Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Other News: Homemade Fun

I wrote this post before we had internet, and then forgot to post it. Oops... Also of note, though we have internet (YAY) it is VERY slow and spotty, so I doubt we'll be putting up pictures any time soon. :( Maybe I can try to upload some to Picasa overnight and put a link to them here.

So, I haven’t blogged lately. Basically, my internet time has been twice a week, with only a short amount of time to be online and a long list of things to do/look-up. As a result, I haven’t posted much. It’s not worth the time it would take to post pictures, and I haven’t pre-written any blogs to send until now (so I don’t use internet time writing blogs).

I have been taking advantage of the extra time I have from not being online (the extreme frustration and angst at losing internet in the house has been replaced by mild frustration and some refreshment of not having the internet to tempt me to waste time by looking up useful, but not crucial, information). Besides spending time with my little boys, I’ve been spending more time experimenting in the kitchen and working on Christmas presents.

Here are some of the things new things I’ve explored lately:

-homemade mayo

-Making beef jerky in the oven (from ground beef; super cheap and yummy)

-soaking my whole grains before cooking or baking with them (makes them easier to digest and increases the amount of nutrition you receive from them)

-homemade crackers (new recipe)

-protein bars

-veggie broth using the veggie scraps I’d otherwise throw away

-more breakfast dishes: hot cereals (pumpkin, rice, cornmeal, cracked wheat), pancakes using leftover cooked grains or pumpkin, etc.

-new granola bar recipe

I would like to explore homemade sauerkraut, as well as whole wheat pasta. Some other things I want to explore will need to wait until we move back to the States, due to availability.

And, of course, I enjoy baking and cooking the most when I receive help from my big helper(s)!

Christmas Presents:

We’ve decided to do a “Homemade Christmas” theme at our house this year. Since we’re moving this summer, we want to save money and don’t want to give big items that we can’t take back to the States. Our presents for our boys are as follows:

-A sweater and hat for Timmy (it gets cold on the mountain!) I have a confession to make about this gift. I actually started it for Jeremiah and never finished it. So it’s now for Timmy.

-Wooden blocks for Timmy (Daniel’s doing that one)

-A felt car mat for Jeremiah to use with his cars. He loves playing with cars!

-A wooden money box to keep some pesos in (Daniel’s making this too)

-If I have time, I also want to crochet some small ornaments for both of them as well.

So far I’ve started on the sweater (well, continued) and the felt mat. I won’t list other family member’s gifts on the blog however, as they would see it and it would give away the surprise. J

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

November Newsletter

Newsletter-Finally! And internet!

We recently sent out our November newsletter. It’s been a l-o-n-g time since we’ve written one (which didn’t mean there hadn’t been anything to tell, it just meant we hadn’t gotten around to telling it). Below is the email sent with the newsletter. If you want to receive the newsletter but didn’t, let me know.

Dear Friends and Family,

God has been doing some great things in our life and ministry, though it has been difficult sharing them since we have had major, ongoing problems with Internet and networking at Escuela Caribe. We are now going on two months without Internet to our house, so our contact with the States has been far less than desired. Our newsletter will give you a quick update on life here over the past six months.

Along with sending out our newsletter, we want to let you all know about our plans for next year. In spite of our love for Jarabacoa and the ministry here, we feel God leading us away from the Dominican Republic when my contract expires in May. We had been thinking this way over the summer, but our new house, Teresa’s need for dental work (see newsletter), and our own comfort here in the DR were causing us to second-guess it. After a somewhat long deliberation between staying at Escuela Caribe or moving to Teresa’s parents’ house in North Carolina, God is clearly leading us to Indiana. It was a huge weight off to receive this guidance, but now we face the uncertainties of moving somewhere where we have neither housing nor work, and doing it from another country. We would greatly appreciate your prayers for God’s guidance for our family into the job, church, ministries, and home that He has planned for us.


In Christ,
Daniel, Teresa, Jeremiah, Timothy, and all our animals