the Chacogirl

This was 2011!

2012-01-01T22:05:00.000-03:00

January: I graduated from the Couch-to-5 k program. I was in better shape than I am now:(

February: We went on a trip to the Paraguay river at Carmelo Peralta. I loved seeing so much water!

Also February: My Christmas present arrived: A new sewing machine. I'm still thrilled about it!

March: Bumper crop of cucumbers. I made relish for the first time.

April: I tried some new recipes for Easter. Like this one. We all loved these bunnies!

May: Marvins cousin from Germany came to visit. Here they are preparing meat for a BBQ.

June: A visit to my parent's ranch!

July: A trip to the capital (=a trip to McDonald's)

August: A flea market/second hand sale at my parents with some friends and my sister.

September: highlight of the WHOLE year: my 2 sisters came from Canada!

Here's a family picture: together again after 8 1/2 years!

October: the Trans Chaco Rally.

November: first spring rains brought beauty back to the Chaco!

Also November: Amy's ninth grade graduation! We are so proud of her!

December: traditional Crazy-Cookie-Baking Day at my Mom's! This year we "only" made 12 different batches of cookies:)

Thank you all for visiting my here on my blog this past year. I hope to blog more regularly in 2012, but I won't let blogging keep me from more important things!

I have always loved this verse and would like to give it to you for the new year. God bless you all!

October news

2011-10-09T14:44:00.000-03:00

Hi and welcome back to my blog!

I'm so glad no one pressures me into posting something here twice a week or whatever! I think of my blog more like a newsletter ("Rundbrief"), to let my friends and family know what we've been up to.

So, end of September/beginning of October always brings us the largest motorsport event in our area. The Transchaco Rally is a car race that takes 3 days and brings the pilots over 1000 km through the worst roads our country has to offer. IT'S GREAT! I've always loved watching, but for 9 years now, my husbands cousin and neighbor has paticipated in this event, which makes it even more interesting for us. Here some of my photos:

I've also spent time on Pinterest looking for the perfect Christmas card idea. I usually start to make cards way too late, or I just buy them and send them in the mail 1 week before Christmas. Well, I found a cute idea and have already started to make them. I love Pinterest! Here are some ideas I picked up there. (I didn't post the one I'll be making:)

The next thing on my list to tell you is HUGE!

I received a job offer!

I haven't had a job (away from home) in almost 18 years. Because we don't live in town and because I was always home with the kids, I didn't really want or have to. Now, my brother-in-law, who is also the boss of the office I used to work for, asked me if I would like to work on Saturdays. I have to drive into town at noon on Saturdays anyways to pick up our girls from the dorm, so it works out pretty good. I'm very excited to start again, and also wondering if I'll do the job good enough. I'd really appreciate you keeping me in your thoughts and prayers:) And if you hear a new voice on the phone at the Vet's office, it might be me!

Have a great new week, my friends!

Dueck sister's reunion

2011-09-14T16:16:00.000-04:00

You might have noticed that I hadn't posted anything for awhile...

Well, I was busy.

Busy having too much fun!

You see, two of my sisters came in August from Canada and I hadn't seen one of them in a little over a year (Andrea) and the other one in 8 1/2 years (Daniela).

That is just too long!

We had so much fun: laughing, singing while washing the dishes, "be-membering" stuff from our childhood, etc.

We had a special ladies-night-out with my dear mum! And she wasn't even embarrassed with our giggling throughout the meal:) From left bottom to right: my wonderful Mom, my little sister Andrea, my oldest sister Daniela (Dani), my slightly older-than-me sister Caroline.
The waiter was always rearranging things on our table, so Dani held on to her plate here.

But the waiter was happy to take this picture of us! I'm the one with the freakishly large hand in the bottom right hand side of the picture:)

Dani brought some stuff along from Canada; like her two very lovable teenager sons and her husband. (Won't show a pic of my brother-in-law here:)

Mark was the happiest on my old motorcycle. I wish I could have given it to him to drive around at home with it...

Philip liked it too, but he was busier shooting the air rifle at the various birdies and cactus'.

My sister also brought me the pattern for this dress. I can't wait to find the perfect material for it and make it for Christmas this year!

I'll post some more pictures soon. I've been having problems with blogger, so posting this was already difficult!

I'll be back soon!

Brenda

Package from the north

2011-08-09T18:20:00.000-04:00

My sister Dani sent us a package in May and I already lost any hope of it arriving.

But it did, today:) YAY!

I noticed a funny smell coming from the package and when I opened it, some yellow powder came out. (I really would like to know what the post office workers from around the world suspected was in the package:) It turns out, my sister had sent us some dressing mixes and one of the baggies with the Cheese Nacho Dip mix had opened somewhere between Canada and Paraguay.

After I cleaned everything up, I sat down to enjoy the best part of the package: a recipe book I had been looking out for for a while. Mennonite Girls Can Cook!

(wierd picture: book on my lap:)

There are so many great tasting recipes in this book, I recommend it to everyone who likes good, home-cooked meals.

This is comfort food at its best!

Waffles with Vanilla Custard and some delish looking raspberry sauce on top.

Chicken noodle soup, looks just as good as my Oma's.

This one I have wanted to try for a while: Rolled up Kielke. (Kielke is a homemade pasta/noodle)

I can just imagine how good this will be with baked farmer sausage on the side!

Wareniki is a well-known recipe in our Mennonite culture. I never liked them as a child, but love them now. (Pasta pockets filled with cottage cheese drenched in a creamy sauce. )

This is one of the first recipes I ever tried from the Mennonite Girls Can Cook blog. It's my signature Easter dish (at least has been last year and this year:)

These cinnamon roll-like Maple Twists are delicious!

My Mom made these "Pies-in-a-pocket" for my oldest sister's wedding and we loved snacking on the leftovers!

Thanks Dani, for sending this recipe book to Caroline and me.

I don't think she'll get her turn with it anytime soon:)

Have a great week, all my readers, commenters and lovely lurkers:)

Brenda

Vacaciones = vacation in spanish:)

2011-07-25T17:02:00.002-04:00

So, we went to Asunción last week.

I don't count trips to the capital as relaxing vacations for a few reasons:

They don't speak my language in Asunción. I feel the most comfortable speaking in German or English. And Spanish is the principal language there. It's stressful for me because my husband speaks even less Spanish than I do, so I get to order in restaurants, ask for directions and book the hotel rooms. And I'm always the one with the map on the lap, telling the driver (Marv) where to go, shushing the kids in the back, checking for traffic lights (we don't have any where we live), etc. My head gets tired...
Going with 3 kids and my husband means there are 6 different opinions where to go and what to do. Plus we were going with another family with 3 girls in the same ages as ours, but with completley different tastes in activities.
It was cold and wet. Enough said.

But it was fun anyway, just not relaxing.

Right before the bridge that takes us into Asunción, we got caught in a traffic jam, which nevers happens here. When we inched closer we saw what was blocking our lane.

A great big tank on wheels was attempting to cross the bridge. It probably came from Argentina.

They even had to lift this sign, so that the tank could drive underneath. I'm glad we weren't on the bridge the same time as that monster truck. :)

We went to a brand new shopping center just across the street from the Expo-site. It's called Shopping Mariano and the prices are high, just like in all of the malls in the city. :( But we did enjoy our first taste of McDonalds, and Amy posed beside the Hulk, so it was totally worth it!

On a walk from our hotel Cindy turned into a tree hugger! Thats fine with me:)

Brianna and Anna found a granny in the Sol-Mall.

This was one of my best moments during our stay there: A real-live Cappucino with a piece of lemon meringe pie from McCafe! Yum!

Ok, it's back to work for me now. We are having a yard sale/flea market this weekend. Brianna and I have priced a lot of our stuff already and I'm still debating if we should try to sell our old sofa set or not. We won't be able to get a new one for a few months because the "carpinterias" are overbooked now.

Thanks for visiting with me, have a great week!

And if you're one of my sisters from up north: I can't wait till August 19th!!!!

Mug Rugness

2011-07-18T16:34:00.000-04:00

Hi, has the mug-rug madness caught up to you yet?

I love them, they're cute and fast to make, and the best of all...

...you can gift them to someone you care about! I think they'll make great gifts for Friendship Day on July 30th.

Did you know that Friendship Day originated in Paraguay?

"The Friend's Day had a historic antecedent called Crusader global friendship that is a campaign in favour of giving value and enhance the friendship among human beings, so as to promote the Culture of Peace. It was designed by Dr. Ramon Artemio Bracho in Puerto Pinasco, Paraguay in 1958. From that idea, was set July 20 as the Day of Friendship and is celebrated in several countries in South America. In Paraguay is celebrated on July 30. Its importance lies in the fact that favors the values that enable dialogue and harmony in society and the world." (copied from here: http://news.deviantart.com/article/53388/)

And Wiki says: "Traditionally, the International Friendship Day celebrations take place on the first Sunday of August, among several Friendship Day celebrations on other dates, held by a range of countries. On 27 April 2011, the United Nations declared 30 July as International Day of Friendship. "

We're leaving tomorrow morning for a 3 day vacation to the capital. I hope the 4 hour car drive to Asunción doesn't make me car sick or kid-sick. :) Hope you have great week! Thanks for checking in on me!

See ya, Brenda

Horses!

2011-07-04T20:13:00.000-04:00

My dad came by last week with a small trailer full of horses. The brown mare in the front is the one we are borrowing (maybe buying) from him. The colt in the middle is here on vacation (to be weaned of his mother still on the ranch) and the black lady in back is sold already and is waiting for the buyer to pick her up.

And here she comes...

closer... and closer...

...and here she is!

Brianna is very happy!

Until 10 minutes after this picture was taken and she fell off.

Thank goodness she only hurt her pride. And she might have a bruise tomorrow.:)

Baking results

2011-06-29T17:30:00.001-04:00

We are having a ladies meeting tonight at a neighbors house.
The women from my village bring something sweet to eat and the other village's ladies bring something salty. I'm always glad to be in the sweet group, as the salty potluck foods intimidate me:) (sandwiches, enpanadas, chipa, sopa paraguaya and things like that.)

I decided to try and see if my favorite angel food cake recipe would work today, as the last few times I made it, it failed. I have so many eggs now, that I don't see it as a waste if I use 1 1/2 cups of egg whites on this wonderful dessert. I also needed a backup recipe, in case the angel food cake didn't turn out, so I picked a refreshing looking Key Lime Poke Cake from Betty Crocker. Instead of the boxed white cake mix, I used Betty's own recipe for Silver White cake. I also omitted the frosting on top, as I thought the filling was enough. Come and take a look at my results:

You can find the Chocolate Angel Cake here and the Key Lime Poke Cake here.

