Sunday, August 21, 2011

Shamelessly Plugging My Kid

Move over, Will and Jada! You're not the only ones who can turn your children into internet sensations. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you a little one-man show we like to call Exesaucer Fun:


We're already in talks for a sequel. We'll probably begin shooting after he's had a good sleep and a big meal. Stars can be so temperamental!

YOUR TURN:
What's your favorite cute kid video? Feel free to share a link.

The Worst Feeling in the World

What's the worst feeling in the world? I used to think it was failure. I don't like to admit this, but back in Elementary School, I would involuntarily tear up if I raised my hand to answer a question and got it wrong. I HATE failing publicly. I'm often uncomfortable running into people I knew when I was younger because I don't like explaining that I've not been able to finish school. I don't like playing sports that I'm not good at because I don't want to strike out in front of everyone.

But you know, I've failed at A LOT of things: Tests, classes, relationships, job interviews, you name it. And I've learned that failure is just a chance to try to do things better, or to try something completely new. So failure, while uncomfortable, is not the worst feeling in the world. I'd have to give that title to Betrayal.

Full Disclosure: I was betrayed by someone very close to me recently. And what hurt the most was not the act but the level of deceit and the absolute hypocrisy of claiming to be one thing while all the wile being another. It's a horrible thing to find out that you've been lied to not once, but over a period of time. What's worse is, even though I know everything and the other person knows that I know everything, they wont just come clean. Even when faced with overwhelming evidence. So, while I can forgive the actual act of betrayal, it never ends because everyday I have to wake up and forgive the continued lies.

Whoever came up with the "knife in the back" metaphor for betrayal was a wise person. When someone violates relationship with you in such a way 1) you're caught totally unawares 2) you feel like you're dying 3) the knife is in your back so you can't reach it to pull it out yourself. Only the person inflicting the damage can make it right. It's crushing; even me, who is usually a pretty stoic person, find it impossible to just pretend everything is peachy.

My one consolation: This too shall pass. Betrayal is one of the many wrongs Jesus was subjected to by the people he loved most. And, though his betrayal was so much deeper than mine, at the end of the day he was still able to pray for the very people and say "Father, forgive them." He loved them enough to lay aside his grief.

One of the Psalms deals with this very topic:
For it was not an enemy that reproached me; then I could have borne it: neither was it he that hated me that did magnify himself against me; then I would have hid myself from him:  But it was thou, a man mine equal, my guide, and mine acquaintance.
 We took sweet counsel together, and walked unto the house of God in company. 
Psalm 55:12-14

In the end, the solution the Psalmist offers is one that is very simple and very difficult;
Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.
Psalm 55:22

The truth is, there is only one person we can 100% trust with our hearts and know that we will not be betrayed, and that is God. Everyone else will hurt us at some point... they may not admit it.. and they may not be sorry. But, if we find the grace to forgive them as Jesus forgave us then we have a promise that we will  be sustained.

YOUR TURN:
What do you think the worst feeling in the world is? Why?

Friday, August 19, 2011

Babies Are Psychic

"Don't even think about being productive today!"
At least mine is. There is no other explanation. I first became suspicious early on, when the Little One started sleeping in his own room. He was a night person in those days and sometimes wouldn't go down until 1:00, leaving Mommy very tired. But he wouldn't simply go to sleep. He'd close his eyes and fake it as I tiptoed gently back to bed. Then, at the exact second when I found my spot and tucked my covers cozily under my chin, I hear that pitiful whimper calling me back across the hall. Sometimes, when he was feeling extra sadistic, he would wait a few more minutes until I had just barely dozed off before loudly letting me know that my presence was desired.

Those days are thankfully over. The boy is in his crib between 8:30 and 9:00 every night and goes peacefully to sleep without any aid from me. And he's a faithful 12 hour sleeper, nights are blissful once more. Or at least, they should be...

