Pancakes for supper!

 Ben and I decided not to go out for date night because we wanted to save money, so I brought the date night to our home! At the Little Grill, they have a breakfast night, and I wanted to have pancakes. So I decided to look up a healthy wheat pancake recipe that Ben and I could eat. It was easy to find. (http://www.food.com/recipe/hearty-honey-whole-wheat-pancakes-159535/review)

Here I am pouring the batter on the pan, which was lined with olive oil.

I halved the recipe and changed some of the ingredients to fit our pantry: more cinnamon, soy "buttermilk" (add 1T apple cider vinegar to almost a cup of soy milk), olive oil, more honey. It also required more liquid. I used 3/4 c. water to get the right consistency.

He's excited about the Bible reading.

 Here's Ben, this is what he was doing while I made pancakes. At first, he wasn't sure about pancakes, but when I promised berry capote to go with it, he got excited. This facial expression is an accurate portrayal.

The berry capote that I made. I used about a cup of blackberries that were frozen, I added about a tablespoon of honey.

These are the beautiful pancakes on their way to cooked perfection. :)

 Sometimes the pan gets too hot, especially when you are using the stove. So the quickest way to cool it down is to remove it and turn the heat down. I removed it and walked around the living room with it.

Me cooling the pancakes down so they wouldn't burn.

Finished product without toppings.

With peanut butter and berry capote! YUM!

Ben raving about the pancakes. He was super happy about the scrumptious pancakes. :)

They were a great success, very good. There are leftovers for me to eat tomorrow for breakfast.

Running again. YAY!

So you might think I'm bizarre, but I have been craving running since I haven't had enough time to do so. I've been thinking about it every time Ben and I go for a walk, and how I miss it. I think easily of last summer when Mom and I completed four 5Ks and I was running four miles like it was nothing. Then last fall I had two writing intensive classes and knew I needed to get A's, but still ran a couple times a week. Then I had my internship, and 6 or 7am runs were out of the question once I started getting exhaustion and nausea and found out I was pregnant. I ran once in March (with my sister Marie) and once in April at the EMU track and have missed it so much, but couldn't get back into it.

It was hard mostly because I was gaining weight, and when I'd wake up in the morning (opportune time to exercise), I would be ravenous and walk straight into the kitchen to make breakfast. Well, last night Ben and I attended the small group we are now pretty sure we are going to be a part of. It consists of four couples with children, and a couple of weeks ago, several of the dads did this warrior dash run that they just loved. And people kept talking about sports through out the night and I realized that I missed my sports. (When asked about things I liked to do, I said a couple of things that I liked to do prior to being pregnant: running and playing contact sports, which they thought was hilarious that I would specifically identify that I wanted to play sports with contact. :D)

After the group devotion and discussion was over, we were all down in the yard where the kids were playing and there were two ropes to climb, attached to one of the trees. Ben, after much goading, decided to see if he could climb up the one without the knots without using his legs, and got halfway up before he freaked and ripped the skin off a couple fingers and figured out how to get down. But this goaded me all the more: I wanted to try climbing the rope (the one with the knots).

When we got home I had decided that I was going to go running in the morning and that was that, although with an ounce of doubt in my mind. But when I was awake at 7:20, and not too hungry, I decided I would do it. I walked over to EMU (around half or three quarters of a mile), and ran a mile around the track inside. Then I walked back. And it felt good! and has been feeling good since I've been home.

I love the feeling of soreness after a run. It means I did something. I pushed myself. I love the feeling in my lungs after a run when I kept my heart rate up and need for water and rest and pushing myself just a little further! Plus, this is the best way for me to prepare for this baby's birth. Walking has always felt like it's not quite enough. Running has been my perfect exercise. Ben thinks I should throw in some strength training and I think I will (we have these nice weights, push up platforms, and a pull up bar that someone isn't using presently). I love feeling strong. It's empowering.

What empowers you?

Sustainable Wife! I mean... Life!

 So today we are 24 weeks pregnant, also meaning six months. It's hard to believe that we're this far along. We have 16 weeks to go, and our child is alive and kicking! Hardcore. I mean, really, you don't understand. :) This baby has feet and fists that wiggle my uterus. Sometimes. Not every time.

