Tuesday Evening "Convivio" (fellowship)

Last Tuesday we had a big "party" over at our house! We had a great time hanging out and having fun. There were about 20 people in all.... it's funny how it works in Mexico. You don't invite only one family and expect for them to be the only ones who come. You invite the family and then expect to see AT LEAST two extra if not more like five. The custom is for the people who come to bring something like a 2 liter of soda or some fish (if you live in a fishing villiage). It takes a bit to get used to, but you have to get used to it or be frustrated all the time!
For this particular get together we had five or six people more than who we had invited, but no problem. We had Seviche and they brought more fish to add to it. For those of you who do not know what Seviche is I'll explain... It is baically a fish coctail (if you're interested read about it inmy post Recipe for Seviche) . It contains tomato, onion, cucumber, salt, a salsa called "Guichol", lime and fish. It is sooooo good. I was a little worried about trying it the first time because it is raw fish, but after making it myself I saw that the lime actually cooks the fish, wierd huh?! Anyway, we had a great time swimming and talking. I'd say that these get-togethers are one of the neatest things about living here in Mexico. It reminds me of the cell-group we used to be part of in Oregon... Sigh... I love looking back on fun times!!!

(Hasiel listening to Andrew's tape-player, isn't he cute!)

(This is our pool. It was a gift from a friend and has served as a great ministry tool and a place to cool off... Funny, all of my friends' blogs are talking about "settling in for the winter" for us we still have to use fans in order to sleep at night!)

(Braulio and his wife Pily)

(Evie playing with Madai-- pronounced Mad-i-ee -- she's Braulio and Pily's little girl)

Recipe for Seviche

"NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART"

Makes 3 servings
(Read through all instructions BEFORE beginning)

You will need:
1/2 lb. fish fillets
1 cup chopped tomato
1 cup finely chopped onion
1 cup peeled, seeded and chopped cucumber
1/2 cup lime juice
1 tsp. salt
Tabasco sauce
1/2 cup V8 juice

Step one: Chop fish fillets into 1/4 - 1/2 inch cubes.
Step two: In mixing bowl combine fish and lime juice. Stir together and set aside.
Step three: Chop onion into thin slices and add to fish. Stir together and set aside.
Step four: Chop tomato and cucumber into small cubes, set aside.
Step five: Add salt to fish. Stir and let set for for 5-10 minutes. This will give plenty of time for the fish to cook. The fish is cooked and safe to eat when it is no longer opaque.
Step six: Add tomato, cucumber and V8 juice to fish.
Step seven: Add a dash of tabasco sauce to taste (the normal is about 1/2 tsp.).
Step eight: Refridgerate and serve with tortilla chips! Some people like to add Ketchup for an added flavor!

Heaven is my home and earth... well, I'm just passin' through!

John 14:1-3

1 “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.
2 In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive
you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. "

Just yesterday when I was at church I recieved what you might call a revelation from God. Now it wasn't a flash of lightning or a booming voice... It was more like an image placed in my mind and an idea that was ground-shaking to say the least. I was sitting in my seat and praying during the worship time and I began to think about the future and, subconciously, making plans. While I was doing this I suddenly recieved a rebuke, or you could say a reminder, so sharp that I knew I couldn't be from me. It basically said "what are you doing? Don't you know that this isn't your home? Where are you storing up your treasure?" Then I saw an image in my mind that was almost half a feeling. It was like I was past this life, standing before God and I was looking back on my life... If you've never felt this then I really can't explain it very well, but I'll try. Honestly, I have a hard time imagining anything beyond this life. I mean, I believe in heaven and I AM a Christian, and I AM going to be with God some day. But to be able to picture that?? I've never, This was the closest I'd ever come to actually understanding what the Bible meant when it said that this life is like a blink of an eye. It only lasted about a second and then the feeling was gone, but it's not something easily forgotten. Right after the feeling left I had the overwhelming urge that I had to write about this on my blog, so here I am writing!!!
This is what I believe God has given me to share with you.
Look on your life. Can you accept the fact that this life means nothing, and that in mere moments you will be before God? And you must realize that it will be mere moments. This life passes quickly. Even if you're young and it seems that you have a long time left, you don't know what will happen tomorrow. And, even if you live out your entire life, you will (not might) have to give an account to God of EVERYTHING you have done. Weather you are Christian or not you must ask yourself, "Why do I get up every morning?" "Why do I make plans for my future?" Are you planning, or have you give God your future? Even if the things you are planning are "For God" or "Christian" if you're doing it outside of God's will or without His guidance, then you should examine your reasons again. Don't get me wrong, it's not necessarily bad to plan, just make sure that you're planning with the thought "if it's your will, Lord" and not trying to get the Lord to work with your plans. I don't know about you, but at the end of my life I want to be able to say as Paul, knowing that I did my utmost to give God everything!

