Meatballs and Gravy

I'm not a big "gravy" girl.
Mashed potatoes and gravy?
No, thank you. I like mine with butter only!
Turkey and gravy?
Nope, I like mine with just salt and pepper!
Meat loaf and gravy?
No, again! I like mine smothered in ketchup.

But my hubby?
He loves brown gravy......in fact, I think he'd eat it a lot.....if I made it!
Since I don't like gravy, I rarely think of making it.
Since my hubby is such a great guy, he doesn't get upset about it.
Every once in a while though, I remember that he likes gravy.
Then, I remember that even though this dish is a gravy dish, we both like it!
Score!!!

Meatballs & Gravy

1 1/4 lbs. ground beef
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/3 c. unseasoned bread crumbs
1/2 tsp. garlic salt
1 tsp. Italian seasoning (split into two 1/2 tsp. measurements)
1/2 tsp. black pepper (split into two 1/4 tsp. measurements)
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 small onion, thinly sliced
1 c. sliced mushrooms
2 Tbsp. flour
1 can beef broth (14 1/2 oz.)
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

Heat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl, mix beef, egg, bread crumbs, garlic salt, 1/2 tsp. Italian seasoning, and 1/4 tsp. black pepper.
Form into balls, about a tablespoonful each.
Place on greased broiler pan.
Bake for 15-20 minutes.
Meanwhile, heat olive oil in skillet over medium-high heat.
Add onion and mushrooms and cook 6-7 minutes, stirring occasionally or until lightly browned.
Sprinkle flour over mixture, stir and cook 1 minute.
Gradually stir in broth until flour is completely mixed into broth.
Add remaining Italian seasoning, pepper, and nutmeg.
Add meatballs to skillet, reduce heat to medium-low.
Cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
Serve over noodles.

Alternative for when you are short on time

Instead of making meatballs, season ground beef with 1/2 tsp. garlic salt, 1/2 tsp. Italian seasoning, and 1/4 tsp. black pepper.

Cook ground beef on medium-high heat until no longer pink in the middle.

(You will not need the egg or bread crumbs.)

Make the gravy as directed, adding the cooked ground beef to the skillet instead of the meatballs.

Cover, simmer, and serve over noodles as per directions above.

Enjoy!

Missionary Monday - Meet our Contributors

Happy Monday!

I'm going to take the next few Mondays to introduce you to our contributors,

 just in case you don't know who is posting!

This blog is written for missionary women around the world

by missionary women around the world.

Please meet Carole.  She writes our Fellowship Friday posts.

I'm Carole Shull, missionary wife in Greenland. When I promised my almost-fiancé that I'd follow him to the end of the world, little did I know he'd take me up on it! We were married in the year 2000, took our honeymoon to Greenland, and I've been on Top of the World ever since! We were continually met with closed doors when we applied for Greenland; so we followed God's leading and moved to Iceland for a short period of time. It was there that the Lord miraculously opened up the door to Greenland for us and has continued to do the impossible ever since. Our motto has been "With God All Things Are Possible," and we're living proof of that! Now the door to Greenland is open to other Baptist Missionaries, and we wait in anticipation to see what God has in store for this oft forgotten country.

We are blessed with five children, Christopher (10), Anna (9), Emilía (6), Jonathan (5) and Mattaliina (1). Living in a small, isolated town far above the Arctic Circle has been an adventure that we wouldn't trade for anything! We home school our children and are working hard on learning two difficult languages and building relationships. We love the people God has called us to and strive to see souls saved and lives changed for HIS Glory! You can read more about our life in the North on my blog Arctic Adventures -

http://arctic-adventures.blogspot.com/

Sunny-Side-Up Saturdays

During our Sunday night service, we go over the Bible reading for the week as well as our memory verse.  Then, we have some sword drills before the message.  Danny (6) is still figuring out where the books of the Bible are; therefore, he is not too speedy.  Joe called out, "Haggai 1:5."  Danny said, "That's not even in my Bible!"

During supper the other night, Gilbert (7) said, “Mom, on the way home today, we saw a white man working on a tractor, and he was cigaretting.” Danny said, “There’s no such word as cigaretting, Gilbert.” We do not see many white people here or borɔnyi as the people here call the white man. (The Fante word for white man is pronounced “brony.”) I had not really thought about the fact that we do not see many people smoking here either until Gilbert told me this story.

