It's official!
In November, I will be traveling on a Visiting Orphans mission team from Mt. Pulaski Christian Church in Mt Pulaski, Illinois to orphanages in Uganda and Ethiopia in Africa. Uganda: The land of the Mountain Gorillas...Uganda shares it's Eastern border with Kenya and it's Western frontier is the Democratic Republic of Congo. Uganda has faced many tragedies since it's independence but now has one of the fasting growing economies on the continent. Of the 2 million known orphans in Uganda in 2003, an estimated 940,000 were orphaned due to AIDS. Ethiopia: The third most populous country in Africa, Ethiopia is among the world’s oldest Christian nations, and the only African state that was never colonized. Divided by the great Rift Valley, this land, which is twice the size of Texas, has an orphan crisis. UNICEF estimates that one in ten Ethiopian children, about 4.6 million, are orphans. We will be able to minister to some of these children in a very humble and powerful way by simply going to the orphanages where they live and offering a helping hand.
I am very excited for many reasons.
1) I will get the chance to travel with my Aunt Tori and cousin Allison who are also part
of the mission team.
2) I have had a longing to return to Africa ever since my 2012 trip to the Riley Mother
Baby Hospital in Kenya.
3) I love kids and can not wait to be the Hands of Feet of Jesus in the orphanages we
will visit.
4) To make a difference in the lives of a few children who make up these numbers: 2
million orphans in Uganda and 4.6 million orphans in Ethiopia.
5) I'm also excited to bring awareness to those who are not able to travel.
6) To live out James 1:27 - "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless
is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from
being polluted by the world."
7) There are tons of others reasons that I can not wait for this trip!
Trip details - We will be in Africa for about two weeks. We will travel to Kampala, Uganda for one week where we will work with the children of Return Ministries. The children here are all from the surrounding neighborhood where it is very poor and many of the children's needs are unmet. Return and its leader, Pastor Samuel, are reaching the neighborhood by connecting with children and feeding them. We will get an opportunity to sing with the children, lead songs for them, play with them, teach them and serve them meals. We will also get a glimpse of life in the villages and attempt to give them hope, love, and comfort by our presence alone. We will end our time in Uganda at Dwelling Places, which is a ministry that rescues street children from newborn to 12yrs of age. Their goal is to teach them, rehabilitate them and to help get them back into homes including helping the families they come from so they can provide for their children. In Ethiopia we will spend time in the capitol of Addis Ababa working in the community of Korah. Korah is a poor community adjacent to the city dump. The majority of our focus will be partnering with Project 61. P61 is a ministry that VIsiting Orphans partners with in Ethiopia. They provide feeding programs, child sponsorships, educational opportunities and long-term solutions to the residents of Korah.
There is a powerful video on the Visiting Orphans website if you are interested in learning more. Just copy and paste this website to see the video:
http://www.visitingorphans.org/video/14/visiting-orphans.mp4
Thank you so much in advance for your prayers and support. Pending WiFi availability, I plan to blog the whole time I am there to share this experience with all who want to be a part of it!!
Friday, May 31, 2013
Monday, May 27, 2013
Happy 75th Birthday!
With a surprise visit from her son, flowers planted in front of her house, a clean garage and basement, fresh roses and cut flowers sent to her, a birthday celebration cookout, and a trip to the Beef House, I'd have to say that my grandmother had a fabulous 75th birthday!
The Surprise:
Her son, Dan, flew in from Utah and surprised her at her favorite local restaurant, JJ's. I picked him up from the airport, made sure grandma was at the restaurant, and snuck Dan in through the back door. While waiting to order, my Uncle Dan brought drinks to the table. I thought my grandma was going to jump through the roof with excitement. She really did jump fairly high considering how short she is :) Since no one else knew about Dan visiting, he also surprised both my mom and my aunt. They were just as shocked and happy to see him as my gma was.
Birthday Cookout:
We grilled-out at our house for family and friends. We celebrated not only Gma's birthday, but Bob's and Betty's too. It was a wonderful evening full of great food, laughs, old-time memories, cookies, cookies and yes Pat ..... more cookies! Clark even enjoyed the excitement , and He made a new friend who held him for over an hour! Thanks Lisa. As for Walter, he slept on the picnic table the majority of the time- it's his favorite spot.
Cleaning Time:
While Dan was in town, we helped gma clean out her garage and basement. What a job! We found so much stuff........things gma did not even know she had.........and things I had no idea even existed! Antiques, old newspapers, Veedersburg centennial apparel and memorabilia, my Aunts old baby doll - it's head spun around three times and had three different faces...... Yikes, never saw such a thing, recipes, old pictures, receipts from way back when, and so much more.
