Bustin' out

Lydia had a good night and will be home as soon as the red tape monsters are appeased. Yay!

RSV

Lydia definitely has RSV (a virus), but there are hints of a bacterial infection too, though that won't be clear until culture results return tomorrow.

In any case, she looks a lot better this morning after a few doses of antibiotic, and she is down from breathing 40% to 28% O2.

Still looking like discharge Thursday or Friday. I'll post updates here.

She’s baaaack!

Lydia is back at St. Louis Children’s Hospital, but we are not too worried at this point.

On that picture I posted the other day, her cheeks were flushed, she’d been tired, and she had had a runny nose. That all continued over the weekend, with a good dose of clinginess, and she stayed home from school today. But this evening she started looking worse around 5p.m. We took her in to the ER because she was not consistently keeping her oxygen saturation above 90% even on 5 liters per minute of O2 by trach collar, which is the practical maximum that we can give her at home.

She perked up some with some albuterol and Tylenol, and didn’t look too bad in the ER, on oxygen, but a chest X-ray showed an infiltrate in her right lung and probably starting on the left too. So even though it still seems likely to be a viral pneumonia, she is being admitted for i.v. (and inhaled) antibiotics, at least until cultures come back and her oxygenation perks up. Besides, we don’t say “just a virus” around here too much since our PICU adventure 2 years ago.

Lydia was a trouper in the ER tonight. She cried when her i.v. was being put in, but otherwise she was pretty stoic. And she got to show off her i.v. house to big sister Rose and say “hurt” over Skype. Winona is staying with Lydia overnight, because it is hard to separate mommy bear from her cub. I’d guess that Lydia will be in for 1 to 3 days depending on lab results, assuming there are no surprises.

Otherwise we are doing OK, and Jon and I will manage fine on our brief bachelor buddy adventure. I will try to keep this page updated with any good or bad news.

Lydia at 4+11/12

Lydia wanted to take advantage of an unseasonably warm day yesterday to write with sidewalk chalk. Dad did the writing, but Lydia could read every name, and she even helped spell some of them.

Paulo Coelho, O Alquimista

I finished this short novel recently. It was a very thoughtful birthday gift from my wife: a book she had enjoyed that I could read in the author’s original words. The English title is The Alchemist.

This book seems particularly apt for a 50th birthday, since so much of the book is about accomplishing something truly important with your life—achieving your destiny—and big round numbers like 50 force reflection on whether one has done so.

I really liked this book. It is fascinating to think back to my reaction to Anne Perry’s Tathea, which had a somewhat similar goal, yet in comparison suffers from what I initially saw as virtues, namely depth of theology and variety of application. I guess the conclusion is something like “sometimes the sonnet really beats the essay.”

I liked the book even though I am not sure yet to what extent I agree with the details and implications of its message. That observation fascinates me too. I look forward to discussing the book with Winona.

Parenthetically, I’m not sure lenda pessoal really is best rendered “personal legend,” as Winona says it was in the translation she read. I’m not sure there’s a better brief English phrase, but I wonder whether “personal quest” or “personal destiny” or even “biography” might add something. I’m curious what Rosalynde Welch would say.

Black’s three laws of child-rearing

A friend asked me to post these rules that I've been spouting for years.

1. The work increases logarithmically with the number of children.
  Your first child is an infinite change in your life. From one to two is huge. From five to six? Nah.
  In case anyone cares, that's:   W(n) = W(1) + b log n , where W(n) is the work when you have n children, and b = [W(2) - W(1)] / log 2 .

2. The number of children you can take care of easily is always one fewer than the number of children you have now.
  When your second child is an infant, you marvel that the human race ever survived. When you have three kids and someone borrows one of them, you ask your spouse, "Is it quiet to you?"

3. It's not the number of kids; it's the number of kids in diapers.

Ellen Raskin, The Westing Game

A Newberry Medal winner. Both delightful and thought-provoking. I liked it!

Ariana’s posts are moving

Apparently there were privacy concerns related to a similar blog from another missionary in the mission, so a few months ago Ariana passed on a request from her mission president not to post anything until we could limit views to her family and friends. So I finally got around to figuring out how to do that. All her future letters, pictures, etc., will be posted at the following, new blog:

    Ariana’s Adriatic Mission Missives

I hope to move her older posts to the new site soon.

Unfortunately, the whole idea is that only certain people can see the new site. And Blogger has a bug at the moment that prevents me from seeing who is following this blog. So if you email me, I will add you within a day or so to the Official List of People Who Can Read Ariana’s Letters. If you use more than one email address, it may work faster if you tell me which email address you use to access blogger a.k.a. blogspot a.k.a. google.

Thank you,

Kevin Black
blog administrator (to the extent that there is one)

Black Family Traditions

Our family has many traditions which help us feel close to each other and have fun together.

Daily traditions:

Morning prayer together, family dinner together, evening prayer together, read the Book of Mormon together.
Book of Mormon reading has included many fun variations. When the kids were little, puppets and stuffed animals would “read” the text or tell the stories and read a few selected passages.
Currently, we have everyone reading from another language and translating into English so we learn about differences in translations. In place of high sugar cereals for breakfast, we eat “Déia Delights,” a mix of a sugary cereal and a healthier one.
Favorite dinner meals include: Black beans and rice, wheat chili, home made pizza, fettucini alfredo, pasta con broccoli, chicken satay, and for company we like lasagna with French bread and a salad. We always include vegetarian options for our 3 veggie girls and those of us who are still getting ready to take the plunge.

