Yeah--I don't know what to write... So I will write about my favorite subject

FOOD!

I thought maybe there are others out there who are as challenged as I am when it comes to cooking. One of my resolutions this year was to make my menu on Sundays, do my shopping on Mondays and have a well-balanced, healthy meal for my family at a reasonable hour every day. Is that too much to ask? Well, apparently it is!

Anyway, I am going to post (as often as I feel necessary) what we had for dinner and how it went over since we rarely have the same thing twice. Not that I mean to be so "creative." I just forget what we have had and if we liked it.

So last night was tacos. I found the uncooked tortillas at Costco yesterday so I cooked them up on the skillet while I browned some hamburger. We had some chimichurri left over from the previous night's fiasco of Tango Joes which we slathered on the tortillas, along with cheese, sour cream and salsa. It is times like this that I miss my fresh tomato garden. I actually tried to make homemade tortillas the other day but they were more like pitas. I rolled them so thin that I could see through them but by the time they were cooked, they shrank and thickened. Anyone out there know what I am doing wrong? Is it the recipe (it had baking powder in it which I felt made it rise too much) or the cook (most likely)?

I actually didn't eat with the family because it was Enrichment Night. We had a Chicken Soup for the Sister's Souls night which was very cute. We had a dinner of homemade chicken noodle soup and then everyone shared their favorite quotes. They collected the quotes and are making them into a book for us. It was very nice! I sat at a table with some sisters I rarely get to visit with and had a great time getting to know them better. It was quite an eclectic group. There were a few "experienced" sisters, another who is about my age, a young mother, a gal expecting her first baby and a newlywed. We swapped stories and had a few laughs together. Another of my resolutions is to step out of my comfort zone and be more social. I tend to be pretty shy so it is hard but definitely worth it.

Another project was started last night. I was asked to be the leader of a "make and take" meal enrichment group. I presented the group at the meeting last night. I think there were about 25 or so interested ladies so it will be quite a challenge to coordinate it but I think it will be a good thing for us all. Now I just need to find recipes that go beyond "goop on noodles".

I scored!

I was asked to be a guest blogger/reviewer for LDSAudio and I have to admit I am a bit wary of it but I am also excited. I get to choose whatever of their products I want, they give it to me free, and then I listen to it and write a review. Score!

Now if I can only find something worth listening to... I mean, what can you say about a church talk? "Oh yeah, it was really inspirational..." or the Mo Tab? John Bytheway and Brad Wilcox? I could listen to some fiction, I guess but I think everyone knows how I feel about LDS fiction... I am usually equally uninspired by LDS musicians, usually, but there are some exceptions (I have a crush on Brett Raymond's Sting-sounding voice). So we will see how it goes. I am listening to "The Peacemaker," a book that came highly recommended to me by my RS president so here it goes...

I love being a Primary teacher

It has been a long time since I have been a "Primary teacher." As a matter of fact, I haven't had the calling of being a Primary teacher since Dilbert and I were first married. Yes, I have been in the presidency and "taught" during sharing time, and I was the music leader and that certainly is teaching, too, but it isn't the same as being in the classroom with the little ones.

Dilbert and I were asked to sub in the CTR 5 class. The Primary President warned me that the class was a handful and that it would take both of us being there. I had seen some of the antics of this class as Sunbeams so I knew what she was talking about. There is a set of twins, a girl recently adopted from the Ukraine (not fluent in English as of yet), and a little boy who has never sat through a sharing time, let alone sharing time AND singing time. He is usually off running in circles, playing in the corner or escaping out into the halls.

I spent a lot of time thinking and praying about this cute little class. I read the pages in the manual about their development level and behavior characteristics (hey--it's been a while since I had a 4 year-old!) and I kept thinking it wasn't fair to label these kids who just needed to be "taught" what was proper behavior in Primary. In my observation of them in the past, there weren't any physical reasons why they were rambunctious, they were just allowed to run wild (their Sunbeam teacher was overwhelmed by the number and yeah, they are difficult and she was alone to try to handle it. She had her hands full with them).

Dilbert and I talked about what we were going to do. He was to be the "guard" at the door and he was to be in charge of the runner and I would teach the rest of the class. When Primary started, the "runner" wouldn't even come sit with us (his mom teaches sr. primary so he sat with her). The twins were "thankfully" sick. We just had a cute little visitor (girl), another girl and the Ukrainian girl. When it was time to go to class, "Runner" joined us but began to cry as soon as he realized he was in a new classroom and new teachers. He sobbed for his Mom but we told the Primary Secretary we would come get her if we couldn't get it under control.

Immediately the visitor put her hands over her ears and teared up, crying that she couldn't take the noise. The Ukrainian kind of spaced off (I bet she was used to lots of crying in the orphanage) and the other girl sat in her chair, smiling at me. Dilbert did his best to distract the "Runner" but he wouldn't stop crying.

