Rudy Off Duty

Have you ever wondered what Santa’s staff does during the year, when they aren’t on duty at the North Pole?  Sure, the elves are busy building toys all year.  And Santa is keeping his eye on the world’s children, checking who is being naughty and nice.  But what about the four-legged creatures?  What is there for them to do all year as they await another Christmas Eve whirlwind delivery?

I can’t tell you for certain about Dasher or Dancer, Prancer or Blitzen or any of the others for that matter.  That is, except for Rudolph.  When he finished his 2019 rounds with Santa and his co-workers, Rudy decided to pass his 2020 vacation days with Ellee right here in Southern Spain. 

It all started when he got stuck in a toy bin at Lidl on Christmas Eve during a routine quality inspection.  With his irresistible red nose and smiling eyes, he caught Ellee's attention immediately.  She was heartbroken at the thought of leaving him behind and sobbed as I tried to distract her with something else.  I had to set my mother pride aside and secretly request that he stay at our house after he had delivered all the rest of the world’s toys that night.  He quietly promised, stating that he’d always wanted a holiday in a warm climate!

Christmas morning he was here resting on the couch.  Exhausted from the previous night’s escapades, he slept a lot the first few days he spent with us.  Ellee made him comfortable and assured him she’d be ready to play as soon as he had recovered from his overtime.

Before long, we were all on our way to Austria!  Of course, we all know that the magic of reindeer flying only applies on Christmas Eve.  Thus, even Rudolph had to strap into a plane as we journeyed from Spain to London and then on to Austria the next day.  

Barely over the jet lag of Christmas 2019 himself, Rudolph struggled to stay awake on our first long day of travel.  We journeyed from Spain to London by air.  Once in London, we caught a train, then the underground, another train and then the shuttle to a guest house before settling in for the night.  You can see him and Ellee here, curled up on the last train, ready for a good rest that chilly London night.  And he thought guiding a sled around the world in a single night was hard!

Because it was a special treat for all of us to play in the snow, Rudolph humored us and tagged along on a few sleigh rides himself.  I think I heard him murmuring under his breath about thinking he was getting away from the snow by parking with a little girl near the Spanish coast.  How wrong he was!  Rosie, having only just turned one, needed a bit of help steering her sled.  Rudolph stepped right up for the job and kept her straight on course!

He really enjoyed our cozy little apartment nestled on the side of a spectacular mountain.  He passed his free time gazing at the awe-inspiring views and keeping a watchful eye on our drying laundry.  He nestled in with Ellee while the kids watched Sound of Music endlessly.  And he even got to join Kyle and Ellee to see the cockpit on our journey home!

(The view from our balcony)

There’s always a seat at the table for Rudy....

Now that the sun shines endlessly and the heat drives us all to take a dip in the neighborhood pool daily, Rudolph is enjoying his ideal Spanish vacation.  His days are spent sipping chilled drinks by the pool, relaxing with Ellee in the hammock on the rooftop, and dreading the day Santa calls him back to the frigid North Pole for another holiday trek.  

Since his birthday is today, we had cake and celebrated all the fun we’ve had together so far this year!  Ellee informed me on Monday that his birthday was just around the corner.  I don't know how I forgot.  Yesterday I whipped up a little quilt to warm him on blistery nights in the snow.  And for fun, we found him a sleigh so he doesn't lose his touch by next Christmas.  Happy birthday, Rudolph! 

(Thanks for his "R" shirt, Lollee!)

~Abby

Tea, Tacos, and a Turtle

I am sitting in front of an oscillating fan, sipping chai spiced rooibos tea which is meant to make it feel more fall than the 90 degree afternoon we’re enduring enjoying.  It’s October and I’m too stubborn to turn on the air; besides it doesn’t really work anyway.  Rooibos tea, which is grown in South Africa, transports me right back to Lesotho days.  I didn’t love it when I first tried it, but over time it grew on me; when I discovered the chai spiced version, I was sold.  Since it is naturally decaffeinated, it’s a great option for a late afternoon slow-sip.  Dinner is prepped and ready to go in the oven.  I usually do some variation of Taco-Tuesday, but this week it got postponed to Wednesday.  Keto-taco-casserole (known around here as ke-taco) it is, and it’s so good!  I loosely use this recipe.

