Summer Success Story: Exercise

Tweet

You guys, I am praising the Lord big time this morning.  Maybe it's not something that would seem like a big deal to other people, but it is huge to me.  But before I tell you why, I have to back up in the story a little bit.

For the last several years, I've been in a battle against some health problems.  Now, most people wouldn't know it to look at me, because we have this idea in our society that if you are thin, you are automatically healthy.  And unless you know the subtle physical signs of Graves' Disease, you wouldn't realize what a mess is going on inside the endocrine system.

Over the past two or so years, I've been blessed with a diagnosis--yes, KNOWING what is wrong is a blessing, because then you can figure out how to fix it!--as well as good medical care.  

The thing was, even though my thyroid levels finally returned to normal, and I felt mostly better, I developed some new symptoms that, while each successive doctor and specialist told me were benign, were in actuality disrupting my quality of life on a regular basis.

So last fall the decision came down to two options:  I could go to another specialist, who my cardiologist said might be able to help me (but in all honesty, he told me he wasn't sure if there was anything they could do).  

Or I could take a different direction and see a lifestyle medicine specialist/nutritionist who would take a broad look at a lot of blood work, and fix whatever was obvious.

I chose the broad look at a lot of blood work.

How much blood work that would mean didn't really sink in until I fainted in the lab when they were drawing about the twentieth vial of blood.  I had never fainted before, but it really wasn't that bad.  They took great care of me, and most importantly, got all that blood work done, which showed all kinds of interesting things about how I could improve my health, naturally.

So last winter the fainting thing was a first for me, but so also was being able to go for a run, and run for thirty minutes without stopping.  Oh, how I worked to reach that goal!  Already the lifestyle medicine approach was working.  My symptoms weren't completely gone, but they were improving.

Well, fast forward to the beginning of summer, and I faced two big hurdles.  They were named HEAT, and FISHING SEASON.

Heat is miserable on multiple levels, but specifically for me, it was a hurdle because I knew I needed to keep up on my exercise program in order to keep experiencing the health benefits I was beginning to enjoy more abundantly.  

I knew the night time temperatures would not drop much if at all below 80 for several months, and I knew it would be difficult to get exercise without putting myself in danger for heat exhaustion.  I figured I could walk outside for a few minutes after breakfasts and suppers, but I didn't know what I would do after lunch or for the vigorous exercise my lifestyle medicine specialist recommended.  

And then fishing season.  My husband's family have been commercial fishermen in Bristol Bay (see me standing in Bristol Bay in the sidewalk map above?) for several generations, and this summer, that meant my husband would be away for about six weeks.  I had to find a way to combat the loneliness I would face spending that much time by myself.

As it turned out, finding a solution for exercise also turned out to be one of the key things that helped me get through fishing season on my own.

My mother-in-law, who is a great runner and who with my husband is just the greatest exercise cheerleader on the planet (actually, so is my father-in-law...I'm really blessed to have them in my life), kept encouraging me to explore a gym membership.  And being the cheapskate that I am, I didn't want a gym membership.

But after she mentioned it again and again, I decided to ask Google if there were any free exercise videos I could use at home from my computer.  Then I clicked the first link, and started looking through what the site had to offer.

More than 60 free exercise videos, at all fitness levels.
Some videos using equipment, but many without.
A Christian health and wellness perspective.
Appropriately dressed women.
Free access to the videos by just supplying your e-mail address.
Options to download the videos to your phone or computer, and use them offline if you wanted.

Because the woman in charge viewed this as her ministry.

Well.  Sign me up.

I started right away.  I put on a video whenever a thunderstorm or the intense heat and humidity kept me from walking outside after a meal, or going for a run.  Which, let's be honest, was at least once every day, and sometimes more!  I explored a few beginner body weight workout videos.  And, oh, yes, the beginner videos were enough for me!

But only at first.  After a while, I noticed I could try out harder ones.  I also noticed that if I was feeling lonely and just ready to cry knowing my husband wouldn't be home for several more weeks, and then decided to do even just a ten-minute workout video, I would immediately notice a peace and calm in my emotions that hadn't been there before the exercise.  

As they say, you're only one workout away from a good mood!

That was fourteen weeks ago.  I know that because Michelle, the founder of faithfulworkouts.com, sends me an e-mail each week, encouraging me to keep at it.  Yesterday's e-mail said it was week 14 for me.  And while I haven't been completely faithful, I've certainly been making improvements.

Of course I had other strategies too, but those workout videos were a HUGE part of getting myself through the six weeks of fishing season while my husband was working hard in Bristol Bay.  I can't explain to you all the physiology and science behind it, but I can tell you from my own experience that emotional well being and exercise walk hand in hand.

This morning, though, I didn't work out with Michelle.  The morning temperature was down to 69.  Below 70.  For the first time in MONTHS.  {Imagine it if you can.  I dare you.}  So I went for a run for the first time in at least two months, just to see how I would do, and to see if exercising with Michelle all summer long had preserved any of my ability to run.

I felt great at five minutes.  And just fine at ten minutes.  And breathed harder at fifteen minutes.  And stopped at twenty minutes.

Which is longer than I was able to run without stopping before the summer heat hit.  Which means exercising with Michelle all summer long was a great idea on so many levels.

