Unexpected~My Announcement

Well, I'm not going to lie, my announcement is going to seem lame to some of you and downright stupid to others. I'm okay with that.

To start with; NO, WE ARE NOT PREGNANT.

Although, there would be no complaints here if we were. Only praise given to God for a new little life. But, I'm not addressing any of THAT right now. 

Some of you may have seen my sudden, unexpected (even by me) announcement that I'm graduating this semester with my Bachelor's degree. (Huzzah!) I was previously not supposed to graduate until this Fall, December to be exact. I'm an Elementary Ed. major and I still needed to complete a semester of student teaching to graduate with my teaching certificate. Student teaching is something I've been worried about for a while now. I have 5 kids, two of which are home schooled. How in the world were we going to afford childcare for them? Secondly, I have friends who have been student teachers. They spend ALL their evenings and weekends writing lesson plans. Again, 5 kids, absolutely no time for that. Doing such a thing is fairly unrealistic anyway, because teachers do NOT spend every waking moment writing lesson plans, but for some reason student teachers are expected to. Not going to go on that rant, I promise. (It's a lengthy one.) 

Now, I could certainly put the oldest two back in school and only have three kids to pay for childcare for, but honestly we don't desire to do that. Even then, my husband works 14 hours a day and I would have to be in my own classroom before the girls had to be in school and I wouldn't be able to leave before they had to get out of school. Who, then, would take them and pick them up? I knew we were short on options, but I trusted that if the Lord wanted me to student teach then He would give us a way to get through it. He has gotten us through on one income for the last 5 years I've been in school and I trusted Him not to leave me hanging without a degree. And no child is a surprise to the Lord, so I knew His plans for me included our latest three kiddos, even though they weren't around when I originally started going to school.

So, I swear I wasn't trying to get out of student teaching. I wasn't devising devious plans or making up excuses, or anything. I was simply praying and waiting for the Lord to act. Well, He did. About two weeks ago I was up at 2am nursing "J" when it suddenly hit me; what if I could get out of student teaching? I wasn't even thinking about school when this popped into my brain! I didn't even know if it was possible. In fact, I seriously doubted it. After a few more hours of sleep I got on MSU's website and began my research, which wasn't promising. All of my credits were tied up in very specific Elementary Education courses. Switching my degree plan wasn't going to happen unless I switched to an individualized degree, which seemed a pain and sketchy at best. One thing I did know; with 130 credit hours, not including the semester I'm working on now, I had plenty of credits to qualify for a Bachelor's degree. All I could do was email my academic advisor and ask if there was any way I could graduate without the student teaching portion of my degree. 

I have to admit, I was so scared she would say no and I would have to try for the individualized degree that I didn't check my university email for days. I was ashamed of my cowardice, but at the same time there was a lot riding on her answer. Then there was the doubt; was I doing the right thing? All this time I've worked for this and I'm not going to teach? What does God have planned for me, then? Then, when I had just decided I was going to check my email for an answer, my daughter broke my computer and I had no way to check for several days. (Relief! Oops, I can't check, no guilt for that!) 

Within that time frame I was wondering what in the world I could do with an Elementary Education degree if I did not have teacher certification. Then again, if we were planning on continuing homeschooling, how would I teach anyway? I cried several times, scared about the fact that my educational plan I had so carefully crafted years before was going down the drain. These things were running through my mind as I dropped my daughters off at a church sleepover Friday evening. When I saw the children's pastor come out to greet me I thought, "Hey, that might be a fun job." 

That very evening I was at home, online again after the boys were in bed, researching what I could do in the church with an Elementary Ed. degree. Quite a lot, it seemed, as I gleaned from many forums that I was not the only one to decide that I would rather not enter the Elementary Institution after getting my degree. I saw many who had opted for the church instead and I was going to start my Master's in something. I've always wanted my Master's and Doctoral degrees. So I started researching Seminary schools. (Me?! What in the world?) What I found was there were several Seminary degrees that I could get that would allow me to follow job paths that I have always been interested in and some new job paths I have just discovered. Christian author, pastor, University professor, University administrator, children's youth minister or activities director.......and just like that I knew that I was being led to a Master of Arts in Theology.

