M is for Mommy

2011-02-21T22:16:00.000-03:00

Serves me right,..
Here I am in the swing of NaBloPoMo and I miss a posting day. "It's ok, I already confessed to cheating in the first post of NaBloPoMo," is what I told myself last night at 11:55 p.m.
So, what happens today? I get hopping mad.
Seems someone, or rather a series of someones, made a mistake YEARS AGO and didn't correct it WHEN THEY FOUND OUT IT WAS A MISTAKE (January) and now they want me to pay big bucks to cover their heinies--just on the off chance they get caught.
NO.
That's probably all I can say without getting Dooce'd.
So, serves me right. Should've posted at midnight when I was all daffodils and fluffy puppies.

President Caveman's Pet

2010-08-28T23:41:00.000-03:00

Blake had a reading class assignment to write about a Presidential Pet. Here's what he wrote:

One day The First Cave Girl was making beef stew when President Caveman came in and said, “We need to go to the Oga Booga Congress meeting.”

So they went.

When they got back the First Cave Girl gasped! ”Oh my! A baby Triceratops is eating my beef stew!” And President Caveman said, “Let’s keep him” So they named him Beefy.

One day Beefy and President Caveman were hunting a Brontosaurus. President Caveman was about to spear it when Beefy fell asleep from sitting in the same position so long . His snoring was so loud that the Brontosaurus ran away. Meanwhile, the First Cave Girl was fixing a huge pot of beef stew.

President Caveman and Beefy were running after the Brontosaurus when Beefy bit the Brontosaurus’s tail. However the Brontosaurus flung Beefy off and he flew into the air and landed in the beef stew! "Wow," Beefy thought as he licked off his face, "saved by my favorite food.

Double Chocolate Muffins

2010-08-15T12:38:00.002-03:00

I have so enjoyed being back in my kitchen after a year stateside. It’s not that my kitchen is that great, it’s just that it has all MY stuff for all MY recipes. Every tool I need is right there, and very little more.

One of the things I really enjoy is making muffins. I have the perfect muffin pan, the muffin whisk, the perfect cooling rack….you get the idea.

We just HAD to celebrate our first week of homeschooling, so I baked these muffins. Then we HAD to celebrate Brazilian Father’s Day (last Sunday), so I baked them again. This morning, we just HAD to have them again (second breakfast, between first breakfast and elevensies, you know).

My mother-in-law gave me the cookbook House Specials: Baked Goods and Sweet Treats by Nancy Coale Zippe a few years ago and I just love it. Not only is it Delawarean, but it has tons of great recipes for bakers….

Plus, this recipe is from California, so you gotta love it! This recipe originated at the Rancho San Gregorio in California. It's also great because I usually have all the ingredients on-hand (except for the orange juice, which I freeze in 1/2 cup batches just for this recipe).

½ cup orange juice

1/3 cup water

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 tablespoon white vinegar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 ½ cups flour

½ cup sugar

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

2/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips

powdered sugar

Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a muffin pan with paper liners. (I make 10-11 muffins and butter my pan since liners in Brazil are difficult to find).

In a large bowl, whisk orange juice, water, oil, vinegar and vanilla. Separately mix flour, sugar cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Stir the flour mixture into the juice mixture just until all is moist. Fold in the chips.

Fill the muffin cups three-fourths full. Bake about 16-18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Remove from pans and cool on a rack, just a few minutes, if you want to serve them warm. Sprinkle the tops with powered sugar.

Once Upon a Time - A Really Important Post

2008-12-16T07:26:00.007-02:00

NOTE: This past week, I read a post by Guy Muse, the patron saint of SBC missionary bloggers, talking about how we need to love each other more in the church. I responded sarcastically, which I feel really bad about. I think what I was really trying to say was the following.

Guy already knows the truth I am about to share, but his post reminded me that many of our readers may not and I'm taking the opportunity to share a story I've been meaning to write a long time.