So before this picture was taken, Ben went to work out, and I took over the kitchen. :)

But first, the epic events of yesterday:Yesterday, you probably weren't aware, but I roasted a chicken. Now this was an exercise of patience for several reasons. We'd put it in the refrigerator from the freezer the night before, but the hunker was over eight pounds, and hadn't budged in it's frozen ness. This would be fine and all, but the dang giblet bag was frozen into the cavity of the bird, so I valiantly tried to unthaw it by spraying hot water into the anus of the bird. This did nothing. So while I was waiting for the fattie to unthaw, soaking it in hot water in a large bowl in the sink, I began removing the skin from the bird. Ben preferred his chicken to have a low percent of body fat (like himself), so I obliged by peeling/ripping/cutting the skin from the dead bird's body. There were many points in this process that I wanted to murder the bird for being such a pain, only to remember that it was already dead. After I'd removed mostly all of the skin, the giblet bag was still frozen in the depths of the bird, so I returned to spraying it with hot water, yanking on the bag and removing various organs (they could hire me at a chicken processing plant. . NOT.) FINALLY, the bird let it go. In the process, I was fairly certain I'd severed the spine of the bird. Anyway, I tossed it in the roaster and seasoned it with liberal amounts of salt, pepper, thyme, and rosemary and put it in the oven. It was done within two hours, even though the package says 6-8 pound birds should take 2 to 2 1/2 hours. It had lost some weight in the process. After finishing roasting, I waited for it to cool, and deboned the meat for the week.

We use the chicken during the week for sandwiches and other recipes to feed my hungry husband and my baby belly. This saves us time and money on lunch meat, not to mention sodium, nitrates and nitrites, and other preservatives.

Crockpot and lovely blender.

 We use the crockpot a couple times a week, and today we used it to make black beans for Ben. He's addicted to their deliciousness and protein content. I just like it because we can leave it for hours and don't have to be nearby, and it's only dirtying one dish. How wonderful. It also saves us money on canned beans, which cost more per ounce, and the black beans we get in bulk are actually organic. Plus, most cans are lined with BPA, so we are avoiding that as well.

I also unloaded the blender today to make a lovely chocolate banana soy smoothie. The blender has a capability to chop fresh veggies and I hope to use it to make salsa or pico de gallo sometime this summer. :) Fresh is best!

My whole wheat oatmeal bread rising on the stove.

Ben and I live to eat fresh bread.  We like it best when it's fresh from our oven, whole grains, and uses ingredients that we can smile about. At the beginning of May, we discovered a white whole wheat flour that is unbleached (it's a different wheat than the red wheat berries used in most whole wheat flours). It gives bread a pretty yellow tan color. We use butter for our non-stick spray on our glass pans, and this time, Ben requested olive oil. In addition, I used brown sugar instead of white sugar to use a holistic sugar. I might try molasses in the future, and have used honey in the past, but we're low on honey from our weeks of having coughs and making homemade cough syrup (1 part honey + 1 part apple cider vinegar).

 Here you can see the chicken and fresh black beans in the fridge waiting to be eaten. Yesterday, we also made many cups of brown rice at one time, because it takes SOOO long to make for just two servings (and last time I burned it). I think we'll use chicken broth to cook it next time, for flavor and to use the chicken broth.... This makes me crave plough! Oh you have to try that recipe. It's LOVELY.

 Here we are in our kitchen, with our awesomeness. :) We're ready to eat all the food NOW!

Also, we found this epic raw choconana pudding recipe that we're going to try. It was in a Mothering magazine from May-June 2010. It's made of
an avocado
1/2 a banana
1/4 c. cocoa powder
1/4 c. honey
1 Tablespoon coconut oil
1 teaspoon vanilla

Blend in a food processor. Can't wait to try it.

What do you do for sustainable and time-saving yumyums?

Married Life at the Delps!

So what have we been up to lately?