Now, I wouldn't want anyone to think that they have to follow the same exercise plan that I do.  We each have to find out what works best for us.  But I would love to encourage each of you to make an exercise plan, and to stick with it, and find ways to get exercise even when life and summer heat and whatever else don't seem like they're cooperating with your goals.

The exercise is worth it, not just on a physical level, but on the emotional level, too.  

And if you're interested in more natural ways to improve emotional health, I highly recommend this lecture (click over to the blog for the link if you're reading this in e-mail).  I've listened to it three times in the last week or so, because it's just that inspiring and fascinating.

Garden Friends

Tweet

 

My mom e-mailed today to tell me it would have been her dad's birthday.  The photo she attached shows him kneeling in his garden, face turned up, cowboy had securely placed, surrounded by rows of good things to eat.

He died thirty-five years ago.  I'm not thirty-five yet, which means I never met him.

I do hear stories of how generous he was, both with money and garden produce.  I hear how he made soda water pancakes when everyone went camping (or at least got credit for them...it's hard to tell from the stories just how much help he really got from my grandma!).

And I hear about his garden.  How he grew enough corn to dry and grind for their own cornmeal--enough for a family of two parents, eight children, and who knows how many guests arriving who knows with how much notice.

That's a lot of corn meal.

I hear about how he bought ladybugs to come into the garden and eat the aphids.  I've been glad to see more ladybugs in the garden this year, but I haven't bought any. 

Unless you count the ladybug nail clippers and the ladybug squeeze toys I bought for my piano students, to remind them to clip their nails and curve their fingers.  But that's different.

I do think my grandfather and I would have been good friends.  Even if we wouldn't have had anything more than gardens in common.  Gardens, after all, can take up enough of life to be enough for a good bond.

And do you see who else came to the garden this spring?  They chose the right time this year, when the dill was big and I was already letting it go to seed.  We ended up with three little guys, as far as I could tell. 

In these photos, they're probably ready to run off and find somewhere to hang as chrysalises for a while, but I haven't figured out where they went to do that.  I hope they chose safe places.

I still can't get over their adorable stumpy feet.

You'll notice that the dill looks a bit beat up and ragged.  It has good reason to.  A week and half ago, my neighbor called to warn me that a bad storm was coming. 

My husband was home on lunch break, so we quickly shut the windows, gathered the littlest potted plants and put them under cover, and said a prayer for protection.

Then the hail started, with stones an inch and a half across.  It was like the sky was hurling ice cubes everywhere.  Some hit windows.  The hail lasted about five minutes, and in the end there wasn't significant damage, even in the garden--except for a few broken dill stems.

And we are grateful indeed.

Six Years into a Great Idea

Tweet

Somehow it got to be almost the end of December--two days before Christmas, no less--and I haven't been around these parts for a long time.  

Can I just say I'm a music teacher and so is my husband and one pre-Thanksgiving program and five Christmas programs and another Christmas play later I'm still thinking maybe one of these days I'll get out our own Christmas music to listen to some quiet evening?  Whew!  What a month!

But I can't let today go by without checking in here for two reasons:  One, I am low energy after donating a substantial amount of blood to the science of my own health care (don't worry about me--I'm on a great track right now to getting some things figured out, and I'm really excited about it), and therefore have a sweet excuse not to be up and around trying to accomplish my usual whirlwind of life I call my to-do list.

And two?

While I was sitting in the lab waiting, I realized that six eventful years ago today my husband and I had our very first date.

Have I told that story here before?  I don't think I have...maybe today should be the day.  So sit back and relax, because if there's something I'm not good at, it's making this love story of mine short.  Sweet, yes, but not short!

I had these classmates in my music classes in college.  Well, it started out that I just had one classmate, and he had a twin brother who was in a different sequence of music classes.  Of course it took me forever to figure out which was which, and so I simply never called them by their names, offering my cheerful nameless greetings whenever I saw whichever one.  

But since I had classes with one and not the other, AND the one in my class had a girlfriend, it got easier over that first year of college. 

These twin brothers had a reputation.  They were always singing, they were always having wholesome fun, and if either of them were in the cafeteria, theirs was the table with two or three times as many chairs crowded around it--all the fun people loved being around them, and they could never leave a person out.  The more the merrier.

And a couple of years into college the twins' younger brother arrived on campus full of just as much energy and fun as the other two.  He soon gained a reputation as well:  plastic-bag-and-straws bagpipe builder, four-person bike fabricator, the guy who dressed like Martin Luther for some Theology exam or another, the guy who dressed in a toga for his Greek final.

Somehow this younger brother and I ended up in basic conducting class together, and occasionally used our batons as swords against each other as we "studied" for our final conducting exam.  

And then one day in the spring I ran into said younger brother and a friend of his, and when I wanted to know what they were up to, I got the most exciting answer:  They were on their way to the pi contest (where you have to recite as many digits of pi as you can from memory to win a prize), where they were not only going to recite, but SING the digits of pi.

Something I had always wanted to do, as it turns out, and in a rare outburst of extroversion, I asked if I could join them.  I only knew about fifty digits, but we found a good place with a 5-8 sequence for a finishing point (don't worry if that's as clear as mud to you), I taught them how to sing in perfect parallel organum, and we were off to steal the show.  Which of course we did.

