What's Cooking?

Actually, not much. This week has been a whirlwind of activities, leaving most nights to either eathing out or eating leftovers. But yesterday I did grill some chicken, and it was pretty good. I wanted to share the recipe, since this is grilling season, and who doesn't love honey mustard? Plus, I broke down a whole chicken for the very first time. I can't believe I'm almost 35 and have never broken down a chicken. I've cooked whole chickens and then taken the meat off several times, but never broken up a chicken to grill. It was actually pretty easy, and very affordable. I should be doing this more often. Anyway, here's the recipe: (For the record, it did not take as long for my chicken to get done, so watch carefully and baste often)

honey-mustard chicken

1 c. pineapple juice
3/4 c. honey
1/2 c. dijon mustard
1 t. ground mustard
2 T. cornstarch
1/4 c. cold water
1 broiler/fryer chicken (around 3-4 lbs.) cut up

In a small saucepan, combine the pineapple juce, honey, mustard, and ginger; bring to a boil. Combine cornstarch and water; gradually whisk into honey mix. Cook and stir for 2-3 minutes or until thickened. Reserve 3/4 c. to serve with chicken.

Baste chicken with remaining glaze. Grill, covered, over medium-low heat for 30 minutes. Turn chicken; brush again with glaze. Grill, uncovered, for 20 minutes or until juices run clear. SErve with reserved glaze if desired.

Already Learning

I knew when I signed up for this upcoming trip to Haiti that it would definitely be a learning experience. I just didn't know that the learning would start so early.

My preparing to leave entails a lot more than just packing my bags and going. I have to prepare my house, my kids, basically our every day lives for an upheaval for 11 days. And my first huge realization is that I am a control freak. I guess I've always know that, but this experience is just reiterating it.

For 11 days I have to give up control of

*my children (including their schedule, their safety, their time)
*my house
*my plans (I will have zero say in what we do or when we do it in Haiti. Definitely not used to that)

And it is already hard. Hard knowing that if there is a question, I can't answer it. Or if Noel is trying to explain something to his grandma, I can't be there to help him. Or if I'm frustrated beyond belief because I would have done something differently.

I like things easy. Don't we all?

But easy isn't always good.

Easy doesn't stretch us. Easy doesn't take us out of our comfort zone. Easy doesn't make life-changing memories.

So as I begin this journey, I realize that, although I think I'm in control most of the time, it's an illusion. This world is not about me, my plans, my decisions. This world is about showing God's love in our every day lives.

Maybe I need to lose control more often.

Date Night

As I said in my post yesterday, on Tuesday I got to have a kid-free afternoon AND evening with my husband. We went to this winery in the afternoon, and then did some driving, shopping, talking, and playing with the company car and navigation system.

Enter our Michael Scott scenario.

We had planned on eating dinner at Bravo in Castleton, and we knew where it was, but since a)we had the cool navigation system in the car and b)there is tons of construction around the Keystone/465 area, we opted to set our destination and follow the car's directions.



We're lucky we didn't end up in a pond.



The directions took us to the middle of an industrial park NOWHERE NEAR BRAVO. It was incredibly frustrating at the time, but now it's funny, thinking about how we just followed every step, never thinking that we would be led astray.



In the end, we found the restaurant and had a wonderful dinner, capped off by a new can to keep our compost in before it goes out to the big bin in the back yard. (yet another subject for another post: How I love compost and my husband's great gardening skills)







Happy Driving!!

Sigh of Relief

I know most of you know this already, but I love college basketball. Love it. I enjoy watching lots of different sports, especially live, but there is something about college basketball that I love.

Did I mention I love it?

And when David and I got together, he introduced me to another love: Tom Izzo. Head coach of the Michigan State Spartans Men's Basketball Team. I'm not gonna lie. It took me a while to be persuaded not to always cheer for the Illini (which I still do wholeheartedly--EXCEPT when they play MSU), but over the years I have come to really love watching Izzo coach. He cares about his players. He has a passion that is palpable without being over the top. Plus, he's from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Who doesn't love a U.P.er?