Ben had an interview on Monday that went really well, and we hope to hear back about that position next week at some point. Meanwhile, you can pray for God's provision of a job for Ben. :)

I had another job interview for babysitting this week. I already have a position with a family of a girl and two boys, aged 11, 8, and 6. They are adorable and so much fun to be around. This is more part time, and I decided that I wanted to work some more while I still can, before this baby starts a marathon and comes out of me. This job would be for the other three days of the week (making me work a total of five to six days a week, depending on if mom #1 is going trail running or not), there are three children, two boys and a girl, again: 11 and two nine-year-olds.

So far the babysitting has been great! We've been hanging out for a couple hours in the afternoons, playing games like capture the flag and whatever the two younger boys can invent to play between the two of them. They've eaten a lot of cereal, granola bars, watched a good amount of TV and minecraft videos, and gotten some exercise too. They have also consumed a good amount of apple juice.

On Tuesday, Ben and I went to Social Services and finished our application for WIC. We got checks for food that I need as a pregnant woman growing this child inside of me. This was humbling for Ben, and he hopes to pass up the amount of money that is the cap for this government program with a job. I'm content with it: I think it's important to prevent getting to the point of desperation with our finances, and this can be a cushion for us. We're going to have to start paying my loans in November, when I'm not working, and it's better to have some assistance before to save up to that point, than to struggle.

I got all my name change stuff--including my Virginia driver's license. . . the day before my 21st birthday, and I had realized the day I got it in VA that it was going to be vertical (like for under 21 youth), and was bummed because I thought they might have the sense to change the direction because I would be 21 by the time I received it. But no, instead, I will be questioned of my youth until 2019. That's not so bad though. But when I'm toting around one (or two, or three) babies, will they question me?

Wednesday was my birthday, and I didn't have to work which was a nice surprise. Mom #1 also found out (from her son, whom I told) that I was pregnant, and gave me three different baby carriers to use when the child is born. That was super exciting, because I've been thinking about what type of carriers I'd like to have. One is a sling carrier, another is a Baby Bjork (I still don't know how to pronounce this!) and one is for carrying the baby around once they can sit. I felt really blessed by people giving us things. :) One of my parents' seminary friends had a bassinet, execucer, and a high chair that they were going to give us, and there have been several people sharing maternity clothes and books. 

On my birthday, we didn't get to go for a walk like I wanted to--it started thundering and raining right when we wanted to go. I got a couple cards from people, and a package from Mom and Dad, with my apron in it! I was super glad that came! Also with it were several cards and some birthday banana bread. . . Apparently Mom has been cooking up a storm. :) We also got a card from Ben's parents who gave us a gift certificate to Taste of Thai, one of Ben and I's watering holes (when we have the money). We decided to go there for dinner on my birthday, and we both enjoyed appetizers with our meals (I had fried tofu with sweet and sour sauce! Yum!). Ben wrote me a card a day later and is still trying to figure out what to get me for my birthday, (like Marie is. I think they both have the most trouble because they are some of the people who know me the best. Mom, who knows that I like things that I can use, asked me what at LL Bean I would like. I found a pair of Tevas I would not have bought for myself otherwise, and already love them dearly.)

Today began a little earlier than some of the other days... we had our first extended appointment at Brookhaven with our midwife, Misty. She's very informative, helpful, and we are excited about this little baby inside of me. Ben keeps saying he wants to hug and kiss the baby now, and I have to remind him that we want it to still be in the womb. :) We got to hear the heartbeat again, this time between 144 and 152bpm--our child was moving during the Doppler heart beat reading. My blood pressure is good too-- 104/68, I think she said. That's very healthy.

The main concern we brought up in the conversation was the fact that I'm A Negative blood type, which means that I'm part of the smaller 25% of the population that may have to get the Rhogam shot after the birth of this child. There's a possibility that I won't have to--if the baby also has a negative blood type, if our blood doesn't mix, there's no need. Unfortunately, the test to tell if the blood mixed and the shot to prevent antibodies from building up against future babies in my womb costs about the same. So we can pray that God already decided that this baby would be negative when it was conceived, or we will pay the cost of the shot being administered (which is not that much, it's just an icky product and I would prefer not to have anything extra pumped into my system).