I hope you try one of these some day!

Here is the Pretzel Recipe from my last post, especially for Ellie! Or this one.

I'll see you all again soon, Brenda

It's me again:)

2011-06-26T19:10:00.000-04:00

Ok, picture this: I'm home, all alone. Marv and the girls went to check on the cattle. They left me with peace and dirty dishes. I've got an almost empty bag of nachos and a cup of cappuccino. Ahhhh..... no more excuses not to post something in my blog.:)

Sorry for leaving you readers for a while. I just didn't have the urge to post anything. But then some of my faithful friends started leaving me messages, asking if everything was ok. One of my bloggy friends even awarded me (I think she gave me the award to wake me up to start blogging again:), thanks Betty! (More on that later)

I started to post something a few times, but it would take forever to post pictures. But I'm here now, so this is what's been happening in my life now.

The cute calf in the first picture is my new project. Her mama stepped on her legs right after she was born and broke 2 of them. We put her front leg in a splint and the hind leg healed on its own. Her name is Toddy (a brand of chocolate milk down here) and she's doing great now. She's not usually in my flower bed, but the girls thought it would make a great photo shoot:)

Our next new pet is a cute little turtle. My mom found it on the road and gave it to Brianna. We started to call it "Chipa" because of it's shape and size, but Brianna renamed it and I forgot what it's name is now. It's so small I could fit two on them in the palm of my hand. This is the kind of turtle that gets to be about 30 cm (12 inches) in diameter.

We went to our parents ranch the other day. This is what the front gate looks like. Can you see the name of the ranch on the sign? Who can guess what it means? (Sisters are not allowed to answer this:) Whoever has been reading my blog for awhile should be able to answer this.

This is what Brianna likes to do on the ranch.

This is what Cindy likes to do on the ranch.

And this is what Amy likes to do on the ranch.

I love my girls, even if they drive me crazy sometimes.

So I baked them their favorite snack last week. Big, crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside pretzels:)

I received a surprise last week, my friend Betty from A glimpse into midlife awarded me with this sunshine award! Thanks Betty!

Every award has it´s rules and this one is pretty easy.

Thank the person who awarded you and link back to them.
(Did that!)

Tell one thing about yourself.
(I collect more crafting magazines and ideas than I'll ever be able to make in 4 lifetimes! I just checked and I have over 5 GB of crafting magazines in my computer and a whole shelf in my bookcase full!)

Nominate 10 blogs for the award.
( I haven't been blogging for awhile and haven't been keeping up with other blogs either, so I won't do this today. Sorry:)

This is Brianna's cow saying:

"Thanks for dropping in on the Chacogirl, and moooove back here soooon!:)"

Easter in our part of the world

2011-04-25T14:05:00.004-04:00

Even though Easter falls into our Fall season, we can still enjoy new flowers blooming. These are the first flowers from some bulbs I got from a friend. Everyone who knows me, also knows that I do not have a green thumb, so I really don't even know the name of these beauties:)

The girls are home for almost a week for Easter holidays, so we enjoyed some good Terere-times.
Tip: how you know you have a teenager in the house?
You have to look for your manicure supplies and your daughter's nails look more awesome than your own:)

I did some traditional baking before the holidays. I started with Easter Paska. It's a sweet bread loaf that just tastes like something my Mennonite Oma would make:) Find the recipe here.

I also tried out Taste of Home's Orange Easter Bunny rolls. They turned out delish!

Sunday morning I hid some goodies and the girls and Marv had to look for them! (I hate looking for stuff, keys, lost library books, eggs, etc) So I'm glad that I'm the official hider, and my husband has to look for the baskets with the girls:)

I'm really not showing off with a quilt in the background, but Cindy's basket really was in the old washing machine on the porch and my quilt was hanging there to dry:)'

They all found their baskets and posed for the camera:)

We had a nice family gathering at my parents house in the afternoon.

Even though my family ganged up on me and tried to tell the grossest stories they knew so that I would gag, etc. But that's what families are for, right?

I hope you all had a great holiday and God bless you and your families!

Love, Brenda (a.k.a. theChacogirl)

Keeping busy

2011-04-16T10:16:00.000-04:00

I'm trying to get back in the groove or blogging reguarly, but it's not easy. We're keeping busy with harvest and are very grateful for that.

I made my very first batch of relish last week. You can't buy it anywhere in Paraguay and I remembered it tasting very good from when I was a child in Canada:)

This picture looks kind of wierd:) This is actually a big bowl and not a pail. I grated the cucumbers and the onions (I borrowed Cindy's swim goggles for the onions) and cut up red and green peppers and cut up some frozen cauliflower. Then I cooked it with spices and stuff and canned it.

The jars on the right hand side are full of relish, the others are pickles. I got the recipe for the relish at Mennonite Girls can cook. I left out the mustard seeds and the curry powder as I don't like the taste of that. And I borrowed the Turmeric Powder from my Mom (you cna't get it here).

Here's another new recipe I tried. Everything Bread from Taste of Home. Brianna said it tasted better than cake.
With this recipe I omitted the onion powder. I wanted to be able to put jam on my sandwich!:)
I agree!

I'm sewing new curtains for our old house. We built the house we are in now about 7 years ago, and kept the old homestead house to use as a guesthouse. My husband's cousin is coming from Germany during Easter, so I'm deep-cleaning it and making new curtains and sheets for it.

Before:

I won't say "After" because I need to do some more to the room. So this is the "During" photo.

I also sewed a new cover for our blanket. I didn't really want to go with these colors, but I loved the mix of flowers and stripes. And Marv likes it too:)

So, keep checking out my blog for new updates on the B's B&B (Brenda's Bed and Breakfast) and I'll be showing some things I've been crafting and sewing soon.

Have a great weekend! Hugs, Brenda

Excuses not to blog

2011-03-29T21:13:00.000-03:00

Hello all of my dear friends and family, or who ever is reading this blog. I would like to list some ~~excuses~~ reasons I have, why I haven't been blogging very regularly lately.

1. I had to go out for supper with Cindy and her friends for her birthday. The Hotel Florida serves the best pizzas, btw.

2. I have to take cool pictures of my crazy cat. Why would he want to sleep in a bowl? I don't know:)

3. I have to watch things grow. We have been blessed this summer's end with good rainfall, and everything is growing at once.

3 1/2. I have to watch these beautiful cucumbers grow as well.

4. I have 2 new bunnies to take care of. In the picture you can see the new female rabbit on this side of the pen. Skip-bo is looking over the middle part to see what's happening.

5. I have to help Brianna with her homework. She has a lot of trouble with her math, so that takes a good chunk of my afternoons. She's forth grade now.

6. I have to can the cucumbers too. We're harvesting about 3 kg every second day.

7. I was sewing some things for a friend of mine. I didn't take any pictures of the clothes I made, because I didn't know how she thought of me posting it. There were two dark blue satin dresses for her little girls, one white/gray lacey top and a dark blue skirt with lace inserts for her. Her sister is getting married next week, and I think they will all look very spiffy, if I may say so myself. I'm just getting used to sewing that much again, and it has caused me some neck and back pain already. But I love sewing anyway!!!

So, there are some of the things going on in my life right now. What I want to do in the next few weeks is, get our guesthouse ready for my husband's cousin. He's coming here for Easter from Germany and always stays at our house. I'd like to sew new curtains for a few rooms, new sheets and maybe a simple quilt. Lets see how far I get.

Thanks for being patient with me, glad you could drop in and see me. If you need me, I'll be in my sewing room...

or chasing my cat with the camera:)

February photos

2011-02-18T18:46:00.000-03:00

Hello my friends! I'm finally finding some time to share some pictures and info from me and my family.

These are just some random images from this month. Hope you enjoy them!

Brianna loves playing with our German Shepherd, but because he is aggresive towards strangers, we keep him on the chain during the day. This was taken in the morning, before Chester was tied up for the day.

Marv thinks we need more pets, so he found this dove (chick, baby?) and brought it home. In the beginning Cindy was its prime caretaker, feeding her 4 times a day and cleaning out her box. But now Cindy is in the dorm and Brianna in school, so guess who gets to feed this ugly duckling? And enjoying it:)

This is my wonderful, beautiful, hardworking, Pfaff in action. I sewed sheets and pillowcases for the girls to use in the dorm. At least no one will have the same ones:)

I can't wait to embellish a baby blanket or something with these cute turtles!

My nephews came over to play. They are NOT playing with dolls, but playing with TOYS.:)

Nicole and Brianna however are playing with Barbies. Brianna has half of the living room for a barbie city!

My cats taking a siesta together. Finally they started to accept the other one, and only fight when one gets his food before the other.

This is the baby dove, a few days later. The girls named her Peepsi. Her feathers are starting to grow out here.

Sunday school graduation last sunday. Our village and a neighboring village preformed a skit and a song. So funny: the youngest Sundayschool student was singing with half closed eyes and dancing to the music:) Amy was accompaning the group on the guitar, and Cindy and Brianna were also singing.

Brianna on her second day of school. (We did take pictures on the first day, but you could see the stress shining through, so I decided to take some on the next day)

This is how big Peepsi is this morning, I have my second cup of coffee while feeding her and watching the news on TV, which I never do otherwise!

Thanks for dropping in to see my blog. I need to prepare some stuff for supper now, my parents are coming for a simple bbq:)

Take care and come again!

My Christmas present!

2011-02-05T23:45:00.000-03:00

My present finally arrived!

It's a Pfaff expression 2.0. (sewing machine, for all of you still wondering what that is:)

Thanks, Mom and Dad, and Uncle Herb for buying and sending it from Canada!!!

Can't wait for Monday:)

A lot of numbers

2011-02-03T09:41:00.000-03:00

Numbers have always fascinated and baffeled me. I always loved math in school and loved taking apart numbers and putting them back together again. So today I'm going to give you a few numbers about me:)

School starts on Valentine's day for Amy and Cindy, and a day later for Brianna. Amy and Cindy will both be in the dorm during the week. Brianna takes the bus to a school about 10 km from home; she leaves at 6:25 am and comes home around noon. I really hope to get more sewing projects done this year while she's in school. I got a beautiful quilting magazine from my friend Faith from Canada and I've been itching to start quilting again.

I have to make my zwieback now, so I have to go.

P.S. I hope to post about a Christmas gift from my parents later on this week, so come back soon:)

I graduated!

2011-01-24T23:43:00.000-03:00

...from the Couch to 5 k program, that is. Today I did my last run in this program, which was week 9 day 3.

You can find the program here.

Amy is starting out with week one, so we could begin together today. Brianna came along on her bike with my camera to document this big milestone for me:)

Here we are still walking the 5 minute warm-up together.

Here is where I start running my 30 minute run.

