"Stop, Drop and Goal": a letter to Lek.

My dear Elder,

You seem one for great subject lines...how about this one!

At first it was going to be something about "Drop" and "Goals" (since that is two of the things you talked about in your email) and then...like inspiration...with angels singing...and lights swirling all around me...it came. The subject line of awesomeness.  J/K.  I am in kind of a silly mood right now :)  (I just re-read this letter.  Remember Grammar Boot Camp and those examples about how not to write?  Well, I think I need to take the class again.  This letter is full of random thoughts interjected...at random :D.  Good luck!)

LOVE YA!

I think it is because I actually got almost 8 hours and woke up on my own.  Weird. And no one else is around.  My introvert side is having a party.  So I thought I would have you join :D!

Okay, that is just super cool how your investigator that lied up until his baptism date "happened" to confess when the member was there so the member could communicate more directly to him in Hungarian!!!! (although I believe if it was just you and your comp there, the Spirit would have made it happen; see note*)  It is doubly cool because the member could see how his presence was beneficial and instrumental in God's work so he wants to come out more!!!! You rock, Mr. Missionary :D.  Yes, very crazy week for you!   

It is a very real fear to invite people along to do things. I feel that way whenever I set up a group or go visiting teaching with new companions or have new people to visit.  I am glad that you are feelings support and love there in Pápa!  (And still feeling a twinge of jealousy about your keyboard that has the Hungarian strokes as I cut and paste "Pápa" over from your email so it has the accents :P.)  

So what does the keyboard look like?  Wait. I'll google it. (Not bad for an old lady, eh?)  Hey.  That is pretty cool.  So do you just type like "Alt" or control, push the number with the right accent...before or after?  A little jealous.  Actually just super happy that you are over there in the coolest mission in the world (sorry, Avot :D!).  J/K  I don't believe one mission is cooler than another just like I don't believe one person is.  However, I do have a soft and tender spot in my heart for those grumpy and stand-offish Hungarian people with hearts like gold inside if they ever let you in :).  You just need a bunch of cute little kids to tract with you, right?  That is what one elder said.  "If I could take Binks tracting with me, I bet we could get into every house!"

So, couple things that you might like to hear about.  Poor Binks got his first series of immunizations :(.  Super sad.  We also found out their levels of lead in their blood (Spooner's and Binks') are elevated.  It may be the water we are drinking.  Kind of scary.  You can't really get rid of it unless you do intense treatment.  The only thing we can do to try and help is over-load them with Iron and Calcium which will compete with Lead for the same site in your body.  There are some possible behavioral indicators associated with high lead levels that we can see in Spooner--whose is the highest by far of the two--but we are hopeful.  Fortunately, they are not in the extremely dangerous level, but it will be important to keep it monitored to make sure it is not going up.  Do you know what that means?  Intravenous blood tests.  Yep.  Suckin' the blood out of their poor little veins.  Little Binks has a huge bruise from yesterday.  Super sad.  I feel peaceful that we will know the way to help.  We all must experience trials for many reasons.  This one is totally do-able. We will pray and hope and do our part.  Maybe I will have Daddy give them a blessing.  

Maybe it is time to move to the farm.

So, the house is feeling super homey. I wish you could have experienced it before you left.  It feels like somewhere you want to sit and laugh and read and play and sing and love.  True, we are not finished, but there is something that happened.  Maybe it was me accepting the timeline of our lives and being content in God's will and my capacity.  Maybe it was me accepting the leadership of Dad and following his timeline.  Maybe it was putting up the bookshelves and no longer having any boxes we were living out of :D.  Maybe it was me finally going up into the attic.  Did you know that until about November of last year I had never been up in the attic?  Crazy, eh?   Then we had to put presents up there so I had to make sure that there was room :).  Hmmm...maybe I went up before then, but I know it couldn't have been much before it. Silly me :).

