This Is Kristin

Is… Lucas Parry talking about his personal experiences in lands without food and water, and the organization Kiva.

Kat is in search of good parenting websites and resources, and so am I. I have found a good website, with good articles and resources called, Compassionate Kids, but nows your chance to point us to some other good books, websites etc.!

*Good teething tip: Buy one of these net feeder things, and put some frozen cut up banana, mango, or even ice in it, and let your baby gnaw away. Also, if they suck on a pacifier, put it in the fridge for awhile. they will appriciate that.

Spinach Salad with Shrimp and Feta

~This is cheap, yummy, quick, and the spinach provides good amounts of iron~

*4 servings
*15 minute prep time
*5 minutes cook time

~1/4 cup plus 3 TBSP. extra virgin olive oil
~1 lb. shrimp, peeled and devined
~1 shallot finely chopped
~2 TBSP. red wine vinegar
~1 TBSP. spicy mustard
~1 TBSP. honey
~salt and pepper
~ 8 oz. spinach
~1/2 cup feta cheese

1. In a medium skillet, heat 3 TBSP. olive oil over med.-high heat. Add the shrimp and stir fry until opaque. 2-3 minutes
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the shallot, vinegar, mustard and honey; season with salt and pepper. Pour in the remaining 1/4 cup olive oil in a slow stream, whisking constantly until thick. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the cooked shrimp to the dressing and toss to coat. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
3. Arrange the spinach on a platter or individual plates. Place the warm shrimp on top and drizzle with any reamining dressing. Scatter the feta on top.

Recipe by:
Rachael Ray

Okay, so I have decided to finally set up some kind of “schedule” to my blogging, just to help me organize my thoughts, and to actually keep up with posting, because some days are easier than others to post. Also, I am reading a few different books, on a few different topics and want to organize those thoughts…. (I talked about my desire to keep learning in a previous post, and had you guys share what you wanted to learn along with me) Here’s what I’ve come up with:

~Sunday: Spiritual growth topics
~Monday: “Green” things- environmental topics
~Tuesday:
~Wednesday:
~Thursday:
~Friday: Health issues, healthy eating, or healthy recipes
~Saturday: Parenting topics

That’s all I’ve got so far…. I’ll see how I do sticking to a schedule! I had to leave room for randomness. Maybe I’ll add more in later, let me know if you can think of more things.

~My son is going through the stage where he is trying to figure out what is real and what is not. He’s constantly asking, “Is spiderman a real person? Is superman real?”
He doesn’t like to be in the position of asking, he’d rather tell you what he thinks, and he jumps at any opportunity to give advice.

Today, he informed me that the blue tape on my chin, that I was pretending to shave off, was not a real beard, so I could just take it off. “Thanks, good to know.” I said, and he nodded and kept eating.

~Michelle. A very good post.

” This is NOT our home. We do not belong here. We are missionaries, just like people who are doing work in China or Africa or Russia or anywhere else. We need to live like that. We can live like that. Our neighborhood is our mission field, our city is too. There are broken people next door, down the street, commuting to and from work. They are rich and poor, old and young, beautiful and unapproachable.”

…is gardening. Or I should say my attempt at gardening. I love the act of digging, planting, and watching things grow. I love using the fresh basil for pesto, the aloe for firework burns, and hopefully one day the cherry tomatoes for salads. I love looking at flowers, and see them attracting butterflies. My problem is, that I am not good at it. I try, but here are my results….

These look good right? My husband waters them, because I forget. He said to me this weekend, “Sure, just love the front yard plants, but neglect the back porch plants.”

So you’d think that because I apparently “love” the front yard plants more, that they’d look just as good or even better, but here is an example of what they look like:
PATHETIC

~Thankfully I’ve got a husband who’ll pick up where I slack off, and a friend who’ll send me encouraging books like this:

Which if you are interested, this is also a good website…

~ I have been behind, but here are the links to days 19, 20, and 21 of the 40 day fast!

Day 19 is Transition Pete who lists some great books to read, things to watch etc. (and has a very cool looking blog!)

Day 20 is Marianne speaking about the Blood Water mission.

Day 21 is Mark Jaffrey talking about the people of Sudan, and a church he works for in Cairo.

By the way…. somehow the way my links look have changed… the names are links and a line appears instead of them being a different color word.

” Life consists not in holding good cards
but in playing those you hold well.”
-Josh Billings

~My grandpa loved to play cards, and he taught me many games and card tricks.
He didn’t say long lengthy stories of inspiration, but he had his sayings.
One of them being, “Play the hand you are dealt,” when I’d complain about life.
I always thought, “But I want different cards.”

I saw this quote, and it reminded me of him, and I understood a little better what he had meant.

Today’s blogger is Scott talking about the colonias in Texas.