CELDT, interviews, and books

1. CELDT Testing
Welp, it's California English Language Development Testing time!  This is the time of year when I read the same set of questions multiple times to innumerable junior high and high school students and make sure that they carefully bubble in all the tiny circles on their tests.  The experience hasn't been too bad so far, but today was only day four.  Thirteen days left to go!

2. Interviews
Amos had an interview on Tuesday morning and was hired Tuesday afternoon!  His first day of work was on Wednesday, and today he went to work, came home for five hours, then went to work overnight at Master's!  Crazy guy!  More on this later, but we are just so thankful to God for giving Amos this new job that he already enjoys after having only sixteen hours on his timecard. :)
I have an interview tomorrow morning for an instructional assistant position in a junior high special education classroom. I'm praying that I will get it, but we shall see!

3. Books
Right now I have several books from two different library systems, and tomorrow I will pick up two more books from a third library system.  In a few weeks I hope to get two books from one of the first library systems.  I currently am reading A Tramp Abroad by Mark Twain (hilarious) and Lit! by Tony Reinke (insightful so far).  I also have started Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (weird and dystopian, plus I asked Amos how it ends).  Tomorrow I'll go pick up The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and The Pioneer Woman Cooks by Ree Drummond.  Next Friday I'll walk over to the old library building for a huge, weekend-long, used book sale; I'm hoping they'll let Amos in, too, because Friday of the used book sale is supposed to be open only for educators.
Ahhhhhhh, books, how I we love them!

Since I'm inspired...

...I figured I should actually write a blog post.  I think about writing posts, but if I don't feel like it right then or if I postpone writing, I don't actually sit down and type anything out.  I'm not one of those people who writes out posts in advance and then schedules them to post on their own.  I tried that once, and the post didn't go up like it was supposed to, so I had to post it myself after all.

ANYWAY, today, I have a recipe.

Amos and I have been trying to eat more protein and fewer carbs for quite a while now in an effort to help Amos out, though we have always eaten healthy stuff.  I thought I was doing pretty well, but then I found out that a lot of food that I thought was low-carb really wasn't. :P  That was a rather discouraging day.

So, I am trying to use ingredients with lots of protein, such as beans, plain yogurt, cottage cheese, etc.  I even bought whey protein powder!  Is it helping?  I don't know.  But I like to think it is. ;)  This morning I made pancakes, and they were really good!  They have a lot of healthy stuff in them, but they don't taste "healthy"...unlike the waffles I made last week.  I looked in my Betty Crocker cookbook, the paperback one with the front pages falling out, to make sure that the pancake ingredient proportions were correct.

And, here we go. :)


Cinnamon Oatmeal Pancakes
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup quick-cooking oats (it's the oatmeal that is chopped up really fine)
3 tablespoons wheat germ (optional)
3 tablespoons protein powder (optional)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ginger (optional)

Mix the dry ingredients, then add the wet ingredients...

1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/4-1/3 cup milk (the batter was thick, so I added more)
1 egg, beaten
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 tablespoons brown sugar

Mix until all is combined.
Cook on a greased griddle or skillet over medium heat.

Makes about 7 medium-sized pancakes.

Dinner

Here's what we had for dinner tonight, with brief directions . . . ;)

Chicken Wraps
Grilled chicken with garam masala seasoning
Sauteed red bell pepper and onion
Roasted garlic hummus
wrapped in a...
Flour tortilla
...and cooked on a griddle till crispy

Sauteed Carrots
Carrot "coins"
Chopped onion
Dehydrated garlic
fried in a pan with a little butter...
steamed with a little water...
Salt

Raita (Indian Yogurt Dish)
Plain yogurt
Finely chopped onion
Chopped cucumber
Chopped grape tomatoes
Chopped cilantro
Salt
Cumin
Coriander


We ate the raita with the chicken wraps and had the carrots on the side.  For dessert we were going to have poke cake, but there were leftover Crunch ice cream bars at TMC after WOW Saturday yesterday.  Yea! :)

Poke Cake
Caramel sauce
Sweetened condensed milk
mixed together, poured over...
Warm chocolate cake, poked all over the top
...refrigerate
Enjoy!

Missing Link?

Isobel Kuhn is my favorite missionary.  I read a BJUP biography of her when I was in 6th grade or so.  Later I read another biography and have always remembered her words that the biographer chose for the front pages of the book.  "Why go to the heathen?  The heathen are happy!" Isobel said, as she proceeded to tell of a young heathen girl caught in an indiscretion who was skinned alive as punishment.  How horrifying.

