One Day More

Feet Shod With The Gospel

2011-12-29T09:02:00.005-06:00

The following post is an excerpt of one I wrote in May 2007, before my second trip to China. I remembered it this week as I pulled out my faithful mission trip companion, my "travel Bible." By God's grace, that sweet Bible and I have shared many more miles and trips together since I wrote about it that spring day 4 years ago.

In just a few days, I will be returning to Ethiopia with a God-assembled team of 8. There are no words to describe how excited I am, but the post below still seems to accurately capture my "pre-travel" emotions. Some things never change! Thankfully, our Great God never does, and His Word is as true as ever.

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May 9, 2007

How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!" Romans 10:14-15

It is a time of preparation. I have never had a blog during my times of preparing for mission trips before, so I've never really written about what I do. With just over a week until our departure for China, I have been working all along on some of the "nuts and bolts" of what needs to be done- making lists, preparing materials for some of the work we will be doing, emailing the missionaries and team members. To be honest, I have not posted much about this at all, simply because I'm not sure what I should post. (I'm a bit nervous about posting about our work specifically, as I don't want to unwittingly post any information that might jeopardize what our missionaries on the ground there are doing.)

Generally speaking, I will be doing some training in the International Fellowship there that our missionaries are part of, as part of their Sunday School program. We will be having a Mexican food party for some teen "MK's" (missionary kids") who are are hard at work for the Lord, and could really use some Rotel dip and tacos! We will be speaking to college students in a university setting, as well as in a coffee house. We will be speaking and ministering in a house church. We will be visiting a Buddhist monastery and prayer walking the area. My daughter and the other teens on the team will be performing some puppet shows in schools. Mostly we will be on the ground and available to do whatever the Holy Spirit directs. It's an exciting time!

But, if I'm honest, it's also (for me) a time when fear and anxiety begins to settle upon me. I've always been a pretty "tightly wound" person, but I have been plagued with fear and worry to an unparalleled degree during our years of short term missions. Things I have never worried about before can become areas of paralyzing fear for me, and even manifest themselves physically. I have recognized this as a ploy of the enemy, and have (by God's grace) been able to press through and go anyway, but nevertheless it remains a battle, from the moment I commit to a trip, throughout my entire time on the field, and even weeks after I return. God has been unspeakably faithful to me and has used this to draw me closer to Himself, further my understanding of Him and strengthen me according to His Word.

Today, I thought I'd post about what I do to prepare for a mission trip spiritually. The weeks leading up to this trip have been incredibly busy for me in every area. Socially, we have had more than our usual amount of obligations. Our ministry work in Awana has been quite time consuming. We have lost a dear friend. We are trying to finish our school work. My son has a birthday 2 days before we leave. Our house is in disarray as we are still working to put it on the market. Busy, busy, busy. And, I believe that is no accident. The enemy would love it if I would get totally distracted with the "mechanics" of my life right now and neglect the spiritual preparation needed for this trip. This would leave me completely vulnerable and could render me useless in China. I must guard against that.

This week I'm sharpening "my sword." I have a thinline Bible that I travel with. It's not the Bible I usually use for church or study, but thinner and easier to carry in my backpack. Since it's not the one I always use, I find that I can't easily flip through it and find passages as quickly as I can in my other Bibles. This week, I am having my daily quiet times in my "travel Bible," reacquainting myself with it. How I loved pulling it off of the shelf! It was like seeing a dear friend and travel companion. It's got sand and dirt in the creases- sand from Mexico, dirt from Ghana. Business cards from China (with the cell phone numbers of our missionary friends) fell out as I opened it up. A quote from an African pastor is written on the front page, "The devil sometimes strikes when you are not at work. Let us not become complacent," it says. Good reminder. I have a small heart sticker stuck inside the front cover, a reminder of a devotional I did with the kids on our Ghana team one summer when I gave them all a sticker to remind us that according to 2 Chronicles 16:9, "the eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His." He sees my heart, He will strongly support me! What a promise! I must go boldly, clutching that promise.

Inside the back cover of this Bible I have Scripture references written for key Gospel passages. In my jet-lagged state, with the language barrier and the stress of being in another culture, sometimes it's hard to recall when I'm sharing with someone. I have found it a big help to have them written down and the scriptures highlighted. I also have the Roman Road scriptures listed in order on the first page of Romans with the corresponding verses highlighted. I have been reading back through these key passages and preaching the gospel to myself (which I wrote about here). Not only is this solidifying the Gospel in my heart and mind, it is causing me to operate in His power. The Gospel is power! What a covering!

Something else I have been doing, is praying through my 31 Days of Praise and 31 Days of Power books and highlighting Scriptures pertaining to God's attributes... His absolute goodness, sovereignty, love... There are moments of intense oppression on airplanes, layovers, late nights in my hotel room, and walking through heavily oppressed areas where I need those scriptures at my fingertips. Again, in the stress of the moment I might not be able to find these passages, but locating and marking some of them ahead of time and reading and meditating on them before I go is an immeasurable help. And this week I have been finding Scriptures I've marked and prayed through, that have been a lifeline for me in the past. God is using them to remind me of His past sufficiency and the promise of it in the days and weeks to come. He is so, so good.

So, this is a little of what I've been up to in my preparations. To those of you who are praying for us... thank you. I have tears in my eyes just now thinking about it. You have no idea what a lifeline those prayers are to me. No idea. Thank you, thank you. May the blessing return to you a hundred fold.

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Update: I just realized I didn't include something I added to my travel Bible, something I find SO helpful: a list of the "attributes of God" taped inside the back cover. If When I start to freak out, bam. I read it. THAT's who my God is. That's Who sent me. That's Who lives in me. That's Who you're dealing with, enemy. Take courage, heart.

You can find some lists here, here, here, and...in the Bible! (Psalm 145. Bam.)

"Don't Blink." [I didn't.]

2011-08-04T07:46:00.006-05:00

In just a few short days, my sweet girl will be leaving for college. College. How did this happen so soon? I have often heard it said, "Don't blink! It goes by quickly!" Well, I'm here to say... I didn't. I never blinked once. I practically propped my eyes open with toothpicks! And... it still went by fast!

Her senior year went by in a flurry of activity, as I knew it would. Everything, and I mean everything, was SO fun! I soaked up all the details right along with her! Senior activities, last season of basketball, dances, prom, senior trip... what a blessing it has all been.

So, why am I writing this post? Well, first of all because I haven't blogged in ages. Second of all, to mark this season of change, and thirdly, for a brain dump. I got up this morning, preparing to "take on the day," readying the house for a family party for my mom's birthday today, going about my morning routine and then I remembered a dream I had last night. In my dream I was outside, sitting in a type of courtyard, and thinking about her leaving. I dreamed I just began to sob, and sob, and sob. I thought to myself, "Huh. I haven't done this yet. This feels pretty great! I have needed to do this." And then, just as quickly, I told myself, "You DON'T have time for this. What if someone sees you? You're making a spectacle of yourself. Cry later." And I stopped. I know it must have been a dream because in "real life" I can't just stop. And then I look horrible and have a headache for hours. In my dream I simply stopped, got up, and went on with it. Interesting.

Anyway, I wouldn't change a thing. Not one thing! She is going to the college of her choice, which is HUGE. Having homeschooled her since Kindergarten, I must say that's been one of my biggest prayers for her, that she would get into the college of her choice. She's planning to major in Nursing. She has registered for some amazing classes, gotten into a beautiful dorm, for which she has the cutest dorm decor ever and an amazing roommate. She just got a fabulous "new-to-her" car and is beyond excited about the season ahead. Most importantly, she has been listening to the podcasts from the college ministry at a church in her college town, and is ready to plug in to the ministry there. She actually met some of the students at the Passion Conference this year. Isn't God amazing? He has provided ALL these things. To HIM be the glory!

In the meantime, I will be back home, being a "boy mom." One with a driver's permit, and one who is playing tackle football. Lots of testosterone at my house! Lots of opportunities to be on my knees in prayer!

I'm still not blinking! Well, except for blinking back tears...

Crock Pot Doro Wat

2011-07-27T16:40:00.019-05:00

I've posted before how much we enjoy Ethiopian cooking in our home. In fact, it's a weekly tradition! After we arrived home with our newly adopted 9-year-old son, we would make a point of taking him out for Ethiopian food, but it would be a $50-$75+ meal each time. On the heels of an adoption, and for a family of 5 living on one income, we quickly realized that was not an option very often! Additionally, it was important to me (and, I believe, for our son) for the distinct and wonderful smell of berebere and other Ethiopian spices to not simply remind him of Ethiopia or a restaurant... but of HOME. I have adapted many recipes but have only taken the time to post a couple. I have been terrible about blogging for the past couple of...years. The ones I have written about are here. I know there are many others making it better, but I've been asked how I do it, so I want to be sure and share. Sometimes I get more "gourmet" when I have time: freshly-chopped red onions, organic, fresh chicken marinated in lime juice, and cooking it in wine. But today I'm sharing what I make on a busy day. :)

As a busy mom, I utilize my crock pot multiple times per week. During the school year it is a huge time saver. In the summer there are just as many reasons to use it (not to mention "menu plan"!). So, why not for Ethiopian food?

Here is my Crock Pot Doro Wat. (In fact, my Ethiopian son just came in, lifted the lid of the crock pot and said "I don't think I can wait for dinner! I want some NOW!" :)

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Crock Pot Doro Wat (Spicy Chicken Stew with Hard Boiled Egg)

1 bag boneless, skinless frozen chicken

1 bag frozen, chopped onion

2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

4-6 tablespoons bere bere (if you're new or sensitive to spicy-ness, you may want to start with 2)

2 tablespoons margarine or butter

1 tablespoon cardamom

1/2 tablespoon garlic powder

1/2 tablespoon ground ginger

1 tablespoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon allspice

1 teaspoon black pepper

5-6 hardboiled eggs

sea salt to taste

Thaw the chicken, then stir all the ingredients together in the crock pot.
After about 5 hours on "low" setting, or whenever the chicken is cooked, use a fork to shred it into bite-sized pieces that will be easily picked up when eaten with injera.

Add a few hard boiled eggs which have been pierced with a fork. OR, you can slice them up. I don't want the whole thing to get too "eggy" so I just put them whole and we cut them when we serve it, or half them on our plates.
Today I added my version of Chickpea Paste ("But-etcha") My VERY simple version. I cooked some chickpeas over the weekend, but you can also use canned.
Once the chicken mixture is cooked, spoon some of the sauce into the chickpeas with a little water.
Use the Braun or the blender to mix it all up into a yummy and nutritious paste.

Tonight I also served it with "ayb" (cottage cheese... nice with spicy food, especially on a hot night) as well as some English peas. It turned out betam konjo!

Let me know how yours turns out, or post your modifications in the comments. I love learning how other people do it!

Enjoy!

Calm in the Chaos

2011-02-28T07:27:00.013-06:00

Minte and I watched a movie together... his long frame stretched out across the end of my bed, me leaning against the headboard with my legs tucked up under me, a cup of tea and my iPad on my lap. I watch things that stress me out now: war movies, "I-shouldn't-be-alive" documentaries, people catching wild hogs, fishing for Alaskan crab, or designing guns. Things my teen and pre-teen boys find interesting. I watch through my fingers or with one eye on a book about something more civilized... but I want to be with them. And watching their "stuff" with them gives us something to talk about and gives me a link into their world. I learned a long time ago that loving people is making what's important to them important to you. Which, in the case of pre-teen and teenaged boys involves things that shoot things, or save people, or explode.

This weekend it was an edited-for-television version of the movie, "The Guardian," about the US Coast Guard. I usually only watch movies where the pretty girl meets the pretty boy and they fall in love in a pretty story and live happily ever after... usually in Italy. This isn't that kind of movie. But I also realize that it came out in 2006, and this is 2011. So chances are you've seen it, and either from that or the movie poster at the left, you know that.

My first thought in this movie was WOW. I had no idea, really, what the Coast Guard involved. I realize this is as real a picture of the USCG as "Top Gun" was of the US Navy, but still. Wow. I have never really given thought to what the Coast Guard is required to do. So, thank you US Coast Guard! I never go in the ocean, and never on a small boat, but if I ever do I'll be so thankful for the USCG if I or anyone I love is ever in need of them. And I'll be thankful if they fish me out and I find myself looking into the face of someone who looks like Kevin Costner or Ashton Kutcher. But, [ahem] that's not the point of this post.

What inspired me to finally bust back onto my blog and post about a 5 year old non-pretty movie was a quote by Kevin Costner's character, Ben Randall, who is a seasoned Senior-something (I don't know my ranks) in the USCG, instructing Ashton Kutcher's character, Jake Fischer at the "A" School for new CG recruits. He tells him:

"The difference between you and the victim is the attitude with which you enter the water. You have to remain calm in the chaos."

And it hit me. That's what parenting teenagers is. That's what parenting a child who comes from hard places (like an adopted child) is.

As parents, we are the Coast Guard. We are helping our kids navigate and survive some difficult waters. Sometimes they get themselves into some choppy situations, or as in the case of some boaters, they are doing what is perfectly appropriate but storms just come upon them. We are the USCG, who flies in, enters their situation with them, gets in the water with them, swims with them... but with a different attitude. One of expertise, one of calm, one who sees the big picture. One with training, who's "been there done that."

What would happen if the Coast Guard swimmer jumped in and started freaking out along with the victim? Started flapping around grabbing at the victim, pulling him under, panicking? Then there would be more casualties. In fact, there is one scene where a husband and wife are drowning and the husband pushes his wife under to get to the basket first, to save himself. Can you imagine being in such a state that you would drown someone you love?

Unfortunately, I am prone to "flapping." I readily admit this! That's why this line in the movie stuck out to me this weekend. I must enter their lives as a calm influence amid the "chaos" of coming from a hard place to a new life across the sea (like my youngest), the teenage years (like my middle son), of graduating and launching into the world of college (like my daughter), ready to swim alongside them or offer them a line up if necessary. Not to flap around and panic about the waves. I have been trained for this. I have! I have a relationship with my Heavenly Father, who tells me all the things I need to know, I have the Holy Spirit living in me, ready to instruct me at any moment (and Whose fruit is self control), I need not panic, either inwardly or outwardly. I am the Coast Guard. I need to jump in, give a "thumbs up" and do what they need me to do.

"Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm."

Matthew 8:26

Plan A

2010-11-07T07:15:00.000-06:00

It's Orphan Sunday in many churches. There is a precious one in our home who NO LONGER bears the title of "orphan." But, by God's grace he's not the only one! God has graciously adopted ALL of us into His family. I pray we will all think about how, as His adopted children, we are to respond to orphans. WE are God's plan for orphans.

If you are His, YOU are His plan for them.

Plan A.

5 Months Later...

2010-10-29T08:07:00.004-05:00

Whoa! Has it been 5 months since I last posted?? HOW can that be? I think I say that everytime I take an unintentional "blog break." As I always say... too busy livin' it to blog about it.

SO. The past 5 months has been quite blog-worthy though, had I taken the time to write!

June: We wrapped up a great school year. Also, we prepared to send our two oldest children to Ghana. It was a great month, our only month of "summer" as a family, really. We had fun packing and preparing, and just being together. I took the above photo of the kids in their mission fundraiser shirts, and would eventually stare holes in this photo while they were away.

July: A hard and wonderful month!! Bethany and Kyle, my now 17- and 14 year-old spent almost the entire month in Ghana, West Africa. It was hard because, well, it's always hard when all or part of us are so far away. It was hard because they (along with the rest of the team) got very, very sick on the trip. They saw some and did some hard things, and ALL to God's glory! They saw Him work, and had a front row seat to see some amazing things the Lord is doing in northern Ghana. I wish I would've blogged during that trip... Maybe I'll dig back through some of my thoughts another time. It was an amazing month!

While the older two were gone, we took Minte on a trip, too. We went to south Texas to visit family for a wedding and to take Minte to see Shamu (something he requested a few months ago). We invited one of his favorite people to go with us, his cousin. The boys had a wonderful time together! He also experienced his first Polish Catholic South Texas wedding... also a fun time!

We took another trip when the older two returned, this time to east Texas to the lake with family. A relaxing and wonderful time to reconnect with our amazing extended family and gear up for the beginning of another school year.

We have just wrapped up the first couple of months of school. Now with a senior, a freshman and a 6th grader. I officially have all high schoolers and a middle schooler! No more younger ones! Well, except my middle schooler is learning to read English. I neeeeed to blog on my homeschool blog about homeschooling ESL middle school....very fun and challenging! In the last few weeks our daughter has applied and been accepted into the college of her choice, yey! After being completely homeschooled... I always wondered if that would happen! Praise God!

So, it's been a wonderful 5 months, we are still here, still busy, still blessed. Since the advent of Facebook and Twitter, I just don't get on the blog as much, but I miss it. Thank you to all who have commented or emailed to check on us. I have lots of bloggy thoughts on any given week, but they just don't make it here. Perhaps I'll start being better about that! God is constantly teaching me SO much! Oh, and I'm planning to return to Ethiopia in January. Yey!! More on that later...

Happy Fall, Y'all!

No Parking

2010-05-21T01:30:00.002-05:00

I did it again last night. I went to bed feeling incredibly guilty about how I had handled a situation with one of my children. I totally blew it. Again. The guilt was palpable, my chest actually felt heavy.

Oh, I had apologized (and so had my child... for we both had a part in it). All was forgiven. The truth is, I'm not perfect. I blow it, usually more than once a day! Not only do I need to ask my child's forgiveness, but God's as well. He freely gives it, as well as the grace to do better next time. And there seems to always be a next time!

In his book Sacred Parenting, Gary Thomas says:

"What is better for the kingdom of God: That my son and daughters would say, "I can never serve God like Dad did" or "If God can use my dad, he can use me"? There is no question- the latter statement is the reality that most serves God's purposes long term. It is my job as my children's parent to model my own need for God's mercy and to demonstrate how God can use even sinful people to accomplish his aims."

"In this sense, we shouldn't look at guilt as a parking lot but as a car wash. When guilt feelings keep us self-absorbed, destroy our motivation, and make us discouraged, guilt has become a parking lot- not a good thing. But when guilt reminds us that we are insufficient, and when this insufficiency points us to God- his forgiveness, his empowering Spirit, and his provision of grace- then guilt becomes a spiritual car wash. You don't camp out in a car wash; you just go there to get clean! You drive through the car wash and come out on the other side with a completely new outlook. That's one of the healthy roles that guilt can play for parents: pointing us and our children to God."

Lord, thank you for the gift of this child. Most of all, thank you for the incredible gift of Your Child, who came to earth to pay for my sins and my child's sins. Thank you for the gift of guilt, which points me to You. Please help me not to self-centeredly stay in the guilt, but to come to You who will wash me "whiter than snow." Thank You for teaching me about Your grace, mercy, and sufficiency as I parent my children. Help me and my children to experience those in abundance, daily. Amen.

Originally posted February 21, 2008. But I needed these words again. I was parking in a car wash.

If You Give A Duck A Cracker

2010-05-14T15:22:00.001-05:00

…pretty soon you’ll remember an afternoon just months before, when you were sitting in traffic in a crowded African city, giving those same types of crackers to beggars through the window of a car because you desperately wanted to give all of them... something.

Sharing that memory will cause your Ethiopian son to recall (very matter-of-factly) a time when he was much younger and he was begging in that same city. Once he sang a song for someone and they gave him a bite of pasta. Another time, he shined shoes on the street, hoping to scrounge enough money for a soccer ball.

After a few moments of sharing a vanilla coke and African memories, you’ll be amazed once more by how our amazing God brought such different people together to be on the same side of a car window. To be a family. To make new memories. Like sitting at a Sonic by a lake. Sharing crackers with ducks.

And chances are, next time you see a duck, you may or may not have the urge to give it a cracker, but you'll certainly want to give your son a hug and remember what a survivor he is.

Most of all, you’ll want to give God glory.

Adoption Blogger Day... Our Truth

2010-04-15T20:53:00.008-05:00

From the Joint Council on International Children's Services:

We Are The Truth – an adoption blogger day: To ensure the world knows about every successful adoption, on Thursday, April 15, 2010 blog about your adoption or the adoption of someone you know. It doesn’t matter if your adoption is with Russia, domestic or otherwise international. Let the world know your truth!

So.

How to write just one blog post about our adoption? I don't think I can! My truth? My truth is I'm a woman of many words. My truth is I haven't posted on my blog in well over a month and I've got a lot of words stored in my brain. My truth is, also, that our adoption has totally changed our life and blessed us beyond measure... so much so that I can't even formulate just one blog post about it.

How could I capture it all?

...Like when we started our paperwork while on a camping trip Thanksgiving of 2007. To adopt a baby girl.

...And then how the "paper pregnancy" and home study felt like a trip to the gynecologist.

...Why we decided to adopt almost 12 years after completing the "perfect" boy/girl family we had always wanted.

...How we knew she (remember, we were going for a baby girl!) was in Ethiopia. And how God used a literal "sign" in China, Africa-shaped grapes and an Africa-shaped grease spot. Because He can do that if He wants.

...And how the baby girl we were adopting turned out to be a 9 year old boy.

...How he reacted when he was told he had a family... seven precious words.

...Finally passing court after 3 (or so) attempts, and finally revealing his photo and name.

...Our unspeakably amazing trip to Ethiopia as a family to bring home our precious boy. What memories!

...The transition to the "new normal" and things that worked for us, like establishing a routine, labeling the house, and, thank goodness for Netflix!

...Becoming a US Citizen.

...Minte-isms.

...Having a new son who pulls his teeth with RC cars (and subsequently throws them on the roof!), and also inspires drumming in the kitchen sink.

...Honoring his Ethiopian parents.

...and showing my backside on television.

See? No way I could capture all of that in one post!

The truth is... we could've missed this. And I'm SO glad we didn't!!

Menu Monday- My Menu Planning Binder

2010-02-28T22:43:00.007-06:00

March 1st! How can it be? Another month beginning already! It seems we were just packing away our Christmas decorations.

We have been so busy with our kids' basketball teams and activities lately. It's been so good to have an "anchor"- AKA, my menu plan! Today it was time to turn to a new month and so it was time to plan out the month's menu. I know that sounds like a lot (well, it used to to me before I started menu planning) but now it's really not hard at all. And it makes it so easy to go through our days and weeks, knowing what I need to shop for and prepare.

I've shared here and here about how menu planning has become such a sanity saver for me. I was not always organized in this very important area. It continues to be a journey for me (as all areas of organization are for this natural-born procrastinator!) This week I thought I'd share how I do my menu planning binder. It keep it right in my kitchen on my island/bar, propped up on an iron cookbook holder. It's so helpful, always accessible, an invaluable resource to me, and it was really easy to put together!

First of all, don't be impressed with the cover (or the pages.) I have found that a cheap package of pretty paper from the dollar store or the sale table at the office store and some cheap page protectors makes even the most boring print-outs look "fun." A few years ago when I put this binder together, we had purchased this "bamboo" looking paper for some letters we were sending out for a mission trip to China. The green matched my kitchen so I used a couple of sheets. :)

At the beginning of the year I printed out monthly calendar pages from donnayoung.org (Oh, if you haven't been to her site GO THERE. Forms for EVERYTHING!!) I printed all 12 months at once on some dollar store paper, three-hole punched them and wah-lah. They were ready for the binder. So. On the right I've got my monthly pages and on the left are the recipes I'll be needing for the current week.
This particular photo was taken at the end of January, so you can see my checkmarks for the meals that actually happened. If they don't, then I know I can bump that recipe to another night the next week/month/ whenever.
The current month stays in the very front, but the other months' pages go behind this sheet, one of my favorite resources I created. This is a "quick reference" I typed up of my family's favorite recipes. (You can click to enlarge.) Again, it's really not rocket surgery, and it looks like a bigger deal than it is because it's on pretty paper and in a page protector. I simply categorized my family's favorites and beside each one put where the recipe is located. So when I sit to plan my month, if I'm not cooking from a new book or trying some ground-breaking new recipe, I can scan this list easily and plan a chicken, a beef, a meatless, an Ethiopian dish and a soup. There. It's all listed. Each week I try to do that type of variety, so I can simply choose from each category of "tried and true" recipes. It's so helpful, and it really didn't take that long to type up.
This particular list continues on a "page 2" which is on the other side of the page protector. At the end of this year I'll add new recipes to the list that we enjoyed during the year, since I'll have my year's worth of monthly pages. If we love a recipe I'll put a star on it, or I'll notice as I go through the pages to make my binder in January if I kept making something repeatedly, it'll get bumped to "favorite" status.

