Evening Routine

Last week I posted about our morning routine, so I thought I'd do one about our evenings. They're not nearly as regimented as our morning routine, but sometimes they're equally as packed full of things we do.

I generally get off work at 4:30 pm and head back to pick up Kaylen at daycare. Jock has typically worked until about 5:30, but is now trying to leave at 5 so we have more family time in the evenings. Sometimes I have him pick up some groceries on his way home, since there's a Super Walmart right on his route home.

I usually get to daycare around 5 (barring any traffic snares). Kaylen gathers her coat and school backpack while I check her daycare folder and check her out of the computer. We're usually home around 5:15, and the routine is to get any school books/papers/homework read/completed before anything else. Kaylen brings home a short book every day to practice her reading, and about three worksheets to do - usually about once a week on Fridays. This happens at our kitchen table, often while I'm preparing dinner. If we can, we try to do a page or two in her packet for Wednesday night church activities.

Depending on when Jock gets home and how long the food takes to fix, Kaylen might take her shower before or after supper. This can take anywhere from 20 minutes to 45 minutes, depending on the motivation to get done quickly, how much singing/talking is done in the shower or in front of the mirror, and whether we choose to force the hurrying or let her suffer the natural consequences of taking too long (lost play time, lost time for dessert, lost points on the church packet from not having it done, etc). However she usually showers every other day. Her skin is just too sensitive and her body not too much BO to need a daily one yet, unless it's been hot out and/or she's somehow gotten all dirty, stinky or sweaty.

Before dinner we pray - we randomly decide who will pray for us each night by who is willing or who is specifically asked to do it. We then talk about our days over dinner. If for some reason we're not all eating together because of an activity going on that evening, we pray ourselves and then eat quickly.

Wednesday nights Kaylen has activities at church at 6:30, so we're usually rushed to get her homework done, eat dinner, and maybe a shower. Sometimes Jock and I eat supper together ourselves after one of us gets back from dropping her off - kind of like a date!

Thursday nights are much the same as far as hurrying, as we have our small group Bible study at one of our group leader's home at 6:30. This is our adult study that follows our pastor's sermon series. The kids all play with one or two youth watching them in the basement or at the other leader's house (they live next-door to each other).

Wednesdays and Thursdays, we get home past Kaylen's normal 7:30 bedtime, so when we get home it's PJs, tooth-brushing and straight to bed. Other nights we see how much time we have before 7:30, before deciding what to do. Some nights Kaylen just wants to play with her toys or read her own books herself. Other activities might be playing outside, having us read to her, playing a game, or watching TV (rare although we all enjoy Dancing with the Stars when it's on).

After Kaylen goes to bed, we have some adult time. Than we can talk to each other, make plans for upcoming days, pay bills, checking emails/blogs/facebook, watching TV, reading a book, or playing games - either together or apart. I also typically go walk with a friend from 8-9 Sunday thru Wednesday.

We usually hit the sack whenever we're over-tired - anywhere from 9 (Jock) or 10 until 11 or after(me). Then we get way too little sleep before we have to start it all over again the next day.

There are always of course exceptions though. For instance, this week we had our state foster care licensing guy visit Monday evening to renew our paperwork, and Kaylen had an eye doctor appointment Tuesday evening. These throw a bit of a wrench in things, but usually we can get thing done without issue, as Kaylen can do some things on her own. I'm sure things will be much different when Elijah and Josephine come home, as we'll have to do baths/lotion/hair for them, and we'll have longer dinners, etc. But we'll make it work - we always have. Change is inevitable and keeps us on our toes.

Race Weekend, Pumpkin-Carving

Last weekend was the Race for the Cure. Both of my sisters came to visit and to walk in the Race. The kids thought it was funny that it was called a race but that we weren't racing or even running - just walking (although keeping up walking with Amy, we each jogged to catch up a couple times - she gets behind that stroller and moves!)

It was a chilly morning, but once we got going it was fine - we might have even broken a sweat.

