Category — Memories

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about God’s encouragement for older women to teach younger women. What wise, wise words of God’s. It has made me think about the many older-than-me women who’ve had an impact on me over the years.

First of all, my mother. I’m fortunate to have a wonderful relationship with my mother, who is a godly woman who loves the Lord, and her kids, and her husband. She loves the Word, and loves to pray. And so, not only have a learned about being a wife and mother and housekeeper from her, but have also learned much about friendship, godliness, and many other things.

Second, my mother-in-law. I have also learned about godliness from her, as well about faithfulness to commitments, and love for the Lord. From her I’ve also learned a lot about gardening and decorating.

I have been fortunate to have many other “mother figures” in my life at various times: my Aunt MariLou who taught me about befriending non-Christians and ministering to them where they were at (friendship evangelism.) Lisa, a friends from church who befriended me in college, and was a source of wise counsel for me then. Currin Ann, who has mentored me for a couple years now, and has encouraged me so much through her love for me and my family. My many Aunts, who have faithfully prayed for me and my family, and loved on me when I’m with them. Grandmothers, who also love the Lord and their families, and have impacted generations of their families through their faithfulness to God.

And if I shared about all my sisters and friends, who are also mothers, who have taught me so much about the Lord and been such wonderful friends to me, this post would be very long (and no one would finish it.)

So Happy Mother’s Day to all who have mothered me, to my friends who are mothers, and to my friends who will hopefully one day be mothers!!

Cute kid

Last week I decided to try to make Tzatziki sauce. In high school we used to love to go to YaYa center (a local “mall”) and eat gyros – the best gyros I’ve ever had anywhere. I got this recipe from a recipe blog I like to read: Cumin and Coriander, and got the ingredients I didn’t have (fresh dill and cucumbers – I don’t like cucumbers, so don’t usually buy them.)

Opening the fresh dill container took me back to high school where Buddy used to make dill cucumbers and sell them – he’d sell out of a 5-10 gallon container in a day!

And then the smell and taste of the tzatziki reminded me of those delicious YaYa gyros. I fried some chopped up steak in olive oil, and added a lot of salt and pepper. I also made chapatis. Then I spread the tzatziki sauce on the chapatis, and put the meat and tomatoes on top. It wasn’t quite YaYa, but close.

Here’s the Tzatziki sauce recipe: She suggests serving it with toasted pita bread – I’ll have to try that. I’d also say that the sauce was the best the first day, but leftovers were good too. I used fat free yogurt and sour cream and it turned out fine (and was only 1 weight watcher point if you split it into 5 servings.)

1 cup plain yogurt
1/2 a cucumber, unpeeled, halved lengthwise, seeded, grated
1 tbsp sea salt
1/4 cup sour cream
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp minced fresh dill
1 garlic clove, grated or minced
pita bread

Place a sieve over a small bowl. Line the sieve with cheese cloth. Pour yogurt on top, cover with plastic wrap and store in the fridge overnight to drain.

Combine cucumber, dill, sour cream, lemon juice, garlic, and add to the yogurt. Season with a little salt and pepper.

Anna with Coriena and Joanna at Nationals – cute shirts!!!

A couple weeks ago Coriena and I got to go to Nationals to watch Anna play goalie. This was the first time the Covenant Women’s soccer team got to go to Nationals.

I can’t tell you how proud of Anna I was. It was so neat being able to watch her play, and make some really awesome saves. Wil and Amy, Sarah and Joanna, and my parents were all there. So that was great fun as well.

My parents and Sarah and Joanna and I had a fun day the next day hanging out. My mom read me the speech Anna gave in chapel for Missions Week. I was really impressed with Anna’s articulateness (is that a word?!), as well how she made her point (seeing God’s grace in the good and bad we see) applicable to those who did not grow up overseas or feel called to go overseas. It’s so neat to see my baby sister growing into a mature and Godly woman (even though I still think of her as about 10!!!)

I’m really proud of you, girl, and feel priviledged to be your oldest sister.

I got tagged by my good friend Kelly, who was tagged by our good friend Cathy to do a “6 weird things about me” write-up. So here we go. I’ll start it by saying, I was a very weird kid, but hopefully have outgrown atleast most of that by now.

1) As a kid I really loved liver – I remember even ordering it in a restaurant once. I haven’t had it in about 15 years, so I’m not sure if I still like it.

2) I loved long division so much in 4th grade that I used to stay in from recess to do problems on the board just for fun.

3) I love tomatoes – as in, I’ll eat one like an apple with my lunch. (I don’t think this is weird, but everyone I tell this to thinks it is, especially my friends Pam and Cathy who hate tomatoes.)

4) I’d rather share any of my possessions than my razor, even my toothbrush and even with my sisters. Maybe it comes from too much talk of communicable and blood-born diseases in nursing school.

5) As a kid I had a napkin collection (again, something that I didn’t think was weird at the time, but everyone I tell thinks it is!!!) I considered getting rid of it a couple years ago, but decided to keep it for posterity’s sake.

6) I love to run, and in high school I’d run laps around the track at my school. To pass the time I’d divide each lap into quarters, and then calculate how much I had left to go (ie. 17/48ths.)

I tag my sisters Sarah, Meg, and Anna, and my friends the Noels and Jessica White to share their weirdness with the rest of us.