A Family Affair

On Fridays in April and May, the mostly likely place to find most or all of our family is on the ball fields. With Dear Husband as Commissioner and coach, Active Son as coach and player, Artist Son as player and sometimes ump, Oldest Daughter as Team 'Mom' for the team Active Son coaches, Tayta as player, and yours truly as faithful fan and the-one-who-attends-to-miscellaneous-details, we are usually out of the house by 8a.m., returning home after the Seniors' game in the late afternoon.

The Commish advises a student umpire

Tayta gets a hit for Team Cinnabon and is a valued defensive player in right field

Artist Son makes a call, umping his first Coach Pitch game

Active Son gives running instructions to his player on 3rd base

Team Mom mans the dugout and keeps the players organized

Artist Son helps his team at 2nd base and, after a hit, makes a run for 1st

Coach Dad gives the Secret Signs

This picture isn't out of focus; that is dust, and lots of it. We return from the field tinged a brownish grey and I learned long ago that is futile to buy socks for my players in any color but black.

Active Son pitches his team to a 4-3 victory

Friday, we were able to return home with a good amount of victory satisfaction: Active Son's Kid Pitch team batted like never before to beat a formidable rival and Active Son was on his pitching game through seven innings of a tight game. And, if anyone tunes into Al Jezeera, watch for a feature spot on Amman Little League Baseball; their reporter and camera men were at the fields on Friday to shoot some footage and interview one of ALLA's coaches and a couple players. Perhaps baseball will continue to gain a following in the Middle East.

Field Guide to Jordan

Most unusually, I found myself home alone one evening last week, with nothing that had to be urgently accomplished within the next few hours, so I headed off to a local bookstore for some book browsing--something I hadn't allowed myself the luxury of for months. As I arrived at the check-out counter, I noticed the book below; it took me about 10 seconds to decide to add it to my stack of purchases.


Field Guide to Jordan

This newly published field guide to Jordan is all around brilliant and is just the kind of book I wish had been available ten years ago. Kudos to author and photographer Jarir Maani and to the extended Maani family, an obviously talented and artistic clan judging from the photo and illustration credits (Annes Maani, Sari Maani, Sinan Maani, Habeeb Maani, etc., etc.)

The guide is divided into five color coded sections: Geology, Archeology (by period), Environment, Flora, and Fauna and is packed full of beautiful, high quality photographs. Considering that the only other guide to birds in Jordan cost about JD 30 ($44), I was very glad to find this broader guide for a mere JD 15. The guide has already been thumbed through by various members of the family, has helped us identify a bird we saw in Wadi Dana in March, and has been taken to bed for night-time reading by 13yo nature-loving son. Highly recommended.

--Edit-- Wow! The Field Guide to Jordan just got better. The producers have created a great website for the guide. Go here for the press release and here for some great images found in the guide.

To Obie or not to Obie

That was the question. And last week, Oldest Daughter answered it in the affirmative, deciding to accept Oberlin Conservatory's offer of admission. Much relief and rejoicing has come with the making of this decision and we continue to thank God for all the ways he has provided and continues to provide for Oldest Daughter and our entire family.

Oldest Daughter received offers of admission from three of the four schools at which she auditioned and from those three she narrowed the decision to Eastman School of Music and Oberlin Conservatory. Originally, Eastman was her first pick school, though during the last couple of weeks of the decision process Oberlin rose in her estimation and the full tuition financial package they offered clinched the deal.

And, since the decision has been made we all find ourselves excited about the opportunities God continues to graciously provide for Oldest Daughter. Via facebook she has already met other 'Con' freshman, some of whom share her faith in God and one young woman in particular, a fellow Con student, who is looking forward to being her roomate. Additionally, Oldest Daughter has received a scholarship to attend a faith based chamber music program at Oberlin this summer so she will have the chance to spend some time on campus, get to know some of the faculty and meet a few other Christian Con students before school begins in September.

Thanks to all of you who have prayed for and encouraged us throughout this wild ride!

Running to the Lowest Point on Earth

On Friday, Oldest daughter, another young woman, and myself, joined in the 'fun', participating in a 10K run ending at the Amman Beach, the Dead Sea, Jordan. The stouter of heart, lungs and legs, ran the half marathon (21K), the full marathon (42K) or the ultra-marathon (48K!). I believe over two thousand runners (and a few walkers) from all around the world participated in this increasingly popular race, held annually to raise money for the Jordanian Neurological Society.

Though Oldest daughter and I were in sort of residual shape from our tri-weekly running schedule pre-audition trip, we had just resumed running a couple of weeks before the race. So, we definitely weren't in tip-top shape, but we were all able to complete the run without walking and in just over an hour.

Why run a 10K? A couple of my friends asked that question...and a couple more are inspired to try to run with me next year! One of the college students that ran the race suggested that running to the "Lowest Point on Earth" was definitely one of those things to check off on the to-do-before-I-die lists which seem to be popular with this generation. Hadn't thought about that as a motivation.

My real motivation was ending Oldest Daughters pre-college fitness training on a positive and accomplished note. My, and especially Dear Husband's, goal for our kids is that they will head off into life with the desire and ability to lead a healthy life, of which physical fitness will necessarily play a part. To that end, the kids have learned to do daily exercises and we run, during the school year, three times a week. The running has never been a favorite part of Oldest Daughter's life, and that is putting it mildly. Dear Husband has, not so secretly, desired that Oldest Daughter discover her "Inner Athlete" and I think that participating in the Dead Sea 10K helped her to do it. "That really wasn't too hard," and "That was kind of fun," were words she actually spoke after running the race!

Flowers Holding Hands

(But you already know that I get a little loopy about flowers every year at this time.)

Gardening Woes

I ask you, do these lovely daisies look like weeds? Perhaps they appeared to be in the strict definition of the word 'weed', a plant growing in a place where it is not wanted, in that they were carpeting my front flower garden in a bit of a haphazard fashion, with a few empty patches here and there. They had re-seeded themselves from last year's annual flower. Unfortunately, due to the sporadic nature in which their seed was distributed, and thus growing, our gardener (no we aren't of the upper class; I am odd enough in that I work in my flower garden, but tilling the soil and spraying the trees would be completely unacceptable work for us to do ourselves.) determined these lovely African daisies were weeds, and hoed up the whole lot of them. Glad I had taken a picture first! Not only are they gone, they hadn't matured enough to disperse their seeds for next years bloom.

I am a little embarrassed to admit I had what amounts to a temper tantrum when my husband broke the news to me. I huffed and puffed, and I think I may have stomped my feet a few times. This lasted about three minutes and I recall hearing the kids chuckle as they observed my outburst. Then I settled into my coping-with-life-in-Jordan mindset of 'hayk il' haya', 'such is life', or 'illi fat, mat', 'what's done is done.' On with the day.

Another woeful tale: Pictured above is the last of my beloved foxgloves, and it met its demise last summer. I'm missing it this spring. Once upon at time I, amazingly, found six potted foxglove plants, foliage only, at a roadside garden stand. I had never seen a foxglove in Jordan before and I've never seen one since. I purchased all six and was thrilled when they bloomed the following spring. Five were planted in one spot but one, pictured above, found its way to another corner of the yard. When we returned to Jordan from the States at the end of the summer I found that the group of five foxgloves had disappeared. Not died, but completely disappeared. I'd never had anyone steal plants before! The following spring my lone foxglove bloomed like never before, almost as if it were making up for the others being stolen, sending up three beautiful stalks. That summer, our landlord hired painters to paint the stairwell. Can you guess where they dumped the paint thinner?

