HOORAY!!  I have never been so excited about jewelry in my life!! These beautiful bracelets were made by women and men in Haiti, who are being taught artisan skills by the Apparent Project, in order to be able to feed their children, send them to school (no such thing as free public school in Haiti!), and hopefully one day to rent a house that would allow them to get out of the tent cities.  So I am over the moon excited to be selling bracelets made by these wonderful Haitian people!

Each bracelet is made by a combination of handmade paper beads, (also made by the artisans themselves!!) and glass/other beads. Each bracelet also has a photo and a little info about the person that made it.

I am so so incredibly excited to be selling these bracelets, both to support the hardworking artisans in Haiti, and our adoption of Wisly!!  Our heart for Haiti is that not only would the children who have been abandoned or orphaned find forever families, but that children would stop being abandoned and orphaned.  The reality is, people abandon and relinquish their children for the most part because they cannot feed them. We have prayed for ways that we could be involved in making a difference in Haiti, on behalf of the children we love in Haiti, and on Jesus’ behalf.  When I discovered the Apparent Project, I was so thrilled to find a way that we can help from here, to make a real difference in the lives of some families in Haiti, and to help them keep their children.

There is no public school system in Haiti.  While we have chosen to homeschool our children, I do not underestimate the power of children having a right to an education. Without education, Haiti will never climb out of the hole it is in.

As you also know by now, the process to adopt from Haiti (or any other country) is long and very expensive.  We still have a loan to pay off, and another $5-6000 in travel and fees upcoming.  The Apparent Project partners with families adopting from Haiti by offering these fundraising bracelets.  We are selling them for $8. The first $4 will go right back to the person who made the bracelet!!  That’s right- we keep track of each bracelet, keeping record of who made each one, so they get paid for it!  The other $4 goes to our adoption of Wisly, helping us to bring him home… Lord willing this year!

Here is what YOU can do to help!

1) BUY Bracelets!!  (of course!)

2) HAVE A PARTY where I come and show a video about the apparent project, and bring a box of bracelets for people to choose from.  Invite your friends, and make a real, and tangible difference in the lives of some people in Haiti.  And help our adoption at the same time!

3) SPREAD THE WORD! Pass on this blog post via Facebook or email, take bracelets to work or church or playdates.

Thanks so much for your support!

Here is a video of Phoebe telling about one of the artisans!

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As usual, I have begun so many blog posts… in my mind… on things from homeschooling, to food, to adoption, to prayer… the list goes on and on.  So, although I don’t have time to fully flesh out today’s thought, I just want to get this one down for future reference.

Because, this week, I rediscovered something that has always greatly influenced/informed my philosophy of homeschooling.  It was like I discovered it for the first time, I was so excited about it, and it had such an impact on my kids’ writing.  They went from groaning about writing, to often writing more than they were asked to write, and caring about what they were writing about.  For a moment, I had forgotten:

Kids will learn more when they are interested in what they are learning.

Duh.  That’s why so much of the elementary years has been child-interest-driven in our homeschool.  But somehow, in the desire to be more disciplined in writing (something none of them have loved to do- being more into reading/crafting/programming etc) I forgot to think about how their interests might help to feed into a desire to write.

So, this week I decided to ask them to write about things they are interested in- things they like to talk about.  Levi has been doing a TON of self-directed reading on military ship history.  He will be putting together a portfolio of what he has learned.  LIGHT-BULB!  This week, instead of having him write the planned lesson in his curriculum, I asked him to pick something he would like to tell someone about from his study on military ships.

He decided he wanted to describe being inside a 16 inch gun turret. (He visited Battleship Cove this fall, and slept overnight on a WWII battleship- dream come true!)  Recalling a flop-of-an-assignment from the fall about describing a room with words (how boring was THAT!>) I asked him to please describe is, as though he were painting the scene for a story.. not defaulting to his usual preference for lists, and bullet points, but more story-like.  He also printed out a picture of himself standing by one of the guns to put at the top of the assignment.

He cared about it.  He was interested in it.  He completed it.

Phoebe wanted to write a story, with illustrations.  She wrote about a tropical island, that has a tornado come that keeps them living in their underground safety hole for more than a month- where the teenagers have balls, and the little kids play hide and seek.  She drew a colorful picture at the top of each page, and today we bound it with yarn.

Molly wrote poems on 3 days, and then a long entry in her journal about her new swim class.  She commented “Wow! I wrote more words for this story than I would do in my handwriting book!”

It was true- they had written much more than they would have had they just done the curriculum.  Success.  I used to know this.  Now I know it again.

I have been applying this to my piano teaching as well.  If the student really likes the song, they will be drawn to the piano until they have mastered it, because they want to be able to play that song.  Then they will be draw to play it over and over again, because they enjoy playing it!  Fortunately, with my own kids also being some of my students, I get to experiment with this theory on them, and apply it to my other students- you know, the ones I actually get paid to teach something?

Sometimes I feel frustrated about how I seem to have to learn the same things over and over again.  But really, at the heart of my homeschool philosophy is raising kids who are life-long learners… and I am definitely one of those!

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Recently, the world marked the 2nd anniversary of Haiti’s devastating earthquake. Many of us are also approaching the 2-year mark of beginning the process of adopting some of the special kids in Haiti who need a family and a chance at growing up.

This is a picture we received from another adoptive parent who visited in December.

With a new director of Social Services in Haiti, many are hopeful adoptions are finally going to start moving.  We really pray this is the year Wisly, and so many others finally come home!

To finish the process, including two more trips, physical/passport/visa for Wisly, we will need @$6000.  We are still selling our CD that we released at the start of this journey.  You can hear music from the CD here.

If you would like to support the final stage of this process with prayer or financially we would greatly appreciate it!  (To date, with the help of many generous people, we have already covered nearly $20,000 in expenses, included travel etc!!  THANK YOU!!!!)  You can email me at springeve@gmail.com for more info about our CD, or to make a donation, and you can also purchase the CD (down-loadable version) on our music website.

Still praying, and watching for the mountain to move, and a stream of kids making it home!!!!

Here is my Haiti-Song, for those of you who haven’t seen it!
Written after my second trip to Haiti to visit Wisly.

Blessings,

Spring

P.S.  You can read some other adoption/Haiti posts on the blog.

This post is for a link-up at Kelly’s Korner!

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This has been a big week of “back to the kitchen” for me.  The cost of heating at this time of year drives the “frugal” side of the scale, with the additional need to eat well to stay well in cold and flu season driving the “healthy” side.  This pretty  much means that easy takes a back seat most of the time.  This is also a busy time, getting back into homeschooling after vacation, kids’ activities, teaching piano lessons, and doing some regular filling in at my parents’ restaurant.  I have to plan more time for food prep, and think ahead more, in order to be sure we have healthy, allergy-free food available.

For example, this afternoon I have chicken cooking in the crockpot for the family to eat while I am at work tomorrow.  (Frugal and Healthy: organic chicken that I had stocked in the freezer when I got it on sale).  There is rice in the rice cooker so I can make up a couple batches of rice milk to go with the granola that is in the oven right now.  I also made a batch of peanut butter balls for snacks to put in the freezer.  That made me suddenly inspired for a new flavor of “ball”… LEMON!

Lemon Drops… rolled in coconut!!  (It’s really too bad you can’t SMELL the lemon… this picture really doesn’t do the bright-and-sun-shiny-smelling treat justice!)

I was nervous at first, because if you have read any of my food posts before, I am not a natural in the kitchen.  I have been learning a great deal, with the help of my sis-in-love Stephanie, and some blogs I have mentioned in the past, and begun to have great  success with creating my own recipes in the last year.  So, here is my Lemon Drops recipe!!

1 c. raw almonds (grind to a near flour in the food processor)

1 c. dates (added to almonds and processed- I cut them in half to be sure there are not pits, and to help my old and dying food processor out)

4-5 tbs. shredded coconut

4-5 tbs coconut oil (I will probably add a little more next time- I ran out- add enough until it really helps the mix stick together)

GF Lemon Oil (drizzle in while running until it’s a lemony as you would like it!)

Roll into balls.  Roll the balls in shredded coconut and place on a plate in the freezer until firm.  I store them in a Ziploc bag in the freezer.

Granola Update!!!

I have another lovely sis-in-love, Bridget, who is always good for whole-food ideas.  She mentioned pureeing dates for the sweetener in her granola like we do in the natural cookies we use to make.  (I need to work on a GF version of those- so healthy and so GOOD!) Well, I have now made 3 batches of granola trying this!!

I put dates into my liquid measuring cup to the 1 cup mark, and then just cover with water.  The first time I soaked them overnight.  The second time I soaked them just for a couple hours.  Then I puree them with the water in my vita-mix. This makes about 1 cup of liquid sweetener.

When doing a double batch I also used 1 c. of maple syrup, but for the latest single batch, I just added a few tablespoons of syrup for the flavor.  The granola baked up great, and tasted fabulous- everyone loved it, and I don’t know if they would have noticed the difference if I hadn’t’ mentioned it.  I also added some vanilla to one batch, but I don’t think I put enough in, as I didn’t really notice it.

