Miss Pear at the Cardiologist

Yesterday was the 6 month check up after surgery for Miss Pear, at a new hospital with a new cardiologist. We love the cardiologist and the hospital.

The appointment itself went well, somethings were upsetting to Miss Pear, and somethings were fascinating.

As for the results, the are conflicting.

The aortic valve itself, to make a long and complicated story short is functioning normally, which is a miracle! Normal was never a word used to describe the best case scenario of how her valve could function. That is a miracle. There are no other words for it.

The disappointing news is that there is a narrowing before her valve again. That could be a number of things from nothing to the membrane growing back. That is last one is deeply frustrating and concerning because there really is, right now, only one way to deal with a membrane in the heart, and that is to remove it.

So on one hand we feel like shouting praises from the roof tops, and on the other hand we feel like throwing a temper tantrum that would put a 2 year old to shame.

So what do we do. It is too early to know anything about the narrowing. We will go back in 6 months and pray that things are clearer.

In the mean time we will pray, trust God, and live each day.

Bible in 90 Days Day 22/Week 4 Check in

My reading is going along nicely. I did fall behind a bit last week with having friends over on Thursday for supper, with it being my birthday on Friday and taking a tour of the farm that does our CSA box on Saturday, but I am ALMOST caught up. (As in just a chapter or 2 behind).

What I have been seeing most this past week is the contrast between obedience and disobedience.

Going back a bit I was struck by how Pharoh was willing to be obedient until there was relief, and then his heart was hardened. The call to me was to be obedient in the every day, especially in times of relief.

But this week I was struck by Moses disobedience, which was kind of shocking as I always think of him being this glowing example. Yet his wife had to circumcise their sons when he neglected to do it, and then Joshua had to circumcise the Israelites before they could enter the promised land. Moses had to flee Egypt when he struck and egyptian and killed him, and he was forbidden from entering the promised land because he struck the rock to get water when that was clearly not what Jesus said.

I was again struck by Caleb's obedience, which was certainly not easy, but yet he persisted and became the proud owner of Hebron, a city that has been and continues to be very significant.

Now I am in 1 Samuel, and reading about Samuel, Saul, Jonathan and David, and again the contrast between obedience and disobedience is so clear and stark. Even though this is my 9 or 10th time reading the Bible cover to cover, which does not count all the sporadic, random, curious reading I did on my own, or structured reading I did as part of my seminary studies or Bible studies, the Bible always is new and fresh. If it is not to you, please ask God to teach you, to show you new things, to make His Word new and fresh for you!

Mostly though, I am reading a long and enjoying time in God's Word with Him. It is a joy.

What is God teaching you this week?

Happy Birthday!

Okay, so it is my birthday, and maybe yours today. But instead of the usual woo hoo I am a year older, I wanted to stop and tell you the three big lessons I have learned from God this past year in the hopes that it might encourage you.

1. God loves our children.
In the midst of all the girls health stuff this past year and three quarters I have learned that I will only ever have the tiniest glimpse of how much God loves our children. It is incredible.

2. God provides.
No matter how the numbers look from a logical earthly perspective, no matter how impossible situations seem, God provides. You may have to look back after the fact to see it, but He provides.

3. God is still in the miracle business.
Sometimes we throw this word around casually, and sometimes we discount what we see. But I want to tell you that God is sovereign, He is the Almighty, the God Most High, and He is still in the miracle business.

What are the big lessons that God is teaching you?

when it is quiet here....

...you can be assured it is quiet no where else in my life!

We are trying to finish off our school year for the end of this month (we took 2 months off with the move, not to mention all the medical things) and with our whopping school schedule of 30-45 minutes a day during the week we should be perfectly on track...in fact we will finish hand writing this week and math next week.

My inbox for my personal email is 2 screens long....yes, I have filed what I can, but seriously it is insane!

Miss Pear has her cardiology appointment next Wednesday afternoon, this is the 6 month surgical follow up.

We are going out to the farm where our CSA box comes from on Saturday morning for a tour...I am unreasonably excited.

