Up To Our Ears

Yesterday morning my mom, her neighbor Kay, and I headed down I-83 to pick up her daughter from the airport. Laura had been in India for several months working with disabled children, and so despite being awake since Tuesday, Indian time, she had lots of stories to share as we drove home from BWI. Laura and I are only about 2 years apart in age and grew up playing together in the span of backyards between our houses. She has an incredible story of her own to share, surviving a really painful burn accident, but her love for Jesus and compassion for others just radiates out of her bright smile and joyful approach to life.

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As soon as Mom and I got back and ate a quick lunch, we started working on the corn crop she had brought over that morning. Pete had graciously husked it for us while we were on the road, and so all that remained was to cook, cut it off the cob, and store it in 1/2 pint freezer bags. It seemed like a small amount compared to what we've done in previous years, but we were both grateful it wasn't larger. After sitting for nearly 4 hours in a car, standing over a hot stove in a steamy (though air conditioned) kitchen, then sitting in the heat & humidity outside to eliminate corn juice being splattered all over the place...we were tired! After dinner I crashed onto the couch--literally--and hardly moved the rest of the night.

Here's some pictures for those curious about the process. Natalia really enjoyed moving (er--throwing) the cooked corn cobs from bin to bin to cool them off. Yum...there's nothing like fresh corn from the garden!

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Tonight we're going to go watch my home church's softball team play in the playoffs. Right now they're ranked in 2nd place. Natalia LOVES watching baseball, seeing some of Mommy's extended family, clapping and yelling "hit the ball guys!" Of course she also remembers that they sell "LOLLABOPS" at the snack bar! :o)

For My 100th Post I Thought I'd...

...forego the commonly held tradition of posting 100 Things About Me, or some of the other things people do--something else has been on my radar and I'm dying to tell you all!

The ECHO and regular sonogram stuff went extremely well this morning. They want to see me again in 4 weeks so they can check for directional blood flood, etc. This will be easier to detect the older the baby is. But everything looked great. The main arteries were crossed as they should be and the 4 chambers looked perfect. The technician wasn't in any doubt that we're having a boy!!!

Needless to say, Pete is thrilled, and I am too! Now we're just going to have to help Natalia make the transition of saying she wants a sister to calling the baby in Mama's belly "Adam". When we told her today she was excited so I don't expect the gender to be an issue for her come December. All she cares about is that she's getting a baby for Christmas!

To finish this post out I thought I'd thank you all for your prayers and well wishes. We truly do sense God working.

And, I wanted to share some new photos of Natalia. I decided to do a little photo shoot at my parent's place over the weekend, again using their beautiful sunflowers and gardens as backdrops. Enjoy!

Trials and Joys

I had another routine appointment yesterday morning. Everything is going really well. The baby's heartbeat was good and strong, about 150 beats, and "he" (it's so wierd to call it "it") was squirming all over the place.

I have been having fluttering and popcorn popping sensations the last few weeks, but now I can definately feel jabs. The movement hasn't been disruptive to my sleep yet, which is nice since Natalia loved to kick and punch me in the ribs when I was sleeping...that will be coming I'm sure. Speaking of Natalia, she is simply loving the idea of being a big sister! She received two "big sister" kind of books for her 1/2 birthday and they are now favorites. She still insists that she's getting a sister for Christmas. We hope to find out on Monday at the ultrasound.

Pete's going with me on Monday, for a few reasons. He, of course wants to be there for the experience, but especially if the baby cooperates and is in a good position for us to check things out. We also will be having an ECHO done to check out the baby's heart in greater detail. Again, this is just precautionary, though doctor ordered, because of Natalia's heart condition.

I'm feeling much better and able to navigate through the world of smells nearly problem-free these days! That's definately a blessing. I'm still tiring really quickly, but that's to be expected and I know I'm especially affected by the extreme humidity we've had recently.

On a completely different note, in the past few weeks Pete and I have had multiple "heavies" come our way, (I already blogged about one of them)...but all are things we can walk through with God's help. We've already experienced great peace and reassurance, but we're human and it still has been a struggle at times. I've found it especially hard to sleep some nights, but it's primarily been because my pregnant body is already waking me. Spending time with the Lord, reminding myself that EVERYTHING that comes to me first filters through God's loving hands and is intended to grow me and/or bring blessing to others and honor Him somehow--this has refocused my eyes and given me great hope even in the moments when I question how that is possible.