So.  If you've been following my potentially confusing story, you've figured out that I had become fairly well acquainted with two of the three brothers via taking the same classes, and knew the other one a bit more casually at a distance.

Over the course of time, the two brothers (one twin and the younger one) got married, and I got acquainted with their wives as well.  These two brothers also both did their pastoral internships at a little church I called my home church for five years or so.

Eventually, I graduated and stayed in town, these twin brothers graduated and moved out of town, and that's when younger brother began his internship at my little church.  And that's when his wife and I sat down one day after the service and the potluck and figured out we hit it off really well and in our several years of acquaintance just hadn't had a chance to discover each other yet.

I didn't know this until later, of course, but she got in the car afterwards and said, "I feel like we could be sisters!  WAIT!  We COULD be sisters!"

There was one un-married twin left, after all, and she figured she knew exactly who he needed to marry.

She didn't lose any time getting to work.  Her sister-in-law, who by then had moved away from our college town and was working in the same office as my parents, quickly agreed to the plan and began doing her research into my family, you know, to see if we were decent people or not.

Check.

The wives schemed with their husbands.  They thought it was a great idea.  (I still wonder sometimes if they ever have any second thoughts now that they know me better!)  They ran it all by the sets of parents--theirs and mine, too, I think.  Everybody seemed to think it was an idea worth pursuing a little further.

Like by informing one of the parties in question that an arranged marriage was in the works.

For whatever reason, they decided I should be the first (out of the last two, anyway) to know.

We girls were out dumpster diving the weekend of college graduation, because people used to leave great stuff out to be thrown away on graduation weekend, and we were looking for a sewing machine.  We didn't find one, but she used the time to her advantage.

"We've been talking," she said, "and we think you should be our next sister-in-law."

I had to work a little to get out of that awkward moment.  I thought maybe it was behind me when the other one stopped by my house to pick up something to send to my parents (with whom, you might recall, she worked every day).

She complimented my multi-colored dining room chairs, and by way of explanation, I said all my friends encouraged me to try out my crazy decorating scheme before I had a husband to tell me I couldn't.

"Marry a S---," she said, not missing a beat.  "They'd let you do it."

I looked at the floor, speechless.

"There's one left!" she said, as if her little reminder would remove my speechlessness and prompt me to pick up the phone and order a wedding cake.

I knew she was right, though.  I knew him well enough to know he would let me paint my chairs whatever color I wanted, and I knew there was indeed "one left".

They dropped it for a while, but it wasn't too long before the subject came up again and I had to choose, on the spot, whether it was ok for them to give this brother-in-law of hers my phone number.  She presented me with an impressive resume of charms, values, and character traits, and I relented.

But hesitatingly, because if we had known each other for so long already and no sparks had flown why would we think they would now?  

Still, I spent quite a bit of time mulling things over.  Did he have similar values?  Would he manage himself well among the variety of family and friends who made up my world?  Would I lose my friends (his sisters-in-law) if it didn't work out?

I talked it over with my mom.

"You don't have to know if you would marry him.  You just have to know if you would go to dinner.  If you'd go to dinner with him, don't worry about the rest."

I talked it over with my dad.

"Well," he said, "you do have a lot in common.  His brother treats his wife really well, and the apple doesn't usually fall too far from the tree."

And months went by.  I felt more confident that I would indeed go to dinner with him if he asked, but the phone call never came. 

Summer turned to fall, fall to winter.  Winter brought a tremendous snow storm, big enough for my parents to cancel Christmas and let me know they didn't think I should come to visit them until the New Year. 

Conveniently, a certain someone was in the next town over visiting his brother and sister-in-law, who immediately set about getting the two of us in the same room for a couple of hours.  Unbeknownst to me, they hadn't said a word to him about their plans for his future marriage (except a comment by his twin brother that went right over his head).  Unbeknownst to him, they were planning his life and finding his bride.

And you know what?  The snowstorm worked--God's way of getting everybody in the right place at the right time, you might say.

They unveiled the plan to my Mr. Right, who thought about it for several days before agreeing to go to dinner with me.  But that moment they had his approval?  They called me right away, set up a double date, and risked the snowy roads for the 45-minute drive to my office to pick me up and take me out to dinner little knowing from that moment forward they really would be stuck with me.

And a little double date in a little Thai restaurant became the launching pad for our "arranged marriage", as they like to call it, six years ago today.

Family Photo Shoot Tips

Tweet

 

{Photo by Husband's Uncle.}

When I found out several months ago that every member for four generations straight of my husband's branch of the family would be in the same place at the same time, I immediately called my sister-in-law.

"We HAVE to do a family photo shoot!" I said.

"I was just thinking the same thing!!!" she said.

When I called the other sister- and brother-in-law, they agreed.

So the deal was on, whether the rest of the family liked it or not!  We had a sort of strategic plan to make it all work, and we did indeed come out of it with some great family photos.  And some bloopers, which in the end are great too.  Want to know what we learned in the process?

Enlist the most agreeable family members first.  

We're like any family, and have our share of members who don't like having their photos taken.  Get everyone else on board, and THEN attempt to convince the fence sitters.  They'll be more likely to play along if a) they don't have to think too hard about clothing and b) they know you'll be organized and it won't monopolize the whole day.

Choose a known piece of clothing, and build around it.