This beauty of a Ranunculus was blooming in my garden last week, the first to burst open this spring. Unfortunately an unidentified neighbor has decided they have a penchant for beautiful Ranunculus flowers; it was picked just hours after I took this picture. Three more yellow blooms were picked when they opened a couple of days later and the first white bloom, gone its first day in full bloom.

So, I'm feeling bit mopey about my flowers and, overall, unmotivated to plant this spring. I think I'll just enjoy what is already planted and growing as it will soon be to hot to do any planting anyway. Sigh.

Captain Abu Raed

I've mentioned before that I don't watch many movies. Even less frequently do I watch movies in the theater. Until Friday night, the last time I saw a movie in the theater was when our family went together to see The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. But, Captain Abu Raed (pronounced Ra'ed), the much acclaimed first film by Jordanian producer and director, Amin Matalqa, was definitely a film worth seeing sooner rather than later.

I'm sure that much of the recognition that we, as a family, responded to in Matalqa's artistic endeavor has to do with the fact that we have have lived in Amman for many years; for Dear Husband and I, most of our adult lives, and for our children, their entire lives. Though the lives and struggles portrayed in the film were not ours, exactly, they were lives and struggles which belong to friends or other Jordanians we've lived among and observed--so I guess, in some second party way they have been our lives and struggles as well.

With few exceptions, Matalqa does a fine job of accurately portraying life in Amman, particularly the contrast between lower socio-economic East Amman and Western influenced upper socio-economic West Amman. No exaggerations here. The cinematography, though a bit dramatic in places, was wonderful, and we all enjoyed recognizing familiar places in the film (today when we went on our family run at the park, Younger Son and I marked the exact spot where Tareq had been selling biscuits/cookies).

Though I enjoyed seeing this movie in the theater, I have to admit it is the kind of movie, that when it is over, you wish you were instantly in the privacy of your own home, alone, or with others who had just seen the film. Once we had silently navigated the chaos that is City Mall on a Friday night and were secure in the privacy of our car we began a discussion of the themes of the movie: hope, sacrifice, redemption, which lasted until after we arrived at home. While the film had some sort of resolution and what one might call a happy ending, these were in no way complete.

It was the incompleteness of resolution, among other things that caused me to consider this a good film and a film worth watching. My kids rarely appreciate me applying my analytical judgment to the films they/we watch and my philosophical awareness was only heightened as I had, just last week, read Dorothy Sayer's excellent essay, Toward a Christian Esthetic, published in Letters to a Diminished Church, Passionate Arguments for the Relevance of Christian Doctrine. In this wonderful essay, which deserves several blogs posts of its own Sayers explains the marks of a true poet or artist:

"A poet is a man who not only suffers the impact of external events but also experiences them (You only experience a thing when you can express it--however haltingly--to your own mind--also Sayers) He puts the experience into words in his own mind, and in so doing recognizes the experience for what it is. To the extent that we can do that, we are all poets. A poet so-called is simply a man like ourselves with an exceptional power of revealing his experience by expressing it, so that not only he, but we ourselves, recognize that experience as our own."

About the recognition of truth that we get from the artist's work she writes:

"I mean the recognition of truth that tells us something about ourselves that we had not been always saying, something that puts a new knowledge of ourselves withing our grasp. It is a new, startling, and perhaps shattering, and yet it comes to us with a sense of familiarity. We did not know it before, but the moment the poet/artist has shown it to us, we know that, somehow or other, we had always really known it."

Matalqa is a poet so-called and his film touches, in some ways, on this recognition of truth as Sayer's defines it. Captain Abu Raed is not a film which merely entertains, provoking the experience of emotion that usually accompanies experience without our having had the experience, nor is it a film of pseudoart, which "seeks to produce the behavior without the experience," but rather it is a film which provokes recognition and thought anew about Jordanian society and the challenges its citizens face.

As Captain Abu Raed recently won the World Cinema Audience Award at the recent prestigious Sundance Film Festival, I'm pretty sure it will be showing in theaters of some sort in the U.S. sometime in the near future.

