Serving Home

After we moved out of our former home and into my parent's home I took a blogging break minus a few family posts here and there.  I spent the summer praying and obsessively talking to my husband about our family blog and the possibility of starting a new blog.  I kept thinking about what I wanted to blog about and even though "food" seemed an easy choice there are tons of food blogs and it didn't encompass the new home we were about to have and what we wanted to do with our home.

What is it that we want to do with our home?  Well, this is "the home" which means we aren't going anywhere for a good while.  This is it.  No more checking the MLS listings and counting out pennies to see what we can afford.  Our new home has enough room in it for us to grow and expand as a family (no I'm not pregnant) and have room to entertain.  But not just entertaining.  Entertaining with a purpose.

For awhile Korey and I have been talking about using our home to bless others.  For example, we've already signed up to host DNow in November.  Actually, I signed us up before we ever moved in.  Crazy, I know.  I grew up going to DNow as a youth in our church and I have fond memories and it's always been one of my desires to be able to host.  We also really want to get to know our neighbors, invite them over for dinner, and build a relationship with them in the hope that we can share God with them.  Both of us have been overseas to share God's love with people but we feel a burden for us to just go across the street and get to know people.

All this to say that I decided I wanted to start a blog about this process.  I wanted it to be separate from our personal, family blog which is not going away.  So yes, I will have two blogs and no, I don't know how I'm going to keep up with them when I work full-time outside of the home and I'm a parent to a toddler.  But try I must.

What's in the blog?  Well, because I like to multi-task there will be a chronicle on decorating, organizing, entertaining, and feeding others.  It will be about how I make our home a place to welcome others.  I don't claim to know everything or even have the necessary skills.  I'm just jumping out into the deep end and seeing what happens.

Our family blog is hosted on Blogger but after doing some research I started the new blog on Wordpress.  All.By.Myself.  Without paying a designer.  And I still don't think I know what I'm doing.  But somehow I managed to go through all the steps to get it to where it is today.  Oh and let me just say that Wordpress and I almost broke up a couple of times.  I told Korey somedays it felt like I was walking into a BioChemistry class and being asked to take a test on something I knew nothing about!  It was exhausting, people.  And I still have a long list of things that need to be tweaked, added, or fixed on my blog.  I see why blog designers charge the prices they do.  You deserve it!

With all that said, join me as I blog here and at my new place, Serving Home!

Pizza Night

Every Friday night is pizza night at my parent's house.  Sometimes my mom makes the pizzas from scratch, crust included, and other times we eat Papa Murphy's.  On this particular night we ate Papa Murphy's.  Hunter LOVES pizza.  He asks for it all the time.  We never have to worry about him eating his dinner on Friday nights at their house.

Galveston 2012

At the end of August we set off on our first real family vacation.  We decided to spend a few days in Galveston because we wanted an easy and affordable trip considering the huge purchase that's coming our way.

First, let me say that Korey and I have always been anti-DVD player in the car kind of people.  We just don't believe in constantly making our child consume TV at every chance he gets.  But roadtrips?  A whole different ballgame.  So we loaded up a DVD player, toys, snacks and Hunter kicked off his shoes as soon as we left.

Our first stop was in League City to see where Korey's paternal grandparents were buried.  Korey's grandfather was an architect which is how he inherited his drawing skills along with his drawing desk.

Since Hunter didn't nap at all during the car trip despite two doses of milk, we tried to get him to lay down once we go to the hotel.  Fail!

Hunter was not bored at all in our room.  As you can see below he loved playing with the A/C.  He would constantly turn it on and off despite us telling him numerous times to stop!

Underneath the night stand was one of those pouf seat things so I put it in front of the bed and that became Hunter's way of jumping on the bed.  He easily entertained himself in the room.

I guess he had to yell while he jumped, too.

Haha just noticed the TV caption "Party City."  I think that's fitting for this picture.

Poor Monkey was tired after all that.

That night we went and walked on the beach.  This was Hunter's first time to see the ocean.  Pleasure Pier is in the background.  I have no idea why we're both looking in different directions.

We got our feet wet.  Poor thing wanted to go swimming so we kept telling him tomorrow he could go.

I picked up a seashell to show him but he didn't stay interested too long.

The next morning Hunter woke up and literally said, "Hi Mommy, go swimming ocean."  It made me laugh!  But unfortunately it was raining so we took the ferry to Bolivar.

Korey and I both grew up taking vacations in Galveston and feeding the seagulls off the back of the ferry so it was a precious moment to see my son doing the same thing.  Some nice kids gave him some bread slices to feed the seagulls so in between bites for himself he threw chunks to the birds.

Once we got to Bolivar we headed to a neighborhood where Korey's other grandfather used to live.  He has many good memories of staying there with his family.  Sadly, the cabin isn't there anymore.  I did see this on one of the streets so I just had to take a picture.

