http://www.papercraftmemories.com/p/free-wordart-files.html#.VHJNi2feN4E

Happy Thanksgiving Day to each and every one! It's a wonderful day here in the Johnson house. We began our Thanksgiving dinner with prayer and a verse of "Thank You, Lord". The roast (yes, ROAST BEEF) filled the house with fabulous olfactory stimulation. It's been a few years since we have had a roast, and wow, maybe it won't be quite so long before the next one! There was something special on the table for everyone: for Pastor J, the roast and gravy; for Alison, the sweet potato and marshmallow thing; for Amy, my mom's glazed carrots and my famous make-ahead mashed potatoes; for Betz, pineapple cole slaw; and for Emily, homemade bread that didn't make it to the table. (It's hard to make bread when one is out of yeast. I thought I had some in a clear bag in the freezer. Turns out the content of said bag are a mystery ingredient.) There was no bread, but there was a free apple pie from Costco and some ice cream to top it off. 

After dinner, my sweet husband presented all of us ladies with a beautifully written card, and gifts, too, for the girls. I never have anything meaningful for him. :(  So I am working on something for next year already. That is a secret, since he reads this blog (when there is something to read.) 

It's so nice to have everyone home today. ♥ Those of us who are home-bodies (that would be Betz and Em and I) have especially missed Alie, because she is gone so much of the time. When she is not at work or teaching violin or hanging out at work after her shift, and not hidden away in her room using her iPhone, she is a whirlwind of joy and happiness, so her absence is noticed. Pastor J is working loooong hours, which has messed up our normal supper schedule; and we never know if our beloved Amy will be home for supper. So it was very good to have everyone around the table laughing together today. 

Things have sure changed over the years. I no longer have a child or two who says each year that she is thankful for a warm bed and blankets. The things the girls appreciate now are things like good preaching, personally meaningful Bible verses, co-workers, missionary friends, laughter, and Caribou Coffee. 

Um, yeah, the tree trunk is the wrong color, but it's okay. And yeah, the leaves are all falling off, but autumn is over in MN anyway. Our leaves have all fallen and blown to the next state. We really need to have Thanksgiving tree branches with snowflakes on them instead of leaves--hey, there's an idea for next year.

Personally, I am especially grateful to the Lord this year for my wonderful husband. He knows that love is a VERB and not a FEELING, and he practices every single day.  I am grateful to him for taking "for better or for worse" seriously, and never giving up on me. I am grateful for the Lord putting my husband into the ministry, and for the things that God teaches us together over the years. I am also thankful today for the remnant of brain tissue that remains in my head, for dirty dishes and laundry, and for snow. And later this evening, I will be really thankful for an afternoon nap... 

Bless the Lord for his unfailing mercy, grace, and love.

Charge them that are rich in this world, 

that they be not highminded,

nor trust in uncertain riches,

but in the living God,

who giveth us richly all things to enjoy;

1 Timothy 6:17

As one daughter posted recently, "How many newspapers in the country get a column on how to be saved?!" It's a blessing that the local paper where our church meets invites area pastors to contribute a regular column. We see many "Focus on Faith" articles about being a nice person and about life's problems, but never one about how to be eternally saved--unless my pastor husband wrote it. In this geographical area that is steeped with religion, maybe the pastors think everyone is safe from judgment, so they don't bother to address that. Or maybe the pastors don't tell how to be saved because they don't know how. The fact is, lots of people here, probably the majority, are leaning on their baptism. That's convenient--baptismal regeneration eliminates the discomfort of repentance and a personal relationship with the Savior, Jesus Christ. It also doesn't produce any new creatures whose "old things have passed away." Christ's name is well-known here, but is He?

LEAD pastor, mind you. Now that is funny! :)

And the word of the Lord was published throughout all the region.

Acts 13:49

July Stuff

Oh my there is so much to record, and I never get around to it. Blogging is a time-consuming effort, but totally worth it when I see the happiness it brings to my kids. They just love to read my old posts. Too bad I don't write more often. I'm only about three years behind...