Mind the Gaps

Last weekend, Dear Husband and I enjoyed the privilege and blessing of overseeing the Youth Retreat of our International Fellowship. Over 60 youth from 12 countries, six helpers, Dear Husband, myself, and one other parent traveled to the beautiful northern Jordanian town of Ajloun, retreating to a hilltop surrounded by pine forests, with a view of of the Crusader period castle which sits a top an olive tree covered hill.

The theme of the weekend was "Mind the Gaps", a play on the recorded reminder broadcasted in the British Underground, and all the talks and small group discussions were concerned with the topic of relationships. Dear Husband laid the foundation for all relationships by teaching from Psalm 103 about our relationship with God.



College student and high school student (Oldest Daughter) leaders helped the youth consider what the Bible has to say about our relationship with Adults, Peers, and Sinners (recognizing that referring to unbelievers as sinners was a slightly inaccurate as we are all sinners, but it helped to complete the acronymn).


After each talk, small groups, led by a student leader, meet together to discuss the principles and truths presented in the talks, and to pray for one another.


On Friday morning we journeyed over to the castle, a fortress built during the Crusades by Azz ad-Din Usama, relative of Salah ad-Din in an effort to limit the expansion of the Crusader Kingdom. The castle was part of the chain of beacons which could transmit news by pigeon post from the Euphrates frontier to Cairo headquarters in twelve hours. (The Rough Guide to Jordan)


The Youth participated in a castle activity developed and carried out by the student leaders. It reminded me of a sort of Pilgrim's Progress mini-journey: Proceeding in groups of three, two youth helped guide one blindfolded youth through the castle, stopping at various points to hear student leaders read various passages which explained the gospel.


The youth had to answer questions about the gospel before proceeding on their journey and they had to discern truth from error as a couple of leaders where positioned along the way, tempting them to go astray.

Whenever there was free-time, these youth played and played hard. It was such a blessing to watch all these city kids set loose in the country as they ran freely in the fresh spring air.

Presentation of Team Chants

I think that Dear Husband and I were both surprised to discover how much we enjoyed spending the weekend with all these great young people. I really have not had so much fun in a long time. May God bless this next generation as they grow in their knowledge of Him!

An Ajloun Sunset

Comic Relief for Paganini

Most people probably don't need comic relief from listening to Paganini compositions now and then however I know that our family would have appreciated this video a couple of years ago when Oldest Daughter was playing this concerto hours a day and into the night. Paganini's infamous works for violin are what I refer to as "hyper violin" and they are anything but soothing and relaxing. Though I enjoy listening to Oldest daughter play a Paganini caprice now and then--how fast those fingers move!-- I can say that this 'artist's' rendition of Paganini mirrored my inner emotions a couple of years ago as I listened to Oldest daughter play this over, and over, and over, and...

Auditions, the rest of the trip

And a grand trip it was! After Austin we spent 10 days in Houston, several before, and a few after Oldest Daughter's audition at Rice University's Shepherd School of Music. We loved the Rice campus and the Shepherd School of music; the buildings and grounds are beautiful and all are situated on a well planned loop so it is easy to walk, bike, or shuttle bus to anyplace on campus.

Lovett Hall/Administration Building, Rice University

Rice's Shepherd School of music boasts a spacious, state of the art facility and a relatively small student body of about 300. While there we were able to observe some of the excellent musical activities that are taking place at the Shepherd School: a lovely faculty concert, an orchestra rehearsal, and a studio class in which students play for their teacher and each other.

Alice Pratt Building/Shepherd School of Music

Leaving behind warm weather and great friends in Houston, we next flew to Cleveland, Ohio and took a city bus, which was, thankfully, empty except for one other passenger, to Oberlin. We were quite a sight trying to manage all our luggage which was a bit excessive due to a number of books, a sleeping bag, and other miscellaneous things we had purchased to take back to Jordan. The bus driver remarked wryly to Oldest Daughter, "Don't you know that school is over in another three months." I told Oldest Daughter that she should have replied, "Oh, I'm just coming for four days."

