Random Things We've Been Up To

We'll the kids and I have been hitting the books hard everyday, this is the most stable our life had been in about 4 or 5 years.  Everyone is enjoying seeing their progress day by day and week by week.  It's probably a little hard to appreciate this blessing we are enjoying if your whole life hasn't been picked up and dumped on its side a few times, but rejoice with us anyway.

Samuel's birthday is exactly one week after Haden's.  He's such a good sport about letting us go on and on about how it's almost Haden's birthday for the whole month of January.  Some extra money came in so we were able to do some special things on his birthday and he got a really cool Lego set.  His actual birthday was so packed full that I got the cake baked, but not decorated.  So we celebrated again Friday night when we finally got around to decorating the cake.  It was a little crumbly, so I was sure it was going to be even more a flub than Haden's.  I apologized a few times when I was trying to put it together.  Hubby came in and saved the day somehow and it turned out really nice.  It's held together with a LOT of icing.  Hahaha!

In other news I have tried some new recipes I got off of Pinterest.....my life since I discovered Pinterest.....Facebook who?  LOL!  So I found this recipe for Portabella Pepper Steak from Once Upon a Plate blog.  You can get the recipe by clicking the link.  So I made something a lot like it but my own version.  Portabella mushrooms are actually kinda "meaty" and comparitivly priced to meat and my family loves mushrooms.  So I also read in Clara's Kitchen: Wisdom, Memories and Recipes from the Great Depression that sometimes her mom would use some of the bread dough on "bread making day" to make pizza.  Then Monday as the kids and I were in the middle of our own "bread making day" it all came together.  I had some of the wonderful fresh sautéed tomato sauce from making Huevos Rancheros, I added to that 5 or 6 sun dried tomatoes and one can of stewed tomatoes and it was AMAZING.  I rolled out some of the bread dough, put my AMAZING pizza sauce on it, topped that with the Portabella Pepper Steak and Mexican cheese.  I served it with sautéed collard greens from the garden.  What a gourmet dinner! 

But that wasn't the end of the portabella mushrooms.  I was able to get a huge package for less than $5, so I still had 6 left AND I had some of the Portabella Pepper Steak left AND I still had some of the AMAZING pizza sauce.  I placed the portabella mushrooms in the oven topped with olive oil and salt, while I added another bell pepper and onion to my "pepper steak" mixture along with the mushroom stems and let that sautee.  After about 5 minutes I pulled them out and topped them with the "pepper steak", pizza sauce and mexican cheese.  Then they went back in the oven until then were done.  So delicious.  I served it with Spicy Curried Beans.  

Hope you're having a great week too!  :)

Green Grass in a Dry Land

As I stepped outside our house and surveyed our town, "They are going to think we are crazy," is exactly what came to mind.  Our neighborhood is called Buena Vista or Beautiful View, it should just be called Vista, because for this Arkansas girl raised in some of the most beautiful scenery on God's green earth it is just a dusty dry view of the town.  A nice place to look over when you are praying, but the words beautiful never come to mind.  Several of the church folks mentioned that the winds come in Jan and Feb.  OK, I thought, what does that even mean - the winds come?  I didn't give it much thought.

On our drive to Oaxaca Haden got this picnic idea in his head.  He wanted to stop right where we were and have a picnic.  I think he just wanted the 12 hour drive to stop, poor guy.  Anyway, I assured him we would have a picnic when we got back home, with the kids.  He agreed a picnic with his brothers and sisters would be funner.  So, we've had several backyard picnics, but Haden really wanted a picnic at the park.  His birthday was in a day or two, so I said, "We can't have a picnic at the park today, but how about for your birthday."  His eyes lit up and he immediately got pictures of a park and nice green grass in his head.  Folks, it hasn't rained in months and when it did rain it wasn't a very plentiful rainy season.  I thought, we'll worry about the grass later, maybe the cake and festivities will be enough.

Wednesday came and we began to make picnic party preparations.  As I baked the caked I noticed there was quite a bit of wind, when we went to the market for a few things the vendors were starting to have a hard time keeping everything from blowing away.  By the time I had everything packed for a picnic and began loading the van, I thought, "They are going to think we are crazy having a picnic in this wind, and they are going to be right."  Not only was there no green grass anywhere in sight, the dust from the months of dryness was blowing everywhere.  Sam just smiled and said, our little five year old wants a picnic, lets go to the park.

