Mornings of blessings

It seems we've had beautiful mornings lately. I remember Sandi Patti's- was it a morning like this? and Steve Green's morning songs.

We went to sleep Sunday night knowing that we would have to get up very early. We heard the prayer ladies would come to our house come Monday morning. (We had discovered that if we put the t.v. in a certain place in the living room, it gets a couple of more channels. Two really great American movies came on so we stayed up late.)The ladies came right on time. We were up at 5:30am and that is when the ladies started to gather. They sang and prayed and sang and prayed some more. It was a glorious start to the day. The highlight was us being put in the middle and the ladies praying for us, the ladies seemed to particularly target my belly since it is very unnatural to be married for almost 2 years and still not have a lil nixon.

It rained on Monday night, pretty hard. It was feeling unbearably hot for a while and it seemed like it just would not rain. Monday night the rain came. We got a little thunder with it, the rain woke me up as it was coming in through the window and sprinkling my face. At about 5 a.m. we heard ladies marching up the street, but they were singing hymns. How glorious. I heard them, as if in a dream. I tried to open my eyes and get up but had no success. The rain obviously did not keep these prayer warriors from doing a prayer march.

On Tuesday night it rained hard, off and on all night. It thundered and rained hard. It was like God's power and grace rolled up into one perfect package.

We've had wonderful mornings lately and my heart is full of thanksgiving. God is Good.

Electricity or the lack of

I remember those days when we lived out in Cyvadier. We had electric for a time between 6 or 8pm. We would anxiously await the electric. We would sit outside talking to our elderly. Sometimes we would sing together. Those were good times.
The wait for the electric was trying on the nerves though. Nixon lived in a part of Port that always had electric and of course Texas has electricity too. LOL! It was always hard.
Today was one of those days where the electric didn't come till about 7pm. I went up and sat on the roof where it was nice and cool while waiting. We didn't want to turn on the generator until we absolutely had to, to save fuel.
People had already gotten their kerosene lamps and candles out. And then poof, the electric came and all the lights went on in the houses down below and at exactly the same time children and adults cheered. It kind of sounds like, whey!!!!! I remembered that this was the same in Cyvadier. We lived far from the main street and you could hear the cheers in the distance when the electric came.
I don't think I was ever was as grateful for electricity in the States. I don't think I ever really thought about it. Here I am always aware of it.

Recipe of the week

Here is another recipe that will be a hit anywhere you take it. I am glad the blonde brownies were a hit Karen.

This cake is Leann's favorite and my husband loves it too. I get in trouble if I make one and take it all and don't leave some slices for his night time snack. :)

Cream Cheese Bundt Cake

#1 Say a little prayer before you start, its a little picky. Needs a little blessing to start it off.

DO NOT PREHEAT OVEN

(seriously, this cake is simple to make but very picky)

Beat the following ingredients until fluffy

2 1/3 sticks margarine

2 cups sugar

Then beat in one box of cream cheese (8 ounces)

Add in 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

and as you start beating add in 4 eggs, ONE AT A TIME

Add in 2 cups flour and a dash of salt.

Should be nice and thick and smooth.

Pour into well greased and floured bundt cake mold

BAKE AT 275 DEGREES FARENHEIT FOR ABOUT 1 HOUR AND 10 MINUTES.

if you are in Haiti it would be about 1/3rd of a mark under the 2 for about 1 hour and a half. The cake should be lightly browned. COOL COMPLETELY BEFORE INVERTING.

Good luck!

Put on a pretty plate and dust with powdered sugar. ;) TRUST ME, EVERYONE WILL LOVE IT!

This recipe was given to me by an elderly lady I used to read to. It was a long time ago and I've since forgotten her name. She used to collect Troll dolls and had a very short temper. I liked ther though.

