Chapter 4
Thursday
May 12, 2011
Study

Liesl had awoken with a smile on her face. It was one of her favorite days of the week – her study day. So far it was turning out to be a great day! Her Bible reading had been lovely. She’d been reading Exodus 24, and was surprised to learn something she hadn’t known (or perhaps noticed) before. When the Israelites had camped at the base of Mt. Sinai, Moses wasn’t the only one who actually saw God. In chapter 24, God told Moses to bring seventy elders of the people up the mountain with him. They all saw God on a beautiful pavement of blue, and they all partook of a heavenly feast. Liesl wondered how it must have felt to sit down and eat and drink God’s food with Him. Then she realized that in a way she did know what it felt like. She got to eat with God in His Word every day.
She loved the song their family was working on right now. Mom had written an arrangement of the hymn, “What God Ordains Is Always Good”. The four part harmony had been rough at first, but now that it was coming together, this song was quickly becoming one of Liesl’s favorites.
After breakfast she sat down to work on the story she was writing. It was about a little girl named Jane who was magically transported to a fairy grove, and her adventures there. Liesl enjoyed the creativity of the process. She wasn’t quite so excited about the part where she had to print out the four pages she’d written and take them to Mom for spelling and grammar corrections. She was getting better at remembering where to start a new paragraph and how to use quotation marks, but somehow she usually ended up with a good sized list of spelling words to look up and write ten times each, and then fix them in her story. You’d think with as much reading as she did, spelling would come naturally. It seemed to work that way for Wesley and Janessa, but not for her.
Liesl finished her assigned reading and worked through her math and a lesson in her herbalism course. She was pretty sure she finally understood the difference between tinctures, infusions, and decoctions. She decided to try making a nettle tincture this afternoon. It was still early enough in the year, she should be able to find young tender nettles.
“Lunch time!” Krista’s voice came over the walkie talkie. Liesl put away her books and went downstairs. Delicious rich Thanksgiving-ish smells drew her to the kitchen.
“Krista, it smells wonderful! What did you make?” she said.
Krista beamed at the compliment. “It’s the stew for supper that smells so good, actually,” she said. “I’ve got it started in the crock pot. Lunch is just sandwiches. Sorry.”
“Oh, that’s ok. I can’t wait for supper!”
~*~

That afternoon, Liesl enjoyed being free to pursue her own interests since she’d gotten the basic schoolwork out of the way in the morning. She found some thick leather gloves and went out to gather nettles. It was a gorgeous sunny day and Liesl enjoyed the sights and scents of late spring. The lily of the valley especially were gorgeous in the Secret Garden. The edge of the woods behind the Secret Garden seemed to be the best place to find nettles. There were tons of them. Liesl was careful to watch where she stepped. Her hands were protected, but her ankles were bare even though her long blue and purple skirt covered them for the most part.
After filling a grocery bag with the needed leaves and stems, she went back into the house to wash them and find a pan in which to boil them. The kitchen was still heavy with the scent of food simmering in the crock-pot.
Krista was there working at the big kitchen island. She looked up as Liesl came in.
“Oh, good!” she said. “I need help and Mom’s busy.”
“What’s wrong?” Liesl said.
“Well, I’m making chicken and dumplings for supper – well, technically it’s rabbit and dumplings.” Krista giggled, flipping her thick blonde hair back over her shoulder. “The only problem is we’re out of baking powder and I need eight teaspoons!”
“That’s a lot of baking powder,” Liesl commented.
“I know,” Krista agreed. “But the recipe calls for four teaspoons and I have to double it, of course.”
“Of course,” nodded Liesl. “Hmm, there is a substitution for baking powder if I remember right.” She flipped through the books on the cookbook shelf until she found a thin piece of cardboard labeled “Substitutions”. It was like an envelope with a second piece of cardboard that slid up and down inside. You lined up the black line with the ingredient you were missing, and in the window below, it told you what you could use in place of it. Liesl slid the line down to “baking powder”. The little window’s message read, “1/3 t baking soda + ½ t cream of tartar = 1 t baking powder.”
“Do we have cream of tartar?” Liesl asked Krista.
They went to the pantry and checked among the spices on the baking shelf.
“Yes!” Krista crowed as she found the little jar. She opened it up to look inside and her face fell. “No. Not enough.”
Liesl thought. She knew Gramma sometimes used buttermilk with baking soda. What they needed was something slightly acidic to counteract the baking soda. They didn’t have buttermilk, but maybe they could put some vinegar in milk. Liesl didn’t know how much to use, but she figured they could probably look it up. She suggested the possible solution, but when Krista picked up the box of baking soda, she shook her head again.
“How can we be out of every possible solution all at once?” she moaned dramatically. “The stew is already done! What do I do now?”
“Calm down,” Liesl admonished. “We’ll figure something out.” She went back to the kitchen and started looking through the cookbook. “Maybe you could make bread or rolls,” she suggested.
Krista looked at the clock. “Are you kidding? It has to rise for an hour twice and then bake for about forty minutes, plus time to get it mixed and kneaded! We’d be eating supper around 7:30! The littles will never make it that long and Dad would have my head!”
Liesl turned back to the cookbook. There had to be something. She turned page after page, but everything that looked interesting called for either baking soda or baking powder. Finally, she came to popovers.
“That’s it!” Liesl cried.
“What?” asked Krista, looking over her shoulder.
“Popovers! Remember, Wesley used to make them all the time when he had kitchen days? They’d be perfect with the stew and you only need flour, milk, salt, eggs, and butter!”
Krista and Liesl read through the recipe together, deciding it would be best to triple it, and making sure all the ingredients were available.
“This looks easy,” Krista remarked. “I always thought popovers were one of those things like quiche or angel food cake where you almost have to be a professional chef to get them right.”
Liesl smiled. “Nah! You’ll be fine.” She wrote baking soda, baking powder, and cream of tartar on the grocery list that they kept on the refrigerator.
“Thanks, Liesl,” Krista called as Liesl headed back outdoors.
“No problem,” Liesl replied, catching the door just before it slammed.