I was still unsure about it all and still had not looked to see if my advisor had approved my request. Nor did I know what I would have to do to get out of student teaching. When we got our new computer I finally decided to quit being cowardly and check my email.......and lo and behold I had gotten an email from my advisor; she had ALREADY approved my request to graduate without certification, notified the appropriate individuals and I was ready to go! I literally cried; I'm DONE with my Bachelor's degree! In a span of a few weeks I went from "How will we get through this?" to buying graduation announcements and enrolling for my Masters. It has truly given me a new zest for life and I have felt like a fresh spirit for the past few days!

It's amazing how the Lord works, isn't it? Less than a year ago I was fighting the Lord, angry at Him for something that was man's fault. Then my irrational anger came to light, along with the knowledge of who had really let me down and I begged the Lord's forgiveness and returned to the church. How could someone like me be an advantage to the Kingdom of God? When the Lord is ready to work, he doesn't waste time! In a span of two weeks my whole educational plan has been turned upside down and suddenly I'm planning to do something I'm not even sure I'm capable of (Me, a spiritual leader?! Are we sure we have the right person here?), but I know the Lord will give me strength. 

I have been accepted at Liberty University for my Master's of Arts in Theology. It will take me a year to complete, followed by my Ph.D. in Theology and Apologetics. Don't know what Apologetics is? Well, if you're on the computer you have quick access to google to look it up. And no, I won't be apologizing to anyone. ;-) 

I know I have a long way to go. I am actually scared of this new path. I am by no means perfect and I'm not even sure I'm a good role model, but I feel confident this is where I'm being led. I know there are areas of my life that I will have to work on harder than ever now because I will be a representative of the Kingdom of God (as a member of the church, technically I was already). I am excited about this new journey and I am so very ready to start my Master's classes in May.

Please pray that I have the strength and wisdom to complete this journey.

Love and Smiles,

Chala

My Daughter Broke My Announcement

Ok, so she didn't the announcement itself, simply the means of communicating the announcement. I finally became sure enough to make the declaration and BASH~family laptop dropped on the floor! Imagine starting out a lovely spring morning intending to do some homework and a blog post while your kids are on homeschool spring break. You make the children breakfast, nurse the little one and get everyone settled in. You get yourself a cup of coffee and sit down at the computer to start in on your work...... And then you open your laptop. That is how my morning went yesterday. But, when I opened my laptop I didnt get any work done because I encountered a screen that looked like tv "white noise" interspersed with cracks going everywhere. Wait? Wasn't I just on this thing at 6:30am with no problems? Indeed I had been. Awakened by "E" at 6:30am, he insisted I turn on Spongebob for him. He sounded as of he might wither up and die if he didn't get a Spongebob fix, so I obliged. After crawling out of bed looking like a hobo from being up with "J" most of the night, I made the unpleasant discovery that I had forgotten to pay the Dish bill and it was off. Great. The Spongebob addict commenced whining while I hopped ONLINE and paid the Dish and service was restored. All better. So WHY, a mere two hours later, was I sitting in front of a destroyed screen? It had obviously been dropped; I could see the point of impact on the screen. By who? Not by "E", no. He is two; the computer would have been left where he dropped it and not carefully placed on the table and closed it so I was none the wiser. No, it had to be one of the older, sneakier ones, both of whom were sitting on either side of me and I immediately questioned them. Denial from both parties. No surprise. We had a suspicion who it was, but no one was confessing. So, we told them that they could either be banned from ALL technology in the house (our cell phones, Nook, any new computer, their DSs, etc.) indefinitely OR someone could confess and get a 1 month technology ban for lying. The accusations and denials flew all day until I went to class and left them with their Dad. While I was gone the suspected perp confessed. I imagine she didn't want to confess to me when I had just missed a ridiculous amount of homework. So, my daughter broke the announcement I'm wanting to make. I'm typing this post on my phone and it is a PAIN! So the announcement will come in a few days, along with my MacBook Pro. Right now, I'm off to make Chocolate Cherry Cupcakes. Don't worry, I'll document it all for future unbroken blogs. :-) Love and Smiles, Chala

Ahhhh, a beautiful Spring day.....spent in a cemetary

Yep, that's where I spend MY beautiful Spring Mondays! In cemetaries. Let me elaborate.

