Simply Dawn

Just checking in, or out as it the case may be.
Yet again life is getting really hectic around here.
Big things are happening.
Life changing things are happening.
Taking us all to a place called by so many names…change, transition, fluctuate, restyle, regenerate, transform.
We don’t handle change well…or maybe it’s just that I don’t handle change well.
I like solid ground.  I like schedules.  I like predictability, stability, the plotted course.
I don’t care for unknowns.  I am a constants kind of girl.
Then again, there is a part of me that craves the unknown.
That part of me is dancing barefoot off the trodden path.  Wind in my hair, smile on my face.  Nothing but me and what lay ahead.
That part of me is the one who stepped forward years ago and accepted Jesus.
As I stood at the altar, just He and me, everything was new.
I didn’t have tomorrow plotted and planned, and I certainly new I had no control over it.  Change.
The transition was rocky as I told everyone about this great gift I had been given and watched as most glazed over, some vehemently, and some just turned coldly away.
As days went by, people watched for this new found faith to fluctuate…praise be to Him, that course didn’t waver.
My life restyled in the early years.  The fellowship, intimate…the testimony, thrilling.
Life still surprises me with twists and turns so sharp and fast…it threatens to hurl me over the edge.
That’s where He is.
Just over the edge, where reason meets faith.
He is good to catch me when the best laid plan fails, when reality falls so short of expectation, when my heart cries out, “I can’t!  What were you thinking?  You got the wrong gal for the job!”
He wraps me lovingly in his arms.
Wipes the grime and mire from my heart and mind.
He whispers sweetly in my ear, “I don’t make mistakes.  If you could do it, all by yourself, you wouldn’t need me.  My glory can’t be revealed when you are at what you call your best.  Just rest here in my arms and I will do the work through you.  You won’t understand the why and how.  People won’t understand, but they are not the ones I have commanded you to fear.  I have it all figured out and in the end you will see that my way is best.  Just rest and trust.  Put your hope in me and I will walk you through it.  I will reveal my glory in your weakness and people will praise me because of what you have gone through.  Are you ready?”

I am hoping to write more soon.  There is so much happening, and I want to share, but so much is unknown and up in the air right now.  And Dad if you are reading this, no, it’s not the house, thanks to God’s glory shining through your generosity and the work provided by our customers we should be here a while longer!  So I strongly suggest you subscribe to the blog in a reader, that way the sporadic posting won’t be as annoying and you won’t miss a thing.

Lovies, DJ

A Family Fun Kind of Day

40’s and 50’s in September?
Snow the first weekend in October?
3 kids at school and four at home?
Hubby working two jobs?
H1N1?
This autumn seems to have a surprise or twist of fate at every turn.  I don’t know whether I’m a-comin’ or a-goin’ most days.  I certainly didn’t expect to be leaving my house two to three times a day, five days a week!  But there it is, our crazy life.

So one day at the end of September, it was time to slow down.  Time to have some fun without spending money or getting in the car.  hmmm…how would that work?

First we got a 4 foot roll of news print we had inherited somewhere along the way and stretched it across the driveway and anchored it with construction demo.
Hubs filled a tote with hot soapy water (it was still a little chilly out, so it cooled off pretty quickly.
I lined up the paint bottles and sponges along the paper.
The children and I pulled off our shoes and socks and…

This is where God intervened to add to homemade fun…the city was flushing the fire hydrants, and there just happened to be one a stone’s throw away creating a small lake on our neighbors yard!  It was just beckoning, “Come splash in me!”  And so we ran to the end of the block as fast our legs would carry us and splashed and splashed.  We saw critters running from the flood and it was all I could do to keep the little ones from trying to catch them.  The water on the sidewalk was halfway up my shins, and the hydrant was flowing from across the street!  Did I mention it was sunny with a chilly breeze?  The man from the city was giggling to himself as he watched from his warm truck.  As the chill got to us, I discovered another nasty little problem…no-see-ums were nibbling me!  I don’t know how the kids could stand it!  Fortunately for me, there was a project waiting at home, so we waved a farewell to the man from the city and trotted home for more fun.  Hubs brought me my camera and…

