Go West, Young Man!

Greg and I took a long dreamed about trip out west this October to visit family. I am very late in getting this posted, but I wanted to at least share some of these fun snapshots we got on our trip. They say that a picture is worth a thousands words, so I'm going to let the pictures speak for themselves.

Austin, Minnesota
Visiting with my mom's twin sister


Grandpa Pehl - My mom's father


Grandma Pehl - My mom's mother


I love my Aunt De!


And so does Lauren! She called her "Grandma De" and I was just fine with that.


Scotland, South Dakota
Visiting several of Greg's cousins

Here we are with Ken and Nancy Bauder, our hosts (2nd cousins-once removed, I think). We got to see lots of farm life. Notice the cows in the background.


If I'm couting correctly, I think here we have 4th cousins. :)


Greg's Great-aunt Alice



Poor, poor Daisy, the cat, who could not move fast enough to get away from Lauren.


Sweet father/daughter time.


Greg's Grandma's cousin, Harriet


Ames, Iowa
Visiting my Aunt Liz (and Uncle Ron, not pictured) and more cousins


Back at home on the farm - visiting dad in Illinois/Indiana


It was a tremendous experience to see all the connections that family brings! We are blessed to have a beautiful heritage!

Beautiful Song!

When you have a minute and you need a bit of refreshment, take a listen to this song "Your Hands" by J.J. Heller.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlL8LayF0uw

A friend of mine just told me about it and I listened to it for the first time tonight. A beautiful truth!

Two Peas in a Pumpkin

 

Lauren and her friend, Sydney, at Circle S Pumpkin Patch

Resonates

He [the Christian believer] can say, "If I should lose all I have, it is better that I should lose than have if God so wills; the worst calamity is the wisest and the kindest thing that could befall me if God ordains it." - Charles Spurgeon

What Not To Say

While not wanting to sound bitter, I wanted to post a list of inappropriate things to say to someone who has just come through a miscarriage. In my journey through recurrent miscarriage, many people have expressed that they just don't know what to say. I came across this list of what not to say and thought it might be helpful to share.

- It was for the best.
- At least you know you can get pregnant.
- Something was probably wrong with it.
- Maybe God knows you're not ready to have children.
- You're trying too hard. Just relax, and it will happen.
- Take my kids for an afternoon, and I promise you won't be so sad about losing the baby.
- Maybe you should get a dog instead; they're so much easier to take care of.
- Be glad; having a baby changes your life; think of all the fun things you wouldn't have been able to do anymore.
- You should just be happy you have one/two/three children already. You don't need any more.
- It was just a blob of cells. It wasn't a real baby.
- You're young. You'll get pregnant again.
- It happens all the time; it's nothing to worry about.
- At least you weren't very far along.
- It just wasn't meant to be.
- It probably happened because_________________.
- Have they figured out what's wrong with you?
- Don't you guys know how to use a condom?

The Lord has used my losses to reveal to me the importance of learning to weep with those who weep. It is no easy task to figure out how to comfort the hurting people around you, but I know from my experience that the times that I have felt the most loved were when people literally wept with me about my babies. It has only happened on a few occasions, but those occasions have knit my heart together with those individuals and given me confidence that they truly cared for me.

So, what can you say? These statements have blessed me.

- I love you.
- I've been thinking of you.
- I am so sorry.
- How can I help?

Simple statements. Maybe so simple that we sometimes take them for granted and rather than risk saying the wrong thing, we say nothing and the hurting individual is left wondering if anyone even cares. In general, I have felt very loved through each loss, but even still I have had moments where people's thoughtlessness stung me. My hope is that this post may help us to be more aware as we interact with women who have faced miscarriage.

Amazing Vegetable Lasagna

I came across a recipe last week that is so amazing I have to share. Though I'm not on Weight Watchers right now, I checked out the May/June magazine at the library. Saw this recipe for lasagna that would use up some of my garden veggies and I just happened to have everything else but the ricotta on hand. I have condensed and adjusted the recipe slightly because I felt the WW version was unnecessarily labor intensive. I apologize if this still seems labor intensive. If you like veggies and lasagna, you will LOVE this combination!

3 zucchini, diced into bite-size pieces
1 bunch asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
2 (10-oz) boxes frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
*I used a bag of fresh spinach that I had and just wilted it down in the cream sauce.
1/2 t salt
2 c. milk
2 T all-purpose flour
3/4 c grated Parmesan cheese
1 (15 oz) container ricotta cheese
3 scallions, chopped
*I happened to have scallions left over from another recipe, but you could substitute 1/4 c chopped white onion. The onion taste will be slightly stronger.
2 (16 oz) jars marinara sauce
*or some homemade spaghetti sauce for those of you who are up to your ears in tomatoes right now.
1 package no-boil lasagna noodles
*I used some no-boil and some boil. :) Just making do with what was leftover in the pantry. And to clarify, I did boil the ones I needed to before baking.
8 oz. (2 cups) shredded mozzarella cheese


In a large pan, saute' zucchini and asparagus with a little olive oil and 1/4 t salt. Cook until crisp-tender. Set aside sauted veggies. In the same pan, combine the milk and flour beating until smooth. Over medium heat, cook until thickened, stirring often. Once thickened, stir in the spinach , 1/2 c Parmesan, and 1/8 t salt. Toss the cooked zucchini and asparagus in with this mixture.

