~Let's see more of Buenos Aires, Argentina ~

THANK YOU for your prayers for my heart!    I'm still sad that I cannot go home to be with my family for Grandma's memorial service (March 9th...2 days after we get back to Colombia), but Jesus is helping me!
I can feel your prayers!  We are packing today!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~A couple weeks ago our dear friends Leo and Caro and their 2 kids were staying in a friend's condo in "Puerto Madero" and invited us to come spend the day with them there.  I thought I'd share the pics with you, to show you more of the Beautiful city of Buenos Aires.
We rode a subway to get Puerto Madero.  Here we are buying tickets to ride the subway.~

~This was our first time to ride a subway.  Here we are fixin' to get on.~

~Inside.  It was a little claustrophobic for me when I looked at the windows and just saw WALLS all around me...but I survived. =)~

~Then we met Leo and his family.  They showed us this Cathedral where "San Martin" is buried.  He is the one that liberated Argentina.~

~This building behind us is a replica of a famous church from somewhere else in Argentina.~

~Here is the "Casa Rosada" (Pink House) which is where the President (Presidenta Cristina) works...NOT lives!~

~Jonathan, Elijah, Noah, Sarah, and Valentina in front of the Pink house!~

~Then we saw the "changing of the guards" when a new set of guards heads over to the Cathedral where "San Martin" is buried.~

~As we were walking toward the sea port...and got behind the Pink House...we saw a helicopter on a pad...and it started taking off.  Leo and Caro said it was probably the President leaving the Pink House to go back home for she travels back and forth by helicopter. =)
Then they took us over to "Puerto Madero" ("Wooden Sea port"...which is the name of the whole area of this part of the sea port) and we saw this famous bridge "Puente de la Mujer" (Woman's Bridge.)

 We went inside the boat behind this bridge.~

~Caro and I with the Woman's Bridge behind us.~

~Little Mary~

~Then Leo and Caro took us to eat yummy ice cream!  As you can see by Mary's "chocolate ice cream mustache" she loved it. =)~

~Sarah and Valentina~

~Elijah with the Woman's bridge behind him.  (A few weeks ago he fell and knocked his tooth...killing the root in his top front tooth...making his CUTE little white tooth turn grayish. I'm SOOO SAD!!! He went to the dentist in our church today and they took an x-ray and they said so far it looks like he didn't damage the root of his adult tooth.  But we'll have to have another x-ray later to keep checking that his adult tooth is moving down right.)~

~Eating our yummy ice cream~

~Our kids with a cannon~

~We toured a famous Naval ship (The Frigate Presidente Sarmiento, which is now a museum) that was in service nearly a hundred years.  It has both engine and sail power.  It took Argentine sailors all over the world, to meet a lot of famous people, including the US president, Queen of England, etc.  It also sailed into the New York Harbor for the USA 1976 Bicentennial!  It dates back to the 1800s.  This was very interesting to Phillip especially since Dad D. was in the Navy.
This is the the mast of the ship.~

~Kimberly took this picture out a port hole of the ship.~

~Elijah, Noah, and Sarah with the "timon" of the ship. (I can't think of the English word...do you know?=)~

~Our kids on the stairs in the boat.~

~The Woman's Bridge from the boat.  The expression we've all heard, "It takes two to TANGO"...is referring to Argentina's famous dance called the TANGO.  This bridge is supposed to represent the lady being leaned back as a couple dances Tango.
(Leo teasingly said while looking at the bridge, "If a person drinks enough... they can imagine anything." =)
We just think it's a pretty bridge.~

Post #2 of  seeing more of Buenos Aires coming up!

~Our Chinese Youth Gathering~

THANK YOU for your sweet comments and PRAYERS about my Grandma going to Heaven. I didn't want to be selfish in that post...for I'm HAPPY that Grandma is in Heaven...but I cannot tell you HOW MY HEART ACHES TO BE HOME (in the USA) with my parents and family!! ( 2 weeks ago a man from our church had planned with us to come by and take us out for ice cream THIS MORNING!!!  I NEVER DREAMED that right before he would arrive I would receive the news of my Grandma's passing. (She passed away last night, but since we are 2 hours difference we had already gone to bed and shut off our computer by the time they called to tell us the news!)  So, we went this morning with our friend...and I sat in the back of his car and wore my sunglasses to try to hide my tears.  I REALLY appreciate your prayers that Jesus will heal my heart during this time.  I JUST WANT TO GO HOME!
[Phillip looked on line for a ticket but it won't work out.  THANKFULLY my parents are coming (Lord willing) to see us in Colombia near the end of March...which is REALLY helping my heart.]
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
THANK YOU also for your prayers for our time with the Chinese young people at our house yesterday... Sunday afternoon.  I used the colors purple, green, and white on our table, and used this fun little tricycle as my centerpiece.  (I was so HAPPY to get it at a 70% off sale!)

