Today Roger is working from my pretty desk. There seems to be a dishevel barricading his way to the office. I have had a little peek into what he does all day. Basically he talks on the phone sounding all smart.
Ahhh, so hot, I have always had a thing for a guy with a tie (and pink-stripped socks!)



On another note of sweetness…. After bath my girls came down wearing their daddies t-shirts.
Latter that evening before us parents retired we check in on our darlings. Davina had left her bed and was found sleeping sweetly with her older sister. There they snugly slept the night through.

Tuesdays are so much better then Mondays!

xoxo

Rosaleen

My feathers are ruffled my nerves on end. Hour after hour my baby’s tears have dropped. All he wants is I to curl with him under covers, soothe him with my time. But I hear the hark of duty, Marion pleading to finish science lesson and Davina needs assistance in the bathroom and my washer is making frightful noises and Roger is expected to return for lunch any minute. And it is Monday! And I wonder at the saints who have raised babies into adulthood. How did they manage the Mondays, steep hills of laundry and the seemingly always empty bellies, those merry-go-rounds of tears, and the list of never ending needs? And I feel like a broken record, meeting on Monday to admit my humanness and the admission that I have resort to a less then ideal aid. Seeped black Java accompanied by a deep breath and a humble pray. Jolted, I gather my force, tie my hair in a pony and face today’s next round of jostling motherhood.

Friends, maybe just maybe I will come through my day unscathed and be able to meet you here tomorrow.

xoxo

Rosaleen

I can hear them; the urgent passing of news down the clapboards of slums. I was unprepared for the desperation. Women with babes tied to their backs, children skeletons protruding, hope weary men. They crowed around as we hand out a one-week supply of rice, beans, garry and canned tomatoes. In five minutes everything is gone, a staggering number left wanting. I was awash in this sea of clamouring poverty. Being tossed by the need. I turn my hands to signal ‘empty’ and tears flow down a young women’s face, a baby clings to her hip. She came seconds to late. I cup her face in my hand, I dry her tears and promise her next week. Fear darts through my thoughts. Can I do this? Can I supply enough? People are still running, to catch the gleaning. We feed 42 and left hundreds. My body lurching with the weight of my soul. How can this be real? How can hundreds be turned away. Where will they go?

Who’s field will they glean from?

A familiar boy approaches, I laugh lightly “I have already given you food” “and there is none left”. “No madam, I come to thank you”. We walk the distance to the car together. I ask him where his parents are? He slows his pace, “Gone”! I slow my pace, “Are you alone”? “Yes”. I ask where he sleeps, afraid of his answer. He looks to his feet hiding his shame and I look to mine hiding my tears. I gather him in my arms folding our brokenness. I see him now, I sum him up as a mother, he is sharp and handsome and oh so young, he wears tattered clothing and no shoes, his eyes pierce with pain and his smile melts me. He tells me he will watch for me, that he will walk me to my car. I laugh and tell him he is a gentleman, he likes this. With a wave he runs off. My eyes linger on his disappearing form. Where does he run? Not to a mother or home not to warmth or comfort or hope. Will I find him here next week? Or will the fingers of poverty claim him?

As always the driving away crushes me. Privileged enough to drive away. I leave my neighbours, my friends, and my family! I face the fear of feeding tomorrow’s needs. Hundreds will come. Do I have enough? Will my loaves feed the thousands? Will this meal fend the dark of night, the hollows of hunger, will this food fill the body with life? Will humble heads bow to Jesus’ yearning for his touch to turn their loaves into miracles, for the one ~ for the many?

(The above photo was taken of a home that houses five ladies. This is in the parking lot near the slums.)

I promise I will be done with food after this post, or at least until next Friday! My tin is filled with glorified cupcakes: Cranberry Poppy seed Muffins!

I enjoyed this week interacting with you and feel blessed to be friends with so many lovely women! Mrs.Christine Jane(also known as my best friends mother)sent some delightful pictures from the Shire. It stirred up sweet nostalgia from my childhood. Please join her for a Barn Banquet . While I am on the topic of C.J's kitchen I am still wishing and hopping you will some day share your peach cobbler!



