Emotions.

We're moving in four days. 

It goes without saying my emotions have gone all the way from elation to tears, sometimes within the same hour! What an unreliable indicator of truth.

On the one hand, we are incredibly excited as we take the next step forward in reaching out to people groups in SE Asia. So many brand-new opportunities and connections await us. How thrilling!

And, of course, there's the other hand. The hand that tugs on my emotional heartstrings. For instance, this picture:

These two little guys are Sunday buddies. As in, they play together each Sunday and have done so for over a year. Us moving four hours north is putting an abrupt end to the adventures in toddler-hood these two share. {Well, it would come to an end soon anyway since the other little boy's parents are returning to the states for furlough but ... I digress.} 

We've put down some roots in Chiang Mai - 19 months of roots. We've gotten to know and love so many people, visited many unique places, hosted our first visitors here, made memories with Paul, and of course Ellie was born here. We stumbled through language learning (oh wait, I'm still stumbling!), had some cultural boo-boos, and were a source of endless entertainment for our neighborhood.

By focusing on the past though, I'm not going to make forward traction. Instead, I'm going to get sentimental thinking through memories, but not adjusting to a new set of adventures. 

And so.... I choose to be excited about this new step ahead of us. Of course that doesn't mean part of my heart isn't being left behind in Chiang Mai. It is. Just like a part of my heart is in Pennsylvania. But I can't wait to begin putting down some new roots and making new memories in a new place. Oh, and the people we will meet! I want them to come to Heaven with me. So it's time to dig up those roots and plant them somewhere new. Souls are waiting.

Our new city

Our new house - please come visit us!

New Mercies.

At the start of the new year, I decided to change up my Bible reading a little bit and switched to Bible writing. I enjoy variety and after reading through the Bible two years in a row, I decided I needed to come at it from a new direction.

Lately I've been writing the book of Galatians and I've been enjoying that quite a bit. Hands down, the Apostle Paul is my favorite Bible character (besides Jesus, of course). As I finished out chapter 4 of Galatians, I was captivated by what he had to say in the last verse: 

"So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free."

Simple verse, but it stopped me in my tracks. You see, the start of my Saturday morning was awful. I jumped out of bed at 6:05, intent on a nice cup of iced coffee and my Bible, and by 6:07 I heard Paul's bedroom door opening. I darted up the stairs and found a smiling little boy, ready to start his day. The problem was I wasn't ready for him to start his day! I hoped to get him settled in for a nice, long breakfast by filling his cereal bowl to the top, but instead I was keeping track of just how many milk drops were falling on my freshly-cleaned floor.

Mere minutes later, Nat came down with a smiling Ellie. Apparently my kids didn't get the memo that Saturdays are always our sleep-in day. Hrumph. I offered some coffee to Nat, but he opted to take a shower instead. When he was finished, we switched places. Of course me going to take a shower really means I grab the two baskets of folded laundry that never got put away last night, I quick make the bed, straighten up Ellie's pack-n-play, readjust the position of the fan that got moved yesterday when my cleaning lady was here, take the mosquito racket off the charger, and then go take a shower.

After my shower, I take the laundry basket of towels and go outside to start the load of wash. Glancing around the patio, I see the jump rope was left out, as well as strollers and a soccer ball haphazardly strewn across the patio. Returning inside, I find more food on the floor -- Ellie was chewing her way through a pineapple spear and it must've slipped from her hand -- as well as more milk and cornflakes. Inwardly I feel like crying. Where did my quiet morning go? I had such good intentions to start my day off with the Lord, but my day took off without me!

Nat and I both finally had (made!!) time to spend with the Lord and that's when I came to the verse I mentioned earlier:

"So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free."

Why was I living my day out as if I was a child of the bond woman, enslaved and of the flesh? Ok, so I had a less-than-stellar start to the day. My attitude was slipping down a grumpy slide and I was starting to take it out on my family. But the fact that I am a child of the King should stop my grumblings and complainings, and instead keep things in perspective. It's just one day. And you know what? Even if my kids wake up every morning at 6:10, I still need to make that choice to rejoice. In everything. 

