We are the 2…

But we did not go crazy!

Just had a date…without kids.  I ate mushroom soup.  He had zurek.  I had super gooey hot chocolate with whipped cream.  And we split a cheese pizza.

And now he is still working at 1:30am.  So I am posting this photo to prove that at least we had an evening together 🙂

In other news…

He and Ada had a tremendous time in Arizona, Nevada, California, and Colorado.

We appreciated everyone that Rich got to meet and share with in regards to our work!  (Find us on Facebook for the time being~Bread of Life~while we work on getting our website up and edited)

Ada got to share about being a multi-culture kid—super excited about that.  I think she ended up speaking to nearly 170 mostly kids but some adults too.  She said she had so much fun.  Funny fact:  She did the majority of her presentations in Polish.  I asked her why.  She said she was less nervous to do it that way 😉  And I guess the biggest hit of all was “Kupa Zupa” (What little kids would call Poop Soup) served once a week at school.  Haha!  If I was a kid, I would find that great fun to learn about, too!

The littles and I barely survived—snow.  Freezing cold.  Many wooden fire nights.  Coal.  More coal.  Have I mentioned coal?  And then 8 days of sickness.  And then 1 glorious last week before Rich and Ada returned where the sun started to peek through and the babies weren’t puking.

So, truly, before they re-arrived back in Poland, I was able to straighten the house, make food, and somehow regain a bit of sanity.

But we’re all still super tired.  Poor Ada has been going to sleep at 4am, 2am, and tonight midnight.  Well, I guess midnight is progress, eh?

And Rich has now officially gone to bed while I am busy typing this—makes sense since he has a 7am meeting.

Perhaps I should follow?

In the meantime, Rich and Ada have only been home for 4 full days but it already feels like a blessed eternity.

SOOOO happy to have my husband and my first beautiful miracle back in my home.

And not just because I want him to stoke and clean the coal—and light and clean the fire.

I promise 😉

xo for now (I’ll post Minion Mom’s devotion tomorrow—OOPS.  I think that I better get back online to keep up)

b

P.S.  Sunday we got to take a few photos at church—So, this is just a day plus a few hours after Adelyne arrived back home.  You should note that she chose to wear her dress from the wedding she was in last year in Botswana—and so, of course, Josephine had to wear her beautiful dress form Ivory Coast.  Maxwell, to be honest, I am happy that he just let me put him in clothes and that he didn’t choose to go naked to church or in his baseball pajamas.  It’s a rare day when Maxwell is actually dressed.

Overall—What fun!

Thanksgiving all Pilgrim and Fajita Style

From the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, the definition of thanksgiving (not the holiday) is:  1.  the act of giving thanks  2.  a prayer expressing gratitude  3.  a public acknowledgment or celebration of divine goodness

And pilgrim is:  1.  one who journeys in foreign lands :  wayfarer  2.  one who travels to a shrine or holy place as a devotee  3. capitalized  :  one of the English colonists settling at Plymouth in 1620

And, therefore, today as we celebrate capital THANKSGIVING, we do it as pilgrims full of thanksgiving.  Ones that have journeyed to a foreign land and participated in the act/prayer/public acknowledgement of God’s divine goodness in our lives.  

But, because we live in a foreign country and are a bit on the side of rebels anyway, we decided to be Pilgrims all Fajita style!

We hope your day of family and giving thanks was fantastically wonderful!

Thanks for joining our crazy,

B and R and our gang of rebel Pilgrims…Enjoying life fajita-style

*Only cows and chickens suffered at the hands of our meal.  All turkeys were spared*

A Psalm of Thanksgiving.

1 Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands! 2 Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before His presence with singing. 3 Know that the Lord, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.  4 Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. 5 For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, And His truth endures to all generations.  Psalm 100 (NKJV)

My Spaghetti Sauce and Jesus

(Source for Free Printable of Above Sign)

I have started to do something that I never thought I would see myself doing.

In fact, it really makes me feel like such a grown-up.

You know, when you are younger you always think that there is the magical grown-up age. But, as you grow, you realize that it’s not the age you are === it’s the next big age out there. And then as you reach that age, you realize it’s the next big age.

And, before you know it, you are nearly 80 years old and you still remember having blond hair and smooth skin.

And for some reason, you really feel as if you never really grew up.  Or got a chance to do all of those grown-up things.

Sometimes Richard and I even feel as if we are playing house.  We live in a foreign country, have started a non-profit, and have 3 children and 3 dogs.  And, yet, we feel as if we are still playing house.  That we aren’t really old enough yet to have these responsibilities or do these things.

And we’re very nearly 40.  That’s Over-the-Hill.