Dear friends have a sweet and savoury Saturday.

xoxo

Rosaleen

Well Friends this is the end of my cooking week. In this house we celebrate the weekend with ‘Friday Night Pizza’ (a staple Milner tradition.) We also watch a movie together as a family and enjoy what ever ended up in my ‘Friday Tin’. We enjoy greeting the weekend in this way. I generally avoid cooking on weekends either by preparing foods ahead of time or eating leftovers. It is a nice little break for me.

I make my dough out of whole-wheat flour. It is the same recipe I make my bread from. Fridays I whip up a double batch. Which makes three loaves and one deep-dish pizza crust. I will give you the single recipe; it makes two loaves of bread or two-pizza crust.

Bread

4 ½ tsp. yeast
2 cups warm water
2 tbsp. sugar (I use honey)
½ cup olive oil
1 tsp. Salt
5-6 cups flour

1) Dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Make sure your yeast gets foamy.
2) Add the sugar, oil and salt to your mixing bowl. Pour in the dissolved yeast.
3) Mix one cup at a time of the flour. Because I use whole-wheat flour I add less flour. When replacing whole-wheat for all-purpose flour, reduce the amount slightly. This will help in not having such heavy bread. It will make for stickier dough so be prepared. Oil up you hands and surface well!
4) Let the dough rise until double. Punch down and let rise again. Punch down again. Cut the dough into two equal parts. Shape into loaves and let rise until double. If you are making a pizza crust oil a cookie sheet spread the dough out and put your toppings on. I often make extra crust and freeze them. It is handy having pizza crust in the freezer to whip out when ever a quicke meal is needed.
5) I put tomato sauce, some pre-made marinade chicken, red onions, tomatoes and basil or anything else I may be fancying. I top with a white cheese.
6) Let the crust puff up. Bakes at 350 until the sides are golden brown, about 20-30 minutes.
7) If you have made bread, bake your bread until the tops are golden brown, to test if the bread is done gently knock on the top, if it sounds like a door. It is done.

Bon appetite

Rosaleen

I thought I would slip a little savoury in among the other tasteful delights. It must be said this guy is much more scrumptious then any food and so much more satisfying!

Sweet boy you have flavoured our life grandly!

Disclaimer: I can not believe I am posting this today, he turned six months yesterday! I guess my brain is in over gear, this morning when I was saying happy six months it slowly started to register that I am a whole day out. Oh My!

Dal and Tabbouleh Salad

Dal is a traditional Indian food. An exotic blend of spice and colour. I was first introduced to this meal while living in Malaysia. Though the dal I could buy there was much to spicy for a nursing mother. My Indian stewardess set out to ‘tone done’ the heat, but still capture the flavours of the spices. She came up with this recipe, a variation of her families heritage recipe. It is easy and packed with health.

1 diced Onion
1-3 cloves Garlic, crushed
4 tbsp. Coconut oil (or any other cooking oil)
Salt and pepper
2 tsp. Turmeric
½ tsp. Mustard seeds
1 tsp. Cumin
1 tsp. Fresh grated ginger or ½ tsp. Dried
1 tsp. Coriander
½-1 tsp. Curry powder
2 cups Red lentils
4 cups water
1 16 oz can of diced tomatoes

Gently cook the onion, garlic, salt and pepper with the oil. Then add the red lentils and spice, sauté for a few minutes then add the water and bring to a gentle boil. Boil until the lentils have become soft. Then add the tomatoes. Taste. Add more spice/salt if wanted.