Isobel Khuh was a Canadian, a student at Moody Bible College where she met her husband, and a missionary to the Lisu people in mountainous Western China in the 1930s and 40s.  She is my favorite.

I think I initially liked Isobel Kuhn because she had many doubts when she was younger, as did I.  "She wasn't perfect!  She had doubts and overcame them and went on to be a missionary!  Maybe I can do the same."

My book and note (click to enlarge)

In January Amos was working overnights at TMC.  He came home and went to bed, and I eventually got up and wandered into the kitchen.  I found a note and a book with a battered dust jacket on the table.  It was Nests Above the Abyss, by Isobel Kuhn!  Amos had found the book for sale in the TMC library in the middle of the night, left the money for the book on the circulation desk, and brought it home to me.  Awwww!

After returning from India, I picked up the book again and decided to read it.  It was very encouraging and convicting at the same time.  Two things that really stuck out to me are the need to pray for our missionaries (and others) and the fact that one missionary or one missionary couple cannot respond to all requests; they would quickly become overwhelmed and rendered useless.  I encourage you to read Nests Above the Abyss, one of Isobel's other books, or one of Isobel's biographies.  I've included a few paragraphs from the last chapter of Nests Above the Abyss.

"Ten years they have waited [after asking for a missionary to come teach them].  Do you think that when they called for gospel messengers, God did not respond?  It could not be.  He gave His most precious Son that all might know and receive eternal life.  I think that man did not respond.  It costs something to leave loved ones and the comforts of civilization.  I believe that each generation God has "called" enough men and women to evangelize all the yet unreached tribes of the earth.  Why do I believe that?  Because everywhere I go, I constantly meet with men and women who say to me, "When I was young I wanted to be a missionary, but I got married instead." Or, "My parents dissuaded me," or some such thing.  No, it is not God who does not call.  It is man who will not respond!

Our dear Missing Link is in heaven, and took a little fruit along with him, too [a newish convert who died].  I am sure his one talent received a "Well done!" from his Master.  But I am wondering what God is going to say to this other kind of Missing Link -- the Link missing from his chain of witnesses to the uttermost parts!  "My flock became meat to every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd, neither did my shepherds search for my flock, but the shepherds fed themselves, and fed not my flock" (Ezek. 34:8).

Satan's stronghold towers up triumphantly.  The awful abyss gapes wide beneath them.  The Sharp Winds from the Bitter Height are still blowing.  Oh, will you not help point out to the terrified little Nestlings, that behind them is the Cleft of the Rock, so close, so sheltering, but so unseen unless you and I go to them."

:: Nests Above the Abyss, Isobel Kuhn, 1947

26 years

Well, I've been 26 for a little over a week now...how does it feel?
No different, except that I have to remember a new number.  "Am I 24 or 25?  No, I'm 26!"

My birthday was very nice.  Amos and I walked around the corner to Egg Plantation, a breakfast and lunch place famous in SCV, where I got a free birthday breakfast!  While waiting for our food, we called Amos' mom, Barb, who also was born on July 30th.  Weird, but fun. :)  She was having a nice birthday, too.
We walked back home and my friend Sarah came over for a little bit.  She wanted to hear about our trip to India before she left on her own trip back to China!  She teaches English at a university and left on Tuesday, the day after my birthday.
Sarah and I drank chai, looked at pictures, and talked about India.  I'm not sure that Sarah liked my chai; I added too much ginger that time.  Oops!  It was encouraging to talk about India and living overseas and the future and what I thought about moving eventually and the hardships the missionaries face and could I see myself living there and all sorts of rambling thoughts, which this sentence reflects. ;)  I think Sarah got the gist of what I was saying.  Hopefully I can sort through our trip in my mind before I attempt to record my experiences and impressions on my blog.
After Sarah went home to have a goodbye lunch with family, Amos came back from his haircut appointment.  We walked to the car to go see "The Dark Knight Rises," and I discovered a tub of Trader Joe's Cats Cookies on my seat!  Sneaky Amos picked them up for me after he got his haircut.
I really liked the new Batman movie.  We also saw a friend from church in the movie!  Kevin Derr is a stuntman, so it was fun to see him riding as a hostage on the back of a motorcycle and being saved by Christian Bale, haha!  Now I'm not sure if I like "Batman Begins" or "The Dark Knight Rises" better.
For dinner we went to In N' Out.  We planned to eat there on Thursday right after we got back from India, but I was really sick on the plane, so we decided to postpone that outing until I felt better.
My birthday ended rather anticlimactically.  I was really tired, so I took a nap before going to bed later.  Weird, but it was a very nice birthday. :)