Day 2

I have to document some of the funny things I have heard from the kids so that I have it written down. I made it to the store and bought some pineapples, bananas, mandarin oranges, and papayas (fruit found in the area of the world we are "visiting"). You don't know how good a banana tasted and it has only been two days!! Anyway, the kids are given hot cereal (wheat farina) for breakfast with some milk, sugar and butter. For morning snack, they have some fruit. Lunch is beans and rice with a glass of milk. Afternoon snack is fruit as well. Dinner is rice and beans with some chicken and vegetables and a glass of milk. Anyway, N came up to me and asked me, "Mama, since we can have milk and fruit, can't you just make us a smoothie?" Today, day 3, S told me that she is praying that she gets the stomach flu so that at the end of throwing up, she can have Gatorade and saltine crackers. She said that would taste better then rice and beans. Finally, N has said for years that she wants to be a missionary. I told her last night (Monday), that God may be using this to prepare her to be a missionary one day. She can't just eat what she wants in another country, she has to eat what she is offered. She told me, "Well, maybe God is telling me He doesn't want me to be a missionary." I told her, "Or, maybe God is trying to stretch you and prepare you for His service as a missionary." G piped in, "God has called all of us to be missionaries!" Interesting point G - we are all called to be missionaries, so maybe God is preparing you, N or all of us.

None of us are starving by any means, but it has been difficult. Today is Day 3. I made the kids some plain white rice for lunch. S opened up a can of refried beans and ate those with her rice. Everyone was happy with lunch and I didn't hear any complaining. They keep talking about the very last day, the 28th of February. They have requested hot cereal for every meal that day. They told me, "Some countries kids just eat hot cereal all the time as their main meal, so can we do that on the 28th?" Little connivers! I just might have to since they are trying to find ways to work around our meals. :)

We are all adjusting to this way of eating. It takes a few days for the body to adjust. W had a headache all day yesterday and asked for a plain baked potato last night. Since we will be eating plain potatoes on Wednesday nights (I bought too many potatoes and they will go bad. Additionally, that is what some countries ate for their main source of food - Europe), I told him I would. I took a tiny bite of his potato before eating my rice and beans. Without butter or salt, the potato tasted amazing. What astounds me is that it had only been 2 full days of eating rice and beans. Already my taste buds have adjusted and the taste of a plain potato tasted heavenly. Once again I'm reminded just how spoiled we are in America. This has been such a good lesson for all of us. Every time my tummy rumbles a little or I see something in my cabinets I'd love to eat, I try to remember to pray for those around the world with so much less then us. Although this isn't something everyone would want to try, I would suggest people try it just for a day or two at least. In a short time, you'll learn a lot about yourself and how blessed we are.

I love God's timing in life too. I had signed up a few months ago to do a simulcast for missions. I received an email this morning reminding me of the event coming up. It lands on 2/27. What a way to celebrate one of our last days - hearing about missions around the world! God is so good!!!

No new recipe today. We are just eating leftovers from the other two recipes I posted (plus the plain white rice). Those recipes made a lot of rice!! We are all looking forward to lentil soup and Chapati bread (recipe I found from West Africa).