What a balm to my soul that His mercies are new... Every single morning.

Choosing Gratefulness.

It's been quite the week around here, but I think anyone with little kiddos can tell you that! But you know what? God is so good and we're grateful we're finishing the week much better than we started. 

I put Ellie on her play mat this morning and within five minutes she had rolled over and fell asleep!

I unknowingly dressed Paul to match his daddy today so of course I needed to take their picture together!

Happy Friday. :-)

Living In Thailand. For Real!

Not being in a country where the change in the colors of the leaves signal a season switch, I'm a bit baffled that it's October already. Our weather has been warm with a blistering sun thrown in for good measure, so it definitely doesn't "feel" like fall around here! I'm grateful to see glimpses of a Pennsylvania fall courtesy of Facebook (PA friends - please post more!), but this does mess with my mind not pulling out hoodies and feeling the crispy fall air! In fact, the air con is currently on in my son's room as he naps and I've shut all the windows and curtains in hopes of keeping it cool on the inside. All you warm weather-loving people -- wanna come visit?!

So in the spirit of keeping things real about living in Thailand, I give you this:

That, my dear readers, is our truck. 

With someone else's bumper attached to it.

*Ahem*

Without describing in detail the intersection and traffic, I will say this was a very humbling lesson for me. I tend to be a risk-taker when driving (ouch, that hurt just seeing it written out!), and while what I did we've seen tons of people do (turning a third lane into a turning lane instead of a straight only lane),  it was a reality check that beating the system just isn't worth it. 

At this point, you may be wondering how that guy's bumper got on my bumper. As I turned, he moved from his lane to his left, trying to get around the car in front of him. Unfortunately, I couldn't get out of his way, but I was just enough ahead of him that the back of my truck met the front of his car and ripped the whole bumper right off. Let me tell you, it sounded terrible! I had never been in an accident before while driving, so I really expected the back end to be messed up, based upon the sound.

You know that statistic that says most accidents happen within a 5-mile radius of your home? That's exactly what happened in this instance. I had taken Paul with me to the grocery store to stock up on some fun food since it was the end of the month and we had extra in the grocery budget. So I had a big block of cheddar cheese, frozen strawberries, milk, and chocolate chips in a cooler bag just waiting to be tucked safely into the fridge. When the accident first took place, all I could think of was that block of cheese! :-)

But reality set in so I called Nat (who was studying at home while Ellie took her nap). Dealing with an insurance company in Thai wasn't exactly my idea of "hey! What a great opportunity to practice Thai!" when the adrenalin was running high, and yes, I was shaking. Thankfully Paul chose to take his nap at that moment. In the meantime, Ellie had woken up at home and wanted to eat... now. Poor Nat was juggling a screaming baby and trying to deal with the insurance company, plus try to find a way to come to where I was... since I had our only vehicle. 30 minutes later, two insurance adjusters, one neighbor, one husband and one quiet baby showed up on the scene. Since both drivers were at fault and since both vehicles were well-insured, everything was resolved rather quickly. Praise the Lord that was the case because from what we've heard, when a foreigner is involved in an accident here, it's their fault regardless of whether it's really their fault or not. 

Would you like some good news? I am officially done with Thai kindergarten. Yay! I was talking with my sister this morning and told her in my reading class yesterday, I was at the level equivalent to "at, bat, cat..." :-) I am so encouraged that this language is starting to unlock more and more for me! Most of the vowels I can remember, with the exception of two that look so similar to me. My teacher was very encouraging yesterday as I practiced the reading drill by saying my pronunciation was correct and I was reading fast. Without coming across as "pride going before a fall" I need all the encouragement I can get, and I'm really thankful for my teacher.

So I'll leave you with my name written in Thai:

แอน - Anne

And with this: 

Because this little lady is a big 5-month-old!

Whispered Words.