So when rumors started swirling last week about Izzo being offered the job coaching the Cleveland Cavaliers, I was disappointed. Not so much because Izzo would consider leaving MSU, but because he would leave it to go to the NBA. I can't stand the NBA. And I'm not sure watching Tommy :) coach an NBA team would sweeten the deal for me.

All week, David and I were nervous to check espn.com to see if the announcement had been made. And then today, after a fun day away with my hubby (a subject for another post), we come home to find out that he's staying.

Sigh.

Now we can relax.

I'm so glad that Coach Izzo is staying. He is so good not only for the Spartans, but for the Big Ten. I can't wait until November!!!

Haiti on my mind

80% of Haitians live in poverty.

The average daily earnings for a Haitian is around $2. Two dollars.

As I prepare for our trip to Haiti next week, I'm asking anyone who is reading this to pray for the people of Haiti. They are the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, and there is no solid government to help them change that.

Money isn't everything. I firmly believe that. But it's pretty hard to survive on $2 a day.

God, help me to not take one dollar for granted, because I know that some don't even have that much.

Everybody's Different

David and I often talk about how we wish we had a camera in our car, because living where we do we run into a lot of this:



So we're driving home from Coyote Kids* last night and this was the car in front of us.

In case you can't read it, the sticker across the top of the car reads:

Sgt. Big Nasty.

That's right, you read it correctly. Sgt. Big Nasty.

Who drives this car?

Who decides their identity is best defined not just by Big Nasty (which would be mind-boggling itself), but to declare yourself the Sargeant of Big Nasty?

I love this town. Never a dull moment.

Footnote
*Coyote Kids is a free running program at our local park that is so much fun! Kids of all ages race and get popsicles and sweat and play and burn off lots of energy. And did Imention it's free?

Still a long way to go

I love my husband. Incredibly. But I know I'm not always the best at showing it or helping him to be the best person he can be. I listened to a Christian radio program on the internet today about things I can do to be a better wife, and here are some things I took from it:

*My job as David's wife is to be his cheerleader. He has enough people in his life who point out his flaws. I'm here to encourage, support, and cheer him on.

*Respect is key. The speaker said men would rather feel respected than loved. Not sure if every guy feels this way, but it is definately true with most men. It's so important that I show David that I respect him. Not second-guess him or try to undermine him. This is also a great example to our children and to the youth group kids we work with of how I should treat my husband.

*The most important point I took from it was to show grace to my husband. He said to do for your husband what God does for you. It's so easy for me to hold a grudge or bring up the past, but that's not what God does, so I shouldn't do that with my husband, the most important person to me here in earth.

Does anyone out there have any other good marriage advice?

And so it begins

Yesterday was Noel's first day taking swim lessons. It's our first "lesson" of any kind. And it went pretty well, considering he's 3 and hasn't really been in the water very much.

He loved it.
He jumped up and down.
He kicked.
He waved at me every 18 seconds.
But he wouldn't leave the edge of the pool.

And all of a sudden, I had to fight the urge not to be a pageant mom and try and get him to do exactly what his teacher was telling him to do. I wanted his teacher to know how wonderful he is and how good he is at so many other things. That this is his first time doing this, and to not give up. But I had to let it go. I can't make Noel do exactly what I want, and I can't make everyone love him as much as I do.

And so it begins.

So I'll hold on when I should, and try to let go when it's time, and trust God to help me know the difference.

My little ones

I've been trying to post all day, and for some reason I couldn't get my page to let me make a new post. So it's almost bedtime for the kiddos, and I'm all out of words to share. Instead, I will share a few photos of my sweeties.

