Designed By Daedra

My most recent creation, a baby shower invitation for a friend of Josie. It doesn't look like much in this photo (they're much nicer in person) but I had to create 33 invitations in 3 days and still be a mom to my 2 year old, go to Bible study, teach a Bradley class, go to a doctor appointment, and clean a church! This was not an easy task but it got done very quickly thanks to some wonderful timing and energy from above! Get a better view of this card and others here. (my camera is acting up so I could put any other photos of my work up right now, more coming soon..)

Currently Blessed

What a day/week/month

At dinner with my son I must have heard "mmmm, delicious" 6 times out of his mouth. Then he states "I love you cause you made me this squash". It about melted my heart.

Then I've been wanting to go visit my cousin and her daughter in Orlando. I've been checking airfare for something reasonable. I get updates from Spirit Airlines every once and a while. Well, today I got round trip airfare for both Adam and myself for $89 out the door! Before taxes and junk it was $12 one way for each of us!!

Then after I put Adam to bed I check my email to find that I've been accepted for a job as an Ad Quality Rater with Google!! This is a HUGE financial blessing that can only be credited to God for making it happen. I can earn $15/hour while working at home from my PC whenever I have free time.

A couple of days ago I got an email from a couple inquiring about the Bradley Classes I teach. She actually emailed 6 different teachers at the same time. I think I must have been the first (and maybe only) one to respond because she decided to join my session starting in November. Oh, and she said to expect to hear from her best friend because they want to join the same class as her and her husband. This would bring enough income to attend the Soaking Seminar in Toronto the following week! So awesome.

I've also been praying about a specific house. A couple of friends of ours have a home they built in Lyon Twp. We went to visit them a few weeks ago and discovered that they are building a new house and plan to sell the one they currently live in. In the instant that she said this God struck me and clearly said "THIS IS YOUR HOUSE" and then MY brain took over and I said "nah, no way, we can't afford this". Well, God made me look around and made me realize that this house is perfect for my family. I'd had little hints about moving from our house, some things have become less than desirable in our neighborhood. But I never said "I have to sell my house NOW" I just said "OK Lord, just show me what to do and I'll listen to You."

When He showed me this new house he also gave me a ton of signs that this is the right thing to do. I'd go on forever if I listed them all but trust me it is amazing. Please pray for further guidance and clear answers from the Lord as well as financial blessings. In a market where most houses won't sell and it's really difficult to get a mortgage we are the little guys fighting a BIG battle. But I know that with God on our sides we can do anything!

Currently Cooking

White Pizza

Pizza Crust recipe:

1 cup warm water

1T white sugar

2-1/4 t yeast

3T olive oil

1t salt

2-1/4 cups flour

In a large bowl stir together water, sugar and yeast until dissolved. Add oilve oil and salt and mix. Stir in the flour until well blended, you may need more flour than the recipe calls for but don't use too much or else your dough won't move around like it should. Roll dough out on a flt surface with some cornmeal on the bottom for added crunch to the crust

White Pizza recipe:

2 cups whole or part skim ricotta cheese

2 garlic cloves

a handful of fresh parsley, finely chopped

2 cups grated provolone or mozzarella cheese (I use a combo of both)

1 cup of grated parmigiano reggiano cheese

hot pepper flakes and fresh basil (optional)

Grate the garlic into the ricotta cheese and stir to combine. Mix in the parsley. Drizzle olive oil over pizza crust and spread cheese mixture on top. Top with grated cheeses and bake at 425 degrees for about 20 minutes or until crispy. Top with hot pepper flakes and fresh basil if desired.

And a lovely summer vegetable salad to go along with it:

Sliced cucumber

tomatoes cut into bite size pieces

feta cheese

garbanzo beans

fresh lemon juice

olive oil

Mix all the above ingredients together and season with garlic salt, celery salt and some pepper. mmmmmm... and so easy!

Beautiful Bounty

I love summer because I love my garden and being able to share my bounty with others.

Hello Truck!

Today we had fun visiting the trucks at the Snow Branch library in Dearborn. Adam and Josh had fun while mom and Sarah sweated like crazy in the humidity!

True firemen at their fire truck!

The free stickers were almost as much fun as the trucks!

