Advent 2013

I love advent.  It is arguably my favorite holiday, and I love that it's a multi-day holiday!  I love the decorations, the music, the smells, the food, the activities, etc.  I love the idea of waiting for something that I know is coming-- of looking forward to the coming of our Lord Jesus.

Waiting is not easy.  It's one thing to wait for 24 days in December in hopes of Christmas on the 25th.  That's hard enough for me sometimes.  But translated into real life, how do I do?  Well... not so great.  There are a couple things I have been waiting for for many years.  Even using my current example of healing, I hope and wait that the Lord will bring me healing soon.  Come, Lord Jesus, Come!  But I don't have any specific promise that I will be completely healed in this lifetime.  I hope He will, and I believe He can, but He doesn't always... and I want what HE wants for me because I know it will be His best.  What if His best is not healing?  What if it is teaching me to wait and hope and trust and have faith when it doesn't seem warranted?  Lord, glorify yourself in my story-- however you choose to write it. 

And that, my friends, is why I love advent.  It is a "brief" holiday that represents a deeper spiritual truth.  As we wait for Christmas and celebrate the birth of Jesus, we also wait for His return.  When He returns He will judge the world, raise the dead and make all things new.  ALL things.  Me included.  And that is a wonderful reason for hope.

Happy Advent!
JLR

Thankful

I love my doctors.  I seriously have two of the best doctors in the whole world.  They care about my whole health and my whole body and mind.  I couldn't ask for more.

One of the things I am overwhelmingly thankful for this year is good medical care.  You may think that I'm talking about western medicine in general, and to some extent that is true.  But healing is so much more than prescribing medicines.  Maybe that soapbox is for another post, but I love that my team of doctors think holistically.  I am a whole person to them and all of my systems interact and overlap.

In other good news, we've established that there are two areas of my health that still need major work: hormone imbalance (probably stress-induced) and allergies.

Now that some time has passed and I've calmed down about my allergy test results (and had wonderful chats with both of my wonderful doctors), I'm ready to share a bit about that.  I tested very strongly for dairy allergies (milk, goats' milk, soft cheese, hard cheese, whey, casein, etc.).  I also tested as allergic to red meat, lamb, eggs, peanuts, almonds, red grapes, green beans, etc.  That's an overwhelming list to a midwestern girl! I didn't test with strong allergies to gluten, but I felt remarkably different being gluten-free for three weeks.  So I'm going to stay off gluten as much as possible.  Which will be complete starting in the new year and non-militant until then (side note: I get a huge lump in my stomach anytime I have anything with wheat in it now-- that can't be good).  So a cookie here or a piece of pie there.  And I haven't started dairy-free yet and won't until December sometime.  And similarly it will be complete dairy-free starting in the new year.  I find that plan manageable.

One of the things I was most pleased to hear was that my doctors don't want me to worry about the beef, eggs, peanuts, almonds, etc.  They both said that in their experience, unless I was anaphylactic (which I'm not) then I should focus on wheat and dairy for now.  Any other sensitivities will likely go away as my body heals.

Oh, and for the record, I think staying refined-sugar-free is a smart decision for anyone, myself included.  So I'll keep that up, too.  When I challenged wheat I got a lump in my stomach.  But when I challenged sugar (after being off it for 3 full weeks), I was grossed out by the taste of sugar-- it tasted so strange and chemical-like that I literally can't stand the stuff.  I'll take raisins, honey and maple syrup any day over refined sugar!

As I read through what I've just written, I'm overwhelmed by how thankful I feel.  Thankful I'm living in a place where I can do strange diets and find substitutions and good food.  I'm thankful for Trader Joes, Costco, and all the other places that carry good whole food.  I'm thankful for doctors and for real medical care.  And I'm thankful for the time and the space to get to the bottom of all of this.  We're not done.  Not by any means.  But we've got a good start and I'm encouraged, which is not something to scoff at!  I've had way too many discouragements in this journey, so I'm thankful to see the sunshine through the clouds.

Happy Thanksgiving.