Other than that, we ate some good food, played some fun games, talked, and lots of fun things girls like to do together. We miracously didn't do any shopping - although I think Amy did a bit on her way home. Amy stocked me up on some veggies from her garden and brought the tupperware I'd ordered. Karen also stocked us both with some hair products that we needed. Do those count as shopping?

We didn't get any photo scanning or scrap-booking done, but that's a huge job that we can still work on for many-a-girl-weekend or holiday weekend to come.

The kids had a good time playing together. For the most part, they all got along and played nicely together- although we all had to laugh when Caden got made when it was the girls' turn to do monkey bars and he had to get off the swing (on our swingset, the bars are what the swings hang on, so he would've gotten kicked - so they were taking 5-minute turns). He crossed his arms and stomped over to the steps to sit down. We asked what was wrong and he just would say, "Weave me awone!" :) After a minute or two he'd get back up and play again.

After lunch Sunday, Amy and Karen both left to head home. Jock and I and Kaylen all took quick naps (that were entirely too short after staying up too late both Friday and Saturday nights) - before Jock's family came over.

We try to get together every year to carve pumpkins. The kids love carving their pumpkins - although the adults usually do the bulk of the carving (of course, with 4-, 5-, and 6-year-olds). Debbie carved the pirate ship in Adrian's pumpkin, Seth helped Kaylen with her pumpkin, and Julie carved the ghost in Aaron's pumpkin. Adrian also helped draw the
face on Jock's pumpkin.

All the pumpkins turned out pretty neat this year. We all munched on snacks and treats that everyone furnished, and a fun time was had by all.
It was a great weekend.

Coveting

OK - I know that one of the 10 commandments is to not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor. Well, I'm not coveting property - I'm coveting your prayers right now.

There are several families we know who are traveling to Haiti this week or this coming weekend. Please pray for their safe travels. Pray also for blessings on them, the orphanage staff, the adoption processes that some are traveling to work on, and of course the children.

In addition, please be in prayers for the adoption processes. I'll be praying this week for the dossiers of three children in particular from our orphanage, to be released from IBESR - they have been in that step for more than a year - too long! I'm also praying for many releases from Parquet (including ours), and from MOI, as well as the several other steps in between these three big-ticket steps that could use your prayers. Being close to the end of the month, when many from our orphanage anticipate receiving their process updates, it is a difficult time. We all could use some good news, and some encouragement during the long wait to bring our children home.

Praise God for His awesome power to do all of these things - may His glory prevail!

For HIS Glory October Newsletter

I received the following email a few weeks ago. I'd meant to share this much earlier.

