The Latest from Thirst Relief International

Well, I finally got this photo uploaded to my own computer today, and I'm SO excited to share it with the rest of you (ummmm, to the maybe 3 people that have read this blog!) So, check this out: 2007 was another wonderful year of growth for our Thirst Relief organization. Our first year, approximately 4,500 people were impacted by having clean drinking water. Last year the number grew to about 28,000 people in many different countries receiving the simple gift of clean drinking water for the first time. This photo shows a new well we recently dug in a poor village in India. Seated in front of the well is a 110 year old woman. Did you catch that? 110 years old! And the village gave her the honor of having the first drink of water from the new well. It's actually amazing that she lived this long without clean water. Now, thankfully, her children, grandchildren, and so on will have access to fresh, CLEAN water.
For more information on Thirst check out our website: www.thirstrelief.org

Was it Roseola?

Last week Maddy came down with a strange sickness that even made the doctors go "hum?" My personal guess is that it was a mild case of Roseola (new to me too). She had a high fever for a few days in a row, and then got spots all over her belly (although she was now acting normal). Then the spots disappeared, but she got strange marks all over her legs. At that point, I said we're going to SEE the doctors, rather than just explaining everything over the phone (and their response would be: "Just keep an eye on her the rest of the day, and call us if anything seems to get worse.")

So, the spots on her legs disappeared as quickly as they came, and as you can see by the photos, Madelyn just had a great time at the doctors office. I guess we'll chalk this up as another chance to bolster her little immune system. Lucky for us, Madelyn was a trooper thru all of it.

Who knew hiding veggies in food could be so much fun?!

So, I received the new Jessica Seinfeld "Deceptively Delicious" cookbook for Christmas. Thought it sounded interesting to hide things like spinach in baked brownies. Well, at least in theory it sounded like a good idea. The thing I wasn't so sure about was how it would taste. Because c'mon...when I'm craving brownies or cookies, I don't want it to taste like spinach or zucchini!! Here's the deal: you buy fruits and veggies, cook them, puree them in the food processor, and save them in little baggies to eventually add into foods to make them healthier. The idea was to help kids (a.k.a. picky eaters) get their daily allotment of veggies without them noticing! So, Seinfeld created lots of interesting recipes where you add these purees into the normal foods, and voila, you have a healthy version of yummy kid food (or adult food!)

The amazing thing is that this stuff actually tastes GREAT. Just this morning I made oatmeal raisin cookies (with zucchini and apple puree). And Madelyn couldn't get enough. (Oh, and me too!) I'm trying a new recipe from the book every day or two, and so far, every one has been a big hit with the whole family. So, if you have picky eaters at home, or just wanted to try some new creative ways to make pancakes, macaroni and cheese or banana bread, check out the new cookbook (OR, just ask me for the recipe!)

And another perk I didn't know I'd get: such a pretty looking refrigerator with all the colorful pureed foods. Yum!

Maddy feeding Bridget (my parents doggie!)

Okay, so I just figured out how to use the handy image uploader. Here's a photo from earlier today as we were loading Jonathan's luggage into the car. Madelyn is wearing her beautiful new dress from Argentina. And Jonathan is wearing his super-special travel shirt (thanks Herald!)

Note: Today is January 8th and notice the short sleeves. It got up into the 70's today. Gotta love that in Ohio!

I'm so behind the times

Well, I feel like I've been reading and viewing other peoples blogs for years now, and for whatever reason, I decided on this overcast January Tuesday that today's the day to start my own. So here goes.
I don't really know what too me so long...considering I've always loved journaling. This is like the journal of the future and a fun way to post photos for all you to see. Who is "all you" anyway? I don't know...that remains to be seen. But at least for MY fun, I'm gonna use this as a way to write about the funny little things that my sweet Madelyn (now almost 15 mos. old) does on a daily basis. Things that I don't want to forget. Plus, my brother lives in Argentina right now, so at least I know he'll enjoy reading the random updates.

Today has been great and hard all at the same time. I just returned from the airport where we (Madelyn, Dad and me) took Jonathan to the airport. He flies back to Buenos Aires today. We've had him here in Columbus for almost 3 weeks, and it's been an amazing time with him. So today was sweet...to be with him for a few more hours. And hard...because we had to hug goodbye. We'll see him again in July, and what a great reunion that will be. Madelyn will be running and talking by then. How crazy!

I guess I'll try to figure out how to post some photos on here now.

Until next time...