Which means I should really consider myself a grown-up.

Anyhow, back to the grown-up thing that I have started to do:  Menu Plan!

Yep.  I am 3 weeks down, and I am LOVING it.  And my husband is LOVING it, and my children are LOVING it.  In fact, my daughter asked the other day for the menu so she could see what her snack options were for that day.

What fun!

Man, you must live a really boring life, you are probably thinking 😉

Perhaps.  It’s a life, that’s for sure.

But this menu thing sure is adding spice to it.

HOWEVER…And my high school English teacher would be greatly disappointed that I just started this sentence with however…However, in my great attempt to menu plan and budget better, I committed a huge No-No!  Huge!

So, on my menu the other day was homemade spaghetti sauce.  It was great.  I sautéed zucchini on the side in a bit of olive oil and garlic.  And then the sauce went something like this:  heat olive oil, add minced garlic, and then add diced tomatoes (no need to remove the skin), as that all simmers together, add some spices of your choosing (I added some chili flakes, salt, pepper, dried spices), and then I added a huge handful of fresh spinach, and as it began to simmer down and was nearly ready to eat, I picked some of my fresh basil and cut and added that for the final flair.

Oooooh, yum!  You shout.

Yes.  It was divine.  The sautéed zucchini and then the homemade sauce.  Both.  Both were divine.  They were spiced, sautéed and cooked to perfection.

And the finale was a fresh salad with some more of that fresh spinach, other mixed lettuces, and fruity toppings, dried cranberries, tomatoes, and pumpkin seeds, topped with a French dressing.

All is looking and sounding good.

But, ah darn!  I went and did something really dense.  Really dense.

I bought the on-sale, already cheap spaghetti.

And when it cooked, it clumped.  It was mush.  And I thought—oh no!  This is it.  After my beautifully prepared dinner, it is going to be ruined by this horribly lumpy, mushy, cheap spaghetti.  Now I know why the Italians buy fresh pasta or make it themselves.  After spending so much time and love on a meal, why ruin it in the end?!

But I had nothing else to serve (after all, with menu planning, you grocery shop efficiently).  And so divine sauce, flavor-induced zucchini, and beautiful salad ready, I served the mushy, lumpy spaghetti noodles.

Our plates were gorgeous.  They looked divine, and the pasta was neatly hidden beneath the beautiful sauce.

But, as I sat to eat, I apologized profusely over and over again.  I said, “Oh, I am so sorry for the noodles.  I hope that they don’t ruin the meal.  I know that I have said it before, but I will say it again and again, I will never buy the cheapest noodles again!”

You know, big sales and cheap products are hard to pass up, especially when you are a family of 5.  Good sales are musts.  But bad noodles should NEVER be a must.

Yet, once again, here we sat to eat what was suppose to be budget and menu-prepared friendly, good-looking and good tasting meal.  Which turned into what appeared to be mushy noodles murder.

My husband.  He barely got home from work at 8pm that night.  He was gone all day.  And he was starving.

Disappointment was etched on his face.  It was probably a mixture of hunger, excitement, weariness, and 3 crazy kids.  And then your favorite meal killed by the noodles.

But he sat there and said not to worry about it.  He was sure my meal was fine.  He said “Thank you” over and over again.

And then we all bowed our heads and prayed for our meal together.

As my husband and I began to eat our dinner, we didn’t have a chance to reflect on the mushy noodles-because we devoured our meal.

The flavor of the sauce was so delicious, with the sautéed zucchini on top, with the side salad and creamy French dressing, we didn’t even remember about the murderous noodles until our plates were practically licked clean.

And that’s when my husband said it, “Your spaghetti sauce is like Jesus…”

“Jesus covers a multitude of sins.  Just like your spaghetti sauce.”

And with the final lick of my plate, I had to agree with my husband…

Jesus + Forgiveness = Redeeming and Great!

Just like my spaghetti sauce.

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  1 John 1:9 (NKJV)

Plans for Valentine’s Day. Or do you have children?

I’m innocent I tell you.  Innocent!

When we only had one it was still so easy…

No, we didn’t often go out to eat.  First of all, we were in Poland-it is very cold there.  And we had next to no money.  Therefore, we did a lot of “at home” dates.  Which are, by the way, sometimes the most awesome kind you can have.

But once you add a baby to the mix, you have to get more creative.  Like…At home dates AFTER the baby goes to sleep.  And that is exactly what I did.  I planned a special date for my hot husband!

I made sure to have all the proper ingredients for a fabulous evening:

Great dinner made by me (sometimes I can actually cook)!

Candles for lighting and setting the romantic mood.

Soft and romantic music playing in the background.