So, there it is, one of my most helpful resources in my monthly menu planning. There are many (and better!) ways to do this, but this has helped me tremendously. I'd love to know what works for you, as I'm always looking for ways to improve. If you have something, please let me know!

And now for our menu for this week:

Monday: fried chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, peas, rolls

Tuesday: Mini Meatloaves, baked sweet potatoes, green beans

Wednesday: Ethiopian food night! Ye Doro Alicha Wet (mild chicken), chick pea paste (yummy and so healthy!) and injera bread

Thursday: Senior Night at the basketball game, and out to eat with the team afterwards

Friday: YO-YO (you're on your own!) leftovers, etc.

Please, please if you have a menu planning binder idea do share it with me! If you have a menu you'd like to share, or want to visit more weekly plans to get some ideas, hop on over to Laura's at Orgjunkie.com. She's such a great resource for getting organized (one of my major endeavors at the moment.)

Have a yummy week!

SN*OW Much Fun!

2010-02-28T18:04:00.023-06:00

After living his first 10 years on a continent that never gets snow and then moving to Texas, which almost never gets snow, a couple of weeks ago our little African boy got his wish... SNOW that he could play in! And since our other two have mainly traveled to the beach and to sub-saharan Africa, the record snowfall in our area was a first for all of them. We had two days of SNOW much fun!!

His "snow buddy," Haley. He would throw snowballs up in the air and she would catch and eat them. That totally cracked him up!

Our first class of the day was "Snowman 101." He thought it was so cool how you could roll a snowball and it would get bigger. It bothered him when there was a strip of grass showing after we rolled a snowball, so he would go get a shovel and fill it back in. (That was before it snowed the rest of the day and covered it back up. I hated to tell him that's always how Texas snow is...)

Our first snowman in the backyard. Another snowman and woman were forthcoming in the front yard later.

Catching snowflakes with your tongue. Everyone has to do this at least once! I just love how it looks on his hair, too. :)

Snow + Half-n-half+ sugar= snow ice cream. Yummy!

He wanted to make a snow angel but couldn't stand the snow falling in his face. You can click on the photo to make it bigger and see his face. So funny!

African Snow Angel

Snow ball fight... you wanna piece of this??

Bring it on!

Wait, not on the camera (wo)man!!

Daddy and daughter. Looks like Dad may be watching for oncoming snowballs. For good reason!

Ethiopian snowman with his Ethiopia hat and flag.

Time for a snow-woman. Since Valentine's Day was in a couple of days, we decided on a Valentine theme for her attire...

Candy hearts for eyes and mouth, blow pop for a nose. She was trying to catch the attention of the cute African snowguy next to her. :)

You might be from Texas if you're hauling snow on a boogie board!

A good hill at the park.

He spent most of his afternoon IN the snow. As in, laying in it. Loved it!

A great way to warm up after a cold afternoon. I kept the hot chocolate and fresh baked cookies coming, and ran the fleecy blankets in the dryer so they would be toasty warm when everyone came in to thaw out. It was a great day!

Fun memories!

Monday's Menu Tuesday

2010-02-09T08:55:00.002-06:00

I often think of Tuesday as Monday's "do-over." That's because many weeks I need it to be! So, it's not at all unusual for me to do my Menu Monday post on Tuesdays when I need to. :)

I figured since it's Valentine's week and this is a kitchen-y post, I'd snap a quick photo of my kitchen table this morning. Yes, those are our baskets of books in the background. In fact, just after I took this picture with my phone, my sweet Ethiopian son and I sat down for breakfast together and as we were chatting we went through some of the "Planet Earth" geography flashcards over breakfast. Some of those photos are fascinating! He has never seen those things, and it's also really fostering more English vocabulary. So, there's my kitchen... as theme-y as I can make it, but mostly very utilitarian!

Before I share this week's menu I have to tell you about a fun idea we did for my sister-in-law's baby shower this weekend. We made brownie sundaes in big martini glasses. They turned out so cute! So cute that I don't even have a picture! However, I did find these Grasshopper Sundaes on Rachel Ray's site, and there is a photo. Instead of crumbling the brownies I made them into small muffins that fit right in the bottom of the glass. They turned out great! Oh, and the cooking time for "mini brownie muffins" using just boxed brownie mix is exactly 20 minutes on 350. My family was happy to be the brownie testers for me last week as I experimented with cooking times. :)

A meatless recipe I made last week that turned out great was this Enchilada Casserole. But OH my GOODNESS I didn't think it was going to be good at all! When it came time to put the cornbread batter on top, it immediately sank down into the mixture (which had been in the crock pot for about 4 hours). I thought it was the worst looking conglomeration I'd ever put in the crock pot. I was already mentally planning "breakfast for dinner" as a back up. It was awful-looking! But after awhile, the cornbread cooked up and it turned out really yummy! So, I encourage you to try it!

This week I only need to make one "portable dinner" for a basketball game. I'm trying some calzones tonight. We'll see how they turn out!

Monday: Out-to-eat for a missions fundraiser at a fun hamburger place in town

Tuesday: Calzones, fruit

Wednesday: Ethiopian food night! Yetekekele Enqual be Misr (boiled egg and spicy lentil stew), Yeatakilt Wet (cabbage and potatoes)

Thursday: Crock Pot ham, green beans, roasted carrots

Friday: Tomato Barley Soup, Cheese Paninis (<--- you know this is a fancy way of saying "grilled cheese" right? LOL)

I hope you have a Valentines week filled with love! For more menus or to share yours, visit Laura at Orgjunkie.com.

Thankful Thursday

2010-02-04T15:59:00.004-06:00

The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness. Lam. 3:22-23

It's a cold, rainy, dreary day. It's the end of a week that has seemed to stretch on and on. My daily tasks have exceeded my energy level. I have spent most of today feeling achy and icky. So, what's the perfect thing to do right now? Give thanks! If we are to give thanks "in all circumstances" then certainly "blah days" are the perfect time.

Off the top of my head, I am thankful for:

the healing of the husband of a friend. He had complications following sinus surgery and they were quite serious and unexpected this week. God worked in a miraculous way.

healing and less severe injuries than were expected in one of my daughter's teammates , who suffered a concussion during a game this week. She was hit by another player who landed on her and she fell on her head and neck, coming down quite hard on the gym floor. It was a very disconcerting thing for all of the team members and parents, as she progressively got worse, the ambulance was called, the sirens approached, and the paramedics came and took her. We all came to grips with how serious some injuries can be. She experienced God's hand of grace that night. I am thanking God in advance for her full recovery.

time yesterday with a cherished aunt and uncle of mine. My Uncle Jerry and Aunt Lois are such a huge part of who I am. I love them so much. They braved the weather to fly out of South Carolina earlier in the week to be here for a funeral. God granted that we should have a few moments together this week and it was such a precious time.

a daughter who is a careful driver in all of this rain. She is also so respectful, and texts me when she arrives at her destination and before she leaves to come home. I just got a text that she was heading home from her part time job. I am thankful for a hard-working, mature teenage daughter.

respectful sons. Just now that sprang to mind, so I called upstairs to my oldest (13 yo) son. Upon hearing his name he answered "Ma'am?" That may just be a southern thing, but I love it. We have our "typical" mother/teenage boy moments, but in the end he remains very respectful of me. I am not taking that for granted! He now has a younger brother who is learning from him how to respect his parents and it is such a blessing.

the smell of dinner in the crock pot. It isn't simply a reminder of another task I can check off the list... it's the scent of God's provision. Food. Appliances. Electricity. Warmth. Fellowship. With the winter storms to the north and east, the situation in Haiti, and the many circumstances we have seen all over the world, I don't take any of those for granted either.

To share what you are thankful for today, or to read others' "Thankful Thursday" posts, visit Iris at Grace Alone. Have a blessed weekend!

Menu Monday

2010-01-31T23:07:00.000-06:00

Brrrr!! It's downright cold outside!! I know for those of you north and east of Texas, who are buried in snow right now, this is no newsflash. In fact, some of you are without power, you are not even reading this right now. I'm so sorry! I'm praying you are keeping warm! This is a pic of my kids back in December when we went to see the "ICE!" exhibit. It was just starting to snow on us when we left, so I snapped this photo of them all bundled up. I posted this today for those of you who are freeeezing so you would know we are with you in spirit and praying you thaw out soon!

Well, we are in the thick of basketball season. While I am a major fan of climate controlled sports, I am not a fan of being out of the house multiple evenings per week. Eating dinner as a family, and eating home cooked food remains a priority for our family, but during certain seasons it gets challenging! I've had to plan and make more foods that are "portable" that we can eat on-the-run or in between games. I thought about this last week, as the five of us were sitting outside the gym in the hallway, eating our Whole Foods market healthy hot dogs and homemade dessert... at least we're eating together! It's a really fun time for all of us, but with two of them finishing up busy basketball seasons it's a nutty time. I'm hanging on until the middle of March!

I've been really trying to not only make sure we eat home-cooked food during this busy time, but also trying to make it as healthy as possible. I made several recipes out of Fix It and Enjoy It last week that turned out great. I encourage you to pick up that book. (I got mine at Wal Mart.) It has some easy and healthful recipes. The fact that I'm cooking out of it during this action-packed time in our schedule ought to tell you that it's not that hard! Last week I made Banana Oat Breakfast Cookies which everyone liked. I also made a wonderful fruit cobbler recipe for dessert one night (using whole wheat pastry flour and frozen fruit... really good). This weekend I made Pumkin and Ginger pancakes that were so good as well- using whole wheat pastry flour, yogurt, cinnamon, ginger and pumpkin. Perfect with a dusting of powdered sugar on top and served with homemade syrup. Great recipes!

So, here's my menu with 3 dinners "on the go" and two in the slow cooker, as we will be at various gyms this week finishing up our active and fun basketball season!

Monday: tuna salad "jellyroll" sandwiches, pita bread chips and fruit

Tuesday: Crock Pot Enchilada Casserole (from Cooking Light), spanish rice, baked apples

Wednesday: Ethiopian food night! Ye' Assa Wet (spicy fish- one of our family's favorites!), split peas, ayb (cottage cheese), injera bread

Thursday: Paula Deans's BBQ pork sandwiches (made in the crock pot), sweet potato fries, fruit

Friday: grilled chicken pita sandwiches, baked zucchini chips

To share your menu or to get some great ideas, visit Laura at Orgjunkie.com. Have a yummy week!

Fosoleay

2010-01-31T17:14:00.002-06:00

(Ethiopian Spicy Carrots and Green Beans)

1 small bag baby carrots or frozen carrots, whichever you prefer
1 small bag frozen green beans
3 green onions
1 large red onion
1/4 cup olive oil
4 Tbs tomato paste
3 Tbs chopped fresh garlic or 1 T garlic powder
1 tsp cumin

Slice carrots into small pieces. Cut or break green beans into small, bite-sized pieces. in large frying pan, soften onion for 3 minutes, but do not brown. Add tomato paste and carrots. Stir for approximately 5 minutes, or until carrots begin to get tender. Add green beans and stir gently for another 1o minutes. Add garlic and cumin. I usually lower the heat, cover and let the carrots continue to get tender, checking every few minutes. Serves 4-6. I usually serve this as a side dish.

Minchet Abishe

2010-01-31T17:00:00.005-06:00

(Hot Ground Beef Stew)

This is one of our family's favorites, and very easy to make. The only ingredients not readily available in most grocery stores are the berebere spice, which is available at Ethiopian markets and online here, and the injera bread.

2 pounds extra lean ground beef
6 large red onions, chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
2-4 tablespoons berebere spice
3 cups water
2 tsp powdered garlic
2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cardamom
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 teaspoon black pepper
sea salt to taste
injera bread

Saute red onions in olive oil in a large pan. When onions are brown, add bere bere spice (we started with 2 tablespoons... now we are up to 4. It is very spicy!) Add a little water and mix well. Add ground beef and cook until brown. Ad garlic, ginger, nutmeg, and black pepper. Stir. Add sea salt to taste. Serve with rolled up injera bread. Makes 4-6 servings. Enjoy!

(pictured above: Minchet Abishe, Yeatakilt Wet (cabbage and potatoes), spicy lentils, injera bread)

Thankful Thursday

2010-01-28T07:01:00.005-06:00

Well, I'll be. I just checked and I haven't written a "Thankful Thursday" post since November 2007. I felt a bit "bloggy" this morning, realized it was Thursday, and it sprang to mind. But really? Over 2 years?

Not that I haven't had a lot going on in the past two years, or haven't been thankful! So much has changed... the whole landscape of our family has changed since that last "Thankful Thursday" post. Just weeks after posting that, we began our adoption process toward adopting a baby girl from Ethiopia. Now, 2+ years later, here "she" sits, an amazing 11 year old boy who's been home almost a year and a half. Amazing!!! So much for which to be thankful.

Here are my random, off-the-top-of-my-head Thursday Thanks today.

I am thankful...

For new fireplace logs. I know our gas bill will be through the roof (literally... through the chimney) but this new fireplace blesses my soul. I may burn it all summer long. Okay, maybe not.

For Ethiopia. How that country, its people, my son and our extended family there has forever changed me. Forever. Glory to God. My heart is there today and every single day. I can't believe I was just there again in November. I still thank God every day that He sent us again. I didn't even unpack my backpack from that trip until my daughter needed it a few weeks ago for China, because I didn't truly want to be home from there yet. ;) I saw and talked to an amazing Ethiopian woman yesterday. I look for Ethiopians everywhere I go! I will study the language, make the food, think about, read about, and emotionally reside there for the rest of my life. Thank you, Lord, for Ethiopia.

That the smell of Ethiopian food still lingers in our home this morning. I make it every week. My daughter shared with me that while she was in China recently she missed Ethiopian food! Usually we miss Tex Mex when we travel, now we miss Ethiopian. That is just cool.

That my husband looked at me yesterday morning at 5:something when we got up and told me I look so beautiful in the mornings. At 42, I really needed to hear that. What a dear man.

For the sleepy-faced, curly-haired African boy who just crept downstairs and hugged me good morning. For my two precious, amazing teenagers who are sleeping a few minutes extra upstairs. They all make it so fun to be a mom, and I remain so honored to get to be theirs.

For my little weenie dog who is curled up on the couch. My husband gave that precious dog to me 10 Valentine's Days ago, and he has been one of my favorite creatures on this earth since that day.

For the chores that await me today, the homeschooling that I get to plan and teach today... all of these tasks that make me feel needed and vital in the lives of each person in my home. What a privilege it is, and I'm thankful that God reminded me of that this morning, on a day when I can so easily begin to run out of steam!

I'm thankful you spent a few minutes of your busy day reading my blog. Every time I blog, I pray ahead for anyone who might come here and read my ramblings. If you are reading this, you've been prayed for! And I thanked God in advance for how He's going to work in your life.

What are you thankful for today? Share in the comments or link your post at Lynn's. Be blessed and be a blessing today!

Monday's Menu... Making Level Paths

2010-01-25T07:03:00.006-06:00

I will come and do for you all the good things I have promised,
and I will bring you home again.
Jeremiah 12:10

Make level paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm.
Proverbs 4:26

Happy Monday! Aren't those two verses above so good? I love them. As a mom and a homemaker, they mean so much to me. God is doing some good things in our family throughout each day, and I love how He leads us home each night, around our table. Some nights it's later than others, and it takes a bit of effort, but God honors my efforts to have everyone around the table together. The second one has turned out to be one of my verses for 2010. I am trying so hard (with God's help!) to make "level paths for my feet." So many things become stumbling blocks for me, and disorder is one of them. Menu planning is one way I can make a level path through my week before I even get going on it. Unexpected things happen... life happens, but with a plan in place, especially in this important area, I seem to be able to handle it better.

I have some other posts "brewing" about how, specifically, I am making level paths for my feet in other areas of my home and life. God is so good to continue teaching me!

I read a book last week called "Food Rules" by Michael Pollan. It was so good and such a quick read, I assigned it to my high school daughter as part of her health curriculum. It has 64 "rules" for, well... food. Here are a couple that caught my eye:

"Eat food." "Duh?" Not really. Pollan says (and I agree) that most food we eat isn't really food, it's really "edible foodlike substances. They're highly-processed concoctions designed by food scientists, consisting mostly of ingredients ... that no normal person keeps in the pantry, and they contain chemical additives with which the human body has not been long acquainted." Hm. So, eat food.

"Don't eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food." This one cracked me up. He uses the example of standing with your great-grandmother at the grocery store, and her picking up a tube of Gogurt. What would she think that is? Toothpaste? LOL

Anyway, I encourage you to pick this book up. Right now it's only $5 on Amazon.com! The kids and I enjoyed reading through it and it's got some great tips!

Another tip in the book, which I've tried (inconsistently) to do over the years, is to serve fruit with every meal. Every meal. Every. Meal. If I'm honest, I haven't really been doing that, so that is my goal this week. So below, beside each dinner item, mentally insert the word "fruit." Because it will be there. :)

Monday: Black Bean Lasagne Rolls and Mediterranean Fruit Salad (From Fix It and Enjoy It)

Tuesday: Crock Pot Chicken Tacos, black beans, corn casserole, and Fruit Cobbler (also from FIEI)

Wednesday: Ethiopian food night! Minchet Abishe (spicy beef), Fosoleay (carrots and green beans), Gommen (spicy collard greens), and Ayb (cottage cheese)

Thursday: Grilled chicken wraps on our way to a basketball game. I'm also planning to make cupcakes using the Honey-Sweetened Spice Cake recipe from FIEI to take along.

Friday: Crock Pot French Onion Soup, salad

For more menu ideas and some great organizational tips (and photos!) to help you make "level paths" in your home, visit Laura at Orgjunkie.com.

Bitterness

2010-01-20T07:58:00.005-06:00

This morning started out as most mornings to... early. Not as early as most, as I gave myself a few extra minutes of sleep due to being awake off an on during the night. As I kissed my sweet husband goodbye as he headed out the door, I was just beginning to fully wake up. Clad in my flannel robe and warm fleecy house shoes and clutching my morning coffee, I spent my first waking minutes in God's Word. I am still working through the wonderful Bible Study, Ruth: The Message of Redemption and Revival, by Nancy Leigh Demoss.

I flipped open my study guide, found my place and realized that today was a video segment day. "Oh, good" I thought. My wakefulness during the night combined with the fact that I was only on my first cup of coffee meant I was inwardly glad I could just "sit and watch" this morning. I flipped open my Bible, read the scripture passage, prayed inwardly for God to please, please teach me today, then settled in for her video lecture.

Today's topic: Resentment.

In the story of Ruth, when Ruth and her mother-in-law Naomi return to Naomi's native land after 10 years away, Naomi announces to all who thought they recognized her "Do not call me Naomi" (which means pleasant"). "Call me Mara" (which means "bitter").

As I watched and took notes on Ms. Demoss's teaching this morning I realized the degree to which I have harbored bitterness in my heart over some things... specifically toward certain people. In fact, I know I have shared with others that that is my struggle, and I've certainly discussed it with the Lord. I have taken what I thought were steps toward removing the bitterness, I've prayed and "forgiven" the people close to me who have wronged me... the ones I thought "caused" my bitterness. What else is there really to do? But, if I'm honest, it has still lingered.

Some questions we can ask ourselves if we want to see if we harbor any bitterness are these:

Is there anyone in my life that I have never fully forgiven?
Is there any person or circumstance in my life for which I have never thanked God?

Whoa. Did you see that second question? That was the kicker for me this morning!

I have, admittedly, been battling a few physical things over the past few years. Some of them are piddly, but they add up. I have made changes to my diet, begun working out, and acknowledged physical changes I need to make.

Naomi returned to her native land after having only been gone 10 years, and it was hard for others to recognize her. I have run into people that I haven't seen in 10 years (or even more) and I totally recognize them. Ten years is a long time, but not really a long time. You know? Why did they not recognize her?

Bitterness.

God never intended for our physical bodies to bear up under the weight of bitterness and unforgiveness. It will take its toll. So, I must ask myself: Is there a load of bitterness and unforgiveness to which my body is not responding well? Certainly not all physical problems are related to bitterness, but when I develop a physical symptom I would do well to go to the Lord and ask Him to reveal to me any unforgiveness and bitterness in my heart.

I have noticed in recent years that I don't respond to situations the way I used to. Things get "under my skin" more than in my 20's and 30's. I thought the opposite was supposed to be the case! I thought I was supposed to "mellow with age!" What is up with that? As I learned today, my emotional stability is impacted by bitterness as well. Chronic emotional disorders can be rooted in bitterness.

As I closed my study guide and Bible, finished my quiet time and put them back away, I headed through the kitchen. I got things in order to begin our day, kissed my "early riser" Ethiopian son good morning as he padded, bleary-eyed into the kitchen. I looked over our schedule and made mental steps through our day. I straightened something on the coffee table and watered a plant. I took a few moments to set some of our school papers in order. I turned on lamps and lit my favorite candle, readying the family room for our morning. I preheated the oven for the breakfast. It was only after I had been going through my morning "routine" that I happened to glance out the window on the back door and noticed the thick, thick fog. I almost couldn't see to the back of the yard!

It occurred to me that that's how bitterness can be. I can think things are "normal." I can function in what I perceive as clarity. All the while the cloud of bitterness can descend around me. Inside my home, things seemed "clear" this morning. I could see my way around. But if I were to leave my home this morning, even navigating the familiar streets surrounding my home would be a challenge! Bitterness clouds how I interact with others, how I navigate relationships. Naomi announced to those who would've perhaps been glad to see her and welcome her home, "Don't call me Pleasant! Call me Bitter!" A bit off-putting, to say the least.

I would encourage you, as I have been encouraging myself, to look for any hidden roots of bitterness in your heart. Ask those two important questions above. Get to the root of any unforgiveness and with God's help, get it out. Soon I'll share more about what I'm learning about forgiveness and some specific, practical steps to deal with any hidden unforgiveness and bitterness.

See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that
no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.
Hebrews 12:15

MPM, MLK, and a Family Favorite

2010-01-18T07:13:00.005-06:00

Wow, the weeks are already starting to fly by! I simply cannot believe it's already the last half of January! I wonder if the February "time warp" will start (that weird way that February always seems to d-r-a-g on forever, even though it's the shortest month, because by that time I'm really ready for March, and spring, and Spring Break, and sunshine, and Easter... I'm a flip flop girl at heart, stuck in my Ugg boots for another few weeks!

Today in the U.S. it's Martin Luther King Day. I love this holiday, I really do. Each year we read about him, discuss the Civil Rights Movement and watch footage of the "I Have A Dream" speech, but if I'm honest, last year and this year it's harder for me. Now I have a black son. And truthfully, he has no idea that there was a time in this country where he couldn't have taken a drink out of the same water fountain or gone to the same school as his brother and sister or have us as parents. I know it's time to begin talking about it, and we will. Up until now I haven't discussed it with him simply because he lacked the English necessary to have it fully explained to him. Now he's got the English, only I don't have the words. I'm praying they will come.

I'm so glad that Ethiopian culture is now interwoven with our family's traditions. Just this weekend we took down the last of our Christmas decorations because we left them up for Genna (Ethiopian Christmas) which was on Jan. 7. This week we will celebrate "Timkat", another Ethiopian holiday! This celebration commemorates Christ's baptism in the Jordan River by John the Baptist. I want to talk more with Minte this week about his own baptism. He's been showing an interest at church and has mentioned in the past that he would like to be baptized. Along with our weekly Ethiopian meal, we will hopefully have some meaningful discussions.

Speaking of family traditions, here's a recipe that means so much to our family. Laura asked us to share (and link) some of our "Family Favorite Recipes." Here is one of my very favorites, and was in fact the subject of my first-ever blog post, where I shared about my grandmother's tube pan going on an interesting journey and making its way back to me.

