What's a Poonch-key?

First of all, it's spelled paczki. But pronounced poonch-key. Or at least that's the popular, Americanized pronunciation, anyway. 

This post is for my California friends, who, unless you originated from the Midwest, probably are unfamiliar with this delicacy. Okay, it's kind of a filled donut. But if you say that to a Detroiter, you may have started a fight. Because of course it looks like a filled donut, but it's so much more! More delicious. And more fattening! Yum.

I know today is Valentines Day, but two days ago was Mardi Gras (the day before Lent). Also known in Detroit and other areas with large Polish populations as Fat Tuesday, or Paczki Day! And according to Wikipedia, which we all know is always 100% true, it began as a way for the Polish Catholics to use up the lard, sugar, and other stuff that is delicious that people often give up for Lent. (In case you're wondering,you don't have to participate in Lent to participate in Paczki Day!)

Unbelievably, my Polish (formerly) Catholic family never heard of this until we moved to the Detroit area! It's so big here that you can get these delightful dough balls in the grocery stores. However, the ones I got for Steve and me at the Italian bakery down the street are much more delightful. Mmmm, just look at that filling! Filling amount is one indicator of paczki excellence.

From left, clockwise: raspberry, strawberry, apple, chocolate creme.

 

Yes, this probably is half a day's calories. And?

Now is that not a thing of beauty?!

WHAT?!?!

Major changes have been underway. And grace after grace has been poured out from our Father in heaven.

For those who don't know the full story, I will tell you how last week on Tuesday I came to be on a plane to Michigan with a one-way ticket. That's right, I moved back to Michigan just one week ago after a 15-month stint in California.

Sheer Craziness.

It all started with a phone call from Steve at 7:45 a.m. two Thursdays ago. I awoke and answered, and he spewed out the news: the Tesla project was officially finished from his end and we were going home. They asked if he wanted to be on a plane that very evening! We were moving back to the snowy Midwest -- and imminently.

I knew we'd move back eventually, but WHAT?! The news hit me like a load of bricks and the first things that came to mind were all the things in California that I'd miss out on. I burst into tears. Dear friends' faces came to my mind. I had made plans for February with a friend just the previous day! I hadn't gotten to eat the porchetta sandwich from Roli Roti yet! There was still so much discount nail polish to buy!What about our trip to Southern Cal? (Is this what the Israelites felt like when they were following God as the pillar of fire/cloud in the desert wandering years?)


After I wiped my tears and ended my selfish little pity party, I started thinking about selling my car. I didn't have the title. How would we sell it in four days, including a weekend? I got to work. Steve got to work. We started working on it at about 10:30. By 1:00 pm that same day, it was sold.

Thankfully, they did not have us on a plane that very day. But we made our plans to leave four days after getting the news. I bought a plane ticket and Steve's employer bought him his. We got to sit together on the same flight!

The rest of the time in California was a whirlwind, but evidence of God's grace and faithfulness was everywhere! He orchestrated everything and brought us home. He gave peace. He gave us time to say goodbye to at least some of the people we love in California. Though it was a shock to me, it didn't surprise God (nothing does). It was all in His sovereign plan and His timing is perfect. (Had to remind myself of that often!)

Here's a quick recap:

On Friday evening, we had Bible study with our church family. We got to spend time with a dear family beforehand for dinner and many of our close friends from church were at the study that night when we announced the news. Tears were shed. Hugs were exchanged. A photo was taken. Love was shared.

God, by his abundant grace to us, led us to be a part of this wonderful spiritual family. We are so thankful for them and the time we got to spend knowing them, sharing our life with them, growing with them.

Since the project was officially "complete," Steve didn't have to work that weekend. On Saturday we had Chick-Fil-A (another thing we'll miss!) and saw Bedtime for Bonzo and Harvey at the Stanford Theater in Palo Alto. And indulged in some French macarons. (One thing on the checklist to cross off!)

Sunday was a blessed time with our church family both in the morning, afternoon, and evening. We shared the news with them and during the evening service, the elders prayed for us. (Oh, why did I not have tissue with me?!) More tears, more hugs, more photos.


On Monday we packed up our stuff from "Home Sweet Homewood Suites" and put it in Steve's work vehicle. We dropped it off at the plant, where it would be loaded on the work flatbed and driven home. At no charge to us, we got all of our stuff shipped home.