One of those things in particular could be of some duration, we just don't know. If you think of us, please pray. Pray for wisdom, protection, and a right attitude, and that God would work in our favor, convincing all involved that our intentions and words are true...and that we would release the outcome to the Lord. He is always Faithful.

I Think I Can, I Think I Can...

Okay, so it's a cheesy title but it was the first thing I thought of.

I was blessed to grow up on fresh veggies and local fruit year-round because my mom spent endless hours canning and freezing the bounties from our garden and neighboring area. Though I often was a party (I'd LIKE to say it was without grumbling or complaining) to the harvesting process, I haven't until recently known how to do the rest.

I've got a lot to learn and am prepared to work my way through a few new ones each year...certainly not all at once! But, so far I've made or help to make strawberry jelly, sweet corn, and applesauce to freeze. And in a few weeks I'll can a large batch of peaches and pears for the first time. I don't make many pies, but there is now a cherry pie filling recipe in my repetoire that Pete DEVOURS! And there are plenty of ways that I've learned how to use the fresh berries my parents grow while they're in season.

But one veggie (or should I say, fruit) continues to puzzle me. TOMATOES

I'm not interested in making my own marinara or pizza sauce--maybe another year--but want to somehow preserve them in diced form for stews and soups.

I'm hoping to find jars no bigger than a soup can for storage and would prefer to can them versus freeze due to space issues when we get our big pork and beef order in the early fall.

Anyone have any suggestions or "recipes"?

A Tragic Ending

Last Wednesday we received some really sad news from one of Pete's former co-workers. One of the guys in his old department, and a good friend, lost his teenage son unexpectedly. Andrew was 16, and apparently just died in his sleep.

The autopsy reports came back inconclusive--maybe the toxology reports in the next week or so will show something, but the disturbing part is that they may never find a cause.

Last evening Pete, Natalia, and I drove down to Reisterstown, MD to see Ed at his son's viewing. It's hard to imagine his grief and what he'll face in the upcoming days and months. We're praying that he'll be comforted by those that love him, but ultimately that he finds peace with God in the midst of this terrible loss.

Please pray for him and their whole family. Andrew leaves behind his mother, younger brother, his father, stepmother and two stepsisters. We think that Andrew might have been the only believer in his family.

Pete often spent a long weekend each of the last few summers backpacking with Ed, and once Andrew went along. That was 3 years ago, but Pete really enjoyed getting to know Ed and his son in that capacity. Andrew had just been saying to his dad recently that he really wanted to go with them again this year--they were hoping to go sometime in August. Maybe Ed and Pete will still go...we'll see.

It's hard to imagine how God can use something as heartbreaking as this for His glory and our good. In the meantime I will set my heart upon believing what is True--

He alone is sovereign,

He is trustworthy,

He alone is the Source of true peace despite the most violent of life's storms,

and He knows intimately what it means to grieve.

Blue Skies and Refreshing Moments

Vacationing with little ones is never predictable or easy, but this past weekend we made our best attempt. We usually try to take a few days each summer to vacation with some close friends of ours, the Zimmermans. They now have a 3 year old, Kaleb, and a 4 month old, Lindsey. Natalia and Kaleb are quite the buddies, and it will be nice to have our upcoming little one close in age to their youngest once again.


Friday and Saturday were gorgeous days despite the humidity and high temps. We spent as much time as possible seeking out shaded spots at the park and cooling off in the pool on Friday...then spent a good 8 hours out on the water on Ken's dad's boat in Baltimore yesterday. It was so refreshing to hop off the back of the boat and float in the cool water. Natalia was barely on board all day!


Here are a few photos from yesterday. Pete was the photographer and only seemed to get pictures of Ken, the kids and I. Oh well.





















Check out the little lady's outfit this afternoon! Like her added accessories? (Sunday sandals and ladybug hat)

Family and Friends

My dad, brothers and Pete got to go on a 2-day kayaking/fishing/camping trip this past weekend. They returned Saturday night to lots of hugs and kisses. Natalia kept asking where Daddy was, Grandpa, her uncles...and saying she missed Daddy. I did too!

