serving

show hospitality to one another without grumbling. as each has received a gift,
use it to serve one another,as good stewards of god's varied grace.
1 peter 4:9-10 (esv)

preparing a meal for 15 seems daunting. let alone preparing a meal for 30! yesterday, my friend debbie and i prepared a meal for 30 people to serve at a family/teen parents meal.













the teen parents meal is a program offered through our city, and runs every thursday evening at the community health center daycare. teen parents and their families, along with "former" teen parents and their families, are invited to enjoy a home-made meal and connect with other parents who are experiencing or have experienced similar situations.

meals are provided by volunteers in the community who want to help out (like us!). volunteers are not obliged to make a meal every thursday, though they are encouraged to commit to at least one thursday a month. we have claimed the 2nd thursday of every month.

we had a great time chatting with other parents, children, and some of the folks who are involved with making this program happen. we also found out that bringing our own family was encouraged, so i think starting next month i'm planning on bringing aaron and the kids along and make the 2nd thursday of the month a new family "outing."

since the meal took place in the daycare, many of the kids had a chance to play after they finished their dinner while the parents had the opportunity to network with each other. i think our kids would have a great time trying out "new" toys, and interacting with some of the kids. possibly even make new friends!

a river runs through...emma's room

this is bailey. we are dog-sitting this sweet little puppy for jon and jenna while they're away on vacation.

but she's not so sweet when she decides to pee...in emma's room. and it wasn't a little piddle. it was a river of pee. a river. of dog pee. in my baby's room. from one end of the room to the other. we aaron probably used half a roll of paper towels to soak up the pee [yuck!].

other than that "minor" incident, she has been a great house guest. i took her on an hour walk yesterday, and will plan to do the same today. she seems to listen better and much calmer once she gets some exercise in. time to round the kids up for that walk!

thursday play group

we had a great time today at play group, and the weather was perfect. not too hot, not too cold.

emma finally ventured off on the sand by herself, with little hesitation. it was very exciting. tyler immersed himself in the water as soon as we got there, and did fantastic watching out for little tate.

indonesian meal of the month

august's indonesian meal: opor ayam (ayam=chicken...but i don't know how to translate opor).

this dish is quite popular in our house. this is one of the first indonesian meals i introduced tyler to when he was much younger, and has continued to be on of his favorites.

ingredients:

• 1 lb. chicken (i use a mixture of chicken breast and thighs), cut into bite size pieces
• about 2 c. potato (or 2 medium ones), cubed...the smaller the cubes, the faster they cook
• about 1 c. green onions (or you can use regular onion or a mix of both), chopped
  
• 3-4 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 1 tbs. frozen lemongrass (fresh is best...use about 1 stalk, chopped or crushed)
• 1 can coconut milk (about 13.5 oz.)
  
• about 1 oz. of water
• 1-1.5 tsp. coriander
• salt
• 1 tbs. oil

put oil into medium sized pot over medium heat. put garlic and onion and sautee for 1 minute. add coriander and frozen lemongrass. if you don't have access to lemongrass, you can use lemon juice from 1/2 a lemon. sautee for about 1 min. add chicken and sautee for about 5 minutes. add coconut milk, water, and potatoes. stir and turn heat to medium-low. cover pot and cook for about 45 minutes, stirring occassionally. add salt to taste. serve over cooked white rice. if you're using chicken thighs, throw the bones in and allow to cook together with everything else. the bone will add more flavor to the dish. remove and toss the bones before serving.













prep and cook time: 1 hour.
serves about 6 main dishes with rice.

enjoy!

home-made and hand-made

emma received these cute, little, black bloomers from her aunt corrie. it has an elastic waist and a black ribbon that ties in the front. so chic! thanks aunt corrie!


i also figured out how i was going to cook the green tomatoes i got last week. since i only had one tomato, i decided to go with the recipe (see the comments section below this post) suggested by angela from sunflower hill: fried green tomatoes!

i placed the sliced tomatoes a plate of flour (no photo) to let it dry out a bit. then i removed the floured tomatoes and put them in an egg/milk mixture (i used regular milk instead of buttermilk since that's what i had around).













then i placed those tomatoes into the flour/breadcrumb/salt mixture.













once the tomatoes were coated, i placed them in a hot skillet and fried it until brown on both sides. since i had an abnormal abundance of bread crumbs around, i decided to use that instead of the cornmeal which worked just as well.













the end result tasted fantastic! even tyler liked it, and it was a delicious lunch time snack.

legal land film

i just came across this funny video from not martha. this guy, michael leonard, submitted his lego short-film as part of a scholarship competition so that he can go to law school. very inventive!

as a lego lover, i know that ty will appreciate this funny film. if you want to to help mr. leonard in winning the competition, you can vote for his video here.

