Wednesday, August 31, 2011

What About Those Muslims

Does God really love them?  Yep, He does. 

9/11,  you remember....that September 11th?  I was on my way to work, in Seattle, at Boeing.  The radio beeped, that annoying public safety test...now when that beep comes over the air my stomach falls

I arrived at work. They were sending us home, not sure if rumors of a plane heading for Seattle were true.  Boeing would be a pretty prime target, we thought at the time. 

I picked up Number One from his neighbor-hood caregiver.  She is Muslim.  She had her Koran out and was reading, she was crying, and praying.  My heart hurt for the pain and negativity that extremists of her religion were pulling over on her, a very good woman.  A woman to love.   Months later her house suddenly emptied.  She and her kids gone, disappeared.  We never knew what happened to her and her beautiful children.  I pray for her. 

God loves Muslims.  They are a powerful group of devout people, praying to our One True God, but they do not know Jesus, The Way.  In US prisons more prisoners convert to Islam than Christianity.  More young, black men convert to Islam than Christianity.  In Africa  Muslim charities are building orphanages, schools, mosques, more so than Christian charities are.  Think of the world that could come from Muslim Christians? 

Join me in prayer for our Muslim friends and neighbors, near and far. 


The greatest is LOVE, not pride, not fear, not hate. 

Thursday, August 25, 2011

This First Week of School

School began this week here in Central TX. 

I think the neighborhood kids are actually glad to be in school, where the air is cooled.  It is too hot to do much outside; there are some kids I haven't even seen this summer.  What do they do all day?

Tom started 6th grade.  They were not ready for our hearing impaired, English challenged, slow learning child.  The school let us down.  They were surprised when I walked in the door three weeks ago to see what their plan was for him.  "Oh, we didn't know if he was even coming this year"!  That was a big clue that I was in for a headache.   The woman who assured me last Spring that all would be set up,  changed positions, her replacement had never heard of our son, did not even have his file.

Oh well.  We adjust.  We are flexible.  We show GRACE because we live under GRACE

I have now met with the correct people at the school.  They are making changes, and learning about him, and will have their stuff together soon. 

Tom is loving school.  His first day he came home and announced that he had made 9 friends this, the very first day!  Last year he only made one friend on the first day of school.  

My only "oh my gosh, you can't be serious!" comment at this point is that they have him in a Spanish class.  I told them I'll leave him there if he likes it, and as long as it does not appear to screw up his English any more than it already is....

Bis loves school.  His teacher is the "best ever!", so cute after just two days to be able to make that conclusion. 

At home we are off and running with school.  I love schooling at home.  My three at home (Yo, Number One, and EQ) are so great at getting themselves started on their daily tasks. 

They each have a folder, with tabs to be completed each week.  You can see that on an older post. 

Our week has looked like this:

Reading out loud "Nim's Island":
We will rent the movie next week and write up a comparison. 
Creative writing using Nim's Island.  EQ made a favorite words list from the book, then wrote a poem.  #1 wrote about what he thinks will be happening next in the story.  Yo is working on understanding the vocabulary. 
Watching netflix shows on the ocean. 


Math games on the computer and lessons on fractions.

Spelling on spellingcity.com

Current News from How to Feed Your Brain.  Connecting what we read with our Atlas of the world.  Tracking Irene the hurricane.

Each son has cooking every week.  This week was desserts! Yum.
#1 made a pumpkin pie.  EQ made a strawberry Cool Whip pie.  Yo is going to make a gingerbread cake in the shape of a yule log (from a Christmas cookbook). 

#1 made a card house car wash:

 


It's been a good week.  We might even get rain tonight.  I think today is going to be the 71st day with temps over 100 degrees.  


Sunday, August 21, 2011

Eat your Cake

I love easy recipes.  Too many ingredients and I just move right along.

This is good, or it WAS good.


The above is prior to popping it into the oven.

From my favorite cookbook, Ultimate Southern Living

Honey Bun Cake

1 yellow cake mix w/pudding in the mix
4 eggs
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup water
1 8oz carton or 1 cup, of sour cream
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
2/3 cup chopped pecans

Combine first 5 ingredients.  Mix for 2 minutes with a mixer, or by hand (as I do).
In a small bowl combine brown sugar, cinnamon and pecans.
Pour 1/2 the cake batter into greased 9x13 cake pan.  Sprinkle with 1/2 the sugar/nut mix, pour rest of batter over the top, sprinkle with the rest of the nut mix.  Swirl around a bit with a knife. 
Bake at 350 for 35 minutes.

