…your 5 year-old looks at the digital clock on the stove at 7:36 and announces:

“It’s Seabrook and Bolland on the clock! And in an hour it’ll be Leddy and Bolland.”

The pond is finally frozen! Naturally, it wasn’t long before Jim was out there testing the strength of the ice.

Once he gave the ‘go’ signal, the boys threw on skates, grabbed sticks, and began gliding on the precious, slippery solid.

They reminded me of wind-up toys. They were literally non-stop movement once they hit the ice. Jeremy was the exception at first, as he was just getting his ice-legs.

And the more I thought about the wind-up toy analogy, the more fitting it seemed. They have been wound up lately, with little outlet.

The three younger boys stood still for a momentary snapshot.

You’d never guess that the temperature was in the single digits last night. They stayed out there for hours until they were called in for bedtime.

Because of the frigid temperature, Ruthie stayed in with me and watched from the window. Here’s what she thought about that:

Those are real tears.

It’s finally hockey season in the Johanik backyard.

All caution was thrown to the wind by the squirrels at the arboretum last week. We the chasers became the chased.

After making a complete spectacle of myself, running away (with shrieks and questions about rabies) from this rodent while attempting to snap photos of it, I looked over to the other side of the path and locked eyes with an old man who had watched the whole thing.

I must admit I felt a sense of urgency today when I looked at the weather forecast for the next few days. Today was predicted to be the last mild, sunny day for a while.

And since the new arboretum membership card (thanks, Mom and Dad) was burning a hole in my pocket, the kids and I stole away for an hour to enjoy the outdoors. Never mind that one child is emerging from sickness and another one entering it; I decided that the fresh air was good for the soul today.

They were set loose.

They love the maze. It never changes, so they know the layout like the backs of their hands, but it’s nevertheless great Tag territory.

Peter was Ruthie’s escort for the trip.

And was she ever in for a ride. There ain’t nothing that’s going to slow Peter down.

The little squirt held onto her sandwich quarter the entire time. She eventually fell asleep while keeping a firm grip on it.

These two have been bonding lately.

While Jake enjoyed some solitude hiking on the trails, the younger guys climbed around the trees.

We saw many squirrels, and they were surprisingly unafraid of people. I have a funny story (with pictures) about one such bold squirrel to share with you another time.

I don’t know what Ruthie would do if her brothers were gone at school during the day. She’d especially miss that brother Peter. If I’m not around and she gets hurt, she goes to Peter for comfort.

The other day, I walked into the room and saw her holding Peter’s grammar book while he was working through it. She just fit so well on his lap, totally at ease.

And somehow, he focused better with her there.

It warmed my heart so…I just wanted time to slow down and linger a bit longer.

While the earth remains,

Seedtime and harvest,

And cold and heat,

And summer and winter,

And day and night

Shall not cease.

God spoke these words to Noah just after the water from the worldwide flood dried up from the earth. It says that before the waters receded, the water prevailed upon the earth so that even the mountain tops were covered. All in whose nostrils was the breath of life died.

This event in history is often portrayed with a happy ark floating on sparkling blue water, but this was anything but happy. It was a horrible time of widespread death.

We worry ourselves with endangered animal species today…as a result of the flood, every single animal species, along with the human race, would have been considered endangered if there was such a list back then.

Noah lived through a monumental, world-turned-upside-down event in history. He saw God’s power on a grand scale. God has the same power today, you know. He has the power to flood the earth, to destroy every living thing. He has the power to stop the sun from rising.

But He doesn’t because He made a promise to Noah, and that promise continues for us. “I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done,” He says.

So when the sun rises this morning, and again tomorrow morning, praise God for keeping His promise. Praise Him for rotating the earth on its axis and revolving it around the sun, so we may have seasons and days and nights.

When you breathe in, praise God for giving you the breath of life. “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!” He is good.

Make that Friday + one day. And, since I forgot to add a photo last Friday, consider this post a two-for-one!

Here, Jake imagines the ideal afternoon of fishing…

Evidently, later on that day, Molly jumped in to play with a deer.

You never know what you’re going to find in your local retention pond.

Ruthie put the dolls down just long enough to learn how to shoot Peter’s Nerf gun. Her brother was happy to give a lesson on cocking, aiming, and pulling the trigger.

In the debate on Nature or Nurture, the latter definitely wins out most days, as this girl’s behavior is heavily influenced by her brothers.

Looking back in time, you can see that things haven’t changed much.

Jeremy, Jake and I experienced our first Blackhawks game early this week. Jim was the veteran in our group.

