Book Review - Winter Garden

So I did something I hardly EVER do anymore - read an entire book in one day!

The boys were home from school on a snow day and they were playing SO nicely together. Andy and I both have some sort of colds/sinus thing going on and were a little miserable. I put him in bed for a nap and snuggled up under a quilt on the couch and read Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah.

It was a very easy read and one I found that I didn't want to put down. The story was about a family. The two daughters have never had a close relationship with their mother and do not know why. They simply adore their father. On his deathbed he makes them promise to get their mother to tell them her story - in its entirety.

After much persuasion and determination on the sister's part, she begins. At first it sounds like a fairy tale she told them as children. As the story continues to unfold, they realize this is HER story. She was a girl who grew up in Russia, right before World War II. She and her family suffered much at the hands of Stalin, including the death of her father. Her husband was a former Prince. She had two small children and they all lived with her mother, sister and grandmother. The Germans were invading Russia and her husband was enlisted to help the army. Through this amazing story of perseverance, you see how desperate she was to keep her family alive. Her sister died from a bombing, as did her grandmother. Her mother died from starvation and cold. She managed somehow to keep her children alive, when her husband sent for her from the only evacuation route open, an ice road across a frozen lake, she packed up her children and took off. Her son grew weaker and weaker and she got him to a hospital where he died of dysentery. She sent her daughter on a train to meet her husband because she refused to leave her son alone to die. She left a few days later and as she stepped off the train, she saw her husband and daughter waiting for her. As she walked down the train platform, German bombs struck and she saw them go up in the air. She was hurt badly and woke up later in a tent hospital. Someone told her noone else survived. She was despondent. She went to the front lines and walked up to the Germans and asked them to shoot her. Instead, they took her prisoner and put her in a work camp. That was where she met her daughters' father, Evan and how she came to America. She had always kept herself at a distance from her daughters because she had lost so much already.

Through some different events that happened, they ended up on a cruise to Alaska. While there, they looked for a professor that had long ago tried to get Anya (the mother) to tell her story about the siege of Leningrad (St. Petersburg). After letting him tape her story, he sent her to another person. Once they got there, they came to realize, the lady at that house was her daughter - the one they thought was dead in the train station bombing. Evidently, she and her father had been sent to another town to a hospital. Once they were better, they came back looking for Anya and she was gone. They spent the next years looking for her. Her first husband, Sasha had only died a few months before.

It was a sweet and sad story. It definitely made me think about what I would do if I were in a similar situation. How I would take of my children in the midst of famine, natural disaster or war? We have been so blessed in our lifetime to have avoided war on our own soil. The ravages of civil war, genocide and tribal wars have decimated entire people groups in Africa, Central and South America and even parts of Europe in my lifetime. I know America has suffered horrific terrorist attacks, but we still do not know the devastation that comes from having battles fought in your town, all around you, and having nowhere to go.

It is my sincere prayer that we do not have to endure such a trial in our lifetime (or my children's). She talked about only having oil cakes and an onion to eat for a week. She talked of surviving in 20 below temperatures with only a small stove for heat and chopping up furniture to have something to burn in the stove. We are so blessed in our lives. We do not worry if there will be enough to feed our children. I do not worry that we will have no heat, running water or clothing. The biggest inconvenience in my life is trivial when compared to the burdens of mothers around the world!

If you are looking for a book to make you think a little and entertain you, this is a good read.

Expecting Their Best but Not Demanding Perfection

What a dilemma for a parent!

I really struggle sometimes on knowing how to encourage my children to give 100% when they are doing something BUT not demand perfection. I think there is a big difference in a child who studies for a spelling test, does all the required work ahead of time (writing their words, writing sentences using their words, etc) and then still gets a B or even a lower A. As a parent, I know they have tried and done their best. If a child doesn't study until the morning of the test or put forth effort to learn a word they are struggling with, then I do not think they are giving their 100%.

Recently, I have really struggled with trying to balance these ideas. My oldest has a tendency to be a perfectionist in most areas. He will avoid trying something if he thinks he may not master it right away. From as young as a toddler, if he pronounced a word and we tried to correct his pronunciation, he would not repeat it. He would simply come up with a synonym in its place! I have had to really coax him into trying new things and participating in events where he was uncomfortable.

Lately, I have encountered more and more situations (at school and otherwise) where I feel I have to counter what he is hearing and seeing. It is so frustrating when you think the influences around your children are positive ones, only to find out some of them, sadly, are contradicting the guidance and values you have instilled in them. Without being specific, I just ask if you have encountered similar circumstances. How did you handle this? How have you encouraged your children to give their best, without requiring perfection?