A washed, fed, and put to bed baby (a must for a romantic stay at home date)…

And then I slipped into something small, black, and pretty.

We sat down to eat our meal, enjoy our conversation, and have a generally relaxed evening when it happened…

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

Uh-oh.  Baby’s awake.  Perhaps we can ignore the cry?

Nope.  Impossible.  Because, at this time in our life, the flat we were living in had our daughter’s room literally connected to our kitchen which was connected to our table—and our daughter’s room had no door.  Literally no door.

So we heard it loud and clear again, “WAAAAAAAAAAAA!”

Yep.  She got her mightily impressive lungs for screaming from me.

And again, “WAAAAAAAAAAAA!”

Begrudgingly we get up (sounds like we are GREAT parents, eh?!) and go get our crying (screaming) daughter out of bed.

“Here, here, Sweet Adelyne,” cuddle, cuddle, cuddle!

That’s when it happens!

BLAH…

All down my something small and black and pretty.

Gag (me this time).

In my mind I had planned the perfect stay at home romantic date.  Instead, however, baby gets cleaned up.  Mommy gets cleaned up.  Food gets covered up.  Mommy goes out into the cold to find medicine for the baby (walking all over the city to look for an open store, of course)…

Candles get blown out.

Music gets turned off.

Daddy rocks baby.

And, eventually, we all fall asleep.

Now, isn’t that romantic?

Hope your planned Valentine’s date stays germ free 😉

Have a great day of love!

xo b

A safari and a wedding. South Africa to Botswana, what a journey!

In the words of my daughter, “Seun looked like an African Queen!”

In the words of my husband, “If I could go back and marry Brooke again, I would have a Nigerian wedding!”

(If you read my past posts, Seun and her family are originally from Nigeria.  Kwesi and his from Ghana)

There are not many photos, but I am sure that you can see why BOTH said what they did.  Again, congratulations to Seun and Kwesi.

(When Rich reaches Poland, I am sure that he’ll send me more.  But for now, these are LOVELY starting shots!)

Enjoy.

First photos…Safari shots and dinners with dad.  Lovely, lovely, lovely!

And now to the wedding…First, the rehearsal dinner.

The above are from the evening of the rehearsal dinner.  Daddy is SO proud of doing his daughter’s hair.  Well done, Rich!

Mother of the bride…Stunning!

Flower girl, Adelyne.  She had her hair in a headdress for the wedding (maybe those photos will come another time?)

Adelyne and the handsome groomsmen!

Adelyne and her “Cheeky Twin” Seun…The unbelievable stunning bride!

Kwesi and his groomsmen go before Seun’s family!  Awesome. 

Should have had Rich do this at our wedding. 

Maybe an anniversary 🙂

The groom and bride…

May God bless your today and all of your tomorrows.

We love you. 

Thank you for asking our family to be a special part of your days…

xo from afar,

Brooke and Maxwell and Belly Josephine

Here’s their personal website, if you want to get to know them even better:  http://seunandkwesi.ourwedding.com/view/5483962792241072/34042896

Related articles

• My husband’s off to get people hitched…in Africa! (and2makescrazy.wordpress.com)
• Children notice skin color, but it’s what we teach that matters… (and2makescrazy.wordpress.com)
• Alex the Lion nibbles on Adelyne… (and2makescrazy.wordpress.com)
• Catch my breath…off she goes! (and2makescrazy.wordpress.com)

Copyright above photography goes to Richard Nungesser

Alex the Lion nibbles on Adelyne…

Today was amazing—from the sounds of it on my Skype call with Rich.  They landed in Joburg late Monday night.  So today was their first day to start to explore…

Their explorations started with a trip to a lion park.  Anyhow…the cubs you could handle and hug and pet and play with.  One particular cub, Alex the Lion, really took to Ada…and her clothes.  In the video Richard sent me (that I can’t seem to upload here…bummer), I can’t tell if she is pleased or annoyed.  But her daddy said that later in the day all she could talk about was how fun it was to hold Alex the Lion!

And then they made their way to the “lion walk” with the 1-yr-old lions.  Ummm…The guide gave Rich strict instructions to “Keep Adelyne Close!”

Rich said it was a GOOD thing he did.  As soon as they entered, he said the lions got down on their haunches and began to creep toward her.  I guess she is more “bite sized” eh?  But the closer Richard got to Adelyne, the more intimidated they were, and they backed away.  I guess he is still too big of a meal for 1-yr-old lions.  Roar!

After the lion park, they headed to their game park where they’re staying for two days.  They got to swim, go on a night safari, and eat outside under oil lanterns!

Man…can we say, “Momma be jealous”?  I can!

