The Orphanage

Posted on May 7, 2012 by jphilo

Life takes unusual turns now and then. We’re reminded of this daily during this visit our daughter and new son in Ohio. Every day, when we drive from the relatives we’re staying with (they have a big house) to our daughter and new son’s digs (a tiny apartment), we drive by an impressive, three story, turn-turn-of-the-century brick building. A prominent “for lease” sign graces the large, grassy front yard, and another proclaiming “office space to let” covers the space where I suspect the original name of the building is engraved in stone.

After driving by a few times, I asked Hiram, “Do you think that’s the old orphanage where your grandma took your dad and his brother Cassius to live?”

Neither of us were sure, so we asked Hiram’s step-mom when we saw her. “Yes, she said. “That big three-story building on Wooster St. That’s where those boys lived when their mother didn’t have the means to care for them.

This morning, when we drove by the former orphanage, the words from “It’s a Hard Knock Life” came to mind…

It’s the hard-knock life for us
It’s the hard-knock life for us
No one cares for you a smidge
When your in an orphanage
It’s the hard-knock life
It’s the hard-knock life
It’s the hard-knock life!

…and thought the lyrics aren’t nearly as carefree and humorous when you know someone who was an orphan. Like Hiram’s father. Who had a hard time his entire life demonstrating love to others. Partly because he was a quiet, non-demonstrative man. But also, perhaps, because he was sent to an orphanage when he was ten. And he felt like no one cared for him a smidge.

I think of my father-in-law, and I think of our children as we drive the few short blocks between the orphanage he entered at age 10 and the grad school apartment where my daughter and new son live. My heart aches to think of that lonely man who felt unloved. But it delights in our children who know we love them dearly.

Why this strange turn of events?
Perhaps to remind us of the blessings God has rained upon our family.
Perhaps to create compassion for a man who never knew them.
Perhaps to make me realize “widows and orphans” aren’t theory but fact.
Perhaps to make me cry.

Hungry for Iowa

Posted on May 4, 2012 by jphilo

Spring is lovely along our Iowa gravel road.The rain washes away the dust kicked up by cars passing by, so the foliage is a deep and vibrant, soothing green. Every day is a feast for the senses.

The lingering scent of rain from a night time thunderstorm.
Toads betrayed by small movement in the grass.
Does hiding the shadow.
Cardinals singing in the treetops.
The stream rushing and gurgling under the bridge.
Goldfinches fighting for their turf in low bushes.

Each spring morning, I rush outside to greet new blossoms.
First the magnolias, the rhododendron, the red buds, and the daffodils.
Then the bleeding heart, the tulips and the lilacs.
Now the iris, the clematis, and the columbine.
Soon the peonies and the daisies.

I can’t bear the thought of missing the arrival of these friends. So most years, I stay home in May, determined to fully savor its beauty. But not this year. Not this week. Tomorrow, we pack the car and leave the beauty behind for a few days. I hate to miss the arrival of the peonies and daisies. But I know how much my daughter misses our gravel road after a year in Ohio while her husband finished grad school.

She misses the ancient silver maples in our yard,
The sight of leaves and grass,
The smell of trees and space and flowers,
The fairy ring where she played as a child,
The regularity of a gravel road each mile,
The greenness found only in Iowa,
Beloved by Iowa girls like my daughter and me.

She’s hungry for her home state, as I was during the seven years Hiram and I lived in South Dakota. So hungry, I could hardly bear it. So eager for a taste of home, I lived for my mother’s visits and feasted on the time she spent with us.

My mother left her roses,
And her yard work,
And her rhubarb,
And her invalid husband
To feed her daughter a taste of home.

So the peonies and daisies will have to bloom without us. Hiram and I are off to see our daughter and new son. Packing our car with Iowa air and comfort. Eager to share our feast with our hungry, Iowa-starved children. Bringing them the taste of our gravel road as my mother once brought a taste of home to me.

Three Stormy Thoughts for Thursday

Posted on May 3, 2012 by jphilo

Tornado season has arrived in Iowa. Between the stormy weather debut and our garage apartment renters, these three windy thoughts blew in.

The good news is that Hiram and I slept very soundly Tuesday night. The bad news is that we slept through the tornado sirens and the tornado that hit the north side of town.
The good news is that we live on the south side of town and sustained no damage. The bad news is that the mice who rent apartments in our garage used my car as their storm cellar.
The good news is that Hiram and I are buying a weather radio for our bedroom. The bad news for Mickey and Minnie is that we are upping their rent and not using the extra cash to buy them a weather radio.