 
Each of us grabbed a bottle of paint and let fly!  We squirted it all over the paper and walked in it and smeared it.  We painted ourselves, and the driveway and anything else in the vicinity that needed a little splash of color.  As time wore on, the paper began to tear and the children started to get a little too creative with paint and their clothes, so we headed over to our makeshift wash stand.
Did you know that tempura paint, once dried on a body, doesn’t entirely remove in the first…or second…or third washing?  Beware of those words, “washable paint”.  Washable paint indeed!  I had paint in between my toes for a couple of days.  Nevertheless, the kids loved playing in the tote and washing themselves from head to toe in the murky, soapy water.

It was a grand day, and no money was spent.  We simply made do with what we had on hand and we were all blessed.

07-26-08, Twins’ Birthday

Joseph was away at Blackduck with his Grandma Gen…

Gavin was bored, then he took up soap carving…

Garrett, busy as always, kept himself occupied finding rocks in the curb gutter…

Sweet Adelaide chase after me with her baby bundled in it’s stroller, what a sweet, sweet girl…

Darling Caroline found a nice shady spot under the tree, her baby and stroller were abandoned somewhere along the curb…

Industrious Emily loves her baby so much she can’t help but steal a smooch, especially with the latest round of chalk therapy…

A little climbing on Mommy as she lazed in the shade…

and our outside time draws to a close, but not before one more toddle down the sidewalk.

*I walked a lot to fight off the morning sickness, which seemed to be with me all day long.  The twins loved our time and we would walk up and down the sidewalk for well over an hour.  Sometimes we would lounge under our big maple on our new front lawn, just watching the clouds go by or the bees going in and out of the nest in the branches.  It was kind of a magic time for us and I miss it’s simplicity.  I look forward to days like that in the coming years.

Oh!  And we did do the regular birthday cake and singing, but I must have only gotten video on that one… and no, I am not going to post it… not yet anyways… sheesh!  I just got used to posting pictures, one baby step at a time!

Lovies! DJ

Tasty Truffles

Last night I had a craving.  A craving that needed chocolate to satisfy.  I didn’t want to bake.  I didn’t have any fast things in the house that would do the trick.  What to do, what to do?

I pulled out my cookbooks and settled on a recipe…

I gathered my ingredients…

While little people watched…

I chopped and I mixed…

I made little balls and hade my hubby put them in the freezer…

By then I was suddenly tired…so I went to sleep… zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

After lunch today I melted the candy coating…

then I coated the balls… it’s hard to take pictures when your fingers are coated in candy… or when you are sleeping.  Sometimes you forget and the moment is gone because the truffles are in the freezer.

I did use the leftover candy coating to make these…

An hour later it was time to enjoy what I had waited so long for…

Yummo!

07-12-08, Passing the Biscuit Baton

A few years ago, I made it a mission to make the perfect buttermilk biscuit.  As a child I loved the biscuits and gravy that we had so often, especially at the casinos (remember I spent my first ten years 63 miles outside of Las Vegas in a little town called Pahrump).  They would give you a biscuit the size of Texas and smother it with creamy sausage gravy until the plate was dripping.  So great was my love for biscuits that any chance I had, I would order biscuits instead of toast… I always felt so powerful at the restaurant knowing that I could ask them to switch them out.

So as an adult, I began my journey by watching the shows and trying recipes.  When my grandma passed away, I received her 1950’s Better Homes plaid cookbook.  She had taught herself to cook “American” with it, and it had tons of information in it.  It not only had the recipes but talked about the technique.  I started with a pastry cutter, then my hubby bought me a kitchen-aid mixer.  The problem with using a mixer to make your biscuits is that you tend to overmix if you aren’t careful, which will result in a tough biscuit.

