Saying Goodbye: Again.

I am including this post on my personal blog instead of my missions one because it is... well... personal. I seriously thought that I had said all my goodbyes when I flew out of St Louis. I had no idea that God was going to place someone in my life that I would love so dearly, and be with so shortly.

Tanya and her husband Everett arrived in Quito at the same time our family did. We all moved into the same temporary quarters when we arrived in Loja. I didn't have a coffee maker, so each morning I bummed a cup off of Tanya, and we chatted as I had my coffee. I knew that her family would only be in Loja for 2 months, but at that time 2 months seemed like forever.

And now that forever ago seems like 10 minutes ago. Tanya and her family leave this afternoon to travel back to Canada. I am overwhelmed with the probable permanence of this. I have never been to Canada. I am not likely to go to Canada. This separation is likely to be a veryyyyyyyyy long one. So, my heart is heavy with this.

Tanya was a gift to me when I needed it the most. I had just said goodbye to my two best girlfriends. I had said goodbye to my sister and mom. I had said goodbye to my pastor's wife and my cousin Lindsey who had become like sisters to me. My world was recently full of goodbyes, and God gave me a wonderful HELLO.

Tanya was brave. She was contagiously brave. I did things with Tanya I never would have tried with anyone else. She dragged me into the shops and we fumbled our Spanish as we tried to find things for my new house. Because she was so willing to venture out without the "tried and true" missionaries, I was able to move into independence so much earlier.
Tanya would try anything new. "What is up those steps?" She would wonder, and then up she would go. Tanya is a natural born explorer and I loved tagging along.

Tanya was seemingly fearless at new things and at new relationships. She would make friends with the Ecuadorian young people with complete abandon. Last night the cafe was flooded with young people who had come to say goodbye. She gave of herself so freely. She prayed so freely, laughed so freely, hugged so freely, and cried so freely. She taught me to be a better person. She taught me to be a better missionary.

And I will miss her.

But I won't forget what she gave to me. I won't forget that the God who sent her to me at just the time I needed her, will not leave me hanging. I will remember that God will continue to meet my needs, and not just the physical ones.

So. I love Tanya, and the goodbye is hurting like crazy, but I will remember that God is good, and although goodbyes are terribly hard, that I will hang on for the new hellos that are coming my way.

I refuse to harden my heart and grow crusty in order to avoid future pain. Like Tanya, I will throw myself into new relationships with abandon, because there are good things in store for me.

But...
Today...
I am going to cry.

Fruits and vegetables...

Fruits and veggies are in constant supply here. Every day I go to work across the street from a wonderful market. I have access to the most wonderful exotic fruit in the whole universe.

And my cabinets are stocked with fresh eggs (I mean really fresh) and all kind of other great choices.

But...

I am going to eat icecream for breakfast.

Fresh Lemons + Sugar + Water= Resfreshing...

Today was a hot day here in Ecuador. For those who are facebooks friends, I posted some pictures of our morning activity and by the time I got home I felt half baked. Not only are we on the equator but the altitude places us closer to the sun and today it felt that the sun had a desire to torch us.

Add that fact to a dozen lemons that wanted to go bad and you have a need for lemonade! Our lemons here are tiny and green. I have no idea why, but they are incredibly cheap and in constant supply.

While I boiled water on the stove I juiced my lemons. Then I added 2 cups of sugar in a glass measuring cup and added enough boiling water to equal 4 cups. Then I added my squeezed lemon juice. Because my only pitcher is holding the flowers of everlasting life (seriously- they are THREE weeks old), I decided to just make a concentrate that we can add to a glass of water whenever we want.

When I want some lemonade, I pour some lemon syrup in the bottom of the glass and add water. This also lets us vary the strength. I like my lemonade light and barely there. Dustan likes his strong, sweet, and tart. You can see he approves.

Some things to hope for

That she never becomes a fashion designer.



That she never changes.



That these precious moments never-ever end.

Yo cocino crepes (I cook crepes)

One of the things I love about living in Ecuador is the availability of gluten free flours. For Valentine's day I dreamed up a crepe breakfast. By dreamed up, I mean I actually dreamed it. In my dreams I was making crepes out of banana flour. When I woke up, I decided that I didn't have much to lose by trying out my dreamed up recipe.

