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!