The Goob is benching his own weight now.  He is pretty stoked about that.  Chugger-dude is actually getting up every morning and running!  He used to just walk slowly.  I remember how I tortured you (and particularly Avot) with always pointing out how you could do this or that to help you speed up or make yourselves faster.  The Spirit has shown me that that is not the way :D. (Sorry, my beloved guinea pig.)  I find that if I just walk beside and do what I feel I need to do for myself, support and love the other...the Spirit and their natural desire to improve does more than I can ever do.

Actually, that lesson has been more deeply applied to me in many ways beyond exercising: missionary work, fellowshipping, visiting teaching, parenting.  I have not deeply believed in an individual's ability to be moved by the Spirit and by an individuals drive towards godhood. I believe we all sense the spark of potential within us...we just don't know how to act on it.

And having someone push or direct forcefully just gets in the way of their listening within.

Super funny about your companion's goal!  I like him.  It sounds like the two of you are the breath of fresh air that Pápa needs!  (And Heavenly Father apparently knows what you two need as all your "hot girls" are actually...well, as you said, scary.)  That reminds me of something an elder said last night.  He said, "People here in western New York seem to really get into routines and we are here to shake things up!"  Our missionaries really are. Our missionaries are super cool.  And I think Hungary is very similar to western New York. We talked a bit with the missionaries about how when things are hard or seem out of our control, we can take great comfort in routines.  It can be hard to get out of them.  But you missionaries are truly a breath of fresh air!

Speaking of missionaries, yesterday we had dinner with the missionaries scheduled and then last minute we found out about the baptism of a gentleman who has three adorable kids. (Super cool!)  Anyway, I asked the missionaries (and the recent convert, Daniel Zimmerman, who was coming to eat also) if we could move dinner earlier and then head to the baptism, all in our big white van.  I really feel the Lord gave us the van to do his work and fill it in bringing people to Christ...and it is working!  They all agreed (Daniel is super low-key and rolls with anything...and eats anything...sweet guy).  So we had an amazing dinner (see next note**), I grabbed the melt-y brownies (same recipe with white chocolate chips and butter for part of the oil...amazing) and then we were off!  In our big white van, driving to support our most recent brother!

The font wasn't full enough, so they had to baptize him three time to get it right but it was so cool!  You could feel the confirmation that the third time was right.  During the baptism talks, I was able to help take care of Dante's kids (isn't that the coolest name ever??) so he could listen and they were super sweet.  He has a cool experience with gaining a testimony of the Book of Mormon (see other note***) and the baptism felt so joyous. We have another one tomorrow for twin kids that recently moved into our ward. Their family has two sets of twins!!  We have had two families move into our ward in the last month, good strong families with abiding testimonies of the Gospel. One even moved here "because they felt prompted to." Isn't that super cool?  I mean, who does that :D?  It was a great evening.

I fell asleep last night putting the monster...oops! I mean Binks.... to sleep the only way that doesn't take hours: in bed snuggling with me.  Super spoiled cute little fat guy.  He is getting bigger but that doesn't keep him from taking advantage of us with all his cuteness in being the youngest :).

Sorry this is super long.  I guess you will read it if  you have time or as much as you need as led by the Spirit. It was nice to feel like you were on the other side of the screen, me imagining you hunching over and reading, smiling and maybe laughing a little :).  Love you, son.  Thanks for your example and enduring faith in continuing on when you don't see measurable progress in those around you.  You are truly a hunter as Jeremiah saw, finding those amidst the rocks and the hills. And sometimes they need to be found more than once to finally recognize what it is they are looking for.  Sometimes you are the fifth or the first to extend that invitation...and they need twenty invites!  Keep laughing...especially when you see those eyelashes.  

That reminds me of the Elder who came over when I had hair in the food and then I licked someone else's spoon and completely grossed him out.  Maybe that lady was just having a bad day and happen to use the wrong dish for that left-over.  I think that is crazy that your comp ate it, though!!  Well, Joey Shetka licked the grocery store floors as a toddler and is the healthiest of Heidi's children.  Maybe there is something to it :S?  I am not going to count on it, however  :).

