Father's Day & World Cup

Here is hoping all the dad's had a great Father's Day & prayers to those who miss their father's on Earth for hope of seeing them one day soon in Heaven.

Here is a picture of me & my Dad taken in 2008 on the steps of Graceland at my 10 year vow renewal.  I love my Dad very much & he is a great father. 

Our Father's Day started in Bogota with me making my first batch of homemade cinnamon rolls here.  They turned out pretty good.  I had started a day early to let the dough rise because it is hard to get the inside temperature warm inside the house.

After church, we went to a restaurant & then to a park.  Brook posed by the US flag!

Look at this huge screen in the park & people were sitting on bean bags that look like soccer balls.

Brook climbing on the playground structure at the park.

Soccer is a HUGE part of this culture in South America!  Or, as it is called here, "futbol".  Soccer is a year-round sport in Colombia.  It is quite an exciting time because the World Cup began last week. Colombia had its first game Saturday & we won! We have a lot to learn about soccer & the World Cup, but for a little background, the World Cup began in 1930.  From 1950 on, it has occurred every 4 years.  In 1994, the World Cup took place across 9 cities in the United States.  Here are pictures from our first experience:

Buying a t-shirt for Brook on the street around the corner from our house.  We couldn't find one for Isabella yet.

Even the McDonalds in the mall is decked out for World Cup fever!

This is a huge group of people gathered in front of a huge screen to watch the game.  This is located in front of the food court.

This is the view standing in the back of the crowd.  We eventually stood a little closer.  I stood for 90 minutes watching my first game all the way through!

People were gathered in many sections of the mall to watch wherever there was a tv.

All the restaurants had people gathered watching.

And looking over the railing to watch a tv below.

This is a view of the game towards the end.

There were people celebrating on the streets.

Even the dogs have Colombian jerseys!

Brook painted her face & Isabella has her Colombian wig, although she didn't wear it to the mall :)

Here is a quick video I took when we first arrived, about 30 minutes prior to game time.  There are lots of horns that were blown all during the game.  We all lost a little of our hearing!  At the end of the video, you see Avery, Isabella, & Brook walking towards the crowd.

It was a cool night because of some rain & the normal cooler evening temperatures. We actually had a fire & the other World Cup games playing on tv.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

This was my go to recipe back in the states.  Just open cans & pour a little milk.  That was it.  Within 30 minutes, I had delicious chicken tortilla soup. Saturday, I think I spent at least 6 hours making the soup.  Oh yea.  I turned into Carolyn Ingalls.  Well, maybe I didn't go that far back in time, but I'm a child of the 70's so I know of the modern conveniences of food.

I started Saturday with shucking & blanching fresh corn on the cob.  I have never done that before. Why?  I either grilled the corn as it was, or more likely, bought corn in a can or in a bag from the freezer section. Those bags or cans of corn in Bogota are $4 USD each.  And interesting enough, corn is the only vegetable that is frozen.  I have seen some canned peas, but that is the only other vegetable in a can I've seen. Vegetables are so cheap here, people just buy them fresh.  But what if a recipe calls for can corn?  Well, you buy fresh corn & go from there! Once I finished the corn process, I boiled some chicken.  I then began making my own cream of chicken soup.  I'm sure some of you already do this, but I always just used it from a can.  It was a staple in my pantry.  Then I proceeded to make my own taco seasoning.  I brought a lot of my spices with me, but you can find the more typical ones here (as long as you know the Spanish translation!).

After a long, but good day in the kitchen, we ate soup.  And for a real treat, I found some tortilla chips here! They are not common here at all.  I had salsa & guacamole with the chips.  Delicious!

Here is a picture of the soup, even with grated cheddar cheese!  Cheddar cheese is a treat here if you can find it.

While I am once again on the subject of food, here are some other items we've had this week:

Remember a few weeks ago I bought a box of Ghiradelli brownie mix here?  Well, here is the tray of brownies!  Yum!  Brownies, cookies, & cakes here are not so great.  

