Miscellany Monday: December 5, 2011

During this past week we had some new friends over to eat with us. This precious young couple is in mine and Jas' Community Group. Jas and I have so enjoyed getting to know them over the past few months. They're young and newly married...and remind me alot of Jas and I at their age. Well, except they're already believers (Jas and I didn't become believers until 26 y.o.). AND they've otherwise already got their heads on straight. Actually, maybe it would be more accurate to say that they remind me of how I wish Jas and I had been at that age!

We had quite the fight with the children over who got to actually spend time with "Mr. Steven" and "Mrs. Marissa".

I'm not sure why the children liked them so much...

...maybe it's because they got right down in the floor and played "Go Fish" with them...

...or maybe it was the all-candy "Turkeys" that Mrs. Marissa brought for the children (HUGE hit, btw!)...

...or maybe it had something to do with the fact that Mrs. Marissa brought her American Girl ("Molly") from her childhood and played dolls with Elisabeth...

...while Mr. Steven played legos and chess with the other children. (OH, how I wish I had pictures of these last two items!)

So while I can't pin-point exactly why our children liked Marissa and Steven so much, they DID! And Jas and I feel the same way!

***********************************************

When Mrs. Marissa and Mr. Steven came to eat, this is what we had for dessert:

Oh-so-yummy Apple Pie

Yes, this was a new-to-me recipe, which means I totally "guinea-pigged" our dinner guests! I don't like to do that, but this recipe looked simple enough that I thought I should be able to pull it off. I saw this recipe on "Farmer's Wife Tells All" a couple weeks ago and thought it looked yummy! It was! Steven even took a second helping of it...that made me so proud!

Apple Pie

8 medium Granny Smith apples, cored, peeled, and chopped
3/4 cup of Sugar (I used evaporated cane juice that I get through our co-op)
1 tsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 cup of flour
One double pie crust (Lara recommended Pillsbury, I used Great Value and thought it was fine)

Toss the apples with the sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon, and flour. Fill the pie crust with the apple mixture. Flute the edges and slit the top of the crust. Cover the edges of the pie crust with strips of aluminum foil or a pie crust cover before baking. Place pie on a baking sheet and bake at 350 for 1 hour. Remove the crust cover for the last 15 minutes of baking.

***********************************

I interrupt this otherwise-nice Miscellany Monday post to whine a bit...

O.k., I've now officially gained almost 20 pounds since starting this medicine to induce lactation 6 months ago.

Since taking the "vacation" from the medicines (because they were causing vexing side-effects) those particular vexing side-effects have not come back. But other vexing side-effects have shown up. Or - rather - I finally realized they were connected to the medicine. Again, I'm going to be vague about the side-effects, because although I'm pretty transparent on my blog, even **I** can't share every detail...

BUT, the weight gain has been with me like a very unwelcome guest the whole 6 months. I have not been doing anything different during these months (my eating is the same, my treadmill time is the same, etc.) so I am totally going to blame this on the medicine.

I'm very glad that I did NOT know about all of this before I started the protocol to induce lactation, because I may not have decided to start it. And if everything works like we hope and pray it does and I'm able to breastfeed Mr. Gabriel...then it will all be worth it.

End of Whining - Back to the regularly scheduled Miscellany Monday post

*********************************

Our children graced the stage not once but twice yesterday!

First, all four of them helped lead our church in worship yesterday morning - singing and showing us their motions to a song they've been singing on Sunday nights lately:

The song was Stronger by Hillsong and it is a great song!

And then...

Sunday evening the three older children (LK is too young yet) were in a musical with the 1st-5th grade choir.

Noah and Daniel :

Elisabeth - ever our performer - wanted to do more than just sing with the whole choir, so she tried out for some solos and parts.

She ended up being one of "The Birds" (she was "Robin)...and she flitted around the stage with "Lark" and "Maggie" (Magpie)...and had some funny lines, including the very BIG WORD: "Inhospitality!"
("The Birds" were some of the bad guys in the Parable of the Sower from Mark 4 or Matthew 13.)

And then...Elisabeth dropped her "wicked" role and sang by herself the opening lines of a very sweet song called "The Fruit that is Rooted in You" (from Galatians 5:22)

I want your love, joy, peace, patience, way down in my soul

Kindness, goodness, faithful, gentle, self-control

I'll keep growing in You, so Your spirit can produce

the fruit that is rooted in You!"

I just typed Elisabeth's words from memory. Any one in our house could do that, in fact. After the older three practicing these songs for the past couple of months, we ALL know ALL of the words to everything by heart. Including Lily Kay. It really is too bad that she couldn't be up there with them...because she totally could have been!

*********************************

Can you tell what this is???

That would be a burnt spot in the the pine straw bed right outside our carport. From a pot. A wok, actually.

I was making Chicken Fried Rice (a favorite around here)...and almost set the kitchen on fire!

I had the wok good and hot, the veggies, chicken and rice all prepped (you have to have everything ready to go when you start with a stir fry because it moves fast once you get started!).

So, the wok is good and hot...I'm getting ready to start Stir Fry-ing, so I pour some oil in...and it catches on fire and flames (seriously!) at least 2-3 feet high leap out of my wok! I seriously do not know how the kitchen cabinet right there next to the stove did NOT catch on fire.

I put the lid on (fire minus oxygen = fire goes out...see I'm smart?!?) and it went out - Praise the Lord!

Jas was pulling into the driveway just as all the fireworks (literally) started. When he saw and heard what happened (3 smoke detectors were going off when he stepped into the house)...he had a great idea:

We ordered Chinese take-out for supper!