Inquiring Little Minds

Before I became a parent, I swore I would not be of the "because I said so" type. I wanted to always be ready to give an educated answer to my children whenever their developing little minds inquired about a subject. I envisioned myself taking the time to Google research answers for them, never leaving them void of the knowledge they so desperately desired.

That's before I knew how brain dead I would become after having children. 

In all honesty, the menial tasks of motherhood have me running on autopilot most days. I don't even know why I do the things I do sometimes. I just know we've always done it this way to survive up to this point, so we're gonna keep doing it this way now!

"Why do I need to take a bath, Mom?"

"Because I said so!"

Sometimes that's all I can come up with at 7:30 in the evening when I'm trying to map out the quickest path possible to my nice cozy bed.


But often the questions of the inquiring little minds under my care really do deserve an answer.

And many times I need to put aside laziness and replace those "because I said so" moments with "because the Bible says so" moments.

After all, my words may have the power to change an action, but only God's Word has the power to change a heart. And in the grand scheme of things, the heart is what matters most. 



The Bible is clear about my responsibility to entrust His word to my children.

“Listen, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. 
~Deuteronomy 6:4-9~

The other day I asked Silas to clean up a mess he had made. As usual, he was overcome with extreme laziness tiredness right as the command was rolling off my tongue. An all-to-familiar battle was seemingly inevitable, and in my own strength it would have been fought with vain words spoken several decibels higher than little ears prefer to hear. Thankfully, the Holy Spirit quickened my heart to take a different route. 

I recalled a Bible verse that I had learned as a young child about ants. I explained to Silas that the Bible says in Proverbs 6:6, "Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones. Learn from their ways and be wise!" I gave the best mommy commentary I could on the verse, and I could tell in his eyes that something was clicking on the inside. In just a few short minutes he agreed that cleaning up his mess would be a wise decision. 

And just as he bended his knee and began to clean, the sword of the Spirit swung again...

"But Mom, didn't you tell me the other day that the Bible says, 'Two people are better off than one because they can help each other succeed.'? (Ecclesiastes 4:9). Shouldn't we do this together?"

"Why yes, son...  Yes, we should."

Now to find some Bible verses about personal responsibility. 
 

   

 

Tuesday's Thoughts (5/21/13)

I picked our first garden cucumber this morning!

Thankful for... the fact that Liam has been pacifier-free for one week today! I am still completely shocked at how smoothly things are going considering how attached he was to it. Prayer works!

Listening to... the clanging around of pretend money. I pulled down the play cash register this afternoon to spice things up a bit. I'm anticipating finding play money in various places around the house for the next few days, but, in the meantime, I'm enjoying a little downtime while the boys play.

Wondering... if it's too early in the day to have a second cup of coffee.

Hoping... to seamlessly slip back into some kind of rhythm this week after spending last week at my parent's house. I love spending time away, but I miss our routines when I'm gone. It's a crazy little phenomenon.

Looking forward to... Kevin's arrival home. He's been away at a pastor's conference for 6 days, and the boys and I are missing him terribly!

Creating... a list of yummy meal ideas that will incorporate our fresh garden veggies!

Reading... "Parents, Do You Think Before You Post" over at the Gospel Coalition blog. Kevin and I were discussing this topic the other day, and this post really put things into perspective for me.

Learning... to be a good steward of my children's stories (referenced in the above article), and to tell my story without compromising theirs.

Reminding myself... how quickly tragedies can happen. I don't want to take one day for granted.

Praying... for the people of Oklahoma City.

 

Weekend Reading (5/19/13)

Here are a few of my favorite reads from the past week:

Books for Boys {Audiobook Edition} :: The MOB Society

(Silas' first introduction to audio books was through The Jesus Storybook Bible. He loved listening to his favorite Bible stories via the CD's that came with the Bible. I have to admit, so did I! I was glad to find this list of recommendations to add to our audiobook collection.)

The Plastic Fruit of Online Living :: The Gospel Coalition

(I'm constantly having to evaluate my use of social media and how I portray myself on the world wide web. This article was timely.)

Summer Planning Questions :: The Better Mom

(With the start of summer right around the corner, this list will be very helpful! I plan on taking some time to think through these over the next few days.)

On Memorizing Scripture with Children :: Mom Heart

(As a child, I remember memorizing tons of Scripture through song. This article mentions a few more great ways to practice Scripture memory with children.)

Have a great weekend!

Drying, Chopping, & Storing Fresh Parsley

A few weeks ago I shared a very useful method for preserving parsley by freezing it in "logs". I've since used some of my frozen parsley, and I'm very happy with the turnout. The frozen parsley had a nice strong flavor that added a pleasant kick to my Crowd-Pleasing Italian Meat Sauce. 

I also wanted to try an alternative method for preserving herbs, which is drying them.

Drying herbs takes a significantly longer amount of time to get from start to finish if you're using the traditional air-drying method, which is what I used. (The other option would be to quick-dry the herbs in the oven. I haven't braved that territory yet.)

I used the 'ole "hang your parsley bunch by the string on the kitchen blinds" method.  They added a a touch of style to our kitchen for a couple of weeks.

The first step to preserving any herb is, of course, cleaning the herbs to rid them of any dirt or bugs that have taken up residence on the aromatic leaves. You can see how I clean my herbs here. After cleaning and blotting dry with a paper towel, parsley should be hung upside down. I gathered my stalks into a loose bundle and tied the ends with a plastic hair tie before hanging.

It's also important that the parsley hangs in a mostly humidity-free environment so that it doesn't get moldy.

