I grew up knowing full well about a world of hurt and loss. My parents took us to the ends of the earth and thrust poverty and the like straight into our lilly white faces. I don't think any of it was sensationalized and we certainly weren't traumatized by any of it-- quite the opposite, really. After all, my mom was born in Nigeria and my Grandparents worked "in the bush" for the better part of 35 years. No big thing. Every thought that contained any sort of greed or selfishness (and they were, like, every second one) of my youth was accompanied by a sense of it-could-be-worse-- much worse.
How do I raise kids like that? It's a tricky business, and Sam is already FIVE. I had been in Calcutta by the time I was five. Paul and I talk about this all the time. We thought we could not afford to adopt, but we did it anyway. We are too poor to travel-- can't we make that one work, too? Clearly, we need to teach them compassion. We need to teach them how to cope with stressful situations. We need to teach them to be self-sufficient. We need to teach them to be more adept at peeing outside.
We need to bake bread together.
I have talked before about my lackluster desire to make my family's bread. They go through a loaf a day in toast?! How things have changed. I have been looking for a good light whole wheat recipe that uses more whole than white, can be made dairy-free, bakes up nice for sandwiches (which Sam takes every day to school), and (the minor bit) that all the boys will eat happily. Who knew that allrecipes would come to my aid? This is the original recipe and I made the following changes:
- upped the honey to 1/3 cup
- subbed in rice milk and margarine for dairy and fat
- made one loaf in the pan and one free-form loaf on the stone-- lovely.
The bread was light but didn't fall apart (this is key), it makes great toast, and the boys all ate it up. It still tasted good three days in, by which time it was almost all gone. My friend Beth made it immediately and will back me up in touting its deliciousness and versatility.
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I pay a lot of attention to these sites:
This clip adds a little fuel to the current fire (his mama should be so proud).