Frost with buttercream or sourcream frosting, or eat it nakid'. 

This is not a cake you can deny making and hide in the pantry to consume all by yourself.  It smells way too good - like coffee cake. 

Now, don't forget to walk the dog.  Aim for a 15 minute mile, then you can have more cake!

Choosing the break

I have a friend, she has a sister; a brave sister who at this moment is choosing the break

To end a relationship is to choose a broken heart.  Yes it will mend, and sure it hurt to be there in the first place...but the pain is different.  That leaving kind of pain, tied to unanswered questions and HOPE, it is hard.  I don't yet know her, but I am proud of her.  

And I'm proud of my friend A, and her N Man; they are opening their little home and their big hearts to this woman who so needs a safe refuge.  I can't imagine having that kind of a sister and brother-in-law.  I hope that Man and I are raising boys who would reach out to each other if there is ever such a need. 

In my past I was not brave enough to break away.  I could not see my way out.  But I did not share the need with anyone who might of offered me the way.  And so I waited, and he left.  Thank God! 

Healing comes, this too shall pass (I love that, and said it to myself often). 

Hope rises.

And Texan men are hot, I mean really nice and gentlemanly.  Even just moving to Texas seems to imbue a man with the best of manliness. 

Counting the gifts, making note of the beauty - these move us along toward healing.  Seeing all that we don't deserve, but that He gives us anyway.

Thursday, August 18, 2011

What's for dinner?

One of the top 10 questions in our home is "what's for dinner?".  I can even have it on the table and the kids will still ask that question, like it's automatic.  Uh...look at the table, duh.  Or use your nose, or come have a look...or what does it usually mean when Dad heads out the back door with a plate of raw chicken?

The obvious is sometimes not so obvious when you are 9 or 11 or whatever

I bought beer for Man the other day.  I do not know beer.  I looked at all the beer options, looked at prices, saw one from Canada with a decent price...and thought (reasonably) Man likes Canada, I'm sure he'll like Canadian beer.  Not true.

He waited a respectable 2 days and then brought home an American beer. 

So what to do with beer that I don't want and neither does Man?  Make Brisket in Beer, and Beer Bread. 

Here's the bread, which I think I've posted before, but I'm short on ideas this week.



Beer Bread
1 12oz beer
3 cups self rising flour
1/4 cup sugar

Mix it all together.  Dump into greased loaf pan, bake at 350 for 50 minutes.  Serve warm.

On a different night I made Chicken Marsala.  I tried a new recipe, I like my old Marsala recipe better, but here's what I made this week:





Chicken Marsala from Southern Living Cookbook
1 tsp. chopped rosemary
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 lb. chicken breast, smashed to 1/3 inch or so
olive oil
sliced mushrooms, I use portabella
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp chicken bouillon (this has msg, I hate that, but didn't know what else to use)
1/3 cup Marsala cooking wine
1/3 cup water or broth

Rub rosemary, salt and pepper over meat.  Heat oil in med. skillet and brown meat about 4 minutes on each side, until cooked.  Remove and keep warm.
Add mushrooms, garlic and more oil to skillet, cook.
Combine cornstarch, bouillon, water, Marsala; add to skillet.  Cook until thick and bubbly. 
Put meat on a platter, pour the sauce and mushrooms over it.  Serve with bread or rice.

Sunday, August 14, 2011

New Love

There's this gal, a pioneer gal, from Oklahoma...I'm in love.  

I found her a while back, maybe even a year back, and thought "oh my, she's wonderful", then I forgot about her.   That's just a testament to how busy I am.

Last week I bumped into her again (well not her, but her blog).  

It's like when I first met Man.  Wonderful!  Then I wondered if he was really as great as he seemed that first day.  He smelled good, looked good, sounded good, mmmm!  Then that next day he was just as good, or better!

That's how I feel about this gal.   I'm so happy to have re-found her. 

Please visit her site.  You will find something to treasure there.  Check out her recipe tab, or her confessions tab then click on Charlie her basset hound, or anything - it's ALL good!   I'm loving her photography bits. 

If you like coffee even the littlest bit, or know someone who likes coffee, look for her iced coffee recipe, wow! 

