Body of Christ

Today was Day of Prayer. It's such a refreshing day. Day of Prayer is usually on a Tuesday, and it is perfect to just take a break from classes and school and spend time in the Word and prayer. This morning our hall, Imani, had our brother hall, Ithaca, over for a pancake breakfast. Damarise and I designated ourselves to be the pancake makers :) It was great. We both love to bake, and since we don't get the chance to do it all that often, it was wonderful.

We had a wonderful breakfast, and a great time worshipping and praying to the Lord with Ithaca. We also played catch phrase together and went to the top of the Carter Tower. We got to sign our names and see the amazing view from the tower. Supposedly, on a clear day (which it was), you can see seven states from the tower. Pretty cool!

But, where the title of this post (Body of Christ) comes in is here. (Well, technically it was further back in the story, but I'll just talk about it here. ;) ) After reading scripture and singing with Ithaca we split up into groups to pray together. I was in a group with Hannah and Micah. We asked each other what we could be praying for for one another, and when my turn came around I asked for prayer for Damarise and I (and the family) as the family moves to Africa, and as Damarise and I are saying goodbye to them at the end of the month. Both Micah and Hannah prayed about it and said they would continue to, but Micah also said, "You know you guys have family here too... Janessa, me, and all your other friends." And it hit me (again!) just how blessed I am. God has blessed me abundantly with my immediate family, but He has also blessed me with many wonderful brothers and sisters in Christ here. Time and time again I've gotten to see the body of believers work together in amazing ways. And this is just another example of that. Brothers and sisters in Christ coming around Damarise and I (and our whole family) as we prepare to say goodbye. It was a great reminder today of all the wonderful things God has blessed me with. I'm so thankful for the family of believers He has blessed Damarise and I with here.

Yogurt

While in Arkansas I was talking with a friend about cooking different foods. I had mentioned trying to make yogurt while in Mozambique (which was a flop) and asked her if she had ever tried. She hadn't, but by this time I was wanting to try making yogurt again. (I am a huge yogurt fan! :) ) I decided to take pictures of the process of making it just incase it worked, and lo and behold, it did work :) So, if you wanna know how to make yogurt, here is a good recipe that I found online :)

Step one: Get out all your ingredients. You will need:

• Vanilla
• Plain Yogurt (with active yeast cultures!)
• Sugar (both brown and white)
• Milk (whole, skim... doesn't matter)
• Instant Milk (aka powdered milk)

Step two: Measure out 4 cups of milk.

Step three: Measure out 1/2 cup of powdered milk and pour into the milk.

Step four: Measure out 3 Tablespoons of brown sugar and 3 Tablespoons of white sugar. Mix into milk mixture.

Step five: Mix together 1 Tablespoon vanilla.

Step six: Mix in 1/2 cup yogurt starter (plain yogurt). Mix very well! (but not with a blender!)

Step seven: Put into covered jars and if you live in a hot place set them out in the sun. (This is to cook them. They cook at 110ºF for 12-15 hours!)

Step eight: Clean up :) And not to many dishes to clean! YAY!

Step nine: WAIT! The yogurt "cooks" for 12-15 hours. The longer it cooks the more bitter and thicker it becomes. If it is not hot outside, place in oven on 110ºF for about 12 hours. Once that is done place in fridge for four hours.

Step ten: Eat and enjoy! It's great with fresh fruit or plain :)

TWENTY?!

February 12th 2010. Abraham Lincoln's 201st birthday. Covenant College again has half a day of classes due to snow. And Damarise's TWENTIETH birthday! Yes, yesterday Damarise graduated from the teen years and went into the twenties. Crazy! :)

Well, I couldn't let her birthday pass without some happy birthday decor :) So I decorated her door... and her bed :)

Yep! You've conquered those teen years :)

Ummm.... Mom and Dad wanted me to pick up Damarise a balloon... not a "blow-it-up-yourself" balloon, but a helium one. Sooo, I did pick one up... but I totally forgot to ask about having it filled! I didn't remember til I was half way up the mountain. Ohh well, Damarise just tacked it to the wall ;)

I wrote on the mirror too ;)

This morning I made Damarise her birthday breakfast/lunch/snack ;) I decided to make cinnamon rolls :) And how do I do that in a dorm room?

