Summer: Eric's Birthday and Frogmore Stew

We celebrated Eric's birthday with friends in California.  I made something called "Frogmore Stew" for the party.  I found out about the idea from a facebook friend and Googled the recipe.  I have made this twice now:  for Emma's birthday last year and for Eric's birthday this year.  Everytime I have made this I get strange looks from the people I have served it to because the presentation is so quirky.  However, once the eating gets underway, everyone ends up having a great time and becomes convinced that it is "okay".  Contrary to its name, this stew contains no frogs.  Its called "Frogmore Stew" because the creator of it is from Frogmore, South Carolina.

To make this you choose a selection of sea food.  I selected shrimp (with shells on), snow crab, clams, and scallops.  You also choose a sausage (I chose kielbassa and bratwurst).  Corn and red potatoes are also included in the mix.  You cook these in a big pot of water with Old Bay Seasoning.

Poor Marianne!  The crab was "really fresh".  (She's a good actress, don't you think?)

Once everything is cooked, drain the liquid (I reserved it the last time for clam chowder) and then dump the whole mess on to an unset table covered with newspaper.


Supply each end of the table with a roll of paper towels and place condiments in dishes along the table.  I used ketchup and mustard for the sausage, butter and lemon for the seafood, and salt and pepper for the potatoes and corn. If you serve crab legs, it is helpful to have some pliers to crack them with.

Click here for a recipe and a little history of this delicious dish (like I mentioned, I used a wider variety of seafood than this particular recipe calls for).

Here is the cake that Emma made.  Eric loves VW Bugs.

The birthday hat is courtesy of some silly girls and a father willing to humor them :) 

Biblical Justice: Prison Entrepreneurship Program and Men of Valor

I heard a great podcast today on Q ideas. Catherine Rhor, a former New York investment banker left her $200,000 a year salary to form a non-profit ministry that teaches business and life skills to prisoners 6 months before they are released.  The organization, Prison Entrepreneurship Program (PEP) also helps the ex-prisoners after they are released find jobs, pursue educational/vocational training opportunities, and develop friendships with healthy role models. The recidivism rate is 0% for the 256 graduates who are active participants in the program (as compared to the national average of 60%-70%).  For those who have only partially completed the program, the recidivism rate is 2.8 percent.

Catherine's story inspires me.  She shows how the faithful stewardship of resources and the power of relationship can transform the lives of prisoners.  Unfortunately there is not an embedded code that I can use to include the interview with Catherine Rohr in this blog.Click here to watch the interview.

PEP reminds me of a similar ministry, Men of Valor, I saw featured on the DVD Seek Social Justice produced by the Heritage Foundation.  Below is a video that gives an overview of the kinds of things this amazing ministry is doing.


Men of Valor | Mentoring from Compass Cinema on Vimeo.

Summer: Emma's Quinceanera Wannabe Fiesta

We've had a busy summer so far. I've been a little behind getting some pictures up.  I'll start with Emma's quinceanera fiesta last month.

Emma's "quinceanera wannabe" party (15th birthday party based on a Mexican Fiesta theme)

Making Tamales a few days before the party

Marianne's special "cross" tamale

Lizzy concentrating very hard on developing her tamale making skills

Fiesta Time!

This was a beautiful cake that my friend, Laura, generously made for Emma

 Pinata!

Eric having way too much fun keeping the pinata from being hit too easily

Mom & Dad

 Guitar Hero

Presents

A miniature "Painted Pony" from Marianne

Feliz Cumpleanos, Mija!

A Bleeding Man, A Spirit Led Church, and A Well Adjusted Morning

Eric and I were honored by a drop in visitor this morning. "Victor"  is a young man in our community who we first got to know about a year ago.  This is one relationship that I see the hand of God clearly directing.  We first met Victor at Celebrate Recovery(CR) about a year ago. We had a brief conversation that evening, but we didn't see him after that because CR ended in our community a short while later.

