What Thirty is Like

Well, I am now 30 years old. What is different? Well, not much.

I had a nice birthday. I got some cards in the mail and a Lowes gift card from my parents... I am sure that Lydia suggested it. She has been asking for me to repaint the bedroom for a number of months. Now it will get done. Heidi got me some coffee and a new Starbucks cup. I love it. Irma and Lawrence sent some cash. That is always appreciated.

Bill and Paige Kamp (who are expecting in May) volunteered to watch our 3 little ones on Tuesday so that we could go out for a birthday dinner. We took them up on the offer and went out to Olives in East's Gas Light Village. It was a great time. We had Martinis and Mushroom Crostini as an appetizer. For dinner I had Tenderloin Napoleon and Lydia had Garlic-herb marinated steak. It was wonderful! The conversation was adult and the company was splendid! It was a good way to bring in my third decade.

From there we walked to Starbucks for some hot chocolate. We talked some more and really did not want the evening to end. Of course, with small children you cannot be away for long! We picked up the kids and headed home.

On my proper birthday (Wednesday) we did not really do anything. I had class in the AM and prepared for Bible study that I was teaching in the evening. We took a short break for a Mangiamo pizza for dinner, and then it was time for me to go to Bible study. Lydia made a delicious blueberry cake and a chocolate cake to send with me.

At Bible study Ray and Linda sang happy birthday in Dutch and Ray and James sang it in German. We also sang the 30th Psalm in commemoration of my birthday. It was a good night there.

Today (Thursday) was class and writing as usual. I got the mail at 5:20 and to my surprise there was a package addressed to Lydia. I opened it and found a splendid birthday gift! She got me a book that I have been looking for for about a year. I have NOT been able to locate a copy and was hoping to not have to pay $100 for it! She got it for me! The book is Sketches of the Covenanter Ministers, 1888-1930 by Owen F. Thompson. She found a minister in Kansas (Rev. Ken McFarland) that had two copies and was willing to sell one to her.

This is the follow up book to Glasgow's History of the Reformed Presbyterian Church that Ray and I wrote the introduction for upon its reprinting. What a great gift! It takes a very special wife to search long and hard for a bibliophile's gift. What I could not do in one year, she did in one quiet month of searching and emailing. It is good to start my 30th year of life with a woman who knows and loves me so much. She loves books and fine food too, of course.

Big Weekend Ahead

This weekend is going to be quite busy. Our congregation has the "Grand Rapids Commission" of the RPCNA coming for a congregational visit. This means that there are going to be events Friday, Saturday, and Sunday for me (Lydia is exempt from much of the busyness for obvious reasons).

On Sunday, Watson is being baptized. This is the quickest that we have had one of our children baptize- 9 days old. Grandma Eshelman will be in from Pennsylvania to witness this blessed event. * * His baptism will be at 10AM if anyone wants to be a witness to this sacrament.

Between the services we are going to have a fellowship meal. Usually this means gross sloppy joes and ham and buns (Dutch staples). We are going to rebel and bring something yummy in lieu of sloppy slop.

Brian has been here this week making cheesecakes for the event. (He also made us a scrumtrelescent Chicken Marsala tonight for dinner!) I thought that I would share two of the three that he has made thus far:

This is a New York Cheesecake with blueberry puree marbled through it. It is sitting on my kitchen counter now. Should I eat some?
This is my favorite Brian cheesecake in the whole world. It is a cafe alaut white chocolate mocha cheesecake. You would not believe how much I want to call over the neighbors and devour this bad guy. I bet we could slip Brian $25 so that he could make another one. It really does not take that long... only a few hours to make it.
I know what Owen wants to do!
(That is Brian's crust mix in his mouth...we do brush his teeth.)

Family Update

Things have been quite busy around here. We are preparing for a new baby, our AC was out this past weekend, we had company for a week, and I have a lot of behind the scenes work being done as a part of my internship.

