Family Swim

Here is a little taste of what we do after a day of hard work. (Notice that it is starting to get dark)
Our sibling photo of the year: One... Two... Three... JUMP!

The jumping queens: Madalyn and Anna

"Let's hold and hands and SCREEEAM!"

Lifestyle Retreat Pictures

Mildred and Elise- going over the consent form. Diana climbing the ladder to the second floor balcony. Sneaky! 

Kim with her gift bag and recipe book. 
Our beautiful home for one week. I decided that a cabin is my dream home! 
Our fearless leader! 
On Friday, we put posters on shopping carts in front of the Village Market.

Friendly volunteers (like Shama and Tim) handed people shopping lists. 
That night, the leaders had a prayer meeting over at my place. 
Sunday came and we finally made it to the cabin! Here I am with Mildred. 
Look! Working together in the kitchen! 

Sabbath Adventure Pictures

Grazing blueberries on the Biology trail. It's a good thing that the pharisees or bears didn't see us- I don't think they would have been too happy. 
My first test photo of the macro capabilities of my new camera (Canon Powershot SD790 IS).  
Will Jonathan be the next didgeridoo master? 
Or Timothy? 
Bible study treasure hunt with the kids. 

Nicaragua

In 23 days, I will be boarding an airplane for Managua, Nicaragua to do mobile health clinics. 18 days later, I will be feverishly studying microbiology. Keep me in your prayers!

Cornbread

They thought that I was setting myself up for failure:

Cornbread
-eggs
-buttermilk
________
=bad cornbread

This was a myth that Emily was determined to debunk. Me? Make bad cornbread? Ha! I will tell you what good cornbread is!

I did my research. I did some tests runs before the lifestyle retreat. Ann Hottal's Cornbread recipe is d-licious (and cholesterol free!)

1 cup of cornmeal
1/2 cup white flour*
1/2 cup of whole wheat
1 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup honey
1 cup of soymilk**

bake at 325 until golden... lets say about 20 minutes.

* I used 1 cup ofwhite flour and no whole wheat. The idea is to do equal amounts of cornmeal and flour.
**If you like to ration your soymilk as I do, then do 1/2 cup of soymilk and 1/2 cup of h20. works just fine.

"Oooh- I like this cornbread, it's nice and moist.", said Kim.
"I guess its not too bad...", said Mildred.

That... was a victory.

Crunchy Green Beans

"What do ya thenk yur doin'!? Aren'tcha gonna cook dem green beans so they ain't crunchy?"

Lynne and I looked at each other, and tried to figure out what Mildred was talking about. The green beans were canned. I guarantee you that they were not crunchy.

While at the lifestyle retreat that Elise,Diana, Heather, and I organized, I was always trying to find the balance between freedom and structure, guidance and grace.

When should I say, "Only a little bit of oil in the pan please..." as she proceeded to dump in about a half cup of our precious olive oil: to steam the cabbage.

Normally, it should be easy to give guidance- after all, it is a lifestyle retreat. We came to teach. They came to learn. Some people just don't listen. Some people won't talk to you if they are mad at you for cooking 9-grain cereal instead of oatmeal. And some people don't like a 20 year old girl telling them what to do.

How do you explain to someone about how it is healthiest to not fully submerge your vegetables in boiling water to cook, and then to drain off all the water because you are draining off the minerals, when they don't understand the concept of vitamins and minerals. The nutrients become lost and wasted.

So I comprimised with the greenbeans, we drained the canned green beans and sauted them with garlic and onions. Mmm...

Going Crazy

This past week and today I have had the honor of talking with people that 

are "one fry short of a happy meal"

are "not the sharpest tool in the shed"

umm... "lost their marbles"

" just plum nuts", as we say in Oklahoma. 

In my nursing psych class they tried to teach us how to interact with these people. I felt like I needed to learn, mainly because I will probably crazy one day. Seriously. I wonder about my brain- so far I blame it all on my deodorant. 

I will never forget the lady in the hospital. 

Emily: "Ma'm, your temperature is 97.6, that is good. 

Patient: "No! Nothing is good except for 98.6. I always have had problems with my temperature not being normal, Always had... (she rambles on about how her IV interferes with her ability to swallow, and her EXTENSIVE medical history. 

Emily: "Really, your temperature is fine. It is in the normal range, and everyone's is just a little different."

This was a mild conversation and an extremely short one compared to the one my nurse had with her, trying to get her to go to her test downstairs. Calling security really helped.

That night she hated just about everyone who stepped foot into the room. She wanted to sue. 

I opened up her chart: "Ahh! it all makes sense now. Someone give her her bipolar meds." Usually, I don't find myself getting riled, but I had to take a few deep breaths with her. It is hard always being "wrong", even when I know I am right. Good for my pride, I suppose. 

My encounters with fascinating people continued: 

Today there was a lady in front of me in the check out line in a store. I didn't mind waiting as I listened to this quite fascinating lady tell the clerk a lot of things that I find hard to believe. 

She claimed: 

To be an angel from heaven to help humanity 

to be the future Oprah 

she is in America with millions of dollars to save our economy

that she is a proclaimer of judgement 

that she is going to Washington DC to talk to them about our economy

Bless her heart.