The Talens' Tales

Yesterday was a wonderful day for me as a mother. Since it was Good Friday, when Joash asked where we were going today, I said, "Church. Even though it is Friday." I then tried to do my best to explain that we went to church today to remember that Jesus died on the cross to take away our sins and we go to church to praise God and worship God for doing that for us. He remembered that and even told it to Wilbert when he came in from that barn. At our church service, the ushers handed out pieces of paper with red dots on them. During the final song of the service, the congregation was invited to come to the cross, place the paper in a tub of water and watch it disappear. It was very crowded to get to the front, which is good. So, while we were waiting (and this pregnant mom was getting really uncomfortable. I just needed to stand up and stretch my back out a bit), I thought maybe we should just take our paper home and do it with Joash. Wilbert agreed and I snuck out to stretch...

I made these brownies for Wilbert to take to the congregational meeting at church last night, and apparently they were a big hit. He came back with an empty platter and a few requests for the recipe. So, here it is. Cream Cheese Brownies Brownies: 1 cup butter or margarine 4 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate 2 cups sugar 2 teaspoon vanilla 4 large eggs 1 ½ cups flour ½ teaspoon salt 1 cup coarsely chopped nuts (optional) Cream Cheese Filling: 2-8oz packages cream cheese softened ½ cup sugar 2 teaspoons vanilla 1 egg   1)    Heat oven to 350. Grease and 9X13 pan.   2)  Melt butter and chocolate over low heat, stirring frequently, until melted. Remove from heat and allow to cool while making cream cheese filling.   3)  For cream cheese filling, beat all of the ingredients together. Set aside.   4)  Beat chocolate mixture, sugar, vanilla, and eggs in a large bowl. Beat in flour and salt. Stir in nuts....

After an interesting afternoon of play that included a rubber duck and a cape fastened with a clothes pin, Joash and I had one of the worst supper preparation hours together, ever. He wanted to be held. He wanted me to make a wagon from the play dough. He was hungry and decided one of the bars cooling on the counter that Wilbert needed to take to church tonight would be good and stuck his fingers right in the middle. We had more tears and screams and tantrums in one hour that we usually have in a week. And I was working with raw chicken most of the time. I was very relieved to see Wilbert come home today and so was Joash. He was a completely different boy as soon as Daddy walked in the door. And then it was supper time. Joash doesn't usually eat supper very well. It has been getting a bit better as we now make him eat a bite of his vegetable before he can have the bread or fruit that he wants. So we have felt like we have made some progress. Tonight's meal was Chicken ...

One of Joash's latest favourite things to do is measure things. It all started when he started asking questions like "How long is this?" and "How big is this?" So we would get out the ruler to see. Then I had a measuring tape out to measure something and Joash thought that was pretty cool. Not only does it have numbers on it and move in and out, but it also has a little handle and button you can slide up an down! He has been measuring all sorts of things around the house. Most things are about 4 cm long, he tells me (probably because one of the first things we measured together actually was 4 cm).  And here is Joash sporting Dad's reflective vest! Those of you in the Netherlands will know where this came from!

What is the best thing to do when there are so many choices to make, so many options to chose from, that you can’t made a choice at all? Sometimes the best thing to do is just get away from it all. Then we might have the clarity to make a choice after all. Beth is a mom of two married to a minister in large church. But her husband has been presented with a ministry opportunity and decides the best thing to do is to seek God’s will by locking himself in their shed for a month. This leaves Beth alone to answer for him and take care of their two boys by herself. All of this is while she was supposed to be on vacation in Florida. Will their life and marriage ever be the same again? I was eager to read Lisa Samson’s latest novel and I was not disappointed. The combination of humour and a realistic woman struggling through realistic problems is always a satisfying read for me.  I also enjoy how the ending isn't perfect or idealized in any way. It is real and that is...

Joash talks. A lot. And I wanted to share some of the funny things he is saying right now. Here is Joash sitting in the "mest" (nest). He made. "I weawy wike my mest." ( I really like my nest.) Just the other day, Joash came into the kitchen to find me because he had to tell me about his problem. "My big tractor is not starting. Need to pwug it in. Use my hammer and keys." He has been hanging out at the farm quite a bit, and the tractor did not start few times when Wilbert wanted to use it. So he is learning. He still likes to put things in lines, especially his "bales." He uses beads, blocks and cut up toilet paper tubes for bales. "Now I beep (bang) into my bales. Put them in the round bale feeder." He also likes to use time words quite a bit, but of course he doesn't really have a handle on time. At lunch today he declared, "You had fun with the kids at kindergarten yesterday, and mom." (He also often uses ...

That's right! We have made the transition to the big boy bed. The picture above is after we got it all set up. Joash was very excited. And so far, so good. He has not fallen out and will tell you he needs to be close to the wall. He also still naps in it, which is a big relief. And he still waits for me to come and get him out of bed in the morning. He can climb up and down from it by himself, but he still likes me to pick him up from bed in the morning. And that is okay with me, because so far he has never tried to get out of bed once he has been tucked in.  He also is trying a few other "big boy" things and his independence is certainly starting to come out. He likes to walk by himself, which sometimes causes a battle in parking lots. He always wants to go up and down the stairs by himself, which is nice. And he likes to take his pajamas off when it is time to get ready in the morning. Today he even mastered his one piece footie pj's and did the zipper and ...

This week has been a bit of a tough one. One of Wilbert's childhood friends passed away after a year long battle with cancer. He would have been 29 this month. He leaves behind a wife and two kids, ages 3 and 4, along with his parents and siblings. He was the youngest in his family. He leaves behind a dairy farm he was born to take care of. But with his death, he also left behind a year of pain and suffering. A year of being frustrated that he could not do the things he wanted to do. A body that was broken and wasting away. Today at his funeral, the pastor commented on how this man was a quiet man. But when he spoke, it was something important that he had to say. The pastor also said how really this man spoke through his actions, which really did speak louder than words. And when you look back on his actions, his faith is evident. What do my actions say to others? Is my faith clearly evident? As a person who loves language and words, I can often over look the power of actions...