2 Timothy 4:7-8

7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.

Fluffy Yellow Butter-Cake

Makes 2 eight or nine inch cakes

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cup flour

2 Tbs. baking powder

1 cup butter

1 1/8 cup milk

3 eggs

1 cup sugar

1 tsp. salt (unless using unsalted butter, if so then adjust to 1 Tbs.)

Step 1: Seperate eggwhite from the yolk, set aside yolk. In a small bowl whip eggwhite until fluffy, set aside.

Step 2: In a large bowl combine all dry ingredients and stir together.

Step 3: Add the milk egg yolk and butter to dry ingredients and mix on medium until smooth.

Step 4: Preheat oven to 400 and grease pans.

Step 5: Into a large bowl pour previously beaten eggwhites (note: do not beat again) and then pour the batter in on top of the eggwhites. Now, fold eggwhites gently into cake, this causes the cake to be "fluffy".

Step 6: When oven has preheated pour batter into cake pans and insert them into the oven. For added effect, sprinkle colored-sugar over the top of the cakes before inserting them into the oven.

Bakes: 20-25 minutes

Psalms 89:1-15

This is a Psalm that a I really like. It talks about the faithfulness of the Lord and His power.

(btw: this is the NASB version. I have previously used NKJ but I prefer the NASB, and I've finally found a site online that supports this version. If you'd like to check it out it's http://www.biblegateway.com/).

1I will sing of the lovingkindness of the LORD forever;

To all generations I will make known Your faithfulness with my mouth.

2For I have said, "Lovingkindness will be built up forever;

In the heavens You will establish Your faithfulness."

3"I have made a covenant with My chosen;

I have sworn to David My servant,

4I will establish your seed forever And build up your throne to all generations." Selah.

5The heavens will praise Your wonders, O LORD;

Your faithfulness also in the assembly of the holy ones.

6For who in the skies is comparable to the LORD?

Who among the sons of the mighty is like the LORD,

7A God greatly feared in the council of the holy ones,

And awesome above all those who are around Him?

8O LORD God of hosts, who is like You, O mighty LORD?

Your faithfulness also surrounds You.

9You rule the swelling of the sea; When its waves rise, You still them.

10You Yourself crushed Rahab like one who is slain;

You scattered Your enemies with Your mighty arm.

11The heavens are Yours, the earth also is Yours;

The world and all it contains, You have founded them.

12The north and the south, You have created them;

Tabor and Hermon shout for joy at Your name.

13You have a strong arm; Your hand is mighty, Your right hand is exalted.

14Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne;

Lovingkindness and truth go before You.

15How blessed are the people who know the joyful sound!

O LORD, they walk in the light of Your countenance.

Amen!! For God is good!!!

Feedburner

Hey everyone! I just wanted to let you all know that I signed up on feedburner.
I you want to get updated automatically every time I post then you can sign up by clicking on the small Icon that's located on the top-right side of the screen and says "Subscribe in a reader". Thanks, and have a blessed day!!
In Christ~

God's creepy-crawlies

These are various pictures of various wierd and not so wierd bugs and "creatures". Enjoy!

French again!

French exam scores are finally in... I didn't do as well as I wanted to, but I did alright. I got a high A in everthing but translation... I got a C+ in that one... it was my spelling, totally atrocious!
So, school is finally back on... including French! I'm actually glad in a way, one can get kind of stir-crazy with nothing to do. One really neat thing about my French class is that (at least for a few weeks) our teacher has a friend visiting from France. Practice, yes!!!!!!! Oh, but it's soooo much easier on paper!
In Christ~

Baking a cake!

One of my friends recently turned 20. I figured that such an occasion warranted the baking of a cake... So, I put my mind to it and baked! It actually turned out pretty nice. I still have a long ways to go on decorating, but it tasted wonderful! I poured sweeted-condensed milk over the top and let it soak in. Yummmm... I didn't even want to give it away by the time I was done.

Rain, rain go away... or at least come when it's not 12 a.m.!

