His wounds have paid my ransom

How deep the Father's love for us,
How vast beyond all measure
That He should give His only Son
To make a wretch His treasure

How great the pain of searing loss,
The Father turns His face away
As wounds which mar the chosen One,
Bring many sons to glory

Behold the Man upon a cross,
My sin upon His shoulders
Ashamed I hear my mocking voice,
Call out among the scoffers

It was my sin that held Him there
Until it was accomplished
His dying breath has brought me life
I know that it is finished

I will not boast in anything
No gifts, no power, no wisdom
But I will boast in Jesus Christ
His death and resurrection

Why should I gain from His reward?
I cannot give an answer
But this I know with all my heart
His wounds have paid my ransom
 

I think Townsend said it right when he wrote this song.

Wordless Wednesday

 It's been awhile since I updated anything on here. And it's Wednesday!! So, guess what's back? WORDLESS WEDNESDAY!!!!

Here's a couple pics of my nephews. I've been LOVING being able to spend so much time with them these past couple months that I've been home. :)

Aal Izz Well 3 Idiots Video Music HQ Full

I wanted to post a couple of videos from one of my favorite Bollywood movies...
So, here they are!! Enjoy!!

You know your an MK when...

It's been a while since I posted something on here. I've thought about posting something quite a few times, but just haven't found the time until now(when really I should be doing something else...I've got two churches I'll be speaking at the next two Sundays as well as being the main speaker for Jr. Girls at Camp Rock) 

As I was doing some research I stumbled across this wonderful list!! For those of you who have spent any time on the field I know you will laugh, and for those of you who haven't this list may help you to understand us a bit better. :) ENJOY!!

You Know You're a Missionary Kid When...
(Originally compiled and published by Andrew and Deborah Kerr)

You can't answer the question, "Where are you from?"
You speak two languages, but can't spell in either.
You flew before you could walk.
The U.S. is a foreign country.
You have a passport, but no driver's license.
You have a time zone map next to your telephone.
You would rather eat seaweed than cafeteria food.
Your life story uses the phrase "Then we went to..." five times.
You watch nature documentaries, and you think about how good that would be if it were fried.
You think in grams, meters, and liters.
You speak with authority on the quality of airline travel.
You go to the U.S., and get sick from a mosquito bite.
You send your family peanut butter and Kool-Aid for Christmas.
National Geographic makes you homesick.
You have strong opinions about how to cook bugs.
People simply don't understand.
You live at school, work in the tropics, and go home for vacation.
You don't know where home is.
Strangers say they can remember you when you were "this tall."
You have friends from or in 29 different countries.
You do your devotions in another language.
You sort your friends by continent.
You keep dreaming of a green Christmas.
You tell people where you're from, and their eyes get big.
"Where are you from?" has more than one reasonable answer.
The nationals say, "Oh, I knew an American once..." and then ask if you know him or her.
You are grateful for the speed and efficiency of the U.S. Postal Service.
You realize that furlough is not a vacation.
You've spoken in dozens of churches, but aren't a pastor.
Furlough means that you are stuffed every night... and have to eat it all to seem polite.
You realize that in Australia, the above statement would be very rude.
Your parents decline your cousin's offer to let them use his BMW, and stuff all six of you into an old VW Beetle instead.
You stockpile mangoes.
You know what REAL coffee tastes like.
The majority of your friends don't speak English as a first language.
Someone brings up the name of a team, and you get the sport wrong.
You believe vehemently that football is played with a round, spotted ball.
You know there is no such thing as an international language.
You know the difference between patriotism and nationalism.
You tell Americans that democracy isn't the only viable form of government.
You realize what a small world it is, after all.
You never take anything for granted.
You know how to pack.
All preaching sounds better under a corrugated tin roof.
You know raw fish tastes better than cooked.
When guests come to your house and bring a fish as a gift.
Going to the post office is the highlight of your day.
When you sing songs to yourself in a language other than English.
When you mother gets excited over finding Doritos at 7-11.
When on deputation you have memorized Dad's messages.
When after the church service you look for a slide projector to put away.
When wearing shoes in the house sounds disgusting.
You get excited to find cokes are on sale for only 99 cents.
You carry Bibles in two languages to church.
You watch an English language video and read the foreign language subtitles.
When you dream in a foreign language.
On your 18th birthday you still don't have a driver's license.
You send out birthday invitations in a foreign language.
When you carry a dictionary everywhere you go.
When your five foot tall mother is taller than most of your church members.
Your Dad scolds you in a foreign language.
When you don't know how to count American money.
When you go on furlough your Mom buys everything in the store.
When adults want to pay you to teach them English.
When you can't find shoes to fit your feet in any of the shoe stores.
When you would rather sleep on the floor than on the bed.
When the family gathers around the computer to check the E-mail.
When you enjoy getting together with other MK's and talking about old news.
When all your clothes have been worn by someone else.
When at your yard sale the 80 year old man next door buys your mother's culottes.
When your friends know more English grammar than you do but can't understand English conversation.
When you find a seven year old picture of yourself on someone's refrigerator.
When you know how to send a fax using an international call back service.
When you have carried the same dollar bill in your wallet for four years.
When you write in your diary in a foreign language.
When driving on the right side of the road gives you the willies.
When the traffic light turns from red to blue.
When eating with chop sticks seems natural.
When eating spaghetti with chop sticks is easier than using a fork and spoon.
When you have explained the difference between "The cow is on the field" and "The cow is in the field."
When you take a shower before taking a bath.
When you call senior missionaries grandma and grandpa.
When the message on your answering machine is in two languages.
When you move into a new house you take a gift to all your neighbors.
When earthquakes seem normal.
When your Mom sends you out to sweep the street in front of your house.
When you pull into a gas stand and expect people to come running out screaming welcome!
You consider parasites, dysentery, or tropical diseases to be appropriate dinner conversation.
You tell people what certain gestures mean in different parts of the world.
You have stopped in the middle of an argument to find the translation of a word you just used.
You calculate exchange rates by the price of Coke.
You would rather have a Land Rover Defender than a Lexus.
You enjoy textual criticism of customs forms.