Our last evening was spent again with some of our church family at Dickey's BBQ Pit. (Can you tell we love them and will miss them terribly?!) 

More hugs but fewer tears this time. So thankful to God for these people and our whole church family in California. We will miss them but know that parting is only such sweet sorrow because of the love we shared. Love rooted in Christ. And we know we'll see them again! If not on this earth, we will spend eternity with them in heaven! All because of the grace and love of our Heavenly Father.

Michigan friends and family: despite the difficulty of leaving, we are so happy to be home. And we can't wait to catch up with you all!

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. (James 1:17)

Thank you, Father, for providing abundantly for us during our time in California and for bringing us home. We don't deserve it, but you poured out blessing after blessing upon us. I thank you for your faithfulness, Lord. Help my forgetful mind to remember all that you have done for me that I may praise you always!

Practicing Thankfulness

I think it's a good practice to be intentional about thinking on what things for which you are thankful. In high school, I used to have a little "gratitude" journal that I would write a few things each day for which I was grateful. I don't know if I still have it, but it would probably be pretty funny to read... if I remember correctly, I did this right before bed, so "my bed" probably made an un-proportionate number of appearances!

Anyway, I was never very good at doing it habitually and daily (hm, not much has changed, this is still something I struggle with!), but it was always encouraging to do. Because even on bad days, you are forced to think about the many blessings God has provided (like when Steve has to work 27 hours straight I am forced to be thankful he has a job). So when I saw that people on Facebook were doing "30 Days of Thankfulness" I jumped on the bandwagon (I am not a big bandwagon-er, but this seemed worthy!). Additionally, one wise Facebook friend suggested that we who recognize it should specify that we are not just thankful, but thankful TO God. So if you've seen my (not quite daily) posts, this is not new to you. I just wanted to list them all (so far) in one place on this, Thanksgiving Eve.

Without further ado, here they are (in no particular order, I might add) :

I am thankful to God:

1. that I can rest in the sovereignty and goodness of God
2. for rest
3. for our wonderful church family
4. for His Word, a lamp unto my feet
5. for my hubster, who has been such an encouragement and agent of spiritual growth in my life
6. for his powerful Word which is the hope for salvation and a daily encouragement (I read Psalm 33 today and was refreshed by the truths in it)
7. for blessing me with an amazing family (including wonderful in-laws!)
8. for yummy and nourishing food (He provides!)
9. for pastors and teachers who are willing to speak the truth, even when it's difficult or unpopular (His truth persists!)
10. for friends: new and old!
11. for the ability to come to God in prayer
12. for work to do! (Praise Him, I have a job as a contracted toxicologist... now just praying for them to send me something to work on!)
13. for JESUS! (Thinking about Christmas as I prepare to give a short message at my church's ladies' Christmas tea!)
14. for a cozy bed* and a roof over my head (even though it's not the roof I'd prefer!)
15. for Pinterest recipes and craft ideas :)
16. for carves and puffy vests to keep warm when it's chilly
17. for the Holy Spirit! Because of Him, my daily life is different. I am not perfect, but definitely a work in progress thanks to God!
18. for the legacy of amazing, strong Christians. So many amazing testimonies of God's grace, faithfulness, and equipping are an encouragement to me today!
19. for transportation... He has been keeping my Honda CR-V running for 210K + miles and counting even though the transmission tried to die a year ago!
20. for YouTube knitting tutorials! :)
21. for His steadfastness and unchanging nature!

*  it wouldn't be my list if it didn't include my bed! haha

Each one of these was brought on by a scripture, thought, realization, sermon, or "random" blessing on the days they were posted. I would love to expand on each of them, but I think each is sufficient on its own, too. So perhaps I'll revisit some of these in another post someday, but for now I leave you with this from Psalm 36:

5 Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens,

your faithfulness to the clouds.

6 Your righteousness is like the mountains of God;

your judgments are like the great deep;

man and beast you save, O Lord.

7 How precious is your steadfast love, O God!

The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings.

8 They feast on the abundance of your house,

and you give them drink from the river of your delights.

9 For with you is the fountain of life;

in your light do we see light.

Wishing you all joy and blessing on Thanksgiving!

Working Girl Again (Praise Report!)