~I took these pictures of my table before we left for church in the morning.  To go along with my color theme we used purple plates, white napkins, purple and green grapes, and green melon. =)~

~Kimberly and I made 2 batches of Oatmeal raisin cookies (Because half of the raw dough got knocked off and FELL ON THE FLOOR, so we threw it away and had to start over again...WEEP!) and one batch of choc. chip. cookies.~

~Since we had all just eaten lunch...I just served a snack of melon, grapes (Which are in season and CHEAP right now), 2 kinds of cookies, chips (which went in the empty white basket), Pepsi, 7-up, and water and....~

~and I made Choc. peanut butter swirl candy.~

~When I got to church and went into the fellowship hall, I saw U. Charlie cooking.  (The church serves lunch after church each Sunday.)  I said to him, "U. Charlie's cooking...we ought to take a picture."  He said, "Go ahead!"  So, I went and got my camera.  Then while I was getting ready to take it, a lady came in and stood in between him and I, and was talking to him.  He said to her, "Could you step aside, she's trying to get a picture of me." =)  He CRACKED ME UP (And reminded me of a Grown-up ELIJAH. =)

~After church I snapped this pic of the kids playing upstairs on the playground.~

~Sarah and her dear friend Valentina.~

~Then 13 people from church walked home with us.   It was young people more in their twenties.  (There would have been more, but some had choir practice at the same time.)~

~Kimberly and I played and we sang a couple songs together and Phillip gave them a challenge to live for God and serve Him with their whole heart and give their lives to do God's will!  He told them that we have to go back to Colombia for now, but plan to come back and want to see them serving God.  Please pray for these young people as they cross your mind.~

~Then we had a nice time visiting and snacking.  They really seemed to enjoy our food and we sent some home with all of them.~

~This is a dentist that attends our church.  He picked little Mary up and naturally he wanted to look at her little teeth. =)~

~The ladies asked us how we did our hair.  So, here Kimberly is doing Caro's hair in a curly bun.~

~Everyone stopped what they were doing...even the guys...and really enjoyed watching (and videoing) the activity. =)~

~Us ladies~

~The men (NOTICE that one to the RIGHT...He's my SWEETHEART!  Without him I'd really be DYING right now.  He's taken good care of me!=)~

Your prayers mean a lot!! Thank you for praying as we try to get things all packed up this week. AND FOR MY HURTING HEART.~
 

~My Grandma...is in Heaven~

My sweet Grandma Bryan (104 1/2) went on the last Journey she will ever take ...last night at 10:30 Indiana time.  She's been packing her bags for this HEAVENLY JOURNEY for many years!  Laying up treasures where moth and rust can't hurt them.
She now can HEAR with no problem.  She can skip and jump too!  She is seeing her husband whom she hasn't seen since his tragic death 36 years ago.  And 3 of her children who went on before her.   BUT MOST OF ALL....SHE IS WORSHIPING OUR SAVIOR AND LORD AND SOON COMING KING!  

IT WILL BE WORTH IT ALL...WHEN WE SEE JESUS!  (This is the song that Daddy, Moma, and Laura were singing around Grandma's bed as she made her Heavenly flight!)
WE MISS YOU GRANDMA!!!! BUT...BY GOD'S GRACE WE PLAN TO SEE YOU AGAIN!

~Prayer Requests~

I would appreciate y'all's prayers. Pastor Jimmy has told us that rain water seeped in under our living room door in our Colombian house and was lying ON OUR CARPET under the plastic floor covering (we put down) for awhile before it was found. We have sent him money and he got our carpet cleaned.  Please HELP ME PRAY that the cleaners get it cleaned GOOD and that we don't have problems with MOLD again...so that our Elijah doesn't go right into an Asthma attack when we arrive in Colombia. We now realize that one reason he has such TROUBLE with Asthma in Colombia...is due to the HIGH ALTITUDE! He's only had one attack here...for we are on sea level and it's EASIER for him to breathe. (When I was pregnant with Elijah and Mary in Bogota, Colombia I had a HARD time breathing sometimes too, due to our being nearly 9,000 feet above sea level.)
~Our Dear MARY ...LOVES to WRITE!!!  She loves crayons, pencils, colored pencils...BUT....especially PENS!!!  And of course she doesn't always have Paper around....so she just writes on whatever is at HER level!  Like this dinning room CHAIR for instance!  And....IT. WON'T. COME. OUT.!!!  We've tried every soap, alcohol, etc., that we could think of!  Phillip went and got a price to get it recovered and we'll leave the money with our landlady, if she wants to recover it!  You can PRAY that Mary doesn't find anything else to DESTROY while we are busy packing! Thanks!~

