~Creamy Grape Salad!~

~Most of you probably get the Taste Of Home, but in case you don't, this recipe came out of the Aug./Sep. 2006 T.O.H. It is a yummy recipe, and our family really enjoyed it!

~Creamy Grape Salad~
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened.
1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream
1/3 cup sugar
2 teasp. vanilla
2 pounds seedless green grapes
2 pounds seedless red grapes
3 Tab. brown sugar
3 Tab. chopped pecans.
In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, sour cream, sugar, and vanilla until blended. Add grapes and toss to coat. Transfer to a serving bowl. Cover and refrigerate until serving. (Can make night before!) Sprinkle with brown sugar and pecans just before serving. Yield 21-24
Note: Our grapes are not seedless...Kimberly and I had to make them seedless! So, after awhile, we got tired of "de-seeding" grapes, and so I added 2 diced apples to the salad to make more fruit, and we liked it that way too!
On Monday we went shopping at a place that is always FULL of people, for it has lots of things for GREAT prices! We know that the area is dangerous, for people love to rob people in a crowd, so we were holding on to our bags, and OUR KIDS very tightly! Phillip was crossing the street on a cross walk, pulling a 2-wheeled cart full of blankets that we had purchased, and holding Noah's hand. There were a lot of people crossing with him, and PEOPLE everywhere. He was almost across the street when he felt a hand reach up behind him and grab his cellphone that was hooked to his belt. (The person was taking advantage of the fact that Phillip had both hands full. Also, it is common for people here to steal cell phones to sell for Quick cash...for drugs or whatever!) He grabbed the hand and SHOVED the person a few feet away from him....! He was concerned that WHOEVER WAS TRYING TO ROB HIM.... might have a weapon, so was getting the person as far away from him as possible. It turned out to be a street woman, and he threw her quite a few feet away, but she never fell down. She was very stunned that she had not gotten his phone and that he'd thrown her, and then she ran off in the crowd. People around Phillip asked him if he were OK, and if he still had his wallet. He had had a lot of cash in the pocket next to his phone but, Thank the Lord she didn't find that and he still had his phone and everything! The girls and I didn't see this happen, for we were walking in front of Phillip and I was wondering what was taking him so long to come around the corner! We Thank the Lord for His protection, and that the woman didn't try something with a knife or gun, since she came up behind Phillip! Thanks for your prayers...we need them daily!
Also, our computer is having LOTS of trouble and is VERY slow when we try to blog...so if I don't change my blog for awhile, you'll know why! You could pray that God will heal our computer! Also, our international phone line doesn't work. We're paying for it each month, and they won't let us cancel it, but they won't fix it either, and it does not work at all! If we don't pay the bill, we get bad credit! ONLY GOD CAN HEAL THIS PHONE LINE PROBLEM! Both of my dear Grandmothers are in the hospital (one in TN, and one in IN), so please pray for them and for my parents and the stress that this is causing them right now! THANKS!

~"Friendship with Jesus, Fellowship divine"...~

Isn't God awesome? I love it that the King of Kings, the creator and ruler of this whole universe, takes time to be with me and listen to my little prayers each day. It means so much to me to know that I can go directly to Him, and I never get "His Answering Machine", never have to talk to "His secretary".....No, I have my very own private appointment each morning with my Heavenly Father! =) ~My dear friend Sherri Wolfe from Hobe Sound sent me this recipe to make the starter and the bread "Friendship bread". I made 2 regular Friendship loaves, and 2 chocolate loaves. Yummy! I love to drink a cup of hot tea, coffee, (which is more milk and sugar than coffee =), or hot chocolate when I'm having my private time with Jesus.~