JLR

Vitamix

Where would I be without my new Vitamix?  Tim gave me my birthday present early this year so we could enjoy fresh smoothies, dressings, soups... and that's only what I've tried so far!

http://www.costco.com/Vitamix-5200-Super-Package.product.11609068.html

The back-story is that I've broken at least 3 blenders in the past 3 years.  Granted two of them were in Tanzania where craftsmanship on this type of appliance is not amazing and warranties are uncommon.  I love making smoothies with frozen fruit, hence the broken blenders.

But this machine has exceeded all of my expectations.  I'd heard that the vitamix brand is amazing and have even seen them in use once or twice, but I didn't realize HOW awesome it would be!  I've used it at least once a day since I got it on October 31.  My favorite recipes are smoothies (green smoothie, fruit salad smoothie, spinach smoothie, etc.) and balsamic vinaigrette dressing, but I've also tried carrot/citrus/ginger soup and mixing bananas/eggs for use in a recipe.  I love my vitamix and use it all the time!

Are any of you vitamix users?  What's your favorite recipe?

JLR

Allergy Testing

I got my allergy test results yesterday (blood testing for IgG + IgE).  I don't even want to talk about the results because I don't even want to think that this thing could be right!  If it is, I will have to drastically change my lifestyle, and I don't know if/that I can cope.  I think I'm at the denial stage of my grief...

On a more practical level, how accurate is blood allergy testing?  My naturopathic doctor recommended this test (E-95 through a lab in Washington state) along with gluten saliva testing.  I haven't talked to her yet, but will do so next week and I have a long list of questions for her.  My question for all of you (if you happen to know) is: IS allergy testing reliable?  Suppose one has multiple allergies that are off the charts... hypothetically... would that person have to avoid those foods forever?  Or is it true that a gut-healing diet like GAPS can actually heal the intestines and actually remove the allergies from that hypothetical person?  Any other solutions/ideas?  I know there's a lot of wisdom out there-- and trust me, I'm searching!-- but if anyone has any practical advice, studies, etc., I'd sure love to consider it! 

**note: I love anecdotes and stories, but I think at this point I'm specifically searching for medical journals, holistic health websites that you love, etc.  So send your stories, but also help me with research links when possible!!

JLR

The Miss List

What do I miss being on this diet?  The answer to that question has changed each day of the past 12 since we started (this is day 13, I think..).  Not enjoying sugar or gluten has been tough, but I'm also enjoying it, believe it or not!  Here are a few of the things I've missed along the way...

Day 1: not much.  I was excited for the challenge and enjoyed all the fruits and veggies.

Day 2: Halloween, so therefore I missed candy.  It was TORTURE and Micaiah got such a great stash of all sorts of wonderful candy, that I had to really watch myself...

Day 3: Bread.  I love bread.

Day 4: cinnamon rolls.  I love waking up on a Saturday morning and having warm cinnamon rolls or french toast or pancakes or whatever other weekend treat is on my mind.  Unfortunately they're all sugar/gluten based, so that's a no-go.

Day 5: our church had its annual roast beef dinner.  I hated passing up the dessert table, but I also missed the applesauce (sugar) and bread.  I had another plate of mashed potatoes as my dessert.

Day 6: ice cream. 

Day 7: graham crackers.  I'm not the kinda girl who has one or two-- I have an entire pack (that's about 11 crackers, for anyone who is counting), and dip them in milk.

Day 8: gluten-ous pancakes.  I tried a gluten-free flour today and was not impressed. 

Day 9: I was daydreaming about warm rolls fresh from the oven.  I've gotten pretty good at baking them over the years, and I was very much in the mood for some!

Day 10: real pasta.  Ok, so the quinoa/brown rice alternative wasn't BAD, but it wasn't awesome, either. 

Day 11: cereal.  My daughter (age 8) is not with us in this sugar-free, gluten-free thing and continues to enjoy Cheerios and Life cereals.  Those are two of my favorites and I had to have some pretty strong will power to not nip a bowl today!