Jeremy, in his mass excitement, forgot to wear his winter coat. It was a chilly 22 degrees that night. When we got to our seats, I looked over and asked him how he was doing. He said, “I can’t stop shaking.”

I told him to put Jake’s coat on to warm up, and he replied, “I’m not cold, I’m really really excited.” This was his posture for the first hour:

Hey, Jeremy. Jeremy! Jeremy?

He peeled his eyes away from the ice so I could snap a picture, then eyes went immediately back to the action. This was one of those experiences that is most fun when you see it through your child’s eyes. He was precious.

We weren’t sure if Jake would enjoy it, but he did. He commented afterwards about how amazing the player’s skating abilities were.

I decided that watching a Blackhawks game is a feast for those with ADD. There is so much going on visually, I could hardly keep up. Here’s a slice of the action on video. In order to really have a taste of what it’s like, please turn the lights out in the room. Then turn the volume all the way up.

This actually gives me an idea for beginning our school days. Excuse me while I go fire up the strobe light and crank the music…

Fun, fun! So glad we had the opportunity to go. Thanks, Tradehelm!

God gave the command in Genesis 2: “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”

Adam and Eve lived happily and freely, avoiding the one tree God commanded them to avoid. They didn’t see the command as burdensome because they were satisfied with all the other fruit God had provided them. Their focus wasn’t on what they weren’t allowed to do.

Until the serpent drew Eve’s attention to the forbidden tree. He questioned God’s command and tempted Eve to do the same. Once her focus shifted to the tree, she saw it differently. It became attractive. “When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate”.

Sin became attractive.

Things haven’t changed much, have they? We do what we know is wrong because we look at sin and allow ourselves to be lured by its apparent beauty. But behind the veil of beauty is utter darkness and death. It’s all a lie. There is no freedom, no joy. God knows this and wants to protect us from it.

That’s why in Hebrews, it says, “let us lay aside the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith.”

The view out the deck: frozen ground, layer of ice on top of the pond, frost on the grass.

The view on the deck: bacon and sausage sizzling on the griddle, waffles baking and steaming.

I love my unconventional husband.

In the beginning the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.

While the earth was empty and without form, God’s Spirit moved over its surface. He was preparing to bring order and life to the earth.

It’s the same with our lives. Spiritually speaking, we are all empty and formless until God’s Spirit hovers and brings conviction of sin. He gives life, just like when God breathed into Adam’s nostrils the breath of life, and Adam became a living being.

Has God given you life, spiritually? Praise Him. Is His Spirit hovering over your conscience, awakening you to God’s reality? Respond to Him.

It’s a new year. Out with the old, in with the new. We make new year’s resolutions because with January 1 comes a fresh start. It’s a chance to improve, reassess, change. God knows we need a fresh start, a clean slate.

In my reading today, I read this:

Though your sins are as scarlet,

They will be as white as snow;

Though they are red like crimson,

They will be like wool.

What a great picture of a fresh start! Because Jesus Christ became one of us and bore our dark, ugly sin on the cross, we can be cleansed white as snow if we humbly come before God, confessing our sin and admitting our need for His forgiveness. And He freely forgives. Wow!

So today, I thank God today for a new year. I thank Him that He makes me white as snow, not because of what I’ve done, but because of what Jesus did. I thank Him for making me a new creation.

So, there the cooler sits.  It’s inevitable that the remaining dry ice in the cooler, left over from yesterday’s escapades, will sublimate into the air, disappear, and contribute to global warming (CO2 is a greenhouse gas after all; perhaps we should all stop breathing to save the environment.) No use prolonging the inevitable – we decided to put the remainder to good use.

Two years ago when Jake was into Chemistry (which is sooo passé now), he received the following book as a gift.

Wouldn’t you know it: Jake recalled on page 32 that there was a recipe for making instant ice cream using…dry ice!

We chopped up the dry ice using Heidi’s food processor (who knew?) which turned it into dry snow, but not the stuff you’d want to make snow angels in.  We then added cream, sugar and vanilla, along with ample quantities of powdered dry ice and turned the mixer on.

OK, so we weren’t prepared for the fact that the dry ice vapor would create a creamy bubbly explosion, but we recovered quickly.

When completed, nothing but delicious ice cream (in the middle of winter!)

Four boys (and a big boy with time on his hands) + 20 lbs of pure-grade dry ice (as in CO2 at a temperature of -109 degrees Fahrenheit) = Fun for an entire day.