Today is Independence Day, 2014. As I stepped into the shower and thanked God for hot water (again), I also thanked him for this nation. In spite of all the horrible things that are happening in the U.S. of A., I am still grateful to live here and to have the liberties that I do have. The trouble is not all the U.S. government's fault --  if we humans would just govern ourselves, we wouldn't have half the trouble that we do. As long as people want a right to do whatever their flesh desires with no accountability, and as long as they say, "Don't judge me," (translation --"Let me sin in peace!"), we're going to have trouble. God didn't say not to judge; he said to judge righteous judgment. How do we know what is the righteous standard is that Jesus Christ talked about?  I'll give you a hint. The Bible is where you'll find that standard of righteousness. Why do most people believe same-sex "marriage" or abortion or any number of other evils is wrong? Because it's wrong. God said so. But some people don't want even GOD telling them what to do. And that is a big problem for all of us.

Okay, end of unfinished soapbox moment.

We've done lots of projects, and we've left a lot more undone. I learned to make some pretty good bread without even using the bread machine. Betz started an online math class. We went to family camp in Missouri. Amy is becoming an awesome early childhood education expert. Alison was promoted to Culvers management and is now teaching violin lessons in three towns. We planted a vegetable garden and decorated the front step with some potted flowers. Emily started a quilt. We went on a train ride. I cultured (and shared!) real live, Russian kefir for several months. Mr Diamonds started a job. I started another blog (silly me.) The floors got mopped. But both girls' bedrooms need paint and some cheery decor. The top of the kitchen cupboards needs scrubbing. The fridge needs cleaning out. ...Eh, it's not going anywhere.

Today was another project day. Our poor, cheaply upholstered piano bench, which is assembled and disassembled and hauled to church every week, was really looking pathetic. I fixed it this morning with less than $1.50 and a borrowed staple gun. Put that in the pile of projects that I have looked at for months, thinking, "I should fix that."  Another one of those projects was moving the sewing table downstairs and the piano upstairs, along with our big desk. And cleaning out under the basement stairs. Thankfully we have Amy. She's great at tackling those formidable things. She does it cheerfully and completely. Love that kid!  

Speaking of Amy, she is graduate #2 in this family, hooray!  But she deserves her own post about all that.

Remember this project? 

Well, it didn't work. The spray adhesive didn't stick to the foam, not one bit. I think we used Elmer's spray adhesive the first time. As a result, the board and print flopped behind the sewing table for the past two years, gathering dust. Last night Amy dragged me to OfficeMax for new prints, and to Target and WalMart for a different aerosol adhesive that would stick to foam. The dusty old print went in the trash, having been scratched and smeared the first time through. Amy cut the insulation board down using a hand saw, leaving the rough edges. Then she painted the edges with $.97 black craft paint and waited impatiently for it to dry (approx. 20 min). Next step, she sprayed the back of the print and one side of the foam board, then carefully lay the print down, smoothing out the air bubbles with a rolling pin. A couple hours later (or less) here's the finished product:

Might cut that larger border down and repaint, but otherwise it's all good! Except I might change my mind about which wall we want these on, especially if we find a free, small couch or comfy love seat for the other corner of that room. It's so cool have these professional-looking prints for a small fraction of the price.

Next project, that blog header. I'll be back.

Apology to self for my disappearance.  I was going to change my blog decor, got distracted while it was still a mess, and forgot I had unpublished myself.  Here we are still in a mess and since it's late at night, it will stay that way for a while.  Looks like my blog housekeeping and my house housekeeping share a common trait.  After all, the mess isn't going anywhere...

Man-sized English muffins

On the back of the Gold Medal unbleached flour bag there is a recipe for a no-knead artisan loaf you can put together in five minutes. Since my bread machine bit the dust quite some time ago, I have been using that recipe, slightly altered (because I always alter recipes), for weeks now. When we were growing up Mom always had some sort of rolls on the supper table, or at least I remember it that way. Supper just doesn't seem like it is complete unless we have our habitual bread with it. I know, it's filler, right? And my body could really do without it. 

But the other day I ran across this variation of their basic flour bag recipe on the Bread in 5 website  -- griddle-baked English muffins. 

Had to try 'em.

