Andrew and Marybeth Cressman

Another wedding cake this week...this one had to be transported over 2 1/2 hours which made me nervous but it (and I) survived. Marybeth has been a good friend since I learned to know her when she came to work at GBS several years ago. I made her twin sister, Myra's, wedding cake almost five years ago. Because of some of our similarities we sometimes are mistaken for each other. Her name is Marybeth Louise Brown, mine is Marianne Louise Brown. Our work e-mails were mlbrown@gbs.edu and mbrown@gbs.edu respectively. I'm very happy to have been a part of her special day (it was even more special that she purchased my wedding gown and wore it today). I chose to do basketweave on the sides of her cakes so that if they shifted or cracked during the transport it wouldn't be as noticable. Each cake was topped with a red silk rose and silver dragees. The pictures are of the cake, Marybeth and Andrew, and Michaela Schaub who was the flower girl. That little lady brought tears to my eyes...she's growing up so quickly...she's only a few weeks younger than Allan...time sure has flown.

Good News! (at least if you use BJUP for Homeschooling)

I was hoping this would happen for this fall! And it did :o) When we visited the Press this summer I asked if they were working on any options other than DVD or Hard Drive. My old supervisors said that they were but no time frame was being projected at that point. This evening I got this e-mail! I'm excited and looking forward to hearing the details. It looks as though it will be more customer service friendly than the DVD or Hard Drive programs were. Whooo Hoooooo!!!!

BTW: Homeschooling is another thing I won't blog about :o) but if you want to know one of the reasons why we chose BJUP and not another publisher as our core curriculum source check out this website.

Not that you asked...

Preface: This post is for future mothers, new mothers, or mothers of newborns.

This blog has been a "picture" blog for many reasons. I like my extended family to see what is happening with the boys, how they are growing, the funny things they do and say. You see, my mother has 7 siblings and at one time they were in 7 different states (they are now in AZ, OK, FL, and PA). My father has one sister but visits with any of my extended family are very few and far between. The intention of this blog was to help them "connect" with our part in the family tree...if they care to.

On purpose I don't blog (on this blog) about personal study, spiritual growth, or philosophies of childrearing. The purpose of this blog has never been debate or discussion. (although I have an opinion on just about everything!) That will not change. Someday I may allow my On Purpose Parenting blog (This blog is an apologetic for our family's philosophy of life and living) to become public but at this point it is for my boys' future reference only. The reasons on which I based this decision are not important. This is in no way a reflection on those who read this blog and who have wonderful debates and discussion on their blogs...please keep it up! I'm probably one of the ones following your threads.

Now for the main point:
The reason for this post is to give information that some have no idea is available. I will not discuss the rationale nor qualifiers that usually accompany this kind of information. You are free do use or discard the information as you see fit.

When I had Allan I was totally unprepared for what was about to happen in our lives. To put it very plainly, life turned upside down, my days (and nights) were out of control, and the exhaustion defies description. Put in a healthy dose of PPD (post-partum depression) and you can imagine what our lives were like. We had talked extensively about our childrearing philosophy and when and how the training of our children would begin. What we didn't realize is how much of that training begins on day one.

It became very clear we needed some answers and so we went to reliable sources (those who had children and their lives were not out of control). One dear friend (who now has 6 children and a very well-ordered, peaceful, happy home) who we talked to said, "oh yes, you need to read On Becoming Babywise by Garry Ezzo." Having never heard of the book we checked it out of the local public library and at that point our lives changed again...for the better. Within three days our lives were drastically different. For those of you who think I'm exaggerating let me assure you...I'm not! What amazed me was that every parent wasn't required to read this. We're not talking Christian v. non-Christian. What we're talking about a common sense approach to having a happy, healthy infant and a well-rested mother who actually is able to care for her little one(s). (Another book that dovetails with this one is My First 300 Babies by Glady Hendrix.)

Again, I'm giving as little information as possible although I could write volumes. If you find yourself at whit's end, Read the book. For those who's babies "have their nights and days mixed up", read the book. If you're thinking this "being a mother" thing is not for you, Read the book. If you want to be prepared when your little one makes his grand entrance, Read the book. For those who think I was just really "lucky" to have children who were sleeping (on average) through the night (10pm - 6am) by the time they were 5 weeks old... READ THE BOOK! ....take it :o) or leave it :o)

Week in Review

This was quite a week full of extremes! Monday was spent finalizing food preparations for Marybeth Brown's Bridal shower which was to be held on Tuesday. But alas, Tuesday afternoon it began snowing and the shower was cancelled (I still have potato salad in my fridge if you're interested!) and we did get around 3-5 inches of snow.

I enjoyed a the more relaxed nature of this week and decided to potty train Daniel. This decision was based on 1. He's over 2 years old...it's time! and 2. There was only one diaper left in the house. So far he's doing well although it distresses him to have to stop what he's doing and sit on the commode periodically.

Stephen was moved from a 2 flow to a 3 flow nipple. That should speed up the feeding process a little bit. He also sat in his exersaucer for the first time on his 4 month birthday. He really like being up where he can see everything that's going on around him.

Friday I gave my father-in-law a haircut and we had an enjoyable family night at their house.