We're not the only family whose majority of members would spend the whole vacation in hiking/running/don't-care-if-we-get-caught-in-Alaska-dirt kinds of clothes, are we?  So this part does take a little planning.  We'll bring something nice for church, but honestly, most of the rest of our time is pretty outdoorsy.  And when we are indoors, we're prepared for the inevitable and frequent suggestion of taking a hike.  Which doesn't mean get lost AWAY from us because we never want to see you again, but instead lets go out TOGETHER, and even if we do get lost we'll have a great time.

In our case, it worked well for the sisters-in-law to manage the photo wardrobe.  We chose one piece of clothing from one family member's closet (all in the mind's eye, mind you), and built around it.  Then in person we spent an afternoon working through the rest of the selections, and aside from a couple of small purchases, everyone (amazingly!) had something that would work.

Of course we looked at ideas on Pinterest and all that, but it really came down to what we had on hand and what we thought might stand out against a natural background.

Make and work from a list of shots you want.

I can't tell you how much relief I saw in people's faces when I said, "By the way, we have a list of photos we want to just work through efficiently."  It took the dread out, even for me.  We were thorough in the list of shots we thought we'd want.  In reality, we crossed a few off as energy waned during the actual photo shoot, but we had prioritized the ones we most wanted, and we got those.

For example:  the whole group, each branch together, all the girls, all the boys, each couple, a few individual shots for those of us who needed them, my in-laws with their boys...things like that.

Choose a good time for the little ones.

I'm sure a photographer would care about time of day as concerns lighting.  We did too, in theory.  But what was more important to us was the experience of the little ones, and scheduling the event at a time when they would be at their best.  As I look back through the photos we have from that day, I'm glad we chose to schedule around those sweet kids.

Let playful personalities have their fun.

I'm the one who needs to take this point to heart the most, I think.  Some family members had the audacity to try to have fun with this organized and well-structured task, and I wasn't too happy with them.  I didn't really care if they wanted to have fun...I just wanted them to wait until we got all the important shots out of the way.  But they turned a deaf ear to my pleas, and, well, we got some hilariously funny and memorable photos from those few minutes during which they broke my unspoken rules.

To my credit, I was of course worried we'd NEVER get back on track if it started spinning out of control, but they proved me wrong and now I'm glad they followed the inspiration of the moment.  We were able to capture some family character that might have otherwise gone undocumented.

A River at Sunset

Tweet

I didn't intend to take a little blogging break.  I meant to stay current here, even while traveling.  

But my niecelet wanted to play airplane, my sister-in-law and I up and wogged (walked + jogged = wogged) 7.6 miles on each of two different days, I chatted with Grandma while everyone else was out running up mountains, we all sang together (that song from our wedding, that Grandpa likes so much), I picked blueberries and even answered my phone on the side of a mountain in Alaska, I walked beside rivers with my mom while my dad rode a scooter and my husband ran beside him, I followed along as my brother led the way to a swimming hole in the river...and, well, blogging just didn't demand my time as much as those beloved people with whom I only spend time once or twice a year.

It flew by too quickly as it was.

I'm home now, and as Sabbath sets in over the evening tonight, I'm simply taken with the thought of how great and clever and creative and graceful Jesus is when He reaches out to us yet one more time, when we've messed up again and again, and makes everything clean once more.

It's good to know wherever I am from one end of the earth to the other, I've never been out of His care.  I'm not beyond His reach tonight, and neither are you.

Beauty and Happiness are Real, Too

Tweet

Heidi, unto all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth:  Peace be multiplied unto you.

Because of course that's how I would address all of you if I were ruler over the largest, most influential nation on earth.  Which I'm not, but the world wide web can carry my words every bit that far, right?  Well, maybe without the influence of absolute and forceful authority over my readers, but you know. 

I'm posting on location, as you might be able to tell from my photo of the Knik Glacier surrounded by its beautiful snow-capped mountains.

And I've been thinking in my travels about how Nebuchadnezzar and Darius began their letters to the nations, telling them all what a wonderful God Daniel and his fellows served, telling them to give Him reverence, telling them all about the things the God of heaven was doing in their lives.

That's really what I want this blog to be about, too.  All about the ways my God changes, brightens, and enriches my daily life, whether I'm out in the garden, studying His Word, or enjoying the beauties of nature.

I know there's often talk on blogs about making sure life online is "real", by which it seems that most people mean they want to be sure other people behind computer screens don't live perfect lives either.  As if a balanced picture of life has to include more of struggles and ugliness, and less of beauty.

Here, though?

While there might be times I reflect on grief or pain or sadness, most of the time I come to my little corner of blogland to remind myself that beauty is real in my life.

It's my pause for breath on a climb heavenward, moments taken to look back over the breathtaking view God makes out of an imperfect life dedicated nonetheless to Him.

We Built the Shed (and Reflections on Choosing a Great Husband)

Tweet

It took us a lot of hours, but we worked well together, and have all but the inside flooring done.  How exciting is that?!

I couldn't help but think throughout the process of all the things you don't plan for when you're dating your spouse.  My husband and I have been through so many things during our four years of marriage that I couldn't have possibly imaged when I said "I do."

You don't picture building sheds, moving from state to state, grieving with friends, traveling, attending weddings, and just carrying out the day to day responsibilities of life together.

