Mom-iversity

I just got this email from a blog I sort of follow. (For some reason I never added her new blog address to my RSS feeds, so I still had the old one which hadn’t been updated in a while.) Anyway. Thankfully she sent this newsletter to everyone who had downloaded her free e-book (which I had) so I got it just in time.

And I’m sharing it with you just in time! Hope you can jump on board and be a part of this intentional period of growth. You can read all about it here at her blog. She’s beginning this thing for the month of October called Mom-iversity. The best thing about it is that YOU plan out what you are going to study, how you will do it and how much time it will take. She supplies the accountability and community to grow and learn from each other. What a great idea!

I looked through her list of resources – and there’s no rule that you HAVE to do something from her list – but one of the books I’ve been trying to get through was on there – Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Dr. Marc Weissbluth. So here’s my motivation plus I get to share nuggets with new friends online! Yea!

Hello, again…

I just can’t go on to blogging about all the subjects floating around in my head without acknowledging my long absence from posts on this blog….I’m sorry. To those few people who have continued to check out my blog, Thank YOU! Sorry to waste your time. My hope is that the next few months I’ll do much better!

So in the past four months, much has happened in my life… and you’ll see more about it on the blog. The biggest thing is that we launched the church we’ve been planning and preparing for. On August 8th, The Life Church of Durban started! We are training up leaders, building the service teams and inviting everyone we can to come check us out. This being our first year, we’re learning the ebbs and flows of holidays and school breaks and how they affect attendance to church on Sunday. It’s a great learning time and we are enjoying every bit of it!

We are also thrilled that we have another baby on the way! Isaiah is 10 months old and will be 16 months when baby #2 is born in March!

Things I’ve Learned So Far as a Parent: Control My Reactions

My little one is only 6 months old, but already I notice him looking at me for reassurance in a new situation. Maybe there was a loud noise or a new sound – as he decides if it warrants an outburst of tears, he’ll look to me. If I’m smiling or laughing, we often avoid those tears and we get smiles instead. Already he trusts my judgment and feels safe if mommy is not worried.

This has been tested as he’s learning to sit up on his own and reach for toys. His balance is not so good yet, so sometimes he falls flat on his face, literally.  Most times I try to sit right by him and steady him as he wobbly stretches to get something of interest, but occasionally he verves off in a new direction and falls.  The first time it happened, I gasped – and of course he cried. Now I bite my tongue, help him up and try to look happy.

Yet another thing I’m learning since being a parent – how to control my reactions. How often have my reactions made situations much worse than they really are? Over-reacting to things people say just makes me miserable. Emotionally responding to difficult situations does not help anything. Crying, venting or just getting angry at things we can’t control just adds stress to our lives.

Just before he toppled - do you see the lean towards the right?

So, not saying I’ve learned this, but my little boy is giving me some good practice at controlling those reactions.

Real Life

Sorry to be MIA from the blog world for a bit… we had a little dose of real life – my husband had to have back surgery. Check out the details on our ministry blog.

The good part of it was that my sister came over to help me with Isaiah. It was an unexpected trip and a nice treat for her to see Isaiah at this fun stage of development (5 months). Our home church sent her (they take such good care of us!) and it was a huge help! I could be at the hospital with Greg and have no worries since Isaiah was in such good hands! And he took to her right away. He saw her when he was just a month old, but of course could not remember that. We do look alike, so I joked the first day when I came home from the hospital that he realized – “wait, there are two mommies!”

Aunt Sonja and Isaiah

So now both Greg and I have experienced hospitalization in South Africa (me when I gave birth to Isaiah). The crazy thing is neither of us have anything to compare it to since we were never in the hospital in the States (unless you count tonsils removed when I was little, but I don’t remember it).

One thing that is different is the strict visiting hours. In the States, at least where we live, spouses could even spend the night if they wanted to. Here, I had two hours (at different times) I could see Greg. The first night when I stayed just a couple minutes pass the end of the visiting hour, the nurse asked if I was going to stay and nurse him all night. I said, “Sure.” She was kidding. I wasn’t.

Out to eat with my sis the last night she was here

He’s back home now with a big cut along his neck that is healing up nicely. One more week of (almost) total rest, then he can go back to a little more activity. It’s been an interesting season. Since February, Greg’s been battling something – first severe tonsillitis (three rounds of antibiotics to kick it!) then the back injury. We are declaring health and healing in our house! Thank you God for seeing us through!

Holiday Getaway

One thing about South Africans – they love their holidays! In April there are a couple of public holidays and of course we just finished Easter. And any public holiday is a chance to pack up the car and getaway somewhere.

Isaiah and I on the beach in Sea Park, South Africa

We had a little holiday – although we worked it out that it didn’t fall on a public holiday so we could get the off season rate. It was our first purely rest and relaxation getaway since we’ve arrived in Africa – a year and half ago! We’ve done a little traveling but it was always built around ministry opportunities.

It seems like little getaways – or holidays as they call it here – are very important to South Africans. Our friends are always “going on holiday” somewhere or another, even if it’s just for a weekend or so. It’s a part of the culture I love – slow down and enjoy life a bit. We Americans could definitely learn something about that!

Check out our other blog (www.gregandkristinevans.com) for pictures from our holiday getaway. It was a great time!

My Overseas Birth Story Featured

Just after Isaiah was born!

My overseas birth story is featured over on Missionary Moms blog. She’s doing a series about people who have given birth while overseas – it’s really fun to read the different stories. I feel like I cheated – mine was so easy especially since English is an official language over here.