Day 12: chocolate chip cookies (and dough).  I baked some peanut butter cookies with agave that were a total flop, and decided that was not acceptable to serve to my small group.  So I made a batch of chocolate chip cookies.  This was the first time in my ENTIRE LIFE that I did not either taste the dough or have a warm cookie straight out of the oven.  Wow.

Day 13 (today): chocolate.  I could really use some right now.  Maybe chocolate pieces mixed with some cherry craisins and some almonds-- my favorite pre-diet evening snack.

Well there you have it.  I'm about halfway through.  We're aiming for 3-4 weeks but haven't pinned down a firm end-date.  I'm curious to see how the second half goes and whether the cravings will be quite as strong.

-JLR

A New Diet

We are currently living in the beautiful city of St Louis.  Not downtown, of course, but slightly West in a little two bedroom house.  We've made our house a home, but as we're prone to the nomadic lifestyle, it's hard to say how long we'll be here.

I'm on medical leave.  I've had some medical issues that I've been dealing with for over 18 months now that brought us back from our life in Tanzania.  I currently have a team of 3 amazing doctors and I'm very happy with them all.  That's huge, considering how picky I am!

One of the things that two of my doctors have suggested is trying a gluten-free diet.  My naturopathic doctor also recommended that I go sugar-free.  10 days ago, Tim and I embarked on a sugar-free, gluten-free trial.  We've made it 10 days so far and are still going strong!  I have put this off for as long as I thought was possible... it's not easy for a midwestern girl to give up her carbs and sugar!  Plus, I'm really not a fan of fad diets and gluten-free is super trendy.  But I want to be eating in a way that will facilitate my healing.  The other thing is that I've known so many people who have gone off gluten without a doctor's supervision or recommendation, and I don't actually like that approach.  So this trial is after allergy testing (E95 plus saliva gluten testing) and under two doctors' supervision.  What do you think, is a gluten-free diet something you can safely try without a doctor? 

First impressions... well, it's much more do-able than I expected.  We started October 30 and it was difficult to look at our daughter's Halloween candy without eating it!  Reeses, snickers, butterfinger... it was a major test of will power!  But I'm glad we made it through that phase.  We also made it through the headaches, the sweats/fevers, and the crankiness without killing anyone, so that's a plus.  I also notice that I'm not as hungry.  I can actually taste food better and enjoy the different flavors.  I've read that that is because of the sugar-free aspect.  Sugar (including splenda, stevia, and aspartame) can reduce your taste buds to "sweet or salty" when there are much more complex flavors to enjoy.

Anyway, the diet is the real reason I decided to pick up again with the blog.  I'd love to look back and see just how it did (or did not?) help. 

-JLR

Hello Again, Old Blog

I've learned some things about myself over the past few months.  One that's pertinent to this blog is that I don't like to write about things until I have a sense of completion.  I admire my friends who can put it all out there, but I tend to have it wrapped up before I share it.  I've always felt that I should maintain some degree of self-composure.... I really don't like other people seeing the mess in my life until I can show them that it all works out in the end.  The funny thing is that I LOVE seeing this sort of vulnerability in others, but don't really care for it in myself. 

Another thing I've learned about blogging is that I like it to be more of a conversation.  I think that's why I tend to enjoy facebook more than blogging in general.  There are more "likes" and comments and people tend to interact with what I write.  And more than that, I actually KNOW who is reading it!  It drives me a certain type of crazy to not know who-- if anyone-- will actually read this.  Sure, I can see general locations on the geography ticker and blogger tells me other stats, but in order for this to be more of a conversation, please feel free to leave comments or engage with me on what I've posted.  I appreciate it a lot!

Hibernation

Bears hibernate.  We learned about that in school this year.  And while I'm not a bear, I do feel as though this winter has been a time of metaphorically pulling myself in to conserve energy.  It has been a very difficult season, and I'm hoping the long winter is nearly over.  I actually just read the Long Winter (Little House series) and I really appreciated their struggle to survive.  In a way, I feel similarly-- that the cold (metaphorical) blizzards that have hit us time and time again during this season have nearly paralyzed me.  But I resonate with Paul's writings in 2 Corinthians 4:  
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves; we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed. 

