Psalm singing at its best. :)

Someone sent my Dad the link to this video of Gaelic Psalm singing.



This is fantastic psalm singing, set to some familiar tunes that we use in our services here (Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland, Santa Fe). Now if only we had better acoustics in our church building...*sigh*

Dad and Mom are moving...to Israel

So no sooner do I arrive in Texas, than Mom and Dad decide to up and leave. :) Dad, as you probably know if you read my blog, works for the Trinitarian Bible Society; he is part of a translation team that is working on a new & improved version of the modern Hebrew New Testament (existing versions have some flaws). One of the members of the translation team is Rev. Goldby, a missionary of the Free Presbyterian Church, stationed in Israel. Well Mr. Goldby has recruited Dad to join him in Jerusalem, where Dad will be better able to assist with the translation project, and a few other projects as well.

So Dad and Mom are leaving on...Thanksgiving Day! That's right, less than two weeks from now, they'll be leaving the country. Mom has been busy winding up loose ends here in Texas, packing her things, shopping, and oh yes, learning Hebrew. Dad has been busy with his usual translation work, language study, online classes, selling off some unneeded books, and packing the most essential books (seven boxes of them) to ship to Israel. And of course both of them have been quite busy with lunch and dinner invitations, as everyone prepares to say goodbye.

A few people have asked, um, Sharon, what are you going to do now? Well, Mom and Dad have decided to keep their house in Texas, so the boys and I, and my brothers, will still have a place to stay. :) And moving will be much easier on Mom since all she has to do is pack what she and Dad need, and she can leave the rest for me to deal with. (I plan on having a big garage sale first thing--shhh don't tell her!)

Obviously, I am sad that my parents are leaving me, just as I've come home to them again. But I am also very excited for them as they get this awesome opportunity to live in another part of the world, and do some important work. And I'm excited about getting the master bedroom once they leave--with TWO closets! :) Hey, gotta look for the silver lining, right?

Amount of energy we consume?

Just read in this interesting post at www.theoildrum.com that Americans in 2004 consumed about 342,700,000 Btu (British thermal units, the standard measure of energy), per capita, per year. That converts to about 230,000 nutritional calories per day. Only two or three thousand of those calories are consumed in the form of food; the rest of the energy--well over 200,000 calories' worth per day--is used to heat and cool our homes, transport us from place to place, etc.

Obviously, that's a lot of energy. I wonder how much of it is used needlessly? I know I use more than I need to just for foolish reasons; for instance, making multiple grocery shopping trips per week, when a minimum of foresight would enable me to get everything in one trip. Each shopping trip uses about a gallon of gas, which contains energy equivalent to about 31,000 calories. Plus it uses other resources, like my time--forty minutes of driving alone, plus the time spent in the store. I think I need to try to be more conservative (with resources). :)

I recommend the www.oildrum.com site--very interesting, especially today's post on windmills. :)

He's growing up...

I'm supposed to be posting some pictures from Saturday, and I also still need to finish blogging about my family members...but the wireless card on our main computer apparently needs replaced, so I'm on Jeshurun's tiny little netbook, which is such a pain to use! So I'm postponing (again) some of the posts I've been promising for ages...

I just wanted to share with my mom friends about how big my youngest is getting now. In fact, he has abruptly decided to wean, which has taken me quite by surprise! I guess now that I think about it, I should have seen this coming, but I didn't because I was assuming that he would be nursing for at least another six months or so. But nope, he's made it quite clear that he is no longer interested! He is also making great progress at giving up the pacifier. Now all that's left is potty-training...

I posted this before when my oldest weaned, but here's a great informational page about extended breastfeeding: Extended Breastfeeding Fact Sheet
There's a lot of useful general nursing info on the KellyMom site, so if you are or will be a nursing mom, I highly recommend checking it out!

Another sign that Noah and Elijah are growing up: they are getting along so well these days! They still argue from time to time, but for the most part they play together quite nicely. They even share things, and take turns, voluntarily! Right now they are playing church, which is one of their favorites.

Must run--will post again soon (I hope).

I was going through old pictures...

...and found a few to share.

I am very sad that here in Texas, we don't have a proper fall (autumn). I miss fall. Here is a photo that reminds me of the beauty I left behind in the Midwest. From left to right, Jeshurun, Rev. Watkins, Mercy.


When my folks lived in Indiana, they had a small hobby farm with about 10 acres and up to 70 sheep plus various other animals. We Hembds believed then as we believe now that it's important to instill a good work ethic at an early age. No better place to instill good work habits than on the farm. Here is one of Elijah helping with some farm work.


Lastly, just for fun, here are some familiar faces for y'all. We have all of the Hembd family here, plus a few of the Smith boys, plus one extra. From left to right, back row: Jesh, Mark, Carl, Jett, David, Caleb, Joseph. From left to right, front row: me, Mom, Dad, Mercy, Ben (then known as Joe).


I'm not sure if the scanner is dusty or if the pictures themselves are dirty...if you click on these you'll see what I'm talking about. Sorry about that.

Also, I found another good one of Caleb. I added it to this post

Bye-bye pacifier!

Those of you who see us regularly will know that Noah still uses a pacifier. I've kind of spoiled him because I think of him as my baby. :) But the pacifier needs to go, as it's affecting the development of his teeth and gums.

The question is, how to go about it with a minimum of fuss? I did a little google-ing and found the suggestion to prick a small hole in the pacifier. I immediately remembered an old pacifier that got a hole in it somehow--he didn't care for it at all! He said it was too "squeaky." So I guess all of the pacifiers will be getting holes in them as of today. :) Hopefully, once he realizes that they are all "squeaking," he'll lose interest.

I'm posting this here for accountability! I hope it works!

A Nice Picnic

Leah & Shona, Mercy & Olivia, Sarah, and the boys & I got together for a little picnic the other day. It was pouring rain and a little chilly, but we ate under a shelter/pavilion thing and enjoyed ourselves anyway. Olivia and Shona were looking really cute and snuggly bundled into their little blankets.

Shona just lights up when you talk to her.


I can't decide if Olivia is really, really calm, or really, really, intense.


In other news, I made refried beans with dry pinto beans that Mom says were at least ten years old [EDIT: Make that SIXTEEN years old]. And they turned out just fine. I guess dry beans really do keep forever. I soaked them with baking soda first, maybe that was the key (3/8 tsp. baking soda per cup of dry beans).

Happy Birthday, Caleb

Happy (belated) birthday, little brother!

Edit: Here's another one for ya.

So I opened an Etsy shop...

Etsy is a site to buy and sell handmade and/or "vintage" items. I opened a shop to sell some century-old postcards, part of a collection that had once belonged to a distant relative. Check it out:

www.thoughtfuloldrose.etsy.com

Eventually I'll be selling some handmade bags and other handmade odds and ends via Etsy, so this vintage shop is sort of a practice run, if you will. I'll post again when I open that second shop.

So what are you doing this morning? We're going to the library and the park--an exciting morning for the little ones! And later, during Noah's nap, I will head out again to (hopefully) find a new pair of running shoes, as the pair I have has about had it with these country roads.

On the back patio this morning...

Tucked into the corner right up against the back door, Ben found this critter:

I know it's fuzzy, but do you see the red markings on its abdomen? That's right, it's a black widow, a big fat mama black widow. She was surrounded with little babies, too, and a few egg cases. *shudder*

She was dispatched thanks to half a can of bug poison, sprayed liberally about (by Ben, I wouldn't be so brave).

Once deceased, she served as the subject of the following photo: