India: Mumbai, a great city in December

The last time I was in Mumbai, it was in June of 2009. The rains were late, as I stepped off the plane it was like walking into a brick of humidity and hot, unbearably hot. This time I was pleasantly surprised; it was a hot day but not anything worse than those hot spring days in Oklahoma. We stayed right on the beach to the Arabian Sea with our friend, Nishant’s dad (his mom is in the States with Nishant).  Uncle took us on a long tour of Mumbai seeing the beautiful peninsula/island. Here are a few pics of our tour and stay at our friend’s place.

The view from our room

The view from the living room at Uncle and Auntie’s

Row and I hanging out in our room for the night.

Mosque, Haji Ali Dargah, is on a peninsula jutting out into the water. Beautiful!

Marine Drive Area from a viewpoint on Malbar Hil… when its dark the lights make an arch that they call “the Queen’s necklace”, referring to the Queen of England. The main downtown area has a lot of the buildings from when the Brits ruled and they look very European.

our selfie at the Malbar Hil Park

Marine Drive

Uncle!

We sure enjoyed our stay and tour! It was fun to see how much Nishant was like his dad .

-jen

Snowmagedon 2

Well, we are here cooped up in the house for yet a second time in a week’s span.  I love snow days ; Babes is home and I can get a lot done if I get off the couch. So here’s a list of things I will get done this week.  I will post pics (this word is an Indian term for pictures) at the end of the week to prove I have done it except for #1….

I will….

1. take a shower before 9 am every morning this week.
2. finish the painting in the dining room, hall, coat closet, and basement (okay this is a lot folks so I’m going to go easy on the rest of it)
3. bake apple pie muffins
4. write a post on Module 1 & 2 for the Storyline Book Club
5. make a snowman with or without my husband

 

Here are some lovely pics from the end of last week and our snow of 9 inches.

Wow…check out that biff

And this is what it looks like to sled and be pregnant…. looks fun right

These guys sure don’t mind this snow

Thank you Jesus for a beautiful neighborhood

Yikes! look out folks

 

-jen

A shower

My mother-in-law and I are throwing my brother-in-law and his soon to be bride a couples shower next weekend. I am not going to give out too many of the details but here are a few pictures to give you some clues as to what has been floating through my head as I have been planning. I will post pictures after it’s over.

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So think the color scheme on the right with maybe a tinge more yellow in that middle color.  I’m thinking presents, games, parfaits (with all red, blue and yellow fruit of course), key lime pie, hummus and pita, canning jars with a few fresh flowers in the them(for the perfect blend of country shic and pops of modern color), and then one of my favorite things in the world, Mad libs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

-jenny

Snow Day!!

I know its Thursday but it’s a snow day here in KC!!!! (I’ll do Thursday sweet treats on Friday how bout that).

Babes and I have been busy the past few days baking.  I don’t know if he would really want the world knowing that .  We found a couple great recipes, which I am excited to let people devour.  Anywho, we are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel and perhaps today we will take a break from all the work and go sledding!!! or just watch a movie that’s what old people do right? 

This morning as we were watching the weather deciding whether he should make the trek into work, I said “We have a sled”.  And he looked at me with this old sad face that said please let’s not….it’s cold out there… didn’t you just hear him say 30 mile and hour winds and a wind-chill of 14 degrees….

Guess we might be watching a movie instead.

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas 🙂

-jenny

Aradhna

Lately, I have been extremely busy planning our end of trimester party, which is why posts have been extremely scarce. But I wanted to give you a glimpse into what we will be doing tomorrow for our party.  Come if you are in the KCK area.  Concert starts at 7!  Check out their new video below for a sample of their music!

“Aradhna” is a spiritually charged Hindi term that means, “adoration.” The band makes music that is centered around spiritual enlightenment and transformation while keeping ethnic integrity intact.

Seriously, this is one of our favorite bands.  They share our vision for people of the upper caste in India and Nepal to be able to worship Jesus as the One and Only God without leaving their culture behind.

