Our Baby

We finally welcomed our new baby, a beautiful daughter, into our family last week. After my lengthiest hospital stay yet, we finally arrived home on Saturday.

Dear daughter spent some time under the lights for jaundice.

But she finally wore this cute sleeper that Daddy picked out when she came home.

Now that we are home, we are adjusting (and sleeping) relatively well. The other children are as in love as her parents are. Even the former "baby" doesn't seem jealous at all. He picked up on all the baby routines quickly and now instructs me as to what I should do to change diapers, feed her, etc.--all with points and grunts and simple words like her name.

I must add how very, very, very thankful we are to all of those who helped us with childcare. I don't know what we would have done without such kindness being shown to us.

Snack Challenge

While we were on vacation, our children begged my husband and me to do a snack challenge. Based on those Food Network shows, my husband and I had 20 minutes to prepare a snack for our children using the secret ingredient of German chocolate.

We were making a mess all over my parents' kitchen while the kids provided the appropriate commentary. We had a blast. Until one son had a fit that Dad didn't win the snack challenge (and to be honest, he deserved it).

When we returned home, the kids were begging us to let them do snack challenge. Well, we parents had some serious reservations, but I capitulated so long as they worked in two teams and so long as we didn't pick a winner or loser because I knew that would be bad news.

The secret ingredient was oats, and this is what the kids came up with:


Can you guess what this first one was?

Googly-eyed sweet-toothed monster

My husband and I decided this tribute to Cookie Monster had top marks in creativity and presentation. It's downfall?  Well, let's just say the blue stuff tasted like a paste made of oats, blue food coloring and milk.

The second one was a maple-flavored oatmeal topped with whipped cream and streusel topping. Unfortunately, that team put the homemade maple whipped cream on the hot oats way too long before the streusel topping was ready. It basically looked soupy. Presentation points were low.

However, the flavor was really quite delicious.

Messy looking, but delicious

In the end, there were still tears on the part of the Cookie Monster team because nobody was really gobbling up the blue goo, but aside from the tears and total kitchen mess, it was lots of fun.

And we didn't waste the blue goo. After clean-up, I played my own game-- Mom's Makeover. The blue goo was transformed into a blue baked oatmeal of sorts. The outcome? Well, it was no masterpiece, but it was edible and eaten all gone.

A New Arrival

This probably isn't what most of you expected seeing as Labor Day is nearly gone and still no signs of labor, but. . .

Here is our new (to us) van!

Looks like a box, but a pretty blue box

Floor mats my husband and I made with carpet remnants

And we are still expecting the new arrival to our family. I'm not very patient about it. I think it's fitting that the Bible verse we memorized last week was Psalm 27: 14-- "Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!"


My husband's family is here to help us when the baby comes (at least until Thursday). My youngest brother-in-law just finished a beautiful blanket for our new baby whenever it does show up. It's so nice that people still bless us with new things, special things, for each baby to have as his or her own.

Thank you, Isaiah!

Now. Back to the waiting.

_The Hancock News_ Column-- September 2, 2015

 Memories of Grandma's Kitchen

Everybody in my family remembers my grandma as a good cook. No doubt about it, her years of cooking for the lumber camp, her large family, the farmhands, and at the cafeteria at a local grocery store made her one of the best cooks I have ever known.

I can still taste her food more than a decade after her death. I loved her mashed potatoes and gravy, lasagna, and stuffed peppers. To tell the truth, those stuffed peppers are the only ones I’ve ever eaten that I really liked. But wouldn’t you know, I never saw a cookbook in her house.

If there had been a cookbook, maybe it would’ve been stacked on her vinyl-clothed table. Grandma’s kitchen had just enough room for a table up tight against one wall with five chairs and for a path around the table past the stove to the refrigerator. Space was sparse.

Maybe that’s why so many things were piled on her table-- the radio, the mail, a myriad of pills, napkins, and every grandchild’s favorite-- junk food.

