Here come the cookies

Well once again, we've been washed away in busyness, but I did at least get a few pictures of some of our latest Advent activities...

 What a great Husband Dear--he was left to finish up what our three children were too tired to complete--please ignore the extraneous kitchen details, oh well since I've pointed it out, if you look closely behind Husband Dear you will see our aforementioned washing machine located in the kitchen, and our very handy trash can--oops!

 Stop.  Gingerbread time.
 You wouldn't maybe know it to look at her, but little imp is sick with fever in this shot--we've all been sick again (except eldest son).  I'm hoping we don't make illness a normal Christmas tradition, but it's been the norm thus far. 




I love the enthusiasm in this picture--I mean, really, shouldn't every six year old feel this way about a house made of cookies and candy and icing?  As an update, caught our youngest imp sneaking in and "liberating" some of the mortar from her skittle covered house.   Guess she's on the mend.=)

These girls

A funny thing happened while we were making a salad today.  

Counting the days

First of all, yikes! Has it really been so long since I last posted? Sorry to our family and friends, I guess we've been sucked into busyness lately, but I'm glad I've surfaced for a minute to share a few pictures and latest activities here.  We made our very first Advent Calendar this year and I'm so glad we have.  It has been such fun for the kids, oh ok and us, doing a special activity together as we count the days till Christmas.  It has also been really important as we're in a place that doesn't particularly notice this very special of days--I think it helps give the kids that since of anticipation.  The other cool thing about this little Advent Calendar is that it's about doing things together.  We've sung many Christmas carols--especially "The Twelve Days of Christmas" (thankfully we have the muppet version of this song so it isn't as grating to the nerves!)  We've made hot chocolate and cookies, we've read the story of St. Nicholas, and other Christmas books, and of course the story of the birth of Christ.  We even attempted to make our own Christmas cards, this one was not as successful as I'd hoped, but oh well.  One of my favorite activities so far was when we each shared about a favorite gift we had received--here's the kids:
Eldest son:  Pup (Oh yes, he has six of these pups stuffed animals actually, but there is a definite favorite)
Eldest daughter:  Daddy (someone's hoping for lots of gifts this Christmas!)
Youngest daughter: presents.  When pressed for more specifics: books.
In other news, we might experience a record low tonight for this time of year: 50 degrees Fahrenheit. =)

Hope all of you are happy and well.  Much joy to you all!

On giving thanks

Thursday was our family’s first Thanksgiving here and, overall, I thought it went well.  Of course, it was different and we missed our families back in the states, but maybe because of all of that it caused me to really think about the holiday, its origins and how this thanksgiving really seems a lot (in spirit) like what perhaps the original day might have been like.  We were a crew of assorted cultures, mostly Americans, gathered together, many missing those we love who are far away, but filled with gratitude for the friendship found in sharing this day together.  Everyone brought a dish that meant “Thanksgiving” for them or that was a favorite dish from their own country.  In the blending of cultures I was reminded of the beauty that can be found in sharing in other’s lives, their joys, their sorrows…and the grace that is given and received in this kind of moment.  So, happy thanksgiving to much loved ones who are never far from our hearts and to new friends who extended and included and welcomed us to the table—our lives are far better for the both.

As promised

Now if you were expecting quality pictures, I hate to disappoint, but that is most decidedly husband dear's department.  But here are a few of my quick pictures from the days of birthday around here for our eldest daughter.  When did she get so tall???  Here she is in a ballet outfit (You all are so great to send stuff our way for her big day thank you, thank you!).  What the photo didn't catch was her impromptu dance, which might have been more hip-hop than ballet, but hey at least she can move now mostly without running into furniture or innocent bystanders...

 Here is her cake, this picture makes me laugh because this represents the third cake I made for her birthday, which can be seen from my use of all the leftover icings.  This girl celebrated with cake at school, day care, and our house--not bad I think.  And by the way this cake is super yummy--here's the link: http://www.food.com/recipe/dark-chocolate-cake-2496   We prefer it with cream cheese icing...

 Here is a picture of the skirt I finally made for her.  No lie, I've been carrying around the fabric for this for over a year.  Leftover from my niece's quilt, since the girls share middle names and close birthdays I thought it only fitting (no pun intended).

Here she is, I still remember her as my sweet baby...and now she is looking very grown-up girl to me, five and ready to rule the world.  Sweet girl, don't grow up too fast...

