MOVE THAT NANNA!!

Yesterday we returned from our 4 days in Edmonton on a mission to move Joel's nearly-80-year-old mom into a retirement community. We have been mentally preparing for this move for 2 years and dreading the very thought of it. She has what I will politely refer to as "bad habits" in the way of shopping and hanging on to things.

Everything.
Forever.

It was a very difficult weekend for her and for her kids. I could go on and on with stories and quotes.

Instead, I'm going to post about how much I love my siblings (in-law, but I don't feel like they are one-step removed from me, so I rarely use that term.)

There were 6 of us, working side by side, making united decisions and finding our own fun in the stress of it all. I love these people like crazy. I am so blessed to be one of them. I can't imagine how families deal with the season of aging parents and fight with each other while doing it.

We're all going to be together for Christmas this year and as much as I am dreading the drive to Edmonton,our 4th trip to Alberta this year, I can't wait to just hang out and enjoy my fellow Kerns.

Celebrating the people in my clan,
Dawn

write what you know

and here they are.



Adam, who towers over me now at 5'10", is so far (fingers crossed and praying--cuz you can't be too sure) still a delight, even though he has "the puberty." I know it could all come to a crashing hault at any second as the hormones take over and the brain activity seizes up, but for now, I am still crazy in love with him and like having him around. My favorite recent quote was when he walked into my freshly painted blue bedroom, which I was not loving, and said, "Mom, this paint color should be called Grandma's House." Well put. Four days and a change of color later, he looked at it and said, "Wow! You've taken it from 'Grandama's House' to 'Hotel Chic!'. I'm going to buy him a car.


Brodie, with all of his four front-upper teeth, has set his sole purpose in life to join the grade 7 band next year and play the tuba. Because it would be hilarious. Enough said? He's like a snickers, sweet and nutty with a soft center. I could eat him up.


Joel. My Joel. My freshly-forty year old husband, who always knows how to make me laugh, bring perspective, and works his arse off... spent 3 hours peeling and dicing 25lbs of apples yesterday. Never get between a man and his crisp. Knowing he would never be done before our 16 dinner guests arrived nearly put me over the edge, but hey, I can drown my anxiety in crisp for the next 7 weeks or so. It's love, what can I say.


My boys, my world, my heart. So thankful to be in the middle of them.

A Little Less Stuck

I haven't posted on my blog, excpet for that one time I did it by accident, for like 6 months.

Where to begin?

Dunno.

But thanks to a few faithful followers I feel a little bit motivated to get back into it.

Stay tuned, my faithful few... I just might fire up the old blog machine again soon.

I've been struggling to read and write the last few months, feeling a bit stuck in putting thoughts to words... but your encouragement has helped be become a little less stuck.

A grateful brain thanks you.

Mmmmmm... bacon.

I'm confessing to a new addiction.

Bacon.

Yes, there might be healthier choices out there, but well.... bacon has a hold on me.

The upside is that a little bacon flavor goes a long way, so you can use it sparingly and still get loads of flavor. I've been in this shady relationship with bacon for a month or so and I've found so many simple meals in which to feature my prized pork pieces.

To save yourself time, money and mess you can try these two menthods:

1) Costco sells big bags of cooked bacon for about $10... a good amount and I think it tastes great.

2) Take a package or two of bacon, freeze it to the half way point so that it's easier to cut, and chop it into about 1/4 inch pieces. Scramble fry till it's well cooked, drain and pat the oil off with a paper towel, then put the cooled pieces in a ziplock bag in the freezer. You've made one mess and have the potential for many meals.

Meal Ideas with Baconygoodness (yes, that's one word.)

• Spinach Salads (my other binge)... sprinkle a little bacon on some pre-washed spinach with a bit of goat cheese or feta, a finger pinch of seeds or nuts, some chopped apples or pears and a drizzle of vinagrette -- DELISH!


• In scrambled eggs or omlettes


• Baked in quiches


• On a toasted tomato sandwich


• Pasta carbonara


• In a big Caesar Salad with some fresh garlic bread


• Sprinkled on perogies


• In a quick corn chowder or minestrone soup

The possiblities are endless.

May the pork be with you.

My Sister Deb

Two months ago we found out that Joel's sister Debbie had ovarian cancer.

Two weeks ago she died of complications from her chemotherapy.

She was 44, spent the last 8 years married to an incredible man, and was the step-mom for his son and daughter, now in their early 20's.

Deb lived her short life well... she did all the things most of us say we want to do... see the world, fall in love, make a difference.