But the guys had alot of fun and got to relax, which was the whole idea. The ladies and kids got together for the day on Saturday. We enjoyed visiting at the neighbors kiddie pool while the kids cooled off, a nice lunch and some semi-down time while 1 out of the 3 kiddos napped. The girls played well together and we were able to talk and laugh. The guys got home just before dinner so we chowed down on some pizza before everyone had to head home. Some of them were smelling pretty fishy. :-P

Sunday after church and a quick nap for Natalia we headed towards the eastern end of the county to a birthday party. Our good friends' little boy Kaleb was turning 3 and he and Natalia are good buddies.

Here is a picture of the two of them enjoying their cake--and a friendly hug! :o)

Simple Scones

When it comes to making English tea treats I'm always a bit hesitant...rarely have my attempts to find a good scone recipe met my expectations. Now, I have no idea really if my idea of a scone fits with what the Brits would define as a proper biscuit, but I finally found one I like--and it's easy! :o)

It comes from allrecipes.com and is aptly called "Simple Scones". I especially like to make the lemon variation mentioned following the recipe. If you love lemon as much as I do, spread some lemon curd on top!

Happy baking!

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2 c. flour

1/3 c. sugar + 1 tsp., divided

1 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

8 TBsp. unsalted butter, FROZEN

1/2 c. raisins (or dried currants)

1/2 c. sour cream

1 large egg

1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and preheat to 400.

2. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and soda, and salt together in a bowl.

3. Use large holes of box grater to grate the butter into the flour mixture. Use your fingers to work in the butter (it should resemble coarse meal).

4. Add raisins (if using).

5. In a separate bowl whisk together the sour cream and egg until smooth.

6. Using a fork, stir sour cream mixture into flour mixture until large dough clumps form. Use your hands to press the dough against the bowl into a ball. (It will seem sticky at first but keep kneading in the bowl--it will come together.)

7. Place on a lightly floured surface and pat into a 7-8 inch circle about 3/4 inch thick. Sprinkle with remaining 1 tsp. sugar. Use a sharp knife to cut into 8 triangles (like a pizza).

8. Place on a cookie sheet, preferable lined with parchment paper, about 1 inch apart.

9. Bake until golden, about 15-17 minutes. Cool for 4 minutes and serve warm or at room temp.

Cranberry-Orange:

Add a generous tsp. of finely grated orange zest to the dry ingredients and substitute dried cranberries for the raisins.

Lemon-Blueberry:

Add a generous tsp. of finely grated lemon zest to the dry ingedients and substitute dried blueberries for the raisins.

Cherry-Almond:

Add 1/2 tsp. almond extract to the sour cream mixture and sub dried cherries for the raisins.

Lemon:

Add zest of one lemon to dry ingredients and 1 tsp. vanilla extract to sour cream mixture. Omit the raisins.

Tuesday Tots

Today a fellow friend from MD who also recently relocated back to PA with her hubby and son stopped by so our kids could play while she had an appointment. We got to visit a bit (as much as two energetic 2 year olds and a newborn will allow) before and afterwards.


Natalia simply loves playing with Brayden. Here are two cute shots of them "cooking" dinner for me. I thought they did pretty well having two cooks in a very small kitchen!!! I of course was closeby to moniter any flare-ups in the cooking. LOL


My favorite is the one where Brayden is offering Natalia a taste. How cute is that?!?!

What A Zoo...And All Things Fun!

What a great weekend!

Many of you know I mentioned we were going to be celebrating Natalia's 2 1/2 birthday this past Sunday in light of the busyness we're expecting this Christmas...and it may just become a permanent tradition. How fun it was to see her truly enjoying the spotlight and delighting in having her cousins and family around to celebrate her special day. (Her real 1/2 birthday would have been June 28th, but that was the middle of the week.) It of course was a miniature zoo inside the house as the kids and adults were all in a festive frame of mind! :-)

This weekend she learned how to sing the birthday song and of course likes to sing it over and over for everyone she knows: especially her cousins, friends and family members. I also tried to teach her, as much as I could remember, the Polish version, "Sto Lat". Pete helped to fill the gaps in my memory...she now can sing each version equally well. So cute!

Here she is in her "Sunday's finest", a gift from her Babcia. I thought it looked "July 4th-ish".

