One Thousand--Ahem--Boons

No, really, Sister--thank YOU. Nice hat, too.

Maybe you've heard of or read Ann Voskamp's One Thousand Gifts. It's a beautifully written read--thought-provoking, lyrical, laughter-inducing and certainly tear-inducing. It also, from my obviously Lutheran perspective, ultimately ends up heaping law upon law on Voskamp herself and her readers by concluding that we have to give thanks in all circumstances. Period. So DO IT, good Christians! Always! No excuses! What I began reading with so much hope and delight ended with me slinking back to the library dropbox, wondering what went wrong.

And what went wrong, of course, is that we can't actually give thanks in all circumstances all the time or even act like doing so is some act of penance or some act of works-righteousness contributing to some partnership-with-Jesus contract deal. And since we can't, because we're poor miserable sinners and we generally know it (thanks for this, Adriane!), this book that tries to emphasize the good ends up shackling us with more impossible expectations rather than giving us the Great Thanks-giver Himself. Because ultimately I need to know that Jesus could give thanks all the time because He was God, and Jesus loved me even unto death, and His vicarious atonement isn't conditional on any merit on my part, like giving thanks always. Otherwise His work wouldn't be, well, a something-for-nothing gift. I realize the hyphenated adjective there is superfluous, but it's amazing how many people think of "gift" as more like the beginning of a bartering deal. "I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine. By the way, I've got an ingrown hair problem, but you're cool with that, right?" Thanks, but no. I'll take my birthdays and Christmases and back-scratching and Jesus without the sides of conditions. 

All that being said. Here I give you One Thousand Boons, my list of decidedly less--no, significantly less--than one thousand benefits that I* never, ever list when I'm coming up with things I'm thankful for. Enjoy, and go about your blessed life with all of its gifts and boons.

(*or anyone else, unless she's--or he's--crazy or warped. Join, please!)  

• The Friends of Meinders Community Library Annual Book Sale.  
• A room in which to lock myself into for five minutes of privacy. 
• That my belly button isn't in the middle of my head (that would be awkward).
• Angelika, who came up with those last two while 1) yelling at her kids through the locked bathroom door to give her some peace for five minutes and 2) explaining how truly awkward a belly button on the noggin would be. Yes, she's joined. She's actually probably a charter member.
• Accidentally dropped M & Ms under the kitchen table. That I find days later. (Surprise chocolate!)
• Bath salts and a sleep aid. Not used simultaneously but in tandem.
• And a glass of Riesling.
• The flip-down mirror by the passenger seat for mascara-application, hair-fluff-checking, and last-minute blotting of baby-stained clothing. Better than a personal stylist, IMPO.
• Bedtimes. For small children.
• Natch that. Sleeping children. 
• Anna Karenina, Madame Bovary, and Sister Carrie. To remind me that my life is actually pretty s-ah-w-eeeeeeeeeet.
• Ear plugs.
• Ice packs.
• Three-packs of kid underwear.
• My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less Than Jesus' Blood and Righteousness. And that's a for-real boon.

Double Weekend Rewind.

Hiya, loyal readers. It's E--you know, the lesser-half parent of the Olson team. I played blog hooky this last week for a number of reasons, including but not limited to: we had two super full weekends sandwiching very full days in which I cleaned (I'm slightly obsessed, but hey! With two kids under three, I find that Tacky, Gooey, and Crudy are three of the blechest companions I can encounter, and they need to go bye-bye sooner rather than later. Which means sooner. And sooner again. And sooner again, ad nauseum... I mean, ad cleaneum.), made three types of bars for church fellowship after service on Wednesday (creamy lemon, butterscotch pecan, and ultimate brownies--yum!), and took my FAVORITE 15-minute naps in the afternoons while the boys napped. So here's a little family recap of the last two weekends--and thanks to Papa for posting in between and not letting our blog fall off the face of the earth!

 Friday night we had over the lovely CH, who helped us eat my homemade chicken alfredo pizza. She alternately played with the boys, watched The Incredibles with us on our newly-arrived plasma flatscreen!!, and talked to Papa while I did the normal night-time routine. We enjoyed her visit immensely! What a terrific lady!

Later we Papa watched the UK-OSU debacle while I folded laundry. I saw the last two minutes. I already said what needed to be said here.

Saturday we headed over to the high school for the annual Home and Health Show, where we signed up for hundreds of giveaways and got twenty free pens, some Tootsie rolls, and a big orange balloon with a trash can on it for P--all in all, pretty much a jackpot! Then we met up with CH again for Indian tacos at the Little Feather Interpretive Center, which we'd never been to in all our years here. They were very good--regular tacos and seasonings, but on this incredible soft, puffy, fried bread. We ate next to a preserved buffalo that was used in Dances With Wolves. Not your typical eating environment, but very local-culture-ish!

Sign above the buffalo: "Please do not jump on the buffalo. You could get hurt. Thanks!!" And yes, that is a Santa Claus by the buffalo's head. Not sure of the significance.

