A Mobile "WalMart"

Cheesies, vegtables, sugar, shampoo,
flipflops, napkins, fruits, matches, socks, floor cleaner, clothes, toilet paper, and just about anything else...

...all on one little motocycle with a trailer cart behind!

Mixed Messages by Sharon Jaynes

"With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters [and girlfriends] this should not be" (James 3:9 TNIV and girlfriends added).
Friend To Friend
Catherine and I set out for a lazy summer stroll through the neighborhood just before the fireflies emerged to celebrate the setting of the sun. We chatted about raising boys, working husbands, and decorating dilemmas. When we arrived back at her house, she invited me to come in and look at some fabric swatches for a new sofa. Before I knew it, a few minutes turned into a couple of hours. "Oh, my!" I exclaimed. "It's ten o'clock. I've been gone for over two hours! I bet Steve's worried sick. He doesn't even know where I am. I'd better give him a call before I start back home." When I dialed the number, the answering machine picked up. After I listened to my sweet Southern greeting, I left a bitter message. "Steve, I was calling to let you know I'm at Catherine's. I thought you'd be worried, but apparently you don't even care because you won't even pick up the phone!" Click. I said my goodbyes to Catherine and left feeling somewhat dejected. I'm wandering around in the dark all alone and he doesn't even care, I mumbled to no one in particular. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I noticed someone coming toward me. It was Sir Galahad riding on his steed...his bicycle! "Where have you been?" Steve desperately asked. "I've been riding all over the neighborhood looking for you! Do you know what time it is?" "Oh, you do care," I said with a grin, giving him a big hug. "What are you talking about?" he asked. "Nothing. Let's go home." I answered. When we got back home, I quickly erased the message on the machine before Steve could hear my reprimanding words. "Whew," I thought, "That was close." A few days later, Steve called me from work. "Sharon, have you listened to the answering machine lately?" "No. Why?" "Well, I think there's something on there you need to hear." We hung up and I reached for my cell phone to call my home phone. The message on the answering machine went something like this. (The voice of a Sweet Southern Belle) "Hello, you've reached the Jaynes' residence. We're unable to answer the phone right now... (Enter the voice of Corella Deville) "I was calling to let you know I'm at Catherine's. I thought you'd be worried, but apparently you don't even care because you won't pick up the phone! (Return of Sweet Southern Bell) At the sound of the beep, leave your number and we'll get back with you as soon as possible." Beep. "Oh, my goodness!" I screamed. "How did this happen! How many people have heard this over the past three days?" I called the phone company and they explained that sometimes during a thunderstorm (which had occurred three days prior), lightening strikes the wires and answering machine messages get scrambled. The old message somehow got attached to the greeting. I was mortified. It sounded like Dr. Jekyll and Mrs. Hyde reincarnate. "Lord," I prayed. "This is so embarrassing." "Yes, it is," He replied. Well, He didn't really say that in so many words. It was more like this. "With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water" James 3:9-12 TNIV). "OK Lord, I get the message." I prayed. But unfortunately, so did a lot of other people.
Let's Pray
Dear Heavenly Father, oh how I have a difficult time controlling my tongue! I pray that you will put a guard over my mouth. Help me to think before I speak. I pray the Holy Spirit will take control of my words and use me as an instrument of encouragement. In Jesus' Name, Amen

I thought this was too good not to share...

Gnocchi

Recently we had some Argentine friends over. One morning as I was rushing to get things done and lunch on the table, Alicia said, “Karen, do you want me to make some homemade Gnocchi”. I took a quick look at the clock, 11:00 am, and said, “Um, yeah, but isn’t it too late?” She said, “No, I can make them real fast, just watch!” I couldn’t believe it, in less than 40 minutes she had them cooking in a huge pot! Lunch was done by noon!
Ever since, gnocchi are one of our favorite “fast” foods.
Here’s our recipe (for a big family)…
1 kilo of flour = 2.2 lbs.= around 8 cups
Salt
3 Tbsp. of butter or margarine
1 liter (quart) of boiling water
Pour the boiling water over the flour and fluff it up to mix with a fork. When it kind of sticks together, dump it out on a counter space and pat it together. Don’t knead. Let it rest under the bowl while you get some other things ready.
Start boiling salted water in a large kettle. Get flour ready to sprinkle over the gnocchi. Use a fork to make the ridges on the gnocchi.
Okay, start making small snakes out of the dough. Cut them up in little chunks. Sprinkle flour on the chunks and then run them over a fork making a little impression with your thumb on the other side.
Boil them for one minute or until they start floating.
Serve with spaghetti sauce, white/cheese sauce, or pesto.
I remembered my days in Argentina. There is a saying that people eat gnocchi on the 29th of each month. I guess it’s because it was the cheapest thing left to eat at the end of the month.
Other people use potatoes, sweet potatoes, mandioca or just about anything to make these. This recipe is just plain flour gnocchi, but, so very good!