LOVE YOU!  Have a wonderful week.  Let us know if there is anything I can write, do or send to make your life any more awesome than it already is.  Maybe a music cd of mission approved music?

:) Anyuci

p.s. (before all the end notes)  I almost walked away from learning Hungarian the other day. I was crying, I was so frustrated, trying to understand word order and emphasis. So hard! It gave me great sympathy and admiration for your determination to learn it well.  And I kept trying.  I guess it will just take me, well, forever, but I am already recognizing many words more readily, can hear the accents better, and am having a few correct word orders come more naturally. Slowly but steadily, right?  When I go visit, I am sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo excited to be able to communicate more with those dear, dear people in that land of Hungary.  God bless you, son, for consecrating your time and energy and love to serve them.  They don't realize how lucky they are to have you.

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*About the Spirit making communication happen, remember that phone call that Dad had with that lady when we were in Hungary?  How he was trying so hard to listen to her and she was speaking slowly, quickly and non-distinctly?  She was sharing all these problems in her life, very personal questions and issues about God and her life and Dad was praying like crazy to be able to both understand and be able to communicate with her.  When she finally paused after a long, long time of her talking, waiting for Dad to say something, with the Spirit in his heart (and a lot of insecurities about his ability to both understand her Hungarian and communicate back to her in Hungarian)  he began to speak.  After he finished, there was  a pause on the other end. "Oh no!" Dad thought, "I have blown it now."  Her soft reply came: "You have seen into my heart."  Super cool.  The Spirit totally helps transcend barriers.

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**okay, imagine this: first you cut up yams/sweet potatoes into little squares along with chicken...wait.  Here is the recipe:

Chicken and Veggie Quinoa Bowl   400 degrees

For the bowl:

1/2 large sweet potato, peeled and diced

1 head broccoli, cut into florets (or one bag of frozen broccoli)

1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil, divided (any oil will do and we added a little butter for part of the oil measurement)

Salt and pepper

2 ounces precooked grilled chicken breast, sliced thin (we actually just cut raw chicken in cubes, and cooked it at the same time as the sweet potatoes below)

1/4 cup quinoa, cooked (this is actually SUPER healthy for you and with all the textures in this recipe, you don't notice it.

For the dressing:

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1/2 tablespoon tahini

1/2 garlic clove, minced

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (or more for garnish)

(I didn't actually have tahini, so I just added onions, garlic and crushed red pepper--you could use spicy paprika--when I added the quinoa and broccoli)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Place your cubed sweet potatoes on a baking sheet, and toss with 1/2

tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil plus salt and pepper. Roast for 20 minutes.

2. After 20 minutes, add your broccoli florets to the same baking sheet, and toss them in the additional 1/2

tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil.  Season again with salt and pepper and roast for an additional 20 minutes.

^^3. While your vegetables are cooking, whisk together all your dressing ingredients. Set aside.

4. In a serving bowl, add the precooked quinoa and roasted vegetables, then top with your precooked chicken.

 Drizzle with your tangy tahini dressing, sprinkle the extra red pepper flakes (if you wish) and enjoy!!!

^^I just put everything else in here, seasonings and all, and didn't serve it up separate.  Much easier.

So this recipe would be SUPER yummy and healthy for you.  You could make a big batch on p-day and eat it for a few days later that week heated up or even cold. I would recommend 6 times it:

Shopping list:

3 sweet potatoes

3 breast chicken (if you can afford it, less is fine)

1 bag frozen broccoli

onions and garlic if you don't have them)

1 cup quinoa (dried measurement. You will need to cook it. You can make more and freeze it in smaller baggies to use later. I just put on enough that you could see it, but it wasn't the dominant ingredient.)

Oil and seasonings if you don't have them.

I 12 times-ed it and have plenty of leftovers after feeding five adults and then all the kids, to give you an idea.