Yesterday I spent the entire afternoon in the kitchen, preparing all sorts of goodies.  I have many eager helpers, which doesn’t make things go very quickly.  Just when I was about ready to finish up and have a seat, Ellee reminded me I had promised we would make something from this alphabet cookbook this week.  So she, Sadie and I whipped up this Turtle Bread to accompany dinner. It was quick and easy and great for little helping hands.  I even managed to get out of kneading!

The finished product was well received by little turtles and Daddy turtle alike.

I also decided to use some super ripe bananas to make up a sort of low-carb banana bread.  Oxymoron, I know, but where the kids are concerned it's only an effort for healthier eating.  So I did my usual 3 mashed bananas, 2 eggs, stick of soft butter, drizzle of vanilla.  Then I added about 1/2 cup of coconut flour and a shake of baking powder and a shake of baking soda.  The technical details to recipes are negotiable in my book. It had to bake a good long while to set up - probably an hour or more - but once it did, it was very tasty.  The addition of a couple dark chocolate chips was not objected by any of the members of my household.

Hope you are having a great week!

~Abby

Opportunity and Success

There is a young girl who visits me occasionally.  I first met her at the river one day while I was chatting on the phone and she was doing laundry.  She comes to me for English vocabulary help.  She’s fluent in English, but wants to broaden her vocabulary base.  She wants to be a poet or an actress.  She brings me things she’s read, elaborate poetry or Bible texts, so I can help explain the difficult words to her. Finding synonyms for difficult words which aren’t also difficult is difficult.  This afternoon, she walked into my kitchen.  I was expecting someone else so it surprised me to see her standing there.  She came to tell me she had failed 10th grade math and wouldn’t be able to continue her studies.  She wanted to know if I knew anyone she could work for or what she could do.  She was afraid to go home because her grandfather was coming to beat her.  That is the only punishment here.  It’s harsh.  High school isn’t free, so if a pupil struggles, it is seen as a waste of money.  I felt so deflated when she said she wouldn’t be continuing her school.  There isn’t much opportunity for young people here, but without a high school education, there is even less.  I took her to my neighbor who is a teacher at a different school.  She suggested she discuss with her teachers and see if she could do tutoring to make up her 10th grade math and then continue on with her schooling next year.

It made me think.  I grew up in a society where children are asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”  Everything is a possibility.  Opportunity is available.  Success is achievable.  You want to be a brain surgeon?  Go for it!  Study hard and apply yourself.  You want to be an actress?  Get involved in a local playhouse and chase your dreams.  You want to be an electrician?  There is no shortage of opportunity or job availability!  Your profession will always be useful.  Learn at a college or study under a skilled electrician.  That isn’t the way it is here, or in most places in the world.  I grew up believing I could be whatever I wanted to be.  I still believe that!  Someday, when I’m old and I’ve raised my kids and have more free time, I’d like to open a small cafe.  There isn’t a thing in me that makes me believe I couldn’t do it!  But here, when I hear, “I want to be an actress” or “I want to be a pilot”, I think, “There is no way.” I’m not trying to be pessimistic!  I want to be optimistic!  I want to believe that the opportunity is there.  But I know better.  The funding isn't there for schooling.  The jobs aren’t there to be filled.  There is only an up hill climb for anyone in Lesotho who wants to be something out of the ordinary.  So I encourage her, study hard.  Try to go to university in South Africa.  Try to build your credentials and maybe, just maybe, you’ll get a break.  But in my heart, I feel the truth.  It’s so unlikely, it’s nearly impossible.  I pray she can finish high school and I pray, with God’s grace and lots of determination, she will have the future she dreams of having.  And I pray her parents and grandparents are easy on her, because she’s obviously a brilliant student who probably just spends too much time on English and not enough time on math.