Making up for lost time

As the countdown to Haiti gets closer, I start to realize not only how much I will miss my family, but how much time I will miss out on being with them. That being said, I tried to cram as much summer fun into this week as we could handle. So here's the rundown:

Playgrounds Visited--4
Pools Swam In--2
Ice Cream Treats--2
Library Trips--1
Outdoor Play--too many to count
Scrapes on Knees--2
Tractor Rides--As many as you could fit into 3 days on the farm
Dirty Outfits--As fast as I can put them on, they're dirty again
Picnics-1
Smooches & Laughter--Never Enough

Motherhood is a challenge. It is, at various times, stressful, chaotic, lonesome, hilarious, educational, tedious, interesting, and heart-melting. I'm so thankful that I get this opportunity to see life from my two children's perspectives. To witness someone figure out that after stepping in a puddle you can make footprints on the porch. The laugh as my little girl waves at every person who drives by our house, now that she can see out the front window. To answer questions by the dozens from a curious child who wants to know EVERYTHING. Some days they make me crazy, and by the end of most nights I'm glad to see them go to bed, but I am thankful to be their mom. So let the pile of dirty clothes continue to pile up. . .

Needs vs. Wants

I'm reading a great book right now: Half-Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls. I'm not even done with it, and I'm going to already come out and say it's great--that's how great it is. A friend of mine gave me Walls' first book, The Glass Castle, and I really enjoyed it. It is a memoir of a girl growing up with a very unconventional family, moving all over the country, living in shacks, learning how to make do with nothing, and dealing with two parents who cared about themselves more than their children. It was kind of sad and frustrating, but Walls is a wonderful writer. So when I saw she had another book, I grabbed it off the library shelf.

In Horses, Walls tells the life story of her grandmother, Lily, from Lily's perspective. She grew up during the turn of the century on a farm in New Mexico. I won't tell you any more about the book, but I will just say that I love the voice Walls has created for her grandmother. She has so many great lines in this book--very poignant.

One part that has really stuck with me is a scene in which Lily and her husband have to move out of their house (it's been foreclosed) and to a cattle farm. This is about her first visit to the outhouse.

"A distinctly malodorous aroma arose from the hole, and for a moment I missed my snazzy mail-order toilet with the shiny white porcelain bowl, the mahogany lid, and the nifty pull-chain flush. As I sat down, though, I realized that you can get so used to certain luxuries that you start to think they're necessities,but when you hve to forgo them, you come to see that you don't need them after all. There was a big difference between needing things and wanting things--though a lot of people had trouble telling the two apart--and at the ranch, I could see we'd have pretty much everythingwe'd need but precious little else.

Next to the seat was a stack of Sears, Roebuck catalogs, and I picked one up and leafed through it. I came to a page advertising silk bodices and lacy chemises. I won't be ordering from this page, I thought, and when I was done with my business, that was the one I tore out and used."

Truer words were never spoken.
Enjoy the day, and be thankful that we have everything we need and much more!

What to pray. . .

I am not a good pray-er. Never have been.

I can sit and read the Bible and study and write lessons and sing praise songs and on and on. . . but it is such a struggle for me to quiet myself and pray. I've tried all different kinds of strategies, and I will never give up, but I wish I had the passion for prayer that others have. I know how important it is, and when some kind of emergency occurs, of course it's easy for me to pray. But the every day, kneeling before God and listening to Him, is hard for me.

As I was sitting here this morning thinking of how to pray for our upcoming trip to Haiti, God really put it upon my heart to pray just what it says in the scriptures. I just started reading Philippians a few days ago, and as I start reading chapter 2 this morning, the first 2 verses read this way:

"If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from His love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose."

So, this is my prayer for the upcoming trip:

That we will encourage each other and be an encouragement to those we minister with in Haiti.
That we will be united.
That we will be a source of comfort to the people of Haiti. Show them God's grace and love.
That our times of fellowship will be God-focused and memory-making.
That we will show tenderness and compassion when it might be easy instead to be judgmental and critical.
That we will choose joy instead of reasons to complain.
That we will work together, being like-minded, even when plans don't go our way.

Thank you, God, for hearing our prayers. May we not take it for granted.