Update and Thankyou!

A quick update on my last post. Aili's fever broke yesterday and she rapidly started feeling better from there. Today she was back to her normally perky self. She had been getting progressively worse all week (her surgery was Tues.) and towards the end of the week was basically spending the day laying on the couch, running a fever (although not high enough to justify a hospital trip), miserable and not eating. I am so glad I didn't end up having to take her back in to see the dr or put her on antibiotics. Thank you to all of you who were praying for her!! She has also been battling a strange skin infection this past week unrelated to the surgery...just cruddy timing (it is now healing nicely after several days of being treated with prescription topical antibiotics). I can add to my mommy resume "wound care specialist now". Her little immune system was having trouble keeping up I think. Added to that recent travel vaccinations and surgery and I think it made the perfect little storm...and made my nerves a bit ragged.


We are also done with harvest for the year! I was expecting it to take longer but we put in some long days and got it all done. :) My Dad's grain is in the bins and I got some nice seasonal work to add to the travel fund. I enjoyed being part of the farm work on the farm that I grew up on. Being a farm hand is fun for a little while ;) I will now be home catching up on my neglected blog friends....ahem...I mean housework and getting ready for the trip.

Thank you again for your encouraging words and your prayers!

3 more weeks!!

In only 3 weeks we will be loading up our family and driving down to Baja Mexico. We are getting excited about the trip but have been so busy with harvest that we haven't had too much time to think about it.
I've already started packing and organizing our new home. A 30ft camping trailer. It will be cozy to say the least :)
I went to a "bag sale" at the local 2nd hand store and came out with a garbage bag sized bag full of children's fleece sweaters, jackets,and warm baby sleepers. I am excited with my stash and it only cost me $9 total!! Yay! There are even a few really cute Old Navy fleeces that look like new. We also have sorted out of our own drawers and toy bins boxes of stuff to take down to donate. I was worried that we would not be able to fit everything...and everyone into our trailer. After packing this morning I am surprised at how much I can fit in the underneath compartment. That is encouraging.

These are a few pictures of the last time we were down there as a family in the winter of '05/'06. We only had an 18 ft trailer last time but since we have one more family member ...and a lot more home school school supplies we needed an upgrade.

It seems like there is a lot more to do and many more loose ends to tie up before we go. Yikes. I'm back out working in the fields again lately so it will have to wait. There will be time once the wheat is in the bins.

I wanted to let you all know, all my loyal lurkers and blog land friends, just how much I appreciate you. I feel bad sometimes that I am not able to visit and comment on more sites more often. We STILL have dial up and it takes a very very long time to pull up some of the blog pages. I click on a page and then go do dishes or shower or something and come back to it. It ties up my phone line. Those people who try to reach me on my land line are all too aware that it is always busy :) (hint: try my cell)
It is worth the wait though to keep up with your lives and families. I just don't get there as often as I would like to.


When I started blogging a year ago I began almost by accident. Just fooling around seeing if it would even work...and the rest is history. Its been fun and so encouraging to be a part of such a big community. As we share our lives openly someone else will always be able to relate or find encouragement from it. I have found both through the blogs of others.
I have found so many mature Christian women and moms that I would never have normally met. I have learned and grown so much by reading about what God is doing in your lives. Thankyou for that. To my readers I have been so encouraged by your comments over the year. They are my happy thoughts :) Thankyou.