 This was her big gift from us and I must admit that I am super-excited about playing with this gift.  On a funny note, Husband Dear, big shout out to him for assembling it all, set up the rooms.  Well, eldest daughter saw the box for the house the next day and realized that Daddy had set up her house different from the picture--so she quickly set it to rights to match the box...

 

My little ballerinas and their brother--everyone gets a gift from the sweet care packages you all sent to us for the big day.  Thank you beyond words, you made the days of birthday =) very special for all of us.  We love you!

Much better

Thank you to all of you who thought of us and prayed for us this past crazy week of sickness, tests, house issues, etc.  We are all much, much better.  The water tank issue has still be resolved but is not, presently, overflowing, and youngest imp has made a full recovery, and our second tests are well and behind us, so praise God!  I promise I do have pictures to update here and will do so as soon as I get another spare moment--just wanted to say thanks to you dear family and friends out there--we love you!

And the hits keep comin'

Literally.  Last night husband dear was changing the fluorescent light in our son’s room when a large metal object (ballast?) fell from the light and hit him on the head.  He’s ok, but it’s not pretty to look at--one of those bumps where your knot has a knot—makes me hurt to think about it.  Then this morning I walked into our son’s room and discovered that the roof was leaking water and his carpet was wet.  So husband dear went up to the roof to investigate (water tanks were overflowing, not sure why) and scrape water off.  Next, to get ready for school.  Youngest imp appears to be much better, two days of antibiotics and no fever, so we prepare for school.  She wants to try her new vitamins, so I give her one and try to get the other two kiddos moving faster (we’re late of course).  And then our youngest throws up her new vitamin all over the kitchen floor—I’m thinking it was the combination of vitamin and empty stomach, but no school for her now just in case.  Oh, and did I mention we have our second big language test today?  Injured and harried husband dear will have a go at it today (poor thing) and I’ll have to attempt it whenever I can get back.  On the upside I did manage to catch up on the laundry—small victories…

Mama said there'd be days like this...

We are fresh back from vacation and celebrating the middle’s birthday and it was all wonderful, but I had an inkling that things weren’t so well with our youngest imp.  You see she was sick before me, but had appeared to be much better whilst we were on vacation (and among modern conveniences and places with pediatricians).  However, the day we arrived back home she appeared to be getting sick again and started spiking a fever.  Regrettably where we live there are no pediatricians, but there is a clinic that some ex-pats recommended so off we went.  I must say I was very pleasantly surprised; the place was efficient even on a first-come first-served basis.  There were plenty of fish tanks and even birds to watch as we waited.  When we were called back we went to the doctor’s office (general practitioner).  Everything to this point had been smooth, but the moment the doctor wanted to look at our youngest child’s throat everything came undone.   My quietly sick three-year-old became a raging snot-flinging tyrant in shiny pink cowboy boots—what must that poor doctor have been thinking?  I did manage to contain her long enough for the doctor to look in her mouth and diagnose the infection and prescribe an antibiotic all of which we picked up at the pharmacy next door in less than five minutes—which was a good thing because at this point we were both done in.  Oh for another vacation!

Let's hear it for my man

As I write this I am so sick.  My head and ears are pounding with congestion and I feel like I’ve been run over by a Mack truck.  So why am I writing?  Just a note to say I love my man.  It is not often that I am down and totally out, but today (and yesterday) I am.  Isn’t it funny that in those moments of physical weakness that I can really appreciate this man God has placed in my life?  Running our household is a JOB best handled by both of us and I love that husband dear can and does step in completely for me when I physically cannot.  It is also the grace with which he does so that I love about him.  You see, I can and will fill in for him if he’s sick, but I have a hard time doing so without making sure he knows the “sacrifice” I am making for him.  Not much of a gift then is it?  That is why I am writing, because I love him so and am so glad he is mine.  

If it looks like a duck, and sounds like a duck...

It might be dinner.  

