Hope in the Midst of Sadness

My blog posts are usually light-- pictures of the kids, what we've been up to, funny stories, recipes, etc....this won't be quite the same.
There's a little boy in Jon's class named Curtis...sweet, sweet little boy who has become Jon's friend. Curtis's daddy was deployed for a year to Iraq. He came home just a few weeks ago to big signs, balloons, etc. at the entrance to his neighborhood and more importantly, to his wife Christine, his son, Curtis and his two year old daughter Sophia. I can only imagine the joy that family felt after being apart for so long. The joy was brief. Curtis's daddy got sick, just after celebrating Curtis's fifth birthday, he went to the hospital and passed away of bacterial menengitis just a couple days later. It's been a week since the school sent home a letter to all the families so that we would know and be able to send cards, etc. to the Blackmon family. My heart has not stopped aching for this family. I barely know them yet I feel so much sadness for them. Every song on the radio has new meaning like Steven Curtis Chapman's "Heaven is the Face" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9JTwJ_1lzE) and "With Hope" (song #6) as well as others (some of which I added to the playlist). I keep thinking of things I could do: send a card, make a CD, bring dinner, call...it all seems so insignificant. They lost their daddy, their husband, their loved one, after being reunited for such a short time. I know God has a plan for all of us and I don't question His plan for this family, but I have come to understand two things from this. The first is that every second is so absolutely precious. In the 33 miles song, they sing about one life to love. Take nothing for granted. "Count it all joy" as it says in the book of James. Say "I love you", give hugs and kisses to those you love, take time to do what's really important. And more importantly what has been truly brought home to me is that we rest in the fact that if we accept Jesus Christ as our savior, God has promised us eternal life in heaven. "Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven" (Matthew 5:12). We have forever with our loved ones if we have Christ in our hearts.
Please pray for the Blackmon family.

Hearty Oatmeal Pancakes

Here's another recipe for you to try. I've made these several times now and we just love them! The first time I made these, Jon was three and ate FIVE of them! I just made them this morning and Lizzie, at 19 months, ate 2 1/2!!! They're yummy, but chock full of grains and lower in fat.

1 cup quick-cooking oats
1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. whole wheat flour
1 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg
2 c. 1% buttermilk (I never have this and always put 1 tsp vinegar in a 2 cup glass measurer and pour the skim milk to make 2 cups and just let it set while I measure out the dry ingredients)
2 Tbsp canola oil
1 tsp vanilla

Put all the dry ingredients into a large bowl. Use a whisk to blend. Add the remaining ingredients and whisk until combined. It will appear a tad bit runny, but just let is sit for a couple minutes and it will thicken slightly as the oats absorb some of the liquid. In the meantime, spray a nonstick flat griddle with cooking spray and put on medium-medium high heat. When hot, pour pancake batter by 1/4 cupfuls. When they start to bubble slightly, flip them over and cook until the other side is brown. We serve them spread with a wee bit of peanut butter and a drizzle of syrup. Delicious!!!
I hope you'll give them a try and love them as much as we do!

Fall Fest!

I took Lizzie to Fifer Orchards for their Fall Fest a couple weeks ago. We met some of our playgroup friends there and Lizzie had a blast! First, we bought some apples (which we later made into applesauce at home...YUM), some apple cider doughnuts (Sorry, Kristy, are you salivating?), and cider, of course. Then we picked out a couple of pumpkins for our front steps. Lizzie enjoyed riding in the wagon with them. Notice in this first picture how high that stack of straw bales is...

Now notice my monkey at the very top!!! Yup, had no fear what-so-ever, just climbed right up!
Do you see her in the pink pants at the top of the slide? Again, no hesitation, she slid right down!!! The lady at the top couldn't believe how little she was and that she just kept climbing back up to do it again! That's what happens when you have two big brothers, I guess. Monkey see, Monkey do! That's my girl!

This makes Daddy proud...she actually threw it into the hole! Okay, so she's like a foot away, but come on...that's pretty cool. She kept saying "good throw!" Typical Merkle, good at patting herself on her back
;-).



She enjoyed playing in the soybean "sand" box, too.

Fun day! I love FALL!!!

Jon's First Day of School!!!

I can't believe how fast time has flown by. My sweet little Jonny's first day of school!! Okay, so it's preschool, but still...

He's attending 5-Day preschool (half days) at the Little School at Kids Cottage here in Dover. He absolutely LOVES it!Jon picked scrapple and eggs for breakfast and was thrilled to eat off the "Celebrate" plate.

Jake catches the bus at 8:15, but we don't leave until 8:40 to take Jon to school. He was anxiously waiting with his cool Cars backpack (thanks, Aunt Laura and Uncle Toe).

In front of the brand new building (Jake went to the Little School, too, but at their old farmhouse building) This place is amazing! They have indoor and outdoor playgrounds, murals all over the walls, great programs, a little library...it's amazing.

Jon and his teacher, Miss Nicki. He loves her. She seems very creative and energetic.

Soccer!

Our season is well underway and the boys are doing great! I'm amazed at how much they've learned so far. Jake's dribbling has gotten really good...but he's still not really aggressive...but then again, I wasn't the first few year I played, either. He's scored a few goals, though, so that's cool. Jon really hustles, gets into this awesome defensive crouch, lets the kid go by, sprints to the goal and stands there. Every once in awhile, he'll just stop and look at us with a huge grin and give us a thumbs up. It's hilarious. They both are having lots of fun, so that's great. This is Jake's team. One of the dad's took this and emailed it to me (He could have saved me $23! Man, they get ya!)

Posing before their first game. Jake is on Crossfit Dover and Jon plays for Sonic Drive-In.

They always have each other to practice with...this is that great defensive stance I was talking about!

This is the grin we get every once in awhile while he's supposed to be playing! Either this, the thumbs up, or lifting his shirt up...not sure about that one!

Their biggest cheerleader!

Sitting on their ball, eating their snack...what fun!

Where are your shorts, Jake? Poor guys got sick after this first game. He felt terrible...was running a fever and everything. Thankfully it passed pretty quickly.

Stripes

I found a couple of these caterpillars in our garden munching on the leaves of the carrots. They were so cool to watch! I looked them up online and found out that they are black swallowtails and turn into beautiful black butterflies! Jake was at school, so Jon asked if we could put "stripes" in a jar for Jake to see when he got home. We added a few carrot leaves, poked some holes in a baby food jar lid and he was happy as can be. This gave me an idea...could we raise the caterpillar and watch it go through the stages? Well, I decided to ask Jake's teacher if she would want a couple to "raise" in the classroom for the kids to see and she thought that would be great. We released our guy back into our garden, but Mrs. Case has been taking pictures and keeping me informed of "Stripes" and his friend, "Spots". Stripes is now making his cocoon and Spots has just crawled into the corner of the box to begin his. I wish we had kept one for ourselves to watch closely because we can't find the two we left in the garden. Oh well, maybe next year...We can't wait to see the butterflies emerge!

Sweet Lizzie

"Pot"ty training?

Looking like such a big girl...And talking like one, too! Her words are starting to come together in small sentences. She saw the bananas on the counter and asked, "more banana please, Mommy." More and more words are coming from her sweet little mouth and I just love to hear her talk. Some of my favorites, "amen" "please" "bless you mommy" "thank you" "Jake's bus" "take Jon school" "stuck" "help please""Lizzie's shoes", "Daddy's home!"...and so many more. As ornery as she can be sometimes, she really is such a sweetie and we are so thankful for every moment.