Here we are making “fog”

Er, here we are blowing up a bottle for the first time…

And here “we” are blowing up a bottle for the second time. Jake was responsible for the slow-motion effects. (Notice the 2 duds next to the experiment.)

We all decided to upgrade to liquid nitrogen next time…if there is a next time (we won’t discuss the outcome of Jim trying to make carbonated soda in the kitchen).

What fun!

And now for something completely…different…

Some of you are aware of Ruthie’s fondness of the moon. She asks about it day and night, and Jake loves the fact that she’s excited about something in the night sky. He even painted a glow-in-the-dark moon on the ceiling above her bed.

But he didn’t stop there. He also created this:

From Jim today…

Tradition.  As a discipline, tradition is doing something of significance time and time again for various reasons.  Tradition adds richness and color of this earthly life and in some cases points to the hope we have in Christ and our future home in heaven. Tradition seems to come especially alive at Christmas, and I am certain our family has not cornered the market in this regard.  Getting together with family for presents and meals on Christmas Eve and Day, putting up the Christmas tree while listening to Handel’s Messiah, going to hear Handel’s Messiah with Heidi at Orchestra Hall, and the family advent candle lighting are just a few of our annual Christmas traditions.

There is a strange comfort in knowing something will happen at a given time, something you can set your watch to again and again.

When I subscribed to the Wall Street Journal years ago, few things brought more joy in the moment than reading the traditional editorial on Christmas Eve, authored by the late Vermont Royster and reprinted every year on that day since 1949.  It’s titled In Hoc Anno Domini and while not overtly evangelistic, I relish the importance it places on the freedom we have in Jesus Christ in an age when this world tries to pry Christ away from Christmas and where government continues to eradicate our freedoms.

For those who do not subscribe to WSJ, here is the editorial:

When Saul of Tarsus set out on his journey to Damascus the whole of the known world lay in bondage. There was one state, and it was Rome. There was one master for it all, and he was Tiberius Caesar.

Everywhere there was civil order, for the arm of the Roman law was long. Everywhere there was stability, in government and in society, for the centurions saw that it was so.

But everywhere there was something else, too. There was oppression — for those who were not the friends of Tiberius Caesar. There was the tax gatherer to take the grain from the fields and the flax from the spindle to feed the legions or to fill the hungry treasury from which divine Caesar gave largess to the people. There was the impressor to find recruits for the circuses. There were executioners to quiet those whom the Emperor proscribed. What was a man for but to serve Caesar?

There was the persecution of men who dared think differently, who heard strange voices or read strange manuscripts. There was enslavement of men whose tribes came not from Rome, disdain for those who did not have the familiar visage. And most of all, there was everywhere a contempt for human life. What, to the strong, was one man more or less in a crowded world?

Then, of a sudden, there was a light in the world, and a man from Galilee saying, Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s and unto God the things that are God’s.

And the voice from Galilee, which would defy Caesar, offered a new Kingdom in which each man could walk upright and bow to none but his God. Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. And he sent this gospel of the Kingdom of Man into the uttermost ends of the earth.

So the light came into the world and the men who lived in darkness were afraid, and they tried to lower a curtain so that man would still believe salvation lay with the leaders.

But it came to pass for a while in divers places that the truth did set man free, although the men of darkness were offended and they tried to put out the light. The voice said, Haste ye. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness come upon you, for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.

Along the road to Damascus the light shone brightly. But afterward Paul of Tarsus, too, was sore afraid. He feared that other Caesars, other prophets, might one day persuade men that man was nothing save a servant unto them, that men might yield up their birthright from God for pottage and walk no more in freedom.

Then might it come to pass that darkness would settle again over the lands and there would be a burning of books and men would think only of what they should eat and what they should wear, and would give heed only to new Caesars and to false prophets. Then might it come to pass that men would not look upward to see even a winter’s star in the East, and once more, there would be no light at all in the darkness.

And so Paul, the apostle of the Son of Man, spoke to his brethren, the Galatians, the words he would have us remember afterward in each of the years of his Lord:

Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

Ever wonder what Jake does in his free time? I just found out myself, as I was looking through a folder on the computer titled “Jake’s Stuff”. I couldn’t stop laughing

This kid has a strange sense of humor. Must get it from his grandfather :-)

Look for another entertaining photoshop creation next Friday.

This is the one time of year that the geese are actually more entertaining than they are annoying. They arrive in droves to the pond out back, and what makes the scene so entertaining is the changing terrain of the pond. Once it begins to freeze, the geese have a difficult time navigating and keeping their balance as they move around.

But they adapt. Rather than move around, they stand still. On one leg even.