Some things seem to never change though, such as Owen wanting to nap with his vacuum cleaner tucked in next to him.
Since our visitors left we have cleaned out some of the things left behind in the refrigerator. Shawn and Tammy are organic-naturalpathics who do not use man made food-products. The result of this was some heavy whipping cream left which was unopened. Owen, Anna and I had a great time turning this into butter. I made them guess what the cream would be when it was done, but of course, they had no clue. When it turned to whipped cream, Anna exclaimed, "it's turning into a mocha!"

She loved the moment when it went from whipping cream to separated butter and water. It was like magic, minus the Harry Potter action.
Owen liked it on a cracker. He could not wait to eat more. We told him no.
Anna thought that it was really a great thing as well. Homemade butter.. what could be finer? Well, homemade bread on which to spread it!
We also went to Johnson Park for lunch today. The kids played and Lydia and I went through baby names. We may have one.... who knows. Lydia is quite excited about being delivered from this burden... I mean child. We are very excited to have three little ones. What a blessing and an honor to raise children unto the glory of God!
Owen and Anna are always telling * * * * * * * * * what the outside world is like... spankings and all. Here they are giving a pre-kiss.
I am sure that the next few weeks will be filled with pictures of our little guy. I will give a precondition now... we do not think that new borns are cute... this is a myth. But we do love them.

A 4am Rambling Story About Maggie, Stainless Steel, and Calico Brownies.

A few weeks ago (or longer) we had Maggie and B over for dinner. We were sitting in the family room chatting away about the joys of being a Christian and we forgot about the potatoes on the stove-top. They boiled over. They actually boiled the pan dry.

Then our oven did not work. Hmmm. There is a connection. Water fried out our electrical panel in the range. (I know, I know, buy gas- blah, blah, blah. But this oven was in the house when we bought it.)

So as the weeks are passing, Lydia and I continue a discussion about what to do. Do we replace the range? Do we have it fixed? What to do? Now, we have a really nice built in range with stainless top, etc. Very nice. At least $1200 to replace it. We could get a junky thing for about $500, but it would not look as nice. What to do?

Lydia calls a service person to come and look at while I am at work. She emails me about it. The whole thing is fried. It will cost way more to fix than to buy a new one. Okay.

So as the weeks are passing, I am not thrilled with replacing what we have (OCD...maybe). I do not want to replace it with lower quality. That is very annoying.

I call Apex on Plainfield. We talk. Then I call again. "Cathy, its Nate again..."

We decide on having one of her service people come and look. That is a $69 fee just for having them come to the house. I am not impressed, but we will see what it can be. They decide that it is one of two parts.

One part- $140

The other part $375

Labor and service call included.. you got yourself the junky range.

I decide to have it fixed. Bob the builder, as Owen calls him comes to the house and decides that is AT LEAST the $140 part. He says we have to replace that one first to decided if we ALSO need the $375 part. Okay Bob.

Murphy's law would tell you that this story is going to end with me paying $42,500 to have a $1200 range fixed; but you would be wrong. We got the old girl back on her feet for $250. I am ecstatic. So happy that Anna and I made Calico brownies before work today.

See, there is such a thing as a happy ending... now I think that the goat cheese pizza party can be hosted by our good ol' oven in honor of Maggie graduating! Any takers?

Maggie's Mac and Cheesey Fiestaware Luncheon

Today Maggie "Scott" Porter came over to make lunch for us. She made home-made macaroni and cheese. It was really good. She stayed for family worship which is always a nice thing. I love when company is in our home to worship with us.

She stayed for coffee and dessert that Lydia made. It was a fudge brownie oatmeal bar that was so rich that I had three teeth fall out while eating it. It was washed down with two hot cups of Starbucks' French Roast coffee (Owen ground the beans for me).

