i think he'll make a good dad...

hi all.

it's been a while, i know.

and while I'm pretty sure not a lot of people have actually noticed,

i still care if you have, and will continue to blog. 

so, back to the title of this post.

our community garden plot is located next to an apartment complex

that houses several immigrants 

(most of them refugees, it seems) 

and their kiddos.  

these kids are often playing over at the playground near our garden 
              - located on at a nearby elementary school -

and their parents' and complex neighbors have about half of the plots. 

so when someone other than their parents and neighbors show up,

particularly a guy who's 6'4" and a lady who's 5'10",

they get interested.

tonight, six girls, all about age 8 or so,

asked if they could help.  i told them we were almost done and didn't

really need much more help.  thanks, though!

but instead of staying at the playground, 

they came over 

                       - via skipping and cartwheels and somersaults - 

and talked to us anyway.

no, they didn't just talk to us...

they followed us like little shadows, doing

just about everything we were trying to do. 

they helped John tear apart some pant containers

to put some tomatoes in the ground.

they ran their fingers through the piles of

chives John's co-worker gave to us (mostly as a bug repellent). 

they helped me pull up weeds and grass that were about to 

smother our snow peas.  man, they were great at that!

i talked to them a bunch, but soon there were only two of the six

girls helping me pull grass.  

eventually one of them said to me,

"i'm going to go over by your husband."

they were shifting back and forth from John and i anyways, but

when I looked up, 

well...

you see:

my husband's going to make a good dad. 

probably a great one. 

p.s. no, that's not our garden in the front there.  someone got fancy.  

i wish i knew all their assembly tricks! 

however, unfortunately for them, 

they planted jalapenos next to green bell peppers. 

those are going to be some spicy bells!  

maybe they want them that way. 

dis- and that, v. 4

here we go again,

because i simply can't focus lately!

that is, i can't focus enough

to get anything done that require long periods of concentration.

so, the pending food and theological blogs aren't done yet...

maybe tomorrow.

ANYWAYS, here we are!

dis and that, volume 4.

I dislike being weak and out of shape.  Softball practice proved that i am

NOT where i need to be for the season!

I do like that God made our bodies "rebound-able," in that

our bodies aren't cement molds that can't be put back into good shape!

I dislike my sweet tooth.  I wish it were a vegetable tooth!

I do like that some how, some way, my taste buds are liking non-sugary things more and more!

I dislike that our friends B+K live an ocean and a half continent away.

I do like that God made them awesome travelers ready to do his work!

I dislike how much fear controls me.

I do like that God making it quite clear that my fears are conquerable through Him.

I dislike spitter-sputter mist.  Just rain, clouds!  :)

I do like thunderstorms that aren't severe. It's cool when we can do what we need to do despite the fact that the skies are more-or-less splitting open!

That's about it for tonight.  I hope your Sunday is awesome tomorrow!

ready...set...

g-g-g-go!

This post

is going to be about

almost nothing particular!

I said I'd post today

so here it is.

***

I have a few posts in the works that 

very well may end up

not getting posted.  

I mentioned once or twice 

a while back

that i had three or four politically inspired posts started.

Well, considering that these posts will only be resolved

by the elections this coming november. 

PLENTY of time to write!  

***

I neglected to mention last night

that one of the things i was up to lately

(which happened quite sporadically, actually!)

was that i got to see little Reese.  

Will my baby fever EVER end?  

No.

Not if that little bundle of cuteness has anything to say about it.  

Do go read her story.  

At only 11 months, her story's got

"GOD is AWESOME"

written all over it!

Also, there are three little boys

age 1 month to about 15 months 

in our small group at church.

The oldest one comes in at the end each time

with a HUGE smile on his face.

He runs to his dad (who leads our class)

and points to everything in the room saying "Da???" (a.k.a. "that???")

He wants to know what everything is.  SO cute. 

***

So 

we've got a buttercup (not butternut) squash here 

sitting on my kitchen table. 

I'm looking to make that up tomorrow or Wednesday. 

It'll be sort of delicious if the squash is still good when

it's cracked open. 

***

If anyone out there has even an inkling

of job opportunities for teachers around here (DSM),

please

please

please

let me know. 

please.  (I've already seen the job op. at Johnston, btw.)

***

Well, we have started a couple of plots

at a community garden just north of our apt.

A 12x18 plot is both smaller and bigger than 

I thought.

Small, because it's tricky to grow a lot of the 

plants (squash! blueberries!) I'd like to grow in that space .

Big, because a WHOLE lotta weeds can 

grow in that space. 

But don'tcha know, John got us another plot right next to ours

that just happened to be abandoned by a 

disenchanted wasgonnabeand/orwannabe fellow gardener.

Maybe some squash can happen after all.  You know,

the kind that can have a WHOLE lotta sugar, butter, and awesomeness. 

***

I'd better stop while I'm ahead...or behind. 

Mostly, I just wanted to quickly write something so I'd get back into it again. 

