Thorburn Family

What were we thinking!?  There’s really no excuse for not cranking out a post on Thanksgiving is there?   How outrageously we have been blessed! Because our floors are being refinished downstairs this week, we could not cook & host as we normally do each year.   Instead we were treated to sumptuous, sweet, & relaxing hospitality in a good friends’ home. What a great blessing, and we’re thankful.   Maybe we’ll post a couple pictures from our fun day soon.

Our “normal” life resumes on Monday. Meanwhile, we want to praise and thank God.   Mostly, we want to thank Him for salvation through Jesus Christ…that, as Charles Wesley put it..   “Let this blessed assurance control: that Christ hath regarded my helpless estate, and hath shed His own blood for my soul.. ” and, “My sin –oh the bliss of this glorious thought!!– my sin, not in part, but the whole– was nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more.  Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, oh my soul!!!” Still can’t sing it without crying!

Though we hardly ever get to hear it anymore (except when we are belting it out at home), Charles Wesley also blessed generations w/ my number 1,  most favorite hymn ever:  Arise My Soul, Arise. If this doesn’t make us thankful, then what will, eh? :^)

Arise My Soul, Arise

My God is reconciled; His pardoning voice I hear;
He owns me for His child; I can no longer fear:
With confidence I now draw nigh,
With confidence I now draw nigh,
And “Father, Abba, Father,” cry.

It is scientifically proven that our ears and noses never stop growing.   Mom turned 37 today.   Since she thought she was already 37 most of the year, the blow wasn’t too bad.  Speaking of blow, the nose picture Lydia took didn’t turn out well and Mom doesn’t want it on the blog.   However, here is a picture of her ear for a baseline. We’ll have to remember to keep track of this every year.   :o)  Mom had a good birthday.    We made her pancakes, and she and Dad went out to dinner with some friends and had a great time.  I love her very much.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!

Good night!  Love, Valerie 

But you have to do the whole trick, and prove you did!  :^) I know $5 isn’t much but hey, the economy and all. [Ok so maybe this wouldn’t be all that nice to do to someone.. so .. uh.. well, we’ll trust your judgement]

Since we have some extra time on our hands for the rest of the week– no school till Monday, trippin-out on the fumes of varnishing floors, seven of us piled high on crammed furniture and stuff upstairs for a couple weeks — here’s a little story we thought we’d copy for our friends, from girltalk.blogs.com    

PREGNANT TURKEY STORY by Gloria (true story)

One year at Thanksgiving, my mom went to my sister’s house for the traditional feast.Knowing how gullible my sister is, my mom decided to play a trick. She told my sister that she needed something from the store.When my sister left, my mom took the turkey out of the oven, removed the stuffing, stuffed a Cornish hen, and inserted it into the turkey, and re-stuffed the turkey. She then placed the bird(s) back in the oven.

When it was time for dinner, my sister pulled the turkey out of the oven and proceeded to remove the stuffing. When her serving spoon hit something, she reached in and pulled out the little bird. With a look of total shock on her face, my mother exclaimed, “Patricia, you’ve cooked a pregnant bird!”At the realization of this horrifying news, my sister started to cry.It took the family two hours to convince her that turkeys lay eggs! Yep…she’s blonde!

We rented this DVD from Netflix this week. Expelled:  No Intelligence Allowed is a refreshing, gutsy documentary about the state of the exchange between academia’s most accomplished scientists on intelligent design vs. darwinism.    Ben Stein also takes a good look at past and present ramifications of the positions and the dialog.   Chock full of detailed interviews with the big brains on both sides of the argument, there was never a dull moment. Cerebral, yet riveting!

Yes, you read it.  We’ve been totally dissed.   Up till now, Social Workers at our local DCYF (Division Of Children, Youth, And Families) have checked our blog while at work.   Of course, I consider this just part of their duty in overseeing our family’s adoption of Benjamin, and monitoring our general sanity-status for the well-being of future foster children.   I am sure that is how they were thinking of it too, being the very good DCYF workers that they are  :^) 

Then the black, bad day came….the day when they turned on their computers, eager to see the next “almost crosses the line” move by the Thorburns.. kids jumping out windows, foot funerals, waking children up at night to take them out for ice cream in their pajamas…and other tidbits of crazy family life sure to keep psychiatrists employed for years and years to come.   But that black, bad day — no Thorburn blog appeared.   It was BLOCKED BY THE POWERS-THAT-BE AT DCYF.   Our little family blog is now a “RESTRICTED SITE” for DCYF workers.  No kidding.  No freakin kidding.