I am doing the Bible in 90 days, and I love it, it is great, but it is at least an hour of reading a day for me. A small, small, tiny gift to my Lord, and in return He blesses me tremendously during this time.

We are thinking of a way to thank God for His care and provision the last 2 years. Not only were little girls healed, but bills were always paid on time, we always had food on our table, and even though sacrifices were definitely made, we never did without what we really needed when by earthy means that should have been the case. Some days it felt like the widow with the jar of oil that never let out...but in my case my shampoo seemed to last forever and my freezer and pantry seemed endless.

My freezer and pantry are a mess and need order restored, and probably labels made.

We are working on getting ready to start our next school year the first week of August to make sure we can take time off when we move next spring into a house of our own.

I feel the need to spend more time in prayer along with the Word. It is like there is something I am supposed to be getting and it is just beyond my reach.

So if things are a little quiet here, know that all is well, but my Lord and my family will always be my top priority, as much as I enjoy my time here with you.

Bible in 90 Days Day 15/ Week 3 Check-in

It is Monday - check in day - and I have a confession to make....

...this is not hard!

A friend of mine is impressed that I am doing this. I laughed and said it was not a sacrifice or because I am super-spiritual, it is because when I read the Bible in this volume I just do so much better in all areas of life.

And it is true.

Already I am finding that reading each day is automatic. We are at a point where the best time for me to read is in the evening, and once the girls are in bed I automatically reach for my Bible.

As I read I find myself being encouraged, strengthened and gaining perspective.

Such a blessing!

If you are curious about reading the Bible in 90 days or how the others are doing, check over at Amy's.

How is your Bible reading going? Even if you are not reading a long in the 90 Days I would love to hear and know where you are reading.

How often do you read your Bible? Do you follow a plan or just wing it?

House of Prayer

Last night our family had a very special gathering. After supper we gathered at our front door to begin praying through our house. I don't often hear of other families doing this so I thought I would share what we do, and why we do it.

Let's start with why we pray through our house. I confess we have not done this on as regular a basis as we would like, but it is something we like to do. We want our home to be the Lord's home, filled with His presence, and His to use as He sees fit. We want our guests to be loved, nurtured and blessed by visiting our home. We truly want our home to be a sanctuary for our family. And honestly, once we have done it we just feel better in our home.

Now for some of the practicalities. After struggling to find a time to do this without people under 4 feet tall helping, and failing, we just decided to do it with them. While Baby gets a little distracted and more or less follows us around playing and dancing as she goes, Miss Pear joins us, exuberantly, asking to be the first one to pray in each area of our home, and I'm pretty sure that her prayers are a delight to God and probably have Him laughing out loud!

It is common to use oil to anoint door frames etc as they go along, but as we rent our home we decided to skip this step. To answer the inevitable question I always had about oil and until I finally got it, the oil itself is not powerful, any oil will do, even the cheapest of cooking oils, it is the act and intent that are important.

Some people begin outside and walk their property line as well, but with little helpers we just started inside our front door.

There is no wrong way to do this, except maybe to never do it, but it does help if you have a methodical plan to go through the house and an idea of what you are going to pray for in each room. Our practice is to scatter thanksgiving and praise in as we go along. Also, this does not take us a long time, 3 people prayed a relatively short prayer in each room and we moved on.

While this is not a thorough guide, and will certainly not work for all families, here is a rough idea of how I remember us praying, and odds are this is not how we will exactly pray the next time. I will put MP to mark the ways I remember Miss Pear praying because I was having a hard time keeping a straight face! In each room just focus on praying for what happens there and for it all to be pleasing to God and under His guidance.

Front door / entry way
That our home would be filled with God's presence, that it would be His home to use as He sees fit, and that all who enter here would be blessed and cared for. That all who enter would know that He lives here with us, He is not just an occasional guest.

Living Room
We prayed for fellowship, for growing in the Word.

