in case you were wondering.....

1. 
   
   Choose a kiwano that is fully ripened. It'll have an orange rind with spikes. If you can't find a fully ripened fruit, wait for it to turn orange before eating it.
2. 

   
   
   Cut the fruit in half transversely (along the equator, as shown in the picture). Set one half aside.
3. 

   
   
   Hold the remaining half up to your mouth. Slowly, but firmly, squeeze the fruit from the lower end. Small, semi-slimy sacs of fruit, each containing a cucumber-like seed, should come to the cut surface of the fruit.
4. 

   
   
   Lick or suck up at least one sac of fruit and seed.
5. 
   Pinch the sac of fruit gently with your front teeth. The seed should be between your teeth and closed lips. Suck the sac of fruit through your top and bottom teeth. Your teeth should be pinching enough to hold the seed on the outside of your teeth, yet still allowing the sac of fruit to be sucked to the back of your mouth.
6. Don't spit the seed out into the bowl unless you don't want to eat it. They aren't toxic, by the way, they just don't have any taste.
7. Chew or suck on the sac of fruit, swallowing it once you have savoured the flavour. Repeat until you've had your fill of kiwano!

into lukes head

have you ever wished you could get into someones head in the hopes to better understand where they were coming from? lately, that is how i feel with our middle child, luke. i love my luke and yet find myself struggeling to understand him more times than not. as a parent you learn quickly that you cannot parent each of your children the same way - because they are each so different and in turn respond differently. for as confident as luke can appear on the outside i don't know what goes on his mind to make him incapable of doing certain things. for example, yesterday he woke up and told me that he had decided not to go to his friends birthday party because they were going to go and play laser tag. i was shocked. not only was this a very good friends birthday but his big brother was also going. however, luke had it in his head that he did not want to play and did not want to go. when i asked if it was because he had never played laser tag he said, "no, i just don't want to go....". i told him not going wasn't an option - however, if he got there and still didn't want to play that he didn't have to. sure enough, luke got to the laser tag play area and chose not to play and stood on the sidelines and watched on for the next hour and half as his friends and brother played their little hearts out. what is it...? what, as a parent, can i do to encourage him and help him with his anxiety?

any thoughts.....suggestions.......

what would you do for $10 dollars?

if you live in west michigan than nobody needs to tell you about all the snow we have gotten over the last several days. yesterday alone we got like 15 inches. thankfully the bitter cold has blown away and we are welcoming the 20+ degree weather (i can't believe i just said that....) the kids were able to go out and play in the winter wonderland - caleb and his friend z were out there for over 2 hours! you can get a perspective on how deep the snow is when you see the pic of lilly - she is standing straight up in the snow and it goes well above her knees! so, nagel bet dave ten dollars to run out in his bare feet around the play-set and back (probably 30 yards total). dave, in all his wisdom, said, "show me the money and i'll take the run." before we knew it dave had the money in his pocket and was running - it was pretty funny!

christmas plates

every year we talk about giving something more creative for christmas than another set of gloves, dvd or one more settlers of catan (i think we have given out at least 20 games to friends and family who NEED to have the game). so, this year we did it - we came up with a great idea and actually followed through...... we made plates! everyone got one, from my 6 month old niece to my brothers girlfriend, rita. dave and i had so much fun making them - i can't remember the last time we laughed quite so much.

dave drew each of the cartoons and then i scanned them in and did some digital touch-up work and colored them in and added the head shot. there is this great new paper out there called inkjet water-slide decal paper which allows you to print and then transfer the image to a solid object (plates in our case) and then bake the image on. it is a bit of a process - but so worth it!

good-bye nickelodeon

last night we sat our kids down and told them that we were canceling our cable. the first thing out of each of their mouths was, "will we still get nick?". it was a tough reality for each of them to swallow as they began to realize that sponge-bob and icarly would no longer be an option. caleb definitely took it the hardest. he cried crocodile tears as he reminisced about all the shows he loved and the time spent in front of "nicki", our tv, affectionately named after one of our favorite babysitters.

so, why are we getting rid of our cable? well, dave and i have been talking and praying for weeks about what things our family could do or possibly give up so we could do and give more with the resources we've been given. i guess you could say it is our new years resolution. our goal, with Gods help, is to become more creative with how we live our lives and in turn see God work and move in new and creative ways in each of our lives. because this is something we are passionately seeking i decided to start a new blog for the sole purpose of documenting our families journey to give more by living on less.

blessing to you in the new year!