Why?  We don’t know.  The possibilities are endless.  Maybe someone high up at DCYF just doesn’t like us.  We are a little radical in the “religion department,” we’re told.  Maybe our kids are just so CUTE that they make all the Social Worker people JEALOUS, and maybe the cuteness hinders their focus during the work day.   Maybe they don’t like that we missed those classes we signed up for (gulp).   Maybe they DON’T LIKE MY NEW CHAIRS!!!!!!   I bet that’s it. 

Whatever, we have been totally dissed!!!!!   “Talk to the hand,” DCYF

Introducing our “chairs of abundant feasting & rejoicing!!”  

I bought 12 chairs from SclaFani’s yesterday…. and as soon as I walked in, I knew three things:

1.  They go with ZERO in our home, so we’ll just have to re-do the house (you think I’m joking, don’t you).

2.  They would have to be considered my birthday and Christmas present for at least one year, if I was going to obtain them.  You all know how these things work in families….. :^)..and

3. Onlookers will either love ‘em, or hate ‘em.

Thankfully, the kids and Rich love them and agree they are our “feasting chairs!” The chair backs are REALLY tall… Ben was taking a nap and I was impatient, or I would have put him next to one to show the scale.  They are seriously tall-backed chairs.  I don’t yet know if I will paint the wood part, or leave it, or refinish it.   Or, if I will keep the leather part which is fastened w/those ancient, massive, pounded metal things that I suppose were considered tacks back in the day… or replace that with some funky upholstering.   

Meanwhile, I must make a table covering that hides that fact that our dining table (which can extend to 16 feet so we cannot replace it) is more of a country or Early American style.    The chairs have now become our standard; everything else must adjust!!!! We are having our maple floors downstairs refinished within the next two weeks, which means we have to clear out half our house, including tons of huge pieces of furniture.   What’s 12 more massive chairs to find places for?  Meanwhile, I am off to JoAnn Fabrics for curtain material, taking advantage of 60% off!   Adjustment commenced!  

I loved this little (109 page) book by Nancy Wilson over ten years ago when it came out, and love it even more now!  Rich & I pulled it out recently to review the outstanding chapter called “Principles And Methods.” I bet this chapter could chop off about 80% of the problems people have with living in peace, particularly in the church. Imagine multitudes freed to live their lives “to God,” de-stressed about “the sisters!”   So there’s my plug for the best chapter, though I’d be remiss if I didn’t give a hearty shout-out for the “Lovemaking” chapter, which is super too. 

This book is definitely written from a Christian/biblical perspective on womanhood & marriage.  It’s not a book for everyone & not everyone would enjoy it, so make good use of your delete button if you like, as we all must from time to time :^).

It’s been a delight to follow Nancy, and her daughters’ and daughter-in-law’s blog lately. Jammy Rides, Pom Pom mania, and Crash Piles are a result of Nancy’s crazy family.   Under their influence, “paint piano orange” has made it onto my to-do list, albeit so far down that I may never see that accomplishment. Many years ago we put chocolates on our kids’ pillows every Saturday night “so you wake up with a sweet taste in your mouth on the Lord’s Day!” because of something Nancy said.  She changed my perspective on the marks in our table, helped me smile at fingerprints on walls and windows, and continues inspiring me to fearlessly seek “joy overflowing” as a worthy and thoroughly possible standard for home. 

Nancy Smith has updated their blog.  This precious family from Vermont continues to press on through this long-term trial.  Kidney donors are still needed for Samuel and for Esther.  Please consider helping this family. Kidney donation is the difference between life and death for many people.  Click on the “Smith Family Kidney Trial” link under “Current Situations” on the right side of this page to read more about the Smith’s situation and need, or paste this:    http://www.smithfamilykidney.blogspot.com

Yes, orange grout.  This your first preview of the new basement room which we have affectionately named THE SHRINK.   The SHRINK used to be a dirt-floor-no-ceiling-unfortunate-excuse for a room (otherwise known as a root cellar).   Rich has been working at it on and off since early summer.  He dug down the floor a foot, creating nice mounds of dirt which lived on our lawn for months, for little boys to enjoy :).   He poured cement to make a floor, sealed & painted ancient stone & brick walls (which I wanted to keep for “character”). He built a ceiling and installed recessed lighting along with some other electrical features.  He painted doors orange and put in replacement windows and trim.   He installed ceramic tile and blessed me with orange grout.  Now Rich is working on some more wood trim and then it will be done.   When THE SHRINK is done, which literally may be next week or next year, we’ll post before and after pictures.   Till then, I leave you with orange grout, in the coolest room in Claremont (by the coolest guy).  :^)