I’m really stoked!  I successfully made yogurt in a crockpot!  It was so easy and it actually worked.  Reasons I get so excited about this yogurt recipe are:

• I don’t need a yogurt maker, just my crockpot that I already own.
• It’s easy and I don’t need a thermometer to check whether the temperature is right or not.
• It’s cheap because all I need is milk and 1/2 cup of store bought yogurt as a yogurt starter.
• It tastes yummy and my kids love it.
• I can use whole milk to fatten up my skinny little baby.
• The yogurt is more runny compared to store bought ones, but my kids don’t mind.  They used straws to drink up their yogurt so forget about Danimals drinkable yogurt.  We have our homemade ones without all the extra sweeteners and artificial stuff.
• I tried making yogurt using other methods in the past and in my opinion, the crockpot method is lot easier and hassle free.

So, are you interested in making your own yogurt now?  If so, here’s the crockpot recipe!  Happy yogurt making.

Okay, Andrea, I’m in.

Starting with a couple photos from the past couple days, I’m joining you on the zany attempt to shoot & post a photo from every day for the next 365 days.

And I’m up this late cuz that’s how long it took me to figure out how to set up my new blog dedicated to those photos.

photoblog.dinghome.net

On occasion, though, there will simply be more than one photo per day that I really wanna post.  Is it kosher to post more than one?  I’m assuming not for the time being… so here’s a lovely photo that made me very happy today.  Our 5.5yo Andrew helping himself to his 2nd (or was it his 3rd) helping of broccoli at dinner:

So for this year, I got myself a Christmas gift, something that I’ve held out on for a long, long time.. a “proper” camera, aka a digital SLR.

I picked up an older (ca. 2007) model, the Nikon D40, a highly-rated 6-MP 2.5fps light camera that has everything I think I’ll need for the foreseeable future, for the primary uses I have for it: family/kid/vacation photos and occasional landscape/portraiture.

This is an upgrade from the point-and-shoot models that we’ve had for years, including the most recent “bridge” ultra-zoom Panasonic DMC-FZ28 camera that I picked up on vacation as a replacement for a lost camera earlier this year.

Out of the box with the decent kit lens, the main advantage of the D40 over point-and-shoot cameras is its ability to take photos fast without hesitation or delay.  That was fun enough, but honestly, not really enough to fully justify the extra size & expense of an SLR.  But my first accessory, a 35mm (equiv. 50mm) f/1.8 “fast” prime lens, has made me love this camera.  It’s allowed me already to take a number of wonderful photos, in available light indoors (no flash) and with shallow depth of field, that I don’t think would’ve been possible with any of our previous cameras.  In addition, I picked up an SB-400 flash that enables me to use a bounce flash technique to avoid harsh glare when in situations requiring a flash.  Here are a few examples from just the past few days, that are my favorites.  Looking forward to more chances to snap & post on the blog.

39mm on kit lens, 1/60, f/7.1, ISO 1600 with bounce flash

35mm, f/1.8, 1/125, ISO 1600, no flash

35mm, f/1.8, 1/60, ISO 500, no flash

35mm, f/1.8, 1/60, ISO 1600, no flash

This last photo is one of my personal favorites.  Calissa was just lying back on my legs, as I was resting on the floor.  I picked up the camera and just started shooting and got this great shot of her beautiful big eyes.

35mm, f/1.8, 1/60, ISO 1400, no flash

UPDATE: Here’s a photo taken tonight (12/18) at our annual outing to San Jose’s Christmas in the Park feature.  If you look closely, Lois’s face is ever so slightly out of focus due to the very shallow depth of field (focus is on Bethany’s hat/face), but that’s a small price for capturing this shot with barely any ambient light (8:30pm, street lighting) and no flash.

35mm, f/1.8, 1/25, ISO 1600, no flash

I have a tip for those singles who want to be married but are still waiting. . . and waiting. . . and waiting.    You may be wondering why it’s been so long since anyone showed any interest in you and if there’s anything wrong with you.  Well, maybe, perhaps.  I think one practical thing a single person can do is to ask a close friend or two to point out any flaws in you.  This is a very gutsy thing to ask so you better have the stomach to take in your friend’s observations about you.  The point of this exercise isn’t to demoralize you.  Rather, it’s to help you notice your own flaws so that you can improve.  Too often we’re so wrapped up in ourselves that we fail to see our own shortcomings.  Instead, we focus on other people’s faults as if it’s someone else’s fault that they fail to see the “gem” that you are..  This is a very humbling thing to do, but I believe it’ll prove rewarding.

