A little Miracle

What are the chances of being in exactly the right place at exactly the right time?

I was sitting in the coffee shop today feeling hurt and emotionally bruised, mainly due to my own pride.  I decided to type out all that I was thinking and feeling no matter how bad.  And then I heard mumbling not too far away.  I looked over to see an older gentleman and a woman in armchairs facing one another, hands clasped over each other's, and heads bowed in.  Here they were, praying, seeking guidance from God.  Or maybe they were a step above and they were thanking God for all that was in their life.  And here I was, sitting ,in a pool of negativity ready to lash it all out on Microsoft Word.  

~Thank You for steering me once again on the right path; I have a hard time staying on their myself.   

The Beauty of Roosters

In the Russian culture I feel there were many objects of nature that were alluring to the Russian people. For example trees.  There must be at least 5 songs written per each tree type in Russia.  Although I'm not sure that roosters (petushki) are on the same caliber of appreciation as trees. Okay I know they are not.  However, they are still culturally famous.  There is of course Petya Petushok.  The town Petushki.  A rooster emblem in many a film.  A poem written by Pushkin about the Golden Rooster. The well known story of the rooster kidnapped by the fox. 

And so I have introduced you to all the roosters living in my home.  I have had a rooster fascination since the time I convinced my friend to make a rooster paper-mache with me in the 9th grade. And now I have finally satiated my need for roosters...

"Петушок, петушок,
Золотой гребешок,
Масляна головушка,
Шелкова бородушка,
Что ты рано встаешь,
Голосисто поешь,
Деткам спать не даешь?"

The Beauty of Praise

Why Speaking Well of Your Spouse Is So Important

By Michael Hyatt, Chairman of a Christian Publishing Company

As a leader, the health of your marriage directly affects the impact of your leadership. I have witnessed this time and time again. Being effective at work or in ministry begins by being effective at home.

Early in our marriage, Gail and I attended a church led by a dynamic, thirty-something pastor. He was an extraordinary communicator. He was a wise and empathetic counselor. As a result, the church grew rapidly.

But as we got better acquainted with him and his wife, we started noticing a disturbing trend in the way they related to one another. They would often make disparaging remarks about the other in public.
At first, it seemed cute. Their comments seemed playful and humorous. Everyone laughed. But over time, they became more and more pointed, thinly masking their frustration with one another.
We ultimately left that church. But several years later we learned they suffered an ugly divorce, both admitting to multiple affairs. They lost their family, and, of course, their ministry. To this day, it grieves me to think about it.
Conversely, I noticed that Sam Moore, my predecessor at Thomas Nelson, always spoke highly of his wife. He would often say, “I hate to leave her in the morning, and I can’t wait to see her in the evening.” They have been married now for nearly 60 years. Last time Gail and I were with them, they were holding hands. It was obvious they were still in love.
In reflecting on these two experiences, I am convinced that praising your spouse in public is one of the most important investments you can make—in your family and in your leadership.
This is important for at least five reasons:

1. You get more of what you affirm. Have you ever noticed that when someone praises you, you want to repeat the behavior that caused it? This is just human nature. It can be a form of manipulation if it isn’t genuine. But it can be a powerful way to motivate others when it is authentic.
2. Affirmation shifts your attitude toward your spouse. Words are powerful tools. They can create, or they can destroy. They can build up, or they can tear down. I believe most people have a drive to align their actions—and their attitudes—with their words. If you start speaking well of someone, you start believing what you say.
3. Affirmation helps strengthen your spouse’s best qualities. Encouragement is also a powerful force for good. All of us need positive reinforcement. This is why when we are losing weight and people notice, it gives us the strength to stick with the program. This is true in every area of life.
4. Affirmation wards off the temptation of adultery. When others see you are happily married, they are less likely to proposition you. It’s like a hedge that protects your marriage from would-be predators. You simply stop being a target.
5. Affirmation provides a model to those you lead. To be a truly effective leader, you must lead yourself, and then you must lead your family. Your marriage is a powerful visual of how you treat the people you value the most. When you speak highly of your spouse, your followers are more likely to trust you. It takes your leadership to another level.

Affirming your spouse in public is an investment that pays big leadership dividends. In a world where fewer and fewer marriages last, it can be a difference-maker.

