I asked Laurel to include me in the interviewing that has been going around in blogdom. I didn’t realize the questions were up on her blog for about 2 weeks, then it took me that long to answer. So here, at long last, are the answers. I wish I could be as clever as some of the others I have read, but alas, I think I have come up short. However, I enjoyed participating. I guess that’s all that really matters.

1. You grew up in a really large family. How has your growing up experience influenced how you parent your own children?

I was the youngest of nine children, so by the time I was being raised, there were really only 3 – 5 other siblings around at a time. During some of those years, those siblings were adults who returned home for one reason or another. So I am not sure I have really made much of a connection to the “largeness” of my family affecting my own parenting. That being said, I definitely see ways my own upbringing has influenced the way I parent my children. The home I was raised in had little structure. My mom worked full-time, and my dad, who was much older, was not at home a lot of the time. I think I really craved structure in my life. So as a parent, I try to provide more of that for my children. Now, compared to many, our structure is lax. However, I am talking about basics like having most of our meals together around the kitchen table; getting up and going to bed at basically the same time everyday; having family devotions daily. Another thing I always wanted as a child was to be involved in activities at school and in the community. So since for a variety of reasons I didn’t have many of those kinds of experiences, Mark and I try to provide those for our children, within reason–refer back to all those blogs last spring about little league.

2. How, after attending an Anabaptist college, did you end up Presbyterian?

First, I grew up in a Baptist denomination that had some Calvinist beliefs–specifically, I was taught predestination from a young age. So I think I was “primed” to become presbyterian in time. I chose the college I attended, not because of its Anabaptist roots, but because it seemed to take Christianity seriously, which was more than I could say for the two very respectable “reformed” colleges I considered attending. Actually, by attending the college I did, I was even more prepared for my eventual transition to presbyterianism through a CRC friend that took me to an OP church 30 minutes away from campus for one year of my college days and through the work of the Coalition for Christian Outreach, a Dutch-influenced college ministry. But even with both those influences, I still considered myself a baptist at the end of college. However, about 6 months after graduation, I moved to Florida to live with my sister and her husband. Though they were also baptists, they took me to church at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church. After one week in the young adult Sunday school class, I knew I was going to join the church because the teaching in that class was so good. After a couple of weeks, I began working for the church’s television ministry, where I was exposed to reformed theology on a daily basis. I did join Coral Ridge about 3 months after my first visit, although I still had the typical baptist reservation about baptizing infants. It took several discussions/arguments with Mark (who, incidentally, became a co-worker at Coral Ridge after I had been there for 2 years) to bring me over on that issue.

3. What do you like most and least about being a pastor’s wife?

I like being a pastor’s wife most because I have access to a lot of the answers to spiritual and theological questions in a way that I wouldn’t have if I had married, say, a plumber (of course, that would have its benefits, too.)

What I dislike most about being a pastor’s wife is sitting in worship without the assistance of my husband in training our children how to be in worship. God has been gracious to me in this regard, in that, the older children have learned quite well despite my inadequacies and struggles with attending to them during worship.

4. Who are your favorite literary heroines? With what fictional character have you felt the greatest kinship?
My favorite literary heroines are all the protagonists in Jane Austen’s books. They all seem to be the same person, just slightly altered from book to book. They are intelligent, poised, attractive, and socially adept–all the things I like to imagine myself being.

I think I have a real kinship with Anne Shirley from Anne of Green Gables. She reminds me of myself as a child in the way she rambles on endlessly and will talk to anyone who will listen.

5. You just won a contest sponsored by Miramax. They offered to make any book of your choosing into a film. What book do you choose? What casting suggestions do you give?

I think I would choose The Moonstone by Wilckie Collins. It is the quintessential British mystery, and the characters are so well developed, it would be intriguing to see them brought to life on the screen. For Detective Cuff, I would cast Tony Shaloub, currently the star of the USA network series, Monk. House steward, Gabriel Betteridge, would be played by Michael Keaton. The challenge would be doing justice to the characters and plot without losing too much in editing, since the book is quite long. (BTW, If there is a movie version of this book out there, please tell me about it.)

When you post your answers on your blog, please include the following:
::If you would like to participate too, here are your instructions:
1. Leave me a comment saying “interview me.”
2. I will respond by asking you five questions (not the same as you see here).
3. You will update your blog/site with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.::

This is just a quick entry to tell you about the “Eye on America” report that is to air on the CBS evening news tonight and tomorrow. In it, a family who homeschooled at one point in their history, is accused of child abuse and eventually, a teenager in the home kills himself, his brother, and his sister. Apparently, according to the report I was e-mailed by my homeschool support group, the report links the tragedy to the fact that the family homeschooled. Hmmm… I wonder if the shootings that have taken place in public schools across the country in recent years happened because the parents decided to send their kids to public school?

