CPA Update 05-10-10

Book Day, Secretary's Day, Teacher's Day, Labor Day, Mother's Day, Independance Day...

Our elementary grades wrote and illustrated books this year and presented them on Book Day. It was a huge project, and something that the students were not used to, but the end result was an excellent learning experience.

Say a prayer for our secretaries...Pastor Dario works in Reception, Marcel is our administrator and Marcelo is his assistant secretary. Lidia is our school (teacher/student) secretary and Fabiola is her assistant. Rosa is our librarian. We are thankful for their dedication at school. We are blest to have them on the staff.

Teacher's Day is school-party day. It is so encouraging to see the students bring in gifts, flowers and snacks to share with their teacher. There is a special, student-led program for the teachers and then a party in decorated classrooms. We are thankful for the mothers who participate, also, making the teachers feel super-special!

Labor Day is always on May 1st...sadly, this year it was a Saturday! They don't carry the holiday date over to Monday's, here. Nothing changes if it falls on a Saturday or Sunday. All the Adonai workers had a special "asado" (barbecue) at the Quinta to celebrate and thank God for the hard work each one of us does...at school and FOR HIM!

Mother's Day is May 15th, always May 15th, and always a Holiday. May 14th and 15th is also a time to remember Paraguay's Indepenance Day...199 years this year! The students are preparing another HUGE celebration for this Friday night's program.

Oscar's birthday is also on Saturday...say a little prayer for him!

It seems like we are always doing projects and programs. We are thankful that God gives us the necesary strength to continue.

(Psalms 46:1) God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

(Ephesians 3:20) Now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us

(Isaiah 40:31 DRC) But they that hope in the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall take wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.

(Isaiah 41:10) Don’t you be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you. Yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness.

(I Peter 5:7) 7 casting all your worries on him, because he cares for you. We are thankful for you! Your encouragement, donations, and prayers also strengthens us! Thanks for partnering with us at Colegio Privado Adonai!

Pictures of: Book Day and Teacher's Day

Kitchen Stuff

I have dreaded this day...the day I realize I can't find one of my useful, kitchen tools. I have two favorites: my Pampered Chef potato peeler from my sister and my "hand-me-down-from-aunt-janet" melon baller. I use them often maybe weekly, sometimes daily. I wanted to make zapallito relleno today. Zapallito is a small, round zuchinni kind of like a gourd, but edible. It is filled with ground beef that is sauteed with onion, garlic and peppers, maybe a hard boiled egg and stuffed with cheese all in a tomato sauce and served over (garlic) rice.
I usually use my melon baller to scoop out the insides. It is so quick and handy, a teaspoon just doesn't scoop well.
So anyway, I searched and searched for my melon baller and couldn't find it. Could it have accidentally gotten thrown out when someone (not me, of course) threw away the guava seeds? I looked in the toy box, sometimes a little someone likes to help me cook. I spent time rummaging here and there and while I searched, I made a cleaning project out of the whole mishap. But...I didn't find it!
I scooped out the seedy center with a teaspoon, filled my zapallitos and sadly accepted the fact that my melon baller...disappeared.
Now...I will hang onto my potato peeler like GOLD.
P.S. the filled zapallito's were great!

Pigs!

Sorry, friends, I just hate pigs! Probably the only thing I really like about pigs is bacon. To me they are ugly, dirty, smelly, snorty, greedy, etc. I have a friend who owns a pig farm...3000 pigs - way to many for me. I have another friend who loves all sorts of "fake" pigs: stuffed animals, pictures, stickers, cups, or just anything piggy. Those kinds are the cute, clean ones, of course.

Take a look at this one! Oscar's niece has this one on her farm. Sometimes, I don't even want to look it in the face...it is so ugly. I think they are going to make it a Mother's Day meal (May 15th).

I finally found it!

I remembered once that I was at a very nice restaurant and had Passion Fruit Mousse. It was so good that I wanted to remember that soft, sweet taste...maybe forever.
Well I had been searching and searching online, off line, here and there and NEVER found the recipe of that dessert or even a similar picture.
Once, maybe six months ago, I wanted to print some recipes off and my printer stopped working so I just jotted the recipe down on a small scrap of paper.
It had been floating here and there, on the floor, on the freezer, in my receipts, in my Bible, just about anywhere I thought I would not loose it. Once it got soaked with water and I stuck it to my kitchen sink window to dry.
Well, Sunday I was going to have guests, so I pulled out this very weathered paper and decided to make my mousse.
It seemed so complicated and I wrote down abbreviations that I couldn't quite figure out. But anyway, I made the recipe. The finished product was so amazing, I think I finally found it!

