Cookbook

I just saw this cookbook (More-With-Less) on our friends' blogs and it reminded me that I've been wanting to find a copy for myself. Another one I had borrowed from friends in Tanzania and would love my own copy of is the Newcomer's Guide to Cooking in Africa.

Does anyone out there happen to have spare copies of these? Or other recommendations for cookbooks that have great from-scratch recipes that don't take hours and hours to make? Oh, and when I say "from-scratch," I do truly mean that (perhaps the image of a big hunk of beef from the butcher that needs to be cut up and ground in my own kitchen will help, if it doesn't make you entirely sick to your stomach). I guess the up side is that dry beans and legumes no longer intimidate me!

-JLR

The Provider

Hearing the same message in different places three times in one week warrants a blog post. It's easy to think that since I don't have much in monetary terms, that it isn't possible to have an obsession with money. But honestly the heart behind the matter is that whether I have much or little, God cares about how I handle whatever He has given me. I try to stockpile what I have in the bank only to incur unexpected expenses or emergencies that require me to spend that money... it frustrates me incredibly that I only ever have exactly the right amount at only the exactly right time. But on the flip side, I have EXACTLY THE RIGHT AMOUNT AT THE EXACTLY RIGHT TIME!!! I have been looking at these things all wrong and God is in the process of flipping my mindset upside down.

As we study the road to the tabernacle in the Beth Moore study I'm doing at church, I am reminded of the Israelites in the desert. How God provided food for them EACH DAY. They were not able to store it because God wanted more than their provision-- He wanted their hearts and He wanted them to be obedient to Him and to rely on Him alone. I am no better and must learn to come to the water each and every day to receive my daily bread.

As vain as this might seem, one thing that hit me most in this study was that God also provided for their clothing.

"Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years." (Deut 8:4) and "During the forty years that I led you through the desert, your clothes did not wear out, nor did the sandals on your feet." (Deut 29:5)

Amazing... He truly is the Provider. He has proven His trustworthiness over and over and despite my thick skull, has patiently called me time after time to give my heart fully to Him.

--JLR

Hotel Roth

It has been a busy few weeks around the Roth house. We've enjoyed our first and second rounds of house guests! Those of you who know me know how much I enjoy hosting guests. The cleaning is not my favorite, but even that is totally worth the joy I get from having people stay in our own home (wherever that happens to be!). And of course I love to cook, bake and chat, so it is the perfect role for me. I love hosting people and spending time with friends. Thanks God for giving us a lovely house with a guest room! Thanks for coming to stay with us, Jacki & JD and Misha & Andrew!!!

--JLR

Baby Boom

So what I documented a couple weeks ago as two different friends getting ready to give birth was really much bigger than that. Both Sunshine and Brenna gave birth before the end of the month, but I also forgot to list the Amy, Nicole, Katie, and probably still others that I can't bring to mind at this very moment! Wow, what a good showing for Dec 09!!! Just for the record, I appreciate you keeping those bdays close together. I have a hard enough time remembering how old my friends' kids are anyway... :)

Congrats to all who got Christmas babies, tax-break babies, or whatever you are dubbing your little December bundle of joy. I hope to meet each of these newly-birthed babies in the coming year. (is that possible? will I see you all in 2010?? I may have to attempt it...)

Wishing all you new- (or again-) mothers (and fathers) plenty of rest and fun time with your families this year. They grow up so fast.

-JLR

ps... if Dec is tax-break baby or Christmas baby, do other months also have "titles"??? anybody want to chime in with some ideas on this one???

I'm dreaming of a...

So the song says "white Christmas," but as we all know that isn't possible in certain parts of the world. When we were in Tanzania we substituted "wet Christmas." Just yesterday I was thinking that neither of those really work for BC. I mean, it rarely snows, so it would truly be a dream to have a white Christmas, and it's raining all the time anyway (much like Seattle), so who wants a wet Christmas... still I felt there should be a substitution. So as we were skyping with family and noticed the glare on the computer, I found it-- "bright Christmas!!!" I'm dreaming of a bright Christmas... hahaha.

We had an awesome Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. On Christmas Eve we lounged around, went for an afternoon walk to the local playground, and enjoyed a standing-room-only service at our church. Then we came back and enjoyed a dinner of Cranberry Cider Pork Chops that were amazingly delicious (thanks for the recipe Mary McCarty!!!). Then we opened our one Christmas Eve present, which was new jammies for the family, snuggled up in our new jammies, and read our advent readings. The new pajama thing is something I'm hoping to make a tradition-- it's so fun that all of our Christmas morning pictures are in our new clothes! Anyway. We also enjoyed hearing Tim's parents read us The Night Before Christmas story on this cool recordable book they sent to Micaiah. I grew up reading that story, and while Micaiah knows that Santa isn't real (he's just a pretend character that's fun to pretend about), it was still fun to hear the story as I used to as a kid.

Christmas Day was similarly relaxed. Micaiah didn't wake up until about 8am and even then was more into snuggling with us in bed than jumping around and opening presents! Talk about a blessing! Tim read us the Christmas story in bed, then we headed out to open stockings and gifts. After presents, we had a big breakfast of eggs and sausage. Around mid-day we had lots of time to skype with family (both mine and Tim's) and Micaiah tried out all her new toys. in the afternoon we had a big lego-building party, which was oddly one of my favorite parts of the day! I made a turkey for dinner, which we barely put a dent in. But the upside is that now we have loads of turkey meat in the fridge and freezer!

It was sad to not be around family during the holidays this year, but at the same time it was very enjoyable to have some time to ourselves. Tim is gearing up for a big spring semester and will need all the energy he can muster. Plus, we're also celebrating the new Christmas story that has been published in the Mara cluster (9 languages!) in the past month or so. I've really enjoyed the opportunity to think of our friends there and how the Gospel may be impacting their lives. God is so good.

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, too!

-JLR