Baby got skillzz!

This a short, but SWEET blog today.

How many of us love making Brownies from a box? My personal favorite is Ghiradelli's Dark Chocolate (thanks to my friend, Ann Marie). But, I've always wanted to TRY to make brownies from scratch. Well, today was that day.. mmhmmmm...

No need to say more...

Still in N. Africa

7/25? Sunday

Well, it's 4:22am, and we're still in N Africa. We were pretty good getting to the airport on time, and 40 min before the flight was suppose to depart. Alas, we didn't leave. Our flight was delayed for an hour, and then another hour until they decided to cancel the Flight completely. The next Flight is at 5:30p today (Sunday).

It's 4:44am, and we're still at the Airport, waiting for a bus to take us to our Hotel...

5:31am: we finally made it to the hotel room...good room...going to bed...good night.

Pray for us that we get home soon.

Spaghetti Night!!

7/21 Wednesday


We made Spaghetti last night for a church! "Mediterranean-style". ;). There's a church here that's celebrating a 5-year anniversary, and we were invited to come celebrate with them. Our Local Team Leader decided that we should make them some dinner to eat after the Service. Not to make this long with details, let's just say the talented cooks made dinner.

I think this trip is turning into a theme. In our last Post, we shared a passage that Lynn read a couple days back with a group of widows:

"After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!".
Rev 7:9-10

It wasn't an extravagant (did I spell that right?) celebration, but to hear Christ being praised in another language made my heart melt. (Sorry if I sound unusually mushy, but the Spirit has been moving) We came in as they were singing Arabic Worship music, and then they started singing "Above All" by Michael W Smith...in ARABIC! As soon as we recognized it we sang along with them in English. Later, before Sarah and Louisa shared their testimony, we led them in Worship. One of the songs was the chorus of "How Great is Our God" (Azeem Ya Allah). When we started singing it in Arabic, the Congregation joined us, and the men started to stand with arms held high, and singing loudly in Arabic. Incredible! So far, this trip brought that passage alive in N Africa. This is what it's going to look like in Heaven, around the Lord's throne!

This is just Day 3. What's in stored for us for the next 3 days? We will eagerly wait to see.

Grace and Blessings,
Leona

Late N Africa Update

Sorry for the late updates on the blog. We hoped to keep everyone updated on our trip last week, but we didn't have a secure enough internet access..(or we were just too tired to type even one letter on the keyboard). At least we had the desire to write you at heart, but not enough to act upon it. ;) I did log some of our interesting adventures on my iPhone to share for later, so here's "later".

Thank you for your prayers and support. It was an incredible trip that I can truly say that God used to change OUR hearts as well as the N African friends we met.

Leona

It's EE-lona Day in N Africa!

**This was written on 7/19**

Last year, I spent my birthday over the Atlantic Ocean, and lost 16 hours of my birthday. Kind of hard to celebrate my birthday then when I was exhausted from travelling.

This year I wasn't prepared that I was going back to N Africa the same time as last year, and actually celebrate it IN N Africa! It has been wonderful day. I woke up to balloons all over my bed, and a banner hanging from the kitchen Counter. Thank God for the Team I'm a part of. And, for my birthday present, I gave a couple shots of Vitamin B6 to one of girls on our Team. It's not a complete trip without someone getting sick. One of the girls woke up feeling nauseous and throwing up this morning. We gave her what meds we had to help her, but nothing worked. So, we spoke to our Local Team Leader, and he suggested I give her a shot of Vitamin B6. Even in N Africa, God is using my nursing skills..

Better Late Than Than, um, Ever.

Greetings from North Africa! We must be getting used to the N African culture because I (Sarah) am writing this blog at 12:20 am WHILE WAITING FOR DINNER TO BE SERVED. Yes, dinner is an after-midnight affair, and bedtime is usually 2 or 3 am. We are told it's because N Africans like to be outside when the sun is down and the weather is cooler, so they shift their "daytime" to include most of the night, and wow is it a huge change for us! How we Texans are managing is simply God's grace because we are all operating on about 5 hours' sleep, and a couple of us have battled nausea. But the short sleep and vitamin B-6 shots are undoubtedly worth it as we are using time we would normally be snoozin' to be-bop around this beautiful, bustling city of 20 million people spreading the Lord's love. Yee haw!

