2011 Challenge

On October 21, 2007 there was an article in the Sunday Chicago Tribune entitled, "How Holocaust heroine rescued 2,500 children." Something within that article compelled me to cut it out of the newspaper and put it in a file folder to save.

The article is about a Kansas teacher, Norm Conrad, who assigned a project to four of his students for National History Day. The four students chose to do their project on Irena Sendler; a Polish Catholic social worker that had been mentioned briefly in an article about heroes of the Holocaust. The students were able to locate Irena residing in a Warsaw nursing home. They became friends with Irena making several trips to Poland to interview her and those she had saved. Their project that year was a ten minute play about Irena called "Life in a Jar." They later expanded the play to 35 minutes and Irena's story has also been made into an Hallmark Hall of Fame movie.

Irena would travel into the Warsaw ghetto and smuggle out Jewish children and place them in homes of non-Jewish Poles, in Catholic convents and in orphanages. Irena buried detailed lists of the ancestry and whereabouts of each child she rescued in glass jars under an apple tree in a friend's Warsaw yard. When Irena was caught by the Nazis, she refused to reveal the location of those jars even under torture and threat of execution.

Over the course of these past three plus years, I have been asking myself why this article touched me so much? Is it because I am fascinated by the time period of WWII? Not so much the the strategies of war, but the day-to-day relationships that were affected and the need to live simply. How did people choose to do good and not succumb to evil?

Is it because I have asked myself could I have done what Irena did? I hope my answer would be "yes." But I truly wonder if I would have the courage. Is it because as a mother I think about the cruel choice the Jewish mothers in the ghetto had to make. Keep their babies and children knowing there was no hope for them to live or choosing to give them up to Irena and her team knowing they would never see them again. I cannot imagine the pain of that separation.

This morning it has come to me why this article has stayed with me. It is because of that Kansas teacher's classroom motto, "He who changes one person, changes the world entire." Wow, this is what Irena did. Think of all of the lives that were impacted because Irena not only was able to change the course of history for one life but 2,500 lives.

Is this not the same thing Mordecai did with his niece, Esther. He raised her in his home after her parents had died (thus changing the course of her life.) Mordecai taught Esther as she grew. Even when she was in the running with the other women for the position of queen, Esther 2:20, says "she continued to follow Mordecai's instructions as she had done when he was bringing her up." Mordecai later tells her when she is faced with the decision as Queen to approach the king about Haman's plan to kill all the Jews, "And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?" Esther does expose Haman's plan and helps to save the Jewish people. Again I am reminded of the quote, "He who changes one person, changes the world entire."

Fast forward to the New Testament, Jesus chose 12 men after spending the night in prayer. What was His purpose? We later find out in Matthew 28:18-20, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." "He who changes one person, changes the world entire." Jesus spent three years with these men. They were able to observe Him as he interacted with others, they were able to spend time with Him alone as he explained His teachings. Why? so they could later go out and make disciples, teaching others what they had been taught by the Master.

So, where does that leave me? What part do I play in the quote, "He who changes one person, changes the world entire." I want to be that someone who is able to change someone else so they in turn can change someone else. I want to go and make disciples.

Chocolate Chip Cookies used in Eric's Sermon 7/6/09

World’s Best Chocolate Chip Cookies
From the kitchen of Becky Flood

¾ c granulated sugar
1 c brown sugar

½ c butter
½ c shortening

1 T vanilla

2 eggs, slightly beaten

3 c flour

3/4 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp salt

3 c semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 c chopped nuts (0ptional)

Preheat oven to 350◦.
In a large bowl, combine sugars; add in butter and shortening and cream together with the sugar. Add vanilla and eggs; mix together.
In a separate bowl sift the dry ingredients and add to the creamed mixture. Mix well; the dough will be stiff. Add the chocolate chips and nuts (if using).
Line the cookie sheets with baking parchment or wax paper, or just use ungreased cookie sheets. Drop dough with a small ice cream scoop onto the sheets. Bake 10-12 minutes at 350◦. Remove from oven and cool on wire racks.
Yield: 2 ½ dozen.

