Category: great helper

And Now We Have a Teenager

It was a fantastic day filled with friends, rollercoaster rides and fun!

Then we headed to dinner at a Mexican restaurant.

Where you happily snuggled your baby sister to sleep and ate with one hand because you didn’t want to pass her off.

We topped the night off with cake (that you wanted to make and decorate again this year- naturally decorated with a stethoscope and sutures) and ice cream: of course both were mint chocolate themed. 😉 And also a few sweet gifts from friends and family.

Rachael, you are a delightful young lady. Your heart is so prevalently shared with others and you always look for a smaller hand to hold. You are a wonderful leader of our sorority and model of gentleness, diligence and responsibility. You are blossoming into such a pursuer of Christ and faithfully seeking out servant-hearted ways. I couldn’t be more thankful to be your mom and love getting lost in conversations with you. You know, everyone jokes that teenagers are a pain to raise, but I happen to think that you have broken that stereotype already just on your day 1. Keep living life to the fullest, Rachael, pursuing Christ and His fabulous plan for your life. And I cannot wait to see you embracing all that your first year in the teens has to offer your growth and maturity. Rachael, keep smashing all the stereotypes with your beautiful heart poured out into others’ lives. And this mom will be standing behind you applauding your many achievements.

❤️Happiest of Birthdays, my Rachael! ❤️
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Cooking Adventures

One Sabbath we decided to embark on a new cooking adventure as a family: homemade bagels and cream cheese.

Since the store hasn’t carried cream cheese in over a month, I set to scouring the internet for a realistic cream cheese recipe based on our Mozambican ingredients.

The older three girls began making bagels while I researched. They’ve grown accustomed to making batter from scratch and felt confident in their ability to prep the bagels in boiling water like we do when we make homemade soft pretzels.

Then while the bagels baked, Rachael, Abi and I went to the store to buy heavy cream and UHT shelf whole milk (that’s the best shot at milk that we have here).

Upon our return, we brought the milk and heavy cream to a boil and added lemon juice to separate the curds and whey.

We used a handkerchief as a cheese cloth and squeezed out the excess whey, while pouring cold water over the curds.

On the side, we also heated up some frozen strawberries (our “worth it” big buy once a month) and mashed them as a mix-in to part of the cream cheese. We mixed it to taste at the table, leaving it a tiny bit watery (we just had to fit in all the strawberries we cooked), but full of flavor.

To the “hand mixer thing” we went for the final stage of whipping air into the cream cheese with an added dash of salt. I also put in a dash of sugar for the littles’ enjoyment. 😉

We took turns mixing the thick cream cheese, adding back in a bit of the whey (oops, we were too efficient) to make a creamier cheese spread and to give our biceps a bit of a break. Ha!

Breakfast was served some two hours later (with the store trip in there). It was a WONDERFUL little “taste of America” and it was a fun family bonding time too.

Abi even made us a peanut butter banana smoothie to top off our breakfast 🙂

We’ve discussed making bagels again during a bulk cooking day and freezing them for future spoiling opportunities. 🙌🏼 Though I’d be really happy for the store to start carrying easy cream cheese again. 😝

Now on to washing the dishes… 🤦🏽‍♀️😂

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Another Decade Crosser

Today Abi turned 10 and I’m still trying to wrap my mind around it. Over the weekend we enjoyed a Star Wars themed party with family.

She was spoiled by family love without a doubt.

Complete with Jedi training course (and Yoda in the backpacks, naturally).
My little Leia may be blinking, but that smile was there permanently this past Saturday.

Today, we celebrated with Aunt Jes, Uncle Nayt and Rori in Minnesota.

We had some great backyard water play.
Later, lasagna was her birthday dinner of choice. (Yay for being in a country with the ingredients this year!)

And who wouldn’t pick angel food cake with strawberries and chocolate whipped creme instead of birthday cake?

Abi,

You are an absolute gem of a child. You love others so well, thrilling in going out of your way to serve them. Whether it’s bringing your almost two year old cousin downstairs to play Baby Shark music and dance with her because you love her squealing excitement or spending your allowance money on this to spoil your sisters, you have such a pure, giving heart. You think so much about others and pay attention to the little things that bless them. You are a lover of bike tricks (28 seconds with your hands off the handlebars in your record), all things Star Wars and Legos. How quickly you run to help and how blissfully you dance to ballet songs and sing at the top of your lungs in the car to the Phantom of the Opera. You are just my chill kid, happy and calm. Your hands are always open to others and your smile is an outpouring of your heart. You’re quick to give bear hugs and the first to share your stuffed toys (even giving one of your four away to someone younger than you because it brings them joy). Sweet girl, you have the heart of Jesus in you and it’s so amazing to watch you learn and grow in faith through your consistent reading of the Word.

Precious, Abi, you are such a sweetheart and I’m so blessed to be your mom. Never stop seeing the best in others, beautiful girl, and know that your mommy is applauding your every dream, every passion and every childhood delight. I couldn’t love you more, beautiful Abi. Thank you for being such an amazing kid. Can’t wait to see what year 10 has in store for you.

Love you, Abinov.

🎉Happy 10th Birthday, Love.🎉

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Sabbath

This year in homeschool we are studying through history from Creation to the time of the Greeks. A part of this is studying Old Testament Celebrations and Feasts (which in many areas also correspond to Jewish celebrations/feasts).

 

Our first celebration was observing the Sabbath in accordance with Old Testament and Jewish traditions.

The week before we celebrated the Sabbath the preparations began.

We made a challah bread covering.

We made centerpiece Star of David floating candles (even cutting wick out of the center of candles so we could reuse it because you work with what you have access to).

And it was exhausting thanks to the heat index plus the kitchen heat, but we enjoyed sweating to death cooking as we prepped for the Sabbath weekend.

Then we celebrated! And it was a wonderful time of acknowledging God our Creator and Redeemer as well as understanding more fully the Old Testament observance of the Sabbath.

 

The girls are already asking to do it again. =)

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