Up on the Roof

Friday, August 8, 2014

Kart Wheels

In the past couple of months, Kyle has decided he thoroughly enjoys helping me in the kitchen whenever possible. Admittedly, there are times when I try to sneak into the kitchen to accomplish something before he realizes I'm in there.... only to hear, "Mommy what are you doing in there?" as he rounds the corner into the dining room, grabs a chair to stand on, and comes trotting into the kitchen ready to help, chair in tow. I am constantly reminding myself that these years fly by; I need to take advantage of my time with him even when I'd rather just get the job done. So he helps me measure flour, stir batter, get milk from the fridge, eggs from the counter..... And I smile because he is just the little buddy I prayed for.

While in South Africa earlier this week for an AIM prayer day, we found Kyle an adorable little baking set for kids. I couldn't pass it up, complete with an apron and tiny cooking utensils. He has been giddy about cooking something with his new toys. So yesterday we pulled out the Alpha-Bakery cookbook my Aunt gave us and flipped through the pages until we settled on something quick, easy and consisting of ingredients I had on hand.

Photo credit : Kyle

Then we started making Kart Wheels. We complied the components and got to work. First, measure the butter and get it softened in the micro because it's still rock solid on the kitchen counter. Then, measure the flour, baking powder, powdered sugar and milk. Mix all the ingredients together until a nice ball of pastry has formed. We halved the recipe because I was only looking for a tiny treat. Divide into equal pieces and shape into balls. Situate them on a baking sheet like so, flattened slightly and mash a hole in the middle with your finger for the jam. We did two apricot and one strawberry. Fill with about a tablespoon of jam and bake at 350 for 20 minutes, until edges are slightly browned.

"See, Daddy, this is what we are making!"

You never know who is watching you lick the spoon. Photo credit : Kyle

(See the hairless spot in the back of Kyle's head? That was the fight he got into with the gravel road in front of our house 6 months ago. Quite the fright, with blood everywhere we anticipated an emergency trip out of the mountains. But after some evaluation and careful cleaning by Dad, we decided to just baby it and try to avoid stitches...)

The proud baker!

A pretty delicious snack for not much work....

Kart Wheels (full recipe)

1 1/2 flour

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

2 tablespoons milk

About 1 cup pie filling or jam (any flavor)

1. Heat oven to 375*

1. Mix flour, butter, powdered sugar, baking powder and just enough milk until dough forms. (If dough seems dry, mix in more milk, 1 teaspoon at a time.)

3. Divide the dough into 6 equal parts. Shape each part into a ball. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet; flatten slightly. Make an indentation in center of each flattened ball. Fill each indentation with about 2 tablespoons pie filling or jam. Bake until the edges begin to brown, 20-25 minutes. Makes 6 Kart Wheels.

~Abby

Friday, July 18, 2014

Atlantic, Pacific, now Indian!

I grew up going to the beach for family vacations. While I tend to label myself as more of a mountain girl, I do thoroughly enjoy a visit to the ocean; the salty air and the relaxing sound of the waves crashing on the sand are comforting to me. Probably my only irritant with the beach is the sand that inevitably finds its way into my bed.... But a few sweeps from my hand and that's fixed. Having spent the majority of my beach time on the Atlantic but also visiting the Pacific in Hawaii, I was really excited to dip my toes in the Indian Ocean.

Although we're closer to the Durban area than to any other large city in Lesotho or South Africa we've visited, we had yet to find the opportunity to drive west and combine our monthly grocery shopping with a trip to the coast. Typically we have one reason or the other that we need to drive east for a meeting or to visit a certain store. This month, however, we didn't have anywhere else to go for groceries and decided to combine that trip with a scope of the place before my mom flies into Durban in October (yay!). I was surprised that it took only four hours to get to Pietermaritzburg where we stopped for McDonalds, and exactly one more hour to drive to where we were staying in Durban. The Sani Pass, albeit rugged, wasn't as bad as we were anticipating. We even drove back up it after dark last night. I'm sure my mom will be white-knuckling it when she rides up in October, but for us it's just the way life is here. Jonathan drives carefully and we all hold on tight and pray our brakes don't give out. Reliable Rocky comes through again!

Ellee holding on tight

Top of Sani

GPS warning of car sickness

A couple weeks ago I suggested to our friends in Pretoria that they meet us in Durban for our little vacation. We were thrilled that they decided to join us and we proceeded to book a lovely ocean view guest house for not much more than the price of a Knights Inn room in America. Our room was just what we needed, complete with a little corner to tuck away Ellee's pack & play from the rest of us. Little Lady likes her privacy when she sleeps, otherwise she's keen to stand and cry and beg for someone to come play with her. We opted out of the breakfast part of the B&B for a discounted rate and I baked muffins and brought instant oatmeal packets from home. For lunch we ate sandwiches and fruit on our balcony to save our appetites for dinners out.

For dinners we tried a couple new restaurants (at least they were new to us). One was a genuine African cuisine right on the beach and the food was fantastic. The other was a seafood grill built on something like a pier and that was also very nice. The cheesecake with berry sauce I splurged on was probably the best thing about all our dinners out.... I do love cheesecake.

Arcade fun

Dinner photography a la Kyle

The highlight of the guest house was either the hot water flowing instantly from the tap into a giant tub or the monkeys that roam the trees and rooftops in search of something they can eat. It was really nice to have a hot shower after a week of frozen pipes. But seeing monkeys in the wild was really a special treat! I couldn't help but think that Kyle is growing up thinking this is a normal aspect of life, sort of like seeing squirrels in South Carolina....

