Culturally Appropriate

 Meet our new language "helper". She's so much more than a helper though. She's a teacher.

    There is a huge difference between the two. Between my personality and my formal education growing up. I prefer a teacher. She's so sweet, soft spoken, and super encouraging.
    Not only are we finally getting to learn spiritual vocabulary, we are learning lots of cultural things along the way. I don't know if we'll ever know all the culturally appropriate things to do in this country. But we are having fun learning through trial and error. Thankfully these wonderful people show lots of grace since we are foreigners. Usually they just laugh at us if we do something wrong.

 Cultural Appropriate: To apologize to some one, grab your ear lobes and give a little tug while turning head to the side a little. Eyes looking down while tugging. *Level of apology is obvious. You only grab one ear if your just a little sorry. You grab both ears if you are extremely sorry.

**We were told that children in the schools will have to stand in the corner tugging their ears while keeping their elbows parallel to the floor as punishment.
   Which is better, the hand cramp from writing 'I'm sorry' 500 times or your ear lobes stretching out? I'll take the hand cramp (my ears are big enough... thank you)

Fruitful

Isn't it funny how things can get mentioned multiple times in one day. Today was one of those days for me. The topic...fruit.

(picture taken in Mussoorie this time last year)

First: God's desire and command to mankind has been "Be fruitful and multiply" from the beginning of time. Sure He was talking about physically multiplying (there are approximately 7 billion people in the world today. I think we understood this part of the command!) But He was also talking about spiritually multiplication. Multiplying men and women who "get it", understanding that our purpose is to bring the Father glory.

Second: I read the following in Psalms this morning:

   "How joyful are those who fear the Lord-all who follow his ways! You will enjoy the fruit of your labor. How joyful and prosperous you will be!" Psalm 128:1,2

Amen!!! Reading these verses made me smile. What a promise! I'm claiming it today over our time here in India especially.

Third: We bought and are enjoying 4 lbs of mangos, 2 lbs of peaches, 13 lbs. of cantaloupe , and a lb litchi! (bought them all for less than $4) These yummy fruits are what help make the 115+ degree days bearable. We are thankful for the variety right now. Just like last year though, I'm afraid my skin is going to start turning orange from all the mangos. hehe It's worth it though.

I had Joe take some pictures of our litchi. I've got to find a way to take all this yummy goodness back to America with me someday.

(Litchi, to me, taste like a cross between peeled grapes and grapefruit)

(this is the meat and the seed of the fruit)

Praying that the fruit of the Spirit will be evident in my life.

 "But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control..." Galatians 5:22

All for the Glory of God

"So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." 1 Cor. 10:31

Joe has always loved being behind the camera. There have been times in our lives that we really thought the Father was opening doors for him to pursue a career in this field, but then other times it felt just more like a hobby. 

Lately the Father has been allowing him to use his talents and knowledge to help nationals develop their skills in photography. We are praying that these small classes will eventually help our friends find jobs and open up doors for the Father's love to be spread. 

I've had many opportunities over the last year to pamper my fellow workers. It's been really fun to meet them, hear their stories, and pray for them specifically.  Plus it's just been a really good release for me. I still love being a stylist! And I'm super excited to say that I'm getting more and more opportunities to pamper my sisters in the faith. 

May all our talents and abilities been used "for the glory of God."

Kitchen Talk

Veg or Non veg. You'll find these little green or red labels on everything, including cereal boxes. Speaking of cereal boxes, I've made the mistake and bought cereal that was imported instead of local which cost be about 3 times the amount it should have cost. I learned my lesson. Now I always look for the little label in the upper right corner. It's a sure sign that it's cheaper! 
Back to the topic of meat. Thankfully Joe and I both can go either way on this topic. We love a good steak in America and we love a good veg sandwich in India. It's a win-win situation for us. In our last 14 months of living here we've gotten really creative with our cooking style based on all the good veg options. I started making these "Crunchy Lebanese" sandwiches after falling in love with them at my favorite cafe here in the city. Thought I'd share the recipe with you.

Crunchy Lebanese Sandwich- serving size 2
4 slices brown bread
1 red pepper
1 yellow pepper
1 green pepper
1 onion
3 small tomatoes
lettuce
homemade hummus*
-Prepare hummus and set aside. Clean and cut veggies into small strips. Toast bread. Combine ingredients and enjoy! 
(My favorite combination is yellow and red peppers with extra hummus!)
*homemade hummus is way better than store bought or canned hummus. Just saying

While I'm in recipe mode I'll add this recipe I found on a cooking blog. I've made them a couple times for different groups. The first batch I made was for some national friends. They liked them, but I changed the recipe a little for the second batch. They were a hit at our American Idol party. Here it is with my additional changes. Example: using half the amount of butter

Oreo Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 1/2 stick softened butter
• 6 Tablespoons sugar
• 6 Tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 ¼ cup flour (half white flour, half wheat flour)
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 11 broken pieces Oreo Cookies
• 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup semi- sweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cream butter, and sugars until well combined. Add egg and vanilla until mixed well.

2. Place flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a large bowl, stir to combine. Slowly add dry ingredients to wet ingredients then stir in oreos and chocolate chips until just combined.

3. Bake for 10 minutes or until cooked, but still soft. Let cool on baking sheet for 3 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

Try it! You'll like it!

Training

For the last month, we've been helping with a training in our city. It's been a really great opportunity for us to be a part of teaching. Last night was our last meeting with these brothers and sisters, so of course I had to have a picture.

2 Timothy 2:2 "You have heard me teach things that have been confirmed by many reliable witnesses. Now teach these truths to trustworthy people who will be able to pass them on to others."

Family Feast

Family Feast... not the blog post that you probably expect, although I hope to be posting some pics from that in about 9 weeks. (Yes, I'm counting down till Mom, Dad, and Brant get here!)

No, this feast was the other night with our brothers and sisters in the faith. We have loved getting to know these brothers and sisters since moving to our new place. They all live right around the corner from us, which is great!

 I told them I'd be coming over every evening for dinner from now on. The food was amazing. I ate way too much!!

We ate Manipur food.

Chicken curry, mashed potatoes, rice, and salad

Joe and the master behind the meal. He's quite the chef!

Happy full belly = Smiling faces

Now the pressure is on for me. I'm going to be cooking them some "American" style food soon. We'll see how that turns out.

Cinco de Mustache

We have been involved in helping with a month long training in our city. It meets on Wednesday nights for a couple of hours. It's been a great experience!

The only bummer is our city is so big... it takes us atleast 1 hour and 45 minutes to get there on the metro, standing body to body with strangers (sounds fun right?!)

Since the traveling and training is a little draining (total time: at least 6 hours) and another meeting was canceled for the morning, we decided to lay low Wednesday morning.

This was the result.... all because some good friends got a crazy idea and something about No Shave November needing some competition.

Cinco De Mustache 2010

I'm thinking it's going to become a tradition thanks to the overwhelming success of this year.

This one is a person favorite, wearing the Kurta top as a turban.

Cinco De Mustache was a huge success at the Futterer household and could NOT have been made possible without the help of:

Crayola Markers and a Clinique compact 

Because sometimes you just have to improvise!

He's already planning for next year!