Lasagna ::::: [Alternate Title: How to Make Brian a Valentine]

Romance is alive at the Stock Household. As long as there is Italian food, there is a way to my husband's heart. Here's how I win him over.

Step one: Mix pasta dough.









Step two: Make noodles. (Seriously this is fun. I put oregano into the noodles. That's cool...I mean, if you like that sort of thing.)

Step three: Make sauce. (Sausage, more seasoning than my intuition tells me, ground chicken....on a side note: we might have given up on "beef" here for a bit)













Step four: Clean the veggies for a salad.















Step five: Snack the Molly













Step six: Layer

Step seven: "Mommy take a picture of my pig school!"

Ahhh, better than any Hallmark card.

He bought me roses. We watched a movie together. This is pretty much the best Valentine's Day ever. 

Picture of the Week: Family Day

Brian does not work an 8-5 kind of job. There are 6 a.m. Skype calls, leadership meetings in our home until 10 at night and everything in between. Saturdays find him at our business centre and most Sundays he's leading music or something else. So, as much as we can we try to take a "family day". Sometimes this is a lunch out, a picnic in the park or a trip to the mall (a huge highlight because Lydia gets to bring her baby stroller).

Today we pulled out our city's tourism book and checked a park near a lake. There was a train (for some reason shaped like a giraffe), boats (for next time) and slides. Hold on. Not just slides...but slides without holes, rusted jagged edges or broken ladders. Yes. Amazing.

I'd say Family Day was a success.

Here's to many more exotic-animal-shaped trains, slides in working order and time with a family that loves each other. 

News

A really good friend of mine just gave birth to her 5th child. I got the email with all the stats. Great name, healthy weight; everybody is doing well. 

I cried in the kitchen. 

Brian knew exactly why and came in to give me a hug. It's not like I didn't know she was going to have this baby. And yes, I knew I would be in a different country. I would not be there. I knew this. But, it's hard to explain. Life happens. Here. There. Babies are born, friends' dads get sick, pastors leave, and houses are sold. 

I rejoice for this new little baby boy. I am happy to be here. Sad to be not there. A paradoxical moment that allows my coffee to get cold while I weep over two worlds.