Black Beans and Rice (This was originally trying to imitate Brazilian black beans, but it actually has more Cuban spicing.)
1. soak 2 C. black beans overnight
2. drain and rinse. Cook an hour or two with 6-8 C. water in a big pot until beans are tender (Alternately, cook in crock pot with 6-8 c. water for at least 8 hrs)
3. mostly drain liquid
4. add 1T salt, 2 t chili powder, 1 t onion powder, 1/2 t cumin, 1/2 t garlic powder, 1/2 t black pepper, 1 T. brown sugar, 1 T. vinegar optional: add 1/2 lb kielbasa sliced and fried with a sliced onion
5. serve over rice

Wheat Chili (serve with corn chips and grated cheese) (great vegetarian food storage meal)
1. Soak 2 C. beans overnight in 4 C. water (I use kidney beans or red beans or pinto beans)
2. drain beans. Pour into crock pot with 1 C. wheat and about 8 C. water (there should be twice as much water as beans and wheat
3. cook on high at least 8 hours until beans are soft
4. pour off most of the extra water 5. add 1 T. salt, 1T. Chili powder, 1 t. onion powder, a sprinkle of garlic powder, an 8-oz can of tomato sauce, and a can of corn

Pizza
1. Crust (adaptation of Willow’s French bread recipe): mix 1 c water, 1 T. yeast, 1 t. sugar, 3 c. flour, 1 T. oil, 1 t. salt in food processor. let it rise to double.
2. Preheat oven to 350°. Grease pizza pan. Stretch dough to cover pan.
3. Top with spaghetti sauce, then shredded mozzarella. Other favorite toppings include: sliced olives, cooked Italian sausage, pepperoni, onions, cooked vegetables. Ariana likes goat cheese.

Fettucini Alfredo (As Wanda says, “It’s just like making macaroni and cheese from a box but tastes better.”)
1. put a pan of salted water on the stove to boil
2. cook 1 lb fettucini. drain.
3. Melt one stick of butter in the pan. Add drained pasta. Add 1-2 c. freshly grated parmesan. Add half and half until it stirs nicely. Serve.

Pasta Con Broccoli (Pasta House Co. recipe)
1. bring a large pot of water to boil
2. saute 1/2 lb mushrooms in olive oil, set aside
3. add 1 lb shell pasta (or similar size) to boiling water. Stir. Return to boil. Cook 5 min
4. add 1lb chopped broccoli. Return to boil. Cook 5 min
5. drain pasta and broccoli
6. melt 1 stick butter in the pan. Return pasta and broccoli to pan
7. add 2 c. freshly grated parmesan cheese, sauteed mushrooms from #2, 1 t. salt, 1/4 t. pepper, 1/4 t. garlic powder, two 8oz cans tomato sauce, 2 C. half and half.
8. Serve or put into a casserole dish to reheat or freeze

Tempeh/Chicken Satay (Recipe from Rebecca at family reunion. We love it!)
1. make the marinade: mix 1/4 C. sesame oil, 1 C. soy sauce, 1/2 C. orange juice, 1/4 C. brown sugar, 4 cloves garlic (minced), 1-1/2 T. curry powder
2. soak tempeh or chicken at least an hour in the marinade (try it with tofu)
3. cook 2-3 c rice in rice cooker
4. grill #2 or bake in the marinade
5. make peanut sauce: saute 1 Chopped onion and two minced cloves of garlic in 1-1/2 T. olive oil. Add 1 t. chili flakes, 1 T. ground coriander, 1 t. ground cumin, 3T. Brown sugar, 2 T. lemon juice, 2 T. soy sauce, 1 C. smooth peanut butter. Gradually stir in 1 can coconut milk. Heat through.
6. Serve tempeh on rice topped with peanut sauce.

Lasagna
1. start a big pot of water boiling. Add a little salt. Add a pound of lasagna noodles when the water boils. cook about 10 minutes. drain
2. cook a pound of sausage (optional)
3. pour half a jar of spaghetti sauce in the bottom of a large baking dish
4. top with a layer of lasagna noodles overlapping
5. the next layer is two tubs of cottage cheese stirred together with a pound of chopped spinach and 4 beaten eggs.
6. Add another pasta layer
7. top with sausage and a jar of spaghetti sauce
8. cover with aluminum foil and bake about 40 minutes at 350 degrees. remove foil. Top with about half a pound of shredded mozzarella
9. return to oven for 10 minutes (heat can be turned off)
10. let sit 10 minutes before cutting

Weekly traditions: 

Go to church together each Sunday.
Sing “Welcome, welcome Sabbath Morning” on the way there, followed by other primary songs and hymns.
Family Home Evening each Monday night.
We love: singing together, Katie’s lessons, repeating the family motto, watching movies together, going to the pool, family bike rides, canoeing.

   Family motto:

• I am an important part of the Black family.
• I can be proud of my family and ancestors.
• We are brothers and sisters, so we are kind to each other in word and deed.
• We all love each other.
• We want to always stay together, so 
• we read the scriptures, 
• we listen to the prophet, 
• and we will do what they say.
• “We will seek learning, even by study and also by faith.”
• We value beauty.
• We will share our blessings by serving others.