Chicks or Chickens

In one of Brandon’s classes the teacher asked them to get a chick and take care of it. They have to observe it, feed it, clean it, love it and who knows what else.
Brandon was upset…with our killer dog outside, that means we have the cute chick inside! Edson thinks it’s wonderful and practically strangles the poor thing as he “plays” with it. We recently gave away our bird cage to a cousin in San Pedro who had a parakeet. So we had this chick in a flimsy, cardboard box. It’s smelly and nasty. I’m not sure I can handle this for a month…
Well, Friday morning after the kids left for school the chick crawled out of it’s box…Then I got frustrated…really frustrated!
I chased this chick around the house for about 15 minutes trying to catch it. First I had to close all the windows and doors because if it escaped, Sasha would’ve torn it to pieces in seconds. Finally, I smacked the clothes basket down on it practically smashing its foot. I stuck a little toy under it so it could get air, but put a book on top so it couldn’t push its way out again. I called Oscar…just to complain. He on the other end, was laughing hysterically.
Now WHO is really supposed to be taking care of this chick?
I am about to make soup out of it! No, forget it…I don’t want to have to clean it…
Friday after school, Brandon asked our neighbor for their unused cage. So, we have this little chick in a cage in our laundry room. I will take a picture of it once the cage is clean!
Job 12:7-10 - But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds of the air, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish of the sea inform you. Which of all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this? In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind. (NIV)
Matthew 6:26 - Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? (NIV)

Post 500!

Don’t Bet! I always tell my kids that!
Gaby did a bet with Junior…and lost!
He bet that if the White team won…he would shave his head. If the Green team won, Junior was to shave his head. So, the white team won school Olympics and Gaby had Oscar shave his head yesterday after school.
My advice…don’t bet!

Stop Doubting and Believe

I need a miracle. I don't know how it will happen, but I presented it before the Lord this morning and then I happened to open up to John 21 and read...
Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. He called out to them, "Friends, haven't you any fish?" "No," they answered.
He said, "Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some." When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish...
So, I threw my "net on the right side of the boat"...and continued praying and reading. I didn't pull my net in yet, but I DID decide to stop doubting and BELIEVE.
Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
...Stop doubting and believe..

Adonai School Update

Some of you might not be on my mailing list. I haven't updated for a while...my bad! So, here is a little bit on what's happening at school...PLUS, some pictures. My email update didn't get any pictures yet...I was having some problems.

Time to fill you in a bit on our activities at Colegio Privado Adonai.

As usual, every month is filled with activities. We started August a little bit worried since during the month of July the students had 3 weeks of winter vacations. Usually we only have 2 weeks of winter break, but this year there were so many cases of colds and flu that the president decided to extend vacations for one more week.

We were worried about the economic situation that would follow. During winter break very few parents came to pay their tuitions and we were worried about how to pay teacher’s salaries at the end of the month. We prayed that God would work miracles. We called some parents. It seems that just minutes before the teachers came by to pick up their pay; parents came by to pay their monthly fees. Most of them (the teachers) didn’t even know that we didn’t have sufficient funds. We also learned a lesson about our incredible God. This is His work and He won’t abandon what He started. We were able to pay each one on our staff without any delays. Praise God.

During the month of August we had many, many activities. Some of these events were as follows: the ACSI (Association of Christian Schools International) competitions, Kid’s Day celebrated at school as well as a 12th grade project celebrating Kid’s Day at an orphanage “La Nueva Semilla” (The New Seed) for about 50 kids, we celebrated Folklore Day and on top of all that…EXAMS!

We started the month off and things settled down, getting back to normal. Thursdays we have our chapel. One of the pictures is of Pastor Oscar teaching a bible story during Chapel.Another picture is of recess, a normal, noisy part of the day where students fill the playground area and the “soccer field”. They have their own system of playing order that gives each grade a chance at the field. When it’s not their turn for the “cancha”, others are playing the popular “piki-volley” where they use a bench as the net with two players on each side using only head, body and feet (no hands) to pass the ball back and forth.

We also participated in the ACSI competitions with about 20 other schools. We had a handball team, as well as male and female soccer teams. Each team practiced during winter break with our Phys. Ed teachers. The games were played on the 13th and 14th, 21st, and 28th. We rented buses the first days of the competition since there were many students, teachers and parents going to help take care of the large group.

The best news…the girls’ soccer team won 2nd place.

On August 16th our younger students, Kindergarten through 6th grades, had a special party for Kid's Day. The students came to celebrate...no books or book bags that day. Some of the teachers dressed up as clowns, did a fun presentation while teaching values from God Word. Each student received a small bag of goodies, cake and hot chocolate. The 12th graders have been working on a charity Project all year at an orphanage near our school. They went to “The New Seed” to celebrate Kid’s Day there. There are about 50 kids at this home and with the funds collected at our Mission’s Week food fair we were able to take lunch, prizes, and party favors to these kids who might not have had such a fancy party.

Finally, we had “Folklore Day” an event where we present our culture through music, art, dance and typical foods and clothes. The whole presentation was fantastic, and half-way through the night we were privileged to hear a meditation from the word of God since one of our goals is to reach the parents for Christ, alsoSeptember has it's many activities as well. We had play presentation of "Pilgrim's Progress" on September 3rd, and next week we start school Olympics.

When we seem overwhelmed with activities and plans we are reminded of Exodus 33:14...my Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest. We are thankful for His presence and strength throughout the whole school year!

Thanks for your prayers!