The Beauty of Tradition: Zhavoronki

40 soldiers confessed they were Christians in the early 300s.  40 soldiers were condemned for their beliefs.  They were placed unclothed on a frozen pond on a bitter cold night.  One soldier ran away.  During the night a guardsman witnessed the existence of God and took the place of the 40th soldier.  In remembrance of the 40 soldiers who died for their faith it is tradition to bake 40 zhavoronki (larks). 

I find myself puzzled that I never asked why it is that we bake breads that look like birds in order to remember 40 soldiers.  I read on another blog how a mother explained to her children that the lark symbolizes the Holy Spirit which was inside each of the men the night they gave their lives for what they believed in.  But the more traditional reason comes down to the fact that the first day of spring is on the same day that we commemorate these 40 soldiers.  Since the lark is the first bird of spring, the two were combined to make a tradition to last for years and years.

And so, my baking experience:

Also, I haven't made zhavoronki in quite some time.  As a result, I decided I knew better than ALL the generations of women before me who made them a certain way. Hence my zhavoronki came out more like fat airplanes with eyes.

I tried to persevere and try again.  So I searched 'zhavoronki' on the Internet and found a lovely Russian site that some marvellous Russian woman with immense baking talent and skill posted a step by step instruction on how to make flying larks. Again, instead of reverting back to the traditional way of making zhavoronki, which is basically make a knot with the dough, I decided once again to be different, try something new, and aspire to be like this amazing Russian baker. 

Although there was some improvement throughout the process, there were definitely challenges with consistency in size.

"Tradition!"

Commitment to Beauty: Week of March 18th

1. Clean the apartment - In Process.

• Every time I think I'm almost there, it just blows up again. More like my kitchen blows up because I try to cook. And here's the kicker. I live in a one-bedroom apartment with no kids.  Shameful, I know.

2. Surprise Husband with something he likes - Accomplished
3. Wear "put-together" outfits - Accomplished

4. Get to church on time -Accomplished
5. Skype with niece and nephew -Accomplished

• A perfect skype session which finished with a danceathon to Mary Poppins' Chim Chimney and a reading of Beatrix Potter's A Story of a Fierce Bad Rabbit.

The Beauty of Feeling Whole

I come to visit my husband at my in-laws.  His Lenten hours are long with services every day and night.  Thus he spends his nights a walk away from church so that I may have the car to drive to work. I walk into his room and see the papers, the clothes, the books, the shoes.  Some are his things and some are not.  Order is what he needs to keep his days running smoothly.  So I start to organize and tidy.

He wakes up early, 6 am, to jog in the chilled morning.  He lifts heavy weights to sculpt the muscles in his arms and back.  So I start to knead the knots away.

Punctuality is important when coming to the choir.  The support is a much needed comfort.  It is easy to take a little longer in getting ready, sleep a little longer in my cozy bed.  But not this week.  So I get my things together the night before and I come at the right time. 

And once you nurture your loved one's love a moment is created. Two pieces are interwoven into one again.

The Beauty of the Ocean

Kid Craft: Ocean

Supplies:

• Straws
• Paint - Tempura or Finger Paint works best
• Water
• Green Streamers
• Glue
• Bird Seed
• Fish Coloring Pages
• Scissors
• Marbles
• Cardboard lid to a box or Baking pan
• Large paper
• Newspaper

1. Ocean water

• Mix Blue paint with a tad of water.
• Cover Table with newspaper.
• Pour blue water paint in zigzags on white paper.
• Take straws and blow paint around paper. Careful not to get lightheaded.

2. Fish

• Cut out fish.
• Place cut outs in lid or pan with marbles.
• Make small dollops of different colored paint in the lid/pan and on fish.
• Hold onto lid/pan on both sides and roll sideways, forward and back, and in circles.
• Watch the magic come about.

3. Make the Ocean

• Glue fish on. Can do even if water is still wet. Blue shines through but does not cover whole fish unless the blue has too much water.
• Apply glue on bottom of page and sprinkle birdseed on for sand.
• Glue streamer on for seaweed.

Variations

• Sand, dirt, beads, rocks
• Fish, starfish, shells
• Streamers, grass, construction paper

*Works on sensory integration, bilateral hand coordination, visual attention, tactile sensitivities, eye hand coordination, and having fun!

