If you ain’t Dutch, you ain’t much
And I’m halfway there myself 
I made:
Hutspot
Red Cabbage Salad
Windmill cookies
I wasn’t so sure about it, but all was surprisingly tasty. :)
Andrei was thrilled that I made red cabbage because he said they used to eat it all the time in Russia and I’d never made it before. He was telling me all the ways they’d eat it.
Brent said next country should be “Chicago” so we could eat pizza and root beer….
Goal list – winter update
Maybe by writing this, I’m willing winter to be over. I know we have hit almost 40 degrees a couple of times, and I’m anxiously watching the thermometer for the first day to hang out laundry. I’m really hoping for today since it’s sheets and towels day, but I think I’ll have to wait until next week. Sad. Anyway…
Goal 53 – learn my blood type – Complete! This was another reason why I wanted to donate blood – because I knew they sent you a little card saying your type. I have A+ blood
Goal 54 – buy an HDTV – Complete! I posted about this one. We got such a deal, we couldn’t pass it up. We had saved the money for it of course, so it was not really an impulse buy.
Goal 55 – buy stock – Complete! I posted about this one too. It was amazingly difficult to find veg stock and not veg broth. I can’t remember what I used it for, though.
Goal 71 – Read LOTR trilogy – Complete! I just finished a day or two ago. I had tried to read them way before the movies came out, but got slogged down in the long battle scenes and never finished the last book. So this time I got the audiobooks from the library and listened to them in the car. What a great story! We trie to watch the movies over Christmas but I could never stay awake, but now I want to try again - even if it takes me two weeks to get through them. These books are conveniently also on my 100 book list.
Goal 74 – make mac and cheese from scratch – Complete! For some reason I could never do this – it always turned into cheezy noodle soup. But I finally perfected it, and while it was a bit bland, it was at least solid and edible.
Goal 90 – send all the superhero postcards to Andrei – Complete! Well, sort of, but I’m counting it. I thought he would be excited to get them in the mail, but he didn’t really care. So I had him use them for his birthday/christmas thankyou cards, and then just gave the rest to him. Good enough.
Goal 15 – watch 100 best movies – I’m on 58/100 – I’ve instituted Mommy movie night where Andrei and I watch a movie that *I* pick instead, and have been getting through the kid safe ones on the list. We watched Wizard of Oz last night Next up (for just me) is King Kong – the 1933 version.
Goal 17 – read 100 best novels – I’m on 37/100 - I just recently discovered Project Gutenberg and that has helped a lot. I copy the book into a word document at work and then I can get in a chapter or two here or there in between projects. I’ve been writing on my weekly to-do list to finish a book weekly, to keep the goal moving along. Right now I’m reading Of Mice and Men (in the car), The Hobbit (in book form), and Middlemarch (from Project Gutenberg). Recently read Moby Dick, Of Human Bondage, and the Lord of the Rings Trilogy.
Goal 37 – read the Chronicles of Narnia to Andrei – we’re in the Silver Chair now. We got a big compliation at the library and that has more pictures and he is more excited about reading it now, instead of me suggesting and him acting bored and me getting mad and then we don’t read it. But we’re getting through anyway. He will listen to good literature if I have to force it on him, darnit!
I’m cooking from Holland on Sunday which also includes one of the cookie recipes so I’ll post pictures from that later. A while ago I said I was cooking from Rwanda, but that was such big fail I had to trash the whole meal 
So Holland will be country 6/30, and the cookies will be the 40th from 50!
So that makes a total of 25 out of the 101 goals complete. I know I have a long way to go, but some of them are close to being complete, and I will be so excited to check them off
On the generosity of others
“I am giving you the service of the priesthood as a gift” Numbers 18:7
Our church is following the Life Journal Reading Plan this year and we’re in the midst of Numbers right now. At first I thought it was a pretty boring book, but now I’m seeing some suprising and humbling things there…
Chapter 18 is mostly about the offerings given to the Priests and Levites and how they were holy to the Lord and all that – I had heard that before, our gifts to God are holy. But the gifts that were given in the Israelite times were mostly food items. And they weren’t wasted – they were eaten by the Levites as their daily food. So the generosity of the Israelites directly kept the Levites living and literally equipped them for ministry.
Then a little lightbulb went off. Brent works at our church. Brent’s income comes from the church. The people in our church are giving toward ‘the ministry’. Part of that ministry is the pastors’ and workers’ incomes. And the generosity of our friends and the people of our church are literally keeping Brent, Andrei and me fed, clothed, and housed. It’s a very humbling thought. And moreso to realize that people are giving to God in faith and that God is blessing their gifts – when it gets to our bank account it is no less blessed. Every dollar that comes to us is from God, through the hands of his people. Like I said, very humbling. And very meaningful. It makes me think much more about how we are spending our money and how God sees our bank account.