Monthly traditions: 

Fasting.
Eating pancakes together to break our fast.
Pancake Recipe (serves 4—I double this for our family)
1. stir together in a large bowl: 2 c flour, 1/4 c sugar, 1 t. salt, 1 t. baking soda, 1/2 T. baking powder
2. add 2 eggs, 2 t. vanilla, 1 T. lemon juice, 1/4 c. oil, 2 c. milk. Mix well until no lumps remain
3. fry in lightly oiled pan
Grump parades as needed. When someone’s feeling grumpy, we all line up and parade around the house making grumpy faces and music and chanting: “grump, grump, grump, . . .” It’s hard to keep a straight face or to stay grumpy through this.
The kids love doing plays together and presenting them for the family. We’ve had lots of enactments of Book of Mormon stories. Veggie tales-style “Joe and the gold bible” with real vegetable puppets was a big hit. Recently, we enjoyed Rose’s clue-style murder mystery where it turned out that Miss Scarlet (Katie) did in Mr. Body (a dog puppet) with her powerful music. Judge Lydia was found out one time to have stolen the Gutenberg Bible, leaving behind clues of Rose’s hair, Rose’s ramen noodles, and Rose’s music, all of which Lydia craves.

A Year in the life of the Black Family: 

January
New Year's Day meal of: Ham, Collard greens, cornbread, and black-eyed peas with rice. There is a southern tradition that you'll earn a dollar in the coming year for every black-eyed pea you eat on New Year's Day. Recipes:
  Ham – heat it up in the oven according to package directions.
  Collard greens – Saute 1/4 lb bacon and 1/2 diced onion in a heavy pan. Add 2 big bunches of washed collard greens which have been cut into one inch slices. Cook about 15 min until greens are tender. Salt to taste; I think I add about a teaspoon.
  Cornbread – mix 1 C. cornmeal, 1 C. flour, 1/4 C. sugar, 1/2 t. salt, 1 C. milk, 1/4 C. vegetable oil, 1 beaten egg, 4 t. baking powder. Bake in a well-greased 9x9 pan for 20 min at 425 degrees.
  Black-eyed peas – Cook 3 C. black-eyed peas in crock pot or pressure cooker or regular pot just like you would any dry bean (soak first). Add 1 T. salt, 4 bay leaves, pepper, red pepper, 1 t. onion powder, garlic powder after beans are soft. Serve black-eyed peas over cooked rice. 

Sledding followed by hot chocolate any time it snows.Sperreng Musicals: The Music Man, Hello Dolly, Oklahoma, Beauty and the Beast, South Pacific, Aladdin, Peter Pan

February
Heart shaped sugar cookies for Valentine’s day
LHS Musicals: Once Upon a Mattress, Lucky Stiff, The Sound of Music, Sweet Charity, Cinderella, Little Shop of Horrors
Charissa’s birthday, Lydia’s birthday

March
William’s birthday -- quidditch games
St. Patrick's Day meal of : corned beef, boiled cabbage, boiled new potatoes, and rye bread. Leftovers made into Reuben Sandwiches with: rye bread, corned beef, swiss cheese, sauerkraut, and horseradish sauce.

April
General Conference – we love to listen to general conference together, if we’re not watching Lydia. Charissa and Katie sleep. (documented photos/drawings by Ari)
“Easter Bunny Day” – The day before Easter is when we have the easter egg hunt. We boil about 5 dozen eggs and color them on Friday. Then, on Saturday, we do the hunt and eat hard boiled egg sandwiches and deviled eggs for lunch after the hunt. On Easter, we eat leftover eggs and candy and try to focus on Jesus. We often do Myrna's egg game to read scriptures about the crucifixion and resurrection.

May
Katie’s birthday, Jon’s birthday
the Spirit Festival at LHS School
concerts
Memorial day ceremony with the LHS band next to Johnny’s Market

June
Ariana’s birthday
Swimming pool! We have a family pass and go as often as we can. For years we had lots of kids on the swim team. We love to swim!

July
We’ve watched 4th of July fireworks at the Arch, Webster Groves, and Kirkwood
Family Vacation – the essential element is a long time together in the car singing, talking, and playing games. Memorable elements include: The Ballad of Thundermoose and Cowdown
favorite places: North Carolina Outer Banks, Mesa Verde, Mexico, Yellowstone

August
school resumes
Mom’s birthday

September

October
Rose’s birthday
General Conference: we love watching general conference together. We take copious notes and do handwork (latchhook, embroidery, crochet, knitting) and sing and bask in the Spirit.
Halloween – Dad takes little kids trick or treating. If you’re taller than Mom, you host or go to a party instead.
Bake or boil at least one pumpkin to eat as a vegetable with meals and turn into pie