As I was thinking of a title for this blog I was really having a hard time—there were some very good possibilities like: “A funny thing happened at daycare” or “Alouette, gentille alouette…”. Because this incident was so far out of my previous realm of experience I decided to go with the obvious.  I consider this a fair head’s up if any of you are duck lovers out there…

So, due to our conflicting school schedules, our children attend a local daycare near our language school for one day each week.  As they attend on the weekend around here, our kids really have the run of the place and they have been enjoying it immensely.  Eldest son is most pleased because they keep painting new pictures on the wall and he gets to watch/ help? when he’s there.  The kids also love the fact that the daycare has animals (you know the usual rabbit, duck, pigeons, helmeted guinea fowl (identified by eldest son of course) found in most daycares).  Each day we pick them up we get a full report on the painting, the animals, and “Shaun the sheep” the new favorite thing to watch.  One day, however, I noticed the children seemed a bit subdued, especially the middle.  There were some strange things being said about the duck by eldest daughter when I wandered into the kitchen and discovered that the duck from the pen outside was now inside being plucked and cleaned.   Eldest daughter really seemed the most affected by it all.  Although, I must confess that I was a little horrified when I saw eldest son’s shirt.  It was covered in purpley/red looking stuff, and I frantically starting asking in my broken language, “What’s this, what’s this?”.  We finally determined it was the remains of cherry yogurt and not the aforementioned duck—so that was a relief.

Sing with me now, « Alouette, gentille alouette, alouette, je te plumerai… »

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alouette_(song)

Weekend Fun

Our family needed a little break last weekend, so we headed to the next country over for some shopping (eldest daughter has a birthday coming) and Chili's.  I have always enjoyed Chili's in the states, but it is especially good eating there now that we live here.  Bottomless chips and salsa do not come easily over here. =)

Everyone also loves Daddy (and playing Angry Birds on Daddy's ipod touch).  Suffice it to say, it was an awfully good day and much fun was had by all.

Theme music

And this is how I feel about studying and going to school: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PByxyI5b-7M&feature=related

Sewing

I thought I’d give you a peek of my sewing table in action—it’s a mess, I know, but I love it anyway.  On this particular day, in a little over two hours, I accomplished many things (that’s including the time it took me to undo a few of my (ahem) “accomplishments” and reaccomplish them correctly).  I’ve had this pile of clothes that needed hemmed, mended, or what not, and today I got a good way through it all—hurray!  I love tangible results.  And even though I’m still a newbie with sewing (I almost always have to undo/redo my projects), I really, really love it.  I was thinking about why this is, and I still can’t quite put my finger on it.  I mean, I know it’s in my genes—I remember sewing pillows with my grandma and watching my mom make my dresses, all of which very fond memories, but the thought of sewing things myself never appealed to me until recently.  A lot of thanks must be given to my friend Gale, who very patiently waited for me to thread my sewing machine (I’m sure it took around 30 minutes and she acted as if it was nothing in the world for it to take so long!) and then visited with me, while teaching me step by step how to make a dress for eldest daughter.  I think a lot about how her calm, confident instruction helped set the tone for me in how I began sewing on my own and how I continue to do so today.  So thank you Gale, and Grandma, and Mom—you’ll be happy to know that I can now thread my machine (top and bottom) in under a minute and I am very accomplished with my seam ripper. =)

Rain, rain, come again...

When you live in the desert, rain is a precious, rare phenomenon.  To give you an even perspective, rain here is about like snow in Georgia—without the runs on bread and milk.  Here, when it rains, people come out to watch, to play, to soak it in—literally.  Rain is also finicky here, there is hardly ever a good, long outpour; and often you cannot tell that it even rained just minutes afterward.   But yesterday was an exception, the heavens opened and it rained off and on through the night; the effects of which were still visible in the morning as we headed to school.  As we got closer to school we had to ford several “road rivers,” which was quite fun for us and the kids.  Another clue to the preciousness of water, any amount of water from tiny stream to bigger is all called “river.”  Even places that are often dry but sometimes fill with water are called “river.”  The hope for water, the need for refreshing, and its link to life is a powerful thing not just for the body, but also for the soul.  Perhaps, we are not always in a “dry/desert” place in physical terms, perhaps water is plentiful and therefore not thought of as vital, but what of the soul?  It is true we can be surrounded with plenty in physical terms, and yet, be very much in want within.  Could it be a reminder that our deepest needs are only truly satisfied by one Source?

My prayer is that we would all hear the call, the answer to our deepest needs…

“Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters…” (Isaiah 55:1)

"But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life." (John 4:14)

So excited

Our girls attended their first ever ballet class and they were both excited, oh heck, we were all excited--but none of us more so than our eldest daughter.  She has spoken of nothing else except ballet ever since I told her she and her sister would be able to go. She has even demonstrated her twirling abilities the past few days--the first time she did so wound up with her careening into the kitchen cabinets, but no harm no foul...The only hard part is  that since this is not a common activity in our new place there are no ballet shoes or leotards to be found--so we made do with what we had.  And I must say eldest daughter is definitely rockin' the leg warmers I made her.  As soon as the class was finished she wanted to know when she would be able to go to class again.  Such happiness!