Cruisefest

Thanks for inviting us to the Cruisefest Sarah we had tons of fun! Adam got his first balloon animal, a brontosaurus. He loves it so much that he now only has two legs.

Attack of Chnandler Bong

I just got a package from DHL today and this is how they spelled my name.

DACOBA SURWIEC

This amazes me because when I ordered this item I typed my name into a form online. I'm pretty sure I know how to spell my own name. The last name is pretty close but COME ON... DACOBA!!! That's nowhere near DAEDRA!!!

And then the DHL driver must of felt bad because hadwritten in pen on the other side of the package is Deadra. Close but not really.

Tagged...

Thanks Sarah, now I have to create some original answers.

-Let others know who tagged you.
-Players answer questions about themselves.
-Those who are tagged should post these rules and their 8 questions and answers.
-Players should tag 3 or more people and tell them they’ve been tagged.

1. one thing people might not know about you: 27 is my favorite number. My birthday: 2/27, my husband's birthday: 6/27, our anniversary: 10/27, my mom's birthday: 7/27, my parent's anniversary: 8/27. Pretty wild.

2. the best invention ever is: the Internet and email. I feel helpless without it. How ever would I talk to friends. oh, I guess there's always the phone :)

3. in my next house, i vow: to have a gas cook top. and laundry on the second floor. and central air.

4. in my next life, i vow: instead of worrying about how to live a next life (which there isn't) I'm going to live this life like this is my only life. I'm not going to stress or do things I would regard as bad.

5. if i had nothing else to do i would be happy: shopping, I'm totally on that bandwagon Sarah. I don't get to do it enough now. I even enjoy grocery shopping with a child!

6. my dream date would be: sorry for the plagiarism Sarah but it's very fitting: A quiet dinner anywhere that didn't involve getting up 50 times to cut up food, refill milk, clean spills, etc. And we could stay for dessert and not have to rush out because someone is getting antsy or has to pee or needs to go to bed. Oh, and I would like to do all this outside of my home, I rarely get to eat out anymore.

7. one thing i do and one thing i will try to do to make our planet greener: ONE thing I do, oh geez.... I collect rain water from the downspouts to use on my plants. Our next car will be a hybrid.

8. one thing that astonishes me and one thing that amazes me: the one thing that astonishes me also is the miracle of life. Until you watch a baby being born you have no idea what a miracle it really is.
One thing that amazes me is how good God is and how so many people think that He isn't. Another thing that amazes me is that the devil is mad that he didn't get to be God and therefore he mimics God all the time to try to trick people.

I'm tagging J.Mack, L.Star and Kataypow.

Currently Blessed

Do you know that God is always on your side? I have this sneaking suspicion that He really likes me and listens to me!! Whenever I say "Gee, it would be really nice to have ______" it literally shows up for free or nearly free. Although, to have this stuff happen to me I had to give up buying the stuff brand new and just accept that I'd have to look in the garbage or at garage sales.

Earlier this summer I wished that I had a little white wire fence around my garden to keep Adam from kicking his soccer ball in there. A couple of days later I was driving down Inkster Road on trash day and I saw a rolled up length of white wire fencing in someones trash. I got over the fact that I'd be a garbage picker and turned around to go get it. It fit my garden perfectly!! I couldn't believe it!

And then a few weeks ago Adam was playing a fishing game a church with some other kids. I remembered having it when I was a kid and it's absolutely addicting. I thought, this would be a really nice thing to have for Adam because he was entertained for hours with this game. (OK, it'd be nice for me too). I kinda glanced at Target for the game but didn't see it, so I just put it in the back of my mine. I was SO EXCITED to find this game for $1 at the garage sale across the street today! But, of course I had just put all my cash into my gas tank a half hour prior. The neighbor was so nice, she's like "oh, don't worry about it, you can owe me $1. I don't care" Then this sweet little 10 year old boy handed Adam 4 quarters to buy the game! I almost cried it was so sweet. It only has one pole but look how much fun he's having:

I have recently been praying for financial provisions to come so that the three of us can attend a conference at the Toronto church with the Ross family. We've never been to Toronto and would love to experience this event. Last week I was blessed by Sarah when she passed off some work to me and I was able to earn more than enough to register for the conference. We still need a lot more but I have faith that if God wants us there He will bring all the opportunities to earn the money needed for the hotel, gas and food for our family trip. I'm so excited to share what happens in the next few months.

