Science experiments of a 14 month old

aka "Why God Made Them Cute". She had 8 minutes 23 seconds while I was distracted by the phone to learn as much about refrigerator science as she could. Here's what she managed:

• Eggs break when dropped on the floor. It is repeatable. She did it 3 times in 3 different spots of the kitchen.
• Milk puddles on linoleum. But if you walk the 20 steps to the carpet it sinks in.
• (3 year old scientist helped with this one) You can put 1/2 liter of milk, 2 packages of cheese, one egg carton--now empty, and 4 carrots in the doll's pram.
• Niblet corn makes a fun mess on the carpet when poured out. Mommy is not amused by the abstract art.
• Cheese wrapped in plastic should not be bitten before unwrapped.
• Raw carrots are good.

AAARGGHH! It's a good thing DH and I are going out to dinner with adults tonight sans children. They are not "take to a nice restaurant" presentable today. But I am! And they get their favourite baby-sitter so life is good.

*sigh*

Stitching It Forward

This is the piece I completed today for the Stitch it Forward Exchange on the CrossStitch Crazy Board.  It's a great exchange where everyone involved stitches one of two pre-determined designs.  The first person to send (in this case me) will choose a participant and send their completed piece.  That recipient chooses from who is left and sends theirs and so on and so forth until everyone has received one of the two designs.  I hope my chosen recipient likes it.  This design was created by one our very talented board members, Kristin.  It's stitched on Silkweaver Peri-Berri hand-dyed fabric using Kreinik Silk Mori (the lilac), Dragon Floss (Hugs and Stitches) DMC (green) and a lovely floss from www.annickabrial.com (rose) that I received in an exchange.

Who is being Homeschooled?

I consider myself a homeschooling parent, although the girls are only three and one. We do not use any curriculum yet, just life. So this week as life happened and dd3 was learning by asking the incessant "why" "how" "when" questions and God was showing me the parallels I wondered if it is really my daughter who is being homeschooled or me?

Here's just an example. We were going for an afternoon walk and the sun is finally shining so dd3 notices that she has a shadow. She was asking why she had a shadow and what was it for and ... and... and..., you know how it goes with a three year old. I was explaining that the shadow was caused by our bodies blocking the light that was coming from the sun behind us. Then she asked what happened if the light couldn't ever get through? (She was worried about the flowers that were being shadowed at the time). So I explained about how the sun moves and so the shadow is not in the same place all the time (don't get too literal here at 3 she can't understand the sun staying still and the earth turning) and that we would not be standing in the same place for long so the flowers were ok. Later as I was doing my Bible reading about "living in the light" I began to think about dd3 and the shadows. I live in the shadows when I let something get in between me and the SON so that His light is not shining on me. How long can I really survive if I live in the shadows? How long do I want to survive with His light filling my life? On a more personal level, what if my life "shadows" those around me. Are there actions or attitudes that block His light? Am I preventing others from growing. I pray not. But it does seem like a challenge.

Just as I use the things teach my girls, God uses the things of life to teach me. I am being homeschooled by a Heavenly Father. What a joy!
Blessings to you all...

Lovely Weekend

We had a lovely weekend here. Saturday evening we had dinner guests. Entertaining is one of my favourite things. We were entertaining an American couple who are considering joining the same account where my DH works. We were able to answer some of their questions. It is hard to believe that it has already been five years since we sat in their place--considering the move with a myriad of questions. I prepared one of my favourite meals--Coca Cola chicken, roasted potatoes, steamed carrots, salad and cheesecake. The table looked great! It was the first time we had used our "new" antique table that we got at auction a few weeks ago. I was able to set it with lovely spring flowers and my new lace tablecloth we got in Sint Maarten over Christmas. I really felt good about how the evening went.

Yesterday we met with our fellowship group for Bible Study and dinner after. My dd1 who always clamps her mouth shut if we try to feed her off a fork---fingers are so much better---picked up a fork and fed herself melon! It was so cute and she was so proud of herself. It kind of made me sad to know we have crossed yet another threshold away from babyhood.

Today is rainy so I'm just playing around with this. I finally figured out how to add my percentage bars to the sidebar. Thanks Kristina for your help! Now I'm working on learning how to add pictures. Hopefully soon! Have a blessed day!