What Makes a House a Home?

Eric posed this question to us at the supper table the other night because it is the focus of his message this coming Sunday. My first thought was the people inside the house make it a home. Hannah said this is too general and that I need to be more specific.

So I am going to take you on a journey to my Great-grandma Venter's house. Her real last name is Deventer but the great-grandchildren shortened it to Venter. It is a beautiful summer day with blue clouds and white fluffy clouds that contrast nicely with the brilliant green leaves of the trees and grass. We travel down a gravel road and arrive at a white farm house surrounded by fields.

Another thing that makes a house a home are the smells. I am going to take you on a smell tour of my grandma's house. As we get out of the car the fragrance of peonies in all shades of pink greet us. Next we go up to the attic where treasures of ages past await with a musty smell. However, we were told by the great-uncles to never go in the attic because we might fall through the floor, I am not sure if this is really true or if they just wanted to keep us out of the attic :) Next we travel down to my great-grandma Venter's bedroom where I can remember the smell of her sewing machine which must have been a mixture of the oil, thread, and material of years of use. Now we will go to where my favorite smells came from, the kitchen. I can clearly remember the smell of homemade fried chicken, real mash potatoes and gravy. I remember the Correl bowls of miniature marshmallows she gave to us at treats.

I was blessed to spend some one-on-one time with my great-grandma at a time when I needed the attention the most. My parents got divorced when I was in the first grade. Being one of four children it is hard for a single parent to give a lot of attention to their children individually. I loved the time I got to spend with my great-grandma. I am sure spending time with my great-grandmother during these impressionable years had a lot to do with who I am today. In some ways I am probably like my great-grandma with a love to sew and cook and those great traits of being stubborn and independent.

So for me, the people make a house a home. Without my great-grandma, this house would have been simply a house. It was my great-grandma that made her house a home. Just as we each make our house a home. Creating memories and investing in our family and visitors who come into our homes.

P.S. The above picture is of my great-grandmother and me taken in my home growing up.

P.P.S. I am holding a yellow plastic tea cup in the picture :)

Perseverance

This summer I read the book entitled, 1776 by David McCullough. I have to admit I love history and enjoy reading nonfiction historical books. Our visit to Boston this past April heightened by interest in the Revolutionary War and the founders (both men and women) of our country. This finished book has been sitting on my desk for a few weeks because I have been wanting to blog about it.

My favorite quote is taken from one of the last pages of this book. It is about George Washington. "He was not a brilliant strategist or tactician, not a gifted orator, not an intellectual. At several crucial moments he had shown marked indecisiveness. He had made serious mistakes in judgment. But experience had been his great teacher from boyhood, and in this his greatest test, he learned steadily from experience. Above all, Washington never forgot what was at stake and he never gave up." (Page 293) Wow, it pays to dig deeper and see what makes a man or woman. This quote is about a man that became our first president, that is honored by a national holiday and was addressed as his excellency, George Washington.

George Washington is proof that the experiences of our life and how we react to them make us who we are and who we will become. It takes a lot of wisdom to learn from ones experiences and how does one truly learn but through experiences. I think at times I am afraid to try something new because of a fear of the process of the experience or fear of failure. This did not seem to stop Washington because he knew what was at stake, the future of our country. What is at stake for a Christian? People who do not have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. So we must persevere and not give up serving God nor should we be afraid of the experience he might take us through because of the lives that might be changed because of the experience. Lest we are humans, so we must remember to endeavor not for the glory we might receive but so that God might be glorified through us. "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." Galatians 6:9 (One of my all-time favorite verses).

Now I can return this book that I have had all summer back to the library :)

An Affair to Remember

It is a rainy Thursday morning and the girls are back in school so time to get back into blogging :) Side note: mornings are the time I am my most creative and think and process the best.