November
Dad’s birthday – he’s usually out of town at a meeting
Thanksgiving – Eat stuffed turkey (if you’re not a vegetarian) with grandma’s stuffing recipe, mashed potatoes, home made rolls, boiled yams, and pumpkin pie 
Grandma Jones’ poultry dressing: (fills a 20-lb bird) We used this recipe growing up. We thought it was a treasured family recipe that had been handed down. When I was a freshman in college, I had my first Thanksgiving with Grandma and asked about the recipe. I learned that she’d never actually made this recipe but had just clipped it from the newspaper and sent it to my mom. But it’s a great recipe, and I still use it. 6 c. toasted bread crumbs, 1/2 c. diced onions, 1 c. diced celery, 1/2 c. melted margarine, 1 t. salt, 1 t. poultry seasoning. Mix and put into washed, salted bird cavities. Close cavities with toothpicks. Cook turkey in an oven bag according to directions.
Mashed potatoes: cut up washed potatoes and boil. (leave the skins on) Drain off most of the liquid. Add 1 stick margerine and 1/2 c. powdered milk. Mix with mixer. Add milk as needed to get the right consistency.
Klixi Cannon’s rolls: We had several Thanksgivings with the Cannon family, and Klixi makes wonderful rolls. This is her recipe with the platypus bill shape that Kevin’s family used when he was growing up. Mix 1 c. hot water, 1 T. yeast, 1/3 c. sugar. Proof. Add 4 c. flour, 2 T. dry milk powder, 1/3 c. butter, 1 t. salt. Mix in food processor. Rise to double. Shape into platypus bills: cut into circles, place a sliver of margarine in the center, fold in half, press in two fingers to make nostrils and close the shape. Let rise again. Bake about 15 min at 350 degrees.
Peggy Simpson’s Yams: We had Thanksgiving with the Simpson family in 1988 and 1990-1998? They were wonderful friends, and we miss them a lot. Boil: 1 stick butter, 1 c. sugar, 2 c. water, in a big pan filled with peeled, sliced, yams. Cook on high about 20 minutes.
Pumpkin Pie: (super healthy and delicious by using more pumpkin and less sugar than usual)
1. cook a fresh pumpkin by washing and seeding and then boiling chopped up chunks about 3 inches across.
2. Make 2 crusts: Mix 2 c. flour, 3/4 c. shortening, 1 t. salt until the mixture looks like coarse cornmeal. Add about 4-5 T. very cold water. Divide in half and roll out and place into pie pans.
3. Make filling: blend the following in blender or food processor: 2 eggs, 2/3 c. sugar, 1/2 t. salt, 1 t. cinnamon, 1/4 t. ginger, 1/4 t. nutmeg, 1 C. powdered milk, 3 c. cooked pumpkin, water as needed.
4. Pour into crusts and bake about an hour at 350 degrees.
Pink Lemonade Pie (from Klixi Cannon’s traditional Thanksgiving evening meal of just pie) 1.make or buy a graham cracker crust 2.mix 1/2 gallon softened vanilla ice cream with 4 oz whipped topping (cool whip) and 1/2 can frozen pink lemonade concentrate, thawed 3.dump #2 into #3. freeze

December
Muppet advent calendar (Muppet version of O. Henry’s Gift of the Magi, a gift from the Larsons)
Caroling for neighbors passing out bread and sometimes a missionary item Messiah sing along
The Muppets’ Christmas Carol movie!
Christmas Eve –
  read the Black family Christmas-story-and-songs book together.
  Girls night upstairs- nail painting and talking about boys, and anything else.
  Also last minute present finishing/wrapping.
Christmas morning –
  open presents one by one starting with the youngest kid’s first present, then the second youngest’s first present...
  and eat buffet of cheese and crackers, fruit, candy, and Christmas bread and EGG NOG
Egg Nog: mix in a blender: 1/2 c. milk powder, 1 raw egg, 3 c water, 1/3 c sugar, 1 sprinkle nutmeg 
Christmas bread:
1. Dissolve in a small bowl: 1 T. yeast, 1 T. sugar, 1/2 c. hot water
2. bring to boil in a small saucepan or microwave 2-1/2 minutes: 1/2 c. margerine, 1 T. shortening, 1/2 c. water, 1/2 c. sugar, 2-1/2 t. salt
3. immediately add 1-1/2 C. cold milk to #2
4. place 2 c. flour in a large bowl. Add mixture from #3. stir. Add 3 beaten eggs. Stir. Add mixture from #1. stir.
5. add about 6 more c. flour until you have dough ready to knead . Add up to 1 more cup during kneading
6. rise to double
 7. shape into 4 braided wreaths. Brush with egg. Bake 35 min at 350 on cookie sheets covered with foil

