Happy Mother's Day

When you pause and think of all the things that mothers do, you quickly realise that the list is long, and  hours are long. Mothers are there to comfort, to teach, to care, to love, and so many other things helping children. Mothers are examples of giving, serving, sacrificing, and loving.

I am thankful for the godly example from my mother. Her love and care has continued. Every now and then I listen to myself and think, "that sounded like my mother." That really isn't a bad thing. I am thankful for her example.

When I think of my mother, I think the of the perfect grilled cheese sandwich that she makes. I think of all the sewing she has done through the years. I think of her spirit of adventure traveling to visit me. I think of her worn Bible filled with notes.

I am thankful to call her mom. You have been a great example. I pray that I can be that kind of mom to my own children.

Beth

Back to Blogging

Life goes on even though if you look at my blog it appears that life has stopped or stalled. So this evening it is quiet and I will highlight a few things that have happened the past few weeks.

In November I helped with the Ladies Craft event at church. It was held in both the morning and the evening and was a time for ladies to come and make about 8 different crafts, enjoy some nibbles, and hear a short talk as well as an invitation to come back for Christmas. I am beginning to think about a craft for next year.

After a year ago we began to think about sending Miss K to school. We began the process and really didn't know what would happen. We looked at the local Family Christian school and they accepted her. The weeks up to Christmas she was going there on a part-time basis but beginning tomorrow she will be there full-time. That will be a change for all of us -- getting up early, packing lunch, doing the school run, and being involved with things at school. It seems like a good environment for Miss K. She is in a Y4-Y6 class and already has lots of friends.

There are two days a year that the children are guaranteed that they will get pancakes for breakfast. Maybe a few more if we visit Grandma but the two days that I make pancakes are each of their birthdays. I made a 16 this year. No driving yet as the driving age is 17.

We have lived here almost three years and finally visited Chatsworth which is only about 30 minutes from our house. We went for the Christmas display which was lovely. We didn't wander the gardens as it was cold and windy so we will have to go back.

Those are a few of the things that have kept us busy the past few weeks.

I enjoy blogging and as life is changing (see above with Miss K going to school) I am praying about the direction for my blog. What would you like to read here?

Beth

Barcelona Day 3

Thursday our last full day in Barcelona. We had no tickets for things. Our list that day included going to Market of la Boqueria, going to the beach, and going out for lunch.

The children and I headed out to the market. We used our three day Metro tickets and took the Metro.

I think one of my favourite things to do is wander through a market whether it is Pike Place for just the wet markets in Asia. I love looking at the variety of things being sold. Some are unique to that place.

So many fruits and so nicely displayed.

I can imagine on a hot day that this vendor would have lots of sales. They look so neat in a row just waiting to be bought.

We were not far from the Mediterranean Sea so it is not surprising that there is lots of seafood there.
We even saw a few shrimp walking on the ice.

My son loves dates and so he looked at this neat display of dates drooling about eating them.

Bread is such a staple in so many cuisines. This looks like good crusty bread to dip in olive oil.

Some more fruit and vegetables.

They sold cups of fruit ready to eat. Miss K got some strawberries. They also sell olives in cups ready to eat.

One more photo from the market. I love wandering looking at what is being sold, finding unique things. I love taking photos. This was a mixture of locals and tourists shopping.

We walked out of the market and decided we wanted to head to the beach. I needed to figure out which way to go and then in the distance I saw Columbus pointing the way to the new world and new if I walked toward him we would find the beach.

We found it -- the beach -- the Mediterranean Sea. It is so blue. It was not that hot but warm enough. I  put my feet in the water just to be able to say I have done it.

Here J and K are heading to the water. Miss K had her swimsuit on under her dress. She knew we were going to the beach and it was hard to convince her that she didn't need to wear her swimsuit.

I think the beach was the highlight for the kids.

After playing at the beach for some time, we met daddy for lunch. J ordered grilled sardines. Four sardines nicely lined up in a row on his plate.

Four skeletons neatly lined up in a row after he had finished eating.

It was a great trip and fun to experience a place that was new to each of us. Miss K just said she missed Spain.

Beth

Happy New Year

Xin Nian Kuai Le

No, I didn't read the calendar wrong and miss a month. It is time to celebrate Chinese New Year.

I think I first celebrated Chinese New Year in the late 80's when I was working in international purchasing. The offices and factories in Taiwan shut down for two weeks so it was two weeks to catch up on things at work. Then in 1992 I left Taiwan just before Chinese New Year. When I was single and living in Asia most of Chinese New Year was an opportunity to travel. The office would close for a week or so and it was a great time to travel except that everyone else did so the planes were full and the resorts crowded.

When we were married, we spent Chinese New Year enjoying a bit of quiet. I can remember Taipei being very quiet during the day as so many people left the city either to travel abroad or to return to their home town. Then at night it would get loud with fireworks.

Hong Kong had a bit of a different feel at Chinese New Year. The shopping malls would be decorated. Usually to reflect the zodiac animal.  Here it is from the year of the pig.

In Hong Kong we lived in a rural area. Yes, there is such an area. Not far from our flat they would sell oranges at this time of the year. It is hard to believe that little girl is now 11.

