The birthday cake debacle of 2013

Day 77:

Well, I stayed up late last night to make Doug a cake, you can read yesterday's blog to see what all Kees and I did till after midnight. (And, yes, Kees definitely needed a nap after our late night).  When Doug woke up he found his birthday signs, card, and gift.  He opened the gift before any of the rest of us woke up.  It wasn't much of a gift, but I DID try to be thoughtful. His real gift is a week in Phuket (poo ket).  Doug loves the beach, swimming, and seafood.  He's gonna get a lot of that this week.  We leave Monday night our time (Monday morning in the states). 

Okay, so back to the "cake".  I mentioned yesterday that I made soapy pudding a while back.  And I should have tasted each individual ingredient, like on that episode of Downton Abbey where they get fake ingredients from Thomas.  But I have ADHD, and my ability to be distracted far outweighed practicality.  So I mixed up the cake batter, then tasted it.  It had a soapy after taste.  This is when I should have pitched it and started over, but it was late and I am stubborn. I thought to myself, "It's not that strong of a taste and this cake has coffee in it too, by the time it bakes, it'll be fine, right?"  Um, wishful thinking.  Even though it was Doug's birthday, I made him taste the cake first, and guess what, not yummy! 

We are leaving town, so I had planned to take the cake to church so we wouldn't have leftovers.  I didn't have time to make the cake again before church, so I just mixed the dry ingredients.  I also tasted the sugar and then cocoa. The cocoa was the culprit. When Alicia left she gave me a bunch of containers.  I used one to store my cocoa and whatever she had in it before must have been very aromatic because my cocoa absorbed the smell and taste.  Thankfully, all the cocoa did not fit into that container and I had enough leftover that I had put in a glass jar, sans the soapiness.  I was also short a cup of sugar and had to buy some on the way home. Yikes! The more I blog the more I see patterns of outrageous mishaps in my life. Trying to keep a good humor about it, but it's embarrassing to be so prone to mayhem.

We had a great time at church as usual.  Our pastor and his family are out of town this week, so a Korean pastor shared in Thai.  It's nice because Thai is his second language too, so he speaks much slower. :)  I've been camping out in the back of the sanctuary with my kiddos and for the most part they understand the boundaries, but Kora is insistent on pushing the envelope.  Every week she goes and stands right at the boundary that leads outside.  She looks back at me and pushes her tummy out over the line and shakes her hips.  She doesn't step out of the line, but she leans over it and flirts with it quite a bit.  She is usually decent about staying in the back, yesterday, however, she slipped past Doug who sits on the back row.  I kind of thought if she got too far, he'd grab her. But she's fast and ended up behind the speaker, trying to play the drums. One of our Thai friends grabbed her and I ran up to have her handed back to me. MOR-TI-FY-ING! I know the culture here is far different and no one else probably thought anything about it, but I was on edge after that.  Kora kept trying to get past Doug, so he moved his chair to keep her from repeating her little stunt.  And as usual, as soon as church was over, she went straight for the water cooler.  That girl is gonna turn me gray and wrinkly in no time. But she is cute, fun, amazing, and wonderful.  So different than her cautious older brother, yet they are equally incredible.  I've learned so much about God through parenting and about my own selfishness and shortcomings.  Some days, I just think I should be allowed to parent because I fall so far short and other days I just stand in awe of the honor and privilege to raise these tiny people.  One of my favorite things to do is talk about my kids and imagine what their future will hold.  Well obviously I could go on, but I'll spare you...

I love when Doug Tomlinson is silly. This was his birthday hat! (I type his full name hoping it will tag him like facebook)

She's pretty excited about Daddy being silly too!

At church, sharing Luke's toys.  His mom packs more toys than I pack snacks, and that's saying something. They always share with us, we love that!

I've turned into my mother and carry ice water everywhere I go. Kees loves it too.

When Kees was little, he called granola bars: "lugga bars".  Now he says "canola or granola", it's sad and exciting when they start speaking correctly.

Mmmmm....water.

Don't be fooled by the appearance of these pictures, she was not sitting the whole time.

She is teething, and has been FOREVER.  There is one on the bottom that looks so painful, it's swollen and purple.  She tried to eat Luke's block, so I had to take it back from her and wipe it all down.  I do not worry about germs for my own kids, but don't want to infect anyone else's.  You're welcome.

Playing.

Yep, Daddy managed to make this boundary into a game. So instead of playing the drums, she squeled and laughed for about 10 minutes straight, then Doug brought her back to me and said, "She's wearing me out!"  We trade her off throughout the day and that phrase is bantered about quite often.  Wish I could bottle that energy and convert it into brain cells that understood and spoke Thai well.

Getting ready to sing to Doug.

When Doug was a kid, he hid when people sang to him at his birthday.  He told me when we were dating how shy he was as a kid, and I didn't fully understand to what degree until we had Kees.  Knowing about that makes me appreciate this so much more!  Doug prayed when he was a teenager that God would help him come out of his shell and be more outgoing.  He's still not the chattiest guy in the bunch, but he's far braver than me most any day, especially when it comes to speaking Thai.  He has been a great example of consistency and putting yourself out there.  So proud of this birthday boy, and glad he's mine!

They were praying for him.....

Kora used that opportunity to do this.

After the prayer was over, Kees did this.  And then Momma said, "I think it's time to go home."

And now, for a good word, or a lesson I felt God was teaching me through the cake debacle.  As a Christian, are we seeing warning signs that something is off and ignoring them.  Like I did with my cake.  I had a previous encounter with this cocoa that looked like cocoa, but just wasn't right.  I could have identified the problem, and pitched the offending ingredient, but instead I ignored it.  I could have saved myself the heartache, labor, and time, if I'd just done my due diligence.  But I didn't.  I wanted to believe that it was a one time thing, a fluke. I wanted to believe I just hadn't rinsed the pot that I used to make the pudding. I didn't want to examine all the ingredients to pinpoint the problem.  I was hoping for the best.  And in this case, that was NOT a good thing!  How many times in our life are we heading down a path and a still small voice is warning us that something is off, something isn't right, but we ignore it.  We make some excuse and plow ahead.  Let me tell you, it's far better to STOP now and assess the situation, then it is to keep going down that path.  If it smells and tastes off, it isn't going to correct itself in the baking process.  Are there things in our lives that we are turning a blind eye to?  When we face our creator, and look back on the lives we led, and the choices we made, are there going to be glaring issues that we ignored?  I pray that isn't the case.  I pray that we would all continue to stretch ourselves, to go out of our comfort zones, and seek wise counsel from those around us.  Think about the 5 people you spend the most time with, do they challenge you, are they honest with you?  A real friend will not stand by while you ruin your cake!  That's why I miss Alicia Crabtree, she's much more meticulous, and I just know she would have rooted out that soapy cocoa problem.  Don't be afraid to recruit help and don't be afraid to challenge those in your life as well. It might be uncomfortable initially, but over time it builds trust.  I'm not saying be critical, we should always speak the truth in love, and if you can't say it lovingly, pray about it until you can.  But I'm praying that I will be more bold in my faith, and more careful with each step I take, to assess the situation and avoid glaring issues in my life.

In the evening, Pa Noi, and Pi Jam came over to visit.  They lived across the street from us at our old house.  So glad we've been able to see them here and there even though we don't live right across the street anymore.

Love to all of you for walking with me through life.  Each one of you who takes time to read these blogs each day has a vested interest in our family.  I pray that we would be half the encouragement to all of you, that you have been to us.  I thank God for you all, your love and support keeps us going!