Look for a food post and maybe another theological post in the next coming days. 

And thanks for reading, whether you made it this far or not.

just so you know i'm alive.

hi.

lately i've been -
learning about God
figuring out culinary adventures
spending time with my man
realizing i know almost nothing about growing plants
hanging out with a few friends
seeing some of my in-laws
talking with my family
playing games
reading the news
and relaxing a bit. 

so that's it for the short term...

and...

i'll write more tomorrow!


:)

Love won.

At church on Sunday

Pastor Phil shared with us that he 

saw a link on a news site Sunday morning

that (I think) was titled

"What the First Century Christians Thought About the Resurrection."

It claimed that many of the first century Christians did not believe that the resurrection actually happened. 

 ...there are only a few lot of issues with that.  

500, to be precise.

There were 500 people (well, not including women or children present)

who saw Christ rise into heaven.

Considering how many people lived in that region during that time

(let alone existed on earth),

and how many of them were witnesses to Jesus' amazing love and power, 

that's a pretty hefty number. 

Really, that's a hefty number even for today. 

What stuck with me more, however,

was what Pastor Phil said after he summarized the article's main idea. 

He said, 

"If Christianity weren't true, why are there so many people out there trying to disprove it?"

Now, this caught me for a moment.  

Not only was I expecting him to ask

          "Why are there so many people who believe in Christianity?",

but I was also did not anticipate an apologetics statement at the beginning of an Easter sermon. 

          -+-+- as a side note, I should have 

guessed a little apologetics would

have been thrown into an 

evangelical sermon.

It was an interesting statement Pastor Phil made.

After all, you don't see a movement

filled with spirited orators 

nor libraries of literature

attempting to denounce 

Santa Claus. 

We let our kids believe that a very rotund Kris Kringle 

will fit down [an almost always non-existent] chimney,

plop some presents under a blue spruce and

plump up a vibrant, sequin-adorned sock

until our lil kiddos are blue in the face.

It happens with Atheists, Born-again-Christians,

and anyone else well beyond and in between, 

as if Santa was some kind of miracle worker.

Christ is THE miracle-worker, and so much more. 

If someone out there is reading this

who doesn't know if they believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

here is an article that might help.  

It's better accompanied with reading the Bible and knowing the 

actual person who is our Messiah, 

so check out the book of John or Matthew and find a local church

that isn't afraid to tell you the truth of the Gospel.

But for those of us who do believe in Jesus

and call him our Savior AND Lord,

we know the miracle that He's

already done.

 He 

 IS 

risen

i

 n

  d

    e

      e

        d

         ...

and

http://www.lovewon.com/

Christ's Victory

dis- and that, v.3

Well, 

considering I'm in writer's block 

                           (or something like that)

on 4 different posts 

                           (3 of them politically inspired),

I'll just do one of these babies instead. 

dis- and that, volume 3.

I developed a dislike for our furnace last week, because I wished spring had sprung.

I DO LIKE this week's forecast.  77° on Thursday?  Yes, please!

I dislike when the basil I try to grow dies.  I'm on attempt #3.  

I do like basil.  BEST-HERB-EVER.

I dislike saying "herb" - "h" pronunced - versus "herb" without said "h" sound.

I do like my husband...love my husband...even though he says "herb" with a hard "h." 

I dislike being on the bottom floor of our apartment.  I think my basil would be fairing better right now if we were both south-facing and up a floor or two. 

I do like that we can just walk up a half-flight of stairs to get outside.  

I dislike fatigue.

I do like energetic fun!

I dislike washing dishes,

but I do like doing dishes if my food turns out like this:

strawberry pie! 
plus some pie crust extras with sugar and cinnamon.

tasty pasta dish i threw together! 

with bacon...oh, yes. 

yum.  

I do definitely like "yum."

I don't dislike doing dishes when the dish ends up being delectable.

I also don't dislike doing dishes when the smoke alarm doesn't go off. 

If you don't like this small font, let me know.  I like it, but I don't want to cause eye-strain for anyone who reads this. 

And if you're at the bottom of this post, thanks for reading. :)

tag, I'm it...again!

The wonderful Allie Wulfkuhle tagged me (I think!), so here you go:

RULES:
1. Open your first photo folder on your computer.
2. Scroll to the 10th picture.
3. Post that picture and the story behind it.
4. Tag 5 or more people.

Well, this is from my wedding day.  It was an AWESOME day, and I just got this dress on when my sister took this picture.  She was my maid of honor, and while that was more-or-less decided for us by my mom on a car ride back in the day, I wouldn't have had it any other way.  I was so prone to nerves that whole day, even though I knew I was making the right move with the awesome man I was about to marry!  I just had the jitters pop up every time there was a quiet moment.   This quiet moment, however, was pretty calm, and if my sister weren't standing there, this picture wouldn't have happened. 


So, I tag

Jen S.,
Kristen M.,
Heidi H.,
Kaci S.,
Cathy S.,
and
Heather J.!

nahm, nahm, nahm....

nahm...

tonight, 

we ate 

ACORN SQUASH.  

