suziebeezieland

the friday news

What have you all been up to this week?

random worldwide introductions: washington (the state) + indiana + south carolina + finland

It's time again for random worldwide introductions! :)

In the weeks ahead, we will be working our way around the globe in a somewhat random fashion :) and doing introductions in suziebeezieland.

Up today: Washington (the state), Indiana, South Carolina, and Finland.  Whoo hoo!

If you visit suziebeezieland regularly and currently live in Washington (the state), Indiana, South Carolina, or Finland, please take a moment to introduce yourself to us (whether you're a newbie or an oldie) by answering the following questions:

1.  What is your name? 

2.  What do you enjoy about where you live?

3.  How do you typically spend your days? (Do you work outside the home? Stay home? Go to school? What?)  How do you like to spend your free time?

4.  If you were coming over to my house for dinner and I was also inviting three other famous people to join us, living or dead, fictional or real, with whom would you want to dine?

5.  If you were coming over to my house to visit and could have anything to drink that you wanted, what would it be?

I'm excited to see your answers. :)

random worldwide introductions: canada + minnesota + michigan

It's time again for random worldwide introductions!

In the weeks ahead, we will be working our way around the globe in a somewhat random fashion :) and doing introductions in suziebeezieland.

Up today: Canada, Minnesota, and Michigan.  Whoo hoo!

If you visit suziebeezieland regularly and currently live in Canada, Minnesota, or Michigan, please take a moment to introduce yourself to us (whether you're a newbie or an oldie) by answering the following questions:

1.  What is your name? 

2.  What do you enjoy about where you live?

3.  How do you typically spend your days? (Do you work outside the home? Stay home? Go to school? What?)  How do you like to spend your free time?

4.  If you were coming over to my house for dinner and I was also inviting three other famous people to join us, living or dead, fictional or real, with whom would you want to dine?

5.  If you were coming over to my house to visit and could have anything to drink that you wanted, what would it be?

I'm excited to see your answers. :)

chickies

Hi, chickies.  I just wanted to tell you that I am responding to each individual comment on these "Random Worldwide Introduction" posts.  I am thoroughly enjoying them, and thank you so much for taking the time to answer.

It dawned on me that if I respond to them all at once, the sidebar under "recent comments" will just fill up with me, and you won't be able to see what other people are saying, which would be obnoxious of me.  So I'm trying to do a few each day, but will finish up responding on the California/Texas/Ohio comments before I post the next places.

All that to say, if you comment on these "Random Worldwide Introduction" posts, you can check back and there will be a response to your comment, eventually. :)

random worldwide introductions: california + texas + ohio

In the weeks ahead, we will be working our way around the globe in a somewhat random fashion :) and doing introductions in suziebeezieland.

Up today: California, Texas, and Ohio.  Whoo hoo!

If you visit suziebeezieland regularly and currently live in California or Texas or Ohio, please take a moment to introduce yourself to us (whether you're a newbie or an oldie) by answering the following questions:

1.  What is your name? 

2.  What do you enjoy about where you live?

3.  How do you typically spend your days? (Do you work outside the home? Stay home? Go to school? What?)  How do you like to spend your free time?

4.  If you were coming over to my house for dinner and I was also inviting three other famous people to join us, living or dead, fictional or real, with whom would you want to dine?

5.  If you were coming over to my house to visit and could have anything to drink that you wanted, what would it be?

I'm excited to see your answers. :)

get to know our samara

Today is a good day to introduce you to another, newer suziebeezielander.  Let's see if you can figure out why today is a good day to introduce her as you read. :)

Samara and I have just become friends during the past year. We were in book club together, bonded over the Twilight series together (she's the friend who brought me back the coffee), and are in a "small group" together -- a group of women who get together periodically to pray for and encourage each other. But I've known about Samara for several years, because she is a teacher at the school Claire attends.

What I know of Samara is that she is thoughtful, romantic (she likes all the best books!), open, and faithful.  I really like her.

Samara was born and raised here in nearby Pasadena, and teaches at the school where she was formerly a student! :)

Here is more about Samara, in her own words:

I was born December 22, 1971, and brought home Christmas day in a Christmas stocking. My parents named me Samara, which means "guarded by God."

I was very blessed to grow up in a home that loved the Lord. I heard His calling at a young age and began my personal relationship with the Lord with the help of my mom.

Christian schooling and close friends and family have helped in the growth of my relationship with Christ. I am grateful to say that the Lord has really guarded me from many of the struggles that many people experience.  That is not to say that life is always easy and wonderful. The Lord has placed other challenges in my life.

Fourteen years ago, when I started teaching, my dad was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Treatment was started immediately, and it seemed a wonderful testimony and encouragement for other men to have themselves checked.

