Newlymom

There are quite a few ways I can tell I'm still in the "newlywed" phase of motherhood.  It's a mental and emotional place that all new mothers inevitably find themselves.  Being a new mom doesn't just mean you don't have a clue what you're doing and will have many stories to tell your oldest child about how she or he was your experimental kid.  It also means you've had a Grinch experience and you're adjusting to the new size of your heart.  Each mom probably exhibits different symptoms.  Here are some of the ways I know I'm still a "Newlymom."

• After Joan is in bed for the night Dan and I always end up looking at pictures of her, watching videos of her, or both.  Never fails.

• At 5 months I finally left her in nursery for some of the church service.  While I was sitting in the service all I was thinking about was how she was doing, if she was sleeping or eating or crying or what.  I kept looking for a good time to go back and check on her and had to use all my willpower to keep me from doing that.  When we reached the end there was a 5 verse hymn!  I leaned over to Dan and asked if we were really going to sing all 5 verses, he didn't think so.  I was happy that he was right and immediately when the song ended I was out of my seat and pushing my way past people to fly to the nursery. 

• It is difficult for me to talk about much beyond babies.  I realize that some people don't just want to hear about sleeping, eating, pooping, bathing, playing and whatever else my baby has been doing lately.  It takes a certain amount of concentrated effort to think outside that box and ask questions that would pertain to another person's life.  And just when I think I've got something, I'll be distracted by a funny face, silly sound, or fuss from the baby in my arms and have to start all over in thinking of the right thing to say.

• I can't imagine my sweet little baby ever being manipulative or disobedient.  I know she will, I just can't imagine it.

• I take pictures and/or videos almost everyday.  

• Many of the cards or e-mails I send contain pictures of Joan.  In fact, she's getting close to having her own greeting card line with my growing Photoshop skills (read: putting text on a picture).

I'm sure there are many other ways to tell that I'm a "Newlymom," but as I said in my fourth bullet I try to think of things that don't just pertain to me and my baby.  So here's my pertinent question...  hmm...  oops.  I don't have one.

To blog or not to blog

I have half a mind to start writing on this blog again.  Well, most of the time I have half a mind these days so why not go for it, right?  One of the ways I can tell I'm not fully with it is my lack of observation about my surroundings.  Here are some examples:

1. When my brother-in-law was here to visit Joan for the first time he moved the birth announcement of his daughter from the side of the fridge where we have all our pictures to the front.  It wasn't until he was back visiting in March and pointed out that he was the one that moved it that I noticed it was on the front of the fridge and used to be with the rest of them.

2. When my friend was visiting at the end of January she put a little mini rug looking coaster on a nail left in our living room wall from the last tenant.  It was in this awkward place that nothing should have been hung, but I left that coaster there until I noticed it when I had all of my small group girls over here in March.  I had forgotten it was hanging there even though I saw it all the time.

3.  Joan was given this great toy owl from my aunt for Christmas and it was so cute so we put it as decoration in her nursery since she wasn't playing with toys yet.  Just the other night I was in the nursery and saw it and realized it was a toy and not a decoration and I should get it down for her to play with.  Duh!  The advantage of my absentmindedness is that it was a new toy for her now and she's just reaching the age where the old toys don't always keep her interest for long.  She's been really enjoying the owl the last couple of days so I'm glad I realized it was meant to be played with.  haha

As for cooking, it's a lot easier for fewer people.  That about sums up the difference between cooking now and cooking in Jerusalem.  :) 

Questions from Mandii

Well...  once again it has been too long.  I think of all sorts of things to blog about but then I take too much time worrying about not having pictures or making sure it's interesting and then I just end up writing nothing.  Plus I feel so far behind on everything my post would be way to long if I blogged about it all!  So I'll just start with answering a few questions from my friend Mandii about our January experience of cooking for 100 that I thought were perfect to answer on here:

1. "I can't imagine cooking for 100 people. How do you ever know how much stuff to make?"

We've pretty much learned how much to make from trial and error.  We start with a recipe, convert it to the right amount based on what is given and then take note if that was too much or not enough for next time.  For example, we make the Mac n' Cheese recipe for 50, but it really ends up to be enough for 100!  So we've always just used the extra pan to make chicken casserole later that week.  When we had the large group here we knew we'd have the perfect amount just by making the recipe as we normally did.  I also have a good idea based on our serving dishes how much we need -  ex. one buffet pan of meat and one of rice for a group of 50.  That helps me a lot but wouldn't be much help if I was cooking elsewhere with different pans.  I've also Googled for things like "how much rice to make per person" to learn our original amounts for 50 and then I can just double that.  There's a lot of helpful information out there!

2. "I cant imagine knowing the right amount of stuff to get."