October 2008

Haiti - The Pearl of the Caribbean When we have responded to emails sent to us regarding the state of the orphanage following the hurricanes, we have said that all is well in the security of the walls - it's outside those walls that people are really suffering. We praise God for sustaining us through the damaging storms. Unfortunately, the difficulties outside the walls have now made it inside. Charcoal is very hard to find, so preparing meals has become more difficult. There were beans in the last donations, but food sources are running low and the cost of food continues to increase, particularly following the flooding. Gas has risen in price again and there is no end in sight. Suffice it to say, the orphanage is really struggling and needs our help. Six months ago many of you helped us to raise the rent for 6 months for the orphanage. The next 6 month installment is due the first week of November. The security the orphanage is able to provide for the children and staff is more than most know living in Haiti. There are hundreds of houses in the areas the children in the orphanage came from that were destroyed in the hurricanes. Please help us to secure another 6 months of protection for the children by partnering with us to raise the rent. If everyone that receives this email donates just $20, the rent will be covered! We need to raise $14,000 and can do this again with your help. This is a terrific opportunity to see many hands come together for a great cause! There is a link at the bottom of this newsletter to tell your friends and family about this worthwhile need and encourage you to please consider supporting this effort in Haiti. We are starting a food drive now. We need dry goods and shelf stable proteins such as beans, peanut butter and powdered milk. If you would like to send food items to help the orphanage overcome the difficulties following the hurricanes, please send them by November 1 to: Keith and Wanda Hall 2280 N. Hollowtown Rd. Lynchburg, Ohio 45142 If you would like to help with immediate needs, please consider becoming an ongoing sponsor. You can click here to sign up today!" Our new address for For His Glory is: P.O. Box 64091 Colorado Springs, CO 80962 If you would like to read more about what is happening in Haiti and at the orphanage, please continue reading... Life in Haiti Imagine, if you will, that you have six children and you are raising 6 of them in a single parent home. Imagine that your home is one-third the size of a one-car garage fashioned out of corrugated steel. There's no carpet or cement for your floor; rather, it's simply dirt that you try to keep as clean as possible. You have one double bed that you sleep on with most of your children, while the rest sleep on grass mats at your feet. That's if there is no gunfire. When there is, you all feel more safety sleeping under the bed. Imagine, too, that there are days that pass that you cannot purchase a small sack of beans and rice to feed your children. You go out to the street market and purchase as many dirt biscuits as you can to feed you and your children. It's not enough for each person to have their own, but if the little ones get to half each, it'll at least stop them from crying. The only water is the river the pigs rifle through - it's where you have dumped your own chamber pots from time to time. You close off your mind and drink from the water because there is no choice. This is the story of one of the birth mothers that had placed 3 of her children in the orphanage. Those 3 children are in the US now, leaving 3 still in Haiti. The situation for her is more difficult that we could imagine. We asked her, as we were visiting her home, if she was comfortable living in Cite Soliel. She responded saying that no one chooses to live there - it's when you are left with no choice at all that you end up in a tin house like hers. One of the staff members of the orphanage knows a woman that has 6 sons. When the rains came, 5 of them drown. Her house is destroyed and her hope was buried with her children. Baby Hope Baby Hope is doing very well. She is strong, happy and healthy. She has quite the personality and loves her nannies. We are feel very blessed to have her in our lives and thank God He was watching over her. Shipment Our shipment finally cleared customs in Haiti! The staff and children were so blessed to see all the donations! The clothing has gone a long way and we still have not unpacked everything. A team going to Haiti in the fall will continue to unpack all the clothing and household items that were donated. Thank you all so much for your participation! Missions We are currently taking reservations for church and school teams for the summer of 2009. If you are interested in booking a team to come serve in the orphanage, or possibly to help build the new orphanage, please contact Kim Harmon, our Missions Coordinator at FHGMissions@yahoo.com. Thank you again for all the support and prayers you give to orphanage. The staff and children take great comfort knowing that you all cover them and care for them. We are so thankful for all the support you give. All God's blessings, For His Glory

For HIS Glory Outreach P.O. Box 64091 Colorado Springs, CO 80962 For HIS Glory Outreach will not share any private information given to us with any outside organizations.

We also received more information about Christmas at the orphanage. In the past, the adoptive families and other donors would send small items to those traveling to the orphanage, so that each child would have a gift for Christmas. This year a shoe-box ministry has offered shoe-box gifts for all the children in the orphanage. With the children's gifts covered, they are taking donations for the birth families as a community outreach, as well as Christmas bonuses for the staff and for a Christmas party/meal for the children and staff.

This is in addition to:

• the semi-annual rent that is coming due in next week

• some maintenance on the septic system

• purchasing computer equipment for the orphanage and processor so that regular communication (which has been lacking the last few months, including monthly update photos) can be restored

It's unfortunate that I didn't get this posted before now, because it's already nearing the date they'd like to have the food donations to the collection point in Ohio. But I still wanted to get this out, in case people wanted to help and could get it there in a week. Don't let the multitide of needs bog down your mind. There are always opportunities to help in this place we've come to love, no matter the form or size of the gift. Your prayers are always needed and appreciated as well. If you have questions, I'm happy to answer them for you, or pass them along to someone else who can.