The Hancocks

Our dear friends the Hancocks are planning on moving to Haiti and joining HCH in the near future. Nixon and I are looking forward to this so much. We were dreaming together last night and it was exciting. The Hancocks were here for a month and left for their home in Florida this morning. We miss them already. We can't wait for them to join HCH/Joy In Hope.

Here are some pictures of Jon, Jennifer, and their three teenage girls (Katie, Karie, and Amber) helping us at Junior Church this past week. We kicked off our "Creation" series and so we had 2 crafts going (one of them with glitter :)fun fun). We needed plenty of hands. The family made a great team.

We love you and miss you already guys.

We are praying for our BIG GOD to do BIG THINGS. :)

Haitian Boa

I have been meaning to research a bit about animals in Haiti. I had heard there were big snakes in Haiti. Well apparently there are Boa Constrictors in Haiti. It is actually named the Haitian Boa. This is one found in a hotel (called the Garden of Eden) in Port last week. Yikes, here is hoping i never run into one.

Dehydration-taken lightly

you can see the ocean in the distance

I woke up feeling terrible yesterday morning. My husband was off to pick up Leann and I was up at 5:30am but only for a little while. Then I got up a 7am and felt terrible. I just felt so tired, and sore. I grabbed a bottle of water and tried to read a little but went back to sleep. At about 8:30am, the ladies that work downstairs came in and I got up and cleaned up the house a bit and did some stuff. This time, when I got up I remembered that I had hardly drank water the day before. I had drank a water bottle in the morning and a cup at night. Plus, the Hancocks and Nixon and I had spent a few hours at the pool. Wow, I went back to bed about 9am after drinking 34 ounces of gatorade. I had chills, muscle cramps, a terrible headache and achy tiredness. Wow, I had never felt so terrible. I really never went to sleep again, just laid there and worked on a second 34 ounce bottle of gatorade. At about 11am I started to feel like myself again. The energy slowly came back, like coming back from the dead. It was strange weird. The days are really hot lately and I hear it is over 100farenheit back home too. Friends and family, drink plenty of water, it is terribly important.

Today, I feel just great even though it was a really hot night and sleep wasn't too comfy. I am happy to be alive and to be loved, especially by my King.

I went up on my roof just to get a look, I remembered how beautiful this country is. I feel refreshed today. The pictures above are taken from the roof of the Joy In Hope Rue Petion house.

Butterscotch or Blonde Brownies

This is a recipe that we shared in our Advent Recipe book at our church one Christmas. This recipe was submitted by Teresa Olsen.
IT IS A VERY GOOD RECIPE!
I have always made it as a quick desert and it makes guests groan with delight. :)
I have doubled this recipe because I make it for a good amount of people.
This will give you about 12-16 blondies.
1/2 c. shortening
2 c packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/2 c. flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 c. chopped nuts ( I use walnuts)
Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
heat shortening over low heat until melted; remove from heat. Mix in brown sugar, egg, and vanilla. Stir in remaining ingredients. Spread in a regular sized rectangular baking pan. Spread evenly. Bake about 25 minutes. Cut while warm. If you wait too long, they are almost impossible to cut. And I would not serve them too much later than when they are a little warm still. You can also barely cool them and stick them in a ziplock bag. It seems they are not so hard if you do not let them sit out too much initially. They are really really good. And really, they are the easiest recipe I have.

The joy of having kids over

Today, we had the priviledge of having the Mangine kids over for a good part of the day at our house. I got to play "Go fish" with them. We made macaroni and cheese, we played on the drum (very loudly), we played Memory(Nixon cheated), we napped (I went to rehearsal), and then we had slushys and popcorn after our nap. Fun Fun! By the way, Nia and I thought the slushys were the best in the whole wide world and Nia wondered why it had to be finished when we wanted more. They were really really good.