And for those who are married, it might be a useful (though potentially taxing) conversation to have the same conversation with your spouse, with a view to being a greater blessing toward him/her.

I had an epiphany recently while listening to a workshop about a wife’s submission and a helper to her husband.  I don’t know how I’ve missed this wonderful revelation for so long.

After God created Adam, “The Lord God said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.’”  (Genesis 2:18)  Eve was created to be a helper, suitable for Adam.

Whenever I think of the word “helper,” the word “assistant” comes to mind.  In the corporate world, an assistant is merely an assistant, someone who’s been given assignments or tasks to do by her superior who she has no authority of her own except to do what she’s been instructed.  When a company wants to roll out the next promising product, an assistant is not called upon to handle such project.  Rather, the most promising executive is called upon to handle such task.  In the same manner, I find that women tend to have the same view when thinking about being a helper as designed by God.  We have a low view of being named a helper.  Yet contrary to what we may think or feel, this is not the case.

The Hebrew word for “helper” is ezer which means help or support.  While this meaning doesn’t exude much significance at the moment, my epiphany came about when I learned that the same word, ezer, is also used to describe God as our help.  Some examples in the Bible of this use include:

1 Samuel 7:12 – Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen and called its name Ebenezer; for he said, “Till now the LORD has helped us.”

God helped the Israelites defeat the Philistines in a time of distress and discouragement, and as a symbol of God’s help, Samuel erected a stone called Ebenezer (which means “stone of help”).  Notice the ezer in Ebenezer? Samuel thus declared the Lord had helped them.

Psalm 54:4  – Behold, God is my helper;  the Lord is the upholder of my life.

Psalm 28:7 – The LORD is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him.

Knowing the same word, ezer, is used to describe God as our helper, do we still have a low view of being helpers to our husbands?  I should hope not!  As helpers, we help out of strength, not weakness.  We certainly don’t see God as an assistant; and neither should we (or our husbands) view the role of wives as mere assistants.  We are called to help our husbands not because they need someone to fulfill menial tasks, but because God saw that the first man needed help to fulfill God’s perfect purposes for him.

I just finished reading two children’s stories, Jessica’s First Prayer and Jessica’s Mother by Hesba Stretton to my children.  I can’t help but marvel at how wonderfully these two stories convey the realities of life.  In Jessica’s First Prayer, a poor street girl name Jessica befriends a coffee stall owner (i.e., a “barista” in our Starbucks world) and learns about God.  In the sequel, Jessica’s Mother, Jessica tells her wretched mother about God.

We live in an age where the world appears to be growing increasingly hostile to God and glorify things and behaviors that are immoral.  In order to counter such reality, some have taken steps to republish and/or publish books that are of good morals and devoid of any bad content.  This, of course, is done with good intentions.  However, I have a problem with it: these kind of books don’t seem real to me.  The fictitious world remains fictitious, like a mere fairy tale, and does not seem to bear any likeness to the real world.  In contrast, the stories I’ve been reading, though fictitious, speak so much truth and the realities of the world because the author was willing to write about the difficulties of life, hardness of heart, vileness of humanity, death, abuse, etc.  As a matter of fact, according to Wikipedia, the author of the books was one of the founders of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children in 1884, and worked to eliminate child abuse and poverty.

My children have no misunderstanding when it comes to right and wrong, good and bad when listening to these two books.  I am careful to pick out books that have good content and teaches eternal and Biblical values.  I do not shy away from good books that discuss difficulties in life because they accurately depict the world as it is, perhaps more vividly than my children might otherwise experience living where we do.

Another book that I absolutely adore is Teddy’s Button by Amy Le Feuvre.  This story is about a little boy name Teddy who is mischievous, naughty, and hostile to a new girl name Nancy in the community.  The verbal mud slinging exchange between Teddy and Nancy is something we wish our own children would never utter.  Yet why do I like it?  Because it’s a very accurate depiction of children and their falleness.  The story does not end here.  Teddy becomes saved and now he has a battle in his mind and heart where he must defeat his bad self.  As he goes through spiritual transformation, we see his heart softens towards Nancy whom he once deemed as the most hated person in his life.  I love this story!  Books that tell the realities of life are heartwarming to me.

Note: The full text of Jessica’s First Prayer is available online.  However, I strongly prefer actual books that I can hold, especially for reading to the children, and both of the “Jessica” stories can be purchased in one paperback volume.