Remembering A Land of Fire and Ice

We went to Iceland on our way back to the States.  A logical stopover being "on the way" back to D.C.         A land of beauty, "fire and ice," they say.  It couldn't have been truer.  Thousands of words won't do justice to those pictures we lost when our camera decided to take a holiday of its own.  

If we could, we would post the picture of the guest house we stayed in.  It was fittingly called "Our House."  People from Germany, Italy, America, Australia, Taiwan, and Hong Kong coming "home" together.  Endless cups of coffee, bowls of cereal and talk of hopes, dreams, impressions, opinions.  Laughter.  A place where wanderers want to stay a while.

We'd post a picture of the martian landscape.  Desolation interrupted by flowing rivers, fault lines, geysers, steam rising from the volcanic ground, rock formations newly born.  Of land always in flux pouring forth pounding waterfalls encrusted in rainbow.  Immense lakes of blue, the way God must have imagined blue.  Glaciers that paint the horizon white.  Snow that comes briefly, renewing uniqueness and beauty, making a common place into an exciting adventure.  Of vast oceans below towering mesas.  And a sun that enjoys its winter rest.

And we'd post pictures of the city Reykjavik.  Euro-Island style.  Bright and optimistic.  Homes of white, red, lime, and blue.  A rainbow of a town.  Wind, fishing boats, high steepled churches, coffee shops, museums and walks in the cold.

Moments pass too quickly.  Often I sit, stare and gather the sounds, sights and feelings.  I wish my eyes were a camera to capture each movement, glance and fragrance.  I wish I had energy at the end of the day to scribble each detail of the day past.  Yet life pours on experience and the past is easily forgotten.  I forget where I have come from and what I have learned.  Life passes so quickly!

But if God keeps our future than surely He keeps our past.  Quickly I forget... but He has known our story.

You Are What You Eat!

I grew up in America... The land of hamburgers sizzling on grills.  The place of Mexican-American fusion, such as the burrito bombs of Chipotle.  The land of Italian love feasts with dishes of lasagne, spaghetti, and the like.  A land of soups and stews and spicy chili.  Of pizza delivered to the door.  Of  soy-salted rice and curry.  Of sandwiches!  Of things roasted, fried, packaged and dried.  If you are what you eat, then American cuisine, in all of its infusions, is an inseparable part of my identity.

So.  How have we coped the last thirteen months?  How have we withstood losing our foodie identities?  Answer: through the somewhat fun and somewhat draining act of recreation.

Thus follows a sample of our recreative experience.

Minestrone soup.

Homemade bread with tomatoes and basil
from the garden.  And cheese from the city.

Stir-fry!

Homemade pesto pizza with salad.
Again, basil for the pesto from the garden.

Chili

Roasted potatoes with chicken and greens

Oh my goodness.  Joanna's coffee cake!

Chicken noodle soup!

Joanna working on the tortillas we use for so many things.

Such as burritos.  Including two types of homemade salsa and
home refried beans. 

Christmas day muffins.

Roasted chicken.

One of our favorites: Chicken Tortilla Soup
with homemade tortilla chips

Pancakes 

Oh my Goodness!  Burgers never tasted so good.

Eggs from the chickens.

Grilled chicken quarters and mashed potatoes for Joanna's birthday

Brought the sugar snap pea seeds all the way from the USA

On a hot day: Spanish Tortilla with Gaspacho

Crusted chicken and potato salad

Garlic

Made these stewed tomatoes from around 90 tomatoes
out of the garden.  This sauce is a good starter for all sorts of
soups, stews and pastas. 

Including this amazing lasagne!  

Top 25 Things Learned this Year

Yesterday marked a year since we've eaten Chipotle... Has it really been a year since we've tasted such goodness?  It also marked a year since seeing my beautiful mother...  Time has come and gone quickly and there is much to miss.

But!  There is much we have gained this past year.  Here are 25 things that we are proud to have learned and gained the last 365 days.

1)   Using an outhouse squatty (from day 1)

2)   Using an outhouse in the winter (months 4-7)

3)   Navigating and working in a new language (months 1-12)

4)   Dealing with frozen pipes (months 4-7)

5)   Enjoying coal and wood fires for heating in the winter (months 4-7)

1)   Finding ways to celebrate American holidays.  And realizing that getting coal in your stocking wouldn’t be such a bad idea (month 7)

7)   Occupying ourselves when the electricity is out (months 4-7)

8)   Hauling water, 80lbs at a time, and getting mad when Joanna did it too (months 4-7)

9)   Doing laundry with frozen pipes (months 4-7)

10)  Realizing the importance of shoveling snow off your roof (months 4-7)

11) Helping run an office (months 9-12)

12) Paying people for their work (9-12)

13)Communicating someones cow is in your yard, even though you still don't know how to order a meal at a restaurant (month 2).

14) Fixing things (everyday!!!): (Fixing pipes, drains, water pipes, repairing plugs, circuit breakers, cleaning mold, getting rid of fleas, cleaning water pipes of dirt, replacing locks on doors and gates, getting rid of mice, etc!)

15) Learning how to not let things go to waste (trash for fire, leftover food for animals)

16)Having a dog (months 3-12)

17)Having six hens and a rooster (months 9-12)

18)Cleaning poop off eggs before we fry them up (months 9-12)

19) Shopping without supermarkets (from day one)

20)Cooking entirely from scratch all the time (1-12) (tortillas, fresh bread everyday, pasta sauce from tomatoes in the garden, chili from homegrown tomatoes, homemade jam from strawberries in the garden, pesto from garden basil, homemade pizza, home pasteurized milk, homemade cakes, cookies, hamburgers, rolls, corn bread, soups, etc!)  Sounds romantic, doesn’t it?.....

21)Having a garden (months 9-12) (growing: carrots, tomatoes, kale, lettuce, spinach, chili peppers, parsley, basil, strawberries, sugar snap peas, garlic, etc.)

22)Driving mountain roads (months 3-12)

23)Driving mountain roads in the winter (months 4-7)

24)Going to 27 houses in one day for Ramadan holiday (month 11)

25)Seeing that the Chinese really know how to pave roads (from day 1)

There is a Place...

We, as a team, went on a trip to our neighboring country... A poem and pictures follow.


There is a Place...

There is a place where the sun waves in the sky;

where her forty prongs live on the earth;

where her heart resides in the home.

There is a place where a mother awaits continually;

her children have gone to war;

time bars her from them.

There is a place where coffee shops fill the heart;

reminiscences exist;

moments of self rise again.

There is a place where horses run freely on the mountain slopes;

their young closely behind;

they are sacred and beautiful.

There is a place where lakes are like oceans;

peaks border the banks;

views so beautiful were never meant to be found.

There is a place where green plains fade to mountains;

rivers are the only noise;

time disappears under the trees.

There is a place that feels like home.

(Explanation in pictures below):

In the city.  American style coffee shop.... so good.  It had
a home-like feeling. 

Second largest alpine lake in the world next to Titicaca.  But
hotels have begun to take the skyline.  

I think everyone owned a horse.

Awesome place to camp.  Time stopped.  The
river was a lullaby to sleep.

Steak over camp fire!  Yum.

Horses roam freely.

Love it.

Pizza.

The food was great.

WWII memorial.  She awaits her children.

The flag.  A sun with forty prongs (40 tribes).  The middle
is a very important/holy symbol, which is on the roof of every
yurt (nomadic tents/homes). 

Earthquake Food Distribution

A 5.9 earthquake hit our area two months ago.  These are pictures from our recent food distribution efforts:

Getting ready.  These guys are our friends/employees.

Leaving town to the other side of the river.

Heavy bags of flour.

110lbs flour, 10lbs beans, 7lbs sugar,11lbs oil,15lbs rice

Most of the houses were still in pretty bad shape.

Some have even been living in tents.  Our hope is
that the small amount of food we gave will
offset costs of living so money can be put towards
home repairs.

Signing and confirming.

Wall completely taken down, now being repaired.

Absolutely beautiful.  See those mountain everyday
but these were a great new perspective of them.

She was the leader of the household that day.
Her Dad died and her Mom was away.  She is 12 years old.

Pretty bad damage.

The village of Kul (Lake).

In all we were able to distribute within
ten villages to 33 families.