Thankful...

After eye appointments and a photo shoot (thanks to a friend who took the pics that include me) this morning, I've put on my pajamas and crawled back into bed with a cup of Candy Cane Lane tea and a box of tissues.  So thankful for the simple tortilla soup I had already planned for supper since I think all of us are beginning to sniffle.

 

Also grateful for my amazing family who is keeping this household running smoothly (school, meals, putting up clean clothes).  We frequently call ourselves the "Choate Team" in jest, but we really do make a great team.

And will wonders never cease?  This is the one night this week with nothing on the calendar.  Thank you, Lord!  Time to snuggle, sip our nourishing soup, and watch "White Christmas" with my kids.

 

Tortilla Soup (from First Place Favorites)

 

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup chopped green peppers

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 Tbsp. vegetable oil

1 (14 1/2 oz.) can tomatoes

1 small can green chilies

1/2 cup picante

1 (10 1/2 oz.) can beef bouillon

1 (10 3/4 oz.) can chicken bouillon

1 (10 1/2 oz.) can tomato juice

1 1/2 cups water

1 tsp. ground cumin

1 cup sliced zucchini

6 corn tortillas cut into 1/2" strips

1/2 cup shredded low-fat cheese

 

1.  Saute onions, green peppers and garlic in oil in a large Dutch oven until tender; add next 9 ingredients.  Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat, and simmer 1 hour.

 

2.  Add tortillas and simmer 5 minutes.  Top with cheese in bowls.  Serves 6

 

 

Texas Woman's Daybook

 

 

For today...Monday, December 10

 

Outside my window...the sun is going down and the temperatures are dropping rapidly.  Our first freeze is finally coming!

 

Pondering these words..."Because both parents and children obstinately refuse to pull the cart of God's glory down the road, the Father broke the stick of punishment on his obedient Son's back.  Rather than trying to entice us by dangling an unattainable carrot...incessantly in front of our faces, God the Father freely feeds the carrot to us, his enemies."  Love this word picture from "Give Them Grace"

 

A heart of thankfulness...for the three Chinese students who were baptized in yesterday's morning service at church.  Their testimonies and the baptism were all in Chinese.  Heart language.  Amazing.

 

On my bookshelf..."Shepherds Abiding" by Jan Karon.  A little light reading for this time of year. 

 

From the kitchen...using up tortillas in chillaquillas from "The New Laurel's Kitchen", perfect to warm us up tonight.

 

Noticing that...I can't seem to get over this cold.  It's back with a vengeance after a month of ups and downs.  The kids had to finish reading out loud today when my voice gave out.

 

Something I want to remember for later...Katherine's bracelet that she finger crocheted for me last night during our hand bell rehearsal

 

 

From the learning rooms...Catherine the Great, Napoleon Bonaparte, Rosetta Stone discovery, Beethoven, George Washington's home Mt. Vernon; Sarah - powers & exponents in algebra, Benjamin - adding & subtracting fractions, Olivia - order of operations, Katherine - addition (she has just fallen in love with math in the last week!)

 

One of my favorite things...spending time together as a family.  The kids sang well last night at the Dallas Heritage Village.  The weather was cool and breezy, the houses were beautiful and full of history.

 

 

A few plans for the rest of the week...the big kids have Southwest Children's Chorus practice tonight and Thursday night for their big choir concert Saturday night, eye appointments for Benjamin and me on Tuesday morning, Wednesday night we (all of us - playing hand bells, singing, & playing cellos) have a rehearsal for our church's "Home for Christmas" program with a performance on Sunday night, Sunday School Christmas party (Aaron & me) Friday night as well as the church choirs' living Christmas tree Friday night (Sarah).  Twill be a week full of music praising our Savior!

 

A peek into my corner of the world...look what we cut from the trees in the back yard.  We have two doorways in our home hung with mistletoe for double the opportunity to smooch!

 

When our computer crashed recently, we lost our database with names, addresses, phone numbers, birthdays, etc.  If you were on this list or would like your name to be included on our new list (even if you think we have your information memorized!), please send us an e-mail at joanna underscore choate at sil dot org.  Thanks!

"Some people give time, some people give money, some give their skills and connections,  some literally give their life's blood.  But everyone has something to give."  ~Barbara Bush

 

 

 Our big kids sang with the Southwest Children's Chorus in a mall at noon today.  Benjamin did a great job on his small solo!  He reminds me so much of his daddy at that age.  Benjamin's clear voice was the first note the audience heard.

 

 

I thought this would be a perfect day to shop for our church's angel tree.  Along with the Advent tag telling the kids today's activity, they found two tags from the tree at church

So, after the concert, we all had fun shopping for two children from our community.  The day has been sunny and beautiful, right around 70 degrees.  Perfect weather for being out and about.

 

We're home now and whipping out some goodies to give to Sunday School teachers tomorrow.  We never need an excuse to make goodies to share, but Christmas sure is a fun reason to make extra!



Today our advent tag instructed us to hang candy canes on the tree and read "The Candymaker's Gift" by David and Helen Haidle.

 

 

We also enjoyed making some Peppermint Bark (from "Christmas with Paula Deen" ):

Paula Deen's Peppermint Bark

 

Peppermint candy canes

18 squares white chocolate (1 ounce each)

Peppermint extract (optional)

1.  Line a rimmed cookie sheet with parchment or waxed paper.  Place the candy canes in a heavy-duty plastic bag and hammer into 1/4-inch chunks or smaller.  You should have about 1cup.

