Beautiful Sunsets on Guam

Even though rainy season can be depressing because it's usually cloudy and rainy, we get some of the best sunsets during these few months (when the sun is actually visible through the clouds!)

Books I read in August 2009

We started in-service on August 3rd and school on August 17th, so I didn't get to read much during August. This very short list of two children's books looks terrible next to what I read this summer! Oh, well. I've already been able to read more now that we've hit September and I'm starting to get into the school routine.

The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis

It has been so long since I first read this book (over 15 years, at least!) that I forgot a lot of the story line. I loved reading this delightful story of the

creation of Narnia with it's beautiful allegory of the Creation of the world. C.S. Lewis is simply wonderful. I went on a big Lewis kick when I was in college and read most of his non-fiction works, but I also really enjoy

reading his fiction works and sense another Lewis phase coming on! I bought a cheap, horribly beat up copy of the complete works in one book for $2 this summer, but I'd really like a nice set of The Chronicles of Narnia, if anyone is wondering what to get me for Christmas. :-)

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

This book was as wonderful as I remembered it. I can't believe it took me so long to read it again; I'm planning on reading the entire Narnia series in the next couple of months. So many quotable lines and such a special telling of the Redemption story. I actually cried when Aslan died--but even more wonderful is his coming to life again!

Books I read in July 2009

Christian Living:

Essential Virtues by Jim Berg This book is about II Peter 1:5-9. It was required reading for Harvest staff this summer because our theme this year is "Making a Difference: To make a difference, you've got to be different."

It's hard for me to express my thoughts about this book. There were things that I appreciated about it and I did learn a lot; however, I also have some reservations about some of the things Dr. Berg emphasized. I was a little disappointed because I was looking forward to reading this book, since II Peter 1 is one of my favorite passages of the Bible.

It seems that men really like this book; Pastor and other males that have talked about it say positive things about it. However, women generally don't seem to really like it. Maybe it's the writing style? or the message appeals more to men?

If anyone actually reads this post and wants to discuss the book more, please email or message me.

Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God by Francis Chan I was greatly challenged by this book. I highly recommend it! The first chapters speak of God's character and love for us and remind us of the brevity of life. The last few chapters talk about our love for God and how we can practically demonstrate love to God and others. Chapter 4, "Profile of the Lukewarm Christian," and Chapter 5, "Serving Leftovers to a Holy God," were especially convicting. The book is worth buying just for those chapters. I actually got this book on christianaudio.com when it was the free book of the month. It's not free anymore, but it's only $5.49. Right now the book is $8.49 at CBD. I bought a paper copy too, because I want to be able to loan the book out. I've already reread sections of it.

Esther: It's Tough Being a Woman by Beth Moore I really enjoyed delving into the book of Esther. Beth Moore always presents good historical info and helps you imagine life in the king's court. I especially benefited from the extended look at Haman's character. I have much more in common with him than I'd like to admit. Generally, I focus on Queen Esther when I read this book (as I'm sure most do!), but I realized how much I seek attention and praise like Haman did. It was also neat to see how God's promises to preserve His people were worked out in the end of the book.

For Professional Development:

Curriculum Development: A Guide to Practice by Jon Wiles I read this book for the Curriculum Development class I took this summer. Not exactly a thrilling read.

Fun: King of Torts by John Grisham For the flight back to Guam, I packed some pretty serious books--Essential Virtues and Curriculum Development--so when my flight was delayed in Hawaii, I bought two John Grisham novels and finished this one before I got to Guam. Both of these books are pretty typical Grisham fare but both of them ended badly. I was rather disappointed in the endings, actually, because I still believe good should triumph over evil in literature. Even if good doesn't always triumph over evil on earth, one day the Righteous Judge will make all things right.

The Appeal by John Grisham

Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer Well, I finally finished the Twilight series. While the last book was better than the others, I have the same reservations about the series that I have expressed already. Actually, while I telling the story line to my roommate, I thought--and kept saying to her--"This is so bizarre. I can't believe I read this whole series." The story seems somewhat believable as you're reading it, but completely pointless when you're explaining it to someone else.

I read the series because many of my students have read it and asked me about it. However, I wouldn't recommend that you spend your time on this series.