Nana's Banana Nut Bread

3 cups sugar

1 cup shortening

4 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla

1 1/2 cup buttermilk

2 tsp. baking soda

4 cups flour

3 mashed ripe bananas

1 cup chopped nuts (I usually use walnuts, but frequently leave them out or just sprinkle them on top right before I put it in the oven, in case someone is allergic or doesn't prefer nuts)

Cream sugar and shortening. Add eggs one at a time. Mix well. Add vanilla. In a separate measuring cup, combine baking soda and buttermilk. Add flour and buttermilk alternately, beginning and ending with flour. Add bananas and nuts. Bake in a well-greased and floured tube pan or large bundt pan at 300 degrees for 1 hour 55 min. or two 8" loaf pans for 1 hour 15 min.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So here's what we've got cookin' for dinner this week:

Monday: YO-YO (You're On Your Own)- I actually cooked over the weekend, so we have plenty of leftovers and a basketball game. Mom's out of the kitchen. :)

Tuesday: Chicken n' Dumplings, carrots, and (don't judge me) fried okra

Wednesday: Ethiopian food night! Yekik Wet Besiga (spicy beef with split peas) Yebesele Dinich (potatoes), injera bread

Thursday: YO-YO again... another basketball game

Friday: Savory Cheese Soup, salad, wheat rolls

To read more recipes or to link your own, visit OrgJunkie.com.

Haitian Adoptive Families: We are Praying!

2010-01-15T09:03:00.010-06:00

Those of you who read my blog who are also adoptive families know. You just know. You know the emotional ups and downs of adoption, the frustration over the lack of information, and the need to balance the acknowledgment of God's sovereignty over the whole situation with your need to be proactive. Some of you reading this are the precious ones who came alongside us in our journey to Minte, joining us on that roller coaster ride. Not only did you ride it, prayed us through it. Some of you reading this also walked through last week with our family as my daughter went on an adoption journey to China with another precious family... a journey that didn't turn out as planned. Blogs have a way of doing that... of weaving our lives together, of drawing us into one another's stories for a time. I know there are people who read my blog during our adoption and prayed our precious child HOME, who for one reason or another, don't stop by anymore. Believe me, that's okay, because we are not that fascinating. ;) God, in His providence, ordained that for a time people would know our story and be part of getting Minte to us, to be a part of how God "sets the lonely in families."

After our week last week, I thought my fearful mind had gone everywhere there was to go in adoption. I thought I'd read every scenario and made up every fearful situation there was to imagine. I fancied myself just that good a worrier.

Then the Haitian earthquake hit.

Can you imagine? Adoption, especially international ones, can take you places you never expected. You're dealing with foreign governments, family histories (yours and your child's), and life's most dire moments all begin to intersect. So, what if, in the midst of it, there's a disaster "of Biblical proportions?" What if, in the midst of the angst surrounding your prospective child's care, you had to worry that their orphanage might have collapsed on them, or wonder whether they or their caregivers were still alive? What if, in the midst of waiting for those elusive calls and emails containing precious shreds of information, there was such a disaster that all communications for any purposes were shut down?

No. I simply can't imagine.

That's the road many, many Haitian adoptive families are walking today. And I want to walk that road with them. There are so, so many things to pray for right now for the country of Haiti. The infrastructure, the hospitals, the relief organizations, the injured, those who were already sick, those who are trapped and still alive, missionaries... on and on. And I am praying for all of those.

But today on my blog I want to focus on on just one group, as God has ordained that I could identify with them in this way: the waiting adoptive families. Here are a few blogs I found. In the sidebars of those blogs are others. I encourage you to keep on clicking! There is an amazing network of blogs, each of a family and their story as they walk this unspeakably hard road that God ordained for such a time as this. When they started the paperwork and began this tumultuous ride, they had no way of knowing that one of the biggest disasters in Haiti's history would happen during it. But God did. And He also knew that some of us would want to come alongside them and pray.

If one of these blogs is yours, and you followed the trackback here, please, please know you are being prayed for. Your precious, amazing children are being prayed for. The adoption community is lifting you up. I know there are no words right now, but there are prayers.

Sea Salt Mosaic

Bringing Our Boys... From Haiti to Home

A Twinkle in My Eye

The Livesay [Haiti] Weblog

Cry Haiti

Countdown to Homecoming

A Family for Frankie

One Girl

Life, Kids, Homeschooling, Adoption

Haiti Adoption: The Journey and Details

The Ivey Family (CNN video interview)

Wow. This was not my initial response.

2010-01-14T08:19:00.002-06:00

But, admittedly my knee-jerk reactions are rarely very "grace-filled." Here is an excellent response to Pat Robertson's Comments about Haiti by author Donald Miller. This helps me. In a lot of ways.

MPM- Back to a Routine

2010-01-11T06:00:00.001-06:00

Well, a new week is beginning. Now that my sweet daughter is back from China and our outside classes are all beginning, it's time to get back into our routine. I actually spent part of New Year's Eve day and New Year's Day organizing my Menu Planning and recipe binders. I know that doesn't seem like a very festive thing to be doing, but my daughter was packing and then en route to China, the mess from all of Christmas seemed to still be everywhere, and that was one way I could get some control. What a great feeling it is! My binders are straight and my menu is planned for January.

I know it sounds like I'm really organized. That's because if you're reading this like I tend to do when I read blogs, you may be envisioning my above-mentioned menu planning binders, but also assuming that I also have a clean house decorated with all of the most current colors and trends, my dog is well-groomed, my photos are all scrapbooked, and I am at my ideal weight. (WHY do we blog readers so often do that to ourselves?) Nothing could be further from the truth! In fact, decluttering, getting organized, and staying that way is one of my BHAG's (Big Hairy Audacious Goals) for 2010. Menu planning is a great way to start!

Last week we had a couple of things that were really good, and I want to pass on the recipes. I found a recipe for a really good Black Eyed Pea Gumbo that I made with some of our New Years Day black eyed peas that I'd saved. (I added some Healthy Choice sausage to it for flavor and "oomph" and it turned out great!) Another night we had yummy tostadas made with Crock Pot Mexican Style Pulled Pork. SO good!

Here's what we've got cookin' this week:

Monday: Hawaiian Meatballs, rice, stir fry
Tuesday: YO-YO (You're On Your Own) leftovers or cook-it-yourself
Wednesday: Ethiopian Food Night! Yetekekele Enqual be Misr (spicy stew with boiled egg and lentils), injera bread
Thursday: Baked Pesto Chicken, green beans, roasted carrots
Friday: Flatbread sandwiches on the way to a basketball game

For more recipes and some great organizing tips (including this post about making "decluttering" decisions- SO helpful!) visit Laura at Orgjunkie.com.

Not How It Was Supposed To Be

2010-01-09T06:24:00.004-06:00

My daughter is home from China. Yesterday's homecoming was not the reunion at the airport that we were envisioning taking place a week from now.

I would never and could never presume to speak for what our precious friends are going through. But since my daughter walked this road so closely alongside them last week, it has touched our family in a profound way as well. We are dealing with grief in our home.

A good friend suggested I study the "cycles of grief" and become acquainted with the grieving process, and then just encourage her to talk about it when she feels like it. Good advice. Of course, I want to be careful what psychology I read, having learned to stay away from the "Man Most High" theology, which so permeates even Christian psychology. Any psychological help I embrace must hold a very high view of God.

This morning I came across the following article which I found particularly helpful. Exploring Myths and Transformation In The Grief Process. For Christians, the "grief cycle" has been transformed. We have a Redeemer. We can grieve with hope. Please read the article if your life has been touched by grief. (And, in this Genesis 3 world, whose life hasn't?)

I certainly do not have any great insights to share at this point. She only arrived home from the airport yesterday and we have not yet begun to get back to any sort of "normal" here. For us, that time is much closer than for our friends.

But, there is grace.

When we were going through our adoption, I read John Piper's book, Future Grace. (The first 3 chapters are available for download here.) I cannot stress enough what a profoundly helpful book that is for any Christian, but I almost feel like it should be required reading for any Christian adoptive family. The day before they were to say goodbye to Johanna, I told my sweet daughter that there was grace already apportioned to her for the day ahead. God already knew she would need it, and it was there for her... waiting.

And it was.

The road ahead is a long one for our friends. I don't know what it will be like for my daughter. But, like the above article says,

"...the historic, Christian Faith actually provides the possibility of a more hopeful, less messy experience of grief by providing a strong Redeemer – a living Person who calls Himself “The Way, Truth, and Life” – and who enters our world to transform it, by “bearing our griefs and sorrows” (Isaiah 53). His victory at the cross, triumphal resurrection, and promise to begin renewing all things right now (especially our hearts of stone), as well as a future new creation where death is finally and completely removed, changes everything. No longer do those who look to him need to sorrow “as those who have no hope” (I Thess. 4:13)."

Please, please continue praying for our friends. And for Johanna.

A Change of Plans

2010-01-07T14:48:00.003-06:00

My daughter will be returning earlier than planned from China. Things took a turn we never could've imagined. Please, please pray.

I'm so glad we serve a sovereign, loving, GOOD God who has us all in His mighty grip.

You can read more here.

A Call to Pray

2010-01-04T17:08:00.007-06:00

As I mentioned in my last post, my daughter is currently in China. In the wee hours of New Year's Day, my husband took our friend Andrew, his son Jack along with Bethany to the airport to check in by 4 AM for their 6 AM international flight. I have to say, that in her 12 (if I'm counting right) trips, 5 of which have been without either of us (her parents), this was the hardest one for her to go on. But that's odd, because it's one of the most JOYful! We've gone so often to visit orphans in their distress, visit the poor, and proclaim Christ in the darkness... but only one other time (our adoption trip) to bring a precious someone HOME with us. How cool is that?? But that was all of us, not just one of us. It was hard to say goodbye that day.

The three enjoyed the trip over, except for Jack who had a brief battle with nausea. I had prayed that their plane would have TV's in the seats, instead of one for everyone to share. God Ephesians 3:20'd my request, bestowing more than "asked or imagined," because Bethany texted me from her seat just before the long flight that she had 3 empty seats next to her! She would be able to stretch out! Not only that, she told me once she got there that the nice flight attendant kept randomly bringing her chocolate. Okay. Extra seats and random chocolate have to be blessings from above!

They arrived in their city in China late at night and got settled in, eager to meet sweet 8-year-old Johanna the next day. They are in a nice hotel, with Bethany's room next door to the guys' room, and a door which opens in between if needed. Another answer to prayer. They were able to rest when they got there and found out that the breakfast buffet downstairs was open until 10 AM. Another bonus. God knew they would need this rest and refreshment, for the hard part was to come.

The next day, they were guided to the conference room in the hotel where they would meet Johanna. Unfortunately, Johanna had understood that when she went into the room, her family would be waiting for her. They had not been taken to the room yet when Johanna got there. By the time they got to the room, there was a scared, tearful young girl being consoled because she was deeply upset when she arrived in the room and no one was there.

And instead of joyfully jumping up and running into her new father's arms, as any pretty adoption story goes, she would not, and will not, have anything to do with her father. And why would she? She has lived her entire 8 years within the confines of an orphanage. With women caregivers. The only men she has ever been around have mainly been doctors (she has had two surgeries on her mouth.) This is a precious, fragile, broken, grieving, frightened little girl.

So, they are on day 3. As we are winding down our day, they are just beginning theirs. Another difficult one. Another day of joyful laughter one moment and terrified tears the next. As of yet, she mainly responds to Bethany. Bethany absolutely adores precious Johanna, and has since before they left, but she shared with me that it is so hard to watch her be so very frightened and upset, and also know that she is the only one who can help and not be able to communicate with her. You see, she also knows very little Mandarin. Bethany knows some, but Johanna's dialect is different. It is very moment-by-moment, and that is stressful for all involved.

My amazing friend Tricia is Johanna's new mom. She waits anxiously at home with the other three children, catching snippets on the webcam and skype. It's so very hard for them to be apart. We have ached and cried together in these past few days, eager for them ALL to be home and for healing to begin. She has written a wonderful post on her blog today about being thankful in all circumstances.

As I was reading her post today, one thing caught my attention for some reason. Of the list of things for which she's thankful she listed this:

"for my phone ringing constantly because I know it is someone else calling to encourage us."

As I read that I thought how nice that was, how awesome the Body of Christ is, and inwardly wished that someone would call and encourage me. I have been so anxious about their daughter's transition, and it is compounded by the fact that my daughter is over there too! So, for just a moment I had a "mini pity party" thinking about how, although this isn't our adoption, I could really use some encouragement and my phone hasn't rung once. But it was really a mini one, because I'm really not a phone person. However, truth be told, I would've been encouraged by that. Just then...

the phone rang.

I checked the caller ID and it was our bank. Still, it was a phone call, so partly wondering if there was a problem with our account, and partly just wanting to talk to someone, I answered. It was the banker who handles our kids' accounts wanting to know if I wanted her to set up online banking. Oh. Well, yes, I guess so. Thank you. Then she asked me a question, just making conversation: "Have you all been on any mission trips lately?"

Well.

I told her that yes, in fact, one of us was gone RIGHT NOW. She was fascinated by that fact, and the reason why. Not only that, she encouraged me and assured me that she would be praying for Bethany and wanted to hear how it went when she gets back. And truthfully, more than encouragement for myself, I just want to know that people are praying. Even if it's my banker who thought she was calling about online banking! Every momma just wants to know someone is praying for her little girl. Whether her little girl is a poised, Godly, brave young woman of 16 doing the hardest thing she's ever done, or a grieving, frightened, tiny, confused little girl of 8.

So, will you please join us in praying for them?

Back In China!

2010-01-03T16:20:00.003-06:00

My sweet daughter has returned for her 5th trip to China... and for the best reason EVER! She is part of this awesome team:

She is with a dear friend of ours, Andrew and his son Jack bringing home their new daughter, Johanna! Their blog is here: Amazing Love, Amazing Grace.

Please, please take a moment to pop over and read their story and offer your support and prayers. This is not an easy trip so far... Jack has not been feeling well and "Gotcha Day" yesterday was very difficult. This is a wonderful opportunity to see God do big things. I am so very happy that Bethany is privileged to be part of it, and that Johanna is responding well to her. They will be gone for two weeks, returning on Jan. 15th.

I can't wait to see what God will do in the coming days!

All I Really Want For Christmas

2009-12-23T10:55:00.000-06:00

Just before Christmas 2007 we began our adoption. By Christmas 2008, we had received a gift which was immeasurably more than we could've asked or imagined. (Eph. 3:20-21) Adoption blesses all involved. To HIM be the glory.

Here are a few glimpses of our journey.

Christmas Week Menu

2009-12-21T14:41:00.003-06:00

Yey! It's Christmas week! We have the little "Christmas Countdown" hanging in our kitchen. Minte got it out and started counting before it was even December, and loved to watch me act all freaked out each day as the number got lower. Now that I'm through shopping and mostly finished wrapping, I cheer right along with him as the count gets lower. It surprised him the first day I said "Hooray!!" instead of clutching my chest like I was having a heart attack. LOL

This year I haven't gotten as creative with my cooking and homemade food gifts as I have in years past. I gave myself the year off. It's been nice! Also, it's "back to basics" for me on our Christmas menu this year. In years past I've found fun and different recipes, or spent lots of time making fancy cookies and candy, but this year I just didn't have it in me. Some years are like that!

I hope you are having a great Monday and looking forward to a wonderful Christmas with those you love! Here's what's on our menu this week:

Monday: Asian Sesame Chicken in the crock pot, rice, stir fry
Tuesday: Pumpkin Chili, cornbread
Wednesday: Ethiopian Food night! This week I'm making Doro Wat, a spicy chicken dish that is made for special occasions.
Thursday: Christmas Eve at my father-in-law's house. He always makes a yummy spread, but we all bring appetizers. I think I'm taking this Snowman Cheeseball this year. I made it a few years ago and it was fun!
Friday: Merry CHRISTmas!!
Christmas breakfast favorites- Muffins (blueberry, banana chocolate chip, and lemon poppyseed), and sausage balls
Christmas lunch- Crock Pot Ham, yeast rolls, Paula Dean's Green Bean Casserole, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie, chocolate chip pecan pie
Christmas dinner- at my mother-in-law's house. We all land there after having at least one or two gatherings elsewhere during the day, and thus a big meal at lunch. So we bring snacky appetizer food. So fun! This year I think I'm going to make something I sort of "made up" last year... easy and yummy. (Healthy, not so much. But it's not January 1st yet!) It's the Hormel Tamale casserole recipe, but with the tamales cut up so it's "dippable." Served with the ginormous Fritos. Yum.

For more recipes or to share your menu, visit Laura at Orgjunkie.com. Have a yummy, wonderful CHRISTmas!

Monday's Meanderings and Menu

2009-12-07T06:30:00.006-06:00

It's the holiday season!! A wonderful season, to be sure, but such a busy one! I'm certainly not a social butterfly, or a person who's "in demand," but I've been receiving invitations regularly for various gatherings, putting them on our calendar and figuring out what I need to bring. This morning I received an invitation I simply cannot refuse. In fact, it's one I've received before and accepted, only to find it buried again under a pile... the invitation is found in 1 Peter 5:7. In this scripture I am invited to "cast all [my] anxieties on Him, for He cares for [me.]" Did you know you're invited, too? Here is it for YOU: "...cast all your anxieties on Him, for He cares for you."

And, as with many invitations during this holiday season, there is something to bring to the occasion. It sounds so simple: bring your anxieties. But truly, it would be easier to prepare an appetizer for a party than to REALLY bring my anxieties to Him. When we bring food to a party, presumably all we bring home is an empty (or almost empty!) dish. How is it that when I "cast" (literally "throw") my anxieties onto Him, I either take them all back or go get new ones?? So it's an invitation, but I do need to bring something. It's an invitation I'd be crazy to refuse! And it's one I'm not letting get buried in the busy-ness this season. So, I accepted it this morning and brought to him my school anxiety, my oldest-son-with-a-broken-finger worries, my traveling-husband fears, my driving-teenager angst... all of it.

[You can scroll down for Menu Plan Monday... sorry for the marathon post!]

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Here's what we've been up to in recent days. I'm starting with my older two kids, as they get VERY little "press time" here on the blawg. That's as they want it, of course, being teenagers. I've often said I would've simply DIED if my mom would've had a blog when I was a teenager! So, I try to give them their space, and let them live "unpublished" and unblogged lives. But, sometimes I just can't help it. :)

Our sweet daughter Bethany was named "Player of the Week" on her varsity basketball team. The coach told her it was for her great defense, guarding their best player, and spurring this week's "come-from-behind" win. She has only recently gotten back into basketball, which was the sport she first fell in love with in elementary/middle school. By 6th grade or so, she had moved on to gymnastics, but that became too all-consuming. So, we're back in basketball and loving it! She is such an amazing young woman, and her new teammates are just as fantastic. They are precious young women of God from wonderful families, with hearts for the Lord and for the nations, and have welcomed her right in. We are so blessed!

My sweet oldest son was part of a production of "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe" this weekend. He's never been part of any theatrical production, so I was very proud that he decided to try this. He was Assistant Stage Mgr., part of the set crew, Prop Master, as well as on the grip crew. I love how he worked behind the scenes to help other people be seen and succeed, and to help serve others. I think that is very Christ-like of him!

And while Dad and Bethany were at a basketball game, here was my handsome "date" to the play performance this weekend. He came to me and asked if he could wear a "jacket" to the play. Well, since it was below freezing outside, I told him a jacket would be a great idea. Then he explained that he meant a "soup jacket." Which, of course, means "suit jacket." Absolutely! I love it when my young men dress like civilized young men, so I thought he looked very handsome when he came downstairs dressed in his button-down shirt and soup jacket. Very, very nice!

Another precious thing happened this weekend. Our church collects shoe boxes, similar to Samaritan's Purse, but specifically for Mexico. We have several members with private planes who volunteer their planes and fuel to pilot the boxes down to Mexico. It's a wonderful ministry, and each year our church sends around 3,000 boxes. Last weekend it was reported that they only had received 900 or so boxes. Well, this bothered Minte greatly. He came to me Saturday with a Wal Mart gift card he had received a couple of months ago for his birthday and insisted that he go put together a box for a boy. So, bright and early yesterday morning he and I headed out to Wal Mart and he filled up a box. I asked him if it would've made him happy to receive such a box when he lived in Ethiopia. His response was, "I did. From you."

Last year it was ALL so new to him, and he didn't even speak the language yet, so he is experiencing Christmas in yet another way this year. He has wanted to send shoe boxes and get an angel off of every tree (church, restaurants, etc.) I just love it! And yesterday , he insisted on using his own money. It's especially poignant to me, given his background. And seeing a little Ethiopian boy buying presents for a little Mexican boy this morning was just the thing I needed to warm my heart on a cold, drizzly morning. God is just so good.

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And finally, our menu. Why am including this? Who really cares? I realized this weekend it is such a gift. In this season of gift-giving, I'm scrambling to find the perfect gifts for those I love and came to the realization that menu-planning (and, really, all planning that I do for a smoothly-running household) is a gift to MYSELF. Of course, it spills right over onto my family, but it is such a gift to me! Just as with a gift, you choose what that person will like or need in a given moment in the future. Well, menu-planning goes ahead of you, visits say, next Tuesday, decides what will help you or bless you that day, purchases what will be needed, and... there it is. Tuesday (or whatever day you've planned for) you've received a gift! And in turn, your family has received a gift of a meal. We go to such lengths to give gifts to others this season, as we should, but shouldn't we put that kind of effort into our planning? It is a gift for you!

So, here's what's cooking in my kitchen this week. Keeping in mind there are 3 basketball games and a traveling husband, dinner is a priority!!

Monday: Crock Pot Pork Chops and Stuffing, green beans, carrots, yeast rolls
Tuesday: Crock Pot Chicken Tacos (one of my favorite things to have on hand for dinners and lunches... great nachos, too!) We will be eating these rolled up in tortillas en route or at a basketball game. :)
Wednesday: Ethiopian food night! Minchet Abishe (beef), spicy peas and potatoes
Thursday: Black bean burritos (portable... going to a basketball tournament. May also stuff these with Mexican rice)
Friday: Turkey hot dogs (again... portable, see above. ;)

For more menus, visit Laura at Orgjunkie.com.

I hope you have a blessed, wonderful week!

First Snow!

2009-12-04T07:33:00.004-06:00

All he's asked for for Christmas are 3 things:

1. A swimming pool
2. A Labrador Retriever
3. Snow

Needless to say, we've been praying for snow!

One morning this week, my Facebook newsfeed was all a-buzz that there was, of all things, right here in Texas on the second day of December... SNOW! My daughter texted me from two towns away, where my husband was taking her to a class. "Tell Minte there was snow coming down while we were driving on the highway!" So, I told him, even though there was no trace of snow at our house yet.

And so he took up his watch:

And waited...

...and waited

...and waited.

If you've lived in Ethiopia for the first 10 years of your life, there's been no chance that you've seen snow. If you've been transplanted "deep in the heart of Texas" your chances have not gotten much better! So, if you're going to see it, you have to watch for it. Which he did, for a long time!

Finally... some snow!

If you look reeeeallly hard in the picture behind him you can see a few wet flakes coming down, which melted promptly upon impact. But, that counted. His official first snow!

I know, I know... it's hard to see.

Almost as hard to see as the sandals he's wearing. LOL

When You Look At An Adopted Child, You're Looking At A Survivor

2009-11-28T10:57:00.003-06:00

Two years ago on Thanksgiving Day, after the dishes were cleared, we filled out our initial application to adopt. A baby girl. Last year, there "she" sat at our Thanksgiving table, a just-turned-10 year old boy. Now he's 11, much bigger than the picture in my sidebar, and I simply can't imagine our life without him.

Recently I heard a speaker say "When you look at an adopted child, you're looking at a survivor."

By now you have probably either heard of the movie, The Blind Side, or hopefully have seen it. I could relate to so much of it. Especially this:

"You're changing his life, Sweetie."

"No, he's changing mine."

By God's grace, He protected my "blind side" and opened my eyes to what he had for our family. We have been forever changed. I've had so much for which to be thankful this weekend.