We hadn't been to this particular park for a while, so I was very surprised to see they water it year round.  Maybe that's what they use that small entrance fee for.  There was a huge lawn of green grass, which really cut down on the swirling dust and made a very nice place to sit upon a blanket.  The wind had even died down and was hardly blowing by the time we left.  Another family had come and were having their own picnic, so we weren't the only crazy ones.  What a lovely little picnic party God provided for our little guy.  He of course, never even notice the wind and was not the least bit surprised by the green grass, which was just what he expected.

He's showing us which piece he wants, basically the whole head!  LOL!

Isn't this card Lena made him soooo cute!  On the hand is says, "I love you...." and when you open it up it says, "THIS MUCH!"  She got the idea from Pinterest!  LOL!

Cake idea is an alligator from the Family Fun web site.  I don't know if any of you have seen the picture of the super cute cookie monster cupcakes and then the picture of the total fail cookie monster cupcakes, but this kind of made me think of that!  Normally I'm pretty good at birthday cakes, but I got my icing too thin.  Anyway, he's cute and Haden was happy. 

We Won!

Well, somehow we won the war of the leaf-cutting ants.  I have to say, it's bitter sweet.  They were such fascinating, happy, industrious little creatures.  Now the garden seems so still.  Still, I'm thrilled to be harvesting all the beautiful produce.  

Beautiful beets!  This one was juiced with carrots and some wheat grass I also grew.  It made a very sweet juice.

I harvested most of the lettuce that was left.  Some of it was going to seed, since it's starting to get warmer.  This should be enough for our lunch salads for the rest of the week.  We've enjoyed lots of salad from this little patch this winter (along with the ants).  I was a little sad to pull it up, but that's how the cycle works.  I've planted bush beans in their place.

Lots of veggies for broths, stir fries, and salad fixn's

This is cabbage and swiss chard.  The six small squares of swiss chard are doing so well, that I have enough for green smoothies for the whole family about every other day.

The radishes are doing great.

Lena loves eating them right out of the garden.

We planted this smaller variety of carrots.  The ground can be pretty hard, so these little guys don't have to battle the hard ground to grow.

This is the first time I have even planted broccoli.  They have done really well.  We also have leeks, turnips, collard greens, parsley, cilantro, and kale.  

So, there's my winter garden!  I just started some tomato, eggplant, pepper, and lemon grass seeds for the spring summer garden.  The little pods with seeds and all their potential are sitting on my dresser in my bedroom, just days away from sticking their little green sprouts out of the top of the soil.  I'll be able to put tomato plants out in March!  And just think our friends up in Greenland are celebrating because they finally saw the sun for 10 minutes last week!  Happy to be serving God in Mexico.  Happy Gardening ya'll! 

Up-cycling Hubby's Old T-shirt

So, if we are friends on FB you probably already know I've been having issues with my back.  About a year ago I had a herniated disc and it took a good six weeks to recover.  So, with excruciating pain in the same area, I assumed I had re injured a disc again.  Some other missionaries recommended a doctor that had helped her husband with his herniated disc.  While he was doing the examination, I started to realize that I actually wasn't having the same symptoms I had last year.  I didn't have any numbness in my legs or pain when I lifted them.  The doctor assured us that it was not my disc but muscle tension, irritation and inflammation.  This was probably due to lots of hours in the car, coughing and stress.  In short he said I just needed to CHILL OUT.  The whole family has gotten a huge kick out of this and I will not hear the end of it for quite some time.  "Are you OK mom?  Are you getting stressed out?  Don't get stressed mom, I'll get it cleaned up."  You get the point.  Who can blame them, it does seem awfully silly that you can get so stressed out you cause yourself debilitating pain.  In my defense, I thought I was "handling" all the things we have going on fairly well.  If you ask me how I am feeling, the word stressed doesn't really come to mind.  Apparently, I just store all my stress in my lower back.  Anyway, praise the Lord it's not my disc and I will be good as new very soon!  :)

The doctor suggested cotton socks filled with rice and heated in the microwave, so Sam had the idea of making a whole back rice pad out of some of his old t-shirts.  It worked great and I am enjoying it right now as I blog!  

