Life Happens

There is nothing to blame but life for my lack of involvement in the blog world lately. You could say I have been using my creative energy elsewhere lately and I am sure most of you know where that place is… 

Nevertheless I am ready to put it into the blog again for a minute… Hope you like the new design. I have been playing around with it for a while and I really think that this one will stick because it is simple 

Here is what we have been up to lately in a nutshell! Hold on tight, cause you’re about to see a lot of photos!

First of all, since my last post, Spring has come in a fierce way and has currently brought summer, which it seems is here to stay. But lets just look at some nice photos of the spring instead of thinking about that…

In Cafe News! We have been trying lots of new things since I started working there including some of the cupcakes photographed above, which to my dismay are not very popular in here ;( I guess they just haven’t quite caught onto the cupcake craze that has swept through the states. We also made Pizza about a month and a half ago for the first time and it took off! We are now very much into iced beverages, including iced coffee in these awesome blue cups that we got from Hong Kong, but we are also experimenting a little with warm drinks such as the Caramel Latte with the lattice on top and our new DARK chocolate Mocha 

We have been doing some big events lately at the cafe as well, which definitely help our revenue, which all goes to Charity btw. We have done several things that call for extra volunteers in the kitchen, which explains the guys in pink shower caps below  One of those was a birthday party, but the greatest blessing we have had lately is a very talented young man that is volunteering with us has done some concerts at the cafe and we have gotten up to almost 200 people in there enjoying and ordering coffees while the music plays.

To kick off the spring we celebrated Easter with a Passover Seder and a lot of baking. I made Charoset and peach pie from www.eatliverun.com for the passover seder and I made banoffee pie from eatliverun and The Pioneer Woman’s Chocolate Sheet Cake for our work Easter Party. It was very interesting, educational and delicious!

 A couple of weeks ago we had the opportunity to go on a crazy hike! It was six hours long! It was by far the longest hike I have ever done, but also the most rewarding! The views were beautiful and the people we went with were amazing as well. None other than our teammates who we spend every day with. I am not sick of these people yet! In fact it seems that I grow to love them more as time goes on. Just look at them! How could you not LOVE those face!

Later that week, we had the opportunity to go to the city of Kentau with a friend to stay with his family.

An authentic cultural experience complete with Kumis (fermented mare’s milk) and Besh Bar Mak (the national dish which includes Horse Meat) It wasn’t our first time enjoying these fine delicacies, but it was a special time nonetheless. 

While we were there we were able to revisit the beautiful city of Turkistan and see the Mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi for the second time since we have lived here, the first time was in October of 2009.

It has been a great spring! Can’t wait to see what the summer brings! Most of you will see what it brings for us since we will be home for another summer in the states! Hope to see you sometime in July or August!

Istanbul

“Istanbul was Constantinople
Now it’s Istanbul not Constantinople
Been a long time gone
Old Constantinople’s still has Turkish delight
On a moonlight night”

Those are the words to my niece Sofia’s favorite song, at least it was her favorite song this summer when I visited home. I kept thinking of that song the whole time I was in Istanbul looking at beautiful buildings like the Ayasofya (aka-hagia sophia).

I also couldn’t get enough Turkish delight while I was there. In fact I am wishing that I had brought more home with me.  Now I understand why Edmund just HAD to get more.

I won’t bore you too much with details, I just want to show you pictures and say that I was truly blessed to be able to spend some time in the gorgeous city of Istanbul. To wake up to the grand site of the Blue Mosque. This was the view from our hotel balcony our first morning in Istanbul.

We spent the first day walking around and just taking in the beauty of this historical city.

There were Roasted Chestnuts everywhere.

We also did a little shopping 

The lamps were my favorite.

I just couldn’t stop taking photos of them.

The afternoon of our first day we were whisked away on a bus to another hotel for the conference, far away from the old city, but right on the water. We had a great view the whole time and were blessed to walk along the shore and collect seashells during our free time.

There were many special things about this conference. But I will share about those things for my newsletter for security purposes. If you don’t get our newsletters email me and I can put you on our list 

We had a free day on Saturday and were able to return to the old city again. The girls mostly wanted to go shopping. But we also made a stop at one of my favorite places in the world.

Here are a few more pictures from that day.

After the conference concluded we went back to the city one last time and this time we got to experience the night life in Istanbul.

The sites were even more breathtaking at night time.