Whispers of His Power: God's Strength

Amy Carmichael's love for the Lord and whole-hearted service are an inspiration to me. I've been reading Whispers of His Power, a daily devotional book, and these two devotionals were a help to me recently.

July 7

Psalm 39:13 - O spare me, that I may recover strength (Kay): That I may smile again.

Amos 8:8-9 - The Lord . . . that strengtheneth the spoiled against the strong, so that the spoiled shall come against the fortress.

According to Young, the Hebrew word balag used in these two verses means "to brighten up, encourage, comfort." It is a lovely prayer to use when we feel weary and dull. "Lord, brighten me up; encourage me."

All of us who are fighting the Lord's battles know only too well what it is to appear as the spoiled before the strong. Here is His promise for us then. The Lord will strengthen us so that the fortress will be taken and the Lord Himself will triumph. What more could we want?

July 15

Proverbs 8:14 - Counsel is Mine and sound wisdom: I am understanding; I have strength.

Job 28:23 - God understandeth the way thereof and He knoweth the place thereof.

God understands. There are no ways and no places that He does not understand.

Have you ever thought what a tremendous difference it would make to our lives if this were not true? Imagine the feelings of a soldier if he had good reason to doubt that his commanding officer understood the situation. We are soldiers. Our Commander understands. His understanding is infinite (Ps. 147:5). Though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident (Ps. 27:3).

Because of His infinite understanding, God knows that we want to be sure that the One who says He understands has been through the mill Himself. And so we have this wonderful touch of His special understanding in Proverbs 8, where it is clear that the speaker is our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. I am Understanding. I, the Man of Sorrows acquainted with grief, I who was tempted in all points just as you are, I am Understanding.

It is restful to be understood, to be with one who never misjudges. Let us rest in His presence today.

Books I read in June 2009

Well, now that we're half way through August, I figured I'd better at least briefly mention the books I read in June and July. I was on vacation during those months, so I was able to read significantly more than normal. I haven't read nearly as much since starting in-service at the beginning of August. Christian Living: Safely Home by Randy Alcorn This is a novel, but I put it under Christian Living because it definitely wasn't "fun" to read. I profited greatly from reading this fictionalized account of the underground church in China. I highly recommend this book! Let Me be a Woman by Elizabeth Elliot Written as letters or essays to her daughter during her engagement to Walter, this book had an intimate feel to it. I'll probably reread this book someday if I ever get married because a lot of the book applies to married women. There were a couple of gems of chapters for single women. A Chance to Die by Elizabeth Elliot Incredible book! When my roommate finishes reading it, I'm going to read it again. This book has provided much food for thought over the last few weeks and spurred me on to read as much by and about Amy Carmichael as possible. I've mentioned before that I read her collection of devotional thoughts, Whispers of His Power, every morning and this week Pastor gave me a collection of her poems, Toward Jerusalem, to read.

Professional Development Grammar Girl by Mignon Fogarty

This book provides quick answers to some of the most common and most difficult grammar questions you'll face. Mignon Fogarty writes with a light-hearted style that is fun and easy to understand and remember. I also read the Grammar Girl's newsletter and listen to her podcast.

Fun: My Life and Hard Times by James Thurber Short, funny book. These chapters could be easily cut for humorous interp speeches. I love the story "The Night the Bed Fell" and "The Day the Dam Broke." Thurber is such a great author. Redwall by Brian Jacques I wish I had read this book about 15 years ago; I think I would have read the whole series! I probably won't now, but I really enjoyed this book. The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman I cannot recommend this book. At first, I thought, "Why was there so much controversy about this series?" And then I got within a few pages of the end and was greatly dismayed by the blasphemy!

I'd write more, but I really want to get this posted. There is no way in the world I'd ever give this book to a child to read. Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card I really enjoyed this book. So far, I've liked everything I've read in the Ender series.

I reread: A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23

Fiesta Food for Zeke's Graduation Party

In the style of King Arthur Flour's website, I'm going to post more pictures and notes of the food I made than you probably care to read. I had never cooked for so many people before, so it was quite an ordeal! We were expecting over 100! Now, I was not solely responsible for the food; the other families provided hot dogs and hamburgers, vegetable trays, coleslaw, and cake and ice cream, too. But I was solely responsible for all of the Chamorro fiesta food. I practiced making the chicken, red rice and pancit before leaving Guam. Earlier this week I created a huge shopping list, comparing all the recipes and double checking to make sure I had everything. Mom did all of the shopping and even enlisted the help of a couple of Asian ladies to find the canton noodles I needed. The pile of groceries on our counter was quite amazing.