What you need:

2 large t-shirts (100% cotton) turned inside-out

about 5 k dried rice

1/2 cup lavender (optional)

thread (100% cotton)

scissors

Update:  In the comments below Glen writes, " Word of warning.  Use only 100% cotton t-shirt and 100% cotton thread.  Polyester can catch fire in the microwave. "  I haven't actually popped anything in the microwave to test this theory, but a quick internet search does seem to confirm it.  So, be sure a use 100% cotton everything.  

Turn the t-shirts inside out and lay together as shown.

Mark and pin.

Sew around the outer edges.

Trim.

Turn right side in.  I actually forgot to do this and had to rip out some stitches.

Mark every three inches down the length.

Sew along the length, leaving the top open to fill with rice.

This is what it looks like after the lengths are sewn.

Fill each section with rice. 

You can mix lavender in with the rice, so it will smell nice and relaxing once heated.

Thinking.  Cute outfit!

Smelling the lavender.

Then I cut and pinned the top, turning it under.  In hind sight, it might be better to leave the bottom open and fill from the bottom and sew it up last.  Sewing the top closed with the curve and the rice wasn't easy.

And there you have it.  How to make a luxury rice pack for your back.  Just place it in the microwave until it's hot, being careful not to get it too hot.  It even forms around your neck and back!  It will possibly stop a bullet!  LOL!

Missionary School

Since we arrived in Mexico in April of 2010, we have been in our very own specially designed by God Missionary Training Academy.  We spent our first nine months in Jerez, Zacatecas getting to know Mexico and the culture.  Our plans would have included staying there for 2 - 3 years and learning the church planting ropes.  However, we discovered our research on that area had been in error and there are actually two national pastors doing a very good job of taking the gospel to their own people.  Is there room for another church in the town of Jerez, of course, but we felt God moving us to prepare for the ministry he would lead us to by attending some formal language training.  This moved us to Cuernavaca, Morelos for the first part of 2011.  We are still in contact with the national pastors in Jerez and pray for them often as the people there in Jerez have a special place in our hearts.  Recently Sam was even able to go back and visit and encourage one of the local pastors.  He was also able to visit some of the friends we had made while living there and witness and share due to our ever improving Spanish.

Pray request from this time:  For the national pastors still laboring in Jerez and for our continued improvement in speaking Spanish.

The second tailor made "class room" has been filling in for a missionary family while they are on furlough in the U.S. for a year.  Sam prayed for an opportunity just like this and the story of how God worked it all out is...well...a God thing, undoubtedly.  We are so grateful for this time, with the sweet church members here.  I know they miss their pastor greatly while he is in the U.S., but that does not stop them from working along side us.  I have been able to teach children's classes and Sam has begun to teach and preach in Spanish.

Prayer request from this time:  To do our part in returning this work to those to whom it belongs, to finish well, and try to invest what has been entrusted to us, not just return it back the same.  I have often thought of the parable of the talents, where one servant invested and returned more to his master and the other servant hid his talents, much to his shame.  It is comforting to know that this is God's church and as long as we look to Him daily, he will do the work here in Encarnacion de Diaz.

As you know from several blogs back, we have been praying and seeking God guidance about where to go after our time here is complete.  There are no shortage of opportunities and needs all over Mexico and Latin America.  When suddenly God has opened our eyes to an area we had previously been completely over looking.  He has given a passion and fire for a people group, a geographical location.  Could this be our ministry God has for us?  Could this be the people God has been molding and training us through our life experiences and education to reach.  More or less a creative access area to which we with our unique family and God's help could go.  There is certainly a lifetime of work to be done among them and no one else is going.

Where is this amazing place?  These pictures are your clues.....

Oh!  And I am so spoiled now.  Your inner coffee snob cannot be controlled once you have sipped a cup of coffee brought down from the mountain regions and then fresh roasted!  And you thought you were drinking the good stuff, because you grind it yourself!  :)