I am reminded of the verse Noah is currently memorizing for school - "Whatever you do, do it as if doing it for the Lord and not for men!" Colossians 3:23

Obviously, if the Lord required perfection, none of us would be acceptable!

De-clutter Challenge Week Two

I have been so motivated the past couple of weeks to go through closets, rooms, the pantry, cabinets, vanities and more. Some of this motivation started with Traci's blog, Beneath My Heart, and I am so happy I got started on all this purging and organizing!

This week her challenge was about kitchens. Some ladies have posted redoing their sink area, cabinets, drawers, large pantries and more. I started off thinking my kitchen was in pretty good shape and decided to tackle my dining room hutch.

As you can see in this picture, things had been piled on top of things and I couldn't get to something without pulling five other things out. I. DO. NOT. OPERATE. WELL. LIKE. THIS!



The white cloths that are sticking out are special towels for drying china/crystal. I have a tablecloth and some extra placemats shoved on top of things. All sorts of trays/crystal/bowls and more are still in boxes FROM OUR WEDDING!!!



From the outside, all appears to be in order. (Isn't that SO like our lives!!) But once you opened the doors, you found out the truth. I have some of my wedding china on the top shelf, several crystal bowls, goblets and pedastal trays are displayed in the top. I have my "Christmas" dishes out still. I usually leave these out until February because they are all snowflakes and snowmen.



I was able to move my crystal vases to the bottom of the hutch and I think the buffet shelf looks so much better now! You can see the "snowjar" that I made with the boys a few years ago. (It is SO cute and easy to make. We used epoxy to affix a small tree, like you would find with Christmas villages, to the bottom of this jar. We filled it will some fake snow and tied a ribbon around the lid. You tip it up and back and the snow falls, covering the tree.) I also have a platter and serving tray for my dishes. The peppermint striped candles are on a pedastal tray that I used as a centerpiece while entertaining this past Christmas season.



Inside the hutch, I cleaned out some empty boxes. I stacked several serving trays on top of one another. I also found individual cake plates that have our monogram etched in them that I received from my college roommate at our wedding. They match the covered cake plate. I had forgotten about them! Now they are out and stacked carefully so I will remember to use them. I moved the crystal to one side, followed by serving pieces.



On the far right side, I have candles, candle sticks and vases. All of these items are in plain view and ready for me to use while entertaining!



My second project unfolded yesterday afternoon. I decided to clean out the cabinet that holds a lot of spices and baking needs. I had a shelf in the pantry with similar items. I wanted to go through both places and free up some space. I may have spent $10 at Walmart on a few airtight plastic containers. In those I placed confectionary sugar, brown sugar, cornstarch, butterscotch chips, chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, cocunut, nut topping, and more. I went through spices and threw out expired bottles. We found five boxes of cornstarch - FIVE! Who needs that much cornstarch? I found a box of light brown sugar that was a BRICK. Everything I wanted to fit in the cabinet went in with some room to spare. No more shuffling back and forth from the prep area to the pantry!!

I don't have any "before" pictures, but here are some after pictures:

This is vertical view of one of our pantry closets. I have cereals on top shelf, other breakfast items on the next one down. Also on the second shelf are peanut butter, spaghetti and other pastas. The next shelf is full of canned goods on 3-tiered shelves (which I love). On the next shelf down, we have a small lazy susan with applesauce, puddings and fruit cups, crackers, and other snacks. The next shelf below is snacks for school, drink mixes and seasoning mixes/dry goods. On the floor below I have a tupperware container with napkins, cups, plastic utensils and plates. I also have bags of potatoes and extra large containers of animal crackers.



This is the left side of the cabinet. I have mixing bowls, cutting boards, garlic press/small chopper, measuring cups, and pyrex dishes.


This is the right side of the cabinet. I have tiered shelves on the two bottom shelves that enable me to see spice jars and other baking necessities because the back row is up higher than the front. I got these at Walmart years ago and use them in various places in my home (pantry closet, craft room and more).



I am so happy with the results of all my "organizing" this weekend! Greg helped me with the pantry and it is nice that everything has a specific place and we can SEE it all! I confess I have already started on my next project - the vanity in our Master bathroom. I'll share that this next week!

What are some "organizing projects" that you have or want to work on now?