Junk food was not something my mother bought often, but that was fine with me because I could find anything I wanted on Grandma’s table. From a bag of barbecue chips to Oreos in the cookie jar to candy corn in the candy dish, every category of non-nutritional food was represented. About three-fourths of the time, a sweet tooth could also be satisfied with a slice of pie or a piece of cake setting out on the table. And that’s not even counting the homemade goodies you could find at Christmas time.

All these treats made a kid want to sit and stay awhile. On a chair wedged between the table and the window, I would sit and nibble on my snack set on a napkin in front of me with a cold glass of spring water (from the dispenser in the refrigerator) or some of Grandma’s perfect sweet tea. As the grown-ups sat around the table sipping strong coffee and chatting, I learned all the gossip I cared to hear about people I didn’t even know.

It seems food and family are a good combination for making memories, and gathering around that table for talk (and the occasional game of Yahtzee with Grandma) certainly made some of my finest childhood memories.

********************************************************

At different stages of my life, Labor Day weekend has meant different things. For the last decade, our family has enjoyed the company of our friends who have invited us over for a day of dove hunting (for my husband). This year, our baby is due Labor Day weekend-- kind of fitting.

But growing up, Labor Day weekend meant nothing to me other than the excitement of my Grandma’s family’s reunion. I loved playing with my faraway cousins, drinking Country Time Lemonade out of a can from an ice-filled cooler, and hunting for the best desserts on the picnic tables. If I was quick enough, I could score a piece of my Grandma’s carrot cake before it was all gone (and it always was gone quickly). Once she even submitted it to the county fair and won second prize. I’ll leave you with that recipe she gave me sometime before she died-- on Labor Day weekend 13 years ago.

Grandma Judy’s Carrot Cake

1 1/2 cups Wesson Oil
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 cups self-rising flour
2 Tbsp. cinnamon
2 1/2 cups grated carrots

Cream the oil, sugar and eggs. Then add the flour, cinnamon, and carrots. Bake in a prepared 9 x 13 pan at 350℉ until done (until a toothpick comes out clean).  Cool cake completely and frost with cream cheese icing.

Cream Cheese Icing:

1- 8 oz. pkg. cream cheese
1 stick of margarine or butter
1 pound confectioner’s sugar
1 1/2 cups chopped pecans

Soften cream cheese and butter.  Then beat them together. Add the sugar and beat well. Then add the pecans and spread over cooled cake.
   

_The Hancock News_ Column-- August 26, 2015

Lists are an obsession for me. When I feel overwhelmed or uncertain what I should do next, I make a list. Like the proverbial bunnies, my lists multiply. I start with a simple to-do list which leads to a list of meals for the week which necessitates a grocery list with separate sub-lists for each store and/or aisle.

Then there is the list of all lists-- the Great Big Summer To-Do List. One blogger I follow creates a summer bucket list with fun things she wants to do with her children, plus a few projects. Unfortunately for my family, I’m not like her. My list is all work.

At least half of my list is comprised of tasks like putting away stacks of papers, books, or outgrown clothes that pile up during the school year. Then, of course, is planning for the upcoming school year. This summer, getting ready for baby filled a few slots, too. And there was the perennial chore of organizing totes of photographs.

Well, summer is almost over, and I don’t have even half of my list completed. The only one left that has me really anxious is the one I’ve been putting off for more than a year-- making curtains for my girls’ room. More than a year ago (maybe two years), my daughter picked out a couple of matching pink fabrics. Last year I washed the fabric. So far this summer, I’ve ironed some of it and sewn a couple of seams, but with each stitch, my fear grows.

I have no clue what I’m doing with my sewing machine. My inexperience makes me certain I’ll mess it all up. Plus I just know the thread is going to tangle or I’ll need to find the owner’s manual to figure out how to wind up the thingamabobbin.

