Baking with Fruit

I have a child who refuses to eat fruit. I think he would like it if he would put it in his mouth, but he won't.  So, during Silas and mommy time we have started doing some baking with fruit.  We experimenting with replacing butter with different fruit purees.  So far we have make: Banana Mango Bread, Banana Peanut Butter Cookies, Pumpkin Spice Granola, Mango Coconut Granola, and Banana Spice Granola.  I try not to use much sugar either.  The bread didn't have any sugar in it and the other two just had brown sugar or jaggery (dehydrated molasses) in less quantity than it would normally call for because of the fruit's sweetness.
    I really like the cookies we made today.  I didn't measure, but it went something like this:
1 cup mashed banana
1/3 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 cup whole grain flour
some baking soda
some baking powder
some cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla
oats

Silas helped me measure and thus it is impossible to get an accurate read.  I started with about a cup of flour and then kept adding until I had the right consistency. 190 C degree oven for about 12 minutes.

Mango Coconut Granola
6 cups oats
1 cup pureed mango
3/4 cup brown sugar/jaggery (varies depending on sweetness of mango)
1Tbsp honey
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp turmeric
pinch of salt

 Spread out on cookie sheet. (you will have to use a few cookie sheets). Bake in 160 degree Celsius oven for 15 minutes.  Flip and then bake another 10-20 minutes depending on size of clusters.
Add shredded coconut and raisins (that is what I had available but other dried fruits or nuts would be good as well)

Learning from those with "less"

Life here is not as convenient as life in America.  It is necessary to sweep and mop the floors every day, we have no dishwasher, no clothes dryer (so thankful for a washing machine), all food is made from scratch (pretty much)... For this reason, I have been praying for a while that God would send us a reliable house helper who could do some cooking and cleaning so that I could focus on my children, learning language, and doing other ventures (because I could seriously spend all day just cleaning my house and cooking).  And God has answered this request and she was worth the wait!  She is not only my house helper, but she is my teacher in so many ways.  We spend about 2 hours a day speaking in Hindi about all different things and during this time she teaches me not only language and culture, but how to see our world differently and how to appreciate God more.
    Sangita doesn't have much.  She lives with her husband, father-in-law, son, and two daughters (all teens).  Her husband used to work to support the family, but he was injured about 5 years ago and has been unable to work since then.  They have been living off of the father's pention, government rations, and whatever income she brings in.  While the government gives flour and rice, the flour is mixed with dust and the rice is full of bugs. They have a house, but electricity is limited, they pump their water from a well, and she cooks part of their meal outside over a wood fire.  But she knows that for everything she must give thanks to God for his goodness and provision for them.  She has told me stories of those with less.  People who work out in the sun all day long carrying dirt on their heads...and yet they praise the Lord.  They praise him because He has recently saved them out of darkness and into his glorious light!  They know what it is like to live life without God and they are so thankful for the hope, joy, peace that they now have.  They know that even though they have so very little, they have everything they need!
   And so I think about my own life.  I think about how it is easy to complain when the power goes off while you are taking a shower, or when you come home and no water comes out of your faucet, or when your a/c drips water...and yet there are so many things to be thankful for in that sentence.  God I am so thankful that I have electricity most of the time to run lights, fans, ovens, a/cs... I am thankful for a warm shower that is inside my house and has water coming from it 99% of the time...I am thankful for clean water that comes through a tap and pure drinking water that comes easily through my filter...I am thankful for an a/c in 100+ temperatures.  And even if I didn't have those things, I am thankful for a family to spend time with by flashlight, neighbors who generously give us their water, food to eat, good health, friends who pray for me...
And even if I didn't have those things, I am thankful that I have hope.  I have hope of a future glory far beyond anything that I can imagine on earth.  Hope of spending eternity with my creator, sustainer, redeemer, God who loves me so much that he gave his son for me.  So thankful that my sins are forgiven and that I am at peace with the almighty God!  

Content to Angry

I just love the progression of these photos from content, to annoyed, frustrated, and down right angry.

