Holiday Hype

I cried the other day...over presents. I know, that somethings little kids do. But, let me explain. I love Christmas. More specifically, I love giving gifts. I love making them, searching for them, wrapping them and seeing people open them. Nothing wrong with that. Well, this year, has really wanted to focus on not getting caught up in all the holiday hype. He's giving his birthday to Cause 6000 and Sole Hope this year. Because he wants to do more than just talk about changing things, he wanted to give one large gift to Cause 6000 and let everyone know that their Christmas present for us is on it's way to help build a well in Ghana. We've done that for the past two years. The cutesy, creative, gift giving side of me threw a little fit when he said that. I want to have presents under our tree and a trunk full of gifts to deliver at Christmas.

I think I threw Ray for a loop when I started to cry. But here was the inner conflict: I love the idea of giving a gift that does more than just add to the junk that people already have and don't need, but I also love giving a great gift that I know my friends and family will love. I was so worried that I was being bratty and selfish about the whole thing that I had a little bit of a meltdown. Luckily, I've found a way that we can give a physical gift that does more than just collect dust. Over the next few days, I'll highlight several different places to shop that allow you to give gifts to friends and family and hope and support to others.

Number one on the list is Light Gives Heat at www.lightgivesheat.com. I found this organization through an ad in a magazine and am completely taken with their story and the work they are doing. Take a look..

LGH works with up and coming artists and to produce their designs by creating jobs women and families in Uganda. How cool is that?! Take a look at some of the products they offer.

This is from their bold collection which just so happened to be on sale today (day 1 of LGH's 12 days of Christmas sale).

One of my favorite bags they offer. 

It's always a good thing to give hope!

I'm really excited to give gifts this year, especially now that I've found places like LGH that allow me to give gifts that are a little more significant.

Cranberry Walnut Chicken Salad

So, since the Ghana trip, I've been home all day. Yesterday, I sat around in my pajama's all day until it was time to go run. Today was redemption. I made dishwasher detergent, and then made chicken salad for lunch. I posted it on Facebook and got a few requests for the recipe. You'd think I'd be excited to post a recipe, but I have a tendency not to measure things when I'm cooking.
I'll give the basics, but just be sure start very moderately to leave room to adjust if you need to.

Ingredients:

• boneless, skinless chicken breast (I used two. They were leftover from an earlier meal. Usually I make chicken salad from leftover rotisserie chicken, requires no cooking, which keeps your kitchen cooler. A big deal this time of year.) 
• garlic salt
• Italian seasoning
• onion powder (Ray doesn't like raw onions and since he needed to eat too, I used this.)
• dried cranberries
• walnut pieces (I used fresh gourmet glazed, because they were leftover, but use whatever you have around. Pecans are good in chicken salad also.)
• your favorite mayo or salad dressing
• small can crushed pineapple
• Pepper
• Salt to taste

I boiled the chicken breast in a little salt and about 3 shakes of italian seasoning. Once they were cooked through and cooled, I used the chopper to finely dice the chicken. I prefer mine a little chunkier, which is why I added the walnuts.

Once your chicken is the texture you want, add garlic salt, onion powder, and pepper. (For just the 2 chicken breasts, I used about 1/2 tsp garlic salt, 1/4 tsp onion powder and about 6 turns of the pepper grinder.) Add about 2 Tbsp mayo or salad dressing and mix well. Add about 1/2 cup cranberries and about 1/2 walnuts and bout 3/4 cup crushed pineapple. Mix well and add any additional salt and pepper to your liking. Voila! Cranberry Walnut chicken salad!

I would have a picture for you, but by the time I thought to write this blog post, it was all gone. If this goes well, I'll have to post more recipes soon.

Days 1&2

So, I'll have to try and catch up on the rest of day one and give a quick rundown of day two.

We made it through the flight from Atlanta to Accra fairly uneventfully. Everyone cleared the health check except for Chad, who was two months expired from his yellow fever vaccine. They gave him the shot at the airport. The next stop was passport verification and this fantastic sign advising sexual predators to go "elsewhere". Thankfully all the supplies made it through customs with just one small gift of a bandage for one of the agent's mother-in-law.
After that point, there was lots of standing around and waiting-for the next flight, then for the flight after that. After a very wild and crazy ride to the mission house, we prepped the bags for each medical team and went to bed.
Day 2 was awesome! Stella (Joseph's wife) and her team made breakfast we ate And were out the door by 8 o'clock. We stopped to merry the "mayor" of the district and the chief of the area our villages were in. We were welcomed warmly, and everyone seemed glad to have us here.
After that we dispersed to our villages. We had the assistance of a midwife and a student. We treated wounds, assessed patients and made doctor referrals. We played with the children, and one lady asked me if I would help her run her daycare.
The evening services went well, there were several who accepted Christ, and we arrived back at the mission house around 10:30.

Fwd: Day 1-travel

Well, I'm sitting in the airport in Atlanta waiting for the next flight. I made it! I wasn't sure I was going to make it. There have been several challenges and obstacles to overcome in getting here. Plus the distraction of worrying about my job situation, and adjusting to having a two year old living with us has made the last few months kind of stressful. A few days ago,I wasn't sure I even had the correct mindset to serve on a mission trip. But, I'm exited and eager to serve and build new relationships. Hopefully I'll be able to keep updated while on the trip. Stay tuned...

I'm in! "Doing a little dance" I'm  going to Ghana, I'm going to Ghana! I've been wanting to go to Africa since the first mission trip I applied for when I was a sophomore in college. When we moved to Hickory, I wanted to go on this trip last year, but it was already full. So when the opportunity came again this year, I made sure to get in right away. I've been kind of swamped with work and school and preparing to have Adrianna so hopefully the next few posts from here on out will be a little more informative. Thanks for your support!