Once upon a time I had a life (outside of cooking, cleaning, kids activities, and facebook). I worked for our local Christian radio station. I had several areas of responsibility, but mostly I organized their community events. One year, my boss wanted us to have an outdoor concert of local talent. Sort of a Battle of the Bands, without the Battle part. Anyway, we solicited tapes from the community and I screened them to see who could play and sent out letters to the folks I selected. What I didn't know was that my boss had envisioned, like, 4 bands, and I (not wanting to hurt anyone's feelings) accepted 24 acts.

So, we had to lay out some ground rules--the first of which was NO SOUNDCHECKS. None! Whatsoever! NO EXCEPTIONS!

I've never seen so much angst from so many people--angst is something you see alot when you deal with divas. Experienced in diva-dealing, we stood firm. Most of them eventually got over it and performed well.

"George" did not. He broke the rule. He just couldn't stand it. He had a friend at the sound company and he weasled a soundcheck out of him.

So, 23 other people who were already mad at me got way madder.

I threw a hissyfit. (I threw a lot of hissyfits back then. I like to think I've outgrown them, but that's another post). After a series of events, I landed in a meeting with my boss, the guy, and his pastor.

We both got fussed at pretty good.

But, in the midst of the meeting, my boss said something brilliant that I will never forget. She said,

"George, what you really want in your music is something that a soundcheck can not give you. What you really want is the annointing of the Spirit of God on your voice as you sing."

WOW.

How many times do those of us in ministry think we want a tighter show, a better quality production, more small group leaders, a seminary-trained music minister, more folks at outreach, more books and commentaries, our people to act right, a better facility, more money--WHATEVER! When what we really want is God Almighty to show Himself in our midst.

When the annointing of God is on a sermon, lives are changed.
When the annointing of God is on a music ministry, people really enter into worship.
When the annointing of God is on a small group ministry, there will be love.
When the annointing of God is on a life in the marketplace, people will come to Christ.

So, go after GOD and when He shows up, the rest of that stuff will, too.

Once Upon a Time- Paradise Lost

2008-11-23T21:06:00.003-02:00

Being a missionary is really sort of a heartbreak assignment. When you’re on the field you miss your loved ones at home, when you’re at home you miss folks from the field, there is always change, transition, goodbyes….

I don’t think I’ll ever forget the first time I realized this, long before I realized I would be a missionary. My husband came home from class in seminary one day with the campus newsletter in hand. “I’ve found our calling!” he said.

A church of 35 people in Hawaii wanted an intern for one year. We called them and four weeks later, we were on a plane. When we arrived, we were greeted by church members, who presented us with leis and chattered excitedly using many strange words that we didn’t understand--Likelike, Kamehameha, Liliuokalani (I later found out these were street names).

Something inside me said, “You will never be as happy again as you were a few minutes ago. While you are here, you will miss home. You will fall in love with these people and when you go home, you will miss them.”

I never got over leaving Hawaii….

As the World Shrinks

2008-11-21T22:57:00.004-02:00

I'll be taking time out tonight from a course I'm taking, offered last weekend in Phoenix and downloaded via internet, to watch Jeff at the South America Summit, also in Phoenix, also via internet.
Afterwards, they should be archiving the video here. Jeff begins speaking around minute 41.
What I want to know is, "Whassup with Phoenix?"
Go figure.

The Schedule - the most boring NaBloPoMo ever!

2008-11-20T20:34:00.003-02:00

I struggled for weeks to settle into a good housekeeping schedule. Finally, here it is:
Monday - Wash sheets and towels, bathrooms (easy way to start the week)
Tuesday - Floors
Wednesday - Grocery (sale day at our supermarket)
Thursday - Dust
Friday - Kitchen (since I'm in there all afternoon for pizza/movie night preparations)
Saturday - Iron (not that I've actually done this yet)

Cam, edition 4.1

2008-11-18T15:41:00.002-02:00

Launched today, thus officially beginning the holiday season!

Applesauce

2008-11-17T20:18:00.002-02:00

On Sunday nights, I like to serve pancakes and applesauce for supper. I don't like to brave the grocery on weekends, so these are ingredients I can buy during the week that'll last until Sunday night.