I don't plan to go back and catch up on everything that happened in the past five months, but let me hit a few highlights:

--We had a very special Christmas season with friends.  We built a gingerbread house, watched Christmas movies, had a traditional English Christmas feast (including Christmas crackers, Christmas pudding, and Christmas cake!), and had our traditional Cookies & Carols Christmas party... which resulted in weeks of leftover cookies!

--We went to Nairobi in January for medical tests and a much-needed change of scenery.  While there we (together with our organization and the advice of doctors) made some difficult decisions.  We decided to leave Mpanda in May for an earlier-than-expected return to our home country and that we would take a medical leave to follow up on some concerning (though thankfully non-urgent) symptoms I was (and still am) having. 

--Despite difficult decisions, we had a wonderful time in Nairobi and later visiting friends and the project in Musoma, where we worked from 2007-2009.  It was good to see so many familiar faces and reconnect.  We also got to do some field trips to the Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage and Giraffe Centre in Nairobi, which was timely since we were on our Africa unit in homeschool!

--We have grown so very close to another family that was living in Mpanda.  They were a real blessing and such a joy to be around.  We will miss them a lot. 

--We finished units on Asia (studying India, Saudi Arabia, China, Japan, Russia) and Australia/Oceania (studying Australia and New Zealand) and finally Antarctica.

--Since then we have been sorting and packing and sorting and packing... could be the story of my life.  We have moved so much in our 10+ years of marriage that I really do feel like a nomad sometimes.  I think each time we move we do get a bit better at it, but I think I'm good now...seriously... I've learned all I want to learn... please, God?!

--This week we are finishing up and will move to a guesthouse so we can get the final things out of the house.  Then onward to Mbeya, Dar, Kenyan coast, back to Dar, and finally the US.... if all goes according to plan.  And since This Is Africa (T.I.A.), when does anything ever go according to plan?!

There.  I think I'm caught up.  I do have a few pictures I'll want to post when I can get to decent internet, but for now I'm just going to focus on waking up.

-JLR

Advent Calendar and other Christmas decor

Well, it's still *technically* Advent, but I was really hoping to post this closer to the beginning of Advent than now! Silly slow internet...

While we were living in Langley, BC, Canada, I noticed that my friend Kristin had strung together beautiful Advent calendars for each of her girls.  Hers were made out of fancy paper and fashioned into cones that held goodies for each day.  It reminded me of a childhood Christmas when my relatives living in Germany had sent me and my siblings each a cardboard calendar with a little chocolate behind each little door.  I know they're pretty widely available now, but at the time, it was the only one I had ever seen.  I remember going with my parents to my neighbors house... Mrs. Vogel was from Germany and translated the writing for us.  It was a wonderful little memory!

So I started dreaming about one that I could make or buy for my family.  Paper doesn't tend to travel well and I figured that over time it would look worn and crinkled.  But I found some cute ones (like the ones here and here) and started to formulate a plan... I would KNIT my Advent Calendar!  Only... I don't know how to knit.  But I was not deterred.  One of our colleagues on our team here in Mpanda is particularly crafty and I knew that knitting was one of her fortes.  So I started talking with her.  She actually came up with an initial pattern and brought out some of the supplies. 

We worked off and on for a couple months as she taught me to knit.  I already knew how to crochet, so it seemed to come pretty easily.  Then I think it was August when we started doing the mittens in earnest.  It was exciting and the mittens were turning out really cute!  We looked up how to embroider the numbers and I had to learn how to make i-cord (to hang them from).  I also experimented with how I wanted to attach the mittens and ended up doing a braid.  I tried tassles and pompoms, but wasn't happy with either.  I figured I could always add them later if I so desire!  And the finished product....

And a close up showing our special Christmas mitten...

I'm so happy with it!  I put a little chocolate inside each mitten along with a slip of paper where I'd written a special Advent activity.  Advent is my favorite holiday, and between decorating, baking, hosting (Christmas party!), making paper snowflakes, watching Christmas movies, listening to Handel's Messiah, and more, we have really been enjoying Advent this year! 