"Kiss me and I'll whack you in the face"

"The hat is the last straw"

Picture Dump

We are finally headed home.  Our flight was delayed so we are standing around waiting for Evelynn's first flight.

Back home! Walking to baggage claim.

Play time with dad.  This is our upstairs landing that I turned into a playroom.  I have wanted to post pictures of our house, but I still haven't really decorated after almost a year.  I designed the storage unit on the left and had the bins brought from the USA.

Our adopted "aunties" painting Evelynn's letters to hang on the wall.  This is the living room.  Notice the completely blank walls.  

Evelynn sleeping under her mosquito net.  In this heat I am so thankful she doesn't need to be swaddled to sleep.

Bath time!

Hangin' with daddy on the bed.  E sleeps in our room right now.

not such a great picture of Evelynn, but it works.

While Baby Sleeps Continued... labor story

It seems these days that the only time I spend on the computer is with baby in one arm, and typing with one hand just takes forever.  So I am finally getting around to the birth story and some pictures if Evelynn keeps sleeping.
I got to the hospital at 8 in the morning and it seemed like it took forever to get through the admissions process.  When I got up to the labor and delivery area they told me (using my middle name) that I could just go wait in my recovery room since my c-section wasn't scheduled until 10:30.  I firmly told them that I was not having a c-section, but an induction and my name is not Elizabeth.  To which they said, but you are on our list as scheduled for a c-section... and then they finally figured out that my name is not Elizabeth and they got me settled into my room.  By this time I was crying because I just wanted to have the baby and was frustrated with the confusion and the nurse was concerned that I was in pain and didn't like that I was crying.
   So they started the induction around 9am but implanting a little tablet, and some very minor contractions started, but I was walking around and feeling pretty good.  They checked me around noon and I had progressed a little, so they gave me another tablet to "increase my pain" as the nurse said.  Shortly after that the doctor came in and she informed me that the baby's heart rate had been too high since the time of my admission and she did not like it.  If it didn't come down within thirty minutes I would have a c-section.  I thought, "oh great, I waited a week past her due date only to have to have a c-section!"- but we prayed and called my parents to pray.  Unfortunately they started prepping me for a c-section (hooked me up to an iv, shaved me, made me stay in bed with the monitor hooked up), and then we started to see the heart rate slow down.  The doctor came in again and noticed the decrease so she gave me another 30 minutes.  At this point my water broke and the contractions really started to pick up.  I always seem to be stuck in bed when I am in labor so I don't know what it is like to try to manage contractions the normal way.  These contractions were unproductive (still at 3cm) and since it seemed like I would continue to be stuck in bed, I decide to get an epidural to move things along.
    I actually think all I would have needed to do was go through the process of getting an epidural without actually getting one.  Unlike in America, they made me move from my bed onto a another bed so that they could wheel me over to the Operating Theater where they then moved me to the operating table.  There I had to sit up straight with my legs Indian style while they cleaned me and implanted the catheter.  I was having contractions all the while, but they were much less painful in this position than laying down in the bed with the monitor on.  Once the catheter was in place they moved me back to a different room (they had moved us) where I went back to the bed got the monitor hooked back up, and the medicine started flowing. By this time it was 4pm.  The epidural did not numb me as much as the one in America- though I did not feel the contractions, I could still feel my feet tingling and other things that I won't write about here.  The doctor came in to check me at 5pm.  I was fully dilated (probably had been for a while since I had been feeling an urge to push almost the entire time I had been back in the room).  So they doctor just said to lay there and push if I felt like it while she went and got changed.  I thought, "this is strange/different".  So I laid there and pushed while only slightly propped up and my legs flat.  About 10 minutes later the doctor came back and said, "we have to act fast, the heart rate is falling".  So they finally propped my legs up a little (i couldn't do it myself) but they didn't prop my back up at all, and then I had two or three nurses pushing down on my belly while I tried to push, though I couldn't really feel they contraction and they weren't really telling me.  The doctor gave me a rather large episiotomy because she wanted that baby out fast, and in 10 minutes she was.
  They whisked her away so fast that they doctor didn't even look to see if it was a girl or a boy.  I told JP to run after them with the camera while sat in bed get stitched up thinking, that wasn't a very satisfying labor, but  praise God I have a healthy baby!  I still wonder if the rush wasn't just so that the doctor could go home at a normal hour.