But, since Junior is such a night-time champ he's up considerably more during the daytime and his psychic powers are somehow strengthened by the sunlight. I can generally get him to take a late morning nap a few hours after he wakes up and I take advantage of that time to take a short nap myself, thinking I'll wake up and get some chores done while he finished his snooze. Without fail, this kid always manages to wake up within 2 minutes of me. We live on a main street with my son's room facing the road. Emergency vehicles scream past the house at least 6 times a day and the kid doesn't even roll over. But the sound of Mommy stirring from across the hall and he's wide awake.

So we get up, maybe I feed him and we play for a while. Then, I pull out the Exe-saucer or playmat or playpen and let him entertain himself for a while, which he is generally happy to do... Until he senses that mommy is ready to perform a chore that he can't tag along for. As soon as i starting thinking to myself  "I should start dinner." Or "I should get these floors mopped."  Or any other non-kid-friendly activity... my little psychic companion strikes preemptively and starts kicking up a fuss.

I'm not even mad at the little dude. It's rather brilliant, really. Get all the attention he needs all day long and make mommy d all her chores after 8:30... so what if she can't remember going to bed before 2:00am. I just think he needs to rethink his plan, every time he uses his powers for evil instead of good, he diminishes his chances of getting a baby brother or sister any time soon!

YOUR TURN:
How do you balance the demands of the kids with the demands of... everything else.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Guilty Pleasure: Why I Love Korean Dramas


You know what? Nix that! I'm not even going to call it a guilty pleasure because I don't feel guilty about it. I ain't ashamed! I'll declare it to everyone... I LOVE me some Korean dramas. I think they are the best things ever.

A little background. I first discovered the Korean drama sometime around 2005/2006 when I was going to school in Philly. It's much more fair to say that my roommates discovered them first and managed to suck me in but that's splitting hairs. One of the local access channels had Korean programming every night, which culminated in a 30-minute daily soap opera with English subtitles. The show we got addicted to was called "Bizarre Bunch" and we had never seen anything like it before. Knowing what I know now, it's a pretty formulaic KDrama but for us it was a wonderfully wacky new ride filled with overacting and sappiness and heartwarming good times.

"I don't get it." you say "That doesn't sound all that awesome. What's so great about Korean Dramas?" I'm glad you ask... Allow me to expound:

1) They End
Most Kdramas consist of 16-24 1-hour episodes that air twice a week. Which means each story has to be introduced, developed and wrapped up in 6-12 weeks. You don't have to wait 10 seasons just to find out that Ross and Rachel get together in the end.

2) They Are Clean
Because of Korea's super strict censorship laws, no explicit content can be shown on network TV during the daytime or primetime hours so most of the shows are as chaste as an Amish Prom. The characters rarely even hug or hold hands, let alone anything further (and the shows still have an "Under 15" rating). It's refreshing, given the over-sexualization in the media over here.

3) They Are Predicatble
You would think that would be a negative but that actually makes it interesting. You know how it's gonna end and you even know what many of the major plot points are gonna be, but it's the route they take to get you there that makes it fun. Speaking of which...

4) They Are Fun and Wacky
I don't even know how to explain what makes them so fun. It may be the absurdity of them. They just are. You gotta try it for yourself.

Here's a few suggestions for the Novice Kdrama viewer.
Delightful Girl Choong-hyang- Watch this one first. It's got all of the above elements and is a very prototypical Kdrama
Coffee Prince- Possibly my all time favorite ever. And just a little bit different from your typical drama
Boys Over Flowers- An absolute Hot Mess of a show but a lot of fun if you're new to the kdrama world. Highlights the absurdity I mentioned earlier.
Full House- Very cute. Stars rain,who played Raizo in Ninja Assassin (LOVED that movie!)

 Those should get you started. Fair warning. I love light romantic comedies. They also have their share of epic melodramas, action thrillers, and historical dramas but i don't watch them so I can speak on them.

Here's what I'm watching now
Scent of a Woman- Not a remake of the Pacino classic, though they do reference it.
Myung-Wol the Spy- Very cute and wacky with a unique premise.
Protect the Boss- My favorite show that I'm currently watching. It's soooo funny, mainly because it takes all the "predictable" kdrama cliches and stereotypes and totally turns hem on their head. If you watch this, watch some of the other I've suggested first so that you can fully appreciate what I great job they do with this show.