Here are a few other pictures of our Christmas decor.  This is the Fisher Price Little People (read: OK to be played with!!) Nativity Set.  We've had it since Micaiah's first Christmas and have enjoyed letting Micaiah act out the Christmas story.

 Our advent wreath.  This year I kept it simple. 

Our stockings (we wouldn't normally have a Jesus stocking, but it was sent as a craft, and Micaiah has decided that she wants to write a note to Jesus this year)...

Our oragami Christmas tree (in the background of this one-- sorry, I cut off the star!).  This came out in a care package from our family while we were still living in Musoma...

And our regular Christmas tree...

I love Advent.  Only a few more days until Christmas!!


-JLR

Thanksgiving 2012

We have a lot to be thankful for.  Despite feeling a bit more melancholy than usual lately, Thanksgiving is a welcomed reminder to think through all the blessings the Lord has given to our family.  This year we each wrote a couple things every day in November and by Thanksgiving had a very full "Thankfulness Jar."  It was refreshing to read through all the things we had named-- ranging from favorite movies and games to having electricity (Micaiah's!) and good mosquito nets to our family and friends around the world.  God has provided and we praise Him.

Last year we had Thanksgiving dinner by ourselves.  We shared a meal with our househelper and gardener at lunch, but our dinner was just us.  So this year one of the things we were especially thankful for was having friends to share our holiday with!  Granted no one who came was American, but we really enjoy sharing our customs and traditions with our expat friends!  And having just come off UK week, it was good to get re-settled in our American traditions. :)

A full table this year...

Micaiah and I decorated using some things that were left behind by other missionaries.  We also did place cards that were little turkeys-- Micaiah really enjoys crafts, so it was a lot of fun! 

Our place settings and all the food!

Some Thanksgiving decor left by the Langs that I think originally came from other missionaries in Mbeya.

Not sure what this pose was...

The meal consisted of two chickens (that despite my boiling-roasting methods were unfortunately still a bit chewy), mashed potatoes, gravy, rolls, carrots, corn, and homemade applesauce (both regular and cran-apple, thanks to some craisins that Ally brought us in July!).  For dessert we had pumpkin bars, apple pie, and homemade banana ice cream.  I was definitely missing turkey this year, but all in all it was a good meal and we enjoyed our Thanksgiving holiday.

-JLR

Scorpion sighting

The starts of the rains (late October, but picking up momentum in November) brings a variety of critters out of the ground.  We had this little visitor in mid-November.  We also had kumbi-kumbi (plump termites that local people like to fry up as a snack), one snake in the yard/garden, a variety of beetles, and a ton of flies.  If it ends up being the same as last year, hopefully these guests are mostly limited to the beginning of the rainy season and shouldn't be bothering us too much longer. 

Some friends (THANK YOU!!!) sent us a small UV flashlight which makes scorpions easy-to-spot.  Their exoskeletons glow in the dark!  We were able to try it on this one and have given the flashlight to our night guard to use in the yard/garden at night.  We've also heard that chickens are expert scorpion hunters, so maybe that's why we haven't seen more.  Last year we had 3-4 (only 1 inside) and so far this is the only one we've seen (also inside).

Thankfully scorpions are pretty easy to kill-- a basic old navy flip flop took care of this one!  A word to the wise... don't ever use a hammer to kill a scorpion.  We made that mistake in Musoma and the scorpion exploded!  We were finding bits of exoskeleton for days! 

A good reminder to wear shoes in the house, though.  Especially in the evenings!

-JLR

UK Week

(side note: I have another 2-3 posts in the works as soon as the internet will cooperate and load pictures.  Keep checking back for new stuff in the next week or so!)

North America.... check.  South America... check.  As I started to plan for our unit on Europe I noticed a little problem.... they forgot the UK!  Well, not forgot completely, but it wasn't one of the 3-5 main countries we'd focus on.  Since we are on an international team and more than half of the expats in our little town hold British passports, we decided it was worth a bit extra planning.  Not to mention that we spent more than three weeks in the UK (London, Oxford and a little village in between!) in 2009 and have such fond memories of our time there.

