weekend recap

some random things from the weekend and today:

1. went to my sister's family yesterday and we just hung out bbqing and had a water balloon fight. actually it's more like the kids all ganged up on my brother in law.  we ended the day w/ my man's homemade pizza and pahtbeensu (a korean dessert made w/ shaved ice, red beans, fruit, and condensed milk). yum!

source: latimes

2. my man made a comment that shocked me the other day! he had never eaten watermelon w/ a fork when he was growing up!!!! WHhhhhhhat????!  apparently, he didn't grow up w/ our indoor versus outdoor watermelon eating etiquette. (ha ha ha! can you hear the sarcasm in my voice?)... well, sort of. there was kind of an unspoken rule in the house that if we went on a picnic, we'd eat the watermelon in wedges. if we ate it at home, it was cut up in cubes and put in a bowl to eat w/ a fork.  is that odd?

this makes me think of our first year of marriage when my man stared at me aghast because i ate popcorn w/ a fork. in my defense, i only did it that one time and because i didn't want to get popcorn grease on my fingers (apparently, i prefer to save it for my arteries).

3. speaking of watermelon, i've been devouring this sweet piece of heaven! in the last 5 days, i've averaged about 1 watermelon every 2 days.  in fact i'm sitting w/ a "bowl" as i write. you can't really tell from the picture, but this is a large salad bowl (it fit about 4/5 of the watermelon).  this is for me:

this is for the rest of my family (this container has the remaining 1/5):

4. today's morning was quite productive - can't say the same about the rest of the day though.

after dropping off my man and our jewel, i met up w/ a friend for a walk, made dinner in a crockpot, made cookies for our jewel's end of the year class picnic, did the dishes, and managed to squeeze in a last minute shower before running to pick up the kids at carpool. having said that, the sad results of the productive morning put a damper on my smile.... jewel didn't like the dinner or the cookies :(

now that's a first

everyone had something different for dinner tonight:

our jewel had pasta, my man had left over london broil w/ vegetables, and i had kimchi stir fry. somehow it made family dinner not seem to family tonight. hummmm

i'm just curious

the other day i was talking to someone about sunday meals and she happened to mention that they have big lunches on sunday so they don't really do dinner... but it got me thinking... what's considered a big meal?

it is an entree, side, and dessert? because if so, that's what all my meals look like and if i had to skip dinner because that's what i had for lunch, i'd be one very hungry, irritable mama.

so i'm just wondering... do people just eat a lot less than i do? i always thought i ate more than others, but is my concept really that far off from others?

example. for breakfast, we have a kefir smoothie and our jewel has a bagel.
then my man has rye toast w/ coffee at work. and around 10, i usually have rice and soup. or rice and seaweed, or rice and something.

then our jewel gets home from school and we usually have leftovers from dinner - maybe pasta, some meat, perhaps rice and soup, or occasionally a sandwich and soup or hotdogs.

then we have a snack around 3 (fruit, dairy, nuts, whatever).

then we have dinner around 5:30/ 6 and it's usually some casserole and salad, or korean dish.

then around 8 i'll do a fruit snack or lately it's been cereal.

so this is my typical eating day... that doesn't sound like a lot to me, but maybe i'm not the typical american i thought i was.... hummmmmmm.

date breakfast

who said dates have to be at night?

with the school year winding down and only two weeks to go before we officially start homeschool... i started dreading the idea of no more alone time...

i have no idea why we didn't think of this earlier. i wish i had because i would have requested he take a few more mornings off earlier in the  year... but alas....

my man took the morning off and after our jewel left for school, we made biscuits using this recipe, bacon, eggs, and a cup of meile cappuccino (for me), espresso (for him). sat outside this really nice sunny day and enjoyed breakfast for two while talking about life.

apparently, i don't know how to do dates lite... so i go in for the big kill, like... what's God saying to you lately? what's been going through your head and heart? let's discuss our journey of faith that we're on these days... what is God convicting you of lately? you know, what everyone talks about when they go on a date....