Apple picking with my Babes

Last Saturday, Babes and I went up to St. Joseph and went apple picking.  We went to this farm last year for picking and it was delightful.  It was a lot busier this year since it wasn’t the end of October, drizzling and apple-picking mostly over.  The apples weren’t as tasty as last years but I must say, if you have never had a freshly picked apple you better get your rear over here because you will be addicted!

Here are some captured moments at the tree farm. Wish I could tell you what kind of apples we got but they weren’t labeled very well.  We had to do a lot of taste testing to make sure those were the kind we wanted to bake with or eat, etc. Don’t tell my mom….

If you are looking for something fun to do with the fam this fall, you should totally go.  We love it!

 

We picked about 33 pounds of apples! Some for eating but most for baking 🙂

It amazes me how such a small branch can hold something so heavy. God is big folks

Babes, I’m not sure this is legal.

Babes being all artsy fartsy

Loaded

At home, ready to be eaten :). I think these are golden delicious if I were to guess…

-jenny

Random thoughts about the Gospel

Sunday, Babes and I had the pleasure of going and seeing one of the guys that I grew up with preach in his new church in Enid, OK.  I have heard only a few people explain the gospel like he did on Sunday; so well rounded in grace and action as well as an explanation for everything so that people(perhaps non-Christians) will not be confused.  So let God be glorified through him! And if you need a good church in Enid, check out Sojourn.

Anyway, I had a few revelations while listening on Sunday, and they happen to be about what I have been studying and mulling over in James 1: 17-18

“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights who does not change like shifting shadows.  He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.”

Let’s see if I can make sense of this.

Here is my question after reading James. (disclaimer:  I am pondering things, and I am open to correction if my theology is off) If everything good comes from God, then why do some things not look so good to us(like Paul’s thorn in the flesh in 2 Corin 12)?  And since we know that some of those not-so-good-looking things do come from God, then how do we actually know what comes from God and does it even matter?

John 5:24, “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes Him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.”

John 5: 28, “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out- those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned”

-If we are followers of Jesus then we escape condemnation; we are hidden with Christ in God(Colossians 3:3).  This is the worst of things for believers down here.  But I am sad to say that this is the best it can get for those who aren’t following.

Everything that happens to us are “good things” because we have escaped condemnation! Romans 8:28, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to His purpose.”

I have just assumed all my life that no matter what happens to me, and for me, and against me that God has a purpose to glorify Himself in it, but I think it is good to understand why, not to just follow blindly but to really understand according to the truths.

Games for 2

Babes and I are game players.  By that I mean we want to play games all the time.  Some may say we are addicted.  The problem is that not everyone wants to play games all the time. So here is a list for those of you who love to play games but there are only two of you.

Doesn’t this picture just get you giddy and ready to conquer?

Some games say they are two player games but then turn out to be really lame with only two people.  I have some comments below on how we have made them more fun, etc.

• Skipbo(2-6 players): This is probably the most enjoyable 2-player game we have found. Draw 7 cards instead of 5 to keep the game moving
• Mancalla(2 players): Sweet old fashion game that I can imagine people used to play with rocks.  Makes me feel cool to think about it like that even if it isn’t true.
• Stratego(2 players):  Babes has played this one.  Not me but he said its fun. lol
• Puzzles (1-how many you can fit around the table):  I just love puzzles.  Babes and I actually did one for fun at the B&B that we went to for our 1 year.
• Checkers(2 players): enough said
• Chess(2 players): have to have the board obviously but here are the rules
• Jenga(1-….):  This is a great game to play with internationals as well.
• Speed(2 players): You can find the rules here
• Egyptian War(2-…. players):  We both remember playing this game for hours in high school, any time we had a break. Although we called it Egyptian Slap. Anywho, you can find the rules here.
• Nertz(2-… players, it does get a little out of hand if you have more than 5 players):  There is another version called Dutch Blitz. I have played this off and on throughout my life but only last night had we just played it with two players and it was pretty fun.  The key here is when you get stuck to take the top card from your draw pile and put it on the bottom.  Things usually start moving again after that.  You can find the rules here.