Well, you try to picture all that stuff, but since there's no real way that you can predict how another person will handle all those things till death do you part, you observe everything you can and then take the step of faith before God and all your witnesses at the altar.

After four years of happy marriage and after getting that shed finished, I am delighted to report that my husband consistently shines through even better than I imagined he would in all the varied experience these four years have sent us through.

Yes, we are normal people who have our difficulties in life, but this marriage thing is great, and I'm glad to be in it for life.

Heart and Home: Preparing for Sabbath

Tweet

For part of my evening worships, I've been reading on a collection of topics from medical missionary work to Christian education to hospitality to the importance of daily Bible study.  The latest topic, 'The Observance of Sabbath", has my mind whirring with the ways Sabbath can be a much deeper experience for me.

I tend to work from to-do lists, it's easy for me to skip over things that don't lend themselves to getting checked off.  

For example, how does one really know when the heart is at peace, ready to rest in Jesus on the Sabbath?  Well, it's probably not when I'm frantically glancing back and forth from the clock to my list.  Yet at the same time, it's hard for me to take a deep breath if I'm still surrounded by all the visual evidences of things I didn't get done.

Thus I was especially encouraged to find in my recent reading a focus on both sides of the coin:  knowing what physical things really need to be done to create an atmosphere of peace (a list! yay!), as well as deeper heart things that can't always be quantified on a sheet of scratch paper to be crossed off after a quick sweep of a broom.

And the best part?  What I read felt doable.  Not overwhelming.  Not sloppy.  But practical, smooth, balanced, in my reach.

Which was all good news, because I found I really have some reorienting to do as I get ready for Sabbath this week.

Look Toward Sabbath all Week

It's hard to keep Sabbath free of the stress and craziness of the week if we aren't walking with God each day.  Yet more than that, we can take the opportunity each day to ask God to help us be ready for the Sabbath blessings He has to bestow.  

In particular, talking with our families about spiritual things during the week, singing together, and keeping a cheerful outlook throughout the week will set a sweet tone not only for the weekday grind, but also for the Sabbath. 

On a practical, list-making note, looking ahead to Sabbath during the week might mean we take a realistic look at how and when we do laundry, buy groceries, clean the house, and cook meals, so that none of these things will overwhelm a single day and so that there won't be last-minute pressure to rush through these things right before Sabbath.

Preparation Day for the Home

These goals feel easier to set for me, even though life often catches up with me, and I feel in a mad rush by the last hour before sunset on Fridays.  {Is that because I try to do too much, or just that I try to do too much of it in that last hour?  hmm...}

• Clothes:  Church definitely doesn't need to be a fashion show, but have nice clothes ready for wearing to church the day before (or sooner, really).  That way, there's no fuss, no last-minute ironing, no digging through the laundry pile.  
• Food:  We don't have to kill ourselves off to make a huge feast for Sabbath, but it is nice to have most of the prep work done ahead.  I'm learning more and more to just throw something simple in the crock pot, and I love having lunch essentially ready  to dish onto my plate when I walk in the door from church.  That does two things:  first, it feeds us at a reasonable lunch time, and second, it gets us out the door into nature sooner.
• De-clutter:  Get all the school and work and secular stuff out of the way for Sabbath.  Organize the spaces.  If those distractions are out of sight, it's harder to spend the Sabbath thinking about them.

Preparation Day for the Heart

Ah, the heart.  Less quantifiable, less list-able.  And that equals less attention from someone like me.  Yet I deeply need my heart to be prepared for each Sabbath, unless I want to keep rushing into the day of God's delight in a frenzy without a full peace in my heart.

• Do I have any unresolved conflicts?  What can I do to resolve them?
• Am I keeping bitterness in a dark corner of my heart?
• Have I humbly confessed my faults and asked forgiveness for them?  Have I prayed with someone I wronged, asking God to bless them?
• Have I taken an inventory of my week, and honestly taken stock of whether I'm closer to Jesus by the end of the week, or further away from Him?

Just reviewing my highlighted book and typing out these words gives me pause.  I so much need this kind of heart work on a regular basis, and while it feels daunting, I greatly desire it.

{While I shared all these thoughts in my own words, because I need the reminders for my own heart, I'd be remiss not to direct you to my source, where you can find far more profound expression of all these thoughts and more:  White, Ellen G.  "The Observance of the Sabbath" in Testimonies for the Church, vol. 6, pages 349-368.  For this post, I focused on the section of this chapter titled "Preparation for the Sabbath".}

Freezing Mangoes

Tweet

I grew up helping my parents can peaches, pairs, apricots, applesauce, and sometimes plums.  We froze strawberries and peaches and any other berries we could get our hands on in huge quantities, as well.  

Thus when I was in college I asked my mom to pass on to me something her dad had done for her:  canned fruit in pint jars to stock the dorm room with something awesomely delicious and homemade.  She was quick to oblige, and supplied not only me, but also a good friend and roommate with a goodly supply of peaches in pint jars.

My husband grew up freezing fruits and berries, too, but he had the bonus experience of helping his mom make all kinds of berry jams.

These are traditions we've continued into our adult lives, even staying up late into the night in graduate school to make sure we got all our grape juice canned before the grapes we picked would go to waste.