Thank you, givers, for feeding us, clothing us, providing us with the means to adopt our son, to educate him and raise him, and for sustaining us so that Brent can better serve you every week when you come to church.
On generosity
Brent and I give regularly to our local church – I’m not ashamed to admit that. But I think I was falling in a rut where I thought we were covered in the ‘generous department’ because we tithed. Specifically it came to me this past Christmas.
For the past two Christmases, our church has done something called the “Jesus offering” – the pastor picks out some awesome projects and charities to help and we shoot for a crazy amazing goal of thousands of dollars to help these ministeries.
The first year Brent and I really stretched it and gave a pretty good amount (I thought) for our situation at the time. This year, when it was announced, I got all excited… We were going to give DOUBLE what we did last year – we were going to bankrupt our savings for JESUS! We have faith that God will BLESS us for our sacrifice! And I was all pumped that we were so awesome to be such loving and giving people.
And then that still, small voice came. It said, “giving large sums of money to me once a year does not make you generous”
Yeah, that took the wind out of my sails.
“But, but, but – these are such good causes! These people are serving You and we’re showing Your love by helping them.”
“Giving large sums of money once a year does not make you generous.”
Hmph. Fine then.
So I’ve kind of been mulling over in my mind since then; how to be a generous person in my daily life. It seems easy to me to give money. To buy a friend’s coffee, or to give an awesome Christmas gift, or to put an extra $whatever in the offering basket. I think because we’re taught in church from a young age that we should love God with our money and trust that He will always bless us for it.
What I’m finding harder is to be generous with our food and things. Well, baking for people is an easy thing, but I’ve tried to start giving regularly to the food pantry and even though that is a ’small thing’, it seems strangely difficult to go to our pantry and take out some things that I could make for dinner that evening, and just put them in a bag to give away. It’s a more tangible to my personal security to see my cupboards getting empty, maybe.
The same way with my things. These are things that I’ve lovingly chosen to be part of my home, and now if I let them go, what will happen to me? Honestly, does it even matter?
The part I’m really having a hard time with is being generous with my time. MY time. Giving up a few minutes when I’m still waking up to study the Bible, or going to a church group that happens to fall on my “alone night”. Or even playing with Andrei when I just want to get the cleaning done.
I read a devotional type thing yesterday and it was talking about the verse that says “Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, and strength.” and how it could be translated – Keep God first in all your emotions, thoughts, possesions, and skills. It made it more real to me to see that in practical form.
So Lord, help me to remember that not only is my life and bank account not my own, but the box of mac in the cupboard, and the 30 minutes when I’m first waking up, the 9×13 pan that I only have one of, that extra gallon of gas and all the silly little things that I hang on so tightly to – they all belongs to you too.
On the next season of Project Runway….
I want to encourage goal-setting for Andrei, so I asked him what a goal was that he wanted to accomplish this week – I thought he’d say something like play video games all day or something…
Nope.
He wanted to make a shirt.
To SEW a shirt on the sewing machine.
To sew a Tshirt with a train on it.
For his friend Mo.
Yeah.
I’ve never sewn a garment, or used a pattern, or worked with knits.
We went to the store and I sent him to the knits – he picked out the colors.
I traced the pattern, he cut it.
I pinned it and set it up on the machine, he sewed it.
DH cut the train pattern, DS ironed it on, and we both painted it.
Finished product….
Yeah, so the stitches are crooked and the train is pinkish instead of red. I’m not sure it will even fit his friend, but he is so proud of it – and rightly so.
(next week I may send him toward a smaller goal…)
Craft Hope
So in that envelope that I photographed last night is a red scarf I have been working on (you may have already figured that out).
I found this blog a few months ago – Craft Hope - and was super excited participate. The blog chooses a charity project and all the readers create the things at home and send it in from wherever they are. On the right side of the blog you can see a list of the past projects and how many items were collected. The latest one (that I’m mailing in today) was a red scarf to be placed in care packages for teens in foster care that have aged out of the system. The organization helps them with scholorships, internships, and job placement, among other things. The red scarf is so that they can have something handmade with love just for them
There are a few charity crafting circles around town, but I have been thinking of ways to use (and expand) my ‘talents’ in ways that did not need a set place/time and I could work at my own pace (but still have a deadline, otherwise things would never get done). So this was exactly what I had been looking for
I can’t wait to see what the next project is!
Craft Hope also has an Etsy shop built from donated items which, so far, has raised $30,000 for Doctors Without Borders. Check it out!
Eating-in habit
The next part of this habit is to meal plan for a week and then actually make a list. I have done this in the past but it got boring so I quit. I can tell which weeks are going to be difficult by looking ahead on the calender, so I will just have to keep that in mind when I make the meal list.