As you can see above, only four fit in my 10" skillet. (They really aren't yellow -- that's my camera, sorry.) These are MAN-SIZE English muffins! That wasn't the recipe's fault, but mine. I sort of forgot the dough would grow while the unbaked muffins were resting on my counter top. I used a wide-mouth canning ring to cut them, getting only 8 English muffins out of what would normally be a nice sized loaf of bread. So these are like 4-5" in diameter. Unlike the shrimpy Thomases English muffins, there is no problem getting these babies out of the toaster!

Whoops, sorry, I tore off a piece before taking the photo.

I am wondering what I will be filling my days with after all my kids are grown.  I won't be an expert at anything, but maybe I will have at least tried lots of things.  :)

I think for my next trick I will be making this apple strudel bread. Or maybe not. It does feel futile to bake for a family of six. But I love them... and I love bread, too.  Okay, you talked me into it.

 

April 29th. Yes. It is STILL snowing here. The scenery has not changed much since the last time I used this photo. It's been a popular one with me this season. Okay, we do have some grass greening up now, and the trees are starting to bud, and I have seen a few bugs out. But it will be snowing, or at least raining, for the rest of the week. 

So we decided we would go do something that every other mom in our town is probably thinking of doing this week, too, and that is swimming at the local motel pool. We are hoping all the other moms are planning to take their kids later in the week, and we'll go today.  

So we drive the 1.1 miles to the motel and behold, disappointment! A sign on the door says the pool and hot tub are closed until further notice. Can you imagine being a ten year old, beside yourself with anticipation, and making this discovery? Life is cruel.

We are fortunate to have another motel 15 miles away, another one that has public swimming hours. But they open later. On the phone they don't sound nearly as friendly, but we'll sneak in there in a bit and get three good hours of swimming in before the federal school, lets out. 

News:  Betz is now wearing glasses, much to her discomfort. She is very cute in them, but you know how it is when you feel conspicuous. Amy is graduating this spring and even though I knew that, the event has kind of snuck up on me. I need to at least order some announcements. Emily has joined the Junior Master Gardener Program for our county. Not sure what that entails yet, but I hope it instills in her a love for growing things. I discovered, or maybe rediscovered, the Project Based Homeschool website and book. I always seem to come across these things in the spring, and then by the next fall I'll be back to ordering very "box"-conforming textbooks for school. I'm hoping that will change this year. It can change. I can change. I can, I can. Lord willing, I will change.

Time to go swimming. Hopefully the pool will be empty. :)

April 16th.  You just thought spring was here!

There are a few drafts in the works, but I will probably never get them written. Life happens. I am going to post one of them for the photos, if nothing else, because in about four years my girls will scroll thru my old blog posts again, and they will be greatly entertained.  

We've been to the history museum, gone to a play, dissected rabbits, shot a gun for the first time, collected maple sap for syrup, started walking (that was before we had mounds of spring snow), visited a lovely farm, baked cookies and muffins and that amazing whole wheat banana raisin bread, nearly slid off the road into the lake (that was today), and gone to a party for the 5th and 6th grade girls at our co-op.

I have taught math and English, reviewed algebra, read up on the terrible secret history of Lithuania/Latvia/Estonia/Finland under Stalin's regime, had a date with my husband, and invented succulent dishes for my family.

And today, after a long hiatus from reading all the weekly posts on the Carnival of Homeschooling, I was challenged again by other parents who are thinkers and movers and defenders of our privilege to teach our own children and to decide what that means. This post by Lori Pickert, at Project-Based Homeschooling, was particularly meaningful. Unfortunately for me, the timing was bad.  My reading of the post coincided with one daughter's bold insistence that this stuff we call "school" really doesn't matter in the long run and is therefore a complete waste of time. Other than my insufficient but standard response, "You need to be able to teach your kids this stuff, so they can teach their kids this stuff," I am out of arguments. She desperately wants a real job, to learn stuff of life the real way, and the PBH post backs her up nicely. I don't know what to do now. But I never really have known what to do, so I'm no worse off today than I was yesterday. :)  Lord, show me! ...I'll probably figure it out a week after I graduate child #4. And hopefully my realization will be accompanied by a sense of affirmation, not one of regrets.

I'll be back.

*     *    *

He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; 

and what doth the LORD require of thee, 

but to do justly, and to love mercy, 

and to walk humbly with thy God?

Micah 6:8

(I didn't see anything about school in there. Did you?)