~*~

Dad got home around seven that night looking troubled. Liesl tried to ask him what was wrong, but he made the sign for “later” and put a smile on his face to hug and play with the little ones for a while.
That evening Liesl and Janessa walked in to find Dad, Mom, Wesley, Brandt, and Collin sitting in the living room apparently just waiting for the two of them.
“Have a seat,” Dad said, indicating the last two seats available on the couch.
Liesl and Janessa sat down quickly and waited to see what Dad had to say.
He got right to the point – a sure sign that whatever it was, was truly bothering him.
“I got a rather disturbing phone call from Paul Wright this afternoon, “Dad started.
Liesl wondered if Mr. Wright was calling off the visit. She hoped not!
Dad continued. “Paul’s been doing a lot of talking with Pastor Johansen, the owner of Blessing Lake, over the last day or two. Henry Johansen called him up yesterday with the intention of canceling our reservations and maybe even closing Blessing Lake for good.”
“What? Why?” The questions burst out all over the room. Dad held up his hand for silence.
“Be patient and I’ll tell you the whole story,” he suggested. “It’s a long story and a very disturbing one.
That’s why I waited until the younger ones were in bed to share this with you.”
That was the second time in less than a minute that Dad had used the word disturbing. Liesl was starting to get worried. Dad continued.
“Apparently there was a terrible tragedy at Blessing Lake last summer. I won’t go into all the details, but a four year old little boy drowned.”
“Oh, how awful!” Liesl murmured. She saw that Mom’s eyes were filling with tears.
“It was awful,” Dad agreed. “His mother found him. There was a big investigation at the time and Pastor Johansen was found to be without fault in the matter. But he still blamed himself, of course.”
Dad paused, clearing his throat.
“Henry thought he was starting to get past it and move on – until this last week, when he started having visions. Night after night, the scenes of that terrible evening have been replaying before his eyes. The sounds of the mother’s screams have haunted him to the point that he’s truly started to question his sanity. He has a brother who has wanted to buy Blessing Lake from him for many years, but this is the first time he’s come close to seriously considering it.”
“Wow! Is there anything we can do, Dad?” Wesley asked.
“Paul said that he has gotten Pastor Johansen to hold off on canceling the reservations and two of his sons have gone to the retreat center this morning to stay with Henry. They’ll be talking and praying with him and seeing if there’s anything more they can do to help him. At this point, I don’t think we should call off the trip. I want very much to be able to minister to Pastor Johansen – although I’m trusting you all to be discreet with your younger siblings and keep this to yourselves. I don’t want them getting nightmares.”
“Of course, Dad,” Brandt affirmed. “We know better than that.”
“I know you do,” Dad said. “I’m asking you all to pray for Pastor Johansen as well as for Dekorra and Ashton Wright, who are staying with him now.” He turned to Mom. “If you have any qualms about going, honey, let me know, ok?”
Mom nodded as she wiped her eyes. “I want to go more than ever,” she said. “Maybe having a big group of people around will help.”
“My thoughts exactly,” Dad agreed.

~*~

Liesl’s thoughts churned as she put on her nightgown and slipped into bed. What an awful thing to have to go through – both for Pastor Johansen and for the mother of that little boy! She prayed that God would give them both comfort and peace. She prayed for wisdom for Ashton and Dekorra as they tried to help the elderly man. She prayed for Monday to come quickly so they could hurry up and get there too. And she prayed for God to bring wonderful good out of even such a terrible thing. He always did. God was so good.