My friend Cat helped me brainstorm some additional activities and we came up with some good stuff.  We had extra activities in geography, maths (yes, they use an [s], art, music, vocabulary, literature, and cooking.  Some of my favorites were the 34 terms we collected and made a matching game.  Things like the boot (trunk) or bonnet (hood) of the car.  Or plaiting (braiding) your hair. 

We picked a book by E. Nesbit as our read-aloud for the week.  The Railway Children.  Have you read it?  There's also a film (movie) to go with it.  So we planned a UK dinner-and-a-movie night.  Cat came over and helped Micaiah make Toad in the Hole (sausages cooked in a batter).  We filled out the meal with some mashed potatoes, gravy, carrots, and baked beans.  They also made scones, which we served with jam for pudding (dessert).  It was a lot of fun and we enjoyed discussing some of the things we learned that week with all of our guests!  

The challenge spelling word we picked was "monarchy."  This was the sentence Olly and Cat helped us come up with. :)

Cat gave Micaiah some heart-shaped UK flag earrings.  Micaiah loved them!

Using scales to measure flour.  It's not a normal thing for Americans-- usually we use cups to measure flour, not grams or pounds. But it made for a very good math(s) lesson!

She loved mixing the scones dough with her hands!

A little light kneading... nothing this girly can't handle. :)

Working with Cat to make scones and Toad in the Hole.

Our UK night party with our friends in Mpanda.

This is what Toad in the Hole looks like.  It's normally made with proper sausages, but we substituted hot dogs... gotta make do with what we can find here!

-JLR

Canada Unit

This week we started our Canada unit, and Micaiah was really excited!  We lived in Langley, BC for almost two years while Tim finished his MA in Linguistics (2009-2011).  Consequently we have a lot of friends and a great church family there!  So in honor of the first day of our Canada unit, Micaiah wore her special shirt.  We talked about hockey, maple syrup (a conversation stemming from a discussion about the flag), sang the Canadian national anthem, talked about the loonies/toonies, learned the provinces/territories, and discussed some of the special wildlife (like bears and moose) in parts of Canada.  We even talked in exaggerated Canadian accents!  The only other thing I would have done if I'd had the ingredients was make some Nanaimo Bars ... mmm...

And in case you're wondering, no, we weren't making fun... we were reminiscing about our time in Langley and it made us miss living there.  Micaiah and I both spent a good part of the morning in tears as we remembered our friends, thanked God for the time He gave us there, and prayed that we will have the opportunity to go back, visit, and catch up with them all again soon, Lord-willing.  We have been blessed to have developed such close friendships in such a short time, and we know that was a gift from God.  So this is a shout-out to any of our Langley friends if you happen to be reading this... we miss you!


-JLR
ps... if you're Canadian, what else am I missing that is essential either to your region or to Canada as a whole?  We have one more week of study and I'd love to include your ideas into our lesson plans somehow if possible!

World Cake

Homeschool is fun for a lot of reasons.  But one thing I really love is the surprise activities I randomly find mixed into our curriculum!  At the end of week two, our fine arts assignment was to bake and decorate a world cake.  It was tempting to skip it as I thought through all the work of baking a cake from scratch (no cake mixes out here) and making our own icing (which involves sifting down the super-chunky "powdered" sugar and using precious butter).  Not to mention the fact that we've cut down our sweets quite a bit, and having a cake around is just too tempting!  But I figured out a work-around for that, too. (see below) 

And honestly, I just love making edible art.  My Grandma taught me most of what I know, and the rest I've just experimented with on my own.  She sometimes struggled with a shaky hand, so as a teenager I remember going over to help her with the text... I loved those special times with Grandma! 