So, this past Monday my sister was over. We went shoe shopping for running shoes and then came back to my house where we did some outdoor gardening and such. There is a cemetary on the property we live on, a very old one. It is way up on top of a hill in a field next to our house. My husband has seen the cemetary before, but I never have. The grass is always tall in the field and once that grass gets tall you can bet that the grass in the cemetary will be tall as well, even under the trees that encase it.

Anyway. So my husband was telling my sister about the cemetary and he suggested that she and I go up there to visit it since the grass is just beginning to green up and he was home to stay with all of the kids while I went. So she and I headed up there to see it, sidestepping cow patties all the way. We get up there and start looking for a gate. We go around one side. Then another. Then the third. Then the last.

No gate. WITW? (What in the world, for those new to my Chala-lingo)

I know my husband has been in the cemetary. He has told me about how you can't read most of the gravestones. So I put in a call to him back at the house. No answer. He is probably chasing our 5 crazy kids that he isn't left alone with all that often. So my sister and I start snooping. In most places the fence is quite high, up to my chest, and there is barbed wire on top of it. Someone really didn't want anyone getting in there. (Or getting out, ha!) Finally we found a spot that we could just step over~well, my several-inches-taller-than-me little sister STEPPED. I went first and kind of bounced, clamored......whatever.

Once we were inside it was pretty neat. The oldest headstone we were able to make out said the person was born in 1805. 178 years before me. Wow. She (I believe it was a she) died in 1876. Some of the headstones were sinking into the ground. Pieces were broken off and nearly none of the names and dates were legible. My sister and I had to trace the letters with our fingers to figure out what we did. We read several names on headstones and then came to another one we were reading. A little girl, only six, daughter to the people on the headstones we had just read. We went around to the other side and her sister, 4, buried right beside her, who died in the same month and year as she did. Very sad. As a momma I cannot imagine losing two children in one month. The four year old had died at the beginning of March 1876 and the six yeard old had died at the end of March 1876. Safe in the arms of the Lord.

"Then little children were brought to Him that He might put His hands on them and pray, but the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said, 'Let the little children come to Me,
and do not forbid them;
for of such is the kingdom of heaven.'"
Matthew 19:13-14 New King James Version

---

Running off of limited information, we found two families in the cemetary, who may well have been related by some blood link, but there were two last names. There may well have been other families, other last names but it was too hard to tell. Trees were swallowing up some of the headstones. My sister stopped and pick up a piece of one that had broken off of the main part, and poked it back on top. It was neat to see the remnants of it being cared for; one gravestone was surrounded by Irises and Daffodils, apparantly carefully planted by a loved one who either no longer visits or who may lay in a grave nearby. I told my sister that there is no telling if these people are even still where their headstones are; there has probably been a lot of shifting of the ground over time.

So, after spending a sunny, warm evening in a neat, but depressing, cemetary, my sister and I headed back to my house. I sure can find fun on a glorious spring day, huh?

This shot was taken as I was leaving the cemetary. I almost deleted it, but it has a very blair witch-esque quality to it......ok, maybe not. But I thought it was kind of cool anyway with the corner of the headstone in it and the sides all blurry because I was walking.

You never know what I'm up to, huh?

Love and Smiles,
Chala

As Promised: Stuffed Zucchini

What you'll need:

2 to 3 Zucchini
Sour Cream
Your Favy Guacamole
Shredded Parmesan Cheese
1/2 an Onion
1/2 a Tomato
Butter or Butter Spray
Cheddar Cheese (Optional)
Bacon (Optional)

Heat Oven to 400 degrees F.