Back To Reality and Monday's Menu

2009-11-09T06:58:00.016-06:00

Well, we are back! My husband and I had a glorious, soul-wrecking, beautiful, exhausting, joyful, heart-wrenching, energizing, physically-draining week in Ethiopia last week. Notice how all the descriptors in the previous sentence seem to be at odds? That about sums it up. Conflicting emotions. All week long. One minute I would be joyfully dancing with children, singing songs in their language that I learned to sing with my own Ethiopian son at home, thinking "It just doesn't get any better than this!!" The next minute I was squatting down on a small stool on the side of a high mountain, praying with a husband and wife both infected with HIV, holding their small son whom they so desperately want to survive to raise, surrounded by the tents in which they and their "refugee" community live as outcasts from their families and communities. One minute I would be at a beautiful restaurant, enjoying the amazing food and absorbing the culture of that enchanting and ancient country, the next I would be looking out the car window at the street people who live huddled under a blanket and starving on the median of a busy street, or handing packets of my snack crackers and trail mix through my car window to a starving child, or mother with a hungry baby on her back. How? How am I supposed to feel?

We landed at the Frankfurt airport as we have this time of year on previous trips to Africa... straight from huts, orphans, poverty and need to holiday glitz, commercialism and excess. Once home, we drove our Suburban through the streets of our upper middle class subdivision, on our way to pick up our dogs from the kennel where they lived in more comfort than some of the people we had seen just hours before. As we turned out of our subdivision, the trees are already lit for the Christmas season, greenery and bows adorn the entrance...a reminder that one of my main tasks in the weeks ahead is to shop, spend and consume. How am I supposed to feel?

I used to feel extreme guilt. I used to question our whole life, geographical location and lifestyle. I used to come home and immediately feel like I was carrying a heavy weight. One thing I have never felt, and to which I feel a certain aversion, is the "Well, it just makes me realize how blessed I am" sentiment. While I absolutely believe in living a life of gratitude, I have never felt comfortable letting the stark contrast between my life and that of a mother in an African village lead me to (indirectly) thank the Lord that I somehow ended up with a better lot than her. But, how? How am I supposed to feel?

I don't believe I'm supposed to feel guilt or condemnation. That only pulls me down and doesn't edify or help anyone. I'm supposed to sift through my feelings, bring them to Jesus and let Him help me feel what He has placed in my heart to feel for HIS children. If any of those feelings bring conviction, that will pull me up... toward Him and His character. So that is what I'm doing this week. I used to question if we were supposed to leave this life here and plunk down in a hut there. Some are. We aren't. We can better leverage our skills and resources from here. I know we aren't supposed to live here unchanged by what we've experienced on our mission trips, but how does my giving up new cars and recreational decorating directly benefit that mom on the street in Africa? How do my tears translate into real hope for someone else? By action. Only action. Christ's love is demonstrated love. And I'm still on the journey to figuring out what that is. Some are called to leave it all and go there. Some of us are called to leave it short term, go there, come back here, save more money, go back there, on and on. I do believe it has blessed some of our ministry partners to know that we would continue to leave here and go there. Over and over. I actually had a full time vocational missionary tell me she thinks that's harder. In a way I think she's right.

Why am I sharing all of this in the same post as I'm going to do my usual "Monday Menu" post? Isn't that a bit odd? Well, yes and no. Mentally, I need to do what I always do. I've got to get back to my routine, of which planning menus is a part. I also want to keep it real. At least half of what I have planned this week is of the Stouffer's frozen variety. Many women wouldn't even post that on their blogs, but really? After what I've seen in recent days, and what we all know to be reality around the world, we would be ashamed or even dare to think that USDA-approved prepackaged food isn't good enough?

Another reason is that people "click on by" from the Monday Menu link that may never visit my blog any other time. And I want to tell them (you, if that's you!) a piece of our story.

Another reason is what I mentioned above: gratitude. Every mom with a blog could post a menu and feel like it is blog-worthy. Peanut butter sandwiches. Cereal. Cans of soup. Spaghettios. Macaroni and cheese. Frozen dinners. Chicken nuggets. Do you know what all of that has in common? It's God's provision!! Prepare it, post it and be thankful for it, giving Him the glory for providing it.

I have sooooo many more thoughts to post, as you might imagine, but I've already been on here too long, with a Monday's worth of school to put together and a week's worth of Africa to wash out of our clothes. I have missed my blog (no reliable internet there), I have missed my kids, I have missed my weenie dog, I have missed my bed. I have been physically ill and mentally drained. I am ready to tackle what God has for me here at home but I would pack it all up again tomorrow and go back if I could.

One gift I gave myself the week before we left is a planned menu and stocked freezer/pantry for when we returned. So here is what I have planned... by God's grace:

Monday: Stouffer's frozen chicken enchiladas, black beans, salad
Tuesday: Frozen lasagna, frozen garlic bread, bagged caesar salad, frozen peas
Wednesday: Ethiopian food night! Ye Misr Wet (Hot Split Lentil Stew), Fosoleay (carrots and green beans)
Thursday: YO YO (you're on you're own)
Friday: Slow Cooked Corn Chowder, wheat rolls

For more menus, or to share yours (no matter what it is!!) visit Laura at Orgjunkie.com.

I will be sharing more of our week in Ethiopia in the coming days. Thank you to all who went along with us in spirit and lifted us up in prayer. I know some of us will be returning there together someday. God is good.

Eph. 3:20!!

Back to Ethiopia!!

2009-10-30T09:36:00.006-05:00

How does God continue to see fit to take an ordinary suburban couple- a homeschool mom and an insurance/surety bond underwriter guy and continue to plunk them down across the world... where they are privileged to look into the eyes of some of the most amazing and humble servants of Christ and take even a small part in some of their work? Where they can visit some of His precious children in some of the direst circumstances any of us could ever imagine? Give them the privilege of seeing first hand what our great and mighty God is doing in this world? HOW is this possible? As I write this today, I am again humbled and astounded at the opportunities which lay before us as we prepare to leave today for a week in Ethiopia. We will be gone from today (the 30th) through next Saturday (the 7th). We are packing a LOT into just a few days, and we will praying that God will stretch our time. He will make it work!

Originally another friend and partner in our non-profit was going to go with Luke, but praise God, their adoption travel dates to China have moved up and he must save his days off of work. Luke and I began to pray about the possibility of me going instead, and God miraculously provided the funds necessary... so here I go! I've been busily packing, getting the boys packed and their schoolwork ready to stay with our amazing friends (the family whose dad was originally going to travel with Luke), Bethany ready to stay with her amazing aunt, putting together packages for the kids in the orphanages we will visit, preparing my school plans and menus for when we return... all the "mom" stuff and all the mission stuff at once. Our God is so faithful to provide me with the energy, brain cells (!) and resources to do the things He calls me to do. ALL of this is SO far above me, and so far out of my comfort zone. Yet, here I go! Amazing. Glory to God. (Oh!! And He also knew we would need 3 pieces of our heart necklace, so we can each have a piece while we are separated- one with me, one with the boys, and one with Bethany. He is a God of little details!!)

We have been privileged to serve on mission teams with some of you reading this. Many of you have been with us on these trips in just as real and tangible a way through your prayer support and contributions to our church and non-profit ministry. It is an unspeakable blessing to us to know you and work along side you on this side and on the other side of the oceans, making known the great name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to Whom and through Whom are ALL things. We love you all!

Some have asked what we will be doing during our week on the ground in Ethiopia. By God's grace, and keeping in mind that "man makes plans, but the LORD directs his steps" (Pr. 16:9), here is our itinerary for the week. We humbly ask that you pray for the names and ministries below with whom we will be meeting, and that God would provide even more "divine appointments" as we seek to minister to all with whom we come in contact as well as prepare to bring future teams in 2010.

Getahun Tesema - founder/President of Bright Hope Organization (a.k.a. Buckner/Bright Hope) a large, effective NGO involved in nearly a dozen ministries. We’ll visit at least a couple of these projects. Getahun’s wife, Tegist, is the director of Buckner/Bright Hope’s children’s home – their combination orphanage & transition home (where our son Minte lived) We will also visit this home during the week.

Joe & Karen Bridges - leaders in Ethiopia for their 501(c)(3) out of Tennessee called The Foresaken Children. From their website: “...exists as an advocate for Ethiopia’s children at risk by building sustainable financial support for Christ-centered Ethiopian organizations working with children at risk, and helping these organizations to develop into strategic, long-lasting interventions.” Joe & Karen moved to Ethiopia last year, along with their two children. They work closely with their Ethiopian NGO partner, Children’s Home Ethiopia, to run both a boys’ home in the Lafto area (near the guest house) and a daytime drop-in center in the Mexico area. (another area of Addis…)

Wondwossen (Peter) Abera – founder of Compassionate Family International, an Ethiopian NGO which operates two drop-in centers we will visit. One is within walking distance of the guest house in Lafto and the other in the Kechene area of the city. Peter is just an outstanding, humble, joyous servant who has blessed us just by his friendship, let alone the way he cares for those in need.

Ephrem Hagos – Ethiopia Guest Home manager and leader of his own soccer/sports ministry to street children. We’ll visit the site of the soccer ministry which takes place nearly every afternoon, and probably take some of the kids out for a very special meal that evening (for us and them). With one or two of them on each of our arms, we’ll visit the local Ethiopian version of Starbucks/cafe and spend some time with them… giving them a voice while we hear their stories.

Beza Entoto Outreach – through Beza Int’l Church in Addis, a multi-faceted outreach program primarily aimed at the HIV/AIDS community on Entoto Mountain. Aspects of the program include: job creation; Self-Help Groups - like life groups with a micro-finance twist; weekly children’s ministry; health care. We’ll visit not only the Outreach center but also the Entoto community as well.

Win Souls For God – a ministry based in the heart of Addis and run by a small group of energetic, giving young men. We’ll hear about their ministry and visit at least two of their projects: a shelter/home for women rescued & rehabilitating from prostitution; and a vocational training center where boys rescued from lives on the street are learning a trade – in this case weaving very intricate fabrics.

Bole Bulbula – an impoverished rural village that lies literally right behind/next to the airport in Addis. Our non-profit has taken steps to sponsor some of the children there and to provide vocational training opportunities for some of their parents. We’ll visit the village along with Pastor Abdissa Bente Leye of Addis and the local leader in Bole, Pastor Gezahegn Megenassa.

Kids’ Care and A-Hope – two larger orphanages located in Addis. In contrast to the smaller Buckner/BHO children’s home that serves as both orphanage and transition home, Kids’ Care is a large orphanage where children are waiting to be adopted through one of at least four different agencies (from the U.S. and several E.U. countries). Typically, when children have been “referred” or matched up with adoptive families, they will move from the orphanage to that particular adoption agency’s “transition home,” a smaller facility. A-Hope is one of the largest orphanages serving predominantly HIV-positive children.

Elolam orphanage – serving a small rural area near Debre Zeit, south of Addis. Our organization has been working with this orphanage to facilitate the paperwork needed for children at this home to be eligible for adoption.

Additionally, Luke and I are personally going to visit the home of Minte's extended family and take this opportunity to update them once again with photos of Minte. Luke had the opportunity to visit them last January and all of Minte's relatives and neighbors were most overjoyed by a tangible reminder of how loved Minte is and how we regard them as important in his/our life. It is an amazing privilege and opportunity to maintain this connection.

Again, thank you for all of your prayers, interest, and participation in our work. God is doing a mighty thing in this generation! May He bless you richly, and we pray you will return with us to Ethiopia at some point in the future. "Expect great things from God, attempt great things for God." (W. Carey)

I'll update when we get back!

Eph. 3:20-21!!

Go Make Disciples

2009-10-27T07:57:00.003-05:00

I know we're not in full time missions, but as I'm zipping up bags this week for another trip (by God's grace!!) to Africa, I really needed to hear this this morning. Amen and amen!!!

Monday Menu and an Ethiopian Recipe

2009-10-26T06:48:00.005-05:00

Happy Monday!! Has it really been a week already since last Monday? Time really does fly when you're having fun. Yes, it is fun raising kids and all that it entails!

Speaking of "flying" that's what I'll be doing Friday. My husband and I are leaving for Ethiopia for a wonderful missions opportunity with our non-profit! Isn't that amazing? SO, since I'll be away from my kitchen for over a week and won't be here to deal with leftovers, I am only cooking for two nights this week. Then it's "YO YO" ("You're On Your Own") nights for two nights so we can eat all the food and clean out the fridge. The kids love YO YO nights. They can eat whatever - leftovers, sandwiches, breakfast for dinner... anything they want to make and clean up after. (Having a posted menu helps on nights like this, so everyone knows what leftovers are available.) I'm also planning on how brain-tired I'll be when we get home from a week in Africa, so I'm making extra enchiladas and putting them in the freezer. This serves a double purpose: it helps me when I get back and also satisfies our desire for Tex Mex which we always get when we travel to other parts of the world. Like, outside Texas, LOL.

Since we'll be apart for a few days, I decided to cook two of our family favorites this week, one from each continent.

Monday: Chicken Enchiladas, black beans, corn casserole
Tuesday: Y'Assa Wet (Spicy Ethiopian Fish Stew) <-- see recipe below, and spicy lentils Wednesday: YO YO
Thursday:YO YO
Friday: Ciao! Off to Ethiopia! (Kids to their fun friends' and aunt's houses)

Here is the recipe for the Ethiopian dish I'm making this week. ALL of the Ethiopian food I make (which I try to do weekly, you can read more about why here) is with ingredients that can be purchased at Wal Mart or any grocery store. The only things that can't are the bere bere spice, and the injera bread with which you scoop up each bite. We don't even use utensils on Ethiopian food night. Isn't that fun? So, please be encouraged! If you can find an Ethiopian market somewhere to purchase the bere bere and injera, the rest you can do yourself. I know some who make their own injera, something I want to tackle someday! If you don't have access to bere bere spice, you can order some online at a site like this one.

So, here's my recipe, which is adapted from the book Exotic Ethiopian Cooking.

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Ye' Assa Wet (Spicy Fish Stew)

3-6 medium fish fillets (I typically use frozen tilapia)
2 cups chopped red onion
1 cup olive oil
1 1/2 cup water
3 TBSP bere bere spice (or 4 if you're feeling brave)
1/2 cup white wine
1/4 tsp. black pepper
sea salt to taste

Cut the fish into small pieces and place into grill pan. I use my kitchen scissors (like I do for everything!) and this is super easy! You can also use a small skillet. Brown the fish without oil.

While the fish is browning, brown the onions in the 1 cup of oil in another larger skillet.
Once onions begin to brown, add bere bere.
Once bere bere is stirred through, the onions begin to shrink up a little.
Then add the wine, a little at a time, continuing to stir so it does not burn. Alternate adding water a little at a time.
Once fish has cooked for awhile, it will become white and flaky.
Simmer the sauce for about 15-20 minutes to let the wine and spices blend.
Add cooked fish to the spicy stew mixture.
Once fish is added to to the spicy sauce, here is what it looks like. This has become one of our favorites, and it is very quick to put together. It is light, spicy and a wonderful taste of Ethiopia!

Serve with rolled up injera bread. An easy side dish with this is boiled lentils with a dash of bere bere spice in them and maybe a few red onions as well. I highly recommend the Ethiopian Cooking books in my sidebar for lots more recipes and side dishes that compliment this recipe.

For more menus and recipes, visit Laura at Orgjunkie.com. Have a yummy week!

Works for Me: Not Saving Steps

2009-10-21T11:41:00.003-05:00

By now you may have read or heard the recommendation that you should take at least 10,000 steps per day. I first heard of that while we were on a trip to China back in 2007. Our friends were wearing pedometers and keeping track of their steps. Over there where we walked everywhere that was absolutely an attainable goal! Once I got home, I bought a reeallly cheap pedometer by the register at Walmart, and I was amazed to see that I, too, took close to 10,000 steps per day, even though I was at home all day or driving around town! Then I realized that it was SO cheap that it counted 3 steps each time I sat down in a chair. It registered 4 steps when I was, um, in the restroom. Well. Hmph.

Anyway, I've never invested in a better pedometer, but I have started the habit of taking as many steps as I can during the day. Just now I was hanging some clothes in our master closet and laid them all on my bed. I would walk to where the clothes were, pick up one article of clothing, walk through the bathroom into the closet and hang it up, and go back for the next one, rather than take the whole pile into the closet. It didn't take that much more time and gave me a few extra steps.

So, that's what works for me... a stay-at-home, homeschooling mom who doesn't have that many steps built into my day. I do work out and have a treadmill, but I like to build more steps into my daily routine to reach that 10,000 goal. Every step counts!

To read more "works for me Wednesdays" or to share something that works for you, visit We Are That Family. Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Monday's Menu and Minte on the Mend

2009-10-19T06:52:00.004-05:00

"...and yet He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good and gave you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness."
Acts 14:17

Happy Monday! I hope you had a wonderful weekend. We FINALLY, after weeks of rain (which we desperately needed) had some very welcomed SUNSHINE. Oh how I loved having my windows open, moderate temperatures and sunshine and breezes going through my house! Last week my sweet son Minte had his first illness since he's been home with us (adopted from Ethiopia a little over a year ago.) Poor thing! So, I got a chance to get in touch with my inner "germaphobe" and not only disinfected everything I saw, but used the "down time" to deep clean, move furniture, clean baseboards, etc. It feels so good... and now he does, too. He was much better by Saturday. I feel like we are ready to have a clean, healthy start to our week. At least I hope so.

With the onset of flu season, and especially the H1N1 strain, I have been reinforcing the hand-washing at our house big time. Even older kids need to be reminded! (The main two who need reminding are 11 and 13 year old boys. Need I say more?) I put a big pump bottle of hand cleaner gel in the kitchen and every. single. time. they enter the kitchen they have to "scrub in." Even if they just washed their hands a few minutes earlier in the restroom... I want them in the habit of cleaning their hands upon entering the kitchen. I know, this may be the start of some OCD-like tendencies for them, which I sincerely hope not, but I need visual confirmation that they've cleaned their hands before they start rooting through the fridge or pantry or touching utensils and cups. Hopefully we are keeping the flu virus at bay!!

With his first US illness (which is amazing considering he's been here a year) he got the full treatment... a "nest" on the couch, movies, card games, read alouds, lots of gatorade and juices, popsicles, and nonstop Mommy-love. Last week I shared a soup recipe I had made up on the spot, and that inspired me this week with a sick one. So, I did it again. SO simple! I know I'm the last one on the MPM list almost every week, and probably the last one reading this who has ever made up their own soups, but I'll share what I did... SO fast, and so much healthier than premade canned soup (less sodium, for sure).

1 boneless chicken breast
1 can low sodium chicken broth
1 cup "rainbow rotini" (multi color spiral noodles)
1 cup frozen mixed vegetables

I just boiled the chicken until cooked, then removed the chicken to cool a bit on a plate. While the chicken was boiling I boiled the pasta. Once the chicken was removed from the pot I added the extra chicken broth for flavor, and also the vegetables. I brought those to a boil while I shredded the chicken I had removed. I added the shredded chicken back to the soup pot and added the pasta. He really liked it!

Here is our menu for the week:

Monday: Baked Pesto Chicken, Italian Pasta Stir Fry
Tuesday: Slow Cooker Red Beans and Rice, cornbread
Wednesday: Ethiopian food night! Minchet Abishe (spicy beef) and Yeatakilt Wet (cabbage and potatoes)
Thursday: Southwestern Pumpkin Soup, crusty wheat rolls
Friday: Eating out at our church's fall festival

To share your menu or to see more menu plans and recipes (not to mention some wonderful organization tips from someone who really knows her stuff!) visit Laura at Orgjunkie.com.

Have a yummy week!

Our TV Debut!

2009-10-14T07:04:00.005-05:00

Recently we got to do something so fun! We were able to be part of our ABC affiliate's morning television show, "Good Morning Texas." We have some sweet friends who own a WONDERFUL company called "Adoption Bug" that sells adoption-themed apparel. Our fun friend was invited to be on the show and she needed some models for her t-shirts. She asked if our family would be interested. Since God seems to have taken to having me live my life on just the other side of my comfort zone I said we'd love to! SO... without further ado...

Not that I want you to watch it again (please please no...) I must add a little commentary. I had NO IDEA the host was going to ask me to turn around. Really? Turn around? On TV? Turn around where my backside is? After I got a chance to watch the footage I saw that I did make sort of a "seriously-I'm-supposed-to-turn-around-I-wish-I-would've-spent-more-time-on-the-back-of-my-hair" face. Fortunately for the viewers what they needed to zoom in on was, um, north of the waistline. (Unlike the day before when some women had been modeling leggings. ::shudder::) See the thing is, I totally forgot there was a scripture on the back of the shirt. So for a milisecond I was completely at a loss as to why she would want me to turn around. And the host called me "mom" and I wasn't sure who's mom she was talking to. Plus the hair thing and the lingering thought that the camera adds 10 pounds. Anyway, there's our 23 seconds of fame! (And Tammi comped me this shirt for showing my backside on TV. Well, well worth it!!)

Oh, BY ALL MEANS do click on over to adoptionbug.com and order some shirts! They are precious!!

And if you haven't yet, I sincerely hope you catch the "adoption bug" in your family. You'll never be the same! Adoption ROCKS!

Soup On The Spot (And Menu-Monday-On-Tuesday)

2009-10-13T08:00:00.005-05:00

Well we've sure had our share of rainy, cold weather lately. From looking at the radar, it seems like many of us have! Here are the kids on our annual trip to the State Fair of Texas in front of Big Tex. You can see the gray skies behind him, but the rain held off for a cool, crisp afternoon and evening of fun at the fair last week! In true form, I ate all of the disgustingly awesome fried food I could handle. I. Love. It. This is one time per year that I own up to my fried-food-loving tendencies, and give in to them. Filed in the "Oh Yes I Did" file this year: fried Snickers, fried Oreos, and (OHYESIDID)- Deep Fried Butter. It was actually like a really buttery biscuit ball. Oh, yummo. Add that to the funnel cake our family shared and the tamales I didn't share with anyone, and it was a veritable smorgasbord-orgasbord-orgasbord of gastrointestinal fun.

So, now you may not ever want to read my menus or try one of my recipes again. Ever.

But in case you still do, here's a soup I made up on Sunday! I know this may not earth-shattering to anyone but me but I've never started with just a boiling pot of water and just added ingredients before. It was lots of fun, and turned out yummy! Now that I'm feeling all chef-ish and creative, I thought I'd share! I'll even come up with a fun name:

Cyndi's Sunday Soup on the Spot

Ingredients:
chicken (whatever's left in the bag of frozen chicken... 1-3 breasts or 5 tenderloins)
1 cup (ish) frozen corn
1 15 oz. can red beans (drained)
1 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes (no salt added)
2 tsp. powdered taco seasoning
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 Tbsp. minced onion
2 tsp. parsley flakes

(In the interest of full disclosure I must admit that I just added the measurments above. I was just shaking, sprinkling and stirring, so I'm not sure how much of anything I really used. Except the cans.)

Boil chicken in a medium-sized pot. Once the chicken is cooked through, remove and shred. Add tomatoes, beans and corn and minced onions to chicken stock and stir until corn is cooked. Sprinkle in onion, garlic and parsley. Add shredded chicken back to soup and stir until warmed. Serve with crunched up tortilla chips and maybe a dollup of low-fat sour cream.

And now for Monday Menu: Tuesday Edition (which seems to be my new thing, LOL)

Monday: Hawaiian Meatballs, brown rice, stir fry
Tuesday: Out
Wednesday: Ethiopian night! Ye'Doro Wet (spicy chicken), Gommen (spicy collard greens)
Thursday: Baked Spaghetti Pie, green beans, garlic bread
Friday: Black Eye & Vegetable Chili (from Fix It and Forget It), cornbread

For more menus and some GREAT organization tips, visit Laura at orgjunkie.com. Have a yummy week!

I'm Sure Bono Would Approve

2009-10-12T07:16:00.001-05:00

A few months ago I *almost* ordered U2 tickets, but felt a tug not to... wasn't sure why.

Turns out, the money I would've used is helping my husband and I RETURN IN JUST A FEW DAYS to "where the streets have no name."

I'm sure Bono would approve. :)

(More details coming soon. I'm SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!)