It is hard to believe that Arnold Schwarzenegger is the new governor of California. I don’t have much of an opinion about it, other than it is amazing that an Austrian immigrant turned Hollywood action hero can become the governor of his state with no political experience. Who knows? It might be just what California needs to get out of the hole it is in.

Philippians 4:7 – 9
And the PEACE of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything is worthy of praise, let your minds DWELL on THESE things. The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, PRACTICE these things; and the God of PEACE shall be with you.

It is so easy for us to allow our minds to spiral out of control and to dwell on negative things–how you’ve been treated by someone, trying to discern his/her motives; life circumstances like income or amount of worldly success. It doen’t take long for this kind of thinking to lead to discouragement close to depression. Now, I am not a fan of “positive thinking” to the point of not acknowledging sin or evil in the world. But I do think the Bible speaks to us about not dwelling on the negative things in this world. It is for our own spiritual and mental well-being that God tells us to think about those things that are right, pure, lovely, etc. He tells us that redirecting our thinking to the more “positive” aspects of the world, of Him and His character, will bring His peace to our lives. I think the passage from Phillipians that I have quoted above also indicates that we need to “practice” thinking this way. In other words, it doesn’t come naturally.

In recent months, this has been the way God has been helping me to deal with my own tendencies toward dwelling on the negative, and thus, my own lack of peace.

So tonight, I thought I would blog about what is probably the biggest blessing in my life lately–our 4th baby, Charis. She is a sweet and easygoing infant, who smiles often, and her smile dispells any kind of discouragement in an instant. God gave Charis to us at just the right time, when it seemed easy for me to see only the negative things in my life. At a time when we thought maybe our family was large enough, God obviously knew better. Tonight she is sitting beside me in her exersaucer while I type this with her big sister kneeling beside her singing and talking to her. Generally, Charis’s presence in our family has brought us all much happiness. Having Charis and her sister and brothers are certainly among the loveliest things I can dwell on to remind me that the God of peace is with me.

I haven’t blogged in a while, so I thought an update was in order.

First, we went to see Secondhand Lions tonight. Great fun family flick! If you have kids, and you choose to take them, there is some swearing of the “damn” and “hell” nature, but no other obsenities. There is also no sexual inuendo. The violence is of the “swashbuckling” nature, and it almost like a cartoon since it the story being told within the movie is so unbelievable (but you want to believe it very badly). This is a movie with a lot of heart. Robert Duvall and Michael Cain and the kid from The Sixth Sense (Haley Joel Osmand–something like that) were all excellent. We haven’t been inside a movie theater in some time, so it was especially fun for us.

Homeschooling: It is going pretty well. I am enjoying the curriculum probably more than Calvin. He is really interested in the history aspects of the curriculum and the literature has also drawn him in. One part of our curriculum is singing geography songs. That has been a lot of fun for me as I still know the states in alphabetical order from a song I learned in 5th grade. I have also appreciated the fact that my 7-year-old is getting exposure to the parts of the world at a young age. I don’t think I even saw geography in public school until 4th grade (although I may be just forgetful). Sitting down in the mornings to do math and English isn’t so fun, but we get through it. Also, Charis has been an angel so far, allowing us to accomplish a good bit. This is an answer to prayer.

I went on a women’s retreat with our presbytery last weekend. It was great to be in a beautiful location and to catch up with some friends without children pulling on my shirt or pantlegs. The speaker was good, and the time was well spent. Thanks Mark for giving me the time to do it.

I would like to report that I really no longer dread taking all 4 of my children out to the store with me. Sure, it is easier and faster to go alone, but all in all, the three older ones have been doing quite well on errand outings lately. And, at this point, the baby can do nothing to really make it difficult to have her along. (Ok, she could cry and scream, but overall, she doesn’t. ) I have had a few happy moments lately thinking about how pleasant it is not to fret about taking them along, so I thought I would highlight their good behavior here on my blog.

Recently, Dawn posted a little review of the book Stepping Heavenward by Elizabeth Prentiss, who wrote the hymn “More Love to Thee O Christ” in the 1800s. I read this book about 8 years ago after my mother-in-law gave it to me. Since then, I have gone back and looked at passages from it many times. It is a sweet book about the life of a Christian woman and her struggles with the world as she grew from girlhood into adulthood, married life, and motherhoood. It is written in the style of journal. Though the book does not indicate it, it seems it must be at least somewhat autobiographical. (Although I have not researched this to be sure of this assertion.) Dawn’s mention of it, reminded me how much I have enjoyed it over the years.