I don't think anyone loses out on this, except maybe you folks that don't have access to banana flour. Sorry. I guess that would be most of you. But yay for us! We can have banana crepes anytime we want!

You can however make your own recipe of crepes and stuff them like we did. One crepe has peanut butter and chocolate inside, and the other has mora berry jam and is drizzled with chocolate. I served it with the icecream from the previous post. Everyone deserves ice cream for breakfast!

Banana Crepes:
1 cup banana flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 TBS sugar
1 cup of milk
2 eggs
1/8 tsp baking powder
2 TBS melted butter

Just mix and add about 1/4 a cup of batter to a hot, oiled skillet. Twirl the pan a bit so you get a nice thin surface. When the crepe is almost dry on top, flip and cook for another minute or so.

Ice Cream in Ecuador

My children have declared the following Ice-cream the "THE BEST IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD" Marcus wonders why anyone would ever eat any other kind of ice cream. I can't ever understand what Weston thinks because his mouth is so full of ice-cream that it drips out the corners of his mouth.

It is definitely not a typical ice-cream. It has a more subtle sweetness and a much more "in your face" creaminess. It is definitely worth making.

I flavored mine by adding Tang!
Tang? Yes, it still exists. Here in Ecuador it comes in several flavors including our family's new favorite fruit: Mora Berry.

You could add any kind of flavoring you wanted. Play around with it and make sure you tell me how it turns out.




Thank you to Lucinda, the Brazilian missionary here in Loja. We missionaries are a diverse sort of folk, which will provide me with many different foods to try. YES!


PS. You can see my new dryer outside the window. I give it five stars for energy efficiency but only three stars overall. Unfortunately its consistency in performance is about as consistent as the weather in Loja. Which is to say- not consistent at all.
(However, I must admit that I LOVE hanging my clothes and think that they look very pretty hanging out on the line.)

PS # 2- Yes, those are bars on my windows. I have found the Ecuadorian people to be a very honest lot. Whenever I try to over-pay for my goods (which is all the time, because I can't understand money in Spanish), they always laugh and work diligently to make me understand that they said .30 cents and not 3 dollars. However. They ALL want my icecream and I have to protect it somehow.

Weston vs. the Toothfairy

Weston is pretty po'd at the tooth fairy. She refuses to seriously consider his requests and he just does not understand why.

Several months ago Weston pulled a tooth by himself and wrote the following letter to the tooth fairy:

"Dear tooth fairy,
I pulled this tooth out all by myself and didn't even cry. I am hoping for at least 50.00."

He was greatly disappointed when he only received a couple of dollars.


Now, the tooth fairy has crushed his dreams yet again, and if she keeps it up Weston is bound to declare war on her.
He lost a tooth at Grandma's and grandma told us about it. When we saw him we had the following conversation:

Mom: Weston, I heard you got a visit from the tooth fairy.
Him: No.
Dad: I heard you got some money.
Him: Yeh, she brought me some change, but she didn't bother to stop and talk.
Mom and Dad: (bust a gut laughing)
Weston: You know why I don't like the tooth fairy? I wanted a credit card and all I got was change.

I have a feeling the toothfairy is stuck in the middle ages around here and until now has not even THOUGHT about leaving credit cards in exchange for teeth.

Ten very random things I am thankful for:

1. That many Spanish words look like their English counterpart, which made filling out our Visa application MUCH easier.

2. My son who can play the guitar and is like a David-boy to my King Saul soul.

3. That I don't have the madness of King Saul and would not in a million years try to kill my musician.

4. Leggings to keep my legs warm when I wear dresses.

5. Lamps to light the house on dark dreary days. (Thank you Marta)

6. Indoor Toilets. Nothing more needs to be said.

7. Coffee. Again, I need not say more.

8. Three years with my Heidi-girl. She has been such a wonderful doggie friend for our family, and though we are sad to say goodbye this weekend, we are grateful for the time God gave us with her, and God-willing, she will be healthy and well in two years when we come to get her back. I know she will still love me. She is just that kind of dog.

9. A roof over my head. It's cold and rainy out today.

10. Friends who are coming over today to help me pack up my house.

What random things are you thankful for today?