Morning Routine

Kathy over at Cassel Crew posted her morning routine, and asked others to post about theirs...

Our mornings on weekdays typically start one of two ways: Jock's alarm going off at 5:20 am, or mine going off at 6:20 am. If his goes off , I typically ignore it, he gets up immediately, throws on some sweats, kisses me goodbye, and heads out with his gym bag. He has joined the gym at work, so gets to work by 6, works out until around 6:45 or 7, then showers up and starts working around 7:30.

My alarm goes off at 6:20, and again at 6:27, and again at 6:34 - whether Jock gets up early or not. If he sleeps in, he gets up around 6:30 and showers first. I wait to hear the 6:35 weather forecast on my clock radio. I then turn it off and go through some morning prayers until around 6:40 when the back-up battery-operated alarm goes off in our bathroom. (That's my drop-dead-I-must-get-out-of-bed-NOW alarm.)

I then go wake up Kaylen and set out her clothes for the day. She goes to the bathroom and gets dressed while I fix her bowl of cereal. (She does this herself on the weekends, including pouring the milk if the gallon jug is not more than 3/4 full. But this doesn't work on weekdays - I don't let her choose the 100% sugar variety of cereal on weekdays before school, and she is too slow herself - probably because she pours herself the most enormous bowl she can find and even then stuffs some cereal in her mouth before she puts it away and pours her milk - I witnessed this Sunday. :)

Anyway, Kaylen and I usually meet again on the stairs when she's headed down to eat her breakfast and I'm heading up for my shower. Jock's usually out of the shower getting ready when I get back upstairs around 6:45. Kaylen eats, goes to the bathroom again, brushes her teeth, puts on her shoes and brushes her hair while I shower, blow dry my hair, get dressed, etc.

If Jock doesn't hit the gym, he leaves for work around 7:00 or 7:10. When I come downstairs, Kaylen's usually ready to go, and we finish up packing lunch(es) if necessary, I grab my breakfast to eat when I get to work, and we're out the door around 7:15 or at the latest 7:20.

On the way to daycare, we listen to Kaylen's Bible verse songs from her Wednesday night Kids program at church (2 new songs each week to learn) or Christian contemporary radio, sometimes spurring deep conversations (for a 5-year-old) about the songs' meanings. Otherwise we just sing or talk about our days and what we're looking forward to, or sights we see along the way.

Kaylen has to be at daycare by 7:30, for check-in and to catch her bus to school. I then head off to work, and get to work usually about 5 minutes before 8:00, or right at 8:00 if I have to stop for gas - this is assuming traffic is decent. (All you bigger city folk - you can shake your heads and grumble now at my "traffic" squabbles. I drive about 24 miles from daycare to work, and it takes me about 20-25 minutes most days - almost all interstate. I can't complain.)

Then it's on to our busy days at school or work, until the evening when the rat race begins all over again.

A great weekend

Friday night when Jock got home, we went out for dinner. Jock was thinking pizza, but when I mentioned Bar-B-Q, he was all for it. There's a really great Bar-B-Q restaurant in the center of town that we really like. That yummy smokey BBQ smell hits you when you walk in.

Saturday I slept in a little bit while Jock and Kaylen worked on the garage (Jock had patched up a section of the wall that had earlier been damaged. He finished sanding down the plaster, and then they painted it). I got up and started laundry.







Kaylen's soccer game was at noon, so we had an early lunch before heading out. This was her last one for the year, since she will miss next week's. She did great - scored one goal this Saturday, and several the last couple times. She is showing better ball control - can get around it to turn directions. She still just likes to kick it hard though - I think trying to keep it to herself - that teamwork thing still escapes her a bit. :)

When we got back from soccer, it was all business, getting ready to go have some family pictures taken in the afternoon. We met a friend of ours down at the Capitol building. She took a ton of pictures, and it was so fun! We wandered around for a couple hours, both posing and just having fun with each other, and she snapped lots of pictures while we did it. I think we're going to have a hard time choosing our favorites!