Several months passed, and I saw Victor again.  This time it was at a local motel where he was dropping off an application for employment.  The motel owner is a friend of my mother's and I had dropped by to pick up a tea pot I had lent her.  I recognized Victor's face, but was unable to place it, so I just smiled and said "hi".

About a month later, Victor was visiting a friend in the trailer park and, curious as to what we were doing there, stopped by our trailer.  We again spoke briefly and then I began to connect the dots between CR and our run in at the motel.  He shared with us that his girlfriend was pregnant and how excited he was about it.  For some reason God was continually putting Victor in our path, although it was unclear to us at the time as to why.  About a month later God gave us the "why".

We have been attending a church for the past year and a half that is more "Spirit led". When I say that, it doesn't mean it is chaotic, but our pastor is very sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit when it comes to the structure and flow of the Sunday service.  This is a risky thing to do as a pastor.  What if someone gets up and shares something unbiblical?  What if things get out of hand?  Our pastor doesn't view church as a performance, however and we love him for this. While he strives for excellence in planning the service, and does not do things "willy-nilly", he realizes the truth in the verse that says "The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps."  Proverbs 16:9 (ESV)

Well on one particular Sunday last July, I was sitting in my seat waiting for the service to start.  After singing some worship songs, our pastor brought Victor up to the front of the church and introduced him.  "Victor came this morning  because he is in need of comfort and encouragement.  He has a story to tell.  Let's listen while he shares"  I sat in my chair, mouth open, close to tears as Victor shared.

He wept as he told the story of losing his new born son to hydrocephalus ("water on the brain").  "Conner" had been born prematurely and because of that, he possessed a host of birth defects that threatened his life.  He lived for 18 days in the neo-natal intensive care unit (NICU) two hours away in another town.  Victor had a loose relationship with our church through one of the members, Kevin, who is the director of  a community youth organization in our county.  Other than Kevin and his wife, Victor knew no one at the church.  What he did know was that he was grieving and needed comfort.  We were so blessed that he chose to come to our church to find it.

Afterward, our pastor had people come up and pray for Victor.  We resumed the rest of the service after that, however, the worship team looked a little different.  Kevin was also the worship leader.  He left his post so that he could sit next to Victor and continue to minister to him.  What was odd about that was no one seemed to notice the absence of our worship leader.  It wasn't until after worship was over that our pastor pointed it out.  He used Victor's story as an example of  priorities -- putting people over our pre-planned agendas.  He mentioned that Kevin, our worship leader had a job to do -- lead worship.  He had practiced and planned the service to go a certain way. What a beautiful reflection of the Spirit of God working in Kevin to be able to say, "There is a capable worship team up front who will be able to get a long with out me.  Victor is more important than my plan.  This is where I need to be right now."

Our pastor mentioned to Victor how grateful he was that he had come to the church in his grief.  He made a comment something along the lines of the following:  "Victor, I hope you do not take this the wrong way.  We are so sorry for your loss.  But I want you to know that you blessed us today by letting us minister to you.  You gave us the opportunity to be the church to you."

That week I felt so privileged to be part of my church.  I saw people come around Victor and his girlfriend, "Melissa".   Kevin performed the funeral and had the opportunity to share the Gospel.  We held the reception at the church and people helped provide a potluck lunch.  One friend of mine, in retelling the story to a woman from another church said, "Our pastor let the young man bleed."  He needed to bleed and the church was there to help him bandage the wound.  Praise God!

After the Sunday service, I went up to Victor and re-introduced myself (my husband was speaking at another church).  He had remembered me from the trailer.  I gave him our contact information and told him to call my husband if he needed to talk.  He called shortly there after and asked us if we would visit with him and Melissa in their home.  We met with Victor and Melissa that week and have had the honor to be able to develop a friendship with them over the past year.

Victor comes almost every Friday for coffee and donuts at the trailer.  He and his girlfriend just recently had another baby.  Eric got a phone call one morning from Victor asking if he would baptize the baby.  Although we don't do infant baptisms, Eric agreed to talk to our pastor to see if we could do a dedication.  Last week, Victor asked Eric if he would marry him and Melissa.  Eric said he would be honored.  We start premarital sessions with them in three weeks.

