... and these Thy gifts ... » stef

How God Works

stef — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 05:11:32 +0000

Tuesday. Paco interviews us about marriage and how we live our lives… and basically how we swim against the tide in a culture of death. Gave thanks once again for the gift of scouting and the Ad Altare Dei program.

Wednesday. Met with Colleen for AAD graduation and prayer service. She informs us that she’s leaving St. M to be the new director of the Family Life Office for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. We will dearly miss her but so glad to know that she’ll be working for pro-life, pro-ministry, domestic church and basically strengthening the family!

Thursday. Many pro-life thoughts, esp. connected to recent Google Reader posts. Looking for pro-life doctor. Discussion with hubby and kids about pro-life matters, esp. about where the country/society is headed.

Friday. Many pro-life thoughts, more Google posts on pro-life issues. Planning next pro-life items to accomplish, wondering how family can get more involved. Researching Creighton specialists. Found Dayton’s Drs. Moell and their story. Phone convo with my mom about vaccinations and pro-life issues.

Saturday morning. Cleaning house. Rosary. Meditation. Many many more pro-life thoughts, leading to post drafts.

Saturday evening. Doris and Leo asked us to be the pro-life contact for CFC-FFL-Cinci.

I guess I’ll be giving Colleen a call sometime soon.

Pro-Life Doctor, Where Art Thou?

stef — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 19:55:35 +0000

Frustrating.

Looking for a pro-life doctor within an hour’s drive of Cincinnati who’s willing to order vaccines for us, not cultivated using aborted fetal cell lines.

We went back to our old pediatrician when we came back to Ohio. He doesn’t know a thing about aborted fetal cell lines and asked me to send him an e-mail with information. I sent it to him more than a month ago. No response.

Oldest dd saw a NAPRO doctor a week ago for a cyst issue and I find out he also does pediatrics. (I would have taken her to see my ob-gyn who is (mostly) pro-life, but they would have prescribed BCPs. No thanks.) Today I phoned to find out if he would order the pro-life vaccines for us, but no, his nurse hasn’t ever heard of this either. They do space out vaccines which is what some families I know do.

I googled “pro-life doctor Cincinnati” and found one in Dayton, about 45 minutes from here. Called his office. Disconnected. ~~Cannot find his info anywhere else online.~~ ETA: I found him!

Eight years ago when our then 2-month-old was diagnosed neutropenic, she had to stay away from vaccines for 1 1/2 years. A good thing because that was about the same time I learned about Children of God fo Life. I spent quite some time researching and decided that we needed a pro-life doctor to administer her next shots when the right time came. Four years ago we went back to Cincinnati and the first thing I looked for was such a doctor. I got 2 recommendations. One wasn’t taking new patients. One never responded to voice mail messages that I left. We ended up taking her to our old pediatrician, letting her receive the regular vaccines and just prayed that nothing untoward would happen and that we weren’t culpable — he did say the vaccines are now cultured “synthetically” — whatever that means. I’m not a science person so my understanding is limited. I’m concerned about both the religious and moral implications as well as the health implications, autism on the rise and all that….

~~So I’m still on the hunt. The “nearest” ones to us are a couple of hours away at least.~~

~~I may just have to opt for St. Louis, and time it for when we visit my folks.~~

Pro-life resources:

COG for Life
Pope Paul VI Institute
One More Soul

Africa Unit Study, Day 20

stef — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 12:17:39 +0000

Read aloud: Galimoto

Art activity: Make your own galimoto with different grade wires from the hardware store. More ideas here.

Read and narrate: Nelson Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom. (3rd grade and up)

Continue to work on African Saints today.

Mom: Food Culture in Sub-Saharan Africa provides a wealth of information that can be used for the African scrapbook — can also be used as a jump-off point for further unit studies/rabbit trails.

Today’s Menu, from Food Culture in Sub-Saharan Africa:

Green Plantain Chips, p. 21 or Akara, p. 22
Mango Fool, p. 33
Hibiscus Tea steeped with lemon grass and flavored with vanilla or rum extract
Suya, p. 41

(optional — a more involved stew maybe for dinner: Palaver Sauce, p. 31)

Africa Unit Study, Day 19

stef — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 15:24:15 +0000

Fun Read Alouds or for Beginning Readers: What’s Cooking, Jamela?

