A Night With Roast Pork and Green Peppercorn Sauce

Last night we had Aaron & Bubbles over as well as assorted Rozboom's and/or Rozboom relations over for dinner. Here we see the happy couple in a lovers tiff. Apparently they were fighting over the last piece of chocolate covered bacon.
We made roast pork with green peppercorn sauce for dinner, with roast green beans and corn. Desert was an amuse bouche of chocolate covered bacon and a main desert of chocolate lavender cake.
And here we have Bert and Kryna Pohl who drove in from Canada just for dinner. Yeah, I guess they're also in town for a wedding or something.
Aaron's sister Lanette is in town with her two kids, we can see the top of young James head here. Here is a woman who knows how to parent kids, I'm here to tell you. And the Birn's rejoice.
Here we have Mrs. R and Bubbles. Mrs. R seems to be the brains behind this wedding, from what I can gather she has lists of things for everyone to do and they will be done. We enjoyed having her over, as we did all the assorted Rozboom's and their relations.
And here we have young James playing with our Stuart. They seemed to get along quite well, which we're very pleased about. James liked the puppies as well, and the peasants rejoiced!
How about a fairly nice picture of the happy couple. We all look forward to Aaron and Bubbles wedding on Saturday. May the Lord bless them with many years of marital bliss and at least half a dozen children. Be fruitful and multiply!

17 Carats and Counting

On Monday we went up to my folks beach house in Ludington for the day. It was my first and only day off this summer. Such is the life of a lawyer. In any event, the lake was surprisingly cold, colder than it was earlier in the season.
Stuart wasn't to keen on the lake, the waves were a little rough for him and the water was far to cold. Maybe next year he'll be able to go for another swim.
Stuart's great-grandmother was in town for the week, which is why we headed up north on Monday. Stuart apparently was more interested in Zoe the dog than his great-grandmother.
Today Janna turned her back for one minute and this is the trouble Stuart got himself into. Not pictured is the dog bowl, complete with a towel placed in it that Stuart pushed all the way over to the sink area. High entertainments for Stuart, for the time being that is. Give him a year and he'll have to clean this sort of mess up. No, give him a few months.

Downtown GR

It's been a beautiful weekend here in GR so on Saturday we decided to head downtown for a little walk. Stuart was of course thrilled to see something other than our neighborhood.
We went to see the new hotel, which really isn't all that special. It's nice for Grand Rapids and all but let's face facts, it's a small town hotel. Nicer than the Days Inn but it doesn't hold a candle to any of the three star hotels in Chicago or New York.
We got to see my old apartment building. This December it will be four years since I lived there. I held my first party there, an election night extravaganza. Janna was actually there that night, she brought Tiramisu. We would laugh at and scoff at what she brought that night, it was little more than whipped cream, coffee and ladyfingers. No rum at all. But it was good back then. Ray stayed until 2am, declaring that he wanted to see 'his President' re-elected. I remember thanking God 2004 wasn't a repeat of 2000, Ray would have camped out in front of my television for a month. Fun times. Sadly there isn't anything else to share from the weekend. Stuart behaved at church today and we generally did nothing. Things will pick up a couple weeks from now I suspect.

Our Weekend

Our weekend began with a trip to a park out in Grandville. Stuart enjoyed going on the swing very much.
After we played on the swings for awhile we went for a walk and saw some ducks. Janna had some crackers with her so Stuart got to feed the ducks. Ducks are an interesting creature, not much interested in man unless he offers a cracker or bread.
After the walk Stuart couldn't resist a ride on the big purple dinosaur. This dinosaur is no wimpy Barney, he looks like a purple T-Rex to me.
On the Sabbath we had the Anderson's, Carr's and B over for lunch. We beg the Carr's forgiveness, I broke the camera out after they had already left. It's my fault, I admit it. I forgot all about the camera until after it was to late. Stuart got to play with Shawn, who proves to be quite the entertainer for the kid.
Dinner consisted of grilled lamb, garlic and olive oil mashed potatoes, haricot verts and a desert trio of chocolate creme brule, basil ice cream and burnt caramel with sea salt. It seemed to go over pretty well, I love the smokiness of the lamb grilled over a charcoal flame and Janna's desert was pretty darn good.
Let the record reflect that we do have a picture of B in what looks like new eye glasses. But we won't put the picture up because we don't want to outrage him. In any event, it was a great blessing having Christian fellowship at lunch today. We hope everyone had as much fun as we did.

Stuart Sits Through Church!

We have reached a critical point in Stuart's life. He has sat through church for the last four Sabbaths without being taken out and without making any noise. We are exceedingly thankful to God for this. We have worked hard for the last year to ensure that Stuart learned how to sit through church quietly. We have looked to God for guidance and He has blessed us.
It's very important for a little guy like Stuart to learn how to sit through church. Learning the skill of sitting quietly now will only help him years from now when he can actually understand what's going on. After all, if he doesn't learn how to sit quietly now, how can he learn to pay attention and understand later? I think we've turned a corner with Stuart, in the very least we now know that he can sit through church. I expect a few hiccups now and then, especially if he's cutting a tooth or not feeling well. But he can sit through church and now we expect him to every week.
All of the credit for this goes to the Lord, who has blessed Janna with the ability to diligently enforce the principle of sitting quietly in church to Stuart. Janna and I insist on our kids learning how to behave in church, after all we don't want our kids to disrupt other worshipers. Beyond that, we don't want our kids being disrespectful to God in His house. We have sought his guidance and He has blessed us. Like I said, Janna has been very diligent about teaching Stuart for the last year and now at 14 months he's able to sit through church. Aaron Rozenboom's grandfather apparently said that a one year old should be able to sit through church. We really were only about six weeks off. That's not bad. Maybe Stuart's new sibling will learn faster.

