Thursday thoughts align

Posted on September 5, 2013 by Diana

Each morning, after my shower, I climb back in bed for some quiet time before the small people wake up. This morning, I was reading through my blog roll, and several new posts hit my heart. Then at our first MOPS meeting, our speaker, Amy the women’s director at our church, spoke on the same theme I’d been reading earlier in the morning!

I want to share the links as well as some things that stood out to me:

What a cab driver taught me about excellence, Sarah Mae – I don’t want to just “get by” in life, I want to pursue excellence! “Does it intimidate you to think about becoming excellent in marriage and/or parenting? Me too. But that’s because I have considered excellence to be perfection, but they are not the same. Perfection is completion, no more work to be done. It’s finished. Not so with us. We are only complete in Christ, but in action, in life, not so much. But excellence, that’s different. Excellence is working hard at becoming the best you can at something, failures and all. It’s intention, and giving, and caring, and going for great.”

Giving yourself grace, Vanessa – “Truly giving yourself grace isn’t about giving yourself anything. It’s about being open to His grace and fully accepting it, not just for the big hurdles, but for the tiny every day stumbles.” I read this after Sarah Mae’s excellence post, and I thought they complemented each other so well!

Give your children the gift of a happy mama, Sally Clarkson – This is not a superficially happy mama, this is a mama whose joy comes from being intentional in faith, fun and thankfulness. “The grid through which you see life will determine how you behave in life. Children want a happy mama–that makes them feel acceptable, as though they belong, and filled up in their own little hearts because mamas are the compass that lead children to joy in life.”

Changing perspective and giving your family grace, Amy – I took notes on her message and posted the recap on the MOPS blog. “Pray for God to help you give your family your best.”

An interesting note, both Sarah Mae and Vanessa have personal blogs which I follow, but both their posts today were at (in)courage where Sarah Mae is a regular contributor and Vanessa was a guest poster.

Homeschool and preschool

Posted on August 29, 2013 by Diana

Letters, counting, Bible stories, baking, art projects… These are things we (and most moms) were doing anyway, but I decided to add a little more structure and novelty by planning some activities and calling it “homeschool.” No, I’m not attempting to teach my kid to read at four, that’s not even developmentally appropriate, but I’m spending some extra time being intentional and planning teachable moments.
I’m talking one hour, one day a week. We’re doing a letter of the day, and I’m planning a few activities related to that letter or a theme.

First day: A
Looked at the letter A
Drew A in salt
Traced A’s on a paper
Colored a picture of A things
Learned A in sign language
Read the book “Amazing Airplanes”
Made paper airplanes
Baked an apple dessert

And because we want to encourage STEM for girls at an early age, we assembled a chair from Ikea. Just kidding, that was just random.

Hannah will be back to preschool at the Baptist church close to us. It will be her third year, and she is full of anticipation. We went to the open house night, and it was fun to find out that one of her teachers is the mom of a boy from her class last year. The classes are arranged by birthdays, and Hannah’s class is June-September with Hannah being the youngest. There are several kids from her class last year and several from her class two years ago. So familiar faces as well as new friends. Her buddy Cody is in a different class again, but they are totally fine with that and usually see each other at playground time.
Preschool is two days a week from 9-2, which seems to be just the right amount for us. Enough to give Hannah some fun social time (and me some quiet time) but not so much that it takes over our schedule. We still need days for dance lessons, MOPS and plenty of playtime around the house.
So that’s what we’re up to “school”-wise this year.
Anyone have fun ideas for First Day teacher gifts?

Grow in His word – Colossians 3:16

Posted on August 27, 2013 by Diana

My friend Vanessa is hosting a link-up with some of her bloggy friends to encourage personal Bible study. The idea follows the acronym GROW:

G – Greet – Welcome God’s presence into your study with prayer
R – Read – Read the verse a few times, both silently and aloud
O – Observe – Ask yourself what stood out to you while you read the verse
W – Write – Write out the verse, note your observations, and share a prayer for this verse

For my fourth element:

Write

Context: Colossians 3 describes what a Christ-follower’s life should look like. It contrasts the old and new and uses the analogies of put off and put on. Toward the end of these instructions, verse 15 starts “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts…” and verse 16 follows “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly…” Peace and the word, ruling and dwelling.

The first line of the verse stood out to me this time.

