do you want to live to be 100?

An interesting article from the UK’s Daily Express says that in three years you may be able to take a pill that gets your body to mimic the “super-genes” found in people who live to be 100+.

The breakthrough has come after scientists identified three “super-genes”.

People born with the genes are 20 times more likely to reach a century – and 80 per cent less likely to develop the senility disease Alzheimer’s.

Even being overweight or a heavy smoker does not stop a third of those with the genes living to 100.

Now US researchers are working to produce a drug that can mimic the genetic benefits and hope it will be ready for testing within three years. Their work features tonight on a BBC TV ­documentary.

First off, I’m pretty sure I don’t want to live to be 100.

I can’t say that with complete certainty.  How I feel about it at 28 and how I’ll feel later in life may be very different.  BUT, have you ever spent time with someone in their late 90’s or older?  My experience has been that they want to be done.  They’ve outlived all their friends and lots of family.

I hope that if I have been given the “super-genes” that I’ll wear old-age gracefully and with purpose.  I pray I won’t wish it away.

However, just pondering what my thoughts are on an ideal time of death, prior to 100 sounds good to me.

One thing I love about this article is that it acknowledges that for 1/3 of people with the super-genes, weight and smoking have not kept them from reaching 100.

This flies in the face of most of the conventional wisdom out there that has pervaded our culture and our church.  This wisdom says that we have ultimate control over our health if only we do this, don’t do that, eat this, don’t eat that and on and on and on.

Oh, and by the way, the rules for perfecting your health change every year or month or week.  So, you better spend a significant portion of your time researching and following all the health experts.  And if you do everything they say, viola: you will have good health.

Except for when you don’t.  Except for when you get a cancer diagnosis, or discover you have high blood pressure, or seem to catch every cold virus that comes around.

So maybe the discovery of these “super-genes” will knock some common sense into us in regard to our health.  Maybe it will help us to stop obsessing about every piece of hard candy we consume.*  Maybe.  But I doubt it.

It’s too enticing to believe that we have control over our long lives and then we also get the credit for maintaining our good health.  But if we accept the credit, we also have to take the heat for everything gone wrong.  I just can’t live that way.  Talk about a prescription for anxiety!

So I resolve to do what I can to make my body useful to the Lord, while embracing the Biblical worldview that says our bodies are under a curse until their final redemption.  Whether I’ll be granted to do this 5 more years, 50 more years or 75 more, that’s up to the Lord.  He has numbered my days.

*Shameless jab at Jamsco’s post from a few days ago.

a laundry tip and a tip for bathroom mirrors

Yes, laugh all you want.

Who blogs about laundry and bathroom mirrors?

I do, that’s who.  And probably lots of other people, too.

Plus, I am so pleased with this one discovery that I made a couple months ago that I will share it and take credit for it.

I do lots of laundry.  Don’t we all?

We buy large containers of liquid laundry detergent.  The kind that dispenses by pushing a button and holding the small plastic cup underneath, as though it were summertime and I was getting water from a big orange water cooler, only it’s thick and soapy and comes out at half the speed.

It’s a good system.  BUT, I loathe how the plastic cup gets all gooey with detergent every time.  It inevitably drips down one side and gets on my fingers, then the detergent oozes onto whatever surface the cup is left to rest on.  Or you put the cup back on the dispenser and it drips down to whatever surface is below it.

My usual remedy has been to rinse the cup with water from the washer as it fills up.  Works OK, but then my arm gets kind of wet and the cup is drippy when I’m done, so I have to dry it off.

The NEW thing I do, which works wonderfully, is I just toss the cup in the washer with the clothes after pouring the detergent in.  The cup gets washed, and, at the end of the cycle, it isn’t even wet.  Just clean and dry after a good spin, not gooey or sticky or drippy.*

It’s the little things in life.

The only other tip I have is that I’ve started dusting the tops of my bathroom mirrors before windexing them.

Thrilling, I know.

