Easy Chicken Kabobs and Homemade Salsa

One of the great blessings from our recent furlough was that we got a new sponsoring church.  It is the Monrovia Church of Christ in Madison, Alabama.  We feel very blessed that they are so excited to be sponsoring our family and getting involved with our church in Porto Alegre.  This church is also the home church of my parents and I know many of the members from my growing up years, so it is a double blessing for us to have our sponsoring church know and love our family so well.

While staying at my mom's house, I noticed that she had a cookbook from the Monrovia church.  I told her I would love to have a copy (I love church cookbooks).  After finding out that there were no more copies available, my mom ended up giving me her copy (that's the kind of mom she is...).  She says that they are going to reprint the cookbook so she can get one then.

I have already tried two recipes from the cookbook.

One was called Easy Kabobs and it was submitted by Donna Schrader who I have known and loved almost all my life.  This recipe is super, super easy and we all loved it.   I didn't take a picture of it, but here it is for you to try:

(Next time, I might try substituting olive oil for the butter to make it a little healthier.)

(photo from iwanttocook.com)

The second thing I made was Homemade Salsa.  I have made my own salsa for years, and mine basically has these same ingredients.  But this recipe had a few different touches and was really, really good.  It was submitted by Amy Hendrixson, a friend of mine from high school.  Here it is:

(note:  I don't peel the tomatoes.)

I love looking at all these recipes and thinking of these people that I know.  I really look forward to using this cookbook more!

Computer Time

We spend a lot of time (probably too much) on the computer.  Blogs, e-mails, newsletters, keeping in touch with kids and family far away - it turns into a lot of time.

We have a Macbook that Kevin and I use.  The kids have a desktop that they use.  And, thankfully, Giovanni has his own laptop.

I know, I know, he is probably too young to have a computer of his own.  Actually, this is really Anderson's laptop, but has recently been adopted by Giovanni since he has been helping his dad send out newsletters this week.

 
We are thankful every day for this little guy!

Step Back in Time

While we were at my parents' house on our furlough, Carys and Kennedy (her cousin) asked to explore Granna's attic.  Granna, being the cool Granna that she is, let them.  (By the way, my sister and I used to do this at my Nanny's house when we were little.  Except then, it was called "prowling", not "exploring".)

The treasure they found was what seemed like EVERY fancy or semi fancy dress that my sister and I had in high school, bridesmaids' dresses, our wedding dresses, and even a formal from my mom's high school years.

Hope you enjoy the fashion show.....

 Observations....

• I love that these two, who get to see each other about every 2 years, can still have so much fun together.
• There is something just so cute and funny about a little boy in a pink dress with a lace collar.  In case you didn't know, the black cape and red boots is him being "puss in boots without the sword".
• My mom was a sewing freak.  Many of these dresses she made.
• My sister and I had really small waists.
• Making silly faces just runs in our family.  What can I say??
• They are both beautiful girls and they're only 12 and 13!!
• Thanks, Granna, for saving the dresses and not prohibiting "prowling"!

Siblings

Right now I have two kids who have lost their computer privelidges for the day because of fighting and being mean to each other.  I don't think there is much that distresses me more than when my kids can't get along.  Kevin says I am crazy, that brothers and sisters always fight with each other.  I may be remembering wrong, but I don't remember having trouble getting along with my brother or sister. (My mom and dad can correct me on this if I'm wrong.)  Kevin says that is weird.  (Evidently he remembers fighting a lot with his sister.)

Anyway,  Ansley and Garrett used to drive me crazy with this. 

"Ansley is always being mean to me..."

"Mom, you don't see what he does when you leave the room..."

and more....

It would drive me crazy.

So, I was really happy to see Ansley's sweet blog post of encouragement today for her brother.  He has a big soccer opportunity coming up.  Garrett saw her post, and in his typical, quiet fashion said, "Cool."  So, evidently, despite all the bickering and meanness, they do love each other. 

It makes me feel good.

Talented Family Members

My mom, my sister, Cheryl and her husband, Mike at Thanksgiving this year.

I mentioned the other day about my sister's birthday and how much I love her.

She is also a great writer.  I have some talents, but writing is not one of them. It doesn't come easy or naturally for me.  But, my sister Cheryl has always written poems about special people or things in her life.

She actually married another good writer, Mike.  Mike has written a book called Growing Up in the Church of Christ.  I loved reading his book.  If you have grown up in the Church of Christ, you will identify with what he writes.  What I loved about the book was that he wasn't mean or bitter about anything in his past, just honest.  And he graciously sees beyond all the customs that now seem silly, to the loving people and good intentions behind it all.

So.... I would encourage you to buy his book and read it.  It will make you think, remember, smile and even giggle.

He also has a blog.  TODAY on his blog he has posted a poem written by his talented wife, my sister.  She (again) sweetly captures a description of our childhood.  I loved it.

God's Word Arrives

My brother sent me a link to the following video last week.  If you have a few minutes, it is worth your time to watch this and see the value that these people place on God's Word.

This video reminded me of a speaker that I heard about 10 years ago.  Her name is Marilyn Laszlo.  I ended up buying her book, Mission Possible, one of the most incredible and inspiring books I have ever read.  It's true that I serve as a missionary, but my work is completely different and incomparable to the work that Marilyn did (and may continue to do) in New Guinea.  Check out her website to learn more about her story and I strongly encourage you to read her book.

We probably have 20 Bibles in our house, in several different versions.  Many more versions and translations are just a click away on the internet.  But, unbelievably there are still people groups in the world who don't have the Bible written in their language.  In Marilyn's case, the people she worked with didn't even have a written language.  She had to learn their language (by just living with them), write their language, teach the written language to some young boys who eventually over many years helped her translate the New Testament into their language.  The following video shows a similar story.  You will be blessed by watching it!

Beware - Ugly Pictures

Now that I'm almost all healed up, and since John Kerry had the courage to appear in public with his broken nose, I thought I'd show you all how I looked at my worst.  I guess Senator Kerry has a little more guts to show himself since he earned his bruises in a pick-up hockey game.  Whereas, I just took a nose-dive off the toilet during a puking episode.  Not quite as cool.

Anyway, for you curious people...... here you go.....

This is possibly the ugliest picture of me in existence.  I can't believe I'm putting it on the internet.

Both of these pictures were taken two days after I fell.  I was still feeling pretty bad.

Then two days later, I was feeling better but still had the bruises.
Here is our family with our friends Gerald and Dianne Johnson.  For some reason I thought that my bruises would be less noticeable if I wore a hat.  Did it work?

The the day after that, I was even better.....

Here I am 6 days after I fell sleeping off some of my jet lag in our home in Porto Alegre.

And here is Giovanni and me at the pool this past Wednesday.  Already almost all better...

I barely have any bruises now, my cuts are all healed up and my nose is much less sore.
Thanks to all of you who wished me well.... (that would not include my daughter who laughed her head off at seeing me on skype!)
I promise only pretty pictures from now on!

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Totally unrelated thing.....  check out our Christian sister, Leni's blog.  My mother-in-law and some of her friends sent some used jewelry to Leni for her to resell in her little thrift shop.  You can use the Google translator that she has on her site to be able to understand what she is saying.  Leni is a warrior for God and takes it upon herself to take care many people who need help in different ways.  She would love for you to check out her blog!