Celebrating Life

In light of our recent loss, we are taking time today to celebrate life.  Sharing pictures of Gracie experiencing life at Galmi seems like a great way to share some of our life's joy with you.

Gracie has made friends with the other children living on the compound.

Here she is getting a wagon ride.

Hanging out with new friends.

This is the duplex where we are currently living.

Free rides.

And for all the moms out there, no, Gracie did not get a turn.

We are very blessed to have a playground on the compound.  This is a daily event for us and the Carrigans (at least for Dianna, Stephanie and the kids that is).

Gracie loves the see saw.

To prevent injury we encourage her to tag-team with another older person.

Kids are creative with use of the equipment (as you can see above).

"Up peas"

To her dismay her two little feet stayed on the ground.

Spinning with someone more her size.

Eli takes a turn spinning the girls.

These baby swings are also a popular spot.

Even when we are in the house, Gracie finds new ways to play...

like Peek-A-Boo!

So as you can tell, Gracie is enjoying life here, and we are so thankful for the joy she brings!

________________________________

The latest news from the kitchen:

BAGELS!!

Who knew this tasty treat could be so easy?

The recipe came from The Wycliffe International Cookbook.  

A special thanks to the Birkys for giving us this essential before we left.  

First step is a basic dough (yeast, sugar, salt, water and flour) that rises for 40 minutes.  

Next divide the dough into 12 pieces, shape into balls and poke hole using thumb.

A variation can occur at this time.  

While rolling divided dough into to balls, we chose to knead in some extra ingredients.

Left: chili pepper and sharp cheddar cheese

Middle:  cinnamon, allspice and dried fruit bits

Right: plain

Let the bagels rest for 20 minutes.

Then place them in boiling water (with slight bit of oil).

Recipe was not clear on how long to boil the dough, we went with couple minutes on each side.

Final step is to let them bake for 15-20 min at 450 F.

None of our cookie sheets fit in our oven so we improvised by using an inverted cake pan.

Final product.

We enjoyed these for breakfast this morning.

This is definitely a recipe worth repeating!

______________________________________

Oh, and for all who are wondering what the typical dress is for women,

here is the outfit Dianna wore to church this morning.

It is traditional for women to where top, skirt and head wrap (which can be fashioned in various ways, some ladies are quite creative) made from the same fabric.  Married women also wear a thin shawl over their shoulders (sometimes head, neck and shoulders).  

This outfit was borrowed from the STA (short term assignment) closet, a great idea to have folks leave things they won't use back in the states so others can use them here at Galmi.  We took our fabric to the tailor yesterday, so hopefully our outfits will be ready next week.

Thankful to He who gives Life,

DD&G