Fall is in the Air

Fighting Back Against Fall Home-Sickness

There is nothing like Fall. I know a lot of people who dislike certain times of the year or even holidays but I've never met someone who disliked Fall. For some reason it is annually filled with memories and general wonderful goodness. Every year my mind floats back to Bonfires, corn mazes, cider, chilly mornings and sweltering Arkansas afternoons, increasingly early sun downs over Illinois corn fields, sweatshirts, pumpkin treats and pumpkins, pumpkins, pumpkins everywhere!

The yearly excitement is nothing short of contagious. Boots are busted out and sweaters are dug out and we say good bye to sticky hot summers.

As we moved overseas 6.5 years ago we soon realized not all places flaunt this beautiful season. While our new home is packed with beautiful scenery I can't help but yearn for fall. Where we live there are few trees and the temperature doesn't accommodate the beautiful rainbow of leaf colors. There aren't piles of leaves on the ground in Novemeber. No one decorates their front porch with scarecrows or pumpkins. The few fall decorations we can scratch together confuse and baffles the Nationals of our country. They know we like but they don't know why??? I was once asked, "Oh is it the corn holiday again?". Referencing my baggies stuffed with corn kernels to replicate the dried corn husk decoration.
But despite the obstacles I refuse to let go of our lovely unforgotten season! I will endeavor in to create a lil piece of Fall goodness! We will bust out the decorations, make a few if need be, buy pumpkins from the fruit stand and proceed to roast, purée and can the results and waft the fumes from all Yankee candles with a fall scent.

Our first task of the season was to whip out my first ever successful batch of snicker doodles. Thanks to Sally @ Soft & Thick Snickerdoodles. - Sallys Baking Addiction.

Little hands helped with the cinnamon sugar rolling before we popped these in the oven.

Due to a shortage of cinnamon powder I used ground cinnamon sticks. That will explain the large brown cinnamon flecks.

Next came the apple fritters!

http://pinterest.com/pin/214976582190481356/

Loving everyday and project of Fall goodness! Hope wherever life finds you this Fall you will have a great season!

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Curls and pony tails

                                                    Little Girl Hairstyles
Attempting a new hair do on my little girl whose head is covered in long swirling curls. It took a little extra time to maneuver and keep her still but it was cuteness.

I'll tell you it was harder to get her to sit still for the photo then it was to do the hair style!

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Great Beginnings to Learning

                                            Great Beginnings to Learning
I've been spending the last 4 weeks or so trying to scrap together a few minutes to get a game plan for K3. Finally after one crazy afternoon of perseverance and crazy Music being played Loudly in the background for a Hindu holiday we finally had a lesson plan! Thanks to a $10 download from ABCJESUSLOVESME.com I had a digital weekly lesson plan that I then used to convert into a three day a week plan. Each week involves these things:
-Bible story with song
- Bible verse
- Bible song. English/Nepali
-1 Nepali Word
- Educational song-ex. days of the week
- a new number beginning with zero
- Three Colors
- 1 craft
- 2-4 books to be read
- application games or activities
- learning activity book
Now I know this sounds like so much But it seems like when well coordinated you can do a lot in a little time. We have done school for 20-30 minutes 3x a week for two weeks now.
I'm really hoping to add her charcacter studies to our free days just for a brief story time and application, but we haven't got there yet. This is my synopsis of our first two weeks.

1. My daughter loves learning and school! What a blessing. Mommy didn't enter this adventure with a lot of enthusiasm but I surely love seeing how much she enjoys learning and studying together.
2. Singing is a miraculous way to teach. We had been teaching our daughter verses at night for months but nothing has stuck near as fast as doing it with songs. She had it mostly down in a week!
3. It's a great avenue to spend quality time with a child individually with loads of praise. As you add children to your home it always gets a little difficult to spend quality time with each one. This has been a great benefit of schooling for us.
4. Teaching my child the Bible is an honor. Training her at a young age of the majesty, power and gracious of God is pretty cool.

5. I have a smart cookie:)
6. I can do this! I'm sure I will get overwhelmed again but for now this has been a big reassurance to me that I can with the Lords help and some planning and flexibility do this school thing!

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Power of Comfort Food

As many could attest when far away from your cultural roots there is nothing quite like some traditional "homey" food to lift the spirits. Food is such a powerful tool; whether from a stressful experience or bazillion of them, homesick days, special occasions and many times just to make a good day even better! I mean what day can't stand some chicken wings, hamburger, biscuits & gravy, Salisbury steak, chicken and dumplings, BBQ pork or on this occasion fish and chips. I'm sure you can tell by the list I've spent a large part of my life in the south y'all. As I write this I'm thinking to myself there should be something healthy on this list buuuuuut you know as much as I love a good smoothie, salad, or cucumber wedge it just doesn't have the same affect. You know?

So a couple days ago my husband brought home some fish fillets from an imported meat shop. Admittedly, the amount of times I've cooked fish I can count on one hand. I didn't grow up eating a lot of fish and it isn't on the top of my list generally but we've always enjoyed a good plate of Fish N Chips. So yesterday I thawed my fillets of Basa fish and thought my best chance of success with these fish fillets would be Fish N Chips.

I found a yummy recipe and me and my lil helper got to work.