 Did I say it was yummy??  I added soy sauce, but you could add Worcestershire sauce or anything yummy to the chicken and sweet potatoes. I think you have all the ingredients. although quinoa might be hard to get. You could add a small pasta. It only took 40 minutes start to finish in the cooking time and about 10 minutes of prep (for serving 14 people). And you would have nutritious yummy meals for one week, if you made enough.  Your companions would love you :D. I served it with some Hungarian-ish type bread from Aldi's, which complemented it perfectly.  

I am going to try and be better at sending you recipes, my son!  This one really wasn't too hard and the 40 minutes of cooking didn't require me to be there while it was cooking or prepping.  

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***Dante's cool experience with reading the Book of Mormon. One of the hardest things, the missionaries say, is to get people to read the Book of Mormon.  Dante wouldn't, but then one day picked it up and his answer from it was to not go to Texas (as he planned) and not join the Baptist church there (again, as he had planned) but to stay here with his kids.  He showed the missionaries the verse and it didn't make sense to them why that verse told him that but it was evident that God was talking to him through the scriptures as we know is true: we ask our questions through prayer and God answers us through the scriptures, right? (among other things, but moving on...) 

One day his power and heat was turned off.  He turned to the Book of Mormon and read in it.  10 minutes later he received a call telling him that someone had paid his bills until the end of the month!  Crazy answer, eh?  He was baptized and I know he felt the light and warmth that came with it.  Super cool.

Sick Fun!

Okay...this sick bug is crazy.

After a month and a half of off and on traveling with family (so cool!) we came home on Sept. 25th with hand, foot and mouth disease.  Then it was a quick follow-up with a recurring flu/cough bug that we just can't kick!  I will think we are good and then BAM! That night someone else will start with a fever or a cough.  Hmmmmmm....The up side is that we are spending some sweet together time that is pretty low-key around here :).

"Low key" defined:
-I was helping Chugger-dude finish up his cooking merit badge.  As he was reciting the causes and side-effects of food poisoning (and how to prevent them), my eye caught the food that had been left out on the counter for a few hours following lunch.  Nice :).

-I straightened and cleaned out our cupboards and countertops that are just reaching their first birthday!!!  I spent the time going back and forth between reflecting on the time before counter-tops, lights and floor and wondering how in the world it could have become this dirty after just one year!  Our fridge looks like it has survived 10 years!  Lots of good use, right?  The shelves have literally groaned as I put gallon after gallon of milk on it following our weekly grocery trip.

-Hava and Papaya have been out "adventuring" as much as they can in our back yard and piddling stream that is very low at the end of the season here.  Binks will try and follow them as much as possible and Chugger-dude is enjoying his rollerblades while he chases the two little boys around whenever he is outside.

-Spooner loves to snuggle and curls up in my lap whenever I am sitting, which makes eating a little difficult but it is cute.

-Hava told me the following yesterday morning when she woke up: "I stayed awake for a long time just watching you and listening to you snore.  Oh!  It wasn't your snoring that woke me up.  I just didn't want to sleep for a long time."
Sigh.  Unfortunately when I am sick and stuffed it makes the snoring worse :(.  No wonder my throat is parched and dry in the morning: I have been making noise all night.

-The Goob and Chugger-dude have really stepped it up and become the men of the house.  Q-dawg is gone for most of the week with Liliputian and Pipalicious out in the wilderness.  With me being sick, the boys have stepped up on their own to offer to help me with things.  It has been so sweet! The Goob is hungry for competition so he ropes Chugger-dude into all sorts of competitions that often end with one of them angry and one of them crying but they still keep doing it and the over-all effect seems to be positive :).

-Papaya has designated herself as "master salad builder"-

This is the salad she made for herself last night.  Yes, those are pickles.  She cleaned out everything in the fridge that she could think of that would go in her salad.  So adorable!   She made salads for Hava and me as well.  They were very good!

(Hey Kelder!  Grab some lettuce and follow your little sis's example for dinner: work wonders!)

Update with interruptions :)

It has been a while since an update, so here it is in a whirl!