As we are about to embark on this new journey as a family I am struggling right now with some discouragement. As sisters (and even brothers) in Christ I ask if you could pray for our family as we prepare to leave. It feels as if we are in a bit of a tailspin lately and no area of our lives have been untouched. Relationally we have struggled this past month. In our marriage and in parenting our kids. We've hit some rough waters lately. In our health we have had an unusual and somewhat odd array of illness and infections in the last few weeks. Silas' allergies have been worse and he is developing new ones. Aili's recovery from surgery has been slow and is now complicated by a cold. Not exactly what we had hoped for. She is also battling and hopefully recovering from another infection. Financially ....well you know how that goes. Just when we think we've got enough saved for the trip.... a kid needs to go to the dentist and the car needs to get repaired. We have seen God's provision though and trust that He will get us there (and hopefully back too )

All this has accumulated and is shaking my confidence in my ability to keep my family safe, healthy and emotionally strong during our travels and adaption to life in a different culture. I remember from the last time that we are much more prone to illness down there. I suspect in part because of our lack of immunity to the slightly different varieties of viruses . A big factor down there is also the fine dessert dust that gets everywhere...including our lungs and sinuses. We were very fortunate last time to have absolutely no tummy troubles and considering all the taco stands we ate at...that is a miracle in itself.

I had hoped to have us all healthy and well nourished, to have our immune systems strong and ready to face a winter on the Baja. I am feeling very humbled and even worried that we are starting out already battling random health issues.

My confidence is shaken in my ability to keep my family healthy but my confidence is not shaken in God's. In our weakness He is strong. He is our refuge and strength an ever present help in trouble. I would be so grateful to have someone somewhere intercede on our behalf. Thankyou SO much.

Lean Cuisine....Carla syle

I am linking up this post with Lynettes blog today. She is asking us to share a favorite dinner time recipe with everyone. The problem is I don't cook with recipes!
After a moment of panic and feeling like I should just look through a cookbook and find something I decided to put a twist on the topic.
Cooking Carla style means throwing together what ever I happen to have in the cupboards or fridge. I am not a big fan of cooking. In fact if I would prefer someone else do it for me. I am not very good at planning ahead or sticking to directions or measurements in a recipe.
I tend to make it up as I go.
Often that leads to me wondering what should be for dinner at around 5pm.
The only things I use recipes for are for baking and even then I usually improvise because of allergy boy. So here are a few of our favorite meals and some baking recipes thrown in.

Here are a couple of our favorite meals:
Tacos:
some sort of meat or chicken cooked and sauced up with mexican spices(unless going for a vegi only meal)
refried or whole beans
lots of colorful vegis
Tortillas
cheese
cilantro
lettuce, spinach or cabbage
lime
and mild salsa for the kids and hot sauce for the adults

Pizza night (which is often Friday)

Easy pizza crust: (this I do have a recipe for)

2 1/4-2 3/4 cups flour (I combing white and wholewheat)
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp yeast (instant)
1 cup water
2 tbsp olive oil
Mix, knead with some more flour, let rise then shape onto the pizza pan.

Add your favorite toppings
Our pizza is different every time depending on what I have to put on it. We all agree that the more the better...no plain cheese pizza around here. Its actually fast and easy to make.
***A super easy fast way to make individual thincrust pizzas is to use regular sized pita pockets. Just put the ingredients on the top and bake for a few minutes until the toppings are hot and melty.

Creamy garden soup was a favorite this summer since we had an abundance of vegies to use up. I just cook a pot full of vegies (potatoes, onion, carrots, green beans, chopped swiss chard,) I remove a little of the vegi broth, whisk in some flour and milk then pour it into the pot of vegies and remaining broth. I add salt, pepper, and fresh dill for seasoning while cooking the veggies. For a yummy variety add some cheese. It goes great with biscuits. Its yummy creamy comfort food.

Here is my bread recipe :

1. Beat together:
1/2 cup oil
2 tsp salt
3 eggs (which I now leave out because of allergy boy)
1/2 c. sugar (or honey)

2. Add: 4 cups warm water
1 cup bran, oatmeal or ground flax.

3. Mix 3 tbsp "instant rapid rise" yeast with about 4 cups whole wheat flour. This can be done in the main mixing bowl (only one bowl needed) on top of the wet ingredients.
Once the yeast is dispursed into some of the flour mix it all together and add about 6-7 more cups of flour (white or whole wheat)mixing as you go (I never measure the flour I just go by texture...so you may need a little more or less). At some point when the dough gets thicker and tough to stir sprinkle the counter with white flour and start kneading, adding flour until the dough isn't sticky but firm and smooth. This part of the process is great excercise!! You can justify eating one of the finished buns (for quality control purposes of course) because of the great arm workout you just did.