For the past year, I have not been working. But God has (in so many ways)! After a year of being out of work (and many discouragements about finding a job due to the nature of life right now), I am employed! Well, technically, I am self-employed. And this is how I know God was behind it all...

In September I was contacted by someone on LinkedIn asking if I was a toxicologist and whether or not I was interested in a position as a contractor. (Yes and yes!) That led to a couple of interviews and a few days later, a signed 1-year contract and a scheduled flight to Ann Arbor for a public training course at my old employer. As a bonus, I got a wonderful, but short and packed time of visiting family and friends while I was in town -- although I didn't get to see everyone, unfortunately! Most exciting of all, the job is  work-from-home (e.g., the Bay Area, Detroit area, or anywhere!) -- how ideal! All from a random message on LinkedIn. Coincidence? Not if you believe in a sovereign, powerful, GOOD God!

Following training, I had an orientation with the company I'm working with, who are based out of Southern California. It's beginning to feel real and the next step is simply to start! (I just got my first assignment today!) There's quite a bit of uncertainty, but I am very excited and grateful for the opportunity and looking forward to what God has in store. (Knowing that He has orchestrated this has been a great reassurance through the unknowns and self-doubting.)

As you all know, the past year has brought many changes to my life. (Most have been wonderful!) But when I felt overwhelmed by the prospect of it all a couple of summers ago, God ministered me through a song based on Isaiah 43 (emphasis mine):

But now thus says the Lord,
he who created you, O Jacob,
    he who formed you, O Israel:
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
    I have called you by name, you are mine.
² When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
    and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
    and the flame shall not consume you.
³ For I am the Lord your God,
    the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
I give Egypt as your ransom,
    Cush and Seba in exchange for you.
⁴ Because you are precious in my eyes,
    and honored, and I love you,
I give men in return for you,
    peoples in exchange for your life.
⁵ Fear not, for I am with you;
    I will bring your offspring from the east,
    and from the west I will gather you.
⁶ I will say to the north, Give up,
    and to the south, Do not withhold;
bring my sons from afar
    and my daughters from the end of the earth,
⁷ everyone who is called by my name,
    whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”

[Check out a sample of the song here. I just love songs that sing scripture -- I'd much rather hear and memorize lyrics based on scripture than someone's opinion!]

In context, God is using Isaiah to reassure the nation of Israel that although they were going to go into exile (as punishment for their disobedience), they would not be abandoned by God; in fact, He would still be with them and would eventually deliver them. God used these verses (in song format) to remind me that He who saved my soul by sending his own Son to die on the cross as payment for my sins (the most important and loving thing He could do for me!) would surely not abandon me now or ever. He is on my side. That does not mean everything will go my way, it just means that I will never be alone to face anything that comes my way. It doesn't mean that I can handle everything He'll allow to happen to me by myself, it means He can handle everything He'll allow to happen to me.

He is worthy of praise! I hope that reminder is an encouragement to you where you are today!

Inside Intel

Living in Silicon Valley is like a geek's dream (as evidenced by a trip to the Tech Museum and our outing at Fry's). Well, did you know that Intel has a museum at their headquarters? Now you do. And what nerd could resist?

The museum is small but makes good use of the space with technology (shocking!). It covers Intel's history (did you know they made digital watches for a while?) and exhibits some of the historic technology.

Such a happy nerd :)

And for those of us whose heads this stuff is well above, it has some interactive exhibits, too! I spelled my name in binary and tried on a bunny suit (clean suit). (Who could resist that opportunity!)

Does this make me a nerd, too?

And who knew those were so flattering?! (Ha!)

Maui: The Road to Hana

Number one (or very near the top) on any list of top things to do in Maui will be driving the Road to Hana. Now, the first thing to know about this trip is that it is about the journey, not the destination. Hana is a small Maui town with not much going on. It's not really worth a 3-hour drive (plus or minus depending on frequency and length of stops). But the getting there is just breathtakingly beautiful!

We were a bit nervous after reading some reviews of the road, for the things that make it beautiful make it both dangerous and unfriendly to motion-sensitive stomachs. Namely, it's sometimes narrow and often very, very winding. It hugs cliffs without much between you and the rocks below. The two-lane road often narrows to one lane despite being for two-way traffic. The twists and turns include many blind hairpins. And on it goes...

