Twelve Tidbits

It's time for some tidbits...

********

On Memorial Day, we enjoyed a visit in the morning from a friend of ours from San Diego. Brian was a part of the singles ministry that we had the privilege of working with, and he and Jeff have kept in touch through email and Facebook during our moves from California to Israel and then to Virginia and his moves from California to Montana to Ohio. It's surprising how many people from our past have come through this corner of the world. Here we are in a small town in Virginia; and yet, for various reasons, quite a few friends who knew us in San Diego or in Israel have visited us here. Someday, I should make a list and figure out how many it has been. It definitely makes the world seem smaller when we get to enjoy visits like this.

********

Later on Memorial Day, we drove through some beautiful countryside to get to the home of our friends Daniel and Deborah. It was hot...they have a pool...I was feeling lazy...the gathering was very laid-back...perfect for Memorial Day. We appreciated their hospitality so much!

Here are pictures, some of which were taken by Emily:

Tobin in the sandbox...

Emily with sweet baby Kristen (I love this picture of Emily)... :)

David (still with stains around his mouth from supper) and Josiah in the pool...

Deborah making sure Tobin didn't fall in the pool (he had been in earlier, but this was later in the evening when Jeff wasn't available to get in with him) - I was so grateful for her helping hands because, with four little ones, I couldn't always get around to all of them like I could with one or two... :)

David getting ready to get in the pool...

And my precious Shav sitting with me and watching the action - soon enough, my little sweetheart, you'll be in the pool, too...

********

I have an eight-week menu plan that I put together last November and (roughly) follow. It makes it so much easier to shop for groceries and cook dinner because even if things come up and I don't cook, for example, Ground Beef Grand Style for dinner on the first Thursday of my schedule, I might end up cooking it on another evening...but at least, I have the ingredients and I have it as an option. Anyway...

My menu plan has been tossed out the window, however; and here's why: lettuce. Lots and lots of lettuce. We planted 18 lettuce plants, and I think 17 survived and thrived. We have lettuce coming out of our ears. So, guess what's for dinner? Salad. :) Every evening, I make sure we use up lettuce somehow, either as a main dish (taco salad a few nights ago), a side salad, or a topping (on tacos tonight, since it was Jeff's family night).

This abundance of lettuce is a good problem to have. :)

********

There are two food experiments that I'd like to do someday, but probably never will.

One is to see how long we could go without buying any food - specifically, could we go a month without buying anything? I'm sure we could; in fact, I think it could be much, much longer than that. But we would certainly run out of particular favorites, so we probably won't attempt it. :)

The other experiment - the more difficult one - is to see how well we could do with buying only single ingredient items. Salt. Milk. Flour. Bananas. Chicken. Olive oil. Celery. And so on. No bread. No ice cream. No salad dressing. Although I think it would be interesting, I'm not up for the challenge. I like convenience too much. :)

********

Speaking of food, I posted a recipe for Moroccan Chicken on The Foodie Spot yesterday. I wish I had a plate full of it right now. I know you're not supposed to eat so late at night, but still... ;)

********

A while back, Josiah read a book called Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John by Pearl Buck; it's about four orphan boys. I liked this quote from it: [They] looked at each other and smiled as only a man and woman can smile at each other when they share a child. Isn't that great? Isn't that so true?

********

I recently discovered Shav's 8th tooth: his bottom right molar. I don't know exactly when it came through the gum, but I was surprised that he got it before his bottom left almost-front tooth came in (what do you call that tooth anyway? I can't think of it). So now he has seven in the front - four on the top and three on the bottom - and one molar. It's funny to think that David, whom Shav reminds us so much of, didn't get a single tooth until he was 13 and 1/2 months old.

********

Tobin used to call Shav "Ah." Now he's added a final consonant to the sound, but it's not "v." It's "d," so when he says Shav's name, it sounds exactly like "Odd." That's a sweet name for Tobin to use for him, don't you think? :)

********

I am loving all this free time to relax with my boys and go various places and meet friends and just play. Tomorrow we plan to go to another friends' pool to swim, and yesterday we met Julie and Misty and their children (some of them, anyway) at a new park, A Dream Come True Playground. Wow! What a park! All my boys loved it, and so did I...but what I'll remember most about our visit yesterday is dear Tobin pedaling on his tricycle around and around and around a track they have for bikes and trikes. He had so much fun doing that, and I had a ball watching him. We will definitely be returning to that playground.

With all of this play time, I feel positively irresponsible! :) But I know, when the school year begins, we'll buckle down and get back to work again. Until then, I'm going to soak in these carefree days.

********

Last night I had the pleasure of going out for coffee (actually, mint hot chocolate for me) with Leah, whom I know in real life but have gotten to know better through blogging. Have I mentioned recently how much I love blogging? Not just for the record of daily life that it is for me, but also for the relationships that are formed through it. Leah's blog is titled Musings Aloud, but I think it should be "Wrestling Aloud" because that's about what we did last night. :) I was grateful for the chance to hear more of her thoughts as she and I try to figure out more of the truth, smothered with grace.

Going out with her...bumping into Kristen in Home Depot...meeting other bloggers for the first time in church...ah, I love it! The cozy little world of blogging makes the real world a happier place for me.

********

If any of you are interested in seeing more of the pictures Misty took of Shav during his photo shoot recently, you can visit her website, click on "CLIENTS" (bottom right of screen), then enter "Shav" as the password. I'm having such a hard time deciding which ones I like the best because they're (in my biased opinion) ALL GOOD! :)

********

Jeff mentioned to me that, with my new blog look for June, he's having a little bit of a hard time reading the text. Is anyone else having that problem? Should I change the text from white to black; would that be easier to read? Jeff is partially color-blind, so maybe that's part of his problem. :) But if it's difficult for others, I could look for another background and change the look entirely. Any thoughts?

********

And that's all the tidbits for tonight. Good night!