A good start to the the spring soccer season

Us, 6 - Them, 0

Way to go FCCA!

This 'n that...with links

I have been sick for 3 days.  This morning I feel a bit better.  I haven't been sick in forever so I really can't complain, and at least I've had a very good book to read and plenty of tea.  I also made a delicious vegetable broth on day 1 because I didn't really feel like eating anything but wanted something hot and slightly more substantial than another cup of tea.

I always want tomato soup when I'm sick, so last night I made a pot of it using lots of onions and garlic, two cans of diced tomatoes and one can of tomatoes and green chilis (for a little kick), the rest of the above mentioned broth, and a heaping tablespoon of dried dill.   I also made polenta.  We put a helping of polenta in our bowls, ladled the soup around it and topped it off with a dollop of pesto made from my frozen basil leaves.

I make my polenta using the 3 to 1, water to polenta ratio.  I purchased 25 pounds of organic gourmet polenta from my co-op awhile back and love it. You can use yellow corn meal from the grocery store, but be careful not to get corn meal mix, which already has baking powder in it.  I love the coarser grain of my gourmet polenta.  It reminds me of the difference between steel cut oats and regular oatmeal.  A little grittier and more substantial.  It is also a very lovely yellow.

The pesto from frozen basil leaves was an experiment.  We had so much basil last year that while I was in India, I had the boys just pick it and put it in ziplocs in the freezer.  No washing, no processing, nothing.  Just basil leaves in the bags.  The frozen basil has worked fine in soups and stews.  Yesterday I tried making some pesto with it and while the finished pesto doesn't have the potency of that made with basil, fresh from the garden, it was just fine.


I'm working on a project that I am absolutely thrilled with and can't tell you or show you a thing!  You will have to wait.  Sorry.

Co-op spring break is this coming week.  Aaahhhhh.  College spring break for the boys is the week after.  Double aaaaaaahhhhhhhh.  My guys are coming home with friends.  The house will be overflowing.  I can't wait.  I need to plan menus and do a massive grocery run next week!

We are going skiing next Wednesday.  Matthew will try snowboarding for the first time, and I am hoping neither boy gets carried away after watching Olympic events.  Years ago, we made a trip to the emergency room because one child, after watching Olympic figure skaters spin around, decided he wanted to spin around in circles, too.  He, of course, got dizzy, lost control and fell, hitting his head on a clay planter.  He split his noggin open, right at the top of his nose between his eyes.  It wasn't pretty.

Soccer season starts today!  Joel has a two games this weekend.  I am ready to see his FCCA team in action.  I really love watching soccer, but will have to be careful not to shout today.  I don't think my throat is ready for that.  I'm glad the weather is finally cooperating.  His team has missed so many practices because of rain, snow, and wet fields.  Thankfully, it is supposed to be in the 50's and sunny this afternoon and tomorrow. 

Matthew's been working on a series of videos for a friend of ours who has a car detailing business.  The videos are posted here, in case you want to know how clean your car really could be.  Mine was only that clean once - when Brian detailed it as a gift!

I really enjoy watching short track speed skating.  Doesn't everybody?

My Meyer lemon has LOTS of blossoms on it.  The other day I got a small paintbrush and hand pollinated the flowers.  I am hoping for more than one lemon on the tree this summer.  Til then, hooray for Trader Joe's.  Coty stopped in there the other day and brought home meyer lemons which I will use in this recipe sometime this weekend.  Thanks to Kandyce for the link.

Time to stop.  My rising bread is ready to be put in loaf pans and chores are calling.  We'll see how long my energy holds out.   Happy Saturday!

Madison in one of his favorite morning nap sun patches

Thank you, thank you, thank you...

...to Amber, who dropped by yesterday and surprised me with a copy of the Henrietta Lacks book! 

...to Catriona, who was our guest teacher in anatomy lab today.  She led my students in sheep brain dissections.  Her accent and many stories from her medical work days in Scotland  were a real delight to my students.  Did you just read "sheep brain" and "delight"  in the same paragraph? Yep!