Let – this word speaks openness to me. It’s not complicated or necessarily requiring much effort. Just stand back and allow it to happen.

the word of Christ – there are many ways God has spoken – prophets, visions, Jesus – but we can access His word any time with the Bible. His word. Isn’t that amazing? It’s there, was there, will always be there. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” John 1:1 It’s stable and reliable. Jesus is the Word, truth personified.

dwell in you – for His word to dwell in us, we have to know it. And sometimes, after being in “the church” for a while, we can know a lot about His word without letting it dwell in us. We might keep it in our heads or use it to measure where others fall short, but we don’t let it dwell, really live as an active part of us. Memorization makes this easier. As the spirit also dwells in us (James 4:5), He can bring the word to mind. It’s there, hanging out, some of it in a back closet of the brain, but it’s still dwelling.

richly – the Greek word is plousios which means abundantly. We can’t just open the door a crack and let a few things in. “John 3:16 is pretty good, and all the love stuff. Y’all can come in. I think I’ll try to do the rest on my own. Encourage and teach on my own. Between Google and Pinterest, I should come up with some good stuff.” Nope, let the word dwell richly. It’s comfortable, it’s at home, it fills us. Richly. Like a dark chocolate molten lava cake. Mmmmm.

And that’s as far as I’m going to go today. Click over to Hearts on Guard to see the link-up and check out what the others are writing about this verse.

Olive Street highlights

Posted on August 25, 2013 by Diana

If you’re new to Life on Olive Street, or if you’re like me and could always use a refresher, here are some of my favorite posts from the last two and a half years. Family and fun first, then food. Mmmm, looking back over these is making me hungry.

Happy Father’s Day – drama!

Wild West Fest – miniature donkey and miniature Hannah, the cuteness is off the charts

Violet’s birth story – written by our doula

Food:

Ginger chicken noodle soup

Chicken verde soup

Crockpot applesauce

Fancy acorn squash

Brussels sprouts hash

Bacon-wrapped pork tenderloin and green bean casserole

Vietnamese noodle bowl

Chicken salad

Last – Five Minute Friday

Posted on August 22, 2013 by Diana

My first link-up… Crossing my fingers this all works…

Today I’m joining Five Minute Friday, a link-up where hundreds of bloggers write on the same topic and post their links together. Each Friday, a new word is posted, and the challenge is five minutes of writing – unedited, real and flowing.

As an English major, I took a creative writing class in college. We were supposed to write essays each week. Essays? I thought, no sweat. I can crank those out, no problem; I had the formula down. Five paragraphs, thesis statement, blah blah, three points, closing paragraph. But in creative writing class, my products were stiff and formulaic… because that’s exactly what I was doing. I had to let go of the comfort of my five-paragraph form and re-train my brain.

That’s kind of how I feel right now. Wow, five minutes goes fast.

Today’s prompt: Last

After eight months as a “host family” for an international student, we were saying goodbye before she went home to Korea. To mark the occasion, we went out for a sweet treat. Cupcakes!

The last time to see her. It’s hard to make those final moments count. You feel like some significant wisdom should be passed. Significant memories should be made. The last words, the last moments. Must be just right.

But maybe they were. Cupcakes and giggles, then tears and goodbyes. Sprinkles help.

Smothered chicken – a no-recipe recipe

Posted on August 22, 2013 by Diana

There are lots of things you can serve with chicken, but lately I’ve had fun putting things on chicken. I stick with simple chicken itself, either tossed in flour and pan-cooked in olive oil or seasoned with salt and pepper and grilled. These basic preparations provide a great base.
Then on to the fun part! Smothering. This is where you can be creative with whatever’s in your fridge or at the farmer’s market. Like tomatoes and leeks…

This is a pan-cooked chicken cutlet with a bacon, leek and tomato sauce. I cooked the bacon then took it out, leaving some bacon drippings. Then I sautéed the leeks and tomatoes in the bacony goodness (how to: prepare leeks). With a little bit of butter and a couple table spoons of flour, I made a roux and stirred in a cup of chicken stock. When this thickened, I added the bacon back in, mixed it together and there’s the BLT sauce.

And when life hands you hatch chiles…

This is a similar process – a no-recipe recipe! I sautéed the mushrooms and green chiles then made a roux and added a cup of chicken stock. I added a dollop of sour cream at the end. Spooned over grilled chicken, tasty!

So the basics:

saute chopped veggies
make a sauce with a roux and chicken stock
serve over simply-prepared chicken

Easy, right? And all “real food” ingredients. No cans or cream of whatever soup. This could be good with all kinds of veggies, peppers and herbs. And of course bacon.

What would be some good combinations to try? Give me some more ideas…

New gig and night away

Posted on August 4, 2013 by Diana

I teased it a couple months ago, but I’ve got a new gig on our MOPS steering team as social media co-ordinator. I redesigned our website and will be posting regularly on that blog. I will also be the admin for a private Facebook group for our MOPS members to post questions and make connections.

It has been a lot of fun and work getting the website to match what’s in my head. I’ve really enjoyed the graphic design element, and I’m excited to start writing more when the year starts.

We had a steering team retreat this weekend to plan the upcoming year. Some sweet church members offered us their whole house for the weekend; it was lovely! We each presented on our area and were able to brainstorm and co-ordinate, and maybe some meetings were held while lounging in a pool. Seriously, we were productive!