The Products of Summer

I just picked these out of my garden today. mmm, nothing better than fresh tomatoes.

And then I made this pizza. Homemade pizza dough, pesto sauce, sliced tomatoes and fresh mozzarella cheese. mmmm, so good.

Thriller

For Sarah, a "thrilling" video. The only thing creepier than the matching orange jumpsuits is the "girl"

Welcome to the World

Last night (or this morning) I assisted in a birth for the first time. It was amazing to say the least!

Travis Alfred Harris was born at 2:38 AM at home in a tub of water.
He weighed 6lbs. 8oz. and was 20-3/4" long. (sorry no pics my camera crapped out on me last night)

His mom did really great! She labored for a total of about 8 hours before the baby was born, which is actually really fast for the first baby.

I met this couple at an event at Babies R Us and they were excited to start
class right away. Right before I left last night the mom said that this
birth wouldn't have been as beautiful if it weren't for me.
Wow, to think that they got the birth they wanted all because they ran
into me and I taught them what I know, how great!

Another highlight was when the baby came out of the water he looked directly at his mom, her face is the first thing he saw!!

I had a lot of work to complete last night and therefore I was awake for 24 hours straight. I slept for 2.5 hours this morning until I was so hungry I couldn't sleep anymore. Now I'm hoping I can get some sleep today.

Hello Avocados!!

THIS is why I love visiting my chiropractor!!!

While I was at Dr. Peterson's office last week getting Adam adjusted (he wasn't acting well adjusted) I asked about food allergies like my aversion to avocados and bananas. He said he doesn't believe in food allergies and the reason I was feeling that way was because my body wasn't producing the enzyme needed to digest these foods. He suggested I take 6 zypan, a natural supplement, right before I eat the offending food.

It took me a while to get the nerve up to eat an avocado, I really don't like puking. Tonight I took the 6 zypan pills and ate about 1/4 of an avocado. I waited for 35 minutes and I felt fine so I ate the rest of the avocado. Over an hour later and I'm not sick at all! Pretty cool.
Next time I'll try the bananas....

Update: I woke up at 2AM last night sick to my stomach, something has to give with these silly things. I guess I'll ask the doc next time I see him.

The No Nap Mystery

So I'm sitting here after church waiting for my son to take his nap so that we can go somewhere after his nap. OK, he has to FALL ASLEEP first!

Over the monitor I hear pages turning and then I hear him say "Do you like my hat? No, I do not like that hat." I finally figured out what book he has pulled off the shelf and started to read on his own instead of sleeping. Can anyone guess what my pre-schooler is reading? Hint, it's a Dr. Seuss classic.

Did You Know?

Did you know that Dearborn's population consists of 20% Arab Americans. Most people think that number is 80%.
I'd just like to say we have an Arab town similar to how some cities have China or Mexican town, it's not the whole city just a certain portion of it.

Where I got my fun fact from www.welcomehomedearborn.com

Why I Don't Drink Coffee

I rarely consume anything with caffeine, not coffee, not pop. I'm a big fan of water.
Well, last night at about 8:00 I had what I like to call a coffee milkshake. Not a good idea. All the caffeine and sugar kept me up until about 2AM and I woke up wide awake at 6AM feeling hung-over. I was jittery and restless and it was not cool. Do you know what got me to sleep? Yammering on about pointless things to my half asleep husband. I actually figured out that the box of 85 garbage bags I just bought should last us for a little over a year based on that fact that we change the garbage bag about once a week and there are 52 weeks in a year. Even if you take into account the fact that we might change it a couple of extra times I still won't have to buy garbage bags for another year. And do you know what my husband said to me? "There you go Daedra, now you're thinking. I like hearing how you think."

This is the conversation a man wants to have with his wife? How thrilling. Note, I only think this way if I'm hopped up on caffeine and can't sleep.

That made me appreciate my female friends and their conversations. Just make sure the next time we sit down at a coffee shop for a nice long talk that I order the fruit smoothie! Man am I tired.