The Beauty of Thoughtfulness

This week I made a goal to do things that would make my husband happy through his love sensors.  Although I tried and did accomplish a few tasks I think my husband's thoughtfulness takes the cake, this week.

Husband stopped by randomly at work to drop off a bouquet of roses telling me he missed me. 
~Sitting in a large room waiting for our company meeting to start, all us women and three men, were chatting about the usual.  Sometimes sharing information about who's spouse does what to fulfill their wife's need for emotional support and recognition .  In walks my husband carrying a bright bouquet of roses. The astounding "Awwwww" emanating from the onlookers was deafening for a split second.  I think Husband's original goal was to sneak in and leave unnoticed.  He delivered his package, gave me a kiss, just one, and as he was walking out a voice resounded from our audience "I'm telling Johnny about this!"

My favorite is Pad Thai and I LOVE ginger. Problem is, Husband hates ginger and he likes to make his own sauce consisting of peanut butter and balsamic vinegar.  It tastes slightly different from the restaurant Pad Thai.  Currently we have a box of rice noodles waiting to be made into Pad Thai this lent.  However we're just never in the mood for it at the same time, or more like in the same way.  So the other day, Husband surprised me with a sauce JUST for me: a combination of ginger and peanut. The excitement to try it is bubbling!

The time is wrong on the phone. I do not work that late at night.

Husband also took the time out of his busy Lenten church schedule to check up on me when I wasn't feeling well at work. 

"Love can do all things, and if it ceases to be generous and sharing it is no longer love."
-St. Gregory the Great

The Beauty of Perspective: A Child's Drawing

As babies we learn to read people by their face and their tone of voice.  It is for this reason that when most children first draw a person the central part of the body is the face.  First a circle is made. The eyes and mouth are then added into that circle. Finally the child draws arms and legs coming from the circle; no neck, no body.  The person is built around the face. But..

Not everybody sees the world the same way. 
Artist - 5 year old boy

“What we see depends mainly on what we look for.”
―   John Lubbock

Femininity

  

fem·i·nine/ˈfemənin/

Adjective:	Having qualities or appearance traditionally associated with women, esp. delicacy and prettiness.
Noun:	The female sex or gender.
Synonyms:	adjective. female - womanly - womanlike noun. female

 femiˈninity

Noun:            The quality of being feminine - She never used her femininity to win the argument.

Feeling a little frumpy and disgruntled,  I have decided part of my physical well being will be to become a true woman, a real woman, a more feminine woman. 

"Beauty Tips"

-Audrey Hepburn

For attractive lips, speak words of kindness.

For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people.

For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry.

For beautiful hair, let a child run its fingers through it.

For poise, walk with the knowledge you'll never walk alone.

The beauty of a woman must be seen from in her eyes,
Because that is the doorway to her heart,
The place where love resides.

Love Through Love Sensors

I thought blogging and blogs were stupid. A very profound word, I know.  I'm still not fully convinced how I feel about keeping a blog.  However, in discovering blogs I have already learned from others' and maybe that's just the point.  Reading some body's page and thinking "I'm not the only one!" or "Gees, maybe I should try that!"  I'm also realizing that the goals I outlined for myself for this coming year are not that exciting and maybe not pinpointing exactly what it is that needs changing in my life. 

If I'm going to identify the areas in my life that need attention or positive change in a general sense it would be:

1. My spiritual relationship with God
2. My marriage and relationship with my husband
3. My physical well-being/health

So, new plan or more like amendment to original plan:
In addition to working on previously outlined goals, add weekly "tidbit" goals.
This week's tidbit will be: Surprise husband with something he likes/wants

After reading Preserve Them, O Lord by Father John Mack, on a long car ride driving cross-country soon after our wedding, my husband and I quickly realized that we have different love sensors.  I prefer solicitude: being concerned about opinions, feelings, interests, desires, likes, and dislikes.  My husband prefers physical affection, frequent kissing, hugging, holding hands.  So much so that typically when I get a kiss, it is never just one kiss. It is always at least 3 to 5 quick ones in a row.  I prefer communicating with words and expressing admiration.  My husband prefers companionship and spending time together.  Although all of these are wonderful attributes to have combined in a marriage, I must say it is difficult for me to remember to show my husband love through his love sensors and not my own. 