It's starting to look a lot like Christmas

I thought it might be time to re-introduce last year's Christmas Experiment. As the craziness begins, consider doing Christmas differently this year. Many of you will remember my post last year about how we did Christmas without the normal gift-giving. For those who do not remember it, I will add a link at the bottom of this post. For those who do, here is an update.
I
From discovering treasure on a scavenger hunt, to playing old familar games, to listening to a Christmas concert, to giving a Christmas concert at the nursing home, to baking cakes, and cookies, to just hanging out and laughing- IT WAS THE MOST WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS WE EVER HAD.

Not one single child asked where the toys were. Not one single adult wished we had forgone the experiment and instead went with the traditional.

Are you ready to look at Christmas a different way this year?
Start by reading THIS POST.







http://toasty-toes.blogspot.com/2008/11/and-it-starts.html

A Mystery in "jello-like" form

When I was a teenager, an elderly Mrs Drachenberg, immigrant from Germany, invited my family for Thanksgiving dinner. That dinner would stay in my thoughts for more than 15 years.

Oh, her company was good, her stories of nazi Germany were spine-tingling- but her jello like dessert was the stuff of fairy-tale dinners. It was like a jello. Kind-of. But not really. It had fruit, and was topped with something that was very surprising to me as a teen.

Cream. Not the sweet kind from a tub. But THICK, milky stuff that came from a porcelain cup. I had never had cream before, and it was an immediate love affair. I must admit that every time I saw cream in the store, or used some in my coffee, or made a quiche, I thought it would be far better paired with that ever elusive dessert.

You think I am kidding- but I am seriously NOT. I have looked for this dessert for years. When google arrived as a gift to the universe, I immediately put it to use.

"German Desserts"
"Desserts that use cream"
"jello-like dessert that is not Gelatin and is German"
"German dessert with fruit and cream"
"Please oh magic googler, find me the dessert of my dreams"

and I came up empty.

But all great stories have good endings:









SERVES 8 1 (or 5 if you are really feeling like sharing)

2 1/4 lbs currants or raspberries or brambleberries or strawberries or sour cherries or plums (assorted red fruits, in any combination)
1/2 cup sugar (or more to taste, depending on the tartness of the fruit)
1 quart water
1/2 cup cornstarch
1 cup rum (optional)
milk or cream, to serve with the dessert
Wash fruit and pick through for stems (reserve 3/4 cup).
Combine the remaining fruit with water (reserving 1 cup), and sugar in a saucepan.
Bring to a boil and cook fruit over medium heat until done but still holding its shape.
Sweeten to taste with more sugar, if needed.
Stir corn starch into reserved water until dissolved and stir into the juice.
Bring to boil, cook until thickened, and remove from heat.
Blend in the rum if desired.
Mash reserved, uncooked fruit in blender and stir into the thickened juice.
Eat Rote Grutze either hot or cold and serve with cold milk or cream.

Halloween 2009

Just like last year (it's a tradition now), we waited until the last minute to pull together costumes. But- unlike last year, Marcus got to carry weapons.



And like last year, Weston stole the show. And- yes, we did indeed shave the boy's head. It was his idea. He begged- we obeyed. We have to respect our elders you know.


Esther, at the very last moment decided that instead of being the sheep that was already planned out, would, instead be Maid Marion. I just used Marcus' costume for inspiration. Both costumes were made using adult sized T-shirts as tunics and some slits here and there with a pair of scissors finished the job.

These were no sew costumes except for Marcus hat, which could actually have been made with staples. Trust me- I thought about it.

I hope your Halloween was more sweet than frightful, and that your tomorrow will not be filled with dentist appointments.

Be still my heart.

I have to admit that selling my world possessions was a pretty difficult thing to do. Going to Ecuador is something that we dearly want to do, but I am not kidding when I say the sacrifices have been great. Sometimes they have been downright overwhelming. Just this past week a new sacrifice cropped up that has me choked up.

So, it might be silly, but in browsing a blog of retirees who have moved to Cuenca, I followed a link to a local Ecuadorian pottery company. And I was comforted. New dishes will not diminish the value of all I have sold or am leaving behind, but it reminded me that good things are yet to come.