In other Mokhotlong news…..

I found sweet potatoes in South Africa a couple weeks ago.  It’s a rare find.  I’ve only ever found them once before.  I snatched two bags and have been dreaming of what all I wanted to do with them.  I found this recipe for chocolate sweet potato cake in one of my go-to Taste of Home cookbooks and decided to give it a try.  I followed the recipe with a few simple adjustments.  Firstly, 2 cups of sugar is ridiculous.  I cut it in half and judging by the batter, it’s plenty sweet!  Recipes almost always call for way more sugar than necessary.  Then, 2 cups of pecans.  Seriously?  Have you priced pecans lately?  No.  No way.  I don’t use 2 cups of pecans in a month and I’m certainly not dumping that many in a cake.  I buy pecans fresh from the health food store in South Africa at the cheapest price around and they are still painfully expensive.  So, I just grabbed a handful of those cherished nuts and chopped them up well before tossing them in.  Then to add some more texture and yum due to the lack of pecans, I added a handful of chocolate chips.  Obviously.  I will split it up and take it to my neighbors for safe keeping, since I can’t be held accountable for what would happen to this chocolate sweet potato cake should it all remain in my home.

Dinner tonight is ribs, which come from my favorite butchery.  I’ve become such a butchery snob.  They are cheaper than the grocery stores here, and the meat is so fresh and customizable.  I always get just what I want.  I’m using some of the barbecue sauce my mom brought because I have enough to take a bath in, and because it’s amazing and tastes like home. Thanks, Selena!  I rubbed the ribs with Fat Jake's, a spice blend a friend makes.  It's so good!  I’m making these potatoes because cream cheese improves everything and fresh carrots because we bought them along the road-side this week and they are beautiful.  I know ya’ll think we are really suffering up here, eating unidentifiable food and never having a treat.  Sorry not sorry for shattering the image of poor, unfortunate, sacrificing missionaries.  It’s not such a bad existence, I promise.  You should try it!

Off I go to wake Sadie from her nap because she’s sleeping too long and I want to sleep tonight.  Hope you all have your Christmas decorations down.  I believe today is the deadline.  Mine are all down, it took me about 5 minutes.  

~Abby

Cause to Celebrate!

I know, I know.  I've been neglecting the blog again.  I had every intention of trying to keep up with it better this year.  But, I've been plagued with fatigue and headaches and honestly, I feel like I'm just trying to keep my head above water a lot of the time.  Two doctors appointments and lots of blood tests have rendered no concrete answers to my situation.  I'll spare you the details of all my attempts at helping the problems, but I'm hopeful some super supplements recommended by my sister-in-law will be the right thing.  They should arrive in three weeks when my parents and little brother come!

In the meantime, school continues with Kyle.  We are enjoying first grade together and he's a sweet and clever little student.  Our school routine is still pretty low key, but we're continuing through the basic necessities.  He is reading wonderfully and last week he finished the 108th lesson of Reading Made Easy, completing the book!  That's a pretty big accomplishment for a 6 year old, so a cookie cake was in order.  Really, any reason to celebrate is a good excuse for a cookie cake.  We also really enjoy our read aloud time; currently we are working through Charlotte's Web.

The tie though....

This month there is a World Race team here in Mokhotlong.  While we don't have any official connection to World Race, we always enjoy having the teams through here.  Visiting with other Americans isn't something we get to do often.  This month the team consists of 20 ~20 year olds.  My kids love walking through the neighbors' yard and up the hill to the mission house to annoy visit with the team in the afternoons.  Because we just can't accommodate all 20 of them in our house for more than a movie night, we are doing a dinner rotation over the course of a couple weeks.  So far we have enjoyed some Cracker Barrel and pizza.  Coming up this week is taco night, Chick-Fil-A night, and spaghetti night.  Some familiar cuisine is a welcome change for them after a month in Swaziland and nearly two weeks here in Lesotho.  From here they will continue on to Asia and then to South America before returning back to the US next year.  I am trying to pump them full of chocolate chip cookies, brownies and cakes to last them for the months to come.  It's the least I can do, really.

