summer fun

our T-ball players

creation of the day: a laptop

Welcome back to Sabetha, Brian and Tara, Corbin and Kirsten!

Isaac turned 5.

Grandpa and Grandma Aberle gave him a toolbox with REAL tools.

Isaac squealed, "Are these grown-up tools for ME?!?"

He was ecstatic.

He started building right away. And without any of us knowing, he pried the lid off the paint can and started painting. Thankfully, he uses newspapers now.

Have you ever seen Snap Circuits? For kids who love building, these are pretty neat.

100 different circuit directions. Cool.

Carly's photo of Isaac

Isaac's photo of Carly

Carly's newest achievement

intensely dense

Dorie Greenspan has a recipe for "Chocolate Chunkers." I was planning to follow the mouth-watering recipe, but a couple things in it made me concerned. Specifically, the recipe yielded only 24 cookies, and that was after using 19 ounces of expensive baking chocolate. I make cookies in massive amounts, and Dorie's recipe wasn't going to work for that. This is what Isaac and I came up with:

Intense Chocolate Cranberry Cookies

2 sticks butter

1 1/3 c. sugar

3 eggs

2 t. vanilla

3 c. flour

1/2 c. unsweetened cocoa powder

1 t. salt

1/2 t. baking powder

8 oz. semisweet baking chocolate, coarsely chopped

12 oz. semisweet chocolate chunks

1 1/2 c. pecans, coarsely chopped

1 1/2 c. Craisins

Beat butter and sugar well. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla. Beat in cocoa, salt, and baking powder. Beat in flour, mixing well. Stir in remaining ingredients by hand. Drop by tablespoonfuls, flattening and shaping to your liking. (These cookies don't move or rise much.) Bake at 375 for about 10 minutes. Yields 4 dozen chunkers.

fire it up

This is a hot topic that has been brewing in my mind for a year now. Feedback would be good, because I need help with a solution.

Ever wonder why they play pump-it-up songs before sporting events? Music is often used to kick people in gear. A year ago, I decided to start running again. The sad truth is that I DO NOT LIKE TO EXERCISE. Running is the fastest way to finish this daunting task. To pump me up and get me started exercising again, I decided that music was a must-have.

Here's a confession. I love music. All kinds. But as far as pump-me-up music, the Def Leppard and Metallica and KISS tapes I used to have just aren't the kind of music that would glorify God in the midst of this running business. (Oh, I forgot. Mom confiscated my KISS tape 20 years ago.)

Another option: Thousand Foot Krutch. Here are a couple songs I put on the MP3 player (turn up your sound way up):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qy0rWVx9zDc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONlUe2xXtL4&feature=related

Some people may wonder what the big fuss is. And others may think She listens to THAT? The distance and time do go a lot more quickly, but is this music beneficial? Is it good and right? Probably what makes the run go faster is the (3x/wk) battle in my mind of that question. Every mile, I contemplate that very thing: is it good for me to blast this into my ears? Maybe another way to think of this is...does the music I listen to define who I am? or the books I read? or the movies I watch?

"'All things are lawful,' but not all things are helpful. 'All things are lawful,' but not all things build up....whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." (1 Corinthians 10:23,31).

Thoughts?