leading a simple life of quiet desperation

or...my trash is my treasure.

so today i joined some friends for lunch at subway.  it's a great treat because subway is only two blocks away, so we can walk and  they have $5 footlongs!  that's $5 for lunch and dinner!

so i ate my yummy chicken sandwich half, got to know a few new people and then realized i was short on time to get back to be with the kids, so i hurriedly grabbed my tray and said my goodbyes.  i head to the trash can, make a quick drop there, turn around and realize with horror - "i just threw my dinner away!"  

i looked to my friend kylee who wasted no time in saying, "fish it out!"  at first i completely balked at this idea.  then i reasoned.  this is my dinner.  this was $5.  that sandwich was wrapped tightly in two layers of paper.   i'm a missionary.  this would be good stewardship.

so i did it.  i opened the trash can door, pulled the can out and looked in.  i was pleased to see mostly napkins and paper inside.  my sandwich was right on the top.  i pulled it out, there was nothing on the paper at all, no sticky veggies, no sauce, nothing.  my friends all reassured me that it was fine (but i still got a bag to carry it home in so i could stop touching it).  

and so here i am confessing something.  desperation?  complete proof that traveling overseas and living in 3rd world countries does change you in some ways?  my love for food?  

either way, i will be eating my sandwich tonight (even though i will wash my hands after i take it out of the paper and throw that away - i still have standards!).  as one of my friends remarked, "one man's trash is another man's treasure."  although in this case, it does seem that it is my trash that is my treasure.  ha!

my teaching philosophy: whatever works!

(YAY!  many thanks to bethany who sent me to photobucket to upload my videos.  how easy!  here is my belated post from friday!)

doing "whatever works" would never have gotten me an A in my education courses, but i believe that you do whatever it takes for which ever child you're with to make learning happen.

kaleb has been resisting me for the past few weeks when it comes to letters. i just couldn't get his attention. he knew 'O' but he claimed every other letter was 'B' but yesterday we had a breakthrough that went straight to his all-boy heart! he got to hit and sweep each letter off of the table after he correctly said it. he didn't want to stop, he was enjoying it so much!





you can definitely tell that i've taught english to speakers of other languages in this video!

harvest soup

so i've been trying for two days to upload one short little video, but so far, no luck. instead i've decided to tell everyone about my wonderful soup success from this week! i am happy, of course, that it was really yummy and had rave reviews, but i think i'm even more excited about the fact that it was super thrifty!

i got everything in it through angel food ministries, basics i had on hand, food left from former roommates or friends when they've gone overseas, or from a sam's club $5 rotisserie chicken(which i keep bags of chicken and homemade stock in my freezer). It was super hearty and delicious.

Harvest Soup

1 bag frozen Edamame steamers (left by friends going overseas)

1/2 Small Bag of Soup Bean Mix (Angel Food)

2 small white onions (Angel Food)

1/2 of a red onion

Minced Garlic

3-4 cups of Shredded Chicken (Sam's Rotisserie)

5 cups of Chicken Broth (homemade from Sam's Rotisserie)

2 white potatoes

2 red potatoes

1 bag of frozen mixed veggies (corn, green beans, etc) (Angel Food)

1/2 bag whole wheat noodles (left by a former roommate)

Spices (Salt, Pepper, Basil, Bay leaves and Savory)

1/2 bag Spinach

I steamed and shelled the Edamame. I soaked the Bean Mix. The next day I sauteed the onions and garlic while boiling the cut up potatoes in water. I cooked the Bean mix. I defrosted the frozen chicken, broth, and veggies and then threw them all in with the cooked beans and added spices. I added the Edamame to cook and then the potatoes when they were almost done. I put in the noodles towards the last 10 minutes of cooking. The last thing I threw in was several large handfuls of spinach.

one of my friends commented that she felt like she had thanksgiving dinner in a soup when she had it for lunch yesterday. what a compliment! i just really was wanting to use the edamame in something! but i am pretty pleased with this yummy soup/stew. i think the recipe is a keeper. and binkley girls, look close in the background. do you recognize the napkin?? thanks to kelsey and travis's wedding, i've made the switch to using only cloth napkins! i love it!

pumpkin carving!

this is totally belated, but i wanted to post a few pictures from our pumpkin carving party a few weeks ago.  unfortunately really hard life stuff came up and has delayed me, but better late than never!

we must have had at least 20 pumpkins, if not more.  everyone went to town.  we had patterns, but by the time i started mine, i didn't like any of the patterns left.  i wasn't in the mood to do spooky so i freehanded a flower.  i took my work very seriously, as you can see.

to top off things, several of us made harvest-y treats.  i am very pleased with what i made, a little idea from a kids' activity book.  these mini "jack-o-lanterns" were actually hollowed out oranges that had pumpkin pie filling baked in them.  the faces were made possible by good ole sharpie and voila!  cute little jack-o-lantern pumpkin treats!  easy and fun!  a two year old helped me make them!

it only feels like everything will change

today it feels like our entire world is shaken. 

today hurts.  

today there is fear in the air.  it feels like nothing will ever be the same and that the only possible outcomes could be bad.

that decisions of others could ruin everything forever.

but what of my sovereign God?  He is bigger.  He is stronger.  He is holy.  

and He will reign.  even when you feel like things possibly couldn't get worse - He is bigger than your fear, your hurts.  

this applies to some aches on my heart today and i'm sure will apply to about half of my friends tomorrow, when the candidate they believe in doesn't get elected.  

all i can and will say over and over is - Glory to God in the Highest.  He is first and last.  He is great and glorious.  and we need not live in despair because - Behold!  Even now He is making all things new!  even now i wonder how i can type this through my tears and all i can say is that deep down, i know that there is no greater truth than God's sovereignty.  

Christ in you is the hope of glory.  hold fast to Him.  hold fast to hope.  take every burden to Him for He is everything.

gypsy wedding

while i was in bulgaria, i got the chance to go back to berkovitza and see two of the girls i worked with get married. the girl in video was celebrating her 1st day of the wedding, and later that evening we took part in the 3rd and final day of the wedding celebration for her first cousin.

from what i saw, it was a whole lot of this style of dancing and a lot of food. an interesting cultural experience for sure.

the white girl in the wedding party is michelle. she's with nmsi and has just moved to berkovitza full time. she was a bridesmaid in both weddings. doesn't her dress look like Belle's from Beauty and the Beast??

el presidente phil

this is nmsi's president phil.  he loves all of our kids.  he cares for each of our workers deeply. he's been given so much wisdom from God.  

and during triennial, when one of our 2 year olds got horrible motion sickness on the bus - he helped me clean up throw up.  

that's a good president.

we're blessed.