Thankfully we don't usually have to figure out how much stuff to get.  We have shelves, a freezer and a refrigeration stocked with our basic supplies to pull from.  So when it looks like we don't have enough we can just go and grab more.  But we do need to know how much meat to defrost a day or two before we plan to use it.  For that we've learned how many bags of chicken legs we need for 50 or how many bags of beef based originally on the weight or just a wild guess.  Professional, right?  ;) 

3."What kind of stuff do you make?"

The kinds of stuff we makes can be found in my last blog where I listed almost every meal we made last semester.  Along with that we always offer a salad and sometimes a hot vegetable and a starch if there isn't one in the entree (noodles, rice, pita, garlic bread etc).  We try a new dish here and there or other new things to go with our meals - making ranch dressing for example.  Friday night we always make dessert.  The other nights fresh fruit is put out for the after dinner sweet.

4. "Do you feel like you've refined your cooking skills?"

I suppose cooking for hours every day does refine my skills in ways I probably don't even know right now.  We chop so much I must be faster at it by now!  I've also learned to make things I never did before - like a roux base for the Mac N' Cheese or other cream sauces.  I've also really noticed what ingredients I care about having fresh and the ones that I don't notice as much if I have them canned/bottled/dried.  Like lemons - they are so much better squeezed fresh than what you get in the bottle.  But this country has good citrus, so maybe the grocery store ones back home in the midwest wouldn't be as superb in comparison as they are here.  It will be interesting to get home and see what things I make more often or how my cooking has changed after this experience.  Dan and I have definitely learned a lot about sharing the kitchen tasks and being more efficient in working together.  I think that will always be a beneficial thing for us.

Thanks for your questions, Mandii

Top 10 Countdown

At the end of last semester we had the students & staff vote for their 3 favorite meals.  We counted the votes and put in order the top 10 dinners.  Here were their options:

Chili & Cornbread
Pita Pizza
Baked Potato Soup
Tacos
Hamburgers
Huevos Rancheros
Teriyaki Chicken
Chicken Casserole
Lentil Soup
Chicken Parmesan
Barbecue Chicken
Chicken Curry
Mac 'n' Cheese
Pancakes
Rosemary Chicken
Chicken Fajitas
Black Beans & Rice
Lemon Chicken with Thyme
White Chili
Greek Lemon Chicken

And the voting results:
10. Chicken Parmesan
9. Chicken Fajitas
8. Mac 'n' Cheese
7. Chili & Cornbread
6. Baked Potato Soup
5. Teriyaki Chicken
4. Pita Pizza
3. Huevos Rancheros
2. Pancakes

And in first place, served at the very last Shabbat of the semester....  TACOS!

What would be in your family's top 10?

December 2010

December was a full month!  We said goodbye to our fall semester students and hello to our parents.  Jeff & Carla arrived on December 2nd full of energy despite their very long trip.  They helped us in the kitchen the next day when we served our final Shabbat meal of the semester.  That night we had a Christmas vespers at a beautiful church - St. Anne's.  The acoustics there are amazing!  Dan and I had the privilege of heading up the Christmas choir.  It was a nice final event of the semester.  The next day a number of the students left for a week in Egypt, others left to catch their flights home and we left for Galilee.

 On the Mount of Beatitudes where we were able to visit with Jeff's cousin, Doug, who lives in Haifa.  

In the 4 days we spent in Galilee we took them to lots of the places we went with our Physical Settings of the Bible class, but we also saw a few new things.  We went bird watching at the Hula Nature Reserve - the Hula Valley is a large valley north of the Sea of Galilee that used to be all swampy until they drained it a number of years ago.  Now it is largely used for agricultural purposes but with a few areas preserved as the original swampland.  This was one of those places and is hopping with wildlife.  Very cool.  We also got rained on while we were there, which was a first for us in a long time!

 

Bird watching at the Hula Nature Reserve

Another new stop for us was to Nimrod's Fortress.  I saw it 5 years ago and wanted to go and we saw it again this year when we were on our field study.  It's a Muslim castle from Crusader times built to fight them off.  It sits aloft in the Mt. Hermon range looking mighty impressive.  We were so happy to be able to go and explore the ruins!  It was a new stop for us and a highlight of our trip.

 Dan & Carla at Nimrod's Fortress

After returning to Jerusalem and spending a few days exploring the city and a day by the Dead Sea, my parents joined us on December 11th.  They came just before a massive sandstorm known as a Khamsin.  The wind was crazy!  It made the air so thick and difficult to see through.  We felt grit getting into our teeth and eyes when we'd walk around.  We braved the weather and explored much of the Jewish Quarter in the Old City on December 12th. 