Food preservation looks a bit different in South Texas, though.  Because there's no winter to speak of, there's almost always something wonderful in season, and the idea of putting things away for the colder months just doesn't have the same urgency.

Nevertheless, try as you might, you just can't root out the food preservation habit once it's established.  Your brain replays these messages over and over.

Home-made is cheaper.
Home-made tastes better.
Home-made in the cupboard is faster than a last-minute trip to the store.

Last week, my husband found some for $2.50 a box, which we thought was a great deal.  We're hoping to get more this week.  Our latest project, therefore, is to find as many ways to preserve mangoes as possible.  Our ideas so far?

We'll freeze them--a couple of quarts are already in the freezer, just waiting to be made into smoothies and sorbets!
We'll dry them.
We'll make jam out of them.
We'll juice them, and research whether it's best to freeze or can the juice.
We might even make sauce out of them.  Mango sauce on pancakes, anyone?

How I Freeze Mangoes

While I would hesitate to say there's one correct way to freeze mangoes, this is the way I'm doing it.  At least this summer.

1. Cut up the mangoes.  I do this by making two slices, one on either side of the seed.  Then I do the messy job of getting as much fruit off the seed as possible, after which I move on to the easy part of slicing each mango "half" while it's still in the peel, and then scooping the slices out of the peel with a spoon.
2. Add a preserver.  Depending on how long you expect your mangoes to last in the freezer, it can be nice to add something to keep them fresh.  I add a little sugar (a Tablespoon or so for every two or three quarts) or Fruit Fresh (according to package instructions).  Lemon juice might also work, if you don't mind the tart flavor with the sweet of the mango.
3. Scoop into quart Ziploc bags or other container of choice, and put in the freezer.  These will of course freeze in the shape they're in when they first go into the freezer, so it's good to find a flat space for them until they're frozen solid.

When You're Worn

Tweet

My husband and I have a little jar full of little craft sticks.  When it's date night, and we haven't thought of something extra creative to do, we pull out a stick, and follow the instructions.  All the dates in the jar are free, and the ideas range from the silly to the profound.

This week, when we looked at each other over supper and realized we had both forgotten it was date night (ah, summer, you make us forget which day it is!), we pulled out a stick that said, "make a prayer list and pray together".

We pray together every day, for our morning and evening worship, but we really enjoyed the chance to take time for more serious, in-depth prayer together.  When we made our list, we claimed Bible promises for each issue or person on our list.  Here are a few of the promises we claimed, and a few extras just for fun.

When you're tired and worn...

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  (Matthew 11:28)


Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.  He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.  Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:  But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.  (Isaiah 40:28-31)

When you don't know which way to turn...

I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.  (Psalm 32:8)

If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.  (James 1:5)  

When you feel like you can't do anything right...

For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.  (1 John 3:20)

And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.  (2 Corinthians 12:9)

When you carry too many burdens...

Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.  (1 Peter 5:7)

Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.  And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.  (Philippians 4:6, 7)
 

When you just want to be more like Jesus...

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:  (Hebrews 8:10)

Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.  (Matthew 5:6)

An Anniversary and a Butterfly

Tweet

First thing this morning, as if in celebration of our four year anniversary, we found a newly hatched female Black Swallowtail butterfly, ready to go out into the world of flowers and flight.

If you had told me four years ago today that I would be in south Texas, kissing the cheeks of the sweet grandmotherly greeters at church, understanding more and more meaning in each sermon in Spanish, growing okras and watermelons and learning to eat prickly pears, I don't know if I would have believed you.

Life takes us unexpected places, doesn't it?

Yet through all the unexpected life places I've been in the last four years (because from starting graduate school to learning a new language, ALL the places I've been since that May 31 in 2010 have been unexpected), I'm more glad than ever to share my life with a man who has the sweetest heart and the truest unfailing integrity.

Home-Made Lincoln Logs

Tweet

The other day after a piano student sibling had spent the lesson time playing with some of my toys, I got to thinking how great a treasure I really have sitting over there in my guest room.  Yep.  Home-made Lincoln Logs.

My dad made them before I can remember, and they were always a household staple.  

Which is why I rescued them from being given away after my parents' latest move, and began carting them around the country myself in that great trunk my dad and I found together at a thrift store.  You just don't give away the Lincoln Logs your dad made.

I asked him the other day why he decided to make his own Lincoln Logs, and he simply said, "The regular ones never had enough pieces, so I just thought it would be nice to have a set with plenty of everything."

That's my family, all right, always having bigger building dreams than the little box of store-bought Lincoln Logs will accommodate.

We do that with food, too.  When we're all in the kitchen making a mountain of a meal, someone inevitably worries there won't be enough food.  Then, as if in defense, one of us will say, "It takes too much to make enough."  Because if everything gets eaten, you don't know if everyone really got enough, of course.

Didn't that saying get handed down from generation to generation in your family?

But back to the Lincoln Logs.  I didn't expect him to tell me he had never finished making the set, and that's why he had thought of giving them away before I rescued them--an unfinished project he wasn't sure he'd get around to finishing after twenty-five years.  The roofing pieces, for example.  

It never once occurred to me the roofing pieces were missing, but if he ever decided to make some, I'd be in full support.

Meanwhile, I'll keep building big dreams and beautiful Lincoln Log cabins, dreaming  well outside your average store-bought box, just like my dad taught me to do.

