Through the Seasons

Do you ever take your postman for granted?  Now that we are our own postman I realize how much we took ours for granted in the States. 

When you are all so generous as to send us packages (and we are so very, very, very grateful for all mail, letters, cards, packages) here’s what happens.

There is a woman at Jonathan’s office who goes to the post office to check the mailbox.  (Like having a post office box in the States.)  If we have a package that has cleared customs and has made its way to Mbeya there will be a slip in there stating so.  She puts that slip into Jonathan’s mail slot at the office. 

We then take that slip to the post office.  They bring the box out of their storage room and we sign for it.  Then we pay a small handling fee there at the post office.  That fee is about a dollar per box.

Then we load the boxes up and go to the country’s revenue office to have the revenue officer inspect them.  They go through the boxes to determine the proper amount of duty to be paid. 

We take the invoice from the revenue office to the bank and deposit the duty amount into their account.  (This is usually the longest wait.  Yesterday it took Jonathan about an hour and a half to get through this step of the process.)

Once that is done we go to an office supply store to make a copy of the receipt from the bank.  The copy is taken to the revenue office and the boxes are released. 

Then we go home with our treasure! 

Yesterday we went to get 2 packages.  The entire process took about 3 hours.  Thankfully Asher had his nap in the car!

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I’ve started reading one chapter of Proverbs a month corresponding to the date.  So on Monday, July 27th, I read Proverbs 27.  I was struck by the second part of Proverbs 27:1.  (It’s funny when you don’t get through one verse before you have to stop and ponder.)

It goes like this, “…you do not know what a day will bring.” 

The whole verse is “Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day will bring.”

And I couldn’t help but apply that to my love (love, love) of lists, routines, predictability (control).  Why do I act so surprised when the unexpected happens?  Why do I get frazzled when my plans are totally interrupted and rearranged?  Why am I totally thrown off by unforeseen events in my daily life?

I do not know what a day will bring.

This makes it so clear that I am not in control.  (Say that 100 times, Dana.)  I am not in control.  (I should say it again.)  I am not in control.

I do not know what a day will bring.  (Here’s where I begin preaching to myself.)  So…  Don’t make plans you feel you must stick to.  Don’t create routines that aren’t flexible.  Don’t write lists that have to be completed by a certain amount of time.  Instead…  Look to the Creator of the day.  Be grateful for the gift of this day.  Learn and grow from the unexpected (whether pleasant or trying).  And thank God He is in control.

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Jonathan and I have been here for a little over a year now and we’re still discovering new food items available here.  Just lately we’ve found:

Frozen:

pork chops

bacon

sausage

Fresh at the Market:

mushrooms

celery

limes

These, as always, are great finds! 

And while we’re talking about food I have every intention of posting good recipes here.  I’ve been in a slump since we’ve gotten back.  I haven’t made anything new that we’ve actually liked.  I figure you can’t win them all – AND – part of this has to do with our tastes. 

We are discovering that the Chinese/Indian/Thai inspired recipes are not ones we like.  We do however like to go out to eat Chinese and Indian (when/where available).  These recipes just aren’t doing the trick. 

We’re finding that neither of us like curry.  At all.  Other spices that are if-y include coriander and cumin.  But I also figure that if I don’t try these recipes I’ll never know what works for us and what doesn’t.  So now I know that if these spices are included or if it’s an Asian/Indian type recipe that I better steer clear of it unless we’re feeling particularly adventurous at the moment. 

And this week we’re not.  Here’s our menu:

Monday – German Kraut Burgers

Tuesday – Tacos

Wednesday – Huli Huli Chicken (Hawaiian)

Thursday – Potato Soup

Friday – Lasagna (take two – new recipe – no crock pot involved)

Saturday – Leftovers (GOT to have a leftover night every week!)

Sunday – Spaghetti (old faithful)

Monday – Chicken Corn Chowder (preparing my menu through Monday keeps me from having to work on it over the weekend )

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We’ve been back from conference for 9 days and the following has happened:

Asher had a few days of diarrhea.

Asher got a BAD diaper rash from the diarrhea.

After the diarrhea and rash cleared up he got a fever from the MMR vaccination he got in Dar.

Throughout this time he’s been cutting his first molar.

Needless to say he’s not the happiest baby on the planet – and I’m not brewing with fresh, great ideas for my blog.  So hang on tight.  We’ll be through this soon.  I hope.