Tabbouleh Salad

½ cup bulgur wheat
4 tomatoes finely chopped
1 cucumber finely chopped
2-3 cups parsley finely chopped
7 spring onions, whites finely chopped
½ tsp. mixed spice (like spike)
1 tsp. Cumin
2 tbsp. Lemon juice (fresh is best)
4 tbsp. Olive oil

1) Boil 1 cup of water. Place the bulgur wheat in a bowl with a lid add 1 tsp. Salt. When the water has boiled pour over the bulgur wheat. Cover with the lid and let stand until the bulgur has softened. About 30 minutes. When the bulgur is soft drain out the extra water. I pour the bulgur onto a towel and pat dry. I return the bulgur to the bowl and place it in the fridge until ready to serve.
2) Chop the vegetables and place in a serving bowl.
3) Mix the oil, lemon juice and spices.
4) When ready to serve toss all the ingredients together. Garnish with fresh mint leaves or sliced avocado.

I call this my fat burning salad. The combination of parsley, cucumber, lemon and garlic along with the nutrients in the bulgur all add up to be a awsome fat burner. This salad is filling and full of nutrients. We can not get good green leafy vegetables in Nigeria but parsley has come to my rescue. I feed this salad all the time and know my family is getting a nutrient packed salad.

This meal is meant to be served with Naan bread. I substitute the Naan for pita bread as pita is more available in Nigeria then naan. And tonight I will use the left over foccocia bread. Just to merge a few polar opposite cultures together. Indian stew, Italian bread, Middle Eastern salad, a Canadian eater in West Africa.
But hey it tastes great!

Bon appetite

Rosaleen

Foccacia Bread Sandwiches

If any of you have ever been a guest of the Hardie’s kitchen (Rogers best friends parents) then you probably have had foccacia bread sandwiches. They are seriously the best! The taste people! Now when I moved abroad and realised foccacia bread could not be found in many corners of the world I hit up my favourite cookbook and made the bread my self. One word: Amazing! It is really worth making the investment of time; your taste buds will be rewarded.

This meal may seem a little time consuming. There are a few ways to shave down the time you are in the kitchen. You could buy a foccacia loaf at the store. Or if you are a bread maker, set aside a loaf size piece of dough. Generously oil the pan with olive oil. Take that dough and spread it out on the oiled cookie sheet. Top the dough with the garlic oil (recipe bellow). Let it rise slightly, until you can see it puffing up, bake until the sides of bread are turning brown.

Because I have done my bread making for the week I made the dough from the foccacia bread recipe in the Rebar Cookbook. I made a slight change and substituted half the white flour for whole-wheat flour. I whipped this up before I started school, let it rise, punched it down half way through school, by the time school was over it was ready for the oil topping and to be baked. It then had the afternoon to cool. And was perfect to slice for sandwiches by evening.

O.K so here we go

Foccacia Bread

1 ¾ cup warm water
1 tbsp. traditional baking yeast
½ tsp. sugar
2 tsp. salt
¼ cup olive oil
4 cups flour (I used half unbleached white and half whole-wheat)

Topping

4-6 cloves garlic (you know I added more, like way more, lets try 6-12!)
4 tbsp. olive oil
2 tsp. course salt (I am all out regular salt works fine)
2 tbsp. fresh or dried rosemary
Cracked black pepper

1) In a large mixing bowl, combine the warm water yeast and sugar. Let the mixture sit until it foams. Stir in salt and olive oil, then start adding the flour, one cup at a time, beating well. It is going to get sticky but you want it to be sticky to touch. Knead the dough (by hand or mixer) until smooth.
2) Foam the dough into ball and place in a large lightly oiled bowl. Cover with a clean, damp cloth. Let rise until double in bulk (1-1 ½ hours.) Punch the dough down and let rise again until double.
3) Pre-heat the oven to 350 F. Place the dough on a well-oiled baking sheet. Gently stretch the dough to roughly fir the pan. Drizzle the garlic oil (above recipe) over the top of the dough. With your fingers make indents so the oil can pool into them. Let rise again for 15 minutes or until the dough puffs up.
4) Bake for 20 minutes The garlic should be golden and the sides of dough browning.