So plans for this week:
Tuesday – Lemony Egg with Brown Rice
Wednesday – Mini Tofu Quiches with a side of coleslaw
Thursday – Aloo Palak (Indian Potatoes and Spinach – anyone know where I can buy naan?)
Friday – Fajitas
Saturday – Italian Lentil and Barley Soup (make ahead Friday night)
Sunday – Tuna fish sandwiches and sweet potato fries
So, I put them all in gCal and added a reminder to text or email me when I should start cooking, or if I should defrost something earlier in the day. We’ll see how long I can sustain this….. but I am giving up eating out completely for most of Lent, so I guess at that point I’ll just have to!
All about my first time *giving blood*
Ok, I didn’t want to post all the details yesterday because I didn’t have a ‘real’ keyboard to type on, but now I do and I have some time.
To prepare I did all the wrong things. I was running late that morning and didn’t have a good breakfast, and I had coffee (no-no because it dehydrates you) – because I was partially chickening out and also thought I wasn’t going to get to go because of scheduling conflict. But when I found out I WAS going to go, I made up for it by drinking a green smoothie for lunch and lots and lots of water.
Brent so nicely rearranged his schedule so he could drive me to the Red Cross – just in case I got sick or something. The time I fainted at home I felt sick for 2 days so I didn’t really feel comfortable taking a driving risk if it were to go badly.
I called ahead and they said they took walk-ins on Thursdays so we showed up at 2:15. What I didn’t know is that they also took appointments, so we had to wait until after all the appts were going and then I was let back. At first Brent and Andrei couldn’t come in the room with me, but when I was having my physical, I heard a worker tell them they could sit and wait at the cookie table instead of the hallway.
First was the physical exam and that was nothing big – they took my temp (awesome), pulse (great), my blood pressure (perfect), and took my iron levels (with finger prick). I was actually a bit nervous about the iron thing because I’m vegetarian and y’know that all vegetarians are anemic (/sarcasm)- and then I came up low! D’oh!! But I was only .2 below their acceptable level, so they decided to try again. The second time I passed. I really think it’s all the green smoothies I’ve been drinking for the past 2 weeks – I’m not sure I would have made it otherwise. Yay for spinach! The last part was asking a lot of questions like if you had any diseases or were taking any meds – where you had travelled in the past year and if you had lived outside the country and other stuff like that. Easy peasy.
***Side note – the mission trip I am taking in 2011 to India will probably bar me from giving blood for 1 year because of malaria risk***
Then I got led over to the couch/bed where you give. I was getting pretty nervous by now, but I tried to concentrate on playing games or reading on my phone. I thought maybe I was being rude with my nose in my phone the whole time but it was better than fainting.
They let Andrei sit in a chair by my couch but I told him he couldn’t talk to me about the blood or anything like that.
I tried really hard to pay no attention to what the lady was doing to my arm, so when I felt her poking me I concentrated really hard other things and even was reading aloud (whispering) to myself so I would focus. Then a few minutes later she came and started wiping my arm down. What?? Turns out that the poking I felt and was so keyed up about was actually the marker they used to mark my vein. Gaaah! So I hadn’t even started yet So she wiped me with iodine, and when that dried, she came back for the real thing….. And missed. She poked me and then I heard ‘uh-oh’ …. Then another lady came over and pulled it out and explained to me that the needle was sort of in, but it would probably take a long time to get enough blood. So, did I want to try again on the other arm or leave this one and see what happened?
I looked over at Brent and he was just laughing at me. He said that anything that could go wrong with my blood would. We had been there for over an hour already – he had to get back to work! But he said he could wait.
I reluctantly said they could try the other arm.
They turned me around so I was facing the wall, and Andrei got me some juice to sip while they re-did all their stuff. This time I knew what the initial poking was for 
so I was not as nervous.
Then came the real needle again. It took! I kept reading my book and I was even able to talk to Andrei for a minute. I have no idea how long the actual donation took – maybe 10 minutes? I didn’t look anywhere in that direction from pen markings to needle removal. I never even got to see my own blood (or ?)
After that I had to sit at a table and drink juice and eat a cookie for 10 minutes until I felt well enough to go. I felt a little light headed right after getting off the table, but by the time I got home I was fine. One lady applauded because it was my first time Another man said he had just donated his 28th gallon! He had been coming for 66 years.
So that was my first blood donation. I got a sticker saying I could come back after March 25th, and I plan to. Maybe I’ll send DH home or somewhere else for the duration and just text him when I’m ready to be picked up – not sure I feel comfortable driving until I have a few times under my belt. But maybe someday.
Sorry for the novel, but I’m just so darn proud of myself for doing this Yay me!
hww