Bonnie (4) can sound out and spell three-letter words now. She has been saying, “M-o-m” instead of “Mom.” Sometimes she spells something that is not a word, but she still thinks that we should know exactly what she is talking about. The other day, she said, “Mom, can I have a ‘p-h-r’?” I asked her what that was; she said, “You know, a snack!” When we were getting ready for church the other night, she said, “What about my 'g-h-o'?” She needed help finding her shoes. I should have known!

Bonnie, Danny, and Gilbert Consford

This week, we have a couple stories from some other ladies as well. The first one is from Rebecca Lantz in Uganda. She and her husband Lawrence have six children: Naomi (15), Hannah (13), Daniel (12), Lydia (11), Martha (7), and Luke (5).

When Rebecca's husband was first learning the tribal language of Ateso in Uganda, he had learned how to introduce himself. He knew how to say, “Hi, my name is Lawrence, and I am a pastor.” The word for “pastor” is “ecokon,” and the word for “chair” is “eicolong.” Once when introducing himself, he said, “Hi, my name is Lawrence, and I am a chair.” He did not figure out until later what he had said and why he was getting so many strange looks.

We also have a story from Cynthia Pape. She and her husband Chad are missionaries on deputation to Northern Dominican Republic. They have four children. Cynthia blogs at papes2dr.blogspot.com if you would like to follow along.

They were at their first out-of-town meeting on deputation. They were in a large church, and Cynthia felt small and lost. Her husband was greeting the church people; her three oldest children were at the playground with friends. She was manning the display table with her three-year-old son Steven. As she was talking to some ladies, she heard a child screaming, “PEOPLE, PEOPLE…WE NEED YOUR MONEY!” She broke out into a cold sweat while praying that it was not one of her children. She turned around to find her son Steven holding a coffee cup and screaming again, “PEOPLE, PEOPLE…WE NEED YOUR MONEY!” About that time, she was wishing that she could melt right into the ground. Everyone in the foyer stopped and looked at this little missionary kid who was begging for money. She snatched him up, held him, and tried to laugh off her embarrassment. They had recently watched The Little Rascals. One of Steven's favorite scenes in the movie was when the children were begging for money after their clubhouse burned down. Whenever he finds an empty coffee cup, he knows what to do!

If you have a language blooper or some other funny story that you would like to share with us, please e-mail it to me at loconsford@gmail.com.  Please include the name of each family member, your field of service, and a picture of your family if possible.

Until next week, keep your sunny side up!

Vacation Bible School - Tips for Inviting Children and to Keep Them Coming Back!

Hello! We are back again this week to discuss more about planning a fun and successful Vacation Bible School. By the way, what makes a VBS program successful? In my opinion, you can count it successful if you are able to make contact with new children that have never attended your Sunday school class and if you have met a few parents as well! After all, that is the goal - to meet new children and parents, praying that they might begin attending services and come to Christ! A more open and relaxed atmosphere like a week of VBS provides a wonderful opportunity for the community to see what you are all about and how you work with their children.

One important rule to guide you throughout the program - 

What if a stranger came knocking on YOUR door to invite YOUR child to attend a daily Bible school? 

Think about it!

What would you like to see in that person or in the way he invited your children? 

What are some things that might cause you not allow your children to attend?

Thinking about the situation from the parent's perspective helps us better understand any hesitation we might receive from parents or children. It also helps us think more seriously about how we will go about inviting children to attend.

I believe the best way to invite children and actually have some attend is to walk around the village/city and hand out flyers, hang up posters, and do your best to meet the parents. We even gave out candy or balloons with the invites as well just for effect. The kids become much more interested when they see a big bunch of balloons walking around!

Our daughter (2007) ready to walk through the village
and hand out invites to our first VBS!

When you are walking around and not in a car, you are less intimidating and more approachable for anyone to come up to you and take an invitation or inquire about the VBS program. Obviously, you may need to drive to an area due to the distance away from your church or area where the VBS will be held, but then get out and walk around a bit so you can personally hand out invitations to children and parents.

