A Common Shepherdess

We almost made it through the church service on Sunday. 5 minutes before the service ended, I had to take my 15-month-old out. Due to circumstances I won't go into here, our church has canceled all children's ministries until further notice. From the time our kids turned 4, they have left the nursery and sat in the worship service with me. I haven't had time to properly train our 3-year-old yet and now I'm trying to keep a 15-month-old quiet too. I was never aware of how loud a 3 yo's whisper truly is. Of course, there are other babies and children in the service but why does it seem like my kids are so loud? My husband works on Sundays so he is unable to attend services with us. We usually sit waaaay in the back. Yesterday we sat up in the balcony. Usually I sneak out with my 3 yo and 6 yo in tow to spend most of the service in the nursery. I haven't liked doing that though. I would prefer to at least leave my 6 yo sitting in the pew with his broth...

I made a nice discovery at our local Super Walmart. While browsing the frozen foods section, a box of waffles caught my eye. The words Wheat-Free were large across the front of the box: Van's All-Natural Wheat-Free Waffles. These waffles are also vegan (dairy-free and eggless), no trans fat and no cholesterol. And the price was only $1.88 for a box of 6. The same price as a box of 8 Eggos. Much cheaper than most gluten-free products. The ingredients are recognizable too: water, brown rice flour, potato starch, rice flour, pear/pineapple/peach sweetener (no sugar added!), canola oil, baking powder, salt, soy flour, soy lecithin, guar gum (the binder in most wheat-free baked goods). There's 5 grams of fiber in two waffles. I know what you are thinking: 'yeah, but how do they taste?' They taste great! Perfect for soaking up melted butter and syrup! I'm already thinking they would be a nice base for a gluten-free strawberry "shortcake". Walmart onl...

Being in a small space, it is easy to always be cleaning or putting things away. Too often our kids want to play a game or watch a movie with me and I tell them, "Just a minute! We have to finish getting this area cleaned." Otherwise it is too difficult to move around in here! Last night between finishing supper and before I washed the dishes, I lay down on the boys' bed. I was playing with our 15-month-old. Our oldest boy noticed and said, "I like it when you are relaxed instead of washing dishes or driving the car." Hmmm...maybe the dishes can wait a little longer next time. Or I could invest in some paper plates! Or, even better, maybe the boys could take over the dish washing....

Thanks to Colleen, KPM and Ria at The Well-Trained Mind boards for identifying this bird for me! It's a female sparrow hawk, aka American Kestrel . Sunday night we noticed a bird hanging out by the fence between our RV park and the community pool. A smaller bird didn't like this at all and kept harassing this larger bird. The larger bird would occasionally move away but for the most part he stayed on the fence. My husband walked up to get a closer look and the bird flew at his face, causing my husband to drop the chicken leg he was eating. Maybe that was the bird's plan all along. Obviously it is a bird of prey but we don't know what kind. Any ideas? It looks fairly young and can turn its head to look directly behind him. It was starting to scare my son by landing on the ground next to him and hopping towards him. I don't know if the bird would hurt him but I talked to the manager's at the park to call someone to catch the bird. I think he may have ...

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Big brothers are great.