vacation

Just wrapped up Brian's 5-day summer break. While one of his classmates headed to Hawaii, another escaped to the cooler climate of Albuquerque and the rest scattered to other hot spots across the country. Where, you wonder, did we choose to spend our treasured time off?

We hit the road and drove 11 hours through the night to the heartland. That's right, we vacationed last week in good old Wichita, Kansas, where temperatures soared to well over 100 degrees and the humidity was so thick you could hardly breathe.

And there was no place we'd have rather been. :)

Our vacation didn't include mountains, beaches or honestly, even much relaxation. Brian worked four days at his dad's office. And though that may not sound like much of a break, it was precious, because it was time spent with his dad.

Sometimes time spent with family is the most fulfilling vacation you could ask for! Our days were loaded with loved ones - we got to see grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles. Even Austin and Lesley drove in to spend time with us.

Some highlights of our week:

- taking my little cousins, Carson and Carlie, out for a couple of hours in Dad's Jeep, sans roof and doors. Carson, whose birthday was the next day, shouting into the wind: "This is the BEST BIRTHDAY EVE EVER!" It's the little things sometimes.

- introducing Austin and Lesley to P90X. They braved the Kenpo (aka TaeBo or kickboxing) workout with us and suffered from soreness for days afterward!

- getting to spend time at my beloved Watermark Books with my dear friend and her little guy who just will not quit growing while I am away. Being called "Auntie Em" by this adorable little person melts my heart every time.

- Staying up until 5 a.m. talking with my brother. Ever since we were young, we've always had our best talks well past midnight. And this time was no exception. What a blessing to have a brother who sharpens me. By the time I see him next, he'll have moved to Ethiopia!

- attending a summer picnic with some of Brian's family who we don't get to see very often. Eating the best gourmet hot dogs ever.

- getting to have lunch with an old friend who is now a missionary for Campus Crusade. Hearing all that the Lord is doing in him and through him. At lunch, running into our high school headmaster who, because he is moving away, we will probably never see again this side of Heaven.

- noshing on these AMAZING cupcakes (Val, have you been to this place?) that my sister brought back for us. Seriously delicious and almost too beautiful too eat. Almost. (As you can see, two of the cupcakes in this pictures have already been, er, sampled!)

- watching Annabelle and her brother, Brinkley, play! (Can you tell who's who?)

- spending the afternoon at the new YMCA waterpark in Andover. This place is now the closest thing to the old FantaSea that Wichita has to offer. It has two slides and a lazy river - pretty fun on a hot summer day!

Lord willing, in 12 months the day will come when we won't vacation to Wichita anymore. Instead we'll call it home. But for now, a getaway to Kansas was just what we needed!

little things

Maybe it's because the end of school is finally drawing near, but now more than ever before, Brian and I have been doing a lot of thinking, praying and talking about what following Jesus should look like in our lives. Practically speaking. Where we should spend the money God has entrusted to us to steward. What our concerns should be (and not be). Who we should be spending time with. How we should be using our gifts. What our goals should be, both long and short term.

Along the way, we've discovered a few neat giving/buying opportunities that I wanted to share with you. Ways that we've been able to help others which don't even require much change on our part! There are so many incredible options out there.

1. Coffee

I've become that girl who literally doesn't speak to her husband in the mornings if she hasn't had her wake-me-up cup. My a.m. routine, every single day, goes something like this: I get out of bed, let the dogs outside and immediately stumble to the coffee machine. I'm a little bit hooked.

A few months ago, we discovered Gobena coffee. Not only is it organic and available from Ethiopia, Columbia and Guatemela, it is fairly traded and fresh roasted. But the best part is, 100 PERCENT of the profits are being reinvested in the lives of orphans! 1 bag (at $11) feeds 1 orphan for a month. Loving orphans by drinking coffee... genius!

2. Ugandan Necklaces

Last month we were brainstorming ideas for a gift for Brian's mom's birthday and weren't quite sure what to get her. My friend, Christine, had just worn the cutest necklace and when I asked where she got it, was surprised to find that she had ordered it through Katie's blog (if you've never read this girl's story, please go spend some time at her site).

After looking these necklaces up online, we ordered one for Mom and she loves it! It goes with everything. Plus, whenever she wears it, she gets to tell others about the women in Uganda who made it.

Katie has taught these women to make the beads out of recycled magazines. Can you believe that? They sell the beads to Katie and then she sells them to us. Then she gives 50% of the profits BACK to the the women's children! It's sustainable income and a ministry at the same time! Awesome!