Oberlin was such a contrast to Houston! The college and conservatory have only undergraduate students and they are located in a small town. The feel of the campus is old, beautiful, and a bit earthy in individual/hippie/liberal sort of way. The students we met were bright, articulate and involved.

Spending a lot of time in 'the Con' student lounge while Oldest Daughter practiced, I observed a lot of musical and creative energy. It became easy to pick out the voice majors--they were the ones who dressed particularly stunningly and/or sang scales as they walked down the hall.

The 'Con'~ Oberlin Conservatory

Immediately after her conservatory audition, Oldest Daughter auditioned for and was accepted into a summer chamber music festival begun by the head of the Con's string department. While not an acceptance to music school itself, it was an encouragement.

A spacious practice room with a view~ Oberlin Conservatory

Oldest Daughter was able to experience a variety of practice rooms, and while this may seem like a minor point of interest to some, to a performance major who spends four plus hours a day in one it is more than a passing consideration. Our unofficial practice room rating:

1. Shepherd School of Music (no question)
2. Oberlin Conservatory
3. and 4. We are in disagreement here. I say UT Austin is third and Eastman, easily fourth, but Oldest Daughter would put Eastman before UT Austin. Eastman is the only school where the practice rooms were, at times, all full.

Eastman School of Music, Rochester, New York

Oldest Daughter loved the "feel" of Eastman. The urban location, the old building with wood trimmed everything, the beautiful concert halls, the student housing, and the impressive violin faculty, a few of them Russian, which felt familiar to her as her own training has been of Russian pedagogy.

While visiting Eastman we were privileged to stay with a long ago friend and her Eastman faculty husband. They graciously hosted us in their Perfect Accommodations condo located directly behind the school, generously sharing their home and lives with us while we were in Rochester.

Not sure if you can read the sign but Eastman seems to be getting a lot of mileage from a Kaplan/Newsweek quote naming them 'The Hottest Music School'. They obviously were not referring to Rochester's less than balmy winter weather.

A Post-Final-Audition-Celebratory Latte at Java's

I think Oldest Daughter looks very relieved and just a little tired in this post-final-audition photo. I wonder if I should mention that she has not take her violin from it's case for six days--though I believe it may be coming out tomorrow.

As we watched the presidential elections analysis ad naseum on television it occurred to us that having a CNN reporter shadow a music school candidate would make a great human interest story. A young cellist we met twice on the music school circuit was applying to eight schools; another violinist, to five, flying in and out of various locations each weekend. Her father asked me, "is your daughter falling behind in school? Mine is." Well, yes, but the fact that we homeschool and are 'flexible' means that we have until June before we have to acknowledge that we are behind and by then, hopefully we won't be. A teacher whose student was auditioning at one of the schools queried me at the financial aid session, "Is the tuition really that much??" Hopeful parents listening outside audition doors, keeping time with their children's music and parents sitting with their child inside a tiny practice rooms while their child practices before an audition. More stress then I like to experience on a daily basis. And though, while at UT Austin, I enjoyed a double bass solo more than I imagined I could ever enjoy a bass solo, I was daily thankful that my dear daughter had chosen the relatively small violin for her beloved instrument. Thanks for keeping it simple, dear ; ) What an adventure we have had!

Dead to Red 2008

Dashing Dudes '08

The Dashing Dudes '08 team hit the road today, running in the annual Dead Sea to Red Sea ultra, ultra marathon relay--250K. Oldest son ran the first 1 K leg; most members of the nine man team will run 1K legs, however one ambitious Dude will run double and one older Dude (Dear Husband) will run 1.5 K legs and run fewer times.