Slushy recipe:

2 crystal light things( or kool-aid)

3/4 blender ice

1/2 cup sugar

1-2 cups club soda

1 tablespoon grenadine essence

Thirsty, happy kids

Steak for Dinner?!%#

The serious man

The goof

The "ham" in the background

The friendly guy

My "big, strong chocolate kiss"

My husband

For all of you that come to Haiti, you know that the way meat is cooked is really tasty. Although I like meat, especially beef and I love my beef to taste beefy. I think by the the time you add all that citrus, the meat tastes good but not like meat.

Leann loves to make fillet mignon. And Nixon eats it but he says its blan food. The night before last I took out a couple of t-bone steaks to defrost while I made dinner. I had been saving them up for a while. After we ate our dinner, I got a zip lock bag, put my raw steaks in it, poured plenty of worchestire sauce and but the bag in the fridge. Nixon watched and said, "wow, baby, that is so blan". He went on and on about how he doesn't think any other Haitian would eat the blan food he does. And then he confessed the fact that he sometimes asks himself if he should really eat his wife's food. I can be pretty patient with my husband, in some ways. I just shrugged it off and said I wanted to hear him sing that same song at dinner time the next day. He kept scoffing and laughing.

So the next day came around, and I put the steaks on at about 6pm. I made some thick, lumpy, buttery mashed potatoes to go with it. (I LOVED THE MASHED POTATOES!)

Nixon kept saying he would just have some of that slushy drink that I was making. Then he said he might have a steak, the small one. He took a little bite as he many times does, when all I want is for him to sit down with me instead of just picking until he is full. Gosh, my husband does drive me crazy sometimes. Anyway, he took one bite and kind of just stopped chewing and turns to me and says, BABE,..this is really good. Long story short, I had about a quarter of a steak and Nixon had 1 and 3/4 and could have eaten a couple more. He loved the steaks! That teaches him to slam "blan" food, especially his wife's food. LOL:)

My Washer:)

I had been telling Nixon that I wanted a washer. I had decided that I wanted our clothes to last, especially having friends of ours buy Nixon NICE clothes. (Thanks Travis:)) So in route to take care of Woody one weekend, I found my little washer. These are the kind that are really used in the Dominican Republic. That was exactly what I wanted, I had thought I would have to have it shipped from the Dominican. It was on sale for $190 U.S. in Port Au Prince. I was so happy. I love washing ALL my clothes in about 4 hours/week and actually having them dry in about one hour. One of the sides is a spinner that really does spin it water free. (The clothes does have to be spread as evenly as possible or the bucket is not balanced and starts knocking around. ) That is really great considering that it rains A LOT here and sometimes the clothes does not dry by the time it starts to rain again.

So anyway, I have enjoyed washing for about a month and a half. I would fill my washer by pouring bucket after bucket into my little friend. It is much easier but it was some work pouring all that water in. By the time I would fill the washer for the 3rd time, my arms would start to feel weak. But I was still grateful and continued to love my friend faithfully.

This week, John hooked up a pvc pipe and a spicket from up above and through the outside into my house. Wow! It is wonderful. I just open the spicket and pour water in when I want to fill my little friend. It is nice and easy and convenient. Madam Jan would have loved that when she was washing for me. :( I just never thought it would be that easy. John hooked me up in like 20 minutes. I washed today. What a dream! I remember I did not really like washing in the States, in the washer,....having to wait,...then put it in the dryer,....then folding it. It seemed like such an ordeal. Then I moved here and hand-washed for all the YWAM orphanage kids. It would take all day at least 2 days a week. Then I got married and it was 5 or 6 hours a day, twice a week. Yes, hand washing. After the first year of marriage, Madam Jan washed for me. And now, my little friend washes.

I was mopping this morning and was telling Nixon I needed to fill the washer since we had city water for the first time in 3 days. Nixon said he would fill it. He put a little water in and he turned it on to rinse it before filling it, just like I had instructed. I watched him as he studied my little friend's insides. After he had filled it, I began to put clothes in. I turned to Nixon and he said, "baby,...." He looked kind of smirky, like he had figured something. He kept talking, "you know, I see that little washer swish the clothes one way and then the other way,....baby, it doesn't really wash the clothes,... does it?" I busted out laughing. My husband makes me laugh.

