Happy Mother's Day!

That best academy, a mother's knee.
James Russell Lowell, poet, critic and diplomat

The other day, as I was making homemade cream cheese, I began to think of my mom and a little dish she used to make for us when I was around 7 years old.

We lived in Mexico at the time; camping out because housing through my dad's job had fallen through. All six of us kids, plus our parents, lived in a tent and a van. It was a fair drive outside of town where my dad worked teaching English. Occasionally, when my dad brought fresh milk home, it would spoil and sour.

My mom would take that sour milk, which many people would deem unusable, and boil it up. The heat would cause the curds to separate from the whey and after straining the milk and collecting the curds, my mom would add honey (and perhaps a bit of lemon?) creating this wonderful little dessert. We loved it so much that we would clamour around my dad when he returned from home begging to know if perhaps the milk had spoiled again.

This has always been one of my favorite memories, but recently it came to mean more to me. As I got older, I learned that my mom doesn't really even enjoy cooking. She'll do it, but she doesn't feel confident in the kitchen and she'd rather not cook if she can avoid it. The fact that she would create this wonderful dish out of seeming defeat is that much more amazing to me.

I feel like this sums up my mom so wonderfully. She is one of the sweetest and most positive people I know. She doesn't just take life's lemons and make lemonade, she takes soured milk and makes cheese 'n' honey delight. And I'm not just saying that because she's my mom and I owe her my life. Anyone who knows her would back me up. She has always striven to put a bright and cheerful face on whatever she goes through and I admire and love her for that.

My mom and I last April

Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

I love you!

Exactly One Year Ago: Doncha Hate When This Happens?

Trust in Me, Just in Me*

I haven't written about snakes for nearly two months. It's about time, don't you think?

Thursday morning I got up bright and early so that I could have some quality Skype time with Tom. A few minutes later, Timothy walked in. As any of you with teenage boys know, this was a rare occurrence. The sun has to be high in the sky before my boy gets out of bed willingly.

Sure enough, he said he'd been woken by a staff member reporting there was a python in the rabbit hutch. Tom spoke up from the Skype screen and said he didn't believe it. Finding a python alive is pretty rare. Timmy insisted it was a python and Tom demanded proof. 

Bless the makers of the digital camera, the laptop,  the internet and Skype. By using all these mediums, a seventeen year old boy gained some pride and confidence that morning. Sure enough, it was a python. Below is the picture that proved it.

Tom was so jealous. I told him he was welcome to fly back and come see it for himself. He declined this invitation. Something about needing to fulfill his speaking obligations, yada yada.

The next several minutes were spent discussing the best way to catch such a large and powerful snake and also, how and where to keep it until Tom returns.

Once Timmy had received his marching orders, he suited up by wearing work gloves and a long sleeve shirt. He also grabbed a 10 inch hunting knife in case the snake wrapped around him--he'd be able to stab it and force it to let him go. He insisted, however, that he was perfectly fine being barefoot. Huh! 

By the time we got to the rabbit hutch (yes, we!--I was drafted as the photographer) the snake had moved. 

Timmy and Enock (our gardener) positioned the metal drum just so and began poking gently but firmly at the snake with sticks and the snake grabber. Tom had been very specific about moving slowly and not angering the snake.

After doing this for a while and seeing no progress, Timmy said, "Gentleness be hanged, I'm gonna get me a snake" (or something like that--I may be paraphrasing), and he grabbed onto the snake's head with the snake grabber and pulled it into the drum. 

That was one unhappy snake. The lid was placed on the drum and taped and tied down. There is a breathing hole at the top and Mr. Python has since been fed a large rat. He may not be a happy snake but he'll be well fed.

"Thank you for saving us!"
You're so welcome, little bunny!

*In case you didn't get the reference, Kaa (a python) sang this song on Disney's Jungle Book.

More snake posts, in case you're into that kinda thing: 

Snakes and Klingons, Comments Regurgitated (second half), My Life Flashed

Exactly One Year Ago: Weekend Update with Amy....

Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real

Pretty

My kids captured a picture of this bird in the field next to our house.

I have no idea what it is? Do you? 

Happy

I'm sorry to do this again, I know I already posted about it, but this picture just makes me so happy! Eight years ago, baking cakes for my kids' parties would give me anxiety attacks. Look at me now!

Funny

Can that pouty lower lip get any bigger? Peter didn't want to be in the playground with the other children. He wanted to come up to our house. Have you ever seen a more pitiful sight?

Real

Troy was playing with the dogs on Monday and fell right on his hand. One of my fears in living in the bush is broken bones because there are no competent orthopedists out here. We'd have to travel by bus for 17 hours to get to a hospital that I'd trust to set a broken bone. Thankfully, it was just a badly sprained wrist and seems to be healing up just fine.

