When Simplicity meets Extravagance

Day 21:

I love my neighbors.  Over the years, God has been kind to give us neighbors who have became life-long friends.  This weekend, my beloved Illinois neighbors, Heidi and Sarah came for a visit. The kids were super excited to get to host their friend (Sarah's son) for the weekend too!

We're ending week three of Rice & Beans month over here, so food choices have been limited and meals simple.  Oh, but how I longed to present something fabulous and lovely for my friends. You know,  "kill the fatted calf" and declare my overflowing joy and love for them?  Food can be fun like that!  God used Sarah & her beloved to fill us to overflowing with celebratory pizza last year. We were SO blessed.  I deeply wanted to share that same extravagant, food-love with them.

So, I began to ask God how I could bless them within our current means.  Oh! And God is SO kind.  Our friends at Lahash have shared so many good recipes and we came across one that was clearly the "Fatted Calf" of the bunch- Roasted Vegetable Biriyani

This is our amazing roasted vegetable medley packed under a layer of rice, studded with spices and ready to head into the oven.  

Then we made the side garnishes, added some chili sauce and began salivating.

Oh, friends!  This was a truly AMAZING meal...and I'm so blessed to have gotten to share it with my fabulous family and friends!

Compassion

Day 14: The rice & beans devotional "A Common Meal" has been a lifeline of encouragement. This journey is greatly helped by community.

Day 15: Monday is always "Mucho Mexican" over here. Tonight we feasted on pintos & spanish rice with the fix in's.  It felt like comfort food.  A common meal for our family in the midst of an otherwise uncommon month.

Day 16: Half of us agreed to being hungry ALL day.  It's crazy.  We don't normally allow ourselves to get hungry.  Our lifestyle of rich foods & intermittent snacking keeps us satisfied during most of our waking hours.  I've never been so eager to make dinner on time!

Day 17: It's getting HARD to be eating rice & beans every single day... especially while living with abundant opportunities for culinary variety & delight.

It has been affecting each of us in a variety of ways.  Our family Sunshine, JoyAnna, has been playing, "cooking", "serving" & imagining fun food for the past week.  It has been both sweet & sad.

She eats lunch at pre-school three times a week and is utterly grateful for the non-rice & beans meals set before her.  She eats EVERYthing...and comes home telling me about it.  She also asks zillions of questions about "the rice and beans people" and wonders how it is exactly that our friends are helped by her not eating a breakfast burrito every morning. 

She's five. There is so much she doesn't understand. She has to trust that we know what we're doing and that it is good.  She tries not to complain.  This afternoon she said: "I want to be grateful, it's just that I don't really like all the rice and beans that we eat."  

She went to rest time and I prayed for a heart of compassion.  I have compassion for my friends in East Africa, but what of the precious, middle-class princess living under my roof?  God help me.

I pulled out a bowl of leftover rice and mixed and matched recipes until I had rice pudding bubbling on the stove and rice cookies headed into the oven.

When my princess awoke I told her of a God who sings over her- a God who cares for our "rice and beans friends" AND us.  I told her that I think she's courageous and that I'm so proud of her for doing this very hard thing.  I invited her to see the "love cookies" that I made for her. 

She approved...and her brothers were pretty happy too!

Chips, really?!

Welcome to March! It's officially Rice & Beans Month and we've come to our half-way mark. Here are some of our daily thoughts...

Day 9: Josiah (7): "Mmmmm! It smells good in here! I like the smell of Rice & Beans month!"

Day 10: We ate Dan's Ginger & Zucchini Bean Sauce. It's sooo good. I call leftovers!  I'm surprised by my delight over this simple meal.  It's really very good.  Why don't I choose this as my birthday or other celebratory meal? I really like it.  Where do I get the idea that fancy, expensive food is better?

Day 11: We went into the store & there was a table of samples set up.  Did you know that they make Rice & Bean chips?  No, seriously, they're CHIPS!  This is fabulous!

Even more super fun was finding them on sale later in the week.

 Okay, so it's like keeping the letter of the law eating these things.  Not simple, inexpensive or terribly healthy.  But can I tell you that they made me want to sing?  God's love for me is tender and extravagant.  He knows that I'd get giddy over seeing these and over-the-top-delighted getting to see them AGAIN at a reasonably indulgent price.  Daniel is my partner in chip delight.  We were SOOO happy over these things!

Day 12: We made hummus today. 12 days in and our first batch of bean dip of any variety. Wow! We've been missing out!

Day 13:  Preparing for a weekend marriage retreat and making six meals of rice & beans.  Rice pudding, baked rice & raisins, lentil & rice burritos, black beans & rice, hummus, & baked brown rice.  The rice & beans month devotional "A Common Meal" has some surprisingly fabulous recipes in the back pages.  This was our baked brown rice and it was super yummy with a side of hummus.

Reflections

Day 1: I laid down for a nap hungry. I woke hungry. I went to bed hungry.  I remembered that while simple foods fill they do not satisfy.  Fats and proteins and all the extras in between are hard to let go of.

Day 2: JoyAnna (5) was reflecting on the purpose of eating rice & beans and then asked "So is it EVIL to be rich?"   No, my dear, not evil, but certainly tricky. Makes me think of Proverbs 30:8-9: "...give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise I may have too much and disown you and say, 'Who is the Lord?'  Or I may become poor and steal and so dishonor the name of my God."

Day 3: Josiah (7) getting ready for school: "The bad thing about Rice & Beans month is that we don't get to eat school lunch."  Something inside me sank. This is our third year participating in R&B month and we attempt to keep the family discussion open as we brainstorm the guidelines for how we will participate.  While R&B month is about sacrifice, it isn't only about what we give up.  Typically our boys pack their lunch four days and get to buy at the school once a week.  By not buying, we save almost $28.  But what is $20, $30, even $300 when our hearts are frustrated?  Does God really desire such a sacrifice?  We took a moment today to re-consider our decision not to buy school lunch during R&B month.  We posted a wall chart with the areas where we can save this month.  We can buy what we choose and then chart our spending and savings... with cheerful hearts.