Not that I’m implying any of you would wait long enough for dust to gather on your mirrors before they get cleaned, but, just in case.  I’m amazed at how much dust gathers on the mirrors in one week!  (Not that I always clean the mirrors every week, but definitely every two.. :)

Dusting them beforehand makes the windexing much easier because you don’t have to move any dust around.

So, that’s it for now.  I’m obviously no household expert.  But when you’ve got a great tip, why not share?

How about you?  Any delightful tips you’ve picked up over the years that we all could benefit from?

*Please inform me if this is common knowledge and I’ll gladly relinquish credit to the appropriate parties.

baby naming criteria

We’re in the baby-naming stage.

I enjoy the task.  However, I must admit that girl names are much harder for me than boy names.  We had a medium-sized list of boy names, all of which, I really liked.

We have a very short list of girl names, which I also like, but it just feels a little harder and more constrained.

Anyway, it’s interesting to discover how different people go about picking names for their children.  If you’re interested, here are some of our criteria:

1) The name must be gender specific.

If the child ends up going by a gender neutral nickname, no problem, but their actual name must be specific to their gender.  No Riley’s or Taylor’s or Alex’s (all of which seem like boy’s names to me.. but what do I know?) And it’s especially critical not to give a boy a girlie-sounding name.

2) The name must be real.

No made-up names.  There must be some history involved with the name.  We can’t be the first people using it.  No combining two real names in ways it’s never been done before to make a made-up name.  No Sarandrea’s or Emilella’s (yeah, I made those up).

3) It must be a name of some distinction.

While having a made-up name is a big no-no, we also don’t want a name from the top ten list of most popular baby names for 2009.  Although, I would lean toward tradition over originality, we want a name that affirms the child’s individuality.

4) The name must have meaning.

Whether the name has a definition that is meaningful or defines itself by virtue of the word (i.e. Hope), there must be meaning or story attached.  Story includes being named after a reputable family member or being named after a reputable person of the Bible or in history.  Individuality has it’s place (see above), but connection to something bigger than you is important.  Back-story to a name is good.

5) Family names and Bible names get bonus points for us.

6) The entire name, (first, middle, last) when said together, must have appropriate flow.

For instance, Ann Rae Dodds is very bad on the flow scale.  With a one-syllable last name at least one of the other names must be multi-syllable.  Preferably the first name would have two or more syllables, but we broke this rule with Seth and I think his name couldn’t be more perfect for him. :)

That’s all I’ve got right now.

What are your naming criteria?  Anything here you disagree with?  Anymore rules need to be added?

soaring into year six!

Our Eliza Grace turns 6 today.

Six years ago today on Monday, Martin Luther King Jr Day, we welcomed a 6 lb. 5 oz. little girl into our lives.

I am so very grateful.

Here are the top ten things of the past 5-year-old year, according to mom:

1) You started kindergarten at home.  You do very well.  You enjoy the science and reading portions the most.  I love watching you learn.

2) This summer you ditched your water wings and can swim half the width of the pool with your face in the water.  You’re a very cautious kiddo, but when you decide your ready for the next step in something, you go for it.

3) You really like to sing and you’re in choir this year.  So far, you’ve had two “performances” at church that were well-represented with an Eliza-viewing contingent.  You have also, on occasion, written your own worship songs (transcribed by mom).

4) You love teachers.  Sunday School teachers, Wed. night teachers and homeschool co-op teachers have your utmost respect and awe.  (I don’t count as one, by the way.)

5) Creativity is still a defining characteristic for you.  You love projects and making things, whether it be making food, weaving pot-holders, creating cards or artwork for others.  You are a self-proclaimed artist.  (And I second that.)

6) You love being outdoors in God’s creation.  You love to camp.  Our small group camping trip and North Shore vacation were highlights for you.  You love being out in the snow and playing on the ice.  You love bike rides.  There’s not much that can compete with being outside for you.