Here's my applesauce recipe:

Peel, core and quarter 12-15 apples
Place in large pot with 2 cinnamon sticks, 1/4 cup water, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/4 cup brown sugar, and 1 teaspoon citric acid (or juice of 1/2 lemon or lime).
Boil until apples are translucent (30 min?)
Pull out cinnamon sticks. Smash apple quarters with a fork.
Stir to incorporate liquid.

A Very Restful Weekend

2008-11-16T20:30:00.004-02:00

I had such a restful weekend!! It was wonderful! I had caught up all my housework and cooking. We ate leftovers Saturday noon and night. I did the boys Saturday homeschooling in the morning and slept ALL AFTERNOON!!
We all slept late this morning (church doesn't start until 10:30 here).
What a treat!!

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Pizza

2008-11-15T20:25:00.001-02:00

Every Friday night is Pizza/Movie Night here at the Dunson household. This means that Mommy spends Friday afternoon in the kitchen.
Then menu doesn't vary. We do two Pineapple/Canadian Bacon, one Pepperoni, and one Chocolate, usually with peanut butter.
It's a simple recipe, I take pizza dough for one pizza and mix in 1 teaspoon of cinnamon while kneading. Bake the crust for 10 minutes or so. Spread with peanut butter and top with grated semi-sweet chocolate shavings. Bake for another 5 minutes until the chocolate melts (being careful not to overcook).
There you go! Fancy-schmancy!

Kurvays

2008-11-13T20:45:00.003-02:00

I've been going to Curves (Pronounced in Brazil: KUR - vays) for a month now.
I'm amazed at the results.
I've not dieted, except to not TOTALLY PIG OUT.
I had my first evaluation the other day. I've lost two kilograms (that's 4.4 pounds). I've lost centimeters everywhere (most places 1 or 2).
But the best thing of all is to see my body return. Little pieces of me are suddenly recognizable as what I remember me looking like (in college, the last time I had lots of time to look at myself).
It happened first on the apartment elevator. I looked in the mirror and suddenly saw a tricep. No wait -- 2 triceps!! My college arms were coming back!!
About a week later, I looked down at my knees. There were MY knees!! I don't know where they've been the past ten years or so but they certainly weren't there!!
I'm so excited!!
Thanks, Cur-vays!!

My New Favorite Workout

2008-11-11T12:07:00.001-02:00

OK, so it's not my FAVORITE, but I have to do it anyway so I might as well burn some calories.
See, in Brazil, it is imperative that you sweep (or vacuum) and mop your WHOLE HOUSE every day. So, once a week I vacuum and mop the apartment. My family takes shoes off at the door, which is why I don't have to do it every day.

Up until last week, Jeff was helping me. I would vacuum and he would mop, or vice versa. Well, in his post-shingles fatigued state, I decided to do both last week and I was SO PROUD! I did it!! The only thing was I didn't stretch out afterwards so I was REALLY SORE the rest of the week. That's when it occured to me--this has to be aerobic!

So, as you read this I'll have on my heart rate monitor and Ipod and I'll be melting the pounds away to this playlist:

Precious Plankton Dances in the Kitchen
1. Baby Got Book (Dan Smith)
2. Dragostea Din Tei (O-ZONE)
3. Instanbul (Not Constantinople) (TMBG)
4. The Heart of Rock & Roll (Huey Lewis and the News)
5. Jailhouse Rock (Elvis)
6. Escher's World (Chagall Guevara)
7. Boycott Hell (Newwboys)
8. The Pascagoula Run (live at Usc) (Jimmy Buffett)
9. The Great Adventure (Steven Curtis Chapman)
10. House of Faith (Geoff Moore & the Distance)
11. Time is... (DC Talk)
12. I Like to Move It from Madagascar (The Party Cats)
13. I'm Not Ashamed (Newsboys)
14. Twist and Shout (The Isley Brothers)
15. Jump (Van Halen)
16. Livin' La Vida Louca (Ricky Martin)
17. What I Like About You (The Romantics)
18. WHOOMP! There It Is (Tag Team)
19. U Can't Touch This (MC Hammer)
20. Walk Like an Egyptian (The Bangles)
21. She Blinded Me with Science (Thomas Dolby)
22. Who Let the Dogs Out (Baha Men)
23. Superman (R.E.M.)
24. Oh, Yeah (Yello)
25. Don't Worry, Be Happy (Bobby McFerrin) --to cool down

I'll post cardiac results afterwards.