...to Heidi, who helps me keep going in this distance walking thing.  We walked for three and a half hours on Sunday afternoon.  The sun was shining and the greenway was perfect!  We walked the whole length of it from north to south, and back again, plus the mile between the greenway and Heidi's house.  I had a surprising amount of energy at the end, thanks in part to the yogurt drink I slurped down at halfway and plenty of water along the way, too.  I love the water pack Coty gave me for Christmas.  It is perfect for long walks like the one on Sunday.

Eighth Monday

Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit,serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.   Romans 12:9-18

I feel deep gratitude this morning for the ways in which genuine love is being lived out in our church family.  For...

690.  Tight grips on goodness, recognizing that abhorrence of evil starts with seeing it in our own hearts

691.  Brotherly affection demonstrated over and over again

692.  Honor given

693.  Service with zeal

694.  Trials endured with patience and hope

695.  Constant prayer

696.  Generous giving

697.  Abundant hospitality

698.  Rejoicing and weeping together

699.  Humility lived out in association with the lowly

700.  Humility that recognizes personal fallibility among so many who are NOT "wise in their own eyes"

701.  Careful thought to do what is honorable

702.  A spirit of peace

I have seen all these graces and more in my church family in recent weeks.  I am so thankful.

Carolyn Arends wrote:

"Family full of achievers
Beat the Jones and be the Cleavers
Give the lawn a manicure
No rough edges, that’s for sure
Sunday the whole congregation
Doesn’t seem to need salvation
Everybody’s just terrific
All the time."

I can say with deep gratitude that my church family has lots of rough edges and we are certainly not terrific all the time.  We are instead...

"[wearing] our hearts on wrinkled sleeves,

[living] the mess and the mystery

Of a real life..."

Together.

Thank you, God, for the gift of such a church family.

-------------------------------------------------------------

words from Carolyn Arends' song "Just Pretending" on Pollyanna's Attic

Looking forward to reading...

...The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot.  I heard the author interviewed on the radio the other afternoon and was fascinated.  I shared the story with my anatomy students yesterday and they were intrigued.  I just read another review of this book and look forward to getting my hands on this book!

Sewing the binding

I should tell you a little more about that binding.  After I got it all pinned, I was very, very eager to start handstitching it to the back.  The next day, unfortunately, was very full so it had to wait til the evening.  At 5:30, after an early dinner and Coty and Matthew's departure for Perspectives, I sat down on the futon, quilt, needle, and thread in hand.  I did not get up until just after midnight. 

I stitched through one episode of Andy Griffith, the local and national news (which I never watch), Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune, and TWO movies. (Mrs. Dalloway and The Legend of Bagger Vance - neither was that good, but they were entertaining and mindless enough that I could pay attention to my stitching).  Not only did I get the binding sewn on that night, but I also did a lot of the tying.  I wasn't sure when the second movie ended and I called it quits, that I would be able to stand up again.  After almost 7 hours of sitting with only very short breaks to refill my teacup, I was STIFF...but incredibly happy with what I had accomplished!

I think quilting can be like this.  It pulls you in.  The rhythm of handstitching is even and focused.  You don't have to think too hard about what you are doing, but you do have to be very careful and precise.  On a cold evening, the quilt covers your lap and you are warm.  You can talk or watch a movie or listen to music and be completely restful and productive at the same time.

I am already looking forward to the next binding session...

Now that she has it...

I can show you....

Erin's quilt

Love is the purple binding

folded over those rough edges

of our patchwork days.

 

It draws the eye away from

mismatched corners and buckled seams 

and helps us see the whole.

Various fabrics,

sandwiched batting and

soft flannel back

Held together

in a strong purple embrace.

 

  

This quilt was a very long time in the making.  Erin and I chose these fabrics when she was about 12 (we concurred on that when we talked yesterday after she opened the package).  Our plan was to make a quilt for her bed, a mother/daughter sewing project.  We got some strips cut, some squares sewn, and then life intervened.  Busy family, house full of six kids, horses, soccer, basketball, homeschooling, and then two moves, college, marriage.  The quilt never got finished...

