Family Reunion

An aunt on my dad’s side of the family started planning a reunion for our family almost a year ago.  The second weekend we went to their farm for a fun filled weekend.  The whole extended family picnic was on Saturday.  Only my sister, a cousin, and their families were missing.  All the rest of us made it.  My aunt did all of the cooking for this event.  She is a wonderful cook and the food was sooooo good!  The corn on the cob was the best I have had in I don’t know how long.

Aunts, uncles, cousins, and 2nd cousins means lots of fun.  The adults sat around and visited.  We had fun catching up with each other and what was going on in our lives. 

Before we went to Africa we were at this farm for a similar family reunion picnic.   Every time my kids asked where we were going I answered with, “You know, the farm with the big old barn that you played hide n seek in and got so dirty!” 

So this year my children were on the look out for good hiding places before the other 2nd cousins arrived.  After we had eaten the kids went off to play hide n seek in the barn.  All was very quiet for most of the afternoon.  My uncle kept going out to check on them every once in a while. 

They played hide n seek for a long time.  Several times one or two children just couldn’t be found.  They had managed to find the best hiding spot.  At one time the goats were running around the pen.  Upon investigation at least two of my boys were running around the pen trying to catch a young goat.  After one family went home taking their little boys it got quiet again!?!?  They were in the grain wagon and now they were very dirty.

 

Heather is shown here as clean to compare.  She didn’t want to get in the wagon.  For the record our kids were told just how dangerous that can be.  The wagon wasn’t even half full, so they were OK. 

All in all the 2nd cousins had a blast!  The three that went home earlier were younger than this crowd in the picture.  I think those three were troopers in playing games with these older kids and no complaining was heard!!!!!

A Quick Update

We are in the states on furlough and have been for a month!  We spent most of that month living at my Dad’s, visiting my sister and her family, and visiting with Steve’s parents.  Part of one week was spent in South Carolina seeing Doctors.  Our company requires us to have physicals every so often.

While in PA we spoke in three churches already.  These were churches of our family members and not Southern Baptist Churches.  Anyone can be praying for us and this was a wonderful experience to visit and worship with these people.

Now we are back in South Carolina.  We spent this week trying to get organized and moved in.  Also, spent time cleaning.  Today, the kids have been a big help in cleaning the house.   It is nice to be back in a house that is built tighter than our African house and hopefully will not be spending as much time cleaning as we did in Africa!

Baptism

Two weeks before we left Zambia for our furlough we had a baptism service and 8 people were baptized!  Six were Zambians and two were Lane and Seth.  They went out with their Daddy to Kasesha to attend the Baptism class.

Vern

Our German Shepherd “Vern” came in and started begging.

When Vern sits, he sits on his tail.

Strawberries

Our family loves strawberries.  We also love strawberry jam.  We have strawberry plants in the garden, but they do not supply us with enough strawberries for our jam usage.  Another missionary couple from the States lives on our side of town and grows more strawberries than we do.  Their gardener calls me each week to see if I need strawberries.  We usually buy them, wash, stem, and freeze them.  Then as we need more jam, I get them out and make jam.

Ever since our kids started eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, I have been making strawberry jam.  Every spring in the states mom and dad would come to visit us in South Carolina in May.  Dad, the kids, and I would go strawberry picking.  I remember usually coming home with 9 gallons of strawberries.  Dad would wash and stem them with help from the kids.  I made lunch.  The whole afternoon was spent making jam.  I just stood in front of the stove making jam and filling jars.  I had two pans the same size for making jam.  While I stood and stirred, Dad washed the last pan I used.  He measured the strawberries out for the next batch of jam, mashed them up, and measured the sugar.  The whole day was spent picking, cleaning, and making strawberry jam. 

The last year that we lived in SC we lived near a strawberry farm.  So we just bought them already picked.  I made jam several times a week until we had what we hoped was enough jam to last us the year.

I love using Sur-Jell to make jams.  I had a friend in the states who made jams/jellies the old fashion way: no Sur-Jell.  I wondered why.  It is soooo time consuming.  Well, I packed Sur-Jell to make jam over here in Africa.  I did not pack enough!  I am not sure when I ran out but it was a long time ago.  I have been making jam ever since the old fashion way, but I am no good at it.  You use a spoon to test the doneness of the jam.  You let the jam drip off of it and the way it drips off is a way of telling if it is done.  By the time I think it is dripping the right way, it is over done.  We have caramelized jam and it doesn’t spread on bread.  I have a recipe that says to boil it while stirring for 20 minutes.  It usually is caramelized.  So when I make jam we boil it for 18 minutes.  It is a little runner than if I used the Sur-Jell, but it is what works for me.

Here are some pictures from making jam in 2008.  I love those big red strawberries.  To bad we will be missing the strawberry season in the states.

Not sure where Lane was.  I have no pictures of him helping.

Last week I made the last batch of strawberry jam for this term in Zambia.  It is the colder/dry season right now and while we are still picking strawberries, we are not getting enough to make jam.  So they are going into our oatmeal!  We might have to go buy some jam to make it to the end.   The cheapest comes in a tin can and it very dark.  Flavor is not that great, but it will do.

God bless, Rita

This is for Grandpa!

 

Tobias can actually do work and here is a picture to prove it!!

When we lived in the states, every May one of my children went to stay with Grandpa and Grandma Martin for 2 to 3 weeks.  I’m not sure how old Tobias was when he went for the first time.  I do know he was in elementary school.  Grandpa was trying to get Tobias to help him do some work.  Tobias informed Grandpa that, “He was not made to work!”  He has since outgrown this thought, thank goodness.

Esther Bible Study by Beth Moore

In January of 2009 some women in our church started this Bible study.  I counted out how many lessons there were and how many weeks I had to do this Bible study before we left for orientation in Richmond, VA.  There was enough weeks and so I decided to do it.  I had never done a Beth Moore Bible study but had heard a lot of good comments from other women.  This was also a way to get to know more women in our church.

Well, I never did get to finish it with that group of women.  Two of the weeks were canceled due to snow storms.  At the end I was just way to busy packing and feeling crunched for time that I wasn’t even getting my lessons/homework done.

I brought the book to Africa.  At some point I started it all over.  I read the book of Esther and I reread all that I had done in the study guide.  But I only got a week or two done beyond what I had already done in the book and then something came up and it sat on the shelf again. 

Then I heard about being able to download the audio, so that I could listen to the lectures that I had missed.  So I wrote down the lessons that I missed and Steve downloaded them for me.  This time I just reread the book Esther again and then just started where I left off in the workbook.  Again one or two more weeks were done and it again went back on the shelf. 

This week I got it off the shelf to see what needed to be done to finish it.  Only one lesson and one audio lesson!!!  Yea!  Last night I finished it!  It only took me three years and four months.

I love reading the book of Esther.  This is the second time I have done it with a group of women as a Bible study.  I highly recommend Beth Moore’s Bible study on Esther.