What a Different Christmas!

This year we celebrated Christmas differently than we ever have before.

Yes Gretchen & Kyle came.  The grandchildren as well.  Andrew was also here from Uganda. Woo Hoo!! We did have a wonderful time together. 

However there was no tree.  
No presents.  No cards.  No baking.  
(That was okay.  Kyle baked enough wonderful goodies to make up for our lack!  We are so blessed to have a son in law who enjoys cooking.  Every time they come to visit we wonder and look forward to what he might cook.)

Our family received a large present on the 23rd right before Christmas.

It was too large to wrap.  It was too large to deliver.  

I am sure that you have figured it out. . . . . . 

We have been getting ready to move.   This year has been spent packing! 

Earthwise Vision Explained

This is a wonderful video that explains what Earthwise is working to do in Uganda.  This is the company that Andrew is working for.  I sure enjoyed it!

He's Gone Back

Andrew is back in Uganda!  For those of you who don't know, he has taken a job with Earth Wise Ferries Ltd. as the Managing Director for their East African operations. He was home for Dad's funeral and a whirlwind visit.  Now he has gone back.  He really has a heart for Africa and this project specifically. We learned a lot talking with him about it during this visit. 

Earth Wise has launched their first ferry on Lake Victoria.  Here is a picture of the ferry when the first lady visited.  Can you see Andrew?

Click on this picture to view full sized.

The first lady of Uganda, Janet Kataaha Museveni visited Earth Wise's first ferry the Amani.  Amani has different meanings depending on what language you use, but the source of inspiration for this name comes from two langauges.  In Swahili, Amani means “peace”, and in Hebrew Amani means “my faith”; either way, she is well named for her purpose on Lake Victoria.

Congratulations to the team!

  Do you see a man who excels in his work?
      He will stand before kings;
      He will not stand before unknown men.

Proverbs 22:29  

 

 

Thank you Andrew!

Andrew brought us the most delicious things from Turkey.  He had a long stop over in Istanbul and found goodies for us. 

We just finished the last Turkish Delight.  There were two different kinds.  One like the picture below was coated in corn starch.  There were three different flavors and colors.  

Yellow - Lemon  

Green - Mint  

Red - Rose

There were also nut Turkish Delight.  They weren't different colors but were very good.

 The candy was featured in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, by C.S Lewis. The White Witch tempted a character, Edmund, with Turkish Delight.  I have to admitt that we were all tempted by it . . . . . . . . but never did see the White Witch!

Here is the history of this candy:

Before the 18th century, honey and grape molasses were the only sweetening agents available to Turkish confectioners. With the introduction of sugar in the late 18th century, Turkey awakened to a new era of sweet making. Sugar brought with it the beginning of endless creative possibilities to Turkish confectioners. It was during this time that Turkish delight, one of the oldest known confections in the world, was created in the great kitchens of the Ottoman court.

A whimsical tale tells of the creation of turkish delight:

In an attempt to appease his many wives, a famous Sultan ordered his confectioner to create a unique sweet. Eager to please his Sultan, the confectioner blended a concoction of sugar syrup, various flavourings, nuts and dried fruits then bound them together with mastic (gum Arabic). After several attempts, a most delectable sweet emerged from the royal kitchens. The Sultan was so delighted with these delicious little gems that he proclaimed the sweet maker the court's chief confectioner!

And this is the story of how Turkish delight was created. Hereafter, a plate of Turkish delight was served at daily feasts in the Ottoman court.

Turkish delight was unveiled to the west in the 19th century. During his travels to Istanbul, an unknown British traveler became very fond of the Turkish delicacies, purchased cases of "rahat lokoum" and he shipped them to Britain under the name Turkish delight.

It is believed that Picasso enjoyed Turkish delight daily to improve his concentration while Napoleon and Winston Churchill relished pistachio filled Turkish delights.

Andrew also brought several kinds of Baklava.  Oh my - - - - it rivals chocolate!

Thank-you  thank-you Andrew for thinking of us all the way in Istanbul!  We still are licking our lips. 

Andrew 6 years old!

Dad

October 26, 1925  -  July 24, 2011

Morning Wake Up

 This is the happy scene that I woke up to this morning, 

April 18th, 2011!

I look out this window and watch the birds as I work at my computer .  

The warblers who have just started to arrive looked a bit confused. 

This is out the other window in my bedroom.  

The tractor is still out there having just tilled up the garden patch a couple of days ago. 

I love the view of our deck covered with snow.

Those of you who prefer summer, do not worry.  By the end of the day it was mostly gone.  The water in the gutters was making that lovely rushing sound like when it rains; but it was just our last winter hurrah melting away in spring's company.

Yummy!

 Look what came to our house! 
I've never had one before.  It was absolutely delicious!

I would be hard pressed to pick between this and flowers.

Thank you JL for your thoughtfulness!

Some of my Favorite Brown Eyes

Morning - - - nothing like it!

We stopped in for a quick overnight at Kyle and Gretchen's on our way somewhere else.  Their guest bed is in with the "babies".  happy Grandmother smile

We woke up to these two little cuties.  Gretchen heard them and came in to rescue us and allow us to go back to sleep.  HA Grandparents can sleep anytime!  We weren't about to hand them over.

So I grabbed the camera. 

Nothing like cuddling with your grandchildren when they have just awakened.  They are all toasty and peaceful.. We got in lots of lovin'!

My First Book

I now have one book to my name.  smile 
I wrote it, illustrated it, and produced it all by my lonesome.  grin
The reason for this book is so that Alaina and Stephen (and future children) can enjoy our "company" any time they want!