waiting to bloom

our sunflowers are looking excellent since we planted them in spring. i didn't realize that "giant" on the seed package meant that it would grow to tower over me. they haven't bloomed yet, so i don't know if they're still growing in height. i can't wait until it blooms so we can harvest the seeds!

sleep-deprived, insomnia grumbling

it's late. i'm tired. but yet unhappily awake.

after some tossing and turning in bed trying to disregard sound of snoring i move to the guest bedroom in hopes of finding some peace.

it takes me a while before i feel sleepy, and when i am finally ready to welcome much needed sleep i hear talking next door (the guest bedroom is adjacent to a duplex). not much at first, but it then begins to build. lots of talking. laughing. running of feet. some shouting. louder and louder. until i am AWAKE, yet again.

after our first home-buying experience here, i have come to realize that taking into consideration the other types of homes present on your street is of great importance. i've decided that when we buy another home, i want to be absolutely certain that there are no renters living on our street. i know. that sounds harsh. we were renters once too. but, realistically, you don't know what to expect. i'm tired of the high turnover. how about i get to pick who lives next door?

a brief neighbor history...our first year in this house, the duplex next door had a quiet family on our side and 2 low-key dudes on the other. then the family with the baby left us. they were replaced by a family with older kids. aside from the occasional verbal scream fest fights coming from inside, they kept to themselves. they lived there for 6 mos. then there were some recent high school graduates who moved in had parties almost every weekend (on the plus side, they did express their willingness to turn the noise down when we asked them to and when they brought the party inside they weren't noisy at all). they only lasted 6 months. the 2 dudes on the other side finally parted ways and that half sat empty for a long time. both sides sat empty for awhile (yay for me and my sleep-deprived brain). then there was a family with older kids that moved into our side and an engaged couple plus another roomate on the other side. so within 3 years, the duplex on our side have had a total of 4 different tenants (including the current residents). within 3 years, there have been a total of 6 different tenants for the whole duplex.

this is the part where i start sounding old (if i don't already). it's now approaching 2 a.m. and there's still plenty of noise and activity on the porch. plenty. i don't know why mom is not bringing them inside. either she doesn't care or she's out of town (most likely the 2nd option). please. at least go inside. i'm kind of stuck on finding a new place to sleep. if i go on the couch i can still hear them. maybe i'll turn on the tv. i may have to crash with emma in her room.

i want to live on a street where when i want it to be quiet it's quiet (a statement out of grumpy, sleepy, frustration). i just want to be surrounded by quiet (again...a sleep-influenced comment). i want to move to the street west of us. they don't have any rentals on their street. or maybe they should designate streets by noise level: quiet, low noise, medium noise, loud noise, party-central 24 hour noise.

and there's suburbia! or the country...lots of land between one house and the next. actually, that sounds lovely right now, but i think i don't think that feeling would last long. and i'd probably feel trapped, constricted, and start to hyperventilate if i lived in suburbia land. having to drive everywhere for everything. all the houses looking exactly alike. everybody driving the same exact cars. everyone eating the same food from the same chain restaurants, because that's the only thing close-by. i can't do it. i like the unique qualities all the homes in my hood (rentals or not). i love the people that my neighborhood draws-different backgrounds and histories. plus, i'm a city girl at heart and living too far away from city-like amenities and comforts will drive me bananas.

one of my greatest joys in life

a bike ride to the park. admiring the lake. playing in the playground. a picnic lunch accompanied with some very refreshing slushies. what a glorious day.

from animals to racecars

we had a very full morning with gram and benjamin. so full in fact, that i actually re-scheduled emma's dr. appt. this afternoon. there was just no way we could go. at least with her being in an agreeable and pleasant mood. i wasn't going to take that chance, especiall if there are shots involved.

we spent late morning checking out the rainforest section of the zoo. this is the very first time i've actually made it into this area. the zoo is so big, that by the time you're done looking at all the other exhibits, there's really no more time for the rainforest.

i love the air in rainforest-type zoo environments. it's warm, humid, and reminds me of home [a.k.a. indonesia]. we saw a variety of monkeys, turtles, crocodiles, and snakes to name a few. and within the whole building there were various tropical plants strategically placed to make you feel as if you're truly deep in the rainforest.

















as we entered the rainforest building we were greeted by a towering waterfall.














is that monkey or boy?














emma and ben intently watching the 2-toed sloth.














a francois monkey picking at his toes.

after some lunch in the rainforest cafe, we headed down to aaron's work to check out the fedex freight racecar. unlike the last one we saw (a retired nascar racecar) this one was put together, but never raced. i'm not sure if they'll eventually use it for racing, but i'm not very knowledgable about nascar culture.










































i think this was ben's first time seeing an actual racecar, and he was quite excited to see it. after that got old, both cousins decided to jump around on the grass until the cryfest it was time to go home.