After lunch we threw caution to the wind and decided to let Hunter swim instead of napping.  Day 2 of no nap!

We got him dressed in this flotation shirt that made him look like he was wearing football pads.

He was happy playing in the sand.  When we walked him out to the water he was scared so he ended up sitting in my lap and we let the waves splash on us.

A boy's dream - miles of "dirt" to play in.

Then we chased the birds and while we tried to "catch" them Hunter would say, "Hold chicken."  Gotta love that.

After dinner that night we took him to LaKing's or rather we took me so I could indulge in all of their goodies.

Hunter raced boats and horses while Korey and I ate ice cream.

I took this picture of Murdoch's to show the original pilings in the back where this location used to stand.

Not a happy car rider.  I think he wanted to go back to the beach.

And yet another horse he got to ride outside of a Mexican restaurant.

Our last day on the beach.

I finally snagged someone to take a family photo of us.  I have a better one but I guess it didn't upload.

Then we walked around the beach some more....

and we found a HUGE rainbow!

It was gorgeous!  I was pointing it out to everyone that walked by.  I thought it was a great finale to our vacation.

This final picture is a quick one I took at LaKing's.  It's the candy maker feeding salt water taffy into the machine which cut it, wrapped it and dropped it into a basket.  If you stood and watched he would toss you a piece.  I loved this place!

Hunter's First Day of Preschool 2012

My baby started his first day of preschool yesterday.  It's his second year to attend.  The night we went to meet the teachers he started to tear up in the hallway but I assured him we weren't leaving him like we do on Sunday mornings.

There are ten kids in his class!  The sad news is that the kids from his class last year are in different classes based on their birthdays.  Not a familiar face for him.

He had to have a nap mat this year and I had purchased one last year but the storage unit sucked it up into its depths so I had to go buy another one.  When I brought it home Hunter loved it and laid down in the middle of the living room.  He got mad at me when I tried to put it up.

I got an unexpected day off from work so I was able to go with Korey to drop Hunter off and I was able to pick him up in the afternoon.  At 2pm on a Tuesday!  Needless to say I was ecstatic that I had this opportunity to be a stay-at-home-mom for the day.  I even made him homemade waffles for breakfast.

We took pictures on the front porch.  Hunter is wearing outfit #2.  Outfit #1 ended up being too big so this was a random scramble of clothes.  He is proudly wearing his Galveston souvenir t-shirt and carrying his nap mat.

Love this pic!  He is growing up way too fast.  

I snapped this quick pic of Hunter in his new room.  He wouldn't take off his backpack and I guess he is listening to something his teacher is saying.  He did cry a little when I passed him off but it was the same as he does on Sunday mornings at church.  I wish I had a video monitor so I could see what he's like during school!  We had a talk at breakfast about obeying his teachers.  I wonder what he acted like towards them.

When I went to pick him up from school, I left Korey at home so I could spend some quality time with Hunter.  I took him some juice and snack and I was just so excited to be picking up my son in the middle of the afternoon on a Tuesday so we could hang out.  This working mommy misses things like that.  We got to go to Toys r Us and then I took him to the firestation so we could see the firetrucks and ambulance.  Such an awesome day for him and me!

Mercy Project - Working to Eliminate Child Slavery

I'm happy to be partnering with Sit a Spell to bring light to the issue of child slavery.  For any parent, this is something that you would want to protect your child from.

There’s an estimated 7,000 children who work in the Ghana fishing industry. Some of
these children are as young as 5 and 6 years old.  All of these children are slaves.

–Mercy Project

Today many in our country will take a day off from our jobs to celebrate the social and economic achievements of American workers.  No matter if we’re celebrating at home or at the beach, we’re entering into a tradition that has largely been shaped by Labor Unions - organizations that are dedicated to protecting workers’ interests and improving their wages, hours, and working conditions.  Today as we lounge around or hang out with friends and family, we’re not only celebrating hard work, we’re honoring fair, ethical working practices and the laws that prevent discrimination, abuse, and child labor in our country.  Without these laws in place (and enforced), the most vulnerable members of society suffer.  Who are the most vulnerable? Children. 

Today as we’re celebrating the systems in our own country that strive to prevent injustices like child trafficking and child labor, we’re mindful of the many child slaves around the world who are unprotected and the organizations, like Mercy Project, who are working to free them.