My Favorite Basement Find:
It's a close competition between the canned green beans from 1999................and My great grandfathers Wild Game Cookbook! I'm definitely going to go with the cookbook, complete with two pictures of my great gpa and his buddies hunting around his cabin. As for the recipes, it's a tough decision what to cook for dinner now since I have all these mouthwatering recipes to choose from. How about pheasant cake, snipe stuffed potato, or perhaps wild turkey in mole sauce? Don't have a taste for bird? Let's try roast leg of antelope, opossum in casserole, boiled bear liver, roasted shoulder of reindeer, or armadillo sausage? Now, I know what you are thinking........ Please share some of these recipes! Alright, here are a few that caught my eye :)
Beaver Meat Loaf (for you Lauren)
2lb ground beaver
2 tbs butter
2 eggs
1 onion chopped
1/2 c fine bread crumbs
2 tbs tomato catsup
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp prepared mustard
Melt butter in pan, add onions, and fry until light brown. Add to beaver. Mix with eggs, bread, catsup, wor. Sauce, and mustard. Blend, shape into loaf. Place in well- greased pan in 350F oven for 2 hours. Baste frequently with 1/2 cup port wine. Serve with horse-radish sauce.
Sautéed Porcupine
Clean, draw. Soak in salt water overnight. Boil water, the pour off water, place porcupine in cold
water. Add 1 tbs black pepper and 1 tbs baking soda. Boil. Pour off water. Boil in clear water 10
min. Pour off water. Cut meat into small pieces, roll meat into flour, salt and pepper. Melt 1/4
cup butter in skillet. Add meat. Cook until brown, serve with bacon.
Woodchuck Stew
1 bay leaf
1/8 tsp thyme
1 minced onion
1 tbs vinegar
2 cloves
Salt and pepper
Cut into serving pieces, place in kettle with all ingredients, cover with water. Boil. Reduce heat. Simmer for 3 hours, add 1 diced carrot, 3 potatoes, and continue to cook for 30 more min. Strain. Serve.
I got to the end of the book and there it was............. skunk: Roasted or broiled. How sad. I held my skunk tight that night :)
Thanks to everyone who made grandmas birthday one she will never forget!
The Surprise:
Her son, Dan, flew in from Utah and surprised her at her favorite local restaurant, JJ's. I picked him up from the airport, made sure grandma was at the restaurant, and snuck Dan in through the back door. While waiting to order, my Uncle Dan brought drinks to the table. I thought my grandma was going to jump through the roof with excitement. She really did jump fairly high considering how short she is :) Since no one else knew about Dan visiting, he also surprised both my mom and my aunt. They were just as shocked and happy to see him as my gma was.
Birthday Cookout:
We grilled-out at our house for family and friends. We celebrated not only Gma's birthday, but Bob's and Betty's too. It was a wonderful evening full of great food, laughs, old-time memories, cookies, cookies and yes Pat ..... more cookies! Clark even enjoyed the excitement , and He made a new friend who held him for over an hour! Thanks Lisa. As for Walter, he slept on the picnic table the majority of the time- it's his favorite spot.
Cleaning Time:
While Dan was in town, we helped gma clean out her garage and basement. What a job! We found so much stuff........things gma did not even know she had.........and things I had no idea even existed! Antiques, old newspapers, Veedersburg centennial apparel and memorabilia, my Aunts old baby doll - it's head spun around three times and had three different faces...... Yikes, never saw such a thing, recipes, old pictures, receipts from way back when, and so much more.
My Favorite Basement Find:
It's a close competition between the canned green beans from 1999................and My great grandfathers Wild Game Cookbook! I'm definitely going to go with the cookbook, complete with two pictures of my great gpa and his buddies hunting around his cabin. As for the recipes, it's a tough decision what to cook for dinner now since I have all these mouthwatering recipes to choose from. How about pheasant cake, snipe stuffed potato, or perhaps wild turkey in mole sauce? Don't have a taste for bird? Let's try roast leg of antelope, opossum in casserole, boiled bear liver, roasted shoulder of reindeer, or armadillo sausage? Now, I know what you are thinking........ Please share some of these recipes! Alright, here are a few that caught my eye :)
Beaver Meat Loaf (for you Lauren)
2lb ground beaver
2 tbs butter
2 eggs
1 onion chopped
1/2 c fine bread crumbs
2 tbs tomato catsup
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp prepared mustard
Melt butter in pan, add onions, and fry until light brown. Add to beaver. Mix with eggs, bread, catsup, wor. Sauce, and mustard. Blend, shape into loaf. Place in well- greased pan in 350F oven for 2 hours. Baste frequently with 1/2 cup port wine. Serve with horse-radish sauce.
