Delightfully Surprised

Our kids often surprise us, don't they? Sometimes it's not always a nice surprise, but sometimes the surprises are delightful. Twice in the last few days I have been surprised at how "grown up" Cora is becoming. They were both good surprises and the kind I like to share with others.


Cora in her dress for her Preschool Christmas Program

The first was Christmas Eve. I was preparing food in the kitchen and noticed Peter toddle out of the kitchen towards the living room where Cora was playing. I heard her say, "No, that's not for Peter," but I ignored it, assuming it was a toy of hers that she didn't want him to have. I figured I'd give them a chance to work it out so I didn't even look at what it was. A minute later Cora repeated her reprimand, however kindly, and she calmly walked to me in the kitchen, handed me a lighter (!) and very matter-of-factly said, "Peter had this and the fireman said that this isn't a toy and it's only for adults. Peter shouldn't play with this." Can you imagine my shock?  I still have no idea where Peter got that from (yes, my kitchen was incredibly cluttered...but still!) but I am so thankful that Cora acted so grown-up. I probably overreacted a little bit because I praised Cora up and down and told her that she saved the day!

The second time was this afternoon. We went down the street to a neighbor's house and knocked on the door to ask if we could collect pine cones from under her pine tree. The house was recently sold to a new family and we hadn't met them yet. So when the woman came to the door, I introduced myself and told her what we were hoping to do. She kindly obliged, then bent down to Cora and said, "And who's this?" With no prompting, she replied, "Cora Beth Bierma. And this is my baby brother, Peter," pointing to the stroller. Judy, our neighbor said, "Well, it's nice to meet you, Cora. You may call me Miss Judy." Cora responded, "It's nice to meet you, Miss Judy." Yeah, I was beaming!

Favorite Toys of 2010

The winner for assisted play: Baby Slots - just kidding! It's a homemade toy! (Not my own idea.) It's a Nestle Quick box with a slit cut in the lid wide enough for the metal end of an orange juice concentrate container to slide in. We have 4 discs and Peter loves to fit each one in the slot and look inside to see it. Then I help him get the lid off, take out the discs and put the lid back on. It's a simpler version of a shape sorter.

 The winner for independent play: Mommy's Toaster! Before Peter was able to walk he loved to pull out the toaster and investigate it through and through or push it around the kitchen as a walker.

No appliances or floor surfaces were damaged in the making of this film.

For Cora, the Overall Outstanding winner is....Fisher Price Little People! Little People and their accessories are by far Cora's most played with toys. She spends a lot of time playing independently but will also ask for me to join her and "make the people talk". She has gotten good at creating conversations and stories on her own, too. In the picture below she used wooden blocks to create a classroom in a school!

Rice and Beans, Beans and Rice

When I was a college student studying Spanish in Costa Rica, I lived with a wonderful family. My host mother was an excellent cook and devoted housewife. Being "Tica" (what Costa Ricans call themselves), every evening meal included a side of white rice and another side of black beans, unless the main dish included rice, like "Arroz con Pollo" (rice with chicken). In that case only a side of black beans would have been included. Nonetheless, every evening we ate beans and rice. And in the morning, as in almost every Costa Rican home, we would eat the leftover beans and rice in a traditional dish called "Gallo Pinto".  Gallo pinto literally means "painted rooster", but don't let that deter your appetite! I've been incorporating some rice and beans main dishes into our meal plans and Gallo Pinto has been a big hit with everyone in our little family of four! Cooks take note when one-year-olds and three-year-olds eat 3 and 4 helpings of something!

Gallo Pinto

Serves 10 (?)

It's a big batch so cut in half if you don't like leftovers

Ingredients:

1 lb rice of choice, cooked (I've used both brown and Jasmine with good results)

1 lb black beans, cooked (or use 2 cans of black beans)

1 medium or large onion, diced

1 red bell pepper, diced

1-2 cloves garlic, minced

2+ tablespoons oil

salt and pepper to taste

cilantro to taste (fresh or dried)

Directions:

Heat oil in large skillet. Add onion, red pepper, garlic and saute until soft. Add cooked rice and cooked beans, cilantro and salt and pepper. Mix together with sauteed onions and peppers. Serve warm and pair with a side salad or steamed veggies.

Notes:

• This is one of those recipes where you don't have to be exact! Just judge the amounts of ingredients by your preference and what seems right. You want a little more rice than beans.
• For those who like things a little more exciting, top it with Cholula or hot sauce. You can also sprinkle a few drops of Tabasco sauce and mix it around. Be creative and tailor it to your tastebuds.
• This keeps really well in the fridge and heats up easily in the microwave for a quick meal (even breakfast if you want to feel Costa Rican). If you have a lot of leftovers and get tired of beans and rice, rice and beans, it can be frozen and reheated later.
• 
  Or, use it to make a Qudoba-style burrito. Pile it in a big burrito tortilla shell with some cooked chicken or pork, salsa, sour cream and cheese. Yum!