Today I had to help at the early service in the 4s room. The first service starts at 8:30, and we woke up when Kaylen slammed a door, at 8:15 - when I'm supposed to be there! I threw on some clothes, brushed my teeth, set out an outfit for Kaylen, and ran out the door. I made it there at about 8:30, and the teacher had things all under control (the other helper was later than me). Jock & Kaylen then met me for the later service. Kaylen headed off to her class, and Jock and I to church. Today was a family commissioning/prayer service for a missionary family from our church. They've been preparing all summer to enter the mission field, and are leaving for Jamaica at the end of the month.

This afternoon we had a quick lunch, and then some quiet time. I had a long nap, read some, worked on backing-up some photos, and watched some football. Jock has been on his computer game, and Kaylen's been reading, playing, drawing pictures, and playing outside. It's been a lazy & relaxing afternoon - just what we all needed!

Tonight for supper, I cooked a casserole I'd had in the freezer and some frozen veggies to go with it. I finished up our paperwork for our foster care license renewal, to be mailed tomorrow. I probably also need to check our bank accounts and pay a few bills.

Tomorrow it's back to the grindstone. Next weekend my sisters are coming to visit and we're going to walk in Race for the Cure. I can't wait - I haven't seen them for over a month (almost 2)! How was your weekend?

Random stuff

*I checked out my Google Analytics reports. In the last 30 days, I've had over 400 hits on my blog that were not from the town I live in. (I exclude those, because I didn't exclude my hits from the count.) One of these hits was from Argentina, three from Haiti, and the rest from various parts of the US. I'm always excited to see this, but I'd so love to hear from you! Leave a comment and let me know who you are, and where you're from!

*I stay up way too late - blogging, Facebook, watching TV. It's hard to get up at 6:30 am when you've stayed up until 11:30 pm - at least for me. I require a decent amount of sleep. I'm very fortunate that Jock & Kaylen love their Saturday morning time together, and let me sleep in. That's when I catch up. I need to change this around though. When Elijah & Josephine come home, this isn't going to work.

*While staying up even later on a Friday night, I found a new show I really enjoyed on HGTV, called "Real Simple. Real Life." They organized this lady's home and life. Cool! Some days I feel like I need that, but my mess is nowhere near hers. We try to keep things fairly organized around here.

*Kaylen's is so smart - she's got a very absorbent sponge in her head! Where can I get one of those? Mine is old and drippy. :) I'm learning so much from her, second-hand. She knows what makes an insect an insect - although when I asked her today she answered, "God." But when asked how God made an insect so we know that it is an insect, the answer is "two antennas, six legs, and three body parts - head, thorax, and abdomen." Did I ever know that?!

*Kaylen is also learning vocabulary - they pick out three more difficult words from a book they're studying (also learning about plots and series' of events). This week's book was "Where the Wild Things Are", and her words are "terrible," "mischief," and "rumpus." I'll let you look up that last one.

Where is your coat?

I seem to be reciting this a lot recently. Kaylen is constantly forgetting her coat wherever she goes. She's done it 5 times (plus 2 close calls) in the last two weeks!

#1 lost and found:
A couple weeks ago, Jock picked Kaylen up at daycare for me. When he got there, she couldn't find her coat. She first told him that I didn't have her wear one that morning, but he called me to check that story. Sure enough, she’d left it at school, and she came home with it the next afternoon. At this point, it wasn’t a big deal – one-time-thing, right?! Not so…

#2 & #3 lost:
Last Wednesday, it got cold fast after dark, so I sent her in her pink jacket to church. We came home without it – so it’s gone at least until Sunday. I probably should have remembered it when I picked her up too, but we just talked about not leaving our things places.

Thursday I sent her to school in her pink zip-up fleece. Thursday afternoon she didn’t bring it home. Now we see a trend forming here – not taking care of her things, could end up costing us money, irresponsible, etc, so we had a good talking-to that night.