Place the big kneaded ball of dough into a greased bowl and let rise in a warm place for about 1/2 hour. Punch it down (the kids like that part) and form it into loaves or little balls and place them on a baking sheet. Allow the finished loaves and buns to rise for about 1/2 and then bake them for 15-20 minutes at 350 degrees.

In the above picture I doubled the recipe so don't expect that amount...and I suggest you don't start by doing double recipes (that is a LOT of dough to knead!)
It will make plenty of buns or bread to freeze.
I make variations of this recipe all the time. In the above picture I cooked up some multigrain mix (usually used for porridge) and added it to the ingredients.

Its not as complicated as it appears. It may take a little practice to get it to turn out just right but there is nothing like homemade bread!



Homemade Banana Pancakes - I'm not even cheating because we use this as a main dish and its a recipe! :)


1 1/4 cup flour (I usually combine white with a little whole wheat)
1 tbsp granulated sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon (I skip because of allergy boy)
1 1/4 cups skim milk
1 ripe banana mashed or pureed
1 large egg (I skip because of allergy boy)
1 tsp vanilla extract
If you are feeling like making a treat add 1/3 cup chocolate chips (optional)
I also sometimes make variations by throwing in some wheat germ or ground flax.


Combine dry ingredients. beat and add it wet ingredients and banana. Cook on a greased frying pan until the tops are bubbly then flip.
I usually double or triple this recipe and have some leftovers for some kid breakfasts the the next day.

Happy baking....(and cooking).

I delight in you

"The Lord your God is with you,
he is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
he will quiet you with his love,
he will rejoice over you with singing. "
That bit of Hebrew poetry is found in Zephaniah 3:17
Sounds like a domineering, critical, power-tripping God eh? (sarcasm inserted here)

I love this verse. Read it over again and soak it up. :)

God is with you, he is not distant, unconcerned or unavailable.
He is not only with you but he is mighty and able to save.
Imagine a God who takes great delight in little old you. A God that loves you with an extravagant and passionate love.
He can quiet the turmoil in your soul with that love.
He will find so much joy in being the lover of your soul that He can't help but serenade you.

My philosophy of parenting is to parent my kids the way God parents us. I prefer to take Gods word and how he relates to people as a whole rather than just search out and focus solely on isolated verses normally designated to parenting.
He relates to us with patience, grace, and mercy all within the security of loving boundaries and justice.
I fall so short sometimes and instead start showing irritability, frustration, laziness, selfishness and criticism.
Fortunately God is also patient with me as a parent. :)
I know he is looking at the the finished product and not the slip ups along the way. I can do that also with my kids.

When we take the above poem about how God relates to his people and transfer it to how we relate to our kids it takes on a whole new application for us as parents.

My children must know I am "with" them. I must be available to them physically, emotionally and spiritually. I cannot be gone all the time, emotionally distant ,or spiritually phony or unavailable.

I want my children to be secure in the knowledge that their Dad and I are "strong" enough to come along side them and shoulder the things in life that are to heavy for them to carry alone. They must be assured that we are strong enough to withstand their mood swings, their internal struggles, their mistakes, their immaturity without it affecting how we feel about them. We must be strong enough to have their best interest in mind even when that means some tough love. In wisdom and strength we can guard their hearts and provide a safe place to land when life gets tough.

I want to take "great delight" in my children, not merely just tolerate them. I want them to know that I not only love them but like who they are, find pleasure in their company, find them interesting and believe in the person they will become. Its so important to tell our kids we love them regularly but it means so much more when it is backed up by our actions, our affection and our priorities. We either bless our children by our words and actions or we tear them down. It is my desire to bless them each day.

