Sayer's new book has been published! The High Definition Family hit online booksellers Today!

We were expecting to hear from the publisher in a few weeks that the book was ready to go, but Sayer got an email this morning that his book was available on the Xulon Press web-site. We have since found that it is on Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.Com as well!

It is impossible to say how thrilled we are that the book is now out and available. We will have our launch party soon. Stay tuned!

In the meantime, buy your copy of the book today by clicking on the image of the book, above (and remember to put a review on Amazon.com).

"The High Definition Family isn’t about being an ideal family, a perfect family, or even a good family, but about your family as you are now, on a journey with God reaching your highest potential."

HOLY GROUND

The internet has been a blessing to me as I am able to work effectively from home, in a way that I couldn't have even five years ago. There are times that I don't leave the house all day and so see only my family and perhaps the woman who comes to care for the children while we work. When this happens I usually spend extra time looking at the news on the internet, local KATU, national CNN, and international BBC. I don't know what I would do without these connections, especially as we don't watch the news while the children are up because there is so much that they aren't ready to see. And I can chat with my friends, by phone or online. But there is something about the human touch--bringing the stranger into one's home and offering food and coffee and warmth that creates a holy space.

Yesterday at 11:00 a.m., as it became clear that my mother's Christmas Day party would be postponed and knowing that my brother's Christmas Eve party had already been postponed, I was suddenly free to do something bold that I have wanted to do for a long time: throw a big party and invite all the neighbors. So we printed about 40 invitations and all of us--Sayer, Emma, Nathan, Ian, and I--went door-to-door in our condominium complex, inviting everyone to a spontaneous, snowbound, Christmas Eve potluck. We were especially keen to connect with people who are older and might be more cautious about driving and anyone who, because of our extreme winter weather, was separated from family. Several people weren't home, the snowy path to their doors pure and undisturbed. But for those who were home I could see the possibility in their eyes as they considered our invitation and watched the unselfconscious joy of our kids as they sucked on icicles and got their boots stuck in the snow.

Not really knowing what people would have on hand nor how many people would show up, I made a big pot of vegetarian lentil soup, fried chicken, and corn bread. Sayer and I joked about how only one person would probably show up, but it would be a Party! Then people started calling. Then people started arriving. At final count we had 11 extra people in our home on Christmas Eve, for a party that we had no inkling of hosting 7 hours before. We had young and old, single, married, Christian and those of unknown religious orientation. There was a universal sense of anticipation and enjoyment of friendly company. I loved watching my children engage with new people and see how an expected evening alone can turn into something much, much bigger. One of our guests took photos of everyone and everything, to email to her family in Shanghai so she could share the experience with them.

For me the Holy Spirit is most evident when people gather with a sense of openness and love. The Holy Spirit was present indeed last evening. Christmas Eve 2008 will be a year that I remember for a long time, representing the possibility that is always present to be a blessed community when we open our homes and break bread together.

MILD AND CREAMY HUMUS

Humus is a great source of protein and potentially appealing to kids. So I've been experimenting with making a humus that is mild yet flavorful to tempt my children for quite some time now. I will probably continue to fiddle with the recipe, but this one has been a favorite (they start demanding a taste before it's done). If you plan to cook your own chickpeas, rather than using canned, you will need time to soak and cook them first (4 hours to soak and 90 minutes to cook, or cook them the night before).

Equipment: Food processor.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup tahini (or 1 1/4 cup raw, hulled sesame seeds)
1 1/2 cups raw chickpeas/garbanzo beans (or 4 cups cooked)
3 med. cloves garlic, minced (mince them before adding to the food processor, or do them 1st)
1 tsp salt
5 Tb lemon juice concentrate (by all means use fresh if you have it)
1/4 cup plus 1 Tb olive oil
1/2 cup water

Optional Ingredients:

If you want to experiment with more interesting flavors, add about 1/2 of a medium red bell pepper, roasted, or any one or a combination of the following spices: cumin, coriander, ginger, dry mustard, turmeric, paprika.

Instructions:

Place 4 cups (about 2-15 ounce cans) of cooked chickpeas into a food processor and blend. If you are cooking your own, see the cooking instructions below (you will need to start the cooking process at least 5 1/2 hours before you want to start mixing the humus ingredients).* To the chickpeas, add all of the remaining ingredients except the olive oil and water (if you are making your own tahini, see the instructions below**). Mix these ingredients well. Once they have been well mixed, begin to drizzle the olive oil and water into the food processor chute and continue mixing until the humus has the right texture for you. I use about 1/4 cup of olive oil and 1/2 cup of water. This will yield a mild and creamy humus. Add any of the optional ingredients to taste.

