YooperMama

2009-04-21T17:04:00.000-07:00

Yes, Yooper Mama is still here. This picture was taken on Easter with our five blessings. The fifth is "in utero." My mom made the darling dresses.

2008-08-29T17:47:00.000-07:00

Nice Women Do Make History (But that was not their goal)

A few days ago I saw a bumper sticker that said "Nice Women Rarely Make History." I guess the driver thinks that it's more important to do whatever it takes to make history than it is to be a nice woman. As a Christian, I thought, "Should that be our goal? To make history?" I don't think that God wants us "to make history." Matthew 22:37 says to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind." There is no mandate in scripture to do something just for the sake of making history. Oddly enough, though, there have been many wonderful women who have made history. I happened to catch a PBS program a couple nights ago on a WW II Canteen. I believe the Canteen was in a small town in Nebraska. Soldiers were crying as they told of how touched they were by these women serving them in the Canteen. I was really moved by the soldiers as well as the women who said, "they considered it a privilege to serve." Mother Teresa, Clara Barton, and Susanna Wesley are just a few who have made history by serving their fellow man. If you think of any more, please feel free to let me know.

2008-08-14T06:38:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from the Holtum Family Reunion. During the Holtum Family Reunion, my Uncle Tom shielded Autumn from those harsh Colorado UV rays. The next is Jim and the kids with the water balloon toss.

2008-07-03T18:45:00.001-07:00

http://sydandkay.blogspot.com/2008/07/message-to-mothers.html

2008-07-02T13:58:00.000-07:00

Ok, Jill. Here by popular demand are some pics of the Gruenwalds. The one of Jim with Ava was actually taken last year, but I just love it. She's a bit of a daddy's girl. The one of Arwyn in the tub makes me smile every time I see it. The other picture is of me with two of my violin students where they played at the local care center last week. I'm glad we could bless the residents with some music.

2008-06-29T19:53:00.000-07:00

"Take therefore no thought for the morrow; for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." Matthew 6:34

"Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away." James 4:14

These verses have been speaking volumes to me lately. I have found myself becoming anxious over the "what ifs" in the future, particularly the "what ifs" that deal with my children. For example, "What if one of them dies?" or "What if one of them rejects Christ?" The Lord is teaching me that worrying about the "what ifs" is robbing me of the joy I could be experiencing if I were present at the moment. I'm so thankful that God wants to liberate me from my fears by saying, "Leave the future to me. Just live in the moment."

Day by day and with each passing moment strength I find to meet my trials here
Trusting in my Father's wise bestowment, I've no cause for worry or for fear

2008-06-14T19:39:00.000-07:00

Adin and Autumn having some fun in the laundry basket. She is such a happy baby.

2008-02-08T19:41:00.001-08:00

Last week I had an interesting discussion with my sister about her daughter's school. My niece is attending a Classical Academy in Colorado Springs. It's a charter school and Colorado Springs seems to have a lot of them lately. My sister shared some of her frustrations with me about the school. One of those was the amount of homework given to her daughter, who is only in fifth grade. Now, my niece is a hard worker and is also intelligent. If she's struggling with the hours of homework, can you imagine what the average kid is dealing with on a daily basis? I was talking with a friend at church who is a public school teacher who also teaches fifth grade. She was telling me about the long hours some grade school kids put in every night doing homework. She, however, sounds like the exception, and doesn't give homework on the weekend. Now, I'm not saying homework is bad, but how much is needed for kids so young? I almost feel as if this is some kind of a response to all those Reader's Digest articles that talk about how dumb American kids are. I'm not saying we should lower our educational standards, but is piling on the homework the answer? Can't learning be accomplished without assigning three hours of homework? When do they have time to play or pursue other interests? When my sister, along with other parents, addressed the homework issue, one of the teachers said, "Yes, but how will they be ready for college?" I have a few responses for this. Number one, if you burden them too much now, isn't possible that they will want nothing to do with "higher education"? Again, I'm not saying that our children shouldn't be taught. I think it's important that they have a basic understanding in mathematics, English, science, etc. but it's just impossible for them to truly master all these areas. I also agree with the point my sister made, which is that not everyone is meant to be a scholar. We all have different gifts. I really don't think the guy at Jiffy Lube is a failure because he may not be able to quote Shakespeare. I hope he doesn't have a problem with me because I have a minimal understanding of how a car works. All this to say-ease off the homewok! So, maybe the Japanese kids do score better on test scores. They also have a higher suicide rate in their country.

"The fear of the Lord...That is wisdom." Job 28:28

2007-09-14T19:42:00.000-07:00

Are there other women out there like me?