Deb and I were going to the same college when Joel and I started dated. As soon as she caught on to our interest in each other she would greet me with a big smile and say, "Hello future-possible-sister-in-law"... I loved that.

As the sister of 4 brothers, she held her own on the teasing front and took the best of her parents into her own individuality. She loved the children in her life, and each of her neices and nephews laid a flower on her casket at her burial, along with her grown kids.

She kept long-time friends and constantly engaged in new relationships. She loved the globe and all the people of it... serving those in Asia and Africa. She had a huge heart for foreign students and spent many years teaching English as a second language and tutoring international students at the University of Lethbridge. Their flag flew at half mast in her honor.

Hundreds of friends and family came out to celebrate and mourn this remarkable woman last Monday in Lethbridge. We watched her friends from her choir sing for her, sing for us, and wipe their tears as they did it. We watched international students break down at her grave site. We saw their community rally around my brother-in-law Ron, and us, her family.

As we spent a few days together as her friends and family we were able to share memories, shed tears and gain perspective. Life can be short. Live it well.

So, now that we are coming out of the fog, catching up on sleep, realizing that there will always be a little part of us that is sad, we will carry on her legacy:

Debbie Kern Kullman lived out her faith every day.

She loved... LOVED the people God brought into her life.

She served... SERVED sacrificially, using her gifts and talents to honor her Creator and the people around her.

She cared... CARED for the poor, and has a family of children she and Ron have sponsered... no, more than that, she wrote and invested and took interest in these special people in her life... she and Ron dreamt of visiting each one of them.

Thank you, Deb, for being an amazing woman, a great sister, and loving friend, a courageous light in these last months, and inspiring example of love and truth. We miss her, but we do not grieve like people who have no hope, because we know that when Jesus said, "I'm going to prepare a place for you", he meant it. She is home, and whole and perfect. And knowing that makes it just a little easier to deal with our reality without her.

If you knew her or would like to, this is the link to a slideshow of photos from her life.

Thanks to all our friends who have checked in and cared for us these last 2 weeks... your love and prayers have been so appreicated. The pic below is the rest of us Kerns & Kullmans after her celebration, and a few shots from the day.

http://www.caringroup.com/slideshow/kullman/Debbie.html

A solid 3.

The other day I asked the boys to rate my mean factor.

On a scale of 1-10, with one being a super amazingly nice mom and 10 being cruel.

Brodie gave me a 3.

So I asked him to break it down for me, describe what a 1,2 & 3 means.

"Well, a one would be a mom who bakes you cookes every day after school.
A two would bake cookies sometimes.
A three bakes cookies sometimes, but also wants to teach you things. Like vacuuming."

I can live with that.

2 Point Muffins

I've prbably tried about 317 low-fat muffin recipes.
To me, they all have a gluey texture that turns me off.

I have finally found my Neo. On the SPARK RECIPES site.

I find the texture was better after they had completely cooled. Also, I added some cinnamon to the batter, not just the topping.

Ingredients:

1 cup old fashion rolled oats (not instant)
1 cup non-fat milk
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 egg whites
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. sugar

raisins or nuts (optional)

Directions:
Soak the oats in milk for about one hour.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Spray muffin pan with cooking spray.
Combine the oat mixture with the applesauce and egg whites, and mix until combined.
In a separate bowl measure and whisk the dry ingredients together.
Add wet ingredients to dry and mix until just combined.
Add nuts or raisins if desired.
Do not over mix the batter or the muffins will be tough.
Spoon muffin mixture into muffin pan.
Combine the cinnamon and sugar and top each muffin with some of the mixture.
Bake for 20-25 minutes or until done.
Remove from pan, cool and enjoy.
These can be frozen and reheated in the microwave for a quick breakfast.
Number of Servings: 12

Recipe submitted by SparkPeople user JOJOMKE.

Take another minute...

I posted this in the fall sometime, but I just read it again this am and had to repost it.
I know it's a long one, but it's sooooo worth reading and considering, it so hits where my heart is at... wishing you all a soul satisfying day!


Erwin was once in the Middle East and had been..."invited to speak to a group of Muslims, specifically about the history of Christianity. Pressed by my translator to answer a question that I had somewhat evaded, I was left with nowhere to go but to talk more specifically and personally about Jesus. I had been describing to them my own sense of disapointment with and even disdain of the religion of Christianity. They all quickly agreed that as a religion, there were deep problems and inconsistencies between beliefs and practices.

But eventually they wanted to know what exactly was the meaning behind the coming of Jesus. Somewhat apprehensively I began my best effort to translate back into a Middle Eastern context the story of Jesus (after all, this was Jesus' home turf) and, more specifically, why it would be necessary for God to become human. This, from my vantage pont, was the story of God. It's a love story, by the way.