God has answered sooo many prayers for me here recently, so I wanted to share a few with you. Now these aren't really "BIG" things to pray about, but THEY WERE BIG TO ME...and my God cares about what I care about! =) 1. I got my Aug./Sep. Taste of Home in the mail...and I squealed with joy right by the mail box, and then looked up to see the street guard watching me. =D (I've had at least one of my issues get stolen or lost, and when they only come every 2 months, that's a LONG time to wait for the new magazine when you LOVE to cook and bake like I do.) 2. I had not received a Ladies Companion magazine since the Valentines issue, 2 issues must've gotten lost or stolen too,...SO I WAS THRILLED TO SEE THE JULY/AUG. ISSUE ARRIVE!!!! 3. Everything that I've been sewing, has been without a pattern, for I don't have any patterns here. About 2 months ago, My DEAR Moma mailed me a small box with a few basic patterns in it....BUT I hadn't heard or seen anything from that box. ALMOST EVERYDAY I would ask Jesus to PLEASE watch over those patterns and bring them to me....AND HE DID...they came in last Friday!!!
~I've made A LOT of bread in my life time since I started baking bread when I was 11, had my own bread business out of my home in 4 different states, and was the baker at G.B.S., however, as far I can remember, I've never made "Sourdough Bread" until this past Saturday. I guess I never lived around anyone who had a starter for it. I got to thinking that I could probably make my own starter, so I wrote and asked Sherri Wolfe if she had a recipe for the starter and directions for making sourdough bread, and she emailed it to me. Thanks Sherri! Here are my 3 loaves of Sourdough, Phillip Loves Sourdough bread!~
4. Also, some of our dear friends bought Noah a bike, but here all of the bikes pedal like a 10 speed, and so when he would try to pedal, it was much easier to go backwards than frontwards. No matter how much we tried to teach him, He couldn't seem to get the hang of pedaling his bike front-wards. I was a little "worried", and would breathe a prayer about it every now and then, just 'cause I wanted him to be able to ride his bike. (When I'd ask Phillip, "Do you think he'll EVER learn to ride his bike?" Phillip would tease me and say, "No, I think he'll still be trying to learn to ride a bike when he's 20." =) Well, HE LEARNED ALL BY HIMSELF LAST FRIDAY!!! YEA! 5. God also helped Phillip to find a good Bible Book store with a lot of classic holiness books in Spanish, for our church people to read and learn more about God and His Word. So, we're counting our blessings this week, even more than we usually do...FOR GOD IS AWESOME....all of the time! =)

~With Jesus help...this is what we did this week!~

~The kids and I walked (Kimberly skated) 2 miles (in the rain) to a neat store called Exito, which is more like Walmart. We rarely get to go to this store, so it's a treat when we do go. While we were in there, I saw something that nearly made me squeal out loud with Joy! I saw some REAL PUMPKINS! I didn't think we could get pumpkins here...so I bought 2 small sized ones and only had to pay about $3.00 for both! YEA!~
~Sarah sharing her umbrella with her little brother, on our walk to Exito.~
~My new friend from FL., Misty, sent me this link on how to make a fun, reversable purse....so I made one for Kimberly and I, and still want to make Sarah one.~
~A close-up of Kimberly's purse. The inside of hers is white with little blue dots, and her flower on the outside is blue and white.~ ~This is my purse. I made mine first and embroidered this design and my initials on what I thought was the FRONT...not realizing that the pattern was going to tell me to turn it and make that the SIDE. =[ Here's a pic of the SIDE of my purse.~
~The front of my purse!~

~I made these 2 jean skirts for Sarah and I this week. I have fun, thinking of what I want to do on each skirt. Sometimes when I start a skirt I don't know exactly what I'll put on it, but, being a pianist....I've learned to "play it by ear" as I go along. =) Also, I made Sarah's little white blouse too.~

~A close-up of my skirt. My jean skirt is made out of stretchy jean, and I turned the jean inisde out and put it on the bottom, then embroidered on top of that.~

Have a wonderful weekend in Jesus!

~Happy Birthday to my twin nephews!~

~Tyler is the boy on left, BACK ROW, and Taylor is the boy to the right of Tyler, back row! (Taken in Canada, June 2006. Grant, the twins brother, is to the right of them, and then my Noah is on the left, and his cousin Bryan is on the right.~Happy Birthday Taylor and Tyler! We were soooo excited when we learned that your Mommy and Daddy were going to have not one baby...but 2!! =D We love and miss y'all bunches!! I hope that you have a wonderful day! Hugs and kisses all the way from Colombia!