Time flies...

Alas, where have I been these past few days?  It would appear that going back to school after so many years coupled with our three children and exploring life in our new home eats up most of my available (sane) time.  However, I do have some pictures to share from some of our adventures earlier this summer

I kid you not, my children never grow tired of sand!

For theirs is the kingdom of heaven

Youngest daughter walked into the kitchen whilst I’m washing dishes and trying to think of the next thing I need to do, so busy, so busy, doing, doing, and she stops me with this:

“Mama, look at the sunset, isn’t it beautiful?  God made it—He loves us so much.”

I gulp, scoop her in my arms and thank her for reminding me to stop, to be still and know that the Maker of all loves us so much…

A Pocketful of Sand

I remember when I first started telling people the name of our family’s blog.  “A pocketful of sand, what?”  “Why, would you name it that?”

And all I could think was, “Have you met my children?”.

So, feeling fully validated I would like to share this recent event.  I was washing the children’s uniforms when I happened to look into the sink and see what looked like mud in the bottom.  I should back up a little.  Our washing machine drains into one side of our kitchen sink.  I know, madness to the American mind, but once you get past the slight inconvenience of having half of your sink dedicated to the hose to drain the washing machine, it’s really rather fascinating.  I mean I can be washing my dishes and check to see how dirty my clothes really were…or how pink husband dear’s jeans are now going to be because I accidentally washed them with my red dress—oops! 

Anyway, I digress, back to the dirt in the sink from my children’s uniforms.  As I watched the wash water rinse through again I realized with a smile what it was:  sand.  Pocketfuls of it.

Mama's got a brand new bag

So, I’ve been learning lots of things here.  Much of it to do with language lately, but about a month ago I started learning a new skill.  It was during the season of car trouble, when some very kind friends allowed us to borrow their manual vehicle for a few days.  That’s right, oh family of mine, this girl now understands how to drive a stick.  Understands?  Yes, perfected?  Not quite.  But to be fair, and one should always be fair to oneself, I did not have the most ideal of learning situations.  It was night and my three overly tired children were strapped in behind me loudly arguing over who would get to hold the computer game they were playing.  Ideal?  No.  Realistic?  Definitely.  And by the end I had a better feel for this whole stick thing, and I didn’t stall nearly as often, and the kids thought this new amusement park ride—honestly, that’s how I bribed them into the car with me driving it—was pretty fun, although it sometimes stopped unexpectedly.  The true hero of it all, though, was husband dear, who managed to teach me and keep me calm despite my inner drive to do everything exactly right the first time and our three lovely but loud saboteurs in the back.  Hats off to husband dear—I love that man!

Oh, and PS to the kind friends who let us borrow their vehicle, no one and nothing was hurt in the practicing of my driving. =)

Crock-pot of yumminess

Ok, I’m sharing this for those of you who have crock-pots and bags of onions.  Have any of you ever tried to caramelize onions?  It’s such a long, stand there, stirring process over the stove—but there is a better way.  I found this on food.com and the idea is so easy and the results so good:

Crock-pot Caramelized Onions

Thickly slice about 3 lbs. of onions and put in crock-pot.  Add stick of melted butter and salt to taste (I use about ¼ to ½ tsp I think).  Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours or until you have a golden delicious pot of yumminess.

Now here comes the fantastic part of this.  These last for a while in the fridge, but you can freeze portions of them to use at a later date as well.  It really adds a great depth of flavor.  I’ve used them in quiches, pizzas, soups, pot pies, mashed potatoes, casseroles, nachos—really wherever you use onion these are welcome.  I’m making a pot right now, hence the post, and even my kids keep asking what the delicious smell is coming from the crock-pot.

Huzzah!

Some of you may ask, “Why the old ‘hurray’?”; and I will tell you I am celebrating the fact that after two and a half interminable months of waiting (I’m telling you it felt like eons) we finally have wireless internet!  Huzzah, huzzah, huzzah!  No more drumming of the fingers on laptop waiting for your spouse to finish with the internet, no more getting up to do something and finding said spouse has stolen the magical internet wand and you can no longer read your favorite blogs and…you get the picture. =)  I’m hoping this might help me to post more frequently—we shall see, at any rate we are thrilled to be back in this century!

Tip for the day

In the vein of, “Don’t spit into the wind.”  Here is our wisdom from one of our latest car trips:  Do not drive behind open pick-up trucks carrying well-fed cows at high speeds, unless you want to have manure adorning your own car.