Stylish or Silly--You Decide

Try It Mom tagged me in a meme on her blog the other day. She gave me a Stylish Award. I'm not quite sure what gave her the impression that I deserved that exact award but I'm grateful for it. :)

Of course, these little awards often come with assignments. This one was no exception. I have to list 7 things about myself. This is hard when I have a blog where oversharing seems to be the norm. 

So, I enlisted my kids. I asked them to say seven things that my readers might not know about me. Here we go:

1. I'm short. So, this is not big news to many of you, but I am short. Shortest one in my family of six siblings. Shorter now than all my kids including my 13 year old son. Shorter than nearly everyone I know. I'm short. Take a look at this recent family picture that we took upon arriving at the Houston airport in January.

I'm even wearing 2 inch heels. Short!!

 2. I have crooked pinkies (is that what you all call the smallest finger?). So does my mom and all my siblings. Tom was so worried that our children would be born with this unusual feature. Every time we had a baby he would count their fingers and toes and check the pinkies. They were all fine.

3. My kids say I'm a gypsy. I don't know what they think gypsies are but I think they mean I'm free spirited. I tend not to worry too much about what people think of me.

4. Rather than hug my kids, I'm more likely to smack their behinds or tug on their hair or slug their shoulder. We're not big huggers although sometimes it's the right thing to do.

5. I'm not very athletic. By this my kids want you to know that I am highly uncoordinated. I cannot jump, swim well, or do any other type of sport.

6. My accent changes depending on who I'm talking with. My kids can almost always guess who I'm speaking on the phone with because my voice will change. I take this to be a good thing because subconsciously I'm trying to connect with the person.

7. My kids would also like you to know that I'm hot-headed. Not that you needed to know that, right? But they're going to cry foul if I don't tell you everything.

And now the second half of the assignment. I have to pass this award on to 15 bloggers that I've discovered recently. Check them out.

1. MisAdventures of Mrs. B

2. Katie Gates: Stories and Opinions

3. Carrigan's Joy

4. That Army Wife Life

5. The Long and Short of It

6. Turquoise Gates

7. Whispers From Wildwood

8. Aly's Bloggity Blog

9. Musings of a Counselor

10. MissyMom in Madrid

11. JDaniel4's Mom

12. Adventurez in Child Rearing

13. Making Lemonade

14. Adoption Overseas

15. A Punk, a Pumpkin, and a Peanut

To anyone I didn't tag, I'm sorry. I hate leaving anyone out. I think you're all stylish!
To all that I did tag, you are under no obligation to pass this on. I know how busy you all are. If you do, please link back to this post. Thanks!



Exactly One Year Ago: America Land

Challenges of Parenting Orphans

I'm always excited when something by the Vitafamiliae blog pops up in my reader. Lora Lynn is such an inspirational person and I've been following her story of adopting a toddler from Uganda with bated breath. 

A few days ago she posted an article called Adoption and Anger and I cheered. I am so grateful that she addressed this issue. 

Basically, she writes about how adopted children deal with trust issues and as they are going through the process, the entire thing can be very frustrating for parents (and caregivers). 

Here is an excerpt: 

There’s a side to adoption that no one really warned us about.  We were prepared for attachment issues, for trust issues, food hoarding, lashing out.  But no one really told us that there’d be parental anger.

Because of her life situation, Mira is a fighter.  Her survival instincts are finely honed.  While she attached to us right away, getting her to trust us has been more difficult. .....

.......I liken the feelings of frustration we have to the first few months with a newborn.  The baby is well-fed, always being held, and is kept warm and safe.  Yet they scream bloody murder when you change their diaper, even though you’re doing them a favor.  Or they just scream because they can.  They’re not entirely sure you’re coming back with food.  As a parent, you’re exhausted and frustrated.

But you love your babies and you stick with it and eventually they learn to believe you’ll show up with food or you’ll get them out of their crib.  They learn not to fight the diaper changes and the nap times.

Mira is still like a newborn. And sometimes it frustrates us and makes us angry.  We know it’s just an issue of time, but it doesn’t make it any less anger-inducing in the heat of the moment.

You can read the full article here.In the comments, Lora Lynn makes it clear that she and her husband experienced the emotions of anger and frustration but did not give in to those feelings.

I completely understand where she is coming from and it is wonderful to have someone document this difficult transition period with a new baby in such an articulate way. 

I've seen this happen over and over with the new babies and toddlers we take in. They have to go through such a process of building trust and realizing that we love them and won't hurt or abandon them. During that time, especially if the child is sick, it can be very draining emotionally. You can feel like giving up and not doing anything when 'obviously the child doesn't even appreciate it anyway'. At these times, I'm grateful we have a large enough staff that everyone gets the chance for a break and can take time to step back from the situation if they get too tired or frustrated.

