The Drew Patch: May 2011

Pretty in Pink at six months

>> Thursday, May 26, 2011 – Mercy Joy

Every day we are grateful for the gift of this tiny girl.

Mercy can't sit up on her own yet, which is all the more reason to sit and cuddle her.

Six months always seems like a big milestone to me! Mercy was six months on May 21st. She is faithfully living up to her second name and giving us lots of Joy! Her delight and smiles when we interact with her are incredibly sweet.

Dave's 34th birthday

>> Wednesday, May 18, 2011 – silverbeet and spinach

It was fun to make a chocolate beetroot cake for Dave's birthday on Saturday. I wanted to continue with the challenge of making a cake with ingredients from the garden, and we don't have much left at the moment! Thankfully Dave said the cake was deliciously decadent.

You can taste the beetroot a little, so this cake is only for those who like beets. I reduced the amount of sugar in the cake to about 180g, and replaced corn oil with sunflower. 300g beetroot is about 3 of medium size.

The icing was simple. Just melt a 200g block of dark chocolate with 1 cup of cream and pour some over the cake just before serving. Use the extra as a sauce.

Dave's birthday was cold with lots of snow on the mountain. Thankfully the next day was glorious and we spent lots of time outside. Mercy enjoyed her first swing.

The season is beautiful with glorious bright orange leaves on the tree at the front of our home. I am enjoying the reduced intensity of vegetable gardening in late autumn. In the picture above you can see cauliflower plants, lettuce, some lonely last tomato plants with fruit slowly ripening, and some kale. We have enjoyed harvesting broccoli as well as silverbeet, beetroot, carrots and spring onions planted in summer.The gem squash and pumpkin we harvested in April have been great as some of Mercy's first solid foods! We also have tiny seedlings of broad beans, peas, turnips, silverbeet, spinach and broccoli. Our chooks are still laying although a reduced amount.

Birthdays are a great time to reflect on God's providence in a person's life. Dave and I face uncertainties in the next few months as Dave's work contract is coming to an end. It is faith building to think about what God has done in Dave's life so far and the way he has provided for us.

Here are some things to be thankful for about Dave and his 34th year . . .

He is a loving and attentive Dad to a tiny boy who loves him and likes to "sit together" and "talk together" - often about the moon and sky.

Dave has been delighted with his baby girl and her baby ways, and patient with disturbances to sleep and schedules.

He does things with the children that I wouldn't do, like getting out the jolly jumper . . .

and pushing an excited boy high into the sky!

Dave is always an encourager as I seek to help him through keeping our home, caring for the children, and more! He takes pleasure in all the growth in the garden and in our family culture. He has been faithful to continue to pursue spiritual growth even when he doesn't feel like it. His gentleness yet firm conviction is anther admirable trait. He is not one for online love letters, so I'll leave it there, praising God for Dave's life!

Celebrating two years with family and friends

>> Tuesday, May 10, 2011 – Elnathan, fun times

On Saturday morning we had a little party for Natey with family and friends. I made him an aeroplane cake. Last year I used our own lemons to make his first birthday cake. I decided to continue with using something from the garden for the cake. This time we had carrots so I used those to try the carrot cake in Margaret Fulton's Encyclopedia of Food and Cookery. It turned out really well and it all got eaten! Here is the recipe:

3 cups flour
2 cups caster sugar (I used ordinary white sugar and reduced it to 1 1/2 cups)
1 1/2 tsp bicarb soda
1 cup undrained canned crushed pineapple (I used unsweetened)
2 cups grated carrot
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups salad oil ( I used sunflower oil)
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup chopped nuts (since this was for little people, I substituted chopped sultanas)

Sift flour, suar, salt and bicarb together in a large mixing bowl. Add pineapple, carrot, eggs, oil and vanilla and beat until combined. Stir in chopped nuts or sultanas. Spoon into greased tins. The recipe recommends 20cm ring tins, but I used a loaf tin and a casserole dish to make the appropriate shapes. Bake in a preheated moderate oven (180 C or 350 F) for 1 hour or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.

I made the cake earlier in the week and got it out the night before to ice, so that made it easier to shape as it was still partially frozen. The icing is cream cheese with vanilla essence and sugar (approximately 2Tbs sugar and 2 tsp vanilla to each 125g of softened cream cheese). We made the mistake of decorating with M & Ms the night before and the colouring all ran, so I had to do a big patch up job in the morning.

We are grateful for each person who came to celebrate with us. Here are some more things we are grateful for from Elnathan's second year of life . . .

* First prayers and songs (Happy birthday, Jesus love me, twinkle twinkle, Celebrate Jesus)
* Nate's ever expanding vocuabulary and surprising conversational abilities. He already talks in sentences and is starting to communicate his own ideas.
* Love of people and exitement when we have visitors or go out together
* Elnathan has become "company" for me during the day!
* We can point him to Jesus when he struggles to obey.
* Having a toddler has helped us enjoy Mercy's babyhood to the full.
* He has been so well, learnt to walk and climb easily, and has nearly all his teeth now.
* Positive spirit toward Mercy Joy.
* Helpfulness in picking up toys.

It is encouraging to reflect on all the blessings. I aim to praise Elnathan more than I correct him, and find that this helps me as well. It lifts my sprit as I also remind myself of all the progress and the good things that God is building into the little life in our care. Natey truly is a gift, as his name declares, and each day at nap time I say a prayer thanking God for this gift and blessing.