OTHER RECIPES 

Cajun Red Beans and Rice
Pour 1C brown rice, 2-1/2 C water, 1T. Cajun seasoning, and a 15-oz can of chili beans into rice cooker. Cook. Stir in stewed tomatoes and red pepper flakes as desired. Bean Soup 1. soak beans overnight in water. Drain water 2. saute 1 chopped carrot, 1 lg chopped onion, 1 c. chopped celery, 1 T. minced garlic in olive oil in a big, heavy pan 3. add beans and 3 qt water to vegetables. Cook about an hour 4. add 1/2 t. dried basil, 1/2 t. dried oregano, 3/4 t. cumin, 6 oz tomato paste, 4 t. Vegeta seasoning, Tabasco sauce to taste Alternate cooking method: after soaking beans overnight and draining, cook at least 8 hrs in crock pot with 3 qt water. Add spices and vegetables after beans are soft.
Minestrone Soup
1. saute 1 C. diced carrots, 1 minced clove garlic, 1 c. chopped onions in olive oil in a big pot 2. add 1 c chopped cabbage 1 c. chopped celery, and water to cover several inches 3. heat to boiling. Add 1 c. dry pasta. Return to boil 4. add 1/4 t pepper, 1/4 t. rosemary, 2 t. vegeta, 1/4 t. thyme 5. cook about 10 min until pasta is tender. Remove from heat. 6. Add 1 c. frozen peas, 1 can kidney beans, 1 can tomato sauce. Let sit 5 min until peas are cooked Vegetable soup with dumplings 1. saute 1 onion in olive oil. Add 3 chopped carrots and cook until slightly brown 2. add 4 c. water, 4 c. tomato juice, 1c. Peas, 1 can corn, 1 t. basil, 1/4 t. pepper, 1 t. vegeta 3. heat to boiling. Spoon on dumpling batter: 1-1/4 c. whole wheat flour, 3-1/2t. Baking powder, 2 t. parsley, 3/4 c. milk. Cook covered 12 min.
Lentil Soup 1. saute 1 chopped onion in 3 T. olive oil 2. add 2 chopped carrots. Saute 3. add 7 c. water, 1-1/2 c. dry lentils, sprinkle of garlic powder and thyme, 1/2 t. lemon pepper, 2 bay leaves, 2 t. vegeta 4. cook about an hour 5. optional addition: 1/4 lb cubed ham or hot dogs 6. serve with biscuits 
Biscuits 1. stir together: 4 c. flour, 2 T. baking powder, 2 t. salt, 2/3 C. oil, 1-3/4 C. milk 2. spoon onto ungreased cookie sheet and bake 10 min at 400 degrees
Bread Co. Broccoli-Cheddar Soup 1. boil 1/2 lb chopped broccoli, 1 C. chopped carrots 5-10 min until soft. Set aside 2. Saute 1/2 med. Onion in 1 T. butter in a heavy, large pan. 3. Add 1/4 C. butter and 1/4 C. flour. Mix well. 4. Slowly add in 2 C. half and half and 2 C. water with 1 t. Vegeta 5. add vegetables from #1 and as much water as desired to make soup desired consistency 6. add salt and pepper to taste 7. blend in blender or food processor or with an immersion blender if desired 8. add 8 oz sharp cheddar, 1/4 t. nutmeg. Stir and serve. (Chicken) Curry 1. saute 2 chopped carrots and 1 chopped onion in oil in a large, heavy pan 2. add 3 chopped potatoes and enough water to cover with an inch. Cook 10 min. 3. add 2 t. curry powder and 1/2 t. chili powder and 1 t. salt. Stir 4. add 2 T. flour mixed with 1/2 C. cold water. Stir in carefully until cooked and thickened. 5. Optional: add 1 can coconut and/or chopped cooked chicken 6. serve over rice or as a soup alternatively, you can throw everything but the oil into a crock pot and leave it cooking for several hours
Broccoli Divan 1. Cook 4 c. rice 2. steam 1 lb fresh chopped broccoli 3. mix 1/2 C. Mayonaise, 2 cans cream of mushroom soup, 1 t. curry powder 4. stir together #2 and #3. place in a microwave casserole dish. Top with grated cheddar. Microwave 5 minutes or more until cheese melts 5. serve #4 over rice in #1
Baked Potatoes with broccoli and cheese 1. wash a baking potato 2. bake it at 350 degrees for 45-60 min 3. top with steamed broccoli, salt, pepper, and shredded orange cheese 4. let sit 5 min for vegetables to cool and cheese to melt
Green Chile Enchiladas 1. chop 1 onion, grate 1-2 c. cheese 2. mix 2 cans cream of mushroom soup with 1 c. plain yogurt 1/2 c. milk, and a small can chopped green chiles 3. tear corn tortillas into fourths. (about 1-1/2 dozen) 4. layer soup, tortillas, cheese, and onions in a casserole dish. Repeat to make 3-4 layers 5. top with cheese 6. bake 30-40 min at 350 or 5 min on high in microwave 7. serve with green salad
Stir Fry 1. chop onions, broccoli, carrots, and whatever other vegetables you desire to use (cabbage and zuchini and summer squash are wonderful). 2. Stir fry each in oil (sesame is best, but canola is fine), removing each as you finish and adding more oil as needed 3. Stir together 2 T. soy sauce, 2 t. sugar, 1-1/2 t. cornstarch, 1/4 C. water. Cook in skillet/wok until thickened. This is the sauce. 4. Serve over rice Fried rice 1. saute 1/2 c. chopped onions in oil 2. add 2 c. other chopped vegetables as in stir fry 3. add 6 scrambled eggs and a cup or two of cooked rice 4. stir together and serve when eggs are cooked.
Ramen Noodle Broccoli Salad 1. toast in a dry skillet: 1/4 c. walnuts, 1/4 c. sesame seeds, 1 broken up pkg ramen noodles 2. chop up 1 lb broccoli and 3 green onions. Put in a large bowl 3. add #1 to bowl 4. In a small bowl combine: 1/3 C. sesame oil, 1/3 C. rice vinegar, 1/4 C. sugar, 1 t. vegeta. Mix well and pour onto mixture in large bowl. Stir well and serve.
Broccoli and Cauliflower Salad 1. Chop 1 lb broccoli and 1 head of cauliflower and mix in a large bowl 2. add 2/3 c. chopped red onion, 1/2 C. raisins, 1/4 C. sunflower seeds. Stir well 3. in a small bowl mix: 1/2 C. sugar, 1 C. mayonaise, 2 T. apple cider vinegar. Mix well and then pour over mixture in large bowl. Refrigerate until ready to serve 4. add 2 C. shredded cheddar and a sprinkle of tvp bacon bits just before serving
Strawberry and Almond Salad 1. layer washed baby spinach leaves, sliced fresh strawberries, raisins, and slivered almonds 2. top with raspberry viniagrette or the following dressing: 2-1/2 T. raspberry or blueberry or balsamic vinegar, 1/3 c. walnut or grapeseed or almond oil, 1/4 t. salt, 1/3 t sugar, 1/4 t. pepper
Taco Salad layer: tortilla chips, shredded cheese, canned beans, lettuce, onions, tomatoes, salsa, avacados. Top with ranch dressing
Pasta House Salad 1. wash and 1tear up one head of iceberg and 1/3 head of romaine lettuce 2. add 1 C. artichoke hearts, 1 C. sliced red onions, 1 C. diced pimentos (optional) 3. in a small bowl mix: 2/3 c. olive oil, 1/3 c. good vinegar, 1 t. salt, 1/4 t. pepper. Mix well and pour on lettuce mixture 4. stir in 2/3 c. freshly grated parmesan cheese
No Fail Vinaigrette 1 c. olive oil, juice of 1 lemon or 1/4 c. good vinegar, 1 t. salt, 1 t. pepper, 1t. Minced garlic mix well. Optional: add fresh chopped herbs