A Movie Worth Seeing

2009-09-21T08:54:00.001-05:00

Our family saw this over the weekend. It was incredible. Great for the whole family!

Yesterday Last Year... Yesterday This Year

2009-09-10T20:52:00.006-05:00

September 9, 2008~ We had just completed the 20+ hours of travel to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, slept as well as we could between jet lag, adrenaline, and the braying of donkeys in the street outside of our room. Bleary-eyed but excitedly we got up early the next morning and headed to a coffee shop to wait for our orphanage director to meet us with our precious new son. What a surreal moment! We ran up to him as he exited her car and had a wonderful meeting... complete with a mom/son embrace, me touching his sweet head about 27 times and Luke scooping him up in a big bear hug. Before we headed over to the US Embassy we paused for this quick photo:

September 9, 2009~ We woke up thoroughly rested, the 5 of us in our home, together for the 363rd night. After Luke and Bethany left (he took her to her writing class near his office), the boys and I had a fun morning of donuts, reading aloud and watching "Walker: Texas Ranger" which the boys faithfully DVR. We met Luke and Bethany for lunch (after he picked her up from writing class) and had a fun "adoption day" lunch at Taco Bueno, reminiscent of the first meal we had once we hit US soil upon our return last year. We stopped at Target on the way home and Minte picked out a new Lego set, his new passion. I also grabbed a coffee at Starbucks. (Adoption Day must include coffee, after all!) He spent the afternoon building with Legos and then we picked up a friend of his on the way to where we celebrated Adoption Day with family at a pizza/arcade/go-cart/laser tag place. After a fun evening of celebrating with some friends and extended family, we stopped for this quick photo:

As I look at those two sets of smiling faces, exactly a year apart, I can't help but think of so many memories of this past year. God has been so good during Minte's transition into our family. In many ways it seems he's always been here. In just as many ways it's hard to believe it's already been a year. Time seems slow and fast at once. Happiness and joy over our newly-formed family coexist with the sadness and grief that comes with adoption. There is a comfortable familiarity but still much to learn about each other.

Through it all, there is one constant- love. The instantaneous, indescribable love we felt for him the moment we embraced him, as well as the abiding, never-failing love of our Heavenly Father Who has held us all during this entire process. I can't wait to see what the next year brings!

Works For Me: Don't Wake Mommy

2009-08-19T09:39:00.008-05:00

This morning I was sipping my coffee and browsing blogs (AKA "procrastinating") when I realized it was Wednesday. (Wow, this week is really flying by!) Of course then I realized that in blogland it's "Works-for-me-Wednesday," the day when many of us share what makes our lives easier. I sat for a moment, looked at the chaos in my schoolroom (due to the aforementioned procrastination), thought through my kitchen routine, chore charts, etc. and came to the realization that I must have already posted every single thing that works for me. Of course, the disorder in my immediate vicinity reminds me that I've yet to find some things that work for me, so that wouldn't be post-worthy for today! "Hm. Oh well," I thought. "Nothing new to post."

Until just now, as I walked in my bedroom and saw something that has worked for me for years and I've yet to post about.

Sleeping bags.

My kids are 15-almost-16, 13, and 10- our 10 yo having just joined our family just under a year ago, adopted from Ethiopia. What I saw in my bedroom this morning were two sleeping bags in the floor where my two boys (13 and 10) had valiantly slept last night because their Dad is traveling on business this week and they wanted to sleep downstairs with Mom. As I folded up those sleeping bags and returned them to their positions under the foot and side of my bed, I thought about how many times those sleeping bags have been used since the older two were very young.

Years ago, I had two little ones who didn't like to stay in their rooms at night. Sometimes it was bad dreams, sometimes a noise outside woke them in the night, sometimes a thunderstorm was frightening... so they ended up where many little ones end up- in Mommy and Daddy's bed. At first I really didn't mind because I love the snuggles, but after about oh, say 90 seconds of that I was ready to go back to sleep. Finally, we got out the big fluffy camping sleeping bags and let them sleep on the floor of our room and we were all back to sleep faster- the kids felt secure and cozy being in our room and we had our bed back to ourselves. One morning all those years ago, instead of rolling the sleeping bags back up and storing them in the top of the closet again, I simply folded each one in half, one length-wise and stored under the side of the bed, and one width-wise and slid under the end of the bed.

Over the years, if anyone has needed to come crash in our room for whatever reason- a tummy ache, sleeplessness, fear, or just for security, they can simply come in with their pillow, slide out the sleeping bag, crash and not wake Mom. (Dad has the gift of being able to drift immediately back to sleep... not me.) Sometimes I have woken up in the pre-dawn hours when I love to get up, only to almost step on someone's head who I had no idea came in during the night. I love it! They found the security they needed and it didn't involve me waking up. Yesss! :)

I don't know what the books say. I'm sure there are plenty that suggest they should go right back to their own rooms. I'm sure there are loads of techniques to teach them how to do that and research to back up why that is optimal. I don't know, and since it's not "What the Experts Say Wednesday" I don't really care, LOL. This is what has worked for me. I do know I have a 16 year old who stays in her own room, never crashes on a sleeping bag in my room, and hasn't in years. She grew up sleeping many, many nights (sometimes weeks on end) on the floor in my room but when she was 12 she stayed for 6 weeks in China without her parents. I have three very independent kids who, now that they are older, readily fall asleep in their own rooms and stay there. I also know that in many parts of the world, entire families (even multiple generations) sleep in the same room due to tradition as well as space limitations. I also know that these years are fleeting. Soon they will be out of my house, and having those little feet pad into my room, slip a sleeping bag out from under the bed and sigh themselves back to sleep will be a distant memory. It's already a fading memory as it is! I also know that I function WAY better the next day when I've slept a-l-l night, and this system has helped me do just that. Additionally, I think this has let them know that they are always welcome in our room, that our door is always open to them no matter what, and I think that fosters security in other areas, bonding with our new son, and may even explain why my older two are so independent.

So sleeping bags and "don't wake Mommy" works for me!

For more ideas or to share your own, visit We Are That Family. Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Monday Menu and Simple Shortcuts

2009-08-17T16:29:00.007-05:00

"...they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart."
Acts 2:46

Happy Monday! I know that many of you have kids who are starting school this week, so for those of you kicking off your school year I hope it's been an extra wonderful day. We start next week, so I'm busy finishing my planning for our homeschool year. I can't believe I've been doing it for 11 years. The time really flies by! Even though we often veer from the plan, it really helps to anchor everything with a plan, just like in the kitchen! I've been making those plans today while taking breaks to make a Coca Cola Cake and simmer some black beans, so I'm just now getting a chance for some afternoon coffee and some time to blog.

Last week I really enjoyed cooking from Fix It and Enjoy It Healthy Cookbook. We had the Summer Squash Salad and Sesame Broccoli as sides one night, and Tomato Barley soup (pictured below) another night. They were so good! I was surprised at how my family especially loved the two veggie dishes. We're not really very veggie. Go us!

During the weekend when we were reheating and enjoying the soup, I put a very SIMPLE panini sandwich with it. I've posted this recipe for Chicken Pesto Paninis on my menus over the past couple of years because it became an instant hit at our house. At first I made it just like the recipe suggested, using focaccia bread, diced chicken, bell pepper, etc. But as with all things in the kitchen I started looking for shortcuts and made it simpler and now it's one of my family's favorite quick meals! Last week I posted my shortcut recipe for the Easiest Bruschetta Ever, so with that in mind, I'm sharing my very simplified recipe for the Easiest Chicken Panini Ever. (I'm thinking I may follow with a series on The Easiest Ethiopian Recipes Ever, because I've really been simplifying some of my Ethiopian cooking and my family -especially my Ethiopian- really loves it!)

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The Easiest Chicken Panini Ever

Bread (fancy focaccia or wheat cut on the bias if you have it, sliced sandwich bread if you don't)
Pesto sauce (I use jarred Classico Basil)
Shaved or sliced chicken
Any type of cheese you prefer (usually shredded cheddar here)
George Foreman grill or panini grill (I use the GF!)

Spread a bit of pesto on both slices of bread, top with chicken and cheese. Spray the grill with some olive oil spray and preheat. Put the sandwich together and grill for approximately 4 minutes. So simple and so yummy!

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Here is our menu for the rest of the week:

Monday: Chicken Enchiladas, black beans, Mexican corn
Tuesday: Penne Rigate with Chicken, green beans, salad, garlic bread
Wednesday: Ethiopian night! Ye'Tibs Wet (spicy beef), Gommen (collard greens), injera bread
Thursday: YO YO- "You're On Your Own"
Friday: Out to eat

For more recipes and menu ideas, or to share yours visit Laura at Orgjunkie.com. She's also got some GREAT organization tips each week.

I hope you've had a marvelous Monday and have a yummy week!

Dare You to Pray This

2009-08-14T07:07:00.001-05:00

Are you willing to pray this prayer?

Works-For-Me Wednesday: Guarding My Mind

2009-08-12T07:03:00.004-05:00

Maybe you don't struggle with fear or worry like I do. Maybe you get to the end of each day, lay your head on your pillow and drift quickly to sleep without taking any of the worries of the day with you. I hope that's the case, I really do! But that's not how it is for me. As much as I try to pray, give it all to God and not worry, things creep into my mind especially as I'm laying in bed trying to go to sleep. Or even worse, when I wake up in the middle of the night.

Being a mom is hard. There is so much to grapple with, coordinate and think about! We are dealing with every aspect of our family's health and well-being, running a home, and as is the case for homeschooling moms like me, we are are also coordinating their educations. I rely on many well-chosen books that I am regularly reading to help me. God has been so faithful to guide me to some good authors and sound advice. But, the truth is, as great as it is to snuggle in with a good book before I go to sleep, I don't always need to read that advice right before bed. Because, if I do, then I'm wrestling with the "issue du jour" when what I need to be doing is... resting. So, I've begun saving my "informative reading" for the morning or daytime hours. I've got a few minutes here or there, while I'm waiting outside of lessons or (as is the case in the summers) by the pool. It's so much easier to take in and assimilate information regarding stressful situations raising teenagers or my own health concerns in the mornings after I've read my Bible, while the sunlight is streaming through the windows, the birds are chirping, I'm enjoying coffee or on a summer afternoon sipping iced tea by the pool or maybe for an afternoon break by a sunny window or on the porch. The information may be heavy but the environment is not. At night it is dark. Sometimes for me it can even seem oppressive. Things seem more final. More worrisome. That is the time to read Scriptures, uplifting books, stories of hope, (especially books like 31 Days of Praise) or any book that declares God's sovereignty and power. That is what I need in the forefront of my mind as I drift off to sleep, not a bunch of "what-ifs," either from fictional scenarios in books or TV shows, or even well-meaning child-rearing advice.

So, what "works for me" is being more deliberate about when I read certain information. Knowing when I can best read it without fear taking root. Knowing when I need to bathe my mind with hope and power, reminding myself of Who's in control.

To read more of what works for others, or to share something that works for you, visit Kristin at We Are That Family. Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Menu Monday: Tuesday Edition and the Easiest Bruschetta Recipe Ever

2009-08-11T21:28:00.008-05:00

I have blogged so infrequently in recent months. What is up?? Well, life. I know I say this all the time after I've gone through long periods without blogging, but sometimes you're too busy livin' the thing to blog about it. That's definitely been the case for us this spring and summer.

So, yes I know it's Tuesday, but I'm just going to have to blog like I Twitter and Facebook... when it pops into my mind and I can grab a few minutes. Which would be now.

I feel like I'm not ready for summer to be over, but VERY ready for a routine. Somehow the freedom of summer can get stressful for me as we flit from one activity to another. One way I have stayed "anchored" this summer is to continue with menu planning. Last summer I posted my reasons why it's even more beneficial to me to menu plan during the summer months. It truly has been a life saver for me as I feel so out of control some days! I regained some feeling of order during the early spring, once we had been home for a few months with our newly-adopted son. Once summer came I felt a bit disorganized once again, but my menu plan has helped greatly!

This week my husband has some outdoor projects he's working on after work, so we've been eating dinner later (as in, after the sun goes down.) I've tried to have an appetizer available when he comes in from the office at around 5:ish or so to tide everyone over until our 8:00-ish dinner. Tonight I remembered this Extremely Easy Bruschetta recipe I've used and my family loves. But I was in the midst of school planning and laundry folding and wanted to make it even easier. I'm the queen of shortcuts in the kitchen (and have found some wonderful ones in my Ethiopian cooking, which I hope to share in future weeks!) so if you are really into fresh ingredients this one may not be for you. But tonight it was either shortcut time or no appetizer at all. This one totally worked!

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Easiest Bruschetta Ever

1 can diced chopped tomatoes
1/2 cup (or so) frozen chopped onions (<--- LOVE keeping these on hand!)
1/2 tsp jarred minced garlic (available in the produce section)
kosher salt to taste
fresh ground pepper to taste
olive oil to taste

Dump the tomatoes into a strainer and rinse. While in the strainer put the onions in and run water over them to quick-thaw them. Once the water has drained out put them into a mixing bowl and add other ingredients and stir. Cover the mixing bowl and pop it into the fridge. This time I used the oven broiler to toast some Orowheat Whole Grain and Flax bread (See? Not even fancy French bread!). Once the bread was toasted I used the pizza cutter to cut each piece into fourths and then while it was hot I rubbed a bit of the jarred garlic over each piece. By that time the bruschetta was chilled (aided in part by the frozen-now-thawed onions) and voila! A quick, healthy and very fast appetizer!

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This week I'm utilizing a cook book I got a few weeks ago and am just now getting a chance to really try. I have been a fan of Fix It and Forget It (affectionately called "Fifi" in my menu planning binder) for years now. This one is the Fix It and Enjoy It Healthy Cookbook. Tuesday's side dishes and both of Friday's recipes are from that this week. Now that it's Tuesday night, I can report that both the sesame broccoli and the summer squash salad were wonderful! My family loved both of those! And we're not particularly veggie people, so that's saying a lot!

So, here's our menu for the week:

Monday: Crock Pot Chicken Tacos, black beans, corn casserole
Tuesday: Grilled pork chops, sesame broccoli, summer squash salad
Wednesday: YO-YO (You're on you're own!)
Thursday: Ethiopian food night: Ye' Assa Wet (spicy fish stew- SO good!), Ye be seleh Dinich (boiled potatos with peppers) eaten with injera bread
Friday: Tomato & Barley Soup, Tossed Chicken Salad

For more menus and some GREAT organizing tips and inspiration, visit Laura at Orgjunkie.com. I hope you're having a wonderful week!!

Enduring Grace

2009-07-24T08:09:00.003-05:00

Wouldn't it be great if I had a fun, splashy, summer-y photo to the left of this post? Maybe a shot of my kids having a great time at the pool together... or maybe one of Minte zipping down the slip-n-slide, or playing at the water park where we finally bought memberships this year. Or maybe catching a big fish, like he finally did last week. Or hitting golf balls at the driving range, or being silly at Vacation Bible School or enjoying time with cousins. All of these pictures would go perfect with this post. But, I don't have them. Either they are living on the memory card inside my camera (which is at the lake with the rest of my family) or I didn't snap photos... they are simply in my mind. But that is what our summer has been like so far. So fun, so blessed.

I can't believe it's been a month since I've blogged! In that month we have swam, played, enjoyed a visit from my brother and his precious family, enjoyed some activities with family friends who are hosting a wonderful foreign exchange student from France, felt the heat index climb to almost 110 and then feel "cool" when it gets down to the mid-90's... ah, summer in Texas. All good stuff!

We are having a great summer, but I'm not very "together" at the moment! I guess saying that implies that at times I *do* have it "together," and that's probably not the case. It's just that I'm in a season where God has lifted the veil, the scales have fallen from my eyes, and I've realized how very little I really have "together." Ack!!! Not a fun realization. But that's where my faithful Heavenly Father steps in and reminds me that it's been Him all along, not me. Any shred of "togetherness" is always Him. And that's what I'm trying to tap into once more.

But, I'm tired. I'm trying to find the motivation to organize a few areas of my house. I'm trying to stick with a particularly challenging Bible study topic. I'm REALLY trying to get our upcoming school year organized and I'm finding I'm caught between logging/recording last year's work and planning next year's work. I'm experiencing "analysis paralysis." I'm trying to be a good steward of our money. I'm trying to stay faithful to my workouts at the gym, which I started back in the spring. Ugh. So much! How I need God's faithful, sovereign, ever-present grace. I need what John Piper calls God's "sustaining grace."

In His sovereignty, God ordained that I would listen to a Piper podcast on this very morning about this very thing. Endurance. And in His wisdom, He knew that I would hear this poem that would help me remember what His "enduring grace" really is, and how it puts it all in perspective. How I love this about my God. He knows what I need to hear, when I need to hear it. I didn't need this as much a few weeks ago as I did this very morning, and He ordained that I would hear it now. I'm sharing it with you, and maybe it's just for such a time as this that you are reading this today.

According to Piper, God's sustaining grace is:

"Not grace that bars what is not bliss
Nor flight from all distress but this:
The grace that orders our trouble and pain,
And then in the darkness is there to sustain."

SO helpful to me today. The faith I've had in the past, the trajectory my spiritual life has been on in previous months and years will not guarantee my path today. Only God's sovereign grace will keep me a believer, will keep me on the path on which I need to walk. He'll get me over the obstacles. He'll keep me believing. What a promise!

I Am Second. Third, Actually. Maybe Even Fourth.

2009-06-22T07:57:00.001-05:00

Maybe you've seen the billboards around your area, or the website advertised: I Am Second. The meaning behind it is that you are second behind Jesus. When Bethany went on her mission trip to Mexico in March, their motto was "I Am Third," meaning, that first is Jesus, second is others, third is yourself. I think that is pretty appropriate! I learned years ago that that is what J.O.Y. stands for- Jesus, Others, Yourself. Remembering that helps me keep lots of things in perspective in my daily interactions and expectations.

This spring, I have thought of those words in a different way. As an adoptive mom, I am not the first mom that Minte ever had. Since he was in the care of others for 5 years before he came home to live with us, I'm not really even the second. I am third. I've read a lot of blogs in the adoption world, and there are as many opinions about how to refer to this as their are bloggers and families. I certainly don't think the way we have done things is the only "right" way (or even right at all some days!) but I certainly have no problem taking my place as "third" in order of the caregivers in his life. Maybe even fourth, now that I think of it!

This past Mother's Day was an important day. A year ago (and the year before that), Minte was in an orphanage, wondering if he would ever have another mother, hoping that a family would adopt him. This year... here he is! Of course, he had never heard of such a holiday. They don't have "Mother's Day" in Ethiopia. So, when the day came, we explained to him what it was. As we began talking about Mother's Day, it became evident (and very obvious) that it wasn't just about me, his American mother. When he came home to live with us here, his (now deceased) Ethiopian parents came too, in a very real way. They are talked about and remembered in some way in our home every day. They are part of his every day conversation and a very real memory for him. So, how could we leave out his Ethiopian mother on Mother's Day? We decided to plant a rose bush for her in the back yard. I asked him if he wanted to plant something, light a candle, release a balloon... other things I had heard/read about. He chose to plant something. When he and his Dad went to the store for the rose bush, they came back with two because he wanted to plant one for me, too. Isn't that sweet? Here is what we ended up doing on Mother's Day... our "Mother's Day Garden:"

I love the way it turned out! His Ethiopian mother's rose bush is on the left, and mine is on the right. The purple flowers in the middle are for the relative who cared for him before he came to the orphanage, and the yellow flowers are for all the "mommies" at the orphanage. The stone in the middle is so appropriate: Ecclesiastes 3:2, "To everything there is a season..." All of us have had our season in this precious boy's life. Some object to referring to oneself as "2nd mommy" or "3rd mommy" in a child's life because that implies that there may be someone after you. Well? None of us knows what tomorrow holds. I can't be certain I will be the last and final mommy he ever has, but this garden reminds me that God is there at every season and will bring just the people into his life to care for him when it is time. This is my season, and I'm just glad to be a part of God's plan for this amazing young man, whether I'm his final mommy (which I hope I am!) or not. God is so faithful.

As Father's Day approached, we asked him what he would like to do, and decided with him that we would plant a tree for his Ethiopian father. We have a shady little nook outside our dining room window that is perfect for a Japanese Maple. It is a window we look out of everyday, so he will be able to see it all the time. Yesterday he and his brother and dad took some time to plant the tree.

I love the way this turned out, too! The tree will grow to about 6 feet tall (about as tall as his American dad), and will be a constant reminder of his precious Ethiopian father, who had so much to do with the man Minte will one day be. As I watched those precious boys (and dad) plant that tree, I was reminded of Psalm 1, and the fact that I've written their names beside that Psalm in my Bible. Oh how I pray that they would be planted like well-watered trees because they meditate on God's Word, whose leaves will not wither and that whatever they do will prosper. What a wonderful reminder! The stone at the bottom of this tree is Psalm 25:4 "Show me Thy ways O Lord, teach me Thy paths."

Hopefully we have helped him to feel like he has honored the memory of his precious Ethopian parents who loved him so much. He knows he was loved and because of that has been able to readily receive our love. It's important for him to know he can remember them. He can miss them. He can talk about them, and most importantly- honor them. These first Mother's and Father's Days have been important milestones in our family. We are so blessed.

Ten Things I Love About My Dad

2009-06-22T07:03:00.000-05:00

by Minte, Father's Day 2009

When I helped Minte make his Father's Day card for Luke, I asked him to tell me ten things he loves about his dad. (He's been here about 10 months and he is 10 years old, so that number seemed about right!)

Here's his "top ten," exactly as he said it. :)

1. "He takes us to gun range place."
2. "He play with me, like play baseball or football."
3. "He taught me how to play golf today. There's a lot of things he taught me... like bike, swim..."
4. "He let us mow the back yard and the front. And teach us."
5. "He doesn't drink alcohol."
6. "He's a good father."
7. "I will have fun with him."
8. "He love us."
9. "He's good at playing golf."
10. "We love him because he loves Jesus."

Making Decisions

2009-06-05T07:29:00.008-05:00

Recently I came across a book by pastor Kevin DeYoung that I just love. It's called Just Do Something or How to Make A Decision Without Dreams, Visions, Fleeces, Impressions, Open Doors, Random Bible Verses, Casting Lots, Liver Shivers, Writing In The Sky, Etc. Isn't that great title? It's a short, powerful read (I read it in one sitting on a lazy spring afternoon) but it gives great advice. So, I ordered several copies of it and it is my gift to grads this spring. Oh, how I wish someone had handed a book like that to me at a pivotal moment like that in my life. But you know what? I'm still in those pivotal moments! I'm making decisions all the time about my kids' schooling, ministry opportunities, purchases, friendships, involvements, and any number of things. Additionally, I'm counseling my teenagers regarding how to make wise decisions and be confident that they're acting according to God's will. I would write a well-written, thoughtful review of this book, but that's already been done by Tim Challies here. I encourage you to go read the review, and if you get a chance, pick up the book.

This morning during my quiet time I happened upon something along these same lines that I wanted to share today. This is from John MacArthur's excellent book Truth Endures, which is a collection of his sermons from the past 40 years of his ministry. I highly enjoy this book. The sermon I read today was entitled "Making the Hard Decisions Easy." The sermon is found in its entirety here. (Isn't it amazing that such resources are available to us with just the click of a mouse? How I appreciate such ministries!) Here are his points for helping make decisions in a practical, God-honoring way. As he puts it, the ease or "E's" of making decisions:

Expedience Will it be spiritually profitable? 1 Cor. 6:12 (Will my doing this enhance my spiritual life? Will it cultivate godliness?)

Edification Will it build me up? 1 Cor. 10:23 (Will it strengthen me? Will it move me toward Christlikeness and toward greater spiritual maturity?)

Excess Will it slow me down in the race? Heb. 12:1 (MacArthur says, "There are lots of types of bulk: legalism, ceremonialism, and needless waste of time suck your energy and foul up your priorities. So you need to ask yourself a simple question, 'Will it slow me down in the spiritual race: Anything that impinges my effectiveness in serving Christ I won't do.")

Enslavement Will it bring me into bondage? 1 Cor. 6:12 ("We should never allow a non-moral thing to become our master.")