Our second week of vacation was an affair to remember. I was able to have a week long affair with my husband. We headed out Sunday afternoon as a family for Donnell Lake in Vandalia, MI. The girls were going to spend Sunday night with us because Monday was Hannah's 10th birthday.

Tom, Cindy, and family were at their cozy and inviting lake home when we arrived to give us a tour and show Eric how to use all of the fun water toys. We had a wonderful supper with them before they headed home. The girls were really excited because they got to sleep in bunk beds and had a view of the lake from their room. Second side note: there was an email waiting for us at home from a family in the church whose children had outgrown their bunk bed and they wondered if anyone would like it. Hannah now has a bunk bed, she reminded us that we had prayed for one when we were still living in Bryan, OH. God's timing is perfect.

The weather was excellent lake weather, sunny during the day with cool evenings. After the girls went to bed Eric and I caught some of the Olympics on tv and got to see Michael Phelps and the relay team get a gold medal, so exciting to watch. We turned in shortly after this. I am not sure what fabric softener Cindy uses, but the bed sheets smelled heavenly.

Monday morning we woke to hear the girls giggling from the top bunk. In honor of Hannah's birthday we had homemade cinnamon rolls with ten birthday candles on top. After breakfast we took the smaller motor boat out to explore the lake and go down a channel to another lake. We did spot one turtle and some smaller fish.

After we got back from our little boat excursion we decided it was warm enough to get in the water so we put on our swimsuits and swam out to the trampoline and played around for a while. Abby had trouble just standing on the trampoline, let alone jumping :)
After lunch it was time to get out the fun water toys. Eric took the girls for a ride on the jet ski. Hannah compared it to riding on a motor cycle, could a motor cycle be in Eric's future? I know he had a lot of fun on the jet ski and his goal for the week was to see how fast he could go on it, I think he got it up to 60 mph. I remember riding on my dad's motor cycle as a young girl. We then got out the bigger motor boat and the girls and I were able to go tubing. There was a lot of thumb's pointing up from the girls, the signal to go faster. They probably would have gone even faster if mom (me) would have let them.

After our fun day in the sun we headed in to clean up to meet Eric's parents for dinner to make the H&A exchange. The girls loved being wrapped in the fluffy towels after their shower. We drove to Elkhart, IN (about 20 minutes away) to meet Gary and Diane at the Texas Roadhouse, Hannah's choice for her birthday. It turned out to be an excellent choice as they had a special on kid's meals and there was a balloon artist.

After dinner Eric and I headed back to Vandalia to a quiet house. I felt kind of empty inside without the girls there, it did not take me long to recover, but they are so much a part of my life that I miss them when we are a part. Now my week of true relaxation and my affair with my husband could begin :)

I think all of my favorite vacations have been within eye sight of water; ocean, lake or pool, it does not matter. I am not at all a great swimmer, there is just something about being near the water that is relaxing. I would love to retire to a place near the water. I looked forward to getting up each morning and making a cup of tea and taking my Bible outside to do my devotions. The water is so still, like a sheet of glass in the morning.

Eric and I usually excised each morning. One morning we went to a nearby wooded park, he ran while I walked :) I saw an owl and some deer. It was nice to get outside the home to exercise, I usually exercise by DVD at home while the girls are still in bed. No girls this week that need me near. I then spent some time scrapbooking while Eric read. I worked on a scrapbook of pictures of clothes I have made for my family with copies of the pattern and swatches of the fabric. Third side note: the smell of the basement where I did my scrapbooking reminded me of my Great-Grandmothers home. Isn't funny how smells can bring back memories? I probably have not been in my great-grandmothers home since I was nine or ten. The afternoons were spent in the water, on the jet ski, or reading with a couple of movies thrown in. It was so nice not to be on a schedule and have children asking can I have snack, what is for supper, what can I do? It is good to have a reprieve and it is hard to have that affair if children are near by.