Results (not as good as I expected):
Time 1:09, that's one HOUR, not one minute
average heart rate 106, that's 59% of my maximum

It varied greatly, between 98 and 122, depending on what I was doing.

Digikids

2008-11-10T22:53:00.004-02:00

This is funny.

Our kids do grow up with an amazing knowledge of technology these days.
On the way home from music class today, Parker and I were singing that 10 Little Indians song.
You know, One little, two little, three little Indians,
Four little, five little, six little Indians,
Seven little, eight little, nine little Indians,
Ten little Indian boys!

Parker decided to change it around a bit:
One little, two little, three little Ipods,

oh my!!

Tentmaking Opportunity

2008-11-09T21:42:00.003-02:00

A brilliant idea from fellow missys here in PoA:

is here

I would so love to see our school filled with believers!!

Once Upon a Time -- The Little Rock

2008-11-08T20:42:00.005-02:00

Once upon a time there was a Little Rock. Bigger than a pebble, smaller than a big rock. Little Rock lived on top of a big rock in the middle of a stream.
One day, it rained upstream. The stream's water rose. And rose. Soon it was a rushing, gushing river with rapids and currents swirling all around the big rock. Sticks, leaves and rocks floated by, swept up in the current.
Little Rock stayed on top.
Little Rock stayed dry.
Little Rock was hot.
Hot and dry, a little dusty,
Little Rock had no idea the river even existed.
Poor Little Rock.

Changes in Latitude....

2008-11-07T21:19:00.002-02:00

Sometimes it's really bizarre living south of the equator. Time zones illustrate one of the strangest realities of this...
See, we're two time zones east of the US east coast. This means that we are 1, 2 or 3 hours ahead of Eastern time.
During the US Summer months, the US is on Daylight Savings time, we are on Standard Time and we are one hour ahead. During the US Winter months, the US is on Standard Time and we are on Daylight Savings Time and we are 3 hours ahead. There is a period on either end of a few weeks in which we are only 3 hours ahead.
Weird, huh?

High Tech Tools for Missy's part 2 -- ITunes

2008-11-06T09:22:00.003-02:00

5. I-Tunes With the increasing spiritism, violence and perversion on TV, many of us have gotten disgusted with the tube. We had three families here rip out the cable in the same month for this reason (we didn't decide this together, each family made the decision on their own) I heard a preacher say once that Christians don't have more intimacy from God because they were, "always in front of the hellivision and all that gives them is devilvision."
Anyway, the thing is I just love to watch TV. With I-Tunes, I can legally download shows one episode at a time and only bring into my home that which I choose. I spend about $2-4 per week on kids shows and about $5-7 per month on stuff for me. I gave Jeff a show season (Stargate Atlantis) for his birthday, which got me off the hook at the last minute.

I-Tunes is also useful for other things. You can buy songs, one at a time. No more buying a whole CD to get one song. Then you can group songs into playlists and burn them to CDs to take on the road.

You can also hear 30 seconds of any song, free. This is good for culture education for the kids. Questions like, "Mommy, who is Elvis?" or "What's RocknRoll?" or "I have to investigate what is rap music for school tomorrow" can be answered with a few searches and no committments.

You don't need an IPod to use ITunes. We just watch stuff on the computer mostly. But if you do have an IPod, then you have an instant, tremendously portable way to keep the kids occupied during car trips, doctor's appointments, siblings' suzuki lessons, etc.