Equivocation Will it hypocritically cover my sin? 1 Pet. 2:16 ("In other words, don't put a veil over your evil intent, be honest with yourself. Ask yourself, Is this really something that benefits me spiritually and is for my spiritual profit?... Or am I cloaking over my evil desire?")

Encroachment Will it violate the Lordship of Christ in my life? Rom. 14 ("Ask yourself, Is this something I believe the Lord would want?... Don't train yourself to violate your conscience. Ask yourself the question: Will this violate my understanding of the lordship of Christ?)

Example Will it help other Christians by its example? 1 Cor. 8:9-11

Evangelism Will it lead others to Christ? (Will they see a difference in my life?)

Emulation Will it be consistent with Christ's likeness? 1 John 2:6 (Would Jesus do it?)

Exaltation Will it glorify God? 1 Cor. 10:31 (Will what I do exalt God? Will this lift up His holy name? Will this honor Him? Will this adorn the doctrine of God in my life? Will hHe be glorified and honored and praised as a result of this?)

We all have many decisions to make every day. Even every hour! These principles and books have helped me as I continue to endeavor to make each decision- big or small- honor God. It is so freeing! It is a journey, and He is so good. I hope these help you if you have some decisions to make in your life, or if someone you know is at a crossroads. God is so faithful to guide us.

Sometimes you're too busy livin' it...

2009-05-19T22:23:00.002-05:00

... to blog about it!

I miss my bloggy friends! I'm fine, just really busy and trying not to stay too tied up on the computer. We're doing great though... had a wonderful Mother's Day and I now have a new teenager- a total of two in this house now! We are trying to wrap up our school year and gear up for a bit of "summer school." (Some coursework we need to catch up on from our year of mom-adoption-distraction and travel. High school credits wait for no (wo)man, LOL.)

Hope you all are doing great! I miss reading everyone! I'll be back soon!

Monday? And May? Already?

2009-05-04T08:19:00.010-05:00

Happy Monday! Another week is beginning, and it's hard to believe it's already MAY!! My goodness! April showers have continued on into May here. We have really needed the rain, but we have had some pretty heavy storms for the past few days. Thankfully, it held off just long enough for us to have Saturday's soccer games. Here is my cute hubby coaching our Eagles. It's blurry because I snapped it with my phone (Minte was already on the sideline having his water break.)

Luke's fun aunt and uncle were in town for a visit and came to watch the kids' games. It's fun this year because the cousins are all playing. Trapper and Minte are on Luke's team together, and Gracie plays on another team, so it's fun to all see each other at the soccer fields on Saturdays! Luke's aunt told me she reads the blog (which I didn't know!) so I wanted to be sure and post this fun picture of them with all the kids. :::waving::: Hi Aunt Annie! It was so good to see y'all this weekend!

Well I don't know about you but for me it is HARD to "get it together" right now! I think "spring has sprung" for me. I am r-e-a-d-y for s-u-m-m-e-r. Big time. Thankfully my laundry and menu planning schedules have kept me on track. You see, I don't have schedules because I am together, but because I'm NOT! It's really helping this week, too, as I'm going to be gone Friday and Saturday. So, this week I simply bumped the laundry schedule up a day so all the laundry will be done before Friday, and switched my usual Thursday leftover night with my usual Friday soup night. This is very, very helpful for me.

Speaking of helpful... I was SO happy last night when I was looking over this week's menu because of something I try to do each week that's a real time-saver for me: When buying the week's worth of groceries, I buy what I'll need for the following Monday as well. That's where menu planning comes in handy... the fact that I even know what we're having the following Monday! We had such a busy weekend I didn't get to the store (which is often the case). So it feels great on this slow-going, cloudy, sleepy Monday morning to know that I already have today's ingredient's ready for tonight's dinner. I've got time later today day to snag the rest of our groceries for the week, but tonight's taken care of.

This week for Menu Plan Monday, Laura asked us to share how we choose recipes. I like to try lots of new ones that I find on the internet as well as using my Allrecipes.com "Dinner Spinner" app on my phone. There are SO many great recipes out there, though... how to choose? Some of my reasons are similar to hers, but here are my "top 5" criteria:

45 minutes or less of prep/ cooking time, or a slow-cooker recipe. I either want to put it in the Crock Pot by mid/late morning and be done with it, or only need 45 minutes late in the afternoon/evening.
Ingredients that are healthy or can be made lower fat by simply choosing lower fat/ reduced sodium soups, etc.
The main ingredients are something I know everyone in our family likes. There may be a few new spices or a new way of preparing it, but the majority is made up of something most everyone is familiar with.
The fewer ingredients the better. I don't look for "5 ingredient only" recipes exclusively, but when I see a mile-long list of what's needed, I keep on clickin'.
Something economical, or that can be substituted with things I can buy more cheaply. Some recipes I choose call for expensive cuts of meat or really expensive fish. I will substitute something that fits our budget better. Usually that works out great. In fact, I'm not sure that's ever been a problem.

That's about it for my criteria. I don't usually do a whole week of "new"... I may try a couple of new things, but I make sure that at least 2 or 3 nights we have something familiar. Often by the time I make it to the kitchen to make dinner I need to be able to function on "auto pilot" (or "auto chef") so I don't want to have to think very much, LOL.

So, here's what's cooking at our house this week:

Monday: Chicken Tamale Casserole, black beans, salad
Tuesday: Hawaiian Meatballs (my kids LOVE this), rice, stir-fry veggies
Wednesday: Ye tekekle Encoulat be Misr (Ethiopian "Breakfast for Dinner"- Boiled Egg with Lentil Sauce), from "The Recipe of Love" now available here, injera from a nearby ET market
Thursday: Tomato Basil Soup (recipe here, scroll down to page 4), salad, garlic bread
Friday: YO-YO (You're on you're own)- Mom's at a homeschool convention. :)

To read -or share- more recipes, planning strategies, and ways to choose recipes, visit Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie! Have a wonderful first-week-of-May!

A Greater Grace

2009-04-27T16:51:00.000-05:00

Well it was a dark, stormy Monday morning here today. While we really need the rain, and I love hearing it these mornings while I'm curled up with my Bible and my coffee, I always worry about my sweet husband and everyone else who is out driving in it. The worst of it seems to have blown through, so for that I am thankful!

This morning I was having my not-so-quiet quiet time while the thunder was crashing outside, and soon enough I had a shaky, scared mini dachshund in my lap. Oh, how he hates storms! So, I held that little whining, shaky dog, reassuring him that everything would be okay, while I prayed to my Heavenly Father, bringing Him everything that totally scares me. I saw the similarities immediately. The storms rage, and God, Who sees the big picture (the radar) knows it will soon pass and that it is bringing something much-needed into my life, but I sit, whining, shaking and restless in His lap. During my prayer time I had my Bible open to a passage I had read in the book of James. As I was praying through my ever-familiar "junk" that it seems I always have to ask forgiveness for, I was actually starting to become discouraged with my struggle with the same old things. While in some areas I see growth and fruit so readily, there seem to be certain issues, my besetting sins I suppose, that I continue to bring to Him day after day. What is UP with that???

When I opened my eyes to comfort my trembling, scared little dog, my eyes fell upon a verse that jumped right out at me because I had color-coded it during a previous study: "But He gives a greater grace." (James 4:6a) Well, that says it all, doesn't it? I should write that on the inside of my glasses today and see everything through those words. He gives a greater grace than that storm that's blowing outside my window. He gives a greater grace than my Grandmother's undiagnosed illness. He gives a greater grace than a car accident on a rainy commute to work. He gives a greater grace than parenting challenges. He gives a greater grace than any sin I could bring to the table. And I love the "but". "But" puts whatever comes before it in a different light. Focusing on my fleshly shortcoming is a form of pride, and on earthly challenges breeds fear. Say what I may, I can tag that "but He gives a greater grace" onto the end of it and that changes everything! In that moment I recognize His sovereignty. I love it. Thank you, Lord.

Yesterday while the rest of the family was setting up for our final Awana awards ceremony (under our leadership), Minte and I had the privilege of welcoming home his most recent friend from the orphanage. Welcome Ellie!!!

There's a picture of "greater grace" right there! There are children in orphanages with no families. But, He gives a greater grace. Sometimes parents experience fertility issues. But, He gives a greater grace. The adoption process and the costs involved sometimes seem insurmountable. But, He gives a greater grace. Sometimes Mommies have surgeries just weeks before they are to travel to bring home their new child, and think they cannot travel. But He gives a greater grace. To follow Ellie's story, visit her family's blog here.

Maybe you are considering adoption, either for the first time or a subsequent time, and feel like there are barriers. Or maybe you are in the midst of an adoption and have hit a wall. I encourage you to speak those very real obstacles aloud to yourself (and to God) today, and then tag it with "but He gives a greater grace, " humble yourself before the Lord, and see what happens!

Menu Monday

2009-04-27T08:24:00.010-05:00

Once upon a time, there was a mom of young children who hated cooking dinner. Well, not hated it, really, just didn't feel very "together" in that area. There were so many other demands on her time! When she went to the grocery store with her kids, she would put them in the kiddy cart (after getting a free cookie for each child from the bakery!) and quickly zip through the store, grabbing whatever struck her fancy or was on sale. She would drag it all home, shove it in fridge, freezer and pantry, already full of food but such a hodge-podge that none of it really made a recipe. Each day at about Oprah:30, she would go in the kitchen, systematically open the pantry, then the freezer, then the refrigerator, and wonder what was for dinner. Some evenings it came together. Other evenings, not so much. So, she would call a local restaurant (usually Chili's or On the Border), place an order and put it under her husband's name, then call her husband at work and tell him where to pick up dinner on the way home.

As a mom of young children, this mother was a member of a MOPS group in her area. In order to meet some of the other moms and to minister to them after they had new babies, she would occasionally sign up to bring a meal to them. Eventually her own family learned that if there was roast with all the trimmings, or a yummy casserole, or anything that took thought or planning, she must be taking dinner to someone else. Her husband would come in, smell something good, and ask half-jokingly, "Who are you taking dinner to tonight?" Of course, if she was going to go to the trouble to make it, she would always make extra for her family, so they began to enjoy their mom's newfound "food ministry", and it truly blessed all involved.

This mom began to realize the pattern... if she planned it out, bought the ingredients and tried hard enough, she could put a decent meal on the table. She just found her motivation in doing it for other people more than doing it for her own family. Something felt wrong about this. So she did the only thing she knew to do in situations like this: she prayed. She prayed that God would help her put order in this very important area of her life. She prayed that He would simply help her to want to cook for her family. She prayed for the energy she would need each day in the late afternoon to actually go into the kitchen and do it. She prayed that she would find recipes that were doable for her and that her young children would enjoy. She prayed that her family would no longer see her best efforts as always being for "other people."

As you have probably figured out, that mom was me. That was the beginning, years ago, of my venture into menu planning. I figured out that it was really no big deal, no harder than planning vacations, planning lessons for my Bible Study group, planning playdates with friends... or any of the other myriad of types of planning that was involved in mothering. It just took a few moments to look ahead, focus on this very important part of the day, make a list, stick to it at the store, and discipline myself in the late afternoon to get it done. It has blessed me as a mom tremendously to take the dinner hour seriously enough to put some forethought into it and prioritize it. God has taken my meager efforts and cooking skills and multiplied them into what my family has needed them to be. And all of this is to His glory, because I was not always like this! This has been His doing, completely! I shared this because I think it's easy to read someone's blog and assume they've always been this way, or think "Well, that's just how she is. That's not my gift." Though all gifts are from the Lord, and no one has a talent that God did not give them, I think for certain things like scrapbooking, wreath-making, or book writing we can say, "Good for her, but that's not for me." But as women we are all called to "look well to the ways of our households" according to Proverbs 31, and providing meals for our families is one of those ways. So, we would all do well to take this particular role seriously, and then God gets the glory for doing something that we couldn't or didn't do ourselves. The fewer skills or enthusiasm we bring to the table (pun intended) the more we know that God Himself has done it!

SO, by God's grace, here is my plan for the week:

Monday: A Happy Birthday dinner for my husband- his favorite chicken enchiladas, black beans, corn, and a German Chocolate cake
Tuesday: Ye-Assa We't (Spicy Fish Stew) from Exotic Ethiopian Cooking, injera, salad
Wednesday: Chicken Pesto Panini's (my simplified version with shaved chicken and done on the George Foreman grill), healthy/organic sweet potato fries and onion rings from Super Target, pasta salad
Thursday: YOYO (You're on your own... Everyone eats leftovers or makes something for themselves. I LOVE this night!)
Friday: Slow Cooked Corn Chowder, crusty wheat rolls

For more menu ideas or to share your own, visit Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie. Have a wonderful week!

Truck &Tooth Pull and Sink Serenade

2009-04-24T07:16:00.009-05:00

So at the end of my last post I shared that Minte had tried to pull his tooth a few days ago using his RC monster truck. I was uploading pictures and video this morning and came across the footage... so here it is!

Just before the big moment... the string was tied, he was psyched up and ready. (Oh, and I misquoted him in my post. As you can see in the following video, instead of "1,2,3" he yells "Fie-yah!!!" ("Fire," LOL)...

It ended up just making it bleed worse, and didn't quite accomplish what he thought it would. Not sure he'll ever try that again! But it's something a guy's gotta at least attempt once, I suppose.

Here is another video of lunchtime a couple of weeks ago. The boys were in the kitchen making their lunch and I was in another part of the house. I began to hear music (complete with drums), coming from them and not the iPod dock, so I popped in to listen. Minte was singing a song in another language (besides Amharic) that he spoke as a small child, and Kyle was accompanying him using the nearest "drum" he could find. So, for your listening (and viewing) pleasure, here is their brief lunchtime "sink serenade." (I say "brief" because it ends rather abrubtly. They are starving artists, after all...)

Never a dull moment at our house!

Midweek Mishmash

2009-04-21T17:47:00.013-05:00

Hmm. Newsy post or something Deep and Meaningful? After three years of blogging, I'm still never quite sure what to post... But, it's been a few days since I've been on the blawg, and I have a few minutes. So, this will be a "stream of consciousness" sort of post. Deep and Meaningful will have to wait for another day. Or another blog! (As in... not mine, LOL)

I just realized today that I didn't post my "Monday Menu" this week. {gasp} That's okay... I've been altering it each day anyway. I have my Beloved Plan, but I didn't get a chance to get to the Ethiopian market for the injera (bread) to go with our Ethiopian meal I had planned for tonight. So, I switched it with tomorrow night's yummy-looking Asian Chicken Salad. Then, today's warm, sunny, summer-y weather got me in the mood to grill out turkey burgers, so that's what we're doing after everyone returns home from soccer. While they're at practice I've got eggs boiling for deviled eggs, bbq beans cooking, and Snicker Doodles in the oven. That reminds me... one day last week (after I had posted the list of "Minte-isms") he came up with a new one: He called the oven the "heaven." I thought that was so cute! When we sort of chuckled he corrected himself. (I'd never realized how similar those two words are!) A couple of days later I made some of his favorite cookies, and he was so excited he motioned toward the oven when I was taking them out and said, "Can I just call it the 'heaven?' " Awww! Sweet boy!

Some of you may remember how special my grandmother is to me. I've posted a bit about her over the years, mainly here and here. She is an amazing woman, who has spoken so much into my life and has truly helped shape who I am. Would you please be in prayer for her? She is at my parents' house and not feeling well at all. She has made several trips here so she can go the doctor, and they finally did a bone marrow test last week, which we will find out the results of this week. I hate how badly she feels... she is such an active, vibrant woman. Please pray that she gets results this week that her condition is treatable and that they are able to begin a course of treatment so she can feel better and get back to some of her activities. She is such a blessing to so many people! Oh, and please pray for my parents who are doing an amazing job caring for her.

I finally went to the allergist today, after almost two years of increasingly bad allergies and trying to manage them with various OTC allergy meds and combinations of things... Why it took me this long I don't know. If it were one of my kids I would've had them at the doctor the first week! He gave me several prescriptions to "layer" and I go back next week for allergy testing. I hope for some relief soon! I carry a tissue in my hand literally all the time now, and there is constantly one (or more) in the laundry because they are in all of my pockets. I can't imagine what I'd do if I had a job where I couldn't constantly have a tissue in one hand or be seen with a red nose!

Well, here are Luke and I last Sunday, our final night of our church's Awana Club as the coordinators. We've coordinated our club for the past 6 years. I came into that office knowing nothing about Awana, still fresh from directing my last Kids Choir musical (what I did know how to do!). My sweet husband had been asked to be the "Awana Commander," a term that those of you in Awana are familiar with. I had no idea what that entailed or what he would be doing, but I knew it was not a one-man job... meaning, he needed his "help meet" to come on board with him. Over the years we've had up to around 500 kids and 140 or so adults/ volunteers enrolled yearly, so it has been no small job, but we have loved every minute of serving together and have been so, so privileged to work alongside such energetic and innovative leaders. It was not an easy decision to step down at this point, and I guess "stepping down" really isn't the right term... God is moving our cloud, and we feel that it is onward and upward in our journey with Him. It's an exciting time for us as we prayerfully seek His direction for our ministry!

You know, since Minte came home, it seems I really don't blog as much about the older kids as I used to. And you know what? They couldn't be happier about that! Every time I take a great photo of them, or one of them quips something funny or does something noteworthy, they'll shoot me a look and say, "You're not putting this on your blog are you???" I must admit, I would've been completely horrified if my mom had had a blog when I was in middle and high school. So, please understand if I don't give them equal "air time" in my posts... it's because they don't want it! I mean, just because Bethany's finishing an incredible year of school, had an amazing time at prom, is rehabbing messed-up gymnastics knees, recently returned from Mexico and is already plotting a way to get back to China this summer... and Kyle is building his incredibly awesome model rocket this week, has drawn some of the most amazing pictures I've ever seen lately, grown about a foot and a half, and daily mentors his new brother in a way I could never have imagined, I will not mention those things here. No way. I don't want to embarrass them.

So, what has Minte been up to, anyway? Well, last week he informed me he want to grow his hair long. I asked him how long. He replied, "Like zee boy in the digging holes movie." The movie to which he was referring is "Holes" and the hair he was referencing was this:

As you can see by comparison, his hair has a ways to go before it's that long, and the Texas heat is just now cranking up, so we'll see how long it really gets!

Two nights ago he decided he wanted to pull a loose tooth. That was nothing new, as he has lost 4 teeth since he's been home. But this time he decided he wanted to pull it with his radio-controlled monster truck. So, his faithful sidekick/brother tied the string to his tooth, tied it to the back of the truck, he took a deep breath while holding the remote, then counted "1,2...3!!!!" He revved the truck, it lurched forward, and promptly snapped the string without pulling the tooth. It was an exciting moment though! He held his jaw and said "No more truck." I think it hurt worse than he had anticipated! So he pulled it in front of the bathroom mirror the next night. It is still on the bar in the kitchen where it awaits the ceremony that has accompanied the last 4 teeth: being thrown up onto the roof after he chants a song in Amharic. If a bird picks it up, a nice, white tooth will grow back in its place. The other teeth have come in nicely, so it appears to be working!

Well, that's us lately. I'm still having my toes stepped on in the Bible study I'm doing, Conversation Peace. I've got lots more thoughts to share on that another day... but I'll end this long post with a short quote from it that's long on meaning:

"Every thought is a seed.
If you plant crabapples don't count on harvesting Golden Delicious."
~ Author Unknown

Zooming Out

2009-04-15T08:45:00.011-05:00

I can always tell it's a good Bible study when it starts stepping on my toes.

Given that fact, I should wear steel-toed boots to the dining room table every morning, because the study I'm doing right now is about speech. I'm on my third week of working through Mary Kassian's study entitled "Conversation Peace." I've always known this is a biggie area for me! Whenever I work my way through my time of confession, the first stop is always "sins of speech." Ugh, ugh, ugh. And of course, the mouth is the overflow of the heart, so it is really revealing what is in my heart. WHY is this such a struggle? And I'm not simply talking about swear words... that would be easy enough to target and eliminate. No, I'm talking about things like...

Do you say things about others behind their backs that you would not say to their faces?
Do you make the interaction between other people your concern?
Do you feel a need to be proved right or to have the last word?
Do you respond in anger?
Do you talk too much?
Do you spend a lot of time on the phone (or texting, Facebooking, blogging, Twittering/Tweeting) ?
Do you refuse to admit your error when you feel the other person's error is greater?
If someone has failed or injured you, do you feel compelled to tell someone else about it?
Do you make assumptions and assume the worst about other people's motives and intentions?
Are you sarcastic?
Do you fail to listen?

Those were just a few of the many questions in the "diagnostic inventory" in which I had to choose "Never, seldom, occasionally, often, or habitually." WAY too many "often" and "habitually" boxes were checked in my book, I'm afraid.

So, now we're getting to the heart of it. It's not just about a change of speech, it's about a change of heart. And it's not just about eliminating the bad, it's about replacing it (or allowing God to replace it) with the good, as only He can. I remember reading in Martha Peace's book, "Attitudes of a Transformed Heart," about the concept of "putting off" and "putting on" (from Eph. 4:22-24):

"You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness."

I have loved incorporating that concept, and that's what Kassian brought out today in the lesson. She calls it "the power of exchange." I couldn't even finish watching the lesson video today (which I download here from Lifeway.com) because I'm still thinking through this first part.

I have had a situation in my life for awhile now that simply confounds me. I totally don't know what to do. I have brought it (and the people involved) before the Lord daily, repeatedly, for a long time. I don't know any other way to describe it besides that I remain at a total loss as to what I am to do, how I am to respond, and what I am to say. Now I feel even more hard hearted, frustrated and empty. God ordained that today I would be in this study and that she would teach on Psalm 39, where David was in exactly the same position. I really have always loved this Psalm, and used to even keep an M&M wrapper somewhere near to remind me to "muzzle my mouth!" But it goes deeper than that! David muzzled his mouth and grew increasingly frustrated and empty as well. That's me! She pointed out today that that is because he had weeded the critical words from his heart but hadn't planted anything in their place. Finally he cried out "Show me, Lord", which has been the cry of my heart as well. "God, I don't know how to love these people. I don't have it in me."

According to Kassian, as seen in the life of David, I need to exchange the microscope for a telescope. I must zoom out. A microscope makes things seem bigger than they really are. I have focused on "How does this effect me?" "Look what this has done to my life" for TOO long. It's time for the telescope.

The telescope zooms out and sees things from an eternal perspective. I must look beyond myself and my immediate situation. Life is so fleeting! I should be asking... "Based on God's eternal focus, how should I act and what should I say?

So, here's how I'm trying to trade the microscope for a telescope today (as suggested by Kassian):

Realize that:

The situation is not all about me.
What I say and how I act have eternal implications.
I can either invest in eternity or try to score personal points.
My "opponent" is accountable to God, not to me.
God's perspective is bigger than mine. He has plans and purposes beyond what I can see.

Maintaining this eternal perspective in every interpersonal communication will help me be motivated to plant the seeds of grace, forgiveness or understanding.

The cry of my heart these past few years has been "Lord, change me!" And this is just another step in that journey...

Monday Minte-isms and Menu

2009-04-12T21:36:00.014-05:00

I hope you had a joyous Easter weekend! We sure did. By God's grace, it was just the weekend we needed it to be. We started it off Friday night with a wonderful Passover Seder meal with our Bible fellowship class, had a worshipful time at our church's service and then a relaxing time at home on Sunday. We very much needed some time at home, and God granted it to us yesterday. I feel renewed and refreshed and ready to take on the week! Here is a photo of my precious children in front of the sea of flowers on the stage at our church this weekend. (You can click the photo to make it bigger.) I cannot begin to tell you how happy I am that Minte is with us this year. Last year at this point we were still on our journey to adopt a little baby girl, so this photo is a reminder of God's direction and His perfect will! (In case you are unfamiliar with our adoption story, or would like to learn more, click on the "our adoption" button in the sidebar. To read about how our journey to a baby girl led us to a 10 year old boy click on "a little background" below the picture.)