Dining Room (Schooling Space)
MP - for fun stuff to do in school, and yummy meals
We prayed for our school time, that the girls would grow in their knowledge and love of God, for the guests who would join us at this table for meals, for God to bring those He wants around our table, for out family meals to be a blessing and time of close fellowship and sharing, that we would be encouraged as a family.

Kitchen
MP - Help mommy make yummy meals and desserts
We did pray for help in making nutritious and delicious meals, for provision, and for spiritual food as well.

Family Room
MP - fun toys to play with
We prayed for our time as a family as this is the room we most often end up in, for our family relationships to be loving and close, for help in caring for each other.

Laundry room - MP insisted - God to help mommy clean our clothes and make them smell good.

Stairs - safety

Office
We prayed for the managing of our household and finances, for the planning of school time, for the correspondence that goes out via various media, and for Bible study as this is where all our books are!

Guestroom/Sewing room
For the guests that God brings to be blessed, nurtured and loved in our home, and for creativity and time to sew.

Our Bedroom
We prayed for our marriage, for good sleep (often difficult for me), for our unity as a family.
This is also where we have family worship, we all pile onto our bed, so we prayed for that too.

Baby's Room
Her continued health and healing, her hip dysplasia check up in November, her spiritual growth and relationship with God.

Miss Pear's Room
Her continued health and healing, her cardiology appt in 2 weeks, her spiritual growth and relationship with God, and the girls' relationship as sisters.

Between the 2 rooms we also prayed for the girls to be good listeners and for God to help them behave (Miss Pear's request).

Now we did skip the hallways, bathrooms, closets, garage and would have skipped the laundry room had Miss Pear not insisted. Also, we almost skipped the stairs, but at the last minute we stopped and prayed for safety as the girls have had a number of near misses.

Do you pray through your house? What do you pray for?

CSA Box #4 Update

Loose plans for the yummy box are always a good idea because last minute things can be substituted. Instead of roma tomatoes I got tomatoes, and instead of arugala we got BABY BOK CHOY! I tell you, that is a substitute I would have made myself if I knew it was available.

I am stoked.

And I think I am going to make this delicious and simple recipe....

By the way, any greens you don't know what to do with that are spinach consistency or thicker? Oil in pan, heat, add garlic, cook briefly but do not let it brown, add greens, toss, add water or stock steam as long as is needed. Season and serve. This will always serve you well. For escarole add some chili flakes, for bok choy add some sesame oil....even just a little salt and pepper will do.

That is the best tip I have learned about greens so far in the box.

And once again I oohed and aahed over our box. Checked it was all there. And put it away.

No pictures were taken.

Just as well or you would have seen the drool marks.

We have a couple special plans with the contents other than just eat, so I will keep you posted...

Stocking Up Motivation and Goals

Some of the best advice I ever received for being a good home manager was to run my home like a business, but with a lot more love! After being raised in the business world in my family's business, attending business school, and working in the world of supply chain management for 5 years I find this advice very practical! I take the tools I used in supply purchasing and planning and apply them to my home management practices!

Two weeks ago I shared pictures of my disorganized and partially stocked pantry. That was so we could move onto what comes after the shopping strategy because after all, you need a place to put stuff!

I confessed I had to change my shopping strategies as we moved and was trying to balance saving money and meeting my family needs as best I could, and I also talked about getting stocked up again, or at least working towards that. But a key part of stocking up for me is knowing why I am doing it. Yes, there is the argument that it is just common sense, but I like to plan stuff out, so I decided I need more detain than that to plan.

All companies have stocking goals and they usually start with conflicting goals like low inventory and never miss a customer shipment. Fortunately my goals and reasons are not conflicting...except that pesky stay in budget one!

So here are my reasons for wanting a well stocked pantry, freezer, and even fridge.

1. I would like to be only buying food items on sale - therefore I would like to have enough on hand to make it to the next sale. In a perfect world every item I buy at the grocery store was on sale and had a coupon.
   