OK, I have learned that I am not like the majority of women in a few areas. Here they are:

1) I hate malls. When I walk into a mall, I feel overwhelmed. I start looking in one store and then think, "Gee, there's 20 other stores that could have better deals!" I end up with one shirt at the end of the day and a feeling of, "What a waste of time."

2) Craft shows-I hate them. I mean, some of the stuff is kind of pretty, but to my way of thinking, it's just more stuff to lift off the shelf when you have to dust. I hate dusting too, but I think most women detest that.

3) State Fairs-It's actually a great place to go if you're feeling rather frustrated with your body. I have found that most people are pretty fat at the state fair. After walking around in the humidity, though, and seeing Johny win a ribbon for growing the largest cucumber in the Western hemisphere, I'm ready to call it a day.

4) Quilting clubs-What does one do with more than one or two quilts anyway?

5) Those little parties that you're always getting invited to where someone is selling candles or jewelry. You end up going because you don't want to hurt the hostess's feelings and then you end up buying something you don't want because, again, you don't want to hurt the hostess's feelings. There is one exception-Pampered Chef-you get to eat the samples!

2007-09-14T19:19:00.000-07:00

I'm so proud of myself! I was talking with my Aunt Faith on the phone tonight and told her that I didn't know how to post pictures on my blog. Well, I just figured it out. Most of you are thinking, "Big deal. It's not that difficult." Yes, but I'm what one would call "computer challenged," so don't rain on my parade. I thought I would post a picture of my wonderful family. This was taken just two weeks ago the day after the arrival of our 4th blessing-Autumn Virginia Gruenwald. Adin, Arwyn, Ava, and Jim are seated next to the baby and me.

2007-05-26T19:27:00.000-07:00

"Be still and know that I am God." Psalm 46:10

"A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones." Proverbs 17:22

These are two great verses for moms with little ones. I like to think of myself as a patient person, but sometimes my facial expression and calm demeanor don't exactly reveal the stress I am internalizing. My husband is out of town, so I am at home with my five-year-old, three-year-old, and one-year-old. Now they are good little kids, but, like all kids their age, they need me to do many things for them. Tonight as I was changing a poopy diaper, my three-year-old was asking me to do something, and my five-year-old was yelling, "Look at me, Mom! Look at me, Mom!" I started to feel my blood pressure rise. I reminded my five-year-old that I was only one person and couldn't "do it all." He actually understood and stopped clamoring for my attention. I calmly reminded my three-year-old that once I said I would do something, she didn't need to ask oh, say, 200 times for the same thing. Calm on the outside I was, but a bit stressed on the inside (I sound like Yoda). Anyway, I have a friend named Amy who is the epitome of a "calm" mom. In fact, she's just a calm person. Just the other day I was on the phone with her talking about their upcoming move to Arizona. Now they are moving in only two weeks. She was packing up the house, getting stuff ready for a yard sale, and being a mom to five kids. During the conversation, her oldest daughter came in the house to tell her something. Amy said, "Oh, Naomi just decided to poop outside." Naomi is her two-year-old. I must admit that if this were me, my first response would be something like, "What? This is great! Tell her to clean it up herself!" I'm hoping I would at some point realize the insanity of having my two-year-old clean up her own excrement and go do it myself. Anyway, my point is that being relaxed just seems to come easily to Amy, as I've noted in other people. Sometimes I'm relaxed, but other times I have a hard time just "being still." When I'm at home, it's as if the dust on our dresser is saying, "Hey, would you mind cleaning me? It's been a year!" So, I'm going to focus on Psalm 46:10 when this happens. I don't recall who wrote this, but I once read, "What seems urgent is not always what is most important." When I'm pulled in three different directions, I think I will just remember that some things are beyond my control and begin laughing hysterically. I've heard that sometimes it actually helps to make oneself laugh. I mean, I don't want my children to think I've gone insane, but I will remember Proverbs 17:22. After all, who wants dry bones?