Oh and here's on of my favorite websites, Dramabeans. They keep me up to date on the latest news and feature some very funny and insightful recaps of several shows.

Happy watching. I hope you enjoy the as much as I do!

YOUR TURN: What's your guilty pleasure?

Dreams

There's only two main things I've ever wanted to do with my life: Be a scientist and be a missionary.

I fell in love with Science on the first day of second grade... the day that textbooks are handed out. I was given my science book and opened it up to peruse it while the rest of the class received theirs. I remember turning to the first page and just starting to read; it was something about dinosaurs and how they lived a long time ago and there was a picture of the now defunct brontosaurus munching happily on Mesozoic foliage. From that day on, science was my thing. Most of the books I checked out of the library were about nature or animals. every career aspiration I had was science related: Zoologist (2nd Grade), Palaeontologist (3rd Grade), Marine Biologist ( 4th Grade), Aerospace Engineer (5th Grade), Biomedical Engineer (College), Biomedical Research (Current). That's about 23 years of my life spent in a deeply committed relationship with my main squeeze, Science.

But, what Science didn't know was that, at age 14 I met someone, Jesus Christ. At first it was great. My sins were forgiven; I felt truly loved and accepted for the first time in my life; life was good and getting better every day. Science and I were still making plans to run away together to a prestigious university and live happily ever after working for NASA and designing space shuttles. Most of my friends from Church were dreaming of being pastors or pastors wives and, while I thought "good for them," I didn't think God had something like that in store for me.

"God knows me," I thought "He knows I'm too shy. I might actually have to talk to people I don't know if I did something like that." Time went on, though, and I grew in Christ and He began to put more and ore of a burden for souls on my heart until eventually as I neared the end of high school I conceded just a bit. My new tune was "Well, if God really REALLY wants me to be a pastor's wife I guess I can do it... but only in America. I'm not going anywhere were I can't take a hot shower." I know, very magnanimous of me.

That all changed on April 9th, 2000. Well, it began to change before that. I was away at school at the University of Oklahoma (the prestigious university I had applied to had turned me down), 833 miles away from my home in Atlanta. Being thrust into a brand new situation all by myself was the catalyst I needed to come out of my shell. Almost overnight, I was a people person and the thought of trying to make friends with new people wasn't so scary. On top of that. I went from going to a small church in Atlanta to going to a VERY small church in Oklahoma City. The thing about going to a "pioneer church" (a church that has only been open for a short while and is still in the growing stages) is that you get to see first hand what it takes to build a work for God and you generally have to be very involved in helping to build that work... because, frankly, there is no one else.

Because OKC is 20 minutes away from the OU campus and I didn't have a car, I generally spent Sundays in the city and was dropped off back at school after the evening services. April 9th, 2000 was the day after my 19th birthday (just gave my age away there... do the math yourself). One of the girls had wanted to stay at the church and work on a mural she was painting in the nursery so I stayed with her to keep her company. I was sitting, reading a quarterly magazine called "The Trumpet" that that the Christian Fellowship Ministries (which my church is a part of) puts out. It contains testimonies of what God has been doing in our churches all over the world. One of the testimonies caught my eye because it was from the church in Surinam, which borders my home country of Guyana. I was reading it and God spoke very plainly to me and said "You're going to do the same thing in Guyana."

I know, when people start referring to God speaking to them folks start to slowly back away. I'm not saying that the sky opened up and a light shined down and an audible voice shook the room as a choir of angels harmonized. But I know the "voice in my head" and this was not it. Take it for what you will; I took it as the Call of God upon my life.

