The Lost And Found

My dad questioned me the other day if I was still singing and dancing in Colombia...

Where did January go?!

Oh my, oh my this time sure flies...

So, after arriving home from Colombia, I spent Christmas with a dear friend and his family.
This was my Christmas day.... How beautiful.

My mom came to visit, and she got a real feel for what life is like here. People asked, "What did you two do?"  Since I had been away for the previous two weeks, we simply lived... She said that she left with a better understanding of why when asked, "What did you do today?" that "I went grocery shopping and cooked a meal" is a proper response for a full day of work. It's now so normal to me that you'd probably have to ask her in order to get a proper perspective :)

I saw on the news that CNN was reporting the food shortages in Venezuela. This is legit...

Granted, this was a day in between Christmas and New Years when people weren't working, but cooking and grocery shopping here is always an adventure. At my local grocery store, we have not had sugar or flour since... November. Chicken was absent during December and January. Eggs can come and go... Toilet paper was gone for a while... Condensed milk is a substitute for sugar, and then that was gone.

Oh, the adventures...

I vomited into the new year... I don't know what that means for the year to come, but at least with my mama here, I was well taken care of :)

Happy 2013!

And now we are settling back into life... and man does it get busy.

A student of mine left for the remainder of the year, which is terribly sad with such small class sizes.

Saturdays have become my park days, and oh what peace...

Every Sunday we have a roommate dinner which is a fun-fabulous time of fellowship and love between our lady roommates. It has become quite a unique challenge to cook for the us, however, because our menu is gluten and dairy free due to dietary restrictions of one of our girls... From cooking one meal every four weeks, I have grown a profound respect and admiration for how she is even alive :)

This was my gluten/dairy free lettuce wrap creation (chicken was still MIA)

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

-Romans 8:28-