Banana Date Shake

I promised you a recipe and I am here to deliver.

Ready?

1 frozen banana

2 or 3 pitted dates (I go for 3) 

1/2 cup almond milk (or coconut milk - I personally like coconut milk for a more refreshing version)

Blend until smooth and that's IT!

Seriously it's my new ice cream.  Kwacha and I were eating it every night for dessert but it isn't necessarily low calorie so we're cutting back to only every other night at the most.

The banana makes it creamy, the dates give it the needed sweetness and the milk makes it a shake.

Enjoy!

(Sorry, no picture.  It's gone too fast!)

Shirley at Five Months

Anyone can see by that nice little ticker above that I am once again late in posting about Shirley.  And once again I only had one post in between this one and the last monthly update on Shirley.  But stay tuned.  I will have a new easy little recipe up soon.  One that has (kinda) brought ice cream back into my life.  Anyway, on to Shirley.  

This time, I didn't touch up the pictures at all.  I am currently taking a free online Photoshop class and  I'm spending so much of my free time watching those lessons that I just don't have time to fix these up.  I just need to get them on here.  I don't have a baby book yet, so this is kind of my only way right now to remember how Shirley is developing.  And yes, probably only family and a few close friends care but why am I apologizing?  Look at that cute face!

Who me?

Attacking her dog.  Shirley has become much more aware of her toys this month.  She's finally playing with them!

And she's beginning to sit up with help.  She actually does pretty good balancing with no help, not even from a boppy pillow, for about ten seconds maybe.

But toppling is still the norm.

The classic picture with her dog.

Do we really have to do this again?

These days she's putting EVERYTHING into her mouth.

She is just so curious about everything.  She is always looking around.  

She's also drooling a lot.  We think she's teething due to the drooling, biting and other symptoms.  But she's still our happy baby!

She's also laughing all the time.  The other morning I was sitting in our living room eating my breakfast and I could hear her laughing to herself in her crib.  Most mornings I play the piggy game with her toes and I have been waiting for her to laugh when I say "Whee whee whee whee whee, all the way home" as I tickle her.  She finally did it today!

I know I say it every time, but I just love her!  I can't imagine wanting to do anything else than stay at home and be her mom.  I can't believe I get to call it my job!  I thank God for her every day and for the privilege of being her mom.  I also pray daily that God would save her at a young age and give her a love for Him and a desire to serve Him with her life.

Mad About...

Kwacha!

My husband's reputation preceded him by 10,000 miles.  
Soon after we finished high school my best friend went to South Africa on a mission's trip.  While she was there she took lots of pictures and I remember sitting in her room at her parents house looking through them when she returned.  There was a short African guy in a lot of the pictures and she told me that he was really sweet and  spent a lot of time with their team.  In the mornings, she and another girl would go running and he would go along with them.  She said it was to make sure that they were safe.  
When I was first dating Kwacha I noticed that he and Christen were friends on Facebook.  When I told her that we were dating I asked her how she knew him and she told me that she had met him when she went to South Africa.  (He was there attending Christ Seminary.)  I only then realized that he was the guy in the pictures!
Who would have thought ten years later, that short African guy would be my husband?!
I didn't spend a lot of time in my teens and young 20's praying for my future husband.  But I did occasionally.  At least I hoped he was out there.  And he was.  Way out in Lilongwe, Malawi.  I don't think any of our friends would have thought to set the two of us up.  But God did!  I love that He is the ultimate matchmaker.  He knows what is best for us, and my best is definitely Kwacha.  


(The picture above is way blown out but I thought it was good at representing how out of all the people in the world, Kwacha is mine.  ;)