Seriously, it's just banana bread.

Good morning to you all (wherever you are)! Hopefully you get some of the sunshine we got today here- it was about 48 and sunny- just a gorgeous day! Here's the view from my bedroom on this pretty day-

So glad to have it after 3 days of freezing rain. Ick. Sometimes I think a day of sunshine after many of rain and clouds is better than any antidepressant taken with chocolate and wine. :) (I feel like that would make for a really good day as well). I digress...

Anywho, I've had an interesting few days and I wanted to jot down some thoughts and fill you all in on the happenings around here. Hold that thought, my banana bread is done- maybe. I tell you more about that later. One sec....

Ok, SERIOUSLY. Can nothing just happen as planned? Needless to say, it's not done. Ok, I'll tell you about it now. I've had these 3 bananas that were over ripe. I'm like- dude, I'm totally making banana bread. It'll be like a taste of home, right? Really easy to make, no problem. Good night! So, I had to make a whole seperate trip to the store today bc I realized I didn't have baking soda. So basic and yet so needed. So, I got that. Tonight, I get out my ingredients when I realize, I have no mixer. But, I do have a blender so we're powering through. Oh wait, I have no measuring cups or measuring spoons. Good grief, what DO I have?? Ok, so I melt my super-expensive stick of Australian butter in the micro to soften it, put it in the blender with my sugar (estimated) and blend. It works ok. Add my eggs, baking soda, bananas, flour (all basically estimated). Could only find wheat flour at the store earlier bc the regular white was out- oh well. Well blended, here we go. In the oven it goes.
Oh, the oven. It's gas and you have to light it every time you use it. The first time I tried using it I couldn't figure out how to turn it on to bake some chicken except for this one way that made it really hot. Turns out that was the broiler (that part is electric). Seriously, people. So, I prewarmed it tonight, popped it in, waited my 75 min and just went to check on it. The pilot had gone out at some point in the baking process and the bread is half baked with a stonecold oven. It's just banana bread!! I just wanted to make some banana bread. And all I could think of was, oh, I paid $10 for that flour and now I wasted 2 cups of it, the one stick of butter was $2 and now it's wasted, etc, etc... good grief.  :)

Ok, let's chat about the other stuff.

Sunday we tried out a new church that is just around the corner and actually has a shuttle bus to take us there and back. We met a great family from Alabama on the bus that we had actually seen in the clubhouse restaurant Saturday morning when we were both eatting breakfast. I remember overhearing the mom quoting scripture about honoring thy father and mother and it had caught my ear (they have an 11 yr old daughter- nuff said).
The church service was great but there's a huge problem. NO NURSERY. I mean, really?? There's Sunday school for ages 4 and up but no nursery. Let's all imagine our sweet little Cooper during a 30 min sermon....yeah. Ben went out during the singing bc he was so restless and I thought, oh, this'll never work. A wonderful woman, Helen, who is in charge of the kids' programs offered to watch him during the sermon so Ben could join me. I know, we gave our 2 yr old to a complete stranger at church. Really, though, she was very sweet and was singing to him when we went to pick him up. So, I'm not sure how that's going to play out. Time will tell... we really liked it besides!

Monday was a perfectly normal day- school, grocery shopping...There are 3 guys from GR that are here right now visiting from Ben's office and they came out by us for dinner that night. We had a great meal and great conversation. Although, at one point, all 4 boys were dinking around on their respective IPhones and there the kids and I sat. (*sigh*- engineers...)  :)

Today I had my friend Liz take me to the local wet market. Sounds really gross, right? A wet market is basically a local farmers market. This is a place where most locals get their produce. (My mom will NOT like reading this.) Many expats have bought their produce here and there have been no complaints (yet). No one gets their meat there, though. That really did look gross. I'm not posting pics of the place bc it really did look that bad. :)
So, I bought what looked fresh and safe and what I know others have tried before. There were several other expat wives there as well as many locals when we went. I went home, thoroughly scrubbed everything down with my trusty vinegar wash, then rinsed it all in bottled water and into the fridge it went. Do you all see how easy you have it?? ;) It all tastes wonderful and was really cheap- like $25!!. See how pretty it all is?

So far so good! :)

Here's a couple of other random pics....

These are Cooper's sleeping digs. It's a bedtent especially designed for autistic kids that are too big to be in a crib yet won't stay in bed. He loves it in here and I often find him playing in it with his toys. I think he feels safe there...

This was the first piece of artwork Sophie brought home from school- a dragon colored for the Chinese New Year celebration week. :)

This one is for my dad- I wanted to show him where I decided to put his gift. I see it and think of him every morning and every night this way. :)

The picture of my parent's place (and the view of their amazing property) is sitting on my kitchen counter so I can think of them often. It's nice. :)

Tomorrow I plan to go run. I have been craving this for weeks but haven't been in the right place mentally to do it. I'm really looking forward to it!

Prayer requests:
- A HUGE praise to God! My darling son says "nana" for banana. He has said "baba" for his sippy cup before but then lost it. This is so rock solid- every time he sees one he says "nana". With every bite he says "nana" and signs 'more'. Needless to say, he's eatting at least one a day right now. :) It's so precious. He seems so proud when he says it and we just burst out with encouragement and laughter each time he says it. Praise God and pray this amazing thing continues and that there are many many more words to come!! :)

- Another HUGE praise! Ben is in the carpool. I know, you don't even believe it, right? Today Ben went to talk with the guy that had made the final decision to not let him in. I think he simply had a change of heart (thank you, Lord!), sent out an email to the other guys, the lead of the carpool also had a change of heart (mmm-hmmm) and he is now in. Amazing what the power of prayer can do. Thank you all!!!

-Oh wait, I have yet another praise. This is getting fun. :) My friend, Liz, made some calls for me today bc she knew I have been looking for an ayi but didn't know how to go about finding one. I got an email this afternoon from a friend of hers that has the absolute most amazing ayi and she wants to share her with me. She even speaks some english, her credentials are amazing and it sounds like she would be a great fit. Pray this works out bc I think it could be great!

It's been another good day! :) They're happening more and more.
Oh, and I just checked my banana bread (after restarting the oven and trying to rebake it). It's perfect. :)

God bless and I'll speak with you all again soon!