~Kimberly's Komments!~

My family and I were talking at the table, and Sarah said that she would like something more fun in church. I said, "I could teach Sunday school" and my parents agreed. So, I began to prepare stories, crafts, songs, etc. I'm so excited to be doing something more for Jesus. This Sunday was my first Sunday to teach, and Jesus helped me! There were 5 children in my class. Two of them were older than me, and one of them kept calling me "Teacher", and "Mam!" I told her that I'm still a kid, and not a lady, so to please just call me "Kimberly"! =) Please pray for my Sunday school class and for me, as I try to teach them. Thanks!
~My Mommy took this picture of me getting ready to teach Sunday school!~

~Us, getting the Sunday school room ready!~

~Us singing out of the Spanish chorus book that my parents put together. The church kids LOVE to sing songs out of this book!~

~Us doing our crafts!~

~My Daddy picked up this little girl while he was preaching. She was being a little fussy for her sister, so he picked her up and kept on preaching. She didn't mind him picking her up, and when he put her down a few minutes later, she was happier. It was cute! =)~

~Our friend, Jonathan came to church with us Sunday morning, and then stayed for Mommy's yummy Sunday dinner!~

~Mommy made Broccoli/Chicken soup, homemade rolls (with her homemade Strawberry Freezer jam =), fried platano, homemade grape juice to drink, and then this Strawberry shortcake for dessert! YUM!~

~On Monday Mommy made a "Ritz Cracker Pie". She got the recipe from her cousin/friend Jana Burley. Our family enjoyed the pie.~

PLEASE PRAY FOR MY GREAT GRANDMOTHER (GG) THAT LIVES IN TENNESEE. SHE HAS HAD 2 BLOD CLOTS FOR DAYS NOW, AND THEY CANNOT GET HER BLOOD THIN ENOUGH TO GET RID OF THEM. THANKS FOR PRAYING!

~Swapping Howdies!~

Dearest Blogging friends...thought I'd just chat with you for awhile! I appreciate y'all's friendship more than I can express. Since I have no people from the USA here, no one that speaks my language, understands my culture, cooks or bakes like I do, decorates like I do, etc. I REALLY enjoy (even more) having my blog friends from the USA. (The ladies here are good cooks, but don't bake breads, cookies, pies, etc., they get all of that from the Bakery!) For a lady to have other lady friends, is healthy....someone to chat with, ask advice from, swap recipes, books, ideas, share about your life with, compare pregnancy, nursing, toddler, and older children stories, etc., so I MISS those lady friendships in my life. I guess I miss going to a Holiness church there in the USA on Sunday morning, and seeing lots of other ladies that look like me, and just "Swapping Howdies" and telling them about my life that week, and them telling me about theirs. That's why this blog is a God-send to me. I love posting my post, and love to read the comments that y'all leave! I love reading y'all's blogs too! I love to stay active and do a lot of things, (baking, sewing, Scrapbooking, etc.) because, #1. It's my personality to be doing something, #2. It keeps me busier here, so that we aren't so sad, and don't miss our family, country, and culture so much. Sometimes we missionaries have SAD days...for no reason at all. It's part of culture shock, and also the devil fighting us because we are trying to help souls come to know Jesus, and get to Heaven, which makes the devil MAD. Many of you may not know me very well, so I want you to know that I'm NOT BRAGGING when I post something I've baked, or sewed, etc., it's just my way of sharing my life with y'all there...I sort of feel like I've "Swapped Howdies" with y'all! =) Thanks for all the nice comments, thoughts and prayers! I really appreciate your friendship.
~Kimberly snapped this picture of Phillip and I on Sunday. I'll give you a report of our Sunday soon, we had a good day. (I decided to make myself a new, simple, dressy skirt, [black with white stripes], on Saturday night. Jesus helped me, and an hour later it was done! =) We're having so much fun having a sewing machine.~

~Quick, & Easy, Light, & Yummy Self-rising rolls!~

EVER DECIDED THAT YOU WANTED HOMEMADE HOT ROLLS FOR DINNER, WHEN YOU ONLY HAVE 1/2 AN HOUR BEFORE YOU EAT?! Well, here's a recipe for you!! I love this recipe that I got from my dear Pastor's wife, Sis. Eisenhart. These rolls (or muffins) are so light and yummy, and you just mix them up, spoon them into muffin cups and bake them, and BAM! You have hot rolls for dinner. I have a roll recipe that I like better than this, but when I want rolls NOW...I make this one! =) Enjoy!
(Many of you may already have this recipe, but if you don't, I wanted to share it.)