All the soy sauce, vinegar, and sesame oil. Our kitchen has never seen so much soy sauce!

On Thursday, I spent over 4 hours chopping vegetables and slicing the meat. My wrist got so tired, I had to finish the meat on Friday. I cut 8 1/2 pounds of beef into 1/8 inch strips (or close to 1/8 inch strips--I did not measure!). This is the cooler full of vegetables. I cut them to specification, split the vegetables for each recipe into bags and labeled them, so I wouldn't get confused on Friday. This system worked pretty well. On Friday, I cooked all of the rice, bagogi, and pancit. The links lead to the recipes I used. I also added notes about my variations. The fried rice turned out great! I had never made it before, but it was really easy and had a nice flavor.

Nate helped me by slicing the chicken and making the marinade for the chicken. (My wrist was still really tired and he was being a gentleman.)

Here's all of the meat marinating in the refrigerator. For those who cook for a lot of people all the time, it probably doesn't look like much, but for me, it was pretty impressive. Look at all those onions! Both marinades call for tons of onion. You can use this marinade for any type of meat, but chicken is probably the most common. You can grill the meat or broil it, as I did, because there wasn't enough grill space. The red rice also turned out well. Yum! Note: red rice tastes much better if you cook it on the day you're going to serve it, instead of cooking it the day before and warming it up; however, the flavor is still pretty bland. I was really excited about the bagogi--also spelled bulgogi or bulgoki. The flavor is excellent! I especially love the sesame flavoring and the meat is tender. The picture does not do the food justice; bagogi tastes much better than it looks. The pancit was a little more tricky this time than when I made it the first time. I realized later that we had dried canton noodles made of wheat flour. On Guam, I cooked with fresh egg noodles, which cooked much faster than the dried noodles. If you make the pancit with dried noodles, cook the noodles first before adding them to the vegetables. Speaking of vegetables, I put in quite a bit more than the Guamanian recipes I found. I love the bright colors and felt like part of this meal needed to have some vegetables other than onion in it.

Prize-Winning Peppermint Chocolate Cake

Since posting pictures on facebook of the cake I made for my brother's birthday, I have received several requests for the recipe (in just one evening!). So, I decided to post the recipe and some instructions on decorating it. I really did win a prize for this cake (although the winning cake was a slightly different version than what is pictured below). I won 3rd place in the baking contest for the Mother Daughter Extravaganza at Harvest Baptist Church on Mother's Day weekend. I wonder how the cake would have fared in the current dark chocolate version? The simple version: Buy a chocolate cake mix and chocolate frosting (I recommend Betty Crocker). Bake the cake. Mix in about 1/2 to 1 tsp of mint extract into the frosting (could be chocolate or vanilla). Frost the cake. I swirl the frosting rather than try to get clean, flat planes (swirled frosting hides a multitude of errors). Decorate the cake with white chocolate curls and chopped up Andes Mints. The harder version: Bake a chocolate cake from scratch and make frosting from scratch. Then frost and decorate as described above. For Zeke's cake, I followed the recipe on the back of the Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa container. Hershey's "Especially Dark" Chocolate Cake 2 c. sugar 1 3/4 c. all-purpose flour 3/4 c. Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa 1-1/2 tsp. baking powder 1-1/2 tsp. baking soda 1 tsp. salt 2 eggs 1 c. milk 1/2 c. vegetable oil 2 tsp. vanilla extract 1 c. boiling water Heat oven to 350. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Poor batter into prepared pans. Bake 30-35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. Remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. 10-12 servings. Especially Dark Chocolate Frosting 1/2 c. butter or margarine 2/3 c. Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa 3 c. powdered sugar 1/3 c. milk 1 tsp. vanilla extract Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency. Add small amount of additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. About 2 cups frosting. For mint flavoring, add about 1/2-1 tsp. mint extract (basically, until the frosting tastes minty enough to you). Tastes great with vanilla ice cream. Enjoy!