Start out by chopping up your onion and putting it in a pan to saute. I diced mine into little squares; I don't think this is the kind of dish that you want long onion slices in. Put some butter in the pan with the onion (I used butter spray because it is calorie free) and saute the onion until it is soft and slightly browned. The more butter you put in the pan, the more the butter flavor comes out in the zucchini!

While the onion is cooking it is time to prepare the zucchini. Cut the ends off of each zucchini and then cut them in half length-wise (or "hot dog" style, as we teachers would say in the classroom!). Now, take a spoon and scoop out the insides of the zucchini, setting aside the now-empty outer part of the zucchini. Easier said than done. I almost broke my zucchini in half several times, so tread carefully! You should probably check on your onions at some point and give them a stir and then you can go back to your zucchini. Once the onions are done just set them aside. They don't need to be warm for this. Chop the insides of your zucchini into smaller bits and put it in a bowl. Your zucchini should now look like this:

Now, ignore those for a moment. Take your onions, which are probably long done by now (I hope you were checking on them!) and put them in the bowl with your zucchini "innards". Now, chop half of a tomato and toss it in with the onion/zucchini mixture. I recommend slicing, salting and eating the rest. ;-) Scoop a few spoonfuls of Sour Cream into the mix, along with your favorite Guacamole. Don't like Guacamole? Well, you're absolutely nuts, but you can leave it out. My favorite Guacamole in the whole world is Marketfresh. YUM! Now, I don't know how much of each of these things I put in there. I just eyeballed it. Put enough in to make the mixture creamy. Give it a lick and see how it tastes and be the judge if you need more of one or the other or both. Next, throw some shredded parmesan in there. Don't like parmesan? Use cheddar. I used shredded parmesan in mine. Again, I don't know how much I added. I like cheese, so I myself probably added quite a bit. If you are going for healthier, go for less. Now, mix it all together.

If you want to add some crispiness, add some bacon. Bacon makes everything better! Fry some up, chop it, toss it in your mixture and give it another stir. I was actually going to add bacon to mine, but I got busy and burnt it. We have fresh-from-the-pig bacon and it takes a bit more watching than store-bought. This is the mixture I ended up with:

Yummy! Now, cover a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Remember those poor little shells we abandoned earlier? We're going to use them. Fill each one with the mixture you created. Kind of twisted, gutting a zuke and then filling it back up with its own insides. They'll live. Set each one on the baking sheet. As a last step, cover the tops with more shredded parmesan. Or, if you prefer cheddar, use that. For reference, I used parmesan. 

Stick those puppies in the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, letting that cheese on top get nice and brown. These are what they should look like afterwards:

OMGosh, I want one right now! I would have taken a picture of the whole pan-full, but my family had already raided them. Personally, I could have eaten a couple of these all by their selves and they would have been plenty filling to be a meal. One of them alone would make a nice, light lunch. Enjoy!

I was wondering if finely chopped pepperoni would have been good in these? Hmmmmm.....an experiment for another day!

Love and Smiles,
Chala

Who LOVES Pinterest?!

*Jumps up and down* Me! ME! I LOVE PINTEREST! I spend ridiculous amounts of time on there, mostly from my phone app while nursing "J". I'd watch TV, but in our household "E" finds it a sin to have the channel changed away from Spongebob, Bubble Guppies, Fresh Beat Band, Mike the Knight, Dora the Explorer or Backyardigans. Does he watch TV all day? No. Mostly he plays, but you can be SURE that as soon as that channel changes, he is in the living room wanting to watch something. As opposed to listening to "Watch Bubble Guppies? Watch Bubble Guppies?" I just play on my phone while listening to the pretend pirate scenes in the background or occasionally catching the sound of Patrick being an idiot on Spongebob and letting out a giggle. Thankfully Spongebob gears some of it's laughs towards the poor parents who they know are being roped into watching their show.