"He will quiet you with his love".

I instantly remember Aili as a toddler. She would get so worked up over things that she would hyperventilate (and sometimes throw up). I would get so stressed and feel like such a failure that my two year old couldn't control her emotions better. I would try everything to snap her out of it. I remember one evening when she was freaking out in the bathtub because I had to wash her hair (she hated it) she was so worked up that I think she forgot what she was upset about by the end of the bath. I remember being worried that the neighbors would think I was murdering her. I wrapped my wee girl up in a big towel and sat down in the rocking chair (likely with a few tears of my own) and rocked and soothed her until she eventually quieted and fell asleep. At that moment she needed my help instead of my wrath. It takes wisdom as a parent to balance tenderness and mercy with hard firm consequences. It takes truly knowing our kids and taking the time to understand the situation and what they really need from us. I can think of times in my life when the table was turned and I was the one freaking out and God was the one to hold me and comfort me with his love.

"He will rejoice over you with singing."
How much uninhibited joy and affection do you have to feel for someone to sing over them? A mother tucking her little one into bed and singing lullabies to him. A Daddy with a child on his knee singing to her as she looks adoringly up at him. God is portrayed in this poem as a sort of warrior-lover. Strong enough to go to battle for us but tender enough to hold us. Likewise parenting is a paradox of strength and mercy. I am picturing in my mind a marine soldier outfitted for battle sitting and holding a fragile newborn in his arms. A warrior mama dressed from head to toe in the full armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-18) bending down to kiss a boo boo.

Any other warrior mama's out there? :)

Lets bless our children today and show them how much we delight in them.

My boys

More pool pictures. :) We are actually having a real weekend right now... in the middle of harvest time! We are done harvesting lentils and it will be a couple weeks until the wheat is ready. It doesn't usually work out that we have half time break in between crops. We gave'er hard for a couple weeks and now I have some time to re-group at home before we go again.
Silas is OK being the half-time show.

The weather has been HOT the last couple weeks which has been great for getting the crops dried out....my garden and yard are pretty much toasted right now (being sorely neglected). In fact I have given whats left of my garden over to the hoards of grasshoppers that have moved in.

We spent some time at a neighbors pool this afternoon....yay for generous neighbors with pools!
Silas LOVES the water! What a fish. He even has built in flippers ;)

Silas and his Daddy making parents everywhere gasp and twitch.

My Romeo. We celebrated the end to a LONG first week of school with a surprise party (pizza, popcorn and old school starwars trilogy). The kids have never seen them and I had only seen the first one...as a child, so it was a fun movie watching weekend. Snuggling up as a family watching movies was just what we needed. The light sabers just made it extra special :)

Roman has had a bit of a hard time adjusting to school everyday. Getting back into the groove of things after a summer of climbing trees and building forts is going to be a bit of a challenge I think.
After watching him burst into tears 4 out of 5 mornings last week, I am hoping that this coming week will be easier. It will only be a 4 day week anyway.
He is in "Room 1" (there are 2 rooms total for grades k-6). They have k-3 in the same classroom right now and although the small country school has SO many benefits I think the distraction factor is going to be an issue for this guy.
I think homeschooling him this winter will be a good thing. I'm psyching myself up for the challenge.
We are starting them out in school this fall and will home school (with mainly the schools curriculum) for our 6 month stay in Mexico.
I know it will be difficult at times to keep on task (and to have patience) but I think that working his schooling around the way a busy little boy is wired (instead of trying to cram him into something he wasn't made for ) will benefit him and promote more enjoyment of learning.

Our trip will be an adventure and a huge learning experience for all the kids. Only about a month left!!!

Check out the lashes on this boy. You have to look closely to really see how long they are...they are freaky long. He is so used to people gasping and commenting on his gorgeous lashes that he just replies "I know" and gets embarrassed. I remind him he should say thank you but to him I don't think its really a compliment. They'll drive the girls crazy someday though :)

caught in a storm?

