Baking Up Christmas Cookies with Just a Touch of OCD

Christmas is for kids, isn't that right? Crafting cards, and presents and homemade ornaments. And let's not forget cookies. Christmas just wouldn't be the same without cookies. 

I'm all for baking and creating. I love it. But, throw a couple/few kids in the mix and it's a horse of a completely different color. A very messy, noisy horse.

However, I strive to be a good mom and so I put on my big girl knickers and roll up my sleeves (both literally and figuratively), and get to work. 

First of all, a plan had to be made. 

A Pinterest board started and properly pinned upon. 

Recipe cards printed. 

And, very important, a spreadsheet created. 

And not just any spreadsheet, but a very detailed one that lists not only which cookies will be baked, but who will take part in the making of each one, by which day they should be completed, and whether advance prep is needed.

Then ingredients must be assembled and mise en place completed. 

Now, some people say that baking can be an excellent math skills exercise for children. 

Measuring and scooping and pouring and counting will prepare them for proper school work. 

I say that if God intended children to do math while baking, he would have given them the right mother for the job.

As it stands, I measure and pour and count ahead of time. This way the children can take part in the baking without adding to their mother's silver hair. 

(this may be why I still have only four silver strands)

('course it could also be why my bigger children find College Algebra to be so difficult--if only I'd let them do the measuring when we baked.....)

The kids seemed to enjoy the assembling and stirring and baking. Can I just take a moment to mention Janet's casual posing--that girl has a model inside her. And, Jennifer's dimple. Have you ever??

I divided the kids into groups of 3 and they're each helping with one recipe. This is a tradition my youngest daughter, Jasmine, started. Those who bake get a sneak taste of the baked cookies and the rest are saved for Christmas. Three children at once is about all I can handle. It gives them all a chance to do a part without having to wait too long between stirs or rolling out.

So far we've knocked five recipes off our list. Another will be done by the first grade boys tomorrow. They'll be bashing hard candy into chunks for stained glass cookies. They'll love that. 

I think I'll have them do the banging outside though. 

My poor nerves.....

Exactly Four Years Ago: Happy Birthday, Dad!
Exactly Three Years Ago: Christmas in Africa --a peak into our living room
Exactly One Year Ago: Busy Little Elves
(Almost) Exactly One Year Ago: The Santa Claus Drama

Fabulous at Forty

There is something about birthdays that just begs for a bit of introspection and retrospect. No matter the age too, there is a feeling of time fleeing by. I've heard a 23 year old girl comment on how time was passing too quickly and her life was nearly over, and she'd done nothing with it yet. I wanted to pat her on her head and say, "you dear, sweet, young thing". My 60 year old uncle essentially said the same thing to me today on Facebook. Age truly is a relative thing.

Somewhere toward the beginning of the year I joined one of those online 'lose weight' groups. It was called Fabulous by Forty, and everyone in the group was close to turning forty and wanted to be at or close to their goal weight by their next birthday.

I was excited to do it, and it seemed a reasonable goal. 

However, I didn't quite make it.

Even though I didn't meet my aim, I still think my life is fabulous. Here's why:

My body may not be perfect, but it still works and it brought six children into this world, so that's a fabulous thing.

There may not be a string of letters behind my name, but there is a string of children--6 + 29 and counting. I think that's pretty fabulous .

I haven't made it to all the countries I'd like to (Ireland, I'm looking at you!), but I have lived in seven countries and visited four others. AND, I still have years ahead of me. I can still see the world!

My family is spread around the world and I miss them terribly, but I have friends spending the day and night with me today. We're gonna watch my favorite movie and eat cake, and it's gonna be fabulous!

I could moan about forty years gone by, but  instead I will look forward to the next forty-sixty years ahead of me. I just know they are going to be fabulous. (Pray for my 99 year old grandpa. He fell and fractured his hip just the other day)

Life is exciting and fun and full of adventures. It's FABULOUS!

(Mom and Dad, I hope reading the ponderings of your 40 year old daughter, doesn't make you feel old. I think you are both amazing and fabulous and I want to be just like you when I grow up)



Exactly One Year Ago: My Very Own Day
Exactly Two Years Ago: Santa Claus is Coming to Town
Exactly Three Years Ago: A Puzzle and a Prize
Exactly Four Years Ago: Happy Birthday to Me --an adventure story

For Such a Time as This

Way back in August when I was taking my curriculum course, a friend of mine (also taking the course) mentioned that her teenage daughter, Vika, needed some volunteer time for her transcript and  asked if I would mind if she came to spend some time with us at the beginning of December. I said it was a great idea. I knew Troy would enjoy the company—especially if her brother, Andrew, also came.

Then I forgot about it. With all we’ve had going on, I’m not surprised, but I was a little embarrassed when my friend called again just before Thanksgiving to work out the details, I had to quickly think about a program they could help with. 

