Oma and Opa visit in April/May

We only see them every two to three years so our time together is precious.  Here is some of the photos of Martin's parents, his brother Peter and mine and Martin's little family during the visit.

The stories of fleeing Nazi invaded Poland and occupied Germany never cease to amaze us.  The stories about the mission field are encouraging.  My inlaws divine viewpoint attitude in many if not most things, is a direct result of enduring all of life's challenges with the Lord as their guide.

Another sweet one to love.  I hope he will get time to know them and their love too while here.

They lead us in songs we all sing together or try to anyway, we read books together aloud, share our thoughts, play some games and just take time to bridge the generation gap and cultural gap with easy conversation.

We had several meals together.  This time is from the first visit.  There were two.  They stayed with Peter.

Listening, munching.

They have been married 53 years.  My husband is one of their three sons.  They have been missionaries to one area in Cameroun, Africa for over 45+ years, supplanting indigenous pastors and creating a written language for the people of the area who did not have one when they first arrived in the early 1960's.  That is just the surface of them and all that I love to learn about them.

My five year old

He turned 5 years old on Thanksgiving Day.  We celebrated at my folks house after Thanksgiving lunch with a huge Cheesecake Factory Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake, the very thing I ate daily after he was born.  What a treat!  He got balloons, a bug box (that is now a jail for bad guys for the boys self designed Lego land on the train table) Star Wars Legos, a Star Wars pillow case, tee shirt, action figures..oh Star Wars... and lots of love and attention even though it was just his parents, siblings and grandparents that day..he did not mind.  He is so easy going.  He only acts difficult or takes issue if he sees his older brother do it but, it is not his nature, at this age anyway.  Its as if he 'tries on' attitudes, just to see what happens.

What Winston loves and who he is right now:

• He loves Chili's ribs he found out recently (my boy who will eat the entire family table green salad and very little meat on his dinner plate)
• He knows the perfect timing to give a hug and a kiss if needed.
• He says sweet things that you don't expect coming, just at the right time.
• He is excited to meet his new sibling soon.
• He plays victim if his sister, two years younger, hits him over a toy squabble.  He is a lover, not a fighter and would rather just let her have it even though, he does turn the tables at times and lets her have it! 
• He often says he loves me and his Mimi and that's all (I know better, he loves his family)
• He will copy almost anything his big brother says or does.




Cracking whole nuts with rocks is good fun!


• He will do almost anything to make you laugh.
• He is good with math it seems and eager to learn to read but not too eager, it will come.
• He can dress himself and even match most of the time..just needs help snapping his blue jeans.
• He loves his cat Boo and his brother's cat, Tom.



At his brother's birthday party as I did not take photos at his party..was busy serving up cheesecake, running the bubble machine and making merry in general that day.  My photographer, my Dad was busy with the Thanksgiving food and dishes, etc.  I do think he has some on his camera though and getting those to me is challenging...maybe they will come this week..c'mon Poppy!

• He wants to be a chief of a worker and build buildings in the desert when he grows up.  (that's a direct quote)

Daddy and I love you very much Winston and count you as one of our biggest blessings in life.  Happiest Fifth Birthday big boy!!

5 Ways I Battle Seasonal Virus Potential

My days are busy with preparing things in my kitchen that I believe will help lessen or even help my family totally avoid the common illnesses of the season.  I know that once we or one of us receives a new virus, our bodies will make antibodies to it and it won't be able to attack again..that is if the immune system is kept strong.  I am okay with that too but, I am an avid hand washer and non chemical hand sanitizer user for myself and the children when we are in public!  I wanted to share some things here that take time away from more fun things to do but I feel are well worth the investment of time.  The payoff is a family of healthy folks.  I am not a health expert, just a mom who reads about this stuff often.