Well this dresser looked like this.....

Then I cleared it all off and made it my counter top :)

And used a can of hairspray as a rolling pin :) It worked! :D

Then we waited for them to rise...

Stuck them in the oven... and vwala...

Ooooo so good! :)

We were excited about them :)

Mmmmmm :)

Happy 20th birthday Damarise!

Something Cool for Those HOT Days

There are days in Mozambique where I feel like I am slowly melting. Ok, ok, maybe I'm exaggerating a little bit, but seriously, there are days when the heat is just exhausting and we don't feel like doing anything except to sit down underneath a fan with something cold to drink. And since we have those days, Damarise and I came up with our... hmmm... not sure if we have a name for them, but our Iced-Chocolate-Smoothie-Type-Thing. :) Something nice and cold for those hot days :)

We made them Thursday and a big thank you to Mrs. Richardson for the whip cream :) Mmm it totally made it!! The Richardsons brought back some whip cream for everyone after their trip to Egypt (Cool!!) and we put it on top of our chocolate things. :) It looked SO pretty :) So of course, we had to get a picture :) Mmmm... they were good!

Thank you Richardsons! :D

Thanks Dad!

Mmm Mmm! Sunday, while all of us but Dad were at SIL, Dad surprised us by making dinner :) It was delicious!! He made his famous Macaroni and Cheese :) Mmm made with velveeta :) Thank you Ellenbargers for all the ingredients and thank you Dad for a delicious meal! :D

Week with the Woodrows: Monday

Monday, Monday, Monday! Monday was a fun day (even for people, like Kent, who think good Mondays are oxymorons *which they aren't;)*). We all had fun adventures, especially Damarise, Bethy and Kent. 

Since it was Monday I wore my "Happy Monday" shirt :) Hehe, ok so that isn't really what it is. The M is for Mcel the cell phone company here, but I thought it fit :)

Damarise and Bethy decided they would make dinner.... and the adventure began!

Oh wait... pause, stop, hold, Bethy dissapeared! Ah!

Oh ok! She's back! Everything's good! Moving on :)... They started to pick out a recipe.

And after about five minutes I decided to see what everyone else was up to. Kent and Andrew were doing school. The other boys were playing with Legos! Fun!

And Sarah and Gracie were getting a beauty nap :)

When I came back Damarise and Bethy were still thinking about what to make...

Time was ticking away... 

And they were still thinking! But finally, after much thought, they found a bread recipe! :D

Oh then we had to decorate the fridge. "Bethy, Dot (Damarise's nickname), and Ana (my name in Portuguese) totally rock!

Damarise and Bethy asked Kent to take them shopping so they could get food for dinner. :) They had some pretty funny stories (Actually they told about their adventures in a movie so I'll just tell you their adventures from their own words :) )

D. (Damarise/Dot) Ok here we are we couldn't find broccoli.

B. (Bethy) No it was too expensive. We went to Shoprite, and we went to casa do frutas, and then Ideal and then we saw some. And so we got it and it's at a hundred...

D. We were jumping up and down!

B. Yah we were like, "OH!" We were so excited. So, we got the broccoli and it was a hundred and ten so we go... do you wanna finish?

D. So we go up to the cash register and she rings it up and it comes to like four hundred fifty. We're like (drops mouth open)

B. WHAT?!

D. That's WRONG! So then we like threw a little temper tantrum.

B. Yah, and we like totally said, "We are never going to buy some from here again!"

D. Yah, so lesson learned don't go to Ideal.

B. Right.

(laughing)

B. They burst your bubble.

(Second Movie)

D. Ok so we have an exciting story to tell you!

B. Ok, when we were at Shoprite. We were just walking around and we were looking at–actually we had just got there.

D. Yah.

B. And we were going to the vegetable section.

D. Yah and so we were walking... and we thought we saw something...

D&B. And then...

D. The electricity went out!

B. Darkness!

B. Yah...

D. So we stood there and then we walked and we banged into a couple of things. And then we stopped by the meat section and...

