Juicing Queen

Today I decided it was time for a cleanse and a jumpstart to better eating and good nutrition. I am so excited about my first day. It started with a trip to Sprouts for a basketful of beautiful and organic produce - fruits and vegetables, wheatgrass etc. I washed my juicer, which has been put away for a long while and made a plan. I am going to juice my meals for breakfast, lunch and snacks. I will have a whole foods, sensible dinner. My goal....one week and assess after that!

Here is my breakfast:

a whole apple, 1/2 a cucumber, a beet, a stalk of celery, wheatgrass, and five carrots.

Gorgeous!

This is what it looked like juiced. Full of powerful nutrients!

...and here was lunch. I went green with spinach, blueberries and an apple.

I also added a scoop of whey protein powder

which made it thick and kept my tummy full all afternoon!

For dinner I had some brown rice and salmon. I had a headache by the end of the day. Cut coffee out of my morning routine and replaced with with a cup of tea. I also drank a ton of water. Not my favorite, even in the desert! Fighting cravings this evening which is to be expected. We'll see how tomorrow goes!

Here's to healthy eating!

Memorial Day - Let us Remember!

Home Six Months

This was David in China 6 months ago...

This is David today....

We had our first post placement visit today.

An official 6 month report with photographs will be sent to China.

It will surely detail how healthy David is

and how happy he is

and how he has learned to trust his family

and love them

and receive love from them...

It will describe, no doubt, what he likes to do

and how much he has grown

and how he had adjusted to all the changes of his new culture

and how much he is speaking English

and what he did in preschool

and how much he now loves his siblings...

What probably won't be narrated is how much this precious little child

has touched and changed US.

How he has captured a place in our hearts that evokes the greatest joy.

How older siblings have become selfless in their care and nurture of a busy toddler.

How the Lord has knit our hearts together in sweet ways forever.

How we have learned to speak a bit of Chenglish - our love language with David.

How we cannot imagine our lives or our family without him.

Six months of memories to cherish...

We are thankful!

Trying Kale Chips

This morning I was inspired to bake kale chips. I used a package of kale from Trader Joe's. I have friends (high achieving friends) who grow their own (Stacy!). I like Trader Joe's!

Honestly, this is such a healthy vegetable but one that I would have a hard time presenting to my family for a meal. When I heard about crispy kale chips......I was curious about whether my family would eat them. First I put the kale in a bowl...

and tossed gently with olive oil and sea salt....anything is good with sea salt, right!?

Then I spread them on parchment paper

and baked at 375 degrees for 15 minutes. Look at the gorgeous color!

loaded with vitamin A and C, Calcium and Iron...

"They aren't bad!"

Always looking for healthy summer snacks.....do you have any ideas!?

It is Summer

Today marks the beginning of summer for the Achterkirch household. The big kids finished up their year with class parties today. I finished up report cards, curriculum mapping for our upcoming ACSI certification and turned in my keys. The kids have been gone for over a week from my class, but leaving at the end of our half day today was met with tears. Tears of joy that we all finished strong. Tears of grief that we are saying goodbye to our school family. Tears of sadness that my teaching chapter is over. Tears of thankfulness for what God did in and through us these past six years at PVCP!

Meredith had SPIRIT WEEK last week.

Here she is with Lexi on Crazy Day!

They persevered through finals this week. So proud of our high school student.

Peter had a great farewell this morning at his 7th grade class party. They are a tight knit group of great kids! The students had gifts for him and they prayed for him. According to Ian who picked him up, the 7th grade girls were prolonging the good-bye. Too cute. He is well liked by all his peers. And for three years in a row, his teachers voted to grant him the Christian Citizenship Award for the 7th grade. It is a real honor.

Charlotte and Claire had bowling and pool parties. Our day is done. Everyone is tucked. Ian and I are ready for our end of the year debrief over a glass of wine. So much to be thankful for. So much to rejoice about. So much to give God the glory for.

We anticipate a busy June getting ready for our move to Houston in early July. With school behind us, we must get busy with all the logistics and Meredith leaves in a mere three weeks for her ballet intensive in DC.

Happy Summer.....

An Evening of Ballet

This weekend is performance weekend. The Scottsdale School of Ballet presented An Evening of Ballet at the Herberger Theater downtown Phoenix. What a lovely evening! Along with an excerpt of the classical Pequita, they performed an original story ballet and a piece entitled Ballet Class.