Have you got a tornado story or a terrible tenant? Leave a comment!

Blueberry Buckwheat Pancakes

Posted on May 2, 2012 by jphilo

My husband quit eating sugary foods a couple months ago for health reasons. His decision meant I needed to come up with a new method of preparing and serving pancakes, another one of our favorite breakfast-for-supper meals. Therefore, I was delighted when a recipe for blueberry buckwheat pancakes was published in the February 3 – 5 edition of USA Weekend Magazine. When I served them, we were both delighted to discover they were delicious and satisfying. You’ll be delighted to know the recipe received the coveted Hiram Seal of Approval. Rock on!

Blueberry Buckwheat Pancakes

3/4 cup buckwheat flour (I ground buckwheat groats in my coffee grinder)
3/4 cup whole grain pastry flour or whole wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup low-fat buttermilk
3/4 cup non-fat milk (I left this out as I prefer a thick batter)
1 tablespoon honey
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons vegetable, corn, or canola oil

3 cups fresh or (thawed) frozen blueberries (I used 1 1/2 cups frozen berries, thawed)

In large bowl, mix the flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a medium bowl beat together the buttermilk, milk, honey, eggs, and oil. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, mixing only enough to combine into a lumpy batter. Fold in one cup of the blueberries.

Use a 1/4 cup measure to ladle batter onto a hot, non-stick griddle or seasoned electric skillet. Flip the pancakes when the top is riddled with bubbles and the bottoms are golden brown (2-3 minutes). Serve with remaining blueberries (our frozen blueberries created a good deal of juice, so we used it too) and maple syrup.

Between the blueberries and their juice, the pancakes were naturally sweet. I used only a tablespoon of maple syrup on my stack and Hiram used none at all. If you give the recipe a try, leave a comment about how it worked for your family.

Top Ten Reasons to Become a Downton Abbey Fan

Posted on May 1, 2012 by jphilo

Downton Abbey fever is alive and well at our house. My enthusiasm grew with Season 2, and I’m waiting eagerly for Season 3…whenever it begins. For those of you who haven’t been smitten with the Downton Abbey bug, check out these top ten reasons to become a fan of this Masterpiece Theater period drama.

10. Seeing is the only way to believe how long Lady Mary’s neck is.

9. Downton Abbey is an easy, painless way to learn English history from pre-WW1 England, through the war to end all wars, and the Roarin’ Twenties.

8. Maggie Smith.

7. An observant cook can learn a great deal about turn-of-the-century cooking.

6. Life has to turn around for poor Lady Edith. First he writers gave her sisters pretty names like “Mary” and “Sybil,” but stuck the middle sister with “Edith.” Surely, they won’t sentence her to eternal life as the ugly duckling middle sister. Such behavior is simply not allowed in escapist entertainment.

5. You will gain a new appreciation for central heating.

4. The women’s costumes are stunning. As for the men, today’s wife beater shirts and cargo pants don’t hold a candle to Edwardian men in custom tailored suits.

3. Anna needs a large network of friends and families to support her while the lawyers attempt to rescue her husband of integrity, Mr. Bates, from the hangman’s noose.

2. A baby and a wedding are in the works. Unless the writers employ the Bonanza death-before-the-wedding strategy, Season 3 will make Rhoda’s wedding and the birth of Little Ricky on I Love Lucy look like child’s play.

1. All the bad people at Downton Abbey smoke cigarettes. All the good people either don’t smoke or indulge in the rare cigar. So viewers don’t waste emotional energy sorting baddies from goodies and can concentrate on enjoying the show.

Did the top ten list convince you to give Downton Abbey a try? Then check out or rent Seasons 1 & 2 so you’ll be in the know when Season 3 begins. If you’re already a fan, what would you add to this top ten list? Leave a comment.

A No Whining Life

Posted on April 30, 2012 by jphilo

Because May 1 falls on Top Ten Tuesday, please enjoy the upcoming month’s devotion from our church newsletter a day early. It’ll give you a little more time to deliver May baskets tomorrow!

…His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness,
through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.
2 Peter 1:3

A couple weeks ago, the Southwest Airlines flight goddess (that’s what she called herself) jazzed up the safety instruction shpiel by announcing our trip would be both non-smoking and no whining. I admired her bravery since we passengers had done a considerable amount of whining – about missed connections, lousy airport food, and changed plans – during the six hour flight delay before take off. But in the end, we arrived at our destinations…with $200 complimentary ticket vouchers in our pockets.

To be honest, the no whining announcement made by the flight goddess put my nose a bit out of joint. Because it reminded me of what God has been showing me recently. I whine a lot.