Not that it’s hard to come up with things volunteers can help with. Not at all. The kids are always in need of time and attention. We have things to build. Things to organize. Lots to do!

With Christmas coming up I was ready to get activities organized and kicked off for the month of December. 

But I had no idea how much I would need those extra hands.

The week Vika and Andrew arrived was crazy! One of our staff members lost her child, a nanny lost her father, and several nannies were down with colds/flus/stomach issues or had to stay home to look after sick loved ones. Yet another staff member was diagnosed with HIV and was told to take time off work to allow the treatment to begin working.  

Tom and Troy were still recovering from a bad cold and then I began to have symptoms. 

To top it off, this was our shopping week, which meant that Tom and I would be out of town for 2 days.

It was quite the welcome for Vika and Andrew. They were so sweet and jumped in to help with anything that was needed. Troy also pitched in wherever and whenever. 

They prepared meals, looked after the kids, supervised Christmas card painting, helped the girls make friendship bracelets and even clipped the nails on all the goats. (I think that is going above and beyond if you ask me)

 

I'm so grateful I work for a God who sees so far in the future that he would arrange way back in August that two volunteers would land on my doorstep during one of the craziest weeks we've ever experienced here at Kazembe Orphanage. 

And, by the way, for those of you who wonder (and maybe even worry) about this current generation, I’m happy to say there is definite hope for the future. I was so proud of these three teenagers.

 

Exactly One Year Ago: Not Quite Cinderella -- This details the work I did last year to outfit all our kids with shoes. We urgently need shoes. Click over to the Kazembe Orphanage website --and the how to help button to see how you can help. Thanks!

Tough Questions

Saturday is Family Day. Relatives come to visit the children and spend a little time getting to know them and establishing bonds.

Some relatives are diligent to come, some come every once in a while, and some come only rarely. Some don't come at all. You might remember me writing about how Queenie's dad used to come every Saturday. Then he just stopped coming. We assumed he had passed away--he was quite frail--but the truth was he had gotten a job in the capital city. A few months later he began to call every Saturday or Sunday evening to chat with Queenie. We appreciated the efforts he was making. Then he got remarried. He promised to come for a visit with his new wife to introduce her to Queenie, but that was the last time we heard from him. It's been a couple years with no word.

Peter and Beauty are siblings (the only other sibling set is Luke and Leah), and their father has been pretty good in recent months about coming to visit. Even though he didn't come this week, or perhaps because he didn't, he was apparently on Beauty's mind. 

Saturday evening, as I put the finishing touches on our dinner and the kids washed up the dishes from their supper, one of the nannies approached me to tell me that Beauty had some questions. 

She asked her nanny why her mom never comes to visit. Worried about the right way to answer, the nanny had come to me. I assured her she did the right thing and then shared with her what I was going to say so she could repeat it later should Beauty need extra reassurance. We need to all speak the same thing. I'll be teaching on this during our staff meeting tomorrow as well.

A few minutes later, Beauty came into the kitchen. She had a single tear rolling down her cheek. My heart broke in two seeing that solitary tear. I asked her why she was sad and she said, "My mom never comes to see me". I gathered her into my arms and asked her if she knew why. Then I explained carefully that her mother had been sick and died and went to Heaven (I'm not worried about the theology of that statement right now....) and her father wasn't able to care for her and Peter and feed them, so he found someplace where they would be well cared for and have a bed, and enough to eat.

I assured her that we, Tom and I (mommy & daddy), were her family and that the other kids are her brothers and sisters and that she isn't alone. I also told her it was OK to be sad and that she could come talk about it any time she felt bad again.

She hung out with me for a little bit in the kitchen just chatting. I asked her if she was sad about anything else and she said she was sad that Jasmine had left, and Zeger had left, and she mentioned a few others. Leaving is a constant theme in the lives of these kids, sad to say. I told her how much I missed those people too, and we talked about how some of them are coming back one day. Then I asked her if she knew who would never leave her. She answered, "Yes. Jesus." A few more minutes of chatting and she headed off to bed, seeming to be in better spirits. 

I'm not entirely sure I got it all right. I'm not sure there is a perfect way to tell a child that their mother is not around for them anymore. I am sure that the best thing we can do for the kids is be there and hold their hands and hearts as they mourn their losses, and set them back on their feet pointing toward the future. 

Please hold us in your prayers as we work to meet the needs of all our precious children.

Exactly Four Years Ago: Adventure on the Night Bus

Wearing my Schoolhouse Marm Hat

Things are busy right now.

Since Brent and Sarah left I have been trying to do some school with the kids each day. I do a one-room-schoolhouse type thing for about 45 minutes where I cover a bit of reading and math work trying to pull in all the age groups. We'll talk about time, have the preschoolers say the alphabet, the kindergarteners count by 5s or up to one hundred, and the first graders take turns quoting the ones addition table. We'll go over nouns and sound out some words.