This is on my way back. Totally sweaty and full of mosquito bites.

Here I come around the corner of our barn. Almost there...

And: I MADE IT!

After over three months of training,

I can do what I never could do before in my life!

At age 39 I can run a full 30 minute 5 k!!!

I'd like to thank some people here:

My blog friend, Ellie, for mentioning this program in a post
My sister, C, for encouraging me to keep on
My husband and daughters for cheering me on
The website I mentioned above
DJSteveboy's podcasts!
My sister, J, for buying my MP4 player for me in Canada
And all the countless people passing me on the streets early in the morning or in the evening, that didn't think I'm crazy!:)
The Couch-to-5K Running Plan on facebook, for all of the Kevin Pauleys there that encouraged me the reach the goal I set myself!

8 k I'm coming!

Our trip to Carmelo Peralta, part 2

2011-01-19T12:23:00.000-03:00

If anyone of you is wondering where Carmelo Peralta is, you can check out the map below. We live close to Filadelfia and Carmelo is on the paraguayan side of the river, across from Porto Mortiño (on the brazilian side) Usually the trip takes about 3 hours, but because the roads were so bad, it took us 4,5 hours.

As soon as we got there, our little fisherman (Cindy) went down to the river with her fishing gear she got for Christmas. We didn't fish anything big enough to save, and because it's off season, we couldn't fish from a boat.

There was this pesky duck that was running around the grounds. It was so curious, it almost checked out our guiso (meat and noodle stew) in the "olla".

The house we rented was very sparse in furniture and comfort. :P The kitchen didn't have a countertop to work on, so we had to do everything over the sink.

The girls loved spending time looking over the water. Thats a lot of water for a Chaqueña.

Someday I'd like to book a cruise on a river boat like this. But it needs to have air conditioning, mosquito netting and internet access.:)

Thats all for today, but I still have some great pictures to show you all next time.

Have a great week!

Our trip to Carmelo Peralta, part 1

2011-01-16T20:58:00.000-03:00

Friday morning we headed out of Filadelfia with 2 pick-ups and our SUV. We traded kids for a while, so that they wouldn't becaome bored (and start fighting with their sisters:) This is Anna (Brianna's friend), Princess Polar (Brianna's newest teddy bear and Brianna in the back seat of our Toyota Runner. We tanked the vehicles and started out with mixed feeling about the 270 km of dirt roads in front of us. It had rained 140 mm at out house two days before, and the roads could be tricky.

We had to use the 4-wheel drive to get through this part of the road. I was glad when it was over.

As you can see, the bridges don't look very sturdy, and some were broken, so that we had to drive on the lower part of the road.

The water was still rushing underneath the bridges 2 days after the rain. And because the water covers a lot of gras and other plants, it soon starts to smell very foul. Yuck!

This was out first view of the Paraguayan river. Brazil is on the other shore.

I'll post more tomorrow. I really have to get to the dirty laundry and to my couch:)

Speaking about my couch: I'll be doing W8D3 of the Couch-to-5k program tomorrow. That means if all goes well, I'll be graduating from the programm in one week. I used a little more than 9 weeks to complete it, but I'm totally amazed by the results. On W1D1 I could hardly jog for one minute without my body screaming to to stop. On my last run, I ran for 28 minutes non-stop. As I already wrote on my facebook wall: I wish my P.E. teacher could see me run now.:)

Theme Thursday, #1

2011-01-13T18:34:00.000-03:00

Go ahead and jump!

I'm linking to ThemeThursday

I'll see you all next week,

when we get back from our weekend vacation:)

Book review, finally

2011-01-05T14:53:00.000-03:00

It took awhile, but now I’ve finally sat down to write my book review from the book I received from Booksneeze.

This is my review of the book: “Cast of Characters” by Max Lucado

Max Lucado introduces us to various different characters of the bible in this great book. He weaves a story around each one, which makes you think, they are sitting right across from you and telling you their story themselves. And in each life he portrays, you can see the mighty hand of God leading and shaping this person.

One of my favorite chapters is the one about the paralyzed man. Lucado describes Jesus walking through a crowd of suffering people near the pool of Bethesda. He could have been in the temple or in a more sanitary crowd. But he chose to be here because: “When they suffered, he suffered also” (Isaiah 63:9) And even though we might be healthy and not in need of physical healing as this man, who had been lying near the pool for so long, waiting for the waters to heal him, we need Jesus to heal our hearts. Max shows with the verses in Colossians 2:13 – 15 what exactly God did for us, when we accept Jesus as our savior.

• God made you alive

• God forgave

• He canceled the debt

• He took away that record

• God stripped the spiritual rulers

• He won that victory

• He showed the world that they were powerless.

We were trapped and God came to the rescue.

After every chapter there are helpful questions for reflection and discussion.

I used one chapter as a bible study with a group of ladies and we all enjoyed it.

This book is filled with hopeful stories of real people. You can almost imagine they live today and Max Lucado had coffee with them yesterday while asking them about their personal experience with God.

Christmas pictures

2010-12-27T21:18:00.000-03:00

I'm finding it very hard to keep up with blogging, now that the kids are home on vacation.
Hope you don't forget me.:)

I'll post some pictures I took over Christmas here, ok?

1. Me and my girls, posing for the camera, right before we went to the Christmas Eve program. (Note the artificial color of my hair. Coloring your hair on Christmas Eve with a new color you haven't tried before is a mistake! (CINNAMON IS NOT MY COLOR) There, now I said it, maybe I can forgive myself too, soon.

2. My 2 friends from my village and I decorated the tree in the church that afternoon. It looked better in real life :P

3. Our girls and my sister's kids each got to pick a ribbon sticking out from underneath the table cloth. Attached to the ribbon was a gift. So that way no one could pick the biggest present:) (These were gifts that my sister and I had bought for the kids.)

4. My brother-in-law and my husband each got a thermos (water jug to keep water cold, a must-have in our region)

5. Brianna liked the blouse and shorts she got from Grandma.

6. We set the table in the kitchen/dining room, where the air conditioning had been on for a few hours.

7. Mom made the most delicious stuffed chicken, mashed potatoes and a lot of other goodies!

8. This was the family gathering at my in-laws house. My husband has 1 brother and 2 sisters, and each one of them have 3 kids.

9. The kids started playing as soon as they opened their gifts.

10. We saw this on our way home. My sister-in-law and her husband fastened the lights on to their fence. I hope you all had a "Frohe Weihnachten!" (Happy Christmas!)

Choco-Lavas, Snickerdoodles, and Teacakes!

2010-12-16T10:03:00.000-03:00

One of my favorite Christmas traditions is spending a whole day at my parents house and baking cookies until we're sick and tired of them:)

(sick and tired of cookies, not of my parents:)

When we got to town yesterday morning, C's boys were busy working...

So we all donned our aprons and plunged into the various cookie doughs.

Cindy and Nicole making Never Fail Sugar Cookies.

Jopi was tasting the dulce de leche while making Alfajores.

Chocolate Peppermint Stars

Choco-Lavas, Chocolate Crinkles or Holstein Crinkles.

Syrupskuchen

Gingersnaps, a lot of them!

Snickerdoodles

"Date Rolls" (I don't know what they're really called, my Mom had baked them before we got there)

Russian Teacakes (or Mexican Wedding Cakes)

Never Fail Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing

12 different kinds of cookies in one day!

(baked and frosted by 7 kids, 3 grown-ups and taste-tested by my Dad!)

I took this picture after we were done. We were very tired by then, and I usually don't look quite like this! (It's me on the right side, C is on the left)

We had fun, but I don't feel like baking today...

December in Paraguay

2010-12-09T19:07:00.000-03:00

This is what December in Paraguay looks like:

The time isn't right, it was about 4:00 pm and the temperature is in Celsius.

Guess who this is.........

It was Jopi's (my nephew) hand and his brother Steve was also hiding in the previous picture.

After swimming snack

Wordless Wednesday, the one with the gifted Cacti

2010-12-08T08:58:00.000-03:00

one cactus - two cacti; right?

My friend Maria gave me 38 different cactus plants!

Christmas preparations

2010-12-07T21:10:00.000-03:00

I haven't posted anything in a while, but maybe you're too busy to read too many blog posts now anyway:) So I'll make my post like a children's book today: a lot of pictures and a little bit of writing! Here goes:
I started baking some goodies for pre-Christmas snacking. These little cookies are a Mennonite (German maybe even) favorite called Peppernuts or Pfeffernüsse. We all love eating them while drinking Terere.

These cookies are called Lebkuchen. Something like a soft gingerbread cookie with royal icing and sprinkles on top.

Last week my two closest friends in my village brought me a gift. It's an advent's wreath. I didn't get around to lighting any candles yet, it's just too hot! It was 43 C (108 F) here today. We are really waiting for rain by now.

This is a close up. (From up close, I was going to write...) Isn't that straw angel just adorable?

Last night, a few friends and I went to the neighbor colony (Neuland) to participate in a little crafting course. We learned how to make origami stars. :) If you make them big enough and out of strong paper you can even hang a light bulb inside of them. We had a lot of fun crafting and taking a break from our hectic lives at home.

This is how mine turned out. I'd love to make another one soon, but they don't have the right paper in our colony right now.

This is our Christmas tree this year. For the first time we have a tree with a theme:) Purple and gold; Amy made some gold and white angels out of clothes pins. We have them on the tree for now, but we want to use them to attach our Christmas cars onto some ribbon and hang them up.

We set up our inflatable pool this week, and the girls have been enjoying themselves. I think I'll go for a cooling dip before going to bed tonight. :)

What I also wanted to write about is this new (for me) excersise plan my sister found on the internet. (Don't worry, they are not paying me for this ad!)

You can find the site here: http://www.c25k.com/

They have some great resoures here on this page too. The one I like the best is the podcasts that you can download (for FREE) for each week, for 8 (in some cases 10) weeks. I like DJ Beatsmith's podcasts, because the music is upbeat and almost totally instrumental (no singing). You can find his download page here: http://www.djsteveboy.com/1day25k.html

My walking buddy and I started a few weeks ago, and since we don't always have time to do the programm 3 times a week, it'll take slightly longer than 8 weeks. The goal is to get up from your couch to running a 5 k(m) distance in 8 weeks. (Not that it takes you 8 weeks to run 5 km, but it should take you about 30 minutes to complete this distance)

When you listen to the first week of the plan, you start out pretty easy. It's about 3 minutes of the host talking, during which you start walking already to warm up. Then the music changes and you start running/jogging to the beat for about a minute. The music always lets you know when to walk or run.