As I recently mentioned, I'm trying to be more goal-oriented. One of my goals has been to find more hours in the day. I'm excited to share that I have! I'm still within the boundaries of 24 hours, but by shifting my sleep schedule around I've been able to get a few more things done each day.  Since Ellie is fussy at night, I wasn't getting much accomplished after Paul went to bed anyway, so now I try to have her down by 9 and we've been going to bed before 9:30. Ellie is sleeping through the night (what a miracle!) and so I wake up around 5, feed her, and then I have two solid hours to work on things. Oh it's great. :-) 

It helps that my new school schedule is Monday and Friday 8-10 AM, and I have to leave the house by 7:20 since all of Chiang Mai drives right past our neighborhood (or so it seems)! In addition to getting lots of small things done in the wee hours, we've also been able to watch our church's services - such a blessing! 

Currently my two kiddos are sacked out - yay for nap time! 

My mind is racing with things that need to be done, but I'm also enjoying the stillness of this moment. This morning as I drove home from school, I was thinking about learning the language and how it seems to always tower over me, taunting me. I'm grateful my worth is not found in my ability to learn the language! When I came in the house, Nat had some new music playing - courtesy of a supporting church sending us an awesome package recently. I'll admit I was brimming with tears, ready to be defeated (again!) by this towering mountain. As I entered the dining room, I heard the final line: "thank you for being faithful." I have no idea what the rest of the song was about, but those words were a sweet reminder from my Heavenly Father to just be faithful. It honestly felt like I was given a big hug with whispered words of encouragement. Ok, Lord, I'll keep pressing forward! Isn't He so kind?!?

Choosing Gratefulness.

My son set a record today: *no* nap at all and he was awake for 11.5 hours straight. He's been having trouble napping (at home) for the last few weeks and I thought it was because his aunt was sharing a room with him. Well it's been three days since Auntie left and still no naps. So I set really low expectations since I've being flying solo for the last two days. I was quite impressed I actually got a shower in, Bible read, and laundry started before the kids woke up this morning. I think that's because Ellie was only up twice during the night. :)

I didn't have grand plans for the day; I even told Nat I would be doing great if I just got both kids fed and changed! Paul has been extremely clingy since Ellie was born, so I expected my day to be very kid-centered, which it was. I did manage to take the laundry off the line and I even found a small window of ten minutes to work on Thai.

So now I'm sitting in the quiet of my living room wondering why I'm disappointed with myself after all. Between nursing a newborn and taking care of Paul, my day went as I thought it would and yet I still think I should've gotten way more accomplished.

The days *are* long but the years are short. This day is done and I can't relive it. Instead I'm grateful for time to spend with Paul. I'm grateful for a newborn who is a good sleeper and on a consistent eating schedule. I'm grateful I can stay home with my babies, freeing up my husband to make a trip and oversee some literature getting into the hands of those who can use it for God's glory. I'm very grateful it didn't rain today and knock out the power for two hours like it did last night. I'm grateful I could get by with salads for lunch and dinner. ;-) I'm grateful for snuggle times with my little girl and being able to sit down with Paul and watch a DVD. I'm grateful to hear my son's squeals of delight as he plays with the dog we're watching.

So with that perspective, I did get a lot accomplished today after all! I spent time with my two children and they will never be this small again. And even though the rest of the world didn't see me today, my little world did... and I'm content with that.

Busy, Busy, Busy!

We've had an exceptionally busy week and I'm not sure why. :-) In addition to our usual three days of school and studying, we taught English at a local primary school, Nat spent a day passing out tracts with a visitor from the states, and we had a couple of other things come up. One of these times I'm going to do a post about a typical (or not so typical!) day in the life of the Williams family. :-)

We've also enjoyed an unusual number of phone calls from the States too. Communication is very important and so I was pleasantly surprised to hear my phone ring a few times. One of the calls came in at noon as we were getting lunch ready. Here a very dear friend couldn't sleep and decided to give a call... Two hours later we hung up and I really hope her work day wasn't too tiring!

We've also been able to stream the services from our church, as this week is our missions conference. How we long to be there... but streaming is the next best option!

