beautiful

beautiful sight:

(melted snow running down the gutters)

beautiful sound: trickling water seeping into the ground signaling a most-likely-temporary reprieve from the snow

beautiful thought: cabin fever days are coming to a close as we get more days like these outside


beautiful play:
















(jackets discarded, faces to the sun, first swing of the new year)

(Ben practicing his snow shoveling techniques - practice while you can, Ben!)


Beautiful day.

recipe: dominican casserole

Since my parents are in the Dominican Republic this week, leading the team that is building the kitchen for the Lighthouse School in Los Alcarrios, and since any purchases made through my shop will help support this project, I thought it would be fun to share the recipe for a dish often served to the teams.

I think my mom got this recipe off the internet after they came back from last year's trip - it's slightly tweaked to suit our taste but close to the original. It takes a bit of time and pots to prepare but it freezes well if you want to make a double batch and it's so worth it! I can usually get two dinners out of this for my family of six. Here's a picture of the finished product followed by the recipe:

Pastelon de Arroz (Rice Casserole)
Rice:
Cook enough brown rice (recommend adding 1/2 tsp salt to the water) to yield 6 cups of cooked rice. When cooked, put half in bottom of 9 x 13 pan. Reserve remaining half.

Meat Mixture:
1 lb ground meat. (turkey, chicken, beef, pork)
2 T olive oil
1 tsp finely chopped fresh basil
3 T tomato paste
1/4 cup water
1 small onion, diced small
1 red pepper, diced small
1 tsp. salt (if using ground turkey, might want to use less if using ground pork)
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 tsp oregano
3-5 garlic cloves diced
dashes of chili powder and paprika

Mix all meat mixture ingredients together until the meat is thoroughly cooked. Then spread over rice in the 9 x 13 pan.

Spinach mixture:
2 c. finely chopped spinach
3/4 c. milk (I use soy milk)
pinch salt

Boil the spinach/salt in the milk until the spinach is tender then add this mixture to the reserved rice.

Cheese sauce:
3 T butter
1 T flour
3/4 c milk (I use soy milk)
1 c. grated mozzarella cheese (or add in some other white cheeses as well - I like using a mixture of mozzarella and yogurt cheese)
pinch salt

Melt butter then add flour and stir until well mixed. Add milk and stir until smooth. Add salt and cheese and stir until it becomes a thick cream. Add HALF of the cheese sauce to the the rice/spinach mixture then spread this mixture over the meat in the 9 x 13 pan. Spread remaining half of cheese sauce over the top of the casserole and bake for 15-20 minutes in a 350 degree oven.

handmade art: lovebirds

There is a picture frame in our dining room that I've dedicated (circa October 2010) to changing every so often as the mood strikes. So far it's sported a leaf print done in acrylic paints and a fabric snowflake. Last night I changed out the snowflake for a lovebirds print in anticipation of Valentine's Day. This one may stick around for a while as I love the fabrics and how they coordinate with our wall color.

Here's how I did it:

The background is a taupe linen fabric. The birds are from a couple cotton prints I got in the quilting section at Joann Fabrics. I drew my own template for the birds, pinned them to the material, cut and stuck them into place. Voila! Two sweet lovebirds hanging on our wall.

wintery thoughts

• I finally answered a question that had been burning in my mind for awhile... who's eyes were darker brown: Luke's or Ben's, or were they the same shade? Ben's are definitely darker. You'd think the one who gave them birth (moi) would know this intuitively. Apparently not. (These kinds of investigations are perfectly suited for the not-going-anywhere-much days of winter)
• I love the intimacy of a snowy afternoon when the flakes are feathery and thick. 
• I used to laugh when people said "I'm getting old" - a comment usually on the heels of some physical activity that wasn't a typical part of their routine. Now I say it to myself. My back, arms, neck are not pleased with me today and the shoveling I did yesterday.
• 3 out of 4 of our kids can now get 90% of their winter things on by themselves before going out to play. Woohoo! Progress.
• Does anyone know of a single location on this planet where there is exactly three months of beautiful snowy winter and then temperatures averaging 72 degrees for the rest of the year? If so, please let us know, we may consider moving there.
• I miss the days when I was light enough to walk on crusted snow like our kids are trying to do outside at this moment. Maybe it's the longing for heavenly things God places inside us, because, without Jesus calling me out of a boat, it's the only time in this life that I was able to walk on water.

sledding adventure

On Thursday, Mom and I took the kids to a snow hill she's been wanting to visit ever since we first moved to the area (which is now 20+ years ago!!!). This coasting hill is more like a bunny hill on a ski slope for the distance you have to climb to the top, though it is a much gentler grade with a ton of bumps along the way to increase the fun quotient. I think Reese went down six or seven times to our four runs. Seriously, when that boy is determined there's no stopping him! Here are some pictures of our adventure:

Reese before his first run down the hill...check out how far away the bottom of the hill is!

You might want to click on this picture to open it to full screen view and check out the look on Reese's face as he heads down the hill for the first time.

Here Reese comes....

...and there he goes!

 The rest of the crew on our last run. See Ben enjoying a taste of the snow on his scarf?