Our midwife also gave us a baggie full of dried greens... no it's not pot. :) It's pregnancy tea, made of nettle, red raspberry leaf, oatstraw, and alfalfa. It's full of nutrients, and is to be brewed overnight and then drunk daily. I already looked up how to buy the herbs in bulk (they sell it at the birth center, but I'm a frugal nerd, and if I drink a lot of it (like a quart a day), we're going to need a lot of herbs.)

Ben and I decided at the beginning that we were going to exclusively breastfeed our baby for the first six months, and then introduce solids, and let the child decide when it was done with breast milk. I'm planning on staying at home and caring for this baby for the next couple years, maybe working part time. Marie expressed a desire to come nanny for a summer. :) We'll see what happens. While having that conversation, Ben said something about having two or three by that time. . . I can't even think about having more than one at this point. We're also talking about having a co-sleeper--a crib that is level with the side of the bed--for the first year to help reduce nights that we're up all night and increase breastfeeding. Plus, we don't have space in our apartment to put the child in another room. So it will be perfect for these first few months.

I made brownies again. They are super chocolatey and a perfect way to calm a sweet tooth. :)

Ben has been studying Biblical Greek, and LOVES it. He gets super excited about it and spends a couple hours several times a week studying.

God is good, but sometimes life is not fair

It would be nice to say that the finishing of my last semester and the graduation from EMU was satisfying, happy, and joyous. But it wasn't. In fact, I'm still angry about it, because I feel like I got screwed.

A wave of events happened that I felt totally out of control of, and I found myself removed from my internship, kicked out of the social work program, and not receiving recognition for the Cords of Distinction that I deserved.

Now, weeks later, I'm still working through my emotions. Things I feel: Betrayal. I thought that my professor, my supervisor at my internship--I thought they were supportive of me, and concerned about my needs. But there was a lot more going on there than I knew about. Accountability was not taken, support was not shown. I stand by myself, knowing that everything I did, I did for a reason, but no one seems to hear my rationale.

I'm so ANGRY. I'm angry at people who didn't hear that I had needs, or give me mercy, or show flexibility with this whole situation. After this, I just got angry about every little thing. They forgot to print that I was in the Honors program in the graduation bulletin--this pissed me off. I'm so angry that I tried to appeal this harsh decision, and no one had the grace to change the procedure so that I could feel less traumatized.

I feel traumatized by this whole thing. It happened so fast, and I don't understand it all. I hate systems, and administrations. The peace that I find in this whole situation is in the fact that some people have seen the worst of the world and can empathize. Just not my supervisor, or my professor. And also, that this decision does not define my life. And is not the end of my academic career. There is not an end. I will never stop learning. You can't take that away from me. But unfortunately, it's ruined social work as a career for me, and it's ruined the Harrisonburg area for me. It's ruined EMU for me. So all I want to do is move away from here.

Cool Book (of the Old Testament) of the week: Ezekiel

Have you read Ezekiel all the way through? Ok, how many times? Did you pay attention? If you did, you probably noticed the most awesome of all awesome passages! Ezekiel 18.


If you've read Ezekiel, you probably remember the gruosome parts: sacrificing of babies, graphic descriptions of Jerusalem as a prostitute to other nations, but one of my (current) favorite parts of Ezekiel talks about repentance and forgiveness. Wait! Isn't that a New Testament idea? Apparently not, because God is speaking through Ezekiel to lay out the idea. Let me lay it out for you: the chapter of 18 begins with a quote from Jeremiah 31:29,
"The fathers eat sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge"
Now, does that make sense? Only if you know the context. Here, they are talking about sin's effects being passed down a generation. But you know what God says?
"Surely you will no longer quote this proverb in Israel. For every living soul belongs to me, the father as well as the son (and daughter)--both alike belong to me. The soul who sins is the one who will die."


God then gives a great poetic example of this, talking about if a righteous man lives a righteous life, he will live.(v 5-9) Then He talks about this man having a violent son. (v10-13). God follows with:


"Will such a man live? He will not! Because he as done all these detestable things, he will surely be put to death and his blood will be on his own head." (v. 13)


Does this look familiar? Sound like a Romans passage "for the wages of sin is death"?