...til this month, 14 years later.  

About a month and a half ago, I was reorganizing my sewing "area" and pulled some fabrics from a trunk.  There were the quilt fabrics. I knew it was time to finish this piece of work.  It didn't take long to piece the rest of the blocks and sew the top together.  I found a piece of cotton flannel in my stash that I'd bought years ago to make pj's and nightgowns.  The colors coordinate with the quilt top fabrics and the soft flannel feels like a hug. 

I purchased the cotton batting and purple fabric for the binding from Mary Jo's and then read articles and watched tutorials online to learn how to put it all together and make the binding and mitre corners.  I learned a lot!

One of my favorite parts of making this quilt was sewing the binding.  I cut the strips, sewed them together into one long piece, and machine stitched it to the front of the quilt.  That same evening, I passed up on Quiddler with the guys and disappeared upstairs to the ironing board.  I turned the binding to the back, folding, ironing, and pinning as I went.  As the binding inched around the quilt, it all came together.  Structurally, of course, the binding holds the sandwich.  But more than that, the thin purple strip picked up colors from some blocks, contrasted with others, AND had it's own strong, beautiful character.  I really, really love that binding.  Maybe it's because it's the first and only one I've ever done.  Like Erin, my first and only daughter, the strong, beautiful woman for whom the quilt was finally finished.

Seventh Monday...

...written on Tuesday, but pondered and started days before.

Life is such a crazy mix of happy and sad, celebration and mourning, exquisite joy and soul crushing heartache. In between and all around, before, after, and in the midst of this tangle of highs and lows are the ordinary moments of each day when I walk in the kitchen and see a sink of dirty dishes and just beyond on the feeder outside the window, a chickadee. Later in the day, I find a pile of dirty laundry in the basket and a sunbeam splashed across the floor beside it. Both the circumstances and the surroundings of my life are full of opposites and contradictions.  More than anyone, Ann has encouraged me to give expression to this and to turn the noticing of both into thanksgiving.

I have a long way to go.  I forget to say thank you.  In self absorption, I delay gratitude.  In self pity, I withhold it.  But seven Mondays have come and gone this year and the habit is slowly gaining hold.
 
675.  Snow that changed lots of plans turned our little creek and woods into a winter wonderland
 

676.  I wondered if they'd come this year...the tree looked a bit sad.  But they have!  The flowers....

of the Meyer lemon.

677.  A very old machine that gives me great pleasure.

678.  Buckling linoleum and water damaged ceiling in the kitchen, old carpet throughout, peeling paint on the windowsills and bare patches in the yard where grass just won't grow, it's home and I love it...

 doesn't the snow make everything more lovely!

679.  The demands of teaching - keep me learning.

680.  The stress of ministry - exposes weakness and shows me the strength of community.

And good news, too...

681.  A laid aside project - finished.

682.  Another college acceptance letter for Matthew!

683.  Father and son, together! Here and here.

And the blessings of every single day...

685.  The love of my sweetheart expressed in flowers

686.  Good food

687.  Warm clothes

688.  Health

689.  Family - near and far.

Oh, Lord, forgive my lack of gratitude.  

So form the habit of thanks in me that the 
thankless days diminish...

til they are no more.

Eden Weyni

For all of you who have been following the story of our friends, Matt and Michelle, and their adoption of two precious children from Ethiopia, take a look at the first family photos with Eden Weyni at home.

Matt is on his way today to Ethiopia to bring their son home. When you think of them this week, pray for the Snead family, for Matt's safe return with Tobias Alazar and for Michelle at home with the three children.

Sixth Monday, 2010

I sat and sat today at my desk.  For almost the whole day, I read and wrote and learned how to do something new on Powerpoint.  I organized material, wrote a quiz, drew diagrams, read lab directions, looked at microscope slides, searched for youtube videos on anatomy topics we're exploring this week.  I photocopied quizzes, printed teaching notes, and learned more.  I am happy because instead of procrastinating, today I STAYED ON TASK!!!!