7) Your reading skills have grown greatly.  You like to read and I love to hear you read!  Sometimes you read short stories to Seth and Elianna.  This is pure joy for me.

8) Your closest friends are your cousins.  You tend to be a leader among them.  I’m praying that your leadership would be kind-hearted and tender, putting others’ interests above your own.  This is hard at 5 years old, 6 years old and 26 years old.

9) You have been a comfort to me this past year, Eliza.  Thank you.  Still waters run deep.  You were sad when we said goodbye to our little one in August, so was I.  Your cards and hugs meant a lot to me.

10) Your understanding of the Gospel has expanded greatly this past year.  You have expressed your trust in Jesus many times.  I’m thankful for it.  I pray roots of the Gospel will continue to go deep in your heart as you grow.  I pray that you will be consecrated to Him in ways that cannot be undone for all eternity.

Eliza, you are a silly, serious, intense, joyful, creative, wonderful young girl.  You are blessed with many gifts and much responsibility.  I pray you will embrace your place in life and do all things to the glory of God, with reliance on Him.

Mostly I pray that you will be able to see your own sin in light of Christ’s Perfection and His Perfect Sacrifice for sinners on the cross.  I pray that humility will mark you as you stand in awe of a the perfectly Humble One.

fearlessly forging into the fours..

Our Seth-man turns 4 today.

4 years ago today, on Monday, Martin Luther King Jr Day, a 6 lb. 4 oz. baby boy was born into our family.

I am so very grateful.

Here are the top ten things of the past three-year-old year, according to mom:

1) You got a bike this past spring.  You love it and are fast and somewhat reckless.  I’m amazed you haven’t crashed more.

2) Swimming is great fun for you.  You’re fearless off the diving board and down the slide.  You like to go under and swim with your face down in the water.  You still use water wings, but started to take them off occasionally toward the end of the summer.

3) Your favorite songs this year have been, Nothing But the Blood of Jesus, Amazing Grace, The B-I-B-L-E, the Cars theme song, and Newsboys’ That’s The Way We Roll.  You also enjoy any fighter verse songs that your dad is on vocals.

4) Puzzles, puzzles, puzzles have been a major theme.  You’re quite good at them.  Sometimes you put them together upside down with no pictures showing, which impresses me.  You can tackle 50+ piece puzzles without much difficulty.

5) You have become a serial member of the “clean-plate club.”  This is progress as there was a time when I feared cheese and milk would be the sum total of your diet.

6) You love to read stories.  You memorize very easily.  The Advent Book was a big favorite for you this Christmas.  You have a preschool book that you work on while Eliza does her homeschool, although you informed me a few days ago that, “Boys don’t do homeschool, only girls.”

We’ll see about that.

7) You’ve gone from loving to pray, to avoiding it, now to always reminding everyone to pray, but not wanting to be the one doing it.  I’m glad you’re picking up on the importance of it and hope you will develop a rich private prayer life as you grow.

8) You still really really like to ride in your daddy’s car.  And to go very fast.

9) Techie skills come naturally to you.  You like watching Andy play the Wii and you’re very adept with the iPhone.

10) You’re surrounded by girls a lot and that will be the case for a long long time.  (Maybe forever, depending on God’s plan. Thankfully you and Eliza are good friends and get along most of the time).  When you get around a group of boys you unaccountably start punching the air, grunting and jumping around.  I’m thankful for your daddy, uncles, boy cousins and friends.  Phew.

Seth, you are a delightful, goofy, hilarious, bright, fun-loving kiddo.  I’m thankful for the personality that God has blessed you with.  I pray that the God-given gifts and abilities that you have will be used to further the Kingdom of God.  I pray that you will be appointed to do many good works that God has prepared in advance for you to do.

Mostly I pray that the eyes of your heart will be opened to see Jesus as the crucified, risen Savior who is the Righteousness of God for those of us in Him.  Love Him, Seth, and He will be your Great Reward.

lessons I learned on vacation

Vacation is as good a time as any to learn some life lessons.