I broke my mini tablet a couple weeks ago. Three months ago I didn't have one and I didn't want one. But then Alison picked one up for me just because ♥. I got over the aggravating learning curve enough to get involved with "Scramble With Friends". And I practiced until I felt confident enough to play against a real online opponent. I won the first round! And then I dropped my tablet and smashed the glass thingie, whatever it's called. You know, the screen thing.

Sigh.

I kind of missed that aggravating thing.  

For a few days I wanted to replace it with a smart phone, or at least an iPod. I even went so far as to look for an iPod giveaway contest. (As if I'd win!)

But now that a few more days have gone by, I'm back to thinking like I did before I had my tablet.

I think I am.

But in the event that I am ever gifted with another one, that will probably make me happy.

I'm going to end up one of those old ladies who is still in the dark ages with her rotary telephone, without any friends or family because their friends and family are modern people and don't know how to connect with loved ones the old fashioned way.

But I'll still have my blog. :)

I believe there may be a law of Nature that states that whenever you have a serious banana bread craving, you will not have any super-ripe bananas, and any bananas to be found in the grocery store will be in shades of green varying from grass green to pea green and not one will be even remotely brown-speckled. So you will buy them under-ripe and set them on your counter, and then just as they are about to turn nice and ripe and spotty, your husband will eat them with peanut butter because you have been so focused on baking banana bread that you haven’t stocked the house with anything to eat for lunch. Cruel, cruel Nature. ~ Emily Vikre, Food52.com

I just had to copy and paste this quote in an email to the preacher this morning, for he is this very husband who scopes out and eats the bananas that have been especially hidden away for the banana bread purpose. Excellent man that he is, he just can not stand to see food go "bad".

I have not been able to convince him that there is no such thing as a bad banana, unless it is a green one.

A few minutes later, noting four perfect banana-bread bananas in the fruit basket, I asked him if he had already eaten his daily breakfast banana today. He answered in the affirmative, and that was the end of the conversation, but I should have been listening for his unspoken, "And I can't wait to eat that banana bread that you are going to bake with the rest of them!"

But I wasn't. If I had been listening to his yearnings, I could have saved him a profound disappointment.  Instead, I was focused on Emily Vikre's recipe for Espresso Banana Bread, and I proceeded to smash up those last four perfectly spotted nanners. I changed up the recipe a bit, since I didn't have espresso granules, and because I thought 1/4 cup of sugar was just waaay too little sugar for banana bread. I used instant coffee and doubled the sugar, then subbed the sour cream with kefir. And I added 1/2 cup of chocolate chips, because. (Do I need a reason to add chocolate??) AND, since I was too impatient to wait two hours for a loaf of bread to come out of the oven and cool, too, I made muffins instead.

The muffins turned out beautifully: nicely risen, a little bit cakey, and perfectly sweet and moist, with that wonderful heaven-made taste combination of chocolate and banana.  But the instant coffee didn't cut it.  There is not one trace of coffee flavor in those muffins!

Now, the preacher absolutely hates anything to do with coffee -- the smell, the taste, and most especially the resulting poisonous breath of the one who has consumed it. (That would be me. He doesn't get close enough to anyone else to smell their breath.) So when the muffins were cooling nicely on the rack and Pastor J. came in to the kitchen to "test" the finished product (as if he doesn't know what banana muffins taste like), I felt I ought to warn him that it contained coffee. 

And that is how I discovered a no-fail method for keeping the preacher out of the baked goods or anything else that comes out of the kitchen:  "Oh Honey, I added a bit of coffee to that."

To be fair, I did assure him that he would not be able to taste it, not one tiny little bit. 

But the word "coffee" did it. The poor man was so disappointed.  I did try to convince him that those muffins were really good anyway, but he wasn't buying it.

And so there were enough of them to take a half dozen to our piano teacher this afternoon.

Who ever heard of a Swede not liking coffee??


Oh.  And the green-bananas-when-you-have-a-banana-bread-craving problem is easily solved.  See Jillee's quick banana ripening method.  It works!


 

Who would think, from this photo taken today, that April is just three days away??  Things are not always what they seem. :)

The younger girls enjoyed a nice walk/plod through the snow this afternoon with their dad. 

