Charli 's First Birthday

A Birthday Song for my Daughter

If I don't tell you, no one might tell you
If I don't show you, you might never see
That there's more to life
Than what this world will sell you
There's more to love
than to just be happy

So Charli, be brave
Charli, be strong
Love what's good
And run from wrong
Charli, be tender
Charli, be kind
Girl, don't settle for just any love you find

I know for sure they'll tempt you
and they'll put questions in your head
They'll tell you God's not good enough
and put a fake in His stead.

So keep this Word close to your heart
and bind this truth around your mind
And don't let up, you stand your ground
and pray, dear daughter, pray....

Charli, be brave
Charli, be strong
Love what's good
And run from wrong
Charli, be tender
Charli, be kind
Girl, don't settle for just any love you find

I can't explain everything
or give you all the world will sell
But I know Jesus love you, dear,
And I know the Story ends well...
Yes. I know the Story ends well.

4th of July with Grandma Cindy

Father's Day 2010

Charli: 8-11 months in Short Review

When Charli turned 8 months old, our fussy, fussy baby turned bubbly and cheerful.
She knows no strangers. The good Lord knew her momma needed daily practice in engaging people even when she doesn't feel like it, and sure enough--Charli nearly always feels like it.
We meet new friends every day, usually because she has initiated "conversation."


At 9 months old, Charli crawled out of her highchair (with the tray table locked!) and broke her femur. She had a bright pink, full-leg cast on for 3 weeks. It did not slow her down one bit. In fact, she would knock her cast leg against the crib when she woke up from her nap so we would come get her. We think she thought it quite useful.






At 10th months, she fell in love with berries of all kinds and still eats them 2-3 times a day. We buy a flat of srtawberries per week!


At 11 months, she has spent every possible waking moment practicing crawling and pulling up on every piece of furniture or box within reach. Strollers, trees, and wheelchairs and walkers of the people we visit in the nursing home are not excluded from this endeavor.

We'll celebrate her 1st birthday next month on July 6th, and of course, there will be cake and ice cream and....berries!

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs

It's been raining off and on here all week---you'd think we lived in Kansas. Something about the rain always inspires me to try something new, usually in the kitchen. So this week I made homemade meatballs, courtesy of my increasingly popular food diva, Alice Waters. They are delicious with homemade tomato sauce and freshly grated parmesan.

Italian Meatballs

Season:
1 lb. ground beef
1 lb. ground pork shoulder
with:
Salt
Fresh-ground black pepper

In a small bowl, combine:
1 cup torn-up pieces of day-old country style bread, crusted removed
1/2 cup milk

Set aside to soften. grate, using the large-holed side of a box grater:
1 small yellow onion, peeled

Squeeze most of the milk out of the bread and put the bread in a large mixing bowl with the seasoned meat and the grated onion. add:
1 Tbs. olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 Tablespoon chopped fresh oregano (or 1 teaspoon dried, crumbled)
1 Tbs. chopped parsley
A pinch of Cayenne pepper
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Salt
Fresh-ground pepper

Combine ingredients with your hands, gently but thoroughly. Overworking the mixture will make the meatballs tough.Fry a little meatball in a small skillet and taste.(This was the fun part--my mom says "you're not cooking unless your tasting as you go!"). Adjust seasonings as needed. Gently form the mixture into meatballs, either by hand or with a small ice-cream scoop. Bake the meatballs on a rimmed baking sheet in a 450 degree oven until just cooked through, about 6 minutes. Or fry them in a little oil in a cast-iron pan, turning them occasionally for even browning.
I tried each method of cooking the meatballs, and by far I preferred the frying in a cast-iron skillet method.

Songs And Their Stories

As work in process, Nathan just added the first recording of one of my songs, Edge of the Earth, (Psalm 61) on the side bar. I hope to share more songs in the future. But for now, have a listen, and keep in mind that this recording, and all subsequent recordings are very "raw" and are single-track recordings with absolutely no touch-ups...hopefully you can still enjoy.

Papa's Letters, No. 1: Planting Seeds

Springtime always makes me think of my Papa. The fresh air and sunshine give me a sense that all is right with the world, and that's how my Papa made me feel. He's been at Home with Jesus for a few years now, but there are so many wholesome things that reminds me of him: like baking bread and planting seeds.

I was looking through a box of old letters that my Papa had written me my first year of college. That first year was certainly a struggle for me and he wrote me, even once a week for awhile, and his letters always made my day. They made my roommate's day too--I read them aloud to her because that's the only way I could make out his handwriting! His letters span the course of a couple years, and there are treasures to me still today. He always had a way of winning my friends' hearts, from the time I was a little girl, to the last of my college years.

In one of the letters, he tells me about all the vegetables and fruits he's planting for the season:

"...I got my garden all planted yesterday, I think 20 tomato plants set out, 3 pepper plants, crookneck squash, watermelon, cucumbers, and of course zucchini." (I never knew what he did with all that crookneck squash, I suppose he gave them away.)

This spring, I'm attempting to grow some flowers and vegetables from seeds-- the way my Papa taught me. I remember him showing me, a little girl, how to poke a hole in the dirt with a pencil tip, his rough hands patiently guiding mine, as we dropped a couple seeds into each hole. Then we would take the top portion of the seed packet(the strip with the seed name on it) and stick it in the dirt next to the seeds, so we could remember what we planted. Gently, we would water each seed and leave them in the greenhouse to grow in the warmth of the sunlight.

As I planted my seeds this year, (cucumbers, watermelon, tomatoes, basil, and nasturtiums,) I had Charli by my side, eating the cardboard packaging and feeling the dirt. I explained to her how to poke the wholes and drop in the seeds, although I doubt she understood much. It was special though, to think of passing on such a sweet memory to her. Someday, I'll tell her stories about her Papa-Great. I would have loved for him to have met her.