Lydia's OK, but we're at SLCH

Lydia's doing great. Winona woke up this morning to hear Lydia saying "trach ties off." She had taken them off and pulled her trach out. But she was comfortable and didn't want it back in. When we finally said it was time to put it back in, it wouldn't go in. We called the ENT resident on call, who said to come to the ER ... where she still looked great and is at 99% O2 sat. Long story short, they're going to leave the trach out and watch her O2sats overnight in the hospital. The main concern is whether granulation tissue from the trach, plus Down syndrome, will cause enough obstructive sleep apnea that it can't be managed without the trach or further intervention.

Krštenje!

Hey everyone! Things are going awesome here. This has been the best week ever!

We finally got the translations for sister moody's papers from our lawyer, so we're closer to getting her visa. the temporary one she has now just lasts another week, and it usually takes a little while for it to get done. she should be fine though. The senior couple moved in thursday night. they're called the Ivins, and they seem pretty cool. their son served in the catania mission under elder toronto in bari, ragusa, and siracusa, so i'm guessing he knows charissa.

On friday, we left at 4:45 am from osijek, took a train to zagreb, then a bus karlovac and then to zadar. in karlovac, we took a break, and petar disappeared. elder bell found him a bit later smoking. so he'll have to have his baptism pushed back a little bit. that was discouraging. When we got to zadar, we took a ferry to ugljan island and drove to the estate where the event was. It was awesome being there with members from 4 different countries. this is the first time we've had anything like that since the war, and it was awesome. Friday night we had a fireside with speakers from the very first members in yugoslavia, including Mišo and Ankica Ostarčević, the first couple baptized in croatia, and Ann madsen, truman madsen's wife. The baptisms were going to be that night, but they were moved to saturday morning. Rafaela Plentaj, a girl in zadar that has had missionaries working on her family for her whole life, was baptized. That was very exciting. Mirjana was next. She got scared, and it looked for a minute that she wasn't going to go through with it. Rafaela's baptism was sort of shaky, and i'm pretty sure she ended up with a mouthful of sea water, so it's not surprising she was frightened. when Mirjana went under, it didn't look from the shore that all her hair went under, and her foot came up after, but the witnesses said it was good. A lot of people were worried about it, and i was worried they'd have to do it again. Elder Kopischke said it was good though, and nobody argued after that. Elder Marcek baptized her, and then, after she had changed, Elder Bell confirmed her.

After breakfast, we split up into priesthood and relief society and YSA/youth. We had an awesome meeting with Sister Kopischke and Sister Madsen. Sister Kopischke talked a lot about things that keep us strong in the church- testimony, prayer, scripture, holy ghost. We were sitting across from Mirjana, and we could tell from her face how much she felt the spirit and felt united with the saints. it was great. then sister kopischke had a question and answer session, and Mirjana asked what to do if you have family members who aren't baptized. Almost everyone in the church here deals with that very closely, so it was a perfect question. it was great. then Sister Madsen talked about upholding priesthood leaders, even when they're not perfect. It was an awesome conference thing. pretty tiring though. we woke up way early and went to bed way late every day from helping with cleaning and cooking and such.

Then we went to Zagreb on sunday for district conference. it was awesome. First we had a meeting about the 40 yr anniversary. the prime minister and lots of media people were there. there was lots of stuff about Krešo, and then elder kopischke talked a lot about how the church is helping the country of croatia to be better and stronger, and how we believe in having an organized government and hard work. that the way to have a strong country is to strengthen the family. he said that we will join any coalition that will defend our values, and the way to change things in a country is to not change the government, but to change every individual. It was an awesome talk.