1. Take Vitamins.  We use quality assured ones which means the dose is what it says it is when some others are not "guaranteed"  but I think that taking them is just important even if you don't go through a practitioner but get them at your health food store.  Vitamins and supplements, a good overall multi is essential daily if possible.  That goes for children too.
2. Probiotics.  I buy them through our Frontier co-op but again, I have seen good quality, multi strain is ideal, brands, refrigerated at HEB or other stores.  Its important to take them as our immune system begins in our gastrointestinal system.  You are surely going to get plenty of the good fighting bacterias killed off is you drink soda water, drink water in restaurants or any other non filtered and fluoridated water, not to mention other bugs, literally, from salads and other produce.  Also especially, especially after antibiotic use.
3. Pesto!  This is a pile of Italian and Curly leaf parsley, some organic, some not, from the grocery store.  The recipe is for basil but since I cannot grow or buy that in bulk now, I use the two parsleys..the Italian makes the flavor milder.  For Walnut Pesto, in your food processor, toss in 1 cup walnuts, 6 garlic cloves, 1 tsp sea salt, 1 cup of olive oil, process till smooth.  Add 3.5 cups of fresh basil (parsley) and juice from half a lemon and process again until smooth.  Store in a mason jar in the fridge and it lasts for weeks.  Spread on toast or bring to almost room temp and drizzle on scrambled eggs or, toss to coat and flavor a hot pasta salad with tomatoes and seafood.  Delicious, nutritious, high in vitamins you need and easy.  My children like it!
4. Immune boosting herbs for all.  My husband and I take them in caps but for the children, I make Immune Booster pops using Wishgarden Herbs Immune Boost bulk herbs.  Drop a handful in a quart mason jar, add boiling water, steep till cool, mix with one part organic orange juice with pulp or fresh squeezed if you really want it fresh and a little liquid Stevia to sweeten it up a little more.  Juices seem to loose their sweetness when frozen.  The children love these, even in cold weather.  Wishgarden has other more specific herbal remedies too that have been effective for all of us.  Martin loves the Sore Throat Soother..calms his cough in seconds.
5. Eat orange.  Pumpkins, Butternut squashes, Acorn squashes, carrots, etc.  The high levels of Vitamin A are critical in battling viruses and bacteria.  See this book and this book for some ideas on preparations for these foods.  You can even make pumpkin smoothies with canned organic pumpkin..just don't overdo the sweet part.

So those are the basic things I try to do regularly around here to keep our bodies healthy during this cold and flu season.  What things do you do to boost your families immune systems?  Please share.

A day may as well be a week

These days of winding down are kind of hectic.  The very fact that I can admit that they are winding down in the last months of pregnancy is a big enough step.  There is so much I want to do but just cannot fit it all in the day or night.  I crave my afternoon nap, I want to finish up formal schooling around here before Thanksgiving.  I want to nest and knit more.  I want to just keep house and make nutritious food.  I just want to get to the park more in the cooler days ahead.  This is a smattering of what is going on right now in photos.  The busy-ness of our life together as a family will only increase in time.  I am trying not to overhwhelm myself with it all and just take it all in one day at a time.

 King Tutankamen exhibit at the MFAH coincides with our history timeline as we are in Egypt right now.  It was not child targeted and I noticed, I was the only parent with a gaggle of children in attendance, however, we paced it fine, even enough for me to enjoy it..no snacks or drinks in tow.  It was great and they did great.  I was not informed though that the mummy of King Tut has never left his tomb and the one we saw, enclosed in a plexiglass case, was a duplicate.  It was still amazing to see in person.  The children thought it was gross.  The gift shop was fun and everyone got a souvenir of shiny rocks.

An early Saturday morning ultrasound.  I have had two now in this pregnancy.  Against what I would rather do considering the controversy of their saftety however, I felt the benefits outweighed the risks, both times.  My back up midwife, Leah, thought I had excessive amniotic fluid.  We wanted to see if I had what is called polyhydramnios which can indicate a host of things, most likely, I would have thought, a birth defect as the other reasons did not seem feasible for me.  A prayer just before from Martin as we went in, as a family to check on the baby.  A prayer to accept God's plan for this little one.  The test showed no excessive fluid and a normal babe.  We don't do prenatal testing so things can still present at birth but excessive testing leads to excessive worry and false positives...we let the Lord handle the details.  The rest of the day, we counted our blessings and savored the moments together and healthy.

Why is it, just before the baby is born, the "baby" stops acting like, well, a baby?

 

More potty interest and exploration.

Paint mommy?  Yes.  She has special little girl paint for when mama is inspired to paint her toes and we do it together most times.