Here are some of the lessons I learned.  Some practical, some deep, some silly.

1) Unmet expectations are like poison.  They can ruin everything thing you do.

2) It can and does rain in the Caribbean, even when people have paid money to go on a sunny vacation.

3) People who set themselves up to enjoy everything do enjoy everything.  People who have a list of expectations are always disappointed.  I’m regrettably often in the latter group.

4) You can let go of expectations and choose to enjoy yourself.

5) I’m not yet able to put an adequate lesson description to the experience of reading “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered,” from Romans 8, while experiencing incredible luxury and lack of want on a cruise ship.  (I think the lesson should probably be that the dichotomy exists everyday, but I fail to feel it as I should).

6) I learned that I live in a bubble.  A family with 5 kids seems average size to me.  When strangers discovered I was expecting my 4th child, they seemed to think that was anything but average.

7) Sweet fellowship with the family of God (via total strangers) exists on a cruise ship.

8) If your refrigerator has a recall on it, get it taken care of before leaving for vacation, or you may come home to a warm fridge/freezer.

9) Having your fridge/freezer break in the cold Minnesota winter is much better than having it break in the summer.

10) Swimming in the ocean during a downpour and stormy sea is very exciting, until you get knocked over by a wave and sprain your hand.  Then it doesn’t seem worth it.  (Sorry Tom).

11) Our kids are a blast to have around.  I laugh a lot because of them.  When we’re gone from them, I miss that.

12) They don’t miss me as much as I miss them.  This will probably be true for the rest of my life.

13) There is no one I’d rather go on a cruise with than Mr. Tommy D.  He was the sunshine of our trip.  I love him a million times more now than I did 90+ months ago when we got married.  Spending 10 hours at the airport with him was pure fun.

What have you learned on vacation?

the count, girls:4, boys:2

We are thrilled to have discovered that, IT’S A GIRL!

This brings the count to, girls: 4 (mom, eliza, elianna and baby milkdodds), boys:2 (dad, seth).

The kindness of God is overwhelming.  We got to see her move and and curl up and put her hand to her face.

We watched her swallow and her heart pound and got to see its chambers and look at her spine and admire her toes and her nose.

The kindness of God is overwhelming.  She is healthy and growing right on track.

I’m excited to think about girl stuff for the third time.  I’m happy to think that Seth will have three sisters to help guide him towards being a considerate and helpful husband.

I’m praying that the sisters will be great friends, close as can be.  And that this new little girl will be a jewel to her Daddy and a blessing to her Mother.

Always, I’m praying that she will know Christ as her Treasure and Sweet Reward.  That she will be on the Lord’s side and He will be faithful in drawing her to Himself and His worth.

And now comes the difficult and joyful process of choosing a name!!!  Yikes and yay!

a christmas misadventure (with stitches)

Christmas seems a ripe time for the misadventure.

It has been a while since the last one, in which the  main event was Eliza getting her hand shut in the automatically closing mini-van door.  That was bad, but we managed to escape with only bruises.

This time, Eliza didn’t get off so easy.

30 min before chin split!

We headed over to my folks mid-morning, arriving by ten.  The “incident” happened around 10:30am and involved some horsing around with a favorite uncle and a slip that landed her on the wood floor with a chin split open.  One look and I knew we were headed for urgent care.

So, Eliza, my dad and I got in the van and drove to the hospital (Tom stayed put to keep track of our other two).  Eliza held a towel under her chin to catch the blood and, aside from the initial shock cry, didn’t cry at all after that.

We got in at the ER quickly (with no proof of insurance, I might add.  So much for the healthcare system needing an overhaul..) and when the doctor took a look he said stitches would be in order.

After a few visits with nurses and some hanging around, Eliza had to lay down on the bed, chin up, while the doctor cleaned the wound and shot novacaine all throughout the opened up area.  I had to look away a couple times as it was worse than I had thought.