I should have gone along, too, but I was plodding thru curriculum ideas for next year's homeschool co-op. That was as taxing on my brain as this walk was for their bodies! I am cringing at the idea of Betz taking on biology or chemistry. Not that she couldn't handle it. Betz is my kid who likes to have all her ducks in a row: goals, checklists, records, map of high school plans made out, transcript. Eeek! I'll do my best to help you, Betsy. 

Pray for me.

Would you respect your pastor if he lived the way you do?

Remember them which have the rule over you, 
who have spoken unto you the word of God: 
whose faith follow, 
considering the end of their conversation.
Hebrews 11:7

I keep hearing griping about more cold weather, and where's spring, and we're so sick of snow... But really, when did spring ever come in March in central Mn?  Today looks like this. Again. Of course. What do we expect in mid March?

Not a blade of grass or a piece of asphalt in site. And a LOT more white stuff on the way. So we are making the best of it!

Unfortunately for us, we aren't the only ones with this great idea, but we don't own the pool. In the old days we probably would have left when the half naked guy got in, or we might have avoided a rather public pool in the first place. (We're at the single motel in town. It's $5! per person to use the pool, which is why we've never done this before, and also one of the reasons I am not in the water. When I was a kid, it cost 25¢ to go swimming, and that was so cheap that we could go every day. Am I  that old??)

So as I was saying, we prefer modesty, but of course you can't impose your personal standards on the public. And this has become a problem recently because of our inconsistency. Sigh. It would be really easy to convince ourselves that God doesn't care what we wear or what we see, but there's that Bible that tells us differently. And really, we're better off doing things his way.  After all, who loves us more than Jesus Christ does? No one. 

It should be really easy to resolve this...

We have not had a whole lot of creativity going on for some time. Suddenly this afternoon a creativity bomb went off in my house, and wow! What fun!

 

Emily made a bendy family:

I don't know WHERE she ever got the idea to have the mom and dad kissing...*wink*

Betz got out the oil pastels and artified her own Phineas and Ferb and Isabella. Whoever they are. I know, they are from a cartoon. And I hope it's okay, because my kids watch it, but I've never even seen it. (Tell me if it isn't.)

Amy bought a Spirograph this afternoon, something to entertain her Other Johnson kids with. I had one of those things when I was about ten years old! 

 

And my own creative contribution to this creative Sunday was the pot of beautiful roasted veggies we enjoyed for dinner today. I love colorful food! And was it ever delicious! Chop up root veggies, toss with olive oil, sprinkle on some rosemary and coarse sea salt, roast at 375 til done. Put under broiler for a minute or two for a bit more color. Oh, and add a few pieces of sausage, too. :)  God's so good to give us stuff like this and not make us eat out all the time. lol. All that restaurant food tastes the same. But no, I wouldn't turn down an invitation to go out and get a night off from the kitchen. :)

Not my photo.  My veggies had bright pink beet juice all over them. :)

 

 

The eyes of all wait upon thee; and thou givest them their meat in due season.

Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing. 

Psalm 145:15,16

Regarding Emily being the hands-on kid, here's a case in point:  

Em saw this on Pinterest and thought we needed to try it.  Right now.  A candle is made from a Cutie peel.  I was a bit concerned the olive oil in the "cup" would catch fire, so it was not allowed to burn long.  Fire experiments are very stressful in my house, since we have one daughter who is certain the entire place will burn down when we light matches.  Hence the metal baking sheet, and the adult-only lighting of the Cutie "wick".  This would have been neat if we had done it at night and turned out the lights.  I'm pretty sure the fire would glow thru the skin.

So.  That was fun.  What's next?

Focus on Faith

I miss blogging. The other day I was reading old entries, and I am really thankful to have those memories written down somewhere. Because if I don't write them down, and sometimes even if I do, I don't remember anything.  Like this morning.  My dear husband told me this morning that he loves me more today than ever before.  I said something sweet back to him, but already I don't remember what it was... I think a brain-eating virus got me, and it is at work in there...  So all the memorable things that have happened in the past year or two, the ones I never recorded here -- they're gone.  I am going to have to keep Betz around forever to be my brain.  She remembers everything.