We then had the normal district conference meeting. President Babić (the district president) gave a powerful talk. He started with a story about president snow bringing someone back from the dead to finish his mission, and then talked about how powerful the priesthood is, that it founded and created the world. He then told the saints that they needed to be one and work together. he then promised the members that if they were united, that we would have a stake in croatia in 2020. it was pretty powerful. everyone felt that. President rowe talked about how the time to build the foundation of the church in croatia is over, and it's now time to build the beautiful structure of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He then invited all non-members there, especially directed to the gov't and media people, to act on the feelings they'd felt in the meeting, and to join us in building the kingdom of God. There were lots of other amazing talks too, but those were the highlights.

On the way home we could tell Robert (remember that kid from last week that we invited to church on our way walking there and he actually came?) was completely converted. We drove with president rowe to the train station, and he taught robert in those 10 minutes all of the lessons. it was pretty impressive. he also told him to go convert his family in serbia, and to serve a full time mission and then get married to a nice girl. He's scheduled to get baptized 3 weeks from last saturday. on the train, he talked to tons of people about the book of mormon, and he very powerfully bore witness of the restoration and the converting power of the holy ghost. it was great.

Well, that was the highlights of this week. I'll send a few pictures from zadar.

Love you guys!
Never forget that God is a god of miracles!
Love,
Sestra Black

of house hunting, hospitals, and hungary

Ćao svi! Kako ste? First off, I didn't get admitted to the hospital, and i didn't cross the hungarian border. On monday, we went to the hospital and visited with Marijana while we wrote letters. We bought some apricots and got some good potentials while we tracted and contacted in the evening. On tuesday, we went a kilometer and a half from hungary to a little selo to visit an inactive couple. their names are Spasenija and Milivoj Bilić. Spasenija means salvation, but i'm not sure what milivoj means. probably gracious or something. anyways, they hadn't been to church in 2 years. From what I gathered, they stopped coming when Spasenija started having a harder time getting around. They're both sort of old, but she has a harder time getting around. They had a good time showing us old pictures of missionaries and the branch. We read Moroni 6 with them and talked about the sacrament. They said they'd try to come to church this week. They did.

Wednesday we helped the senior sisters, sister rowe and sister turner, find an apartment for a senior couple who will be living in osijek in a week. we found a way cute apartment that was perfect for an old couple. The woman who owned it seemed very hesitant to let mormons live in her house, and was worried there would be church services in it. We were afraid that when they saw that the church's name would be on the contract they wouldn't be happy. Sister Moody and I went back the next day, after sister turner and rowe went home, to show them the contract and explain things on it. That was interesting. It was a slightly different feeling representing the church like that instead of just teaching them the gospel.

On thursday, we were tracting and we had a lesson with a cool family. They didn't accept a return appointment or anything, but after we left, the daughter, Marija, who was about 20, ran out and started telling us how desperately she wanted her parents to come closer to Christ. She begged us in tears to not give up on them, and to at least go back a couple times more. she was moving to the coast soon, and was worried about what would happen to her parents without her influence there.

Mirjana got consent from her husband to be baptized in Zadar, and Petar's still doing great. They're probably the only ones getting baptized this week, but none of those five have completely given up yet.

This week at church was awesome. It felt like a real branch with families. not just a couple of kids and an old man meeting together. It was so awesome seeing so many people, especially members and their families, who weren't there just because of a missionary leaving or a special guest, but just in a normal week. Another couple, Bernard and Gordana, have started to come back to church, and their niece, marijana wants to get baptized, and their nephew, zoran, came to church and has a tentative baptismal date. So at church we had Lidia and Alen, Marijana and her grandma and cousin, Gordana, Zoran and Marijana, Spasenija and Milivoj, Božo, Petar, and this kid named Robert from serbia that we picked up as we were walking to church. Maybe that doesn't sound like a lot, but it is. also, Marijana's cousin asked Marijana if he could get baptized. the elders are going to start meeting with him. Oh, and Robert got a book of mormon and said he'd start reading it and that he wants to learn more. It was a great sunday.

Well, that's it for this week really. have an awesome week. love you all!

Sestra Black

Marc Elliot, What Makes You Tic? My Journey from Tourette's to Tolerance

This is a delightful, extremely honest book. It has a great message. I am proud to own an inscribed copy.

hey everyone!

well, this week has been pretty good. we beat all our weekly goals except for sacrament attendance. Either we are horrible at helping people understand why church is important, or... something. it's easier for people to commit to baptism than to attend a church service. i don't know why. if anyone has ideas for fixing that problem, i'm open to advice, because i'm out of ideas. or if someone wants to move here and buy a car and help drive people to church and never move away, that would be appreciated as well. well, here are the people we have on date for baptism: Andrea- I'm so excited she finally agreed to a date. and she's not living with her ex-boyfriend anymore, so that's a huge step. and i'm glad she's meeting with us more regularly now. I'm excited about her. Mirjana- Marijana's grandma. She's great. she doesn't understand 100% all of the concepts, so we'll have to re-teach some things like the plan of salvation and such a couple times, but she's committed to do everything she can to support this church because of all we've done for her family. Ivica- Marijana's brother. He just needs to stop drinking coffee and smoking. and we have to figure out how he can go to church because his job makes him work on sunday. The working on sundays will be the hardest part. His grandma's way excited about that though. She's been saying for the past couple weeks how much she wished Ivica would start caring about religion and coming closer to christ. We were having a lesson with mirjana, and he was passing by, so we asked him to sit and talk with us a bit. Marina- Her dad still doesn't want her to get baptized or go to church, so we'll need a miracle for her to be able to be baptized right now. and i have full faith she'll get that if she does everything she can to make this happen. the hard thing is that she's not putting this first right now, so we'll see. she still can definitely do it though. Petar- He's some guy that asked us for help with writing a letter in english, so after we helped him, we read a couple scriptures with him, and asked him to be baptized. he said sure, as long as he's not in america (he wants to get a job in america. we'll see if he gets it.) we're going to hand him off to the elders though. it'll make things easier.