My Reading List for 2011

I have been meaning to post this for several weeks! Life has definitely been a little chaotic and every time I think about posting this, I get distracted! Since I am home with a sick kid this morning instead of being able to go to church, I am capitalizing on some free home I didn't know I would have :)
If you know me well, you know that I LOVE to read. I may not have as much time as I used to before children, but I still try to read 2-3 books a month. I follow several blogs, read the newspaper and several magazines. I used to buy books with abandon and frequent bookstores salivating over what I would purchase. These days, I try to borrow books from the public library or trade with friends as often as possible! There are a few authors I still request as gifts or buy for myself and if we ever build a house, I am DEFINITELY going to have a small library/study lined with bookshelves!

Here is my list for 2011:

1. House Rules - Jodi Picoult - I have read several of her books in the past two years. I cannot say that I always agree with some of the issues and stance she takes personally. But I like that her books force me to think about issues in a different way and make me ask questions about topics that are not always in the forefront of my mind.

2. Decision Points - George W. Bush - My mother-in-law loaned me her copy after she and my father-in-law read it. I recently read Laura Bush's autobiography, Straight from the Heart, and it was very insightful and poignant. It was fascinating to learn some of the behind the scenes information about major events in our lives.

3. Safe Haven - Nicholas Sparks - This is one author that I always read. Greg gets me his new book every year at Christmas and I CANNOT believe I have not devoured it yet! My only defense is that I had checked out a stack of books from the library and there were a few from my list from last year that I wanted to go on and read!

4. Condoleezza Rice's biography by Elisabeth Bumiller - This was on my list last year. I just read this two weeks ago! It was insightful, particularly about the area and times Ms. Rice was raised in down in Alabama. She was exposed to some of the most historical events of the civil rights movement. I also didn't realize the extent of her involvement in the first President Bush's presidency.

5. Knit the Season - Kate Jacobs - This is a third book in a series. I read her first two and loved the lightheartedness and easy to read style. The first book was The Friday Night Knitting Club. I recommend it if you are looking for an easy read!

6. Crazy Love - Francis Chan - this is a book I purchase last summer and still haven't read all of it. I hope to read this soon. I have heard so many good things about this book and I know it will forever change my way of looking at things, specifically God's love for me and for others!

7. Choosing to See - Mary Beth Chapman - an amazing story of how one mother coped with the loss of her child and how she has continued on in her journey. I am so anxious to read this book, though I know it will move me to tears!

8. In the Company of Others - Jan Karon - I have long been a follower of Jan Karon's. I have read every book in her Mitford series. This book is the second in her "Father Tim" series. She continues to follow the life of Father Tim, a retired minister. These books are always quaint and the characters are alive in my mind and heart!

9. So Long, Insecurity - Beth Moore - Our girls' bible study group has been going through this book for about six months. I hope to finish this in the next few weeks! It has been a great book for me to read.

10. Chronicles of Narnia - C.S. Lewis - I am reading these wonderful stories to the boys at night. My mom gave Blake a copy of all seven stories bound in one large volume. We have already poured through The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. We are currently about halfway through Prince Caspian. They BEG for this every night. On nights when I am not home and Greg puts them to bed, they don't read them because they know I want to read them with them! Greg reads something else.

11. Minding Frankie - Maeve Binchy - This is another author I have followed since high school and Circle of Friends came out my junior year. My friend, Noel and I read all of her books! This book is supposed to be out in March 2011 (JUST in time for my birthday!).

12. The Confession - John Grisham - This is another author I have been reading since high school. My first novel I read by him was The Firm. I have read every book he has written since then!

13. Obama's Wars - Bob Woodward - This is a book that was recommended to me by a friend of my husband's who is in the military. He said it is very insightful. I currently have this checked out from the library.

14. Port Mortuary - Patricia Cornwell - I love reading her books, but they COMPLETELY freak me out! I cannot read these if Greg is going to be gone overnight or I simply will not sleep!

15. Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother - Amy Chua - I heard this book being discussed on one of the Sunday morning talk shows. It sounds like an interesting read. She proposes that unless mothers in America become more demanding of their children's performance and success, America as we know it will cease to exist.

16. Winter Garden - Kristin Hannah - This was another book on my list from last year. I finally checked it out at the end of 2010 and it is sitting in my pile to read. It is supposed to be good - it is still on the Bestseller list.

17. HOTEL ON THE CORNER OF BITTER AND SWEET - by Jamie Ford - A friendship between a Chinese-American boy and a Japanese-American girl in Seattle during World War II.

OK - I know there will be more books. Last year I continually ran across books I wanted to read or re-read. I will certainly add a few titles to these as I go. I hope to "review" the books as I read them as well.

What books are you all reading right now?