Be sure to give me feedback about how my recipe may be improved. Enjoy!

* To cook raw garbanzo beans, rinse them, put them in a pan, and add enough water to cover them with a couple of inches. Soak them for 4 hours (or overnight). When they're done soaking, drain the soak water, add new water (again, to cover with a couple of inches), and simmer for 60-90 minutes. How long they take to cook will depend on how fresh the dried beans are.

** To make tahini, place between 1 and 2 cups of raw, hulled sesame seeds in a food processor (for the humus recipe above I use about 1 1/4 cups of sesame seeds). Run the processor to grind the seeds until they are well broken up. Because the food processor isn't as efficient as a grinder at releasing the seeds' natural oils, you will probably want to drizzle some olive oil into the chute after they have been initially processed to get a creamier consistency. If you are going to use this for the humus, you will want to remove the tahini from the food processor once it's finished before you give the chickpeas a whirl.

HOW TO MAKE PECAN BUTTER

You probably didn't wake up this morning and say, "I think I'll make pecan butter," but for those who are allergic to peanuts or soy products (which cross-contaminate most, if not all, commercially produced nut butters), you will be pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to make your own, out-of-this world nut butter. All you need are shelled nuts and a food processor. In 5 minutes you will have a healthy and nutritious protein source. These instructions focus on pecans, but I will give you some tips below about hazelnut (filbert) butter, almond butter, and cashew butter as well.

INGREDIENT: 2 Cups Shelled Pecans (We use raw because they are healthier, but you could probably use roasted, if you prefer.)

EQUIPMENT: Food Processor.



Measure 2 cups of shelled pecans (pieces, halves, or whole, it doesn't matter) into the bowl of your standard-sized food processor. Please don't use more than 2 cups, or it will be too much for the food processor and you won't get creamy results. It's better to do more than one batch. Put the lid on, plug in the food processor, and turn it on. It will be briefly noisy as the nuts are initially ground, then the small bits of nuts will fly around for a minute or so, then something magic will happen, the oil will be released and the mixture will become smooth. Run it for an extra minute or so after the oil is released and you will have a creamy delight.




STORAGE: We store the nut butter in a mason jar and have never had to refrigerate it because we eat it too quickly for there to be rancidity problems. Also, I'm not a food expert, but because we use raw nuts, rather than roasted, we may also cut down on rancidity issues. (If you know food and I'm wrong, please let me know!)


Using other nuts:

You may also use hazelnuts with excellent results. I watched my stepmother use hazelnuts in her miniature food processor in a small amount and it turned out great. You may also use almonds or cashews. However, if you use these nuts, you will have to drizzle in some olive oil (or other suitable oil) or it will be too dry and pasty. Apparently the food processor is not as efficient as a grinder at releasing the oils. Pecans and hazelnuts do not need extra oil. I'm also experimenting with tahini, but my tahini isn't ready for prime time.

We mainly use the pecan butter on pancakes: pancake, pecan butter, jam, and real maple syrup. It is out of this world and a great way to get the kids to eat protein in the morning.

ENJOY! And please let me know about your experiences with nut butter.

Identity Crises and Macaroni Dreams

So, I'm realizing that I don't have time to write the kind of post I would like, insightful, interesting, philosophical, etc., especially since Sayer is working like mad to get his book written (so I'm picking up some extra slack around the house). But what I do spend a lot of time doing is being creative in feeding my family. Nine years ago when I asked my future husband to lunch, I asked him if he had any food issues. He said, "I'm a vegetarian." Oh. "What do you feed a vegetarian?" I asked. "Vegetables," he replied with a smile. Duh.

That was the beginning of my adventure exploring new ways to think about food. So this is a foodie summary of my family:

My husband has Type I Diabetes, is vegan, and also avoids: yeast, soy, mushrooms, and gluten.

My daughter has Celiac disease (which means no gluten, found in wheat, barley, and rye) and is allergic or sensitive to: dairy, soy, sucrose, corn syrup, bananas, and walnuts.

I am allergic or sensitive to soy, dairy (except cheese, thank goodness), rice milk, canola oil, flax oil, corn oil, peanuts, and a few other things.

