My Bubbling Teapot

Life has precious moments of blessings. I would like to share three with you. (1)Last weekend our church enjoyed a weekend retreat at a a Christian retreat center. Our theme was prayer and I felt God nudging me to spend more time with Him. Thanks, Lavern and Lolita, for planning such a great weekend! (2) Corleen led a "children's choir" on Sunday morning. It was awesome, Cor!! And the message powerful! Thanks, children!!! The children singing "Love is a Flag" (3) Robin's sister, Caia spent some time here and she blessed me in so many little ways. Thanks, Caia! You were a blessing! She sewed Allison and Hadassah, and Annaliese all look-alikes!!! What a thoughtful gift. Our girlies were happy to wear them at the weekend retreat. It was especially appreciated since I don't seem to find much time to sew recently! (or is that ever?) The three girls wearing their dresses with Caia!!!

Today I'm making monster cookies. And I'm realizing how many American ingredients it takes--peanut butter (ok, we CAN buy it here, but it is expensive and not very good), brown sugar, corn syrup, and chocolate chips. That's a long list of things I can't get here. So, I try not to make these kinds of cookies too often. More substitutes (this time some dressings I like that I can't buy here): Ranch Dressing 1 cup buttermilk 1 cup mayonnaise 1/4 tsp. onion salt, garlic salt, celery salt 1/8 tsp. pepper 1/2 tsp. parsley flakes Mix together and use on your favorite salads! French Dressing 1 cup mayonnaise 1/2 cup sugar 2 Tbsp. vinegar 1/4 cup ketchup 1 tsp. mustard 1 tsp. paprika 1/4 tsp. salt 2 tsp. water 1/4 cup oil Mix and serve! Italian Dressing 2/3 cup cold water 1/3 cup oil 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar 2 tsp. onion powder 1 Tbsp. sugar 1/8 tsp.pepper, allspice, paprika 1 tsp. celery salt, garlic powder 1/4 tsp. oregano 2 soda crackers Combine in blender. Blend until...

Trying to follow an American recipe in Poland can be a catastrophe. Especially, those recipes that say "Quick and Easy." About 99% of the time, I must first of all make my substitutes for the time-saving bought ingredients that aren't available over here. After all my dishes are dirty preparing all the ingredients, I can then assemble the recipe. Unfortunately, for me, these recipes become quite complicated. Georgene posted about being faithful in little things. I thought I would post some of the substitutes I've learned to use. Maybe some of you can save some money by preparing your own substitutes. Bisquick Substitute 8 cups flour 4 1/2 Tablespoons baking powder 8 tsp. sugar 2 tsp. cream of tartar 2 tsp. salt 1 3/4 cups shortening Mix until finely crumbled. Store in air-tight container or in the freezer. Sweetened Condensed Milk Substitute 3/4 cup sugar 1 cup powdered milk 1/2 cup warm water Blend in blender until smooth. Chill. Cream Soup Mix 2 cups instant dry m...

...and we found out that is a long ride!!! Friday we took the children on a school field trip. We left at 4 a.m. from home to catch our boat at 8 in the town of Elblag and spent all day riding a boat in the lake region of Poland through canals, over lakes, down rivers, over land (!!!), through locks, and finally docked in the town of Ostroda at 9 pm (a little later than we planned)!!! We saw some awesome scenery, consumed two back-packs full of food, identified birds, talked to other people on the boat, and just relaxed in the sunshine and enjoyed being together as a family. A boat we met coming up the canal from the same company that we were riding with. Yes, the canal just suddenly ended. There were five slopes like this on our trip and a little cart carried the boat and us up a total of three hundred feet during a 6 mile distance. Amazing! And interesting. The little cart like the one we rode up the slope on! The whole crew ready for adventure The Captain and First Mate (that'...

The top two questions that people have asked us in the past month has been: 1. How does it feel to be home again? 2. What is it like over there in Poland? The first question makes a knife turn in my heart. It makes me remember that I’m not even sure where my home really is. I love being here with family and friends, and being in my home state, but at the same time I have the horrible feeling of tears blurring my vision because I’m missing my home and friends in Poland. The second question makes me want to answer “Duh, it’s just like here,” but I know that would be a very rude answer, so I politely tell them about the climate, the land, and the people. Americans seem surprised that we can grow gardens just like here. They seem surprised that a lot of people have cars. They seem surprised that we have apples and cherries and strawberries and blueberries just like Oregon. I’m not sure where they think we live. Maybe the tropics or Antartica??? (and please, if you were one of the questio...