BUT, the VERY BEST THING about ITunes is podcasts. Podcasts are free, downloadable audio or video files that just anyone can put out there and you can download them. Many major ministries (almost anyone with a TV or radio program) have podcasts of their broadcasts. Search for them on the store under podcasts, and then hit subscribe. Every time they post a new edisode, your computer will download it automatically the next time you open ITunes.
There are news podcasts, where you can hear 1-30 minutes of news from the states. There are kids podcasts, like Sesame Street and They Might Be Giants.
There are exercise podcasts, like Pilates on Fifth.
There are humor podcasts, like Short Cummings Audio or NPR's Car Talk Call of the Week.

You can even become a podcaster yourself and put your own recordings out there for your fans to download. I'm hoping to shortly have the September Month of Prayer for the Gaucho People videos in podcast form. Podcasting for Dummies is an excellent resource for getting started.

Well, those are the high tech tools for missys that we have discovered so far. Now if Scotty would just get that transporter up and running!

High Tech Tools for Missys - part 1

2008-11-05T08:15:00.003-02:00

(Missy being missionary, not necessarily young female).

Our planet is getting smaller and smaller. Gone are the days (Praise God!) when missionaries packed their belongings in their coffins and sailed off over the horizon never to be seen again. Gone are the days of waiting a month to get a response to the letter you wrote yesterday. Gone are the days (I HOPE!) of annual missionary prayer letters!

In order of importance:
1. Skype If you don't know what skype is, I don't know what rock you live under, but you need to crawl out from under it. It does require broadband, but you can access it from a lan house. Free calls computer-to-computer, cheap calls elsewhere. It is actually cheaper to call Jeff's cell phone using skype than using our home phone, or my cell. Chat is also available if you don't want to commit to an actual voice conversation (or if you need to be quiet when kids nap).

2. Facebook is not much of a tool for those of us with kids still at home, but it becomes invaluable when you send a kid back for college. You can spy on them and their friends, see pictures, write notes. Of course, it goes without saying that if you have a kid on facebook, you need to be on there spying on them. And, of course, anyone in youth or college ministry needs a presence there. I have enjoyed it mostly for keeping up with missy colleagues around the country who are on there spying on their teenage children.

3. Blogging I would think blogging would be an absolute necessity for any missy raising funds and wanting to keep their ministry before their supporters. Even though as IMB missys we don't solicit funds, my husband uses his blog to solicit prayer support for our ministry. We have blogs for each of our boys to give them some writing/computer practice and to give the grandparents some photofodder. As you can see here, my blog is for mostly therapeutic purposes.

4. Strategic Network.org There are a LOT of missy resources on strategic network, but the two we have used the most are the e-groups and the missiology articles. With Jeff working on his doctorate long-distance the articles on this website have been a tremendous help! For a small yearly subscription fee, we have access to the major missiological journals.

The e-groups feature is how we send out our prayer letters. With all the SPAM blockers out there nowadays, it's very hard to convince all the email servers that you are legitimate if you're sending out 500 copies of an email message. We were getting blocked not only by our server for sending too many messages, but by the recipients servers, for looking like SPAM. So, we set up a group on Strategic networks with everyone's email and then we just mail one message to the group. Everyone gets their copy and we don't get blocked by spam blockers. There is a little bit of a learning curve, but it's well worth it to be able to be in touch with the folks who pray for you.

I've Been Tagged!!

2008-11-04T11:49:00.005-02:00

I’ve been tagged!! Actually, I got tagged months ago by Kerri Hamilton, who is on her way to Brazil TODAY with her husband and four children to serve here in Rio Grande do Sul. So, it seems fitting to post the tag blog today in her honor.
You see, as I have a TON.of.blogs. in my reader and the writers are always getting “tagged” by one of their many hundreds of readers and finally one of them tagged ME!! Yeah!
Anyway, here are the rules:
Here are the rules:
*Link the person who tagged you.
*Mention the rules in your blog.
*Tell about six unspectacular quirks of yours.
*Tag a new set of six following bloggers by linking them

So, I’m supposed to explain 6 "unspectacular" quirky things about myself. It’s taken me a week to narrow it down to just 6…Here goes:

