Precious in His sight

This is Cesar today playing with bubbles. It was too cute not to share. Please be praying for Cesar as he transitions into his new children's home. Thanks!

I haven't posted a video before, so we'll see how this goes. There is no sound, so don't worry that you can't hear anything.

From Laura's Kitchen

I have learned many things in my cooking ventures - and I'm sure I still have much to learn. I thought I'd share a few of them with you:

1. Although you may fear a gas explosion, don't give up on lighting the gas oven. It is ok to wait 3-5 seconds for it to catch the flame, most times it takes that long.
2. Whipped cream in a spray can is not the same as Cool Whip. And it definitely does not work in a jello salad.
3. A non-stick pan works better when the non-stick stuff is still on it. Otherwise half your quesadilla will remain in the pan.
4. When you want to make banana bread, but your bananas are not ripe, wait a few days. Making the bread anyway just does not work out - as it will not taste of bananas.
5. Also, when making banana bread, it will taste less like tamales if you use white flour - not corn flour. It is amazing the difference the right kind of flour makes. ;-)

Ok, so that's all for now from my kitchen. I have some vegetables soaking in disinfected water to get ready to make cheddar/potato soup. Yay for having the right kind of flour now! :-)

Update

Hey!

Sorry about not posting for a while. On Tuesday night I got VERY sick and couldn't do much of anything on Wednesday. Don't feel too bad for me though, because it only seemed to be a 24-hour thing, and now I am in tip-top shape, minus a couple pounds. Well, you can feel a little bit sorry for me... if you want. ;-)

Now I'm so grateful to be feeling well and to be working hard. As they say, you don't know what you've got till it's gone - well, thankfully it was only a day, and now I can better appreciate what I've got. So, yay! ;-).

This Saturday finds me working on the VBS video (still) and baking banana bread. We'll see how that turns out :-).

God bless!

To trust in Jesus

When I moved into my apartment, my landlords decided to give me free cable. Very generous, but something that had great potential for distraction. I kept the TV around though, and it actually ended up helping me exercise more - well, that is, exercise my will-power and not watch it too much ;-).

Why am I telling you this? Good question ;-). I keep busy with other things, but there is one TV show I try to watch each week. And that is, drum roll please.... Robin Hood! (new BBC version). The episode last night made me ponder. As you know, I enjoy sharing these ponderings with you. So, here we go. :-)

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Ok, to start out, I need to give you a recap of what happened.

A Muslim prince comes to try to make peace with England. The Sheriff, being an evil guy, holds him for ransom. The prince's uncle sends the ransom. However, it turns out that the uncle actually wants the prince dead. The "ransom team" is not there to save the prince, but rather to kill him.
Long story short, Robin saves the prince, and he continues on to the Holy Land to try for peace there. Robin's men ask the prince if he isn't afraid that his uncle will try to kill him again.


The Muslim prince responds, "He already tried to kill me once, and it didn't work. Ala obviously wants me alive, and my uncle is a good Muslim. Even he has to follow the will of Ala."

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Now that is confidence in your faith - it made me think about whether I really put that trust to practice in my own faith. I know that when I have in the past, God has always been so much more than faithful. That's why I titled my blog "Tis so sweet..." to trust in Jesus - because even though at times it is so difficult, in the end it really is so sweet to trust in Him.

But, do I truly apply that trust to every aspect of the present and future? Trusting God so fully that I do not fear anything in this world? I don't think I'm there yet - I sure will keep on trying though.

I think the Psalmist understood all this clearly when he wrote Psalm 118:6.

The LORD is with me; I will not be afraid.

What can man do to me?

Random

Without anything in particular to write about, I will just tell you whatever comes to mind. ;-)

Right now there are men remodeling the 2 apartments below me to make one bigger apartment. As I type this, I can feel the floor shake as they knock walls out. I'm hoping I don't fall through - but I guess that would be something to write about as well ;-).

I mentioned in an earlier newsletter that I couldn't figure out why my bus sometimes went through a certain town, and other times didn't. Well, while that hasn't happened in a while, I think I realized why. It doesn't depend on the bus, but rather the passengers (if someone requests to be let off there, we go through that town). It seems like you could use that to symbolize something in life, but I really can't think of what. :-)

Ok, well, I better get to work on a Vacation Bible School video. The Covenant Mission VBS offering this year is going to go to health supplies for a small village in Oaxaca. Yay! If you think your church might want to do that for their VBS offering, let me know :-).

Uh oh, the landlord just warned the guys to be careful about cutting the gas line... :-)

To keep with the theme, a random photo: This is an early morning view of misty mountains from the steps of my apartment.

Frozen Food?

Today someone mentioned to me that the grocery stores here don't seem to have restocked since Christmas. Even after having been warned, I was still surprised this afternoon to find my favorite toilet paper out-of-stock and the juice shelves empty. Strange.

Anyhow, since I'm getting the hang of lighting my gas oven, I thought I might buy some frozen taquitos to try out. Sounded good. When I went through the check out line, the young woman paused as she scanned them. She laughed and showed them to the girl bagging, saying "Look, all you have to do is warm them up!" Who would have guessed frozen taquitos would be such an oddity?

On my way home, I passed by the older women who bring food each day to sell to the workers on their break. As I walked by, it hit me that my frozen taquitos would never compare to their tasty foods. Why would anyone around here want frozen taquitos anyhow? No wonder they hadn't seen them before.

Well, don't worry - I still plan on enjoying my taquitos. And besides, it'll give me a good reason to turn on my oven and hopefully warm up my chilly apartment a little. :-)

Happy New Year!

This year has been really windy so far! At least it has been here in Oaxaca - if I didn't know better, I might call this the windy city. Today when I was walking with Cesar, I had to pick him up for a moment, for fear that he might blow away :-).

Some interesting New Year traditions:

1. Each person eats 12 grapes very quickly at midnight, making a wish for each month of the year. I guess you're technically supposed to eat one grape at each stroke of the bell, but that's really hard to do - especially if your grapes have seeds, as we discovered ours did ;-). And, come to think of it, I guess this one makes the kissing at midnight tradition kind of difficult...
2. A makeshift scarecrow is placed in a chair outside the house. He is dressed in old clothes, has a bottle in hand, and sometimes has a cigar. This represents old man time (el año viejo). Apparently you burn it right at midnight, saying goodbye to the old year. I saw many of these in the poorer neighborhoods of Oaxaca - I think that's because it is in those neighborhoods where grandparents are more likely to pass down traditions.

Sorry, I know things are better in 3's, but I've wracked my brain and I think I only learned 2 things. Ah well, leaves more room for learning in the New Year ;-)

I tried to think of hopes for each month - but I ran out after March. But, what stands above all of them is my prayer that God's will might be accomplished. I also pray this for you and your family.

Blessings! And Feliz Año Nuevo.