Peru

My friend is living the South American life...and she's living it well.
She's down there for a few months working for a travel agency, Peru For Less, and recently got an article published!
So proud.

www.enperublog.com/2010/08/13/from-lima-to-the-rock-gardens-of-marcahausi/

Of course, I can't wait for her to return to the states, but I'll have to wait a bit longer to see her face-to-face. For now, I live vicariously through her adventures and photos. Peru is beautiful. Hmm, looks like I just added another country to my loooong list of countries that I would like to visit someday...

Current obsession?

Cilantro and Jalapeno Hummus from Trader Joe's.

It's good.

It's really good.

Especially with these:

The right way.

Today, I woke up the right way.
Okay, so technically, the right way would have been getting my lazy bum out of bed and to the gym with errands and a grocery store run thrown in there all before 11am BUT that didn't happen. Or maybe a beautiful morning hike with a breakfast date to follow would have been the right way.
Hmm, there are so many "right ways" but today I woke up the way my poor body needed to be woken up: no alarm clock (well, there was one but it got "dismissed"), light streaming in the window, and a leisurely sloth-like pace of eating breakfast and checking e-mails with a big mug of green tea. Ahh, this is the life.
Of course, the past few days have consisted of me getting up before the sun rises, running, babysitting, working, babysitting, chasing kids, babysitting, and being a social butterfly with friends who are leaving me soon. And the next 5 days consist of the very same activities, so today's morning of leisure is not one that will be repeated for a while...maybe that's why I'm taking my time getting out of my pajamas. Denial. I'm in denial.
We all know that I secretly love the busy, productive life, but these times of relaxation sure are wonderful!

RFKC

My voice may be raspy, my shoes coated in layers of dust, and my eyes heavy with tiredness (is that even a word??), but I would gladly drive back up the 154 and do camp for a second week if it was an option. Heck, I'd probably even do it for a third and fourth week.

I am so incredibly thankful that I was able to make it to Royal Family Kid's Camp this year. Seriously. For the past 4 summers I have been sad that I wasn't able to participate but I don't think I realized how MUCH I was missing it. Looking back, I'm not quite sure how I was able to go FOUR years without being at camp. I love teaching summer school, but nothing compares to spending 5 full days loving kids who have gone through unimagineable pain and pouring into them while they pour into you. I am definitely praying that in the summers to come, school will continue to get out in early June so that I can teach summer school before RFKC...otherwise, I'll just have to say no to summer school because RFKC is just a little closer to my heart. :)

The kids are sweet, funny, dramatic, wacky, goofy, thoughtful, spontaneous, wounded, hurting, energetic, innocent, amazing...and it breaks my heart that most of them are living with foster parents who don't genuinely care about them or that they are living a yo-yo life where they shuffle from foster home to foster home without consistent support and stability.

Pray for these kids.
And pray for the group of us who will continue to reach out to these kids through the Royal Friends' Club!!

Wishful thinking...

I wish that my bike had blinkers, preferably ones that made a nice 'tink'ing sound.
I wish that ollalieberries grew year-round.
I wish that my name would be whispered around the Superintendant's office every hour on the hour...so that I can be hired, of course.
I wish that I could bake fresh scones every morning and hand them out to people...it really would make people less grumpy.
I wish that I could teleport. man, that would be ideal.
I wish that my hair would hold curls.
I wish that I had an iPad so I could have every book at my fingertips without worrying about where I am going to store them.

Wishes are pretty great. A few of these I can help come true, but some are just going to have to wait or stay on the 'wishful thinking' list. Oh well.

PTL

Praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord for HG. for people who love God. for the people in my life who encourage me to love God and live for Him. for worship and voices joining together to sing.

Praise the Lord for friends. for unexpected friendships. for people who make me want to be a better person. for people who inspire me and encourage creativity.

Praise the Lord for college. for books read, stories shared, prayers prayed, laughter laughed. for dogs who ate our dessert. for girls who desire to grow closer to the Lord and urge me to do the same.

Praise the Lord for old friends. for spontaneity. for reading in the sunshine on rooftops. for dancing. for awesome plaid boxers. for good conversation and memories.

Praise the Lord for sisters from other mothers. for laughing until you cry. for friends with whom you can share everything. for "the vault". for trials and tribulation and for overcoming those trials. for best friends.

I eat vegetables.

...especially when they are prepared like this:

layer of zucchini. sliced.
layer of salsa.
layer of monterey jack cheese. shredded.
layer of zucchini.
layer of salsa.
layer of monterey jack cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes, or until zucchini is tender.
Yum.

During the summer, we have a garden (and by "we", I mean my parents) that produces incredible amounts of zucchini. When I was younger, that was a BAD thing because I hated steamed, mushy zucchini. Thankfully, I have matured (or maybe it's just that we FINALLY found a killer recipe) and I thoroughly enjoy my zucchini. Other than zucchini bread, there is no better way to eat zucchini than in a casserole-inspired dish with salsa and cheese.