And the city just seemed that much more enchanting

After walking around for a little while we went to dinner.

The last day we just walked around a little bit more and went on a little cruise.

Before I knew it I was back home with Curtis. Just thinking back on all of the special memories and solid relationships that were built during my time in Istanbul.   

Equipped and ready

I read this in my devotional yesterday and it really encouraged me about my job at the cafe.

“I take pleasure in choosing people to do my work and then empowering them to fulfill it. I create each person with a unique personality that moves them toward a certain type of work. When they heed the desire I place within them, they learn the skills necessary to do the job well. And as they choose to follow me, I bestow gifts that demonstrate their true proficiency for what I have called them to do.

I gave my people the king they desired-Saul- and provided him with all he needed to lead my people well. But above all, I gave Saul my Sp!r!t so that he could fulfill my calling. Likewise, it is my delight to equip you for the work to which I have called you, rest easy. With my Sp!r!t guiding you, you are the best one for the job.”

Birthday, new job and a cupcake recipe

Since my last post I have been to Turkey and back. Not to mention the craziness of training for my new position and celebrating my birthday along with the biggest Holiday in the country, Nauryz! I have lots to catch up, but I will not do it all in one post. Istanbul deserves a post void of distractions such as talk of birthdays and so on.

I got back the 15^th and my birthday is the 16^th. I was just so excited to see Curtis again after seven days apart. That day marked 8 years since our first date! Sometimes I can’t believe it’s been that long, other times I can’t remember life before us. My life has changed so much in these years and I am blessed to have such a man, one who is passionate for his Sav!or and who loves me more than I ever imagined, it seems that he gets better at loving me as time goes on.

I came back to a whirlwind of events, including my first leadership meeting and several birthday greetings from students and friends. As usual, I was reminded of how much love surrounds me on this special day. Dad has really provided many people around me whom I love and who return that love. I am so thankful for the friendships that I have here. He has truly provided me with a second family. Not to undermine how much I miss and love my real family. I am just very blessed by my creator as the road he has put me on can be difficult, he knows what I need and has blessed me with people that I love very much here as well in America 

On my actual birthday we had a really special event at the Cafe! We stayed open a little late in order to do a Music Preview. One of our volunteers is very talented with the gift of song. It seemed like basically everyone who has ever set foot in the cafe showed up! There were about 130 people in the cafe, it was packed and it just seemed so right. People filling the chairs, faces with smiles and joy lighting up the room. 

I celebrated my birthday over the weekend with Curtis on Saturday and with some friends on Sunday. I decided to have friends over because it was snowing like crazy and I really wanted to try a new cupcake recipe. I fell in love with this recipe for Funfetti Cupcakes :) from Eat, Live, Run which really shouldn’t be a surprise since that was always the kind of cake I would request for my birthday. It felt like old times but better and less artificial than the kind you get in a box 

I didn’t have vanilla bean, so I just used more vanilla!

Funfetti Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream

Recipe adapted from Eat, Live, Run 

makes about 12 cupcakes

1 stick butter, softened

3/4 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

3 tsp pure vanilla

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/4 cup rainbow sprinkles

buttercream:

1 stick butter, softened

2 cups confectioner’s sugar

1 tablespoon milk

2 tsp pure vanilla

For the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 350. Cream together the butter and sugar and add the eggs one by one, beating after each addition. Mix together the dry ingredients in a large bowl and in another bowl, mix together the milk and vanilla. Alternate adding the dry ingredients and the milk/vanilla to the batter. Be careful not to overmix. Fold in rainbow sprinkles.

Pour batter into greased (or lined) cupcake tins. Bake for twenty five minutes. Let cool thoroughly before frosting.

For the buttercream, beat the butter and vanilla on high until soft. Add the confectioner’s sugar and beat well. Add milk and beat on high for about six minutes, until very light and fluffy. Pipe buttercream on cupcakes and top with more sprinkles.

We had a great time on Sunday laughing, talking and eating good food 

Monday was my first day as Cafe Manager.

It was a slow day, we were only open two days this week because of the holiday. But it was a great way for me to ease into the job. Because it was so slow I was able to get my office organized.