I spoke with younger son about an hour and a half into the race and he reported that they are in about the middle of the pack but hoping to overtake a couple of nearby teams at the hill. More race updates to come...Go Dashing Dudes!

~~~Update~~~

The Dashing Dudes completed their Dead to Read Run earlier this morning, placing fifth of sixteen teams. This afternoon found many of the team luxuriating in the hotel hot tub, resting up for the the celebratory banquet at the Movenpick this evening. Congratulations, Dashing Dudes, on another great run!

Deep in the Heart of Texas

We arrived in Texas last Wednesday afternoon, leaving the cold and snow (yes, snow!) of Jordan behind us. Our trip to Houston was uneventful except for the serendipitous meeting of a friend in the Paris airport. She was coming from Turkey, on her way home to Houston, and was on our flight. (Turns out she attends a church right near the campus where Oldest Daughter will be auditioning this week and we will be able to connect during the week.)

Passing through immigration at the Houston International Airport, we waited in the foreigners line with our friend who flew from Amman with us. Compared to the US citizens line, the foreigners line was so somber and quiet. Yes, Americans are, in general, loud, compared to rest of the world, a fact that doesn’t chagrin me anymore as I’ve recovered from my Ugly American complex. And we watched a great Welcome to the United States video as we waited in the immigration line. Lots of smiling faces. Americans are friendly. And Texans are very friendly. Within an hour of our arrival two Texan women had not only answered questions for me but had also offered me their phone numbers in case I might need more help in the future!

From Houston, we drove to Austin. Travel advisory: Don’t plan to drive three+ hours in a strange place after 24 hours of international travel. I had overlooked the fact that I would have been up for nearly two full days with just a couple hours of airplane sleep. Add to that mix, rain, and a dark sky for most of the journey and, all things considered we probably should have spent the night in Houston. By God’s grace we made it to Austin about ten at night, and that only with frequent rest (literally) stops.

A dear friend, a lovely Texan woman who recently moved from Amman, hosted us in Austin, generously cooking us yummy meals, showing us around, and introducing us to catfish (melts in your mouth) and hushpuppies ( a sort of southern falafel made with cornmeal instead of chickpeas). Austin seems a lovely city, though we didn’t take a lot of time to see it. Oldest daughter needed to keep up her practice regime before her audition last Saturday.

And though we didn’t tour the entire UT campus (40 acres), we did visit the music building twice. On Friday night Oldest Daughter had a consultation with the professor whose studio she auditioned for. I was reminded anew that application to music school at this level is not for the faint of heart. The admission process is three-pronged: Oldest Daughter must be accepted into the university, into the school of music, and into the studio of a particular instructor. The first two are fairly straightforward, however it is the last level which becomes very competitive. Oldest Daughter felt the audition went well, however no indication is given by the jury, and results will not be known until March. For the years and years of hard work, prospective students have but ten minutes to demonstrate their ability.

By Saturday night, post-audition, Oldest Daughter and I were pretty exhausted, both physically and emotionally. How wonderful it was to go church on Sunday morning and be encouraged by God’s Word and the fellowship of His people. Not to mention singing praises to Him, declaring His faithfulness and sovereignty. There are so many opportunities for fear and anxiety to gain a foothold but we were reminded anew of His perfect goodness.

Today we returned to Houston where we’ll be staying until next week. We find ourselves again enjoying the hospitality of yet more friendly Texans, whom we have just met for the first time (they are friends of friends). We are staying in their “quarters”, a lovely studio apartment above the garage. Oldest Daughter’s next audition is Friday. Thanks to those of you who are praying for Oldest Daughter. We appreciate you all!

Congratulations, Eagle Scout

Last Friday evening, Active Son earned the rank of Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts of America, passing his Eagle Board of Review with flying colors. Being out of town, I had to hear by email how the head of the Board of Review, a fellow Eagle Scout and military atache with the US embassy, called Active Son and my husband in after the Board was dismissed to give Active Son further words of commendation and praise. Warmed my mother's heart, all the way across the ocean.

