Watch Out Taco Bell!

We were back in the kitchen this morning for another class on scratch cooking. This morning we learned tips on making a great crepe. Then we moved on to making waffles. My waffle iron is a cast iron waffle maker which was made in 1925. It is made to go over a wood burning stove. It is an antique but makes GREAT waffles and some thing that I use regularly. When we lived in the tribe we did not have power to have an electric waffle iron so we used this waffle iron in the tribe. In makes GREAt waffles! Then we moved on to making home made tortillas. When we were in the tribe, if we wanted tacos we had to make the tortillas ourselves. There was not store to get them from. This nis a skill I have taught all my children. Once you have eaten a home made shell it is really hard to go back to store bought one. We all had a good time as we worked away in the kitchen. As you can see even Cuddles enjoyed the class.

R.I.P. Rupert

We are still working through all the insurance issues with our car, "Rupert". However we did get a phone call the other day saying that Rupert was totaled, Therefore Vern and I made the drive over to see Rupert one last time. We wanted to get our license plates off Rupert and check to make sure we had gotten everything of value out of him. Since I had never been in an accident I have never had to do anything like this before. It felt VERY weird to see Rupert again. He was at a auto garage about 1/2 hour away. When I first saw him it just felt so wrong to see him locked behind a chain link fence and yet some how it felt good knowing he was well protected. When I went inside to get things that were in the car it was very weird sitting inside looking at the now deflated airbags. There was still such a strong smell from whatever is inside the airbags. After we got everything we came there to get I just stood there looking Rupert. He had been such a wonderful provision from the Lord. One of my sister who knew our car had just died gave him to us. He had been such a faithful car for us for over 4 1/2 years. We certainly were not ready to part with him but we know God had other plans. We know that things could have been FAR, FAR worse then what they were but nevertheless Ruth and I have been through a bit of a trauma. There were so many emotions going through me that I did shed some tears as I stood there trying to bring some closure to the whole accident. I had wished that Ruth had gone with us but she had another appointment. We might try to bring her up there yet but we don't know how long the car will be there yet before they move him somewhere else. We are still waiting on our insurance to see what kind of money we will get for Rupert. We have spent a lot of time on the Internet and on the phone trying to find a car that will work for us and fit into our budget. Hopefully some thing will come up in the near future as we continue to be a bit of juggling at times to get everyone where they need to go.

Bakers Square

This morning our scratch week demonstrations continued. Today there was a group of students at Brenda's house and another group at Kathy's house. The groups were learning about making pie crusts. I went to Brenda's house to watch and learn from her how she works with pie crusts. Brenda showed us how to make an apple pie. The class then broke up into teams and made chicken pot pies. Everyone did a great job and no one left hungry!

Who Needs Pillsbury!

This morning it was sticky business in the kitchen as we had several different batches of dough rising for the scratch week dough demonstration
that we had in our kitchen. Brenda had the other half of the class over at her place and they also were getting their hands sticky working with dough. We had many samples of different types of dough and what you can do with them. (Yum!) It will be hard not to gain weight this week.

Scratch Week Cooking

Next week our students will experience "Scratch Week Cooking". It is a week when we want our students to cook from scratch and not use convenience prepackaged foods. In most countries where our missionaries are working you can not get prepackaged foods and you have to make things from scratch. This helps to prepare our students for life on the mission field. We also ask our student to live without their electrical kitchen appliances since they will not be able to use most of them on the mission field. This week now, we staff ladies will be having different groups of students into our homes every morning for a couple of hours of hands on demonstrations. Tomorrow I am having a group in our home and we will be doing: "Fun with Yeast Doughs." I spent a chunk of time putting together a power point for class this morning so I thought I would share a few of the slides with you.

JEHOVAH JIREH : God is our Provider

Today in Sunday our lesson was about Jehovah Jireh: God is our Provider. We started off talking about names, how parents pick names, and the meaning of names. Then we talked about the names we have. Then we went to the story of Abraham. God provides a son to Abraham when he was VERY old. (A true miracle.) But then later we see God asking Abraham to go and sacrifice his son as a burnt offering. Abraham goes out with his precious son and prepares to make that sacrifice. At one point Isaac asks Abraham, "Where is the Lamb for the sacrifice?". He answers, "God will provide." And God did indeed provide a ram and Isaac's life was spared. I have heard this story many times before but I was blessed and challenged once again by this story and by the name of God : Jehovah Jireh - God is our provider. We personally have seen God do a couple of very neat things in the last week. God provided for specific needs that we have had. I don't know about you but it seems like there are always needs in front of us whether financial, physical, or emotional. It is easy to be anxious. Our God has not changed as just as he provided a son in Abraham's old age and provided a ram to be sacrificed he will provide for our needs. Whatever your hearts need today I pray that you will be encouraged that Jehovah Jireh is right beside you. He will Provide. His timing is prefect and His ways are perfect. He will probably provide in ways totally different then what you might anticipate but it will be what is in the best interest of you, His dear child. Praise the Lord for - JEHOVAH JIREH - GOD IS OUR PROVIDER.

Car Accident Update

Many people have been asking how things are going with the whole car accident incident so I thought I would give an update. (The pictures are from the local newspaper.) We are glad that there was some thing in the paper as we would really like to find the person that hit us. We have a $500 deductible on any insurance claims and if the person was found who hit us then his insurance would then pay that. We are still no where in finding another car or getting any kind of funds for our car. Although everything was filed for our accident there was a mistake made at our insurance office and so our paper work never went to the adjuster. Therefore we are still waiting for the adjuster to go out and look at the car. We know that we are never going to replace our car with the funds we will get from the insurance company. We would appreciate your prayers that we can find a reliable car that we can afford without too much hassle. It seems like we are always doing a lot of shuffling to get everyone where they need to go with being down a vehicle. Physically Ruth and I are doing pretty good. We have both gone to chiropractor to get our necks and backs worked on. The bruises on my leg are healing but the leg is still very sore. The doctor did tell me that bruises on that bone take about three weeks to heal. Ruth is experiencing some anxiety due to flash backs from the accident so we are working through healing in that as well. Thanks so much for your prayers for us as we have gone through this ordeal. They have been greatly appreciated.

Happy New Year 2009!

Last night, like all of you, we were ushering in the New Year with our family traditions. We had a good friend, Carly, over to help us celebrate. We made our traditional New Years Eve hats out of newspaper. We played our traditional New Years Eve game, enjoyed snacks, and a toast to the New Year using sparkling peach juice. Then there was the traditional count down with the banging of pots and pans. Happy New Years 2009!