Artesa

Nancy and Chuck

A work in progress

My internet is so testy (as in almost never available) that I needed something to occupy the time that wasn't spent in housework, schoolwork, or SIM work. I saw some cardboard dollhouses on Crafty Crow and decided to give it a try. Remember that I am NOT a perfectionist. Plus, I have three kids that were helping me out (Marcus was very particular about the wallpaper...).
Anyhow, here is the kitchen and living room. I have the paper to do a bedroom but I do not have an extra box. One will show up soon, I am sure.
Marcus has a book on paper crafts that includes a page on making paper furniture (like the white chair and tootsie pillow) and we plan to make some furniture out of nice cardstock. Meanwhile, we will practice with white paper.

Since my oldest friend, Jerusalem, (seriously- she is OLD. White hair, cane, minty breath, and runny lipstick kindof old) featured me on her gorgeous blog, I thought I would make a public apology for the point and shoot/unfocused pictures- and the project that was only 1/4 done. Of course, now I see the edges weren't glued very well, and the corners don't match up. I also really wish I had finished those few touches I meant to do. I was just so excited I posted it. Haha- I guess Jeru was excited to!

Please come back again to see some of the other things we have planned

Like stringing those lanterns
and hanging tiny hooks along the kitchen wall to hold baskets
A large mirror will hang on the back wall- using the back of a mason jar lid
and of course, we hope to get some furniture in those rooms
That chandelier in the kitchen (which is actually a lone earring will hang on a wire instead of a black pipecleaner
We plan to cut out pics from magazines for wall hangings, prints, and anything else that inspires us.
We have a princess bedroom planned as well as a nursery. Just wait to see what that princess BR looks like- everything was color coordinated by Esther's brother! LOL
So- come back, ya hear.

Good grief (the efforts they will take to drive us nuts)

Weston is trying hard to get out of his schoolwork. It is a simple assignment. He looks at the different habitats and writes one reason why he would want to live there. He says it is too hard. he doesn’t want to live in any of those habitats.

I say, “Come on Weston, surely you can come up with a single good reason why living in the desert would be a good idea.”

Weston: “Ummmm. No. I can not. Why’da wanna live there? It has cactus to stab you. You would die of heatedness and you would get hot sand in your shoes. And what are you gonna eat? Big spiders?

Then he went on to explain that if the assignment was to say why he did not want to live in any of the environments it would be an easy one.

Grasslands: Oh, yuck. It’s all dewy, which makes it muddy. Where would you live? In the mud? What would you eat? MUD?

Jungle: This stuff is just crazy. No one wants to live there except naked people. That is why. Cause they have no clothes and can’t leave or people would make fun of them.

Arctic: Penguins? they want me to live like a penguin and eat yucky fish. No way. I do not want to die of blue freezing cold. No way would I live there. It would mean being a penguin or an icicle.

Woodlands: See. Another stupid one. Where ya gonna live? A tree? Would you even live? NO! You would get killed by an animal, animal, ANIMAL. Or by a bullet. I don't want to die, so I don’t want to live there and get killed by a hunter. What would I eat? Bullets? And double reasons, the animals WOULD EAT ME.

Frankly, if Weston moved to my neck of the woods, I would eat him too.


(This is his reasoning- word for word)

Duct tape and bobby pins. A must have for all new homes!

Funny story:

First night in our house we noticed that the bedroom door was locked, and could not be unlocked. It couldn't be unlocked from the inside- or the outside. "Don't close the door." we told each other.

That night, with kids tucked into bed, Dustan and I lie in our own bed, discussing the niceness of having our own place for the next few months. "I should check on the kids", he said.

Only, when he tried to do so, we found that we had forgotten and closed the door.

So. We were locked inside our room.

"We can climb out the window", I said.

"And what then?" said Dustan. "The house is locked up, the kids are upstairs and won't be able to hear us." (The doorbell is also broken)

"Well, we have to do SOMETHING".

"No kidding. I will try to take the door off the hinges."

Unfortunately for us, the door hinges had been painted, and that didn't work.
Neither did using a credit card on the latch.
Neither did trying to remove the doorknob (we were prepared to unscrew the thing with our fingernails)- only, there were no outside screws.

So, in a state of hysteria, we considered kicking the door in. We live in a duplex, and it was almost midnight. I was worried about waking the neighbors, but what could we do?

If only we could pull that latch in. If only... (If only we hadn't closed the dang door!!!!!)

And so, I looked for anything I could use. I considered my hair, but how would I get it wrapped around the latch? I needed something stiffer. Maybe I had a piece of jewelry that would work?

