31st Thankful Thursday: Written records

I know I'm posting this on Wednesday. If I don't post this now, I wouldn't be able to post until tomorrow night. I thought you would rather sooner than later. ;)

Yesterday I was having a bit of a tough spot mentally and emotionally. I realized my self-esteem had been dropping the past two weeks. Causes included being away from home, school stress, and recognizing I had started to manifest pride. The last reason was bitter.

I felt prompted to read my journal. I read entries from my time in India. I felt grateful for the experiences I had had, motivated to get my current duties done, and inspired that, "Yes, I really can do hard things." And maybe most importantly, I was reminded of what truly matters most, and that "I can change. I can become better."

I believe in me. I believe in you, too. :)

This week: What written records are you grateful for? Have you had a particular experience you would like to share?

PS If you made that tomato peanut soup I posted last week, how did you like it? :)

30th Thankful Thursday: Comfort food

As soon as you thoughtfully consider this week's prompt, please read the recipe I posted just prior this post. You may swoon after tasting it, so please have an ice pack handy in case you hit your head. Seriously. ;)

"Comfort food."

Okay, what images just popped into your head? Mashed potatoes & peas with gravy, grilled cheese sandwiches, baked beans, and tomatoes with mozzarella, basil & balsamic vinegar came to mind for me.

These foods remind me of dinners around an old tan wooden table with my family, of being a kid at Sizzler and baffling my parents by ordering a sandwich, of our garden harvest, and just feeling warmfuzzies from the goodness of sweet beans. :) :) :)

THIS WEEK: What comfort foods make you feel like you're wrapped in your favorite comforter, take you back to favorite memories, or just bring a smile of delight to your face? Bonus points for sharing "why". :)

Soul-warming & Spicy African Tomato Peanut Soup

Never in my life have I wanted to share a recipe as badly as this one. Good grief. This soup is GOOD. Common ingredients, rich, and filling. The flavor will blow you away.

I made minor changes to this recipe posted by Gourmet on epicurious.com. Gourmet's recipe uses a few more canned ingredients that might make it easier for you to make this.

I enjoyed the texture and am glad I didn't puree it. If you do puree it, you may not want to let it boil down so much, or it may become too thick.

If you want to serve this with grains, I recommend crackers or flatbread instead of bread.

The peanut butter demands to be paired with a glass of cold, whole, milk. Please don't disappoint the peanut butter.

29th Thankful Thursday: Basic Amenities

Toilet paper is awesome. It is convenient, useful, enables cleanliness, and makes for a more pleasant experience in the bathroom.

For the past three days I have used Kleenex. This afternoon, I finally took time to stop by Smiths and replenish my TP stock.

Thank you, O blessed person who invented toilet paper.

THIS WEEK: What basic amenity are you grateful for?

PS Do you have any suggestions for future Thankful Thursday posts? Pretty please?

28th Thankful Thursday: Like Cups of Hot Cocoa, Thousands of Miles Away

I just finished sipping a steaming cup of hot cocoa. It was warmed my body after a chilly 20 minute walk through the rain (under my umbrella).

Yesterday I had an even better cup of cocoa. I had emailed my India teammates asking for photos, and two replied the same day. Both with wonderful pictures.

Ki. sent hot cocoa flowing through my bones with what she wrote:

27th Thankful Thursday: When Things Work Out

I feel relieved. So relieved. I just met with the director of the Honors Program at my school, and she said to go ahead with what I had planned for my Honors Thesis project. I was nervous to meet with her, and told her so when she asked how I was doing.

Her approval means I get to compile what I did in India, add to it, and produce a resource that CARPED can use to facilitate the installation of their demonstration homestead, as well as being useful for future HELP International volunteers. I am grateful.

26th Thankful Thursday: Delighting in summer bounty

I am sitting at my computer a little bit distractedly, because half of an Ambrosia melon is staring at me. It has a huge scoop of vanilla bean ice cream in it, taunting me, because they know I can't eat them while I type. sigh

I love this time of year. After a summer of staring at little tiny fruits and veggies, willing them to grow, I am finally sinking my teeth into succulent peaches and tomatoes, squirting some juice here and there, and rejoicing in our family garden. I am picking Asian eggplant as fast as they can grow. I'm tasting Armenian cucumbers (which are technically melons) for the first time, and love them.

Tomatoes. I love tomatoes. Blue cheese and tomatoes, basil and tomatoes, basil and mozzerella and balsamic vinegar and sea salt and a bit of olive oil and tomatoes...

I am grateful for the garden, and the glorious delights that are springing out of it. :)

This week: What are you delighting in right now?

25th Thankful Thursday: This past week's favorite moment

I am sitting at my grandma's dining table in Wyoming. It is covered with a light blue tablecloth with a John Deere tractor pattern. I like looking at it. :)

After a month of cutting, baling, and stacking hay, Hay Season is almost done. Rainclouds aren't as terrifying now that everything has been baled. I love looking out to the vast fields, which look perfectly mowed. My sisters are out on the four-wheeler making sure the small square bales are properly turned to be picked up by the hauler.