I let the bread cool and then slice through the middle. I pile the bread with thinly sliced tomatoes, cucumbers, yellow peppers, grated carrots, avocado, red onion, white cheese, and some sliced chicken (that I had pre-pared and froze.) I serve this meal with a salad of diced tomatoes, cucumber, yellow pepper, red onion, toss with olive oil and salt and pepper. You can also mix some olive oil and balsamic vinegar in a jar and dip your foccacia bread in the mix.

Bon appetite

Rosaleen

Roasted Chicken with Rosemary and Garlic and Tomato Basil Salad.

Chop and cube enough white potatoes, sweet (orange) potatoes and carrots to cover the bottom of a roasting pan. Put a fresh roasting chicken in the middle of the dish on top of vegetables. Pour two - four cups broth (I use organic vegetable bouillon from the natural food store. I used one block for two cups of hot water. Make sure the bouillon has dissolved in the water) pour the broth over the chicken. The broth will fill the bottom of the pan coming to about half the height of the vegetable layer. I then garnish the chicken with rosemary and sage, I put whole garlic cloves on the chicken and on top of the vegetables, I also add large onion chunks. I remove the garlic cloves and onions before serving as they are used for flavouring the food as it cooks. Give a good shake of salt and pepper over the entire dish. Cook for three hours at 300 degrees. Or until the chicken is cooked. The best way to check if a roasting chicken is cooked through is by pricking through the skin on the side. If clear juice flows out it is probably done, if it is pink it still needs time roasting!

Tomato Basil Salad

2 Cucumbers; slice half the skin of, hen slice the cucumber into thin rounds.
4 medium tomatoes; sliced into moon shapes.
1 small red onion; cut into large strips.
3 tbsp. red wine vinegar
3 tbsp. olive oil
Salt and pepper
¼ cup fresh basil for

Slice the cucumbers, tomatoes and put in your salad bowl. Chop the onion and place in a small bowl pour the vinegar over the onions and cover for thirty minutes with a plate. The vinegar is going to neutralise the onion and release the red onion sweetness. Toss the oil over the vegetables, when ready add the onion and vinegar to the vegetables. Mix in the salt and pepper. Place the fresh basil leaves over the salad when ready to serve. Do not add the basil too early, as the vinegar will turn the basil brown.

I often have this meal on Monday as it only needs one pot and I can slip it into the oven and let it cook during the busy afternoon hours. And if you are a ‘savvy saver’ boil down the bones to make a soup stock, when the bones have turned the water a yellowish colour remove the bones. Add the left over chicken meat, potatoes and carrots, add a few fresh diced carrots, a diced onion, some crushed garlic, a handful of kumut noodles or brown rice, add a bouillon cube. Boil until the noodles and carrots are soft. Now you have some chicken noodle soup.

Bon Appetite

Rosaleen

Salmon topped with Mango Salsa on a bed of Millet.

Salmon

Place the salmon fillets in a baking pan. Add 1 tbsp soya sauce; 2 tbsp white wine; top with celtic sea salt and crushed fresh black pepper. Bake at 350 degrees until white protein is coming out of the meat. About twenty minutes.

Mango Salsa

2 cups diced mango
1/2 cup diced red onion
1/2 cup diced tomato
2 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
2 cloves garlic
2 tbsp fresh squeezed lime juice
1/2 tsp celtic sea salt
fresh or dried chilies as desired

garnish with cilantro.

Millet
Gently cook a small diced onion; 2 cloves garlic; 1/2 tsp cumin; sea salt and fresh cracked black pepper with a dash of desired cooking oil, then add 1-2 cups millet cook about 3-5 minutes add double the amount of water. Cook just like rice.

To serve:

Place a bed of millet on plate, top with salmon fillet then garnish with mango salsa.
I recommend serving this meal with a pale ~ tropical fruit (preferably France or Italian) white wine.