On Tuesday we celebrated Nauryz, the Persian New Year, with our Annual Nauryz Party at work. We work in a poor area and we invite all of our neighbors to come and enjoy a big party complete with dancing, singing and of course plov! Curtis even gave a last minute speech in Kazakh, you can see it here on facebook. Also spring finally came in our city and I think it’s here to stay this time 

On thursday we celebrated Nauryz by going to a big stadium and watching the National game Kokpar, aka “Goat Polo.” They basically play polo with a goat carcass. It’s pretty gruesome, but interesting. We also got invited to a small party (toy) and were given a small feast (dastarhan) for free.

It has been a blessed week jumping back into work and life here and then quickly jumping into vacation for the holiday. We were blessed with three days off, plus the weekend, so that gives us five days total to recover from the festivities and from my trip to Turkey. Can’t wait to tell you about Istanbul, but for now, I gotta get some sleep!

The Perfect Fit

I never realized how much Papa actually cared about what I love doing until now. I guess after watching Soul Surfer and several other videos about Bethany Hamilton, especially her documentary “Heart of a Soul Surfer,” I should have picked up on that. The way that he gave Bethany her dream of glorifying him while doing the one thing that she absolutely loves! I don’t have such a passion I guess, I mean something so clear-cut, so I guess that I doubted that he cared about the passions that I do have.

Over time, especially my time overseas, I have seen him giving me many of my hearts desires, even ones that I didn’t realize that I had. He has been revealing my passions to me, as well as allowing me to live out those passions as a part of his work.  It is a beautiful thing the way that he has been unfolding my dreams ever so slowly and placing my desires before me to take hold of.

This past week I have seen this more concretely than any other time. I have held this desire, this hope inside of me for some time now. I have thought about it and dreamed about it several times, but continued to push it back in my mind and in my heart because most of the time it seemed impossible or impractical. But now I have seen this dream realized and I couldn’t be more excited and more in awe of the Father’s love for me and knowledge of who I am and what my passions are.

I can remember two years ago when hearing about the café project thinking about how I really wanted to be a big part of it. As you know it has taken time for the opening of the café to come about for various reasons, but it did in September 2011 and since than I have been working there.  I have been loving this part of my work and feeling less and less passion for my role as a teacher and more passion for my role as part of the Café team.

But it didn’t seem practical to work in the café more full-time and there were a few different things stopping me from saying that I would do it, such as my need to spend several hours studying language. I also never expressed to my leaders that this was a desire of mine, and in some ways I didn’t realize that it was a desire or that it could even work.

You see, they have been looking for a local operations manager for some time now and they finally found one a few weeks ago since our current manager will be leaving for the states. He will be gone temporarily, but when he comes back he plans to commit more time to another project that he is working on, therefore there is a need for a permanent manager who can do what he has been doing and work along side him as he continues to lead the vision of the café.

The operations manager that they found seemed like a perfect fit! He was friendly, he spoke great English, and he loved the job… Until, he got a better offer in another city. After two weeks of training he notified us that this wasn’t the perfect fit for him, he had found something better.

When I heard this, I was thinking, “What are we going to do our manager is leaving in a few weeks for the states and we have no one to do it, except… ME!” This seemed like the only easy solution and the more I thought about it and talked with Curtis about it, the more I realized that this was my dream. We also found quickly that the timing was perfect because we had just gotten a new teacher from the UK who could teach my class while I work in the Café.

As quickly as I realized this, my dream was realized. I talked to our manager the next day about it and everyone in leadership agreed that it was a perfect fit and that it was most definitely orchestrated by our father in he*ven. They know me and understood that this role fits with many of my passions.

I could not be more thrilled about what Dad has me doing. I really feel that this has been perfectly orchestrated and that it truly fits who Dad made me to be. It suits many of my passions including: coffee, baking, decorating, socializing, loving and communicating with people, creating new things and the list goes on and on. I am also a good point with language and will be able to do much of the needed communication in Russian, which will give me even more practice than I am getting now.

Please talk with Dad for me as I enter into this position. I am so excited about it, I know that I love doing most of what it takes to fill this role, but I am sure that it will be trying in some ways too. I am also entering into a leadership position and that is no small thing, so I could really use your chats in this area.

Thank you all so much for your continual support! I cannot tell you how excited I was to share this news with you. I am in love with being in the cafe, working with people there, helping with the vision and coming up with new food and drink ideas. I love the café team, our excellent baker, magnificent barista and two energetic young volunteers. I love the atmosphere and want to work on communicating the vision through the design. I am just so excited and couldn’t think of a better place for me!