So, there you have it- a new treat and a still tasty, and more frugal tweak on homemade granola! Enjoy!!

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I want to share a “note” I wrote 3 years ago, about the way we handle Santa Claus in our family.  When I hear parents talk about other kids “ruining” Christmas for their kids, (and this is a weekly occurrence at this time of year!) by saying “Santa is not real” it makes the hair on my neck stand up, and my insides boil.  How can we speak negatively about a child who is willing to speak the truth in the midst of those who don’t agree with them?  What does that teach those children- who stand for the truth?  I don’t think most of those children speak the truth, intending to “ruin Christmas” for someone else. They just think the truth is important.

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This was a busy weekend for a certain Sweet Pea this weekend: she was in three performances of the Nutcracker with Maine State Ballet!  I helped backstage, with make-up and costumes.

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Yesterday was Black Friday- the beginning of the shopping frenzy for the US holiday season.  But not for us!  Actually, I can’t remember ever shopping on the day after Thanksgiving, although I am sure I must have at some point in the past.  Instead, I did this!

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I’ve finished up my prep for tomorrow- we’ll be feeding 19 people in my living room!  Just thought I would share a couple pics I’ve taken of some favorite fall foods, that I haven’t had time to blog about!

This is a huge favorite of mine: sweet potatoes, summer squash, zucchini, and some leftover chicken (added at the end).  I toss the veggies in some light olive oil and fresh rosemary (or dried basil, if I don’t have any), some garlic and onion powder, and bake until the veggies are getting soft.  I add in the leftover cooked chicken at the end, just to heat it up.  I have been known to eat the leftovers of this for breakfast.

(That’s shepherd’s pie you are seeing to the right side of my roasted veggies.  I can’t eat corn, but it’s a family favorite so I try to make it once in a great while… great excuse to make MY favorite, which is not so popular with the kids.)

This is another fall favorite- especially on a lazy Sunday evening… Corn Free Nachos.  I make my own rice tortilla chips using Food for Life tortillas.  I rip them into pieces, rub a little light olive oil on my hands, and then rub the pieces and toss them on a cookie sheet.  Sometimes I just skip the oil (they don’t cook up quite as nicely).  When they are starting to very slightly brown on the edges, I pull them out, add some grated cheese, and some ground turkey (browned up with garlic/onion powder and pepper added).

Man, I just spent all day cooking and baking, but these pictures are making me hungry!

Happy Thanksgiving!

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 …through clenched teeth

Perhaps, if you have been following our adoption journey at all, you might have guessed by the title that this would be another adoption-journey-post.  Today, we heard an update from the orphanage, that five more children have received numbers; to the best of my knowledge, this means their paperwork has been processed, and is going through the final approval process.  This final process still takes MONTHS generally (as some of friends have experienced this year).  But it DOES mean things are moving.

So why am I praising God through clenched teeth?

The Haitian Social Services (IBESR) does not handle things the way we would here in the states.  (OK, so that should not be a surprise… we are completely different cultures, with completely different histories).  Here is the primary-and-most-painful example of this: They do not process dossiers in the order they are received. People who filed up to a year after us (and others) have already received numbers etc.  Sometimes, it’s due to age (the ones approaching 16 will soon be too old to be adopted).  Sometimes it’s due to medical needs.  Sometimes, it doesn’t make any sense at all.

So, we ache, and praise, at the same time.

Sometimes, I worry about admitting the ache… because admitting the ache can seem like lack of joy for the ones rejoicing, like lack of trust in God’s timing.

But Jesus’ example was to admit the ache.  Even ask for it to be removed.  And then to submit with “Your will, not mine, be done.”

Today, five more children from Wisly’s orphanage received numbers.  Last week, we heard five others were awaiting the presidential waiver needed.  (This comes AFTER getting a number, and before going to court… Haiti requires a presidential waiver to allow families with biological children to adopt.)  Some of these filed their dossiers after us, after many others.  And today, I will admit the ache, while praising.

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I am proud to be married to a man who served in the US Navy for 6 years, including during Desert Storm in the Persian Gulf.  I was in high school at the time, and had not yet met this wonderful man, but I had friends that I had known in high school also in the Gulf during the war and I can clearly remember those days… coming home from school and being riveted to the news for months on end.  Praying.  Sending cards.

I can’t even imagine doing it as a Navy-Wife… and my heartfelt thanks goes out to the wives and families of those who have served and are currently serving… your sacrifice is great, as well!

But, back to my veteran! The cities of Lewiston/Auburn have a memorial next to the river that borders to two cities.

(This photo shows only half of the semi-circle of memorial stones).

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