From that day on Science was no longer my main squeeze, Calling was. But Science was never totally out of the picture. I left OU after my Freshman year but I continued to study engineering, first at community college in Atlanta, then at Drexel University in Philadelphia. I tried to tell Science that we were just friends but, honestly, I wasn't even fooling myself. I loved science. I loved reading Science; I loved doing Scince; I loved thinking about Science; I loved talking about Science. But I truly love the things of God more. Since that day in 2000, my burden to touch the world has grown so much farther than Guyana. There are so many nations where I want to have an opportunity to go preach the Gospel. I suppose I felt that I would pursue my career for as long as I could and then, one fateful day, God would tap me on the shoulder and say "It's Time" and I'd be able to activate Missionary Mode and hop on the next international flight out of town.

And maybe it will go down like that. After all, I know God's plans for me are so much greater than anything that I can build on my own. Sometimes I wonder if it will go down at all. 11 years later and I'm really not much closer to either of my dreams than I was that day. I was in school, on and off, for 8 years and had to leave just a few credits short of my degree due to financial constraints. I've spent the last 3 years chasing two-year-olds in a preschool and not working on my Nobel Prize in research lab. I'm a stay-at-home mom now who's attention has been, I'm sad to say, sorely distracted from the cry of the nations this past year. But, one of my favorite promises from God is that is that He is the Author and Finisher of our faith. Which means The Lord is the one writing my life story, not me. And, since I'm still here, he's not done yet.

YOUR TURN: What steps do we all need to take to achieve our dreams?


Sunday, August 14, 2011

Adventures in Homemaking: Ginger Pear Tea

I've got a pear tree in my backyard that's heavy with fruit. I've never lived anywhere before with an yielding fruit tree so I'm decidedly excited about the opportunities. I already turned some of them into baby food for the Little One, which went over well considering he's been less than enthused about starting solids.


But there's only so much pears the kid can eat, right? Meanwhile more and more of my "crop" is falling to the ground and being eaten by critters. So today's experiment was ginger pear tea, based loosely on this recipe from the food network.

All in all, it was a pretty painless process. Boil sugar, grated pears, and ginger in a few cups of water. Then let it simmer till the pears are soft.
Boilin' and simmerin'
 Then you just gotta strain it and let it cool. 

I went and extra step and split it between two jugs and then mixed them with regular black tea... gettin' all adventurous, ya know.


The verdict? Not bad! I think I mixed a little too much tea in there and diluted the pear flavor a bit. Either that or I didn't add enough sugar. I'm a southerner and we like our tea SWEET.
Added Bonus: In an attempt to save money and reduce waste, I try my best to get at least two uses out of my household resources. So I used the strained off pear shaving to make bread. It's in the oven as I type and it smells delicious. But the final results may be a bit capricious because the pantry is a bit bear and I had to take some liberties with the ingredients. Stay tuned to find out how it works out...


YOUR TURN: What else can I make with a tree full of pears?

So... This is Blogging...

I know; you're right. Everyone in the world has been blogging since 2006. I'll admit it. I'm once again tardy to the party. In my defense, I never felt I had anything very interesting to say. At least not enough to sustain any kind of prolonged web presence. [Fair warning: that may still be the case]. But, in the last few years there's been some big changes to my life and my perspectives and, since my kid is getting bored of my ramblings, I've decided to foist share them on the world instead.

A little about me:
1) I'm a new wife.

Mr. and Mrs Zurily

2) I'm a new mom

Little Zurily
It's a combination that is very hard to juggle. I've been pretty fiercely independent for my whole life and it's a bit disorienting to now have two lives that are affected by my decisions. Especially while I'm simultaneously trying to navigate the choppy waters of Godly submission and Virtuous Womanhood. Speaking of which...

3) I'm a Born-Again Christian
Image by Dan


I gave my life to Jesus when I was 14. I'll probably be sharing my full testimony in a later post. So my worldview is a Christian one and guided primarily by the Bible. I believe that the only way to get to God is through his Son, Jesus Christ, who came to earth to die for sinners (a group that includes every one of us). Agree or disagree as you will but now you know.

So those are the three main tings you should know about me from the onset. The rest, we can learn as we go along. I'm just hear because I have all kinds of opinions on all kinds of topics. On top of that, I think I'm funny hilarious. So why not make the people laugh, eh?

YOUR TURN: What else would you like to know about me?