I found it hard to believe that the climate in Durban was so vastly different from way up here in Mokhotlong until I actually got there. Even in the middle of the winter, the afternoons were warm and the mornings and evenings were pleasantly cool. I imagine in the dead of summer, the heat there is unbearable, probably not unlike what we experienced in Mexico. The ocean was fairly chilly though and we didn't do much swimming... well I didn't at least. Jonathan and Kyle enjoyed a nice dip in a calm beach we visited on Wednesday. The beach by our guest house was rocky and the waves were enormous. Plus, there was a posted warning sign that the beach wasn't protected by shark nets and that was plenty enough deterrent for me. Still, we walked on the beach a number of times and Ellee had a great time playing in the sand with the new sand toys I bought from a lady walking up and down the beach.

When I invited our friends to join us, I didn't do so with their photography skills in mind. But certainly having them and their camera around didn't hurt. They offered to take a few family photos for us on the beach and we took them up on it. It's been over a year since they took our family photos in Bloem, just after Ellee was born. You can see that it was windy but we had fun playing around for a bit while Meredith worked her camera magic...

A little warm R&R does the heart good, especially when coming back to frigid Mokhotlong, with still frozen pipes. Our fire is dead and it's on my to-do list to start it this morning. Right now I can barely feel my fingers to type so I'll leave you and move on to that task.......

~Abby

Saturday, May 24, 2014

Edelweiss

How do I begin to sum up a year of joy with this gift from God? This girl, this invaluable treasure, has sneaked her way into places deep within my heart - places which I didn't even know existed. She is a dream come true, my daughter, my friend.

I couldn't count the number of times over the past year that I have replayed in my mind the hours and days surrounding Ellee's birth. Oftentimes if my mind is spinning as I try to settle down to sleep, I'll just begin to focus on her birthday, the utter joy and excitement I felt as she surprised me and started coming early. Holding Ellee in my arms as I rock her before her naps or bedtime, I'll think about those early hours with her, just me and her, in the hospital. She was so tiny, so warm and she made the softest, sweetest baby noises I had ever heard. She captivated me during those early hours as she still captivates me now.

Within the last month, she has grown and changed by leaps and bounds. After really fighting her to eat anything besides breast milk, she has finally taken to eating two reasonable meals a day. She just eats bites of whatever I have for breakfast : cereal, oats, yogurt & fruit or an egg. Lunch and dinner, though, I make her up some concoction of fresh cow's milk (albeit home-pasturized), fruit, sometimes peanut butter, sometimes pumpkin, and rice cereal. She eats bites of whatever we are eating as well, but Little Miss Two Teeth has a hard time doing a real number on solid foods yet. Regardless, I am just thankful that she will actually eat food off of a spoon and has recently started taking a sippy cup. I have no intentions of weaning her anytime soon, but I feel a lot less anxious knowing she's pulling some nutrition from a source besides me. She weighs around 20 lbs, so I know she isn't hurting for calories.

Along with her new eating habits, she has developed some new modes of transportation for herself. She's been crawling for a couple months, but refused to stand up until three days ago. Even with help, she wanted nothing to do with being on her feet. I was beginning to fret about why she was avoiding that major developmental milestone, but figured I'd give it a while longer. Sure enough, Wednesday night, she just started standing up. Now we can't get her to sit down. She can climb stairs; she's even trying to cruise the furniture already. That girl. She doesn't want to do anything until she can do it perfectly. It was that way with learning to crawl, now learning to stand, and I bet she'll wait to walk until she can just let go and stroll around the neighborhood. She's a real stink.

Her vocabulary is exploding! Just yesterday as I was sitting outside with her on the front porch, she waved at a lady passing by and before I could say anything, she said, "Mme", plain as day. "Mme" means something like ma'am or Mrs in Sesotho and it's how you greet any married woman. Ellee can also say Mama, Dada (when she wants to, not often, she's a real stinker), Ky for Kyle, sky, bird, hello, bye bye, night night, bite, bath and yeah. Of course, bird, bite and bath all sound very similar but in context, it is obvious what she is trying to say. If I tell her no, she'll often respond with "yeah". We are so in for it. On command she can kiss, dance, wave, clap, and laugh. Her forced laugh keeps us roaring. I don't know why she's started it, but whenever someone else is laughing, she forces out the most woody-the-woodpecker laugh you've ever heard. It's hilarious! She also makes car and plane noises while she plays with Kyle's toys, much to his delight. We think she's great fun.

For a year I have been singing or humming Edelweiss to my girl as I nurse her before bed. The words to that song have brought me to tears on numerous occasions because they express exactly what I feel in my heart. I pray over her, sing over her, wish over her so many things during those quiet, dark hours; my heart is full of hopes and dreams for this sweet child. Most of all, I pray she will become a God-fearing woman, strong and gentle, caring and honest, helpful, hopeful and joyful in whatever life brings her way. I pray she will grow into a lovely little girl, and a virtuous woman. I pray for her future husband and her future children. It seems so far off now, rocking a sleeping baby in my arms, but I already know the days and years fly by.

Edelweiss, edelweiss, every morning you greet me

Small and white, clean and bright

You look happy to meet me

Blossom of snow may you bloom and grow

Bloom and grow forever!