The above photo is not Minnesota. Minnesota looks like this:

But it's okay, we're expecting above freezing temps all this coming week. We are excited to see the beginning of the melt. Maybe by July we will be able to plant the garden! That other photo is California. The girls and I went to see my parents for a few days. I cherish these times with them, late in their lives, when they are both still healthy and active. Wish we could be there a lot more.  Especially in the winter. *grin*

Where does one begin (or continue) when one has neglected her blog and virtual friends for months on end?  With a summary:




Alison, my favorite daughter, is still at Culver's and is now store trainer and prep cook. She has some 20 violin students. She wants to buy a car, or at least have unlimited use of one of ours. :) Life does get complicated when four or five people all have to be somewhere at the same time.







Amy spends more time with her "kids" than she does at home. She is constantly Instagram-ing herself with various combinations of children. Like this:

 

I've heard this referred to as being "selfie-ish", but at least Amy shares her selfies with other faces. She will be done with school this semester, and then she plans to spend even more time with her kids. She'll add hours as a mom's helper with her three families and more hours as PCA to her sweet little apraxia girl. And spend even less time at home. :(  Good thing we're going to family camp this summer so I can get her for a week. Amy's my favorite, too. Wait. Who am I kidding? We never see our kids at family camp!

Betsy has probably changed the most. She's my favorite. While our homeschool co-op has been a huge challenge for her, Betz has risen to the occasion and met that challenge! She has grown in confidence and maturity. She expects a lot out of herself. She is a good, analytical thinker. And she has made herself indispensable at our local nursing home, serving coffee, delivering mail, leather crafting with the residents, decorating, doing paperwork, etc. Betz is in line for the activities director's job but, sadly for her, she can't be put on the payroll for a couple of years yet.

And Emily. Emily is currently taking piano lessons and doing super duper. I think she has caught up with me now. Ever the hands-on kid, Em always has a project or a book or a pile of papers or a ball of yarn with crochet hook or a bowl of batter somewhere.  (We need a craft room.) Today we have a messy pile of Popsicle sticks and glue and such, for the construction of a doll house and some mini Adirondack chairs. The other day it was a bendy doll.  Tonight it was donuts. This girl won't be lacking for how-to knowledge! My other favorite, Em has a special place in my heart.

So. Can you tell who takes all the photos around here with her iPod?  Yes, it's Amy. This is why it's hard to blog any more.  I had to have her email all these photos to me. Perhaps I'll get my own old-fangled camera out and re-inspire myself to write again.


The man of the house is still a crazy cyclist, riding on studded tires in the icy cold and loving it. He is faithfully plugging away at our little church plant.  We were thrilled to add our first member last summer, and now we are about to add two more. Praise God!! It's a slow work, but by the grace of God and by his leading, it will be a permanent one! May marks our third year. The girls have been so good about being the only young people at church, and I know they would LOVE to have like-minded friends to fellowship with. But God knows what they need, at this time and always. He knows the value of being able to confidently stand alone, and he knows the value of us trusting Jesus Christ intimately when he's the only (and dearest) friend we have. These are things I desire our girls would come to know, though it may require time and hindsight to see it clearly.
 

The Pastor here did a temp job for a few months at a local wire harness factory. It was his worst job ever, but he did it. Without complaining. And he got up very early in the frigid cold and walked home sometimes, and tolerated cursing and vile conversation and brainless, druggie co-workers, and double standards, and then he found out he couldn't afford to be offered a permanent position with the company! To accept their health care plan would have meant he'd be working for $4.10 per hour. Truth. Ridiculous truth! Now the man is hoping to help his brother haul cars. He has his self-promoting sales proposal all ready to present to his new partner, and if Brother agrees to the deal we'll be praising and thanking God for the blessing.

Me, I'm actually doing a pretty good job, I think, teaching my 3rd and 4th graders at co-op. My comfort zone expanded a teeny bit. It has been a totally stretching experience for me, a very good thing for me at age 50. Oh, 50. Everything changed when I turned 50. I am not liking the "new" old person I see in the mirror, but soon enough I'll have a new body and everything will be okay. (And I won't be vain any more, so it won't even matter! If that isn't the ultimate irony.) God is good.

Behold, I shew you a mystery;

We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,

In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump:

for the trumpet shall sound,

and the dead shall be raised incorruptible,

and we shall be changed.

1 Corinthians 15:51,52