Just Enough

Fall, for me, is a fresh beginning. A time to reflect on the past year and a time to evaluate the upcoming season of life that is drawing upon us. A new year, if you like.

Recently in my time with God, friends, reading books, conversations, and in prayer I keep being drawn to the idea of just enough. What does it mean to live with just enough? To have just enough (time, resources, stuff, capacity to love, ability to make a difference)? To eat just enough? To make just enough money?

Then, yesterday, I came across this verse in Proverbs 30:8 which was, coincidentally, the same verse that a friend was just talking about a day before:

"give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread"

and it goes on to say in verse 9 "Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, 'Who is the Lord?' Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God."

In a country filled with affluence contrasted with deep poverty it's easy to visualize both scenarios: having too much and forgetting the giver of all good gifts (therefore acting with no regard to the well-being of others) and having too little and living in bondage to poverty and hunger. With a prayer asking God to give me only my daily bread, that means just enough for the day so that I will continue to remember and thank Him for his provisions; no more, no less.

While reading the book Reshaping It All by Candace Cameron Bure (remember DJ from Full House? yeah, her), she led us to a verse also found in Proverbs but in chapter 25 verse 16:

"if you find honey, eat just enough."

Eating just enough to fuel my body and satisfy my hunger and not so much that I feel like over-full. One of my goals in this 'new year' is to eat until I'm satisfied rather than until I'm already full (because by then, it's too much!).

Cleaning through the contents of my entire house was a great lesson in learning what I truly need to live. Does a person really need that many shirts? How many sets of dishes is enough for a family? [just one set, thank you]. How many pairs of shoes do I really need? [this was the hard one...]. How much stuff do I need to live comfortably? The answer was surprisingly less than what I had originally thought.

How much space does a family really need? I know of families of six that live in a house the size of my current bedroom. All together. Tight squeeze. As we're on our way to England, we will be downsizing from a 2400 sq.ft. house to a 2 bedroom/2 bathroom flat (apartment) which will be enough for our family of four.

The monetary monthly income we currently have is half of what it was a year and a half ago. We learned during that time of plenty to live on just what we need and to give the rest. So now, we are living the same lifestyle but (unfortunately) don't have as much to give away to great organizations/people/ministries. Thankfully we are nearly debt-free (except for our house) and we have learned to discipline ourselves and our spending habits.

As Westerners, it's difficult to not get wrapped up in the idea of living the "normal" lifestyle. Our house, by Western standards, is "perfect" for our family. In addition to the master bedroom with a bathroom and walk-in closet, each child has her own bedroom, we have a sizable kitchen and a cozy living room in our upper level and we have a family room/school room along with an office and an extra bedroom and bathroom for guests in the lower level of our house. Right now we have a family of four living with us - now I finally feel like our space isn't wasted.

I'm enjoying this journey of learning how to live with just enough. To be contented and crazy-happy and free in the knowledge that what I have is my daily bread and I need not worry about what tomorrow will bring (although I'm kind of hoping it will bring my VISA. just sayin'). My prayer is the same as the wise man who wrote the Proverb: give me neither too much nor too little; only just enough for this day so that I will continually praise You.

Surprises

After 10 years, my husband still has the ability to surprise me.

My VISA didn't come. After waiting and peeking out the window every time I heard the sound of an engine that could be the UPS truck, it never arrived. I had to call the airline and change my flight to this coming Friday. I'm still hoping and praying that it will come as Friday is the airline's last flight to London for the season.

My husband did come. Thursday night, after my house was spotlessly clean, thanks to my mom and my two aunts, exhausted, I sat down to check my email (again, just in case the consulate sent me an email saying my VISA/passport was on its way). To my surprise there was an email from my husband with a flight itinerary attached and a question asking, "Can you pick me up around 6pm? Want Papa Murphy's for supper?"

WHAT?!!

Since it was a three-day weekend in the UK, he decided to find a cheap, last minute flight and come home for the weekend. What a guy! So the girls and I picked him up from the airport Friday night and drove to Papa Murphy's to get our take-n-bake pizza for supper that evening. We were all so excited to see him and we had a fun weekend together. The picture is of Will and Annie standing next to the giraffes at the zoo on Saturday.
Sadly, we dropped him off at the airport this evening and it absolutely broke my heart when Annie kept crying, "Dada! Dada!" as we drove off :(
If it's meant to be, my passport/visa will arrive this week. If it doesn't, then I guess we'll come up with a new plan for the fall. We're praying for God to lead the way and for us to be attentive to His leading!