I was feeling disappointed in myself and a little ashamed as I once more set aside the unfinished project last Thursday to prepare our home for weekend guests. Our friends from Kenya, Joseph and Ruth, were able to travel to the United States for the summer. The majority of the trip was church-business related as Joseph has many responsibilities in the church in Kenya, but I know they were also happy to see three of their grown children and grandchildren who live in Indiana.

I thoroughly enjoyed becoming reacquainted with them this weekend, but now that their visit is over, my attention is turned once again to my giant list and the curtains. As I begin worrying all over, I am a bit ashamed and disappointed in myself, but for a different reason.

You see, Joseph and Ruth have many obligations. Joseph is in charge of the seminary in Kenya and is also the bishop over hundreds of congregations. In his diocese there are so many poor and hungry, so many widows and orphans and others in need, and these folks look to Joseph and his wife for help.

In my comfortable home, I sit with a full belly fretting over what I’ve made into a mountain of wrinkled pink polka-dotted and gingham fabric. In her home, Ruth opens her door each morning to find at least four hungry people on her doorstep. She is concerned with being able to provide and prepare enough food for empty bellies.

Perspective.

I needed this wake-up call of a visit. Suddenly my Great Big Overwhelming Summer To-Do List shrank from its mountainous size to the molehill it actually is. My hope for each of you is that your own personal worrisome mountains may, with a bit of perspective, wither away to insignificance and leave you with some of the contentment that Ruth and Joseph have left for me.

*****************************************************************************************

Over the course of our weekend with Bishop and Mrs. Omolo, our family learned about the culture of Kenya. We asked about their favorite Kenyan food and learned it was called ugali, a simple dish of cooked unseasoned cornmeal served with meat and fish. I asked for the recipe for ugali so that I might share it with readers, but I found it was one of those dishes that is simply made-- no measurements involved.

Instead I’ll share one of my family’s favorites that our homesick guests enjoyed for breakfast-- cornmeal mush. I know it sounds like something out of our nation’s pioneer days, but Joseph and Ruth told me it was very much like porridge they might eat for breakfast in Kenya. Don’t let the word “mush” scare you away; it’s warm and filling and delicious, especially when served with a pat of butter, real maple syrup, and milk or cream drizzled over the top.

After we eat our mush in the bowl, any leftover is poured into a buttered pan, covered and stored in the refrigerator. For the next breakfast we turn the firm mush onto a cutting board, slice it into half-inch slices, fry it on a greased griddle, and serve it with maple syrup-- fried cornmeal mush.

Roast Cornmeal Mush

1 cup roasted cornmeal (plain cornmeal is fine, too)
4 cups water
1 1/2 tsp. salt

In a saucepan, bring 3 cups of water and the salt to a boil. Mix the cornmeal with 1 cup of cold water. Stir the cornmeal mixture into the boiling water and cook, stirring often over medium heat for 5 minutes or until thick. Serve in bowls with your favorite toppings and enjoy.

I Waited For It!

Remember how last year I just couldn't wait to try the first watermelon?

Last year's failure

Well, this year, I waited. Barely. Then tendril closest the stem was mostly brown.

This year's first watermelon

Was it the sweetest tasting thing ever? No. Did it satisfy my pregnant lady craving? Somewhat. But the kids loved it, and we ate it all. The ones we've eaten since then have been much sweeter, I'm guessing because they had a nice dose of hot weather. 

What Happens When. . . ?

What happens when this garter snake. . .

 . . . meets this preying mantis?

Thanks to my son for capturing this encounter with our camera.  Okay. The praying mantis is up on the brick wall of the house.  Here comes the snake slithering through the mulch bed right up next to the house. . .

 Now this might be a bit difficult to see because the picture is blurry. . .

but. . . yes, the mantis does attack the snake! I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen this proof.

By the way, no mantises or snakes were harmed in the making of this blog post. This wasn't staged. It simply happened when my boys were trying to rescue the snake from our cats on the front porch. They didn't hurt the snake; they simply herded it to a safer location.