Buzzzzz......

No ghosts or goblins here. Just a bumblebee looking for something to pollinate.



Ack! I hope she doesn't sting me!

Babies Don't Keep

I nursed Clara to sleep last night, as usual. She was wearing a nightgown that her daddy bought for her before she was even born. Actually, it was part of a matching set... one for her, and one for me. (It was the first time I realized that she and I could wear matching clothes!) She had little white socks on her feet and her chubby baby legs were stretched out and exposed. She lay sleeping beside me on our bed in the dark, sometimes changing position and smiling in her sleep. I watched her. And I thought about how quickly she is growing and changing.

I imagined her as a woman someday. Clara, at age 25. What would she be like? What would she remember of her childhood? Tears ran down my cheek as I came to grips with the fact that these days are fleeting. There won't always be diapers or lullabys. There won't always be chubby little legs, or a thumb in her mouth, or her body snuggled next to mine in the middle of the night. Someday my children will have grown and will no longer need me as they do now. They will leave. And they will cleave to someone else of their own choosing.

What is this special time of life that God gives to parents? He trusts me to care for my children, to love them, to nurture them, and someday release them. To give them roots... then wings. This year of babyhood, before the time of disciplining and toilet training and teaching them begins, is a wonderful time to just love them. When I look into her baby face, her sky blue eyes, my heart overflows with the knowledge that God has given our family a most precious gift.

Since her birth, I have often looked into our future and what I see is a picture of us in my mind. A shared moment, between mother and daughter. I stand beside her, a girl of 7 or 8, with her hand in mine. We are walking through the woods together on a beautiful path, with the sounds of birds all around us. She is looking up at me as we discuss this and that, and I feel the greatest joy as I look down at her.
I am content...
I am blessed...

Cleaning and scrubbing
can wait till tomorrow,
For babies grow up
We've learned to our sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs
Dust go to sleep,
I'm rocking my baby
And babies don't keep.

Coffee and Ice Cream

In the mail today....
this book: "Coffee, A Connoisseur's Companion" by Claudia Roden

So far, I've only had time to flip through it a few times, but I like what I see. Especially the sound of this recipe...

Coffee Ice Cream Soda

Stir 2/3 cup of fresh cream into 2 cups of chilled, strong, sweetened coffee in a jug. Pour into tall glasses, only half filling them. Add scoops of ice cream in each glass and fill with ice-cold soda water.

Reminds me of a Root Beer float.

I think we'll give it a try this weekend. Normally, in October ice cream and cold drinks wouldn't be sounding so good to me, but we're having a burst of warm weather around here. It feels like spring is coming instead of winter. I'm sure it won't last much longer!

I'm so tired I could fall asleep right here.

ZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzz

What We're Doing

What we're watching: Clara taking her first steps! It is so fun to watch a baby learning to walk!

What we're eating: Potato Leek Soup in the crock pot, with fresh crusty Italian bread

What we're learning: About the Mongols (did you know they didn't wash their clothes or their dishes??)

What we're reading: The Great Brain series, The Crusades (I'm reading aloud from this book in the evenings)

What we're praying for: A tenant for the townhome we own in Fredericksburg, VA (Know anyone who might be interested?)

What we're listening to: Johann Strauss Jr., Franz Schubert, Edvard Grieg

What we're writing about: "Why Dad is my Hero", "How Language Began"... a dictation exercise from Genesis 1 and 2

What we're hoping for: A snowy Croatian winter

What we're missing: Our families back home, our church and friends in VA

Changing My Ways

Today, Clara bit me while she was nursing and the first words out of my mouth were, "Don't bite!" And then it dawned on me. I just said "Don't!" After laughing at myself, I looked into her eyes and I said, "Be gentle!" Then I realized how many other times today, and other times I've said the D word.

"Don't touch the trash can."

"Don't pull Mommy's hair."

"Don't throw your book."

"Don't climb the stairs."

Ahhh. Even though she's only 10 months and doesn't understand, I see that this is a pattern for me, and it will continue to the day that she can understand. Unless I change.

"Let's go play with your toys."