Micaiah chose white-on-white, our family's favorite.  One twist is that we love to add almond extract to the icing.  Growing up, I was convinced that all good icing tasted like my Grandma's, which had a heavy almond flavor.  To this day, if you tell me otherwise, I won't believe you.  Almond is the best with white cake.  Period. 

Anyway, back to our cake day...

Micaiah did all the measuring and mixing

 The cake fresh out of the oven. My original plan was do bake the cake in a bowl so we had a hemisphere to work with, but the bowl I wanted to use was cracked and the only other one I have that size is plastic.  Plus, then we'd have to decide which hemisphere is the best---North? South? East? West?  We live in the South/East but are originally from the North/West... we wouldn't want to have to choose.  So it worked out in the end.  We decided to go for a flat map, modeling it after the one in our atlas.  In retrospect we could have trimmed the top and bottom to make it closer to the right shape for this type of map, but it's only second grade...

Sorry there aren't more process pictures.  We were both consumed with the task, I suppose!  First I free-handed the outlines of all seven continents (as we reviewed them).  Micaiah wanted to fill in the continents, which is admittedly much more fun.  We did the same with the five oceans as we reviewed them. 

The final result... we did pretty well, I think!  Plus it accomplished its purpose of helping us review the continents oceans. 

 And then just for fun, we attempted a population map. Totally not accurate, but a GREAT excuse to add sprinkles!  And the oceans got blue sprinkles to help them be physical maps (showing depth)... much easier to remember the different types of maps when you have sprinkles to help you!  And no, I wasn't even going to ATTEMPT a political map!!

It tasted great!  mmmm... almond butter-cream icing.... :)  And to avoid eating it all in one sitting, after we had each had a small slice, we cut the rest into individual servings.  We separated them with small pieces of waxed paper, wrapped the whole thing up in waxed paper and plastic wrap, and popped in the freezer.  Done.  Not staring me in the face, and we could pull it out a piece or two at a time as a treat.

Not a bad way to review maps, continents, and oceans, is it?

-JLR

School-Related Posts

Welcome new readers!  If you are looking for updates about our school adventures, you can find them at the following links:

On to Second Grade!

The Chalkboard

The School Room A picture tour of the school room.
Back-to-School Excitement Some of my school-related musings...

Otherwise, feel free to look around and even glance through our archives.

Thanks for stopping by!

-JLR

Elections From Afar

One of our privileges as Americans is being able to participate in US elections, even from afar.  While the absentee ballot is notoriously not counted during the actual election (unless it is a very close race), it is still our privilege and responsibility as American citizens to have a voice and a vote in our home country.

Have you ever wondered what it is like to participate in a presidential election from the other side of the world?  Well, it is not without its challenges, that's for sure!  There are the obvious practicalities of receiving our absentee ballots in time and/or when to send our replacement ballots if (let's face it *when*) those ballots don't arrive.  We want to wait as long as we can to send them in so we know the most about each candidate and can make informed decisions.  But we also are working with a less-than-reliable mail system where things *might* arrive in 3-4 weeks... Then there's the issue of who to vote for.  Finding the best information and trustworthy sources on the web can be difficult to say the least.  Let's just say we've learned a lot about bias... 

But it can also be a welcomed relief.  We are not constantly inundated with manipulative advertising and campaign ads.  We can read platforms in their entirety and not be swayed by emotions or by what everyone else around us is thinking.  If that sounds more like a down-side than an up-side, be comforted by the fact that technology still enables us to be connected and we hear our fair share of both fact and opinion via the internet, especially facebook. 

But. We. Can. Turn. It. Off. 

I feel sorry for those of you who can't escape it!  Because let's face it, at the end of the day, some things are more important than politics.  Especially when politics incite the kind of anger, hatred, mudslinging, and division that make you stop loving your neighbor.

-JLR
ps.. I do not endorse or affirm any one party or candidate.  I do have my leanings, but unless you've actually taken the time to have an intelligent conversation with me, you may not be able to discern where I stand on ALL issues or which issues are most important to me.  But one that should be obvious... I live in a different country... so how the US relates and interacts with the world is more pragmatic for me than for most US citizens!