Fun Read for Older Kids: King Solomon’s Mines (Mom, pre-read please). For discussion: Should fiction be included in a serious study of history? Why or why not? In reading King Solomon’s Mines, what did you learn about Africa that you did not learn from other sources we’ve used?

Reading and Narration: St. Augustine and His Search for Faith. Don’t forget to add St. Augustine to our Saints section!

Revisiting Ancient History:
Dig: Leptis Magna
Here’s a handy Teacher’s Guide with activities.

Today’s Menu, from A Taste of Africa:

Shiro Wot, p. 69
Sweet Potato Pone, p. 137
Lemon Grass Tea, p. 45

Africa Unit Study, Day 18

stef — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 15:12:10 +0000

Mom and older kids: Saints of Africa. Can also read aloud certain sections. Pick 12 saints to include in our Africa scrapbook.

(Note about this book: It is a worthy compilation of well-known, lesser-known and obscure African saints. What bothers me about it (so far, and I’m only into the first few pages) is that the author chooses to put down other saints while lifting up others. I understand that the saints weren’t perfect, and that all of them had their own inner demons to deal with, but I’d rather read biographies of saints that highlight their particular strengths and challenges they had to overcome, without resorting to criticizing their “fellow saints” in the process. For instance, I did not like the author’s reference to St. Jerome being “acrimonious”. I tend to regard the saints as somewhat like my parents — I know they’ve got faults, but I love them anyway, and would prefer to focus on what’s admirable and inspiring about them.)

Read Aloud: The Day of Ahmed’s Secret Study questions: 1. What was Ahmed’s secret? 2. Do you remember the first time you learned to read? 3. Describe in a few sentences what it felt like to finally be able to read. Add notes to the Egypt section of our Africa scrapbook.

Today’s Menu:
from The Momo Cookbook

Tomato Confit (p. 56)
Harira (p. 69)
Potato Gratin with Fresh Coriander (p. 100)
Dried Fruit Salad (p. 173)

Thanksgiving and To-Dos

stef — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 18:09:22 +0000

At the beginning of this week, my mind was all set to do a VENT post. As things turned out though, there was no time to do a vent post and instead I have time today to give thanks.

What did I need to vent? Oh, the usual. What I thought of on Sunday as “financial woes”. A couple of months ago, the van’s windshield cracked. Just like that, no warning. Two weeks ago, the windshield on the car cracked. It made me want to pull my hair and blurt out my 19-yo’s current favorite, “REALLY!!!???” But that’s not all. The van’s brakes also needed fixing, and there were a number of small expenses that just couldn’t be helped, kids needing shoes, clothing, etc. Oh, and how could I forget the oven that died last week and needed a repair? And on top of all that dh’s mom is recovering from surgery and she needs extra care so there go some of the savings….. (I am not complaining at all about that, though — we are half a world away and the least we can do is send some much needed cash to her caregivers to whom we are indebted much!) But yeah, you could say my head was spinning a bit watching those savings dwindling right before my eyes…. and especially since I’m hoping we can save enough money soon so dh could get a new (old) car. Not that he wants one — he’s not the type to complain and he’s the type of guy who will drive a car to the ground — maintaining it as best he can — you wouldn’t hear one peep from him about liking this or that model, though I know he notices some of the spiffy ones, him being Mr. Engineer and all. But his car is a ’93 model and it’s rusting a bit in places and if I could go out and get him a trusty little Honda right now I would. But….

So, my fingertips were itching to type exactly that and many more little grumblings about this and that and how life is unfair sometimes and how the secular world is driving me crazy — between the oil spill and Lady Gaga and Kagan and the lawsuit against the Vatican and various other things I had gotten wind of somehow even though I don’t spend nearly as much time as I did a month ago online…. okay, Stef, breathe. Sigh.

Let’s try this again, shall we. I said this was NOT going to be a vent. So I’ll stop right here and instead ask you, dear reader if you’re out there, to pray with me for several families who need MANY MANY MORE PRAYERS than we do.