During the night safari, the guide tossed food to the crocs…Rich said the water became a ripple of activity.  It was fascinating.  And then during the Safari drive, they actually spotted White Rhinos!  One even had a baby.  Rich said a tusk of another was a good 2+ feet in length.  Amazing!

What does Adelyne hope for in the next two days?  Adelyne hopes to get close enough to a giraffe to ride its back.

What a crazy explorer she’ll make—She should’ve been stranded in the movie Swiss Family Robinson.

Anyhow, it was a short but awesome Skype convo between me and my man.

Tomorrow they get to become like the cowboys of the National Geographic.  They are joining a “round up”!  True that. (Why am I going all old school talk on you all, I don’t know…Jet lag?  Oh wait.  I didn’t go anywhere 😉 )

Back to the “round up”.  I guess that there are too many animals on one reserve, so the helicopters will come and herd the animals into different crates to be taken to wider, more open spaces.  Just like Marty’s dream in Madagascar, eh?  Wide, open spaces!

I think that Rich is as excited about this next one as Adelyne!  There is a bit of AZ cowboy in him ready to go all “Yeehaw” on the zebras’ behinds.

Anyhow…One more day of South African exploring before they head into Botswana for a multi-day joyful wedding celebration.

I’ll keep you as updated as I myself am 🙂  (which means not too terribly updated).

Hugs for now…And lion kisses…Much like those Alex the Lion gave Adelyne.

Munch.  Munch!

I once lit a homeless man’s ONLY sweater on fire. It’s. The. Sad. Truth.

Sometimes common sense evades me.  I don’t know where it hides.  Obviously not in my noggin.

Sigh.

Well, I am sure I have you wondering, “How, Brooke?  How could you possibly light a homeless man’s only sweater on fire?”

Let me tell you.  I did it.  It’s possible.  And here’s the story behind it…

Perhaps you did not know that my husband and I started a non-profit in Poland for homeless, poor, and people in general need.

Well, we did.  It all started with 3 cups of tea that my husband served to 3 homeless men at the main train station in Poznan.

Okay, Brooke—that’s all great.  But HOW did you light a homeless man’s sweater on fire?

I’m getting there.

Well, those 3 cups of tea took off!  Pretty awesomely, I might add.

And then Rich and I decided we could do more.

So we started inviting random homeless people to our flat (mieszkanie in Polish).

Here I am visiting under a roundabout in Poland…

Yeah.  Not sure that was our wisest decision—but it was definitely God-protected.

Random homeless started gracing our home.  We started making them dinner.  We had Bible studies together and general merriment.  Honestly, we bonded.  It was all good.

Yep.

Trouble was…our stove.  Our stove dated to the WWII era.  A gas stove that I had to light with a match.

Now, that doesn’t actually sound too bad does it?

No.  Except you should know that I had to remove two bricks at the bottom of the stove, lift the lid, turn the gas, and chuck the match into what would become the burning inferno.

Brooke + Fire should NEVER be friends.  Never.

Sigh.  Again.

Anyhow—It was a typical homeless dinner night and one of the nice gentlemen was in the kitchen helping me prepare the meal.

I had not yet perfected this brick removing, lid lifting, gas turning, match-chucking skill.

And let’s just say that this VERY UNSUSPECTING homeless man did not realize my lack of gas turning-match throwing talent.  So as he bent down to help me remove the bricks and lift the lid, I did it.

I chucked the match.

Yes.  It just so happened that this was the ONE evening where I turned the gas on a little too strongly.

And I threw the match a little too accurately.

And a big explosion went “Poof!” up in our faces.

Well, our faces were spared but his sweater—his one piece of warmth—caught the wrath of my match.

And, yes.  It caught on fire.

In my kitchen stood a homeless man that I was trying to feed.  Burning.

Yikes!

So, I did what I could…I took a towel and beat that fire out of his sweater.

Spared his skin—got the sweater.  Got the sweater real good.

I’d like to say that I gave him one of Richard’s sweaters, but I honestly don’t remember.

I remember beating the fire out of him.

I remember the hole.

Believe it or not, he still stayed for dinner.  But did I dress the man in a new sweater of warmth?

I cannot recall.

I wonder if he remembers the crazy American lady that invited him up 4 flights of stairs into her flat for dinner, being lit on fire, and beat with a towel?

If he does, maybe he can recall if I ever replaced his sweater.

I think I’ll end with…I hope so!

Sometimes good intentions can DEFINITELY go up in flames, eh?

Literally.

Friends, my hope for you is that your good intentions end with people being properly clothed!

Literally.

Question of the Day:  Have your good intentions ever gone up in flames?