My twin boys, so far, have no known food sensitivities.

So what do we eat around here? That's a big question. Most things you might buy at the grocery store are out. Most processed foods are out, because they contain either wheat, dairy, or soy. Then there's the cross-contamination issue. Let's not even get started on that.

I think I'm going to start posting recipes and food ideas that work for us, and might just work for you if you have similar food issues that you or your family deal with. There's the identity crisis taken care of. What about macaroni dreams?

This is one of the kids' favorite lunches (when macaroni and cheese just is not an option):

Dreamy Macaroni


Ingredients:

Brown Rice Pasta (we like Tinkyada's)
One fresh orange
A bowl of your favorite nuts (pecans or almonds work great)
One avocado

Cook the pasta according to the instructions. Rice pasta needs to be stirred a few times while it's cooking. Grate or grind the nuts (we have a cool grater with an attachment that you can put nuts in and it holds them in place while you grate them). Cut the avocado into small pieces.

Drain and rinse the pasta with cold water when it is done cooking. Over each serving of pasta, squeeze as much orange as desired, sprinkle the nuts over the top, and add the avocado pieces.

Nutritious and yummy.

Praying for Andrew

Early this week I began asking the children, as we began our evening prayers, "Who do you think needs us to pray for them right now?" and have continued this as a nightly custom. Although our 5 -year-old daughter immediately knew what I meant and suggested the names of several people, our 2-year-old twins at first didn't know what I meant. But on the second or third evening, when I asked the prayer question, Nathan replied, "An-doo." I had no idea what he was talking about. I asked him several times before I realized he was saying, "Andrew."

On Sunday, as we drove to church, there was a man standing on the corner with the familiar cardboard sign asking for help. We routinely give money to people standing on street corners, holding up cardboard signs asking for money. I realize that many people do not give money, for many reasons. Some feel that the money will just be used for drugs or alcohol. Some feel that it doesn't provide any more than a band aid to a larger problem and that by giving to larger, homeless aid organizations, they are doing their part to alleviate the suffering of homelessness. I'm sure there are many other reasons. We have prayerfully decided to give small amounts of money to people standing on the street corner. We'll never know what it will be spent on, but hope it will be used for food or shelter. Perhaps not. Jesus fed the hungry. Since we don't carry food around with us, we will simply give the hungry the respect of giving them the ability to buy the kind of food that they need, knowing that they may choose badly.

I don't remember exactly what Sunday morning's sign said, except that it first asked for prayers and then asked for money. When we are with our children and see homeless people we talk to the children about our basic belief that everyone belongs to God and what this means to us. So this Sunday we pointed out to the children that the man was there, asking for help, and discussed what we could do to help him. It was only a couple of blocks from our church and there was no way for us to get to him from our car across the busy intersection. So we parked at church and Sayer ran back to talk with him. Sayer stayed only briefly because he knows that standing around and talking for too long is "bad for business"--he wouldn't be given any money by anyone else while Sayer was standing there talking with him.

They talked briefly. Sayer learned that his name is Andrew and more about his journey. He mentioned Jeremiah 29:11 and that God has plans for him that are giving him hope. Sayer gave him a few words of encouragement and then asked him what he wanted us to pray for on his behalf. He prayed with him, gave him a small amount of money, and joined us at church. That night we prayed for him, as we told him we would.

Several days later, when I had asked the children who needed our prayer, Nathan said, "An-doo," over and over again until I understood. I am humbled by Nathan's developing sense of compassion. I could have received no better Mother's Day gift.

Distractions and Crises

I would like to post an update about my successful Canadian day trip, but I've been too distracted because my brother was probably mugged on Thursday night. He has suffered for many years from mental illness and has become increasingly vulnerable as a layer of depression settles over his other mental issues. I say he was probably assaulted because we really don't know. He says that he fell. This is unlikely, given that he broke a bone in his face (not nose) and there are 3 distinct areas of injury on his head, one of which is an unlikely location for a fall on the pavement. I don't blame him for not wanting to admit to an attack, if that is what happened. It would mean that he can't walk late at night two blocks from his home without worrying about being attacked. I have been glad to visit him and comfort him and love him this time. There are too many times when he has had crises far away from home or I have found out about them too late to be a presence for him at his time of need. He will be fine, physically. How this will affect him holistically remains to be seen.