And here is the promised picture of the ladybug cupcakes from her party.

If you're interested in what I thought was an easy design, I made chocolate cupcakes, spread a thin layer of chocolate frosting on top, then cut 2 half circles from a strawberry Fruit Roll-Up and overlapped one end to form the wings. I then used an upside-down Rollo candy for the head and piped a face with white frosting and spots with the remaining chocolate frosting. They were no sweeter than your average store-bought cupcakes since I was careful to be minimal with the frosting. What's nice is that the Roll-Up "softened" and didn't pull off in one big piece when eaten, because they were mostly kept at room temperature prior to serving. (And, I despise few things as much as heavily colored icing to the point it tastes bitter...thus my bright red icing dilemma was solved!)

Pete remarked that it was a bit scary having them all smiling at him like that! LOL

Later that evening we pulled out the sprinkler and some plastic for the kids. We all had some laughs watching their fun.



Finally, early Monday morning we headed for D.C. and Ryan and Sarah drove down from Philly to meet us at the Metro station. Since the Washington Zoo is free, we decided to stay for the day and find some dinner nearby before making the drive back home. We used the Twinbrook station off of the red line and found a great place to eat just off of the Bethesda stop. (The Zoo was off of Cleveland Park).

Here are a few pictures from the day.




All in all, the zoo in D.C. was comparable to the Philly and Maryland Zoos, but it was fun exploring another part of D.C. and the Metrorail made our trip pretty inexpensive considering what we would have paid at the other zoos. Thankfully we hit NO TRAFFIC either way, and it only took us just over 2 hours to drive from our place! Not bad.

I love organizing things like this! Planning trips and events tends to energize me, especially if I have time to work at it ahead of time. My family jokes that I'm their representative booking agent. That's a kind way of saying I'm detail oriented...just a bit Type A! LOL

A Fun-Filled Week

While leaving our home and "family" of 7 years in Maryland was hard, this summer has once again confirmed in my heart how glad I am to be closer to family here in Lancaster County. Being able to see family so frequently has been such a blessing...not only our immediate families, but aunt, uncles, cousins and great grandparents too. The familiarity of this region brings that distinct feeling of "home" to me.

This past Wednesday was another wonderful example. Our mortgage/financial planner, Ken Pederson, made tickets to the Lancaster Barnstormers available, and so Pete, Natalia and I went with my parents to the baseball game that night. What fun!

Mom and Dad came over for dinner beforehand. We grilled up some steaks with mushrooms and a burgundy sauce, scalloped potatoes and salad, topped off by my first attempt at sour cherry pie. Needless to say, my stomach was happy! Then we headed into Lancaster for the night. What a beautiful evening it turned out to be. Humidity/temps were relatively low and the skies were clear. Natalia got to shake hands with "Cylo," the Barnstormers big red furry cow mascot. She kept asking "Where's Cylo?" all night long. And she would enthusiastically shout, "Hit the ball guys!" and "Awww, good try." :-P

This coming weekend we'll celebrate Natalia's 2 1/2 birthday. We've decided to celebrate her special day at the 1/2 way mark--December is just too crazy for our family with the soon-to-be 3rd birthday added to the week of Christmas! Last year had her dazed and confused.

So today I was being industrious in the kitchen. Just call me Betty Crocker!
I decided to go with a ladybug theme since she just loves her ladybug pj's. I'll have to post a picture later of the cupcakes I made today...hopefully I'll remember to snap a shot before they're all eaten.

Then on Monday my whole family is going to the Zoo. Still undecided if it will be the Washington or Philadelphia Zoo. Either way it looks to be a fun day.

And since it's currently raining tonight, it looks like our fireworks plan for this evening are capoot. Oh well, I think I could find a comfy spot on the couch with a book.

HAPPY 4th EVERYONE!

Kite Runner Movie

This past spring I read two excellent, though a bit heavy, books by Khaled Hosseini: The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns. I'd highly recommend both of these--check out my reviews on my Shelfari bookshelf on the sidebar for more info.