This is a cup of Lulo juice.  The juices here are fantastic.  They are very different from a fruit smoothie.  They can be ordered con agua o con leche (with water or milk).  The lulo is very good & I'm also a big fan of fresa (strawberry juice). 

This is a picture of what the Lulo fruit looks like.  It is similar to the taste of pineapple.

Monday morning I made homemade biscuits for the first time since being in Bogota.  It felt good to bake & for it to turn out okay!

I got the recipe from this new cookbook, which I really look forward to using.

Tuesday was a stressful day for me.  Pray for a better Wednesday.  

Panaca

We had another culture outing last Friday with our language tutor.  Mateo, our friend's son, also accompanied us on our day trip.  We went to Panaca, which is an animal park located about an hour north of Bogota.  It was a cold rainy day, so the conditions were not ideal, but I tried to make the best of it.  I still took lots of pictures anyway!  I was so glad to get back home into my dry, comfy clothes after a smelly, crowded bus ride back in traffic.

petting the animals

Avery & the girls with our language tutor, Clara.

Classes start Monday morning! 

Mateo with our family waiting on the dog show to begin.

These Colombian kids loved Avery!

Mateo & Brook :)

People were standing in line to jump on this bull from behind.

Fly trap

Unusual cows

I miss Chick-Fil-A

and cheap bacon.

for Brett

for Nicole

for us in honor of Beckham & for the Greens

dog show

beautiful views

horse show

with some crazy stunts!

Happy Tuesday!  Now it is time to do my homework before class today :)

Part 2 moving

We are moved into our new place!!  Woo hoo!  We were without internet for a few days last week, so I never posted again last week.  Here are some random pictures.  As Avery & I were unpacking some things, the girls got a hold of my camera. House photos will come hopefully later in the week.

They took this picture from the window in our house.  It is a 3 level house, or what we would call a townhouse in the states.

And for my food item of the day.......

 I was thanking God for the wisdom to bring this with me.  What a treat to find this in the random box of kitchen items!

They were delicious, but they are gone now.  From now on, I'll be making homemade muffins.  But I did enjoy the comfort & simplicity of the box mix!

Church & part 1 of moving

We are enjoying our church here, El Refugio, even though it is all in Spanish.  We really like the people we are meeting so far.  Some of them do speak limited English, so that is nice for us.  We hope to practice our Spanish with them soon & they are eager to practice their English.  There is one family who lived most of their lives in the states, but they are Colombian.  They were so sweet to have us over for dinner last night, which was our first time doing that with Colombians here.  Brook actually had her first playdate at their home yesterday too. They will be leaving for a summer trip to the states, but will back in Bogota later in the summer.  These pictures were taken on the playground after church Sunday.

This is the family's youngest daughter with Isabella

Brook & her friend she will miss over the summer

After church, we had lunch at one of the missionary homes.  There was a large group there because there was a preaching seminar Saturday, so several pastoral candidates from Colombia had come.  In this picture above, Avery is playing horseshoes with our pastor, who is in the front, a pastoral candidate in the back (purple shirt), & our MTW trainer here in the jacket. Isabella & others were watching.

Moving day finally came! Here is Brook & I with Maria, our hostess for the month at the Baptist house.  She has been dear to us & we've loved getting to know her.  She has been so hospitable & helpful to us during our stay there.  She works in the office, which was on the same side of the house where we were staying (the Baptist house has 2 different apartment sides).  We hope to have her come visit us at our new house.

We borrowed a car from a fellow missionary to help transport our bags to our new house.  This is Avery driving in Bogota.  It was his first time to drive in 6 weeks!  He did great.  It could be a year before I drive again.  It is already a little strange to think I haven't driven in 6 weeks.  

So it will be a few days before we are unpacked, but we spent our first night in our new home last night. We don't have beds, but we do have mattresses on the floor for all of us, & that is good for now.  Pray furniture comes tomorrow (beds & sofa).  Maybe next week I can give a home tour on here!