We have visited two different churches in the few days since we arrived, both small by American standards (around 60 or 75 people) but huge in Spirit by any human gauge -- the congregants are so welcoming and warm! This morning, Danielle and Louisa shared their stories about how God has protected them in their lives (a local friend translated into Arabic), and afterward we all sang a song ("Amazing Grace") to the church, distributed cookies and hot tea, and prayed for people in need of intercession. That we could travel 5,300 miles across this vast planet and find a pocket of family here in N Africa -- it's just like the song says: only by His amazing grace! It reminded us of that part of the Book of Revelation, which Lynn read during the service:

"After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: 'Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.'" (Revelation 7:9-10)

We also visited a gorgeous park here in town. It's a spacious oasis of towering palm trees, fountains, and rolling hills amid an otherwise parch, sandy desert, and as you can imagine, folks are eager to go outside and enjoy the cool breezes once the sun goes down. We all feared the language barrier would be difficult to surmount, and indeed, only about a third of the people we meet speak English well enough to converse, but guess what? It turns out that a big smile and a friendly hello are universal. We have been both humbled and exhilarated by the open arms and open hearts we've encountered here.

We've also met some food we really lurve (aka love). Shawerma was an instant favorite; it's a sandwich of either chicken or lamb wrapped in a tortilla and pressed panini-style so it's piping-hot and toasted. We also ordered dessert for lunch today (because we didn't want to make the same mistake we did yesterday in eating so much shawerma that we didn't have room for dessert) in the form of fruit salad (figs, apples, bananas, and mangoes) topped with ice cream, milk, and strawberry syrup. We are STILL jittery from the sugar high.

Speaking of dinner, ours is about ready so I'm signing off. (Fresh mangoes we bought at a corner market are beckoning like a siren song.) Please continue praying for us as we manuever crazy traffic, difficulty with the language, and not enough sleep -- we can definitely feel your support from here.

Much love to y'all!

Safe (in His Arms)

My dad loves telling this story about me (well a couple, but I'm willing to share THIS one). When I was 1 year old, my dad took my brothers, sister, and me to the Navy Hospital for shots before we left for the Philippines. He had my sibs sitting in the chairs next to him, but me in his arms. The nurse gave my sibs their shots, and of course they cried. He said that I watched him when they gave him his shot, and then they gave me mine. My face clouded over with tears, but I didn't cry because Daddy didn't. I was safe in his arms.

When I heard this song from Phil Wickham, he described how strong and powerful God's hands and arms are, and they're holding you and me. Like how a child would look at Dad thinking he can pick up a car barehanded, but is holding me safely, protecting me from the pain of a big needle. How much more is it that God is our Dad too, wanting us to run to His arms, to soothe our pain and brushing our tears away with his touch and the sound of His voice.
-------
Safe (in His Arms)
By Phil Wickham

To the one whose dreams are falling all apart.
And all you're left with is a tired and broken heart.
I can tell by your eyes you think you're on your own
But you're not alone.

Have you heard of the who can calm the raging sea.
Give sight to the blind, pull the lame up to their feet.
With a Love so strong, will never let you go
No, you're not alone

Chorus:
You will be safe in His arms
You will be safe in His arms
'Cause the hands that hold the world,
are holding your heart.
This is the promise he made
He will be with you always
When everything is falling apart
You will be safe in his arms.

Did you know that the voice that brings the dead to life
Is the very same voice that calls you now to rise
So hear him now He's calling you home
You will never be alone.

(Chorus)

These are the hands that built the mountains
The hands that calmed the sea
These are the arms that hold the heavens
They are holding you and me.
These are the hands the heal the leper
Pull the lame up to their feet
These are the arms that were nailed to the cross
To break our chains and set us free.

(Chorus)

Safe in His arms
Safe in His arms

This Neuro Class is Turning my Brain to Mush.

I'm studying for a NeuroScience Certification, and I need to know the Neuro lingo before taking the test. After just going through the A's of this huge list (about.. well, a lot of pages), I'm totally convinced that:

1. This is actually a research to see how much info you can put in a brain before you have a total meltdown..and I'm the guinea pig

2. That these vocab words are totally made up by doctors to confuse everyone, including nurses. Like a secret handshake among doctors. (Psst, the hidden secrets are found in the words. Shh.)

3. That the definitions are just as messed up as the words.

(Example)
Arthrokinetic Nystagmus: Nystagmus induced by passive rotation of the arm of a stationary subject seated in total darkness inside a rotating drum

Did they really research this, and put a patient in a "totally dark, rotating drum" to find this word and definition?? I wonder what word they would come up with for "progressive deterioration of brain cells due to Neuroscience knowledge overload."