2007-05-15T07:48:00.000-07:00

A few thoughts on a common argument used by those in the pro-choice position

I recently read a few statements made by Rudy Guilliani who wished to re-iterate his views on abortion. He said that while he believed it was wrong, he still believed it should be legal. My first thought was, "How can you believe something is wrong and still believe it should be legal?" I discussed this with my dad and he made an excellent point. He basically said that there are cases where you can believe something is wrong, but you can't really make a law against it. He gave the example of lying. Yes, I believe lying is wrong, but it would be hard to make a law against it. I replied, "Well, I guess part of it comes down to how serious the issue is." Following this train of thought (the seriousness of the issue), I was reminded of an incident that was given by Scott Klusendorf, a man who travels around the country teaching others how to debate the pro-life position. He was at the park with his son when he got into a friendly conversation with a mom. She asked what he did for a living and after he finished with his job description she said, "You know, I believe abortion is wrong, but I still believe it should be legal." Scott then asked her, "So, why do you believe abortion is wrong?" She was silent for a minute and then said, "Wow, no one has ever asked me that before." I highly doubt she would have responded that way had someone asked, "So, why do you believe lying or shoplifting is wrong?" Again-when forced to think about why abortion is wrong, one realizes this is very serious topic. To be honest, I can't recall how the rest of their conversation went, but I realized that we so often never ask people why they believe something is wrong. The next time someone makes that oh-so-common pro-choice argument, I'm going to do what Mr. Klusendorf did-force the person to think about why he or she believes it's wrong. My hope and prayer is that people will be forced to think about their stance on abortion and ultimately come to the conclusion that it's wrong because the unborn are human.

2006-11-26T13:37:00.000-08:00

Rachel Gruenwald - Nov 26, 2006 View Edit Delete Viewers

Jim and I went to see Casino Royale a few days ago and here are my observations on the new Bond:1) As far as the actor goes, he is good. He obviously has the best physique of the Bonds who went before him. As Jim would say, he is "jacked." The writers didn't have him using as many "wise cracks," but the movie is about his beginning as a 007. I guess he isn't supposed to be as witty as a novice agent.2) The plot-very interesting and it had a twist at the end.3) The one element that bothered me was that compared with other Bond flics, this one was quite a bit more violent. I still don't understand, and probably never will, why this is necessary. One can still have an action movie without all the gratuitous violence. What really bothered me was the presence of two children about Adin's and Arwyn's ages at the film. *I'm thinking of renting the original just to have something to compare it to.

2006-11-01T11:26:00.000-08:00

Sermon on morality vs. holiness

Our pastor gave an excellent sermon titles "Morality -vs-Holiness." We, as Christians, should realize that morals are important, but he made such a good point when he said, "The trap of morality is that is makes us feel we are good people because we hold the right views...true holiness is a passionate, long, and endless pursuit and love for the nature of God." We recently received a magazine called Vision Forum. The whole magazine was centered on the family, emphasizing the importance of making a distinction between the husband's and wife's roles in the family, the importance of homeschooling, etc. Now, I'm not against the family. In fact, I have a great one and I'm homeschooling our kids. I am, however, a little wary of certain ministries that view the "family" as being the answer to life's problems. The magazine kept talking about a "family centered" life. Aren't we supposed to have a "God-centered" life? These are just a few random thoughts from Yooper Mama.

2006-07-30T18:39:00.000-07:00

Speechless

A few months ago, my four-year-old son Adin was complaining about having to take out the diaper trash. His father and I explained to him that as a family, we all pitch in with chores. I said, "Look at your dad. He goes to work, mows the lawn, pays the bills, etc." Adin looked up at me and said, "Well, what do you do?" I was speechless.

2006-07-29T13:02:00.000-07:00

OK, I just got home from grocery shopping when I husband accounced that he had something really exciting to show me. I raced downstairs hoping to find you know, like a million dollars, but no-it's another Rocky movie! As I watched the preview with him on the computer, I said, "Um, honey, isn't Rocky around 70 years old now?"
"No, no. He's in his late 40s."
"Oh, well, don't you think it's time he quit?"
"What?" he replied as if I had just suggested he give up his Breyer's ice cream or something horrible like that. Well, he's all giddy with excitement, and I even told him that I would go see the movie in December with him. You see, during our first year of marriage, I walked into the living room when Jim was watching one of the many Rocky movies and he was crying. He said, "He just works so hard and he comes from nothing." I can understand. Jim grew up with very little and ended up becoming a two-time Olympic wrestler, but it just surprised me to see him in tears. I cry when Beth dies in Little Women. These are my thoughts on Rocky XXXX-oh, I mean Rocky VI.