Another great encouragement to help the kids get excited about coming out as well as bringing new visitors during the week is a point system. We have used a point system every year, and it is a great motivator. Here is the general breakdown we use...

Attendance

Memorizing Daily Memory Verse

Bringing Worksheets back each day

Participation

Bringing a First-time Visitor

VBS 2007

The point values can be determined based upon your needs/plans. One determining factor for us is that we have a "store" at the end of the week where the children can spend their points to purchase toys and small items. Usually, on Thursday evening, my husband and I pull out all of the items so that we can give them "prices" based on the number of points the children have earned during the week. We do this in order to be sure that every child can take something home, even if he was only able to attend one day during the week. 

Preparing the store - VBS 2012

VBS 2009 Store

Another idea that we tried this past year with our Olympic theme was to award the first, second, and third place winners for most verses memorized and most visitors brought. These children were rewarded with gold, silver, and bronze medals. This was a great idea to me, and I think we will implement it into future VBS programs even though we will use other themes besides the Olympic theme.

Scripture Memorization winners (2012).
They were wet from playing water games!

I will leave you with one more piece of advice in using a point system. You must have a very organized method to keep track of each child's daily points.
This gives us great material for next week's VBS post! 

See you then!

Chicken & Biscuit Pie

 

Do you like chicken pot pie?

I do!

When I was growing up, my mother rarely bought pre-fab food, but every once in a while, when the little pot pies were on sale, she'd buy them. We only got to eat them when we had a baby sitter, but oh, how I looked forward to them!

Now that I'm grown, I love the IDEA of pot pies, but I'll be honest, I'm still working on my pie crust techniques. Until I found this recipe, I just dreamed of those cute little guys I used to love to eat.

A biscuit topping!?! I can do that.....mom taught me to make biscuits when I was big enough to hold the fork and bowl and cut in the butter!

No more dreaming of pot pie, now I dream of eating it!

Chicken & Biscuit Pie

Filling:

4 Tbsp. butter

1 c. onion, finely chopped

1 rib celery, finely chopped OR celery seed/salt to taste (about 1/2 tsp.)

1/3 c. flour

1 1/2 c. chicken stock

1 1/2 c. whole milk

1/2 tsp. dried sage

1/2 tsp. dried thyme

2 1/2 c. cooked chicken, diced or shredded

2 c. vegetables of your choice (frozen or leftovers)

salt and pepper

Topping:

2 c. flour

1 Tbsp. baking powder

1 tsp. sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 c. cold butter, cut into 1/4-in. pieces

3/4 c. milk

Melt the butter on the stove top in a large oven-safe pot. 

Stir in the onion and celery, then cover the pan and cook them for 7-8 minutes over medium heat, stirring occasionally.

Add the flour, stirring for 1-2 minutes to lightly brown it. 

Whisk the chicken stock into the pan. 

When it starts to thicken, whisk in the milk.

Add the sage, thyme, chicken, and vegetables, continuing to stir until the mixture is heated through, about 5-7 minutes.  

Add salt and pepper to taste. 

Remove the pan from the stove top and heat the oven to 375 degrees. 

Meanwhile, make the biscuit topping by combining the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt in a mixing bowl.

Add the butter and use your fingertips to rub it into the dry ingredients.  

Add the milk and stir briskly, just until the dough pulls together. 

Flour your work surface and turn the dough onto it.

Using floured hands, knead the dough 2 or 3 times; then flatten it to about 1/2-in. thick.

Using a small round cutter, cut the dough into biscuits and place as many as will fit, barely touching, on top of the filling. 

Bake the pot pie until the biscuits are golden brown and filling is bubbly, about 20-30 minutes. 

Let it cool for 5-10 minutes before serving.

Enjoy! 

Sunny-Side-Up Saturdays

This week, we have some stories from Donna Schepers. She and her husband Stewart are missionaries in the Dominican Republic. They have 4 children: Delayna 15, Julianna 13, Seth 6, and Jesse 5. She blogs at http://donnasdominicandaily.blogspot.com/ if you would like to follow her blog.

