Looking back. Again.

May, 2010 was a busy month. Beginning with the last week of April, we had the Oklahoma Homeschool Conventions. Plural. As in, we did TWO of 'em. Dan and I serve on the Board of Trustees for the Oklahoma Christian Home Educators' Consociation which has as its mission to equip and encourage current and potential home educating families in Oklahoma. Way back in the summer of '09 it sounded like a good idea to host a satellite convention in Tulsa during the week preceding our usual OKC event. By spring of '10 that idea was beginning to look a little overwhelming, but we did it. Set up in Tulsa on Monday, Convention in Tulsa on Tuesday and Wednesday, take down on Wednesday night to set up in OKC on Thursday and have Convention in OKC on Friday and Saturday, take down on Saturday and collapse into a heap by Sunday.

Guess what?

We're doing it again. This time the midweek event is in OKC (whoa, Nellie! the pushback we got for moving the OKC event!) and the weekend event is in Tulsa. We have just over a month until the conventions and the amount of administrative and logistic work that remains to be done is daunting to say the least. But, you know what? It will all come together. Or it won't. Either way, the sun will come out and the earth will turn. We will work and plan and fix and pray. We will plant and water and trust God for the increase. It won't be perfect, and people will complain to us about the most inane, unchangeable things, but we will enjoy each other and learn some stuff and resolve to make it all even better next year.

Lots of changes in the convention format this year, but my favorite one is that first-time adult attendees can come for free! If you live in Oklahoma and you've never attended an OCHEC homeschool convention, please come as our guest. Details are on the OCHEC website (link above and in the sidebar). Even if you're just curious about homeschooling, we hope you'll pay us a visit and give us a chance to answer your questions.

I'm particularly excited because I invited Mary from Owlhaven to speak to our attendees about all the stuff she's so good at and SHE ACCEPTED! She's doing two workshops at each Convention! I'm working on arrangements for a blog meetup or two just for folks who love Mary and love blogging and want an excuse to get together. So whether you're coming to the convention or not, if you're in Tulsa or OKC and would be interested in a meetup the last week of April, let me know.

In other year-old news, we began our preparations to be certified as foster parents last May. In October, I brought 8-day-old baby J home from the NICU. He's still with us and is a pure joy! His life is very complicated, but he hasn't the faintest notion. He just coos and squeals and grins his way through every day being the darling of the household. We wait and pray for God's provision of a forever family, grateful for the opportunity to love and nurture this delightful boy. He's a little under the weather these days, so this mama needs to get to bed in case the wee one needs attention in the night.

And that's all I have to say about that.

Wonder if I should just wait another couple of weeks?

Hello. I'm Dana. This is my blog. I last updated it 50 weeks ago. Part of me thinks I should wait another two weeks to blow the dust of the old thing, but the other part of me is sitting in the comfy chair in the bedroom, feeling the effects of a looooong Sunday afternoon nap. So, fueled by the two Braum's ice cream sandwiches I had for supper (not with supper, FOR supper), I'm feeling chatty.

Now, while I guess I don't really need to account for the entire YEAR that has passed since I wrote last, I think I do want to do a little catch-up just to get some things down in writing. Let me see now...I last posted in April, 2010. A look at my calendar and photo folder for that month tells me that we were just living life...planning the homeschool convention, going to birthday parties, winding up our homeschool year...the usual.

The thing that sticks out from that month happened on April 24. I'll get to that in a minute.

If you go back a post or two here on the blog, you will read that Mom had been diagnosed with lung cancer last winter. While it made me very sad, I must say that I expected it. My mom began smoking at age 17 or so. When I was 18, Mom's dad died of emphysema. We literally watched him waste away and essentially drown. When Mom continued to smoke after Grandad died, I knew that something similar lay down the road for her, and that my future children (there would be three, all girls, with rhyming names) would likely someday watch their grandmother die a horrible death. Have I mentioned my adolescent proclivity for the morose?

Fast forward 25 years, and there we were. The day Mom called with the definite diagnosis, I clearly remember thinking, "Okay. It's happening." When we hung up, I prayed, "God, please let this be the thing that causes Mom to fully trust in Your saving power. I can live 40 years here without her much easier if I know she's eternally Yours."

Back in 2006, my stepdad died suddenly. Mom came home from work to find that he had passed away at some point in the afternoon. In the weeks that followed, we had some good talks. She told me that she regretted that she'd never been baptized and asked if a certain pastor friend of mine might talk to her about that sometime. I spoke with him and of course he agreed to meet with her any time. I gave her the number, but she never used it. She didn't bring the subject up again until after her diagnosis. This time, I made the call for her. As I spoke with our pastor friend, I gave him some of our family history and what I knew of my mom's spiritual history. He went to visit her and found no reason that she shouldn't be baptized. I so appreciated his faithfulness to the Lord and to his calling; I knew he wouldn't just go through some motions to make a sick lady feel better for a moment.

On April 24, 2010, surrounded by several believing members of our family (some who had come from out of state!), my sweet, sick mama was tenderly baptized by our dear family friend.

This is Mom in December, '09. She came with us to see Santa and help the kids pick out their annual Christmas ornaments.