I'm going to try and photograph food again.  It's really hard to take pics of food.  But Ree has inspired me to try again.  Ree (that's Pioneer Woman). 
Meet her here:
http://thepioneerwoman.com/

For dinner we are having brats on the grill, and potato salad.  Not your store variety spud salad, the good stuff.


For this you will need:
yellow potatoes, I like Yukon Gold
mayonnaise
mustard (I use French's, honest I do)
pickles, dill, not pre-chopped
purple onion
olives, I like Kalamatas (I like my food and my Man strong!)
olive oil
pepper
sea salt, or whatever salt you have

Chop the spuds into about 3/4" chunks, put em' in a pot, cover with water and boil until soft/firm.

Chop the onion, or 1/2 the onion, slice the olives in half, chop the pickles, but leave them big so you can actually taste them.  Mix these in a bowl, add a big spoon of mayo, a good squirt of mustard, a long drizzle of olive oil, three or four grinds of pepper and at least a teaspoon of salt. 

When the potatoes are done, drain them, throw it all together and let it cool on down.  Or...you can serve it hot if it's a cool day.  Hot Potato salad is good. 

Send rain

Okay, I admit it, I am desiring rain.  Coolness, wet, clouds, whatever...

Countless days over 100 degrees, no rain for months, yes, months.  I am tired of it.  This time last year we were swimming in the rivers, fishing, hiking.  It was hot, but not so darned dry.

You know it's hot when the birds line up in the shade thrown down by the telephone wire, and they are panting!  Panting birds for goodness sake!  I swear I never knew birds could pant.  I'll try to get a pic of this phenomenon.  Oh but that would mean going outside, so never mind, just take my word for it. 

The only thing that loves this heat is watermelon.

If I can just figure out when to pick our melons.  I am so worried about too soon, too late, oh my gosh!  The boys will be bummed if we have to toss any of our 13 or so melons. 

Of course we still get to the pool, and the water park.








Love this shot of Yo.  This is him about 5 years from now, the lifeguard at the pool, reassuring all the lovely girls that they are safe, now that he's here!



And even when it's hot, we love cake!


The Dell Baseball Diamond is just down the road from us.  Everything in this part of the state is Dell...like Boeing or Microfluff in Washington. 

We took in a game the other night with friends of ours.  To my surprise we played the Tacoma Rainiers!  I cheered for Tacoma, of course (they needed someone to cheer for them!).  Tacoma won.  You're welcome.

I would ask for rain prayers and dancing, but it seems greedy when compared to the drought in the Horn of Africa.  We have water, they do not.  Granted, many farmers in TX and OK are having to sell off their cattle up North, before said cattle die, and that is no small thing.  

We are not watering our lawn.  I swear that to live in Central TX, during a drought and have a green lawn should be illegal!


"Tut tut, it looks like rain", declared Christopher Robin.  or is that Blackbeard?



Water, water everywhere.  This pic from the San Juan Islands of Washington State. 

Anyway, stay cool, pray for rain - and the Horn. 

I'm out of pina colada mix, must exit the house.....

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

The Question of Good

Ann at aholyexperience has a great post regarding the existence of good

I tend to look at the bad, the evil, the lack and wonder "is there a God in all of this? and if there is, is He good?"

Ann poses the opposite question.  "If there is no God then why is there any good?"

flowers blooming in the ghetto
fathers coming home to their family
sun sparkles on dew
puppies
giggles....

If there is no God, where does all of the good come from? 

Is the bad due to our lack of loving our neighbor?  Could this bad be turned around if we would all just share?

Like Katie, a young woman I pray for and am inspired by:


There are two blogs about and by Katie Davis.  One through her ministry, Amazima, the other under kisses from Katie, you can find these to the right.

Katie's book comes out in October, buy it, support  her, share your wealth. 

I was not raised with a sharing attitude.  Not that my parents screwed me up in some way regarding this, rather I just don't think most parents set out with intention to teach their kids to love thy neighbor

Intention.  Everything we do is fed by our intent.  If we go along without prayer and thought to this, we act selfishly.  I see it in me, and I see it in my kids.  

If I want selfless love to be the default for our children, I have to be intentional about it

What is the most important thing I can teach my kids?  Is it really the multiplication table? spelling?