God thus proves that he is separating the sin to the actions of the specific person. He continues with another example, talking of the son of the violent son living a righteous life, and not being held accountable for the sins of his father. (v. 15-17)


Now here's the part where God starts talking about repentance, in verses 21-22:


"But if a wicked man turns away from all the sins he has committed and keeps all my decrees and does what is just and right, hi will surely live; he will not die. None of the offenses he has committed will be remembered against him. Because of the righteous things he has done, he will live."


Alright! Check that out! Freedom from sin equals life!


Now here's the part that some people who call themselves Christians tend to ignore, verse 24:


"But if a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits sin and does the same detestable things the wicked man does will he live? None of the righteous things he has done will be remembered. Because of the unfaithfulness he is guilty of and because of the sins he has committed, he will die."


So if we say we're Christians, but live like the world, where are we going? Heaven, or hell? So what does that mean for your life? Are you righteous or wicked? There is no grey area.


There's more in this chapter. God isn't finished with what he's saying. Check this out. He addresses their reactions to these statements, in verses 25-29, concisely saying what he just spelled out.


"Yet you say, 'The way of the Lord is not just.' Hear O Israel: Is my way unjust? Is it not your ways that are unjust?" (from verse 25)


God is just because "[He] will judge you, each one according to his ways." So! "Repent! Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall. Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why do you die, O house of Israel? For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent and live!"


This is a clear, awesome statement about God's justice. He cares about each one of us, but he gave us freewill to act like the world, or act like Him. We need to make up our hearts, and spirits, and get Christ in our ways and actions, rather just in our academics and our conversations.


Something for a person who may read the Bible with more of a self-interpreting mindset--at the end of this conversation with the elders the Lord was speaking to, they (the elders) said, "Isn't he just telling parables?" (Ezekiel 20:49)


Does God want us to hear what He says and change it to our needs, feelings, hopes and dreams, or does God want us to read the Scriptures as they are meant to be written? Weren't the Pharisees guilty of taking the Scriptures the wrong way? I think we all are able to do this, including me. So when you read the Bible, take into consideration to pray before reading, asking God to lead your heart to understand what He is saying, rather than you taking the wrong interpretation.


What thinks you?

Beginning a new phase

We graduated from EMU at the end of April! What a relief for me, and Ben, who just walked, has just one more semester. I received Cords of Distinction, magna cum laude, and was in the Honors program. More more bachelor's degree--Hallelujah! Ben's parents came down for graduation, and so did one of his groomsmen. . . Thought the wedding was a week earlier than it was!

My reaction to graduation was priceless, after all. :D About a week or so before graduation, we found an apartment that was perfect for us--furnished, a great deal financially, and was beautiful! So we have a place to live and are getting more at home in it everyday.

Here's Ben relaxing on the couch. He was reading Bible, and stopped to pose. Also, we were trying a natural remedy for pink eye: green tea bags. Ben and I finally got married the Saturday before last! It was a beautiful wedding, not without it's own uniqueness. We had it at Wildwood park, the park I lived next to as a child. We got drizzled on, I got blue paint on my dress, and there was laughter during the ceremony! Everyone looked gorgeous and we were joyous as we left our reception (and then came back, five minutes later, to open gifts).

That night, we ended up staying at our apartment because Ben hadn't packed yet. We left for our honeymoon, at Highland Retreat, the next day. We cooked over a fire, played board games, killed a nasty looking spider (who turned out to be harmless) and also countless ants, and took a nice walk around Highland before getting sick and heading home after two nights.

And we've been sick ever since. Coughing, sneezing, phlegm, and we're finally, finally getting better. And things are starting to pick up! My pregnant belly is making itself known (we are 22 weeks along ~ five months), our little Delpling someone is starting to kick more often, and I'm comfortable only in maternity clothe. I'm starting to babysit some, as my job for the summer. Ben is looking for a job, and is following a couple leads. But meanwhile, we keep house, and do things for name change (for me), and location changes (for both of us), like getting a new license for Virginia, and SSN, and we got our marriage license.