So a bunch of missionary ladies that I chat with on line have started talking about celebrating Thanksgiving Day in their “host” country.  This reminded me of our time in Latvia, so I thought I’d share the Turkey story I shared with them, just to get me started into the spirit of Thanksgiving!  As I type this, I have a BEAUTIFUL big bird in my freezer!! We will make this for my brother in law Matthew’s birthday the week after Thanksgiving when we return from Ohio and our visit with Sam’s parents, Grandparent’s and Bill & Sara (Sam’s sister).   Matt can’t go because he’s just a poor college student who has to stay home and work… I feel bad about abandoning him, but I’m very excited to see the rest of the family too! Anyway… here’s my story:

Ok, so I have to tell my sad sad turkey story from Latvia.  So, Thanksgiving is a very important holiday
to me… it has always been bigger to me in many ways than Christmas (probably
because it focuses on food ha ha ha) turkey is also my absolute favorite diner
(but only homemade!!) anyway… My first Turkey
day in Latvia
we celebrated curried turkey.. hum… yeah, not quite right! (though that was the
first night that Sam and I started flirting with each other, and I realized he
might be interested…so, wasn’t a total lost!!) 
I had searched the central market looking for some turkeys, and I found
two…previously frozen turkeys, in a glass case, just sitting there, waiting for
me to purchases them!! I was soooo excited… then I touched the glass on the
front of the case… warm as a summer afternoon!!!!  I asked to touch the birds… humm… yeah… room
temp, and how long have they been that way?!?!?!  I was thinking, not so sure how safe that is
(looking back, I’d have bought one now, after eating with
the “grannie” at our country churches… but… I digress) anyway…

 So, the next year Bruce
& Kim knew of this farmer who could use a little money and who agreed to
grow us some turkeys!! I was sooo very excited because not only was I going to
get a turkey, I was going to get the freshest one possible!!  Well, he didn’t really know how to “prepare”
a turkey… trying to figure out how to write all of this without being too
graphic… anyway… so, instead of butchering it the traditional way, he cut it
right down the breast bone!  Ok, ok, I can
figure something out. 
So, I finish plucking the bird and start to wash it, since it’s split
right open I can get a really good shot at cleaning out what should be the ‘cavity’
well… there were a few “gifts” left behind that should have been taken out, so I
took them out.  After all, I’m used to
them leaving the “innards” inside the bird when you purchase them (In Russia, you didn’t
really buy a bird without them… they leave them in so you could tell how “fresh”
they were, because those parts go off rather quickly)… anyway… so I finish
preparing the bird… It came out looking a bit like Turk-in-stein. 

I used kabob skewers to hold the bird together so that I could cook the stuffing in the bird!   It actually didn’t look too bad after it was cooked, though a little scary

I could have lived with that.. but… when we
at it, it was quite gamy so, I don’t think it was fed like a turkey we are
used to eating… anyway.. hey, I got my turkey   it was
better than nothing, lesson learned

We had Pork Loin for Christmas on a brighter note….

Someone sent or brought us canned pumpkin!!!!!   So my pie turned out fabulous!!!

So, happy turkey day to all of you, where ever in the world you are!!!!

Blogged with Flock

Let me just tell you… If it has been three or more months since you and your husband have gone someplace over night, without the kids, to just spend time together.  GO AWAY NOW!!  Let me tell you… it is sooo important for your relationship and should be a pretty high priority in any budget! 

We just got back from an incredible trip to the beach!!  Oh it was soooo nice to be with just Sam, no work, no chores, no diapers, no dubah’s, no snotty nose, no phones!!  We left around eleven yesterday and got back today about 4:30… yesterday the weather was the beautiful stormy skies that I love, with the rough seas.  We checked in, got dressed up and went to Fathom’s (at the Inn at Spanish Head).  We had a WONDERFUL dinner (we got there for the early bird specials) had a drink each, got some appetizers and shared a steak dinner… (it was still expensive but it was worth it!! And my aunt had given Sam a gift to take me out so it was perfect).  We had a jaccuzi for two in our room, so we sat in that and just had a great time talking and wataching Evan Almighty (cute, funny )… went out for a midnight snack & slept soooooo well!!!  Got up and opened up the drapes to a beautiful morning!  This was the view from our room:

We stayed on the Siletz bay, we were on the ground floor and from our bed we could see the dock at Mo’s… the seals were out playing in the bay, eating all the fish, there was a cat on the sand chasing the birds (anything that wasn’t a seagull got chased… not sure why it didn’t chase the seagulls). We got up and they had Waffel machines in the lobby for breakfast. So we made waffles and had that and milk and bagel with cream cheese for breakfast, and coffee of course.  Took a walk on the beach, even got asked if we were on our honeymoon :):)  the tide was coming in and the inlet to the bay was just wonderfully chaotic … it was sooo sunny and beautiful!