Bon appetite

Rosaleen

My menu has this meal down as Tuesday's meal. I decided I would post it today as we had it for dinner over the weekend. It will be easier for me to post the meal we had the day before. I have just finished making the Rosemary Garlic Chicken. It is now roasting away. Looking forward to sharing it with you tomorrow.

xoxo

Food: An essential part of life, a never ending job, a source of frustration or grand joy? I must admit my reaction to food swings as a pendulum. As head chef for a monstrously hungry family, I often feel burnt out in the area of supplying my family with nutrition. But then I walk the isles of my mother’s garden and wonder in amazement at the miracle of food. I am always looking for ways to add inspiration into the area of our eating. Serving vibrant foods, setting the table beautifully, enjoy meals by candlelight, eating un-rushed, connecting as a family around the table all bring a deeper purpose into feeding my family.

I have spent the majority of my life researching food and nutrition. The one and only solid food theory I have excepted as truth is that God has created an abundance of tantalising foods for us to enjoy, fuel our bodies, and create peace and harmony between every function of our intricate bodies. I believe the closer you can get your ingredients to their natural growing environment (organic, grown in your region, non-genetically modified) the healthier and more nutritious your food will be. I strive to live beyond the limitations of diets, rules or fears of food. But rather live a life of praise for the beautiful foods God has created for us. Balance is key, chocolate, coffee, wine, sugars (honey, agave, maple syrup, and coconut) grains, fats and meats all have incredible health benefits if consumed in small balanced portions.

When I bow my head before a meal, I desire for the foods on my plate to honestly lift my heart in awe and thanksgiving for the incredible goodness of God. If you ever sit with a meal before you and the food you are about to fuel your body with is undesirable, uninspiring, void of colour and your heart does not leap with the thought of God’s goodness, Chuck that food out! There are so many beautiful, healthy and SPECTACULAR foods for your body to be eating! Food that has been created as a gift for you from a ever caring and loving God.

One of the main conversations that come up with other mothers is the topic of food. How to get well balanced, healthy and enjoyable foods on the table is a constant need. Often frustrating and never ending. I hope this week I can share a few of my staples. And in return please share yours with me. I was hoping that we could wrap up the week with a few of your family meals. If you have a moment, please send me your (healthy and vibrant) recipes (pictures would be a lovely addition).

Please come and join me in my kitchen…



Just a few little tidbits.

I will be adding the recipes.

If a word is highlighted it means I have linked it to a nutritional outline for that food.

For me the worst part of cooking is the dishes! If I can I try reducing the dishes by preparing larger quantities and storing the foods. Such as garlic and chicken in the above pictures.

We use a lot of Garlic…I mean a lot! I always make a week or twos worth by chopping the cloves in a food processor. I then store it in a container in the fridge. Easy!

Another way to reduce dishes is by marinading a bunch of chicken at once. Cook it, chop it into different sizes(small cubes for pizza, thin sliced for sandwiches and sides, and just about anything else) I then bag them into meal sizes and freeze, ready to use when ever needed. This is also a great way to save on the expenses of buying meat, if a good sale comes up on chicken breasts buy a ton, marinade, cook, chop and store! My favorite marinade is

Honey Garlic Marinade

1/2 cup apple cidar vinegar
4 tbsp honey
2 tbsp soya sauce
8 cloves garlic

Marinade for 12-24 hours. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.

Bon appetit

Rosaleen

Every week I send my young students out searching. Searching for the spark of nature. The drawing of eyes too daily miracles. Patiently I have waited for the wonder to pull souls heavenwards. For them too know the God mirrored in nature.

Today a hush fell over my oldest, I saw her chest rise with love, her breath pulled by heaven’s reflection.

The warmth kaleidoscopeing the canopy of green. Her heart beating as the ancient King David. A praise escaping with her breath… “Mom it’s perfect”. I gather her joy in the folds of my arms and share the wonder.

With Tennyson we

Whisper

‘Tis not alone the warbling woods,
The starred abysses of the sky,
The silent hills, the stormy floods,

The green that fills the eye –

These only do not move the breast;
Like some wise artist, Nature gives,
Through all her works, to each that lives.

My dear friends, I pray today nature whispers heaven to you.

xoxo

Rosaleen

Today feels just a little like a Monday (must have something to do with those lovely break days) no complaints here! But with those Monday feelings along comes the crazy busyness. Have any of you Mother's noticed there is never really a REAL day of for us?