wish everyday could be like this... but then again, i should be grateful for today. off to enjoy the rest of the morning before our jewel gets home from school!

a recurring thought

a lack of faith makes the problem look bigger than it really is.

weekend recap

saturday we met the in-laws at a local beach and i learned something about myself that is relatively new. i do not like commercialized beaches!

they had the boardwalk with the arcades, the carnival scene, the nasty fried food, etc.
i think i enjoyed this when i was younger.. but now it just seems like a place to waste money on junk.  i'd much rather go to a quiet, natural beach.  is this a sign i'm getting older and boring???

Imputation

my man is a lover of words.
one of his favorites is the word "imputation". it came up in small group the other night so i thought i'd save something he wrote on it:

Imputation is actually a legal term that is best understood in the context of agency law. In agency law, you have basically two parties - the principal and the agent. The agent operates under the control of the principal. You see this most often in an employment relationship - the employee (agent) operates under the control of the employer (principal).

Imagine a store in a shopping plaza. The owner of the store has an employee. That employee is out in the parking lot returning a shopping cart to the store. The employee, not paying attention, accidentally rams the cart into someone's parked car, damaging it. The owner sues the employee for his carelessness. 

Agency law says this - even though the employee was the person who acted as the cause for the damage (guilt), as long as he was acting within the scope of his profession (store employee), then his act is "imputed" or transferred onto his employer. In other words, even though the employer was not the person who damaged the car, the law will look at him and treat him as if he were the person who did it. Therefore, the employer is the one who is held legally responsible for the damage because the law looks down upon him and proclaims "you damaged the car." The guilt is transferred from the employee to the employer. That is how legal imputation works.

So when Paul uses the word imputation in such verses as Romans 4:6, I think this is the idea he is trying to convey. In a sense, there are three major forms of imputation in the Bible:

1. Adam's sin imputed onto all people. As Romans 5 describes it, the sin of Adam brought sin and death on the rest of the world (5:12). Apart from the fact that we sin because we're sinners, we're sinners from the get-go because when God sees the unsaved, He still sees the sin of Adam. The sins of the unsaved are a legal judgment placed on them due to the imputation of Adam's sin on everybody who came after him. One good explanation for this concept, which obviously might seem like a kind of crappy deal for us because we never asked for Adam to speak for us, is when a US President/Congress declares war on a nation. If he declares war, then the whole nation is at war. A US citizen traveling to the enemy country can't say, "but I personally didn't declare war, that other guy did!" The President's word covers everyone, whether they want it to or not.
2. Christ's righteousness imputed onto the saints. The saints are passed over from God's judgment because Jesus' righteousness is placed/imputed upon us (i.e. covered by the blood) so that when the judge looks upon the saved sinner, he sees Jesus, not the sinner. I think it's one of the many reasons why Jesus is referred to as the second Adam. Adam's act spoke for us all first, declaring us sinners (death through Adam), and Jesus' act spoke for us second, declaring the believers righteous (life through Christ).
3. Man's sin imputed onto Jesus. Just like in the example above, the sin is taken off of us and placed on Jesus, so that when God looked at Jesus on the cross, He saw our sin instead and Jesus was judged on that (2 Corin. 5:21). Of course it is important to note that Jesus never actually became a sinner per se, just that he was judged as if he were because of the legal imputation/transfer. So Jesus' relationship with the Father was never hindered as a result of this legal transaction because He remained holy and without sin.