This was one of my favourite photos of her. We walked up to look at the oranges and she was pointing to them.

The market would have all kinds of decorations for sale.

The area around the Star Ferry was usually decorated and so from there you could look towards the island. I miss Hong Kong.

Well, I decided to celebrate Chinese New Year a bit this year. We invited some friends over and made dumplings. I made my own wrappers which was the first and last time to do that. I am guessing that I made 4 recipes of wrapper dough and that was a lot of rolling. J was the master roller and cutter and he did a great job of getting thin wrappers which is what you want. We probably made about 100 dumplings.

We ate them boiled and fried. Fried are my favourite. I also made some fried rice to go with the dinner. We had oranges for dessert.

We had a fun evening making dumplings and then eating dumplings. The kitchen was a mess when we were done but it was worth it.

Happy New Year!

Beth

Life in Balance

Balance is one of those words that brings up various images. A balanced meal has different food groups. At the same time it is so easy to become unbalanced. As we ended 2015 and began looking forward to 2016, I wanted to talk a bit with my family about Life in Balance. A Life in Balance is one that uses the time we have each week to do all the things that help us to grow. A Life in Balance is not ignoring certain areas but striving to have time and energy for each area.

Luke 2:52 says, "And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favour with God and man." This gives a framework for balance.

The categories that I came up for our family were as follows:

• Spiritual
• Work
• Relational/Social
• Physical
• Family
• Creative/Hobbies
• Entertainment
• Intellectual

We each sat with our paper and thought of things that we do in each category. How do we fill the 168 hours that we have each week. There are some that fill a few categories. It was a good exercise for each of us. We the talked about some goals that we had in those areas.

We talked a bit about our word for the year. I shared by word, challenge. Miss K said her word was Peppa Pig but in the end she said it was precious. I think some were still thinking of their word for this year. It is a goal to review these each month and see how we are doing at living life in balance.

Do you have a time as a family to reflect and set goals? What are some ways that you live life in balance?

Beth

Christmas Day

I thought I would share a few photos from our Christmas day. Miss K was the first child up. The sun comes up around 8:00. Miss K ran up to her brother's room and woke him up probably the only day a year that she can do that. The pjs that Miss K is wearing are the Christmas pj's from a few years ago. 

Christmas Eve we did something different. We called it our Iceland Christmas Eve. Everyone was given a book and some chocolate to take to bed. 

Our tree this year. Earlier in the year a friend gave us the tree that had been her mum's. I have memories from my childhood of going to a friend's house that had a small tree farm and walking out to the field and selecting and then cutting our tree. I love the smell of a real tree but decided the fake tree is a better price.

Here are both children in front of the tree. I think this have to have photo. It is fun to see the changes from year to year.

The one thing that Miss K wanted was a Peppa Pig bundle. I didn't really know what that was but a few of the Peppa Pig figures was considered a Peppa Pig bundle.

Aunt Bea got Miss K a collection of miniature Swiss buildings.

We opened our stockings, then our other gifts. We had breakfast and got ready for church. We went to church for a 10:30 service. Then came home to lunch and an quiet afternoon at home. 

Someone and it wasn't me asked for dark chocolate. I purchased almost every dark chocolate that they sold at the supermarket. He also got a bit from Switzerland.

Christmas crackers was a fun Christmas lunch activity. Pulling them, hearing the pop, and then seeing who had the end with the toy, crown, and joke.

How do you communicate with fish?

You drop them a line

What did one eye say to the other?

Between you and me something smells

What did the sea say to the sand?

Nothing, it just waved

What lies at the bottom of the sea and shivers?

A nervous wreck

A traditional English Christmas meal is turkey with brussel sprouts. We weren't traditional and had leg of lamb, roasted potatoes which I did in goose fat, salad, carrots, and turnips. We were too full for dessert/pudding -- apple pie bars and pecan pie bars.

Here they are wearing their Christmas cracker crowns.

It was a fun day together as a family.

Beth

Christmas Preparations

We re taking a break from school and enjoying the holiday season as well as doing some things that we have not had time to do some deep cleaning and organising. 

I did take some time to make some cookies. I pulled out my Betty Crocker Cooky Book from when I was a child. I did notice the spelling of cookie. I guess that is how it was spelled when I was a kid. 

I made a batch of Russian Teacakes and then it was decided that one batch was not enough so another batch was made.

Today I made peanut butter blossoms.

The Hershey Kisses were special delivered all the way from PA. Thank you, Pastor Bob for bringing them when you came to visit. Thank you to my helper who unwrapped them and didn't eat any which is a miracle. That girls loves her chocolate.

I want to make some cutouts. Tomorrow I need to make my Swedish Tea ring and some desserts for Christmas Day.

We were given an artificial tree this year.

I enjoy ornaments from our travels. Two new ones that were added this year. The Scottish bag pipe player is from out trip to Scotland.

This was purchased at the shop near the York Minster. It is a great reminder of York and the York Minster one of our favourite places to visit.

The nativity reminds us of the true meaning of the season. I enjoyed listening to Miss K as she told the Christmas story with this set.

We are enjoying the season. Happy Christmas to you.


Beth