I love this program! Since it's so hot here at 6:00 pm, the time we usually walk, I've set the alarm at 5:30 am to start out as soon as it's light enough outside. I recomend this program for everyone who wants to get in shape and needs a little bit of help. Since we started walking in August, I've felt so much healthier. My acid reflux is totally gone. (I had it every night before going to bed) My bladder is stronger (I know, TMI). And I lost 4 kg (8lb). YAY!!!

So, I'm not promising myself that I will continue to lose weight throughout the Christmas season, but I'll try:)

A WARM hug from Paraguay to anyone reading my post. Comment if you want, I love getting feedback!

Meet me on Monday

2010-11-29T08:51:00.001-03:00

I missed Meet me on Monday last week, just because I was too busy getting older:)

So join me now for Java's new round of questions.

Welcome to the 24th edition of "Meet Me On Monday!"

Blogging is a funny thing...we tell our most intimate thoughts for all to read and yet most of the time I find myself sitting and wondering, "who is this person!?" I know them...but yet I don't know them! I want to know who the person is behind all those words so I thought of a great way for all of us to "meet" each other!

Questions:

1. What is your favorite way to eat chicken?

Coated in bread crumbs and deep-fried. But because this is probably the most unhealthy way to eat chicken, we don’t have it very often.

Find the recipe here: http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Picnic-Chicken-2

2. Have you decorated for Christmas yet?

I made a crocheted wreath for the front door, and I’m planning on setting up the tree this week.

3. What is your favorite article of clothing?

That changes so often… right now it’s a plum-colored, Japanese style tunica to wear over black jeans. I found it at the second hand store for about 4 $.

4. Do you pay your bills online or write checks the old way?

I guess it would be writing checks, but not in the same way you would in the U.S.

5. Do you make Christmas cookies?

Yes!!! My sister and I and all of our kids get together at my Mom’s (air-conditioned) kitchen and bake A LOT of cookies to gift and eat! Great tradition!

I hope you all have a good week, preparing your homes for Christmas traditions and preparing your hearts for the celebration of Jesus's birthday.

Update on my life

2010-11-28T16:43:00.000-03:00

Hi, I haven't posted anything in a while, so I'll give you a few picture to look at, until I find something interesting to write about:)

I had a few partys last week to celebrate my birthday. On Saturday morning about 11 ladies were here for coffee and cake. Most of them were my neighbors from my village and the village close by, and my Mom was there too:)

I made a Blättertorte (Napoleon Cake, you can find a recipe here) and a sponge cake filled with yoghurt/whipped cream and raspberries. Also some muffins, sandwiches and pizza buns.

We had a bbq on Sunday night with good friends and for that I served Southwestern Rice Salad, potato salad, ice cream and this trifle. It was very good!

We thought it would rain a few times last week, the clouds looked promising, but it's not our turn yet.

So we wait...

The girls like taking my camera on their walks, and usually there are a few really good pictures on it. Like this one... It's the sun setting over an australian well (a huge pile of earth formed into a volcano shaped mound to keep water in for the cattle).

And this picture...

...anyone else have any idea what kind of animal has a skull like this? :)

My sister- and brother-in-law are hosting a bbq for my birthday today, so I need to get going. I hope to post something for Meet me on Monday tonight or tomorrow. I'll see you then!

Meet me on Monday turns 22

2010-11-15T08:14:00.000-03:00

Meet me today and please cheer me up. I have a sore throat and I feel BLAH! I'm turning 39 on Saturday and I feel old...

Ok, I got that (partly) out of my system, now for the fun part. Java's given us some nice questions again. Here are my answers:
Questions:

1. Do you eat Sushi?

I've tried a few times, but I can't say that I liked it very much.

2. What kind of bath soap do you use?

I love shower gels and currently am using this one from Lux.
3. How often do you talk to your Mom?

3 -4 times a week?

4. What TV shows do you watch on a regular basis?

Castle, Big Bang Theory, CSI Miami and New York, Cougar Town, and the girls and I started watching Wallace and Grommit's Inventions.

5. Did you start Christmas shopping yet?

No, but I started crafting some things for Christmas.:)

Zwieback, the best rolls in the world

2010-11-10T10:37:00.000-03:00

The most important recipe my mom taught me before I got married is Zwieback, buns or rolls. You see, I live about 15 km from the nearest supermarket. If I were to rely on shopping for fresh bread, I'd be driving around all the time. But if I bake these pillowy soft rolls once or twice a week then freeze them, we can have some fresh buns on our table all week. I took pictures this week and will give you the recipe step-by-step. Here goes:

Zwieback, the Mennonite buns/rolls

1 liter of milk

Put this into a pot and let boil up once.

Add 1 cup of butter.

I put the pot with milk and butter into my sink, fill it half way full with water and let it cool down to slightly warmer than room temperature.

When the milk has cooled down, put 2 tablespoons of yeast and 1 tablespoon of sugar into a large bowl, add 1 cup of slightly warmer than luke warm water and let stand for 5 minutes.

The yeast will start to bubble a bit, then you know it's done. I used instant dry yeast, but I've had the same good results with normal dry yeast and also with yeast cakes.

Add the milk/butter mixture and add 2 tablespoons of salt.

Then add flour, one cup at a time and with your kneading hooks on your beater/kitchen aid or with your bare hands, start mixing the dough together. Keep adding flour until you have a nice and soft, but not sticky dough.

I used 9 cups of flour, but you might need more of less. You can also replace some of the flour with whole wheat, sorghum, rye or any other kind of flour. I also add sesame seeds, linseeds, and/or sunflower seeds to the mixture at this point.

When the dough looks like this, you can transfer the dough to a larger bowl and knead it some more with your hands. Sometimes you might have to add some oil to your hands, so that the dough doesn't stick too much.

Then put your cutest tea towel over the dough, put it in a warm place and set your timer for about one hour.

After an hour your dough should look like this.

Now comes the tricky part: take some dough into your greased hands, and pinch an egg-sized portion out through your index finger and thumb. Place the roll on a greased sheet and fill one sheet like this.
(If you do all three sheets at once, the last sheet you bake will probably rise too much and flatten out. So I prepare the first sheet, wait 15 minutes, do the second, etc)

Place a clean (cute) tea towel over the rising buns and place in a warm spot in your kitchen. After the first batch has risen for 3/4 hour turn your oven on highest and wait for 15 minutes to place the first sheet into the hot oven.

After 12 - 15 minutes your Zwieback should look like this, and your kids and neighbors will be standing at your door asking for a fresh bun:)

Dump the fresh buns onto the counter top to cool off, then eat them all:) or package into plastic bags to freeze for later.

I hope you enjoyed this recipe. I used the terms Zwieback, rolls and buns throughout the recipe. In german we call these Zwieback. (Even though real Zwieback means to bake something twice or to roast bread) At home we called these buns, but I've heard the word used for some body part too. Rolls is what I think the Canadians and Americans would call these.

Call 'em what you like, they're good!

Thank you for joining me today for my first recipe tutorial. Here are the ingredients once more:

Zwieback

1 liter (4 cups) milk

1 cup (200 gr) butter

2 tbsp yeast

1 tbsp sugar

1 cup warm water

2 tbsp salt

about 9 cups of flour

Meet me on Monday, twenty-one

2010-11-08T07:37:00.000-03:00

Good morning all you bloggers out there. Aren't Mondays great? A fresh start, every week. :)

Last week I told you that my oldest, Amy was sick. During the week Cindy, daughter # 2, caught the same fever-flu. And (finally) yesterday Brianna got it too. With her I'm much more worried, with her history of seizures with high fever. So I'm keeping her home today. She's in my bed now, looking at old Good Housekeeping magazines and drinking chocolate milk. Who said being sick has to be boring, eh?

I'm linking to Java's today with her weekly questions. Hope you enjoy!

Questions:

1. What is your favorite kind of pie?

http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Dixie-Pie

This is the best pie ever!

2. Have you ever ran out of gas in the car you were driving?

No, but I've run out of gas on my motorcycle a few times:)

I have a 20-year old bike just like this one, just blue. Now my daughters like to drive around the farm on it:)

3. How many languages do you speak?

English, German, Low-German, Spanish, and a little bit of portuguese

This is a poster ad on the wall in the supermarket in the neighbor town. They wrote the caption in Low-German.

4. Do you take daily vitamins?

No, but I try to eat fresh fruit from our orchard, when in season.

5. What is your worst eating habit?

Snacking in between meals!!!

Thanks for visiting, feel free to comment, hugs to all, I'm off to feed the zoo...

Totally random stuff today...

2010-11-06T18:50:00.001-03:00

Hi amigos! I'll be writing about different things today, hope I don't bore you:)

I was looking for a website the other day, where I could maybe trade my crafts for something else. I found We-Swap and Swap-bot.

I haven't done anything at We-Swap yet, thats a one-on-one trading place, and I haven't found the courage to post any of my crafts there yet. But I became a member at Swap-bot in September, and up until now I love it!

Here's how it works, explained by squidoo:

Swap bot is the latest in swapping technology. Started in 2005 by Rachel and Travis Johnson it is one of the coolest sites online. If you craft, pen-pal, or blog swap this is the perfect place for you. Before swap-bot if you wanted to conduct a swap you would gather the names of the participants and then using your genius and referee skills assign partners to others. With Swap-bot you no longer have to do that work. You host a swap, approve participants, and then Click Assign Partners and the technology does all the work for you. It even sends reminders to all your partipants.

I've participated in a few electronic swaps (meaning I send only an email or photo with email) and a few snail-mail and package swaps. I already showed you last month the keychains I got from France. Sadly the other person I swapped with didn't send me anything or else her package really did get lost in the mail.

Two weeks ago I received a bigger package than keychains! I joined the swap called "Stuffed Handbag".

We were supposed to send a handbag (new or in very good shape) filled with things we liked to put in our handbags. I was so excited to get a package from San Fransisco, U.S.A. And this is what was in it:

Inside the chic silver handbag were: hair elastics, bobby pins, a little first aid kit, disposible toothbrushes (to use without water), birthday candles, candy and big red gum, a pack of pink playing cards (so fun!), a souvenir of some chinese march with a hotel card inside, a vintage newspaper clipping with a sponge cake recipe (yum), a powdered energy drink, some brochures from San Fransisco, a key chain, a sharpie (forgot to pose it in the pic)(and now I finally know what a sharpie is:) and a lovely, handwritten letter. She also sent me her card with her website on it. I was smiling all day after I got this package:)

So now I'm hosting my own swap. It's called Stuffed Christmas Stocking (International) You can see the details here.

I swap with Swap-bot!

If anyone is interested in joining, feel free to sign up until next Saturday. You have one week to get your stuff together and send the package to your assigned partner. (Partners will be assigned on November 13)

We finally had some rain this week and Marvin is reseeding the field for the third time with sesame. He'll be planting peanuts too, but we're waiting for more rain for that.