Our time right now is filled to the brim with: 1. Getting our house and garden ready to be gone for two months. 2. Buying wedding gifts and sewing wedding clothes. 3. Heaping "to take on furlough" things in a corner. 4. Making a photo album to show our friends in America. 5. Sorting through digital pictures of our work here to find the 100 that everyone will want to see on the slide show. 6. Preparing a table, brochures, and other items for our presentations. 7. Finishing up our first school year at Gateway to English. 8. Getting a "safari" made that will cover the school walls for the summer children's English lessons. 9. Brainstorming about what the summer lessons will include and worrying that everything will go smoothly. 10. Spending time in Warsaw with our yearly legal paperwork. Every year there are new wrinkles. 11. Having one precious afternoon and evening for just John and I (Thanks to Lavern and Lolita, our fellow Americans here). 12. Meeting with fri...

Discouragement threatened to overwhelm me. Sunday after Sunday, the empty church chairs seemed to mock us. Were there no searching hearts in this country? This particular Saturday, I was feeling especially blue. Maybe we shouldn't even be here in Poland , I thought bitterly. I sighed. "God," I prayed, "could you please just fill our chairs tomorrow morning at church." Is that too much to ask? I thought to myself. After all, who else would come? When was the last time our church room was full? The next morning, sitting in church, I thought, It seems full this morning. Then I blinked my eyes in surprise. Were my eyes playing tricks on me? I looked around. All but ONE very front chair in the whole room had a person sitting on it. "Thank you, God," I prayed. Such a small request, a small answer, but how it strengthened my faith. What a great God I serve. He even cares about our empty church chairs.

I couldn't believe my eyes! But that's what the sign said. "No achohol will be sold in this store on the days of May 25,26." What's going on here? What are the people in this town going to do if they can't buy beer for two days?! I mean beer is bought here like Coke or some other soft drink. But why? That was my question. Why aren't they selling beer on these two specific days? John asked his tutee and this is what he told him. The pope is coming to Poland on this weekend and all the cities he will be visiting will not sell achohol during the duration of his visit! It feels a little like God is coming to visit this country. I guess our little store in Minsk was just honoring his visit to the country, becausethe pope wasn't planning to stop in our town. But that doesn't stop the achoholics, John's tutee told him. They just stock up the day before for the days that none will be sold in the stores. I heard that Pope Benedict held a mass in Warsaw....

It all started when the guy that lives with us flattened the front of our vehicle when he met another vehicle when sliding through an icy intersection. No, let's back up. A few weeks prior, I was taking Allison to the dentist. Now in Poland parking spaces are all meant for compact fiats not mini vans. I was wheeling into a promising looking parking spot when I kissed the fender of an innocent car beside me. Horrified, I parked and climbed out. I rubbed the scratch and it seemed to disappear to my relief. I needed to find the owner, but I had no idea where he was in the three floors of this public building. And what would I do if I did find him. I had no idea how to tell him in Polish what happened. Many bumpers in Poland sport dents and scratches, but I still wanted to be honest. I took Allison into the building and when I returned later, I saw the car speeding away. I still feel a tinge of guilt about that. But back to my story. The same day, I rode with John and sat in the car ...

When we lived in America on the way town, my boys would count basket ball hoops... now they count roadside shrines. When we lived in America, my children never rode on trains... now they are quite familiar with all kinds of public transportation, trains, trams, buses, and metro... When we lived in America, my children wouldn't have thought twice about the cashiers at Walmart... now they whisper in amazement, Mom, that lady speaks English!!!... My children talk about rondos, markets, street vendors, tutors, bigos, pierogis, gates and fences, drunks, Warsaw, and fiats like they are normal life. Which indeed they are!!! Their world has expanded to a new culture. In fact, this is the culture they know. This is their home! I always get ecstatic when I think about furlough. My heart hammers as I think of this summer and the ten weeks we will spend in America. For me, I will be returning home, to the comfortable, the familiar, the life I knew. But for my children, they will be leaving the...