And, my favorite word so far:

Alien Hand Sydrome: a rare disorder of movement and sensation in which sudden unexpected movements of a hand occur and are felt by the patient experiencing them to be with involuntary or initiated by others.

What other words will I find...interesting or pretty hilarious as I keep pushing through this list? We shall see, and I might share them with you here or on Facebook. So, if you see a funny word on my FB, it's either another one of those lovely words, or my brain finally short-circuit and I lost control.

Jogging Attempts?

A week ago, I said I would blog something about my jogging progress. I'm here to report ...that it didn't happen this week. Booo, Leona. I know. But, I do have a reason. I've been sick all week. Quite hilarious and ironic just to look back to WHEN I got sick.

On Monday, I went to see my doctor for a Physical. Labs were drawn and all, and I received an "A-OK" stamp of approval. The next day I started feeling either a cold or Cedar Fever coming. By Friday, I went back to my Dr, and he thought it amusing that he saw me on Monday, HEALTHY. He said it's Viral, and I need to let it run it's course. Well, I think it's crossed the finishline, and should leave me now, and take my coughing and stuffy nose with it!

Hopefully, I'll be back on the trail again, or treadmill since it's warmer in the gym than outside right now. ;)


Leona

His Grace is undeserved, but greatly received.


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Appeasing a 12 year old food critic.

You may think this is not blog worthy, but Hey! It's my blog.

If you have the pickiest person eating 4 helpings of the meal, you know you did a good job! For all you Foodies out there, you know what I'm talking about. There's always one person at your table that's hard to please, whatever you make. Tuesday night I made "African Peanut Butter Stew" for my Small Group (bible study group). I have quite a challenge in making a dish everyone would eat. Some have lactose issues, others with Gluten issues, and someone that just doesn't like much that it would probably take her mom to force feed her to eat anything! (I got permission from her mom to write it, not force feed). Looking at the ingredients, I asked my group last week if they'd try it if I made it. I got some yes's and maybes, so I decided to try it.

It was GOOOD. Made some changes so everyone could eat it, and got pretty good reviews from them. Even I went back for seconds! My finicky eater took a small helping at first, but then went back for a bigger helping, and then another! Marion and I were pretty wide-eyed, while she was eating her fourth helping.

The recipe makes for 2 servings, and you have to double or triple the ingredients to fit the size of pot you use. I have a 6 quart Dutch Oven, so it's to make 6 servings in that size pot. I have 11 ladies in my group, and the "6 servings" fed all of them, and for extra helpings. It's like a bottomless pot. It was finally empty when everyone was full! If you ever buy this cookbook, remember they're BIG servings.

Nobody tasted the peanut butter or coconut milk (my change in the recipe). Or even the Shallots (for the onion hater)! :). There was also Cayenne pepper in it, and gave it enough kick. I definitely need to make this one again.

My Dutch Oven Adventures

This might sound like a Spin-off from Julie & Julia, but it isn't. Honest.

I bought a Dutch Oven last year, hoping to make some kind of meals in it. I had it in my head that I could use it for "all-in-one" pot/pan. fry in it, bake in it, cook in it, etc. I didn't know what I really bought. It looked easy to use when I saw Alton Brown using his.(Silly me) Instead, it only collected dust on the stove (our cabinets were to small to store it). I'm still determined to use it somehow. When I come home from work I REALLY don't have the motivation to cook any dinner either. I would just look at my kitchen, and then go back out for fast food instead. My waistline has been seeing the results of that.

Well, recently I moved into a new apartment, with plans for my Small Group to meet here as well. That gave me an idea to finally use my Dutch Oven WEEKLY. I went to the bookstore and found a cookbook specifically made for Dutch Oven cooking (and it's not a campers cookbook). Once a week, I can make one of these One-Pot meal sensations, and serve it to my group. Pretty good idea, if I say so myself. Also, I could actually make one of these meals on my day off, divide them into portions, and have it last me a week so all I have to do is microwave one of the containers once I get home from work. I think I'm on a roll, but let's see if I can actually pull this off.

1st Dish: Bahama Chicken

Each dish has your meat, veggies, and some kind of starch for a balanced meal so you don't have to make any additional mess, just one pot. However, she neglected to mention the mess you'll make just preparing the ingredients. So far, I made 2 dishes for the group, and they were both a hit. One is Bahamian Chicken, but I call it just Bahama Chicken. When I looked at the liquid on the directions, I was kind of..skeptical of how it would taste, and if maybe I should call my girls to bring their dinner in case this became a flop. In the end, everyone liked it. I had only enough left to take w/ me to work the next day. So far so good.