My friend M and her husband, who’s been out of a job for I don’t remember anymore how many months…. that he will find employment soon.
My friend C and her husband M, who’s been out of a job since January. They have six kids.
Our friends D & F, whose family is apart right now because of jobs, etc.
Old family friends S & S, who live in New Orleans… what else is there to say, huh? Still recovering from Katrina and the oil spill and then with the threat of storms…. you get the picture.

And I should have done this first, but I have a LONG list of Thank You Lords that I’m trying to focus on instead of doing the pity party:

for a husband who saw fit to take Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University course and follow its teachings
for savings in the bank, food in the pantry, a roof over our heads, cars to drive, and clothing and shoes
for friends who love and pray for us — our lifeline
for beautiful children who keep us inspired and keep us laughing and give us reason to work our butts off daily
for my God who remains faithful no matter how neglectful and dismissive I get
for my marriage and its many many joys and blessings
for a Godly husband who knows his priorities
for the health of my parents
for our priest who is as sane and constant a shepherd as any sheep could want
for the upcoming family reunion, which excites me no end….

…. and which brings me to: THE PLANS!

- dear youngest brother requested a picnic, so we’re having one this weekend! At one of our favorite parks!
- farmer’s market on Saturday — hopefully to get some picnic items!
- Momofuku’s chicken wings! I hope we have enough time to get some cooking done together! Four chef-wanna-be’s in the same place…. could get hairy! My other brother is *the* chicken wing connoisseur so this one’s for him.
- I’m also hoping to make some really healthy smoothies for my mom and dad
- fireworks with the kids

Okay, gotta go. I’ve got laundry to finish up, two loaves waiting to be baked, and almond butter to be whirled in the Vita Mix. (The Thank You list is actually much longer, but I had to stop typing at 10 to get to the end of this post.)

My Favorite GTD Flowchart

stef — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 20:28:51 +0000

I finally found *the* one…. and realized just how visual I am.

at Folded Space — a png file

It’s tempting to do a post on “GTD for Homeschoolers”… except I wouldn’t know where to begin.

“Where’s the meat, Mom?”

stef — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 14:01:18 +0000

Last year, I made a resolution that we would shoot for “optimum” in our diet…. meaning 7-9 servings of vegetables and fruits a day. And I was successful. Note the *I*. For a couple of weeks there I was able to get my servings of veggies and fruits. About half-way successful with the hubby. Not so with the kids. When I gave them the option, they always chose the meat and carbs, mostly ignoring the array of veggies and fruits on the table. (We still stick to the one-bite-of-each rule, so they did get *something*, just not a full serving.)

This week, I embarked on a self-designed program that I put into the calendar a few months ago, but never really followed, afraid it wouldn’t work. Day 2 was yesterday and it just might work this time. Mostly it requires a mental switch that I had to flip — the “I need to give the kids some meat!” switch.

Here’s how it works:

Our daily menu goes

beef-vegetarian-chicken-vegetarian-fish-vegetarian-pork-vegetarian… and so on. Which means we have beef, chicken, pork or fish only ONCE a week. Which cuts down on red meat intake drastically and not just for us but for the kids. Part of the difficulty before was that I knew hubby and I had to be more careful about our red meat intake, so I tried to limit *our* servings, but the kids always got their fill, *and* hubby’s notorious about eating little ones’ leftovers if any.

Now, on vegetarian days, I’ll serve NO MEAT OR FISH, not even leftovers. This is where I failed before. I would serve leftovers so that the kids would have *some* meat, but they would usually opt for mostly meat and hardly any veggies/fruits, even if it meant minuscule amounts for each of them and leaving the table hungry. Yesterday, they were forced to partake of whatever was on the table, and get their fill from that. So what was on the table?