Basil Harvest

Tweet

Today we harvested basil.  But so much more than basil.

We recently opened the front door to find a package on the porch.  Who doesn't love a package?  Especially from a brother way up north who has a knack for knowing just the things you love and manages to wrap those things up in boxes and mail them.  (Did I mention the package of garden produce he sent us in the fall?  Produce he harvested from those plants we carried across from Virginia?)

This time, the whole box was full of pine nuts.  Yes, pine nuts!

He knew good and well we weren't spending a fortune on them.  We may have mentioned it once or twice or every time we talked about the basil growing in the back yard last summer.

Have you seen the price of pine nuts recently!?  More than double what they used to be!  Crazy.  We used to use them in pesto, but now we have another recipe that's pretty good, so we use that instead.

Thus when we opened the box to find it full of pine nuts, we felt appropriately spoiled rotten.  He had listened.  He had remembered.  He had invested.  He had heard about our new plants, and wanted our first basil harvests turned pesto to be something beyond an everyday treat.

That treat will be tomorrow, and we can't wait.  Thanks, Brother!

What that Little Brown Bible Told Me

Tweet

When I posted a snapshot in words of my personal testimony a few weeks ago, my mom stood right up from her computer, knowing exactly which New Testament I had been reading all those years ago.  She climbed the stairs, found it sitting on its shelf, and opened the pages.

Sure enough.  There were my little pencil underlinings, not so straight and tidy as my almost-seventh-grade mind had imagined them to be.  She'd never seen those pencil markings before.

She decided she knew exactly where that New Testament needed to go.

***

Almost every year, Grammy (my mom's mom) made Valentine's cookies and mailed them to all her children, with the idea they would share them with their families.  It was a big undertaking--she had eight children!

Now, by the time I came along, the last grandchild in a looong line, baking wasn't the first thing that came to mind with every thought of Grammy.  Gifts?  Yes.  Grammy had a gift for any and every person and occasion.  It didn't matter if she already had forty people in her home on Christmas morning, she could always stuff another stocking for the last-minute guest.

But there were three things that came out of her kitchen on holidays that I couldn't wait to sink my teeth into:  Sour Cream Candy (oh, yes, it must be capitalized, it's that good), blanched almonds, and the Valentine's cookies.

The cookies were always the same kind--heart shaped, with soft and tasty raisins in the middle.

I remember the year my cousins discovered Grammy had been sending them Valentine's cookies every year.  She hadn't heard yet whether the packages had arrived, so she called my aunt's house.  When my cousin answered, the conversation (as it has been told to me) went something like this:

"Hi, honey, have you gotten your cookies yet?"
"Cookies?"
"Yes, the Valentine's cookies I sent."
"You sent Valentine's cookies?"
"Yes!  You know--the ones I send every year."
"You send Valentine's cookies every year?!"

Well, the cat was out of the bag.  My aunt had been hiding the cookies every year, and eating them all herself.  My cousin made a few phone calls, and quickly discovered that's what ALL the aunts and uncles had been doing.  Not one other cousin had ever heard of Grammy's Valentine's cookies before.

Except my brother and me.  Because our mother had shared them with us every year.

I always was proud of my mother's honesty and good character.  (Does that sound bad and selfish when I've just told you her honesty meant I got to eat more cookies as a child?)

Grammy died several years ago, but my mom makes and sends me Valentine's cookies, just like Grammy's (only maybe even a little better) every year.  At least, I can't remember a year she hasn't.  And she can never seem to limit herself to sending only cookies.  There are always a few other goodies in the box...

***

Maybe you've guessed one of this year's extra goodies already:  the brown, hard-cover New Testament I spent hours reading as a child.  

I'm starting to page through it, little by little, to find out what kinds of things stood out to me way back then.  Do you mind if I share a few?

"Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near."  (Matthew 4:17)  Perhaps I was thinking of how easily we forget that nearby kingdom, forget to let it influence and reform everything we do.

"Away from me, Satan!  For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.'" (Matthew 4:10)  Perhaps I was thinking about the way Jesus was never afraid to exercise his authority over his mightiest foe.

"Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit."  (Matthew 12:33)  Too true.  Even as I read, I could look out my window at our plum tree.  Oh, how we loved that plum tree!  Here was language from the Master Teacher himself that I could understand.  People are like fruit trees, he said.  Take good care of the tree that is yourself, submitting to the best soul-gardener there is, and let the fruit be delicious and abundant.

"Come unto me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."  (Matthew 11:28)  Even children carry burdens, sometimes.  At least, that's what comes to mind when I think of the private school classroom where I volunteer, full of children, about the age I would have been when I underlined this promise.  Jesus is their only refuge.  I hope I can help them know him better.

"Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."  (Matthew 19:14)

Amen.  Indeed, let them come.  I will always, for all eternity, be glad I came.

Thanksgiving 2013

Tweet

I'm just oozing with things to share:  nature adventures, garden ideas, thoughts about family culture thanks to Pete and Buzz, thoughts about my personal testimony thanks to Privacy of Light, new epiphanies from my devotional reading (as in, God putting me in a phase where I can step back, evaluate, and be fertilized for new growth), and probably more.

For now, at least during this week with my husband home and off from school, will you simply enjoy this volunteer compost pile bean plant with me?  He has survived wind and rain thus far, and I can't wait until he grows just a little taller, and we'll perhaps be able to tell whether he is pinto bean or black bean.