Warning: the following post may include leaving the shallow end and going deeper. This post contains scenes of deep thinking and out of the box concepts. Reader discretion is advised.

This picture was taken from my combine this week. We managed to miss the storm clouds this time but I think someone must have got hit with some rain or hail.

It made me think of another kind of storm. I've heard it said that we are either in a storm, coming out of one, or preparing to go into one. Some storms are small and over quickly, some are deep and dark and go on for a long time. In a storm you get wet, visibility is reduced, you feel cold wind on your cheeks, the sheer power of it may even bring terror. In the Canadian prairie a winter storm can be particularly unpleasant and even deadly. It is not a fun place to find yourself caught in.

There are so many situations in life where we find ourselves caught in a storm. Life feels uncomfortable and our calm surroundings suddenly change and get ugly.

Mark chapter 6, describes a sticky situation Jesus' disciples found themselves in. They were sent ,by Jesus, out to cross an 8 mile stretch of sea. When they were about half way across and when the night was at its darkest they hit a fierce squall. Fierce enough to terrify even those seasoned fisherman.

The things that struck me while reading were:

1. That Jesus sent them out knowing exactly what they would face.

2. He "saw" them in their distress straining at the oars (they never left His watch even though they couldn't see Him).

3.He spent the night on a mountain praying ( I suspect interceding for His friends out in the storm).

4.He went out to them and revealed Himself to them in a new , supernatural and unexpected way.

At the end of the account it says that they were "completely amazed for they had not understood about the loaves, their hearts were hardened. "

They had just witnessed Jesus miraculously provide food for several thousand people with a few dinner rolls and some fish jerky. That very evening they were sent out to cross over the sea. I'm sure they were tired from a day of providing crowd control. They would have preferred to set up camp for the night but the Lord had other plans for them. They hadn't 'got it' and their schooling wasn't going to end until they did. Jesus wasn't about to let them pass into the next grade spiritually with their hard hearts. They were still showing themselves too similar to the legalistic finger pointing pharasees who had God neatly boxed up with their own self sufficiency and self righteousness.

We often ask why God allow trials and times of trouble in the lives of those who call him Lord. In the lives of those He calls his own. What are we supposed to do when we find our selves in the middle of a storm?


When God puts you in a situation that you can't get yourself out of....chances are He doesn't want you to. He has something for you to learn (or unlearn) and He is up to something. Something big. He wants to show you God sized deliverance. And usually that deliverance comes in the most unexpected way.

God allows difficult circumstances and trials in our life because He is more concerned with our growth and spiritual maturity than He is our comfort. The things we face have been allowed to touch us through His sovereign will. They have already been filtered through His love...as difficult as that is to understand at times.

He wants us to graduate from milk fed baby Christians to meat and potato Christians. (really, that is in the Bible) He wants us to be tried and true disciples instead of merely pew warmers.
We've got to cut our teeth though.

The storms give us the chance to put into practice what we know and what we have heard. Its easy to say we should love each other but its not so easy when someone leaves you feeling hurt or angry. Its easy to say that we trust God , but can we trust him when all control is taken from us? We can say we want to obey but what if obedience to God costs us something? (which ,by the way, it always does), Its easy to say that we should forgive like God forgave us, but what if we don't think someone deserves our forgiveness?

It suddenly gets tricky when we face one of Gods pop quizzes. Can we praise Him in the storm?
Spiritual discernment is developed by facing the trials of life as a humble student instead of a whiner, a quiter or a cynic.
Can we give thanks in all circumstances? ( not necessarily FOR all circumstances but in them)

The fiercer the storm we face the bigger the work God wants to do in our lives.
If nothing else, we can thank Him for what we know He is going to do, even if we can't see it through the rain.