Minte (MIN-tay), our 10 year old Ethiopian son, has now been with us about 7 months. It has been such a fun journey so far! One of the most interesting and daily-evolving things has been his English language acquisition. I never knew it would be so fascinating (and funny!) to live with an English language learner! Fascinating because he is learning English at such a surprisingly fast pace. What a testimony to the intricate human mind, and to our great God who fashioned it so. Funny because, well, it just is. Transitioning an older, hurting, grieving child into the family can be hard some days. So, God sprinkles it with humor in various forms to cover more of it with joy and laughter. So, I thought I'd start off this Monday sharing a few "Minte-isms."

Here is how you should read them with the "proper" accent:

~All "r's" are rolled (I simply love this. It makes even the most ordinary word fun!)

~"a" sounds are pronounced "ah", so words like "asphalt" (what he calls the street) sound really cool. I think that word is the same in Amharic.

~short "i" is pronounced "ee" as in "beeg". "Mommy beeg lahves buna" was one of his first sentences to me. (Mommy big loves coffee. He figured me out right away. Of course, I was jet-lagged.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Again heart my peenie!" = an exclamation after about the 5th time he stubbed his pinkie toe one day

"Men-eh-nems" = M & M's

"Big crap" = pick it up. Seriously, that's how he pronounces it. It cracks me up too much to correct him.

"Off it" = turn off the TV or light, or delete a picture from the camera

"I'm a-stinking" = I'm thinking. Another variation is "Are you a-stinking what I'm a-stinking?"

"Little bit no loud please." = turn down the volume on the TV or radio

"hiney" = honey

"lift" = leaf

"lift" = elevator

"lift" = escalator

"upstairs" = anything on top of anything else

"downstairs" = anything underneath anything else

"tim-ah-tim" = tomato

"Come on!" = Could you please come here a moment, I require assistance.

"peejah mah" = pajamas

"off-side" = outside

"What eez zas my name?" = what is this called? For example: "Spider house what eez my name?" - his reading sheet had a picture of a web on it and he didn't know what it was called.

"Longa or short day?" = Is it cold or hot today, do I wear shorts or pants?

"Whatzat mean-say?" = What does that mean?

"Zees one" = this one

"Zas way" = that way

"heart" = hot or hurt, depending on the context. For example, "Ees really heart!" requires investigation...

"bucket" = pocket

"han" = hair or hand, depending on the context

"I have a cushion" = I have a question

"Cushion me zis" = answer this for me

"power" (often pronounced "powah") = gas, of the intestinal variety

"Powah ees cahming!!" means, well... get ready.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There are many, many more. I hope I can remember more, because it's been non-stop for 7 months, and he comes up with new pronunciations and words daily. I love it!!!

Now, here's what's cooking at our house this week:

Monday: BBQ brisket, mashed potatoes, grean beans, wheat rolls
Tuesday: Roast Chicken Chimichangas, black beans, corn casserole
Wednesday: Honey Pecan Pork Chops, baked potatoes, peas, corn on the cob
Thursday: YOYO (You're on you're own... leftovers)
Friday: Avocado Soup with Chicken and Lime

I'm not making anything Ethiopian for dinner this week, but I made some Ethiopian Lentils over the weekend, and I'm pretty sure we'll be whipping up some spicy pasta for lunch one day. He beeg loved the African Chicken I made last week, even though that's a primarily west African dish.

For more menus, to post your own, or to get a helpful menu-planning template, visit Laura. I hope you have a great week!

Busy But Blessed

2009-04-06T07:39:00.009-05:00

Happy Monday!

It was a busy, busy weekend for us. I'm not exaggerating when I say that every single category of our family's life had an event this weekend. It was all fun, but I am exhausted (mainly mentally!) from all of it. We are so blessed to have some wonderful activities in our lives, but it seemed like it all happened on one weekend! And as busy as we were, we still had to miss two events because they coincided. It was a lot!

Friday night was our daughter's prom. We are so blessed to have a Christian Homeschool Prom each year in our area. I had no idea it would be such a lovely event! Luke and I went downtown on Thursday evening to help set up, and the moment we walked into the hotel, it took my breath away. I cannot even describe the magnitude of the decorations, and how "top notch" it all was. I was astounded. She looked beautiful and went with a precious group of girls... They had an amazing time. She texted me at about 2:something AM that prom was "awesome" and that they were headed to IHOP. She'd text me again to come get her. So, at 3:something I headed out to bring her home so we could start our busy Saturday in just a few hours. It was worth it, and I'm SO glad she, her friends (and the approximately 900 kids who attended the event) had a wonderful time.

Saturday morning began with soccer. Luke is now coaching Minte's team, and this season my nephew is playing as well. Minte LOVES his cousin, and is very excited that they are on the same team, not to mention that his Dad is coaching. They won their game on Saturday, and it's should be a great season. Go Eagles!!

After that, we just had the MOST fun!! All of the families who have adopted from Ethiopia so far from our agency got together. Minte and his best friend from the orphanage, Yeneneh, were united once again, and we finally got to meet the Seay family in person after corresponding in email and by phone for months. We felt like we already know them, and a little bit like we are now related! It really was a special reunion for the two older boys. All of us had an amazing time together loving on all the kids and swapping stories. D and A, our hosts-with-the-most, have written about the get-together on their blog and will post some great pictures this week I'm sure. I was too busy gabbing to bet many photos, so I can't wait to see them myself! Thanks D and A!!! Y'all are the best!! We love our Buckner friends/family! Brian summed it up on his comment on the photo on Facebook: "it's amazing how strangers can become friends and friends become family...this was an amazing day and worth every extra mile we drove..." I couldn't agree more, and we can't wait to see them again next time they come through.

Yesterday Luke and I hosted our final Awana Leader Appreciation Dinner. I say "final" because, after much prayer, we have decided to step down from our role as coordinators of our church's Awana club. We attend a rather large church, and our club attendance (including volunteers) is around 600 people, so it's no small job! It has been a difficult decision, but after 6 years in this role, we feel the Lord is "moving our cloud" and it's time to move to whatever else He has for us. (Or at least time to take a breath and pray about what that might be!) So, it was a bittersweet time with our precious friends and Awana leadership last night. We are very much looking forward to a bit of a break once Awana is over in about 3 weeks, and can't wait to see what God will do next in our marriage and ministry. He is so good!!

While that was going on, Kyle and Minte were at my nephew's birthday party, and our family's Easter get-together. They decided to do it this weekend as many of them will be out of town next weekend. I don't have any pictures yet, but apparently Minte had a great time at his first-ever Easter Egg hunt. I told my sister-in-law, "I haven't had it in me to tackle the whole 'a big bunny comes and hides eggs and how that does/does not tie in with the true Easter story', so explain that to Minte however you want. Thanks!" LOL He apparently enjoyed it and especially got a kick out of the annual grown-up ~~knock down dragout~~ Easter Egg hunt.

Now, on to focusing on the true meaning of Easter. I posted this photo last year of our Holy Week candles. They look similar this year:

We are be using Noel Piper's readings found here again this year as well. If you were to look closely under the ivy you would see our Advent wreath, and these are some of the candles we used at Christmas. I think that's quite symbolic. It was also thrifty, because I already had it all on hand! It's not too late to put together some candles and incorporate some scripture readings each evening to make this week leading up to Easter a more set-apart time in your home. I've posted some other links here. I'd love to know some of your ideas!

I haven't posted our menu the past couple of weeks, as fascinating as that always is I'm sure. :) One thing that I thought was so fun last week, the day after I had cooked Ethiopian food (which I've been trying to do each week), I asked Minte what he wanted for lunch that day. He looked at me with a smile and said, "My mah-zehr cooks Ethiopian food!!" Translation: "I want leftovers from last night!" I may not make it perfectly, but I know he loves it that I try. This week I'm making an African dish that's been one of our family's favorites for awhile, but more of a west African dish involving peanut butter ("ground nuts") and chicken. Very yah-mmy!

Here's what's cookin' this week:

Monday: Country Pasta with Mozzarella, roasted carrots, salad, garlic bread
Tuesday: African Chicken Treat, brown rice, peas
Wednesday: French Dip Sandwiches, sweet potato fries, salad
Thursday: Leftovers
Friday: Passover Seder meal with our Bible fellowship... for the potluck I'll be taking Ham & Cheese Bowties, spinach salad, and a yellow cake with chocolate sauce

For more menus, or to share what you've got cooking this week, visit Laura at OrgJunkie.

I hope you have a blessed, set apart week as we take time to celebrate our resurrected Lord and Savior!

"The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it"
John 1:5

"Loosed" for the Lord's Purposes

2009-04-05T10:22:00.001-05:00

Originally posted March 31, 2007

"...and He said to them, "Go into the village opposite you; and as soon as you have entered it you will find a colt tied, on which no one has sat. Loose it and bring it. And if anyone says to you, 'Why are you doing this?' say, 'The Lord has need of it.' and immediately he will send it here." Mark 11:2-3

I love this passage, especially as I came across it this week approaching Palm Sunday. The "colt" Christ is speaking of in the above passage is the donkey colt that He would be riding as He entered Jerusalem in His "triumphal entry." There are so many lessons to be learned from this pivotal moment. But, I keep coming back to the colt.

I have been carrying a bundle of notecards in my purse for the past few months. Some have scriptures on them, which I'm trying to memorize. Some have Greek words on them, from my (very) Elementary Greek curriculum that I'm slowly working through. One of the notecards that I regularly review has the word, "luo" written on it, in my best attempt at Greek script. The word "luo," as I have memorized, is Greek for "I loose." In the Greek scriptures I have memorized, this hasn't been a word. I haven't used it in any translations or sentences yet, but faithfully I have memorized this word. Luo. Got it.

Today as I read the above passage I "got it" on a little deeper level! The colt had to be "loosed," for "the Lord has need of it." Whoever owned the colt was not told exactly what the Lord would do with it, only that He the Lord needed it. What needed to be "loosed" was so that the Lord might use it for His glory. That particular colt carried our Lord to a chorus of "Hosannas," acknowledging Who He was. It's the same word used in the New Testament to describe when Lazarus needed to be "loosed" from his grave clothes after his resurrection. It's also the word used to describe the woman who was "loosed" from the evil spirits who had plagued her for over eighteen years. In these instances, involved being "loosed from" as well as being "loosed to."

What do I need to "loose" so that the person of Christ might be better displayed in my life? What do I need to be "loosed" - set free- from? The One who calls me, Who will use it for His glory, is the One who will do the enable the "loosing." Praise His name!

"Hosanna!

'Blessed is He who comes in the name

of the Lord!'

Blessed is the kingdom of our father David

That comes in the name of the Lord!

Hosanna in the highest!"
Mark 11:9-10

"The Best Year Ever"

2009-04-01T07:07:00.016-05:00

Then he spoke to the children of Israel, saying: "When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, 'What are these stones?' then you shall let your children know, saying, 'Israel crossed over this Jordan on dry land'; "for the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which He dried up before us until we had crossed over, that all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of the Lord, that it is mighty, that you may fear the Lord your God forever."
Joshua 4:21-24

After my last post, I just had to post this picture. Isn't this awesome?? We returned Sunday from a few days in our "little house in the big woods." We've been going there for about 6 years, sometimes twice a year. It was a wonderful time! There were about 10 families there this year, and everyone had a great time of fellowship. One afternoon, most of the younger kids (and one energetic dad!) spent the better part of an afternoon constructing this in the creek, just up from where the photo in my last post was taken. I just love it! They even used some vines to tie together the beams of the cross. And the pile of stones... I posted about the Ebenezer stone in my last post, this one makes me think of Joshua stones. In Joshua 4 I love how they took stones from the middle of the Jordan (while it was parted) and set up stones on the other side to remind them that God had parted those waters and made a way for them. What a wonderful reminder!

Which makes this photo all the more meaningful for me:God truly did part the way and make a way for Minte to be with us. Thus far the Lord has brought us, and He will continue to lead. This picture brings such amazing thoughts to my mind. God is so good.

Here are a few other pictures from our time away last week...

My sweet little Zacchaeus, the "wee little dog." He totally doesn't get the "outside dog" concept at all. But, he is a trooper.

I love this picture! Minte was truly a "blur" most of the week, speeding by on his bike and running around with his friends. It was fun to watch (and try to capture with a camera!)

A man and his dog.

Wendem. ("brothers")

Lots of fun with friends, here playing Uno, Minte's "numero uno" favorite American game so far.

Bethany with her adorable friends. These girls warm my heart and give me hope for the next generation!

Snuggling by the campfire with my cute husband on a chilly spring morning. It just doesn't get any better than this!

On the last day, Kyle said, "This was the best year ever, because we were ALL here."

Amen to that.

Thus Far

2009-03-23T08:38:00.004-05:00

Oh how I love this picture! I post it almost every year... it's at a state park in Oklahoma, where we are headed tomorrow. My daughter took this photo a few years ago, the first year we went. I just love looking at it! I can just feel the spring breeze rustling through the tall trees, hear the birds and the sound of the water trickling... We've had such fun times there, where we've "camped" at different times in cabins and also RV's. My 12 year old told me yesterday that it is his most favorite place on earth. We are so blessed that we've been able to create memories there together, both as a family on trips alone, and in groups of 9 or more families. (In fact, it was there that we first filled out our adoption application at Thanksgiving. Last March, we imagined that we would be going back to the cabin this year with a baby girl in our arms. Isn't it funny how God works?)

Today as I looked at this picture again, I noticed something else I hadn't really focused on before: the rocks. I noticed them because of something I read this morning during my quiet time. I was in the midst of bringing some difficult things before the Lord. So many things are weighing heavily on my mind and heart. There are situations around the world and circumstances in the lives of those I love that I can't imagine how God will work out, but I know He will. There are individuals for whom I'm praying, for whom I ache so deeply and in whose lives I so earnestly want to see God glorified. I was reading something this morning that encouraged me to think about what God has done "thus far." I have a hard time doing this (in my fleshly nature), especially with certain people in mind, because I hate to hang my hat on how things are, even when things are good. Certain battles rage on in the lives of some of my loved ones, and it could go either way. Truly, God promises victory for those who trust in Him, but sometimes in this Genesis 3 world, that victory happens on the other side of eternity. Sometimes it seems I pray while holding my breath! A victorious walk with the Lord is such a day-by-day thing.

I was so glad to be directed to 1 Samuel 7:8 today. The Israelites were in the midst of a fierce battle with their ever-present foe. They asked the prophet Samuel to "not stop crying out to the Lord our God for us, that He may rescue us from the hand of the Philistines." He faithfully prayed. God's people won the battle. That battle. Afterward, Samuel took a stone and set it up not far from the battlefield, and named it "Ebenezer" which means "stone of help." I absolutely love verse 12, "Thus far the Lord helped us." Thus far. The ongoing struggle with the Philistines was hardly over. They had not conquered them forever. Their enemy had been around a long time, and would continue to be. But it was time to stop and thank God for the "thus far" victory.

And then keep praying.

Samuel knew it wasn't over forever, but that didn't keep him from publicly giving God the glory for what He had done thus far. Long after that, even generations later, God's people (who were still fighting the same enemy) could continue to look at that stone and remember the "thus far" deliverance and continue to trust God for the "what's to come." I have needed to do this, especially in the realm of mothering. So much of what we do as mothers is a work in progress, and all of it is so uncertain. All of our efforts are going toward a time that we will never see. Thankfully, God assured me through His Word this morning that it is a Phil. 1:6 work-in-progress. He started it and will see it through. But we are here for the "thus far," and can give Him glory for the fruit we do see, while praying for the bigger picture. I took time this morning to visualize every difficult situation that weighs so heavily on my heart, and to really see the people for whom I am praying. Across each scenario in my mind's eye, I mentally stamped the words "Do not stop crying out to the Lord our God for us..." I was convicted this morning that I need to redouble my prayer efforts in certain areas, for certain people, thanking God for the "thus far" victories... no matter how small.

Now, when I look at the above vacation photo, I see the stones. I see them one after another in the midst of the water, a succession of "thus fars." That's what this life is, really, this walk with God...this motherhood journey. I'm so thankful I'm not walking it alone!

Picture Perfect

2009-03-19T07:57:00.012-05:00

Picture this: A happy, smiling family of five. Picture them seated, posing for a photo on an over-sized chair in front of a lamp in the family room. Now, picture them laughing together, cooking in the kitchen. Okay, move them upstairs to the game room and picture them looking lovingly at one other, enjoying one of their favorite card games. Do you get the picture? Oh, for good measure, put in a photo of the five of them taken on the staircase. They look cute don't they? Add in this detail: all of this is for an interview for a magazine which has a fairly wide, maybe even international, circulation. (Or at least more readers than this blog!)

Doesn't that sound perfect?

I will never look at magazine articles in the same way again! Do you know why? Because the family described above was my family a couple of weeks ago. Now when I see such an article, instead of assuming or imagining how perfect they might be or how perfectly decorated their house is, I might imagine what's going on in the Mom's mind...

"Okay, I hate this lamp. I wish it weren't in the picture.... And don't move that throw off of the arm of the chair! The upholstery is worn and there's a hole!"

"Oh, great. Pictures of us cooking... and I didn't "stage" the kitchen. SO much stuff on the countertops!"

"Really? A shot of my profile? I hate my profile!"

"Hmm. Glasses on or glasses off?..."

"Oh good, a photo op in the game room, with shelves in the background piled with disorganized games... the one place in the house I would never have shown anyone..."

And on and on and on it went. Every insecurity I had came with me to that interview in my home two weeks ago. Every single one. I absolutely hate having photos taken. Unfortunately, they tend to look just like me. For me, it's a bit like hearing my recorded voice ("I sound like that?") only in picture form. ("Is THIS what I look like?") Ugh. And the house. Our decor is a time capsule, frozen in time in about 2001 (and everything we bought up to that point.) And my word. Do I ever ramble.

But you know what? The article is about us and our adoption story. Thankfully, the title of the article is not "How A Perfect Family with A Perfect Home Can Adopt The Perfect Child And Look Good Doing It." Thank goodness! Because we're not, we don't, we didn't and we don't. (Or at least I don't, LOL.) Who would that help, anyway?

Maybe, next time you see a photo of a plaid couch or a cluttered kitchen, or a woman with not the cutest haircut, or wearing an outfit just this side of in style... it might be that that woman gave up recreational decorating, clothes shopping and hair color to afford international mission trips and a subsequent adoption. Maybe she agreed to the interview so she could show how big her God is and hopefully get more older kids adopted into more homes. Maybe God gave her a heaping helping of grace that day to get her through that interview. Behind that smile might just be one of the most insecure people you could ever meet.

And it just might be me.

Works-for-me Wednesday: My Beloved Laundry Schedule

2009-03-18T06:30:00.000-05:00

For years it had been taking over. For far too long, it was an ever-visible reminder of a never-ending chore. For much of my life as a wife and mother, it taunted me: the laundry.

I read enough blogs and have been around the WFMW block enough to know that chore and laundry schedules are nothing new and have been shared repeatedly. But, this is Works for Me Wednesday... and I haven't shared mine yet! Besides, I was thinking just yesterday how this really. works. for. me.

Scheduling my laundry has become a sanity saver for me, ranking right up there with planning meals. It has freed my mind (and my hands which used to fold laundry at all types of odd times, or dig through mounds of clean clothes trying to find something someone needed). I decided a couple of years ago to do laundry according to people, not loads. The following schedule is currently posted in our laundry room:

I have found it best to do laundry, for the most part, according to the owner (each member of the family), rather than category (combining everyone's lights, darks, etc.) With the exception of cleaning rags, which I do on Mondays because of weekend cleaning, car washing, home projects etc. And towels and bed linens which I do on Fridays, each person gets a day. When Minte came home, I put him on Kyle's day, since their dirty clothes live in the same hamper.

I love how there is a sense of completion each day. Yesterday, all of mine and my husband's clothes were done. Today is my daughter's day. Tomorrow will be the boys. Each day, ALL of someone's clothes are completely washed, folded and put away. It is so much more manageable for me. I have found it's easier to sort socks, since it's just one or two people's. (I can handle a small basket of one or two people's clean underwear to fold, but not a couch full of everyones!) I can more easily keep track of uniforms, too (which still go in their designated spot). I like to hang some things to dry, which takes up a lot of room if it's everyone's, but much less space if it's just one person. I found that when I was doing lights one day, darks another, etc. parts or pieces of outfits a particular person needed were always missing or at some other stage of the laundry continuum... but now, everything that person wears is clean at one time.

I love this schedule because I don't do any laundry or folding on the weekend, when we're either really busy or need the clothes. My kids are old enough to fold their own clothes now, so the chore schedule on their particular laundry day is lighter to afford them more time to fold and put theirs away. On their laundry day they only have one other chore in addition to taking care of their laundry, so that's been a big help. By scheduling it this way, there's a light at the end of the laundry tunnel each day. And I need that!

Laundry is never ending. By God's grace, we are an active family generating lots of dirty clothes. This is a huge blessing! Lots of laundry indicates an adequate amount of clothes. Having plenty of clothing is truly a gift. Managing our laundry this way has helped me to see it more as the blessing it is, than the burden it used to feel like . Works for me!

For more WFMW ideas, or to share your own tip, visit We Are That Family. Have a wonderful Wednesday!

"The Deer's Cry"

2009-03-17T07:56:00.004-05:00

I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity
Through belief in the threeness
Through confession of the Oneness
Towards the creator.

I arise today
Through the strength of heaven:
Light of sun
Brilliance of moon
Splendor of fire
Speed of lightning
Swiftness of wind
Depth of sea
Stability of earth
Firmness of rock.

I arise today
Through God’s strength to pilot me:
God’s might to uphold me,
God’s wisdom to guide me
God’s eye to look before me,
God’s ear to hear me,
God’s word to speak for me,
God’s hand to guard me,
God’s way to lie before me,
God’s host to secure me
against snares of devils
against temptations of vices
against inclinations of nature
against everyone who shall wish me ill,
afar and anear,
alone and in a crowd.

Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left
Christ where I lie, Christ where I sit, Christ where I arise
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.

I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through belief in the Thrones,
Through confession of the Oneness
Towards the Creator.

~ St. Patrick

Sunday Salmagundi

2009-03-15T13:11:00.036-05:00

sal⋅ma⋅gun⋅di (noun): any mixture or miscellany

There's a new vocabulary word! (Well, at least it was new to me!) That's exactly what this post is. I don't seem to take as much time to blog as I have in the past... maybe I'll get to in the future. On this lazy, spring-breaky Sunday afternoon, Luke and the boys are having a "guys day" at an outdoor store and the gun club, and my sweet daughter is on a mission trip. So, I've finally got a few minutes to post some things. Since I go most days with a blog post brewing in my mind, most of which never make it to the screen, this will be a mishmash of miscellaneous "mini-posts." (Monday Menu is at the bottom.)

Half of My Heart

I am currently wearing half of this necklace. The other half is in Mexico with my daughter as she is on a mission trip this week. Back in 2004 when Luke and Bethany made their first trip to Ghana, we got the necklace. Since then, whoever goes takes half of it, and the other half stays here. Whether I go or stay, I wear it, but usually if Luke stays home, it hangs on the lamp by his side of the bed. Bethany used to wear it, but now she usually tucks it into her passport case. Of course, my favorite trips are when we ALL go, and the necklace stays at home, but due to finances and vacation time from work, that can't always be the case... When Luke traveled to Ethiopia in January, he took half of it with him in his backpack, while I wore the other half. When he came home from the trip, he put his half by my jewelry box in the little felt jewelry pouch, so I could put it away. I remember seeing it there... and then for some reason when I went to put it away later I couldn't find it. I was so sad! That half a necklace has been around the world and back so many times! I was so aggravated with myself, and I still have no idea where it is. One day last week, my sweet husband emailed me from work and told me to look behind a picture frame in our bedroom. There, tucked behind it, was a small James Avery box with a new Gen. 31:49 charm in it. He knew it was important to me, so that we could send half of it with our daughter this week. Isn't that sweet that he replaced it? I'm still praying that I find that original half, but my prayer was with Phil. 4:19 in mind... "my God shall supply all my needs." I prayed that if I needed it, I would find it and if I didn't find it, that I would be content without it. I had left it up to God, and He responded by prompting my cute husband to buy a new one. So, Luke took the opportunity to bless me, and I got a reminder that our Lord cares about even the smallest thing. A double blessing!