Back to School Excitement

I'm going to come right out and say how much I loved school.  It may sound strange to some of you, but I think there might be a few of you out there who were the same.  You might be a back-to-school nerd (like me) if...

...you perused the circulars from various discount stores (Target, Walmart, etc.) for weeks in July and August looking for the best sales and coolest gear.
...you found any excuse to walk past (and pick up a few goodies) at the local discount stores (Target, Walmart, etc.) and couldn't pass up a deal where notebooks, notebook paper, glue, scissors, pens/pencils, or crayons were an exceptionally low price.
...the aforementioned section of Target, Walmart, etc. made you feel at peace and was actually a "fun" place to go spend some time.
...you were excited about meeting your teacher at the classic ice cream social.
...you were excited when the bus company put out its routes.
...you "practiced" getting up early for school and figured out how early you'd need to get up to get everything done and still make it to the bus on time.
...you had a "first day of school outfit" with new shoes (white keds that were never white for long...), and your best clothes.
...you packed your lunch the night before.
...you couldn't wait to see where your desk would be and where you'd keep all of your school supplies.
...you always got a bit nervous when the teacher took attendance-- wondering if he/she would say your name right.  (and being overjoyed if they did!)
...you color-coded your binders/notebooks/folders by subject... red was always math for some reason and blue was almost always for science.  The others varied each year based on what subjects I was taking and what was on sale at the local discount stores (Target, Walmart, etc.)

Does this sound like you?  It was definitely me.  And while living in Tanzania has curbed my living-at-Target-during-back-to-school-sales appetite, I don't know that that's an entirely bad thing.  I was still really excited when Tim brought home two bags filled with binders, dividers, folders, paper, and chalk.  Not quite the same, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.  :)

-JLR

The School Room

Our school room (schoolroom, school-room??) is a small, two-doored internal room with an awkward screened window facing the hallway.  I'm guessing it's one of those situations where it was originally an external wall (the window has bars on it!!), but at some point an addition was made onto the house, making it... quirky.

Since it's small (two twin-sized beds might fit next to each other in the small space..), we have turned it into a school room.  It's perfect for that function!  It gives us some space to work and unpack all our crafts and books without creating a disaster-zone in the main part of the house.

We moved into this house last October and were part-way through the school-year already.  So the room was functional for first grade, but not pretty.  One of my goals for this summer was to turn it into "The Schoolroom."  I really think it worked, too!

And now for all those pictures I've been trying to post...

The Front of the Room.  I turned the awkward metal-screen-and-barred-window into a magnet board.  I glued magnets to the back of pictures, clothespins, and mini-whiteboards to create a place to hang things in the front of the room.  The front of the room also holds all our books, supplies, craft materials, and chart-paper (on the back of the door).

The Back of the Room.  We moved our repurposed-world-map-shower-curtain to the back wall.  It also has a chair for me (you can't see it well from this angle), a table for my teacher's guides and materials, the printer, etc.  You can also see part of the timeline (at the top) that starts at creation at the front of the room and goes all the way around to the chalkboard.  Micaiah and I both really enjoy seeing it (thanks My Father's World first grade!!), so we are keeping it up! 

Micaiah's books/materials.  Well, for the first day anyway.  Second grade is going to be a big leap from first grade, where she had fewer hours and fewer subjects.  We are starting the first year of the 5 year cycle by My Father's World, and it's called Exploring Countries and Cultures.  Sounds like fun, doesn't it?!  We're also starting handwriting and spelling this year as well as consistently/daily doing fine arts (music or art) and science.

The Chalkboard!  It was supposed to be a half-wall board, but due to dripping below my "line," we turned it into a full-length board.  We love it, and it is quickly becoming the focal point of the room!  

A close-up of part of the board.... see that little note from Micaiah?  If you can't read it, the part below "welcome to second grade" says "I'm exited" from Micaiah. :)  .... we'll be working on spelling this year (excited, not exited)... but it sure has been fun to leave each other little notes as we gear up for second grade!

I hope you enjoyed the tour of the schoolroom!  

-JLR