 I found this list at Wholesome Words.

Daring Baker's Challenge...

I really enjoy reading baking blogs. Many of the baking bloggers out there have joined the Daring Baker's Challenge. How this works is one baker/blogger is chosen each month to give the challenge. They let everyone in the group know what the challenge is and within that month each baker/blogger must complete the challenge and blog about it.
While I was in India I would read these blogs and think how fun it would be to join this group. But each time I thought about joining I would think about the added challenge of trying to find/make the right ingredients and would decide not to add so much stress to my life. I think this was a pretty wise decision, though I still think it would be fun. :)
All that is to lead into my story from this weekend. Since I got back to the States a month ago I haven't really wanted to bake much of anything. If you know me even a little bit you'll know how strange this is. I LOVE to bake!! So me not wanting to bake is really weird.
The reason I haven't wanted to bake anything is because the challenge that baking took on in India no longer exists here in the States. You decide what you want to bake, jump in the car to go to the store to get what you need and come home and bake. Not as exciting as deciding what you want to bake, walking to the market and trying to find the right ingredients and when you can't figuring out what you can substitute then walking up the mountain to go home and bake. Then in the middle of your baking the electricity going off. You see the difference?
So, yesterday I had a potluck to go to. I decided I was going to make Dall Makhani(Ymmmy!!!beans in a creamy tomato sauce) and Gujya(SUPPER YUMMY!! a fried pastry filled with mawa, coconut, raisins, cashews and almonds). Everything for both of these are readily available here except for the mawa(pronounced mava). Mawa is simply milk boiled till it is dry and thick. You may be thinking what I was. Oh, well that should be easy. I'm here to tell you that, no. It is not that easy.
Saturday morning I took a gallon of Vitamin D milk and poured it into a pot and put it on the stove. All morning it cooked. I had to leave for a few hours, so I turned it off and left. When I got home I turned it back on and continued to wait. And wait. And Wait. AND WAIT!!! It never thickened. So, I decided maybe I should do a bit more research. I googled it and found MANY ways to to make mawa. One of the easiest was milk, cream and sweetened condensed milk. I went down to the store and pick up the cream and condensed milk. I put them in the pot with the milk and began the waiting again. It never thickened. By this time it was about 11:30 Saturday night. So, I decided that I'd work on it more on Sunday afternoon.
Sunday - I got home and googled mawa again. I found a recipe that had whole fat dry milk, evaporated milk and cream. Easy I thought. So, I went to the store and found out that you can't find whole dry milk. Only skim. AHHHH!!!!! I quick thought about some of the other recipes I had looked at and remembered another that called for ricotta cheese, though I couldn't quite remember what else it had. So, I decided to get some cream, evaporated milk and condensed milk just to cover my bases, and headed home.
When I got there I looked up the ricotta cheese recipe and found that it is only ricotta cheese. huh. Go figure. So, I began cooking it to get the moisture out. And it worked!! :)
I made the dough and the filling and started making the gujiya!!
At one point as I was trying to cook the milk down I started laughing because I haven't wanted to bake cause there wasn't any challenge in it here. I was just thinking about making the wrong things! I should have been wanting to make something from India and then there'd be lots of challenge!
That's my adventure from the weekend. And my gujiya turned out GREAT!!! :D

Change

So, I've been wanting to change my blog up a bit. I liked what I had awhile ago, but it was a bit too much. I wanted something more simple. And while I was in India my internet wasn't fast enough to really look at different options, and I didn't have a lot of time to do so.
Tonight I am at my sister's house watching the boys while she is at work. So, I thought that since they went to bed so good I'd take the time now to figure out what I want to do with it. So, please bare with me as I experiment and decide what I want.

Wordless Thursday

Wordless Wednesday Thursday