I'm pretty excited about these. It's great, because the biggest reasons people have for not being baptized or interested are: I'm too old, I've been catholic too long, so i can't change now, and once in a blue moon, I'm muslim. but andrea's muslim, and mirjana's been very catholic for a very long time.

Elder Texeira is coming to our mission on thursday, so that should be cool.

Suzana got a job on the coast and is moving tomorrow. she says if her fiance doesn't change his mind about letting her get baptized by the time she gets back, she's moving out on her own. I'm pretty sure she'll get baptized this year, even if i'm not still in osijek when it happens.

We started teaching this man from india because we were eating lunch last week in his restaurant, and we started talking to him. We gave him an english book of mormon for now, until we can get him a hindi one. we went back on friday, and he was asking us tons of questions about how he would know if it was true and what happens after death and such. it was fun. usually people don't ask questions about things like that, things that actually are important questions to ask. it was nice. so now we're teaching an albanian, nigerian, and an indian man. i think that's pretty much all the foreigners in the city, besides serbians or bosnians. osijek's not very diverse.

We met with Vera again. I asked her this week if she believes that Jesus is her savior. she seemed really offended that i would even ask, but then basically said that Jesus was a great example of how to live, but He wasn't any different than muhammed or buddha or any other religious figure. It's really sad, because she's only been baptized a little over a year, and already she's rejected most of the things she accepted as truth then.

Well, have an awesome week. love you guys!

čao svi

Hey everyone, how's it going. it's only been like 4-5 days, so i don't really have that much to say... so I recently met the first black person I've seen in osijek. His name is something like Cyriecus (he says to call him Sirius, but i don't know how his name's supposed to be pronounced). He went on and on about how in his country, everyone talks to each other and accepts each other, but Croats just look at like you're crazy, and they all go to church, but they're not really Christian. He studies at the Evangelical college down the street from our house where everyone thinks we live. We also met a man from india who owns a restaurant just a block away from our house. As much as I love Croats, it was fun to talk to someone who wasn't one.

I may have talked about this before, but the 2 main philosophies we fight here are ˝Bog je jedan˝ and ˝Svi ima svoje˝ I'm so tired of those phrases. The hard thing is that they're true in a sense, but they use it to mean something completely false. ˝Bog je jedan˝ means God is one, and svi ima svoju vjeru means that everyone has their own faith/religion, and you shouldn't try to change that, but just respect that we're all different. There's only one God for the whole earth, and we all pray to the same god, and people can come closer to God by following any religion. that's true, but they use it to mean that God doesn't care how we worship him, and that yeah, Jesus said everyone has to be baptized, but he couldn't have actually meant that because hindus and muslims have great religions too, and what matters religion-wise is just that you follow the traditions of your forefathers. It drives me crazy. When noah was a prophet, everyone on the earth had to listen to just that one prophet, or they'd drown. God hasn't changed. If he wants the whole earth to do something, he tells the prophet. I don't see why people think that's such an incomprehensible concept. It's bold, but not scripturally unfounded or illogical

We made Marina (Marijana's friend that has been investigating for about a year) a calendar to help prepare her for baptism and fix her relationship with her dad. If she does everything we she possibly can to be ready, God will do the rest and soften his heart. We read Moroni 7 with her, 29-33 or so, about how God will do miracles, if we have faith, that we can do ˝everything that's expedient˝ in Christ. and then we read the next verse, of what's expedient in Christ-- to be baptized. She really felt like those verses were written for her. She has been doing more than she has before, and she doesn't quite have faith that our plan will work, but she's putting forth work.

We finally met with Vera for the first time since elder lifferth left. She thinks that she made the decision to be baptized way too fast, and that it wasn't really necessary, that it doesn't matter what church you belong to. that was really sad to hear from her.

Last night when we were tracting, we ran into a woman whose daughter is in a hospital in Rijeka because she has autism to the point of aggression. We felt the spirit really strong as she shared her concerns about God and we just testified that God loves her and that our trials in life are because God loves us and wants us to grow, not because He doesn't care and wants to make us suffer. She didn't let us come back or have her number, but she said she'd read the plan of salvation pamphlet and hopefully get some answers that way. I think I'll write her a letter about some of the restored truths we have from prophets in our day on this subject. and maybe give her the conference talk from last year that had the story about the girl in the icu who had angels watching over her. I wish the people here in croatia could understand how much they need what I'm trying to give them.

Well, that's all for today. Transfers are in a week. I'm pretty sure I'm staying here for another half a transfer at least. I'll let you know next week though. Thanks for staying tuned. Have an awesome week!

love, Sestra Ariana Black