Our landlady here is very much on Argentina time!  In other words...laid back...arrives when she wants to, normally 30-45 mins. LATE!  We are to fly to Colombia on March 7th, but have to leave our apartment at 3:00 AM!!!!!  Our DEAR Chinese friends are taking us to the airport and THEY ARE ALWAYS EARLY!!!  Our landlady has decided that she will come TO GIVE US OUR DEPOSIT BACK AT 2:30 AM BEFORE WE ARE TO LEAVE AT 3:00!!!  (Which means she will probably show up at 3:00 or 3:30!!!!)  PLEASE help me pray that she will be ON TIME...or decide to come THE NIGHT BEFORE INSTEAD!
I cannot tell you how STRESSFUL it is to make sure that all 7 of us are ready on time to leave for the airport...and all of our suitcases too...let alone WORRYING  PRAYING that the landlady comes ON TIME to give us our deposit!  When I mentioned all of this to Phillip he said, "I know.  There's nothing I can do about it, so I'm not worrying about it."  I said, "I'M NOT EITHER...CAN YOU TELL?!"  HA!!!!
Now...I'm off to get ready for our large group of Chinese young people (and some adults) who are coming to our house tomorrow afternoon.  They will be coming home with us after church, so when I leave for church in the morning...everything has to be READY!
YOUR PRAYERS MEAN TONS TO US!! THANK YOU!!

~Fun Food Friday...Argentine cookie~

There are cookies here in Argentina called, "Alfajores" that are VERY POPULAR!  I decided I wanted to make some.  So, I went on-line and found this recipe. It's a short-bread type cookie. You make a "sandwich" by spreading "Dulce de leche" (a spreadable caramel) between 2 cookies and then you roll the edges of the caramel in finely grated coconut!
Super simple and yummy!
~Mary was GLAD I made them! =)~

~This was one of the first cookies we made.  We cut it the size the website told us and they were too BIG for such a rich cookie.  I took a picture of this one to show you that after Mary had already had ONE cookie...she found this one on a tray on the table and was "snitching" bites off of it. =)~  

~PURE ARGENTINA!!!  Alfajores...and a "YERBA MATE!" =) (This is the FUN Mate cup and straw that I got at the "Fruit Market" when we went to Tigre.~

So...We made smaller cookies (using a lid from a water bottle as a "cookie cutter" =) for these are the size we are used to seeing in the bakeries here.)

Click here for the recipe!  Alfajores...Argentine cookies     

On the grocery shelves here is something called "Dulce De Leche".  (A spreadable caramel!) There is nearly half of a grocery aisle FILLED with containers of Dulce de leche.  Below is a recipe for it.

Click here for Dulce de leche recipe

I have heard that a more simple way of making "Dulce de leche" is to take an UNOPENED can of Sweetened Condensed Milk (NOT Evaporated Milk) remove the label and put it in a large sauce pan and boil it for at least 2 hours. Keep adding water so the can remains covered. When done, put cold water in the pan to let it cool off. Store leftovers in the refrigerator in a proper container.  So Delicious!!!
When I looked it up on line, it said that boiling the can can be dangerous.  So, if you prefer...here's another way to make it.  (I found this on line, I haven't tried it.)
You can also make it in a pie pan in the oven.
Oven method: Pour 1 can sweetened condensed milk into 9-inch pie plate. Cover with aluminum foil; place in a larger shallow pan. Fill larger pan with hot water. Bake at 425 for 1 hour or until thick and caramel-colored. Beat until smooth.
(For an "American version" If you can't find the "dulce de leche" (caramel) and don't feel like making it, you could put jelly (or choc. frosting) between the cookies and then roll in coconut or nuts.)
~We were very HAPPY with how our little cookies turned out...and when I served them to our landlady...she said that there are better than what's in the bakeries here! You can be assured that that made me SMILE! =)

~And since y'all may still be having winter weather...I wanted to cheer your heart that Spring and Summer are coming...by showing you my fun shoes that my sweetheart got me as part of my Valentine's gift.  When I saw these shoes I fell in LOVE with them!  =)  This is called "HAPPINESS for your feet!" =)~

Thank you for your prayers for our youth meeting with the Chinese youth AT OUR HOUSE THIS SUNDAY AFTERNOON, and for us as we try to get things packed up to store here, and packed to go back to Colombia in just 11 days!