Avot is applying for college and is hoping to go in the fall.  She just took her GED, has her ACT completed and we just need to finish it up.  It has been hard to fit in with all of her other activities: debate, work for her dad, choirs and finishing up the play.  It has been fun and a little challenging to navigate the expectations and changes for her now that she is an adult.  We almost did the first scenario of this Studio C:

...but we decided to wait until a few days after her birthday :).   I will have to post separately what Q-dawg and I are doing, but we feel it is a way to foster independence and help effectively as they start to go out on their own...but basically it will just become more and more uncomfortable should any child be tempted to stay, mwa-ha-ha-ha! Avot loves it :).  For now, she is enjoying reading more, teaches our sign language family choir and cultural dance day,....

Break!
We interrupt this regularly scheduled blog post as we rush off in response to the sound of vomiting in the other room!

As I was writing this post last night, Hava gave us proof that she was really sick and not just tired.  From her top bunk, she managed to contaminate three different beds as she leaned up to the edge to "do her business."  Unfortunately, Papaya was slumbering peacefully in her bed two levels directly beneath and got nailed...even worse than Hava herself.  Fortunately, my darling husband is a man among men and he took care of Papaya while I worked on Hava and the beds.

Carrying the bedding downstairs and already feeling a little overwhelmed with the week I have ahead of packing up our house with this tired pregnant body, my mind went to a bible video that has been in my thoughts a great deal lately:

I have tried to keep the perspective of the Savior in this scripture.  He knows that whether the tempest gets calmed or whether it brings them to their deaths, God is mightier than it all and will be good in His sight.  He not only is calm, but he sleeps.  I have been trying to capture that feeling in my life lately when I feel the storm raging, that feeling of peace that allows for slumber in the midst of the storm.  I pictured the storm last night, as I walked to the laundry room past all the mess, all the boxes, all the moving that still needed to be done on top of sick, vomiting children, feeling the weariness in my drained body.  And I felt peace.  Somehow, I can still find peace and joy in the storms if I look for it...or it is a divine gift, more likely.  Either way, I will take it!

Pipalicious is so cute.  She just sparkles and bubbles with joy most of the time.  One of her favorite things to do is, whenever someone makes a statement of something profound, meaningful or reads a scripture, she will pipe up, "Yah, it's kind of like moving to New York!" She has been excited for all of this.

If Spooner could just stop pouring, my life would be a lot easier.  He seems to have impeccable timing, pouring things out just as I am ready to walk out the door or as I have another obligation elsewhere....but you can't just leave stickiness to spread!  Not in a house with as many feet as we have!  Crazy kid :).  He is darling with an adorable apologetic twist of his head and sweet little kisses to make everything better.  He just loves to watch

Lek is still keeping very busy with dancing, working, school and social with "Jane Eyre" finished, but it is nice to have one less thing to balance for him!  He and Q-dawg have been having some epic wrestling matches, too, which is good for both of them. As they were going at it the other day, I called out to Lek, as he fought to regain position from underneath his father on the lawn: "Just think!  Moments like this will make victory all the sweeter when you do beat your dad someday!"  Lek just flashed me a strained grin.  I love watching them go at it!  It has been a bit harder for Lek after he twisted his ankle last week playing football, but he still managed to keep up with his many dance practices and other obligations.  What a guy!  He has also been enjoying his biology class now more that they are working on "macro" organisms.  Last week they dissected the perch and he decided that he was the dissecting pro, able to isolate miniscule body parts for examination.  Love it!

The Goob has quite the wit and keeps us laughing :).  He is excited to try out his air-soft weapons in New York and loves being with his friends around here whenever he can.  He is amazing at keeping his living areas clean, although some days (like this morning) he can get a little frustrated about cleaning up after others.  The little girls spent yesterday afternoon in "creative mode," basically moving everything from their bedroom into the front room to recreate a home...including clothing :S.  Yes.  A little overwhelming, but he bit the bullet and did it.  What a man.  He also has a fantastic scout leader who has been getting him through some fun merit badges lately and takes them on camps regularly.




