Gracie has found her wheels. After running around the house for several months, she has now found a way around the gate to the stairs. While I was in the kitchen with what I thought was all my kids, I heard the pitter patter of little feet cruising the upstairs hallway over me. I took a quick head count and it was Grace. She made a beeline for the kids toothbrushes and was having much fun testing each toothbrush out on her own teeth. What they don’t know can’t hurt them.

It was sixty degrees outside, so until I figured out what to do about the stair/gate dilemma, I sent all the kids outside. When about 10 minutes later I couldn’t get an eye on Grace. So I went in search and found that she had climbed up into the kids tall play house from the ladder. Calling her only brought forth a new game of tag. When I was about half way up, she narrowly escaped by sliding down the slide backwards on her tummy. Only a wagon ride by big brother trumped the play house slide.

Afterward she went from that to playing with her siblings under the tree out front. Finally something harmless! But then, when I couldn’t see her anymore. When I found her the third time she had crawled under the yard fence and was enjoying a rip roaring good game of “Chase The Chickens” in the coop. They won’t lay for a week after that. Feeling like I had been running circles  myself all morning, I brought her back inside and strapped her into her high chair where she watched me prepare lunch.

Really. Something will have to be done about those stairs.

Pray for them

Sometimes justice is mistakenly believed to mean exposing the sin for the world to see. However, a just and righteous person will never seek to shame or expose a person to contempt. Let us deal with each other in love and not with a self-righteous attitude.

Lord, I ask you to continue to shape (Name’s) character into one of honor and justice. As Joseph was “a just man and unwilling to put [Mary] to shame,” I pray (Name) will also be a (man/woman) of justice who sees people through your eyes and who is therefore resolved not to shame anyone, but rather to live a life that honors others. In Jesus’ name, amen. -Matthew 1:19

Favorite Old fashioned Gingerbread

I make this recipe every year several times. It is not too sweet or dry and I love to add cinnamon butter to a warm piece fresh out of the oven. This is a recipe from Allrecipes, so just search the name and you will find it there.

• 1/2 cup White Sugar
• 1/2 cup Butter
• 1 Egg
• 1 cup Molasses
• 2 1/2 cups Flour
• 1 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
• 1 tsp Cinnamon
• 1 tsp Ground Ginger
• 1/2 tsp Ground Cloves
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 1 cup Hot Water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 8×5″ baking pans.

In a large mixing bowl, cream the sugar and butter. Add egg and mix in molasses until smooth. In a bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger and cloves. Blend into the creamed mixture. Stir in the hot water. Pour evenly into the two prepared pans.

Bake fore 35-45 minutes until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.