Wednesday afternoon was a little cloudy and rainy so we went into Three Rivers, MI to two used book stores, a favorite activity of both of ours. We made some great purchases. If you are ever in Three Rivers, I recommend the Stray Dog Bookshop, very well organized with framed quotes on the wall. I am going to have to use this decorating technique sometime. I picked up a biography on Bess Truman and a book by Edith Schaeffer entitled, Common Sense Christian Living. Edith is one of my favorite authors, I think we are kindred spirits :)

Thursday morning we headed out to golf at Garver Lake Golf Course, a nine hole course in Edwardsburg,

MI. We did not even keep score for me, but it was a fun activity to do together. We went out to Red Lobster in Elkhart with good lunch conversation before heading back to Donnell Lake. Late that afternoon we watched a great Cary Grant movie, Talk of the Town.

Friday we spent enjoying our last full day at the lake. We took the jet ski out together and then Eric went around again to see how fast he could go. Eric also had fun using Tom's restored 1980's John Deere tractor to haul the gas cans down to the lake to refill the jet skis and boat. We were a little out of sorts Friday evening, I think it was because we were realizing our wonderful relaxing week was coming to an end. Saturday morning we were off to Angola, IN to have a family fun day celebrating birthdays and reuniting with the girls.

Thanks Tom and Cindy for a great week!

Hannah Turns Ten 30's Style

Hannah turns ten this coming Monday, August 11th. We celebrated one week early with her friends with an American Girl Kit Mystery Party. I found the mystery party game for half off on the American Girl site. I love bargains! It came with invitations, character cards, name tags, scripts, and clues. We just had to come up with costumes and snacks.

Hannah picked out some green floral material that is similar to Kit's birthday dress from the books. We also found a pattern similar to the dresses they wore in the 1930's at JoAnn's. I found a dress and a pair of shoes at thrift store for $3 that would work well for the part of Mrs. Kittredge, Kit's mom. Probably pretty close to the 1930's price :) I just added a apron that belonged to my grandma. Abby wore a pink flower skirt and white top to be our photographer for the party. Eric played the part of Will, a hobo, so Hannah suggested he wear his denim overalls and a white t-shirt.

The girls and I had fun researching the 1930's to see what was popular. We discovered that Hershey miniature chocolates came out as well at tootsie roll pops, so we included those in the girls treat bags. We also learned that the games of Monopoly, Sorry, and Scrabble were invented.

The game also included some snack ideas as did the American Girl Kit Kittredge website. We had carrot slices, oatmeal cookies, and cream cheese and jam sandwiches set out during the game. After the mystery was solved we had chocolate roll birthday cake filled with vanilla ice cream and fruit fizz (juice from oranges, lemon, maraschino cherries, and pineapple mixed with sparkling grape juice).

"Have an affair with your wife"

I bet this title got your attention, interesting concept isn't it? Today I am dedicating this blog to my husband, my friend, and lover of 13 years today.

A book that I enjoyed reading this past Spring was From This Day Forward by Cokie and Steve Roberts. It journals the path of their marriage and how they handled their relationship, family relationships, and their careers. Early in their marriage they lived in California for a few years. One day Cokie was at the park pushing her children on the swings when the person next to her began talking about her affairs. Cokie found it very shocking and frightening, and wondered, could it happen to our marriage? This is when she instituted what she called a "have an affair with your wife" program, where every so often just the two of them would go off together for a night or two and not call each other "Mommy" or "Daddy" the whole time.

I have been mulling over this concept of having an affair with your spouse. I can not think of a better way to keep the home fires burning then to keep the passion alive in a marriage by having an affair with your spouse. Let's think about it, how does an affair happen? I believe one way is that, let's say the husband is being shown respect and admiration outside the home that he might not be getting at home. This respect may be somewhat superficial; nevertheless, a need is being fulfilled. The wife may be just taking him for granted at home. The wife may genuinely love her husband but if she is not physically and verbally expressing it, he is going to begin to look else where to meet his need. I for one, do not want this to happen to my marriage. So after thirteen years I intend to continue to keep our marriage pure by being the one having an affair with my husband.

More blogs to come on my ponderings about marriage :)