Each time God points out this tendency, I come up with ~~reasons~~ excuses to justify it. “Writing books for parents of kids with special needs doesn’t generate much money. I’ve been an obedient, trustful servant – blogging for special needs families for free for years, giving away books and advice often, donating my time to write the kids’ Sunday school skits, writing this column. Some day, God, the cost of my obedience could end my ministry if the funds run out. So my whining is justified,” I inform Him.

“No,” God says. “The Christian life is a no whining life.”

“But I deserve a reward for being an obedient, trustful servant,” I argue. “After all, kids get cookies when they obey. As an adult, I deserve a successful ministry for being obedient. Immediately. Without delay.”

“In that case, you’ll be happy to know,” God tells me through 2 Peter 1:3, “you already have your reward.”

“Really?” I read further. “Hmm. It’s not a cookie or a successful ministry, is it?”

“No. It’s better,” God answers in 2 Peter 1. “Your reward is knowing me and freely partaking in my divine nature. Now and forever. Amen.”

“I’m guessing your divine nature doesn’t include whining?” I ask.

“Do you see it on the list in verses 5-7?”

“Um, no. So whining’s out?”

“Whining’s out. But courage, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love are in. And they’re in you because my Son, your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ abundantly supplies everything you need.”

“So I don’t need to whine?”

“You don’t need to whine because you know me, and I am in you. I promise you will get to your final destination safe and sound. With eternity in your pocket.”

I smile and breathe deeply. No need for a sky goddess with a jazzed up shpiel to make me feel safe. God’s got me, and my eternity wrapped up in his promises. Who needs to whine when she’s got assurance like that?

On the Eighth Day, God Created an App for That

Posted on April 27, 2012 by jphilo

A long, long time ago God invented mothers because He knew kids needed someone to:

tuck them in bed at a decent hour so they could pay attention in school.
remind them to be nice to their friends.
shoo them outdoors to run around and get some exercise.
make sure they ate 3 balanced meals a day.
tell them to think a little while and see if they could figure out the answer for themselves.
limit screen time.
put them in the corner until they were done sassing and ready to treat people with respect.
teach them to deposit half their allowance in the piggy bank so they learned to save.
force them to drink water instead of pop because water is free.
regale them with pregnancy stories.
keep track of how often babies pee and poop and send older kids to sit on the toilet when they have stomach aches.
tell kids to go upstairs and read a book ’cause they’re driving their parents crazy.

But according to yesterday’s episode of On Point (an NPR show hosted by Tom Ashbrook) entitled “The Quantified Self,” computer apps now can do everything mothers used to do. The webpage about the show lists the following what-your-mother-used-to-do apps:

Sleep Cycle The Sleep Cycle alarm clock is a bio-alarm clock that analyzes your sleep patterns and wakes you when you are in the lightest sleep phase. It aims to make you wake up more refreshed.
Facebook Timeline The social networking site now includes a timeline feature that puts your interactions with the site and your network of friends in chronological order.
Fitbit A machine that tracks your sleep and physical activity.
Meal Snap Take a photo of the food you eat and this app — amazingly — can figure out how many calories you’ve consumed.
Honestly Now helps you make decisions by getting you the answers you want to your burning questions.
What Pulse This app tracks your keyboard and mouse use.
Mood Scope This app records your daily mood, tracks it over time, and can be integrated with your friends — with the aim of improving your well-being.
Mint An online tool to track your financial transactions.
Waterlogged This app keeps track of how much water you’re drinking each day.
My Pregnancy Today Track your pregnancy with this app.
Baby Connect records information about your newborn: feeding (bottle, nursing, solid, pumping), diapers, sleep, mood, activities, milestones, health, medicines, vaccines, photos, and more.
Azumio This app measures and records your stress levels.

I am not making this up, According to Tom Ashbrook and his guests, almost everything mothers used to monitor can now be monitored and quantified by computer apps.

Why? Well, Tom Ashbrook didn’t say why (click here to listen to the show), but my guess is that grown up app creators prefer having a computer analyze their lifestyles and tell them to get enough sleep, eat right, and get off their butts and exercise than to have their mothers tell them the same things. Or point out the obvious: Companies aren’t interested in hiring people engrossed in digitized navel gazing. People obsessing over data about their sleep cycles, diets moods, bowel movements, water intake, and financial transactions don’t have a social life. So these app gurus are stuck in an endless, self-perpetuating cycle. They sit around creating apps about everything and anything except what they need to hear.

Stop navel gazing and think about somebody else for a change!