 

For the record. We are especially addicted to Monopoly and Settlers of Cattan or should I say I am??? If you would like to play these at any time, please just tell us. hahaha

Do you guys have any two player games that you love to play?  Seriously people please share!

 

-jenny

Saving money on Newspapers

We just received our newspaper renewal in the mail a few days ago and I finally decided to call and check on different prices for the Kansas City Star.  We decided to get the newspaper when I decided we needed to save money on groceries. haha no but for real. It’s ridiculous to buy something for the full price if you can simply cut it from a piece of paper and then save a dollar on that item.

On the first subscription, of course we got the discounted price as well as the paper everyday even though we only signed up for Thur-Sun because that’s what we wanted.

Anyway, the rates this time around are $70 for Wednesdays and Sundays or $83 for just Sundays both for 26 weeks.  That is an absurd amount to pay when you can get most of the news and coupons free online.  However, I like to waste paper. 🙂 I just like the tangible feeling of something in my hand.  Call me old fashioned.

I did a little research and this is what I found. www.discountednewspapers.com

I found out that this is for first time subscribers or you haven’t been subscribed for 30 days.  But! I canceled my subscription and the very next day they called me back and gave me this same price because they didn’t want to lose me.

And here are the options for Kansas City:

Monday thru Friday
As low as $31.33 a month. Save up to 28%.

Monday Only
As low as $19.67 a month.

7-Day Delivery
As low as $2.62 a week. Save up to 54%.

Thursday thru Sunday
As low as $1.37 a week. Save up to 66%.

Wednesday thru Sunday
As low as $2.12 a week.

Friday Only
As low as $1.89 a week. Save up to 52%.

6-Day Monday thru Saturday

As low as $4.79 a week. Save up to 60%.

Monday thru Friday
As low as $2.49 a week. Save up to 50%.

7-Day Delivery
As low as $7.40 a week. Save up to 45%.

Friday Saturday Sunday
As low as $5.20 a week. Save up to 45%.

Monday thru Friday
As low as $3.70 a week. Save up to 45%.

Sunday Only
As low as $3.75 a week. Save up to 45%.

 

6-Day Monday thru Saturday
As low as $3.83 a week. Save up to 73%.

 

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BEAUTIFUL PRICES makes a girl very happy.

I also checked them out on the Better Business Bureau.

O Vinegar and the things you can do

So, I have a problem, which I am sure is the same problem a lot of women have in this world today…. I waste soooo much time on Pinterest.  However!, I learn so many ways to cut our budget.  I am going to relay a couple tricks with vinegar.

wooo vinegar

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Make-shift Jet Dry

When we moved into our new house (in December 2011), we had to get a new dishwasher.  But even after getting a new dishwasher, our dishes still came out super cloudy and spotty.  So of course I had to buy the expensive soap and that Jet Dry stuff that costs like $4 a bottle.

But I have discovered that if you just put white vinegar straight into the spot in your dishwasher that is reserved for Jet Dry, then the exact same thing happens.  YOU GET CLEAN DISHES!!  I still buy the expensive soap but this has helped so much on the budget!

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Weed-killer

I have also heard that it can be used as a weed killer.  2 Quarts of vinegar, Juice of one lemon, 2 T dish soap.  I have heard this works great but I have not tried it due to the fact that all of my grass is weeds.  So I will let you know how it works.

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Drain Deodorizer

In our first apartment, we did not have a disposal, which I have always had one, so it was hard not to have things going down the drain.  Well, the drain would start to smell every so often.

Pour some baking soda down the drain(approx 1/2 cup) and flush with vinegar(approx 1 cup).  Works like a charm

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Do you have more ways that vinegar can work wonders?  Please do share, because I am hooked!!