~Self-rising Rolls~
In a small-med. bowl dissolve 1 heaping Tablespoon of yeast (or 1 package) in 2 cups of Warm water. (Not to hot, not to cold!)
In large bowl:
Melt 3/4 cup marg. or butter (a stick and a half) in Microwave.
Add: 1/4 cup sugar (I always use a 1/2 cup, but it might rise higher with less sugar.)
1 egg
4 cups self-rising flour (or just add 2 teasp. of salt, and 4 teasp. of Baking powder to 4 cups of regular flour)
Add the yeast/water mixture, Stir well, and spoon into well-greased muffin tins. Bake at 400 for 15 minutes or unitl lightly browned.
THESE DO NOT HAVE TO RISE, even when the dough is cold! Can refrigerate dough for 1 week, pull out, spoon into well-greased muffin cups, and bake! Delicious!
Since I just made 2 batches of Yummy Strawberry Freezer Jam today, I had to mix up some of these quick rolls, to try out my Jam! =) ~My 2 batches of strawberry jam, Noah my "helper", and I.~

~Noah playing cars. Phillip took this pic, for he had tiny little cars, with big, Fisher price people on top of the cars.~
~Kimberly giving her brother and sister a ride on her bike!~

Sarah's jean skirt that I made her and embroidered with my machine. I had fun adding the pocket from an old jean skirt of Kimberly's! Her skirt got turned, the flower is actually more to her left, and is not in the center of her skirt.~

Have a blessed Lord's Day...we plan to!

~No Thanks...I don't like Fish!~

HERE IN COLOMBIA, Kimberly is used to being served the COMPLETE fish: gills, eyes, head, fins, tail, etc.....so when she and Phillip were shopping and Phillip bought some Salmon saying, "We can grill this for a treat for our family"...Kimberly shuddered and said, "No thanks, I don't like Fish!" Phillip tried to tell her that she's used to the oily taste of the fish here, and that he was quite sure that she would like this fish...but that if she didn't, that was GREAT...for we'd have more to eat. =D So, Phillip grilled the fish, and when Kimberly just smelled that fish, she decided that she changed her mind. She did end up eating a big piece of Salmon, and wanted more! (Noah and Sarah liked it too! =) But...we still like to tease Kimberly that she DOES NOT LIKE FISH of ANY KIND!!! ~Noah and Phillip holding the plate of grilled salmon (that was DELICIOUS) and the hotdogs and sausages for the kids! Here the salmon isn't from Alaska, or Canada, it's from Chili.~
~I made a new salad for our grill-out! It's yummy.
~"Sort of Tropical coleslaw"~ (do you like the name I gave it?! =)
1/2 head of cabbage sliced thinly, or shredded
1 can of peaches, dice peaches small. (SAVE JUICE)
1 can of pineapple tidbits, (you can use the juice for SOMETHING ELSE!) I used a small FRESH pineapple, diced in small pieces.
1/2 cup raisins
Place above ingredients in large bowl.
Sauce:
In a small bowl, Mix the following 3 ingredients together.
1/2-1 can sweetened condensed milk.
1/2 cup (more or less) sour cream.
THE PEACH JUICE FROM CAN!
Now, pour this sauce into the salad in the bowl, and mix well, prepare the rest of the meal, set a PRETTY table, and call your in-laws for supper! =D

~Phillip built a huge fire and let our kids roast marshmallows, they had a blast! They kept roasting marshmallows and then being generous and giving them to this Mommy, until I was SICK of them. =)~

~Happy Birthday to my Niece, Darla!~

Happy Birthday Darla!! We love and miss you and your family! I'm trusting that you have a great day there in Romania, with your family, and with your cousin Sara and her family that are visiting y'all! =D

~Music lessons and My new music stand~

Some pictures of the girl's violin lessons. We are soooo happy with this teacher, she is a gift from God. She was telling us that she learned to play the violin when she was 20! I always thought that you couldn't learn past 10 or 12 or so, but she has a passion for her violin, for pretty music, and plays beautifully!! Both she and her husband play the violin and piano! They both play in a Mariachi band.

She is a GREAT, patient teacher, and makes the girl's lessons FUN!! Praise the Lord!

