some summer

Elder Davis 

. . . . . lost 2 baby teeth

Getting To The End

As we reach the end of the school year, in fact its the end of Oscar's time at nursery, things have gotten quite hectic. Every day seems to have some sort of scheduled activity. We are all really looking forward to a little break.
Here are some snaps from the last few days.

Elder Davis sniffing some alcohol free whiskey flavouring -

the cake in the foreground was banana and peanut butter and it was awesome.

We have had some glorious days

Oscar made a laptop from a cardboard Amazon box

We got a crew together to paint my Mother's garden fence

I have been nibbling on this whilst watching episodes of 24 on Netflix 

and crocheting a black and white blanket for my bed.

We made paper chains with the missionaries and talked about each family member being a link in a chain.

I have also been to a funeral, and had several church meetings. Duncan has started a new job. Aimee has been for 2 college interviews. Oscar has had a tummy bug, and become obsessed with loom bands, 

and also . . . . . . 

. . . . . lost 2 baby teeth

Over the next few days we have, the last days of nursery, the last rehearsals for Oscar's theatre show, a birthday party, the actual show, church, an online course starting for myself, and a very special 'viewing' (more on that to follow).

Not exactly the lazy days of summer, yet.

This Time 2013          This Time 2012          This Time 2011

Valerie

xxx

An Amazing Guy !

Last year one of the missionaries who baptised me was sent to 

teach the Gospel in another area.

SEE HERE

I was extremely sad to see him go and shed a few tears.

A new missionary came in his place 

(Mormon missionaries are always in a companionship of 2 or 3).

I conceded that although I was sure 'the new guy' 

would be very nice, it just wouldn't be the same. 

Well my goodness, did the new guy not turn out to be 

one of the most amazing young men we have had the pleasure of meeting.

Elder Tinsley became very precious to us,

and in fact was the missionary my daughter asked to baptise her,

just a few months after I was baptised.

Inevitably Elder Tinsley went on to another area too, and we were very sad

to see him go.

In case you don't know, missionaries are just 'ordinary' young men and women

who volunteer themselves to serve on our Lords mission for 2 years.

I cannot imagine how hard it must be to be sent off to a new

country and try and share the Gospel with a somewhat unwilling audience.  

There are 3 missionaries who will forever be in my heart because 

they shared such an intimate part of my life, my journey into 

THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER DAY SAINTS

Elder Craig Butikofer

Who taught me the Gospel and performed my baptism

Elder Spencer McCarthy

Who taught me the Gospel and performed my confirmation

And Elder Joshua Tinsley

Who taught me the Gospel and became such a wonderful and amazing friend to 

all of our family

Our trip to Edinburgh last week was to say goodbye to 

Elder Tinsley, as he is now finished his mission

and its time for him to get back in to normal life.

Thank you SO much for serving a mission Elder Tinsley

The Lord certainly knew what he was doing

when He sent you to teach us.

We will be forever indebted to you, please come back soon

xxx

(p.s. yes I did cry a lot, again! lol)

Valerie

xxx

Christmas

 curried leftovers, naan and chips.

Vegi Meals

As promised on Friday, here are the recipes for our first 2 days of vegetarian dinners.

Saturday
CHICKPEA AND SQUASH CURRY

1  red onion, diced
1 garlic clove crushed and chopped
1 can coconut milk
1 can chickpeas
500g pumpkin, chopped into chunks
2 tbsp. curry powder (tikka or garam masala)
1 tbsp. chilli powder (or more depending on how you like it)
1 tbsp. ground ginger
Method

1) fry the onions for 10 minutes until soft on a medium heat, then add the garlic and all the spices and cook for another couple of mins
2) then add the chickpeas and coconut milk.
3) finally add the pumpkin, mix together, cover with a lid and cook on a low heat for around an hour or until the pumpkin is soft and cooked.
4) check the spice of the curry, if you find it too spicy add some yogurt or add more spices.
5) once cooked, serve with rice, naan breads or poppadum's.

This was really nice, although we had ours with naan bread and chips instead of rice, because I knew we would be having rice the next day.

Sunday
VEGETABLE CHILLI

1/2 each of a red yellow and green pepper
2 carrots finely diced
2 onions finely diced
2 celery stalks finely diced
1 whole fresh red chilli de seeded and chopped
1 courgette finely diced
1 tin red kidney beans
1 tin canelleni or haricot beans
2 tins good quality chopped tomatoes
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp hot chilli powder
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tsp cumin
400ml water (rinsed around in the empty tomato tins)
2 cloves finely diced or minced garlic
Method

1. Fry all raw vegetables and onions in a large pan in a little oil for ten mins on a medium heat until soft. 
2. Add the garlic and fresh chilli. 
3. Next add the cinnamon cumin and chilli powder and fry for one more min. 
4. Add the drained and rinsed cans of beans and chopped tomatoes and water. Season with salt and pepper.
5.   Simmer for one to two hours on a fairly low heat until thick and delicious.
6. Stir every twenty mins to ensure it doesn't stick and burn on the bottom. 
7. Serve over rice or a jacket potato or with some nacho's.

I added a bit of tomato puree to mine and I also made double the quantities here because there were 4 of us plus 3 missionaries for dinner. This made a huge batch and there were plenty leftovers. We had nachos, rice, sour cream and crusty bread with it, and it was delicious.

And speaking of missionaries, we are saying goodbye to another missionary this week. Elder Jones is off to Paisley for Christmas (at least). We have had great fun getting to know Elder Jones, he is quite an interesting young man from Vegas, USA, but who learnt to speak Mandarin for his mission so he could teach the Gospel to Chinese people living in Scotland and Ireland.

Safe travels Elder Jones, we hope to see you again before you leave for the US.

Valerie

xxx

  

Birthday

Thanksgiving

Elder Tinsley & Elder Jones

Christopher & Aimee

Husband & Son & Daughter

Oscar & Granny