~A visit, veggies, and "eye candy"~

~My friend Marisol came to our home for a visit.  Marisol lives a lonely life, for her husband works all of the time and is not a Christian.  So, she really enjoys when we get to get together. This was the first time that she had seen our new home.  We had a lovely visit together.  I fed her a meal and this Choc./Rasp. trifle was our dessert.~

~Us eating. (Elijah was sleeping.)~

~Then she wanted Kimberly to show her how to do a curly bun.~

~Kimberly and Marisol~

~The end result.~

~Marisol and I~

~Marisol LOVES flowers and is the one who showed me the market where to get flowers for CHEAP.  She bought me these little yellow ball flowers.  Aren't they so cute? I was happy with how fun they made my flower arrangement. We are so blessed to be able to get yummy fresh fruits and veggies for cheap here in Colombia.  Like these 2 large avocados in this picture. We got 3 for $2.50.  We wonder what veggies and fruits we will find when we get to Argentina?!  We have heard that we won't find half the selection. =(~

~2 Clean babies~

~Recently I have fallen in love with orchids because not only are they beautiful...but they last for WEEKS!  I was THRILLED to find this branch of lovely orchids for our bedroom for $2.50 . =)~

~Flowers are like "eye candy"!  =) They make my heart smile!~

 Thank you for praying...we are trusting Jesus to protect His church building here in Bogota!

~Baby dedication...and needing prayer~

~Sunday morning Edgar and Joanna (on your right) dedicated their baby Heather Sofia to Jesus.  Edgar and Joanna invited Raul and Judy (Farly's sister and husband) to be witnesses.~

~Phillip reading some Scripture and....~

~admonishing the parents to raise Heather Sofia to serve Jesus. (Phillip had NO CLUE that there was going to be a dedication that morning, or that he was going to be on the platform, so he felt badly that he wasn't dressed for the occasion.)~

~Me playing some children's songs quietly during the dedication. (I got teary eyed and thanked Jesus for answering all of our prayers and sending Heather Sofia to Edgar and Joanna. =) ~

~Bro. Jimmy and Sis. Farly Praying for Heather Sofia.~

~PLEASE PRAY!!!  In the last few days someone has been trying to break into our church.  As is typical here...we have metal bars on the outside of our church with several pad locks.  They have cut off and stolen 4 of those padlocks and tried to damage the large chain that we use too.  =(  
In this picture...the guys are working to cut the damaged link off of the chain to have 2 chains to try to keep them out.  (The guys were taking turns holding and cutting, thus Phillip and Jimmy were just watching at the moment. =)

Evidently someone has come by and heard that we have a sound system and a piano, etc. and are wanting to steal those things.  PLEASE COVER OUR CHURCH WITH YOUR PRAYERS...there is no money to replace any of those things if they were to get stolen.  We are asking God's angels to encamp around our church and protect it from getting broken into.  Thank you!!~

~Fun Food Friday...Peanut Butter Fudge~

Thank you for all your visits and sweet comments on my blog.  It's always SO FUN to hear from each one of you who takes the time to comment.  I feel like you've "dropped in for a visit." =)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~The other night I got hungry for some fudge, so made up this recipe of Peanut Butter fudge which I had made a few Christmas' ago. I hadn't made it since then, so couldn't remember how it was.
Trust me...we were NOT disappointed! Super easy and yummy!  And...it calls for 5 simple ingredients that you probably have on hands. =)

~Grandma's Peanut Butter Fudge~
1 1/3 cups milk
5 cups of brown sugar
1/4 c. margarine or butter (1/2 stick)
1 1/2 cups peanut butter
1 t. vanilla
In med. sauce pan over med. heat combine milk and sugar.  Heat to between 234 and 240 degrees F on your candy thermometer or until a small amount of syrup dropped into cold water forms a soft ball that flattens when removed from the water and placed on a flat surface. Stir constantly!
[Since I don't have a candy thermometer, I did the last method.  It took SEVERAL mins. (I'd say 10-13?) ]
Remove from heat and stir in the marg., P. Butter, and vanilla.  Quickly spread into a greased 9x13 dish.  Allow to cool almost completely before cutting into squares.
[My P.B. fudge will probably be darker than yours since I used pure sugar cane sugar.]
And as always....ENJOY!
~This past Tuesday morning we had a visitor join us for breakfast. Sis. Miriam from our church here in Bogota, came over to chat with us and to ask us to help her pray for her unsaved family. She's carries a heavy burden for them.
For our breakfast I made "Gallo Pinto", (Which is "Painted Rooster" in English. =) my homemade cinnamon rolls, and hot tea. ~