Will try not to be so quiet in the coming weeks and months!

~Abby

Christmas Eve in Mokhotlong

My next door neighbor is feisty and fun.  She's 80 years old and spends all day on her front porch.  She is in better health now than she was five years ago, and she manages to get around pretty well with her walker.  Occasionally I see her walking to other neighbors' houses and it still surprises me.  The first couple of years we lived here, I never saw her leave her yard.  Her property is quite the thoroughfare and she enjoys watching lots of foot traffic go by her porch.  Everyone knows her and stops to visit for a while.  That's something I love about Africa.  No one misses an opportunity to visit.  No one is in that big of a hurry.

Her children don't live nearby so she has a live-in helper.  The son of her helper is Kyle and Ellee's best pal, Detay.  I often go over there and sit to chat with her.  She's a retired school teacher and she speaks fluent English.  Sometimes it seems she doesn't totally understand me.  She completely understands what I am saying.  But there is no doubt her 80 years in Africa and my 26 years, well, all over the place have been very different.  Our perspectives are different, but we find common ground to talk about.  She loves to talk politics and farming.  I know very little about either.

It isn't uncommon for me to bake a big batch of goodies and take them to her and our other neighbors.  Around Thanksgiving, I baked a huge spread of muffins and took a variety for her to try.  It was then that she asked me if she could gather the ingredients for me to bake muffins for her relatives who were coming into town for Christmas.  Of course I agreed, but then totally forgot about it.  

Yesterday a boy who rents a room from her came in my yard to ask what ingredients I needed.  After a few seconds of hunting through my memory to figure out what he was talking about, I remembered our agreement.  So I gathered up my favorite cookbooks and went to her front porch to see which kind of muffins she was wanting.  We decided on one of my favorite recipes.  I wrote out a list of ingredients, all of which you can now get in Mokhotlong thanks to our new grocery store!  

This morning Detay brought the ingredients to my door and I whipped up four and a half dozen to take back to her.  She was really excited to see them, especially since the recipe made more than I thought it would.  So she's got a whole pile of muffins to give to family and friends.  

It truly is better to give than to receive.  Even in the small things.

Tomorrow we will enjoy Christmas dinner with the World Race team who are here on outreach, along with our neighbors, Ntsimane and his family (Joy's family).  Ntsimane was adamant that we have traditional American turkey.  He found one while he was in South Africa a couple weeks ago and brought it home for me to cook.  The mission guys are grilling a sheep and the lot of us are bringing various side dishes.  It won't be quite the same as a candlelit Christmas dinner by the fire.... unless the electricity goes out.  But it'll be fun anyhow and I'm glad we have friends who are like family we can celebrate with tomorrow.  

Wishing our friends and family all over the world a very Merry Christmas! 

~Abby

MaMopeli

When we first arrived in Mokhotlong, it was immediately recommended to me if I wished to hire someone to help with my housekeeping, I should hire Mme MaMopeli.  During the first two years we lived here, I struggled with hiring anyone to do "my" work.  I was fully capable of cleaning my own home and I figured, because most people here have to care for their own things, why should I be privileged enough to have someone do it for me?  It wasn't a case of not being able to afford help; labor here is unbelievably inexpensive.  Painfully so.  I was just stubborn and thought I was doing the right thing at the time.