Humm…

I wonder what that’s all about!? I managed to sneak out for a few walks ~ alone, neglected the laundry and only fed my family salads. But now duty calls ~ merciless ~ The laundry is on cycle~way ~to~high~to~count and my children are crying starvation! I promised the girls a craft time and promised myself that I would get the laundry, cooking, violin practice, math lessons, floors washed and toilets cleaned!

Humm…

I’m A Little Behind!

I am wishing you a craze free day!

xoxo

Rosaleen

P.S My favorite clothing boutiques...

Anthropology
Ruche
Monsoon (Located in the U.K has no international shipping.)

Today is a holiday and holidays always allude to enjoyment. Such as in the form of going on a date with my dashing husband. I would dine with him at our favorite the ever so tantalizing Heartland Cafe. I would make him pay for the meal of course! Because I am a lady (and because he has more money then me). I would wear the above combo. I might need to make a quick call to my sister and ask her help over my indecisive pursenss... purple or blue, blue or purple?

So I wish! Instead I will go for a long sweaty walk, wear something along the lines of the below and have a date with my dashing husband on our unromantic compound!



xoxo

Rosaleen

Back to the weekday grind? Not so my friend... we are gladly been interrupted by a two day holiday here in Nigeria. Marion had an idea for celebrating, sweetness created all on her own! Her ambitions were a delight(though a touch to much of the blue coloring)!

Well done my blossoming baker!

xoxo

Rosaleen

Friday is ‘tin’ day. The part of the week where I fill the cookie tin with just a little something sweet to commence our weekend. Goodness I am looking forward to this weekend. I plan on napping ~ uninterrupted, going for a walk with out my entourage of babes, sending a reply to all the sweet emails waiting in my inbox, have dinner with friends and simply enjoying co~parenting!

I hope you have a bit of chocolate and alone time to saviour this weekend.

xoxo

Rosaleen

I have a cold! Nothing quite like greeting your husband with a kiss as snot pours down your face! At least he had a cold also. It was oh so romantic with us both snotting on each other...must be true love! Cold or no cold we were all happy, happy, happy having him home! The cold is putting me a bit out of picture taking business. Marion did coherce me into taking a photo of her up-dated mouth and her block building. Kinda Cute!

I visited my new friends Innocence and his Mother today. I struggle with knowing how to help. Bringing food and water seems so measly compared to their real needs. The mother has very little knowledge of how to care for a baby. Establishing this family in a safer home away form the streets presents a problem for income. There are not many mission shelters that except families or disabilities. Today was a discouraging visit as I got to see the real moments of their poverty.
I feel so incapable of knowing what and how to help. For the best and the long term. I continue to pray for wisdom and clear direction.

I am off to tend to my cold...

xoxo

Rosaleen

Well I am officially counting down till Roger’s return. This moment is 27 long hours until he is scheduled to walk through my doors. That is if the planned for tomorrow, three-day Nation wide strikes do not interfere with his travelling. I guess I should be preparing for a major disappointment. As if the stress of this morning was not disappointment enough…

I got a call from my Mom early this morning informing me that some expatriates had been abducted from a rig off the coast of Nigeria. With this info I did a mad dash to a news web site and the headlines were upsetting! The pirates that lurk in the same waters that Roger has been working these last weeks took seven men. I knew that Roger was spending his day helicoptering to the many different rigs in that area. I spent the next hour trying to call Roger making sure he was not going to do anything risky like go off shore, or at least make sure he was taking extra security. I had no luck in getting through to him. So my day was amuck with nerves! I am happy to report he is safe, and had no idea of the recent attack.

Need I say I will be overjoyed to have him home, once he has kissed us all I plan on lecturing him on how close that was to sorrow… and informing him that there will be no more trips to Eket!

The wife has spoken!

My hearts goes out to the men and their loved ones. Please join me in pray that they all be returned soon, safe and sound!