In a separate bowl, combine ricotta, 1 and 1/2 cups mozzarella, scallions, and remaining 1/8 t salt.

Now it's time to layer up your lasagna. The number of layers you have is up to you. I usually like to do 3 layers of noodles, but if you want 2 or 4 just adjust to your liking. Start with a little marinara sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Layer with 4 of the noodles, half of the veggie mixture, half of the ricotta mixture, and 1/3 of the remaining marinara sauce. Start over with 4 more noodles, the rest of the veggie mixture, the rest of the ricotta mixture, and another 1/3 marinara sauce. Finally, layer 4 more noodles, remaining marinara sauce and top it off with 1/2 cup mozzarella and 1/4 cup parmesan.

Bake at 375' for about 35 minutes. You may want to leave it covered for the first part of the cooking time and then uncover it for the last 10 minutes or so.

My husband is a meat-eater through and through and he didn't even miss the meat in this lasagna. The WW recipe called for fat-free dairy products, but I didn't have that on hand, so I just used what I had. If you used everything fat-free, 1/8 of this lasagna would only be 7 points. Pretty spectacular for lasagna.

So, you can see that I'm quite passionate about this as it has taken me about an hour to post this recipe. I've read and re-read and tried to make my explanations as clear as possible. You've gotta let me know if you make this and what you think of it.

And all this talk about food has me hungry. I'm gonna go look for some chocolate. And I could care less how many WW points it is. :)

Adventures of the Running Couch Potato

My summer has been filled with two new and "fun" adventures. One being the "drugstore game" and couponing/freebie hunting which I mentioned in a previous post. The other being running!

I would never, ever label myself as athletic. I cheered (cough, cough) during junior high, but would never add that to my P.E. resume. Then in college I took tennis as my phys. ed. requirement and actually kind of enjoyed it, but it never went very far. I could speed walk with the best of them, but would always look on with envy those people who could just "go for a run".

Well, this summer the Lord has given me the time, desire and health to run. Dare I say that it has been a life-changing experience. My sister-in-law, Christine, who has also been running this summer made the comment "when I run I feel like I'm not just existing, but I'm really living."

I started running some between my 2nd and 3rd miscarriage last fall. Greg and I were on Weight Watchers and I could earn activity points. Since I earned about twice as many activity points for running than for walking, I decided to try to kick it up a notch and do some run/walking. I had worked my way up and could run one consecutive mile. Then, just after Thanksgiving I found out that I was pregnant again and all of life went on pause while I waited to see if I would carry the baby.

In December, we bought our house and began work on it. In April, we moved in and life settled down. Also in April, I started walking and then run/walking with a friend from church. She had recently ran her first 10k and was preparing for a half-marathon in September. She was a huge encouragement to me in helping me to pace myself, teaching me how and when to stretch, and just cheering me on with every small achievement. I started a beginner's plan for a 5k that she shared with me. This plan came from the Runner's World website which is a very helpful site even for the ultimate beginner like myself.

First month (weeks 1-4)
Three days per week: Walk 10 minutes. Run-walk 15 minutes. Walk 5 minutes.
Two days per week: walk for 30 minutes.


Second month (weeks 5-8)
Three days per week: Walk 5 minutes. Run-walk 20 minutes. Walk 5 minutes.
Two days per week: Walk for 30 minutes.


Third month (weeks 9-12)
Three days per week: Walk 2 minutes. Run-walk 25 minutes. Walk 3 minutes.
Two days per week: Walk for 30 minutes.

I love how general this plan is during the "run-walk" period. You can just do whatever your body feels like doing. The key for me was to not over-do-it in any one running cycle so that I wouldn't be able to run again during that run-walk period. For instance, one day after having been on the plan for a week or so, I was feeling really good and decided to try to run as long as possible. With side stitches and short of breath, I ran about 3 minutes, but totally spent everything I had and wasn't able to run again that day. We finished out the 30 minutes just walking. The next day out, my friend decided to be a little more specific with me and limit my running to 2 minute segments. 2 minutes of running, 2 minutes of walking and back and forth like that. Gradually, those running stretches lengthened and it didn't take as much walking to recover and be ready to run again.

I read in the Runner's World magazine that often beginners can feel self-conscious that they don't know what they are doing or will look silly running. But the truth is that the only people that might think you look silly are the people sitting on their couch watching you go by their window. Anyone who runs (or walks) will know the discipline and courage it takes to get outside and get moving and they will be cheering you along the way. So go for it!

Stay tuned for a follow-up post!