God Teaches

When I put pen to paper, and it is literally pen to paper the old-fashioned way, it is usually to write about family or what God is teaching me. Today the focus is that He is teaching me that He Teaches. Seems obvious, but I sometimes forget. This message has been brought clearly to light twice this week, so I know it is what I need to be hearing. I teach a weekly ladies Bible Study. We "normally" follow a book or study written by some prominent teachers. But right now we are being a little different. We recently finished an awesome study by Dee Brestin and Kathy Troccoli (Living in Love With Jesus). It was life-deepening, and we wanted time for that deepening to take roots and settle. Plus, the church is doing a Lenten study on the life of David which is Scripture-laden. I did not want to overload the ladies. So, instead of a prepared study, each week we are taking a chorus (or hymn) that is often sung at church and meditating on the words during the week. On Thursdays, we just talk about the insights we garnered during the week.
Anyway, week before last I chose "I Will Never Be the Same Again" by Geoff Bullock. We had a great discussion on the 17th about how our lives are not "the same again" as God leads us day-by-day. Then, Sunday's sermon had the Pastor repeating that phrase more than five times in the short space of a sermon. I told my DH after church that it was a clear reminder that God prepares my lessons not me. It does not matter how clever I think I am, God is so much more clever! He teaches. I'm just the vessel. So cool. But also so humbling.
This week's song was "Great is Thy Faithfulness" by Thomas O Chisolm. It was an unusual choice for me because my plan had been to focus on 'modern' choruses and this was written in 1923. One of the ladies in the group is from a different denomination than me, and was not familiar with the song. Thursday she shared how the line "strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow" had ministered to her all week. Her father had died on Monday and a song that she had never heard before gave her what she needed to cope. God is So Good! God teaches. I'm the vessel. Can't wait to find the next lesson!
Blessings....

Cross Stitching Musings

Since I will frequently be writing about stitching, I'll give a brief intro to what I'm working on at the moment.
First, an admission: "My name is MiPa and I am addicted to Round Robins (hereafter known as RRs)." For the uninitiated, a RR is a cross stitch piece that is stitched on by a group of stitchers. The owner of the piece plans it out and stitches her/his part then sends it to the next stitcher who completes their part and so on until it returns home to the owner for the most-part finished. I say for the most-part because I am notorious for not having my part completed before the first mailing date and then it comes home needing completion, but with other projects on-going it rarely gets done. With the exception of one huge undertaking this year, my goal has been to not join any RRs that I cannot complete my part before it leaves my house the first time. So far, so good, but it is only March. Sane people only join one RR at a time. I'm in five. (yes you read that correctly) I never claimed to be sane. Most RRs have a maximum stitch area of 4900 stitches (70x70). One of my RRs has a max stitch area of 14400. I'm an addict. What else can I say? In my possession I only have two RRs at the moment: P's neighbourhood RR which needs to be mailed end of April and the new Band Sampler RR that has a first mail date of April 30. Can't start it until my sparkly fabric arrives. Of the other three that I am in, I'm the last stitcher on V's Sew Cozy and V's Welcome RR but they are not here yet. I have 4 more pieces to stitch on for the Single Theme RR, but we are a month ahead on it so I won't see another for a while.
In other stitching, 2006 is to be my year to finish things. My 3 main projects are going well right now, but they were all started over a year ago and none of them are 50% complete yet. I have a newly kitted project (Solitude) that I am dying to start, but will wait until at least two projects are at 50%. It will be my reward. I'm also finishing "old" RRs. One down, 6 to go. :-)
Quilting is the red-headed step-child around here right now. Plenty of projects started but I'm not working on any of them.
There it is in a nutshell. Watch this space for updates.
Blessings....

Well here we go...

my first post in my new blog. Hmmm... I've thought of entering this world of blogging for some time, but always find an excuse not to start. But I've decided to take the plunge and see where it leads. My hope is write at least once a week, but more realistically it may be once a fortnight. We'll see what happens.

I guess I need to start with "why the title". Even those of you who know me best are probably saying "huh?" or "who is Miriam?" For years I have dreamed of being a writer. The pen name I have always wanted to use is Miriam Pauline (MiPa) in honour of my two grandmothers Mary John (hebrew deriviative Miriam) and Frances Pauline. That dream has really taken hold over the last dozen months. I play at writing, but have not taken it seriously. Maybe by giving MiPa a public voice I'll eventually have the courage to let her shout.

Thank you for honouring me by "listening" to my monologue. Blessings...