After much searching, I finally found a recipe that the family likes and I make as big of a batch as my mixer will hold.  It fills a cookie sheet and then some, depending on how thick we roll them.  We make our own biscuit gravy or just slather them with butter and your favorite honey or jam.  They are hearty eating, and a great comfort food.  I like them better than scones, and if I am going to use them in place of scones, I add a little sugar to the batter.  Scones always seem so dry that I hate to make them, when I could have a moist and fluffy biscuit instead.

You can imagine my mixed feelings when Joseph asked me if he could try the recipe.  Was he ready?  Would they turn out alright?  Would I be able to stay out of it and let him try?  Well, with all the strength I could muster, I made myself pass the baton.  And you know what?  He did great!

Dawn’s Big-Batch Buttermilk Biscuits

6 cups flour, plus some for kneading
2 tsp salt
4 TBSP baking powder
1 lb cold butter (no substitutes, I mean really!)
2 cups buttermilk
*(if you don’t have any, place one TBSP vinegar into cup before milk, balsamic adds the most flavor)*

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Place flour, salt and baking powder in mixer with the beater attachment, (if you don’t have a mixer, you can use a large bowl and a whisk for this part).  Turn to mix for 30 seconds.  Cut butter into TBSP squares, and add several to mixing bowl, turn to mix and add the butter a few pieces at a time.  Work as quick as you can without making to big of a mess.  Continue mixing until the mixture resembles small peas.  Now comes the tricky part where the overmixing can occur.  With the machine stopped add the buttermilk, and turn to mix, just until moistened.  You are not trying to “mix well” at this point, that will happen, to a certain extent during the kneading process.  Turn the mixture out onto a lightly floured surface.  Knead just until the dough is easy to handle.  Roll the dough out to 1/2” thickness.  Use a round cutter to cut the biscuits –DO NOT TWIST THE CUTTER – twisting the cutter seals the edges and causes the biscuit to rise unevenly.  Gently place biscuits on baking sheet – they can touch if you like the edges to be moist, or set them an inch or so apart to allow the edges to brown.  Bake biscuits for 10 to 15 minutes, until top is golden brown – add a couple of minutes if edges are touching.  Pull out of oven and enjoy their hot flaky goodness.

You can freeze the biscuits before baking by placing on a cookie sheet and flash freezing.  Move the frozen biscuits to freezer bags.  Bake as directed, adding 3-5 minutes to the cooking time.

06-29-08, Addie and Daddy

Addie followed Dave around everywhere last year.  He even got her to weed a bit.  Notice the dress?  It is one I made, just some speedy sewing that turned out okay enough to wear.

06-29-08, Twinkies

I really like this shot of Emily…

However the wind and nukie take away from Linny’s looks in this one…

They tended to follow me everywhere, and in this shot had moved the chairs to the counter so they could…

eat green onions…wierdos!

06-29-08, Splashin’ in the Pool

Joe and Gav were a huge help in watching the twins.  Bear kept trying to go without his life jacket and this was the first year Addie wanted to go about in the blue floaty without help.  Don’t you just love how clear the water is and all the blue?



  

Addyism’s While Away

“My daddy and I go werewolf hunting every time there is a full moon.”

Can’t remember if I posted this or not, but Addie shared this one with Nancy while I was away!

Don’t miss Addie’s wit ~ subscribe!

06-28-09, Amazing Farmyard Birthday Fun

My girlfriend, Lorrie, invited us to the A Maze'n Farmyard for a birthday bash for her two kids.  My kiddos were so excited to finally get to go to the farmyard.  The day started out blustery, yet warm.  So being the good mom that I am, I dressed my kids for a warm MN day.

We started out in the petting barn…

Then the kids chased the goats and posed for some pictures…

Bear got his head stuck in the photo prop…

The kids rode the ponies, chased chickens, wandered through the corn maze, and played at the pumpstation…

It was time to have the picnic and sing happy birthday, just in time for the drizzly rain…

and then off to home.  I didn’t get pictures of it, but the kids played with puppies that were for sale inside the main building before we left.  They had a great time.  None were so happy to be home as mom and dad, who promptly put the kids to bed and EVERYONE took a nap!