He has a fun group to camp with and laughs a lot :).  He is also the Deacon's Quorum president and has been taking his responsibilities seriously, praying for and reaching out to the members of his quorum. He has a great heart and a talent for leadership so it is fun to see him grow and apply what he has learned in this role...and he makes it fun :).

The Goob loves doing the Duolingo French and is very motivated to progress: once he gets to a certain point, he gets some French pick-up lines.  :)  So funny!

Hava and Papaya have spent a lot of time snuggling and reading with me lately...well, when I am actually sitting down :).  Sometimes, I need to say "wait!" for my poor tummy after it gets climbed of for a while, but their brown and blue eyes respectively are so adorable when I can just focus on them and not on my sore body :).

Liliputian is in a fun stage of learning.  She is playing her piano lessons right now, loves lists, and completes hers almost every day.  She loves family history and Duolingo and is currently working on Swedish, Spanish, and German.  She is really a blessing to me, helping with the kids, snuggling, rubbing her Dad's feet every night during scripture reading and is a champion animal care-giver...her area of stewardship in our home.

Chugger-dude has been sick off and on for the last week, which hasn't been so fun for him :S.  He has the best smile, a good heart, and can be very tender, which his dad is great at helping moderate for manhood. :)  When they played football last time, Lek came up to tackle him and aimed low to try and miss his head but Chugger-dude also lowered his head and got clobbered on the head.  Poor chap!  Fortunately, Q-dawg was there to encourage him to "buck up!" and the game moved on.  Dads are wonderful people :)!

Sickies and Chugger-dude

I have a houseful of sickies right now...well, enough to feel like a houseful.  It has been fun to watch Chugger-dude during his down time.  While watching cool BBC Nature videos, he has been mastering the art of paper airplanes.  I miraculously was able to figure out a particularly tricky fold, so now, apparently, I am the "go-to" helper :S.

As I was struggling with the most recent challenge, Chugger-dude confidently said, "I am glad to have a mom like you who is smart enough to fold paper airplanes."

"Does that count when I just got lucky?" I asked, continuing to struggle.

He just gave me that awesome Chugger-dude smile.  Love it!

Goblin Valley and Groceries

Q-dawg took most of the kids to Goblin Valley last week with his parents and sister.  Their cousins were also able to come along and they had a great time.  Hava was the GPS genius, going over hills and around and walking right up to the cache they were looking for.    They finally hid the travel bug that they got in Hungary and picked up another one to send back to our geo-caching buddies over there.

Night games, tag, and yummy food were all highlights. In their game of snowball hide-and-seek, they finally had to get Chugger-dude to come out and reveal his hiding place because no one could find then.  Q-dawg also had fun running around, toying with people as they tried to catch him.  They even got to talk unrestrained by mom's indignation about "inappropriate conversation at the dinner table," much to Grandma's chagrin:  "I wish your mom was here!" she said when one of the kids commented about how mom wouldn't have approved of what they were talking about.  Poor Grandma :(.

I wish I had been there, too, but when you have two little babies that are lying about, feverish, vomiting and with diarrhea, you don't go anywhere, especially not on a five hour drive.  Within the first hour of them leaving, I cleaned up four different messes, including one all over me.  Nice.  I spent the next two days between snuggling, cleaning up them and doing some tidying around the house when they were both lying lethargic and sick in front of movies.  I figure watching a bunch of movies when they were little didn't permanently affect Avot and Lek, so we watched a few a day.  I do like to keep them pretty low-key though and I particularly enjoyed "Emma" (fast-forwarded version) and "Sense and Sensibility."  I was happy to clean during the Barbie princess movies.

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 I scored big when I went grocery shopping last Saturday: discount milk!  Checking the expiration dates, I figure I had a five day window for us to consume 7 gallons of milk...no problem!  When the bagger at the front commented about all the milk, I simply said, "I have 10 kids.  This will be gone before the week is out."  I love clearance items!