Friday morning I sent her in her blue zip-up hooded sweatshirt. That one came home, but not the pink fleece that I’d told her to look for. Sunday we forgot to ask about her pink jacket at church – so we’re down that one at least until Wednesday now.

#4 lost:
Monday I sent Kaylen to school in her blue sweatshirt again. She came home with just the shirt on her back. Now we’re down three! Daddy gave her an earful again.

#3 & 4 found:
Tuesday, I sent Kaylen to school in her purple sweatshirt. She came home with the blue and purple sweatshirts and the pink fleece! :)

#5 lost, #2 found, #5 found, #6 close call:
Wednesday morning it was cold and rainy, so the sweatshirts weren’t going to work. So, I dug out the winter liner of her pink jacket that can be worn itself. That one didn’t make it home either. She knew the minute I walked into daycare that she was in trouble. Oh boy! I’d picked her up early that day, so we headed off to run errands before church. I gave her quite the earful, and she recited, “It’s my responsibility to bring my coat home,” half-way to Wal-Mart and most of the way home. Then when we got home, she wrote the sentence several times. I wrote it at the top, but still, no small feat for a 5-year-old that can’t spell or write letters very well. She got some good writing practice though, as I made sure she spelled them all correctly.

By the time she was done, we were running late for church, so we jumped in the van, with her chomping down her PB&J as fast as she could on the way. When we signed her in, I asked if they’d found her jacket, and they immediately asked if it was pink. Yep – that’s it!

Thursday we sent her to school without a jacket - she already had one at school, and she wasn't going to be too cold just going from a vehicle to a building. Jock took her to school since we were running too late for her to make the daycare bus. He impressed upon her again that she'd better come home with her jacket. She did - we're once again in posession of all her jackets! Although last night at our small group Bible study she almost walked out without it again. Mom saved the day.

#7 close call:
When I showed up to daycare today, Kaylen’s daycare teacher immediately asked Kaylen to tell me who saved her day. (This teacher is also her afternoon bus driver and had also witnessed the previous trials of lost coats when I’ve picked her up.) Kaylen just gave me this embarrassed half-smile, so the teacher told me that she noticed Kaylen didn’t have her jacket when getting off the bus. The teacher asked her where it was, reminding her to go back to her seat and get it. Lucky girl!

Now, I know it’s just fall, and it’s hard to remember a jacket when it’s cold in the morning but then warm in the afternoon. I also know that she’s having to learn fast to be responsible for her things. She’s always been dropped of, stayed in the same building, and been picked up. If there was something amiss, we always asked right away before we went home. Someone else was always on top of things for her. Now she’s having to do it herself.

I’m told by friends with older children, that this was about the age that their children forgot their things places. With Kaylen, I really think it’s just a matter of her not paying attention to things – it’s right there on her hook all day long – how could she miss it when she goes to retrieve her backpack that’s on the same hook? Jock told me when he visited school last week one day, that Kaylen was always eager to be the first in line. She’s probably just in such a hurry to get in line that she doesn’t pay attention.

So this week, I’ve been pointing out times that she is and isn’t paying attention – mainly when we’re giving instructions, or other times when I notice that she’s being really observant, etc. I really hope we’re getting the message across to her. I don’t know what we’ll do when it gets cold enough for a hat, mittens, snow pants and boots. We always had trouble with those, even at daycare where she was always being reminded. It could be a long winter. But she can't go without when it's bitterly cold, and I can’t afford to purchase four pair of each. I might have to resort to gluing them onto her! Hmmmm…

What other tricks/ideas do you seasoned moms have up your sleeves?

Random Stuff from Oct '08

Not very good pictures this year so far, but soccer is going well. (Kaylen's on the purple team.) She's doing much better this year, given that she remembers from last year a little bit about what she's supposed to be doing. We can definitely see a bit more strategy forming, and better control of the ball. She played the first two weeks, then missed last week. She's got two weeks left, but then will miss the last of the six weeks because we'll be walking in Race for the Cure.