Though she is pretty much entranced with the flour. She spent most of the time rubbing it on her skin like lotion and spreading as far as possible. But very enjoyable company.

 

After coating the fish in oooey gooey goodness we fried up the chip portion and popped them in the oven to stay warm.

Followed by some crispy beautiful pieces of fluffy pillows of fish. As these puppies fried up we mixed up some faux tartar sauce (had no relish) my husband popped on some Irish tunes. We did a few square dance type jigs while we waited for our dinner. This was a hoe down Irish style:) Thats what happens when you mix a husband with Irish roots and a girl who got deep fried as a teenager.

Placed on the plate with a vinegary cucumber tomatoes salad to give a break in the fried goodness.

It was all we were looking forward to! We were all in good spirits as we shoveled down some Fish N Chips. I know these dishes sound like boring normal dishes people eat every day in the States but here they are so much more! For one they are much more labor intensive and many times ingredients that you don't get all the time but most of all its memories on a plate that fill you with a warm contentment. Thank you Lord for good food and the small pleasures it brings with it.

 

 

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Giving, Receiving & Eating

Pyro Aloo

Roll that "R" baby and you'll have it just about right. Pyro means spicy and Aloo means potatoe. It is my first Nepali dish to make for our Church Fellowhsip. I admit it was under the supervision of a Nepali friend but its success in my eyes:)

I brought this to a ladies house in our church for a Fellowhsip. We all ate, laughed and prayed. It was a good night! The next day at church I found my Tupperware waiting for me in the nursery filled with uncooked rice. She told me with a big smile, "I filled your bowl with some rice from our village". How sweet!

It may not make a lot of sense to people in other counties but sometimes it just feels like you can just feel the love oozing out of small gifts like this in this culture. It makes you feel so wonderful and appreciated. Giving is better than Recieivng but sometimes it's not the excitement of the gift that makes receiving better but the feeling of love that accompanies it!

We took home our village rice and popped it in the pressure cooker.

It came out sticky and yummy. And here comes the yummy part, We were able to top it with my moms Sweet N Sour Pork Crockpot Recipe.

Mmmmmmmm.......Good!

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Parenting Challenge #1-Godly Grace

In the last couple months I've been able to take the time to read a little bit more about one of my greatest ministries, My Children. I've learned so much and it's made such an impact on our family. My pastor always says, "Study your ministry". It is very wise advice. So I thought I would post occasionally the Parenting Concept I've been learning about and Challenging myself to put into practice.

Parenting Challenge #1- Showing Godly Grace

 

This morning I was reading a blog update from Not Consumed. She was talking about how to deal with the times when our children frustrate us by needing constant correction. She said the Lord convicted her about complaining to the Lord about her children and not showing them the same Grace He daily shows her.

This was for sure a great learning moment for me. It's so easy to get caught up in selfish feelings such as; "Why do I have to tell them the same thing constantly", "Why do have to constantly correct you?". The Lord helped me realize a few weeks back that these thoughts are just selfishness. Selfish because I'm really bothered that I have to stop My schedule in My busy day and My routine and My good mood to deal with their issues. My children need me to selflessly like the Lord take the time to guide them.

Fast Forward to today's lesson. I also need to show the same Grace to my children with their mistakes, challenges, learning curves and at times down right stubbornness that God ever day shows to me. There is no doubt that God daily can see the same problems in me as he looks down. But does he ever stomp off in a huff? Does he ever growl in frustration, "Why do you keep doing this?"? No. Our God of grace and mercy and love constantly loves and guides us in the best way possible for every situation. He always sees us as the best picture of ourselves and continues to lead us closer to that destination.

What a challenge! That's what I want to be! God help me show the grace that I can only learn from you.

 

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Gardening take 2

After some discouraging setbacks I woke this morning to find buds on my other flower! Ahhhhhhhhh, how rewarding and encouraging to my gardening attempts! I'm still not really sure what kind of flower it is but hopefully we will find out soon!

Also this week, I have begun a new rose plant from a clipping. I decided to use a different approach this time. I read a few article on Pinterest about planting your clipping with it inserted into a potatoe. Sounds kind of crazy and I don't understand the science of it but hey, what do I have to lose.

I should have got pictures of the whole process but you know how it can be with lil ones sometimes. I always start with great intentions of cataloging so many things and then I enter survival mode! Finish this task befor anything or anyone stops you. So I took a rose out of the bouquet my husband recently brought home for me.

Another great benefit to third world living, flowers are super cheap! So I get spoiled with frequent floral deliveries. They arrive in a pink plastic bag that has been slung over the handle bars of my beloved:) He takes the time from his hectic schedule and the generally frantic traffic to stop at a little flower shop and pick out a bouquet bursting with different colors and types of flowers to brighten the day of a sometimes frazzled wife and an eager lil "princess" that loves daddy's return.

So, we cut off the top of the flower at a 45 degree angle, dip it in rooting powder, stick it into a raw potatoe and plunge it into an awaiting flower pot. Then I put out on the balcony hoping for the best while taking this pledge with hand raised.

"I, April McTague promise to never again torture my rose plant with water boarding and such unkind tactics."

Let's hope this does the trick and gets us on the road to horticulture success.

 

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