Ask me how I know this.  Let’s just say we narrowly, and I do mean within fractions of a second, missed this experience.  We were traveling, and I noticed the aforementioned cow in the pick-up truck in front of us.  Just as I pointed the cow out to the children, husband dear decided to change lanes and everyone got to see what almost happened to our car go flying by the window instead.  Husband dear bursts out laughing, which does not help as it clues our children in to the hilarity of our near miss and from the backseat I hear, “Was that poop flying by our window?” Giggle, giggle, snort.  Ah well, they can’t all be hallowed moments. =)

Wishful thinking

Eldest son told me today:  "I have something important to tell you."  

"What is it Buddy?"

"I know exactly what I want for my birthday."

 Sheesh!  What is it with these kids and the planning of birthdays still months away?

“I want a big zoo with lots of animals—that would be the perfect gift.”

I told him that zoos weren’t exactly for sale as birthday gifts--particularly not in our price range--but hey, if you’re gonna dream, dream big.

Come on and take a free ride...

Umm, so you remember that I was going to update on school for our children.  All went well the first day.  The school is still new and has just moved to a new location so they are still working out the kinks, which is all to be expected I suppose…you can tell there’s a story here, right?  Ok here goes…It all starts when I go to pick up the children on day two of school.  There really hasn’t been clear instruction on the where/how to pick up the children, but the first day I found them in one of two places.  So I head back to place one, the waiting area for buses and drivers (for lack of a better description), and find our son.  I pick him up and then head for the girls’ classrooms.  I don’t find anyone in the youngest one’s class (I’m starting to feel a tinge of panic, but decide there must be another place to look).  As I head to get our eldest daughter I meet the youngest daughter’s teacher who looks at me and says, “She’s on the bus.”

“NO!” I hear myself say with great force and unbelief.  My happy-go-lucky three year old daughter is on a bus by herself in a foreign country where she doesn’t speak the language????  I cannot even put into words all that I was feeling in that moment between hearing those words and these, “Don’t worry, we have teaching assistants with phones on every bus so we’ll call right now and have them bring her back.”  Talk about a roller coaster ride of emotions from panic and anger to relief all in the span of a minute!  And you should have seen her, an hour later when she was finally returned into our arms, our little traveling imp!  I’m pretty sure she had no clue what lot had befallen her on that bus, she was just enjoying her own exclusive tour of our new town, in our new country—a big, little girl on a bus all by herself!

First Day of School

Thought you might like to see our children's first day of school.  I feel like this picture fully expresses the range of emotions we felt today:  Apprehensive, mostly excited, and happily clueless.  I'll keep you posted on the after feelings!

Germ warfare

Ok, let me start off by saying that I’m sure I am the unintentional victim of our youngest daughter.  But good grief what timing!  We just started studies in language here and let’s just say my brain is a little maxed out.  And while I firmly believe that to really embrace our new home we must make the effort to speak the language—I am beginning to wonder about my ability to really do that after one week of study.  So you get the picture, right?  Poor tired me, lying in bed on the one day we have to sleep a little late and our youngest comes trotting in and immediately rubs her face in my face—literally.  She doesn’t usually do that, but I just figured she was trying to be affectionate (read infectionate—ok, bad pun sorry!).  Honestly, I was hoping that if I lay really still she might just snuggle down for a few extra minutes.  Then as she was breathing into my eyes, nose on my nose I hear/feel the congestion on her side and I realize that it’s probably too late.  Sure enough, those things they teach you about the common cold—what every young child instinctively knows/does to spread communicable diseases—it’s true.  That afternoon I could feel it starting to manifest.  So I grated some fresh ginger, added hot water and honey, wiped our youngest one’s nose, muttered about the injustice of it all, and prayed this too would pass quickly.