"Be gentle when touching Mommy's hair."

"Be careful with your books."

"Let me help you."

Change is never easy, but it is possible!

Why I Love Homeschooling:

Fabulous field trips!

For instance, we just returned from Garmisch, Germany! My husband had a work conference in Garmisch, so we tagged along for the week. We drove through Croatia and Slovenia, through the mountains of Austria, then through the farmlands of southern Germany until we arrived in Garmisch. Garmisch is nestled in a valley beneath the tallest mountain in Germany, which is named Zugspitze, and towers above at 2,964 meters. Garmisch-Partenkirchen hosted the 1936 winter Olympics. Many people go there on holiday and it is a real skiing hot-spot in winter. We have even made plans to go back in the winter and ski there!

While my husband was busy with the conference, the kids and I ventured out into the cozy little town. There is an army base located there, so of course, we wanted to check that out. It was a small base, but it had all the necessary stuff. We strapped Clara into the stroller and walked around, breathing cool mountain air, and stepping on freshly fallen orange leaves. Autumn was just beginning to make its grand appearance, but it was warm enough that week that we never needed a jacket. I love the crisp, cool days of this time of the year!



I was mesmerized by the paintings adorning so many of the buildings and homes in Garmisch. The colors were incredible and the scenes were many times biblical ones. Sometimes a whole wall was taken up this way. I had never seen anything like it. Red flowers bloomed happily in window boxes, where the four-paned windows had painted gables. Cows grazed on the mountain grass with their cowbells jingling around their necks. Even though the population was roughly 25,000, it seemed like a small town, where we could easily drive around with a simple map. In fact, our boys took turns navigating and taking us to places of interest.




One morning we rode up the mountain in 2 passenger ski lift cars and hiked our way back down, winding our way to Partnachklamm Gorge. It was exciting to see the boys understand the meaning of the word "gorge." The gorge was beautiful with its narrow mountain walls, raging river below, and sometimes little waterfalls which fell from the heights above us. Sometimes we stooped over to get through short and dark passageways. Clara was with Dad in our Baby Bjorn front carrier the whole time, which she loves.

We ate at Gasthof Fraundorfer on the last night of the conference. This was a true cultural experience! Nearly everyone, except us, guzzled beer from their enormous beer glasses. I ordered the Bavarian specialty of smoked pork chops, mashed potatoes, and saurkraut. I have always enjoyed the tartness of saurkraut on a Reuben sandwich, but I sure couldn't eat the whole pile of it they heaped on my plate that night. It was good, but way more kraut than I needed! The chops were tender and tasty, and the mashed potatoes had a little mysterious topping of some kind (flavored, buttery bread crumbs??) which made them quite good. While we dined, we were treated to the music of an accordian player, and later on the traditional leg slapping-dancing of two young German gents who were stationed right beside our table. My legs hurt after watching how hard they slapped themselves and the bottoms of their shoes to put on a show for all of us tourists. Whew-eee!



I'm off to bed now... More to write about this trip later though!

Back in Time

We're going back in time, to the first week of September....

We arrived in Sweden two days before my birthday. Our flight was the last one leaving from Bergamo that night, so we didn't arrive at our friend's house until after midnight. Dave was waiting for us though, as he always does and greeted us from his front porch. We had to wait till morning to meet his new addition to the family, who is now a blonde headed 18 month old little boy, with the cute nickname of Dan-Dan. When he met our Clara, they hit it off and were best friends the whole time we were there. It was so cute to watch him come up to Clara, put his head next to hers and snuggle with her. Sometimes he wanted to sit on her lap, which she did not find amusing. He would stand beside her, aim his rear end towards her lap, and PLOP, down he goes. Sometimes she was able to make a getaway while he was in the downward motion, and he was surprised to make a landing on the hard floor!

We had such a wonderful time in Sweden. It was one of the few times where we've taken a trip somewhere and it actually felt like a vacation. You know how it is when you go "home" to visit family. That it is not a vacation. Sure, its fun to be with your family and see everyone, but it usually isn't restful or relaxing. Everyone needs to be seen and had dinner with. If its Christmas, we have to juggle our calendar to squeeze in all the dinners and parties for his side and my side of the family. Anyway, the point is, hanging out with Dave and Karin at their house for a week really felt like a vacation.