What better atmosphere for opening hearts than sitting around a candlelit room sipping cups of tea? Once every two months, we open our homes in this way and invite our friends and students to get together and share their hearts with one another. This isn't always easy for them. Normally, they are very private people and only have one or two close friends. And most of them are not believers. Our theme for the evening was "Treasures" and each woman was to bring something that represented treasure to her and tell us why. It was amazing some of the original things that the ladies brought...a ring of car keys (it meant that her husband was home with her son and she had an evening all to herself)... a locket (the picture of her mother and grandfather was priceless and the memories precious) ...a wedding ring (the love of her husband)... a dried rosebud ( the rose that her husband gave to her before they were married and was romantic and before he became so practical) ... an ol...

Just when we think winter can't get colder, it does. It doesn't often get below zero, but it is now and seems to be here to stay.Today we woke up and it was snowing. Because of the cold weather, my window sills were already coated with ice and now there is snow drifting up the panes. I can't help but say it is lovely. And, every winter, even when I'm sick of snow, snow, snow, I can't help but gaze in awe at every beautiful new layer. The disadvantage of winter is our cold house. Our furnace just can't keep up heating this drafty house, and so we shiver. We try to stay close to the heaters and only venture to an outer, icy room when absolutely necessary. I was just thinking what a weight loss program spring will be. Taking off all the layers of sweatshirts and pants can only make a person feel slimmer, right? Amid the winter doldrums, we try to lead a normal life. Snow doesn't mean school cancellations like in Oregon or Virginia, or the people here would keep...

I'm amazed every winter how much "stuff" that we need to remember every time we walk out the front door. Yesterday was no exception as we bundled everyone up and headed out to the pond for the first ice skating of the year. As usual, I was beginning to wonder if it was worth it. There is nothing more frustrating than to spend fifteen minutes putting on your children's snow things than to have the children back inside in five minutes because they're cold or the snow doesn't pack right or they have snow inside their boots. I was thinking these thoughts as the usual winter dressing room became a madhouse. "Allison, do you have your scarf?" "Mom, where are my gloves?" "Austin, don't forget to take your stocking cap!!!" "Mom, I can't find any more socks. I looked everywhere." "Derek, do you have to got the bathroom? Remember, there isn't any at the pond!" MMMMOMMM, I can't find my boots!!!" ...

Imagine watching the spectacular 4th of July fireworks display along the Willamete river bank in Harrisburg, Oregon... now imagine this all around you for twenty minutes nonstop... that is how our town of Minsk welcomed 2006. Every year we are impressed again at the impressive sight... fireworks popping off everywhere... people out in the middle of deserted snowy streets, drunk and wishing everyone happiness in the coming year...apartment windows flinging open and champagne spilling out and streamers floating down to the street below... one year we witnessed a group of youngsters braking bottles all over a busy intersection... a few minutes of glory and then the people return to the warm houses and their all night party. Really????!!! My friend looked unbelieving when I told her that in America where we lived we might have heard three gunshots or a horn honking for one minute, but we never had such a wild celebrations. She seemed quite incredulous. Maybe a bit how I felt when friends t...

Poland is a Christian nation. Every person considers himself a Christian. They go to church, they uphold the traditions, keep the sacraments and try to live good lives. And now during the Christmas season here in this Christian country, I was wondering, Where is Christ in this Christan country? Is Christ really here? Or has he been left in the manger 2000 years ago, a helpless infant? Is Christ making a difference in the daily lives of these precious souls? Or is he still hanging on the cross of Calvary? I quote: " Poland is a land of intriguing traditions traditions and legends. So important is the first star of the night that Christmas Eve has been given the affectionate name of "little star" or "Gwiazdka," in remembrance of the star of Bethlehem. The moment the star appears, everyone exchanges greetings and good wishes. Families unite for the most carefully planned meal of the year, "Wigilia," Christmas supper. According to tradition, bits of hay h...

More times than not, my December 17th birthday nearly gets forgotten with all the busy Christmas festivities that try to crowd it out. But a few times in my life I have been totally surprised and this year was one of them. We three American ladies got together on Friday for our annual "candy and cookie" day when we make American goodies to give as gifts to our friends here. I thought it a bit strange that everyone was wishing me a cheerful "Happy Birthday" first thing in the morning when I arrived at my friends house. What are they thinking? It's a day early! Oh, well, I thought, they just don't want to forget this year. But I was secretly thinking about the night out that my husband had planned for the two of us the follwing evening. (At a romantic Italian restaurant in Warsaw, at that!) And I thought about the brunch that my oldest son promised to make on my special day. (Imagine that he is old enough to give me such a gift!) The morning passed and at time...