I certainly hope it washes the clothes since we spent $190 dollars on it. Mind you, it is not Haitian washed but I am confident that it washes the clothes to my satisfaction.

I love my little washer! Thank you John, for the water. :)

Getting Married Again?!

Yes, once we get to the States. Though we had no intention of getting married again, honestly. Well, maybe after 10 years or so.

Last week I received a new bank card. I assumed that I got one because the old one had expired. After I looked at my other card, it wasn't expiring until 2012. After taking a closer look on the card, I saw that the new card had my maiden name on it. That was strange since I had changed my name on social, bank, everything in December of 2008. Hmmm. I called my bank, the 1-800 number, an impatient woman hardly bothered to answer my questions. I called again, this time getting a young man. I explained the problem and he said I would need to come down to my local branch to do it all over again. I explained that I was out of the country and this could really cause a problem with my checks deposited and such. He said he understood but that I would have to come down to my local branch. I said, "fine", restraining myself from saying further. Then I decided to call my local branch. The young man who answered said he understood and saw no reason he could not fix the problem. He then put me on hold. "If all I had to do was to be put on hold for this mess to be resolved, no problem."

As I wondered how in the world this happened, I imagined some dodo had just used my maiden name on something or received something in my maiden name and decided to change my name back.

The same young man did not come back on the line, it was the manager of the local branch. He spoke like he knew exactly what was going on and I could hear the "good El Paso folk" in his tone of voice. He explained that when my marriage certificate got to a certain level of the bank, it was considered in valid since it was in french. It was on file along with a translation although the translation had to be notarized, and then authenticated before the bank would have taken it.

And so, long story short, my name had been changed back. The manager further explained that I should have no problem with my checks and all since my present name included my maiden name in it. That was a relief to hear.

Then I began to question him about how to rectify the problem once I made a trip back to the States. "Honestly", he said, "I would just get married again here in the States. Many folk that marry in Mexico, do this very same thing. Then you will have a U.S. marriage certificate, for anything you might need in the future. You can even invite me and we will have a good ole party", he added. What a great idea! So, long story short, to all you El Paso folk, "we will be having a wedding party in the near future". LOL!

Most people renew their vows after 10 years or so. I guess we are renewing them after 2. ;)

Fourth of July 2009

Our Orange Soda Cake. Josiah put sprinkles on, dont worry Gwenn, he did not eat any. :)

Me and my strong black chocolate kiss Jon and Jennifer Hancock

Mike, Georgette and son

Nia Mangine :)

It was a great evening. Nixon and I hosted a fourth of July party for all the HCH ers in town. We missed the Pye's and Gwenn though. It was wonderful though. Nixon put up twinkling lights and I put up some Happy 4th posters and I decorated the table. Even though I was pressed for time, I had the greatest time doing everything. It was really nice. I was so busy with preparations and then the party that I did not end up missing my family too much. I felt sure that I would shed some tears, as I often do when missing my family. Though we are of Mexican descent, we take a lot of pride in being American and Independence Day is very celebrated in my familia. Happy Fourth of July to my beloved family! I love you all so much. I would really love to be home one Independence Day in the near future.

Anyway, we had a great time. I believe that even the kids had a blast. We ended the night with fireworks. We planned to put them up on the projector but alas we had not the cable. You are forgiven Mike.

Hamburgers and hot dogs, macaroni and beat salad, BAKED BEANS, and orange soda cake were on the menu. Everything was DELICIOUS!! Nia took one look at my plate and said, "that is a lot of food, I really dont think that you will be able to eat all that". Needless to say, I did not go back for seconds. (and I left enough on my plate for her to not be able to say that I ate ALL that food). LOL! We had a great Fourth of July. It was truly special. We missed all of you that are away. Happy Independence Day to everyone again. God bless us, and God bless America.