And there, in my jewelry basket was the answer. A bobby pin. So out of place, and so ready to be unfolded and twisted into a hook.

After a couple of tries we were free! And fortunately maintained a good sense of humor throughout the entire thing. It took the rental agency a few days to fix the problem. meanwhile, duct tape kept it from happening again.

Toasty-Toes mansion has become Toasty-Toes cottage

...or to be more accurate, it's a duplex. But it's lovely, and it's private, and for however long it takes us to fly away to Ecuador, it's mine. Living with friends was a wonderful-fun adventure. But six months is a long time, and I think we are all happy to have some space to roll around in and call our own.

Not to mention, I can homemake and decorate, and tell you all about it. Fun for me- fun for you.

What I can't do is play Blogger on the internet because the internet I have hardly works. I can't really complain, because, it's not mine.

So, look here for some sporadic posting. Unless of course, I take better advantage of the free wi-fi at the city park (whose internet I suspect I can almost pick up at the house), and post more often. The kids would love that. Fresh air, swings, and a great battlefield for Nerf wars.

Okay, now for the good stuff (at least for my curious family), here are some Living room pics. I still need to hang some art work and I have another chair that will be moved in. I love it. Oh, and right now it doubles as a dining room because as of this morning the dining room table was still in pieces.





Don't you just love Heidi girl's morning routine? Stretch girly, stretch!

Just a heads up

Toasty Toes Mansion has sold! Which is outrageously good news. Keep up with our adventures at:



I will occasionally be posting to Toasty-Toes to share the antics of our children but you won;t see me much here. I need to focus my time on other endeavors for a while.

Once I set up house in Ecuador, you will see me back. I will need a way to show off my lack of homemaking skills in a foreign country.

For some reason the link is refusing to show up. I will come back later to edit. Until then, copy and paste into your browser:
servantsinecuador.blogspot.com

Esther on her future:

untitled event

I took Esther to see Annie last night. "Tomorrow" has been running through my head marathon style ever since. Esther had a blast and as we waited through intermission she tried to get a grasp on the difference between story telling and real life. After she gave up on that she engaged me in a discussion about who the people were on stage.

Me: I used to be an actress you know.

Her: You did? What did you be?

Me: (I simply ran down my impressive resume of community and college theatre performances)

Her: Why don't you be an actress anymore?

Me: i found out I was a better mommy.

Her: Oh.

Silence ensues as she processes this

Her: Mommy, I decided that when I grow up I am going to be an actress. I want to be Annie. If I am good at actressing then I will just keep doing that. But if I am bad then I will just be a mommy.


Well, I guess she gave up on her career as a shoe fixer, clothing designer, horsey rider.

Esther thinks she can fly:

(Esther is learning to ride a bike- she can go about two feet after Grammy Pammy lets go)

Anyhow, sweet litle Essie might not be able to fly, but she does happen to think her butt works as well as a birds fluffyness. Today she found an intact robin's egg. She brought it to the meanest mommy in the world (me) and told me I needed to put it in a safe place for it to hatch. The meanest mommy in the world informed her that the egg was already cold and that the baby bird inside was rather... dead.

And Esther did not believe me. She insisted it was still alive and that I needed to help her. The meanest mommy in the world (me) insisted that she take the egg outside and leave it for the animals to find and eat. "It's the circle of life", I told her.

"It's still alive", she told me.

And she walked outside.

Ten minutes later she came back in.

With egg yuck all over the seat of her pants.

My five year old child tried to hatch an egg. It didn't work- obviously.

She was okay- at first.

"I have egg on my butt", she said.

I responded as only the meanest mommy in the world could respond:
"Nope- you have dead baby bird on your butt."

And, she wasn't okay.

I've been busy:

Here and there and everywhere. Right now we are at Grammy Pammy's where Marcus is busy learning his multiplication tables, Weston is learning to read, and Esther is wrapping two elders right around her little finger. It helps to have a teacher as a grandma- it really does. Just when I am ready to give up she steps in with a new idea that gets us over the hump.

Anyhow, we are having a great visit and since grammy has the kids either in her arms or in her lap, I had the time to watch this cute little video my dad sent me.

Enjoy the geniosity ( yes I made up the word).