Dad at the Temple Mount Archeological Park - notice the wind and orange haze

Although the weather started off rough, things looked a lot better a couple days later after we got a bit of rain (almost a rain of mud as it pushed the dirt down from the air).  We said goodbye to Jeff & Carla on the 14th and headed up to Galilee for another 3 days.  A highlight for Dan and I was seeing snow!  I didn't think we'd see snow this year, but we took a scenic route down from the far north to the Sea of Galilee and went through some mountain villages that had snow.  We also got a great view of snow-covered Mt. Hermon.  Beautiful!

Snow in Israel!

Another new thing for me was falling into the Sea of Galilee when we were poking around by the lake at Capernaum.

Boohoo I'm all wet :(

Dad found an ancient anchor or some other kind of weight.  Then Dan found one, too.  Too heavy to bring back, unfortunately.

Two anchors discovered in Capernaum

We had beautiful weather in Galilee.  Our first day the air was the clearest we've seen up there.  We could see so far and had lots of nice views from high spots.  My folks found out why we were gushing so much that day when things were hazier the next few days.  It was in the high 60's/low 70's during our time there.  Back in Jerusalem things continued to be nice and sunny and in the 60's.  We explored the places we hadn't been yet, sent Dad & Mom to the Dead Sea for a day on their own (!), and said our sad goodbyes on the 21st. 

 With my parents on the Cliffs of Arbel overlooking the Sea of Galilee

Since then things have slowed down for us quite a bit.  We went to Bethlehem for a Christmas Eve parade filled with bagpipes and drums - an hour of different groups from local churches all performing.  Our evening was a bit quieter back at the school where we got together with the other people still here for a Christmas Eve dinner.  We had turkey, potatoes, couscous, rolls, and lots of dessert.  It was delicous!

Little drummer boy in the Bethlehem parade Christmas Eve

And Finally, December would not have been the same without our good friend Cameron.  Cameron took us to Bethlehem twice, answered all our parents' questions about Israel and Palestine in more recent history, was our companion all through Christmas and now New Years - helping us to be not as lonely away from family for the holidays.  We've played many games, watched lots of movies, had many discussions, and shared lots of meals with Cameron.  Remarkably he's still our friend even after all my whining during Settler's of Catan!  We are very thankful for his friendship and enjoy his company immensely.  

 Cameron at his desk in the first weeks we were here

Thanksgiving

The Scene:

Heading up my first Thanksgiving Feast ever and it just happens to be for 88 people.

The Cast:

Dan & Paula: JUC Cooks

Dr. Wright & Diane: JUC director & his wife who keeps everything running on-campus

Justin & Mandy: JUC Student Life Coordinators

Reggie & Vince: JUC Undergrad Students

Joyce: JUC professor's wife

Other helpers: JUC students and staff who setup, made desserts, and helped in the kitchen both with preparations and cleanup

The Turkey: our dinner: 2 whole turkeys, 10 turkey breasts

The Oven: the temperamental big ol' helper in the kitchen that requires lots of attention

Plot:

Thinking about cooking Thanksgiving dinner for 88 people was nothing less than terrifying.  But Diane, Justin and Mandy, Joyce, and Dan and I all met to talk about the details and that helped to calm me a bit.  It was decided that Diane, Joyce and Mandy would each make a batch of rolls, check.  Then Joyce said she could make the green bean casserole, check.  Diane would make the sweet potatoes, check.  And Mandy & Justin offered to help us with the turkeys, yay!  All that was left were the salads, smashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, and cranberry Sauce.  Dr. Wright had just returned from a trip to the States with lots of boxes of stuffing mix and gravy packets.  That would be a huge time saver.  So it seemed as though things would come together just fine.

                                                      Justin and Mandy stuffing the birds.

 

Reggie and the dancing drying lettuce

On Thursday, the day before our big meal (we had decided to have our feast on Friday in place of our normal Shabbat dinner), Reggie and Vince came up and cleaned potatoes and chopped lots and lots for us.  On Friday we started at 1pm washing and stuffing the turkeys.  We filled them with lots of aromatics - onions, apples, celery - and popped them in the oven.  We checked the temperature every 10 minutes to make sure it was hot enough but not too hot (we have an oven thermometer now, which was a lifesaver!).  After awhile the oven finally settled into an ok temperature.  It's pretty fickle.  If you leave it on temperature # 3 for an hour it might be at 350 or it might be at 500.  #1 and #2 might drop below 300 or they may stay above 400, so it takes a lot of working to keep things cooking at a good temperature.  The longer the oven is on, the hotter it gets.  We even had a big fan by the oven that we would blow into it when we needed it to cool down.  

 

Yay!  The turkey survived the oven!