Over time, we developed a friendship with MaMopeli.  She has a reputation of being a great cook and was quickly hired to do the catering for the quarterly TEE conferences.  She didn't speak English well at the time, but began taking English classes offered at her church some time ago.  Her English has improved by leaps and bounds over the past few years!  Communication became easier for us.  Around that time, I was reminded of how desperate she was for a steady job.  So, early last year I decided to hire MaMopeli to come weekly to clean our house.  The day she came to tour the house and learn where I kept cleaning supplies, etc., was the day I found out I was expecting.  I had two weeks sick-free before my health plummeted.  I was relieved that she had already learned the ropes before I was incapacitated by pregnancy sickness.  It quickly became obvious that we needed help more than once a week.  She began coming twice weekly to help keep the house together while I puked all day long.  It is no exaggeration to say she kept this place functioning while I was so bad off.

One day during that time we arrived home from a doctor's visit in South Africa.  When we entered the house we found that some raw chicken juice had leaked out of the fridge and was totally rotten.  The house smelled worse than you can imagine.  Having such a weak stomach at the time, I simply could not deal with it.  MaMopeli happened to come by and she painstakingly cleaned up that disgusting mess without a single complaint.  It brings tears to my eyes;  she has been a Godsend.

Finally the sickness passed and my parents came to visit.  During a walk through town one day, my mom and I were discussing Mokhotlong and it's lack of innovation.  Sure, there are some unique businesses sprinkled around.  But by and large the stores and roadside shops all sell essentially the same thing.  Aside from cleaning for us, the payment for which could hardly provide for a family of five, MaMopeli has a secondhand clothing shop.  To say that her store struggles would be an understatement.  My mom and I dreamed up the idea of a sweet shop.  There is nothing sweet to buy here in Mokhotlong besides prepackaged wafers at the markets.  A few days later, I approached MaMopeli and asked if she would be interested in opening a sweet shop if we helped her get started and taught her what we knew.  She enthusiastically agreed.

Before my mom left, we went through GAME, Walmart's close cousin, and gathered things like muffin tins, baking sheets, oven mitts and cake pans.  MaMopeli's home has no electricity and she did not own a stove.  My parents gifted her with a small gas stove so she could bake goods in her own home and sell them at her shop.  Her secondhand clothes store began doubling as MaMopeli's Sweet Shop.  We tested cookie recipes and muffin recipes and I tried to teach her what little I knew about decorating cakes.  Word began to spread and she was soon hand-delivering cakes to friends in town.

These are poor quality but they are the ones I have of her delivering her first cake!  Her artistic ability has improved greatly over the past year!  

I have been so impressed by her determination.  Nothing holds this lady back!  After baking a batch of cookies or muffins, she would pack them up and take them to the taxi rank, bank, post office and other government offices to offer them for sale!  Rather than wait for customers to come to her, she was busy walking all over Mokhotlong spreading the word of her new business endeavor.  We printed up fliers of simple cakes which she could make for special occasions and she posted them around town.

Recently she decided to reserve a shop in a new building being built.  She wants to open a genuine sweet shop.  She wants to sell cakes, cupcakes, pies, cookies, bars and muffins and coffee and tea.  It is a convenient location because it is near the main street and close to the taxi rank.  It will also offer electricity so she won't have to use my kitchen to store her supplies.  She generates muffins and cookies out of her own home.  However, I have a large kitchen with lots of work space, so she always bakes and ices her cakes over here.

We Westerners are beginning to grasp this concept of "When Helping Hurts."  Oftentimes we want to come in and throw money and supplies at a problem which can't be fixed by those things.  To the best of our understanding, the most beneficial thing we can do to help the developing world is to teach them to "fish for themselves."  In short, rather than handing a starving person a basket of fish which would feed him for only a few days, we ought to be teaching him to fish which would feed him for the rest of his life!  In a world full of handouts and little initiative, let's encourage and aid those who are working hard to better their families and their local economies!  What I am saying is this, sometimes to get off the ground, struggling business endeavors need a push in the right direction.  One of our friends runs a sewing studio here in Mokhotlong.  She is so busy she can barely keep up.  Do you know how she got started?  Donated sewing machines from mission teams who came to Mokhotlong.  She now employs a number of other people!  Our close national colleague operates a computer training program out of an office nearby.  Want to know how he got started?  Donated computers from believers in South Africa.

