Monday, September 28, 2015

Motherhood Moments #14

Sometimes motherhood looks like this...
This is the witching hour. That dreadful time in the afternoon around 3:00 when the kids are hot, tired, and cranky. It is too late in the afternoon for naps and I should be starting dinner. Instead, sister has TV time and I have brother on my back. The battery fan is on full blast as we try to stay cool waiting for the electricity to return or for daddy to walk in and be a distraction. We do what we can to keep up morale and sometimes it requires a TV and snuggles.

Monday, September 14, 2015

Motherhood Moments # 13

Sometimes motherhood looks like this...
I think this photo needs no explanation other than to say those WERE clean clothes and they are now on a dirty floor.

Tuesday, September 8, 2015

Motherhood Moments #12

********************Warning: Yuckiness factor is high********************

Sometimes motherhood looks like this...
Diaper duty. But not just any diaper duty. This is the "quarantined" pile from the past weekend. When you suspect your kid(s) may have developed worms/parasites, you must check. The easiest check is to take a sample and let it sit for 12+ hours. After that length of time, you must check your samples for any living parasites. If negative, you must wait a little longer, up to 24+ hours.

We were very lucky and had a negative test for the past 72 hours. So we are worm free (for now). Some other missionary families were not quite so lucky this round. They will de-worm their kids and check again to make sure everything has passed.

Isn't parenting fun? I told you this post was yucky!

Friday, September 4, 2015

Cauliflower

Cauliflower does not grow well here. The climate is much too hot. Cauliflower is available for purchase, imported all the way from South Africa. Thus, the cost is astronomical! We are talking about $25 for a small head that requires a lot of preparation and not a lot of yield. Kevin recently traveled to Lubumbashi (southeastern part of Democratic Republic of the Congo) for work and was able to purchase a bunch of cauliflower for much cheaper than we could purchase it here. So I decided to show you what it requires to prepare "organic" cauliflower and why it is NOT worth $25 a head.

Here is our lovely cauliflower. This head it in great shape.
First, you cut it down into manageable pieces.
Then, you must shave off the damaged pieces that have mold.
Next, you must carefully spread apart the florets so that you can remove any cabbage worms.

Now you are ready to soak them in a vinegar bath for about 20 minutes to kill any lingering germs/amoebas.

You now have two options for consumption. You can eat them raw or if you have too many to eat, you can cook them to store in the freezer for later. We chose both options. We had a yummy salad for dinner and we steamed the rest for freezer storage.
After cooking, you strain and bag. Here is the final product ready to freeze for later.
In total, we had one grocery bag filled with 5 heads. It took roughly 2 hours of work.

Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Motherhood Moments #11

Sometimes motherhood looks like this...
Today was the first day of school for our little girl. This year, she will be attending the International Belgium School. She is in the first level of "maternelle" which is equivalent to the "preschool" level in the U.S.
Sweet pea is no stranger when it comes school and when we walked into the room, she went right to her favorite toys...
DINOSAURS! ROAR!
After exploring the room, she then focused on the kids in her class. We were very lucky that one of her friends, Ruth, is in her class. We were a bit sad that her other friend Abby was in another class, but they were able to play together at recess so all was well in the world again.
Adah and Ruth playing with doll accessories
 After school, we all went out to ice cream together to celebrate our fun day!
Adah, Abby, Elijah, Ruth, and baby Joel
She had so much excitement at school, she came and crashed. Typical three-nager!