Dilbert is amazing with kids. He loves Primary and he loves to be silly with the little ones so he got down on the floor and started opening "doors" and making animal sounds. I don't know if he realized how inspired he was to do that because it got EVERY one of those kids involved. "Runner" started joining in the animal sounds, Ukraine made animal sounds and even knew some of the English words for some of the animals (it was like a light went on with her that she understood what was going on for once). The visitor took her hands off her ears and joined in the fun. It didn't take long for them all to relax and we were able to actually TEACH a lesson on "What would Jesus do?"

While they drew pictures of choosing the right, we talked about how Jesus would want us to be respectful of the church and be very reverent during sharing time. We took a walk to get drinks and go to the bathroom and practiced being so reverent that no one knew we were in the halls. They were so intent!

Cory had to check in at work (he thought he may have to go into work yesterday but thankfully he didn't) so he left to go home. I went with the class into sharing time. When it started, they were ready to show off their skills. It was amazing, really. I think they just needed to be taught what was expected of them. I showered them with praise and lots of hugs. Runner sat in his chair the whole time, raised his hands and answered questions when he was called on, sang the songs (something he had never done before) and just beamed with the positive attention. When sharing time was over, he gave me a big hug and went off to find his mom. I couldn't help but tear up at the sweet boy he was. He had been totally mislabeled. The Ukrainian girl got bored during sharing time (who wouldn't, not understanding a thing anyone was saying!) so I took out the game we had played during class and let her put the game pieces back onto the paper. She kept pointing to the picture of Jesus in the middle and saying, "Jesus". We pointed to all the pictures of Jesus on the walls in the room and she would beam and say, "Jesus!" It was cute.

After Primary, the President approached me and asked if we would teach again next week. She expressed her surprise at how good the kids were and said she had never seen them so well behaved and happy to be there. I felt like the time we had spent preparing for these kids to have a good experience and the prayers we had expressed in their behalf really paid off. And I felt like I did something really meaningful--something I haven't felt in a long time. For the past year I have been the Stake Primary Music Leader and that job, while "important," doesn't have an immediate (if any, really) impact. Most Sundays I just show up and go to my classes and leave feeling like I wasn't needed (too many years spent in the mission field, I guess, but I am just used to having my Sunday meetings jam-packed with responsibilities). Anyway, I am excited to teach again next week and see if we can build on what was accomplished this week.

I never thought I would say this but for today, at this moment...

I am grateful to have lived all over the country.

I spent the afternoon being a judge at the elementary's Geography Bee. I was shocked at how many of the questions I actually knew because I had been there--or, more appropriately--lived there. Having lived in South Florida, I was aware of the geography of Florida, Cuba, Jamaica and Haiti. I was also aware of a lot of South American geography because so many of the people there were on their way to assignments in South American countries.

I lived in Texas for quite a while, too. Because of that, I was able to answer questions about Texas, Oklahoma and many of the other states in "Tornado Alley". (And I got a lot of the Ohio questions right, thanks to Joyismygoal )

Of course, growing up in Washington state certainly helped me know the geography in the Pacific Northwest! Missionaries in Brazil, Romania, Russia and soon to be in Spain also helped me answer questions.

Of course there were some that I absolutely could not even guess an answer to--but it made me feel good to see I was not as geographically challenged as I thought I was.

Snow Day

Yesterday was a snow day...

We woke up to more than a foot of heavy snow so Dilbert decided to take the day off (yeah!!!). It was orchestra for N so he shoveled the walk but it was falling as fast as he could remove it. Fortunately the neighbor offered to drive in her 4-wheel drive jeep so we got back in bed where it was dry and warm...

About 10 a.m. it stopped snowing and we could see the lake from our house but it started again by 10:30. I "thought" I had to be to the school at 1 to judge the school Geography Bee (oops--wrong day!) so we shoveled ourselves out and made it the .25 mile to the school where we were amazed at how snowed in the parking lot was. No one was going anywhere. Luckily we didn't have to stay long once I found out I had the wrong day (how embarrassing!)

By the time we got home, it was clearing again so we started shoveling again. But it didn't take long before another wave of snow hit. It was coming down faster than we could get it off the driveway so we abandoned our efforts and came inside. About every 90 minutes it would stop and clear just long enough to make us think we were done and we would venture outside. But as soon as we were done with the walks, it would start again.

By th end of the day there was more than 15 inches of the while stuff and our mailbox is buried. There is a tunnel to it but I wouldn't venture down it to deliver the mail. I guess I just wont sending any of my Christmas cards for a while--not that I was going to anyway! I really need to go take some pictures. I will definitely do that after I work out and have lunch--before I go back to the school for the real Geography Bee.

Here's a fun website for you enjoyment

I have been having fun perusing this website... It is the first lines of books from Amazon.com. Check it out! Twiterlit

My Parent's Mission Call

So my parents got their mission call yesterday and I am happy for them. But I just have to vent a bit...

They have been called to serve in Spain (my dad couldn't remember where, exactly), but it is somewhere on the Mediterranean coast. They will serve for 18 months.

That part is all great and I am happy for them. The part I just don't get is they don't have plans for their home or for Katie! They leave the end of May and they have to find someplace for Katie to live and someone to care for her. My Dad just keeps saying he's waiting for the miracle to happen. I don't believe that is how it is supposed to work. He says I don't have enough faith.