Update on my grandfather

I have been busy in the past few weeks shuffling back and forth between my hometown and here. I have tried to help my Mammaw with my Pappaw. He was in the hospital for almost three weeks from December 24 until last Saturday. He has now been moved to a nursing home in a neighboring town. It is a 30 minute drive for my Mammaw each day, but she seems to be satisfied with the care he is receiving there. Unfortunately, his kidneys cannot seem to process the antibiotics they have had him one for his infection. They had to stop the antibiotics and wait to check his levels before starting them again.

He has proved to be a regular Houdini for the nurses there. They have had to put a special belt on him when he is seated in a wheelchair. It has an alarm that goes off if he tries to undo it. This is because he has already managed to undo the other belt and fall out of the wheelchair. They have to put a special pad on his bed with a similar alarm so he will not fall out of his bed.

It is so incredibly sad to watch this play out as he seems to have lost most of his mental capabilities in a matter of days. One day he was talking to us, shuffling his feet across the room and the next, he was completely unresponsive! We have been on an emotional roller coast in the past few weeks. I find myself praying to God to have mercy on him. I hope he doesn't continue to linger and loose more of his mind. He is being rather belligerent and unkind to my Mammaw. I know if he was completely lucid, he would not act this way. It breaks my heart to think she will remember these things, rather than all the good.

He could surprise us. He could rebound and actually be allowed to return home. I just don't see at this point that becoming a reality. I know my Mammaw is clinging to this hope. The rest of us seem to already understand the end is near.

What a blessing he has been to my life. He is such a picture of a servant. There is truly nothing that man cannot fix. He always knew how to make something that quit running come sputtering back to life. He was not quick to offer his opinion, but when he did, we listened! He is the epitome of hard work with no complaining. I know I have benefited from his personal sacrifice. They really don't make many like him anymore.

There are so many stories I can tell about him. I only hope my boys will remember him and I will continue to tell him stories about his life, his service here and in World War II, his family and his many talents.

A New Challenge - Part II

OK - so after a bazillion hours (ok - maybe about 15), I have purged, organized and re-filled my closet in the scrapbook/craft room. Everything is sorted and in a proper place. I have labels on all drawers. Party supplies are together, wrapping supplies are together, kids' craft supplies are organized and easily accessible. I even cleaned, re-organized and moved around a lot of my supplies out in the room. The best part is that I made room in my closet for a lot of stuff that was out in the room. Everything looks de-cluttered and I LOVE IT!!!!!
If it wasn't already 11 pm and I had not sat down all day, I would seriously be working on some scrapbook pages!

Here are the pictures of my makeover. The previous post shows all the "BEFORE" pictures. These are the "AFTER" pictures!

Right side of the closet. Note the "wrapping section", the stackable trays hold ongoing projects and I still have "open" space! Up above I used two paper boxes to hold my stash of presents. One is for adults and one is for kids.



These are the outside doors. I have magnets on there for my 2 year old to play with if he is in there with me while I work.



This is my sewing area. I have a large tub under the table with items that need mending. The stack of fabric on the table beside the sewing machine is a variety of baby blankets I am working on for my sister to sell with her creations!



This is a view of the entire closet.



This is a view of the left side of the closet. Along the far left side I have placed various craft projects, buckets of coloring tools, glue, etc. for the kids' crafts. The top left shelf has stamps and inks. The plastic drawers are clearly labeled and organized. The top three drawers of the wider shelves are all fabric. The bottom five are a variety of items, including tissue paper and large gift bags.




This is our desk area. I love having a computer in my scrap room. We use our laptop for everyday computer use, but I still have the desktop for digital scrapbooking, printing photos and working on various craft projects. I still want to get all the 2010 papers filed away, but I at least tackled some of the clutter!



My work area table is turned in the other direction. I cleared off a TON of the table top and made better use of some of my space. One thing I really love about having a craft room is that I can leave work in progress out. Right now I have scrapbooks for each of the boys laid out with stacks of pictures ready to go. When I am in the mood or more realistically - when I have time, I can get to work on a page immediately. I have my tools that I utilize the most - pens, adhesive, scissors, hole punch, etc. in a tool caddy on the table. I have a crate full of stickers, rub-ons and small embellishments on the table as well. I can turn around and have all of my cardstock and patterned paper in a second. My punches, stamps and paper trimmer are all in easy view and access.



You cannot fully appreciate the differences here, but there is WHITE tabletop showing. I organize papers and filed a TON. I still have a stack there to put away. I moved things around and created room to have some work space at the ready. I also organized all of my card making supplies neatly on the shelf above.