Sautéed Porcupine
Clean, draw. Soak in salt water overnight. Boil water, the pour off water, place porcupine in cold
water. Add 1 tbs black pepper and 1 tbs baking soda. Boil. Pour off water. Boil in clear water 10
min. Pour off water. Cut meat into small pieces, roll meat into flour, salt and pepper. Melt 1/4
cup butter in skillet. Add meat. Cook until brown, serve with bacon.
Woodchuck Stew
1 bay leaf
1/8 tsp thyme
1 minced onion
1 tbs vinegar
2 cloves
Salt and pepper
Cut into serving pieces, place in kettle with all ingredients, cover with water. Boil. Reduce heat. Simmer for 3 hours, add 1 diced carrot, 3 potatoes, and continue to cook for 30 more min. Strain. Serve.
I got to the end of the book and there it was............. skunk: Roasted or broiled. How sad. I held my skunk tight that night :)
Thanks to everyone who made grandmas birthday one she will never forget!
Friday, May 24, 2013
Fast Track to Graduation
After he attended preschool, Clark decided he wanted to move along quicker with his education. In one day, he made it through kindergarten, 1st grade, and 2nd grade at Walnut Elementary outside of Crawfordsville. Lucky for him, Brady - our niece - asked him to be a special guest in her 2nd grade class. He was so popular that the 1st grade decided to join, and then we visited Delanie - our other niece - and her kindergarten class. Everyone loved Clark, they each were able to pet him, and He was the hit of the school! After I told the kids a little bit about skunks, I let them raise their hands with questions. Some had great questions, some had random comments which usually where hilarious, and some just liked to have their hand raised because they would forget their question when I called on them! Let me share:
Questions and comments from 1st and 2nd graders.........
- Where does he go to the bathroom?
- Why can't he spray?
- I once had a blind chicken.
- What does he eat?
- What would happen if a bald eagle came flying down at him when you had him outside?
- Does he eat flies?
- How do you tell if he is a boy or girl? (You have to love that question!)
- My uncle has a cat.
- What do his whiskers do?
- He is just adorable.
- Will he eat an ant?
- Will he attack your dog?
- They smell on the side of the road.
- Will he spray?
- Where does he go when he is sick?
- What happens if you are sick and the skunk is sick?
- We have baby raccoons.
And maybe my favorite: My great great great great grandpa had baby skunks!
Clark did a great job, and he was so well behaved even when all the kids were petting him. He must really like school! I think at the rate he is going, I might have to start planning his graduation open house soon!
Questions and comments from 1st and 2nd graders.........
- Where does he go to the bathroom?
- Why can't he spray?
- I once had a blind chicken.
- What does he eat?
- What would happen if a bald eagle came flying down at him when you had him outside?
- Does he eat flies?
- How do you tell if he is a boy or girl? (You have to love that question!)
- My uncle has a cat.
- What do his whiskers do?
- He is just adorable.
- Will he eat an ant?
- Will he attack your dog?
- They smell on the side of the road.
- Will he spray?
- Where does he go when he is sick?
- What happens if you are sick and the skunk is sick?
- We have baby raccoons.
And maybe my favorite: My great great great great grandpa had baby skunks!
Clark did a great job, and he was so well behaved even when all the kids were petting him. He must really like school! I think at the rate he is going, I might have to start planning his graduation open house soon!
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Paw Print
We just heard this story last weekend: A few years ago someone found a rather large paw print in the woods surrounding our house and thought it was from a large "wild" cat. They sent pics of it to the DNR only to find out it was from a dog........ It was Walters!
Thursday, May 9, 2013
Happy Nurse's Week!
Just wanted to say Happy Nurses Week to all the nurses out there!
I had to visit my NNP this week to get something for the poison ivy I was talking about
in my last post, so I decided to brighten the nurse's day with a little treat. Candy in a bed pan! I think it turned out pretty neat:)
I had to visit my NNP this week to get something for the poison ivy I was talking about
in my last post, so I decided to brighten the nurse's day with a little treat. Candy in a bed pan! I think it turned out pretty neat:)
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
Tis the Season
One of my favorite things to do in the Spring is to hunt for morel mushrooms. For a couple of weeks now, I have heard of people finding mushrooms. First the grays......then the yellows. I've looked and looked and looked multiple times, in multiple spots, and in places that I have found them before. None! I have however found poison ivy which is all over me, two ticks that made it in the house on me, one cute turtle, and Walter found a nest of baby bunnies!
Last night however, Darin and I finally found some decent sized yellow morels:). Our woods may be slow in producing them, but I can't wait to fry them!
Last night however, Darin and I finally found some decent sized yellow morels:). Our woods may be slow in producing them, but I can't wait to fry them!
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