My mother, as most mothers do, wants the best for all her children and will forever nurture us in as many ways as she can.  As a result one of her gifts to my husband and myself was After the Honeymoon: How to Maintain a Happy Marriage by Peter Kalellis.  We have not completed reading this book but have found comfort in its pages, whether from the content or just participating in a calming activity together I am as yet unsure.  Here are some helpful advices the book has to offer a wife:

• Admire your husband's achievements.
• Keep you "honey-do" list down. Show him thanks for things he accomplishes on the list.
• Don't second guess him in front of others.
• Ask him how you can be more pleasing.
• Handle his male ego with care.
• Accept him as he is. Change yourself.
• Get rid of habits that annoy him.
• Make a point to pay special attention to him.
• Thank him for his contribution to your household.
• Call him if you are going to be late.
• If you give him something to read that is important to you, don't nag him to read it.

"Marriage is more than human.  It is a micro-kingdom, a miniature kingdom, which is the little house of the Lord." - St. Clement of Alexandria

Chocolate in Your Teeth

Living approximately 3,000 miles away and three hours apart from your sister is not the easiest of things in life.  Of course life could be worse and we should always count our blessings.  But life sure is better when your sister is physically near (most of the time).  As with most sisters, my sister played an integral part in the person that I have become today.  She taught me to not be afraid of bees. We developed our own form of wailers for our staged funerals on the living room couch.  She taught me to put chocolate in my teeth and smile at the deacon from our church while he sat at the head clergy table during lunch. I then passed this talent onto my friends.

And we religiously played the Scare Game, hiding behind every corner and in every closet anxiously waiting to jump out! We played to the point of accidentally almost giving an 80 year old woman a heart attack for being around the wrong corner at the wrong time.  Needless to say, my sister was and still is a very important person in my life (we still play the scare game and put chocolate in our teeth).

So, after speaking to my sister on the phone today and laughing about things that most other people don't think are funny, I became a little nostalgic.  As it is lent (no dairy) and I wanted something sweet, I quickly remembered these chocolates we used to make as kids.  Melt semi-sweet chocolate chips. Mix in peanut butter.  Place dollops on wax paper. Chill in fridge. Pop in mouth.  At the time they were the best and the easiest to make.  So I frantically searched the cabinets for the two ingredients needed; if they weren't there going to the store would be out of the question.  Going to the store somehow always defeats the last minute snack urge.  So I melted and mixed the two ingredients and thought "wouldn't it taste good with pecans?" Then there was the decision "should the pecan go on the bottom or the top?  It would look good on the top but having one on the bottom is like a surprise and a crunchy, nutty surprise is always so good!" So on the bottom they went.  But once you pour the chocolaty goodness over the pecan it is definitely in need of something on the top. Hence we have the Pecan delight: pecan on the bottom, chocolaty goodness in the middle, and another pecan on the top. 

I made and ate these for you sister (and also for my sweet, chocolate urge)! Salute!

~Although this does not count as a new recipe, it is a newly created rendition of a recipe.  As far as I am concerned that counts towards my goals.

The Artichoke

I probably should have made my first goal be: maintain a blog.  Apparently, when you start a blog you are actually supposed to make time for the Internet.  Regardless, I will persevere at my own pace... 

Approximately a year and a half ago I got married and moved from one side of the country to the other in order to start a new life.  In this "nouvelle vie" you learn things about each other that you either admire from the start or need to acquire a taste for.  And then there are the little things that make life what it is.  One of the little things that now make up my life is cloth napkins.  My introduction to cloth napkins consisted of beautifully set tables with candles and of course various elaborate napkin folds at my in-laws.  My first go at my 2012 goals and achieving napkin artistry was the ARTICHOKE.

I have to say that having a goal of napkin folding is actually helpful for those of us who are Type B personality.  I HAD to get the table set in advance in order to have napkins folded and ready in time for dinner.  Okay, if I am going to be completely honest, I did my mother's famous plan of action.  I folded a couple and then asked another person to finish the setting so I could attend to other important, time sensitive tasks.  (Side goal: manage time so that guests do not have to do work at my dinner parties.) 

Overall, success in learning napkin fold #1.

Kudos to my sister-in-law for introducing me to the Artichoke!

Next on the agenda... The Lotus!