The robin

It was quiet time, and I was sitting on my bed.  Suddenly there was a loud thud against my window.  I looked outside and saw a robin lying on the ground.  I went out to assess the damage.  I talked softly to him as I approached and he didn't recoil as I examined his wings, legs, head, and chest.  Nothing seemed broken, but he was panting and his eyes were glazed over.

I picked him up and held him close, and he slumped against me.  I prayed over him and sang hymns to him for about ten minutes, and then he started to perk up gradually.  First he squatted on his feet in my hand.  Then he turned to look right at me, and his eyes cleared.  He fluffed his feathers a bit and closed his beak.  The whole time, I continued to sing and pray and talk softly to him.  I told him that God created him, knows him, and cares about him.  I blessed him to have strength, health, and a full life.  He was completely relaxed, just sitting in my hand, looking at me.

Finally, after about another ten minutes, he stood up tall, pooped in my hand, chirped his thanks, and flew away.  I felt the strength of his legs pushing off against my hand and the breeze as he flapped his wings.  He stopped briefly in our tree and then took off into the sky.  I praised God for healing the bird and for allowing me to have such an amazing experience!

By then, quiet time was over, and it was time to get back to work.  Sometimes I prepare ahead for our literature lesson, but today I hadn't, so as I was reading this poem to my kids, it was the first time I'd read it, and it was right after the amazing bird experience:

It was like a direct message from God, telling me that I'm not living in vain.  I often get discouraged and feel like I'm making no positive difference in the world.  I teach my kids something and they've forgotten it the next day.  I spend hours making food that's gone in fifteen minutes.  I clean something and it's almost immediately dirtied again. It's easy to fall into the trap of believing the lie that nothing I do matters.  But God showed me today very clearly that it does.

Lunchtime with my people

The kids and I were working together making lunch.  Noah and I were assembling a big salad, and Sarah was making pasta.  Noah seized the opportunity to expound on all the reasons why it would be a great idea for us to get him a cell phone for his 15th birthday.  After laying out several reasons, he concluded, "So you'd be killing three birds with one stone!"  I pointed out that I don't like killing animals, and he amended his statement to: "Ok, well, then....you'd be...saving three birds with one...net?"

Sarah butted in to rinse out the strainer before draining the pasta.  She was singing a song about salmonella and saying she didn't want to get salmonella from any dust that might be in the strainer.  Noah said, "Why are you always singing songs about salmonella and ebola?"

I wonder if I'll miss all this bustling around and bantering in the kitchen someday when they're gone?  I think I will.

Another muffin fail

Noah had basketball tryouts this morning, and he's going on a camping trip this afternoon, so I thought I would make him a good breakfast to start him off well.  I decided on this gem from the famous Forks Over Knives Cookbook, so it would be healthy and failproof (recipe at the end of this post).

My first snag was that when I pulled the applesauce out of the fridge, I noticed it was moldy.  Had to throw that away.  :(  I didn't have any more applesauce, but I had plenty of apples, so I made my own applesauce.  Unplanned and time-consuming, but tasty and successful.  Back to the recipe.  After I added the applesauce, the batter was coming together like bread dough instead of muffin batter.  Clearly missing some liquid.  I'm not a rookie; I know I must go back and carefully check the recipe to make sure I got all the liquid and measured it correctly.  Almond milk, check. Vinegar, yep. Applesauce, just did it. Maple syrup, yep, I remember measuring that and thinking that was an expensive ingredient.  Vanilla...nope, forgot that.  But I doubt 1 1/2 tsp of liquid is going to fix this dry batter.  I add the vanilla.  Still dry bread dough.  

I'm surprised that the Forks Over Knives people would mess up a recipe so badly, but I clearly need to fix it.  I add more almond milk and applesauce.  It's still pretty thick, but I'm going with it. If I don't get them in the oven soon, they won't be ready before Noah has to leave.  I put them in the oven, set the timer, start cleaning up, and notice....1/2 cup of maple syrup carefully measured, still sitting there in the measuring cup.  Well, there's the problem. These muffins are going to be disgusting.