Trials reveal character and have a way of bringing out things in us that we would rather not deal with. Things that in smooth sailing are easy to hide beneath the surface. In order to go into a deeper relationship and a stronger faith we must take account of what is being revealed in us. We must allow what is hidden to be illuminated and then purged. Let Him make us like purified gold.

When there is no storm, no crises, no trial we think we can get by pretty well on our own. It is when we face a storm that it is instantly revealed on whom we rely. Whether it is ourselves or God. If in the calms of life we have been learning to worship and rely on God then the storm will not break our confidence in Him. If we have been putting everything else in life ahead of God; the storm will shake us off of our foundation and we will struggle and strain to find solid footing.

The most important thing to do when faced with confusion, stress and heartache is to focus entirely on the One who knows the situation intimately , the One who loves us deeply , and the One in whom we can place our trust.

One misconception in the Christian life is that once we obey He will lead us to great success. Jesus fisherman friends obeyed (even though I'm sure they would have rather spent the night in a cozy bed somewhere) but instead of a peaceful crossing they were stuck in gridlock in the middle of a fierce storm. We need to get out of our minds the notion that God is leading us to a particular end, to a certain success (by human standards)..sometimes his purpose may be the complete opposite or something completely unexpected. It may be the journey, the lessons learned and the act of obedience itself that is His purpose for us. What we call the process , God calls the end. It is the process not the end that brings glory to God. Unfortunately , it's way too often that we subscribe to the rhetoric that the "end justifies the means". We figure it doesn't matter how we act, speak or treat one another because we have some pursuit of justice or a particular end in mind.

His purpose is that we depend on Him and His power now. Are we able to stay in the middle of the storm and remain unperplexed and undisturbed? (not emotionally detached but maintain a supernatural peace). Is our confidence in a mighty God unshaken? That is the purpose of God.

We have nothing to do with the outcome of obedience. Obedience is the end. If we always have a further end in view we cannot see God working in the now. We miss completely the springs of refreshment, the shelter and blessings that will lead us through the storm.

When there is no shore in sight, and we have ceased to "strain at our oars", it is then that we will be able to see the Lord walking toward us on the waves.

God's purpose is to enable us to see that He can walk on the chaos in our lives. And it is in faith that we can step out of the boat we are so frantically bailing water from and walk undisturbed to His outstretched hand.

"Unless we can look the darkest, blackest fact full in the face without damaging God's character, we do not yet know Him." Oswald Chambers

Party Time!

I was surprised at how much fun it is to party with a house full of 7 and 8 year olds. They are old enough to basically entertain themselves...but young enough to have fun.

The party was "High School Musical" theme. The dining room looked pep rally-ish. Aili loves musicals in general and this one has definitely won her over. I stayed up late Sunday night decorating with balloons (in the school color of course) , wildcat posters and streamers to surprise her with at breakfast the next morning.

She has a cd game that we played. It has different "dance challenges" and "sing along to the song challenges" to HSM music. Even dorky mom got in on the fun. It was a blast silly dancing with the 6 girls.

This is the most guests she's ever had at a birthday party I think. We usually keep it smaller but I knew a big bash would mean a lot to her considering that we will be leaving the country soon. It was a great way to start out a new school year. She invited all the girls in her grade plus the one girl in the grade below her...for a grand whopping total of 6! :) Small schools are great!

No party is complete without a pinata!

We also served big bowls of popcorn

pizza pops (yep, the store made frozed variety)

and a vegi tray (I haven't lost my mind completely!)

I was so proud of her. Aili was a gracious hostess and made sure all her guests felt included( she even served the cake to her guests). I have little tolerance for giving kids the liscense to suddenly be selfish brats for the day...even on their birthday's. She did feel loved and special though. All the girls got along great ,which is saying something for a houseful of girls! :)

She said "Thankyou for my party mom" quite a few times and had a big grin on her face the whole time. That made all the late night decorating and cake baking worth it!
She made a beautiful birthday girl , inside and out.