One of the things that stands out to me in all of this is that each of these transactions occurs completely outside of ourselves. Just like the employee's bad act is transferred to his boss because of the law, not because he wants it to, in the same way we don't get a say in how the sin and righteousness transactions work. We just need to trust that the mechanism that God set up works.

quinoa! it's what's for dinner

i'm always on the look out for a good quinoa recipe that my family will like. so far, i haven't found any. don't get me wrong, there are lots that i've enjoyed but to find one that my family genuinely wants me to make again and enjoys without that plastered forced look of, "thanks for cooking"... well, that's been tricky.

so i'm going to give this one a try from a recommendation from a friend:
(verdict to follow tonight).

ngredients

• 1 cup quinoa
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 lb extra lean ground beef
• 1 small onions, chopped
• 1 -2 garlic cloves
• 1 teaspoon coriander
• 2 teaspoons chili powder
• 2 teaspoons oregano
• 4 -6 dashes hot sauce
• 1 (14 ounce) cans corn, drained
• 1 (19 ounce) cans black beans, rinsed
• 1 (28 ounce) cans whole tomatoes, broken up by hand
• 1 cup Herdez red salsa
• 3/4 cup soy cheese

Directions

1. Prepare Quinoa: Rinse in a sieve under running water. Dry Roast in a skillet for approximately 7 minutes until a crackling sound is heard. Boil 1.5 cups of water in a small saucepan, add the dry roasted quinoa. Turn down the heat to low, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
2. While quinoa is simmering, heat oil in large skillet. Add garlic and chopped onions, cook 2 or 3 minutes.
3. Add beef, spices and hot sauce. You may want to add a little salt and pepper here also. Brown.
4. Spread quinoa in a large baking dish.
5. Layer remaining ingredients in this order: Beef, corn, tomatoes, salsa, black beans and finally the grated soy cheese (Jalapeño flavor recommended).
6. Bake at 450°F for 20 minutes.

UPDATE: it was very tasty and my man even said he's like to eat it again.  also, i did NOT use soy cheese. yuck! i threw on some sliced farm cheddar cheese after i served everyone their serving. and it melted right on top.  i liked that better than putting it in the oven.  

homeschooling schedule planned

being the planner i am, i just have to write down a schedule, even if it doesn't happen, even if it gets changed. something has to be written down...

i decided to start school mid june. our jewel's school ends the first week of june. so i thought we'd take a week off and then start school.  i have two thoughts in mind: 1. i might do a 5 weeks on, one week off throughout the entire  year and starting in june will allow me to do that. 2. since i'm expecting in the fall, if we need to take some time off when the babe gets here, it won't be a big deal.

so here's my summer plan... for now:


8:30 - 8:45 Bible time
8:45 - 9:15 calendar/ weather/ math
9:15 - 9:30 grammer
9:30 - 9:45 literature
9:45 - 10:00 snack time
10:15 - 10:30 story time (mommy and me reading)
10:30-11:00 geography (2x week)
10:30 - 11:00  science (3x week)
11:00 - 11:30 art (2x week)
11:00 - 11:15 logic (3x week)
11:30 - 12:30 lunch break

afternoons will be spent playing, going on walks, and playdates w/ other friends.

* somewhere in here i need to figure out chore time (should i do it before or after school?)

sad revelation

the other day i commented to my man how i haven't had any back pain in several months. i was thinking that maybe the weight shift from the preg. has taken some of the pressure off my spine or something... and then in church this past sunday, it hit me like a load of bricks! i haven't gone running since the preg.  do you know what that means???? maybe i don't have pain from the lack of running?!

well, the typical person might say, "no running, no back pain. guess i'll have to stop running. "
what does the CRAZY PERSON say? "oh well, guess i'll enjoy the next 6 months of no back pain before it starts up again."

trifle recipe

tonight was AWANA's last night of the year.

i whipped together a quick dessert to take with me:
pound cake using the recipe from allrecipes.com

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 3 eggs
• 1 pinch baking soda

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease and flour a 8x4 inch loaf pan.
2. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add sour cream and eggs.
3. Add flour and pinch of soda, mix well. Pour into a 8x4 inch loaf pan.
4. Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean.

then i whipped up some cream w/ some confectionery sugar and a shot of vanilla extract and layered the pound cake, whipped cream, and sliced strawberries in my trifle bowl. wah-la. pop into fridge until ready to take to awana and done!