 Ben and I enjoyed a few runs down on the baby toboggan. At first, he was a little unsure of the bumps but my encouraging shouts of "Yahoo" over every mogul helped to to relax and enjoy it! By the end he was laughing. :)

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recipe: tuscan white bean pizza

When I first discovered I was lactose intolerant a few years ago, I attempted to really limit the amount of dairy I consumed since I didn't want to be taking lactose pills all the time. I usually saved them for ice cream. :)

However, it's awfully challenging to find many cheese-free recipes that agrees at least half the people in your family, not to mention that four of the family members seem to constantly change what they like and don't like to eat at any given meal. It's also difficult to enjoy social gatherings when you have to grill the hosts (and anyone else who contributed to the meal) on whether there are any milk products present in the food. So I gave up the battle and resorted to using the lactaid pills.

Worked great until recently when the pills seemed to stop working so well. Which left me with two options: try taking two pills with every dairy-present meal or stop taking in dairy altogether. I felt the Lord asking me to go with option b. Fasting dairy products is not going to be easy and I'm sure I'll do my share of complaining to Him about it along the way, but I also believe He'll give me the grace to do this. And the recipes.

Like this tuscan white bean pizza recipe I found yesterday. Cheese- free pizza may not sound appetizing. It may even sound like an anomaly. However, this pizza is really good. The recipe is from Vegan on the Cheap, but here is the ingredient list and directions on the author's blog.

And here are some modifications I made to the recipe:

• When I want to do pizza quickly, I've found large pita shells, nan bread and even a couple tortillas work well
• I spread olive oil on the dough/shell to "seal" it and then spread some pasta sauce on it
• For the white bean mixture I used great northern beans since I had those on hand and only put in two garlic cloves (out of respect for Dave :) ) and only one tablespoon of basil (since I used the basil I had pestoed with olive oil and then frozen in the summer, it may have equaled closer to two or three tablespoons of fresh, chopped basil). Next time I make this, I'll only use 1/8 tsp pepper since I found 1/4 tsp a little too hot. I didn't measure how much water I put in - I added as much as needed to get the consistency I desired.
• The toppings I used were sliced cherry tomatoes, pine nuts and chopped onion

I'm already anticipating the next time I feel in the mood for pizza. :)

fear and victory

In theory, we have a little break from Dave having to go to any of our rental properties for (major) repairs and maintenance. I say "in theory" because if there is anything I learned over the past year + of getting our newest rental ready, it's to never assume that things will go the way that I expect or want them to go. But as it stands right now, all our units are rented except for the water-damaged back house on one of our properties (which contractors are working on) so "in theory" there are only minor things here and there we need to take care of until someone moves out. In the meantime, I continue to pray that this season of respite from rental craziness lasts a little bit longer.

This means we're in a new season of having Dave home more than he is gone which is a little scary to think about. Scary because I'm afraid of relaxing too much and enjoying and depending on him being home.

You see, when this whole business started at the end of '09, it was really hard to push down feelings of resentment of being "stuck" at home while Dave got to be out getting things done. This also was the first time in our marriage when Dave was away from home more than he was at home. This was a huge and hard transition to make especially since we had four children ages 6 and under, were new to homeschooling and were just at the beginning of winter (and cold and flu season!). Before this experience, I sometimes could barely wait for Dave to get home from work so I could get some relief from the intensity of parenting.

Sometimes the only thing that got me through a tough time of it was God bringing to mind single parents or women who have their husbands deployed overseas in the military. I also thought of my mom and how she had to cope during the many times my Dad had to travel. (He knows that if I'm aware of how much more others struggle or suffer in this world, than I'm much less likely to complain ;).)

I also had to battle the "stuck" thoughts with remembering that Dave was doing this for our family and that he was working hard on this house because he saw it as work that God gave him to do. That is just one of the many things I love about Dave - he is never one to do things only half way. When he has a task before him, he puts his whole heart into it to make sure he is finishing the task well and following through on his obligations.

And I had to keep digging for the good I knew God wanted to bring out of this season because it tells us in James 1:2b-5,12 to, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him."

True to His Word, God did grow me in many ways: by not being defeated by feelings of resentment and other accusations the enemy brought to mind, by increasing my dependence on Him, in showing me my sin tendencies and areas which will need further growth and by choosing to do the hard things (like take four young children to places all by yourself) because the alternative means staying exactly in the same place which is stifling to the body, mind and Holy-Spirit-within-you. This is my victory.

So in this new season, I must battle the fear that tells me if we get to enjoy a longer-than-anticipated season of having Dave home more than away, then I will revert to the person I was before November 2009. I must battle the fear that maybe I didn't grow as much as I thought or in the way of God's choosing and so must ensure a much harder season to further refine me. And I must battle three much more dangerous foes: self-sufficiency, pride and desire for control which can threaten to rear their ugly heads when it's time for me to respect Dave's way of doing things now that he is home and able to be more hands on in how our house is run and our children are raised. Clearly, the race I must now run is marked out for me and I pray I will be able to claim the prizes of God-reliance, humility and godly submission. That will be my victory.