YOB: # 30. Have an International Dinner (Part 2)

By Lara

I honestly don't remember how International Dinner got on the Year of the Birthday List. I know that I must have suggested it. As you have already read, Beth would never have suggested that. I think I envisioned multiple guests each bringing their favorite international dish for our sampling pleasure.

Obviously, it didn't work out that way.

I think my order at the International House of Pancakes consisted of a hamburger and mozzarella sticks. I don't think there is anything less international about that meal. I just wanted it to count because I was feeling anxious about getting the list finished.

Once I realized that the list wasn't going to get finished anyhow, I relaxed a little bit. That didn't stop me from wanting to get a little bit further into the 30 items. I had planned to take Beth to a Japanese Steak House. After all, Beth has been to Japan. Surely, she would like something there, right? Apparently, the only thing she liked in Japan was goyza. Also, I started having flashbacks of people with giant spatulas throwing food at me.

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Life Is Funny: Levers

By MAD21

I hope you all had a wonderful Father's Day. It was a very sunny and hot day here, so our choices of activities was a little limited. After some discussion about what my hubby wanted to do on his day, we decided to go to a mall that is a little more than an hour away from us. Yes. He chose to go to a mall.

Now, before you take his man-card away, realize that this is a HUGE mall that has some awesome stores in it. One being the Bass Pro Outlet store because it has a fish tank bigger than my living room and dining room combined. But there is one other store that we love going to. And that is the LEGO store.

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Fingerprint Fridays: Life Around Us

By MAD21

My mother-in-law lives near a nature conservatory. We enjoy the drive to her house because you never know what kind of wildlife you might see. In the last week, we've seen a Blue Heron, hawks, deer, rabbits, chipmunks and a really cool box turtle.

I know that having a bird choose an area around your house to build it's nest is something lots of people experience, and while there are a lot of people who do not like it, our family loves it. Probably because the birds are good at choosing areas where the mess they make doesn't matter.

We have been watching this nest of Robins (residing on the front porch of my mother-in-law's house) for the last few weeks. My girls have LOVED watching them grow. And were surprisingly happy when they finally left the nest this past weekend.

I love that we can experience these small fingerprints of God, and the joy of watching the animals that live around us. Even the pesky squirrels that eat all the food out of the bird squirrel feeders in our own front yard.

Fellow blogger Beki at The Rusted Chain has a really great weekly post she does every Friday called "Fingerprint Friday." We are to look around and see where we can see God's fingerprints. Is it in nature? Kids? Animals? Anywhere? Go find out where Beki saw God this week, and be sure to check out the other bloggers who linked their stories as well.

YOB: # 30. Have an International Dinner

By Beth

I'm a big fan of food. Probably why I'm not a size 2, but hey, looks aren't everything, right? Right? I can be bribed with cheesecake, or chocolate. Or chocolate cheesecake. Or cheesecake dribbled with chocolate syrup. Or chocolate cheesecake yogurt (it exists, trust me). Or…well, you get the point. Food is great, there are so many flavors, textures, spices; enough to explore for a lifetime. I really wish I could be that guy, Guy, from Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. Not the hair, just the taste-testing.

Funnily enough, though, I get nervous around foreign food, I was almost an adult before I tried Chinese food. See, I had a bad experience with food overseas when I was quite young. I remember it like it was yesterday….(cue the wavy flashback screen with the wobbly music). It was late winter of my 5th grade year of school. I hated 5th grade, was a 10 year old girl trapped in a 14 year old's body. Don't even ask. So I was looking forward to going to Israel with my family and our church group for 10 days. Any time out of school was okay with me. My parents had been several times, leaving my brother and I behind with various relatives, family friends and strangers. This time we were old enough to go. I was excited, it would be my first time out of the US, there would be foreign boys there and I'd get out of school, did I mention that? It is only looking back now that I can appreciate the places I went and their Biblical significance. I'd love to go back.

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Life Is Funny: I Like You Because...

By MAD21

My family had a great weekend. We spent all day Saturday swimming and all afternoon Sunday riding horses. It can't get much better than that, especially when the weather is cooperating. It was a wonderful way to start the summer.

We have some friends who we love enough we consider them family. My daughters call them Aunt and Uncle. My daughters were in their oldest daughter's wedding last year. As much as my girls LOVE Aunt K, there is a special connection with Uncle C. Perhaps because at any given moment he is helping them build a cool hiding place, playing with Barbie dolls, wearing giant purple dress-up hats, sneaking them sweets, or tossing them in the pool. For the rest of us it's just fun to watch considering Uncle C is a tall, big guy who is a retired police officer. So to see him playing Barbies or dress-up is, well, hilarious to say the least.

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