There was a song Liesl liked called, “Smell the Color Nine”. It was a somewhat silly song, about doing impossible things. Maybe you couldn’t smell the color nine, but in Liesl’s opinion, you certainly could smell the color green. She threw back her head, lifting her eyes to the brilliant blue sky, savoring the aroma of green. Outside days were her favorite in springtime – not too hot and not too cold. She tilted the watering can above Mom’s hanging basket of fuschia, the little fairy-like blossoms dancing in their shower.
She was just strolling back to the spigot to refill the can when she heard Victoria’s tense voice over the walkie talkie, “Um, has anyone seen Savannah?”
Today was Tori’s littles day. If she didn’t know where ‘Anni was, that wasn’t a good thing. Liesl entered the house to find Tori in the dining room. Sarah, Stephen, Mara, Collin and Mom had already joined her there as Liesl entered the room. She heard Mom ask, “What happened?” and Tori’s answer.
“We were watching a video on the computer in the summer kitchen. Savannah was sitting right there next to me! I remember her singing along with the theme song. Then I turned around and she was gone! I don’t know for how long and I can’t find her anywhere! I’m so sorry, Mom! I don’t know how she got out of the room without me noticing.” Victoria was almost in tears.
“Alright,” Mom said. Let’s think about it. Last I knew, Savannah couldn’t open the outside doors yet so she almost certainly has to be in the house. Mara and Stephen go check upstairs, under beds, in closets, everywhere. The six and seven year olds thundered up the stairs full of the importance of their task.
“I just came from the living room,” said Collin. “She wasn’t in there.”
“Sarah, you were in the kitchen, right?” Mom continued. “Did you notice ‘Anni come through?”
“No, I didn’t,” Sarah replied. She caught her bottom lip in her teeth as she paused for thought. “I think I would have noticed her, but I’m not positive. I was concentrating on getting the bread shaped and set to rise. She might have come through the kitchen while I was in the bathroom too. I think that must be what happened. She’d have to go through the kitchen to get anywhere from the summer kitchen, other than outside.”
The two who had been sent upstairs came clattering back down like a herd of elephants. “She’s not upstairs anywhere, Mom.”
“Are you sure you checked everywhere?”
“Positive,” Stephen said. We checked in her closet, in the big girls room, under all the beds…
“Quiet!” Collin interrupted. “I thought I heard something.”
They all held their collective breaths for a moment. A quiet little voice called, “I stuck!”
“Where is she?” Victoria cried.”
“At least she doesn’t sound upset,” Sarah said.
Collin started walking toward where he judged the sound to have come from.
“Quiet,” Mom hushed them and everyone froze. “Savannah, where are you?” she called.
The muffled little voice answered, “Ina cwoset.”
“The closet?” asked Tori.
“The pantry!” exclaimed Collin. Turning and running for the door, Leslie reached it just behind him . “Are you ok, little Pooh Bear?” he called as he turned the doorknob.
The door was opened to reveal the curly headed little girl (Oh, how Victoria envied those curls!) standing in the middle of the room, an open bag of cheese puffs in her hand and cheese puffs scattered all over the floor! Her face, hands, and dress were covered with orange cheese dust. She looked perfectly content. “Tigger!” she cried happily, running to give Collin a cheesy hug.
Apparently she had decided to get herself a snack. She’d been sneaky enough to close the door after her, but once her hands were full of cheese, she was no longer able to get the door open to find her way back out. Forget the fact that her two year old mind hadn’t yet realized the fact that her cheesy face would have given her away anyway!
Liesl fought back a laugh. She heard Sarah snort in a distinctly unladylike manner. Mom ordered them all back to work before they gave into the hilarity of the situation. Liesl knew it would undermine the discipline that Mom would surely need to dish out. Liesl managed to get back outside before her giggles exploded.