3. Pens for Kids

I don't know how it is at your house, but we seem to have a certain drawer that just accumulates pens. Whether we just don't like the way that they write, or the color of their ink... we seem to hang on to pens that we will never use but feel bad about throwing away.

Now you can finally clean out your drawer and provide children in Africa with school supplies that otherwise they would not be able to afford. All you have to do is box them up and ship them off! It's super easy!

4. Sseko Designs Shoes

You'd have to be living under a rock if you haven't heard of TOMS shoes, but Sseko Designs is a newer (and in my opinion, cuter) online sandals store that you may not have seen yet. My friend Megan just sent me the site and I was immediately hooked!

The soles of each type of sandal are the same; the straps make them unique. You can tie them in many different ways. Aren't they adorable?

Here's Sseko's story in a nutshell: In the Ugandan school system, there is nine-month gap between secondary school and university. This gap is intended to allow time for students to earn money for tuition for the university. Yet their society is impoverished and often males get the few jobs there are, so women must struggle to find any work.

SSeko hires a new set of women every nine months to live and work together, earning money that will fund their education and enable them, with God's help, to enact change in their country someday.

5. Cupcakes and Cookies for a Cause

Ha ha, I really have nothing to write here... yet! Just wanted to give you a teaser for a project I'm working on with a friend here in Indy. I'll keep you posted as we continue to move forward with our little adventure. :)

Have you run across any similar opportunities that you'd be willing to share? I just love supporting causes like these!

new faves

I have to apologize that if you've checked our blog in the last two weeks, all you've seen is Tony Horton's face. Now you get a glimpse of our life right now - we feel like we're constantly looking at him too! Five weeks to go and we'll finally be finished. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can...

Though we really don't have a whole lot going on right now, I wanted to share a couple of recipes we've recently tried and loved.

The first is a healthy salad dressing, adapted from the Whole Foods web site. It uses no oil and is great in the summer when you're trying to use up extra fruit.

1/3 cup chopped nuts, such as walnuts, cashews, almonds or pecans

1/2 cup fresh fruit, chopped, such as plums, peaches, blueberries or strawberries

1/4 cup unsweetened soy milk or fruit juice

1 tablespoon lemon or lime juice

Puree all ingredients in a food processor or high-powered blender until smooth.

Some delicious combos are:

- cashews, peaches, orange juice and white wine vinegar

- almonds, blueberries, soy milk and lime juice

- walnuts, plums, apple juice and lemon juice

- pecans, peaches, water and sherry vinegar

So, after you've saved yourself some calories by eating such a healthy salad dressing, you deserve to indulge in dessert, right? I recently caught an episode of The Best Thing I Ever Ate on Food Network. One of the chefs described a Sea Salt Caramel Brownie that literally made me salivate. Is there anything better than a treat both sweet AND salty which also involves chocolate? I think not.

I wish I could show you a picture of these, but they were gone by the time I thought of it. You'll just have to employ your imagination. I used my mom's famous brownie recipe as the base and a basic sea salt caramel drizzle as the gooey in-between layer. Mmmmhhmmmm.....

BROWNIE:

1 cup butter, melted

2 cups sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

4 eggs

3/4 cup cocoa

1 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

SEA SALT CARAMEL:

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 cup sugar

2 tablespoons light corn syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup sour cream

Make the caramel first: In a small saucepan, combine the cream and the salt. Simmer over very low heat until the salt is dissolved. Set aside.

In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar and corn syrup carefully (they won't combine well until the sugar begins to melt). Cook over high heat until an instant-read thermometer reads 350 degrees, 6 to 8 minutes. Without a thermometer, just pull the sugar off the heat when it is medium goldish brown. Remove from heat and let cool for one minute.

Add the cream mixture and the vanilla to the sugar mixture. Whisk in the sour cream. Let the caramel cool to room temperature. While cooling, begin to make the brownie batter. Heat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9x13 pan.

Mix together butter, sugar and vanilla. Add eggs, one a time, beating well after each addition. Add cocoa; beat until well blended. Add flour, baking powder and salt; beat well.

Pour half of batter into prepared pan. Bake 15 minutes. Remove from oven and drizzle the caramel over the half-baked layer. Sprinkle chocolate chips over the caramel (optional, though highly recommended). Pour remaining brownie batter over the top of the caramel. Bake an additional 15 to 20 minutes.

These will be super gooey while hot, so although it will test all of your willpower, try to let them cool a little before you cut into them. Enjoy!