2. It is important to me to be somewhat prepared for life's little emergencies - someone gets sick, life gets crazy, there is an unexpected expense. I would like to have food on hand to make meals to get through these crunches. Not to say there would not be an emergency trip for milk, but running in for milk is one thing, running in with a huge list is another. (Although buying milk at Costco definitely leaves us wiggle room here too).
   
3. We would like to be able to say yes when the call comes out for snacks for Sunday morning or someone needs a meal. I can do that better if I have what I need on hand!
4. We want to do a better job of hospitality, and it is much easier for us to offer the invitation or say yes when there is not a special trip to the store required.
5. We get snow and ice storms here - plan ahead so we are not one of those families in the grocery store frantically stocking up before the storm hits!
6. Be able to put off going to the store because we have more important things to do. There are some weeks I just don't want to go to the store. Sometimes we have lots planned, and sometimes I am just needing a break or the sales are lackluster and just do not warrant a trip.
7. We have one car, and I love that! But it does make errand running require some creativity sometimes!
8. Okay, here is the truth I have been hinting at. I just don't like grocery shopping. Going once a week is really my limit. I do like Costco, but the grocery store? Not so much. Having a healthy pantry definitely makes this dislike easier to manage!

Okay, I confessed my foibles and goals, how about you? What makes you want to stock your fridge, freezer and pantry?


Next week more concrete plans to make these goals happen and these motivations work.


Series:
Part 1: New Shopping Strategy
Part 2: New Shopping Strategy Part 2

Catching Up

We are having 2 cool days here yesterday and today - at least until supper time it looks like, so I have been catching up!

Yesterday I made 4 batches of beans on the pressure cooker and froze them in 2 cup portions, baked 3 banana blueberry loaves, made a special supper plus dessert for my husband's birthday, did all the laundry, cleaned the house, and cleaned the kitchen numerous times. I started teaching Miss Pear to peal carrots using the lay the carrot on the counter and carefully slide the peeler method and use the can opener with help - mostly in self defense and she keeps asking for more jobs to do. It was worth it though, she was so proud to tell Daddy what parts of supper she helped with. We also took Miss Pear to her first ever skating lesson - she had a great time!

Today I cooked 12 lbs of chicken that was on sale for $0.99, so once it is cool I have to chop it up for the freezer, plus I made up a double batch of cookies, freezing some dough and baking others. (Once the dough is frozen I will move it to food saver bags). And cleaned the kitchen. Miss Pear's new job today was putting the cooled cookies in the cookie jar. We also have to go to Costco tonight. But at least I feel a little bit more on track for any heat that may come.

I keep telling myself that God asking us to live without air conditioning for a couple months this summer is not a huge sacrifice compared to what He has called others to, and that I need to work on my attitude. So I decided to just plan for it as best I can, filling the freezer on cool days, and know that we will be eating a lot of pasta salad and sandwiches on those hot days. It is a bit tricky because the girls have become sick in the heat before, so we do try to be careful, and we do have to be mindful of our plans, but we are doing our best, and trusting God.

What have you been up to these past 2 days to start the week?

And if you can think of any more kitchen jobs for Miss Pear, please share!

Bible in 90 Days: Day 8/Week 2 Check In

It has been one of those weeks where the divine is clear - many obstacles were thrown in my path and yet I don't feel beaten down, frustrated or overwhelmed, and I am on track in my reading. I am not fully done today's reading, but will finish it once the girls are in bed.

It has been a big day, my husband's birthday, and our 5 year old's very first skating lesson.

I learned something very important about reading the Bible while watching her skate.

She fell a fair bit, as was expected, she has lived all but these past couple months in Southern California, she has never seen ice outside of the freezer or a drink. But each time she fell, she got up, dusted herself off, and often waved to us. But she got up and she tried again! How often do we fall of schedule and fail to do what she did, get up and try again?

It was hard work for her, the girl who can figure out most things easily. But she did not give up. get frustrated or cry. Her smile was only ever erased by a look of determination and of concentration. Bible reading is not always easy, and this plan is ambitious, but doable! Hang in there, try hard!

When she went slowly she did better and fell less. When we try to cram in our study and race through it we are often left wondering what we read and rather than being efficient it is more like wasted time. Go slow, do a good job.

