Bella and I have figured out how to make great pumpkin pies. My part is to buy the pumpkin, build a fire in the outside clay oven, and put the whole pumpkin in there. After a few hours, you can stick a fork in it anywhere. It is all soft. Then Bella scoops it out, adds some spices and makes the crust. You have to taste it to believe how good it is. If you come for a visit, and it is pumpkin (actually squash) season, maybe Bella will make you one.
Bella makes awesome pumpkin pie.
The Snells and Leaos are back from Altamira, so everyone came over to celebrate Bella’s 16th birthday.
Natal = Merry Christmas
Even though Anni and Via have lived in Canada for three and a half years, when they come home for Christmas they still jump right in, and they can still speak Portuguese.
At the Children’s Christmas Party, Emma helps Aline organize an event.
At the Christmas Youth Service, Anni played the keyboard.
Some of the neighbourhood boys watch the Christmas play. Monica made the artificial tree in the background by recycling two-litre pop bottles.
At the Christmas Youth Service, Anni played the keyboard.
Some of the neighbourhood boys watch the Christmas play. Monica made the artificial tree in the background by recycling two-litre pop bottles.
Bella turned 16 years old today! We made mango pie and vanilla ice cream, to celebrate.
First Birthday Celebration Without Mom, (but we celebrated together throughout the day via Skype).
Emma and Bella collected two buckets of Bacuri Mangoes.
Bella tested two mango recipes, and they are both good.
Birthday Breakfast.
On November 2 Bella turned 15. Saturday is our day off, and we celebrated with Bella as a family all day.
We drove to the zoo in the morning, but it was closed. Still, we had a nice drive.
We drove to the new Mall for Sushi in the late afternoon.
The girls went to the Youth Service at church in the evening.
Here are some photos of our home and the mission on this nice Saturday.
We gave Bella an easel for her birthday.
Birthday Breakfast, Nov 2, 2013
Last year Bella got a desert rose plant. This year she got a red rose bush.
A favorite past time.
Julia
Volleyball practice.
The desert rose blooms again.
The new kitty.
The girls left Canada Sunday morning. I met them in Belem Tuesday. On Thursday afternoon, when we got home, the girls quickly showered and went out to see their friends. Later that day others from the neighborhood came over to see them.
Everyone is happy to see Bella and Emma back.
The neighbour girls are thrilled to see “Tia Deanna”.
Sharing bread together at the end of the day.
“How about a game together?”
Spanish Train
“I’m going to tip it…”
Emily, interested in everything.
I remember Luke Huber talking about the Amazon, before we ever became missionaries…”then we would to this beach area, where there were many cashew fruit trees. I could eat 5 of these super-juicy fruits”. And there is nothing better than when you are walking along a deserted stretch of beach, and you are hot, and tired, and hungry, and then you come across a cashew tree, full of sun-ripened fruit. They have such a strong, citrusy, flavour, and they kind of make your mouth dry, like the choke cherries up in Northern Canada. Sun ripened, open air, fresh…these are the secrets to really enjoying the actual cashew fruit.
Luke told us cashew fruits contain 5 times as much vitamin C as an orange. We found out for ourselves they will stain your shirt brown if the juice drips on you. And the seed contains some toxic elements that will burn your leg if you put them in your pocket. The smoke is also toxic, as I found out when I tried roasting some in a frying pan inside the house, and the house filled with smoke, and our eyes were burning. The seeds will spit burning oil that leave a blister wherever they land on your skin, and they will be flaming, burning bits of oil if you roast them over a fire. We learned to stir them around with a long stick. For flavour, home-roasted cashew nuts taste the best.
If you come for a visit at this time of year, you can see for yourself what I am talking about.
Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.” Luke 9:37
“Aren’t you going to wait until they get bigger?” My friend was watching me pick Bella’s little tomatoes. He did not understand that these tomatoes were ripe now. He thought that if we left them longer, they would get bigger. I realized as I was picking them how God varies the signals for ripe fruit. Tomatoes turn bright red. They would be hard to pick for someone who is color blind. Some of our mangos are still totally green on the outside, even though they are ripe. The ripe mangos fall from the trees, and they are a little softer. Pineapples smell ripe. You need to knock on watermelons. The harvest is plentiful. The Holy Spirit will show us who is ripe for the gospel is we ask Him.
Bella’s Little Tomatoe Patch
The mangoes are ripening.
