How Not to Wait

It's dark outside. Not night time dark. Not early morning dark. Not even the darkness of an eclipse. It's the darkness of smog, no sun for days. It's a darkness that creeps into the house. The kind of darkness that makes you turn on all the lights in the house in an effort to fight it. I find myself waiting for real Spring.

It feels, sometimes, that I'm always waiting. Waiting to grow up and go to college. Waiting to get married. Waiting to start having kids. Waiting to give birth (yeah, I did that a lot). Waiting for Tim's school to be done. Waiting to move overseas and then waiting to move back to the States. There's the waiting for babies to sleep through the night. Waiting for them to be self-sufficient. Waiting for them to finish going potty (I spend A LOT of time doing this!). Waiting for them to do their schoolwork. It always seems that I'm waiting for what's next.

I find it hard to live in the moment. I find it hard to simply wait on God. I have a hard time being still and waiting to hear what God wants to say.
So, here in the darkness of midday, I will try to "Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him..." (Psalm 37:7)

Hairdos, Belly Dancing, and Other Pictures

Since we no longer have a house helper, (yes, I hear you all crying your hearts out for me) the little girls have been having to entertain themselves more and more while I do school. I came in the other day to see the girls, for once, not in trouble. Ellie was combing Lydia's hair, and for once, they let me take a picture of them.

Before you all run screaming for the hills, it's NOT me belly dancing...it's Ellie's Belly Dancing. She really likes to try to take her clothes off to get ready for bed. She hasn't figured out how to get her arms out, though.

I took all the kids to the store with me the other night, as a treat for...well, for surviving, we went out for noodles at their favorite noodle shop. They love to eat it at the restaurant. I call it a restaurant, but the more accurate description would be carless garage.

And here, FINALLY, is a picture of Elijah's missing tooth. If you notice, the other tooth has already grown in...that's not because I waited so long to take the picture, the tooth was there before the old tooth fell out.

Lastly, I've not updated on my projects in a while. I have slowly...very slowly, been working on a quilt for Ellie. I have high hopes of finishing it before we need to take the big comforters off the beds...if that ever happens. It's a scrap quilt and is a little wild! Sorry it's so hard to see on the white background. Maybe when it's finished it will be easier to see.

Simplicity itself!

We love (LOVE) veggies in our house. We like them raw, boiled, fried, sauteed, baked, and ROASTED! Roasted is probably my favorite way to eat some veggies. I would much rather have roasted potatoes than french fries. I'd rather have roasted green beans to boiled with bacon. And all I can say is, I'd rather have roasted asparagus than any other vegetable! Happily, roasting veggies is the easiest, ok except raw, to prepare vegetables. Four ingredients...yep, that's all you need!
Olive oil
salt
pepper
green beans or asparagus

Clean up the veggies. For green beans, trim the ends and cut or snap to the length you prefer. For asparagus, cut off the tough part of the stalk. Spread out on a large cookie sheet or roasting pan, drizzle olive oil over all the veggies, and salt and pepper. Toss together. Place the cookie sheet close to the top heat in a 450 degree oven. Roast until they have brown spots on them. Takes me about 25 minutes or so. I suppose the oven will determine the time. They won't be burnt, but they will look very done.
You can add garlic if you like, but it's tasty either way.

Potatoes can be done like this too...although you won't need to put them so close to the heat and it will take longer. Just wash and cut into 1 in squares (you can peel them or not). Toss with olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic or herbs. I love rosemary and garlic. I grind the rosemary into almost a powder since my family doesn't like the hard pieces. Roast them until they are brown on the bottom and have little brown blisters on top.

I mentioned a bit back about my once a month cooking...it's really more prepping than cooking, but so far, it really has made things come together much more quickly in the evenings. If it continues to be helpful, I will post more about what I do next month. Hope everyone is well.

When I Grow Up

Isabella, as a 3rd grader, has been doing more and more writing activities. Her last writing of the year is entitled "When I Grow Up." I found it amusing and thought I would pass it on. I hope everyone had a blessed Resurrection Day!

When I grown up I want to be a famer. I want pigs, sheep, chickens, turckeys, horses, cows, goats, ducks, and a sheepdog. I need a sheepdog to take care of my sheep. I want chickens for meat and for eggs. I want the cows and goats for milk. I want the horses for riding. I want the turckeys and ducks for meat. I want the pigs for meat. I want the sheep for meat and cloth. I will need my children [to help] with the animals. I will need my husband to raise mony.

I don't where or when she decided that she wanted to be a farmer. Apparently, her family will have a lot of meat! I especially love her purpose for her husband. I literally laughed out loud.

Hope everyone is well!