In the process of seeing if the cancer had spread, while checking the lymph nodes, a cut was made in my dad's intestines, causing peritonitis. Emergency surgery was performed successfully, and during the recovery process, on an x-ray that started up too far on the torso, his thyroid cancer was found. It did not metastasize or spread from the prostate.

Dad’s thyroid was removed, taking with it some of his vocal cord nerves, which resulted in his talking with a raspy voice. He was still struggling a bit with eating and such, and with further investigation esophageal cancer was found, again not having spread from another source.

Three months after having his esophagus removed, he passed away. I lost my dad, one of the few people who knew me so well.

Talk about rocking one's world . . . if I did not have Christ as my anchor, I really don’t know where I would be.

The Lord was patient with me and graciously encircled me with his love as I got frustrated and mad and sad. My dad was the person in my life who knew exactly when I needed encouragement and what to say.

Having that taken away was hard, but it’s forced me to turn to the only one who has the answers, the one who is the truth. How do I know it is the truth?

John 7:17-18 says, “If anyone chooses to do God's will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own. He who speaks on his own does so to gain honor for himself, but he who works for the honor of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him.”

Christ spoke to honor and glorify his father. Today, as I struggle with still being single, and as each day presents itself with new challenges, I know that I am here to do God’s will, to glorify Him. He is my anchor, He is my joy, and He is my all-in all because I am found complete in Him.

What am I up to now? After graduation from Azusa Pacific University in 1994 with a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies, I spent a number of summers working summer camp under the camp name "Moonchaser." In 1996, I began my teaching career by teaching sixth grade. I went back to school in 2000 to earn a Master of Arts degree in Educational Technology, which complemented my second role at school as curriculum technology coordinator.  Then, in 2004, I took the position of my former history teacher, who was retiring, and became the seventh grade geography and eighth grade U.S. history teacher, as well as the annual Washington D.C. trip coordinator.

In addition to traveling, I enjoy hiking in Washington State with family, reading up a storm, and expressing my creativity through scrapbooking and quilting.

get to know our valeria

I have really been wanting some of you older suziebeezielanders to get to know some of the newer suziebeezielanders, who are, for the most part, my real-life friends! So I have asked several of these friends to share about themselves over the next couple of months, and I hope you enjoy getting to know them better.

Today I thought we could get to know our Valeria.  Valeria is married to our Mark (also known as "our Resident Dude") and they are a really fun, neat, talented couple. 

I have to admit that I really look up to Valeria in a lot of ways.  She is really fun to be around, and is also one of the smartest women I've ever known, but not at all in a "know it all" way.  It's one of those things where the more you're around her, you realize she doesn't miss a thing, and has a whole lot more going on in her head than she actually talks about. 

Valeria would not describe herself as a "girly-girl," and if you went to her house it's more likely that sports would be on the television than HGTV.  (She's a huge fan of USC football and Dodger baseball.) 

She would probably not mention that she is an awesome scrapbooker, but she is!

She's easy-going, she laughs easily, and she has this busy, boy-filled life, but she has this solid core of seriousness on the inside that I am really attracted to as a friend. 

I think everybody at our church just feels blessed to know them.

Mark and Valeria live (literally) down the street from me, with their three boys – Josiah, Isaac, and Luke.

Valeria works part-time as a physical therapist, and teaches kinesiology at a community college in the area. Besides the aforementioned USC Football and Dodger baseball, she also likes baking (when she has the time) and helping others recover from physical ailments.

But her most precious treasures in life are God and her family.

Here's what she has to say about that, in her own words:

I grew up attending church and Sunday school, and don’t really remember a time without a sense of God in my life. As a young child (maybe 8 or 9 years old), I worried a lot about what would happen if I died. What would it be like? Would I ever see my family again? Would I go to heaven? I felt fearful and unsure during those years, and was always doubting whether I would be "good enough" to get into heaven.

I had a sense that God could be more than just “insurance”, but did not know how to find that peace. Even though I heard all the Bible stories and sang of how “Jesus Loves Me”, something was missing.

In seventh grade, my parents took me to a Billy Graham Crusade. Along with thousands of others, I heard Billy Graham give the clear message of hope that if I trusted in Jesus and gave my life to Him, I could have peace that passes all understanding, a life without fear, and eternal life.

That message hit home with me, and that night I walked down to accept Jesus as my personal savior for the LAST time.

I finally understood that it was not me who had to work to be good enough for heaven, but it was God’s free gift that He allowed me to have because of Jesus’ death and resurrection on the cross.