Now we're doing a quick market run after school and then we're staying home for the evening. Language school days always feel like we're running in a marathon, so a quiet evening looks absolutely delightful. God had been good to us and we have many things to praise Him for. 

Happy Friday!!

Updated Kitchen.

We had our new kitchen counter installed last week! My husband blogged about it, but I decided it was time to put some pictures on my blog too. :-)

When the men were installing the cabinets and counter, they ran into a problem. Apparently the men who came out to measure a month ago to make sure everything would fit measured incorrectly. So the installers had two of the cabinets hung when they realized the third wouldn't fit because our kitchen ceiling slopes. Oops. So I suggested they put the third cabinet on the opposite wall and it worked out just fine!

I am very pleased with how it all turned out and it was definitely worth the wait! After the sink was installed, I cautiously used it because I was so used to doing the bucket system that it didn't seem right to have water come out of the tap and go directly down the drain. Fun stuff!

Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

Things I Love...

For dinner I made stuffed peppers but needed some cooked rice. Nat quick went to the market across the street and got a bag for about thirty cents. What a blessing to be able to skip a step and use a "shortcut."

That got me thinking about all the things I love about living in Thailand. No it's not America but if I think about all the things I miss in America, then I'll develop an attitude of disappointment and sadness. So here are a few things I love about Thailand.

1. A fresh market right across the street. We buy all of our produce there and just bought some meat there for the first time!

2. I feel this needs to be mentioned separately: I really, really enjoy the variety of fruits and vegetables available. Our weekly staples include pineapple, watermelon, pummelo (like grapefruit), mangoes, bananas, papaya, lettuce, peppers, cucumbers, carrots, garlic, onion, tomatoes, and a few other items. Best of all, all of that is around $10.00!

3. At the market, we've been very loyal to one vendor who sells us tomatoes. I make my own sauce so that means a lot of tomatoes! Monday the vendor gave us a discount since we bought so much and the ones we were buying didn't have the prettiest skin. That doesn't bother me since I take the skins off anyway. So we paid $1.08 for three pounds of tomatoes.

4. When it comes time to pay our water or electric bill, we take the bill (that was left in the bill holder by our mailbox) and go to 7-Eleven and pay it. Simple!

5. My washer is on the porch outside so I simply wheel the laundry rack over, hang the clothing up, and push the rack to the front of our porch so the clothing can dry in the sun.

6. Our mubaan (neighborhood) has two Thai restaurants, and we've used the one many times. For the two of us to eat at the restaurant costs us about $2.00. 

7. I am not a coffee drinker at all, but I commented to Nat tonight I've had more iced lattes in the last three months than I have in my life. :-) Coffee shops are everywhere and they offer more than just coffee. The best part is many of the drinks would run around $4-5.00 in the States, but here they cost $1.50-1.75. The other thing I like is if your drink is take away, they will put it in a bag that you can carry which is very convenient. Anytime you buy something here, it goes in a bag. That's probably because for many people their main method of transportation is motorcycle so you just slip the bags on the handles and you're good to go!

8. A store called Yok has just about become my favorite store. You can get all sorts of baking stuff there (some of it expensive), but we like it because they sell blocks of cheese, cream cheese, and butter for a reasonable price. We made a cheesecake the other week and figured out that the cost to make the cheesecake was about $10.00. Now that we have a bigger freezer, we can freeze things like butter or cheese and we now have the option of buying in bulk and not paying $4.00 for an 8 oz block of cream cheese.

9. When we stop for diesel, we get one water bottle for every $9.00 we spend. The station we stop at has the same exact price as everywhere else, so it's nice to have something "extra" thrown in. They also pump the diesel and wash the windshield too... What service!

10. At a ladies' meeting in September, the ladies in my church gave me some money for pedicures over here. I finally went two weeks ago and I'm sure I went to an "expensive" place because I didn't know where else to go. Including a tip, it cost me $7.75. I'll have to hunt around to find the cheaper place but it sure was a nice treat... and it made me grateful for those generous ladies back home!