Imp

There is a twinkle in her eyes, a bubble in her laugh, and a bit of baby still tucked into those cheeks.  As I kiss her good night she’ll say, “I love you too Mama,” before I can even say “I love you” first.  And Heaven help me if I vary the good night prayers.  You see, we’ve always prayed with and for each of our children, and always we ask that they may know God and follow Him from a very young age all of their lives.  I never realized how closely she paid attention, until I rushed through good night prayers one night only to have her tearfully shout, “You forgot to pray for my life!  Mama, my life!” .  Now there was a load of parental guilt heaped on my head—note to self, don’t rush prayers!  She might cover you with kisses one minute and then bop you on the face with her baby doll—her favorite is the hard plastic one—oy!  She loves to play memory with me right now; and no matter how many matches either one of us have made, if she makes the last she’ll squeal delightedly, “I win, I win!”  I thought this might be something I have to discuss with her (you know, being overly competitive) until I got the last match one day and she shouted just as excitedly, “You win Mama, you win!”  (Note to self, never explain how exactly one “wins” this game).  She’s sweet and cuddly and tough as nails (she once dislocated her shoulder and never cried before or after it was “relocated”--makes me shudder to think of it).  She spends more time on my hip than the others ever got a chance too—there was no one to chase her out of my arms.  She has each one of us wrapped up in her smiles; and she is most definitely the baby of this family—I swore I wouldn’t let it happen, but there it is.  And the other part of this truth is that I don’t think any of us would have it any other way.  Children make liars of us all.

Rose by another name...

For my faithful readers, the few, the committed, =) you may recall a post about a recipe I needed but could not find?   At last the true recipe appears!  A big thank you to my Mom for finding and sending me the real “Rose” recipe—you’re the best!  This one looks even easier and more delicious than the one I came up with from my memory banks—so, for those of you who enjoy baking/eating delicious chocolate treats, here it is:

“ROSE”

1 stick margarine (umm, I would use butter, my two cents) -  melted in Pyrex square dish in oven.

layer these in the pan:

1 cup chocolate chips

1 cup coconut

1 cup pecans – chopped

 

pour over top:

1 can condensed milk (I’m pretty sure you could use less and be fine)

bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes

The best way to eat cherries

Our son has decided the best way to eat cherries is with his entire body, as these pictures will attest. I was amused, and slightly horrified, later that night to discover that he even had cherry juice between his toes—I decided not to ask how that happened.

The kids next door

Our neighbors have goats.  You might think that this is quaint or pastoral or something else along those lines.  I might think the same thing too, if I didn’t already have kids, err children, of my own.  The first night in our apartment I woke up to hear this plaintive yell.  It sounded like, “Aaagghhh, Daaaaad!”.  Now, if it hadn’t been in the middle of the night I might have stopped to wonder why one of our kids was calling for Husband Dear instead of me.  I’m usually the middle of the night person of choice—might be because, as much as I love that man, trying to wake up Husband Dear in the middle of the night is a lot like trying to wake up a brick…Anyway, I digress, a few steps into my stumbling into one of our children’s rooms and I realize, “Those aren’t my kids—it’s the goats next door.”  Now tell me, how many times do you get to say that to yourself?  Honestly, when you live here, you can say that to yourself nearly every day, at varying hours of the day (night) until you begin to feel a little crazy.  Have I mentioned how much I value sleep?  That’s why earlier today when I commented on the delicious grilling smell coming from outside and Husband dear informed me that he had seen one less goat next door, I didn’t feel too bad.

Did you know...

You can catch (and kill) more ants with honey?  Ask me how I know this.  Well, I have this love/hate relationship with ants—love to hate them.  Ants seem to follow me no matter where I live—perhaps this is an indication of my housekeeping abilities?  But I prefer to think of it as the ubiquitous problem/nature of ants.  Anyway, before we left for our month-long trip we had been battling ants.  I’ve trained the children to kill them (sorry if this offends sensibilities, but if it does I’m gonna bet you haven’t had the same ant experiences as me).  Anyway, we even came up with a tape-method (they squish the ants with tape and then they can see how many they are able to catch—effective and educational).  Needless to say before we left for our trip we cleaned extra thoroughly, put out ant poison, and got rid of all food that was opened and could be invaded by the ants—except for the honey.  I thought about putting it in the fridge, but cleaned the jar well and made sure the lid was on tight and figured it would be alright.  Fast forward one month.  We return and, hallelujah, there are no ants anywhere!  I figured the ant poison and lack of food/water must have done the trick.  Then I decided to make glazed chicken.  I poured the honey into the pan and discovered a whole colony that had perished in the jar—I only wish I had taken a picture, I’ve never seen anything like it!  Honeyed ants—I’m sure that’s a delicacy somewhere, right?

Not Again...

