you're welcome

We had some people over for breakfast this morning and I made these scones.  A friend made them for me--really she made them for her pregnant-with-twins-self and let me have one--while I was in BKK having pre-term labor with Judah...so well over a year ago.  I loved them and asked for the recipe and I'm just now getting around to giving them a go.

I am oh. so. glad. that I did.

This recipe is wonderful in that if gives a basic scone and you can add in whatever yumminess you would like.  Today I divided the dough in half and did half chocolate chip and half craisin.

Which would have also been wonderful together.

Grandma Scones

1 cup whipping cream

1 tsp baking soda

4 cups all purpose flour

1 cup sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

1 tsp salt

1 cup butter

1 egg

1-1 1/2 cups of something delicious

In a small bowl mix the whipping cream and baking soda.

In a large bowl mix flour, sugar, baking powder, cream of tartar and salt.

Cut slightly softened butter into dry ingredients with a pastry blender (or spatula, knives, fork, whatever you got) until the butter and dry ingredients are fully combined with no large chunks.

Beat the egg and add into whipping cream mixture.

Lightly mix wet and dry ingredients, forming a loose dough.

Mix in your something delicious.

Make two 3/4 inch thick rounds and cut into 8 triangles (think patting out pizza dough and then cutting it like a pizza).

Place triangles on greased baking sheet and bake @ 400 degrees for about 12-15 minutes or until nicely browned on top.

You will want to eat them hot.

And save some for later.

I think next I will try bacon cheddar.  The original giver of the recipe suggested leaving out the sugar when making a savory flavored scone.  Also, be careful not to let your add in deliciousness be too liquidy.  The dough will be too wet and you won't get that sconey biscuit like texture that melts in your mouth.

Please tell me when you make these.  It's super easy!

a sign

This is my current cell phone...

It gets dropped at least 5 times a day.  It gets sat on.  It gets in the hands of little people.  It gets the occasional slobber bath.  And that is a good day.  It is also about 12 steps up from the green screen cell I had before moving here.  And it's actually not the first one I bought here.  The first one was a Chinese brand, cost more than this one and broke in less than a year.  While I was TL dealing with this and one of the worst possible times to be without a phone.  So I had to buy a new one immediately.  Got a great price with the only drawback being that I can't text Chinese characters, which can be quite handy here.  I can however text in Thai, a language in which I know two phrases.

Anyway.

I, like many people, would love to have an iphone.  Or maybe I am one of the few last remaining people to not own a smartphone of any kind. But I have played with those belonging to other people.  Looked longingly at them online.  And even purused Ebay for a good deal on a used one.  But after reading this (I know this is an ipad and not an iphone but the screens are the same), and seeing a few similar pictures on facebook and such I am wondering if God is trying to tell me something.  Are my wants outweighing my needs?  By a lot?  Not that it's wrong to want an iphone.  I just have a perfectly good, working and durable to my clumbsiness phone that, at the moment, doesn't need to be replaced.  So I will just be content in my red Nokia.

Although, if someone is looking to give their old iphone away, you got a taker right here.

sunday psalm

1Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory,

 for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!

2Why should the nations say,

"Where is their God?"

3Our God is in the heavens;

 he does all that he pleases.

4Their idols are silver and gold,

 the work of human hands.

5They have mouths, but do not speak;

eyes, but do not see.

6They have ears, but do not hear;

noses, but do not smell.

7They have hands, but do not feel;

feet, but do not walk;

and they do not make a sound in their throat.

8Those who make them become like them;

so do all who trust in them.

9 O Israel, trust in the LORD!

He is their help and their shield.

10 O house of Aaron, trust in the LORD!

He is their help and their shield.

11You who fear the LORD, trust in the LORD!

He is their help and their shield.

12The LORD has remembered us; he will bless us;

he will bless the house of Israel;

he will bless the house of Aaron;

13he will bless those who fear the LORD,

both the small and the great.

14May the LORD give you increase,

you and your children!

15May you be blessed by the LORD,

who made heaven and earth!

16The heavens are the LORD’s heavens,

but the earth he has given to the children of man.

17The dead do not praise the LORD,

nor do any who go down into silence.

18But we will bless the LORD

from this time forth and forevermore.

Praise the LORD!

Psalm 115

a great day

I went for a walk this morning.  Just as I reached our house I looked up and saw this...

Who wouldn't have hope for a great day--weekend even--after seeing this first thing?!?

two years

(I'm not actually to writing this until Friday, but I still wanted to write it.  But I really wanted it documented on the first.  I just couldn't lie to your sweet little faces.)


It's been two years since we moved here.  Two years.  Last year at this time we had just arrived in Bangkok and were waiting on Judah so it was overwhelming.  Realizing that we had made it through our first year in a different country and the most difficult pregnancy we had experienced was a lot but there was also a ton we were looking forward in the weeks to come.  So this year it seems to be hitting me double.

I know we are exactly where we are supposed to be.  I, of course, miss family and friends, and some of the comforts I grew to love in America, but it has been such a blessing living here.  The challenge of learning a language that is as far from English on the language spectrum as can be possible, has been more than I could have ever imagined.  But more than that, it is also rewarding.  I have learned much more than just a new language.  I have learned to cook using basic ingredients and not so many of the convenience items I was used to--and actually love it.  I have survived two years without driving a car--watch out when I'm on the roads when we get back.  I learned to shop to provide for my family in a whole new way.  But most of all I have learned to lean on God in a way that before would have been so hard for me.

It is not all sunshine and roses, that's for sure, but it is exactly where I know we should be. 

We have just over one year before we return to the States for a six month visit.  There are already many things that I'm looking forward to.  Sitting on the couch with my Granny.  Hanging out at the beach with my mom.  Eating Mexican food...at a restaurant.  Walking around Target, Starbucks in hand.  But I decided back a few months ago when I was really struggling and homesick, that if I'm living for one Stateside time to the next, that I'm not really living.  So I'm not spending my days longing for what isn't here, but living in the present.  Letting it be what it is.  And loving it.