We had some beautiful weather the last few days, cool in the mornings and not to hot in the daytime. Here's another sunrise photo I took, when I went to check on the cattle with Marv one EARLY morning.

This month is going to be crazy with all of the programms in schools. Brianna and Cindy's school is over on the 13th and Amy on the 20th. That reminds me...

Something important on the 20th. What was it?

Oh, now I remember, it's my birthday! I'll be celebrating my last birthday in my 30's this year! I hope no one gets me middle-aged-gag-gifts!:) I plan on having the ladies from my village over in the morning, maybe my english friends in the afternoon, my in-laws have invited us for the evening, and maybe we'll squeeze in another BBQ on sunday night. Not too stressful, is it?

I hope you all have a "tranquilo" weekend! Hugs from Paraguay!

Wordless Wednesday, the one with the sisters

2010-11-03T13:24:00.002-03:00

Welcome to the 6th Edition of Wordless Wednesday!

Wordless Wednesday is a great day to post an awesome picture that “speaks” for itself, no words needed!! (But I will be adding some words today:)

Amy, Cindy and Brianna, the three pieces of my heart.
I love seeing my daughters like this.
This is one of the pictures they will cherish when they are all grown up.
I miss my sister-group-hug!
Miss and love you, Dani, Caroline and Andrea!

Linking up to Java and for the first time at Finding Joy.

Meet me on Monday for the 20 th time

2010-11-01T07:13:00.000-03:00

I'm linking up to Java's again for another round of ~~deep, soul-searching,~~ fun questions. I'm keeping it short and pictureless for now, I'm going to the doctor with Amy soon. She has a bad cold and because she's had asthma as a kid, I want a doctor to see her. Hope she feels better soon!

1. Have you ever been on a cruise?

Nope, never.

2. What is your favorite way to eat eggs?

Egg salad sandwich, and also fried, sunny side up with a thick slice of tomato and a fresh roll to go with it.

3. What is your favorite reading material?

Almost everything, but I love books by Max Lucado and also comedy, adventure, action, and mysteries. I also devour magazines, especially crafting, quilting and crochet mags.

4. Name all the pets that you have ever had?

Do we have time for this?:)

Dogs, cats, horses, cows, parrots, rabbits, chinchillas, hamsters, chickens, turtles, armadillo, I think thats all:)

5. Were you ever a girl/boy scout?

No, never had the opportunity.

Wordless Wednesday, the one with the friendship heart

2010-10-27T11:13:00.000-03:00

Welcome to the 5th Edition of Wordless Wednesday!

Wordless Wednesday is a great day to post an awesome picture that “speaks” for itself, no words needed!!

My daughter and her friend posed for and took this picture last Sunday! I love it!

Meet me on Monday is back

2010-10-25T07:11:00.001-03:00

Happy Monday everybody, and as I said on FB last week:

Welcome to Monday.

Please secure your seat belt,

keep your arms and legs in at all times,

and enjoy the ride.

Java's is back with her Monday meme and new questions. You can find her here. I like to participate in this and similiar memes because I get to know a lot of new bloggers this way and people can find out ~~important stuff~~ more about me!

Her questions of the day:

1. Do you sleep with a night light on?

No, but just outside my door, in the hallway a nightlight is on to help the kiddies find their way to the bathroom at night.

2. What do you drink with dinner?

When in season, then we allways drink grapefruit juice with our lunch (which is the main meal of the day here), otherwise just water. (By the way, the picture below is one of our own grapefruits picked fresh everyday from our orchard. Picniked by me.)

3. Do you play the lottery? If so, how often?

Never

4. How often do you go to the grocery store?

I go into town once or twice a week, and do my grocery shopping then. We live in a village about 15 km away from the nearest store.

5. Would you rather travel back in time 500 years or travel forward 500 years?

Just thinking about the plumbing and health issues from 500 years ago, I'd rather go into future and be surprised what it looks like!

I hope you all have a good week. I'd like to catch up on cleaning and sewing.

And tomorrow I'm hosting our bible study at my house.

What would you serve a bunch of lovely ladies? I'm open to suggestions:)

P.S. I'm thinking of hosting a giveaway to celebrate 100 wonderful people following my blog. (It's at 97 right now) So, check in again this week to see if I get the 100th friend this week. (I agree with my friend, that the word follower is not quite right, I like to call you all friends!)

What I miss about Halloween

2010-10-20T17:33:00.001-03:00

To understand this post, you must know that I was born in Canada and lived there until I turned 10 years old. A lot of things that happened in my childhood are rosier in my mind than in real live. I remember going camping, going shopping in great big stores, eating out at McDonald's, racing down the slopes at Paskapoo in little racecar-like sleds, traveling to my grandparents house from Calgary to Winnipeg in a truck (my Dad had a roof on the top of the truck bed, I think it's illegal to transport people like that now:), and I remember Halloween.

Here in Paraguay, we don't celebrate Halloween. I've noticed that in the capital they are starting to catch on with the whole scary decorating thing and with wierd dress-up parties. But here in my beloved boonies, only people that have been in North America know the whole trick-or-treating custom.

What I miss about Halloween:

1. Candy

2. Costumes

and thats it.

I hate all the hype about cobwebs, witches, ghosts, skeletons, zombies, vampires, etc.....

But I loved to go trick-or-treating in the safety of my 3 sisters company, with pillowcases as goody bags, walking up and down familiar streets, our breath turning to fog in the cold October air, checking out who has the best hobo costume this year, and comparing our loot at home.

I remember my oldest sister, D, would always save one red lollipop till the next Halloween. We would see who had the most chocolate, and be disapointed with the apples we got. (My Mom wouldn't let us eat them, because we heard that sometimes evil people stuck razor blades in them). The greatest prize was always when we got McDonald's coupons!

So, I'm tired of all the crafts, costumes and decorating Halloween style that the internet spews at me everyday, just send me some candy and I'll be ok.

That reminds me, I got a package in the mail today, and I nearly cried. My fellow Chaco-blogger Betty was in Pedro Juan Caballero (a Paraguayan city on the border to Brazil) last week and blogged about getting her beloved Salt-and-Vinegar Chips there. I made a comment about grabbing them from her. Turns out I didn't need to threaten her. She sent me a Pringles can of S&V chips! Thanks, Betty!

So now you know my feelings about Halloween, I can go and hide in my sewing room and snack on some chips! :)

I'm invited to a barn party

2010-10-16T12:00:00.001-03:00

You read that right! I'm invited to a barn party over at Patrice's barn this week. I love this idea, she's celebrating her 4 month-blogversary. I met Patrice for the first time over at Java's: Meet me on Monday. And have been reading every single one of her posts since then. Because we both live on farms and both have daughters, I feel connected to her:)

So, let the party begin.

I can't get the blog button to link to her blogpost, so click on here to visit her.

The rules say to follow her. You know I do, Patrice!

Then we should answer 5 questions and post them on our blog. Here goes:

1. Who would you bring with you?

I would bring my 3 sisters, D from Winnipeg, Manitoba, C from town (we both live in Paraguay), and A from Langley, B.C. (just in case you’re wondering: yes, our names start with A,B,C,D just in reverse order, and yes, that was our parents idea:)

2. What will you wear to the party?

It sounds chilly, so I’d wear jeans and boots, a long-sleeved T with a cardigan I knit myself.

3. What would you most like to see on my farm?

The orchards I’ve been drooling over and of course your kitchen. I hear a lot of good things come out of your kitchen!

4. What dish would you bring since it's pot luck.

Crispy fried chicken and my favorite rice and bean salad.

You can find the recipe here.

5. What game or activity would you like to do during our get together?

I’d like to hear from each lady (or man?) attending, where they are from, what they do, and stuff like that.

I also like to play silly party games, with a camera close by, to catch the silliness.

Oh, and I would like to grease one of your pigs and let volunteers try to catch it. Always a fun party game, when you’re just watching someone else make a fool of herself:)

Come and join the fun.

Patrice will be having a few giveaways in the coming week to celebrate her 4 months of blogging.

Everyone have a great weekend, ok?

Some crafts I made

2010-10-12T23:12:00.000-03:00

I just got back from a ladies night out at a restaurant in town that just re-opened today. The food was delicious, but the waiter was very nervous, as it was his first day on the job.

So now I'll show you some crafts I've finished in the last few weeks.

First would be this bag. It's crocheted from a pattern I found on Ravelry, and I sewed some wooden beads on around the ruffle. I'm not sure what I'll do with this bag yet, but it would be the perfect size for one of my daughters to take her bible along to sunday school:)

Second is this embroidered journal cover. I made some similar ones last year for my 2 best friends, and just finished mine last week. The embroidery is done with all six strands and is easy and fun to do.

This is the inside of the "padfolio".

Next is this crocheted duster/vest. I hate the way I'm posing for this picture, but I didn't have anyone close by to take my picture so I set the camera on timer. But you're supposed to look at the vest anyways:) It took me about a month of drinking maté with Marvin until this project was done.

This was a totally new project for me. I found the idea in a Country Woman magazine. Marvin helped me cut the barbed wire and I put together the dried/artificial flowers. We gave it to friends of ours who were celebrating their 10 th wedding anniversary this weekend.

One of the things I love to do while reading blogs, is enter blog-giveaways. The other day, Quilting Ranny send me a message that I had won a pillow in her giveaway. She even wanted to personalize it:) YAY! I love quilting too, but haven't done a lot of it in a while. Here I am opening my package:

Here is the pillow! Thank you again, Quilting Ranny! I really love it and I will always think of you when I see this pillow. I wish you a lot of happiness and wisdom in raising your grandchildren!

On the same day I received another package in the mail, all the way from France!!! I joined a web-group called Swap-bot. You can pick in which swap you would like to participate, and they asign you partners. Then you send something to them, and someone else sends something to you.

And this is what I got in my first ever swap. Two keychains, a pair of earrings and a nice card. I'd like to say: Merci and thank you to "City700" of France.

Thank you to all of you, who took the time to read my blog today. I appreciate the comments I get from around the world and love to visit your blogs in return!

Meet me on Monday turns 18!

2010-10-11T12:09:00.001-03:00

Welcome to the 18th edition of "Meet Me On Monday!"

I'll quote Java's introduction to this meme here today:

Blogging is a funny thing...we tell our most intimate thoughts for all to read and yet most of the time I find myself sitting and wondering, "who is this person!?" I know them...but yet I don't know them! I want to know who the person is behind all those words so I thought of a great way for all of us to "meet" each other!

Every Sunday I will post five get to know you questions that you can copy and paste into your own Monday post and we can all learn a little more about each and every one of us!!