11. Nat's been having some muscle problems in his leg and someone suggested him going to a physical therapist across the street. For a 45 minute appointment, he paid $10.00 and it's been helping him.

12. My last doctor's appointment included an ultrasound (done by the doctor herself) and the total cost of my appointment was $21.50. My first appointment included an ultrasound and bloodwork so that one was $31.00. 

13. Beef is very expensive here. We eat chicken and pork, so when we get the craving for beef, we'll go to an American restaurant and order a cheeseburger with fries and a pickle for $4.00. I usually cut it in half and have the rest for lunch the next day. That burger is also cheaper than Burger King, where the burger alone is about $5.00.

14. Our shower hot water heater needed to be replaced, so we bought a new one and the man came to install. After installing it, he realized we needed to have a different breaker put in so the next day he returned and installed another breaker... at no extra charge, minus the cost for the part. 15 minutes and everything was installed!

15. Remember the three refrigerators we had in our kitchen? After talking with the landlord and explaining the door was broken on the freezer of the one, he gave us permission to get rid of it. The neighbors down the street got their two boys to move it out and they set it on the corner of our street. The next day it was gone. :-) Problem solved!

16. Every week after the church service, we enjoy a meal cooked by one of the members. We all sit down, eat and fellowship. Such a precious time!

17. The highway is literally outside of our mubaan. What a blessing when the traffic is congested to be able to "turn left on red" and not have to wait forever at the looong light!

That's good for now! I want to appreciate the things the Lord allows us to enjoy, and yet be ever mindful that we have a far greater task at hand. All of these perks are just extra. :-)

Kitchen cleanup.

I briefly mentioned in my last post about a situation that came up that became an exercise of patience. Ever since we moved into our house, we have had a cockroach problem. Gross, right? Some days we would have 7-8 sprawled out on our kitchen floor which was always what we wanted to see first thing each morning!

While my niece was here, we spent a good chunk of time cleaning the house and throwing away things that previous occupants left behind. We also discovered what roach eggs look like. Google that if you are really curious. In a word, disgusting. We knew the roaches were hiding out in the lone cabinet/counter/sink and went looking for a replacement piece.

I'll spare you the details, but suffice it to say we finally found something we liked (landlord included), and found out from the store when the new one was going to be delivered. So 2.5 weeks ago, Nat went about the demolition of our old cabinet, knowing there would be roaches to contend with.

What we didn't know was that the actual nest was in the floor of the cabinet and pulling it apart meant roaches went scattering. Nat spent a good chunk of the day getting rid of the roaches and when he pulled the counter away from the wall, there was a whole pile of them in one corner. 

Umm, ick.

With the help of a friend, they moved the counter and cabinet out and only two baby roaches managed to drop out of it on the way to the door. :-) We took care of them, of course! We knew the cabinet was going to be delivered on Monday morning, so we dealt with the lack of sink for two days thankfully anticipating our new one to be installed - minus the roaches.

Monday morning two men showed up, measured the space, and said they would return after buying a few supplies... or so we thought. Here it turned out they were just measuring to make sure the new one would fit. After a phone call to the store clarifying that up, they said come on down and pay and then we'll install. Okie dok. Tuesday we go pay and ask when the cabinet will be delivered. At first they told us "next day" but we said that wouldn't work with our school schedule. When we asked about Thursday as another option, we were met with blank stares. With our limited Thai and their limited English, we went round and round until the man nervously chuckled and said, "oh! Not next day. Next month!!" 

Huh?!?

We finally figured out that things indeed were lost in translation. Two little words were never mentioned when we were first at the store: special order. That cleared up a lot of the miscommunication. In the meantime, we were looking at being without a sink, counter, and cabinet for 3.5 weeks. 

Thankfully God's grace is truly sufficient. We went out to get a folding table (which we were going to buy eventually) and two buckets to be our temporary fix. It's working just fine. :-)

Oh, do you notice the grey fridge in the above picture? We now have three fridges in our kitchen!