As a mother, it’s difficult for me to imagine my children working 14 hours a day, 7 days a week.  I’m unable to wrap my brain around the thought of my children engaged in long, hard days of physical labor, eating one meal a day, and then falling asleep at night on a dirt floor filled with other slave children.  Yet this is the daily reality for kids who have been trafficked into the fishing industry in Ghana, Africa.  As with much of Africa, there is a great deal of poverty in Ghana. Unfortunately, this leaves many mothers in an unimaginable position: sell their children to someone who can take better care of them or watch them starve to death. Most of the mothers are told their children will be given food, housing, and an education. Instead, the kids are often taken to Lake Volta where they become child slaves and their mothers never see them again.  Thankfully, Mercy Project is working to break the cycles of trafficking around Lake Volta by providing alternate, more efficient, sustainable, fishing methods for villagers – ultimately eliminating the need for child slaves.  Because of the work Mercy Project is doing in Ghana, the first group of children will be freed this month from Lake Volta.

VIDEO

We invite you to watch this moving, 10 minute documentary about the issues surrounding child labor and trafficking in Ghana and most importantly the hope Mercy Project is bringing to children and entire communities in Africa.  Mercy Project is the only NGO working on Lake Volta addressing the injustice of child labor and child trafficking at its root - by strengthening the Ghanaian economy and eliminating the structures that cause the demand for trafficked children.

Whether these ideas of child labor, child trafficking, and modern-day slavery are new to you or you’re aware of these injustices, but need to hear some good news every once in awhile, we invite you to become a part of what Mercy Project is doing in Ghana.  When Mercy Project frees their first group of children this month, we can all celebrate together.

Learn more and get involved by –

• Watching Mercy Project’s short documentary. [link provided below]

• Following Mercy Project on Facebook. [link provided below]

• Connecting with Mercy Project via Twitter.  [link provided below]

• Spending some time on Mercy Project’s website.  [link provided below]

• Sharing about Mercy Project’s work in Ghana with your friends.  [link provided below]

Although child trafficking, child labor, and the unstable economies that result in these injustices are a tragedy, we’re grateful for what Mercy Project is doing to protect the vulnerable and for allowing us to be a part of this story.   While we’re commemorating labor laws and ethical work in our own country today, we invite you to follow along on this journey with Mercy Project to protect and free children in Ghana.

Helpful Links

Link to Mercy Project’s Website: http://mercyproject.net/

Link to the documentary - http://youtu.be/b4Dwv5KbMYI

  

Mercy Project’s Facebook Page - https://www.facebook.com/mercyproject

Mercy Project on Twitter - https://twitter.com/mercyproject

(Mercy Project is a Texas based 501c3 organization.)  

Picasa Controls Blogger's Picture Uploads

As you may have noticed, this blog has been under construction for the past several days.  I've actually spent a few months trying to decide what I want this to be.  More on that later.

You may have noticed that my header has changed almost every day this week.  I was playing around with different headers and trying to decide which one I liked.  When I finally settled on a header, I went to upload it and I received an error message telling me I had exceeded my storage quota.

What?  I have a storage quota?  I had no idea.  The "help" link on this error message took me to Picasa Web albums where I saw every picture I have ever uploaded to my blog.  There was a tagline at the bottom saying I had hit 99.98% storage capacity.  Just great.  When I went to delete a photo, just one photo, it also deleted it from my blog.  On to plan B.

Then I consulted Google.  Doesn't everyone?  I discovered that I could go flip through the photos and find the previous header images I had uploaded, delete those, and then cross my fingers and hope for the storage space to be freed up.  Done.

It worked!  So before I break it again, I think I will leave it alone for a little while until I figure out exactly what I'm doing!

If you ever encounter this error message, when working in the Layout section of your blog, you will know exactly how to fix it.

Baked Donuts

Save your calories!  These donut are made in the oven.

If you follow me on Pinterest, you'll notice my obsession with food.  On my board, "Recipes to Make" I have over 200 recipes pinned.  Buried among the recipes is a picture of a lone strawberry donut.  The word "baked" caught my eye as I skimmed through the images.  Baked donuts?  Without the mess of frying?  Sign me up!

This led me to search out donut pans.  I purchased this one on Amazon and finally got the chance to test it out.  Saturday morning I enlisted Hunter to help me mix the ingredients.  I really just wanted to test out the pan and see how it did so I used the recipe that came with it.  I was amazed at how well these turned out!  After they cooled for a little bit I lifted them out of the pan with the tip of a spatula.  I was worried that they might break or get stuck in the pan but they were perfect!

I used this roasting pan to set the donuts on as I iced them.  Aren't they gorgeous?

So gorgeous in fact that Hunter couldn't wait to steal one and take a bite.

Baked Donuts
adapted from Norpro

2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup white sugar
 2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup milk
2 eggs, beaten
2 tsp vanilla
1 T shortening

Glaze
1 cup powdered sugar
2 T hot water

Preheat oven to 325^.  Grease doughnut pan.  Mix all dry ingredients first and stir in wet ingredients.  Fill each donut cup 3/4 full.   Bake 8 to 10 minutes.  Gently lift out with a spatula after slightly cooled.  Mix glaze together and pour over or dip in donuts.  Makes 10 donuts.