my highway to zion

I love blogging. Well, I take that back. I love writing. I write a lot more than I blog.  I suppose there are so many things I could talk about, but I sometimes am not sure how interested anyone is in the inner workings of my mind. I mean, really guys. It can get wild up there! The older I get the more I learn to take captive, redirect, distract, and sometimes completely ignore all that fires off up there. Does anyone else relate? Sometimes really funny things happen, like I think of rap songs. Just last week Matthew 6:34 transformed from a set of holy words that Ive known off the top of my head for years into a little diddy that has not only brought the words to life, but been so catchy that I can recall it at opportune moments (like the other day when 3 people in one day had their teeth fall out of their mouth-which was also random).  This morning I woke up and realized "Aha! It's the Saturday before Palm Sunday!" I then thought of going out and findin...

My brother was born with down syndrome. Due to his mental handicap, he perceives the world differently than I do. Things I would never do are no big deal to him. He doesn't have as much of a filter as me. Sometimes thats a great thing, other times it's life-threatening (like the time he thought he was superman and jumped out my bedroom window). But overall, Mike teaches me an incredible amount about my faith. While visiting America this last time, we attended one of his baseball games. Mike walked up to the plate convinced he was going to do something SO BIG that everyone would remember him forever. He picked up that bat, strode to the home plate, pointed out at the pitcher as if to warn her of the pending doom, and then took charge. After a few missed swings, he knocked the ball into the field and somehow managed a home run out of it! With his slow running pace and half the fielders being in wheel chairs, the odds were not necessarily in his favor but he pulled it off :) ...

Here's Penny and I when she was a few years lighter and I a few pounds heavier. I remember this day like it was yesterday. I was painting her fingernails. Today we went for a pedicure, and had someone else paint our toenails. She fell asleep during the treatment, so I laid there looking at her from time to time, totally amazed at the fact that she is growing up. Facing her first heartbreak (of the romantic sort, for her young life was a series of it's own kind of heartbreak) tonight, she asked to be alone in Nicole's room since she's away for the weekend. She laid in the dark, ate lots of chocolate, and is now singing songs about boys that lie and girls who want to escape that pain. Everything in me wants to fix her life for her, somehow transplant my years into her youth and help her along this high and lonely road she is walking. Each day is like a war for teenagers, and Im so afraid she will give up the fight, forget that she is strong, or decide the enemy...

The fun invaded at about 3:30 on Friday afternoon: a phone call from one of our food donors in Durbanville, telling us there were 20 boxes of potato chips waiting to be picked up for us! So i hop in the car and scoot off to the Northern Suburbs. I get stuck in a random traffic jam that diverted all cars through a dirt field and onto another road.  I ended up behind a car saying "Oops Baby Oops!!" Im not sure what he did, but it must have been double trouble. Got to Durbanville. Crammed my 20 boxes of chips in the car. Won't be doing that again! Brought them back to the happy campers...(who complained days later of potential MSG poisoning!) Then I headed to Morituri, a fun and fancy place with the largest wax tower I've ever seen. Cool!! Took a pic with Luigi to seal the deal, and laughed the night away with these two friends (It was Nicole's birthday, but she doesn't want anyone to know...so mum's the word) Saturday morn...

Got this recipe from a great homemaker for domestic and internationals alike, Sarah Prince! (You can follow her at http://looklistenlove.org) Thanks for the share, Sarah :-) Healthy Zucchini Brownies (I used Baby Marrows, so feel free to get creative!) Ingredients:     2 eggs     1 tbsp vanilla extract     1 cup / 200 g sugar     1/4 tsp salt     1/4 cup / 60 ml applesauce     1 cup / 150 g whole wheat flour     1/2 cup / 45 g unsweetened cocoa powder     1 1/2 tsp baking soda     1 tsp cinnamon     1/4 tsp ground cardamom     2 cups (about 300 – 320 g) grated zucchini     1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips Directions: Preheat the oven to 350°F / 175°C. In a bowl, combine the eggs, vanilla extract, sugar, salt, and the applesauce. Sieve the flour and the cocoa powder into ano...