6-grain rice (from the Japanese grocery — contains several kinds of rice, 2 kinds of barley and 1 rye)
fresh blueberries
corn
green beans
edamame
glazed carrots, beautifully done by chef-to-be college student
broccoli sauteed in olive oil with garlic and red pepper flakes
eggs for those who wanted them
bread
grapes
strawberry-banana-pineapple-orange-green tea smoothie
eggplant in garlic sauce
Korean-style zucchini
apples, peaches, nectarines, bananas
a freshly made batch of my “Ultimate Kimchi” featuring napa cabbage, carrots, cucumber, apples, green onions, ginger, and garlic

All of these, except for the rice, were organic and/or local. And I resolved to not worry about whether they had their fill or not, I just made sure the food was there and that they ate *something*. No one complained about being hungry at bedtime, so it must have worked. Two kids asked, “Where’s the meat, Mom?” but I stood firm . I’m already excited about tomorrow. It’s chicken/turkey day today (Papa’s adobo, turkey-black bean-chili plus roast chicken for the lunchboxes). Tomorrow I’ve got potatoes, mangoes, watermelon, avocado, and a whole bunch of other things at the ready. And wahoo! By tomorrow the oven will be fixed. That should give us more options.

Africa Unit Study, Day 17

stef — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 16:12:25 +0000

Read Aloud: A is for Africa. Add notes to the Nigeria page.

Read Aloud: Moja Means One. Copy and illustrate the numbers in the book.

Older kids: Read African Fractals. Take note of interesting information and include in the Math section of the Africa scrapbook.

Print out banknotes to add to your country pages. You can find them here, and here. Or use the Rand workpages here.

Read Kingfisher History Encyclopedia, pages 332, 343, 362-363. Make entries into Book of Centuries/Adventure: Africa scrapbook.

Today’s Menu, from The Momo Cookbook:

Zaalouk, p. 63
Kesra, p, 137
Briouats of Saffron Chicken, p. 73
Almond Milk, p. 143

Notes from the Journey

stef — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 02:56:06 +0000

Just some musings through the past few weeks.