Passion Fruit Mousse
2 envelopes of gelatin
1/2 cup water
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups of passion fruit juice
1 Tbsp. lemon or lime juice
1 small can condensed milk
2 cups whipping cream
6 egg whites
1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
1. Soften gelatin in water - wait until it dissolves - then mix in with the cooled juice.
2 Mix sugar, juice and condensed milk together and heat until the sugar dissolves- let cool 30 minutes in cold, ice water.
3. Whip the whipping cream - mix with the cooled passion fruit mixture
4. Beat egg whites with cream of tartar
5. Gently mix all together.
6. Add seeds for a garnish.
I don't know who wrote this recipe or where I got it off the internet, but it is amazing!

CPA update 04-21-10

Just in case you're not on my mailing list, I decided to post here, too. Thanks for being patient with me...things are settling down to "normal".

Wow! My last update was 03-03-10! That was so long ago and since then, so much has happened!
Each Thursday and Friday since March 11 and 12, we had camps/spiritual retreats for all the students at Colegio Privado Adonai in the Quinta. (The Quinta is a campsite near our home that we are taking care of. We can use if for school, church, rent it out to other churches or schools, etc.) Each different camp (according to their age) was such a huge job, but we are thankful for the Adonai Team working together to make it all happen. We are also thankful for some of the mothers who volunteered to cook for some 50 or 100 students. Praise God for the opportunity to share His word in a different setting, out of the classroom. Our Theme was Colossians 3.12 Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.(NIV) The first part of the morning was for worship and bible study, then games, lunch, pool, and a talent show and skits at night. Because of all the excitement, both students and teachers had a hard time sleeping at night. Each camp was a beautiful time of friendship and interacting with students and teachers. It was a good time to get to know new students and share relaxed moments outdoors.
The day after the 7th-9th grade camp, March 27th, Oscar's nephew was married at the Quinta. The whole place changed from a campsite to a elegant, outdoor wedding.
During Easter week, school was closed and we had a church camp. There were about 120 all together. People came from Asuncion, Ciudad del Este, San Pedro, Concepción, and Argentina. We ended the week with a baptism for three people in the pool at the Quinta. Last week we had some visitors from Argentina. Pastor Carlos and his wife came...after 20 years! Carlos came to Paraguay with a group of pastors from Argentina in 3 different visits to evangelize in San Pedro way back in the 1980's. Since the first church in San Pedro was started, we have grown to different areas in Paraguay: Asunción, Bañado, Concepción, Ciudad del Este, and Picada Fernandez.
A little side note...When I first arrived in Argentina in 1986, I came to visit San Pedro, Paraguay with Carlos, Omar and Miguel. Can you believe this? I met Oscar Caballero who had just made a decision to follow the Lord. We travelled back to Asunción together...I spoke English and he spoke Guarani! We couldn't even really communicate in Spanish. Five years later, God brought us together as a team to serve him. Nineteen years later...He is still working His perfect will in us.
Thank you for supporting our ministry. We appreciate your notes of encouragement, prayers and financial support.

Juan and Rossana

Backing up a bit, Oscar's nephew got married on March

27th at the Quinta. It was a beautiful wedding.

Edson, of course, was trying to enjoy himself.

HELLO AGAIN!!!

This past month has just been a whirl of activities. School camps, church camps, visitors, puppies, meetings, and food fairs for 9th grade, etc. etc. etc.
I think things have slowed down...maybe a little...today for lunch anyway, we didn't have company! Last night there were 5 people who stayed over, this afternoon three people came.
Visitors are little "gifts" to us. We are thankful to spend time with them and share our lives and our Christ with them. Even little Edson enjoys the visitors so much that he stands in front of the door blocking it so they can't leave! Brandon and Gaby also have the gift of hospitality and are always open to visitors. Every sofa turns into a bed and sleeping bags or comforters are used instead of mattresses. A little "TERERÉ" and popcorn go a looooong way! More tips: Add more water and salt to soup, make a quick batch of "sopa paraguaya", make pancakes, spaghetti, (if the visitors are Argentine...lots of sweets), huge trays of pizza, fresh orange and grapefruit juice, fruit.
What a beautiful way to fellowship and share the blessings that the Lord has given us...invite people over! Talk about God. Share about His miracles. Pray with each other. Enjoy yourselves. Love each other!
Tomorrow it'll be family time, family sharing, family love and hospitality. Maybe things will be a little more normal, maybe not....see you tomorrow!