I love my Valentine

How is it that I have had ten years with the best Valentine ever?He happens to be on trauma call tonight.I love you, T.

A Thankful Saturday

Today was a great Saturday.

Slept in with T until 8:30,

when the pitter-patter of little feet arrived in our room,

and we snuggled in bed with G-Bear, her blanket and some storybooks

until we heard E-Bear singing in his bed,

and we brought him down to join us.

Breakfast of strawberry smoothies, biscuits and ham,

lazy conversation around the table until 11am,

when we decided to retire to baths and showers 

and get ready for the day.

Plenty of playtime, laundry and crafts,

the kids making sticker collages at the table,

while T and I started prepping dinner for friends,

our favorite tunes playing in the background.

We finished dinner prep during nap time,
dancing to the music.

I love few things more than cooking with my love,

especially when we are cooking for friends.

Twelve of us gathered for dinner,

a 'Thank-you' from T and me to them,

his fellow residents from his last VA rotation,

a close-knit, hard working bunch.

And now we lay exhausted,

at the end of a sweet, sweet day,

baby cozy in my belly,

children nestled in their beds,

"I love you, mom, dad," each has said.

What more could we want?

Wish for? 

Desire?

Truly, 'Dat Deus incrementum'

that is, 'God gives the increase.'

(1 Corinthians 3:5-9)

St. Valentine's Party

"I love you more than there are stars in the sky or waves in the ocean..."

G-Bear's St. Valentine's Party was today at preschool.  Last night, we signed her princess valentine cards for her classmates and set aside her valentine treats that she would bring for the party: Nemo fruit snacks for the boys and My Little Pony fruit snacks for the girls.  This morning, she could barely contain her excitement as we packed them all in a bag for her to bring with her to school.

When I got home from work tonight we sat together on the couch as she excitedly recounted the IMMENSE excitement of her day and showed me each of her valentines and each treat from her valentine party bag.  What joy!  The best surprise was the valentines that she made for T & me with the help of her teachers.  Here is what she wrote:

To me:






To T:






Hard to beat love like that, folks!  Not bad for the first valentines we have received from our daughter.  My heart could have burst with love and pride.  We love you too, G-Bear.

Disagreement and Civility

How do you argue?

I have been asking myself that a lot this week.  I don't like to argue and infrequently find myself in circumstances in which I feel argument is warranted.  But I recently found myself confronted by another person in a way I felt was unfair, leaving me feeling defensive and wanting to justify my perspective.  In considering how to respond to the confrontation, I have struggled with how to combine my desire to defend my perspective with my desire to respond with Christian charity toward another person. 

To the rescue, T found a great essay perspective from one of our favorite Christian authors on the idea of Christian Civility.  The following is an excerpt from the essay, which was written by Pastor Tim Keller of Redeemer Church in New York City.  It helped me re-think my approach to disagreement and encouraged me to prioritize respectfulness, humility, and unselfishness if I choose to offer my opposing perspective to another person. 

"Os Guinness has said that civility is too easily dismissed as simply “niceness” or even squeamishness. Worse, it is seen as unwillingness to contend for what is right and true.  Civility, however, has to do with how you contend, and it is an expression of caritas—charity or Christian love. It is not a refusal to criticize. Indeed, uncharitable discourse makes no attempt to really persuade the opposition. Uncivil discourse merely castigates and caricatures the other side. It doesn’t try to win over the opposition with the truth, but only to marginalize and disempower them.
         Uncivil speech is designed to intimidate, silence, and stir up opposition. It does not aim to persuade more people to believe it. Ironically, when Christians speak this way, it shows no confidence in the Truth at all, but only in power, and that is a very secular view of the world....
         By contrast, what does Christian civility look like? First, it shows respect for persons in the image of God even as it argues that their views and positions are not worthy of respect. James 3:9 says we should not “curse men made in God’s likeness”—a remarkable warning against wishing ill on people.
         Second, it shows humility as you argue. That means a lack of eye-rolling, sighing, sneering, and pejorative vocabulary..........

        Third, it would be good to follow the ancient rules of debate. One is not to attribute an opinion to opponents that they will not personally own, even if you think it is the logical outcome of their views. Another ancient rule is: before arguing with your opponents you must state their position positively and so well that they say, “Couldn’t have said it better myself.” Then and only then may we proceed to argue. "  ~Tim Keller, January 7th 2011

Food for thought.  

Grocery Bag

Here is our plan for to get through dinner this week!

Day One

Irish Beef Hand Pies from Everyday Food Magazine

and Spinach, pear & craisin salad with balsamic dressing

These hand pies are great to make ahead and freeze.  

I can bake them from frozen when I get home in the evening.

Photo and recipe at MarthaStewart.com

Day Two

Coconut & Chicken Curry Soup from Tasty Kitchen

with steamed honeyed carrots

This will be a new recipe for us this week, but it gets rave reviews on Tasty Kitchen.

Photo and Recipe at TastyKitchen

Day Three

"Healthy Mac & Cheese" from Joy in My Kitchen

with steamed broccoli

My friend SnoWhite makes a mean mac&cheese, and this recipe makes us drool.

You will never know there is sweet potato in the sauce, and my kids LOVE this dish.

Photo and recipe from Finding Joy in My Kitchen

Day Four

White bean and turkey chili from Cooking Light Magazine

with Mini cornbread puddings from Everyday Food Magazine

and spinach salad

Photo and recipe from MyRecipes.com

Photo and recipe from MarthaStewart.com

Day Five

Curried Lentils in Tomato Sauce from Everyday Food Magazine

with couscous 

This is a quick and easy vegetarian favorite in our house.