This week's favorite moment: sitting on the porch swing with Dad, watching the spectacular sunset and clouds, listening to the sandhill cranes call, smelling the rain-kissed air, and feeling the gentle cool breeze.

How marvelous it is that a necessity such as oxygen can smell so heavenly.

THIS WEEK: What is your favorite moment from the past week?

24th Thankful Thursday: Loving younger people (even if they are as tall or taller....)

My next youngest sister is having her Golden Birthday this Sunday. Here are some revised snippets from a prior Thankful Thursday post, with some additional warm fuzzies. :)

My next youngest sister has taken the Sun hostage in her laugh and cheery disposition. She recently completed the same 90 Day Mind and Body Transformation my Mom did, and my sister can't keep herself from radiating joy. She is confident, does hard things, is full of enthusiasm, and is so buff her hugs nearly squeeze the life out of me. ;) Her smile lights up the world.

THIS WEEK: Who is a younger person you are particularly grateful for? Why?

PS When was the last time you told that particular someone you loved them? I hope you take time to do it again today...

23rd Thankful Thursday: Precious, silly, moments :)

Today I drove to my university's hometown so I could find housing for this next year (mission accomplished!). I asked my youngest sister if she wanted to go with me, and I'm so glad she did.

We ate lunch at the Indian restaurant I've wanted to go to for two years, Indian Oven. The food was great, I ate using my right hand only, and I was able to savor a mango lassi without fearing contaminated water. ;)

We celebrated my apartment with ice cream at a favorite local joint, The Bluebird. Raspberry and vanilla ice cream soda... delightful...

India: 22nd Thankful Thursday: Saving Strangers (and Family)

Hmm. That may not be the best title because it could imply that you or I are saving others. This week, "Saving Strangers and Family" refers to others coming to our rescue.

Last Thursday morning, MST, I left India to come home. 77 hours later, I pulled in the SLC airport, after being bumped off two flights in Delhi, being rerouted through London, and staying overnight in Chicago. It was a long journey.

But, I learned just as much, if not more, about myself during those days than I did during six weeks in India. I am grateful. I am also grateful for the people I met during those hours who buoyed me up and helped me get through it.

India: 21st Thankful Thursday: Lessons Learned

Today I leave India to go back home! The past six weeks have been crazy and wonderful, but I'm so grateful and happy that I can leave here on a high/good note.

Some things I'm grateful to have learned:

--I can do hard things.

--I can disassemble my western constructs and try to see the way the gears in the people's heads here work.

--My body is an amazing feat of creation. It mostly adjusted to the heat and humidity, to the point where I think I'll be more uncomfortable in my home's climate.

--It is possible to chew and swallow raw garlic, more particularly seven cloves right after each other. It is also possible that an Indian garlic clove that is a third the size of an American garlic clove can be three times as potent as the latter.

--I can be flexible and adjust plans as needed.

--I can laugh at myself. More particularly because of myself.

--I can live and work with people I've never met before in a foreign environment.

--I can return anger with objectivity. Thank goodness I learned this from Dad before I came here.

--I don't panic easily. Even when a mouse is sniffing my backpack. Even when I open my suitcase and see a mouse bury further down in it. Even when I later open the suitcase outside and tentatively dump everything out expecting to find a dead mouse (I never did find it. Just a bunch of mouse feces.)

--People can choose to be happy wherever they are, in whatever circumstances they are in.

--Beauty can be found anywhere.

--I may not be the one to see the results of what I've done here. But I'm grateful Subhash has said my work has made a difference. I'm grateful to know I've helped lay the groundwork for what he is going to continue building.

THIS WEEK: What lessons have you learned from a particular experience you have had?

India: 20th Thankful Thursday: Technology and Teammates

We've had on-and-off internet connection the past few days. I didn't bring my computer. I am glad I didn't bring my computer because I've gotten a lot of personal contemplation time. But I've also learned that I need to seize opportunities when people aren't using their computers and ask to use them.

That makes posting here consistently nearly impossible.

I'm grateful for computers because I can communicate so much. I'm grateful for the internet for the same reason. I'm grateful for teammates who allow me to use their stuff.

THIS WEEK: Name a technology you're grateful for, and people who enable you to use them.

India:An Indian Evangelical prayer meeting and Salar Jung Museum Trip 2

My Grandma and Grandpa left on Monday to enter the Provo Missionary Training Center (MTC). They will be serving in Germany. My Monday morning I was able to call and talk to them for 15 minutes. It meant so much. They will be gone for 18 months, and I might leave on my mission before they get back. I’m praying for one of my flights to be delayed on my way home so we can cross paths in the Dallas airport. I want to hug them very, very much.

Update 12/9/10: Not only did my flight get delayed, it took 77 hours to get home when originally it was supposed to be 24ish hours.  One of the lessons I learned from that incredibly valuable experience: do not ever pray for flight delays.  

I went to an HIV/AIDs clinic with some teammates. The clinic was started by Dr. S some seven years ago in his home. When they were having 700 people a month go through their living room, he relocated the clinic to an apartment. When they outgrew that, they expanded to the second half of the complex. He is one of the most gentle, caring people I’ve ever met. After a tour, he invited us to their staff prayer meeting, “only 10 to 15 minutes long.”