I love it that the violin and piano are both written in the same key, for that will enhance their sight-reading for the piano. It's our desire, that our girls be able to play the piano well, to be able to help any church that might need them someday...like their Mommy is now playing the piano for our churches here in Colombia! ~Phillip snapped this picture of Mommy giving Sarah a piano lesson. Look at her little feet crossed under the chair! =)~

My piano didn't come with a place to put your music, and with the girl's violin and piano lessons, we needed something. So, we contacted our friend Carlos (who deals in selling musical instruments, accercories, etc.) and told him that we really needed a music stand, and asked him where could we get one. We told him that we'd like one that is QUALITY, that is not flimsy! Carlos assured us that he would find us a good one that we would like! When he pulled up, and pulled the box out of the trunk, Phillip noticed that he acted like the box weighed A LOT! So, Phillip grabbed the box from him, and IT DID WEIGH A LOT!! When we came into the house, and Carlos took it out of the box, it was H-U-G-E!!! It is the BIGGEST Music stand that we, or our violin teacher have ever laid our eyes on! Bro. Wolf (the GREAT director of the GREAT GBS choir and band) doesn't even have a stand this wide. It's almost doubly wide of the ones that I'm used to seeing. I'm sure Bro. Wolf could put one this wide to really good use! =D We're happy with our new stand, for it will nearly hold all the books that we own for the piano and violin, at the same time. =) When Sarah stands behind this, playing her violin, all you see is the bow going up in the air. HEE! HEE!

~Our Saturday and our Baptismal service!~

Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: Matt. 28:19,20a.
~Our family got up at 5:30 AM to get the bus that we had rented, and go and pick up our church people. Then we headed to a neat place 1 1/2 hours away for the Baptism service.

~Diana, Kimberly and Karen riding together. (These girls are Kimberly's best friends here.)~

~We had 49 people from our churches that went. Most of these people had not even been to other parts of Bogota, let alone to get to take a neat trip 1 1/2 hours away.~

~Sarah and Erika riding together.~

~2 of our faithful ladies and one of their 2 girls. They decided to get baptized.~

~The oldest lady that we have attending our church, and another faithful lady.~
~More faithful ladies from our church~

~These are the parents of our dear friend, Gloria. Her Father is a pastor. He is holding her little Donna that has to wear that hip cast. She should get it off in about 20 days. PLEASE PRAY THAT WHEN SHE GETS THAT CAST OFF, THAT HER HIPS WILL BE FINE! THANKS!~

~Adorable Little Donna wearing her Grandpa's hat!~

~Gloria, Noah and I~

~Enjoying the trip~

~We had a nice little service before the Baptism. Phillip and Gloria's Father spoke and we sang a lot of songs.~

~Enjoying the sun and having service!~


~Phillip and I talking before service started.~

~Gloria helped us get to rent the farm, for it's owned by her uncle. And she made the phone calls to locate the bus for us to rent. So, we gave her a nice study Bible for all of her help.~

~The 5 ladies that got baptized.~

~2 Ladies watching from up high!~

~Waiting~

~A beautiful flower called, "Bird of Paradise"!~

~The place where we had the baptism was beautiful!~

~The first lady to get baptized. Phillip had each lady testify before they got baptized, and the Lord's presence was very near. I was crying while taking these pics.~

~Getting baptized, and the other 4 waiting!~

~The 2nd Lady to get baptized.~

~The 3rd Lady to get baptized.~

~Our precious Kimberly getting baptized! =) ~

~Kimberly's friend, Karen, getting baptized!~

~Our delicious lunch that we paid the people at the place to make us. This was a CHILD'S PLATE...we adults got enough food to feed 7 people! This food was a yummy salad, chicken and rice (that I learned to make a few weeks ago) and a salted potato, with fresh lemonade to drink.~

~Enjoying their lunch!~

~Afterwards the kids swam a little. This is Sarah and Noah in their doggy floaties. BRR! The water was chilly!~

~Sarah enjoying the water...while her teeth CHATTERED! After they swam, we fed them a snack of coke to drink and some cookies before we got on the bus to go home.~

~All tuckered out after a long, fun day!~

~An exhausted Kimberly and Karen!~

We took the bus up the mountain to take our people home, and arrived there at 7:15 PM. Then our family rode that bus back down the mountain, and we got home around 8:15 or so. While I read the email really quickly, Phillip ran and got us each a slice of pizza for our snack, and he bought tamales for our Sunday dinner, for I was too tired to cook. We were sooo exhausted and ready to hit the hay, WHEN....one of our children had a glass of water too close to the computer and accidently tripped and a bunch of water fell on it. OOPS! So, Phillip vacuumed all the water out! Praise God it is OK!! After that, we fell into bed!!! We Thank God for a safe, nice day that He gave us. ~Phillip vacuuming out the water from the computer!~

We had a good, busy day on Sunday as well. God gave us 2 good services in our churches.