The boys, or maybe it is just Jesse, really keep us entertained. That entertainment doubled while we were traveling on furlough! Jesse pointed out every stop sign; and when it was a large sign, he yelled (at the top of his lungs), “STOP!” He also pointed out all the "oil pumper" things (oil wells), and he got very excited any time that he saw a train. He also asked, "How many more aisles (miles) until we are there?"

We were at my mom's house, and my boys just about gave her a heart attack. I was in the room packing, and I thought the boys were playing with Delayna outside. All of a sudden, my mom started screaming, "SOMEONE HELP THE BOYS; HURRY!" I took off running, not sure what was wrong. What had happened was that Delayna had come inside, and the boys had gone up to the top of the hill and gotten in my mom's utility wagon and were riding down the hill in it (through a maze of trees with a ditch and a road at the bottom). Somehow they had stopped halfway down, and Seth was about to give a push to get them going again when I got out there and stopped them. My mom was sick the rest of the day. I told her that now she knows how I feel daily!

One night in a motel, Seth was lying on the bed looking up at the fire sprinkler in the ceiling and said, "Don't tell me that is the fan!" He is so used to ceiling fans; he thought that was a very small one!

Then, we were at our first meeting at a supporting church. I was talking to the pastor's wife, who was very pregnant, and Jesse almost punched her in the stomach. I told him not to do that and said that she had a baby in there so he needed to be careful. He squatted down and looked up under her shirt; then, he stood up and said, "She does not have a baby in there!" I was trying not to crack up!

Stu was fixing a pipe. In the middle of cutting it, his saw broke, and water started pouring out everywhere. He was frantically trying to get it stopped, and Jesse walked up and said, "Dad, what were you thinking!?" You can't tell what we ask him all the time, can you?

Then we have Seth, the quieter one. He was praying for lunch the other day, and in the middle of his prayer said, "Lord, please help Jesse to close his eyes while I am praying."

Thank you for those stories, Donna! I really enjoyed them.

If you have a language blooper or some other funny story that you would like to share with us, please e-mail it to me at loconsford@gmail.com.

Until next week, keep your sunny side up!

Vacation Bible School - Getting It on Paper

Hello again! I hope you are joining us again this week as we talk more about the planning of a schedule for a VBS program on your mission field. If you missed last week's post, I advise you to read it since it gives more information regarding the first steps of planning. This week, I hope to help you get all the ideas flooding your mind onto paper so that you are well prepared for the week of VBS to arrive!

One of the first things we must talk about is the THEME of your VBS program. Now, as I told you in the previous post, my husband and I hold a week long program in the summer; so I will use a week-long program as the example. Remember, you can hold a VBS program anytime of the year as long as you can be sure the children are free to attend. We have been dreaming of a winter program as well, but we have some work to do before we have a building where that could take place!

Back to the THEME. This is one of the most fun things about planning, but it also requires a whole lot of time and thought. I will say one thing here that might surprise you! It is great if you have a theme with daily lessons that flow beautifully and oh, so smoothly, but honestly...the kids don't care as much about that as you do! Please don't misunderstand me. It is great to have a theme, but sometimes we get so wrapped up in the theme that we forget to strive EACH day to use the story or lesson, no matter what it may be, to teach and share the Gospel. Also, it is not always easy to translate or convey our American 'play on words' in the daily themes; so be aware of not making your decor and ideas too "American." Now, I want to share a few themes that we have used here in Russia in our VBS programs. The details are too lengthy to list in this post; so if you would like any more information regarding these themes, please feel free to contact me at:  danddsterling@juno.com

2007: Jesus Gives Salvation - Verse: Luke 19:10
2008: Jesus Is the Light - Verse: John 8:12
2009: Bible - A Living Book!
2010: How Decisions We Make Today Affect Our Future - this was not printed any where on the flyers or worksheets, but each day we taught about important decisions that affect our lives, i.e., Choosing proper friends, Listening to good advice, etc.
2011: The Heart - Verse: Proverbs 4:23
2012: Olympic Theme

Once you have a theme, you must decide on a DAILY  SCHEDULE of events. This is remembering that you have already determined a daily time frame which you need to be sure you can fill completely with activity but not go over. Remember: Plan to keep the children busy at all times.
Busy children = control!
Here are the activities we include daily in our schedule:
*Registration (we will talk more about this later)
*Introduction/point tabulation time
*Song time
*Bible lesson
*Review game
*Craft time
*Snack time
*Game time
*Object Lesson (we haven't done this every year)
*Dismissal time - gives you a few minutes to hand out worksheets/remind children to invite friends and come back the next day.