Do I dare ask them to go without some extravagance so that we can financially support someone else?  Maybe they would surprise me and make selfless choices if I presented them with such choices more often. 

Friday, August 5, 2011

Oasis in the desert

A few weeks ago Man and I had a date night with friends of ours.  Grown-up friends, grown up date night - wow!  that's rare for us.  One of our favorite teens kept our boys alive, so we could really enjoy ourselves.

It was a certain man's 40th birthday, a day that passed me by a few years ago; but it's fun to hang out with youngsters - ha!

His sneaky wife planned the surprise party, with a Humvee Limo and all the works.  We went to a popular dining place in Austin called The Oasis.  The tradition is that folks watch the sunset from the open balconies, then give a standing ovation to God's glory...love that!  And, being Central Texas, it does not rain so no worries there. 


My Man with plenty of leg room.


Birthday Boy and Sneaky Wife


My beautiful friend ML and her cuty patooty hubby.


Short people unite!


The view.


Another view.


Hey Friends, I'm 40!


And dancing to live music; or at least I think they were alive, old but alive.

Sunset over Lake Travis.  The lake is so low, there should be no beach to speak of. 

We had a really good time!  I just love our Texan friends, and miss our Washington ones...

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Rampin' up for homeschool

After about 5 years of being my kids' primary educator, I finally had a good year last year!  That's not to say that I never blew it; my head did spin around a few times, but never actually shot off.

This is what worked last year, and will be used this year, with some modifications for Number One.

We have 5 boys, I don't school them all at home.  I would like to do a good job at schooling them all, but I'm just not there.  Tom has his hearing impairment and other delays that make me nutty; Bis is an attention seeker.  Bis has greatly improved, he no longer breaks everything, or lies all the time - but he likes to play dumb and that instantly makes me furious.  My problem, not his, but until I master my fury, he needs to not school at home.

Last year I had Yo and EQ at home, this year Number One will be home, too.  I have missed having #1 at home. 

Back to what works for us.  I have a set daily schedule of things we do together:

The far right column, free choice, has nothing to do with the specific days; I just had room in the margin so made a list there.   So there are things we do together, like every day at 12 I read to the boys for an hour, yep an hour.  On Tuesdays at 2 we watch a documentary.  You get the idea.

Free choice are for those times that we do not school together.  The boys have folders with tabs for each free choice item.  We have about 15 hours that are not filled in the week, and about 12 hours of free choice options to fill those hours.  I know from experience that we don't always fill our time; and that's OKAY! Honestly, even if your homeschool friends tell you they stick to a schedule and never stray....they are lying, or just better than me.

Here is what Number One's folder looks like:


Each day has 3 hours of free choice.  The boys plan their day in the morning to fill those three hours.  They choose.  Seth may choose to do all of his math on Monday, that's cool, no problem.  EQ may choose building, spelling, Bible reading, art and cooking, great! 

It's good to have choice.  My boys like choice, but at the end of the week, they need to have all of the tabs moved to the done spot in their folders.  So they can put off spelling, but it still has to be done.  If I get a grumpy kid I can point out that they planned their day, not me, so buck up.  A boy that gets things all done before Friday gets to sleep in, and knock off early...whooohooo!

I have a list of local hikes we want to take, so I am ready for Friday's 10-12 hike.  I have lists of parks, so we are ready for park day. 

Suggestions for writing times:
picture writing (cut pics from magazines, write a story, use pics to illustrate)
creative writing
be a reporter
diary entry
book report
documentary report
change the ending of a story

Ideas for art:
photography
hot wax drawing (paper on hot plate like you use for pancakes, crayons to draw with)
paint with toes
sketch
silhouettes
illustrate a book you are reading
cave painting
torn paper
mosaic

We will be using nature journals that I'll order up for us in the next week or two.  For history we will keep a timeline and tie it in to biblical history.  Cooking includes finding a recipe, making a list for the store, and making the food item. 

Refer to links for where we do our spelling, and where we get our news, or do math on the computer. 

I'll post a book list on another day. 

Monday, August 1, 2011

A story about a stick


Where's my favorite stick?  What did I do with it?


It's not in my pool....


This is Not my stick.  This tastes like dirt, or grass, not stick!


Found it!  

Hey Dude, nice stick.


Give it to me!


Ah yes, I see what you mean.  Very nice.


Got it back, lard butt!


Not so fast Squirt!

To be continued.