The night before last we ran into another “incident” with a rainstorm. It was another one of those “up till midnight” ventures… Sound like fun yet? Don’t worry, I’m just getting started! Just to give you a little bit of history about the weather here, I need to tell you about how storms usually hit. Although occasionally we will get a day where it rains steady, the usual is that it rains HEAVY for about 20 minutes and then just stays overcast for the rest of the day. This can be nice, but usually this pattern only causes more problems. I’m not sure if you knew this, but in Mexico all the houses are made of cement… the fun part is that cement by itself is porous, meaning that it leaks. Now, I don’t just mean leak like “drip, drip, drip” I mean leak like “torrential downpour”! We had, fortunately, addressed this problem after having had a few “leaks” in our roof (that’s a whole different story). Another pattern in the weather here is that the wind always blows from the ocean-- or so we thought-- the weather, however, was out to prove us wrong! Anyway, as I was saying, the night before last we had a tropical storm hit us and the wind did NOT blow from the ocean… It blew from inland. Now, you must being saying “So what?”. But for someone who is used to having rain blowing almost horizontally toward the front of their house, to have rain that blows almost horizontally toward the back of their house can bring disastrous results. It certainly did for us!! We had leaks EVERYWHERE, not the least of which was above our bookshelves… Ahhhhh!! We were up until midnight moving books, drying off shelves, moving stuff away from the drenched walls… As you can see, we had a lot of books to move.



My room also had a leak on the wall, but it was considerably easier to move the stuff out of harms way.



The boys had a few leaks in their room. A few of them were even over their beds! (I was just thinking, doesn’t it look like it would be fun to slide down those stairs! lol ;^)



Of course, as soon as we had gotten everything moved the rain stopped. That’s how it always works, but really, it was a blessing in disguise… okay, okay, it was really disguised, but a blessing nonetheless! My Mom and I had been planning for over a month to take all the books off the shelves, move the shelves and get rid of the books we didn’t read anymore. I must say that it was not a pleasant way to be spurred into action, but it did make us get it done. I must say, it does look much nicer with the shelves organized and more accessible!! What do you think??

I was tagged by Felecia!

I am: Very outgoing and super talkative... don't usually have a problem making friends!
I think: That God is King of all creation I know: Jesus as my Savior!
I have: A black and brown german shepherd black lab cross
I hate: Cucumber and Zucchini I wish: That I could be a better Christian
I miss: My friends from the States!
I fear: Many, many things... actually I don't like small dark and humid places
I feel: tired and hot right now!
I hear: the fan, a movie my brothers are watching and the tapping of the keys on the keyboard
I smell: cornbread and dust on the air
I crave: more peace in my life
I search: for more knowledge and wisdom (aka: more of God)
I wonder: if it will ever cool off around here!! lol I regret: the mistakes I've made and the things I've said that have hurt others I love: Jesus Christ my risen savior!!!
I am not: a quiet person
I believe: that Jesus Christ died 2000 years ago so that we would be able to live beside Him for all eternity
I dance: Sometimes, like at concerts and stuff like that
I sing: all the time! I love, love, love, love singing... did I mention that I like to sing?
I cry: whenever I need to let it out
I don’t always: keep my temper in check
I fight: to not fall into temptation
I write: letters and blog posts
I win: at nothing recently
I lose: at soccer
I never: swim in swamps
I always: love to talk with my Mom
I confuse: myself
I listen: to God... or that's what I try to do.
I can usually be found: at home or over at our church
I am scared: of many many things.... isn't being scared the same as fearing?? I'm confused...
I need: To trust God more
I am happy: To trust in God and live my life under His wing
I imagine: A life without sorrow or pain
Now . . . I am tagging the following bloggers: Miss Jocelyn and RebeccaC

Cute Picture

This is the youngest child of our co-pastor. His name is Nehemiah. Isn't he adorable!

Gnats = bites = really hard to sleep

Well... what can I say? I don't really know if this picture needs any comments. And yes, it itched as bad as it looked! My Dad and I were working on a project outside (pouring cement, to be exact). It was a messy job and I didn't have any free hands with which to swat gnats... at that rate it didn't take them long!

Best Wishes

Happy Birthday Caleb!!! Wishing you the absolute best! Since it's your birthday I figured I should give you a gift on cyberspace as well as the one I have for you. So... Here's your cake!

...and here're you're gifts!!

So, anyway, have a great day!! You deserve it!

Hey, if you read this, do me a favor and stop by his blog to leave a comment (he doesn't really get too many visitors) I know he would really appreciate it!

Birthday Boy