Back!

 WOAH! 

    

    Where have the years gone? Well, to teenagers to start! I don't know if I could have anticipated what it took to keep this fast train moving when I was home with 4 little kids.  BUT! 2020 has given this home-loving-mama so much of what I love most...TIME at home with my family.  

    I had a sweet DM on instagram @UpToDateinKansasCity asking about our new little Sunflower Group!  (more details coming) This awesome woman said she read this blog back when I was a regular ;-).   And she wanted our FAVORITE Fall recipe.  

    For some time I had been feeling the urge to write again, but just hadn't taken the time.  Insta is just so fast and easy!  However, I miss really putting into words and recording some of the thoughts and adventures we have as a family and I have as a mother.  So, THANK YOU, Wool and Cookies!  You helped me get back to one of the things I love.

    This Fall favorite is called,

       Pumpkin Waffles with  Ted's Buttermilk Syrup

Mix dry ingredients:

2 cups flour

2 T. baking powder

1 T. cinnamon

1/2 t. nutmeg

1/2 t. salt

Mix wet ingredients:

4 egg yolks (save whites to whip)

1 cup pumpkin

1 T. vanilla

1 1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup melted butter

Combine wet and dry ingredients.

Beat egg whites in metal bowl until stiff peaks.

Gently fold into batter.

Ted's Buttermilk Syrup:

(seriously to die for.)

1 stick of butter

1 cup of buttermilk

(you can use 1 cup milk and 1t. vinegar and let sit until thickens)

2 cups sugar

2 T light corn syrup.

Bring to a boil and remove from heat.

Add 2 t vanilla and 2 t baking soda.

It will froth up (use a medium size sauce pan).

Then as it cools it will thicken up and be perfect!

I will say...if I don't have the time to mix the waffles like this recipe I have used a Trader Joes Pumpkin Waffle Mix.  Just last weekend I googled can you make Pumpkin Waffles with Krusteaz - and you can! Lots easier and faster!

Happy Fall!

Good News and Bad News

Little Update on our trip.

Tuesday we received some pretty devastating news.

Rising Star Outreach had a situation at customs involving two volunteers.

Because of the unfortunate situation, all expeditions had to be canceled.

The Indian government did not want volunteers on campus unless they had a Work Visa.

Unfortunately, work Visas are tricky and take up to a year to get if you get one at all!

We have tourist Visas.

(that process alone took me DAYS to complete applications and lots of re-sending info and pictures)

So we under Indian Law cannot be on the Rising Star Outreach Property.

They (the Indian Government) feel volunteers should only apply for Work Visas. 

To say we were devastated would be an understatement.

We have invested SO much time into preparing for this trip.

Once a week for about 2 months we have had

"India Night"

We have watched documentaries.

We have taste tested foods.

We have bought every little supply we thought we would need.

Read tons of information about what we need to do to prepare.

And so it came down to,

What should we do?

Jeff and I both agreed.

We still need to go.

We LOVE our tour company we have in India.

Immediately Praveen, with Melissa Travels began helping us.

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I've attached his links above.

Together we are planning to use the plans we had before and mix in some opportunities for our family  to work with the people.

So we had 5 days to create a new itinerary for...

Interestingly enough,

We settled upon a few days in 

NEPAL.

I say interestingly,

because I follow a few National Geographic Photographers 

that work in Nepal and have been fascinated with the culture.

I became completely invested in watching 

Ben Fogle 

(Check out his instagram page. )

and Kenton Cool's 

(also who I follow on instagram.)

 to summit 

Everest this year. 

I loved all the pictures and stories of the sherpas 

and amazing Nepalese people.

So it seems almost surreal to be going there in only a few days!

CHOICE Expeditions does 

a trip there but not during 

July.

So we scrambled a little and found

Nepal Orphans Home

This was a golden find.

Nepal has a heartbreaking issue with orphans.

We watched a Documentary :

What it Takes to be Extraordinary

on Amazon Prime and got in touch with the director right away!

We are preparing for a day of work there.

SO....

big changes.

We are so grateful we get to have this experience.

I am going to do my best to keep up on recording every memory we have.

I have always loved photography.

It is a passion of mine - 

so I am equally excited to get my camera over there.

Looking forward to Nepal and India.

Anxious to show my kids the world outside of this bubble.

When we had to "punt" here on Tuesday, Praveen graciously offered more beautiful beaches, etc as a substitute.  You may know In the Indian Ocean lies the Maldives...my dream location.