Mexico Mission

As I mentioned, our daughter is in Mexico this week. (I just realized a couple of days ago that this is her 10th international mission trip! Isn't God amazing??) She is with a dynamic team of top-notch students from our Awana Journey group. They are being led by some of the most gifted and Godly leaders I could ever imagine, and will be partnering with a wonderful church there. They will get the opportunity to participate in orphan care, some painting and construction, and community outreach. If you think about her, please pray for Bethany and the wonderful team she is with. God is poised to do a mighty work this week, and that is never without opposition. It has not been a "problem free" trip so far, so our prayers are definitely needed. It has been said that "The history of missions is the history of answered prayer." (S. Zwemer) I truly believe that to be true. Dick Eastman said, "In no other way can the believer become as fully involved with God's work, especially the work of world evangelism, as in intercessory prayer." There is simply no substitute for interceding for a lost world and those who are responsive to the call to go. May God receive all glory for the great things He will do this week in Mexico and all over the world, through the work of those who are on mission for Him and the prayers of those at home.

Heritage Day

A few weeks ago we had the opportunity to participate in our agency's "Heritage Day." It was such a fun event, where internationally and domestically adopted children and their families could come and experience a bit of the culture and food from their countries of origin. Our family was privileged to help out in the Ethiopia room, performing the puppet show we had done at Minte's orphanage on our adoption trip, the Ethiopian folktale, Silly Mammo. It was so fun to see the other families who are in the Ethiopia program, as well as meet some new families. I am so thankful for an agency who has events such as this to connect us with our child's culture, but also the adoption community. At the end, they had a wonderful Ethiopian praise and worship group sing, and also had a martial arts school perform... two things that are close to Minte's heart. (He just recently received his yellow belt in karate, and Kyle has his orange belt so far.) God is so faithful to provide opportunities like that!

Restoring Order

I have been really, really working to become more organized. I am not kidding when I have referred to being in a "fog" in the months surrounding this adoption. I already tend toward procrastination as it is, so when I get preoccupied things can really pile up. By God's grace, I have been able to restore order to several key areas of my life in recent weeks. First among them: school, which I feel has been a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants effort this year. Another is simply clutter control. Thankfully, that has gotten better lately. I really have felt like I wasn't "looking well to the ways of my household" (Prov. 31) in recent months, and I finally feel a sense that I'm on the other side of a very disorganized season. If you are having difficulty in this area, let me encourage you! I understand! Stick with a schedule and a routine, try not to "eat the bread of idleness" and keep working at it in the 1 Pet. 4:11 "strength God provides." It will get better.

Finally Free!

I've never been very "thrifty." I'm one to use a coupon for a box of cereal, but then go spend an inordinately large amount of money on a new purse. I go through seasons of saving, or at least not spending as much... then I go on a shopping spree. I'm just not very disciplined in that area. I've gotten better over the years, but it's been slow going. By no stretch am I dismissing it or saying "Well, that's just how I am." I've really had to rethink my spending habits and let God do a Romans 12:1-2 renewal of my mind in this area. I found that, as a homeschooler I sort of "baptized" my spending. I would channel my spendthrifty habits toward school. ("We need this. It's for the kids.") I have such a patient husband! Bethany is taking a Financial Peace University class this spring, and it's been really good for her. I wish I had learned those principles when I was in high school! By God's incredible grace, in recent weeks, we have been able to finally be in a position of having no debt except our mortgage. Yey!!! Many of you have lived this way for years, and to that I say a sincere, heartfelt "Good for you!" I mean it! In recent years we have just now "caught on" to God's vision for our finances, so when I say "by God's grace" I mean just that. We remain a one-career, homeschooling family living on an average "middle class" income, and it simply astounds me what God will do when you simply yield your spending to Him. I'm amazed. A friend we met at the Ethiopia Guest Home last September has a wonderful website full of great money-saving tips: The Penny-Wise Family. I encourage you to check it out! After our journey over the past several years, I can honestly say that nothing feels as good to buy as debt-free feels.

Bible Study

I recently finished the Bible study, Stepping Up. It had been awhile since I had done a Beth Moore study, and I really enjoyed it. (I know she's been called "emotionally charged" before, but sometimes I need that. At times I respond well to "emotionally charged" as long as it's theologically accurate, which this study was. In fact, recently I was listening to John Piper and realized he could be described as "emotionally charged", too. And really, is that always a bad thing?) I really enjoyed this particular study, as it focuses on the Psalms of Ascent, and I always l-o-v-e camping out in the Psalms. Whenever I need spiritual refreshment or for God to change my heart in key ways, turning me towards Himself, I always find myself in the Psalms. Next, I'm doing Mary Kassian's study Conversation Peace: The Power of Transformed Speech. Can you tell what God's dealing with me on now? LOL

Calling All Movers

We had fun last weekend going to see the Imagination Movers in concert. We had our first-ever Mom-Dad-Minte-only outing, and it was so fun! Our other two enjoyed one-on-one time with some other family members and Luke and I treated Minte to breakfast out and seeing some people from his favorite television show in real life! He was so excited! In fact, I have to say that I haven't seen him this visibly, demonstrably excited about anything since he's been home. It was so worth it to watch him light up like that. (If you don't know who in the world I'm talking about, either you don't have preschoolers or you don't have the Disney channel. A few months ago, I wouldn't have known either!) Our older kids have been so sweet to make sure Minte gets the opportunity to enjoy things for "younger" kids without being made fun of or made to feel it's "uncool." He didn't have these opportunities when he was preschool aged, and quite frankly, these songs/shows are at his pace language-wise. I have felt really strongly since before he came home that he would be allowed the opportunity to go through all of the "phases" my other two did. So, we watch Barney, play with play-doh, make snow cones, finger paint, read stories and do puppets... all of the things I did when they were younger. If you are adopting an older child, don't feel like you have to skip some of the "younger" activities. Many times they didn't do those things at 3 or 4 years of age, but the songs, concepts, and sensory experiences are still important and necessary. And, as God has a habit of doing, He worked it out so perfectly that we sat next to some precious family friends with whom we have traveled this adoption journey (we didn't plan it at all!) and the boys got to enjoy it together! Ephesians 3:20-21! More than we asked or imagined!

Ethiopian Cooking

Here's last week's Ethiopian dinner. It turned out great! I realize that those of you who haven't tried Ethiopian food may not think this looks very appetizing, but it is really good! This was a chicken stew, with hard boiled eggs in it (served with it, really). It was chicken, marinated in lime juice and red onion, then cooked with onion, spiced butter (spiced with ginger, basil and garlic... not just like the book but good enough!), olive oil, cardamom, nutmeg and turmeric, black pepper and sea salt.I served it with lentils, which are so healthy! Once the lentils had boiled, I added a splash of green Tabasco, a sprinkle of garlic and a dash of bere bere (Ethiopian chili powder). When Minte saw them he said, "Oh!! Minte's fay-borite!" I'm telling you, that response is worth the experimentation, cooking outside of my comfort zone, and leaving the windows open for 12 hours. He ate it for lunch the next two days, and there was none left for "leftover night." I'm posting this to inspire someone. If I can cook Ethiopian food, anyone can!

While I'm at the computer, here's our menu for this week:

Monday: "Minchet Abishe" (Hot Ground Beef Stew- made-a-bit-less-hot ;) and "Yeatakilt Wet" (Cabbage and potatoes) from TROL , with some injera I picked up yesterday
Tuesday: Broiled Tilapia Parmesan, green beans, steamed broccoli/cauliflower
Wednesday: fried chicken, potatoes, peas (judge me if you must, but we love it ;)
Thursday: Leftovers
Friday: Savory Cheese Soup, salad, wheat rolls

This week's MPM is being hosted by Erin at 5 Dollar Dinners, so head on over there for some economical dinner ideas or to share your menu.

Well, that's a glimpse of our life lately. I hope you're getting a "spring break" of sorts, and experiencing the refreshment and renewal of a new season. Thank you so much for stopping by to catch up!

The Kitchen, the Heart of the Home

2009-03-08T22:30:00.003-05:00

One evening last week when the boys burst in the door after karate, the house was filled with the aroma of the dinner I had been preparing. Minte (our son from Ethiopia who's been here about 6 months) stopped short, his face erupting into a big smile, and exclaimed "Mommy!! Ees smells a really-really Ee-tiopia!"

Mission accomplished. I loved it. That's what I was going for. You see, two things have the ability to touch a part of his soul we can't get to... Ethiopian praise/worship music and Ethiopian food. When I posted my menu I shared that I feel like I'm finally coming out of my "post-adoption fog" enough to begin incorporating more Ethiopian recipes. Up until now it's been limited to the spicy pasta he taught me to make, which we make together most Sunday evenings. By God's grace, I have grown to love cooking and trying new recipes, but I've been a bit intimidated at the thought of tackling more "ethnic" ones that I either (1) have never tasted so I have no idea whether it turned out right, or (2) have tasted, prepared by a native of that country or a professional chef, so I know mine won't be the same! However, this is important to me. It's worth trying.

I've always felt strongly about wanting my family to have positive memories of our family meals at home. I want them to come home from college or with their own families someday, looking forward to "mom's cooking." I love it when they follow their noses to the kitchen! For our newest son, I want his association with food in his new home to be another reminder of how much we love him... all of him. When he came home, he brought with him his culture and his food preferences. I don't want all of his Ethiopian food memories to be associated with being across the world or in a restaurant. I want some of those memories to lead his mind right back home...to his Texas home. It is often said that the kitchen is the heart of a home. Sometimes (more often than we might think!) "what's for dinner" is about something much bigger than just getting food on the table. It's about reaching our family's hearts.

So here it is, my maiden voyage into the world of Ethiopian cooking: "Alicha Yetakilit Wet Besiga." It certainly didn't turn out as beautiful as the picture in the book, but it tasted great! Steak, potatoes, carrots, cabbage, and red onions, seasoned with garlic, ginger and turmeric. (For links to some of the Ethiopian cookbooks I have found, check my sidebar or visit this post. If you know of others, please share in the comments!)

Something else everyone loved last week was the black bean burritos. The filling was so good, my husband used some to make quesadillas on Thursday (YOYO, "you're on your own") night. It would even be a good dip, I think.

So, here's what cooking at our house this week:

Monday: "Ye'doro Alicha Wet" (Mild Chicken Stew with Hard Boiled Egg from TROL), green beans, lentils

Tuesday: Ham & Cheese Bowties, peas, carrots, garlic bread

Wednesday: Southwestern Fish Tacos, black beans, Spanish rice, corn casserole

Thursday: Leftover/ YOYO night

Friday: Tomato Basil Soup (recipe here, scroll down to page 4), salad, crusty wheat bread

For more menu plans, or to share your own, visit Laura. Have a yummy week!

Menu Monday

2009-03-02T06:10:00.001-06:00

How on earth is it Monday again? Did last week fly by for you as it did for me? In my last post I noted that the wind has been gusting here, blowing March in like a lion. It sure blew the last week of February out quickly!

In last Monday's menu post, I mentioned using the Grocery Gadget app on my phone to plan my grocery list. It has still proven to be very handy! I was able to add to it all week long, and as I made my menu plan I simply clicked on the ingredients I would need. My list was complete for this coming week by last Friday. My sweet husband volunteered to go to the store for me on the spur of the moment Friday evening, and for one minute I had a "oh-no-my-list-is-in-my-phone" moment. But, with the touch of a button I was able to email my list to him, which he printed out in a matter of seconds and took to the store. Love. It.

Last week I took some time to plan my menu for March. Menu planning has become such a sanity-saver for me in recent years. It's a gift I give myself. (Which, in turn, ends up being a gift for my family!) I can bustle and blunder my way through the week ahead, with the myriad of decisions that await me each day, but at least one question has been answered already: What's for dinner? And that's a big question! Planning ahead has already settled a major issue I already know I'll face each day, so my feeble mind is freed up to tackle other things that will come up that I don't know about yet. I've posted before about the merits of menu planning, but I just thought I'd say it again today. It doesn't have to be complicated- soup, cereal, sandwiches or take-out - just write it down and it's officially a plan!

For this month's planning, I used another fun app on my phone, the Dinner Spinner. It was so fun! I've always been a fan of Allrecipes.com, and this made it even more handy for me. At least one recipe each week this month came from that app, so it was truly helpful! I've also incorporated an Ethiopian recipe per week, using recipes out of a book called The Recipe of Love by Aster Ketsela Belayneh. I haven't collected all of my Ethiopian spices yet, but some of what the recipes call for (like turmeric, cardamom, ginger and garlic) are readily available or I already had them on hand. After weeks of making spicy pasta together, Minte and I are ready to branch out! In a way, I feel like I am finally coming out of a six-month-long "post adoption fog" and I'm finding I'm ready to tackle some new recipes. So, I'm excited about this book and I love how the recipes are easy to read, with photos of each recipe (I'm very visual!).

Before I list our dinners, let me share my new favorite lunch: Kashi Black Bean Mango frozen entree along with Archer Farms Organic Blue Corn Flax Seed chips that I found at Super Target. Oh my word, it's like a yummy dip. One of the Kashi's lasts me for two days, so it's not even that expensive. It's quick and easy and really gives me energy for the afternoon.

So here's what's for dinner at our house this week:

Monday: Black Bean Burritos, Mexican rice, corn salad (I use Mexicorn instead of separate red and green bell peppers)

Tuesday: Lemon Pepper Tilapia, Linguine with Broccoli and Red Peppers

Wednesday: "Alicha Yetakilit Wet Besiga" (Mild Vegetable and Beef Combo from TROL)

Thursday: Leftovers/ YOYO (You're On Your Own)

Friday: Happy Birthday Audrey!! Out for pizza at my sweet niece's birthday party. Fun!

For more menu plans and recipes, or to share yours, visit Laura at Orgjunkie.com. Have a yummy week!

In Like A Lion

2009-03-01T07:40:00.049-06:00

I have been thinking of the saying, "March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb" in recent days. As March has been approaching, the wind has been whipping here like crazy, and the way it's been blowing my hair up over my head, I'm afraid I've been coming in like a lion!

On this first day of March, I was thinking about the saying and also reminded of our visit to the Lion Park during our adoption trip to Ethiopia six months ago. I have not blogged about the events of each day of the trip yet, and it may take me years to do it. I'm still processing so much of it in my mind. Yesterday we did a presentation about our trip to our Bible Fellowship class at church, and my husband included some photos from this particular day, which brought to mind some wonderful memories.

We were so blessed to be able to spend over a week as a family in Addis Ababa, seeing the sights and absorbing the culture with our new son. It was an unforgettable, set-apart, God-ordained time. Simply amazing. We saw so many things that we may never see again, exhibits and places introducing us to the fascinating country of Ethiopia, but I have to say... my focus was on him. Mintesinot Alemu. Our son. My son. I was watching him act silly with his new brother and sister and look adoringly at his new Dad. I was hugging him when I had the opportunity and touching his head. Watching him jump and dance and sing. Listening to him speak his wonderful language. Hearing him call me "Mommy." I was, and continue to be, in awe of this precious child who has been gifted by God in so many ways... so resilient, so funny. He is an example of a child whose heart has been guarded... protected by God's loving hand. He has been through unspeakably difficult things, but has such joy. Oh how I love him, and I'm so glad he's ours.

When I think back to our time in Addis, I feel afresh the excitement of the "newness" of it all, but I love reflecting on it from the comfortable familiarity of today. It was all still so new that day, the day we visited the Lion Park. Being that close to lions was definitely a new experience for our family! You can stand literally a couple of feet from from them. There are lions, bars, chain link, then you. Right there. Lions. Staring you in the face. I remember standing there and thinking, "I can't believe I'm this close to a lion." Several Bible verses about lions ran through my mind that day. At one point, we were watching one, and it roared an ear-splitting roar. I could actually smell its breath! Not many people get close enough to a lion to smell its breath and walk away from the experience! I thought of Daniel and David. I imagined how the early Christians must have felt as they were forced to come face to face with lions. I remembered our reading of David Livingstone's encounter with a lion and thought of it with a fresh perspective. It was spine-tingling enough with two layers of fence between us! Some of the lions would lay close to the bars and you could reach their manes, which, to my surprise, some people would give a tug. It would never occur to me to pull a lion's mane! It was a very interesting day, indeed.

During our visit, we toured the circle of cages, pausing to take some pictures, watching them eat and sharing some of the thoughts I mentioned above. All the while, I was fixed on our new son, wondering what was going through his mind. At this point, having only known his American family for two days or so, and knowing very little English, he wasn't able to tell us what he was thinking. His eyes and facial expressions spoke volumes to me, though. At one point we paused for this picture:

It was a great shot, two lions together (as close as I'll ever put my children to them!) and a perfect picture spot. Our new son. Our new family. New siblings. New parents of three. A new country. A new experience. A new identity. A new season.

I wish I could post another photo that we received that week, but I won't. It's Minte's to share someday. But I will describe it to you. Keep the above picture in your mind's eye, only remove Bethany and Kyle. Imagine Minte 4 or 5 years younger, with a missing front tooth. Envision a handsome, tall Ethiopian man kneeling down next to him with his arm around him. The layer of chain link fence is gone, and only the bars are there. Picture the same lion in the background, in that same position. A smiling boy with his smiling father, spending a sunny afternoon at the Lion Park together. That's the photo we received, of Minte and his Ethiopian father kneeling in what could have been that exact spot a few years ago.

What was so new to us that week was actually familiar territory to him. Of course, experiencing it with us was new, but he'd been there before, maybe even multiple times. Everything on this side of it, now that we've been home, has been new territory for him, but familiar to us. The new and the familiar, woven together on a daily basis. The Master Weaver, expertly weaving a beautiful story out of broken threads.

Being united with your newly adopted child can "come in like a lion." There's a flurry of activity, a whirlwind of new emotions, and a beautiful new definition of "family" brings with it a new season. Some of it is unsettling, much of it is foreign, in its own way it's all wonderful, though at times it will blow your hair back! You'll stand closer to situations and emotions than you ever thought you would. You'll stare things in the face you'd have never thought you'd dare to. You'll simultaneously stand with one foot rooted in the familiar and one foot planted in the new. But you'll love more fiercely than any lion's roar.

Wendem

2009-02-24T14:18:00.001-06:00

(brothers)

Praying Them Home

2009-02-24T12:30:00.012-06:00

Like cold water to a weary soul,

So is good news from a distant land.
Proverbs 25:25

I've been in prayer for several adoptive families lately... I know there are many out there in blogland, but God has laid these families, in particular, on my heart.

These families have adoption court dates approaching:

Court this Thursday, 2/26 Our Life

Court this Friday, 2/27 Wade Whereabouts

Court next Tuesday, 3/3 Megan Quest/ Jadyn Journals

These families have returned recently with their older children and are in the midst of transition:

A Simple Journey (This family adopted Minte's best friend, Yeneneh!)

Ethiopian Adoption

And this family is in Ethiopia now, being united with their precious new baby daughter:

Adoption Memoirs

Please join me in praying for these precious families in the various stages of the adoption journey. You may even want to leave a comment of encouragement on their blogs, I know first hand what a boost that can be! If you know of others who are in a crucial time in the process, please let me know in the comments and link their blogs so more can be praying!

Menu Monday

2009-02-23T06:56:00.006-06:00

Happy Monday! I hope you had a great weekend. We did. Our first one without basketball games in awhile, a break from Saturday sports until soccer starts. We enjoyed leisurely mornings both Saturday and Sunday (we attend church on Saturday nights) so we had big breakfasts both mornings... biscuits and gravy Saturday morning and pancakes on Sunday. What a treat! (Not sure why I shared that, but this is a food-related post and that was fresh on my mind.) This weekend I added 2 TBS of sugar and a tsp of vanilla to the pancake batter and it made them *so* good. Served with homemade syrup, they were very "yahmmy" as our newest son would say.

I have been taking a break from blogging as much in recent weeks, but not taking a break from menu planning! It's one thing that helps keep me sane! And the new "MPM" graphic at the top reminds me of the Grocery Gadget application I got for my phone. I am a list girl, so this app has been helpful. I'm still figuring it out, though, so if you use it and have any tips, please share!

One thing we had in the past couple of weeks was this Honey Dijon Pork Chops recipe that everyone really liked. Another was an impromptu combination of this Baked Pesto Chicken recipe and this recipe for a simple bruschetta. Dinner was running later than usual one evening last week, so I toasted some bread and made the bruschetta for an appetizer. In the pesto chicken recipe, I substituted bruschetta for the chopped tomatoes. The result was really good! So, it turned into "Baked Pesto Bruschetta Chicken." I halved the chicken breasts and baked them at 400 degrees on foil on a baking sheet, and they were done and perfect in 25 minutes. I think I will always bake chicken that way.
I served it with some pasta with tomato alfredo sauce, peas, caesar salad, and the toasted batard bread we had with the bruschetta. It turned out to be one of everyone's favorite dinners last week. I love it when recipes come together that way! And so easy!

We have a fundraiser at a local hamburger place for my daughter's upcoming mission trip to Mexico, so we have one night out. I've been keeping up my weekly menu planning routine of cooking Monday through Wednesday, leftovers on Thursday, then an easy homemade soup on Friday. Front-loading the week this way really helps me. This way we have left-overs for a YOYO ("You're On Your Own") night and then I don't cook dinners on the weekends (except Ethiopian spicy pasta on Sunday nights!) We go out at least once every weekend after church and the rest of the time we have soup and leftovers.

Here's our week in food:

Monday~ EZ Chicken (Cooking with 4 Ingredients cookbook), rice, stir-fry
Tuesday~ chicken fried steak (Judge me if you must... I haven't made these in just forever, one of my sweet husband's favorites!), mashed potatoes, gravy, carrots, peas
Wednesday~ out
Thursday~ leftovers
Friday~ baked potato soup, salad, garlic bread

For more recipes and some great menu links, visit Laura at Orgjunkie. Have a yummy week!

One Day More

Feet Shod With The Gospel

"Don't Blink." [I didn't.]

Crock Pot Doro Wat

Calm in the Chaos

Plan A

5 Months Later...

No Parking

If You Give A Duck A Cracker

Adoption Blogger Day... Our Truth

Menu Monday- My Menu Planning Binder

*S*N*O*W* Much Fun!

Monday's Menu Tuesday

Thankful Thursday

Menu Monday

Fosoleay

Minchet Abishe

Thankful Thursday

Monday's Menu... Making Level Paths

Bitterness

MPM, MLK, and a Family Favorite

Haitian Adoptive Families: We are Praying!

Wow. This was not my initial response.

MPM- Back to a Routine

Not How It Was Supposed To Be

A Change of Plans

A Call to Pray

Back In China!

All I Really Want For Christmas

Christmas Week Menu

Monday's Meanderings and Menu

First Snow!

When You Look At An Adopted Child, You're Looking At A Survivor

Back To Reality and Monday's Menu

Back to Ethiopia!!

Go Make Disciples

Monday Menu and an Ethiopian Recipe

Works for Me: Not Saving Steps

Monday's Menu and Minte on the Mend

Our TV Debut!

Soup On The Spot (And Menu-Monday-On-Tuesday)

I'm Sure Bono Would Approve

A Movie Worth Seeing

Yesterday Last Year... Yesterday This Year

Works For Me: Don't Wake Mommy

Monday Menu and Simple Shortcuts

Dare You to Pray This

Works-For-Me Wednesday: Guarding My Mind

Menu Monday: Tuesday Edition and the Easiest Bruschetta Recipe Ever

Enduring Grace

I Am Second. Third, Actually. Maybe Even Fourth.

Ten Things I Love About My Dad

Making Decisions

Sometimes you're too busy livin' it...

Monday? And May? Already?

A Greater Grace

Menu Monday

Truck &Tooth Pull and Sink Serenade

Midweek Mishmash

Zooming Out

Monday Minte-isms and Menu

Busy But Blessed

"Loosed" for the Lord's Purposes

"The Best Year Ever"

Thus Far

Picture Perfect

Works-for-me Wednesday: My Beloved Laundry Schedule

"The Deer's Cry"

Sunday Salmagundi

The Kitchen, the Heart of the Home

Menu Monday

In Like A Lion

Wendem

Praying Them Home

Menu Monday

SN*OW Much Fun!