Active Son has had the privilege of being involved in a stellar Boy Scout Troop which, since it began about five or six years ago, has produced five Eagle Scouts with two more about ready to earn the Eagle rank. These two scouts will join Active Son in his Eagle Scout Court of Honor this spring.

Art...and Economics

Younger Son/Artist Son sold his first piece of artwork yesterday. A family friend commissioned him to do the colored pencil drawing below for his horse loving wife's birthday. My photo doesn't really do his art justice; we all enjoyed watching, as he worked on it the past several weeks, adding layer after layer of color.

Besides helping him to advance in his drawing technique, this commission allowed Artist Son to learn a little bit about the business side of being a professional artist. He had to pick out matting and frame, and then return to the frame store when the matting wasn't cut precisely. He also had to put a monetary value on his work. I was a little sad to see this beautiful picture leave the house but I had Artist Son's first pastel picture (below) framed at the same time and it now displayed in our family room.

When Artist Son received his pay for the horse picture, Active Son suggested that he start saving it now and that if he kept selling his artwork he'd have quite a bit saved for college. Older daughter, who, like the rest of our family has been privy to hours of college financial aid banter, dissented. She advised Artist son that it wouldn't pay to have college savings and that it could very well decrease his chances to receiving financial aid.

Since I have recently begun reading Henry Hazlitt's Economics in One Lesson, motivated by cyber-friend, Cindy's, reading and discussion posts, I recognized Oldest Daughter's comment as bad economics, albeit, economics she had heard promoted, to some degree, in our home (Not that we have purposely not saved a big chunk of money to pay for our children's college tuition. We just have not purposely done it.) We've all heard it said before but Hazlitt so clearly explains why "there is no such thing as a free lunch." All credit is debt--someone's debt.

As a business major, I took three semesters of economics in college. Unfortunately, I remember these as some of my most boring classes. I'm sure I picked up some vocabulary and concepts along the way, but I honestly can not articulate what I learned. Sad. I mostly remember furiously taking notes as my professor drew multitudes of graphs on the chalkboard.

And though the entire book is work reading (I'm admittedly only in chapter six, but it is very enlightening so far--lots of plain old common sense), Hazlitt really does, in the first chapter, distill the most important concept into one lesson:

“The art of economics consists in looking not merely at the immediate but at the longer effects of any act or policy; it consists in tracing the consequences of that policy not merely for one group but for all groups."

In other words, bad art, economically speaking, is man acting impatiently and selfishly. Now that is something I can understand, relate to, and agree with. Maybe my college professor mentioned something about the nature of man and how it related to all those charts, but if he did, I missed it. I look forward to reading more...

Sopa Ranchera

Christmas Break (which we're extending until January 7th) is a great time for my culinary creativity to be refreshed as I take the time to try a few new recipes. Here is a one for a delicious winter soup. My family liked this so much that I made it twice in one week--and I'm making yet another batch to add to the growing stash of freezer entrees that will keep Dear Husband and the kids fed while Oldest Daughter and I are on our audition trip.

My inspiration comes, again, from The Best of Cooking Light. I followed the recipe pretty closely except for:

-I omitted the zucchini because I didn't have any and my dear children said not to bother going out to get some. It wouldn't be missed.
-I used leftover roasted potatoes and chicken. This worked so well that when I made it again I pre-roasted some chicken breasts (olive oil and cajun spice mix) and potatoes.
-I doubled the oregano and tripled the cumin
-I added some red pepper flakes--about 1/2 tsp for a double batch.
-I added extra garlic
-other alterations are noted within the recipe

Other than that, I followed the recipe closely ; )

Oh, and I never, ever make a single batch.

Sopa Ranchera:

1 tsp. vegetable oil (I use about 3 T olive oil)
