Happy Birthday!

Today,

some years ago...a baby girl was born.

Her name?

Linda.

You might know that 'linda' in Spanish AND Portuguese means cute. In Spanish: Ella es linda. In Portuguese: Ela é linda {She is cute}

A lesser known (to me) Linda: In computer science, Linda is a model of coordination and communication among several parallel processes operating upon objects stored in and retrieved from shared, virtual, associative memory. Developed at Yale University.

There is THE LINDA performing arts studio in Albany, NY.

From the online  Urban dictionary:

Linda spanish name meaning cute. 

Lindaa common name used in the fifties. 
Linda 
meaning caring, helpful, energetic, organized,spiritual,compassionate, thoughtful and hard working.

For me, Linda means so much more.

That baby girl I mentioned? She grew into a beautiful, strong, spirited, independent, hard working, creative, fun, selfless, generous, happy woman. Then she became a happy wife. And soon...that happy wife became a happy mother! She had a baby girl of her own...and then three darling baby boys. 

I was that baby girl.

And Linda is my mother.

TODAY is your birthday, Mom. Thank you for all of the late nights, early mornings, big projects, hard things, and busy days. You made it look so easy! 

Have fun on your birthday adventures, and know that your influence of goodness touches so many--just like ripples in the water. You are loved! 

Happy Birthday, linda Linda!






Every day in November!  NaBloPoMo: National Blog Posting Month. Write a post on your blog every day in November. For the 3rd year, I've decided to tackle this challenge & enjoy the opportunity to switch to writing mode. Want to join me? Leave your blog link in the comments so I can follow you too!

Today Is November 22nd!

...do you know what that means?

Happy Birthday to you

Happy Birthday to you

Happy Birthday...

...

dear

...

MOM!!

Happy Birthday, to---------------> you.

My Mom is one of those amazing women who...


-looks at the BRIGHT side of almost every situation
-offers GRATITUDE regularly
-can make people FEEL comfortable and liked
-easily whips up a CRAFTY beauty
-willingly shares her gifts & talents WITH others
-tries to focus her life on CHRIST
-teaches her children by faith, example, & LOVE


My Mom is one of those superMOMs who...


-joyfully raised 4 children (at one time she had 3 kids UNDER 3)
-frugally made wise choices for her young family
-made delicious dinners for the family to gather around the table on a regular basis
-made sure her children knew they were LOVED by her and most importantly, by GOD
-prioritized her life around her family
-avoids criticism or negative commentary
-makes events special just by BEING there 
-continues to give her energy, love, and advice to her little grownups!








“And so, my dear young women, with all my heart I urge you not to look to contemporary culture for your role models and mentors. Please look to your faithful mothers for a pattern to follow.”


~M. Russell Ballard

Happy Birthday week, Mama!

Enjoy some down time, some turkey time, 

and some reflection time.

I hope my children will be able to say at least SOME of the things about me that I am able to easily say about you.

Also...see you soon!

Adventures with International Cuisine

About a month ago, my Mom bought a couple of packages of besan at one of her local buy-things-for-cheap stores. She didn't know what it was (and neither did the store owner), but she figured for the price 4/$1, she wouldn't be losing much if it ended up being something she didn't like.



When she got home, she googled 'besan' and found this website that features a darling lady giving a tutorial on how to make besan puda. Check it out, she's great & the recipe is super easy.



Baby J & I are here at Mom's house this week (since my early morning scripture class is on spring break & Mr. H requested some quiet time this week to study for his Master's program COMPS testing...which he passed this morning!!!) & we were ready for an international food adventure.



Yesterday, I was put in charge of making besan puda. I watched Manjula's online tutorial (from the above link) & I was ready to go!

I mixed together the besan, rice flour (made with rice ground in a small coffee grinder--the genious goes to Mom for that idea!), water, and cumin. Then I shredded the zuchinni and added the salt.

Here is my puda patty on the skillet:



While I was making besan puda, Mom was busy making a variation of this red lentil soup, split pea soup, and tabouli (which has more than 3 spellings, by the way) for our fabulously delicious lunch. Here's the tabouli salad (she used boiled wheat instead of bulgar) :

A friend was invited, the table was set, and we experienced an afternoon FAR AWAY from our actual location in Middle Tennessee... & Baby J had his first serving of split peas: YUM!

It was delicious!

Thanks, Mom for the awesome meal...and thanks, Manjula for introducing me to besan puda. I can't wait to make it again!