2.  Melt the chocolate in a double boiler over simmering water until smooth, or melt in the microwave in a 2-quart glass dish.  Microwave on high (100%) for 1 minute, stir, and microwave on high for 10 seconds more.  If necessary, microwave on high for an additional 10 seconds, and stir until the chocolate is melted and smooth.

3.  Combine the candy cane chunks with the melted chocolate.  Add 1 drop of peppermint extract, if desired.  Pour the mixture onto the prepared cookie sheet and place in the refrigerator for 45 minutes or until firm.  Remove from the cookie sheet and break the bark into irregular pieces, like peanut brittle.

Makes about 6 cups

 

 

St. Nicholas Day

"I do not believe one can settle how much we ought to give.  I'm afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare." ~ C.S. Lewis


Before Advent ever started, I really felt like we needed to focus on God's gifts and generosity to us and our overflow of giving to others with our time, finances, energy, and resources.  I was just writing to a friend last night that God is already testing me in these areas!

 We made purse cookies to celebrate St. Nicholas' generosity (if we had lots of time and energy, I would have liked to try some of these recipes, maybe next year!) and

 

 

read "The True Story of Saint Nicholas" by Rebecca Benson Haskell.
 

 

Now we're getting ready to head out the door for the Southwest Children's Chorus performance at the Dallas county Tree of Angels ceremony tonight.  Benjamin has a small solo!

 

In October, we gathered sweet gum balls at my grandparents' home, knowing that we wanted to make these ornaments, my favorite for over thirty years.

Yesterday was the day!  We invited a couple of sweet families over to make ornaments.  I met one of the families when we attended the Pacific Orientation Course in Papua New Guinea, and the other family are new friends who are getting ready to serve in Bible translation in Africa.

"Uncle" Aaron enjoyed playing with little one who didn't quite have the attention span to make ornaments.

We also made cinnamon applesauce ornaments.  The house smelled SO good!



Since our Advent tag today said to make star ornaments, we also put some books about the Christmas star in our book basket:

Andro, Star of Bethlehem by Anne Claire

What Star is This? by Joseph Slate

The Tiny Star by Arthur Ginolfi

One Special Star by Anita McFadzean

Twinkle, Twinkle Christmas Star by Christine Harder Tangvald

Song of the Stars:  A Christmas Story by Sally Lloyd-Jones

Inspired by Wild Olive's beautiful ornaments, some from last year and some from this year, we pulled out the felt, embroidery thread, and embellishments and let loose with creativity.

What a gift to be able to fellowship with others who understand what life in a village can be like and to compare language learning stories.  Thanks, friends, for spending time with us and helping to make our celebration and anticipation of Jesus so special.

O Christmas Tree

 

Yesterday, when Olivia read the Advent tag for the day, the kids discovered that we were going to a Christmas tree farm after school.  Normally, we gratefully put up our small artificial Christmas tree to kick off our Advent celebrations. 

 

 

This year, we found a small Christmas tree farm, Yesterland Farm, nearby and drove over to cut our own tree.  One of the things I've noticed since returning to the States is the lack of decorations representing Jesus or anything Biblical.  I was so happy to walk into the little gift shop at Yesterland Farm and find plenty ornaments with nativity scenes or references to Jesus.  We had a nice chat with one of the owners.

 

 

Sarah wore one of her beautifully crocheted headbands.  She's having a lot of fun with the variety of yarn we can find in the States!  I love watching my kids blossom.

 

 

Since we left all of our books in the Solomon Islands (and we love our books!), we raided my mom's bookshelf and our small library to find books about Christmas trees.

 

The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree by Gloria Houston

 

Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree by Robert Barry

 

Night Tree by Eve Bunting

 

The Beautiful Christmas Tree by Charlotte Zolotow

I hadn't realized that Christmas trees used to be hung upside down to represent the trinity with their three-cornered shape.  Glad we don't observe that custom anymore.  Nor did I know that tinsel was made out of real silver until the mid-twentieth century!

 

We did leave a handful of ornaments in the States, like Aaron's small collection of Pittsburg Steelers ornaments.

 



And we brought a handful back with us from the Solomon Islands to remind us of the home we love so much.



 

 Of course, we have to cart our tree topper back and forth.  A sweet student made it for me when I was still teaching school.  Glory to God in the highest!

 

Saturday, we drove over to Aaron's aunt and uncle's house.  It had been way too long since we spent time with them, and we got an extra treat when their younger daughter dropped by so we could hug her neck.  Aaron and Uncle Tom met with the pastor of Kingwood's First Baptist Church while the rest of us hung out at the house and caught up.

 

 

 After a delicious lunch of hamburgers hot off the grill, we enjoyed a stop by a local Christmas festival and a walk on one of the docks of Lake Houston.

 

I think my kids kind of missed living near the water.

 



 

 

Last night, Aunt Mary's wild side came out as she coached Sarah in the finer points of Yahtzee

 

 

 and soundly beat us all.



We wrapped up our trip all worshipping together at First Baptist Church, Kingwood, where Uncle Tom and Aunt Mary have attended for over twenty years.  There's just something special about going to church together, and once again, we are so thankful to be able to just hop into a vehicle and drive to spend time with our family and friends.  What a gift!