But after driving in Ireland (with many same such characteristics and then add driving on the "wrong" side of the car and road), I declared I could drive anywhere. (Never mind that Steve was the sole driver of our rental car.) So we braved it (and I downed some Dramamine) and were rewarded with many beautiful sights, tastes, and smells. I can't duplicate tastes or smells and these photos don't do it justice, but here are a few sights from our day-long trip that show some of the highlights. (Warning! Many photos ahead...)

Great ocean views and salty sea air to appreciate.

Winding roads and lush vegetation.

Views like this around every corner...

Seriously. So many amazing, breathtaking vistas!

Tree lined road to an ocean view.

This and some fresh banana bread from roadside stands kept us going!

It was so tempting to stop and take photos and linger at every beautiful view, but we had to keep going. And I'm so glad we did! There are lots of guides available (viva la internet age!) so we had to do some research (actually, Steve's forte, not mine) to select where to stop. I have to say, Steve did a great job! The highlights were definitely a little past Hana, at these fabulous sites:

Waianapanapa State Park (black sand beaches, lava tubes, and lava cliffs with a blow hole):

Gorgeous black sand beach.

Happy toes in black sand.

Lava tube (lava flowed through here to the ocean,
leaving behind this cave)

Steve kindly carries our bag of stuff (we had a picnic lunch here
and were also ready to swim). The blow hole was nearby, but it must've
been low tide, because nothing was going on.

Large pebbles made up the top of the beach.

O'heo Gulch (The Seven Sacred Pools) and Waimoku Falls (Haleakala National Park):

O'Heo Gulch has many waterfalls and pools (more than
seven!) and is a beautiful and windy spot.

We didn't swim at the black sand beach, but I couldn't resist a dip in this freshwater pool. It was chilly! Above is the
bridge we drove on en route to the Park.

Looking away from the waterfalls is a great ocean view.

It's real. We saw it with our own eyes!

Our hike to Waimoku falls (2 miles each way) took us through this
enchanting bamboo forest. Some parts were as dark as night!

The 400' falls were worth the journey!

We drove back to our resort by continuing the loop around the South side of the island.We had some doubts about doing so because there is a stretch of road that is unpaved, but so glad we did. We didn't make it home before dark, so we enjoyed the sunset and the amazing other-worldly scenery.

If it weren't dark, you could see the cliff-hugging road that characterized
the start of our drive home.

 

Awesome cloud formation on the South side of the Haleakala Ridge

The volcanic landscape looked like the set of a Sci-Fi movie!

There's no way to really do these places justice (especially with my amateur photography skills), but I hope you enjoyed a glimpse of it from our eyes! We had such a wonderful time and thank God for the opportunity. I have more photos on my Facebook page if you haven't already seen them :)

Maui: Iao Valley and Lahaina

You know how sometimes when you go on vacation, you need another vacation because you packed so much in that you didn't really relax and now you're more exhausted than when you left? Yeah, me too. That's usually how I usually roll because I can't stand to have missed anything there is to see/experience in a place.

Well, this vacation to Maui was different and I actually am starting to appreciate the benefits of sitting around doing nothing relaxing. However, we did actually leave the resort to go on a couple of adventures! (We did have a rental car, after all... had to use it!)

The first day we arrived and were driving to our resort past this gorgeous, green mountain area and Steve said, "Wherever that is, I want to go there."

It was Iao Valley, and there we went. It is a beautiful, narrow valley between tall, lush, green mountains that rise sharply from the island. We were immediately enthralled with the exotic landscape. Fascinating, too, was the history of this valley; it was the site of one of the bloodies battles in Hawaii in the uniting of the island chain under King Kamehameha. Warriors were said to climb the area's most significant landmark, the 1200 foot Iao Needle (pictured below) as a lookout. (How'd they do that?!)

It also has a lot of spiritual significance to the native Hawaiians. We, however, simply marveled at creative power of our Lord on display in this place!

Our time there involved a short hike to a viewing point of the Iao Needle and a stroll around the botanical gardens there. It didn't take much time, so afterward, we decided to head to West Maui to the city of Lahaina, where we checked out the shopping area, the wharf, the most awesome tree I've ever seen, and ate the most amazing Hawaiian Shave Ice!

This Banyan tree spans one full acre: each additional trunk is a part
of this one tree!

Seriously a highlight of the trip.

The following day we drove the Road to Hana. I'll share some photos of that adventure in the next post. Thanks for reading!