(One of 11 official languages! Actually I’ve heard rumors that at one of the hospitals in the same group as the one I went to, the nurses will only speak Zulu to you. Don’t know if it’s true or not, but my hospital was all in English.)

For some reason I didn’t include a pic when I sent my story over, so I put one up here. I was not one of those ladies who you say, “Oh she doesn’t even look like she just gave birth.”I look tired because I was! It was about 1 am when this pic was taken and my hair was in a rat’s nest. But I had the most beautiful little boy!

That was almost five months ago… here he is today – my little chunk of love!

Things I’ve Learned So Far as a Parent: God’s Love

I think my favorite part of this series of posts is inserting a cute pic of my little one! I just can’t get enough of him!! I mean, I see him all day long but then at night I can very often be found perusing pictures of him in iphoto. What is wrong with me? Nothing. I’m a mother.

I think God looks down on us like this. He loves us so much, He can’t get enough of us. The Bible says in Zephaniah (3:17) that He takes great delight in us; rejoices over us with singing; He quiets us with His love. I love that God has given us the family to understand more of His love.

He loves us through all our spiritual growth and development. He lovingly calls to take steps out into the unknown while trusting Him – just like Jesus calling Peter to step out onto the water – and just like babies learning to walk. Have you ever noticed that babies walk better when they keep their eyes on mom and dad? When they look down, they fall.

He even uses the parent-child relationship to describe Jesus – His only son – so we could understand the intense sacrifice He gave for us. I’ve heard people say they understood more the depth of what God did for us by sending Jesus once they themselves had a son. It’s true. It’s unimaginable what God did for us so we could come back to relationship with Him. Thank you God!

What is God teaching you through parenthood or the children in your life?

I’m learning

Many Uses for Aquaphor

At one of our well-baby visits, our doctor  casually mentioned that my little boy’s rosy cheeks had a touch of eczema on them. Since then, the eczema started spreading and I was searching online to find something to control this extremely dry skin. I found out that I could use Aquaphor Healing Ointment on it. I happened to have some, tried it and immediately saw a huge improvement!

Then I started thinking of all the uses for Aquaphor – I promise this is not a paid advertisement, I just really love this stuff! If you haven’t tried this stuff, it’s a water-based petroleum – think Vaseline without the stickiness. So incredible. Here are some of the uses we have for it:

1. Chapped lips soother

2. Controlling eczema on babies

3. Diaper rash

4. Dry nose –  you know, like when you have a serious cold and your nose is sensitive. Rub just a bit inside each nostril and squeeze your nose.

5. Dry anything on long-haul flights – airplane air really dries your skin. A tiny tube of this helps with those dry patches.

6. Protect scraps and small cuts

7. Neck rash on babies

8. Protect your face in extreme cold weather

9. Slide rings on or off swollen pregnant fingers

10. Any rash or irritated skin

I’m sure there are lots more! I really love all the uses I get for Aquaphor Healing Ointment except I don’t like that I run out too quickly. That’s a big problem since it’s not available to purchase here in South Africa so I have to import it myself from the States.

The new list of things to bring from the States that we can’t live without: Nestle chocolate chips, Tony’s cajun seasoning, and Aquaphor.

That’s what works for me!

Recipe: Mini Pecan Pie Muffins

I found this recipe on a great blog called Bake@350. This woman does incredible things with icing and cookies – and tons of other great baking recipes – all with zero calories, of course. 🙂  She posted this recipe from a new book called Make Ahead Meals for Busy Moms.

I love for it for two important reasons – I can easily get all the ingredients here in Africa AND there are only FIVE ingredients! Oh, and one more great reason to love them – they really do taste like pecan pies!! This really might become one of my “go-to” desserts.

One hint: be careful not to overbake – she mentions that in the recipe. I can really see how they could be ruined if they were overbaked! Enjoy!

Mini Pecan Pie Muffins
(recipe courtesy of Jane Doiron, Make-Ahead Meals)

1 c light brown sugar
1 c pecans, chopped
1/2 c flour
2/3 c butter, melted
2 eggs, beaten

Spray 20 mini muffin cups with nonstick spray; set aside. Preheat the oven to 350.

In a medium bowl, mix all of the ingredients together. Spoon the batter into the muffin cups evenly.

Bake for 18-20 minutes. The edges will be crispy. Do not overbake. Remove the muffins and cool on a wire rack.

~Freeze~If you don’t eat them all!
When the muffins are completely cool, place them in a freezer bag and freeze up to 2 months.

Organizational Helps

I have a confession to make that won’t come as a shock to those close to me: I am not organized. It’s a fact that I accepted long ago but one that does not stop me from trying. My “Works for Me Wednesday” tips are some organization tools I’ve found recently that have been helping me organize my life a bit. While I’m not perfect in using them yet, I’m on my way.

Daily Docket from Simple Mom blog – This is a great blog packed full of helpful hints to simplify your life not just through organization but also to keep a simple first-things-first perspective on life.

InspiredtoAction.com – Another great blog that is full of inspiration and practical tips and forms to help moms get organized. I love her morning routine but I have to admit I’ve not started it yet – I’m inspired, now I just need the action!

Menu Planning Worksheet – Since the birth of our little boy, my husband has been doing the majority of the grocery shopping, so some good planning was needed. Here’s the Menu Planning Worksheet that I developed to help me think through meals. I specifically plan the dinner meals, but for breakfast and lunch I just list items that we like to eat for those meals and decide each day which ones to choose. For dessert, I usually make one or two a week.

Grocery Worksheet – Here’s the Grocery Worksheet I use to send my husband to the store. It’s divided into different segments that correspond to the areas of the grocery store we shop at most often.

So that’s what’s working for me with organization!