2006-07-29T12:52:00.000-07:00

Thoughts on becoming a "Yooper"

Yes, I used to be RockyMountainMama, but, since we no longer reside in Colorado, I thought it fitting to change my name to "Yooper." We now live in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan-home of interminable winters, cross-country skiing, hockey, red-neck snowmobilers, kayaking, blueberries, canoeing, and the Yooper pasty. I wasn't excited about our move to Marquette, but after being here for almost one year, I can honestly say that I like living here. The people are very down-to-earth, the locals are very proud of being "yoopers," and there are plenty of restaurants worth frequenting. I will say that I was a bit disturbed when I learned there wasn't a Barnes and Noble or a Starbucks when we first learned of our move, but now that I see a Starbucks is opening soon, I say, "Hey, go away-we don't need ya! I prefer Gopher's Cafe on Third Street!" It's the kind of place with a small-town feel but a lot of activities to choose from. So, those are my thoughts on becoming a "Yooper"-eh?

2006-07-17T14:40:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, April 13, 2005

Less is More
I would like to dedicate this post to my three-year-old son Adin and his two young friends from Bible study this morning. He reminded me just how little a child needs when it comes to material items.As my friends and I were finishing up our study on the book of Judges this morning, my son and two other young boys decided to abandon their play with the train sets, Legos, and other toys for more "active" play. First, they decided to chase each other around the house. The next activity had us all in stiches. The two older boys decided to be veterinarians while my son was the designated animal. He layed on the floor while they poked at his armpits and tested his appendiges to make sure all was in working order. They were having more fun doing this than they were when playing with the toy that jumped in the air, spoke 10 foreign languages, and played Beethoven's fifth all at the same time! This reminded me of something that happened about four years ago.A friend of mine was injured in a motorcycle accident. She, her husband, and their four young children didn't have much money, so they were staying in a local RV Park. She had sprained her ankle, so I offered to come by and help for the day. As I was playing outside with her kids, some other neighbor children came by. Before I knew what was happening, I had about 7-9 small children under my care. We were all having a good time. One of the kids said, "Hey, let's all go to the park!" "Why not?" I thought. I put the small ones in the little red wagon and we were on our way. The thought did cross my mind that I didn't recall seeing any playground equipment when I drove into the neighborhood, but I placed my trust in my young guides and continued the walk. Soon, the stopped in front of two small trees and began to play. After a few minutes, I said, "Well, let's get going to that park." They yelled, "This is the park!" Thinking they had just forgotten their way, I said, "I'm sure we'll find it. Let's get on our way." They insisted that this was it. Could this be? They were calling two trees a park? I mean, there wasn't even a slide. What was more amazing was that they were having a blast! Part of me was saying, "I could get start asking for donations, holding a car wash, etc..and then I could get them a park with some real play equipment." The other part of me was saying, "They seem to be having a blast with trees, grass, and dandelions." When we returned to their home, their mom told me that those two trees were indeed their Six Flags over Colorado! I started to think, "Gee, how sad," but then images of them laughing as they swung from the trees stopped me short. Now that I have children of my own, I am often reminded that less is more. I can't tell you the number of times Adin has thought of creative play ideas for the laundry basket! I'm not saying there is anything wrong with toys-just the idea that they need a lot to occupy themselves or to be happy. When I think back on my childhood, I recall a few favorite toys; however, most of my memories center around fun activities with my family-waving at truck drivers during bike rides to West Branch, IA with my dad, hearing my mom sing in the kitchen, jumping of hotel beds with my sister, etc. I hope my kids can say that people and experiences are what mattered most in their childhood.:)

2006-07-17T14:34:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, April 27, 2005

Days of our Poop
It often amazes me just how much of my life now centers around the bodily functions of my offspring. Adin, my 3 1/2 year old always announces when he has to go. It's almost as if nothing will come out if he doesn't yell, "I have to use the potty." I'm not quite convinced that he wouldn't get poop on his hand if he wiped himself, so I always have to stand close to the door for him to say, "I need my bottom wiped." His sister, Arwyn, though is really the one who is obsessed with her own excrement. When she was about 8 months old, I heard her making the cutest baby sounds in her crib upstairs. I decided to peek in the room to get a glimpse at my precious little girl. Well, my delight turned to horror when I saw her diaper off and her poop spread around the crib. I think she was working on some type of "Number 2" masterpiece. Recently, she has decided it's quite fun to take off all her clothes. Today as I was upstairs putting on my make-up, Adin yelled, "Mom, Arwyn took off her clothes again." I heard them both laughing and the pitter patter of little feet. When I looked down the stairs, the first thing I saw was my daughter's little butt and something orange right in the center. I knew this wasn't the peanut butter she had for lunch. What I found to be really disconcerting was the fact that some of her orange bowel movement was around her mouth! Adin then told me that Arwyn had spread some of it on the wall. Who knows? Maybe she will be the next Van Gogh or something. Anyway, this blog really has no point-just a story about how much my life centers around children's bodily functions.:)