I was looking forward to this weekend for months, but having a baby who still nurses 6-7 times a day makes leaving difficult. And when offered a bottle, she’ll only drink about 5% of the time. Brett was willing to give it a shot, and I assured him she wouldn’t starve. The retreat was two nights, but I decided it would be easier on the family for me to leave early and just be gone for one night. Luckily, this worked out pretty well with the retreat schedule. So I was off for a night and day away.

Things started out pretty well, but by lunch on Saturday, Violet was in total meltdown mode. Luckily, I was only half an hour away, so Brett delivered her to the retreat house for some mommy time. Did I mention she was teething, congested and constipated? Not a great combination. And now I can add sunburned from some pool time with mommy.

Despite my cute and clingy addition, I had a great weekend with the steering team. The first night, I was going to crash on a couch since I would only be there one night I didn’t want to take up space on one of the real beds. But when the girls heard I was still getting up 1-2 times a night with a baby, they insisted I spend my night on the king bed and enjoy a comfy night of peace. I was amazed by their selflessness and consideration, and I woke up feeling amazing! :)

Good sleep, good food, new friends, new projects… I’m excited for this new adventure. This will be my fourth year in MOPS, and I am thankful for the opportunity to serve and encourage other moms of littles. Posts on this blog have been sporadic lately, and I’m afraid that will continue to be the case as I devote more time to the MOPS blog. But check it out sometime to see what I’m up to over there.

Snapshots: Sister plans

Posted on July 13, 2013 by Diana

Hannah has lots of ideas for Violet. She tells me what Violet should wear and where I should put her for optimal participation in whatever plan has been concocted. I often comply since it is usually worth it in entertainment value for me. ;)
One day I was told to put Violet in a tutu and sit her on the Jayhawk burpcloth in the hallway so that she could watch the “Snow Eve Ballet.”

This production involved singing, dancing, a suitcase and an airplane.

Another one of Hannah’s creative ideas involved Violet, the rolling bee, and a pair of shorts.

And sometimes Mommy gets in on the silliness.

There is no boredom at our house.

Cup of cake

Posted on June 19, 2013 by Diana

We have the “Mr.” and “Little Miss” books, and Hannah has recently discovered these classic little squares of fun. In “Mr. Funny,” the quirky title character finishes by having a “cup of cake.”
How silly!
Or is it?
I’d tried a couple mug cakes before, so I thought it would be a fun and spontaneous tie-in to make our own Mr. Funny snack. I did a quick internet search and gave Hannah the choice of flavor. She picked vanilla and I found a recipe. We each mixed our ingredients in small bowls and took our turns in the microwave. Hannah was delighted!
I had vanilla coconut milk on hand this week as our non-dairy option, so I used that as the milk sub. Sooooo good. Just writing about it makes me want another one…
If you haven’t tried a mug cake, give it a shot. There are a lot of recipes out there, and it’s a fun quick treat. A cup of cake!

Father’s Day 2013

Posted on June 16, 2013 by Diana

Father’s Day 2011 – the meltdown, that picture and the comments make me laugh so much
Father’s Day 2012 – no drama (can’t get the link to work)
Father’s Day 2013:

Happy snuggles on the couch.
Brett picked out some yummy desserts at a new local bakery for tonight’s steak dinner, and yesterday I tried a new recipe combining three of his favorite foods.

Cut bananas in half and spread in peanut butter. Then freeze. Melt 1/3 cup chocolate chips with 1 Tbs coconut oil and cover bananas. Freeze until chocolate is firm.
Yum yum and more yum.
Happy Father’s Day to our own dads, too! You are great dads and wonderful grandpas. :)

Food photo fails

Posted on June 11, 2013 by Diana

When I post recipes on the blog, it’s fun to play food-stylist and create an appetizing picture. However, sometimes a dish just doesn’t work for the camera, no matter how delicious it may be. So some yummy recipes don’t get posted. A few examples:
Instead of meatloaves, I like to make “meat muffins,” often with spinach or other vegetables in the mix. They are tasty and always a hit with Hannah, but they don’t look particularly appealing in a picture. I’ve tried shooting a couple different meals.

Another meal whose picture did not live up to its tastiness was creamy (and dairy-free!) chicken and leeks on rice.

The taste was yum but the photo was blah. But more color doesn’t guarantee an appetizing photo. Check out my black bean cakes on polenta with a roasted tomato and green chile sauce.

This was a Diana original recipe, and it was delicious. Brett was disappointed to hear we didn’t have any leftovers the next day. But, it turns out black bean cakes are just not appealing on camera.
I’ll leave you with a good picture. We got these beets in our CSA basket. I forget what the variety was called, but they were gorgeous!

grit & grace

life on olive street

Author Archives: Diana