"I once met a girl named Kim."

My translator looked at me confused. I'm sure he was wracking his brain, trying to remember some biblical character named Kim. He stopped translating and just looked at me. I encouraged him to simply translate.

"I once met a girl anmed Kim, an I fell in love."
I continued, "I pursued her with my love and pursued her with my love until I felt my love had captured her heart. So I asked her to be my wife, and she said no." I could feel their empathy, if not their pity.

"I was unrelenting and asked her again, pursuing her with my love, and I pursued her with my love until she said yes."There was huge relief through-out the entire room.

I went on, "I did not send my brother, no did I send a friend. For in issues of love, you must go yourself.

This is the story of God: He pursues you with his love and pursues you with his love, and you have perhaps not said yes. And even if you reject his love, he pursues you ever still. It was not enough to send an angel or a prophet or any other, for in issues of love, you must go yourself. And so God has come.
This is the story of Jesus, that God has walked among us and he pursues us with his love. He is very familiar with rejection but is undeterred. And he is here even now, still pursuing you with his love."

The images we often receive of Muslims are that they're angry, hostile, and violent people. I can tell you that in this moment I knew there was something transcendent that connected all of our hearts and souls together. A belief that was supposed to divide us strangely united us, and I feel most certain that I knew why. Every human being longs for love. The possibility that God is love is an almost overwhelming prospect.

In that moment the story of Jesus was not about who is right and who is wrong, what God's name is and who his prophet is, but what exactly God's motivation toward humanity is. If the message that God wants to get across to us is just about getting our beliefs right, then he didn't need to come himself. If God's entire intent was to clarify right from wrong, no personal visitation was necessary. If the ultimate end was simply to overwhelm us with the miraculous so that we would finally believe, then even God taking on flesh and blood and walking among us was far from necessary.

There is only one reason for God to come himself, because in issues of love, you just can't have someone else stand in for you.

When it comes to love, it has to be face to face. There has to be contact. Love cannot exist where there is only distance. Love can survice distance, but only by the stength of what comes through intimacy.

Like Solomon's lover, God is gong up and down the streeets of the city, traveling the most obscure paths and untamed wilderness, walking on unnamed roads in the most desolate of places, searching for the one he loves -- and that one is you and me and every human being who has ever walked the earth, has taken a breath, and has longed for love.

Religion exists not becasue God loves too little, but because we need love so much. In the end all religions misrepresent God. They either dictate requirements for love or simply become a requim for love. I think many of us have rightly given up on God on this basis alone. We've been told that God is a reluctant lover and that his standards must be met before there can be any talk of love. This is lunacy. Love exists because God is love. Our souls will never find satisfaction until our hearts have found this love that we so desperately yearn for.

God is not passive, for love is never passive, but always passionate; and passion always leads to action."

Crock Pot Love

This is the easiest dinner in the world. Kind of a sweet & sour thing.
MUST be served with rice and corn (in our opinion.)

CHICKEN ROSA

Put enough Chicken Thighs to feed your family in the crock pot.

Mix together the ROSA in med bowl... adjust to taste:
R - Russian Salad Dressing (and if you want to lighten it up you can find a recipe for the dressing and cut the oil down), one small bottle is good for our family of four.
OS - Onion Soup Mix (about one packet)
A - Apricot Jam (a good sized glob, depending how sweet you like things)

Pour the sauce over the chicken and let it simmer away for a few hours.... sooooo yummy.

We're Broken

What kind of parent lets their kid snowboard with a cast on his arm? Probably the same kind that let that same kid walk around with a sore arm for 5 days before they realized it was broken.

So, as I dropped my little darlings off with their sporty-spice father for a boys' night of snowboarding at Big White last Friday, my parting words were, "Adam, don't break anything, because if we have to take you to the hospital because of a snowboarding accident and you already have a cast on your arm, we're going to get a special file at the hospital."

Off they went to hit the slopes and off I went for, what was supposed to be, a nice long evening with some good friends.

9pm Joel calls, "Well, we've got another broken arm"
"Tell me it wasn't Adam!"
"It wasn't Adam."
"Oh, poor Brodie... are you taking him to the hospital right now?"
"No."
"Is he in an ambulance?"
"No."
"What are you doing?"
"I'm not taking him the hospital."
"What are you talking about?"
"It wasn't Brodie."
"uuugggghhhh.... your right or your left?"
"Left" said my lefty husband.
"Meet you at Emerg."