[Here's the explanation of what "Painted Rooster" is. When we lived in Costa Rica for a year...studying Spanish, we learned that years ago when they didn't have refrigerators, they would always have left-over beans and rice from their supper.  There was never enough to make another main meal, so someone invented this recipe of sauteed veggies, rice and beans to serve the next morning for breakfast to use up the left-over beans and rice from supper the night before. They called it "Painted Rooster" due to the color of the red or black beans, and veggies mixed in with the rice.=)]
~Sis. Miriam and I.  She's a sweet lady and we had an enjoyable time with her.~

~Taking time to "Blow Dandelion puffs"~

~The morning after Nataly's Quinceañera I was on a "hang-over" (HA!!!) so we slept in a bit. When I got up I got Kimberly and Sarah to help me and we went downstairs to make breakfast and straighten up the house a bit after the rush of getting all the BANANA BREAD muffins tied, and the salad made, and running out the door for the Quinceañera the day before.
We sat down and we were eating a very simple breakfast...when some one knocked on our front door.  We went to the door...and there was Bro. Jimmy, Sis. Farly, Nataly, and Gaby and Nataly had purchased hot tamales, a yummy hot cheese bread, and juice for our breakfast as a way of Thanking us for all we did to help with her Quinceañera.  HOW VERY SWEET!  (Muchas gracias, Nataly, que amable de Ti de comprar el desayuno para nosotros!=)  They served us breakfast and we really enjoyed it!  Then a little later they took us to show us where we could find cheap blouses/clothes to buy.  For as a I mentioned earlier, there are no Goodwills here...much to my DISMAY! =)  I tried to buy a lot of clothes for our kids at thrift stores while in the USA...but as you know kids keep growing. =)
~Here we are on the bus going shopping. =)~

~It was a fun bus ride.  We hardly ever use buses as a family, for it's just as cheap to pile into a taxi.  So, when we ride buses, our kids love it.  It brings back a lot of memories to our 3 older kids, for we used a lot of buses our first year here.~

~The Lord helped us to find some good deals on clothes, and we had a nice time together.~

~Someone gave these jammies to Mary as a gift.  I think they are so cute.~

~I love the pink bear's face on her "rumple-stilt-skin". =)~

~At the end of our shopping day...this is what Elijah and Mary did.  They would have never lain still in their stroller together like that...without being asleep.  =)~

~Recently we were walking together as a family, and Elijah was walking slowly and picking dandelions.  At first I was wanting to hurry him along, for we had plenty to do at home, but I was reminded that occasionally in life we do need to take the time to "smell the roses" (or blow the dandelion puffs). =D~

~Teriffic Tuesday Treat...a cool fruit drink~

My Mom was quick to point out that these fruits are more expensive in the USA.  (I got 4 pineapples for around $2.00.)  Sorry, I haven't lived in the US for over 6 years, and when I did, I lived in AZ where you can probably get these fruits easier and cheaper. I think one could probably adapt this recipe and use fruits like pears, peaches, canned mandarin oranges, etc....but it may not last as long in the refrigerator. =)
~I told you that I would post a recipe for "Fun Food Friday" and here it is...on Tuesday. =) Sis. Farly taught me how to make this.  Here in Colombia this yummy refreshing cool treat called "Salpicón" is very popular.  I know summer is about over there...but there'll still be some warm days into Sep., so I wanted to share this recipe with you.  Here they have special packs of a flavored powder to add to their fruit to make the "salpicón"...but I think that if I were making this in the USA I would try Tropical Punch Kool Aid.  This recipe uses a lot of yummy fresh fruit so is very healthy too!~