We also sing songs together and I read a chapter from a book. It's not ideal, but they're getting some input.
After that united time, I assign workbook pages and/or activities for the remaining school time which the nannies can then supervise.

I still have to do my regular office work so it's been challenging to keep up with everything.

There have been some important deadlines to meet with working to connect with a new organization, register our future school (we plan to open officially in January) and keep up with records, payroll, etc.

We managed to get a newsletter out last week. You can see it  by clicking here. Take a moment to subscribe too, please.

Our new kittens have also taken up our time. Thankfully they seem to moving well to solid food, but for a while we were having to hand feed them milk. Newborns are tough!

Another big project on my plate is getting out our annual Christmas cards. I designed them and will be having the kids hand paint them over the next week (using homemade watercolors) so we can mail them out next Friday. I'm hoping to get about 100 done. If you have supported Kazembe Orphanage this past year, watch your mail box. 

I'm not complaining, by any means. Life is good and I'm happy with all we're accomplishing. But it does mean I have less time to do some of the things I love--one of them being writing.

I do apologize. I have several adventures to report--Tom falling off a ladder and the ensuing hospital visit is one for the books--and I will get to them eventually.

In the meantime, please feel free to read some of the past posts, and browse through the archives.


Exactly One Year Ago: How to Survive a Queue
(Almost) Exactly One Year Ago: Maggie
(Just Over) Two Years Ago: Africa Wins This Round
Exactly Four Years Ago: Chola

A Little Hump Day Humor

I've started holding 'office hours' every Tuesday and Thursday for an hour each day. I sit in a little room off our main entry way, and I'm available if the nannies have questions, want to apply for wage advances or loans, or need to fill out forms. It stops 'hallway hit-ups' where I might be caught up in a project and someone approaches me with a request or lengthy question and because my mind is somewhere else, I'm unable to give them my full attention or even best attitude.

Yesterday I was in the little entry room and, as is often the case, Peter was hanging out with me. I'd finished with the few nannies who had come and so I was just reading. Peter was playing with my four color pen, which he'd figured out how to use--to his great delight.

Then, in the distance, across the courtyard, we heard one of the children calling out: "All the boys come! All the boys come! Calling all the boys!"

Something was happening. Something exciting!

Peter's little body quivered with anticipation. He quickly set down the pen and said, "Mom! I have to go!".

He ran out of the room and stood at the top of the steps leading to the courtyard.

Although he was out of my vision, I could hear the outstretched-arms in his voice:

"I'm here! I'm coming!"

But, across the courtyard came an answering call:

"We don't want you, Peter."

Now Peter's voice was tinged with bewilderment.

"But, I'm a boy. I'm a boy! See.....I have a......I have a....."


(I was a little worried at this point. What was he going to produce as proof?)


"I have a boy's haircut!"


Whew!

I'm not sure what happened later, but Peter never came back, so I hope he was accepted into the group of boys and whatever activity they had going on.

Raising boys is always an adventure!


Exactly Two Years Ago: Peace Like a River
(Almost) Exactly Three Years Ago: Fab Friday Foto--another day, another snake

Extra Time and Orphan Sunday

Seeing as this is Orphan Sunday, it's only appropriate that we spend our day bottle feeding two new orphaned babies that were left on our doorstep Friday evening.

Meet Potter and Ginny!

They're doing pretty well considering that they are far too young to be away from their mother.

A group of boys brought them to our door Friday afternoon because they were hoping we would give them some money. They wanted to buy notebooks for school.

As much as I sympathised with the boys, and even wanted to help, I couldn't condone catnapping. I asked them to go put the kittens back where they found them.

Later that evening, Troy found the kittens on our doorstep resting on a scrap of clothing.

I've thought about getting another cat, so we're going to make this work. It will be nice to have a cat or two in our house to keep the mice at bay.

********

This Sunday is also significant because Americans across the U.S turned their clocks back today. Like many of them, I have mixed feelings about this event.

When the U.S 'falls back' in November, we are eight hours ahead. This is nice in one way because it means when I get up in the morning my U.S kids are still up and it isn't all that late for them. On the other hand, if I need to complete any business with a U.S. office, I have to wait until 5 or 6 PM which is very inconvenient.

There is one question I have regarding this whole clock turning back thing. What happens to television programming? Do the clocks change right at midnight? Do they repeat a show? Or do they have an hour of blank screen? Or do they have a whole show chosen just to fill that extra hour? Or does the hour not even really exist? Is it all an illusion?

Please help me figure this out!

One last adorable peek:

Exactly Two Years Ago:  If You Give a Mouse a Cookie