For some reason, the picture of my sons' art area and my Cricut is not uploading. My 7 1/2 year old was trying to do what I was doing on Sunday and completely re-organized their area. He threw away scraps and unnecessary items. He cleaned off the top of the desk area and made sure everything was in its' place. I didn't even ask him to do this!!

Now I am ready to host a scrapbook crop party. Anyone want to scrap?

CB

A New Challenge

I have been following several blogs and two of them are by sisters. Traci has Beneath My Heart and Cyndi has Walking in His Grace. You should check out their blogs! They are sponsoring "Organizational" challenges. Cyndi is concentrating on organizing our heart/lives. Traci is working on organizing our home/lives. Traci has a challenge right now about organizing a closet in our home. I decided last weekend that I needed to have a makeover on my craftroom and closet so this motivates me to get to work. Tonight I took pictures and I am thinking about where to start. It always helps me to make a plan of action. I am going to share some "BEFORE" pictures if you all promise not to judge my mess!

Every year around Christmas I find myself making lots of goodies and letting things pile up in this room. It is nice because it is in my basement and guests rarely go in this room (unless they are coming over to scrapbook). The boys have their own corner with craft/art supplies.

I know I need an area for the boys, for scrapbooking, for sewing and I like to leave an area for wrapping presents/making cards. My closet is nice and big and at one time it was very organized. I like to keep a "gift stash" of presents I pick up on sale or ahead of time for specific people. I have gift bags, wrapping paper, tissue paper, fabric, craft materials and books, and so much more. This closet could be organized so much better to really serve the needs of this room and help open up space in the room for working!

Here are the pictures:
Top Horizontal View of Closet



Bottom Horizontal View of Closet



Vertical View of Closet



Computer Desk/corner



Kids' Corner/Diecut machine



Work Area and Scrapbook Storage/Desk



I have NO IDEA how I have let this room get so disorganized! I worked for two hours tonight completely emptying this closet. Everything is sorted into groups: kids' stuff and crafts, potential gifts, sewing stuff and extra material, gift wrapping/bags, pictures and frames, items to donate to good will, trash and party items. Now the big task is going through everything and deciding what types of storage needs I have. I know from experience that I work much better in a clean and tidy space! Now I just have to find time this week/weekend to finish this project so we can walk in the room again :)

What areas in your home need a facelift? Share your photos and ideas!

Reading the Word (and Remembering it!)

This year I have embarked on a challenge. Our pastor and staff recently went through an entire series at church on Spiritual Disciplines (fasting, tithing, Sabbath, etc.). One of the disciplines that has resonated with me deeply is that of scripture memory. My boys attend a Christian school and they have to memorize a verse every week there and say it for their teacher for a grade. Of course, I practice this with them and find myself quoting verses they have had to learn. Then I was reading a blog that I follow, Beth Moore's Living Proof Ministry blog (find it here) and she was talking about an upcoming challenge.
She asks that each lady memorize 24 scriptures throughout the next year. Each month on the 1st and 15th, followers are asked to post the verse they are memorizing. The idea is to share scriptures and hold one another accountable. She urges people to seek out verses that God lays on your heart and that speak to a specific need/place in their individual lives. If you post 21 out of 24 times, you are eligible to go to a big celebration next January in Houston. Now, I don't know that I will get to go to Houston, but I love the idea of the scripture memory, so I signed on for 2011!

Here is the verse I am working on for the first two weeks:
"You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you." Isaiah 26:3 (NKJV)

I encourage you to pray about joining me in this journey. It is sure to produce positive results if we are meditating on HIS word!

CB

Already Planning for Some Winter Blahs...

If you are like me, your children received a few too many presents for Christmas this year. I have spent the past few days (along with my husband) trying to clean up, put things away, re-organize closets, go through toys to give some away, etc. The past few years I have set a few presents aside to "save" for later. I have a hiding place downstairs and I put a couple of games, toys and activities there. My boys got a lot of cute things, even in their stockings, that will be perfect to pull out on a Snow Day or BLAH winter day. I have coloring books, stickers, "design your own car" kits, playdough toys and more waiting for just the right moment. I also have items that I picked up through the Christmas season on sale or practically for free that are waiting for a Blah day or a last minute gift that is needed!

If you are wondering what to do with all of your new things, consider making your own "Rainy Day Stash" at your home. I have found the past few years that they are more delighted when I pull out the toy a second time than they were when they opened it at Christmas. I think they are so overwhelmed by the various events and plethora of gifts at Christmas they miss some of the things they open!

Enjoy your last few days of "vacation" if you are like us. Our boys go back to school on Wednesday and Greg goes back to work on Tuesday. I am hoping the next couple of days go VERY SLOWLY!

CB