Rosaleen

I am pleased to say the dress got done. There were some doubtful moments! But alas I have a beautiful blue eyed girl delighted to be wearing the labour of my weekend moments.

Hope you have a Monday brimming with delighted weekend memories.

xoxo

Rosaleen

P.S Thank you each sweet lady who helped me pick out the material choice. Turquoise won hands done, and I am mighty glad it did for it perfectly sets Davina's eye dancing!

P.S.S I cherish each and every comment or email that you send me. I look forward to responding to each of you. It might just take a few~long moments to find the time to send you a letter from my heart. Thank you for your generous patients!

In my house today I am seeing piles! Laundry and play and Monday’s work collecting in heaps. Filtering my ‘whip together’ sewing project through the needs of three kids is making the two-hour package promise… false advertising! The girls are still in P.J’s and have made the cushions their play. I love and support child fun, which always equals large messes.

So you see my piles this noon hour.

But hey, what are Mondays for?!

Xoxo

Rosaleen

I am contemplating starting a project as something to keep my mind off missing Roger. I would like to sew Davina a new dress and am unsure of what material combo I should use. I would love your input on what pattern suits your fancy.

Well Friday is here! I am jealously wishing you a sweet weekend with a promise of a date night and maybe even a short respite from the duties of mothering!

xoxo

Rosaleen

Last night a dream haunted my rest. Tangible as reality, I watched as my baby Lachlan was dropped and lost into dark murky waters. Frantic I searched for him. Every second of my dream was riveted by my fear. I still can hear my groans begging heaven to return him to me. As the moments for salvation ticked to a horrendous ending, I found his hands, desperate I pulled him to me and held him close. My tears washed the silt from his face revealing his most beautiful smile. Those same tears soaked my pillow lacing two worlds together. The grip of my dream hung heavy around my Mothering. Hours removed the sting of fear and I found myself holding another son. His frail body the heaviest thing I have ever held. We mothers talked of the daily search through the sea of poverty, grasping for salvation. This Mother, nineteen young years, has lived my dream daily.

She is stuck. Crippled annihilates any chance for noble work, no aid from her country or government. A child voice broken at six, abandoned to the grave. To hope for Change would weaken the callus built to protect, fuelling survival. She is simple, her world is the here and now. I listen my back supported by a slivered wall, I feel the ‘Rugged Cross’ burrowing into me. I think of Jesus who had his heart exposed, arms pulled to the shape of the cross. Innocence pulling at me, exposing my heart. I pray for wisdom to tear from the heavens, lacing two worlds, washing the silt of poverty. Heaven’s burden ~ heavy ~ I humbly ask for guidance in navigating the craze of Africa. I long to see Calvary’s shadow pointing a way for lasting Hope. More then just a weeks meal, medicine and water. My aching desire is to be woven into Innocence’s Salvation, beautifully lacing Haven and Earth.

(The above picture is my driver Arron holding Innocence and neighbour lady. They are standing in the shanty that houses six rooms, each rented out.)

Girl #1 Girl #2 Boy #1

My desire for Autumns glory has been fiercely replaced by another longing...Winter and her frigid beauty. Oh I wish to cap my sweet darlings in hats and gloves and kiss their rossied by the cold cheeks. If I were somewhere cold I would be dressing my kidlings~three in the above garbs. All these outfits come from a Norwegian store. I am now slightly tempted to move to Norway for our next job posting. Simply to be able to shop my heart and closets content...

Probably not the best idea to move to a country simply for kids clothing.

I am hoping you are all layering the warmth, enjoying the wisps of winter settling for the finale of the year.

xoxo

Rosaleen

I will start by saying my girls had a ton of fun. They loved getting dressed up! Marion was Snow~Queen and Davina was a Dancing~Princess (she is dressed like this every day!)It is not my favorite holiday...have to use bug spray beacuse it is 'Malaria Hour", to much candy, spooky and not so impressed by it's origins.

But it is wonderful watching my beautiful girls dressed up and smiling.

xoxo

Rosaleen