B. Just sat there and sat there.

D. Yah, then about three minutes later?

B. Oh like ten minutes!

D. Oh yah! Maybe a half an hour!

B. Yah, yah! Probably a half an hour actually!

D. The electricity finally went on and we were like a puddle of sweat!

B. Oh it was SO hot!

D. And someone tried to rob us.

B. Yah, I know! And then cause the electricity was out everyone started stealing stuff! And they started taking it out.

D. I know! I know!

B. It was just like crazy!

D. I know!

B. We were like,"WOW!"

D. Yah!

B. But see it started cause Dot, Kent and I were talking about it. We were like, "Oh you know it would be such a good time to steal stuff and then what do you know next thing everyone is stealing stuff!

K (Kent). They all took our idea.

B. Yah!

D. So, so Bethy and I did karate. (Hannah's lil' blurb: Earlier in the day Damarise was practicing Karate moves on Bethy incase Damarise got robbed. Haha!)

B. Yah! We saved the store!!

D. YES!

B. That store should be grateful! But they didn't even say thank you!

D. I know.

B. Oh well.

D. They could've given us stuff for free.

B. I know! At least they could've done that!

D. Well we're here! BYE!
 

They had some fun times! Although... not all of that is true :P hehe...

Kent, older brother/chauffeur/body guard :)

The two "Adult shoppers!"

Usual site in Nampula :)

The rolls they made for dinner! Mmmm they were so good!

Soo, they ended up making chicken (it was amazing!) mashed potatoes, gravy, squash (I've never really liked squash but this one was good!), green beans and a meringue peach/blueberry type dessert :) Everyone liked all the food! 

Yah! Ian and Andrew really liked it :) hehehe..

It was a FUN Monday!! :D

Like 2nd Grandparents...

Saturday morning the Stolks dropped by for a visit. We met the Stolks when we first came to Africa in 2006 (seems like ages ago!) The Stolks went to the same church as the people we were staying with, so we got to know them and they had us over for a South African Braii! Mmm, nothing beats that! Then when we went down to South Africa in May we got to stay with the Stolks. It was so much fun. Like hanging out with 2nd grandparents. Right now, they are up here helping the Woodrows get their hospital built. It's been so wonderful having them here in town. When they came over Saturday, Mom was asking Grandma Stolk for different recipes that would be good for travel food. So Grandma Stolk shared some recipes, and then her, Mom, Damarise and Andrew went shopping while Grandpa Stolk and Dad talked. When the shoppers came home we had lunch and talked about hiking, Switzerland, South Africa, and all sorts of things :) After lunch Grandma Stolk and Mom made rusks. Mmm. If you've never had a rusk you need to try them! They are kind of like the American biscotti only slightly different. They are dry and crusty but they taste amazing! Especially when dunked in tea or coffee. 

While the women baked the men went to work on fixing our water filter. I'm not sure if they found out what was wrong or not. :P But all in all it was a wonderful Saturday full of fun with 2nd Grandparents! :D

Week with Woodrows: Day 4

Saturday morning we played some volleyball... then came in and played some word games. 

Bethy made some delicious cookies! :)

Then Bethy and Gracie had their girl's bible study. So while they did that we played with legos... and played outside :) And hung out and talked in the kitchen with Aunt Julie :)

Later that night we were all extremely hyper... (Hmm wonder if it had something to do with the coffee earlier...) so Damarise, Bethy and I were making up all these fun... and weird hand shakes ;) hahaha... then we grabbed Sarah and Gracie and tried making another handshake... which ended up as a ballet?? ;) hehe.. it was fun!

Canada Day!

Happy Canada Day to everyone! :) Not that I am Canadian, but it is fun to celebrate :) What fun things have you done to celebrate?

Last night Damarise made and iced a cookie cake for youth group. She, of course, decorated it with the Canadian flag :)

It looked slightly pink, so we put on some fiery red sprinkles.

For breakfast, I made cinnamon rolls with maple icing :) Oh, and it was red :) 

I painted my finger (and toe) nails with the Canadian flag... although my maple leaf looks nothing like a maple leaf! haha.

:) And dressed up for the day! Red and white anyone? How about a red and white necklace.. or earrings.. bracelet... ribbons.. socks?!

And Andrew helped bring on the spirit of Canada too, with Dad's Canadian hat :) Thanks Andrew! :)

I hope you all have a wonderful Canada day... even if you don't celebrate it :)