The Lord provided us with an amazing deal to purchase our own fridge (2014 model!), rather than the two we were using. One came with the house since it was fully furnished, and then one came from the neighbor down the street who lent it to the people who were here before us. Both have issues and weren't big enough or efficient enough. So we have an abnormal kitchen: no sink and three fridges! Wanna come visit?!? :-)

Hopefully we can sort out the extra fridge situation soon and return it to the neighbor down the street or have it go somewhere else. We'll obviously have to move the small grey fridge before the new counter and cabinet comes because that's where they are going. :-)

So am I glad to be without a sink and counter for 3.5 weeks? Not necessarily... until I think about those roaches, and then I'm really glad they are gone! If we have to deal with an inconvenience for a few weeks, it's worth it to be roach-free! 

I AM looking forward to next week though... :-)

Blessings from the past week

~ only two days of language school! (This week we make up for it with four days:D)

~ a Sunday morning Bible study was preparation for the week ahead of needing patience (more later in an upcoming post)

~ going to the market and doing (most) of the speaking myself!

~ a great opportunity for my husband to have fellowship with other men, including two visiting pastors, during a day trip to a nearby province

~ ice cream from Swenson's... mmmm!

~ another Sunday morning Bible study and fellowship time with two missionary families

~ a visiting pastor graciously bringing our mail with him... and a few bonus items like Olive Garden Italian dressing!

~ after looking for two months, being able to custom-order seat cushions for our hard, wooden furniture in our living room (our house came furnished)

~ Paul having a great day at language school so I could stay in class

~ dinner with our neighbors and meeting another couple our age with children around our kids' ages 

~ a Skype video call with one of our dearest family friends back home

~ a beautiful hymn with the words "grace, grace, God's grace... grace that is greater than all our sins"

~ cool days and nights so we don't have to run the air con or fans

~ sweet giggles from my little boy

It's been a good week!

Love.

By no means is this picture going to win any awards, but it is special because it speaks of a lot of love to me. 

Love from a dad to his son that he would keep the big box rather than throw it away.

Love from a dad to his son that he would spend time entertaining his son with said box even though he has plenty of other things to do.

Love from a dad to his son that he would get down on his son's level and play with him.

Yes, I see a lot of love in this picture. 

And now that same dad is showing a lot of love to his son AND his wife by putting the baby down for a nap... What a guy. :-)

Lessons Learned.

This week we had a situation arise that was a test of culture and humility. As we interacted with a Thai person on the behalf of another Thai person (cultural norm), the answer we were given wasn't quite satisfactorily to our minds. Nevertheless we saw an opportunity before us to respond with meekness and leave the situation in God's hands. "Lord, we're willing to do ___________ because relationships are much more important than _____________." So imagine our surprise two days later when things worked out exactly the way we were praying for them to work out! A true miracle, in our minds, and one where the Lord gets all the praise.

The second situation was a personal one for me. I've been struggling with learning the Thai language and while I could launch into five good reasons as to why I'm struggling, I'll just leave it at I was very close to throwing in the towel this week. Wednesday in particular. My husband and I were talking about it Wednesday morning and I was laying out everything with such raw honesty. I'm grateful my husband is always sympathetic and understanding, but doesn't think and respond with his emotions. :-) He encouraged me to go to school that day and had a lot of logic behind his explanation. As I anticipated, school was.... rough that day, to say the least! That night, we were catching up on some messages from our home church, specifically from the New Year's Eve service. A group of four men preached that night with our church's assistant to the pastor preaching last. He mentioned that he had one message planned, but God directed him another way about 15 minutes before the service. :-)

If for no one else, I am very glad he was obedient to God's direction. He preached on how I am a new creature in Christ and how I really don't have any excuse not to do _________. Well I didn't need to go too far back in my day to think about what I could apply the message to! That message was motivation the rest of the week to press forward in my studies. Have my circumstances changed? Not really. I still have those five really good reasons to throw in the towel, but now I also have one that trumps them all: I am a new creature in Christ and I can get victory through Him. But I will admit I'm glad for the weekend so I can re-group and get prepared for Monday's class. :-)

Church, Chicken, And Crackers.