That night I really understood grace for the first time, and it has changed my life. After that day in seventh grade, I no longer live in fear of what will happen to me when I die. I am SURE that God has a place for me in heaven when that time comes, and that being there will be better than I can imagine.

Although I do my best to live a life of integrity, I am not strapped with guilt over my past wrongs because I know that God forgives me. And I know that it is what Christ did on the cross that ultimately saves me, not anything I can do or say.

That is freeing because I don’t need to worry about whether or not I’m good enough. Jesus is good enough… and he vouches for me.

I am so thankful for that!

This past year has been a rough one for my family and me. We had a son who was born six weeks premature, my younger brother had heart surgery, I went through a lay off from a good job, and my husband fell and suffered a pretty serious arm fracture, to name a few things.

I am not sure how I would have managed the stress of this year without God. Knowing that God is in control, that He has a plan and purpose that will work for my good and His glory, and that my hope does not rest on temporary things of this world, but in Him, has made all the difference. These truths gave me peace and hope even when life seemed dark and scary.

As the year comes to a close and I look back on a tumultuous twelve months, I can see God’s hand in all that has happened, and am beginning to see His plan for my life unfold just a little. Those hard times have drawn me closer to God, and God has also shown his goodness and faithfulness to me in this past year.

Things are not perfect by any means, but God gives me hope and has blessed my life in ways I would not have expected because of the circumstances of the past year. I am thankful for that, and continue to trust Him for the uncertain things that still remain.

Because of this past year, I can more honestly say with my whole heart, “for I am convinced, that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities; nor things present nor things to come, nor powers; nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing; shall be able to separate me from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, my Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39)  Those are my favorite verses. 

**********

Valeria's Pumpkin Cheesecake Recipe

Valeria says, "I got this recipe, along with a spring form pan, from my very first mentor in physical therapy back when I was an aide at USC University Hospital. It kinda started my love for baking. I have been making this cheesecake since then (1996) and it’s always a hit. The actual recipe card is worn and taped together now, but the dessert is just as good! This recipe is best made the day before you want to eat it."

Graham Cracker Crust

* You need one large spring form pan *
1 ½ c graham cracker crumbs, finely ground (14-16 crackers)
¼ c sugar
6 T (3/8 c) butter, melted
½ t cinnamon

Combine crumbs, sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. Add butter, stir. Empty mixture into spring form pan and press evenly around bottom and sides (approx 1 inch up on sides). Chill in refrigerator while making cheesecake filling.

** Preheat oven to 325 degrees**

Cheesecake Filling

I find it easiest to have three separate bowls ready for mixing.

1 ½ c cream cheese (room temp)
1 c sugar
1 ¼ c pumpkin puree
1 ½ t cinnamon
1 t ground ginger
¾ t nutmeg
¼ t ground cloves
¼ t allspice
2 T flour
½ t salt
3 t vanilla extract
6 eggs, separated (whites in one bowl…yolks in the other)
1 c sour cream

In a large bowl, beat cream cheese until soft and fluffy. Add ¾ cup of sugar, pumpkin puree, spices, flour, salt and vanilla and mix well.

In a second bowl, combine egg whites and remaining sugar (1/4 cup). Beat until egg whites stand in soft white peaks.

In a third bowl, beat egg yolks then stir in sour cream. Gently fold both egg white and egg yolk mixtures into first large bowl of cream cheese mixture.

Pour completed cheesecake filling into chilled crust then bake 1 hour at 325 degrees, or until toothpick comes out clean.

Let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes then place cheesecake in the refrigerator to chill for 3 to 4 hours.

Topping

1 8-oz tub of Cool Whip, softened at room temperature

Once cheesecake is fully chilled, top with Cool Whip. Enjoy!!

introducing our new resident dude

I thought I'd better introduce our new resident dude, Mark Christensen, before anyone panics. :)

Mark and his lovely wife Valeria have two very cute boys and a third wee one on the way, and are dear friends from church. 

Mark is an in-demand photographer around here, and you can spend some very pleasant moments looking through his cool site.  I think his wedding shots are especially fun.  (Do people where you live do "trash the dress" after weddings? This was new to me when we moved back to California.)

And of course I like looking at his family shots, because some of my favorite people are in there. :)

Mark, we have some professional and amateur photographers here in suziebeezieland whose sites you might enjoy.  I was listing them, but it got tricky because I didn't want to leave anyone out.  Also, that line between pro/amateur is a bit blurred here, so I have decided that I will let you photographers introduce yourselves. :)

If you are too embarrassed or shy/modest/demure/unassuming, you can just introduce each other! Ha ha.  And make sure you link us up to your studios/albums, etc.

Yay!  And welcome, Mark, Resident Dude. :)