When I discovered there had been a movie made of The Kite Runner I was immediately curious. Some people have said it was just okay in their opinion, and I would agree to a certain point. It wasn't one of those films that you walk away from thinking, that was extremely well-crafted and artistic, YET, the story is so compelling that I still thoroughly enjoyed it. Granted, since the book deals with the grim realities of war and human depravity, it is not for the young viewer. But, I felt it didn't go into too much graphic detail that you felt visually assaulted. Most of the "violent" matter was implied. And I felt all of the essential details of the plot were dealt with well.

To thoroughly enjoy this movie I feel you need to either have read the book yourself, or watch it with someone who can fill in some detail for you as you watch. Oh, and it is subtitled, but I didn't really mind. I personally think it would have been wierd if they hadn't used subtitles!

We got it through Netflix.

Berries and Cherries

Monday night we were again enjoying the bounties of summer from my parent's garden and their neighbor's trees. Pete picked about 4 quarts of sour cherries and after sharing some with his mom I plan to make my own filling for a pie.

We also brought home a quart of black raspberries--one of my absolute FAVORITE flavors of summer! Though we never get a big harvest, they are melt-in-your-mouth delicious! I plan to make a pie from this too.

My mom gave me two recipes to try. I thought I'd share the raspberry one. It's adapted from a Cherry Pie recipe in the Mennonite Community Cookbook.

What are your favorite pie recipes? (They don't have to be limited to fruit pies!)

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Black Raspberry Pie

1. Wash 1 qt. fresh berries (about 2 1/2 c.) and reserve some juice after clean; add water to equal 1/3 c. liquid.
2. Mix dry ingredients together: 1/3 c. sugar, 1/3 c. brown sugar, and 2 heaping TBsp. clear gel (the cook kind).
3. Add dry ingred's to juice, then berries.
4. Pour berry mixture into prepared pie shell; trim top crust to fit inside bottom crust and jag with a fork before layering on top of berries.
5. Bake for 10 mins. at 400 degrees, then lower temp. to 375 degrees and bake for 30 mins.

(Can use a crumb topping in place of second crust, though I personally think the second crust balances out the sweetness of the berries better. I usually leave the crumb topping for cherry pies. See recipe below.)

Crumb Topping

5 TBsp. flour
3 TBsp. sugar
2 TBsp. melted butter

Natalia Singing

I finally got Natalia to sing some of her favorite songs, although she's still wingling and only singing fragments, but it's something! :o)

Enjoy!

Fun Weekend..But Still Recovering

Well, I'm not sure where to begin the saga of our weekend.

We had a lot of fun seeing all of our extended family--some we only get to see once or twice a year, others every few years. This family camping tradition started before I was born and has been one of those fixed events of my life. I look forward to it all year long.

Now, if you know anything about my dad's side of the family, you'd quickly agree that they are a fun-loving, rowdy, inventive, and servant-hearted bunch. Every time we're all together I'm reminded of how blessed I am to have come from such a strong, faith-oriented heritage--a family that loves being and laughing together. Stories abound, we help one another, and seek to support one another in the good and the hard times. It's truly a blessing to see the values and faith of my grandparents passed down from generation to generation.

To the casual observer, this camping ritual is quite a sight. We take up about 6 sites for our tent village. We joke that we've bought out Walmart's supply of blue tarps because the place looks like a tarp city! We all tent, with the exception of Grandpa and Grandma (in their late seventies and early eighties!) who sleep in the back of their minivan. There are 5 or 6 picnic tables drawn together in a long line to accomodate the 30 or so of us at mealtimes, and all of our food is prepared over one fire.

Now...I sadly was not able to take pictures this past weekend, but there was a very good reason for that. Primarily exhaustion because our sweet little girl did not sleep well--AT ALL! We laugh about it now, but at the time it was quite a test in patience and longsuffering. I'll just add that since coming home she's making up for lost time--and we are so grateful!

If you're curious to see some pics of our time, check out Musical Jean's blog here. Keep scrolling down through the multiple posts for Sunday, June 29th. There are 25 pics chronicling our weekend.

One highlight is always our Sunday morning family church service in which we sit around the fire. After one of the men shares a devotional he's prepared, we sing some worship songs and hymns, and each family member gets to share what's been happening in their lives in the past year--recount God's goodness and faithfulness through life's blessings and trials. Usually there are some tears followed by laughter, and it always encourages my heart.

A lot of work goes into this weekend, but regardless of weather, we always have fun and come away with great memories.