Believe me, I have some very strong inducements to be diverted.  But I resisted.  

So, tonight, I am thankful for fruitful labor on teaching responsibilities and other tasks...

662.  Lab preps for this week, done!
663.  Major project first step, done!
664.  Grading, done!
665.  Budget reporting, done!
666.  Other major project, next to last step, almost done!

I'm thankful, too, for..

667.  Rest
668.  Helping hands who let me sit and enjoy the game.
669.  Stand-in big brothers.
670.  Dinner tonight, made especially delicious with basil from the freezer and greatly enjoyed by my guys.
671.  Their words of appreciation

And these things from the past week...

 672.  More slanting morning sunlight

673.  Happy times with little people

And while I'm on the topic of little people, I'm very thankful for...

674.  Michelle and Eden Weyni, united

and praying for all their paperwork for their safe return on Wednesday.  Snow storms threatening in DC again this week may affect their travel plans.  Please pray with us that they will get home safe and sound and soon!

Proof of Life

The measuring door

We reach up to mark it now.

For an explanation of her photo series, visit Kelly's blog.

More gore from the anatomy classroom

Did I say that I love my students?  And that I love the weekly time we have to discover more and more about how our bodies are made and how they work?  And that it takes me a ton of time to get ready for each class and I sometimes begrudge that time and wish I was doing something else - like sewing - but then I get to co-op on Thursday mornings and it's worth every single minute of prep time.

This week - the digestive system.  Not as riveting, perhaps, as learning about the brain, but still...when you have a pig stomach for show and tell, it is pretty awesome.  (Sorry, all of you with weak constitutions, but I did warn you in the post title).

This week I had my students take 15 minutes of class time, work in pairs, and pull together a bit of information to share with all of us from their reading on the digestive system.  They did an good job, but their struggles with anatomical vocabulary again reminded me of how easy it is for them to misunderstand what they are reading when they don't remember, for example,  what words like "interstitial" and "epithelial" mean.  At one point, I took one sentence and we parsed it, going through word by word, defining, describing, and explaining. It was a useful exercise.  But now back to that pig stomach...

One of the groups discussed the human stomach.  As they begin throwing out difficult anatomical temrs, I pulled the already dissected pig stomach out of my bag (my 9th graders had done the dissection a few weeks ago).  Oooh, aaah, wow, cool!  

I donned my gloves and showed them each of the parts they'd just heard described.  They felt the thick esophageal sphincter muscle.  They compared it to the smaller but also thick, tough pyloric sphincter muscle.  They examined the rugae (folds) of the inner lining. 

As I walk through the year with these students, I see again and again how the variety of learning experiences helps them to be engaged learners.  They have a much better understanding of the anatomy of the stomach after seeing that specimen than they would have if they'd just read and heard the words.  In our little classroom exercise yesterday, they read, spoke, heard, saw, and touched.  I think they will not soon forget what they learned about the anatomy of the stomach.  I hope not.

And for those of you who are by now totally disgusted with all this anatomy talk, I promise the next post will be about fabric.  At least I spared you the picture this time.

Salad linkage

and ideas, here.

Fifth Monday, 2010

Joy and thanks for simple pleasures of these winter days...
Tasting and seeing physical and spiritual realities

646.  The best homemade bread

647.  Healthy, fresh, colorful salads

648.  Slanting afternoon sunlight

649. outside

650.  and inside

651.  Hardy plants...
652.  and hardy souls who brave the snow to worship

653.  the beauty of persevering faith

I am also thankful for

654.  Hard workers and those who prepare months in advance so my  husband can be refreshed.
655.  Reunions with friends he will have over the next few days
656.  Music he will sing
657.  Encouraging speakers

658.  Safe travel so far

659.  Boys to keep me company - the very best company there is!

660.  A longish walk this afternoon to the sound of rivers of snowmelt
661.  An evening to sew and knit