Am on Day 40 of my “100 Days Offline (Mostly)”…. and surprise, surprise! I am still on “Day 2 Project” — our photo albums. I have finished SEVENTEEN photo albums so far, and I am 10 years away from being done. After buying a third album this month, I told dh, I know now what the problem is: we are far too attached to our pictures, that we keep every single one, even blurry ones and poor shots, etc. BUT. I will not worry about that now. I’m too far into the project to restart…. so I’ll just finish and go back to it in a few years…. I’m just glad the photos are now out of boxes and bags and envelopes and into photo albums so we can actually enjoy them. I am absolutely *dreading* finishing up 2003 and having to organize DIGITAL pictures. Between pictures in old desktops (two), two of *my* laptops, plus hubby’s laptop, and dd’s, and the ones already on CDs, plus some that are stored online…. hubby says again, “one project at a time, one day at a time”.
Aisa is on break. A *real* break this time, where she actually has NO studying whatsoever to do, NO residual homework… NOTHING. So we’re having a GIRLS’ WEEK (WAHOO!! ) and taking a drive to Columbus for Pistacia Vera, Tensuke, and Wasserstrom. The last because she has a few more items she needs for her arsenal… namely, needle-nose pliers (for boning fish), clam knife, oyster knife, and fish scaler. Wishing now we had stopped by E. Dehillerin when we had the chance. Although, I have to say we have quite the selection in this country now, and it has just steadily gotten better since I got married 20 years ago when the fanciest piece of equipment I laid eyes on on my first visit to a real cookware shop was a chinoise. Have we come a long way since then.
Camping time. Paco graduated from his leadership training camp yesterday. No voice at present, keeps saying he sounds like a girl as he can make nothing but high-pitched squeaks. Poor guy. But he came out unscathed and in good spirits, and raring to try out the things he learned. I will not post here what it means but I learned a new acronym this weekend — KIBO. These boys. Is that what roughing it does to them?
Migi’s an altar server!! He got some training in last week. I love how he is at the age where he is really getting into the Liturgy and getting serious about catechism and apologetics and just asking question after question and really seeking to understand God’s word and His teachings. This is such a beautiful time and I cherish being able to share it with him. I *also* love that My Catholic Faith Delivered gives me “third party credibility”.
Yena sang Born Free to Papa today for Father’s Day. I had her listen to it on YouTube after we fell in love with the book Born Free from our Africa Study. Papa used to sing it as I was growing up so the song holds many lovely memories for me. She’s such a sweetie and I’m glad Papa got to hear her sing it. Cannot wait to see them next month!
Nino is such a daredevil. Today at the picnic he dragged me all over the playground, and chose to climb the big kids’ jungle gym and slide down the highest slide. He sure tired me (and himself) out. He’s currently zonked right beside me. Silly boy. You should have seen him make a beeline for the food table after his nth slide — apparently looking for something to drink.
My oven is dead. Good thing “perfecting macarons” is #43 on the list instead of #3. I was briefly deliberating buying a Zoji bread machine finally and maybe giving up a real oven for a couple of years so we can save up for my dream wall oven…. but common sense has reclaimed its place, so I’ll be calling the repair guy tomorrow.
DH broke my heart Friday. In mid-May the whole family dug out one of our garden plots, cleaned, weeded, and prepped it for planting. In the middle we put in a bunch of gladioli, the four corners got dahlias, and the sides got lilies. We’ve been waiting for them to bloom and finally the gladioli are showy in all their tall pink creaminess… the lilies are still hanging back behind the wings. Rather disappointed in the dahlias as they’re not as big as we had anticipated… but the kicker is that when dh mowed the lawn Friday he got overly enthusiastic with the weed whacker and cut down two of the dahlias too. WAAAAH. I *almost* threw a tantrum. Then he treated me to sushi, so now we’re friends again. Besides, it’s Father’s Day. …. I jest. If you knew my husband in person, you’d know how difficult it is to stay mad at him for any considerable length of time. Lord, thank You so much for sending me such a saintly man.
One more thing about Nino…. the kids and I have been making it to morning Mass for the past month…. except the week we were sick… and the days Nino was sick… and the days Dad and Ais had the two cars… but other than that we’ve been good and I am ever so grateful that the Holy Spirit inspires my kids to jump out of their beds every morning eager to receive Jesus in the Eucharist. What a blessing!! Even were I to feel lazy about going (and I admit there have been days….) there’s no way I can let them down and ask that we miss Mass when they want to go so much! But back to Nino…. the kids have been going to Mass… but I rarely am able to stay for the whole because Nino’s at that age where he just can’t sit still or keep quiet for long periods. If left to his own devices, I’m pretty sure he’ll investigate every square inch of that church and still have energy left over to run outside.
The Vita-Mix I got for Mother’s Day is getting used EVERY SINGLE DAY. I don’t think I’ve ever had a machine that got so much use the first month. It is a total workhorse and I’m so glad we got it. Everyone loves the carrot-apple-orange-strawberries smoothie, and the carrot-apple-orange-pineapple-peaches smoothie, with some coconut oil and flax seeds thrown in (and some hemp when I can get away with it)… but the chocolate-banana-strawberry-spinach smoothie is well-received only by the older set (Dad, me and the two big kids). I’ll keep working on it.

More to blog, but it will have to wait. Big plans tomorrow.

Voyage of the Dawn Treader Trailer!!

stef — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 04:43:14 +0000

Chronicles Of Narnia 3

This Week’s Bento Box Menu Lineup: Superfoods

stef — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 00:57:04 +0000

Broccoli, Basil and Prosciutto Pizza (Broccoli, Basil and Prosciutto Rice Salad for Dad)
Orange Sections
Chocolate Spinach Smoothie
Blueberry Yogurt Cake
Turkey Black Bean Enchiladas
Green Salad with Ginger-Carrot-Miso Dressing
Montreal Arm Roast
Vanilla-Flecked Homemade Yogurt (sweetened with agave)
Homemade Granola-Crispy Rice Blend
Multi-Grain Struan, Homemade Almond Butter
Szechwan Celery and Chicken Stir-Fry
Hummus and Crudites
Salmon-Pasta Salad (Rice Pasta for Dad)
Black Bean Brownies
Broasted Tomatoes
White Tea
Dark Chocolate

Africa Unit Study, Soccer Time!

stef — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 18:01:25 +0000

FIFA.com

The oldest boy is reading Cry, the Beloved Country. Here’s a set of questions from LoveToLearn.net if you want to go that route. I’ve watched the movie and highly recommend for late teens to adults.