We talked about blogging for a while. She made fun of me for having a category entitled, Fiestaware, which reminded me that I found a great Fiesta Persimmon vase while I was in Pennsylvania. I was in a dusty unorganized bookshop looking for Glasgow's History of the RPCNA from 1888. Of course the book was not there, but the vase was a nice way to soothe the pain of another failed attempt at locating the book. The vase is a nice addition to my Fiesta vase collection. I think I am over a dozen now. (Notice vase is a subcategory of the Fiesta collection.) I need to blog more about the Fiesta collection.

I had to go to work, so I sent her home with 12 lectures on prayer by Dr. Michael Haykin to listen to on the ride home to Southfield. Ask her if she listened to them. A test is sure to follow!

Da Bears and Western Pennsylvania

Congratulation to my father-in-law on his team going to that Super thing.

We are back now from our trip to western Pennsylvania and we enjoyed ourselves very much. The people at Rose Point are a great community of believers and whomever the Lord sends them as a minister will be blessed to work with such a great congregation. (I hope that they would like to have me back!)

We also got to spend time in Corry with my family. The highlight was making dinner with my father and my brother. I do believe that event would make a great reality TV show! Pictures are sure to follow.

The creator of Ramen Noodles died this week at nearly 100 years of age. These noodles hold a special place in the heart of us:

Lydia was dating the boyish-infantile-immature guy across the hall from me at Schultze-Eldersveld at Calvin College. She was hungry one afternoon and he told her to come across the hall to my room because I would have food (prejudging me based on girth). I did not have any, but my roomie had Ramen Noodles which I offered to her.

The long and short of it was that she immediately dumped this guy upon hearing me speak and feeling the warmth of my personality and we were shortly married thereafter. Or so I remember it. Ms. Marion Lanning threw dry Ramen at our wedding.

Long live the cheapest, most disgusting food ever invented, despite the death of its creator. (As long as there are colleges in this world, there will be Ramen!)

How Many Pancakes Can You Eat?

Today Anna, Owen, and I made pancakes. Both of the children love to eat pancakes for breakfast and would eat them everyday. Now, the normal pancake is just that- a cake fried in a pan and then you slather butter all over it and pour corn syrup that tastes like maple all over it. We are not in favor of this.

We made whole-wheat pancakes that have 4 grams of fiber per serving. We may have overdone it though- because we made 180 of them! They went into containers and into the freezer. No more wasting time flipping jacks in the morning for the kiddos!

We also read Eric Carle's book Pancake Pancakes while we made them. The book is about a boy who wants a pancake for breakfast so he goes to the field and cuts some wheat and takes it to the miller. The book walks the reader through the entire process of making a pancake. Fun!

Anna's New Joy

Anna has found cookie making to be a great joy. She has made two batches of cookies this week and they were a yummy treat. The first time she had enough Hershey Kisses for the cookies. Today she seemed to unwrap two too many. My thought is that she wanted to eat the extras before we saw her.

We caught her though!

The Kitchen Aid

Anna is the proud new owner of her very own kitchen. She has been having some problems sharing the kitchen with her mother, so we thought that it would be best to get her one of her own. This one is great!
It comes complete with sink, refridgerator, stove, and oven. We are excited to see what kind of meals she will make.
Next stop is Mr. Birn's house to learn some gourmet cooking.

Perfecto!

French Creek Tavern

As I have described French Creek Tavern to a friend here in Grand Rapids who was visiting south-west New York State:
When you have hit the next dirt road and you get this creepy feeling that you are very lost- you are almost there. In highschool this little known hole in the wall was a place where we regularly would go for the greatest and hottest Buffalo Wings that you have ever had. French Creek was built and founded in the 1930s and there are still a few guys hanging around that seem to have been there for the laying of the cornerstone. As noticed in the top picture, the ceiling has begun to cave so papers have covered it (as if nobody notices).
Here is my dad, Owen and me in front of the place. Now let me tell you that it has been recently remodeled. The brick is new and the fact that there are no trees growing out of the gutters or off of the roof show the newness of it all. In 1981 the ownership was transferred- I guess they thought that 25 years was enough to fork over a few bucks for some aluminum siding.