Pizza

Today I made pizza and the Hancocks came over and had a piece. It is quite easy and just takes time to make. But it is worth it. The Hancocks have been here over two weeks and Katie took one and said, "I love you Sandra". Hee hee.

There are so many things that I never made back home. I guess it is just a matter of missing some food so much that I just decide how to make it myself. That and I like to feed people. Must be the Mexican in me. One of my favorite things to make when we just got married was making donuts. I would make the dough and Nixon would cut it and i would fry them. Then our old folks would enjoy them. I might just make some tomorrow morning.

I've learned to make pizza, bread, homemade cakes and icing, brownies, and many more yummy things. I don't know if i really like to cook and bake all that much. I just like having a taste of home. And my husband likes it.

My next goal is to make cinnamon buns. They seem so easy. I would love them with pecans though.

A really really hot day!

Nixon and I agree that today was the hottest day of the summer so far. Nixon said he realized today at about 5:30pm when he grabbed a glass to put ice and a soda in it and he said it felt hot, like it had been left in the sun. "Holy Cow", was his expression.

I woke up this morning very wet. It was sweat. I felt exhausted before I even got out of bed and the really cold water felt really good. I told Nixon I just did not feel well. My head felt fuzzy and I just kept sweating. I peeled some plantains for breakfast and at about the 6th plantain, the sweat(felt more like water) was just running down my face and getting in my eyes.

I felt bad off and on and at midday Nixon told me to go take a nap. I woke up in a sweat about 1 hour later.

I led worship and I took my little cloth. After the second song, I had to take off my glasses and wipe cause the sweat was in my eyes. At the time of offering, my forearms began to drip.

It has been a really really hot day. It has been a challenging day.

Also on my birthday

I honestly thought i would learn a third language a lot faster than the reality. I have been in Haiti since April 2007, more than 2 years now. I am not fluent. I can defend myself (as us Mejicanos would say). I watch Haitian TV and all but i really need to spend a set amount of time studying each day. This is one of my new goals.

While taking a walk with Nixon, on my birthday, we ran into a group of dark french speaking ladies. I heard a couple of Creole words(which happen to be some of those words that are identical in French). I took off speaking Creole with the lady who asked us to take some pictures for her. She looked at me and laughed kind of nervously and started to speaking to Nixon again. Nixon had just enough time to say, "babe, she doesn't understand, she doesn't speak Creole". I felt so embarrased. When they left Nixon laughed his head off remembering how I had stepped out and very proudly began to speak Creole. He would remember, play out my speaking, and then play out the lady and her blank response. I love to hear my husband laugh but Come on, give me a break!

My Birthday

Ok, my birthday was a month ago, well....almost. My husband and I were with Faith Christian, shopping for some souvenirs. My husband turns to me and says, "so what do you want me to buy you?". He is saying this while looking at the souvenir bracelets. I asked him why he wanted to buy me something. His response,...."you know why". I, very discreetly, lost it. I calmly(yeah right) informed him that I didn't want any beads or souvenir stuff as gifts for my birthday. "I want silver or gold, I want you to spend money babe, cause I am worth it!" Blink Blink was pretty much his response. The next day was my birthday and I was having a rather blah day since he was not gonna have to go to Port to drop off the team cause it was my birthday but then found out he had a class to attend till I dont know when. Nixon came home around 3pm with a jewelry set with that turquoise stone that is found in the Dominican Republic. He also came home with a bottle of Carolina Herrera perfume. I felt wonderful, pampered, spoiled. Then we went out to dinner with the HCH kids, Danny and Leann to Cap. Nixon and I took a lovely stroll. It was a nice birthday. Mimi, the hotel manager sent a piece of cake to me and the band sang happy birthday. It was really cute. I had a nice birthday. Thank you to everyone who sent me well wishes and love.