Today would have been Conner's first birthday.  I had planned for my morning to look a certain way.  I was going to get some significant, long-overdue housework done before going to a Genesis Process counseling appointment.  Eric had some paperwork to do as well.  When Victor knocked on our door, it was a surprise to us both.  We were so blessed that our friend would come by our house to talk on this significant day. On this day, there was no agenda on our schedule that was more important than him.

After Victor left, I mentioned to Eric how obvious the hand of God had been in designing this friendship.  Multiple run-ins culminating in that church service.  If our pastor had stuck to his agenda and hadn't "let him bleed", we probably wouldn't have the same relationship with Victor we have today.  Our pastor could have bypassed the risk and put him on a prayer chain instead of letting him publicly share -- a name without a face that may have tugged at our mommy and daddy hearts and gotten a few days worth of our prayers, but no personal contact.  However, that event last July led to many more contacts with Victor, all culminating in today's visit.

Please pray for Victor and Melissa.  They are grieving the loss of their little one still and the anniversary of his death is just few weeks away.  Please pray that they will lean heavily on Jesus during this time and receive His peace and comfort.

Spring Gala

Last weekend "Emma" and "Eric" went to a "Spring Gala" hosted by a home school association in another town.  This was the first of such an event in our area and it was a big success.

 Emma found her dress at the Goodwill for $20.00 (Woo Hoo!)

For the most part, Emma has few regrets about being home schooled in high school.  Two things give her pangs of longing for some of the "perks" of traditional high school life. One is the prom and the other is graduation.  For the most part, these are just things that she has resigned herself to as part of the sacrifice of homeschooling (especially in a small town with a small home school association) and she admits that the rewards outweigh the sacrifices.  This last year we have been talking about trying to do something to provide a prom alternative when Emma is in her junior or senior year.  I honestly was hoping not to have to do this, however.  Planning an event on that level seems like a daunting task.  I was thrilled a few months back, however to see the announcement for the "Spring Gala" in my email box.  Somebody had planned a prom alternative for us! And at a reasonable price too -- 17.50 per person or $60.00 per family.

(Instead of hiring a professional photographer, they set up a photo booth where you could have someone take photos with your own camera)


I love the way this event was planned.  First of all, it was a family event for anyone over the age of 13.  Parents, students, friends, grandparents, etc. were all invited to be part of this dance.  While students could bring a date if they wished, this was completely optional.  We have encouraged Emma to wait until after high before she starts to date for a variety of reasons that I won't go into in this post.  It wasn't the date part that was feeding Emma's longing for a prom experience -- it is all the pomp and beauty of the "prom".  The idea of getting dressed up, finding the perfect dress, fixing hair and make up to perfection -- these are things almost all girls love to do and Emma is no exception.

The theme of the Gala was based on the academy awards.  Each parent was encouraged to "award" their student in a particular category based on the student's strengths.  The parents wrote scripts for their students giving an explanation as to why the student was chosen for the award along with other areas of student interest and the student's future plans.

Emma is a great writer and has us laughing by writing musical parodies from time to time, so she received "The Best Musical Parody" award.

 After a dinner buffet, the organizers had a professional dance instructor give dance lessons in "regency style" (Jane Austen's era).  After having read two Austen novels and having repeatedly seen film adaptations of every Austen novel, this was a real treat for Emma.

This event also had a time of recognition of the seniors along with "senior displays" -- slide shows, scrapbooks, mementos -- of the student's life.

 Emma came home so excited about this and strongly encouraged me to go next year.  Marianne will be old enough to participate by then, so I think there will be four of us attending next year. I am so impressed with all the work these parents put into this effort that I volunteered to help next year if they need it.