But jeff and I agree,

this trip isn't about that.

As we planned our summer vacation this year I felt so much gratitude for the things we get to do every year with our kids.  I also felt a measure of responsibility to expose them to life and needs of others.  I want them to feel inspired to make a difference in this world.  I am fully aware it is a drop in the bucket for 6 people to offer love and service to a country of over a billion people.  

But it's more about human connection and realizing that we may live completely different lives but what we are made of is the same.

I also want my kids to see just how little some have and they are . . .

HAPPY.

I have read, and researched hours and hours about this trip and I have tried to prepare my kids in every way.  I know I can't fully do that.

But we are excited to do what we can and experience life in a whole new world.

"I noted that people are happy here in India. When I went back home, people had everything in the materialistic sense and were surrounded with abundance, but they were not happy." – Goldie Hawn

I

Summer's New Groove

We are switching it up this year!

For the past 10 years we have participated in neighborhood swim team.

It is so much fun. 

It gets my kids up and moving.

But over the winter it hit Jeff and I HARD.

We only have Jackson living under our roof for 2 more summers!

That was a tough realization and sparked some ideas.

We have always talked about doing Humanitarian EFY with Jackson when he was old enough.

That is a expedition organized by our church and we have heard amazing things about it.

But as I really looked into it - it was up to 3 weeks long and conflicted with several things this summer.

So, we started thinking...

were we old enough now to ALL go do something together and just go for a week or so?

I researched all the family expedition opportunities  I could find focused on humanitarian needs and appropriate for at least a 7 year old.

There are several out there, believe it or not!

It came down to two for us.

CHOICE Expeditions

Peru

 and

Rising Star Outreach

India

There were SO many things we love about CHOICE and we will be going with them next summer.

But, it ultimately boiled down to accommodations.

Since this will be our first humanitarian expedition together,

I felt like I needed to consider and balance the circumstances enough that I would have my kids buy-in next year.

In Peru with CHOICE we were sleeping in a community center of sorts, semi-camping.

and in India with Rising Star Outreach we would be staying in a hotel each night.

I also felt more familiar with Rising Star Outreach having heard about it throughout the years and all the amazing work they do there.

I could have been slightly influenced by my own personal love of the Indian people.

Their eyes are so kind.  It's almost as if you can see their hearts when you talk with them. :-)

As Jeff and I talked about it, we decided India was right for us.

With this particular organization you are able to sponsor a child with your application and meet them while you are there.  

One day after church we introduced the big plan to the family.

First we told them about our new two little friends in India.

Then we made assignments for them to do a little presentation on.

We are going to visit some of the cities in India and I wanted my kids to know just what we were 

doing and why it was so amazing to walk there and see with our own eyes.

Emma-Kate had the assignment of 

AGRA.

She is doing the buddy system with Caroline.

They are getting to tell us all about the Taj Mahal.

Lizzie has Jaipur.

The city where we are going to ride elephants...

I thought that might motivate her research! ;-)

And Jackson with New Dehli.

I can't wait to see what the kids come up with.

We gave them a list of places we'll be visiting in each city.

Now they have to teach us all about it.

As soon as I finalized our Visas ( HOURS!) and travel arrangements I 

started working on MY research!

What all did I need to make sure my 

little suburban kids could survive 

an adventure like this!

Along with all the vaccinations we needed too.

We are getting very excited.  We have done some sort of project together each summer for the past few years.  But this was taking it to the next level.

And to be honest I have felt a little sad that 

we didn't do this again.

For 3 years in a row we have gathered 

LOADS of clothing from our neighbors and taken it down to 

a school in Kansas City, Kansas.

It was one of our favorite things 

We love working with 

Love, Literacy, Life Organization!

There is just something special about connecting needs with those around you locally.

This organization does that well.

But I know we won't miss the food drive in December.

How could we forget this??

That right there is what 1238 boxes of Mac and Cheese looks like.

In the shape of a castle, no less. ;-)

We got all the kids at our elementary school involved on this one!

Before ending this post.  

I was reminded by the kids we took them for authentic Indian food last summer.

Maybe it was an omen...

India,

Here we come!

TWO for ONE Post!

This June 2017 post has been sitting in my drafts for well...just about a year now. 

So this month I am going to post last year along with this year so we stay

UP-TO-DATE 

around here!

I have always loved summer with my kids.

We kind of settled into a few routines and traditions that have taken a major shake up this year - and I am SO excited about it.

For 10 years we have participated in our neighborhood swim team.