Woke up early and hit the grocery store with me recently.  It was all good with her Starbucks hot apple cider.

Fall Festival at the TGR Exotics Wildlife Park.  We are still asking ourselves, why didn't Daddy jump in on this photo?  It was a pro photographer that took it that day.  We still shake our heads.  That is a baby kangaroo, a joey, in the pouch in my arms...so sweet!  I guess I love baby anything!

Roasting the largest pumpkin ever in my life.  Made puree and froze some, made bread with the rest and trying to get more Vitamin A from whole foods into all the people here as much as possible.

I cannot believe I am showing you this, but, here it is...I have placed a small mirror that I had gotten out for a science project, in my window, above the ktichen sink.  When I catch a glimpse of the mama in it, as she tosses more dishes in there, washes them, washes her hands for the 20th time today, etc., her face reminds me that "the children need you to love them and show them on your face".  There is so much meaning in just your face.  I have enjoyed seeing what I look like to them, throughout the day.  I also give the reflection a pep talk when necessary.  I think it has made me more aware of how I behave even if mama is tired and ready for that nap!  Be nice please, be kind, be patient.  I am always modeling.  Like it or not.

 cursive writing and happy at the ease of it

 sounding out letters better and better all the time

The YMCA had a Fall Festival complete with bounce houses, a train ride, small games for candy.  This was on a Friday night so going out on a Friday night?  Well, unheard of in our house.  We did it though and were happy to do it.  They enjoyed it for the most part.  The weather also had changed from mosqitoes and humid to cool and dry..much better to enliven a night out.

More thoughts and memories to come...

Nanny's biscuits

My mother's mother's name was Bernice but all of us grand kids always called her Nanny.  She died and we buried her the very day Martin and I moved into my parents house to begin his cancer treatment in June of 2008.  I have missed so many things about her as any granddaughter who loves a grandma would understand.  Yesterday, a passing memory floated through my head about days going to visit her and Paw paw at their home.  It seemed that no matter the time of day, she was making biscuits and honey with butter to serve to us.  Oh man.  I love white salty flaky flour with honey and sweet cream butter.  She had chickens in the yard and lots of room for us to run and play out there in the country.  Such a wonderful warm memory.

 

 On my journey in preparing quasi Paleo foods in my kitchen, I wanted to amp up the nutrition and protein energy but not sacrifice a good warm muffin slathered in butter.  The little people love grains, as most little children do, so I try to make a point of making things that are a bit grainy-like.  I cannot always get away with serving one of my fave Paleo breakfasts below, poached eggs with steamed asparagus and Bearnaise sauce ~ yummo.  They always complain about the asparagus. I always make them eat one.  The Bearnaise makes it lemony and salty..c'mon!  I know, I am mean.  They tell me all the time.

So, I turned again to Everyday Paleo and Sarah for inspiration.  I made her Paleo Apple Muffins for the first time this morning.  Here is the recipe if you would like to give it a try.  I think Nanny would despise them by the way!  Where is the flour!  Oh well, miss you Nan.  See you again one day.

E.P. Apple Paleo Muffins

• 2 1/4 cups almond meal (I buy blanched almonds and grind, its cheaper than bagged meal.  This morning I used 1/4 c. shredded unsweetened coconut to fulfill as I ran out of almond meal)
• 4 eggs
• 1 apple, finely diced
• 1 very ripe banana
• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 1/3 cup water
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 heaping tablespoon cinnamon (use fresh cinnamon or it will be bitter...spices last on the shelf about six months, then you need to replace..store in freezer to extend life)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Using a fork, mas the banana in the bottom of a large mixing bowl
3. Add all other ingredients and mix by hand.  The batter will not be super thick, but more like a cake batter.
4. Using a bit more coconut oil, grease a muffin tin.  Fill the tins about 3/4 full.  Bake for 15 - 20 mins.  You will know they are done when you can insert a toothpick into the middle of a muffin and it comes out clean.
5. Serve hot out of the oven with some organic butter melted on top, accompanied by eggs over easy and hot black coffee.  Makes approx. 16 muffins.  (My mix made 14.  I always make bigger muffins than the recipes call for..always..but not on purpose)

(I say "quasi" Paleo because I did add about 1/4 c. raw honey to the mix and then melted rice syrup with butter to drizzle on top.  Kinda just like Nanny used to make!)