Our Year in Review: Language Lessons for the Very Young

Language Lessons for the Very Young Volume 1 by Sandi Queen
Grade: 3 (This could be used for grades 2-3)

Thumbs up! Love it!  This curriculum is based on Charlotte Mason's philosophy of homeschooling.  The lessons are short and varied.  Lizzy has some attention difficulties, so this curriculum was perfect for her.  Some of the skills taught in this curriculum include mechanics, narration, composition and parts of speech.  Many times the author uses classical art and poetry to teach these skills. This curriculum can be adapted across different grades.  For example, when the lesson called for narration, I would also have Lizzy write what she narrated.

Pros:  The lessons are engaging and short.  They use poetry and art which held Lizzy's attention.


Cons:  This curriculum may not provide enough practice on parts of speech, mechanics and composition for students in the third grade. I also used a separate, traditional grammar program for additional practice in these areas.


Note: To be honest, however, I don't know how much Lizzy gleaned from the traditional grammar program we supplemented with.  It was a battle to get her to complete the assignments and she kept complaining about how boring the curriculum was as compared to the "Language Lessons".


You can read a review of this curriculum here (although the cover pictured is different than the one I bought)   

My Dad

In honor of Fathers Day I wanted to re-post a memory I wrote about my dad a couple of years ago.  I feel so blessed to have such wonderful men in my life like my dad and my husband.

One very special memory I have was of an event that occurred when I was a young adult, just 18 years old. Ironically, it happened when I was suffering from Hepatitis A (the non-chronic form of Hepatitis) that I had contracted while working in a day care center. After about 3 days of puking my guts out, my dad entered my room with a book and began to read to me. The sound of his voice reading aloud to me was so soothing — like oil to my soul. I honestly have no idea even what book it was; I was so out of it. What mattered most to me and what created the special memory was the gesture.

 Dad

It had been several years since my dad had read aloud to me, but this had been a regular nighttime routine throughout most of my childhood and even into my teen years. I remember either he or my mom would come into my room or my brother’s room and we would read a portion of a book together as a family. When we were young, of course, we read picture books, story books, poems, and nursery rhymes: The Pokey Little Puppy, The Little Engine That Could, and other Golden books, Child Craft Poems, How Can We Get to the Zoo?, Yuri & the Moonie Goats, Grimm’s Fairy Tales and my favorite – Mexicali Soup. As we got older, chapter books replaced story books. Some of the more memorable titles we read together were The Lion the Witch & the Wardrobe, The Wizard of Oz, Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, The Prince & the Pauper, & Swiss Family Robinson.

I don’t think I really appreciated this small, yet significant sacrifice that my parents made until I was older and had kids of my own. My dad worked hard when I was growing up. He was an Engineering Geologist for City of LA. Every day he commuted two hours, round trip, into the City and back, braving the traffic on the Southern California Freeways. I’m sure he must have been exhausted by the time he got home and ready to just veg for a while in front of the TV or indulge in some other form of escape rather than read aloud to us. I so appreciate however the consistency of my parents in making reading aloud a priority.

Now that I have kids of my own, this is a nightly routine that we have incorporated into our own family as well. At night, we gather in one of the rooms of the house, either a bedroom, the family room or living room (we like to mix it up a bit :0) and read a chapter book for the older two girls and a story book, poems, or nursery rhymes for our youngest daughter.

I cannot even begin to list all the benefits of reading aloud. Aside from the obvious academic advantages of literacy and vocabulary development, are countless others. Some of the reasons I value this routine so much are because it is a powerful way to develop family connectedness/bonding, create memories and establish a family identity (i.e. "This is what our family does"). Many times we will be living life together and something will happen or someone will say something, or we will be observing something and one of the kids will say "Hey that reminds me of the time in ___ book when the ___ character did ___ ". We also find that some of our best discussions as a family come while reading aloud. We will often stop and ask the girls why they thought a character did something or what they think will happen next or what could be the result of a decision or action of a character or how the actions of the characters compare to a Biblical world view.

I am grateful for the memories I have of being read aloud to by my parents. Thanks Dad (& Mom) for setting an example of a routine that was so special and memorable.