And lastly, she is learning to fight falling, not just to let herself go. We need to do the same thing, fight falling off our schedule and keep on going.

And she is eagerly looking forward to her next lesson. Are you eagerly looking forward to your next time with God? I am learning to follow my daughter's example.

That said, my reading time has been rich, and the Lord has been teaching me much, mostly that He is faithful, always.

CSA Box #4

The list for next week's box just came out, and the following is scheduled:

Arugula (Greens)
English Peas
Spinach
Mixed Baby Lettuce Heads
Bunched Carrots
Yellow Onions
Roma Tomatoes
White Sweet Corn
Apricots
Peaches
Red Raspberries
Valencia Oranges

After the record breaking heat we have had this week I was not surprised to see 8 thing grown locally, 6 at the CSA Farm.

While it is all things we eat and love, I may swap out some of the greens as that is a lot for us to eat in this heat, I find greens in the summer just don't last as long, even in the fridge! (Although I am assured it will get cooler next week)

So if this was the box you were picking up next Wednesday, what would you be thinking?

Guacamole

For the longest time we turned up our noses at avacados, and when you live in California that is near sacrilegious! You only think I exaggerate! But then we discovered the little yellow barn that served delicious mexican food and accidentally tried quacamole. We liked it. Then we tried Baja Fresh's guacamole and we were totally hooked.

Did I mention there is no Baha Fresh up here? Yet we still moved. Go figure! :-)

Well, last week in the CSA box we got 2 avocados. I seriously thought about swapping them out. But I decided to try one more time to make quacamole. Don't ask about the first time, it is one of those "we shall never speak of it again" things.

This time I started with Alton Brown's recipe, you know, the guy from Food Network whose stuff is always good? Who is a mix between a science geek and Julia Child? He is the kitchen authority around here. If I say it is his recipe everyone tries it.

My recipe ended up looking like this:

• 2 avocados, halved, seeded and peeled
• sprinkling of fruit fresh to keep avocado green
  
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 medium onion, diced
• 3 Roma tomatoes diced
• 1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
• 1 clove garlic, minced

And I basically just mashed the avocado with a fork, added the fruit fresh and mashed some more. Added the seasoning and mashed some more, added the onion and mixed, added the rest and folded/gently stirred together. Per the directions I did let it sit on the counter for about 45 minutes, but it was blazing hot, so that was it, and then I put it in the fridge.

The verdict? We hope there are more avocados in the next box....and we need more chips.

What do you like to do with avocados?

Here Comes Summer

One thing we did not realize when we moved up here is that most people do not have air conditioning, in fact, people who DO have it are seen as kind of weird. So imagine our surprise when our rental does NOT have air conditioning. And it is supposed to be 31C for the next couple days.

So what do we do?

We throw open all the windows in the evening to get as much cool air in as possible, and leave as many open over night as is safe.

In the morning we close all windows with sunshine on them and open all those with shade and cool air until it gets too warm and we close them. (And by too warm I mean that we feel warm air starting to come in rather than refreshing cool air).

We turn on all the fans we have.

We open the shaded windows if there is cool air coming in.

We dress cool and all little girls have their hair up.

We eat cold meals as much as possible, do not turn on the oven if at all possible using the toaster oven, slow cooker and electric frying pan.

How do you keep cool in the heat...and please don't say air conditioning! :-)

Just for fun, here is a new pasta salad we made for lunches this week.

Layered Pasta Salad

layer the following:

3 cups cooked and cooled shell pasta
1 lg red onion diced
2 cups peas
1 cup of ham chopped (I used the sliced deli meat I got on sale)

Mix and spread on top"
1/2 cup mayo
1/2 cup ranch dressing (I used buttermilk ranch and it was yummy!)

Top with:
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup halved grape tomatoes (I just chopped up the romas I had)

Cool in fridge for several hours before serving, mix well before serving.