VBS 2008 Puppet show

The first couple of years, we also had a daily puppet show to help drive home the point of the day's theme. Puppets are a great way to keep the kids coming back each day by having their dialogue or story continue throughout the week. Also, if you do not have access to puppets, skits are another wonderful tool to help illustrate the daily lessons or themes.

At this point, you will do yourself a huge favor if you take the time now to determine:
your logo for the program which will be used in the printing of the flyers and worksheets,
each song to be sung,
each Bible lesson (obviously this is the skeleton that you build everything around),
daily worksheets (if you plan to use them),
a daily review game,
a daily craft,
plan the snacks and drinks for each day (and who will bring them),
and four or five daily games (always plan for more than you need, just in case).

Trust me! Making all of these decisions now will be such a relief to you as the coordinator. It will give you more time during the week for all of the last minute problems you may have to fix, allow you more time to tally points (if you choose to use a point system), and allow you to focus more on any teaching you may be doing during the week. (Sometimes the coordinator wears many hats!)

Now that all of these decisions have been made, you can begin the paperwork part of preparing:
*Flyers and posters to be printed.
*Songbooks (will they be printed professionally? by you? What will be the cover design?)
*Daily worksheets (more to come on this in future posts)
*Verse lists for the children to have a concise list of all the verses they will hopefully memorize throughout the week!

Now, once you have jotted down some notes regarding which activities you wish to include each day of VBS, print out copies of that daily schedule for each of your workers. Here is an example at the end of this post of one for you to see from a previous VBS we held. I translated most of the important information for you into English. 

Please stick with me as we continue next Wednesday talking more about VBS! Again, if you have any questions or would like to know more about anything in these posts, please write me. I would love to hear from you!

_________________________________________________________________________________

VBS – Day 1

Jehosophat  - Choose your friends wisely.  

Memory Verse: Proverbs 13:20 - “He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.”

“Общающийся с мудрыми будет мудр, а кто дружит с глупыми, развратится.”

________________________________________________________________________________________

Программа (Program):

1.         Регистрация - Foyer        (Dee/Nancy and Lydia)   20 мин. (11:00 – 11:20)

2.         Предисловие-Main Hall  (David/Dee)                    30 мин.  (11:20 – 11:50)

Молитва (Prayer)   (David)

Explanation of Points (Dee)

                        Song of the Week: “Мы Бодрей на Жизненном Пути Пойдём ”

Object Lesson: (Dee)

Songs: (Dee) “Если Счастлив”, “Да Любит Он!”, Счастлив Я Всегда! 

                                                                        Divide into groups

Younger 6-8 years (Lydia/Dee) – smaller auditorium

Older 9-up years (David/Nancy) - main auditorium

3.         Lesson – Jehosophat/Verse: Proverbs 13:20               15 мин.  (11:50 – 12:05)

4.         Review Game: (Nancy-Older kids/Lydia-younger) 15 мин.  (12:05 – 12:20)

**AFTER LESSON YOUNGER KIDS SENT IN TO MAIN AUDITORIUM FOR SONGS**

(Nancy, Lydia, Elizabeth - set up for snacks in foyer while Dee sings with kids)

Соединить (Regroup)   - Everyone in foyer for snacks

5.         Snack time         Gather point cards                10 мин.  (12:20 – 12:30)

 (Nancy, Elizabeth, Lydia - Set up for craft in smaller auditorium)

6.         Craft:  Friendship - Hands (Everyone help as needed)   30 мин.  (12:30 – 13:00)

7.         Games  (David, Nancy, Elizabeth, Lydia)                        45 мин. (13:05 –13:50)     

8.         Dismissal  Main auditorium                                          5-10 мин.  (13:50 – 14:00)

                        

          Домашнее задание  (Give out homework sheets)

                        Молитва (Prayer)       (David)