As usual, the kids have sidetracked me, even in a blog! Back to Pinterest. I assume I'm not the only one mentally jumping up and down about their love for Pinterest. So, new question. Who actually USES the stuff they find on Pinterest?*And the room goes silent and all hands go down* Anybody? Hopefully my imaginings of a silent classroom in response to that question are wrong. I have to say, I use it constantly. As a matter of fact, it has now become a weekly ritual alongside my grocery list. When I go to make my grocery list I sit down beside the computer, pull up Pinterest, and pull up all the recipes I'm wanting to try for that week so I can make sure to pick up the ingredients I don't have. I inevitably end up changing the recipes I find to suit me, but I haven't found one yet that wasn't amazing! I have also found homeschool stuff on there that I created and use, the most recent being a chart with different ways to practice spelling words. The girls love it. It has given them a change from the same old 'Write your spelling words in a sentence'.

So, for those of you who love Pinterest, repin like crazy, but never get around to making those yummy dishes or amazing crafts you see, I'm here for you! Or, maybe you are just too leery of messing something up in the process. Again, I'm here for you. I am no chef, although I love to cook and think I do a good job most of the time. Also, I may be the most clumsy person on the planet. Seriously, I sport a Bella-like clumsiness that my husband will confirm. (Yes, that's right, I'm on board with Twilight! Enjoy.) On my right thumb I sport a scar where I sliced a flap of skin almost off my hand. Crap heals, right? Yes, but unfortunately I seem to have taken an important grouping of nerves with it, because that whole side of my thumb has been numb ever since! I offer that up as proof that I am the last person who belongs in the kitchen wielding a knife. Still hungry? Because I'm going to share with you some of my Pinterest cooking experiments, most of which I have already put into my recipe folders on my computer.

Above: The self-inflicted, now healed wound that makes the entire left side of my right thumb numb to all feeling.

Since hubby and I have been trying to eat better in reponse to attempted weight loss and an upcoming 5k, my first recipe will be a moderately healthy but oh-so-delicious and filling one. Coming to you later this afternoon will be STUFFED ZUCCHINI.

Removing a zucchini's guts has never been so entertaining. Post to follow later today.

Love and Smiles,
Chala

Blogging is Easy?!

Only if you want everything in black and white! If you want NONE of your own personality added to anything you do then, sure, hop on and start blogging. If you would like some of your personality to shine through on your blog be prepared to arrange and rearrange a template that keeps kicking off your saved changes. I think I jacked with this thing for an hour~homeschooling at the same time~trying to get my changes to stayed saved. Voila! I think I finally managed to make it work!

Starting Off.......
Who am I? Most of you probably know me already. However, should someone stumble across my blog and be slightly interested let me offer a few tidbits in an attempt to entertain you for 5 seconds. My name is Chala. I'm a redhead. A busy redhead. I could probably write that word a million times. Busy. I know I use it at least a million times a day. "I'm busy!" or "I'm too busy!" or "Ask me later, I'm busy!" or even occasionally, "Crap! I got busy and forgot!" Actually, I probably use that last one more than I like to admit to myself.

Why am I so busy? Believe me, I've asked myself this. Here is what I've come up with; I'm a Type A. Meaning I don't like to relinquish control and I fully believe things get done better and faster if I just do them myself. Not only that, but I attempt to take on the world. My husband hates it and I'm working on it! More reasons I'm so busy; 5 children ranging in age from 9 years to 2 months. Homeschooling the school-aged ones. Going to school myself for my teaching degree (almost done!). Being a housewife. Attempting to get some exercise in. I love Zumba and I'm attempting a 5k in June called the Color Run so I like to get time on my treadmill when possible.. I LOVE to run.

Hmmmmm.......maybe it's the Type A in me, but when I write it down it doesn't seem like much. Believe me, it all keeps me busy from dawn till dusk and some of it doesn't even get squeezed in everyday. For instance, I'm supposed to do Zumba three days a week and run three days a week, alternating. BAHAHAHAHAHA! I've managed one day of exercise this week. I might get a second one in today. Supermom? Hardly, although I'm flattered by those who think so. Busy from sun up to sun down? Exactly. I know that one day the kids will be grown up and my husband and I will be able to hang out together without being pounced on. And I will probably miss all of this.

But for now I'm just busy.