And here she is just 4 months later, on the day of her baptism.

She died just four months after that, on August 8, 2010. I miss her every day. The rest of my days here will be a little lonesome, but that's alright. They are nothing more than a vapor; my real life, and my sweet Mama, are with Christ in Heaven. Come quickly, Lord Jesus.

I'm Aware!

I wish I could wear your eyes for a day.
Hear what is rattling around in your ears.
Know what is grabbing your thoughts.
Understand what makes you giggle, and why you’re crying.

Opening lines to the poem "For Jack"; visit Finding Jackson to read the whole poem.

It's World Autism Awareness Day. I didn't even know such a thing existed. My world is aware of autism every day, thanks to my beautiful Seth. To honor all of the families who are trying to love and teach and train and reach these quirky kids, I offer a Seth Story:

A couple of weeks ago at our homeschool co-op, one of the moms told me she had nominated Seth for one of the weekly awards given by the campus director. Then she told me why.

It seems that Seth encountered a maintenance man patching and painting some dings in the walls in the nursery area of the church. He stood a little too close, and leaned down a little too far over the man's shoulder, and the man just kept on working. After several minutes, Seth said, "You sure are doing a good job with that."

"Well, thank you, young man!" was the response.

"Is that 'encouraging speech'?" Seth wanted to know.

"Why, yes! Yes it is!" the man said, looking at Seth, who was characteristically averting his eyes.

"I'm working on telling encouraging speech," Seth informed him, before ambling away.

When Seth was diagnosed with "moderate to severe classic childhood autism" at just less than 3 years of age, a dialog like the one above was considered to be categorically out of the question. We've been blessed with the very best education and help, amazing therapists, and the desire and ability to home educate, but all credit, praise, honor and glory for every accomplishment large and small belongs solely to the One who saw Seth's unformed being in my womb, and wrote down every day ordained for him before one of them came to be.

To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy—to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.

Jude 24-25

What Would YOU Have Done?

It's the day before The Blizzard of the Decade. Again. Conveniently though, today's high was 70º, making it not only possible, but, in my opinion mandatory to expose the progeny to fresh air and sunshine and citified waterfowl. We went downtown, ate lunch outside next to a fountain. That was super fun. If by "super fun" I am understood to mean "whose idea was it to bring the toddler downtown, untethered, at lunch time, during Big XII basketball playoffs?" We left the fountain area and went to feed the ducks, geese, and a few fish. It was super fun. See extrapolation of "super fun" above, and add water. And goose poop. It will be nice when those Clues I won on eBay finally arrive...

Speaking of eBay, it is dead to me. By way of explanation, I got a little moolah for my birthday and I decided that I wanted a particular purse. Or, I thought I did. I found the purse, bid on it and won it. Then it got here and I loved it not. Oh it was all "item as described" and "super-great condition A++++++++", but we just didn't mesh. So I turned around and put it back up for sale. I had bid against about 4 other people down to the last few seconds, so of course selling it for what I'd paid (or more...probably MORE!) would be no problem. And it went fine. Except for the problems. It sold twice, fell through twice and finally sold for the third time. For 37% less than I'd paid. Not that I'm keeping track. I gave away over a third of my birthday money. Blergh.

OCHEC Board of Trustees meeting is scheduled for tomorrow. So is the BotD. Will we meet? Will we postpone? How late is too late to cancel the catered lunch I ordered? You see the besetting difficulties with which I wrestle.

Here's your procedural politics lesson for the day. You're welcome.

Aaaand, GO!

I'm up too late, and my unplugged laptop has 19 minutes of battery left, so I'm doing what any sane person would do: updating my blog.

Just a few things to say before I call it a day...

Thanks so much for your kind words, thoughts, and prayers for our family and for my mom. We don't know anything more yet, so we're waiting, trusting and loving. It's kind of what we do best.

The Homeschool Moms' Winter Summit was incredible! The love and grace and all the real was almost more than I could bear. My first presentation was alright, but I went over by more than 10 minutes. Grrr. I was so disappointed because I really really hate speakers that do not know when to shut up. My second presentation felt very all-over-the-place and wonky. I know why, but I can't decide if I'm brave enough to spill that particular can of beans on the old blog...maybe in a year or six when it starts to be more funny than ridiculous and pathetic.

My dear, real-life friend Tracy is having a miracle delivered tomorrow. It has been years (6? I think?) and tears in coming, and tomorrow's the day. I'm excited for my friend and for her family, but is it okay to say that I'm kind of excited for me? That what I really need right now, for a lot of reasons, is to witness the awesome power of our loving God and to have a front row seat, watching with hope-filled eyes and tear-stained cheeks as "all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God" through my precious friends. I'm so grateful that God is too big to be fathomed by my finite mind. I'm also grateful that He allows a glimpse now and then. There, my friends, is comfort.

Lastly, my handsome, brainy, God-fearing, family-loving, awesome nephew has a blog. The pictures are amazing. He's 20, a hard-working husband and dad, a student, and a captivating photographer. Warning: the pictures of my grand-niece will make your ovaries hurt. Don't say you weren't warned.