Of course the typical laundry, cleaning, cooking duties stayed the same and I did have two Dr's appointments this week so it made for a busy but nice week. I'm sorry the sound isn't in sync with this video...it's something I need to research and found out why it's happening.

UC Presentation Report

Thanks to all who prayed for me as I presented GBS and the Holiness Movement in a UC religious journalism class. I sensed the Lord's help and felt it went quite well.

My task was to "describe the religious traditions that fueled and spawned from GBSC and its overall relationship to the "holiness" movement, defining that term as well. A brief description of my work, my perspective on religion reporting in secular media, and, as a result, where I look for news about religion when I want it. That in roughly an hour and 15 minutes with time for student questions and interaction."

The class was relatively attentive. Little response from students. No questions. The instructor, Ben Kaufman--former religion editor for Cincinnati Enquirer--was very cordial, asked perceptive questions, and seemed to enjoy the presentation.

I've uploaded a .pdf of my presentation if you'd like to see what I shared with them. I am confident the Lord was using the truth to convict hearts as I spoke, and I pray that those seeds will bear fruit.

~Philip

Late Notice - Prayer Request

Philip has been asked to speak at the University of Cincinnati to a religious journalism class this afternoon from 4:00 - 5:15. The class is taught by an agnostic Jew who has some knowledge of GBS. The professor thought that any religious journalism class in Cincinnati should include a voice from GBS since we've been part of Cincinnati for so long. Up to this point the Archbishop of Cincinnati, a Muslim cleric and other voices have been presented in the class. It's Philip's responsibility to be the Christian voice and also a represenative for GBS. Please pray that God will use this as a positive influence to those he'll be speaking to. What an opportunity/responsibility! I know that's only in 45 minutes...sorry for the late notice. I'll let you know how it goes.

Answers

I've gotten many questions concerning "how do you make a cake like that?" after I post pictures of what I've done. So here are some answers to some of the questions.
1. How do you make wedding cakes with three boys? It does require some juggling. All three of my boys nap take naps in the afternoon spanning from 1:30 - 4:30. Allan and Daniel go down at 1:30 and while they're working on going to sleep Stephen gets a bottle and goes down at 2:00. Allan is allowed out of bed at 3:30 (He usually doesn't sleep but has a quiet rest time), Daniel sleeps until 3:30 or 4:00 and Stephen wakes up at 4:30. As soon as Stephen goes down I get to work. Mondays are spent gathering the last of the supplies if needed and I get all of the pans, mixes, decorating paraphernalia moved into the kitchen. Tuesday I make the icing. Wednesday and Thursday I bake (I usually start the cakes that require over an hour of baking time in the morning that way they can be in the oven while we're in school). Thursday I also start the initial icing. Friday is the final icing and decorating and (usually) Saturday is set up. So...I work while they sleep. If the time ever comes where cake decorating encroaches on my ability to be a wife and mother then my cake decorating days will end. The second thing that is probably the most important is that I have a husband who supports me. The week a wedding cake is due means that the house will not be in pristine condition and shirts may not be ironed but there are no complaints from him. In fact last week I ran into some time crunches and so Friday evening he took all three boys out to his mom's for 5 hours while I worked. If he didn't help, I wouldn't be able to do this. He's also responsible for keeping the boys while I do setups on Saturdays.

2. How do you keep your boys out of your cakes? I sometimes don't and pretty much every cake has their "mark" on it somewhere. The first thing we ever trained our boys to learn was what "no touch" meant and that applies to cakes. So as far as them deliberately messing with them - they don't (usually) but sometimes accidents happen. For example: This last wedding cake was sitting (unassembled) on my kitchen counter and Daniel was "helping" me by sweeping the kitchen. The problem was as he lifted the broom to move the dustpan the handle smacked into the side of the cake effectively de-icing the one side. That's no big deal...just slap some new icing on it. I use the leftover batter to make cupcakes and they know that those belong to them.

3. How did you make the snowflakes? Not difficult at all...the week before the wedding I took three afternoons and made them. I use a royal icing made of 10x sugar, meringue powder and water. This is made thick enough to pipe out of a decorating bag and then dries hard. This time I googled "snowflake clip art" and found some patterns that I thought would work. Then I place a piece of waxed paper over the pattern and trace it onto the waxed paper. After they dry I peel them off and prepare to use them. By peeling them off the waxed paper you break about 50% of them but even broken ones can be used. This time there was one pattern that I lost all of the ones that I'd made. Every time I do snowflakes I promise myself I'll never do another one!

Other pictures of this particular cake are posted at David and Sarah Fry's blog and on Regina Ekert's Facebook page .

4. What is the hardest part of decorating a cake? 1. getting it perfectly level 2. getting the icing smooth. Once those two are accomplished it takes very little time to decorate. Once I ice a cake it sits for just a few moments until the icing starts to crust. I then use a paint roller with a dense foam brush and actually "roll" the icing smooth. I used to use hot water but this left the surface tacky and if too much water is used it can cause the icing to get too thin and causes all kinds of problems. It takes several hours to get everything iced and smoothed. Usually only an hour or two is spent actually decorating. But if you don't have a smooth icing then the entire cake looks messy.

Hope this helps for those of you who are interested.