Half-Pint House

And the Winner of the Zippy Bag is...

The Gypsy Mama! Congrats! Come on over and choose your favorite color!

Didn't win? Never fear, I will be hosting another giveaway very soon!

That's Some Kind of Bible...

Thomas Nelson sent us a free book today. I knew they were sending me something, but didn't know exactly what. So when I pulled this out of the package, I kind of laughed - we don't really get into all all the 31 different flavors of Bibles around here, but the girls saw it and thought it looked neat. I told K8 and E6 they could share it. One of them was looking at it in the van on our way to ballet drop off today and K8 wanted a turn. She asked the sister who had it, "Can I please look at the God's Little Princess Delusional Bible?" And that's just about where I drove off the road laughing.

So many applications, so little time...

PS - Thomas Nelson, thanks for the free book! My girls are enjoying it today.

Relevant10 Zippy Bag Options

I thought I'd post some photos of the bags I'm making as I make them for two reasons: 1) to have a visual record of the goal as it is being completed and 2) to show fabric options to new potential buyers. So here they are! For more information on what I'm raising the money for, click here!

Zippy Bag Options A:

Zippy Bag Options B:

Zippy Bag Options C:

Zippy Bag Options D:

Zippy Bag Options E:

Zippy Bag Options F:

Almost Friendship Bread

You've probably received one. A starter for Amish friendship bread. And maybe you were excited because you've wanted to try it and it's kind of fun and the bread is super yummy. Maybe that's been you.

If you've been at all like me you've let your starter die several times. Maybe you forget to feed it. Maybe you forget to squish it. Maybe you just get tired of it. Done! In the trash.

And then you start to wonder - was this really a friendship bread or an almost friendship bread? Because what kind of friend, or potential friend, would inflict another friend with a ziplock bag full of liquid guilt?

It happened to us again a couple of weeks ago. And the funny thing is it happened on the sly. The friend in question had her kids handing out the bags of extra starter. One of the kids kind of ran up to me and tossed the bag in my lap and took off.

I had been starter-ed. My response? It was this: "No-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o!"

But my kids were exited about it, so we brought it home with us. The first round wasn't so bad - my kids took our starter to a friend's house and they made it there. But then my friend had some 9 new starter bags. This stuff multiplies faster than dust bunnies under my bed. That's some kind of fast.

For the second round, I was determined to feel no guilt about it. I measured out the extra starters...straight into the trash can. I kept one for myself and didn't inflict it on anyone else.

But that seems rather wasteful, you know?

Today I got a brainstorm (and yes, I'm sure I'm the last person on the planet to hatch this genius idea, but indulge me a minute here, okay?): I measured out one starter for me. I the poured the other three cups' worth into a mixing bowl. The portion that remains in the original bowl is what you are supposed to use to make your bread with that day. I discovered that bit of batter is exactly 1.5 cups...bingo! I had enough batter to make 3 batches of bread.

So we now have 6 loaves of Amish Friendship Bread cooling on the counter. And I have a feeling that if I share some of this with a friend, there will be no almost about it.

Relevant10 Updated Goal Progress Sheet

Find out how to help me fill up my grid by clicking here!

Finally, I'm Going to Be Relevant

Or, finally, I'm going to GO to Relevant, that is. I mentioned before that I wanted to go but that I wasn't sure I'd be able to unless the Sponsorship Fairy looks kindly in my direction.

So far that still hasn't happened. But I still want to go.

So my friend, Monica, and I decided to do it. We're going to go together. How? We've both decided to make and sell something for $10 each. We each hope to sell 100 of these things. That price should be enough to pay for the supplies for what we're making (including shipping) plus all of our conference expenses.

Here's what I'm going to do. Yep! I'm discounting my zippy bags by $3 - consider it your own special conference discount.

I have a whole ton of new fabric available from which to make these, you can see current options here. Please email me to place an order.

Monica is making more of her Names of Jesus garlands to earn her way to the conference. Check out her blog for ordering information.