After that, J took the sleepy boys home and I went with CH to our lovely library for a poetry reading by Lee Marwitz, a former area teacher who's a poet. His book, Turning the Cup, featured many lovely ramblings painted with the soothing sounds of aptly selected words. Very relaxing.

I had to go check our calendar to remember what else we did last Saturday, and it looks like we skyped with Aunt Mil at 4. That was fun, as always! I'm sure we did stuff after that, but it's not written on the calendar (I know, that is SO 1993!) and I don't remember anything else.

Sunday we went to church and Sunday School, Papa went to do a service at the nursing home, and I packed up some stuff like crazy (with P's help) so we could hit the road as soon as he got home. A little after two--which was our goal; really good for me!--we headed east on 30 toward Lewisville and Uncle Brian's house. (He's not our REAL uncle; he's P's godfather and our good friend!) The drive was very March, very southwestern Minnesota March.

The boys rode beautifully, especially Papa, who had both Coca-Cola AND coffee to drink on the way (not together). :D The backseat boys (I should trademark that name for an all-male pop group, hey?) did terrific, too.

Reading, shortly before he fell asleep.

Gotta love Bear, S!

We enjoyed a lovely late afternoon and evening with Brian. He made baked chicken and served it with homegrown potatoes, beans, and corn, and organic bread--the perfect Sunday dinner! Later he made popcorn on the stove with pure coconut oil--I practically drooled into the pot. It was PERFECT POPCORN. Especially because we consumed it while watching the well-known 1938 Academy Award winner for Best Picture, You Can't Take It With You, in which Lionel Barrymore played a GOOD GUY! who, in one very memorable, fiscally-conservative kick-ass scene, put an IRS agent in his place with an exchange that would land the average US citizen today behind bars for a decade for tax fraud. Very provocative film, for many reasons, too many to list here. I'll just throw in a good word for Edward Arnold here, too--very, very few actors with his kind of gravitas anymore. Incredible voice!

We arrived home late Monday, in time to Skype with the Ohio E's and Grandma E and to collapse into bed. Great weekend!

Fast forward a few days to this barely-still-here weekend! Friday was our bi-monthly trip to Sioux Falls to go shopping, so we left early. Between grocery shopping at three different stores, a return to our favorite second-hand kid's store, picking up some basement remodel odds and ends, an oil change and tire rotation, we managed to go to--once again--the world's best burger-and-custard joint, this time with Uncle Mark (again, not a real uncle; a dear friend and S's godfather)! We ended the day with a family viewing of (the beginning parts of) P's favorite movie, always a winner! To quote Mater: "I'm havin' more fun than a tornado in a trailer park!"

Saturday two wonderful M family kids came over to watch our boys so I could go to the LWML Spring Zone Rally. The speaker was Dr. James Lamb, executive director of Lutherans for Life. His presentation was on "The Abundant Life," John 10:10, and what a gift it was to hear how Christ leads us like a shepherd leads his flock--He knows where He's going. He's been there before. And He knows where He wants us to be. We read Psalm 139 responsively (one of my favorites!), and I got to sing "The Tree of Life" with my dear friend Beth accompanying me on the piano--many, many reminders of how precious life is! On Sunday Papa, the M parents, and their two eldest got to hear Dr. Lamb again at a circuit presentation geared for youth. Then they all came over and we enjoyed pizza, carrots and ranch dressing (does anyone ELSE think raw carrots taste awesome with pizza? We realized we have this in common, to add to the list of commonalities) and chocolate-covered bars together! I just love friend and family time! Now it's 10:45 Sunday evening, all my boys are asleep, and I guess I need to wrap up this rewind, too. I'll just leave you with these pics of my lovelies from this evening.

My boys laughing together. One of life's best moments.

Learning Lessons, Or Cookie (Bars) Make Things Better

Today the boys and I (sans J, who's parked at church) went to the library. We love the library! The books (interlibrary loan is our dear friend!), movies, lovely librarians--the list goes on! We went for story hour with Miss Heather, who's a terrific lady. She's single-handedly expanded the library's collection with P in mind (more books on trucks, Lightning McQueen, etc.) and lets him "help" check out. She's awesome! But today we had to do a hard thing. We had to return books, and P had to apologize for ripping up their copy of Syd Hoff's Danny and the Dinosaur, rendering it unusable.It wasn't fun to show Miss Heather the book and for P to say, "I'm sorry." But he's got a better understanding now of how special it is to check out library books and how we have to treat them with great care. This is one of many lessons he'll learn--hopefully not always the hard way.

On a better note, P helped bake chocolate-chip cookie bars today. He enjoyed learning about recipes, paging through the cookbook, getting the ingredients and all the measuring tools together, and especially eating the result! This kind of lesson is much more fun!


Getting better at posing. "Smile, P!" Here's the result.


All seriousness as he poses with the mixer. He really got into mixing (always with Mommy's help)!


Are they done yet?


About to dig in: "I like chocolate bars, Mommy." Don't we all, Son.


Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!