Eliza, however, was complete perfection (for being totally depraved and all).  She laid still and never cried, even when he did multiple novacaine shots.   Her body was tight as a drum with the stress of it.  When he started the stitches, she loosened up and said, “It doesn’t hurt now, but I can feel it pulling.”

Seven stitches later, he was done and she was smiling.

an hour post-stiches

The medical staff was very understanding of the accident, but were totally baffled and flustered at Eliza’s quiet response to their persistent questions about if Santa had visited her house yet.  ”I know Santa isn’t real,” she said matter-of-factly.

One of them tried to convince her that he was, in fact, real, in the process making himself look a bit ridiculous and Eliza look overly mature.  Others were kind of saddened that she didn’t “believe” but at least had the good sense to (eventually) let it go.

Eliza didn’t even know who Santa was until last year, when she started to hear his name around.  When she asked me about him, I told her the story of St. Nicholas and said that nowadays many people pretend that he is real.  I tried to let her know then, that if a child believes that Santa Claus is real, that’s ok, she doesn’t need to enlighten him or her.

But I never thought to tell her that she should act like she thinks he’s real, in order not to offend, baffle, or fluster adults!

When they brought her some toys to choose from, even after knowing that she knew Santa wasn’t real, they continued to say that Santa had brought these presents to the hospital for good little children.  Afterward she asked me why they said that and if there was, afterall, a Santa Claus that only goes to hospitals.  To which I said, no, those grown-ups just really really liked to play pretend, and that’s why they kept the charade up, even after she told them she knew the truth.

It was a strange commentary on our culture and where the values of many adults are, in terms of what they emphasize and emphatically teach to children.  At one point, Eliza even tried to tell the nurse that Jesus was real, not Santa, but the woman was too busy reacting to Eliza’s disbelief of the jolly old man to hear her.

Eliza survived the stitches and the Santa onslought and we made it back in time to open presents (given by relatives, not Santa, in honor of Jesus, not “good little children”).

Finally at the end of the day, Seth had a fall and ended up with a trace of blood on his lip.  It was very minor, but I asked him if he thought he’d need to go get stitches like Eliza, to which he replied, “No mom, boys don’t wear stitches.”

my cute kiddos

some christmas fun

Enjoy.

a great gift idea for the ladies

My search for beautiful, feminine, (not-outlandishly expensive) aprons has gone far and wide.

And it need go no further.

I stumbled upon this website called anthropologia.  Their collection of clothing and purses and other wonderful things is all quite lovely, however I would classify most of it in the outlandishly expensive range.

But not these aprons.

These gems are going for $10-$38.  Most are $28 or $32, but there are a couple on sale.  Even recently I was looking at some locally made and sold aprons and I was a bit aghast at the price tag.  Many were in the $50+ range and they were very hit or miss– not consistently awesome like these are.

I’m quite picky about “trendy” aprons.  I’ve come across ones with great fabric, but the cuts were boxy and unappealing.  Or I’ve seen nice lines and cuts, but dippy fabric that either fell flat or squawked at whoever walked by in its attempt to be noticed.  These are spot-on for both material and shape.

They even have these gorgeous little girls’ aprons that I’m in love with.  I’ve been searching high and low for aprons for my daughters and these are comparably priced and much more fantastic than the “kids” ones in the toy section of the big retailers.

So, if you’re a dude whose lady likes to cook (or she just has to cook, because you’ve got a family and everyone’s got to eat), consider a lovely apron that will make her feel feminine and fanciful come suppertime.  Suppertime is, afterall, one of the most harrowing times of the day for many moms with small children.

Why not glean some food-prep inspiration by dressing the part of the domestic do-all?

And it would make a great friend or relative gift.  Of course, if only I got motivated and learned to sew (and got a sewing machine), I could try my hand at this myself.  Maybe someday.  But for now, why reinvent the wheel, when these aprons are ripe for the taking.  I mean buying.