"Its a great way to to meet new friends and for others to get to know me better....one Monday at a time!!!"....as quoted by the Chacogirl!! (That's ME!:)
I will make this SIMPLE and FUN!!!

Questions:

1. Do your pants get hung on a hangar or folded?

I fold my pants. (And for whoever doesn't know how to, look at the diagram below:)

2. If you are stranded on an Island, what 3 things would you need to have with you (not including humans or electronic devices)?

My bible, handcream and chapstick.

3. Where is the farthest you have ever traveled to?

Canada to Paraguay both ways when I was about 4 or 5, and Canada to Paraguay, one way, when I was 10.

4. Do you live in a house, trailer or apartment, etc.?

We live in a house, which we built 6 years ago. We lived on the same farm but in an older house for 10 years before that.

New house

Old house, it was built by one of the first prople to live in this village. About 80 years old. (And very small:)

5. What is your most hated household chore?

Ever since I've had back pain (4 - 5 years ago), I've feared and hated washing my floors. I had back surgery for two herniated discs almost 3 years ago, and since then a lady comes once a week to wash my floors.:)

There, I hope I've answered some of your burning questions:) I really like to participate in this meme, because I notice a lot of differences of living in Paraguay, compared to Canada or the U.S.

I hope you all have a good week, tomorrow I'll be posting some pictures of some crafts I've done in the last few weeks. See ya!

Wordless Wednesday, where my kitty sleeps

2010-10-06T08:26:00.000-03:00

Linking to Java's Wordless Wednesday

Meet me on Monday, 17th edition

2010-10-04T09:14:00.001-03:00

Do you want to know a bunch of facts about fellow bloggers? Come over to Java's and link up to her meme: Meet me on Monday. This is a great way to tell others about yourself and get to know others, one Monday at a time.

Questions:

1. What is the best dish you can make?

Sweet and sour spareribs and most recently: Spaetzle

2. How often do you change your sheets?

Every two weeks.

3. What is the longest car trip you have ever taken?

Car trip is probably when I was 9, we drove from Calgary, Alberta to Winnipeg, Manitoba in 14 hours, I think. With bus, when I was 22, we drove to a youth retreat from Filadelfia, Paraguay to Curitiba, Brazil in 20 hours.

4. What is your favorite fruit?

Mandarines!

5. Would you rather have breakfast for dinner or dinner for breakfast?

Breakfast for dinner! Vice versa is just too wierd.

I'm glad this weekend is over. Whoever is familiar with Paraguay knows that this past weekend was the biggest motorsports event of the year: The Transchaco Rallye.

Ever since our cousin is driving in this race, we try to take part as good as we can. For three years Marvin was working as a cook to Tommy (his cousin) and Tommy's racing team. Which can easily come to 60 people a day. They would stay at the base camp in Mariscal Estigarribia for 4 days and start making "milanesa" at 5:00 am and stop at 11:00 pm, when the last of the team comes in. This is the first year that we could follow the race as a family, as Marvin decided to skip a year as a cook.

On the second day of the race I got up at 3:30 am and at 4:00 am we were on the road to Est. Mbuturetá. We got there at about 7:00, just in time to set up our chairs and cheer on the first race car coming through the "picada" ( a picada is a roughly cut road through the prickly brush of the Chaco). Tommy was the 8 th, and he kept that position until the next day when the race ended. (8th of 90 is ok, isn't it?)

We had a good time with famliy and friends, Tommy ended the race without an accident, that's what is the most important to me thoughout the race.

This commercial for Personal Internet started showing this weekend. Last year Thomas (Tommy) won the Transchaco Rallye with his co-pilot Carlos (Carlucho) Fillipi, and Hector (El Negro) Risso is the only race driver that has driven all of the Rallyes since they began in 1971. I showed the commercial to Tommy's mom yesterday, she was so proud of him:)

I hope this week is less crazy than last week was!

Have a happy Monday!

Transchaco 2010

2010-10-02T18:01:00.000-04:00

Wordless Wednesday, the one with Cindy's pizza

2010-09-29T16:48:00.000-04:00

Linking up to Java's Wordless Wednesday here.

Meet me on Monday, 16

2010-09-27T10:19:00.000-04:00

I'm linking up to Java's today again. I wanted to do this last night, but we didn't have internet access yesterday. I won't spend too much time with pictures today, because I just got back from our 7 km walk and I really have to get the laundry started, the dishes washed, lunch started, etc. I think you know what I mean.:)

Questions:

1. How many TV’s do you have in your home?

One! (I'm not counting the struck-by-lightning-broken-TV in our guesthouse:)

2. What is on your bedside table (nightstand)?

A lot of jewelry, nail clipper, hair accessories, and a little bit of a mess. And some bandaids for my blisters from Saturday:)

3. How many pair of shoes do you own?

I think around 10, but I mostly wear flip-flops. I love all kinds of flip-flops (remember when we used to be allowed to call them "thongs"?), and our neighbor country of Brazil makes the best ones. These are my favorites right now.

4. Can you change a flat tire?

I never have alone, but I probably could do it. My sisters can!

5. Do you prefer sweet treats or salty treats?

It depends on my mood. I love all treats! I'm craving something salty now, and I can't find anything edible in my cupboards now, except for some rice cakes with honey flavor. (It's like chewing cardboard with a light honey taste:P)

Fun-Run 2010

2010-09-25T21:14:00.000-04:00

This was before we started our 7 km fun-run this afternoon.

Note that we are smiling, except for me, because someone passed on the street and I had to see who it was:) From left to right: Rosella, me, Carola

This was afterwards. We finished the 7 km in our personal record of 55 minutes. YES! Thank you, Mom, C and your girls for cheering us on. I wouldn't have (maybe) made it without you:) (And yes, we are still smiling!)

Char is one of my missionary friends here. She jogged the whole race, so we were actually walking in her dust (except that it wasn't dusty:) She started the race listening to Nivaclé (Indian language she is learning), but switched to some music with a beat to jog to! She and her son both participated!

Anna is my daughters friend, she received a trophy for second place in her category. Her brother and her mom (who you can see in the upper left corner) also took second place trophies home! Congrats, Christel!

This picture is kinda gross, but I really want to show you the pain I went through to finish this event! I have a blister on two toes that are almost as big as my toe. Anyone know a home remedy? Like maybe breakfast in bed and some chocolate?

No turning back now...

2010-09-23T11:08:00.000-04:00

I just signed my 2 friends and myself up for the first "Corre-caminata" ever to be held in our town. This is the first time I've ever done anything like this, too.

I tried to find a translation to Corre-caminata. It's not a Walk-a-thon, because we don't pledge anything or raise money through it. I found the term Fun-Run, and I like that. We can walk or run 7 km (4.3 miles). Whoever makes it to the finish line receives a certificate.

My friends and I had started walking over a month ago, and last week we heard about this Fun-Run and decided to try it.

I hope I don't embarass myself.
I hope I don't come in last.
I hope I don't get blisters.
I hope I have fun!

Wish us luck!

Wordless Wednesday, the one where I'm happy

2010-09-22T10:17:00.001-04:00

Check out Java's blog and her linky to Wordless Wednesday here.

Meet me on Monday, chapter 15

2010-09-19T22:04:00.000-04:00

I sent the family to the volleyball game without me tonight. I have a headache and a sore throat aaaaannndddd I wanted to finish watching a movie! I hope my husband's team won the game tonight, because if they win this game and a game next week, they're champions! WooHoo!!!

(Ok, the family just came back, and they didn't win. Too bad!)

So, I'm checking into my Google Reader and I see that Java has her questions posted already. This will be the last thing I'll do tonight: post my "Meet me on Monday" answers on my blog.

Questions:

1. What is your favorite all time movie?

I always loved "The Princess Bride" The right mixture of silliness, fantasy and romance! As you wish!

2. How often do you go over the speed limit?

Sometimes when I'm in town, I'm slightly over the speed limit. Please don't tell anyone! :) The picture is from the entrance to our one-street village. The speed limit is listed in km/h, not miles per hour.

3. What really gives you the creeps?

Horror movies with dolls with wierd eyes. "Chucky" is the creepiest movie of all times for me!

4. What is your favorite snack?

It's a tie between chocolate and potato chips. But I would like them seperately, please!

5. Would you rather be a dog named Killer or a cat named Fluffy?

I'd always rather be a cat!

Polyvore set I made of my cat a while ago

Join the fun and check out Java's links to other blogs!

I need to get my beauty sleep now, because tomorrow I'll be sewing! On MY own sewing machine. I picked it up yesterday, and it works so good. I just hope it'll stay that way for a while.

Hugs to all my friends and lurkers! :)

Friday Fragments

2010-09-17T09:51:00.000-04:00

I'll be linking to Mrs. 4444 with some fragments about what I'm up to this week.

Monday: Brianna and I went to the dentist and she had to get 6 babyteeth pulled. Ouch! She was very brave about it, but is scared she'll look like this forever. I assured her that her other teeth will finally be able to come out better now. She's such a worrier, at the ripe old age of 9. The tooth fairy brought her a very rare treat: a Polly Pocket doll. (They are almost impossible to find here.)

Tuesday: Our ladies bible study group got together. I'm always touched and honored to be a part of this group of wonderful ladies! We're almost done Colossians, and next year in February we will start a study by Beth Moore.

Wednesday: My neighbor's daughter, who just finished beauty school, came and gave me a mani/pedi in the comfort of my own home. And I sewed some orange curtains for a friend. I can't wait to see them in her bedroom! She's so talented with decorating her home.

Thursday: My friend (the one with the orange curtains) and I went to the neighbor town of Loma Plata, about 30 km from here. We went spent all morning checking out different stores and eating delish ice cream:)

In the afternoon, while I was in town, I got a call on my cell from the lady at the sewing machine shop in Asuncion. She said they had recieved the part from the U.S. (the part we had ordered from Canada didn't fit, they said) and the machine would be ready today! HipHipHorray!!!! After three loooong months of waiting, finally my Brother (sewing machine) will be coming home again. I'm attaching a little note here, that I would like to direct to my Mom's sewing machine. I hope you hear the humor and the gratefulness in it.

Dear Miss Elna, ( I call her "Miss" because she is a dignified old lady)

I'm sorry that we cannot be more than friends. You have helped me out in a time of sewing-machine crisis. But I need someone who can give me more than just straight seams through cotton muslin. I need someone who will sew crazy corners into slinky jerseys, who will zigzag the most delicate chiffon, who will race down the side of second-hand jeans in a flash.
Miss Elna, you could not give me these things, but you have given me more. In a time where I seriously started to doubt if I could even sew anymore, you showed me that sewing is like riding a bike, just with a knee press.