Whole Wheat Berry Muffins

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup unsweetened pant-based milk
• 1 Tbsp ground flaxseed
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 2 cups whole-wheat pastry flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 tsp salt (optional)
• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1/2 cup 100% pure maple syrup (or agave)
• 1-1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup berries

Servings: muffins

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with silicone liners or have ready a nonstick or silicone muffin pan.
2. In a large measuring cup use a fork to vigorously mix together the plant-based milk, flaxseed, and vinegar. Mix for about a minute, until it appears foamy. Set aside.
3. In a medium mixing bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt (optional). Make a well in the enter of the mixture and pour in the milk mixture. Add the applesauce, maple syrup, and vanilla, and stir together the wet ingredients in the well. Incorporate the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until the dry ingredients are moistened (do not overmix). Fold in the berries.
4. Fill each muffin cup three-quarters of the way to the top and bake for 22 to 26 minutes, or until a knife inserted through the center of a muffin comes out clean.
5. Let the muffins cool completely, about 20 minutes, then carefully run a knife around the edges of each muffin to remove.

Recipe Notes

from FORKS OVER KNIVES - THE COOKBOOK

Pukey feet

Shadow puked directly in the doorway of Noah's room early this morning.  It was one of those that is much easier to clean up after it dries and hardens, so I went in to warn Noah not to step in it.  When he came out of his room later, he stepped in it.  He took his socks off and threw them in the laundry.  The next time he went into his room, he stepped in the pile again.  This time he washed his feet in the bathtub.  Just now, I heard a yell of disgust and frustration followed by the bathtub running again.  Then he was kicking around the clean laundry on the floor.  I told him to keep his pukey feet out of the clean laundry, and he said, "I just washed them!  They're cleaner than Jesus' feet!"  I said, "Did you use soap?" and he said, "Well..um...no.  I used frankincense and myrrh."

Happiness

There is one towel rack in our tiny bathroom, and we all share the two towels that it holds.  So if someone takes a shower before you, you're getting wet towels to dry off with after your shower.  If more than one person takes a shower before you, the towels will be saturated by the time you get to them. Sometimes they have toothpaste stains on them or other grossness. It's a relatively minor annoyance, so we just put up with it.

A couple weeks ago, I decided to buy myself two towels that I would hide for my exclusive use.  They're soft, fluffy, purple, clean, and dry every time I use them.  I keep them on my closet door, so I have to remember to take them to the bathroom with me before I get in the shower, but it's so wonderful.  The whole situation makes me disproportionately happy.

Eve and the devil

In our devotion reading this morning, the author referred to the annoying, stinging mosquito as "she".  Sarah was highly offended by that.  She said, "Why do all evil things have to be girls?"  I told her that the author probably just referred to it as "she" because he knows that the only ones that bite are female. The males are just out there innocently sucking nectar from flowers and not harming anyone.  Noah mumbled something about Eve, and Sarah said, "Oh shut it; Satan was a boy."

Scam class

How exciting to receive this wonderful news in the mail yesterday:

A perfect opportunity to have scam class in school today.  I called the toll-free number and was greeted by Brian, who was very enthused to share this opportunity.  He said, "Congratulations!  I assume you're calling to claim your free cruise!"  I said, "No.  Actually I'm a teacher, and my students are listening in to learn how to avoid scams."  He said, "Well I'm sorry to hear that, because this is not a scam!  You really have won a free cruise!"  I said, "That's great!" and listened to Brian talk about how marvelous this cruise was going to be for the next five minutes.  I had told the students in advance that he would eventually be asking for my credit card number.  He had asked for my phone number and first name, which I provided even though Noah was silently but violently shaking his head to advise against it.  Brian would pause every minute or so to say, "How does that sound?" or something similar.  Finally, he explained that we would have to pay $130 in port taxes.  He asked if that sounded reasonable to me, and I said yes.  Then he asked me for my credit card number, and I yelled, "Oh, there it is!  He wants my credit card number!"  Brian sounded confused as he said, "You don't want to go on the cruise?"  I said, "Thank you for the education" and hung up.

Guess we won't be going to the Bahamas after all.