The boys and the dads always have a yardball competition and several evenings worth of Kick the Can. This is, for my kids, the highlight of the visit. This year, the dads won the yardball tournament and it was a low blow to the kids. The kids nearly beat them, but the old dads came back in the end and saved their reputations. Yardball is a variation of baseball, played in Dave's backyard.

Dave loves to cook and he prepared many special meals for all of us. On my birthday, we had grilled steaks. One night Karin whipped up a mushroom sauce, made with the mushrooms that we picked from the forest that day. It was so delicious (that comes from a girl who has never even liked mushrooms!)

We spent a day wandering around Stockholm. We drove by our old house on Lidingo, ate at one of our favorite restaurants (a Mongolian BBQ), bought the boys their favorite Swedish candies from the grocery store, and spent some time reliving the memories of the 18 months that Stockholm was our home. We dropped in on old friends, and visited our church on Sunday morning. One of the ladies who attends church with us was kind enough to host a gathering of our old Bible Study group friends. How wonderful it was to spend the evening together again, eating, talking, and sharing with each other. They enjoyed seeing Clara... several of them threatened to keep her, but we insisted that we couldn't part with her.

Karin took me shopping in Nykoping one afternoon. Just the two of us! We shopped at H&M, where I found a few things for Clara. We enjoyed a cup of coffee and a muffin at a wonderful cafe. And the drive there and back was a beautiful one. I love the old red color of the majority of Swedish homes and barns. It is especially gorgeous in the winter with the snow all around. The air is so crisp and clear, the sky is a pure blue, and the trees and grass add the perfect summer shade of green to bring it all together in a way that is a feast for your eyes. I am really drawn to places like that. It was very hard to say goodbye to it again, knowing that I would be returning to a noisy city atmosphere. God definitely did not make me a city girl!

We also spent a Sunday at Grona Lund, Stockholm's amusement park. It happened to be a very busy day there. We could hardly move through the crowds and there were long lines at the food shacks and to ride the rides. But even so, it wasn't nearly as bad as a Six Flags. The boys never spent more than 30 minutes in line. They had a great time, especially ~D~ since he had grown taller and was able to ride a few things for the first time.

We are so blessed to have Dave and Karin's friendship! Without their kindness and hospitality, this trip would not have been as wonderful as it was, and likely would not have happened in the first place! Just being together with them in their home was a special joy and we pray that there will be many more times in the future that our paths will cross. (Dave and Karin: If you guys are reading this, thanks again for everything and we love you!)

Sweden is a beautiful country. None of our relatives or friends were able to come visit while we lived there. They missed an opportunity of a lifetime! Though it is expensive to fly there from the U.S., it is worth every penny to see this place with your own eyes, to breathe the Nordic air, and to walk through its forests. I am so thankful for the year and a half that God allowed us to live there. I hope that someday I'll look back with the same fondness for our time here in Croatia!

Don't Say Don't!

I read an interesting article today...

When I tell my children I don't want them to do something, the opposite usually occurs. For instance, I might say "Don't throw food at the table!" or "Don't think about the color purple." But guess what happens in your brain.... you immediately think of yourself throwing food at the table, or you see the color purple in your mind!

I learned that the brain cannot envision negative-type words, such as "don't," but it does see pictures or images.

The article suggested that it is more effective to say "Please use walkways," rather than "Don't walk on the grass." I believe this is true, because whenever I have seen a sign warning me to not walk on the grass, I find myself extremely tempted to do just that!

A teacher who admonishes her students not to cheat is actually causing them to envision doing just that. In their minds, they see themselves looking at their neighbor's papers.

It is far better to send the brain a positive image, describing the action we would like to see performed, rather than the negative text, which brings to mind the action we are trying to get them to avoid. When I can say exactly what I desire, chances are greater that my children will do what was suggested.

And that means a happier mom, happier kids, and a happier home!