Thank you, Miss Elna and thank you Mom, for lending her to me. I love you, Mom.

with the deepest respect, Brenda

Thanks to anyone reading my rambling, random, Friday Fragments.

I'm leaving you with a picture of Cindy and Grayson, just to get you wondering what in the world they are doing! :)

Wordless Wednesday, the one where Spring starts

2010-09-15T15:36:00.000-04:00

You might not be able to see this properly, but this is an armadillo, running away from the camera:)

I won an award!!!

2010-09-14T19:43:00.000-04:00

As many of you know, some bloggers are awarded for their blogs. This is not my goal for blogging, but I appreciate it, if someone likes my blog enough to award me with a award button. Patrice over at Everyday Ruralty sent me a message this week, that she had awarded my blog:) I just got to know Patrice through Java's meme: "Meet me on Monday" and loved her country blogging style. She made me drool with her pictures of picking apples and pears!

I would like to forward this award to the following 11 blogs!

1. Shilo is one of my close friends in real life! She moved to Paraguay a little over a year ago and I have gotten to know and cherish her in this past year. You'll find her inspiring blog here: http://myplaceofpeace.blogspot.com/

2. Betty is a blogger that I also know in real life. Her blog describes her journey through her 40's, empty nesting and caring for aging parents. I've learned so much from her posts. She's taking a break from blogging now, but I hope she'll start again some day. http://glimpseintomidlife.blogspot.com/

3. My aunt is also a blogger and I'm so proud to have an author of various books as my relative. T. Dora's blog is here: http://doradueck.wordpress.com/

4. The girls over at "Mennonite Girls can cook" deserve more than an award. I'd like to give them a hug for all of the delicious recipes they have been posting so regularly. Find them here: http://mennonitegirlscancook.blogspot.com/

5. While we're already looking at recipe blogs, I can't forget to mention Bakerella. She's famous in blogland! Check out her cakepops and all the other delish stuff she has on her blog: http://www.bakerella.com/

6. Cake Wrecks is hilarious! It makes me look like a professional cake decorater! http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/

7. Donna lives in a house on a corner. I also met her through Meet me on Monday, and we have a lot of things in common. I love her picture on her blog title:) http://donnashouseonthecorner.blogspot.com

8. Weezer is one of my sweetest commenters! She's having surgery this week and she can use our prayers. Check her blog out here: http://weezershaven.blogspot.com

9. Ann's blog is one of the first I ever followed. Her Virtual-Girls-Night-Out meme was the first I ever participated in, even before I knew how to pronounce "meme":) (sounds like "dream") http://www.annagainandagain.com/

10. Ellen is sweet and smart. I like that she researched an "urban legend" the other day, it made me start thinking about not believing everything I read on blogs! Thanks, Ellie http://ellieisanewthing.blogspot.com/

11. Julie is a fellow paraguayan. She's a missionary living in the southern part of Paraguay, and I love reading about her family and work with the people of Paraguay. http://juliespages.blogspot.com/

Those of you who receive this:

1. Post the award on your blog with the name of the person who has granted the award and his or her blog link.

2. Award it to 15 other bloggers.

3. Contact those blog owners and let them know.

Sorry for not nominating 15 blogs, as I was supposed to. I hope you take the time to check out some of my blogging friends some time.

Hugs, from Paraguay, Brenda

Meet me on Monday, the fourteenth

2010-09-12T22:19:00.000-04:00

It's almost Monday, and I'm getting a head start on my weekly post. Check out Java's blog and her new questions for Meet me on Monday!

Questions:

1. What is your favorite pasta dish?

Pasta Primavera with chicken! Love to make and eat it!

2. What is the last thing you do before going to bed?

Go to the bathroom :-)

Great T-shirt, for those of us who forget what to do:)

3. How many nights a week do you go out to eat?

Maybe once a month.

4. Are you an avid book reader?

YES! I love to read and usually have 3 books lying around that I read at once. I finished reading some Lawrence Sanders, and am reading a Max Lucado (Cast of Characters) for review purposes.

5. Would you rather have x-ray vision or bionic hearing?

This is a tough one, but I’ll go with bionic hearing. If I really think about this one, I think I’d go crazy if I could have either one. Over-stimulation drives me up the wall!

And just for fun, so that we remember that we are all Super-Heros:

Have a SUPER week!

Silent Sunday, September so far...

2010-09-12T14:14:00.000-04:00

Bottle tree, getting ready for spring

My green pepper smiled at me

Back-to-school cookies for a children's day care center

Lady Gak-Gak and her 11 chicklets

A foggy morning this week

Helping my hubby at the corral

Momma cow and calf through the thorn tree

2 of our Brahman bulls

The trees are starting to bloom, cows see it too:)

This cows expression cracked me up!

Meet me on Monday for the 13th time!

2010-09-06T08:07:00.000-04:00

Good Monday morning, everyone! Did you all sleep well? Did you go to bed too late yesterday? Funny that I want to know that, because that is one of the questions Java is asking over here.

She has the best Monday meme called Meet me on Monday! I got to know a lot of bloggers this way, and I would like to name 2 of my favorite blogging friends today. Weezer is soooo sweet! She encouraged me to write my heritage story. Audrey is so funny and sweet. I still think we might be related somewhere! Check them out on their blogs!

So now come the questions, and really fun ones, too!

Questions:

1. Do you wear socks to bed?

Only in the winter, I can’t get my feet warm enough to fall asleep. Usually I even have a hot water bottle at my feet, but then again it doesn’t get that cold very often here.

2. Do you have any pets?

Where should I start? :) 2 parrots, 2 rabbits, 2 cats, 1 German shepherd, 1 dwarf rooster, 2 dwarf hens (11 chicks as of yesterday:), 13 laying hens, the cattle doesn’t count as pets, so I won’t list them.

3. What topping(s) do you like on your pizza?

I love pizza!!! Tomatoes, mushrooms, corn, pepperoni, palmitos (palm hearts), bacon and mozzarella.

4. What time do you go to bed?

It depends. Sometimes as early as 9:00 pm, but sometimes I like to watch a DVD after the kids go to bed, then maybe 12:00am. But I try not to stay up later, because my alarm goes off at 5:30 am.

5. Would you rather get free chocolate for one year or free potatoes forever?

Dumb question, Java! Everyone knows the answer to this one. CHOCOLATE! Because you have to buy potatoes anyway:) !!!

Soooo, now I have to feed my zoo! Come back soon!

From Prussia to Paraguay, part 2

2010-09-04T21:06:00.000-04:00

From Prussia to Paraguay, part 2

In Russia…

Schools:
The schools in Russia in the Mennonite colonies were held in German. Often a teacher was a craftsperson or herder, untrained but willing to fit teaching class around his occupation. In 1820 they started a secondary school in Orloff, with a teacher brought in from Prussia. More higher schools followed and those who wanted to pursue a further education attended universities in Switzerland, Germany and also in Russia.

Churches:

Typically each village or group of villages formed an independent congregation. Each had slightly different traditions, but all believed in the fundamental Mennonite beliefs such as believer’s baptism (choosing by your own free will to be baptized, adult baptism), nonresistance (choosing not to join the military), and avoidance of oaths (“Above all, my brothers, do not swear—not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. Let your "Yes" be yes, and your "No," no, or you will be condemned.” James 5:12).

Pastors were untrained, lay-preachers, and chosen from within the congregation.

Emigration

As nationalism grew in central Europe, the Russian government couldn’t justify the special status of the German colonists any longer. In 1870 they announced a plan to “Russificate” the colonists and end all special privileges by 1880. The Mennonites were worried about losing the right to stay out of the military, their German schools and their religious and cultural life as they knew it.

They sent delegates to Petersburg, but they failed to present the czar with their petition. A year later they tried again, but to no success.

Mennonites do not want to take part in any war making, so many of them started to look for immigration options. A delegation was sent to North America in 1873 to look for fertile land, and many started leaving Russia to start again in Manitoba, Minnesota, South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas.

When the Russian government noticed that they could lose up to 40.000 of the country’s best farmers, they met with community leaders. The Russians exaggerated the difficulties that they would find in North America and offered an alternative national service, which would not be connected in any way to the military. That convinced some of the Mennonites to stay.

In 1880 the government offered the four-year forestry service plan for men of military age.

During the period of the “Great War”, the Mennonites were very prosperous and had a reputation for outstanding efficiency and were noted across Russia for their farming and organizational abilities. During World War I, 5000 Mennonite men served in both forestry and hospital units.

After the war, the conditions in Russia turned from bad to worse. Famine struck and an ex-guerilla leader turned army commander named Nestor Machno created fear in the hearts of the Mennonites.

Quote from Wiki: The image of Makhno as leader of the peasant uprising has been called "legendary" and a "colorful personality". However, in the view of the German and German Mennonite community in Ukraine, he was viewed as the instigator of "military ravages" against innocent farmers, an "inhuman monster" whose path is "literally drenched with blood.”

The Mennonites were looking for a new home. A larger migration of Mennonites from Russia occurred after World War I when in 1922-30 some 25,000 Mennonites went to Canada (21,000), Mexico, Brazil, and Paraguay. Many applied to go to Canada, but could not pass the medical exams, usually because of trachoma. The reasons for this mass migration were the threat of complete disintegration of the religious, cultural, and economic way of life of the Mennonites. A much larger number would have escaped, had not the Second World War intervened. Those that remained in their home villages were subject to exile to Siberia and other remote regions east of the Urals. From 1929 to 1940, one in eight men were removed, usually under the pretext of political accusations, to labor camps from which few ever returned or were heard from again.

So, that is how my grandparents came to Paraguay.

My aunt, Dora Dueck, wrote a wonderful fictional novel called: Under the Still Standing Sun. It describes the start of our colony in the 1930. Here’s a link to read a review of this book.

After my parents married in the 60’s, they decided to pack up their baby daughter (my big sister, Daniela) and move to Manitoba, Canada. They lived there for a total of 11 years, in which Caroline, Me and Andrea were all born there. I went to grade school in Winnipeg and later in Calgary until I was 10. Then we moved back to Paraguay. That’s why I’m “Tri-lingual” (can you say it like that?) My first language is English, because I spoke only English until we moved here. Then I quickly learned German, because that is the main language in our schools and colony here. Then I learned Spanish in school, because it’s the language spoken in Paraguay.

I hope I didn’t bore you with my history. If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask. I’d like to post some recipes soon that our grandparents brought along from Russia. I hope you drop in again soon. Have a great weekend!

I went to the new Heritage park in town with my girls. This is one of the first trains in the Chaco. With trains similar to this one, my grandparents came to the Chaco and finished their trip from Russia to Fernheim, Paraguay on an oxcart.

