Holiday Outreach 2014

The day dawned gray, cloudy, and rainy. We were praying that the sky would open and the sun would dry up all the mud! We were blessed to have the rain stop although the sun didn't appear. There was so much food that it almost filled a 15 passenger van......only allowing room for three people and one was the driver (me). Two more vans were filled up with volunteers and a pick-up truck followed with the live turkeys, chickens, and poultry wranglers. 

 After our volunteer team from Wenatchee rounded up the poultry and finished packing the the food and hauling it all to the van we began to caravan to our destination. This was a year of urban distribution because of weather and because we try to bless around as much as we can. The terribly impoverished are interspersed all throughout the neighborhoods and we just had to keep driving from one to the next as they were spread out.

 Our intention was to deliver food packages with flour, beans, rice, sugar, oil, soups, pasta, coconut milk packs, hot chocolate, banana bread, Christmas cookies, candy canes, oranges, bananas, and live chickens or turkeys. We ask them if we can give them a bible and have prayer with them. Some are willing to speak with us and some will pour their hearts out to us..........tears. Some may take the food but they will not allow us anything else. 

This is such a blessing to me personally and it really touches deep in my heart to know that God provided a way for us to bless others. Making a difference doesn't have to be something astronomical or a huge production. It can simply be doing what you can when you can. Thankfully, we are able to reach out all year long as things come to us.

The second home we stopped at last Monday, the young woman was hesitant to come out of her home and seemed very shy about taking the food and chicken. Once we gave her the food she seemed relieved/happier. This lady also accepted a bible and said we could pray with her and for her. During that prayer in Spanish she broke down into tears and began to sob. Very heartbreaking but encouraging to know that we made a difference that day to her.

 There were many touching moments that bring tears to my eyes and I wish people didn't have to live the way that they are stuck living. Many were very nice and shared with us some burdens and things happening in their lives so we could specifically pray for them. Some were so excited about getting a live turkey that I'm not sure the other food mattered. Huge smiles graced so many faces that day including all of ours. At moments I was impressed that it wasn't the material food that was making any difference but the fact that we were there in person without any strings attached. Talking to people, laughing with people, praying with people. Just the interaction! 

 One place we stopped the house was quiet and closed up but we kept calling out. Finally, we began to hear terrible terrible music coming from the house. They were trying to ignore us and get us to leave. Ultimately, God's power prevailed and a young pregnant woman emerged from behind the door to nothing more than a chicken coop looking shack. Her eyes lit up as we explained in Spanish what were doing and what we wanted to give her. At the end when we asked her if we could pray I had to ask her to turn the music off as it was spewing so many foul words and filthy phrases. She said she would like a bible and it turned out that we didn't have any in our van but we told her we would bring one back soon. We were able to take one back to her about 30 minutes later. 

The very next stop was the sweetest most humble young lady and she just kept saying "bless you" and "thank you" and she was adamant that we come inside her house to pray with her. We felt so guilty tracking all that mud in her little home but what a blessing for the opportunity.

A couple days later we trekked out in the jungle down a muddy trail using backpacks to carry the food to some needy families. The mud was absolutely terrible! We were sliding and doing our best not to slip. The mud was just building up on our shoes and it began to look like another sole on the shoe. Such a great experience to get out to some remote families that would never be reached by the mainstream outreach in the area. A couple guys in the group carried pepper spray in case we encountered aggressive dogs that wouldn't back down and a few guys carried machetes in case we came across any dangerous reptiles. No snakes and the dogs backed down by us just going through the motion of picking something up and pretending to throw it. Amen.

These families were farmers and they grew corn, green beans, plantains, and habanero peppers. Their homes reminded me more of the typical wood shacks we saw in Africa. They cooked over the open fire so their homes were actually pretty filled with smoke. Cute little children and hard working mamas greeted us, as the men were out working.

We were so glad to be able to help 63 families!

Thank you Lord for the opportunity to meet new people and open doors that may lead to us being invited back to share Jesus again.

I will praise the name of God with a song; and will magnify him with thanksgiving. Psalm 69:30

Recognizing that everything we have comes from God all the time not just during the good times or once a year on our nation's holiday of thanks. 

We were blessed this year to have Thanksgiving dinner with some dear family and friends. Belize doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving so it is a challenge to prepare a meal when I have to work all week. With the help of Chris and the kids I managed to get everything made. We celebrated our Thanksgiving yesterday.

The food tasted good and there are WAY too many leftovers. I already am looking forward to eating my usual salads and simple foods. Rich foods just cause me not to feel good and Chris and the kids have been laying around the house, saying "I'm so stuffed" or "I feel sick because I ate too much"......the typical things we hear this time of year. Not to mention breaking the grocery budget to fix these super rich and fattening foods.