So, SO, so good.  

Feistiness for me (at the moment) is being content only when things are great, 

and getting feisty and doing something about things that aren't. 

Well, one thing I've been trying to be feisty about is my eating and cooking. 

If you knew me in daycare, you knew I 

rivaled just about every kid there for 

the pickiest eater award.

I was always hungry, but my inherited stubbornness*

meant lots of hours of going without food. 

It's not a daycare provider's responsibility to make

a kid LOVE whatever is in front of them. 

My daycare lady 

(Daycare Joanie is what we called her)

always made me at least try what was in front of me. 

If she were my primary adult influence, 

I would have

actually LIKED vegetables before age 23, 

which is when I met my husband. 

Daycare Joanie wasn't my main parental influence, 

so I was very much a meat and potatoes girl. 

That being said, 

if it weren't for my mom and dad, 

I probably wouldn't like good, lake-caught fish,

nor have an affinity for both baking and consuming

confections from the oven. 

Anyways, when I met my husband,

I was a pretty plane Jane when it came to my eating habits. 

Then, well...

fast forward almost 4 years

(since we met, that is),

and I'm eating squash.  

Not only squash, but 

sushi

nagiri

spinach pesto

mushrooms (MOREL SEASON IS COMING...)

vegetarian sandwiches with avocado and muenster cheese and mango salsa...

the list goes on and on. 

So, while I don't have a picture of the 

squash for you 

(it was a little too delicous to take 

a picture of prior to devouring, I guess),

I will tell you that

Paula Dean has a mean recipe for acorn squash,

sans the maple syrup.  I just didn't want to add that.

So anyway, that's a little feisty moment, 

albeit not really that big of a deal.  

To me, however, 

food can become a very big deal.  

I get quite cranky when I'm hungry for too long,

and venturing into gastronomical territories unknown

is a big, big deal for me. 

Let me know if you've done this sort of thing as well,

or if you've had some small victory

in your life that

was a big deal for you, too. 

*Inherited stubbornness, as explained to me

by my parents during my youth:

"Laura, you're being so stubborn.  You get that from your mom.  That's the German in you."

...

"Ugh, Laura, quit being so stubborn.  You get that from your dad, I can tell."

...

"Laura, Laura, why are you so stubborn about this?  You must have got that from - 

"No, Mom and Dad, I got it from BOTH of you!  

You're both stubborn, and you're BOTH German!"  :)

...

At least that stubborn personality trait kept me out of trouble whilst in college...

that and God. 

This might not be righteous anger...but maybe.

It makes me 

irate

Irate

I-RATE

when I see or hear of something being done

to someone who is either

powerless

or

unprepared  

    to prevent it. 

oh, OH so IRATE.

Please, God, make me so aware

that if I ever feel tempted

to make fun of

or demean

or intentionally puff myself up over

or again fail to stand up for

those who are significantly less privileged that I am,

particularly those who are

foreign to this country and are earnestly,

         truly earnestly trying to make good for their loved ones...*

or those who have no ability to live independently

         and are completely reliant on others for a safe, functional life,

You would so bluntly deliver me such an

incredible and unmistakable

kick in the pants**,

that I'd be forever humbled and irreversibly changed in my ways.

Thanks, both in advance and in retrospect.***

* Who in this country HASN'T come, in some way, from this background?!

I am not a proponent of illegal immigration, but I see it as incredibly honorable to sacrifice life and limb to try to work for the good of one's family. 

** I'd use another word here if honorable to God,

considering this is how strong I feel about it.

*** After actually reading this post I just wrote, it's a little scary to ask for such a thing from God.  He delivered on my request for my husband ("God, please don't let me date anyone again until it's my husband," circa 2004).  A grace-filled kick in the pants would be preferred, although grace-filled is not never deserved.

Fong's Pizza: Party In My Mouth!

I don't have much to say right now,

and that's a little uncharacteristic as of late, I guess.

But I'm going to say this: 

My senior year of high school involved one 

fairly awesome 

English/Humanities teacher of mine. 

Mr. Himlie.  

Not only was he a good teacher, 

he was a great story teller and a terrific conservationist. 

...and apparently, conversationist is a word, according to Mozilla Firefox. 

So,  when he described Fazolli's bread sticks as a "party in [his] mouth," 

that phrase stuck with me for life. 

On Saturday Night, John and I went to a place called 

www.metromix.com

Many Asian-influenced pizzas plus some influenced by classic American comfort food, like a baked potato.  

If you're ever in DSM, head over to 4th Street downtown and get yourself a slice

of the most intricately composed grab rangoon pizza you shall ever have. 

And don't think this pizza is going to be a cream cheese fest with a ton of sweet and sour sauce.  

It has an amazing balance with some awesome crispy wonton pieces on top.  

SO good, 

and you won't regret going out 

of your comfort zone

at

all

!!!

It was a party in my mouth.

Yes indeed!