Beachy and Chickies

This free picture slideshow personalized with Smilebox

Christmas mess and craft ~ with love, the Muellers

handmade scrappy bookmarks

taking a rest in my sewing stash

lavender sachets

The Nativity ~ by Gunnar

scrappy bookmark making

boy gift wrapping by foot

mixed nuts in the shell available with cobble stones for little hands to crack them open

~ lots of shells around these days

homemade cereal box gift tags

I wish I could give anyone reading this blog and praying for my family some of our homemade gifts but I can give you this note to share with you the goings on around here. I do truly love this time of year. I love the crafting, creating energy that goes on around here. Mostly motivated and prepared by moi. I don't know what I would do if the littles did not want to join in...although, it gets messy. That is the part that I don't really enjoy..If I am totally honest here. With each child, with each passing year, it gets easier but I have seen other mamas handle the messes so much more gracefully. Maybe I get more worn down, maybe I just begin to ignore the crumbs, paper bits and beads and glitter on the floor. It just becomes part of the house eventually. Maybe it is the payoff. Wonderful things created by my own and my children's own precious, curious little fumbly hands. Yes. That is the reason for it. I want that happening in my home no matter the cost of mess. I want it to happen more and will endeavor to create more opportunities for it.

I know I am not unlike any other "Elf" mama (or daddy) this time of year. The cooking, cleaning (seriously?...the swipe of this and that as I go is more like it), diapering and toy messes galore are there as usual but add to that more crafting than usual and gift wrapping and you have an entire home school with just all that on its own! Especially with the under 7 age set. At least we can cuddle up and read some favorite winter and Christmas storybooks too.

Some favorite ideas gleaned from the web are lavender/herbal sachets, scrappy bookmarks, peppermint lip balm (coming soon), and some knitting which I think I will post after Christmas. I want these things and other homemade ideas as they come, to be regular Christmas time traditions. Things that we want to do each year that never get old..well, while the children are young at least. Or maybe they would miss if I stopped? Kind of like if I stopped hugging and kissing my oldest boy....he acts like it is yucky but I know, he would just be hurt if I stopped. I want things we can be excited about making, wrapping and gifting to our friends and family and doing together. I can get so busy in making, buying, creating for my own that I have to take time to teach them to give as well and it is no small task. It does take lots of patience on my part but that would be another entire post on that subject alone. Children are a blessing and my own test me daily in a good way.

This time of year has a special caveat. Daddy is home and healing and mostly, he is home and we are together a lot...I like it this way. We are all well and together. We are all healthy and ready to celebrate again this year the timeless reality of our Saviour. The one gift that never gets worn out, never gets lost, never gets old, we never outgrow and it never disappoints or ever lets us go. (thank you Cornelia for that reminder)

As a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ you can rest in these words:

"I give them eternal life and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand." ~John 10:28

Merry Christmas!!

Why you should play Santa

This topic seems to go either way with parents. I have some friends who celebrate Santa Claus and some who do not for their children. The reasons are always varied. Some say that it can confuse the children about Jesus, the reason for celebrating Christmas, versus, making the holiday all about toys and a fictional round red suited fellow that slides down the chimney on Christmas Eve with gobs of toys. Some say that their parents did not "do" the Santa thing so they don't do it now for their children. Some perhaps just don't even want to bother. And some, embrace it a little too much to the exclusion of celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ who died as a substitute for us all to live forever in heaven home if we accept the grace gift of salvation for ourselves. (the full Gospel in one run on sentence!) That,of course, is the truth about Christmas.

To play Santa or not seems to be a complicated matter but I don't happen to think that it is to me anymore. Let me try to convince you why you should go ahead and play Santa this year if you don't already...and if you do get into it, make sure you keep it true. We certainly don't want to lie to our children.