 Child Friendly Cover

It took quite a while to put it together, but it was really fun and rewarding.  I went on line and downloaded a bunch of digital pictures and had them printed.  Then I pulled out my scrapbooking supplies and some colored file folders. 

 Each two page spread represents primarily one member of the family.  This is Ken's spread. 

I glued on the pictures making sure to have a few pictures of other family members.  This is Grandma and Grandpa L's spread.  Many wonderful memories in these pages. 

Here is Andrew's section.  Notice the flip-up flap (try to say that fast ten times!!) in the right top corner.  You lift it up with the ribbon. 

Orange is Nate's favorite color.

 

Each of the flip-ups asks a question.  To find the answer you look under the flap. 

The person under each flap is the same as who is featured on the two page spread.  Matthew's flap was a little hard to come up with.  He is growing and changing so much.  Anyone who has seen him lately can tell that these pictures are a bit outdated!  Hopefully his nose won't change that much?

Then I added stickers of things that the person likes.  You know a chance for increasing vocabulary!  Once a home school mom, always a home school mom. 

 Pink is my favorite color!

I was thinking of those wonderful I Spy books.  So around the outside I wrote things that they could look for on the pages.  On the dark pages it was tricky because I had to find a white pen that wouldn't fade away. 

Can you find a caboose? 

 The End

Since there can sometimes be a while between our visits, this helps keep us connected.  It was a wonderfully fun project. 
Hugs and Kisses to Alaina and Stephen!!

Sunday

On Sunday it got to 86 degrees here-abouts!  It was a dramatic shift from the mid 50's the day before.  shock and awe

We had the privilege of the company of Faith and Melody for the weekend sooooo . . . .
After church the kids took a walk to the lake.  Perfect day for such a thing.  smile

Old road to the lake front.

Of course you can not resist looking for rocks.

Oops!  Watch where you walk!

Sometimes you can find beach glass.  They did find a couple of pieces of blue. 

I love seeing the hand of the Lord even in things as common as rocks.

It was fun for us to be together with long time friends.  Ahhhhhhhh

It is beautiful down by the lake. 

Okay.  Everyone needs to learn how to skip rocks.

It was a bit windy!

Heading back .........................

...with pockets full of rocks.

Andrew

 Greetings Andrew!! 

 We know that you are having a fabulous time in Africa. 

 Guess who is tallest?  GRIN

 Thought that you would like to see our smiling faces.  We send you our love. 

More than you want to know! "wink"

In fact we did have a good time being snowed in.  I felt like Little House on the Prairie!  big smile  Unlike The Long Winter we had wood for our stove and didn't have to sit around braiding straw.  (Thank you Lord)  And----like Farmer Boy we had lots of good things to eat! 

I woke up and decided to do an experiment and cook on the wood stove!  Have you ever done that before? So I made one of my favorite things - - - soup.  First I had to brown the meat that took forever and it only thawed and didn't brown. 

I finally just added all the other ingredients.  It cooked up beautifully for supper.

I had a new ingredient that I had never used before - - Okra!  There was some fresh at the store, I couldn't resist.  I know nothing about Okra.

This morning here is what I found out:

The name "okra", most often used in the US and the Philippines, is of West African origin and is cognate with "ọ́kụ̀rụ̀" in Igbo, a language spoken in Nigeria.  Okra is often known as "Lady's Fingers" outside of the US.   In various Bantu languages, okra is called "kingombo" or a variant thereof, and this is the origin of its name in Portuguese,  ("quiabo"),Spanish, Dutch and French, and also of the name "gumbo", used in parts of the United States and English-speaking Caribbean for either the vegetable, or a stew based on it. 
 

The products of the plant are mucilaginous, (What a wonderful word.  Can we use it when the kids have colds?)  resulting in the characteristic "goo" or slime when the seed pods are cooked; the mucilage contains a usable form of soluble fiber. While many people enjoy okra cooked this way, others prefer to minimize sliminess; keeping the pods intact and cooking quickly help to achieve this. To avoid sliminess, okra pods are often briefly stir-fried, or cooked with acidic ingredients such as citrus, tomatoes, or vinegar. A few drops of lemon juice will usually suffice. Alternatively the pods can be sliced thinly and cooked for a long time, so that the mucilage dissolves, as in gumbo. 

So I guess that my stew was a gumbo?  (I'll have to research that one a bit more.)  The okra was not at all slimy.   The soup was delicious.  The okra gave it a slightly different flavor that we all liked.  I guess that I'll be trying okra some more.

We also cooked baked apples!  Oh those were good.  I wonder what I should try cooking today????

Tete you inspired this post.  Thank you!

Blizzard . . . . . .

 View from my bedroom window.  I love to feel like I'm snowed in.  In fact we were, really!

 Ken tried to get out of the driveway at 2AM to take wood to mom and Dad's house across the field.  But it took more than an hour to clear a path down the driveway with the tractor!  Then we discovered that the road had not been plowed.  He tried to head over on the tractor, but the drifts on the road were too deep to get through!!  Unbelievable.  

 The kids went out and found the snow up to their waists.  In some places they had to crawl or roll to get around.  Haley found a 9 foot snow drift in the field next to the house.  SMILE

 Front Porch

 Look at the drifts beyond the porch!  Fun fun fun.  Haven't seen any squirrels or birds out today.

 The swing is way down under the snow.  Don't worry Alaina, we brought your swing in weeks ago.

By the way,
Happy Ground Hog Day everyone!  Do you think that we will have an early spring???