Walking around drinking OJ after my first induction

what was going on behind the curtain while I got stitched up, I called to JP to double check that we actually had a girl.

3720 grams

I finally got to see my baby girl before they took her away again.

They finally brought me my baby so that I could hold and nurse her, but only after I demanded it.

Back in our recovery room.

While Baby Sleeps

There has been so much that I could post and yet I have posted nothing (perhaps because we forgot the cords that connect our cameras to the computer and I don't like posting without a picture).  So now while Evelynn sleeps I will try to capture the time.

We arrived in this city on January 15th to await Evelynn's births.  I hope that this would be a fairly short wait, yet knowing my track record I figured she would probably come after her due date, and she did.  The first two weeks of waiting were great!  We enjoyed the big city, visited with old and new friends, and since I had a lot of energy and was finally in the place where I intended to deliver, I went everywhere and worked hard. I told myself that I should wait until after my parents got here and then I could go into labor.
  So February 2nd my parents arrived and it was a busy day with friends and going to a wedding. Then I got impatient.  Now I must say my impatience mostly stemmed/stems from the fact that we are away from home and I knew that the longer we had to wait for the birth, the longer we would be away from home, and the less time my parents would be able to spend with Evelynn... So I started working harder.

We went for a long walk in a really nice park.

Visited a local landmark and took Silas to play in the park.

I took my parents on crazy crowded metro rides, to multiple markets... we went to the mall, the movies, all over town, but I did not go into labor on my own and grew very impatient and emotional.  I don't know why, but I so desired to go into labor naturally.  I did not want to have to be induced but wanted to experience the feeling of going into labor, or thinking "this is it", or telling my husband that it was time to go to the hospital.  On Monday the 11th I set a date with my doctor that if I did not go into labor before the 15th, I would be induced.  That night we went to see Lincoln in the theater.  On the 14th we went to the mall and ate burgers at Hard Rock Cafe and I felt a few contractions, but then they stopped.

So I got a good night of sleep (kind of), woke up early and headed to the hospital for my planned delivery.  

  

Christmas 2012

Things at our house have certainly been busy lately and we are thankful for a bit of down time before we head out of town to have a baby.
JP's parents arrived for a visit the 18th of December just in time to help us get ready for Christmas festivities.  We did lots of shopping, lots of holiday baking, went to church, threw a party, attended a party, went caroling, went to the zoo... It was a busy time and we had a lot of fun.
Though this is Silas' 3rd Christmas, it is the first time that he had any idea what was going on.  Starting Nov. 29th and continuing to Christmas morning, we read a Jesse Tree devotional reflecting on Old Testament and New Testament passages about the Savior and anticipating his birth.  Silas did not get into the story much, but he loved singing out of the hymnal Christmas and non-Christmas songs that had to do with the day's theme.  I personally enjoyed singing "Come Thou Long Expected Saviour" and "Oh Come Oh Come Emmanuel".  We did not actually have a Tree for Jesse Tree this year, but hopefully we can incorporate it next year.

Silas really loved the music and decorations of Christmas.  He learned to sing several songs: Away in a Manger, Silent Night, Joy to the World, Jingle Bells, O Come O Come Emmanuel... and he loves to talk about Christmas trees "Kissmis Tree!"

My other favorite thing this Christmas was hosting a Christmas party with women who live on my street.  As is customary (apparently), the day before the party I went door to door to invite the ladies to the party.  Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) it took 2 hours to get to 5 houses because you have sit, chat, eat something... It was a great way to get to know some of my neighbors a little better.  On the day of the party I was ready just in time - 4pm- and then waited around at least 45 minutes for the first guests to arrive.  And then we continued to wait until everyone arrived - 5:30- and then we were able to start the party.  It was a lot of fun sharing my culture/faith and learning more about their party customs at the same time.  At the end of the party the ladies started talking about how much fun they had and how they needed to make it a monthly thing.

Before church on the 23rd

About 33 weeks