India: Homesickness, the zoo, and a "Talk, --Not"

The following was written July 11, edited on July 14th.

The past week has been particularly difficult. I think the pollution, noise, and lowish team moral are taking their toll. It is getting harder to truly smile, it's tougher to positively visualize, and I'm thinking more and more about home. I told Mom I keep telling myself I'm going to go camping with my family in woods by a stream, and we can give each other shoulder rubs and head massages.

Mom gave me another positive affirmation to repeat to myself: I can do anything for 10 more days.

And even though I'll be happy to get home, I'm feeling panicky about what I still want to do. I feel like time is slipping through my fingers so fast I'm scrambling to hold onto handfuls. It was a hard realization at church today that it would probably be the last time I would see most of those people.

India: Pancakes, a strike, paddies and a garden

Monday evening I was put in charge of making pancakes for dinner. If you have never had cinnamon banana pancakes, treat yourself to one, two, or maybe even three. You can use whatever pancake mix you have handy, but add cinnamon (I add so much the batter looks brown, but that's with a "less potent" preground type), and chopped banana (the more the better). They taste so good, and the banana almost melts.

I took my pancake and drizzled it with honey, smeared on some peanut butter, grabbed a chilled Choco Danone milk from the fridge (tastes like liquid chocolate pudding), sat a chair by our back door, and ate while listening to monsoon rain and thunder, feeling whifts of wet hit my feet. I sat still long enough I was able to feel the breezes glide over my arms and face.

Treat yourself to a moment like that. I hope you receive a rainstorm soon. I'll send positive energy your way. :)

India: 19th Thankful Thursday: Dad's driving skills

Today I almost died. Imagine being in an huge bus, pelting down (paved) roads, with the driver gunning the engine to pass every slow[er] poke in his way. At one point, he was trying to pass some rickshaw truck with another truck coming our way, and somehow our bus made it between the two.

My dad is the best driver I've ever ridden with. He gets to places quickly and deliberately. No zooming in and out. He looks ahead and plans ahead. He's aware of other drivers and often anticipates what they do. I'm grateful. I feel safe when he drives.

THIS WEEK: Name a skill someone else possesses that blesses your life.

PS My mom is a good driver too. :)

India: Trains, a wedding, cattle truck, and deviled eggs

Good grief. It's been forever since I last posted. I started writing this post a few days ago. I've been able to take some video with N.'s nifty gadget, and hope she will help me download them on here soon.

Last Friday I got up at 6:15 am, and by 9 am, was riding a train to a village two and a half hours away. It could not have been a more pleasant day to travel. We had cloud cover, the humidity was relatively low, and the air was cool. The train was an experience. I'm pretty sure the brown stuff on the floor next to my left foot should have been in a toilet. Five beggars came: a woman held out a blind man's hand for him, a young girl came down the main aisle doing flips (she got the most money), an old woman whose right foot had a lump the size of a baseball on it, and a man who dragged himself, sitting upright, across the floor. The best part was sitting across from a young muslim man. He was excited to communicate with us, and did so through hand gestures and writing because he was deaf and couldn't speak well. His family was opposite us across the aisle, and his young sister was particularly excited to read our names after we'd written them down.

India: 15th-18th Thankful Thursdays: Mothers, sisters, blessings and smiles

On Thursday June 11, my sister took care of Thankful Thursday for me by posting the following on Facebook:

15th Thankful Thursday: Today is my mom's birthday. What are 5 things you love about your mom?

[Why we love our mom]

1. She gives great advice
2. She gives great hugs :)
3. She is supportive
4. She is strong--spirit, mind, and body.
5. She's a great cook!

India: Monsoons, affection, and hole-in-the-wall food stops

As I type this, monsoon rains are pounding the cement and earth. I love them. They bring all the gucky pollution out of the air into the streets so now the air smells fresh and clean. (The silty brown rivers of garbage flowing down the streets are gross, but the clean air is worth it. The streets normally clear up fairly quickly once the rains stop). The pounding rain is a familiar setting where I can imagine I'm on the front porch with Dad and Mom watching the lightning. Middle Sister is there too because she loves thunder and lightning. Youngest Sister comes back and forth in and out of the house. And Molly is curled up on the sidewalk, waiting with us.

I can finally pronounce Hyderabad like the locals. It is High-dra-bad (like "bad boy").

Hyderabad is not a tourist city. I have not seen many other "White People" (and when we do, we stare like the Indians because it is so rare). Other than paying the "White Man's Price" for everything, I don't feel targeted. In Italy I was nearly always worried that someone was going to slit my backpack or pickpocket me, but I feel safe here. I believe the Indian people have a neighborly view, and that contributes in large part to pickpocketing not being an issue. We'll see if this theory holds true when we visit touristy spots of Northern India (Ma. is planning a six day trip for us--I'm rooting for the Taj Mahal).  

I had to adjust to being surrounded by men. In public, there has to be around an 80:20 ratio of men to women. It is still odd to be at a traffic stop in a rickshaw, and have almost all men with the occasional couple or woman surrounding us.