Ian and I attended this evening along with Meredith's high school friends who met at our home and drove with us to the theatre. What a great group of kids! Even Stone and Demetri came....

If was a real blessing for Mimi to have her friends there!

Here are Lexi, Jen, Joceline, Missi, Mimi, Bethany, Emily, Demetri and Stone

Tomorrow we will take the girls for the afternoon performance. Her last with SSB!

Twins are in Town!

Ian took the boys to the Diamondbacks and Twins game tonight. They had a great time.....and as you can see from the photos...David discovered the best part of baseball games - the concessions! Rootbeer and crackerjacks. Yummy!

Last Day of Preschool!

Today was our preschool promotion. I don't have any pictures from our darling program (since I was directing it), but here are a few pictures of David and his beloved teacher, Mrs. Hayes. When the program was over, the reception was cleaned up and all the families had said their good byes, David and I took Mrs. Hayes out for lunch. What a gift she was to our family when I returned to the classroom and David went to school in the next room. That was a scary first week, but he was so brave. And Mrs. Hayes made the transition so sweet for all of us!

A significant part of our program this morning was presenting each child with a biblical Christian Character trait. Mrs Hayes selected COURAGE for David. So fitting and true! She also made this beautiful book for him with some of his work and photos from his time in the classroom. He LOVES to look through it...we already have several times this afternoon!

And this is Mrs. Richardson. She was hired as an aide in David's classroom when David started in there. Since David was two the ratio for students to teachers is much lower than if everyone was three. So my headmaster hired Mrs. Richardson (a mom at our school) to come in until David turned three. She still helped a lot in that classroom when the 3 year old ratio was exceeded on certain days. Needless to say, she and David share a special bond. These women are angels....praying for David before he was home, loving him so tenderly when he got home and meeting his every need at school as he made all those huge transitions with language and schedule and food etc.

As for me, this marks the end of a school year and my teaching ministry for now. But that is for a whole different post (too much emotion already today to tackle that one!)

We are so proud of David!!!

Cactus Blooms and a Cactus Wren

We have a very busy Mamma Cactus Wren building a lovely home in my metal planter on the patio. Evidently she couldn't find a suitable cactus. I don't blame her....so prickly. Not very comfy a place to welcome baby birds into the world.

Look at the precious turquoise yarn piece she found....a quaint touch, don't you think!?

We have peered into the hole, but it is dark. We cannot see what hides inside.

But Mamma bird comes and goes all day long so we are confident we will see something soon!

And in other cactus news....my bunny ear cactus,

scientific name Opuntia Microdasys Pfeiffer, is blooming!

Aren't the blooms sensational? So sunny. Tender. Cheery. But don't be fooled. The soft looking polk a dots (which first attracted me to this species of desert plant) are not so soft. If you touch this plant, the polk a dots transfer from the plant to your skin.....each dot hundreds of tiny spines. Yes, it hurts. But isn't it a lovely specimen? Especially when it is blooming!

The English Countryside & Sheep

The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,

he leads me beside quiet waters,

he refreshes my soul.

He guides me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.

Even though I walk
through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.

Surely your goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD
forever. -- Psalm 23

Driving throughout England you cannot help but to appreciate the importance of sheep farming. The rolling hills and moors are full of roaming sheep, and this time of year, their babies! It is a peaceful and beautiful sight to behold. And it made me think of our heavenly father as our good shepherd!

On one day, we drove past a large sheep field and the farmer was standing, in his wellies, out in the middle of the field with a bucket of feed. His sheep were, oddly, all lined up on both sides of him and as we drove past we saw him making motions. He was counting his sheep. Slowly walking down the isle of sheep counting heads. Another parable came to mind.....the parable of the lost sheep.

For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost. How think ye? If a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray? And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray (Matt 18:11-13).

More Favorite Things from England

One of my favorite aspects of our trip to England was, of course, the gardens. Beautiful English landscape parks, quaint home gardens and classical border gardens caught my eye continually. Rolling green pastures with wildflowers, pebbled walkways, ivy covered rock walls, blooming window boxes, garden fountains, lush borders, potted topiaries......so pleasing to the eye and quite inspiring indeed. Here are some of my favorite images that we captured as we made our way through England.