Who Feels Like Prayin'?

So, tomorrow and Saturday I'll be here. I am praying that there will be a lot of mamas from all over our state that come to listen, learn, and be blessed. And I'm also praying that they will have the collective need to visit the Necessary Room between 1:15 and 1:45 and again from 3ish to 4ish on Saturday, because that's when I'm scheduled to speak. Here's how I'm feelin' about that:

If you think of it, would you mind to ask the Lord to keep sweat from running down the backs of my legs and pooling in my shoes? Also, it would be a grace gift if I could keep the 'ah's and 'uhm's to a number somewhat below the amount of my current library fine.

Insert clever segue here...we've got a meeting tonight in Tulsa about the homeschool convention our state homeschool organization is hosting there. Time's growin' short, and it's starting to get really exciting. If you live in/near Tulsa, we'd love to have you drop in April 27-28. The Oklahoma City convention is the following Friday and Saturday, April 30 and May 1. It'll be a busy week, but it will be fun. It's like a family reunion minus the weird cousins and warm macaroni salad.

And there's no easy way to say this, so I'll just put it out there. My precious mother and dearest friend has been diagnosed with lung cancer. As you all know, I have extensive medical knowledge and hold an MD from Google University. Sometimes the Google, it is not our friend. Mom is blessed to have a doctor that she likes and trusts, and we're still in the information gathering stage, but it's hard. There was a biopsy this morning and she'll have a PET scan soon, so we're hoping to have a plan as soon as all the test results are in. There is a lot that we don't know, but it seems to me that the most important things are already known:

God is sovereign and in complete control. As Corrie Ten Boom would say, "There is no panic in heaven. God has no problems, only plans."

He has promised never to leave or forsake us.

There is not a disease so awful that it can take Mom's life one second before God has ordained for it to end. There is not a doctor or a treatment powerful enough to keep her here one second beyond when God has ordained for her to go. This article by John Piper has been an inspiration. It's worth the read if you have a minute, and, let's face it: if you weren't beside yourself with boredom, would you be here? That's what I thought.

Pray with me, won't you, for the comfort and guidance of the Holy Spirit, and the grace to endure whatever is ahead with gratitude.

What's NOT in My Crock Pot?

Connie wants to know what's in all of our Crock Pots. And since I'm more in the mood to blog about what's in my Crock Pot than I am to, say, fold laundry, here I am posting for the second whole day in a row. I'll pause here for a minute while you catch your breath from all the successive-days-of-blogging-ing.

So, here we go. Crock Pot. The real question is what's NOT in my Crock Pot?

Pot Roast

1 beef roast

1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup

1 envelope onion soup mix

2T corn starch

1/4c water

If you thought ahead and thawed the roast in the fridge overnight, then you can rub the roast with minced garlic and sear it in a pan on the stovetop before placing in the crock pot. If you're me, you plunk a frozen cow-brick into the crock pot and call it good. Either way, then you mix the mushroom soup and onion soup mix (no need to add water), and smear it over the roast. Cover and cook on low 6 to 8 hours (closer to 8 for the cow-brick). Remove the roast to a platter, pour the juices into a sauce pan and warm over medium heat. Stir 2T corn starch into 1/4c cold water. Whisk into meat juices and stir constantly until slightly thickened. Serve with mashed potatoes or egg noodles or rice or Ding Dongs, depending on the time of the month.

BBQ Round Steak

2# or so of round steak, cut into serving-size pieces

2c of your favorite BBQ sauce (bottled or homemade...we like Head Country)

Brown the steak portions lightly if you like, but you don't have to. Depends on whether you have a kid assigned to kitchen duty to clean up the extra pan. Place round steak portions in the Crock Pot and cover with BBQ sauce. Cover and cook on LOW 6 hours or longer. Sometimes I serve these with mashed taters, sometimes with buns for BBQ sandwiches. Sometimes with Ding Dongs. See above.

Apple Butter

4# or so sweet apples (I use half Gala and half Fuji)

4t cinnamon

1/2t cloves

Wash apples and remove stems. Slice apples into wedges (or the shape that makes you happy), and fill the crock pot until the lid will barely fit. I overfill by 1/2" or so, because they cook down so far. Cook on LOW 12 hours or overnight, or until someone says, "Hey. What's all the brown stuff in the crock pot?" Remove the lid and blend the apples with an immersible (stick) blender until smooth. Stir in spices. leave the lid off, set on HIGH and let the apples reduce another 8-12 hours. I lay a tea towel or piece of cheesecloth over the crock pot to discourage the addition of Monopoly pieces, jacks, or other non-traditional enhancements. Stir occasionally. When the apples are the consistency of softened butter, take a little sample. If you'd like 'em a little sweeter, add white or brown sugar to taste, stir well and let cook another hour or so. Ladle into prepared 4oz. or 8oz. canning jars. Sealed jars are good for months. Unsealed jars should be refrigerated and eaten within a week or so.

For most of my Crock cooking, I use these. When I need Crock Pot inspiration, I go here, and this is my favorite Crock Pot cook book.

Thanks for stopping by! Happy Crocking!