Goody bags rule

We had Zac's 4th birthday party today (though his actual birthday is not until this Tuesday). We were blessed to have lots of friends join us to celebrate a special boy. Part of the entertainment was a scavenger hunt for the goody bags at the end of the party. I think Zac might sort of, kind of be happy to have found his goody bag.

Look Ma, no training wheels

We have no more little boys with training wheels. Shearn Yoong taught Zac to ride sans training wheels yesterday. I wasn't there to see that, but I got to see him action this morning while we took Benji to school. I have to give props out to Benji for being such an encouraging big brother today, telling his brother he was doing "awesome," helping him up when he fell, and also helping him get started when it was tricky. Here's a picture of a proud Zac from yesterday.

How can BP executives be so nonchalant in their response to the oil spill?

Looking at these pictures just breaks my heart.

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/06/caught_in_the_oil.html

By the way, stop calling it an oil leak. This is NO leak. It's a spill, a gush. Call it for what it is.

Bread recipe

Thanks to my dear hubby's birthday gift of a mixer two years ago, I have enjoyed making homemade bread. Here's the recipe I use (sometimes I substitute a few cups of white flour, if I'm feeling generous to my husband - he prefers some white flour in the mix).

Wheat bread

7 cups whole wheat flour
2/3 cup gluten
2 1/2 Tbsp. yeast
5 cups hot water (I use tap water turned up as hot as it goes)
2 Tbsp. salt
2/3 cup oil
2/3 cup honey
2 1/2 Tbsp. bottled lemon juice
4-5 cups more wheat flour (I use 4)

Mix together the flour, gluten, yeast, and hot water. Mix for 1-2 minutes. Cover and let stand for 10 min. Add salt, oil, honey, and lemon juice. Mix 1 min. Then add 4 cups more flour. Knead for 10 min. Let it stand to rise for 1 hour. Bake at 350 for approx. 45 min.

Note: My mixer has a very large bowl, so if you have a smaller bowl, you might want to half the recipe the first time you make it.

Snow??!! In March??!! Are You Kidding Me??!!

Not that I'm complaining - I love playing in the snow (making up for lost years here, as my wife would say). Benji enjoys the snow too. Zac, he does but not for long. He doesn't stay too active out in the snow, therefore gets cold. Laurel...... sigh.......

It's end of March and here we are, getting a really good snow dump (I don't see it as snow fall). At the time of writing, it's still coming down pretty hard. So I'm sure we'll probably see another 1-3 inches maybe before the end of this day. It is already about 10-12 inches when we went out this morning.

It's definitely been an unusually snowy winter in this area this year. Good snow falls too for that matter. The snow today isn't that great for sledding (yet?), but sure is great for making snowman and having snowball fights. We haven't made a great snowman at all this year, so we finally got to!

Interview with Desmond Tutu

Renee Montagne of NPR's Morning Edition interviewed Archbishop Desmond Tutu this morning, and I caught the interview on my way in to work. When asked if he found his relationship to God changed as he's grown older, I thought his reflection on that question quite profound. He said, "Yes. I am learning to shut up more in the presence of God (laughter)". Then he went on and admitted that he still sometimes approaches God with, "a kind of shopping list that you bring to God". The lesson at church last Sunday spoke about that - how we tend to ask God, "what's in it for me?" instead of, "God, what do You want me to do for You today?" especially in our prayer life. We come before God asking for healing, for wisdom on what to do about this and that purchase, where to go for vacation, so on and so forth. I don't think that's necessarily wrong, but is that all there is to this infinitely mighty and capable God - a heavenly Santa? Do we get on our knees and assume we must always start talking to God and dole out one request after another?

The Archbishop then continued, "But more and more, I think you are trying to grow in just being there. Like when you sit in front of a fire in winter, you are just there in front of the fire, and you don't have to be smart or anything. The fire warms you".

How often do we just sit, be still and know that He is God (Psalm 46:10)? Just be a part and experience God's presence? Do we want to be a Martha, busying herself with all kinds of preparation, or be a Mary, sitting at His feet (Luke 10:38 - 42)? What would Jesus rather have you do?

Great, Great Commercial

I love it. Simple concept yet powerful message:

A Tinkle and Three-Phrase Morning Routine

We've weaned Zac off diapers for a while now, but we're getting somewhat regular bed-wetting accidents that we decided we just need to wake Zac up ourselves to go to the bathroom.

Since I get up very early for work, part of my morning routine now would be to carry a sleepy little boy to the bathroom, let him empty his bladder, and carry him back. After laying him down, I would always hear these three phrases coming from a sleepy little voice:

"I love you, dad"

"Goodbye, dad"

"Have fun, dad"

Oh, that just makes me want to jump back in bed and snuggle the little dude! Those three phrases just made the morning routines worthwhile!!

Happy Chinese New Year!!!!

The university's Chinese Students and Scholars Association had their annual CNY gala and this year, Benji participated in a dance. Their dance was the opening act! It was really cute to see Benji on stage. Proud of the little guy! He's on the far left.

Though this video was recorded in HD, I didn't have the right software to deal with HD clips yet. Sorry! Tell Apple to quickly release iLife '10.

What is Chinese New Year?

At Chinese class today:

Teacher: What is Chinese New Year?

Benji: A party with Chinese.

Creamy chicken vegetable soup

Okay, here is recipe number two. The recipe called for turkey but I used chicken and it was just fine.

Ingredients

• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 3 cups diced small red potatoes
• 2 cans (14-1/2 ounces each) chicken broth
• 2 cups cooked cubed turkey breast
• 2 cups frozen mixed vegetables, thawed
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon white pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning
• 2 cups heavy whipping cream

Directions

In a large saucepan, saute onion in butter until tender. Add potatoes and broth. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Stir in the turkey, vegetables, salt, pepper and poultry seasoning. Cook 10-12 minutes longer or until vegetables are tender. Stir in cream; heat through (do not boil).

Beef and cabbage soup recipe

It's been super cold here lately, so this has been the week of soups. A friend asked me to post my recipes... so here is recipe number one.

Beef and cabbage soup

1 lb ground beef

1 medium onion

1 cup diced celery

1/2 green pepper chopped

2 tablespoons canola oil

2 teaspoons salt

2 tablespoons sugar

1/4 teaspoons pepper

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1 28 oz can whole tomatoes chopped

1 5 1/2 oz can tomato paste

4 cups water

2 beef bullion cubes

3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley

2 cups raw potatoes diced in small squares (peeled)

1 cup raw carrots diced

1/2 of a head of cabbage finely chopped

Optional: chili pepper to taste

In a large soup pot, saute ground beef in canola oil. Add onion, celery, green pepper. Stir until onion is transparent and meat has lost its redness. Drain off oil. Add the remaining ingredients except cabbage. Mix well. Simmer covered for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Add cabbage and simmer covered 1 additional hour, stirring occasionally. This soup is meant to on the thick side, however if it is too thick add 1 or 2 cups of water if needed.

SNOW

The last few winters here in Arkansas we have not had good snows. This year seems to be making up for it! We had a white Christmas and now another snow last night. The boys had a blast this morning - sledding down our steep driveway, having a snowball fight with Daddy, and attempting to make a snow man. The snow was a little dry for building a snow man, but I managed to get a tiny one made. It doesn't take much to impress kids who have grown up in the South - even a small snow man is pretty spectacular to them.

The boys sledding

Benji did this over and over down our driveway

Benji

Brutal war of snow balls - Daddy pounding Benji

This time Daddy got it in the face...

Benji packing another one

Zac doing his best too - but he didn't think the pounding was all that fun and just watched that part rather than participating