Amos' Story Music Video

There's a couple at our church that adopted a boy from Haiti over 2 years ago, but were not able to bring him home to Texas because of Red Tape in Haiti. Aaron and Jaime can explain it a whole lot better than I can. Aaron wrote this song, Amos' Story, before the earthquake. Watch it and enjoy. I suggest a box of tissue next to you if you have tendencies of crying.

Thank you, Jesus, for Happy Beginnings.

Determined to Blog More

I've had this blog for 4 years now (wow). At first, I used it for journaling my Travel Nursing journeys, but after stopping in Austin, I've been trying to figure out what to write about. I've been writing less and less that it's been almost a year before I started up again in December. I need to do SOMETHING!

I'm not as lively and creative as my friends Emily and Jen are when it comes to finding things to blog about, but I do have some loves and challenges I can share, such as, cooking, travelling, life lessons, mountain biking (trying to get back on the trails) and jogging (that the challenging part), If I keep track of my jogging progress on my blog, I can use you for accountability. Just a thought. Of course, no jogging blog might mean I haven't done much jogging or much blogging. You might have to ask.

Let's see what happens this year!

A Port-A-Potty Life?

Did that get your attention? ;)

It definitely did for me. Last week, I was looking through my journal, and completed some thoughts I started in it. In one of my journal entries I came across a verse I wrote next to it to "definitely to need to REAP further". I dugged deeper into it, and found a "jewel" of a lesson out of it. When I later went to church, Pastor Matt pretty much taught the same lesson in a different way (Jan 17), more ELOQUENT way than I did, but I like my way of looking at it still. Wanna know what that was?

Digging the Word, and IN the Word

I remember when I started my nursing career, I thought all those initals after a nurse's name was too much, such as, SoandSo Burns, RN, MSN, RRT, ACNP, CCRN, FAAN, FCCM, FAANP. For real! Really! Those are actually someone's professional suffixes! All those abbreviations are certifications that someone studied and took an exam for--EACH. As a new nurse, I said I'd be happy with just RN, BSN after mine. I don't want to do anymore studying. I'm all studied out. ..Yeah..., didn't stay that way. I was writing an email today, and then I noticed the alphabet soup after my name as well. Did I take that many tests for those letters?! Worse yet, I'm studying for another one! On the positive side of it all, it's nice to know that you have nurses with all those letters backing up their name, because you know they worked hard, and know a lot about their specialty. So, onward to my next certification, so I can say I conquered my fear of Neuro patients, and I'll be certified to say "I know what I'm doing."

If only we would be willing to study and learn the Word like that. Not to put initials by our names, but to have the Word of God in our hearts. That's more lasting than any external reward. Can we say that we read and dig into the word daily in our busy lives? I can't. Every day, I wanted to open my bible, but had another reason to set it aside to catch up with other things in my life, and then I've set it aside almost altogether. I couldn't remember the passages and God's promises that refreshed and redirected me many times before, when I needed them the most. It was like a vague memory. That jolted me awake on how much I set aside my bible for my distractions. We need to sink our spiritual teeth into the word like its fresh bread daily, and savor it. If we set it aside, the passages we remembered will be a stale as week old bread, and hard to remember the verses that once encouraged, taught, rebuked, corrected, and trained us in righteousness (2 Tim 3:16) Jesus even said:

"It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone,

but on every word that comes from the mouth of God."

Matt 4:4 (Deut 8:3)

For the past 2 Sundays, the pastors at my church preached about studying the Word, and it's ignited a desire in each of us to grab our Bibles and dig into the Word. There's so much treasure to be found in the Word if you are ready and willing to dig for it. "They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold;" (psalm 19:10) Let's get digging, and see what treasures the Lord has waiting for us.

I may not receive initials after my name for reading God's Word, but I know what's engraved in my heart, like certifications of His Promise to me. We don't need to pass a test to receive His Promise. We're already certified by His Word and covered by His Grace.

Leona Baxter, DOK, COG, HSIHP, LWAEL

DOK: Daughter of the King (Ex. 6:7, Pslam 10:16, Psalm 103:19, Eph 1:5, heb 12:5-9)

COG: Child of God (John 1:12-13)

HSIHP: His Sheep of His Pasture (John 10:2-11,14-16)

LWAEL: Loved with An Everlasting Love (Jer 31:3-4, Psalm 103:17-18, Eph 2:4,)