I didn't realize how much I missed taking part in an English-speaking church service until we live-streamed our church's Sunday night service Monday morning. It helps having a 12-hour time difference. :-) We were able to catch a portion of the song service, and I felt the tears starting to form as I listened. The piano and organ playing... the words being sung in English.... being able to pick out a few of the voices of people we know and love... having our hearts prepared for the preaching. What a blessing! 

I will admit I was slightly disappointed at first when we figured out our pastor was not going to be preaching, but a visiting missionary. But on the flip side, this was the first time in a long time that we actually got to see and hear from a new missionary. That's the bad thing of traveling on deputation: you miss out on the missionaries that come through your own church. :-) As I sat there listening to this man preach, the thought occurred to me I was taking notes and actually had my Bible open. You're probably thinking, "so?" but most services here in Thailand, I usually end up in the back of the room with Paul keeping him quiet. So for the first time in two months, I could really be still before the Lord during a service. Just keeping it real! That was such a precious time, and the added blessing was Paul slept until 8:00 so we weren't interrupted. 

Then my husband blessed me by making dinner Monday night. Usually after language school (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday 1 PM - 3 PM) I am so mentally drained that cooking dinner is the last thing on my mind. Those nights make for a great night out to the market or to some street vendor. :-) Sunday night Nat marinated some chicken and got the grill going Monday afternoon. After he grilled the chicken, he put the potatoes in the coals to bake and they were so yummy. I just savored every bite. :-)

As we were eating, my experiment was baking in the toaster oven. I should explain what my experiment was. In a box my mom sent recently, she included some graham crackers for Paul. I have yet to find them in country and as the pile of USA crackers were getting depleted, I decided to try my hand at making some. It was definitely a lot more work than I anticipated, and I let the dough chill Sunday, so by the time I baked the first batch it was Sunday night. There was a learning curve for sure! The first batch I rolled too thick, so they were more bars than crackers. Then the next batch I rolled thin, but the bottoms got burned because of the temperature. I learned that baking in a toaster oven is different than a regular oven. The good news is since all I have is a toaster oven, I needed to do five batches. :-) Trial and error!

The third batch I turned the temperature down and kept a closer watch, but they still got burned on the bottom a bit. I couldn't figure it out, other than the fact I used the timer on the toaster oven. So for the fourth batch, I set a timer on my phone and checked then well before they were supposed to be done. Perfect! The fifth batch was just fine too.

By the time it was done, I had lowered the oven temp 50 degrees and cut the time in half. So now I feel like I have a challenge before me in baking things in the oven. Thankfully Nat is of a scientific mind and can help me with the calculations and such. :-)

As I went to take the picture, my husband graciously said, "I can move the burnt one" but I figured that it was all a part of the experiment so the burnt one stayed in the picture! I don't know if I will make them again since they were very time-consuming (and the dough was very sticky!), but then again maybe I will... now that I figured out the technique!

 

A future little helper!

I had a little peek into what the future could be like with a little helper and it brought me a lot of delight! As I was trying a new experiment today, Paul was playing with his toys and would occasionally crawl to the kitchen. After finishing up mixing some batter, I let him lick the spatula and he got the biggest grin on his face. Then throughout the day I would say, "come help me put away the laundry" or "let's clean up the toys" and he would come. We obviously need to work on the actual "helping" part, but it got me really excited to see Paul beginning to change and see needs around him. Still a ways to go, of course, but it's a first step!

Now that I wrote that, we're having a little boy return to touching a light after he's been told no. So we still have a looong ways to go!

My husband blessed me in a wonderful way today. When I mentioned I was thinking of taking a nap, he offered to watch Paul and go to the market to pick up some fruits and vegetables. I thought my nap would be short so I could go with them, but it turned into 1.5 hours and that was after sleeping from 10 PM until 7 AM! I guess that was my body's way of reminding me that I am pregnant, even though it's been an easy ride so far. :-)

Oh, and as to my experiment, I'll let you know if they turn out or not. If you don't hear anything more about it then you can guess... not. :-)