You can win one of Monica's garlands or one of my zippy bags just by telling someone else about what we're trying to do! Post about our giveaways on your blog. Share a link on Facebook or Twitter. Come back and let me know you did it and you will be entered into my drawing for a zippy bag of your choice. Be sure to tell Monica too so you can be entered into her drawing.

I will also give everyone who orders a zippy bag this week TWO extra entries for your order! Thanks for helping me and Monica get to the conference!

We'll be keeping track of our progress on this chart:

I will update it every couple of days to show our progress!

Home on the Range Ball Field

I've mentioned before my attachment disorder to homes. When you move as often as we have in the 13 years we've been married, it becomes harder and harder to call a place home.

Our house is taking time, but it is slowly starting to feel like ours and is becoming home. But community wise, it has been a harder one for me. Periodically, Craig asks me if St. Louis feels like home yet and I always hesitate to answer. Honestly? I'm not sure what feels like home anymore.

When we lived in Colorado Springs (apart from the time we thought we might be moving to Uganda), I truly didn't think we'd ever move away. Colorado Springs was home: we weren't from there, and didn't have extended family history with the place, but we did have our shared history of starting adult and married life together, so thus it became the default home for me.

Going back to Oklahoma is, of course, my home because my parents are there, but the town I grew up in has changed so drastically I hardly recognize it anymore. Apart from the people, it no longer really feels like home, either.

St. Louis should. We've lived here for almost 5 years now, yet something has held me back all this time. I think at first it was the perceived temporary nature to our move: we came for seminary and we thought we'd move again after seminary.

Moving off campus did help with the whole "Oh, we really do live in St. Louis" mentality, but living somewhere and calling it home are two different things. I was still stuck in a nomadic existence and not sure what to do with that.

Today, I was riding home with three other women from our church's ladies retreat. As we entered St. Louis from the east side, I suddenly realized all four of us were transplants to St. Louis. I asked them when they felt like St. Louis had become home to them.

Not everyone answered, as somewhere in the middle of that conversation we almost got hit by a car and the topic changed, but I do remember this: as we drove past Busch Stadium, I wondered if it might be baseball that represents home here in St. Louis.

Why baseball? It isn't even because Craig loves it so much (though if he didn't, then I wouldn't really have a reason to). But baseball might very well be the one stabilizing factor to our five semi-transient years here in St. Louis.

2005 was our first year here, as well as the year I discovered all the different library systems around that all give away Cardinals tickets as reading prizes. We went to two games that year because of this. We went to a third because my parents came to town and sprung for tickets.

Ever since then we've played the library reading program game, but two years ago I also started buying discount group tickets and selling them so that we could go to more games.

All told, last summer I attended 7 games; Craig  at least 10. We're on track for more of the same this year.

We love baseball. And driving by the stadium today felt right. It may be the only big thing about St. Louis that I can claim right now; everything else still makes me feel like a tourist in my own town. I still have to Google map just about everywhere I go. I still get seriously lost at least once every six weeks. I still see the Arch as a place to take guests to, but not a place to frequent.

But baseball is ours. I know the stadium. I know the route to get there. I know the best place to park. I know how to pack dinner so we don't pay for anything inside. I know how to share directions and tips and tricks with others. I would miss life without it.

I know. I need to get out in my city and learn it. I need to explore it and understand it and work hard to develop a personal history with it.

But until that happens, I have baseball. And as funny as it sounds, that one simple thing grounds me to this place and makes it feel like home.

To Brainwash a Parent

When my first child was born, a woman I had known many years handed me a book. She told me it would be helpful as I raised my daughter as it had helped her train her own kids. That book? To Train Up a Child, by Michael and Debi Pearl...(read the rest here at WORLDMag.com)

So Sweet

Am I the last person on the planet to see this? My friend Anna (Hi, Anna!), of my Mike Shannon's-near-miss, sent me this link tonight and I wanted to post it here:

Something for Sunday