There was a time that my husband and I would discuss it while Gun was a wee crawling baby on his first Christmas where he might have a curiosity to ask about all the lights, music and hullaballo. We talked about our families traditions and the above mentioned controversies. We wanted then and still do want, to present the truth to our children always. However, they are children. If you cannot embrace the fun of Santa as a child, can you ever? We pretend there are forest fairies and make believe with action figures but I don't interrupt and say, no, no, that is fiction! There are many opportunities to train our children to "keep in line" and Santa Claus is a great opportunity to suspend reality a bit in a fun and harmless way...a way to play with our children big time. For example, on Gun's first toddling Christmas, I even left a trail of candy and footprints on the stairs since our chimney was upstairs at the time in a cabin. We left the typical cookies and milk out for Santa which some of the folklore books call Santa's "lunch"...what? yeah, okay, not exactly a square lunch but ...moving on.... The next morning, the note to Santa that Gun and I composed was gone..the cookies and milk consumed....the wide eyed wonder on Gun's face was priceless.... We went with it and that was it. Since then, we have read the history of St. Nick and you can read that anywhere online or in books. He was a real person at one time so this is history and a bit of folklore and church politics (we don't share all of that at this age of course) which are valuable in their education cross culturally.

As far as the Lord Jesus Christ goes, we celebrate him weekly with study and daily with prayer in our home that confusion would be almost impossible. However, I do think the whole "whose naughty or nice" thing that Santa always seems to know sounds like God's omniscience. God is omniscient..not Santa Claus. Simple as that and I have had to decipher that for the children already. So we DO NOT say something like "you better be good or you will only get a lump of coal for Christmas"...now, good grief. That is ridiculous in my opinion. The compass of right and wrong and what is a sin and what is not is determined by God, not Santa. The focus on materialism that causes some parents to object can also be overcome. Here are some simple things you can do....

• Make many of your gifts ~ handmade things are always appreciated and loved best I believe and especially if born in the hands of a child. Go to The Crafty Crow, Soulemama and many other links from there for tons and tons of ideas for crafting creativeness fabulousness.


• Avoid the malls and t.v. commercials as much as possible~ they can really convince you of things you need to buy that you never before knew you were doing without or could create on your own with your children


• Avoid multiple visits, if any, to sit on Santa's lap to tell him what toys you want for Christmas. I have said to my children that the gift giving of Christmas is reminiscent and in memory of the three wise men bringing gifts to baby Jesus.


• We also have a nativity set and read the Christmas history from the Bible. We remind them often just what all this is about whenever we can or mention it when we see an opportunity.

So I say, go ahead, go for it, make a little make believe and if you need to,read about Santa Claus for yourself or your children, just go here for a quick read and share the highlights with them. This Wikipedia listing certainly goes into more detail that I have here.

With all this being said however, if you disagree, I accept that too. For now, it is still a free country!! Thank God.

Will you play Santa this year? What are some of your family traditions this Christmas?

Merry Christmas friends and family!

Fresh Air in the White Bluffs

It has been at least 1 1/2 years since we visited our temporary home in Burton, Texas on White Bluff Reserve. We have so many sweet memories of times spent here. My little family does not travel. But, we do consider coming here a vacation. Time stands still and you just want to bask in the White bluffs and enjoy the feeling of the sunshine and the cool fall breeze on your face. We have played out here, picnicked out here and tried to catch fish in the small river that once ran through this area. Historically, the water hole that is located here was the local baptismal pool and summer swimming hole. Martin and I made our first home here, near the bluffs and two of our children were born here in the cabin. We have cut more than one Christmas tree right from the White Bluffs area for the cabin. The area holds many other memories for the Stark family as well. It is bittersweet to visit and always enjoyable for us all.

With all of the challenges of living with a chronic illness, an escape was just what our family needed...an escape to the comfort of an old familiar, steady and peaceful friend. About a week before surgery, we took a family trip to hike, see the animals, visit the bluffs and then enjoy dinner at The Brazos Belle Restaurant. The weather was beautiful. We loaded up a trailer full of good firewood while there. Wood that had lain for a year or two and is ready to burn to keep our downstairs warm for winter in our new home. Our friends, Danny and Candy who now enjoy living on WBR have been busy chopping and stacking wood so all we had to do was load it up which Martin enjoyed doing. Danny and Candy have some horses, barbadot sheep, lots of kitties and some dogs...the kids loved all the animals...we did too. I had bought some snacks to nibble on before the evening at the Belle and as you see, the horses were quite jealous. What a fun day it was for us all!