Sesame Snap Peas

In last week's CSA box we received a number of delicious things. I decided to swap the kale for grapes because they were the red flame grapes, my favorite! But I am sure I will get kale again, so I am keeping the recipes now that I know how to get around the texture issue we all had.

One thing we received that we tried a delicious recipe for was sugar snap peas.

The recipe is:

Sesame Snap Peas

1lb sugar snap peas
1 tbsp dark sesame oil
1 tbsp black sesame seeds or toasted sesame seeds
1 tbsp honey
salt

Bring 4 cups of salted water to a boil. Drop the peas into the boiling water for about a minute and then plunge them into ice water to chill them. While they are still crisp and cool remove them to a colander to dry. Place peas in a bowl, toss with sesame oil, sprinkle with seeds and lightly drizzle with honey. Salt to taste. Serve immediately.

These were so delicious! The only problem we had was not enough peas....we ran out too soon.

Bible in 90 Days Day 1 Check-In

I am very excited to be reading the Bible cover to cover in 90 days again. I read as part of the group that started in January too. Our then 4 year old was scheduled for open heart surgery January 11, and I knew I needed that much Bible reading - it was not that I am that spiritual, it was that I was that desperate! Our daughter did great in her surgery, and we joke she is all but bionic now, you would never know anything happened. The reading helped me tremendously! I loved how the Bible was so alive and I felt like I was meeting God each morning in my reading. Then it became clear we were moving and in the last 3 weeks of the scheduled reading I completely fell apart.

So here we are, the move is done, we are mostly settled, and it is time to get my quiet time back on track. And I know this is the way I am to do it. So here we go, day 1.

Day 1 is not off to a good start. My plan is to get up early and ready before my family is awake. My programmable coffee maker is all set! But with yesterday being July 4, and fireworks being completely legal where we are, well, it was a loud night with fireworks still going off at 1AM. But there are still many hours in this day to complete my reading, and it is a priority, so it will get done.

I am very happy to be reading along again, and look forward to hearing what God has to teach me. Once again I plan to read with no agenda, just read attentively and listen for what God has to say with me. I guess that is an agenda, read and listen carefully, or to quote a past professor, simply waste time with God.

Head over to Amy's for the links of more first day reports!

Bible in 90 Days Starts Monday Morning!

It takes something pretty big to get me to post on the weekend, unless it is set to autopost like this morning's holiday greeting. But I wanted to remind you that reading through the Bible in 90 Days starts tomorrow morning. For more information check out Amy's site as she is hosting!

It is really worth it, and I found last time that the reading took me any where from 45 minutes to an hour and fifteen minutes depending if I got confused or not! So it is not a huge commitment of time with God each day, but the benefits are huge.

Please consider reading along with us.

Amy does an excellent job encouraging us along, and I will be posting my Monday update each week talking about how it is going and what I am learning.

Happy 4th of July

Yes, we really do celebrate both Canada Day and July 4th in our household. After all, while my husband and I were born and raised in Canada, our daughters were born in the US, but are citizens of both countries.

Pantry

One of the things I have appreciated about this home is the in kitchen walk in pantry. It is a lovely convenience and right in the corner of our kitchen.


It is not stocked as fully as I would like, nor is it as organized as I would like, but it is coming along!

I still have over flow in the garage, but we commandeered the bookshelf I was using to hold the homeschooling supplies and got a sturdier rack to do pantry duty in the garage, it looks like this:


I still have a second old wood bookcase that did double duty of holding cleaning supplies and other assorted stuff in our old home, and now will hold canning supplies and cleaning supplies in our new home.

The whole pantry and stockpile situation is coming along nicely as I shop sales and restock, but I still have not fully unpacked the cleaning supplies. In fact, to the left of the garage picture are 2 boxes of them that are opened, just not unpacked.

In addition to that we also have a laundry room with 1 long shelf. More on that next week.

But after talking about my new shopping strategies, I figured I should share where I store stuff before I moved on to the next step!

Happy Canada Day!

A great day to eat pancakes with maple syrup and have dessert of ice cream, strawberries, and whip cream!

graphic credit