If you desire to see MaMopeli's business grow and flourish, would you consider donating towards her startup costs?  She has never asked me for a loan or an advance.  She works hard for her money!  She hasn't asked me to advocate on her behalf.  She hasn't ever asked me for anything!  But I know her financial situation and how difficult or even impossible it will be for her to set up the shop she is envisioning out of her own proceeds.  And I know our Western financial situation and how easy it would be for many of us to help in a small way!  She is seeking to buy a couple small tables and chairs, a refrigerator display case and an electric stove.  If you would like to bless someone this holiday season, please consider blessing this innovated, determined, hard-working lady by helping her start a unique business in Mokhotlong.  Please message me for giving details if you are interested.  Oh, and with three teenagers in her house, she's expecting a baby next month!  I can hardly wait to see her decorating cakes with a baby on her back.  Well, her baby that is.... she already works with my baby on her back!

~Abby

Gingerbread Cookies

As I sip my rooibos chai tea and munch on a gingerbread cookie, I’ll just try to ignore the 75* outside, sun flowers blooming and peaches ripening on my fruit trees.  It is December, after all, and the season for things that taste and smell of cinnamon and cloves.  Right now there is cinnamon banana carrot bread baking in the oven and the Christmas tree is lit.  It's as close to cozy as it can get.    

Yesterday while it drizzled outside, Kyle and I baked up some absolutely delicious gingerbread cookies.  I can’t remember why I decided to make them; I’ve never made gingerbread cookies before.  And I don’t even have a gingerbread man cookie cutter.  But the idea popped in my head and wouldn’t leave.  So, I turned to my trusty friend, Google, and came up with this super easy, fool proof, can’t go wrong recipe.  The entire time we were busy whipping these up, Kyle kept saying, “I love baking!”  The boy was made to play with me in the kitchen.  He loves to snack, he loves to get dirty and he loves cookies.  We do all three.

We pulled up a chair and got to work.  The only thing I did slightly differently was use blackstrap molasses.  I should’ve known to cut it back a bit.  After it was all mixed up, I had a taste and it was sure strong.  I stirred in some extra sugar, maybe another 1/4 cup, and it helped.  Once they were baked and iced, the flavor was perfect!  They aren’t awfully sweet, but the royal icing does take the edge off the depth of molasses and ginger.

Since it is spring going into summer (as much as I hate to admit it), my kitchen is warm during the day.  So I did feel that the dough was a bit soft for rolling and cutting.  I would pop it in the fridge for half an hour to help with that.  But, for this go around, we just rolled with lots of flour and on wax paper.  I also wished I had sprayed my wax paper with a little non-stick spray because they stuck ever so slightly during baking.  Maybe my dough was a tad bit too thin.  What do I know about gingerbread?  Nothing.  Except that it tastes good.  And this stuff tasted really good.  That's all I care to know.

After they were iced and ready for consumption, I took the container outside so I could offer one to the boys working in my garden. Our neighbors use the yard for planting and send their boys up here for weeding and watering.  It's not uncommon for me to test a recipe on those guys.  They're quite adventurous kids.  The first one, Khotso, tried to take the whole box out of my hand.  I've lived long enough to know two teenage boys and a box of cookies would mean I'd be back in the kitchen baking more real soon.  The other boy, Tsolo, who speaks English better, laughed at him and gave him such a hard time for trying to grab the whole container.  Then two flirty girls walked in the yard, obviously trying to interact with the boys and I was left to offer them a cookie, too.  Well, there went half my cookies.... Oh well, we didn't need two dozen anyway.

Next up, my absolute favorite Christmas cookies.  I'm already drooling....

'Tis the season for baking!

~Abby