Family Trip To The Fair

Today we decided to see how the other half live by going to the Ionia County Fair. Lemme tell you, it's always fascinating to go to a county fair here in Michigan. First of all, it's an opportunity to see the people who keep Old Country Buffet in business. Second of all, it's an opportunity to see all of the people who are either growing pot in their back yard and/or have a meth lab in their basement. Thirdly, it's a chance to see a lot of animals which for Stuart is exciting.
Like the mini cow I've always wanted, live and in person.
Stuart loved visiting with the goats, which as far as he was concerned were dogs.
Stuart got to see some exotic animals, like this elephant that was hanging around out back eating hay. I'm thinking those little wires aren't enough to hold this sucker back if he went wild. We took our pictures and took off.
Stuart got to see a kangaroo, which in his world is little more than a hopping dog.
This camel seems pretty annoyed to have his picture taken.
Stuart spent some more time with the goats. At some point he needs to understand that goats aren't dogs. But at 14 months we'll let it slide.
So they had this circus at the fair that was just like stepping back into the 1880's. Here we see a white tiger caged up, what you can't see is his pal who isn't very happy to be penned up with this guy.
Here kitty kitty. The lions looked like they were picking out people in the audience to eat for dinner. Thankfully these guys are so high on cat nip that they won't actually do it.
Or won't they? I'm here to tell you, if those cats really wanted out of there they could easily take down that flimsy fence. Those kids sitting in the grass up front would have been the first to go, I figure Janna, Stuart and I could high tail it out of there while the lion eats those kids. Speaking of high tailing it out of there, we saw a clown and left the circus early. We were tired and had a long day at the fair. We're looking forward to worshiping the Lord tomorrow. Stuart's been really good the last two weeks, we're hopping he's turned a corner on that front.

House For Sale

So, our house is up for sale. If anyone knows anyone who is looking for a home, let them know about our place.
Stuart and Deirbhile get along great. She allows Stuart to pull her ears, pull her fur and climb about her person without the slightest thought. She never goes after him, such a good girl she is.
Not only does she not attack, she plays with him. Even when we think she's getting sick of rough house Stuart, she gets up and sits back down next to him waiting for the next round to begin.
Seamus is no different. Both of these dogs put up with a lot from Stuart without ever attacking.
Stuart likes to play with the stuff in the bookshelf. Needless to say, the books are out of his reach. His toys on the other hand are free to be taken down and thrown about the living room.
Today we're spending the day smoking pigs for tomorrow's church lunch. We've got 25 pounds of pig in the smoker, we're using hickory and cherry wood. I'm sure it will be excellent.

New Swing And Homeschool Book Sales

We've had an eventful week. We normally wouldn't allow Stuart in our bed but every so often he's welcome to come in and play on the bed with us. Seamus decided he wanted in on the fun and since Stuart loves his dog, we allowed him up just this one time. Janna was not amused, Stuart and I were.
Stuart unfortunately thinks he's a dog and because of that he thinks it quite appropriate to get into Seamus' bed. First he tries to eat out of the dog bowls, now he tries to sleep in Seamus' bed. Next up he'll try to go in and out of the porch via the dog door.
We installed a swing on the porch for Stuart and he isn't quite sure what to make of it just yet.
Once we started the swing going he decided it was great fun.
Deirbhile isn't sure what to make of the news swing.
But she's decided it looks like great fun and she wonders when her turn will be to go for a ride.
Seamus comes in to see what kind of fun we're all having.
He then dutifully waits his turn for a ride on the swing.
Earlier in the week Janna and I took Stuart to the annual Homeschool Building used book sale. I have never in my life seen so many women wearing jean jumpers nor have I seen as many women dressed like Mennonites. Is it true that to be a homeschool mother you have to wear one of three hair styles? In any event, I was struck with how poor a job most of the people did at hawking their goods. It doesn't say much about the initiative of homeschoolers, something I worry about for our kids.
We have decided to do some sort of classical education program with our kids. What exactly that will be, we haven't decided yet. I don't think a used book sale is the place to learn much about it but it was interesting to see what all is out there. I did notice that it was mostly run by and shopped by women, probably the kind that talk about covenant headship out of one side of their mouth and order their husband around with the other side. I say nothing of course. In this family dad is going to make all the education decisions, like I am charged with in scripture. Stuart's education is going to be rigorous and difficult and it will serve him well when he's an adult. I am completely confident that homeschooling is the right way to go even if I'm not so confident in some of the outcomes. We'll just have to work hard to avoid what we consider to be negative outcomes. Such is life, we would be doing the same thing at a private school and doing it even more at a government school.
Deirbhile is still waiting for her turn on the swing. Poor girl, I don't think I could strap her in properly and I think she would completely freak out if I started swinging her. She has no idea. Neither does Stuart when it comes to schooling, I can't imagine letting a little kid dictate what they're going to learn like some of these so-called 'unschoolers' do. Talk about not doing your job as a parent and putting to much pressure on a little kid. Stuart isn't going to have the maturity to make such decisions when he's 7, 10 or 14 years old. It's up to us to decide what his education will be and I'm here to tell you it's going to be difficult and advanced. I know what it takes to make it through college and law school, he'll be in better shape than I was to tackle those things because we're going to be diligent in making sure he's properly educated when he's younger, much younger in fact. Difficult? Yes, but it we wouldn't have it any other way. Stuart's education is for God's glory, as will be the education of all our kids. How could we not be disciplined in executing it? We owe it to the Lord who blessed us with Stuart and any other children we happen to be blessed with.