               The decorated Thanksgiving tables seen from the steps leading up to the kitchen.

 Lots and lots of salads!  Lettuce, pears, feta, and candied walnuts topped with a balsamic vinaigrette.

The kitchen was full of help on Friday!  Chopping, plating, stirring.  We had lots of people pop in and help us.  It was great.  The smells were wonderful and we all enjoyed having our traditional feast.  After cleanup we went to the Wright's apartment for dessert.  There was pumpkin pie, pumpkin cheesecake, pumpkin bread, chocolate peanut butter pie, cookies, bars everything!  It was delicious.  We were appropriately stuffed by the end of the night.  We definitely could not have done it without all the help we got!  There were very little things that we could say we did all on our own, which is a nice place to be in at the end of a Thanksgiving meal.  

Reflections on Culture Shock

I don't journal often, but there have been times that I've dusted off the old notebook to help myself mentally process through things.  One of those times was December 12, 2005 after I got back from studying in Israel as an undergrad.  Here's a bit of what I wrote:

...I miss Jerusalem.  Being able to step out of our gate and walk through a great diversity of cultures in the Old City.  Going with a friend to get coffee in the New City.  Crossing the valley to go to Succot Hillel (a 24-hour prayer house).  I miss the crazy mix of people that always had me laughing and rolling my eyes at the same time.  Each with a unique way of looking at life and approaching you (God).  All of us learning together as we explored the land.  A place that I was so afraid of, people I couldn't understand, it is all so close to my heart now...  When uncomfortable becomes comfortable.  Then I'm asked to leave and be where comfortable has become uncomfortable.  Churches instead of mosques, Christmas music instead of the call to prayer, snow instead of rain, English instead of Hebrew or Arabic, set prices instead of bargaining, cars instead of walking, painted walls instead of stones, food instead of Margo's creations (the cook at the time), peace and quiet instead of the traffic and activity of the big city.  Yet Christ remains the same.  And so I cling to Him as my world changes around me...

Well, I can assure you that I most thoroughly adjusted back into life in the States.  So now I'm back to adjusting into this culture again.  It's been interesting to see what is different now that I am not a student and in lots of other ways at a different point in life as I was back then.  I think for Dan and I we've had to not only adjust to the cultures in Israel, but also back into the culture of a college.  After being out of college for 3 years, having a place of our own, and learning a new pattern in life, it really is quite different to be back in this environment.  We have an endless supply of social interaction, plenty of people to play games with at any time that we'd like, lots and lots of fun to be had.  But it also can distract me when I don't take the time away to think, read, or pray.  I've found that I've come to like quiet activities - crafting, reading, even housework.  So we're learning that balance again.  If we want to be busy here, we definitely can be!  But it is harder to spend a day "at home" when your kitchen serves 50 and you eat 3 meals a day with the community.  So the quiet times take more work to create.

I also grew to like America.  When I was in college I was out of sorts with the US.  I think I was feeling too sheltered at school and in the Midwest.  Many of the people around me looked and acted like I did.  When I came to Jerusalem I found so many different worldviews and people all around us who thought and acted different than I did.  It opened a world to explore that I hadn't touched before.  But living in Chicago (although still in the Midwest) the last three years showed me that the US has more to offer than I thought.  I met people who challenged my thinking in the way they viewed things.  There was more diversity around me - which brought with it great places to eat and lots of possibilities for seeing more of the world in the city in which I was living.  So now I miss America and continuing our little life and ministry there.  I do feel like God is using us here, but I'm glad that I also feel that we had a place in Chicago.

It feels a lot different than I expected to take a year out of our normal life to be here.  On the one hand it's kind of a care-free time with lots to see and do.  That's what I expected it to be like - just a big adventure that I loved every minute of.  On the other hand I find myself wanting to move right along with our life as it was and I think about when we get home a lot.  I miss our friends and family and just normal life in America.  Then I feel guilty for not loving every minute of my time here because I know it's a once in a lifetime kind of thing.  But there's a lot of the daily grind in our work, so it's not going to be blue skies and butterflies all the time.  There are a lot of challenges with the culture, the people, the systems of doing things (or even more the lack of systems) that make our days difficult.  I hold onto knowing that God led us here - we both agreed this is what  we should do, so it wasn't just me seeking an adventure.  I trust my husband and I know that he walks with the Lord.  That helps me to know that the hardships will be used to strengthen us and prepare us for the life ahead of us.  I also know that when I'm settled back in at home and we're working and caring for a house and someday starting a family and life is kind of mundane and normal, I'll know that we did this and be very glad that we did.  I would have always wondered what it would have been like to take this year away and serve in Jerusalem.  We'll come home with great experiences and important life lessons.  These are the things I think about when I get homesick.