I'm still learning as I go. God didn't reveal the whole picture to me when he asked us to do this job, and in some ways I'm glad. I depend on Him for so much. And, you know, he is so good about bringing people or information my way that helps me to know how to better serve the children He's given us. 

For example, Denny is doing so much better since he came to live with us just over a month ago, and the way I know he's doing better physically, is because he is now starting to behave like a normal 20 month old child. That means he now feels comfortable enough with us to demand more food or throw temper tantrums. So, he gets to move on to the next level of recovery which includes more love and added discipline. It's not easy but it is so necessary. 

Pray for us as we work not only with the physical bodies of rescued children but their hearts and minds as well.

Sundays in My City--A Royal Wedding (Cake)

We planned our Royal Wedding party for weeks. The menu was planned, the guests were invited, the events planned. Then! Disaster! No guests showed up.
Ah well, the show must go on. And at least the most important element was there.

The Cake!

I first saw this cake on Pioneer Woman's website and followed the link to a most amazing tutorial. Just wait until you see the surprise inside.

Jasmine and I worked hard on the cake for 2 days. It was and is wonderful to work side by side with my lovely daughter and see her develop into such an amazing young woman.

Tim just has to ham it up for the camera

My boys wanted to get in on the action. Can someone tell me how they got to be so huge?

And here is the inside of the cake. So much fun to have that exciting view inside a plain white cake.

You can go here for the tutorial but very quickly, here is how we did it. We baked two red velvet layers, and two white layers and then placed them on top of each other straight out of the oven. This created one tall layer. Next we used a bowl and a cup to cut concentric circles out of each cake. We ended up with two rings and a center circle from each cake.

After cutting them out, we alternated rings and then stacked the two cakes on top of each other. This gave us the checkerboard effect rather than just the vertical stripes.

After frosting the cake with a crumb layer and letting that chill a bit, we piped over 5 cups of buttercream icing in a 'rose' pattern all over the cake. I say 'rose' because seriously we had no idea what we were doing.

But, I think it turned out all right? Don't you? It tasted fantastic too!

And since we had no guests, we all ate a TON of cake. 

I'm linked up with Unknown Mami's Sunday's In My City. Click on the button to see fun happening around the world.

A Stich in Time

I've mentioned before how much I enjoy crossstiching. It feeds my creative side while not requiring too much creative effort on my part. :)I get to just follow instructions, and beauty follows. Win!

Even better, I can do it while watching TV so I get to feed my ADD side. Often, when we all relax by watching TV in the evenings, it can feel like a waste of time. I like to be with my family but don't always fully enter into every show chosen. Sewing give me a chance to be with everyone while still accomplishing something. This also works when I'm watching shows that are my 'guilty pleasures'. Right now this is catching up on the first 6 seasons of Desperate Housewives which we borrowed from friends. Many TV shows don't require my full attention and crossstiching fits the bill perfectly.

About 10 years ago I made my mother and mother-in-law 'Grandma' t-shirts with this iron-on saying and all their grandchildren's names written with puffy fabric paint.  Two years ago when I was chatting with my mom, she mentioned that she had enjoyed the shirt so much that it had finally worn out. I couldn't believe it when a couple days later, while browsing my favorite aisle in Michael's, I found the exact same design as the original iron-on but in a crossstich design. There was only one left, AND it was on clearance! What are the odds??

 

I didn't get to start working on it right away because I was working on another large project, but did get that one bow on the right nearly done. In just the last two or so weeks I've done the rest of what you see there. I'm flying through this. It's kinda addicting too. I can't wait for lunch break and after dinner time to get some stitching done.

I've never worked with this exact medium before. Normally I work with plain crossstich fabric and enter the stiches according to the design. To work on a printed fabric with no holes is a new challenge. I'm enjoying it. 

As you can see, I have a ways to go. The design is 14"x14". I'm not sure if I will turn it into a pillow or a wall hanging. Whatever I choose to do, I will have to figure out a secure way to deliver this to my mom. The last project that I did took me two years and when I mailed it to my friend, the package arrived empty! It was a highly personalized project so I can't imagine what someone would want with it.

Guess what a fringe benefit is of all this stitching? I snack less. Keeping my hands busy during downtime makes me less likely to eat out of boredom. Plus I want to keep my hands clean. Of course, I'm sitting down a lot so I'm not sure how it will all balance out.....

Getting all this work done is another blessing to being husband-less. But, to tell you the truth, I'm running out of happy ways to look at Tom's absence. It's been over a month. I'm ready for June to get here already.