~*~

“What a beautiful day!” she thought, looking up at the brilliant blue sky. She had already weeded and watered and she didn’t see anything else that needed doing around the yard.
After some thought, she decided to walk the trails through the woods and see if they needed any maintenance. She walked past the back of the barn and along the old stone wall. There the path turned up the hill and into the woods. Wesley had cut most of the trails the first year that the Keller’s had moved here. The trail wound back and forth, up hills and down, within sight of the freeway which marked the back border of their property, and back to within view of the house. You could come out at the Valley of the Lone Tree, or keep weaving through the woods until the trail met up with the path to the Armory. Sometimes after a long day at the restaurant, Liesl liked to walk home that way, letting the peacefulness of the forest quiet her.
Today she found a fallen tree that had blocked the path. It was smallish, so she was able to drag it out of the way and continue down the trail. A light breeze rippled through the tops of the trees and bird song trilled here and there, counterpoint to the low hum of cars going by on the freeway. A mosquito buzzed in her ear, the bane of her existence, and she swatted at it, missing it. Suddenly she stopped short in surprise. She’d almost stepped on it! There, curled up right in the middle of the path was a beautiful tiny baby fawn! Liesl hardly dared to breathe let alone move. It was so precious! Liesl knew that little fawns like this were trained to stay perfectly still wherever their mother left them, even if it was for a long time.
Liesl backed up slowly a few steps, keeping her eye on the beautiful creature. “Sarah,” Liesl called quietly through her walkie talkie. “You busy?”
“Pretty busy. Scrubbing the kitchen floor. What do you need?”
“I’m not busy,” came Krista’s voice. “I just finished cleaning the rabbit cages.”
Liesl considered. She’d called Sarah first because she could be trusted to be quiet. Krista didn’t exactly fit that description. But she was available. Liesl decided it was worth the risk.
“Could you grab my camera off the computer desk and come join me on Wesley’s trail?” Liesl asked. “I’m about halfway through. Almost to that little clearing where Collin and Stephen pitched their tent last year.”
“Sure, I know where that is,” Krista replied.
“Come quietly when you get close,” Liesl suggested. “Just wait ’til you see what I found!”
“I’m coming,” Krista said.
In a few moments, Liesl could hear the sound of footsteps crunching in the old leaves.
“Sh!” Liesl hushed her sister.
“I’m trying,” Krista loudly whispered back. Then she saw the fawn. “Oh!” she gasped. “It’s beautiful!”
“I know!” Liesl agreed. “I want to get some pictures so we can show the others without everyone traipsing back here.” She held out her hand and Krista handed over the camera.
Liesl zoomed in, filling the frame with the body of the tiny deer, and snapped several wonderful shots. She couldn’t wait to share these with Mom!
Liesl and Krista stood and enjoyed watching the fawn for just a few minutes longer. The only movements were the blinking of his great velvety brown eyes and the oh so slight rhythmic expansion of his sides as he breathed.
Finally they tore themselves away and walked back down the trail the way they had come.
“It was adorable!” Krista exclaimed, dancing as they emerged into the sunny yard.
“That’s for sure!” Liesl agreed. “I’m going to go see if Mom’s done getting the babies to sleep so I can show her the pictures.”
“Good idea,” said Krista. “I suppose I’d better get my math done so I don’t have too much to do on my study day.”

~*~

Dad got home early that night and grabbed his .22 from the gun cabinet in the dining room. “Who wants to go with me for some target practice?”
“Me! Me!” Wesley, Collin, and the oldest four girls jumped at the opportunity.
“What about you?” Dad asked Brandt who had not spoken up. “Don’t you like shooting?”
“I like it,” Brandt replied. “I’m just reading a book.”
“A book?!” Dad winked at Mom. “You know, I hold you responsible for warping our children so.”
Mom laughed. “I’ll accept that.”
They all walked down to the Valley of the Lone Tree where Dad had set up his deer and turkey targets. Mom made sure all the younger children were staying in the house with her.
It was fun. They went through a lot of shells and Dad did a lot of complaining about how the Valley wasn’t really sloped properly but Liesl was excited to be able to hit the targets several times. As they walked back up the hill toward the house, Dad talked aloud about his plans to bring in an earth mover later this summer and get a real shooting range made. Liesl didn’t get what the big deal was, but if it made Dad happy…
As the sun set that evening they sat in the living room talking and sharing about their day while Stephen and Sarah played speed chess. The twins and the little girls were in bed. Mom told Dad about Savannah’s snack that morning and they all had a good laugh.
“What we need is a dog,” said Dad his eyes twinkling mischievously. “Do you think we could tie the dog to the toddler to keep her out of trouble? Or would someone call Social Services if we did that?”
Mom giggled. “Probably.”
“I know,” Dad continued. “We could tell them that it was a seeing eye dog – only it’s the dog that’s blind!”
Liesl could hardly breathe, she was laughing so hard. “Sh,” Mom admonished. “We’re going to wake up the little ones if we’re not careful.”
They talked some more about their upcoming vacation, what they needed to pack, and what time they were planning to leave. Liesl couldn’t wait. It was going to be so much fun! Finally, the conversation slowed and Dad looked at his watch.
“It’s after nine, you guys. You should probably get to bed,” he said.

~*~

“Thank You, Lord,” Liesl prayed after she’d gotten into her nightgown. Thank You for the fun we had with Dad and for keeping Savannah safe even while she was being naughty. Thank You for letting us see that beautiful fawn. You have blessed us so very much! Thank You, Lord for everything!
~ Amen.