Gluttony to show thanks sure seems wrong. Now, don't get me wrong, a special meal is just fine; but we could tone it down and use some of our "extra" to help others a bit more. We can also exercise our own self control when consuming these "special meals". Right?

 We had to snuggle under the new electric blankets my mom sent down because it was so cold yesterday.

 

  

Cookies, cookies, and more cookies!

The girls and I have been busy making tons of spritzer cookies to give away as part of the upcoming food distribution. Hannah and Bella are getting really good at making them. They had me mix the dough and then took over for the last hundred or so. Both girls really take my cooking instruction well and pay attention to things that most young cooks wouldn't. They are both going to be excellent cooks and bakers.

 

Danish Pancakes

I love to cook!

 This is therapy to me to reduce stress.

I have perfected so many recipes over the years in different genres of cooking that it surprises me. I have been told I make the BEST Thanksgiving turkey ever, and I can make any beef or chicken dish taste so scrumptious (except we haven't eaten meat for 7 years) if I have to. I can not only cook delicious vegetarian meals but also vegan. I can bake healthy vegan desserts and no one knows it doesn't have dairy. I can make homemade candy that is out of this world......no this isn't the healthy version.

I should publish a cookbook as I have created more recipes or I always tweak/change a lot recipes I find. I do have to admit that I also just cook out of my head a huge percentage of the time and have to force myself to write the recipe down.

 I love that I can look at a recipe and say immediately how it will turn out or there's not enough of this ingredient. Cooking does require a skill but baking is definitely a talent. I have shared recipes with others and it doesn't turn out anything like it should. Thankful that I learned from some of the best.......my grandmother and my mom.

The other night I made Danish Puff Pancakes for my family. I had actually found the pan required to make these little delectable, melt in your mouth, darlings!

Back home we used to frequent a certain lodge on Sunday's for brunch and they would serve these. Love them! Anyway, they turned out really good and I mastered the skill for using a skewer to gently turn them. The kids all voted that we need to have these more often. Better than Belgian Waffles.

The only negative part is that we were so enraptured eating them that I forgot to take a picture.

Family & Memories

Even though my last trip home was for a sad reason I was glad to see family. This picture was taken at my aunt Won's house in Oregon while we were gathered for the memorial service weekend.

When I was a little girl I remember the big family gatherings we would have at Uncle John's house. All the cousins were there and we had so much fun. I remember everyone getting together at Grandma Myrt's house on Thanksgiving and Christmas. We all ate too much and played games until late in the night. I can remember just feeling like your stomach would give a little relief from that over stuffed feeling and then squeezing in one more piece of homemade pie or some of grandma's homemade candies.

The family has grown and branched out and those large gatherings are few and far between these days.

Coming up on the holidays makes me reminisce all those childhood memories. 

I intentionally left out the nail-biting, horrifying winter/snow experiences with my dad to go get Christmas trees.Too many of those stories.

One of my favorite memories was when we(me, Alanna, & Eric) had been out with dad along with my cousins, Jenny and Ryan, to get Christmas trees. We were in my dads 1980 something 4x4 Bronco and on our way back after acquiring the trees. We had taken two runner sleds with us, and when we had descended from the deeper snow mountain roads to where they began to plow, we thought it looked perfect for a sled ride.

Of course with only two sleds we came up with the bright idea that me and Jenny would share a sled and Eric and Alanna shared the other (we laid down and double stacked....probably not safe but definitely more aerodynamic). Poor Ryan missed out!

It was just getting dark but we shot off on those runner sleds and we quickly lost my dads headlights and had to begin to see in the dark and some of those corners in the mountains got pretty dark! We began to drag our feet to no avail; we were flying!! I'm not sure how many miles we covered but we managed a system of anything that looked like a shadow looming ahead we steered to avoid it and that worked out really good. Finally, we flew across a cattle guard, which slowed us enough, to ditch into the snow bank.

Later, back in the vehicle I learned from my father that he gave up trying to catch us after the Bronco hit 25-30mph on slick mountain roads. So we were really going super fast. Of course we had a blast and thought it was the greatest fun. My father told me later in years that he shouldn't have let us do it. 

I will have to share more sledding stories later! 

Getting Ready for Outreach

We are busy preparing for the upcoming holiday outreach. This year has lots of different components thanks to a mission team coming in from back home. They will be partnering with us for our annual holiday project and we will be partnering with them for some of their projects. Very exciting!

We have been busy gathering food, live turkeys and chickens, getting the packaging ready,  and planning the route.  The girls and I will be doing a lot of baking so we can hand out goodies too.

Isabel has become the head turkey and chicken wrangler and she makes sure their wings get clipped to prevent them flying out of the yard. 

We have given names to the turkeys: Frederic, Louie, Mr. Fudd, Liesel, Luna, Snowflake, Birgita, Gertrude, Thelma Lou, Theodore, and Cornelius. The chickens get the numbers of our favorite football(soccer) players.

