My baby girl is 10

She was born 3 1/2 years after my first born son. In those 3 1/2 years, I would have 2 miscarriages. I remember sitting in the living room of our 100 year old farm house crying and asking Elliott if this was it. What if I can't have anymore? He just held me and told me everything would be all right and we'd cross that bridge if we get to it. Then she came along. A ray of sunshine in the early morning. She was born at 6:45 am and Elliott has called her his sunshine ever since. She's a lot like Elliott's great aunt 'Iwie' who was a spitfire until the day she died at 92. She's developing quite the sense of humor and loves a good practical joke. Yep, she's a tween now, I guess. I asked her if she knew what that word meant and she couldn't really tell me. Just that she was proud to be one.

She mentioned that her favorite food was 'Chinese' and I just happened to have made it last night so I thought I'd share the recipe, if you can call it that. I first learned of this dish when I married into my husband's family. At that time, it was just hamburger meat, green beans, celery and spaghetti topped with soy sauce and it was called 'Chinese' food. I'll always refer to it with quotes because the only thing Chinese about it is the soy sauce. I've added more veggies over the years and it's become a favorite of the kids.

 Brown a pound or two of ground beef in a skillet. Set aside.

Next, you're going to take whatever vegetables you like or that your family will eat or anything that looks like it's going bad in your icebox, and chop it up. You might need to saute it in batches, depending on how big your skillet is and how much stuff you end up with. I started with onions, celery and bell peppers.  Then I continued with cabbage and broccoli. I let them brown a little in some spots and then I added some soy sauce because the broccoli and cabbage don't really sweat that much when you saute them and the extra moisture helps soften them.

 Then I added some shredded carrots and let them cook until semi-soft.

Here it is. All mixed together in a bowl. Oh, yeah, don't forget to boil some spaghetti while you're doing all that other stuff. It's served over spaghetti. Sounds really oriental, doesn't it? Believe me, I've tried to convert my family to rice, quinoa,  soba noodles, anything but spaghetti. They never go for it. They always complain and ask where the spaghetti is. I give up.

So there you have it. Anna's favorite meal. 'Chinese' food. And there's mine without all those silly, unnecessary carbs. ;)

One Bite at a Time: Bite #23 - Regularly turn off your tv

I sort of chose a gimme task for this past week's project, regularly turn off your tv. It's something we already do, but since it's not that intentional, I realize it has the potential to get out of hand. When we're all at my in-laws, the tv is almost always on. That's really the place I need to enforce this one.

The thing that is intentional, though, is the lack of satellite tv at our house. My husband made a promise that he would never pay for television and so far, he's kept his promise. I've noticed that when I'm at my in-laws there are so many options, some of them very educational, it's easy to pick something that seems harmless and waste a couple of hours. It is harmless if that happens only occasionally, but if we had that many options at our house, it would be a regular thing. Especially with my need to get what I pay for.

So, in our home, where we have about 5 channels of less than mediocre programming, we are content with a regular movie night, provided by Netflix. My husband and I have complete control over what our kids are watching and have the freedom to be intentional about it. Sometimes, it's something fun, and sometimes we have a hidden agenda to educate. No matter, we are all together, popcorn in hand, enjoying something that was a planned event.

Regularly turn off your tv - check. What does your family's tv habit look like?

Growing Pains

The other day, Erica and I were discussing the subject matter found in my previous post. We talked about how awkward puberty was and how awkward it is to see others go through it. The strange, ever-changing voice, the weird foreign lumps in places that were smooth just months before. You know the drill. The one saving grace is that it only happens once. You have an awkward time in your life roughly the same time all of your friends do and you stick together and bond during that time. You close your bedroom door and hide out for a little while until it's safe to come out. Then you resume life, knowing a little more and looking a little different, but nevertheless, you move on.

Take that same experience and look at it from a spiritual perspective. Believe me, this was not a revelation I was jumping up and down about. As followers of Christ, we have a birth, a place where it all starts, and then we proceed to grow. Then, like puberty, we have an awkward time of walking out our new life. We start to really live it and find that it's not always as easy as it looks for other people. We start to test the things we are told and sometimes we have victory and other times we experience defeat. All while Satan whispers distracting things in our ears. Then we make it through to the other side having learned something new and hopefully looking a little different than before. That, however, is not the end of it. It is only the beginning of the awkward growth spurts we will experience throughout our walk. That is what, I think, should keep us humble.

As an adult, I sometimes find myself looking at children or teenagers with such arrogance. I think, "Oh, poor little things. They have so much to learn. Someday they will know all too well the bitter truth about life." Then I think about all the badges I have on my sleeve that show all the things I've been through and all the knowledge I have acquired. I become prideful of the position I have gained. In the spiritual game of life, there unfortunately is no seniority. There is not a point at which we can sit back and hit the cruise control and enjoy the rest of the trip. We are constantly changing. Constantly going to new levels. At least, we should be if we're doing it right.

So, here's to awkward spiritual growth spurts. May we always have them and may we learn to embrace them for the fruit they produce in us.