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1 clove garlic, minced
6 cups chicken stock (I used 7 cups vegetable stock)
1 3/4 cups cubed peeled baking potato
1 (15 oz) can chickpeas, drained
2 cups shredded (I diced) cooked chicken breast
1 cup frozen whole-kernel corn, thawed (I used one can of corn)
3/4 tsp, salt (I omitted as my stock was salted)
1 zucchini, quartered lengthwise and sliced-about 1 1/2 cups (I omitted)
1 cup diced tomato (I used one can cooked, diced tomato)
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Toppings:
grated cheddar or montery jack cheese
sour cream
lime wedges

We don't have any reduced fat options on the dairy products so our finished dish probably wouldn't meet Cooking Light standards.

Heat oil in a large pot over medium high heat. Add onion and saute' 3 minutes. Add oregano, cumin, and garlic, and saute' about 1 minute. Add stock, potato, and chickpeas, bring mixture to a boil, and cook 5 minutes. Add chicken, corn, salt, and zucchini, and cook 5 minutes. Stir in tomato and 1/3 cup cilantro, and cook 2 minutes.

First Wildflower Sighting of the Season

Cyclamen persicum

Peeking out from under pine needles and dead leaves I spotted the first cyclamen of the season as we hiked on New Year's Day with friends. The delicate flowers were very small--perhaps an indication that more rain is needed.

Christmas Break

After a deadline driven fall, we are all enjoying the relaxed pace of Christmas week, spending time with family and dear friends as we celebrate the Advent of Christ. Below are a few glimpses of our celebrations:

Although the younger two children were the masterminds behind the gingerbread and candy house, the older two couldn't resist joining in the fun.

And, they all resisted the temptation to nibble on it until Christmas morning.

The youth of our International Church celebrated the Joy of Jesus, sharing passages from the Gospels which hold special meaning for them, singing praises to God,

putting on impromptu, silly, holiday skits,

and enjoying fun fellowship.

Always a highlight of Christmas week is our traditional soup supper and evening of song, etc. with dear friends. Mrs. N serves up her now famous smoked salmon chowder, made from wild salmon, caught and smoked by her son during their summer trip to Alaska. I'm sure such a delicious soup is not to be found anywhere else in Jordan!

Enjoying a game of spoons while eating still more Christmas cookies.

Since 1997, Christmas Eve morning has been reserved for the celebration of youngest daughter's December 24th birthday. The menu has become tradition as well: cinnamon rolls, egg and cheese strata, and Dear Husband's grapefruit with brown sugar, lightly broiled on top.

Youngest daughter enjoys receiving words of appreciation and blessing from her Dad.

Enjoying carefully chosen gifts on Christmas morning.

The youngers are old enough to exercise patience and self control--they played Chinese checkers-- and so did not wake the older kids and Dear Husband and myself until after 9am!

Just in time for Christmas...

Now that we've officially submitted Oldest Daughter's last college application (midnight, Sunday), I guess I'll have to find a new hobby. Some options vying for my attention: housecleaning, cooking, grading papers, Christmas shopping. Needless to say, sending off the final 'supporting papers' packets with a traveling friend on Saturday and hitting the final 'submit' button on Sunday evening was very satisfying and a relief to the entire family. Glad to be finished with them, Oldest Daughter deposited a pile of various SAT and SAT II study guides on my bed the other day; now she can resume her beloved practicing at the level she needs to in order to prepare for auditions.

Oh me of little faith and of even less talent and determination has fleeting thoughts of doubt about this whole process. The competitive auditions are daunting enough but the yearly fees for some of the schools to which Oldest Daughter has applied are even more daunting. But, we continue to take one step at a time as we receive confirmation that we are heading in the right direction. Three of the four requested audition dates have been confirmed and we find our generous God continuing to provide for the upcoming audition trip: we were able to book our international flights using accumulated miles, just eight weeks in advance of our trip, flying into Houston and out of Newark and we have people to stay with in three of our four locations--even though we've never visited any of these cities before!

It is with sincere gratitude that we say thank you to so many who have prayed for us throughout this application process. We'll keep you posted on any new developments.