Sometimes

This blog post is inspired by Kristen over at We are That Family!

Sometimes I let Chloe watch a movie for her rest time just so she won't nap during the day and go to bed at 7:30 instead.

Sometimes I make cookies just so I can eat the dough.

Sometimes I pretend not to hear Annie in the middle of the night in the hopes that she'll just fall back asleep.

Sometimes I watch an episode of Glee while doing the dishes or folding laundry (in fact, that was me last night).

Sometimes I wait until the kids are in bed (or out of sight) and sneak in a piece of chocolate just so I don't have to share.

Sometimes, after playdates, I thank God for my kids and am glad I don't have to deal with "those other" children.

Sometimes I eat cereal for supper, especially if the husband is not around.

Sometimes I roam around Target by myself just because it's nice going at my own pace and getting to the checkout counter with nothing opened!

Sometimes I don't answer the door if there's a salesperson waiting to chat. Lesson learned: I'm a sucker.

Sometimes I feel like a great mom who has it all together and sometimes I feel like a complete failure!

Anyone else have anything to confess?

Freakin' Out

Can I just be completely honest? Well, yes, I can because this is my blog.

I am freaking out.

Why you ask? Because of this:



and



This is what our closets look like as of yesterday.

And now we have to find somewhere to deposit this:

My husband's flight leaves for England tomorrow at 4pm and he starts his new job in London on Monday. The girls and I will still be here, at our house in MN, awaiting my spouse visa approval and praying in faith that we will get to arrive in the UK on August 27th, a week later than Will. Once Will gets to London, he has appointments and viewings set up so that we can find a place to rent/live.

The only things we have left in our closets is what I'll be transferring into suitcases when the time comes.

The idea of all of the unknown (not knowing when my visa will arrive, having no place to live, not having any friends close by, still needing to register the girls as British, getting Chloe set up for preschool, etc.) and grieving the comfort of the known (house, friends, knowing the family/kid-friendly places in our area) is causing me to freak out a bit. Well, kind of a lot.

Thankfully when it feels as if my world and my head are spinning, I can hold on to the truth found in Philippians 4 verses 4 - 7:

"Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice! Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon. Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus."

Just because something is difficult doesn't mean it will not worth the effort. I'm going to keep praying and giving my fears to the Lord and He will bless me by listening and understanding. Moving my family across an ocean and six time zones is not easy [the packing itself is very tiring]. But just because something is not easy doesn't mean it shouldn't be done. So, here we go! England, here we come!

Nana's Almond Tarts

During our trip to England, one of the highlights for me included my baking lesson with Will's Nana. She makes these delicious and highly addictive almond tarts that I just had to know how to re-create! Since then, Chloe and I have made them in our kitchen and for your pleasure, I will share the recipe.

Step One: Recruit a cute helper to help you measure, dump and stir














Step Two: Make a simple shortbread crust
* 6 ounces of flour
* 3 ounces of vegetable lard or margerine
* water
Mix the flour and marg. together until it looks crumbly. Add water by the tablespoon until it gets to the consistency of dough (or in my amateur case: like play dough)

Step Three: Roll and cut out the dough
* Lightly flour a hard work surface and roll the dough out flat until it is thin (between 1/8" and 1/4")
















* Use a cookie cutter or the top of a glass to make circular shapes
* Gently place the cut-out circles into a muffin tin

Step Four: Make the almond filling
* in a small mixing bowl, stir/whisk/beat with a mixer one egg white until it's stiff with 2 ounces of sugar, 2 ounces of ground almonds and 1 tsp of almond essence.
















Step Five: Fill the tarts
* put about a 1/2tsp of jam (any flavor you want) on top of the tart inside the muffin tin
* put a heaping tsp of the almond mix on the top





















Step Six: Put a thin cross of pastry across the top
















Step Seven: Bake at 350 degrees (or as Nana says, "a moderately hot oven") until set and lightly brown (about 12 minutes)
















Step Eight: Take out and enjoy!!






















Four generation of Yates' can't be wrong: these almond tarts are tasty!!