What is it with us and cars lately?  New vehicle, different problem, sidelined again.  We’ve been visiting friends in the capital lately, but at last it was time to head back.  Our family had been on the road for about a month now so we were really looking forward to getting back to our own place.  About an hour into our trip, husband dear makes a noise and a fast maneuver to the shoulder.  It looked like Christmas on our dashboard, all the red lights were lit up and blinking. Husband dear exits the vehicle, lifts the hood and diagnosis the problem this time.  A belt, probably the serpentine belt (who knew car parts had such descriptive names?) had come loose, which rendered our vehicle undriveable and me very unhappy.  I cried for a minute—more from frustration than anything, “how come, why us again?”  Thankfully my pity party was unobserved by the children and short-lived.  A couple of deep breaths later, and husband dear’s well-timed jokes and I could acknowledge that this perhaps was not the end of the world, just a diversion.  The kids finished watching their show on the computer under the shade of several trees that just happened to be growing off the shoulder right where our car broke.   A breeze picked up and they started building things from the rocks, rolling in the dirt and generally having a great time—oblivious to our obvious departure from the planned route and schedule.  As I watched my children I recognized the joy of living in the moment, of being thankful for the gift sometimes hidden away in unplanned detours and forced stops.  And of course you know I can say all this, because we also are blessed with friends who we can call to come and rescue us, err pick us up, from our tiresome car troubles, err unplanned stops.  What can I say?  I’m a work in progress. =)

A few highlights

One of the perks of visiting some friends: a semi-private swimming pool.  Trust me, in this dusty, dry, hot, hot land it is a welcome place.  The water is always warm, but it is wet and has been a source of much fun for all of us.  Our son is now swimming the length of the pool.  Eldest daughter, is also swimming, and then forgetting she knows how to swim when she comes up for air and realizes she can’t touch—seems like a great life metaphor.  And then our youngest daughter splashes happily on the steps and occasionally jumps into the water without fair warning—also another great life metaphor.  Mainly though it has been much fun.  Learning to swim, dive, float, and splash—I will be sad to leave it.

Angry Birds

Thank you Chris, Aunt Paige, and Uncle Chuck, my three children and my husband now have a new obsession.  Really I do not blame you, just the ipad you innocently used to show this game to them.  I must confess that even I have spent a few minutes trying to figure out how to get the blasted bird to hit the pigs.  Those nefarious prison pigs who stole those innocent but vengeful birds’ eggs—I mean honestly I cannot make this stuff up.  It would be one thing if all they did was ask to play this new game, but no, they tell every possible person they meet (who understands English) about “Angry Birds.”  Our son draws pictures of the scenes from the game and then makes signs that say--in large letters-- “I want to play Angry Birds.”  If you do not believe me, as to the addictive qualities of this game, give it a whirl—you can play on or offline.  But don’t say I didn’t warn you.  As an aside, husband dear, wants me to assure you that he has conquered his addiction i.e. he has the high score on all the levels--for now anyway…

To Rose, wherever you may be

The other night I had a need for a sweet treat.  A need, but not really the desire to full-on make something.  I looked around at the odds and ends I had to use up and it came to me:  Rose.  You see, I’ve had this recipe floating around in my collection of recipes ever since high school and it’s called quite simply Rose (for my mom’s coworker who shared the original recipe).  I’ve carried this recipe around for years, but I haven’t made it.  I remembered it being deliciously rich and chocolately and easy; and for some reason it just remained overlooked, perhaps because it was so unassumingly simple.  Anyway, I decided it was time to use the recipe and I began looking for it among my collection and realized I had purged it before we moved.  Because, “I never make this anyway and I’m sure I can remember this recipe it’s so easy…”  And now I needed it and it wasn’t there.  I could see my mom’s handwriting, I could picture the finished product, but could I duplicate it without the instructions? 

I know it seems crazy, but I’ve been a little dubious about doing things from memory of late.  Maybe it’s because we’re in a new land, new language and I can’t quite seem to retain things the way I used to do (like recall a newly “learned” word for even five minutes), or maybe it’s because our three year old is beating the pants off of me every time we play Memory together, or maybe…but no, I just pushed my hesitations to the side and said to myself, “Rose, this one’s for you.” =)  

Now, I’m still not sure if I got it exactly right, but we think it tastes pretty darn good. Here’s my version if any of you are feeling unsure of yourselves and need a shot in the arm or a hug around the waist that stays there =)…just share, ok?

Here it is:

Rose

Cookie crust:  Crumble up your favorite cookies for crust (as I recall the original used graham crackers—we cannot find those easily here so I used spice cookies and they were delicious).  Add enough melted butter to make crumbs wet and then press into bottom of dish (I used a pie plate).  Bake for a few minutes at 350 or so, or skip to next part (it's a very forgiving recipe!).