After an amusing 5 hours at emergency including a great "Special K" trip, he came home with his "very professional looking" black cast, a mit-full of drugs, and a subtle disregard for the "keep it elevated at all times" instructions.

Two weeks later, the guy is still suffering. Today had an appointment with the Orthopedic surgeon to check on the progress, and apparently the bone fragments, (when you're 13 your bones buckle but when you're pushing 40 your bones shatter) are settling into the tissue rather than back with the bone. Ouch.

So it looks like he'll be having surgery tomorrow, and then another 6-8 weeks of being casted.

Good times.

Poor Lefty.

P.S. After this I'm disabling the download of my blog to "notes" on FB. If you would like to follow my blog, you'll have to do it the old-fashioned way.

Nesting.

Our family has been mildly obsessed since the day we got back from Thailand. We'd been putting the dog-thing on hold until after our big adventure. Now, the time is right and we were on the hunt for the right dog.

Joel had seen a dog online at the Penticton SPCA, so Saturday afternoon we took a drive to visit him... he was a big beautiful thing, who really needed a lot of space and yard--something we knew we couldn't give him, great as he was.

And then we saw Ellie.

A cute, black mop of a thing.
Super soft long hair, a suspected schnauzer-poodle-maltese-cockerspanielish little girl, a 5 month old stray found in Kamloops. We spent a lot of time with her, talked a lot about the pros and cons of her vs. another larger dog I'd see on Friday at the Kelowna SPCA... and resigned ourselves to the fact that, while we really love big dogs, we can probably make a small dog happpier, and she's a "big" small dog-- and maybe she'll still grow a bit. If not, we still love her.

We love Ellie.

So, here I sit, researching and trying to figure out all the things I need to get between now and Thursday when we take her home, (she's being spayed on Tuesday), and I need the help of all my dog-lovin' friends.

What do I need?
Who's a good vet?
Who's a good groomer?
Does anyone have a second hand crate to sell or know someone who does?
Who's a good trainer (for me, not the dog :-)
What are the most important things?

PLEASE, OH WISE ONES, ENLIGHTEN ME!

This feels strangely like it did 13 years ago when we were about to bring Adam home.

The kids are beside themselves.
(Joel's happy to have an actual dog to blame.)

The Week in Review...

10. I finally FINALLY painted my master bedroom. I've been wanting to do it for years, but you know how painting bathrooms is... too much cutting in, what to do about the toilet, how do I get the hairspray spots off first... Anyway, it's over, and I'm happy.

9. Our appliances are all reaching their 10 year mark and breaking down. Our fridge pees on the floor 1-2 times per week. Not looking forward to replacing them, however, I've always considered having a crushed ice dispensor to be the height of decedance, so there may be an upside should we find such a fridge on sale somewhere.

8. Adam broke his arm while snowboarding last Saturday. We didn't realize it until Wednesday. FLUSSSHHHH... there goes "Mother of the Year" yet again.

7. Cheryl directed me to a great website : exercisetv.tv and I've done a couple of the workouts this week... one made me unable to move for 3 days, but I'm back, baby!

6. I'm also doing the Wild Rose detox, without the laxatives, thank you very much. I'm on day three, will cheat a little on Saturday night at friend's for dinner. I'm totally ok with that--sweet freedom.

5. Last week I got together with some friends and made 26 cards! I was able to give away 3 of them this week... I love giving & receiving homemade cards.

4. I'm sad for Joel's sister Debbie, who has to have chemo and surgeries this spring and summer... but thankful that she had fibroyd surgery last week or they would never have found what they suspect to be ovarian cancer.

3. Brodie reaaallyy needs a haircut... his faux-hawk is at an all time high and I fear he will put an eye out, and it won't be his.

2. Tomorrow I'm going to Bliss to run with my solesisters... I missed the last 2 weeks with them.

1. I'm reading a book called "Drowning Ruth" for a book club... so far, I like it, but I'm realizing that I'm not a very discriminating reader, as I like 90% of the books I read.

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!

It had a good sauce.

It was a warm evening, as we walked through a dark open market in Bangkok. We'd already had dinner at a soup vendor, but Joel had a hankering for something more substantial. After 24 days of eating in Thailand, we'd become quite comfortable with walking up to a BBQ vendor and ask for "one of these and three of those".

And that's what he did.

He didn't know what they were, but they came highly recommended by the vendor, and it looked like they had a good sauce.

"I think it's livers or something" he said after a couple of bites of his skewer. Followed by the thought, "when in Thailand..."

Minutes after the skewer was consumed, I started to tell him a story that one of our missonary friends had told me... about the grossest thing they'd eaten in Thailand.