Here is one of my favorite passages from Stepping Heavenward. It comes after the main character, Katherine, has been affected by the negative attitude her live-in sister-in-law has expressed about her having another child. Katherine is recording her perspective on what having another child means to her.

Here is a sweet fragrant mouth to kiss; here are two more feet to make music with their pattering about my nursery. Here is a soul to train for God, and the body in which it dwells is worthy of all it will cost, since it is the abode of a kingly tenant. I may see less of friends, but I have gained one dearer that them all, to whom while I minister in Christ’s name, I make a willing sacrifice of what little leisure for my own recreation my other darlings had left me. Yes, my precious baby, you are welcome to your mother’s heart, welome to her time, her strength, her health, her most tender cares, to her lifelong prayers! Oh how I rich I am, how truly, how wondrously blest!

Today was Calvin’s first day of homeschooling. Although I was ill-prepared (partly due to some of my wonderful ebay-purchased curriculum not arriving yet), I felt the day went quite well overall. We got started with math, spelling, English, and penmanship. In the afternoon, all the children participated in a homeschool co-op PE class.

I am hopeful that things will continue to go smoothly. One day down, 179 to go!

I still don’t have a copy of the photo that went in the paper of my three kids holding their ribbons for our winning cake, but I will go ahead and “share” the recipe.

This cake comes from a recipe card I received in the mail after Mark and I had been married for about 2 years. I kept the recipes and tried them, but I didn’t order the whole set of cards. I made this cake regularly for company before we had kids (and I had more time for more extravagant baking). The first time I made it, I had a little hand mixer. It turned out well. But about 2 weeks later I received the wonderful gift of a Kitchen Aid mixer from my in-laws. I wanted to try out the new Kitchen Aid. The improvement in the cake was so remarkable, it was like it wasn’t the same recipe. This is not to say the cake can’t be good without a Kitchen Aid, it is just, well, phenomenally better with one. (Yes, I know this sounds like a commercial for Kitchen Aid.)

Enough already . . .

Decadent Fudge Cake

1 C butter, softened
1 1/2 C sugar
4 eggs
1/2 t baking soda
1 C buttermilk
2 1/2 C all-purpose flour
1 1/2 C semisweet mini-morsels, divided
2 (4oz) bbars sweet baking chocolate, melted and cooled
1/3 C chocolate syrup
2 t vanilla extract
4 oz white chocolate, chopped
2 T plus 2 t shortening, divided

Cream butter in a large mixing bowl; gradually add sugar, beating well at medium speed or an electric mixer. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition.

Dissolve soda in buttermilk, stirring well. (It helps for this mixture to sit for about 10 minutes). Add to creamed mixture alternately with flour, beginning and ending with flour. Add one cup minimorsels, melted chocolate, chocolate syrup, and vanilla, stirrring just until blended. (Do not overbeat.)

Spoon batter into a heavily greased and floured 10-inch bundt pan. Bake at 300 for 1 hour 25 minutes or until cake springs back when touched. Invert cake immediately onto serving plate, and let cool completely.

Combine 4 oz of chopped white chocolate and 2 T shortening in top of a double boiler, bring water to a boil. Reduce heat to low; cook until mixture is melted and smooth. Remove from heat and drizzle white chocolate mixture over cooled cake. Melt remaining 1/2 C mini morsels and 2 t shortening in a small saucepan over low hear, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat and let cool; drizzle over the white chocolate. ( I use the microwave for all this chocolate melting).

The most impressive thing about this cake is how it looks. My kids were sure that was why it won!

Generally, I have found small-town life challenging. But sometimes there are some unique opportunities to be found in small farming communities. Today, the kids and I were able to take advantage of one of those opportunities. We entered a cake we made together in the parent/child division in the agricultural fair for the northern part of our county They enjoyed doing it, but I told them not to get their hopes up about winning. As it turned out, we won 1st place for our category and Grand Champion for the whole division. The cakes are auctioned off as a fundraiser for the ag fair after they are judged, and people pay exorbitant amounts for them. An elder from our church paid $120 for it! Amazing!

The kids are really excited with their $3.75 prize and their blue and purple ribbons. However, they don’t yet know that we will be getting a check for $100 for winning in the division.

One other note that is sort of interesting is that I have been a judge in the fair cake contest during the previous 2 years, so I know that a system of blind judging is used.

It has been suggested to me that I include a photo and the recipe for our prize-winning cake on my blog. I hope to do so in the next week or so.