Filling:  add layer of chocolate chips to crust, after add a layer of sweetened flaked coconut, and then pour sweetened condensed milk over top (I used half of a can for the pie dish).

That’s it.   Bake for 30 minutes (I think) or until the coconut looks nicely browned.  Enjoy warm.  And give thanks for the Rose’s of the world who selflessly share delicious confidence boosters.

What am I going to do

With this one?

She is four going on fourteen.  She is destined for leadership--perhaps dictatorship.  She is a little mama, always trying to take care of others (or tell them what to do), but beneath it is a sweetness.  She really does want others to be happy in her care.  She can talk and talk and talk and make up songs on the fly.  I hear myself, I see myself in miniature sometimes.  But then there is some of her father to balance it all.  She often reminds me that she wants to take pictures like Daddy, because she loves to take pictures like him.  She actually took this one on our trip.  And I believe she helped with this one too, because, "Tai wanted a picture of the sky where we live--I promised him that I would take a picture of the sky."

Lately she's been planning her birthday--it's still three months away.  Daily we talk about what cake she will have, maybe what presents--I thought it just fun and games, a way to pass the time, till she told some friends today what they could bring to her party (in three months), yikes!  She's also planning on inviting our friends' neighbor's cat.  Her father pointed out that it is somewhat impolite to invite people's pets and not the actual people to a party, to which she replied that she intended on inviting the people too she just didn't know their names yet.  Now is that advance planning, or what?  Look out world is all I've got to say!  

Some recent pictures...

Here's a couple more from our recent trip--I tried to get one with all three looking at me, but it was too bright, oh well!

Crayola crayons, black beans and tortillas

I don’t know about you but there are some things that are crucial to a family’s happiness.  Things you take for granted until you can’t find them.  In our family these three items are vital.  Every day, every day, one or more of my children colors and the coloring items of choice are crayons.  Call me crazy but I have a definite opinion on crayons—they are not all created equal.  There are Crayola crayons and then there are paltry wax imitations of Crayola that smear and smudge across the page and fingers and clothes and...you see why I have a definite opinion here?  But for some odd reason I cannot find Crayola crayons here (I’ve found markers and colored pencils of that brand but, alas, no crayons).  However, I do not despair because I know of at least one person who has successfully found them here and so I press on; and I will not rest till I find every box this country has to offer and buy them up so I will never have to search again—perhaps this is going too far?  But honestly it’s the little things sometimes…and while I’m on a rant (call it culture stress, whatever) what does this place have against black beans????  I mean, I can find every other legume known to man, canned or dried, but black beans hardly!  I guess that’s not fair because I finally located them at a store in the capital city that caters to ex-pats and I stopped myself after I put 4 or 5 cans in the cart, but I’ll be back…The only shining part of this rant comes with the third hard to find item:  tortillas.  I’m sure I need hardly explain the role of tortillas in our diet after you read about the black beans.  But necessity is the mother of invention and here is something I can put some effort into and produce myself; and did you know they are totally worth the trouble of making?  I kid you not, go to www.food.com look up the homemade tortilla recipe and give it a whirl they are awesome (I used butter instead of shortening and I think they were all the better for it!).  There, I feel better now—think I’ll go have some ice cream, here at least we have suffered no losses! =)

She's runnin' hot...again

Mental note to self, always have car checked out thoroughly before driving hours and hours through the desert.  On the way down through the desert, I started thinking about how hot, how empty this place was and how horrible it would be to be stranded in the midst of it.  Then about an hour from our destination the air conditioner stopped working—not cool, no pun intended.  There was nothing to do but to keep pushing forward and pray that we would make it quickly.  It took a few minutes for the kids to notice there was no cold air, but they were really troopers and hung in there and we all made it.  We had the car fixed and checked out so as not to repeat this unfortunate incident on the return trip.  All looked well and seemed to be working fine on the way back, until we were about two hours away from our city.  All of the sudden our car was hot again, not the air but the actual car.  We pulled off, prayed, poured water on the engine, added oil and started again.  Thankfully we had reached the first big city after the desert—thanks be to God for looking after us!  Nothing seemed to be working, so we inched our way to a car shop to discover that the radiator cap was old and allowing air into the radiator, allowing the coolant to boil and the car to overheat.  Phew!  Thankfully we were travelling with some friends so we were able to rearrange and get me and the kids back while husband dear got to figure this out and expand his ever-growing knowledge base!