 

the pound cake was pretty light and moist - but boy! sweet for my taste. i might cut back the sugar to about 1C next time; but then again, one person at AWANA tonight said it could have used more sugar. seriously??? i thought it was soo sweet!  personally, i wouldn't make this for just my family as i think the sugar and white flour is just killer, but it's a good dessert dish to take along to a pot luck or something.

weekend recap

saturday was marvelous! we did nothing!!!! i LOVED it! it was probably the first day in a LONG time that i didn't drive anywhere the entire day. we just did some school in the morning, then cleaned, cooked, and went for a nice little walk. 

sunday was rather busy... sundays seem to be busy for us generally  and i don't like that. it used to be a day of family and rest and now it's a day of running around. this sunday after church, i ran to the grocery store to buy some stuff for small group. ran home, ate lunch, then ran out the door to catch a music show and then zipped to small group. 

fortunately unfortunately, my man was sick yesterday so he spent the day in bed. it was actually nice. we didn't have to all get up early and go. we just lounged around the house, at least until it was time to leave for art class. 

mid-week recap (at the end of the week)

-praying for the visible from the Invisible.

-faith grows in the valley.

mother's day dinner and chocolate mousse

we went over to a friend's house and the men cooked dinner for the moms in honor of mother's day.

menu:
appetizer: brie w/ apricot preserves on crackers

entree: garlic roasted cauliflower,
garlic roasted broccoli
garlic roasted potatoes
roasted sweet potatoes
steak

dessert: chocolate mousse with freshly whipped cream, topped with strawberries.

the chocolate mousse was pretty easy to make and i really liked the recipe so i'll be making it again. i did think it was pretty rich but everyone else thought it tasted fine and finished it clean!

we used the recipe from this blog: of annie's eats.

here's the recipe:
Ingredients:
7 oz. bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped (we used dark chocolate from trader joe's - we just threw it into the food processor)
3 tbsp. water
4 large eggs, at room temperature, separated
Pinch of coarse salt
Directions:
Combine the chocolate and water in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water.  Heat until the chocolate is almost completely melted, stirring occasionally.  Remove the bowl from the heat and stir until the mixture is smooth.  Set aside and let cool to near room temperature.
In a clean, dry bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, combine the egg whites and the salt.  Whip on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form.  They should be thick and smooth.
Stir the egg yolks into the cooled chocolate mixture.  Add one third of the whipped egg whites to the bowl with the chocolate and fold gently to lighten up the mixture.  Fold in the remaining egg whites gently with a spatula just until no visible streaks are left.
Portion the mixture into 4-6 individual serving dishes (or 2 larger serving dishes, for a romantic, share-friendly dessert).  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 3 hours.  Serve as desired with freshly whipped cream and chocolate shavings.

 * note: we put the mousse in martini glasses and it made 5 servings exactly. i felt so bad for the kids cause they got the short end of the stick - i think they might have only gotten one scope each.  the kids' portions we put in a shot glasses.  my man thought that was a bit ironic but i figured the kids would think it was cute.

happy mother's day!

using left overs to make banana muffins

it all started with a cup of oatmeal that was left over from this morning's breakfast.
i really didn't want to eat the rest of it and i hated to throw it away.

so i decided to make some banana muffins with it.  it was yummy! moist, soft, and melts in your mouth

1C whole wheat flour (freshly milled)
1/4C almond butter (i made this from coconut oil and almonds)
1/2 tsp BS
1 tsp BP
1/2 tsp salt
1/2C brown sugar
2 eggs
1C mashed bananas
1 stick of butter
1C left over oatmeal (in it was raw honey and cinnamon to sweeten it up).
1/2C shredded coconut
1/4C shredded chocolate

preheated 350. mix all together. i really didn't make do the whole dry/ wet thing. i just threw everything in and mixed it up.  18-20 minutes in the muffin pan.

wednesday news

sometimes, things just don't make sense