"She described it as a skewer with round pieces of meat that had a hole in the middle" I relayed.

"That's what I just ate" he said.

pause.

"You just ate a stick full of chicken anuses."


Side note: Joel had seen a kettle full of chicken feet at the same vendor and thought, "oh no thanks, that's disgusting."

Like I Care.

Tammy cut my hair yesterday... i. love. it.

I did the long hair thing, which, I have to say, was nice for putting up in a clip for running and traveling... but it looked like crap, as I have the finest hair on earth and it amounts to nothing when pulled into a ponytail.

I could use my little ortho-elastics to capture my entire ponytail.

So, I am happy to report that my Entertainment-Reporter-Erin-Cebula-inspired hair cut was a good move, and I'm just happy to look like someone who cares.

Now if I could just get these braces off I'd be ridiculously gorgeous.

Ridiculously.

I said it.

Baan Sak Fan Orphanage

After our wonderful week in Phuket, we drove an hour and a half north to Phang Na province.
We spent most of the week at the most amazing place... Baan Sak Fan Orphanage.

Meet Gai & Somraum...
two amazing, loving, selfless Thais who left their life in another region and moved, with their own 3 kids, to Takuapa after the Tsunami--to raise other people's kids.

See these smiles? They're the real deal.
This couple are doing an amazing job of loving, leading and caring for about 20 kids, mostly teens, who don't have anyone else to take care of them. Most of these kids lost their parents in the Tsunami of '04. In some of their eyes, you can see a little sadness, but mostly this is a group of very happy, healthy, amazing kids--in a new family of their own. We were basically the fun squad... showing up for 4 or 5 hours a day with crafts and sports and games... we had an amazing time getting to know Gai and Somraum, as well as the kids. The kids were pretty shy with their English, but we still had a lot of fun making cards and decorating notebooks... (thanks to my scrappin' friends who sent me off with a whole dufflebag full of craft supplies!)

beading and manicures... We also got the kids hooked on Dutch Blitz, Uno and Twister...
Lots of fun playing with the kids, despite the language barriers... our kids did so well, diving into every new experience and person...We fell in love with everyone of them and can't wait to visit them again.

A group of Swiss doctors donated the money for the land and the buildings, and supported them for 2 years. Now they are in a situation where they daily depend on God to meet their needs. They have a brilliant plan to become financially self sufficient--chicken farm, pig farm, palm farm (for palm oil). Businesses that will provide reliable income for these kids, this great big family. They have such a solid plan, and Joel and I are honored to advocate for them here in Canada so that they can get things going, and extend their ministry to kids who need love and care. These are savvy, sophistocated people and all they need is a little help from people like us. A little money goes a long way in Thailand. If you're interested in helping them, we'd be than happy to tell you more.

These Little Piggies went to Market

Joel had searched all his life for a certain type of girl. At 22 he settled for Dawn Kern. 17 years later in a Phuket Market he found her.

The pancake lady.

I too, have a non-sexual crush on this woman.

(That kind of assumes Joel's crush on her is also non-sexual... hmmmmmmm.)

Becky took us to the market and we found our way back a few times (mostly for pancakes)… the sights and smells were something else. We’ll spare you the smells, here are a few sights:

We bought some amazing fruit and veggies, left all the meat products behind, and the boys had to pause at the cookie vendor. We’ve become addicted to these little shortbread-like cookies with pineapple jam in the middle. I’ve got 4 bags coming home.


Surprise, surprise, it’s all about the food.

Christmas Day in Thailand

Christmas Day

The boys opened their Christmas present (new snorkel gear) last night and we headed out to the beach first thing this am. We went to Ao Sane, a quite, lesser known spot with decent enough snorkelling and had a great time. The sand wasn’t soft and powdery, but small bits of coral—nice that it didn’t stick to everything. We had a great lunch at a restaurant right on the beach and then drove around the island for a while…saw the touristy beaches (which looked great and weren’t tooooo crowded).

For our Christmas Day dinner we drove around and decided to try a cute little place with a thatch roof. Once inside we realized that it was a place where you can fish for your own giant prawns and then they cook them for you. It sounded a little corny and we had a little language barrier issue, so we weren’t sure how it was going to work, but we eventually figured it out and ordered some interesting crab and prawn dishes and the kids fished the whole time, caught about 6 prawns which they BBQ’d for us and we promptly inhaled. The kids had such a good time, we chatted with a TV star from Dubai (according to, as if we’d know) —and it’s definitely the most unique Christmas dinner we’ve ever had! Next year we’re going to go to a shoot your own turkey restaurant.