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Yes, I got my hair chopped off.  I don’t know why it passed me by to even bother making an announcement about it.  Jonathan cut it first.  I was tired of putting my hair in a pony tail every day so I decided to go short.  He did a great job and got lots of compliments!  I just wanted the back and sides to blend better together so I got it shaped up at Turtle Bay.  I have no idea what I’ll do from here but I’m enjoying it as of now.  I wanted a style and low maintenance at the same time and that’s what I’ve got.  I don’t have any proper “hair” photos but here are a couple taken at Turtle Bay.

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Interesting thing about the grass in yesterday’s pictures.  We were here when the home owner was having it planted.  There were two women here sitting on the ground planting each blade of grass one by one.  Before then I had only seen people sprinkle seeds or roll out sod.  And as you can tell from the pictures the grass in now brown.  I sure hope it’s in hibernation and not dead.  We’ll see when it starts to warm up in a couple months.

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Step One:  Pick a Spot

Step Two:  Dig a Hole

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There are two things that have surprised me about this whole cooking journey I’ve been on over the last year.  I never imagined a) that I would not follow a recipe to a T (and I rarely do follow any recipe all that closely) or b) that I would enjoy everything about this from the menu planning to the cooking and eating.  Well.  The eating part isn’t all that surprising.

So on that note here is this week’s menu up here on McCall Mountain:

Sunday:  Chicken Taco Soup

Monday:  Beans, rice, cucumber (a simple, I have nothing in the house to cook, mama cooks this for me, kind of meal)

Tuesday:  Spinach and Beef Lasagna (I’ll be creating this one as I go)

Wednesday:  Pad Thai Chicken, Cabbage, Sweet Potato Fries

Thursday:  Chicken Corn Chowder, green beans

Friday:  Rosemary Pork Chops, Sauteed Okra, and baked sweet potatoes

Saturday:  Leftovers

Sunday:  German Kraut Burgers, sweet potato fries

Monday:  Lentil Tomato Stew

Tuesday:  Fritatta

Now my menu doesn’t usually follow my initial plan but without it at all we don’t eat very well around here.  Most of the above comes from recipes I searched online either here or here but they won’t stay “as written” and some are actually just inspiration then I go my own direction.  One hurdle I had to jump was living in Africa.  We don’t have everything called for in recipes generated from the States and we certainly don’t have things in the convenient forms (cans and jars) found there.  (On a side note I found a recipe yesterday that someone posted online.  It’s called “Barbeque Chicken”.  You put frozen chicken and a jar of barbeque sauce in a crock pot and turn it on.  Why would you even post something like that?  Surely we can all figure that much out.  But I digress.)

On to my question.  Do you want to see any of these (or future) recipes posted on my blog?  Unless someone is specifically searching for a recipe, do they want to read one?  These are the things I’m currently pondering.  Please enlighten me.

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Oh boy we’re back and I’m refreshed and energized.  And tired.  Very, very tired.  How can I be both?  Well my body and eyes are exhausted from the last few days of travel and getting up early but my mind is all abuzz with ideas!

Lots and lots of ideas.

For the playroom I’m going to get the bins of “office” stuff out of that room.  I hate things sitting in storage bins in a regular room.  If they’re storage they need to be in a storage room.  That’s my take on it anyway.  I do realize I’m the only one this bothers.  I’m also going to move our old furniture into the playroom so I have somewhere to sit when Asher takes me down there to play with him.  (Yes, he really does that.)  I also want to make some sort of reading nook where we can snuggle up and read but that idea hasn’t fully formed yet.

As for outside we got Asher a little pool in Dar so when it gets warmer I’ll take him out in that some.  The two big projects that will help me accomplish my outside plans are: 1) block the back yard from the front yard so we can go out and not be bothered by the dogs if we don’t want to be and 2) build an outside play area for Asher.  This will go in the grassy part where the dogs never are (therefore no poo to dodge).  I want a cubby house and a sandbox out there (and maybe eventually a swing).  This will take a while but hopefully he’ll enjoy it.

And just to prove (to you as well as to myself) that it is not all about the baby.  One of my personal projects is to create my own recipe book of the “keepers” I come across or create. 

I have a list of other ideas and to-do’s.  I’m excited in a “trying-not-to-bite-off-more-than-i-can-chew” sort of way.

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