But God knew young adults need someone to tell them the truth now and then.
So he created an app for that.
And named her Mom.

Three Sick and Wrong Thoughts for Thursday

Posted on April 26, 2012 by jphilo

This week some deeply, deeply disturbing events intruded on life along our little gravel road. Some of them, as my sister-in-law would say, are downright sick and wrong. This week’s three thoughts for Thursday are written in her honor:

My little brother, three years my junior, turned 53 yesterday. Do the math for both of us, and I think you’ll agree. That many candles on a cake are more than a fire hazard. They’re sick and wrong!
My clematis, which usually bloom in late May and early June, are flowering already. Yesterday, I wore capris and went barefoot. Last night, we grilled burgers for supper. Pleasant as all this is, one of these days it’ll be pay back time for our good weather. Why? ‘Cause there’s something sick and wrong about summer starting in ~~April~~ Maypril.
After completing the first 100 pages of Robert Massie’s new biography, Catherine the Great, I’ve come to a difficult decision. Should I ever be asked to serve as Empress of Russia, I will decline. What with all the court intrigue, conniving, and jealousy, being a princess isn’t nearly as fun as Disney makes it sound. In fact, the behavior and treatment of royalty can be summed up in two words. Sick and wrong!

Need to get what’s sick and wrong in your world off your chest? Leave a comment.

Balkan Meatballs

Posted on April 25, 2012 by jphilo

IMG 0590 300x200 Balkan Meatballs

This recipe for Balkan Meatballs has been a favorite with our family since Mom gave me Mimi Wilson and Mary Beth Lagerborg’s Once-A-Month Cooking cookbook in the early 90s. These meatballs are the ultimate comfort food and make a complete meal when paired with green salad.

Balkan Meatballs

1 egg
1/4 cup milk
1/3 cup seasoned bread crumbs
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1 pound lean ground beef
1/2 pound ground turkey
2/3 cup finely chopped onion
1 – 12 ounce package of frozen Reames Noodles
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup flour
2 cups milk

In a medium-sized mixing bowl, beat egg with milk. Mix in dry bread crumb, salt, sugar, and spices. Add beef, turkey and onion. Mix thoroughly. Shape mixture into balls the size of walnuts and place on broiler pan. Broil until lightly browned. Cool.

Cook noodles according to package directions. At the same time, melt butter in large skillet. Add flour, stirring constantly until mixture is smooth and bubbly. Gradually stir in milk, stirring constantly. Heat to boiling and stir one minute until mixture is thick and smooth. Add meatballs; reduce heat. Cover and simmer 15 minutes. Serve meatballs over the noodles.

Note: I usually make a double batch of meatballs and use 1/3 for supper, then divide the remaining meatballs into two quart freezer bag and put in freezer to use later.

Top 10 Lessons Learned During 6 Hour Southwest Airline Flight Delay

Posted on April 24, 2012 by jphilo

Over the weekend, I attended the McLean Bible Church’s Accessibility Summit. The trip was a short one, rendered even shorter by a 6 hour delay in the Southwest flight out of Omaha. The Omaha airport is small, and Terminal B, where we were trapped because our boarding passes had already been collected and the staff wasn’t forthcoming with new ones, is even smaller. Determined to polish my perky, Pollyanna image, I spent the 6 hour delay refining the following top ten lessons list:

10. The delay was the perfect opportunity to guess which men and women, during their childhoods, knocked fourth grade classmates out of the way in order to get to the front of the line.

9. The second thing to do when a flight delay is announced (the first thing is to knock people out of the way so you can be first in line at the customer service desk) is to find an electrical outlet, plug in your phone, laptop, or iPad, and camp out.

8. This spring’s top color combo for infant girl clothing is brown and pink.

7. Much as I love my kids, I am thankful we no longer need to travel with young children.

6. Janet Evanovich books on an iPad make the delay much funnier.

5. When the only food vendor in the terminal is Godfather’s Pizza, people with a dairy allergies go hungry.

4. Customer service people are trained to be courteous and patient, but not particularly forthcoming with information. On the flip side, riding herd on fourth graders is easier than dealing with irate airline passengers facing a 6 hour delay.

3. 6 hours is long enough for the most technologically-challenged person to fall in love with an iPad 3.

2. 6 hours is not long enough for a person to master the art of spreading the sanitary cover on the toilet and perching before the automatic switch flushes it away.

1. 6 hour delays are to be expected when you accidentally pack your deodorant in your checked luggage instead of your carry on bag.

Now it’s your turn. What lessons have you learned during flight delays? Leave a comment.