This game thing has been here from the beginning as well. The table gets lots of use, but I still do not know how to play it. One of the great things about French Creek is that in the winter if you pull into the parking lot you will see 3-5 cars and about 50 snowmobiles in the parking lot. It is much easier to get there via the fields in the cold and snowy winter.
Here is a shot of the tasty morsels. They sell them in 8,16, or 32. One of the classic ways to eat them is over some hot rolls and when you are finished you eat the rolls that have acquired all of the drippings. Quite yummy although not heart friendly.

Would you like another cup of gut-rot?

While in Corry we were accused (not always verbally, but ya' know I'm right) of being coffee snobs. I choose to neither deny nor affirm this charge, although we do enjoy a good cup of Starbucks Sienna Organic whole-bean roast.

It seems that the good people at Folgers are also coffee snobs. They too now realize that their product is less than satisfying to the palate and/or stomach. They have just released Simply Smooth which is designed to not leave that upset stomach feeling that their coffee leaves. In layman's terms- this coffee does not give gut-rot.

I may just try it- or I may stick to the Starbucks beans that are hand picked from the Pacific Isle of Sumatra.

Eggciting Event

We made perogies today in honor of Polish Fest, in downtown Grand Rapids, being cancelled. Anna did not want to participate in the antifestivities and refused to eat them. She said that she wanted to make an egg instead.

We used this as a learning experience. Anna cracked the egg, helped flip it, Julia Childs style, sprinkled cheese on it, and posed out of pride of her first cooking experience.

Next stop: Mr. Birn's house for some gourmet lessons!

The ministry of perfection

Some friends that people have are okay. Some are good friends. Others are just acquaintances. Our friend Janna, of Penultimate Grooviness, is none of these.

She is perfect.

There are many reasons why we think that Janna is perfect. Besides the great hat collection and the kindness that she has towards all, here is one our favorite reasons why Ms. Janna is perfect: French Silk Pie

3/4 cup margarine or butter, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
6 oz semisweet chocolate chips, melted and cooled
3 eggs

Cream butter and powdered sugar. Mix in the chocolate until well combined. Add eggs, one at a time, beating 3 to 5 minutes with each addition (this part is a drag).

Pour into prepared pie shell. As far as the pie shell goes, the recipe has a pastry crust, which is only ok, so I replaced it with an oreo crust. Oreo crusts make everything better.

Thank you Janna. You have helped rid the world of starvation, poor taste, and most especially...people that are too darn skinny. God bless you sweet Janna.

* * Attention all readers: This recipe is fabulous. Please make this and enjoy it with your annoyingly skinny friends. They will love you for it.

Resting in the park

Sometimes it is nice not to have to cook on Sundays but instead to pack up a picnic basket and go to the park for a light lunch and enjoy the surroundings. The Bible talks a lot about nature and how it stands as a witness or testimony of God and his care for his creation.

It is amazing that you can forget about all of this in the business of life. Sometimes it is good to sit with family and to be able to speak about the handiwork of our heavenly Father. This is what we did Sunday. Here Anna shades her head from the sun. She loves to wear hats.
Because she thinks that eating is only for fat people, Anna instead dragged the picnic bag around while Paige, Lydia, and I ate. Owen was sleeping like a good boy. (Or as Anna says "goo-boo".)
Here is a view of downtown Grand Rapids from the river. Riverside park is about five minutes from downtown and is a very beautiful place to go for reflection and recreation. This is a favorite spot for my parents to picnic when they come to visit.
Here Paige is enjoying a brownie while Lydia holds little O-O. Notice the egg carton. It is Eshelman tradition to bring hard boiled eggs on outdoor eating events. (That is what we call picnics....eating events....wow.)

Here is another view of the river as well as our picnic location. Anna and I walked along the river while the ladies and O-O discussed the intricate details of Sabbath observance. It was a lovely afternoon.