1/9-1/16

Birthday celebrations

My mom and Greg came up with Gabriel (our 7 year old nephew) to celebrate Jacob's and Dode's birthdays. When they were about two miles away, their pug Ramirez  started getting really excited. He was whining and getting really antsy. Gabe said to my mom, "I'm doing that on the inside." He told them he loves coming up to our house, especially for the birthday parties.

Gabe made a cute comment when it was time for Jacob to unwrap his gifts. My mom had given Jacob 18 five dollar bills. We're celebrating Gabe's birthday two weeks later. He told her he'd like seven ten dollar bills. He's a bright boy!

They also brought up another helmet for the motorbikes.  Miriam thought it worked pretty well for keeping her safe while she made pancakes!

 
My mom made Jacob a slide show movie of his life so far.  It's amazing how many memories came back as I looked at the old  photos.  My grandma was there when Jacob was born.  Shortly after I found out I was pregnant, she received the news that she had lung cancer.  She'd come to the hospital to be with me the day of his birth.  She'd thought ahead of time that when it came time for the actual birth, she'd be more comfortable in the waiting room.  A little before Jacob was born, he started having troubles with his heart rate and my grandma sat there anxiously watching that monitor.  I don't think she could even carry on a conversation with me, she was so worried.  When it time to quickly deliver Jacob with the help of forceps and a vacuum, she was right there concerned and rooting for him.  Once he was safely born, she had the biggest smile on her face.  She'd been there for me, been there for Jacob, and her countenance lit up the room. 

Looking at the photo of her glowing shortly after he was born makes me miss her so much. If our ancestors truly can watch over us from heaven, I know who Jacob's guardian angel is!


Charity

Anastaya gave a talk in church this week on charity. As she was preparing her talk, she kept asking me for help. I helped by quoting scriptures and telling her where to find them, generally. After a while, she said to me, "Wow! Did you just give a talk on this? You really know a lot about charity!" I didn't have the heart to tell her that being a mom has forced me to study up on charity over and over again.

She did a great job on her talk. She was nervous so she talked a bit fast at times but her talk was well thought out with a good introduction, middle and conclusion. I was so proud of her up there. I wanted to whisper to everyone there what an amazing girl she is and what she's been through, but look at her now.

Produce

One of my goals is not throwing anything away we receive in the produce co-op. In order to have more variety in the baskets, several people do the ordering. We sometimes end up with things I don't care for or usually eat. One of those things are parsnips. This time, as soon as we received them, I roasted them in the oven and ate them that night. A huge improvement over throwing them away a month later when they're soggy and gross. Another item we don't eat a lot of here are potatoes. Dode doesn't care for them so when I'm looking for a starchy side for dinner, I turn to rice or pasta.

This week, I've had potatoes roasted, potatoes boiled, and today used potatoes in a cake. I've noticed that eating a combination of potatoes and cooked barley at lunch keeps me full for hours.   Potatoes in a cake is not the healthiest way we've ever eaten them!  I had to laugh at myself. I ended up using three potatoes in the cake. I also made homemade ice cream and peanut butter sauce to go on the cake and ice cream.  I didn't think the cake was chocolaty enough but it was nice a moist.  The ice cream made a great treat topped with raspberries the next day.  Is there anything better in the world than homemade vanilla ice cream with fresh raspberry sauce?