It's takes about 2-3 weeks for the parsley to dry out completely. Properly dried parsley leaves will appear shriveled and crumbly to the touch. 

Once your parsley is dried, it's time to get to work. 

Use a pair of scissors to trim the leaves off of the stems. You could just as easily pull them off with your fingers.

Once the leaves are removed, place them into an air-tight jar, like a mason jar. You have two options here: (1) store the leaves whole and chop them right before cooking or (2) chop them now and save yourself a step later. The benefit of storing the leaves whole is that you will get more flavor our of the leaves by chopping them right before use.

I wanted to save myself a step later, so I chopped my parsley before storing. 

I've discovered that the fastest and easiest way to chop fresh or dried herbs is by putting a handful of them at a time into the bottom of a glass and using a pair of clean scissors to snip away the leaves until they are minced in appearance.

Once your leaves are all chopped, place them in an air-tight container and store them in a cool, dry place. Dried parsley will maintain it's flavor for over a year if stored properly. 

 

Happy Drying, 

 

I say the same ten phrases multiple times a day

...and here they are in no particular order..

1. "Be careful."

2. "Can you say that again without whining?"

3. "You're interrupting. Please wait until I'm done talking."

4. "Go wash your hands."

5. "Leave your brother alone."

6. "Come here and let me kiss your boo boo."

7. "You're giving Mama a boo boo."

8. "Where's Liam?"

9. "Throwing food is a no-no."

10. "Where's the other shoe?"

Of course, I throw lots of "I love you" into the mix. 

And plenty "please forgive me." 

And tons of "I forgive you." 

That's motherhood for you, right?

What are your most over-used mommy phrases?

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Replaced (A Reminder of the Gospel)

"I love you, Si."

"I'm sorry for all the bad things I did today, Mama."

"I forgive you, Si. I'm sorry for not being a good mom today."

"It's ok."

"Let's pray and ask God to help us to do better tomorrow."

"Ok."

This conversation between my 4-year old and I lingered in my mind for days after it happened.
 The burden of guilt weighed heavy on my shoulders long after the prayer was prayed.

You see, "try harder" had been my mantra for as long as I can remember.

If only I could do more to merit God's favor.
If only I could feel successful enough as a mom to erase the guilt of yesterday's sins.
If only I could get my act together then I would find the peace that I was so desperately looking for.
If only, I...

Four years into mothering and I had completely exhausted myself and my efforts.
I couldn't try harder even if I tried.


Fortunately for me, peace would never come as a result of my striving.
My striving was a complete waste of time.
I would never do enough. I would never feel enough. I would never be enough.

A long time ago, Jesus Christ died for my sins of yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
He came to do everything I have never done.
He came to do everything I will never do.
He came to be everything I will never be.
He was perfectly patient.
He was perfectly loving.
He was prefect in every way.
Then he died a perfect death.
And in doing so, He took his perfect life and called it mine, if only I would take it.
If only I would trust in His perfect plan.
He never asked me to "do better" or to "try harder."
He asked me to be replaced.
His life for mine.
No strings attached.
He suffered the wrath that my daily sins deserve so that I wouldn't have to.

"I do trust, Lord."
"I do believe."


But sometimes I forget that when God looks down on me at the end of the day He isn't disappointed or disgusted by my behavior.
He doesn't see ugly.
He doesn't give me a new set of rules for tomorrow.
Instead, He sees perfect.
He sees that I have been replaced.
And He opens the door to the prison of guilt that I have locked myself in.
And He sets me free to love Him all the more.
And He offers me extravagant grace that motivates my heart to rely on Him all the more.

There is grace for you, Mama.

Put the rules down.

Trust the one who already followed the rules perfectly.

Let His life cover yours. 

Let Him replace you.

Let His love motivate you to love Him all the more.

 

Preserving Fresh Parsley

I'm discovering quickly that fresh herbs can quickly overtake a garden.

 And being quite inexperienced in the fine art of gardening, I've had to do plenty of research to figure out a way to prevent my beloved parsley from going to waste. 

My options seemed to be either freezing of drying

I experimented with the former and have been very pleased with the results. 

Here's a very simple way to preserve fresh parsley.

1. Snip off several stalks of parsley with a pair of scissors, starting from the outside of the plant and working your way in. Cut the stalks close to the ground (about 2 inches).

2. Gather the fresh parsley by the stalks and swish it around in a bowl of clean water to remove all dirt. You may need to use your fingers to remove caked-on dirt from some of the leaves.

(My parsley was pretty dirty!)

3. Separate the stalks and lay them out as flat as possible onto paper towels to let them dry. I let my parsley stalks sit out overnight to make sure they were completely dry.

4. Once the parsley is dry, snip the leaves from the stems with a pair of scissors.

5. Place the parsley leaves into a small plastic baggie, tightly packing them to form a log shape at the bottom of the bag (see picture below).

6. Tightly roll the parsley "log" toward the top of the bag, releasing air as you go. The log should be firm. You'd be surprised how much parsley can fit into such a small space!

7. Seal the plastic baggie and secure it with rubber bands on both ends. Label it so that you can identify it when you're ready to use it. I plan to freeze my cilantro this way to, and I definitely don't want to mistake the two!

8. When you're ready to use the parsley, simply remove the frozen "log" from the baggie and slice it according to your need (see picture below). It doesn't take a big slice to yield an ample amount of parsley. The rest of the parsley can be put back into the baggie and then into the freezer for future use.

(It's very easy to cut into.)

9. Chop parsley to your liking and use it in a delicious recipe!

Enjoy!