May your day of thanks truly be full--not of overwork or too much eating, but of grace (even for yourself), peace (as you walk it through arm in arm with peace's Prince), and moments alive with delight in those with whom you spend your day.

Salsa Verde Recipe

Tweet

If you've been reading over the spring and summer, you know we've gardened in four states this calendar year, starting seeds, moving them with us to relatives' homes for their summer fruitfulness, and starting fresh here in South Texas.

If you're a gardener, too, you know there's a lot of satisfaction in simply tending the plants and watching them grow.  If they bloom and you see healthy little honey bees pollinating them, you know you've done the world some good.  Yet if you don't get to share in the harvest, there's a little piece of the joy missing.  You're happy when at least someone can enjoy the tasty goods, but it's not like being there yourself for those delicious fall feasts.

Well, that Friday afternoon when I stepped out on my front porch to check for the mail, and found a flat rate box waiting from home-people, I just knew without needing to be told what was packed inside.

 
My brother excels in  picking out meaningful gifts, and regularly outdoes himself with the latest expression of generosity.  This box was no exception.  He thought of everything:  green beans, a zucchini, beets, carrots, hot peppers, tomatoes, and even tomatillos.  From our own garden.  Some of which started their lives in Virginia, bore their fruit in Oregon, and now came to the table in Texas.

We looked forward to some of our very own tomatillos for salsa verde all summer long, and now it was really happening.  I think my brother knew just how much it would mean to me to have that box of goodies.  It made my day.  No, not just one day.  It still makes my day every time I even give it a passing thought.

Have you ever made salsa verde before?  My husband learned from someone who worked in the music department of our undergraduate university, and I tried making it myself for the first time this fall.  It's delightfully easy, and it works well for those of us who like, at least every once-in-a-while, to cook by what looks right instead of by exact measurements. 

There are multitudes of other ways to make a green salsa (which is all "salsa verde" really means), but this is the one we're good at in our house.

Salsa Verde Recipe

Ingredients:

Tomatillos

1 green bell pepper

1 jalapeno pepper, or more if you like it with some heat (eek!  I can't find the little squiggle to go over the n!)

1 pretty small onion (or about a quarter of a large one)

1/2 avocado (or slightly less)

Dash of lime or lemon juice

Salt to taste

Chopped cilantro (optional)

Instructions:

Cover the bottom of a wide, medium sauce pan with tomatillos (peeled, cut in half).  Add the green bell pepper (in two halves, without the seeds), the onion or section thereof, and the jalapeno (with the seeds if you like the added heat).  Lightly steam these, until they're just tender.

Put all the vegetables, minus the water for steaming, into a blender.  Add the avocado half, and blend.  Taste the salsa now, and decide how much lime or lemon juice you want to add.  I add 1/2 to 1 Tablespoon usually, but if there's a larger avocado half in there, I add more.  Also add some salt at this point.  It's really to taste with both the salt and the lime--add a little, blend, taste, add a little more, blend....until you're happy.

Then stir in (don't blend) the chopped cilantro.

We love this salsa on its own with chips, in a taco salad, on a haystack (ask me if you haven't heard of one!), and on enchiladas of any kind, as well as on a baked potato with gravy for a little more zing.

Happy Veterans' Day 2013

Tweet

I have a great uncle (both in the genealogical sense and in the sense that he's one of the most amazing people I know) who served his country--my country--for three years in the South Pacific.  I can't begin to tell you the number of times his life was spared, or all the things he went through as a  medic working to save the lives of wounded men of all nationalities.  But I want to take a moment here to thank veterans of any era for giving their time, talents, and even lives to serve my home.

In a culture and time when looking out for number one means living without a thought for serving others, my great uncle's life is all the more inspiring to me.

When I talked with him today about some of his experiences, the repeated theme that came back over and over was this:  "It was a privilege to serve my country."

I've never heard my great uncle swear.  In fact, I've never heard so much as a complaint escape his lips.  About anything.  He only knows how to tell you about all the wonderful things in his life, and all the ways God has blessed him, provided for him, preserved him.  

Thus when he used the word "hell" to describe what he went through, I have to believe him.  Yet he counts those three years as privilege, not because he survived, but because he was able to spend those three years serving other people and helping to preserve a way of life we take all too much for granted.

In fact, service has been the story of his whole life, with my great aunt right at his side.  (She's equally amazing--he was given a forty-five day furlough in 1945, and not knowing the war would end and that he would be honorably discharged without having to go back to the Pacific, she married him, not knowing whether she would be a widow in as many days as she had been a wife.)  They've served not only their country, but also their Lord, with all their hearts, not only in the country of their birth, but in places about as far away from home as a person can get.

The fifteen minutes I spent on the phone with these two heroes today were among my most precious, ever.  They live a happy life, no matter their circumstances.  They have dozens of blessings to recount, without even a passing thought to anything resembling a complaint.  They each say the other gets better every day, and are just like newlyweds after decades and decades of marriage.  Neither would trade honesty and integrity for anything the world has to offer.

Perhaps their lives of service provide the key to their happiness. Counting it a privilege to serve, they've always had more than enough privileges at their fingertips, with blessings poured out on them from the King of loving service besides.