Day 4: John Z. (10): "Hey! It's Ash Wednesday. We should eat lentils & rice today!" We made LENTil, brown rice, apple muffins & LENTil & rice burritos! Happy Lent!

Day 5: JoyAnna (5): "If I could choose to eat rice & beans or lobster, I would choose rice & beans and not that other yucky stuff!" Ha, ha! I guess it's all a matter of perspective, right?

Day 6: JZ reacting to black bean & brown rice flour brownies: "I'm surprised by the unexpected freedoms during Rice & Beans month!" I smiled. The same restrictions that seem to suffocate also open doors of liberation. Beautiful.

Day 7: Tonight was our weekly celebration meal. We scheduled four of these during our "fast" with each child rotating the menu choice. JoyAnna chose swirl pasta with white sauce, meatballs & carrots with dip. Celebration meals are super fun. Everyone is soooo grateful and full of delight over that which was considered routine merely a week ago. I love it!!

Day 8: A couple of us came down with the stomach bug.  Rice cakes & ginger ale are serving us nicely. We are blessed. 

Daniel getting ready for some red beans and rice...

 Bryan enjoying some meatless chili... Mmmm!

Josiah's spanish rice & refried bean food art

Rice & Beans Month!

"It's here, it's here!  Rice & Beans month is here!" 


That was the excited exclamation of our then three-year old on March 1, 2010- the first day that we participated with our friends at Lahash in Rice & Beans Month.  


During the month of March we join with a global community in limiting our food freedoms so that we can better understand the lives of many of our friends across the world.  We then share the money that we have saved by our simplicity with our friends specifically in East Africa.  

This year our family started Rice & Beans month a little early to accommodate end of March Spring breaks and travel.  Today marks day eight for our family.


Would you like to join us for Rice & Beans Month?  Each person and family decides how they will participate. There are a zillion of ways to join in simplifying our diet for the purpose of solidarity and sharing... and our family is consistently blessed by the journey.  This year we are choosing to eat muffins & sandwiches for weekday breakfast & lunch, rice & beans for each dinner meal and rice & beans for every weekend meal.  Also, each of the kids will rotate choosing one "celebration meal" a week. 


Our friends at Lahash put together a fantastic devotion & recipe book for R&B month. We'd love to send you one if you're interested.  Just drop us a line. 

Of School & Seasons...

Today the children and I went to our local elementary school and took a tour.  In 21-days our boys will begin their first experience in public school.

We came home,  I baked up a batch of sweet potato fries, poured myself a diet dr. pepper, shed a few tears and then took a trip down memory lane.  I was remembering the past six years of home education.   

I graduated with a degree in elementary education, got married and had four babies in 5 years.  In 2006, I walked into the local school to register John Z. for kindergarten and walked out crying.  I thought I was signing him up for half-day kindergarten, but the schools in our area were running a full day program.  I wasn't ready for that.  So, out of a love for being with my son, Main Elementary & Pre-school was formed.... 

John Z. was the best student a teacher could want. He loved learning and worked happily, diligently...and independently!  Keeping the pre-school constituency happy & occupied while caring for a newborn was more of a challenge, but we managed and had fun making memories together.

5-year old John Z. working on his "squiggle" (creative writing)

JZ's finished squiggle.  Can you read it?

3-year old Daniel doing folder games...

...and he figured it out!

2-year old Josiah following along with a book on CD

Josiah's FAVORITE pre-school activity was getting to play in the rice bucket!

The following year, John Z. was in first grade and we decided that homeschooling fit our family and we wanted to give it another year.  That year the boys took the bus to school four mornings a week.  It was a short ride, but they LOVED it!

Taking the bus from the living room into the upstairs schooling bedroom

Year after year, Bryan and I have discussed and re-evaluated schooling for our family.  Home schooling has provided continuity in education in the midst of five moves in five years and a couple of deployments sprinkled in.  We've needed...and loved the stability.  

But now...

Well, now this teacher needs a sabbatical.  I'm tired.  I love my kids.  I love home education.  I love this life...and I'm tired.  

God is kind gives rest to the weary.  We are currently living in a town with highly rated schools and we are registered to join the public school party on 4 January 2012.

I never doubt this decision, but I cry over it daily.  I will miss our kids.  I will miss this life.

I will miss the "I-Finished-My-Math-Book" celebrations when we eat special food and the celebrating student gets to open a present.... his new book!

I will miss the creative, fun, family learning....

I will miss seeing these three heads leaning over their work when I come down the stairs....

Yeah, I'm really going to miss this season of home education.  John Z., the child who once asked if I would teach him through college, has asked if we will ever homeschool again.  It's very possible.  Probable even. Time will tell.  

Until then, we take a link off of our chain each day as we count down until the start of a new season.  As I look over at the chain, I weep.  My eye catches the photo on the wall.  There's comfort for my ache.  God is good and Jesus lives.  We are blessed.

If this yard could talk...

In September, we moved to Ohio.  While thinking about family housing for this move, we opted to consider renting a place in the local area (vs. base housing).  One reason: a yard.


Our kids are getting older and running space is sooo nice.


Our yard has been fabulous.  


If it could talk, I know that our yard would have fantastic stories to tell.


Tales of boys wrestling...



...and of girls pondering

Exciting adventures with imaginations soaring...

...and eager sons learning

Ballads of leaves dancing...



...and children delighting

 Reports of Daddys savoring childhood moments...

 

...and children thrilled by the attention

 

It is a good life here on Main St.