Interesting...

"May you turn
stone, my daughter,
into silk. May you make men better
than they are."

— Stephen Dunne

Object Lesson: Frownies

Part 1: Do Not Set Aside the Grace of God

Part 2: Do Not Set Aside the Grace of God

You should become a mosquito-ologist (Quote from a student)

We've come to that time of year where we are obsessed with two things: the humidity and mosquitoes.

If mosquitoes were something we only had to battle outside, it would not be a big deal. But mosquitoes are a constant full-pitched war here. They're worse downstairs than up, so I make hit and run trips downstairs to get food or coffee and then skedaddle upstairs to eat and drink.

I've been researching and I've learned:

• Blue is the favorite color of mosquitoes.
• They also like dark colors.
• Mosquitoes are attracted by sweat (water supply).
• They are also attracted by the CO2 oozing through your skin.
• They are also attracted to the CO2 let off by candles, and so if you have lit candles around, they will be attracted to it and immolate themselves. (This has led to our house looking like we are having a continual seance.)

I also started a small fire in the kitchen--Mike had to come and put it out, when I decided to burn palo santo (Holy stick), which is a wood that grows here than repels mosquitoes. I set up a grate on the stove, put some palo santo on and lit the burner. Then I blew the fire out and the incensy smoke wafted around and got rid of the mosquitos. The second time I got distracted and the next thing I knew I had quite a blaze going on.

Obsessed.

Christmas and New Years 2009

The view from our room in Quito.
At our favorite Italian restaurant. New Year's Eve lunch. (Instead of fighting the crowds for dinner.)
Our favorite room in Quito. We could lie in bed and watch the fireworks that went up all over the city at midnight.

At the hosteria in Banos.

At home for Christmas: Mike, Noemi, her dad Raphael and behind the couch Emily-Mike's cousin-and Abigail.

We had a nice Christmas (the best part was talking with all of you) and an even nicer trip to Baños the Monday and Tuesday after Christmas. We had ladies' and men's studies. I can only speak for the ladies, but they were like sponges. What fun to teach. Then we went on to Quito where we hid out for three days, watched a whole season of "24", and ate at our favorite restaurants.

As you know, this has been a Christmas season full of ups and downs. In the spirit of Philippians 4, I'm choosing to think on good things. Here's my list for this last week of the year:

We found rhubarb in the grocery store and had rhubarb pie for Christmas.

We found dates in the store and had grandma's famous date balls.

Our favorite room was available in Quito. (See above.)

The English bookstore and three of our favorite restaurants were open in Quito when most everything else was closed.

We had wifi at the hotel.

The weather was perfect!

One more amazing recipe--Eggplant Salad

Olimpia, the missionary who works with us from Romania, made us this salad when we ate at her house last week. We would think of it more like a dip, but I made an absolute pig out of myself!

- 2 eggplants Roast these under the broiler, turning every once in a while until the skins are blackened. Cool, skin, and drain. Remove seeds that are easy to remove. Then kind of mash them together with:
- sunflower oil (Until you have kind of a paste)
- 1 onion (finely chopped)
- lemon juice
- salt
- garlic
Serve as is with crackers or bread, or with roasted peppers or tomatoes.