~Salpicón~
1 big very ripe Papaya (or 2 Hawaiian Papayas) (The Papaya should not be hard...almost squishy!)
1 large Pineapple (or 2 smaller ones) (A pineapple is normally ready to use if when you tug at one of it's green leaves...it comes loose.)
8-10 bananas
3 ripe mangos (almost squishy...or very soft.)
4 cups of fresh orange juice (or make from frozen concentrate)
2 packs of Tropical Punch Kool Aid or something similar (maybe Tang?)  DUMP IN DRY!!
8 cups of water
~Dice all the fruit small and let set in the orange juice for about 10 mins. or so.
~Then add the 2 packs of Kool Aid DRY and the 8 cups of water.
~If you plan on serving it right away, add 1 tray of ice cubes and mix well.
~If you plan on serving it later, place it in the refrigerator.  It's best COLD!
~Lasts for 3 days in the refrigerator!
For those of you who have the "frozen fruit" recipe, this is similar in taste, but is more runny.
It's a very fun, cool refreshing treat.  It makes about 1 and 1/2 gallons of juice/fruit.
Delicious!
And as always...ENJOY!!
~Phillip snapped these pictures of Elijah enjoying "Salpicón" this morning.  (Yes, he got himself dressed! =)~

~Notice his "salpicón" mustache. =)~

~Last night the kids and I made choc. covered strawberries...and the brand new bag of sprinkles accidentally fell and went everywhere.  I believe that we will be finding sprinkles that hid from the broom for the next few weeks. =)~

~Yummy~

~Nataly's Quinceañera part 2~

In case you are new and wondering what these last few posts are about...here in this culture when a young lady turns 15 they have a big celebration which is called a "Quinceañera".  The number 15 in Spanish is "Quince"...so thus it's name "Quinceañera".  Our pastor's daughter just had a special 15th birthday party.  Here is part 2 of the pictures from her Quinceañera.
~There was a good crowd who attended Nataly's party.  Like I mentioned earlier, I thought that Bro. Jimmy, Sis. Farly, Bro. Edgar, and Elkin did a great job decorating the hall.~

~Kimberly playing a violin solo. (Bro. Jimmy is holding a mic for her.)~

~Sarah and Kimberly playing a piano duet.~

~Nataly, Kimberly, and I playing a fun piano trio.~

~Bro. Jimmy's uncle praying for Nataly.~

~Phillip preaching with Nataly's parents Sis. Farly and Bro. Jimmy in the background. The Lord helped Phillip as he preached.~

~We passed out papers with 7 questions on them.  Questions like "What is Nataly's favorite color? Food? Hymn? etc.  Pastor Jimmy asked the people at each table what their answers were...and the people became very lively and really enjoyed this time...shouting out their answers.  At the end, we collected the papers and re-passed them out and everyone graded another person's paper while Nataly gave the correct answers.    We gave out 3 prizes for the people who got the most answers correct.~

~Me giving out the prizes.   Since the majority of people attending were Nataly's family...they were happy to get a framed picture of her..or of she and her family, and a loaf of my banana bread.~

~Sis. Farly's family. L to R: Her sister Judy, Her Mom Fanny, her brother Elkin, her daughter Nataly, her other brother ?, and Sis. Farly.~

~Our Little Mary.~

~Our family with Nataly and my friend Marisol.~

~Nataly with our girls violin / piano teacher Adriana, her husband William, and her son Joshua.  (Adriana teaches Nataly and Gaby piano also!)  William and Adriana play their violins for Mariachi bands that people pay to come to play at their parties, so they are at a party nearly every night.  Our party was a lot different than what the world would do, and we were praying that God would help people enjoy it, but see a difference.  William, who attends a party nearly every night, and whom we thought could be very BORED at our party...told Phillip, and Bro. Jimmy that we needed to go and talk to the president of Colombia and tell him that he needs to make a new law that everyone should have parties like OURS.  That our party was beautiful and that he really enjoyed it!  WOW!...that was a huge compliment!!  How we PRAISE THE LORD for his Help!!~

~Jimmy's aunt with the food she made and served.  She served crepes, shredded chicken in a creamy sauce, a fish patty with a shrimp sauce over it, rice, and my salad.  You can see my broc. /caul. salad on your right in that long pan.  The food was yummy!~

~Nataly's cousin Karen, Nataly, and Kimberly~

~After the party Bro. Jimmy's Dad put these 2 "bow ties" (decorations from the walls) on our boys. =)

~Phillip, Bro. Jimmy, and Edgar washing dishes and cleaning up afterwards.~

~Sis. Farly, Bro. Jaime from church, and her brother-in-law cleaning up afterwards.~

~Nataly got a card shower with lots of green stuff called "cash"...how fun. =)~

~Bro. Jimmy's uncle gave me one of the flower arrangements to enjoy in my house.~

~After Nataly's party...We ALL felt like this were VERY HAPPY with how God helped everything to turn out beautifully! =)~