories in one meal! On Monday of this week, I boiled and peeled everything. Yesterday I mashed everything. Today, with the help of Priscilla, Philip and Andrew, we mixed everything. Tomorrow we will put on the toppings and bake everything, after the turkey is done, resting and waiting to be carved. I love to have a clean kitchen when I serve dinner. I like the dishwashers to be empty and ready to be loaded with the dinner dishes before we eat dessert. That's why I trash my kitchen the day before! Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Our Own Little Corner of the World
Life has been a whirl the last two weeks. We watched a national election. We watched the responses of people who didn't like what happened on that November 4th. Some people gracefully took the results of the evening with sighs of resignation, while others stormed the streets, stomping like outraged toddlers, who didn't get what they wanted. It makes one wonder about parenting techniques all over again. If the toddlers throw big enough tantrums will they eventually get what they want? And then the compliant child never really gets what he wants because he was obedient to the authorities around him. I know which one I'd rather go to a restaurant with!
Along with my Political Science degree, I was majoring in Psychology. Did anyone really know that? Or did they care? And actually, my senior year, I was so fed up with what was being taught, I couldn't agree with my professor any more. People really have spiritual problems, more than psychological problems, and too many times they are allowed to make excuses. Don't get me wrong. I believe that there are hormonal imbalances, and other causes for apparent psychological issues, but I always believed many people used the psychobabble as an excuse for their spiritual shortcomings. Needless to say, I got a D in one certain professor's class, and I lost my major, so it was considered a Psychology minor. So, I have a Psychology minor. But I digress.
In one of the many classes I took, I remember them talking about men and midlife crises. The need to go get the sports car. The need to trade in the old, faithful wife for one half her age. When talking about the reasons for this "midlife crisis", one reason cited was that when a President gets elected younger than you are, you take stock of your life and realize that you may or may not be where you want to be in your life. And chances are, you will probably never be President. Younger men had "midlife crises" when John F. Kennedy was President, than when Ronald Reagan was President. But isn't that a funny thing to consider?
Well, look at Barrack Obama. He is younger than my husband is. Pretty much proof that my husband will never be President of the United States. Glad that question is settled! Okay, should I expect that my husband will have a midlife crisis? Well, I lean back to my original gut feeling, that it really is a spiritual issue.
But, what about our own little corner of the world? Have we been faithful in the small things that have come our way? I pray so. We have our own places of influence. Our children, our church, our homeschool group, our neighbors.
Just this week, we got to minister to our son and his friends whose college has been affected by the fires. We get to pray on a daily basis for all of our children. We get to discipline them and disciple them. We also get to minister to other children on a daily basis. Spanish, Science, American Government, Speech, Debate and service to others. There is no shortage of outlets to affect our own little corner of the world. My husband is allowed to minister to a wider range of people, whether or not they know they are being ministered to, he is serving them with the gifts given to him by his Creator.
And although the last two weeks have been a whirlwind, and we are only now getting to the crazy holiday time, I pray that we are faithful to our own little corner of the world. And when confronted with issues we don't like, we teach our children to sigh and behave with grace.
Along with my Political Science degree, I was majoring in Psychology. Did anyone really know that? Or did they care? And actually, my senior year, I was so fed up with what was being taught, I couldn't agree with my professor any more. People really have spiritual problems, more than psychological problems, and too many times they are allowed to make excuses. Don't get me wrong. I believe that there are hormonal imbalances, and other causes for apparent psychological issues, but I always believed many people used the psychobabble as an excuse for their spiritual shortcomings. Needless to say, I got a D in one certain professor's class, and I lost my major, so it was considered a Psychology minor. So, I have a Psychology minor. But I digress.
In one of the many classes I took, I remember them talking about men and midlife crises. The need to go get the sports car. The need to trade in the old, faithful wife for one half her age. When talking about the reasons for this "midlife crisis", one reason cited was that when a President gets elected younger than you are, you take stock of your life and realize that you may or may not be where you want to be in your life. And chances are, you will probably never be President. Younger men had "midlife crises" when John F. Kennedy was President, than when Ronald Reagan was President. But isn't that a funny thing to consider?
Well, look at Barrack Obama. He is younger than my husband is. Pretty much proof that my husband will never be President of the United States. Glad that question is settled! Okay, should I expect that my husband will have a midlife crisis? Well, I lean back to my original gut feeling, that it really is a spiritual issue.
But, what about our own little corner of the world? Have we been faithful in the small things that have come our way? I pray so. We have our own places of influence. Our children, our church, our homeschool group, our neighbors.
Just this week, we got to minister to our son and his friends whose college has been affected by the fires. We get to pray on a daily basis for all of our children. We get to discipline them and disciple them. We also get to minister to other children on a daily basis. Spanish, Science, American Government, Speech, Debate and service to others. There is no shortage of outlets to affect our own little corner of the world. My husband is allowed to minister to a wider range of people, whether or not they know they are being ministered to, he is serving them with the gifts given to him by his Creator.
And although the last two weeks have been a whirlwind, and we are only now getting to the crazy holiday time, I pray that we are faithful to our own little corner of the world. And when confronted with issues we don't like, we teach our children to sigh and behave with grace.
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