Let me know if you give it a try and what you think!

Thanks...but no thanks.

My sister-in-law, Kristen, gave me the devotional Jesus Calling, by Sarah Young this summer and it has been a blessing to me! I'd like to share with you the reading for Dec. 18.

When you are plagued by a persistent problem - one that goes on and on - view it as a rich opportunity. An ongoing problem is like a tutor who is always by your side. The learning possibilities are limited only by your willingness to be teachable. In faith, thank Me for your problem. Ask Me to open your eyes and your heart to all that I am accomplishing through this difficulty. Once you have become grateful for a problem, it loses its power to drag you down. On the contrary, your thankful attitude will lift you up into heavenly places with Me. From this perspective, your difficulty can be seen as a slight, temporary distress that is producing for you a transcendent Glory never to cease!

Isaiah 30:20-21 says, "Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them. Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”

2 Corinthians 4:17 says, "For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all."


(The links will take you to Biblegateway.com to the whole chapter for context)

Wow! I am not there yet - thanking God for problems?? I'll try to remember that next time the car dies...But, truly, doesn't that sound wonderful to not have problems drag us down? One key to being able to be thankful for them is keeping our eyes on what is unseen and eternal, rather than what is seen and temporary. (2 Cor. 4:18) 

#99. godly women in my life who encourage me
#100. a cold bug we are all sharing and doesn't want to go away (Thanks...but no thanks!)
#101. Grandma VD - Happy Birthday today!
#102. the joy of teaching our kids about the True meaning of Christmas, and the struggle that it can be...  
#103. the endearing ways our children amuse us, like how Peter wraps his "Teddy" around his neck like he's giving him a piggyback ride!

2010 Christmas Letter

We've officially decided not to send out a Christmas card or letter this year, so instead I've compiled our favorite pictures from this year into an on-line photo album for you to enjoy. One piece of evidence that I am poor at making decisions is that there are over 100 pictures! Maybe that's partly due to having young children in the house who change so much from the beginning of the year to the end, and partly due to digital photography. Instead of snapping one or two pictures of a special moment,  I tend to take 10, trying to capture just the right look. I'm not that good, so all 10 pictures look the same, but since they are 10 pictures of faces I love, I love all the pictures!

Anyway, 2010 - good riddance! No, really, we've had some great times this year but enough challenges that I hope for a brighter 2011. Brad's Grandma Bierma passed away in January and we were able to be with the family for her funeral in Iowa. My Grandma Schippers passed away in June, and Peter and I were able to be with family for her funeral in Michigan. Cora has taken to asking to hear stories about her great-grandmas and some of her imaginary play now includes "dead boxes" and people dying. Besides incorporating ideas of death into her vocabulary and imagination, she also talks about "coming alive again" and "living with Jesus".

Cora will be 4 in a couple weeks. She loves going to both preschool (twice a week) and her Kingdom Kids class at church. She loves playing with her friends, "reading", craft time, playing outside. She is learning to write her name. Cora and Peter are learning to play together and to have a "what's mine is yours" attitude with the toys that they both enjoy. It's a process!

Peter turned 1 in September and is loving walking! He toddles in circles around the house, content to explore the same territory day after day. He has signs for daddy, down, night-night, bye-bye/hello, dog, eat, drink, more, please, and thank-you. He makes specific sounds for sheep, pig and cow and says "Oh-wa" for "Cora". "Da" is his syllable of choice for almost every thing so we rely heavily on his hand motions and circumstances to interpret what he is talking about. He uses "Na" if it's related to food! Yes, we have a bilingual home! :)

Brad and I still enjoy taking excursions of various sorts around western Colorado and spending time with friends. This past year involved family reunions with both of our families and we enjoyed the travel and time with them. Our church is doing well and we are so thankful for the work they allow Brad to do and the support they give us. It is a wonderful group of people! I still teach piano lessons one afternoon a week and help out with different ministries at church.

The big challenge of this year was that I struggled with a long period of post-partum depression. We praise God that he opened our eyes to what was going on and provided the help we needed to recover and heal, but it's been a long process. When I look back at 2010, this clouds over much of the first half of the year. It makes us grateful that we can see how God worked in us through this time, and hopeful that the growth he caused in us will remain to strengthen our faith when new times of challenge arise.