Wordless Wednesday, the one with the lion

2010-09-01T10:41:00.001-04:00

Meet me on Monday, the 12 th

2010-08-30T08:06:00.000-04:00

Meet me on Monday, 12th edition

Time to get to know each other better, one Monday at a time. Link up to Java here to meet more bloggers and to answer her questions of the week.
We had an awesome answer to prayer last night. The spring rain came before spring even started. Whoever has been reading my blog for a while knows that we were in a drought for the last 2 years, so we are hoping that this will be the start of a wetter (do you say it that way?) spring and summer. Then maybe we can harvest a crop around Easter next year. The best sound to a Chaqueño's (person living in the dry Chaco) ears is the sound of rain on the tin roofs and the distant thunder coming closer. The second best sound to my ears is to hear the tractors in the village starting up this morning to plow the orchards. Thank you Lord!

Questions:

1. What is your favorite kind of potato chip?

I never met a potato chip I didn’t like, but because we can’t get Salt & Vinegar chips here, I’m craving those the most.

My sis J brought these chips in her suitcase all the way from Canada!

2. Do you make your bed every day?

Um, do you really have to ask this? My kids or my mom might be reading… I make our bed almost every day!

3. How often do you go to the hair salon?

That reminds me to make an appointment for this week; I usually get my hair cut every 2 – 3 months.

4. What do you dip your French fries in?

Catsup!

5. Do you shop with coupons?

No, our stores don’t have coupons here. But I won an iron (as to iron clothes with) in a contest in our supermarket the other day!

I hope you have all read my post from yesterday, explaining my heritage. I'm working on part 2, so check in again soon. Love, Brenda, aka the Chacogirl!

From Prussia to Paraguay, part 1

2010-08-29T10:18:00.001-04:00

Some of my readers have asked me about my heritage. It's such a long story, that I decided to make a little series of how a german/english speaking girl like me is living in Paraguayan Chaco in South America.
It all started in Prussia. Whoever is looking for Prussia on a current world map won't find it anywhere.
It was part of today's Germany and Poland.

So, here goes my story:

From Prussia to Paraguay, my heritage

My ancestors were dutch-german Anabaptists (following the teachings of Menno Simons) living in Prussia as early as 1530.

Catherine the Great from Russia invited farmers in 1763 to settle in the Ukraine. Many Mennonites were attracted to this offer, because they were encountering restrictions in living their faith. They also wanted to be excused from military service. In the years from 1787-1870 about 1907 families (8000 people) migrated to various parts of Russia, such as Chortitza, Molotschna, Samara and Vilna.

Map of the Russian Mennonite colonies in 1875. Source: http://home.ica.net/~walterunger/S-Russia.htm

Most Mennonites from this group are traditionally multilingual, with Plautdietsch (low-German) and German as their first languages.

The colonists formed villages of 15 – 30 families, and this concept is still used in our colony in Paraguay. Each farm had about 70 ha (175 acres) of land to it, and some villages had a communal plot of land for funding large projects or for use by the poor in lean years. (This is also done in one of the villages in our area.) In the beginning the Mennonites raised cattle, sheep and general crops to provide for their household. But as they got to know the land better, they diversified into growing mulberries for the silk industry, they produced honey, flax and tobacco and marketed fruits and vegetables for city markets. By 1830, wheat was their main crop.

Quote by wiki:

“Expanding population and the associated pressure for more farmland became a problem by 1860. The terms of the settlement agreement prevented farms from being divided; they were required to pass intact from one generation to the next. Since agriculture was the main economic activity, an expanding class of discontented, landless poor arose. Their problems tended to be ignored by the village assembly, which consisted of voting landowners. By the early 1860s the problem became so acute that the landless organized a party that petitioned the Russian government for relief. A combination of factors relieved their plight. The Russian government permitted farms to be divided in half or quarters and ordered release of the village's communal land. The colonies themselves purchased land and formed daughter colonies on the eastern frontier extending into Siberia and Turkestan. These new colonies included Bergtal, Neu Samara Colony and the Mennonite settlements of Altai.

As wheat farming expanded, the demand for mills and farm equipment grew. The first large foundry was established in Chortitza in 1860 and other firms followed. By 1911 the eight largest Mennonite-owned factories produced 6% of the total Russian output (over 3 million rubles), shipped machinery to all parts of the empire and employed 1744 workers. The annual output of Lepp and Wallman of Schönwiese was 50,000 mowers, 3000 threshing machines, thousands of gangplows in addition to other farm equipment. Flour and feed mills were originally wind-powered, a skill transplanted from Prussia. These were eventually replaced with motor and steam driven mills. Milling and its supporting industries grew to dominate the industrial economy of the colonies and nearby communities.”

To be continued...

Feeding time on the farm

2010-08-27T08:04:00.000-04:00

Random Dozen

2010-08-25T07:54:00.000-04:00

1. What is your favorite Mexican dish?

Are empanadas Mexican? I love them. Or else tacos, but no cumin spice in them, please.

2. When you were a kid, did you get started on your homework right away after school, or did you procrastinate?

We came back from school at noon, ate lunch, had a nap (or were supposed to anyway) then we did our homework.

3. What is your favorite store for home furnishings?

I’ll agree with Betty on this one, Feria Asuncion is amazing!

4. When you were young, did you like school lunches?

I always ate lunch at home, but I loved to eat a sandwich out of my dad’s lunch box.

5. Is religion a crutch?

No, my faith frees me from my crutches. Phil. 4:10-14

6. In your region, what is the "big" (most popular in the community or state) high school sport?

Volleyball and soccer.

7. Do you consider yourself rich?

Not in financial terms. But I have family, friends, health, home, pets, etc. So I guess I’m pretty rich, eh?

8. Which of these would you have the best chance for success in administering:

A) CPR

B) Heimlich Maneuver

C) Changing a flat tire, I’ve done this before

9. Which dance would you prefer to learn & why:

A) Salsa

B) Hip Hop

C) Waltz

D) Swing

I have no dance coordination, but when I see Hip Hop, I kinda want to jump up and dance along.

10. What's the worst news you've ever delivered to someone?

I was visiting with a friend at my house, and her mother called and said her dad had died. I didn’t deliver the news, but was there when she got it.

11. Name something you learned in college that had nothing to do with classes or academics.

I didn’t go to college.

12. New variation on an old question: If there's a song in your head that just won't get out, what is your favorite (or most repeated) line in that song?

I’m kind of embarrassed to admit this, but this song really sticks in your head.

Shawty’s like a melody in my head

That I can’t keep out, got me singin’ like

Na, na, na, na everyday

It’s like my iPod’s stuck on replay, replay

Replay by Iyaz

Wordless Wednesday, the one from my walk

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Meet me on Monday for round 11.

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Java wants to know more! You can also join in on her weekly bloghop when you visit this link and link to your own post with the answers to her questions

Questions:

1. What is your favorite kind of doughnut?

I love to make and eat yeast doughnuts, check out the recipe here

2. How often do you pray?

Every day, a few time a day, love my quiet time in the morning with my bible and my Savior. Check out the website of "Our daily bread".

3. What is your favorite kind of music?

Christian contemporary, country, pop, soft rock, etc.

4. What do you order when you eat Chinese food?

I adore spring rolls, sweet and sour pork or chicken, love stir-fry, and even tasted shrimp stir-fry for the first time last year.

5. Would you rather snowboard in the winter or swim in the summer?

I’ve not seen snow since I was ten, so I think swimming is my thing! Love getting together with a group of ladies and kids at a pool in town in our summer (which will start any day now) (We almost skip spring here, last week we were wearing parkas and today estimate temp is almost 40 C/100 F)

Hope you got a laugh from that last picture!

Now, to get to my housecleaning again....

Rodeo Trebol

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or like my nephew calls it: "deo Trebol"
Every year in August the three colonies in the Chaco prepare a week-long fair/rodeo/expo thing called Rodeo Trebol. I mentioned it in earlier posts, so you know that our girls (and I) were excited to go.
We saw him:

Then we saw him or her, I'm not sure:)

She is so pretty!

Sorry, these weren't the only animals at the rodeo, but the only ones where I remembered to take a picture with my phone.

We also went to the stand with the pets, chickens, doves, a peacock, more chickens and finally: rabbits.:)

Brianna picked a cute little guy. His name is Skip-Bo. He's not fully grown yet, and he has the softest fur you can imagine!

And this shy girls name is Beauty. Cindy picked her out. So sweet!!

Cindy and Amy each picked out a T-shirt at the stand from our church's youth group.

Brianna is modeling this T-shirt for Amy.:)

And, last but not at all the least,... here's the surprise I was writing about on Monday. I bought this:

I'm very, very happy and excited to finally own my very own digital camera! I can't wait to make all the wonderful pictures that were floating in my head, and wouldn't come out :) I won't go professional (like my bro-in-law, Hansi) but I don't have to borrow my parent's cam whenever I want better photos than my 2 mp phone and 4 mp second-hand polaroid.

I wish that everyone has a super weekend and I'll see you again for Meet-me-on-Monday!

P.S. You might want to know what Marv bought? He treated us to ice cream at the rodeo and supper at my fav restaurant in town later on!

Wordless Wednesday, the one with the hen

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Dwarf hen's nest

Meet me on Monday, the tenth!

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I've had a really wild week so far, so now I want to relax and let you get to know me better. Java's got some juicy questions for us today, and I'm starting to think she has a sweet tooth! (So do I!) Check out Java's blog here, link up to her over there and come and meet some more bloggers! I'd like to know someday how many bloggers are from the US and how many are from the rest of the world:)

Questions:

1. What is your favorite dessert?

I really like floating island, but any old ice cream or cake will do sometimes:)

(I think you can click on the picture for the recipe:)

2. What do you wear to bed?

An over-sized T-Shirt kind of nighty! Super comfortable!

3. Do you get regular manicures/pedicures?

I treat myself to a mani/pedi every few months.

4. Did you play any sports in high school?

I hated sports, but we did have to play volleyball.

5. Do you have an iPod?

No, but my sister brought me a new mp3 player from Canada in May. I love it and use it every day!

Our garage sale was a huge success! The stuff we didn't sell, we are sending to a Mission store in Asuncion. We had a lot of laughs along the way! My sister, my Mom and my friend Rosella are all great fun to be with:)

This coming week is our yearly rodeo and the kids can't wait to go. They each sold some of their stuffed animals and were allowed to keep the money from the sale of them. They were saving their money to buy rabbits at the rodeo, so we better get the cage cleaned and set up.

I might have a bit of news for you all this week, but I'm not telling yet! (No, Dani and Andrea, I'm not pregnant!)

Oh, I got a care package from my sister in Winnipeg today! THANK YOU, thank you, thank you. My tongue is all wrinkled already from the sweet tarts! Love them!

Have a great week!