Fishermen

The kids had a nice trip back home with their dad this past summer. I stayed behind and held down the fort.....so to speak...... Okay, I admit it......we have three furry children that couldn't be left alone.

I couldn't get time off my job at the same time either.

My dad really likes to fish and of course there were several trips to the river with the boat. Mat and Bella like to fish but Hannah prefers staying behind with Birdie. So I thought I would post some pictures from some of their fishing expeditions.

Mat is pretty proud of his catch, Bella caught a big one, Dad's catch looks like the biggest, and Delores and Linda have a good time getting out. 

Loss of Life

 My dear uncle passed away from leukemia in September. This was a very sad time for everyone and it sure makes you stop and reconsider what exactly is important in this life. I was blessed to be able to make the trip home for services, which proved to be much more of a blessing for me than I could have ever imagined. 

Feeling bad about not being able to see my uncle and say a final good bye, I realized that it was much more needed that I was there for my aunt and cousin, whom I count just as close as my parents and siblings. None of us can believe he is resting in Jesus, as we all can reminisce about so many things we enjoyed with uncle Dave. 

While his suffering is over here on this earth we are the ones that feel sad simply for not having him in our presence anymore. As one lady stood up at his memorial service and testified how my uncle Dave had shared his spiritual testimony with her so many times, that even on his dying bed the last time she saw him, he was still giving her scriptures to read.

One commented, as we were viewing the urn that held the ashes, "If you don't have Jesus and the hope of His return, we are just ashes". But instead for those of us that believe in the coming Saviour we have so much more.

I was able to spend 3 weeks home and see family and friends. The excuses that I have used in the past of being too busy or working too many hours really seem weak now! I have purposed in my heart to connect more with those around me, more with my family and friends, and use the moment to let people know they are important to me and that I love them. 

Sure, attending a memorial service is fine but I would much rather spend the time communicating with loved ones even if it's just a letter. 

Death is no respecter of persons and my uncle left way too soon. He leaves behind a legacy of a life living out what he believed and standing up for what he believed in. He took every opportunity to share Jesus with people, especially the many clients he represented in his law firm.

Rest in peace uncle Dave and soon you will see Jesus coming to take us home!

Delinquent Blogger!!

I guess somehow February has morphed practically into September!! My blogging absence hasn't been intentional and I didn't realize it has been SEVERAL months since I posted.

We were blessed in the spring with being able to see some family dropping into Belize on Cruises or on mission trips. Our good friends from back home also came and spent a week with us.

Spring break flew by and then it was the push for the kids to finish the school year as I planned for their summer trip to the states. This year their dad went and I stayed home.

Summer was more stressful than it should have been but more on that later.

The kids start school tomorrow and I believe they are looking forward to it.

I will be posting pictures from past events to catch up my blog and I really hope that I can be faithful in my postings????? 

Watch Out! A Red Cobra?

The night watchman at the office found this snake.

 The picture makes it look like a deadly cobra or part of the coral snake family?! Not to be........

This is a Red Coffee snake and they are harmless. They do have the black head with a yellow band at the back. They don't get very big at all, in fact, this one was only 3-4 inches long. They are known for rising up like their hooded cousins to scare off predators and if that doesn't work they "play dead". 

December 2013 at Liberty Children's Home

What a true blessing to give to those children on Christmas! Buying individual gifts for 42 children was no easy feat but by God's grace Kerry Ann and I made a very successful trip to Mexico to help make the funds go further. After many phone calls back to the kids home to ensure we had correct sizes and correct needs on the list we prayed and went shopping. This was hard, grueling, discouraging, hour upon hour shopping! At the end of the day we knew God has helped us to be wise in choices!

Every December we choose a special project and I know that we will continue to partner with Liberty in the future.

Each child received a complete brand new outfit, some older kids got toiletries, basket balls, soccer balls, various toys/games, goodies, Christmas dinner provided, groceries provided, with more provided in January and February, new towels, undies, sheets, and playdough.

So thankful to those that God impressed with this specific project and supporting Micha Missions.

The home asked that we don't show the kid's faces due to some past issues about exploitation and we are fully complying.

 

The New Year

Sorry to say that December was so busy that I didn't blog at all. We spent the 25th at Liberty Children's home spreading love and cheer to the kids there.

The New Year was fun brought in with friends and games and capped off with fireworks at midnight!

From that point on January is fairly sketchy as I have been sick the entire month. A bad virus for sure that went on and on........finally ending in strep throat. In the midst of that the kids were back in school, I was trying to work what I could, Chris was working too, held a board meeting for the ministry, Mat dislocated his knee cap which required Chris putting it back. Ouch! I have broke my ring finger on my right hand.....ouchie too! Now I am just exhausted and wanting my body to be well.

I will have more to share on outreach and post some pictures. I will also do my best to blog more often and better posts!