And now for the pictures I promised you. If you've been keeping up with us this year, you've probably seen most of these before. Enjoy a peek at our adventures and how we've changed! Picasa Album 2010

A thousand blessings #85-98

#85. seeing order come from chaos
#86. that new life springs from death
#87. pink and purple sunrises - that they are so peaceful and beautiful and that I can see them from my kitchen window 

#88. snuggling and reading books with my kids
#89. a warm cup of chai
#90. neighbors who return our wandering dog

#91. a working furnace, even though it's noisy!
#92. Christmas lights decorating neighborhoods
#93. that Brad can flex his schedule and help me out today while I'm sick
#94. when technology really does make something simpler
#95. generous friends who gave us their old camera to replace the one that just broke
#96. Tuesday morning Bible study women (Check out the book we're finishing: Real Moms...Real Jesus, by Jill Savage)
#97. Helping out at Cora's preschool last week (while playing with the kids I asked one of the boys what lions eat. He replied, so matter-of-factly, "Breakfast!")
#98. The joy of a simple box.

First Family Snow Fun of the Season

We ventured to the snow today! It's December and we haven't seen much in town yet, so we decided it was time to go seek it out. Boy, is it ever beautiful on the Grand Mesa! The 60 mile drive there is beautiful, too. What a delight! And to top it all off, Cora and Peter were on their best behavior all afternoon. Not that that's any different from the norm...(cough, cough). Cora tried out her cross-country skis for a while (thank you, Harrel family and garage sale), then we donned our snow shoes, packed up Peter and pulled Cora in the sled. We found a new snow shoe trail but it appeared no one had used it for a week or so, so it was nice and snowy. We actually went about 3 miles!

Now isn't this the cutest snow angel you've ever seen?

Peter was a super-trooper. He LOVES being in the backpack so we knew he would be OK, but I was suprised that he didn't complain at all about his big snow get-up. We have not succesfully kept his hat and mittens on for more than about 5 minutes, but he didn't fight them one bit today. (See - best behavior!) Maybe it's because he was so bundled he even couldn't tell where to start pulling things off!

PS. How do the pictures look? (Beside huge?) My phone took these pictures...our camera is broken. Yes, the one we just got to replace the other broken camera that got sand in it this summer. Grrr. The digital camera industry is going to love us if we keep this up.

Peter's First Steps

Peter is starting to walk! He took his first steps a few weeks ago, but just recently started doing it more purposefully. This video is from Dec. 2. We've had a lot of fun watching and helping him learn to walk!

PS: How do you get rid of the "grumpies"?

So, in light of changing the default emotions from negative to positive, how do you handle the "grumpies", as we've come to call them in our house? I catch myself telling my kids that they "don't get to be grumpy", because in my mind they have no reason to be grumpy. How hypocritical! I feel completely justified to indulge my negative emotions, but tell my kids to "shape up or ship out" essentially! So two things I'm working on here: not indulging and justifying my grumpiness, and using these skills to help Cora learn how to work through the grumpies, rather than just telling her to "snap out of it". (Peter's "grumpies" are still pretty closely linked with the joys of being 1 - new teeth, communication frustration, etc.)

But I could use your help! When you have the grumpies - either you or your kids - how do you work through them and realign yourselves towards more positive thoughts?

The Gift of Thankfulness

Thankfulness is the antidote to self-pity, and a pre-requisite to joy.

The discipline of focusing on thankfulness and praise, no matter the circumstances, is changing my heart. I experienced some heavy post-partum depression last spring and it turned my heart cold and hard in some ways. I began defaulting to despair and self-pity, rather than hope and contentment. I constantly asked God to change my circumstances, rather than to change me to rise to the challenge of my circumstances.

I was able to get the physical/chemical contributors to the depression taken care of, but it's taking much more work to change my "emotional default". The key for me has been thanking God for something, anything, even when I don't feel happy about what's going on around me. One thing I'm learning however, at least for myself, is that I have to express true gratitude sincerely.

For example, when spending a night away from home I found great frustration with the bed I was sleeping on. My default reaction was to be grumpy and angry about this inconvenience and irritation. That turned into looking for someone to blame and deciding what should be done about this problem. I was having a hard time falling asleep and thinking this way was only making me more wound up and irritated and NOT helping me relax and fall asleep. (And there was nothing that could be done at that point of the night!)

Once I realized what an awful and ugly cycle I was in I knew I had to change my thought pattern if I was ever going to fall asleep. So I started trying to be thankful that I had this bed to sleep on, and this pillow, and so on and so forth. The problem was I was not actually thankful for it and all this did was make me more irritated. So I turned my attention away from my uncomfortable situation all together and thought of something I was truly thankful for. I began by thanking God for my own bed at home, my husband and children, the delicious meal earlier that day, etc. This genuine gratitude softened my heart and calmed my irritation much more quickly than the "thanking-through-my-teeth" insincerity of my first efforts.

So, while sometimes I list here things I'm thankful for (as trite as they may seem to you), I am everyday retraining my heart and mind to default to praise, gratitude, and contentment.

And it's working.