It was really nice getting back to Vienna though! Boy do I love that little girl!!  She missed us too!  We had a good time picking her up and bringing her home.  She wanted lots of attention, which meant walking her all over the house, picking her up, playing with her. She loves music and asked to listen to some so we played some music.  Sam laid down on the floor and Vienna laid right down with him.  My camera wasn’t with me!!! arrrggg… it was soooo cute!  but she did it again later, and I pulled out the camera but was too late… but here’s after where she was still crawling all over her daddy!! anything to be close

Isn’t that cute?

Blogged with Flock

Recently attended yet another funeral. This one was for someone entirely too young for me to be attending their funeral, this seems to be happening a lot in my life. I don’t do funerals well… no, really, not at all! I tend to feel the grief of others way too acutely.  This leads me to this post. 

I have been sitting around all month wanting to scream “Get Your $hit  Together People, because you could die at any moment, and you’d best be ready!” at the top of my lungs.  I know, not the most mature way to handle my frustration, not the most “Christian” either… but it’s an honest response, and I’m not afraid of my faults.  We don’t have to be perfect to be accepted by the Lord… we just have to know and accept that He paid the price, for all we’ve ever done, and accept that, just accept that and to make him a part of our lives.  You know… it’s not like it’s having to cut your arms and legs off… Sure, with that acceptance comes responsibilities, but really… what is there in the bible that restricts your life so much that you’d live a life of loneliness and emptiness just to not have to be whatever it is you’re afraid of? Do you even know!?!??!  Do we realize it is a choice between Heaven and Hell?  I know, so many people think… there really can’t be a heaven or a hell… But what if you’re wrong?  I’m not going through all the proofs, historically, biblically, and externally from the bible for the existence of God and for the accuracy and truth of the bible.  It’s all out there, and anyone can find it…. but my question today is this… Are you ready?

Really, are you ready? Do your friends and family know where you stand?  Will they be left wondering if you are spending an eternity in Heaven,  or will they wonder if you’re elsewhere??   I’m sick and tired of wondering!!!!  Tired of people saying “I just think of them in heaven” when everything in that persons life points to the fact that they never accepted that Christ died for them.  Yes, I know people accept the Lord and fall away and there is debate as to if there is eternal salvation…. not going to argue that either… what I’m upset about is why would you choose to make bad decisions, decisions you KNOW are not good for you.  Is it independence you want? Freedom? are you really free if you are living a miserable life??  arrgggg… I just don’t like seeing friends in pain, especially that self inflicted pain that comes from the pride of not wanting to give up some thing, you know is bad for you, simply because you don’t want to admit its a problem or that its a bad influence on you… Yeah, I’ve made bad choices, yes, my friends tried to tell me I was being stupid or that my choices weren’t the best.. I didn’t listen either… so why would I think anyone would listen to me?  I guess I just need to vent.

We have a hope! We have direction, we have a way of life that keeps us from soooo many pains of this world!  Yet so many people deny that way.  I’m not talking about making mistakes along the way, we all make mistakes along the way.  I’m talking about flat out knowing what is best and not doing it.  Living hard, living fast, sleeping around, doing drugs… Do any of these things bring joy? I’ve yet to see one friend live this way and actually enjoy it.  It’s a quick “patch” to a deeper problem that seems permanent and it’s a tough thing to turn around.  But it can be turned around… there are people out there that care about you (maybe not the way you think they should, but they care none the less!!) There are truths out there, absolute truths that don’t go away simply because you “will” them away… and someday you’ll have to make a decision, and someday it will be too late for that decision… and right now, I’m just sooo sad that I may not see all of my loved ones in heaven someday. 

Here’s to tomorrow being a better day… for all of us.  

Blogged with Flock

Several posts are most likely going to show up here pretty soon.  We have not been sending and receiving emails very well so Sam switched us over to a new ISP.  Hope there aren’t any glitches!

Blogged with Flock

How on earth does one loose seven halves to pairs of socks in one laundry cycle!!?!?!?!   This is unbelievable!!! I’m soo thankful that most of our socks were given to us or garage sale finds, because at a minimum of two bucks a pop (and some of the socks were hand me downs from Gymboree!) that adds up fast!!!! 
I should take my own advice and use a lingerie bag, but what a pain it is to remember to do, arg!! But it’s better than loosing socks I guess.  So, I’m off on a hunt for dryer sock gremins to see if they somehow got sucked into the dryer hose or something, somehow… most likely they are stuck in the sleeve of some outfit they were washed in.  then again, I still can’t find the matching shoe that we lost several months back… geesh!

Blogged with Flock