Recipe at MarthaStewart.com

Blessings on your kitchen!

Winter Family Time

Ah, February, you have already been good to our little family.

G-Bear's poem from Sunday School last weekend.

This weekend was filled with pure, uninterrupted, unadulterated family relaxation time.  We soaked it up.  We make a good team.  

"My Family" 

By G-Bear

G-Bear's first family portrait.
From L to R: Daddy, Mommy, G-Bear, E-Bear

We have been doing a LOT of reading in our house.  G-Bear is not yet reading on her own, but that doesn't stop her from memorizing her books or making up her own stories so that she can "read" to E-Bear.  Here we were able to catch her in the act.  Are these two peas in a pod or what?  Makes a heart want to melt.

G-Bear, reading to E-Bear.

We have also been doing a LOT of puzzles in our house.   In fact, this is yet another thing that G-Bear has taught E-Bear recently.  Under the tutorage of his big sister,  E-Bear is suddenly very proficient at putting together Disney Princess puzzles.  Just call him prince charming.  We're so proud ;)

We celebrated the end of our big week with a night out to dinner together.  We waited an hour for our table (now THAT is dedication!), but the Bears were great.  We brought books and read them on the floor together, eyed the dessert case and checked out the mall while we waited.  What a treat.  

Out to dinner.

We capped off our weekend with a post-church trip to an indoor play-place, ate dinner leftovers for lunch, and had a soup and popcorn supper watching the Superbowl.  Simple.  Family.  Weekend.  Thank you, Jesus.  What a blessing.

Neurology round-up

I am done with Neurology today, the last required rotation of my medical school career, provided I pass my last med school SHELF exam this afternoon.  Then I have 5 weeks of elective rotations to finish up and then I am done.  But, I am not the only one passing milestones this month.  T finishes his last week ever at the Veterans Affairs hospital next week.  Both of these accomplishments bring us even closer to our big graduation finale this spring.  It is hard for us to believe how close we are coming to the end of these stages of our respective professional lives.

It has been a busy week, and I haven't yet decided how best to celebrate this weekend.  We'll take suggestions!

Dinner Conversation

Here was our dinner conversation with G-Bear last night:

G-Bear: "Mommy, what do you call another word for when your tummy hurts?"
Me:  "Do you mean a stomachache?" 
G-Bear:  "No, like what Madeline had?"
Me (realizing her reference to the book, Madeline):  "Oh, an APPENDIX."

G-Bear:  "Oh, thaaaaat's right, appendix."
Me:  "Your appendix is in your tummy just like your stomach is, it's just in a different place.  See, your stomach is up here (pointing) and your appendix is down here (pointing again).  So, when your appendix hurts your tummy hurts in a different place than when you have a stomachache."
G-Bear:  "Oh, thaaaaat's right, but sometimes my my stomach is over here too (pointing to her middle), like after I eat."
Me:  "That's right, because when you eat your stomach gets bigger, doesn't it?"
G-Bear:  "Yes, aLOT bigger.  Sort of like your tummy, Mommy."
Me (smiling):  "Sort of like my tummy, sweetie."

That's our budding diagnostician for you :)
Is this what you get when you grow up in a medical family?

E-Bear's Dinner Prayer

E-Bear started out dinner last night with his first solo prayer ever.  We were all proud of him and certainly blessed by it:

"Bless our food, bless our cups, Amen, AMEN!"

Amen, buddy!

Is there anything that warms a heart like hearing a kiddo pray?

Grocery Bag

We have made it through my last day of medical school weekend call, and this week we are on to my last week of Neurology!  With my LAST call night and LAST exam of medical school this week, meals will call for extra planning to allow for maximum sanity.  But, oh, will I feel like celebrating next weekend!

Day One

Biscuit-Topped Chicken Pot Pie from Cooking Light Magazine

I prep the potpie base the night before and store it in the fridge overnight.  That way I can whip the biscuit topping together when I get home and dinner is ready in 20 minutes.  This recipe is GREAT!  Full of great veggies, the base is DELISH (don't forget to taste and season to your preferences), and no can-of-cream-soup required!

Photo and recipe at MyRecipes.com

Day Two

Hamburger Stroganoff from Cooking Light Magazine

with egg noodles and steamed peas

We love stroganoff recipes in our house.  This one uses ground beef from our grass-fed cow and is easy enough to prepare when I get home in the evening.

Photo and recipe at MyRecipes.com

Day Three

Pesto Tortillini with spinach

and orange slices 

We love tortillini with the homemade pesto sauce I store in the freezer.  Since the sauce is already green, I can easily mix in some pureed spinach into the sauce and the kids have no idea they are getting extra veggies. 

Day Four

Crockpot chicken 

with steamed broccoli & Irish oatmeal soda bread

 A whole chicken meets my slow cooker in the morning, and 10 hours later on LOW I have a fully-cooked chicken ready for dinner.  Don't forget to cover the leftover chicken bones with water and cook overnight in the slow cooker for an awesome homemade chicken stock!  

The Irish soda bread is my current favorite.  I make the oats version of the recipe.

Day Five

Corn chowder from Food and Wine Magazine

with Irish oatmeal soda bread

This is my favorite corn chowder recipe.  Pureeing half of the soup gives it a very creamy texture.  This soup is a great way to use up some of the chicken stock I made from my slow cooker chicken overnight the night before.  YUM!

Photo and recipe at MyRecipes.com

Blessings on your kitchen this week!