The younger ones are reading Nelson Mandela’s Favorite African Folktales and Nelson Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom.

For dessert tonight — melktert!! Made with homemade buttermilk from my cultured butter experiment the other day. It should work, given that it’s apparently very similar to buttermilk pie.

Cultured Butter Using the DLX

stef — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 04:53:59 +0000

I’ve been meaning to do this for a while. We’ve made butter often enough in our DLX, but I’ve been wanting to try making it with Snowville Creamery’s heavy whipping cream (*not* ultra-pasteurized) since it became available at Whole Foods. The other — also important — reason for making butter is that I’m in love with Kerrygold’s Cultured Irish Butter…. and don’t mind paying a higher price at Costco for their 24-oz box… BUT I also would prefer to buy local when at all possible to support the farmers around us. The savings in cost, it turns out, isn’t anything to sneeze at either.

Two cups of the half-gallon of heavy whipping cream went with the strawberry shortcake I mentioned in an earlier post, so I had 6 cups left to work with. I added 1/3 + 1/6 cup of Seven Stars Farm Yogurt (my favorite store bought variety when I’m not making my own) and left it for about 13 hours in a bowl (whisked first of course!), covered with plastic wrap, at room temperature. After the overnight stay outside, I put it in the fridge to chill for a few hours. I’d have preferred to culture it a bit longer, but decided to make the butter in between lunch and dinner, since I figured by the time I got dinner started I’d be too tired to make it, and will have to put it off ’til tomorrow, which does me no good since I’m making our favorite loaf tomorrow, and it will not do to not have that butter ready!

So anyway, into the DLX mixer it went. And yes, some people don’t like making butter with anything plastic but my DLX has served me well all these years and has made me so much butter that it just tends to laugh off the criticism. What’s great about making butter in the DLX is that I can just plop a piece of plastic wrap over the top of the machine and I can observe what’s going on without getting all splattered. It’s almost like having an old fashioned glass butter churn, except this is for lazy people like me.

Just whirrrrr, whirrrrrr, whirrrrr….. it will thicken and turn into butter rather quickly. You’ll know because liquid (the buttermilk) will start splattering the plastic wrap. Let this go on for a bit, say, a minute, to get all that good buttermilk out (yum… for pancakes, dressing, any other recipe you like that calls for buttermilk!). Pour out the buttermilk (I used a plastic sieve but didn’t really need it much since the butter stayed put in the mixer bowl. Added (filtered) water, whirred again on high so that the butter leaves the beaters and gets slapped back to the sides of the bowl before coming together in the center again. Pour out the water and discard. Do this several times until the water runs clear. This is another reason I love the DLX! The washing part is a breeze!

The hardest part was squeezing out all that water at the end. I’m still not done. I’ve wrapped mine in plastic, parchment, foil, freezer paper, etc. Parchment is best but I’m out, so right now I’ve got it in a log-shape (kinda like those Amish butter logs) in paper towel and foil.

All in all, great results. I got about 2 1/2 cups of buttermilk, and 28 oz of cultured butter. (Not bad at all. I think the Kerrygold is $8(?) at Costco (sorry I forget the price)… the half-gallon of cream was $7.99, and I only used 3/4 of it. I love European butter, but I love my local farmers more.

That foamy stuff? Buttermilk!

Strawberries from Ohio Brush Creek Cooperative

stef — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 04:24:31 +0000

Twenty-five pounds of these gorgeous beauties. Picked up Saturday from Adam Batson of Ohio Brush Creek Cooperative, at the Montgomery Farmer’s Market. Processed and packed for consumption! And going, going, going…. fast.

First up was the must-have summer treat: Strawberry Shortcake. I firmly belong in the camp of “cake” over “biscuit”. Yena made the cake recipe from her favorite cookbook. The flour was freshly milled, using wheat grains I picked up from Tiffany Shinkle on the same day (from last year’s harvest). I whipped the cream and macerated the strawberries in a bit of sugar and lemon juice. Unfortunately, the baker didn’t like the combo and settled for a bowl of strawberries after everything was assembled. And ugh, no pics — the batteries died soon after I took the pic above.