Speaking of Race for the Cure, I recently made this awesome page for Kaylen's scrapbook, from last year's race. (Althought I forgot until now that was going to look for a different picture of my mom to put in the bottom corner.)








A couple weeks ago we went to an orchard. We had fun with several of Jock's family members, including Kaylen's cousins that are a year older and a year younger than her. We picked about a 1/2 bushel of apples. Jock made 2 pies, and some applesauce. We also made some apple crisp, and still have a few apples left over for eating.


I took these two at the orchard too. They would have turned out really nice if it'd been cloudy. Oh well.








This is what I filled up for today. Yay! So glad to see gas prices going down now (despite the remainder of the economy being in bad shape).

New Pictures of E & J!

I don't know why I go out and check my update page daily - there are only updates there about twice per month, and they always notify us when the updates are posted. However, I still go out there hoping for some new information, progress on our adoption processing, or new pictures. Today I found these two nice surprises:

I love this smile of his!

I can't believe how much she's growing! From baby to little girl so fast!

Pumpkin Soup

A great recipe idea for you, perfect for this time of year (unless you had unseasonably warm temps like we did today, near 80). Still tasted good though. Make sure you read it in advance though. I thought we were going to have this for lunch, but then realized it took 4 hours just to cook the pumpkin. Don't let that scare you though - it's really very easy.

To cook a fresh pumpkin:
Cut top from 1 medium pumpkin (about 8 pounds); scoop out seeds and replace top. Place whole pumpkin on a baking sheet. Bake in 300 degree oven about 3 hours until tender. While pulp is still warm, scoop the pulp from the rind. Put warm pulp through food mill or puree in a blender.

In a saucepan cook the pumpkin puree over medium heat for 40-60 minutes or until reduced by half, stirring occasionally. Cool. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator up to 4 days, or divide into 1-cup freezer containers, seal, label and freeze up to 1 year. Makes 3 1/2 cups.

---

I bought the largest pie pumpkin I could find, and it made 5 cups, but maybe I didn't cook it long enough. The big carving pumpkins would make even more, and you could use for pumpking bars, bread, pie, soup, etc.

With my pumpkin puree, I made Pumpkin Soup:

1 onion, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 cups chicken broth
2 cups pumpkin puree (sometimes called 100% pumpkin)
3/4 cup green onions, chopped
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
2 cups milk
Salt and pepper, to taste

In a soup pot, heat oil over medium-high heat and saute onions. Cook till very soft and add remaining ingredients, except milk. Cook uncovered for 15 minutes. Add milk and continue to cook (but not boil--it will break) for another 5 minutes.

---

Very easy. It says it serves 6, but I'm not sure. It'd say maybe more like 4. If you have more, you like large bowls, or anyone will want seconds, you might want to make a double batch. To go with it I picked up some wheat dinner rolls and made a salad of spinach, feta, candied pecan, dried cranberries, and Italian dressing (didn't have any vinaigrette). YUMMY!

I know, I probably have some readers who wouldn't like this sort of thing. If you're not a picky eater, and are looking for a change of pace, this is a good one. The only thing I've had that's anything like it was the sauces we had in Haiti at the orphanage. Not the same, but very similar.

I forgot to take a picture of it, but it's kind of a orangish-yellow color. It's not a very thick soup. We decided it might be good to add in some chicken, carrots and cabbage, and then serve it over rice. Maybe we'll try that the next time.

Eye Surgery

So, we've decided I'm going to try to get Lasik surgery. I'm very excited but a little nervous too. I'll have to schedule a consultation first, to even know if I qualify, but everything I've read it sounds like I should. I don't have an astigmatism, and my eyes aren't horribly bad. I don't have problems with my eyes, and I haven't been wearing contact lenses for about 8 months. Hopefully I can get my consultation set up before my benefits enrollment at work this fall. I'd plan to have the surgery after the first of the year, so I can take advantage of the pre-tax medical spending account. We'll see how it goes...