1. I totally don’t get video games. AT.ALL. I don’t know if it’s lack of hand-eye coordination or the terror that came from the knowledge that if that little frog got squished on the road, it was ALL MY FAULT. I have never played though a whole one or enjoyed anything about them (except for the peace and quiet I get when hubby and the boys play together).
2. I totally don’t get sports, thanks to a high school gym experience that is a subject best left for another post and, possibly, therapy.
3. I fantasize about being a long-haul big rig driver. (*sigh*) Just me in my big rig, open road, lots of GPS-type gadgets and no veggietunes on the cd player….aaahhh…. Breaker Good Buddy…
4. It took me 20 years to realize The Official Preppy Handbook was a satire. I still choose to live (or at least dress) by it.
5. Actually, along those same lines, I never really left the 80s. But, reuniting with college friends on facebook has shown me that this isn’t as quirkly as I thought it was.
6. I LOVE living high in the sky in a small apartment. Easy to clean, compact, and I can look out the window, wave at the little people below and pretend I’m queen.

I am tagging:

Tim Black
My Hubby
Lori Vernon
Preston
Bill Cook
Keri Cunningham

Easy Chicken Whatever...A Suzuki Mom Favorite

2008-11-03T12:16:00.000-02:00

It has been said that "chicken is the canvas on which the chef paints..."
and, as any Suzuki Mom, or baseball mom, or swimmom, or bowling mom, or whatever knows, dinner prep on lesson day is rough.
Leftover night works for one night a week, but I can't squeeze two out of it. So, we have crockpot night.
One of the easiest options is to throw some skinless chicken (I use legs) into the crockpot, sprinkle lightly with Mrs. Dash, or Seasoned Salt, or something like that and cook it. High for 2 hours or Low for 3-4.
Then I pour on some sauce of some sort. Tonight it's Uncle Ben's Sweet and Sour. If I were in the states, I'd probably use a flavor packet of something.
Put it on some jasmine rice, and voila!

The buried post...

2008-11-02T15:32:00.001-02:00

This is too good not to share. Still, I'm posting it early so it'll be buried soonest...

NaBloPoMo

2008-11-01T15:27:00.003-02:00

It's that time again folks!!
National Blog Posting Month 2008 (NaBloPoMo) is finally here!!
I figure this should get me nicely back on the blogging bandwagon.
You can be sure that:
1. There will be a post everyday.
2. I will be cheating (backdating and frontdating and such)
3. There will be some really good recipes, stories, spoilers, etx.
4. There will be some junk.

Criminal Justice 101

2008-10-07T18:49:00.002-03:00

Dinner table conversation:
The 8-year-old decares: Probably, there are more criminals in the US and England and China and Japan than anywhere else. China is where most things are made.
Dad: Why the US?
8y.o.: The US is just such a big country and a big chunk of that is New York with, you know, all those cat-burglers and such.
Dad: Why Japan?
8yo: Japan has all the Ninjas.
Dad: And England?
8yo: I just think they would have a lot of robbers with all that jewelry.
Mom: Excuse me, I have to type this up before I forget it...

Stronghold #4: Witchcraft

2008-09-24T17:57:00.002-03:00

September is beginning to draw to a close, and with it, the major push for the Month of Prayer for the Gaúcho People of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. If you have not yet received a copy of the videos and the accompanying bulletin inserts, you can request the DVD by contacting us , view them online or download them. The final video on Witchcraft is available on GodTube and also on YouTube .

Our prayer emphasis this week will be on the stronghold of Witchcraft. We would encourage you to watch the videos with your church or small group and to devote time during this week asking God to free the hearts and minds of the Gaúchos from the deception of voodoo-like African witchcraft which bind the Gaúchos in incredible darkness.

Blake, Parker and I made it back to Porto Alegre yesterday – it’s nice to have the whole family back together! Parker got a good report from the doctor and will be continuing with follow-up with eye doctors here in Porto Alegre.

Even though the Month of Prayer officially ends after this week, we still need your prayers throughout the year – please don’t stop praying!